ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

A former Catholic priest, Father Peter Lewis Comensoli, now aged 76, will stand trial in the New South Wales District Court accused of molesting two boys in separate incidents while this priest was working in the Wollongong diocese, south of Sydney, in the 1960s.

Peter Lewis Comensoli entered pleas of not guilty in Port Kembla Local Court on 6 May 2015 to three charges (called “indecent assault of a male”), allegedly committed against two teenage boys while Comensoli was a priest in the Wollongong diocese:

1. Police allege that Comensoli assaulted one of the alleged victims multiple times in 1966 during visits to the boy’s family at their home at Ingleburn. It is alleged he would play a wrestling game with the boy and, while on top of him, squeeze his genitals. The man reported the alleged assaults to the church in 1999, but the information was not passed on to police until January 2014.

2. Comensoli is accused of assaulting the other boy in 1968, while working at the Shellharbour parish. It is alleged that the boy became close to Comensoli through the priest’s role as leader of a fellowship group for children who attended the parish. This alleged victim disclosed the alleged incident to a psychologist in 2012, who urged him to go to police.

The incidents with both boys allegedly happened on church premises.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 13 May 2015)

Christian Brother William Peter Standen (known as Brother “David” Standen), who has taught at Catholic schools in Sydney and regional New South Wales, appeared in court on 13 May 2015 to answer 32 charges of indecent assault, allegedly committed against 18 schoolboys. Standen pleaded Guilty to 11 charges and Not Guilty to 15 charges, while the remaining six charges were withdrawn.

Standen submitted his pleas to a magistrate in the Goulburn Local Court in south-western New South Wales. The charges had been laid by detectives at Goulburn, where one of Brother Standen’s former schools (St Patrick’s College) was located. Police alleged that the offences were committed against boys at this school between 1978 and 1981.

All of Standen’s pleas, including the Guilty and Not Guilty ones, will be referred now to the Sydney District Court, where the Standen case is scheduled to have a procedural mention on 5 June 2015. Those charges for which Standen has pleaded Not Guilty would necessitate a trial and therefore the case would be put on the District Court’s waiting list for when a time-slot becomes available on the District Court’s schedule.

After the District Court trial is completed, Standen would be sentenced by the District Court for any charges on which he will have been found guilty, including those on which he has already entered a Guilty plea.

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Judy Harrison, BDN Staff
Posted May 14, 2015

PORTLAND, Maine — The jury trial of a Freeport man being sued for slander over allegations of sexual abuse of boys at a Haitian orphanage is set to begin July 8 in U.S. District Court.

The trial was delayed after Michael Geilenfeld, a former Catholic brother, was detained in Port au Prince beginning Sept. 5 while a criminal investigation into abuse allegations was conducted, according to court documents. He was released April 29 after being exonerated.

Geilenfeld and Hearts with Haiti, a North Carolina-based nonprofit that raised money for the orphanages he ran, in February 2013 sued Paul Kendrick, 65, of Freeport. The plaintiffs alleged that Kendrick’s false allegations that Geilenfeld has sexually abused children has defamed the organization and caused fundraising events in the U.S. to be cancelled.

They are asking U.S. District Judge John Woodcock to order Kendrick to stop making the statements and to remove all those that have been published on the Internet. The lawsuit also is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

It took 237 days for Geilenfeld to be cleared of the allegations in Haiti.

“After full prosecution in the Haitian criminal justice system, the criminal court in Haiti entered judgment in his favor on all charges,” according to a document filed this month in federal court in Portland. “Most of the charges were dismissed before trial after investigation by the investigative judge, based on insufficient evidence; one charge for alleged ‘public indecency’ under Haitian criminal law was found in Geilenfeld’s favor after trial by the Haitian criminal trial judge.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Patch

By DANIEL LIBON (Patch Staff)
May 14, 2015

A Quincy man accused of extorting over $400,000 from former Temple Israel Rabbi Barry Starr will be held on bail.

Nicholas Zemeitus, 30, of Quincy, was ordered held on $400,000 bail according to the Boston Globe. A lawyer for the defendant sough a bail of $5,000 to $7,000.

On Tuesday, Zemeitus was arraigned on seven counts of larceny over $250, two counts of receiving stolen property over $250, one count of larceny under $250, and one count of extortion.

According to court records, Zemeitus met Sarr after discovering a sex ad on Craig’s List for an older woman. Zemeitus ended up Starr’s home where he found the rabbi in drag.

E-mails show that Zemeitus attempted to blackmail Starr into giving him money, threating to make a sexual relationship with Zemeitus’ non-existent teenage brother public.

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AUSTRALIA
Truth, Justice and Healing

Ballarat Bishop, Paul Bird has written to all local parishes in the central Victorian regional town calling on all Catholics to keep in their thoughts and prayers the survivors of child sexual abuse who will be giving evidence at the Commission hearing over the coming three weeks.

“The hearings will be very stressful for survivors and their families and for people across our region. People will be deeply upset by the accounts of crimes against children and by the failings of church leaders in responding to these crimes. I encourage you to support one another through these difficult days,” Bishop Bird wrote.

Read Pastoral letter here

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

The federal government’s rejection of a national redress scheme for people abused in institutions is the ultimate slap in the face and could lead to more deaths, a victim says.

Peter Blenkiron, who was abused in a Victorian Catholic school in 1974, blasted the Abbott government for rejecting the scheme as too costly and too complex to implement.

“It was the ultimate slap in the face,” the Ballarat man told AAP.

He said victims were losing hope and he feared more may commit suicide, with a high number of suicides and premature deaths among people who were abused as children in the Ballarat diocese.

“Not every one of the survivors out there needs it but the ones that do, if they don’t get some practical help they’ll be dead,” he said.

“We need to put a system in place to stop the deaths and if you don’t, the bubble of hope will burst and people will die. People are dying today.”

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ROME
Chiesa

Farther and farther apart from each other. The public narrative continues to depict the pope as a revolutionary. But the facts prove the contrary

by Sandro Magister

ROME, May 15, 2015 – When it comes to Pope Francis, there are now two of these who are ever more distant from each other: the Francis of the media and the real one.

The first is exceedingly well-known and has been making the news since his first appearance on the loggia of the basilica of Saint Peter’s.

It is the narrative of the pope who revolutionizes the Church, who lays down the keys of binding and loosing, who does not condemn but only forgives, or rather who does not even judge any more, who washes the feet of the female Muslim inmate and the transexual, who abandons the palace to plunge into the peripheries, who opens the workshop on everything, on the divorced and remarried as on the Vatican’s finances, who closes the checkpoints of dogma and throws open the doors of mercy. A pope who is a friend of the world, who is already being praised for his upcoming encyclical on “sustainable development” even before seeing what will be written there.

In effect there is a great deal, in the words and actions of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, that lends itself to this narrative.

The Francis of the media is also to some extent a creation of his own, and brilliantly so, in the span of one morning miraculously overturning the image of the Catholic Church from opulent and decadent to “poor and for the poor.”

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

Elle Farcic
May 15, 2015

A Catholic bishop will stand trial in August charged with historic child sex offences.

Max Leroy Davis has been charged with four counts of committing indecent practices between males in public and four counts of unlawfully and indecently dealing with a child under 14.

In Perth Magistrate’s Court this morning, defence lawyer Seamus Rafferty entered pleas of not guilty to all of the charges.

It is understood the charges relate to two complainants.

Bishop Davis, 68, allegedly abused the boys in 1969 when he was teaching at St Benedict’s College in New Norcia.

He is believed to be the first Australian bishop and the most senior Australian church official to be charged with child sex offences.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Joanna Menagh

Australian Defence Force Bishop Max Davis has been committed to stand trial in Western Australia on child sex charges dating back almost 50 years.

Davis is facing four charges of committing indecent practices in public, and four charges of indecently dealing with a child.

The alleged offences date back to 1969 before he was ordained as a priest, when was teaching at Saint Benedict’s College in New Norcia.

Davis’s lawyer, Seamus Rafferty, told the Perth Magistrates Court his client would be pleading not guilty to all charges.

Davis lives in Canberra and was not required to attend today’s hearing.

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AUSTRALIA
Perth Now

PHIL HICKEY PERTHNOW MAY 15, 2015

THE head of the Catholic Church’s military diocese will stand trial in the West Australian District Court over child sex offences dating back more than 40 years.

Bishop Max Leroy Davis, 68, is alleged to have indecently dealt with a boy under the age of 14 and committed indecent practices between males in public in 1969 when he was teaching at St Benedict’s College in New Norcia, northeast of Perth.

Davis, who was not an ordained priest at the time of the alleged offences, is understood to be the first Australian bishop and the most senior Australian church official to be charged with child sex offences.

He will face a trial in August.

Man, 66, charged over 1980s child sex assaults
Police have charged an elderly man with 33 child sex offences relating to six alleged victims dating back to 1980.

Child Abuse Squad detectives arrested and charged the 66-year-old man in South Australia on Thursday and extradited him to Western Australia.

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ISRAEL
Ynet

Tali Farkash, Aviel Megnazi
Published: 05.14.15

While extradition proceedings are taking place in Israel to bring the former principal of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish school in Melbourne to trial in Australia on suspicion of sexually abusing three of her students, Victoria’s Supreme Court has begun hearing a civil claim filed by one of the girls.

“She liked to hug me like a baby, and rock me. She said I should consider her like a mother who loved me, and that I was special,” the former student, who is now in her 20s, told the court, according to the Herald Sun.

Malka Leifer, a mother of eight children who ran the Adass Israel school for girls in Melbourne, is at the center of the civil suit. She escaped to Israel two days after details were revealed about 74 sexual offenses she allegedly committed against three sisters. The school was also sued for not passing the student’s complaint to the authorities. The principal was updated on the complaint, which allowed her to immediately flee Australia.

She was arrested last August and placed under house arrest until the completion of the extradition proceedings. In Australia, she is expected to face criminal charges in addition to the civil trial. The Australian authorities filed to extradition request with the Israeli authorities in July 2013. The Australian request noted that Leifer is facing trial for 47 indecent act offenses, 13 offenses of indecent assault of a minor, 11 rape charges and three additional charges.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian Jewish News

Adass Israel teacher Malka Leifer was employed by the Adass congregation, not its school, its barrister said today, in closing arguments in a lawsuit before the Supreme Court of Victoria.

The Israeli educator, who has been back in Israel since 2008, is fighting extradition to Australia to face criminal charges over her alleged sexual abuse of several Adass students.

The ultra-Orthodox Adass school in Melbourne is fighting the lawsuit against it by a former student who claimed the sexual abuse she suffered had marred her life.

The court has heard evidence of Leifer’s alleged sex abuse, and how she was rushed back to Israel after the allegations were presented to an emergency meeting of the Adass board in March 2008.

Counsel for Adass, Christopher Blanden SC, argued to the court today that the Adass school provided a general education and Leifer had been hired in 2000 by the congregation to provide a separate Jewish education, so the school was not liable for her alleged offences.

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IOWA
Catholic Globe

By Colleen Sulsberger
Protecting the Innocent

Communicating concerns about someone’s behavior without causing additional angst or creating more problems is difficult and uncomfortable. When we come to this part of the Virtus training class, I often find it difficult to get participants to share their thoughts. Yet, it’s one of the most important parts of the steps we all must take to protect children. Many children have been rescued by courageous caregivers who set their fear and discomfort aside and spoke up when they noticed something that didn’t seem right to them. Let’s go one step further to discuss how someone in a supervisory capacity can have an effective conversation to relay the communicated concern.

Some of you may be thinking of not reading any further. After all, you are not “in charge” of anything at the parish or school; you are just supervising the playground or helping with religious ed. But everyone has the responsibility to keep their eyes and ears open when kids are around, watching the interactions between them, between the adults and the kids, and all of the issues we will address are relevant to situations at work, at community events, in committee activities, or even for someone who is in charge of cleaning the kitchen after a church dinner. At some time or other, most of us have some responsibility for other adults who are working with us, or are in situations where children are working or playing nearby where we can observe. This article is intended to help you be better prepared for those situations.

A common problem arises when concerns about behavior, which may be genuine and sincerely meant to foster safer environments, create stress for the supervisor who needs to communicate them, fearing that delivering this message could cause someone to quit the volunteer program. No one likes to feel they are being accused, so this reaction is understandable, but it underscores the importance of having everybody on your team current on their Virtus training. In that way, supervisors can remind everyone that as adults, we all take the responsibility for keeping an eye on each other and letting our teammates know if we are doing something that causes concern.

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IOWA
Catholic Globe

By Colleen Sulsberger
Protecting the Innocent

Spring is just around the corner, and that means lots of outdoor activities for kids are gearing up. Scouting, team sports, gymnastics, and dance classes are just a few of the programs that are available for children and young people. Regardless of how much or how little extracurricular activity is part of a child’s life, one thing is certain – safety first must be the motto of parents, guardians, and other caring adults when choosing program activities for kids.

Knowing that, what is the best way for caring adults to make sure that those who supervise programs are doing all they can do to make sure that young people have a safe and enjoyable experience?

In Step 3 of Virtus training, we recommend that adults and organizations “Monitor All Programs.” For the most part, the emphasis in this step has been on overseeing programs on the premises of the church or school. However, as we begin to consider a broader range of activities for the children in our lives, there is an opportunity to apply the principles of Virtus in the investigation and evaluation of other programs and activities for our children.

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IOWA
Catholic Globe

Root cause analysis: This is a fairly new term making its way around the world of Safe Environment leadership and the U.S. Bishops Secretariat for Child and Youth Protection.

Root cause analysis is used to create a highly reliable culture, by reporting all violations, all “near misses,” and all incidences where established rules and protocols were not followed. By examining what went wrong, or almost went wrong, we can determine weaknesses in our system and correct them. Highly reliable cultures must operate under trying or complex conditions and maintain few or no accidents or breaches in their systems (think airlines, nuclear power plants, and hospitals).

