ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Rachel Browne

The Jehovah’s Witness Church in Australia failed to protect children in its care from sexual predators, a report has found.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse delivered its report into the organisation on Monday.

It stated that: “Children are not adequately protected from the risk of child sexual abuse in the Jehovah’s Witness organisation and [the commission] does not believe the organisation responds adequately to allegations of child sexual abuse.”

Survivors of sexual abuse within the church and senior church members appeared before a public hearing last year.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By David Marchese

A child abuse survivor says his biggest fear is that the momentum generated by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will dissipate, stopping any meaningful reform.

Peter Gogarty was abused by a Catholic priest in the New South Wales Hunter region as a child and now spends his time advocating for other survivors.

He will address a hearing of the royal commission beginning in Sydney today.

The hearing is examining issues raised in a consultation paper on criminal justice that has been prepared by the royal commission.

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AUSTRALIA
Australian

November 28, 2016

DAN BOX
Crime reporterSydney
@DanBox10

An alleged child sex victim worries the man he says abused him will still have access to children after being acquitted despite a judge saying he was “well satisfied” the crimes had taken place.

The extraordinary verdict is being examined by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse after being handed down in Sydney’s District Court in August of this year.

The alleged victim told the commission this morning that he was sexually abused by a Catholic brother, Christopher Rafferty, at St Patrick’s College in Goulburn, NSW, between 1984 and 1987.

The man, who cannot be named, subsequently attempted to commit suicide and eventually decided to report the alleged abuse to police, despite being told by his local Catholic priest not to do so, the commission heard.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Janet Fife Yeomans, The Daily Telegraph
November 27, 2016

A judge said he was “well satisfied” that a Catholic brother had sexually abused a boy at school – but then acquitted him of the abuse.

The extraordinary case in the NSW District Court is being examined by the royal commission into child sex abuse but while the victim and the crown prosecutor Lou Lungo will be giving evidence, Judge David Frearson is not being called as a witness.

No judges have been called to the long-running commission to explain their decisions while solicitors have been criticised for the way they have handled cases.

The decision not to call Judge Frearson was made despite the commission being told today that the case “raises a number of issues of importance to the royal commission’s work on criminal justice”.

“This prosecution raises the issue of whether a criminal justice response can be said to be reasonably available to condemn and punish child sexual abuse if an accused is acquitted in circumstances where the judge was ‘well satisfied’ that the accused sexually abused the complainant,” counsel assisting the commission Jeremy Kirk SC said today.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Michelle Brown

The royal commission examining institutional responses to child sexual abuse has heard from survivors who were caught in a legal “catch-22s” after they reported their abusers.

outcomes for abuse victims, without prejudicing the right of the accused to a fair trial.

Two survivors told the inquiry they had spent years trying to forget the abuse they received at the hands of clergymen as children — before deciding to make complaints.

The inquiry heard this often prevented survivors from providing the courts with enough specific detail to satisfy the requirement for proof of an offence “beyond reasonable doubt”.

The inquiry heard this often prevented survivors from providing the courts with enough specific detail to satisfy the requirement for proof of an offence “beyond reasonable doubt”.

In one case described as “particularly striking” at the inquiry, a judge acquitted priest Christopher Rafferty of six counts of sexual abuse against a survivor codenamed FAB at St Patricks College, in Goulburn, between 1984 and 1987.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Nov 28, 2016

By Sabrina Salas Matanane

The number of claims of sexual abuse by local clergy continues to grow. 56-year-old Anthony Vegafria is the latest victim to come forward and accuse Father Louis Broiullard of sexual molestation. He alleges that the abuse started when he was 12 years old and continued until he was 15. Court documents state that he was an altar boy at the San Isidro Church in Malojloj where Father Brouillard was a priest.

Vegafria alleges that while at the Carmelite monastery, Father Brouillard would walk around naked, smoking his pipe. in some instances he would expose his penis through the hole in his boxer shorts. Vegafria adds the priest would talk about pornography and on many occasions would give altar boys leftover wine from mass.

Aside from masturbation and oral copulation at the monastery, Vegafria who was also a boy scout alleges Father Brouillard would sexually molest him and other Boy Scouts during outings. Like others, he alleges that the Archdiocese of Agana at the time knew about the sexual abuse- but did nothing.

The latest cases add to the nine previously filed in court. Last Wednesday 63-year-old Paul Joseph Borja and 59-year-old Vicente San Nicolas came forward, alleging sexual molestation by local clergy. Borja alleged that while he was an altar boy at the Our Lady of Peace and Safe Journey Catholic Church in Chalan Pago, the now-deceased Father Antonio Cruz sexually molested him. Borja was 12 at the time.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Editor’s Note: The Pacific Daily News plans to live stream the press conference on its Facebook page.​ This story will be updated live throughout the press conference.

Archbishop Michael J. Byrnes is scheduled to greet the island’s media at 1 p.m. today at the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica conference center in Hagåtña.

Byrnes, the coadjutor of the archdiocese, arrived on Guam around 1 a.m. today. He has been named as the successor to Archbishop Anthony Apuron, should Apuron retire or be removed from office.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Documents have been presented to as many as three judges who are overseeing Archbishop Apuron’s canonical trial, according to Archbishop Byrnes.

Guam – Suspended Archbishop Anthony Apuron’s canonical trial is already in its second phase, according to his replacement, Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes.

At a media conference today, Byrnes revealed that he’s had the chance to meet with Apuron during a bishops conference in Baltimore a few weeks ago. He says the two had a cordial conversation and added that the two did not engage in any deep discussion.

“He came to a visit to speak with me. It was a very cordial, not real deep converation but just kind of exchanging our stories just; kind of getting to know each other. It was nice,” said Byrnes.

Byrnes also talked about Apuron’s canonical trial for which the ousted archbishop is facing multiple allegations of rape and sexual abuse dating back to the 1970s.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes spent his morning meeting with local clergy members for a “morning of recollection.”

Guam – It’s an historic day for the catholic community as Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes arrived guam this morning, welcomed by some dignitaries, including Governor Eddie Calvo.

But his arrival is marked by some troubling times within the catholic community as it prepares to face legal battles over decades of alleged sexual abuse, some from the former head of the church, Archbishop Anthony Aapuron. Byrnes arrived at 1 am and at 10 am he was already on his first task, meeting with local clergy.

“Mainly I joined them at benediction and then we had mass, celebrated mass together, which was, I was really grateful. That was my first encounter with my brother priests,” said Byrnes.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Nov 28, 2016

By Krystal Paco

After decades of leadership under Archbishop Anthony Apuron, today marks a new chapter for the Archdiocese of Agana. Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes is on Guam and already getting to work meeting with the island’s faithful.

Guam is a long way from his home in Detroit, Michigan. “When I saw the lights to the island, I said it’s really there. I was excited,” he shared with island media. “I’m happy to be here!”

On October 31, the Vatican appointed Bishop Michael J. Byrnes as coadjutor archbishop for the Archdiocese of Agana. Rather than wait until January when he’s scheduled to make the permanent move to Guam, he touched-down on island early Monday morning for a three-week visit. “I just felt like it was important to come. If I’m going to be the guy, I want to meet you all. And also there’s a sense of urgency just to know and we need to know each other. I don’t want to be a mystery figure,” he said.

The day was spent meeting with local clergy for a day of recollection followed by a meet and greet with the press where he expressed his vision for the local Catholic community. “Guam has been Catholic for a long time right, and right now the radiance of the jewel of faith has been covered a little bit by the controversies. And so let’s polish it up that it can shine as the jewel of faith that it has been for so many years,” he offered.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Nov 28, 2016

By Krystal Paco

While the island welcomes Archbishop Byrnes, apostolic administrator Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai will return to Rome. The Vatican assigned Archbishop Hon to Guam back in June as a temporary leader for the archdiocese amid allegations of molestation made against Archbishop Anthony Apuron.

Hon told KUAM News, “I like the words and also the deeds of Archbishop Byrnes – he used the term ‘bridge’. Bridge means to cultivate more communion and more communication. So this my wish also to the people here.”

Hon credits the local clergy, the religious and the lay faithful for all he was able to accomplish these last few months.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com November 28, 2016

Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron’s canonical trial at the Vatican has started, newly-arrived Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes said Monday afternoon.

Apuron, 71, is the highest leader of the Catholic Church on Guam for 30 years.

The Vatican placed Apuron on leave on June 6, a few weeks after former altar boys started publicly accusing Apuron of sexually abusing or raping them when he was the parish priest at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Agat in the 1970s.

“The trial has started. It’s been initiated, I know that much. The argument has been exchanged and now it’s kind of like in the second phase of investigation, examination,” Byrnes said during a news conference Monday afternoon in front of the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica in Hagatna.

Byrnes, who arrived on Guam at around 1 a.m. Monday, said the tribunal has been established and the Apuron trial proceeds, with more or less three judges on board.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes arrived on Guam early this morning. He is scheduled to join the Catholic clergy in a day of recollection in the morning and hold a press conference in the afternoon.

Two islandwide public celebrations will be held by the Archdiocese of Agana on Wednesday. Byrnes will celebrate his first islandwide Mass with Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai and visiting bishops and priests, according to a statement by the archdiocese. Check out our story here for more information on Byrnes’ welcoming Mass.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

The Archdiocese of Agana is opening a new chapter in its history and invites everyone to two islandwide celebrations Wednesday, Nov. 30, related to Archbishop Michael J. Byrnes, our new coadjutor archbishop.

Everyone is invited to a Prayer for the Beginning of the Episcopal Ministry of Coadjutor Archbishop Byrnes to take place 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica.

Then, all are invited to the start of the Novena of Masses honoring Santa Marian Kamalen at 6 p.m. that same evening, also at the Cathedral-Basilica. Archbishop Byrnes will celebrate his first islandwide Mass here with Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, SDB, visiting bishops and Guam priests.

The celebrations will culminate with the islandwide commemoration of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8, which includes the celebration of Santa Marian Kamalen and the close of the Golden Jubilee of the Archdiocese.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

[with video]

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com November 28, 2016

Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes stepped foot on Guam for around 1 a.m. on Monday, marking a leadership milestone for the island’s Catholic church.

“When I saw the lights from the plane, I started getting excited,” the Vatican-sent Byrnes said minutes after emerging at 1:18 a.m. from the arrival area of the Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport.

After a long flight from Detroit, Michigan to Tokyo and then to Guam, Byrnes said he was exhausted and looked forward to a good night’s sleep.

