ABUSE TRACKER

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.
Share:

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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CANADA
Peterborough Examiner

By Jason Bain, The Peterborough Examiner
Saturday, November 19, 2016

Tackle your issues head-on before you no longer can, urges Great Big Sea co-founder Sean McCann, who himself used music to overcome his own problems.

The former band member, who will perform and speak Nov. 26 at Market Hall as the final stop in his 2016 Road to Recovery Tour, is celebrating his fifth year of sobriety thanks to using the notes as medicine, as his own personal therapy.

“I guarantee I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my guitar,” he said earlier this week prior to a show in Calgary.

The former alcoholic once blamed the former energetic folk rock band, which wrote many songs about drinking, for leading him down a self-destructive path and into hard times. But he soon learned he was to blame, not the pieces the Newfoundlanders sang.

“It wasn’t bad at all. I was just singing the wrong song,” he said, adding how performing and sharing his story is what has really given him a sense of purpose. “This is what has propelled me to this moment in life.”

McCann has been outspoken about his struggle with addiction as his way to deal with the trauma of childhood sexual abuse by his parish priest while growing up in St. John’s.

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TENNESSEE
Commercial Appeal

Yolanda Jones , yolanda.jones@commercialappeal.com November 18, 2016

A city of Memphis library employee has been placed on paid leave after an ongoing police investigation into allegations that he sexually assaulted children when he worked as an assistant youth minister at a Germantown church 18 years ago.

The employee, who has not been arrested or charged in the cases, was placed on paid administrative leave pending the investigation into the allegations, city officials said in an email earlier this week.

Memphis police spokesman Louis Brownlee confirmed that the department’s sex crimes detectives are investigating.

“We do have an open investigation related to these allegations,” Brownlee said. “As with any investigation, if there are additional victims who have not come forward to file a complaint with law enforcement or if there are any individuals who have information concerning these incidents, they should contact MPD at any precinct or report to the Sex Crimes Bureau located at 201 Poplar Avenue, 11th floor.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By PRESS ASSOCIATION

A child sex abuse inquiry panel member has defended its fourth chairwoman after o ne of the largest victims’ groups involved withdrew from the probe – branding it an “unpalatable circus”.

Drusilla Sharpling insisted Professor Alexis Jay was “ideally” qualified for the job as t he Shirley Oaks Survivors Association (Sosa) and Labour MP Chuka Umunna called for her to be replaced.

Earlier, Sosa delivered a blistering critique of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) – describing it as a “stage-managed event” which has “lurched from crisis to crisis”.

Sosa represents victims affected by abuse at children’s homes run by Lambeth Council in south London.

It said it feared Prof Jay is “an uninspiring leader” and it does not believe she is the right person to uncover the truth behind allegations of historical abuse.

Downing Street and Home Secretary Amber Rudd have voiced their support and Ms Sharpling said Prof Jay’s work exposing prolonged abuse in Rotherham meant she had the expertise needed.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A panel member of the independent inquiry into child sex abuse has defended chairwoman Prof Alexis Jay as being “qualified for the job.”

The Shirley Oaks Survivors Association, for 600 victims who lived in children’s homes in London, is pulling out of the inquiry because of its leadership.

But Dru Sharpling said it would not prevent the inquiry from carrying on.

Labour MP Chuka Umunna has called for a new head, but Home Secretary Amber Rudd has backed Prof Jay’s leadership.

The inquiry said its work would continue with “confidence and clarity”, and Prime Minister Theresa May this week said she had absolute confidence in the inquiry’s leadership.

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DEUTSCHLAND
N-TV

[Six years after emergency of the abuse scandal in Germany, those affected continue to regard a high risk of attacks on children and adolescents.]

2010 werden in der Katholischen Kirche Missbrauchsfälle in großem Ausmaß bekannt. Heute seien Kinder und Jugendliche nicht weniger in Gefahr, Opfer sexueller Gewalt zu werden, sagt der Betroffenenrat. Das betreffe viele Bereiche der Gesellschaft.

