ABUSE TRACKER

NEW YORK
CBS New York

[with video]

KIRYAS JOEL, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) — There was new information Friday, on abuse allegations at an Orange County school.

Sources told CBS2 that the federal government is looking into the principal at a yeshiva school for allegedly sexually abusing children.

The probe came after shocking videos surfaced out of the school.

As CBS2’s Ilana Gold reported, the FBI zeroed in on the United Talmudical Academy in Kiryas Joel in Monroe.

After looking through evidence seized by agents during a raid on Thursday, a source close to the investigation said they’re focused on a principal who’s also a rabbi and his possible sexual abuse of male students in the orthodox elementary that may have been covered up.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY LARRY MCSHANE

Child-sex abuse victims rights advocate Michael Polenberg, after a decade of disappointment, is optimistic this year.

The executive at the group Safe Horizon thinks there’s a good chance that the long-delayed Child Victims Act to change the state’s statute of limitations in child abuse cases could finally pass.

“I think there is a momentum that none of us have seen before,” said Polenberg, vice president for governmental affairs at Safe Horizon. “These are the most encouraging signs we’ve seen that the folks in Albany are taking this seriously.”

Polenberg’s organization hopes to stir up more support with an online petition now available through its website, safehorizon.org.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Argus

Joel Adams, Reporter / Argus_JoelA

A PORTRAIT of a wartime bishop which was taken down after revelations that he had sexually abused a five-year-old girl has been rehung by a city council.

A portrait of George Bell, who was the leader of the Church of England in Sussex, was removed from its place above the staircase in Chichester City Council’s offices following a shocking formal apology issued last October by current Bishop Martin Warner to the victim, who was also given a five figure settlement.

But the portrait of the former Bishop of Chichester, who died in 1958, has now been rehung in a prominent location by the main entrance of the building in North Street, Chichester, following an impromptu meeting of the property subcommittee of the city council led by Tony Dignum, who is also Leader of the District Council.

Cllr Dignum said: “Back last October when the matter arose the clerk rightly said we do have a risk of vandalism, so for security reasons we took it down.”

He added: “We have been very mindful of the work done by Andrew Chandler [Bell’s biographer and a leading voice calling for his rehabilitation] and I felt he made a very strong case that the church had acted very hastily in condemning Bell and that natural justice had not been observed.

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AUSTRALIA
National Catholic Register

by John Power, Register Correspondent Wednesday, May 11, 2016

MELBOURNE, Australia — It’s Palm Sunday at St. Bede’s Church in Balwyn North, and parishioners have filled the pews to the brim for late-morning Mass. It’s an impressive attendance for a church in a sleepy eastern suburb of Australia’s second city, less than a third of which identifies as Catholic.

Yet times are difficult for the Melbourne Archdiocese, from which have emerged some of the most shocking revelations of child sex abuse and its cover-up within the Church in Australia.

That painful history has re-entered the public spotlight in recent weeks, as Catholics and nonbelievers alike have questioned the role of the former archbishop of Melbourne, Cardinal George Pell.

Cardinal Pell has become the focal point of scrutiny into the Church in Australia’s handling of abuse, with his recent testimony before a commission tasked with investigating institutional abuse. Survivors and media commentators have charged that the cardinal, who now manages the Holy See’s accounts in Rome as prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, must have known about priests targeting children but failed to act, something the cardinal has stringently denied.

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CONNECTICUT
Boston Globe

By Sacha Pfeiffer GLOBE STAFF MAY 14, 2016

The knock on Keith Claffey’s window caught him off guard.

He had just pulled into his driveway after a grocery trip when he heard a light rap on glass. An Amazon delivery, he wondered? The clipboard-carrying man outside his car did have something to deliver, but it was an unpleasant surprise: a subpoena by an insurance company ordering him to testify at a federal trial.

The insurer wanted to ask Claffey a question in court about a traumatic experience from his childhood: When had he first told church officials that, beginning at age 11, he had been repeatedly molested by a priest?

His answer could help determine whether Interstate Fire & Casualty Co. must reimburse the Archdiocese of Hartford for more than $1 million it paid to settle sexual abuse cases against several priests. At issue: whether the church is entitled to insurance coverage for abuse it should have known was likely to occur. Interstate is refusing to cover the settlements.

“Why am I getting dragged back into this more than 30 years later?” said Claffey, 54, who grew up in Bloomfield, Conn., and lives in Maplewood, N.J. “It definitely brought a lot of it all back, and the thought of going through that in open court would be horrifying.”

Why did it take a succession of three cardinals and many bishops 34 years to place children out of John J. Geoghan’s reach?

Since the 1950s, the Catholic Church has paid an estimated $3 billion in clergy sex abuse settlements, according to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, some of which was covered by liability insurance that protects dioceses from lawsuits. Occasionally there are disputes over whether claims should be covered, and those legal battles are usually resolved privately or in court proceedings that receive little public notice.

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OHIO
Beacon Journal

By Nick Glunt
Beacon Journal staff writer

A federal appeals court on Thursday upheld the sentence of 10 years to life in prison for a former Akron priest and lawyer convicted in 2008 of raping an 8-year-old boy.

Joseph Williams, 72, will remain behind bars at Mansfield Correctional Institution until at least October 2018, when he will go before a parole panel. Williams was convicted in Cuyahoga Common Pleas Court on a charge of raping a child under age 13, and he appealed his case repeatedly until it reached a federal court.

In his latest appeal, Williams’ attorneys argue that previous attorneys who represented him were not effective at defending him. Specifically, they alleged previous attorneys should have attempted to find witnesses to support an alibi and brought psychiatric experts to the witness stand to speak of the alleged rape victim’s mental illnesses.

Sixth District U.S. Court of Appeals judges denied Williams’ appeal on Thursday, writing that he should have brought up those arguments to lower appellate courts rather than a federal court.

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MINNESOTA
Wall Street Journal

By TOM CORRIGAN
May 13, 2016

The Rev. Bernard Hebda, a lawyer who once worked at a big corporate law firm, on Friday took over as the leader of the troubled Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Pope Francis in March appointed Archbishop Hebda to head the Twin Cities archdiocese, which is facing legal headwinds in both bankruptcy and criminal courts. He was formally installed Friday during a ceremonial mass at the Cathedral of St. Paul that drew other Catholic leaders.

The new archbishop is taking over at a critical time for the archdiocese and will have to shepherd it through a tangle of litigation tied to its alleged failure to protect children from abusive priests.

The archdiocese, home to more than 180 parishes and 825,000 parishioners, filed for chapter 11 protection last year to halt several abuse-related lawsuits from going to trial.

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PERU
Andina

Lima, may. 13. El Vaticano nombró al arzobispo de Indianápolis (Estados Unidos), Joseph William Tobin, como delegado que lo representará para que el Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana continúe la investigación de Luis Fernando Figari, acusado de abusos sexuales a menores, y desarrolle la reforma de esa congregación religiosa.

Así lo informó hoy el superior general del Sodalicio, Alessandro Moroni, al dar a conocer el Decreto Vaticano que define la decisión de la Santa Sede en el caso Sodalicio.

Sobre el arzobispo de Indianápolis, Moroni informó que éste tendrá como atribuciones aconsejar al superior general y al gobierno del Sodalicio en todas sus competencias.

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PERU
PERU 21

El superior general del Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana, Alessandro Moroni presentó el decreto del Vaticano tras las denuncias sobre presuntos abusos físicos, psicológicos y sexuales que habrían sido cometidos por su fundador, Luis Figari, y la cúpula de dicha organización religiosa.

Alessandro Moroni tuvo como principal anuncio que el Vaticano nombró a Joseph William Tobin, arzobispo de Indianápolis, como delegado del Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana, quien tendrá la atribución de aconsejar y sostener al Superior General y al gobierno del Sodalicio en el cumplimiento de todas sus competencias.

“Mientras culminen las investigaciones en el Vaticano el delegado guiará al gobierno del Sodalicio en las decisiones a adoptar en el caso de Luis Fernando Figari”, dice el comunicado.

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NEW YORK
News 12

The FBI raids in Kiryas Joel this week are the result of an investigation into alleged sexual abuse at one of the village’s yeshivas, according to multiple sources.

News 12 has learned there is a federal investigation into the alleged abuse and a possible cover-up at United Talmuidcal Academy.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

10 May

In July, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse will hold second preliminary hearings in relation to four of its investigations.

The hearings will be held in court 73 of the Royal Courts of Justice. The full details of the hearings are:

* Tuesday 26 July 2016, 10.30 am – further preliminary hearing in relation to the investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse involving Lord Greville Janner and the institutional responses to those allegations.

* Wednesday 27 July 2016: 10.30 am – further preliminary hearing in relation to the investigation into the extent of any institutional failures to protect children from sexual abuse within the Anglican Church.

* Wednesday 27 July 2016: 11.45 am – further preliminary hearing in relation to the inquiry into allegations of the sexual abuse and exploitation of children residing at or attending Cambridge House Boys’ Hostel, Knowl View School, and other institutions where their placement was arranged or provided by Rochdale Borough Council.

* Wednesday 27 July 2016: 2.00 pm – further preliminary hearing in relation to the investigation of the extent of any institutional failures to protect children in the care of Lambeth Council from sexual abuse and exploitation.

The hearings follow initial preliminary hearings, in relation to these four investigations, held in March. They will discuss the progress of the investigations and give directions.

Preliminary hearings are not broadcast, but they are open to the press and public and live tweeting is allowed. A transcript of the hearing will be available on our website.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Sandra Laville
Friday 13 May 2016

The director of public prosecutions has been forced to remind chief constables that the dead cannot be charged with criminal offences, amid a huge increase in investigations into historical child abuse.

Alison Saunders issued the directive to senior officers, reminding them that only those who are living can be tried in a criminal court, because CPS lawyers are being bombarded with files of evidence from police seeking charging decisions on deceased suspects.

“Since deceased persons cannot be prosecuted, the Crown Prosecution Service will not make a charging decision in respect of a suspect who is deceased,” the guidance states. “This applies in all cases where the suspect is deceased, including cases in which the police made a referral to the CPS for a charging decision prior to the suspect’s death. The CPS will also not make hypothetical charging decisions.”

Prosecutors and police are dealing with a huge increase in investigations into past child abuse as the revelations about Jimmy Savile continue to resonate. They anticipate an even greater rise in the number of cases of non-recent abuse as the Goddard inquiry into institutional child abuse begins its public hearings into alleged institutional cover-ups in Lambeth, the Catholic church, the Church of England and Westminster.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review

BY BRAD BUMSTED | Friday, May 13, 2016

HARRISBURG — State investigators are conducting inquiries into child-abuse allegations in Roman Catholic dioceses beyond Altoona-Johnstown, which was the subject of a hard-hitting grand jury report in March, Bruce Castor, solicitor general in the attorney general’s office, said Friday.

The grand jury report said nearly 50 priests molested hundreds of children over several decades in Altoona-Johnstown. Castor’s statement in an interview with the Tribune-Review is the first public acknowledgement by Attorney General Kathleen Kane’s office that other allegations are getting a serious review.

“Whether they lead to arrests is an open question,” said Castor, the former Montgomery County district attorney. He stopped short of saying investigations are underway elsewhere, calling them “inquiries.”

Pennsylvania has dioceses in Allentown, Altoona-Johnstown, Erie, Greensburg, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Scranton.

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PERU
Headlines from the Catholic World

Lima, Peru, May 13, 2016 / 12:53 pm (CNA).- The superior general of the Lima, Peru, May 13, 2016 / 12:53 pm (CNA).- The superior general of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae announced in a statement today that Archbishop Joseph William Tobin of Indianapolis has been appointed by the Vatican as the delegate to oversee the order’s ongoing reforms.

According to the statement, Archbishop Tobin was appointed to the task by the Congregation for the Institutios of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life. As delegate, Archbishop Tobin’s responsibilities include advising and supporting the Superior General and the governance of the Sodalitium in the fulfillment of all of its responsibilities, including all of the decisions made in the sessions of the Superior Council of the order.

