ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Three more statements about the “resignation” of convicted felon Bishop Robert Finn of St. Joseph-Kansas City, from groups supporting survivors of childhood clerical sexual abuse:

Anne Barrett Doyle at BishopAccountability.org:

Pope Francis’s removal of Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph is a good step but just a beginning. The pope must show that this decision represents a meaningful shift in papal practice – that it signals a new era in bishop accountability. This action alone is not unprecedented: both of Francis’s predecessors fired bishops whose handling of abusive priests caused scandal. (See BishopAccountability.org’s list of complicit bishops who resigned or were removed.)

But what no pope has done to date is publicly confirm that he removed a culpable bishop because of his failure to make children’s safety his first priority. We urge Pope Francis to issue such a statement immediately. That would be unprecedented, and it would send a bracing message to bishops and religious superiors worldwide that a new era has begun.

It should be noted too that Pope Francis’s decision on Finn will add fuel to the fire in Chile; calls for the removal of Chilean bishop Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid will intensify. We hope Francis will honor the pleas of Karadima’s victims, of his own Commission members, and of the priests and parishioners of the Osorno diocese, and rescind this disastrous appointment immediately. If Francis means business, he must be consistent.

BishopAccountability.org at Marci Hamilton and Leslie Griffin’s blog on rights:

How can Pope Francis prove he is different? He can start by publicly confirming that Finn was removed because he harbored a sexual abuser. Such a modest admission by a pope would be unprecedented, and it would send a bracing message to bishops and religious superiors worldwide that a new era has begun.

More importantly, the Pope must keep cleaning house, and without the same agonizing delay. Sadly, it’s not hard to identify other unfit bishops. Archbishop Nienstedt of St. Paul and Minneapolis should be at the top of the list. There’s documentary evidence that children in recent years have been sexually assaulted because of his wanton irresponsibility.

And just as quickly, Francis must reverse his strange and disastrous appointment of Chilean bishop Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid. Several victims have testified that Barros witnessed their sexual abuse by disgraced priest Fernando Karadima. Francis must ignore the pressure to retain Barros that he likely is receiving from his friend Cardinal Francisco Errázuriz, another enabler of Karadima. The pope instead should honor the pleas of the victims, his own Commission members, and of the priests and parishioners of the Osorno diocese.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Catholic officials often apologize for abuse, saying “we’ll do better.”

And victims then often criticize them, saying “Words don’t protect kids. Action protects kids.”

Church defenders rebut this by saying “Words DO matter. Words are important.”

Except, apparently, right now. Some church defenders claim that what Pope Francis does or doesn’t say about Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn doesn’t really matter.

Victims want the Pope to “come clean” about Finn (who remains a bishop even though he resigned his office this week). Did voluntarily Finn resign? Or was he forced out?

Is Finn gone because he hid child sex crimes? Or because a quarter of his flock walked away in less than a decade?

In response, some church defenders say “Oh, the pope’s words don’t matter. What matters is that Finn no longer heads the diocese.”

So which is it? You can’t have your cake and eat it too.

Here, by the way, are a few short clarifications about Bishop Finn and Kansas City cover ups.

First, he did not plead guilty (as some news accounts have said). He was found guilty by a judge.

Second, Finn did not “delay” reporting Fr. Shawn Ratigan’s suspected clergy child sex crimes to authorities (as some news accounts have said). Finn never reported them. (Finn’s vicar general called the police, while Finn was out of town. When Finn returned and learned what had happened, he yelled at the vicar general.)

Third, he did not “fail” to call police (again, as some news accounts have said). Failure implies a good-faith attempt that somehow goes awry. Finn is a smart and well-educated man with smart and well-educated advisors, lawyers and public relations experts. He did not “fail” to report Fr. Ratigan’s crimes. He refused to report them and in fact hid them, month after month.

Fourth, Finn did not “endanger kids (as some news accounts have said). Kids were in fact harmed during the months Finn refused to supervise Fr. Ratigan and give the police evidence of his crimes.

Whether it’s with Fr. Ratigan, Fr. James Tierney, Fr. Thomas Cronin, Bishop Joseph Hart or other child molesting clerics in or from KC, minimizing, misunderstanding or misrepresenting what Finn and his top aides did serves no one but the guilty.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
Kildare Nationalist

A former priest has today been sentenced to two years in prison for sexually assaulting a seven-year-old girl during her First Confession in West Cork in the late 80s.

John Calnan – who has an address at The Presbytery, Paul Street, Cork City, pleaded guilty to one count of indecent assault.

Cork Circuit Criminal Court heard that the victim – who was seven years old at the time – was confessing her sins to Fr Calnan during the Sacrament of Penance when he sexually assaulted her.

In a victim impact statement, she said that her family contacted the school but they were met with denial and consternation, as the church was the most dominant force in the community at that time.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
U.S. Catholic

By Nicholas Cafardi

Guest blog

Rejoicing over the recent resignation of Bishop Robert Finn as the bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph is unseemly. I take no joy in another person’s distress, and I wonder what the church will do with a bishop who is only 62 years old and has 13 years of active episcopal ministry left. What does the church do with a bishop without a diocese?

Bernard Law, when he first stepped down from the See of Boston, was supposed to live a quiet life of prayer as chaplain for the Alma Mercy Sisters, but we all know how that worked out. A similar call to Finn for a cushy Roman job is out of the question. There is a different pope now.

This is but one of the paradoxes in Finn’s case. Another is: Why did he choose to ignore the Dallas Charter, the compact that he had with his fellow bishops, not to allow sexually abusive priests to remain in ministry? That was a promise that the entire body of American bishops made to the faithful in the United States. How could Finn think that he knew better than his fellow bishops? Did he ever consider the effects of his breach on the rest of the American church, namely the persistence of the doubt that if one bishop was breaking the Charter, others probably were as well, but were just better at not getting caught?

And another paradox: Why did his fellow bishops not call him out publicly for his dishonor? After all, it was their joint promise that he broke. Where was the fraternal correction from the American bishops?In Germany, when the Bishop of Bling, Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst of the diocese of Limburg, spent $43 million dollars to renovate his palace, the outcry from the German bishops was public and immediate. Within four months, Tebartz-van Elst was gone.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Barry Roche

Fri, Apr 24, 2015

A 76-year-old retired priest who sexually abused a seven-year-old girl while hearing her first confession has been jailed for two years.

John Calnan, who is no longer in ministry, was sentenced to three years in jail, with the final year suspended, after pleading guilty to sexual assaulting the girl in West Cork in 1989.

Sgt Maurice Downey told Cork Circuit Criminal Court that the girl was preparing for her First Holy Communion and Calnan was invited to her school to hear first confessions.

The confessions were being held in an kitchenette area and as Calnan began hearing the girl’s First Confession, he put his hands inside her underwear and digitally penetrated her.

The complainant, now a 34-year-old woman, told gardaí in her statement of complaint made in 2013 that Calnan also appeared to be doing something to himself at the time.

When the little girl finished her confession, Calnan re-arranged her clothing and gave her absolution and penance and told her that she could leave the kitchenette, said Sgt Downey.

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RHODE ISLAND
Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence

(PROVIDENCE, R.I.)-The Most Rev. Thomas J. Tobin, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, today announced the appointment Major Kevin M. O’Brien, a Rhode Island State Police Officer, as the new Director of Compliance. O’Brien comes to the diocese with more than 20 years of experience in law enforcement. He officially begins on June 1, 2015.

Major O’Brien recently served as detective commander overseeing several units including the Auto Theft and Insurance Fraud, Criminal Identification, Computer Crimes/Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and others. He replaces Lt. Robert McCarthy who served in the same capacity since September of 1993.

“We are very blessed to have the services of Major O’Brien who brings a great blend of professional experience, personal integrity, and commitment to the faith, to carry on the outstanding services of Lieutenant McCarthy,” said Bishop Tobin.

“As a member of the Rhode Island State Police for the past twenty three years I have had the honor and privilege to serve and protect the citizens of Rhode Island,” said Major O’Brien. “As I begin this new chapter in my life, I look forward to utilizing the skills and experiences gained throughout my career to now serve in the Diocese of Providence. This is a great opportunity for me to give back to the church that has played such an important part in my life.”

He served previously in the Major Crimes Unit overseeing ten detectives responsible for investigations including burglary, homicide, robbery, financial crimes, sexual assault, and others.

He has received numerous awards and letters of commendations.

O’Brien will be responsible for promoting the principles of compliance in cooperation with various law enforcement agencies throughout the state and among the various Diocesan parishes and agencies. He will have direct oversight for all matters within the Compliance Office; including investigations, criminal background checks and staff supervision. He will also provide support, education, and training to staff to build risk awareness within the Diocese.

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VATIKAN
kathweb

[Vatican City, 24.04.2015 (KAP) The Vatican has reacted to the arrest of several terror suspects who may be planning an attack on the Vatican. There was “no cause for special concern,” spokesman Federico Lombardi said on Friday. He pointed out that the alleged plans relate to the year 2010 and have remained without consequence.]

Sprecher Federico Lombardi: “Kein Anlass zu besonderer Besorgnis”

24.04.2015

Vatikanstadt, 24.04.2015 (KAP) Der Vatikan hat gelassen auf die Festnahme mehrerer Terrorverdächtiger reagiert, die vor fünf Jahren möglicherweise einen Anschlag auf den Vatikan geplant hatten. Es bestehe “keinerlei Anlass zu besonderer Besorgnis”, sagte Sprecher Federico Lombardi am Freitag. Er verwies darauf, dass die mutmaßlichen Pläne das Jahr 2010 beträfen und folgenlos geblieben seien.

Die Staatsanwaltschaft in Cagliari auf Sardinien hatte zuvor mitgeteilt, es gebe Hinweise darauf, dass die Verdächtigen damals möglicherweise auch einen Anschlag auf den Vatikan geplant haben könnten. Es gebe einige abgehörte Gespräche, “die klar darauf hindeuten, dass ein Angriff geplant wurde, vielleicht sogar auf den Vatikanstaat”, sagte Staatsanwalt Mauro Mura. Die Polizei habe einen mutmaßlichen Selbstmordattentäter aufgehalten, der im März 2010 am Flughafen Fiumicino gelandet sei, so Mura.

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USA
kath.net

Bischof Finn von Kansas City – St. Joseph habe die Missbrauchsvorwürfe gegen den Priester seiner Diözese nicht als Kavaliersdelikt behandelt, sagt der Vorsitzende der ‚Catholic League’.
Kansas City (kath.net/LSN/jg)

William Donohue, der Präsident der amerikanischen Initiative „Catholic League“, hat Robert Finn, den zurückgetretenen Bischof von Kansas City – St. Joseph, verteidigt. Der Vatikan hatte Finn den Verzicht auf Ausübung seines Amtes nahegelegt, nachdem er gerichtlich zu zwei Jahren auf Bewährung verurteilt worden war. Das Gericht warf ihm vor, Shawn Ratigan, einen Priester seiner Diözese, den Behörden nicht sofort gemeldet zu haben, nachdem auf seinem Computer kinderpornographisches Material gefunden worden war. Kath.net hat berichtet.

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service – Rhymes with Religion

Boz Tchividjian | Apr 24, 2015

I settled into a window seat of the plane and suddenly found myself in tears.

Last weekend, I had the distinct privilege of meeting with some of the most amazing people on the face of the earth. They gathered together because each had been sexually abused while growing up overseas as children of missionaries. Adding to their pain is the horrific reality that other missionaries perpetrated most of these crimes. To make matters worse, many of these survivors have been re-traumatized by mission agencies that prefer that they remain silent and fade into the darkness. I look forward to devoting a future post to these heroes and what they are teaching me about pain, betrayal, isolation, disappointment, authenticity, joy, hope … the list can go on and on.

As I sat in the plane staring out the window, hoping that nobody would notice my tears, I found myself recalling my work on two independent investigations related to child sexual abuse on the mission field. Dozens of painful memories of interviews with abuse survivors flooded my mind. Their tears, their pain, their tears, their confusion, their tears, their betrayal, their tears, their isolation, their tears, their ongoing disappointments, their tears, their feelings of worthlessness, their tears, and … more tears. My colleagues and I often lament that each of us lost a part of our soul during those agonizing investigations as we confronted the dark underbelly of the professing Christian community.

One of the darkest spots of that underbelly is the silence of missionaries who suspect others of victimizing children, but choose to remain silent and fail to report the crime. Tragically, such silence is all too common. Once in awhile, suspecting missionaries might step forward to voice a concern, only to be intimidated into silence by the leadership. In the meantime, the lives and souls of little ones living in a faraway land are being decimated. The horror of this silence has stayed with me for many years. Can anything be done about overseas American cultures that ignore the suspected sexual abuse of children?

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, April 24

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

Two priests who molested in Kansas City MO are now still priests living or working elsewhere, unsupervised, among unsuspecting families. The new temporary head of the Kansas City diocese should act now to warn others about them.

The credibly accused child molesting clerics are

–Fr. Thomas Cronin of Nevada, who is involved with a homeless women’s shelter despite a civil lawsuit in Kansas City (now settled) that charges him with sexually violating a young woman.

[BishopAccountability.org]

–-Bishop Joseph Hart of Wyoming who, as a priest in KC, molested at least six boys. (They have sued and those suits have settled.)

Archbishop Joseph Naumann has said he won’t make dramatic changes. But years of trauma in the Kansas City MO diocese have resulted from bishops doing little or nothing to protect the vulnerable from potentially dangerous priests.

Naumann should take immediate steps to alert police, prosecutors, parishioners, parents and the public about Cronin and Hart. These two predator priests could be assaulting kids and young people out west today. They could be visiting Kansas City, and hurting kids and young people, here this weekend. With real outreach by Naumann, Cronin and Hart might even be prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned, sparing others decades of devastating pain.

Presumably, Bishop Robert Finn’s resignation is intended to bring healing to Kansas City Catholics and victims. But wounded adults can heal themselves, with or without action by bishops. But innocent kids and vulnerable adults cannot protect themselves from predators without action by bishops.

Naumann should put announcements in every parish bulletin at the first opportunity, begging those who saw, suspected or suffered crimes by Cronin or Hart to step forward and call police.

