ABUSE TRACKER

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service – Bollettino

Vatican City, 2 June 2016 – Following Pope Francis’ encouragement to combat in every way the different forms of modern slavery, human trafficking, forced labour, the trade in organs and organised crime, the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences has invited a large number of judges, prosecutors and magistrates from many different countries – key actors in the struggle against these terrible crimes – to a high level meeting.

The new Summit is the latest in a series of important meetings organised by the same Academy with the same purpose, most notably in 2014, with the leaders of the main religions that exercise influence in the globalised world (http://www.endslavery.va/content/endslavery/en/events/declaration.html) and in 2015, with mayors of the principal capitals and large metropolises of many countries (http://www.endslavery.va/content/endslavery/en/events/mayors.html), now convening the principal judges, prosecutors and magistrates of all countries.

Pope Francis has confirmed his presence in the evening of the first day, 3 June.

The many other attendees include an important delegation from the United States, led by the Ambassador responsible for the Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, Susan Coppedge; the British High Commissioner against modern slavery, Kevin Hyland, along with the Director of Public Prosecutions, Alison Saunders; the Dutch National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings, Corinne Dettmeijer-Vermeulen; the United Nations High Commissioner against Human Trafficking, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro; the Swedish Chancellor of Justice Anna Skarhead and author of the Swedish model of combating prostitution based on the criminalisation of clients).

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NEW YORK
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on today’s front-page story in the Daily News:

The New York Daily News was bought by Mortimer Zuckerman in 1993 for $36 million; last year he weighed a bid by Cablevision to buy it for $1.00. Yes, one dollar. In January, it lowered its
newsstand price to $1.00. To prove how little influence it has these days, the newspaper vendor on the northwest corner of 34th and 7th—across the street from the Long Island Rail Road and Madison Square Garden—has stopped carrying it. If there are no buyers there, it’s time to close shop.

None of this is an excuse for its deceitful attack on Catholics. On the front page of today’s paper is a picture of Cardinal Timothy Dolan and State Sen. John Flanagan; both oppose bills that would lift the statute of limitations on crimes involving the sexual abuse of minors. With good reason: The bills have one target—the Catholic Church.

As it turns out, there is no news story on this issue. Instead, there is a column by the disgraced former prosecutor for the Manhattan DA’s office. In 1990, she successfully prosecuted five teenagers in the “Central Park Joggers” case; it was overturned in 2002. In 1993, an appellate court judge said she “deliberately engineered the 15-year-old’s confession [Yousef Salaam]…Fairstein wanted to make a name. She didn’t care. She wasn’t a human.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Ivey DeJesus | idejesus@pennlive.com

For years, the Catholic Church has waged stiff opposition to attempts to reform child sex crime laws.

In the face of widespread clergy sex abuse, entities of the Catholic Church – such as its legislative arm here, the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference – have lobbied vigorously to defeat efforts to reform the statute of limitations.

Now, with the state Senate poised to hear arguments on the latest reform proposal, a more secular sector has stepped up the pushback against changes to the law: that of business.

A cadre of six of the biggest business associations in Pennsylvania have for weeks lobbied members of the Senate in opposition to reform of statute of limitations – specifically, any retroactive changes to the civil law. Their main argument is the idea that retroactive changes to the law would be detrimental to businesses.

“If the General Assembly passes a law that clearly takes a claim away that is vested in law, that’s going to present harm,” said Sam Denisco, vice president of government affairs for the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry. “It sets a bad precedent.”

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ISRAEL/AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

Former Melbourne Jewish girls’ school principal and alleged pedophile Malka Leifer will walk free, her home detention in Israel lifted.

She will not face extradition to Victoria – where she faces prosecution for 74 sexual abuse offences against 10 girls at the Adass Israel School – until she has completed psychiatric treatment that could go on for years.

On Thursday, Jerusalem District Court judge Amnon Cohen ruled that Leifer would receive outpatient treatment in Jerusalem after a report from the district psychiatrist found she was not mentally fit to face an extradition trial.

Leifer’s treatment in a Jerusalem clinic would begin next week and would last initially for six months.

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PERU
Crux

By Crux Staff
June 2, 2016

[Editor’s note: The Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (“Sodality of Christian Life”) is a lay movement in the Catholic Church founded in Peru in 1971, which has since spread to several other countries, including the United States. Recently a scandal erupted around the group’s founder, Peruvian layman Luis Fernando Figari, featuring charges of sexual, physical and psychological abuse of members.

As the story developed, some alleged victims charged that Church authorities in Peru may have ignored or tried to conceal the charges. In this May 17, 2016, letter, the lead of the local Church court in Lima, the national capital, argues that all of the complaints against Figari were relayed quickly to the Vatican’s Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, the department in Rome that oversees religious orders and societies, and that action against Figari was urgently recommended but was slow in coming.

The following is a Crux translation of the letter, which was written in Spanish.]

Lima, May 17, 2016

Dear Archbishops and Bishops

Members of the Coetus of the Interdiocesan Ecclesiastical Tribunal of Lima

Your Excellencies:

Continued news and comments in some media relating to the complaints filed at this court against Mr. Luis Fernando Figari, founder of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, have misled the public with biased and often false stories. They imply that this court has not acted in a fair and transparent way and even claim, slanderously, that we sought to cover up the four complaints we received.

To assist your understanding of the events, I feel bound to address to you, member bishops of the coetus of the Tribunal, some facts relating to the proceeding of these cases that will help you better understand the situation.