Sechs Jahre nach dem Bekanntwerden des Missbrauchsskandals in Deutschland halten Betroffene die Gefahr von Übergriffen auf Kinder und Jugendliche weiter für hoch. “Kindesmissbrauch ist weltweit ein Bestandteil gesellschaftlicher Strukturen”, teilte der Betroffenenrat in Berlin mit. Familien seien ebenso betroffen wie Bildungseinrichtungen und religiöse Gemeinschaften.

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OSTERREICH
katholisch

[The State and the Catholic Church in Austria have apologized to victims of abuse. Cardinal Christoph Schonborn said for too long the victims have been disccarded and disowned. The event was attended by 250 victims.]

Österreich | Wien – 18.11.2016

Mit einem Staatsakt haben Staat und katholische Kirche in Österreich bei Opfern von Missbrauch um Entschuldigung gebeten. Viel zu lange sei verharmlost, vertuscht, verleugnet und weggeschaut worden, sagte Kardinal Christoph Schönborn am Donnerstagabend im Parlament in Wien. “Ich bitte um Entschuldigung”, so Schönborn an die Adresse der 250 Missbrauchs-Betroffenen, die bei der Veranstaltung zugegen waren. Wir haben in der Kirche wie auch im Staat zu lange weggeschaut. Wir haben vertuscht, wir haben, wenn Missbrauch bekannt geworden ist, Leute versetzt und nicht abgesetzt”, so der Wiener Erzbischof. “Für diese Schuld der Kirche stehe ich heute vor ihnen und sage: Ich bitte um Vergebung.”

Mit dem Staatsakt wollten Staat und Kirche eine gemeinsame “Geste der Verantwortung” für jenes Unrecht setzen, das Heimkinder in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten in staatlichen und kirchlichen Einrichtungen in Österreich erlitten haben. Das österreichische Fernsehen übertrug live. Bereits zuvor hatte Schönborn dazu gemahnt, das Thema Kindesmissbrauch nicht mehr zu verdrängen. Es sei wichtig, dass es aus dem öffentlichen Bewusstsein nie wieder verschwinde. “Und auch nicht aus dem Bewusstsein der Kirche”.

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MISSOURI
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Michael S. McGrath was a St. Louis archdiocesan priest, ordained in 1975. He assisted in parishes in Florissant, Wentzville, Overland, Concord Village, Pagedale and Bridgeton. For a short while he was the lead priest in Jennings. McGrath also taught in several parish schools and at DuBourg High School.

In 1993 McGrath was placed on leave and sent for treatment for a year after the archdiocese received an allegation that, while he was a seminarian in 1973-1974, McGrath fondled a boy. He was returned to active ministry. In 1997 he was suspended again after a concerned priest reported that McGrath had taken a group of boys on a trip to New Orleans. The archdiocesan review board recommended the suspension, saying that McGrath was not using “common sense.” McGrath found work driving buses for the city and for Greyhound.

In June 2003 a wrongful death suit was filed by the parents of a man who had recently committed suicide; the parents said McGrath sexually abused their son in the 1980s, beginning when the boy was a fourth-grader. The suicide occurred just after the man learned that the statute of limitations prevented him from filing criminal charges against the priest. This was the first of at least 21 lawsuits by people claiming abuse as children by McGrath. McGrath’s modus operandi was reportedly to take children on outings in his van, such as getting ice-cream or attending baseball games. There were also overnight trips. He typically would allow children to help drive the van while they sat in or near his lap. Most allegations were of fondling; at least one was of forced oral copulation. McGrath’s alleged victims were boys and girls. Two former female students of DuBourg High School separately reported that McGrath fondled them while they were sleeping during a trip in his van.

McGrath was laicized in 2005.

Ordained: 1975
Laicized: 2005

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

[with video]

Part 1: Johnstown man confronts past of sexual abuse by priest

BY MARTY RADOVANIC FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18TH 2016

JOHNSTOWN – A state grand jury continues its investigation of child sex abuse within the Catholic Church.

