ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
7 News

Cardinal Pell has strongly denied all allegations he ‘sexually abused minors’ during his time as a priest in Ballarat and when he was Archbishop of Melbourne in an explosive new report.

According to the Herald Sun, Victoria police are investigating allegations Cardinal Pell sexually abused minors by “both grooming and opportunity’’.

The Cardinal released a statement on Friday evening stating that the allegations were intentionally damaging.

“The timing of these leaks is clearly designed to do maximum damage to the Cardinal and the Catholic Church and undermines the work of the Royal Commission.

“The allegations are without foundation and utterly false.”

The statement claims the information was leaked through the media in a way to purposefully ’embarrass’ the Cardinal.

“He strongly denies any wrongdoing. If the police wish to question him he will co-operate, as he has with each and every public inquiry.”

The Cardinal is now calling for a public inquiry to be conducted ‘in relation to the actions of those elements of the Victorian Police who are undermining the Royal Commission’s work’.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

CARDINAL George Pell has vehemently rejected allegations he sexually abused minors, after a Melbourne newspaper reported he has been under investigation.

The Herald Sun claims Victoria Police Sano taskforce has a collection of documents alleging Cardinal Pell committed “multiple offences” while he was a priest in Ballarat and also the Archbishop of Melbourne.

A statement issued from Cardinal Pell’s office states “the allegations are without foundation and utterly false”.

In the statement, the Catholic Church says the timing of the leaks is “clearly designed to do maximum damage to the Cardinal and the Catholic Church and undermine the work of the Royal Commission”.

The claims have not been raised with Cardinal Pell by police, but have instead come to his attention via media reports, it states.

The statement refers to the “Phillip Island allegations” which it says are “outrageous” and “clearly designed to embarrass the Cardinal”, despite being available on public record for nearly 15 years.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

By JENNY AWFORD FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Cardinal George Pell is being investigated over claims that he sexually abused and groomed minors, it has been reported.

An explosive Herald Sun report claimed Victoria Police is probing allegations about ‘multiple offences’ committed when the 74-year-old was a priest in Ballarat and Archbishop of Melbourne.
But Cardinal Pell has vehemently denied the allegations, saying they are ‘without foundation and utterly false’, according to a spokesman.

The report said a taskforce is investigating claims that Cardinal Pell sexually abused minors by ‘both grooming and opportunity’.

Detectives have reportedly been working on the investigation, which has involved interviewing ‘numerous’ alleged victims, over the past year.

Victoria Police told Daily Mail Australia they are aware of the report but ‘cannot comment on any cases in which an individual has been named’.

Cardinal Pell is due to give evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse in just over one week.

He is currently in Rome and claims he is too ill to fly to front the commission, but will testify via video-link from Rome.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Cardinal George Pell has vehemently denied allegations of abuse, in a statement issued in the wake of media reports that he is being investigated by Victoria Police.

In response to a Herald Sun report that a Victoria Police taskforce was investigating abuse allegations against him, Australia’s most high-profile Catholic said the allegations were “undetailed” and had not been raised with him.

A statement from the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney also said allegations of abuse that were raised 15 years ago were “without foundation and utterly false”.

Cardinal Pell, 74, is due to give evidence at the child sex abuse royal commission on February 29.

“The timing of these leaks is clearly designed to do maximum damage to the cardinal and the Catholic Church and undermines the work of the royal commission,” the statement read.

Cardinal Pell has called for a public inquiry into the leaking of the abuse claims to the media.

“It is outrageous that these allegations have been brought to the cardinal’s attention through a media leak,” the statement said.

Police said they would not comment on Taskforce SANO’s investigations, which look at historic sexual offending.

“Victoria Police will not provide a running commentary on these investigations as it would be inappropriate to do so,” it said in a statement.

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AUSTRALIA
New Zealand Herald

Australian cardinal George Pell is being investigated over claims that he sexually abused and groomed minors, it has been reported.

A Herald Sun report claimed Victorian police are looking into allegations about “multiple offences” committed when the 74-year-old was a priest in Ballarat and Archbishop of Melbourne.

But Pell has vehemently denied the allegations, saying they are “without foundation and utterly false”.

The report said a taskforce is investigating claims that the cardinal sexually abused minors by “both grooming and opportunity”.

Detectives have reportedly been working on the investigation, which has involved interviewing “numerous” alleged victims over the past year.

Victorian police told Daily Mail Australia they were aware of the report but “cannot comment on any cases in which an individual has been named”.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

Allegations that Cardinal George Pell molested minors while he was a priest and the Archbishop of Melbourne are “without foundation and utterly false”, the Catholic Church says.

The Herald Sun newspaper on Friday reported that Victoria Police Sano taskforce is investigating the Cardinal for allegedly committing “multiple offences” while he was a priest in Ballarat and also the Archbishop of Melbourne.

