ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission intot Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

The Royal Commission will hold a public hearing to inquire into the response of Catholic Church authorities to allegations of child sexual abuse by John Joseph Farrell.

The public hearing will commence on 12 September 2016 in Sydney at the Royal Commission’s hearing rooms in Sydney.

Location
The hearing will be held at Level 17, Governor Macquarie Tower, 1 Farrer Place, Sydney.

The scope and purpose of the public hearing is to inquire into:
1. The responses of the Catholic Diocese of Armidale and the Catholic Diocese of Parramatta to allegations of child sexual abuse made against John Joseph Farrell.
2. The response of the Special Issues Group for the Province of Sydney to allegations of child sexual abuse against John Joseph Farrell.
3. Any related matters.

Any person or institution who believes that they have a direct and substantial interest in the scope and purpose of the public hearing is invited to lodge a written application for leave to appear at the public hearing by 4 August 2016.

Applications for leave to appear should be made using the form available here.

Leave to appear will generally be granted when an applicant:

1. has been summoned to give evidence

2. is an institution, or is a representative of an institution, that is subject to the inquiry to be undertaken

3. may be the subject of an adverse allegation.

It is not essential for a person who will appear as a witness in a hearing to apply for leave to appear – witnesses may appear and give evidence without applying for leave.

The form should be lodged with the Royal Commission via:
Email: solicitor@childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au; or Mail: GPO Box 5283, Sydney NSW 2001.

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NIGERIA
The Freethinker

Nigerian pastor Chukwuemeka Nwocha, above, General Overseer of the Tongue of Fire Restoration Ministry in Lagos, Nigeria, is facing a battery of charges relating to 13 girls he allegedly kept as sex slaves.

According to this report, the 36-year-old is a “man of God” known to his congregation, both young and old, as “Daddy”.

When he was paraded before journalists at the Lagos State Police Command Headquarters in Ikeja yesterday, Nwocha explained how he came to came to harbour the girls in his three-bedroomed abode.

He said it all started when the children in his church, who called him, “daddy, daddy” told him they would like to visit him.

I only tried to help the girls.When the first girl came, she said she did not have anywhere to go. I did not know her parents. I am a pastor and I felt pity for her. After spending three days, I told her she needed to go out and bring some of her relations so that they would know where she was. But she did not.

Later, some parents in my church also said they would like to send their chidlren to live with me. Some of them came to spend holidays after their exam.

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UNITED STATES
The Open Tabernacle: Here Comes Everybody

Posted on September 4, 2016 by Betty Clermont

Pope Francis and Xi Jinping came to power at the same time – March 13 and March 14, 2013, respectively.

In every year of Pope Francis’ pontificate, China is identified as a government which has “engaged in or tolerated systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom” defined as “including torture, degrading treatment or punishment, prolonged detention without charges, abduction or clandestine detention, or other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, or the security of persons,” according to the U.S. State Department’s annual Religious Freedom report.

A case against China, filed in 2013 with an international tribunal, was settled on July 12. “The ruling paints a picture of an environmentally destructive, dangerously aggressive government that has no legal jurisdiction for its actions.”

“In the Chinese imagination, this is not subjugation of neighbors but simply restoration of the normal order … a return to the traditional concept of tianxia, with barbarians benefiting from Chinese civilization.”

Pope Francis told Xi Jinping, “The world looks to this great wisdom of yours.” He repeats that the world looks to China’s wisdom and civilization,” in a February 2016 interview. The pope also “described the excitement he felt when he was about to enter Chinese airspace on the flight from Seoul to Rome in August 2014.”

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FLORIDA
WFTV

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – A 73-year-old Rockledge priest was arrested Friday in Cocoa on fraud and larceny charges, the Brevard County Jail said.

Brevard County deputies arrested the Rev. Nicholas King, charging him with larceny under false pretenses and scheme to defraud under false pretenses, jail records said.

The jail’s website alleged that King took more than $50,000 from someone age 65 or older.

Carol Brinati, a spokeswoman for the Catholic Diocese of Orlando, emailed Channel 9 the following statement Saturday:

“We have been informed that Father Nicholas King, former pastor of St. Mary, Rockledge, is the subject of an investigation by the Rockledge Police Department. He is removed from ministry while the investigation is ongoing. The Diocese is cooperating with the investigation. We are saddened by the news of his arrest and ask that people of good will pray for Father King during this difficult time and for all those involved in this investigation. May the gracious care of the Lord our God be ours.”

The diocese’s website said King, who’s originally from Ireland, was ordained 50 years ago in St. Augustine. He’s lived in Central Florida since 1968.

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FLORIDA
Click to Orlando

By Kristin Cason – Assignment editor
September 03, 2016

ROCKLEDGE, Fla. – A pastor in Brevard County was arrested on felony fraud and larceny charges Friday.

Nicholas King, 73, was a former pastor for St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Rockledge, according to the Diocese of Orlando.

King was arrested by Brevard County Sheriff’s Office Friday. He was charged with felony larceny under false pretenses more than $50,000 from a person 65 years of age or older and felony scheme to defraud under false pretenses more than $50,000.

The Diocese sent News 6 a statement on Saturday:

“We have been informed that Father Nicholas King, former pastor of St. Mary, Rockledge, is the subject of an investigation by the Rockledge Police Department. He is removed from ministry while the investigation is ongoing. The Diocese is cooperating with the investigation. We are saddened by the news of his arrest and ask that people of good will pray for Father King during this difficult time and for all those involved in this investigation. May the gracious care of the Lord our God be ours,” said chief operating officer/chancellor, Carol Brinati.

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UNITED KINGDOM
New Zealand Herald

The judge who dramatically quit as chairman of a £100 million (NZ$182 million) child sex abuse inquiry will not meet MPs to explain her resignation.

New Zealander Dame Lowell Goddard will submit a written report after efforts by the Home Affairs Select Committee to make her appear in person failed.

Her departure from the £500,000-a-year (NZ$911,000) role last month, having lost the confidence of senior staff, cast the independent inquiry into chaos.

Asked if she would attend Wednesday’s session of the committee alongside new Home Secretary Amber Rudd, Dame Lowell, 67, said from Wellington, New Zealand: “I don’t anticipate it, no.”

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CHILE
El Vaca Nudo

[About 50 people came to Santiago, Chile, to demand the ouster of Bishop Juan Barros of Osorno. He is an alleged accessory after the fact in the sexual abuse said to have been committed by priest Fernando Karadima. They marched from the Metropolitan Cathedral to the Apostolic Nunciature.]

Hasta Santiago llegaron cerca de 50 personas a protestar contra el obispo de Osorno, Juan Barros, acusado como presunto encubridor de los delitos sexuales de Karadima.

Los manifestantes marcharon desde la catedral metropolitana hasta la Nunciatura Apostólica de la comuna de Providencia, exigiendo la salida del obispo, que recordemos, fue defendido por el propio para Francisco el año 2015, y aseguró que “Osorno sufre por tonta”.

En entrevista con Radio Bio Bio, la vocera del movimiento laico, María Soledad Martínez, sostuvo que “a más de un año y medio, no han obtenido respuesta del caso por lo cual es urgente desarrollar nuevas estrategias para la pronta destitución del prelado”.

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ILLINOIS
Daily Herald

Leaders of the Living Hope Bible Church in Roselle say they are grieving after learning a former deacon faces charges for sexually abusing a young girl.

A statement released Friday by the pastors and elders of the church states that the senior pastor learned about the abuse on Aug. 30, and immediately reported it to police.

On Thursday, 51-year-old Timothy Peltz of Wheaton was charged with four counts of predatory criminal sexual assault after authorities said he repeatedly sexually assaulted a young girl over a 10-year period. Peltz admitted the assaults began when the girl was 3½, officials said.

Leaders said the abuse did not take place on church grounds or during any church activities and was “in no way associated with the church or Mr. Peltz’s position with the church.”

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

CHRIS MARSHALL

Sunday 04 September 2016

A church whose founder was cleared of sexual assault says it is preparing to take legal action after senior members were subjected to “false and malicious allegations”.

Rev Walter Masocha, pastor at Stirling-based Agape Ministries International, returned to work last week after being cleared of allegations made by two women.

A self-styled “prophet”, Masocha was found guilty in a separate case last year of sexually abusing two parishioners – one of them a schoolgirl – but later had his conviction quashed.

The church said more than a dozen members of its congregation have been victims of false allegations, leading to them being suspended or investigated 
by their employers or the police.

A spokesman said: “The church and a number of our members have suffered quite dreadfully due to a clearly orchestrated but malevolent campaign of false, malicious and unfounded claims and allegations which have been made.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Rachel Browne

The sex crimes of Brother Paschal Bartlett were as numerous as they were horrific.

A member of the Franciscan order, he supervised altar boys for almost 50 years in various locations around Australia and New Zealand, exploiting his position of authority to sexually abuse them.

“I genuinely believe there would be thousands of victims out there,” said one former altar boy, who was abused by the friar in Sydney in the 1960s and ’70s. “He had access to altar boys for almost 50 years and it would appear he was never challenged.”

Brother Paschal joined the Order of the Friars Minor in the 1920s, moving through parishes in Victoria, Tasmania, New Zealand and Sydney, where he was at the Waverley parish on and off from the 1940s to the 1990s.

He had two lengthy periods of sick leave in the 1960s before returning to Waverley’s Mary Immaculate Church where students from nearby Waverley College were encouraged to serve as altar boys.

It was there the former altar boy, who has requested anonymity, first encountered the man he describes as “without moral scruples”.

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

Robert Mickens | Sep. 2, 2016 A Roman Observer

ROME
All roads lead to Rome.

And one in particular — actually a sky path from Kennedy Airport in New York to the Leonardo da Vinci Airport at Fiumicino — brought me here exactly 30 years ago this week.

It was Aug. 30, 1986.

(And but for a year in Switzerland with a Franciscan-Dominican non-governmental organization at the United Nations and six-month sabbatical in the United States, here I have been ever since.)

The date is easy to remember because on the previous day, when we 36 young American seminarians actually left our native land for the Eternal City, it was the liturgical feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist.

We would sometimes wonder as we went through unexpected moments of ups and downs during those first months here if the date hadn’t been some sort of an omen.

Then later it would become apparent to all of us that, indeed, many people did sometimes lose their heads (at least figuratively speaking) in this ancient city of saints and sinners. We also learned in time that Rome is a place where some lose their faith.

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NEW YORK
The Examiner News

Neal Rentz | Sep 03, 2016 |

A state Senate candidate held an emotional press conference last Wednesday at Mount Kisco Village Hall calling for lawmakers to pass legislation that would ease restrictions on the time childhood sexual abuse victims can report incidents.

Boak, a Pound Ridge Democrat running next week in a primary for the 40th Senate District, said the Child Victims Act would eliminate the statute of limitations for new child sexual abuse incidents and allow victims of past incidents one year to sue the abuser or the facility where the abuse occurred.

The legislation would also place convicted sex offenders on registries and limit their access to children, she said.

Under current state law, victims of childhood sexual abuse must report the abuse or file a lawsuit before they turn 23. Studies have indicated that it takes an average of 21 years for an abuse victim to come forward, Boak said.

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SCHWEIZ
kathpress

[Geneva, 09/03/2016 (KAP) A 75-year-old priest was sentenced in Geneva on Friday to 20 months conditional imprisonment for sexually abused a 17-year-old. The priest confessed.]

Genf, 03.09.2016 (KAP) Ein 75-jähriger Priester wurde in Genf am Freitag zu zwanzig Monaten bedingter Haft verurteilt, weil er einen 17-Jährigen sexuell missbrauchte. Der Priester war geständig. Laut Anklage hat der Kleriker seine Vertrauensposition missbraucht, indem er seinen gefühlsmäßigen, intellektuellen und spirituellen Einfluss auf den jungen Mann ausnützte – eine Einschätzung, der das Gericht folgte. Der Priester muss zudem dem Opfer 10.000 Franken Schmerzensgeld zahlen, berichtete das Schweizer Katholisches Medienzentrum kath.ch am Samstag.