Agents of the attorney general recently raided the offices of the diocese of Erie, collecting boxes of documents.

Whispers of abuse have been prevalent in the Catholic Church for years.

That whisper became a roar when the grand jury announced its findings of widespread abuse in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

When the grand jury report was released in March, Shaun Dougherty says he knew it was time for him to go public, to make sure what happened to him would not happen to another child.

He reached out to a longtime friend, state Rep. Frank Burns, who in turn introduced him to Rep. Mark Rozzi, who says he had been molested by a priest as a child.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

November 19, 2016

DAN BOX
Crime reporterSydney
@DanBox10

The former dean of Newcastle’s Anglican cathedral has denied being questioned by the current Archbishop of Perth over reports that he sexually abused children during the late 1990s, a royal commission has heard.

Graeme Lawrence also told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse yesterday that he took no action against another priest alleged to have abused children as he expected his then bishop, Roger Herft, to do so instead.

“I didn’t take any particular action. I left it to the diocesan bishop and the registrar to do those ­actions that were in their purview, not mine,” Mr Lawrence said.

Asked why he did not return a call in 2000 from a man identifying himself as a detective and asking about the priest, Mr Lawrence said he doubted the call was genuine, despite believing the victim had gone to police.

“Are you seriously suggesting in your evidence that this telephone call was some kind of hoax?” counsel assisting the commission Naomi Sharp asked.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

Part 2: Dougherty plans to keep fighting for victims of child sex abuse

BY MARTY RADOVANIC FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18TH 2016

JOHNSTOWN — The sexual abuse scandal within the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown has been making headlines again after the release of a grand jury’s findings on the case.

However, not many victims have come forward in an effort to move past that part of their lives.

But one man who said he was abused by his parish’s priest said he can’t keep quiet any longer.

Shaun Dougherty was born and raised in Johnstown with eight siblings.

Dougherty’s family belonged to the St. Clement parish in Upper Yodder Township, and St. Clement Church was a large part of the Doughertys’ lives.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

11/18/2016

Plan Exposes Unreasonable Insurance Companies

Committee Amended Disclosure Statement 11-17-2016
Committee Amended Plan of Reorganization 11-17-2016

(Minneapolis, MN) – The Creditors’ Committee in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis bankruptcy case has filed an amended reorganization plan. The plan preserves the rights to over $1 billion in available insurance assets.

“Some of the major insurance companies in the Archdiocese bankruptcy case are refusing to pay what they owe, leaving the abuse survivors to suffer,” said Attorney Jeff Anderson. “Travelers, CNA and AIG are asking the court to allow them to pay pennies on the dollar when their insurance contracts require them to pay close to $1 billion. The survivors’ plan makes sure that these insurance companies don’t get away with these deceptive practices.”

On Wednesday, the Archdiocese filed an amended reorganization plan, again leaving behind sexual abuse survivors. The plan calls for the Archdiocese to contribute less than 1% of its assets. The plan also lets the insurance companies off-the-hook and significantly undervalues their exposure.

The original plan filed by the Creditors’ Committee in August was the first of its kind filed by sexual abuse survivors in any diocesan or religious order bankruptcy proceeding. Among other provisions, the proposed Creditors’ Committee plan calls for the immediate release of the investigative report concerning former Archbishop John Nienstedt, all communications with the Vatican Embassy and requests an end to all payments currently being made to priests credibly accused of sexually abusing children.

A hearing is scheduled for December 15, 2016, at 1:00PM in United States Bankruptcy Court to discuss the two plans.

Contact: Jeff Anderson: Cell: 612.817.8665 Office: 651.964.3458
Mike Finnegan: Cell: 612.205.5531 Office: 651.964.3458

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TEXAS
TXK Today

By Fernanda Hernandez – November 18, 2016

A Texarkana pastor accused of sexually abusing two girls he met through his work as a clergyman is scheduled to appear for arraignment on nine felonies and one misdemeanor the week after Thanksgiving.

