ABUSE TRACKER

MEXICO
International Business Times

By William Watkinson
October 8, 2016

A pastor accused of raping an eight-year-old girl was ordered to buy her father two crates of beer as compensation in a remote village in Mexico. The perpetrator, a 55-year-old former clergyman, was arrested in the village of Santiago Quetzalapa, which has no road access or phone signal, and is situated around 300 miles south-east of Mexico City.

The girl’s parents complained to the municipal government and the attacker was later arrested, on Friday 7 October, after local media coverage and outrage from human rights groups. In a statement released to the Guardian, the Oaxaca State attorney general’s office said that police arrested on charges of aggravated rape.

Oaxaca State, where many indigenous communities live in mountainous regions, is ruled by an idiosyncratic system popularly known as usos y costumbres (traditions and customs). Abuse is often handled locally in this unique form of government which is designed to allow local leaders to settle disputes according to their own beliefs rather than the Mexican law.

Helder Palacios, editorial director of the Ruta 135 website which initially reported the case, told the newspaper: “There are cases in which there was impunity, there’s no investigation and local prosecutors never receive a criminal complaint.

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CALIFORNIA/MINNESOTA
The Worthy Adversary

October 8, 2016 Joelle Casteix

For the second time in four years, a San Diego priest credibly accused (and later criminally charged) with sexual assault was allowed to stay in a parish while parishioners were kept in the dark.

Apparently, Bishop Robert McElroy doesn’t think that’s a big deal. He’s wrong.

Priest charged under Minnesota Law
Fr. Jacob Andrew Bertrand is facing sexual assault charges in Minnesota.

From NBC San Diego:

A San Diego priest is facing charges for having sex with a woman in Minnesota while religiously advising her, allegedly paying her to keep quiet about their relationship.

Jacob Andrew Bertrand, 32, a priest at the Diocese of San Diego, was charged with two counts of criminal sexual conduct in the 3rd degree for having sex with the woman in 2010, according to a complaint filed in the County of Dakota in Minnesota.

In Minnesota, it’s a felony for a member of the clergy to have sex with anyone who is “not their spouse, during the course of a meeting in which religious or spiritual advice, aid, or comfort is given, or while ongoing religious or spiritual advice, aid, or comfort is occurring.”

Now here’s the rub: the alleged victim reported the 2010 assault to church officials in 2012 and 2014. But a spokesperson for the Diocese of San Diego said that Bertrand asked for a leave of absence in 2016 when he learned that criminal charges were going to be filed.

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PAKISTAN
Daily Pakistan

LAHORE – An imam from Punjab has divorced his eighth wife after she caught him red-handed somomizing a minor inside the mosque in Burewala city of Punjab.

Mussarat Bibi, who hails from neighboring Habib Colony, was married to Qari Muhammad Aslam some 15 years ago.

Aslam is an imam at Gulshan Raza Town mosque and an Arabic teacher at the city’s Govt. MC Model High School.

Mussarat told the media that she was his fifth wife, but Aslam “who can’t overcome his lust for sex” married two more women without her consent under the pretext of “giving them shelter”.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

CALIFORNIA/MINNESOTA
NBC San Diego

By Jaspreet Kaur

A San Diego priest is facing charges for having sex with a woman in Minnesota while religiously advising her.

Jacob Andrew Bertrand, 32, a priest at the Diocese of San Diego, was charged with two counts of criminal sexual conduct in the 3rd degree for having sex with the victim in 2010, according to the complaint filed in the County of Dakota in Minnesota.

The compaint alleges that Bertrand and the victim had met while they were both studying in Rome, Italy in 2009. He engaged in sex with the victim while she was seeking religious advice from him after they had moved back to the U.S.

According to Aida Bustos, spokesperson for the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, Bertrand had filed for a leave of absence when he learned of a possibility of charges being filed. The leave of absence was granted.

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AUSTRALIA/IRELAND
Sydney Morning Herald

Timna Jacks and Chris Vedelago

A controversial Melbourne priest and close associate of Cardinal George Pell has been banned from ministering in Ireland for committing an act of sexual abuse that senior Australian church figures have dismissed as simply a “breach of his vow of celibacy”.

The decision by an Irish bishop and the country’s Catholic child protection authority comes despite Father John Thomas Walshe receiving an official endorsement of his good character and reputation by Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart.

Father Walshe came to national prominence after he testified on behalf of Cardinal Pell at the sexual abuse royal commission late last year, which was investigating claims then Bishop Pell tried to buy the silence of a victim of notorious paedophile Gerald Ridsdale in 1993.

The controversial appearance led a former student priest, John Roach, to publicly reveal that Father Walshe himself had been found by church authorities to have committed an act of sexual abuse in 1982.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY
MICHAEL O’KEEFFE
GLENN BLAIN
LARRY MCSHANE

A New York Archdiocese plan offering cash settlements to sex abuse victims with no statue of limitations is a positive step — but hardly the last one, Gov. Cuomo says.

A Cuomo spokesman, one day after Timothy Cardinal Dolan unveiled his Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program, said new laws were needed to provide compensation to all targets of sexual abuse.

“We must continue to work to ensure all victims have the opportunity to get the justice they deserve and this means a global legislative solution,” said gubernatorial spokesman Rich Azzopardi.

Cuomo has promised to make the issue of statue of limitations in child abuse cases a priority in 2017 after the Child Victims Act failed again this year in the state Legislature.

Currently in New York, victims must bring civil suits before their 23rd birthday against their attackers.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Cathleen Palm

The Center for Children’s Justice had a mixed reaction to PennLive’s Oct. 3 editorial

We can’t help but compare the outcry in Libre’s case to the stalled legislation that would give the victims of child abuse a better chance of confronting their abusers and winning some measure of redress in the civil court system.

PennLive’s editorial successfully called upon Pennsylvania lawmakers to end the injustice caused by statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse.

The statute of limitation laws in Pennsylvania have always miscalculated the complex dynamics of childhood sexual abuse.

While there is no time limit on the wounds from such an assault on the child’s body and soul and research underscores that it can take decades for the child victim to come forward.

State law imposes arbitrary deadlines that cut off a victim’s access to justice.

These statutes of limitation have expired too quickly and have let perpetrators off-the-hook never facing the victim, a judge or jury in a civil or criminal courtroom.

Your editorial argued that the state Senate has refused to address this injustice experienced by adults previously sexually abused as children.

State senators voted for a bill that does not restart the civil clock permitting adult survivors of past childhood abuse access to a – once denied – civil courtroom.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Dudley News

A RELIGIOUS leader is facing time behind bars after being convicted by a jury of carrying out sex attacks on two young girls at his Cradley Heath mosque.

Hafiz Rahman was the Imam at the place of worship and he sexually assaulted the girls in a string of attacks between March 1986 and August 1987.

The girls who had gone to the Queens Cross mosque for religious studies had described to the jury how they were touched sexually by Rahman.

The 58-year-old of Ballard Road, Netherton, had denied seven charges involving indecent assault at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

But at the end of his five day trial the eight man- four woman reached unanimous guilty verdicts on five of the charges.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Heart

8th October 2016

A religious teacher, who practised as an Imam at a Dudley mosque has been convicted of sexually abusing two pupils more than 30 years ago.

Hifiz Rahman, aged 57, from Ballard Road, Netherton, was found guilty at Wolverhampton Crown Court of sexually assaulting two girls at Queens Cross Mosque in the 1980s.

Rahman was arrested and charged after one of the girls, now aged 40, bravely reported to police in 2012 that she had been sexually assaulted as child by the Imam at the mosque, when she was aged between seven and eight.

She told officers that the Imam used to abuse her as she read from the ‘Holy Book’ but was too scared to tell anyone at the time.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
KSTP

October 07, 2016

WARNING: Some of the details from the criminal complaint are graphic descriptions.

Prosecutors have charged a 33-year-old priest from San Diego with two counts of criminal sexual conduct after they say he had sexual contact with a woman in Mendota Heights while providing spiritual guidance.

The Dakota County Attorney’s Office charged Jacob Andrew Bertrand by summons Thursday. He’s facing two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection to events that allegedly happened in 2010, according to the criminal complaint made public Friday.

Bertrand is currently assigned to the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, California.

The 30-year-old woman reported the sexual contact with Bertrand to Mendota Heights Police on April 28 of this year.

In a statement, Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said, “It’s a felony under Minnesota law for any member of the clergy to have sexual relations with an individual who is not their spouse, during the course of a meeting in which religious or spiritual advice, aid, or comfort is given, or while ongoing religious or spiritual advice, aid, or comfort is occurring.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MINNESOTA
Fox 9

[with video]

MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. (KMSP) – A Catholic priest from San Diego has been charged with criminal sexual conduct for an incident during a private mass for the victim in her parents’ Mendota Heights, Minnesota home back in 2010. Jacob Bertrand, 33, was charged by summons with two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct by clergy.

According to the charges, a 30-year-old woman contacted Mendota Heights police on April 28, 2016 to report sexual contact between her and Bertrand. The victim told police she met Bertrand in 2009 while studying spirituality at a university in Rome, Italy. Bertrand was also a student and a deacon at a Catholic church at that time. The victim asked Bertrand to be her spiritual guide, and the two began to meet every Wednesday for “holy conversation.”

A ‘mystical’ proposal’

San Diego priest charged with sexual assault of Minnesota woman during private mass
In the fall of 2009, Bertrand told the victim “the Holy Spirit was compelling him to tell her about his sexual past.” Bertrand gave the victim two of his personal journals, and she provided him with her own journals, in which she wrote about wanting to find a husband in Rome. After reading her journals, Bertrand told the victim that he was the man she was sent to Rome to meet. While at a church, he held her hand and “mystically proposed” to her.

In June of 2010, the victim and Bertrand flew to San Diego, where he was ordained as a Catholic priest. During their time in San Diego, they kissed on multiple occasions.

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CALIFORNIA/MINNESOTA
CBS 8

By Brandon Lewis, Reporter

SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) – A San Diego Catholic priest is facing sex charges in Minnesota and on Friday his lawyer spoke with CBS News 8 on behalf of the priest.

The diocese in San Diego said the charges against Father Jacob Bertrand are related to a sexual encounter he had with a woman in 2010.

The 33-year-old priest took a leave of absence in August as an investigation began into allegations of sexual misconduct.

The victim said she first met Father Bertrand while the two were studying spirituality at an university in Italy in 2009.

The two became friends and court documents allege a year later he visited her and her family in Minnesota.

According to prosecutors, Father Bertrand herd their confession then held a private mass with the victim.

Bertrand is accused of twice having sexual conduct during the ceremony. He is now facing two felony charges of criminal sexual conduct as a member of clergy.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By TAD VEZNER | tvezner@pioneerpress.com
PUBLISHED: October 7, 2016

A San Diego priest has been charged with having sex with a woman he was spiritually advising.

Jacob A. Bertrand, 34, of San Diego was charged with two counts of criminal sexual conduct Friday in Dakota County District Court.

The offense allegedly took place in 2010 while Bertrand was visiting the woman’s family in Mendota Heights.

Under Minnesota law, a member of the clergy who has sex with a person they’re not married to “during the course of a meeting in which the complainant sought or received religious spiritual advice” is guilty of third-degree criminal sexual conduct, even if the sex is consensual.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

CALIFORNIA/MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Karen Zamora Star Tribune OCTOBER 7, 2016

A priest from California was charged Friday in the Twin Cities with engaging in sexual activity with a woman for whom he was conducting mass in Mendota Heights, authorities said.

Jacob Andrew Bertrand, 33, of San Diego, was charged in Dakota County District Court with third-degree criminal sexual conduct during a religious advice meeting and third-degree criminal sexual conduct during ongoing meeting for advice.

“Any time you have someone in a position of trust and responsibility that is taking advantage of that, you have a tragic situation,” County Attorney James Backstrom said Friday. “And that is what we are alleging that happened here.”

According to the criminal complaint, in July 2010, Bertrand, an ordained priest from San Diego, visited a Mendota Heights woman he had met in 2009 in Rome while they were studying spirituality and he was a deacon. In June 2010, the woman and Bertrand had flown to San Diego for his ordination as a priest.

At one point during his trip to Minnesota, Bertrand and the woman engaged in a private mass in the basement of her Mendota Heights home, where they also had sexual contact.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY
GARY GREENBERG
ANDREW WILLIS
MELANIE BLOW
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Saturday, October 8, 2016

Timothy Cardinal Dolan says he is on the side of children and an ally of survivors fighting for the passage of the Omnibus Child Victims Act, which would finally fix New York’s shameful failure to let victims of sexual abuse pursue justice in state courts. He says he supports an even stricter bill — one introduced by Sen. Andrew Lanza and Assemblyman Michael Cusick.

The cardinal is being economical with the truth.

The truth is that the Roman Catholic Church opposes legislation that ensures those who rape and molest our children will be held accountable. The bill the church is championing instead would ensure that New York’s sex offenders stay on our streets, protected by the laws.

An honest comparison of the two bills in question reveals that there is not one area where the bill the church supports is tougher than the Omnibus Child Victims Act.

Both bills apply to public and private institutions.

Both the Child Victims Act and the Lanza-Cusick bill eliminate criminal statutes of limitations for future sexual abuse against children.

The Child Victims Act eliminates civil statutes of limitations too, whereas the Lanza-Cusick bill extends them by five to 10 years. The problem here is that research shows it takes the average survivor 21 years to disclose their abuse.

Another vital difference: The Child Victims Act establishes a one-year window allowing survivors of past abuse previously denied justice to identify their perpetrators by bringing forward civil claims. The Lanza-Cusick bill has no such window.