But he has a big first day ahead of him, including joining the Catholic clergy in a day of recollection Monday morning and a press conference in the afternoon. When asked about his initial message to the people of Guam, he said, “I really look forward to meeting you.”

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

Children are not adequately protected from the risk of sexual abuse in the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a royal commission has found.

The child abuse royal commission also said it does not consider the Jehovah’s Witnesses to be an organisation that responds adequately to child sexual abuse.

The organisation relies on outdated policies and practices, including the two-witness rule that was devised more than 2000 years ago, the commission’s report released on Monday said.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

28 November, 2016

The Royal Commission’s report of Case Study 29: The response of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia Ltd to allegations of child sexual abuse was released today.

The report follows a public hearing held in Sydney in July and August 2015 which examined the experience of two survivors of child sexual abuse within the Jehovah’s Witness organisation, as well as the systems, policies and procedures in place within the organisation for raising, responding to and preventing child sexual abuse.

The Royal Commission heard from two survivor witnesses, 12 institutional witnesses and an expert engaged by the Jehovah’s Witness organisation who gave evidence about the organisation’s policies, procedures and practices.

It also examined evidence from case files held by the organisation which recorded allegations, reports or complaints of child sexual abuse by 1,006 members of the organisation.

The Royal Commission found children are not adequately protected from the risk of child sexual abuse in the Jehovah’s Witness organisation and does not believe the organisation responds adequately to allegations of child sexual abuse.

From the evidence presented, the Royal Commission considers the Jehovah’s Witness organisation relies on outdated policies and practices to respond to allegations of child sexual abuse which were not subject to ongoing and continuous review. Included in these was the organisation’s retention and continued application of policies such as the two-witness rule in cases of child sexual abuse which, the Royal Commission considered, showed a serious lack of understanding of the nature of child sexual abuse. It noted the rule, which the Jehovah’s Witness organisation relies on, and applies inflexibly even in the context of child sexual abuse, was devised more than 2,000 years ago.

The Royal Commission found the Jehovah’s Witness organisation’s internal disciplinary system for addressing complaints of child sexual abuse was not child or survivor focused. Survivors are offered little or no choice in how their complaint is addressed, sanctions are weak with little regard to the risk of the perpetrator re-offending.

Finally, the Royal Commission considered the organisation’s general practice of not reporting serious instances of child sexual abuse to police or authorities, demonstrated a serious failure on its part to provide for the safety and protection of children.

Read the full report.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | Post News Staff

With new Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes set to arrive today, protests calling for church transparency and responsibility continued strong yesterday morning with the 50-some people who came out to form the weekly picket line outside the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica.

While demands from Catholic faith-based organizations have been met one by one, the protests have become ever more focused and centralized. Signs adorned with “Return RMS,” “Hon – No More $$ for RMS” and “Moratorium on NCW” used to be hallmarks of the weekly protests, but have dwindled of late as the Archdiocese of Agana has taken steps to address concerns.

The latest effort by the church, the rescinding and annulment of the deed restriction placed on the property by Archbishop Anthony Apuron by Byrnes, has restricted the protest’s message.

“Simply: Apuron Out,” was the theme of yesterday’s protest according to Laity Forward Movement spokeswoman Lou Klitzkie.

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GUAM
Marianas Variety

28 Nov 2016 Mar-Vic Cagurangan – For Variety

HAGÅTÑA — Amid mounting lawsuits filed by former altar boys against the clergy, the Archdiocese of Agana vows to prevent the recurrence of sex abuse by men of the cloth under its new leadership.

At the same time, the archdiocese urged all victims of clergy sexual abuse to seek counseling from a church-organized newly formed support group.

“The Archdiocese of Agana pledges to do all it can, under new leadership, to ensure that all people in our care, most especially our young and most vulnerable, thrive in a safe and loving environment fully protected from any harm,” the archdiocese said in a statement issued Sunday.

As of last week, a total of nine civil actions alleging sex abuse against minors have been filed in the Guam Superior Court against former Archbishop Anthony Apuron and Father Louis Brouillard, who served on Guam beginning in the 1950s having confessed last October to abusing altar boys on Guam decades ago.

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KENTUCKY
WDRB

[with video]

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A Kentucky priest will go on trial on Monday, almost 15 years after allegations emerged that he sexually abused a child.

Reverend Joseph Hemmerle faces charges of sexual abuse and sodomy. In 2001, a man accused the priest of molesting him when he was younger at a Catholic summer camp in Meade County back in the 1970’s.

Hemmerle ran the boys summer camp there for decades.

In 2014, a second victim came forward, and that’s when Hemmerle was indicted on the charges.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Archbishop Byrnes will say his first mass on November 30 at 6 pm.
Guam – Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes is set to arrive next Monday and he’s already got a busy schedule ahead of him.

In a release, the Archdiocese of Agana announced that upon his arrival, Byrnes will “join the catholic clergy of Guam in a day of recollection that morning.”

Next Wednesday, the incoming archbishop will appear at the Cathedral Basilica at 10:30 am for a prayer marking the beginning of his ministry on Guam. Later that evening, Archbishop Byrnes will say his first mass to honor Santa Marian Kamalen at 6 pm.

Archbishop Byrnes comes to Guam as Archbishop Anthony Apuron faces a canonical trial in Rome on allegations of sexual abuse.

Although next Monday will be his first time arriving on island, the coadjutor archbishop has already made significant changes within the archdiocese. Earlier this month he fired the board of directors of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary, abolished its board of guarantors and rescinded a controversial deed of restriction on the property, effectively returning the Yona seminary back to archdiocese control.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Nov 26, 2016

By Sabrina Salas Matanane

Dozens of members of the Concerned Catholics of Guam and the Laity Forward Movement continue their Sunday pickets outside the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral Basilica. This time, their message singular and uniformed calling for Archbishop Anthony Apuron to be defrocked.

According to CCOG Vice President Andrew Camacho, they won’t stop until Apuron’s title is removed. Their fear is that Apuron will return despite the Vatican’s appointment of Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes and undo the recent actions taken to address their concerns in the local church.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

November 27, 2016

We welcome Archbishop Michael Byrnes as the new leader of the Catholic faithful on the island, and we hope that he can heal our fractured community and help us move forward.

Byrnes comes to us in a time of distress. Officially, he has been assigned here to assist Archbishop Anthony Apuron in running the Archdiocese of Agana, and to serve as Apuron’s successor. Apuron has made few public statements since being suspended in June. He may yet return as the leader of the church.

The community has been split by many controversies over the last few years. The most significant involve allegations that Apuron sexually abused altar boys while serving as the pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Agat in the 1970s. Several former altar boys have stepped forward to share their stories. A canonical trial is being prepared in Rome, and there are civil lawsuits in the local court.

Then there is the matter of Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Yona.

The archdiocese purchased the former Accion hotel for $1.9 million, and an anonymous donor — later identified as the Carmelite sisters — stepped forward to pay off the loan, providing ownership free and clear. Years later, a request was made to transfer the property from the archdiocese to the seminary. When the archdiocese finance council opposed the transfer, Apuron dissolved the council. According to a report earlier this year, the seminary did not prepare priests for work in local parishes.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

Megan Neil – AAP on November 27, 2016

The Anglican Diocese of Melbourne hopes the independent body it has set up to investigate sexual abuse complaints will be adopted by other Australian dioceses.

Chancellor Michael Shand QC said the new complaints body could serve as a model for other dioceses and potentially be used by organisations outside the Anglican Church.

The new approach has been adopted by Melbourne and Bendigo, and is being considered by the other Victorian dioceses of Wangaratta, Ballarat and Gippsland.

Mr Shand says it could potentially be adopted by many other Anglican Church of Australia dioceses, which are autonomous, as well as Anglican social welfare agencies and schools.

“We would hope that other agencies see merit in participating in the independent scheme,” Mr Shand told AAP.

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UNITED STATES
The Open Tabernacle: Here Comes Everybody

Posted on November 27, 2016 by Betty Clermont

The Vatican’s assets are estimated at $16-18 billion, its bureaucrats are still engaged in financial fraud, corruption and possible money laundering and most of the donations to the pope for charity are withheld from the poor.

On Nov. 20, Pope Francis created an annual observance for a “Day of the Poor.” In an interview broadcast that same evening, he declared, “One must always struggle for a poor Church for the poor, according to the Gospel.”

An April 2015 article in the Italian financial news, Il Sole 24 Ore, stated the assets – securities, commercial real estate and bank accounts – of all the Vatican departments and offices combined “by a conservative estimate” would be around 15-17 billion euro (approx. $16-18 billion). No outsider can be sure because Pope Francis hides almost all his fortune from any independent audits or disclosures.

The Vatican’s September 2016 ratification of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) was dismissed as mere “window dressing” because the Holy See asserted it did not have to participate in any “mechanism or body to assist in the effective implementation of the Convention.” The UNCAC “covers a wide-range of corruption offences, including domestic and foreign bribery, embezzlement, trading in influence and money laundering.”

“As far as the Italian government is concerned, there is still a money laundering risk in the Vatican City State,” according to a May 2016 article. “Operations between the Vatican Bank (officially known as the Institute for Religious Works or IOR) and Italy’s banks have still not resumed fully,” referring to Vatican accounts frozen in Roman banks by the Italian government in 2010 for suspected money laundering.

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GUAM
Hawaii Tribune-Herald

By GRACE GARCES BORDALLO Associated Press

HAGATNA, Guam — The new leader of the Catholic church in Guam will meet with his brother priests as his first order of business on Monday as he attempts to heal this U.S. territory rocked by allegations of sexual abuse at the hands of clergy, even the current archbishop.

“I have been praying for those who have brought forward the allegations, who brought forward their own experience. I have great compassion for that,” Archbishop Michael Byrnes, 58, of Detroit told The Associated Press in a phone interview. “I’ve been praying for them.”

Byrnes has been sent by the Vatican to replace current Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron on an administrative basis. Apuron, 71, has been Guam’s highest Catholic leader for 30 years but faces a church trial over multiple allegations of sex abuse of altar boys in the 1970s. He denies the charges, and has not been criminally charged.

Byrnes said he had a conversation with Apuron and knows he is somewhere in the United States. “The tribunal investigation and trial of the archbishop has already begun,” Byrnes said.