David Wayne Farren, 41, was arrested twice in August on warrants accusing him of sexual misconduct. He is currently free on a total $40,000 bond.

Earlier this month a criminal information was signed by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Connie Mitchell charging Farren with nine felonies and one misdemeanor. Counts one through seven allege Farren had sex with a minor, “and was in a position of trust or authority over the victim and used the position of trust or authority to engage in sexual intercourse or deviate sexual activity,” with the girl.

All seven counts of first-degree sexual assault allegedly occurred beginning in April 2013 and continuing through August 2013. Count eight alleges Farren engaged in sexual contact with the same girl beginning in April 2012 and continuing through August 2013.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

David Gibson Religion News Service | Nov. 18, 2016

Vatican City — Pope Francis is firing back at foes of his efforts to make the Catholic church more open and pastoral in its ministry, telling an interviewer that “they are acting in bad faith to foment divisions.”

The pontiff’s lengthy interview in Avvenire, the official newspaper of the Italian hierarchy, was published Friday and followed days of news coverage of demands by four hard-line cardinals who have grave concerns about Francis’ approach.

The four say that focusing on ministering to people in their particular circumstances is eroding the church’s doctrinal absolutes and that Francis must dispel any ambiguities or face serious consequences.

The four critics, led by U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke, a Rome-based prelate and longtime opponent of the pontiff’s policies, had written privately to Francis in September.

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., Nov. 17, 2016

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent
religion@gallupindependent.com

GALLUP – Bishop James S. Wall, of the Diocese of Gallup, will offer his first healing service for clergy sexual abuse survivors Saturday at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Gallup.

The service, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday, is the first in a series of 36 scheduled healing services spanning a period of about 15 months. The services, designed to atone for clergy sexual abuse, resulted from the Gallup Diocese’s Chapter 11 plan of reorganization. As outlined in the plan’s non-monetary provisions, Wall agreed to visit each operating Catholic parish or school in which sexual abuse occurred or where identified abusers served.

Diocesan officials designed the healing services to meet the plan’s requirement to have those visits.

No public forum

Suzanne Hammons, spokeswoman for the Diocese, said the services will consist of hymns, readings from Scripture, a reflection from the bishop and prayer. Hammons said the services are expected to last approximately 30 minutes.

“After each healing service, Bishop Wall will be available to meet privately for discussion with survivors and their families – one-on-one, if they request it,” Hammons wrote in an email Tuesday. “They will be able to ask him questions and discuss any concerns they might have with him at that time.”

According to the non-monetary provisions, the bishop “shall provide a forum/ discussion during his visit to address questions and comments.”

Hammons said the forum/discussion time will be after the services and not open to the general public. Rather, she said, they will be reserved for the questions and comments from abuse survivors during the private meetings.

“This is, first and foremost, a time for the survivors, so there is a place for a forum and discussion, and during these visits, it is provided to those affected by abuse,” Hammons said. “The format of the visit has been carefully crafted after discussion with the survivors’ committee, and it also closely follows what many other Dioceses have done and reported as productive for fostering healing.”

Plaque installation

Hammons acknowledged the media and “probably some parishioners” were hoping that the forum for questions and answers would be part of the service. However, she said, having private space for survivors to meet with Wall was the priority of the diocese.

“Bishop Wall makes many, many visits to each parish and school, and is almost always available to meet the Catholics of these parishes and speak with them,” she said.

“This does not mean we wish to ignore the concerns of Catholic parishioners – on the contrary, we welcome them!” Hammons added. “As always, I try to give out many ways of contacting us for parishioners who do wish to get in touch and ask questions.”

In addition to requiring the bishop’s visits, the non-monetary provisions require the diocese to “prominently and visibly” install plaques at each Catholic parish and school stating: “This Parish (or school) is strongly committed to the emotional, physical, spiritual and moral wellbeing of all of its members. Abuse of any kind will not be tolerated.”