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BELGIE
De Standaard

Léonard veroordeeld omdat hij niet optrad tegen pedofiele priester

Aartsbisschop Léonard is door het hof van beroep in Luik veroordeeld omdat hij niet optrad tegen een pedofiele priester. Dat heeft de advocaat van het slachtoffer bevestigd aan de redactie van Het Nieuwsblad. Léonard moet 10.000 euro schadevergoeding betalen aan het slachtoffer van de priester.
Joël Devillet werd als tiener jarenlang misbruikt door de dorpspastoor van Aubange, een dorpje helemaal in het zuiden van de provincie Luxemburg. Devillet stapte niet meteen naar het gerecht.

‘Omdat ik zelf priester wilde worden. Ik wou geen schandaal’, vertelde hij. Wel bracht hij de katholieke kerk op de hoogte. Met Léonard, die in 1991 de Naamse bisschop werd, had hij een lang gesprek. Het bracht weinig zoden aan de dijk: Hubermont werd overgeplaatst naar een andere parochie, maar bleef gewoon priester.

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ITALY
Telegraph (UK)

By Reuters
24 Apr 2015

Italian police said on Friday they were staging a “vast anti-terrorism” operation against an armed organisation inspired by al-Qaeda whose members may have been planning an attack against the Vatican.

Cagliari chief prosecutor Mauro Mura told reporters that the suspects were also planning to carry out attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

A series of raids across the country was targeting 18 people, they said. Some had been arrested in Italy, including the group’s suspected spiritual leader, but others were believed to have left the country.

“We don’t have proof, we have strong suspicion,” said Mario Carta, head of the police unit leading the investigation said when asked for more details on a possible attack against the seat of the Catholic Church.

He said that, in intercepted telephone calls, investigators had heard the suspects say they would launch a “big jihad in Italy,” conversations that also suggested a target might be the Vatican.

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ROME
CNN

[with video]

By Greg Botelho, Don Melvin and Hada Messia, CNN

Rome (CNN) Italian authorities said they launched a “vast anti-terrorism operation” Friday, going after suspects associated with al Qaeda who had discussed a list of targets, including the Vatican.

Some members of the terror cell even had direct contact with Osama bin Laden before his 2011 death in Pakistan, Italy’s state-run ANSA news agency reported. Police said they got this information from wiretaps.

Wiretaps and other intelligence revealed the group’s plans to carry out terror attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as Italy, according to Caligari Chief Prosecutor Mauro Mura.

Some evidence indicated the Vatican was among the targets being considered. This talk happened in March 2010, around the time a possible suicide bomber from Afghanistan had entered Italy, Mura said.

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ITALIA
Repubblica

[Nine arrests have been made of suspected al-Queda operatives in Italy. There was suspicion they planned to attack the Vatican. Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said the theory of an attack has circulated since 2010 and has proved unfounded. He said there is no concern at the Vatican.]

di ALBERTO CUSTODERO

ROMA – E’ ancora in corso una importante operazione degli uomini dell’antiterrorismo della polizia contro una cellula fondamentalista con base in Sardegna e legata ad al-Qaeda. Le richieste di arresto sono 18, di cui 9 eseguite nei confronti di otto pachistani e un afgano. Dei nove arrestati, tre sono stati bloccati a Olbia, due a Civitanova Marche e gli altri a Bergamo, Roma, Sora (Frosinone) e Foggia. L’organizzazione – secondo quanto emerso dalle indagini – operava prevalentemente a Olbia e nel Lazio. Il ruolo principale nell’organizzazione fondamentalista era ricoperto da un imam che viveva a Bergamo. Gli arrestati devono rispondere, a vario titolo, di atti terroristici all’estero e favoreggiamento dell’immigrazione clandestina, con la quale si autofinanziavano. Quanto ai ricercati, tre sono ritenuti certamente in Italia, mentre altri risultano emigrati dal territorio nazionale. Fra gli arrestati, due avrebbero un passato da fiancheggiatori di Bin Laden, altri sarebbero autori di numerosi e sanguinosi atti di terrorismo e sabotaggio in Pakistan, compresa la strage del mercato di Peshawar, il Meena Bazar, avvenuta nell’ottobre del 2009 (mappa) in cui vennero uccise più di cento persone.

Dalle conversazioni intercettate è emersa anche la presenza in Italia di due kamikaze: l’ipotesi degli inquirenti è che fosse ricollegabile a un piano di attentato in Vaticano. Il capo della procura della Repubblica di Cagliari, Mauro Mura, che ha coordinato le indagini ha precisato che la circostanza non è al momento “oggetto di contestazione” nei confronti degli arrestati. Dalla Santa Sede, il portavoce padre Federico Lombardi spiega: “Si tratta di un’ipotesi che risale al 2010 e che non ha avuto alcun seguito. Non si tratta quindi di un fatto oggi rilevante e non è motivo di particolari preoccupazioni”. Successivamente dagli ambienti investigativi trapela che il possibile attentato terroristico in Vaticano risale effettivamente al 2010 e potrebbe essere sfumato dopo una perquisizione effettuata dalla polizia a casa di uno degli indagati nel marzo di quell’anno. Due kamikaze pachistani erano appena sbarcati a Roma. Quasi contemporaneamente la polizia fece scattare delle perquisizioni.

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ITALIA
Il Fatto Quotidiano

Padre Gratien Alabi, il frate congolese indagato per la scomparsa di Guerrina Piscaglia, della quale non si ha più traccia da un anno è stato arrestato a Roma per essere trasferito a Arezzo a disposizione del pm Marco Dioni che indaga sulla scomparsa della donna da Ca’ Raffaello, frazione di Badia Tedalda (in provincia di Arezzo). Guerrina Piscaglia è scomparsa dal primo maggio 2014. Il gip Piergiorgio Ponticelli ha firmato l’ordinanza e i carabinieri hanno fermato il religioso a Roma, in un monastero nel quale padre Gratien si trovava da alcune settimane.

Padre Alabi, che in paese veniva chiamato padre Graziano, è accusato di omicidio e occultamento di cadavere l’imputazione contestata al religioso: “Rilascerò dichiarazioni – commenta l’avvocato del frate Luca Fanfani – solo quando conoscerò le motivazioni che hanno portato il gip a firmare l’ordinanza”.

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ITALIA
Il Tirreno

AREZZO. A mezzanotte del 24 aprile sarebbe scaduto il divieto di espatrio e padre Gratien avrebbe potuto lasciare l’Italia. Ma giovedì 23 i carabinieri di Arezzo l’hanno arrestato. Per il religioso, già indagato per favoreggiamento in sequestro di persona nell’inchiesta sulla scomparsa di Guerrina Piscaglia , la 50enne scomparsa da Ca Raffaello, una frazione di Badia Tedalda (Arezzo) e di cui non si hanno più tracce da un anno, adesso l’accusa è di omicidio volontario e di occultamento o soppressione di cadavere.

Il gip del tribunale di Arezzo Piergiorgio Ponticelli ha firmato l’ordinanza di custodia cautelare in carcere per il religioso congolese di 45 anni. La svolta è maturata nel penultimo giorno utile per l’ordinanza dal momento che il 25 aprile scadeva il divieto di espatrio, imposto al frate sei mesi fa su richiesta della procura di Arezzo. I carabinieri si sono presentati al portone del convento dei Premostratensi in viale Giotto a Roma, all’Aventino, e hanno notificato al frate il provvedimento del giudice. Padre Gratien Alabi è poi salito sull’auto dei militari dell’Arma: destinazione la caserma di Cortona (Arezzo) dove si sono svolte le procedure di rito prima dell’arrivo ad Arezzo, previsto per la tarda serata.

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ITALY
International Business Times

By Umberto Bacchi
April 24, 2015

Italian police have charged a catholic priest with the murder of a Tuscan housewife who went missing last year.

Father Gratien Alabi was held in Rome by detectives investigating the disappearance of Guerrina Piscaglia, 50, who vanished from the village of Cà Raffaello, near Arezzo on 1 May 2014.

The married mother-of-one left her house for a walk on International Labour Day, a public holiday in Italy, never to return.

The 45-year-old clergyman was already a suspect in the case although he was previously facing charges of aiding and abetting a kidnapping or murder and banned from leaving Italy, pending an investigation. He has now been charged with murdering the woman and disposing of the body.

Piscaglia was a parishioner at the local church run by Alabi but detectives have long suspected there was more to their relationship for the two had exchanged a high volume of text messages and phone calls, including on the day of her disappearance, Italian media reported.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 21 April 2015)

This Broken Rites article tells how the Marist Brothers harboured a child-sex offender (Brother John William “Kostka” Chute) for more than 40 years, giving him access to Australian Catholic schoolchildren. Broken Rites has ascertained that the Marist Brothers appointed “Brother Kostka” to at least 12 Catholic schools in Australia between 1952 and 1993, ranging from Lismore in northern New South Wales to Marcellin College in Randwick, Sydney, as well as at least one school in Queensland. His final school was Marist College in Canberra, and it was some Canberra pupils who finally got him convicted and jailed in 2008. However, this Canberra court case was confined to crimes committed within the Australian Capital Territory. Now, in 2015, John William Chute is scheduled to face an additional charge in New South Wales, regarding an alleged offence at Lismore.

The new charge in 2015

On Wednesday 18 March 2015, John William Chute was arrested by New South Wales detectives attached to Richmond Local Area Command, near Sydney. He was charged at Burwood Police Station with one count of indecent assault. The police allege that, at a school in Lismore between 1967 and 1969, this religious Brother indecently assaulted a boy who was in year six. Chute was granted conditional bail to appear at Lismore Local Court on a later date. This court hearing would be a brief administrative procedure, for the charge to be officially filed before a magistrate, with a further hearing to follow later.

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GUAM
Concerned Catholics of Guam

For Immediate Release – April 24, 2015

Hagatna, Guam – The Concerned Catholics of Guam (CCOG) today announced that the organization will be hosting an island-wide prayer rally and motorcade on Sunday, May 3, 2015. The rally is being organized to appeal for justice, accountability, and action from the archdiocese’s leadership, which has remained silent on controversial issues facing the Catholic community on Guam.

Despite repeated letters and requests from members of the Concerned Catholics of Guam to meet with Archbishop Anthony Apuron to begin a dialogue on these issues, Archbishop Apuron continues to hide behind a veil of secrecy and is completely out of touch with the people of God in the Archdiocese of Agana.

“We are again appealing that Archbishop Apuron come to his senses and to reach out, in a genuine and tangible way, to a hurting and divided Church on Guam. We have waited too long and his style of leadership and silence cannot be tolerated any longer,” said Greg Perez, president of Concerned Catholics of Guam, Inc.

“I’m inviting everyone to please join us for this island-wide prayer rally and motorcade to send a clear message to Pope Francis and to Rome that nothing has been done to reconcile and reunite our Church. We want justice, accountability, and a real effort to move our church forward.”
Letter and Email Campaign

Guam Catholics are also being encouraged to begin a second campaign of letters, emails, and phone calls to Vatican officials in Rome concerning the inaction, lack of leadership, and lack of transparency from Archbishop Apuron and the Chancery Office.

Earlier this year, high-ranking Vatican officials visited Guam for what the archdiocese dubbed a “pastoral visit”. Instead the visit was in fact investigatory in nature with a quietly kept schedule of events and meetings with concerned individuals, public officials, and clergy members.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has nominated Father Edward C. Milsec as bishop of the Diocese of Greensburg in Pennsylvania, USA.

The Holy Father also accepted the resignation of Bishop Lawrence E. Brandt, the former bishop of Greensburg, according to Canon 401 §1 of the Code of Canon Law.

Biography

Fr. Edward C. Malesic was born on August 14, 1960 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

He obtained a Bachelor of Arts in 1983 and a Master in Divinity in 1987 from the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio. In 1998 he received his Licentiate in Canon Law from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Harrisburg on May 30, 1987.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

CHRIS MARSHALL

SURVIVORS of historical child abuse have expressed concerns about the future of a long-awaited public inquiry after the Scottish Government postponed a key announcement on its chairperson.

Education secretary Angela Constance had been expected to name the chair and outline the remit of the inquiry in a statement to parliament next week.

But The Scotsman has learned the announcement has now been put off until after the general election, raising fears among campaigners that the scope of the inquiry is to be reduced.

The Scottish Government announced the inquiry in December, which will have the power to compel witnesses to give evidence.

Alan Draper, the parliamentary liaison officer of In Care Abuse Survivors (Incas), said some survivors were concerned the delay to Ms Constance’s statement was due to the unpopular decision to limit the remit of the inquiry.

He said: “There may be good reasons for [the delay]. It’s been presented to us that it’s to do with the election, but they’ve known about the date of the election for five years. I don’t see that as a good reason.

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SCOTLAND
The National

APRIL 24TH, 2015 KATHLEEN NUTT

A KEY announcement planned for next week regarding a historical child abuse inquiry across Scotland has been put off until after next month’s General Election, it was revealed yesterday.

The statement is now expected in mid-May and victims are furious – believing the delay may be down to ministers trying to avert any bad publicity the announcement generates until after polling day.

Scots survivors are concerned the move could be an indication they will not support what is being planned and follows a series of negative stories about a similar inquiry set up by the UK Government.

Alan Draper, parliamentary liaison officer for In Care Abuse Survivors (Incas), told The National: “There are fears the Scottish Government is trying to narrow the inquiry and doesn’t want anything coming out before the General Election.

“Survivors are yet again left feeling very disappointed.”

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BELGIUM
Reuters

(Reuters) – Belgium’s senior Roman Catholic cleric, Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard, has been ordered to pay 10,000 euros ($10,900) in damages for failing to act on allegations of sexual abuse in the 1990s.

The civil case was brought by Joel Devillet, who was abused by a priest while he was a choirboy in the south of Belgium in the late 1980s, when he was 14 years old.

Devillet later studied to become a priest himself and informed the Church of his earlier experience of abuse, but it did little to help him and did not alert justice authorities, an appeals court in Liege said on Thursday.

“At no moment at the church court was Joel Devillet recognised as a victim,” the court said in its judgment, adding that Leonard, in his capacity as bishop of Namur in the 1990s, bore some blame.

“The way in which Bishop Leonard treated the case of Joel Devillet constituted misconduct,” the court said.