Der Priester war bereits im Ruhestand, half jedoch in mehreren Pfarreien und Heimen bei Gottesdiensten aus – so auch in Onex im Kanton Genf. Dort lernte er im Sommer 2015 den jungen Mann kennen. Der Priester habe ihn zum Mittagessen in ein Restaurant eingeladen und dann zu sich nach Hause genommen. Dort näherte er sich dem jungen Mann in sexueller Absicht. Der 17-Jährige hat laut kath.ch nach dem Übergriff sofort Anzeige erstattet. Der Priester sei am 28. August verhaftet und nach einem Geständnis am 6. November vorläufig wieder auf freien Fuß gesetzt worden. Nach dem Bekanntwerden der Tat wurde der Priester von Bischof Charles Morerod von der Diözese Lausanne-Genf-Freiburg von all seinen Aufgaben entbunden.

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OHIO
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Stanley D. Doerger was ordained for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 1958. Following a brief stint as an assistant parish priest, he spent twenty years at St. Rita School for the Deaf, initially as a resident assistant, then as principal. Doerger returned to parish work in 1980, assisting in Troy and Cincinnati, then pastoring parishes in Xenia and Taylor Creek. In 2003 a woman accused Doerger of having abused her when she was a student at St. Rita’s in the 1970s. Doerger denied the accusation. A group of former St. Rita’s students claimed he had physically, sexually and verbally abused up to 275 girls at the school. Doerger was kept in ministry. In March 2005 he was suspended after an independent tribunal awarded his accuser compensation. Doerger died in September 2005.

Born: March 25, 1933
Ordained: 1958
Died: September 10, 2005.

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INDIANA
Catholic World Report

Indianapolis, Ind., Sep 2, 2016 / 04:39 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- An Indiana woman who allegedly beat her 7-year-old with a coat hanger is citing religious freedom as her defense against felony abuse charges, saying her disciplinary tactics were inspired by her Evangelical Christian faith.

But Kellie Fiedorek, who serves as legal counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, rejected the idea that religious liberty can be used to defend abuse. The U.S. has provisions built into federal law to protect against such misuses of religious freedom claims, she said.

The alleged abuse occurred in February, when Thaing hit her son with a plastic coat hanger hard enough to leave multiple bruises. Two days later, a teacher discovered and reported the abuse when she tried to pat the little boy on the back and he flinched. Doctors counted 36 bruises on the boy, according to reports from the Indy Star.

The woman, 30-year-old Kin Park Thaing, is a refugee from Burma (now known as Myanmar) who was granted political asylum in the U.S. In court documents, she quoted Scripture and cited cultural differences as part of her defense.

Thaing quoted verses from Proverbs in her defense, saying that a parent who “spares the rod, spoils the child” and: “Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol.”

Fiedorek told CNA that this is not the first time someone has tried to use religious freedom as a defense for child abuse or domestic abuse.

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ILLINOIS
ABC 13

By Ravi Baichwal
Friday, September 02, 2016

WHEATON, IL — Police have charged a suburban church deacon with sexually assaulting a girl for several years. Authorities said he admitted to abusing the child since she was 3 1/2 years old.

Timothy Peltz, who serves as a deacon at Living Hope Bible Church in Roselle, is charged with four counts of predatory criminal sexual assault, a class X felony. If convicted, he could face 24 to 120 years in prison.

Nobody at Living Hope Bible Church came to the door or returned ABC7’s calls for comment. Attempts to contact umbrella organizations related to the church also came up empty.

There was also no answer at the door of Peltz’s home in a townhouse complex in Wheaton, where neighbors described him as a quiet gentleman. The ABC7 I-Team reports the alleged abuse began shortly after Peltz’ own baby daughter died.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Herald

By WMNDavidWells | Posted: September 02, 2016

A former lay preacher has been jailed for eight years for indecently assaulting a boy he met during his time at a church.

Jeremy Dowling, the former spokesman for the Bishop of Truro, had the eight years added to a seven-year prison term he was already serving for offences against boys.

He has now been found guilty of sexually abusing a boy.

He carried out the assaults on a 10-year-old he met in 1973 at St Michaels Church at Budehaven, Truro Crown Court heard.

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UNITED KINGDOM
West Briton

By Graham Smith

The Bishop of Truro, the Right Reverend Tim Thornton, has issued a statement in reaction to the news that former church spokesman Jeremy Dowling had been convicted of a further six child sex offences.

Dowling had been the official spokesman for the Diocese of Truro for 18 years until his retirement in 2009. The conviction followed a four-day trial at Truro Crown Court and related to Dowling’s time as a lay preacher in North Cornwall in the 1970s.

Here’s Bishop Tim’s statement in full:

“The news that Jeremy Dowling has been found guilty of sexual offences against a boy while he was in a position of trust and responsibility within the Diocese of Truro fills me with sadness and shame.

“I would firstly like to apologise unreservedly to the survivor of his abuse: I am deeply sorry that Jeremy Dowling used a cloak of ecclesiastical respectability to gain trust and access; the church failed in its responsibility when it should have been there as a positive influence.

“I would also like to thank the survivor for coming forward and acknowledge how painful and difficult this must have been. I hope the fact that Jeremy Dowling has been convicted of these offences and will now be subject to a further prison sentence will at least bring some sense of justice.

“This news will come as a further shock to many people Jeremy worked with in his long association with the church, as a Reader, a member of the Diocesan and General Synods, and as the diocesan communications officer.

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MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

By Tony Messenger St. Louis Post-Dispatch

To say that Colleen Coble views the Missouri law that protects the confidentiality of sexual abuse and domestic violence victims as “her baby” is hardly an exaggeration.

Coble, the CEO of the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, has been working on passing and strengthening the law since 1989.

“I don’t have children,” Coble says. “I have Chapter 455.”

That is the section of Missouri law that says when a victim goes to a domestic violence shelter or rape crisis center to report a crime or seek help, the workers or volunteers there must keep the victim’s information confidential.

The law also shields the confidential information and crisis center workers or volunteers from disclosure or testimony in court cases.

At least it did until late last month.

That’s when U.S. District Judge Carol E. Jackson of the Eastern District of Missouri ruled against the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, in a lawsuit brought by the Rev. Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang.

Jiang, a Catholic priest who was once associate pastor at the Cathedral Basilica in St. Louis, sued SNAP and two of its leaders, David Clohessy and Barbara Dorris, for defamation related to public statements they had made about alleged abuse reported to SNAP by victims. Jiang had faced criminal sexual abuse charges, but the criminal case against him was dropped in 2015.

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LOUISIANA
The Advocate

BY JIM MUSTIAN | JMUSTIAN@THEADVOCATE.COM SEP 2, 2016

A decade after his death, a beloved and eccentric Jesuit priest who taught Zen at Loyola University has been accused of repeatedly raping a young girl on campus more than 30 years ago, allegations that prompted church officials to begin paying the woman’s medical bills after she came forward last year.

A new lawsuit claims the Rev. Benjamin L. Wren, known affectionately to many as “Zen Ben Wren,” sexually assaulted the girl dozens of times beginning in 1978 – when she was just 5 years old – and coerced her silence by warning that her family would be sent to hell if she revealed their “special secret.”

Doctors attributed the woman’s delay in reporting the abuse to “repressed memory, shame, embarrassment and fear,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed Thursday in Orleans Parish Civil District Court. The woman is identified in the lawsuit by the pseudonym Jane Doe.

The lawsuit seeks damages from Loyola, the Archdiocese of New Orleans and the Jesuits of the USA Central and Southern Province, claiming the defendants “had superior knowledge about the risk that Father Wren posed to Jane Doe as a minor child” and failed to report the abuse to the authorities.

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WEST VIRGINIA
Charleston Gazette-Mail

A former Episcopal priest from West Virginia was among those named in a report this week that described how an elite New England boarding school became a kind of “private hell” for dozens of students who were sexually abused in the 1970s and 1980s.

The students at St. George’s in Middletown, Rhode Island, were manipulated and abused by faculty and staff, according to a report issued Thursday by an independent investigator, Boston lawyer Martin Murphy. He was hired by the school and the survivors’ group SGS for Healing.

The most prolific offender was athletic trainer Al Gibbs, who abused at least 31 girls, the report said. Gibbs was fired in 1980 after being caught taking photographs of a naked girl in his office, but the report found that he was paid a $1,200 annual grant for “distinguished service” that continued until he died in 1996. The school acknowledged in December that he abused 17 students.

“For a long time, everybody said I was a liar,” Katie Wales Lovkay, who said Gibbs abused her in 1979, told The Associated Press. “It feels really good to have this investigative report back me up.”

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MEXICO
Cronica des Sociales

[Taking advantage of the trust and guilt in addition to the cover-up by the ecclesiastical hierarchy, sexual crimes of priests are left in the dark. Research realizes this phenomenon in western Mexico and it also involved tolerance of abuse in the Catholic community.]

Aprovechándose de la confianza y la culpabilidad, además del encubrimiento de las jerarquías eclesiásticas, los crímenes sexuales de los sacerdotes quedan en la oscuridad. Investigación da cuenta de este fenómeno en el Occidente de México, revelando además la tolerancia que existe entre la comunidad católica.

Los sacerdotes pederastas cumplen con un patrón que les permite llegar de manera fácil a los menores y convencerlos para consumar un abuso sexual, cobijados no sólo por la secrecía que envuelve a la Iglesia católica, sino a la tolerancia de los fieles católicos y parte de la sociedad.

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SUISSE
Tribune de Geneve

[During his trial, he keeps his hands clasped and eyes closed. Maybe he prays? The priest of 75 years appearing Thursday before the Police Court is accused of sexual abuse of a dependent person.]

Durant son procès, il garde les mains jointes et les yeux fermés. Peut-être qu’il prie? Le prêtre de 75 ans qui comparaît ce jeudi devant le Tribunal de police est accusé d’abus sexuels sur une personne dépendante.

L’été dernier, celui que nous appellerons Luc, un servant de messe de 17 ans, était invité chez lui pour admirer des photos du pape… Le prêtre en a profité pour l’embrasser et le caresser avant de lui prodiguer une fellation. Tétanisé, le garçon a tout de même osé dire: «Ce n’est pas dans l’Evangile!» A cette remarque, l’ecclésiastique a arrêté ses agissements: «Ça m’a réveillé, ça m’a bloqué. J’ai compris que quelque chose ne jouait pas.»

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SUISSE
Cath.ch

[The Freiburg diocese has given its version of the developments reported in a case of sexual abuse of a minor. The statement contradicts the version published in the newspaper “20 Minutes” suggesting that the diocese would have protected the abuser priest.]

02.09.2016 par Bernard Hallet

L’évêché de Fribourg donne sa version du déroulement des faits rapportés dans une affaire d’abus sexuel sur mineur, jugée le 2 septembre 2016 à Genève. Le communiqué contredit la version publiée dans le quotidien “20 Minutes” laissant entendre que le diocèse aurait protégé le prêtre abuseur.

L’article publié dans 20 Minutes, relate le déroulement du procès d’un prêtre jugé pour abus sexuel sur mineur. Le quotidien rapporte, dans un encadré, “‘le rôle trouble joué par l’Eglise catholique’ dans ce dossier souligné par le Parquet”. Selon le quotidien, l’Eglise était au courant des actes du prêtre et ne l’aurait pas dénoncé. Ce dernier aurait été arrêté grâce à une bévue de l’Eglise. Cette version des faits est contraire à leur réalité, réagit Mgr Morerod, évêque du diocèse de Lausanne, Genève et Fribourg (LGF).

