ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED KINGDOM
The Spectator

Theo Hobson

A ‘damning’ report has been published into the Church of England’s handling of a particular abuse case. Except it’s not very damning.

In 1976 a 16-year old was abused by a priest called Garth Moore – an attempted rape took place. He kept quiet about it for a couple of years, then told various priests about it over the next few decades, including some bishops. Moore died in 1990. The Church did nothing about his claims until 2014, when it began an inquiry that led to him receiving some compensation last year.

The report says that the Church was at fault for failing to advise him to report it to the police, and for failing to launch its own investigation earlier. But there is no allegation that the Church dissuaded the victim from pressing charges. It was his decision, whether or not to go to the police while his abuser lived. If he chose not to, there was little that the Church could do. It couldn’t really have been expected to launch its own detailed investigations into such an allegation. It was a matter for the police.

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HAWAII
Honolulu Star-Bulletin

The Rev. Anthony Pascale, 85, of Honolulu, associate pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Church, founding pastor of St. John Apostle and Evangelist Parish in Mililani, and World War II U.S. Marine Corps veteran, died Jan. 9 in Straub Clinic and Hospital. He was born in Syracuse, N.Y. Mass: 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace. Call after 5 p.m. Burial: 10 a.m. Wednesday at Hawaiian Memorial Park.

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MINNESOTA
The Legal Examiner

Posted by Mike Bryant
March 17, 2016

Time is running out. Survivors of sexual abuse have until May of 2016 to seek justice against their attackers. The Window is limited by the statute of limitation that was expanded by the Child Victims Act. Anyone who was sexually abused by an employee of the diocese, or who believes the diocese is liable for their abuse have until May 2016.

Those with claims must act within that time.

Abuse of children and the continued silence by the offenders needs to be prevented. If you suffered, saw, or suspected such events, it is important to know that there is help out there.

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VATICAN CITY
ANSA

(ANSA) – Vatican City, March 17 – The so-called Vatileaks 2 trial into the leaking and publishing of confidential Vatican documents was adjourned Thursday until April 6.

The trial was adjourned after PR expert Francesca Chaouqui, one of the five defendants, presented medical papers showing she needed “a period of absolute rest” since she is six-months pregnant.

This week the Vatican tribunal heard testimony from Monsignor Lucio Vallejo Balda, another of the defendants, on the leaking of classified Holy See documents to two investigative reporters.

On Monday the Spanish prelate, a former member of the now-defunct COSEA commission set up to advise Pope Francis on the reform of the Holy See’s economic and administrative structure, admitted leaking the documents.

“Yes, I handed over documents,” Vallejo Balda told the court, adding that he had acted under pressure from co-defendant Chaouqui who allegedly also tried to seduce him.

“Francesca said she belonged to the secret services, indeed that she was the number two in the Italian secret services,” he said of the PR expert and fellow COSEA member.

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VATICAN CITY
The Daily Beast

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU

Oh, what a tangled web of seedy deceit the latest Vatican leaks trial is turning out to be.

ROME—Sometimes Pope Francis must surely wish he had a magic wand instead of a shepherd’s staff.

That way he could just wave it and make the embarrassing Vatileaks II case go away. Instead, the trial against a monsignor, a public relations specialist, an administrative aide, and two journalists for leaking and publishing secret documents is raining sleaze on the pope’s Easter parade.

The trial, which has been on a hiatus for three months while experts determined what technical and computer evidence could be used against the defendants, kicked off this week with a bang. The hearing started Monday with Spanish monsignor Lucio Vallejo Balda, the only one of the five suspects in Vatican custody, on the witness stand.

Balda had been enjoying house arrest in Vatican City under the condition that he didn’t communicate with the outside world. Then, a few days before the trial reconvened, a sleuthing Vatican techie noticed that there was a spike in Wi-Fi usage from the wing where the monsignor was staying. Curious, the techie traced the Internet usage to a cellphone someone had smuggled in to the prelate, apparently inside a cutout in a religious book about the Franciscan order, according to the website Infovaticana, which is a sort of Drudge Report for Vatican watchers. Now Balda is back in a Vatican cell while the trial goes on.

When asked in court if he had leaked documents pertaining to his time on the Pontifical Commission for Reference on the Organization of the Economic-Administrative Structure of the Holy See (COSEA) to journalists Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi, Balda admitted that he had, though he said he wasn’t “fully lucid” at the time. “Yes, I passed documents,” he told the court, explaining that he gave Nuzzi five emails and 87 passwords for documents related to the COSEA’s work. “I was convinced I was in a situation without exit.”

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VATICAN CITY
Daily Mail

By SARA MALM FOR MAILONLINE

The controversial ‘Vatileaks’ trial has been postponed after the Spanish priest who confessed to leaking classified Vatican documents claimed he had slept with one of his co-accused.

Monsignor Lucio Vallejo Balda told the court in the Vatican that he had a night of passion with Italian PR expert Francesca Chaouqui, who then took to social media to not only deny that they had slept together, but out him as gay.

Married Chaouqui, who is six months pregnant, refuted Vallejo Balda’s claims, and said that on the night in question, the Spanish priest had confessed his homosexuality to her.

The trial has been adjourned until April 6 after Chaouqui was advised to rest by doctors after Thursday’s session.

Chaouqui, a former member of an economic reform commission established by Pope Francis, is accused of conspiring with Vallejo Balda and his assistant to leak documents which revealed serious irregularities in Vatican spending.

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VATICAN CITY
Yahoo! News

Angus MacKinnon
AFP
March 17, 2016

Vatican City (AFP) – The Vatican’s controversial trial of journalists and others was adjourned Thursday until next month as a new account emerged of an alleged night of sex and secrets between two of the accused.

The adjournment until April 6 was announced by the Vatican after one of the five accused, PR consultant Francesca Chaouqui, who is six months pregnant, was advised to rest by doctors.

Chaouqui, a former member of an economic reform commission established by Pope Francis, is accused of conspiring with Spanish Monsignor Lucio Vallejo Balda and his assistant to leak documents which revealed serious irregularities in Vatican spending.

Vallejo Balda admitted in court on Monday to handing over files and passwords to two reporters who are also on trial.

But he said he did so under duress having been effectively blackmailed by his female colleague, with whom he claims to have had a sexually charged relationship culminating in a “compromising” encounter in a Florence hotel.

Chaouqui, who is married, has categorically denied having sex with the cleric.

In her version of the night in Florence, published on her Facebook page on Wednesday, she implies Vallejo Balda had confided in her about a previous gay encounter or relationship.

“He told me something in confidence, something he said only I knew,” she wrote.

“I stayed, I listened. I cried with him. I understood what he was going through, as a man and as a priest.

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NEW YORK
Maryknoll Mission Archives

Born: April 1, 1912
Ordained: September 17, 1938
Died: May 22, 1983

On Pentecost Sunday, the 22nd of May, while all of us were praying to the Father to send the Spirit into our lives,Father Francis Joseph Daubert received the gift of the Spirit as he became one with the Risen Christ.

On May 18th, Father Daubert entered Phelps Memorial Hospital for an operation on his eyes. His condition deteriorated after treatment and at 6:00 a.m.,on the morning of May 22nd, Father Daubert died at the age of 71.

Francis Daubert, the youngest of eight children, was born in Philadelphia on April 1, 1912 to John Daubert and Dorothy Lucas. His early schooling took place in Philadelphia and after finishing three years of high school at Northeast Catholic High,he entered the Venard in September of 1928.

From an early age Frank had the desire to enter the priesthood, being very much influenced by a nun in his seventh year of grammar school. He was undecided whether to become a diocesan or a religious priest. Two Maryknoll Sisters spoke to his eighth grade and because of this he subscribed to Maryknoll Junior and later to The Field Afar. Father John Dever encouraged in him a vocation to the foreign missions, but it was not until he read A Modern Martyr, a life of Blessed Theophane Venard, that he decided to enter Maryknoll.

On June 14, 1938, Father Daubert was ordained and his first mission assignment was to Kweilin, China. In 1945 he briefly served on the Venard Faculty and then returned to China.In 1950 he was assigned to Formosa and in December of the same year was confined to a compound at Laipo by the Communists. Released in June, 1951, he returned to the U.S. to teach at the Venard until April, 1955, when he was once more assigned to Formosa. Five years later he left Formosa for Hawaii where he remained until 1967 when he returned to the States to help out at Transfiguration Parish in lower Manhattan. In 1968 he was assigned as Chaplain to the Maryknoll Sisters’ Novitiate in Valley Park,Missouri. In December, 1971, he became Chaplain to Phelps Memorial Hospital. This latter position he left only a short time ago to reside at St. Teresa’s Residence. In June, 1979, he was assigned to the Special Society Unit.

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MISSISSIPPI
Sun Herald

BY WESLEY MULLER
wmuller@sunherald.com

PEARL RIVER COUNTY — Authorities have filed a third charge against a Baptist youth pastor arrested Tuesday in Hancock County on allegations he sexually abused a child.

Pearl River County deputies filed a sexual battery charge against David Matthew Thorne of Picayune on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after he was booked in Hancock County on two similar charges.

Thorne, 35, a youth pastor at Goodyear Baptist Church in Pearl River County, is accused in the sexual abuse of the same child three times, PRC Chief Deputy Shane Tucker said.

Hancock County sheriff’s Chief Investigator Glenn Grannan said the child was first abused Jan. 31 in Hancock County.

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MISSISSIPPI
Washington Times

By – Associated Press – Thursday, March 17, 2016

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (AP) – Authorities have filed a third charge against a Baptist youth pastor arrested in Hancock County on allegations he sexually abused a child.

The Sun Herald reports (http://bit.ly/1VdFtFw) Pearl River County deputies filed a sexual battery charge against 35-year-old David Matthew Thorne, of Picayune, on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after he was booked in Hancock County on two similar charges.

Pearl River County Chief Deputy Shane Tuckers says Thorne, a youth pastor at Goodyear Baptist Church, is accused in the sexual abuse of the same child three times.

Hancock County sheriff’s Chief Investigator Glenn Grannan said the child was first abused Jan. 31 in Hancock County.

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FRANKREICH
Radio Vatikan

[The French state secretary for victims issues Juliette Meadel has demanded the resignation of Lyons Cardinal Philippe Barbarin. Resignation is the least Barbarin could do and he should do more rather than hide behind legal niceties, she said.]

Staatssekretärin Juliette Meadel hat den Rücktritt von Lyons Kardinal Philippe Barbarin gefordert. „Nicht in der Lage zu sein, um Verzeihung zu bitten, ist nicht sehr christlich“, sagte die sozialistische Politikerin einem Radiosender am Donnerstag. Ein Amtsverzicht sei „das Mindeste“, was Barbarin noch tun könne, statt sich „hinter juristischen Spitzfindigkeiten zu verstecken“, so die Staatssekretärin für Opferfragen. Die Ehrenvorsitzende der französischen Christdemokraten, Christine Boutin, antwortete via Twitter, es sei „nicht sehr christlich“, sich so exponiert zu äußern, „ohne Kenntnis der Akten zu haben“.

Kardinal Barbarin sieht sich wegen des Vorwurfs der Missbrauchsvertuschung wachsendem Druck ausgesetzt. Dem Erzbischof von Lyon wird vorgeworfen, einen Priester nicht suspendiert zu haben, dem sexueller Missbrauch eines damals 16-Jährigen im Jahr 1990 vorgeworfen wird. Eine entsprechende Anklage gegen den Priester wurde 2009 wegen Verjährung fallengelassen.

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FRANCE
La Depeche

[Pedophilia: Cardinal Barbarin is weakened by a new case.]

Depuis plusieurs jours, la pression médiatique et même politique ne cesse d’augmenter sur l’archevêque de Lyon, figure majeure de l’Eglise de France.

Après le Premier ministre Manuel Valls, qui lui a demandé mardi de “prendre ses responsabilités, de parler et d’agir”, sa secrétaire d’Etat à l’Aide aux victimes, Juliette Méadel, est allée plus loin jeudi, jugeant que le départ du cardinal serait “la moindre des choses”.