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ARIZONA
Daily Courier

By Scott OrrOriginally Published: November 26, 2016

Editor’s note: Due to the sensitive issues raised in this story, the commenting feature has been disabled.

PRESCOTT – A minister in the Baptist church, who left the area 10 years ago, has been indicted on multiple counts accusing him of sexually molesting children in 1995, 1996, and 1998 to 2001 while he was pastor of a church in Prescott.

Thomas Jonathan Chantry, 46, faces five counts of molestation of a child, related to two minors, and three counts of aggravated assault on three separate minors as well.

One alleged victim, now an adult, came forward to Prescott Police and, according to a police report, when Chantry became a pastor at Miller Valley Baptist Church, Chantry told his parents that he wanted to tutor the victim, then “approximately 9 or 10 years old,” privately in his church office.

The parents consented, and the victim claims that, during his twice-weekly hourly meetings, Chantry would spank him, “grope him, rub him, and make him sit on his lap,” the report said.

The victim said that during a Christmas break during which he stayed at Chantry’s house, Chantry “began fondling him,” the report said, touching his private areas, and saying “he was making them feel better.”

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio and
Dana M Williams , Pacific Daily News

When Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes arrives today, he will step into a fractured community of the faith.

Officially, he is coming to assist Archbishop Anthony Apuron in running the Archdiocese of Agana, and to serve as Apuron’s successor. But Apuron has been out of the public eye since June, when the Vatican suspended him and sent Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai to temporarily oversee the Guam church. Apuron faces what an archdiocese spokesman described as “credible accusations of child sexual abuse against him,” and a canonical trial is being prepared in Rome.

Prior to his departure, Apuron led the Catholic faithful here for 30 years. He positioned himself as a fierce defender of morality, local culture and tradition, and used his power as a spiritual leader to influence political decisions. He also argued against a law that would remove the statute of limitations for civil suits in child sex abuse cases, and he once wrote a letter to a judge urging leniency for a former altar boy who confessed to sexually abusing a 2-year-old.

Apuron still has loyal supporters. Many are, like Apuron, followers of the Neocatechumenal Way, an organization within the Catholic church that has been at odds with traditional Catholics on the island. The rift in the church began before the sex abuse allegations were made, and involved the Yona seminary, financial transparency and the removal of two popular priests. On an island where, by some estimates, 85 percent of the population is Catholic, the conflict has shaken religious traditions.

Son of Guam

In the 14 years since the Catholic priest sex abuse scandal was uncovered in Boston and spread to parishes across the country and around the world, abuse allegations on Guam remained secret. Until now.

Joelle Casteix, the western regional director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said the situation on Guam is unique for a couple of reasons. Based in Chicago, the group is the world’s oldest and largest network of clergy abuse survivors.

“What makes Guam different is that it’s the first place where lay Catholics have taken the lead to blow the lid off the scandal and demand change,” she said. Another difference is that the accused grew up in the community.

“Apuron is a hometown boy,” Casteix said. “It’s very hard for any faith community to think that one of their own — born and bred — could do such horrible things.”

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AUSTRALIA
Perth Now

Claire Harvey, News Corp Australia Network
November 26, 2016

Anglicans like to think of themselves as a bit better than everyone else.

I should know. I’m an Anglican.

I went to an Anglican school. I’m well-used to the casual sectarian snobbery of many people who consider themselves Church of England, and I’ve spent a lifetime observing the way many Anglicans carry themselves in the firm belief that they are better, smarter and more sophisticated than others.

Actually, only Catholics. That’s all the Anglicans really care about. The other strands of Protestantism are regarded as uninteresting but essentially harmless. Who really cares if the odd little people down at the Uniting Church want to sit in a circle with a guitar? And the Seventh Day Adventists? They’re harmless, really.

But the Catholics. Ooh, the Catholics. Well, there’s far too many of them, for a start. All those children. And the carry-on about Mary. Really. Rosaries. Incense. All that carry-on. …

Guess where else Anglicans think they’re better than the Catholics?

Paedophilia.

ill try any possible means to get children alone — even entering the ministry. (Pic: Supplied)
There has, I think, been a quiet and largely unspoken feeling among many Protestants that the abuse of children is a Catholic problem, probably created (or at least exacerbated) by the fact Catholic priests are supposed to be celibate.

The Royal Commission has proved that all wrong.

Now we know any institution where there was access to children was rich with paedophiles. The Scouts. Surf lifesaving. Orphanages. Boys’ camps. Charities. Churches of every kind. Schools of every kind.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By the National Reporting Team’s Barbara Miller

The UK Government continued to send child migrants to Australian institutions despite knowing they were being mistreated, according to allegations in a submission lodged to the UK inquiry into institutional child sexual abuse.

David Hill, who in 1959, aged 12, was sent to Fairbridge Farm School in New South Wales, said “the British government knew that these institutions were crook and unfit for children”.

Mr Hill said as a result of a 1956 British parliamentary fact-finding mission to Australia, a list was drawn up of homes that were deemed unfit to receive more migrant children.

The list of “Category A” homes encompassed institutions in all six states and included the Fairbridge Farm School at Molong.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times

By Christine Flowers, Delaware County Daily Times
POSTED: 11/26/16

When the priest-abuse scandal became widely publicized about a decade or so ago, Catholics around the world began to denounce in the most passionate terms the literal breach of faith that had occurred in our church. There were denunciations from Catholic journalists, politicians, businesspeople, actors, artists, and the rank-and-file parishioner who walked away from the pews or demanded accountability from our bishops. And still, this was not enough for some. I wrote a number of articles critical of the church while, at the same time, making some demands of my own. I talked about the need for due process for accused priests, of a mandate of fairness when writing about those who had been labeled pedophiles for crimes that allegedly occurred decades ago, of the hypocrisy of those who turned a blind eye to the evil propensities of public school coaches and clerics of other faiths.

Balance in all things, as Aristotle would say.

It’s important for people of a particular group that has members accused of pernicious acts to stand up and disown them. If we don’t, we become complicit in those alleged crimes by the heavy weight of our silence. No Catholic can deny that sexual abuse occurred, and that it was widespread in certain cities and countries. No Catholic, however, should be forced to assume a communal burden of guilt for those aberrations.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

Timna Jacks Chris Vedelago

Catholic Archbishop Denis Hart called for Father John Walshe’s resignation long before the controversial priest stepped down, a spokesman for the Melbourne archdiocese has confirmed.

Archbishop Hart had for weeks been pressuring Father Walshe to resign from his position as Mentone-Parkdale parish priest due to a “lack of unity in the parish”, archdiocese spokesman Shane Healy said.

Mr Healy said the resignation, which was announced last week, followed a “long and complex process”, but he would not elaborate on the reason for the delay.

“It was his [Archbishop Hart’s] judgment that the parish was not running as it should,” Mr Healy said at the weekend.

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KENTUCKY
Daily Progress

By DYLAN LOVAN

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A Louisville priest is set to go on trial on sexual abuse charges nearly 15 years after allegations first surfaced from a man who said he was molested by the priest at a Catholic summer camp in the 1970s.

The Rev. Joseph Hemmerle will face sexual abuse and sodomy charges at the trial beginning Monday in Meade County, where he ran the boys summer camp for decades.

Hemmerle is facing another trial in April over similar abuse allegations from a second alleged victim who attended Camp Tall Trees as a child.

The first allegations against Hemmerle were brought by Michael Norris in a 2001 letter Norris wrote to Hemmerle and Louisville archdiocese officials. His letter was sent just months before a slew of plaintiffs sued the archdiocese, alleging sexual abuse by dozens of priests. The archdiocese settled a class action lawsuit with 243 plaintiffs in 2003 for more than $25 million, but Norris never joined the suit.

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NEW YORK
Road to Recovery

Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s financial compensation program for victims of sexual abuse by New York Archdiocesan clergy does not include victims of sexual abuse by nuns, religious brothers, lay employees and volunteers who serve or have served in the Archdiocese of New York

Nuns, religious brothers, lay employees and volunteers who sexually abused children in the Archdiocese of New York must be held accountable through the New York Archdiocesan sexual abuse compensation program so that all childhood sexual abuse victims in the Archdiocese of New York have the opportunity to heal

Two childhood victims of sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of New York, one by a religious sister (nun), and another by a Catholic high school lay teacher, will demand that their sexual abuse claims be included in the financial compensation program of the Archdiocese of New York

What
A demonstration and press conference demanding that Cardinal Timothy Dolan revise his financial compensation program for childhood victims of sexual abuse by Archdiocese of New York clergy to include childhood sexual abuse victims of nuns, religious brothers, lay employees and volunteers who serve or have served in the Archdiocese of New York

When
Sunday, November 27, 2016 from 10:30 am until Noon (Cardinal Dolan is the usual presider at the 10:15 am Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral) – Press conference at 11:15 am

Where
On the public sidewalk outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Fifth Avenue between East 50th and East 51st Streets, New York, New York 10022

Who and Why
Cecilia Springer, an 85 year-old childhood sexual abuse victim of her high school Principal, Sr. Mary Andrew, S.U., at Notre Dame School, Manhattan, in 1945. She reported the sexual abuse by Sr. Mary Andrew, S.U., to officials of Notre Dame School and the Sisters of St. Ursula, who impolitely told her to take a hike. They have refused to help her.

Michael Meenan, who attended Fordham Prep School, the Bronx, in the 1980s and was sexually abused by a lay teacher of Fordham Prep, Fernand Beck, at a graduation party in Westchester County, New York. Michael Meenan reported the sexual abuse by the teacher to an official of the school, but that official did nothing about it. Recently, Michael Meenan met with lawyers and officials of Fordham Prep School, and they have yet to offer Michael any assistance.

Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., President of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity based in New Jersey that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families, and a victim of sexual abuse by three Irish Christian Brothers in the Archdiocese of New York

Cecilia Springer and Michael Meenan will demand of Cardinal Timothy Dolan that he:

1) Include childhood sexual abuse victims of religious order men (priests, deacons, and brothers), religious order women (nuns), and all lay employees and volunteers who serve or have served in the Archdiocese of New York in the financial compensation program for sexual abuse victims sponsored by the Archdiocese of New York

2) Allow all childhood sexual abuse victims in the Archdiocese of New York to try to heal by being included in the Archdiocese of New York compensation program.

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

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A Melbourne Catholic priest has resigned after allegations he sexually abused a trainee priest 30 years ago.

