ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
7 News

AAP on November 23, 2016

A former Anglican priest accused of sexually abusing five boys over a 30-year period told one complainant it was tradition for a priest to undress an altar boy, a Perth court has heard.

Raymond Sydney Cheek, 84, is on trial in the West Australian District Court charged with committing an act of gross indecency and two counts each of indecent assault and indecent dealings with a child between 1955 and 1985.

One complainant, 48, testified on Tuesday that he was an altar boy in 1976 when he was eight or nine, and remembered Cheek as a “large, red-faced man” aged in his 30s.

He said on his first day as an altar boy, Cheek stripped him naked, leaving only his shoes on, and placed a robe on him, touching his genitals with his hands and the tassels of the waist rope.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Emily Piesse

A man has told a Perth court he was repeatedly undressed and touched in the groin by an Anglican priest in the late 1970s, while going to church with his mother.

Retired priest Raymond Sydney Cheek, 84, has pleaded not guilty to five charges spanning 30 years, including indecent dealing with a child under 14 years.

The first charge related to an alleged offence on the Easter weekend of 1955.

One man, who attended church with his mother in a south-west WA town, claims he was undressed and touched by Cheek on multiple occasions beginning in the 1970s.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Church of England

22 November 2016

Lord Carlile named as independent reviewer in George Bell case

Lord Carlile of Berriew has been named as the independent reviewer of the processes used in the Bishop George Bell case. The lessons learnt review, commissioned by the Church of England’s National Safeguarding Team, in accordance with the House of Bishops’ guidance on all complex cases, is expected to be completed by the end of the summer.

In 2015 the Bishop of Chichester issued a formal apology following the settlement of a legal civil claim regarding allegations of sexual abuse by Bishop Bell, who was Bishop of Chichester from 1929 until shortly before his death in 1958.

The aim of the review will be to look at the processes surrounding the allegations which were first brought in 1995 to the diocese of Chichester, with the same allegations brought again, this time to Lambeth Palace, in 2013. It will also consider the processes, including the commissioning of independent expert reports and archival and other investigations, which were used to inform the decision to settle the case, in order to learn lessons which can applied to the handling of similar safeguarding cases in future. The full Terms of Reference are set out below.

Lord Carlile CBE QC is a Member of the House of Lords, having served as a Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament from 1983-1997. He was the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation between 2001 and 2011. He has a strong interest in cyber-related issues especially regarding National Security. (see full biography below). An executive summary of the review will be published once Lord Carlile has completed his work.

The Bishop of Bath and Wells, Peter Hancock, the Church of England’s lead bishop on safeguarding, said: “I am grateful to Lord Carlile for agreeing to undertake the review, which will take a detailed look into how the Church handled the George Bell case; as with all serious cases there are always lessons to be learnt. The Church of England takes all safeguarding issues very seriously and we will continue to listen to everyone affected in this case while we await the findings of the review. The diocese of Chichester continues to be in touch and offer support to the survivor known as Carol, who brought the allegations.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Chichester Observer

Lord Carlile of Berriew has been named as the independent reviewer of the processes used in the Bishop George Bell case.

Lord Carlile CBE QC will conduct the ‘lessons learnt review’, commissioned by the Church of England’s National Safeguarding Team, in accordance with the House of Bishops’ guidance on all complex cases, in June.

In 2015 the Bishop of Chichester issued a formal apology following the settlement of a legal civil claim regarding allegations of sexual abuse by Bishop Bell, who was Bishop of Chichester from 1929 until 1958.

In a statement the Church of England said: “The aim of the review will be to look at the processes surrounding the allegations which were first brought in 1995 to the diocese of Chichester, with the same allegations brought again, this time to Lambeth Palace, in 2013.

“It will also consider the processes, including the commissioning of independent expert reports and archival and other investigations, which were used to inform the decision to settle the case, in order to learn lessons which can applied to the handling of similar safeguarding cases in future.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Harriet Sherwood Religion correspondent

The Church of England has appointed Alex Carlile to conduct an independent review of its handling of a sexual abuse claim against George Bell, one of the church’s leading figures of the 20th century.

In September 2015, the church issued a formal apology when settling a civil claim against Bell, the former bishop of Chichester who died in 1958. The alleged abuse took place in the 1940s and 1950s.

The apology and payment of compensation to a woman, known as Carol, sparked protests by Bell’s supporters, who claimed the church had acted without sufficient evidence.

In setting out the review’s terms of reference on Tuesday, the church said it would examine the processes surrounding the allegations which were first brought in 1995 to the diocese of Chichester, and to Lambeth Palace in 2013.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

An independent review into how the Church of England handled the case of a bishop accused of being a child abuser is to be led by Lord Carlile.

Last year the Church settled a civil claim over allegations of sexual abuse by the Bishop of Chichester, George Bell, in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

It apologised and paid compensation to a woman who said she was abused by him.

The review will look at how it handled the claims and the decision to settle.

‘Neither damage nor salvage’

The “lessons learnt review”, commissioned by the Church of England’s National Safeguarding Team, is expected to be completed by the end of next summer.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

John Bingham, religious affairs editor
23 NOVEMBER 2016

One of Britain’s leading legal experts has been called in by the Church of England to assess whether it unfairly labelled a revered former bishop as a paedophile.

Lord Carlile of Berriew, the former Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, has been appointed to oversee a review of the case of Bishop George Bell the wartime Bishop of Chichester.

Bishop Bell, who served the diocese for 30 years until his death in 1958, is regarded by some as one of the great peacemakers of the 20th Century and had been granted the closest thing Anglicanism has to a saint’s day, an annual commemoration.

But last year the Church stunned Bishop Bell’s devotees by announcing that it had concluded on the “balance of probabilities” that he had sexually assaulted a child in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

Lord Carlile of Berriew has been named as the independent reviewer into the handling of the case of the late bishop George Bell, who was accused of being a child abuser.

The review, commissioned by the Church of England’s National Safeguarding Team, is expected to be completed by the end of the summer.

Last year the Bishop of Chichester issued a formal apology following the settlement of a legal claim over allegations of sexual abuse by Bishop Bell, who was Bishop of Chichester from 1929 until shortly before his death in 1958.

The review will examine the processes surrounding the allegations which were first brought in 1995 to the Diocese of Chichester and again in 2013, this time to Lambeth Palace.

It will also consider the processes, including the commissioning of expert independent reports and archival and other investigations, which were used to inform the decision to settle the case.

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AUSTRALIA
PerthNow

By Rebekah Ison, Australian Associated Press
November 23, 2016

A defrocked NSW Anglican priest says a card he sent an alleged sex abuse victim showing a man’s penis and captioned “thank heavens for little boys” was meant to be a “fun thing”.

Former Dean of Newcastle Cathedral Graeme Lawrence has also denied knowing the details of cards and letters sent by his boyfriend Greg Goyette, who talked to the alleged teen victim about lubricants and “educational” videos that he may find “edifying” in the early 1980s.

The sex abuse royal commission has heard the then-teenager, known as CKH, alleges ongoing sexual contact from the age of 17 with both Mr Goyette and Mr Lawrence, who was then rector of St Alban’s at Griffith.

At 19, CKH received a card from Mr Lawrence captioned “thank heavens for little boys for little boys grow bigger every day”.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Road to Recovery

The Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, PA, and the Franciscan Friars Third Order Regular of Pennsylvania continue to disrespect a childhood sexual abuse victim of Br. Stephen P. Baker, TOR, a deceased serial pedophile and member of the Franciscan Friars Third Order Regular of Pennsylvania, who served in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese, by not reasonably settling his claim

A childhood sexual abuse victim of Br. Stephen P. Baker, TOR, from Bishop Mc Cort High School, Johnstown, PA, is being re-victimized and prevented from healing by the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, PA, and the Franciscan Friars Third Order Regular of Pennsylvania, because they are not acting reasonably in the settling of his claim

What
A press conference announcing that the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, PA, and the Franciscan Friars Third Order Regular of Pennsylvania refuse to justly and fairly settle the claim of a childhood sexual abuse victim of Br. Stephen P. Baker, TOR, from Bishop Mc Cort High School, Johnstown, PA, causing the childhood sexual abuse victim to be re-victimized, feel disrespected, and prevented from healing

When
Wednesday, November 23, 2016 at 11:30 am

Where
In front of the headquarters of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, PA, 927 S. Logan Boulevard, Hollidaysburg, PA 16648 – 814-695-5579

Who
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., Co-founder and President of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity based in New Jersey that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families, including several childhood sexual abuse victims of Br. Stephen P. Baker, TOR, in Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania

Why
John Doe was a minor child attending Bishop Mc Cort High School in Johnstown, PA, when he met a serial pedophile, Br. Stephen P. Baker, TOR. From approximately 1996-1998, when he was approximately 15-17 years old and a student at Bishop Mc Cort High School, John Doe was repeatedly sexually abused by Br. Stephen P. Baker, TOR. Now, at age 34, John Doe has courageously come forward to report the sexual abuse that caused him great harm. He expected to receive a timely and fair response from the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, PA, and the Franciscan Friars Third Order Regular of Pennsylvania. Instead, the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown and the Franciscan Friars Third Order Regular Pennsylvania have been unfair and unjust in settling John Doe’s claim, causing him to feel re-victimized, and disrespected, thus preventing him from healing. The Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown and the Franciscan Friars Third Order Regular of Pennsylvania will be called upon to settle John Doe’s claim in a timely, fair, and just manner, and allow “John Doe” to heal.

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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ISRAEL
Jerusalem Post

The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court approved the plea bargain agreed by the State Attorney’s Jerusalem branch and Rabbi Eliezer Berland, in which the rabbi pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault.

Berland was sentenced to 18 months incarceration for his sexual attacks on two women, as well as his instructions to assault the husband of one of the women he sexually assaulted.

Following his sentencing, the rabbi apologized in court for his actions.

“For my deeds in the days of the Bible I would have been stoned and burned, but today laws are different – there are leniencies,” said Berland.

“I regret from the depths of my heart any harm of mine against a man or woman, that was caused directly or indirectly.”