At the end of each semester, Archbishop Tobin will inform the Holy See of the decisions, initiatives and results of the Governance of the Sodalitium in the areas of community life and fraternity, vocation and discernment of candidates, initial and permanent formation and the management of apostolic projects. He will also oversee the administration of the goods of the community.

The Sodalitium Christianae Vitae is a society of apostolic life which was founded in 1971 in Peru, and granted pontifical recognition in 1997. Alejandro Bermúdez, executive director of CNA, is a member of the community. announced in a statement today that Archbishop Joseph William Tobin of Indianapolis has been appointed by the Vatican as the delegate to oversee the order’s ongoing reforms.

According to the statement, Archbishop Tobin was appointed to the task by the Congregation for the Institutios of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life. As delegate, Archbishop Tobin’s responsibilities include advising and supporting the Superior General and the governance of the Sodalitium in the fulfillment of all of its responsibilities, including all of the decisions made in the sessions of the Superior Council of the order.

At the end of each semester, Archbishop Tobin will inform the Holy See of the decisions, initiatives and results of the Governance of the Sodalitium in the areas of community life and fraternity, vocation and discernment of candidates, initial and permanent formation and the management of apostolic projects. He will also oversee the administration of the goods of the community.

The Sodalitium Christianae Vitae is a society of apostolic life which was founded in 1971 in Peru, and granted pontifical recognition in 1997. Alejandro Bermúdez, executive director of CNA, is a member of the community.

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INDIANA
NWI Times

Bob Kasarda bob.kasarda@nwi.com, (219) 548-4345

VALPARAISO — Police say a man serving as a youth pastor at Emanuel Baptist Church in South Haven had inappropriate sexual contact with two girls from the church, including one who had confided with him that she had suffered abuse at home.

Timothy Lawrence, 30, of the 700 block of McCool Road in South Haven, is charged with three felony counts of sexual misconduct with a minor. He had not been arrested yet as of late Friday morning.

The abuse allegedly took place between November 2013 and July 2014, according to court records.

One of the girls, who was at least 14 but younger than 16, told police Lawrence was a big part of her life because of her bad home life. She considered church her escape, police said.

She said Lawrence began touching her during a car ride home and then began texting nude photographs and a video of himself and asking her to do the same, police said. The level and instances of touching then accelerated, she said.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Main Post

[Erika Kerstner: There are church leaders who understand what can cause human violence and the violence suffered mostly has lifelong consequences. You will hear the victims, take them seriously.]

Christine Jeske

Erika Kerstner beschäftigt sich mit dem Thema „Glaube nach Gewalterfahrungen“. Die ehemalige Lehrerin für katholische Religion gründete vor 16 Jahren in der Region Karlsruhe die Initiative „GottesSuche“, die sich als ökumenische Arbeits- und Selbsthilfegruppe versteht. Sie unterstützt vor allem weibliche Missbrauchsopfer, weil sie beobachtet hat, dass Frauen anders als Männer mit ihrer Missbrauchserfahrung umgehen.

Zudem ist sie der Meinung, dass männliche Opfer männliche Seelsorger brauchen. Erika Kerstner informiert auf ihrer Webseite (www.gottes-suche.de), ist Buchautorin (siehe Literaturtipp am Ende des Textes) – und schreibt ab und an auch Briefe, wie jüngst an den Würzburger Bischof Friedhelm Hofmann.

Frage: 2010 wurde das Ausmaß der Missbrauchsfälle im Canisius-Kolleg in Berlin bekannt. Seither wurden Leitlinien überarbeitet, externe Missbrauchsbeauftragte ernannt, Präventionsangebote geschaffen. Wie steht es mittlerweile um den Aufklärungswillen der Kirche bei Missbrauchsvorwürfen gegen Kleriker?

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NEW YORK
The Journal News

Two search warrants were executed in the ultra-Orthodox village on Thursday.

A federal probe in the village of Kiryas Joel is focusing on child abuse allegations at a village school and how authorities responded to them, a law enforcement source told The Journal News on Friday.

FBI agents on Thursday executed search warrants at the United Talmudical Academy school buildings and at a trailer that houses the Department of Public Safety on the outskirts of the village. They spent about four hours in each location and left with boxes of documents and equipment.

The raids came a week after two videos were posted on the Internet showing a school principal in close physical contact with young male students.

The videos, purportedly taken several months ago, came from a ceiling camera in the office of the 67-year-old principal. The identity of those who hid the camera and leaked the videos has not been revealed publicly.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Queerty

A well-known Catholic priest in Ireland was outed for having a secret Grindr profile two months ago… and we’re just now learning about it!

35-year-old Rory Coyle is, er, was a priest in Armagh, a town in Northern Ireland. That is until it was discovered he had been keeping a secret Grindr account with some rather scandalous photos of himself.

Coyle was outed when an unnamed source contacted the local Catholic newspaper to confess he had sexted with the holy man on Grindr on several occasions.

In an email to the whistleblower blog Thinking Catholicism, the source, who is over the age of 18, explains: “[Coyle] spoke to me on Grindr a few times and kept wanting to come to my mum’s house for sex with me while she was at work. He sent me lots of naked pics of himself too. When I realized who he was I sent them to a journalist along with the screenshots of his sex chat.”

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OHIO
Cleveland.com

By Eric Heisig, cleveland.com
on May 13, 2016

CINCINNATI, Ohio — A former Catholic priest and attorney serving a life sentence for raping an eight-year-old boy lost another appeal Friday, as a federal appeals court tossed his attempts to question the strategy of his previous attorneys.

Joseph Williams, 72, of Akron, was convicted in 2008 of raping the boy at a Warrensville Heights nursing home in 1992.

The rape was not disclosed until 2007, when the victim was treated for mental-health issues and underwent counseling, according to an opinion from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Williams, representing himself, argued that the lawyers who represented him at trial and on his appeal were ineffective. The 6th Circuit dismissed the case, ruling in a similar fashion to state and federal judges that previously reviewed the case.

Williams was a priest from 1969 to 1976 and served as a chaplain at Lorain Catholic High School. He then left the church and became a lawyer in the 1980s. He retired in 1998.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service – Bollettino

Vatican City, 13 May 2016 – The Holy Father has appointed:

– Fr. David Austin Konderla as bishop of Tulsa (area 68,394, population 1,790,000, Catholics 65,658, priests 107, permanent deacons 76, religious 126), U.S.A. The bishop-elect was born in Bryan, Texas, U.S.A. in 1960 and was ordained a priest in 1995. He studied at the University of Dallas and the “St. Mary” seminary in Houston, and has served in a number of pastoral roles in the diocese of Austin, including parish vicar, director of priestly vocations, member of the personnel board, and member of the presbyteral council. He is currently parish priest at the St. Mary Catholic Centre at the University of Texas A&M at College Station, and diocesan consultor. He succeeds Bishop Edward J. Slattery, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese upon reaching the age limit was accepted by the Holy Father.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service – Bollettino

Vatican City, 13 May 2016 – Yesterday, 12 May, in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall, Pope Francis met with the participants in the plenary assembly of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), on the theme “Weaving global solidarity for life”, which closes the celebrations for the Jubilee for fifty years of the UISG. The conversation between the Holy Father and the consecrated women took place in an informal context, with a series of questions and answers, and focused on the integration of women in the life of the Church and the role, mission and difficulties faced by consecrated women and the Union of Superiors General. The following are extensive extracts of the discussion.

For a better integration of women in the life of the Church

Question: Pope Francis, you have said that “the feminine genius is necessary in all expressions of the life of the Church and of society”, and yet women are excluded from decision-making processes in the Church, especially at the highest levels, and from preaching in the Eucharist. An important obstacle to Church’s full embrace of the “feminine genius” is the bond that both decision-making processes and preaching have with priestly ordination. Do you see a way of separating from ordination both leadership roles and preaching in the Eucharist, so that our Church can be more open to receiving the genius of women in the very near future?

Pope Francis: It is true that women are excluded from decision-making processes in the Church: excluded no, but the integration of women is very weak there, in decision-making processes. We must move forward … because in many aspects of decision-making processes ordination is not necessary. … For me the influence on decisions is very important: not only the execution, but also the development, and therefore that women, both consecrated and laywomen, enter into reflection on the process, and in discussion. … I experienced a problem in Buenos Aires: viewing it with the priests’ council – therefore all men – it was treated well, but then seeing it with a group of religious and lay women it was greatly enriched, and this helped the decision by offering a complementary vision. This is necessary!

[…] Then there is the problem of preaching at the Eucharistic Celebration. There is no problem for a woman – religious or lay – to preach in the Liturgy of the Word. There is no problem. But at the Eucharistic Celebration there is a liturgical-dogmatic problem, because it is one celebration – the Liturgy of the Word and the Eucharistic Liturgy, there is unity between them – and He Who presides is Jesus Christ. The priest or bishop who presides does so in the person of Jesus Christ. It is a theological-liturgical reality. In that situation, since women are not ordained, they cannot preside.

In leadership, instead, there is no problem: in that respect we must go forward, with prudence, but seeking solutions.

There are two temptations here, against which we must be on guard. The first is feminism: the role of the woman in the Church is not feminism, it is a right! It is a right through baptism, with the charisms and the gifts that the Spirit has given. … The other danger, a very strong temptation I have spoken about several times, is clericalism. … Let us consider that today more than 60 per cent of parishes do not have a council for economic affairs or a pastoral council. What does this mean? It means that the parish or diocese is led with a clerical spirit, by the priest alone, and that it does not implement the synodality in the parish, in the diocese, which is not a novelty under this Pope. No! It is a matter of canon law: the parish priest is obliged to have a council of, for and with laymen, laywomen and women religious for pastoral ministry and for economic affairs. And they do not do this. This is the danger of clericalism in the Church today.

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ESPANA
El Mundo

[Father Roman, accused of sexual abuse, asks the court in Spain to expedite the judicial process.]

EFEGranada

13/05/2016 El padre Román, único procesado en el conocido como “caso Romanones” por supuestos abusos sexuales a un menor, ha pedido a la Audiencia de Granada que agilice el proceso judicial y que la Fiscalía presente ya su escrito de calificación provisional de los hechos investigados.

Esta solicitud ha sido formulada a través de un escrito, al que ha tenido acceso Efe, presentado esta misma semana ante la Sección Segunda del tribunal provincial y en el que la representación legal del sacerdote suplica a la Sala que acuerde el “impulso procesal” de las actuaciones para así poder “reanudar su correcto devenir”.

Con esta petición pretende que la Fiscalía pueda aportar su escrito de calificación provisional o bien informe de las causas que se lo han imposibilitado dos meses después de que la propia Audiencia acordara la apertura del juicio oral y diera un plazo de cinco días al Ministerio Público para calificar los hechos.

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PERU
Vice

By Simeon Tegel

May 13, 2016

The sexual abuse began one evening in a park, says Alvaro Urbina. He was 14.

A misfit at his expensive English-style school in Lima, Peru, Urbina’s recently separated mother was desperate to provide him with some direction. She enrolled him in Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana.

Sodalicio was a kind of Catholic boot camp, run by non-clerical volunteers, dedicated to transforming teenagers from the Peruvian elite into prominent priests or devout and influential lay members of society.

“We clicked a little,” says Urbina of the mentor twice his age who had been tasked with befriending the troubled adolescent. “He was quite arrogant, but funny and very assertive, and a bit of a homophobe.”

One evening, after taking out Urbina and several other boys for ice cream, the pair wound up alone in the park.

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OKLAHOMA
Catholic Herald

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Edward J. Slattery of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and named as his successor Fr. David Konderla, a priest of the Diocese of Austin, Texas.

The appointment was announced in Washington May 13 by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Bishop Slattery is 75, the age at which canon law requires bishops to turn in their resignation. He was appointed to head the Tulsa Diocese in November 1993 by Pope John Paul II. Bishop-designate Konderla, 55, was ordained June 3, 1995.