The ABC revealed that in 2012, the Catholic Church paid $75,000 in compensation to an 18-year-old former student priest, who alleged he was abused by Father John Walshe in 1982.

Father Walshe strenuously denied the abuse and said the relationship was consensual.

Parents from two schools in his parish in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs, St John Vianney Primary School at Parkdale and St Patrick’s Primary School, Mentone have been lobbying for his resignation all year saying they no longer trusted him.

In this week’s parish bulletin, Father Walshe said it had been an immense honour serving the parish and his resignation would take effect on January 18.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | Post News Staff

While the newly appointed Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes is set to arrive on Guam next Monday, Nov. 28, he has already taken steps to address some concerns of the island’s Catholic faithful.

Last week Wednesday, Nov. 16, Byrnes formally annulled the deed restriction placed on the Redemptoris Mater Seminary property in Yona, removing any doubt under whose patrimony the former Hotel Accion resides.

Additionally, Byrnes dissolved the RMS board of guarantors and restructured the board of directors to include only the archbishop of Agana.

Since then, Byrnes has additionally amended the articles of incorporation filed with the Department of Revenue and Taxation to no longer include verbiage specifying that RMS was a house of formation meant to “prepare men for the priesthood for the new evangelization following the life and itinerary of the Neocatechumenal Way,” according to court documents.

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WISCONSIN
WTMJ

Connor Swiney
Nov 26, 2016

Following lawsuits levied by those sexually abused by members of the Church, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee filed for bankruptcy in 2011. Despite their financial situation, Archbishop Jerome Listecki says the Church’s mission goes on.

“Whatever we had, whether its ten cents or one hundred million dollars. This is our mission given by Christ,” says Listecki.

Listecki says he’s the first Archbishop of the Archdiocese to be in debt.

“You go into bankruptcy to be solvent. In order to make sure our obligations were fulfilled, we had to go into debt. We’re more than glad to do that so that we can bring some type of closure to those who are victims” says Listecki.

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AUSTRALIA
The New Daily

A Melbourne Catholic priest has resigned after allegations he sexually abused a trainee priest 30 years ago.

The ABC revealed that in 2012, the Catholic Church paid $75,000 in compensation to an 18-year-old former student priest, who alleged he was abused by Father John Walshe in 1982.

Father Walshe strenuously denied the abuse and said the relationship was consensual.

Parents from two schools in his parish in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs, St John Vianney Primary School at Parkdale and St Patrick’s Primary School, Mentone have been lobbying for his resignation all year saying they no longer trusted him.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com November 26, 2016

Guam’s Catholic Church marks a leadership milestone after 30 years when Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes arrives on island Monday.

As coadjutor archbishop, Byrnes succeeds Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron, who has been the highest leader of the church since 1986 but was placed on leave by the Vatican on June 6. Apuron is facing a canonical trial over multiple allegations of sex abuse of altar boys when he was a parish priest in the 1970s.

Apuron, 71, still holds the title of archbishop but he has not been back on Guam since May.

Byrnes, 58, will reside in the episcopal residence, which Apuron has “vacated,” according to a sign at the entrance to the archdiocese’s chancery office in Hagåtña.

Pope Francis sent Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai as temporary administrator of the church on Guam in June, but made a more permanent leadership solution on Oct. 31 with Byrnes’ appointment.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

A reader writes an open letter to Br Hugh O’Neill, superior general of the Congregation of Christian Brothers, in Rome

Dear Superior General, – Only last year, in my late 50s, I woke up to the exact nature and general effects of abuse I suffered at the hands of two of your Christian Brothers here in Ireland before I was 12. One is dead, the other alive in Ireland and living a secular life outside your congregation.

Human memory is very complex, and such a lapse of time is not uncommon in cases of childhood abuse. Although I can assure you that my testimony is correct, perhaps it’s best that we immediately set aside any thoughts of court cases or lawyers.

I think we both understand too well how such thoughts exercise our worst fear reflexes, and how ineffective and expensive these processes can become. (I note with sadness that in May 2013 your congregation’s Australian province, at Victoria’s parliamentary inquiry into child abuse, admitted to hiring a private investigator to follow one of the victims. It spent nearly a million Australian dollars defending the perpetrator, plus hundreds of thousands to defend other members also accused of rape.)

There are other strategies to deal with these matters, ones that could bring about some desperately needed healing for all concerned.

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GUYANA
Daily Herald

GEORGETOWN, Guyana–Guyana’s self-proclaimed Pope, Philbert London, and his Beacon Ministries Church are anxious to get past his embarrassing sex scandal, but the Government hints that the religious leader is not off the hook just yet.

At least three Government Ministers say they are scrutinising the incident.

Earlier this month, several pornographic photographs of London and various women made the rounds on social media.

One photograph showed a smiling London cuddled next to an unidentified woman, while another photograph had a man, believed to be him, naked and sprawled between two naked women.

London has since asked his congregation for forgiveness. Members readily agreed, embracing their leader.

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CANADA
Ottawa Citizen

ANDREW DUFFY, OTTAWA CITIZEN

A retired Ottawa priest, who has admitted he suffered from a powerful attraction to adolescents as a young cleric, appeared in court Friday on historical sexual assault charges.

Rev. Barry McGrory, 82, faces two counts of gross indecency and two counts of indecent assault in connection with offences alleged to have occurred in the late 1960s. The charges are based on the Criminal Code as it existed at that time.

McGrory, who now lives in Toronto, was released on a $10,000 bond and ordered not to communicate with the victim, or take work that would put him in a position of trust with anyone under the age of 16.

His case was remanded to December.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Andrew Bolt, Herald Sun
November 26, 2016

No journalist has tried harder than David Marr to smear Cardinal George Pell as a liar who covered up for pedophile priests and even enabled their crimes. The evidence against Pell is actually melting away.

Now Gerard Henderson exposes 13 of Marr’s worst false claims, omissions and baseless smears. Please read it all.

Here are some highlights, so to speak, from Henderson’s fact-checking of Marr’s most comprehensive smear sheet on Pell – his extended essay The Prince – Faith, Abuse & George Pell (Black Inc, 2014):

The fact is that much of David Marr’s case against Cardinal Pell collapses when reference is made to evidence heard by the Royal Commission and to Counsel-Assisting’s submissions to the Royal Commission.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

Judy Courtin

When I think things cannot get worse for my institutional child sexual abuse clients – wham! – another round of trickery is thrust at already vulnerable victims by the highly legalistic and parsimonious hierarchy of the Catholic Church. Whilst feigning compassion, this hierarchy is nervously propelling unknown millions of dollars at lawyers to help them defend the indefensible and to conceal the truth.

The Archdiocese of Melbourne, hiding in the shadows until the federal government led the way with a national redress scheme, announced recently it would offer ex gratia payments to victims, including those who had previously engaged in their internal complaints process, the Melbourne Response. The cap would be doubled to $150,000.

Friday’s announcement, frocked up to lure and exploit the misinformed and vulnerable, actually gazumped the repeatedly-promised and overdue release of a critically important independent review of George Pell’s Melbourne Response by retired judge Donnell Ryan.

Although provided to the royal commission, this review will never be publicly viewed, including by those valiant people without whom this review would not exist. Archbishop Hart uses victims, who want this review, as a decoy as he falsely claims that publishing the Ryan Review will only re-traumatise them. The immoral art of ecclesiastical concealment endures.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Nov 26, 2016

By Sabrina Salas Matanane

Following two new allegations of sexual abuse by clergy this week, the “Archdiocese of Agana pledges to do all it can, under new leadership, to ensure that all people in our care, most especially our young and most vulnerable, thrive in a safe and loving environment fully protected from any harm,” a press release stated.

On Wednesday, KUAM News first reported two new complaints were filed in the Superior Court of Guam. 63-year-old Paul Joseph Borja alleged that while he was an altar boy at the Our Lady of Peace and Safe Journey Catholic Church in Chalan Pago, Fr. Antonio Cruz sexually molested him. Borja was 12-years-old.

59-year-old Vicente T. San Nicolas also came forward. He alleged that when he was a teenager and an altar boy at San Isidro Church in Malojloj he was repeatedly molested by Fr. Louis Brouillard who was serving as the church’s priest. He alleged that the abuse occurred over a five year period. He described how Fr. Brouillard would walk around naked at the Carmelite Monastery where he lived. Court documents further stated that the priest would show him collections of various nude photos that he took of boys.

The two additional complaints bring the total to nine that have been filed against the church. One of those accused is Archbishop Anthony Apuron. Although Apuron has vehemently denied all the allegations made against him, Fr. Louis Brouillard confessed on video to molesting several boys while serving on Guam as a priest and a Scout Master for the Boy Scouts between the 1940s through the 1970s.

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NEW JERSEY
Patch

By Anthony Locicero (Patch Staff) – November 25, 2016

A former Hackettstown church secretary is suing Gethsemane Lutheran Church and a retired pastor, whom she said made sexual comments towards her and took pictures of her chest and up her skirt, according to a report.

The woman, a Flanders resident who is married with children, sued both the church and Pastor Terrance Herzberg, 67, who retired early after his administrative assistant claimed he violated her privacy on June 27, the Daily Record reported.

That day, she wore a skirt to work and the pastor allegedly took pictures up her skirt, the Daily Record reported.

According to the Daily Record, the lawsuit alleges that the church violated the state’s Law Against Discrimination.

The lawsuit further claims that the pastor’s conduct interfered with the woman’s job performance, the Daily Record reported.

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CANADA
CBC News

A former Ottawa priest has been accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy in the late ’60s, and police believe there could be more victims.

Ottawa police began an investigation after receiving a complaint in September, the force said in a media release issued Friday.

William Barry McGrory, 82, has been charged with two counts of indecent assault on a male and two counts of gross indecency, which were Criminal Code offences in place at the time. He was expected to appear in court Friday.

McGrory currently lives in Toronto but used to be a priest with the Archdiocese of Ottawa.

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CANADA
Ottawa Start

BY OTTAWASTART STAFF · NOVEMBER 25, 2016

SHARE THIS

(press release)

(Ottawa) — Today, the Ottawa Police Service Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Section charged a former Ottawa area priest following an investigation into allegations of a historical sexual assault.

In September 2016, investigators received a complaint and commenced an investigation into allegations of sexual assault, in Ottawa in the late 1960s, involving a priest with the Archdiocese of Ottawa. The offences involved a boy who was 15 years old at the time.