Cardinal Pell began work as a priest in Ballarat after being ordained in 1966 and was Archbishop of Melbourne from 1996 to 2001.

In a statement issued from Cardinal Pell’s office on Friday night, the church says it is “outrageous” that the “undetailed” and “utterly false” allegations were brought to the Cardinal’s attention via media leaks.

It calls for those who leaked confidential information to face a public inquiry for trying to “do maximum damage to the Cardinal and the Catholic Church and undermine the work of the Royal Commission”.

The church statement refers to “Phillip Island allegations” which have been on the public record for nearly 15 years.

Cardinal Pell was cleared of allegations he molested a boy at a summer camp on Phillip Island in 1961.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

February 19, 2016

Liam Mannix
Reporter

Cardinal George Pell has vehemently denied allegations that he sexually abused minors while a priest in Ballarat and as Archbishop of Melbourne.

The Herald Sun’s report on Friday evening claims Cardinal Pell is being investigated by Victoria Police’s Sano taskforce for committing multiple offences, by “both grooming and opportunity”.
The report claims police have spoken to “numerous” alleged victims as part of their year-long investigation.

Victoria Police declined to comment on the report.

In a statement released by the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, Cardinal Pell attacked the report and what he claimed was a leak from within Victoria Police which had been timed “to do maximum damage to the Cardinal and the Catholic Church”, and which undermined the work of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

“The allegations are without foundation and utterly false,” the Cardinal’s statement said.

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INDIA
Indian Express

Written by Shalini Langer | New Delhi | Updated: February 19, 2016

“How do you say no to God?” A victim of sexual abuse by a priest tells a team of investigative reporters, trying to explain why what happened happened.

However, God here stands for other things too — the authority, the system, the closed-knit city clique, and what happens when you go up against them.

Spotlight is based on Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning months-long investigation into sexual abuse by priests that went on for years with the complicit silence of the Catholic Church. By the end of the film, they have uncovered 70 such priests in Boston itself, and hundreds of victims.

McCarthy, who co-wrote the script with Josh Singer, knows the stark weight of that one sentence, and so attempts no embellishment. The film instead shines its light on the dark recesses where this truth hid.

It’s a gripping portrait of what happens when institutions decide they are bigger than the people who make them. It’s even a line the team of reporters hears, if not in so many words.

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INDIA
The Statesman

Film: Spotlight
Director: Tom McCarthy
Cast: Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Live Schreiber, John Slattery, Brian d’Arcy James, Stanley Tucci, Billy Crudup, Paul Guilfoyle, James Sheridan and Len Cariou
Rating: ****

Based on actual events that occurred in Boston, USA, Spotlight is an intense film that deals with investigative journalism. It is the 2003 Pulitzer Prize winning team’s fight against the system that stirred a hornet’s nest in the locality and the Roman Catholic Church.

The film gets its name from the section of The Boston Globe which specifically deals with exploratory stories. This section is handled by a four-member team headed by editor Walter Robinson, also known as Robby, reporters Michael Rezendes, Matt Carroll and Sacha Pfeiffer.

With the appointment of the new editor Marty Baron in July 2001, the Spotlight team is assigned to investigate allegations against a defrocked priest John Geoghan, who was accused of sexually abusing children in his parish in 1976.

It is during this investigation that the team realises that, torn between faith and knowledge of the crime, the issue is not a one-off case, but a plague that involves about 80 priests. Moreover what was more intriguing is that the people at the helm in the Archdiocese of Boston were aware of the malaise and were systematically brushing the cases under the carpet.

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FRANCE
euronews

By Valérie Gauriat

A group of former scouts have broken the silence about the abuse they went through decades ago. They want the highest authorities of the French clergy to face up to their responsibilities.

Victims speak out

Bertrand and Pierre Emmanuel had nothing in common. That was until they discovered a few weeks ago that the same memories had marked their childhood behind the walls of the same church in the suburbs of Lyon in east-central France.

“The priest who officiated here abused a lot of children, dozens and dozens in fact,” says Bertrand Virieux, one of the alleged victims

Several of the alleged victims spoke to euronews journalist Valerie Gauriat about the abuse:

“What shocked me the most was when he tried to put his tongue in my mouth. He stroked my genitals, I couldn’t avoid it,” recalls Pierre-Emmanuel Germain-Thill. “I wanted to run away, and at the same time, I didn’t know what to do, I was afraid that if I left that room, nobody would believe me.”

Bertrand Virieux: “I remember the smell of sweat, I remember contact with clothes. I remember his wandering hands under my shirt, which held me tightly against him.”

