ABUSE TRACKER

PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times

Back in the spring, state Rep. Nick Miccarelli, Jamie Santora and others in the Delco delegation stuck their neck out.

The Republicans did something a lot of people thought would never happen in Harrisburg. They passed House Bill 1947.

Like their colleagues across the state, the local representatives were outraged over the latest grand jury report on child sexual abuse, this time in the Altoona-Johnstown diocese, which showed the exact same kind of abuse and cover-ups that had been pointed out a decade ago here in the Philadelphia Archdiocese.

They decided to send a message, joining a bipartisan wave that passed the measure by an 180-15.

Not only did they send a message, they also got one in return.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News
NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY MICHAEL O’KEEFFE
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Thursday, October 27, 2016

A Brooklyn yeshiva quietly became the first Orthodox Jewish school to compensate students who claim they were molested by a teacher when it agreed to pay more than $2 million to two boys and their families in 2014 — and now it may be the first Orthodox school to default on a settlement with sex abuse victims.

Yeshiva-Mesitva Torah Temimah, a prominent Orthodox school on Brooklyn’s Ocean Parkway, agreed to pay one former student $900,000 and the other $1.35 million in a settlement reached in October 2014.

The agreements were originally confidential, but they became public earlier this month after lawyers for the boys filed papers in Brooklyn Supreme Court that said the school failed to make payments due earlier this year.

“This is the first time the public has known about these payments,” said sex-abuse expert Marci Hamilton, a lawyer and a distinguished scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. “This is the first settlement with a yeshiva that has been publicly disclosed. I was surprised as anybody to see this. This is a sizeable settlement.”

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INDIA
Deccan Chronicle

BENGALURU: A 54-year-old priest was arrested by the Indiranagar police after he allegedly sexually abused a six-year-old girl on Wednesday evening.

The accused has been identified as Shivakumar, a resident of Thippasandra. He was working as a priest at a temple close to this house. According to the police, the alleged incident took place around 6.15 pm.

The girl, who lived along with her parents in the neighbouring house, was playing near the temple, when the accused allegedly took her inside the temple, where he allegedly sexually assaulted her.

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By Shawn Cohen and Bruce Golding

October 26, 2016

A Borough Park community leader bragged on a taped phone call how he pulled some strings to get future top cop James O’Neill to transfer a friendly lieutenant back to the neighborhood, The Post has learned.

Community Board 12 Chairman Yidel Perlstein wanted Michael Andreano returned to Borough Park’s 66th Precinct from the 60th in Brighton Beach, where the cop had been shipped following his promotion.

Perlstein, speaking in Yiddish, describes in the secretly recorded conversation how he approached NYPD Assistant Chief Steven Powers at a September 2015 breakfast meeting in Williamsburg and asked that Andreano be moved.

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By Shawn Cohen and Bruce Golding October 24, 2016

A high-ranking Brooklyn cop has been stripped of his badge and gun over ties to a key figure in an alleged $1 million NYPD bribery scheme, The Post has learned.

Lt. Michael Andreano of the 66th Precinct in Boro Park was put on desk duty as part of the wide-ranging corruption probe that has already resulted in pending charges against three NYPD bosses, sources said.

Andreano is suspected of having improper dealings with Alex “Shaya” Lichtenstein, a leader of the Boro Park “Shomrim” patrol who in April was busted on bribery and conspiracy charges involving pistol permits, sources said.

“This guy was tight with Shaya and would go out of his way to accommodate him,” a source said.

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ARKANSAS
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Robert A. Torres was a priest of the Diocese of Little Rock, ordained in 1966. He assisted at a number of parishes in Little Rock before being named lead priest at a Malvern parish, and subsequently in Little Rock, Hope and Ashdown. Torres was longtime chair of the Diocesan Liturgical Commission and director of the Mexican-American Spanish Center. He retired in 1995. After 2002 Torres is no longer indexed in the Official Catholic Directory.

In September 2016 the diocese announced that it had recently met with two people who were sexually abused by Torres over 35 years previously, while Torres was assigned to Our Lady of Good Counsel in Little Rock. The two were members of the parish; one of them was referred to as a “youth” at the time of the abuse. The diocese stated further that, per Torres’ admission and its own investigation, Torres likely abused at least two or three other young people.

Ordained: 1966
Retired: 1995
Laicized: after 2002, before 2016

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Week

Thu, 10/27/2016

The financial settlement by a Brooklyn yeshiva of two sexual abuse cases marks an important milestone in the battle to expose such assaults and encourage victims to come forward despite strong social pressures to remain silent.

Yeshiva Torah Temimah agreed in the fall of 2014 to pay $2.1 million to two former students who accused Rabbi Joel (Yehuda) Kolko, 70, of molesting them when they were 6 years old, according to a recent New York Post story. The settlement became public when papers filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court indicated that the yeshiva had defaulted on its schedule of payment. The lawsuits were filed in 2006 and 2007.

Numerous allegations of sexual abuse had been made against Rabbi Kolko, dating back some 25 years. In 2012, in a deal with Charles Hynes, the Brooklyn district attorney at the time, Rabbi Kolko pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of child endangerment but did not receive a jail term and was not required to register as a sex offender.

The two separate lawsuits that came to light last week claim that Rabbi Lipa Margulies, the head of the yeshiva, was aware for more than two decades of allegations that Rabbi Kolko sat boys on his lap and touched their private parts, but kept him on as an elementary school teacher.

According to the lawsuits, yeshiva officials threatened the families of victims to ensure their silence.

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NEW YORK
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on an editorial by the New York Daily News that was posted on its website:

Yesterday, I took the Daily News and the New York Times to task for not running a story on a Brooklyn Orthodox Jewish school that agreed to pay $2.1 million to two former students. Rabbi Joel Kolko was charged with molesting the boys, beginning at the age of six.

The Daily News has now offered a responsible rejoinder. It concedes that it “blew it,” explaining that it “sometimes misses stories.” Fair enough. It then contends that it covers the sexual abuse of minors whenever and wherever it occurs. It also defends itself against charges of anti-Catholicism, providing some examples of its fairness.

Unlike the Daily News, the New York Times has not explained why it did not cover the story about Rabbi Kolko. While I believe that the absence of a story in the Daily News was indeed an error, I do not believe that the Times erred.

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NEW YORK
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on biased reporting by two New York dailies:

We have repeatedly said that the vast majority of media outlets and pundits who dwell on priestly sexual abuse—a problem that occurred mostly between the mid-1960s and the mid-1980s—are not seriously interested in the sexual abuse of minors. One way to prove this is to review how the media cover this issue when the victimizers are not Catholic. The evidence is overwhelming: the Catholic League conclusion is correct.

Just this week, the New York Post and the Jewish Forward reported on an Orthodox yeshiva in Brooklyn that agreed to pay $2.1 million in a child sexual abuse settlement. The case involves Rabbi Joel Kolko, a senior rabbi, who was charged with molesting two boys at the Jewish day school. This was not the first time that charges had been made against this rabbi—they have been going on for 25 years.

Rabbi Kolko is quite unlike most of the priests accused of abusing minors. In the case of priests, almost all of the abusers were homosexuals: 81 percent of the victims were male and 78 percent were postpubescent. In the case of Rabbi Kolko, he started molesting the boys when they were six-years-old. He is a true pedophile.

The other two New York newspapers, the Daily News and the New York Times, are known for their fixation on priestly sexual abuse, and for their hard-hitting editorials on this subject. But neither paper ran a story on Rabbi Kolko, and there will be no editorial. So predictable.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

Editorial

Catholic League President Bill Donohue has taken note that the Daily News failed to report that an Orthodox Jewish school in Brooklyn agreed to pay $2.1 million to two former students who accused a rabbi of sexual abuse.

An energetically valuable defender of his faith, Donohue sees anti-Catholic bias in the fact that The News published not a word about the settlement paid as compensation for the serial predations of Rabbi Joel Kolko.

We see something else: human error.

Like any media organization, The News sometimes misses stories. This was one of them — and it was especially significant for a publication that has campaigned for reform of New York State statutes of limitations on criminal and civil cases against those who sexually abuse minors.

Our particular interest aside, the conclusion of the Kolko civil suit demanded attention because his alleged pedophilia extended for years, he had escaped the law before and the settlement was the first of its kind by a yeshiva.

So, we blew it.

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COLORADO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

SNAP flier in Colorado about the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV)

Victims blast past Denver archbishop
Church officials keep quiet about cult-like group here
Its founder abused kids in Peru & others allegedly did so too
SNAP members will hand out leaflets to Cathedral mass-goers
Several members with the controversial group are now in Sheridan
And the widely-criticized organization has run a local retreat center
Advocates ask Catholic staffers to “disclose predators & warn flock”

WHAT: Handing leaflets to parishioners as they arrive for mass, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will urge Colorado’s top Catholic officials to:

–– “come clean” about their support for a controversial, ultra-conservative Catholic cult-like group whose founder is a confirmed child molester (and seven other officials are accused of wrongdoing),

–– stop promoting the group, supervise its local members closely, and

–– start warning other US bishops about it.

They will also beg anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes or cover ups in Colorado to call police officials, not church officials.

WHEN: Thursday, Oct. 27 at 11:50 a..m.

WHERE: Outside the Denver Catholic Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, at the corner of Logan and E. Colfax Avenue.

WHO: Several members of the 28,000 plus international support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), including a Denver man who is the organization’s long-time volunteer Colorado director

WHY: Several years ago, the former head of the Denver Catholic archdiocese, Charles Chaput, brought to Denver a controversial Catholic sect whose founder sexually molested kids. His successors in SVC have said the allegations were credible. Seven others in the sect are accused of kidnapping and assaulting youth. Several members of the group ran/run a retreat center for the archdiocese and now work in an archdiocesan parish.

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016

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

A Newark NJ Catholic priest faces child pornography charges. We hope he’s convicted. We call on Newark’s top Catholic official, Archbishop John Myers, to aggressively reach out to anyone who may have information or suspicions about his crimes.

And we hope this news prompts others who may have seen, suspected or suffered his crimes to call police so Fr. Kevin A. Gugliotta might be charged with and convicted on other offenses and be kept away from kids even longer.

[Asbury Park Press]

All too often, when child sex offenders are caught, their supervisors and colleagues clam up. But if kids are to be safer, everyone who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes must call law enforcement immediately. Those who hire or work with predators must do all they can to find others who have been assaulted and beg them to call law enforcement. This is especially true of Catholic bishops, who recruit, educate, ordain, hire, train and often transfer and cover up for predator priests. These bishops can’t wash their hands of these pedophiles just because they’ve been sent somewhere else or have moved somewhere else.

