ABUSE TRACKER

MASSACHUSETTS
Boston.com

By Kristi Palma @kristipalma
Boston.com Staff | 05.06.15

Margaret O’Brien, 85, has been a parishioner at St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Church in Scituate for 54 years.

She’s taught religious education at the parish and used to sing in the choir.

Now she’s being sued, along with other parishioners, by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston for trespassing on the property, reports The Boston Globe . Parishioners and representatives of the archdiocese faced off in Norfolk Superior Court Tuesday over the church, where members have kept vigil since the archdiocese closed it, nearly 11 years ago.

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini was one of dozens of churches the archdiocese decided to close after the clergy sex-abuse scandal affected Catholic church attendance and donations, according to the Globe. Parishioners in other parishes fought the closures initially but the Scituate church is the only one still fighting.

In June, the parishioners’ appeal to keep the church open was denied by the highest Vatican court. Parishioners were given a March 9 deadline to vacate the property. They did not.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Newsworks

“Prime Time” is a bi-weekly series featuring people over 50 in the Greater Philadelphia area who are taking on new challenges. They are starting new businesses, dedicating themselves to activism, and becoming a part of the change they wish to see. Email us to nominate someone.
—

It’s Father Paul F. Morrissey’s duty, as an Augustinian priest, to help relieve the pain and suffering of others. But what if the pain and suffering is within the Catholic Church itself? That is the central issue Morrissey addresses in his provocative novel, “The Black Wall of Silence.”

The cover shows a priest muffled by his own collar. “We are all muffled in some way, torn between loyalty and honesty,” says Morrissey who, like the central character of his novel, serves as a prison chaplain and spiritual director.

In his novel, a gay priest discovers that the Church’s cover-up of sexual abuse may result in a life sentence without parole for a victim.

“In the novel, I try to show the parallel between the Church and the prison system,” says Morrissey. “Bishops have protected the Church at all costs, even if it means, at times, relocating an admitted pedophile. To survive, whether in a prison or in the Church, you have to follow the loyalty ode or open yourself to retribution. In my novel, I attempt to pull back the curtain of silence on these issues.”

The conflict between Morrissey’s fictional priest and a bishop builds up this battle between honesty and loyalty in a courtroom climax. The novel’s main character, Father Zach, says, “If I remain silent about a problem in the prison or the Church, I’m rewarded for being a member of the team. But if I ask a question, I’m seen as a traitor.”

“Father Zach realizes he lives in two prisons — the Catholic Church, and Riker’s Island, where he serves as a prison chaplain,” says Morrissey, “This loyalty-versus-honesty theme is universal. Readers will be able to identify with the characters, whether they are Christian, Jewish or Muslim, because we all tend to censor ourselves in some way in order to fit in and be accepted. The question my books asks is: Can Catholics, or anyone, speak our truth, or must we hide?”

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

[The Father Lockwood letter]

[Letter from Jean Peters Baker, prosecutor]l

By JUDY L. THOMAS
jthomas@kcstar.com

As the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese tries to move past the resignation of Bishop Robert Finn, a priest has roiled the waters with a letter alleging that the criminal charges against Finn were politically motivated.

The prosecutor who filed the case, Jean Peters Baker, this week responded with a strongly worded letter of her own.

Her letter, sent Monday to Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas and to members of Christ the King Parish in Kansas City, said the document distributed last week by their pastor, the Rev. Gregory Lockwood, contained “misinformation” and “misstatements.”

“I run this office as a prosecutor, not a politician, and I have sought convictions for those who have harmed our community,” Baker wrote, adding that while everyone has a moral duty to report abuse, others are required by law to do so.

“Having the courage to stand up to those in power and hold dangerous criminals accountable for their behavior is a necessary component of the position of prosecutor,” she said. “…As your prosecutor, I am guided by this truth: no one is above the law, no matter our position or title. Children especially need this to be true, and abused children’s lives may depend upon it.”

Finn was convicted in September 2012 for failing to notify authorities about a priest who later pleaded guilty to production of child pornography. That priest, Shawn Ratigan, was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison and has since been removed from the priesthood.

Finn stepped down as leader of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph on April 21, nearly three years after he became the most senior U.S. Roman Catholic prelate convicted of criminal charges related to the church’s child sexual abuse scandal. Neither Finn nor the Vatican provided a specific reason for the resignation, but the Vatican said that Finn cited the code of canon law that allows bishops to resign early for illness or some “grave” reason that makes them unfit for office.

Baker sent her letter by email to the parish and to Naumann, said Michael Mansur, spokesman for the prosecutor’s office. Naumann is serving as the diocese’s temporary leader until the Vatican names a replacement for Finn.

Mansur said Wednesday that Baker had not yet received any response. When asked why Baker took the extraordinary measure of writing to the parish and the archbishop, Mansur said, “I think the letter speaks for itself.”

Lockwood did not return a call requesting comment. Naumann responded in a statement on Wednesday:

“I am disheartened that some have chosen to respond to Bishop Finn’s resignation, not by moving forward, but to continue public attacks upon him and the Church,” Naumann said. “On the other hand, Father Gregory Lockwood and others have also passionately defended Bishop Finn. While everyone has a right to free expression, in my opinion it serves no good purpose at this point to rehash a story that has had so many tragic consequences. There is nothing to be gained by picking at old wounds and speaking uncharitably about one another.

“My prayer is that when the new Bishop arrives he will find a Catholic community united and eager to work with him in making the love of Jesus more alive and tangible in our community.”

In his letter, which was inserted into parish bulletins, Lockwood said that Finn was a longtime friend and that his resignation “comes after a long, bitter, nasty campaign by many of our brothers and sisters, who, for whatever reason, were convinced that he needed to go.”

Lockwood blamed Finn’s critics — not the Ratigan scandal — for the resignation. His letter highlighted a rift between conservative and progressive factions within the diocese that intensified when Finn became bishop in 2005.

“For the instigators of this unfortunate event, the issue was never the Ratigan affair,” Lockwood wrote. “There were definitely mistakes made in handling the situation by people who, it turned out, were in over their heads, but there was never any malice, or impulse to cover up anything.

“If this had happened on another, more popular bishop’s watch, the aftermath we have seen would not have occurred, because the motivation for the mob-scene that ensued was Bishop Finn’s fidelity to a classical concept of the church, not the cover-up of any misconduct.”

Lockwood said that those who were celebrating Finn’s resignation did so not because of the Ratigan case but because they viewed the bishop as an “arch-conservative.”

“One of the most disturbing things I have seen in my years as a priest is the glee and meanness of many of our brothers and sisters in the aftermath of Bishop Finn’s resignation,” he said. “Champagne corks popped, celebrations begun, more mean and vicious things said by people whose Lord Jesus said to them, ‘Love one another.’”

There was no forgiveness, Lockwood said, “for this man who pled no contest to a politically motivated charge filed by an ambitious prosecutor with strong ties to the abortion industry, so that he might save his local church the pain and cost of a public trial.”

The statute under which Finn was charged, Lockwood said, “was not even applicable to what happened, but such is our legal and political society.”

He told parishioners that “we have become mean, low and self-involved.”

“No one has won anything here; we’ve all lost,” he said. “An honorable man has been unjustly disgraced, and we have sacrificed his dignity and our own in a rush to punish and destroy…”

In her response, Baker said she was raised in the Catholic faith and attended Catholic schools run by nuns who “guided students by their own demonstration of accountability and commitment to our education.”

“My church parish was blessed with many talented priests,” she said, “but the notion that no one is above the law was infused in me by these strong women.”

Baker said Lockwood was “factually inaccurate” in saying that Finn pleaded no contest to the charge of failing to report suspicions of abuse.

“On September 6, 2012, a Jackson County Judge heard the facts of the case and found him guilty of that charge,” she wrote. “You should also be aware that on September 12, 2013, Shawn Ratigan, a former priest, was sentenced to 50 years in prison for related photographic images of children.”

Lockwood’s letter has created a stir as it has circulated throughout the diocese. Some parishioners and victims’ advocates were incensed at its tone and content and said it was insensitive to priest sex abuse victims.

“Look what it’s doing to the victims,” said Sister Jeanne Christensen, who served as the diocese’s victims’ advocate from 2000 to 2004. “To say Bishop Finn’s resignation had nothing to do with Ratigan? This victimizes them all over again.”

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Phyllis Zagano | May. 6, 2015 Just Catholic

The saga continues. You may recall the bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., judged guilty of knowingly failing to report suspected child sexual abuse, was sentenced to two years’ probation with conditions.

But when the bishop — Robert Finn — resigned last month, he had a few calendar items the high-ups approved: diaconal and priestly ordinations.

Say what?

Yes, it is true. The Not-Getting-It Department (Episcopal Division) met in person or in cyberspace and said to Finn: Sure, go ahead, ordain your deacons and priests.

Who, you ask? As it happened, Carlo Maria Vigano, the 74-year-old apostolic nuncio to the United States, gave the green light for Finn to do the ordinations. It was Finn’s friend, neighbor, and now administrator of Finn’s old diocese, Archbishop Joseph Naumann, who came up with the plan, citing scheduling conflicts preventing his doing the ordinations. In fact, Naumann has sent Finn the required permission letters for each ordination.

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BELGIE
De Standaard

[Archbishop Léonard has resigned resigns. His succession will probably go faster than with Danneels, who had to wait two years for a successor.]

Aartsbisschop Léonard neemt ontslag. Zijn opvolging zal wellicht een pak sneller gaan dan bij Danneels, die twee jaar moest wachten op een opvolger.

Woensdag wordt aartsbisschop André-Joseph Léonard 75 jaar en zoals het kerkelijk recht voorschrijft, biedt hij paus Franciscus dan zijn ontslag aan. Dat betekent niet dat Léonard onmiddellijk zijn functie neerlegt.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, May 6

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

Today, Archbishop André-Joseph Leonard of Brussels is obligated to submit his resignation to Pope Francis. We hope he does so immediately and we hope Pope Francis accepts it immediately.

Last month, a court ordered Archbishop Leonard to pay €10,000 in damages to a child sex abuse victim, ruling that the Catholic official was responsible for a failure to act on abuse reports.

[Catholic Culture]

There is no reason for delay. Catholics in Brussels deserve a prelate who takes children’s safety more seriously than Archbishop Leonard has. Parents, police, prosecutors and parishioners would be reassured to see the pontiff replace Leonard quickly.

And Pope Francis should also publicly denounce Leonard. That’s what will make kids safer: when top Catholic officials find the courage to clearly, strongly and publicly criticize their colleagues who endanger children and protect predators.

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KENTUCKY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, May 6

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

Today is Lexington Bishop John Stowe’s first day in his new job. What could be more pressing than the safety of kids?

We call on him to immediately warn his flock about two local predator priests and to permanently post all child molesting clerics’ names on his diocesan website.

1—Fr. Carroll Howlin faces at least four child sex abuse allegations, but now lives – and likely still ministers – among poverty-stricken families in McCreary County with no supervision. It’s one of most reckless, disturbing and recent examples of how little church officials are doing to safeguard kids from known predators.

Recently-released church records show that prosecutors found the child sex allegations “credible” and “there was sufficient evidence to file criminal charges” but the statute of limitations prevented it.

[BishopAccountability.org]

Based on some of these records, the Chicago Tribune reported that “Church officials removed Howlin from public ministry, but otherwise left him alone in Kentucky (despite charges that) Howlin had used money to gain sexual favors from two impoverished teenage boys and had been engaging in ‘informal ministry on the side’ in Kentucky” (with a charity called “Hills and Hollers Ministries,” 606 376 7577).

In 2010, the Vatican banned him from unsupervised contact with children, but “he serves as his own minder here in rural Kentucky. The choice of whether to follow the Vatican’s restrictions involving ministry or being alone with children remains entirely up to him,” the Tribune found.

“Howlin is in fact still a Joliet Diocese priest who is supposed to answer to its bishop, according to both the Vatican and other experts. The diocese continues Howlin’s pension, and (his bishop) has the authority to dictate where Howlin lives. (But) records show church officials have done little to keep tabs on him,” the Tribune reported.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, May 6

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

A North County mega-church pastor is suing church members who say he did little or nothing to act on suspicions of child sex abuse by a now-imprisoned sex offender who worked at the church. Shame on the pastor and his top aides for lashing out at, and trying to intimidate, caring whistleblowers.

( See new Riverfront Times story:

[Riverfront Times]

We hope law enforcement is investigating the possibility that Rev. Steven Wingfield of First Christian Church in Florissant may have broken the law in the case of now-admitted child molester Brandon Milburn.

Even though he hasn’t been criminally charged, Wingfield has hired a lawyer. And he’s instructed that lawyer to sue compassionate adults whose only “crime” is trying to find and help Milburn’s victims and shed light on a disturbing truth – that some at First Christian could and should have done more and acted sooner to call prevent child sex abuse.

As horrific as this case is, there are some heroes here. They are the brave men, women and teenagers who have exposed and are exposing an allegedly complicit church hierarchy. They are Dawn and Roger Varvil, Titus and Kari Benton, Jacob and Carrie Anderson, Doug and Tammy Lay, Sarah Thiele, Nathan Rayner, Scott Seppelt, Adam Krause and Lisa Womble. (Some of these are pseudonyms.)