Everyone within these systems understands and follows all the rules all the time, and everyone reports every event that goes against established protocol, because failure to do so could endanger everyone. Leadership in a highly reliable culture is focused on eliminating failure, and encourages everyone to focus on that as well. There is no room for error when a jet is attempting to land, or when a patient in undergoing major surgery, just as there is no room for error when a child’s well-being is at stake.

Since 2002, the number of credible allegations of child sexual abuse reported to dioceses has continued to decline, and that is good news. However, everyone will agree that even one credible report of a child being abused in our church is one too many. Our goal is to eliminate child sexual abuse completely – from every parish and every school, period.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Tribune-Review

By Michael Hasch
Thursday, May 14, 2015

A Marianist brother will be sentenced in Australia for his conviction on charges of sexually abusing three children in Melbourne, an Australian newspaper reported this week.

Brother Bernard Joseph Hartman, 75, who once taught science at the former North Catholic High School in Troy Hill, pleaded guilty to four counts of indecent assault and was convicted on an additional count of indecent assault and two counts of common law assault, the Maribyrnong & Hobsons Bay Star Weekly reported Tuesday.

Hartman was charged in Melbourne with sexually abusing two boys and two girls in the 1970s and 80s.

He pleaded guilty to molesting two girls between the ages of 8 and 11, the newspaper reported. He was convicted of molesting one of the boys in the 1980s and acquitted of abusing the second.

Hartman is a former biology teacher at North Catholic, now known as Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School in Cranberry.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Press

THE Church of England has made a six-figure payout to a man who says he suffered years of physical and psychological abuse at the hands of a retired York vicar.

The man, whose identity is protected, received the undisclosed sum 13 years after the Rev Terence King committed suicide on October 31, 2002, while under investigation by West Yorkshire Police over child sex abuse.

Mr King, who was 69 and from Abbey Street, Clifton, was found dead in his garage on October 31, 2002 – the day after he walked out of The Retreat in Heslington Road, York, where he had been receiving treatment.

The man says Mr King made his life hell for eight years when he was a child and Mr King was a vicar at St Mary the Virgin Church at Woodkirk, near Morley, West Yorkshire.

He says the sexual, physical and mental abuse he suffered in the church and vicarage has had a lasting impact on his life.

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NEW YORK
Road to Recovery

Helen Gumpel, retired successful fashion model and actress, who thwarted a sexual attack in Bill Cosby’s dressing room on the set of “The Cosby Show,” and currently an advocate for women who were sexually abused by Bill Cosby, will join her husband, Hollywood screenwriter Neal E. Gumpel, at Fordham University, Bronx, New York, to draw attention to the sexual abuse of her husband when he was a minor child.

Neal E. Gumpel is a clergy sexual abuse victim of Fr. Roy Alan Drake, SJ, a deceased Jesuit priest and professor at Fordham University, Bronx, NY, and Maine Maritime Academy, Castine, Maine, where Fr. Roy Alan Drake, SJ, sexually abused Neal E. Gumpel when he was a minor child.

Fordham University and the Northeast Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), who staff Fordham University and were responsible for Fr. Roy Alan Drake, SJ for decades until his death, refuse to acknowledge and bear responsibility for the allegation of sexual abuse against Fr. Roy Alan Drake, SJ in Maine and give any assistance to Neal E. Gumpel, settle and validate his claim, and help him heal.

What
A press conference and leafleting alerting the media and general public that the Northeast Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and Fordham University refuse to help a clergy sexual abuse victim of one of its priests, Fr. Roy Alan Drake, SJ heal by validating his claim of sexual abuse as a minor child.

When
Friday, May 15, 2015 from 11:00 am until 1:00 pm
Saturday, May 16, 2015 8:00 am until 11:00 am (Graduation at 10:00 am)

Where
On the public sidewalks outside the motor vehicle entrance to Fordham University, Bronx, New York, across from the New York Botanical Gardens in Southern Boulevard.

Who
Hollywood screenwriter Neal E. Gumpel, a resident of Connecticut who has alleged that he was sexually abused as a minor teenager by Fr. Roy Alan Drake, SJ; Helen Gumpel, wife of Neal E. Gumpel, former successful fashion model and actress who appeared in an episode of “The Cosby Show” and thwarted a sexual assault by Bill Cosby in his dressing room; and members of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families.

Why
Neal E. Gumpel, whose mother (Jane Gumpel) and father (Dr. Roy Gumpel) are both graduates of Fordham University, was an unsuspecting high school minor teenager when his brother invited him to spend a weekend at Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, Maine. Rev. Roy Alan Drake, SJ was a Jesuit priest from Fordham University who was working at the time at Maine Maritime Academy and invited Neal E. Gumpel to his residence on or near the campus, served him alcohol, and sexually abused him. Demonstrators will call on Fordham University and the Northeast Province of the Society of Jesus to do the right thing and help Neal E. Gumpel heal.

Contacts
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D. – Fordham University Ph.D. ’88 – 862-368-2800
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, Boston, MA – 617-523-6250

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NEW YORK
News Hounds

NY Cardinal Timothy Dolan is BFFs with Roger Ailes and his “angel” Catholic wife who raises lots of money for Dolan’s charities. In turn,, Fox provides a platform for conservative Catholic teachings. Fox is also a place where Cardinal Dolan is defended from criticism and, on today’s Fox & Friends, Steve Doocy did his sacred duty.

After the “Fight for Faith” visual and tense music, devout Catholic Steve Doocy seemed apoplectic as he reported that “students at a Catholic university, here in NY state have launched a petition urging the administrators to disinvite or uninvite” Dolan because he, according to the petition “just doesn’t represent their values.” He shook his head when he quipped “really?” He grinned as he informed us that LeMoyne College officials aren’t backing down. The banner framed the message as a patented Fox controversy: “Commencement Controversy.”

After introducing his guests Le Moyne College President Linda LeMura and Father. David McCallum, her special assistant, Doocy asked “who is behind” the petition. Doocy twitched as LeMura explained that the petition was launched by students. Despite the fact that Dolan will still be the speaker, the banner read “Removed Without Reason, Petition Fails to Include Any Wrongdoing” – a statement that is a BIG FAT FOX LIE because the petition states that “Cardinal Dolan has been involved with sexual abuse scandals dealing with clergy of the church, homophobic comments.”

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UNITED STATES
Commonweal

Peter Steinfels
May 14, 2015

Perhaps the most important moment of last October’s Extraordinary Synod on the Family occurred at its very beginning—when Pope Francis insisted that “speaking honestly” was the bishops’ basic responsibility: No topics or viewpoints should be out of bounds. “It is necessary to say all that, in the Lord, one feels the need to say: without polite deference, without hesitation.”

I doubt that everyone present was able to live up to that plea. For not a few bishops, self-censorship has become second nature, especially when speaking publicly with other bishops, and infinitely so when in the earshot of the pope.

Fortunately, that was not true in many cases, or the synod would not have made headlines with the several highly controversial topics served up and batted back and forth: reception of Communion by the divorced-and-remarried, cohabitation, even same-sex relationships. But could engrained inhibition have accounted for the glaring gap in the synod’s work? I refer to the apparent lack of attention to the question of contraception. Why did the synod appear to treat so perfunctorily the issue that was, and is, the starting point for the unraveling of Catholic confidence in the church’s sexual ethics and even its credibility about marriage? To which, of course, one could add further questions about this baffling silence: Does it even matter? And if it does matter, are there grounds for hoping that the bishops who will be gathering in Rome next fall to complete the synod’s work can do better?

A lot rests on the answers to these questions. A synod that grabs headlines about remarried or cohabiting or same-sex Catholic couples but says nothing fresh about the spectacularly obvious rift between official teaching and actual behavior in Catholic married life is an invitation to cynicism. It could prove to be a crucial test of Pope Francis’s papacy.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

A man who suffered a horrifying catalogue of sexual abuse at the hands of a West Yorkshire vicar has spoken of his ordeal for the first time.

The man, whom we are calling David, endured eight years of physical torment and years more of psychological trauma, but it’s only decades later that he has just won a six-figure payout from the Church of England.

His abuser, the Reverend Terence King, escaped justice just as he was about to be unmasked.

He killed himself in his retirement home in York after David finally went to the police.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Herald

Thursday, May 14, 2015

By: Owen Boss

Parishioners of the St. Francis X. Cabrini church in Scituate — who have been holding a “protest vigil” ever since the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston announced it would be closed in 2004 — must vacate the premises by May 29, a state judge ruled today.

In his order, Norfolk Superior Court Judge Edward P. Leibensperger noted that the “defendants and those individuals in active concert with them, are unlawfully and intentionally committing a trespass by the continuation of their protest vigil on the premises of the church.”

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel May 14, 2015

Lawyers for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and creditors in its bankruptcy have postponed until June a decision about whether to seek mediation in a lawsuit over the estimated $66 million it holds in a trust to care for its cemeteries.

At a brief hearing Thursday, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman offered to mediate the lawsuit or find a retired magistrate to do so.

James Stang, attorney for the creditors committee, which is composed of clergy sex abuse victims but represents all creditors, said he was open to Adelman’s offer.

But archdiocese attorney Frank LoCoco suggested the parties remain too far apart for negotiations to be successful.

“We’re not convinced that further mediation at this time would be fruitful,” LoCoco told Adelman.

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2011 to address its sexual abuse liabilities dating back decades.

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CALIFORNIA
CBS San Francisco Bay Area

by Carlos E. Castañeda
May 14, 2015

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — A group of Catholics is showing its support for the embattled Archbishop of San Francisco with a fundraiser and planned family picnic this Saturday, publicized by a newspaper ad.

The group San Francisco Catholics was formed in response to a open letter published in the San Francisco Chronicle by another group of prominent Catholics calling on Pope Francis to replace Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone.

On its website, the group characterizes itself as “a grass-roots organization of Catholics in the San Francisco Archdiocese who appreciate the efforts of Archbishop Cordileone to keep our Catholic schools Catholic.”

The group is organizing a ‘Family Picnic Day’ at Sue Bierman Park just west of The Embarcadero on the 200 block of Drumm St., publicized by a sixth-page advertisement in Thursday’s Chronicle, as well as on Facebook and Twitter. The group also said a special Mass would be held at 9:30 a.m. at the nearby National Shrine of Saint Francis of Assisi (Columbus Ave & Vallejo St.) before the 11:00 a.m. event.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Wicked Local Scituate

By Jessica Trufant

SCITUATE – Parishioners who have occupied the closed St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Church in Scituate for 10 years will seek to have a judge’s order that they leave the church by May 29 suspended pending the outcome of an appeal.

Judge Edward Leibensperger on Thursday ruled that the Friends of St. Frances must end their vigil and vacate the Hood Road church by May 29.

Mary Elizabeth Carmody, a lawyer representing the parishioners, on Thursday said they are still absorbing the court’s decision, but she disagrees with the findings and is disappointed in the ruling.

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MASSACHUSETTS
WATD

BY ERIN DALE – POSTED ON MAY 14, 2015

A judge has ruled that Scituate parishioners must end their decade-long, 24-hour vigil.

The Friends of St. Frances Cabrini are ordered to leave the church within 15 days, by May 29.

They’ve occupied the parish building in a 24-hour vigil since Oct. 26, 2004. The Boston Archdiocese gave the group and its leaders notice to vacate Feb. 3 of this year, bringing a charge of civil trespass against some of the group’s members.

Norfolk County Superior Court Judge Edward Liebensperger heard from both sides in a five-hour bench trial on May 5 and issued his decision today.

Friends of St. Frances spokesperson John Rogers said that while his group is “extremely disappointed,” they still “believe that the scope of the trial was so narrow, that the whole truth wasn’t heard. And I think it’s imperative for not only us, but everybody else out there, that the whole story gets told.”

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Huffington Post

Laura Bassett
lbassett@huffingtonpost.com

On a frigid day in November 1969, Father Joseph Maskell, the chaplain of Archbishop Keough High School in Baltimore, called a student into his office and suggested they go for a drive. When the final bell rang at 2:40 p.m., Jean Hargadon Wehner, a 16-year-old junior at the all-girls Catholic school, followed the priest to the parking lot and climbed into the passenger seat of his light blue Buick Roadmaster.

It was not unusual for Maskell to give students rides home or take them to doctor’s appointments during the school day. The burly, charismatic priest, then 30 years old, had been the chief spiritual and psychological counselor at Keough for two years and was well-known in the community. Annual tuition at Keough was just $200, which attracted working-class families in deeply Catholic southwest Baltimore who couldn’t afford to send their daughters to fancier private schools. Many Keough parents had attended Maskell’s Sunday masses. He’d baptized their babies, and they trusted him implicitly.

This time, though, Maskell didn’t bring Wehner home. He navigated his car past the Catholic hospital and industrial buildings that surrounded Keough’s campus and drove toward the outskirts of the city. Eventually, he stopped at a garbage dump, far from any homes or businesses. Maskell stepped out of the car, and the blonde, freckled teenager followed him across a vast expanse of dirt toward a dark green dumpster.

It was then that she saw the body crumpled on the ground.

The week prior, Sister Cathy Cesnik, a popular young nun who taught English and drama at Keough, had vanished while on a Friday-night shopping trip. Students, parents and the local media buzzed about the 26-year-old’s disappearance. People from all over Baltimore County helped the police comb local parks and wooded areas for any sign of her.

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OHIO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, May 14, 2015

Statement by Barbara Blaine of Chicago, President of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 312-399-4747, bblaine@snapnetwork.org )

We are grateful for the court’s ruling that gives those victimized in state institutions more time. For decades, Ohio archaic, predator friendly statute of limitations have protected both those who commit and conceal child sex crimes. This is a belated but welcome step forward.