Hammons said every church and school should have received its plaque and be in the process of installing it.

Before the end of the year, three more healing services are scheduled to be offered in Arizona parishes: Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament in Fort Defiance Nov. 29, Our Lady of Guadalupe in Holbrook Dec. 2, and St. Rita in Show Low Dec. 9. The series of services at other parishes and schools will resume in January.

Abuse survivors who would prefer to meet with the bishop in a different setting should contact Elizabeth Terrill, the victims’ assistance coordinator pro tem, at 505-906-7357.

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TENNESSEE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Nov. 18, 2016

Victims want minister ousted
He admits not calling police in alleged abuse case
Still, he’s now with a regional Baptist group in TN
“This just encourages others to stay silent about abuse,” group says
Instead, SNAP wants church officials to “punish him and deter cover ups”
That’s how wrongdoing will be discouraged & victim will heal, support group maintains

A support group wants a Mid-South church organization to oust a Baptist minister who admits he didn’t call police when alleged child sex crimes were reported to him.

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are urging Mid-South Baptist Association in Tennessee to “denounce, discipline and publicly remove Rev. Scott Payne” from any posts in their organization.

In media interviews, Payne admits that he did not call police when he was confronted in the 1990s with allegations that Immanuel Baptist Church assistant youth pastor Chris Carwile had abused kids.

In recent news reports, several victims have come forward to tell their abuse stories and file police reports against Carwile. He’s worked recently at the main branch of the Memphis Public Library until he was suspended days ago.

SNAP contends that Payne’s actions are “a violation of common sense, common decency, pastoral responsibility and state law.”

“Rev. Payne should have no role or position in any church or religious body and should be drummed out of the ministry and never again given a position in which he might again ignore or hide child sexual abuse, either known or suspected,” David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP. “We hope law enforcement will investigate his actions – and inaction – and consider prosecuting him.”

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UNITED STATES
The Open Tabernacle: Here Comes Everybody

Posted on November 17, 2016 by Betty Clermont

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), “looks forward to working with President-elect Trump to protect human life from its most vulnerable beginning, [a] commitment to domestic religious liberty, ensuring people of faith remain free to proclaim the truth about man and woman [anti-transgender dogwhistle], and the unique bond of marriage that they can form …. We are firm in our resolve that our brothers and sisters who are migrants and refugees can be humanely welcomed without sacrificing our security.”

Much of this echoes the Vatican’s statement that “points of dialogue” with Trump will include “internal [domestic] subjects such as religious freedom, Catholics’ commitment and attention to the most vulnerable bands of society.”

Martin R. Castro, chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, recently stated: “The phrases ‘religious liberty’ and ‘religious freedom’ will stand for nothing except hypocrisy so long as they remain code words for discrimination, intolerance, racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, Christian supremacy or any form of intolerance.”

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UNITED STATES
Church Militant

by Christine Niles, M.St. (Oxon.), J.D. • ChurchMilitant.com • November 17, 2016

The recent elections of various prelates to top positions at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops means more of the same for American Catholics — which is to say, not much at all. Church Militant earlier reported on the election of Cdl. Daniel DiNardo as new head of the USCCB, who allowed the funeral Mass in his co-cathedral of a public organizer of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast (the same affiliate caught on video trading in aborted baby parts) and open gay “marriage” advocate, and the next year allowed the funeral Mass of an openly gay man in a public “marriage” to his male partner.

The USCCB’s newly elected vice president is Abp. Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, a man who has done little to clean up the mess left by his predecessor Cdl. Roger Mahony. Gomez oversees the gay and lesbian ministry in his archdiocese, which annually sponsors a gay pride Mass to coincide with the city’s gay pride parade. The archdiocesan ministry openly promotes same-sex “marriage,” health benefits for same-sex couples and gay-straight alliances in public schools, where children are indoctrinated in gay ideology.