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ITALIA
La Repubblica

Don Mauro Inzoli, per trent’anni capo carismatico di Comunione e Liberazione di Cremona e fondatore del Banco alimentare, risarcisce con 25mila euro cinque vittime dei suoi abusi sessuali. Il processo per “don Mercedes”, così ribattezzato per l’amore per il lusso, si svolgerà con rito abbreviato, come deciso oggi in udienza, e come aveva chiesto la difesa di Inzoli che puntava a tenere fuori dal processo le parti civili. L’accordo sul risarcimento tra accusa e difesa è stato raggiunto davanti al gup Letizia Platè, e don Inzoli, 66 anni, tornerà in aula il prossimo 29 giugno.

Sono otto gli episodi di violenza sessuale di cui il prete deve rispondere, mentre altri 15 sono caduti in prescrizione: le accuse nei suoi confronti sono gravissime. All’epoca dei fatti che risalgono al periodo tra il 2004 e il 2008, i minori che lo hanno portato in Tribunale avevano i più piccoli 12 e 13 anni, gli altri tra 14 e 16. Don Inzoli allora era rettore al liceo linguistico Shakespeare e parroco della chiesa della Santissima Trinità di Crema a cui faceva capo il gruppo Gioventù studentesca. ‘Don Mercedes’ avrebbe abusato della sua autorità, sia nel suo ufficio dove teneva gli esercizi spirituali con i ragazzini, sia negli alberghi dei luoghi di villeggiatura dove Cl portava i giovani durante le vacanze estive. Secondo la procura, da parte di don Inzoli ci sarebbero stato verso i ragazzini baci, carezze, abbracci, pesanti palpeggiamenti. Era considerato un “idolo meritevole di venerazione” persino dai genitori delle vittime, che per questo motivo non avrebbero avuto la forza di reagire: tutti provavano una fortissima sottomissione psicologica davanti a lui.

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ITALY
The Local

A controversial Italian priest awaiting a criminal trial for sex abuse of minors has agreed to pay €125,000 in compensation to the families of five of his alleged victims, Italian media reported on Thursday.

Mauro Inzoli, 66, was defrocked in 2012 after he was first accused of paedophilia but that decision was reversed in 2014, when Pope Francis ordered him to stay away from minors and retire to “a life of prayer and humble discretion.”

An outcry over Inzoli’s treatment led to criminal proceedings being initiated against him in the northern Italian town of Cremona but the Church has reportedly refused to hand over details of its own investigation.

The priest’s trial has been set for June and at a preliminary hearing this week he agreed to pay €25,000 ($28.500) each to five families who had been considering becoming civil parties in it, according to reports.

Inzoli, dubbed “Don Mercedes” by the press for his penchant for luxury cars, will be tried for abusing minors aged between 10 and 16 years between 2004 and 2008. He faces up to 12 years in prison.

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GUAM
KUAM

[with video]

[release from the archdiocese]

By Krystal Paco

They’ve taken the hits, but now they’re fighting back. In a press release, the Archdiocese of Agana wants to set the record straight – that the last three years of allegations and protests against the local Catholic church have been mere attacks to undermine the authority of Archbishop Anthony Apuron.

Enough is enough this from the Archdiocese of Agana which issued a press release stating they’re preparing to file a civil lawsuit against those who have spread malicious lies concerning the local Catholic church. We’ve seen it unfold over the last three years: concerns about transparency, concerns about the ownership of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Yona, and most recently, allegations that Archbishop Apuron has a history of molestation dating back 40 years.

According to the release, “For the past three years the Catholic Church in Guam has been constantly targeted by a series of lies destined to undermine the authority of the archbishop. In order to help the people understand the defamatory nature of these attacks, let us review the series of intentional and malicious lies that have been spread by the media.” One by one, the release debunks the allegations and contends the Archdiocese of Agana remains the sole owner of the RMS as supported by the title deed of property, which was made public.

As for transparency, the release states Archbishop Apruon is available to the people – as seen almost every night celebrating in different parishes, visiting schools, and celebrations on Sundays.

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UNITED STATES
Reuters

BOSTON | BY SCOTT MALONE

Some prominent U.S. Roman Catholic groups welcomed the news on Thursday that Pope Francis has agreed to consider allowing women to be ordained as deacons, though some cautioned the move would be only a limited first step toward equality.

The pope on Thursday told an international meeting of nuns that he would create a commission to consider the idea of ordaining women as deacons, who are able to perform some religious ceremonies such as marriages but do not have all the rights of priests.

“It will make a huge difference,” said Deborah Rose-Milavec, executive director of FutureChurch, a Lakewood, Ohio-based Catholic group that advocates the ordination of women as priests. Although allowing women to be ordained as deacons falls short of the group’s eventual goal, Rose-Milavec said she viewed it as a step in the right direction.

“Any time you begin to break down one barrier, you see others crumble more,” she said in a phone interview.

But David Clohessy, the St. Louis-based director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said it remained unclear how long the review would take or if Vatican officials would in the end agree.

“Those who fear women deacons, or favor them, should remember how slowly Francis moves,” Clohessy said in a phone interview. “Any fear or hope that action might be taken soon should be tempered with that reality.”

Allowing women to serve as deacons could help address the long decline in the number of American men who enter the priesthood.

The number of priests in the United States has fallen by about 35 percent to about 37,600 over the past four decades, according to Georgetown University data, while the number of parishes without resident priests has risen six-fold to about 3,500.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Shawn Raymundo, sraymundo@guampdn.com May 13, 2016

The Catholic Church Friday challenged Vice Speaker Benjamin Cruz’s claims that Archbishop Anthony Apuron instructed senators to tank a previous measure meant to support sexual abuse victims.

Cruz, D-Piti, made the statements Wednesday during a radio interview on K57.

The bill to which Cruz was referencing came out of the 31st Guam Legislature in 2011. Cruz introduced the “window” measure, wherein victims of childhood sexual abuse who were then adults could have a two-year period to file civil actions against the individual that preyed upon them, thereby suspending any statute of limitations.

At the time, Cruz noted, several state legislatures were passing similar bills. Such measures were meant to help victims who had remained silent for several years for fear of retribution and in part because of the trauma they endured.

In 2012, The New York Times reported that throughout the nation, the Roman Catholic Church wasn’t only battling sexual abuse cases in the courtroom, but had been lobbying against legislation that would loosen statute of limitations.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Church Times

by Paul Wilkinson

Posted: 13 May 2016

A RETIRED priest was convicted this week of indecently assaulting a teenage girl more than 20 years ago.

The case against the Revd Kevin McGarahan, who is now 64, came to light only in 2014, when the safeguarding officer for Hereford diocese discovered old files relating to the incident.

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ISRAEL
Christian Today

Christian Deguit 13 May, 2016

A Greek Orthodox priest who is currently facing allegations of sexually harassing young people became a torch lighter for the 68th Independence Day of Israel, a very prestigious honor in the country. The celebration occurred this Wednesday, May 11.

Father Gabriel Naddaf, 43, was chosen because of his efforts in promoting the enlistment of Arabs into the army. He heads an initiative that aims to forcefully integrate Israeli-Christian Arabs into the Israeli Defense Force. This initiative, which started in 2012, is being frowned upon by the Christian Arab community who only make up around 2 percent of the Israeli population.

The decision made by the Israeli government to include Naddaf as one of the torch lighters caused some contention among the Israeli-Christian Arab community because besides the fact that they were against his plans for Arab enlistment, the Greek Orthodox priest is also being accused of sexually harassing young people. Reports have claimed that Naddaf demanded sexual favors from children in exchange for helping them.

In an interview with a local TV station, Naddaf denied these allegations. He said that the accusations were only “intentions to harm me personally and to also harm the lighting of the torch,” given the timing of the media reports.

Naddaf remains adamant that he much deserved to be one of the 14 torch lighters during the Wednesday ceremonies.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY GLENN BLAIN LARRY MCSHANE
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Friday, May 13, 2016

There’s a new voice demanding change to benefit New York’s child sex abuse victims: Matt Sandusky, adopted and abused son of the infamous Penn State pedophile.

The Daily News campaign to eliminate or revise the current cutoff law forcing victims to bring civil or criminal charges by their 23rd birthday needs support from local politicians, Sandusky said Thursday.

“It’s a major effort, and we support that,” the founder and executive director of the Peaceful Hearts Foundation told The News. “The current laws in New York are particularly heinous.

“Victims only have until age 23 to go public — that’s just not realistic. There’s no bigger need for change than in New York, with those type of laws.”

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ILLINOIS
WGCU

[with audio]

By DAVID SCHAPER

Illinois lawmakers may soon vote to eliminate the state’s statute of limitations on child sex abuse crimes.

The move comes in response to the 15-month sentence given last month to former House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Although Hastert admitted molesting teenage boys he coached decades ago, he could only be sentenced for a financial crime related to his efforts to pay one of his victims millions of dollars in hush money to cover up the crime.

In Hastert’s case, Scott Cross told a Chicago federal courtroom last month what he called “his darkest secret”: that Hastert, his high school wrestling coach, had molested him in 1979. It was a secret Cross held for 36 years.

The federal judge in the case expressed frustration that he could only sentence the former House speaker for providing hush money payments because the statute of limitations on the sex abuse had run out long ago.

“I am also frustrated,” Chicago U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon said after Hastert’s sentencing hearing. “I wish Mr. Hastert had been called on the carpet in 1968, and we’d all be better for it.”

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

The Archdiocese of Agana says the attacks against the archbishop are made to incite hatred, ignorance violence.

Guam – The Archdiocese of Agana is firing back at their critics for what they call vicious attacks against Archbishop Anthony Apuron and they’re planning to take the people behind the attacks to court.

In a press release issued by the Archdiocese of Agana today, the church says the barrage of vicious attacks against Archbishop Anthony Apuron over the last three years only instills hatred, ignorance and violence.

They are responding to a series of allegations against the archbishop, from claims that he molested young boys in the 1970s and 80s, to alienating a multimillion dollar seminary property to orchestrating poison pill amendments on a bill that sought to lift a statute of limitations on pursuing civil suits for child sexual abuse cases.

Earlier in the week, the Concerned Catholics of Guam released paid advertisements calling on victims of sexual abuse to come forward. The ad specifies certain dates and locations which, according to Catholic blogger Tim Rohr, targeted Archbishop Apuron when he was a priest in the 1970s and 80s.

The press release does not deny the allegations of sexual abuse, however, it does state that the paid ads are “seeking to insinuate criminal sexual abuse by the Shepherd of the Catholic Church,” and that it “demonstrates that they have no proof to substantiate any allegations and that their purpose is to confuse and mislead the people or even to induce some to bring false testimony.”

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UNITED STATES
Association of Baptists for World Evangelism

Read the Letter from ABWE’s Interim President

Read the ABWE Child Protection Policy

Read the Media Statement

READ THE COMPREHENSIVE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY REPORT

Request the Full 280-page Report (victims identities omitted)

In 2013, ABWE commissioned Professional Investigators International (Pii) to perform an independent and thorough investigation into multiple instances of child abuse occurring on the mission field between 1966 and 1989.

The investigation, which concluded in April 2016, confirmed that Donn Ketcham, an ABWE missionary doctor who served in Bangladesh, engaged in the sexual abuse of nearly 20 minors — most of whom were the children of fellow ABWE missionaries — and 4 adult women. The abuse primarily consisted of improper and medically unnecessary examinations at the hospital in Bangladesh, and included sexual assault and apparent drugging.

Additionally, the report found that while fellow missionaries observed Ketcham’s general inappropriate and sexual behavior toward adult women, and in some cases alerted ABWE leadership, there was a lack of leadership oversight and accountability to generate any true behavioral changes or uncover the true extent of Ketcham’s misconduct. After more victims emerged and sought help from ABWE leadership, the report found that those leaders had made little-or-no attempts to discover and reveal the full extent of Ketcham’s abuse, examine the mission’s response to the situation, and appropriately care for the women, over an extended period of time.

The ABWE leadership and Board of Directors during the time of Donn Ketcham’s misconduct have all been replaced. But in light of these findings, the current ABWE Board is issuing further consequences against the ABWE leaders who either allowed Donn Ketcham’s behavior or who failed to investigate appropriately when it came to their attention.