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OHIO
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Ronald Cooper was ordained for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 1983. He was assigned as an assistant to parishes in Bridgetown, Groesbeck, Dayton and Withamsville before being named pastor in Greenfield. He also pastored parishes in New Vienna and Fayetteville. In late 2003 a man told the archdiocese that Cooper sexually abused him as a boy in the early 1980s while assigned to St. Aloysius Gonzaga in Bridgetown. The man said the abuse happened at the parish and at the Friar’s Club. Cooper acknowledged contact with the boy, but denied “sexual intent.” He was suspended from ministry in January 2004. The case could not be criminally prosecuted due to the statute of limitations. Cooper was laicized in October 2014.

Ordained: 1983
Laicized: 2014

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UNITED STATES
Charles Zeigers

Charles Zeiders, Psy.D.
86 West Eagle Road, Havertown, PA 19083
email: drzeiders@drzeiders.com
phone: 610-653-0151

To illustrate the phenomenon of malignant narcissism in church leadership, this article develops a composite profile of a malignant narcissist. The profile is rendered in the form of an excerpt from a “fictional” psychological autopsy. “Imagined” clinical material, all retrieved from public sources, woven into genuine psychological scholarship, offers a developmental narrative of the pathogenesis of a malignant narcissist embedded in a church culture. Following the “psychological autopsy,” The Journal of Christian Healing interviews the author, discussing pertinent issues. It is hoped that this article will enhance awareness of the manifestations of destructive leadership in religious life.

Click here to enter your comments, reflections and feedback in response to this article.

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Introduction

When a narcissistic cleric assumes church leadership, the matter is problematic. But, if the leader’s narcissism is malignant, the matter is catastrophic. Such a destructive cleric will injure not only his detractors but also his followers and himself. He will be charismatic and grandiose. He will offer infectious oratory, and he will gain followers. He will become the adored champion of a disaffected group looking for recognition in a world populated by “enemies.” He will employ convincing theological rationalizations to gratuitously and sadistically injure the enemies of his “divine” agenda. His followers will continue to buy in and love him. His grandiosity will delude him to think that Providence has vouchsafed him to be incapable of mistakes. Wildly overconfident, he will engage in criminal over-reach and demonstrate enraged paranoia when he is called to account. To preserve his legend and avoid accountability, he will blame former allies, run away, or commit suicide. If he commits suicide, he will depict his last destructive act as a kind of victory.

The recent preponderance of church scandals, crimes, cover-ups, and malfeasances necessitate a revisiting of the concept of malignant narcissism. While not listed in the DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association, 2013), the construct offers utility in understanding the charismatic leader whose attractiveness is predicated on his apparent embodiment of the answer to the deep concerns of a beleaguered group. He grows in fame and influence, only to disappoint with criminal scandals, born of grandiosity and megalomania, run amok. Psychology’s great thinkers have concerned themselves with this characterological disease. After World War Two, the psychoanalyst Eric Fromm (1964) introduced the term “malignant narcissism.” He reserved the diagnosis for grandiose, charismatic leaders whose psychopathology accounts for a broad destructiveness that devours their enemies, their proponents, and even themselves. Online reference material (Malignant narcissism, in Wikipedia, 2016) elaborates that:

… Fromm first coined the term “malignant narcissism” in 1964, describing it as a … severe mental sickness … representing … the quintessence of evil … He characterized the condition as … the root of the most vicious destructiveness and inhumanity …

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MISSOURI
Natonal Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Sep. 2, 2016

After a St. Louis federal judge levied sanctions last week against the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests for resisting a court order to turn over documents containing victim information, the advocacy group says it worries what such pursuits pose to survivor confidentiality going forward.

The sanctions came in the civil rights suit brought by Fr. Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang, a Chinese-born priest ordained for the St. Louis archdiocese who has brought conspiracy and defamation charges against SNAP and others in regard to a 2014 criminal charge of child sexual abuse that was eventually dropped. Twice in the last three years, Jiang has been criminally charged with child sexual abuse and twice the charges were dropped. A civil suit remains pending.

Judge Carol Jackson of the U.S. Eastern District Court of Missouri ruled on Aug. 22 that SNAP deliberately and willfully refused to comply with a June 27 court order to turn over documents requested in discovery by Jiang’s attorney. SNAP and its lawyers had contended the documents at issue contained confidential victim information and were protected under Missouri law, but Jackson ruled back in June that federal law didn’t offer those protections in pretrial discovery.

As part of the sanctions, the jury will be instructed to assume as true that SNAP conspired to seek a conviction of Jiang on religious and racial grounds, and that they issued false statements about him. SNAP was also ordered to cover Jiang’s legal fees associated with the efforts to obtain the disputed documents. His attorney filed a motion Thursday reporting $22,770 in related costs.

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NEW YORK
New York Times

By GINIA BELLAFANTE SEPT. 2, 2016

In the mid-1940s, Joel Teitelbaum, an eminent and charismatic rabbi, immigrated to the United States, colonizing a section of Williamsburg in Brooklyn for his Hasidic sect, the Satmar, its name taken from the Hungarian town of Szatmar, where Rabbi Teitelbaum had fought to resist the encroachments of a modernizing society.

Subsequent decades have seen virtually no retrenchment in the sect’s mistrust of the larger world.

Among the Satmar in Brooklyn, use of the internet is condemned and secular education is considered of little use. In recent years, though, it became the fashion among some Satmar women to pursue special-education degrees after high school, typically online or through religious colleges. The women often go to work not in philosophically suspect places like Greenwich Village, but in schools within their community. Now, even that minor advance has been rolled back; some Satmar leaders issued a decree proclaiming that the practice would no longer be tolerated. A letter from the United Talmudical Academy, the governing body for a consortium of schools, meant for girls entering the 12th grade and their parents, stated that they “shouldn’t God forbid take a degree which is according to our sages, dangerous and damaging.” …

A history of pandering to the ultra-Orthodox in Brooklyn goes back at least to the days of Mario M. Cuomo. Politicians who might otherwise feel free to lecture black and Hispanic communities on the importance of grit, self-reliance and the sacred path of higher learning express remarkably little outrage over the habits of a group that essentially enshrines its own dependency on the system. According to a 2011 study by the UJA-Federation of New York, the Jewish philanthropic organization, just 11 percent of Hasidic men and 6 percent of Hasidic women in and around New York City hold bachelor’s degrees, while the poverty rate among Hasidic households stands at 43 percent, nearly twice the figure citywide.

A reliance on public assistance is remarkably common among the Hasidim, explained Lani Santo, the executive director of Footsteps, an organization begun in 2003 to help those who decide to leave the ultra-Orthodox world. “Even if you want to be able to have a community that is maintaining its own traditions,” she told me, “you still need to be able to have the tools and skills to support your family.” Political leaders, beholden to the enormous voting bloc that the Hasidim, and especially the Satmar, provide, remain reluctant to say something so obvious.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Pirate FM

A Bude man has been jailed for an extra eight years after being found guilty of historic child sex abuse.
Jeremy Dowling used to be a teacher before becoming press officer for the Diocese of Truro.

The 78 year old, who abused children for more then ten years, is already serving a seven year sentence.
Now he has been convicted of indecently assaulting another child.

It happened at a church between 1973 and 1977.

The Bishop of Truro, the Reverend Tim Thornton, said: “The news that Jeremy Dowling has been found guilty of sexual offences against a boy while he was in a position of trust and responsibility within the Diocese of Truro fills me with sadness and shame.

“I would firstly like to apologise unreservedly to the survivor of his abuse: I am deeply sorry that Jeremy Dowling used a cloak of ecclesiastical respectability to gain trust and access; the church failed in its responsibility when it should have been there as a positive influence.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V. Eugenio, heugenio@guampdn.com September 3, 2016

The Archdiocese of Agana on Friday announced three new priest appointments, including a priest that Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron removed from a Dededo church in 2013.

Another appointment replaced the rector of a Yona seminary that has once again gained attention after the archdiocese’s temporary archbishop said in a statement that the pope had instructed Apuron more than once to remove a deed restriction on the property on which the seminary sits.

Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, who currently oversees Guam’s archdiocese, appointed the Rev. Paul Gofigan as the rector of the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica in Hagåtña and Monsignor David C. Quitugua as acting rector of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Yona.

The appointments are the latest in an ongoing church reorganization since the Vatican sent Hon to Guam in early June to temporarily administer the local Catholic Church.

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VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

By Associated Press September 2

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of an Italian bishop who welcomed into his diocese priests accused of, and in some cases convicted of, sexual abuse, homicide and other crimes.

The Vatican didn’t say why Bishop Mario Olivieri resigned two years before the regular retirement age of 75. Usually, the Vatican announces early retirements by saying they were due to a “grave” reason that made the bishop unfit for office. In Olivieri’s case, the Vatican didn’t even provide that information Thursday.

Italian newspapers have identified a handful of priests accused or convicted of crimes who were accepted by the tradition-minded Olivieri into his Albenga-Imperia dioceses.

In a letter on the diocesan website Friday, Olivieri said he was pained to leave because he loved the dioceses “and above all its priests.”

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IRELAND
Irish Central

Cahir O’Doherty @randomirish September 02, 2016

To be poor and the child of a single mother were among the most dangerous things that could happen to you in the Ireland of the last century.

So dangerous, in fact, that now we have a Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, established in February 2015, to find out exactly what happened to the thousands of vulnerable women and children who lived and died in 14 homes between 1922 and 1998.

We need an investigation because we don’t know what happened to so many of them, of course. Irish society fell silent and looked the other way over the seven decades when these mothers and children were disappeared without a word of protest from most of us.

1998 is only 18 years ago, so all of this unfolded within the lifetimes of most people reading these words right now. It’s staggering too think the last Magdalene Laundry only closed its doors in 1996.

News of what happened to the inmates – that’s what they were called – of the Catholic Mother and Baby homes has rightly made international headlines since the Tuam scandal, but the fate of Protestant mothers and babies has garnered fewer column inches, although the statistics are no less alarming.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

Genevieve Gannon – AAP on September 2, 2016

An elderly Christian brother who spent decades teaching in Victorian schools has been charged with 39 offences, including child sex abuse.

Robert Charles Best, 75, of Ararat, is alleged to have committed acts of indecent assault over a 20-year period, according to charge sheets filed with the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

Police allege Best committed 17 counts of indecent assault, one count of assault and one count of unlawful imprisonment between 1968 and 1973 in Ballarat.

He is also charged with committing an act of buggery with a child under the age of 14, as well as one count of assault and 15 counts of indecent assault in Box Hill between 1975 and 1982.

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ILLINOIS
Nessler & Associates

By: Jonathan T. Nessler

The Law Offices of Frederick W. Nessler & Associates, Ltd. achieved a victory for a victim of sexual abuse, in Horn v. The Catholic Diocese of Peoria, et al. Justice O’Brien delivered the Court’s opinion on August 24, 2016. In the opinion, the appellate court reversed the trial court’s dismissal of that claim.

In Horn, the Plaintiff alleges that he was sexually abused by Reverend Norman Goodman, between 1991 and 1994. Horn v. The Catholic Diocese of Peoria, et al., 2016 IL App 3d 150339, ¶ 4 (3rd Dist. 2016). The Plaintiff alleges he was 13-years old when the abuse began. Id. The Plaintiff alleges the injuries caused by the sexual abuse include “confusion . . . development of symptoms of psychological disorders, such as shame, guilt, self-blame, depression, repressed memory, suppressed memory and disassociation.” Id. The Plaintiff alleges that these psychological conditions occurred before he turned 18, and, because of this, he was long unable to remember the abuse and unable to recognize the connection between his own psychological injury and the abuse by Goodman. Id.

The Plaintiff filed a lawsuit against Reverend Norman Goodman, The Holy Family Catholic Church and The Catholic Diocese of Peoria on July 30, 2012, and subsequently filed an amended complaint including further allegations. Id. at ¶ 3. The Plaintiff alleges in his complaint that Reverend Goodman and the Diocese were aware of the abuse. Id. at ¶ 6. He alleges that Reverend Goodman threatened him with “severe consequences” if the Plaintiff did not remain silent about the abuse, and that the Diocese, through its silence, attempted to convince the Plaintiff that these sexual acts were not abuse, wrong, harmful or injurious. Id. at ¶ 6.