William Barry McGRORY, 82 years old, of Toronto is charged with two counts of Indecent Assault on a male and two counts of Gross Indecency, as per Criminal Code charges existing at the time of the offences.

He is scheduled to appear in court today.
SACA investigators are concerned that there could be other victims.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Ottawa Police Service Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Unit at 613-236-1222, ext. 5944. Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling Crime Stoppers toll-free at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or by downloading the Ottawa Police app.

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CANADA
CTV

The Canadian Press
Published Friday, November 25, 2016

OTTAWA — A former priest is facing charges in Ottawa after an investigation into allegations of historical sexual assault.

Ottawa Police say they received a complaint in September and began investigating the allegations of incidents that occurred in the late 1960s.

Police say the allegations involved a priest with the Archdiocese of Ottawa and a boy who was 15 years old at the time.

They say William Barry McGrory, now 82 and living in Toronto, has been charged with two counts of indecent assault and two counts of gross indecency.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Main Post

[Diocese of Wurzburg pays 7000 euros to an abuse victim.]

Der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Diözese Würzburg spricht von einem „Serientäter“. Dieser wurde vor 16 Jahren strafrechtlich wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs verurteilt. Im Juni 2015 reagierte auch die Kirche endgültig. Der damals bereits suspendierte Pfarrer W. wurde laisiert beziehungsweise aus dem Klerikerstand entlassen. Der Mann ist also kein Geistlicher mehr – auf höchste Anordnung von Papst Franziskus hin.

Anhänger des Ex-Pfarrers bezichtigen Opfer der Unglaubwürdigkeit

Es ist die Höchststrafe für einen Geistlichen. Anhänger von W. beurteilen den Fall anders: Sie bezichtigen Opfer der Unglaubwürdigkeit und betonen, dass sie W., der nach wie vor seine Unschuld beteuern würde, glauben.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Nov 25, 2016

By Sabrina Salas Matanane

After decades of leadership under Archbishop Anthony Apuron, Monday will mark a new chapter for the Archdiocese of Agana. Vatican-appointed coadjutor Bishop Michael Byrnes is scheduled to arrive that day where he’ll hit the ground running meeting with local clergy that same morning.

Celebrations kick-off on Wednesday where the public is invited to a prayer for the beginning of the Episcopal Ministry of Coadjutor Archbishop set for 10:30am at the Dulce Nombre De Maria Cathedral Basilica followed by his first islandwide mass at 6pm. Celebrations will draw to a close on December 8 with the islandwide commemoration of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Concepcion, which includes the celebration of Santa Marian Kamalen and the close of the Golden Jubilee of the archdiocese.

Bishop Byrnes was appointed to the local archdiocese on October 31 amid several allegations of molestation made against Archbishop Apuron, who is anticipated to face a canonical trial in the Vatican.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

Allegations of bullying and sexual assault at the headquarters of the national child abuse inquiry have not been taken seriously enough and the inquiry’s response to these claims has been “inadequate”, a Commons report has claimed.

A catalogue of problems has “seriously diminished” confidence in the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and its ability to deliver on objectives in a “timely and effective way”, MPs warned.

The Home Affairs Committee pointed out that experienced counsel have been departing from the probe at an “alarming rate”.

Ben Emmerson QC, the most senior lawyer appointed to the inquiry resigned in September, following an allegation he had sexually assaulted a female “inquiry worker” in the lift at its offices. Mr Emmerson strenuously denied the claim.

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NEW ZEALAND
Stuff

JOHN EDENS

A scathing report by a powerful parliamentary committee in the United Kingdom has described Kiwi judge Lowell Goddard’s refusal to answer questions in person as “shameful” and “disgraceful”.

Dame Goddard quit in August as head of the UK inquiry (IICSA) into cases of historical child sex abuse and, in early November, she effectively ruled out appearing in person before British MPs.

She was the subject of intense scrutiny during her tenure, hit out at “malicious defamatory attacks” by some media and said she was disappointed there was “no government defence of me in England” when she resigned.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Timna Jacks

Controversial Melbourne figure Father John Walshe has resigned from his position as parish priest in Melbourne’s south east, following a parent-led campaign calling for him to step down.

In a bulletin leaked to Fairfax Media on Friday, Father Walsh announced he would be stepping down after nearly 25 years in the job.

The news was to be circulated at the Mentone-Parkdale parish mass on Saturday evening.

“I have this week, with the agreement of the archbishop, submitted my resignation from the office of parish priest of the Parish of Mentone-Parkdale,” he said in the statement.

“This will take effect from 18 January 2017.

“I wanted to communicate this to you as soon as possible. When I leave early next year I will be four days short of having completed 25 years in the parish. It has been my immense honour to have been with you for this time.” …

The resignation comes after revelations Father Walshe was banned from ministering in Ireland for committing an act of sexual abuse, but was allowed to oversee two Catholic primary schools by the archbishop, who described the act as simply a “breach of his vow of celibacy”.

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

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Child sexual abuse victims will receive compensation of up to $150,000 under an interim redress scheme set up by the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne.

The Melbourne diocese has decided to establish its own interim redress scheme, ahead of the federal government’s proposed national system that begins in 2018 and any Victorian government model.

Chancellor Michael Shand QC said the scheme will operate as part of a new independent body investigating sexual abuse complaints.

The Melbourne diocese has followed the federal government in setting the maximum compensation payments for child abuse victims at $150,000 under the interim scheme, as well as providing counselling.

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UNITED KINGDOM
TVNZ

[with video]

The New Zealand former head of the United Kingdom’s inquiry into child sexual abuse has again been slammed by UK MPs and warned she’ll be hauled in front of them if she ever steps foot in the country again.

Dame Lowell Goddard has been criticised for refusing to appear before a committee of MPs looking into the work of the troubled inquiry despite receiving almost $NZ840,500 a year in pay and allowances while she was its chair.

She resigned abruptly in August after just 18 months.

The Commons Home Affairs Committee report said Dame Lowell’s failure to appear in front of it was “disgraceful”.

“We regard this refusal as falling well below the standards we would expect of any public servant,” it said in the report.

“Should Dame Lowell travel to the UK in the future, we would invoke parliamentary procedures to seek to summon her to give oral evidence.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Sky News

Dame Lowell Goddard’s refusal to give evidence to MPs following her resignation as chairwoman of the inquiry into child sexual abuse was “disgraceful”, a report has concluded.

The Home Affairs Committee has been reviewing the inquiry, which has been beset by problems since it was set up in 2014.

In its report, the committee said it would invoke its power to summon the New Zealand judge – who became the third inquiry chief to resign, if she returns to the UK.

Confidence in the inquiry’s work had been “seriously diminished”, the report found.

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NEW JERSEY
Daily Record

Peggy Wright , @PeggyWrightDR November 24, 2016

A former secretary for Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Hackettstown has sued the church and now-retired pastor, alleging he frequently made sexually-charged comments to her and used a camera in June to take pictures of her chest and under her skirt.

The woman, a Flanders resident whose identity the Daily Record has elected to withhold, sued the church and former Pastor Terrance Herzberg, 67, who accelerated his planned retirement by departing shortly after his administrative assistant claimed that he violated her privacy on June 27.

The lawsuit, filed by attorney John F. McDonnell, was made public Wednesday in Superior Court, Morristown. It charges that the church violated the state’s Law Against Discrimination and that Herzberg’s conduct interfered with her job performance and “created an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment.” The complaint said that Herzberg’s behavior constituted a “constructive discharge” of the woman’s employment with the church because she could not work in that environment.

Interim church Pastor Rev. Richard Izzard said that Wednesday that he, the church and congregants are aware of the allegations and that Herzberg retired over the summer, sooner than he had planned.

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NEW JERSEY
Catholic Star Herald

The Office of Child and Youth Protection is announcing CAP (Child Assault Prevention) sessions. CAP is the safe environment training program for adults who have regular contact with minors.

Attendance is required in order to comply with the USCCB’s Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. The policy of the Diocese of Camden is that adults will attend CAP once every five years.

CAP 1 teaches attendees to recognize child abuse and neglect and how to report to the proper authorities. CAP 1 is for new volunteers and employees.

CAP 2 is called CAP’s Bullying Prevention Program and is a workshop addressing bullying awareness and bullying prevention. Cyber-bullying is also presented.

CAP 3 is called Cyber-Empowerment and is a workshop which promotes adults understanding of cyber activity of youth while teaching them realistic ways to help children keep their own rights and guard the rights of others in the cyber-sphere. Please note if you are holding a (CAP 3) session you will need to provide the following: LCD Projector, Laptop, Screen and Speakers.

Each presentation is 90 minutes.

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MEXICO
Catholic Register

BY DAVID AGREN, CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
November 24, 2016

MEXICO CITY – When Father Daniel Portillo set about designing programs to protect children and address allegations of sexual abuse, he quickly encountered a core challenge in Mexico: an unwillingness to acknowledge the very existence of a problem with predatory priests.

“The first aspect to overcome is saying that this does not exist in Mexico. It exists. Pedophilia among priests exists,” said Father Portillo, a professor at the Pontifical University of Mexico and the director of the newly formed Center for Investigation and Interdisciplinary Training for the Protection of Minors at the school.

“We were in denial, thinking and supposing that it didn’t exist or it wasn’t here or it was an American or Anglo-Saxon problem,” Father Portillo said. “It’s a problem hitting us at a global level.”

Sex crimes committed by priests against children have caused scandals in Mexico and undercut the church’s credibility.

That credibility was especially hurt by revelations that the Legionaries of Christ founder, Father Marciel Maciel, who was considered close with some in the Catholic hierarchy and the country’s political and economic elites, sexually abused seminarians. The allegations of abuse made against Father Maciel stayed out of the press, while an advertising boycott was brought against a lone news outlet to report the scandal in the late 1990s.

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OSTERREICH
Gegen Sexuelle Gewalt

[Cardinal Schönborn’s lies …]

Frau Nationalratspräsidentin Bures plante den Staatsakt „Geste der Verantwortung“ für ehemalige Heimkinder ursprünglich ohne Beisein der Kirche. Ein halbes Jahr ging es aber hinter den Kulissen hoch her, weil sich Kardinal Schönborn unbedingt als Staatsaktredner mit hineindrängen wollte.

Dort sagte er: „Ich bitte um Vergebung. „Wir haben vertuscht, wenn Missbrauch bekannt geworden ist, Leute versetzt und nicht abgesetzt. Ich bitte um Vergebung“. Er betonte, dass die Kirche wissentlich Täter versetzt hat.