Additionally, ABWE has adopted a new comprehensive and stringent Child Protection Policy, developed in consultation with the Child Welfare League of America, and is implementing new checks and balances within the organization to ensure the policy is known and followed. We are also initiating extensive mission-wide training programs to ensure people understand and recognize inappropriate behavior and know how to report it swiftly and safely, and that as an organization we are creating administrative processes to quickly and thoroughly respond to all reports.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Today

Czarina Ong 13 May 2016

For decades, the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism (ABWE) tried its best to keep the sexual abuse allegations made against one of its missionaries under wraps. Recently, however, it decided to come clean and even revealed the true extent of the abuse made by Donn Ketcham, the accused missionary.

The ABWE released a 280-page report that revealed how its leaders failed to stop Ketcham from sexually abusing 22 women and girls while he served at the Memorial Christian Hospital in Malumghat, southeast Bangladesh back in 1961. He was only fired in 1989, according to the Religion News Service.

According to the report, one of his victims was an underage teenage girl who was labelled as a “willing partner.” She has now come out to confess.

“We’re devastated by the negligence of ABWE leadership in failing to remove Ketcham from the field again and again,” the family of the underage teen survivor said in the report. “We wish that ABWE leaders could comprehend the immeasurable pain that this… continues to cause her even to this day.”

Most of Ketcham’s victims were his patients, and some of them were even as young as eight years old. He would drug them with the anaesthetic ketamine and conduct unnecessary pelvic and breast exams on them.

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ARKANSAS
Arkansas Online

By Tracy Neal

BENTONVILLE — Police on Wednesday arrested a pastor at an Avoca church in connection with sexually abusing two teen girls who were members of the church.

Cesar Lopez, 59, of Rogers was being held in the Benton County Jail on Thursday with no bond set. He was arrested on two counts of second-degree sexual assault, a felony. He could be sentenced from five to 20 years in prison on each count if convicted.

Prosecutors haven’t filed formal charges against Lopez.

“Mr. Lopez denies any wrongdoing and will defend his innocence accordingly,” said Monzer Mansour, a Fayetteville attorney who represents Lopez.

Lopez’s arrest was the result of a monthlong investigation by the Benton County Sheriff’s Office, according to a probable cause affidavit. The investigation began after the office received a tip from the Arkansas State Police child abuse hot line about the abuse.

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IRELAND
Limerick Leader

Donal O’Regan13 May 2016

A PRIEST has stepped aside from ministry following a child sex abuse allegation in County Limerick.

The Limerick Leader understands the alleged victim only came forward to gardai in recent months.

The garda investigation centres around sexual abuse claims from the early 1990s when the boy was aged 11 or 12, it is believed.

The priest, who is no longer ministering in the county, was living and working in east Limerick at the time.

It is thought that the complainant is now in his late thirties and resides in Limerick. A file has been prepared for the DPP.

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ROME
RT

Europe’s smallest country – the Vatican, led by the pontiff – is one of the most powerful states on the planet, a moral compass for more than a billion people. However, over the past decades, the Catholic Church has suffered a number of scandals and its congregations are crying out for change. Pope Francis came with the promise of change. But while addressing issues plaguing mankind, what kind of battle is he forced to wage in the Holy See? Are the highest clergy against him, or have they joined his cause? For centuries, the Vatican has been shrouded in mystery, its internal deals secreted behind closed doors. However, one person managed to get through and came back to tell his story. Investigative journalist, author of ‘Merchants in the Temple’, Gianluigi Nuzzi, is on Sophie&Co today.

Follow @SophieCo_RT

Sophie Shevarnadze: Gianluigi, you’ve mentioned that there’s an ongoing conflict in the Vatican between the old and the new clergy. You even called it a struggle between good and evil. What is this struggle about?

Gianluigi Nuzzi: Ever since Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis, was elected we have been witnessing a so-called soft revolution. The pope is trying to make the Vatican more transparent. There are many problems with its financial management. The Vatican’s accounting records have always been shady. There are still cases of money laundering through the Vatican Bank. There’s the Vatican real estate that is being rented out for free. So there are many problems that the Pope is trying to solve.

SS: We will talk about this in detail, but first I wanted to ask you this – you think that this battle against corruption in the Vatican is Pope Francis’ cross to bear. Do you believe that at this point he doesn’t really have much control over the Vatican agencies?

GN: The thing is that, in the last few centuries, popes have mostly been involved in pastoral activities – not governing the state. Bergoglio is the first pope who wants to monitor the accounts and books, everyday income and expenditure of the Vatican and the Roman Curia. This is a revolutionary change – in 2013, a special commission on the Vatican’s economic structure – COSEA – began to investigate this. It’s inspecting the Vatican’s finances and running into a lot of problems.

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VIRGINIA
Loudoun Times

Thursday, May. 12, 2016 by Crystal Owens

A former congregant of Sterling’s Calvary Temple is upset after 20 current members of the Pentecostal church were allowed to provide outreach to youth in the county’s Juvenile Detention Center on May 2.

Members of the church are under investigation by the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office and Virginia State Police after two women came forward more than a year ago with allegations that they were sexually assaulted by members of Calvary Temple. One woman said she had multiple assailants, including teachers, teachers’ aides and deacons.

Chris Trent, who left Calvary Temple in 1992 after he said Pastor Star Scott told the congregation they must give 20 percent of their earnings to the church, volunteers at the Loudoun Juvenile Detention Center and was the first to express concern over the church members’ visit to the facility.

Trent said his concern is that at least one member of Calvary wrote a letter to a juvenile trying to persuade him to not only stay away from Alcoholics Anonymous, but join the church once he gets out of the detention center.

“AA won’t help you and only if you make Jesus your lord and savior will you stay sober. Being around those same people that have the same problems will only bring you closer to using,” reads the letter to one juvenile obtained by the Times-Mirror. “I wanted you to meet so and so, so when you get out you could meet up with them and come down to Calvary Temple. Since your [sic] going to NOVA you should move down here and get an apartment with so and so.”
(“So and so” was the phrasing used in the original letter.)

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UNITED KINGDOM
Inquisitr

ANGELICA N. SUMTER

A trusted high school geography teacher in Romiley, Stockport, was caught with almost 2,000 horrific child abuse images, but was able to avoid jail time, reported the Mirror. In May of last year, 25-year-old Manchester University graduate Jonathan Horenfeld of Signal Close, Eccles, was arrested after police officials raided his home and discovered child porn images on his laptop.

Investigators were able to track down the high school teacher while investigating “peer-to-peer sites where perverts shared sickening photos,” attempting to bust online pedophiles. The school teacher left an “electronic trail” that led investigators to his home, where the teacher was presented with a search warrant.

While searching the teacher’s home, investigators discovered “two laptops and two hard drives containing nearly 2,000 child porn images,” which stunned the community.

Sources say that the teacher stole one of the hard drives from his colleague’s classroom at Harrytown Catholic High School, where he worked and used it to download child pornography from the internet. However, it was not immediately clear if the child porn images he downloaded were of the students he taught.

The high school teacher was arrested and incarcerated for 12 weeks, but not for downloading child porn images from the internet. A judge ordered Horenfeld to remain in jail for stealing a hard drive from one of his colleague’s classroom, according to the Manchester Evening News.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

Editorial

New York has some of the toughest-sounding sex crime laws in America — yet the Legislature has stitched the statutes with technicalities that protect both those who victimize children and institutions like schools and churches that have served as enablers.

The hidden and grotesque nature of the laws has come into focus in the two months since the Daily News discovered that an exceedingly tight statute of limitations barred prosecutors from charging an alleged serial abuser with victimizing numerous foster children.

Almost daily since then, The News has spotlighted how the Legislature’s strictures have denied criminal and civil justice to people whose lives were irrevocably scarred in childhood by trusted adults who proved to be sexual predators.

To their great shame, Democratic Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Republican state Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan closed their doors — symbolically and literally — to men and women who sought to tell their stories of stolen innocence in hope of spurring reform in the closing days of the 2016 legislative session.

Horrific in detail, with many thoroughly documented, those tales leave no doubt New York has been complicit in injustice on a scale that can be tolerated only by lawmakers who are in denial or who have surrendered their consciences to lobbyists for institutions that would be threatened with compensation claims.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

CAN’T PURSUE SICKO’S ENABLERS

There is no question Bob Oliva sexually abused former Queens resident Jimmy Carlino. The longtime Christ the King High School basketball coach admitted he assaulted Carlino during a 1976 trip to Massachusetts when he pleaded guilty to two counts of rape of a child in a Boston courtroom in 2011. But Oliva’s attorney says he has no assets, and the Archdiocese of Brooklyn and Christ the King were dismissed as defendants in a lawsuit Carlino filed five years ago because of the statute of limitations. “He can’t go after the people who covered up for Oliva because of the statute of limitations,” Carlino’s attorney Michael Dowd said. “Oliva can’t possibly compensate him for what he has suffered.” …

HORROR AT YESHIVA HIGH

In 1980, a boy identified as John Doe II, a 14-year-old student at Yeshiva University High School for Boys in Manhattan, says he was sodomized by his Judaic dies teacher, Macy Gordon. Gordon allegedly sodomized the boy with a toothbrush, a method he’s accused of using on other boys at the school. Yeshiva University received multiple reports of Gordon’s alleged sexual assaults of children, from the late 1960s to early ’80s, but did nothing to stop him or warn unsuspecting students. A traumatized John Doe II attempted suicide in his dorm room minutes after he was attacked. Weeks later, he and his father reported Gordon’s alleged attack to a high-ranking Yeshiva administrator. The school continued to employ Gordon and didn’t punish him. Several years later, after finally firing Gordon for sexual misconduct, the school continued to honor Gordon and endowed a scholarship in his name. John Doe II (along with 33 fellow accusers who claimed they were abused by Gordon or George Finkelstein, a school principal) had his claims repeatedly dismissed by New York federal and state courts on statute of limitations grounds, even though he didn’t learn of the school’s own misconduct, coverup, and facilitation of his abuse until December 2012.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian Jewish News

THE leadership of the Yeshivah Centre has reassured victims of child sexual abuse that its new structure will not be used to deflect legal claims against the school for historical cases of child sexual abuse.

A victim contacted The AJN concerned that when the new structure of the Yeshivah Centre and school is in place that victims would be left to sue a redundant company that had no assets.

But Yeshivah has reassured all victims that would not happen.

“The assets will be transferred to the new companies and the new companies will indemnify the old associations for past debts,” a Yeshivah spokesperson said in a statement.

The victim noted that on average, victims take more 20 years to disclose their abuse.

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FLORIDA
TCPalm

By Paul Ivice, special to Treasure Coast Newspapers

FORT PIERCE — The former youth minister of a Stuart church was sentenced Thursday to 45 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to coercing an underage girl into explicit sexual activity and then distributing photos of her on the Internet.

Jeffrey Bryan Mobley, 24, was youth minister at The Grace Place for about two years until he moved to Ocala in December 2014 with his new wife. Mobley came to the church in 2013 from Findlay, Ohio.

Arrested on Oct. 5 in Ocala, Mobley pleaded guilty on March 10 to six charges — four related to creating depictions on his cellphone of the 15-year-old girl in sexually explicit activity from Aug. 4 through Sept. 18; and two for distributing onto the Internet depictions of a minor engaged in sexual conduct in February and July.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Shawn Raymundo, sraymundo@guampdn.com May 13, 2016

The Archdiocese of Agana is refuting several allegations and claims that have been made against the local Catholic church and its archbishop.

In a press release issued Friday afternoon, the Archdiocese states that in the past three years the church has come under attack and has been “targeted by a series of lies” meant to undermine Archbishop Anthony Apuron’s authority.

“In order for people to understand the defamatory nature of these attacks, let us review the series of intentional and malicious lies that have been spread by the media,” the church wrote to address several issues including the property dispute in Yona where the Redemptoris Mater Seminary sits.

