ABUSE TRACKER

NEW YORK
Daily Mail (UK)

A Catholic priest who was convicted last year by a U.S. court of sexually abusing a minor was reinstated by the church last month.

Indian priest Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul, 61, was suspended for less than a full year by his local diocese in India five years ago after being accused of sexually abusing two girls during a posting to Minnesota.

He later pleaded guilty to molesting one of the teenagers, who has not been identified publicly, and served time in jail. Both of the girls were 14 at the time of the alleged abuse.

In January, the Vatican lifted Jeyapaul’s suspension following a recommendation by an Indian bishop.

Megan Peterson, now 26 and living in New York, accused Jeyapaul of raping and sexually assaulting her over the course of a year when she was 14, according to the New York Daily News.

She was shocked after learning the priest had been reinstated by Catholic Church officials.

‘It’s very clear what side the Church is on and it’s not about child protection or about morality,’ Peterson, an artist who resides in Queens, told the New York Daily News.

‘The bottom line is that the Church is not protecting children.’

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MICHIGAN
Central Michigan Life

By Sydney Smith

A therapist who has sex with a client could lose their license. The same goes for a doctor who has sex with a patient.

In some states, it’s illegal for a priest to have sex with a parishioner. Michigan is not one of these states.

In June 2015, former St. Mary’s University Parish priest Denis Heames was placed on leave for “boundary violations” related to his priestly conduct, said Bishop Joseph Cistone of the Saginaw Diocese.

A complaint about Heames by a Central Michigan University faculty member launched an internal investigation, which found Heames sexually harassed DeWitt senior Megan Winans before and during her time as a parishioner and media intern for the church.

Winans filed a civil lawsuit in Isabella County Court in January against Heames, his spiritual director Trudy McCaffrey, St. Mary’s and the diocese.

Heames’ status as a priest is unclear, as is his affiliation with the Diocese of Saginaw. Central Michigan Life asked for this information multiple times, but the diocese declined to comment. Heames has not responded.

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UNITED STATES
The Villager

BY LINCOLN ANDERSON | Soho actor Neal Huff is known to fans of “The Wire” as Michael Steintorf, chief of staff to Mayor Tommy Carcetti.

Now, in the Academy Award-nominated film “Spotlight,” Huff plays a pivotal supporting role as Phil Saviano, a child sex abuse survivor who helps the Boston Globe’s Spotlight investigative team blow open the hidden plague of pedophile priests in the Boston Archdiocese. The Globe won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service based on the Spotlight team’s reporting.

The film also stars Michael Keaton as Spotlight Editor Walter “Robby” Robinson, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams as reporters Michael Rezendes and Sacha Pfeiffer and Liev Schreiber as Marty Baron, the tough-minded new editor who pushes the team to tackle the story.

Huff plays Saviano as frazzled and frustrated: He had pitched a story to the Globe years earlier about priest abuse in Worcester, but it only resulted in one article that was hardly far-reaching enough, and there was no follow-up.

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AUSTRALIA
The Advertiser

Nigel Hunt
The Advertiser

THE Anglican Church has reactivated its investigation into disgraced priest Father John Fleming in the wake of the damning Supreme Court judgment against him.

Sources have revealed an extraordinary meeting of the Anglican Professional Standards Committee has been called for next Tuesday night to consider the judgment.

The Anglican Church’s Professional Standards Committee had been examining the same allegations against Fr Fleming, but its inquiry was put on hold while the lengthy Supreme Court case was under way.

The move came on Thursday as the Catholic Church moved swiftly to suspend Fr Fleming from ministry as it launched its own investigation.

The Vicar General of the Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide, Fr Phillip Marshall, advised Fr Fleming of the move.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Argus

Joel Adams, Reporter

SEX abuse campaigners have called for investigations to look at the former head of the Anglican church in Sussex Eric Kemp after it was revealed he knew of abuse by bishop Peter Ball.

Peter Ball was jailed last year for sexual offences in the 1970s and 1980s against 18 young men who were under his guidance.

Revelations have come out in a report which shows that a Church of England priest held secret talks with police in an attempt to cover up the scale of Ball’s abuse.

The 1993 report, written by a private investigator “in utter confidence” for Eric Kemp and then – Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, concluded that Ball had abused “very many young men through his care.”

The investigator, a Church of England priest, then held talks with police “to prevent a scandal in the press, especially as Peter was a frequent visitor to Sandringham and is friendly with Prince Charles.”

The pressure bore fruit and Ball was cautioned rather than tried, which the CPS have since acknowledged was the wrong decision in light of the available evidence.

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NEW ZEALAND
Manawatu Standard

RICHARD SWAINSON
February 25 2016

The Catholic church is an easy target.

A socially conservative agenda stands in broad opposition to mainstream thought in liberal western democracies.

The church’s stance on homosexuality, contraception, abortion, transgender issues, the ordination of women and euthanasia is no longer that of the majority.

Its history is full of examples of failing to live up to the high standards of Christian behavior. You cannot easily sweep the Crusades, the Borgias or the Spanish Inquisition under the carpet.

In the 20th century questions about how the church rose to the challenge of fascism can be posed.

It was on the side of Franco in Spain and there are at the very least conflicting views about its relationship with a Nazi regime where a good portion of senior leadership claimed nominal Catholicism.

Then there is the issue of historic sexual abuse by its clergy and the systematic practice of covering these obscene crimes up and even perpetuating them by shifting offenders from one parish to another.

That the institution put the needs of its reputation above that of innocent children is now an acknowledged fact. If the church refuses to engage in a conversation about the effects of enforced celibacy on priests or the predilection of those who put themselves forward for the priesthood to offend it can no longer deny that grave and indefensible errors were made.

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AUSTRALIA
Geelong Advertiser

A VICTORIAN bishop says he regrets that he did not deal with pedophile priests properly and admits he tried to protect the church’s reputation.

Bishop Ronald Mulkearns, who knew about pedophile priests and moved them between parishes, said to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse he did not know how to deal with abuse complaints while head of the Ballarat diocese from 1971 to 1997.

“I certainly wanted to protect the reputation of the church. I wanted to make sure these incidents didn’t happen in the future and tried my best to work in such a way that it didn’t happen again,” he told the child abuse royal commission on Thursday.

Mulkearns had been living independently in Aireys Inlet, but has recently moved into an assisted living facility in Ballarat.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

AAP

Sexual abuse allegations against Cardinal George Pell were not leaked by Victoria Police, the chief commissioner says.

Victoria’s anti-corruption watchdog is investigating how allegations Cardinal Pell sexually abused five to 10 victims while he was a priest in Victoria became public over the weekend.

“I know we’re often easy targets when it comes to alleging leaks, but I’ve seen no evidence we’ve leaked anything,” Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton told 3AW radio on Thursday.

Mr Ashton said he was taking accusations Victoria Police leaked the sexual abuse allegations seriously.

“It concerned me that there was this immediate rush to allege the police have leaked something,” he said.

If Victoria Police are found by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission to have done something wrong, then “we’ll absolutely wear that”, Mr Ashton said.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

February 25, 2016

Beau Donelly
Reporter

A former bishop of Ballarat has apologised for failing to halt what he called a widespread and long-lasting “problem with priests” in Catholic schools and churches in the city.

Abuse survivors and their families have waited decades to hear from retired priest Ronald Mulkearns, who served as Bishop of Ballarat until the late 1990s, and has been accused of failing to prevent rampant child sex abuse during his 26-years as bishop.

On Thursday morning, the 85-year-old appeared via video link from his nursing home, Nazareth House, less than 3 kilometres from where the commission is sitting.

Bishop Mulkearns said he retired in 1997 because he wasn’t “doing the job as well as I felt I should be doing”.

Questioned by Counsel assisting the commission, Gail Furness, SC, about what he was not handling well at the time, he said the “problem with priests”.

“And I’d like to say, if I may, that I’m terribly sorry that I didn’t do things differently in that time, but I didn’t really know what to do or how to do it.

“I certainly regret that I didn’t do it differently with … paedophilia. We had no idea, or I had no idea of the effects of the indecent [assaults] that took place.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[live stream]

February 25, 2016

Former Catholic bishop Ronald Mulkearns has told a royal commission he is not sure if he knew child abuse was a crime during his time in charge of the Ballarat diocese, but he knew it was wrong.

The former bishop made his much-anticipated appearance at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse via videolink from the nursing home in which he now lives.

Until now Bishop Mulkearns had been excused from giving evidence because he was too sick.

Asked if he referred paedophile Gerald Ridsdale for help because he knew he was abusing children, he said yes.

Bishop Mulkearns told the hearing he never asked priests directly if they were abusers but instead got reports from psychologists.

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AUSTRALIA
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor February 24, 2016

SYDNEY/MELBOURNE — It’s undoubtedly an exaggeration to suggest that the entire nation of Australia will come grinding to a halt next Monday at 8 a.m. local time, when Cardinal George Pell is set to begin giving live video testimony before a Royal Commission examining child sexual abuse scandals.

Still, it sort of feels like that here right now.

I’m in Australia this week, not to cover the Pell story, but to speak at several venues. It’s impossible to move around, however, especially in Catholic circles, without the conversation turning sooner or later to Pell and his discontents.

In Australia, Pell has become the public face of what’s perceived as a callous Church response to the abuse scandals. He’s been parodied in a derisive song calling him “scum” and a “coward,” he’s become a staple of news chat, and right now a bright red wagon is being pulled through the streets of the city of Ballarat, where the Royal Commission is meeting, with the slogan, “Pope must act: Sack Pell now!”

In part, the attacks on Pell are about substance: whether at various points in his career he knew about abuse that was going on and either failed to act, or acted primarily to protect the Church’s interests. In part, too, it’s about his pugnacious, strongly conservative public persona and his seeming inability to project the contrition that many Aussies appear to want.

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TEXAS/ARIZONA
The Monitor

PHOENIX — John Feit, the former priest accused of killing a McAllen teacher 55 years ago, has waived his right to an extradition hearing. That means Texas has 30 days to pick him up from Arizona to face a murder charge.

“We’re one step closer to dispensing justice,” District Attorney Ricardo Rodriguez said after the hearing.

Rodriguez added Feit will be picked up “sooner than later.”

Feit, 83, the man long suspected by many of killing Irene Garza more than five decades ago, remains in custody of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, where he has sat for more than two weeks as he awaits for the extradition process to run its course.

Feit was arrested Feb. 9 at his apartment in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he had lived in the Phoenix area since the early ‘80s, when he had started a new life after leaving the priesthood.

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TEXAS/ARIZONA
NBC DFW

An 83-year-old Arizona man accused of murdering a Texas beauty queen when he was a young priest in 1960 has waived his right to extradition.

Maricopa County Superior Court officials say John Feit will be transported to Texas in the next 30 days.

Feit was arrested in Scottsdale, Arizona, on Feb. 9 after he was indicted in south Texas’ Hidalgo County for the killing of Irene Garza, a 25-year-old school teacher.

Authorities allege the then-27-year-old Feit killed Garza on April 16, 1960, after hearing her confession at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in McAllen, where he was a priest.

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ARIZONA/TEXAS
Arizona Republic

Megan Cassidy, The Republic | azcentral.com February 24, 2016

A Scottsdale man accused of slaying a Texas beauty queen in 1960 will not fight extradition back to Hidalgo County, Texas, where he will face a long-awaited charge of murder.

John Feit, an 83-year-old former priest, was arrested Feb. 9 in Scottsdale. After a brief hearing Wednesday afternoon, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge ordered Feit to be returned to Texas within 30 days.

The proceedings come more than a half century after Feit’s name first found its way to the top of the case’s list of suspects in the murder of schoolteacher Irene Garza.

Over the decades, Feit’s freedom has withstood the glare of suspicion by investigators, media and Garza’s family, all convinced he was the sole suspect responsible in the 25-year-old’s death.

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TEXAS/ARIZONA
Valley Central

John Feit, the former McAllen priest accused of killing Irene Garza in 1960, has waived extradition to Texas.

Feit was arrested at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona on Feb. 9 and later booked into the Maricopa County jail.

The 83-year-old man waived his right to extradition during a hearing Wednesday.

Feit has long been suspected of killing Garza, whose body was pulled from an irrigation canal in McAllen in 1960.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Harvard Law Today

By LEWIS RICE, February 24, 2016

Josh Singer ’01 gives a lot of credit to Harvard Law School for helping him in his career. But in one way, it has made things difficult for him.

In his latest project, he was supposed to write a scene in a movie having to do with a legal topic. You may think that would be a cinch for him. But there was one problem.