Didier Guillaume, président du groupe PS au Sénat, estime que “l’Eglise doit faire le ménage en toute transparence”, tout en soulignant qu”‘il ne (lui) appartient pas de dire s’il doit démissionner ou pas”.

Son homologue chez Les Républicains, Bruno Retailleau, souligne que la pédophilie est “un crime encore plus abject lorsqu’il s’agit d’un prêtre” mais “(s)e méfie du tribunal médiatique”.

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FRANCE
kath.ch

[Barbarin case: the Catholic press protests against the media lynching of Cardinal Barbarin. While the lay press covers the “Barbarin Affair”, the Catholic media are trying to make sense of things. While criticizing the efforts of the church in treatment of abusive priests, Catholic commentators are outraged what what they consider to be a “media lynching” of Barbarin and
failure to respect presumption of innocence.]

17/03/2016 Raphael Zbinden

“The Barbarin affair” , named after the Archbishop of Lyon accused of covering up cases of pedophilia, continues to shake the French media sphere. While the lay press roundly on the Primate of the Gauls, the Catholic media are trying to make sense of things. While criticizing the errors of the Church in the treatment of abusive priests, Catholic commentators are outraged Cardinal Barbarin of the media lynching and the failure to respect the presumption of innocence.

17.03.2016 par Raphaël Zbinden

“L’affaire Barbarin”, du nom de l’archevêque de Lyon accusé d’avoir couvert des cas de pédophilie, continue de secouer la sphère médiatique française. Alors que la presse profane tire à boulets rouges sur le primat des Gaules, les médias catholiques tentent de faire la part des choses. Tout en fustigeant les erreurs de l’Eglise en matière de traitement des prêtres abuseurs, les commentateurs catholiques s’indignent du lynchage médiatique de Mgr Barbarin et du non respect de la présomption d’innocence.

“S’agissant de tels faits, les catholiques – pas seulement la hiérarchie ecclésiale – ont trop longtemps cherché la protection du silence”, reconnaît Guillaume Goubert, directeur de La Croix. Un constat semblable est posé d’emblée par Jean-Pierre Denis, directeur de la rédaction du magazine chrétien La Vie. “A l’échelle de l’ensemble de l’Eglise catholique, la lutte contre les abus d’autorité a été défectueuse”, note-t-il. Même son de cloche chez le blogueur catholique à succès Erwan Le Mordehec, qui souligne sur son site Koztoujours, qu’il “comprend on ne peut mieux la colère des victimes”, face à la passivité de l’Eglise, qui a laissé en fonction un prêtre manifestement pédophile. Ainsi, pour Guillaume Goubert, “un tel silence se paie très cher (…) Surtout pour les victimes condamnées à intérioriser une douleur qui les ronge”. Il rappelle que “l’Eglise est au service d’une Parole qui libère. Le devoir lui impose de faire davantage de place en son sein à la parole de ceux qui ont été blessés”.

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AUSTRALIA
Manny Waks

17/3/2016

I’m pleased to share the apology I received today from the Rabbinical Council of Victoria. It’s important that every individual – especially leaders, and in my opinion even more so religious leaders – who have done wrong in the context of what transpired in Australia regarding the child sexual abuse scandal, reflects on their past misdeeds and attempts to remedy the situation. It’s significant that Victoria’s most senior Orthodox rabbinic body has done just that; they have taken responsibility for their inappropriate action. On a personal level, I feel satisfied and vindicated. On a communal level, hopefully this is another step that will regain the community’s trust and respect for the Rabbinate. I look forward to continue to build on the constructive dialogue that has commenced post the Royal Commission public hearing with the RCV and many others.

Rabbinical Council of Victoria letter:

Thursday, 17 March 2016
7 Adar II 5776

Manny Waks
[REDACTED]

Dear Manny,

We trust this letter finds you and your family well.

Thank you for your understanding regarding the timing of our response to you.

Thank you for meeting with us at the end of last year. We felt the meeting was constructive, positive and open. It was great to be able to resolve to work together in the future and to commit to having dialogue between the RCV and yourself for any future issues that may arise.

One of the matters you raised at the meeting was your disappointment with the RCV for having called for your resignation as CEO of Tzedek. You explained that the RCV had not previously called for any other resignations and you therefore felt it was a personal attack on you.

Upon reflection, the RCV regrets and apologise for calling for your resignation publicly without first discussing the matter with you directly and giving you the opportunity to present your perspective.

We hope to work together with you in the future and that we give each other the opportunity to first discuss matters between us before taking further action.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor March 17, 2016

ROME — In an ideal world, doing the just thing and doing the wise thing would always coincide. Real life, however, is often not that simple, and the “Vatileaks 2.0” trial currently playing out in Rome may be a classic case where justice and wisdom collide.

To recap, the trial pivots on five people accused of stealing and publishing secret Vatican documents about finances, including three former members of a papal commission known by its Italian acronym COSEA and two journalists. If convicted, the defendants could face up to eight years in prison, although it’s not entirely clear how that sentence could be enforced on those who are Italian citizens and neither clergy nor employees of the Vatican.

Just like the first Vatileaks affair under Pope Benedict XVI four years ago, this one seems more of a soap opera with every passing day.

This week, testimony in the trial resumed after it was suspended in November. Day one featured an admission by Spanish Monsignor Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda that he did, indeed, pass documents to journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, including a set of 87 computer passwords that allowed Nuzzi to access the material.

Vallejo Balda insisted that he acted under “enormous pressure” from his alleged co-conspirator, PR expert Francesca Chaouqui, who supposedly convinced him that she was connected to the Italian secret service, and also supposedly once told him that the only force that could help him was the Mafia.

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IRELAND
The Irish Catholic

by Michael Higgins
March 17, 2016

If the Roman Catholic Church hoped to escape from the “spotlight”, as it were, at the Academy Awards Ceremony in Hollywood last month, no such reprieve was granted.

Spotlight, the American film that explored with searing forthrightness the rot at the heart of the Archdiocese of Boston around clerical sex abuse, won Best Picture of the Year Award. Statements, testimonials and public declarations of outrage, accompanied the cinema hoopla, the book version of the film is showcased in all major book chains, media outlets are abuzz with commentary and ancillary revelations, and the Church, beleaguered and spiritually depleted by the scandal, once again faces the seemingly endless task of trying to get ahead of the depressing news focus around this institutional blight.

Measures

It is not that the Church hasn’t reacted with new protocols, disciplinary measures, appropriate suspensions, and a refreshing transparency of effort and accountability. In many jurisdictions it has.

There is a Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Adults, bishops have been fired for negligence, alleged cases are now pursued with commendable rigour, and an abundance of educational and pastoral efforts to ensure compliance with civil law have taken shape.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Kirchensite

[The Jesuit Hans Zollner, member of the Pontifical Child Protection Commission in Rome, has called on people to open their hearts, doors and ears to abuse victims. Children are the most precious asset we have, he said at a gathering at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Muenster. People need to use all possible means that children are protected, he said.]

Bistum. Der Jesuit Hans Zollner, Mitglied der Päpstlichen Kinderschutzkommission in Rom, hat beim letzten Geistlichen Themenabend im St.-Paulus-Dom dazu aufgerufen, die Herzen, Türen und Ohren für die Missbrauchsopfer zu öffnen. “Kinder sind das kostbarste Gut, das wir haben”, sagte Zollner in seiner Fastenpredigt zum Thema “Kinder schützen” am Mittwoch (16.03.2016). “Wir sollten uns auf alle erdenkliche Weise dafür einsetzen, dass sie geschützt aufwachen können.”

In seiner eindringlichen Ansprache in einem nur spärlich besetzten Dom warnte der Experte mit großem Nachdruck davor, das Thema Missbrauch und sexuelle Gewalt in der Kirche abzuhaken. “Die Vertuschung hat die Verbreitung des Bösen begünstigt”, unterstrich Zollner. “Die Frage ist jetzt, ob wir eine Kirche sein wollen, in der die vom Missbrauch Betroffenen einen Platz haben.”

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Vatikan Radio

[Meter: Abuse is a crime against humanity]

Seit Jahren wird über Pädo-Pornographie und sexuelle Gewalt gegen Kinder gesprochen, Täter wurden identifiziert und die Opfer haben angefangen zu reden, zuerst in den USA, dann auch in Europa. Ist deswegen der Missbrauch von Kindern zurück gegangen? Leider nein, im Gegenteil, sagt die italienische Organisation „Meter“: Es geht weiter und der Missbrauch produziert auch weiter finanzielle Gewinne. Im Jahresbericht 2015 der Organisation des Priesters Fortunato Di Noto, der in dieser Woche im Funkhaus von Radio Vatikan vorgestellt wurde, werden wieder einmal Millionen von Fotografien und Videos genannt, Europa sei dabei nach wie vor das „Mutterland“ der Pädo-Kriminellen.

Meter kämpfe bei der UNO darum, dass Missbrauch von Kindern als Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit anerkannt werde, sagt di Noto unserem Radio. „Die Zahlen rechtfertigen das“. Seit 27 Jahren beobachte Meter die Szene, noch nie habe man aber beobachten müssen, dass die Anzahl der Bilder sich in einem Jahr verdoppelt habe. Das bedeute 700.000 Kinder mehr, die betroffen seien, so der Gründer von Meter. Die Anzahl der einschlägigen Webseiten sei von 7.000 auf 9.000 gestiegen. Geradezu explodiert sei die Zahl der pädokriminellen sozialen Netzwerke im so genannten „Deep Web“, also im nicht offen zugänglichen Teil des Internets: von 180 auf 3.000 in einem Jahr, hat Meter ermittelt.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Source: Tom Halden, Director of Communications

From Archbishop Bernard Hebda

Rev. Paul Moudry was ordained in 1987. In November 2013, he took a voluntary leave of absence from priestly ministry.

While Father Moudry was on leave, an investigation of an anonymous allegation of misconduct was conducted. During the investigation, Father Moudry self-reported that he engaged in inappropriate conduct with adults in the 1970s and 1980s. That conduct did not involve minors and was not illegal. Father Moudry cooperated during the investigation and the subsequent review process.

After examining Father’s file, reviewing the investigation and interviewing Father Moudry, the Ministerial Review Board recommended that Father Moudry be permitted to return to ministry. The Director of Ministerial Standards concurred with the board’s recommendation. I accepted those recommendations and am now considering an assignment.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Steve Cannane and Brigid Andersen

A former Catholic Church insider has called on police and the royal commission to subpoena all of the church’s secret clergy abuse documents — known as the “red files”.

Helen Last, a former coordinator of the Melbourne Archdiocese’s Pastoral Response Office, said the full extent of church abuse would not be known until all the documents were made available.

“These files should be handed over, they are of important public interest, they have forensic material in them, they cover criminal activity by clergy, they cover the anguish and information of parents and parishioners speaking to the Vicar General at the time,” she said.

“They are of great importance to the truth of what has happened here and the victims and the public want the truth but they are only getting part of the truth at the present time.”

Ms Last first learnt of the red files from the late Monsignor Gerry Cudmore, who set up the Pastoral Response Office in the 1990s.

Ms Last said Monsignor Cudmore ended up resigning as Vicar General because he did not like Cardinal George Pell’s handling of abuse claims, which he thought was too legalistic.

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UNITED STATES
Whispers in the Loggia

Simply put, in the long, horrid road of American Catholicism’s tragic history of sexual abuse and cover-up, few days have been as stunning as this.

Add in the mounting questions swirling around Rome over the Pope’s commitment to tackling the global storm, and at least on some levels, it almost feels as if the ghost of 2002 has returned….

And yet again, just in time for Holy Week.

* * *
Early this morning, word circulated from San Antonio that Fr Virgilio Elizondo, the widely-hailed godfather of Latino theology in the US – and with it, long the lead prophet of a Hispanic ascendancy that’s since come to comprise a plurality, if not the current majority of the nation’s 70 million faithful – had been found dead at 80 yesterday, amid the looming cloud of a lawsuit alleging his abuse of a seminarian in the 1980s.