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MALLORCA
Mallorca Zeitung

[Ex-Prior denies new allegations of child abuse.]

24.11.2016

Ein ehemaliger Vorsteher des Klosters Lluc hat vor Gericht die gegen ihn erhobenen Vorwürfe des sexuellen Missbrauchs an mehreren Internatsschülern kategorisch zurückgewiesen. Nachdem ein erstes Verfahren wegen Verjährung der mutmaßlichen Straftaten eingestellt worden war, musste sich der Priester am 10. November wegen eines weiteren Falls erstmals den Fragen der Richterin in Inca stellen, wie die MZ-Tageszeitung “Diario de Mallorca” am Donnerstag (24.11.) berichtet.

Die neuen Vorwürfe erheben die Eltern eines ehemaligen Internatsschülers im Kloster Lluc. In den Jahren 2012 und 2013 soll der damalige Prior des Klosters einen zu der Zeit siebenjährigen sowie zwei weitere Jungen in das Büro zitiert und an den Genitalien berührt haben. Die anderen beiden mutmaßlichen Opfer bestreiten die Vorfälle.

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AUSTRALIA
Australian Jewish News

RABBI Yaakov Glasman of St Kilda Hebrew Congregation has become Australia’s new “top rabbi”.

He was elected as president of the Rabbinic Council of Australia and New Zealand (RCANZ) at its first annual general meeting in Sydney last week.

The body, representing more than 100 congregational rabbis, was established in the wake of last year’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which saw the integrity of a number of senior spiritual leaders being questioned and led to calls for an overhaul of existing rabbinic structures, including the existing Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia.

According to Rabbi Glasman, the RCANZ aims to start afresh with new leaders and a determination to make sure rabbis are professional and accountable.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | Post News Staff

With the filing of two more complaints Wednesday, the Archdiocese of Agana now faces a total of nine civil suits filed with the Superior Court of Guam that allege, among other things, child sexual abuse by priests of local parishes.

The first complaint, from 63-year-old Chalan Pago resident Paul Joseph Borja, stated that Borja was molested by a local parish priest when he was serving as an altar boy at the Our Lady of Peace and Safe Journey Catholic Church in 1965.

In court documents filed Wednesday, Borja alleges that the now-deceased Rev. Antonio C. Cruz, who served as a priest for the Chalan Pago Parish at the time, molested and abused him.

The allegations presented in the suit state that Rev. Cruz had obtained permission from Borja’s mother for Borja to meet Cruz at his residence on the second floor of the Chalan Pago Parish. According to court documents, the events that transpired that night constituted sexual abuse that included Cruz performing oral copulation on the then-12-year-old Borja.

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CANADA
Local Xpress

by: Ian Fairclough

Weird. That’s how defence lawyer Clayton Ruby described the trial of Rev. Brent Hawkes during closing arguments in Kentville provincial court Wednesday.

“This is a weird case, and the evidence is weird,” he said, adding the weirdness will make it a proceeding that will be remembered years from now.

“There’s a theme through my submissions, to watch for the weird case,” he said. “Because the weirdness tells you things that ordinary cases don’t tell you.”

Ruby conceded that he didn’t have the evidence to show the three Crown witnesses were lying, but “we do have an abundance of evidence that their testimony is unreliable.”

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CANADA
Global News

Canadian Press

KENTVILLE, N.S. – Closing arguments were made today in the trial of a prominent Toronto pastor accused of performing sex acts on a teenage boy more than 40 years ago in Nova Scotia.

Brent Hawkes, a high-profile rights activist, has pleaded not guilty to charges of indecent assault and gross indecency.

The charges stem from events in the mid-1970s, when he was a teacher in his mid-20s in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley.

The trial in Kentville, N.S., has heard emotional testimony from a middle-age man who said Hawkes led him down a hallway naked during a drunken get-together at his trailer and forced oral sex on him in a bedroom when he was about 16 years old.

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CANADA
The Globe and Mail

ALY THOMSON
KENTVILLE, N.S. — The Canadian Press
Published Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016

Brent Hawkes’ lawyer told his gross indecency trial Wednesday that the evidence against the Toronto pastor is “weird,” but the prosecutor contended that doesn’t make it any less plausible.

Defence lawyer Clayton Ruby said in his closing argument that the entire case will be remembered as weird, amid “an abundance of evidence” that the testimony of the witnesses is unreliable.

“The weirdness tells you things that ordinary cases don’t tell you,” Ruby told provincial court Judge Alan Tufts in Kentville, N.S.

A middle-age man testified last week that Hawkes led him down a hallway naked during a drunken get-together at his trailer in Greenwood, N.S., in the mid-1970s, and forced oral sex on him in a bedroom when he was about 16 years old. Two other men have also testified they attended the get-together as teenagers, and one said he witnessed Hawkes performing oral sex on the complainant.

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CANADA
Daily Xtra

Matthew DiMera

“This is a weird case, and the evidence is weird,” defence lawyer Clayton Ruby said today in his closing arguments in the Brent Hawkes sexual assault trial.

Hawkes, a longtime leader of Toronto’s gay community and recipient of the Order of Canada, is facing one charge of indecent assault and one charge of gross indecency for allegedly having oral sex with a 16-year-old more than 40 years ago in Kings County, NS, when he was a high school teacher.

“I have not got the evidence to show that the three witnesses are lying,” Ruby told provincial court Judge Alan Tufts. “But we do have an abundance of evidence that their testimony is unreliable.”

The Crown’s case against Hawkes is based almost entirely on eyewitness testimonies from three witnesses whose identities are protected under a publication ban.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

24 November, 2016

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has published more than 70 submissions received from a range of individuals and organisations in response to its consultation paper on criminal justice issues.

The consultation paper was released on 5 September this year. It elicited responses from survivors, advocacy and support groups, legal practitioner representative bodies, Directors of Public Prosecutions, academics and governments.

Royal Commission CEO Philip Reed said the large number of submissions reflected the importance the community placed on improving the criminal justice system.

“The Royal Commission has long been aware of the need to better understand the contemporary response of the criminal justice system to institutional child sexual abuse and identify ways it can be made more effective,” Mr Reed said.

“These submissions will be instrumental in informing our final recommendations on criminal justice.”

The Royal Commission has invited a range of groups and individuals to speak to their submissions as part of a further Royal Commission public hearing on criminal justice issues, commencing on Monday 28 November.

The consultation paper covered issues such as joint trials, admissibility of an accused’s ‘bad character’ and matters such as police communication and their response to reporting of child sexual abuse, prosecution responses, delays and sentencing.

The consultation paper and its submissions form an important part of the Royal Commission’s wider work in criminal justice, which include an issues paper, public roundtables, research and a previous public hearing.

Read the submissions.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Stephen Naysmith

Prosecutors are being trained to be more understanding of abuse and its victims ahead of a predicted flood of court cases related to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.

The harrowing story of Andy Kershaw, who was subjected to brutality and abuse after being taken into care in England at the age of eight has been made into a film by the training consultancy Safe To Say.

The film, commissioned by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), will now form part of its staff training.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Argus

Joel Adams , Reporter / Argus_JoelA

AN INQUIRY has been launched into the Church’s handling of a settlement paid to a woman who was abused as a child by the wartime Bishop of Chichester.

Liberal Democrat peer and QC Lord Carlile of Berriew has been named as the independent reviewer into the case, and his report is expected next summer.

However, there is no promise that the final review will be made available to the public.

The formal terms of reference insist: “ The Church of England will determine whether the full report can be sufficiently redacted or otherwise anonymised to enable its publication without risking disclosure of the complainant’s identity.”

In February The Argus exclusively told the victim’s story. She was sat on the bishop’s knee at the age of five and molested while being told it was a secret because God loved her.

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AUSTRALIA
Sunbury Leader

SUNBURY’S Salesian College will host a public apology to victims and loved ones affected by decades of historical sexual abuse there.

Australia-Pacific Province of the Salesians of Don Bosco provincial Father Greg Chambers will present the apology on December 8 to victims and their families in gardens in front of the Rupertswood Mansion, where a plaque will be placed on a “sorry stone”.

Years of abuse at the then boarding school at Rupertswood Mansion from the 1970s to ’90s has led to past priests being imprisoned, while other staff associated with the college at the time have been ordered to pay substantial compensation.

The dark history of Salesian College has again come to light with the ongoing Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Salesian College principal Mark Brockhus said the apology and monument was a starting point in confronting the college’s past which had impacted on dozens of victims.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Christopher Knaus

Anti-child abuse campaigners have urged federal and state governments to avoid playing political games with the national redress scheme, after Victoria said the federal government for “dragging its heels” and keeping survivors in the dark.

The council of Australian governments meeting early next month could be critical to the future of the national redress scheme, which was a core recommendation of the royal commission in September last year.

Social services minister Christian Porter announced the proposed $4.3 billion model of redress earlier this month, which allowed states, territories, and institutions to opt in or out. But most states and territories remain cautious and are yet to fully commit.

This week, NSW, Queensland, Victoria, and the ACT told Guardian Australia they were still waiting on further detail from the federal government on how the scheme would work.

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IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

By Nicola Anderson
PUBLISHED
24/11/2016

Former Irish President Mary McAleese has described her doctorate study in canon law as “sleeping in the same bed as a python”.

“You never finish it, you just get to the point where you have to abandon it,” Mrs McAleese said.

She spent the last three years living the quiet life in convents and seminaries in the Vatican with a quip that her social life was “very active” given the 11pm curfew.

Her studies have “filled her head up with crap”, the former President said. …

Instead, she wants to look at the hierarchical structure of the Church, which she says is “not serving its purpose”.

She slated the Vatican’s recent threat to withdraw from the UN Convention on Children’s Rights over its discomfort in being cross-examined on issues like child sexual abuse.

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MICHIGAN
WOOD

[with video]

KENTWOOD, Mich. (WOOD) — A pastor at a Grand Rapids church was arrested after police say he tried to meet an 11-year-old girl for sex.

David Robert Diehl, 39, of Kentwood, was arraigned Wednesday on child sexually abusive activity and using a computer to commit a crime charges.

Diehl was arrested on Nov. 22 after he responded to an undercover officer’s post on Grand Rapids Craigslist, which warned about a poster offering “sex with daughters.”