“I’d write the first draft of the scene, and it would be something no one could understand unless they had gone to Harvard Law,” he said.

Since the filmmakers wanted a slightly wider audience, he went back and rewrote—and then rewrote again. It worked out pretty well, and so did the movie as a whole, since the result, the script for the movie “Spotlight,” turned into one of the most acclaimed movies of the past year, with six Academy Award nominations, including best original screenplay for Singer and his co-writer, Tom McCarthy, who also received a nomination as director.

Singer is thrilled with the acclaim, not so much for himself, he says, but for the exposure that has brought increased attention to the story about the Boston Globe investigation into the Achdiocese of Boston’s coverup of priest sexual abuse and the societal issues it raises. The complexity of the story—and the filmmakers’ commitment to presenting an authentic portrayal of the events—necessitated copious research, many trips to Boston, and lengthy interviews with those involved.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

Steve Schmadeke
Chicago Tribune

The final pending criminal case against defrocked Roman Catholic priest and convicted sex offender Daniel McCormack ended Wednesday, when prosecutors said they were forced to drop all charges.

McCormack, 47, who was not in court Wednesday, pleaded guilty in 2007 to molesting five boys and was sentenced to five years in prison. In 2009, prosecutors sought to have him declared a sexually violent offender and committed indefinitely to the Illinois Department of Human Services, which holds such offenders.

That case is pending.

The former St. Agatha’s priest was charged in 2014 with aggravated sexual abuse involving a 10-year-old boy in 2005. The case had been set for trial, but on Wednesday prosecutors said they were dropping the charges because the alleged victim was no longer cooperating.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Jewish Chronicle

by Toby Tabachnick, Senior Staff Writer

David Menachem Gordon was a lone soldier in the Israel Defense Forces during 2014’s Operation Protective Edge when he went missing one day in mid-August. Two days later, he was found dead, with his rifle beside him.

Gordon, who served in the Givati Brigade, lived for a time in White Oak with his family before making aliyah. He was a student at Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh from 2008 to 2010, and his parents, Ruth and Jacob Gordon, were members of the Orthodox Gemilas Chesed Synagogue.

But it was Gordon’s childhood in Detroit — where he was sexually abused from within the Orthodox community when he was 9 to 11 years old — that arguably had the greatest impact on the trajectory of his life.

David’s mother recounted his story to a packed auditorium at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh Sunday night as part of a program sponsored by Jewish Community Watch, a nonprofit founded in 2011 to combat child sexual abuse (CSA) in the Jewish community, and to help victims. JCW is based in New York.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY REUVEN BLAU, THOMAS TRACY NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, February 24, 2016

An investigation into an attempted abduction of a 14-year-old girl in Brooklyn fell apart after it was learned that the suspect comes from a prominent Orthodox family, law enforcement sources said Wednesday.

The suspect, a 20-year-old Orthodox man, showed up at the 61st Precinct with his attorney Tuesday — a day after the NYPD released an enhanced photo of him as a suspect in the crime.

But when investigators contacted the victim after the suspect came forward the family “stopped cooperating with the cops,” a police source said.

A source with knowledge of the investigation said the girl changed her mind about talking to authorities after receiving pressure from the community.

The suspect’s father is the principal of a yeshiva and his grandfather is an “influential rabbi,” the source said.

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TEXAS/ARIZONA
The Monitor

LORENZO ZAZUETA-CASTRO | STAFF WRITER

PHOENIX — The former priest accused of murdering a McAllen beauty queen is set to appear for his first extradition hearing since his arrest.

John Feit, 83, the man long suspected by many of killing Irene Garza more than five decades ago remains in custody of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, where he has sat for more than two weeks as he awaits for the extradition process to run its course.

Feit is scheduled to appear Wednesday in Maricopa Superior Court.

Feit, who was arrested Feb. 9 at his apartment in Scottsdale, Arizona, had lived in the Phoenix area since the early ‘80s, where he had started a new life after leaving the priesthood. At his initial hearing the following day, Feit chose to fight his extradition back to Texas. A commissioner set his bond at $750,000 cash only.

Russell Richelsoph, a Tempe-based criminal defense attorney who has more than 16 years of experience, said the hearing Wednesday, the first of four scheduled for Feit, will be a routine check-in for both the defendant and the state.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

WRITTEN BY RUMMANA HUSSAIN POSTED: 02/24/2016

Cook County prosecutors Wednesday said they were forced to drop an aggravated criminal sexual abuse charge against a convicted child molester and defrocked Catholic priest because the alleged victim was reluctant to cooperate.

Daniel McCormack, who is at a state-run mental health facility pending a hearing on whether he is a sexual deviant person, wasn’t in court before Judge Dennis Porter.

Neither was the alleged victim of the 2005 incidents.

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CHICAGO (IL)
WREX

CHICAGO (AP) – Cook County prosecutors have dropped an aggravated criminal sexual abuse charge against a former Chicago priest because the alleged victim stopped cooperating.

They dismissed the charge Wednesday against Daniel McCormack, who pleaded guilty to multiple child sex abuse charges in 2007 and was sentenced to five years in prison. He was removed from the priesthood.

McCormack also was arrested in 2014 in a 2005 case involving a 10-year-old alleged victim at a West Side parish, but prosecutors say as the case progressed in the courts, the victim stopped cooperating with them.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports (http://bit.ly/1VEPfyf ) prosecutors called out in court Wednesday to see if anyone representing the victim was there and when no one responded, they told a judge they were moving to dismiss the charge. McCormack wasn’t present.

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UNITED STATES
Chicago Tribune

Ted Slowik

Most oddsmakers and film critics say “Spotlight” is a long shot to take home the Best Picture Oscar at Sunday’s Academy Awards. “The Revenant” is favored over the film about The Boston Globe’s investigation into the Catholic Church’s coverup of priests who sexually abused children.

Still, “Spotlight” is an Oscar-worthy film that recounts in dramatic fashion how Globe reporters exposed the systemic transferring of repeat offenders to other parishes, the Church’s relentless efforts to discredit accusers and the willingness of good Catholic laymen to go along with the program.

Reporters who uncovered abuse in other dioceses appreciate “Spotlight’s” accuracy and authenticity. I covered how the issue affected the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet, which includes all of Will County.

Others on the beat at the time included Allison Hantschel of the Daily Southtown and David Heinzmann of the Chicago Tribune. Southtown columnist Tim Placher recounted his experience being abused by a priest. Those of us who investigated this issue locally encountered the same personal and professional challenges faced by the Globe team as depicted in “Spotlight.”

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ISRAEL
Australian Jewish News

JERUSALEM – Former Adass Israel head teacher Malka Leifer’s attempt to avoid extradition to Australia took a blow last week when a judge ordered that she undergo a fresh psychiatric assessment.

It is now almost two years since attempts began to extradite the alleged sex abuser from Israel to face 74 charges in Melbourne.

Leifer fled in to Israel in 2008 shortly after allegations of her abusing students at the school became public.

However, she is claiming to be suffering panic attacks whenever court proceedings loom, and therefore unable to participate, causing misery for her accusers who want her to face her charges.

In court on Sunday, the Israeli state prosecutor said that psychiatrists haven’t adequately checked whether there are “elements of fabrication” in her claim and the judge ordered that she be subjected to examination by a state psychiatrist.

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OHIO
Raw Story

TRAVIS GETTYS
24 FEB 2016

A southern Ohio pastor was indicted on more than a dozen felony sex assault charges against two girls and a woman.

Dennis Wright was arrested on seven counts of rape, two counts of sexual battery, two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, three counts of gross sexual imposition, and one count of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material or performance, reported the Gallipolis Daily Tribune.

Investigators said two of the victims, a girl and the woman, were parishioners at the Old Emory Church in Jackson County, where Wright served as pastor.

Neighbors and even Wright’s son said the pastor was an ill-tempered man who behaved inappropriately around children.

“Everybody in the neighborhood knew what was going on,” said Elliott Perry, who lives next door to the small church outside Oak Hill.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY MICHAEL O’KEEFFE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Wednesday, February 24, 2016

When Megan Peterson was 14, she was raped and sexually assaulted — sometimes inside the church confessional booth — over the course of a year by her parish priest.

So the abuse survivor was astounded to learn her tormentor, the Rev. Joseph Jeyapaul, was reinstated earlier this month by Catholic Church officials after a suspension of roughly the same duration of her time as a victim.

“It’s very clear what side the Church is on and it’s not about child protection or about morality,” said Peterson, a 26-year-old artist who now lives in Queens. “The bottom line is that the Church is not protecting children.”

Peterson, the New York City coordinator for the advocacy group SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), charges the church gave a virtual green light for Jeyapaul to target children in his native India.

The reverend returned to his homeland late last year, when he also appealed for a return to his priestly duties. He was suspended for less than a full year.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Charlotte King
Updated February 25, 2016

They call themselves “Nazzie girls” — children who ended up in the care of the Sisters of Nazareth girls home in Ballarat in the 1950s and 1960s.

Gabrielle Short does not hesitate when she is asked to summarise her childhood here.

“Ninety-five per cent hell, torture, abuse, fear, terror,” she says.

Sisters say they accept residents of the now-nursing home “based on their current needs”.
In the early 1960s, paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale was their chaplain.

“Up there, in the middle floor there, one of the girls actually tried to jump out the window because she reported the abuse to the nuns, and one of the nuns belted the life out of her until she was lifeless,” Ms Short says.

A group of the girls, now women, are back to confront the order of nuns who run the facility as a nursing home to, Ms Short said, “ask why they’re giving sanctuary to an enabler of this man who ran amok”.

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UNITED STATES
New York Times

By MIKE McPHATE
FEB. 24, 2016

“Journalistic objectivity be damned. I’m hoping it wins the entire lot.”

That’s Martin Baron, the executive editor of The Washington Post and former editor of The Boston Globe.

It has been a disorienting time for the journalists like Mr. Baron depicted in “Spotlight,” the film about The Globe’s investigation in 2002 of sexual abuse of children by members of the Roman Catholic clergy.

Mr. Baron, portrayed in the movie by Liev Schreiber, said the embrace from Hollywood had melted away any pretense of impartiality about the outcome of the Oscars race. The movie is up for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

With the ceremony approaching, Mr. Baron weighed in Wednesday with an essay for The Post.

Mr. Baron said he was overcome during the film’s showing at the Toronto International Film Festival last year. After the credits rolled, the actors were called on to the stage, then the journalists, for a sustained standing ovation.

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

for immediate release: Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2014

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

A predator priest, Fr. Gerald P. Ruane, has passed away. As best we can tell, Newark Archbishop John Myers kept this quiet, denying abuse victims months of comfort. Myers seems incapable of handling any part of the church’s on-going abuse and cover up crisis with honesty and compassion.

[Obits for Life]

Fr. Ruane was accused in 2002 of abusing a boy in 1970s-1980s. A second accuser also stepped forward. Archdiocesan staff “investigated” and found deemed Fr. Ruane “credibly accused.”

Myers claims to have suspended Fr. Ruane but apparently told no one (or at least few people). So in 2005, Fr. Ruane was still celebrating mass in public, until exposed by the Newark Star-Ledger, in violation of the US bishops’ conference abuse policy. That’s when his name was finally publicly released as a credibly accused child molester. (See BishopAccountability.org for more information.)

[SNAP]

We have heard from one of Fr. Ruane’s victims, Michael Iatesta, who stumbled across news of the priest’s passing by chance this week. A statement from Michael is below.

It would have taken Myers minutes to approve and have his public relations team send out a news release about Fr. Ruane’s death. That would have brought relief to those who worried, until now, that Fr. Ruane might still be hurting children.

We hope this predator’s passing will bring some comfort to those whose lives he devastated. We also hope that someday, Myers might opt for sensitivity over self-serving secrecy. And we hope that anyone who was hurt by any Newark priest, nun, seminarian or other archdiocesan staff will find the courage to speak up, get help, expose predators, protect kids, deter cover ups and start healing.