While the city’s newspaper only relayed the statement of the cleric’s assistant that Elizondo “died of a broken heart,” an independent local news-site, The Rivard Report, cited unnamed sources in saying that the vaunted theologian had taken his own life by “a self-inflicted gunshot wound.” The shocking news confirmed shortly thereafter by a Whispers op appraised of the situation, later in the day it emerged that the Notre Dame professor’s death had indeed been ruled a suicide. …

Hours after that first jolt, at midmorning another press conference was called in Midstate Pennsylvania, the attorney general again presiding.

Two weeks after a Commonwealth grand jury leveled a searing indictment of generations of leadership in the diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, today saw the other shoe drop as charges were announced against three former provincials of the area’s Third Order Regular (TOR) Franciscans, all indicted on child endangerment and conspiracy counts in enabling prolific abuse by one of their own.

Fourteen years after Boston, the move represents a watershed: never before have the superiors of a religious community been held criminally liable for facilitating a cover-up among their confreres. And with all of two US church administrators having faced similar charges until now, with today’s development, the number suddenly stands at five.

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FRANCE
The Local

In the latest accusations against France’s Cardinal Philippe Barbarin he has been accused of promoting a priest despite a previous conviction for sex abuse.

French cardinal accused of covering up the sexual abuse of children by a priest faced new accusations on Wednesday that

he had promoted another cleric despite the man having a previous conviction for sexually abusing adult students.

Le Parisien newspaper reported that Archbishop of Lyon Philippe Barbarin had allowed an unnamed priest to take up a job in his diocese in central France despite the man having been given a suspended 18-month jail sentence for sexually abusing students in a residential home that he supervised.

The episcopate denied the accusations, saying the man had not been promoted although it admitted he was still employed by the Lyon diocese.

The newspaper’s allegations are likely to add to the pressure on Barbarin, who faced calls this week from Prime Minister Manuel Valls to “take responsibility” in the case of another priest, Bernard Preynat.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review

Editorial

Charges against three retired superiors of a Franciscan order reveal an alleged sexual abuse conspiracy and an all-too-familiar code of silence. Sadly, that enabled a predatory monster under the guise of religious trappings to abuse dozens of children as a Johnstown high school athletic trainer.

Giles A. Schinelli, 73, Robert J. D’Aversa, 69, and Anthony M. Criscitelli, 61, allegedly provided cover for Brother Stephen Baker to abuse students of Bishop McCort Catholic High School, where Rev. Baker was assigned from 1992 to 2010. He committed suicide in 2013 — a coward’s exit amid allegations of sexually abusing children in Ohio dating back to 1986.

The Franciscan case follows this month’s grand jury report that accused two former bishops of the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese of covering for more than 50 priests who abused hundreds of children over many decades. But this time the alleged enablers haven’t slipped away.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Care Appointments

Written by The Press Association

The public inquiry into historical child sex abuse will hold preliminary hearings linked to its investigations into allegations that exploitation took place within the Anglican Church and through Rochdale council.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse is investigating the appropriateness of child protection policies and practices within the Church of England, the Church in Wales and other Anglican churches in the two countries.

Investigations will focus on the prevalence of child sex abuse, the adequacy of previous case reviews and the extent to which the culture within the Anglican Church inhibited the exposure and prevention of exploitation.

The inquiry will examine sexual abuse associated with the Diocese of Chichester, as well as failings over Peter Ball, the former Bishop of Lewes and Bishop of Gloucester who was jailed for 32 months in October 2015 after pleading guilty to historical sex offences, 22 years after originally being investigated and cautioned by police.

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IRELAND
The Irish Catholic

by Greg Daly
March 17, 2016

A high-profile body set up to advise Pope Francis on preventing abuse is under threat unless the Vatican releases further funding, it has been claimed.

Baroness Nuala O’Loan has described as “very disturbing” claims that Vatican officials have been slow to release funding for the Pontifical Council for the Protection of Minors.

Irishwoman Marie Collins, a long time campaigner and survivor of abuse, who sits on the commission told The Irish Catholic that a lack of funding is hindering the work of the body.

Baroness O’Loan warned that “proper funding is the key to the ability of an organisation such as the commission to function.

“Many good initiatives have failed because they have been starved of the necessary funding,” Mrs O’Loan writes in The Irish Catholic this week.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Nicole Chettle

Changing the evidence that is admissible in Australian child sexual abuse trials could see more offenders jailed, a British academic has told a royal commission in Sydney.

Professor John Spencer from Cambridge University told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that changes to Britain’s Criminal Justice Act in 2003 allowed evidence of a defendant’s “bad character” to be admitted in criminal trials.

Professor Spencer appeared before the commission, which is examining how the criminal justice system handles allegations of sexual abuse, via video link and said the government introduced the measure thinking it would increase the conviction rate.

“I don’t think it has produced any dramatic increase in the conviction rate,” Professor Spencer said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Nicole Chettle

It is “inconceivable” that a survivor of child sexual abuse was told by the Queensland Department of Public Prosecutions it could not afford to pursue a trial against a convicted sex offender, the organisation’s director has told a royal commission.

Abuse survivor Denis Dodt told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse he was urged not to proceed with a case against Graham Noyes, who abused him at Enoggera Boys’ Home in Brisbane in the 1960s.

But the current Queensland Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Michael Byrne QC has told the commission it was “inconceivable to me that any prosecutor would have ever told a victim that we don’t have the time to conduct a trial”.

The commission heard that 14 people had come forward to say they were assaulted by Noyes, who was a trainee police officer and volunteer at the home at the time.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

The cross-examination of a boy who was sexually abused by a teacher at a Perth private school was so traumatising other parents were deterred from reporting abuse, his mother says.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has been examining how victims fare when they give evidence in the trials of their abusers.

In the first part of a two-part hearing, the commission is exploring how different jurisdictions make judicial decisions on the admission of tendency evidence – that is evidence on an alleged abuser’s likelihood to sexually molest children.

It has heard from survivor witnesses and Crown prosecutors involved in trials in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia that when judges rule tendency and coincidence evidence is not admissible, an abuse victim can end up being the only complainant in a separate trial.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Ekklesia

By Savi Hensman
MARCH 17, 2016

A review of how the Church of England handled allegations of sexual abuse by senior clergy has revealed serious failings. In recent years, similar problems have come to light in other churches and major public institutions. These raise important questions about child and adult protection, truth, power and justice.

A survivor, known as ‘Joe’ or ‘B’, has revealed that he was sexually assaulted in the 1970s when in his mid-teens, then emotionally exploited when he sought help two years later. He tried to inform dozens of priests and bishops but even those who met him failed to act, or indeed to keep records of conversations.

Most of those he told “were essentially good people in a dysfunctional institution riven with inertia. Kind words were never going to be enough in the face of a crime/justice issue, but, because it was perceived primarily as a pastoral issue, my hearers drifted along in the same boat as everyone else – a boat that was carrying their church careers reassuringly forward,” he wrote in 2015 in the Church Times.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

Paul Peachey Crime Correspondent @peachey_paul 1

An investigation into a paedophile priest may have been delayed for more than 20 years partly because a former Archbishop of Canterbury failed to pass a complaint to police, an inquiry has heard.

The disgraced former Bishop of Gloucester, Peter Ball, was jailed for 32 months last year but one victim had written to George Carey in 1992 alerting him to the abuse, solicitor Richard Scorer, told a public inquiry into child sex abuse.

Prosecutors had considered charging Ball with some offences in 1993 but the cleric avoided a trial by accepting a caution for the abuse of one young man and resigned his post as Bishop of Gloucester.

After Ball was convicted last year, Lord Carey denied presiding over a cover-up in the 1990s but said he regretted failing to deal properly with Ball’s victims. It emerged that Lord Carey had telephoned the CPS in 1993 and claimed to have been told: “The matter is closed.” The extent of what Lord Carey was said to have been told emerged yesterday at a preliminary hearing before the Dame Lowell Goddard inquiry hears evidence of allegations of Anglican church collusion in child sex abuse.

Mr Scorer said: “[Victim] A13 can tell the inquiry about a very detailed complaint he made to Archbishop George Carey in 1992, reporting Peter Ball’s behaviour … years previously. We believe that the Archbishop failed to pass that information on to the police and is one reason, we believe, a proper investigation of Peter Ball’s behaviour and abuse was delayed by over 20 years.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLIve

By Ivey DeJesus | idejesus@pennlive.com

Amid mounting clergy sex abuse cover-up scandals in Pennsylvania, a state lawmaker long opposed to amending the laws that would allow victims to go after their abusers on Wednesday did an about-face on his stance.

House Urban Affairs Committee Democratic Chairman Thomas Caltagirone, (D-Berks), came out in support of full a wholesale change to the statute of limitations, which victims and their advocates have long claimed have thwarted victims’ efforts in facing their alleged abusers in court.

“Today, I am announcing after many hours of soul searching, praying and deliberations, that I have decided to come out in support of my good friend, state Representative Mark Rozzi in his efforts to combat child sexual abuse within Pennsylvania,” Caltagirone said.

“I feel compelled to act and do what I can to move legislation forward that will help protect our children: past, present and future. I will spend my remaining time in the legislature protecting children.”

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TEXAS
Star-Telegram

BY MITCH MITCHELL
mitchmitchell@star-telegram.com

An evangelist who founded the Freedom in Worship Church is no longer free, a judged ruled Wednesday.

Emiliano Patino, 40, of Fort Worth was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 10 years of probation for sexually abusing two teenage sisters nearly 18 years ago when he was 23.

Patino’s sentences will run concurrently, state District Judge George Gallagher ruled. Patino must serve at least five years before he becomes eligible for parole, and if he is released before serving the full 10 years, he will be on probation for the remainder of his sentence, prosecutor Eric Nickols said.

“We’re very pleased with the sentence,” Nickols said after the verdict. “Child sexual abuse is a serious crime deserving of prison time no matter how long ago it occurred.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

BY SARA SMALL WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16TH 2016

HARRISBURG — House Representative Bryan Barbin, D-71st District, has introduced two new bills in Harrisburg that would change the statute of limitations on child sex abuse cases.

The timeliness of these new bills is certainly resonating with legislators as an investigation continues into the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane also announced criminal charges against three Franciscan Friars this week, involved in the Brother Stephen Baker and Bishop McCort Catholic High School case.

Barbin is joined by several legislators including Mark Rozzi of Berks County, a sexual abuse victim himself, who’ve recently introduced bills about the statute of limitations on child sex abuse cases.

“I believe the bills are the strongest to protect against the challenge that they’re unconstitutional,” Barbin said Wednesday.

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VIRGINIA
WAVY

[with video]

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A Catholic Church child abuse scandal unfolding in Pennsylvania has ties to Hampton Roads and other areas in Virginia, according to investigators.

Three ex-leaders of a Franciscan religious order were charged Tuesday with allowing a friar who was a known sexual predator to take on jobs, including a position as a high school athletic trainer, that enabled him to molest more than 100 children.

Giles Schinelli, 73; Robert D’Aversa, 69; and Anthony M. Criscitelli, 61, were successively the provincial ministers of a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church in western Pennsylvania from 1986 to 2010. In that role, each assigned and supervised the order’s members.

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VIRGINIA
The Virginian-Pilot

JOHNSTOWN, Pa.

A friar accused of molesting more than 100 children in Pennsylvania lived and worked in Norfolk in the 1970s on assignment at Holy Trinity Catholic Church while living at the James Barry Robinson Home for Boys, now known as The Barry Robinson Center.

Brother Stephen Baker, the friar at the center of the abuse allegations, killed himself in 2013 — with two knives to the heart — after church officials in Youngstown, Ohio, announced they were settling lawsuits by 11 former students who said Baker abused them at schools in Ohio from 1986 to 1990.

The case ongoing in Pennsylvania involves three ex-leaders of a Franciscan religious order who were charged Tuesday with allowing Baker to take on jobs, including a position as a high school athletic trainer, that enabled him to molest more than 100 children.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

By Peter Smith / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

ALTOONA — The large purple banners, in the symbolic color of penitence, and the subdued music fit the tone of the service Wednesday night at Altoona’s Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament.