Berland was also given a suspended sentence of 14 months and will have to pay two of his victims NIS 25,000 each and NIS 5,000 to the husband of the complainant who he ordered to be beaten by his followers.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

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 man, whose details cannot be published to protect the victim’s identity, had pleaded guilty to 12 counts of sexually assaulting his niece on dates between 1979 and 1985 when 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 1st, 2016.

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 on Tuesday the sentencing judge acted within his discretion.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016

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

Pope Francis is not re-appointing two controversial, highly visible prelates to a global church panel. We’re glad this is happening even though we likely disagree with the pontiff for the reasons.

[National Catholic Reporter]

Cardinal Raymond Burke and Cardinal George Pell will no longer be on the Rome-basedCongregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. (Their terms have expired and Francis is not renewing them.) The two are among ex-members who reportedly “are known for preferring a more traditionalist practice of liturgy” than Francis, according to the National Catholic Reporter.

Burke, Pell and many other bishops across the world should be passed over for promotions, not given honors and in fact be temporarily suspended or permanently ousted because they’re ignored or hidden credible reports of abuse (Burke) or been credibly accused of abuse themselves (Pell).

We long to see the day when a high ranking Catholic official is defrocked, demoted, disciplined or even publicly denounced for endangering kids. There seem to be virtually no consequences for bishops who act recklessly, callously or deceitfully in sexual abuse and cover up cases.

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

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Nov. 22, 2016

VATICAN CITY
The Vatican office that handles affairs relating to the Catholic church’s liturgical practices has confirmed that Pope Francis has decided not to renew the terms of several of its bishop-members, many of whom are known for preferring a more traditionalist practice of liturgy.

Francis had appointed 27 new bishops to serve as members of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments on Oct. 28. But the announcement of the appointments did not make clear whether the previous members’ terms had been renewed.

The congregation has now posted a full list of its current membership on its website. The list makes clear the pope did not renew the terms of 16 congregation members, including those of U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke, Australian Cardinal George Pell, and the head of the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops, Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholic Standard

By Ann Rodgers, Special to the Standard
Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Victim-survivors who report childhood sexual abuse at the hand of clergy should not be criticized for pointing out times when Church leadership failed, according to Cardinal Donald Wuerl.

“They are the witnesses who call us to uphold our own moral teaching,” he said. “The survivors who came forward when sexual abuse was rarely spoken of in public triggered changes that protect children today.”

The cardinal also said, “Innocent people who gain public attention for coming forward should not be slandered because they did the right thing by seeking action against an abuser.”

He finds it troubling that a few online forums masquerading as victim-advocacy sites – with no apparent ties to any mainstream victim-advocacy organizations – attack some of the victim-survivors who had done the most to improve the Church’s response to allegations of child sexual abuse. In an effort to claim that then-Bishop Wuerl didn’t remove abusive priests, the sites try to discredit those who reported abuse in one of Pittsburgh’s best known cases: that of the late Anthony Cipolla.

Among those they malign is Tim Bendig, now 47, a former seminarian who sued the Diocese of Pittsburgh in 1988, reporting that then-Father Cipolla sexually abused him when he was 12 years old. Cipolla died earlier this year, maintaining his innocence.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By REBECCA CAMBER and IAN DRURY FOR THE DAILY MAIL

The beleaguered child abuse inquiry faced a new secrecy row last night as it was accused of gagging lawyers from talking to MPs about why they have quit.

The Home Affairs Select Committee has requested written evidence from seven lawyers who have resigned from Britain’s biggest public inquiry.

But the Mail has learnt that the barristers have been prevented from speaking out under contractual rules. The inquiry has refused to waive legal privilege, which prevents all communications between a lawyer and their client from being disclosed without the permission of the client, which in this case is the inquiry.

According to a source, three out of four lawyers who have responded to the committee so far, say they cannot talk about their time there in detail due to legal privilege rules.

But one senior barrister Hugh Davies, QC, is said to be so frustrated that he has written a strongly-worded critique of its conduct and his views on how complaints by staff should have been handled.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Evening Standard

Senior lawyers who quit the beleaguered public inquiry into historical child abuse have raised concerns about its leadership in letters to a Commons committee.

At least one of the four barristers has directly criticised Professor Alexis Jay’s handling of the suspension of Ben Emmerson QC, the former lead counsel, sources have disclosed.

Correspondence from Hugh Davies QC, ex-deputy counsel to the inquiry, said Professor Jay should have provided more information on why Mr Emmerson was suspended in September.

He resigned the next day, and as yet no reason has been given for his suspension.

However, Labour MP Lisa Nandy used Parliamentary privilege yesterday to say there has been a claim of sexual assault. Mr Emmerson denies the allegations, saying they are “categorically untrue”.

The letters are the latest set-back for the £100 million inquiry which has seen a raft of senior lawyers resign and Britain’s largest abuse victims organisation, the London-based Shirley Oaks Survivors Association (SOSA), pull out.

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UNITED KINGDOM
New Statesman

When is is a crisis not a crisis? After the departure of seven senior lawyers, three chairs, several survivors’ groups, £15m of public money, two years and little progress to show for it, Theresa May and her Home secretary are increasingly lone voices in their insistence that all is well on the child abuse inquiry that May, as Home secretary, rightly established in the wake of distressing revelations about Jimmy Savile.

It was always a daunting and complex task to shine a spotlight into institutions characterised by secrecy and cover up, where abusers were able to operate in plain sight without challenge or consequence. The inquiry spans decades, covers hundreds of institutions and relies on the accounts of many survivors who have struggled on for years without support. Now they must face the prospect of detailing abuse at the hands of the powerful, to the powerful. How to find a chair with the legal expertise and commitment to command the confidence of survivors, the public and the inquiry staff, a person with vast experience but without personal connections to the accused?

And yet it has been done. In Australia, a Royal Commission has begun to uncover the truth since it was set up in 2013. By contrast, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has been dogged by problems since the outset, losing its first two chairs within months because of connections to the accused, before being re-established on a statutory footing. The appointment of its third chair, Dame Lowell Goddard, was so rushed and confused that the Home Affairs Committee took the unusual step of releasing a report criticising May for potentially bringing “the whole process into disrepute”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

[with video]

By Jake Morris
BBC Newsnight

The child sexual abuse inquiry has “crumbled” and may be impossible to fix, a leading barrister has said.

Michael Mansfield QC told the BBC the best way forward was to have separate chairs overseeing different areas.

The inquiry has been battling to keep the confidence of victims after losing its third chair, Dame Lowell Goddard, and a succession of senior lawyers.

Mr Mansfield represented the families of victims in the Bloody Sunday inquiry and the Hillsborough inquest.

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CANADA
CBC News

By Chris O’Neill-Yates, CBC News Posted: Nov 22, 2016

A 76-year-old former Mount Cashel resident is waiting for the outcome of a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of St. John’s that was filed in 1999.

The man — who can be identified only as John Doe because of a publication ban — is one of 80 to 90 former residents suing the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of St. John’s for abuse dating back to the 1940s and 1950s.

Twenty-five years after the infamous Mount Cashel orphanage was torn down, John Doe recalls the helplessness he felt as a boy.

“You had no freedom, nowhere to go. They could do what they wanted to you with impunity,” he said.

The man was a resident at Mount Cashel from 1948 to 1955. He said he was sexually and physically abused by four Christian Brothers and one lay person.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

22 NOV 2016

Organisations in Victoria will have to prove they took reasonable steps to protect children under their care from abuse in a move that will make it easier for victims to sue institutions for damages.

Victoria is the first state to introduce laws creating a duty of care for organisations so they can be held accountable for the abuse of children.

The onus of proof will be reversed so organisations have to prove they took reasonable precautions to prevent the abuse from happening, Victorian Attorney-General Martin Pakula said.

“We’re strengthening our laws to better protect children and ensure that organisations can be held to account in the future, and we are continuing to work on a redress scheme for victims of historical child sexual abuse,” he said in a statement.

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AUSTRALIA
Catholic Outlook

A new independent company to be established by the Catholic Church in Australia to develop, audit and report on compliance with professional standards to protect children and vulnerable people was announced today by Church leaders

Catholic Professional Standards (CPS) Limited represents a new national Church response to the importance of safeguarding vulnerable people. It will be responsible for setting the highest standards to ensure the safety of individuals involved with the Church at all levels and engaging with Catholic service providers.

CPS will:

* Develop new standards for the protection of children and vulnerable adults across Church entities, particularly in areas where there are no current relevant standards;
* Audit and report on the compliance of each Church authority against the new professional standards; and
* Provide education and training regarding the new standards.

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and Catholic Religious Australia, which represent more than 200 independent Catholic entities across Australia, made the joint announcement of the new company during the bishops’ plenary meeting with religious leaders at Mary MacKillop Place in Sydney on 22 November 2016.

Member representative of CPS and the President of Catholic Religious Australia, Sr Ruth Durick OSU, said the new entity sets a new standard for the Catholic Church in Australia.

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TENNESSEE
WREG

[with video]

NOVEMBER 21, 2016, BY BRIDGET CHAPMAN

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Three men are speaking out after they say a church worker sexually abused them in Collierville when they were teens.

One of them has filed a report and the two others said they’re getting one filed now.

Kenny Stubblefield was only 16 years old when it happened, but he still remembers every detail of the night he said he was sexually assaulted by someone at his church.

“I’m just like eyes wide open,” said Stubblefied. “By the next morning when the sun came up, I had to convince myself that it was my fault. I had to convince I’d done something to deserve it and I needed to stay quiet.”

Less than a year later, he said he found out he wasn’t alone.

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GEORGIA
Golden Isles News

By WES WOLFE wwolfe@goldenisles.news

A Glynn County grand jury issued an 11-count indictment Thursday accusing the Rev. Kenneth Adkins of five counts of aggravated child molestation, three counts of child molestation, two counts of enticing a child for indecent purposes and one count of influencing a witness.

Adkins turned himself in to authorities at the Glynn County Detention Center the morning of Aug. 26 after police sought his arrest on child molestation charges.

His accuser, referred to in court by the initials A.J., is now 21 years old and went to an Army sexual assault counselor in April where prosecutors say he told of sexual acts performed on him and with him by Adkins when the alleged victim was 15 years old.

During a combative evidentiary hearing Sept. 9, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent James Feller went into graphic and specific detail of incidents between Adkins, A.J. and a girl referenced as T.V. that were associated with the ministry Adkins ran at the time on G Street.