The Archdiocese also noted that Apuron has been Guam’s apostle for the past 30 years and “tirelessly served the church of Guam” by fighting against abortion, the legalization of marijuana and same-sex marriage.

“These malicious, insulting and calumnious attacks are using the media to publicly lynch and defame the archbishop without any sense of justice, morality or common decency and disregarding the most elementary forms of justice or due process,” the release states.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish News

Brendan Hughes
13 May, 2016

A CATHOLIC priest videoed snorting what appeared to be cocaine in a room with Nazi memorabilia will not face prosecution.

Fr Stephen Crossan was filmed sniffing a white substance through a £10 note during a night of drinking at his parochial house in Banbridge, Co Down.

The 37-year-old placed a cigarette in an ashtray and seemed to say “I shouldn’t” before snorting the powder off a plate.

Police launched an investigation after the footage, filmed last July following a party, emerged just over two months ago.

A spokesman confirmed on Thursday that a file was passed to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS), but said no action is being taken.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish News

ALLISON MORRIS
13 May, 2016

THERE has been support for a well-known Catholic priest after it emerged he had posted pictures of himself on a gay dating website.

Fr Rory Coyle, who is also a member of Armagh GAA’s management committee, has been absent from clerical duties since March when he asked for some time off to reflect on his future.

The 35-year-old priest, originally from Drogheda, has been a curate in Armagh for the last six years.

In 2010 he was master of ceremonies during the funeral Mass of Cardinal Cahal Daly.

He is also on the board of governors of St Malachy’s Primary School and is chaplain for St Catherine’s College in Armagh.

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NEW YORK
ABC 7

MONROE, New York (WABC) — FBI agents conducted a raid Thursday in the Orange County community of Kiryas Joel.

They searched a yeshiva where a principal was caught on camera in what appeared to be some sort of intimate encounter with a student.

The FBI and other law enforcement agencies seized documents and computers from multiple locations in the Hasidic village, possibly as part of a child pornography investigation.

Authorities executed search warrants at the United Talmudical Academy, the yeshiva where a principal was caught on tape in close physical contact with young boys, though it is not known if the search warrants are related to the principal’s activities.

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NEW YORK
Times Herald-Record

By Chris McKenna
Times Herald-Record

Posted May. 12, 2016

KIRYAS JOEL – FBI agents seized records and equipment from two sites in Kiryas Joel on Thursday in connection with a secretly recorded video of a principal and a young boy that has fueled extensive media coverage and prompted a child-abuse investigation.

The FBI released no information about the search warrants it executed at the United Talmudical Academy boys school on Getzil Berger Boulevard and at the Kirays Joel Public Safety Department’s trailer on Schunnemunk Road. But an Orange County law enforcement source and a Kiryas Joel source who spoke with FBI agents on Thursday confirmed the searches stemmed from the leaked recording, which was posted on Facebook and distributed in the Hasidic community through WhatsApp less than two weeks ago.

The video was taken from overhead in a small office at the school and shows the grey-bearded principal gripping the boy by the arms and speaking to him at close range, while caressing and appearing to kiss the boy at times. State police say they investigated a similar video in September and brought no charges. They have been looking into the recently leaked video in cooperation with the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and a child abuse task force.

State police Major Joseph Tripodo, commander of Middletown-based Troop F, couldn’t be reached Thursday to discuss the searches in Kiryas Joel or the status of the investigation.
Two days earlier, the United Talmudical Academy’s board of directors had released a statement defending the principal, saying a series of videos were circulating that showed him embracing students “who were sent to his office for behavioral issues.” The board said the videos were given to state and county officials more than seven months ago and showed nothing that constituted child abuse.

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PERU
Terra

[Five former members of the Catholic Sodality of Christian Life (SVC) filed criminal charges against eight members of the leadership of that group, including its founder, Luis Fernando Figari. They allege serious conspiracy, kidnapping and injuries allegedly suffered when they were minors.]

Cinco exmiembros de la congregación católica Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana (SVC) denunciaron penalmente a ocho integrantes de la cúpula de ese grupo, incluido su fundador, Luis Fernando Figari, por asociación ilícita, secuestro y lesiones graves, que supuestamente sufrieron cuando eran menores de edad.

Los denunciantes explicaron hoy, en una conferencia de prensa, que la querella fue presentada el martes ante la Vigésima Sexta Fiscalía Penal de Lima, que desde octubre investiga a Figari y a otros líderes del Sodalicio por presuntos abusos sexuales y lesiones físicas y psicológicas a menores que integraban la congregación.

Además de Figari, entre los denunciados están Jaime Baertl, Virgilio Levaggi, José Ambrozic, José Antonio Eguren, Eduardo Regal, Óscar Tokumura y Erwin Scheuch, así como “los que resulten responsables” durante la investigación fiscal del caso.

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ITALY
ANSA

(ANSA) – Cremona, May 12 – Father Mauro Inzoli, a 66-year-old priest who stands accused of several counts of sexual assault on minors, has agreed to pay damages to five of his alleged victims.

The former head of a chapter of conservative lay Catholic movement Communion and Liberation (CL) in Cremona, northern Italy, will give 25,000 euros to the families of the five children. The oldest is now 16, and the youngest is 12.

Inzoli is accused of abusing his authority to sexually assault underage boys, both in his office where he led spiritual exercises and in hotels in summer resorts during CL-organized youth holidays.

Also known as Father Mercedes due to his passion for luxury cars, Inzoli was the founder of the Food Bank charity.

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VIRGINIA
Richmond Times-Dispatch

BY MARK BOWES Richmond Times-Dispatch

The pastor of Colonial Christian Church has been indicted on seven sexual abuse counts related to alleged contact that occurred in 1999, 2011 and 2012, according to Colonial Heights police and court records.

Alan Wayne Little, 48, was taken into custody Monday after he was indicted May 3 on three counts of aggravated sexual battery, two counts of aggravated battery by a parent and two counts of taking indecent liberties with a child.

The dates of offense for the first three counts occurred in July 1999, and the remaining four counts occurred in July of 2011 and 2012, according to online court records.

Colonial Heights police said the charges followed an extensive investigation. They did not immediately provide any details about the offenses, including whether any of the alleged victims attended Little’s church.

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INDIA
Deccan Chronicle

COLUMNIST | FLAVIA AGNES
Published May 13, 2016

The ‘zero tolerance on sexual abuse’ policy has been adopted by the Roman Catholic Church in India.

Sexual abuse of women and children by spiritual gurus and swamis is not uncommon in India. Most involve long-term abuse of young women, which started when they were minors. It takes a long time for victims to speak up and press charges. However, when abuse of vulnerable children and women takes place within a well-respected and institutionalised religion such as the Roman Catholic Church, it becomes even more difficult to accept. Since we constantly read about churches getting burnt and priests being attacked, there is a constant anxiety that writing on this issue may be cited out of context for all the wrong reasons. Add to this my own religious affiliations, and the task becomes even more daunting. But the extreme vulnerability of the victims, and the attitude of the Church hierarchy of sweeping it under the carpet, compels me to write.

Within a strictly defined institutional religion, where the power is bestowed upon the priests and the clergy through a well-demarcated hierarchy, the abuse of vulnerable victims cannot be dismissed as the abuse by “self-styled godmen” as it is entrenched deep within institutional structures. Within the Roman Catholic Church, the priest is regarded as the representative of Jesus Christ and is held in high regard. The unbridled power, both spiritual and material, that priests have is almost unparalleled. The oath of celibacy, which a Catholic priest is mandated to abide by, makes the situation even more complex for the victim.

Usually the victims suffer from multiple levels of vulnerabilities, including poverty, physical ailments, family problems and even depression. Most are deeply entrenched in their religious beliefs and take the concerned priest as their spiritual guide. The gullible victims are lured either by projecting the spiritual benefits of the sexual act by God’s representative on earth will bestow upon them, or with a promise of material comforts and economic help. The pattern, by now, is very familiar.

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NEW YORK
Daily Freeman

By Associated Press
POSTED: 05/12/16

KIRYAS JOEL >> Agents with the FBI and other law-enforcement agencies seized documents Thursday in this Hasidic Jewish village in Orange County.

An FBI spokeswoman said agents were in the ultra-Orthodox enclave as part of an ongoing operation, but she would not provide details.

Agents seized documents at multiple locations in the village, including a property run by United Talmudical Academy.

The raids came after two videos appeared on the internet said to show an academy principal in close physical contact with young boys. School officials have said there was no abuse.

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NEW YORK
NBC New York

By Joe Valiquette

Federal agents executed search warrants from a Jewish school and a public safety building in a Hasidic village in the Hudson Valley in connection to allegations of child sex abuse, law enforcement sources told NBC 4 New York.

The FBI and other law enforcement agencies executed warrants at the United Talmudical Academy and the public safety building Thursday morning in Kiryas Joel, an ultra-Orthodox village in Orange County.

Sources say that no arrests were expected as part of Thursday’s action.

The raids come after two videos appeared on the Internet said to show an academy principal in close physical contact with young boys. School officials have said there was no abuse.

A phone message left by the Associated Press at the private religious school was not immediately returned.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY REUVEN BLAU

FBI agents raided a Hasidic school Thursday where a principal was taped forcibly touching two young male students.

The agents seized documents at the United Talmudical Academy and several other locations in Kiryas Joel, N.Y.

The FBI confirmed the raids but declined to provide details. The federal investigation comes after a video was posted on Facebook showing a school principal sitting directly across from a young boy, who at one point clasps his hands over his pelvic area.

The school worker appears to kiss the child on the face for several seconds. School officials defended the encounter, saying authorities looked into the tape and declined to bring charges.

“The principal in question is a respected rabbi in our community with over 30 years experience in religious instruction and administration,” a statement issued by the school Tuesday said.

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Week

Source says the two searches at Kiryas Joel are connected to the video of a school principal kissing a student that surfaced last week.

05/12/16
Steve Lipman And Hannah Dreyfus
Staff Writers

Dozens of FBI agents and officers of other law enforcement agencies conducted searches Thursday morning at a public safety building and the prominent United Talmudic Academy in Kiryas Joel, the chasidic village in upstate Orange County.

A source close to the situation told The Jewish Week that the raid is “clearly related” to a video that surfaced last week allegedly showing the principal of UTA kissing a young student. The 11-minute video was widely circulated on WhatsApp and Facebook. According to the Journal News, the uncut version shows a boy standing between a man’s legs as he strokes the boys face and kisses him. State police confirmed that they had the video and were looking into the incident, but Orange County Chief Assistant District Attorney Christopher Borek would not confirm an investigation.

According to the source, who wished to remain anonymous, the only other explanation for the searches “would be that they’re investigating corruption allegations, such as influence on the Orange County DA.” The source continued, “I heard that they requested the school’s policies on reporting and documenting complaints of abuse. It seems they’re trying to figure out the role Public Safety plays in such investigations.”

According to the West Nyack-based Hudson Valley News 12 television station and the yeshivaworld.com website, the officials have executed search warrants at the public safety building and the United Talmudic Academy of the village, home to more than 20,000 members of the Satmar Chasidic group.

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NEW YORK
Jewish Journal

JTA

Federal agents searched the New York Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel for the second time in the past two months, this time targeting a yeshiva and the town’s public safety building.

According to multiple news outlets, investigators from the FBI, Sullivan County District Attorney’s office, and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms searched locations throughout the town on Thursday. The Journal News reported that at least seven law enforcement officials were observed carrying items out of a building belonging to the United Talmudical Academy, whose principal was caught kissing male students in two separate video clips that were recently circulated.

According to the Journal News, the Satmar school’s board of directors issued a statement Tuesday defending the principal.

“While this type of restraint may be unacceptable to some viewers, it in no way rises to the level of a criminal assault,” the statement said.

It is not clear whether Thursday’s raids were related to the videos. In March, FBI agents raided schools in the village — as well as in nearby Rockland County — in connection with their use of the federal E-rate technology subsidy program. Also in March, a United Talmudical Academy facility in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn was raided, reportedly on suspicion of defrauding the federal school lunch program.