Before scores of worshippers got up to make confessions to one of numerous priests who fanned out across the cavernous cathedral, Bishop Mark Bartchak offered a short homily, reflecting on how often people compound their sins by trying to hide them rather than confess them. “Playing hide and seek with God really doesn’t work,” he said, urging penitents to “seek the Lord while he may be found.”

There was no mention at the communal penance service, an annual Lenten observance, of the news roiling the diocese in recent weeks. But it was very much on worshippers’ minds.

The service came a day after the state announced charges against three priests from a Hollidaysburg-based Franciscan province for endangering the welfare of children for assigning a known sex offender to work with youth at Bishop McCort Catholic High School in Johnstown and other settings over nearly two decades. That offender, Brother Stephen Baker, committed suicide in 2013 as the enormity of his crimes became known.

The charges, including criminal conspiracy against each man, were recommended by the same grand jury that two weeks ago issued a report denouncing what it called a decades-long coverup of abusive priests by previous bishops of the eight-county Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By ARTHUR MARTIN FOR THE DAILY MAIL

Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey delayed a child abuse investigation for more than 20 years by failing to pass allegations to police, an inquiry heard yesterday.

Lord Carey received a complaint from a young man in 1992 about abuse he had suffered at the hands of then bishop Peter Ball.

But the Archbishop, who retired in 2002, did not pass on the accusations, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse was told.

In 1993 Ball was cautioned for gross indecency and returned to work two years later in a different diocese. He was eventually jailed for 32 months last October after admitting abuse of 18 teenagers and young men.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Express & Echo

Police have been criticised for failing to investigate an complaint lodged by a Devon man who was sexually assaulted by a Church of England priest.

The victim told BBC News he informed Devon and Cornwall Police about being abused by clergyman Vickery House in 2001 – 11 years before an investigation was launched.

Last year, Mr House was jailed for six and a half years for a string of sex offences against boys. His youngest victim was assaulted in Devon in 1970 at the age of 14.

Encouraged by his wife, the man approached police with his story in 2001. The investigation that led to House’s conviction was started by Sussex Police in May 2012.

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FLORIDA
News 965

By Tony Marino

Orange County, Fla. — Two local religious leaders are accused of turning their back on the sexual abuse of dozens of children.

Investigators in Pennsylvania said Giles Schinelli, who worked at the San Pedro Center in Winter Park and Robert D’Aversa, who worked at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Mount Dora, knew they were dealing with a child predator at a Catholic school in Pennsylvania and did nothing. Both men have been charged in Pennsylvania with endangering the welfare of children and criminal conspiracy.

Officials say Schinelli, D’Aversa and a third priest, Anthony Criscitelli of Minnesota allowed more

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FLORIDA
Daily Commercial

Millard K. Ives millard.ives@dailycommercial.com

MOUNT DORA — A Catholic priest in Mount Dora was charged in western Pennsylvania on Tuesday with conspiracy and child endangerment after he reportedly helped provide jobs to a friar who was a known sexual predator.

Father Robert D’Aversa, 69, of St. Patrick Catholic Community in Mount Dora, has until Friday to turn himself in. He has been placed on administrative leave.

Also facing the same charge is Giles Schinelli, 73, now a pastoral administrator at the San Pedro Center, a Catholic retreat in Winter Park, and Anthony M. Criscitelli, a pastor of St. Bridget Parish Community in Minneapolis.

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FRANCE
Le Parisien

Vincent Mongaillard | 16 Mars 2016

C’est un curé qui, visiblement, a été pardonné de ses pêchés par l’Eglise, aussi graves soient-ils. Son cas pose la question du «recyclage» par leur hiérarchie des ecclésiastiques condamnés par la justice. Selon nos informations, un prêtre, condamné pour agressions sexuelles sur des étudiants a été promu par Mgr Barbarin.

Les victimes étaient toutes majeures, il ne s’agit donc pas de pédophilie.

Les faits remontent à 2007 alors qu’il exerçait à Rodez (Aveyron). Ce père, 55 ans aujourd’hui, a été condamné par le tribunal correctionnel de Rodez au printemps 2007 à dix-huit mois d’emprisonnement avec sursis et mise à l’épreuve pendant trois ans. Il a été jugé coupable d’agressions sexuelles commises sur des étudiants d’un foyer dont il en était le responsable. Les victimes lui reprochaient, notamment, des caresses déplacées.

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FRANCE
Expatica

17th March 2016

A French cardinal accused of covering up the sexual abuse of children by a priest faced new accusations on Wednesday that he had promoted another cleric despite the man having a previous conviction for sexually abusing adult students.

Le Parisien newspaper reported that Archbishop of Lyon Philippe Barbarin had allowed an unnamed priest to take up a job in his diocese in central France despite the man having been given a suspended 18-month jail sentence for sexually abusing students in a residential home that he supervised.

The episcopate denied the accusations, saying the man had not been promoted although it admitted he was still employed by the Lyon diocese.

The newspaper’s allegations are likely to add to the pressure on Barbarin, who faced calls this week from Prime Minister Manuel Valls to “take responsibility” in the case of another priest, Bernard Preynat.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A man who was sexually assaulted by a Church of England priest has criticised police who he says failed to investigate his complaint.

The victim, from Devon, says he told Devon and Cornwall Police about Vickery House’s abuse in 2001 – 11 years before an investigation was launched.

Last year the clergyman was jailed for six and a half years for a string of sex offences against boys.
His youngest victim was assaulted in Devon in 1970 at the age of 14.

Encouraged by his wife, the man approached police with his story in 2001. The investigation that led to House’s conviction was started by Sussex Police in May 2012.

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PENNSYLVANIA
ABC News

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Mar 15, 2016

Three ex-leaders of a Franciscan religious order were charged Tuesday with allowing a friar who was a known sexual predator to take on jobs, including a position as a high school athletic trainer, that enabled him to molest more than 100 children.

Giles Schinelli, 73; Robert D’Aversa, 69; and Anthony M. Criscitelli, 61, were successively the provincial ministers of a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church in western Pennsylvania from 1986 to 2010. In that role, each assigned and supervised the order’s members.

Each was charged with conspiracy and child endangerment. Prosecutors said the three have been given until Friday to surrender.

Schinelli is now a pastoral administrator at the San Pedro Center, a Catholic retreat in Winter Park, Florida. D’Aversa is pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Community in Mount Dora, Florida. Anthony Criscitelli is pastor of St. Bridget Parish Community in Minneapolis. …

“There is a need for transparency and criminal prosecution is a great road to get there,” said Boston-based attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represented nearly 40 former McCort students who have settled claims that Baker sexually abused them. He also represented the 11 Ohio victims, whose settlements prompted the McCort victims to come forward.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that there are hundreds and hundreds of Brother Stephen Baker victims out there,” he said.

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VIRGINIA
NBC 12

By Ashley Monfort

RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) –
Investigators say there is a Virginia connection to a Catholic Church child abuse scandal unfolding in Pennsylvania.

An indictment shows several Franciscan Friars accused of being child predators worked in the Commonwealth. This indictment says there was a cover-up, which allowed four men to work in various churches in several states. They were in the Commonwealth in the 1970’s.

Click here to read the indictment

Child abuse experts fear there are victims out there who have never come forward.

This indictment says dozens of children trusted members of the Franciscan Friars only to be abused, molested and assaulted. The documents say four of them had Virginia ties. They are Brother Stephen Baker, Friar Cletus Adams, Friar Martin Brady and Brother Christian Neetz.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Third Sector

16 March 2016 by Rebecca Cooney

The judges ruled yesterday that the Watch Tower and Bible Tract Society of Great Britain was not entitled to apply for a judicial review into the scope of a statutory inquiry

The Watch Tower and Bible Tract Society of Great Britain has said it plans to appeal to the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal ruled it was not entitled to apply for a judicial review into the scope of a Charity Commission statutory inquiry.

The Court of Appeal handed down a judgment yesterday giving WTBTSB, the umbrella charity for Jehovah’s Witnesses, permission to appeal to the High Court against the scope of a production order made by the commission as part of a statutory inquiry opened in May 2014.

But it rejected WTBTSB’s appeal to be allowed to seek judicial review of the scope of the inquiry itself.

After the inquiry into WTBTSB’s safeguarding of children was launched, the charity sought a judicial review of the decision to open the inquiry and of the production order demanding documents from the charity, saying both were too broad in scope.

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UNITED STATES
Some people live more in 20 years …

The following was a response to someone who commented on my recent Hevria post about a Newsweek article detailing abuse and cover-up at Oholei Torah in Crown Heights. I’ve copied the comment here:

Abuse and its cover-ups should never be tolerated. Still, I take issue with your claim that the outrage will always be that the articles by secular outlets are anti-Semitic simply because this is such a searingly uncomfortable subject. It is pretty clear in the Newsweek article that they are pushing an agenda and trying to spread the idea that abuse like this happens BECAUSE of the nature of the religious/Chassidic community (this despite their “disclaimer” that abuse doesn’t necessarily occur more in Chassidic communities than secular). They misreport facts about the insularity of the culture and use their own misunderstandings as support for theories like “abuse is perpetuated because religious people are ignorant and close-minded”, beliefs that reek of bigotry. I think if issues were addressed with more respect, compassion, and empowerment, and less shaming and polarizing sensationalism, they’d be better received by the community and the focus would be less on the anti-Semitism of the article and more on solutions.

My response:

Three things facilitate this kind of abuse and cover-up. I’ll unpack them below. You’re welcome to call me an anti-Semite too, but these are things I’ve learned during my years of being a victim, and my years of activism on behalf of victims.

1) Willful ignorance
2) Denial
3) Conspiracy

Willful ignorance:

There is very little talk about sex and sexuality in general. It’s not considered tznius or appropriate. I’m not going to get into the merits or disadvantages of that, it’s just a fact. We shy away from anything related to it. We don’t use proper words for genitalia, like penis and vagina, we don’t have discussions about safe sex and consent, and we don’t explain children’s bodies to them, generally speaking. Many kids have no frame of reference to interpret what happened to them when they’re abused, because they don’t even know how to relate to their own bodies.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

The effect on child abuse victims when their alleged abusers undergo multiple trials is being examined by a royal commission in Sydney.

The Director of Public Prosecutions in Victoria, John Champion SC, says individual victims of child sex abuse suffer when complaints are split into multiple trials.

Mr Champion will take the stand for a second day at the child sex abuse royal commission hearing into criminal justice issues.

In a statement to the commission on Wednesday, Mr Champion said the severance of charges in multi-complainant cases had “many very adverse consequences” for child sex assault victims, but also for the administration of justice generally.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

BY MARIA MILLER WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16TH 2016

EBENSBURG — Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane was back in Cambria County Wednesday alongside county and state leaders to help announce thousands of dollars in funding to help victims of sexual abuse.

A total of $250,000 is being put aside to help sexual abuse victims, specifically in the Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, and on Wednesday elected leaders called on those victims to reach out.

“You are not alone,” said Josh Shapiro, chairman of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. “If you’re a victim and you have yet to come forward, we want to make sure that you have the support system in place in order to get the care that you need.”

“The silence is over,” Kane said. “We will no longer tolerate it here in PA.”

Leaders say the goal is to get the victims help whether they think they need it or not. Authorities say many victims have been dealing with this for decades, some of them their entire lives. Experts say seeing the headlines and stories on 6 News every day, can trigger painful memories. They say now is the time to call and with new money, more services will be available.

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PENNSYLVANIA
We Are Central PA

Ebensburg, Cambria County, Pa.

Support services are getting the money they need to help the increasing number of victims of child sexual abuse in the Altoona- Johnstown Catholic Diocese.

Wednesday the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency announced $250,000 in federal funding will be available for support services

PCCD Chairman Josh Shapiro, Attorney General Kathleen Kane, Cambria County District Attorney Kelly Callihan, and State Victim Advocate Jennifer Storm stood before victim service organizations, ensuring them victims will get the help they need.

The funding will be dispersed on an as-needed basis, but this is not the only money victim service organizations can receive. The $250,000 comes in addition to the federal VOCA dollars from the PCCD that are dispersed annually. On top of that, there is still money coming through the endowment fund from the Penn State Settlement as a result of the Sandusky case.