Statement by Michael Iatesta, abused as a youngster by Fr. Ruane:

“As I was looking for my mom’s obituary to send to family and friends I accidentally came across this notification. How ironic it was, in so many ways, that the priest who sexually and emotionally abused me as a young boy was laid out (August, 2015) at the same funeral home just a few months before my mom. In his obituary he was described as one who lived a life devoted to God and served God’s people with great dignity. I know for certain my mom lived a more saintly life and was always selfless in her actions and in her heart-felt service to others. She is resting in peace now knowing that the man she bestowed her trust upon when I was grieving my father’s death could no longer hurt/abuse or take advantage of any other vulnerable young children. She spoke and wrote to me on countless occasions about the guilt she had not knowing therefore not reporting his inappropriate actions. But as a woman of great faith she was able to forgive him for his sins as she taught us through her own actions, faith and devotion that love and forgiveness is what would ultimately bring us all closer to God and eternal happiness. She was a dedicated Catholic who saw everyone as God sees them and touched the lives of countless people in countless ways. She was in a true sense “priestly” and” charismatic'” unlike Ruane who selfishly used and exerted his priestly duties for his own alternative motives.”

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WISCONSIN
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016

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

An independent Catholic newspaper has compared church bankruptcies in Milwaukee WI and Helena MT. Predictably and rightfully, Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki is exposed as particularly callous and foolishly litigious.

[National Catholic Reporter]

Both dioceses “faced two dozen lawsuits” and “established $21 million funds to compensate victims” though Milwaukee is much larger,” the National Catholic Reporter found, but

–Helena settled in 13 months” while “Milwaukee took nearly five years,”

–“Helena spent about $2.5 million on lawyers” while “Milwaukee’s legal fees” were “$20 million”

–“Helena did not challenge the validity of any of the 362 claims” while “Milwaukee challenged each of the more than 575 claims,”

–Helena’s bishop said “a small number of claims appeared bogus” while Milwaukee’s archbishop challenged, to the end, the legal standing of each of the 575 claims” (while stubbornly claiming “bankruptcy was the only way to treat all equitably.”

A lawyer who has represented (victims) in 11 church bankruptcies, “including those of Milwaukee and Helena,” said “the lack of consultation on the part of the Milwaukee Archdiocese was almost unheard of in bankruptcy cases.”

Not surprisingly, Helena’s bishop “received praise from lawyers on the other side and from the judge who handled the case” and says “the relatively swift resolution has resulted in high priest morale and increased support by people in the community,” according to the NCR.

No one in the Milwaukee Catholic hierarchy can make that claim here.

We hope Wisconsin citizens and Catholics will read this report and learn more about how church officials elsewhere treat clergy sex abuse survivors more compassionately and less combatively than they do here in Milwaukee.

To Wisconsin victims, there’s little news here. To Wisconsin citizens and Catholics, however, there’s eye-opening information, if they’ll take the time to read this troubling comparison.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Focus

Regisseur Tom McCarthy hat sich mit „Spotlight“ an ein heikles Thema gewagt: sexueller Missbrauch in der katholischen Kirche. Das Star-Ensemble wurde brillant gecastet. Es ist ein Film, der berührt, aufwühlt und vielleicht sogar tief erschüttert. Gerade deswegen ist es ein ganz wichtiger Film.

Sexueller Missbrauch in der katholischen Kirche – ein heikles Thema, das sich Regisseur und Drehbuchautor Tom McCarthy („Cobbler – Der Schuhmagier“) für seinen Film „Spotlight“ ausgesucht hat. Er schickt sein brillantes Star-Ensemble in ein Fadenkreuz des Glaubens und lässt sie Stück für Stück die erschütternde Wahrheit aufdecken. Dieser Film, der auf wahren Begebenheiten beruht, wird niemanden kalt lassen, er wühlt auf, berührt und erschüttert. Gerade deswegen ist es ein ganz wichtiger Film. „Spotlight“ ist für sechs Oscars nominiert, u.a. „Bester Film“, „Beste Regie“, „Bestes Drehbuch“ und Mark Ruffalo und Rachel McAdams als „Beste Nebendarsteller“.

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DEUTSCHLAND
NZZ

von Tim Slagman
24.2.2016

Nur ein einziges Mal platzt jemandem der Kragen: «Es ging um Kinder, und Sie haben es einfach zugelassen», brüllt Michael Rezendes seinem Boss entgegen, dem Leiter des Investigativ-Ressorts «Spotlight» beim «Boston Globe». Dessen Team gewann 2003 den Pulitzerpreis für seine Recherchen zu Fällen von sexuellem Missbrauch in den Institutionen der katholischen Kirche – Dutzende von Vergehen alleine in der Erzdiözese Boston, die jahrelang systematisch vertuscht wurden. Rezendes’ Wutanfall ist also absolut verständlich, womöglich sogar notwendig, und dennoch eine bemerkenswerte Anomalie in dem Film von Tom McCarthy, der die Geschichte dieser Enthüllung nacherzählt.

Ein Schauspielerfilm

McCarthy, der gemeinsam mit Josh Singer auch das Drehbuch verfasst hat, mag keine Heldengeschichten, kein Skandalpathos. Er hat 2003 in seinem Langfilmdebüt «Station Agent» den «Game of Thrones»-Star Peter Dinklage entdeckt. Doch McCarthy hat kein Interesse am Epischen, an der grossen Geste. Der Regisseur, der auch als Schauspieler arbeitet und in der legendären Krimiserie «The Wire» ausgerechnet einen betrügerischen Reporter gespielt hat, macht Filme für Schauspielkollegen – und für Antihelden.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Welt

Der Film “Spotlight” mit Michael Keaton feiert die Reporter, die den Missbrauchsskandal der Kirche in Boston aufdeckten. Der Cast sieht aus wie bei einem Comic-Film. Aber Superkräfte hat hier keiner. Von Lucas Wiegelmann

Stellen Sie sich vor, Ihr Pfarrer kommt morgen zu Besuch. Stellen Sie sich nicht irgendeinen Priester vor, einen gesichtslosen Mann mit schwarzem Hemd und weißem Kragen, sondern wirklich Ihren Pfarrer. Den Mann, den Sie vielleicht hin und wieder im Gottesdienst sehen. Der vielleicht Ihre Kinder getauft hat oder jedes Jahr auf dem Adventsbasar das Waffeleisen bedient oder vor einiger Zeit nach dem Tod Ihres alten Schulfreundes eine tröstliche Rede gehalten hat.

Vielleicht haben Sie sogar irgendwann schon einmal bei ihm gebeichtet. Vielleicht ist es schon Jahre oder Jahrzehnte her, und als Sie fertig waren mit Ihren bescheidenen Vergehen, mit dem Neid auf den Mercedes des Nachbarn oder mit den unprofessionellen Gedanken, die der Anblick ihrer hübschen neuen Kollegin in Ihnen hin und wieder auszulösen pflegt, hat der Priester Ihnen die Absolution erteilt, nicht mit Worten, sondern mit seinem Wesen, mit seiner Aura, er war die Mensch gewordene Vergebung. Er hat Ihnen die Hand auf die Stirn gelegt. So etwas tun sonst nur Mütter, wenn ihr Kind Fieber hat. So eine Berührung war das.

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UNITED STATES
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

By Barbara Vancheri / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Michael Keaton said he had the “greatest day” — thanks to the Teenie Harris photography collection in Pittsburgh — and 200-plus people could boast the same, thanks to the actor known as Beetlejuice, Batman, Birdman, Mr. Mom and one of the stars of “Spotlight.”

The Pittsburgh native and Walter “Robby” Robinson, the real-life Boston Globe editor he portrays on screen, were part of a private event Tuesday night at the SouthSide Works Cinema. Outside was a small red carpet and inside, flutes of champagne, phones in camera mode, and sobering conversations about challenges both in the Catholic Church and the newspaper business.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette organized the reception, the screening of “Spotlight” and a conversation with the men afterward, moderated by executive editor David Shribman.

“Spotlight” is the story of how the Boston Globe exposed predatory priests and the Catholic Church’s cover-up of the molestation. Clergy were shuffled from one parish to the next or placed on “sick leave” while their superiors lost sight of their targets, often young boys from poor or broken homes.

The Globe’s investigation won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for public service. The movie goes into Sunday’s Academy Awards with six nominations, including for best picture, director and original screenplay.

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., Feb. 22, 2016

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

ALBUQUERQUE – Two years ago U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David T. Thuma urged attorneys to get to the “end zone” in the Diocese of Gallup’s Chapter 11 case.

On Friday, after attorneys for the diocese were not able to reach their own goal of filing a plan of reorganization the first week of February, Thuma pushed attorneys in the case to have the plan filed Feb. 29.

“We are behind where we hoped to be a month ago, but things are moving along and progressing,” diocesan attorney Thomas Walker told Thuma Friday, during the latest in a series of continued status hearings.

Walker said attorneys for the Gallup Diocese planned to distribute a “somewhat vetted plan” and disclosure statement to all the parties in the case next week. With the distribution, he said, the plan would be open for discussion and possible changes.

“It’s still in draft form,” diocesan attorney Lori Winkelman explained. “There’s different parts that need to be discussed and are still being somewhat negotiated, but we’re hoping that everybody can move relatively quickly on that and shoot for having something on file at the end of the month. That is still our goal.”

Winkelman said retired U.S. District Court Judge Michael R. Hogan, the new future claims representative, has already had discussions with many of the parties in the case. In addition, Winkelman said an “all parties call” is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon that will include “the entire universe of the settling parties” to discuss approval of a disclosure statement and other documents.

Attorney James Stang, legal counsel for the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, which represents the interests of clergy sex abuse claimants, agreed the call was a good idea and will allow all the parties to “literally do a page turn” on significant documents.

Stang said his committee had approved someone to be an abuse claims reviewer and had approved an allocation protocol. The committee had also offered comments to the Gallup Diocese about the last version of a settlement agreement with Catholic Mutual and still owed comments on a Franciscan settlement agreement.

Thuma scheduled another status conference Friday morning and urged the attorneys to have the reorganization plan ready the following Monday.

“I hope I’m not leaning on people too hard… I think it would be great to get a plan on file by the 29th,” Thuma said. “So let’s shoot for it and see if we can get it done.”

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CALIFORNIA
LAObserved

By Kevin Roderick | February 24, 2016

Washington Post editor Martin Baron usually falls asleep during the Academy Awards, but this year he will have to stay awake. That’s because he will be inside the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood as part of the contingent for “Spotlight.” In the movie about the Boston Globe investigation into Catholic priest sexual abuse and the Boston church’s cover-up, he is portrayed by Liev Schreiber.

It’s not about the statuette, the former LA Times reporter and editor writes for the Post.

The movie has been nominated for six Oscars, including best picture. And, journalistic objectivity be damned, I’m hoping it wins the entire lot. I feel indebted to everyone who made a film that captures, with uncanny authenticity, how journalism is practiced and, with understated force, why it’s needed.

The awards take the form of a statuette, recognition for outstanding moviemaking. The rewards of this film matter more to me, and they will take longer to judge.

The rewards will come if this movie has impact: On journalism, because owners, publishers and editors rededicate themselves to investigative reporting. On a skeptical public, because citizens come to recognize the necessity of vigorous local coverage and strong journalistic institutions. And on all of us, through a greater willingness to listen to the powerless and too-often voiceless, including those who have suffered sexual and other abuse.

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UNITED STATES
Hi-Def Digest

Posted by Philip Brown – February 24, 2016

‘The Club’
Movie Rating:
3.5

Complex, thought-provoking, daring and bleakly funny in the most disturbingly possible ways, Pablo Larrain’s ‘The Club’ is a savage little intimate drama.

It’s also a peculiar companion piece of sorts to this year’s awards darling ‘Spotlight’. Anyone who has seen that movie will recall the sequence in which a father discovers that a house on his street was used to shelter priests accused of child molestation. Larrain’s film takes place inside one of those houses and tackles all the icky subject matter therein head on.

The film opens by gradually introducing viewers to the four aging priests and one creepily perky nun sharing a house in a small community. Their days are dull, spent mostly in hiding. Their only connection to the outside world is a dog that they train to race with great success. They watch the race from a distance through binoculars and squirrel away their winnings for unknown purposes. Things are shaken up when a stranger (Roberto Farias) arrives. He screams about being molested as a child in graphic detail outside the house. Eventually, one of the hidden priests commits suicide. That event prompts the arrival of a new priest (Marcello Alonso), sent to interrogate and challenge these lost souls in the hopes of getting some sort of confession and doling out penance. In other words, the movie doesn’t exactly occur within a happy space, and you can be certain that it isn’t marching towards a redemptive ending either.

