ABUSE TRACKER

MEXICO
La Jornada

[Mexico City . A few hours before the Pope arrives in Mexico, former priest Alberto Athie said the clerical pedophilia continues. “There are hundreds of children abused by clergy, locked in their homes, helpless, frustrated,” he said at a press conference.]

Ciudad de México. A unas horas de que arribe a México el Papa Francisco, Alberto Athié señaló que la pederastia clerical sigue vigente.

“Hay cientos de niñas y niños abusados por clérigos; encerrados en sus casas, impotentes, frustrados”, señaló en conferencia de prensa el exsacerdote.

Preguntó si ante los pendientes que tiene la Iglesia -uno de ellos la pederastia-, el pontífice viene a decir palabras maravillosas o a comprometerse con los feligreses. Athié resaltó la importancia de que se eleve la voz ante los abusos cometidos por sacerdotes, en el marco de esta visita, y de que el Papa Francisco se pronuncie.

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MEXICO
Aristegui Noticias

[The Holy See is guilty of covering up cases of pedophilia: Alberto Athie.]

El ex sacerdote aseguró que el Papa Francisco, quien llega la noche de este viernes a México, tiene conocimiento de varios casos.

El sacerdote Alberto Athié declaró este viernes que la pederastia clerical sigue vigente, aun durante el papado de Francisco, quien arribó la noche del viernes a la Ciudad de México para comenzar con su visita de seis días.

Athié también presentó documentos relacionados con denuncias de pederastia contra sacerdotes como el padre Eduardo Córdova, de San Luis Potosí, y Gerardo Silvestre, de Oaxaca.

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ITALIA
Bergamo News

[Priest Diego Rota has been arrested and is charged by the Brescia public prosecutor of child prostitution with aggravated soliciation of children through the internet.]

In un’inchiesta della Procura di Brescia, che vede coinvolte 11 persone in varie province lombarde, figura anche un procedimento giudiziario nei confronti di don Diego Rota, parroco di Solza.

È la stessa Curia di Bergamo a informare di aver ricevuto nella mattinata di mercoledì 10 febbraio notizia di un procedimento giudiziario nei confronti di don Diego Rota, 45 anni, parroco di Solza e di dover quindi nominare un amministratore parrocchiale per garantire il servizio alla comunità dei fedeli di Solza.

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MEXICO
Fusion

by Rafa Fernandez De Castro | February 9, 2016

MEXICO CITY—When Pope Francis visits Mexico from Feb. 12-17, many people will be watching to see if he finally addresses the Vatican’s failures to prevent and punish cases of child sexual abuse by some members of the Mexican clergy.

There’s plenty of such scandals to address—from a priest in Oaxaca accused of abusing indigenous minors to the fugitive priests of San Luis Potosí on the run from sexual abuse charges. There are other cases of the Church hierarchy allegedly protecting accused pedophile priests such as Nicolas Aguilar Rivera, who was transferred from Puebla to Los Angeles, California, after facing several accusations in Mexico.

But perhaps the most notorious case is that of Marcial Maciel, a priest accused of sexually abusing dozens of minors during his tenure as the leader of the powerful Catholic order known as “The Legionaries of Christ.” Maciel founded The Legion in Mexico City in 1941 as a movement to prepare young men for the priesthood and Catholic leaders from across Latin America. Today, the Legion is best known for creating dozens of private schools and universities that primarily serve Mexico’s middle- and upper-classes.

In a recent interview with a Mexican reporter, Pope Francis said Maciel, who died in 2008, was “sick, greatly sick.” But he downplayed the Vatican’s involvement in any cover-up. The pope told Televisa that Maciel most likely had an enabler within the Vatican—someone who “suspected and didn’t know” about the priest’s pederasty.

But many Mexican victims who were sexually abused by Maciel believe the pedophile priest must have been protected by more than one individual in the Vatican. A cover-up of that magnitude would require the protection of many.

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MEXIKO
Christ und Welt

Unterstützt der Papst in Mexiko die Reformer? Es sieht so aus. Doch beim sexuellen Missbrauch der Legionäre Christi bleibt er zu mild

Sein Wunsch wurde erhört: Als der mexikanische Bischof Raúl Vera gefragt wurde, welche Orte der Papst bei einem Besuch in Mexiko aufsuchen sollte, ließ er sich nicht lange bitten: »Er sollte die Route der Flüchtlinge kennenlernen, die in die USA auswandern wollen«, erklärte er im Juli 2014 gegenüber der spanischen Zeitung »El País«. Vera empfahl dem Papst auch einen Gefängnisbesuch, einen Abstecher in die vom Drogenhandel gezeichneten Armenviertel und die Begegnung mit Mexikos Indigenen.

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MEXICO
Urgente24

[Francisco in Mexico, overcoming the stigma of Maciel and Wojtyla.]

¿Estaba en sus cables Juan Pablo ll cuando el 05/12/1994 le envió una carta de felicitación a Marcial Maciel Degollado, publicada en los diarios más importantes de la Ciudad de México, llamándolo “guía eficaz de la juventud” que “ha querido poner a Cristo […] como criterio, centro y modelo de toda su vida y labor sacerdotal…”? Maciel Degollado fue un depredador sexual. En noviembre de 1997, 8 ex Legionarios de Cristo publicaron una carta a Juan Pablo II, luego de que hicieron público a través del diario Hartford Courant, de Connecticut (USA), el abuso sexual que sufrieron. Juan Pablo II tampoco se interesó en el tema. En marzo de 2015, el papa Francisco dijo en entrevista con Valentina Alazraki, corresponsal de Televisa en el Vaticano, acerca de Marcial Maciel: “Uno puede presumir que sí (hubo encubrimiento), aunque siempre en justicia hay que presumir la inocencia, pero sería raro que no tuviera algún padrinito por ahí, medio engañado, medio que, que sospechaba y no supiera”. De todos modos, la visita a México debió lidiar con el tema.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

By Liz Leydon

As the film Spotlight brings the Boston Catholic Church clerical abuse crisis back to the forefront of our minds, reopening old wounds for all involved, it draws inevitable but inaccurate comparisons between the abuse crisis and cover up in the church in the US, dating from the turn of the millennium expose, and what is happening in the Scottish Church at present.

I have had the demanding privilege of working on Church abuse stories on both sides of the Atlantic during my time with the Boston Herald group at the height of the Church abuse crisis and now as editor of The Scottish Catholic Observer (SCO), Scotland’s independent national Catholic newspaper. It is clear from survivors’ accounts in both countries, others such as in Ireland and from subsequent investigations that crimes occurred, serious mistakes were made and the Church as an institution had a steep learning curve on reporting and handling accusations of abuse, issues too repulsive to imagine. While I have respect for the Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize winning-team featured in Spotlight, wider mistakes were also made in the early reporting on the abuse issue – such as sensationalism of already horrific news– due to a lack of understanding about such an emotive subject and of the Catholic Church; also, because of agendas.

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WEST VIRGINIA
Courthouse News Service

By EVA FEDDERLY

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (CN) – A West Virginia Baptist church accused of covering up the sexual and emotional abuse of a minor shouldn’t expect anyone but itself to bear the cost of its legal defense, the church’s former insurer says.

The Bible Baptist Church, in Belva, W.Va., its Blue Creek Academy, in Clendenin, W.Va., and two of their employees are accused in an underlying lawsuit if subjecting a minor in their care to among other things, sexual abuse, starvation and isolation.

The plaintiff in the current action provided the defendant church and academy with liability insurance from June 13, 2011, to June 13, 2014.

“Some of the Church Defendants have requested insurance coverage (defense and indemnity) from Brotherhood for the allegations and claims in the Underlying Action,” according to Jan. 21 complaint filed by Brotherhood Mutual. “Brotherhood denies that it has or had any obligation to defend or indemnify any of the Church Defendants.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Young Herald

Keith Porteous Wood, NSS executive director, commented: “It is unfortunately no surprise that these guidelines encourage bishops not to report suspected abuse, rather than obligating them to do so as the United Nations recommended specifically to the Vatican in 2014”.

A document that spells out how senior clergy members ought to deal with allegations of abuse, which was recently released by the Vatican, emphasised that, though they must be aware of local laws, bishops’ only duty was to address such allegations internally.

As The Crux says, “If the Church is to recover from the abuse scandals, bishops need every tool available, and these courses provide a chance to equip them”.

The report claims that church officials believe they are under no legal obligation to report child sex abuse allegations to law enforcement officials; evidently, church officials believe they have no moral imperative to report such allegations either. The guidelines on child abuse was presented to new bishops last September in the annual training course organised by the Congregation for Bishops, Allen noted.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

Elle Farcic
February 13, 2016

A Jehovah’s Witness elder who sexually assaulted two vulnerable teenagers he met through the church was sentenced to three years jail yesterday over the “destructive” abuse.

David Frank Pople, 68, met the boys through the Safety Bay congregation of the church and assaulted them between 1989 and 1996.

One of the teens reported the sexual assaults to elders in 1997 but police were not made aware of the abuse until he filed a police report in 2014.

Pople was forcibly ejected from the church for being “insufficiently repentant” in 1997 and readmitted the following year at his request.

District Court judge Troy Sweeney accepted Pople was genuinely remorseful but said he had interfered with his victims’ natural maturing process in a “very destructive way”.

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

BY ABBOTT KOLOFF
STAFF WRITER | THE RECORD

The pastor of a Union City church has been charged with offenses related to the alleged sexual contact with two juvenile girls in Clifton over a two-year period, authorities said Friday in a news release.

Vicitacio Rivas-Valle, 68, was arrested on Tuesday and is accused of abusing two teenagers who were members of his church, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes said. The girls, she said, were between 13 and 16 years old when the alleged abuse took place.

“The crimes are alleged to have occurred in Clifton, New Jersey, over a two-year period,” Valdes said. She did not provide details about when the alleged crimes occurred.

Rivas-Valle was charged with two counts each of third-degree endangering the welfare of a child and fourth-degree criminal sexual contact, the prosecutor said. His bail was set at $50,000, Valdes said.

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NEW JERSEY
NBC New York

A 68-year-old New Jersey pastor has been arrested, accused of sexually abusing two teen girls who attended his church, authorities said.

Passaic County prosecutors said Vicitacio Rivas-Valle of Union City was arrested Tuesday after investigators say he had criminal sexual contact with two girls who attended his Union City church over a period of two years.

The girls were between 13 and 16 years old when they were allegedly molested.

Rivas-Valle was charged with child endangerment and criminal sexual contact. He remains jailed on $50,000 bail.

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UNITED STATES
Jewish Journal

by Naomi Pfefferman

“Marty belongs in the pantheon of great Jewish heroes,” Josh Singer, a co-writer of the Oscar-nominated film “Spotlight,” said during a recent interview at a Santa Monica coffee house.

He was discussing the real-life newsman at the center of the much-lauded film about how Boston Globe reporters exposed a conspiracy of silence about pedophile priests some 15 years ago.

Martin Baron, then the Globe’s brand-new editor, seems rather stiff and hardly heroic as he attends a meeting with the newspaper’s investigative team on his first day of work in 2001.

To be sure, it’s not the most welcoming environment for this former editor of the Miami Herald. Boston’s media had already pointedly noted that Baron – who in real life is now executive editor of the Washington Post – was to become the first Jewish editor at a publication whose readers were 53 percent Catholic, while Baron’s reporters on the Globe’s investigative team all were raised Catholic. And one character remarks that not only was the new editor coming from Florida, he was also an “unmarried man from the Jewish faith who hates baseball” in a town obsessed with the Red Sox. Later in the film, a church leader insinuates that Baron is a meddling outsider as he gives the editor a copy of the church’s Catechism, advising him to “think of it as the Cardinal’s guide to Boston.”

Unabashed, the reserved but intense Baron (played by Liev Schreiber) tells his reporters he wants them to look into the highest echelons of the church, because he’s noted a news item about a priest accused of child abuse. He wants to see if there’s more to the story.

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ARIZONA
Hawaii News Now

By Janice Yu

TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) –
The Roman Catholic Church told newly ordained bishops that they are not obligated to report sexual abuse to authorities, stating the responsibility to report the abuse falls on the victims and their families.

This was first reported by a journalist with Crux, a Catholic news website.

Tucson Diocese Bishop Gerald Kicanas said there is a lot of effort in the U.S. to make sure bishops report any sexual abuse to authorities.

He also said bishops are well aware of their responsibility to report.

Locally, the diocese screens those working in the ministry, as well as volunteers and staff.

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said they are upset by the news.

“No mention was made that you should call the police when a crime is reported to you and we found that deeply disturbing,” said Barbara Dorris, with SNAP.

Dorris said there has been a lot of talk about changes that will be made within the church, but nothing has actually been accomplished to make sure those responsible for sexual abuse are held accountable.

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WEST VIRGINIA
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

By GREG JORDAN Bluefield Daily Telegraph

PRINCETON — Sexual abuse and sexual assault, robbery, escape and assault on a police officer were among the indictments handed down by the February 2016 term of the Mercer County Grand Jury.