If Ohio kids are to be substantially safer lawmakers must reform these arbitrary deadlines, giving child sex victims more chances to expose more molesters in court. In particular, Ohio lawmakers should follow the lead of Delaware, California, Minnesota and Hawaii and adopt a civil window which lets anyone victimized as a child by anyone to seek justice and expose wrongdoers.

[The Columbus Dispatch]

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Big News! Guilty Monsignor’s Family Lay Crimes Against Children On Cardinals: Will Pope Now Act On Cardinal Rigali?

The family of convicted child endangerer, Monsignor William Lynn, now say, in pertinent part, reportedly that Lynn’s criminal trial was about ” … charging an underling with the crimes of his former superiors who could not or would not be prosecuted.”

Lynn must have confirmed this with his family, no? How else could they otherwise have known of the “crimes of his former superiors”, principally Philadelphia Cardinals Justin Rigali and Anthony Bevilacqua. For years Lynn has avoided pointing the fingers at his bosses. At his sentencing, the trial judge told him, in effect, that he should have stood up to the cardinals.

Why is Lynn’s finger pointing now through his family? Will he soon say more and say it directly and publicly? Will Pope Francis seek to find out the facts about this statement mentioning cardinals’ crimes against children? Will the pope ask Lynn about this when he visits Philadelphia this summer? Since Rigali is apparently still honored at Vatican events, Francis should at a minimum speak to Lynn, no? Will the Catholics of Philadelphia demand the pope do so or just go along like docile sheep with the pope’s latest charade?

Please see also my related “Pope Francis’ Mess: The Media, The USA Threat, The Vatican & The Democratic Era “.

Lynn had served 18 months of a 3 to 6 year sentence before Pennsylvania’s intermediate Superior Court overturned on appeal his trial court conviction. He then spent the last 16 months under house arrest under terms of release imposed by Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina, who presided over Lynn’s 2012 trial and conviction by a jury.

After Pennsylvania’s highest court, the Supreme Court, reversed the Superior Court’s reversal of Lynn’s conviction, Judge Sarmina revoked bail and ordered Lynn back to jail. When Lynn appeared in Judge Sarmina’s courtroom on a motion by the to revoke his bail, Lynn’s family was noticeably absent from the proceedings.The monsignor’s family subsequently released a statement that reportedly says, in pertinent part:

We, the family of Msgr. Lynn, chose to forgo the proceedings as we were confident of what the outcome would be, … . We firmly believe that abuse of a child by any individual should not be tolerated. Sadly this trial was not about justice for victims but about establishing political platforms by charging an underling with the crimes of his former superiors who could not or would not be prosecuted. (my emphasis).

Who incidentally is paying for all of Lynn’s appeals? Are Lynn and his lawyers trying to send Philly’s current leader, Archbishop Charles Chaput, through Lynn’s family, a message that Lynn may be considering finally disclosing details about crimes alleged of the two cardinals he worked for? What is really going on here? Let us hope Pope Francis tries to get to the bottom of this disgraceful mess.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Former North Catholic teacher faces sentence after sexual abuse convictions in Australia

By Peter Smith / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A Roman Catholic brother who taught for years at North Catholic High School in Pittsburgh is facing sentencing in Australia after his recent convictions in Melbourne for sexual abuse there, according to an Australian news report.

Brother Hartman, now 75, faces a July 8 court date related to his sentencing, according to County Court records for the Australian state of Victoria.

He pleaded guilty recently in County Court in the Australian state of Victoria to four counts of indecent assault and was found guilty by the court of an additional count of indecent assault and two counts of common law assault, according to the Maribyrnong & Hobsons Bay Star Weekly in Victoria.

A Victoria County Court judge on Tuesday lifted a suppression order that had previously forbidden the release of any information on the case by court officials or by Australian media, according to the newspaper. The lifting of the order came after the last of a series of trials involving Brother Hartman that began in April.

Brother Hartman, a member of the St. Louis-based Marianist Province of the United States, was convicted for actions during his time as a teacher at a Catholic high school in Victoria in the 1970s and 1980s, before and after his time in Pittsburgh.

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, May 14

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 566 9790, DavidGClohessy@gmail.com )

In perhaps the most disingenuous way possible, Syracuse’s Catholic bishop is keeping names of proven, admitted and credibly accused predator priests secret. He’s blaming victims for his recklessness, callousness and cowardice.

[Syracuse.com]

Bishop Robert Cunningham will keep withholding names of potentially dangerous clerics from the public. He claims some victims don’t want child molesting clerics to be exposed. This is disingenuous. Frankly we doubt he’s telling the truth. But even if he is, Cunningham should have the courage to put the actual physical safety of children above the supposed wishes of an adult to shield an adult who assaults kids.

In the world’s oldest and most rigid hierarchy, in which bishops wield virtually limitless power and parishioners have virtually none, Cunningham pretends to be ‘democratic’ and claims he’s essentially letting victims vote on whether police, prosecutors, parents, parishioners and the public should

And since there’s supposedly a virtual tie, Cunningham will continue with the same self-serving secrecy about predators that has led to 6,300 US priests being accused of assaulting more than 100,000 children.

(For citations, see BishopAccountability.org)

In an equally disingenuous move, Cunningham claims he will confirm a predator priest’s name if a victim discloses it first. He knows full well that a victim can rarely “disclose” a predator’s name without a criminal case or a civil lawsuit, both of which are extremely rare and difficult under New York’s archaic, predator-friendly laws with extremely tight deadlines.

Our hearts go out to Kevin Braney and everyone who was and will be sexually violated by Syracuse priests. We hope that every single one of them – plus every witness, whistle-blower and concerned church member – will find the courage to try to protect kids and expose those who omit and conceal child sex crimes by calling police, lawyers, therapists and groups like ours.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Statement by Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director (Milwaukee)
CONTACT: 414.429.7259

Survivors of rape and sexual assault by clergy of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee today are grateful that Milwaukee Federal Judge Lynn Adelman, in an unusual impromptu hearing today, has directly offered to mediate the deteriorating four year old Milwaukee Archdiocese bankruptcy case involving some 575 victim cases.

The case has been handled so far by bankruptcy Judge Susan V Kelley and it is to Kelley that Adelman said he first made the offer.

Survivors especially welcome the move if it means that Adelman will cut through the legal wrangling and stonewalling by the archdiocese so that survivors and legal experts can finally examine what they have long maintained is a fraudulently constituted $57 million dollar “cemetery trust” created by former Archbishop Timothy Dolan and the Vatican.

A “smoking gun” letter surfacing among the bankruptcy documents and written by Dolan asks direct permission from the Vatican to establish the trust. Dolan writes that the trust would specifically be created to shield the archdiocese from compensating victims of priest sex abuse by US courts. Not long afterwards, Dolan was promoted to Cardinal of New York and the Milwaukee Archdiocese filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Not surprisingly, Adelman’s mediation offer comes just days after the lead lawyer for the archdiocese, Frank LoCoco, told the bankruptcy court that the church was prepared to deplete all its funds before compensating a single victim of clergy sex crimes.

LoCoco’s remarks, which he characterized at the time as “candid,” represent, one can assume, the sentiments of current Archbishop Jerome Listecki. They are utterly consistent with the plan the archdiocese has had all along: to use bankruptcy court to dodge accountability for a decades long pattern and practice of shielding and transferring known child sex offenders without providing restitution to those harmed.

Four years ago, Listecki publically urged victims to come forward to file cases and promised that the church, with the court, would provide restitution and healing. Yet, the very day after the period of time for survivors to file cases was reached, LoCoco and his team immediately sought to dismiss victim cases. For four long years, and thousands of billable hours later, they have been doing little else. The result: church lawyers, court and other costs are now soaring towards $20 million dollars while victims have received no relief whatsoever. In fact, the archdiocese claims it has only $4 million dollars to help victims, four times less than it’s been paying out to lawyers and for other related costs.

There is something terribly wrong with this picture. Maybe Adelman or someone can figure it out and fix it. If not, the bankruptcy court has been little else than a profitable chess game for church lawyers. And it will be victims who will once again have to pay the price for the crimes and sins of the church.

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UNITED STATES
Haaretz

By The Forward and Bethany Mandel | May 13, 2015

I follow the Barry Freundel case quite closely, closer than most. I have a dog in the race: I’m a confirmed victim (though the videos he took of me inside the preparation room at the mikveh was recorded outside the statute of limitations). When news broke yesterday of a defense memo I immediately got my hands on an unredacted version. The Washington Post soon published a redacted copy, obscuring the identities of several women who were named by the defense expressing sympathy or confusion about the prominent rabbi’s arrest.

Why did the Washington Post remove their names? They were protecting their privacy, because it wasn’t clear to editors that their remarks were made public with their permission. The section of the defense memo in question is named “Internet Posting (sic) of Women Congregants of Rabbi Freundel.”

The instincts of the editors of the Washington Post were correct. I spoke to four out of the five women named by the defense and they all confirmed they were neither asked or told by the defense that their remarks would be used. The fifth didn’t return my request for comment. All said they had not been contacted by Freundel or his lawyer before their statements, taken from Facebook immediately after the arrest took place and without context, were placed in a sentencing request for leniency by the court. Of the four that returned my request for comment, none of them would have granted consent had they been asked.

Freundel’s lawyers asked for community service, in stark opposition to the prosecution’s request for 17 years incarceration, one-third of the maximum allowed by law for the 52 charges (another 100 videos fall outside of the statute of limitations).

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UNITED STATES
Haaretz

By Rabbi Elianna Yolkut | May 14, 2015

My Washington D.C. community has been engaged in impassioned debates over how severe a punishment Rabbi Barry Freundel deserves for spying on women in the mikveh (Jewish ritual bath), since prosecutors recommended he be sent to prison for 17 years for 52 counts of misdemeanor voyeurism.

“Murderers and rapist don’t even get that much time,” one congregant insisted.

“Are you kidding me? He was a rabbi; he shamed people. It’s like murder,” another interjected.

Back and forth the arguments flew, growing louder as congregants contradicted and agreed with one another. Listening to the conversation, I wondered: What does Judaism teach us about those who exploit others: do we have a right to seek a severe punishment, or must we strive for leniency, in an effort to exhibit compassion?

Teshuvah (repentance) and forgiveness are central elements of Jewish thought. In the Talmud is the famous phrase, “Human beings should be pliant as a reed, not hard like the cedar,” in granting forgiveness (Taanit 20a). This phrase, and others, is often used to describe a victim’s responsibility to be soft and flexible in their ability to offer forgiveness. In Shabbat 133b we are taught, “Just as it is in the nature of God to be merciful to His creatures, so man in attempting to imitate the ways of God should be forgiving toward those who have injured them.”

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By Alana Suskin | Religion News Service May 14

When I was in grad school on the path that would eventually lead me to become a rabbi, I took a class in the philosophy of Jewish law. The teacher was clear and interesting, if not terribly personable. When the semester ended and I wanted to learn more seriously about the body of Jewish text called Mishnah, I asked the professor if he would help.

He agreed but specified that our study had to take place over the phone. I thought it odd, but knew that philosophy departments are full of eccentric personalities, and I was grateful that he was willing to take the time. I didn’t think much of it, but now, I wonder if even back then Rabbi Barry Freundel was already fighting his demons.

The story of Rabbi Freundel is notorious: a nationally known figure, the rabbi of an important Orthodox congregation in Washington, who was disgraced after he secretly recorded women immersing in the mikvah ritual bath. It is a sad story, one that certainly reveals the truth of the Talmudic comment: “When anyone commits a transgression in secret, it is as though he thrust aside the feet of the Divine Presence.”

In the Washington area, where I live, there is shock over the Freundel scandal. I myself have struggled with what to tell people who ask me about how we should respond as a community. As a former student, I, too, was shocked.

But after much reflection, I think there are two primary responses: one personal, one communal.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

MONDAY, MAY 11, 2015

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

A lawyer for Msgr. William J. Lynn filed two motions in state Superior Court today, seeking to argue an appeal for a new trial before the same panel of judges that previously overturned Lynn’s conviction.

On Dec. 26, 2013, state Superior Court Judges John T. Bender, Christine L. Donohue and John L. Musmanno issued an opinion that reversed Lynn’s June 22, 2012, conviction in Common Pleas Court for endangering the welfare of a child.

On April 27, 2015, the state Supreme Court entered an opinion reversing the Superior Court’s reversal.

In his motion seeking a new briefing before the Superior Court, Thomas A. Bergstrom, Lynn’s lawyer, noted that the state Supreme Court only addressed one narrow issue, namely whether Lynn was considered an “other person supervising the welfare of a child” under the state’s original 1972 child endangerment law.

The law states: “A parent, guardian or other person supervising the welfare of a child under 18 years of age commits an offense if he knowingly endangers the welfare of a child by violating a duty of care, protection or support.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Legal Intelligencer

Clergy Abuse Plaintiff Seeks Judgment Based on Lynn Conviction

P.J. D’Annunzio, The Legal Intelligencer
May 14, 2015

The plaintiff in a civil clergy sex-abuse case is asking the court for summary judgment against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and Monsignor William Lynn based on the reinstatement of Lynn’s criminal conviction.

Billy Doe, who alleged that he was sexually abused by priests as a minor, claimed in court papers that Lynn, in his role as an archdiocese administrator, knowingly shuffled priests accused of misconduct from parish to parish across the state where they could come into contact with children. The plaintiff in the case is proceeding under the pseudonym “Billy Doe.”

The Supreme Court’s April reinstatement of Lynn’s criminal conviction of endangering the welfare of children means that the archdiocese and Lynn can be held civilly liable, Doe claimed.

Lynn’s attorney, Thomas Bergstrom of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, said he had not yet had a chance to review Doe’s motion, but he would file a response sometime before the deadline in early June. He declined to comment further.