We applaud them for their strength, courage and caring. We are saddened by their suffering.

And we also are grateful to and impressed by the very brave teenagers and young men who helped police and prosecutors put Milburn away where he can’t hurt anyone else. It’s very hard for abuse victims to speak up. It’s harder when the perpetrator is a trusted religious figure. And it’s very hard to step forward at a young age and cooperate with the justice system. But these teenagers and young men have done this, at considerable risk, and ours is a safer community because of their courage.

We urge anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes by Milburn or cover ups at First Christian to summon the strength to call police and prosecutors. Though Milburn is behind bars, it’s possible that some who ignored or concealed suspicions of his crimes may face justice too.

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CALIFORNIA
Catholic Philly

BY CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

SAN JOSE, Calif. (CNS) — A priest from the San Jose Diocese has been indicted on federal fraud and tax evasion charges and a priest from the Cincinnati Archdiocese is under investigation for missing parish funds.

Msgr. Hien Minh Nguyen, a priest from the San Jose Diocese was indicted on federal fraud and tax evasion charges for allegedly diverting thousands of dollars from parishioner donations into his own bank account during a three-year period.

The priest, former director of the Vietnamese Catholic Center for the Diocese of San Jose, was indicted by a federal grand jury in San Jose on bank fraud and tax evasion charges He was charged with 14 counts of bank fraud totaling $19,000 and for not reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in income between 2008 and 2011.

In a statement, San Jose Bishop Patrick J. McGrath said the diocese has been cooperating with federal investigators since October 2012. The priest has been on a leave of absence since December 2013. He was arrested April 18.

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MISSOURI
Riverfront Times

By Danny Wicentowski Wed., May 6 2015

As he waits to face his victims, the former youth minister can do nothing but stare at his manacled hands. His piercing blue eyes barely move as St. Louis County Circuit Judge Robert Cohen adjudicates some half-dozen criminal cases — heroin possession, burglary, probation violations. An hour passes before Brandon Milburn’s name is called.

Milburn’s case is left for last. From the back of the courtroom, nineteen pairs of eyes turn to prosecutor Michael Hayes as he begins his argument for the stiffest possible sentence.

The date is March 30, 2015: two months since Milburn pleaded guilty to molesting two eleven-year-old boys; fourteen months since Milburn’s arrest; ten years since Milburn first set foot in St. Louis.

“Your Honor,” Hayes begins, “Mr. Milburn has plead guilty to the seven counts of statutory sodomy, first degree. These seven counts represent a pattern of abuse that took place over a period of years, from the summer of 2007 till the spring of [2009]. The defendant had ingratiated himself with the victims’ families and with the church that they all participated in.”

And Milburn’s pattern of abuse began even before that.

According to Hayes, the state had received information about three other victims in Milburn’s hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. Those molestations date back to 2000, when Milburn was in his early teens and the three boys in preschool. Hayes tells the judge that these earlier abuses spanned at least six years.

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CHILE
Hola Ciudad

[The Chilean Catholic bishops have published a document on the crisis of confidence plaguing the country and admitted that this also extends to the Church itself because of sexual abuse by “unscrupulous priests” today.]

Los obispos católicos chilenos divulgaron hoy un documento sobre la crisis de confianza que afecta al país y admitieron que esta situación alcanza también a la propia Iglesia a causa de los abusos sexuales cometidos por “curas inescrupulosos”.

Los obispos católicos chilenos divulgaron hoy un documento sobre la crisis de confianza que afecta al país y admitieron que esta situación alcanza también a la propia Iglesia a causa de los abusos sexuales cometidos por “curas inescrupulosos”.

“Es preocupante constatar la pérdida de confianza en las relaciones sociales y en los liderazgos: en la política, la empresa, la escuela, las universidades”, sostiene el texto, divulgado por el obispo Cristián Contreras, secretario general de la Conferencia Episcopal de Chile.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (updated 6 May 2015)

This Broken Rites article exposes the activities of Christian Brother Maurice Howard during his long teaching career in Victoria and Tasmania. In 2015, the Christian Brothers have been forced to give a written apology to at least one of Brother Howard’s many victims.

Brother Maurie Howard taught at many schools including: St Patrick’s College in Ballarat; St Kevin’s College in Toorak; Christian Brothers St Kilda; and St Virgil’s College in Hobart.

Maurice Andrew Howard was born in 1914. He is believed to have been a pupil at St Patrick’s College, Ballarat, in the late 1920s and early 1930s. He was recruited as a member of the Christian Brothers and he began teaching at schools in their Victoria-Tasmania province.

In the late 1940s, he was back at St Patrick’s College as a teacher — “Brother Howard”. He was one of the school’s main coaches for cricket and football.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher

Research by Broken Rites has uncovered some cases in which pupils have received compensation for clergy sexual abuse at one of Australia’s most “prestigious” Catholic schools — Melbourne’s Xavier College. This Broken Rites article contains four examples of Xavier cases.

Xavier College is owned by the Society of Jesus (known as the Jesuit religious order), which has inherited a “scholarly” public image.

Situated on a hill in Kew in Melbourne’s leafy east, Xavier College opened as a boys’ boarding school in 1878. In 1900 it was accepted into an association of Melbourne’s most “prestigious” non-Catholic grammar schools.

Xavier established preparatory schools in Kew (Burke Hall, 1920) and Brighton (Kostka Hall, 1936). The prep schools cover the primary grades to Year 8. After completing the secondary years, at the main campus, many Xavier boys have been channelled into the professions of medicine, law, the church and the public service, thus helping to promote Xavier’s elite image.

Here are some examples of church settlements regarding Xavier College :

Xavier example 1

One Xavier settlement relates to Father Patrick Stephenson, SJ , OBE, who was associated with Xavier College for more than fifty years (until 1991) as a teacher and as a mentor in the Old Xavierians’ Association. Being involved in the education of thousands of boys, he was perhaps the school’s most famous teacher, like Britain’s legendary “Mr Chips”, and was one of the most widely known Jesuits in the city of Melbourne. His OBE award (the Order of the British Empire) is an indication of his prominence in the general Melbourne community. The school has named a sports complex after him. He is now deceased.

A former student, who was at Xavier in the late 1960s and early 1970s, has complained to the Jesuits that Fr Paddy Stephenson, O.B.E., indecently mauled this boy’s genitals. This constitutes a criminal offence — indecent assault. This student says he was not the only victim. He (and other boys) reported Stephenson’s behaviour at the time to another Jesuit priest (a religious education teacher) but this Jesuit was dismissive and “didn’t want to know about it”. Evidently, the ex-student says, the Jesuits were concerned to protect the school’s image. Eventually, many years later, this ex-student has tackled the Jesuit authorities with an official complaint. The Jesuits have reached a confidential settlement with this ex-student, thereby still protecting the school’s image. And the school’s sports complex is still named in honour of the famous Fr Patrick Stephenson, OBE.

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SCOTLAND
BBC News

A Roman Catholic priest will not face any criminal charges over allegations of historical sexual abuse after police found no evidence to support the claim.

Father Paul Morton was suspended from St Bride’s parish in Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire, in October while police investigated a complaint against him.

The Diocese of Motherwell said it had been told no charges would be brought.

Fr Morton will not return to ministry until he is formally approved by a canonical counsel.

St Bride’s parish is part of the Diocese of Motherwell, headed by Bishop Joseph Toal.

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MARYLAND
CBS Baltimore

[with video]

Vic Carter

TOWSON, Md. (WJZ) — He was an influential religious leader and a respected and popular Towson University professor. But Rabbi Barry Freundel preyed on his female students, secretly videotaping them as they undressed for a ritual bath.

Vic Carter reports two of his victims are telling their stories on the ultimate betrayal of trust.

Rabbi Barry Freundel was a prominent spiritual leader and a respected Towson University professor.
He was also a master manipulator who lured women under the pretense of a religious cleansing ritual to get them to take off their clothes in front of hidden cameras he planted.

The rabbi admits to secretly videotaping dozens of women. Now, for the first time, two of his students–violated and betrayed by the man they trusted–are telling their stories to WJZ.

Reporter: “Tell us how the rabbi discussed the mikvah with you.”

Victim 1: “How it was presented to me was kind of like a personal baptism where you’re remade new and forgiven of all your sins.”

Victim 2: “He presented it also in that–it doesn’t have to be a religious thing… it’s just a very cleansing, relaxing–it is what you make it sort of thing. He was selling it–he was selling the mikvah.”

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FLORIDA
Palm Beach Post

Whether an older, third accuser will testify against former Rosarian Academy teacher Stephen Budd was a topic of discussion this morning at what could be one of the last hearings before his scheduled May 26 trial on child molestation charges.

Budd was arrested in April 2013 on sexual assault, cruelty towards a child and other charges related to claims that he traded candy for sex with two students at the private Catholic school in West Palm Beach.

As part of the investigation, authorities arranged calls between the alleged victims, who told police that during the 2006-07 school year, Budd would give them “Budd bucks,” which she explained was candy in return for sexual acts.

At this morning’s hearing, prosecutor Jessica Kahn filed paperwork asking CIrcuit Judge Karen Miller to allow jurors to hear testimony from another former Budd student who claims Budd behaved inappropriately with her more than a decade ago at a Riviera Beach Catholic school.

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ROME
Chiesa

The responses of the episcopal conference to the presynodal questionnaire describe what is already being done in Germany: communion for the divorced and remarried, tolerance for second marriages, approval of homosexual unions

by Sandro Magister

ROME, May 6, 2015 – To judge by the latest product of the German episcopal conference, the synod on the family scheduled for October 4-25 could turn out to be a wasted effort.

Cardinal Reinhard Marx (in the photo), archbishop of Munich and president of the episcopal conference, had made this clear last February 25 with a remark that made its way around the world:

“We are not a subsidiary of Rome. Every episcopal conference is responsible for pastoral care in its own cultural context, and must preach the Gospel in its own original way. We cannot wait for a synod to tell us how we must shape the pastoral care of marriage and the family.”

But now it is Germany’s episcopal conference itself that has set this same concept down in black and white, in its official response – after consulting the “people of God” – to the preparatory questionnaire sent out from Rome in view of the next session of the synod.

When it comes to the question on “how to promote the determination of pastoral guidelines on the level of particular Churches,” the German bishops in fact write:

“Referring to social and cultural differences, some of the responses favour regional agreements on pastoral guidelines at local church level. The basis could also be formed by diocesan discussion processes on the topic of marriage and the family the outcome of which would be discussed with other local churches. This would be conditional on all concerned being willing to engage in a dialogue.”

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VATICAN CITY
Bloomberg Business

by Jeremy Kahn

Pope Francis listens attentively at the front of the packed lecture hall, a one-man island of white amid a sea of cardinals in black cassocks and scarlet zucchettos, or skullcaps. The pope and these “princes” of the Roman Catholic Church have gathered in Vatican City’s Synod Hall, a modern glass and steel building steps from the Renaissance-era St. Peter’s Basilica, to get an update on the financial health of the Holy See.

In any other setting, the scene would have been unremarkable: PowerPoint presentations, charts, graphs. But the Vatican has until recently regarded its finances as so sensitive that its full accounts were known only to the pope and his closest aides. The Feb. 13 briefing, says Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi, was the first time the Consistory of Cardinals had ever received such a detailed look at the books. Equally groundbreaking, the presenters included lay experts, not just clergy. And some of them spoke in English, the language of commerce, not in one of the Vatican’s

As Bloomberg Markets magazine will report in its June issue, the Synod Hall gathering reinforced the notion that Pope Francis is not your father’s Holy Father. From his stand on homosexuality (of gay priests, he once said, “Who am I to judge?”) to helping midwife a rapprochement between the U.S. and Cuba to his social-media savvy (he tweets!), Francis has made headlines and stirred the faithful. He’s reinvigorated a church poisoned by years of sex-abuse scandals and perceived even by many devout Catholics as out of sync with modernity. What’s more, the princely assemblage highlighted a more earthly side of Francis’s church reforms: risking a potentially crippling confrontation with the Roman Curia, the Holy See’s powerful governing bureaucracy, in order to attack waste, mismanagement, and corruption.

The Vatican isn’t a financial powerhouse. Aside from its priceless art collection, it controls less than $7 billion in assets—and that’s being generous in valuing its real estate portfolio. Separately, the Vatican Bank, formally known as the Institute for the Works of Religion, has less than $6.5 billion in assets, most belonging not to the Vatican itself but to Catholic dioceses, orders, and charities. Still, management of the Vatican’s finances matters because it reflects on the moral authority of the church, says Joseph F. X. Zahra, a Maltese businessman and economist who is one of Francis’s closest financial advisers.

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BELGIUM
The Tablet (UK)

06 May 2015

The Archbishop Brussels, André-Joseph Léonard, has been ordered to pay €10,000 in damages for failing to act on allegations of sexual abuse in the 1990s when he was bishop of Namur. The civil case was brought by a former seminarian who was abused by a priest in the late 1980s,when he was a 14-year-old altar boy.

Joel Devillet, now 42, filed an abuse complaint with a church tribunal, but it advised counselling for him and did not alert the police, said an appeals court in Liege that overturned an earlier judgment exonerating Léonard.