James Lilly, 24, of Bluefield was indicted on 22 charges including sexual abuse first degree, sexual assault third degree and incest. Lilly allegedly started abusing a female juvenile when she was 9 to 10 years old and continued abusing her until she was 16.

Lilly, by his own admission, is transgender and in the process of becoming a woman, Detective K.L. Adams of the Bluefield Police Department said at the time of the arrest.

Lilly once served with youth ministry at the Christ Episcopal Church in Bluefield. Rector Chad Slater told the Bluefield Daily Telegraph that Lilly had been hired with a grant from the Diocese of West Virginia, and came highly recommended. His position at the church ended Sept. 15, 2015 because the grant funding had ended and because “he really wasn’t doing a whole lot.”

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NORTH CAROLINA
Citizen-Times

Emily Patrick and Julie Ball, jball@citizen-times.com February 12, 2016

The Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina in an open letter to parishioners this month acknowledged a rector has been accused of sexual abuse while serving at a Waynesville church for 12 years.

The diocese said a member of Grace Episcopal Church in the Mountains in Waynesville reported being sexually abused by the Rev. Howard White while she was a juvenile. In the letter, Bishop G. Porter Taylor urged anyone who might have been a victim contact the diocese.

Waynesville police said the department is investigating, but White has not been charged with a crime. The diocese in its letter also said White has not been charged, though he also faces similar accusations elsewhere. White served as rector of Grace Episcopal from 1984 to 2006.

Waynesville police Lt. Chris Chandler said the investigation is ongoing.

“It’s still the beginning stages of this investigation,” he said, adding this type of inquiry operates with a “different time frame.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Dan Cox

A Hunter Valley child sexual abuse victim is urging anyone who suspects a crime has been committed to contact police.

Peter Gogarty said he was relieved Adelaide’s Archbishop Philip Wilson will have to defend a charge of concealing child sexual abuse.

Wilson’s application was yesterday denied by magistrate Robert Stone, who said “elements of the offence may be able to be proved”.

If you suspect that a crime has been committed then you need to say something.
Peter Gogarty, Hunter Valley sexual abuse victim
During the hearing, the court was told the charge against Wilson was invalid as there was no evidence the offence he is accused of concealing ever happened.

The concealment charge relates to abuse in the 1970s by the now-dead paedophile priest James Fletcher.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Phil Lawler Feb 12, 2016

This week I read dozens of headlines about a new Vatican document that allegedly instructed bishops not to report sex-abuse complaints to the local police. For example:

* Catholic Church Tells Bishops They Are Not Obliged to Disclose Child Sex Abuse: Report (Time)
* New Catholic bishops told they don’t have to report sexual abuse to police (Newsweek)
Catholic bishops not obliged to report clerical child abuse, Vatican says (The Guardian)
* Vatican: Bishops not required to report abuse to police ( UPI)

Here’s what was wrong about those stories:

* There was no new document.
* Neither the “Vatican” nor the “Catholic Church” had taken any new stand on the topic.
* The controversial statement reflected in the headlines was the personal opinion of a French monsignor.

How did the headlines get so far from the truth? Oddly, every one of the reports cited above gave proper credit to the original source for the story: an item posted on the Crux site on February 7 by the respected Vatican journalist John Allen. But Allen had the story right. Somehow dozens of other journalists read his report and dashed off in the wrong direction.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Citizen

A CHURCH elder who sexually abused vulnerable children was invited to speak at his first victim’s wedding, a court heard.

A court was told Harry Holt, 71, now of Rutland Street, Nelson, went on to attack seven more girls as young as nine after the Jehovah’s Witnesses failed to report him to police.

When the matter was raised, a local beat officer advised parents to ‘just keep your children away from him’, the court heard.

Holt is facing a lengthy prison sentence after being convicted of attacks against eight girls in Scotland dating back over 40 years.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

By David Clohessy, director of SNAP (davidgclohessy@gmail.com, 314 566 9790 cell, 314 645 5915 home)

Francis has done more about the abuse crisis than his predecessors. Isn’t that encouraging?

First, we should judge church officials NOT by what their terrible predecessors did but by what responsible officials would do. It’s little comfort to a girl who’s been raped under Francis to say “Well, under Benedict, there might have been an even smaller chance of your predator being ousted.”

Neither Benedict nor Francis has exposed a single child molesting cleric or really punished a single complicit church official. They’ve made lots of reassuring talk but taken little meaningful action.

But several bishops have been forced out because of abuse. Isn’t that good news?

We don’t think this is true. A tiny handful of bishops (Finn in Kansas City, Nienstedt and Piche in St. Paul) have resigned. Were they forced out? Who knows. Continued Vatican secrecy means that no one can be sure whether they were forced and if so, what the real reason or reasons might have been.

There’s nothing new about bishops resigning, while keeping their titles and paychecks and honors. A pope firing bishops would be new. And it would deter wrongdoing. But it didn’t happen under Benedict and it isn’t happening under Francis.

What about the Paraguay bishop? Francis ousted him.

That’s true. But within hours, the official papal spokesman said that this move was NOT because the bishop mishandled abuse. (Bishop Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano had promoted Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity, who has been described by bishops from Switzerland to Pennsylvania as ‘dangerous,’ ‘abnormal,’ and ‘a serious threat to young people’ and against whom a $400,000 settlement was paid.)

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UNITED STATES
Out

BY NICHOLAS RICHARD REES

Spotlight has thoroughly captured the attention of critics and moviegoers with its dramatic retelling of the Boston Globe Spotlight team’s investigative efforts to expose sexual abuse scandals within the Catholic Church. Praised as a realistic and compelling portrayal of journalists at work, the film showcases the Boston Globe’s revelatory discovery of the Church’s misdeeds.

Nominated for six Oscars, Spotlight has brought much needed attention to the victims, abuse, and the advocacy done on their behalf. Phil Saviano—a survivor of sexual abuse at the hands of a Catholic priest—represents the Spotlight team’s original source. As a leader of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), Saviano is a pivotal character in the film, and though he’s only in a handful of scenes, his name and tale inform the Spotlight team throughout.

When tasked with the immense responsibility of playing Saviano, Neal Huff—an actor known for roles in HBO’s The Wire and Show Me a Hero—embraced the importance of getting the role right. Huff spoke with Out about Spotlight’s success and cultural impact, his career-defining advice from Ian McKellen, and how Phil Saviano changed his life.

Out: I just watched Spotlight and absolutely loved it. In many ways it’s doing exactly what you hope a film will: inspire conversation, win awards, and make money so more films like it can be made in the future.

Exactly. This is kind of the dream. You hope that you can do a project with this sort of purpose behind it, and it’s so rare that something like this makes it. It’s a rare thing to be in [a film] that hits a nerve like this with everyone. It’s been really unprecedented in my life, to be honest….

How did you prepare to for the role?

Josh Singer [Spotlight’s writer] and Tom McCarthy [Spotlight’s writer/director] got me in touch with him. Right from the get go Phil and I started talking and spending time together. We became great friends. He came down to New York [and] I spent time with him up in Boston.

He’s got a very interesting body language and the way he communicates is very kinetic. He’s connected to his body, so I thought there’s all this amazing material to draw on that is specific and original. So when I first met him I thought, Oh I need to learn all of these mannerisms of Phil. But the more I got to know him, that kind of took a backseat to what I was learning. What initially was a treasure trove of interesting detail quickly became a huge responsibility, because I realized I was going to be the proxy for Phil and for all the people Phil was representing. Some actors don’t like to get to know the people that they might represent if it’s a real person, but I felt in this case that Phil and I were an absolute team.

How did that preparation translate into filming your scenes?

I knew Phil felt a certain level of adrenaline going into the Spotlight office and meeting them. So there was a certain level of nerves and anticipation, and I knew that talking to Brian d’Arcy James, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, and Michael Keaton would serve me well because any nerves and anticipation I had about going in and talking to those unbelievable talents would hopefully translate in a similar way to how Phil felt.

How did Saviano respond to your portrayal?

The fact that Phil Saviano said he felt vindicated by a film and my portrayal of him is more than I could ever ask for. [Also] when I finished that scene where I come and meet the Spotlight team, Walter Robinson and Mike Rezendes walked up to me and they said, “Just want you to know that that was what it felt like. What just happened is exactly what we felt.” They were being so generous to me. So between those guys and Phil saying he felt vindicated, it’s more than you could ever hope for as an actor.

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UNITED STATES
Newsweek

BY LUCY WESTCOTT ON 2/11/16

Updated | New Catholic bishops have been told that they have no obligation to report clerical child abuse, according to reports.

During a presentation for newly appointed bishops, French Monsignor Tony Anatrella said they don’t have a duty to report abuse because it should be the responsibility of victims and their families to go to the police. The comments were first reported by John L. Allen at the Catholic news site Cruxnow.com earlier this week.

Anatrella, a psychtherapist and consultant to the Pontifical Council for the Family and the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, is known for his controversial views on homosexuality, including that the acceptance of homosexuality in the West is creating “serious problems” for children. He also helped to write a training document for newly appointed bishops that further spells out the church’s stance on clerical sexual abuse.

“According to the state of civil laws of each country where reporting is obligatory, it is not necessarily the duty of the bishop to report suspects to authorities, the police or state prosecutors in the moment when they are made aware of crimes or sinful deeds,” the training document, which was released by the Vatican earlier this month, reads. The document says bishops are required only to report the suspected abuse internally.

A Vatican source told Newsweek that the comments made during the presentation are Anatrella’s opinion and not an official Vatican position. The source added that in some countries it is difficult for clergy to report abuse to authorities due to the “quite hostile” relationship between church and state. In countries with corrupt police forces and hostile governments, for example, there is greater risk of not having a presumption of innocence and a fair trial, he said. …

“In one sense, this isn’t surprising. As BishopAccountability.org has pointed out, ‘zero tolerance,’ while often uttered by Catholic officials, isn’t even the official policy of the global church,” Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said in a statement emailed to Newsweek.

“But it’s infuriating—and dangerous—that so many believe the myth that bishops are changing how they deal with abuse and that so little attention is paid when evidence to the contrary—like this disclosure by Allen—emerges,” she said.

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ILLINOIS
Telemundo Chicago

La oficina del fiscal del Condado de Kane ha presentado cargos de abuso sexual a un sacerdote de Aurora que presuntamente abusó sexualmente de dos niños.

Alfredo Pedraza Arias, de 49 años de edad y con dirección en la cuadra 200 High Street, ha sido acusado de dos delitos grave de abuso sexual criminal.

Las autoridades alegan que entre enero del 2009 y noviembre del 2014, Pedraza Arias, sacerdote en la Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón en Aurora, habría abusado sexualmente de dos víctimas que en ese momento eran menores de 13 años.

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MICHIGAN
Life Story

April 1, 1951 – December 26, 2015
Kalamazoo, MI

Through the life he lived each day, Fr. Carl Peltz was a man of purpose as well as a true servant of God who cared deeply about his fellow man. He was highly intelligent and deeply devoted to the people he served including during his time spent in the military. Fr. Peltz possessed a compassionate heart and will be fondly remembered for his sense of humor and tireless commitment while he faced debilitating health conditions. He was also a person who was loving and accepting toward all.

The 1950s were a time of great change in America. Rosa Parks brought civil rights to the forefront when she refused to give up her seat on an Alabama bus, Alaska and Hawaii became our country’s 49th and 50th states, and by the time the decade was drawing to a close the United States and the Soviet Union were deeply invested in a race to make history in space. It was just as this exciting time was dawning that Carl F. Peltz was born on April 1, 1951, in Martins Ferry, Ohio, the oldest of 5 children born to William and Theresa (Olszewski) Peltz. Like most young people of that era, Carl was influenced by the ever changing events of the 1950’s and 1960’s and society’s challenge to the norm. These times would help shape his character and ministry.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian Jewish News

THE Governance Review Panel’s (GRP) proposal for the restructure of the Yeshivah Centre would only be possible if trustees and Interim Committee of Management (ICOM) members were to break their promise to the community.

Both the trustees and ICOM members told the community last year that they would step down and relinquish control at the end of 2015, but that time has been extended because the implementation of a new governance structure is taking longer than expected.

However, under the proposal put forward by the GRP, both groups would be embedded in the Yeshivah Centre’s leadership for at least three years. For the first three months, until elections are held, the centre would be run by two former ICOM members, two people nominated by the trustees and a fifth person appointed by the four board members.

There would then be elections, and for three years the centre would be run by a nine-person board (the YCL), which would include three former ICOM members and two members appointed by the trustees. As a result, the ICOM-trustee bloc would have a controlling interest on the YCL board.

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/MICHIGAN
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

for immediate release: Friday, Feb. 12, 2016

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

An abusive Catholic cleric – who is suspected of molesting more than 50 kids and whose whereabouts were deemed “unknown” by church officials – has turned up in Hawaii. Though his church supervisors knew of his crimes as far back as the 1960s, they let keep teaching in Michigan and four other states.