Gomez also presides over the LA Religious Education Congress, notorious for its liturgical abuses, and which has offered transgender workshops where Church teaching on gender ideology is openly questioned. The Congress has also repeatedly invited Fr. Greg Boyle to speak, a dissident priest who is on public record supporting gay “marriage” and female ordination.

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ISRAEL
Times of Israel

The Jerusalem Magistrate Court on Thursday convicted a prominent rabbi after he admitted to two counts of indecent acts and one case of assault in a plea deal with the prosecution.

Under the terms of the deal, Rabbi Eliezer Berland, 79, who was extradited to Israel to face the charges after three years on the run, was cleared of two other charges of indecent acts. His sentencing hearing will be held next week.

However, Channel 2 reported that he is likely to serve 18 months of jail time, including time served since his arrest in the summer.

Considered a cult-like leader to thousands of his followers from the Bratslav Hasidic sect, Berland fled Israel in 2013 amid allegations that he molested two female followers, one of them a minor.

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GUAM
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Agana

The Archdiocese of Agana extends prayers to all victims of sexual abuse by Guam clergy during these difficult times.

With Father Louis Brouillard, a priest who served on Guam beginning in the 1950s having confessed last October to abusing altar boys on Guam decades ago, we convey our deepest apologies to Mr. Vicente Perez and Mr. Bruce Diaz for the pain they have suffered. No words can truly ease the suffering victims of abuse have experienced.

We convey our prayers again for the late Joseph “Sonny” Quinata and for his family who came forward in the past with allegations of abuse against Archbishop Anthony Apuron while he was still a priest.

The Archdiocese of Agana takes the matter of sexual abuse by clergy very seriously. A Task Force for the Protection of Minors was formed in September and since October, has been visiting each of our Catholic schools conducting training of staff and faculty about the prevention of sexual abuse.

A new Victims Support Group has been meeting regularly to develop even more comprehensive outreach, support and counseling help for all victims who come forward. Meanwhile, our Sexual Abuse Response Coordinator (SARC) Deacon Leonard Stohr continues to reach out to victims and persons alleging abuse and can be reached at all hours at 727-7373.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Nov 18, 2016

By Sabrina Salas Matanane

In response to the newest court filings alleging child sex abuse by Guam clergy, the Archdiocese of Agana extends prayer to all victims. On Thursday, three more complaints for damages were filed.

Bruce Diaz and Vicente Perez alleged they were molested by Father Louis Brouillard when they were altar boys in the Barrigada parish and while they were Boy Scouts, where he served as scoutmaster. The third case was filed by the estate of the late Joseph Quinata. His mother, Doris Concepcion, alleged he told her on his deathbed that he had been molested by Archbishop Anthony Apuron decades ago.

In a statement issued this afternoon, the archdiocese acknowledged that Father Brouillard confessed to the abuse and extended their deepest apologies to the victims. They additionally conveyed prayers to Quinata and his family.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com 5:15 p.m. ChST November 18, 2016

Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai and local organizations Concerned Catholics of Guam and Laity Forward Movement this week thanked the Carmelite sisters, dedicated to contemplation and prayer, for being a power station for Catholic church activities on Guam since 1966.

Carmelite Mother Superior Dawn Marie this week held a press conference, announcing the Carmelites decided to leave Guam after 50 years and move to California because of the “toxic environment” here, including the way Archbishop Anthony Apuron handled the Yona seminary and the sexual abuse allegations made against Apuron by former altar boys.

She said the Carmelites anonymously donated $2 million to purchase the seminary property for the Archdiocese of Agana, but said Apuron and others wanted the nuns to lie and say they intended their gift to be used for a seminary and theological institute controlled by the Neocatechumenal Way.