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CANADA
Metro

MONCTON, N.B. — New Brunswick’s Roman Catholic church is facing new accusations that several of its priests were involved in the sexual abuse of youth, including a lawsuit alleging the former chaplain at the University of Moncton assaulted a boy in the 1980s.

Notices of action have been filed before the Court of Queen’s Bench in Moncton against Rev. Paul Breau, the former university chaplain, Rev. Yvon Arsenault and the Moncton Diocese.

The documents say the person making the allegations was a young offender who had been ordered to do community work on church grounds belonging to St. Joseph parish in Shediac, a coastal town 27 kilometres east of Moncton where Breau and Arsenault were working.

The two priests were responsible for supervising the young boy, and the abuse is alleged to have occurred over a two-year-period in the 1980s in the priests’ residence.

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MICHIGAN
Michigan Radio

By TYLER SCOTT

Members of the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit held a unique service on Friday called “Mass for Pardon.”

Leaders at the Archdiocese said it’s important to ask forgiveness for sins the Catholic Church has committed as an institution.

The sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests has been the most visible controversy in the church in recent years.

“And we responded very strongly,” said Bishop Michael Byrnes. “It has really changed a lot of our protocols, and (we) have been very proactive at creating a safe environment for children.”

But parishioners and clergy were also gathered to ask forgiveness for racism and the neglect of the poor, which are two issues Byrnes said are particularly significant in Detroit.

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NEW YORK
Gothamist

BY EMMA WHITFORD IN NEWS ON OCT 7, 2016

The Archdiocese of New York, one of the country’s largest Roman Catholic diocese, this week announced that it will compensate victims of sexual abuse who have not already settled claims with the church. People abused by New York clergy as minors can apply for monetary compensation through the new Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program.

“I wish I would have done this quite a while ago,” Cardinal Timothy Dolan told the NY Times in an interview. “I just finally thought: ‘Darn it, let’s do it. I’m tired of putting it off.'”

At a Thursday press conference, Cardinal Dolan told reporters that sexual abuse was “one sin, one crime, one scandal that has gravely wounded us in the church.” …

“We’ve seen the pattern time and time again across the country,” David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, told the Times. “Whenever statute of limitations reform is making real progress, bishops take these steps, in essence, to say to lawmakers, ‘Hey, back off, we’re handling this ourselves.'”

Cardinal Dolan also has a history of alleged attempts to protect the church from the costly fallout of sexual abuse cases. Back in 2013, documents released by the Milwaukee archdiocese—where Dolan served as Archbishop —showed that he had moved $57 million in church funds into a private trust, allegedly to protect it from lawsuits by alleged sex abuse victims. The files also revealed the archdiocese had reassigned priests who were accused of sexual molestation. An attorney representing alleged victims said at the time that the transferred funds were meant to “pay off some of the offenders to quietly go away.”

Dolan dismissed those allegations as “groundless and scurrilous.”

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CANADA
CBC News

The Diocese of Bathurst has lost its bid to recoup $3.3 million in compensation that was paid to victims of sexual abuse from its former insurer.

Its request for punitive damages from Aviva Insurance for wrongful denial of insurance coverage was also denied in the Court of Queen’s Bench decision released late Friday afternoon.

​”The Diocese was unsuccessful in establishing coverage for the compensatory damages it paid to the victims through the conciliation process and the expenses and costs related to it,” Justice Stephen McNally states in his 56-page decision.

“The Diocese’s claims for damages with respect to that aspect of the action must fail and is therefore dismissed,” he wrote.

“The portion of the Diocese’s claims related to its expenses incurred in defending, resolving and/or paying judgments in relation to claims brought against it outside the conciliation process are yet to be determined.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Elizabeth Farrelly

Most Australians are as unsurprised by skullduggery in the church as by double-dealing in government. It’s almost like they expect it. Yet even that low bar has stumped the church of late.

Screws in tyres? Disappearing pets? Trolls? Threats? Cover-ups? To those who despise Christianity but claim to live by its values, I say, terrific. Never have we needed truth and compassion more. But what if the church itself forsakes those values? Can a moral code survive without its core players? What if the Pharisees are back in charge?

The Pharisees, you recall, were a bunch of domineering, hypocritical and intensely tribal priests who prioritised appearance over truth, corporate advantage over noble deeds and stifled all dissent. “Blind guides,” Jesus called them, polishing the cup’s exterior while ignoring its putrid contents. In short, they pretty much epitomise the Australian view of authority.

It’s not just the ongoing nightmare of institutionalised child-sex abuse and the decades-long connivance that implies. Nor even the antediluvian opposition to women preachers and same-sex marriage. Exacerbating all that is an increasingly aggressive stamping out of dissent.

You might think an institution of diminishing influence would engage its internal questioners in eager debate. You might expect the church, having been built around a rocker-of-boats and tipper-of-apple carts, to know that comfortable words pattered out over tea are not the only ones to hear.

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CANADA
The Globe and Mail

ERIC ANDREW-GEE
The Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Oct. 07, 2016

The son of a former headmaster of an Ontario Christian school that was closed in 2007 amid accusations of abuse and cult-like practices has been charged with sexual assault for alleged offences dating back 30 years.

Robert Farnsworth, 49, was charged on Wednesday with sexual assault and gross indecency in connection with incidents between 1986 and 1987. The alleged victim was male and under 18 years old. Mr. Farnsworth appeared in a Brockville, Ont., court on Thursday and was granted bail.

He is the son of Charles Farnsworth, the late headmaster of Grenville Christian College, an elite private school near Brockville that was affiliated with the Community of Jesus, a controversial U.S. religious sect often described as a cult. Grenville closed in 2007 after 38 years in operation, citing declining enrolment and rising operating costs.

The closing coincided with a growing chorus of alumni accusing the school of chronic abuse and bizarre religious rites. A $225-million class action lawsuit filed in 2008 alleges former students were “sexually, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually traumatized” by their time at the school. The suit is ongoing.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Sun-Times

Mitchell Armentrout
@mitchtrout | email

The Archdiocese of Chicago was hit with another lawsuit Friday over alleged abuses committed by convicted child molester and defrocked priest Daniel McCormack.

The plaintiff, identified as John JW Doe, says he was about 10 when McCormack began sexually abusing him in 2002 at the West Side St. Agatha parish, according to the suit filed in Cook County Circuit Court. The abuse continued through 2005, the suit claims.

“The Archdiocese has not seen this lawsuit and does not comment on ongoing litigation, however, Daniel J. McCormack is no longer a priest,” an archdiocese spokeswoman said in an email Friday night. “He was removed from public ministry in February of 2006 and laicized (removed from the priesthood) in November 2007. No priest with even one substantiated allegation of sexual abuse of a minor serves in ministry in the Archdiocese of Chicago today.”

McCormack pleaded guilty in 2007 to abusing five other children at St. Agatha’s. He was sentenced to five years in prison and has been staying at a state-run mental health facility since his release from prison in 2009. A new set of criminal charges was filed against him in 2014.

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MINNESOTA
Hibbing Daily Tribune

By Kelly Grinsteinner Editor kgrinsteinner@hibbingdailytribune.net

HIBBING — Families involved in the criminal charges against a Hibbing priest, who was found not guilty this summer of inappropriately touching four girls, are likely feeling victimized once again, according to SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

The reaction comes just days after the prosecutor filed a dismissal letter dropping the remaining child pornography charge against Brian Michael Lederer.

“Our hearts ache for the five kids and their families who have helped police and prosecutors pursue an accused child molesting cleric, Fr. Brian Lederer,” stated David Clohessy, director of SNAP, in a media release. “They must be terribly distraught that he’s escaped prosecution on all charges.”

Lederer, 31, had been a priest at Blessed Sacrament Parish and Assumption Catholic School in Hibbing until he was placed on leave in May 2015 when he was arrested and charged with four counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct.

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CANADA
Toronto Star

By ALEX BALLINGALL
Fri., Oct. 7, 2016

The son of the late headmaster of a now-defunct private Christian school in eastern Ontario, which is subject to a $225-million abuse lawsuit, has been charged with sexual assault and indecent exposure.

Ontario Provincial Police allege the offences occurred against a single victim in 1986 and 1987. To protect the anonymity of the alleged victim, OPP Sgt. Angie Atkinson would not confirm or deny any connection to the school, which was called Grenville Christian College. She would only say that police believe the crimes took place in Grenville County, northeast of Kingston.

Robert Farnsworth, 49, was arrested on Wednesday and appeared in a Brockville courtroom the following day. Donald Farnsworth, one of the long-time headmaster’s other sons and a former teacher at the school, confirmed to the Star on Thursday that the man arrested is his brother.

“I can’t really talk any more about it. We’ll let the legal system take care of it,” he said.

From 1973 to its closure in 2007, Grenville Christian College billed itself as a prestigious boarding school for girls and boys, with a scenic campus near the shoreline of the St. Lawrence River, just east of Brockville. The class action lawsuit, which was certified in 2014, features more than 180 plaintiffs who attended the school between 1973 and 1997. Their statement of claim alleges that, as Grenville students, they were subject to arbitrary discipline, bizarre religious practices and systemic abuse that left them “sexually, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually traumatized.”

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NEW YORK
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on a new initiative by the New York Archdiocese that addresses clergy sexual abuse:

Timothy Cardinal Dolan has shown great courage in establishing the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program, a new initiative designed to deal fairly with clergy sexual abuse. While he has won applause from many quarters, some are already distorting the program.

New York State Senator Brad Hoylman, who has sponsored a bill on this issue, calls the archdiocesan program a “canny legal strategy” to reduce the archdiocese’s liability. So what was his initial bill last year, namely the one that gave a pass to the public schools? Canny is too kind a word to describe it. After many pressed him to revise his bill, he did so, thanking the Catholic League for its input.

State Senator Hoylman distorts the new program when he says it is “initially limited to survivors who have previously notified the Archdiocese that they have been abused.” Apparently, he did not read what the archdiocese has posted on its website: “New applicants can also come forward during this time and register.” In other words, the program’s first phase deals with those who have already come forward, but it is not limited to them.

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CANADA
CBC News

In the latest series of pedophilia scandals plaguing New Brunswick’s Catholic churches, four priests have been accused of sexual assault, including the former chaplain of the University of Moncton and Dorchester Penitentiary.

Two of the priests practised at St-Joseph Church in Shediac when the alleged abuse took place.

A lawsuit was filed against Rev. Paul Breau, the former chaplain, Rev. Yvon Arsenault and the Moncton Diocese, alleging the priests used their position of authority to engage in repeated sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old boy.

The boy was a young offender who had been ordered to do community work on church grounds, including raking leaves in the yard surrounding the St-Joseph parish. The two priests were responsible for supervising the young boy.

The abuse is alleged to have occurred over a two-year-period in the 1980s, in the residence of the priests.

The complainant, now 45, said he suffered severe damage as a result of the abuse, including depression and anxiety.

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Statement by David Clohessy of SNAP (314 566 9790, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)

The Bible says the truth shall set you free. Dolan’s scheme, however, conceals truth. No one will learn anything about any clerics who are concealing or have committed heinous child sex crimes. Even worse: no cleric who might commit or conceal child sex crimes will be deterred from doing so. Because Dolan’s scheme is about dollars not disclosure. And disclosure is what protects kids, exposes criminals, deters wrongdoing and truly brings healing.

It’s inherently wrong for those causing harm to continue causing harm and determine their own ‘penalty,’ while pretending to be generous.

It’s inherently wrong for the powerful to unilaterally exploit desperate, wounded victims with a “my way or the highway” process.

Survivors deserve real choices, not fake ones. This payoff plan is a fake choice, a coercive choice.

A few of the questions that merit asking:

Why a top-down process, instead of a collaborative one?

Why yet another rigid arbitrary deadline?

And, most of all, why a quid pro quo? Why must survivors give away all their legal options just to get some healing, decades later, from the institution that recruited, educated, trained, ordained and supervised pedophile priests while almost always hiding them, transferring them and protecting them?

Of course litigation is not for everyone. Every survivor is different. But many survivors are desperately suffering with addictions, agoraphobia, anorexia, depression and suicidal thoughts. Many are unemployed, underemployed or unemployable. Many face staggering needs for therapy and bills for medical treatment. In the short run, some of them will be helped by a check from the Archdiocese. But in the long run, our experience tells us, many who trust this process will end up with buyer’s remorse, feeling duped and trapped.

My own case may be instructive. A few years ago, I sought and got a $40,000 settlement from my diocese. A quarter-century ago, I filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against my diocese.

The settlement was helpful. The lawsuit was incredibly healing. I was able to protect innocent kids, expose a predator, regain my power and disclose hidden secrets.

So in light of all this, I would beg victims to seek Independent help from unbiased professionals before contacting church officials. I would beg victims to report first to law enforcement no matter how long ago the crime happened. I would beg victims to talk to their own attorneys, not lawyers recommended to them by church officials. And I would take victims to be very careful and slow if they do consider calling church officials. We have been hurt enough. We do not need or deserve to be re-victimized by a self-serving, top down, largely arbitrary church scheme that perpetuates unhealthy secrecy

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NEW YORK
The Worthy Adverary

October 7, 2016 Joelle Casteix

Yesterday, NY Cardinal Timothy Dolan announced the The Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program, a plan to compensate victims of child sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of New York.

There are great articles discussing the neutral and negative aspects of the plan, but before any survivor begins the process of working with the committee, there are a few details that I want to point out.

Many Archdiocese victims excluded

According to the FAQ:

A claim may be made only against a priest or deacon of the Archdiocese of New York and no other diocese or religious order.

So, if you were sexually abused by a teacher in the employ of the Archdiocese of NY – like the teacher at Loyola School who molested seven girls – you’re out of luck.