[Los Angeles Times]

He’s Brother Edward C. “Chris” Courtney. He taught at a Catholic school in Birmingham, Michigan (and worked at church institutions in IL, NY, NV and WA).

We urge Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron to use pulpit announcements, parish bulletins, church websites and other tools to aggressively seek out others in Michigan who saw, suspected or suffered crimes by Courtney or cover ups by his colleagues.

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.

IOWA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Feb. 12, 2016

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

Iowa lawmakers are trying to reform child safety laws. We applaud this effort.

[KCCI]

A new bill has been introduced into the legislature that will protect more kids from child molesters by reforming the state’s archaic, arbitrary and predator-friendly statute of limitations. We wholeheartedly endorse this long-overdue measure that will make families safer from predators.

We applaud Sen. Janet Petersen for her concern for kids, victims and crime prevention. We hope every Iowa lawmaker backs House Bill File 6 so that more adults who commit or conceal heinous crimes against kids will be exposed, punished and stopped. We hope legislators will also reform Iowa’s dreadful civil statute of limitations.

The vast majority of child sex offenders go undetected. That’s one reason why one in four girls and one in eight boys are molested.

One reason for such widespread trauma is because short, rigid statutes of limitations prevent victims from using the courts to publicly expose those who commit child sex crimes and deter those who conceal child sex crimes. These legal deadlines reward wrongdoers who successfully intimidate victims, threaten witnesses, discredit whistleblowers, destroy evidence, fabricate alibis and sometimes even flee overseas.

When lawmakers extend or eliminate these deadlines, criminals know they can no longer just “run out the clock” and evade justice.

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.

LOUISIANA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Feb. 12, 2016

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

Shame on Alexandria’s bishop for urging victims of a predator priest to call him instead of calling police. Child sex abuse is a crime. It should be reported to the independent, unbiased professionals in law enforcement, not to the biased, self-serving Catholic officials who, even now, work to keep a tight lid on clergy sex scandals.

Bishop Ronald Herzog knows this. Still, he insists – as Catholic officials have done for decades – on trying to handle this horror internally. Again, he should be ashamed of himself.

or the safety of kids, Herzog should put Fr. Antonio Jorge Velez in a remote, secure, independent treatment center.

He should use church bulletins, parish websites and pulpit announcements to aggressively seek out other victims, witnesses and whistleblowers. If Fr. Velez molested in Maryland, he very likely molested in Louisiana. Herzog has a moral and civic duty to try to find this out and prod people with information to call secular authorities.

No matter what the church hierarchy does or doesn’t do, every Louisiana Catholic church member and employee should beat the bushes, spread the word and ask their loved ones if they saw, suspected or suffered crimes by Fr. Velez or cover ups by his clerical colleagues. Anyone with information or suspicions about Fr. Velez should find the courage to call law enforcement, expose all wrongdoers, protect the vulnerable and start healing.

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.

IDAHO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release, February 12, 2016

Statement by Barbra Graber, Leader of the Anabaptist Mennonite Chapter of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (540-214-8874, Mennonite@SNAPnetwork.org)

Our hearts go out to Clayton Peaster and his family, and anyone else who may have been hurt by any Mennonite predator. We applaud Mr. Peaster for his courage and we hope his seeking justice will protect others and bring healing.

[CDA Press]

We urge anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered sexual violence, either as a child or an adult, to come forward, get help, protect others, deter cover ups, start healing and expose those who commit or conceal assaults on the innocent and vulnerable. We especially urge them to contact independent sources of help, like therapists, police, prosecutors and support groups like ours. Sadly, calling church officials often leads to more pain and secrecy, not less.

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.

TEXAS
The Monitor

ARCHIVE: State Police Get Garza Case Files; No Suspects Are Charged

ARCHIVE: More Than 500 Questioned In Garza Slaying

ARCHIVE: Police Still Sift for Murder Clue

ARCHIVE: Killer Reward Up to $2500

Editor’s Note: This article about Irene Garza was originally printed in the April 21, 1960, edition of The Monitor.

The badly beaten body of Miss Irene Garza, missing 25-year-old McAllen school teacher was discovered floating in the Second Street canal near the Sears Roebuck Co., store at 7:40 a.m. today.

The body; clad in the clothing Miss Garza was wearing when she disappeared, was floating face downward.

Police chief Clint Mussey announced he was questioning suspects “although we have no strong leads.”

An intensive police manhunt for the abductor and slayer of the attractive, dark-haired woman was spurred by a $1,000 reward offered by Whalen’s for “information leading to the arrest and conviction” of the person of persons responsible for the crime.

Later in the morning, O. Terry, local department store owner, announced he was offering an additional $500 reward.

Autopsy Being Held

At noon today pathologists were still working on the body at the Kreidler Funeral home to determine the immediate cause of death and police said the autopsy report would not be released until afternoon.

Justice of the Peace Harley Jackson said he had been ordered to report his death verdict only to the police.

Although police refused to confirm reports that the body was mutilated, an observer at the autopsy said the face was badly beaten and that there were other severe beating marks over the body. The autopsy was expected to show if the victim had been criminally assaulted.

The body was discovered almost simultaneously by Mrs. W. Arnold. 206 First Street, and George Pearson, 200 Peking Avenue. They were passing by the canal when they saw the sack floating in the water only a few yards away from the busy intersection of U.S. Highway 83 and South Second Street opposite the Sears store.

The body was floating face downward. It was removed to the Kreidler Funeral Home where positive identification was made by members of the family. According to police, she was wearing the clothing which she was wearing when she left her home on North 15th Street at 6:45 p.m. Saturday to attend services at Sacred Heart Catholic Church.

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UNITED STATES
Journalists Resource

Walter V. Robinson, editor at large for The Boston Globe, offered his thoughts on the future of investigative journalism during a talk he gave at Harvard Kennedy School about his newspaper’s coverage of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and the movie that is based on the investigation. An audio file of the taped conversation is offered through Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy.

Robinson, who’s played by actor Michael Keaton in the Oscar-nominated film “Spotlight,” said it was a “small miracle” the movie was ever made. “None of us thought how we made the sausage was interesting at all,” he said, describing the tediousness of the news gathering process. But in 2003, he was asked to write an article for Nieman Reports magazine about the making of the investigation. Later, Columbia University published a case study about it. The writer of the case study was introduced to some film producers, who showed an interest in the story. After a year, Anonymous Content, a production and management company, put up money for the development of a screenplay. But the production stalled without the commitment of additional financing or actors. Then actors Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams and Keaton read the script and agreed to sign on — at which point Participant Media, an entertainment media company, offered a modest budget to produce the film. “The actors loved the film so much they all worked for whatever the industry minimum is,” Robinson said.

Robinson discussed the evolution of the Catholic Church investigation by the Globe‘s investigative team, known as the Spotlight Team. “We were asked to do an investigation on one priest by Marty Baron,” said Robinson. “I confess that our reaction was more out of fear of a new boss than any conviction that there was a story we could get. The four of us called everybody we could think of … and because we put so many feelers out, we very quickly discovered that it wasn’t just one priest, that there were 12 or 15, and from that point the number kept growing as we investigated.”

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

Janelle Walker
Elgin Courier-News

Bail was set at $50,000 for a priest, who was previously affiliated with two Aurora-area parishes, accused of molesting girls in Kane County.

The Rev. Alfredo Pedraza Arias, 49, was arrested by Kane County sheriff’s deputies and the U.S. Marshals Service on a warrant at his Rockford residence Thursday. He appeared at Kane County’s bond call Friday morning.

Pedraza Arias, recently of the 200 block of High Street in Aurora, is charged with two Class 2 felony counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a minor under age 13.

Authorities launched an investigation into Pedraza Arias after receiving reports of alleged abuse in 2014, according a release Thursday evening from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockford. Pedraza Arias was asked to remove himself from all ministries, including the Hispanic Ministry in the DeKalb County Deanery, the release stated. He has not been active in any ministries since October 2014, the release said.

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.

TEXAS
WRCB

By JUAN A. LOZANO
Associated Press

HOUSTON (AP) – Prosecutors face a tough road in their case against a former priest accused this week in the killing of a young Texas teacher and beauty queen nearly 56 years ago, according to legal experts.

John Bernard Feit, 83, remained in custody Friday in Phoenix following his indictment in South Texas’ Hidalgo County for the murder of 25-year-old Irene Garza.

Feit had been considered a suspect in the past, and two fellow priests told authorities he confessed to them. But like many cold cases, this one will pose special difficulties stemming from decades-old evidence, a lack of DNA and the long delay in bringing charges.

“These are challenges that are not unsurmountable, but they are going to be looked at very carefully by the defense,” said Philip Hilder, a Houston criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor.

Authorities allege the then-27-year-old Feit killed Garza on April 16, 1960, after hearing her confession at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in McAllen, where he was a priest.

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MARYLAND
Roman Catholic Diocese of Baltimore – The Catholic Review

February 12, 2016

The Archdiocese of Baltimore released the following statement Feb. 12.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore has learned of an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor against Father Jorge Antonio Velez-Lopez, T.C., 60, a member of the religious order known as the Tertiary Capuchins, who last served in the archdiocese in 2010. The alleged abuse began approximately in 2007 while Father Velez was assigned to St. John the Evangelist Parish in Columbia. The alleged victim was a parishioner at Church of the Resurrection in Laurel.

The allegation was immediately reported to civil authorities in Howard County, to the superior of Father Velez’s religious order, and to the Diocese of Alexandria, La., where Father Velez has most recently been serving.

After receiving permission from civil authorities, a representative of the archdiocese traveled to the Diocese of Alexandria to meet with Father Velez to discuss the allegations. At the meeting Feb. 11, Father Velez admitted to the allegations. The Archdiocese of Baltimore reminded Father Velez that he is not permitted to function as a priest or to minister in any capacity in the archdiocese. His authority to act as a priest in the archdiocese ended when he left service here in 2010. In accordance with archdiocesan policy, counseling assistance has been offered to all those affected.

Father Velez began working in the Archdiocese of Baltimore in July 2002 and served at St. John from 2003 to 2010. During this time he also ministered to members of the Spanish-speaking community in several other parishes, including Church of the Resurrection in Laurel, Holy Trinity in Glen Burnie, St. John the Evangelist Church in Frederick, Sacred Heart Church in Glyndon, and St. Joseph Church in Cockeysville

The Archdiocese of Baltimore is committed to protecting children and helping to heal victims of abuse. We urge anyone who has any knowledge of any child sexual abuse to come forward, and to report it immediately to civil authorities. If clergy or other church personnel are suspected of committing the abuse, we ask that you also call the Archdiocesan Office of Child and Youth Protection Hotline at 1-866-417-7469. If you have any other information relevant to this matter, please contact the Archdiocese Office of Child and Youth Protection at 410-547-5599.

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ILLINOIS
Daily Herald

Harry Hitzeman

A Kane County judge set bail Friday at $50,000 for Rev. Alfredo Pedraza-Arias, a 49-year-old from Colombia accused of sexually abusing two girls younger than 13.

Pedraza-Arias was arrested at his Rockford home Thursday night. He faces two felony counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a minor younger than 13. If convicted on both charges, he faces up to 14 years in prison, along with registering as a sex offender.

Pedraza is accused of abusing a girl at her Aurora home and another in an office at Sacred Heart Church in Aurora. According to court records, the abuse occurred between January 2009 and November 2014.

Kane County Judge Elizabeth Flood Friday read a synopsis of the allegations, saying authorities were told Pedraza-Arias abused the girls in the two locations. The police report, read by Flood, said he declined to be interviewed at the Kane County Child Advocacy Center, which investigates crimes against children.

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VATICAN CITY
Latin Times

By Cedar Attanasio | Feb 12 2016

The Vatican is denying reports that it trains bishops to hide sexual abuse allegations, according to the Catholic News Agency. Trainings for new bishops omit best practices on combating sexual abuse, Crux reports. In one training material, reporting sexual abuse to the police is described as “not necessarily the duty of the bishop,” according to the Guardian. The Vatican says the message is in no way a discouragement for Church officials to dodge civil authorities, and not a blanket Vatican policy.

“[The reported training content is] not in any way – as someone has mistakenly interpreted – a new Vatican document or a new instruction or new ‘guidelines’ for bishops,” Holy See spokesman Father Federico Lombardi tells CNA.

The reports mark the latest shortcoming on failed promises by higher authorities of the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Francis created the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors to identify “best practices” for dealing with sexual abuse. Yet the Crux report argues these practices aren’t being shared with decision makers.

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.

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Giselle Wakatama

Another woman, allegedly abused by a now dead Hunter Valley priest, has become the second alleged abuse survivor to seek damages from the estate of a late bishop and the Catholic church.