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GUAM
KUAM

By Jolene Toves

The Concerned Catholics of Guam will be hosting an islandwide prayer rally and motorcade on Sunday, May 3. The motorcade will begin at the mayors offices in different villages and proceed to the Agana Cathedral Bascilica for the prayer rally at 4:30pm. According to CCOG president Greg Perez the rally has been organized to appeal for justice, accountability and action from the archdiocese.

The CCOG has written letters to Archbishop Anthony Apuron requesting financial transparency but they have not received any response. Perez says that the archbishop has remained silent on controversial issues facing the catholic community and is appealing to him reach out.

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NEW YORK
San Antonio Express-News

DAVID KLEPPER, ASSOCIATED PRESS
April 23, 2015

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The Roman Catholic Church is opposing efforts in New York to allow sex abuse accusers to file lawsuits after the statute of limitations has expired, warning of dire financial consequences if the state allows plaintiffs to sue decades after the purported abuse occurred.

Currently in New York, victims of child sex abuse have until five years after they turn 18 to file a lawsuit. The same statute of limitations applies to most child sex crimes.

A bill pending in the state Assembly would eliminate the statute of limitations on abuse cases going forward — and create a one-year window to allow anyone to file lawsuits no matter when the abuse occurred. Supporters gathered Wednesday in Albany to push for the bill.

A similar law in California passed in 2002 resulted in dioceses there paying $1.2 billion in legal settlements.

Such a law in New York would cause the church “catastrophic financial harm,” according to a statement of opposition from The New York State Catholic Conference, which argues a one-year window would do nothing to stop new cases of abuse while “enriching trial lawyers” by allowing them to file suits relating to “stale lawsuits regarding long-ago charges.”

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NEW YORK
Syracuse.com

By Mike McAndrew | mmcandrew@syracuse.com
on April 23, 2015

The Catholic church is opposing efforts in New York to allow alleged sex abuse victims to sue after the statute of limitations has expired.

Currently, victims have only until they turn 23 to seek charges or file a civil suit.

A bill pending in the state Legislature would create a one-year window for anyone to file lawsuits no matter when the alleged abuse occurred.

Assemblywoman Margaret Markey, D-Maspeth, makes reference in the sponsor’s memo of the bill to the allegations against former Syracuse University basketball assistant coach Bernie Fine, although the memo does not mention Fine by name.

“The Syracuse University, Penn State University, and the Horace Mann school scandals have shown us that now more than ever we need to change how we view the statute of limitations in cases of child sexual abuse,” the memo says.

Two former Syracuse University ball boys, stepbrothers Bobby Davis and Mike Lang, publicly accused Fine in 2011 of molesting them decades before when they were children. Syracuse police and federal prosecutors investigated the allegations for a year before announcing that they would not charge Fine. The U.S. Attorney’s office said that it had not developed sufficient credible evidence of a prosecutable offense. Through his attorney, Fine has denied any wrongdoing.

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OREGON
The Oregonian

By Rick Bella | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on April 23, 2015

The defense in the trial for Happy Valley Pastor Mike Sperou called several witnesses Thursday who said they didn’t recall any detailed discussions by church members of the child sex-abuse allegations against him in 1997.

Sperou’s sister, Jackie Mitchell, a teacher in the North Clackamas Bible Community, told a Multnomah County jury she never saw any children in his room. She also said she didn’t know why Jennifer Olajuyin and Jessica Watson, who grew up in the church, were interviewed by police detectives.

“I didn’t know very much about it,” said Mitchell, who is married to Associate Pastor Kevin Mitchell. “I heard they were questioned.”

Under cross-examination, Mitchell said she had not heard that her brother had inappropriately kissed her daughter – his niece. Other defense witnesses earlier said Sperou had taken responsibility for his actions and had apologized.

Mitchell also said under cross-examination that she had given birth to an illegitimate child fathered by Assistant Pastor Bill Hartman.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: April 23, 2015

An Aug. 3 deadline for filing claims against archdiocese prompts campaign

An unprecedented campaign to track down survivors of clergy abuse in the Twin Cities archdiocese is beginning in Minnesota.

Within days, the first legal notices will appear in newspapers across the state announcing, “You May Have a Claim Against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.”

Letters already are in the mail to Catholics who have reported sexual abuse to the archdiocese over the years, telling them of a critical deadline for making a claim. Hundreds of notices to treatment centers, psychological therapists, parishes and schools are in the works.

The urgent message: Anyone who has been sexually abused by a priest in the archdiocese now or in decades past needs to step forward by Aug. 3 if they intend to seek compensation. The news is being blasted out by the church, by victims’ attorneys and survivors themselves.

“This will be unprecedented,” said victims’ attorney Jeff Anderson, whose law firm is spreading the word through its own campaign in social and traditional media.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholics4Change

APRIL 24, 2015 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

Catholics who donate directly or indirectly (through their parish giving) to the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference might be surprised by how their money is being invested. The PA Catholic Conference, the public affairs arm of the Catholic Church in our Commonwealth, actively lobbies against reforming the Statute of Limitations (SOL) for child sex abuse. To be more specific, they hire lobbyists to visit our Representatives and Senators in Harrisburg on their behalf. Money talks and politicians only hear one side. Children can’t afford lobbyists.

I wanted to read about the Conference’s stance on this issue, but I couldn’t find it anywhere on their web site. Why wouldn’t they want to inform the faithful about a key point on their agenda? Why are they hiding this? While I certainly support their pro-life lobbying, I also think children deserve to be protected after they are born.

The current Statute of Limitations (SOL) for child sex abuse puts kids at risk. While the SOL was improved 10 years ago, those reforms were not retroactive. They only applied to future crimes. That leaves child predators, who were never prosecuted, free to live in our communities. For example, think about the priests whose crimes were covered up by the Archdiocese until the SOL ran out. After the scandal was exposed, they were removed from ministry. Where are they living now? They are not registered and predators don’t retire from abusing. But this goes well beyond the clergy. What about the child predators from other walks of life – the family members, the coaches, etc. These lobbyists are helping to give them a free pass in order to protect their client’s assets.

Several states abolished the SOL for childhood sex abuse and created “window legislation.” This legislation opens a two year window during which past victims (whose abuse previously fell outside the SOL) can come forward to name their abuser and press charges.

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CALIFORNIA
Sacramento Bee

BY DAN WALTERSDWALTERS@SACBEE.COM
04/23/2015

The Catholic Church’s first Latino pope is on the verge of canonizing Junipero Serra, the 18th century Spanish missionary who brought Christianity to California and built the first of the state’s famed missions.

Figuratively, however, the state Senate’s Latino leadership, including President Pro Tem Kevin de León, is thumbing its collective nose at Pope Francis and Serra by voting to remove the missionary priest’s statue from the U.S. Capitol.

The squabble over ethnicity, sexual orientation, revisionist history and political symbolism is making global headlines and is another emotion-tinged conflict for a Legislature already in turmoil over right-to-die and mandatory vaccination bills.

Each state can have statues of two historic figures in the U.S. Capitol, and California’s are Serra, since 1931, and former President Ronald Reagan, who in 2009 replaced 19th century anti-slavery minister Thomas Starr King.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston.com

Commentary

By Allison Pohle @AllisonPohle and Sara Morrison @SaraMorrison
Boston.com Staff | 04.23.15

This September, Pope Francis will make his first visit to the United States since he ascended to the papacy in 2013. His itinerary will include stops in Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and New York.

It will not, as of now, include Boston, the epicenter of one of the biggest scandals in the church’s history. In 2002, The Boston Globe reported on a widespread sexual abuse cover-up within the Boston Archdiocese, the effects of which are still felt today.

Although Massachusetts is the second-most Catholic state in the country, and Boston one of the most Catholic major cities, a Pope has only visited us once. That was in 1979 when Pope John Paul II said Mass on Boston Common to an estimated 400,000 people.

Pope Francis has met with some survivors of sexual abuse by priests. He called for a Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, led by Boston’s own cardinal Seán O’Malley. Yet, many victim advocacy groups believe the Vatican does not have an adequate system of justice, and the church has not done enough to punish accused priests.

Some survivors ask: If he is truly interested in making reparations and healing, isn’t Boston the best place to start? Or is it for the best if he stays away?

Boston.com asked three sexual abuse survivors — Ann Hagan Webb, Robert Costello, and Bernie McDaid — to write an open letter to Pope Francis about his visit, and whether or not it should include Boston. The church’s response to the survivors’ letters can be read here.

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AUSTRALIA
The Morning Bulletin

Austin King | 24th Apr 2015

NEERKOL Orphanage victim Margaret Campbell, and her lawyer, are making formal representations to the Queensland boss of public prosecutions to review the case against Rockhampton man Kevin Baker.

Yesterday Aaron Kernaghan, Ms Campbell’s solicitor, told The Morning Bulletin he was making those formal representations early next week.

Mr Baker allegedly sexually abused Ms Campbell in 1961 at Neerkol Orphanage, the Royal Commission panel was told at its Rockhampton hearing.

In 2002, the Department of Public Prosecutions decided not to proceed any further with legal action against Mr Baker because of several technical legal issues.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

04/23/2015

Jennifer Haselberger

Today’s online edition of the National Catholic Reporter features a story by Monica Clark about the arrest of Msgr. Hien Minh Nguyen, a priest and former judicial vicar of the Diocese of San Jose, on charges of fraud and tax evasion. According to the article, Msgr. Minh Nguyen was indicted for depositing parish checks, totaling $19,000, into his personal bank account, and failing to report over $1 million in income on his federal tax returns.

Much like the sexual abuse scandal uncovered by the Boston Globe in 2002, this arrest and indictment will come as no surprise to those involved in church governance in the United States. Since as early as 2007 bishops and Chancery officials have been warned that the ‘next big scandal’ in the Catholic Church would be its financial management, and those same individuals have been called upon to increase internal controls and other protections against misappropriation of funds and other fiscal mismanagement.

Much like the instructions for the handling of sexual misconduct by clergy, these warnings and suggestions have largely been ignored by those in governance in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. And, much like the mishandling of accusations of sexual abuse, significant problems have arisen and then have been deliberately kept from the knowledge of the faithful. The most obvious example of this is the theft of more than $600,000 over a 17-year period by the former comptroller, Scott Domeier, through a scheme of graft and kickbacks. Although Domeier was finally removed from his position in 2012, the irregular accounting practices which he oversaw were hardly a secret. I originally raised concerns about them with the Archdiocesan CFO in 2009, only to be told to stay out of it. It was only when an outside vendor complained that the matter was dealt with.

Domeier was not the first lay employee of the Archdiocese (including the Catholic Spirit) to be charged for such crimes, nor is theft and other forms of fiscal misconduct limited to lay workers. Since the warning from the USCCB in 2007, the Archdiocese has repaid $30,000 taken from estate of a woman under the conservatorship of a parish priest, Father Corey Belden, to avoid prosecution of the priest, who apparently misappropriated the funds to fuel a gambling addiction. It froze parish accounts opened by a foreign priest who was using the parish’s tax ID number to ‘hold’ money that had been collected for charities and dioceses in Africa. In 2012, the Archdiocese conducted a parallel investigation to the criminal investigation by the Maplewood Police Department after Father Rodger Bauman accepted a personal gift of $120,000 from a 99-year-old former parishioner. The Archdiocesan investigation determined that Father Bauman had written out the check himself, because of the diminished capability of the man making the gift. And, in 2013, an internal investigation into an extortion attempt made against an Archdiocese priest (who was also involved in prostitution) turned up evidence that the priest had acquired significant assets, including property, through a scheme of double-dipping and having his parish reimburse him for personal expenses. To my knowledge, all these men remain priests of the Archdiocese.

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BELGIUM
7 News

Brussels (AFP) – A Belgian court on Thursday ordered the Archbishop of Brussels to pay 10,000 euros in damages to a former choir boy subjected to sexual abuse by a priest.

The plaintiff Joel Devillet, now 42, was raped by a priest in southern Belgium between 1987 and 1991. The earliest abuse happened when he was 14 years old and has left him with serious psychological problems.

In 1996 the victim denounced his violator in front of an internal tribunal of the Belgian Catholic Church, which advised him to seek therapy.

Devillet failed in a bid to get a criminal conviction and so launched, and won, a civil suit claiming damages from the priest involved.

He also filed a suit to demand compensation from Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard, the Primate of Belgium, who at the time of the abuse was in charge of the central Namur diocese.

The Liege court of appeal on Thursday said the bishop, who will hand his resignation to the pope when he reaches the maximum permitted age of 75 next month, did not take sufficient measures to deal with the abusive priest, and was told to pay the 10,000 euros ($10,800) to Devillet.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

Source: AAP
24 APR 2015

THE EXPERIENCES OF CHILDREN AT THE NEERKOL ORPHANAGE AS TOLD BY FORMER RESIDENTS AT THE CHILD ABUSE ROYAL COMMISSION:

* A 67-year-old woman said she was sexually abused and raped more than 100 times from age 11 by priest Reginald Durham, who forced her to confess her “sins” and gave her absolution.

* Children who ran away were publicly flogged with whips as an example to others.

* Girls were forced to eat “ant sandwiches” under supervision to ensure compliance.

* Altar boys were routinely raped by a priest during Latin lessons.

* Bed-wetters had to stand with the toilet sheet draped over their heads during breakfast.

* Alternatively they were locked in storerooms or cupboards without food or water for up to a day.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

AAP

A stock whip wielded by a young man paints bloody stripes across a small boy’s bare back while several nuns and dozens of children watch on.

Another boy is locked in a cramped cupboard for an entire day without food or water.

His crime? Wetting the bed.

A nun drags another child to the priest’s quarters and tells him to be a “good boy”, before the man who has supposedly committed his life to god forces him into unspeakable acts.

These are not scenes from a film, but the reality for Queensland children who attended St Joseph’s Neerkol orphanage, near Rockhampton.

Former Queensland governor Leneen Forde’s 1998-1999 inquiry into institutional child abuse exposed the Neerkol nuns’ decades-long reign of terror, which was only brought to an end by the orphanage’s 1978 closure.

Now, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse public hearing has revealed the full horror of what went on in the dormitories, the yards, the dining halls and the priests’ quarters not so long ago.

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NEW YORK
National Catholic Reporter

Ed Wilkinson Catholic News Service | Apr. 23, 2015

BOOKLYN, N.Y. When Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn celebrated a Mass of Hope and Healing for survivors of sexual abuse by the clergy, the mood was pensive.

After all, this had not been done before in this diocese. It was difficult to judge what the reactions would be.