If you were abused by a member of a religious order (like the Christian Brothers) who are only allowed to work in the Archdiocese if they have the explicit permission of the Archbishop – you’re out of luck, too.

Archdiocese allowed to hide “proof” that victims need for healing

The FAQ goes on to state

[Y]ou will be required to submit documentation to show evidence of the nature, frequency, location and time of the alleged sexual abuse.

Why do you think that victims use civil law to seek justice? Because the proof LIVES IN THE SECRET FILES.

For example, in my own case, I received more than 200 pages of secret personnel files—including the signed confession of my abuser. The Diocese of Orange (where my abuse occurred) had the proof all along.

Most children who are sexually abused don’t have the wherewithal to collect signed affidavits to prove their abuse. That’s why they use the courts later on—to find out what the church knew and when they knew it.

The Archdiocese has decades of proof and evidence of abuse. And church officials don’t have to reveal any of it.

Victims must have come forward previously

The FAQ states:

In this initial phase, you must have previously notified the Archdiocese of an allegation of such abuse.

So even if the Archdiocese knows full well that you are a victim, they can shut you out because you did not follow their exact protocol before yesterday.

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NEW YORK
Star Tribune

By KAREN MATTHEWS Associated Press OCTOBER 6, 2016

NEW YORK — Victims of clergy sex abuse willing to forego lawsuits against New York’s Roman Catholic archdiocese can seek compensation through a new church fund announced Thursday, but any records of such abuse and what the church did about problem priests will remain private.

The program will be led by Kenneth Feinberg, who managed the federal compensation fund for Sept. 11 victims, with oversight by former New York Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly, among others.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the New York archbishop, said he created the fund because victims have said they need “a tangible sign of the church’s outreach and sense of reparation.” …

Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, a Massachusetts-based advocacy group that maintains records of clergy abuse, called the New York fund “another tactic designed to fend off disclosure.”

The inner workings of the fund will be private, although victims can decide whether to reveal their involvement.

Marci Hamilton, a legal expert who has advised victims, said the fund doesn’t eliminate the need for a change in the statute of limitations, but does provide “another pathway for justice.”

“It is a smart way to increase access to some kind of compensation for victims who probably wouldn’t be able to handle the rigors of the legal system,” said Hamilton, chief executive of CHILD USA, a think tank on preventing child abuse and neglect.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

7 October, 2016

The Royal Commission will hold a public hearing to inquire into the response to children with problematic or harmful sexual behaviours in schools.

The public hearing will commence on 20 October 2016 at the Royal Commission’s hearing rooms in Sydney.

The scope and purpose of the public hearing is to inquire into:

1. The response of three public primary schools in New South Wales to allegations of problematic or harmful sexual behaviours by students at those schools.

2. The response of The King’s School, Parramatta in New South Wales to allegations of problematic or harmful sexual behaviours by students at that school.

3. The response of Trinity Grammar School, Summer Hill in New South Wales to allegations of problematic or harmful sexual behaviours by students at that school.

4. The response of Shalom Christian College in Queensland to allegations of problematic or harmful sexual behaviours by students at that school.

5. The response of St Ignatius’ College Riverview to a student who is alleged to have been sexually abused at another school.

6. The systems, policies, procedures and practices for responding to allegations of problematic or harmful sexual behaviours of children within educational institutions promoted and implemented by:

a. Department of Education NSW

b. Association of Independent Schools NSW

c. Department of Family and Community Services NSW

d. The King’s School, Parramatta

e. Trinity Grammar School, Summer Hill

f. Shalom Christian College, Townsville

g. St Ignatius’ College, Riverview

7. Any related matters.

Any person or institution who believes that they have a direct and substantial interest in the scope and purpose of the public hearing is invited to lodge a written application for leave to appear at the public hearing by 17 October 2016.

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

Leave to appear will generally be granted when an applicant:

* has been summoned to give evidence
* is an institution, or is a representative of an institution, that is subject to the inquiry to be undertaken
* may be the subject of an adverse allegation.

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

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

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY
TIMOTHY DOLAN
SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Thursday, October 6, 2016

When Pope Francis was in New York a year ago, he spoke eloquently of mercy, compassion, reconciliation, and invited all of us to be ambassadors of those touching virtues. Our Holy Father has also christened 2016 a Year of Mercy, and encouraged us bishops to reach out in a new, daring way to people who are hurting or feel cut off from the Church.

Inspired by his example, I decided, after a lot of consultation, to take the grace and challenge of this moment and establish an Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program to, please God, promote healing for one group of members in the Church’s family who continue to suffer: the victim-survivors of abuse by clergy.

This one sin, one crime, one scandal has gravely wounded us in the Church. I continue to hear it wherever I go.

It is true that over the last two decades, the Catholic Church in the United States has made documented progress in dealing with this nauseating crime of sexual abuse, especially since the implementation of the landmark Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People nearly 15 years ago: zero tolerance for guilty clergy with removal from all ministry; full cooperation with law enforcement; public announcement of offenders; comprehensive child safety education, with ongoing monitoring of compliance of safe environment; background checks . . . on and on, leading Dr. Paul McHugh, a recognized expert at Johns Hopkins University in the abuse of children, to comment that the Church is today a leader and model in responding to a scourge that afflicts all our society and culture: the abuse of minors.

We have also engaged in pastoral and practical outreach to the victims.

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OKLAHOMA
News on 6

[with copy of the letter]

[with video]

BY: MARTY KASPER, NEWS ON 6

TULSA, Oklahoma – Bishop Kelley alumni have been getting a letter from the school, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulsa, encouraging them to come forward if they were ever abused or know someone who was abused.

The letter is specifically concerned about abuse by a worker for the school or someone within the Catholic Church.

“What prompted us to do this was the change in policy and making sure that everyone actually knows that we have a victim-centered approach,” said Diocese of Tulsa Chancellor, Harrison Garlick.

Garlick said, in June, the newly appointed Bishop of Tulsa, David Konderla, started new policies.

“This type of approach is probably more proactive than we see in other places,” Garlick said.

The new policies are in line with national Catholic Church guidelines.

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ALASKA
KTUU

By Paula Dobbyn | Oct 06, 2016

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) The newly appointed archbishop of Anchorage says he’s looking forward to his installation on Nov. 9.

Incoming Archbishop Paul D. Etienne, 57, has headed Wyoming’s statewide Diocese of Cheyenne since December 2009.

Etienne told KTUU that the move will be bittersweet because he’s come to love his staff and the people of Wyoming. But during his visit to Anchorage this week Etienne said he has met many wonderful staff and parishioners and he’s be prepared to take on his Alaska assignment. …

Not surprisingly, the Vatican’s selection of Etienne did not come without critics. An organization that helps victims of clergy sex abuse issued a statement this week raising concerns about Etienne.

“Our concern is the bishop’s track record is not good,” said Barbara Dorris, victims’ outreach director for SNAP, or Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

“When he was in Wyoming he allowed a predatory bishop, Joseph Hart, who has at least six child sex lawsuits about him settled, he allowed him to continue to work, to continue to take honors, to have a children’s home in Wyoming named after him. We think this sends an incredibly dangerous message that says to children everywhere that the powerful people, the ‘good’ people, are going to side with predators, rather than protect children,” said Dorris, a former teacher who says she was abused by a priest from age 6 to 13.

SNAP also says Etienne ignored pleas to personally visit parishes where Father Charles J. Gormly, which the organization describes as a “serial predator priest,” allegedly molested children. Gormly, who died in 1968, was born in Ireland and ordained for the Diocese of Cheyenne, according to the Brainerd Dispatch newspaper in Minnesota.

He was twice sent to treatment facilities to try to cure him of pedophilia, according to the Crookston Times.

Etienne strongly defended his track record on handling clergy sex abuse. Anytime there is an allegation of child sex abuse against a priest or any member of the clergy, local law enforcement is immediately notified, the incoming archbishop said. Etienne also said he makes time to meet with victims and hear their stories.

“I have met with people who have been abused personally. And anyone who reports accusations of abuse we always make an extension of an invitation to them to come visit with me personally, that I might hear their story, and give them the opportunity for that personal conversation and care and concern. We always offer counseling and that approach is very personal. And we take all the accusation that have come up in the time that I have been there very seriously,” he said.

Regarding the Father Gormly case, there is ongoing litigation in Minnesota so Etienne was reluctant to discuss it.

“I don’t want to say too much about that because it’s litigation that is presently under way. But when we were notified of this, the Diocese of Cheyenne did notify the parishes in Wyoming where Father Gormly served. He only served in the Diocese of Cheyenne during the late 30s and early 1940s so there are probably not too many people around that would have been in those parishes that would have even known the name. But we have notified parishes and asked people not only if they have been abused by him but by anyone to please notify us,” Etienne said.

“The diocese posts that information in all of its parishes and institutions and that if anyone has acted inappropriately to please contact us. So we are following all of the guidelines. We’re doing everything that is required of us and more,” he said.

Alaska has had “at least 56 confirmed cases of predatory priests,” involving hundreds of victims, said Patrick Walls, a former priest and expert on clergy sex abuse.

In 2007, the Jesuits agreed to pay $50 million to settle a lawsuit brought by more than 100 Alaska Native plaintiffs who said they had been abused by clergy.

In March 2008, the Diocese of Fairbanks filed for bankruptcy protection stemming from lawsuits filed by people who said they had been abused by priests. In January 2010, the diocese agreed to pay victims $10 million, according to Frontline.

Last year, Michael Hornick, a former priest with the Archdiocese of Anchorage, was defrocked by the Vatican after several women made allegations that he sexually abused them. Two were minors at the time of the abuse.

Etienne said one of his first orders of business in Alaska will be to meet the diocese’s safe environment director to see “if there are any areas that they believe we need to tighten up or do better. So that would be my first thing that I will do in the early months that I am archbishop here.”

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY KENNETH LOVETT
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS ALBANY BUREAU CHIEF
Updated: Thursday, October 6, 2016

ALBANY — Timothy Cardinal Dolan on Thursday announced a new program to compensate child sex abuse victims attacked by clergy, but some lawmakers and advocates say it doesn’t go nearly far enough.

It’s a good first step, they say, but its shortcomings will only galvanize the push for the passage of a law that makes it easier for New York survivors of abuse to sue their predators.

State Sen. Brad Hoylman, a Manhattan Democrat and prime sponsor of the Child Victims Act, called Dolan’s program “a canny legal strategy to help reduce the archdiocese’s liability for decades of crimes and coverups.”

“By setting up its own sexual abuse compensation fund, I’m glad the archdiocese is taking responsibility for the untold number of crimes against New York kids committed by its clergy,” Hoylman said.

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NEW YORK
Wall Street Journal

By JOSH BARBANEL
Oct. 6, 2016

In the face of tragic loss, governments, corporations and now the Archdiocese of New York have turned to Kenneth Feinberg for help translating a bit of that loss into cash payments to victims and their families.

The 70-year-old Mr. Feinberg, a lawyer and mediator in Washington, D.C., has been at the work for more than three decades.

Mr. Feinberg has helped settle claims and dole out compensation to veterans exposed to the chemical defoliant Agent Orange during the Vietnam War and to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

In perhaps his most high-profile assignment, Mr. Feinberg was appointed to administer the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. The fund distributed $7.1 billion in taxpayer money.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY
MARCI HAMILTON
SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Thursday, October 6, 2016

The Archdiocese of New York’s reconciliation and compensation program for survivors of clergy sexual abuse creates a pathway for victims and is modeled on the Penn State approach that paid more than $90 million to settle more than 30 civil claims.

But it is not an argument against the Child Victims Act, the New York State bill that would eliminate the statute of limitations in sexual abuse cases.

Timothy Cardinal Dolan can only provide this alternative path to victims of his archdiocese. And survivors should be able to choose between this path and the legal system. This is a good alternative, not a final solution.

There are many other survivors in New York who will not be helped by this. There are many who would prefer the legal system. But not all victims can weather litigation. For them, this is an option now.

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NEW YORK
Verdict

7 OCT 2016

MARCI A. HAMILTON

Admitting that the clergy sex abuse crisis still dogs the New York City Archdiocese, Timothy Cardinal Dolan has announced an Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Commission. This move is right out of Penn State’s playbook for dealing with the Jerry Sandusky victims, and it is a good one for some. But it cannot be the final word on justice for the sex abuse victims in New York state.

Cardinal Dolan’s Record on Justice for Sex Abuse Victims Is Mixed

Cardinal Dolan has a mixed record on justice for sex abuse victims, to put it mildly. He is the only bishop I know of who personally testified against statute of limitation (SOL) reform, which he did while he was Archbishop of Milwaukee. I know because I was there. With a straight face he told lawmakers that the diocese would become “bankrupt” if the SOLs were revived for victims from the past. In the thrall of his presence and his earnest manner, the legislative panel abandoned its previous plans and shelved reform. Unlike Dolan, most bishops have handed over the responsibility of lobbying against access to justice for the victims to their paid lobbyists.

Dolan was not kidding about the Milwaukee diocese going into bankruptcy, though he didn’t mean that the diocese would have no assets; in fact the diocese did not wait for SOL reform. He just meant it would take advantage of federal bankruptcy law to avoid paying victims. With fewer than a dozen lawsuits filed, the diocese filed a federal bankruptcy action.

He was the mastermind in Milwaukee of the attempt to move over $50 million from general funds to a so-called “cemetery trust” that the diocese hoped could not be touched by the victims. The victims, who were transformed under federal bankruptcy jargon into “creditors,” objected to the cemetery trust on the ground it was a fraudulent trust. Therefore, the funds should have been available to compensate them. Dolan’s cynical cemetery trust move resulted ultimately in lengthy judicial proceedings in which the Seventh Circuit ultimately held that there was no right to religious liberty in such a trust and, even more, that fraud should not be eligible for a religious liberty theory. This was a great ruling, but did little for the victims.