It also said Léonard, who is head of the Belgian bishops’ conference, did not discipline the offending priest, who went on to commit further abuse in another parish. “The way in which Archbishop Léonard treated the case of Joel Devillet constituted misconduct,” the court said.

Archbishop Léonard’s lawyer said his client disagreed with the court judgment but had not yet decided whether he would appeal. “The court lists various things that certain people should have done, but nothing that Archbishop Léonard categorically should have done,” he said. “That nuance is important.”

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

6 May 2015 By Kenny Smith

Father Morton cleared of wrongdoing after historical sexual abuse allegation

The parish priest of St Bride’s in Cambuslang has been cleared of any wrongdoing after an allegation of historical sexual abuse.

Father Paul Morton was put on administrative leave last September by Catholic Church authorities whilst the claim was investigated, but he always maintained his innocence.

However, on Thursday evening, after an interview lasting less than an hour, he was informed there is no case to answer.

A Police Scotland spokesman said: “We can confirm police have carried out an investigation following an allegation of historical sexual abuse, and no further police action will be taken.”

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ILLINOIS
ABC 7

[with video]

CHICAGO — The archbishop said Father Brendan Curran’s dismissal is particularly tough because of the strong, vibrant Hispanic community he led.

Father Curran was removed from Saint Pius Catholic Church in the Pilsen neighborhood, where he had been since 2001, following an inappropriate relationship with an adult woman.

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INDIA
The Hindu

A large number of people from various coastal villages across the district thronged Tuticorin Bishop House on Tuesday.

The villagers,led by S. Maharajan, president, Tharuvaikulam panchayat, met Rev. Fr. Yvon Ambroise, Bishop of Tuticorin Roman Catholic Diocese, and sought action against Fr. William Santhanam, parish priest of Punnaikayal, who was placed under suspension. Mr. Maharajan said a memorandum was submitted to the Bishop in this regard.

Fr. Santhanam allegedly assaulted Fr. Vasanthan of Kudankulam Parish in April last year. Earlier, Fr. Santhanam was the parish priest of Shrine Basilica, Our Lady of Snows, and after the incident he was transferred to Punnaikayal even before his tenure at the Basilica was over. It was unjust and unfair that the fellow priest came under attack, the villagers said.

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INDIA
The Hindu

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday dismissed a bail petition filed by Edwin Figarez, an accused in the case relating to rape of a minor girl at North Paravur.

Justice K. Ramakrishnan while dismissing the petition observed that it was quite unfortunate that sexual abuse of children was on the increase.

The court pointed out that accused in the case was a priest who was supposed to teach morals and prevent the faithful from committing any offence. In his bail petition, the accused, who is a priest with the Lourdes Matha Church, Puthenvelikkara, said that the case had been foisted on him.

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WISCONSIN
WISN

MILWAUKEE —A bishop is under investigation on allegations he tried to intimidate a pastor at Milwaukee’s Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church.

That pastor said he’s being forced out after exposing embezzlement allegations against a former pastor.

As WISN 12 News previously reported, the Rev. James Dokos is awaiting trial on theft charges.

Now, the priest who exposed the case told WISN 12 News reporter Nick Bohr he is facing retaliation from his superiors.

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ILLINOIS
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Associated Press

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. • A Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing a minor the same year he was ordained has been removed as pastor of four central Illinois parishes.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield announced the Rev. Robert “Bud” DeGrand’s immediate removal over the weekend. Bishop Thomas John Paprocki met with parishioners Sunday in Sigel, Neoga, Green Creek and Lillyville to explain the decision.

The alleged misconduct occurred in Jacksonville in 1980. DeGrand also has served parishes in Winchester, Bluffs and Granite City.

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MICHIGAN
WOOD

[with video]

By Tom Hillen
Published: May 5, 2015

LANSING, Mich. (WOOD) — A bill that would retroactively remove the statute of limitations for sex crimes against minors that happened before 2001 went before a Michigan House of Representatives committee on Tuesday.

House Bill 4231 was introduced by state Rep. Holly Hughes, R-Montague, in February after she saw a 24 Hour News 8 story on Randall Doctor.

“When I saw it on television a couple of times, I thought, we can’t just sit around and wait,” Hughes said.

Doctor was a former Cadet leader at Fifth Reformed Church in Muskegon. He has admitted to police that he sexually assaulted between eight and 10 young boys in the 1970s and 1980s.

“I started getting sexually abused when I was 12, and my life changed directions from the first time I met Randy Doctor,” Bryan Derr testified before the House Criminal Justice Committee on Tuesday.

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NEW YORK
News 12

[with video]

PINE BUSH – An Orange County man claims a former Pine Bush priest touched him inappropriately
Michael Kyles says he was 22 years old when he first met Father Kevin Gallagher at the Church of Infant Saviour. He says he began talking with Gallagher to cope with the death of his twin brother Tyler, who was killed in a car crash while in high school.

Kyles said he started using prescription drugs about a year after his brother passed away and eventually became addicted to heroin. He says he turned to Gallagher for money and that the pastor would drive him to get synthetic heroin. As their encounters progressed, Kyles said the pastor would touch him inappropriately.

Michael was not a minor at the time. According to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, no criminal charges have been filed against Gallagher.

A spokesperson with the Archdiocese of New York has said that Gallagher was removed from his position as pastor following the allegation. It says Gallagher hasn’t been allowed to function as a priest or present himself as a priest since he was removed as pastor from the parish.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
St. Louis Catholic

The group SNAP, which uses the sex abuse scandals in the Church as the cudgel for promoting itself and its own agenda, has moved into the truly Orwellian today. Not content with the sacrifice of Bishop Robert Finn, the Kansas City leader of SNAP is calling for the disciplining of Fr. Gregory Lockwood for the grave crime of defending Bishop Finn in print.

Thoughtcrime. Hate speech.

You see, a faithful bishop cannot even be defended by a faithful Catholic priest or layman publicly, or they’ll go after him, too.

SNAP has decided that Bishop Finn is a bad man. Therefore, anyone who defends him must also be a bad man. We see this line of “reasoning” in other contexts these days by other groups with similar tactics: Bake that cake! Perform that sodomite marriage! Desecrate that Eucharist! Offer up that incense to Moloch!

Or else.

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KANSAS CITY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, May 4

Statement by David Tate of Kansas City, leader of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( davidtate27@gmail.com )

In a stunningly callous letter to his parishioners, a Kansas City pastor is misleading Catholics, re-victimizing adults and endangering kids by deceptively defending a convicted bishop and attacking the motives of those who feel betrayed by him.

In a letter to members of Christ the King parish on Wornall Road (written on church letterhead), Fr. Gregory Lockwood claims that Bishop Robert Finn faced a “politically motivated charge” filed by “an ambitious prosecutor with strong ties to the abortion industry.”

The priest also claims that in the Fr. Shawn Ratigan case, church officials “never had any impulse to cover up.”

Fr. Lockwood also claims that many of those who are upset with Finn are “nasty,” say “mean” and “vicious” things about him and part of a “mob scene.”

“The issue was never the Ratigan affair,” Fr. Lockwood writes, but rather some sort of ideological crusade because Finn is conservative. He thus impugns the motives of those who care about kids, about truth and about deterring crimes by holding criminals accountable.

Finally, in a clear deceit, Fr. Lockwood claims that the bishop “pled no contest.” In fact, Finn was found guilty by a judge. (Fr. Lockwood is an educated man. He knows better.)

This is wrong and hurtful on so many levels.

First, it misleads parishioners.

Second, it also re-victimizes adults – both betrayed Catholics and suffering victims – by mischaracterizing and minimizing the crimes by both Finn and Ratigan.

And third, it endangers kids by fostering a hostile climate for victims, witnesses and whistleblowers, making it less likely that child molesters – clergy or otherwise – will be reported, exposed, prosecuted, convicted and kept away from kids.

Somewhere in Christ the King parish there’s a 14 year old girl who is being molested by her uncle. He tells her “If you speak up, no one will believe you.” Then she sees her pastor, Fr. Lockwood, publicly defending a proven enabler. She decides “My uncle is right. Adults side with adults. I won’t be believed. I’ll keep my mouth shut.”

And her abuse continues.

Years later, when she grows out of her uncle’s preferred age range, he goes on to molest her younger sister.

This isn’t rocket science. Adults can either make it harder for kids and adults to report predators. Or adults can make it harder.
Archbishop Joseph Naumann should publicly and harshly discipline Fr. Lockwood to deter this kind of callousness now and in the future.

See Fr. Lockwood letter here.

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BELGIUM
Catholic Culture

The looming resignation of Belgium’s leading Catholic prelate will bring a new test for Pope Francis’ determination to hold prelates accountable for their handling of sex-abuse cases.

Archbishop André-Joseph Leonard of Brussels will celebrate his 75th birthday on May 6, and in accordance with the Code of Canon Law will be obliged to submit his resignation to Pope Francis. Less than two weeks ago, a Belgian court ordered the archbishop to pay €10,000 in damages to a sex-abuse victim, ruling that the prelate was responsible for a failure to take action on abuse complaints.

While the archbishop’s attorney said that he might appeal the court’s decision, the judgment added to heavy pressure on the Catholic hierarchy in Belgium. Archbishop Leonard’s predecessor in Brussels, Cardinal Godfried Danneels, had been charged with covering up evidence of sexual abuse; and in 2010 police had raided the offices of the bishops’ conference, looking for evidence of criminal negligence.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The JC

A leading rabbi has told a court that a Jewish teacher was “annoyed at being caught” when confronted with allegations of serious sexual abuse in front of his wife as part of a secret meeting.

Rabbi Shraga Feivel Zimmerman was giving evidence on Tuesday in the trial of 50-year-old Todros Grynhaus, a prominent member of the Charedi community in Salford.

Father-of-ten Mr Grynhaus is charged with five counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual assault against two girls committed when they were aged around 14 and 15.

Rabbi Zimmerman – the Gateshead Rav – and one of the most significant figures in Gateshead’s strictly Orthodox community, was notified of the allegations by Mr Grynhaus’s cousin, Rabbi Gershon Miller, also of Gateshead, in 2010, and it was decided a meeting should be arranged.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas P. Doyle | May. 5, 2015 Examining the Crisis

The Vatican’s sterile announcement of Bishop Robert Finn’s resignation was a typical but unsuccessful attempt by the Holy See to sanitize the harsh reality of a failed bishop. It was a removal disguised as a resignation. The absolute need for accountability of bishops would have been far better served had Finn been publicly removed rather than offered the thin camouflage of resignation.

The reason for his resignation in the oblique canonical language of the announcement was his inability to continue to fulfill his office because of “another serious reason” (canon 401.2). Much of the media focus was on Finn’s 2012 conviction of failure to report Shawn Ratigan, a Kansas City priest who had child pornography on his laptop. There’s a lot more to it than that. Whether Finn was an overall effective leader was the main point that Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, the Vatican investigator, looked at. One of his worst failures as a leader was the disastrous way he handled clergy sex abuse cases. This is the other chapter of the story.

Between 2005, the year Finn was appointed, and 2015, there have been at least 94 cases filed against the diocese. Some of these involved allegations of serious sexual abuse that goes back decades — abuse covered up and mishandled by Finn’s predecessors. In many cases, Finn was not part of the cover-up because it was all out in the open by the time he arrived. His failure, the extent of which cannot be understated, was in the way he responded to the victims who resorted to the civil courts. And, as an aside, the main reason most victims have gone to the civil courts is because they have been denied any justice, support or deserved compensation by the church’s administration.

Finn pretty much ignored victims. In his 10 years as bishop, he met with two and possibly a couple more, but not to extend pastoral care. His meetings with victims were all part of legal proceedings. From all sources queried, there is no evidence he ever reached out as a caring shepherd to any of the people whose lives had been ravaged by the Kansas City priests.

He did his dirty work through his lawyers. Although some bishops when asked about the toxic antics of their attorneys try to dodge the issue by claiming it was the lawyers and not them, the cold fact is that the bishop hires the lawyers, sees that they get paid, and approves their strategies. Unlike the victims’ attorneys, who are paid on a contingency basis, the church’s lawyers are paid by the hour whether they win or lose. The lawyers for the Kansas City diocese were paid a lot under Finn’s reign.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Patch

By DEB BELT (Patch Staff)
May 5, 2015

A Washington, D.C., police officer from Prince George’s County – who is also a pastor — faces charges of sexually assaulting teenage girls at a church and at police headquarters.

Metro Officer Darrell L. Best, 45, of Upper Marlboro, was arrested in March and is being held without bond on four charges, including first-degree sexual abuse while armed and sexual abuse of a minor. Authorities allege he abused two teenage girls who attend his church, God Of A Second Chance Ministry, in Southeast DC.

Since his arrest, a third girl has contacted authorities to report she was also abused by Best, NBC Washington reports.

Best was scheduled to appear in court May 5, but online court records show the conference was rescheduled for June 2. An earlier request that he be released from jail on bond was denied.

Prosecutors say Best reportedly sexually abused a 16-year-old parishioner three times at the church beginning in December.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
WTOP

By Jamie Forzato | @jamieforzato
May 5, 2015

WASHINGTON — A D.C. police officer and pastor accused of sexually abusing two teenagers will face federal child pornography charges.

At D.C. Superior Court on Tuesday, the prosecution announced they found pictures on Darrell Best’s cellphone and intend to file the additional charges in federal court. He already faces several counts of sex abuse of a minor.