The liturgy was celebrated the evening of April 15 at St. James Cathedral-Basilica in downtown Brooklyn with more than 100 people in the congregation.

The bishop was joined in the procession by Auxiliary Bishops Raymond Chappetto and Octavio Cisneros, 57 priests and 10 deacons.

“The traumatic experience of sexual abuse clearly destroys peace of mind and soul,” DiMarzio said in his homily.

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NEW YORK
New Jersey Herald

By DAVID KLEPPER
Associated Press

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – The Roman Catholic Church is opposing efforts in New York to allow sex abuse accusers to file lawsuits after the statute of limitations has expired, warning of dire financial consequences if the state allows plaintiffs to sue decades after the purported abuse occurred.

Currently in New York, victims of child sex abuse have until five years after they turn 18 to file a lawsuit. The same statute of limitations applies to most child sex crimes.

A bill pending in the state Assembly would eliminate the statute of limitations on abuse cases going forward – and create a one-year window to allow anyone to file lawsuits no matter when the abuse occurred. Supporters gathered Wednesday in Albany to push for the bill.

A similar law in California passed in 2002 resulted in dioceses there paying $1.2 billion in legal settlements.

Such a law in New York would cause the church “catastrophic financial harm,” according to a statement of opposition from The New York State Catholic Conference, which argues a one-year window would do nothing to stop new cases of abuse while “enriching trial lawyers” by allowing them to file suits relating to “stale lawsuits regarding long-ago charges.”

“It is wrong to hold innocent people accountable today for the evil actions of long-dead individuals from a different generation,” the statement reads.

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SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
National Catholic Reporter

Dan Morris-Young | Apr. 23, 2015

Canonical and court documents from 2003 and 2005 that cast a negative light on the ministry of Fr. Joseph Illo during his time in the Stockton, Calif., diocese — including a court ruling that he inflicted “intentional emotional distress” on an 11-year-old girl — have further enraged parents at Star of the Sea School who have sought the priest’s removal as Star of Sea Parish administrator.

A San Francisco Examiner story posted Thursday reports that a civil case settled in San Joaquin County Superior Court in 2005 ruled that Illo emotionally abused the child when he was pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Modesto and that “the girl was ultimately awarded $20,000 in damages.”

According to court documents provided to NCR, the event took place Sept. 11, 2001. The girl reportedly went to Illo to tell him of alleged sexual misconduct against her and her sister in their home about two months earlier by associate pastor Fr. Francis Arakal.

According to a “settlement conference statement” filed in February 2005 by attorneys of the girls’ guardian ad litem and mother, Kathleen Machado: “Rather than protect and minister to the 11-year-old … Fr. Illo breached the child’s confidences by forcing the child to confront the offending priest. The pastor and offending priest then called the child a ‘liar,’ yelled at her and defamed her mother by insinuating to the 11-year-old that her mother was ‘fabricating’ the allegations … because ‘all [Machado] wanted to do was have sex’ ” with Illo.

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GEORGIA
WSAV

EFFINGHAM COUNTY, GA – Two men including a local priest are under arrest and facing child pornography charges.

Bruce Fehr, 54, and Zachary Giebner, 33, were arrested following a two month long investigation.

The Effingham County Sheriff’s Office says that both men were downloading child pornography and search warrants were executed Thursday morning at each of their Wilmington Island homes.

Both men are being held at the Effingham County Jail on charges of Sexual Exploitation of Children.

Fehr is a rector of Saint Francis of the Islands Episcopal Church.

According to his biography on the church’s website, Fehr was ordained to priesthood in October 2013.

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GEORGIA
Savannah Morning News

By DeAnn Komanecky

A former teacher and a pastor have been arrested on unrelated child pornography charges.

Bruce Fehr, 54, of Savannah, and Zachary Giebner, 33, of Savannah were arrested following an investigation that began two months ago. During the investigation, investigators with the Southeast Georgia Child Exploitation Task Force discovered that both Fehr and Giebner were downloading child pornography. Giebner was a teacher in Bryan County, according to the Effingham Sheriff’s Office.

Fehr is the reverend at St. Francis Episcopal Church on Wilmington Island, said Joe Heath, with the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Search warrants were executed this morning at each of their Wilmington Island homes where computers were seized and the men arrested. Both men are currently in the Effingham County jail where they face charges for Sexual Exploitation of Children.

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GEORGIA
WJCL

By Felicia Abraham
Published: April 23, 2015

SAVANNAH Ga. (WJCL) — The FBI-led Southeast Georgia Child Exploitation Task Force has arrested two men on unrelated child pornography charges.

Bruce Fehr, 54, of Savannah, and Zachary Giebner, 33, of Savannah were arrested following an investigation that began two months ago. During the investigation, Investigators with the Southeast Georgia Child Exploitation Task Force discovered that both Fehr and Giebner were downloading child pornography.

Fehr is rector and is in charge of the St. Francis of the Islands Episcopal Church on Wilmington Island.

Giebner, was charged in November 2013 for inappropriate conduct with a student in Newman, Georgia.

Search warrants were executed this morning at each of their Wilmington Island homes where computers were seized and the men arrested. Both men are currently in the Effingham County Jail where they face charges for Sexual Exploitation of Children.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

. . .According to trusted Catholic blogger Rocco Palmo, the just-resigned Bishop Robert Finn is “the third U.S. prelate to resign under a cloud of controversy over his handling of abuse claims,” and each of them spent time in Missouri. The first – Cardinal Bernard Law – headed the Springfield (buckle of the bible belt) diocese while second – Cardinal Justin Rigali – headed our own. Palmo also predicts that “Given the turbulence in Kansas City, it is practically certain that Finn won’t remain in the area, most likely returning across Missouri to his hometown.” (Another local connection: Finn’s temporary replacement is Kansas City Archbishop Joseph Naumann, also originally from St. Louis

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, April 23

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

Once again Bay Area Catholics learn about serious charges against a priest only through the news media, not from their alleged “shepherds.”

Star of the Sea parishioners have apparently learned via news reports that their pastor, Fr. Joseph Illo, was essentially deemed guilty of intimidating a young alleged victim of a predator priest.

[San Francisco Examiner]

When will Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone learn that, in the words of Martin Luther King, “no lie lives forever.” When will he start being honest with Catholics about the misconduct of their priests?

Shame on him, Fr. Illo, and other San Francisco church officials who kept the jury verdict against Fr. Illo hidden.

This isn’t an “allegation” against Fr. Illo. It’s a jury verdict. An impartial, vetted group of citizens heard all the evidence and found that Fr. Illo had indeed mistreated this brave young girl.

(That same jury found the accused predator in this case, Fr. Francis Arakal, not guilty of sexual battery. But we strongly suspect the outcome would have been very different if Fr. Illo, his colleagues and his supervisors had acted responsibly in this case and aggressively reached out to victims instead of intimidating them.)

For the safety of kids and the healing of victims, we call on the archbishop to suspend Fr. Illo immediately. Otherwise, Bay Area priests will get the message that it’s OK to yell at a child

Finally, shame on parishioner Vivian Dudro who admitted Fr. Illo’s behavior would have made a child feel “at the very least uncomfortable and intimidated” but also somehow manages to believe there was no misbehavior on the priest’s part even though an impartial jury awarded the girl $20,000.

In a stunning display of callousness, Dudro also said “If there’s anybody who can pump new life into this church, it’s Father Illo.”

She obviously believes that a priest’s alleged skill at growing his flock trumps his proven intimidation of a young alleged child sex abuse victim. Imagine what Jesus might say to her.

And shame on Larry Kamer, one of Cordileone’s public relations team. He said “In this particular case, the police and the jury both found that there was never any abuse and the matter was resolved on other issues.” That’s disingenuous spin.

The jury did find insufficient evidence to deem Fr. Arakal guilty. But they found ample evidence to deem Fr. Illo guilty. Shame on Kamer for twisting the truth, insulting the jury and re-victimizing the brave girl and her family.

Kamer, also encouraged Catholics to express any concerns directly with the parish and archdiocese. He’s wrong. Those who want to protect their kids and learn the truth should contact police, prosecutors, journalists, lawyers and groups like ours. That’s the way to make a difference. Calling biased, self-serving church officials is at best a waste of time and at worst a way to enable cover ups to remain covered up.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Dr. Jeff Mirus | Apr 23, 2015

The recent positive conclusion to the Vatican’s investigation into the Leadership Conference of Women Religious raises more questions than it answers. The kind words that LCWR leaders are now heaping on the Pope and curial officials do nothing to reassure.

Questions arise because these latest developments are so clearly at odds with the internal LCWR resistance to the Vatican’s doctrinal assessment while it was in progress. This includes a repeated failure to meet the expectations of Archbishop James Sartain of Seattle, the Vatican delegate placed in charge of LCWR reform. Such resistance has been continuously manifested not only in the negative comments of LCWR leadership but in their insistence on continuing to sponsor dissident speakers and honor religious women who reject key portions of the Catholic Faith.

Phil Lawler has already expressed his own doubts about the outcome, which he categorized as “news” because what is now being said contradicts, well, life as we know it. We have, after all, been hearing horror stories about the LCWR for decades.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Register

by JOAN FRAWLEY DESMOND 04/23/2015

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Bishop Joseph Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., resigned April 21 — one week after a meeting in Rome with Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, where he tendered his resignation.

Bishop Finn’s resignation — a direct consequence of his misdemeanor conviction in 2012 for failing to report sexual misconduct by a diocesan priest — was another clear signal of the determination of Pope Francis and other Church leaders to hold bishops directly accountable for the mishandling of sexual-abuse allegations.

The April 21 daily Vatican news bulletin briefly confirmed that Pope Francis had accepted Bishop Finn’s resignation. The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph subsequently released a statement from the bishop, along with the news that Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kan., will serve as the apostolic administrator of the diocese until a new bishop is appointed. …

Push for Accountability

The apostolic visitation in Bishop Finn’s diocese highlighted the Vatican’s commitment to hold bishops accountable for failures to remove and report priests who posed a risk to minors, and it reflected ongoing concerns that Bishop Finn had lost credibility with his priests and local Catholics.

Last November, during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes, Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, who leads the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors that Pope Francis created in March 2014, said Bishop Finn’s status was “a question the Holy See needs to address urgently.”

Lay members of the commission on clergy sexual abuse also called for his removal, but sources on that commission told the Register that they had no power to address individual cases.

However, Bishop Finn’s resignation took place immediately after commission members assembled April 12 in Rome for a meeting that discussed his case in the context of a broader consideration of bishops’ accountability.

A source with knowledge of events leading up to Bishop Finn’s resignation, speaking on background, told the Register that he had been summoned to Rome for the April 14 meeting with Cardinal Ouellet and had canceled his appointments last week in order to make the trip.

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PHILIPPINES
Catholic Philly

BY DENNIS SADOWSKI
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Arriving in the Philippines from Ireland in 1969 as a young missionary priest, Columban Father Shay Cullen hardly expected he’d end up fighting a burgeoning sex industry.

More than 45 years later, despite death threats and confrontations with uncooperative authorities, Father Cullen, 72, continues to patrols bars and hotels to free kids from an unimaginably dark world where the value of human life is solely measured by how much many customers a child can see in one night.

Through a foundation which he established in 1974 in the western coastal city of Olongapo, Father Shay has helped thousands of young people escape slavelike conditions and rediscover their dignity.

“We are successful in rescuing and saving these children and giving them a new life, a therapeutic community and a sense of new life and dignity so life can return to these unfortunate exploited young people,” Father Cullen told Catholic News Service.

The People’s Recovery Empowerment and Development Assistance Foundation, known as PREDA, provides runaway, abandoned and trafficked children a safe space where they can confront their life of abuse or slavery. Father Cullen claims a success rate of more than 97 percent with few young people unable to settle into a stable life.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

US President Barack Obama follows polls, as all leaders must in a democratic world with a 24/7 media and internet, as well as billionaire media moguls who are not above “buying” political influence even from popes. As a parent, Obama also cherishes children and wants to see his expected successor, Hillary Clinton, continue his family supportive policies.

Obama has tried hard to avoid directly confronting media manufactured Pope Francis, but the pope has given Obama little choice but to begin to confront him directly to protect children, and women as well. Obama’s criminal law officials have confronted the pope indirectly, for example, on priest child pornographers like the one in Kansas City that Bishop Robert Finn harbored, and on priest sexual predators in Puerto Rico where Polish Archbishop Josef Wesolowski was papal ambassador and child abuser-in-chief. It appears Obama’s gloves may now be coming off over protecting children and women from a desperate Roman male theocracy on its last legs.

Indeed, Hillary Clinton and her Jesuit educated husband, Bill, can even be expected to press Obama to take on the pope so Hillary can avoid having to do so in her presidential election campaign. Hillary and Bill earned their positions by personal drive and effort, as compared to the Vatican’s clearly preferred Bush brothers, who are sons of a wealthy US President and grandsons of an investment banker US Senator. The Clintons will not be deterred by a “mere pope”.

The pope’s free US political ride on protecting sexual predators and their bishop accomplices is almost over. Please see my Hillary Clinton vs. Pope Francis in 2015 USA Politics, Electing Bishops & Jeb Bush Too , A Pope, A New US War, Jeb Bush Neocons & Big Oil and Finn’s Law: Police Must Now Handle Crimes Says Pope .

The Clinton’s longtime ally and Obama’s former Secretary of Defense and CIA Director, Leon Panetta, summarized as a charter member of the US bishops child protection board in 2004 the situation that still persists. Panetta reportedly said, “These dioceses are separate fiefdoms, … It’s an almost medieval organization we’re dealing with. Each bishop runs his own fiefdom. There is very little communication between those dioceses and bishops and indeed, very little communication between bishops and the Vatican. The basic culture that developed is, ‘We take care of our own, we really don’t want to open ourselves up to being questioned by others…’. The key here is going to be whether there is greater participation by the laity. I am just not sure that there’s enough pressure internally to really produce the changes that are necessary. I say that because in some of the interviews with the hierarchy there was clearly the sense that they were anxious to get this whole thing behind them – back to business as usual.”

Panetta was right. It was back to business as usual, regardless of who is pope. Even under Pope Francis, the laity, especially women, continue to be mostly irrelevant, other than for donations. Panetta helped Obama clean up child sexual abuse on US military bases. Hopefully, he will now for children’s sake step up and help Obama and Hillary clean up US religious institutions, including in the Catholic Church — a task he left basically undone over a decade ago.