The victims paid the price for Dolan’s maneuver against them and the ensuing lengthy litigation.

They were dragged through years of litigation during the diocese’s voluntary federal bankruptcy, only to receive little in compensation at the end. Many to this day have every right to condemn the legal system that made this scenario possible.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY
MITCHELL GARABEDIAN
SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Thursday, October 6, 2016

The Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program announced Thursday by Timothy Cardinal Dolan does not help clergy sexual abuse victims truly heal and gain closure.

It fails to fulfill the emotional and spiritual needs of clergy sexual abuse victims to get to the truth found in the secret documents and files of the Archdiocese of New York. Those documents will tell us the crimes committed by pedophile priests and the supervisors who knowingly let innocent children be sexually abused for decades upon decades. By avoiding the process of discovery in legal proceedings, the archdiocese will also avoid making public documents and witness testimony that details what church officials knew about sexual abuse and when they knew it.

Money may provide partial validation for clergy sexual abuse victims, but money is no substitute for good old-fashioned honesty. Clergy sexual abuse victims deserve and need the truth now.

Clergy sexual abuse victims have been left out in the wilderness much too long by the Archdiocese of New York and the failure of Cardinal Dolan to provide the documentation in the secret files revictimizes many clergy sexual abuse victims.

It is time for the Archdiocese of New York to come clean, publicly reveal the documents, admit guilt by stating the truth and end all opposition to much-needed legislation allowing clergy sexual abuse victims to obtain justice in the courts of New York.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

John L. Allen Jr. October 7, 2016
EDITOR

Not only are there plenty of politics in the Catholic Church, but for those with eyes to see, there’s often a political dimension to a great deal of ecclesiastical life which, on the surface, might seem fairly neutral and benign.

Take, for instance, the Vatican’s “baby bishops’” school, an intense eight-day training program offered by the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops to newly appointed Catholic prelates from around the world since 2001.

At one level, offering such a course may just seem good business management. Why wouldn’t you want new bishops to be exposed, for instance, to best practices in financial management and the fight against clerical sexual abuse, two chronic sources of headaches?

For once, perhaps, the Church can defuse a few bombs before they go off.

It may also seem like a basic service by the Vatican to local churches – and since, in theory, that’s the primary role the Vatican is supposed to play, why not?

Both of those things may be fully true, but as St. Thomas Aquinas famously put it, grace builds on nature rather than cancelling it out – meaning that other, perfectly valid explanations don’t preclude the idea of there also being a political dimension to the choice to hold such a course.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

Editorial

No doubt, Timothy Cardinal Dolan would reject the idea that he showed remarkable moral courage in offering compensation to child sex abuse victims who have long been shut out of the courts.

For a priest such as he, love for those who suffer far precedes bravery, always, but with greater conscious dedication in this, Pope Francis’ Year of Mercy.

Regardless, in a temporal realm where cynicism often reads self-interest into generosity, Dolan offered an inspiring example of fortitude as he set a milestone in the search for justice long denied.

Dolan’s pledge that the Archdiocese of New York will pay fair awards to childhood victims whose claims are barred by New York’s cramped statute of limitations implicitly challenges others to follow suit — both in the church and in society at large.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail (UK)

By JOSH HANRAHAN FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA and AAP

A priest known as the ‘tickle monster’ will spend the next 18 years in jail after he was convicted of sexually assaulting dozens of children from the 1960s to early 1990s.

Robert Patrick Claffey, a former priest of the Ballarat diocese in Victoria’s west, used his position of power as a religious figure to abuse children over the three decades.

But the 73-year-old’s sustained abuse came to an end this week when he was jailed for 18 years and four months – with a minimum of 13 years and four months – one of the harshest penalties handed down to a paedophile.

Judge Felicity Hampel called Claffey’s abuse ‘shameful’ and said the fact he could act with impunity for such a long period spoke volumes of the power he exerted over his victims.

Claffey’s nickname was created firstly because he was always ‘tickling’ and touching children, while the ‘monster’ was what came next.

————————————————

Australia’s worst Paedophile Priests:

Gerald Francis Ridsdale: Australia’s worst paedophile is believed to have abused 1000 children and will be in prison until he is 87.

Frank Klep: A priest and school principal, Klep was 70 when he was jailed for 10 and a half years for abusing 28 schoolboys in the 1970s and 1980s.

David Edwin Rapson: Will be 73 when his sentence expires if he serves the full 12 and a half years he was given.

Robert Charles Best: Was 70 when he was jailed for 15 years for 27 vile crimes against 11 boys.

John Joseph Farrell: A NSW priest, was jailed for 29 years for 79 offences against 12 children.

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MICHIGAN
Detroit Free Press

Niraj Warikoo , Detroit Free Press October 7, 2016

In a unique religious service today, the Catholic Church in metro Detroit is seeking to atone for sins it says it has committed over the years — racism, neglecting the poor, abuse of children by clergy and not spreading the faith.

Called Mass for Pardon, the service will talk about the various sins committed by the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit, which has about 1.3 million Catholics in southeastern Michigan. It’s modeled after a public expression of repentance in 2000 by Pope John Paul II, who asked for God’s forgiveness for the sins of the Catholic Church as it marked the new millennium. Also, Pope Francis has declared 2016 to be the Jubilee Year of Mercy.

The Mass for Pardon comes six weeks before the Archdiocese of Detroit has a gathering called Synod 2016 — the first of its kind in Detroit since 1969 — where leaders will chart the future of the church in the six-county region.

Speaking to the Free Press, Archbishop of Detroit Allen Vigneron said that racism was an important topic, given that the city of Detroit is 79% African-American, the highest percentage of African Americans among big cities in the U.S., and because of the history of racism toward them.

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NEW YORK
Staten Island Advance

By Susan Lunny Keag | skeag@siadvance.com
on October 06, 2016

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The Archdiocese of New York announced on Thursday plans to establish a voluntary Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program (IRCP) that will seek to promote healing and closure to victims-survivors of abuse by priests or deacons of the Archdiocese.

The program, another step in the Archdiocese’s continual effort to respond to the past sexual abuse of minors by clergy, is being implemented by Timothy Cardinal Dolan, the archbishop of New York, and will provide compensation to victims and survivors of abuse.

“While the Church in general, and particularly here in this Archdiocese, has made great strides in dealing vigorously with clergy accused of abuse, and in preventing acts of abuse through out Safe Environment programs, we continue to hear from victim-survivors that more needs to be done to reach out to those who have been harmed in the past,” said Cardinal Dolan, in a statement.

Rev. Monsignor Peter Finn, vicar of Staten Island, supported Cardinal Dolan’s efforts to reach out to all victims. …

Mary Caplan, former director of the New York chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said she was skeptical of Cardinal Dolan’s proposal.

“I’d encourage victims to think long and hard before approaching church officials or their representatives. I’d urge victims to talk with their own attorneys first,” Caplan said.

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GUAM
KUAM

The Archdiocese of Agana held a press conference this afternoon to provide an update on its effort to reconstitute the Archdiocesan Finance Council. The AFC was disbanded in 2014 by Archbishop Anthony Apuron following allegations of financial mismanagement against Monsignor James Benavente. The Archdiocese however recently cleared him of any wrongdoing.

During the press conference Fr. Jeff San Nicolas announced the following individuals will serve on the newly reconstituted Archdiocesan Finance Council:

– Peter “Sonny” Ada (incumbent)

– Attorney John Weisenberger (incumbent and retired attorney at AG’s office)

– Eduardo “Champ” Calvo (partner, Calvo Fisher Law firm)

– Ricardo Duenas (Chief Financial Officer for Western Sales Trading)

– Art Ilagan (Banking and Insurance Commissioner for DRT)

– Mary Okada (President and CEO of Guam Community College)

– Antonette “Toni” Sanford (president of Sanford Technology Group)

– Joseph Rivera (former AFC member)

– Richard Untalan (former AFC member)

– Edward Terlaje (appointed to act as legal counsel)

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NEW YORK
Noaker Law Firm

Posted on October 6, 2016

By Patrick Noaker

After years of playing hardball with survivors of clergy sexual abuse by using the antiquated New York statute of limitations to have cases dismissed, today, Cardinal Timothy Dolan announced a plan by the Archdiocese of New York to handle claims of sexual abuse by its clergy. The timing of the Cardinal’s and the Archdiocese’s sudden interest in sexual abuse survivors is suspicious.

According to NBC – New York, the Archdiocese of New York will create a compensation program for people who were abused by Catholic clergymen in the past. This program will be administered by Kenneth Feinberg, who served as a mediator of the federal September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. There will be no cap on compensation or a statue of limitations on the claims, the archdiocese said. The compensation fund will be paid for with a long-term loan, the archdiocese said.

It is appropriate to approach this sudden interest in sexual abuse survivors given Dolan’s history of manipulating abuse survivors using a similar “plan” when he was the Archbishop of Milwaukee. Will this New York “plan” be similar to the plan in Milwaukee? That plan required survivors of sexual abuse to participate in a process that excluded their attorneys, provided very small payments to those survivors and involved hardball tactics by the Archdiocese to coerce survivors to give up their rights. Ultimately, then, Archbishop Dolan’s plan proved to be a way to exclude as many sexual abuse survivors as possible from bringing claims in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy.

This last year, the New York legislature came very close to passing sincere statute of limitations reform for sexual abuse claims. This is where sexual abuse claims should be resolved. When someone files a case with a court, the community has the benefit of knowing the identity of the perpetrator. When someone files a case with a court, the survivor has the benefit of the civil discovery process to force institutions to divulge documents and testimony regarding the abuse. When someone files a case, there is a judge overseeing the case to insure that one side is not abusing the process or the survivor. When someone files a case, the amount of money recovered is directly related to the amount of damage suffered, without the use of guilt or other religious manipulation.

Without question, the best solution for providing real assistance to sexual abuse survivors is to pass a meaningful statute of limitation reform that would open the courts to these claims. This is the best way to provide support to survivors of sexual abuse.

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CALIFORNIA
Daily Mail (UK)

By RYAN PARRY WEST COAST CORRESPONDENT FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

A perverted Catholic priest with a track record of sexual harassment has been accused of molesting a housekeeper and sending her sexually-explicit photos – despite having completed a Church-ordered course of therapy for ‘sexual deviancy’.

Fr Ramon Palomera is accused of forcing the housekeeper to give him massages, fondling her legs, exposing his genitals to her and bombarding her with explicit pictures of his penis, according to a lawsuit seen by DailyMail.com.

The alleged sexual harassment took place at St Francis Xavier church in Los Angeles between 2014 to 2015 – just four years after he was removed from neighboring St Augustine’s church for sexual harassing another female employee over a seven-year period.

The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday by leading civil rights attorney Mark Geragos states that between 2003 and 2010 Palomera sexually harassed a female employee at St Augustine Church, in the Culver City area of Los Angeles.

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NEW YORK
Christian Science Monitor

By Steven Porter, Staff OCTOBER 6, 2016

A compensation program unveiled Thursday by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York will offer money to victims of sexual abuse if they agree by Jan. 31 to forgo lawsuits and work with an independent mediator instead.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan announced the plan, calling the abuse perpetrated by priests and deacons a “nauseating” sin that has “gravely wounded the church.” But critics denounced the program as a ploy to limit the church’s liability before state legislators can vote on a proposal to make it easier for victims to sue.

“Dolan’s plan does nothing to expose those who have committed or concealed devastating crimes against kids. His goal here is to forestall real legislative reform that would enable deeply wounded victims from using courts to reveal clergy wrongdoers,” Barbara Dorris, the outreach director for the support and advocacy group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said in a statement.

Over the past 15 years, the Catholic Church has been dogged by sex abuse scandals involving priests who were transferred from one community to the next, instead of being defrocked. As cases have come to light, the organization has faced heavy public criticism and paid tens of millions of dollars in settlements in the United States.

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NEW YORK
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York

ARCHDIOCESE OF NEW YORK

INDEPENDENT RECONCILIATION AND COMPENSATION PROGRAM (“IRCP”)
COMPENSATION OF CERTAIN INDIVIDUAL CLAIMS OF CLERGY SEXUAL ABUSE

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (“FAQs”)

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

OCTOBER 6, 2016

I. FAQs Pertaining to the Terms and Conditions of the Independent
Reconciliation and Compensation Program (“IRCP”) Protocol.

1. What Is The Independent Reconciliation And Compensation Program?

The Reconciliation and Compensation Program is an independent settlement program administered by Kenneth R. Feinberg, a highly regarded mediator. The goal of the Program is to resolve sexual abuse claims brought to the attention of the Archdiocese by individual claimants during past years which have not been resolved. The Administrators of the Program have complete autonomy to determine eligibility of individual claims and the amount of compensation for victims that come forward with a claim. The Program will be monitored and advised by an Independent Oversight Committee comprised of former Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, Judge Loretta Preska and Dr. Jeanette Cueva who will oversee implementation and administration of the IRCP. Commissioner Kelly serves as Chair of the Independent Oversight Committee. The Committee has no authority to modify or reject any individual claim determinations governing eligibility and compensation rendered by the Independent Administrators or to act as an appeal board for any claimant.

2. Who May File A Claim?

To be eligible to file a claim with the Program, the claimant must have previously notified the Archdiocese alleging sexual abuse of a minor by clergy of the Archdiocese. A claim may be made only against a priest or deacon of the Archdiocese of New York and no other diocese or religious order. You may also register for Phase II of the Program. See No. 9 below

3. Will Filing A Claim Cost Money?

No. There is no fee associated with filing a claim with the Program. You may, however, incur fees from professionals such as lawyers, should you choose to engage their services. The Program will not pay for or reimburse you for such fees. However, it will provide you a lawyer free of charge, if you so request, for the purpose of explaining to you the nature of the release an eligible individual claimant must sign in return for receiving Program compensation.