Doe’s lawyer, Slade McLaughin, and the archdiocese’s attorney, Nicholas Centrella of Conrad O’Brien, did not return calls seeking comment.

Lynn is the first Catholic Church administrative official convicted of endangering the welfare of children abused by other priests.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

By Meredith Rodriguez
Chicago Tribune

Dozens of gold chains, wedding bands and gold crosses used to adorn statues were illegally removed from Our Lady of Mount Carmel, a Catholic church in Melrose Park, according to a suit filed Wednesday in Cook County Circuit Court.

The Catholic Bishop of Chicago filed a lawsuit against three people it alleges took the items from a church shrine before and during 2013. The three were members of the Society of the Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, according to the suit.

The removed jewelry included roughly one dozen large 14-carat gold chains from 16 to 36 inches long, roughly five gold crosses on small chains as well as crowns, pins, precious jewels and broaches. Jewels were also taken from a safe deposit box at a bank, according to the suit. Removed gowns included two infant cream-colored dresses with matching capes, a 1940s-era cream-colored cape and wigs.

The value of the items is “not ascertainable,” but it is more than $100,000, according to the suit.

After written and oral demands were made to return the items, the Archdiocese of Chicago sent a letter last July and another one last month demanding that the items be returned, the suit said.

“Despite the demands for its return, the property has not been recovered and is being unlawfully retained,” according to the suit. “… The property has not been taken for any tax, assessment or fine levied by virtue of any law of this state against the property of the Archdiocese of Chicago, nor seized under any lawful execution or attachment, or held by virtue of any order of replevin against Plaintiff.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
CBS Local

SCITUATE (CBS) — A Norfolk Superior Court judge has ruled that the friends of St. Frances must end their decade-long vigil.

The judge said that parishioners occupying the closed Scituate church must leave by May 26. A counter claim that was filed by parishioners has been dismissed.

A group of parishioners has held vigil at the church for the last 10 years, after the Boston Archdiocese ordered it closed as part of its 2004 reconfiguration.

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OHIO
The Columbus Dispatch

By Randy Ludlow
The Columbus Dispatch • Thursday May 14, 2015

A divided Ohio Supreme Court ruled today that children sexually assaulted at state institutions have 12 years — instead of two years — to sue state agencies for damages.

In a 4-3 decision, the court majority ruled that the 12-year statute of limitations for filing sexual-assault claims from age 18 overrides a law requiring lawsuits against the state to be filed within two years.

Those victimized by teachers, coaches, clergy, local juvenile-detention-center employees and others have until age 30 to sue their molesters and their private- or public-sector employers for damages.

But those molested by state employees in state institutions had only until age 20 to file lawsuits in the Court of Claims prior to today’s ruling.

The justices heard arguments a year ago that the differing deadlines — from the time victims become adults — shield state agencies from damage claims filed by victims who often need years to “process” the trauma they suffered.

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NEW YORK
Syracuse.com

By Marnie Eisenstadt | meisenstadt@syracuse.com
on May 14, 2015

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Le Moyne College President Linda LeMura appeared on Fox News this morning to talk about how some on campus asked that Cardinal Timothy Dolan be uninvited as the college’s commencement speaker.

During the interview, LeMura said that the group represented a small percentage of the college community. She heard their concerns about Dolan’s actions regarding the priest sexual abuse scandal and suggested the students do more research about what happened.

“Many of our students, faculty and alumni are very pleased,” LeMura said. “He’ll be great.”

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MALTA
Times of Malta

A compensation court case filed by the victims of clerical abuse was today put off indefinitely until a separate case appealing a decision by a judge not to abstain from hearing the case is heard.

In a very short sitting today, Mr Justice Joseph Micallef upheld a request for the case to be postponed and put on hold pending a hearing of an appeal against the judge’s decision not to abstain from hearing the case.

Lawyers Patrick Valentino and Franco Vassallo said this would allow them to also file a request before the Constitutional Court.

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MALTA
Malta Independent

John Cordina

Proceedings on a compensation claim filed by 10 victims of sexual abuse at St Joseph’s Home in Santa Venera have been suspended after they filed a constitutional appeal in their bid to have the case assigned to a different judge.

Two former priests, Carmelo Pulis and Godwin Scerri, were jailed for six and five years respectively in August 2011 after they were found guilty of sexually abusing boys in their care. Mr Scerri was acquitted of violently raping a boy on a technicality: the incident did occur, but not in the location mentioned in the charge sheet.

A third defendant facing similar charges, Br Joseph Bonnet, died months before proceedings were concluded. The two priests were defrocked following their conviction, and while they appealed the case, the sentence was confirmed on appeal.

The 10 victims sought financial compensation, but meetings with the Malta Archdiocese put paid to the possibility of an out-of-court settlement. The Curia rejected legal responsibility for the sexual abuse carried by two of its priests, although it said it was willing to provide counselling to the victims.

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MICHIGAN
C and G Newspapers

By Terry Oparka
Published May 13, 2015

Author Gerald Posner has investigated some high-profile issues for the 12 books he’s written.

An attorney and former chief investigative reporter for The Daily Beast, he’s written books about Motown, as well as the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Posner said he has wanted to research Vatican finances since ’84, when he was doing pro bono work in Argentina researching Nazi Joseph Mengele — known as the “Angel of Death” for his torture of men, women and children at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II — for a lawsuit he brought on behalf of surviving twins from Auschwitz.

While in the Argentine federal police archives, Posner said, he came across files on a priest and a bishop who had helped Nazis after World War II.

He’s been working on his book, “God’s Bankers,” which he said is an in-depth examination of Vatican finances, since 2005.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet

14 May 2015 by Sarah Mac Donald

Leaders of more than 20 international reform groups have written to Pope Francis criticising the trend towards “mega-parishes” as a response to the decline in priest numbers.

The letter is signed by 24 groups whose representatives attended last month’s reform conference in Limerick. It warns the Pope that bishops are responding to the priest shortage by creating “anonymous and unmanageable superstructures”.

In these new mega-parishes, personal contact between people and ministers is lost, says the letter, leaving the faithful “alienated, unsettled and insecure” as priests are increasingly focused on administration instead of caring for souls.

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ILLINOIS
Effingham Daily News

Bill Grimes

SIGEL — Defending himself against his removal as pastor of four local Catholic parishes, the Rev. Robert “Bud” DeGrand said he’s been judged guilty without a fair hearing, and that the actions of the Springfield Diocese “felt more like a witch trial than any real search for truth.”

The ousted priest’s comments were made this week in a letter addressed to “My dear brothers and sisters in Christ.” Although he did not return a message from a reporter seeking comment, DeGrand sent the letter to the Effingham Daily News. Its authenticity was verified by George Nuxoll, a former trustee at St. Michael the Archangel Church in Sigel.

Bishop Thomas John Paprocki on May 2 removed DeGrand from his parishes in Sigel, Neoga, Green Creek and Lillyville, citing a Diocesan Review Board finding that allegations of sexual misconduct against DeGrand were “credible.” Those allegations stemmed from an alleged incident in 1980 while DeGrand was serving a parish in Jacksonville.

The priest has never been charged with a crime.

DeGrand had served the so-called “Four Parishes” for 16 years, and was removed despite what some members call his almost universal support.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

05/13/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

Yesterday there was grim news coming from the Pew Research Center for Religion and Public Life. The 2015 Pew report, like its 2007 predecessor, suggests an upheaval in religious life in America with a decided trend towards the ‘nones’ (religiously unaffiliated individuals). Of Catholicism in particular, the Pew report states:

Nearly a third of all U.S. adults (31.7%) were raised Catholic, and most of them continue to identify as Catholics today. But nearly 13% of all Americans are former Catholics – people who no longer identify with the faith despite having been raised in the Catholic Church. By comparison, there are far fewer converts to Catholicism; 2% of all U.S. adults now identify as Catholics after having been raised in another religion or without a religion. This means that there are more than six former Catholics for every convert to Catholicism. No other religious group analyzed in the survey has experienced anything close to this ratio of losses to gains via religious switching.

Now, I have a certain ambivalence towards such research, mainly because I am aware of its margin of error and its potential misuse. For instance, the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis consistently states that it is home to 825,000 Catholics, when in fact the actual Catholic population is significantly lower. The number 825,000 came about by multiplying the percentage of the population identifying as Catholic as articulated in the Pew studies (which in itself is based on a sample of 35,000) with the total population of the 12 county Archdiocesan territory as identified by census, and then adjusting that number upwards so that the Archdiocese appears to have a large enough population to require an auxiliary bishop or two, but not large enough to increase its required financial contribution to the USCCB. By way of contrast, any any attempts to quantify the number of Catholics in the Archdiocese using empirical data (such as attendance at Mass, membership rolls, numbers of baptisms, numbers of people who have formally defected from the faith, etc) never resulted in numbers above 450,000 to 550,000 Catholics. This inconsistency was repeatedly mentioned to Archbishop Nienstedt, but he was strongly in favor of using the higher, clearly incorrect number, and apparently continues to be so inclined.

At the same time, anyone who cares about the Catholic Church should be concerned about the trends identified in the Pew study. While I realize that there are some that believe, as Pope Benedict XVI did, that historical forces would combine to restructure the Catholic Church into a far smaller,
‘simpler and more spiritual’ entity, I am not of the opinion that this prophecy or its apparent fulfillment is something we should celebrate. I think this is especially true given the reasons articulated by many so-called ‘millennials’ (those under 30) for being disaffiliated. In an interview with MPR yesterday, Rachel Held Evans, a blogger and contributor to the Washington Post had this to say about the inability of traditional churches to appeal to her generation.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian Jewish News

ADASS Israel Congregation’s former president Benjamin Koppel was quizzed in the Supreme Court of Victoria yesterday about how closely the appointment of teacher Malka Leifer was vetted.

Leifer, a former senior teacher at the school – and allegedly the principal –fled to Israel in 2008 with the assistance of the Adass board, after allegations surfaced that she had sexually abused some of her students.

Leifer is under house arrest in Israel, with an application underway by Australian authorities to have her extradited to face criminal charges relating to her employment at Adass.

A lawsuit against Adass and Leifer, brought by one of her alleged victims, is in process.

The court heard that a subcommittee of the Adass congregation was tasked with finding a Jewish Studies teacher and that Israeli David Rosenbaum, who lived in Australia at the time, was asked to make inquiries about candidates.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Louise Milligan

Ten victims who were abused by notorious paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale have begun proceedings in the Victorian Supreme Court against a former Bishop of Ballarat.

They accuse Bishop Ronald Mulkearns and the Diocese of Ballarat of negligence for allegedly failing to protect them and other victims, despite being aware of complaints against Ridsdale.

The lawyer representing the victims, Viv Waller, said the case was unprecedented because it bypassed the Catholic Church’s so-called Ellis defence – where the church cannot be sued because, technically, it does not exist as a legal entity.

“The Catholic Church itself has no continuing legal personality, so it’s not like a company,” Ms Waller told the ABC’s 7.30.

“So, unless the individuals responsible for the act or alleged mission are still alive, there’s no-one against which you can actually commence proceedings.”

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UNITED STATES
Verdict

Marcia A. Hamilton

There is good news and bad news for victims of child sex abuse who seek to enter the justice system in 2015. As a general matter across the United States, we are on the right track and headed in the right direction. But there is a great deal of work left to do.

The most remarkable leap forward: Georgia. Before May 5, 2015, the date when Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signed into law the Hidden Predator Act (HPA), Georgia was among the five worst states in the country for child sex abuse victims’ access to justice. The statutes of limitations (“SOLs”) in the civil context shut down all claims by age 23 and on the criminal side, only opened the door for crimes after July 1, 2012. That meant civil suits and prosecutions for child sex abuse have been rare occurrences in Georgia.

That changes on July 1, 2015, when the HPA goes into effect. The HPA moves Georgia into one of the better states in the country. It creates a two-year window (during which defendants do not have the benefit of the statute of limitation as a defense) for the victim to sue the perpetrator. It also institutes a new discovery rule, which permits victims to sue perpetrators and/or institutions for abuse and cover ups. Victims will have two years from the date they understand that their current problems were caused by the childhood sexual abuse to go to court. While there are better SOL laws in the country, and most specifically, Delaware and Minnesota, which have eliminated civil and criminal SOLs for all defendants, and given victims a window, it still catapults Georgia ahead of the other four deplorable states on this issue, New York, Michigan, Alabama, and Mississippi.

A more predictable result: Utah. Utah also made some progress, though it is all against the perpetrator. As of March 2015, for all abuse into the future, civil claims will not be subject to an SOL against the perpetrator. The bill started out as one against perpetrator and institution. Yet, as expected, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ensured that the same civil extension could not be applied to institutions that employ pedophiles or that cover up for them. The same age 22 limit that was in place before remains, making Utah one of the most restrictive regimes for bringing institutions that harbor abusers to justice.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

Megan Neil
May 14, 2015

Many victims who haven’t come forward decades after being abused by clergy and religious in Ballarat might be prompted to speak up when the abuse royal commission sits in the Victorian town, a victims’ advocate hopes.

Ballarat Centre Against Sexual Assault manager Shireen Gunn says she has no doubt there are more victims who could be empowered by the commission hearings starting next week, as occurred after Victoria’s child abuse inquiry.

“We believe that there’s others who haven’t come forward yet, that are still in the wings,” Ms Gunn told AAP.

“If out of this intensive focus on our area, if more are able to see others have told their story and that gives them a sense that they come forward, that will be really good.”

Some of the men – aged in their 40s, 50s and 60s – who sought help after the Victorian parliamentary inquiry were speaking about their abuse for the first time.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Nottingham Post

The vicar of a Sneinton church has been spared custody after he admitted possessing child porn of children as young as two.

Rev Andrew Waude had been working at St Cyprian’s Church, in Lancaster Road as part of the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham, when he was caught with 476 images and videos.