The pope appears to be making his final desperate push of his brief papacy to install by the end of next year, before he likely retires, a right wing papal ally in the White House, seemingly Jeb Bush, even if lives of children and women worldwide may be needlessly hurt thereby. Obama will resist this. He knows that with no elective office in his future, he can now thwart the pope with less political risk than Hillary would face.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporteri

Brian Roewe | Apr. 23, 2015

KANSAS CITY, MO. When news broke Tuesday of Bishop Robert Finn’s resignation as head of the Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocese, a primary question asked: Did he step down on his own, or was he forced out?

The announcement from the Vatican published in its daily bulletin said Pope Francis accepted Finn’s resignation “in accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.” Canon 401.2 reads: “A diocesan bishop who has become less able to fulfill his office because of ill health or some other grave cause is earnestly requested to present his resignation from office.”

While it’s possible the Vatican requested Finn resign, neither the announcement nor canon 401.2 offer clear evidence to that, according to four canon lawyers who spoke to NCR.

Fr. John Beal, professor of canon law at The Catholic University of America, said canon 401.2 places the onus on the bishop to determine if his ministry is compromised beyond repair.

“I’m sure there were lots of people pushing, but the canon itself doesn’t say anything about a requested resignation. It leaves the initiative with the bishop,” said Beal, who added that, like in the military, government and corporate world, there can be a thin margin between voluntary resigning and being pushed.

At a press conference here Tuesday, Teresa White, an abuse survivor who was part of a 2008 settlement with the diocese, said it was important to know if Finn was forced out.

“I want full accountability, I don’t want partial accountability,” she said. “I don’t want any more smoke and mirrors with the church. I want them to own up to their responsibilities to protect children and young people.” …

Finn is far from the first bishop to have the canon accompany his resignation. In the same bulletin, the resignation of Auxiliary Bishop José Trinidad Gonzalez Rodriguez, 71, of Guadalajara, Mexico, also referenced canon 401.2.

As the canon states, it is triggered in cases of a bishop too ill to continue in the role: for example, Bishop Donald Pelotte of Gallup, N.M., who resigned in 2008 at the age of 63 after suffering a brain injury the previous year, or Bishop Joseph Martino of Scranton, Pa., who also resigned at 63 because of what he called “bouts of insomnia and, at times, crippling physical fatigue.”

In terms of grave causes, the canon has been used in instances of illicit consecration (Bishop Isidore Fernandes of Allahabad, India, in 2013), sexual relations with adult males (Bishop Francisco Barbosa da Silveira of Minas, Uruguay, in 2009) and financial maleficence (Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst of Limburg, Germany, aka the “bishop of bling,” in 2014).

It has also appeared in numerous cases of bishops handling clergy sexual abuse allegations. BishopAccountability.org lists 16 bishops with ties to sexual abuse scandals who either resigned or were removed from 1991 to 2014; of those, six resignations cited canon 401.2. Among them were three Irish bishops (Brendan Comiskey of Ferns, James Moriarty of Kildare and Leighlin, and Seamus Hegarty of Derry), Bishop Daniel Walsh of Santa Rosa, Calif., and Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston.

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NEW JERSEY
Tap Into

By TAP INTO EDISON STAFF
April 22, 2015

TRENTON, NJ – Three Orthodox Jewish Rabbis were convicted at trial today for conspiring to kidnap Jewish men in an effort to force them to give their wives religious divorces, referred to as “gets,” U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Rabbis Mendel Epstein, 69, of Lakewood, New Jersey; Jay Goldstein a/k/a “Yaakov,” 60, of Brooklyn, New York; and Binyamin Stimler, 39, of Brooklyn, New York, were each convicted on Count One of the indictment, conspiracy to commit kidnapping. Goldstein and Stimler were additionally convicted on Count Five of the indictment, attempted kidnapping. Epstein’s son, David Epstein a/k/a “Ari,” 40, of Lakewood, New Jersey, was acquitted on three counts. The jury deliberated three days following an eight-week trial before U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson in Trenton federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and the evidence at trial:

On Dec. 1, 2009, in Lakewood, an Orthodox Jewish man, Israel Markowitz, was assaulted, placed in a van, tied up, beaten and shocked with a stun-gun until he agreed to give his wife a get.

A get is a divorce under according to Jewish law. If a person was married under Jewish law, that person cannot technically remarry under Jewish law without a get.

On Oct. 16, 2010, in Lakewood, another Orthodox Jewish man, Ysrael Bryskman, was assaulted, tied up and beaten until he agreed to give his wife a get.

On Aug. 22, 2011, in Brooklyn, New York, another Orthodox Jewish man, Usher Chaimowitz, and his roommate, Menachem Teitlebaum, were assaulted, tied up, and beaten until Chaimowitz agreed to give his wife a get.

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PHILIPPINES
Business World

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — The Philippine National Police (PNP) in Northern Mindanao are poised to file child abuse charges against two clerics of Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) who are keeping five minors suspected to be members of a communist group.

Supt. Gervacio Balmaceda, Jr., PNP Region 10 spokesperson, said in an e-mail that IFI’s Bishop Raul Amoricillo and parish priest Rolando Abejo could face cases against Republic Acts 7610 and 7658, both laws covering protection of children.

Mr. Amoricillo earlier claimed that IFI was accorded custody of the five minors who were among the 13 arrested earlier this month by police from Libona, Bukidnon on suspicion that they were members of the New People’s Army (NPA).

Upon confirming that the five are indeed minors after they were arrested, the police turned them over to the Libona municipal social welfare and development office.

Mr. Amoricillo, in a press conference last Tuesday, said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) regional office gave custody of the children to one Melvy Anlagan, their relative, who, in turn, requested IFI to take custody of the minors.

In a separate e-mail, DSWD Region 10 Spokesperson Oliver Inodeo clarified that the minors were never under the custody of their agency.

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ITALIA
Foggia Today

[Horror in Pietramontecorvino: sexual abuse of minor by a former priest who has been arrested.]

Le accuse sono tutte gravissime: dalla violenza sessuale aggravata e continuata alla produzione di materiale pornografico. Tutti reati commessi a Pietramontecorvino, dal 2013 e fino al novembre 2014, da un ex-sacerdote, poi ridotto allo stato laicale, con divieto assoluto da parte della Chiesa di avvicinarsi ai bambini frequentanti la parrocchia del paese.

E’ quanto scoperto dal Compartimento della Polizia Postale di Bari che, insieme ai carabinieri della stazione di Casalnuovo Monterotaro e di Pietramontecorvino, hanno eseguito una ordinanza di applicazione della misura cautelare in carcere, emessa dal G.I.P. del Tribunale di Bari, nei confronti di T.G., ex sacerdote, indagato, appunto, per i reati di violenza sessuale aggravata e continuata commessa per induzione, abusando delle condizioni di inferiorità fisica e psichica della vittima, nonché produzione di materiale pornografico attraverso rappresentazioni di pornografia minorile e condivisione di materiale pedopornografico in danno di un minore di quattordici anni.

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VATICAN CITY
Headlines from the Catholic World

Vatican City, Apr 23, 2015 / 05:23 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican announced Thursday that Fr. Brendan Cahill, Vicar for Clergy in the archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, has been named bishop for the diocese of Victoria, Texas.

In an April 23 statement Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, archbishop of Galveston-Houston, said that Fr. Cahill has been “a faithful priest” in his diocese, and will bring “a wealth of gifts and experiences with him in this new ministry.”

“His appointment is a sign of the Holy Father’s care for the needs of the people of Southeast Texas, whose deep Catholic roots continue to be a vital presence in the region,” the cardinal said.

The priest’s “warm and pastoral heart” will be greatly missed, he said, assuring the bishop-elect of his personal prayers and fraternal support in his new mission.

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UNITED STATES
National Survivors Advocates Coalition

EDITORIAL

Voluntary resignation instead of firing is not justice.

It is part of the dance of a gentlemen’s game.

Yes, Bishop Robert Finn would no longer be the head of the Diocese of Kansas City- St. Joseph under either circumstance but it is important to make the distinction.

The permitting of a voluntary resignation allows Finn to retain the financial support that any retired bishop receives from the Roman Catholic Church and gives him a glide path of exit.

With the resignation coming at age 62, — albeit two-plus years beyond when it should have come and been accepted, – that leaves a lot of years for financial support to continue. That support comes from collection baskets, make no mistake about it.

We’d like to hear in-the-pew Catholics raise a bit of noise about this. Many pew occupiers had and have no difficulty slinging arrows of castigation that frame victims of molestation by priests and nuns as money grubbers.

For justice, the survivors with great courage went/go to court against a Church that had and has no problem lawyering up. Victims have been put through a second torture in having to testify about the molestation they have suffered.

Reparations for survivors are not even discussed within the broad forums of the Church.

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CITTA DEL VATICANO
Bolletino

[Pope Francis has accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the Diocese of Victoria in Texas (USA) presented by Bishop. David Eugene Fellhauer in accordance with canon 401 § 1 of the Code of Canon Law.

The Pope appointed the Rev. Brendan Cahill of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, vicar for clergy of the same metropolitan see, as new bishop of the Victoria diocese.]

Il Santo Padre Francesco ha accettato la rinuncia al governo pastorale della diocesi di Victoria in Texas (U.S.A.), presentata da S.E. Mons. David Eugene Fellhauer, in conformità al canone 401 §1 del Codice di Diritto Canonico.

Il Papa ha nominato Vescovo di Victoria in Texas (U.S.A.) il Rev.do Brendan Cahill, del clero dell’arcidiocesi di Galveston-Houston, finora Vicario per il Clero della medesima sede metropolitana.

Rev.do Brendan Cahill

Il Rev.do Brendan Cahill è nato il 28 novembre 1963 a Coral Gables, Florida, nell’arcidiocesi di Miami. Ha ottenuto il Baccalaureato in Psicologia (1985) e il “Master of Divinity” (1990) presso il “Saint Mary’s Seminary/University of Saint Thomas” a Houston. Più tardi, ha ottenuto il “Masters” in Studi Afro-Americani presso la “Xavier University” a New Orleans (1993) e, successivamente, la Licenza (1996) e il Dottorato (1999) in Teologia Dogmatica presso la Pontificia Università Gregoriana a Roma.

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OHIO
Dayton Daily News

By Lynn Hulsey – Staff Writer

The Rev. Earl F. Simone, pastor of one of the area’s largest Catholic churches, resigned this month amid allegations of financial wrongdoing at his church and has been approved for a medical retirement.

Huber Heights police are investigating allegations of what “may be a substantial” amount of missing money at St. Peter Catholic Church in Huber Heights, said police spokesman Sgt. Charles Taylor on Tuesday.

In a letter dated April 7 and distributed to parishioners at Mass last weekend, Simone announced he was resigning as pastor of St. Peter and administrator of Our Lady of the Rosary, St. Adalbert, St. Stephen and Holy Cross churches, all in Old North Dayton.

“Age, health and personal concerns have made my decision the correct one,” Simone wrote in the letter. “To those who I have angered or disappointed, I asked your forgiveness and understanding.”

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OHIO
Albany Times Union

HUBER HEIGHTS, Ohio (AP) — A Roman Catholic priest has resigned amid an investigation into financial wrongdoing at his suburban Dayton church.

The Rev. Earl Simone, who pastored St. Peter Catholic Church in Huber Heights, had a letter distributed to parishioners last weekend saying he was retiring because of medical problems. The 69-year-old Simone also was the administrator of four other Catholic churches in Dayton.

The Dayton Daily News (http://bit.ly/1bwsGei ) reports that Simone has been on medical leave since March.

Huber Heights police spokesman Sgt. Charles Taylor says the agency is investigating allegations of what “may be a substantial” amount of missing money at St. Peter.

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OHIO
WHIO

A Huber Heights pastor has announced his resignation.

Father Earl F. Simone is taking medical retirement from his post as pastor of Saint Peter, as well as administrator of Our Lady of the Rosary, Saint Adalbert, Saint Stephen, and Holy Cross, according to a letter provided by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

The church is under investigation by Huber Heights police, according to a spokesman for the Archdiocese. He declined to provide information on that investigation, and police could not be immediately reached.

Simone said in a letter to the church that he is taking medical retirement. He said, “Age, health and personal concerns have made my decision the correct one.”

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NEW YORK
Rockland County Times

In a legal first, the parents of a former student at Yeshiva University’s Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy in Brooklyn have filed a suit against the school for deceiving them into believing the school was a safe place for their son in spite of rampant sexual abuse.

Israel and Chaya Gutman argued in their suit that the Academy was liable for deceptive advertising practices which alleged the school was safe for their son, even though it hired and retained known sexual predators. The Gutmans argue that had they known the dangers, they would have never sent their son, who only revealed his abuse in 2012 after similar accusations were leveled against the Academy.

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SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Washington Times

By Cheryl Wetzstein – The Washington Times – Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Some 54,000 people have signed a petition in support of the San Francisco archbishop who wants Catholic moral teachings modeled or upheld in Catholic schools.

LifeSiteNews.com is also within $2,000 of a fund-raising drive to raise $30,000 to purchase a newspaper ad, which will feature an open letter to Pope Francis to defend San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone.

“I don’t know about you, but I was outraged when I saw the ad by the self-styled ‘prominent’ Catholics who had the gall to ask Pope Francis to replace Archbishop Cordileone simply because he is courageously defending Catholic teachings,” John-Henry Westen, editor-in-chief of LifeSiteNews, said in an email to supporters.

The news group and other allies want to use a newspaper ad to run an open letter to Francis thanking him for “the great gift” of Archbishop Cordileone to San Francisco.

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NEW YORK
Frum Follies

Yerachmiel Lopin

Rabbi Gavriel (Gabriel) Bodenheimer’s trial on ten felony counts alleging criminal sexual acts with a child under eleven years of age is now scheduled to start on Wednesday May 27, 2014 (right after Shavuot) in front of Judge R. Thorsen in the Rockland County Courthouse.

Bodenheimer, Principal of Bais Mikroh elementary school in Monsey, was arrested in August 2014 on charges dating backing to 2009.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

The Royal Commission public hearing into Knox Grammar School will re-commence on Tuesday 28 April 2015 at 9:00am.