Michigan State Police say Diehl is a pastor at Church on Fire in Grand Rapids.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Anne Connolly

Bishop Greg Thompson says members of the Newcastle Anglican diocese acted like a Sopranos-style protection racket when it dealt with sex abuse complaints.

“What’s particularly distinctive about the story of abuse in this diocese is the habituated protection of perpetrators and the undermining of survivors as they came forward. It was like a religious protection racket,” Bishop Thompson told 7.30.

“You could call it like a religious Sopranos, people who pretended to be religious behaved appallingly. An organised crime against survivors.”

The bishop also told how he was abused by two senior priests — including former bishop Ian Shevill — at an R-rated movie in the 1970s.

“The abuse was groping and touching and grooming me to see sexual assault as a normal thing, as an acceptable thing and as part of becoming a person in the church. That’s how corrosive it was in that moment,” he told 7.30.

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MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

BY JUDY L. THOMAS
jthomas@kcstar.com

A defamation lawsuit filed against a national Catholic organization by a former altar boy whose sexual abuse case was part of a $10 million settlement with the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese is now awaiting a federal appellate court ruling.

The lawsuit, originally filed by Jon David Couzens in Jackson County Circuit Court in 2013, named as defendants the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights; its president and CEO, Bill Donohue; the KC Catholic League; and two Kansas City men who were officers of the now-dissolved local organization.

Couzens alleged that Donohue published false statements about him in news releases, on the Catholic League’s website and in documents distributed to churches. The lawsuit also accused the defendants of inflicting emotional distress.

The Catholic League, which is based in New York City and describes itself as the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organization, argued that the case belonged in federal court and was successful in its motion to move the lawsuit to U.S. District Court. That court dismissed the lawsuit last year, ruling that the material was first published in New York, where the one-year statute of limitations for defamation claims had expired. Missouri has a two-year statute of limitations.

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MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

By Robert Patrick St. Louis Post-Dispatch

ST. LOUIS • The mother of a mentally disabled St. Francois County man sued the United States in federal court here Tuesday, alleging that a priest had abused the man when he was 8 and living in Hawaii.

The lawsuit says that the Rev. Mark Matson worked for the U.S. military under a contract at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii as a priest and religious teacher.

Matson was a Catholic priest who was a member of the Theatines religious order, based in Colorado. He was ordained in 1976.

The family of the alleged victim was stationed at Tripler at the time.

The suit says that Matson sexually assaulted the boy at least six times after Sunday services in 1997-98, raping and spanking him. The first time, he asked the boy if he wanted to see a magic trick, the suit says. Matson threatened the boy with hell if he told anyone what happened, and also told the boy that his parents knew and approved, the suit says.

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AUSTRALIA
Mercury

Rebekah Ison, Australian Associated Press
November 24, 2016

An Anglican bishop says he’s received warnings from parishioners that he is not safe in his own diocese after he revealed claims of his abuse as a young man by senior church clerics.

Newcastle bishop Greg Thompson said cathedral parishioners had turned their backs on him, and screws had been placed in his staff members’ tyres.

He said the message was that he would face public harassment and public shame if he did not “follow what they want me to do,” he told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Thursday.

As bishop of a community plagued by systemic child sexual abuse over decades, he says a national church response is needed as he says the Anglican “house is burning”.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By David Marchese

The Anglican bishop of Newcastle, Greg Thompson, has told a royal commission a priest said in the 1970s he would “get ahead” in the church if he offered sexual favours.

Bishop Thompson was the final witness of the child abuse royal commission’s hearing into Newcastle’s Anglican diocese that is investigating widespread abuse carried out over decades.

The current bishop began his evidence by outlining his childhood, breaking down at times when he recalled being sexually abused by two male boarders staying at his home in his early teens.

Bishop Thompson explained how he got to know a priest, Eric Barker, in Newcastle in the 1970s who began to assault him when he was 19.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
WBTW

By Kendall McGee
Published: November 22, 2016

HARTSVILLE, SC (WBTW) – Hartsville police say they have arrested a Bishopville pastor for indecent exposure after several reports of a “flasher” in areas near Coker College.

According to Lt. Mark Blair with Hartsville police, officers responded to Second Street near Coker College Saturday at 8 p.m. after receiving a call about a man exposing himself to a woman.

Police found the vehicle the victim described and spoke to the suspect, who later confessed to the crime and several other incidents in the area.

Incident reports from Hartsville police list multiple reports of a man in a white car exposing himself to women near Coker College.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service – Bulletin

The Holy Father appointed:

Rev. Gerard W. Battersby and Rev. Robert J. Fisher as auxiliaries of the archdiocese of Detroit (area 10,104, population 4,266,416, Catholics 1,220,724, priests 605, permanent deacons 221, religious 1,068), United States of America.

Bishop-elect Battersby was born in 1960 in Detroit and was ordained a priest in 1998. He holds a licentiate in pastoral theology from the “Sacred Heart” seminary of Detroit, and is completing his doctoral studies in spiritual theology at the St. Thomas University, Rome. He has served as parish vicar and pastor of various parishes in Detroit, director of formation at the “Sacred Heart” major seminary, vicar forane and member of the presbyteral council. He is currently parish priest of St. Mary of Redford and vice-rector of the “Sacred Heart” major seminary of Detroit.

Bishop-elect Fisher was born in 1959 in Detroit and was ordained a priest in 1992. He holds a bachelor’s degree in management services from the University of Detroit and studied philosophy and completed his studies in theology at the “Sacred Heart” seminary of Detroit. He has served as parish vicar, director of priestly vocations for the archdiocese of Detroit, pastor of a number of parishes and member of the presbyteral council. He is currently pastor of the national Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica in Royal Oak.

Rev. Timothy Edward Freyer as auxiliary of the diocese of Orange in California (area 2,025, population 3,114,363, Catholics 1,536,438, priests 276, permanent deacons 219, religious 420), United States of America. The bishop-elect was born in 1963 in Los Angeles, United States of America, and was ordained a priest in 1989. He carried out his ecclesiastical studies in the “Saint John” Seminary, Camarillo. He has served as parish vicar in Los Alamitos, San Clemente and Laguna Beach, and parish priest in Fullerton and Anaheim. He is currently vicar for the clergy.

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MICHIGAN
Detroit Free Press

Niraj Warikoo , Detroit Free Press November 23, 2016

Pope Francis has named two priests in metro Detroit to be auxiliary bishops, replacing a retiring bishop and an outgoing one.

The Archdiocese of Detroit, which has about 1.3 million Catholics in a six-country region in southeast Michigan, announced today that Rev. Gerard Battersby, 56, and Rev. Robert Fisher, 57, will be ordained in January as the archdiocese’s 29th and 30th assistant bishops. Last year, Auxilary Bishop Francis Reiss retired and last month, Bishop Michael J. Byrnes was named to lead the archdiocese in Guam.

“All of us in the Archdiocese of Detroit are deeply grateful that Pope Francis has named Father Battersby and Father Fisher, two well-loved and respected priests in our archdiocese, to be auxiliary bishops in our local church,” Archbishop of Detroit Allen Vigneron, said in a statement released today by the Archdiocese. “Both of these new bishops bring a rich set of gifts and talents to the roles they will play in leading our community in our mission to share the Good News of Jesus.”

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TENNESSEE
Raw Story

DAVID EDWARDS
23 NOV 2016

Two Tennessee churches — both with current or former leaders connected to sexual abuse — have decided to restructure a merger in light of recent allegations.

Earlier this week, the Memphis Police Department confirmed that it was investigating a city of Memphis library employee, Christopher Carwile, after he was accused of sexually assaulting at least three children while working as a youth minister at the Church at Schilling Farms (formerly known as Immanuel Baptist Church) 18 years ago.

After learning that Carwile was working at the Memphis library, Michael Hansen, his brother Brooks and childhood friend Kenny Stubblefield came forward with sexual abuse allegations dating back to 1998. Carwile was placed on administrative by the library pending the outcome of the investigation.

Michael Hansen told the Commercial Appeal that the victims informed Schilling Farms Pastor Scott Payne about the assault. And although Payne fired Carwile at the time, Hansen said that the church refused to file a police report.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

Newcastle’s Anglican bishop, who has gone public with his own alleged abuse at the hands of clergy, is expected to give evidence at the last day of a royal commission hearing into the diocese on Thursday.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has previously heard Bishop Greg Thompson faces opposition from some prominent parishioners, who question timing of his abuse claims.

His expected evidence on Thursday will come the day after accused child sex abuser and former Dean of Newcastle Graeme Lawrence testified allegations against him were not true.

The royal commission heard he and his male partner sent cards to a teen, known as CKH, who alleges he first had three-way “sex” with the pair at 17 in the early 1980s.

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AUSTRALIA
Mercury

CATRYNA BILYK, Mercury
November 23, 2016

LIKE many Tasmanians, I was shocked and appalled by evidence given at the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse.

All abuse of children is horrendous, but it is particularly abhorrent for abuse to be committed by people entrusted with the care of those children.

I welcome the Turnbull Government’s decision to fund trauma counselling and other support, and to appoint an advisory committee of survivors and their supporters.

However, I have concerns about the Government’s proposed opt-in redress scheme. Under the proposed scheme, states, territories and institutions responsible for allowing child sexual abuse to take place can opt-in. This means if the institutions that perpetrated the abuse do not want to pay, they won’t have to. This is not good enough.

Leonie Sheedy from Care Leavers Australia Network (CLAN) described allowing the states to opt-in as a cop-out. We must do better.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

Toby Mann
Australian Associated Press

A former Marist Brother accused of sexually abusing young boys at Catholic boarding schools was a strict disciplinarian who used violence on his alleged victims, a court has heard.

Brett O’Connor was a dormitory master at a school on Sydney’s North Shore when he allegedly began indecently assaulting a 12-year-old boy under his charge and left his alleged victim frozen in fear in his bed, Sydney’s District Court heard on Wednesday.

He has pleaded not guilty to 18 charges relating to the alleged abuse of three victims at two schools in the late 1980s, crown prosecutor David Patch said.

“The accused was a very strict disciplinarian and sometimes used violence on the boys,” Mr Patch said.

One alleged victim was hit with a cricket bat, the court heard.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Ruaidhrí Giblin
PUBLISHED
23/11/2016

A former priest who sexually abused his niece more than 30 years ago has avoided jail for a second time, despite an appeal by prosecutors in a case described as “rare and exceptional”.