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NEW YORK
Forward

Josh Nathan-Kazis
May 12, 2016

A powerful Hasidic leader has slammed a bill in the New York State legislature that would enforce laws that require religious schools to teach secular subjects.

Moderate Jewish groups that are normally vocal on religious education issues, meanwhile, are staying stayed silent.

The bill, introduced by Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffe in early May, is one of two proposals currently moving through the New York State Legislature that seek to give teeth to existing legislation that already requires nonpublic schools to teach subjects similar to those taught in public schools.

Some Hasidic schools for boys routinely flout the existing laws, offering minimal time for English, history and math, or skipping the subjects altogether. The new bills that would give regulators new tools o enforce those laws come amid increased statewide attention on the lack of secular education in some Hasidic yeshivas, driven largely by the advocacy group Yaffed .

The Hasidic leaders’ opposition to the bill, and the lack of vocal support for the bill on the part of moderate Jewish groups, could spell trouble for Yaffed’s reform campaign.

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NEW YORK
The Journal News

Jordan Fenster, jfenster@lohud.com May 12, 2016

The FBI is raiding several locations in Kiryas Joel, a small, predominantly ultra-Orthodox village in Monroe, in Orange County.

Here are five things you should know about Kiryas Joel and those raids:

1. The reason for the raids is not yet clear

Reports from the scene on social media claim that about seven FBI agents — and as many as 15 — gained entrance to the United Talmudical Academy, a local yeshiva, about 10 a.m. along with local sheriff’s deputies.

The yeshiva is located at 16A Getzil Berger Blvd., and a Journal News reporter observed law enforcement officials carrying items out of the building.

Search warrants are also being executed the local public safety building.

2. There have been allegations of sexual abuse

Two videos surfaced earlier this month showing the principal of the United Talmudical Academy, a Kiryas Joel-based yeshiva, touching students in what some have called an inappropriate manner. The state police said they had opened an investigation, but the school’s board of directors issued a statement defending the principal’s actions.

“The school principal is seen embracing the students who were sent to his office for behavioral issues,” the statement read. “While this type of restraint may be unacceptable to some viewers, it in no way rises to the level of a criminal assault.”

It is unclear if the federal raids conducted Thursday are related to the videos or the state police investigation.

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NEW JERSEY
Daily Recod

Peggy Wright, @PeggyWrightDR May 12, 2016

The murder conviction and life sentence for a custodian who stabbed the Rev. Edward Hinds to death in 2009 in the rectory of St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church in Chatham was upheld Thursday by a state appeals court.

Jose Ramon Feliciano, now 71 and incarcerated at New Jersey State Prison, had claimed after the Oct. 22, 2009 murder that he repeatedly stabbed the 61-year-old pastor to end unwanted sexual overtures. But the Morris County jury believed that Hinds had learned that the parish custodian was a fugitive for 21 years from a Pennsylvania allegation of improper conduct with a female child and intended to fire him.

The appellate court panel, in a 70-page decision released Thursday, rejected multiple claims of an unfair trial by Feliciano. He alleged that then-Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi, who tried the 28-day trial, made inflammatory and disparaging remarks about him, including that he was “narcissistic.” Feliciano also unsuccessfully appealed use at trial of the criminal warrant from his past, and he argued that the state’s use of two witnesses — a pastoral psychotherapist and hospital mental health worker — violated his rights to confidentiality but the appellate panel disagreed.

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VERMONT
WPTZ

[with video]

BURLINGTON, Vt. (NECN) —A leader of two Catholic churches in Vermont’s largest city is on an indefinite leave of absence, during which he cannot present himself as a priest.

The move comes in the wake of the priest’s foul language and misuse of church funds, the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington said.

Fr. Rich O’Donnell stepped down from Christ the King and St. Anthony’s Parish in Burlington last year, but the reason wasn’t clear until messages from Bishop Christopher Coyne recently appeared in church bulletins.

“To lose a young priest who’s not even in his 40s yet to something like this is a real blow,” Coyne said Wednesday. “And especially, (losing) a priest as popular as Father Rich O’Donnell is an even greater blow.”

Coyne said business administrators discovered O’Donnell misused more than $20,000 of church money in less than two years. The spending Coyne described as “inappropriate” included gifts for parish members and employees, overly generous tips at restaurants and mileage reimbursements for travel not associated with parish work.

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VERMONT
WPTZ

Father Rich O’Donnell stepped down from Christ the King and St. Anthony’s Parish in Burlington last year, but the reason wasn’t clear until messages from Bishop Christopher Coyne recently appeared in church bulletins.

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NEW JERSEY
New Jersey 101.5

By Sergio Bichao May 12, 2016

CHATHAM BOROUGH — A church janitor serving a life sentence for brutally stabbing a Catholic priest to death has lost an appeal that argued that his punishment is cruel and unusual and that he was denied a fair trial.

Jose Feliciano, now 71, was convicted by a Morris County jury in 2011 of killing St. Patrick’s Church pastor Edward Hinds in a fit of rage on Oct. 22, 2009.

Hinds was stabbed at least 44 times throughout his entire body. Police the next day found his cold corpse lying in a mess of blood in the rectory kitchen.

During the struggle, Hinds tried to call 911 on his cell phone, but Feliciano grabbed it and told the dispatcher that no help was needed.

Feliciano admitted to the slaying, telling police that Hinds had carried on a sexual relationship with Feliciano for several years after threatening to fire him from his job. Feliciano said voices in his head urged him to stab Hinds after the priest told Feliciano that he was terminating his employment.

But authorities said Hinds was letting Feliciano go because he had discovered in a background check that Feliciano was a fugitive from justice in Pennsylvania after failing to appear in court back in 1988 on charges that he molested a 7-year-old girl.

Feliciano was sentenced in 2012 to life in prison for murder and also 20 years for robbery and five years for hindering.

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UNITED STATES
The Guardian (UK)

George Joseph in New York
Thursday 12 May 2016

The US Catholic church has poured millions of dollars over the past decade into opposing accountability measures for victims of clergy sex abuse, according to state lobbying disclosures.

The lobbying funds have gone toward opposing bills in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland that would extend statutes of limitations for child sex abuse cases or grant temporary civil windows for victims whose opportunities for civil action have already passed.

In light of major child sex abuse scandals from Jerry Sandusky to Dennis Hastert, lawmakers nationwide are pushing to give victims other avenues to sue. In Pennsylvania, house representative Mark Rozzi, who was abused as a child by a Catholic priest, has led a campaign to extend the age before which child abuse victims can bring on cases. In New York, assemblywoman Margaret Markey is pushing to grant a temporary one-year window for those whose statute of limitations has already expired.

“Many child sex abuse cases are done gradually, under the guise of love or sex education, and so what happens is most victims don’t even realize until literally decades later,” said David Clohessy, a director with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “The overwhelming majority of us rationalize it. That’s how we as survivors cope with this stunning betrayal. We cope with it by denying and minimizing it.”

Since 2007, the New York bishops’ lobbying arms have poured more than $1.1m into “issues associated with timelines for commencing certain civil actions related to sex offenses”, nearly half of their total compensation for lobbyists in that period. Another nearly $700,000 also went towards lobbying for a package of church priorities, including but not limited to influencing the climate on “statute of limitations” legislation.

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NEW YORK
The Yeshiva World

On Tuesday the New York Daily News reported that the Satmar Rebbe of Kiryas Yoel, Rav Aaron Teitelbaum gave a Drasha to his thousands of followers in response to the city Education Department’s investigation into its schools for failing to provide adequate secular education as required by law.

“These are bad times for us Jews,” said the Satmar Rebbe. “We need to pray to Hashem that (city officials) should not interfere with the upbringing of our children.”

“Worthless … snitches” in the community are urging the government to take action “which the government doesn’t even want,” the Rebbe continued.

Last summer the Education Department announced that more than a dozen private schools would be investigated to make sure their curriculum follows secular education standards.

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NEW YORK
Reason

Previous raid targeted alleged library subsidy scam.
Ed Krayewski
|May. 12, 2016

A series of federal raids were conducted around the village of Kiryas Joel in upstate New York, Forward reports. Accounts on social media suggest participation in the raids by the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives (ATF) and the Sullivan County district attorney’s office.

Neither the FBI nor the U.S. attorney’s office provided Forward with a comment, but the Jewish media outlet suggested the raids may have to do with a couple of ongoing controversies in Kiryas Joel—a video of an ultra-Orthodox principal kissing a boy that is being investigated by local authorities (the school defends his actions), and/or a scandal involving alleged misuse of federal e-Rate funds by Orthodox institutions in Kiryas Joel and elsewhere in upstate New York as well as Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

The e-Rate scandal has already led to federal raids in Kiryas Joel and elsewhere in New York. The federal e-Rate program offers money to libraries to purchase servers as well as to subsidize the cost of phone and internet access. The definition of a library and what kind of institutions qualify is determined at the state and local level. In New York, the determinations are made by local library associations. Most require the institutions have a librarian with a master’s degree.

The Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO) offers “collegial” level membership for libraries that don’t meet all the qualifications. Such institutions then qualify for e-Rate funding and, as Forward reported in 2013, some Orthodox institutions joined METRO to qualify for funding, and then allegedly received far more than would be necessary for the institutions given their small size. Many of the institutions were Satmar Hasidic—Forward reports that one of the community’s two top religious leaders had decreed that Satmar children who had internet at home could not attend Satmar schools, thus spurring growth in internet cafes as well as the library-like institutions under scrutiny.

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NEW YORK
Time

Julia Zorthian @jzorth

It was not immediately clear what the FBI was investigating on Thursday.

The FBI and other officials conducted a series of raids across the largely Orthodox Jewish village of Kiryas Joel in Orange County, New York on Thursday.

At least seven agents removed items from a yeshiva run by the United Talmudical Academy, the village’s school system, local news site The Journal News reports. The cause of the raids was not known as of Thursday afternoon.

An FBI spokesperson confirmed the search to Gothamist, but would not comment on the nature of the investigation. An Orange County Sheriff’s Office assisted with the raids. In March, FBI raided other Orthodox communities throughout Rockland County in connection with religious schools possibly misusing federal funding for “e-rate” technology.

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MICHIGAN
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Kenneth Kaucheck was ordained for the Archdiocese of Detroit in 1976. He was assigned to parishes in Clawson, Dearborn, Detroit, and in Troy, where he was appointed pastor. He pastored parishes also in Grosse Pointe, Royal Oak, and Ferndale. Kaucheck served on the Archdiocesan Tribunal for many years and was a Regional Vicar. In January 2009 a woman reported to the archdiocese that Kaucheck had engaged in “sexual misconduct” with her in 1976, when she was 16 years-old and he was her counselor at Guardian Angels parish in Clawson. When a senior priest at Guardian Angels was told of the situation that year, he held a meeting with Kaucheck, the girl and her father and brother. Kaucheck was reassigned. In 2009 the Archdiocesan Review Board deemed the allegation credible, and Kaucheck was placed on leave. In May 2016 it came to light that, along with a nun, Kaucheck co-founded a facility for pregnant teens in 2015. The archdiocese stated that his position there violated the restrictions placed on him in 2009, and that he could be removed under canon law.

Ordained: 1976

Educated: Sacred Heart Seminary, Detroit MI; St. John Provincial Seminary, Plymouth MI; St. Mary’s Seminary, Baltimore MD.; Gregorian University, Rome, Italy. Doctorates in ministry and canon law.

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NEW YORK
Patch

By MICHAEL WOYTON (Patch Staff) – May 12, 2016

KIRYAS JOEL, NY – The FBI and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department are conducting raids in Kiryas Joel Thursday.

News12 said the agencies have search warrants and are executing them at the United Talmudical Academy and the village public safety building.

The Forward.com said dozens of agents, including the FBI, Sullivan County District Attorney’s office and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were on the scene, according to social media.

The United Talmudical Academy is where a principal was recorded on video in close contact with young boys. The Board of Directors of the academy said they are standing in support of the principal.

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NEW YORK
St. Louis Jewish Light

Ben Sales

(JTA) — Federal agents are searching the New York Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel for the second time in the past two months.