After pleading guilty at Nottingham Crown Court at an earlier hearing, he was sentenced to a three-year community order and supervision from probation and 250 hours of unpaid work on Wednesday.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

AAP

It’s the rollcall of names that decades on still haunts former St Alipius students: Ridsdale, Best, Dowlan, Fitzgerald, Farrell.

The school chaplain, principal and the entire teaching staff.

Five confirmed pedophiles, all at the Christian Brothers junior school in Ballarat East in the 1970s.

A St Alipius class photo from the time bears testament to the devastating toll their abuse wrought.
“Now a third of those are gone, they’re dead,” Ballarat Centre Against Sexual Assault (CASA) manager Shireen Gunn said.

The unusually high level of suicides and premature deaths is the ongoing legacy of the abuse of children as young as five in the Ballarat diocese.

Peter Blenkiron, who was 11 when he was abused at the Brothers’ other school in Ballarat, St Patrick’s College, estimates there’s been 10 suicides in the regional Victorian city in the past year alone.

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UNITED STATES
National Review

by IAN TUTTLE May 13, 2015

This year’s inevitable commencement controversy is at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y., where students are circulating the following petition, via Change.org:

Le Moyne College has appointed Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan as Commencement Speaker for the graduating class of 2015 and the graduates, along with staff and other students, do not approve of this choice.

Over the years, Cardinal Dolan has been involved with sexual abuse scandals dealing with clergy of the church, homophobic comments and does not represent the ideals we have come to know Le Moyne to represent. With the growing attention toward sexual assault on the Le Moyne campus, students have felt that keeping Cardinal Dolan as commencement speaker completely opposes what we have advocated against.

By signing this petition, you are playing a part in being the voice of Le Moyne. We have walked the halls of Le Moyne for the Black Lives that Matter, we have held vigils for the Muslim students gunned down in Chapel Hill and much more. We have always come together in hard times. Do not stop now. Stand strong, sign and keep it going.

The petition has garnered 662 signees, from a college of about 2,800 undergraduate and 800 graduate students. It seems worth noting, by the by, that Le Moyne is a Jesuit college. It touts its “Jesuit Tradition” on its website homepage. It shows pictures of students chatting with priests.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Sun-Times

Sam Charles

The Archdiocese of Chicago is suing several members of a west suburban parish who, a new lawsuit alleges, took jewelry and other adornments from the church valued at more than $100,000.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Cook County Circuit Court against three members of the Society of the Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, based in Melrose Park.

The Archdiocese alleges that some time “prior to and during 2013,” dozens of gold rings, chains, crosses, crowns, broaches and several statue adornments were taken from the church by the three parishioners.

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UNITED KIGNDOM
The Times

Alice Hutton
May 14 2015

A father of two travelled to Italy to covertly film his confrontation with a priest whom he claimed had sexually abused him as a teenager at a Roman Catholic seminary in Britain.

Mark Murray went to Italy to track down Father Romano Nardo, after repeated attempts to have him extradited to Britain to face questioning failed.

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UNITED STATES
Crux

Pew survey: Percentage of US Catholics drops and Catholicism is losing members faster than any denomination

By Michael O’Loughlin
National reporter May 12, 2015

For years, two truisms dominated coverage of the US Catholic Church: about one quarter of the population is Catholic and each year at Easter, Catholics entering the church offset those leaving it.

But new data suggests a new story.

A report released Tuesday by the Pew Forum finds that the total number of Catholics in the United States dropped by 3 million since 2007, now comprising about 20 percent – or one-fifth – of the total population.

And perhaps more troubling for the church, for every one Catholic convert, more than six Catholics leave the church. Taken a step further, Catholicism loses more members than it gains at a higher rate than any other denomination, with nearly 13 percent of all Americans describing themselves as “former Catholics.”

The report, America’s Changing Religious Landscape, found that in 2014, the overall share of Christians in the United States dropped to an all-time low of just under 71 percent, down about 7 percentage points from 2007.

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ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, May 13

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com )

An accused predator priest who has reportedly been permanently ousted from ministry is speaking out for the first time. And he’s ducking, dodging, deflecting and distracting.

[Journal Courier]

Fr. Robert “Bud” DeGrand claims he’s been mistreated by his boss, Bishop Thomas Paprocki, and a panel of Catholics. But, if Paprocki is to be believed, Fr. DeGrand deceived a therapist and refused to take a lie detector test, be evaluated by a psychiatrist, meet again with a church panel, and move to free housing in Springfield.

Fr. DeGrand gripes that his accuser has stepped forward years after the alleged crimes. But DeGrand isn’t stupid. He knows that precious few young boys or girls have the strength, maturity and courage to promptly call 911 right after they’ve been raped or sodomized by a trusted adult. Even fewer can do this when the perpetrator is a revered religious figure who purports to have the power to get a child or his loved ones into heaven by hearing confession.

Fr. DeGrand also knows that, given the church’s long-standing priest shortage, most Catholic officials feel pressured to err on the side of keeping sexually troubled clerics on the job. Often, church officials believe their accused colleagues over their alleged victims. So it’s significant when a bishop and his hand-picked Catholic panel concur that a cleric likely molested a child. We also strongly suspect that church insurers, defense lawyers and public relations experts agree with Paprocki and his panel that Fr. DeGrand is a threat. We also suspect there is other information in Fr. DeGrand’s personnel file about other known, admitted or alleged sexual misdeeds.

We again call on Paprocki to

–stop using parishioner donations to buy a lawyer for Fr. DeGrand
–put notices about Fr. DeGrand and the credible accusations against him on the diocesan website
–do the same with parish bulletins and websites across the diocese
–beg, in each notice, all victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to call police
–visit each church where Fr. DeGrand has worked, making the same plea in person,
–turn over, to law enforcement agencies in every county where he worked, his personnel file, and
–teach his flock how to respond appropriately when abuse reports against clerics surface

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IRELAND
National Catholic Reporter

Sarah Mac Donald | May. 13, 2015

DUBLIN The leaders of 24 international reform groups who met in Limerick, Ireland, in April are urging Pope Francis to call for a halt to the church’s policy of clustering parishes into megaparishes as a response to the decline in priest numbers.

In an open letter, the 32 signatories — from groups such as Catholics for Renewal in Australia, A Call to Action in England, and the Society for Open Christianity for the 21st Century in Slovakia — tell Francis that the future of parish life is “massively threatened.”

Bishops seeking to address the priest shortage are “merging active and vibrant parishes into anonymous and unmanageable superstructures,” the letter said.

While merging seems to be “the formula of the hour,” the reform leaders warn that in these new megaparishes, personal contact between people and ministers is being lost as the sacraments are removed ever further from the everyday life of church citizens.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Ulster Herald

A SOLICITOR, charged alongside a priest with perverting justice, is to argue to have the case thrown out of court.

Committal proceedings were scheduled to take place at Dungannon Magistrates Court, potentially sending the case against 54-year-old solicitor Patrick Mallon, and Father Joseph John Quinn (48) to the Crown Court for trial but that was adjourned again after Mallon’s solicitor Aidan Quinn revealed he would be launching an abuse of process application.

The PE was initially scheduled at the beginning of March. In court Mr Quinn told District Judge John Meehan the application would be “on two limbs” but did not expand on them, asking instead for two weeks to lodge skeleton arguments.

Dungannon based solicitor Mallon, from Upper Parklands, and Fr Quinn, from Ardmore Park in Coalisland, each face two charges of perverting the course of justice in that they allegedly attempted to pressurise or persuade witnesses to withdraw statements made to police between February 1 and 15

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ITALIA
La Repubblica

Mark Murray ha 59 anni e ha intrapreso un lungo viaggio dal Galles fino a Verona per incontrare padre Romano Nardo, il sacerdote che nel 1970 abusò sessualmente di lui nel seminario di Mirfield, in Inghilterra. Un faccia a faccia avvenuto all’interno della Casa dei padri Comboniani di Verona, dopo 45 anni di attesa senza mai un’ammissione di colpevolezza o delle scuse. “Mi hanno dato dei soldi come compensazione, ma non è una questione di soldi. Quei fatti hanno avuto un grande impatto sulla mia vita, per anni non ho voluto avere figli per paura di essere io stesso un pedofilo”, racconta Murray

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UNITED KINGDOM/ITALY
Telegraph

By Nick Squires, Rome 13 May 2015

A British father-of-two has confronted an Italian priest who allegedly sexually abused him when he was a teenager.

Mark Murray claims he was systematically abused by Father Romano Nardo at Mirfield, a Catholic seminary school in Yorkshire.

Mr Murray, 59, spent years trying to bring the alleged abuse, which took place in 1970, to the attention of the Vatican authorities.

He finally decided to turn up in person at a religious institution in Verona, northern Italy, where Father Nardo, now 73, lives.

He managed to confront the elderly priest, telling him: “You have had a massive, negative impact on my life and my family and my children. I tried many times to meet with you.”

Mr Murray covertly filmed the encounter with a tiny camera hidden inside a wristwatch, provided to him by La Repubblica, which published the footage online on Wednesday.

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NEW MEXICO
New Mexican

Posted: Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Russell Contreras
AP Writer

ALBUQUERQUE — A new lawsuit says the Vatican sent a New England priest accused of raping boys and stealing parish money to New Mexico for treatment and that he later abused a boy in that state numerous times.

The lawsuit recently filed in Albuquerque District Court says a religious order in Massachusetts wrote the Vatican seeking to fire Rev. John George Weisenborn. However, the Vatican instructed the diocese to send Weisenborn to New Mexico in 1964 where he was later hired as a full-time priest.

According to the lawsuit, Weisenborn abused as boy more than fifty times as a priest at St. Francis Xavier in Albuquerque beginning in 1968.

Court documents say Weisenborn also was detained three times in Washington D.C. for having sex with boys before coming to New Mexico.

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CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

posted by Joelle Casteix on May 13, 2015

Last week, I learned that I have been selected as a 2015 Ambassador of Peace award winner by the Violence Prevention Coalition of Orange County. That’s some pretty cool news!

I was nominated by my cousin and friend Darcy Fehringer-Mask*, who won the award herself in 2008 for her work in diversity and anti-bias education, including bullying awareness and prevention. I was chosen for my work on behalf of victims of child sexual abuse, prevention and awareness education, and my efforts towards changing civil and criminal statutes of limitations for sex crimes against children.

Looking at the other winners, I’m in awesome company and am very humbled by the honor. The ceremony is a June 5 luncheon in Costa Mesa. Let me know if you want to come. I’ll save you a seat!

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, May 13

For more information: David Clohessy 314 566 9790 ( davidgclohessy@gmail.com ) , Anne Barrett Doyle 781-439-5208 ( barrett.doyle@comcast.net )

Three groups: Finn should not ordain new priests
Bishop was convicted for not reporting child abuse images
Last month, three years late, prelate finally resigned
But Catholic officials are letting him ordain priests & deacons
Organizations say his “continued visibility hurts parishioners and victims”

Three groups concerned about clergy sex crimes and cover ups are urging a Catholic panel to stop a convicted bishop from ordaining priests and deacons in two ceremonies later this month.

Members of BishopAccountability.org, the National Survivor Advocacy Coalition (NSAC), and the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) are concerned about Bishop Robert Finn who resigned last month, three years after he was criminally convicted of failing to report suspected child sex crimes by a priest.

The organizations are writing the National Review Board, a group of lay Catholics charged with working with US bishops across on the sexual abuse of minors.

[National Review Board]

A fourth group, the Boston-based Voice of the Faithful, is expected to write the NRB today expressing the same concern. (Contact Donna Doucette, dbdoucette@votf.org )

They are asking that the group demand that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops ban Bishop Finn from presiding over the upcoming May 16 and May 23 ordination of priests and deacons. Finn was allowed to resign last month, after years of outcry from victims and Catholics over his conviction and his handling of the Fr. Shawn Ratigan case.

[New York Times]

“A convicted and disgraced bishop is the last person who should be ordaining a new priest,” the letter said. “What kind of message does it send when a man who could not pass the background check in his own diocese is the one ordaining new priests? Does his crime mean nothing? Do the children Ratigan abused mean nothing?”

The groups fear that if Finn has any public role, victims will be less likely to report abuse and that wrong-doers will feel like they can easily get a “free pass” for covering up abuse. They also worry about the feelings and morale of Kansas City Catholics, many of whom want healing and closure and are dismayed by Finn’s continued visibility in the church.

“There are dozens of less-objectionable bishops who are a short plane ride from Kansas City,” the letter continued. “Why can’t one of them officiate at the ordination? Why celebrate a man who deliberately put children in the path of a predator? Finn is not a leader, and allowing him to remain in a position of power is not healing for anyone.”

The groups also want reassurance that Finn will be assigned a life of “prayer and penance” and will not be allowed any public or powerful roles in the church in Kansas City, the US or the Vatican.

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CANADA/AUSTRALIA
Canadian Jewish News

Paul Lungen, Staff Reporter, Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Manny Waks comes from an Australian Chabad family that had to leave Chabad after Waks went public in 2011 with revelations of sexual abuse at Chabad’s Yeshivah College in Melbourne. Waks, who has served as vice-president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, also testified at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which included a close look at Yeshivah College. He was in Toronto last week to present Code of Silence, the film about his ordeal which aired at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival. He spoke to The CJN’s Paul Lungen.

Tell us about Code of Silence.

Code of Silence is an award winning documentary commissioned by the Australian Broadcasting Company and undertaken by Danny Ben-Moshe. It won Australia’s most prestigious award, the Walkley Award, in December last year.

I’m the main subject, as the victim of child sexual abuse in the Jewish community. I’m often described as a whistleblower focused not only the abuse itself and the subsequent cover up, but it also follows the ongoing intimidation that myself and my family experienced, particularly my parents. It follows their story as well, ultimately culminating in them having to leave Australia.