The Diocese asked the trial court to dismiss the complaint, arguing that the statute of limitations barred prosecution of the claim. Id. at ¶ 7. This means, in a nut shell, that the Diocese argued that too much time had passed from when the alleged abuse took place and the filing of the lawsuit. The trial court granted the Diocese’s request, and dismissed the claim. Id.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

2 September, 2016

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has released a consultation paper that addresses records and recordkeeping practices in relation to child sexual abuse in institutional contexts.

The consultation paper, Records and recordkeeping practices, examines the records and recordkeeping practices of both older and contemporary institutions, identifying key areas of concern.

Royal Commission CEO Philip Reed said that the management of accurate records by institutions that care for children is critical to identifying, preventing and responding to child sexual abuse.

“Through private sessions and case studies, we have heard from survivors about the difficulties faced when trying to access their own records, including records regarding experiences of child sexual abuse,” he said.

“Many survivors have spoken to us about the absence of records or lack of detail in records created about them.

“We know that the lack of proper institutional record management can be extremely distressing and traumatic for survivors of child sexual abuse,” Mr Reed said.

The Royal Commission’s consultation paper proposes five key principles to assist institutions to implement and maintain comprehensive record management.

These principles are intended to promote child safety, institutional accountability and just outcomes for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse.

Good recordkeeping practices and accurate records can contribute to better outcomes in complaints handling, redress and criminal proceedings.

All interested parties are invited to make written submissions responding to the consultation paper and the five key principles listed below:

1. Creating and keeping accurate records is in the best interest of children.
2. Accurate records must be created about all decisions and incidents affecting child protection.
3. Records relevant to child sexual abuse must be appropriately maintained.
4. Records relevant to child sexual abuse must only be disposed of subject to law or policy.
5. Individuals’ rights to access and amend records about them can only be restricted in accordance with law.

Submissions are also sought on options for enforcement of the five principles and the need for a records advocacy service.

Written submissions should be made by Monday, 3 October 2016:

Email records@childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au

Mail to GPO Box 5283, Sydney, NSW 2001.
Read consultation paper – Records and recordkeeping practices.

Media enquiries: (02) 8282 3966 or media@childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au

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TEXAS
Brownsville Herald

By LORENZO ZAZUETA-CASTRO Staff Writer

EDINBURG — More than 20,000 pieces of evidence and documents have been made available in the trial of a former priest accused of killing a McAllen beauty queen and schoolteacher.

That was the extent of revelations in a status hearing, which lasted less than 10 minutes, in the case of John Bernard Feit, who faces life in prison in connection with the death of Irene Garza.

Feit, as has been his demeanor during his past two court appearances, was all smiles and joked with deputies and attorneys inside the 92nd District courtroom prior to Judge Luis Singleterry taking the bench.

Hidalgo County Assistant District Attorney Michael Garza, a few months removed from a walkthrough of two of the alleged crime scenes, addressed the court briefly about the status of the case.

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RHODE ISLAND
New York Times

By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA
SEPT. 1, 2016

Sexual abuse was so rampant that it created a “private hell” for some students at an elite prep school in Rhode Island in the 1970s and ’80s, investigators reported on Thursday, describing an atmosphere of terror in which at least 61 students were victimized and some staff members committed assaults for years before being forced out.

The investigation found that at least 51 students were abused by employees of St. George’s School, a prestigious private boarding and day school near Newport, and at least 10 others by fellow students — and that the true numbers are probably significantly higher. The inquiry came after years of pressure from victims who said that St. George’s had refused to squarely acknowledge the extent of the problems.

The report — with pages of vivid, painful detail from accusers — follows other revelations about sexual abuse at several prominent prep schools in the same area, but none have matched the sheer scale and pervasiveness of the misconduct discovered at St. George’s.

More victims will come forward, and “when the sun is set on this case, it could be the largest school sex abuse case in history,” said Roderick MacLeish, a lawyer and St. George’s alumnus who has worked with abuse survivors in pressuring the school to conduct the investigation. “It’s in the thousands of years of suffering this caused.”

The abuses that alumni have recounted, often after decades of silence, include forced intercourse, oral sex and digital penetration; one student sodomizing another with a broomstick; sexual groping; harassment; and taking photographs of naked students without their knowledge and showing them to other students.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio, Pacific Daily News September 2, 2016

On the eve of his two-week trip to Rome, Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai reiterated on Thursday his call for the lifting of a restriction on a Yona property that allows its indefinite use for a seminary and theological institute.

A deed restriction signed by Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron allows the Redemptoris Mater Seminary and the Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores Catholic Theological Institute for Oceania to use the Yona property in perpetuity but Hon said the deed is unusual.

Hon said the pope has instructed Apuron more than once to remove that deed restriction. Apuron said he cannot in his conscience lift the deed restriction.

In a statement on Thursday, Hon said the main points conveyed by former members of the Archdiocesan Finance Council on Wednesday about the property corroborate the Archdiocese of Agana’s position that Hon himself announced on Aug 18.

“The Archdiocese still insists that the community that enjoys the benefits of ‘perpetual use’ of the RMS property should renounce such benefits granted through a deed restriction,” Hon said in a statement on Thursday. “Such an act will help significantly in the Archdiocese’s efforts to restore unity and build harmony between all members of the Church on Guam.”

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

JOANNE MCCARTHY
2 Sep 2016

NEWCASTLE Anglican Bishop Greg Thompson is “the bishop not welcome in his own cathedral” after the royal commission heard extraordinary evidence this week of a complaint against him by a group of senior Anglicans after he revealed he was sexually abused by a bishop.

The Dean of Newcastle Stephen Williams is expected to make a public statement on Sunday after royal commission chair Justice Peter McClellan accused solicitor Robert Caddies of leading “coordinated opposition” to Bishop Thompson.

This followed a complaint about the bishop to the royal commission from a group that included Mr Caddies, former Newcastle Lord Mayor John McNaughton, solicitor and synod member Greg Hansen, synod member Laurie Tabart and church wardens Simon Adam and Andrew Traill.

The complaint included that the bishop potentially exposed “younger members of the diocese” to “danger” because he had not previously disclosed the abuse. But the group was accused of trying to undermine the bishop, with Justice McClellan asking Mr Caddies if he was suggesting the bishop’s credibility needed to be looked at because of the time he had taken to speak in public about it. The commission has heard expert evidence that abuse survivors can take decades to disclose abuse.

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GEORGIA
Patch

By Doug Gross (Patch Staff) – September 1, 2016

DOUGLASVILLE, GA — The King’s Way Baptist Church in Douglasville will pay $25,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit filed on behalf of a kindergarten teacher who complained the church’s pastor sexually harassed her.

The independent Baptist church, which operates King’s Way Christian School, also will furnish other relief, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced in a news release.

The EEOC filed suit in 2015 on behalf of Marsha Pearson, a kindergarten teacher at the school, who said she was fired after complaining that the pastor, who was also school superintendent, had harassed her.

Former King’s Way pastor The Rev. Bill Wininger was arrested in 2014 on four misdemeanor charges of simple battery against a female employee.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

IAN KIRKWOOD
2 Sep 2016

HAVING delivered what he said was an unreserved apology for the “devastation” caused by paedophile priests in his diocese, the Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle, Bill Wright, then left the Royal Commission while the statement of one of Vince Ryan’s victims was read to the hearing.

Asked about it afterwards, Bishop Wright said he had already read the statement and knew it was to be given by the victim’s solicitor, rather than the man himself, but it was “a fair question” the Newcastle Herald was asking about his decision not to stay to listen.

The third day of the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic case study hearings began with Dr Peter Evans, the head of a Franciscan retreat in Melbourne that Ryan was sent to in 1976 after serious child sex allegations against him.

The commission has heard that Ryan had a single consultation in Melbourne and returned to an adjoining parish to the one he’d been sent from about a year before. Next up was Maureen O’Hearn, from the diocese’s survivor support organisation, Zimmerman House, who said that many counsellors, psychologists and psychiatrists did not understand the true impact of child sexual abuse.

Bishop Wright then spent an hour either side of lunch in the witness box, much of it answering questions about his interpretations of what two senior clergy, Monsignor Patrick Cotter and Bishop Leo Clarke, knew and did about Ryan’s prolific abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

IAN KIRKWOOD
2 Sep 2016

THE Catholic Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle has questioned why the Royal Commission is spending so much time on matters that happened decades ago when there was an “awful lot of stuff going on” now in broader society.

Bishop Bill Wright made the statement in the closing seconds of the pre-lunch session of the commission, after its chairman, Justice Peter McClellan, asked his response to the fact that 40 per cent of the abuse revealed to the commission in private sessions happened in Catholic institutions.

Justice McClellan said that despite this level of abuse, there were still people in the church who did not believe the spotlight should have been shone on the church as it has.

Bishop Wright said he himself wondered why so many of the case studies were “delving into matters of 30 or 40 years ago and I kind of wonder where the more contemporary spotlight should be fuelling”.

He said he knew it was the remit of of the commission to look at institutional responses but “I have this misgiving that there’s an awful lot of stuff going on out there now and we spend so much time on matters that happened decades ago”.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By David Marchese

A New South Wales Hunter region church official sent a priest who admitted to being attracted to young boys to a psychiatrist with the hope that he could be “cured” so that he could return to being a “most effective priest”.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse hearing in Newcastle is investigating abuse at the hands of Vincent Ryan, a Catholic priest who worked in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese for decades.

Ryan has spent 14 years behind bars for sexually abusing 35 boys over a period of 20 years and is currently awaiting sentencing on other charges.

The commission heard the Maitland-Newcastle diocese was made aware of abuse allegations against Ryan in the mid-1970s and sent him for a psychiatric assessment in Melbourne in 1976.

The 1975 abuse of altar boys only came to the attention of police in 1995.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

By Rebekah Ison – AAP on September 2, 2016

A psychiatrist who assessed a now-notorious NSW pedophile priest in the 1970s noted he was “OK with children and gets on well with them”.

Father Vincent Ryan, who abused children for decades before his arrest in 1995, was sent to Melbourne psychiatrist and then-priest Dr Peter Evans after Newcastle altar boys made complaints in 1975.

In notes, Dr Evans described Ryan, whose 1975 victims were 10-to-12-years-old, as being attracted to adolescents.

“He’s OK with children and gets on well with them,” the notes read to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse said.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

IAN KIRKWOOD
2 Sep 2016

THE Catholic Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle, Bill Wright, finished giving his evidence on Friday afternoon and left the hearings while a survivor, CQW, was telling of his abuse at Marist Brothers Maitland in the 1960s.

The Royal Commission resumed after lunch with its chairman, Justice Peter McClellan, asking why paedophilia had been a particular problem for the church for many centuries.

Justice McClellan said this was “reflected in the whole history of the confessional [and] reflected in provisions in canon law”.

When Bishop Wright said it was “an enduring problem in our societies, as far as I know”, Justice McClellan said “that may be true but it’s also been a particular problem for the church”.

Justice McClellan said Bishop Malone had acknowledged the church had covered up,and he asked the bishop what it was now doing to address its issues.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

AAP

A NSW Catholic bishop, whose diocese was the site of child sexual abuse, has questioned why a royal commission focuses on such decades-old crimes.

Bishop Bill Wright, who was appointed head of the Maitland-Newcastle diocese in 2011, again offered an apology to people abused by priests at the start of his evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Friday.

But he said he wondered whether a more “contemporary spotlight” was needed when asked about the notion some Catholics did not accept the extent of the focus on the church.

“It sometimes seems that so many of the case studies are delving into matters of 30 and 40 years ago,” he told the royal commission in Newcastle.

“I just have this misgiving that there’s an awful lot of stuff going on out there now and we spend so much time decades ago.”