Officials are still fighting to pass legislation to eliminate the statute of limitations. They demanded change and said the victims deserve justice.

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CANADA
Edmonton Journal

CLAIRE THEOBALD

A church pastor west of Edmonton has been charged with child luring, says the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team or ALERT.

Drayton Valley RCMP first got involved in May 2015 after parents reported finding sexually explicit text messages between their 15-year-old daughter and a man she met through a church youth group.

ALERT’s Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) team then joined the investigation and the man was charged Monday.

Investigators say the man was employed as a pastor with the Meewasin Free Methodist Church in Duffield, about 65 kilometres west of Edmonton, when the alleged offences occurred. The man was subsequently removed from the position after the allegations were made.

Anyone with information pertaining to the investigation or any case of child exploitation is urged to contact police or leave a tip at www.cybertip.ca.

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CANADA
CBC News

A small-town church pastor in central Alberta has been charged with child luring.

Glenn Harvey Boyde, 59, a pastor at the Meewasin Free Methodist Church in Duffield, Alta., was arrested on Monday.

Police say the investigation began last May after the parents of a 15-year-old girl discovered inappropriate text messages on her phone. The texts were thought to be from man who was known to the family through the church and youth social gatherings the girl participated in.

Drayton Valley RCMP and ALERT’s Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) team eventually identified Boyde as a suspect. He was employed as a pastor when the alleged offenses took place, but was removed from his official position shortly after the complaint came forward, police said.

After his arrest, Boyde was released from custody on a number of conditions. His next court appearance is scheduled for March 30 in Stony Plain.

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CANADA
CTV

Julia Parrish, Web Reporter, CTV Edmonton
@JuliaParrishCTV

Published Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Police said Wednesday that a pastor based out of Duffield was facing charges after inappropriate texts were discovered on a teenager’s cell phone.

According to ALERT’s Internet Child Exploitation team, Glenn Harvey Boyde, 59, was facing a charge of child luring.

The investigation started in May, 2015, when the 15-year-old girl’s parents found texts on her cell phone – the messages were believed to be from an adult male that was known to the family through the church and youth social gatherings the teen had participated in.

As a result, Drayton Valley RCMP and the ICE Unit was notified.

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MISSISSIPPI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, March 16

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, 314 645 5915 home, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)

Thank heavens for the attentive and responsive parents who reported an allegedly abusive Baptist youth pastor to the Hancock County sheriff. Often kids can’t tell, parents don’t believe them, or families foolishly tell church figures, not secular authorities. This mom and dad, however, promptly did the proper thing – they honored their moral and civic duty by calling law enforcement. We applaud them for their courage and wisdom.

[WAPT]

We’re grateful that Rev. David Matthew Thorne of Picayune, a youth pastor at Goodyear Baptist Church in Pearl River County, has been arrested. But it’s a long way from arrest to conviction. Now is not the time for complacency. Anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered Thorne’s crimes – or cover ups by church staff or members – must come forward.

We urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups at Goodyear Baptist to protect kids by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling journalists, get justice by calling attorneys, and get comfort by calling support groups like ours. This is how kids will be safer, adults will recover, criminals will be prosecuted and cover ups will be deterred and the truth will surface.

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MINNESOTA
St. Cloud Times

David Unze, dunze@stcloudtimes.com March 16, 2016

Attorneys representing the Diocese of St. Cloud are asking a Stearns County judge to dismiss parts of a lawsuit filed against the diocese, Cathedral High School and a priest who is accused of sexually abusing a Cathedral student in the 1970s.

The diocese is asking Stearns County District Court Judge John Scherer to dismiss a “public nuisance” claim that accuses the diocese of concealing information about priests who were accused of sexually abusing children.

That claim was made in the lawsuit accusing the former Rev. Anthony “Tony” Marfori of abusing a Cathedral student. A second lawsuit was filed Wednesday by another former Cathedral student who says that Marfori also abused him in the late 1970s.

Successful public nuisance claims in other lawsuits have led to the release of numerous priest files and the disclosure to the public of large portions of those files. In court Wednesday, one of the attorneys representing the man suing said that the nuisance continues today.

The diocese hasn’t added Marfori’s name to its list of credibly accused priests, and Bishop Donald Kettler recently allowed Marfori to leave St. Cloud to return to his native Philippines, said Josh Peck, an attorney who represents the man accusing Marfori of sexual abuse.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

3/15/2016

In Hearing Tomorrow, Diocese of St. Cloud Seeks to Dismiss Public Nuisance Claim from First Marfori Suit

Marfori Antonio Assignment History
Doe 96 Complaint
Marfori Antonio Photo

(St. Cloud, MN) – In a hearing tomorrow in Stearns County District Court, the Diocese of St. Cloud will ask the court to dismiss a public nuisance claim brought by survivor Doe 75 in October 2015. In his lawsuit, Doe 75 claims the Diocese of St. Cloud created a public nuisance by concealing the identities and information pertaining to priests in the diocese who were accused of sexually abusing children. This allowed the known child molesters to live freely in the community without informing the public. Doe 75 was sexually abused by Fr. Anthony “Tony” Marfori when Marfori worked at Cathedral High School.

Immediately following the hearing at the Stearns County Courthouse, attorneys Jeff Anderson and Mike Bryant will announce the filing of a second lawsuit on behalf of Doe 96 who was also sexually abused by Marfori and they will discuss how the Diocese of St. Cloud has responded to the lawsuits and subsequently handled Marfori. The Diocese of St. Cloud, Cathedral High School and Marfori are named as defendants. Marfori sexually abused Doe 96 when he was a student at Cathedral High School in the late 1970s.

Stearns County Courthouse – 1:15PM
Wednesday March 16, 2016
Honorable Judge John H. Scherer
725 Courthouse Square
St. Cloud, MN

*News Conference to follow at the courthouse

In 2014 the Diocese of St. Cloud released a list of 33 priests who worked in the Diocese that it knew had sexually abused children. Father Marfori’s name was not on that list. Until Doe 75 filed his lawsuit, Marfori was an active priest of the Diocese of St. Cloud, working on “special assignment” at St. Andrew’s Parish in Elk River.

Both Doe 75 and Doe 96’s lawsuits were made possible by the MN Child Victims Act which allows survivors of child sexual abuse to come forward confidentially and bring a claim against their abusers and the institutions that protected their abusers. The deadline expires May 25, 2016.

Notes:
• A copy of the complaint and other information will be available tomorrow at www.andersonadvocates.com.

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office: 651.927.7872 Cell: 612.817.8665
Contact Mike Bryant: Office: 320.259.5414 Cell: 800.359.0061

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MINNESOTA
WJON

By Lee Voss March 16, 2016

ST. CLOUD — The Diocese of St. Cloud has been named as a defendant in a civil lawsuit involving a priest who has been accused of sexual abusing a minor.

Father Antonio Marfori was charged last October with sexually abusing a student while he was a teacher at St. Cloud Cathedral High School in the late 1970’s.

A statement from the Diocese indicates they are reviewing the civil complaint against them and that there had been no reports of sexual misconduct by Father Marfori prior to the October 2015 complaint.

Bishop Donald Kettler removed Father Marfori from his priestly duties while the allegations are being investigated.

The statement says Bishop Kettler held a series of listening sessions last month to assure parishioners of his support and assistance, to offer a process for sexual misconduct issues and concerns to be voiced, and to allow other victims the opportunity to come forward and receive assistance and healing.

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MISSISSIPPI
WAPT

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. —Authorities said a youth pastor has been arrested on charges of sexually abusing a child twice in the last three months.

The Sun Herald reported Hancock County sheriff’s investigators booked 35-year-old David Matthew Thorne, of Picayune, Tuesday on two counts of sexual battery of a minor.

Chief Investigator Glenn Grannan said Thorne, a youth pastor at Goodyear Baptist Church in Pearl River County, sexually abused the same child on Jan. 31 and Feb. 7.

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FRANCE
Le Monde

[What we know about the pedophile scandal in Lyon.]

Par Samuel Laurent

1. Que s’est-il passé ?
L’affaire de Lyon comprend plusieurs volets et se déroule en plusieurs temps :
L’affaire Bernard Preynat. De 1971 à 1991, Bernard Preynat encadre, en tant que prêtre, le groupe de scouts de Saint-Luc, à Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, ville prospère jouxtant la capitale des Gaules.
A la fin de 2015, une ancienne victime présumée du prêtre écrit au procureur de la République pour dénoncer des actes de pédophilie commis par ce dernier, contre lui et contre d’autres anciens scouts. Il dit avoir effectué cette démarche après avoir rencontré d’autres victimes du père Preynat, et surtout après avoir, en vain, contacté le cardinal Barbarin, sans que rien ne soit fait, selon son récit à Rue89.

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FRANCE
France 24

Allegations of a cover-up in the highest reaches of French Catholicism have revived the spectre of clerical child sex abuse and cast a pall over France’s most prominent cardinal.

“Are we seeing the makings of a French ‘Spotlight’?” asked French daily Le Figaro on Tuesday, referring to the Oscar-winning movie that charts the disclosure of a massive cover-up of child abuse by the Roman Catholic Church in the US. While the comparison with the nascent French investigation is tempting, it is obviously a long stretch – if only because of the absence, in the French case, of a Spotlight-like team of investigative journalists uncovering the facts.

Still, the allegations have the potential to profoundly rattle the Church in a country where half the population continues to consider itself Catholic. In particular, they threaten to derail the career of France’s most prominent clergyman, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, the archbishop of Lyon, a man long touted as a possible candidate for the papacy.

The 65-year-old prelate has fiercely denied charges that he covered up paedophilia crimes by failing to remove a priest in his diocese known to have abused boy scouts decades before he took up his post in 2002. Barbarin is also accused of failing to act against another Lyon priest when it emerged in 2009 he had abused a boy in the past.

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FRANCE
Gay Star News

A prominently anti-gay French cardinal has been accused of turning a blind eye to pedophile priests abuse in his diocese.

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, Archbishop of Lyon, faces accusations of covering up pedophilia crimes despite a priest admitting to them.

French authorities have started a criminal investigation into the allegations, involving not just the Archbishop but wider parts of the Church’s hierarchy.

Father Bernard Preynat, a priest in the archdiocese, admitted to sexually abusing boy scouts between 1986 and 1991, according to AFP.

The International Business Times, among others, report Preynat admitted to at least 40 cases of sexual abuse, leading to the case being called the French Spotlight in reference to the Oscar-winning film on the Boston child abuse scandal.

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FRANCE
The Local

French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, accused of covering up sex abuse, is a hardline Catholic who has been outspoken against gay marriage and championed the cause of Christians persecuted in Iraq and Syria.

The 65-year-old archbishop of Lyon, France’s second largest city, has fiercely denied charges that he covered up paedophilia crimes by failing to remove a priest in his diocese known to have abused Boy Scouts decades before he took up his post in 2002.

Barbarin is also accused of failing to act against another Lyon priest when it emerged in 2009 he had abused a boy in the past.

“I have never, never, never covered up acts of paedophilia,” Barbarin said, adding that both cases had passed the legal statute of limitations when they were reported, adding an unfortunate “thank God”.

He later apologized for his choice of words.

It was not the first time Barbarin had to backpedal on his own comments.

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UNITED KINGDOM
National Secular Society

Posted: Wed, 16 Mar 2016

A report by Ian Elliott, an expert in child safeguarding, has found “repeated failures” by clergy and bishops in the Church of England to deal with reports by survivors of child abuse.

A single survivor of child sex abuse told “over 40 members of the clergy during the 1970s, 80s, 90s and 2000s” of sexual abuse he had suffered at the hands of a senior member of the Church of England, but failed to receive an adequate response – including from people in “very senior positions within the Church” and the office of Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

As late as 2014 the survivor made another report of the historic sex abuse and found “the response less than adequate.” The Church offered no “real investigation into his disclosures” and “every question arising from the issue of senior disclosures was entirely ignored from the outset by the bishop he reported to, the Head of Safeguarding.”