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TEXAS
News4 SanAntonio

SAN ANTONIO – Deacon Pat Rodgers, longtime communications director of the archdiocese, has passed away on Monday.

He was 67.

Rodgers, who served nearly two decades in the archdiocesan Department of Communications before he retired in June, 2015, had suffered a heart attack on Nov. 18 before passing away at Nix Medical Center. …

He was still in the Development Office in 2002 when the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) developed the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, which required that each diocese have a person designated to work with the media in the area of sexual abuse. This, he explained, “was in the spirit of transparency in order that the community also be educated and protected.” Knowing of his 37 years in broadcasting, Msgr. Lawrence Stuebben, then vicar general, asked Rodgers if he would take on this new role, which expanded into being spokesperson for the archdiocese in other areas as well.

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NEW JERSEY
Politico

Robert Hoatson, a former priest who founded a group that helps victims of sexual abuse, is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor. Hoatson announced last week. ““I am running for the Democratic nomination for Governor because New Jersey deserves ethical and moral leadership that has as its foundation, the truth. We need a Governor who will work for the people and not his own political advancement, a Governor who treats the citizenry with respect, and a Governor who is a wise steward of the people’s financial and social capital.” From Hoatson’s bio: “Robert Hoatson, Ph.D., has lobbied for years in the New Jersey state legislature for reform of statute of limitations laws regarding sexual abuse of children. He has acted as a whistleblower of numerous cases of sexual abuse against children throughout the State of New Jersey, and was an integral part of the uncovering of facts surrounding the Newark Archdiocesan cover-up of the Fr. Michael Fugee sexual abuse case. In his work with Road to Recovery, Inc., Dr. Hoatson has traveled the State of New Jersey, helping to heal victims of sexual abuse and their families and advocating for justice and fairness for all. Dr. Hoatson’s perseverance in holding the soon-to-be-replaced Archbishop of Newark, John Myers, accountable for his mishandling of cases of clergy sexual abuse.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Mazoe Ford

The Catholic Church has reached a confidential settlement with two sisters who say they were sexually abused by a priest in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese in the 1970s and 80s.

The sisters, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said they were abused by Father Dennis McAlinden, who died in a nursing home in 2005 without ever being charged.

They were suing both the estate of the late Bishop Leo Clarke, who was in charge at the time of the alleged crimes, as well as the trustees of the Roman Catholic Church for the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.

But yesterday Justice Peter Garling urged the parties to settle the case outside court so the women would not “be unnecessarily put in distress”.

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MARYLAND
CBS Baltimore

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — The accusations against Father Joseph Maskell, who served as the guidance counselor at Archbishop Keough High School, date back to the 1960s and 70s.

At least a dozen victims who claim they were sexually abused by Maskell have received settlements from the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Donna Von Den Bosch, who says she suffered unspeakable abuse, got $40,000.

In 1970, when she was just 14 years old, Von Den Bosch was a bright, excited freshman at the school.

Just as her new life was beginning, it descended into hell.

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SCOTLAND
The Times

The former head of the Scottish inquiry into historic child abuse, who resigned in July, is to sue ministers.

Susan O’Brien, QC, resigned amid controversy, with John Swinney, the education secretary, later telling MSPs that he had been considering her removal from the post over claims of inappropriate comments about survivors.

The inquiry has been mired in problems since it was set up. Ms O’Brien’s resignation in the summer came shortly after Michael Lamb, a fellow panel member, stood down, blaming government interference.

Ms O’Brien has refused to comment on the nature of her action, which emerged after papers were lodged at the Court of Session.

The inquiry is dealing with hundreds of witnesses into claims of abuse in children’s homes dating back decades.

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CANADA
Local Xpress

The Crown says it plans to call rebuttal evidence in the trial of Rev. Brent Hawkes, who is accused of indecent assault and gross indecency against a student at the school where he was teacher in the 1970s.

After the defence wrapped up its case Monday afternoon in Kentville provincial court, Crown attorney Bob Morrison told Judge Alan Tufts he wants to call two or three witnesses to testify on the issue of whether alcohol was served to students in Hawkes’ home around the time of the alleged crimes.

The complainant and other Crown witnesses, who were students at West Kings District High School, testified that Hawkes had alcohol in his trailer and that it was offered to them on the night the complainant says Hawkes sexually assaulted him.

Hawkes testified that he never provided alcohol to students if they came to his home, although there was some there for teachers if there was a get-together with both students and teachers present.

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CANADA
Toronto Star

By ALY THOMSON
The Canadian Press
Mon., Nov. 21, 2016

KENTVILLE, N.S.— Brent Hawkes’ gross indecency trial heard testimony Monday on the nature and fallibility of memory.

Timothy Moore, chair of the psychology department at York University’s Glendon College, told the judge that memories are by nature “constructive and reconstructive.”

Moore says people often recall events differently, and time “can alter or change or misdirect the nature of” memories.

“Memories can undergo a substantial amount of modification over time and the longer the time, the more opportunity for misinformation to occur,” he said in Kentville, N.S., provincial court.

Hawkes is accused of performing sex acts on a teenage boy more than 40 years ago when the Toronto pastor was a teacher in his mid-20s in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley. Hawkes, a prominent rights activist, has denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty to indecent assault and gross indecency.

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CANADA
Chronicle-Herald

KENTVILLE, N.S. — The Brent Hawkes trial is hearing testimony today on the nature and fallibility of memory.

Timothy Moore, chair of the psychology department at York University’s Glendon College, told the judge that memories are by nature “constructive and reconstructive.”

Moore says people often recall events differently, and time “can alter or change or misdirect the nature of” memories.

He says it is well-known liquor can impair memories, and an alcoholic blackout can lead to their fragmentation and to assumptions that could be conflated with actual memories.

Hawkes is accused of performing sex acts on a teenage boy more than 40 years ago when he was a teacher in his mid-20s in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Care Appointments

Press Association

The Government has backed Professor Alexis Jay to lead the troubled child sex abuse inquiry amid growing calls by victims and MPs for her to go.

Labour MP Chuka Umunna has called for her to be removed while the Shirley Oaks Survivors Association (Sosa) quit the probe amid criticisms that Prof Jay is an “uninspiring leader”.

But speaking during an urgent question in the Commons on the inquiry, Home Office minister Sarah Newton said: “I am confident, as is the Prime Minister, as is the Home Secretary, in the ability of Professor Jay to lead this inquiry.”

Prof Jay became the fourth chairwoman to lead the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) after her predecessor Dame Lowell Goddard quit in August.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Sky News

A Labour MP has criticised Home Secretary Amber Rudd for not appearing in the Commons to answer an urgent question on the national child sex abuse inquiry.

It was left to Home Office minister Sarah Newton to respond to a series of queries from Lisa Nandy, who accused Prime Minister Theresa May of hiding “behind a smokescreen of independence”.

The inquiry into historical sex abuse allegations is now being led by its fourth chairwoman, Professor Alexis Jay, and a number of senior lawyers have quit recently.

Also, last week a group representing 600 victims of sexual abuse withdrew from the inquiry, branding it an “unpalatable circus”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Alan Travis Home affairs editor
Monday 21 November 2016

The Commons home affairs committee is to hold talks on the future direction of the independent inquiry into child sex abuse after receiving letters detailing the concerns of four senior lawyers who have quit the inquest.

A Home Office minister tried to reassure MPs on Monday that Prof Alexis Jay remains the right person to chair the troubled inquiry after the latest round of resignations and defections of survivors’ groups.

The Commons home affairs committee, chaired by Labour’s Yvette Cooper, is to meet in private on Tuesday to discuss the future of an inquiry that is now on its fourth chair, after the resignation of 17 lawyers and the withdrawal of several survivors’ groups.

The MPs are expected to order the publication later this week of letters from four barristers – including Hugh Davies QC, ex-deputy lead counsel to the inquiry – detailing their concerns over the conduct and management of the inquiry during the recent crises.

One of the letters is reported to repeat the allegations made by a Labour MP, Lisa Nandy, who used parliamentary privilege to name the senior counsel to the inquiry, Ben Emmerson, QC, as the person accused of an alleged sexual assault at the inquiry’s London headquarters. It is believed to criticise the inquiry’s handling of the sexual assault allegation.

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GEORGIA
News4Jax

BRUNSWICK, Ga. – Pastor Ken Adkins, who was denied bond in September on child molestation charges, has been indicted on 11 counts by the Glynn County grand jury.

Adkins, 56, pastor of the Greater Dimensions Christian Fellowship, has been in the Glynn County Jail since Aug. 26, when he surrendered on charges resulting from allegations he molested a teenage boy in 2010.

Adkins is charged with three counts of child molestation, five counts of aggravated child molestation, two counts of enticing a child for indecent purposes and one count of influencing a witness.

Adkins’ lawyer, Kevin Gough, has filed a new motion for bond and in reaction to the indictment said, “Having already demanded a speedy trial, and eager to clear his good name, Pastor Kenneth Adkins and his family look forward to his day in court.”

Adkins new bond hearing is set for Dec. 16.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A judge has retired to consider a claim for compensation by five victims of sexual abuse at a Catholic school.

More than 200 men claim they were abused at St William’s residential school in Market Weighton, East Yorkshire, between 1970 and 1991.

The De La Salle order, which ran the school, has apologised “unreservedly” for the abuse and the actions of its former principal.

James Carragher was jailed for sex offences against children at the home.

Solicitor David Greenwood, acting for those claiming compensation, said St William’s was “the biggest single home where boys were abused” that he had seen.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

Loulla-Mae Eleftheriou-Smith

The Rev Simon Sayers has been banned from being a minister for five years by the Bishop of London after admitting to initiating and engaging in two sexual acts with the teenager 20 years ago.

He has resigned his position of Rector of Warblington with Emsworth, Hampshire.

A Metropolitan police investigation into the incidents was carried out in 2015, after allegations of indecent assault had been reported to them. The sexual acts took place in the Islington area where Mr Sayers had been in a parish ministry in 1995.

A police investigation was carried out but no action was taken against Mr Sayers.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Chichester Observer

Parishioners and residents of Emsworth have expressed their wholehearted and loving support for Rev Simon Sayers and voiced their ‘immense sadness at his treatment by church authorities’.