Earlier this week, the ABC revealed a woman known as LG was suing the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese and the estate of the late Bishop Leo Clarke for abuse she allegedly suffered as a five-year-old in the 1970s and 80s.

A special commission of inquiry heard her alleged abuser Denis McAlinden was a prolific paedophile priest.

The same inquiry found Bishop Clarke’s inaction in relation to McAlinden was inexcusable.

The diocese rejects that the alleged abuse happened, and argues it had no supervisory role of McAlinden.

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
RTE News

The prominent child abuse survivor Marie Collins has said senior Vatican bureaucrats frustrated Pope Francis’ plans to have his Commission for the Protection of Minors train bishops in child protection.

Ms Collins, who is the only survivor-member of the Commission, revealed the Commission’s difficulties following the publication in Rome of instructions to new bishops that they are not obliged to report allegations of clerical child abuse to their local police authorities.

Earlier this month the head of the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops published documents including the text of a lecture to recently appointed bishops who were attending a training course in Rome.

The speaker, the French Monsignor Tony Anatrella, stated that bishops have no duty to report allegations of clerical child sexual abuse to the police the moment they receive them.

He said reporting is a matter for victims and their families instead. He also said bishops also had to be mindful of mandatory reporting laws in their own countries.

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.

VATICAN CITY
Catholic Philly

BY CAROL GLATZ
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A talk given to new bishops during a Vatican-sponsored course does not represent new guidelines on the church’s response to abuse against minors by religious, a Vatican spokesman said.

A 44-page report authored by French Msgr. Tony Anatrella and just published by the Vatican publishing house “is not in any way — as someone erroneously interpreted — a new Vatican document or a new instruction or new guidelines for bishops,” Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi said in a written statement released late Feb. 11.

The talk was part of a conference of experts given in September and was “published together with other (talks) on different subjects,” Father Lombardi wrote.

Msgr. Anatrella’s talk addressed emotional maturity and deviant behaviors in the priesthood as well as church procedures for dealing with accusations of the abuse of children by clergy.

The monsignor, a psychoanalyst and a consultant to the pontifical councils for the family and for health care ministry, “does not say anything new or different from what has been said up until now by relevant church institutions,” Father Lombardi said.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

This week, as Carnival was in full swing in many Catholic regions of the world and as the body of Padre Pio was paraded in Rome in a glass coffin, things appear to have gone from bad to worse in news of the response of Catholic officials to the abuse crisis. Patricia Miller sums up the response of many thinking Catholics (and non-Catholic observers) to the papal abuse commission’s recent silencing of Peter Saunders by noting that “[f]or abuse survivors, the move to silence Saunders confirms their fears that the commission was largely a PR tactic.”

In an editorial statement yesterday, the New York Times took note of Saunders’s sacking by the abuse commission (and of Pope Francis’s failure to attend the recent Vatican screening of “Spotlight,” something Saunders made public right before he was voted off the commission). The Times notes that the Vatican could learn a valuable lesson about accountability from “Spotlight.”

Then it adds:

Hierarchical accountability remains a pressing issue that the Vatican has not fully confronted in the numerous dioceses of the world where the scandal was suppressed. The pope’s 17-member commission presented fresh evidence of this failing when one of its two abuse-victim members, who had gone to the news media to criticize the slow pace of its work, was suddenly suspended on Saturday in a commission vote of no confidence.

For the Daily Beast, Barbie Latza Nadeau cites the response of SNAP leader David Clohessy to what has just happened to Saunders:

“The Pope’s abuse panel will issue recommendations. The Pope will adopt them. And nothing will improve. Why? Because there will be no enforcement,” says David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused By Priests, called SNAP. “Why? Because the church hierarchy is an entitled, rigid, secretive, all-male monarchy. No new protocols or policies or procedures will radically undo a centuries-old self-serving structure that rewards clerics who keep a tight lid on child sex crimes and cover-ups.”

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.

MARYLAND
The New York Times

by MIKE McPHATEFEB. 10, 2016

When student reporters at Mount St. Mary’s University, a small Catholic institution in Maryland, published an article in January that quoted the university’s president likening struggling freshmen to bunnies that should be drowned, they knew it might get a big reaction.

It finally came this week, it appears — in the form of a pink slip for the faculty adviser of the campus newspaper.

The university informed the adviser, Ed Egan, that he had been disloyal and was now fired, a move seen by many on the campus in Emmitsburg as a retaliatory strike.

The decision, along with other recent punishments of faculty members at Mount St. Mary’s, has triggered outrage well beyond its rural campus in northern Maryland, earning condemnation from thousands of academics across the country as well as national monitors of academic and journalistic freedom.

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

By David Clohessy

2010:

Indian Catholic Bishops Draft ‘Zero Tolerance’ Abuses Policy

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/30/indian-catholic-bishops-d_n_559299.html

2016:

Indian bishop lifts convicted priest’s suspension

http://www.ucanews.com/news/indian-bishop-lifts-convicted-priests-suspension/75204

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.

MEXICO
Sin Embargo

[CLERICAL PEDOPHILIA IN MEXICO: THE MAP OF IMPUNITY]

Por Shaila Rosagel febrero 12, 2016

Las víctimas de los sacerdotes pederastas en México relatan la pérdida de evidencias por parte de la justicia civil y el ocultamiento de información, en total impunidad, por parte de la Iglesia Católica. ¡Justicia!, es su demanda al Papa Francisco I.

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SCHWEIZ
kath.ch

Freiburg, 11.2.16 (kath.ch) Der Westschweizer Bischof, Charles Morerod, erklärt in einer Medienmitteilung vom Donnerstag, 11. Februar, weshalb er der Tageszeitung «La Liberté» keine Auskunft über einen Priester geben wollte, der des Missbrauchs verdächtigt wird. Das wäre Diffamierung gewesen, schreibt er.

«Das Gesetz gilt auch für mich», schreibt Morerod in seiner Mitteilung. «Wenn ich präzis sage, dass diese Person jenes Delikt begangen hat, während diese Person nicht verurteilt worden ist (wegen Verjährung oder nicht beendetes Verfahrens), dann ist das Diffamierung».

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RHODE ISLAND
NBC 10

[with video]

BY PARKER GAVIGAN, NBC 10 NEWS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11TH 2016

MIDDLETOWN, R.I. — St. George’s School oceanfront campus in Middletown is picturesque. The student body comes from some of the wealthiest families in America. Tuition is close to $60,000 a year.

Tradition was tainted around the New Year, when several alumni came forward, claiming rape and sexual misconduct on the part of teachers from decades ago, in the 1970s and 1980s.

“It hurts. My parents didn’t believe me, the school didn’t believe, and nothing was done,” said Katie Wales, class of 1980, at a press conference in January.

Questions circled around what school officials knew and when they knew it. Did they report the allegations to Rhode Island’s social services? Lawyers for the alleged victims have shown evidence that the answer is no.

Working on a tip, the NBC 10 I-Team discovered a newer complaint against St. George’s, this one from May 2005.

A former student, who NBC 10 News has decided not to name, was expelled for smoking marijuana. He was back on campus and told to leave or else the police would be called. That’s when he said he had a story to tell.

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CANADA
The Globe and Mail

GLORIA GALLOWAY
OTTAWA — The Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016

The man who oversees the process established to compensate people who were abused at one of Canada’s Indian residential schools has put a hold on all undecided claims in which a technical argument called the “administrative split” is being used to deny a payout.

The Globe and Mail reported last week that as many as 3,000 former students who were abused at schools listed in the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement involving the government, the survivors and the churches that ran the institutions have been denied compensation as a result of the legal strategy by Justice Department lawyers.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett has asked her department to conduct an “urgent” review to find out why the claims were denied. The government is not speculating about when that investigation will be complete.

Daniel Shapiro, the chief adjudicator of the Independent Assessment Process (IAP), which was created to allow former students who suffered serious physical or sexual abuse to obtain quick redress without going to court, issued a bulletin to all of his adjudicators saying they should not proceed with cases that could be affected.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Feb. 12, 2016

Statement by Verne Wagner of Duluth, Northeast MN SNAP director (218- 340-1277, lwagsmn@yahoo.com)

Dozens of northern Minnesota Catholic church staff members have a chance to protect kids in from a proven predator priest. And since Vatican officials are knowingly putting these kids in harm’s way, Duluth area church employees and parishioners must take action to safeguard the vulnerable.

Church bureaucrats in Rome have told a bishop that he can lift the suspension of convicted cleric who molested at least two Crookston area girls.

[UCA News]

That means this priest, Fr. Joseph Jeyapaul, can be put back to work, even though he was

–extradited to Minnesota from India by governmental authorities there and in the US,

–found criminally guilty of sexually assaulting one Minnesota girl,

–accused of sexually assaulting a second Minnesota girl,

–deported back to India, and

–sued by one Minnesota victim (and church officials settled that suit),

Why must Minnesota Catholics act now? Because their efforts might result in Fr. Jeyapaul being convicted, extradited and jailed again. And because their spiritual “leaders” brought Fr. Jeyapaul here and gave him access to Minnesota kids, some of whom he molested.

What must Minnesota Catholics do now? They must beat the bushes, spread the word, and ask every current church member and worker “Did you see, suspect or suffer crimes by Fr. Jeyapaul?” And if the answer is “yes,” they should gently but firmly be prodded to call police. It’s just that simple.

Fr. Jeyapaul’s bishop won’t protect these kids. He’s lifting Fr. Jeyapaul’s suspension.

Pope Francis won’t protect these kids. He’s letting Fr. Jeyapaul’s suspension be lifted.

Only the justice system can protect them, and only if others with information or suspicions about him call law enforcement. That’s most likely to happen if caring Catholics use word-of-mouth and social media and if Catholic employees use parish bulletins and church websites to sound the alarm and beg – literally beg – others to come forward.

Five months ago in Philadelphia, Pope Francis told US bishops and Catholics “I commit myself to the zealous watchfulness of the church to protect minors, and I promise that all those responsible will be held accountable.”

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.

MARYLAND
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016

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

A priest who worked in Baltimore for a decade is accused of molesting a girl. We urge Baltimore Catholic employees to aggressively seek out any one else he may have hurt and beg them to call police.

[The Town Talk]

Church officials in Alexandria Louisiana have suspended Fr. Antonio Jorge Velez and “prohibited (him) from living within the diocese” because of child sex abuse reports stemming from his time in Baltimore.

We hope anyone who has seen, suspected or suffered Fr. Velez’ crimes, or cover ups by his church colleagues or supervisors, will call police, expose wrongdoers, protect kids and start healing.

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.

IOWA
KCCI

[with video]

Kim St. Onge

DES MOINES, Iowa —A new Iowa law being proposed by lawmakers would remove the statute of limitations for victims filing criminal charges in sexual abuse cases.

Right now, the statute of limitations for pressing charges is 10-years after the victim’s 18th birthday. After that point, you can’t file criminal charges.

Jessica Henderson said she was sexually abused by a family member for nine years from age 6 to 14. Right now, Iowa law prevents her from pressing charges in the case.

“I believe everything that has destroyed my life and made me feel like this, made me feel like nothing is from the abuse,” said Henderson.

She now suffers from depression, chronic anxiety, PTSD and was diagnosed with HPV, a sexually transmitted virus.

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SWITZERLAND
National Catholic Reporter

Christa Pongratz-Lippitt | Feb. 11, 2016

Twelve Catholic reform groups have accused the papal nuncio in Switzerland, U.S. Archbishop Thomas Gullickson, of publicly criticizing Pope Francis and have called on the Swiss bishops’ conference to proclaim that the Swiss church is fully committed to the Second Vatican Council.

The reform groups have formed an alliance entitled “Enough is Enough,” and have warned the Swiss bishops that religious peace in Switzerland is endangered. “We are seriously concerned that the nuncio is splitting the Swiss church,” the alliance says in its letter to the bishops.

Alliance member Markus Arnold, the head of the Religious Education Department at Lucerne University, has also written to Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann asking the president “not to allow Gullickson to have a long-term, poisonous effect on the climate in Switzerland. We have enough problems with religious fanaticism as it is. We do not need a nuncio who wants to revive this fanaticism in the Catholic church.” …

Gullickson, 65, is a keen blogger and Twitter-user and is not shy about openly expressing his opinions in the social media. He calls himself an “ultramontanist — and proud to be one” and makes no secret of the fact that he sympathizes with the schismatic Society of St. Pius X. In several tweets, he has praised the elitism of St. Pius X priests.

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NEW MEXICO
Albuquerque Journal

By Albuquerque Journal Editorial Board
Friday, February 12th, 2016

Recent contentions from five students at Santo Niño Regional Catholic School in Santa Fe that a teacher had put his hand on their bodies in places where it didn’t belong unfortunately reminds us that our children can’t be perfectly safe anywhere.

That’s a shame. In an ideal world, no child would be touched in any way that isn’t loving, supportive and completely non-sexual. They should be handled as the precious treasures that they are.