The report has been made public after the Church initially released its conclusions alone. David Greenwood, a lawyer specialising in helping child abuse victims claim compensation, said in a press release that the church had “indicated that it does not wish to publish the whole report so the survivor is taking the step of providing the report to the press.”

The report offers a damning verdict on the Church’s response to allegations by the survivor, referred to as “B”.

According to the report, it was “deeply disturbing” that despite B reporting the case to a “large number of people”, some of them claim to have “no memory of the conversations.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Chroncle Live

A pervert vicar has been jailed for eight years after pleading guilty to four counts of indecent assault against a boy in the 1970s.

Trusted Leonard Skinner, 79, has brought shame on the church after he admitted the offences covering a four-year period.

Skinner, of Brighton Grove in Whitley Bay, was convicted of four counts of indecent assault against the same boy while he worked in the south of England.

The pensioner, who moved to North Tyneside following his retirement, was sentenced at Blackfriars Crown Court in London. He had pleaded guilty on February 11 at Highbury Magistrates’ Court to two counts of indecent assault on a boy aged under 14 and two counts of indecent assault on a boy aged under 16.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston College

The producers of the Academy Award-winning film “Spotlight” have issued a statement that confirms BC News & Public Affairs Director Jack Dunn’s contention that the dialogue attributed to him in the movie was fabricated and misrepresents what he did and said while serving as a trustee at his alma mater, Boston College High School.

Issued nationally on March 15, the statement reads:

“As is the case with most movies based on historical events, ‘Spotlight’ contains fictionalized dialogue that was attributed to Mr. Dunn for dramatic effect. We acknowledge that Mr. Dunn was not part of the Archdiocesan cover-up. It is clear from his efforts on behalf of the victims at BC High that he and the filmmakers share a deep, mutual concern for victims of abuse.”

As part of the settlement, Open Road Studios agreed to make donations in Dunn’s name to local charities, including the Big Brother Association of Boston, in memory of his “Little Brother” John Esposito who was killed in 1990, and to a non-profit organization Dunn selected called Resilient Kids, made in honor of one of Dunn’s BC High classmates who was victimized by Rev. James Talbot, S.J., while a student at BC High.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, March 15, 2016

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, 314 645 5915 home, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)

At least eight other Franciscan friars – besides notorious serial predator Brother Stephen Baker – had been transferred to other locations following abuse allegations. So says Pennsylvania’s attorney general.

The next step is obvious: The Franciscans must disclose who and where these eight accused predators are and have been. That’s a belated but crucial step forward.

Unless or until they do, we urge

–bishops in Altoona, Richmond, St. Paul, Detroit and Youngstown to immediately suspend all Franciscans in their dioceses,
–Catholics to stop donating to Franciscans,
–shoppers to stop buying products at the Franciscan shop in the Altoona-Johnstown area mall, and
–mall owners to try to oust the Franciscans from the mall.

Sound harsh? Remember that these Franciscans knowingly enabled Brother Baker to assault at least 100 kids by refusing to call police or warn parents about his crimes.

Unless we as a society pressure and punish those who help child molesters, many of them will keep helping child molesters.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 16 March 2016 – Yesterday afternoon the director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., informed journalists briefed accredited journalists on the day’s hearing in the trial for dissemination of reserved information and documents which began at 10.30 yesterday, Tuesday 15 March, at the Vatican City State Tribunal.

As on Monday 14 March, the hearing was attended by the College of judges (Professors Giuseppe Dalla Torre, Piero Antonio Bonnet, Paolo Papanti-Pellettier and Venerando Marano), the Promoter of Justice (Professors Gian Piero Milano and Roberto Zannotti), and the defendants Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui, Nicola Maio and Emiliano Fittipaldi with their respective lawyers. As announced previously, the defendant Gianluigi Nuzzi was absent but his lawyer, Roberto Palombi, attended the proceedings.

The hearing, which lasted three hours, was dedicated to the interrogation of Msgr. Vallejo Balda by the lawyers representing the other defendants, after which the minutes of yesterday’s interrogation were read and approved.

At around 1.30 p.m, the hearing was interrupted for an hour and a half. It resumed at 3 p.m. with the examination of the defendant Emiliano Fittipaldi by the Promoter of Justice and all the lawyers. At the end the minutes of the interrogation were approved.

The hearing ended at around 4.30 p.m.

Further hearings for the questioning of the defendants are scheduled for the afternoon of Friday 18 March, at 3.30 p.m., the morning of Monday 21 at 10.30 a.m. and the afternoon of Tuesday 22 at 3.30 p.m. After Easter, hearings will be held in the morning of 30 March at 9.30 a.m., 31 March at 9.30 a.m. continuing into the afternoon, 1 April at 9.30 a.m. continuing into the afternoon, and 2 April at 9.30 a.m. However, confirmation by the Tribunal is awaited for the forthcoming hearings.

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CANADA
North Shore News

Brent Richter / North Shore News

The former North Vancouver Anglican priest accused of sexually abusing a number of boys in a youth detention centre in the 1980s is now facing more than a dozen new charges.

Gordon William Dominey, 63, had been the interim priest at St. Catherine’s Anglican Church for about six months. The Diocese of New Westminster put him on administrative leave when he was arrested at his Coquitlam home on Feb. 4.

Edmonton Police Service announced last week that four more alleged victims had come forward and that Crown counsel has approved 13 more charges of sexual assault and four more charges of gross indecency, bringing the total to 27.

The alleged incidents happened when Dominey worked at the Edmonton Youth Detention Centre between 1985 and 1989. The alleged victims were aged 14 to 17 at the time. Dominey transferred from the Diocese of Edmonton to the Diocese of New Westminster in July of 1990 and has worked in at least nine parishes in the Vancouver area since then.

– See more at: http://www.nsnews.com/news/former-north-vancouver-anglican-priest-facing-more-sex-charges-1.2198347#sthash.VQmuzpZn.dpuf

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MINNESOTA
Noaker Law Firm

Contact Info:

Patrick Noaker
Cell: (612) 839-1080
Patrick@Noakerlaw.com

Noaker Law Firm LLC
333 Washington Ave. N.
#329
Minneapolis, MN 55401

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Diocese exposed children to predator priest at Church of St. Joseph in Silver Lake

(New Ulm, Minnesota – March 6, 2016) A Minnesota man has filed suit against the Diocese of New Ulm and Holy Family Parish in Silver Lake stemming from child sexual abuse perpetrated by Father Michael Skoblik at Church of St. Joseph, which merged into Holy Family parish in 1993.

Click Here for Complaint Filed with Brown County District Court

“We filed suit to shine a spotlight on the horrific violations of a known pedophile priest,” said Attorney Patrick Noaker, alluding to the academy award winning movie, “Spotlight”, about the Boston Archdiocese sexual abuse crisis. “The failure of church leadership happened here, just as it did in Boston. The problem is systemic.”

The suit describes Skoblik forcing the child under threat of violence to “perform oral sex upon Fr. Skoblik.” Skoblik also performed “masochistic acts upon Plaintiff.” Some of the abuse “occurred while Plaintiff was a student at St. Joseph’s Catholic School, during school hours.”

According to the lawsuit, the Diocese took no steps to “discover the specific nature of Fr. Skoblik’s problems or to determine whether he was fit to work with children,” despite clear indications of danger.

Skoblik worked for the Diocese of New Ulm from 1940 through 1989.

This lawsuit has caused a childhood friend of John Doe 122, James Hlavka, who is also suing the Diocese of New Ulm relating to sexual abuse by Fr. Skoblik using John Doe 116, to speak publicly for the first time. “When I filed my lawsuit, I still felt shame and fear from the sexual abuse. Now, I realize that I was just a kid when this happened and it is the Diocese of New Ulm and Fr. Skoblik who should be ashamed,” explained Hlavka. “I am here to support my childhood friend and to force the Diocese of New Ulm to be accountable for the many boys who were sexually abused in our small Silver Lake parish.”

James Hlavka is available for a telephone interview. Contact Patrick Noaker to coordinate an interview.

“Our client is fortunate he came forward before the May 25, 2016 deadline,” said Lee James, a nationally known attorney working with Patrick Noaker and constitutional expert Professor Marci Hamilton.

“Minnesota’s Child Victim Act opened a window of time for adult survivors of child sexual abuse to bring their claims,” explained Professor Hamilton. “That window will close on May 25th. Our team, called Hamilton James, is helping survivors meet that deadline.”

Hamilton James is a three-firm team of attorneys and staff who have devoted resources to assist abuse survivors. It has filed other cases involving Skoblik and is asking anyone with information on Skoblik or other Priests believed to have harmed children to call.

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UNITED STATES
Knights of Columbus

3/15/2016

The Knights of Columbus and Crux are pleased to announce that they plan to enter into a partnership in which Crux will remain an independent news outlet headed by John Allen and Inés San Martín.

The project is designed to make one of the world’s best known Catholic news platforms even stronger. The partnership will combine the Knights’ resources and spirit of service with the journalistic experience and commitment of Crux.

As part of the project, Catholic Pulse, a news and commentary website operated by the Knights of Columbus, will merge with Crux, adding its resources to Crux’s blend of staff-generated reporting and analysis with pieces by respected guest contributors. The Crux website will feature the tagline: “Keeping its finger on the Catholic Pulse.”

Reporting and analysis by John Allen and Inés San Martín will continue to focus primarily on the Vatican, the Church and Catholic issues generally, and international religious freedom. The aim is to ensure that informed, responsible, and fair journalism helps to set the tone for discussion of Catholic affairs in the United States and around the world. Over time, plans call for additional contributors to be identified to add their commentary to the lineup.

The Knights will respect the editorial freedom of Crux, trusting it to present news and commentary in a way that serves the good of the Church.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Australian

The Times

MARCH 17, 2016

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s office ignored ­repeated calls for help from a child sex abuse victim after staff were told to avoid contact with him to protect the Church of ­England’s financial interests.

The revelation of a cover-up at the top of the Anglican communion came as French cardinal Philippe Barbarin denied ­accu­sations that he covered up the sexual abuse of children.

A senior Anglican bishop in charge of child protection broke off communication on the orders of the church’s insurers, according to an independent report into the handling of the victim’s case.

Justin Welby promised to ­reform the approach to safeguarding and to learn from failures in a string of historical abuse cases when he became archbishop of Canterbury in 2013.

The latest case, however, points to denial and cover-up under his leadership.

For years, the victim tried to report abuse by two senior clerics in the 1970s, but the church’s treatment of him was reckless, caused distress and put him at risk, the report said. It branded child protection practices as ­unacceptable and incomplete.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

By John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor 16 Mar 2016

Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, might have helped prevent a sex abuser bishop being brought to justice for more than 20 years, a public inquiry has been told.

He allegedly failed to pass on “very detailed” allegations made in the early 1990s against the former Bishop of Lewes Peter Ball – who was jailed last year for abusing a string of boys and young men – it was claimed.

It was one of the reasons a “proper” police investigation into Ball’s abuse was delayed for more than two decades, the inquiry into historic sexual abuse in England and Wales being overseen by Justice Lowell Goddard was told.

Claims about the alleged failure were set out by Richard Scorer, one of Britain’s leading child abuse lawyers, who is representing several of Ball’s victims at the inquiry, which will examine allegations relating to the Church of England and other Anglican churches as one of its key strands.

During the first session looking at allegations relating to the Anglican churches, Justice Goddard heard legal argument about which victims should be designated officially as “core participants” in the inquiry.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Rajeev Syal and Harriet Sherwood
Wednesday 16 March 2016

The former archbishop of Canterbury George Carey failed to pass on a specific allegation of sexual abuse to the police, which allowed a bishop to continue committing offences for another 20 years, a public inquiry has heard.

Carey was sent a detailed letter by an alleged victim of the bishop Peter Ball in 1992 outlining claims of sexual abuse, a preliminary hearing of the independent inquiry into child sex abuse (IICSA) was told.

Last year Ball was sentenced to 32 months in prison for misconduct in public office and indecent assault after admitting the abuse of 18 young men between 1977 and 1992.