Rev Simon Sayers resigned as rector of Warblington with Emsworth on Sunday, after the Bishop of Portsmouth’s announcement banning him for five years over an incident of sexual misconduct 20 years ago.

[Chichester Observer]

Many members of the congregation walked out of a church service in protest of the announcement. Emsworth resident and church choir member Leslie Grist, said: “Simon has served this parish and town wonderfully over the last 12 years.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

A number of parishioners in Emsworth and Warblington are supporting their vicar who has admitted having ‘sexual contact’ with a teenager more than 20 years ago.

Simon Sayers, of the Warblington with Emsworth parish, has resigned after church officials ruled he had engaged in conduct unbecoming a clergy person and abused his position of trust in the 1990s. He has been banned from ministry for five years.

The Metropolitan Police arrested the vicar in January 2015 after it was informed of alleged offences that took place in Islington when he was in parish ministry there in 1995. The police investigation led the Church of England to suspend Mr Sayers.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Evening Standard

A vicar has resigned from his post after an investigation found he had “engaged in sexual acts” with a schoolgirl.

Simon Sayers, rector at the Warblington with Emsworth parish in Hampshire, was arrested last year over an allegation of indecent assault in London in the 1990s.

The Metropolitan Police did not charge him, but a follow-up investigation by the church concluded that his behaviour with the teenager, a 16-year-old girl, abused his position of trust.

The disgraced rector has been banned from serving in the Church of England for five years.

Police arrested Mr Sayers in January 2015 after complaints were made about alleged offences that took place in the Islington area in 1995.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

An independent company will “name and shame” Catholic Church entities that fail to adhere to new national standards to protect children and vulnerable adults.

Catholic Professional Standards Ltd will hold the Catholic Church in Australia accountable as the church seeks to rebuild the trust destroyed by its handling of the widespread sexual abuse of children by priests and other clergy.

Among the church’s many failures has been the lack of a whole system of accountability and clear, consistent and comprehensive national standards, Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge says.

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UNITED STATES
Steel Magnificat

November 21, 2016 by Mary Pezzulo

When I was a teenager, for a couple of years, my mother forced me to attend meetings of the ECYD, the youth branch of Regnum Christi. Regnum Christi was the lay branch of the Legionaries of Christ, and the Legionaries of Christ had yet to be exposed as a cultlike organization founded by a voracious pedophile. At the time, all my mother knew was that the rich and conservative homeschoolers sent their daughters to ECYD meetings, so I was sent to the meetings as well even when I begged not to. After awhile, I came to see them as authorities.

Our leader was an excitable and fervent housewife whose fuschia lipstick exactly matched her window shutters, which exactly matched the impatiens growing in the garden out front. She taught full-blown heresy and alarmism on a grand scale. “You can’t see God,” she said. “If you ever saw God you would drop dead. You only ever see Jesus.” And just when I thought she’d misspoken when denying the divinity of Christ, she said the exact same thing again. She told us that our guardian angels were incapable of seeing anything except the face of God and our own activity, and if we didn’t pray to them daily they’d be lonely. She talked about Limbo as if it were settled teaching of the Church. She acted as though Protestants and people of other faiths were evil con artists only pretending to agree with Catholics on some points to be devious: “if they’re not with us, they’re against us!” She claimed that God would send us to hell for not working hard enough to harangue our friends to come to ECYD meetings.

Our leader was assisted by a housewife who used to lead ECYD meetings in Mexico and whose lipstick rarely matched anything; she taught us that it was disrespectful to pray in the bathroom. I stopped praying in the bathroom, even when my painful bowel condition left me crying in there for hours, for fear I’d offend God.

We also had guest teachers, mostly from Latin American countries, who had taken a solemn promise to wear expensive dresses and not pants in order to “bring back the dignity of woman.” They taught us that “Nuestro Padre,” the pedophile Father Marcial Maciel, personally approved everyone who joined the Legion and was best friends with the Pope. They explained that their organization was unique in the Church, in that it always went first to rich and powerful people rather than the poor. “Think what influence we’ll have!” I knew that this was the exact opposite of what Christ had chosen to do, and therefore the opposite of what the Church should do, but I kept my mouth shut so I wouldn’t catch it.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | Post News Staff

Dr. Ricardo Eusebio, president of the “Catholic Families for Apuron” organization and a member of the Neocatechumenal Way, held a press conference yesterday in which he claimed that the use of the Yona property by the Redemptoris Mater Seminary had been securely established prior to the monetary donation made to the Archdiocese of Agana for the purchase of the former Hotel Accion.

Dr. Eusebio used the press conference to respond to claims made by the Mother Superior Dawn Marie last week and criticized her involvement in the issue.

“Yes, Mother Dawn Marie claims we live in a toxic environment,” Eusebio said. “It has been fueled, however, by her own desire to seek public attention and provide her rendition of the truth in regards to the seminary.”

Last week, Marie stated that she was responsible for making the phone call that resulted in the donation of the $2 million used to pay off the loan to the Bank of Guam that allowed the archdiocese to purchase the former Hotel Accion for the use by an educational institute for the formation of priests. In a surprising twist, Marie relayed an anecdote in which she claimed that Archbishop Anthony Apuron had asked the Carmelite prioress responsible for the donation to lie about the intended purpose of the $2 million in an effort to secure proof that the money had been intended for the purchase of the Yona property specifically for the building of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary – a seminary largely run by faculty who are members of the NCW.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholic Philly

By Matthew Gambino • Posted November 21, 2016

In a letter sent to all parishes of the Philadelphia Archdiocese, Archbishop Charles Chaput renewed attention on a Pennsylvania bill that he said would endanger many of the parishes, schools and charities of the state’s 3.2 million Catholics.

The letter was to be read at all Masses on the weekend of Nov. 19-20. (See a pdf of the letter in English and in Spanish.)

It outlined the provisions of House Bill 1947, which addresses provisions to protect children from sexual abuse.

“Unfortunately,” Archbishop Chaput wrote, “it also contained damaging language that would have allowed retroactive civil suits to be filed against religious and private institutions, while protecting public entities from the same kind of lawsuits for exactly the same kinds of sexual abuse.”

The bill passed overwhelmingly in the state House last spring. The Senate voted 49-0 for an amended version of the bill that removed the provision on retroactivity, “largely because of its incompatibility with our state constitution,” the archbishop wrote.

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ISRAEL
Jersusalem Post

The High Court of Justice froze the appointment of Rabbi Col. Eyal Karim to the position of IDF Chief Rabbi on Monday, and demanded to see a clear statement from the rabbi about his position on a contentious point of Jewish law.

The interim decision was issued in response to a petition by Meretz MKs against Karim’s nomination in July, who asked the court to halt the appointment owing to several statements and responses the rabbi had made on issues of Jewish law relating to the IDF and military service. Following the ruling, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman backed Karim during a Yisrael Beytenu Knesset faction meeting saying that Karim was a “worthy” appointment to IDF chief rabbi. …

In 2003, before Karim was serving in the IDF, he was asked on the national- religious news site and forum Kipa, in the context of an “Ask the Rabbi” column, how the Torah could condone the rape of non-Jewish women by Jewish soldiers during a time of war.

He explained the Torah’s rationale, but did not explicitly state that it is forbidden in modern times. This answer was seized upon by a blogger in 2012 and created a media stir at the time, with claims that Karim had given IDF soldiers sanction to rape women.

Karim then issued a clarification on Kipa stating explicitly that: “Obviously, the Torah never permitted the rape of women,” and saying that the Biblical verse in Deuteronomy about female captives was meant to prevent rape during war time.

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CANADA
CBC News

The Brent Hawkes trial is hearing testimony today on the nature and fallibility of memory.

Timothy Moore, chair of the psychology department at York University’s Glendon College, told the judge that memories are by nature “constructive and reconstructive.”

Moore says people often recall events differently, and time “can alter or change or misdirect the nature of” memories.

He says it is well-known liquor can impair memories, and an alcoholic blackout can lead to their fragmentation and to assumptions that could be conflated with actual memories.

Hawkes is accused of performing sex acts on a teenage boy more than 40 years ago when he was a teacher in his mid-20s in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley.

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SPAIN
The Freethinker (UK)

Last year performance artist Abel Azcona horrified Catholics in Pamplona, Spain, when he used 242 stolen consecrated hosts to spell out the the word ‘pederastia‘ at an exhibition he mounted in a city gallery to highlight the Church’s systematic rape of children.

According to this report, Azcona procured the Catholic crackers by pretending to receive Holy Communion at mass.

The exhibition also contained a series of photos titled “Amen”, which depict Azcona taking hosts during mass and placing them on the ground. This was meant to honour those who were kidnapped and killed under the three-decade dictatorship of Francisco Franco, which lasted until his death in 1975.

Christian Lawyers Association spokesperson Polonia Catellanos told the Catholic News Agency that the association has filed a lawsuit against Azcona for “an offence against religious sentiments and desecration”, which is outlawed under Articles 524 and 525 of the Spanish Penal Code.

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MISSOURI
Berger’s Beat

November 19, 2016 11:16 am | Author: berger

Award-winning investigative reporter, author and filmmaker David France (best known for “Our Fathers,” about the Catholic abuse and cover up crisis), is coming to town. He’ll discuss his new book “How to Survive a Plague: The Inside Story of how Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS” at the St. Louis County Library on Dec. 2.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Nov 21, 2016

By Nestor Licanto

A former member of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary’s board of directors has disputed the claims of a Carmelite nun who said Archbishop Anthhony Apuron asked them to lie about a $2 million gift to buy the seminary.

Dr. Ric Eusebio says Mother Superior Dawn Marie may have been misinformed when she said Archbishop Apuron asked them to confirm that the Carmelites knew the money would go specifically to a seminary for the Neocatechumenal Way. Dr. Eusebio produced email, which he says shows Mother Stella Maris, now diseased, did know from the start.

“You cannot say ‘Redemptoris Mater Seminary’ without saying the Neocatechumenal Way – is not involved because the vocations for the seminary mainly come from the Neocatechumenal Way,” said the physician.