4. What Proof Will I Have To Submit To Receive Compensation From The Program?

In this initial phase, you must have previously notified the Archdiocese of an allegation of such abuse. In addition, you will be required to submit documentation to show evidence of the nature, frequency, location and time of the alleged sexual abuse.

5. What Happens After A Claim Is Filed?

Once your Claim Form and supporting documentation are received, the Administrators will process your claim promptly. You will receive written notice by mail or by email of the receipt of your claim. Claims are reviewed by the Administrators on a rolling basis. Upon completion of the review of your claim by the Administrators, you will either be notified of the determination of your claim, or notification of deficiencies in documentation and requests for additional documentation, if necessary.

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NEW YORK
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York

ARCHDIOCESE OF NEW YORK

INDEPENDENT RECONCILIATION AND COMPENSATION PROGRAM (“IRCP”) ADDRESSING CLAIMS OF CLERGY SEXUAL ABUSE OF MINORS

October 6, 2016

PROTOCOL

FOR

Compensation of Certain Individual Claims of Clergy Sexual Abuse of Minors
Previously Submitted to the Archdiocese of New York

I. PURPOSE

This Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program (the “IRCP”) follows in the wake of initiatives already implemented by the Archdiocese of New York (the “Archdiocese”) to address the problem of sexual abuse of minors alleged against clergy of the Archdiocese The IRCP is a new program designed to compensate eligible victims of abuse[1].

During past years, the Archdiocese has received various individual complaints alleging sexual abuse by clergy of the Archdiocese. This Protocol outlines the eligibility criteria requirements and the process for these individuals to submit and resolve claims alleging such sexual abuse. This Protocol governs only those individual claims previously submitted to the Archdiocese and will be considered Phase I of a two-phase Program.

The effective date of this Phase I Protocol is October 6, 2016. Additional claims alleging similar abuse not previously reported shall be considered during Phase II of this Program, commencing on or about February 1, 2017. Individuals who wish to participate in Phase II may immediately register with the Administrators on the Program website by providing their names, contact information and a summary description of the nature of the claim, including the dates, time, location of the alleged abuse and name of the alleged perpetrator. Such information will be maintained in strict confidence in conjunction with Phase II of this Program except that it will be forwarded to the local office of the District Attorney by the registrant and the Archdiocese for initial review of the allegations. In addition, the Archdiocese will have the matter investigated by outside investigators and examined by the Archdiocese Lay Review Board. If requested, individuals who register for Phase II will be sent information regarding the Phase II process when it becomes available.

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NEW YORK
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York

The Archdiocese of New York today announced another step in its efforts to respond to the scourge of sexual abuse of minors by clergy with the establishment of a voluntary Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program (IRCP) that will seek to promote healing and bring closure by providing compensation to victim-survivors of abuse by priests or deacons of the archdiocese.

The program, to be administered by the renowned mediator Mr. Kenneth Feinberg, was put into place by Timothy Cardinal Dolan, the Archbishop of New York. The archdiocese has already begun reaching out to those victim-survivors who have previously notified the archdiocese that they had suffered abuse by a member of the clergy of the archdiocese in order to invite them to participate in the program. Mr. Feinberg and his colleague, Ms. Camille Biros, will have complete autonomy in deciding compensation for victim-survivors, and the archdiocese has agreed that it will abide by their decisions.

Former Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska, and Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University Jeanette Cueva, M.D., an expert in child psychiatry, have agreed to serve as an Independent Oversight Committee, to oversee the implementation and administration of the IRCP. Commissioner Kelly, Judge Preska, and Dr. Cueva have reviewed and approved the Protocol of the IRCP, and they will continue to oversee the implementation and administration of the program, although the decisions reached by Mr. Feinberg and Ms. Biros regarding compensation to victim-survivors are final and cannot be appealed or overturned by the archdiocese or the Independent Oversight Committee.

In announcing the IRCP, Cardinal Dolan said, “The program we are establishing today will, please God, help bring a measure of peace and healing to those who have suffered abuse by a member of the clergy of this archdiocese. While the Church, particularly here in New York, has made great strides in working with the ten district attorneys who serve in this archdiocese and in dealing with clergy accused of abuse, as well as in preventing acts of abuse through our Safe Environment programs, we continue to hear from victim-survivors that more needs to be done to reach out to those who have been hurt in the past. We have been told, time and again, by victim-survivors that they are not principally interested in money, but instead are seeking some tangible sign of the Church’s desire for healing and reconciliation. As this Year of Mercy nears its conclusion, it is only appropriate that we take this opportunity to ask forgiveness for mistakes made in the past by those representing the Church, myself and my predecessors included, and seek reconciliation with those who have been harmed and feel alienated from the Church because of its past conduct.”

“I wish to thank Mr. Feinberg and his colleague, Ms. Camille Biros, for taking on this assignment, and pledge to them that the archdiocese will respect and honor any decision they make regarding compensation for those who suffered abuse by a member of the clergy of this archdiocese. I am also grateful to Commissioner Kelly, Judge Preska, and Dr. Cueva for their leadership and service,” the Cardinal concluded.

“As we begin this assignment, we are pleased to work with His Eminence, Commissioner Kelly Judge Preska and Professor Cueva. We hope the program will be successful and that any victims of abuse come forward in a timely fashion to seek compensation through this independent program,” said Mr. Feinberg.

Commissioner Kelly, who is serving as chair of the Independent Oversight Committee, said, “I commend Cardinal Dolan for his proactive leadership in redressing the wrongs committed in the past by some clergy in the New York Archdiocese. I’m honored to support the IRCP as it seeks to provide justice and restitution to victims of abuse.”

After Mr. Feinberg and Ms. Biros have completed Phase I, they will begin Phase II, to review additional allegations brought against known offenders as well as new allegations brought against clergy who have not previously been alleged to have engaged in misbehavior. Anyone bringing forward a new allegation will be required to follow the policy of the archdiocese to notify the appropriate district attorney’s office, so that they might determine if a crime has been committed. Such allegations will also be examined by the archdiocesan lay review board.

The archdiocese will take a long-term loan to cover the cost of compensating victim-survivors. It will leverage other archdiocesan assets – not intended by donors for a specific use – to pay it back. The archdiocese will not use money given by the people of the archdiocese to support parishes, schools, and charitable works, nor will it use funds from the annual Cardinal’s Stewardship Appeal, the newly initiated capital campaign Renew and Rebuild, or money given by a donor for a specific ministry or apostolate.

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NEW YORK
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York

FOR
Compensation of Certain Individual Claims of Clergy Sexual Abuse of Minors Previously Submitted to the Archdiocese of New York (Phase I)

An Independent Compensation Program to pay victims of clergy sexual abuse of minors was announced today by Kenneth R. Feinberg, Administrator of the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program of the Archdiocese of New York, (“IRCP”). At a Press Conference held at the Catholic Center of the New York Archdiocese, Mr. Feinberg stated that “as we begin this assignment, we are pleased to work with His Eminence, Cardinal Timothy Dolan and the distinguished members of the IRCP Independent Oversight Committee. We hope the Program will be successful and that victims will come forward in a timely fashion to participate in the Program.”

Administrators, Kenneth R. Feinberg and Camille Biros, explained the most important features of the Reconciliation and Compensation Program:

* The Program is purely voluntary; no individual is required to participate in the Program. Only if the individual is satisfied with the compensation provided does the individual agree to waive rights to litigate against the New York Archdiocese.

* The Program is limited in scope to those individuals who previously submitted a complaint of sexual abuse of minors to the New York Archdiocese. Individuals who allege clergy sexual abuse, but have not previously complained to the Archdiocese, will have an opportunity to seek compensation next year during Phase II of this Program. These individuals may register immediately with the Program at this time, providing their names, contact information and a summary description of the nature of the claim, including the dates, time, location of the alleged abuse and the name of the alleged perpetrator.

* Mr. Feinberg and Ms. Biros retain complete and sole discretion over all compensation awards to eligible victims, including eligibility to participate in the Program and the amounts of compensation. By agreement, the Archdiocese cannot reject the Administrators’ final determinations as to eligibility and amount of compensation. The Independent Oversight Committee will oversee the implementation and administration of the IRCP.

* The Program has no aggregate cap; the Archdiocese has agreed to pay what the Administrators deem appropriate in each and every individual case.

* Individuals filing a claim with the Administrators will be required to offer proof of such sexual abuse.

* Individuals who previously settled their sexual abuse claims with the Archdiocese will not be permitted to participate in the Program.

* Individuals who allege sexual abuse as a minor by a member of a religious order or clergy of another diocese are not eligible to participate in the Program although the claims will be forwarded to the superior of the religious order or bishop of such diocese

* Eligible claims will be paid within 60 days from the time that a submitted claim is deemed eligible and compensation is determined.

* The effective date of the Program is October 6, 2016. All claims submitted to the Administrators must be postmarked no later than January 31, 2017.

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NEW YORK
Catholic New York

www.NYArchdiocese-IRCPSettlementProgram.com

The Archdiocese of New York today announced another step in its ongoing efforts to respond to the past scourge of sexual abuse of minors by clergy with the establishment of a voluntary Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program (IRCP) that will seek to promote healing and bring closure by providing compensation to victim-survivors of abuse by priests or deacons of the archdiocese.

The program, to be administered by the renowned mediator Mr. Kenneth Feinberg, was put into place by Timothy Cardinal Dolan, the Archbishop of New York.

The archdiocese has already begun reaching out to those victim-survivors who have previously notified the archdiocese that they had suffered abuse by a member of the clergy of the archdiocese in order to invite them to participate in Phase I of the program.

Mr. Feinberg and his colleague, Ms. Camille Biros, will have complete autonomy in deciding compensation for victim-survivors, and the archdiocese has agreed that it will abide by their decisions.

Former Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska, and Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University Jeanette Cueva, M.D., an expert in child psychiatry, have agreed to serve as an Independent Oversight Committee, to oversee the implementation and administration of the IRCP.

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NEW YORK
CBS New York

[with video]

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Cardinal Timothy Dolan has announced a new program designed to bring peace to victims of sexual abuse from clergy members of the Archdiocese of New York.

The “Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program,” led by mediator Kenneth Feinberg and associate Camile Biros, will work with victims who have reported sexual abuse, as well as review new cases of abuse if and when they are reported.

“I hear from you, my people, that, while still bruised and angry about this past crisis, you do appreciate very much the reform and progress that has been made,” Dolan said in a statement Thursday. “But, you also tell me that more outreach needs to be done to the victim-survivors. I hope this helps.”

Victims will be offered payments from a fund administered by Feinberg, who oversaw compensation for victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, CBS2 reported.

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NEW YORK
KUOW

By ALEC HAMILTON

The head of New York City’s Catholic Church is setting up a new compensation fund for victims of clergy sex abuse.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan says the fund will be led by Kenneth Feinburg, the attorney who headed up the September 11th Victims compensation fund.

The announcement comes two days after cardinal was met by protesters during a visit to a catholic high school in Kingston, angry because Dolan wouldn’t back legislation known as the Child Victims Act. The bill removes the statute of limitations on cases of child sex abuse and allows a one-year look-back window for victims to revive old civil cases.

Gary Greenberg, founder of the Political Action Committee Protect NY Kids, was one of the protesters Monday. He says while he cheers any move to protect children, his organization will continue to push for a bill which would allow a one-year period to reopen cases that had already passed the statute of limitations.

“He needs to support the one year look-back. When he comes out and supports that, then we can say he’s a hundred percent behind children’s safety,” Greenberg said.

The program will consist of a three-person independent committee to oversee administration, made up of Former Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska, and Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University Dr. Jeanette Cueva.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY
RYAN SIT
LARRY MCSHANE
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Thursday, October 6, 2016

Timothy Cardinal Dolan unveiled a new archdiocesan program Thursday aimed at financially compensating scores of victims sexually abused by Catholic Church clergy.

An independent oversight committee will review 170 abuse cases from the last 40 years as the church attempts to resolve the crippling abuse scandal internally, the cardinal told a Manhattan news conference.

“One group of members in the church’s family that still has deep scars and awaits fuller healing and reconciliation are victim survivors,” said Dolan. “The wounds of many continue to fester, and they understandably tell us they await more compassion.”

The Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program will evaluate all claims to determine if the alleged victim is entitled to a settlement, according to the archdiocese.

Filing a complaint with the appropriate district attorney is a prerequisite for compensation, and the IRCP administrators will determine the appropriate payment for qualifying victims.

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NEW YORK
PIX 11

[with video]

OCTOBER 6, 2016, BY MARY MURPHY

NEW YORK — Victims of sex abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy will be paid as part of a newly created program by the church in New York, Archbishop of New York Timothy Cardinal Dolan announced Thursday.

“One sin, one crime, one scandal has gravely wounded us in the Church,” Dolan said about the sexual abuse of minors by priests.

He called sex abuse by priests “nauseating.”

Dolan said the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program (IRCP) will be financed by a long-term loan, that no fundraising money or parishioners’ donations will be utilized, and the program will be overseen by Kenneth Feinberg, a well-known mediator and attorney who administered the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.

Decisions about individual compensation will be made by an independent oversight committee, comprised of former NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska, and Dr. Jeanette Gueva of Columbia University, an expert in child psychiatry.

The announcement comes as advocates are pressing lawmakers to make it easier to sue abusers.