Richard Scorer, a partner at Slater and Gordon, which represents victims of Ball, said the victim known as A13 by the inquiry knew Ball through family. He said A13 wrote to Carey outlining the abuse in 1992, but the claims were not given to the police.

“We believe that George Carey failed to pass that information on to the police and that was one reason why a proper investigation into Ball’s activities was delayed by over 20 years,” Scorer said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Belfast Telegraph

Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey delayed a “proper investigation” into a senior priest’s paedophile crimes for two decades by failing to pass information to police, an inquiry heard.

A lawyer for some victims of Peter Ball, the disgraced former Bishop of Lewes and Bishop of Gloucester, made the claim to Dame Lowell Goddard’s public inquiry into child sex abuse.

Ball, 84, was jailed for 32 months in October 2015 after pleading guilty to a string of historical sex offences.

But 22 years previously, in 1993, he was investigated and let off with a caution for gross indecency by police after abusing a trainee monk.

Richard Scorer, who represents 17 victims, made the claim about Lord Carey while an application for three of them, all men, to be “core participants” in the inquiry at a preliminary hearing in the Royal Courts of Justice.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A public inquiry is to consider whether there was interference by the Church of England in the case of jailed former Bishop of Lewes Peter Ball.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse heard Archbishop George Carey failed to act on abuse claims made against Ball, 84, in 1993.

It also heard Ball had “permission to officiate” at church services, despite being cautioned for indecency.

Ball was jailed last year for abusing young men between the 1970s and 1990s.

The allegations are part of Dame Lowell Goddard’s inquiry investigation into how the Church of England and other public bodies dealt with claims of abuse.

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IRELAND
RTE News

The child protection commission established by Pope Francis is being hindered because of funding shortages, according to its Irish member, Marie Collins.

The only female survivor of child clerical abuse to be appointed to the body told the Irish Catholic newspaper there is talk in commission circles about fundraising, but she personally opposes going down that route.

She told the newspaper the Catholic Church has been spending large sums of money on compensating victims of clerical abuse and the commission is trying to make sure nobody is abused in the future.

She said “it’s very hard to get answers … The funding we have from the Holy See is for the practical things like the administrative staffing of the office, travel to meetings and meeting costs.

“We don’t have any clarity on where our funding comes from after that.”

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ITALIA
Il Fatto Quotidiano

di Francesco Antonio Grana | 14 marzo 2016

“Ogni volta che si accerta un caso di pedofilia si rinnova in noi il dolore e la vicinanza alle vittime e ai familiari; insieme ribadiamo la condanna dei colpevoli, mentre cresce la preoccupazione per lo scandalo delle anime”. Risponde così il cardinale Angelo Bagnasco alle recenti critiche sulla gestione dei casi di abuso sessuale dei preti sui minori. “Com’è noto, – ha precisato il porporato nella prolusione della sessione primaverile del Consiglio permanente della Cei, eccezionalmente svoltosi a Genova – i vescovi italiani sono stati tra i primi a mettere in essere con rigore le indicazioni della Santa Sede in ordine all’accertamento degli addebiti e all’erogazione delle pene, e hanno rafforzato le strutture di recupero nonché i criteri di prevenzione.

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FRANKREICH
Spiegel

Wegen seiner Agilität bekam Kardinal Philippe Barbarin einst den Spitznamen “Monseigneur 100.000 Volts” verpasst. Jetzt ist Frankreichs Primas in Erklärungsnot geraten. Dem 65-Jährigen wird vorgeworfen, in seiner Diözese Missbrauchsvorwürfe nicht angezeigt zu haben.

Konkret geht es um einen Fall aus dem Jahr 1990. Ein heute 42-Jähriger wirft einem Priester vor, ihn auf einer Ferienfreizeit im südfranzösischen Biarritz masturbiert zu haben. Das mutmaßliche Opfer war zum Tatzeitpunkt 16 Jahre alt. Es wandte sich 2009 an die Justiz, der Fall war aber verjährt. Barbarin soll von dem Verdacht gewusst haben. Jetzt kommt es zu einer Voruntersuchung gegen ihn – wegen Verdachts auf Nichtanzeige eines Verbrechens.

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FRANCE
ABC News

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
PARIS — Mar 16, 2016

Twenty-seven members of staff in French schools and high schools were struck off in 2015 because of pedophilia-related offenses, Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said Wednesday.

Vallaud-Belkacem said most of those fired where male staffers. She did not say whether they were teachers or administrative personnel, nor when the offenses happened.

France was shocked last year by the disclosure that a school headmaster who had been appointed despite a previous conviction for possessing child pornography was charged with aggravated rape of several pupils. Earlier this year, a high school teacher who had been convicted in Britain 10 years ago was given preliminary charges of sexual assault after police found pornographic images and video in his mobile phone. …

Meanwhile, the French Catholic Church is also facing child abuse allegations that led Prime Minister Manuel Valls to urge a cardinal at the center of the scandal to take action. Cardinal Philippe Barbarin insisted Wednesday that he never concealed cases of child abuse reported to him.

Barbarin is among six church officials targeted in a preliminary judicial investigation that grew out of allegations that a priest had molested boy scouts in the 1980s.

“Whether it’s school or church, I have a simple principle,” Vallaud-Belkacem said. “Pedophilia is something extremely serious that destroys lives. The principle is no silence, total transparency. Those who think that things can be settled internally or by remaining silent are making a serious mistake. I will be firm and sanctions will be issued when necessary. I’m expecting the same from every institution.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Evening Standard

MARK CHANDLER

A former vicar who sexually abused a boy from his north London church has been jailed for eight years.

Leonard Skinner, 79, was working as a vicar in Grange Park, Enfield, in the 1970s when he carried out the abuse.

Blackfriars Crown Court heard how Skinner befriended the boy and gained his trust, inviting him to the vicarage for confirmation lessons before abusing him over a four-year period from January 1972 and June 1975.

The boy was aged just 12 when the assaults began but Skinner’s crimes were not reported to police until last October.

Skinner, now of Brighton Grove, Tyne and Wear, had admitted two counts of indecent assault on a boy aged under 14 and two against a boy aged under 16.

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PENNSYLVANIA
TheMediaReport

During a confidential deposition over two full days in May and June 2014, Dan Gallagher – the Philadelphia native whose varying and preposterous tales of abuse as an altar boy in the late 1990s landed three Catholic priests and a school teacher in prison – stated more than 130 times that he could not remember some very basic facts about his claims.

That is just one of the many eye-popping new details appearing in this week’s issue of Newsweek uncovered by veteran journalist Ralph Cipriano, who continues to doggedly pursue the cause for justice for the wrongfully incarcerated men.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Nicole Chettle

Offenders have escaped conviction because cases have been heard separately instead of in a single trial, a deputy senior crown prosecutor has told the royal commission into child sexual abuse.

Richard Herps told the hearing he spent 12 years as a prosecutor in Penrith in Sydney’s west, and that of the 250 District Court trials he handled in the 1990s, nearly half involved child sexual assault.

“The Monday and Wednesday call-overs gave priority to child sex assault matters, which took up at least 40 per cent of the list,” Mr Herps said.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney is looking at the handling of such complaints in the criminal justice system.

Mr Herps said that in Penrith, these cases were almost always heard separately – even if an offender was accused of crimes against several children.

“You were always presenting a single complainant without anyone being able to buttress or support their evidence” Mr Herps said.

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INDIANA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, March 14, 2016

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, 314 645 5915 home, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)

An accused predator priest, who was allowed to keep working for months despite being named in a lawsuit as an abuser, has taken his own life.

[The Rivard Report]

It’s tragic whenever anyone commits suicide. We grieve for Fr. Elizondo’s family. But we grieve even more for his victim or victims. (He was a Notre Dame professor for five years.)

We urge Fr. Elizondo’s supporters to show restraint and sensitivity. It will be tempting to publicly profess his innocence. But that’s callous and hurtful and will only deter other victims of sexual violence to remain trapped in silence, shame and self-blame.

We as adults face a simple choice. We can either make it easier for child sex abuse victims to come forward, or harder. Publicly rallying around Fr. Elizondo makes it harder. It makes the church more dangerous.

And we again urge Catholic officials to honor their “zero tolerance” and “one strike” pledges. After the lawsuit against Fr. Elizondo was filed, he should have been suspended pending an investigation. That did not happen. That is yet another reckless betrayal by Catholic officials.

Finally, we must, as a society, understand and accept the fact that most child predators are just like Fr. Elizondo: charming, charismatic, warm, outgoing and loveable. If they weren’t, no child would want to be near them and no parent would trust their child near them. The notion that child molesters are obvious creeps and social misfits is just wrong. Worse, it’s dangerous.

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WEST VIRGINIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, March 15, 2016

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, 314 645 5915 home,davidgclohessy@gmail.com)

Criminal charges have been filed against three Catholic officials who assigned priests to work in the Wheeling-Charleston diocese. We challenge Bishop Michael J. Bransfield to take action to help prosecutors convict these complicit clerics.

Franciscans, including notorious serial predator Brother Stephen Baker, have worked for years in Philippi, WV. A grand jury in Pennsylvania has found that Franciscan officials moved eight accused clerics elsewhere after they were accused of assaulting kids.

Bransfield can do nothing. Or he can issue a strong public plea for Franciscan victims to come forward. And he can turn over to prosecutors every shred of evidence he and his staff may have about Br. Baker to secular authorities.

Who knows what e mail from what Wheeling-Charleston diocesan official to what Franciscan official might be the “smoking gun” that wins a conviction against Franciscan Frs. Giles Schinelli, 73, Robert D’Aversa, 69, and Anthony Criscitelli, who are charged with one count of endangering the welfare of children and criminal conspiracy; each are third degree felony charges.

Regardless of what Catholic officials do or don’t do, we urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups – especially by religious order cleric – to protect kids by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling journalists, get justice by calling attorneys, and get comfort by calling support groups like ours. This is how kids will be safer, adults will be healed, criminals will be prosecuted, cover ups will be deterred and the truth will be revealed.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Reading Eagle

A plan to remove time limits for victims of childhood sexual assault to bring criminal and civil cases against their abusers now has the backing of the former chairman of the committee tasked with reviewing the proposal.

State Rep. Thomas R. Caltagirone, a Reading Democrat, issued a statement today calling for the removal of both the criminal and civil statutes of limitations and the opening of a window for victims already past the current limits to bring civil cases.

The former House Judiciary Committee chairman had voiced opposition to the measure in the past. But he said today that after some soul searching in the wake of a state investigation that found rampant abuse by Altoona-area priests was covered up for decades, he concluded more needs to be done. – See more at: http://www.readingeagle.com/news/article/caltagirone-backs-plan-to-remove-statute-of-limitations-for-child-sex-abuse-cases#sthash.DLXqw8qw.dpuf

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PENNSYLVANIA
We Are Central PA

[with video]

By Marielena Balouris | mbalouris@wtajtv.com
Published 03/15 2016

Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.

Three Franciscan Friars are accused of allowing the sexual abuse of more than 100 children at Bishop McCort High School.

The charges stem from the investigation in to allegations against Brother Stephen Baker — who committed suicide in 2013 after he was accused.

Investigators say his supervisors knew he was a child predator — and intentionally concealed his crimes from police and school administrators. Giles Schinelli, Robert D’Aversa and Anthony Criscitelli now face felony charges. That’s because the statute of limitations in this case have not expired. The Attorney General said these men took a vow of silence, and allowed baker to molest more than 100 children.

Kathleen Kane, PA Attorney General, said, “We cannot stress enough the importance of holding those who treat and abuse our children accountable for what they’ve done.”

These new charges come just two weeks after a Grand Jury report detailed a cover-up inside of local Catholic churches. According to this latest Grand Jury report, the Franciscan Friars at the Province of the Immaculate Conception had “considerable experience in handling members of the order…who faced allegations of sexual child abuse.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Director of the Holy See press office, Fr Federico Lombardi, issued two statements to journalists Tuesday, one the regarding Vatileaks, and the other on the unrelated case of Cardinal Philippe Barbarin.

Fr. Lombardi issued an update to journalists on the March 15 sessions of the Vatileaks trial at the Vatican City State tribunal.