Didier Burdet: “He used to put his leg behind me to block me and he rubbed against me; I remember that very well, I still have the sensation of his genitals against me. He would say “tell me you love me”. And then he would say ‘you’re my little boy’, ‘it’s our secret, you musn’t tell anyone’+.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Melissa Davey
@MelissaLDavey
Friday 19 February 2016

Cardinal George Pell has strongly denied allegations of involvement in child sexual abuse, saying they are without foundation and utterly false after reports he is being investigated for “multiple offences” while serving in senior positions within the church in Australia.

Police would not comment on Friday night whether they are investigating Pell, who is Australia’s most senior Catholic and the head of the Vatican’s secretariat for the economy, over the allegations.

Pell has called for a public inquiry to be conducted into the Victorian police, saying the allegations were leaked to damage him.

News Corp Australia claims detectives from taskforce Sano have compiled a dossier containing allegations that Pell committed “multiple offences” when he was a priest in Ballarat, a town in the state’s west, and also when he was working with the archbishop of Melbourne.

Police also refused to answer general questions about whether they were investigating claims related to historical child sexual abuse related to the diocese of Ballarat or the archdiocese of Melbourne.

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INDIA
The Hindu

The Ernakulam rural police have arrested a Christian priest for allegedly sodomising at least five minors of a welfare hostel in Perumbavoor.

The accused has been identified as the 35-year-old John Philipose, a native of Pathanamthitta and manager of the Balagram Balamandir in Valayanchirangara near here. The incident came to light when a 14-year-old inmate explained the incident to his teachers during a counselling session. Following this, the school management approached the Child Line, who, in turn, lodged a police complaint. “Investigations revealed that the accused had been abusing and assaulting the inmates here for the last two years. In addition to boys, he is also suspected to have abused a couple of girl inmates here’’, said Honey K Das, sub-inspector of police.

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Catholic Philly

The following is an English-language translation of the responses of Pope Francis to news reporters’ questions during the papal flight back to Rome after the conclusion of his apostolic visit to Mexico, Feb. 17. The translation was provided Feb. 18 by Father Thomas Rosica, C.S.B., English language media attaché for the Holy See Press Office.

***
…

THE CHURCH AND PEDOPHILIA

Pedophilia in Mexico has very dangerous roots, very hurtful. The Maciel case left a strong inheritance, especially in the victims, who still feel unprotected. Some of them are still very religious, some continue priests. Did you at any moment consider meeting with the victims? What do you think about moving priests around when cases of pedophilia are detected?

First of all, a bishop who transfers a priest of a parish when a case of pedophilia is discovered is an unconscious man and the best thing he can do is to present his resignation. Is that clear?

Second, the Maciel case — here I allow myself to name the man who fought in moments when he had no strength to impose himself, until he managed to impose himself: Ratzinger [Applause from journalists]. Cardinal Ratzinger deserves an applause. He’s a man who as the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had all the documents, he had everything in his hands, he conducted all the investigations, and went on, went on, went on, until he couldn’t do more in the execution. But if you remember, 10 days before the death of St. John Paul II, in that Via Crucis of Good Friday, he told the whole church that there was a need to clean the dirt of the church, the filth. And in the Mass Pro-Eligendo Pontefice, even knowing that he was a candidate, he didn’t care to make-up [mask] his answer, he said exactly the same.

He was the brave one who helped so many open this door. I want to remember him because sometimes we forget about these hidden works that prepare the bases to uncover the pot.

Third, we’re doing plenty. With the Cardinal Secretary of State [Pietro Parolin], and with the group of nine cardinal advisors, after listening, I decided to name a third secretary adjunct for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to take care only of these cases, because the congregation can’t deal with all the cases that come.

Furthermore, an appeals tribunal has been constituted, headed by Monsignor Sicluna. It’s dealing with the cases of second instance where there are appeals. Because the first appeal is dealt with by the ‘feria quarta,’ that meets on Wednesdays. But if there’s an appeal, it goes back to first instance, and that’s not just. The second instance is also a legal matter, with defending lawyers. But we need to work faster, because we’re behind with the cases, because the [appeals] continue to appear.

The commission for the protection of minors is also working very well. It’s not strictly involved [locked] in cases of pedophilia, but [is] in the protection of minors. I spend a whole morning with six of them, two German, two British and two Irish victims of abuse [as minors]. And I also met with victims in Philadelphia. There one morning I had a meeting with the victims. So we’re working. But I thank God because the pot was uncovered, and we have to continue on this path. We need to be aware.

Lastly, I want to say that it’s [abuse is] a monstrosity, because a priest is consecrated to help a child come to God, and he eats him like in an ideological sacrifice, destroying him.

As regards Maciel, the congregation did various interventions and the leadership of the congregation has been restructured, they elected the General and two deputies. As for the councilors, the congregation elects two and the pope choses the other two

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INDIA
The New Indian Express

KOCHI: A 38-year-old Christian priest was arrested on charges of sexually harassing an inmate of a child home at Valayanchirangara near Perumbavoor.