At this point, no conclusion has been reached about the truth of the accusations. So far, teacher Aaron Dean Chavez has been charged with five counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor. On behalf of his client, Chavez’s attorney has denied all of the allegations. It will take some time for this matter to work its way through the court system and reach a resolution. That is as it should be, with a presumption of innocence before proven guilty.

A somewhat disturbing aspect of this case, though, arises from revelations that two girls alerted the school’s principal in 2012 that Chavez had allegedly touched them on their buttocks while he bounced them in his lap when they were first-graders.

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SCOTLAND
Evening Times

Victims say they will continue to press Education Secretary Angela Constance to increase the scope of an independent inquiry into childhood abuse.

Andi Lavery, who founded the support charity White Flowers Alba, said there had been “no movement whatsoever” from the Scottish Government during a meeting with Ms Constance.

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, which is being chaired by Susan O’Brien QC, is not fit for purpose, he claimed, saying it would only look at a “small proportion” of abuse cases.

Campaigners at both White Flowers Alba and the In Care Abuse Survivors (Incas) group want the remit of the inquiry to be extended to include abuse at religious organisations and children’s groups such as the Boy Scouts.

The Scottish inquiry, which could take four years, will focus on allegations of abuse in formal institutional care settings, such as children’s homes and secure care, care, long-term hospital care and boarding schools.

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ROME
The Tablet (UK)

11 February 2016 | by Christopher Lamb

It looks bad. An outspoken abuse survivor and victims’ advocate leaves the Vatican’s child safeguarding commission. Peter Saunders, the founder of the National Association of People Abused in Childhood, had been growing increasingly frustrated with the slow pace of change. Why, he asked, had a tribunal for bishops accused of covering up abuse still not been set up when it was announced last June? His fellow members on the commission were unhappy with his frequent comments to the media, which included criticism of Pope Francis for appointing Bishop Juan Barros to Osorno, Chile. Bishop Barros has been accused of covering up abuse.

Speaking at his hotel in Rome on Monday, Saunders said that on Saturday members of the commission expressed their displeasure with his views after presenting him with a set of press cuttings that quoted him. A vote of no confidence was taken with 15 out of the 17 members in favour of him taking leave of absence. The commission has been clear that its raison d’être is to propose initiatives to the Pope and not to comment on individual cases (See Sheila Hollins, page 8).

“I suppose there was a misunderstanding there because I actually thought we were going to get cracking with child protection,” Saunders told me. But his removal from the commission begs a more pressing question: does Rome “get it” when it comes to clerical sexual abuse?

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Friday, February 12, 2016

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has insisted that every allegation of clerical abuse must be reported to gardaí.

He was responding after groups representing the victims of paedophile priests reacted angrily to a Catholic Church edict to newly appointed bishops that they are “not necessarily” responsible for reporting allegations of child abuse to the police.

The instruction, in a new Vatican training manual advising senior clergy on how to respond to allegations of abuse, states that only victims or their families should decide whether to report to authorities, but bishops should be aware of local legal requirements.

“According to the state of civil laws of each country where reporting is obligatory, it is not necessarily the duty of the bishop to report suspects to authorities, the police, or state prosecutors in the moment when they are made aware of crimes or sinful deeds,” states the training document.

Archbishop Martin said: “The norms in Ireland are very clear — all allegations must and are reported to the gardaí.

“Gardaí have the ability and the expertise to investigate matters that diocesan personnel would not.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

All allegations of clerical child sexual abuse on the island of Ireland must be reported to civil authorities, said Catholic Church representatives.

Maynooth-based director of safeguarding for the church Teresa Devlin said it was mandatory within the Catholic Church in Ireland to report allegations of child abuse and that has not changed.

“The national board delivers training to bishops and provincials which sets this out clearly following their appointment,” she said.

Ms Devlin was responding to reports of a Vatican training document for new bishops which said that, though bishops must be aware of local laws, their only duty was to address allegations internally.

“According to the state of civil laws of each country where reporting is obligatory, it is not necessarily the duty of the bishop to report suspects to authorities, the police or state prosecutors in the moment when they are made aware of crimes or sinful deeds,” the document states.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Science Monitor

By Molly Jackson, Staff FEBRUARY 11, 2016

Survivors of clergy sex abuse and their advocates are dismayed by a document for new Catholic bishops which suggests they do not need to report abuse to legal authorities, released this month after being used at a September training session for new church leaders.

“According to the state of civil laws of each country where reporting is obligatory, it is not necessarily the duty of the bishop to report suspects to authorities, the police or state prosecutors in the moment when they are made aware of crimes or sinful deeds,” the guidelines say, according to the Guardian.

Criticism of the document was first launched by the Crux, a Catholic-news website.

Recommended: How much do you know about the Catholic Church? Take our quiz!
Associate editor John L. Allen, Jr. also questioned why prevention strategies – drafted by Pope Francis’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors in response to a sex abuse crisis that has shaken the Church over the past two decades – were not part of new bishops’ training.

Although there are no exact numbers of victims and abusive priests worldwide, the Vatican investigated about 3,000 claims of priestly abuse between 2001 and 2010. According to Crux, American bishops have spent more than $260 million since 2002 to prevent abuse.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet

by Clifford Longley

Are the Churches doing any better than the police in handling domestic abuse?

One in six of all violent incidents reported to the police concerns domestic violence – an attack by someone with whom the person concerned is in a close relationship. It accounts for a third of all murders where the victim is female. Yet despite these truly horrendous statistics, a recent investigation by the Police Foundation declared that “domestic abuse is a difficult issue for the police to handle; one which they have historically dealt with reluctantly and, on the whole, ineffectively”. This prompts the question: are the Churches doing any better, or are they also ineffective in dealing with a major scourge of society?

The evidence may be incomplete and largely anecdotal, but it is not reassuring. There are parallels with the way the institutional Church failed to appreciate the situation regarding sexual abuse of children by priests. An assault was seen as a one-off lapse calling for repentance and forgiveness. There was a failure to see the lasting damage to the victim; and to realise that the abuser – for all the protestations to the contrary – was very likely to repeat the behaviour. Child abusers are often manipulative, as are perpetrators of domestic violence. “Victim blaming” is common to both.

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CANADA
The Telegram

One step forward, two steps back.

Child sexual abuse by the clergy is not a problem that Pope Francis created, but it is one he promised to address.

It’s a shame then that not everyone in the church seems to be getting the message.

Tuesday, Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported on details that had been discovered by Cruxnow.com’s John Allen about a training manual for Catholic bishops — most importantly, about how they should handle the discovery of child sexual abuse by clergy.

And the manual is anything but heartening.

In fact, it says that it’s “not necessarily” the job of bishops to inform police of the abuse of children.

“According to the state of civil laws of each country where reporting is obligatory, it is not necessarily the duty of the bishop to report suspects to authorities, the police or state prosecutors in the moment when they are made aware of crimes or sinful deeds,” the training document states.

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WASHINGTON/HAWAII
Los Angeles Times

Rick Anderson

When the Archdiocese of Seattle recently released the names of 77 priests, brothers, deacons and a nun reported to have sexually abused children over an 85-year-period, the list included a short entry near the bottom:

“Courtney, Edward CFC, Unknown,” with the names of three schools.

What readers learned was that Courtney had been a member of the Congregation of Christian Brothers (the Latin version of the name is abbreviated as CFC), and once taught at the three schools.

That was about it.

Though Roman Catholic Church investigators had spent 1,000 hours compiling the offender list and were aided by a former FBI agent, they were unable to determine Courtney’s whereabouts, or even whether he was dead or alive.

But Courtney, who would now be 81, hasn’t exactly disappeared. He sold his Seattle-area home in 2013 and signed a sales document notarized in Honolulu. His phone number and address are listed in the Honolulu phone book.

At the number this week, a recorded voice of an older man told callers to leave a message. Requests for comment left by The Times drew no response. An operator who intercepted messages the next day said the customer was no longer accepting calls.

Also missing from the nine-page Seattle disclosure list was any mention of what Courtney and the 76 others were accused of doing to earn their sex-offender status.

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IDAHO
CDA Press

JEFF SELLE/Staff Writer

COEUR d’ALENE — A lawsuit filed Wednesday claims a child was sexually abused by his father, while leaders of a Mennonite church in Bonners Ferry failed to protect the boy.

The lawsuit was filed late Wednesday by attorneys with the Coeur d’Alene firm of James, Vernon and Weeks. It states Clayton Peaster was 11 when the alleged molestation occurred. He is now 27.

The defendants named in the suit are Mt. View Mennonite Church, Inc., the National Church of God in Christ, Mennonite, and Clayton’s adoptive parents, David Peaster and his wife, Cynthia Peaster.

During a press conference held Thursday at the firm’s office, Clayton’s attorney, Craig Vernon, said the child was adopted by the Peasters who both belonged to Mt. View Mennonite Church. The Kansas-based Church of God in Christ Mennonite, commonly known as the Holdeman Mennonites, is the parent organization of Mt. View.

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TEXAS
The Courier

By Jay R. Jordan

A Montgomery County pastor accused of sexually abusing his young niece pleaded guilty to the actions Monday.

Delso Erazo, who pastored Iglesia Cristiana La Nueva Jerusalen off FM 2920 in Spring, will spend 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to two second-degree felony counts of indecency with a child. Erazo, 70, will also have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life upon his release from prison.

“Prison time was an excellent resolution in this case,” Prosecutor Laura Bond said. “It was a case that’s even bigger to us even now based on his position in authority in the church in the community.”

Erazo pleaded guilty to sexually contacting his niece for almost 10 years starting when she was six years old, according to court records. The abuse would occur in a residence in the 100 block of North Burberry Park Circle in Spring.

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MASSACHUSETTS
The Berkshire Eagle

The humble, open approach to Catholic Church issues by the head of the Diocese of Springfield is welcome. A similar attitude in recent years could have helped the church here and elsewhere avoid loss and anguish.

In a pastoral letter issued on Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent, Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski apologized to Western Massachusetts Catholics for the clergy sex abuse scandal and the pain caused by church closings. Echoing Pope Francis, he urged diocesan priests to get out among parishioners to bridge whatever divides had emerged. (Eagle, February 10).

The clergy sexual abuse scandal that damaged the Springfield diocese as well as the church worldwide, was magnified dramatically by the determination of the Catholic Church hierarchy to cover it up, discredit those who were abused and blame the media for investigating the scandal. A more open approach could have spared the church losses of credibility and finances.

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ALABAMA
AL.com

By Greg Garrison | ggarrison@al.com
on February 12, 2016

A group of leaders from St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Vestavia Hills recently asked the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct at diocesan headquarters that happened 25 years ago.

The diocese has responded by having a law firm conduct an investigation, led by lawyer Augusta Dowd.

The diocese is investigating allegations by former employee Tyrone Lucas, who now goes by the name Titus Battle.

Battle says a male administrator — who died in 1990 at age 56 after working for the diocese since 1971 — forced him to submit to sexual acts, threatening to withhold his pay as an office worker and revoke his college scholarship paid by the diocese.

Dowd engaged a former FBI agent and a former police chief to investigate the claims. The investigation “has been quite comprehensive and at this time is still ongoing,” Dowd said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Brisbane Grammar School (BGS) says it will not refund the school fees of former students sexually abused by paedophile counsellor Kevin Lynch in the 1970s and 1980s.

Many of the abused students gave evidence at Brisbane hearings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse last November.

In the wake of evidence given to the royal commission, the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane agreed to refund fees to its former students who were abused, after numerous complaints emerged from Lynch’s time at the Anglican-run St Paul’s School in northern Brisbane.

Lynch worked at St Paul’s after his time at BGS.

BGS also agreed to consider the option of refunds, but revealed late on Friday it had decided against refunding fees.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbana Times

February 12, 2016

Jorge Branco
Journalist

Victims of sexual abuse at the hands of a notorious paedophile allowed to abuse students at one of Queensland’s most prestigious schools throughout the 1980s will not have their school fees repaid.

Brisbane Grammar School announced on Friday afternoon it would not follow the lead of the Anglican Church in refunding fees.

The Anglican Diocese of Brisbane announced its proactive fee refund policy in the wake of child sex abuse hearing royal commission hearings in November, which laid out the crimes of systematic child abuser Kevin Lynch in horrific detail.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson has failed in his bid to stop proceedings on a charge of concealing child sex abuse.

Wilson had applied to Newcastle Local Court for a permanent stay on the case.

Wilson has pleaded not guilty to concealing the serious indictable offence of the now-dead paedophile priest James Fletcher in the 1970s.

He is the most senior Catholic clergyman in the world charged with concealing child sexual abuse.

During the hearing, the court was told the child sexual abuse cover-up charge laid against Wilson was invalid as there was no evidence the offence he is accused of concealing ever happened.

The crown asked to admit tendency evidence in a bid to show Wilson’s alleged actions were not isolated.

Prosecutor Gareth Harrison alleged Wilson was involved in paying a woman an amount of money so an allegation of indecent assault would go away.