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MICHIGAN
Death Notices

GRANDPRE REV. LOUIS E. Age 81, a beloved priest, pastor and educator, died on Saturday, February 20, 2016, at Angela Hospice in Livonia, after a long illness. Fr. Grandpre, who resided in Detroit, was remembered as a genuinely pastoral man with a kind heart, an enthusiastic smile, and a scholarly mind. Fr. Lou is the beloved brother of Don and the late Kay Kuntz. Also survived by several nieces, nephews, and many loving friends. Family will receive friends Friday 3-8 p.m. with prayers 7 p.m. at A.J. Desmond & Sons (Vasu, Rodgers & Connell Chapel), 32515 Woodward (between 13-14 Mile), 248-549-0500. Mass of the Resurrection Saturday 11 a.m. at SS. Peter & Paul Jesuit Catholic Church, 629 E. Jefferson Ave., Detroit, MI 48226. Visitation at the church begins at 10 a.m. Memorial tributes to SS. Peter & Paul Church Warming Center (Pope Francis Center), Angela Hospice, or the charity of donor’s choice.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By Martin Baron

February 24

Most years I try to stay attentive, or at least awake, through the Academy Awards. Most years I fail.

On Sunday, however, fatigue has an overwhelming counterweight — obvious self-interest. Plus, I will be sitting inside the Dolby Theatre.

“Spotlight” brought to the big screen the first six months of a Boston Globe investigation that in 2002 revealed a decades-long cover-up of serial sexual abuse by priests within the Boston Archdiocese.

Liev Schreiber portrays me as the newly arrived top editor who launched that investigation, and his depiction has me as a stoic, humorless, somewhat dour character that many professional colleagues instantly recognize (“He nailed you”) and that my closest friends find not entirely familiar.

The scandal disclosed by the Globe’s Spotlight investigative team ultimately took on worldwide dimensions. Fourteen years later, the Catholic Church continues to answer for how it concealed grave wrongdoing on a massive scale and for the adequacy of its reforms, as it should.

The movie has been nominated for six Oscars, including best picture. And, journalistic objectivity be damned, I’m hoping it wins the entire lot. I feel indebted to everyone who made a film that captures, with uncanny authenticity, how journalism is practiced and, with understated force, why it’s needed.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston.com

By Eric Levenson @ejleven
Boston.com Staff | 02.24.16

Former Boston Globe editor Marty Baron emphatically approves of the Oscar-nominated film Spotlight, in which he is portrayed by Liev Schreiber.

But there’s one scene Baron wishes had been in the movie.

Reflecting in The Washington Post ahead of Spotlight’s turn at the Academy Awards, Baron writes that a particular real-life speech railing against the Globe’s investigation into the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal has stuck with him almost 15 years later.

“Occasionally I have been asked what I would have liked to see in the movie that was not portrayed,” he writes. “One answer, I confess, is a product of my own anger that the years have yet to extinguish.”

He continues:

I’m referring to a Nov. 4, 2002, speech given by Mary Ann Glendon, a Harvard law professor who would later become U.S. ambassador to the Vatican. “All I can say,” she declared before a conference of Catholics, “is that if fairness and accuracy have anything to do with it, awarding the Pulitzer Prize to the Boston Globe would be like giving the Nobel Peace Prize to Osama bin Laden.”

Glendon’s infamous analogy came amid a lengthy criticism of the Globe. Glendon also said that the Globe had created a “climate of hysteria the likes of which has not been seen in Boston since the Ursuline convent was burnt down.”

As Baron tells it, that speech was emblematic of larger issues.

“A brief glimpse of the speech might have said volumes about the culture of denial and defiance that afflicted the Church before, and for long after, our investigation,” he writes.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

Michael Cavna February 23

I LIVE for composition. Whether staring at a still-life or gazing at the glow of a projected image in motion, there is something beguiling about the balance of objects created in space and manipulated to trip the wires of our minds. To decode composition is to understand what the artist is saying without words; you are invited to join in this telepathic dance.

This year, five wonderful cinematographers are nominated for Oscars, including two favorite legends, Roger Deakins (“Sicario”) and Emmanuel Lubezki (“The Revenant”): Both are virtuosic in their ability to elevate storytelling through visual craft. And both are painters in space who can dazzle you with their panache.

Then there is a film like “Spotlight,” which is up for six Oscars this weekend, including best picture. Truthful films that function as procedurals of journalism and the law often dwell in the cinematic realm of nuance. The camera must inform but not distract, and the visual tone necessarily must match the gravitas of the tale told.

Among the films that “Spotlight” director Tom McCarthy has said he drew influence from are “All the President’s Men” and “The Verdict,” and it’s worth noting that neither of those much-lauded movies received Oscar nominations for cinematography. (The former film won four Academy Awards, and was up for best picture; the latter film was nominated for five.) Visual subtlety isn’t particularly magnetic near awards hardware, yet it’s an art of informational restraint unto itself. If you look closely, you can be dazzled by the discipline.

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ILLINOIS/WISCONSIN
Chicago Tribune

John Kass

If you stole $100,000 from a church, a reasonable person would expect that you’d get some jail time for your crimes.

If a poor kid was charged with stealing a fraction of that much cash from a sandwich shop, chances are that jail would be waiting.

But a Wisconsin priest stealing from a church trust, a priest with a fondness for luxury goods and fine restaurants, a priest with a powerful ally in the Chicago Greek Orthodox church hierarchy?

Well, that’s a different story, because that’s no poor kid. That’s a holy man with the robes to prove it.

And in this one, the priest walks and doesn’t serve a day in jail.

It is the case of the Rev. James Dokos, the Greek Orthodox priest who pleaded guilty this week in Milwaukee County Circuit Court to a felony for embezzling more than $100,000 from the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Milwaukee.

He paid the money back as restitution, and if he behaves himself and spends 40 hours doing community service, it’ll all be dropped down to a misdemeanor, authorities said.

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MEXICO
La Jornada Oriente

[Perhaps the Archbishop of Puebla, Víctor Sánchez Espinosa, knows the whereabouts of the priest Nicolas Aguilar, a pederast who raped dozens of children in the region of Tehuacan and the United States and may be ministering with impunity, according to Alberto Athie, defender of victims of sexual abuse by clergy. He said this impunity can spread as a bad example to other priests who commit statutory rape.]

Publicado por Martín Hernández Alcántara

Es posible que el arzobispo de Puebla, Víctor Sánchez Espinosa, sepa el paradero del cura pederasta Nicolás Aguilar, quien violó a decenas de niños en la región de Tehuacán y Estados Unidos y que incluso el sacerdote siga ejerciendo su ministerio con impunidad, advirtió Alberto Athié, defensor de las víctimas de abuso sexual por clérigos.

Athié consideró que la impunidad que goza Nicolás Aguilar puede cundir como ejemplo para otros sacerdotes que incurren en la violación de menores, por lo que re necesario que desde la comunidad católica se presione a la jerarquía para que se castigue al cura, tal y como ha sucedido en Estados Unidos en casos similares.

Los comentarios de Athié se dieron en el marco de una jornada de análisis y reflexión titulada “¿Qué deja la visita de Francisco a México?”, celebrada ayer en la Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla y en el que participaron especialistas y activistas expertos en el tema.

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ROMA
Hoy Los Angeles

Una escena extraordinaria tendrá lugar en un hotel en Roma el domingo por la noche, cuando uno de los asesores más cercanos al papa Francisco enfrente la primera de cuatro noches de declaraciones –que serán transmitidas en vivo-acerca de su rol en un supuesto encubrimiento de abuso sexual en Australia.

El cardenal George Pell, ministro de finanzas del Vaticano y alto clérigo católico de Australia, se someterá a un interrogatorio entre las 10 p.m. del domingo y las 2 a.m. del lunes, durante al menos tres –posiblemente cuatro- noches. La indagatoria será realizada por jueces de diferentes países, que se conectarán con Sídney (donde será de mañana) por videoconferencia, desde las distintas partes del mundo.

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ROMA
il Giornale

[Peter Saunder, former members of the papal child abuse commission, said the pope has done nothing against pedophilia in the church.]

Lucio Di Marzo – Mar, 23/02/2016

L’accusa è delle più gravi e arriva da un’intervista alla Bbc, in cui Peter Saunders, che Papa Bergoglio aveva voluto nella commissione vaticana contro i preti pedofili si scaglia contro la Santa sede, accusando Francesco di non fare abbastanza per arginare il fenomeno.

“La Chiesa cattolica non ha fatto nulla per eliminare gli abusi sui minori da parte del clero”, spiega Saunders, riferendosi al periodo successivo all’elezione al Soglio pontificio del Papa argentino. Vittima di molestie da parte di un sacerdote, Saunders sostiene di essere “una spina nel fianco del Vaticano” e di esserlo stato fin dal momento in cui è entrato nella Commissione, da cui è stato sospeso a febbraio.

Pensai che il nostro lavoro sarebbe stato quello di prendere delle decisioni contro i singoli sacerdoti abusatori e invece l’obiettivo è creare politiche e linee guida per stabilire quali sono le migliori pratiche per evitare gli abusi”, accusa Saunders, secondo cui la Commissione è solo una “questione di pubbliche relazioni”.

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BELGIQUE
La Libre

[Abus sexuels dans l’Eglise]

[Victims of abuse in the Belgian Catholic Church are urging other victims to file complaints with the church.]

OPINIONS

Nous lançons cet appel à tous les Belges qui ont été agressés ou abusés dans leur enfance ou adolescence, par le clergé de l’Eglise catholique en Belgique, et qui n’ont jamais porté plainte contre ces agressions.

Quelque 950 personnes ont déjà fait appel à notre association Droits des hommes dans l’Eglise catholique. Nous invitons ces personnes à porter plainte contre les coupables de l’époque, vivants ou décédés, et également contre la hiérarchie ecclésiastique qui avait autorité sur les coupables en ces moments, si l’on peut soupçonner que certains de ces supérieurs étaient au courant de ce qui se passait et n’ont rien fait pour arrêter cela.

La façon dont la hiérarchie ecclésiastique belge se défend chez le juge est si pénible pour les victimes que nous nous sentons obligés d’exprimer cette douleur (pour preuve, écoutez l’exposé de leur avocat Me Keuleneer, fin janvier dans la class action à Gand (2) concernant la plainte de 39 victimes pour omission coupable des supérieurs ecclésiastiques à l’époque des abus).

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BELGIE
De Standaard

[Werkgroep Mensenrechten in de Kerk – Wegen tot herstel]

[Fifty victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church have come forward publicly and want to help others, still hidden, to complain about their abuse.]

door Yves Delepeleire

Vijftig slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in de Kerk komen vandaag voor het eerst met naam naar buiten. Ze hopen andere slachtoffers ervan te overtuigen om alsnog een klacht in te dienen.

Meer dan vijftig slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik komen (bijna allemaal) voor het eerst met hun naam en voornaam naar buiten: alleen al daarom is hun oproep in De Standaard uniek. De vijftig richten zich tot alle slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in de Kerk die hun verhaal tot nu toe voor zich hebben gehouden, uit schaamte of angst. Ze roepen hen op om er alsnog mee naar buiten te komen door bij de politie een klacht in te dienen tegen de dader of zijn hiërarchische overste, als er sprake zou zijn van schuldig verzuim. Óf ze kunnen naar een opvangpunt van de bisdommen en congregaties stappen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
epd

[A reporting center for those abused at Korntaler homes has been set up.]

Eine “Unabhängige telefonische Meldestelle Aufarbeitungsprojekt Korntal” startet am 1. März. Personen, die sexuelle Gewalt und anderes Unrecht in Heimen der Evangelischen Brüdergemeinde Korntal erlebt haben oder davon wissen, können dort vertraulich und auf Wunsch anonym anrufen, teilte Mechthild Wolff von der Hochschule Landshut am Dienstag mit. Wolff und drei weitere Expertinnen wurden von der Brüdergemeinde mit dem wissenschaftliche Forschungsprojekt “Historische Aufarbeitung der Heimerziehung der Evangelischen Brüdergemeinde seit den 50er Jahren” beauftragt. Dafür sammelt die Meldestelle Informationen.

Die Meldestelle solle dazu beitragen, “Ausmaß und Art von Unrechtsfällen zu erfassen”, teilte Wolff mit. Ziel des Projekts sei die Aufklärung von Gewalttaten und der individuellen und institutionellen Verantwortlichkeiten. Anlass waren Berichte von ehemaligen Heimkindern aus drei Kinderheimen der Evangelischen Brüdergemeinde Korntal über sexualisierte, physische und psychische Gewalt. Die Täter waren teils Erziehungs-, Bildungs- und Leitungspersonal, aber auch Personen im technischen Bereich oder aus dem heimnahen Umfeld.

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ROM
religion@orf

Der Finanzchef des Vatikans, der australische Kardinal Kardinal George wird per Videoschaltung als Zeuge im australischen Ballarat bei Melbourne aussagen. Zehn Missbrauchsopfer wollen persönlich an der Befragung von Pell in Rom teilnehmen.