The hearing will continue to inquire into the response of Knox Grammar School and the Uniting Church in Australia between 1970 and 2012 to concerns raised about inappropriate conduct by a number of teachers towards students at the school.

Mr Fotis has been summonsed and will be called to appear on 28 April 2015.

The public hearing will be streamed live to the public via webcast on the Royal Commission’s website at www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au.

Interested individuals and organisations are encouraged to view the proceedings via the webcast.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

23 April, 2015

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will hear oral submissions in relation to Case Study 21 into the Satyananda Yoga Ashram at Mangrove Mountain, NSW, on Wednesday 29 April 2015.

The public hearing commenced on 2 December 2014 and examined the response of the Satyananda Yoga Ashram to allegations of child sexual abuse by the Ashram’s former spiritual leader in the 1970s and 1980s.

The hearing will commence at 10am at Royal Commission Hearing Room 1, Level 17, Governor Macquarie Tower, 1 Farrer Place, Sydney.

The oral submissions will also be streamed live on the Royal Commission website.

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UNITED STATES
The Guardian (UK)

David Clohessy

Pope Francis has made international headlines by breaking with a number of church traditions, but there is one that he sadly upholds. For centuries, most high ranking church officials guilty of child abuse or other crimes have been kept on the job, shuffled elsewhere, allowed to quietly retire or even promoted. That hasn’t changed: Vatican officials’ obsession with “saving face” still trumps their concern with saving children.

Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn clung to post and power for almost three years after he was convicted of failing to report a priest who took pornographic images of girls. Instead of being denounced, defrocked, or at least demoted years ago, Pope Francis accepted Finn’s resignation on April 21. Finn will get to keep his paycheck, his priesthood and even his bishop’s title. This summer, when US bishops gather for their annual meeting, he’ll likely be among them (as he has been even post-conviction).

Disgraced clergy often live comfortably ensconced in respectable or even prestigious church posts, basking in the glory and grandeur that accompany their exalted positions in places like Rome. Such is what passes for “accountability” in the hidebound, medieval and largely self-serving Catholic hierarchy.

By graciously letting Finn step away from his duties as head of a diocese, Francis is following the lead of his predecessors. He missed a golden opportunity to signal to both his bishops and his flock that he is serious about tackling child abuse. The Pope should have said he was stripping Finn of every role and title in the church, because he knowingly refused to do his civic and moral duty: calling police when he learned that children might have been hurt. Instead, his passive, vague acceptance of Finn’s resignation fails to deter others in high church offices from ignoring, minimizing, or concealing known or suspected clergy sex crimes.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Thursday 23 April 2015

A SCHOOLGIRL has described how a church leader accused of sexually assaulting her, told her he was trying to rid her of demons.

The 16-year-old woman told Falkirk Sheriff Court yesterday (wed) that Walter Masocha put his hand down her trousers in a games room of his house near Stirling.

Mr Masocha, 51, was the Archbishop of the Stirling-based Agape for All Nations Church and a man she said she regarded as a “The Prophet” and “The High Commissioner” of the church. The teenager added she knew him as her “spiritual father”, and called him “dad”.

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KENTUCKY
WBKO

WARREN COUNTY, Ky. (WBKO) – Kenneth Hart’s attorney Alan Simpson says Hart is innocent.

“Mr. Hart’s been a teacher for 22-23 years, and he’s been a pastor of many churches in this area as well. This is literally a swearing match. Some children have made some stories up, who are angry at him and he absolutely denies any wrongdoing,” said Simpson.

WBKO has received a statement on the allegations against Kenneth Hart from Rob Clayton, the Warren County Schools Superintendent.

“Upon receiving allegations of inappropriate contact between a substitute teacher and students, the individual in question was immediately removed from the school by the principal. WCPS will continue to fully cooperate with all parties involved and allow the criminal process to play out. The safety of our students remains paramount in all of our daily decisions. ”

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NEW JERSEY
Daily Record

Peggy Wright, @PeggyWrightDR April 22, 2015

The state Board of Examiners for the Department of Education has revoked the teaching certification of a former Morris Catholic High School music teacher accused of masturbating in his car while watching children at a bus stop in Denville.

John W. Watson, 33, of North Brunswick, was charged in December with four counts of lewdness and was accepted in February into Morris County’s Pre-Trial Intervention program for first-time offenders.

To get into PTI, Watson did not admit to any crimes. If he successfully completes 36 months of supervision, performs 100 hours of community service and undergoes a psychological evaluation, the lewdness charges will be dismissed and he will not have a criminal record.

As a condition of PTI, Watson agreed to forfeit his teaching license. To guarantee the forfeiture was recorded, the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office alerted the state Board of Examiners for the state Department of Education. On April 17, the board revoked Watson’s teacher of music certificate he received in 2006, according to the board’s order.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Sentinel

Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Catholic Church spent a total of $150.7 million on child protection efforts and to address allegations of clergy sexual abuse of minors in dioceses and religious orders between July 2013 and June 2014.

The total includes about $31.7 million for safe environment training programs, background checks and other protective efforts, and about $119 million for settlements paid to victims, therapy for victims, attorneys’ fees and other costs related to allegations, including those reported in previous years.

The figures are among results of an annual survey conducted by Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate that is part of an annual audit report on the response of the U.S. church to clergy sexual abuse.

The 12th annual report, released April 17 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, “is part of a pledge we have made to remain accountable and vigilant,” said Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, who is president of the USCCB.

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SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
San Francisco Examiner

By Laura Dudnick @LauraDudnick

Parents at a Catholic elementary school in San Francisco renewed calls this week for the ouster of the parish’s controversial pastor after details emerged of a decade-old case in which he emotionally distressed a young girl at his former parish in Modesto.

The civil case, settled in San Joaquin County Superior Court in 2005, found that the Rev. Joseph Illo inflicted emotional distress on the 11-year-old girl while at St. Joseph’s Parish in Modesto. The incident occurred on Sept. 11, 2001, when the girl reported alleged sexual misconduct by another priest working under Illo.

Illo is now the parish administrator of Star of the Sea parish in The City.

The girl had gone to the rectory at St. Joseph’s to report the alleged sexual abuse of herself and her sister to Illo, the pastor of Father Francis Arakal, who was accused of the abuse. The lawsuit states that Illo in turn called the girl a liar and yelled at her, causing emotional distress. The girl was ultimately awarded $20,000 in damages.

Upon reading the plaintiffs’ settlement conference statement and judgment this week, parents at the K-8 school Star of the Sea Elementary School expressed further outrage over the latest clash between Illo and members of the school community. Previously, parents were upset about a new policy to no longer train girls as altar servers and the distribution of sexually explicit pamphlets to children before confession.

“If true, in my opinion, the parents of the school are owed an explanation and assurances as to the safety of their children,” Bob Regan, whose daughter attends Star of the Sea, said in response to the court documents.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

OREGON
The Oregonian

By Rick Bella | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on April 22, 2015

The mother of an alleged sex abuse victim told a Multnomah County jury Wednesday that her daughter never told her that Happy Valley Pastor Mike Sperou touched her inappropriately.

Her daughter, Jessica Watson, never complained – even when asked as a child – if she was uncomfortable around Sperou, said Karen Hartman, a teacher in Sperou’s North Clackamas Bible Community.

So an allegation brought to light later by her daughter, doesn’t ring true, she said. “The accusation doesn’t make sense to me,” Hartman said.

Hartman’s husband, Bill Hartman, an assistant pastor, also testified that Watson never told him of any abuse and that he doesn’t believe any occurred.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Droppings from the Catholic Birdcage: Jerry Slevin on How “Finn Sacking . . . Points to Serious Trouble after the Chile Revolt for the Pope’s Upcoming Visit to Philly”

Jerry Slevin at Christian Catholicism on how the Finn sacking shows the tenacity of abuse survivor Marie Collins in holding the pope’s feet the fire regarding the abuse, the trouble he’s in following the revolt in Chile over his appointment of Juan Barros as bishop, and how all of this plays into the staging and messsaging of Pope Francis’s visit to the U.S. later in the year:

The Finn sacking shows that Marie Collins’ tenacity points to serious trouble after the Chile revolt for the pope’s upcoming visit to Philly, a key part of his evident and unfolding strategy to elect next year a “Vatican/US bishop friendly” right wing US president, with Jeb Bush the pope’s evident top choice.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

GEORGIA
WSAV

[with video]

SAVANNAH, GA – Abuse allegations have become all too common in connection with the Catholic Church.

One of those priests already convicted once served in our area.

Now one advocate group wants Savannah’s Bishop to step up and help his victims.

Wayland Brown was assigned to St James School back in 1987.

That’s when he’s accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a 13 year old boy.

Brown has already served time in a Maryland prison, and settled two lawsuits for millions of dollars. Now a third, from Savannah, is pending.

One group took the fight for transparency, and for the victims, to the steps of the biggest church in Savannah.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

CALIFORNIA
National Catholic Reporter

Monica Clark | Apr. 22, 2015 NCR Today

Msgr. Hien Minh Nguyen of the diocese of San Jose, Calif., was arrested April 18 in Florida on charges of tax evasion and bank fraud. He was on a personal leave of absence from ministry at the time of his arrest.

The 55-year-old priest appeared in a Fort Lauderdale court on Monday to face 14 charges of bank fraud and four counts of tax evasion. The San Jose Mercury News reported that the priest is expected to eventually face the charges in San Francisco federal court, where a grand jury indicted him earlier this month. If convicted, he could face up to 35 years in prison.

The indictment alleges that between 2005 and 2008, Nguyen deposited at least 14 checks, made out to the Vietnamese Catholic Center and totaling $19,000, directly into his personal account. He is also accused of failing to report $1.1 million of income to the IRS between 2008 and 2011.

San Jose Bishop Patrick McGrath said on Monday that this was the first time, to his knowledge, that an allegation of this nature has been made against a priest in the diocese, which was founded in 1981.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Editorial

Until 2005, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph was regarded as far more ecclesiastically moderate than the Archdiocese of St. Louis. That changed abruptly in 2005 when Robert W. Finn of St. Louis took over as bishop in Kansas City.

Bishop Finn, who grew up in Overland and was educated in archdiocesan seminaries, was a protege of then-St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke and a member of the ultra-conservative Catholic organization Opus Dei. He immediately began to make church practices in Kansas City more closely resemble those in St. Louis.

This was immensely satisfying to conservative Catholics in Kansas City, who were uncomfortable with the role of laymen and — especially nuns and laywomen — in diocesan affairs. Bishop Finn was old school, which was entirely his right. Up to a point.

In 2010, he took it upon himself to impose his episcopal prerogatives in a civil matter. In May that year, a parish school administrator reported teachers had become uncomfortable with Father Shawn Ratigan, the pastor of their parish. In December of that year, a computer technician found lewd photos of young girls on Father Ratigan’s computer.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

By David Hurst
dhurst@tribdem.com

Posted on Apr 22, 2015

A suspended Central City priest was arraigned Wednesday on his latest set of charges alleging he used mission trips to Honduras to have sex with street orphans there.

But the Rev Joseph Maurizio Jr’s defense attorney described the new indictment as old claims, ones the FBI investigated in 2009 and then dismissed.

“When (a prosecutor’s) original charge falls apart, their M-O is always to add more victims and more charges,” Attorney Stephen Passarello said of the new counts, which allege Maurizio abused two more Honduran boys and transferred mission trip money to the country to facilitate his crimes.

“I’m not seeing anything new here,” he said. “It’s still the same allegations the FBI (investigated) before their case was closed in 2010.”

A thinner, somewhat frail-looking Maurizio appeared for his brief arraignment at U.S. District Court in Johnstown to enter a “not guilty” plea.

Passarello said Maurizio will continue seeking a jury trial – and the attorney vowed he’ll do “everything I can” to keep the defendant’s scheduled September trial date from being delayed.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Hamilton and Griffin on Rights

Bishop Robert Finn of the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph MO finally has been fired by Pope Francis. The event culminates years of heroic effort by survivors, law enforcement, parishioners, and whistleblowers that saw:Screen Shot 2015-04-22 at 8.25.58 AM

• The conviction of Finn for waiting five months to report hundreds of child porn photos on his priest’s computer (Finn was sentenced to two years’ probation);
• A criminal conviction of the priest, Shawn Ratigan, for producing images of child sexual abuse;
• Successful lawsuits by dozens of Kansas City victims that forced the diocese to implement child safety measures and pay millions;
• A court ruling fining the diocese $1.1 million for multiple breaches of a 2008 child protection contract;
• A petition to the Vatican by 263,000 people;
• A petition to Pope Francis from a canon lawyer and a group of KC Catholics;
• Years of protests, editorials, social media campaigns, and billboards.

Given the enormous costs paid by survivors and others to achieve this week’s outcome, it’s small wonder that reaction seems muted. Relief is mingled with sadness and puzzlement that it took Pope Francis so long to do the obviously right thing. If the church had been following its own policies, Bishop Finn shouldn’t have been allowed to teach CCD, let alone run a diocese.

Adding to the subdued response is the Pope’s notable silence. His eloquence at pivotal moments on other issues of injustice has been transformative. But of this long delayed firing of a bishop who knowingly endangered children and deepened the trauma of survivors by hounding them ruthlessly in court, Francis has no comment. No denunciation of bishops who endanger children, no promise that other guilty bishops will be removed, no apology for the suffering he caused by stalling.

In fact, we can’t even be sure of why the Pope fired Bishop Finn. Because he failed to protect children? Or because he was causing scandal?

Is the Pope trying to squash a persistent PR problem? Or he is launching a new era of bishop accountability?

The only information this week came from the Vatican, in a one-sentence bulletin in Italian. It said that Finn’s resignation had been accepted in accordance with canon 401, paragraph 2. That church law states: “A diocesan bishop who has become less able to fulfill his office because of ill health or some other grave cause is earnestly requested to present his resignation from office.”

This is the same notice the Vatican has issued in the firing by previous popes of other complicit, scandal-causing bishops – such as Irish bishop Brendan Comiskey, removed by Pope John Paul II in 2002, and Irish bishop Seamus Hegarty, removed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2011.

[Click here to see BishopAccountability.org’s list of abuse-enabling bishops who have resigned.]