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ILLINOIS
Daily Herald

A priest with ties to Aurora-area churches was arrested Thursday and charged with sexually assaulting a minor under the age of 13, officials said.

The Rev. Alfredo Pedraza was arrested at his home in Rockford, the Rockford Diocese said in a statement. Pedraza has been out of ministry since October 2014 while the allegations were being investigated.

Pedraza came to the diocese from Colombia in 2013. He worked in Hispanic Ministry in the DeKalb Deanery and assisted at Sacred Heart Parish in Aurora and Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Aurora.

He’s charged in Kane County with two counts aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a minor under the age of 13.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Northern Echo

Exclusive by Joe Willis, Regional Chief Reporter

A CATHOLIC priest suspended from his post at a Darlington church has been charged with abusing two schoolboys, The Northern Echo can reveal.

Father Michael Higginbottom will appear in court next month to face allegations that he assaulted the boys while working at St Joseph’s College, in Upholland, near Wigan, in the late 1970s.

Lancashire Constabulary said in a statement issued to the Echo last night: “Following consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, Michael Higginbottom, 72, of West Farm Road, Newcastle, was charged on Monday, February 8 with six offences relating to non-recent sexual abuse.

“The offences were allegedly committed while Mr Higginbottom was working as a Catholic priest at St Joseph’s College in Upholland in the late 1970s.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Christine Kearney

Newly appointed bishops have been advised by the Vatican that it’s “not necessarily” their duty to report suspects of clerical child abuse to authorities.

The unofficial advice given to senior clergy at an annual global training course held last year was that only victims or their families should make the decision to report abuse to police.

Victims of the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandal are reacting angrily to the revelations.

The Australian Catholic Church said it agreed with victims, calling for an Australian federal law requiring the reporting of all abuse victims to police.

The papers were presented at what was described as an annual ‘Vatican crash course’ for about 185 newly named bishops around the world.

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ILLINOIS
WIFR

STATELINE (WIFR) – A priest in the Rockford Diocese has been charged with two counts of sexually abusing a child.

According to a press release from the Diocese, Father Alfredo Pedraza has been under investigation for two allegations in Kane County reported back in 2014.

Father Pedraza was arrested, Thursday, February 11 in his Rockford home. He came to the Diocese from Columbia, South America in 2013. The Diocese says he has been out of all ministry since the allegations surfaced in October 2014.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

Gloria Casas
Elgin Courier-News

A priest who has been affiliated with two Aurora parishes was arrested Thursday on two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a minor, a Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockford press release stated.

Kane County Sheriff’s deputies and the U.S. Marshal’s office took the Rev. Alfredo Pedraza into custody on a warrant at his Rockford residence, said Patrick Gengler, director of administration for the sheriff’s office. Pedraza is charged with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a minor under the age of 13, the release stated.

Each count is a felony, Kane County prosecutors said. Pedraza is expected at bond call Friday morning at the Kane County Judicial Center.

The Kane County Child Advocacy Center conducted the investigation, but the Kane County State’s Attorney has not released further information.

Authorities launched an investigation into Pedraza after receiving two reports of alleged abuse in 2014, according to the release. Pedraza was asked to remove himself from all ministries including the Hispanic Ministry in the DeKalb County Deanery, the release stated. He has not been active in any ministries since October 2014, the release stated.

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MEXICO
Telesur

[Former Mexican priest Alberto Athie Gallo said Mexico has the worst cases of pedophilia and child abuse within the Catholic Church.]

El ex sacerdote mexicano Alberto Athié Gallo reveló que México tiene los peores casos de pederastia y abuso a menores dentro de la Iglesia Católica.

Ante la inminente llegada del papa Francisco a México, vuelve a cobrar notoriedad los casos de pederastia en la iglesia católica y que han sido ocultados por la jerarquía de la santa sede.

Desde 1994 el ex sacerdote de la Arquidiócesis de México, Alberto Athié Gallo, no cesa en su lucha contra de la pederastia en la Iglesia Católica, cuando una víctima del fundador de los Legionarios de Cristo, Marcial Maciel Degollado, le contó su historia.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Daily Hampshire Gazette

Thursday, February 11, 2016

As an inspiring Pope lifts Catholic hopes worldwide with his call for inclusion and justice, the leader of the Springfield Diocese is using a Lenten tradition to reach out to disaffected Catholics. He is calling for the spirit of renewal, and forgiveness, to permeate the church in western Massachusetts.

Whether he succeeds depends on follow-through.

In a remarkable pastoral letter distributed this week, Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski apologizes for a lot of things. Most notably, he says that pain “still echoes” over clergy sexual abuse, an injury that may feel fresh again because of “Spotlight,” the movie about the Boston Globe’s discovery that the church systematically concealed the truth about molestation and shuffled abusive priests to unsuspecting parishes.

Bishop Rozanski’s institutional mea culpa, expressed in a 2,300-word letter called “The Wideness of God’s Mercy,” seems heartfelt. He asks forgiveness from victims of clergy abuse, their families and friends “and all those scandalized by the Church’s failure to protect our young people and for any lack of diligence in responding.” While the bishop goes on to list several reasons people have distanced themselves from the church, the top complaint, no doubt, is clergy abuse. “There are many people hurting in our Catholic community from the pain caused by our past failures as a diocese, as well as the grievous actions of some who ministered in our church,” the bishop says in the letter, made public Wednesday.

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ILLINOIS
Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockford

[en espanol]

ROCKFORD, Ill– The Rockford Diocese has been informed by the Kane County Sheriff and the U.S. Marshall’s Office that Father Alfredo Pedraza was arrested today, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, at his residence in Rockford, Illinois.

Father Pedraza is being charged in Kane County with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a minor under the age of 13 years.

Father Pedraza has been under investigation for two allegations reported to authorities and the Diocese of Rockford in 2014. Immediately after the first allegation was reported, Father Pedraza was asked to remove himself from all priestly ministry and from all Hispanic Ministry duties in the DeKalb County Deanery to which he was assigned at the time the first allegation was received and while the allegation was being investigated. He has been out of all ministry since October 30, 2014.

As we have during the investigation process, the Rockford Diocese remains in full cooperation with authorities.

Father Pedraza came to the Rockford Diocese from Colombia, South America in 2013. During his time with the diocese, he worked in Hispanic Ministry in the DeKalb Deanery and assisted at Sacred Heart Parish in Aurora and Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Aurora.

While everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty, the Rockford Diocese takes allegations of misconduct in any form very seriously and must act accordingly to insure the safety and security of all our Catholic people as we conduct our worship and ministries together.

As always the policy of the Diocese of Rockford is that anyone who might be, or knows someone that has been, a victim of sexual abuse by a member of the diocesan clergy, religious, church employee or volunteer should first call police, then call the diocesan hotline at 815-293-7540.

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ILLINOIS
Rockford Register Star

By Chris Green
Staff writer

Posted Feb. 11, 2016

ROCKFORD — A priest residing in Rockford was arrested on child sex charges today at his home.

The Rev. Alfredo Pedraza, 50, was charged in Kane County with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a minor under the age of 13. He is being held in the Kane County Jail on $50,000 bond.

The Rockford Diocese issued a news release today stating they were informed by the Kane County Sheriff and the U.S. Marshall’s Office that the Rev. Alfredo Pedraza was arrested at his residence in Rockford.

According to the release, Pedraza had been under investigation for two allegations reported to authorities and the Diocese of Rockford in 2014. Immediately after the first allegation was reported, Pedraza was asked to remove himself from all priestly ministry and from all Hispanic Ministry duties in the DeKalb County Deanery to which he was assigned at the time of the first allegation. He has been out of the ministry since Oct. 30, 2014, the release said.

Pedraza came to the Rockford Diocese in 2013 from Colombia, South America. During his time with the Rockford Diocese, he worked in Hispanic Ministry in the DeKalb Deanery and assisted at Sacred Heart Parish in Aurora and Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Aurora.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 503 0003, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org)

New Catholic bishops are NOT told to call law enforcement when abuse reports are made, according to a veteran Vatican reporter.

[Crux]

John Allen of Crux (formerly with the National Catholic Reporter) writes that the Vatican official who’s in charge of training new bishops

–“argued that bishops have no duty to report allegations to the police,” and

–“devoted just a few paragraphs” in a “long presentation” to “abuse prevention, using abstract language without concrete examples.”

Just troubling were the comments Monsignor Stephen Rossetti, who’s on the board of the Rome-based Gregorian University’s Centre for Child Protection. When asked “What should new bishops be told about sexual abuse?” Rossetti also made no mention of the need for church officials to call secular authorities.

In one sense, this isn’t surprising. As BishopAccountability.org has pointed out, “zero tolerance,” while often uttered by Catholic officials, isn’t even the official policy of the global church.

But it’s infuriating – and dangerous – that so many believe the myth that bishops are changing how they deal with abuse and that so little attention is paid when evidence to the contrary – like this disclosure by Allen – emerges.

(NOTE – the Vatican new bishops training was led by Paris-based Msgr. Tony Anatrella of the Pontifical Council for the Family and the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, who Allen acknowledges is “a psychotherapist controversial for his views on homosexuality and “gender theory.”)

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MISSOURI
News-Leader

Steve Pokin, SPOKIN@NEWS-LEADER.COM February 11, 2016

A former priest who reportedly confessed decades ago to a monk at the Assumption Abbey in Ava has been arrested in Arizona in connection with the 1960 slaying of a 25-year-old Texas schoolteacher.

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department (in Arizona) on Tuesday arrested 83-year-old John Feit. He faces a murder charge in the death of Irene Garza in McAllen, Texas. He is awaiting extradition to that state, according to the Associated Press.

For more than 50 years, police in McAllen, Texas, have suspected the former priest in the killing. The case was the subject of a 2014 “48 Hours” episode on CBS.

Authorities say Garza visited Sacred Heart Catholic Church in McAllen, where Feit was a 27-year-old priest, on April 16, 1960, the day before Easter. Garza was Miss All South Texas Sweetheart in 1958 and was the first college graduate in her family.

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TEXAS/MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

for immediate release: Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016

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

An ex-priest just arrested for murder reportedly admitted his crimes to at least one colleague in Ava. We call on Springfield Catholic officials to aggressively reach out to anyone in southwest Missouri who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes by this former cleric.

[News-Leader]

More than 50 years after the rape and murder of young Irene Garza in Texas, John Feit has been charged with the crime. After her death, Catholic officials did what they’ve done for decades with known and suspected criminal clerics: they quickly and quietly sent Feit away, to a monastery in Ava.

While there, Feit reportedly admitted the murder to a monk named Dale Tacheny who now lives in Oklahoma City.

If the alleged murderer confided in one person at Ava, he may have confided in others. No matter how slim this chance may seem, if justice is to be served and the innocent are to be protected, it’s crucial that church officials take action.

Or another person in Ava may have seen or suspected or overheard some conversation or noticed some evidence that might make a difference.

It will be tough to resolve a case so old. But Catholic staff owe it to themselves and their flocks – and to Irene Garza’s still-grieving family – to help police and prosecutors learn the full truth of this horror.

Specifically, we urge every Springfield area Catholic employee – from custodian to chancellor – to spread the word, beat the bushes, and seek out anyone with information or suspicions about Feit’s crimes, using church bulletins, pulpit announcements, church websites and word-of-mouth.

Specifically, we urge the “College of Consultors” to act. They govern the Springfield diocese temporarily since there’s currently no bishop. These priests are Msgr. Thomas Reidy, chancellor, Fr. David Dohogne, Fr. J. Friedel, Fr. Hank Grodecki, CM, Fr. David Hulshof, Fr. Tom Kiefer, and Fr. Allan Saunders.

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.

TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2016

Statement by Amy Smith, Dallas co-leader of SNAP (281-748-4050, watchkeepamy@gmail.com)

A convicted Austin child molester who was openly supported by several churches has lost his appeal. We are grateful that he’ll stay behind bars and hope he’ll stop appealing. And we hope that the clerics and congregants who publicly rallied for him will now apologize to his victims.

[Statesman]

In 2014, Greg Kelley was found guilty of sexually abusing a four year old. Before sentencing, Kelley voluntarily accepted a plea deal in which he admitted guilt. Two young boys testified against him. One mom testified that her son told her Kelley had molested him.

Still, officials and members at Generations Church in Leander held rallies for Kelley, a move which we believe was immoral, callous and which likely deterred other victims of other predators from coming forward.

It’s time for these misguided church staff and congregants to apologize for their insensitivity. To hold rallies for a convicted and admitted predator endangers kids by making it harder for those who see, suspect and suffer child sex crimes from speaking up.

Those who believe Kelley is innocent should visit him, pray for him, write to him and help his family. But they should do so in ways that do not scare other victims of other predators into staying silent.

By mounting public displays of support for a convicted and admitted predator, these misguided individuals are rubbing even more salt into the already – deep and still – fresh wounds of abuse victims and making it harder for police, prosecutors and employers to catch and oust child molesters.