Those present were the judges, along with four of the defendants charged for their involvement in the leaking of the documents. The fifth defendant, Gianluigi Nuzzi was absent and was represented by his defense attorney.

Defendants Msgr. Vallejo Balda and Emiliano Fittipaldi were questioned over the course of the day’s hearings, which concluded at 4:30 in the afternoon.

Fr Lombardi said further hearings are scheduled for later this and next week, with more tentatively scheduled for after Easter.

In a separate statement Fr. Lombardi addressed a letter published by the French association “La Parole libérée” regarding a case of pedophilia which took place in France years ago.

French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin is accused of covering up sex abuse by failing to remove a priest known to have abused minors decades earlier.

French authorities have recently opened investigations into the matter.

Fr Lombardi stressed the Church’s development of awareness and increasing responsibility “which must be continually renewed.”

The letter in question requests a private audience with Pope Francis, although Fr Lombardi said such requests made through a publication do not typically result in a meeting with the Pope.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

A Salvation Army officer accused of abusing four boys in the same training centre was acquitted when evidence was disallowed, a national inquiry has been told.

The child sex abuse royal commission heard on Wednesday Norman John Poulter, an officer at the Bayswater Boys’ Home in Victoria, was charged in 2008 with 14 counts of child sex abuse against four boys.

A trial judge decided that a joint or group trial could be held, and coincidence evidence – in this case evidence showing children of about the same age complained about the same man in the same place – should be admitted.

When lawyers for Poulter appealed the judge’s decision, the Victorian Court of Appeal ruled the evidence was not admissible and ordered separate trials.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

By DAVID JEANS FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Comedian and musician Tim Minchin is still overwhelmed one month after he released a satirical song that urged Cardinal George Pell to return to Australia from Rome and face questions by the Royal Commission into child sex abuse.

The song raised enough money and publicity to send the Ballarat survivors of child sex abuse to Rome and watch George Pell answer questions, after he stated he couldn’t come to Australia because of illness.

Minchin says the song, ‘Come home, Cardinal Pell’, was produced in a single day and is one of his greatest achievements.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

Dozens of Church of England officials failed to take action after being told of ‘sadistic’ abuse on a boy by a paedophile clergyman, a damning report has revealed.

Over 40 years, the victim repeatedly spoke about the treatment he suffered as a 15-year-old, in what was described as ‘a tragic catalogue of exploitation and harm’.

But an independent report by safeguarding expert Ian Elliott found officials failed to act – leading the church to issue an official apology last night and promise it would introduce a raft of changes on how it handles sex abuse allegations.

The Church of England published only the conclusions and recommendations of the review, without names, but last night The Guardian revealed further details from within the report.

The newspaper said the victim was subjected to a ‘sadistic’ assault in 1976 – and named the perpetrator as Garth Moore, chancellor of three dioceses and vicar of St Mary’s Abchurch in the City of London. The clergyman died in 1990.

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MISSISSIPPI
Sun Herald

BY WESLEY MULLER
wmuller@sunherald.com

HANCOCK COUNTY — A youth pastor was arrested Tuesday on charges of sexually abusing a child twice in the last three months.

Hancock County sheriff’s investigators booked David Matthew Thorne, 35, of Picayune, on two counts of sexual battery of a minor.

Chief Investigator Glenn Grannan said Thorne, a youth pastor at Goodyear Baptist Church in Pearl River County, sexually abused the same child on Jan. 31 and Feb. 7.

The alleged crimes occurred in Hancock County and came under investigation after the child’s parents notified authorities, Grannan said.

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MISSISSIPPI
Clay Center Dispatch

Associated Press

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (AP) — Authorities say a youth pastor has been arrested on charges of sexually abusing a child twice in the last three months.

The Sun Herald reports (http://bit.ly/1TMJPE1) Hancock County sheriff’s investigators booked 35-year-old David Matthew Thorne, of Picayune, Tuesday on two counts of sexual battery of a minor.

Chief Investigator Glenn Grannan said Thorne, a youth pastor at Goodyear Baptist Church in Pearl River County, sexually abused the same child on Jan. 31 and Feb. 7.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

BY MARIA MILLER TUESDAY, MARCH 15TH 2016

JOHNSTOWN — Following the announcement of criminal charges against three Franciscan Friars, accused of covering up sexual abuse by a former Bishop McCort teacher and athletic trainer, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane said Tuesday her office found no criminal wrongdoing by the Bishop McCort board, the Johnstown Police Department or the Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

However, a few weeks ago Cambria County District Attorney Kelly Callihan told 6 News she thinks the Johnstown Police Department could have done more.

Allegations of sexual abuse at Bishop McCort Catholic High School first surfaced in 2011. That’s when Bishop Mark Bartchak notified Johnstown police of two victims.

“At least two individuals had previously come forward previously to the Johnstown Police Department and they never notified me of that,” said Callihan.

It wasn’t until 2013 that Callihan said she was informed when more people came forward after a similar case in Ohio.

“The grand jury could also not find conclusive evidence that the Johnstown police engaged in any criminal wrongdoing,” Kane said. “However, unprofessional conduct on the part of this law enforcement, it does not appear that the officials engaged in any criminal conduct.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

[with video]

BY KODY LEIBOWITZ TUESDAY, MARCH 15TH 2016

JOHNSTOWN — A number of victims of Brother Stephen Baker’s happened at Bishop McCort High School.

The investigation began years ago with a number of civil lawsuits: civil suits in Blair county and in Ohio.

Three high ranking members of the Franciscan Friars, Third Order Regulars, Province of the Immaculate Conception are facing felony criminal charges.

Attorney General Kathleen Kane described it as a cover-up of religious leaders allowing sexual abuse of more than 80 children, charging Giles Schinelli, Robert D’Avers and Anthony Criscitelli.

But the cases began when 11 victims of Brother Baker filed civil suits against JFK High School in Ohio and the Diocese of Youngstown.

They were represented by Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian.

“The 11 victims of Brother Baker who first brought the case to light about four years ago in Ohio should be commended, empowering themselves and other victims to make this world a safer place for children,” said Garabedian.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Source: Tom Halden, Director of Communications

From Archbishop Bernard Hebda

Today, Rev. Anthony Criscitelli, a priest of the Franciscan Friars of the Third Order Regular (TOR) and pastor of the Church of Saint Bridget in Minneapolis, was removed from ministry in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, pending the outcome of criminal charges that were filed against him this morning in Pennsylvania.

Those actions were taken in coordination with Fr. Criscitelli’s Religious community, the Province of the Immaculate Conception of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis, upon learning that he had been indicted by the Attorney General of Pennsylvania in a case involving his Order. The precise criminal charges of “endangering the welfare of children and criminal conspiracy” are based on his supervision, as Minister Provincial of the Order of Friars Minor, Province of the Immaculate Conception, from 2002 to 2010, of a Franciscan friar from that Province, Brother Stephen Baker, TOR.

Father Criscitelli has served in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis since 1982. The Archdiocese has no record of any allegations of misconduct against him. Brother Baker’s name already appears on the Archdiocese’s website listing of those with substantiated claims of sexual abuse of a minor. He had been assigned by the Franciscans to the Church of Saint Patrick in Inver Grove Heights from 1977 to 1981.

As per our protocols, the Archdiocese will cooperate with law enforcement. A temporary administrator will be appointed to cover administrative duties and to serve in the role of pastor during the interim.

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MINNESOTA
Catholic Spirit

Catholic News Service | March 15, 2016

Three Franciscan priests, including one assigned to a Minneapolis parish, were charged with conspiracy for endangering the welfare of children as well as for endangering the welfare of children in connection with a two-year investigation into sexual abuse in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

Franciscan Fathers Giles Schinelli, Robert D’Aversa and Anthony Criscitelli were expected to return to Pennsylvania to answer the charges, said Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane at a news conference March 15 at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown campus.

Father Criscitelli is pastor of St. Bridget in Minneapolis. He has been removed from ministry pending the outcome of the criminal charges, according to a March 15 statement from Archbishop Bernard Hebda, apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Father Criscitelli has served in the archdiocese since 1982. The archdiocese has no records of misconduct allegations filed against him, Archbishop Hebda stated.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

BY SARA SMALL TUESDAY, MARCH 15TH 2016

JOHNSTOWN — Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane is crediting one man for speaking up for victims of child sexual abuse by priests.

Kane thanked George Foster Tuesday morning during a press conference where she announced the filing of criminal charges against three Franciscan Friars for their role in the Brother Stephen Baker case.

Kane says the brothers made it possible for Baker to sexually abuse hundreds of children. It was the investigation of Baker’s actions at Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown that led to the grand jury report detailing decades of abuse within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

The Attorney General spoke about Foster’s actions to root out child sex abuse within the Diocese.

Foster is well known to the press in the Johnstown area for researching and investigating child sex abuse by priests. He started being a victim’s advocate and did something Kane says should be seen as an example; he spoke up and gave the victims a voice.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Altoona Mirror

March 16, 2016

By Russ O’Reilly (roreilly@altoonamirror.com) , The Altoona Mirror

Brother Stephen Baker wasn’t a diocesan priest but a Franciscan friar of a province in Hollidaysburg, and he wasn’t the only friar of the province serving the Altoona-Johnstown Catholic diocese despite allegations of child molestation against them, the Office of the Attorney General revealed.

Baker’s roommate at St. Bernardine’s monastery on Catfish Road and several other friars of the Province of the Immaculate Conception in Hollidaysburg remained in ministry after allegations were levied against them, the grand jury report released Tuesday stated.

It is the second report issued in two weeks regarding a statewide grand jury investigation of the diocese.

The investigation of the diocese began in 2014 with allegations against Baker, a teacher and athletic trainer at Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown from 1992 to 2000. Allegations of abuse originate even earlier, when he was assigned to a diocese in Ohio.

And while there’s no evidence that Bishop Joseph Adamec was aware of allegations against Baker, Attorney General Kathleen Kane said Tuesday that the diocese and leaders of the Franciscan province in Hollidaysburg communicated about other friars with allegations against them.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

[with video]

BY JILLIAN HARTMANN WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16TH 2016

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Parents and alumni from Bishop McCort speak out after Pennsylvania Attorney General, Kathleen Kane announced the filing of criminal charges against three Franciscan friars for their role in the Brother Stephen Baker case.

Kane made the announcement Tuesday morning saying Father Giles Schinelli, Father Robert D’Aversa and Father Anthony Criscitelli made it possible for Baker to sexually abuse hundreds of children.

Parents and alumni from Bishop McCort Catholic High School told 6 News justice needs to be reserved.

“They should be in jail, all of them should be in jail,” said Bishop McCort alumni, Patty Kimball. “They did a very great injustice to those young victims, it’s horrible.”

Baker served as a teacher and athletic trainer at Bishop McCort in the 90s. Kane said each of the three men had a hand in Baker’s placement at McCort.

“I was happy the Attorney General’s office actually followed through and they are taking action,” said Bishop McCort parent, Kim Nagy.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Harriet Sherwood Religion correspondent
@harrietsherwood
Wednesday 16 March 2016

The independent inquiry into child sex abuse is to hold a preliminary hearing on Wednesday in an investigation into the track record of Anglican churches in England and Wales in preventing exploitation, dealing with perpetrators and helping survivors to overcome trauma and obtain justice.

Scrutiny of the Church of England’s policies and practices on child sex abuse comes a day after a damning review of the church’s failures to respond to a survivor over a period of almost 40 years called for far-reaching cultural and structural change.

One strand of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse (IICSA), headed by Lowell Goddard, will focus on the diocese of Chichester, which has been at the centre of allegations of child protection failures.

Last year Peter Ball, the former bishop of Lewes, which falls within the diocese, was jailed for 32 months for the abuse of 18 vulnerable young men and boys dating back to the 1970s. After a police investigation in the 1990s resulted in a caution, Ball resigned as a bishop but continued to officiate within the church.

Also last year, the C of E issued an apology and paid compensation to an alleged victim of George Bell, the former bishop of Chichester who died in 1958. The survivor first reported being abused as a small child by Bell 20 years ago, but the matter was not investigated or referred to police at the time.

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