Where are they now?

They’re in Israel. They still spend half the time in Australia. My mom still owns a wig shop, and they still own the house, which is not an easy thing to sell, because it’s right across the road from the Yeshivah centre. It has 13 bedrooms—I’m one of 17 children, that’s why the 13 bedrooms – with six kosher kitchens. They typical clientele for such a house would be from the ultra-Orthodox community, where the relations between them and my parents, at the Yeshivah centre, has been problematic to say the least.

Tell us about the abuse you suffered.

I was 11-years-old. There were two pedophiles in my case. The first is [prominent in the Chabad community]. He abused me for the first time ever on Shavuot night, when it’s customary within the Orthodox community to remain awake all night to study the Torah. He abused me inside the Chabad Yeshivah Centre synagogue. Subsequently he abused me several more times in another synagogue where my family and I used to go every week. That lasted about six months. Subsequently, from the age of around 12 to the age of around 14 and a half, I was sexually abused repeatedly by David Cyprys, who’s currently sitting in jail for the crimes committed against me and many other boys at the Yeshivah Centre.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Fox Boston

[with video]

Ashley Troutman

MEDFORD, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) — A Medford high school career counselor is on leave after allegedly having an inappropriate relationship with a student.

Jenna Tarabelsi is on paid leave from her position as career counselor at Medford Vocational Technical High School after students complained about her, saying she allegedly had a relationship with at least one student.

“They had a relationship with this guidance counselor, they trusted her, to know that she’s doing this is despicable,” one parent said.

One of the incidents allegedly happened right in the school parking lot.

“Parents need to know that when allegations are made we take them seriously and we follow them up with appropriate protocols,” the Medford superintendent said.

But parents say they should’ve been told, one saying, “To know they’re keeping this kind of information from us is very troublesome and it’s very alarming to us parents.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Wicked Local Medford

By Alex Ruppenthal
aruppenthal@wickedlocal.com

Posted May. 12, 2015

MEDFORD
A career counselor at the Medford Vocational Technical High School is under state investigation following reports she had sexual relations with at least two, but possibly three or more male students.

Jenna Tarabelsi, 29, is under investigation by the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, said Jim Ricciardi, a Medford Police detective and resource officer at Medford High School.

“There’s not a whole lot for me to say right now,” Ricciardi said. “An allegation was made and it’s being investigated.”

Tarabelsi has not been charged or arrested with any crime as of May 12.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Fox Boston

[with video]

MEDFORD, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) — The mother of one of the alleged victims of a guidance counselor who is being investigated for having sex with her students spoke out Monday about how she found out.

Jenna Tarabelsi is on paid leave from her position as career counselor at Medford Vocational Technical High School after students complained about her, saying she allegedly had a relationship with at least one student.

The mother says she is speaking out because she wants to let other alleged victims know they are not alone, and she says her son feels the same way.

A letter from the Department of Children and Families was stuck inside her front door three weeks ago. …

Since FOX25’s story ran Friday, several viewers contacted us saying Tarabelsi taught them at different schools.

The principal at Arlington Catholic High School confirmed Tarabelsi was a teacher here for the 2009-2010 school year.

“Her duties were split as a part time counselor for a group of freshman students and a theology teacher part time as well. No allegations were ever brought forth by any student or parent regarding Ms. Tarabelsi,” the principal said.

Former students and sources told FOX25 Tarabelsi also taught at Pope John High School in Everett. The Archdiocese of Boston said they do not comment on personnel matters.

“It’s none of the children’s fault and they step forward and be brave enough for her to be held accountable,” the Medford mother said. “I just want the schools to be safe.”

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Pope Francis’ plan from Day One is now clear. His plan has been (1) to secure the pope’s tight control over Vatican finances with his own management team, (2) to distract from the Vatican’s sexual and financial scandals with (A) farcical Synods, (B) a “go slow and lightly” abuse commission, (C) empty platitudes about the poor, capitalism and climate change, and (D) media hyped but pointless papal trips, and (3) to firm up political alliances, especially with a powerful new US president, preferably Jeb Bush, who can be expected to fund and protect Vatican interests as his brother and father did so well.

Since the Final Synod in less than five months will likely expose the pope as an “all talk, no action” failed leader, the pope needs more diversions until the all important US elections in November of next year. The meaningless climate change encyclical will serve as a main interim diversion until then, even though it will likely absurdly avoid discussing the harm of the papal denial of women’s choices to regulate their own family’s size. Repealing the papal contraception ban is the one concrete step the pope has the power to take, but he won’t to protect his claim to infallibility by backing two earlier popes’ reckless contraception bans. And more Catholic babies mean more Catholic voters and donors. It is a good deal for Catholic prelates if Catholics continue to tolerate it. But see my Pope Facing Revolts In USA, Germany & Chile, and What Do We Now Know About The Real Goal Of Pope Francis? .

The climate encyclical will also allow the pope to dare to address the UN after two UN committees have, in effect, condemned the Vatican’s failure to curtail sufficiently the rape and other sexual abuse of children by priests protected by unaccountable bishops.

Popes for over 1,500 years until the mid-19th century have made deals directly with political leaders — popes exchanged their influence over docile and uneducated Catholics worldwide in exchange for money and protection from political leaders. The democratic revolutions, the spread of education and the rise of mass media have forced popes to change their approach.

Popes beginning in 1870 claimed the supernatural power of infallibility, reinforced by mind control of Catholics beginning at their First Confession at seven years old and by a claimed monopoly on the essential Eucharist and the clerics who exchanged it for weekly donations. The prior two popes solidified this 1870 power grab with a top down and self serving Canon Law system and a Catechism that subordinated the Gospel message to papal power politics.

Papal power has now become dependent on popes’ ability to deliver to national political leaders an expanding population of Catholic voters as directed by papal wizards and their subordinate prelates and other clerics. Bans on family planning had produced an increasing number of Catholic voters, often impoverished by excessive family size, who often swallowed the papal propaganda unaware mostly of what was really happening. Educational access and scandal revelations in a 24/7 media and internet age are rapidly undercutting the traditional papal power base. Pope Francis is running out of time as the wizard’s curtain is lifted almost daily.

What modern popes learned, and Pope Francis knows, is that the papal ability to draw out voters, especially dogmatic fundamentalists and select groups like US Latinos, is the key to popes’ getting governmental subsidies and protection from prosecutions and interference related to Church scandals. This pattern is currently playing out in the pope’s politically most important area, the USA .

Turnout, turnout, turnout of targeted voters is the key, as Sarah Posner shows here, Five Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Overthink the New Pew … . Posner points out, for example, that the percentage of white evangelicals who voted in the 2014 US midterm election outstripped their share of the population as a whole. Political organizing and turnout, she shows, matter far more than numbers. It was no coincidence Pope Francis and his US subordinates targeted these voters with anti-gay, anti-contraception/abortion and similar crusades, that continue with a view towards next year’s US presidential elections. Francis has enhanced these crusades now with a call for anti-radical Islam crusade, all parallel to the “low tax” right wing US Republican billionaire backers’ playbook. The pope. it appears, talks about the poor often, but usually works for the wealthy, no?

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WEST VIRGINIA
Charleston Daily Mail

Andrea Lannom, Legal affairs writer

West Virginia Supreme Court justices will decide whether victims will have to pay a more than $20,000 legal bill for what they argue is civil defense for a man convicted of sexually abusing them.

In this case, filed in circuit court in Berkeley County, minor victims accuse the church and other people related to the church of facilitating abuses by Christopher Michael Jensen, 23. Jensen’s father was a high priest and high councilor of the West Virginia Stake and his mother was president of the church’s relief society at the time.

The lawsuit alleged Jensen’s parents and other members knew about Jensen before he raped a 3-year-old and 4-year-old boy, discussing abuses of minors by Jensen at a meeting of the West Virginia Stake High Council.

The lawsuit alleged Jensen’s mother suggested church members hire him as a babysitter. Jensen was charged in 2012 when one of the children assaulted in 2007 brought the abuse to his parents. Jensen was convicted on those charges in 2013 and is currently serving a 35- to 75-year sentence on two counts of sex abuse by a guardian or person in a position of trust and one count of first-degree sexual assault at Mt. Olive Correctional Center.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Jewish Daily Forward

A prominent Boston rabbi was indicted for embezzlement and larceny for stealing money from his temple to pay off a man who was blackmailing the rabbi for his supposed affair with a teenage male.

Rabbi Barry Starr, who resigned a year ago from Temple Israel, a Conservative synagogue in Sharon, Massachusetts, allegedly became entangled in the scheme when he answered his door wearing a women’s dress after soliciting a man online, the Boston Globe reported.

The indictment of Starr was unsealed on Tuesday in Norfolk Superior Court.

Starr was not in the courtroom to hear the indictment and reportedly no longer lives in the Boston area. He will be summoned to the court for an arraignment, according to the newspaper.

Also on Tuesday in the same court, Nicholas Zemeitus, 30, pleaded not guilty to seven counts of larceny over $250, two counts of receiving stolen property over $250, one count of larceny under $250, and one count of extortion, the Boston Globe reported, citing the office of Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey.

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UNITED STATES
Pew Research Center

The Christian share of the U.S. population is declining, while the number of U.S. adults who do not identify with any organized religion is growing, according to an extensive new survey by the Pew Research Center. Moreover, these changes are taking place across the religious landscape, affecting all regions of the country and many demographic groups. While the drop in Christian affiliation is particularly pronounced among young adults, it is occurring among Americans of all ages. The same trends are seen among whites, blacks and Latinos; among both college graduates and adults with only a high school education; and among women as well as men. (Explore the data with our interactive database tool.)

To be sure, the United States remains home to more Christians than any other country in the world, and a large majority of Americans – roughly seven-in-ten – continue to identify with some branch of the Christian faith.1 But the major new survey of more than 35,000 Americans by the Pew Research Center finds that the percentage of adults (ages 18 and older) who describe themselves as Christians has dropped by nearly eight percentage points in just seven years, from 78.4% in an equally massive Pew Research survey in 2007 to 70.6% in 2014. Over the same period, the percentage of Americans who are religiously unaffiliated – describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” – has jumped more than six points, from 16.1% to 22.8%. And the share of Americans who identify with non-Christian faiths also has inched up, rising 1.2 percentage points, from 4.7% in 2007 to 5.9% in 2014. Growth has been especially great among Muslims and Hindus, albeit from a very low base.

The drop in the Christian share of the population has been driven mainly by declines among mainline Protestants and Catholics. Each of those large religious traditions has shrunk by approximately three percentage points since 2007. The evangelical Protestant share of the U.S. population also has dipped, but at a slower rate, falling by about one percentage point since 2007.2

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JAPAN
The Japan Times

The statute of limitations for child sexual abuse claims could be changed to allow young victims to pursue their perpetrators into adulthood under a proposal being considered by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Currently a 20-year time limit exits for victims seeking compensation through civil litigation, with a seven-year statute of limitations in place for criminal complaints.

An LDP project team is considering whether the starting point under the Civil Code and Penal Code can be modified from when the criminal act took place to when the victim turns 20 years of age, officials said.

At its inaugural meeting last month, the team on the protection of women’s rights, headed by House of Representatives lawmaker Hiroshi Hase, heard from a woman who suffered sexual abuse by a family member during childhood.

According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, sexual abuse accounted for only 2.1 percent of all requests for advice filed with child consultation offices in Japan in fiscal 2013.

Toko Teramachi, a lawyer who is knowledgeable about the matter, said child victims usually do not understand the meaning of abuse until at least puberty.

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UNITED STATES
Religion Dispatches

BY SARAH POSNER MAY 12, 2015

There are two big takeaways in the Pew Research Center’s new Religious Landscape Survey, its first since 2007: the decline in the number of Americans identifying as Christians (down eight percent in seven years, to 70.6 percent), and the rise in the number of Americans identifying as atheist, agnostic, and otherwise religiously unaffiliated (up six points in seven years, to 22.8 percent).

Greg Smith, Associate Director of Research at the Pew Research Center, called the pace of the continued growth of the religiously unaffiliated “really remarkable.” The number of Americans identifying with no religion grew by 19 million from 2007 to 2014, and now the religiously unaffiliated are “more numerous,” said Smith, than either mainline Protestants or Catholics.

Much of the rise of the “nones” is attributable to religious switching, mainly from Catholicism and mainline Protestantism. One-fifth of Americans raised Christian are now unaffiliated, said Smith. Here, he said, “Catholicism really stands out. Fully 13 percent of the US adult population qualifies as being formerly Catholic.” For every convert to Catholicism, he said, there are six former Catholics. “There is no other religious group analyzed in the survey that has experienced anything close to that kind of ratio of losses to gains via religious switching,” Smith said.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Haaretz

By Uriel Heilman May 13, 2015

JTA – In addition to secretly recording women undressing for the mikveh ritual bath, Rabbi Barry Freundel engaged in sexual encounters with several women, according to prosecutors.

That’s one of several new details about the mikveh-peeping rabbi to emerge from two documents filed in D.C. Superior Court on May 8 — one each by the prosecution and defense — ahead of Freundel’s sentencing on Friday. The documents, which attempt to sway the judge’s sentencing, shed new light on Freundel’s behavior and offer some particulars about the rabbi’s life since his arrest on October 14, 2014 — including that he has resumed some rabbinic teaching.

Freundel pleaded guilty in February to 52 counts of misdemeanor voyeurism for installing secret cameras in the shower room of the mikveh adjacent to Kesher Israel, the prominent Washington Orthodox synagogue he led for some 25 years.