Best’s defense attorney, Nikki Lotze says an independent investigation will be conducted.

“They are allegations at this point. We look forward to conducting a thorough, independent investigation,” Lotze says.

Best, a 45-year-old Upper Marlboro resident, was arrested in March after a 16-year-old told investigators he sexually abused her three times at their Southeast D.C. church, God of a Second Chance Ministry Church, in December 2014.

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MICHIGAN
MLive

By Kyle Feldscher | kylefeldscher@mlive.com
on May 05, 2015

LANSING — A panel of Michigan lawmakers questioned the constitutionality of a bill to allow criminal cases against people accused of molesting children decades ago, despite emotional testimony from alleged victims of a Norton Shores man.

House Bill 4231 would retroactively remove all statute of limitations on first-degree criminal sexual conduct of a minor. In 2001, the Michigan Legislature eliminated the statute of limitations on first-degree criminal sexual conduct, which prior to that was six years.

However, Public Act 6 of 2001 did not remove the statute of limitations for crimes that occurred before May 2001.

That means Randall Doctor, a Norton Shores man currently in prison on drug charges, could not be charged for allegedly molesting between eight and 10 boys — now men —in the late 1970s and 1980s.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Pope Francis seems to prefer discussing sexual morality secretively with 200 subservient celibate male bishops at “Family Synods” than to discussing this hot topic with a grandmother Lutheran archbishop. This seems to be especially the case when the woman appears to have better theological training and relevant personal experience than the pope and many of his celibate bishops have, especially on matters like sexual morality and the related climate change implications of uncontrolled population growth. The pope recently met (with no pictures or English translation available apparently – why?) with Lady Antje Jackelen, a German by birth who is Archbishop and Primate of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sweden. The related Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany is the Catholic Church’s main religious and financial competitor in that lucrative religious market.

The pope noted in their meeting the upcoming 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s revolt. In Italian, the direct pope then, in effect, admonished the woman archbishop that it would be a sin ( “un peccato”) if improving Catholic-Lutheran relations had to be set back by topics like “… the question of the dignity of human life, always to be respected, as well as the issues that are related to the family, marriage and sexuality … ” The pope ominously and almost rudely added then, “It would be a sin (un pecatto”) if these important matters were consolidated into new confessional differences”. Pretty heavy handed, even for an ex-bouncer, no? Does an archbishop really need a pope to tell her what is a sin?

Please see the bishop’s picture here,

[Vatican Insider]

and the pope’s remarks to the woman bishop whom he addressed as “dear sister” (“cara sorella”), here,

[Vatican web site]

Almost 500 years after Luther, the Vatican still seems intent on dictating to Protestants. The woman archbishop will also be meeting with the head of the Anglican church, a married father who sees more matters her way, e.g., on papal authority, sexual morality, women’s equality, et al., than the pope does from most indications.

It appears the pope, who seemingly spends more time meeting with US right wing fundamentalist leaders and international soccer stars than he spent with this informed archbishop and her group, was not in the mood to listen to a woman bishop or be photographed with her. I wonder why? Of course, she must know the pope is in “a box”. He cannot rationally advocate seriously for reducing greenhouse gases at the same time he pushes for more population growth with his irrational ban on contraception.

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UNITED STATES
GetReligion

Terry Mattingly

The case of the DUI bishop is, in one sense, over – in that Bishop Heather Elizabeth Cook is no longer a leader in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland. In fact, she is no longer an Episcopal bishop at all, nor is she an Episcopal priest or deacon.

That shoe has dropped and has been covered pretty clearly in the newspaper that lands (for several more weeks) in my front yard near the Baltimore Beltway. But what about the rest of the story?

You see, the timeline that looms behind the story of the rise and tragic fall of Cook – charged with criminal negligent manslaughter, using a texting device while driving, leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in death and three charges of drunken driving – reveals that this is actually two or three stories unfolding at the same time. There is more to this than the dominoes that began falling in her career after her car struck bicyclist Thomas Palermo.

First of all, there is the issue of her election as bishop, including the “what did they know and when did they know it” facts about her documented struggles with addiction to drugs and alcohol. Then there is the impact of this case – financial, legal and professional – on either the leaders of the local diocese, the national church, or both.

However, if you read The Baltimore Sun coverage of Cook’s case, it’s hard to know what is going on at the diocese and national levels. Meanwhile, The Washington Post coverage has included developments at all levels – personal, diocesan and national. Remember this scoop when the Post caught details in a newly released Cook timeline document that were missed by the Sun?

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ILLINOIS
Journal Courier

By Bre Linstromberg Copper – bcopper@civitasmedia.com

Former Jacksonville priest Robert “Bud” DeGrand has been permanently removed as pastor at four Catholic parishes in the state and is barred from public ministry.

The decision to remove DeGrand was based on the unanimous recommendation of the Diocesan Review Board and Bishop Thomas John Paprocki’s assessment of the information available, according to a news release from the Diocese of Springfield.

The review board had been investigating an accusation against DeGrand involving clerical sexual misconduct with a minor said to have occurred in 1980, while DeGrand was assigned to Our Saviour Parish in Jacksonville.

DeGrand has been on administrative leave from public ministry since the allegation first surfaced in September 2013.

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

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ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Ex-Granite City priest ousted for abuse accusations
His flock buys him a house & his bishop pays for his lawyer
SNAP blasts “unprecedented golden parachute” for predator
Group urges Catholic officials to “educate & reign in church-goers”

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will denounce the fact that

–a group of Catholic parishioners are buying a house for a predator priest, and
–a Catholic bishop is paying for the priest’s lawyer.

They will also urge Springfield’s Catholic officials to

–stop or at least denounce both moves, and
–aggressively seek out others who were hurt by the priest so that he might be prosecuted.

WHEN
TODAY, Tuesday, May 5 at 2 p.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside St. Elizabeth Catholic Church, 2300 Pontoon Rd, Granite City, IL (618-877-3300)

WHO
Two-three clergy sex abuse victims who belong to SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, including the organization’s long time executive director

WHY
In what SNAP says is a “first” anywhere in the US, parishioners in a small Illinois town are buying a house for a suspended predator priest while the local bishop is using church funds to pay the accused priest’s legal fees.

[Effingham Daily News]

On Sunday, Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki told church-goers that Fr. Robert “Bud” DeGrand – who worked in Granite City – won’t ever work in a parish again. But SNAP is appalled that Paprocki is paying for Fr. DeGrand’s lawyer and saying little or nothing while members of Fr. DeGrand’s parish are buying him a home.

These moves “rubs salt into the wounds of suffering victims and betrayed Catholics” SNAP believes, and “discourages other abuse victims from reporting crimes, exposing predators and protecting kids.”

It’s common, SNAP says, for church-goers to rally around a credibly accused child molesting cleric. It happens largely for two reasons: because most child predators are shrewd, personable and charming and because virtually no church official teaches his flock about how harmful such actions are and about how rare false allegations against clergy are.

SNAP is urging Paprocki to

–stop using parishioner donations to pay Fr. DeGrand’s lawyer
–publicly beg parishioners to stop “enabling” Fr. DeGrand by financially backing him
–educate his flock about how to act responsibly when priests are accused of abuse
–put notices about the credible accusations against Fr. DeGrand 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, and
–give his personnel file to law enforcement agencies in every county where he worked

Taking “these simple, inexpensive and proven prevention steps will boost the chances that Fr. DeGrand could be prosecuted, convicted and kept away from kids,” SNAP maintains.

When the case first surfaced in late 2013, Paprocki kept the accusation against Fr. DeGrand secret for weeks. That’s one of several ways, SNAP says, that Paprocki mishandled this case.

He also let Fr. DeGrand resign from his posts at Catholic parishes in Sigel, Neoga, Green Creek and Lillyville (all near Effingham). SNAP said Paprocki should have suspended him instead.

SNAP urges anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes by Fr. DeGrand or cover ups by Paprocki – especially current and former Springfield area Catholic employees – to “call police, expose wrongdoers, deter wrongdoing and start healing.”

According to the Official Catholic Directory, Fr. DeGrand was pastor of St. Elizabeth’s in Granite City in from 1991-1996. He is not indexed in the 1997 Directory. In the 1998 Directory, he is indexed and listed as on leave. Fr. DeGrand was ordained to the priesthood in 1980.

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ILLINOIS
XFM

Written by Greg Sapp

Bishop Thomas John Paprocki has permanently removed Father Robert “Bud” DeGrand as pastor of the parishes of St. Michael and Archangel in Sigel, St. Mary of the Assumption in Neoga, St. Mary Help of Christians in Green Creek, and Sacred Heart in Lillyville, effective immediately.

The Bishop sent a letter to parishioners that said his action was taken “In light of Father DeGrand’s refusal to cooperate with the process to determine his suitability to return to ministry.”

Father Sunder Ery will continue as Parochial Administrator of the parishes.

Father DeGrand was removed from active ministry when the Diocesan Review Board unanimously found that an allegation of clerical sexual misconduct with a minor was credible. The finding came in December of 2013 but involved an alleged incident that was to have occurred decades before when he was serving in another parish in Illinois.

Bishop Paprocki met with parishioners in Sigel last September 20 and reported that Father DeGrand’s case was pending at the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Bishop’s letter, dated May 2, said, “What I did not know at the time when I met with you was that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had sent me a letter dated September 10, 2014, referring the case back to me. I did not receive that letter until the week after my meeting with parishioners due to the time it takes for mail to be sent from the Vatican by diplomatic channels through the Vatican Embassy in Washington, DC.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

May 5, 2015

Patrick Hatch
Reporter for The Age

A member of a Melbourne school council arranged plane tickets to whisk its principal, wanted on child sex abuse charges, out of the country, a court has heard.

The Supreme Court heard on Tuesday that Mair Ernst arranged tickets for Malka Leifer to fly out of the country in March 2008, just days after she was sacked from Adass Israel Girls’ School, in Elsternwick, over allegations of inappropriate behaviour.

A former student, who is one of Mrs Leifer’s alleged victims, is suing the school for negligence.

Mrs Leifer was arrested in West Bank settlement town of Emanuel in August last year and is facing extradition to Victoria to face child sex abuse charges.

Mrs Leifer – an Israeli citizen who was hand-picked to move to Australia to head the school – is now uder house-arrest in Jerusalem.

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ARGENTINA
La Gaceta

[An attitude of zero tolerance of sexual abuse is an evangelical option, according to priest Marcelo Gidi who said the Catholic church must care for and protect the victims.]

Desde el 2000 la Iglesia se ha visto en una tormenta, en un tsunami, de denuncias contra cleros por abusos sexuales, según el sacerdote Marcelo Gidi, quien se encuentra en Salta invitado por el colegio Belgrano. Ante esta situación dijo que el Papa y muchas conferencias episcopales van asumiendo “una actitud de tolerancia cero, que es una opción evangélica”.

“Este es un gran drama que estamos viviendo, pero que como Iglesia podemos salir purificados”, agregó.

A cerca de su llegada a esta institución educativa, Gidi consideró una iniciativa favorable para la formación integral de los alumnos. El abuso sexual “es un tema que hemos estado sufriendo en estos últimos años y debemos generar mejores vínculos relacionales entre los padres y sus hijos. En ese aspecto el colegio, haciéndose cargo de esta situación, quiere formar a los papás en prevención”, detalló el sacerdote, refiriendo al caso del profesor acusado de cometer presuntamente este delito contra estudiantes del Belgrano.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

05/04/2015

Priests of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis (which I like to refer to as the Worst Diocese on Earth) recently received several notices from the Chancery that might be of interest to the lay faithful as well.

The first was to indicate that follow up solicitation letters would be sent out this week to those who have not yet donated to the 2015 Catholic Services Appeal. Curious, I attempted to determine where the CSA stands this year, both in terms of dollars received and pledged. Historically, the April editions of The Catholic Spirit have provided those numbers, along with a list of the parishes that have met or exceeded their goal. As far as I can tell, however, the current digital edition (April 23, 2015), does not contain any CSA information. Granted, the entire first page was dedicated to an announcement of the bar date set for victims of sexual abuse, so they were probably short of space. Still, the CSA, which has also pledged itself to transparency towards its donors, doesn’t seem to be very transparent about its collections.

But, they have done a good job of notifying people of their move. Pastors and others were notified that, as of April 27, 2015, the Catholic Services Appeal Foundation had moved out of the Chancery complex and into a suite in Plymouth. It is unclear if this move was undertaken to attempt to demonstrate a separation between the Foundation and the Archdiocese, or merely in anticipation of the eventual sale of the Chancery buildings as part of the reorganization.

The third and final communication was my favorite, as this came with the signature of the Archbishop himself. I will forego comment, and simply post the letter here for your edification and amusement.

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OREGON
Statesman Journal

Alisha Roemeling, Statesman Journal

A former Brooks youth pastor, Peter James Bass, 36, was sentenced Monday to 33 years and four months in prison after he repeatedly raped a girl under the age of 16.

Bass appeared before Marion County Circuit Judge Tracy Prall, where he pleaded guilty to five counts of first-degree rape and waived his right to a jury trial. Following the plea, Deputy District Attorney Tiffany Underwood asked that Prall sentence Bass to a total of 35 years and 10 months in prison.