But Bishop Michael Byrnes last week dissolved the board, and asserted his control over the seminary. Dr. Eusebio says he knows of no plan for any lawsuit to stop what Bishop Byrnes has done. “He has all the jurisdiction, the authority, the everything,” said Eusebio. “If he decides that he wants someone else that’s up to him. But what we would hope is that we could have an audience with him so that we could explain what our position is.”

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CANADA
Toronto Star

By JESSE MCLEAN
Investigative News reporter
Sun., Nov. 20, 2016

The pews of Toronto’s Metropolitan Community Church brimmed with silent support Sunday for its embattled pastor, currently on trial for the alleged sexual assault of a teenage boy in the 1970s.

More than a hundred people attended the morning masses at the Riverdale church, during which there was only a fleeting direct mention of Rev. Brent Hawkes’ trial, reminding congregants of the church’s listening groups if anyone felt the need to talk.

But after the service, those in attendance emphasized that their longtime pastor is in their prayers.

Rev. Deana Dudley said the church is handling the matter “the same way we deal with anything.

“We offer support, we offer prayer, we offer love, we offer acceptance,” she said.

“I know some people have been upset by what’s going on, so then we just do more of the same — we offer more love, more acceptance, more support, more prayer.”

Hawkes, who performed the country’s first same-sex marriage ceremonies, is the “cornerstone” of inclusivity and unconditional love that the church is known for, said congregant Ian Campbell.

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UNITED STATES
SOME PEOPLE LIVE MORE IN 20 YEARS…

NOVEMBER 20, 2016
ASHER LOVY

Two years ago, following a “Carlebach Shabbos” at my former shul, I wrote an article in which I described the conflict I felt hearing Carlebach being praised for his selflessness and kindness, while simultaneously aware of allegations that he had molested women. I left the article open ended, simply giving my two sides, and left it open for my readers to responded. And boy, did they. The responses flooded in; comments, emails, Facebook messages, even some in-person responses. They came in heavy, heated, and varied. It’s been two years, and I’ve had time to reflect more on the subject, discuss it with more people, and gain some perspective on the issue. Furthermore, since then I’ve spoken to quite a number of his victims, three of whom left comments on my original post. I’d like to address a few things.

Right off the bat, people challenged me on the ethics of sharing an article alleging that someone who is dead and cannot defend himself committed abuse that has never been proven in court. Many people have claimed it’s simply lashon hara, and therefore refuse to even listen. Setting aside whether or not those same people are as careful about the laws of lashon hara when the person under discussion is not one of the spiritual idols, I’ll take it at face value.

It is lashon hara. But one of the exceptions to the prohibitions against speaking lashon hara is when there’s a to’eles, a purpose. Most notably, if there’s a general purpose in the community knowing, if it will prevent some harm, then it is permitted to speak lashon hara. The benefits of discussing Carlebach’s crimes are twofold. First, it sends a message to the community that abusers will have to pay, in one way or another for their crimes, that death is not an escape from the damage caused by sexual abusers. It’s a powerful message to send because there are so many victims out there whose stories are kept hidden by coercion and fear, because the people who keep those secrets are terrified of what their families, their communities might say or do to them if they dare come forward. The more stories are made public, the more people come forward, the more victims will feel safe and secure in coming forward and telling their stories, exposing their abusers, and pursuing justice against them.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By DOMINIC LAWSON FOR THE DAILY MAIL

Paranoia has set in at the top of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. Over the weekend, its chairwoman, Alexis Jay, complained about the ‘almost continual attacks’ against it, going on to blame ‘people who would like to see it fail because it suits their agenda not to want dark institutional failings brought into the light’.

She went on to rail against her inquiry’s ‘critics’ — presumably newspapers such as the Mail which have, indeed, attacked the incompetence of a process which has so far spent over two years and £20 million without even starting its public hearings.

I can understand why Jay — the fourth head of an inquiry which has already chewed up and spat out three previous chairwomen — feels got at.

But she is deluded if she is insinuating that its media critics have ‘an agenda’ to protect ‘dark institutional failings’. Let me reassure Professor Jay that papers such as the Mail have no agenda in this, other than a desire to report the facts, however inconvenient either to her or the Government.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Timothy Mchenry

Dr. Eusebio cites email communications between Apuron and another Carmelite nun, Mother Stella Maris which Eusebio says clearly stated the purpose of the $2 million gift.

Guam – Mother Prioress Dawn Marie’s statements about the intention of a $2 million gift to the church is not entirely accurate, according to fired Redemptoris Mater Seminary board chairman Dr. Ricardo Eusebio.

Dr. Eusebio called for a press conference Monday to respond to Mother Dawn Marie’s allegations that ousted Archbishop Anthony Apuron pressured her to lie about the intention of the $2 million gift that was donated to pay off the archdiocese’s loan–a loan that was taken out to purchase the former Hotel Accion property.

Dr. Eusebio cites email communications between Apuron and another Carmelite nun, Mother Stella Maris which Eusebio says clearly stated the purpose of the $2 million gift.

“Yes, Mother Dawn Marie claims we live in a toxic environment. It has been fueled however, by her own desire to seek public attention and provide her rendition of the truth in regards to the seminary. She attempts to discredit Archbisop Apuron and deems him guilty in regards to sexual abuse allegations against him without a trial. My recollection of the truth is different from what she professed,” said Dr. Eusebio.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com November 21, 2016

The Catholic Church apologized and offers prayers to all victims of priest sex abuse after another batch of lawsuits, filed Thursday, by two former altar boys and the estate of a deceased former altar boy against Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron and former Guam priest Louis Brouillard.

The world’s largest network of clergy abuse survivors said the former altar boys are enormously brave by coming forward publicly to say they were abused by a priest.

“By doing this one simple thing, they are making it easier and safer for other victims to come forward and talk about abuse. They are making it easier for witnesses and whistleblowers to come forward and tell what they know. They are also telling children who are being abused right now that it is safe to report abuse and get help,” said Joelle Casteix, volunteer western regional director for the Illinois-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.

Vicente Guerrero Perez, 51, and Bruce A. Diaz, 47, in their separate complaints, said Brouillard sexually abused them between 1976 and 1980, when they served as altar boys and as members of the Boy Scouts of America.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Exclusive by Jane Bardon, National Reporting Team

Former residents of a church-run home for Indigenous Stolen Generation children in Darwin have moved a step closer to becoming the first group to gain compensation from the Federal Government after giving evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Eighty-five Retta Dixon Home residents launched a class action in the Northern Territory Supreme Court in September 2015 to try to gain redress for years of horrific sexual and physical abuse.

The case has now been put on hold because the Commonwealth has agreed to go into mediation.

Bill Piper is the residents’ solicitor.

“The Commonwealth have been proposing the mediation at this point, which is a very positive thing, because it’s consistent with a party to an action that is acting in good faith and wanting to try and resolve it,” he said.

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ROME
Crux

Elise Harris November 20, 2016
CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY

ROME – When Pope Francis spoke out sharply against the “virus of polarization,” three new American cardinals saw a chance for a serious examination of conscience.

“I thought it was very timely, what the Holy Father said,” Cardinal Joseph Tobin told journalists November 19.

He said that for him, the first thing to do in response is “to examine ourselves in the Church, to see whether we have unconsciously appropriated this virus” or somehow justified it “when it actually serves to divide.”

To do this, he said, could likely be considered “a resistance to the acts of the Holy Spirit.”

Tobin was among 17 priests and bishops who came to St. Peter’s Basilica from around the world to receive a red hat from Pope Francis Saturday during a special consistory set to coincide with the end of the Jubilee of Mercy.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

The Catholic Church wants nationally consistent criminal laws covering reporting child sexual abuse, but does not believe institutions should be held criminally liable.

The child abuse royal commission is examining the criminal liability of third parties in reporting abuse as part of a broader criminal justice inquiry that will be the subject of a public hearing in Sydney from November 28.

The Catholic Church’s Truth Justice and Healing Council argues there should be a new, nationally consistent criminal law relating to the reporting of child sexual abuse.

TJHC chief executive Francis Sullivan said the states do not have the same laws in this area.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By Rebecca Camber And Stephen Wright For The Daily Mail

The woman allegedly sexually assaulted at the headquarters of the child abuse inquiry by its top lawyer has been left distraught by the scandal, her father has revealed.

He said it had taken a huge toll on his daughter, threatening her future and financial security after the inquiry refused to investigate her allegations.

‘She has had a brilliant job and this has been a real strain on her, financially too,’ he added. ‘My daughter will come out of this with honour.’

Ben Emmerson, QC, lead counsel to the inquiry, is facing an investigation by his own law firm into claims that he groped the woman at the office of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). His lawyers say he ‘categorically denies’ the claim.

Now his alleged victim’s father has made a dramatic intervention in the controversy that threatens to derail the £100million probe.

Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail, he said: ‘She has been very upset by this. She was down this weekend and she was quite depressed by it.

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MICHIGAN/GUAM
The Detroit News

Nicholas G. Hahn III, The Detroit News November 20, 2016

Some Catholics may think their church’s sex abuse crisis has subsided since the Boston Globe’s sensational 2002 reports.

They would be wrong.

Many of the allegations typically reach rectories of local parishes. Rarely do victims accuse archbishops of sexual abuse.

When altar boys in the Archdiocese of Agaña, Guam named Archbishop Anthony Apuron as their abuser during the 1960s and 1970s, the Vatican sent a temporary apostolic administrator to the Pacific island archdiocese.

Apuron has denied the allegations and, despite calls for him to be removed, refuses to retire five years ahead of schedule.

But Pope Francis won’t wait for an official investigation to conclude. Detroit’s own auxiliary Bishop Michael Byrnes was recently tapped as the archdiocese’s coadjutor bishop, and will take over all administrative and pastoral duties.

“There are a lot of challenges and troubles,” Byrnes recently told me, “but it’s not like they’re unfamiliar to Detroit.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Canberra Times

Chris Vedelago

Why does the Catholic Church continue to prefer playing public relations games over keeping its promises to victims of paedophile priests?

For more than two years, sexual abuse victims and their families have been waiting for the release of an independent investigation into the controversial Melbourne Response compensation scheme.