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BANGLADESH
The Daily Star

It was sometime in 1976. Two policemen, a rookie and a veteran officer, gathered at Boston police station. They were discussing the arrest of a Catholic priest on charge of molestation of children. A high ranking clerk was talking to the mother of the children in the police station. The assistant district attorney then entered the police station and told the cops not to let the press get wind of what happened. When the rookie remarked how it would be difficult to keep the press away during the arraignment, the veteran scoffed and sarcastically asked “what arraignment?”
Spotlight for victims

Shakhawat Liton and Tuhin Shubhra Adhikary

This is the beginning of the Hollywood film – Spotlight — that won the Oscar as the best picture of 2015. To win the Oscar, it had to beat The Revenant, an exciting movie based on the story of Hugh Glass (1783—1833), an American frontiersman and fur trapper who has become a folk hero after surviving a bear attack and then travelling hundreds of miles alone to safety. It won two of the biggest Oscars — for best actor and best director. Titanic sensation Leonardo DiCaprio won his first Oscar as best actor in The Revenant. And it was almost certain that The Revenant would win Oscar as the best film of 2015.

In terms of the budget and income, Spotlight lagged far behind. The budget for The Revenant was $135 million and it earned $533 million. In contrast, the budget of Spotlight was only $20 million and it earned $88.3 million, according to Wikipedia.

But Spotlight proved all speculations wrong. What is the secret and strength of Spotlight? In 129 minutes, the film tells about a true story of how The Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese. The revelation has shaken the entire Catholic Church to its core. Members of The Boston Globe’s Spotlight Team won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2003. The newspaper was honoured, according to the Pulitzer website, “for its courageous, comprehensive coverage … an effort that pierced secrecy, stirred local, national and international reaction and produced changes in the Roman Catholic Church.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Croydon Advertiser

By Tom_Matthews | Posted: October 27, 2016

A former social worker and Catholic priest who abused 13 children over more than two decades, including at Shirley Oaks children’s home, today had his “too soft” jail term increased by a third.

Philip Temple molested 12 boys and one girl over 25 years, starting in the 1970s, while working in south London care homes and at a north London church.

He also lied on oath at a trial in the 1990s, when he was cleared of sex offences against a teenage boy – forcing his victim to go through the trauma of giving evidence against him twice.

The 66-year-old, of Court Downs Road, Beckenham, was given a 12-year sentence at Woolwich Crown Court in August, after he admitted 27 sex offences and two counts of perjury.

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CANADA
The Globe and Mail

OTTAWA — The Canadian Press
Published Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016

The Supreme Court of Canada will decide whether painful, personal accounts from the survivors of residential schools should be destroyed or permanently archived for posterity.

The survivors’ stories were used by the independent assessment process, which handled compensation claims under the 2006 Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.

A lower court judge ruled that the material should be destroyed after 15 years, although individuals could consent to have their stories preserved at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation in Winnipeg.

In a 2-1 ruling last April, the Ontario Court of Appeal agreed, saying the documents are not government records subject to archiving laws and that their disposition should be at the sole discretion of the survivors.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Foundation to Abolish Child Sex Abuse

State Representative Mark Rozzi
126th Legislative District

As I write this, the PA legislative session is coming to an end. And, despite the work of many in these last moments, PA HB 1947 will die at the end of this session.

To all those who wrote letters and emails, made phone calls, made visits to Harrisburg to tell your stories and why HB 1947 was a long overdue partial answer to ensuring justice for all victims- past, present and future- we here at FACSA say thank you, thank you, thank you.

We especially thank Rep. Mark Rozzi and his staff who have worked tirelessly on this issue for the last 4 years. A special thanks to Pam Oddo, executive assistant to Rep. Mark Rozzi.

While the provisions of HB 1947 that we supported did not pass our legilature, we at FACSA can say (as supporters of #SOLReform for more than a decade) this has been a banner year for advocates of #SOLReform on several fronts:

• For the first time here in PA a legislative body heard and responded to the call for a law that would provide some level of justice for victims of child sex abuse. That effort was spearheaded by one of our heroes- Rep. Mark Rozzi;
• PA Governor Tom Wolf stated he would sign the bill if it passed the House and Senate;
• All PA legislators heard again and again about the need for #SOLReform from victims and supporters from all over the state;
• The state’s Office of the Attorney General courageously continues to search out the truth about past abuses and coverups by conducting statewide grand jury investigations into several Roman Catholic archdioceses. No other state AG’s offices have ever done this. Ever.
• More victims found the courage to come forward, tell their stories and to seek help, hope and healing;
• More advocates/ advocacy organizations joined the fight for justice for adult victims of child sex abuse;
• More editorial boards supported SOL Reform;
• More print, online and TV media coverage of the need for #SOLReform added to the education of the public on a complex issue at best, and one not easily understood;
• The battle made national news more than once.

While it is time to take a break for a bit to recharge- know the battle will be taken up again in the new year, in the new legislative session.

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IRAN
Al Arabiya

Ramadhan al-Saadi, AlArabiya.net
Wednesday, 19 October 2016

Rape victims are coming forward alleging the one of Iran’s leading Quran readers sexually molested them.

Saeed Toosi is considred one of Iran’s most celebrated Quran reader and was once considered an “exemplary model to be followed” according to Khamenei, current Supreme Leader of Iran.

The 46-year-old representative of Iran in the international Quranic competition, and the winner of the first prize both internationally and locally, has reportedly raped seven of his students aged between 12 ad 14, during the past seven years.

They decided to shed light on their cases and bring it to the public while an Iranian court attempts at covering up the sexual scandal under supposed direct orders from the Khamenei and the Supreme Judicial authorities.

Toosi adds up to a growing list of scandal facing Tehran, after series of economic ones have preoccupied the Iranian public.

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IRAN
The Freethinker

Saeed Toosi, 46, above, one of Iran’s most celebrated Koran readers, has been accused of sexually assaulting a number of his students aged between 12 ad 14 over a period of seven years.

According to this report, Toosi – once descibed an “exemplary model to be followed” by Ali Khamenei, current Supreme Leader of Iran –represented Iran in the international Koranic competition and won the first prize.

In a television programme broadcasted by The Persian Voice of America, three of his victims said that they have written evidence and audio recordings clearly pointing to Toosi in which he admitted in his own handwriting that his actions were a “mistake”.

In an audio recording , Toosi is heard saying the that Khamenei is well aware of the situation, and had agreed with the head of the judiciary authority Sadek Larijani to cover up the case in order to safeguard the reputation of the Koranic institution in Iran.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Lexi Finnigan
27 OCTOBER 2016

A bisexual priest who took part in group sex and visited gay saunas has been sacked after his wife exposed his double life.

A Church of England tribunal heard details of Reverend James Day’s sexual antics after his estranged wife amassed a cache of evidence against him and made a formal complaint.

This included four memory sticks containing pornographic images and explicit emails Rev Day sent referring to gay liaisons.

After hearing a damning statement from Birte Day, the Bishop’s Disciplinary Tribunal for the Diocese of Europe ruled his actions amounted to “conduct unbecoming and inappropriate” and banned him from ministry for life.

The hearing found the dad-of-three had been violent towards his wife – tightening a scarf around her throat so she couldn’t breathe, spanking her as punishment for wearing shorts, and spitting in her face.

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CANADA
The Globe and Mail

GLORIA GALLOWAY
OTTAWA — The Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016

A 66-year-old indigenous man who says he was raped by a priest when he was a young boy at an Indian residential school has been waiting more than six years for the compensation he believes he is owed by Canada.

No one disputes that the man, known as MF in legal documents, is entitled to a share of the money from the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement for those who were abused at the institutions. But a legal battle being waged by the federal government will prevent him from being paid for the foreseeable future.

The government argues that Justice Paul Perell of the Ontario Superior Court overstepped his authority in July when he ordered the government to sit down with MF’s lawyer to determine how much the man is owed and to give it to him.

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NEW JERSEY
TAPinto

By TAPINTO.NET STAFF
October 27, 2016

SCOTCH PLAINS/FANWOOD, NJ — Father Kevin Gugliotta, who served the parishioners at St. Bartholomew the Apostle Church in Scotch Plains for several years as a youth minister, has been arrested in Ocean County for possession and distribution of child pornography, according to multiple news reports.

A criminal docket from a Wayne County, Pa. magisterial court listed 20 allegations against the priest for possession and distribution of photographs or video of children in sex acts, according to a report by the Asbury Park Press. The activities allegedly took place on Gulgiotta’s personal computer at his vacation home in Pennsylvania. He awaits extradition from New Jersey to Pennsylvania.

St. Bart’s parishioners are shocked by the news.

“He was a youth minister at our parish. I would trust him with my own child. I’m just devastated,” said one Scotch Plains mom who spoke to TAPintoSPF under condition of anonymity.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Citizens Voice

BY DAVID SINGLETON / PUBLISHED: OCTOBER 27, 2016

A Roman Catholic priest from Mahwah, New Jersey, faces 40 felony counts of possessing and disseminating child pornography after investigators say he uploaded illicit files to the internet from a Wayne County apartment he referred to as his “day off place.”

The Rev. Kevin A. Gugliotta, 54, was taken into custody as a fugitive from justice Thursday night in Toms River, New Jersey, Wayne County District Attorney Janine Edwards said Wednesday. He was being held in the Ocean County Jail pending extradition to Pennsylvania.

His arrest followed a three-month investigation that Edwards said involved law enforcement officials from multiple counties in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

The Rev. Gugliotta uploaded 20 files depicting children engaged in sexual activity to internet chat rooms between July 9 and Aug. 29 from his apartment in Lehigh Township, according to the arrest affidavit prepared by Wayne County Detective Michael F. McMorrow.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Times Herald

By Kathleen E. Carey, kcarey@21st-centurymedia.com, @dtbusiness on Twitter
POSTED: 10/26/16

The fight to expand the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse victims in Harrisburg is over for this session. HB 1947 failed to be put out for a final vote, and its main supporter called it a victim of an abuse of power and vowed to resuscitate the issue in the next session in the new year.

HB 1947 surfaced in the spring as the state House passed the measure 180 to 15 in April, on the heels of a state attorney general grand jury report into hundreds of students abused in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown by at least 50 Catholic priests dating back 40 years. But when the bill moved to the Senate, it faced a concerted campaign from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the insurance industry to block controversial language that would allow victims from decades ago to come forward now and file civil suits against their alleged abusers.

The archdiocese urged parishioners to contact their legislators to oppose the bill. Some local House members who had supported the measure said they took heat from the archdiocese, with one actually having his name casually mentioned in the Sunday bulletin at his parish.

In June, the state Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on House Bill 1947, which proponents said was biased due to the connection of the committee chairman, state Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-12, of Willow Grove, Pa., and his firm representing Catholic entities in abuse cases in Delaware. The firm fought similar legislation there, as well as then-Solicitor General Bruce Castor’s testimony in light of the guarantee he made to Bill Cosby about avoiding prosecution on rape charges years ago.