Royal commission chairman Peter McClellan said it often took survivors a long time to come forward and that 40 per cent of victims who had sought private sessions had been abused in Catholic institutions.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Jacqueline Perry Guzman | Post News Staff

Yesterday the Archdiocese of Agana issued a response to information shared by former members of the Archdiocesan Finance Council (AFC) on Wednesday regarding the property of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary (RMS) in Yona.

The archdiocese stated in a press release, “Main points conveyed by the former Finance Council members in a news conference on Aug. 31 corroborate the position expressed by the archdiocese in an announcement on Aug. 18 by Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai.”

The archdiocese still insists that the community that enjoys the benefits of “perpetual use” of the RMS property should renounce such benefits granted through a deed restriction.

During a press conference on Wednesday, two members of the AFC, which was dissolved by Archbishop Anthony Apuron in January 2012, met with local media to clarify claims made against them.

Richard Untalan, former member of the council and president of CU Holdings, and Joe Rivera, former AFC member and current chief financial officer of Calvo Enterprises, presented a statement signed by other AFC members including Monsignor James Benavente, Deacon Stephen Martinez and Sister Mary Torres.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Kent Online

by Tom Acrestacres@thekmgroup.co.uk

An inquiry into child abuse at a Church of England home for young girls is to be extended.

The Rt Rev James Langstaff, Bishop of Rochester, commissioned a review into Kendall House in Pelham Road, Gravesend, last year and the results were released last month.

An expert panel chaired by Sue Proctor, who also led the investigation into matters connected to disgraced DJ Jimmy Savile, compiled a harrowing 137-page report documenting more than three decades of cruelty at the home.

Former residents provided memories and evidence, but the review will now be extended to provide an opportunity for those who did not take part to share their experiences.

Dr Proctor said: “The review panel welcome this extension and would like to encourage any former residents from Kendall House who as yet have felt unable to talk to us to get in touch.

“We will be glad to meet them, and listen to their accounts in confidence.”

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UNITED STATES
Headlines from the Catholic World

Washington D.C., Sep 1, 2016 / 11:15 am (CNA).- Billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundations sought to use Pope Francis’ visit to the U.S. to influence the 2016 elections and cultivate influence within the Catholic Church, according to leaked documents attributed to the major grant makers.

The documents said $650,000 in funds were committed for the foundations’ grantees PICO Network and Faith in Public Life to respond to the papal visit. The foundations said they “placed a bet” in early 2015 that the grantees would “be able to make the most of his trip.”

“In order to seize this moment, we will support PICO’s organizing activities to engage the Pope on economic and racial justice issues,” said the documents.

The documents, published on the site DCLeaks.com, appear to be May 2015 and October 2015 board meeting books of the foundations’ U.S. Programs division and a February 9, 2016 memo on the U.S. Programs’ Opportunities Fund.

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RHODE ISLAND
WBUR

September 01, 2016

By Lisa Mullins

A report released Thursday shows a more detailed picture of the sexual abuse students endured at an elite prep school in Rhode Island in the 1970s and ’80s.

An attorney, who conducted the independent investigation, released a nearly 400 page report. It found 51 students were abused by 10 staff members at St. George’s during those two decades. One of the employees was an assistant chaplain and coach, another a choirmaster, another a nurse.

An athletic trainer, who is no longer living, was said to have raped or sexually abused one-fifth of all the girls who attended the school during his time there — at least 31 girls.

Attorney Eric MacLeish, who represents abuse victims from St. George’s, joined WBUR’s All Things Considered.

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ALABAMA
WAAY

Patrick Ary pary@waaytv.com

An abuse victim of a children’s pastor at a Colbert County church is suing him and the church, claiming the church’s actions enabled the pastor to commit crimes he’s serving time for.

The unidentified victim filed the lawsuit Monday against Jeffrey Dale Eddie and Highland Park Baptist Church in Colbert County Circuit Court.

The victim, who is identified as John Doe in the lawsuit, claims Eddie abused him several times over a period from 2009 to 2013. The victim claims much of the abuse took place at Highland Park Baptist Church, mostly in Eddie’s office and a storage closet attached to the office.

Eddie, 44, is serving a 30-year sentence after pleading guilty to multiple counts of sodomy, sexual abuse and child pornography possession in 2014. He was accused of abusing multiple children during his 16 years with the church.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
A Ram in the Thicket

MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 2016

By Ryan A. MacDonald

Here in one place can be found the series of links on the case against Father Gordon MacRae investigated, researched, and published by Ryan A. MacDonald. Please share and post links to this URL.

I recently received an email from a well known American journalist asking if my investigation and articles on the case of falsely accused and wrongly imprisoned priest, Father Gordon J. MacRae, can be found in one place. I had never thought of this, but it’s an excellent idea. A single post with a list of links to my publications at multiple sites on this case would be a helpful tool for anyone with an interest in this story that remains a gaping wound on the integrity of American justice.

In 2005, I came upon the story of Father Gordon MacRae in a series of articles by Pulitzer-Prize winning writer, Dorothy Rabinowitz in The Wall Street Journal. This was my first inkling that the case against this Catholic priest, that I and most others thought to be fairly and justly adjudicated, was in fact deeply flawed.

As I looked more closely, and probed more deeply, it became apparent to me that this priest is a victim of a zealous sex crimes detective, a set of political agendas, and the greed of men pretending to be victims to ride a wave of media coverage of Catholic scandal to commit fraud.

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CALIFORNIA
ABC 30

By Corin Hoggard
Wednesday, August 31, 2016

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — A child pornography investigation led from Switzerland to Fresno and ended with a Caruthers Elementary School teacher being arrested Wednesday. Gregory Michael Carr, 46, bailed out of jail a few hours after Fresno County sheriff’s deputies arrested him.

Police in Switzerland were the first to notice someone in Fresno downloading explicit pictures of children. Investigators here in Fresno traced the download to Carr’s computer and Wednesday, they arrested him.

Greg Carr has been closely involved with children for decades, mostly as a teacher at Caruthers Elementary for the last 20 years. But this month, sheriff’s detectives say a darker involvement with kids was exposed by Swiss police.

“Homeland Security got a tip that Carr may have some child pornography on his computers,” said Fresno County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Tony Botti. “They notified our local agents.”

In early August, investigators tracked illegal images to Carr’s Northwest Fresno home. And when they went there in person, the seventh and eighth grade teacher let detectives examine two laptops and a tablet. A search warrant Action News uncovered shows that as they sat there, a detective found a series of images of a nude underage girl. They didn’t arrest him on the spot, but they seized several electronic devices from the home and they warned Carr’s employer. …

Carr also worked part-time as a student ministries technical director at Northpointe Church. Pastor Steve Williams issued a statement saying church leadership was stunned and that Carr no longer works there either.

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VIRGINIA
Christian Post

BY LEONARDO BLAIR , CHRISTIAN POST REPORTER
September 1, 2016

Jordan Baird, a 25-year-old youth pastor, pop singer, husband of Hillsong United singer and songwriter Michelle Fragar, and son of senior pastors David and Jo Ann Baird of The Life Church in Virginia, has been arrested and charged with three counts of indecent liberties by a custodian including exposing himself to a teenager inside his father’s church.

Jordan was a contestant on CW’s “The Next” in the fall of 2012 and placed second in the competition. He was mentored by Joe Jonas during the competition, which led to a relationship with The Jonas Brothers and The Jonas Group according to Breedlove Music. In the summer of 2013, he opened for the Jonas Brothers tour and moved to Los Angeles where he signed with Jonas Group Management in the fall of that year – the same year police say he committed one of his alleged crimes.

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ILLINOIS
Journal Standard

By Corina Curry
Staff writer

ROCKFORD — The Most Rev. Thomas G. Doran, bishop emeritus of the Catholic Diocese of Rockford, died peacefully today at his residence in Presence Cor Mariae, according to the diocese. He was 80.

Bishop Doran was appointed the eighth bishop of the Rockford Diocese on April 19, 1994, and served until he retired on March 20, 2012. He was the second native born priest of the diocese.

“As Bishop Doran’s successor, I wish to express my own sorrow at the loss of my predecessor and friend,” said Bishop David Malloy today in a news release. “I express as well my sympathies and condolences to the family and friends of Bishop Doran, especially his sister Susanne. …

Doran led the diocese through tumultuous times during the early 2000s as the Catholic Church became embroiled in a sex abuse scandal. The Rockford Diocese did not avoid the scandal’s reach. Doran was forced in May 2002 to publicly explain how he had in 1996 removed a priest named Harlan Clapsaddle from most of his pastoral duties when a family reported sexual abuse after two decades of silence.

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RHODE ISLAND
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016

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

Our hearts ache for the dozens and dozens of girls and boys who were assaulted at St. George’s school for decades and for the dozens and dozens of adults who were deceived and betrayed and re-victimized by secretive, self-serving school staff who chose to put their careers and reputations above the safety of kids, the healing of victims and the prevention of crimes.

We hope this report prods Rhode Island lawmakers to reform the state’s archaic child safety laws, especially the arbitrary, unfair and predator-friendly statute of limitations.

We suspect this report radically underestimates both the amount of pain that’s been inflected on the innocent and the complicity of school staff. Phrases like “the school failed” are, we believe, sanitized. “Failure” suggests a good faith effort that went awry. That’s not what happened here, we believe. Repeated, deliberate and selfish decisions were made, over decades, to hide crimes and shield predators and endanger kids, for the sake of boosting enrollment and donations and careers.

There may be tiny, sad silver lining in all of this. All too often, well-to-do parents assume that child molesters prey largely on kids from lower income families and adults in stable marriages assume that child molesters go after kids from “broken” homes. Neither are true. Predators usually make no distinctions. They’ll target whichever kids they have access too, even if the kids are bright, wealthy or well-loved.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Herald (UK)

Catholic News Service

The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development will merge Vatican departments responsible for justice and peace, migration, charity and health

Pope Francis has created a new Vatican department, The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, the Vatican has announced.

The dicastery will merge four existing Vatican departments; justice and peace, migration, charity and health.

In an apostolic letter given “motu proprio” (on his own initiative) and published by the Vatican on August 31, the pope said the new “Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development” will merge the pontifical councils for Justice and Peace, Cor Unum, Migrants and Travelers, and Health Care Ministry.

The pope named Cardinal Peter Turkson, current president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, to serve as prefect of the new office, which will begin functioning on January 1.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Sept. 1, 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)

Pope Francis has promoted Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana who, just three years ago, claimed that there were few child molesting clerics in Africa because they didn’t tolerate gay people there.

[Amanpour]

“African traditional systems kind of protect or have protected its population against this tendency,” Turkson told CNN said. “Because in several communities, in several cultures in Africa homosexuality or for that matter any affair between two sexes of the same kind are not countenanced in our society.”

CNN went on to report that “According to the American Psychological Association, ‘homosexual men are not more likely to sexually abuse children than heterosexual men are.’”

We included Turkson on a list of “dirty dozen” prelates who would be the worst choices to replace Pope Benedict.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A petition calling for a public inquiry into historical child sex abuse at a Roman Catholic children’s care home has gained 50,000 signatures in two months.

A former chaplain and ex-principal were jailed in January for abusing boys at the former St William’s home in East Yorkshire between 1970 and 1991.

Campaigners want to know why the abuse there went unchecked for decades.

MP Hilary Benn has asked for the case to be included in the national inquiry into child sex abuse led by Alexis Jay.

Campaigner Darren Furness, who was a pupil at the care home near Market Weighton, started the petition in June. He said: “I’ve been fighting this for 30 years and I’ll carry on fighting till the day I get answers.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Sep 01, 2016

By Krystal Paco

Guam’s apostolic administrator, Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, is taking Guam’s matters to Rome. In a press release on Thursday he states Father Jeff San Nicolas and Father Lito Abad will head the Archdiocese of Agana while he travels to facilitate a seminar for new bishops as part of his duties of the secretary of the congregation for the evangelization of peoples.

He adds, “While in Rome, I will be able to meet with colleagues of the Holy See that have particular concern for the Archdiocese of Agana.”

His trip runs from September 2- 18.