Der Finanzchef des Vatikans, der australische Kardinal Kardinal George Pell, wird per Videoschaltung zu Vorwürfen des Missbrauchs durch Priester in der Stadt Ballarat bei Melbourne als Zeuge aussagen. Der Kardinal wird am kommenden Sonntag in dem Konferenzsaal mit dem Gerichtssaal in Ballarat verbunden sein, berichteten italienische Medien.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Christian Today

Ruth Gledhill CHRISTIAN TODAY CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
24 February 2016

The Archbishop of Canterbury has appointed a woman who is an expert on government and safeguarding to head his independent inquiry into whether there was any kind of cover-up in the Church of England over sex abuse bishop Peter Ball.

Justin Welby, who last year disclosed the inquiry was to take place, has announced that Dame Moira Gibb is to chair the investigation into “the way the Church of England responded” to complaints about the disgraced former Bishop of Gloucester, jailed last year for a string of sex offences.

Dame Moira, former chief executive of Camden Council until 2011 and who chaired the serious case review into safeguarding at Southbank International School in the wake of the crimes committed by William Vahey, is expected to report before the end of this year.

The separate Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, chaired by Justice Goddard, will also be looking at the Peter Ball case.

Dame Moira’s chairmanship was announced as The Times reported that a Church of England priest who was a former police officer held talks with police in an attempt to cover up the scale of offending by Ball. The priest had set out to establish that Ball was innocent but according to a 1993 document seen by The Times, and written up for the attention of the then-Archbishop Lord Carey of Clifton, the priest found that Ball had abused “very many young men who passed through his care”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Church of England

24 February 2016

The Archbishop of Canterbury has announced the appointment of Dame Moira Gibb to be chair of the independent review into the way the Church of England responded to the case of Peter Ball, the former Bishop of Gloucester, who was jailed last year for sex offences.

Dame Moira has worked at a senior level in the statutory sector – she was Chief Executive of Camden Council until 2011 – and holds a range of non-executive roles. Most recently she was the chair of the Serious Case Review (published January 2016) into safeguarding at Southbank International School in the wake of the crimes committed by William Vahey.

She will be assisted in the review by Kevin Harrington JP, safeguarding consultant and lead reviewer on a range of Serious Case Reviews; James Reilly, former Chief Executive of Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust (until Feb 2016); Heather Schroeder MBE, currently vice chair of Action for Children and formerly held senior positions in social services and children’s services in a number of local authorities.

The review will be published once Dame Moira and her team have completed their work which is expected to be within a year. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) chaired by Justice Goddard will also be looking at the Peter Ball case but have made it clear that institutions should continue with their previous commitments on safeguarding and the Church is in ongoing touch with IICSA on this.

The aim of the review will be to consider: What information was available to the Church of England, who had this information and when and to provide a detailed timeline and transparent account of the response; whether the response was in accordance with recognised good practice, and compliant with CofE policy and legislation as well as statutory policy and legislation; lessons about any necessary changes and developments needed within the CofE to ensure that safeguarding work is of the highest possible standard; how complaints and disciplinary processes are managed and any other specific areas of Church behaviour and practice identified by the review.

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UNITED KINGDOM
National Secular Society

Posted: Wed, 24 Feb 2016

The National Secular Society has warned that the Church’s inquiry into their handling of the Bishop Peter Ball sex abuse case could leave significant questions unanswered.

Bishop Ball was jailed last year for sexual offences, after escaping justice twenty years previously. A letter-writing campaign at the time saw support for the bishop come from senior establishment figures, including a member of the royal family.

The Church of England has now announced that an inquiry will look at the case to establish how much senior figures in the Church of England knew about Ball’s crimes.

However, the NSS has criticised the terms of reference of the Church of England’s review and warned that they do not go to the heart of the failures which contributed to Ball escaping justice for twenty years. In this period one victim committed suicide.

The review will establish “what information was available to the Church of England … concerning Peter Ball’s abuse of individuals; who had this information and when. To provide a detailed timeline and transparent account of the response within the Church of England. To consider whether the response was in accordance with recognised good practice, and compliant with Church of England policy and legislation as well as statutory policy and legislation.”

But the review into the case will be carried out behind closed doors. Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society, warned that “while this may encourage greater frankness of those giving evidence, it will be regarded as lacking openness and transparency, qualities already shown to be sorely lacking in the Church over such matters even today.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

A bishop who sexually abused young men escaped justice thanks to a “deeply sinister, co-ordinated” cover-up, one of his victims has said.

Former Bishop of Lewes Peter Ball was jailed for 32 months in October 2015 after pleading guilty to historical sex offences, but he had been originally investigated and cautioned by police in 1993.
Documents seen by the BBC suggest that his defence team in the first investigation sought a deal with the police to avoid scandal as the bishop was “friendly with Prince Charles”.

The Rev Graham Sawyer, one of the men abused by Ball, told the BBC: “It looks like there was a deeply sinister, co-ordinated, but probably in the end rather inept attempt at a cover-up.”

After Ball was sentenced, Lord Carey, who was the head of the Church of England when it emerged that the bishop had misused his power over teenagers and young men, apologised for dealing with his victims “inadequately” but denied presiding over a cover-up.

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UNITED STATES
United Church of Christ

February 02, 2016
Written by Barb Powell

Download the “Spotlight” discussion guide.

Sexual abuse of children, teens and adults by church leaders is a serious problem brought back into focus recently by the heralded film, “Spotlight.” To aid thoughtful dialogue about issues highlighted in the movie, the United Church of Christ has released a film discussion guide for use by churches interested in addressing ways to ensure members of our faith communities are not vulnerable to abuse.studyguidecover.jpg

The story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up in the local Catholic Archdiocese, “Spotlight” is a top contender for the Best Picture Oscar and recently took home the best ensemble cast award from the Screen Actors Guild awards.

“‘Spotlight’ is indeed a cautionary tale for us all. While non-Catholics might be tempted to walk away from the theater with just a tinge of self-righteousness, assuming that this is a Catholic problem, don’t give into that temptation,” said the Rev. Marie M. Fortune, a UCC minister who heads the Seattle-based FaithTrust Institute, which is working to end sexual and domestic abuse. “The fact is that sexual abuse of children, teens, and adults by those designated as faith leaders is a serious and disturbing reality in every faith community. No exceptions.”

The discussion guide, developed by the UCC’s Local Church Ministries as part of the denomination’s 2016 multimedia campaigns tied to its core mission, encourages UCC members and leaders to see the film and then reflect on its implications for their local churches and the denomination as a whole.

“‘Spotlight’ is a wonderfully engaging, yet haunting, film,” said the Rev. J. Bennett Guess, executive minister of Local Church Ministries. “It is the perfect movie for church audiences to see together and then discuss how our churches are taking the necessary steps to protect children and other vulnerable people who are in our care.”

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TEXAS/ARIZONA
Arizona Republic

Christopher Silavong, The Republic | azcentral.com

February 24, 2016

An extradition hearing will be held Wednesday for an 83-year-old Scottsdale man accused of murdering a Texas beauty queen when he was a young priest in 1960.

Prosecutors want John Feit to be returned to Hidalgo County, Texas, to be tried for the first-degree murder of Irene Garza, a 25-year-old school teacher. She went to Feit’s parish on April 16, 1960, and never returned home.

Since nearly a lifetime ago, Feit had been the sole occupant on detectives’ list of suspects in the murder, although he never had been arrested or charged.

His name is absent from the earliest police records generated in the missing-person-turned-murder case. The Republic obtained copies of those records with help from the McAllen Monitor.

The following is an account of the very first days of the case, from when Irene Garza’s father reported her missing to the McAllen Police Department through the forensic examination of her body that would occur five days later.

The beginning

Irene Garza hadn’t called her mother, something she did whenever she was going to be late.

She left home at about 6:30 p.m. for Sacred Heart Catholic Church. It was the night before Easter 1960.

The missing person report gives no indication about when her family expected her home, just that eight hours had passed without word.

Her parents, Josefina and Nicolas Garza, were worried something happened. Nicolas went driving and found her car parked just south of the church. His next stop was the McAllen Police Department to report Irene missing, a report taken at 3:10 a.m. April 17.

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CANADA/UNITED STATES
Toronto Star

By: Peter Goffin Staff Reporter, Published on Mon Feb 22 2016

A man who resigned as director of a Toronto private school in 2008 over graphic poems on his website is now facing child-pornography charges in California.

On Monday, the district attorney of Contra Costa County in the San Francisco Bay area charged David Prashker, 60, with possession of child pornography and attempting to destroy evidence.

County investigators went to search Prashker’s home in Lafayette, Calif. on Feb. 18. When they arrived, Prashker allegedly ran to the back of the house and threw a laptop out a second-storey window into the backyard.

The district attorney’s office said that forensic examiners later found evidence of child pornography on the laptop.

Prashker had recently worked as a substitute teacher at two private schools in Contra Costa, the district attorney said. He has also worked at schools in London and Miami.

From 2004 to 2008, Prashker was director of Leo Baeck Jewish Day School, a kindergarten-to-Grade-8 private school with campuses in Thornhill and just west of Forest Hill.

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NEW JERSEY
Obits for Life

Date of Birth:
Saturday, January 6th, 1934
Date of Death:
Saturday, August 15th, 2015
Funeral Home:
Farmer Funeral Home
farmerfuneralhome.com
45 Roseland Avenue
ROSELAND, New Jersey, UNITED STATES
07068

Obituary:

Rev. Gerald P. Ruane, 81, of Brick, New Jersey, passed away on August 15, 2015, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. Rev. Ruane was ordained a Priest of the Archdiocese of Newark in 1960. He was a Priest at Our Lady of Lourdes, West Orange, N.J., Pastor of Holy Trinity Church, Westfield, N.J., Professor and Chaplain at Caldwell College, Caldwell, N.J., and Director and Founder of the Sacred Heart Institute in Caldwell, N.J., until his retirement in 2004.

Gerald was much more than a priest. He lived a dynamic life. He was a gifted speaker and author of many books. With a love for travel, he often led spiritual retreats to Rome, the Holy Land, and Medjugorie. His abundant love for family and friends was evident through frequent visits and gatherings for meals, prayers, masses and intriguing conversation. He was well known and loved for his various inspirational Community and Fellowship work – most recently with Alcoholics Anonymous. He generously shared his spirit, time, witty sense of humor, and counsel, all of which will never to be forgotten.

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ISRAEL
The Jewish Week

Tue, 02/23/2016

Nathan Jeffay
Contributing Editor

Will the Jewish women who claim sexual abuse by their headmistress get to see her go to trial? Or will Malka Leifer become the next Avrohom Mondrowitz — another alleged abuser who won’t be extradited from Israel to stand trial.

Mondrowitz, an American Orthodox rabbi, fled the U.S. in 1985 before an arrest warrant could be executed on an indictment handed down against him for child abuse. In the case of Leifer, she fled to Israel from Melbourne, Australia, in 2008, when allegations surfaced that she had abused girls in her care at the Adass Israel School.

She is living in the predominantly Orthodox city of Bnei Brak, and attempts to extradite her are proving fruitless, despite her house arrest. In fact, it’s thought to be one of the most complicated extradition cases in Israeli history.

Leifer claims that she cannot attend extradition proceedings because when court dates loom, the stress brings on psychotic episodes — and these claims have delayed proceedings for a year-and-a-half. The Israeli state prosecutor pushing for extradition told the Jerusalem District Court on Sunday that it’s time to have a state psychiatrist examine whether there may be “elements of fabrication” in this claim.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

Outspoken Liberal senator Bill Heffernan has renewed his call for a national investigation of the judiciary, alleging cover-ups of pedophilic judges.

Senator Heffernan has told parliament on Wednesday the child abuse royal commission should be extended to investigate sex abuse in judiciary ranks, producing an alleged list of pedophiles he says includes senior judges and lawyers, as well as a former prime minister.

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AUSTRALIA
The Islander

By MELISSA CUNNINGHAM
Feb. 24, 2016

A RELIGIOUS superior has admitted to a woefully inadequate culture of protecting children and told an inquiry the Christian Brothers could have not comprehended the enormity of the trauma caused by their brutality and sexual abuse.

Superior of the Christian Brother’s Ballarat community and former headmaster of St Patrick’s College Brother Paul Nangle said the psychosexual formation of brothers was “defective” and while the rape of children could never be justified, he believed society was more relaxed about matters of sexuality during the sexual revolution in the 1970s.