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NEVADA
Las Vegas Review-Journal

By DAVID FERRARA
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

As Henderson police tried to arrest Martin Gillen at his home in August on a charge of lewdness with a child, the registered sex offender stabbed himself in the throat, saying he did not want to return to prison, according to prosecutors.

Gillen, 43, had been working as a home school teacher through the Mormon church, when he was accused of fondling a 10-year-old girl at her home, according to Chief Deputy District Attorney Dena Rinetti.

The prosecutor announced Wednesday that Gillen had been indicted on four more felony charges: first-degree kidnapping, child abuse, neglect or endangerment, use of a minor in producing pornography and burglary.

If convicted, he faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

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CANADA
CBC News

By Josée Dupuis, CBC News Posted: Oct 27, 2016

Behind the stories of abuse that took place across Canada’s residential schools, there are also never-before-told stories emerging of First Nations parents who tried to defy the government by hiding their own children.

Radio-Canada’s investigative journalism program, Enquête, spoke to families who fought back against the federally-run mandatory system.

Marie-Jeanne Papatie remembers seeing her older brothers and sisters leave the First Nations reserve of Lac-Simon to attend residential school Saint-Marc-de-Figuery, near Amos in the Abitibi region in northwestern Quebec.

The next summer, she recalls her father hearing about stories of abuse that took place at the institution.

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UTAH
Gillette News Record

By BRADY McCOMBS and LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Students at Brigham Young University who report sexual assault will no longer be investigated for possible violations of the strict honor code that bans drinking and premarital sex, the Mormon-owned school announced Wednesday in a major reversal to a practice that drew widespread scrutiny.

The college accepted several recommendations made by a faculty council that reviewed how sexual assault cases are handled. The inquiry began in May after female students and alumni spoke out against the school opening honor-code investigations of students who report abuses.

Victims advocates said the practice discourages reporting of sexual violence, which is already underreported on campuses nationwide. The sweeping changes mark a victory for victims and advocates who have been seeking reform for years and serve as a university acknowledgement that its practices were deficient.

Two former students who went public with their experiences said they are mostly pleased with the upcoming changes at the school, where students must agree to a code forbidding sex before marriage and drug and alcohol use.

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IOWA
KCCI

Steffani Nolte

DES MOINES, Iowa —
A Des Moines man is back behind bars after being sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison for third-degree sexual abuse and harboring a runaway.

Police said Damion Rutues, 37, hid a 15-year-old runaway girl in a small sleeping area inside a church on Forest Avenue.

Court documents show the 15-year-old girl ran away from home with her girlfriend.

Rutues let them stay inside Learning of the Lord Revival Center because the girls said they were homeless and had nowhere else to go.

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AUSTRALIA
Lismore Echo

Andrew Backhouse | 27th Oct 2016

A FORMER Toowoomba schoolboy who says he was sexually assaulted at school has blasted an offer of counselling as “too little too late”.

David Patterson was a student at Toowoomba Anglican College and Preparatory School in 1969/70 when he was eight.

He said he was abused by a teacher and accused of being a liar for reporting it to the school and his parents.

He has since spent time in psychiatric wards, starting with Lowson House in 1978.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Altoona Mirror

OCT 27, 2016

RUSS O’REILLY
Staff Writer
roreilly@altoonamirror.com

The Altoona-Johnstown Roman Catholic Diocese officials and the Rev. Charles Bodziak deny accusations made in civil lawsuits filed against them.

The diocese and Bodziak filed answers on Oct. 7 to lawsuits brought against them in June by sisters Renee Rice and Cheryl Haun.

“Defendant Bodziak … denies any sexual interest in children and denies he ever utilized his position to ‘groom’ or seek sexual gratification from any child, at any time,” Bodziak’s answer to the lawsuit states.

The complaint filed for Rice alleges abuse between 1975 and 1981 when she was between 8 and 14 years old. Haun’s complaint alleges she was abused between 1976 and 1977, when she was between 7 and 8 years old.

The defendants named in Rice and Haun’s lawsuits are Bodziak, the diocese, retired Bishop Joseph Adamec and Monsignor Michael Servinsky, executor of the estate of decease Bishop James Hogan, who was running the diocese during the women’s childhood.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times

By Kathleen E. Carey, Delaware County Daily Times
POSTED: 10/26/16

The fight to expand the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse victims in Harrisburg is over for this session. HB 1947 failed to be put out for a final vote and its main supporter called it a victim of an abuse of power and vowed to resuscitate the issue in the next session in the new year.

HB 1947 surfaced in the spring as the state House passed the measure 180 to 15 in April, on the heels of a state Attorney General grand jury report into hundreds of students abused in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown by at least 50 Catholic priests dating back 40 years. But when the bill moved to the Senate, it faced a concerted campaign from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the insurance industry to block controversial language that would allow victims from decades ago to come forward now and file civil suits against their alleged abusers.

The archdiocese urged parishioners to contact their legislators to oppose the bill. Some local House members who had supported the measure said they took heat from the archdiocese, with one actually having his name casually mentioned in the Sunday bulletin at his parish.

In June, the state Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on House Bill 1947, which proponents said was biased due to the connection of the committee chairman, state Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-12, of Willow Grove, and his firm representing Catholic entities in abuse cases in Delaware. The firm fought similar legislation there, as well as then-Solicitor General Bruce Castor’s testimony in light of the guarantee he made to Bill Cosby about avoiding prosecution on rape charges years ago.

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ROME
Catholic Herald (UK)

AP

Australian police questioned the cardinal over allegations dating back to the 1970s

Australian police flew to Rome to interview a top Vatican cardinal about allegations of sexual assault dating back decades, officials said Wednesday.

Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis’s top financial adviser and one of his most trusted aides, has long been dogged by allegations he mishandled cases of clergy abuse when he was archbishop of Melbourne and later Sydney. In recent months, Cardinal Pell has faced accusations of child abuse himself when he was a young priest in the 1970s.

On Wednesday, police in Australia’s Victoria state confirmed that they had interviewed Cardinal Pell over the allegations.

“Three members of Victoria police traveled to Rome last week where Cardinal George Pell voluntarily participated in an interview regarding allegations of sexual assault,” a police spokesman said.

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NEW YORK/CONNECTICUT
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A native of Sri Lanka, Tissera/Warnakulasuriya was ordained in 1989. By 1997 he was working in the Archdiocese of New York, as an assistant in a Staten Island parish. There is a two-year gap in his Directory listings, and he reappears in 2002 in the Diocese of Hartford CT. He assisted there at parishes in West Hartford, Enfield, Watertown and New Britain. Notably there are gaps in his assignments 2003-2004 and again 2006-2007. In 2011 Tissera/Warnakulasuriya was made pastor of St. Bernard’s in Tariffville, CT.

In July 2011 Tissera/Warnakulasuriya was placed on leave by the diocese after a male youth reported that the priest touched his pubic area during confessions in December 2010 and again in May and July 2011. The youth was 17 or 18 years-old during the incidents. Tissera/Warnakulasuriya was arrested in August 2011. In September 2012 he was found guilty of misdemeanor sexual assault and sentenced to three years’ probation.

In a lawsuit settled in October 2016, Tissera/Warnakulasuriya was accused of repeated sexual assault of a 13 to 14 year-old boy in the Fall of 2000 through Spring 2001. The suit places the priest at St. John the Evangelist in Watertown, CT. The incidents were said to have occurred during what was supposed to be spiritual counseling in the boy’s bedroom.

In 2016 Tissera/Warnakulasuriya’s status with the diocese remains “Leave of Absence.”

Ordained: 1989

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PENNSYLVANIA
We Are Central PA

A controversial proposal to extend the civil statute of limitations for child sex abuse victims will not get a vote this year.

State Rep. Mark Rozzi, who was abused by a priest as a child, has championed the effort.

Earlier this year an investigation revealed decades of priest sexual abuse inside the Altoona-Johnstown Catholic Diocese.

Most lawmakers agree that victims’ rights should be expanded, but they don’t believe victims should be allowed to sue the church and collect monetary damages for something that happened decades ago.

Rep.Rozzi released the follow statement today after it became clear that further action wouldn’t be taken by the General Assembly on a statute of limitations reform bill before the end of the legislative session:

“The Altoona-Johnstown Diocese grand jury report released in March that detailed the wholesale abuse of innocent children by depraved predators, finally unleashed the public outrage that had been missing for over a decade. The powers-that-be covered up the unspeakable crimes, leaving children and their families with no path to justice.

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IDAHO
KMVT

A Catholic priest from Mountain Home who’s been accused of raping an airman was scheduled to be in court Monday.

The preliminary hearing for Victor F. Jagerstatter’s was rescheduled for Jan. 6, 2016 at 11 a.m. in Elmore County.

Jagerstatter, 39, was accused of attempting oral sex with an airman who was passed out, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Court documents state that on July 9, the victim, an airman at the Mountain Home Air Force Base, was intoxicated and passed out in a room he rented from Jagerstatter’s house on 13th Street North after a night of drinking. Sometime after he passed out from intoxication, the court documents state, the victim woke up and saw Jagerstatter kneeling beside his bed moving toward him attempting oral sex.

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OREGON
The Register-Guard

By Jack Moran
The Register-Guard

A Lane County grand jury has returned a 10-count indictment against a Eugene priest who was arrested earlier this month for alleged sex and drug crimes involving an underage girl.

Daniel James MacKay, 42, pleaded not guilty to the charges — nine misdemeanors and one felony — Wednesday morning in Lane County Circuit Court.

He faces four prostitution charges that accuse him of offering to pay for sex; four charges of endangering the welfare of a minor, for allegedly causing an underage girl to “witness an act of sexual conduct”; one count of sexual misconduct, for allegedly having sex with the girl; and one count of attempting to use a minor in the commission of a controlled substance offense, for allegedly trying to use the girl to help him traffic cocaine.

All of the alleged crimes occurred in September.

Prosecutors initially filed four charges against MacKay after his Oct. 12 arrest. The original charging document included single counts of prostitution, endangering the welfare of a minor, sexual misconduct and using a minor in the commission of a controlled substance offense.

MacKay spent one day in the Lane County Jail after police arrested him. He was bailed out on Oct. 13.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call

Bill White

House Bill 1947 is dead for this legislative session.

The landmark bill extending Pennsylvania’s criminal and civil statutes of limitations for child sex abuse survivors achieved a remarkable degree of consensus, considering how many years similar bills have been buried in committees by legislators cowed by Catholic Church and Insurance Federation lobbying pressure.

But it ultimately fell victim to the unwillingness of Senate leaders to allow a vote on retroactive access to civil lawsuits for child sex abuse survivors blocked by current and past statutes of limitations.