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RHODE ISLAND
NECN

By Michelle R. Smith

An independent investigator looking at sexual abuse at the elite Rhode Island boarding school St. George’s issued a report Thursday documenting widespread abuse there in the 1970s and 1980s.

Among the findings is that at least one in five girls who attended the school in the 1970s was abused by athletic trainer Al Gibbs. It also found 10 school employees sexually abused at least 51 students in the 1970s and 1980s, and at least 10 students were abused by fellow students.

“In the 1970s and 1980s, St. George’s School betrayed the trust of the many St. George’s students who became the targets of sexual abuse when they came to the school, and likewise betrayed the trust of parents who sent those students to St. George’s with the expectation that it would be a safe place for them to live and learn,” according to the report by Boston lawyer Martin Murphy.

Murphy was hired in January by the school and the survivors’ group SGS for Healing.

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RHODE ISLAND
Boston.com

By MICHELLE R. SMITH AP

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — At least one in five girls who attended the elite boarding school St. George’s in the 1970s was sexually abused by the same athletic trainer, according to a report issued Thursday documenting widespread abuse there.

An independent investigator looking at sexual abuse at the school found that at least 31 girls were abused by trainer Al Gibbs. The report also found nine other school employees sexually abused at least 20 other students in the 1970s and 1980s, and at least 10 additional students were abused by fellow students.

“In the 1970s and 1980s, St. George’s School betrayed the trust of the many St. George’s students who became the targets of sexual abuse when they came to the school, and likewise betrayed the trust of parents who sent those students to St. George’s with the expectation that it would be a safe place for them to live and learn,” according to the report by Boston lawyer Martin Murphy.

Murphy was hired in January by the school and the survivors’ group SGS for Healing.

Gibbs was fired in 1980 after being caught taking photographs of a naked girl in his office, but the report found that he was paid a $1,200 annual grant for “distinguished service” that continued until he died in 1996. The school acknowledged in December that he abused 17 students, but the report said that number was at least 31.

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RHODE ISLAND
Providence Journal

By Karen Lee Ziner
Journal Staff Writer
By Jacqueline Tempera
Journal Staff Writer

Posted Sep. 1, 2016

Systematic sexual abuse at St. George’s School in Middletown created a “private hell” for dozens of students and marked a “betrayal of trust” for those students and their parents, an independent investigator concluded in a much-anticipated report released Thursday morning.

The report by Martin F. Murphy identifies 61 alumni as victims of sexual abuse at St. George’s, whose experiences were “marked by (and for some, dominated by), faculty or staff who manipulated them and sexually abused them, or older students who targeted them for acts of sexualized hazing and sexual assault,” Murphy wrote in a summary.

The 390-page report, on abuse dating to 1970, excoriates the elite Episcopal prep school.
“Many of these students remember St. George’s as a place where their abusers created a kind of private hell for them — a place where they suffered trauma and emotional wounds that for many, remain unhealed,” Murphy wrote.

“The abuse they experienced involved not only physical acts of sexual assault (as horrible as those were), but something that, for many, was even worse: betrayal at the hands of an adult entrusted with their care, at a school where they saw few, if any places to turn for help.”

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RHODE ISLAND
Patch

By Mark Schieldrop (Patch Staff) – September 1, 2016

MIDDLETOWN, RI—The independent investigator hired by victims of sexual abuse at St. George’s School has released his report on a pattern of abuse affecting more than 60 victims over decades and the school’s response.

“Sexual Abuse at St. George’s School and the School’s Response: 1970 to 2015” can be found HERE.

The state police closed an investigation alleged sexual assault and misconduct by former members of faculty and students at the elite school in June. Police determined the state couldn’t proceed with criminal charges at that time.

That investigation focused on seven former faculty members, a current employee and three former students. But the report released today by Martin F. Murphy of Foley Hoag LLP thoroughly details case after case of sexual abuse or assault and depicts a school culture that did little to prevent and in some cases protected alleged abusers.

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RHODE ISLAND
Boston Globe

By Bella English GLOBE STAFF SEPTEMBER 01, 2016

After a months-long investigation of sexual abuse at St. George’s School, a report released Thursday described the elite Rhode Island prep school in the 1970s and 80s as a cauldron of sexual exploitation of students. Sixty-one alumni gave investigators first-hand accounts of the abuse they say they suffered, with 51 saying the abusers were faculty or staff and an additional 10 reporting abuse by classmates.

“The picture that emerges from this investigation is profoundly disturbing,” wrote attorney Martin F. Murphy in a preface to the 390-page report. Murphy, a partner at the Boston firm Foley Hoag, was appointed in January by St. George’s and the victims’ group SGS for Healing to investigate sex abuse at the elite prep school in Middletown, R.I.

For many of the alumni interviewed by Murphy’s team, the school was a place “where their abusers created a kind of private hell for them, a place where they suffered emotional wounds and trauma that for many remain unhealed,” according to the report.

In August, the school agreed to a financial settlement for 29 alumni. In June, under fire from alumni who felt he had not been responsive to the burgeoning sex scandal, headmaster Eric Peterson announced that he would not seek to renew his contract when it expires at the end of this school year.

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FRANCE
fdebranche

[Auvergne: Nine schoolgirls are raped in the Catholic institution of Saint Benedict.]

31/08/2016

Suite à l’affaire de viols sur neuf collégiennes dans l’établissement catholique de Saint-Benoît, l’évêque de Moulins a souhaité réagir dans un communiqué. Le suspect, un intervenant en musique, est actuellement en détention depuis le mois de mars.

« Ma pensée va tout d’abord aux victimes et à leur famille, celles qui ont porté plainte et celles qui n’auraient pas encore osé parler », écrit dans un communiqué Monseigneur Laurent Percerou, évêque de Moulins. Une réaction qui fait suite aux révélations du journal La Montagne, concernant les soupçons de viols sur 9 collégiennes entre 2008 et 2011 à l’établissement catholique Saint-Benoît, à Moulins.

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ITALIA
Arivista

[Interview with Federico Tulli of Francesca Palazzi Arduini. Abuse of minors is committed by priests and men of the church. Responsibility is with the last three Popes: Karol Wojtyla, Joseph Ratzinger and Jorge Bergoglio. Tulli is the only journalist to have conducted a full investigation of the Italian cases.]

intervista a Federico Tulli di Francesca Palazzi Arduini

Abusi su minori commessi da sacerdoti e uomini di chiesa. La reticenza della politica e dei media. Le responsabilità degli ultimi tre papi: Karol Wojtyla, Joseph Ratzinger e Jorge Bergoglio.

Ce ne parla Federico Tulli, unico giornalista ad aver condotto un’inchiesta completa sui casi italiani dall’unità ai nostri giorni.

Federico Tulli, giornalista e scrittore, ha pubblicato nel 2010, per L’Asino d’oro edizioni, il libro Chiesa e pedofilia. Non lasciate che i pargoli vadano a loro. Nel 2014, con la stessa editrice, ha pubblicato: Chiesa e pedofilia, il caso italiano. I due libri inquadrano il problema nel più vasto panorama della corruzione all’interno della Chiesa, a livello mondiale e poi nazionale, esaminando anche i legami del fenomeno della pedofilia del clero con la tradizione culturale religiosa, rispetto allo status del bambino come persona, alla concezione della segretezza e del sacro, alla sessuofobia e omofobia.

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RHODE ISLAND
Durso Law

At 11 am today, Investigator Martin Murphy released his long awaited report into sexual abuse at St. George’s School. The report spans more than four decades. Investigator Murphy identified 61 alumni who had been victims of sexual abuse at St. George’s – 51 victims of faculty and staff who worked at the School.

“When one considers the ripple effects of sexual abuse – the corollary damage to parents, siblings, friends and other family members close to the victim – the amount of trauma inflicted on human beings is measured in the hundreds of years,” said Anne Scott, a representative of SGS for Healing, an alumni survivor group, which commissioned the report together with St. George’s in January of 2016.

“The report is the most comprehensive recounting to date of sexual abuse at an American boarding school,” said Roderick MacLeish who represented 29 survivors in a recently concluded financial settlement. One in five female students who attended the School between 1972 and 1979 reported abuse to Murphy by just one perpetrator –former athletic trainer Al Gibbs. Investigator Murphy states that he “expects the number of women who were actually abused by Gibbs substantially exceeds the reported figure.” (Emphasis supplied).

The report sets forth the name of six faculty and staff perpetrators, including Gibbs. Four other staff and faculty perpetrators are identified without names.

The report describes the past failures of the School to protect children. It sets forth the “bullying” perpetrated by the School on Anne Scott during litigation she brought against the School arising out of Gibbs’ rape of her during the 1970’s. It reveals that after former Headmaster Tony Zane discovered that Gibbs had been molesting girls and terminated him, Zane and the St. George’s Board gave Gibbs a favorable letter of recommendation and a distinguished service financial award that continued until his death 16 years later. (It is unknown where Gibbs worked following his termination from St. George’s). Murphy notes:

“In sum, in our view, the school’s treatment of Gibbs in the years after his termination, continuing to his death in 1996, reflected, at best, serious misjudgment, and at worst, callous indifference to the girls and young women the school knew he had abused.” (Emphasis supplied).

While the bulk of the report largely focuses on the 1970’s and 1980’s Murphy also cites more recent events – such as the School’s failure to send out a community letter notifying alumni of credible allegations of sexual abuse during a long period when other boarding schools were notifying and assisting alumni. The report also describes a 2016 letter from the School’s Board of Directors, in which the credibility of an abuse victim was questioned as a regrettable example of “victim shaming.”

“St. George’s today is a very different school from the one portrayed in this report,” said MacLeish, who attended the School for three years. “No parent should hesitate to send their child to an institution to this school, which has state of the art practices and policies designed to protect children.”

Added Scott: “The St. George’s community is full of wonderful and caring people. Today, survivors are working with the Trustees’ Search Committee to appoint the next Head, and with the Director of Counselling and Health Education to review the School’s sexual abuse prevention programs, and its policies regarding assault, harassment and bullying.”

Murphy also found fault with the School’s initiation of a 2015 investigation in which alumni were encouraged and requested to contact an investigator who was described as heading an independent inquiry into past sexual abuse. Murphy determined that while the School was acting in good faith, victims were traumatized when they later discovered that the investigator was a law partner and spouse of the lawyer representing the School in response to claims of sexual abuse.

The report stated as follows: “The school and Schwartz Hannum each failed to take into account how students who were abused at St. George’s would feel when they learned that the school’s legal counsel was also acting as its “independent” investigator, or how those former students, the news media, and the public would react when they learned that Schwartz and Hannum were not just law partners, but husband and wife. As a consequence, an investigation begun with the best intentions went horribly awry.”

Said Carmen Durso, who also served as counsel with MacLeish to St. George’s survivors: “While well intentioned, this flawed investigation retraumatized some survivors who had shared their stories of abuse, sometimes for the first time, with a person they thought was truly independent form the School.”

He added: “This tragedy has been a learning process for everyone and it was gratifying that the School’s Board of Trustees set up a model program for confidential therapy help for survivors, which will undoubtedly be an example of best practices in years to come. The next step is to understand the need for adoption of national standards for private schools, comparable to the obligations which public schools have been required to meet since 1972 under federal law in Title IX.”

The report generally praised the School’s current policies and practices and cleared one faculty member, Robert Weston, regarding any claims that he acted improperly.

Said Scott: “Survivors want good to come from this important report. We want people to understand how children’s lives are catastrophically damaged by any form of sexual abuse. We want all institutions charged with their care and protection to know that, by their decisions and actions, they can make everything much better, or much worse. We ask the halls of justice to collectively overhaul the existing criminal and civil laws. They are inadequate, even today. Most of all, we hope that children everywhere will feel empowered to speak up when something feels very wrong, and that their voices will be heard and acted upon.”

For further information, call Eric MacLeish at 617 817 1797 or Anne Scott at 443 282 4487.