He used one to three cameras, hiding the devices in a digital clock radio, a tissue box holder and a small tabletop fan, and aiming them at the toilet and shower in the mikveh dressing room, according to the prosecution’s memo. In addition to the 52 women he filmed while they were completely naked between March 4, 2012 and Sept. 19, 2014, Freundel recorded an additional 100 women since April 2009 who were not part of the criminal complaint due to the statute of limitations.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on remarks made last night by Fox News host Bill O’Reilly on the Pew Research Center survey of religion:

Here is what O’Reilly said last night: “The main reason Christianity is on the decline is poor leadership and corruption within the Catholic Church. The priest scandal devastated the Catholic landscape in America.”

O’Reilly is not a scholar, and has written nothing on this subject, so he may be forgiven for his misunderstandings. But one does not have to be a social scientist to know that Catholicism is not dispositive of Christianity: In fact, Protestants outnumber Catholics by more than 2-1.

More important, the decline in the mainline Protestant denominations has been going on for a half-century. They are the ones who have been devastated, not the Catholic Church. So blaming the priest scandal for the precipitous drop in the Protestant community is simply absurd. Also, as I pointed out yesterday, the Pew survey showed that Catholicism has the highest retention rate of any religion: 90 percent of those who identify as Catholics today were raised Catholic. Looks like “poor leadership and corruption” didn’t act as a catalyst to bolt.

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SCOTLAND
Scottish Catholic Observer

The Vatican has published a new set of rules for its commission to protect children.

After meeting for the first time as a complete entity in February, the Vatican Commission for the Protection of Minors has published their formal statutes, effective for three years.

“The effective protection of minors and a commitment to ensure their human and spiritual development…are integral parts of the Gospel message that the Church and all members of the faithful are called to spread throughout the world,” the Pope said in his chirograph( for the commission. Dated March 22, 2014, the chirograph is the official Papal document which established the foundation of the commission. It was published May 8 along with the statutes.

The statutes were approved by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin April 21 by mandate of Pope Francis. They were published in the original Italian and in English.

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CANADA
London Free Press

By Jane Sims, The London Free Press
Tuesday, May 12, 2015

The charismatic, controversial preacher at a former London church has lost his final appeal of sexual assault convictions.

Royden Wood, 65, led the now-defunct Ambassador Church at King and Adelaide streets. Druing his tenure, there were allegations — and ultimately criminal convictions — related to his cult-like leadership style and questionable marriage counselling.

The Ontario Court of Appeal rejected his appeal of his convictions by a jury in November 2011 and the six-year sentence dealt to him in April 2012.

In a brief decision, the court agreed with Superior Court Justice Dougald McDermid’s decision not to move the trial to another community and found the judge’s instructions to the jury were fair and balanced.

It dismissed Wood’s contention the verdicts were unreasonable, given the jury found him guilty of sexually assaulting three complainants, but acquitted him of charges involving two others.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel May 12, 2015

A federal judge has scheduled a Thursday hearing to gauge interest in trying to settle a contentious lawsuit over the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s now $66 million cemetery trust.

The trust is a key element in the archdiocese’s plan to emerge from its 4-year-old bankruptcy in that it would be tapped both to compensate clergy sex abuse victims and fund the church’s ongoing cemetery operations.

“There’s always interest in settling litigation,” said attorney Timothy Nixon, who represents Archbishop Jerome Listecki as the sole trustee of the trust. “However, we are just one part of a much larger picture.”

James Stang, who represents the creditors committee, declined to say how it would view an offer of mediation. But he did say that any talks on the cemetery trust would likely be a de facto mediation in the bankruptcy case overall.

“The cemetery trust is the main moving part at this point,” Stang said. “I can’t imagine the parties going into a room to talk about that and not talk about the entire Chapter 11 case.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston.com

By Jordan Lebeau
Boston.com Staff | 05.12.15

A former Sharon rabbi is accused of siphoning temple money and requesting loans from congregates in order to pay off an extortionist, according to a Boston Globe report.

Rabbi Barry Starr, formerly of Temple Israel, was recently indicted on charges of embezzlement by a fiduciary and larceny over $250, according to the report. Authorities said Starr, who left the temple last year and now lives out of state, paid 30-year-old Nicholas Zemeitus $480,000 since 2011 in exchange for his silence on the subject of the rabbi’s alleged relationship with a younger male. No evidence of any such relationship has been uncovered, the Globe reports.

“This has been a beloved and respected rabbi for 28 years and to learn of this news, it’s heartbreaking,” Arnie Freedman, Temple Israel’s president, told the newspaper Tuesday.

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INDIANA
WTHR

[with video]

By Jennie Runevitch, WTHR reporter

GREENSBURG, Ind. – An Indiana minister has been arrested, accused of sodomy and sexual abuse against a child under 12 years of age.

Duncan Aker, Jr. is now the pastor at Greensburg Christian Church. But the sex charges stem from his last calling as a minister in Vanceburg, Kentucky.

In Greensburg, neighbors and church members expressed shock, disbelief and anger at the news. Many say 63-year-old Duncan Aker was more than a minister.

Debbie Powers and her mom live next door to Aker and his wife.

“He’s just a nice neighborhood man from the time he moved in the neighborhood,” Powers said. “He mowed lawns, helped with gardening and helped carry in groceries.”

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ILLINOIS
Journal Courier

May 13. 2015

By David C.L. Bauer dbauer@civitasmedia.com

JACKSONVILLE — A former Jacksonville priest is striking out at what he calls a witch hunt that led to his removal after a decades-old abuse allegation.

In a rare move, Bishop Thomas John Paprocki forced removal of the Rev. Robert “Bud” DeGrand earlier this month. DeGrand was pastor of Catholic churches in Lillyville, Green Creek, Sigel and Neoga. He previously served parishes in Bluffs, Winchester and Jacksonville.

DeGrand was accused of sexually abusing a minor while at Our Saviour Catholic Church in 1980 — the year he was ordained into the priesthood. The accusation was not made until more than three decades later.

DeGrand’s removal was not directly related to the allegation but to his refusal to comply with Paprocki’s order that he move to a private home in Springfield while on administrative leave during the investigation of the allegation.

DeGrand remained relatively silent as the allegation was investigated following protocol established by the Vatican. But now, in a letter he has distributed to parishioners and to several newspapers, DeGrand said it would be an “understatement” to say he was disappointed with the treatment he received.

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IRELAND
CathNews New Zealand

Dublin archdiocese is banning photographs being taken during religious ceremonies, in order to protect children from potential abusers.

Each diocese in Ireland has been directed to have guidelines governing the filming and photography of children while they are on church grounds.

The move derives from standards issued by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCC) in 2008.

“It’s to avoid a situation whereby photos get into the wrong hands of potential abusers,” said Ger Kenny, spokesman for the NBSCCC.

“The risk issue is people will be taking pictures of kids who are not related to them, and for inappropriate reasons.”

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Statement by Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director (Milwaukee)
CONTACT: 414.429.7259

Whatever the outcome of today’s offer by Federal Judge Lynn Adelman to intervene in the four year old Milwaukee Archdiocese Bankruptcy to resolve the issue of former Archbishop Timothy Dolan’s $57 million dollar fraudulently constituted “cemetery trust”, it is yet another unmistakable sign that something has gone terribly wrong or is terribly broken with a court system that allows church lawyers to walk away with millions of dollars in billable hours, leave apparently uninvestigated and unreported dozens of never before identified alleged sex offenders, and keeps under wraps documents and details about how the now most powerful Catholic Prelate in the United States colluded with the Vatican to keep US courts from compensating victims of clergy sex crimes.

Maybe that is why lead church bankruptcy lawyer Frank LoCoco could so cynically and confidently stand up in open court last week to proclaim that the Archdiocese of Milwaukee is more than prepared to spend all its remaining resources–not on healing victims of childhood sexual assault committed by priests and covered up by their senior management–but litigating until there is simply no money left for victims and their families.

“Let’s spend the money,” LoCoco said last Thursday in Judge Susan V Kelley’s courtroom, “Let’s litigate the cemetery trust [issue] completely. Candidly, at that point it becomes cheaper, more efficient and easier to us to litigate every abuse survivor claim. … [Do] they want us to start sending dozens and dozens of notices to every single abuse survivor and their family members and their doctors?” Notice the not so thinly veiled threat to victims’ privacy in the last sentence.

LoCoco, comically and clumsily, later tried to explain his comments by arguing that it was survivors and creditors who were “making” the archdiocese spend money on litigation. In other words: “It’s the victims fault that I am becoming rich.” Why would survivors or creditors possibly want money to go into LoCoco’s pockets and not into the hands of those harmed as children?

Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki, himself a lawyer, who has several times spoken of his special bond and sympathy for the law profession, has shown little or none for survivors of priest sex abuse. Maybe that is why, all the funds so far have pretty much gone to church lawyers and court costs, a total nearing $20 million, and none so far to a single victim. In fact, Listecki’s total offer to the nearly 600 victims that filed cases into court is $4 million dollars, or three times lower than for lawyers and others. And just to get this clear: victim attorneys are not part of these costs since they receive a contingency payment only when the cases are resolved.

But there are other costs. Over half the graduating class of LeMoyne College, a renowned Jesuit institution in Syracuse, have signed a petition asking that Cardinal Dolan not be allowed to deliver their commencement address specifically because of his involvement in covering up for abusive priests in Milwaukee, and that number of student signatories is rising. And, if you look at the stunning news video this last Palm Sunday, a day that once was standing room only at the Milwaukee Cathedral, you can see how much the church has really paid.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Patch

By DANIEL LIBON (Patch Staff)
May 12, 2015

A former rabbi at Temple Israel of Sharon will face a larceny charge.

Rabbi Barry Starr’s indictment was unsealed Tuesday and he will be arraigned on one count of larceny over $250. He was not present at Norfolk Superior Court and will be summoned according to the Boston Globe.

Also arraigned was Nicholas Zemeitus, 30, of Quincy on seven counts of larceny over $250, two counts of receiving stolen property over $250, one count of larceny under $250, and one count of extortion. The charges were announced by the Norfolk District Attorney’s office Monday.

Zemeitus is accused of threatening to make allegations of a sexual relation between Starr and a teenage boy public. Court records say Starr paid up to $480,000 for Zemeitus’ silence.

While no evidence of the described relationship has been discovered, Starr’s computer showed that he posted regularly on Craigslist in search for transexual escorts according to court documents.

Money for Zemeitus allegedly came from the rabbi’s discretionary fund and long-time members of the temple.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Wicked Local Sharon

By Chris Burrell
The Patriot Ledger

Posted May. 12, 2015

DEDHAM — A 30-year-old Quincy man pleaded innocent Tuesday afternoon in Norfolk Superior Court to charges that he extorted hundreds of thousands of dollars from a well-known rabbi in Sharon.

Nicholas Zemeitus, of Willard Street in Quincy, was arrested Monday days after a grand jury indicted him for allegedly blackmailing the rabbi.

Rabbi Barry Starr resigned last year as rabbi at Temple Israel of Sharon. He now faces charges of embezzlement and larceny from the synagogue and will be arraigned at a later date.

In court documents unsealed Tuesday, prosecutors said that Zemeitus was living in Milton in 2011 when he first threatened to expose Starr’s alleged sexual relationship with a teenage boy and demanded money to keep silent. Starr was instructed to leave his first payment to Zemeitus in a car parked at the South Shore Plaza in Braintree, according to the office of Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey.

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NEW JERSEY
Tap into Morristown

By TAP INTO MORRISTOWN STAFF
May 12, 2015

MORRISTOWN, NJ — Dr. Jo-Renee Formicola is coming to the St. Mark Lutheran Church, on Sunday June 7 to speak about on Clerical Sexual Abuse: How the Crisis Changed US Catholic Church-State Relations. The program, presented by the Voice of the Faithful New Jersey will begin at 3:30 pm

Dr. Jo-Renee Formicola is a political science professor at Seton Hall University. Based on her recently published book of the same name, Dr. Formicola will speak on Clerical Sexual Abuse: How the Crisis Changed US Catholic Church-State Relations. Fr. Tom Ivory will preside at a liturgy following the talk.

Dr. Formicola’s specific field of expertise is Church-State relations, and during her tenure at Seton Hall University, she has published extensively on social and religious topics related to the relationship between the Catholic Church and the American government.

Since the appalling sexual abuse scandals were openly revealed in 2001, Catholic Church-State relations have changed dramatically. Whereas accusations of sexual abuse by clergy were routinely denied by the Church, civil law-enforcement authorities now hold clerics accountable under civil law. Dr. Formicola has examined the secret payoffs, cover-ups and the re-assignment of priests in order to expose the magnitude and pervasive extent of these crimes. The outrage and consequent demands for reform have cost the Church dearly in both credibility and the billions of dollars spent on attorneys’ fees and reparations to victims.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

As Pope Francis reveals his resistance to real reforms, twenty-three Catholic priest associations and reform groups from ten countries and four continents have sent an Open Letter to the Pope asking him for change. Meanwhile, the pope prepares for his final “fatherless and motherless” Family Synod of celibate bishops upcoming in less than five months. The Open Letter was initiated at an international meeting recently held in Limerick, Ireland of international reform groups. On this major meeting, see here,”Lay reform groups discuss equality of women, church …” and “What happened in Limerick should not stay in Limerick “. For the full text of the letter, see here,

[We Are Church]

Will Pope Francis respond meaningfully to the Letter? Probably not. Two key Cardinals, Vatican based George Pell, a member of the pope’s top management committee, and Peter Erdo of Budapest, Hungary, reportedly predicted in separate recent interviews that “nothing will change” at the Final Synod. What is especially ominous is the fact that the Hungarian cardinal has a key role in the Final Synod as its a de facto moderator in charge of helping to frame the discussions.