“In my regret I profoundly wish I had of been better informed and had better knowledge of what was occurring,” Br Nangle said.

“I’m appalled at what happened and I’m deeply sorry for pain people have suffered as a result of that.”

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

Megan NeilAAP

A religious superior threatened to “get” a teacher who complained about a pedophile Christian Brother, an inquiry has heard.

A lay teacher was shocked when another pedophile Brother, Br Edward Dowlan, joined Geelong’s St Mary’s College, soon after another had left, the child abuse royal commission heard.

“Dowlan’s inappropriate behaviour with the students was worse than (redacted) and I couldn’t believe what was happening,” Robert Thompson told police.

“Within a short period of time I was beginning to receive complaints from students about Br Dowlan and that he was sexually interfering with them.”

Mr Thompson said he was “frozen out” at the college after approaching the Christian Brothers community leader Br John O’Halloran in 1987 or 1988.

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AUSTRALIA
Courier

[with video]

Federal member for Ballarat Catherine King has made an emotional plea for Cardinal George Pell not to let the Ballarat community down again.

In a prepared speech in parliament on Tuesday, Ms King said the Cardinal’s failure to appear at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse in Ballarat were “not the actions of a man of courage”.

Labelling the Cardinal “Ballarat to the core”, a clearly emotional Ms King had this to say: “As you prepare to give testimony on the 29th, I want to say to you: please do not let them down again.”

Her speech followed that of Wendouree MP Sharon Knight, who made a similar speech on February 10.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM

MARK COLVIN: Meanwhile, a lot of people in Ballarat are on edge to hear the testimony of the city’s former bishop Ronald Mulkearns at the Royal Commission tomorrow.

Some victims have waited decades for the bishop to respond to allegations that he ignored complaints that his priests were abusing children.

He’s also been accused of moving paedophile priests from parish to parish during his term between the years of 1971 and 1997.

Bishop Mulkearns is expected to give his evidence by video link from his Ballarat nursing home tomorrow.

Today, some of the victims of the ergion’s most infamous paedophile priest, Gerald Ridsdale, took their complaints to the door of that home.

Charlotte King reports from Ballarat.

CHARLOTTE KING: They call themselves ‘Nazzie girls’: children who ended up in the care of the Sisters of Nazareth girls’ home in Ballarat in the 1950s and ‘60s.

GABRIELLE SHORT: Ninety-five per cent hell. Yeah torture, abuse, fear, terror.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By TOM KELLY FOR THE DAILY MAIL

The scandal of a predatory Bishop who escaped prosecution for child abuse for two decades deepened last night as it was claimed that the Church of England knew he was a serial abuser of ‘young men’.

Peter Ball – who was eventually jailed after admitting the abuse last year – benefited from a ‘deeply sinister cover-up’.

Secret documents claimed that he had been let off 23 years ago to ‘prevent a scandal in the press’ – despite the Church of England being told he was a serial abuser. Ball resigned as Bishop of Gloucester in 1993, but returned to work within two years.

The report was compiled at the time by a private detective working for Ball’s legal team. It warned senior figures that Ball had been ‘abusing not only his office but many young men’ and had confessed to his behaviour.

Its existence was reported by the BBC and it was described as being for the information solely of the Bishop of Chichester, the late Eric Kemp, and the then Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey.

The documents also indicate the private investigator frequently got to his victims before police did. They also made it clear that Ball had confessed to abusing boys.

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BELGIUM
The Brussels Times

Between 2012 and 2015, 418 victims of sexual abuse commited by men of the cloth have come forward say centres established by the Catholic Church, and also a further 628, the Arbitration Centre opened at the request of the Commission Spéciale du Parlement pour le Traitement des Plaintes pour Abus Sexuels (Special Parliamentary Commission for Sexual Abuse Complaints-handling) states.

During this period, the ecclesiastical authorities have given 3.9 million euros to such victims, it emerges from a new report written by Manu Keirse, Professor Emeritus of the KULeuven (University of Leuven) and President of the Commission Interdiocésaine pour la Protection des Enfants et des Jeunes (Inter-diocesan Commission for the Protection of Children and Youths) which will be presented this Monday (today) in Brussels.

To deal with victims’ complaints, the Church has itself put in place reception centres, which are spread across Belgian dioceses and religious congregations, as well as a central information point where those wishing to make a complaint are assisted to do so.

Victims of crimes which are statute-barred, who cannot take legal action have also been encouraged to come forward through public appeals. “Just because the legal time-limits for these crimes have passed, does not mean that these crimes are a thing of the past for victims,” Manu Keirse asserts.

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KENTUCKY
Lexington Herald-Leader

BY MICHAEL MCKAY
mmckay@herald-leader.com

The church worker charged with rape of a 16-year-old met his alleged victim when she was 10 and warned her she would be banned from mission trips if she told anyone about their activities, a Lexington detective testified Tuesday.

Tony Sasnett, 39, was the home Bible study director for Greater Faith Apostolic Church on Clay’s Mill Road in Lexington. As a result of Sasnett’s church role, police and the prosecution argued he was in a position of “special trust” with the victim, but his attorney, Dan Carman, disputed that contention at Tuesday’s preliminary hearing with Fayette District Judge Kim Wilkie.

Sasnett is charged with four counts of third-degree rape, one count of sexual abuse and one count of using a phone to solicit nude photos of a minor. He was originally charged with five counts of rape, but one charge was dismissed at Tuesday’s hearing because the alleged event happened in neighboring Jessamine County.

In testimony, detective Tyler Smith with the Crimes Against Children Unit described how the father of three school-aged children escalated the relationship with the victim from a joke about a massage to sex in parked cars and in Sasnett’s home.

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OHIO
WOWK

[with video]

By Randy Yohe

A community expressed relief after police arrest a man they are calling a sexually violent predator. Police arrested a Southern Ohio country church pastor Monday, and said he preyed on children and the disabled.

A Jackson County, Ohio Grand Jury charged 67-year-old Dennis Wright with 15 felony charges. Charges that included seven counts of rape, two counts of sexual battery, two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, and several other sexually related charges …

Reports said two of the victims belonged to the church where Wright worked as a Minster. 13 news has more on how police are now looking for more victims.

“Everybody in the neighborhood knew what was going on,” Elliott Perry said.

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BELGIUM
WEST – Welfare Society Territory

by Ivano Abbadessa – 2016.02.23

In Belgium, more than 1,000 people have reported sexual abuse committed by priests between 2012 and 2015. It’s just one of the striking findings of a report presented in Brussels by an inter-diocese Commission for sexual abuse in the Church. The victims were mainly children with 89 per cent still classed as juveniles at the time. Almost one-quarter (23 per cent) were under 10 and 71 per cent were male. They were abused by dozens of paedophile priests. Although 80 per cent of cases took place more than 30 years ago, the horror suffered by the victims leaves an indelible mark that often drives them to alcohol, drugs and, in extreme cases, even suicide. This European scandal is a close-to-home reminder of the American abuse cases, uncovered as part of the ‘Spotlight Investigation’. Now an Oscar-nominated film just out in Italian cinemas, Spotlight tells the story of the Boston Globe reporters who, in 2002, revealed the abuse perpetrated in the US Church, which for years hid the most serious acts of paedophilia by clergy.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Jessica Longbottom
Posted February 24, 2016

A senior Christian Brother authorised spending on a private investigator to track down victims of notorious paedophile Brother Edward Dowlan, the royal commission into child sexual abuse has heard.

Brother Brian Brandon was a provincial council member of St Patrick’s province of the Christian Brothers, which covered Victoria and Tasmania, between 1984 and 1996.

Since 1993, he has dealt with sex abuse claims brought against the Christian Brothers as part of his role with the order’s Professional Standards Board.

Testifying before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Ballarat, he revealed the tactics engaged by the Christian Brothers to bully people who took sex abuse claims to police.

In 1995, he authorised spending on a private investigator who was targeting victims of Brother Edward Dowlan, who is now in jail for molesting dozens of boys.

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SOUTH AFRICA
Daily Maverick

KINGSLEY KIPURY interviews Richard Sipe, sociologist and ex-priest who authored the ground-breaking research on sexual abuse in the clergy. He explains how this has gone on for centuries, how celibacy could be the problem, and what the church needs to do if it has any chance of reform

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UNITED STATES
The Stylus

By Charlotte Luft
On February 23, 2016

The Catholic Church has been a powerful institution since its inception; even during a time when people who were found to be Catholic were killed, the church had great power and sway.

The key element behind the church’s power was the idea that Catholicism was for the common man.

The idea of Catholicism has evolved since it was created as it has switched from the common man’s religion to a religion of the rich and powerful.

The introduction of money into the church system has lead to corruption on multiple levels, but perhaps the most atrocious institution that has evolved into the church system is the sexual abuse of children.

According to the columbia.com article, “Catholic clergy scandal: Possibly just 5 out of 77 sexual abusers convicted” by The Associated Press, there is a list of 77 Catholic priests and clergy members who were listed as allegedly sexually abusing children, of those accused on the list only about five were convicted of the crime.

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WASHINGTON
Seattle Weekly

By Sara Bernard Tue., Feb 23 2016

Last month, the Seattle Catholic Archdiocese published a list of 77 names of priests and other clergy credibly accused of child sexual abuse while working or living in western Washington. (It was updated a week later and now contains 78 names.) As a step toward healing and transparency, it made a significant splash, but perhaps not quite the one the church had hoped. Releasing a list of names is “not a worthless gesture,” says David Clohessy, executive director of the St. Louis-based Survivors’ Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), but the information is, to him, infuriatingly incomplete.

“There have been tons of exposes, and harsh editorials, and criminal prosecutions, and lawsuits, and settlements, and apologies, and promises” involving the Catholic church, argues Clohessy, who was molested for years, along with his two brothers, by a priest in Missouri’s Jefferson City Diocese. He says Seattle is the latest in a list of dioceses across the country to “parcel out tiny bits of information” without revealing larger, systemic truths. “The one untried remedy here is punishing—or even exposing—the enablers. I challenge Catholics to name one church employee anywhere, from custodian to cardinal, who’s lost one day’s pay for ignoring or concealing horrific crimes against kids.”

Clohessy, like many survivors and advocates, including former King County Superior Court judge Terry Carroll, former U.S. attorney Mike McKay, Seattle attorney Michael Pfau, SNAP Northwest director Mary Dispenza, and the Seattle Times editorial board, is urging the Seattle Archdiocese to release the full files on its predator priests—a trove of still-secret documents that private consultants used to put the original list together.

That would paint a much fuller picture, Clohessy and others say, of the system that allowed this abuse to happen.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

February 24, 2016

Chris Johnston

The former headmaster of St Kevins College in Toorak, Brother Brian Brandon – a senior Victorian Catholic administrator – admitted today it was “questionable” to give paedophile priest Ted Dowlan a job at an orphanage housing young victims of clerical sexual abuse.

Brother Brandon – a former head of legal affairs and provincial council member of the Christian Brothers for Victoria and Tasmania – said there were “suspicions” but not “knowledge” of Brother Dowlan’s sexual interest in boys at the time of the appointment.

Brother Brandon has also held a role with the church’s professional standards team.

Brother Dowlan started working at the St Vincents Boys Orphanage in South Melbourne in 1989.
He was jailed in 1996 for sexually interfering with boys in Ballarat, both at St Patrick’s College, and his previous school, St Alipius primary.

At the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Ballarat, under questioning by Justice Peter McClellan, Brother Brandon said despite “suspicions” about Dowlan, a serial paedophile since the early 1970s, he was not made a teacher at the orphanage, but a co-ordinator.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

February 24, 2016

Amber Wilson

A GROUP of women claiming to have been abused by the Ballarat clergy in the 1950s and 1960s have started a protest outside Nazareth House, the Ballarat nursing home where Bishop Ronald Mulkearns now lives.

Bishop Mulkearns, now retired, is due to give evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Thursday via video link from the Mill Street nursing home.

Gabby Short and Wendy Eldridge were among the group of women who demanded answers from the staff at the site, which was formerly also a girls’ orphanage. They are demanding to know why the home is now “giving sanctuary” to the priest, whose testimony has regularly been delayed by Bishop Mulkearns’ ill health.

At one point the women tried to enter the building but were asked to leave by staff.
Police said they were happy for the women to protest from the street, but asked them not to enter the premises.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

by Martin Scicluna

I have just seen the film Spotlight. It tells the story in a calm and low key manner of the Boston Globe’s team of reporters and that newspaper’s tenacious and scrupulous exposure in 2002 of the most harrowing litany of child sex abuse crimes dating back 50 years in the Roman Catholic diocese of Boston.