DURSO LAW
LAW OFFICE OF CARMEN L. DURSO
175 Federal Street, Suite 1425
Boston, MA 02110-2287
Tel: 617-728-9123 – Fax: 617-426-7972
carmen@dursolaw.com
www.dursolaw.com

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Northern Echo

A SENIOR figure at a Roman Catholic independent school in North Yorkshire has stepped aside as police investigate allegations of historical abuse made by four former pupils.

The Right Reverend Cuthbert Madden, chairman of governors at Ampleforth College – who is also Abbot of Ampleforth Abbey – has denied any wrongdoing.

He has been Ampleforth for over 30 years and has been Abbot since 2005.

A police spokesman said: “North Yorkshire Police is investigating non-recent allegations of indecent assault against four pupils at Ampleforth College which took place in the 1990s.

“The information was reported to the police in August 2016. The investigation remains ongoing and a man in his 60s has been interviewed under caution.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A senior figure at one of England’s top Roman Catholic public schools has “stepped aside” as police investigate allegations of historic abuse.

Ampleforth Abbey said Abbot Cuthbert Madden, 61, had denied any wrongdoing.

North Yorkshire Police confirmed a man in his 60s had been voluntarily interviewed under caution.

The allegations date from the 1990s and involve four pupils at the abbey’s school, Ampleforth College.

In a statement, the abbey said: “Fr Abbot denies any wrongdoing and will be cooperating fully whilst the allegations are investigated by the appropriate authorities.

“In the interests of transparency, we want to ensure the Ampleforth community and friends are aware of the current situation.”

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FRANCE
Le Figaro

[The Jesuits struggle against pedophilia]

La province de France de la Compagnie de Jésus (jésuites), éclaboussée par les scandales pédophiles qui ont secoué l’Eglise catholique au printemps, “renforce” à son tour la lutte contre les abus sexuels en précisant les règles à observer, a-t-elle annoncé aujourd’hui. Un “document d’orientation” de 13 pages est diffusé en cette rentrée scolaire auprès des quelque 400 jésuites de la province et des chefs de leurs 14 établissements scolaires (27.000 élèves).

La province “réaffirme ainsi sa ferme volonté de tout mettre en oeuvre pour que des situations d’abus sexuels la concernant ne se produisent plus”, précise un communiqué. Ce protocole a été réalisé en “concertation avec la Conférence des évêques de France” (CEF), qui avait pris de nouvelles mesures à la mi-avril.

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RHODE ISLAND
SGS Investigation

Posted on September 1, 2016

Report of Independent Investigator Martin F. Murphy, Foley Hoag LLP
Sexual Abuse at St. George’s School and the School’s Response: 1970 to 2015

The report resulting from our investigation of abuse at St. George’s School from 1970 to 2015 is now complete. A full version of the report can be viewed and downloaded HERE (click HERE for a copy without exhibits).

Report can also be downloaded here.

The report results from more than six months’ work, interviews of more than 150 witnesses, and the review of thousands of pages of documents.

Our investigation could not have been done without the willingness of so many alumni—children who came to St. George’s when they were as young as 13 or 14; now adults in their 40s, 50s and 60s—who displayed the courage to speak to total strangers about some of the darkest and most painful moments of their lives. St. George’s School also cooperated fully with our work; we thank the school as well.

We hope this report helps the St. George’s community, and the public, understand what happened at St. George’s, and why.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

AAP

A Catholic parishioner who caught a now notorious NSW pedophile priest abusing an altar boy in a Hunter Region church turned away and said nothing, a royal commission has heard.

An abuse survivor, known as CNE, has testified he was abused by Father Vincent Ryan from the age of 13, usually as he returned his robes to the sacristy or at his grandparents’ house, in the 1980s.

On one occasion when he was 15, CNE, who grew up near Maitland, was pushed to his knees by Ryan, who tried to make him perform oral sex.

“Right then, the sacristy door opened and a male parishioner came into the sacristy,” CNE told the Royal Commission into Instit­utional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse yesterday.

“(The parishioner) turned around and walked away. He didn’t even say a word.”

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SCOTLAND
Courier

A shamed teacher jailed for abusing pupils at a former school for troubled boys in Fife is appealing his conviction.

Paul Kelly, 64, was jailed for 10 years after he and head teacher John Farrell 73, were convicted of sexual abuse against six pupils more than 30 years ago.

The pair preyed on youngsters at St Ninian’s in Falkland, Fife, which was run by the Christian Brothers organisation.

Farrell was jailed for five years at the High Court in Glasgow, for his crimes.

On Thursday the judiciary department confirmed Kelly has lodged an appeal against his conviction.

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UNITED KINGDOM
West Briton

By cg_graham | Posted: September 01, 2016

Jeremy Dowling, the former Diocese of Truro spokesman, has told a Truro Crown Court jury he did not sexually abuse a boy while working as a lay preacher in North Cornwall 40 years ago. Dowling said he was currently serving a seven-year prison sentence for sexually abusing five boys in the 1960s, offences committed while he was a schoolteacher, which he admitted and was dealt with by the court last year.

But he categorically denied further charges concerning a man, now in his fifties, who claims Dowling also abused him, including on one occasion at a church.

Dowling was a lay preacher at St Michael’s church, Budehaven, and later at St Gennys church, Crackington Haven. The complainant told police he thought he had been sexually abused at St Eval church, but could not recall specific details of the location and attempts to establish independent corroboration from former clerics and church officials had been unsuccessful.

Dowling denies six charges of indecently assaulting a boy under 14, and two of gross indecency, all between 1973 and 1977. He said it was not true that he had “taken the boy under his wing” and taken him to visit churches in Cornwall, or to the Plymouth television studios where Dowling later presented a late-night religious programme.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Sep 01, 2016

By Krystal Paco

A member of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary board is looking to set the record straight: (1) the RMS is an archdiocesan missionary seminary ordaining and educating only diocesan priests, (2) that there is no such thing as a Neocatechumenal priest, and (3) that the Archdiocese of Agana remains the owner of the multimillion dollar Yona property.

“All the recent speculations in regards to the ownership of the seminary, quality of education, amount of monies spent, etc. has brought sadness and disappointment,” said Dr. Ricardo Eusebio. “As you are well aware, there are always two sides to a story, and my desire is perhaps to clarify some misconceptions or misunderstandings but ultimately revealing the truth as I know it. .”

Dr. Eusebio is just one of seven members of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary’s board of directors. In an exclusive interview with KUAM News, he says Archbishop Anthony Apuron appointed him to the board in 2002. Despite what critics have to say, the RMS board stands their ground that there was no conspiracy for a secret takeover of the RMS and no attempt to push a Neocatechumenal Way itinerary.

“People don’t know about the way. They heard bad things about it. They presuppose how things are. And lastly I think people are threatened and are afraid that they will have to be forced to join something like that 2142 all those things are absolutely not even true,” he said. “A deed restriction for the use of the property by the Redemptoris Mater Seminary does not change the ownership of the property, nor the ability of the owner to sell the property. This legal opinion was confirmed by the Lewis Roca Rothgerber law firm from Denver, Colorado, whose expertise is on civil and canon law.”

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IRELAND
Belfast Live

Outspoken cleric Fr Brian D’Arcy has told how women committed suicide because of sex beast Brendan Smyth.

The rebel priest opened up about the scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church in an astonishing interview published in Thursday’s Hot Press magazine.

Fr D’Arcy discussed his own abuse at the hands of the religious during his youth – and says he would never have joined the priesthood if he knew the extent of the perversion.

And the 71-year-old shared his belief that the actions of paedophile priest Brendan Smyth resulted in lives being lost.

He said: “There have been people, young women, who took their own lives because of what Brendan Smyth did to them.

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DENMARK
The Local

A 46-year-old priest at Tømmerup Church in the western Zealand town of Kalundborg is suspected of sexually assaulting several children, police said on Thursday.

The man has been in police custody since late June but details of the case were first made public on Thursday after the Holbæk City Court lifted reporting restrictions on the case.

Mid- and West Zealand Police then released the name of the church in the hopes that additional potential victims will come forward.

“We have gotten far in our investigation […] but we suspect that there are more children whom we haven’t yet spoken with there may have been subjected to abuse in connection with their contact with the priest at Tømmerup Church,” Commissioner Ove Pedersen said.

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IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

By Allan Preston
PUBLISHED
01/09/2016

Outspoken priest Brian D’Arcy has claimed a number of women committed suicide after suffering abuse at the hands of paedophile priest Brendan Smyth.

Fr D’Arcy made the comments in an interview with Hot Press magazine published today.

“There have been people, young women, who took their own lives because of what Brendan Smyth did to them,” the Enniskillen priest said.

“I know this personally. They took their own lives because of what Brendan Smyth did to them.”

He was also critical of Cardinal Sean Brady, who was aware of children being abused by Belfast-born Fr Smyth, but chose not to go to the authorities.

“The one thing you will always say about Sean Brady is that he’s a decent man,” he said.

“But he would probably know himself now that the system had him so brainwashed that he didn’t do the right thing. He was wrapped up in this whole secrecy thing.”

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CONNECTICUT
Patch

RJ Scofield (Patch Staff) – August 29, 2016

NORWICH, CT – A Woodstock man has filed a lawsuit against the Diocese of Norwich, a retired bishop and the Catholic Church, The Day reported.

Jonathan Roy, 37, said he was sexually assaulted hundreds of times by Catholic priest Paul Herbert while serving as an altar boy in the 1990’s, according to The Day. Roy had served at the Holy Trinity Church in Pomfret.

The complaint claims that Roy was bribed by Herbert to not tell anyone, and had also been blindfolded, photographed and video taped, The Day reported. The Diocese had previously settled lawsuits with two other boys who claimed Herbert assaulted them.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | Post News Staff

“In light of the recent statements made by Fr. Pius Sammut and Archbishop Apuron, we have collectively concluded that, enough is enough, it is time to set the record straight,” stated Richard Untalan, former member of the Archdiocesan finance council (AFC) and president of CU Holdings.

During a press conference yesterday, two members of the AFC that was dissolved by Archbishop Anthony Apuron in January 2012 met with local media to clarify claims made against them.

Untalan and Joe Rivera, former AFC member and current chief financial officer of Calvo Enterprises, presented a statement signed by other AFC members including Monsignor James Benavente, Deacon Stephen Martinez and Sister Mary Torres.

Sole use

Untalan said that contrary to statements that the Yona land was purchased for the sole use of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary (RMS), it was actually purchased with the intention that it be used for “the benefit of all Catholics in Guam.”

“Because of its size, it will allow the archdiocese to build other buildings for use by parishioners, without interrupting the operation of the seminary,” he said.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

CHRIS MARSHALL
Wednesday 31 August 2016

A group of child abuse survivors are to have their case heard by the English inquiry into the issue amid claims they face “no prospect of justice” in Scotland.

White Flowers Alba, which represents about 30 adults abused in childhood, has been awarded “core participant” status by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, which is being led by Professor Alexis Jay.

The group, whose members were allegedly abused by Catholic priests, said it had been failed by the Scottish inquiry, which covers only those abused while in care.

A spokesman said: “We had a cut-off date to make ourselves known to the English inquiry, so to protect the interests of our members we applied.

“We face no prospect of justice in Scotland. We had to act. Had we had an equitable inquiry in Scotland, this would not have been necessary.”

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

1 September, 2016

A new report identifies the support needs of specific population groups including survivors of institutional child sexual abuse, survivors of child sexual abuse with disability, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander survivors of child sexual abuse.

The Royal Commission appointed the University of New South Wales to undertake a literature review around the support needs of specific population groups who have experienced child sexual abuse.

The report finds that there are distinctive characteristics of the harm experienced by victim/survivors of institutional child sexual abuse which affect their treatment and support needs. These can include a global loss of trust in institutions, a crisis of faith, or abandonment of religion, if the abuse was perpetrated by clergy and a fear or disrespect for authority.