According to the Forward, investigators from the FBI, Sullivan County District Attorney’s office, and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms searched locations throughout the town on Thursday.

Last week, two videos surfaced apparently showing a Kiryas Joel principal kissing a male student. In March, FBI agents raided schools in the village in connection with their use of the federal E-rate technology subsidy program.

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NEW YORK
News 12

News 12 has learned that the FBI and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department are raiding multiple locations in the village of Kiryas Joel.

The agencies confirm they are executing search warrants at the village’s public safety building and the United Talmudical Academy.

Authorities have not released specifics about the current investigation.

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NEW YORK
Gothamist

BY EMMA WHITFORD IN NEWS ON MAY 12, 2016

Federal agents are currently conducting searches in the ultra-Orthodox village of Kiryas Joel in Orange County, New York. A spokeswoman for the FBI confirmed an ongoing search but declined to comment further.

The purpose of the raids is as yet unclear. According to reports from the scene on Twitter, about 15 FBI agents entered the United Talmudical Academy, a local yeshiva, shortly after 10:00 a.m. accompanied by a local sheriff and agents from the Sullivan County DA’s office. News 12 reports that the agents are also executing search warrants at the village’s public safety building.

Last week, the Journal News reported that police were investigating a video allegedly showing the principal of United Talmudic Academy kissing a young student. The 11-minute video was widely circulated on WhatsApp and Facebook. According to the News, the uncut version shows a boy standing between a man’s legs as he strokes the boys face and kisses him. State police confirmed that they had the video and were looking into the incident, but Orange County Chief Assistant District Attorney Christopher Borek would not confirm an investigation.

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NEW YORK
Forward

A large group of federal agents and local law enforcement officials descended on the ultra-Orthodox village of Kiryas Joel in Orange County, New York on Thursday morning, carrying out searches throughout town.

A spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New York office confirmed that there had been “investigative activity” in Kiryas Joel on Thursday, but would not comment further. A spokesperson for the Orange County Sheriff’s office said that uniformed personnel from the Sheriff’s office had aided federal agents in serving warrants.

According to social media reports, officials from the the Sullivan County District Attorney’s office were also on scene at locations throughout the village. The Sullivan County District Attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

Kiryas Joel is controlled and populated by members of the Satmar Hasidic sect. The village’s spiritual leader, Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, is in a years-long conflict with his brother, Rabbi Zalman Teitelbaum, who is based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and leads his own group of Satmar Hasidim. Village officials did not respond to an inquiry left Thursday morning.

Last week, press reports indicated that local authorities were investigating a video that appeared to show a teacher in a Kiryas Joel school kissing a young male student.

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NEW YORK
Arutz Sheva (Israel0

Dozens of FBI agents raided a Satmar hassidic yeshiva in Kiryas Joel in New York on Thursday, apparently as part of an investigation of a child pornography case according to WABC, although conflicting reports pointed to a corruption investigation.

The agents, together with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and the Sullivan County District Attorney, used search warrants at the United Talmudical Academy, a school where the principal was recently caught on tape doing improper conduct with a boy.

The yeshiva earlier this week issued a statement saying the conduct that was filmed does not constitute a “criminal assault.”

“In these videos, the school principal is seen embracing the students who were sent to his office for behavioral issues. While this type of restraint may be unacceptable to some viewers, it in no way rises to the level of a criminal assault,” read the statement.

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NEW YORK
Times Herald-Record

Agents of the FBI, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and Orange County Sheriff’s Office as well as representatives of the Sullivan County District Attorney, among others, are seizing documents at various locations Thursday morning in Kiryas Joel.

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NEW YORK
The Journal News

Steve Lieberman and Jonathan Bandler, jbandler@lohud.com May 12, 2016

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s office had no comment.

KIRYAS JOEL – FBI agents and other law enforcement officials are conducting a number of raids across this ultra-Orthodox village Thursday, including at at least one property run by the United Talmudical Academy.

Outside that four-story brick yeshiva, at 16A Getzil Berger Boulevard, a Journal News reporter observed at least seven law enforcement officials carrying items out of the building, most of them wearing FBI jackets.

It was not immediately clear whether the raids were connected to earlier search warrants executed at ultra-Orthodox yeshivas in Rockland County in mid-March. Those raids targeted possible misuse of federal “e-rate” technology funding by religious schools. Several warrants were executed in Kiryas Joel that day and a grand jury continues to meet in that case.

A separate or related probe that led to searches in Williamsburg, Brooklyn that same day was possibly targeting school lunch program spending, according to a report in The Forward.

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NEW YORK
ABC 7

KIRYAS JOEL, New York (WABC) — FBI agents were in Kiryas Joel Thursday morning investigating a child pornography case.

They executed search warrants at the United Talmudical Academy, the yeshiva where a principal was caught on tape with a boy.

It is not known if the search warrants are related to the principal’s activities.

United Talmudical Academy of Kiryas Joel put out a statement earlier this week saying that the behavior caught on tape does not constitute a “criminal assault.”

“In these videos, the school principal is seen embracing the students who were sent to his office for behavioral issues. While this type of restraint may be unacceptable to some viewers, it in no way rises to the level of a criminal assault,” it said.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Johanna Salinas | Post News Staff

The Concerned Catholics of Guam (CCOG) hope to find victims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy with their full-page ad in local print media. The ad has two phone numbers to contact the organization confidentially, but does not provide information on the kind of help the organization will provide.

When asked about the services they plan to have, CCOG supporter Tim Rohr said, “(The CCOG) will provide an attorney for protection (so the victims) can be able to go public with their stories without fear of their perpetrator. Most people don’t want to talk about (their experiences) because it was a powerful person that had hurt them.” Rohr said the CCOG has been in contact with Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. The SNAP organization helps heal those who have been sexually victimized by clergy.

Because of the ad, an undisclosed number of people have come forward and some have also led other victims to the group. “More than one victim (knows) of others and some don’t want to go public. They still are suffering from the damage,” Rohr said.

The CCOG wants to help end the suffering by giving the victims a voice, Rohr said. Although the group is “not equipped” to offer counseling or therapy, it hopes that the victims will heal by sharing their stories with the public. “In the case of the people that (CCOG) has talked to, (the victims) just want to tell their story, because for many it’s too late to file a lawsuit,” Rohr said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

May 12, 2016

BALLARAT Catholic Diocese has confirmed a planned mass for Bishop Ronald Mulkearns will not go ahead.

The mass – which was to be held on Monday – was described as “an opportunity for priests and people from around the diocese to come together to offer mass for Bishop Mulkearns”.

Bishop Mulkearns presided over a notorious period of child sexual abuse by clergy which spanned decades was seen by many as the keep of secret. He died from cancer aged 85 last month. He was the first Ballarat bishop to receive a crypt burial and was fare-welled in a low-key funeral at Nazareth House.

The mass announcement caused outrage within the community. A petition to cancel the mass garnered close to 2000 signatures in a matter of days.

Clergy abuse survivor Stephen Woods was pleased the mass was cancelled but said the damage had already been done.

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VATICAN CITY
The Daily Beast

Barbie Latza Nadeau

With the creation of a commission to study the possibility of ordaining women as deacons, Pope Francis may have just changed everything.

ROME — At what was meant to be a love fest for 900 nuns at a meeting of the International Union of Superiors General at the Vatican on Thursday, Pope Francis didn’t just rock the boat; he may have created a tidal wave.

During the question and answer session of the meeting, one of the sisters at the conference brought up the fact that women had served as deacons in the early church.

Then, according to the National Catholic Reporter, she asked the pope, “Why not construct an official commission that might study the question?”

Francis then said that he had discussed the matter of those early deaconesses with a professor several years earlier, but that he remained unclear about what role they actually served.

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INDIA
Business Standard

A temple priest has been arrested on the charge of raping a minor girl in west Delhi, police said on Thursday.

Accused Rajesh Shukla, 45, allegedly raped the five-year-old girl when she visited the temple in Samata Vihar area on May 9 evening.

Shukla was arrested from Mukundpur area after the girl’s family lodged a complaint.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service – Bollettino

Vatican City, 12 May 2016 – The Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR) today published its 2015 Annual Report. “Building on the Holy Father’s reaffirmation of the importance of the IOR’s mission, the Institute has continued to serve with prudence and provide specialised financial services to the Catholic Church worldwide and the Vatican City State”, states a press release from the Institute. IOR has thus continued in 2015 to assist the Holy Father in His mission as universal Pastor. While visiting the IOR on November 24, 2015 the Holy Father insisted on the need to adhere to ‘Ethical principles that are non-negotiable for the Church, the Holy See and the Pope’. His Holiness went on to state that ‘IOR needs to base its operations on principles that are compatible with standards of morality, consistent efficiency and practices that respect the specificity of IOR’s nature and the example it is required to set through its activities’, so as to ‘combine, harmoniously, operational effectiveness and the essential pastoral nature of all actions’.

In the section relating to the key changes to the IOR’s operating framework, the note recalls that over the last few years Vatican City State has taken major steps in requiring all financial institutions to comply with a new legal and regulatory framework (Law XVIII). In 2015, the supervisory body AIF issued a prudential regulation, Regolamento N. 1 and the Institute has diligently worked towards adherence to the new rules issued.

Between June 2013 and December of 2015, 4935 accounts were closed, effectively terminating the thorough remediation process of past accounts. Procedures in place are diligently applied to all new customer and related activities.

With regard to anti money laundering (AML) measures and the need to “Know Your Customer” (KYC), the same year international tax agreements were signed by the Holy See, leading to enhanced transparency. Key steps were also taken in 2015 to strengthen IOR governance. It includes the creation of an Audit and Risk committee as well as an HR and Remuneration committee to help the Board. In accordance to the Statutes governing the Institute, a new director general was appointed, Gian Franco Mammì supported by Giulio Mattietti as adjunct to the director general, as well as 2 new members of the Board of Auditors (Collegio dei Revisori), Giovanni Barbara and Luca Del Pico.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

VATICAN CITY, May 12 (Reuters) – A drive to tighten financial governance at the Vatican bank after years of alleged wrongdoing has made it “impossible to launder money” there, its chairman said on Thursday.

The bank, which is called the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), has toughened its rules and closed thousands of accounts since 2012 to break from the murky management of the past.

The IOR’s mission is to manage money for the Roman Catholic Church. But for decades it let Italian citizens hold accounts, which law enforcement officials said helped them launder money and evade taxes.

It holds 5.8 billion euros ($6.6 billion) in assets for clients around the world – primarily congregations, dioceses and other Catholic institutions.

Chairman Jean-Baptiste de Franssu, who took over in 2014 after Pope Francis was elected with a mandate to make the Vatican administration transparent, said the rules were now “extremely strict”.

“Anyone who would be tempted to use an account in an institution to launder money, the last place he would want to come to is IOR,” Franssu told Vatican Radio.

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VATICAN CITY
Banking & Finance

MAY 12, 2016

[VATICAN CITY] A drive to tighten financial governance at the Vatican bank after years of alleged wrongdoing has made it “impossible to launder money” there, its chairman said on Thursday.

The bank, which is called the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), has toughened its rules and closed thousands of accounts since 2012 to break from the murky management of the past.

The IOR’s mission is to manage money for the Roman Catholic Church. But for decades it let Italian citizens hold accounts, which law enforcement officials said helped them launder money and evade taxes.

It holds 5.8 billion euros (S$8.33 billion) in assets for clients around the world – primarily congregations, dioceses and other Catholic institutions.

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VATICAN CITY
ABC News

By NICOLE WINFIELD, ASSOCIATED PRESS
VATICAN CITY — May 12, 2016

The head of the Vatican’s scandal-marred bank declared Thursday it’s now “impossible to launder money” there after a years-long cleanup that saw norms imposed to fight money laundering and tax evasion.

Jean-Baptiste Douville de Franssu made the claim as the bank reported net profit of 16.1 million euros ($18.3 million) last year, down from 69.3 million euros in 2014. The bank attributed the decrease to lower interest rates and market uncertainties and provisions to fix a foreign tax issue.