I. History and brief description of how and when the four complaints that were received by this court were dealt with.

First complaint: On May 16, 2011, at noon the complainant came to the court (today he is identified as “Santiago”), accompanied by a relative, to present a written allegation against Mr. Luis Fernando Figari. On May 24, 2011, I sent the allegation together with my accompanying letter to the Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

Second complaint: From the Archdiocese of Cologne, we received a complaint against Mr. Luis Fernando Figari dated May 24, 2011. On September 9, 2011, the complaint was sent to the Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated life and Societies of Apostolic life.

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VATICAN CITY/PERU
Crux

By Austen Ivereigh
Senior Crux Contributor June 2, 2016

A document obtained by Crux, related to accusations of sexual and other forms of abuse against the founder of a powerful Catholic lay movement in Peru, suggests that the Vatican was informed of the charges as early as May 2011 but essentially took no action for four years.

A May 17, 2016, letter addressed to Peru’s bishops by the head of the country’s main ecclesiastical court lists multiple steps taken to inform Rome of allegations against Luis Fernando Figari, founder of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV), and expresses mounting frustration at the lack of response.

In April 2015, the Vatican eventually appointed a local visitor to look into the charges, and early last month Rome named American Archbishop Joseph Tobin of Indianapolis, a former Vatican official, as its delegate to lead a process of reform.

In response to a Crux request for comment, the Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, said the delay was due to “the complexity and diversity of positions and interpretations” regarding the accusations against Figari, as well as legal issues.

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OHIO
WHIO

By Mark Gokavi
Staff Writer

DAYTON — The Rev. Earl Simone, awaiting sentencing in common pleas court after admitting to stealing $1.92 million from parishioners to buy real estate, also has been sued by the Cincinnati Archdiocese.

The civil lawsuit filed last month in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court was brought by plaintiffs Archbishop Dennis Schnurr and the St. Peter Roman Catholic Church. Simone and John Does 1-10 are listed as the defendants in the suit, which seeks the return of the money.

“In March 2016, the State of Ohio indicted Fr. Simone for theft from the Archdiocese and/or the Parish over several years,” the complaint said of Simone, who served at the Huber Heights church from August 1992 until March 2015. “John Does 1-10, all of whom are believed to be non-clerics, were complicit and conspirators of Fr. Simone in the theft and its cover up.”

A June 27 teleconference is scheduled to determine Simone’s sentencing date.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

MARCI HAMILTON
SPECIAL TO THE DAILY NEWS
Updated: Wednesday, June 1, 2016

The Walk for a Window next Sunday across the Brooklyn Bridge is in support of survivors of child sex abuse, but just as important, it is a turning point in the emerging global civil rights movement for children.

Not long ago, women and children belonged to their husbands and fathers. They were, in a word, legal property. In the 20th century, first women attained the status of persons with a right to vote and then children started to emerge from behind their skirts as persons.

When a woman or a child was property, what was done to them, even if against their will, was acceptable, or, more accurately, they simply had no voice for anyone to learn the unacceptable had happened. But that has changed.

The Walk for a Window is focused on obtaining justice for the adults who were sexually abused as children; it is a unity march of survivors, friends, families and advocates from New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

The Walk for a Window is evidence of a civil rights movement for children that would have been hard to imagine a decade or two ago. Yet, here it is: as real as can be.

The urgency of the call for access to justice for victims is not going away. For those lawmakers who have been blocking these bills in committee in all three states, and who think they can duck the issue yet one more time, they need to understand another scandal inevitably lurks.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Thursday, June 02, 2016

Liam Heylin

An 82-year-old priest was accused yesterday of indecently assaulting a boy in a school sickbed in the 1970s. He denied it and said he acted like a father to all the boys.

A jury of three women and nine men was sworn in to hear the case before Judge Gerard O’Brien at Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday. The priest pleaded not guilty to two counts of indecently assaulting the boy.

The complainant testified that the alleged indecent assaults occurred when he was about 13 and 14.

The complainant said the first incident occurred when he was ill with chest and stomach problems.

“I was not able to go to class. I was in the room on my own. (The accused) called to the room. He put his hand on my forehead. He put his left hand on my forehead. He put his other hand on my tummy and moved down. He proceeded to put his hand on my testicles and my penis for 12 to 15 seconds.

“I froze solid, naturally enough, I was a young boy on my own. I had just started second year,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

Christopher Knaus

Lawyers say five former St Edmund’s College students have emerged with child abuse complaints in the past two weeks, after revelations that Catholic officials knowingly allowed two suspected paedophiles to continue teaching.

Porters Lawyers principal Jason Parkinson is now urging other Canberra survivors to come forward, and warns against dealing directly with the Catholic order or with the church’s Towards Healing process.

“When it’s only one person coming forward, the weight of the church is upon that individual,” Mr Parkinson said. “But when his former teachers or former schoolmates can help, it eases the load.”

Two weeks ago, Fairfax Media revealed that officials from separate Catholic orders had turned a blind eye to complaints of abuse about two brothers, allowing them to continue teaching, including eventually in Canberra.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Reading Eagle

By Liam Migdail-Smith

As Boston Globe reporters shed national attention on child sexual abuse, Phil Saviano was giving fellow abuse survivors a place to talk.

He oversaw online discussion boards for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, where people could tell their stories. As leader of the group’s New England chapter, he was a key source in the Globe series that revealed abuse by Boston-area Catholic priests was systematically concealed.

After the 2002 series, more survivors came forward to talk about their abuse.

“There was proof that people would care about it,” Saviano said.