This report, completed by retired Federal Court judge Donnell Ryan, was supposed to put to the test long-running concerns about the fairness of a system that attempts to put a dollar value on the suffering of hundreds of victims of sexual abuse.

The victims were encouraged to come forward and tell their stories again. That was in August 2014. The review was completed in September 2015. It has, inexplicably, sat on the Archbishop’s desk ever since.

On Friday, victims finally learnt that the church would not release the report. Nor the full list of its findings.

Despite the Archdiocese’s repeated promises that it would be made public, the report has been suppressed.

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CANADA
The Daily Courier

KENTVILLE, N.S. – An expert witness is expected to take the stand 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.

Last week, Brent Hawkes denied the allegations of indecent assault and gross indecency in a courtroom in Kentville, N.S.

Hawkes told the court: “It’s not true. It did not happen.”

Last Tuesday, a man testified that Hawkes led him down a hallway during a drunken get-together at his trailer in Greenwood, N.S., and forced oral sex on him in a bedroom.

Hawkes, then a teacher in his mid-20s in the Annapolis Valley, told court Thursday it wasn’t unusual for students and teachers to stop by his trailer, as they wanted to say goodbye before he moved to Toronto to work with a church.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Lucy Carter

A Supreme Court justice has ordered that lawyers for the Catholic Church and two women suing it over their alleged child sexual abuse attempt to settle the case outside court.

Two sisters, known for legal reasons as LG and MG, are suing both the estate of the late Maitland-Newcastle Bishop Leo Clarke — who was in charge at the time of the alleged crimes — as well as trustees of the Roman Catholic Church for the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.

The sisters were allegedly sexually abused by Father Denis McAlinden in the 1970s and 1980s.

McAlinden died in a nursing home in 2005 without ever having been charged in New South Wales.

A 2013 special commission of inquiry found he had a history of sexually abusing children over five decades, and may have abused more than 100 victims.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

[with video]

Haidee V Eugenio, heugenio@guampdn.com November 21, 2016

Guam’s Carmelite nuns last week said Archbishop Anthony Apuron asked them to lie about the reason for their $2 million donation to the local church, but a group of local Catholics defending Apuron said that’s not possible.

Mother Superior Dawn Marie last week said Apuron asked the nuns to lie by saying their anonymous donation was purposely earmarked for the Redemptoris Mater Seminary and the Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores Catholic Theological Institute for Oceania, which were run by the Neocatechumenal Way.

She said the Carmelites decided to leave Guam after 50 years because of the toxic environment, including the dispute over the seminary property and sex abuse allegations against Apuron.

Dr. Ricardo Eusebio, president of the I Familan Mangatoliku Siha Pari Si Apuron or Catholic Families for Apuron, on Monday said email exchanges between Apuron and the Carmelite nuns were clear that the donors were giving the $2 million for a seminary. Eusebio said the Redemptoris Mater Seminary was the only archdiocesan seminary on Guam at the time, and RMS’ relationship with the Neocatechumenal Way has been public, open and clear since the start.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By MATT DATHAN, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT FOR MAILONLINE

The troubled inquiry into child sex abuse was hit by a fresh crisis today after two more victim groups said they had lost confidence in its leadership.

They expressed concerns about Professor Alexis Jay, the fourth chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and have demanded an emergency meeting with the inquiry’s panel to discuss their work.

The Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors (MACSAS) group said it wanted to ‘to find out exactly where this is going, because none of us really know’ as it said questioned Professor Jay’s qualifications to lead the inquiry.

And the White Flowers Alba group, which also represents alleged victims of child abuse, warned that the crisis surrounding the inquiry was deterring key witnesses from speaking out.

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AUSTRALIA
Mercury

PATRICK BILLINGS, Mercury
November 20, 2016

LEGAL obstacles that prevent victims of historical child abuse from suing will be abolished by the State Government, the Mercury can reveal.

At present victims generally have only three years from the time of abuse to commence court proceeding for damages.

In response to questions from The Mercury the State Government has revealed it will axe the limitation periods for victims of child abuse in line with recommendations from a Royal Commission into paedophilia.

“The government is taking action to abolish limitation periods in relation to civil claims for damages for victims of child sexual and physical abuse,” Attorney-General Vanessa Goodwin said.

“The drafting of new laws is currently underway … it is intended that the abolishment of the limitation period will apply retrospectively.”

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

By Neil Pang | Post News Staff

With the issue of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary resolved by Coadjutor Michael Byrnes’ actions last week, members of the various Catholic lay organizations continued in their mission calling for accountability and transparency.

Laity Forward Movement organizer Lou Klitzkie told the Post in an email that more than 100 people showed up Sunday morning to protest outside the front doors of the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica in Hagåtña.

The protests, which have been going on since June of this year, have called attention to the main issues that many Catholic faithful have felt were not being properly addressed.

Dave Sablan, president of Concerned Catholics of Guam, explained that CCOG was primarily concerned with three things when they joined the weekly protests: the return of Rev. Paul Goffigan and Monsignor James Benavente to their respective posts, the return of the RMS Yona property to the Archdiocese of Agana and the removal of Archbishop Anthony Apuron from his office.

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FRANCE
Eglise catholique a Lyon

[“In reparation for the desecration of the living body of Christ”]

En ce vendredi 18 novembre 2016, en la Primatiale Saint-Jean, le cardinal Barbarin a célébré une Messe de réparation à l’intention des victimes de pédophilie de la part des membres du clergé. Voici le texte intégral qu’il a prononcé au seuil de cette célébration.

Primatiale Saint-Jean
Vendredi 18 novembre 2016

Frères et sœurs,

Nous voici arrivés au terme de l’Année de la Miséricorde.

Symboliquement, les portes du grand Jubilé se referment, mais la Miséricorde, elle, bien sûr, reste toujours offerte, à tous et à chacun. C’est la fin de l’année de la Miséricorde, mais ce n’est pas la fin de la Miséricorde. Elle demeure le résumé de notre foi, l’un des plus beaux noms de Dieu ; c’est le « cœur battant de l’Evangile », dit le Pape François. Comme le peuple élu et avec lui, l’Eglise a pour mission d’être une servante et d’annoncer au monde cette merveille.

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FRANCE
La Croix

[“I, Philip, bishop of Lyon, I apologize …”]

Céline Hoyeau (à Lyon), le 19/11/2016

Entouré de plusieurs centaines de fidèles venus pour la clôture de l’Année de la miséricorde, le cardinal Barbarin a célébré vendredi 18 novembre une messe de réparation pour les victimes d’abus sexuels commis par des membres de l’Église. L’archevêque de Lyon s’est agenouillé pour demander pardon pour ses propres fautes et erreurs de gouvernance.

« Moi, Philippe, évêque de Lyon, je demande pardon… » A genoux devant la croix, sous les voûtes de la primatiale Saint-Jean, le cardinal Barbarin a fait acte de repentance publique, vendredi 18 novembre au soir, pour « tant de blessures, tant de silences et tant de phrases indignes », après les scandales de la pédophilie dans l’Église.

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IRELAND
The Journal

KERRY LAWLESS WAS abused for about a year by Patrick O’Brien, a volunteer at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, who would pick him up at the bus stop to drive him to school, stopping often en route to carry out his horrendous crimes.

A teenager from Drimnagh in the 1980s, Lawless came forward and told his parents, the authorities and gardaí about the abuse.

O’Brien confessed, pleaded guilty and received a two-year suspended sentence in court.
However, he soon returned to St Patrick’s Cathedral where he took back up his senior volunteer position.

Earlier this month, O’Brien (now 76) was jailed for 13 years for the rape and molestation of 14 young boys over the course of 40 years.

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UNITED STATES
WGCU

In this hour of Reveal, we’re going to revisit an Oscar-winning movie about The Boston Globe’s investigative team that exposed the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal: “Spotlight.” We’ll take you behind the scenes of that investigation, look at the legacy of the groundbreaking story and see how other journalists went on to expose more crimes by Catholic priests around the world.

First up, we tell you what happened after the “Spotlight” movie ended and how The Boston Globe continued to expose cover-ups in the Catholic Church.

In the second segment, Minnesota Public Radio exposes a priest abuse scandal in the Twin Cities, more than a decade after The Globe’s original investigation. Reporter Madeleine Baran spent two years looking into the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and uncovered how the church had been making secret payments to known abusers while continuing to conceal clergy sexual abuse from the public.

And finally, GlobalPost reporter Will Carless takes us to Latin America on the trail of priests who fled the U.S. after being accused of sexually abusing children.

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FRANCE
France 24

Enquête exclusive : Église et pédophilie, une affaire africaine

[with video]

Following a series of paedophilia scandals in the Catholic Church in recent years, FRANCE 24 reporters investigated the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, a Catholic religious community that has been sending missionaries to Africa for nearly a century. In Senegal we met with an alleged victim of abuse before tracking down the accused in Quebec.

Warning: Some of the language in this video report may be unsuitable for minors.

FRANCE 24 reporters contacted Souleymane in April through La Parole Libérée, a French association that helps victims of paedophilia. A Senegalese man now around 40 years of age, Souleymane told us his story but would not appear on camera.

He recounted his childhood in Kaolack, a large city southeast of the capital Dakar, and his education at the Pius XII college, run by the Canadian branch of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart.

Souleymane was 12 when one of the missionaries, a French teacher, first invited him after class to attend a private “sex education” lesson. Souleymane says he was abused for three years afterwards but did not dare tell anyone.

Hidden camera

In 2010 Souleymane says he contacted another member of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart who was teaching at the Pius XII college at the time and who still taught at a high school in Dakar. Souleymane affirms that he told him his painful story and learned that the man he accuses is apparently close to death and now living in Canada.

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FRANCE
L’Express

[Pedophilia: Cardinal Barbarin has apologized to victims.]

Le cardinal Barbarin a fait pénitence au cours d’une messe de réparation, vendredi à Lyon. Il a demandé pardon aux victimes du père Preynat.

C’est un mea culpa. Le cardinal Barbarin a demandé pardon auprès des victimes pour les actes pédophiles commis dans son diocèse, lors d’une messe de réparation vendredi soir à Lyon. L’archevêque a aussi avoué ses propres fautes. “Ce soir je veux demander pardon devant Dieu et devant tout notre diocèse, de n’avoir pas pris les devants pour enquêter comme il aurait fallu dès qu’un premier témoignage m’était parvenu”, a-t-il ainsi déclaré dans un reportage de France 3.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Last week, Coadjutor Archbishop Michael J. Byrnes signed back the title of the Yona seminary to the Archdiocese of Agana.