Indeed, the same cryptic announcement accompanied the December 2002 resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law. His departure ended a calamitous year in the Boston archdiocese. But that resignation quickly was revealed to be bogus accountability by the Vatican — it was a rescue, not a rebuke.

So while we can hope that Finn’s removal signals a shift in papal policy on complicit bishops, there’s reason to be skeptical – to suspect that this is the same damage control tactic used by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

How can Pope Francis prove he is different? He can start by publicly confirming that Finn was removed because he harbored a sexual abuser. Such a modest admission by a pope would be unprecedented, and it would send a bracing message to bishops and religious superiors worldwide that a new era has begun.

More importantly, the Pope must keep cleaning house, and without the same agonizing delay. Sadly, it’s not hard to identify other unfit bishops. Archbishop Nienstedt of St. Paul and Minneapolis should be at the top of the list. There’s documentary evidence that children in recent years have been sexually assaulted because of his wanton irresponsibility.

And just as quickly, Francis must reverse his strange and disastrous appointment of Chilean bishop Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid. Several victims have testified that Barros witnessed their sexual abuse by disgraced priest Fernando Karadima. Francis must ignore the pressure to retain Barros that he likely is receiving from his friend Cardinal Francisco Errázuriz, another enabler of Karadima. The pope instead should honor the pleas of the victims, his own Commission members, and of the priests and parishioners of the Osorno diocese.

In the meantime, we can celebrate the courage of the survivors in Kansas City, St. Paul, Chile and elsewhere who have exposed corruption in the Church. Thanks to them, accountability is happening, and it includes the Pope himself. Francis has pledged to discipline bishops who fail to protect children — and survivors and Catholics worldwide are determined to hold him to his promise.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PENNSYLVANIA
NBC 10

A suspended Roman Catholic priest has pleaded not guilty before a federal magistrate in western Pennsylvania to additional charges that he traveled to Honduras to have sex with poor street children during missionary trips.

The Rev. Joseph Maurizio Jr. has been jailed since last fall when federal prosecutors in Johnstown accused him of molesting one boy, and possessing child pornography.

Wednesday’s court appearance in Johnstown stemmed from a new indictment adding two new alleged victims and charges the priest funneled $8,000 through a charity to facilitate the trips, which ended in 2009.

Maurizio’s attorney, Stephen Passarello, has said his investigative team in Honduras has lined up witnesses to challenge the allegations, which the 69-year-old priest denies.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas P. Doyle | Apr. 22, 2015

POTIPHAR’S WIFE: THE VATICAN’S SECRET AND CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE
By Kieran Tapsell
Published by ATF Press, $40

The legal system of the Roman Catholic church is probably the longest-running in history. Canon law, the commonly used name for this system, has been accorded near magical status by some of its practitioners, who are firmly convinced it has an answer to every problem facing the institutional church.

The true believers have claimed that the clergy sex abuse debacle could have been avoided had the church only used its own canonical system. Foremost among them has been Cardinal Raymond Burke, formerly head of the Apostolic Signatura, the church’s highest court. In 2012, he addressed a canon law convention in Kenya and said that the church has a “carefully articulated process by which to investigate accusations of sex abuse,” and that the ongoing problem of clergy sex abuse was because the discipline of canon law was not followed.

Burke’s assertion and those of others making similar claims are far removed from the reality of canon law’s role in the church’s abysmal failure to deal with the epidemic of sexual misbehavior.

On the other side of the reality divide, bishops who actually tried to deal with priest-perpetrators according to the church’s rules found themselves more times than not stymied and stonewalled by a confusing and contradictory array of canonical regulations.

I have been a canonist long enough to know that canon law never had a chance. My belief is based on the fact that canon law is a legal system in service to a monarchy. By its very nature, the primary goal is to protect the monarchs. There is no separation of powers in the Catholic church, hence no checks and balances.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEW YORK
National Catholic Reporter

Jamie Manson | Apr. 22, 2015

While many folks around the world marked April 22 as Earth Day, in Albany, N.Y., State Assemblywoman Margaret M. Markey used the occasion to host a Lobby Day to promote awareness of child sexual abuse.

Across the country, April is known as National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Markey and sixty other assemblymembers have called on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to extend the proclamation to New York state, which ranks among the worst for the way in which it deals with victims of child sexual abuse crimes, according to a survey by Professor Marci Hamilton of Cardozo Law School.

Unlike some states that have either no statute of limitation or an extended statute of limitation, in New York, victims must bring criminal or civil charges against their abusers within five years of their 18th birthday.

For years, Markey has sponsored the Child Victims Act, a bill that would “reform New York’s archaic criminal and civil statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse crimes,” according to a press release from Markey’s office.

“The Child Victims Act calls for the total elimination of the criminal and civil statute of limitations for child sexual abuse crimes in the future, with a complete one year suspension of the civil SOL to benefit older victims,” the release also states. More than one-third of the members of the State Assembly have joined Markey to co-sponsor the bill.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Pope Francis’s removal of Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph is a good step but just a beginning. The pope must show that this decision represents a meaningful shift in papal practice – that it signals a new era in bishop accountability. This action alone is not unprecedented: both of Francis’s predecessors fired bishops whose handling of abusive priests caused scandal. (See BishopAccountability.org’s list of complicit bishops who resigned or were removed: http://www.bishop-accountability.org/bishops/removed/)

But what no pope has done to date is publicly confirm that he removed a culpable bishop because of his failure to make children’s safety his first priority. We urge Pope Francis to issue such a statement immediately. That would be unprecedented, and it would send a bracing message to bishops and religious superiors worldwide that a new era has begun.

It should be noted too that Pope Francis’s decision on Finn will add fuel to the fire in Chile; calls for the removal of Chilean bishop Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid will intensify. We hope Francis will honor the pleas of Karadima’s victims, of his own Commission members, and of the priests and parishioners of the Osorno diocese, and rescind this disastrous appointment immediately. If Francis means business, he must be consistent.

Background on canon 401, paragraph 2, and removal of complicit bishops:

Today’s terse Vatican press bulletin states only that Finn was removed in accordance with canon 401, paragraph 2, which states: “A diocesan bishop who has become less able to fulfill his office because of ill health or some other grave cause is earnestly requested to present his resignation from office.” This is the same notice the Vatican has issued in the firing of other complicit bishops who have caused scandal – such as Irish bishop Brendan Comiskey, removed by Pope John Paul II in 2002, and Irish bishop Seamus Hegarty, removed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2011.

About BishopAccountability.org

Founded in 2003 and based near Boston, Massachusetts, USA, BishopAccountability.org is a large online archive of documents, reports, and news articles documenting the global abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church. An independent non-profit, it is not a victims’ advocacy group and is not affiliated with any church, reform, or victims’ organization. In 2014, its website hosted 1.5 million unique visitors.

Contact for BishopAccountability.org

Anne Barrett Doyle, Co-Director, barrett.doyle@comcast.net, 781-439-5208 cell
Terence McKiernan, President and Co-Director, mckiernan1@comcast.net, 508-479-9304

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PENNSYLVANIA
Patch

By JAMES BOYLE (Patch Staff)
April 22, 2015

The fallout from the 2013 arrest of a former Episcopal Academy teacher and administrator continues with the report by 11 former students that he sexually assaulted them, according to philly.com. Montgomery County prosecutors told reporters that the statute of limitations has run out on the crimes and charges are unlikely.

Richard Perkins Smith, 67, was taken into custody by Massachusetts State Police in April 2013 and indicted by a Barnstable County, Mass. grand jury for rape of a child, indecent assault and battery and five counts of indecent assault and battery upon a child under the age of 14.

Smith, who is a 1966 graduate of Episcopal Academy and taught at the school’s Devon campus from 1970 to 1990 and then worked in the development office until 1998, allegedly told investigators he also molested a fourth-grade Episcopal student around 1977 while they were in his car and admitted the incident to the head of the school. The student later reported the abuse, but the statute of limitations prevented any criminal charges regarding those allegations.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

CANADA
CBC News

Marilyn Bergstra asked fellow trustees Tuesday to support new curriculum that would educate staff and students from kindergarten to Grade 12 about ways to prevent child sexual abuse.

“If child sexual abuse were a disease, it would be one of the largest epidemics in our country,” Bergstra told fellow trustees on the Edmonton Catholic School Board. “And resources would be allocated to it.”

In her presentation to the board, Bergstra offered statistics from Edmonton’s Zebra Child Protection Centre, which works with children who have suffered abuse.

According to Zebra statistics, she said, “One in three girls in Edmonton will experience unwanted sexual acts performed on them. One in six boys in Edmonton.”

In 2010, Bergstra said, the Zebra centre supported 554 such cases. In 2013, that caseload had risen to 1,337. …

Trustee Larry Kowalczyk asked why Edmonton schools would consider adopting an American program when there are Alberta resources already in place.

“This program is not taught within the Catholic faith,” he said. “I think if we recommended this to Alberta School Boards Association, and then our bishop said, “Guess what? You can’t teach that program, because we just don’t take sex by itself.'”

Kowalczyk then quoted Cardinal Thomas Collins, former Archbishop of Edmonton and now Archbishop of Toronto.

“Catholic schools,” he said, quoting Collins, “will not implement any new teachings that aren’t consistent with the Catholic faith. Anything that undermines the catechism of the Catholic church will not be taught.”

After a lengthy debate, trustees voted down Bergstra’s motion.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

HAWAII
Hawaii News Now

[with video]

By Chelsea Davis

WAILUKU, MAUI (HawaiiNewsNow) –
A Maui minister is behind bars and charged with sexually assaulting a young child.

Dennis DeRego fainted in court Tuesday afternoon during a bail hearing while his attorney asked the judge to let him out of jail on supervised release. DeRego was rolled out on a wheelchair and loaded onto an ambulance.

DeRego was arrested on Friday after a Maui grand jury indicted him earlier in the week on ten different charges. The charges against him include eight counts of sexual assault of a minor, ranging from first degree to fourth degree, and two counts of promoting child abuse in the second degree.

Other ministers on Maui who know him are stunned.

“It was obviously shocking to have a man of his stature, and obviously touching the lives of many people, to have him arrested,” said Reverend Laki Kaahumanu.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

PENNSYLVANIA
WTRF

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (AP) – A suspended Roman Catholic priest has pleaded not guilty before a federal magistrate in western Pennsylvania to additional charges that he traveled to Honduras to have sex with poor street children during missionary trips.

The Rev. Joseph Maurizio Jr. has been jailed since last fall when federal prosecutors in Johnstown accused him of molesting one boy, and possessing child pornography.

Wednesday’s court appearance in Johnstown stemmed from a new indictment adding two new alleged victims and charges the priest funneled $8,000 through a charity to facilitate the trips, which ended in 2009.

Maurizio’s attorney, Stephen Passarello, has said his investigative team in Honduras has lined up witnesses to challenge the allegations, which the 69-year-old priest denies.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adverary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on April 22, 2015

It’s the the papal version of the back-handed compliment:

In a one-sentence throw-away line in yesterday’s Vatican press bulletin, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn.

The Holy Father Francis has accepted the resignation from the pastoral government of the diocese of St. Joseph-Kansas City, Mo. (U.S.A.) presented by His Excellency Msgr. Robert W. Finn.

In case you didn’t know: in 2012, Finn was convicted on one count of failure to report child sexual abuse. He covered up for Shawn Ratigan, a Missouri priest who was sentenced to 50 years in prison for producing child pornography.

From National Catholic Reporter:

Because of that incident, Finn served a two-year suspended sentence in Jackson County, Mo., and struck a deal later that year with a Clay County, Mo., judge to avoid a similar charge by entering a diversion compliance agreement that included regular meetings with the county prosecutor for five years.

As I have noted on this blog before, if Finn were to apply for a job at his own diocese, he would not pass the background check.

Removing Finn was low-hanging fruit for Pope Francis, who has called on churches to enforce “zero tolerance” (even though Francis recently appointed a Chilean bishop who is accused of covering up for child sex abuse crimes). It would have been easy for Francis to deliver a strong message and fire Finn. It would have been very easy for the Vatican to make a powerful announcement stating that Finn’s behavior was unacceptable and will not be tolerated in a pastoral Christian environment.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Finn’s Law: Pope Rules Police Must Handle Child Crimes! Must Pope, Ex-Pope, Et Al. Now Go For Breaking Finn’s Law, President Obama?

US President Barack Obama’s official international broadcast outlet has now weighed in on “Finn’s Law” as reported below. Pope Francis’ Vatican announced Bishop Robert Finn’s resignation April 21, indicating that the evidently forced resignation resulted from the Catholic Church’s papally dictated Code of Canon Law that applies to all Bishops, even to himself as the Bishop of Rome and to Cardinal Bishops. Canon Law says, “A diocesan bishop who has become less able to fulfill his office because of ill health or some other grave cause is earnestly requested to present his resignation from office.” (emphasis mine) The “grave cause” was Finn’s seemingly single failure to report a child pornographer priest to the police as promptly as required by local Missouri law. The long overdue legal precedent set by Pope Francis, “Finn’s Law”, is now finally fixed, Amen! Finn’s Law can now be stated simply:

Bishops who fail to report promptly to the police facts indicating possible priest sexual abuse of children are unfit as pastors and will be removed.

Of course, if applied with legal logic, few bishops, including the pope apparently, would remain in office. For example, the pope’s secretive mishandling of Archbishop Wesolowski’s alleged crimes seems clearly to violate Finn’s Law. The pope is obviously a “son of the Church {hierarchy}”, however, more than he is a logical and principled Jesuit. Please see below the links to the details of the earlier child protection failures of the pope and of his “sex abuse czar”, Cardinal Sean O’Malley. It seems clear, to me at least, that the pope in dumping Finn is merely responding to concerns of some of his key major US donors in a pre-US presidential election year. Will the pope at least now apply Finn’s Law to reported failures of Finn’s former St. Louis mentors, Cardinals Rigali, Dolan and Burke? Not likely, no? More likely, Finn will get a comfortable appointment after the media moves on, as happened with the extravagant Bishop of Bling recently. Meanwhile, US politicians will generally continue to look the other way as long as the pope’s poll numbers remain high, despite the continuing risk of sexual abuse to millions of US children.