Bass’s attorney, Robert Botta argued that Bass receive less time in prison, 16 years and 8 months, because he opted not to have a trial, saving the victim from additional pain.

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VATICAN CITY
9 News

OMG! The Vatican almost closed the Pope’s Twitter account shortly after it opened because it was bombarded with abuse.

The first pontiff to tweet was Pope Benedict on December 12, 2012 and he had to be shown which key to press.

The man who showed him was Archbishop Claudio Celli, the president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.

Archbishop Celli is in Sydney for a communications congress and he confessed to AAP that the first tweet sent by Benedict XVI was the only time a Pope actually hit send.

Now it is a technician who transmits Pope Francis’ tweets after the man himself has approved them.

Engagement with social media was a hard sell in the Vatican especially during Pope Benedict’s time.

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AUSTRALIA
The Conversation

Caroline Taylor
Adjunct professor at Edith Cowan University

Eyal Gringart
Senior Lecturer and Discipline Leader, Psychology within the School of Psychology and Social Science at Edith Cowan University

The sexual abuse of children remains one of the most urgent and unremitting issues across the globe. The royal commission into sexual abuse of children in institutions has given currency to an entrenched and critical social problem. However, our newly published research into Australia’s first publicly accessible register of sex offenders highlights the dangers of public misunderstanding of how it works and, indeed, of where the risks for children are greatest.

While many see the royal commission as an unprecedented examination of child sexual abuse in Australia, the reality is that it avoids any focus or recognition of where most of this abuse occurs, which is within a family setting. This is extremely important: it means that a child is most vulnerable in the context where the utmost safety is expected as well as assumed.

Notwithstanding this concern, the royal commission and recently completed state inquiries into abuse in institutional settings mean sex offenders outside of the family institution – their crimes, modus operandi and propensity to repeat offend without detection – are very much to the fore in public and political discourse.

Alongside these debates sits the issue of managing convicted sex offenders. Countries have established “sex offender registries” whereby certain types of offenders are listed and required to inform police of their residence, work status and other movements.

In the US, California first implemented a sex offender registry in the 1940s. The model is now established across every US state. It was not until the mid-1990s and into the first decade of the new century that countries like the UK, Canada and Australia implemented such registries.

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UNITED STATES
Patrick Noaker

By Attorney Patrick Noaker

As is discussed in part 1 of this series, Nun sexual abuse is more prevalent than most originally thought. If that is the case, then why have there not been as many lawsuits for sexual abuse involving nuns? This article discusses some of the unique aspects of bringing civil claims relating to sexual abuse by nuns.

There is no question that civil lawsuits have played a major role in exposing and understanding clergy sexual abuse. In fact, Fr. Thomas Doyle, one of the heroes of the child protection movement in the Catholic church stated “The twists and turns of the civil discovery process have been the most important factors in exposing the extent and nature of clergy sexual abuse.” [1]

So, why have there been so few civil lawsuits involving nun abuse been filed? There have been a brave few who have brought sexual abuse lawsuits involving nuns; however, those lawsuits have been somewhat sporadic. Why?

Disclosure is difficult

Initially, it must be noted that disclosure of any kind of sexual abuse as a child is extremely difficult. Sexual abuse causes trauma and survivors are often fearful of coming forward. In addition, sexual abuse may cause a wide variety of psychological problems that can cause survivors to experience shame, fear and grief as a result of the abuse. Disclosure is sexual abuse is extremely difficult and those who are able to report the abuse, normally do so only after years struggling with where, when and how to report.

So, why do fewer nun sexual abuse victims disclose the sexual abuse by filing a lawsuit than those sexually abused by priests? An article by Myriam S. Denov, Ph.D from the University of Ottawa titled “The Long-Term Effects of Child Sexual Abuse by Female Perpetrators” may be instructive on this issue.[2] According to Dr. Denov, the general public and even child welfare police and social workers have historically perceived sexual abuse of children by women to be less harmful to victims than sexual abuse by men, often leaving victims of female perpetrators feeling trivialized. When those same victims were evaluated, those who had sexually abused by both men and women reported that the sexual abuse by the female perpetrator was more harmful.

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CALIFORNIA
Fox 40

MAY 4, 2015, BY KAY RECEDE

STOCKTON-

A Bay Area pastor is accused of sexually abusing three boys in Stockton in the 1990s, and it may have happened while he was working for San Joaquin County.

Pastor Jerry Allums is seen singing in a Facebook video in what he calls his testimony.

The video was posted just a month before he was arrested by the Stockton Police Department for alleged sexual abuse of three boys.

“Crimes happened in Stockton but they happened in the 1990s,” Elton Grau, the deputy district attorney in the San Joaquin County’s Child Abuse Sexual Assault Unit said Monday.

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OREGON
Oregonian

By Bryan Denson | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on May 04, 2015

For many decades, a Servite friar who served at a Catholic shrine in Portland kept his sexual molestation of three boys a secret.

But the nature of Brother Gregory Atherton’s shame went public this month, when lawyers for 508 people who won a $660 million judgment against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles for clergy abuse released a massive trove of personnel files.

Atherton, who is 89 years old and living in an undisclosed location, fully acknowledged his wrongdoing and apologized to his Servite brothers, said the Rev. John Fontana, the provincial of the order’s roughly 55 friars in the U.S.

Once the allegations were substantiated, Atherton was immediately removed from public ministry, placed out of contact with children and placed under a “safety plan,” Fontana said. But Servites don’t turn their back on their own, he said, and they found work for him out of the public midst.

“One victim, in his adult life, decided he needed to talk to Brother Greg,” said Fontana, who witnessed what he described as a touching meeting between Atherton and the man. He recalled the words spoken by Atherton’s victim: “If I’m going to follow the gospel, I forgive you.”

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MINNESOTA
KARE

[with video]

JULIE NELSON, ANCHOR AND STEVE ECKERT, INVESTIGATIVE PRODUCER

One former Benedictine monk claims during his time there, officials at St. John’s Abbey turned a blind eye to sexual abuse and were part of a “pattern” of covering up for abusive monks.

“I contend that St. John’s produces, protects, fosters this kind of behavior,” says Richard Sipe.

Sipe, who attended St. John’s and once served as a consultant on a task force on sexual abuse at St. John’s Abbey, claims sexual misconduct was a systemic problem.

His allegations come on the heels of a settlement last week in the case of Troy Bramlage, who sued St. John’s Abbey for failing to protect him from sexual abuse by Father Allen Tarlton, back in the 1970s.

“Take your life back,” said Bramlage at a news conference about the settlement. “Don’t stay in the dark. The way we win is to bring this to light.”

Bramlage alleged he was molested when he was just 14, by his English teacher at St. John’s Preparatory School.

The settlement, according to Bramlage’s attorney Jeff Anderson, also requires St. John’s Abbey to release the files of 18 other monks accused of sexually abusing children.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

5 May, 2015
The Royal Commission will hold public hearings in Ballarat. The first public hearing commences on Tuesday 19 May 2015 and the second will commence on a date to be announced.

The scope and purpose of the first public hearing is to hear:

1. From residents, students and others of their experiences of child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy and religious associated with the following institutions run by Catholic Church authorities in Ballarat:

a. St Joseph’s Home, Ballarat
b. St Alipius Primary School, Ballarat East
c. St Alipius Parish, Ballarat East
d. St Patrick’s College, Ballarat
e. St Patrick’s Christian Brothers Boys Primary School, Ballarat.

2. From residents, students and others about the impact of their experiences of child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy and religious associated with institutions run by Catholic Church authorities in Ballarat.

3. From members of the community of Ballarat about the impact of child sexual abuse on the community of Ballarat.

4. The response of relevant Catholic Church authorities to:

a. the impact of child sexual abuse on survivors of child sexual abuse, their families and the community of Ballarat; and
b. survivors of child sexual abuse, their families and the community of Ballarat following the conviction
of Catholic clergy and religious for acts of child sexual abuse committed at institutions associated with Catholic Church authorities in Ballarat.

5. From Catholic clergy who have been convicted of child sexual offences which took place within the geographical bounds of the Catholic Diocese of Ballarat.

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MONTANA
Missoulian

DAVID ERICKSON david.erickson@missoulian.com

[Non-monetary commitments]

Although hundreds of sexual abuse victims who sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena stand to share a $20 million settlement, a pair of Missoula attorneys who represented the survivors say the non-monetary portion of the settlement – including a requirement that churches establish a “whistleblower” policy – is equally important.

Milt Datsopoulos and Molly Howard of the Missoula law firm Datsopoulos, MacDonald and Lind represented many of the plaintiffs in the case, which began in 2011 when more than 360 abuse victims filed suit against the clergy, alleging that more than 80 ordained priests, Ursuline Sisters and other church employees committed everything from rape to fondling to illegal photography of children.

The alleged abuse occurred from the 1940s to the 1970s at various parishes all over the Northwest, but a majority happened at the St. Ignatius Mission and the Ursuline Academy in St. Ignatius.

None of the alleged perpetrators were ever charged with a crime because of the statute of limitations.

In March, a U.S. bankruptcy judge approved a $20 million payment plan to settle the case, which was sealed to protect the identity of the victims. The settlement also included many non-financial stipulations, including:

• A requirement that the church post on its website the names of all known past and present alleged perpetrators of the diocese who are identified in the complaints.

• The diocese will never seek to direct, pay or hire any agent, employee or third party to retract, oppose or challenge the constitutionality or legitimacy of any reform of a civil or criminal statute of limitations, or to eliminate the existing mandatory child abuse reporting statutory requirements or other laws which serve to shield child sexual abusers from investigation, apprehension, prosecution and conviction in Montana or similar legislation or law in any other state or jurisdiction.

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ILLINOIS
Effingham Daily News

Monday, May 4, 2015

Bill Grimes Daily News

A nationally known advocate for victims of clerical sex abuse said it’s not surprising that Catholics in parishes served by the Rev. Robert “Bud” DeGrand have offered almost universal support to the embattled priest, who was permanently removed from his pastoral duties over the weekend.

“They almost always are beloved by their congregations,” said David Clohessy, national director for the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, based in St. Louis.

DeGrand served as the pastor of parishes in Sigel, Neoga, Green Creek and Lillyville since 1999. He had been on administrative leave while church leaders reviewed allegations of sexual abuse from the early 1980s, while DeGrand was serving a parish in Jacksonville.

DeGrand has never been charged with a crime. Messages seeking comment, conveyed to DeGrand through a former church trustee in Sigel, were not returned.

Clohessy said Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of the Springfield Diocese did not go far enough by just removing DeGrand from public ministry on Saturday.

“They do the absolute minimum and don’t do it well,” Clohessy said.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

By Manya Brachear Pashman
Chicago Tribune

When parishioners of St. Pius V Roman Catholic Church learned Sunday that their longtime pastor, the Rev. Brendan Curran, had broken his vows of chastity, prompting him to be removed from ministry, some priests in his religious order asked themselves if they had failed their brother.

After all, Dominican Friars are encouraged to confide in their best friends — their brothers, in a sense — and lean on the community in which they live.

“How did we let him down? Where were we when this was going on?” said the Rev. Andy McAlpin, vocation director for the Dominicans’ local province. “That’s the question we ask ourselves. Did I see something in the moment that I didn’t call to question?”

Experts say it’s a rare occurrence for a priest to break his vow of celibacy. There are often measures in place to help keep them faithful, starting with preparation in seminary and systems of support that endure long after their ordination. When a priest does go astray, it can be a slow and arduous climb back to ministry. First there must be penance and careful self-examination to make sure returning to ministry is the right path.

“The bar is being raised with priests today,” said Monsignor Stephen Rossetti, president emeritus of St. Luke Institute, a nationally renowned psychological treatment facility for priests. “We’re expected to live our lives with integrity. When we don’t, it’s possible we can lose the privilege of being in a ministry. Ministry is a privilege, not a right.”

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Priest in the clear over historic sex abuse allegations

Tuesday 5 May 2015

A PRIEST has been told he will not be pursued over historic sex abuse allegations after he was asked to attend a police station.

Father Paul Morton, of St Bride’s RC church in Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire, was interviewed by officers last Thursday before being told they are no longer investigating him over the claims.

The 55-year-old has been suspended since October, when an allegation dating back many years was made to police.

He was also asked to vacate the parish house attached to the church.

The Bishop of Motherwell, Joseph Toal, in whose diocese the church is based, would not comment on the priest’s future following the decision.

He had sent a letter to parishoners, read out during Mass on Sunday, saying that he still had to decide if the priest would return to St Bride’s. It is not known if Fr Morton’s suspension has been lifted.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

CHILD abuse survivors who reported the crime are being asked to tell how they were treated by police and the courts.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has flagged that fundamental changes may need to be made to the criminal justice system when it comes to dealing with victims of child sexual abuse.

As part of its research the commission wants people who experienced the system, either as a complainant, a lawyer or a victims’ support professional, to share their observations.

Across 26 public hearings since 2013, evidence has been given of police in Queensland, NSW Western Australia and Victoria returning children to state and church-run homes even though they reported being sexually and physically abused at the institutions.

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AUSTRALIA
Sunshine Coast Daily

Chris Calcino | 5th May 2015

SURVIVORS who reported child sexual abuse in an institution to police have been asked to tell their stories about interactions with officers and the courts.