We support this move. After years of division and pain in the church on Guam, this decision provides clarity for the church community and the opportunity to move forward and heal.

In 2002, the archdiocese used a $1.9 million loan to purchase the former 100-room Accion Hotel in Yona. The Carmelite nuns donated $2 million to pay off the loan, giving the archdiocese full title to the property, the building and its contents.

The seminary was “specifically designed to form presbyters for the ‘New Evangelization’ as understood by the Neocatechumenal Way,” according to a report issued in September by the archdiocese.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Sunday Times

James Lyons and James Gillespie
November 20 2016
The Sunday Times

Alexis Jay, the chairwoman of the inquiry into child sex abuse, was facing a fresh crisis this weekend after two more organisations expressed a lack of confidence in her, following the decision by one group to pull out altogether.

The Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors (MACSAS) group is seeking an urgent meeting with the panel of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse (IICSA) “to find out exactly where this is going, because none of us really know”.

Meanwhile, there are fresh concerns over a police investigation into child sex abuse allegations against the former prime minister Edward Heath.

Robert Buckland, the solicitor-general, is understood to have privately raised concerns with Angus Macpherson, Wiltshire’s police and crime commissioner, about the inquiry, which he regards as a costly “fishing expedition”.

The sense of crisis surrounding IICSA deepened last week when the Shirley Oaks Survivors’ Association announced that it was withdrawing from the process which had become a “stage-managed event [that] enables the guilty to wash their dirty hands”.

In response, Labour’s Chuka Umunna has called on Jay to resign.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By MARTIN BECKFORD HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

The chairman of the troubled public inquiry into child abuse will come under increasing pressure this week as a string of lawyers finally reveal why they quit.

Professor Alexis Jay is set to be hit by damaging claims by barristers who have left the £100 million investigation that she knew there was a culture of bullying, harassment and even sexual assault but failed to act – then tried to cover it up.

None of the seven counsel who have left has publicly explained the full reasons for their departure.

And bosses of the Independent Inquiry Into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) sparked anger when they refused to tell MPs what had happened or why senior counsel Ben Emmerson QC had been suspended, placed under investigation, then allowed to leave the next day.

But now four of the lawyers have written to the Home Affairs Select Committee, which is looking into the chaos at the historical abuse probe, to give their version of events.

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VATICAN CITY
Chicago Tribune

Vikki Ortiz Healy
Chicago Tribune

Call him cardinal.

During a service at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City on Saturday, Chicago’s archbishop, Blase Cupich, received the red hat and title of a Roman Catholic cardinal, the church’s most prestigious title next to the papacy.

Dressed in red and white vestments, Cupich knelt before Pope Francis who then placed a four-cornered silk red biretta upon his head and a gold ring upon his right hand, signifying the elevation.

“Today each of you, dear brothers, is asked to cherish in your own heart, and in the heart is the Church, this summons to be merciful like the Father,” Francis told the new cardinals during the service called a consistory. “And to realize that “if something should rightly disturb us and trouble our consciences, it is the fact that so many of our brothers and sisters are living without strength, light and consolation born of friendship with Jesus Christ, without a community of faith to support them, without meaning and a goal in life.”

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INDIANA
TheIndyChannel

[with video]

Victoria T. Davis

INDIANAPOLIS – Former Indianapolis Archbishop Joseph Tobin was elevated to Cardinal status in Vatican City Saturday morning.

Tobin was named a Cardinal by the Pope in October.

Dozens of people from the Indianapolis Archdiocese made the trip to see Tobin become inducted. In all, 17 people were elevated to Cardinal status during the ceremony.

Tobin served as archbishop of Indianapolis for four years and will soon become archbishop of Newark, NJ. He will be formally installed January 6,2016.

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CHICAGO (IL)
WJBD

CHICAGO (AP) – The archbishop of Chicago, Blase Cupich, has been elevated to cardinal by the pope.

Cupich, who has led the Archdiocese of Chicago for two years, was one of 17 cardinals appointed Saturday In Vatican City by Pope Francis.

Cupich is the seventh cardinal to serve Chicago’s archdiocese and its 2.4 million Catholics.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service – Bulletin

Titular churches and diaconates of the new cardinals, 19.11.2016

This morning in St. Peter’s Basilica the Holy Father celebrated an ordinary public consistory for the creation of seventeen new cardinals, to whom he imposed the biretta, consigned the ring and assigned the respective title or diaconate church.

At the beginning of the event, Archbishop Mario Zenari, apostolic nuncio in Syria and the first among the new cardinals, addressed a greeting and some words of gratitude to the Holy Father on behalf of them all.

The ceremony began with greetings, prayer and the reading of a passage from the Gospel according to St. Luke (6, 27-36), after which Pope Francis pronounced the following homily:

“The Gospel passage we have just heard (cf. Lk 6:27-36) is often referred to as the ‘Sermon on the Plain’. After choosing the Twelve, Jesus came down with his disciples to a great multitude of people who were waiting to hear him and to be healed. The call of the Apostles is linked to this ‘setting out’, descending to the plain to encounter the multitudes who, as the Gospel says, were ‘troubled’. Instead of keeping the Apostles at the top of the mountain, their being chosen leads them to the heart of the crowd; it sets them in the midst of those who are troubled, on the ‘plain’ of their daily lives. The Lord thus shows the Apostles, and ourselves, that the true heights are reached on the plain, while the plain reminds us that the heights are found in a gaze and above all in a call: ‘Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful’.

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VATICAN CITY
BBC News

Pope Francis has named 17 new cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church from around the world, many of whom will help choose his successor.

The new cardinals come from five continents, and include the Vatican’s envoy to Syria.

The range of backgrounds “represents a break with custom”, said the BBC’s David Willey in Rome.

Pope Francis has now chosen close to a third of the College of Cardinals who will ultimately pick who succeeds him.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com November 19, 2016

Multiple sex abuse allegations against priests and questionable church leadership decisions have fractured a deeply Catholic Guam, but some members of the island’s Filipino-American community say these challenges have made their faith stronger rather than weaker.

They also say an imminent leadership change bodes well for an even greater church.

“I learned about the church scandals and I also have questions in my mind about the archbishop. But those didn’t make me want to leave the church. If anything, they tested my faith in God and the church. My faith became stronger,” says Cynthia De Castro, a 60-year-old mother of three and a devout Catholic.

“When you know that the church is hurt, you don’t leave it. You help it heal,” she adds.

Some 85 percent of Guam’s estimated population of 162,742 is Roman Catholic. Filipinos and Filipino-Americans also make up about 26 percent of the island population.

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VATICAN CITY
Pittsburgh Catholic

Saturday, November 19, 2016

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — Catholics will forgive their priests for almost any weakness, but not for an exaggerated attachment to money or for mistreating parishioners, Pope Francis told 160 priests who work in Vatican nunciatures around the world.

“The people of God have a great nose” for sniffing out priests who serve the god of money more than God the father, he told the priests Nov. 18.

Celebrating Mass with them in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, Pope Francis focused on the day’s Gospel reading, which was St. Luke’s account of Jesus throwing the money-changers out of the temple.

In the reading, Jesus accuses the merchants of turning the Lord’s house into a “den of thieves.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post

MPs have questioned the leadership of the beleaguered national inquiry into child sexual abuse after one of the country’s largest victims’ groups announced it was withdrawing from what it described as “an “unpalatable circus”.

The Shirley Oaks Survivors Association (Sosa) yesterday delivered a blistering critique of the troubled investigation – describing it as a “stage-managed event” which has “lurched from crisis to crisis”.

Sarah Champion MP And there were calls for another change at the top of the inquiry, which is already on its fourth chairwoman, former social worker Professor Alexis Jay, the author of the 2014 report in Rotherham sex abuse.

Sosa represents victims affected by abuse at children’s homes run by Lambeth Council in south London. In a highly critical statement, it said: “Our decision to pull out of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) should have come with regret but we are sad to say the only emotion we feel is relief.

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UNITEDKINGDOM
The Times

Sean O’Neill, Chief Reporter
November 19 2016
The Times

The chairwoman of the inquiry into historical sex abuse has hit back at critics and said that some forces did not want “dark institutional failings brought into the light”.

Writing in The Times, Alexis Jay said that the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) had a duty to shine a light on the failures that led to so many being abused and exploited.

Professor Jay, who was praised for her investigation into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham, added: “I have fought for this inquiry — for its independence, its reputation and its vital capacity to right a terrible wrong — since it opened, and I don’t intend to stop fighting for it now.”

Her vow to continue with the IICSA’s work followed the decision by one of the largest victims’ groups to withdraw from the inquiry process.

The Shirley Oaks Survivors Association, which represents hundreds of people abused in childhood in the care of Lambeth council in London, said that it had lost confidence in the inquiry after resignations and scandals.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

A child sex abuse inquiry’s fourth chairwoman has said some forces want to stop a light being shone on “dark institutional failings” after a victims’ group quit the probe, branding it an “unpalatable circus”.

Professor Alexis Jay vowed to push on with the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) after the Shirley Oaks Survivors Association (Sosa) and Labour MP Chuka Umunna called for her replacement.

Sosa delivered a blistering critique of IICSA – calling it a “stage-managed event” which has “lurched from crisis to crisis”.

But Prof Jay, writing in The Times, said: “I have fought for this inquiry – for its independence, its reputation and its vital capacity to right a terrible wrong – since it opened, and I don’t intend to stop fighting for it now.

“There are some people who would like to see us fail because it suits their agenda to not want dark institutional failings brought into the light.

“But shine that light we will, because there are many, many people in this country who spend every waking minute of every day living with the damage and the pain caused by child sexual abuse.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Sun

BY MIKE SULLIVAN, CRIME EDITOR 18th November 2016

A TOP Labour MP called for the latest head of the child sex abuse inquiry to resign yesterday after a leading victims’ group called it a “botched job”.

Prof Alexis Jay is the fourth to lead the troubled national probe but is facing claims of a whitewash.