After a strong compromise version of HB 1947 passed the House 180-15 this spring, the retroactive portion of the bill was removed in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which also added a weird preamble laying out its claims that civil radioactivity is unconstitutional. The Senate passed that watered down bill, presenting House leaders and the bill’s advocates with a difficult decision:

Should they accept the weaker bill, which nonetheless constituted a big improvement on present statutes, and address retroactivity again next session? Or should they rewrite the bill again, removing the unacceptable preamble and restoring retroactivity, knowing it was unlikely the Senate would vote on such a bill again this session?

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NEW JERSEY
New Jersey 101.5

By Sergio Bichao October 26, 2016

A poker-playing Catholic priest in New Jersey has been stripped of his duties after being arrested Friday on charges of possessing and sharing images of child sexual abuse.

Kevin Gugliotta, 54, of Mahwah, is facing 20 counts of possession of child pornography and 20 counts of distributing child pornography.

The charges were filed by prosecutors in Wayne County in Pennsylvania, where Gugliotta kept a vacation home.

Investigators said they received reports that child porn had been uploaded to an internet chat room from an IP address that was traced to Gugliotta’s address.

Gugliotta had been assigned to the Holy Spirit Roman Catholic Church in Union Township after serving at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Mahwah. He also worked at St. Barthololmew the Apostle in Scotch Plains.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Oct. 26, 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

A former priest who was convicted of child sex crimes in the Scranton diocese is up for parole. We hope he’s kept in prison. We call on Scranton’s top Catholic official, Bishop Joseph Bambera, to aggressively reach out to anyone who may have information or suspicions about his crimes.

And we hope this news prompts others who may have seen, suspected or suffered his crimes to call police so he might be charged with and convicted on other offenses and be kept away from kids even longer.

[New York Daily News]

[Wayne Independent]

In March 2008, Steven Wolpert pled guilty to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, a felony, with an eight year old in 2006 and 2007 in Hawley Borough, PA. He was sentenced in June 2008 to nine to 18 years in prison.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WNEP

OCTOBER 26, 2016, BY DAN RATCHFORD

GOULDSBORO — A Catholic priest is charged in Wayne County with 40 counts of child pornography.

Prosecutors say Fr. Kevin Gugliotta, 54, of Mahwah, New Jersey had images of child porn on a computer at a home he owns in Gouldsboro.

Detectives say Gugliotta is a priest with a Roman Catholic Church in Union, New Jersey.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WABC

AP

HONESDALE, Pa. — A Roman Catholic priest from New Jersey has been charged in Pennsylvania with uploading child pornography to an internet chat room. His lawyer is attacking the probe and says the priest will “vigorously” defend himself.

The Rev. Kevin Gugliotta of Mahwah is charged with 20 counts of possession of child pornography and 20 counts of dissemination of child pornography. He was arrested last week in Toms River, New Jersey, and is being held pending extradition to Pennsylvania.

Wayne County District Attorney Janine Edwards said Wednesday the images were uploaded from an internet address registered to Gugliotta in Gouldsboro, Pennsylvania.

Gugliotta’s attorney, Jim Swetz, says it doesn’t appear investigators recovered the device Gugliotta allegedly used.

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NEW JERSEY/PENNSYLVANIA
Patch

By Daniel Hubbard (Patch Staff) – October 26, 2016

A Roman Catholic priest from Mahwah has been arrested on 40 child sexual abuse counts for allegedly possessing and disseminating child pornogaphy, authorities announced Wednesday.

Kevin A. Gugliotta, 54, was charged with 20 counts of possession of child pornography and 20 counts of dissemination of child pornography, the result of a multi-county and multi-state investigation, Janine Edwards, Wayne County Pennsylvania District Attorney said in a news release.

Gugliotta serves as a priest at Holy Spirit Roman Catholic Church in Union, Edwards said.

Gugliotta was charged as the result of an investigation that began in August when detectives in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, received a report of child pornography being uploaded to an internet chat room from a specific IP address, which was registered to Gugliotta, who had a residence in Lehigh Township, Pennsylvania.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Jeff Goldman | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

MAHWAH — A Roman Catholic priest from New Jersey has been arrested on child pornography charges.

Kevin Gugliotta, 54, of Mahwah allegedly uploaded illicit images from a computer in his vacation home in Lehigh Township, Pa. on July 9, the Wayne County District Attorney said in a news release on Wednesday.

Gugliotta worked at Holy Spirit Roman Catholic Church in Union, but has been removed from the parish, according to a spokesman for the Newark Archdiocese.

He faces 40 counts of sexual abuse of children — 20 counts of possession of child pornography and 20 counts of dissemination of child pornography.

Officials in Wayne County learned about the uploaded images in August and began an investigation. They eventually learned the IP address was registered to Gugliotta’s vacation home.

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AUSTRALIEN
Katholisch

Die Polizei hat den ranghöchsten australischen Katholiken, Kardinal George Pell, im Vatikan wegen Missbrauchsvorwürfen vernommen. Der 75 Jahre alte Pell habe alle Vorwürfe zurückgewiesen, teilte die australische Polizei im Bundesstaat Victoria auf Nachfrage des Senders ABC am Mittwoch mit.

Der Vatikan will sich nicht näher zu den Missbrauchsvorwürfen äußern. Jenseits dessen, was der Papst und Pell selbst zu diesem Thema bereits gesagt hätten, gebe es keinen Kommentar, erklärte Vatikansprecher Greg Burke am Mittwoch vor Journalisten.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Welt

[Sexual abuse has been reported at the Protestant orphanage in Harburg.]

Mitte der 80er-Jahre sollen in einem evangelischen Hamburger Kinderheim mehrere Kinder sexuell missbraucht worden sein. Ans Licht brachten dies die Aussagen zweier ehemaliger Bewohnerinnen.

Von Denis Fengler, Jana Werner | Stand: 25.10.2016

n von Erziehern und anderen Verantwortlichen sollen Kinder und Jugendliche Anfang der 1980er-Jahre in einem kirchlichen Kinderheim in Harburg möglicherweise über Jahre von älteren Mitbewohnern sexuell missbraucht worden sein. Diese Vorwürfe haben zwei ehemalige Bewohnerinnen des Margaretenhorts erhoben. Der Kirchenkreis Hamburg-Ost, Träger der Einrichtung, der die Missbrauchsvorwürfe am gestrigen Dienstag öffentlich machte, will Betroffenen umfangreiche Hilfe bieten. „Uns ist es ernst mit der Aufarbeitung“, sagt Kirchenkreis-Sprecher Remmer Koch.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Kirche Hamburg

[Several cases of sexual abuse have been reported during the 1980s at the former children’s home Margaret Hort in Harburg.The parish of East Hamburg asks victims to come forward, offering them pastoral conversation, therapy and legal advice.]

Harburg – In dem früheren Kinderheim Margaretenhort in Harburg hat es Anfang der 80er Jahre offenbar mehrere Fälle von sexuellem Missbrauch gegeben. Der Kirchenkreis Hamburg-Ost bittet Betroffene, sich zu melden und bietet ihnen seelsorgerliche Gespräche, Therapien und juristische Beratung an.

Die Aussagen von zwei ehemaligen Bewohnerinnen seien glaubwürdig und plausibel, sagte Pröpstin Ulrike Murmann am Dienstag. Danach seien mehrere Mädchen und Jungen aus ihrer Gruppe von älteren Jugendlichen in der Einrichtung über längere Zeit sexuell missbraucht worden. Der Margaretenhort ist eine Jugendhilfeeinrichtung. Mehrheitsgesellschafter ist der Kirchenkreis Hamburg-Ost.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Leonberger-Kreitszeitung

Von Franziska Kleiner 21.10.2016

Korntal-Münchingen – Regensburg ist Hunderte Kilometer von Korntal entfernt, und doch strahlt die Aufarbeitung des Missbrauchsskandals bei den Regensburger Domspatzen auch ins Strohgäu aus. „Es ist gut, nach Regensburg zu schauen“, sagt etwa der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Bundesregierung, Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig.

Vor wenigen Tagen hat dort das aus Kirchen- und Opfervertretern bestehende Aufarbeitungsgremium ein Konzept vorgestellt, wie den Opfern von sexueller und körperlicher Gewalt in Regensburg geholfen werden kann. „Es ist sehr wichtig, dass man Antworten gibt und dadurch Verantwortung formuliert wird“, sagt Rörig über die Transparenz, die mit dem Zwischenbericht in den Aufarbeitungsprozess gebracht wurde. Rörig bezeichnete das Konzept bundesweit als „Meilenstein der Aufarbeitung“. Er würdigte zudem den gegenseitigen Respekt der Beteiligten.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Times-Tribune

BY DAVID SINGLETON / PUBLISHED: OCTOBER 26, 2016

A Roman Catholic priest from Mahwah, New Jersey, is charged in Wayne County with dozens of child pornography-related felony counts.

The Rev. Kevin Gugliotta, 54, was taken into custody Thursday night in Toms River, New Jersey, and is awaiting extradition to Pennsylvania, Wayne County District Attorney Janine Edwards said today.

His arrest follows what Ms. Edwards described as a multi-county, multi-state investigation.

It began in August when a detective in Monroe County received information that images of child pornography were uploaded to an internet chat room from a specific Internet Protocol address.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Dan Morris-Young | Oct. 26, 2016

What to do about Halloween? Avoid glorifying the demonic, consider having a parish Halloween event rather than trick-or-treating, and bypass Freddy Krueger costumes, advise some moms and a Vatican-trained exorcist.

Prison ministry volunteer Jim Preisendorfer believes that New Hampshire State Prison for Men in Concord, N.H., might be the only prison in the world with a door designated as a holy door for the Holy Year of Mercy proclaimed by Pope Francis. The holy door was blessed and dedicated by Bishop Peter Libasci of the Manchester diocese in response to a request made by an inmate during a Mass celebrated by the bishop in the prison chapel, reports Katie Fiermonti in Parable Magazine. A 10-year prison ministry veteran, Preisendorfer also works with Kairos Prison Ministry and oversaw what might be the first application of the small-group, faith-sharing program All Hearts Afire in a prison setting. …

Things have not been as peace-oriented at Assumption School in Bellingham, about two hours north of Seattle on the I-5 corridor. The issue: If a parent of a student is a registered sex offender, should school officials notify all parents, notably if the parent in question drives the student to campus? The Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests has called for the principal’s firing.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

October 27, 2016

TESSA AKERMAN
ReporterMelbourne
@TessaAkerman

JOHN FERGUSON
Victorian EditorMelbourne
@fergusonjw

Victoria Police has broadened its investigations into historical sexual assault allegations against ­George Pell after an interview in Rome led to blanket denials from the cardinal in the presence of an Australia-based lawyer.