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NEW YORK
Yahoo! News

By Daniel Trotta

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Roman Catholic Church in New York has created an arbitration system for child victims of sexually abusive priests, providing an opportunity for compensation to accusers who are shut out from filing civil lawsuits by statutes of limitations.

The Archdiocese of New York said on Thursday the program would be administered by Kenneth Feinberg, the influential Washington lawyer who has directed funds for victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and several mass shootings.

Feinberg and Camille Biros, a longtime associate who has worked with Feinberg on other compensation funds, will have “complete autonomy,” the church said.

The archdiocese has agreed to abide by their decisions, no matter how much money Feinberg and Biros might award to victims. Former New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska and child psychiatry expert Jeanette Cueva will comprise an oversight committee.

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NEW YORK
Wall Street Journal

By KATE KING
Updated Oct. 6, 2016

The Archdiocese of New York announced Thursday that it was setting up a program to compensate survivors of sexual abuse perpetrated by Roman Catholic priests and deacons over the past several decades.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan said an Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program would be administered by Kenneth Feinberg, who served as the Special Master of the federal government’s compensation fund for victims of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Mr. Feinberg and his colleague, Camille Biros, will have autonomy in determining compensation awards, which the church has committed to pay in full, Cardinal Dolan said.

The archdiocese will take out a long-term loan to pay compensation costs. Cardinal Dolan declined during a press conference Thursday to speculate as to how much money might be spent.

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NEW YORK
Washington Post

By Sarah Pulliam Bailey October 6

NEW YORK — Cardinal Timothy Dolan said Thursday that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York has created a mediated compensation program for people who were sexually abused by church leaders.

Abuse survivors who are willing to waive the right to sue could in exchange receive financial compensation at an amount set by an independent mediator; a plan that mirrors compensation for victims of 9/11, the BP oil spill and the Pennsylvania State University sex abuse scandal.

Some dioceses have created similar compensation on a much smaller scale, but Dolan’s plan is significant, said Marci Hamilton, an expert who has represented hundreds of sexual-abuse survivors. Advocates for sex abuse victims have been fighting for reform in New York on the statute of limitations, the time victims have to file lawsuits.

New York has a statute of limitations that is one of the most restrictive in the country: Victims have until they turn 23 to file lawsuits. The archdiocese’s plan gives victims who may not want to go to court a chance to be financially compensated.

Some sex abuse survivor advocates see the plan as Dolan’s attempt to quietly deal with cases before New York’s legislature moves ahead on a proposal to change the statute of limitations.

“It’s a good addition, but it can’t be a substitution for statute of limitations reform,” said Hamilton, who is chief executive and academic director for CHILD USA and a distinguished scholar at University of Pennsylvania.

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Oct. 6, 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)

New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan is announcing a unilateral plan to compensate clergy sex abuse victims. It’s too little, too late and designed to mollify lawmakers and others who feel justice should be dispensed by objective parties – like judges and juries – instead of by self-serving Catholic officials who are concealing heinous crimes.

[NBC New York]

Dolan’s plan does nothing to expose those who have committed or concealed devastating crimes against kids. His goal here is to forestall real legislative reform that would enable deeply wounded victims from using courts to reveal clergy wrongdoers.

No matter what lawmakers or church officials do or don’t do, we urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups in Catholic churches or institutions to protect kids by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling law enforcement, get justice by calling attorneys, and be comforted by calling support groups like ours. This is how kids will be safer, adults will recover, criminals will be prosecuted, cover ups will be deterred and the truth will surface.

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release, October 6, 2016

Statement by Mary Caplan of New York City (Manhattan), former director of SNAP’s New York chapter

As a child, I was abused by a New Jersey priest who took me to New York City and abused me there. I’m very skeptical of Cardinal Dolan’s proposal. It seems like it’s straight out of the US bishops’ lobbying, legal defense and public relations playbook.

Most of all, victims want to protect kids and deter cover ups by exposing corrupt clerics in court. Bishops oppose this. So when victims look like they may get their day in court, bishops feel pressure and take unilateral steps to pacify or pay them off, exploiting their depression and desperation over mounting medical bills, severe therapy needs and continuing personal pain.

When victims get close to trials, bishops often claim bankruptcy so they can protect themselves and their secrets.

When legislators get close to reforming statutes of limitations, so victims can pursue trials, bishops propose or adopt unilateral and seemingly voluntary moves to pacify them too. Bishops post predators’ names on church websites or hold healing masses or pledge to help victims financially. Then, when pressure abates, bishops go back to “business as usual.”

But nearly every step bishops take about clergy sex crimes and cover ups is motivated by their desperate desire to keep their own cover ups covered up.

Parishioners, parents and the public should demand that Dolan offer help without demanding that victims sign away their legal rights.

I’d encourage victims to think long and hard before approaching church officials or their representatives. I’d urge victims to talk with their own attorneys first. And I’d encourage every New York parent and parishioner to keep pushing for real justice, prevention and healing by prodding lawmakers to end or extend the state’s archaic, predator-friendly statute of limitations.

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NEW YORK
Road to Recovery

MEDIA CONFERENCE SCHEDULED FOR FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2016 AT 11:00 AM IN FRONT OF ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL, FIFTH AVENUE AND EAST 50th STREET, MANHATTAN

Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity based in New Jersey that has assisted and continues to assist thousands of victims of sexual abuse and their families, is wary of the establishment of the New York Archdiocesan “Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program” by Cardinal Timothy Dolan for the following reasons:

1) The program was designed by Cardinal Timothy Dolan and the Archdiocese of New York and they are the respondents in the so-called 170 actions against the Archdiocese of New York. The Archdiocese of New York is neither independent nor capable of establishing a “restorative justice” model of compensation because it has a track record of allowing and enabling clergy sexual abuse, hiding clergy sexual abuse, and keeping secret documents concerning clergy sexual abuse.

2) Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who is the past President of National Conference of Catholic Bishops, has led efforts to defeat legislation across the country that would enable victims to gain justice through civil and criminal courts.

3) Non-monetary settlements such as release of archival records of sexual abuse by the Catholic Church are not included in the program.

4) It appears that the program is meant to pacify clergy sexual abuse victims and legislators so that legislation extending the statute of limitations regarding sexual abuse cases is not enacted.

Contacts
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., Road to Recovery, Inc. – 862-368-2800 – roberthoatson@gmail.com
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, Boston, MA – 617-523-6250

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

John O’Connor | Post News Staff

Following the exoneration of Monsignor James Benavente of financial mismanagement during his time as rector of the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica, the Archdiocese of Agana has now reconstituted the Archdiocesan Finance Council. During a press conference at the basilica yesterday afternoon, Rev. Jeff San Nicolas, the delegate to Apostolic Administrator Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, announced that nine members would comprise the new council effective immediately. Of the nine, there are five new members, two former members and two incumbents. The incumbents’ terms expire at the end of the year.

Lawsuit concerns

A main purpose of the council, according to San Nicolas, is to help address potential lawsuits that may stem from the lifting of the statute of limitations for civil cases involving sexual abuse, which became law last month.

“That’s a major part of their task,” he added.

Hon had expressed concern over the law, stating that it may potentially lead to loss of major assets for the church. He asked for Gov. Eddie Calvo to veto the measure but thanked him for signing the law anyway when it was enacted.

“We acknowledge the agony suffered by victims of child sexual abuse by clergy and the responsibility the Archdiocese has to bear,” a church release stated. “The Archdiocese is developing a dedicated fund as one way to help persons who have been gravely hurt in this way by clergy.”

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NEW YORK
NY1

[with video]

NEW YORK – Cardinal Timothy Dolan on Thursday unveiled a program aimed at helping victims of sex abuse in the Catholic Church.

The Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program will provide funds for victims abused by priests within the archdiocese.

Over the past 40 years there have been about 200 victims and 40 priests involved in sexual abuse claims.

Cardinal Dolan says the program is another step in reforming the Church.

“The survivors tells us that while it’s not all about money, a tangible sign of the church’s outreach and sense of reparation would indeed be helpful,” Dolan said.

“I’m certainly honored to support in any way I can the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program as they seek to move forward to bring justice and restitution to those who were abused,” said IRCP Oversight Committee Member and former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly.

The advocacy group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests or SNAP blasted Thursday’s announcement saying, “It’s too little, too late and designed to mollify lawmakers and others who feel justice should be dispensed by objective parties – like judges and juries – instead of by self-serving Catholic officials who are concealing heinous crimes.”

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NEW YORK
Times Telegram

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York said Thursday that it has created a compensation program for people who were sexually abused by priests or deacons and are willing to forego lawsuits in exchange for an award to be determined by an independent mediator. Some advocates for sex abuse victims immediately assailed the program as an attempt to squash cases quickly, before New York’s legislature acts on a proposal to make it easier for victims to sue over abuse that happened years ago.

By The Associeted Press

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York said Thursday that it has created a compensation program for people who were sexually abused by priests or deacons and are willing to forego lawsuits in exchange for an award to be determined by an independent mediator.

Some advocates for sex abuse victims immediately assailed the program as an attempt to squash cases quickly, before New York’s legislature acts on a proposal to make it easier for victims to sue over abuse that happened years ago.

Under the plan, announced by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, people with abuse claims already pending with the church would have a limited time window — until Jan. 31 — to apply for compensation.

The archdiocese said it had hired mediators Camille Biros and Kenneth Feinberg to evaluate the claims and decide how much victims would be paid.

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NEW YORK
New York Times

By SHARON OTTERMAN and SAMANTHA SCHMIDT
OCT. 6, 2016

The Archdiocese of New York has established an independent compensation commission that will allow victims of sexual abuse by clergy to apply for monetary compensation from the church, even for abuse claims that are decades old, church leaders said Thursday.

The commission will be headed by Kenneth Feinberg, who ran the federal Sept. 11 victims fund. It will have independent authority to determine eligibility for the awards and their amounts, church officials said. The archdiocese said it would borrow the money to pay for the awards, which could easily run into the millions.

Some 200 sexual abuse victims have come forward to the archdiocese over the years, in cases involving some 40 priests. To date, only about 30 of them have received compensation, church leaders said.

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, the archbishop of New York, said he was inspired by Pope Francis in forming the commission and hoped it would become a model for other archdioceses. “I wish I would have done this quite a while ago,” he said in an interview. “I just finally thought, ‘Darn it, let’s do it. I’m tired of putting it off.’”

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NEW YORK
WABC

MIDTOWN, Manhattan (WABC) — The Archdiocese of New York has announced a compensation program for victims of sexual abuse by clergy.

Timothy Cardinal Dolan made the announcement Thursday morning at the New York Catholic Center in Midtown.

Dolan said Thursday the archdiocese will take out a long-term loan. There is no cap on compensation, which will be determined by an independent administrator.

Dolan called sex abuse by priests “nauseating” and said it’s a sin that has “gravely wounded the church.”

The administrator is attorney Kenneth Feinberg, who has overseen compensation for victims of the Sept. 11 attacks and other tragedies.

Decisions about the eligibility and the level of compensation will be made by administrators, not the cardinal or archdiocese, Feinberg said. The program begins with Phase 1 immediately; 150 victims who submitted a claim in the last 30 to 40 years will be evaluated and compensated if eligible by January.

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NEW YORK
NBC New York

By Andrew Siff

The Archdiocese of New York will create a compensation program for people who were abused by Catholic clergymen in the past, Cardinal Timothy Dolan announced on Thursday.

In a news release Thursday, the archdiocese said that it will take about four months for the more than 170 survivors to come forward to have their claims for compensation reviewed.

The archdiocese said it has already started contacting survivors who had previously told the church that they had been abused by the clergy.

“The program we are establishing today will, please God, help bring a measure of peace and healing to those who have suffered abuse by a member of the clergy of this archdiocese,” Dolan said in a statement.

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NEW YORK
Fox News

Published October 06, 2016 Associated Press

NEW YORK – The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York is announcing a compensation program for sex abuse victims as advocates press state lawmakers to make it easier to sue abusers.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan said Thursday the archdiocese will take out a long-term loan. There is no cap on compensation, which will be determined by an independent administrator.

Dolan called sex abuse by priests “nauseating” and said it’s a sin that has “gravely wounded the church.”

The administrator is attorney Kenneth Feinberg, who has overseen compensation for victims of the Sept. 11 attacks and other tragedies.

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CONNECTICUT
Hamlet Hub

A Service of Peace, Hope and Healing for those who have been impacted by Sexual Abuse as Minors by Clergy, will be held at Fairfield University Egan Chapel at 7:00PM on Wednesday November 2.

The Most Rev. Frank Caggiano, Bishop of Bridgeport, will lead the gathering in prayer and will speak at the service, which will include music and readings as well as personal reflections by survivors of sexual abuse as minors by priests.

The prayer service is being coordinated by a planning group of survivors, in conjunction with the Diocese of Bridgeport.

“Sexual abuse has an impact on all members of the body of the Christ. We hope this will be a start of new opportunities for healing across our Diocese. There is no more important work during this Year of Mercy. I am very grateful to the survivors who have taken the leadership in planning this service as a way of bringing healing to the lives of so many who have been wounded by sexual abuse,” said Bishop Caggiano.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Thomas E. Connolly was ordained for the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus in 1963. After several years in the Madison and Green Bay dioceses in WI, he spent much of the 1970s among the Colville Indians in WA state. In 1977 he began a long career at Sacred Heart in Desmet ID, which is a Coeur d’Alene Indian Mission. Connolly was also affiliated with Gonzaga University. He retired to the Regis Jesuit Community in Spokane in 2010.

Connolly’s name was included on the Jesuits’ Oregon Province’s list in 2011 of perpetrators of sexual abuse, which included “all members of the province who are identified as perpetrators of sexual abuse in proofs of claims filed in the bankruptcy case, and who have not denied the allegation.”