He said it was almost as if the series from the Globe gave people permission to talk about their abuse.

Now, Saviano’s seeing another wave of focus on abuse and of survivors coming forward. It’s driven by what he refers to as “the power of Rachel McAdams and Mark Ruffalo.” “Spotlight,” Hollywood’s account of the Globe investigation, won the Academy Award for best picture.

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FIJI
Fiji Times

Aqela Susu
Thursday, June 02, 2016

THE head of the Catholic Church of Fiji, Archbishop Peter Loy Chong, has urged church leaders to adopt strict policies and guidelines on disciplining church pastors involved in sexual offences.

Archbishop Chong made the comment after the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions released sexual offence statistics for last month.

The statistics revealed there were 46 sexual offence cases reported during the month of May, 29 of which were rape cases.

Of those 46 separate incidents, 16 people were charged, two of whom were church pastors who had committed serious sexual offences.

“The only advice now is for pastors and other churches to have strict guidelines because pastors have certain amount of power over people and people always have trust in them,” Archbishop Chong said in an interview yesterday.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY LINDA FAIRSTEIN
SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Wednesday, June 1, 2016

There is no class of people more vulnerable to sexual predators than children. In the overwhelming number of cases, the perpetrators are people who have betrayed the trust of children in their care — relatives, foster families, educators, coaches, clergy and health care professionals — who are far more likely to commit the traumatizing acts than strangers our children are brought up to fear.

The greatest damage has been done to child victims whose voices have long been silenced — first, by their abusers, and then by the senseless laws that have placed arbitrary limits on the time they have to seek justice. We cannot save many who have come before this, but we can change the outlook, the possibility of justice — both in criminal and civil court — for the thousands more who have suffered at the hands of predators and those whom we know will come next. The time to pass the Child Victims Act is now.

There is no reasonable opposition to this argument. What is it opponents fear? Some have raised the concern of false reporting, but the statistics are abundantly clear that this problem represents a small fractional proportion — less than 2% of all claims. For example, California saw about five false claims out of 850 against the Catholic Church. False reporting occurs in every category of crime and it is certainly an issue in cases which fall within the statute of limitations. It is part of the job of every prosecutor to identify those complaints and get them out of the system. They are rare, and they should never be a barrier to the overwhelming number of valid complaints that deserve to be investigated.

Is it the ease with which some critics say the reporting occurs? That is terrifically unfair and absurd. One must only meet with, listen to, experience the moment when an adult survivor discloses the torment of her or his youth. In most instances, the first telling of the facts is made after an agonizing period — years and years — of self-doubt, of denial, of wondering whether the listener will blame or believe. To look in the eyes of the individual is to understand immediately the depth of the pain and the searing imprint the criminal conduct has imprinted in the heart and on the soul of the victimized child. I can think of few things more difficult in one’s life than deciding when and to whom to reveal the abuse. That alone makes me understand that only a small number of survivors ever choose to tell their stories. We are not opening the floodgates when we change these laws. Do not be misled by that kind of argument. The inherent difficulty in reopening the wounds caused by sexual abuse prevents victims from ever reporting these crimes.

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NEW YORK
The Frisky

Marissa Miller | June 1, 2016

As if it weren’t hard enough for victims of abuse to seek justice, let alone feel supported or even believed, the Catholic Conference has stooped to a new low amid years of reports of child sex abuse. Timothy Cardinal Dolan, who leads New York’s Catholic Conference, hired major lobby firms to halt legislation geared toward helping child abuse victims seek justice, The New York Daily News reports. State records show that between 2007 and 2015, the conference doled out more than $2 million in an effort to stop New York’s Child Victims Act from becoming law.

The Child Victims Act would get rid of the statute of limitations for victims to bring civil cases against their abusers and open a one-year window for people who have passed the current limitation to do so. If the conference, which represents all of New York’s bishops in public policy, manages to block the reform, adult victims who were abused as children would not have their GOD-GIVEN right to file civil claims after their 23rd birthday. Time is ticking since the state legislature’s session ends June 16.

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GUAM
Radio New Zealand

The Catholic Church in Guam has been accused of lacking compassion after it dismissed allegations of sexual abuse by its Archbishop as lies.

An Arizona woman was claiming Archbishop Anthony Apuron molested her son when he was an altar boy in the 1970s.

It followed a similar accusation made two weeks ago.

The Archbishop denied the claims and in a statement the Archdiocese of Agana said it was taking legal measures against those perpetrating malicious lies.

A director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, Joelle Casteix said the Church was defending itself first, rather than showing compassion

“It would be very easy for the Archdiocese to make a statement saying we are so sorry for any pain that these people may have suffered because when a mother of a survivor comes forward and tells her story of pain it is very heartwrenching and there has been no compassion whatsoever.”

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UNITED KINGDOM/MAYLAYSIA
Straits Times

LONDON/PETALING JAYA (AFP/THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – A British paedophile on Wednesday (June 1) faced a life sentence after admitting to a string of sex attacks on children as young as six months, some from poor Christian families in Malaysia.

Richard Huckle, 30, took pictures and video footage of himself abusing the children which he uploaded to the dark web – a hard to access part of the Internet often used for illegal activity.

Investigators found over 20,000 indecent images on his computer, while Huckle also kept a ledger of his attacks and wrote a manual called Paedophiles And Poverty: Child Lover Guide.

Graphic details of dozens of sexual offences by Huckle emerged for the first time on Wednesday as his sentencing hearing started in London.