The research concludes that there is consensus in the literature that support needs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander victims of institutional child sexual abuse must account for the historical legacy of colonisation, racism, deprivation, forced removal of children from their families, and ensuing inter-generational trauma.

The literature also suggests that services and supports for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have experienced child sexual abuse should be based on recognition of the central importance of extended family and community relationships.

The report also examined the literature on people with disability, finding that children with disability experience higher rates of sexual abuse than children without disability. It found very little evidence about effective treatment and support for people with disability who were sexually abused as children.

It also found indications that they may fall between ‘disciplinary gaps’ where clinicians are either disability or sexual assault specialists but may not have the required knowledge of this cohort’s intersecting needs.

Read Service and support needs of specific population groups that have experienced child sexual abuse: Report for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, was conducted by Associate Professor Jan Breckenridge and Gabrielle Flax from the Gendered Violence Research Network, University of New South Wales.
The report contains extensive discussion of child sexual abuse. If you experience distress you can call 1800 Respect (1800 732 732).

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

LAURA DIMON
KENNETH LOVETT
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Updated: Wednesday, August 31, 2016

An upstate investor pushing to make it easier for child sex abuse victims to seek justice as adults took his fight to Gov. Cuomo’s backyard.

Gary Greenberg, who created the Fighting for Children Political Action Committee, was in Mount Kisco in Westchester County to endorse state Senate Democratic primary candidate Alison Boak.

Twenty people attended the rally, with some holding signs that said “protect children, not predators.” A young girl was holding one that read “protect us! We are only kids.”

Bills to eliminate or extend the timeframes that an adult who was abused as a child can bring a lawsuit died in both the Assembly and Senate this year.

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GERMANY
Catholic Philly

By Jonathan Luxmoore • Catholic News Service • Posted August 31, 2016

OXFORD, England (CNS) — A spokesman for the new bishop of Limburg, Germany, said he would not live in the luxurious residence built for his predecessor.

Stephan Schnelle, Limburg diocesan spokesman, said the residence would be used for offices, meetings and exhibitions. The diocese has said Bishop-designate Georg Batzing would live at a convent after his Sept. 18 installation, then move to a nearby church house.

Bishop-designate Batzing replaces Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, who resigned in March 2014 after protests over his personal expenditures, such as disputes over the costs of renovating his residence and office when diocesan staffers faced salary cuts. A Vatican audit placed the cost of the renovations at 31 million euros. Bishop Tebartz-van Elst, dubbed “Bishop Bling,” also was fined for perjury and investigated for criminal charges after being accused of misusing church funds. The Diocese of Limburg dropped legal proceedings against him in September 2015.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Andrew Norfolk, Chief Investigative Reporter
September 1 2016
The Times

The most senior figure at Britain’s leading Roman Catholic public school is under criminal investigation for alleged sex offences against boys.

The Right Rev Cuthbert Madden, chairman of the governors at Ampleforth College, has “stepped aside from his responsibilities” after being questioned by police during an inquiry into complaints by four former pupils.

As the abbot of Ampleforth, Father Cuthbert heads Britain’s largest Benedictine community and chairs the educational trust that governs the school.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Sophie Jamieson
1 SEPTEMBER 2016

The Abbot of Ampleforth is reportedly being investigated by police over alleged child sex offences.

Complaints about the Right Rev Cuthbert Madden have been raised by four former pupils at Ampleforth College, the Catholic boarding school, according to The Times.

He is said to have “stepped aside” from his responsibilities as chairman of governors at the school while the investigation takes place. He denies any wrongdoing.

Father Cuthbert, 61, was first elected Abbot in 2005, a position which puts him at the head of the largest Benedictine community in the country. He has been at Ampleforth for 30 years and was reelected to his position three years ago.

Ampleforth has previously been linked with alleged sexual abuse by priests. In the last 20 years, three monks have been convicted of historic sex offences.

Father Cuthbert has previously described such crimes as a betrayal of trust. He has said in the past: “We consider that the safety and protection of children in our care is a sacred responsibility.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Sun

BY ANNABEL HOWARD 1st September 2016

THE abbot at a scandal-hit Roman Catholic public school is being investigated over alleged child sex abuse.

The Rt Rev Cuthbert Madden, chairman of governors at Ampleforth College, has been quizzed by cops over complaints by four ex-pupils.

He has stepped aside from responsibilities at the school run by the Benedictine community.

Three monks and a lay teacher have been convicted of historic sex offences against more than 30 pupils at the North Yorkshire college.

Father Cuthbert, 61, has previously blasted such crimes as a grievous betrayal of trust, stating that “the safety and protection of children in our care is a sacred responsibility”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By ALEX MATTHEWS FOR MAILONLINE

The most senior figure at Britain’s leading Catholic public school is being investigated over allegations of historical sexual abuse against pupils.

Cuthbert Madden, 61, the Abbot of Ampleforth College in Yorkshire, has stepped down from his duties while the probe gets underway.

The allegations are said to relate to alleged offences committed while he was a monk and a tutor at the school in the early 1990s.

Ampleforth is the biggest of England’s 13 Benedictine Abbeys and former pupils at the College, which costs families £33,000-a-year, include Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes, England Rugby Captain Lawrence Dallaglio and Hollywood star Rupert Everett.

However, despite its illustrious past the school has been subject to scandal regarding claims of historical sex abuse.

Since 1996 there has been three monks and one lay teacher convicted of such assaults, regarding 30 pupils from the mid-1960s to the 1990s.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

Rebekah Ison – AAP on September 1, 2016

The Catholic Church considered child fondling to be a “moral problem” rather than a criminal act when altar boys first came forward about a notorious Newcastle priest, the royal commission has heard.

A group of boys, who served at St Joseph’s at Merewether, told parents and teachers about sickening abuse suffered at the hands of Father Vincent Ryan in 1975.

But Ryan was allowed to continue serving in the ministry unrestricted for another two decades before being arrested.

Former Maitland-Newcastle Diocese Bishop Michael Malone said it used to be the case that priests who offended against anybody could go to confession and be “forgiven of his sins”.

“What about the touching of the genitals of a child? Was that seen as a moral problem or … a criminal act?” Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse chairman Peter McClellan asked on Thursday.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM

Thomas Oriti reported this story on Thursday, September 1, 2016

A hearing examining the Catholic Church has been told that a convicted serial paedophile revealed his sexual attraction to children even before he was ordained as a priest.

Vincent Ryan abused more than 30 children during his time in the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese in New South Wales.

But today’s evidence shows there were red flags about the man’s behaviour decades before he was arrested.

And in a disturbing development, one of Ryan’s victims has testified that he too molested a child, landing him in the same jail as the priest.

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By Larry Celona, Kevin Fasick and Bruce Golding
August 31, 2016

Child-welfare officials are investigating Anthony Weiner in the wake of The Post’s exclusive report that he sent a lewd selfie that showed his young son lying in bed next to him, sources said Wednesday.

The probe of Weiner was launched by the Administration for Children’s Services over his handling of 4-year-old son Jordan, a city government source told The Post.

Agency protocol requires a home visit within 48 hours, and ACS showed up at Weiner and estranged wife Huma Abedin’s Union Square apartment building on Tuesday, a worker there confirmed.

Such initial visits are meant to ensure that a possibly at-risk child has a room to sleep in and food to eat, the government source said.

Exclusive video shot by The Post showed Weiner leaving his building alone around 6 a.m. Tuesday, and it was unclear if ACS gained access to his apartment. …

Meanwhile, Catholic League President Bill Donohue filed a report of suspected child abuse with the state Office of Children and Family Services, citing the two Post reports.

“It would appear that Mr. Weiner’s sexual exploitation of his child meets the definition of child sexual abuse . . . Please investigate this matter.”

Donohue’s complaint lists both Weiner and Abedin, who declined comment.

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ALABAMA
WHNT

[with video]

AUGUST 31, 2016, BY CARTER WATKINS

TUSCUMBIA, Ala. — A lawsuit has been filed this week in Colbert County against a church and its former children’s pastor, who has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting children in the congregation.

The suit has been filed by one of the victims who alleges years of sexual abuse.

A 10-page lawsuit filed in Colbert County Circuit Court names Jeffrey Dale Eddie and Highland Park Baptist Church as defendants. The lawsuit contends both Eddie and the church should be held responsible for their negligence.

In March of 2014, Jeffrey Dale Eddie pleaded guilty to multiple counts of sodomy, sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12, and possession of child pornography. He was sentenced to 30 years in state prison.

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TEXAS
Fox 4

Students at the Dallas Theological Seminary are taking lessons in identifying sex abuse and protecting vulnerable children. Some critics argue the online training is a good step forward but is not enough.

The seminary is one of the first in North Texas to offer this kind of training to their seminary students.

Even with the new training, some advocates believe there’s still a lot of work to do on this tough issue.

When Dallas Theological Seminary President Mark Bailey started his career as a pastor, he encountered an unexpected issue his first month on the job

“We were suddenly confronted with a legal issue of alleged abuse that happened,” he explained.

Bailey says in his 30-plus years as a pastor, he’d never learned how to spot sexual abuse.

“I had no previous training in that at all,” Bailey said. “So if we can prepare people who are going into ministry before they get into ministry of how to watch for it and how to treat it if it does happen.”

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RHODE ISLAND
ABC 6

By: The Associated Press

news@abc6.com

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence agreed on Wednesday to report all allegations of clergy sexual abuse of children to the attorney general’s office.

A letter of understanding was announced saying that the diocese will report abuse allegations to the attorney general’s office in addition to state police.

Authorities say the previous practice was reporting it only to police.

Attorney General Peter Kilmartin says the agreement will guarantee greater transparency.

Anne Barrett Doyle, with BishopAccountability.org, which tracks the global clergy abuse scandal, says the agreement is better than nothing.

But Barrett Doyle says it falls short because it doesn’t bar the diocese from interviewing victims or subjecting them to polygraph tests, which she says has been done before.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

JOANNE MCCARTHY
31 Aug 2016

THE Catholic Church has paid more than $25 million to Hunter child sex abuse survivors, the royal commission has heard on a day when a nun said she didn’t think the rape of a boy was a crime, and an abuse survivor told of wanting to grab knives and kill a paedophile priest when he was just 13.

“I didn’t do it. I should have,” Hunter man Gerard McDonald, 52, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse about Father Vince Ryan on the first day of the 43rd public hearing, considering church responses to child sexual abuse in Maitland-Newcastle diocese.

The diocese has substantiated 158 claims by survivors involving 31 perpetrators. There have been 78 claims from former students of Marist Brothers schools at Maitland and Hamilton, and St Pius X College, Adamstown. The royal commission heard 56 per cent of claims involved priests.

The diocese has paid more than $25.7 million in compensation, with one victim of Vince Ryan paid $2.9 million, and another 12 Ryan victims paid a combined $2.9 million. The Newcastle Herald is aware of many other survivors of abuse who have not reported abuse or sought compensation.

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GERMANY
LifeSite News

August 31, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich, head of the German Bishops Conference and one of Pope Francis’ closest advisers, is criticized for negligent behavior regarding a case of sexual abuse by a priest of his former diocese from 10 years ago.

A recent legal investigation follows past inquiries regarding accusations of sexual abuse by the former parish priest involving a 15-year-old boy in the Diocese of Trier. The first accusation surfaced in 2006 but was suspended because of statutory limitations. Subsequent lawsuits were filed in 2013 and 2015 against the priest, who has been retired since 2015.

The case resurfaced again with its current allegations. Previous negligence in the investigation might have led to this current situation.

Victims have formed an organization to disclose abuse cases in Trier and call for an investigation independent of the Church’s. The group runs an internet blog called “Missbit.” Claudia Adams manages the blog with the purpose of resolving the case.

Cardinal Marx was bishop of Trier in 2006 before he became archbishop of Munich. The Church’s investigations of the parish priest were dropped while the legal case was suspended because of the statute of limitations. Marx dropped the case despite the fact that ecclesiastical law has different legislation regarding statutory limitation.

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