Shirley Oaks Survivors Association, representing those abused in Lambeth Council children’s homes in South London, withdrew its co-operation.

Labour’s Chuka Umunna also questioned whether Professor Jay could “command the confidence of the majority of survivors” because of her background in social work and lack of legal knowledge.

The Streatham MP told Radio 4’s programme that survivors were cynical about her because “many perpetrators” came from Professor Jay’s profession.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

IAN KIRKWOOD
18 Nov 2016

The Assistant Bishop of Newcastle, Peter Stuart, has told the commission of three more allegations of child sexual abuse against Anglican clergy.

Bishop Stuart, the assistant at Newcastle since 2009, made the disclosure at the end of a session of almost two hours in the witness stand on Friday morning.

Counsel assisting the commission, Naomi Sharp, had just taken Bishop Stuart through a section of evidence in which he had described supporters of Graeme Lawrence in Christ Church Cathedral as the most “difficult, intractable and hurtful” group of people he had ever met.

Bishop Stuart then explained how the cathedral’s parish council was sacked after prominent lay members of the congregation wrote to their now infamous letter to the commission in September, complaining about Newcastle Bishop Greg Thompson.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

IAN KIRKWOOD
18 Nov 2016

THE defrocked former dean of Newcastle, Graeme Lawrence, has disputed almost all of the evidence given about him so far in a fortnight of sittings by the Royal Commission.

In a two-hour stint of evidence, he denied knowing anything about most of the child abuse cases in this hearing. He also denied an accusation that he “sexually interfered with” two male youths at a church camp in the mid-1990s. This had been raised with the bishop at the time, Roger Herft, in the closing minutes of the August block of hearings in Newcastle, when Reverend Herft denied “tipping off” Mr Lawrence about the allegation.

Mr Lawrence, who retired from the church with civic honours in 2008, only to be defrocked in disgrace in 2012, is regarded as the central figure in this inquiry and was the first person named in its terms of reference.

He was one of the clergy who allegedly abused a then-youth, code-named CKH, during the early 1980s, although he has not been charged with any criminal offence.

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MARYLAND
WJLA

BY JOHN GONZALEZ/ABC7
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18TH 2016

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (ABC7) — Teachers and police will be holding a meeting at Montgomery County’s Cloverly Elementary School Monday evening after a teacher was arrested for a second time on Thursday.

John Vigna was a beloved teacher at the elementary school for over 20 years, but on Friday morning he was behind bars facing new charges.

The new charges include one count of sexual abuse of a minor and four counts of 3rd-degree sex offense. More alleged victims came forward, according to authorities. A woman in her twenties now claims that she was sexually assaulted when she was a student 15 years ago. And two juveniles reported separate incidents that occurred at Cloverly over the past two to three years.

Vigna was someone who would do scripture readings at a nearby church.

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FRANCE
Global Herald

[with video]

Following a series of paedophilia scandals in the Catholic Church in recent years, FRANCE 24 reporters investigated the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, a Catholic religious community that has been sending missionaries to Africa for nearly a century. In Senegal we met with an alleged victim of abuse before tracking down the accused in Quebec.

Warning: Some of the language in this video report may be unsuitable for minors.

FRANCE 24 reporters contacted Souleymane in April through La Parole Libérée, a French association that helps victims of paedophilia. A Senegalese man now around 40 years of age, Souleymane told us his story but would not appear on camera.

He recounted his childhood in Kaolack, a large city southeast of the capital Dakar, and his education at the Pius XII college, run by the Canadian branch of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart.

Souleymane was 12 when one of the missionaries, a French teacher, first invited him after class to attend a private “sex education” lesson. Souleymane says he was abused for three years afterwards but did not dare tell anyone.

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IRELAND
Journal

ST PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL has this evening apologised to the victims of convicted child rapist Patrick O’Brien who molested children at the place of worship.

O’Brien was a lay worker at the cathedral and admitted to 48 sample counts of indecent assault, including various instances of anal penetration, and three counts of sexual assault of the boys between 1974 and 2013.

The abuse happened at numerous locations throughout the country.

O’Brien was jailed for 13 years earlier this month for the rape and molestation of 14 young boys over the course of 40 years.

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IRELAND
RTE News

The national Cathedral of the Church of Ireland, St Patrick’s in Dublin, has apologised unreservedly for failing to care appropriately for victims of the serial child sexual abuser Patrick O’Brien.

In a statement issued this evening, the Cathedral also apologised for not providing the victims’ families with the care and support which they needed and to which they were entitled.

Today’s statement comes eight days after a 52-word statement from St Patrick’s Cathedral in response to the sentencing of O’Brien to 13 years imprisonment for sexually abusing and raping 13 boys and abusing one other over a 40-year period in locations including the Cathedral where he was a treasurer of an independent fundraising committee.

Kerry Lawless who, as a 15-year-old pupil of the neighbouring St Patrick’s Grammar School, helped secure O’Brien’s conviction for abusing him in 1989.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Mark Hilliard

The Church of Ireland has issued a further statement following the sentencing of abuser Patrick O’Brien, apologising “sincerely and unreservedly” to his victims.

On Friday, St Patrick’s Cathedral said it deeply regretted that children were sexually abused by Patrick O’Brien, who was a member of the congregation and treasurer of the independent fundraising body, the Friends of St Patrick’s Cathedral.

The cases of abuse that have been notified to the cathedral date from the period 1978 to 1989.
“The community here is shocked at the enormity of the crimes perpetrated by Patrick O’Brien.

These crimes against children have caused feelings of revulsion and immense sadness,” the statement said.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

Melbourne’s Catholic Archbishop Denis Hart wants governments to back a redress scheme providing a level playing field for child sex abuse victims.

Archbishop Hart, victims’ advocates and the states want specific details about how the federal government’s planned Commonwealth redress scheme for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse will work, including how complaints will be assessed.

He has called on governments to support a national scheme, amid doubts that all states, territories, churches and charities will take part in the opt-in scheme and provide their share of restitution.

“I urge all governments to support a scheme that provides survivors with equal access and treatment no matter in which jurisdiction or institution the alleged abuse occurred,” Archbishop Hart said.

The Melbourne archdiocese has doubled its maximum compensation payments to $150,000, in line with the cap under the national scheme.

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URUGUAY
Crux

Austen Ivereigh November 18, 2016
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Back in April, the Uruguayan bishops set up a dedicated phone-line to allow victims of sex abuse by priests to step forward and make complaints. At their plenary meeting Wednesday, the bishops announced that as a result dozens of cases have come to light.
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BUENOS AIRES – Four Uruguayan priests have been suspended for sexual abuse of minors following a Church-led investigation that has uncovered 44 accusations against 40 priests over 70 years.

The probe was ordered earlier this year by Cardinal Daniel Sturla, the Archbishop of Montevideo, following a three-part Uruguayan TV documentary series that claimed to reveal a cover-up in the Church.

The series, Santo y Seña, was inspired by the U.S. movie Spotlight, which tells the story of the journalistic exposé of clerical sex abuse in 2001.

In April the bishops created a dedicated phone line to allow people to step forward and make the accusations, promising that they would be investigated.

The bishops reported Wednesday that 44 cases have so far come to light, 18 of which referred to events more than 40 years ago, and 16 between 20 and 40 years ago.

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NEW MEXICO
Albuquerque Journal

By Olivier Uyttebrouck / Journal Staff Writer
Published: Friday, November 18th, 2016

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A Texas woman has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that she had been sexually abused since she was minor by an Albuquerque pastor who serves as a bishop in a large Pentecostal denomination, according to court records.

The woman, 37, of Lubbock also alleges that Bishop James L’Keith Jones, who leads the New Mexico jurisdiction of the Church of God in Christ, sent her 6-year-old daughter a video intended to groom the girl for sexual purposes, according to the civil lawsuit filed Oct. 31 in U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas in Amarillo.

The lawsuit identifies Jones, the Memphis, Tenn.-based denomination and its board of bishops as defendants, seeking $12.2 million in damages on behalf of the woman and her child.

Jones, the denomination, and their attorneys did not respond to email and phone message requests for comment.

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MINNESOTA
The Catholic Spirit

Jessica Trygstad | November 17, 2016

After months of negotiations with insurance carriers, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis filed an amended plan for Reorganization Nov. 15 that increased compensation for victims of clergy sexual abuse to more than $133 million. A court-appointed mediator facilitated the negotiations.

In a press conference after filing the plan, Charles Rogers, an attorney with Briggs and Morgan representing the archdiocese, said it had reached settlements with 11 of the 13 insurance carriers involved in the bankruptcy proceedings; negotiations continue with the remaining two, which, if resolved, will add additional funds to the total settlement. He described the amended plan as “holistic” and producing the best possible insurance settlements given the circumstances.

“Our goal all along has been to promote healing, to bring forth good will and to express our good will in actions and not our words,” Rogers said.

In its initial plan filed in May, the archdiocese identified more than $65 million in assets to compensate victims/survivors, with the potential for that amount to grow as settlements were reached with insurers.

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BELGIUM
National Catholic Register

The Belgian archbishop has drawn criticism for his handling as a local bishop of five separate sexual abuse files.

Edward Pentin

BRUSSELS, Belgium — Among the new cardinals to be elevated at Saturday’s consistory will be Archbishop Jozef De Kesel of Mechelen-Brussels.

Born in 1947 in Ghent, De Kesel was ordained in 1972 and served as a professor of theology and Christology, as well as formation director in Ghent and episcopal vicar for theological training and pastoral in the diocese. Pope St. John Paul II elevated him to the Belgian episcopate in 2002, appointing him auxiliary bishop in Brussels. Benedict XVI appointed him Bishop of Bruges in 2010.

But Cardinal-designate De Kesel enters the College of Cardinals with some substantial baggage, primarily in the area of handling clerical sex abuse cases during his time in Bruges.

His current spokesman in Brussels, Jeroen Moens, told the Register Nov. 8 that the archbishop did not “want to comment in detail” on five cases he has been criticized for mishandling. “He only wishes to state that all cases are handled according the policy of the Belgian bishops on the handling of sexual abuse cases and according to the suggestions and advice of experts working in commissions and contact points for sexual abuse cases,” the spokesman said.

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