Amid growing signs police are refusing to surrender their pursuit of Cardinal Pell, the church is ­increasingly bewildered by what it sees as factually flawed allegations by several people.

Police said yesterday that ­investigators were drawing on the interview to help determine whether the world’s third most powerful Catholic will be charged with child sex offences.

Cardinal Pell has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and agreed to be interviewed in Italy. The interview was conducted in the presence of an Australian lawyer, but not criminal barrister Robert Richter QC, who was engaged by Cardinal Pell earlier this year after some of the allegations were made public.

The Australian understands several key claims by alleged victims have fallen over because of basic factual errors, but police are using the contents of the interview to conduct further inquiries.

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Bishop pleaded guilty to groping a woman in a Michigan casino in 2004
Cleric spent time in jail and was on the sex offender registry
Retired after his conviction, the head of the Antiochians recently appointed him to lead the Diocese of Los Angeles
A victims’ group condemns this action, calling it “unbelievable, dangerous and callous”

What:
Holding signs and childhood photos, sex abuse victims and their supporters will hold a press conference outside the cathedral of the Diocese of Los Angeles and the West to:

— publicize the recent appointment of Bishop Demetri Matta Khoury to assist Metropolitan Joseph G. Al-Zehlaoui in the administration of the diocese,

— provide information about Khoury’s 2003 arrest, and subsequent 2004 conviction and sentence, and

— blast the Church for making such a misguided decision and placing women and girls at risk.

When:
Wednesday, October 26, 2016, at 11:30 am.

Where:
Outside Saint Nicholas Cathedral, 2300 West 3rd Street, Los Angeles (cross street, South Grand View Street)

Who:
Two or more sex abuse victims and their supporters who are members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

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NEW JERSEY
Asbury Park Press

Alex N. Gecan, @GeeksterTweets October 26, 2016

TOMS RIVER – A fugitive Catholic priest and nationally ranked poker player wanted on dozens of child-pornography-related charges in Pennsylvania is now in the Ocean County jail after being arrested by township police.

Officials with the Archdiocese of Newark Wednesday confirmed that the priest, Kevin A. Gugliotta, 54, of Totowa, had been removed from his ministry at Holy Spirit Church in Union.

A criminal docket from a Wayne County, Pennsylvania, magisterial court listed 20 allegations against Gugliotta of possessing or viewing child pornography and of disseminating photographs or video of child sex acts. The date of all 40 alleged offenses is July 9 of this year, according to court records.

Prosecutors in Wayne County said that Gugliotta is in jail awaiting extradition out of New Jersey.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

26 October, 2016

Researchers from Australian Catholic University (ACU) and Southern Cross University (SCU) will present findings from three research projects, commissioned by the Royal Commission, involving 1,400 children and young people, including those with a disability.

“The Royal Commission has commissioned a series of research projects into children’s views of safety,” Royal Commission CEO Philip Reed said.

“Through this research we have heard directly from children and young people about how they perceive safety, the safety issues they confront in institutional contexts, and how these could be best addressed,” Mr Reed said.

Friday’s symposium – Listen and give us a say: children and young people’s views about safety in institutions – is part of a broader program of research undertaken on behalf of the Royal Commission.

“This forum is an opportunity to hear directly from the researchers commissioned by the Royal Commission about their research reports and they will be joined by a panel of young people from their reference group,” Mr Reed said.

Presenters:

Professor Morag McArthur and Dr Tim Moore, Institute of Child Protection Studies, Australian Catholic University

Dr Sally Robinson, Centre for Children and Young People, Southern Cross University

Panel of children and young people that were part of the researcher’s reference group.

Event details
Friday 28 October 2016, 9am-12.30pm
University Hall, University of Technology Sydney
15 Broadway, Ultimo NSW 2007

Presenters are available for interview. Please contact media@childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au

For more information about the research, visit www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/giveusasay

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IRELAND
Galway Independent

A candlelight vigil in memory of residents of the former Tuam Mother and Baby Home will take place next Wednesday, 2 November, All Souls Day.

The vigil will begin at 7pm at the site of the unofficial burial grounds on the Dublin Road in Tuam and proceed to the Town Square. The vigil, organisers say, follows in the footsteps of the “home children”.

Research by Tuam historian Catherine Corless indicates that the remains of 796 children, most of them infants, may be buried at the site. A preliminary site excavation by a team of specialist archaeologists, requested by the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, is ongoing and expected to be complete by mid-November.

The vigil is part of a series of events recognising the legacy of Mother and Baby Homes, which includes a national art project titled ‘Tuam Spirit Babies’ by artist Sadie Cramer.

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WALES
Daily Post

BY TOM DAVIDSON

A team of Welsh speakers will man phonelines for a major inquiry into child sex abuse.

Professor Alexis Jay is in Cardiff today to launch the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse’s Welsh office.

It will also mark the start in Wales of the inquiry’s “truth project”, through which victims and survivors of abuse can share their experiences.

Prof Jay said: “I am delighted be in Cardiff today to meet with representatives from across Wales to discuss the work of the Inquiry.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The latest head of an inquiry into historical sexual abuse says it remains focused on its work, as an office is opened in Wales on Wednesday.

Prof Alexis Jay, the fourth chairwoman of the troubled probe, will attend the launch event in Cardiff.

Its “truth project” is being rolled out in Wales, where victims and survivors of abuse can share their experiences.

The inquiry has been beset by controversies – including the three previous chairwomen resigning.

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WALES
BBC News

By Jenny Johnson
BBC News

Victims of historical sexual abuse are being urged to come forward and give evidence to an independent inquiry as it opens an office in Wales.

Prof Alexis Jay, the fourth chairwoman of the troubled probe, will attend the launch event in Cardiff.

Its “truth project” is being rolled out in Wales, where victims and survivors of abuse can share their experiences.

The inquiry has been beset by controversies – including the three previous chairwomen resigning.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

* Keeps aides guessing with unexpected decisions
* Works around the bureaucracy when he deems it necessary
* No right-hand man, two secretaries keep out of sight

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY, Oct 26 (Reuters) – Father Ernest Simoni, a 88-year-old Albanian, was watching Pope Francis on television this month when, to his astonishment, he heard the pontiff mention his name.

Francis announced that the simple, white-haired Roman Catholic priest, who had spent many years in jail during Albania’s communist dictatorship, was to become a cardinal.

It was the first that Simoni, or any of the other 16 new cardinals named by Francis at the same time, had heard of their elevation to the prestigious rank.

“I did not believe either my ears or eyes,” Simoni told Reuters in Albania. “The pope said it, but I could not believe it. ‘Can he be talking about another Ernest?’ I said to myself.”

But more significantly, the pope had also kept nearly the entire Vatican hierarchy in the dark about his decision, which he announced on Oct. 9 to thousands of pilgrims.

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INDIA
The News Minute

Haritha John| Wednesday, October 26, 2016

“He threatened him with a knife, even physically assaulted me when I refused to withdraw my complaint given to the seminary,” says a 20-year-old young man in his complaint registered at the Iritty police station.

The young man’s determination to pursue a case of sexual assault has lead to the arrest of 41-year-old Father James Thekkemury, a priest working as a lecturer in Bengaluru.

Fr James Thekkemury has been accused of assaulting the young man in 2015 when he was a rector at the Deiva Matha Seminary at Iritty in Kannur district. After getting dismissed from the seminary, he had joined a college in Bengaluru as guest lecturer.

The victim had joined the seminary in 2012 when he was 16 years old. According to the police, the priest made the first attempt to sexually abuse him in 2015.

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AUSTRALIA
Stawell Times-News

The Andrews Labor Government has introduced new laws to better protect Victorian children by strengthening Working with Children Checks.

The Working with Children Amendment Bill 2016 will make the application process more rigorous, addressing five key recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Under the reforms, any criminal charges laid against an applicant for serious sexual, violent or drug offences will be considered as part of Working With Children Check assessments, regardless of whether they resulted in a conviction or finding of guilt. The WWC Check Unit can now consider non-conviction charges that may have been dismissed on a technicality, or did not proceed because of the impact on the victim, when deciding on whether to grant an application.

Kinship carers – a family member or other person of significance to a child who has been placed in out-of-home care – will now be required to obtain a WWC Check. From May next year, all new kinship carers will be required to obtain a WWC Check within 21 days of becoming a carer. Existing kinship carers will have three months from May 1 to apply, and all applications for new and existing kinship carers will be free of charge.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

By Maria Panaritis and Karen Langley / Harrisburg Bureau

HARRISBURG — A controversial proposal to extend the civil statute of limitations for child sex abuse victims appeared to collapse Tuesday after supporters in the House of Representatives said it was unlikely to move an amended version of the bill or reintroduce the original measure.

With little chance of it passing, they said they would try to revive it when the assembly reconvenes next year.

“The process is over at this point,” said Rep. Mark Rozzi, a Reading Democrat and clergy abuse victim who had been the bill’s fiercest advocate.

Both the GOP-controlled House and Senate had supported expanding victims’ rights to sue but split sharply on whether those rights should be applied retroactively for victims abused decades ago.

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AUSTRALIA
The Border Mail

Adam Cooper, Bianca Hall, Timna Jacks
26 Oct 2016

Xavier College is a step closer to accessing the psychological records of a man who claims he was sexually abused as a student at the school more than 40 years ago.

Janusz Skarbek alleges he was raped when he was a student at the exclusive, Jesuit-run school between 1971 and 1974.

The man he named as his abuser, Father John Byrne, died in 1974, but the Catholic Church has previously acknowledged he was an abuser.

Mr Skarbek has launched a Supreme Court lawsuit against his former school, claiming it was negligent in its treatment of him and seeking compensation for his pain and suffering. A jury is expected to hear his case next year.

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OREGON
Herald and News

By STEPHEN FLOYD H&N Staff Reporter Oct 25, 2016

A local pastor arrested last year has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a congregation member and been barred from practicing ministry while on probation.

Larry Marshall Murrell, 63, pleaded guilty Oct. 10 to two misdemeanor counts of third-degree sexual abuse and was sentenced to three years of probation and 30 days in jail with credit for time served. A felony count of second-degree sexual abuse was dismissed as part of a plea deal. He otherwise faced up to five years in prison.

Under the terms of sentencing, Murrell may no longer “work, volunteer or act in any capacity as a minister, pastor or counselor during probation,” according to his plea agreement. Murrell may also have no contact with minors or frequent places where minors gather, must register as a sex offender and enroll in sex offender treatment, and must pay for any counseling costs incurred by the victim.

Murrell was arrested Oct. 7, 2015, for forcing “deviate sexual intercourse” on a female victim Feb. 6, 2015. At the time Murrell was the long-serving pastor of the House of Prayer for All Nations church in Klamath Falls, where the victim had been attending.