In an interview with Vatican media, de Franssu acknowledged that in the past the IOR had been subject to abuse “because you cannot serve two masters, and money is tempting.”

But now that new norms are in place, he said: “It is impossible to launder money at IOR.”

The bank has some 14,801 customers. About half are religious orders which use its investment services and to transfer money to missions around the world. Other customers include Vatican offices and employees. Total client assets under management at the end of 2015 were 5.8 billion euros ($6.6 billion).

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DEUTSCHLAND
Schwarzwaelder Bote

[Was a popular pastor from Ergenzingen a child molester?]

Von Martin Dold 12.05.2016

Rottenburg-Ergenzingen – Mit Bestürzung reagierten am Mittwoch viele Ergenzinger auf die Nachricht von ihrem früheren Pfarrer Alfons Leykauf. Ihm wurde die Ehrenbürgerschaft entzogen. Der Grund: schwerer sexueller Missbrauch.

Ortschafts- und Gemeinderat hatten sich in nicht-öffentlicher Sitzung eindeutig positioniert. “Was wir an Fakten wissen, rechtfertigt den Entzug. Das war unstrittig”, sagt Ortsvorsteher Reinhold Baur und verweist auf eine gemeinsame Sitzung von Kirchengemeinderat, Ortschaftsrat und Kolpingsfamilie, die in Ergenzingen von Leykauf gegründet wurde.
.

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AUSTRALIA
The New Daily

In a new book, the Opposition Leader says his mother’s instincts saved he and his brother from “a monster”.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has revealed how he and his twin brother narrowly escaped the clutches of evil paedophile priest Kevin O’Donnell while growing up in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.

In his new book For The Common Good, Mr Shorten writes that O’Donnell approached the twins’ mother Ann in the mid-1970s to ask if her sons could become altar boys at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Oakleigh.

“Mum refused point blank,” Mr Shorten writes. “She didn’t like him. It was father Kevin O’Donnell, an evil paedophile who was later arrested and convicted for abusing children.”

“Mum’s instinct was very good,” Mr Shorten adds. “Through her actions, Rob and I avoided a monster.

“He went to jail, but only after he destroyed countless lives.”

O’Donnell was later jailed for indecently assaulting 11 boys and a girl, aged eight to 14, between 1946 and 1977. He died after his release from prison in 1997.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | May. 12, 2016

VATICAN CITY
Pope Francis has announced he will create a commission to study the possibility of allowing women to serve as deacons in the Catholic church, signaling an historic openness to the possibility of ending the global institution’s practice of an all-male clergy.

The pontiff indicated he would create such a commission during a meeting at the Vatican Thursday with some 900 leaders of the world’s congregations of Catholic women religious, who asked him during a question-and-answer session why the church excludes women from serving as deacons.

The women religious, meeting with the pope as part of the triennial assembly of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), told Francis that women has served as deacons in the early church and asked: “Why not construct an official commission that might study the question?”

The pope responded that he had spoken about the matter once some years ago with a “good, wise professor” who had studied the use of female deacons in the early centuries of the church. Francis said it remained unclear to him what role such deacons had.

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By Joe Tacopino

May 12, 2016

“Saturday Night Live” funny­man Pete Davidson launched an online rant Wednesday against a priest being sued for using profanity at a Staten Island parochial school — including calling women “tw-ts.”

“I went to this high school and I’m glad something is finally being done about ­Father [Michael] Reilly,” ­Davidson wrote on Instagram about the man of the cloth, the principal at St. Joseph by the Sea HS.

“He is an absolute monster and has ruined that high school. He should have been fired years ago.”

The potty-mouthed priest allegedly trashed colleagues at the school in the Huguenot neighborhood.

Three employees are ­suing Reilly, two of his “henchmen” and the Archdiocese of New York for gender and age discrimination.

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MINNESOTA
Catholic Spirit

Maria Wiering | May 11, 2016

Crosier Father Gregory Poser has been accused of sexually abusing a minor in the 1970s while he was serving at St. Odilia in Shoreview, where he ministered from 1974 to 1978 and 1984 to 1985.

According to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office was contacted and an investigation is underway. The archdiocese is cooperating with law enforcement.

The Crosiers’ prior provincial has placed Father Poser on immediate leave from his assignment as an associate pastor of Holy Cross in Onamia in the Diocese of St. Cloud.

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OREGON
Oregonian

An Oregon priest faces as much as a year behind bars when he is sentenced this month for attempting to lure a 14-year-old girl into his car in Vancouver.

Michael T. Patrick, 59, the former pastor of St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church in Scappoose, entered a guilty plea Friday in Clark County Superior Court, according to The Columbian. He was originally charged with luring in the 2014 incident.

Patrick has been with the Archdiocese of Portland since 1998, according to The Catholic Sentinel. David Renshaw, a spokesman for the archdiocese, told The Columbian that Patrick has not been attached to a parish since his arrest and that his status remains unchanged pending the outcome of the archdiocese’s investigation.

On March 10, 2014, a girl walking home on Northeast 28th Street noticed the driver of a silver or blue car looking at her “strangely,” according to The Oregonian/OregonLive archives. The car turned around and came up behind her before driving past and parking in the bike lane. As the girl approached the car, the driver later identified as Patrick opened his door and said, “Hey, get in.”

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Jean Hopfensperger Star Tribune MAY 11, 2016

Archbishop Bernard Hebda had just finished posing for an official portrait at the St. Paul Cathedral in advance of his installation this week when he turned to the assembled staff members with the burning question: “What are you doing for lunch?”

Hebda suggested they check out the cafeteria at St. Paul College. Everybody walked over and had a “great time,” said cathedral rector Rev. John Ubel, marveling that Hebda even knew about the place.

“He can be spur of the moment … and he genuinely enjoys being with people,” Ubel said. “Those are fantastic qualities that will serve him well in the archdiocese.”

Hebda, an unpretentious cleric with a Harvard degree, will be installed as the Twin Cities’ ninth archbishop Friday, taking leadership of a church confronted by more than 400 clergy abuse claims, bankruptcy and restlessness in the pews. He replaces archbishop John Nienstedt, who resigned last June when church officials were charged with failing to protect children.

Hebda has garnered praise from priests to parishioners for his Pope Francis style of engagement. But advocates for victims of clergy abuse wonder when he will contact them, as they represent the central issue behind the archdiocese’s deep troubles.

They say the archbishop’s true colors will not be revealed until the archdiocese unveils its bankruptcy plan for compensating abuse victims, expected later this month.

“I don’t know that he has done a

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

Ronald Mulkearns did not have a funeral befitting a retired Catholic bishop; nor will he even get the public prayers said for dead sinners.

The pain caused by pedophile priests under the 1971-1997 Ballarat bishop’s watch is still so raw that the Catholic Church has cancelled a memorial mass planned for Monday.

Bishop Mulkearns covered up abuse by pedophiles he moved between parishes, Ballarat clergy abuse victim Andrew Collins said.

“While he didn’t abuse children directly, he essentially facilitated the rape and abuse of children all throughout western Victoria,” Mr Collins told AAP.

“And we’re not talking about one or two, we’re talking about potentially hundreds of children.”

Mr Collins said busloads of people had planned to join a silent protest outside Ballarat’s St Patrick’s Cathedral on Monday.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

May 12, 2016

Lisa Flynn

We commend the Palaszczuk government for the steps it has taken to address the archaic time limits that currently prevent survivors of historic child abuse from accessing justice through the civil courts.

This week, it indicated for the very first time that it was open to changing the state time limitation laws for victims of child sexual abuse.

It’s vital that these conversations continue, and that words are converted into action, action that ensures that no further abuse survivors are denied access to justice for crimes committed against them in their childhood.

I have represented hundreds of these courageous men and women, and have been fortunate enough to sit with them, and hear their stories. I’ve listened to them describe their fear; of speaking out, of not being believed, of being ignored or blamed. This fear kept them silent.

They have learnt how to bury their words; a lesson that often led them towards a path of distrust, reinforced by troubled relationships, violence, and substance abuse. They have learnt to block out the memories, and it would be decades before they could finally bring themselves to release the words, and speak of the abuse they suffered.

The delay in a survivor speaking coming forward is well recognised by experts, and has been the subject of much discussion, and recommendation from the current Royal Commission into the Institutional Responses to Childhood Sexual Abuse.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The IOR – Istituto per le Opere di Religione, or the Vatican Bank, released its Annual Report for the 2015 fiscal year on Thursday, indicating its commitment to assisting the Holy Father in his universal mission of pastoral care.

The extended Annual Report was accompanied by a Press Release detailing the more salient points of IOR’s 2015 activities.

Jean-Baptiste Douville de Franssu, President of the IOR, and the Director General, Gian Franco Mammì, participated in a roundtable event with Vatican Radio and Osservatore Romano to discuss the report.

The full transcription of the roundtable is below:

Q: Why does the Vatican, and the Church, need the IOR, and what are the services the IOR offers?

Jean-Baptiste Douville de Franssu: Let me say how pleased I am to be here today and to be given the opportunity to report on 2015 which was a very important year for the IOR, and I am sure with Dr. Mammi we will have many opportunities in the course of this interview to tell you a little bit about some of those activities of 2015.

Why does the Vatican and the Church need the IOR? I think it’s very simple. First of all, we should remember that the Vatican, being a sovereign state, it has a small economy and like any sovereign state that has an economy, it needs an institution that we would refer to traditionally as a financial institution that allows for transfer of payments to occur and allow the different agents in the economy to function. So that’s the primary role of IOR.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY GLENN BLAIN STEPHEN REX BROWN

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil — and for good measure — confront no evil.

In other words, Albany’s three men in a room still don’t have time to talk about the rights of child sex abuse victims.

One refused to meet with a sex abuse survivor. One had no public schedule and his office didn’t return calls. A third was so annoyed that a reporter dared to ask him about the issue, he made it sound like he was under attack.

“No, stop,” whined Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx), waving off a Daily News reporter on Wednesday.

The News wanted to know if the Assembly was going to take action on efforts to reform the statute of limitations on child sex abuse. Currently, child sex abuse survivors in New York are unable to bring civil or criminal charges against their abusers after their 23rd birthday.

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NEW YORK
Huffington Post

Courtney M. Soliday
AOL. Attorney.

Child sex abuse, the patterns of their predators, and all that jazz has been quite a topic of discussion. Like New York weather, the 2016 legislative season is heating up!

The following child sex abuse statute of limitation bills are pending in the New York Legislature. The statute of limitations is how long a victim of child sex abuse has to come forward and sue their rapist and in civil cases, others who enabled the rape and subsequent cover-up. A window means a “window” will open up for a year where survivors whose time to come forward has expired will have one year to come forward during the window and file a civil lawsuit.

2016 Pending Bill Summary in New York:

Assembly Bill 2872A A. 2872A (civil elimination of child sex abuse statute of limitations in New York and 1-year window to identify previous abuse in New York)

Senate Bill 63A S. 63A (civil elimination of child sex abuse statute of limitations and 1-year window)

Assembly Bill 8567 A. 8567 (criminal elimination of child sex abuse statute of limitations)

View Bill Info on NY Legislature Website

Senate Bill 6436 S. 6436 (criminal elimination)

Assembly Bill 09877 A. 09877 (criminal and civil elimination)

View Bill Info on NY Legislature Website

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

Editorial

Leaders of a secret society rather than an open Legislature, New York’s Democratic Assembly speaker and Republican Senate majority leader on Wednesday refused interviews about extension or elimination of the statute of limitations for child sex abuse.

A press aide for Carl Heastie said the speaker would discuss the topic only after his Democratic conference reached a position behind closed doors. A flack for John Flanagan said the majority leader was just too busy.

Their evasions were perfectly consistent with the Legislature’s practice of resolving controversial issues without public hearings or the input of independent experts even as connected lobbyists have the run of the place.

The Daily News has called for statute of limitation reforms that would open courthouse doors that have been closed to victims and prosecutors. That said, lengthening a statute of limitations raises sensitive due process concerns. After too many years, for example, defendants can lose the ability to defend themselves.

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