The Royal Commission uncovering a history of sexual predation in some of Australia’s largest institutions is now turning its attention to police and the prosecutorial process.

The new inquiry follows testimonies given over 26 inquiries since 2013 about children being returned to church-run institutions after complaining about abuse to police, only for the mistreatment to continue.

Royal Commission CEO Philip Reed said victims, family members, witnesses, support workers and the institutions involved would all be invited to give evidence.

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ILLINOIS
The Dominican Province of St. Albert the Great

The Archdiocese of Chicago recently received an allegation of an inappropriate relationship involving Fr. Brendan Curran, O.P. from an adult single woman. Though the incident occurred a number of years ago and ended, Fr. Brendan acknowledged his actions were inappropriate. Fr. Brendan affirms that this was an isolated instance, and he understands the consequences.

Father Brendan made a poor choice. Everyone does, to varying degrees. But he and his choices are held against a higher standard because he professed religious vows as a friar in the Dominican Order, Province of St. Albert the Great (Central Province, USA). His poor judgment in this instance casts a shadow on his enlightened and courageous ministry to Latino immigrants and the poor at St. Pius V parish and Chicago’s southwest side.

“I deeply regret not self-identifying sooner about my immoral behavior: that was a mistake,” Fr. Brendan said. “I failed to remember my ministry and my commitment as a priest, and for that I cannot apologize enough. I am heartbroken to know that my actions have caused pain to so many people. From the bottom of my heart, I apologize and ask for forgiveness. I plan on trying to make amends by seeking spiritual healing and rededicating myself to God’s service.”

To be clear, there is no indication or allegation of any action reflecting sexual misconduct with minors.

“The woman in this case came forward privately to the Archdiocese, and then to the Dominicans,” Fr. Charles Bouchard, O.P., Prior Provincial said. “She deserves a sincere apology and we also have a responsibility to respect her anonymity and her privacy. We admire her courage and we’re keeping her in our prayers.”

If Fr. Brendan were the CEO of a corporation and she were an employee, a colleague, or a customer, there would be no press release, no media story, and perhaps no apology. But, the Catholic Church is not a corporation, and its leaders inherently carry a larger responsibility to its patrons—a bond of trust, based on a moral code and a unique easement between God and His people.

In line with official protocol, Fr. Brendan’s faculties were revoked on April 30th, which means he can no longer celebrate Mass or the sacraments. He left his position as Pastor at St. Pius V and left the Chicago area shortly thereafter.

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ILLINOIS
Chicagoist

[statement from the Dominican order.]

A local Catholic priest has been removed from his ministry over accusations that he broke his celibacy vows.

The Catholic church requires its priests to be celibate, meaning no sexual relationships and no marriage. The Rev. Brendan Curran, a prominent priest from Pilsen, allegedly had an “inappropriate relationship” with an unmarried adult woman five years ago, the Archdiocese of Chicago recently learned, and now is no longer allowed to perform certain religious duties.

Curran, who served as pastor of St. Pius V in Pilsen, has not been accused of a crime, according to church representatives. His ability to say mass and give sacrament to married people, among other faculties that priests perform, have been revoked because of the relationship he had with another adult over a period of several months in 2010.

Curran might be able to return to the ministry in the future, according to Bill Skowronski, a spokesman for the Dominican Friars, after undergoing a “spiritual healing” program under the Dominican order, the specific Roman Catholic order he belongs to.

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ILLINOIS
State Journal-Register

By Staff report

Posted May. 4, 2015 at 3:52 PM

The Rev. Robert “Bud” DeGrand, a Roman Catholic priest who was alleged to have sexually abused a youth while he was serving in Jacksonville more than 30 years ago, has been permanently removed as pastor of the east-central Illinois parishes has was currently leading.

Springfield Bishop Thomas John Paprocki met Sunday with parishioners of St. Michael the Archangel in Sigel, St. Mary of the Assumption in Neoga, St. Mary Help of Christians in Green Creek and Sacred Heart in Lillyville to deliver the news. The move is effective immediately.

In January 2014, the Diocesan Review Board unanimously found that the allegation against DeGrand, 62, of clerical sexual misconduct with a minor was credible. On Sept. 20, Paprocki met with parishioners and reported that DeGrand’s case was pending at the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. One week later, Paprocki received a letter referring the case back to him.

According to the diocese, DeGrand refused to cooperate in the investigation and rejected Paprocki’s order that he move to a private residence in Springfield while on administrative leave. As a result, Paprocki removed DeGrand from public minstry.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

By Carl Bunderson

Vatican City, May 2, 2015 / 05:44 pm (CNA).- The Synod of Bishops began receiving in April responses to a questionnaire that had been sent to dioceses the world over in preparation for October’s Synod on the Family. The results from Germany indicate that most Catholics there hope for an openness to divorce and remarriage, as well as homosexual acts.

The synthesis of responses from Catholics in Germany was released by the nation’s bishops conference on April 16. The 17-page document, provided in an English translation, summarizes the responses, which filled some 1,000 pages.

According to the German bishops conference, the largest part of comments dealt with the issues of the divorced and civilly remarried, cohabiting couples, and same-sex unions.

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ILLINOIS
Effingham Daily News

Bill Grimes Daily News

SIGEL — A former trustee at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church in Sigel said Saturday’s permanent removal of the Rev. Robert “Bud” DeGrand from his pastoral duties was “wrong.”

In fact, George Nuxoll said, some of DeGrand’s Sigel parishioners thought so much of their longtime priest that they bought him a home, even furnishing it for him, despite an order from Bishop Thomas John Paprocki that he leave the parish and move to a home in Springfield.

“We respect him (DeGrand),” Nuxoll said. “We want him here.”

The Springfield Diocese said in a news release Saturday that Paprocki “concluded that he has no choice” but to permanently remove DeGrand from his pastoral duties. DeGrand had been on leave as the pastor, not only in Sigel, but of parishes in Neoga, Green Creek and Lillyville after a diocesan review board found 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.

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ROME
Pulse (Nigeria)

Pope Francis has defended an 18th-century Spanish Catholic priest on Saturday from accusations that he brutalized Native Americans in missionary work that helped lay the foundations for the Catholic Church in the United States.

The pontiff intends to make a saint, Father Junipero Serra at a Mass celebrated at the National Shrine in Washington on Sept 23 during his US visit.

The Franciscan missionary built a series of missions along the Pacific coast in the latter 18th century, in what is now California, to spread the faith among Native Americans there.

Tribal leaders in California say Serra beat and imprisoned local peoples, suppressed their cultures and facilitated the spread of diseases that decimated the population, Christian Post reports

Without addressing specific accusations, Francis praised Serra’s missionary zeal and said the priest “defended the indigenous peoples against abuses by the colonizers”.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

MAY 05, 2015

Dan Box
Crime Reporter
Sydney

Catholic clergy who have been found guilty of sexually abusing children will give evidence in ­Ballarat this month at a royal commission hearing into the church’s actions.

It is the first time convicted Catholic abusers will be called as witnesses before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which will also investigate the ­impact of these crimes on the community of Ballarat.

This month’s hearing will be the first of two held by the royal commission in the city, northeast of Melbourne, which is thought to have suffered some of the worst and most widespread church-­related child abuse in Australia’s recent history.

Several former priests and teachers in Catholic schools from Ballarat have been jailed for child abuse committed over several decades. Many of their victims are expected to give evidence before the commission, including those from St Alipius Parish and St Alipius Primary School, where one of the city’s most notorious Catholic abusers, Gerald Ridsdale, worked for several years.

Ridsdale was ultimately jailed for abusing more than 50 children between the 1960s and 80s, some of his victims being as young as four years old.

On the day of his first conviction, in 1993, television cameras recorded Ridsdale being accompanied to court by George Pell, who used to live with him in the presbytery at St Alipius, and was by then auxiliary bishop for Melbourne. Cardinal Pell went on to become Melbourne’s archbishop, then the archbishop of Sydney and is currently one of the most senior officials within the Vatican, with responsibility for the papal treasury.

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ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, May 4

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

Spriingfield’s Catholic bishop is using church funds to pay the legal fees for a credibly accused and permanently removed predator priest.

[Effingham Daily News]

We’re glad that, if Bishop Thomas Paprocki keeps his promise, Fr. Robert “Bud” DeGrand won’t ever work in a parish again. But Paprocki has handled this case irresponsibly from the beginning and he continues to do so now.

[SNAP]

We urge Paprocki to

–stop using parishioner donations to buy a lawyer for an ousted pedophile priest
–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, and
–turn over, to law enforcement agencies in every county where he worked, his personnel file.

Taking these simple, inexpensive and proven prevention steps will boost the chances that Fr. DeGrand could be prosecuted, convicted and kept away from kids.

Taking these steps will also be a way to mitigate the damage caused by Paprocki’s reckless and callous secrecy in this case. He kept the allegations hidden for weeks, giving Fr. DeGrand plenty of time to destroy evidence, intimidate victims, threaten witnesses, discredit whistleblowers, fabricate alibis and even potentially flee the country.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

The Catholic Church’s failures in dealing with some of Australia’s worst pedophiles will be laid out before the abuse royal commission when it sits in the Victorian town of Ballarat this month.

Church representatives and even clergy who have been convicted of child sex abuse will be called before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Victims still scarred by the abuse will have the chance to tell their stories while residents are expected to give evidence about the impact of child sexual abuse on the Ballarat community.

The royal commission public hearing, beginning on May 19, will also hear about the response of church authorities to the sexual abuse and its impact on victims, and to the conviction of clergy members for child sex abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

AAP

The abuse royal commission will hold public hearings later this month in Ballarat, the site of some of the worst child sex abuse by clergy in Australia.

The Catholic Church’s failures in dealing with some of Australia’s worst pedophiles will be laid out before the abuse royal commission when it sits in the Victorian town of Ballarat this month.

Church representatives and even clergy who have been convicted of child sex abuse will be called before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Victims still scarred by the abuse will have the chance to tell their stories while residents are expected to give evidence about the impact of child sexual abuse on the Ballarat community.

The royal commission public hearing, beginning on May 19, will also hear about the response of church authorities to the sexual abuse and its impact on victims, and to the conviction of clergy members for child sex abuse.

The church has admitted the former bishop of Ballarat made a “tragic mistake” by not removing one of Australia’s worst pedophiles when he became aware of sexual abuse allegations against the priest.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated on 4 May 2015)

Catholic priest David Edwin Rapson used computer games, soft drinks, alcohol and cigarettes to lure boys (as young as 12) into his office at a Catholic boarding school before he sexually abused them, a Melbourne court has been told. After two years of hearings which finished in 2015, Rapson (now aged 61) was convicted of serious child-sex crimes. Now he is locked up, awaiting the details of his jail sentence which has been re-scheduled to be announced on Monday 11 May 2015.

Rapson, who was the school’s vice-principal at one stage, also gave some of his victims a drink of drug-laced chocolate-milk or lemonade to make them sleepy before he sexually abused them, the court was told.

However, if boys complained about Rapson’s abuse, they tended to merely tell Rapson’s colleagues and friends in the priesthood, some of whom might be offenders themselves. And the church does not arrest any priests or Brothers — only the police do this.

It was some of the victims, not the church authorities, who finally brought Rapson to justice.

These victims were of various ages, from 12 to 17, and they were not all in the same years at school. These were not Rapson’s only victims. They are merely the ones who, eventually (as adults), took the opportunity individually of having an interview with detectives from Victoria’s Sexual Crimes Squad, without knowing that other victims were initiating similar police action.

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UNITED STATES
Hamilton and Griffin on Rights

Last week, one Catholic official lost his diocese. This week, another one lost his freedom.

The similarities: Their names rhyme and their choices hurt kids.

The differences: Church officials barely punished one, but secular officials really punished the other.

Number one is Philadelphia’s Msgr. William Lynn. He is behind bars again, after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned a previous appeals panel’s ruling that released him from prison. The Justices ruled that Lynn, among other offenses, “misrepresented facts to (law enforcement) to thwart their investigation of priests and their crimes.”

Lynn was the first US Catholic official found guilty in criminal court of concealing child sex crimes.

Number two is Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn. In 2012, Finn became the first US bishop to be convicted of child endangerment for withholding evidence and suspicions from the police for months. (By the way, Finn never did turn over hundreds of sexual photos of kids taken by Fr. Shawn Ratigan. Finn’s second-in-command eventually did so, and was yelled at by Finn for having done so.)

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IRELAND
Irish Central

Kate Hickey @KateHickey_ May 04,2015

In December 2014, Coping International, a new support system for children of the clergy and their mothers, went online quietly. Within two weeks the website, which offers support, counseling and an international network, had close to 2,800 hits.

Their top country for hits was Ireland where the organization has been welcomed by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin.

The aim of Coping International is to show those reaching out that they are not alone, theirs is not an exclusive situation.

The coordinator of Coping, who asked not to be named, reached out to IrishCentral, to publicize the new and ever-growing online resource which now has users from “Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Uganda, India, Philippines, Russian Federation, the United States as well as Great Britain and Ireland.”

In fact, the coordinator told IrishCentral, in an interview carried out by email, that a large portion of those accessing the site are in the USA.