Huckle faced a total of 91 charges, including against 23 children in Kuala Lumpur, where he set himself up as an English teacher.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Editorial

As a secular newspaper, it is not our place to tell any church how to conduct itself. But the recent allegations of sexual misconduct by the head of Guam’s Catholic Church are disturbing. If true, they are allegations of criminal behavior of a most despicable nature. In one sense, it is unfortunate that the accusations are being made so long after the abuse is alleged to have taken place, since the statutes of limitations have long since expired, preventing the accused from being held accountable – or shown to be innocent of the allegations – in a court of law.

We find the allegations particularly disturbing because they fit a known pattern of behavior within the church throughout the world. We understand the acts of sexual predation are committed by a small number of clergy, but by all accounts, members of the church hierarchy have been involved in covering up the criminal behavior. It is a travesty that the institution that can, and should, be a source of positive moral authority in the world has been used to facilitate such evil. Unfortunately, more than a denial is needed to assure the community that the recent accusations are false.

Those who have accused the archbishop of molestation have said they would welcome the legal action that has been threatened by the archbishop as an opportunity to have the truth ferreted out in what should be a transparent proceeding conducted by neutral parties. Such a legal proceeding may be the most credible avenue to demonstrate what is and is not the truth.

In the last few years, there has been much turmoil in the church on Guam, most of which is internal to the church and best settled by the church within the church. In our secular role, we are not concerned with the power politics among the clergy, the ownership of the seminary or any other church property, what music is part of the liturgy, or how the sacraments are administered.

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MALAYSIA
Maylay Mail Online

BY BOO SU-LYN

KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 — A Malaysian Catholic Church theologian suggested today that reporting mechanisms be set up in the church for child sexual abuse cases, amid the trial of a British paedophile who raped children in poor Christian communities here.

Catholic Research Centre director Father Clarence Devadass also said people should be screened before they are allowed to work with children, especially if it is their first time.

“The Catholic Church views sexual abuse of children as a crime,” Devadass told Malay Mail Online.

He said the current procedure to report child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church is to lodge a complaint with the Archbishop, adding that guidelines for people who work with children should be drawn up and education programmes be held for children about abuse.

– See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/catholic-church-leader-moots-child-sexual-abuse-reporting-after-uk-paedophi#sthash.tLzPBRTV.dpuf

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MALAYSIA
The Sun Daily

Ashwin Kumar, Timothy Achariam & Keshia Mahmood
newsdesk@thesundaily.com

PETALING JAYA: Unicef Malaysia yesterday said the Huckle case was only the tip of the iceberg and merely “a small part of the horrific trade in child pornography and the extensive scourge of pedophilia” worldwide.

“Unicef data also reveals that there are high levels of sexual exploitation of children online and an average of five child victims of online sexual abuse is identified by Interpol and police partners every day.

“The number of webpages containing child sexual abuse material grew by 147% from 2012 to 2014, with girls and children 10 years old or younger depicted in 80% of these materials,” it said.

In addition to the Child Cyber Sexual Investigation unit set up by the police last month, Unicef emphasised that there needs to be sufficient monitoring and surveillance mechanisms including a registry of sex offenders, to ensure offenders are stopped before they do further harm to children.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philly.com

By John Salveson

The one thing I have in common with Archbishop Charles Chaput is that I live in Philadelphia but wasn’t born here. I grew up in New York and moved here in 1978. He moved here from Denver in 2011.

I point this out because I believe the archbishop’s relative inexperience here has led him to miscalculate the nature of Philadelphia Catholics. Let me explain.

The archdiocese has launched a campaign aimed at convincing Philadelphia-area Catholics that changing the laws pertaining to the sexual abuse of children is a very bad and dangerous idea. He wants them to call their legislators and tell them not to support House Bill 1947.

The bill would remove the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution for child sexual abuse, raise the maximum age at which a child victim may file a civil suit to 50, and make it possible for more child sexual abuse victims to bring lawsuits against any Pennsylvania diocese that enabled and protected their predators.

The archdiocese’s message, promoted through meetings with clergy, articles in the archdiocesan digital publication CatholicPhilly.com, an “Action Alert” from the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, and fliers distributed to the faithful, is ominous: The passage of H.B. 1947 could lead to bankruptcy, crippling debt, closures of parishes and schools, and erosion of services to the needy.

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MINNESOTA
Post-Bulletin

Kay Fate, kfate@postbulletin.com

WINONA — The second-highest ranking official at the Catholic Diocese of Winona resigned Wednesday after the Post-Bulletin discovered that he admitted under oath in the early 1990s that he had a sexual relationship with a college freshman whom he was counseling.

The relationship lasted for more than a year, according to court documents obtained by the Post-Bulletin, and included a pregnancy scare.

The Rev. Msgr. Richard Colletti, 63, who since 2011 had been vicar general of the diocese that serves the 20 southern counties of Minnesota, also resigned as chancellor, the chief record keeper for the diocese. The resignations were effective immediately.

Bishop John Quinn said Wednesday night that had Colletti not offered his resignation, “it would have been within my role to (terminate him). I would have needed more time to discuss all of that with him, but before I even began that discussion, Monsignor informed me that he wished to resign.”

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TEXAS
Baptist News

BOB ALLEN | JUNE 1, 2016

Days after being demoted as president of Baylor University over the university’s mishandling of sexual assault among its students, former Whitewater special prosecutor Ken Starr told ESPN June 1 he is resigning as chancellor.