Ordained: 1963
Retired: 2010

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , Pacific Daily News October 6, 2016

The Catholic church’s financial arm is now fully reconstituted, with nine members to help the church reposition its assets in anticipation of lawsuits by alleged victims of clergy abuse on Guam.

Father Jeffrey San Nicolas, delegate of Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, announced seven new members will join two incumbents on the newly reconstituted Archdiocesan Finance Council , effective immediately.

“After careful consideration of the background and expertise of each of these individuals, I am confident, along with Archbishop Hon, that this group will help move the archdiocese forward during this time in our church’s history,” San Nicolas said during a news conference Thursday afternoon.

The seven new appointees, each with a three-year term, are:

* Attorney Eduardo “Champ” Calvo, a partner at Calvo Fisher & Jacob law firm;
* Ricardo “Rick” Duenas, chief financial officer at Western Sales Trading Co.;
* Art Ilagan, banking and insurance commissioner at the Department of Revenue and Taxation;
* Mary A.Y. Okada, president and chief executive officer of Guam Community College;
* Antoinette “Toni” Sanford, president of Sanford Technology Group;
* Joseph E. Rivera, chief financial officer of Calvo Enterprises; and
* Richard Untalan, president and chief operating officer of CU Holdings Inc.

“They bring specific and combined expertise to the Archdiocesan Finance Council in the areas of business and finance, law, tax, insurance, banking, real property and institutional management, among other skills, knowledge and experience,” San Nicolas said. “All of the members are active in the community, serving or have served in a variety of nonprofit, government, education and church leadership roles.”

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UNITED STATES
The Atlantic

KAYLEIGH ROBERTS OCT 5, 2016

In August, the comedian and former Inside Amy Schumer writer Kurt Metzger reignited a national conversation about victim-blaming when he posted a series of rants on social media criticizing the ways women report being the victim of a crime and the effects of those reports on the accused. After the Upright Citizens Brigade theater in New York banned a performer in the wake of several women accusing him of sexual assault and abuse, Metzger took to Facebook.

“I know because women said it and that’s all I need! Never you mind who they are. They are women! ALL women are as reliable as my bible! A book that, much like a women, is incapable of lying!” Metzger wrote in a now-deleted Facebook post. He went on to seemingly criticize women for not going to the police, adding “If we ask them to even merely also post a vague account of what happened before asking us to believe that would like re-raping their rape!”

Metzger’s former boss and outspoken feminist Amy Schumer, was inevitably drawn into the storm of commentary and discussion that followed. Schumer publicly denounced Metzger’s comments, tweeting, “I am so saddened and disappointed in Kurt Metzger. He is my friend and a great writer and I couldn’t be more against his recent actions.”

Victim-blaming comes in many forms, and is oftentimes more subtle, and unconscious than Metzger’s tirade. It can apply to cases of rape and sexual assault, but also to more mundane crimes, like a person who gets pickpocketed and is then chided for his decision to carry his wallet in his back pocket. Any time someone defaults to questioning what a victim could have done differently to prevent a crime, he or she is participating, to some degree, in the culture of victim-blaming.

While victim-blaming isn’t entirely universal (some individuals’ experiences, background, and culture make them significantly less likely to victim-blame), in some ways, it is a natural psychological reaction to crime. Not everyone who engages in victim-blaming explicitly accuses someone of failing to prevent what happened to them. In fact, in its more understated forms, people may not always realize they’re doing it. Something as simple as hearing about a crime and thinking you would have been more careful had you been in the victim’s shoes is a mild form of victim-blaming.

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KANSAS
WIBW

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW)- A Topeka pastor has been arrested for the second time in a week. He’s accused of disorderly conduct and battery on a law enforcement officer.

Topeka police arrested Greg Varney Wednesday night after officers responded to check on his welfare. He had reportedly left a nearby hospital and was behaving erratically.

Police say officers found Varney in the 1900 block of SW 10th Street where he wouldn’t accept help and was then taken into custody. He was arrested for disorderly conduct and battery on a law enforcement officer.

Varney was also arrested last week in connection to an aggravated assault. The Light of the World Church said his behavior causing last week’s arrest was due to a medical condition.

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KANSAS
Topeka Capital Journal

October 6, 2016

By Phil Anderson
phil.anderson@cjonline.com

For the second time in a week, a Topeka minister was behind bars Thursday morning after being arrested Wednesday night at a midtown taco shop, authorities said.

Pastor Greg Varney, who with his wife Debbie founded Light of the World Christian Center in 1985, was arrested by Topeka police following an incident at 1901 S.W. 10th. The address is for the Mexican Taco Shop.

After his arrest, Varney was booked into the Shawnee County Jail around 8 p.m. Wednesday in connection with: disorderly conduct — brawl or fight; obstruction of official duty; and battery on a law enforcement officer.

As of 7:30 a.m. Thursday, Varney remained in jail on a $1,000 bond.

Varney also was jailed last week in connection with aggravated assault. His arrest in that incident came by way of the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office.

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KANSAS
Christian Post

BY LEONARDO BLAIR , CHRISTIAN POST REPORTER
October 3, 2016

Light of the Word Christian Center in Topeka, Kansas, asked supporters of the ministry to pray for the church’s founding Pastor, Greg Varney, after he was arrested last Wednesday on aggravated assault charges stemming from an incident involving one of his daughters.

Pastor Varney and his wife, Debbie, who have been married since 1976, are the parents of five daughters and one son. They also have 12 grandchildren, according to the church’s website.

The pastor’s arrest report from the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office cited by local news station KSNT, said Varney used a vehicle in the assault against his daughter. A churchgoer explained that Varney was arrested after he smashed into another car as he was trying to leave the scene of the assault. He further noted that it was unlike his pastor to act that way.

The Christian Post reached out to the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office on Monday for more details on Varney’s arrest, but Sgt. Andrew Dale, who was authorized to speak on the case, was not available to comment by press time.

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MISSOURI
Riverfront Times

Posted By Danny Wicentowski on Thu, Oct 6, 2016

An elderly priest was set to be honored by St. Louis’ Catholic seminary during an alumni event yesterday — despite the fact that the priest has been accused of sexually abusing several adult women. It was only the advocacy of his victims that led to the seminary removing the priest’s name.

Initially, the schedule posted online for the alumni event at the Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in Shrewsbury included a list of jubilarians, or priests celebrating their 50th anniversary since ordination. One of the priests listed was Fr. George A. Seuferling, who was ordained with the class of 1956.

However, Seuferling is currently in the process of being defrocked. He was first suspended from public ministry in 2011, and three years later the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas announced that it had further restricted Seuferling’s practice of ministry after receiving “two credible allegations of inappropriate conduct.” Seuferling, who retired in 2001, was limited to performing weddings and funerals for family members.

In February 2016, the Archdiocese issued a second announcement about Seuferling. Noting that his suspension was connected to “conduct inconsistent with priestly celibacy,” the Archdiocese stated that it had since received other substantiated allegations of misconduct and was petitioning the Holy See to officially remove Seuferling from the priesthood. The process of defrocking, or laicization, can take years.

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UNITED STATES
Watchtower Documents

Introduction by Barbara Anderson

One thing for sure, unlike celebrities who believe “all publicity is good publicity” even if it’s negative, religious organizations do not want to be in the public eye – except when they can appear in a good light. This is especially true for proselytizers like Jehovah’s Witnesses (who believe that a good image attracts converts) and their corporate head, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.

In the past, it has been a policy of Jehovah’s Witnesses leaders to not reply to negative media reports. They understand that in time the public will have forgotten the information and everything will be back to “business as usual” for them. However, during the last fifteen years, a growing number of reports have surfaced about the problem of molestation of Witness children by other Witnesses that were not reported to the authorities. These kinds of stories continue to be revealed.

As a specialist child abuse lawyer, Richard Scorer points out in his article (and rightly so) about the recent increase of news reports regarding the “significant number of abuse cases that…are raising public awareness…of the issue of child abuse in the Jehovah’s Witnesses…”

Rather than remain quiet, in recent years Jehovah’s Witnesses leaders have gone on the offensive. They’ve taken a hard-line, uncompromising and litigious attitude by endeavouring to stop governmental or judicial inquiries. They’ve fought charges of cover-ups of molestation by claiming “religious exemptions” from scrutiny. This approach doesn’t help their reputation – nor does it dampen the suspicions held by many that they are trying to cover up serious organizational flaws.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Sandra Laville
Thursday 6 October 2016

A comprehensive review of the way the independent child abuse inquiry operates is near completion and will be published within weeks, it is understood.

Prof Alexis Jay, the fourth chair of the troubled £100m inquiry, is understood to have come to conclusions about how to move forward after analysing the multiple investigations and modules that make up the inquiry’s work.

Jay took over the inquiry in August following the sudden departure of Dame Lowell Goddard. She immediately set about reviewing its vast scale and its approach to its investigations. In a letter to victims last month she said of her review: “My aim is to explore new ways to deliver the inquiry’s investigative work while remaining faithful to its terms of reference.

“I will write to you again when the review process has concluded to tell you about any changes that we propose to make and to invite your views.”

Claims that Jay was going to alter the remit of the inquiry, which was set up by Theresa May when she was home secretary, were dismissed by Amber Rudd, May’s successor.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

The Chancery Office of the Archdiocese of Agana has released a statement identifying members of the Reconstituted Archdiocesan Finance Council.

The nine members are Peter “Sonny” Ada, John Weisenberger, Eduardo “Champ” Calvo, Ricardo “Rick” Duenas, Art Illagan, Mary Okada, Antoinette “Toni” Sanford, Joseph E. Rivera and Richard Untalan. Ed Terlaje has been named legal counsel for the finance council. The members of the Reconstituted Archdiocesan Council will take on their new positions effective immediately, according to the archdiocese.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

Michael Sneed
@Sneedlings

Whispers in the nave . . .

It’s called the papal staircase.

Sneed hears Chicago’s Archbishop Blase J. Cupich, a hand-picked favorite of Pope Francis, may be moving up the church ladder soon to becoming a cardinal.

• To wit: Sneed is told Pope Francis, who personally chose Cupich to steer the helm of the nation’s third-largest diocese, just indicated he would “make new cardinals either on Nov. 27, early December or early next year,” according to a Sneed source.

“The pope made these comments on his return flight from Georgia and Azerbaijan,” the source said.

Cupich, who was chosen in 2014 to head Chicago’s 2.2 million Catholics from his post as bishop of a small archdiocese in Spokane, Wash., is not considered an ideologue, but a pastor concerned about his flock and social injustice issues.

“Pope Francis doesn’t want cultural warriors; he doesn’t want ideologues,” Cupich said before he was tapped for his Chicago post. “That’s the new paradigm for us, and it’s making many of us think.”

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VERMONT/RHODE ISLAND
Turn to 10

The Most Rev. Kenneth Angell, a retired Roman Catholic bishop who lost his television-producer brother in the 9/11 attacks, has died. He was 86.

Angell suffered a stroke and died Tuesday at a nursing home in Winooski, the Diocese of Burlington said.

Angell’s brother, David, was the Emmy Award-winning producer of the sitcom “Frasier” and “Wings,” and was aboard the first plane that struck the World Trade Center. At a Mass, the bishop prayed for the victims and the perpetrators, saying, “I am a Christian. I have to forgive, so I do.” …

Angell expressed dismay at revelations of clergy sexual abuse.

“I was so moved by the testimony of those abused. My heart went out to the victims – each of these people whose lives have been so deeply affected by offending clergy,” he said.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philly.com

The Pennsylvania Senate can redeem itself by supporting a bill it earlier gutted that would expand both the criminal and civil statutes of limitation on child sex abuse. The legislation would allow pedophilia victims who were assaulted years ago to sue institutions that protected their abusers for decades.

The House is expected to pass its original bill and send it to the Senate before it recesses for the November election. This time, the Senate must stand up to the type of vigorous opposition it received earlier from the insurance industry, Archbishop Charles Chaput, and other leading Catholics.

Sexual assault offenders shouldn’t get to avoid punishment. Neither should the church or any other institution be exempt if, by its actions or inaction, it played a role in protecting a criminal. In a report earlier this year, a state grand jury said the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown had covered up an “epidemic” of child abuse. That should never happen again.

Opponents argue that in allowing victims to retroactively file suit for crimes that occurred years earlier, the bill would violate the state constitution’s Remedies Clause, which protects the rights of defendants. But while interim Attorney General Bruce L. Castor Jr. agreed with that opinion, current Attorney General Bruce Beemer has said he does not.

Chaput said he is also concerned about the “financial burden” and “heavy penalties” that the church may face as a result of the legislation. But the church’s potential financial losses can’t compare with the mental duress that abuse victims have endured since childhood.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times

By Kathleen E. Carey, Delaware County Daily Times

For almost 40 years, Debbie Williamson Warren has lived with the nightmare of being sexually abused by her science teacher, and the only way she feels she can protect others is through the provisions that proposed legislation in Pennsylvania – House Bill 1947 – may provide.

The Florida resident and her family moved to the Olney section of Philadelphia when she entered fifth grade.

“I was 9 years old,” the now 47-year-old said. “My family had just moved from Danville, Va. My dad took the position as a principal at Cedar Grove Christian Academy” in northeast Philadelphia.

Childhood sexual abuse is a pervasive societal problem that gained much exposure after the Archdiocese of Boston came under scrutiny in 2002 for widespread abuse and concealment. In the Philadelphia region, two grand jury reports in 2005 and 2011 outlined abuse and cover-ups in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Since then, various legislative appeals have attempted to address the issue.