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

For immediate release: Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016

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

A bishop says that Vatican officials have approve his lifting of the suspension of a convicted predator priest. If this is true, this is an act of breath-taking recklessness and callousness.

Our heart ache for betrayed families in Minnesota and vulnerable families in India. Most of all, however, our hearts ache for one of the bravest victims we’ve ever met, Megan Peterson, whose courage helped get Fr. Joseph Jeyapaul charged, extradited, and convicted of child sex crimes in Crookston MN.

[UCA News]

Bishop Arulappan Amalraj of Ootacamund said Fr. Jeyapaul’s suspension ended last month after consultations with the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Last year, Francis promoted and defended a complicit bishop in Chile while calling “dumb” the parishioners who expressed concern for the move.

This year, Francis lets a convicted predator priest go back to work, lets a papal panel oust an abuse survivor, and lets new bishops be taught that they don’t have to call police when abuse reports surface.

And some wonder why abuse victims “never seem satisfied.” The pope’s “Year of Mercy” is increasingly seeming like a “Year of Mercy for Corrupt Clergy.”

We hope this outrage will prod Catholics in India, Minnesota and elsewhere to condemn this callous church hierarchy, donate elsewhere and share what they know or suspect about clergy sex crimes and cover ups with secular authorities. And we hope that, once and for all, parishioners will give up on the comforting but obviously dead-wrong notion that Catholic officials will handle predators and abuse reports properly.

We also hope this dangerous injustice will prompt many more who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes and cover ups to speak up, expose wrongdoers, protect kids and start healing.

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
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on media distortions of Vatican policy on abuse reporting:

A statement by one French monsignor during a training course for new bishops is being interpreted by some major media outlets as if it were an official Vatican document. It is nothing of the sort. In a presentation that he made to some bishops, he contended that the clergy were not required to report suspected abuse cases to the authorities. That, however, was his opinion, and nothing more.

Most of these erroneous reports cited Crux journalist John Allen as their source. He wrote a splendid piece about Msgr. Tony Anatrella’s words to the new bishops. Nowhere, however, did Allen claim that Anatrella’s words amounted to a new Vatican policy or a “Vatican document.”

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 Adversary

February 11, 2016 Joelle Casteix

Oh, Pope Francis. He’s got a good racket going.

Pope Francis’ fan base is huge. Recent trips to the U.S. and now Mexico show that people really like this seemingly humble and devout man. I mean, they “like him” like him.

But a pioneer in the prevention, prosecution, and exposure of child sex abuse? Not so much.

So, the next time your friend says, “Oh quit being such a pessimist. Pope Francis is changing things,” show them this:

Less than a week after a prominent child sex abuse victim appointed to Francis’ commission to prevent child sexual abuse was given a vote of no confidence (for the crime of actually trying to prevent child sex abuse):

* This morning, an Indian news outlet reported that a Catholic bishop there reinstated a priest who was recently convicted of child sexual abuse in Minnesota. The crimes were so bad that Interpol arrested the priest in 2012 and brought him back to the US to face charges. The bishop said that his decision was “not personal,” but was instead made with the full consultation and support of the Vatican.

* On February 7, leading Vatican observer John Allen reported that in the most recent training program for new Catholic bishops, the new prelates were told that they “have no duty to report allegations to the police.” Unless of course, they are required by local law (and, well, who’s more important: some cop … or the Holy Father?).

* In the same report, the new bishops were given no training on how to identify or prevent child sexual abuse.

That papal commission I mentioned earlier? They had no role or voice in the training. Looks like Pope Francis wants to control the message.

BUT

The commission did try to “ask” Pope Francis to remind bishops to return victims’ phone calls and to create a “Universal Day of Prayer.”

Yeah, that’s effective.

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.

VATICAN CITY
Yahoo! News

Molly Jackson
February 11, 2016

Survivors of clergy sex abuse and their advocates are dismayed by a document for new Catholic bishops which suggests they do not need to report abuse to legal authorities, released this month after being used at a September training session for new church leaders.

“According to the state of civil laws of each country where reporting is obligatory, it is not necessarily the duty of the bishop to report suspects to authorities, the police or state prosecutors in the moment when they are made aware of crimes or sinful deeds,” the guidelines say, according to the Guardian.

Criticism of the document was first launched by the Crux, a Catholic-news website.

Associate editor John L. Allen, Jr. also questioned why prevention strategies – drafted by Pope Francis’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors in response to a sex abuse crisis that has shaken the Church over the past two decades – were not part of new bishops’ training.

Although there are no exact numbers of victims and abusive priests worldwide, the Vatican investigated about 3,000 claims of priestly abuse between 2001 and 2010. According to Crux, American bishops have spent more than $260 million since 2002 to prevent abuse.

For those who had hoped Francis’s popular empathy and “human touch” would bring new healing between Church leaders and laity, the guidelines reopened feelings of betrayal. The Pope had promised to bring a “zero tolerance” attitude to sex abuse claims

“It’s infuriating, and dangerous, that so many believe the myth that bishops are changing how they deal with abuse and that so little attention is paid when evidence to the contrary … emerges,” said a statement from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

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.

LOUISIANA
The Town Talk

Melissa Gregory, mgregory@thetowntalk.com, (318) 792-1807

A priest who worked in the LaSalle and Grant parishes area has been dismissed after being accused of sexual misconduct with a girl in the Baltimore area, according to a release.

A release from the Diocese of Alexandria on Thursday states that the Rev. Antonio Jorge Velez, a member of the Tertiary Capuchins, has been dismissed and prohibited from living within the diocese. The action was taken by the Most Rev. Ronald P. Herzog, bishop of Alexandria.

Herzog made the decision “after the Diocese of Alexandria was made aware of these allegations resulting from a time when Velez was stationed in the Archdiocese of Baltimore for some 10 years and was accused of inappropriate behavior with a female minor,” reads the release.

The release states that the Archdiocese of Baltimore has notified police and also will be conducting their own investigation. The Holy See also is being notified of the decision.

Velez holds citizenship in the U.S. and Colombia. According to the Diocese of Alexandria, Velez has served in Baltimore, Alexandria and “in numerous assignments in Colombia.” In the Diocese of Alexandria, Velez was the pastoral administrator of St. Mary Church in Jena and St. Edward in Fishville, reads the release.

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/INDIA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Kochi, India/Crookston, MN) – Bishop Amalraj of the Diocese of Ootacamund, India, announced today that he has lifted the suspension of convicted predator priest, Father Joseph Jeyapaul. Jeyapaul’s suspension was lifted on January 16, 2016 after the Bishop consulted with the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Statement of Jeff Anderson

On behalf of two survivors we have represented, and no doubt countless others Jeyapaul has abused, we are appalled that the Vatican and Bishop Amalraj lifted the suspension of convicted predator priest, Joseph Jeyapaul. It took years to reveal the truth of this predator’s history in Minnesota and as a result, he was criminally convicted.

The Vatican and Bishop have made a conscious choice to endanger children and time and time again they have chosen to protect the predator priests at the peril of children. There is no excuse for the indifference they have shown to the safety of kids in India. This is an outrage and again demonstrates the cavalier attitude of the Bishop and the Vatican that they can do what they want, when they want, at the grave peril to kids.

The two survivors we worked with, Megan Peterson who has previously publicly identified herself, and Jane Doe, courageously revealed the actions of Jeyapaul while he was working in the Diocese of Crookston. Jeyapaul repeatedly engaged in criminal sexual conduct with both survivors and we suspect he abused others as well.

This is a pattern, practice and every action belies the promises they made that they’re doing better. Bishop Amalraj stated the decision was “inspired by the year of mercy,” that began at the direction of Pope Francis. When will there be a year for justice, truth and child safety?

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office: 651.538.5049 Mobile: 612.817.8665
Contact Mike Finnegan: Office: 651.538.5049 Mobile: 612-205-5531

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SCOTLAND
STV

Victims of childhood abuse have vowed to put further pressure on Scotland’s education secretary to increase the scope of an independent inquiry.

Andi Lavery, who founded the support charity White Flowers Alba, said there had been “no movement whatsoever” from the Scottish Government during a meeting with Angela Constance in Edinburgh on Thursday.

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, which is being chaired by Susan O’Brien QC, is not fit for purpose, he claimed, saying it would only look at a “small proportion” of abuse cases.

Campaigners at both White Flowers Alba and the In Care Abuse Survivors (Incas) group want the remit of the inquiry to be extended to include abuse at religious organisations and children’s groups such as the Boy Scouts.

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.

MEXICO
Los Angeles Times

Laura Tillman

As Mexico prepares for the Friday arrival of Pope Francis, not everyone is looking forward to the visit.

How much the trip is costing — and whether that money would be better spent combating poverty, disease, unemployment and other problems the Pope himself has championed — has become a vibrant debate in a country where more than 80% of the population is Catholic.

One newspaper, Milenio, estimated that state and municipal governments will have spent nearly $10 million by the end of the six-day visit.

One Twitter user, Luisa Grisales, cited that estimate in a tweet, saying it would be better spent on education, health and creating jobs. …

Other critics of the trip wanted to know: Why won’t Pope Francis be meeting with victims of sexual abuse by clergy? Will the visit draw much-needed attention to the country’s problems, or is it just a diversion from poverty and other problems?

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.

ROME
The Daily Beast

Barbie Latza Nadeau

ROME — One might think that a commission designed to rid the Catholic Church of its predator priests and try to heal decades of suffering by sex abuse victims might actually be involved in, well, doing just that.

On the contrary, it would seem that Pope Francis’s special Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors that he created in 2014 is not exactly getting its hands dirty when it comes to actually teaching bishops how to deal with the problems it has been tasked to deal with.

Writing in The Boston Globe’s Crux website, Vatican expert John Allen points an accusatory finger at the commission, led by a prominent Boston cardinal.

“What’s the point of creating a commission to promote best practices, and putting one of the Church’s most credible leaders on the abuse issue, Boston Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, in charge of it, and yet not having it address the new leaders who will have to implement those practices?”

Allen asks on the heels of the commission’s third meeting in Rome that wrapped up last weekend.

During the conference, as Allen first reported, a French Monsignor with controversial views on homosexuality argued that bishops should have no obligation to report abuse of minors and that the onus should fall on victims and their families.

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.

MICHIGAN
MLive

By Andy Hoag | ahoag@mlive.com
on February 11, 2016

MOUNT PLEASANT, MI — A Central Michigan University student has filed a lawsuit regarding a sexual relationship she says she had with a now-former priest from the parish serving the school.

Megan Winans, through her Lansing attorney James Heos, filed the lawsuit in January in Isabella County Circuit Court, alleging the Rev. Denis Heames asked her to keep their sexual relationship a secret.

Winans is a senior at CMU, according to CM Life, the student newspaper at CMU.

Heames, 43, served as parochial administrator for St. Mary University Parish in Mount Pleasant until July, when he first was placed on administrative leave and then removed from his position for what the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw called “boundary violations.”

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.

LOUISIANA
KALB

Feb 11, 2016

ALEXANDRIA, La. (KALB) – The Bishop of Alexandria has announced the dismissal of Reverend Antonio Jorge Velez following allegations of sexual misconduct with a female minor made by the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Rev. Velez served at St. Mary in Jena and St. Edward in Fishville.

The decision to remove Velez comes after the Diocese of Alexandria was made aware of the allegations resulting from a time when Velez was stationed in Baltimore for about 10 years and was accused of inappropriate behavior with a female minor. An investigation is currently being conducted in Maryland.

Bishop Ronald Herzog has released the following statement: “During this difficult time, I ask for your prayers for all who are affected by these accusations: victims, their families, the Church here and in Baltimore, his religious order and the accused. I urge any victim of clerical sexual misconduct to allow us the opportunity to help heal the wounds inflicted through such actions, and I invite any victims to come forward in order that healing may begin and justice can be served.”

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.

TEXAS
KFOR

[with video]

HIDALGO COUNTY, Texas – A former Catholic priest faces a first-degree murder charge for allegedly killing a onetime beauty queen who was last seen alive the night he heard her confession.

John Feit, 83, had long been the main suspect in the 1960 death of schoolteacher Irene Garza, but he wasn’t arrested until Tuesday in Scottsdale, Arizona.

According to an indictment unsealed Wednesday, a grand jury in Hidalgo County, Texas, decided there was enough evidence to charge that Feit, “with malice aforethought, (caused) the death of Irene Garza by asphyxiation in a manner and means unknown to the grand jury.”

Garza was last seen alive the night before Easter 1960, when Feit heard her confession at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in McAllen, Texas. Five days later, searchers found the body of the 25-year-old former Miss South Texas facedown in a canal.

In 2004, a grand jury heard the case but decided not to indict Feit. Authorities haven’t released details about what’s changed since then.

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.