Starr, elected president of the world’s largest Baptist educational institution in 2010, told ESPN’s Joe Schad in an interview with “Outside the Lines” that he didn’t know about failures to address reports of sexual assault in the school’s athletics department detailed in an independent investigation but he “willingly accepted responsibility.”

“The captain goes down with the ship,” he said.

Baylor’s board of regents announced May 26 that Starr would no longer serve in the role of president effective May 31. David Garland, former dean and professor at Baylor’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary, was named interim president. Starr continues to teach in Baylor’s law school. …

“Baylor chose to support and protect itself and image over the precious lives of students,” said Amy Smith, a Texas representative of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “While this is certainly newsworthy, sadly, this skewed priority is an all-too-familiar guiding, operational structure among Baptist churches as well.”

Smith, herself a Baylor graduate, said too often churches try to handle allegations of sexual abuse of children and vulnerable adults in-house and not report them to police. The result, she said, is “revictimization.”

“Victims are blamed, perpetrators enabled, and more lives placed at risk. Sexual assault must be rightly viewed as a crime and reported to law enforcement, not just as sin or ‘inappropriate behavior’ to be handled as a spiritual and behavioral matter by the church or managed by a football coach or university administration.”

Dee Miller, an author and activist, says the pattern is nothing new. It’s been nearly 25 years since her 1993 memoir How Little We Knew described how her and her husband’s missionary careers were derailed because of their persistence in trying to get a fellow missionary who was preying on women and children off the mission field.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

[with video]

Deacon Steve Martinez, a former sexual abuse response coordinator with the Archdiocese of Agaña, held a press conference on Wednesday, June 1, at Guam Law Library, to discuss his concerns that Archbishop Anthony Apuron kept in place a sex abuse policy that is no longer in favor among other archdiocese in order to protect himself. Martinez, who currently serves as a deacon with the Archdiocese of Agaña, was relieved of his position as SARC in October 2014 after sending at least two letters to Archbishop Anthony Apuron, alerting him a conflict of interest in church policies as well as the archbishop’s failure to comply with policy. Martinez states that Apuron “purposely kept his sex abuse policies weak in order to protect himself and those around him.” The archbishop has been publicly accused by two people this month of sexual abuse while he served as a parish priest in Agat in the 1970s. Tony Azios/Post

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NEW YORK
The Journal News

[Copy of the letter sent by the attorney for the School Religious Freedom Coalition to the New York state education commissioner.]

Steve Lieberman and Michael D’Onofrio, slieberm@lohud.com June 1, 2016

Yeshivas say they want safe schools and are open to inspections but oppose the ‘draconian’ methods of County Executive Ed Day

A newly formed group of Rockland yeshivas has warned County Executive Ed Day that they believe his zeal for inspecting private schools violates the U.S. Constitution.

Members of what is being called the School Religious Freedom Coalition want a meeting with the state education commissioner to discuss a “reasonable” plan for carrying out fire and safety code inspections at local private schools.

Dennis Lynch, an attorney for the group, said organization members support the need for inspections and having safe schools for students but believe Day’s goal is to limit the growth of private schools.

They also feel the county executive’s language at a press conference last week was “inflammatory” and prejudicial, Lynch said.

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CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

PATRICK MCGREEVY

The state Senate approved a measure on Wednesday that would end the statute of limitations for rape and several other sex crimes in California.

The measure by Sen. Connie Leyva (D-Chino) would allow the indefinite criminal prosecution of rape, sodomy, lewd or lascivious acts, continuous sexual abuse of a child, oral copulation and sexual penetration.

Currently, prosecution of rape must take place within 10 years, unless DNA evidence is discovered afterward.

“SB 813 will help to prevent rapists and sexual predators from evading legal consequences in California simply because the statute of limitations has expired,” Leyva said. “Regardless of when a rape or sexual assault is reported, survivors must have an opportunity to pursue justice in a court of law for the unthinkable crimes committed against them.

The senator cited a report by the U.S. Department of Justice that estimated only 2 in 100 rapists will be convicted of a felony and spend any time in prison.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Phyllis Zagano | Jun. 1, 2016

The first time I saw the new pastor of a nearby parish, he was wearing a T-shirt and jeans, and standing in a garbage dumpster.

It was early November 2012, just after Hurricane Sandy ripped through New York and New Jersey barrier beaches. The parish church was a mess. The new pastor called some of his old high school buddies to come over from the mainland to help rip out the damaged church. The priest was tromping the debris down.

I had heard of him, this new priest at the beach. He was more National Catholic Register than National Catholic Reporter, they said. He had an in-law in the chancery. He was … well, there was more, none of it complimentary.

I supposed he belonged to the clerical “boy’s club” — the closed crowd of cassock-wearing, cigar-chomping aficionados of steak and Scotch. But, there he was, up to his knees in what was pulled from church walls and floors. He did not seem terribly clerical that post-Sandy day.

Oh, you say: nice story, but clericalism is real. Yes, I know clerical cronyism spills out from fancy restaurants, appears in box seats at sports events, and finds its way to Caribbean cruises and vacations. Over expensive dinners, or along with the beer and hot dogs, or between piña coladas, the players trade their chips and gather gossip. It has everything to do with careerism and nothing to do with ministry.

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IRELAND
RTE News

An 82-year-old priest has gone on trial accused of indecently assaulting a boy in a school sickbed in the 1970s.

The priest has denied the two charges and said he acted like a father to all the boys.

A jury of three women and nine men was sworn in to hear the case before Judge Gerard O’Brien at the Cork Circuit Criminal Court today.