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AUSTRALIA
Geelong Advertiser

KAREN MATTHEWS, Geelong Advertiser
October 4, 2016

VICTIMS of paedophile priest Robert Claffey have ­applauded police investigators for their work in finally bringing the man who stole their childhoods to justice.

Entering Geelong County Court on Tuesday, they took their seats in dignified silence.

Some were supported by family and friends, while ­others attended alone, after all these years still unable to disclose the horrors of their childhood to those closest to them.

Yet all were united in their pain, grief and sense of loss at the hands of this evil ­predator.

A door at the rear of the court opened and Claffey, a small, balding man, entered the dock.

Wearing dark glasses, Claffey sat down, adjusted headphones and, with hands clasped, looked straight ahead, avoiding all eye contact with others.

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VERMONT
WCAX

[with video]

By Roger Garrity
By Kyle Midura

BURLINGTON, Vt. –
It’s the end of an era for Vermont’s Catholics. Former Bishop Kenneth Angell has died. He passed away Tuesday at a nursing home in Winooski after suffering a stroke last week. He was 86.

Angell was the leader of Vermont’s Catholic diocese for 13 years. His tenure saw the church begin to deal with priest sex abuse cases. And Bishop Angell endured personal tragedy when his brother, an Emmy-winning TV producer, died in the 9/11 terror attacks. But Angell maintained his warm and friendly demeanor.

“So whether he was visiting a grade school or visiting a nursing home or going to a prison to say mass, I think everybody who met him would have said they met somebody who was very, very kind and kindness goes a long way,” said Monsignor John McDermott of the Catholic Diocese of Burlington.

Bishop Angell was from Rhode Island, but he loved Vermont and stayed here after his retirement. The diocese says his health had only recently been in decline, leading to his stroke.

Angell was 62 years old when he was named the eighth Bishop of the Burlington Catholic Diocese in November 1992. Almost immediately thereafter, the leader of Vermont’s largest religious denomination was faced with crisis. Accusers came forward alleging physical, sexual and mental abuse going back to the 1940s at the church-run St. Joseph’s Orphanage. While dozens of the cases were settled, the scandal prompted Angell to create a review board to investigate allegations of abuse in the church.

“I pray this will signal new beginnings for this church in Vermont as we struggle to reconcile with those in grievance with us for past accusations of abuse,” he said at the time.

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SCOTLAND
Carrick Herald

Catherine Hunter, Reporter

ALLEGATIONS that an Ayrshire priest had been removed from the Diocese of Galloway unfairly have been dropped before coming to a tribunal.

Father Patrick Lawson (pictured) claimed that as a seminarian, he as well as two altar boys, was abused in 1996 by Father Paul Moore, a parish priest at St Quivox Church in Prestwick.

The Diocese of Galloway 2015 Annual Reports and Accounts reported: “During 2015, the Diocese faced a potential claim for unfair dismissal from a parish priest.

“As of February 2016, the case was dropped by the claimant before coming to court. No settlement was made in favour of the claimant and both sides met their legal costs.

“The cost of the Dioceses in 2015 was £3,678 with further payments of £25,098 made in 2016.”

At the time Father Lawson opined he was removed as parish priest of St Sophia’s in Galston in September 2013 following his 18 year dispute when he spoke out against Father Moore.

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CANADA
APTN National News

Jorge Barrera
APTN National News

Ottawa is exploring ways to review how it has handled its side of the multi-billion dollar Indian residential school settlement agreement which would include a look at how federal lawyers operated during private hearings to determine compensation for survivors.

The federal Indigenous Affairs department said officials were asked by Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett last week to determine the best way for Ottawa to review its obligations set out in the settlement agreement, which created a survivor compensation mechanism called the Independent Assessment Process (IAP).

“(Department) officials were asked to explore options for conducting a final assessment of Canada’s obligations under the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement prior to its conclusion,” said a statement from the department.

The IAP process has come under increasing scrutiny following a steady drip of revelations on some of the tactics Ottawa lawyers employed to limit the compensation sought by survivors.

Court records show federal lawyers have suppressed documents and used technical and legalistic arguments to defeat claims filed by survivors during the IAP process.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times

By Kathleen E. Carey, Delaware County Daily Times
POSTED: 10/05/16

Determining how many children have suffered from to sexual abuse can be challenging — and different individuals and organizations have their own record-keeping methods.

After flipping through a nine-page report listing 63 priests linked to childhood sexual abuse in the 2005 Philadelphia grand jury report, state Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-126, of Berks County, said, “These are perpetrators, predators, pedophiles who went to that treatment facility and then got put back into active ministry without ever once going through the legal system.”

These men who were all priests at one point were categorized in Rozzi’s list. Four were sentenced to jail time. Eighteen were listed as being remanded to a supervised life of prayer and penance. Seven had died. Twenty were identified as being recommended for laicization and three left the priesthood. One retired to the Camden, N.J., diocese. The fate of five men were unknown.

Of the 63, 32 had spent time at the St. John Vianney Treatment Center in Downingtown.

Based on the list, those individuals were located in Orlando, Fla., Hawaii, Brazil, Atlantic City, N.J., the Bronx, N.Y. and the St. Louis archdiocese.

“So, these religious clergy, who in other circumstances would be on Megan’s List, are roaming around free, pensions in their pockets and in many cases, living next door to our children,” Rozzi said.

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MINNESOTA
Duluth News Tribune

By Tom Olsen on Oct 5, 2016

Prosecutors have dropped the remaining child pornography charge against a Hibbing priest who was found not guilty this summer of inappropriately touching four girls.

A Hibbing jury in June acquitted Brian Michael Lederer on six counts of criminal sexual conduct.

However, he still was facing potential prosecution on the felony child pornography charge, which a judge earlier ruled would have to be tried as a separate issue.

In a dismissal letter filed Friday in State District Court, Assistant St. Louis County Attorney Jeff Vlatkovich explained that, at trial, the state would have had to prove not only that there were images of child pornography on Lederer’s computer but that the defendant “intentionally viewed” the photographs.

“A large number of pornographic images, some of which appeared to be of adults and what appeared to be children, unclothed or partially clothed engaging in sexual activity, were found on the defendant’s computer,” the prosecutor wrote.

“However, after considering the expert opinions, it has been determined that insufficient evidence exists to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant intentionally viewed the images which are believed to be children under the age of eighteen years old.”

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IRELAND
RTE news

In a radical policy shift, the Catholic bishops in Ireland are to organise a Day of Prayer for the survivors and victims of clerical sexual abuse on the first Friday of Lent next year.

It is to take place on 3 March 2017.

In a statement issued following their regular autumn meeting in Maynooth, the hierarchy said the move is in response to a recent request by Pope Francis to bishops’ conferences around the world.

The papal initiative was at the behest of his Commission for the Protection of Minors (CPM).

The move indicates a major change in attitude on the part of the Irish bishops’ conference.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

Genevieve Gannon – AAP on October 6, 2016

The children of Ballarat called him the tickle monster.

Tickle, because he was always tickling and touching them, and monster because of what followed.

Robert Patrick Claffey, 73, a priest and predator, abused children under the cloak of religious care for three decades.

He was suspended in the 1980s after the father of one of his 12 victims reported him to the Bishop of Ballarat, Ronald Mulkearns, but in 1991 was appointed to the parish of Portland.

He had offended again within a year, preying on a nine-year-old boy.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Times Herald

By Last in a series, By Kathleen E. Carey, kcarey@21st-centurymedia.com, @dtbusiness

As the rigorous debate continues in Pennsylvania surrounding the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse, other states across the country have likewise attempted to tackle the issue.

And while the outcomes have varied, some see similarities to events here.

In Pennsylvania, legislators have been mulling House Bill 1947, a measure extending or eliminating the criminal and civil statute of limitations for victims of childhood sexual abuse. It passed overwhelmingly in the House in April. The state Senate amended it, sending it back to the House for consideration. The Senate removed the provision that would allow adult survivors who are not yet 50 years old to pursue legal recourse against their abusers in decades-old cases.

Changing the statute of limitations is vigorously opposed by the Catholic Church, with Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput contending it would have a disastrous fiscal toll on the archdiocese.

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IRELAND
Irish Post

AN excavation is underway this week at the site of an alleged mass grave at a former mother and baby home in Ireland.

The excavation in Tuam , Co. Galway was ordered by the Mother and Baby Home Commission of Investigation to start on October 1 and last five weeks.

The site at the former Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home came to light in 2014 after it was alleged that as many as 796 bodies were buried at the site.

Here’s what we know about the story so far…

796 children died

In 2012 Tuam historian Catherine Corless was working on a local history project when she began researching St Mary’s Home for Unmarried Mothers.

The home was run by the Bon Secours Sisters on behalf of Galway County Council from 1925 to 1961.

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COLORADO
The Villager

BY PETER JONES
NEWS EDITOR

A youth pastor who met his victim in Littleton has received 90 days in jail and 20 years of intensive sex-offender probation for sexually touching a 13-year-old girl who came to him for counseling.

Christopher Hutchinson, 37, was convicted July 29 of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust. When he was arrested, he was youth pastor at Southeast Christian Church in Parker. Previously he had held the same position at South Fellowship Church in Littleton, where he first met the girl.

The 13-year-old had turned to her pastor for support and counseling during difficult times. He urged her to meet him at local parks, where he sexually touched her. Although Hutchinson urged his victim to keep his actions secret, she told her parents who contacted law enforcement.

The prosecution had requested a sentence of four years to life in prison.

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MISSOURI
Berger’s Beat

Kenrick-Glennon Seminary was set to honor Kansas City cleric, Fr. George Seuferling, at an alumni event, to recognize his 60th anniversary of his ordination. But two women who say Seufering sexually assaulted them contacted school staffers, Kate Guyol and Fr. James Mason and have now been assured the priest will not be among those recognized. Still, the victims are upset with Archbishop Joseph Naumann (originally from St. Louis, 1975 grad of Kenrick Seminary and former member of their Board of Trustees) who they say, refuses to appropriately warn his flock about Seuferling.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , Pacific Daily News October 5, 2016

The board secretary for The Catholic Cemeteries of Guam Inc. on Wednesday disputed claims by the Archdiocese of Agana that the board improperly approved a resolution which accuses Monsignor James Benavente of misusing cemetery funds for personal benefit.

The board filed a complaint with the Guam Police Department and the Office of the Attorney General Sept. 30, shortly after the archdiocese held a press conference exonerating Benavente.

Jacqueline T. Terlaje, an attorney who is the board’s secretary, said the board unanimously approved a Sept. 30 resolution, authorizing the filing of the complaint.

The archdiocese had disputed the complaint, saying the board never met Sept. 30, and stating it was not unanimously approved, as described in the resolution. And a past Catholic Cemeteries board had approved the use of the funds, so the allegations are not true, according to the archdiocese.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

[statement from Attorney Jacque Terlaje]

Written by Janela Carrera

Attorney Jacque Terlaje is responding to statements made by Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai that she falsified a board resolution last week.

Guam – Attorney Jackie Terlaje is vehemently refusing to withdraw a complaint filed against Msgr. James Benavente with the police and attorney general, pointing out that the complaint was filed with the catholic cemeteries board backing.

She’s also responding to Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai’s demands for the catholic cemeteries board to resign and allegations that the board defied him in alleging Msgr. James Benavente committed fraud.

Last Friday, moments after Msgr. James Benavente was cleared of wrongdoing during his tenure as the director of the catholic cemeteries, Attorney Terlaje released a board resolution to the media alleging that Msgr. James had misused cemeteries funds for his anniversary dinner back in 2014.

Archbishop Hon immediately rebuked Terlaje for issuing that board resolution and clarified that Msgr. James had committed no wrongdoing, that the previous board had authorized the use of the funds in 2014 and that Terlaje issued the resolution without obtaining the consent of every board member or the Archdiocese of Agana.

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CANADA
CBC News

A former employee of a Parish of Saint Bernadette on Cottonwood Road in Winnipeg has admitted to embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the church.

Richard Frechette, head financial administrator for the Archdiocese of St. Boniface, said Leo McCaughan took about $404,000 from St. Bernadette’s during his time as an employee.

In January, McCaughan was charged with theft, fraud and falsification of documents. On Tuesday, he pleaded guilty.

“It’s bittersweet because it’s a complex situation. There’s mixed feelings,” Frechette said, adding parishioners who worked with McCaughan were deeply hurt by the theft.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Oct 05, 2016

By Krystal Paco

Not once, but twice has the Archdiocese of Agana cleared Monsignor James Benavente’s name after allegations of financial mismanagement were made against him. Could they need to clear his name a third time?

One sitting board member of Catholic Cemeteries says they aren’t going to withdraw a complaint they recently filed with the Guam Police Department for the misuse of funds.

Two days ago, the Archdiocese of Agana called-out Attorney Jacque Terlaje and other members of the Catholic Cemeteries board of directors to resign. This after they approved a resolution to file a complaint against Monsignor Benavente with the police. That complaint was filed Friday – just hours after the church cleared his name.

Terlaje said today, “I am compelled to publicly address the statements of the Archdiocese of Agana accusing me of falsifying a certification of a resolution, as the secretary of the board of directors of the Catholic Cemeteries of Guam, Inc.”

The church contends Catholic Cemeteries is an entity of the archdiocese and had no authority to release those documents. The church also contends there was never a meeting or a unanimous vote to pass the resolution. Terlaje argues otherwise and states it was a consent to action meaning no meeting was necessary. “The facts provided to GPD and the AG are the truth,” she continued. “And I am obliged as an officer of the Catholic Cemeteries to protect the funds entrusted to me by the deceased, and by the numerous Catholic families who have buried their loved ones with Catholic Cemeteries.”

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