Hon expressed the Archdiocese of Agana’s sadness in seeing the nuns leave the island after 50 years, and apologized to them for having to experience a toxic environment.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Pacific Daily News , news@guampdn.com 5:14 p.m. ChST November 18, 2016

After 50 years, the Carmelite nuns have left Guam because of what Mother Superior Dawn Marie described as a “toxic environment” on the island. The nuns were behind the $2 million anonymous gift that was used to pay off the loan for the Accion Hotel, which was later converted to the Redemptoris Mater Seminary and the San Vitores Theological Institute of Oceania.

According to the mother superior, who is the last Carmelite nun here, they were also asked by Archbishop Anthony Apuron to lie about the donor’s intent for the gift.

The Carmelites’ website states that the order first arrived on Guam in 1966 from Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. They are cloistered, which means they leave the monastery only for emergencies. They lead quiet lives of work and contemplative prayer.

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ROME
Chiesa

The new president is one of the thirteen cardinals of the famous letter that infuriated the pope. The new vice-president is a member of Opus Dei. The defeat of the bishops favored by Bergoglio

by Sandro Magister

ROME, November 18, 2016 – Seven days after the election of Donald Trump to the presidency, the more than two hundred bishops of the United States also went to vote. To elect the one who will preside over them for the next three years.

A vote to which they came “as for a referendum on Pope Francis,” in the plain statement of John L. Allen, the top vaticanista in the United States.

And indeed it was a bit like this, even if the new president, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, immediately made a point of saying that it is “crazy” even to think that he is on the side of this pope, who is “doing some marvelous things for the Church.”

The fact is that when Francis visited the United States, in September of 2015, he ordered the bishops to change course and get into step with him.

Enough with “preaching complicated doctrines,” with the “harsh and divisive language,” with “making the cross a banner of worldly struggles.”

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SCOTLAND
The Times

Hamish Macdonell
November 18 2016
The Times

Survivors’ groups have reacted angrily after John Swinney announced only limited changes to Scotland’s child abuse inquiry.

The education secretary told MSPs that he would lift the three-year time bar which has prevented many survivors from launching civil actions against their alleged abusers.

But Mr Swinney said he would be failing the survivors of in-care abuse if he opened up the scope of the inquiry to include incidents at youth groups and day schools.

He also announced a consultation on compensation, disappointing those who wanted the minister to unveil a package of payments for those who have suffered.

Alan Draper, of the In Care Abuse Survivors group, accused Mr Swinney of “continuing to fail countless survivors”, claiming the lengthening process was starting to resemble legal proceedings from a Dickens novel.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Stephen Naysmith

THE Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry was set up to shine a light on the abuse of children in residential care provided by the state, or by charities and others acting on its behalf.

The inquiry’s job is straightforward: to acknowledge victims of the most horrendous breach of trust, and to attempt to learn from what happened so future children can be better protected.

But there has been an increasing clamour from groups representing child abuse survivors for the inquiry’s remit to be extended. It is unjust, they argue, that some children who were abused by adults in positions of power are not covered by the inquiry because that abuse was not carried out in the care of the state. This may seem unfair. But Education Secretary John Swinney is correct. Such cases cannot be covered by this inquiry.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

Rob Merrick Deputy Political Editor @Rob_Merrick

The child sex abuse inquiry descended into further chaos today when a senior MP called for its fourth chairwoman to be sacked.

Labour’s Chuka Umunna spoke out after the largest victims’ group, representing 600 victims who lived in London children’s homes, quit the inquiry – calling it an “unpalatable circus”.

The Shirley Oaks Survivors Association said its members had voted “overwhelmingly” to pull out, warning it had no confidence in Alexis Jay, its fourth leader.

Many of the group’s abuse victims live in the South London constituency of Mr Umunna, a member of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, which recently quizzed Professor Jay.

Today, the Labour MP told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that only the leadership of a judge, at High Court level or above, could rescue the inquiry.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Damien Gayle

One of the biggest survivors’ groups involved in the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse is to formally withdraw from the investigation, denouncing it as a “botch job that needs a drastic overhaul if it is ever to achieve its initial objectives”.