The complainant testified that the alleged assaults occurred when he was approximately 13 or 14 years old.

He said the first incident occurred when he was unwell with chest and stomach problems.

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NEW YORK
Above the Law

By KATHRYN RUBINO

When you sign up to be a Biglaw attorney, you probably know you’ll be asked to do things you may find unsavory. But the job isn’t about your conscience or personal set of morals, it is about providing the highest quality legal services to those who can afford the rates. But helping the Catholic church with its child abuse problem still might be a bit much.

The Daily News reports that, according to filings with the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics, the state Catholic Conference — the public policy voice of the church, led by Timothy Cardinal Dolan — paid Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker over $1 million between 2007 and 2015 for its lobbying services. The firm worked on issues related to “statute of limitations” and “timelines for commencing certain civil actions related to sex offenses,” as well as other issues such as parochial school funding and investment tax credits.

New York is considered by child abuse victim advocates as having one of the most restrictive statutes of limitations, and there have been numerous efforts to change that, though they’ve all failed to become law. The Daily News reports that with the help of their Biglaw big guns (as well as other noted lobbying and media firms, such as Patricia Lynch & Associates, Hank Sheinkopf, and Mark Behan Communications), the Catholic Conference has historically been able to fight off the effort to expand child sexual abuse laws.

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NEW YORK
Forward

Sam Kestenbaum
Jun 1, 2016

The clock is ticking toward midnight, and dimming hopes now seem to rest with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for a bill that would enable thousands of child sex abuse victims to seek justice from their abusers.

Victim advocates had considered twin bills introduced this year to be their best chance yet to extend the statute of limitation for pursuing sexual predators of children criminally and civilly. But state Senate Republicans have made clear they will, as in the past, block efforts to reform New York’s statute of limitation for such crimes, which is among the shortest in the country.

Now, with the June 16 deadline for adjournment of the legislature only two weeks away, supporters of the measure are urging Cuomo to force the matter by introducing a separate bill of his own.

“The governor always has the opportunity to introduce what is called a program bill,” said Mike Armstrong, chief press officer for Assembly Member Margaret Markey, the bills’ prime sponsor in the lower house, where it has strong support. Such a bill, fashioned by the state’s chief executive, “puts the muscle of the administration behind the issue,” Armstrong said.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

Senior MI5 and MI6 officers have said they have no evidence that intelligence officers were involved in or condoned abuse at Kincora boys’ home in Belfast.

One MI6 officer provided detailed statements to the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry which is examining the extent of sexual abuse at the home before it closed in 1980.

Three former staff at Kincora were jailed in 1981 for abusing boys.

At least 29 boys were abused at Kincora between the late 1950s and early 1980s.

The inquiry has been hearing opening remarks from Joseph Aiken QC, counsel to the inquiry, as he outlines the evidence that will be presented to the panel over the next four weeks.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
RTE News

Security chiefs at MI5 and MI6 have told a public inquiry there is no evidence they knew about or covered up child abuse at the former Kincora Boys’ Home in the 1970s.

Britain’s Ministry of Defence has also rejected allegations that its staff deliberately withheld information about illegal activities at the east Belfast facility and used it as part of a propaganda operation, the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry has heard.

In a statement, a senior MI6 manager, known only as Officer A, said a review of documents had found nothing to substantiate persistent claims of state-sponsored child prostitution and blackmail.

He said: “I have seen nothing to indicate any involvement on the part of Secret Intelligence Service officers in abuse at the Kincora Boys’ Home or in any attempts to cover it up.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, June 1

For more information: Melanie Jula Sakoda 925-708-6175, melanie.sakoda@gmail.com

SNAP: “How did a convicted predator get a job in a parish?”
Priest hurt a Michigan child, then Boston bishop gave him posts in NH & Maine

A support group is calling for an investigation into how a priest convicted of a child sex crime got a job at a Maine church.

The New York-based Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA) and its bishop in Boston are being sued by a young man who was molested in Maine as a 15 year old altar boy by a priest who is now behind bars. The newly filed civil lawsuit charges that church officials were negligent in supervising the cleric, who had been convicted of a child sexual crime before he was ordained.

[Bangor Daily News]

Members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, say they are “very grateful to the victim for having the courage to hold those who enabled his perpetrator accountable.”

Despite a 1983 conviction for child sexual abuse in Michigan, Father Adam Metropoulos was ordained a priest in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOA), Metropolis of Boston. He worked at Saint George Greek Orthodox Church in Bangor, Maine, for more than a dozen years (from September of 2001 until his arrest on September 15, 2014).

[Bangor Daily News]

[Bangor Daily News]

The twice convicted priest was defrocked by church officials on July 13, 2015.

[Orthodox Observer]

(The announcement appeared in the October, 2015, Orthodox Observer, page 3)

The civil lawsuit was filed on May 20th. The victim is represented by Lewiston attorney Verne Paradies.

Melanie Jula Sakoda, one of the two Orthodox Christian Directors for SNAP, hopes that the lawsuit will get to the bottom of how a convicted pedophile was able become a Greek priest.

“I just don’t understand how church officials let this predator become a priest. If the Michigan conviction was uncovered, he shouldn’t have been ordained. If they didn’t check, shame on them!” she said.

Cappy Larson, the other Orthodox Christian Director for the survivors’ group, chimed in, “It breaks my heart that this young man was hurt when he didn’t have to be. Who know how many other victims Father Adam may have had! Not only was he in the Bangor parish for 13 years, but he also worked at the diocesan summer camp in New Hampshire!!”