The diocese had covered up the decades-long abuse at the highest levels in Boston’s religious, legal and state establishments, sparking off a wave of revelations around the world, leading the Vatican to consider similar allegations against some 3000 priests between 2001 and 2010.

The Diocese of Boston subsequently paid $85 million in compensation for the mental anguish and, in many cases, criminal violence inflicted on about 550 victims. The Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Law, was subsequently forced to resign.

When asked to comment on the film, Archbishop Charles Scicluna, who served for eight years in the Vatican as the prosecutor of sexual abuse of minors by priests from 2002 (the same year as the Boston revelations), said that: “Disclosure of abuse is the best service that one can render the Church.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

A former Chicago priest who pleaded guilty to multiple child sex abuse charges in 2007 is due in court on more abuse allegations involving a boy while he was still a priest.

Daniel McCormack was arrested in 2014 in the 2005 case involving a 10-year-old alleged victim at a West Side parish.

Attorneys also will be in court Wednesday for a status hearing on his custody at a state mental health facility. McCormack remains committed under the Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act.

McCormack was removed from the priesthood and pleaded guilty in 2007 to abusing five children. He was sentenced to five years in prison.

Earlier this month a judge ruled that a man who was an alleged victim of McCormack’s 16 years ago can seek punitive damages.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

February 24, 2016

Chris Johnston

The Christian Brothers hired a private investigator in 1995 to “dig up dirt” on victims of a notorious paedophile priest in Ballarat.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was told today the private investigator, Glynis McNeight, of Ballarat, visited two victims of Brother Ted Dowlan at home just before Dowlan was charged by police for historical sex crimes against boys.

The object of the exercise, the commission heard, was for the Christian Brothers’ legal team – from a small firm in Ocean Grove – to find out what kind of witnesses the victims would be in court and whether, according to counsel assisting the commission Stephen Free, they would be “easily torn apart in the witness box”.

One victim Ms McNeight visited ended up crying and agitated and she reported to the law firm – which was being paid by the Christian Brothers – that the victim was “nervous” and “excitable” and was prone to tears and bad language. He would have “no credibility” as a witness, she wrote.

The investigator, who called herself an “inquiry agent”, asked Victoria Police for details of the victims but police refused. A policeman involved in the investigation warned her that she could pervert the course of justice.

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AUSTRALIA
The Advetiser

Sean Fewster and Nigel Hunt
The Advertiser

FATHER John Fleming engaged in criminal, predatory, deceitful and morally reprehensible sexual behaviour with a minor while working as an Anglican priest, the Supreme Court has ruled.

On Wednesday, the court dismissed the now-Catholic priest’s defamation lawsuit, ruling The Advertiser and Sunday Mail’s reports about his illegal sexual misconduct were true.

Auxiliary Justice Malcolm Gray ruled the newspapers had made out their defence to Fr Fleming’s claims they had defamed him and caused him to lose a lucrative job with a Catholic college.

He said the newspapers’ imputations that Fr Fleming — one of Australia’s most prominent priests — “engaged in criminal sexual behaviour” during his time with the Anglican Church were substantially true.

He also said the articles truthfully conveyed imputations that Fr Fleming was engaged in “sexual misconduct, predatory sexual behaviour, morally reprehensible and deceitful conduct, an immoral, adulterous, homosexual affair, hypocrisy, abuse of trust, moral cowardice and false denial of sexual involvement.”

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NEW JERSEY
Observer-Tribune

By PHIL GARBER Managing Editor

MENDHAM – It was just too painful to see it alone, so Bill Crane asked his wife, Jane, to go with him to see the film, “Spotlight.”

Monsignor Kenneth Lasch said he knew seeing the film would trigger many difficult memories so he also needed someone to help him get through it.

And Richard Sipe said he cried at the point in the movie when the Boston Globe‘s editor, Marty Baron, tells his staff that he wants to expose the system, and not just individuals, that allowed priests to go unpunished while they sexually abused young boys.

“Spotlight” is the story of the Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize winning investigation into cases of widespread and systemic child sex abuse in the Boston area by numerous Roman Catholic priests. The Globe investigation sparked similar probes around the nation and the world. It touched locally when a former priest at St. Joseph Church in Mendham, James Hanley, was defrocked for having abused multiple young boys.

In addition to the priests who have been defrocked and prosecuted, the National Catholic Reporter found that clergy abuse has cost the Catholic Church in America $4 billion since 1950 in settlements, therapy for victims, and other costs.

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NEW YORK
Buffalo News

By Jay Rey | News Staff Reporter
on February 23, 2016

Video footage from a Buffalo school bus refutes a young boy’s claims that he was sexually assaulted in December while on the bus home from a Catholic school, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

Investigators have retrieved the surveillance footage from the day of the alleged bus incident and found nothing on the video to substantiate that the 6-year-old accuser was sexually molested by an older student.

“The videotape does not support the allegations of abuse,” the source said.

The Catholic Diocese of Buffalo echoed that stance Tuesday.

“Our investigation of the allegation of abuse, including a review of the videotape, does not support the claim of abuse,” the diocese said in a statement.

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MASSACHUSETTS
CommonWealth

ANTONIO F.D. CABRAL
Feb 23, 2016

SPOTLIGHT, BOSTON’S OWN OSCAR NOMINEE FOR BEST PICTURE, highlighted the courageous work of Boston Globe reporters and editors that exposed the Catholic Church’s handling of clergy sexual abuse. The Globe’s reporting forced the issue of clergy sexual abuse onto the Commonwealth’s agenda, both culturally and politically.

Since the movie focused elsewhere, few of the movie’s fans know the political impact of the Globe’s work. I had a front row seat to Beacon Hill’s reaction to the Globe’s reporting as I’d been appointed the House chairman of the legislative committee that handled child abuse legislation just a few months earlier. While the story may not be Oscar worthy, the speed with which Massachusetts state government responded to the scandal, after years of inaction prior to the Globe’s reports, is a reminder that the legislative process, designed to be deliberative, can move quickly at times even in the face of long-standing opposition.

As Spotlight portrays, the issue of clergy sexual abuse was not unknown when the Globe published the first of its many stories on the church’s coverup on Jan. 6, 2002. For at least a decade, legislators had been filing bills in Massachusetts to include clergy in the Commonwealth’s mandated reporter law, section 51A of Chapter 119 of the Massachusetts General Laws. This law, enacted in the 1970s, requires those who hold certain jobs, generally the jobs which require interaction with children and their families, to immediately report the abuse of a child to law enforcement. Until 2002, religious officials, including priests, rabbis, etc., as well as their superiors, were exempt from this law.

A handful of victims of abuse by priests, like Phil Saviano who appears in the film, had been lobbying for these bills for years, testifying before the Legislature, trying unsuccessfully to get attention for the issue. At the time of the law’s passage in the 1970s and through the following decades leading up to the Globe’s reporting, the Catholic Church had a full-time lobbyist on Beacon Hill and these bills that would have added clergy to the list of mandated reporters never made it out of committee.

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UNITED STATES
Slant

An Interview with Neal Huff

BY GERARD RAYMOND ON FEBRUARY 23, 2016

It was Phil Saviano’s persistence to bring his story of sexual abuse to the attention of the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team that led to a full-scale investigation into the allegations and reports of sexual misconduct by priests of the Archdiocese of Boston and its cover-up by officials in the Catholic Church. This investigation would eventually win the paper’s reporters the Pulitzer Prize, and more than 10 years later become the focus of Tom McCarthy’s critically acclaimed Spotlight. Neal Huff, who plays Saviano in the film, worked with McCarthy on HBO’s The Wire, on which the former played a political aide and the latter a morally challenged reporter. While their working relationship may have allowed Huff to get his foot in the door, it was the physical and emotional intensity of his audition that sealed the deal. The New York stage, film, and television actor’s incredibly deep connection to Saviano is very much evident on the screen, and during our recent chat, he discussed the making of Spotlight and his relationship with Saviano, as well as his urgent desire to play his character in a way that was at once truthful and necessarily representative.

What was it like meeting the real Phil Saviano?

When I read the script I didn’t even know if the character was an actual person. So the first thing I did was ask if they had any info on him beyond the scene itself. It turned out that [co-screenwriter] Josh Singer had done a really extensive interview with Phil in 2012 and he shared that with me. I immediately asked if I could get in touch with Phil, add within days I was in Phil’s house, spending time with him. That began what has become a really significant friendship in my life. He’s a real original, from the way he thinks to expresses himself. He was so generous. I immediately knew that it was going to be a collaboration between us. But I also knew that the character had to serve a certain function in the story. There are a few survivors in the film, and they all serve different functions—even as notes for the audience. And so I spent a lot of time talking with Tom [McCarthy] about what he really needed. We knew there was Phil, but there was also the Phil Saviano character, which was what they needed for the purposes of the scene. Phil knew this wasn’t exactly about him—that he was representing a lot of people.

How did you gain his confidence?

He said he could tell my heart was in the right place and that he knew I had a very personal stake. I had friends who’d been abused from childhood and high school, so I was very curious. And the thing with Phil is his remarkable generosity. I have never met anybody like him in that regard. He’s very open about what happened to him and he never repressed any of it. He just thought he was the only one, which is why he never talked about it.

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MINNESOTA
Crookston Times

By Jess Bengtson

Posted Feb. 23, 2016

The Roman Catholic Church in southern India recently made a decision to lift the suspension of a former Crookston priest accused of sexual abuse.

Father Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul, 61, was originally suspended in 2010 after being charged with assaulting two girls who were both 14 at the time of the alleged abuse. Jeyapaul fled the United States, but was arrested in India by Interpol in 2012 and extradited to the U.S. He plead guilty and was convicted of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a Greenbush, Minnesota teenage girl, and was sentenced to one year in jail.

Jeyapaul is now back in his native country of India and could be allowed to work in the church again following the lifted suspension.

Former Clay County prosecutor Heidi Davies told a local news station that she was “shocked” that the Catholic Church had not even contacted law enforcement to learn anything about him or his case. Minneapolis attorney and child victim advocate mentioned that the promise made by Pope Francis to tackle the problem of sexual abuse by priests seems to have been violated.

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MISSOURI
Religion Dispatches

BY PATRICIA MILLER FEBRUARY 23, 2016

In the latest example of a high-ranking Catholic prelate who hasn’t gotten the memo from Pope Francis that the culture wars are over, St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson is urging parishes in his diocese to cut ties with the Girl Scouts because the organization is “increasingly incompatible with Catholic values.”

And what could members of the 100-year-old girls service organization be doing that has so alarmed Carlson? Are Brownies dissing Jesus by making Christmas trees out of old Reader’s Digests? Is someone taking that Campfire badge a little too seriously (I swear it was an accident—and my sister’s eyebrows did grow back)?

No, what has Carlson concerned isn’t anything specific Girl Scouts or Girl Scout troops in St. Louis are doing. His concerns include a rehash of charges against the national Girl Scouts organization ginned up by conservatives associated with the Ethics and Public Policy Center and given credence by an “investigation” by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. These charges boil down to the organization’s membership in the World Association of Girl Guides and Girls Scouts (WAGGGS), which, according to the bishops, advocates for “so-called ‘sexual and reproductive health/rights’.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Sean O’Neill Chief Reporter

A Church of England priest held secret talks with police in an attempt to cover up the scale of sex offending by a senior bishop who was a friend of the royal family, according to documents seen by The Times.

The priest, a former police officer, set out to disprove the police case against Peter Ball but concluded in a confidential report in 1993 that the cleric had abused “very many young men who passed through his care.”

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AUSTRALIA
Leader

Nicholas Payne
Mordialloc Chelsea Leader

ANGRY parents at two Catholic schools have hired a prominent sexual and institutional abuse lawyer as they demand the resignation of the parish priest.

Parents from St Patrick’s Parish Primary in Mentone and St John Vianney’s in Parkdale want Father John Walshe to quit his post.

Their lawyer, Angela Sdrinis, told the Leader the school community “has lost confidence” in the priest and that his position “is untenable”.

Ms Sdrinis said the concerned parents believe they “strongly represent the vast majority of the parents in the school community”, and have requested an “urgent response” from the Melbourne Archdiocese.

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UNITED KINGDOM
YouTube – via BBC Panorama

Panorama –
The Secret Letters of Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II ruled the Catholic Church for 27 years until 2005. He was one of the most influential figures of the twentieth century, revered by millions and made a saint in record time. Now reporter Edward Stourton can offer a new perspective on the emotional life of this very public figure.