The 60-year-old, whose details cannot be published to protect the victim’s identity, had pleaded guilty to 12 counts of sexually assaulting his niece on dates in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

She was aged between six and 13 and he was in his 20s. He was given wholly suspended 18-month sentences by Judge Pat McCartan on March 1.

The Director of Public Prosecutions sought a review of the man’s sentence on grounds that it was unduly lenient. However, the Court of Appeal found yesterday that the sentencing judge acted within his discretion.

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CANADA
Local Xpress

The Crown had wanted to bring forward witnesses who would say that Hawkes made alcohol available to students who visited his home, but says the defence seems to be suggesting that it was available.

While he lost an application Tuesday to bring forward rebuttal evidence, the Crown attorney in the Brent Hawkes trial says he thinks he was able to get his point across because of admissions the defence made during the application.

Bob Morrison had been attempting to have two former West Kings District High School students testify that Hawkes, who is accused of indecent assault and gross indecency against a student at the school when he was a teacher there in the mid-1970s, made alcohol available to them when they were at his home for gatherings.

Hawkes had testified during his Kentville provincial court trial that he didn’t want students driving home drunk and didn’t give students alcohol, but added that didn’t mean they didn’t sneak some booze at events at his home that were attended by students and teachers. He said he only gave alcohol to teachers.

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CANADA
Toronto Star

By ALY THOMSON
The Canadian Press
Tues., Nov. 22, 2016

KENTVILLE, N.S.—Brent Hawkes’ lawyers conceded Tuesday that teenagers drank alcohol at the Toronto pastor’s Nova Scotia trailer during the mid 1970s, much to the prosecutor’s surprise.

Crown lawyer Bob Morrison had intended to call rebuttal witnesses to testify that other students, and not only the three witnesses who testified last week at Hawkes’ gross indecency trial, drank alcohol at his Greenwood, N.S., home.

But the defence said they didn’t disagree with the Crown on that point, so there was no need to hear from the witnesses.

“It was a bit of a surprise,” Morrison said outside the Kentville, N.S., courtroom on Tuesday, the fifth day of the trial. “That’s not what I had recollected (Hawkes’) evidence was . . . but the defence did concede that yes, in fact, he was aware that was taking place.”

Morrison and defence lawyer Clayton Ruby will make closing arguments Wednesday in a case that has challenged the memory of witnesses as they recounted events that happened more than 40 years ago.

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CANADA
CNW

Claims process begins in residential schools settlement affecting people who attended schools in Cartwright, North West River, Makkovik, Nain and St. Anthony that were run by the International Grenfell Association or the Moravian Church, announces Koskie Minsky, LLP.

The Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador authorized this notice.

This is not a solicitation from a lawyer.

ST. JOHN’S, NL, Nov. 22, 2016 /CNW/ – The $50 million settlement (“Settlement”) between the Federal Government of Canada (“Canada”) and former students of the Schools in Cartwright, North West River, Makkovik, Nain or St. Anthony run by the International Grenfell Association (“IGA”) or the Moravian Church (the “Schools”) has now been approved by the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador and the claims process has now started. The Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador authorized this press release, and other forms of notice, as part of a notification program to inform former students about their legal rights in this class action settlement.

Former students sued Canada about the management and operation of the Schools and the harms and abuses committed against the children who attended them. The lawsuits claimed that Canada exposed former students to child abuse, neglect, and physical, emotional, psychological and sexual abuse. The Plaintiffs claimed that Canada did not protect students’ physical and mental well-being even though it was its duty to do so.

The application to have these Schools added to the 2007 Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (“IRSSA”) was denied. These Schools are not considered eligible Indian Residential Schools in IRSSA, and former students were not able to get compensation for attendance or pursue abuse claims as part of the Individual Assessment Process in that settlement.

Instead, the claims for these Schools were litigated for almost nine years and the lawyers for the Plaintiffs began presenting their claims at the trial which started in September 2015 and was adjourned in February 2016 to allow for settlement discussions.

The representative former students and Canada then reached the $50 million Settlement that provides compensation for former students who attended. The Settlement has now been approved by the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Unless they have previously removed themselves from the lawsuit, the Settlement is available for anyone who was alive as of November 23, 2006 and who attended the IGA or Moravian Schools in the following locations between the dates listed (“Class Members”):

i Cartwright – April 1, 1949 to June 30, 1964

ii Northwest River – April 1, 1949 to June 30, 1980

iii Nain – April 1, 1949 to June 30, 1973

iv Makkovik – April 1, 1949 to June 30, 1960

v St. Anthony – April 1, 1949 to June 30, 1979

The class action no longer includes claims for the “Family Class” (family members of the former students who attended the schools). These claims were discontinued at trial by a decision of the Court. There is no compensation available for the Family Class in this Settlement and any further claims are now barred.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By David Marchese

A defrocked Anglican dean has vehemently denied at a royal commission hearing that he was the leader of a group of child abusers, but admitted he failed to act when he “suspected” a priest in his charge was having sex with a teenage boy.

The ex-dean of Newcastle, Graeme Lawrence, has returned to the witness box in Sydney after beginning his evidence last week when he was questioned intensely about the events leading up to his defrocking in 2012.

Mr Lawrence has been labelled one of the most influential priests in Newcastle’s history, with a strong sphere of supporters that rallied behind him during his time as dean of the city from 1984 until 2008.

The former priest was questioned at the child abuse royal commission today about his time as a rector in Griffith, where a man known as CKH claims he was sexually abused by Mr Lawrence as a teenager.

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GUAM
Marianas Variety

23 Nov 2016 Mar-Vic Cagurangan – For Variety

HAGÅTÑA — Although the Archdiocese of Agana has officially taken over the Redemptoris Mater Serminary building from the Neocatecumental Way, the conflicting accounts of acquisition and ownership of the property have become a contest of who’s telling the truth.

Dr. Ricardo Eusebio, a former member of the recently abolished RMS board, said the ownership of the property has stirred confusion that was caused by a “gigantic mountain of lies.”

“There was no truth to the accusations by various organizations that the property was ‘given away’ to the Neocatecumental Way and alienated from the Archdiocese of Agana,” Eusebio said.

At a press conference on Monday, Eusebio also lambasted Mother Superior Dawn Marie, head of the Carmelite Order, who said last week the dispute over the Yona property and the sex scandals in the church have created a “toxic environment” that forced the Carmelite nuns to end their 50-year mission on Guam.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Nov 23, 2016

By Nestor Licanto

Archbishop Michael Byrnes is taking no chances in asserting his control over the Redemptoris Mater Seminary. He filed a complaint on November 18 in the superior court against any others who might try to claim ownership over the seminary.

The filings state it is meant to be an ancillary measure to protect and preserve the plaintiff – Archbishop Byrnes’ – rights with regard to the Yona properties, and that any future claimants, including members of the Neocatechumenal Way, have no enforceable legal or equity interest. The ten-page complaint also lays-out the background of the seminary’s purchase by the archdiocese, and seeks the court’s recognition that Archbishop Byrnes has sole and exclusive legal title.

The court action follows document filings at land management last week in which Byrnes also asserted control over the seminary and removed the previous board made up of members from the Neocatechumenal Way.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Nov 23, 2016

By Sabrina Salas Matanane

And now there are nine – two more complaints have been filed in the Superior Court of Guam involving allegations of molestation by local clergy.

63-year-old Paul Joseph Borja alleges when he was 12 he was an altar boy for the Our Lady of Peace and Safe Journey Catholic Church in Chalan Pago. He says Father Antonio Cruz, who is now deceased, sexually molested and abused him. He added that when he moved to California with his family in 1968 Fr. Cruz just happened to be visiting the state and his parents invited him to their house for dinner. Borja says he went for a walk with him during which Fr. Cruz allegedly gave him an envelope with $50 inside. He says he was under the impression that the priest was trying to buy his silence.

The next victim to come forward is 59-year-old Vicente T. San Nicolas. He alleges that when he was a teenager and an altar boy at San Isidro Catholic Church in Malojloj he was molested repeatedly by Fr. Louis Brouillard who was serving as a priest there. He alleges the sexual abuse occurred over a five year period. San Nicola alleges Fr. Brouillard would ask his parents’ permission to stay the night at the Carmelite Monastery in Malojloj where the priest was living. He alleges Fr. Brouillard would walk around naked and would show him collections of various nude photos of minor boys that were taken by the priest.

Court document state that although he never spoke about it, he believes the priest also molested his now deceased brother who would also spend time at the convent. San Nicolas also alleged Fr. Brouillard also sexually molested him when he was a boy scout and the priest was a scout master.

Additionally San Nicolas alleges that he told a Deacon Jeff Barcinas about how he was victimized, but the deacon told him there was nothing we could do and the archdiocese has never taken any responsibility for Brouillard misconduct.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com November 23, 2016

Two new child sex abuse lawsuits, filed Wednesday afternoon, allege that deceased Catholic priest Antonio C. Cruz and former priest Louis Brouillard separately molested two former altar boys in the 1960s and 1970s.

Brouillard, the Archdiocese of Agana and as many as 50 other defendants are named in the latest batch of lawsuits, filed by attorney David Lujan, of the law firm Lujan & Wolff. Cruz, who died in 1986 at the age of 62, is not named as a defendant.

There are now a total of nine lawsuits filed against the church and clergy since a law was signed Sept. 23, lifting the civil statute of limitations for those accused of abusing children, as well as the institutions that supported them.

Paul Joseph Borja, now 63, alleges that Cruz sexually molested him at the Our Lady of Peace and Safe Journey Catholic Church in Chalan Pago when he was about 12, around the year 1965.

Borja, a resident of Chalan Pago, alleges that Cruz tried to buy his silence with $50 about three years later, or around 1968, when they met in California.

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AUSTRALIA
PerthNow

Elle Farcic, PerthNow
November 22, 2016

A FORMER Anglican priest accused of molesting five boys warned one of his victims to keep what had happened to himself because “God doesn’t care for liars”, a jury has been told.

Raymond Sydney Cheek is on trial in the District Court accused of assaulting the boys, who are not know to each other, between 1955 and 1985.

Four of the men came forward in recent years after news of Mr Cheek being charged over an incident that allegedly occurred in Williams in 1985 became public.

That victim claims Mr Cheek undressed him and rubbed his body against him when he was 15-years-old.

The next day, Mr Cheek allegedly told the boy he should keep what had happened to himself because God doesn’t like liars.

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