[National Herald]

“We hope that this lawsuit encourages others who were hurt to come forward, report what they know, and start healing,” said Sakoda.

“We are very grateful to this brave victim for having the strength to hold those who enabled his perpetrator accountable,” added Larson.

Greek officials’ contact information:

Archbishop Demetrios Trakatellis, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (212-570-3511,12, archdiocese@goarch.org)

Metropolitan Methodios Tournas, Metropolis of Boston (617-277-4742, metropolis@boston.goarch.org)

Contact – Melanie Jula Sakoda (925-708-6175, melanie.sakoda@gmail.com), Cappy Larson (415-637-2006, cappy@rlarson.com), David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, davidgclohessy@gmail.com

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DEUTSCHLAND
TAZ

[Candid repentance looks different. The work-up of sexual violence in the Catholic Church has not yet failed.It has not really started.]

Zum vierten Mal stand das Thema sexueller Kindesmissbrauch auf der Agenda eines Katholikentags in Deutschland. Obwohl es bei der Versammlung der katholischen Laienorganisationen in Leipzig einige Veranstaltungen dazu gibt, erscheint sexuelle Gewalt dort vor allem als zu bewältigendes Einzelschicksal. Auch in Leipzig wird so die Chance verpasst, endlich die systematischen Ursachen der zahlreichen Missbrauchsfälle in kirchlichen Einrichtungen, Heimen, Schulen und Pfarreien zu besprechen.

Zur Aufarbeitung sexueller Gewalt gegen Jungen und Mädchen in der Kirche gibt es kein Gesamtbild für Deutschland – und soll es wohl auch nicht geben. Die von den Bischöfen beauftragten Wissenschaftler werden erst im nächsten Jahr erste Berichte vorlegen. Die dabei genutzte Auswertung der von einigen Bistümern zur Verfügung gestellten Akten kann dabei schon jetzt getrost als gescheitert angesehen werden, weil sie, wenig verwunderlich, wenig Neues zu den zentralen Fragen beitragen können.

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UNITED STATES
Post-Star

Ken Tingley

Ken Tingley is Editor of The Post-Star in Glens Falls, N.Y. and writes a regular blog called “The Front Page.”

Three months ago an investigating grand jury in Pennsylvania released a 147-page report that revealed that hundreds of children had been sexually abused over four decades by at least 50 priests or religious leaders in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

Three months ago.

If you thought this was an old story, you were wrong. It is living, breathing and continuing.

Laurie Goodstein, the national religion correspondent for The New York Times, wrote last month, “Nearly every time I wrote about child sexual abuse, more people with more allegations come out of the woodwork. I get phone calls and emails urging me to dig deeper, telling me I have seen only the tip of the iceberg.”

In Pennsylvania, the grand jury report found that district attorneys and judges colluded with two former bishops to cover up allegations against priests. One judge secured a job at the county courthouse for a priest accused by multiple families of molesting young boys.

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IRELAND
Galway Independent

An interim report into the Mother and Baby Homes, including the former facility in Tuam, is expected to be completed this August.

The report is being compiled by the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation and will be issued to the government later in the summer.

The commission was set up to investigate 14 Mother and Baby Homes around the country, including the one in Tuam, which was open from 1925 to 1961.

The commission had called for people who were residents or who worked in any of the homes to come forward and invited people with personal knowledge about the homes, for example family members of residents, regular visitors or those who supplied services to the homes, to also come forward.

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PENNSYLVANIA
We Are Central PA

By Carolyn Donaldson | cdonaldson@wtajtv.com
Published 05/31 2016

Ebensburg, Cambria County

Victims of priest sex abuse gathered to share their personal stories and begin a local support group.

While cameras were not allowed in the meeting, the regional director of the “Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests” or “SNAP” told us there were 10 victims who came to the Cottage Restaurant in Ebensburg Tuesday night.

The next step, “SNAP” organizers tell us is to begin monthly meetings in the area.

As Judy Jones “SNAP” says, “They realize they’re not alone. They don’t have to suffer anymore by themselves and it’s a good way to be able to share your bad thoughts, your good thoughts.”

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

MICHAEL O’KEEFFE
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Updated: Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Chaim Levin says he was sexually abused by his cousin for years, abandoned by his family and shunned by his community. He has wrestled with his identity and sexuality. His childhood was violently ripped from him, leading to years of depression and self-doubt.

Levin, who grew up in an ultraconservative Orthodox Jewish community in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and founded LGBTQ Chabad, a 103-member support group, says none of that will stop him from seeking justice.

“My message to my abuser is this: I will never stop until you take responsibility for what you did to me,” Levin told the Daily News. “I’m not going away. I’m getting stronger and stronger.”

Levin, 27, has emerged as one of the leaders of the survivors fighting to reform New York’s statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse, which bars victims from pursuing civil litigation or criminal charges after their 23rd birthday. He says sexual abuse is common in the Orthodox community.

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ALABAMA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, May 31, 2016

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

We are sad that jurors found an ex-priest not guilty of child sex crimes. We believe this verdict will endanger kids. We’ve spoken to this mom, Christina Presnell, and believe her, her son and her step-son. We’re convinced that Fr. David Stone, also known as Fr. Francis Mary Stone, who worked for the Eternal Word Television Network, is a dangerous cleric.

[AL.com]

We applaud this wounded boy and his family. We are deeply grateful that they had the wisdom, courage and strength to expose a dangerous cleric in court and warn others about him. They no doubt feel betrayed again at this point. But we believe that over time, they will be proud of what they’ve achieved.