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ILLINOIS
WJBD

2/23/2016

BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) – Questions remain about the removal of a priest recruited from the Philippines by the Catholic Diocese of Belleville to replace a cleric arrested for theft.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that parishioners in two small towns near southern Illinois’ Rend Lake weren’t told why the Rev. Peter Balili was removed in 2014.

U.S. Conference of Bishops’ notice that Balili was dismissed over “inappropriate conduct regarding certain of his parishioners” doesn’t appear to have been released by the Belleville diocese to its members. The notice did not specify the nature of that conduct or the age of the parishioners.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Dame Moira Gibb to oversee behind-closed-doors review in case handling of Peter Ball case in Carey era

By John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor 23 Feb 2016

A new inquiry is to investigate how much senior figures in the Church of England including the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey knew about the activities of the sex abuser bishop Peter Ball.

It follows claims the Church covered up the full extent of its knowledge of the abuse for two decades.

Dame Moira Gibb, a former council chief executive, is to chair an independent review, ordered last year by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, into how the Church of England responded to the case of Ball, who resigned in disgrace as Bishop of Gloucester in 1993.

Ball, now 83, was jailed last year after pleading guilty to abusing 18 young men, including teenagers, in Litlington, East Sussex, in the 1970s and 1980s during his time as Bishop of Lewes.

Ball accepted a police caution for gross indecency and resigned from his position as Bishop of Gloucester after one victim went to police in the early 1990s.

But it meant he avoided more serious charges until the case was finally reopened 20 years later.

The Rev Vickery House, Ball’s deputy helping run a Church gap-year scheme for young men testing out a possible “call” to ordination was also jailed for sexual offences in a separate case. …

Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society, which has campaigned on the issue of clerical abuse, said the inquiry must also investigate allegations that whistleblowers were effectively silenced.

“The inquiry is woefully incomplete unless the terms of reference make specific reference to establishing the extent of historic and current bullying by senior figures in the Church of alleged victims and whistleblowers,” he claimed.

“This bullying has led to a suicide and considerable psychological harm beyond the abuse itself.

“They must also specifically establish the extent to which church officials sought – or encouraged others – to intervene with the CPS, the police and dissuading complainants from reporting to the police.

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ROME/AUSTRALIA
Los Angeles Times

[note: Testimony will begin in the U.S. at 4 p.m. (eastern time zone) on Sunday and will be live- streamed from the Royal Commission web site.]

Tom Kington

An extraordinary scene will unfold in a hotel in Rome late Sunday night when one of Pope Francis’ most trusted advisors sits down for the first of up to four nights of live-streamed testimony about his role in an alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in Australia.

Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican finance minister and Australia’s senior Roman Catholic cleric, will be subjected to questioning from 10 p.m. until 2 a.m. nightly for at least three and possibly four nights by judges linked via video from halfway around the world in Sydney, where it will be morning.

Pell, 74, has not been allowed to have a lawyer travel from his home country to be at his side, but he will not be alone: He is being joined during the hearings by a group of victims of priestly abuse who are traveling from Australia to be in the room with him.

In December, Pell was summoned to give evidence about abuse near Melbourne, Australia, but his lawyers argued his heart condition made it dangerous to fly, and suggested he speak by videolink from Rome.

Australia’s Royal Commission on child abuse wants to quiz the cardinal about his alleged role in moving a pedophile priest, Gerald Ridsdale, from one parish to another in Australia in the 1970s and 1980s — a common pattern in Catholic dioceses around the world at the time.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Western Gazette

A BISHOP from the Langport area convicted of sex offences attempted to make a deal with police to avoid a scandal, it has been claimed.

Bishop Peter Ball, formerly of Aller, was sentenced to 32 months’ imprisonment in October, after he pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault and one count of misconduct in a public office between 1977 and 1992.

Now documents have come to light which suggest that Ball’s defence team, which included a priest, sought to broker a deal with the police to avoid the “scandal of a trial”.

The documents in question, which were seen by the BBC, were intended only for the eyes of the late Eric Kemp, former bishop of Chichester, and Lord George Carey, then-Archbishop of Canterbury.

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MEXICO
Sin Embargo

[10 Keys | The “princes” of the Catholic Church and its excesses: travel, luxury, homes, parties …]

Durante su visita a México, el Papa Francisco I fue crítico con los políticos mexicanos, pero también, de manera enfática, con la cúpula de la Iglesia católica, vista por los fieles muy cercana a los poderes político y económico, y cada vez más lejos de su grey, especialmente de los más pobres y desamparados. Obispos y Arzobispos, sin embargo, están permanentemente rodeados de gobernantes y empresarios influyentes, y presumen, sin rubor, un estilo de vida suntuoso.

Ciudad de México, 20 de febrero (SinEmbargo).– El llamado del Papa Francisco a los obispos mexicanos durante su visita al país fue claro y contundente: deben acercarse a la “periferia humana”, “involucrarse en las comunidades parroquiales y las escuelas”, dejarse de personalismos y no actuar como “príncipes”.

México es un país donde la jerarquía eclesiástica en general mantiene un estrecho vínculo con la clase política y económica, vive fuera del precepto de austeridad y tiene posiciones muy conservadoras y distantes de lo que opina el país en temas como el matrimonio homosexual o el aborto.

Los casos son varios. Por ejemplo, al Arzobispo primado de México, el Cardenal Norberto Rivera Carrera, se le pudo ver junto al magnate Carlos Slim Helú y otros grandes empresarios del país en Galicia, España, en agosto de 2013, donde ofició una misa y pasó unos días de vacaciones.

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NEW YORK
WIVB

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — A spokeswoman for Sen. Tim Kennedy says the State Education Department is investigating two alleged cases of abuse on Buffalo school buses.

In a letter to State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia, Kennedy says a 6-year-old boy was allegedly abused by a 12-year-old on the bus in December.

School officials with the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo are also investigating that incident.

The letter also mentioned a situation where a mother said her 9-year-old South Buffalo son was physically and sexually abused on a school bus.

Kennedy says he wants to see if bus aides are needed to prevent issues of abuse.

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INDIA
Times of India

PAL: A six year old girl was raped by the priest of a temple in Anuppur district of Madhya Pradesh.
The accused priest Ramkrishna Kewat, was arrested and presented before court on Tuesday.

The incident took place at Badra village under Bhalumada police station of the district on February 21.

The survivor’s parents went to market in Kotma town leaving the girl at home, it was then that the accused took the girl to the temple and raped her, said police.

When the parents of the girl returned they found that the girl is not well, she was taken to the local doctor but the girl could not tell what has happened, it was only after her condition deteriorated next day, she told her mother about the incident on February 22, police said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Harriet Sherwood Religion correspondent
@harrietsherwood
Tuesday 23 February 2016

The Church of England has appointed an independent panel to review its handling of the case of Peter Ball, the former bishop of Lewes and Gloucester who was jailed for sex abuse offences, and to help it “learn from its errors”.

The review, which will report to the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, within a year, is to examine what information was in the church’s possession concerning Ball, and when; and whether the church’s response was appropriate and complied with the law.

Ball, 83, was sentenced last October to 32 months in prison for the grooming, sexual exploitation and abuse of 18 vulnerable young men between 1977 and 1992.

His trial at the Old Bailey heard that a string of senior establishment figures, including an unidentified member of the royal family, wrote letters in support of Ball while the police were investigating allegations of abuse. Following a caution for gross indecency in 1993, Paul resigned as bishop of Gloucester and lived in a rented cottage on the Prince of Wales’s Duchy of Cornwall estate. He was not prosecuted for more than 20 years.

On New Year’s Eve, the church released a cache of letters following a Freedom of Information request. One from the former archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, to the chief constable of Gloucester spoke of Ball’s “excruciating pain and spiritual torment” over the abuse allegations.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

By Colin Campbell
BBC South East home affairs correspondent

A victim of sexual abuse at the hands of a bishop has claimed a “deeply sinister, co-ordinated cover up” allowed him to escape justice.

Bishop Peter Ball, who was jailed last year for abusing young men between the 1970s and 1980s, was investigated by police in 1993 and given a caution.

He admitted to his defence team, which included a priest, that he had committed sexual offences.

Gloucestershire Police said a thorough investigation took place.

Documents seen by the BBC suggest Ball’s defence team sought to do a deal with the police to avoid the “scandal of a trial”.

Ball, who was previously Bishop of Lewes, promised to resign as Bishop of Gloucester and “immediately leave the country”, but instead continued to officiate as a priest in the Church of England until 2010.

Rev Graham Sawyer, one of the men abused by Ball said: “It looks like there was a deeply sinister, coordinated, but probably in the end rather inept attempt at a cover-up.”

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DEUTSCHLAND
Sexueller Missbrauch durch Angehörige der katholischen Kirche im Bistum Trier

[Is the Munster diocese made all right? No!]

Liebes Bistum Münster,
sehr geehrter Herr Dr. Kronenburg,

leider erhielt ich bisher noch keine Antwort auf die email, in der ich darum bat, mir mitzuteilen, wie Sie, Herr Kronenburg, die Begrifflichkeit “sexuell intendierte Handlung” definieren. Optimal wäre natürlich eine Quellenangabe, aus welcher hervorginge, dass dieser Begriff einheitlich definiert wird und nicht von einem bischöflichen Pressesprecher aus den weiten Feldern der Psychologie, Psychiatrie, Strafgerichtsbarkeit, Forensik etc. etc. bewusst irreführend und verharmlosend als Begründung für die Beurlaubung eines Priesters offiziell abgegeben wird.

Immerhin geht die Brisanz hinsichtlich der geäußerten Vorwürfe daraus hervor, dass zum einen sowohl die kirchenrechtliche Untersuchung innerhalb kürzester Zeit abgeschlossen wurde (fast schon rekordverdächtig!) als auch der Beschuldigte umgehend “beurlaubt” (!) und in ein Kloster gesandt wurde. Mit dem absurden Hinweis: “wo er niemandem schaden könne”. Ich erinnere Sie an dieser Stelle selbstverständlich gerne an die “causa Ver.”. Auch ihn sandte das Bistum Trier damals in ein Kloster. Leider. Ich erinnere Sie auch an die Flötenspielenden kleinen Mädchen, mit denen er im Kloster die Adventsfeier gestaltete. Ich hoffe, Sie erinnern sich auch und an die Schlagzeilen, die sich daraus ergaben. Soviel zu Ihrer Behauptung: “Niemanden schaden können”!

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BELGIEN
Flandern Info

[New oversight board against abuse in the Church]

Die katholische Kirche in Belgien wird einen Sonderausschuss einrichten. Dieser soll begutachten, ob jemand noch seine Priesterarbeit ausführen kann, wenn er des sexuellen Missbrauchs beschuldigt wird oder worden ist. Damit will die Kirche neuen Missbrauch verhindern.

1.000 Missbrauchsopfer haben sich in den vergangenen Jahren bei der Kirche oder bei einer anderen Stelle gemeldet. Häufig haben sie vor allem Anerkennung ihres Leids gesucht, sagt Manu Keirse. Er ist innerhalb der Kirche für die Aufnahme verantwortlich.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

[with document]

02/22/2016

Mid-February, the attached email was sent to parish representatives by the attorney representing the parish group. I received it via a circuitous route which I will not outline here. My reason for posting it is because it provides the clearest demonstration of the attitude with which the recently announced settlement has been received, as well as an important heads up regarding what to expect as the civil window opened by the Minnesota Child Victims Act expires. See the highlighted text below.

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ITALIA
IL Giorno

[Priest Mauro Inzoli is charged with abusing five boys.]

di PIERGIORGIO RUGGERI

Crema, 23 febbraio 2016 – Il giorno del giudizio, per don Mauro Inzoli, sarà il 9 marzo prossimo, quando la sua causa verrà discussa davanti a Letizia Platè, giudice delle udienze preliminari. E si parlerà di abusi sessuali su minori che il prete in Mercedes, come veniva chiamato, vista l’auto che utilizzava e che aveva ottenuto in regalo, avrebbe commesso dal 2004 al 2008. In totale, otto casi, ma un’altra quindicina è già andata in prescrizione. Secondo i bene informati gli avvocati di don Mauro, i fratelli Giarda, avrebbero chiesto informazioni sul patteggiamento, ripiegando poi sul rito abbreviato. Questo significa che in caso di condanna don Mauro può contare su uno sconto di pena di un terzo e, soprattutto, si potrà fare appello. Il che allunga i tempi processuali pericolosamente verso una prescrizione di tutti gli eventuali reati.

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