The huge clout of wealthy US donors on the Catholic hierarchy is personified by Cardinal Dolan. See his recent conference with Goldman Sachs’ CEO and his earlier “the pope loves the rich” spiel on the CNBC international business network here,

[Goldman Sachs]

and here,

[CNBC]

Incidentally, Goldman Sachs is a major banker in oil and gas related investments. One of the pope’s top financial advisers is a top Goldman official and former longtime top official at BP. Time will tell how this papal relationship will impact the pope’s over-hyped and imminent encyclical on climate change, which could lead to increases in regulation of the oil and gas industry.

US President Barack Obama, and all other US national political leaders of both political parties, have generally and shamefully ducked the bishop unaccountability travesty despite the harm to hundreds of thousands of US citizens. Significantly, however, Obama’s official international broadcast outlet, Voice of America (VOA), reported on Finn’s ouster, while also gratuitously adding to its report references to the Chilean Bishop Barros’ scandal and to BishopAccountability’s criticism.

Obama’s VOA report significantly noted that the Vatican did not give a specific reason for Finn’s resignation. The brief report then reportedly added: “Anne Barrett Doyle, the co-director of BishopAccountability.org, an online abuse resource group, said in a statement that Finn’s resignation was ‘a good step but just a beginning,’ and called on the pontiff to publicly state that he removed Finn for failing to protect children. ‘The pope must show that this decision represents a meaningful shift in papal practice, that it shows a new era in bishop accountability,’ Barrett Doyle said. ‘That would be unprecedented, and it would send a bracing message to bishops and religious superiors worldwide that a new era has begun.’ “

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ITALIA
Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno

POTENZA – Con l’accusa di aver adescato, attraverso un social network, minorenni, pagati per consumare rapporti sessuali, tre persone sono state poste agli arresti domiciliari nell’ambito di un’operazione dei Carabinieri della Compagnia di Policoro (Matera) coordinata dalla Procura della Repubblica di Potenza.

Il gip del capoluogo lucano ha inoltre emesso un provvedimento di obbligo di presentazione alla polizia giudiziaria per altre cinque persone. Le otto persone indagate sono “residenti – è spiegato in un comunicato diffuso dalla Procura di Potenza – in varie località del territorio nazionale”.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

ITALY
Gazzetta del Sud

Potenza, April 21 – Three people including a parish priest were arrested Tuesday on charges of soliciting minors for paid sex through a social network. Don Antonio Calderaro from the church of San Giuseppe in Rivello near Potenza in the southern Basilicata region was among the three suspects placed under house arrest in connection with the alleged child abuse. A further five suspects were ordered to present themselves to the judicial police. The suspects live in various parts of the country, prosecutors in Potenza said. Investigations began in 2013 after the sister of one of the victims reported concerns over appointments made by her younger brother with people met on Internet. Monsignor Francesco Nolè, bishop of the diocese of Tursi-Lagonegro, immediately banned Don Antonio from celebrating Mass and relieved him of all his priestly duties.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

WEST VIRGINIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, April 22, 2014

For more information: David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP Director (314) 566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com

Court hearing today to be streamed live
It can be watched on-line, starting at 10 a.m.
Case is “virtually unprecedented,” group says
Mormons persuaded judge to give predator a lawyer
And half of his attorney fees are to be paid by abuse victims
National support group blasts that arrangement as “an outrage”

It’s begging those who “saw, suspected or suffered Mormon crimes” to “speak up”

An appeals court hearing today in Charleston involving a controversial child sex abuse and cover up case will be live-streamed on line at http://www.courtswv.gov/supreme-court/webcast.html.

It involves a twice-convicted, now-imprisoned Mormon child molester, Christopher Michael Jensen, who was convicted of assaulting youngsters in both Utah and West Virginia. A dozen children and their parents are suing Mormon officials for allegedly enabling and concealing Jensen’s abuses.

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is criticizing Mormon church officials, accusing them of “callous, self-serving hardball legal tactics.”

“Mormon officials are trying to scare other victims into staying silent,” said David Clohessy of St. Louis, director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “And they’re rubbing even more salt into the already deep and still fresh wounds of these brave but suffering families who have been so severely hurt and betrayed.”

“It’s an outrage that the Mormon church hierarchy has persuaded a judge to make these courageous families pay half the fees for two private lawyers in this case, including one who is defending a proven criminal,” said Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, SNAP’s outreach director. “We in SNAP have never seen anything like this.”

The group hopes others who may have been assaulted by Jensen will speak up.

“We also beg anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes by Jensen or other Mormons to step forward and get help,” said Dorris. “That’s the best way to expose wrongdoers, protect kids and start healing.”

The case was brought in Berkeley County Circuit Court.

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service

David Gibson | Apr 22, 2015

(RNS) This week’s funeral rites for Cardinal Francis George of Chicago marks the passing of a kind though straight-talking prelate who was recalled after his death from cancer as a great intellect and a “lion” of a churchman, especially by his many fans on the Catholic right.

But it also also feels like the end of an era, as a different style of bishop is slowly emerging in the Pope Francis era, one more in synch with the pontiff’s pastoral style — like Archbishop Blase Cupich, the man Francis chose last fall to succeed George, who was 78 when he died.

What may be just as significant, however, in terms of the influence of American Catholicism, is that Cupich does not yet have a “red hat,” so one of the major dioceses of the U.S. church would currently be without a vote if a conclave to elect a new pope were held.

Moreover, Cardinal Justin Rigali, another longtime U.S. churchman — and behind-the-scenes architect of the conservative Catholic renaissance in the U.S. — turned 80 this week, which means he loses his right to vote in a papal election.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | Apr. 22, 2015 Distinctly Catholic

Yesterday, I wrote about the news that Bishop Robert Finn had resigned as the Bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph. I mentioned that the accountability of bishops is especially important when it comes to the issue of clergy sex abuse, but that issue does not exhaust the issue: Bishops can fail in many ways, as can we all, but they are in positions of leadership, with enormous power over the people they are supposed to serve. How can and should the Church deal with bishops who are simply not working out?

There is not doubt that changes must be made. Today we live under what one friend calls the “reverse Caiaphas” policy. Caiaphas, the high priest, said that it was better for one man to die that the whole people might be saved. Today, when it comes to the accountability of bishops, the default position is that it is better for the people to die so that one man might be saved.

First, I should note that most bishops do just fine. Some may be more pro-active than others. In some dioceses, there is a sense of vibrancy and activity and in others not much is going on, but instances of actual failed leadership are few. Not to put too fine a point on it, but whatever one thinks of the leadership of San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone or St. Paul Archbishop John Nienstedt, they are the only two bishops in the country who have people taking out full page ads asking for their removal, or otherwise writing letters to the pope, the nuncio, and the Congregation for Bishops. There are 270 active bishops in the United States, so having two that have not managed to be a good fit for their dioceses is not such a high rate.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

APRIL 22, 2015 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

Click here to see Jim Gardner’s full interview with Archbishop Chaput, which aired on 6ABC in segments. Gardner asks the Archbishop of Philadelphia about the clergy sex abuse coverup at the 22:35 mark.

Editor’s note:

Archbishop Chaput continues to emphasize that clergy sex abuse occurred in the past. He does not acknowledge that the Church covered up these crimes intentionally to wait out the statutes of limitations. Because they can’t be charged now, priest perpetrators are out on the streets TODAY. They were removed from ministry – but not society. Children are still at risk. Abusers don’t retire. It’s a compulsion they take to the grave. Because these crimes fell outside the current statute of limitations, no one can press charges. What does the Church do to make amends and to protect children? The Catholic Conference continues to this day to fight statute of limitations reform in Harrisburg. Why should we believe children are being put first?

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VATICAN CITY/FRANCE
The Guardian (UK)

Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome and Kim Willsher in Paris
Wednesday 22 April 2015

Pope Francis met France’s nominated ambassador to the Holy See, who is gay, and personally told him that the Vatican would not accept his appointment, a French newspaper has claimed.

In a meeting over the weekend, the pontiff allegedly cited his displeasure with a controversial 2013 gay marriage law in France as part of his reason for the decision, according to the report in Le Canard Enchâiné, a French satirical newspaper.

Pope Francis also allegedly said he did not appreciate the manner in which France had tried to put pressure on the Vatican by nominating a man – 55-year-old Laurent Stéfanini – who French officials knew would be controversial given the church’s views on homosexuality. The Vatican declined to comment to the Guardian about the veracity of the report or whether a meeting took place.

The church’s apparent objection to Stéfanini, a practising Catholic, has been known for weeks, ever since press reports first indicated that the Vatican was dragging its feet on the nomination because of his sexual orientation.

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VATICAN CITY
The Tablet

22 April 2015 by Christa Pongratz-Lippitt

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s personal secretary said he believes reform of the Vatican bureaucracy, which has become a key theme of Pope Francis’ papacy, is not necessary.

Archbishop Georg Gänswein, who is also Prefect of the Papal Household, said: “I personally can see no significant reason which would necessitate a reform of the Curia at the moment. One or two changes have been made but that is part of the normal run of things. To speak of ‘Curial reform’ is, if I may so, somewhat of an exaggeration.”

Gänswein, whose view of the status quo in the Vatican are probably supported by a not inconsiderable number of the hierarchy, according to insiders, was giving an interview to the German website katholisch.de.

He was asked whether the Vatican and the Church in general are polarised at the moment. “There is no polarisation as far as I can see and I haven’t experienced any. Certain measures here and there have been criticised and if the criticism is justified, that can surely benefit the general climate,” he said.

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LOUISIANA
The Advocate

BEN WALLACE| BWALLACE@THEADVOCATE.COM
April 22, 2015

Following an investigation sparked by a recent complaint from a Baton Rouge high school student’s mother, sheriff’s deputies on Tuesday arrested a Christian Life Academy teacher accused of having a sexual relationship with the student about two years ago.

Amber Leigh Anderson, 27, a math teacher, engaged in the relationship with the student mostly during summer 2013 when the boy was a 15-year-old freshman at the school, according to an East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office report.

In April 2013, another student gave the victim Anderson’s cellphone number. As time progressed, Anderson and the victim “became extremely close to one another,” the Sheriff’s Office report says.

Text messages between the two soon became sexually charged, and in July, Anderson began having sex with the student, the report says.

The relationship lasted a few more months until the boy’s mother found some of the text messages on her son’s cellphone that had been sent by Anderson. At that point, the mother confronted the teacher, told her to quit texting her son and “reported the matter to the school’s administration,” the report says, effectively bringing an end to the relationship between Anderson and the student.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Island Packet

The Kansas City Star
April 22, 2015

The departure of Robert W. Finn as bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, although overdue, is a step forward for the diocese and thousands of area Catholics.

Finn’s conduct in office made him a symbol of the Catholic Church’s failure to adequately address child sexual abuse by priests. He was the first Catholic bishop to be convicted of a crime related to that crisis.

Finn, 62, should have resigned after his 2012 conviction, if not sooner. He received two years of probation for failing to notify law enforcement authorities after pornographic images were found on the computer of a diocesan priest, Shawn Ratigan.

Finn’s decision to place secrecy above his moral and legal obligations enabled Ratigan to harm additional children. The former priest is serving a 50-year prison sentence for producing child pornography.

Finn remained in office despite the scandal, a circumstance that anguished and angered many Catholics. The news Tuesday that Pope Francis accepted Finn’s resignation is a triumph for the lay persons who wrote letters, collected more than 250,000 petition signatures and spoke up for Finn to leave.

Challenging the world’s most powerful church hierarchy isn’t easy or comfortable, and Finn has powerful allies, including Bill Donohue, the fiery head of the ultraconservative Catholic League. The persistence of lay Catholics is a testimony to how much they care about their church.

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
Bolletino

[On 21 April 2015, the Pope appointed Joseph F. Naumann, archbishop of Kansas City in Kansas to be apostolic administrator of the Kansas City diocese.]

In data 21 aprile 2015, il Papa ha nominato Amministratore Apostolico “sede vacante” della diocesi di Kansas City-Saint Joseph (U.S.A.) S.E. Mons. Joseph F. Naumann, Arcivescovo Metropolita di Kansas City in Kansas.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

MARI A. SCHAEFER, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAST UPDATED: Wednesday, April 22, 2015

At least 11 former Episcopal Academy students have come forward to say they were sexually abused decades ago by a teacher there, the school has disclosed, but the accusations are unlikely to be prosecuted.

The former fourth-grade teacher, Richard Perkins Smith, 67, of Media, taught at Episcopal’s Devon campus from 1970 to 1990 and later served in the school’s administration.

He is awaiting trial in Massachusetts on charges including child rape and indecent assault. Smith is accused of sexually assaulting four boys, ages 11 to 15, at a Cape Cod summer camp more than 30 years ago.

In a 2012 interview with Massachusetts investigators, Smith admitted he had once molested an Episcopal student and that he had confessed the incident at the time to the head of the school, according to court documents.

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UNITED STATES
Voice of America

The Vatican said Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of a U.S. bishop convicted for failing to report a priest who collected lewd photographs of minor children.

Bishop Robert Finn stepped down Tuesday as head of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri in the Midwestern U.S.

Finn is the highest-ranking Catholic official in the United States to be convicted in connection with a suspected case of child abuse involving a member of the clergy.

The Vatican did not give a specific reason for Finn’s resignation but said the pontiff accepted it under canon law. …

Anne Barrett Doyle, the co-director of BishopAccountability.org, an online abuse resource group, said in a statement that Finn’s resignation a “a good step but just a beginning,” and called on the pontiff to publicly state that he removed Finn for failing to protect children.

“The pope must show that this decision represents a meaningful shift in papal practice, that it shows a new era in bishop accountability,” Barrett Doyle said. “That would be unprecedented, and it would send a bracing message to bishops and religious superiors worldwide that a new era has begun.”

Francis is also under pressure to remove Bishop Juan Barros of Chile, who is accused of shielding the Reverend Fernando Karadima, a notorious pedophile priest.

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NEW JERSEY
Jewish Press

A New Jersey court convicted three Rabbis of conspiracy to commit kidnap, and two of the three were also convicted of attempted kidnapping.

Under Jewish law, for a divorce to be official, a husband must give his wife a divorce document called a “Get”. Without a Get, the woman is considered married under Jewish law and unable to remarry.

The three conspired to kidnap and beat Get-withholding husbands who refused to grant their spouses a Jewish divorce.

They Get-ring was uncovered by an undercover FBI agent posing as an Orthodox wife whose husband refused to grant her a Get.

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