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GUAM
Radio New Zealand

The Archbishop of Guam is denying another allegation of historical sexual abuse.

But a group for abuse survivors is now calling for the Pope to remove Archbishop Anthony Apuron while an investigation is conducted.

The Pacific Daily News reported an Arizona woman was claiming her son, who was now deceased, was molested by the Archbishop while he was serving as an altar boy in the 1970s.

It followed a similar claim made two weeks ago against Archbishop Apuron.

The Archbishop was denying both allegations and in a statement said the Archdiocese of Agana was taking legal measures against those “perpetrating these malicious lies”.

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UTAH
Newschannel 10

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – The Latest on sexual abuse lawsuits filed against the Mormon Church (all times local):

5:45 p.m.

Another member of the Navajo Nation is suing the Mormon Church, alleging she was sexually abused in a former church program.

The woman identified as B.N. in tribal court documents says she was sexually molested and raped multiple times while in foster care in Utah, from 1965 to 1972. She was among thousands of American Indians who participated in the church’s Indian Student Placement Program.

Two Navajo siblings sued The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in March outlining similar allegations. Attorneys representing the three plaintiffs say church leaders failed to protect the children.

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UTAH
Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — The LDS Church argued in federal court documents Tuesday that the Navajo Nation court lacks jurisdiction over the church in a lawsuit alleging two Navajo children were sexually abused in a now-defunct foster placement program.

The decisions regarding placement of tribal members with host families were made outside of the reservation and the alleged abused didn’t take place on the reservation, according to a filing in U.S. District Court.

“Tribal courts have no jurisdiction over conduct that does not occur on the tribe’s reservation,” wrote lawyers for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Two Navajo siblings sued the Mormon church in March, alleging they were sexually abused during their time with foster families in Utah in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

[with video]

Haidee V Eugenio, Pacific Daily News June 1, 2016

A former Archdiocese of Agana’s sexual abuse response coordinator has said Archbishop Anthony Apuron “has purposely kept his sex abuse policies weak in order to protect himself and those around him,” even after two allegations of sexual abuse by Apuron have been made public in the last two weeks yet no investigation has commenced.

Deacon Steve Martinez held a press conference Wednesday, releasing copies of letters he wrote to Apuron in 2014 “about his own violation of the sex abuse policy, about his refusal to amend the policy to make it stronger, to provide better protection for the children.”

“The archbishop is an accused serial sexual predator,” Martinez said. “Because of that, he has selfishly used the policy to ignore the fact that he is in charge in a conflict of interest. Because what the policy clearly says in Section 484, is that the accused, if they are felt to be a potential danger to the community, should step down from their position until the investigation is resolved, until the Review Board has made its recommendation and until the archbishop has decided how to proceed with the accused. But the archbishop has not stepped down.”

Martinez no longer holds the position of sexual abuse response coordinator. He was replaced in 2014.

Martinez said “instead of protecting the innocent, he has attacked them, he has called them liars, he has called them malicious in their acts.”

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GUAM
KUAM

By Krystal Paco

While the Archdiocese of Agana has provided limited information on how they’re moving forward with investigating allegations against Archbishop Anthony Apuron, one man who is very familiar with the church’s sex abuse policy says the system is flawed. Deacon Steve Martinez was a former sexual abuse response coordinator for the archdiocese. That is, until he was dismissed from his duties back in October 2014 after speaking up about a conflict of interest in church policies.

“The conflict of interest needs to be modified and I requested him to gather together the review board, our legal counsel, and to have a meeting to discuss the changes so we could strengthen and improve the policy and provide for a safer environment for all of our children,” Martinez announced today. Fast forward to today, and it appears the very policies he questioned are protecting Archbishop Apuron in the midst of allegations of molestation.

Martinez continued, “The archbishop has purposely kept his sex abuse policies weak in order to protect himself and those around him.”

Current church policy reads that the archbishop calls the shots, even if he stands as the accused. Instead of stepping down from his position, the archdiocese continues to defend Apuron’s innocence and announced plans to sue those spreading what they call malicious lies against the church.

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AUSTRALIA
Courier

Melissa Cunningham
June 1, 2016

St Patrick’s College is taking courageous steps towards confronting its harrowing past and supporting victims and survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

A black line has been put through the name of paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale on the board of ordained collegians at St Patrick’s College in Ballarat to acknowledge victims of abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy.

A plaque was recently installed beneath it, which read: “The black line above stands both as a symbol of respect to the bravery of victims and survivors, and for the college’s deep remorse.”

School principal John Crowley concealed the disgraced priest’s name last year after he attended the child abuse hearings in Ballarat.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

June 1, 2016

Melissa Cunningham

A black line has been put through paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale’s name on a board at St Patrick’s College in Ballarat honouring former students who went on to take holy orders.

The school has also placed a plaque beneath it, which reads: “The black line above stands both as a symbol of respect to the bravery of victims and survivors, and for the college’s deep remorse.”

Ridsdale was convicted in 1993 of more than 100 charges of sexual abuse against children over a period of about 30 years.

School principal John Crowley concealed the disgraced priest’s name last year after he attended the child abuse hearings in Ballarat.

After listening to Ridsdale’s harrowing evidence for hours in the second week of the hearings last May, Mr Crowley said he was left horrified.

“I was both appalled and horrified and I felt the right thing to do was to cover his name pending further investigation,” Mr Crowley said.

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