“Interestingly the United States every month has been second only to Ireland as regards number of hits on the site. Between December 16th and 31st there was over 700 hits on the site in the USA alone,” the Coordinator said, pointing out that during this time there was no media coverage on the group.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – Media Watch

[with video]

A blog written by the publisher of The Hamilton Spectator, that criticised the punishment of a former priest for sexual assault, has hit a nerve with readers.

And that’s something you can’t say about our next story … where the klaxons have been blaring since Anzac Day … when this blog was published in the Hamilton Spectator, a little local paper in South West Victoria.

In the blog, the Spectator’s owner Richard Beks criticised the punishment of a former Catholic priest, Father Leslie Sheahan, for indecently assaulting a nine-year old girl in the 1970s.

Beks argued that slapping a nine-month suspended sentence on top of the priest’s three months behind bars was:

… pointless …83 years of age … and needing a walking frame to get about he’s obviously not going to re-offend …

— The Hamilton Spectator, 25th April, 2015

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ROME
The Tablet (UK)

Ahead of canonisation Francis says controversial missionary priest defended the indigenous peoples against abuses by colonisers

People seem to enjoy finding the shortcomings of candidates for sainthood like Blessed Junipero Serra, but they should ask themselves if they would have his generosity and courage to leave everything behind to care for the poor and bring them the Gospel, Pope Francis said.

Visiting the Pontifical North American College, the US seminary in Rome, Pope Francis insisted Blessed Serra fits into a host of saints who shaped the history and culture of the Americas, particularly by spreading Christianity, caring for the poor and defending the oppressed.

The Pope’s Mass on Saturday with 250 seminarians from more than 100 US dioceses, as well as Australia and Canada, came at the end of a symposium on Blessed Serra organised by the seminary, the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Knights of Columbus.

Although the college is on the Janiculum Hill overlooking the Vatican, Pope Francis’ was the first papal visit to the campus since 1980, when St John Paul II went.

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ARGENTINA
La Voz

– Será la tercera vez que el cura acuda a Tribunales; El 6 de abril se presentó a la citación para la pericia psicológica, pero sólo para decir que no la haría; el 21, fue la indagatoria, en la que no quiso declarar y se proclamó inocente; Ahora, volverá el viernes 15, esta vez por propia voluntad; Así, consigue aplazar una definición en torno a su situación procesal

El cura Justo José Ilarraz deberá comparecer en Tribunales por segunda vez, y será esta vez por propia voluntad.

A petición de la defensa de Ilarraz, la titular del Juzgado de Transición Nº 2, Susana María Paola Firpo, fijó para el viernes 15 la fecha para la ampliación de la indagatoria del cura.

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ARGENTINA
Diario Junio

[May 15 has been set as the date for the extension of the investigation of priest Justo Jose Ilarraz.]

A petición de la defensa de Ilarraz, la titular del Juzgado de Transición Nº 2, Susana María Paola Firpo, fijó para el viernes 15 la fecha para la ampliación de la indagatoria del cura. Será la tercera vez que el cura acuda a Tribunales.

La magistrado Susana María Paola Firpo, aún no determinó día y hora para la realización de la pericia psiquiátrica y psicológica de Ilarraz en el marco de la causa que investiga los abusos a menores ocurridos en el Seminario Arquidiocesano Nuestra Señora del Cenáculo, entre 1985 y 1993, período en el que el cura se desempeñó como prefecto de disciplina y director espiritual.

La jueza Firpo había dispuesto que Ilarraz se sometiera a esa pericia los días 6, 7 y 8 de abril, pero el lunes 6 el cura viajó desde Tucumán, lugar donde reside, a Paraná y se presentó ante el equipo forense del Juzgado de Familia Nº 1 para pedir que el estudio fuera pospuesto.

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GUAM
KUAM

By Sabrina Salas Matanane

Catholics from all around the island took to the streets to demonstrate their concerns about the “lack of leadership from Archbishop Anthony Apuron”. Those words from Concerned Catholics of Guam president Greg Perez.

On Sunday hundreds of island Catholics participated in a motorcade that ended with a prayer rally on the steps of the Cathedral Basilica in Hagatna. The CCOG has been seeking answers from the archbishop on recent controversies involving the removal of two local priests, church finances and the conveyance of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary property in Yona to the Neo-Cathechumenal Way.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

May 4, 2015

Timna Jacks
Reporter

Former Xavier College students who were abused at the school say claims of just nine cases of abuse are just “the tip of the iceberg”.

Days after principal Chris Hayes admitted nine legal cases of abuse in the 1960s and 1970s were later settled, victims are demanding the college and Jesuits speak out about the true extent of the abuse.

They claim to be aware of dozens more cases during the same period.

Victim advocate Mark Fabbro​ said the number of cases was “definitely more than nine”, adding more victims were still reluctant to speak about the abuse they were subjected to.

“The figures that were produced by the principal of Xavier in my mind, with the knowledge I have … is that that figure is grossly inadequate in terms of the numbers of cases,” Mr Fabbro​ said.

Victim Janusz Skarbek​ said he knew of 35 other victims of abuse by Jesuit priests and brothers, with most cases involving abuse at the college.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

A former priest has been charged indecently assaulting a boy 30 years ago.

Police allege between January and October 1985 the man assaulted the 15-year-old boy at his home.

During the time of the alleged offences the man was an Anglican priest in a town in the State’s South West.

The man is now 83 years old and Child Abuse Squad investigators have charged him with committing indecent practices between males in public or private.

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

May 4, 2015

Ray Sparvell

A former Anglican priest will appear in Narrogin Magistrates Court on Tuesday, charged with offences allegedly committed against a 15-year-old boy some 30 years ago.

Police allege the 83-year-old Wembley man indecently assaulted the boy in a South West town during a 10-month period in 1985.

During the period of the offences, the man was an Anglican priest in that town.

If you are or have been a victim of child abuse, or if you have information about someone being abused, contact police on 131 444.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

AAP

Police have charged an elderly man with assaulting a teenage boy while working as an Anglican priest in West Australia’s southwest 30 years ago.

The 83-year-old from Wembley is alleged to have indecently assaulted the then-15-year-old between January and October 1985.

He is scheduled to appear in the Narrogin Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Jessica Longbottom

The principal at one of Melbourne’s top private schools has, for the first time, admitted the extent of child sex abuse that took place on college grounds.

Nine Xavier College students were sexually abused at the school in the 1960s and 70s, according to principal Chris Hayes.

Another six other former students are in the process of having their claims heard.

“What I know of the 60s and 70s from some conversations is that it was a very different era,” Mr Hayes said.

“There has been nine [cases] where there has been a resolution reached, and yes, they involved sexual abuse.”

Mr Hayes said no criminal convictions were ever recorded for the offences.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

AAP

A royal commission is asking people who suffered child abuse in institutions to share how they fared in the criminal justice system.

Child abuse survivors who reported the crime are being asked to tell how they were treated by police and the courts.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual abuse has flagged that fundamental changes may need to be made to the criminal justice system when it comes to dealing with victims of child sexual abuse.

As part of its research the commission wants people who experienced the system, either as a complainant, a lawyer or a victims’ support professional to share their observations.

Across 26 public hearings since 2013 evidence has been given of police in Queensland, NSW Western Australia and Victoria returning children to state and church-run homes even though they reported being sexually and physically abused at the institutions.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

May 4, 2015

Adam Cooper

Paedophile priest David Rapson has been told by a judge he can expect a shorter jail sentence to the one imposed before a retrial was ordered.

Rapson was in 2013 jailed for 13 years, and to serve a minimum 10 years, for attacks on eight students at two Victorian schools, but those convictions were last year quashed on appeal and he was freed from custody when the Court of Appeal ordered he face a retrial.

Rapson, 61, was this year found guilty of five charges of rape and six counts of indecent assault, related to attacks on six students between the mid 1970s and 1990. The convictions were imposed by juries who sat in three trials.

The juries were told Rapson assaulted students aged between 12 and 17 after luring them to his office with cigarettes, alcohol and computer games.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A former volunteer firefighter and church youth group leader who preyed on two young sisters for his own sexual gratification has been sentenced to at least 22 months’ jail.

Michael James Townsend, 25, hardly reacted when he was handcuffed and taken into custody at Sydney’s District Court for 14 offences involving the abuse of two sisters, aged 13 and 15.

The former Rural Fire Service volunteer leader claimed he did not think he was doing anything wrong when he sexually abused the girls because it did not involve penile vaginal penetration.

“I have difficultly accepting that explanation,” Judge Peter Maiden said.

“To say he has been sheltered because he has been in a Christian environment in my mind does not and cannot properly explain what is said to be naivety on his part.”

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

NCR Editorial Staff | May. 4, 2015

The resignation of Robert Finn as bishop of the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., is a bitter but necessary moment of reckoning for leaders of the Catholic church if they hope to begin to deal seriously with their long betrayal of the community’s trust.

Let’s be clear that this is only a beginning. Finn was removed for cause, we have been told. Finn was criminally convicted for failing to report Fr. Shawn Ratigan, who ultimately pleaded guilty to possessing and producing child pornography. Ratigan received a 50-year prison sentence.

Finn also violated the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, commonly called the Dallas Charter, which the U.S. bishops themselves wrote to guide their response to the violation of children by clergy.

Upholding the Dallas Charter is the one clear signal the bishops can use to ensure deeply skeptical Catholics, not to mention the general public, that they have broken with the despicable practices of the past, when they hid and covered up sexual predators. The Dallas Charter is an imperfect document, but it is the only yardstick the bishops have for measuring their integrity on this issue. That is why Finn became the test case of church resolve to hold bishops accountable.

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UNITED STATES
POPE FRANCIS the CON-Christ.

Paris Arrow

We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable — but then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art. Very often in our art, the art of words.
— Ursula K. Le Guin

To canonize Junipero Serra is to canonize the genocide against us as indigenous people. Serra brutally converted indigenous people to Christianity, enslaved converts and helped spread diseases like smallpox. His job was to kill the indigenous people, who we were as a people, and instead revive us as Christians. Instead of being honored, Serra should be criticised for what was his role in wiping out native populations in a brutal campaign to impose Catholicism.
— Citlalli Anahuac with Mexica Movement, which has held several protests at the Archdiocese in Los Angeles

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ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Sunday, May 3

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

A Chicago priest has been suspended for allegedly sexually exploiting an adult woman. We call on Catholic officials to provide more details about these accusations and to prod others who may have seen, suspected or suffered his misdeeds to come forward.

[Chicago Tribune]

It is inherently problematic when clergy have any sexual contact with congregants. There can be no true “consent” given the power difference between the individuals.

Our society has long understood that it’s virtually always hurtful when a doctor has any sex with a patient or a psychologist has any sex with a client. Gradually, more people are finally understanding that the same holds true of a cleric and his or her congregant.

We hope this case will help others who were hurt by what may have initially seemed like “affairs” but were in fact crimes to see that they are not at fault.

We hope those victimized by clergy at any age will find the courage to step forward, get help, call police, expose wrongdoers, protect others and start healing

Finally, let’s be clear on what this is and what this isn’t. This is exploitation. It’s not “a relationship.” It’s manipulation. It’s not “consent.”

An educated, allegedly holy religious authority figure who holds the exalted title of “reverend” cannot ever have truly consensual or healthy sexual contact with a parishioner. It is always morally wrong and emotionally harmful.

Clergy always hold an exalted position, and when they have any sexual involvement with parishioners, it is always hurtful, especially when they profess, like Fr. Brerndan Curran does, to be celibate.

It’s always the duty of powerful official – doctor, therapist or priest – to maintain boundaries and refrain from any sexual contact with the radically less powerful person – patient, client or parishioner.

It’s the duty of church officials to help congregants understand this. And it’s the duty of church officials and members to reach out to and help those hurt by this egregious and hurtful misconduct and to help expose those predators who engage in it. We call on former members of Fr. Curran’s church and former colleagues of Fr. Curran’s to aggressively seek out and offer comfort to anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered his hurtful misconduct. We call on Archbishop Blasé Cupich to do the same.

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GUAM
Marianas Variety

MONDAY, 04 MAY 2015 BY JASMINE STOLE | VARIETY NEWS STAFF

A PEACEFUL demonstration took place at the steps of the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica in Hagåtña yesterday evening, with dozens of Catholics gathering in opposition to what they said is the archdiocese’s lack of transparency.

The Concerned Catholics of Guam led an islandwide motorcade stopping at various parishes yesterday afternoon with the final destination at the Hagåtña cathedral. Participants held signs with “transparency,” “accountability” or “Pope Francis Save Our Church” written on them. One man held a sign that said “Justice. Accountability. Action. Enough is Enough.” Cars lined the streets surrounding the cathedral, many had signs posted on the windows that read “I Love My Catholic Church.”

Speakers at the rally reiterated that they were gathered to pray for the church and pray for the archbishop. “The devil is looking at the fact that maybe we are complacent. The archbishop, to some degree, believes that,” said David Sablan, vice president of Concerned Catholics, to the crowd. “He is our leader and yet he doesn’t listen. … We haven’t heard from him. This is not what a leader does. A leader explains.”

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ILLINOIS
WLS

CHICAGO (WLS) — A well-known priest has been removed from the Chicago Archdiocese for having an inappropriate relationship with a woman.