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ALASKA
News-Miners

News-Miner opinion: On the closing day of the Alaska Federation of Natives’ 50th annual convention, one statement made waves across the state. The general assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the U.S.A., prompted by its Alaska members, extended an apology to AFN and its members for abuses of Alaska Natives in church schools and boarding schools its members ran or participated in. The abuses of Alaska boarding schools are well established but poorly documented, and by offering an apology, the Presbyterian Church has taken a step to bridge divides of resentment and suspicion.

When Alaska became a territory in 1867, no formal system of education existed in villages across the state — what schools there were had been established outside of any organized effort, and were focused mostly on religious education. The federal Organic Act of 1884 marked the first real effort to institute a school system in the territory; it established a system of government-run “day schools” and a smaller number of centralized boarding schools across Alaska. Some schools were run directly by the government, while many were run as contract schools by missionaries from the Catholic, Congregational, Episcopal, Methodist, Moravian, Presbyterian, and Swedish-Evangelical faiths.

Institutional attitudes toward Alaska Natives in the 1800s and well into the 1900s took a dim view of their traditional culture and language. “They are savages, and with the exception of those in Southern Alaska, have not had civilizing, educational, or religious advantages,” Presbyterian missionary and Alaska school administrator Sheldon Jackson said in an address to Congress. “(Missionaries) must try to educate them out of and away from the training of their home-life. They need to be taught both the law of God and the law of the land,” Jackson said in the same address.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

October 26, 2016

PETER HOYSTED
ColumnistCanberra
@JacktheInsider

The Sacrament of Penance, better known as the Rite of Confession within the Roman Catholic Church, is a ritual many non-Catholics find bemusing. It is fertile ground for sketch comedy and often features in movies as a plot device. A man enters, slides the screen across to reveal a murky figure on the other side.

The Rite of Confession raises all manner of legal and ethical dilemmas and conflicts between Canon Law and the law of the land. If a priest hears a confession from a person who confesses to planning to commit a murder at some point in future, is the priest bound by law to report to the police? If a priest takes confession from a man who has committed serious crimes and the priest does not inform the police, can the priest be charged with offences such as being an accessory or conspiracy?

The answer is grey and uncertain and police and prosecutors inevitably give it a wide berth. A priest cannot be compelled to give evidence in a trial based on admissions made in the confession box in any Australian jurisdiction.

There have been times when the royal commissioners have alluded to confession as offensive to non-Catholics, that one person can be absolved of guilt for a crime due to his or her faith while those of other or no religious persuasion cannot.

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AUSTRALIA
International Business Times

By Lara Rebello
October 26, 2016

Australia’s police have questioned cardinal George Pell with regards to sexual abuse allegations made against him. Three Victoria state officials travelled to Rome where they met with the Vatican treasurer who denied all claims.

A police spokeswoman said in a statement on 26 October that the 75-year-old priest “voluntarily participated in an interview” and that “as a result of the interview, further investigations are continuing.”

The cardinal’s office released a statement of its own stating: “The cardinal repeats his previous rejection of all and every allegation of sexual abuse and will continue to co-operate with Victoria Police until the investigation is finalised. The Cardinal has no further comment at this time.”

Pell, who was the archbishop in Australia before moving on to higher roles in the Vatican, is being accused of supposedly exposing himself to three young boys at Torquay Life Saving Club in the summer of 1986 or 1987.

In another case, two former St Alipius students told ABC that Pell allegedly touched their genitals while swimming with them at the Eureka pool in Ballarat in 1978-1979, during which time he was the episcopal vicar for education at the diocese there.

Pell has dismissed all allegations as a “smear campaign” against him and the Catholic Church. Earlier this year he testified at an Australian government inquiry into institutional child abuse, during which he admitted that the Roman Catholic Church had made “catastrophic” mistakes in handling reports of abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Latin American Herald Tribune

SYDNEY – Australian Cardinal George Pell, in charge of Vatican finances, was questioned last week in Rome by Australian police over charges of alleged sexual abuse between 1976-2001, the media reported on Wednesday.

The cardinal “voluntarily participated in an interview,” said a spokesperson for Victoria police, who added investigations were still underway and did not provide more details, according to the Australian Associated Press (AAP).

The police of the state of Victoria in southern Australia announced in August the possibility of filing charges against Pell for sexual abuses allegedly committed in the city of Ballarat between 1976-1980, and in Melbourne between 1996-2001.

Two men have accused Pell, 75, of touching their genitals in the 1970s, while a third says Pell had stood naked in front of young boys.

“The Cardinal repeats his previous rejection of all and every allegation of sexual abuse and will continue to co-operate with Victoria Police until the investigation is finalized,” read a statement from Pell’s office in the Vatican, confirming the interview with three police officers from Victoria.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

Liza Kappelle – AAP on October 26, 2016

Victorian police have questioned Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric, Cardinal George Pell, as they continue to investigate alleged historical sexual assaults on boys.

Three police travelled to Rome last week to talk to the former Ballarat priest and Melbourne archbishop, who rejects all the allegations and voluntarily took part in the interview.

Victoria Police said in August they were considering laying charges over alleged sexual assaults in Ballarat between 1976 and 1980 and claims in East Melbourne between 1996 and 2001.

“As a result of the interview, further investigations are continuing. We are not prepared to comment further at this time,” police said in a statement on Wednesday.

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AUSTRALIA
Goondiwindi Argus

Melissa Cunningham and AAP
26 Oct 2016

Victorian police have questioned Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric, Cardinal George Pell, as they investigate allegations of historical sexual abuse made against him.

Three police travelled to Rome last week to meet the former Ballarat priest and Melbourne archbishop, who rejects all the allegations and voluntarily participated in an interview.

“As a result of the interview further investigations are continuing. We are not prepared to comment further at this time,” police said in a statement on Wednesday.

Police are investigating multiple allegations of sexual assault said to have occurred in Ballarat East between 1976 and 1980, and East Melbourne between 1996 and 2001

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INDIA
India Live Today

Published by : Avinash Nandakumar

Irrity,Kannur,Oct26:A 20-year-old young man in his complaint registered at the Iritty police station alleged that a seminary priest has been sexually assaulting him.The young man’s determination to pursue a case of sexual assault has lead to the arrest of 41-year-old Father James Thekkemury, a priest working as a lecturer in Bengaluru.

Fr James Thekkemury has been accused of assaulting the young man in 2015 when he was a rector at the Deiva Matha Seminary at Iritty in Kannur district. After getting dismissed from the seminary, he had joined a college in Bengaluru as guest lecturer.

The victim had joined the seminary in 2012 when he was 16 years old. According to the police, the priest made the first attempt to sexually abuse him in 2015.

Sajesh Vazhalappilly, Iritty circle inspector told The News Minute that the young man was subjected to sexual assault many times later by the priest, and he was unable to return home due to financial problems.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philly.com

OCTOBER 25, 2016

by Maria Panaritis and Karen Langley, HARRISBURG BUREAU

HARRISBURG – A controversial proposal to extend the civil statute of limitations for child sex-abuse victims appeared to collapse Tuesday, after supporters said the House was unlikely to move an amended version of the bill or reintroduce the original measure.

With little chance of its passing, they said, they will try to revive it when the Assembly reconvenes next year.

“The process is over at this point,” said Rep. Mark Rozzi (D., Berks), a clergy-abuse victim who had been the bill’s fiercest advocate.

Both the GOP-controlled House and Senate had supported expanding victims’ rights to sue, but split sharply on whether those rights should be applied retroactively for victims abused decades ago.

The House approved such a provision, but the Senate, after fierce lobbying from the insurance industry and the Catholic Church, removed it from the bill this summer and sent it back to the House.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Keith Moor and Mark Buttler, Herald Sun
October 25, 2016

CARDINAL George Pell has vowed to cooperate with Victoria Police in its ongoing probe into child sex abuse allegations made against him.

His office confirmed he has been voluntarily interviewed by Victorian detectives who flew to Rome last week.

“The Cardinal repeats his previous rejection of all and every allegation of sexual abuse and will continue to co-operate with Victoria Police until the investigation is finalised,” a statement from Cardinal Pell’s office in Rome said.

“The Cardinal has no further comment at this time.”

It was the first time the sex allegations made against Cardinal Pell have been put directly to him.

“Three members of Victoria Police travelled to Rome last week where Cardinal George Pell voluntarily participated in an interview regarding allegations of sexual assault,” Victoria Police spokeswoman Leonie Johnson said today.

“As a result of the interview, further investigations are continuing.

“We are not prepared to comment further at this time.”

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Cardinal George Pell has voluntarily participated in an interview with Victoria Police in Rome, about allegations of sexual assault.

Three officers travelled to Rome last week to interview Cardinal Pell, Victoria Police said in a statement.

Investigations are continuing as a result of the interview, the police statement advised.

“We are not prepared to comment further at this time,” it read.

Victoria Police in mid-August revealed it was considering laying charges over alleged historical sexual assaults in Ballarat between 1976 and 1980 and East Melbourne between 1996 and 2001.

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AUSTRALIA/ROME
Deutsche Welle

Cardinal George Pell has been interviewed in Rome by Australian detectives over child abuse allegations dating back to the 1970s. The cleric denies the charges.

The office of Cardinal George Pell released a statement on Wednesday repeating his July rejection of “all and every allegation of sexual abuse.”

The Cardinal, who is the Vatican’s Australian-born financial controller, was interviewed in Rome last week, by Victoria Police detectives over child abuse allegations, Victoria Police confirmed in a statement on Wednesday. “Three members of Victoria Police travelled to Rome last week where Cardinal George Pell voluntarily participated in an interview regarding allegations of sexual assault,” the statement confirmed.

“As a result of the interview further investigations are continuing. We are not prepared to comment further at this time,” the police statement added.

The Cardinal “will continue to cooperate with Victoria Police until the investigation is finalised,” his office confirmed. “The Cardinal has no further comment at this time,” it said.

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AUSTRALIA
Rappler

AFP

SYDNEY, Australia – Vatican finance chief George Pell has been interviewed by Australian police in Rome over sexual assault claims, authorities said Wednesday, October 26, but no charges have yet been laid.

It follows explosive allegations against Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric, aired by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in July, which he strongly denied.

Victoria state police said in a statement that 3 officers “travelled to Rome last week where Cardinal George Pell voluntarily participated in an interview regarding allegations of sexual assault”.

“As a result of the interview further investigations are continuing. We are not prepared to comment further at this time.”

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AUSTRALIA
CT Post

Kristen Gelineau, Associated Press Tuesday, October 25, 2016

SYDNEY (AP) — Australian police flew to Rome to interview a top Vatican cardinal about allegations of sexual assault dating back decades, officials said Wednesday.

Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis’ top financial adviser and one of his most trusted aides, has long been dogged by allegations he mishandled cases of clergy abuse when he was archbishop of Melbourne and later Sydney. In recent months, Pell has faced accusations of child abuse himself when he was a young priest in the 1970s.

On Wednesday, police in Australia’s Victoria state confirmed that they had interviewed Pell over the allegations.

“Three members of Victoria police traveled to Rome last week where Cardinal George Pell voluntarily participated in an interview regarding allegations of sexual assault,” police spokeswoman Amara Bostock said. “As a result of the interview, further investigations are continuing. We are not prepared to comment further at this time.”

The allegations involve two men, now in their 40s, who say Pell touched them inappropriately at a swimming pool in the late 1970s. Separately, a man told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that he saw Pell exposing himself to three young boys in a surf club changing room in the late 1980s. Pell was at the time a senior priest in Melbourne.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Louise Milligan, staff

Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric, Cardinal George Pell, has been interviewed by Victoria Police detectives over historic child abuse allegations.

In a statement, Victoria Police confirmed to the ABC’s 7.30 program that “three members of Victoria Police travelled to Rome last week where Cardinal George Pell voluntarily participated in an interview regarding allegations of sexual assault”.

“As a result of the interview further investigations are continuing. We are not prepared to comment further at this time,” the statement said.

The ABC’s 7.30 program revealed the allegations on July 27, with complainants Lyndon Monument and Damian Dignan interviewed on the program about alleged inappropriate touching at Ballarat’s Eureka pool in the 1970s.

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AUSTRALIA
Reuters

Australian police said on Wednesday they have interviewed the Vatican’s Australian-born financial controller, Cardinal George Pell, in relation to allegations of sexual assault.

Victoria state police said investigations were continuing as a result of last week’s interview in Rome, but declined to comment further.

Pell, who was a priest and then archbishop in Australia before taking the Vatican role in 2014, confirmed he participated in the interview but denied the allegations.

“The cardinal repeats his previous rejection of all and every allegation of sexual abuse and will continue to co-operate with Victoria Police until the investigation is finalised,” his office said in a statement.

Pell, 75, this year testified at an Australian government inquiry into institutional child abuse, where he said the Roman Catholic Church made “catastrophic” choices by refusing to believe abused children, shuffling abusive priests from parish to parish and over-relying on counseling of priests to solve the problem.

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VATICAN CITY
The Guardian

Associated Press in Vatican city
Tuesday 25 October 2016

The Vatican and Argentina’s bishops have finished cataloguing their archives from the country’s dictatorship era, and will soon make them available to victims and their relatives who have long accused the church of complicity with the military rulers.

A joint statement on Tuesday said the process of digitizing the archives had been completed and that procedures to access the information would be forthcoming. No date was set, and the opening for now is restricted to victims, detainees, their relatives and the religious superiors of victims who were priests or nuns.

Official estimates say about 13,000 people were killed or disappeared in a government-sponsored crackdown on leftist dissidents during Argentina’s 1976-1983 dictatorship. Human rights activists believe the real number was as high as 30,000.

The statement said the decision to open the church’s archives was taken at the express direction of Pope Francis, “in the service of truth, justice and peace”.

Francis – then the Rev Jorge Mario Bergoglio – was the young Jesuit superior in Argentina during the military dictatorship, making his decision to open the archives all the more remarkable.

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VATICAN CITY
Daily Republican

By The Associated Press Posted Oct. 25, 2016

VATICAN CITY (AP) ” The Vatican and Argentina’s Catholic Church say they have finished cataloguing their archives from the country’s brutal “dirty war” and will make them available to victims who have long accused the church of complicity with the military dictatorship.

A joint statement Tuesday said the process of cataloguing and digitalization had been completed and procedures for victims to access the information would be forthcoming. The statement said the decision to open the archives of the Vatican, its Buenos Aires embassy and the Argentine bishops’ conference was taken “in the service of truth, justice and peace.”

Pope Francis had pledged to open the archives when pressed by relatives of “desaparecidos” or disappeared, particularly the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. He was the Jesuit superior in Argentina during the country’s 1976-1983 dictatorshi

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KANSAS
Baptist News

BOB ALLEN | OCTOBER 25, 2016

A Kansas judge has ruled that two victims of sexual assault suing a Southern Baptist church will remain anonymous in court proceedings.

Johnson County District Court Judge Kevin Moriarty granted a motion last month allowing the plaintiffs to proceed using pseudonyms in their case against Westside Family Church in Lenexa, Kan., a Southern Baptist congregation founded in 1977 with an average attendance of 4,700.

In June the church filed a motion claiming the teenage sisters and their parents were using their anonymity to generate “a Pearl Harbor-style barrage of negative publicity” timed to coincide with the congregation’s Vacation Bible School.

David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said it was the first time in his 28 years of advocacy work he had witnessed a religious organization trying to “out” a minor coming forward to allege sexual abuse.

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Oct. 25, 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

A former Brooklyn priest who was convicted of child sex crimes is up for parole in northeastern Pennsylvania. We hope he’s kept in prison. And we hope this news prompts others who may have seen, suspected or suffered his crimes to call police so he might be charged with and convicted on other offenses and be kept away from kids even longer.

[New York Daily News]

[Wayne Independent]

In March 2008, Steven Wolpert pled guilty to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, a felony, with an eight year old in 2006 and 2007 in Hawley Borough, PA. He was sentenced in June 2008 to nine to 18 years in prison.

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VIRGINIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016 For more info: Barbra Graber, SNAP Leader, 540-214-8874, mennonite@snapnetwork.org

Support group posts info about lawsuit against him

On Wednesday, he will talk about concerns with congregants

A minister who was accused and sued for covering up sexual abuse within his church is reportedly holding a meeting Wednesday with his congregants to discuss the matter. A support group plans to email members of the congregation with information about the accusations.

Rev. Samuel G. Wenger is head pastor at Freedom Fellowship, an independent church he started in Broadway VA after he was denied a vote of affirmation from his congregation at Cornerstone Church also in Broadway.

In 1990, he was named in a civil lawsuit along with Living Word Christian School and Living Word Fellowship Church in Stryker, Ohio, where he was administrator and pastor, respectively. He and his co-defendants were charged by a victim of a predatory youth pastor at Living Word with “fail[ing] to act upon the supplied information of [perpetrator Curtis Monk]’s conduct and attempting to hide the guilt of Monk by directing the blame and humiliation upon the minor plaintiff and making her believe that the actions of Monk were caused by her behavior.” The case was eventually settled out of court.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

On Saturday 15 October 2016 in Vatican City, the Executive Commission of the Argentine Episcopal Conference, composed of the President Archbishop José María Arancedo of Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz, first deputy president Cardinal Mario Aurelio Poli, archbishop of Buenos Aires and Primate of Argentina, second deputy president Archbishop Mario Antonio Cargnello of Salta, and the secretary general Bishop Carlos Humberto Malfa of Chascomús, met with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for Relations with States, and other officials of the Secretariat of State, for an evaluation of the work of cataloguing and digitalisation of the archive material from the period of the Military Dictatorship (1976-1983), conserved in the Archives of the Argentine Episcopal Conference, the Secretariat of State and the Apostolic Nunciature in Buenos Aires.

It was acknowledged that this process of organisation and digitalisation, which was carried out in compliance with the decisions and indications of the Holy Father and represents the continuation of work already initiated years ago by the Argentine Episcopal Conference, has been completed.

On the basis of a protocol to be established shortly, access can be given to the relative documents for consultation by victims and direct relatives of the desaparecidos and detainees and, in the case of religious or ecclesiastics, also their major superiors.

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UNITED STATES
The American Conservative

By ROD DREHER • October 24, 2016

I was dismayed over the weekend to learn this:

In 2004 Bishop Demetri of the Antiochian Archdiocese entered a guilty plea to a reduced charge of attempted fourth degree criminal sexual misconduct. To be specific he “grabbed the breast of a North Carolina woman seated next to him at a slot machine in the Turtle Creek Casino outside Traverse City” and was “highly intoxicated” (see here for more) as was evident from the closed circuit video that captured the event. He was drunk, he was gambling, and he sexually assaulted a woman.

Bp. Demetri was relieved of his duties and then suspended (it should be noted that the Antiochian Archdiocese recently deleted their pronouncement on this issue from their website, but a cached version is available here). In 2008 he was “restored as vicar of the Iglesia Católica Apostólica Ortodoxa De Antioquia México-Venezuela-Centroamérica-El Caribe in the Exarcado De El Caribe”(see more here). This was all covered on this blog some years ago (see here).

In a surprising new chapter to this saga, it seems Met. Joseph is making Bp. Demetri a locum tenens of sorts (a pseudo-locum tenens) for the Diocese of Los Angeles and the West.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

25 October, 2016

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has released a discussion paper examining the growing interest in trauma-informed care and the implementation of trauma-informed approaches to support survivors of trauma, including survivors of child sexual abuse.

The discussion paper, Principles of trauma-informed approaches to child sexual abuse, was produced by Dr Antonia Quadara and Cathryn Hunter from the Australian Institute of Family Studies.

Authors described trauma-informed care as emerging from the growing awareness of the impacts of trauma on victim/survivors of child sexual abuse and recognition that human-service systems needed to avoid inadvertently re-traumatising survivors of child sexual abuse.

Royal Commission CEO Philip Reed said the discussion paper provides an important contribution to our understanding of the key principles of trauma-informed care. These principles include:

* having a sound understanding of the prevalence and nature of trauma arising from interpersonal violence and its impacts

* ensuring practices and procedures promote the physical, psychological and emotional safety of consumers and survivors

* adopting service cultures and practices which empower consumers in their recovery by emphasising autonomy, collaboration and strength-based approaches

* recognising and being responsive to the social and cultural contexts which shape survivors’ needs and healing pathways

* recognising the importance of relationships in overcoming trauma and supporting healing.

“The concept of trauma-informed care is about building an understanding of the traumatic impacts survivors will face at all levels of an organisation or system,” Mr Reed said.

“The discussion paper suggests that effective implementation of trauma-informed approaches will assist survivors of abuse and should help inadvertently re-traumatising them,” Mr Reed said.

Read the paper.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

[with video performance of “99 Candles in Ballarat”]

Alicia Thomas
@aliciajthomas
25 Oct 2016

In 1973 Ian Whitehead was a young man boarding in Ballarat.

What occurred around him at the time could only be described as a nightmare.

What Ian didn’t know about those nightmares was that his school friends were part of them.

They were victims at the hands of a clergy child sex abuse scandal that would not fully be understood until almost half a century later.

But Ian can understand, he was a victim himself while a student at St Kevin’s College in Toorak in 1972.