TEXAS
Valley Central

[with video]

BY ANALISE ORTIZ THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11TH 2016

When Noemi Siegler heard a Hidalgo County grand jury had finally indicted former priest John Feit — long suspected of killing her cousin, McAllen beauty queen Irene Garza — she started weeping uncontrollably.

“I was flooded with emotion, it completely took me off my feet,” said Siegler, who spent decades pushing county prosecutors for justice. “I cried at least six hours. I cried until I lost my voice.”

Seigler spoke exclusively with 48 Hours about her cousin’s murder.

On April 16, 1960, the 25-year-old teacher went to confession at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in McAllen. Five days later, investigators pulled her body from an irrigation canal.

Police suspected that John Feit, the priest who heard Garza’s confession, killed her. Prosecutors, though, didn’t indict him.

“I started losing faith, a little bit, in the legal system,” Siegler said.

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 MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., Feb. 10, 2016

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent
religion@gallupindependent.com

ALBUQUERQUE – The Diocese of Gallup’s bankruptcy case is moving forward again, but without its future claims representative.

On Tuesday, about 40 minutes before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David T. Thuma began another continued status hearing, attorneys for the Gallup Diocese filed a motion requesting Thuma authorize the resignation of Michael P. Murphy, the current future claims representative, also referred to as the unknown claims representative. Thuma was also asked to approve Michael R. Hogan, a retired U.S. District Court judge, as Murphy’s replacement.

“There’s been quite a bit of discussion this week with respect to the unknown claims representative,” diocesan attorney Thomas Walker told Thuma. “Mr. Murphy decided to resign.”

No explanation was given for Murphy’s resignation, either in the motion or in the court hearing, nor did Thuma request the information.

Attorneys for the Gallup Diocese nominated Murphy for the position in February 2015. As the appointed future claims representative, Murphy was an independent fiduciary authorized to act on behalf of any future abuse claimants.

Catholic Mutual conflict

In recent weeks, however, Murphy came into conflict with attorneys for Catholic Mutual, which provides liability coverage for the diocese. According to statements made in court last week, Catholic Mutual had agreed to finance the future claims fund.

Catholic Mutual and Murphy disagreed over how much of an inquiry Murphy could conduct into Catholic Mutual’s financial condition. David Spector, an attorney for Catholic Mutual, vehemently objected to the scope of Murphy’s possible inquiry. According to Spector, Murphy would only be allowed to view a financial balance sheet, and Murphy would first have to sign an “ironclad protective order” that would protect the confidential nature of Catholic Mutual’s financial information. Spector threatened to withdraw financing for the future claims fund if Murphy wouldn’t agree to those conditions.

Thuma then brokered a tentative compromise whereby Murphy agreed to cooperate with Catholic Mutual by signing the protective order and then reviewing the financial balance sheet. If the balance sheet convinced Murphy of Catholic Mutual’s financial well-being, he would give the court a “thumbs up” and not request any further financial information. If Murphy believed the balance sheet provided inadequate information, Murphy would give the court a “thumbs down,” and the dispute was likely to resume.

Whether Murphy ever reviewed Catholic Mutual’s balance sheet or even signed the protective order was not discussed during Tuesday’s court hearing. Instead, the diocese’s motion extended “appreciation and gratitude” to Murphy “for his service in this matter” and moved on to request approval for Hogan’s employment.

‘Perfect substitute’

Hogan served as a U.S. District Court judge for the District of Oregon from 1991 to 2012, and he previously served as a U.S. magistrate judge and a U.S. bankruptcy judge. After his retirement in 2012, Hogan established a mediation firm.

According to Hogan’s statement submitted to the court, he is currently serving as the future claims representative in the Diocese of Helena’s bankruptcy case and as the future claims adjudicator in the Diocese of Spokane’s case. Prior to that, Hogan mediated several dozen future claim matters pending against the Diocese of Spokane, and he was also involved in resolving a number of tort claims against the Archdiocese of Portland.

Susan Boswell, the diocese’s lead bankruptcy attorney, called Hogan “a perfect substitute” and said he comes to the Gallup bankruptcy case “with a greater level of information than perhaps somebody else might have,” allowing the case to proceed without losing much time.

Hogan has been in the news recently for his role in sentencing Oregon ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son Steven for less than the mandatory minimum time after they were convicted of committing arson on public land. An armed group of anti- government protesters took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in January after the federal government won its appeal of Hogan’s sentences and the Hammonds were ordered back to prison.

In the Diocese of Gallup bankruptcy, Hogan is requesting to be compensated at the rate of $550 per hour plus expenses. In addition, he is asking the diocese to reimburse him for reasonable out-of-pocket expenses.

Murphy’s agreement had called for him to receive a flat fee of $50,000 plus expenses, payable upon the effective date of any plan of reorganization.

Objections to Hogan’s employment must be filed by Thursday. If no objections are filed, the next continued status hearing will be held Feb. 19.

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
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on an editorial in today’s New York Times:

The New York Times slammed the Vatican today for not doing enough about priestly sexual abuse. It offers not one piece of evidence that the Church has turned its back on victims, nor does it provide data that this problem—which occurred mostly between 1965 and 1985—is ongoing today. The best it can do is say that a recently appointed bishop from Chile was “a close associate” of a guilty priest. Isn’t that what this newspaper calls “McCarthyism”? By this measure, everyone in Hollywood who worked with Michael Jackson should be condemned.

The editorial criticizes the removal of Peter Saunders, an alleged victim of priestly molestation, from a Vatican commission on sexual abuse. As I pointed out this week (click here), Saunders is not a credible source: his account has changed many times, raising serious questions about his veracity. If anything, he should never have been selected for this panel in the first place.

The Times really steps in it when it calls for “hierarchical accountability.” The editors should take some of its own medicine and commence an investigation of Mark Thompson, president of the New York Times Company. He headed the BBC at a time when child rapist Jimmy Savile was savaging kids in the “corridors, staircases and canteens” of the BBC’s headquarters (the venues are cited in the draft of an upcoming report on this subject). Yet Thompson claims ignorance.

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.

UNTIED STATES
Variety

Jenelle Riley
Deputy Awards and Features Editor
@JenelleRiley

Josh Singer earned his first Oscar nomination for original screenplay (with director Tom McCarthy) of “Spotlight.” The pair spent countless hours of research to craft the story of the Boston Globe journalists who investigated the cover-up of child sex abuse within the Catholic church. Singer, who is also favored to win the WGA Award this weekend, spoke to Variety at this week’s Oscar luncheon about the worldwide effect their film is having.

How did you find out about the Oscar nominations?

I won’t lie, my wife and I got up early. I was obviously nervous about screenwriting but wanted to see how we would do across the board. I was thinking if we got five it would be a pretty good morning. And we got six.

You share writing with Tom McCarthy, but he didn’t intend on being a co-writer at first?
Right, originally Tom wasn’t going to be a co-writer and we started going to Boston together for research. I love collaborating. Tom’s a great writer and a great guy so I’ll always enjoy spending time with him. Three or four months in he said, “Do you have any interest in writing this with me?” And I said, “We basically already are!”

The film is being seen everywhere; it screened last week for a Vatican commission on clerical sex abuse.

There’s been some interesting developments there. Pope Francis had created this commission in 2014, the Papal Commission for the Protection of Minors. He created it in 2014 and put two survivors on the commission; Peter Saunders is one of them. They screened our film at the top of the session on Thursday, which was terrific. Less terrific is that Peter Saunders has been pushed out of the commission because he was agitating for too much change. I think he was pushing the Pope to do more. One can read this several different ways but I have a real concern that this commission is a bit of a straw dog — it’s not actually affecting change, it’s just there for show. I think we all need to bring more pressure on the church to do more because I think they have not done nearly enough to protect children.

Did they give a reason for pushing him out?

They said he was perhaps more comfortable as an advocate as opposed to an adviser. And I understand it’s an advisory committee. But things he was advocating are things we all should want. The Pope announced there was going to be this tribunal to hold bishops accountable and yet hasn’t actually created the tribunal. Peter Saunders asked why. The Pope elevated a bishop in Chile and there are allegations he was involved in enabling and actually participating in a child abuse scandal involving a priest named Karadima. And the Pope has made some not-so-great comments about this when people have protested, calling people leftist and dumb. Peter Saunders asked why hasn’t he said more and why has this bishop been allowed to maintain this position? These are both good questions, I think. I was deeply disheartened to see Saunders pushed off that commission. If we don’t have our survivors speaking for other survivors and children, I think that’s a problem.

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.

VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

Vatican City, Feb 11, 2016 / 12:42 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Media reports are wrong to claim that the Vatican is telling new bishops that they don’t have to report sexual abuse, Holy See spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said.

A reported comment from a Vatican consultant is “not in any way – as someone has mistakenly interpreted – a new Vatican document or a new instruction or new ‘guidelines’ for bishops,” Fr. Lombardi said Feb. 11.

The news reports concerned a statement from French Monsignor Tony Anatrella, who contributed to a 2015 formation course for new bishops organized by the Congregation for Bishops.

Msgr. Anatrella, a consultant to the Pontifical Council for the Family and the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, wrote a document with a section reflecting on countries’ civil laws that mandate abuse reporting.

The document said “it is not necessarily the duty of the bishop to report suspects to authorities, the police or state prosecutors in the moment when they are made aware of crimes or sinful deeds.” Msgr. Anatrella said that decision is up to victims and their families.

Some media reports depicted the monsignor’s statements as an encouragement to cover up sexual abuse or as a claim that it is “not necessarily” a bishop’s duty to report sexual abuse in cases where laws require it.

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

Michael Sean Winters | Feb. 11, 2016 D

Reading Marie Collins’ statement, published here at NCR yesterday, you could almost feel her pain coming through the screen of the computer. All the current issues and frustrations that attend her membership on the papal commission charged with child protection were palpable, and you could tell that they must reawaken very painful memories for her.

Empathy has its limits. I cannot imagine what it feels like to have been sexually abused as a child, especially by a priest. We all have had secrets, some more dark than others, that we would not like to shine a light on, but to have one’s personhood violated by someone whose vocation is to care with the love of Jesus Christ for his parishioners, well, that is a pain that I cannot even imagine.

Nor can I imagine the courage to continue fighting for the protection of children, knowing that every case you hear about, every obstacle you face in your attempts to reform the Church and to root out this sin, every interview you give to the press, will reanimate those dark memories of abuse. This residual pain is evident when Collins writes, “I have been asked about the Commission discussion and vote last Saturday at our Plenary. Why the silence and why have I not walked away? I have fought for transparency in the Church and in this case we must have transparency also, it is only fair to all those who feel they have once more been betrayed but the Church.” Even being at the Vatican, surrounded by so many clergy, must be an emotional challenge.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

CHRIS MARSHALL
Thursday 11 February 2016

A Catholic priest has attacked the Scottish Government for its “shameful” decision to exclude some child abuse survivors from a public inquiry into the issue.

Father Gerry Magee, chair of the campaign group White Flowers Alba, spoke out following a meeting with education secretary Angela Constance at Holyrood earlier.

Survivors want the Scottish Government to extend the remit of the inquiry so that it includes all of those abused by organisations such as the Catholic Church, not just those who were abused while in care.

Father Magee, a parish priest in Kilwinning, North Ayrshire, said there was “shameful lack of equality” across the UK, as separate inquiries in England and Northern Ireland are investigating abuse carried out by religious groups.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Civil Society

Emily Corfe

The Charity Commission has defended its inquiry into the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain, following the Jehovah’s Witness charity’s fourth appeal against what it describes as an “unlawful investigation”.

The charity became subject to a Charity Commission statutory inquiry after revelations emerged that a man accused of child abuse was allowed to question his accusers as part of a “disfellowship” process to decide whether he should remain a member of the congregation.

The statutory inquiry into the charity’s safeguarding procedures has been the subject of a long-running legal case, with the Charity Commission attempting to access Watch Tower’s records since 2014 and the charity in turn accusing the regulator of conducting an unlawful investigation.

Watch Tower has launched a total of four appeals since 2014, against decisions by the High Court and Charity Tribunal which ruled in favour of the Charity Commission. The charity is seeking permission to challenge the statutory inquiry, but following yesterday’s hearing at the Court of Appeal, no decision was reached.

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CANADA
Kamloops This Week

IN THE PHOTO: James Cruickshank was known as Bishop Jim to those in the church. He paved the way to hearing stories and apologizing to people in the Lytton area after sexual and physical abuse at the former St. George’s residential school. Cruickshank died on Dec. 30, 2015, at age 79. Anglican Journal photo

Kamloops’ Anglican community will come together tomorrow to celebrate the life of the last bishop to lead a diocese that once stretched from Lytton to Valemount.

James Cruickshank — Bishop Jim to those in the church — died on Dec. 30, 2015 at the age of 79.

Elected bishop of Cariboo in 1992, Cruickshank was the last to hold the post before the diocese shut down in 2001 after lawsuits over sexual and physical abuses at the former St. George’s residential school in Lytton left it bankrupt. He’d previously served as Canon of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Kamloops.

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