Father Brendan Curran has been with Saint Pius Catholic Church in the Pilsen neighborhood since 2001.

The archdiocese says the relationship took place several years ago and there are no allegations of abuse, however having a sexual relationship of any kind is considered immoral for catholic priests.

The Dominican Friars Religious Order released a statement saying, “Though the incident occurred a number of years ago and ended, Fr. Brendan acknowledged his actions were inappropriate. Fr. Brendan affirms that this was an isolated instance, and he understands the consequences.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A pedophile priest who used alcohol, cigarettes and video games to lure his school boy victims will be sentenced in a Melbourne court.

Former Catholic priest David Edwin Rapson, 61, was found guilty of sexually assaulting six boys at two Victorian boarding schools between 1970 and 1980.

Rapson was jailed for 13 years in 2013, but was bailed 12 months later when the Victorian Court of Appeal quashed his rape and sexual assault convictions.

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ILLINOIS
Effingham Daily News

Posted: Sunday, May 3, 2015

Bishop Thomas John Paprocki spoke today with parishioners of Sigel, Neoga, Green Creek and Lillyville regarding the status of the case concerning Father Robert “Bud” DeGrand.

Bishop Paprocki stated that progress on the case has been impeded consistently by Father DeGrand’s lack of cooperation. Bishop Paprocki reviewed with parishioners what has transpired:

In January 2014 the Diocesan Review Board unanimously found that the allegation against Father Robert DeGrand of clerical sexual misconduct with a minor was credible.

On September 20, 2014, Bishop Paprocki met with parishioners in Sigel and reported that Father DeGrand’s case was pending at the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

One week later, Bishop Paprocki received a letter from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith referring the case back to him. The letter was dated September 10, 2014; however, due to the time it takes for mail to be sent from the Vatican by diplomatic channels through the Vatican’s Embassy in Washington, D.C., the letter did not arrive until after the September 20, 2014 meeting in Sigel.

A rumor circulated that the letter from the Vatican “cleared” Father DeGrand and dismissed the charges against him. That rumor was not and is not true. The Vatican letter stated that a canonical trial could not take place due to “prescription,” which is the terminology used in canon law to describe the more familiar “statute of limitations” in civil law, which in most cases, prevents initiating legal action because the passage of time since the allegation was filed exceeds a certain time frame. It should be noted that Bishop Paprocki requested that the Vatican issue a waiver of prescription allowing a trial to proceed to determine Father DeGrand’s guilt or innocence, however, Father DeGrand did not agree and instead insisted that the trial be barred.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Sun-Times

A Dominican priest has been removed from his post after an internal church investigation confirmed a complaint a woman first made to the archdiocese of Chicago about her relationship with him.

The Rev. Brendan Curran, who was pastor at St. Pius V Church in Pilsen, was suspended April 30 by Archbishop Blase Cupich after an investigation was completed by the archdiocese and the Dominican order, according to a statement from the Dominican Province of St. Albert the Great, or the Central Province.

Curran committed to a vow of chastity in 1995, the statement said.

The statement said there was no indication or allegation of sexual misconduct with minors.

“Though the incident occurred a number of years ago and ended, Father Brendan acknowledged his actions were inappropriate,” the statement said. “Father Brendan affirms that this was an isolated instance, and he understands the consequences.”

Curran has since left the church and the Chicago area, the statement said.

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ILLINOIS
NBC Chicago

A well-known Catholic priest in the Pilsen neighborhood has been removed from the ministry following allegations of an inappropriate relationship with an adult woman.

The Rev. Brendan Curran, the pastor of St. Pius V Catholic Church since 2006, issued an apology Sunday for the relationship that he said occurred several years ago, according to the Chicago Tribune, who first reported the story. …

“It is inherently problematic when clergy have any sexual contact with congregants,” officials at SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said in a statement following Curran’s removal.

“There can be no true ‘consent’ given the power difference between the individuals.”

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CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on May 3, 2015

Friday’s document release from religious orders whose members abused children in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles shines a very bright light on ugly doings at Anaheim’s Servite High School.

I already wrote about the sadomasochist Joe Sharkey. That one was a jaw dropper. Take the time to read it if you haven’t. The Register also covered it here.

But the other Servite file—Brother Gregory Atherton—is uglier. Not because of the graphic nature of the abuse, but because of the cover-up. Not because of the fact that Atherton was sent to treatment for abusing kids at Servite High School, but because the Servites lied then and continue to lie now about his status.

The quotes say it all.

“We’ve put him under a safety plan. He reports to a supervisor. He mostly stays home and does some work like bookkeeping or helping around the house.”
– Rev. John Fontana, Provincial Superior of the Servite Order in the United States

Let’s see how the facts pan out.

“It’s a marvelous occasion for us,” said Servite Brother Gregory Atherton, who also attended a national anniversary celebration in June in Chicago. As Brother Atherton spoke after Friday’s Mass, people swarmed around tables nearby to grab slices of vanilla and chocolate cake, decorated with congratulatory words marking the occasion.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Pope Francis evidently seeks to win next year the political “World Cup” for his desperate team — election of a “Vatican friendly” US President, preferably named Jeb Bush and certainly not named Hillary Clinton! Francis, an Oz-like wizard with current media techniques, has stepped up his US presidential election political outreach to US Latino voters with his recent major “saint making” event for 18th Century Hispanic Franciscan missionary, Fr. Junipero Serra. It was held at Rome’s North American College (NAC), the US bishops’ well funded elite seminary. Paradoxically and perhaps unintentionally, the pope apparently is by these political machinations also prodding unrelated opposition groups (Native Americans, priest abuse survivors, disrespected women, gay and divorced Catholics, advocates for children, disgusted “ex-Catholics”, et al.) to organize together, likely for highly visible and media attractive protests during his upcoming US visits, as are currently continuing in Chile and are now underway against NY’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan at a New York Jesuit university, Le Moyne College, no less. Not surprisingly, the US Knights of Columbus head, Carl Anderson, reportedly gave the NAC/Serra event closing talk. The Knights have “invested millions” in supporting the US bishops’ politically motivated US crusade against women and gays.

At NAC, Pope Francis reportedly said of Junipero Serra, despite some significant contrary facts that the pope seemingly overlooked: “He was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, a saintly example of the Church’s universality and special patron of the Hispanic people of the country, ..” In the opinion of others, however, “Serra should be considered nothing less than a monster.” “The missions were coercive religious, forced labor camps….” And see also, “NATIVE AMERICANS PROTEST FATHER JUNIPERO SERRA’S SOON-TO-BE SAINTHOOD, with video here,

[ABC7]

NAC ceremonial events draw major US wealthy donors and top cardinals, as indicated extensively on NAC’s website’s photo gallery. See there interestingly the recent photo of depressed looking and disgraced Boston Cardinal Bernard Law with the current German Shepherd, Cardinal Gerhard Muller. They both appear to be recovering from their recent capitulation to the LCWR and the American sisters they reportedly tried to dominate. Pragmatic Pope Francis and Law and Muller now appear, however, already to have what they needed — a chastened and silenced US sisterhood unlikely to undercut next year, as they did with Sister Simone Campbell and the Nuns on the Bus in 2012, the Vatican’s significant efforts to elect a right wing US President. Please see that revealing picture and others, here [North American College photo gallery]

[Flickr]

New York’s Cardinal Dolan, a former NAC rector, is currently under fire from some Catholic college students reportedly on his child abuse cover-up and anti-gay positions. A petition on Change.org is asking NY’s Jesuit Le Moyne College administrators to replace Dolan as their upcoming graduation speaker. See the video of some of the well spoken and concerned students, “Le Moyne Students Plan to ‘Ignore’ Cardinal Timothy Dolan Commencement Speech“, here, TWC News . Please sign this petition now by clicking on here Change.org !!

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UNITED KINGDOM
Brighton and Hove News

Posted On 03 May 2015

By : Frank le Duc

A High Court judge will decide whether a bishop who began his career in Brighton is fit to stand trial charged with indecent assault.

The case of Peter Ball, 83, a former Bishop of Lewes, was discussed at the Central Criminal Court – better known as the Old Bailey – on Friday (1 May).

Mr Justice Sweeney – Sir Nigel Sweeney – said that the trial of Ball and his fellow former Brighton priest Vickery House had been allocated to Mr Justice Wilkie, a High Court judge.

It would be up to the trial judge – Sir Alan Wilkie – to decide whether Ball was fit to stand trial.

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ILLINOIS
Picayune Post

A prominent Roman Catholic priest in Pilsen has been removed from his ministry immediately after the Archdiocese of Chicago received an allegation from an adult lady of an inappropriate partnership.

The Rev. Brendan Curran, a nicely-identified immigration activist and longtime pastor of St. Pius V Catholic Church, acknowledged the connection happened a quantity of years ago and apologized.

“I deeply regret not self-identifying sooner about my immoral behavior: that was a error,” Curran stated in a joint statement released by the archdiocese and Dominican Friars on Sunday. “I failed to try to remember my ministry and my commitment as a priest, and for that I can’t apologize adequate. I am heartbroken to know that my actions have triggered pain to so quite a few persons. From the bottom of my heart, I apologize and ask for forgiveness. I strategy on attempting to make amends by looking for spiritual healing and rededicating myself to God’s service.”

According to the statement, Curran stated the partnership was an “isolated instance.”

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

By Manya Brachear Pashman
Chicago Tribune

A prominent Roman Catholic priest in Pilsen has been removed from his ministry after the Archdiocese of Chicago received an allegation from an adult woman of an inappropriate relationship.

The Rev. Brendan Curran, a well-known immigration activist and longtime pastor of St. Pius V Catholic Church, acknowledged the relationship happened a number of years ago and apologized.

“I deeply regret not self-identifying sooner about my immoral behavior: that was a mistake,” Curran said in a joint statement released by the archdiocese and Dominican Friars on Sunday. “I failed to remember my ministry and my commitment as a priest, and for that I cannot apologize enough. I am heartbroken to know that my actions have caused pain to so many people. From the bottom of my heart, I apologize and ask for forgiveness. I plan on trying to make amends by seeking spiritual healing and rededicating myself to God’s service.”

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Sunday, May 3

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

Trying to avoid bad publicity, NYC Cardinal Timothy Dolan has quietly suspended a priest accused of abusing a teenaged parishioner and giving him money to buy drugs.

[Times Herald-Record]

In February, Dolan’s second-in-command (Bishop Gerald Walsh) wrote to parishioners of Pine Bush’s Church of the Infant Saviour telling them that Fr. Kevin Gallagher had been suspended. A criminal investigation is on-going.

Dolan should have told the public. He should have put notices on the archdiocesan website and in all parish bulletins. He should have personally visited the parish. He should have gone to other parishes where Fr. Gallagher worked. He should be actively begging anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes by Fr. Gallagher to call police.

Instead, Dolan does the absolute bare minimum: writing one letter to the priest’s current parishioners.

Mikey Kyles says that as an addicted 19 year old, Gallagher sexually abused him in the rectory “after giving him hundreds and hundreds of dollars over a few years to buy drugs for a heroin habit,” according to The Times Herald-Record.

This is a heinous betrayal. Dolan should be outraged. Dolan should be taking decisive action. Instead, Dolan’s doing what bishops have done for decades: telling as few people as possible and doing as little to help as possible.

Our hearts go out to Mikey Kyles and his family. What terrible suffering he has endured: losing his twin brother at an early age, becoming addicted, and then being emotionally manipulated and sexually exploited by an purportedly celibate spiritual guide and now, being essentially ignored by Dolan, Walsh and other top Catholic officials who are choosing to protect their reputations and careers instead of protecting their flock from a predator.

We hope every single person who has information or suspicions about Fr. Gallagher – or any New York archdiocesan child molesting cleric (priest, nun, brother, bishop, seminarian or lay employee) – will find the courage that Mikey Kyles is showing and will call law enforcement immediately. That’s the best way to protect the vulnerable, heal the wounded and expose the truth.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Bill Maher doesn’t understand why American police are “infallible.”

On “Real Time with Bill Maher” Friday night, the host compared police unions to the Catholic Church, saying both have an infrastructure that has historically protected members who abuse power.

“In the Catholic Church, of course not every priest was a pedophile,” Maher said. “But the institution covered up for the pedophiles. And this is what I see [with the police].”

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UNITED STATES
The Open Tabernacle: Here Comes Everybody

Posted on May 3, 2015 by Betty Clermont

Yesterday, Pope Francis led a celebration for the soon-to-be canonized Junípero Serra by praising the 18th century Spanish Franciscan friar who founded the first nine of 21 Spanish missions in California. “He was one of the

Founding Fathers of the United States, a saintly example of the Church’s universality and special patron of the Hispanic people of the country,” the pope said.

In the opinion of others, “Serra should be considered nothing less than a monster.” “The missions were coercive religious, forced labor camps….The Indians who wound up there had their children taken from them, and harsh, manual labor was the rule. Beatings and filthy living conditions were common. The death rate at the missions was appalling. By 1818 the percentage of Indians who died in the missions reached 86 percent. Over 81,000 Indian ‘converts’ eventually managed to successfully flee the missions.”

Yesterday’s event was officially titled a “day of reflection” for Serra before the pope canonizes the missionary at a Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC on Sept. 23 during his visit to the U.S. It will be a “national event,” the pope said.

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