The Shirley Oaks Survivors Association (Sosa), which represents people subjected to abuse at children’s homes run by Lambeth council in south London, described the inquiry as a “stage-managed event which has now been contrived in such a way that it enables the guilty to wash their dirty hands, whilst the establishment pats itself on the back”.

It is the latest setback for the inquiry, which is on its fourth chairwoman since it was established in 2014 and has had three people resign from its legal team.

On Friday morning, Chuka Ummuna, the Labour MP whose Streatham constituency is home to many Sosa members, said he had lost confidence in Prof Alexis Jay’s ability to chair the investigation and called for a judge “of high court standing or senior” to take the reins.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Evening Standard

KATE PROCTOR

The independent inquiry into historical child sex abuse was thrown into further turmoil today when the largest victims’ group withdrew, branding it an “unpalatable circus”.

The Shirley Oaks Survivors Association, which represents 600 victims of alleged sexual abuse, said it has lost confidence in the inquiry’s leadership. The group’s withdrawal is yet another blow for the inquiry, which is on its fourth chairwoman in just two years and has seen a number of senior lawyers resign in recent months.

The group represents former residents of children’s homes run by Lambeth council who claim they were abused by paedophiles over several decades. It said it believed the inquiry was a “botch job” and chair Professor Alexis Jay was the wrong person to lead it. Its representative, Raymond Stephenson, told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme the inquiry was “failing tragically” and “failing publicly”. He added: “They need to get rid of Alexis Jay, who has been parachuted in by the Home Office.

“She hasn’t done anything wrong, she’s just not the right person. We have to make a decision based on what we feel.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By JAMES TAPSFIELD, POLITICAL EDITOR FOR MAILONLINE

Labour MP Chuka Umunna has demanded Professor Alexis Jay stand aside after the biggest victims’ group withdrew their support.

The Shirley Oaks Survivors Association condemned the probe – set up by Theresa May when she was home secretary – for allowing the ‘guilty to wash their dirty hands’.

The latest setback will fuel questions about the future of the inquiry, which has had four different chairs in just two years.

However, Downing Street insisted the Prime Minister still had full confidence in Professor Jay.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Home Secretary Amber Rudd has defended the independent inquiry into historical child sex abuse after the largest group of victims pulled out of the process.

The Shirley Oaks Survivors Association, for 600 victims who lived in children’s homes in Lambeth, said it had no confidence in the inquiry’s leadership.

Chuka Umunna MP said the inquiry chair, Prof Alexis Jay, should be replaced.

But Ms Rudd said: “We owe it to victims and survivors to get behind the inquiry, and its chair.”

She said the inquiry had a “vital role to play in exposing the failure of public bodies and other major organisations to prevent child sexual abuse”.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

IAN KIRKWOOD
18 Nov 2016

THE defrocked former Anglican dean of Newcastle, Graeme Lawrence, has begun his long-awaited stint of evidence before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Taking the stand under oath after the lunch break, an at-times combative Mr Lawrence was taken through his relationships – professional and social – with the other main Anglican figures named in this section of the commission’s investigations.

Having been mentioned so frequently during this inquiry, Mr Lawrence’s evidence was always going to be pivotal, and he clashed from early on with the counsel assisting the commission, Naomi Sharp.

Although he was forced by the revelation of documents to modify some of his early evidence, he insisted that while he was dean of Christ Church Cathedral from 1984 to 2008, he had only ever heard one allegation of an Anglican clergyman abusing children, that of priest CKC accused of abusing a person code-named CKA.

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IRELAND
Church Times (UK)

by Gregg Ryan, Ireland Correspondent
Posted: 18 Nov 2016

AN ELDERLY man who admitted to abusing young boys over a 40-year period, and who had undertaken volunteer work in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, was sentenced on Thursday to 13 years in prison.

Patrick O’Brien, aged 76, of Knocklyon Road, Templeogue, on the south side of Dublin, was described as a “prolific child-molester”.

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