He later learnt of the stories from his friends, while others he will never know.

But more than 40 years on he returned to Ballarat for one very particular reason.

That reason was to film a videoclip for his new song “99 Candles in Ballarat”.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Shannon Deery, Herald Sun
October 24, 2016

A FORMER Salvation Army worker who has faced off against 12 juries this year can finally be exposed as a deviant sexual predator who tortured small children.

Remorseless rapist Robert Burnett continues to defiantly maintain his innocence, despite being found guilty of abusing a string of kids in a reign of terror spanning three decades.

Now the 77-year-old is behind bars and facing the prospect of a 20-year jail term that could see him never released from prison.

From 1978 Burnett routinely raped children.

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NEW YORK
Forward

Larry Cohler-Esses
October 24, 2016

An Orthodox Brooklyn yeshiva has agreed to pay two of its former students $2.1 million for alleged sexual molestation they suffered at age six from a senior rabbi on the school’s faculty—the first known case of such a settlement by a Jewish day school.

Yeshiva Torah Temimah, a prominent school on Brooklyn’s Ocean Parkway with more than 600 students, originally made the court settlements secretly with the plaintiffs. But the settlments were disclosed Sunday by the New York Post, which reported that attorneys for the two students had filed papers complaining that the yeshiva had failed to make the payments.

“This is unheard of,” Rabbi Yosef Blau, a spiritual adviser at Yeshiva University in Manhattan, told the Post. “I am not aware of any other settlements,” said Blau, who is a longtime advocate for victims of child sexual abuse.

In fact, most such suits are peremptorily dismissed—or never filed—because New York State law bars alleged victims from filing a civil complaint after they turn 23; one of the strictest statutes of limitation for child sex abuse allegations in the country.

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NETHERLANDS
NL Times

By Janene Pieters on October 25, 2016

So far the Roman Catholic Church paid nearly 30 million euros in damages to Dutch victims of sexual abuse, De Limburger reports.

A complaint committee set up to investigate the abuse received a total of 3,678 reports of people being sexually abused in the Roman Catholic Church. Of these 2,060 were sent through for further investigation and 1,000 were determined to be grounded. At least 300 people dealt with exceptionally serious abuse, for which the compensation can be up to 100 thousand euros.

According to the committee, structural abuse happened in the church. “Not all church officials did wrong. But the fact that tere are so many perpetrators justifies calling it strucutral abuse.” Wiel Stevens, chairman of the committee, said to the newspaper.

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CANADA
Kingston Whig-Standard

By Sue Yanagisawa, Kingston Whig-Standard
Monday, October 24, 2016

Retired Roman Catholic priest Robyn Q. Gwyn, who was found guilty in late September of sexually assaulting a Kingston man when his accuser was still a boy in the late 1980s to early 1990s, pleaded guilty Monday to victimizing a second child between 2000 and 2002.

Assistant Crown attorney Gerard Laarhuis said the second victim first came to light in May 2014 when Deacon William Gervais, the archbishop’s delegate for misconduct, filed a report with Kingston Police.

He told Superior Court Justice Brian Abrams that Gervais disclosed a former altar boy, by then in his early twenties, had revealed the abuse to church officials because he was having “flashbacks” about it.

The young man subsequently provided a statement to police in late July 2014 and officers laid additional charges against Gwyn in November that year.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Victims blast Philly archbishop
He brings controversial group here
Its founder & his top aide abused kids
Several with the order are now in Philly parish
Advocates say Chaput “must denounce predators”
SNAP also charges “Pope’s visit last year changed nothing”
Local Catholic officials “ignore Francis’ pledges,” victims allege
Pontiff said ‘enablers’ would be ‘held accountable’ but they aren’t, SNAP feels

WHAT:
Holding signs and childhood photos, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will urge Philly’s top Catholic officials to:

“come clean” about importing a controversial, ultra-conservative Catholic cult-like order (Sodalitium Christianae Vitae) whose founder is a confirmed child molester,
stop promoting the order and start warning other US bishops about it, and
act on the promises Pope Francis made in Philly a year ago by exposing and disciplining even a few priests who hid or ignored child sex crimes, and disclose more about clergy sex abuse cases.

WHEN: Monday, Oct. 24 at 1:00 pm

WHERE: Outside the Philadelphia Catholic archdiocesan headquarters, 222 North 17th Street (corner of Race) in Philadelphia

WHO: Five-seven members of an international support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), including a Chicago woman who is the organization’s founder

WHY:
1) In recent years, Chaput has brought to Philadelphia a controversial Catholic sect based in Peru whose founder molested kids. The sect’s founder and seven aides are also accused of kidnapping and assaulting youth. Several members of the group, including a priest, now run the parish and Newman Center at both Drexel and the University of Pennsylvania. But as best SNAP can tell, Chaput has never disclosed or discussed the crimes of the group’s Peru-based officials, or explained or apologized for his vigorous support of the group, either in Pennsylania, Colorado or Peru.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY MICHAEL O’KEEFFE
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Monday, October 24, 2016

A former Catholic priest from Brooklyn who pleaded guilty in 2008 to sexually abusing an 8-year-old boy is up for parole — but a relative of the victim and an abuse survivors’ organization say he should remain in prison.

Steven Wolpert, who served as a priest at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Brooklyn during the 1980s, pleaded guilty in 2008 to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child under the age of 13, a first-degree felony.

A Pennsylvania judge sentenced Wolpert to nine to 18 years in prison.

The Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole reviewed Wolpert’s case in August, but has not yet decided whether to grant him early release.

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NEW YORK
National Catholic Reporter

Anne Barrett Doyle | Oct. 24, 2016

Cardinal Timothy Dolan is trying something new. After years of successfully opposing legislation that would give New York abuse victims more time to sue, he has launched a victims’ compensation program — a first for the New York archdiocese.

This is the Year of Mercy, and the cardinal said he was inspired by the “grace and challenge” of this fact.

“I just finally thought: ‘Darn it, let’s do it,’ ” he told The New York Times.

The surprise move is winning the cardinal praise. The often critical New York Daily News commended him, citing his “remarkable moral courage.”

As a researcher of the Catholic abuse crisis, I see his plan differently. While the fund certainly will help some victims, its biggest beneficiary will be Dolan and his management team. This is a legal strategy in pastoral garb, a tactic by the powerful archbishop to control victims and protect the church’s assets and its secrets.

On its face, the plan is reasonable. A victim submits a claim form with documentation about rape or molestation by a priest or deacon. If deemed credible, the victim receives an award, which the archdiocese promises to disburse quickly — within 60 days.

The program is being administered by Kenneth Feinberg, who oversaw the 9/11 fund and mediated the settlements between Jerry Sandusky’s victims and Penn State.

But there’s a catch — two catches, actually. Victims must sign a legal agreement to abide by “all requirements pertaining to privacy and confidentiality,” and they must release the archdiocese from future liability — i.e., never sue it. (See section III, paragraph G of the IRCP’s Protocol webpage.)

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DELAWARE
The News Journal

Jessica Masulli Reyes , The News Journal October 24, 2016

A judge once again postponed the sentencing for a former Navy chaplain and Catholic priest who pleaded guilty to taking pornographic pictures of a teen boy and then distributing the images.

Several sentencing dates for John Thomas Matthew Lee, 50, have been canceled since March, including the most recent one scheduled for Tuesday. He now is expected to be sentenced in February.

The request for a delay was granted after Lee’s attorney complained in court filings that prosecutors initially said they would likely recommend a 25-year prison sentence, but now are asking the judge for a maximum of 50 years.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Freethinker

Rev Mark Carey, 51, above right, the son of former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, was arrested last week in connection with an assault on a young girl in the 1980s.

According to this report, his alleged victim, now in her 30s, claimed she was assaulted by Carey Jr when he was in his late teens and Lord Carey was a priest in the North-East.

Rev Carey was released on police bail and has since been suspended by the Church of England pending inquiries.

Father of three Rev Carey, who followed his father into the church in 1995, has not been seen since his arrest.

In a Twitter message posted after he was released by police, Rev Carey, whose father was Archbishop between 1991 and 2002, wrote:

I’m having a social networking break for a while.

He was joined at his home in Harrogate, North Yorks, yesterday by his father and mother Eileen. His wife Penny, 53, whom he married in 1988, refused to comment.

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UNITED STATES
Inquisitr

OCTOBER 24, 2016

TRACIY REYES

Murderers Michelle Reynolds and Scott Harper will have their story air on tonight’s Killer Clergy on Investigation Discovery (ID). The salacious crime story made headlines more than a decade ago in Rome, Georgia, where authorities say that Michelle Reynolds had a sexual affair with youth minister Scott Harper. That affair, they say, led to the stabbing death of Michelle Reynolds’ husband, Thad Reynolds.

The Killer Clergy episode that will reenact the crime case is titled “Unholy Confessions.” Michelle Reynolds and Scott Harper are currently in prison. The story will be recounted through interviews with local police and friends or family members of the victim.

July 2004: Man Found Dead In Frito Lay Distribution Center

The body of Thad Reynolds, also known as Thad John Glenn Reynolds, was found in his office at the Frito Lay Distribution Center in Rome, Georgia. The 36-year-old man was a popular church member and deacon at the Hollywood Baptist Church. An autopsy report conducted on Reynolds showed that he had suffered multiple stab wounds to the body. Many of the wounds were defensive wounds as he fought for his life inside the office, according to Northwest Georgia News.

At the crime scene, police could see blood and papers strewn about the room. It was obvious that it was a targeted attack. Thad Reynolds was a good man with a good reputation in the town of Rome. It was baffling to consider who would want him dead.

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AUSTRALIA
Anglican Communion News Service

[ACNS, by Gavin Drake] Complaints of church-based sexual abuse in Australia’s internal province of Victoria will be investigated by an independent body with its own board of directors. The dioceses of Melbourne and Bendigo have already approved the new structure, which will be considered by the dioceses of Wangaratta, Ballarat and Gippsland next year. The new body is being established by the Church but is separate from the dioceses and their archbishop. It will work across a number of dioceses.

The new body is included in new legislation approved by the Melbourne Synod at its meeting last week. The new legislation – created in part as a response to the Royal Commission and the 2013 Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into child sexual abuse – is “aimed at improving transparency, independence and avenues of redress for victims,” a diocesan spokesman said.

“There’s a need to act, and there’s a need to act now because we know enough to know what we should be doing,” Melbourne registrar Ken Spackman said, as he addressed the Synod meeting. He said that the chairman of the Royal Commission, Peter McClellan, had spoken twice to meetings of Anglican bishops and “dismissed the difficulties that we have”.

Mr McClellan added: “He has come back to ‘You have the ability to act if you wish, and you should wish’, and we do wish and this is why we are before you tonight.”

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