The steady unveiling of the reality of Pope Francis’ actual anti-reform approach was recently reviewed perceptively and effectively at the Huffington Post by Canadian writer, Dennis Earl here, Why Pope Francis Isn’t a Liberal Reformer. Earl observes, in pertinent part, “It’s been quite the honeymoon. Not too long after Pope Francis succeeded Benedict XVI in March 2013 to become the new head of the Vatican, reporters, pundits and even comedians began to sing his praises. Why, exactly? Because he said things like, “I’m a sinner” and “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?” and “The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone!… Even the atheists. Everyone!” “. Earl adds: “But, as the old saying goes, talk is cheap. Pope Francis can present himself as a more compassionate pontiff all he wants. With over 40 years experience working within the stubbornly Conservative Catholic Church, the 78-year-old is no liberal. The reality is he is quite content maintaining the status quo.” Earl then in detail itemizes specifically how the pope has maintained the conservative, if not fundamentalist, status quo. Earl notes finally ” … And considering what happened to former Australian priest Greg Reynolds, the idea of this Pope embracing any kind of significant reform is truly laughable. So stop calling him [Pope Francis] “progressive” already.” Reynolds in May 2013 was defrocked as a priest and even excommunicated under Pope Francis after he advocated support for women’s ordination and same sex marriage. It appears the ex-bouncer pope wanted to send a strong signal to reformers right from the beginning of his papacy.

And President Barack Obama is making clear to US Catholic bishops and to local Jesuits at Georgetown that he will personally be focused on the pope’s rhetoric about helping the poor, see the video here, President Obama Remarks Poverty Georgetown and the New York Times report here, Obama Urges Liberals and Conservatives to Unite on Poverty .

On Pope Francis’ current trajectory, this seems clear enough. Contraception, abortion in all circumstances, and homosexual love would then remain “mortal sins”; women would remain second class Catholics; the Church would remain a clerical dictatorship; and children would continue at unsafe risks of priest sexual abuse, it appears, despite the pope’s carefully staged spin to the contrary. Unless Pope Francis convenes a full ecumenical council before retiring, which seems unlikely, Catholics will have to look to their democratically responsive national governments to press the Vatican to reform, see my “Two Years In, Pope Must Call Council As John XXIII Did“.

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UNITED STATES
dotCommonweal

Grant Gallicho May 12, 2015

The percentage of Americans who call themselves Christian has dropped significantly since 2007, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center. Mainline Protestants and Catholics have experienced the largest losses (-3.4 percent and -3.1 percent, respectively), Evangelicals the smallest (-.9 percent, just over the margin of error). While the dip in Christian affiliation has occurred across all age cohorts, the younger you are, the more likely you are not to identify with any religious tradition. While non-Christian faiths saw modest bumps in affiliation (+.5 percent for Muslims, +.3 for Hindus), no group grew more than the “nones,” who make up nearly 23 percent of the population–a gain of 6.7 percent since 2007. There are now more nones than Catholics.

Mainline Protestants have suffered the largest losses in absolute numbers–there are 5 million fewer today than there were in 2007. Like the Mainlines, Catholics are decreasing as a percentage of the population and in terms of raw numbers. Pew Research notes that Catholic losses may total no more than 1 million, accounting for margins of error. A number of studies over the past twenty-five years have come up with differing estimates of the size of the U.S. Catholic population over time. Some have found steadier numbers than Pew Research (until about 2010-2012). But one of those surveys did not interview as many young people as Pew did, and interviewed more Hispanics. The losses found by this Pew Research study–based on a sample size of 35,000–track closesly with the organization’s monthly polls.

The decline among Christians comes at a time when they are becoming more ethnically diverse. Since 2007, Catholics, Mainline Protestants, and Evangelicals all saw their ethnic and racial minority populations grow by about 5-6 percent. Today 41 percent of Catholic Americans are members of racial and ethnic minorities.

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UNITED STATES
Soundcloud

Many with pedophilia don’t actually want to act on their urges and try desperately to suppress them. Can pedophilia be treated and can convicted pedophiles ever be fully integrated back into society? Reporter Shaz Sajadi has the story.

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SCHWEIZ
News.ch

[Reputation of the Catholic Church has suffered. The abuse scandals have scratched the reputation of the Roman Catholic Church. The rigid positions in the sexual morality, gender equality and adherence to the celibacy translated to the mistrust.]

Bern – Die Missbrauchsskandale haben am Ruf der römisch-katholischen Kirche gekratzt. Auch die rigide Positionen in der Sexualmoral, der Gleichstellung der Geschlechter und das Festhalten am Zölibat setzten dem Vertrauen zu.

An diesen Fragen drohe die emotionale Verbundenheit mit der katholischen Kirche zu zerbrechen, heisst es in einer Studie des Schweizerischen Pastoralsoziologischen Instituts. Besser schneidet die reformierte Kirche ab. Ihr wird höchstens ein Mangel an Profil vorgeworfen.
Die Studie zeigt aber auch, dass viele Menschen die Kirche noch immer schätzen: Etwa für Taufen oder Hochzeiten. Auch das gesellschaftliche Engagement der Kirchen kommt gut an. Gute Noten erhielten auch die Mitarbeiter der Kirchen. Sie werden als motiviert und kompetent eingeschätzt.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Frum Follies

Yerachmiel Lopin

On Friday (5/15/15), Rabbi Bernard (Barry) Freundel will be sentenced for video recording 52 women while naked at a mikvah. The government is asking for a sentence of 4 months for each count for a total of 17 years in jail. This is one-third of the maximum sentence. The government sentencing memo eloquently captures the betrayal of trust and the emotional harm because mikvah is such a sensitive moment for converts and married orthodox women. It is a moment of sacredness and vulnerability. To be seen naked by one’s own rabbi, the government memo points out, is especially painful to orthodox women who adhere to a modesty code. It is way worse than being surreptitiously recorded in a gym locker room by a stranger.

Barry Freundel running photographers scrumOne of his victims is a woman who confided in Rabbi Freundel about being sexually abused. He counseled her to use the mikvah for healing purposes. Now she feels re-traumatized.

The government’s memo is well worth reading in its entirety.

Freundel’s memo, in contrast is pathetically self pitying. Of course he admits his guilt. But he has a funny way of understanding the gravity of his crimes. His memo dwells on his disgrace with nary a word about the impact of his crimes on his victims. The memo states:

Rabbi Freundel readily admits he has committed a serious crime [and] recognizes and regrets the negative impact his actions have had within the community. His conduct has brought shame upon Judaism, the synagogue he once served, his family, and himself. He has been publicly humiliated, forced to leave his office as a rabbi, and is now a convicted man. His fall, all of his own doing, has been very public and painful for the Jewish community, his family and of course, himself.

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ESPANA
20 Minutos

[The lawyer for Father Roman in the Romanones case said it is “disproportionate” for the court to request documentation from the church.]

El abogado del padre Román M.V.C., principal acusado en el llamado ‘caso Romanones’ sobre abusos sexuales presuntamente cometidos por sacerdotes de Granada, ha considerado “desproporcionada” la última petición del Juzgado de Instrucción 4 de Granada, que ha conminado al Arzobispado de Granada a remitirle toda la documentación de la que dispone sobre los supuestos implicados.

EUROPA PRESS. 12.05.2015 El abogado del padre Román M.V.C., principal acusado en el llamado ‘caso Romanones’ sobre abusos sexuales presuntamente cometidos por sacerdotes de Granada, ha considerado “desproporcionada” la última petición del Juzgado de Instrucción 4 de Granada, que ha conminado al Arzobispado de Granada a remitirle toda la documentación de la que dispone sobre los supuestos implicados. En declaraciones a Europa Press, el letrado Javier Muriel ha señalado además que esta última solicitud, realizada mediante una reciente providencia, demuestra que “hay una absoluta falta de pruebas”, si “la jurisdicción penal no es capaz por sí misma” de disponer de toda la información al respecto.

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ESPANA
El Pais

[Judge in the ‘case Romanones’ has for the eighth time requestion documentation from the Granada archbishop.]

ANTONIO JESÚS MORA CABALLERO Sevilla 12 MAY 2015

El juez que investiga los supuestos abusos sexuales a menores por parte de un grupo de sacerdotes de Granada ha reclamado por octava vez al arzobispo de la capital, Francisco Javier Martínez, “toda la documentación” que posea sobre los implicados en el llamado caso Romanones. De no hacerlo, el magistrado advierte al religioso de que podría incurrir en un delito de desobediencia a la autoridad judicial. El Arzobispado reafirmó este martes su compromiso de “colaboración”.

El magistrado Antonio Moreno da este ultimátum al arzobispo después de que, en la información remitida “se hayan omitido” las declaraciones que los curas realizaron a raíz del expediente eclesiástico abierto, “que dio lugar incluso a resoluciones de suspensión” de los acusados. La investigación judicial solo continúa para el padre Román (R. M. V. C.), considerado el cabecilla, después de que, en febrero, el juez declarara prescritos todos los delitos para el resto de los 11 imputados. Pero, tras el recurso del primer denunciante, quien trasladó por carta su caso al papa Francisco, la Audiencia de Granada deliberará en septiembre sobre la prescripción de los delitos.

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ESPANA
Religion Digital

[A judge has urged the Archbishop of Granada to provide “all the complete documentation” of the case of the Romanones. Archbishop Javier Martinez has failed in response to statements and written interrogatories. Judge Antonio Morena has given the archbishop an ultimatum and he has urged the prelate to give once and for all interviews conducted during the church investigation of the 10 priests and two lay people in the case of child abuse in Granada. If he fails to do so, the archbishop stands to incur the crime of disobedience to judicial authority after the request was made eight times.]

El Juez conmina al arzobispo de Granada a entregar “toda la documentación íntegra” del caso Romanones

Jesús Bastante, 11 de mayo de 2015

(Jesús Bastante).- El Juez del “caso Romanones”, Antonio Moreno, acaba de dar un ultimátum al arzobispo de Granada, Francisco Javier Martínez. En una breve y dura providencia, el Magistrado conmina al prelado a entregar, de una vez por todas, los interrogatorios a los doce investigados -diez sacerdotes y dos seglares- por el caso de abusos a menores en Granada. En caso de no hacerlo, Martínez podría incurrir en un delito de desobediencia a la autoridad judicial, después de que se le haya requerido, hasta en ocho ocasiones, la documentación que está obligado a entregar según las legislaciones civil y canónica.

En la resolución, el Juez constata “que en todo caso se ha omitido en las documentaciones sucesivas remitidas por el Arzobispado de Granada las declaraciones e interrogatorios escritos de los sacerdotes sobre los que se inició expediente eclesiástico”, y que “necesariamente deben de obrar de forma escrita a la luz de las disposiciones sobre procedimientos administrativos y eclesiásticos que dieron lugar incluso a resoluciones de suspensión de ese Arzobispado”.

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VATICAN CITY
Newsday

VATICAN CITY – (AP) — A senior Vatican cardinal predicted Saturday that there will be no change in the Catholic Church’s practice and teaching about marriage, divorce and the reception of Communion at an upcoming meeting of bishops on family issues.

Cardinal George Pell told a gathering of conservative, anti-abortion Catholic activists in town for an annual “March for Life” that he believed the October synod “will massively endorse the tradition” of the church.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

Christianity faces sharp decline as Americans are becoming even less affiliated with religion

By Sarah Pulliam Bailey May 12

Christianity is on the decline in America, not just among younger generations or in certain regions of the country but across race, gender, education and geographic barriers. The percentage of adults who describe themselves as Christians dropped by nearly eight percentage points in just seven years to about 71 percent, according to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center.

“It’s remarkably widespread,” said Alan Cooperman, director of religion research for the Pew Research Center. “The country is becoming less religious as a whole, and it’s happening across the board.”

At the same time, the share of those who are not affiliated with a religion has jumped from 16 percent to about 23 percent in the same time period. The trend follows a pattern found earlier in the American Religious Identification Survey, which found that in 1990, 86 percent of American adults identified as Christians, compared with 76 percent in 2008.

Here are three key takeaways from Pew’s new survey.

1. Millennials are growing even less affiliated with religion as they get older

The older generation of millennials (those who were born from 1981 to 1989) are becoming even less affiliated with religion than they were about a decade ago, the survey suggests. In 2007, when the Pew Research Center did their last Religious Landscape Survey and these adults were just entering adulthood, 25 percent of them did not affiliate with a religion, but this grew to 34 percent in the latest survey.

The trends among the aging millennials is especially significant, said Greg Smith, associate director of research at the Pew Research Center. In 2010, 13 percent of baby boomers were religiously unaffiliated as they were entering retirement, the same percentage in 1972.

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MASSACHUSETTS
JTA

(JTA) — A 30-year-old man was indicted on charges of extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars from a prominent Boston-area rabbi who was having an affair with a male teenager.

Nicholas Zemeitus, of suburban Boston, was arrested and charged on Monday, the Boston Globe reported. He had threatened to expose the affair unless he was paid by Rabbi Barry Starr,who resigned a year ago from Temple Israel, a Conservative synagogue in Sharon, Massachusetts.

Starr allegedly paid nearly half a million dollars — taken from synagogue funds and borrowed from his congregants — to hide his two-year affair with the 16-year-old. Much of the money came from the rabbi’s discretionary fund, including checks altered by the rabbi. Starr also borrowed thousands of dollars from an elderly congregant, a Holocaust survivor.

Zemeitus claimed to be the older brother of the teen, who was 18 when the affair ended.

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IRELAND
RTE News

An 82-year-old former school principal and priest has been charged with 12 counts of indecently assaulting three students over 30 years ago.

Donnacha MacCarthaigh, with an address at The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, Western Road, Cork, was formally arrested at Gurranabraher Garda Station and brought before Cork District Court.

The court was told that when arrested, charged and cautioned, the former principal at Coláiste an Chroí Naofa in Carrignavar, Co Cork, said: “I did not touch anyone sexually and inappropriately.”

He faces 12 counts of indecently assaulting three pupils at Coláiste an Chroí Naofa on dates between September 1972 and June 1983.

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