The arrested has been identified as John Philipose, a native of Naranganam in Pathanamthitta. He has been serving as manager of the child home run by the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church at Valayanchirangara. According to Perumbavoor sub-inspector Honey K Das, the priest was taken into custody based on the statement given by the victim to Childline officials. According to the police, the incident came to light when the victim revealed the matter to the headmaster of the school where he is studying. Subsequently, the school authorities informed Childline officials. Later, a case was registered under various Sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. The accused was produced before the court, and was remanded.

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UNITED STATES
New York Daily News

BY LAURA BULT NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Updated: Thursday, February 18, 2016

Two women who are accusing an influential Christian preacher with ties to the Duggar family of sexual assault spoke out for the first time Thursday about their hellish years of forced labor and abuse in the cult-like organization.

Joy Simmons and Jennifer Spurlock are two of the many men and women who have made the horrifying accusations against Bill Gothard, who ran Institute in Basic Life Principles, saying they were deprived of an education, forced to work and were groped by the Christian leader.

“To have your education ripped from you and to have your childhood ripped from you, it’s extremely difficult. It’s just evil,” Spurlock, who spent three years as a minor at one of Gothard’s training centers, told the Daily News.

Gothard retired in 2014 as president from the IBLP after running the organization for 40 years when the sexual assault allegations first came to light.

The women are two of eight new plaintiffs who joined a lawsuit filed in DuPage County Court in Illinois against board members of the IBLP and Gothard, whose influence in the Evangelical Christian world was exemplified by his relationship with conservative politicians — Gothard was photographed with Huckabee at a campaign lunch during his 2008 presidential bid and former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue spoke at one of his conferences.

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Independent Catholic News (UK)

[Watch an edited film of the press conference here: YouTube]

Francis gave a lengthy press conference on the flight back from Mexico to Rome on Thursday, sharing thoughts on many subjects including pedophile priests, abortion, contraception, abortion, Mexico’s ‘disappeared ones’, the Church in Ukraine and the Zika virus.

Asked about immigration and the threats of US presidential candidate Donald Trump to build walls along the southern border, the Pope said he would not comment on the US elections but in added “a person who thinks only of building walls anywhere – rather than building bridges – is not a Christian.” He said he hadn’t heard exactly what Trump had said and would give him the benefit of the doubt.

Asked why he had not met with relatives of the 43 Mexican student teachers who went missing in Guerrero state in 2014, Pope Francis said he had spoken at length about the problems of assassinations by criminal gangs and drug traffickers. He said he was willing to meet with the relatives but there are many groups representing the ‘desaparecidos’ and there are also internal disputes among these groups.

Another Mexican journalist asked about the problem of child abuse and the legacy which Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaries, left in the country. Pope Francis said that a bishop who knowingly moves a priest accused of abuse from one parish to another is ‘irresponsible’ and should resign from his post. He also stressed how hard his predecessor Pope Benedict had worked over the past decade to tackle the problem and pointed to the various steps he has taken with his Council of Cardinals, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

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SBS

AAP

Pope Francis says any bishop who moves a suspected pedophile priest from parish to parish should resign.

Francis spoke about the church’s handling of sex abuse cases while flying home on Wednesday from Mexico, where victims of that country’s most notorious pedophile, the Reverend Marcial Maciel, are still coping with the trauma of his abuse.

“It’s a monstrosity,” Francis said of clerical abuse. “Because a priest is consecrated to bring a child to God. And if he eats him in a diabolical sacrifice, it destroys him.”

The role of bishops in the abuse scandal made headlines again recently after a French priest told a Vatican course for new bishops that they don’t have to report suspected abuse to police. His comments drew a swift correction from Francis’ top adviser, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who said bishops have an “ethical and moral” obligation to report suspected pedophiles to civil authorities.

“A bishop who changes parish (for a priest) when he detects pederasty is reckless and the best thing he can do is present his resignation,” Francis said. “Clear?”

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RHODE ISLAND
Durso Law

Thanks to the persistent efforts of Providence Journal reporter Karen Ziner, we know have a clear picture – a time-line, in fact – of Fr. Howard W. White’s history of sexual abuse. According to a law suit filed in West Virginia, which Karen Ziner uncovered, White, and the West Virginia Episcopal Diocese, were sued in 1996 by a man who says he was sexually abused, in 1969 when he was 11 years old. The plaintiff alleges the abuse occurred while White was acting as an Episcopal priest, and that the Diocese “systematically and clandestinely suppressed knowledge of [White’s] misconduct.”

In 1974, White was assigned to St. George’s School in Rhode Island. While there, he sexually abused at least two boys, one of whom reported his abuse to Headmaster Tony Zane. According to a letter written by him at that time, Zane sent White away, with money, good wishes and a suggestion to get some help. But Zane did not report him to RI social services, or to law enforcement personnel, despite a legal obligation to do so. Again, thanks to Karen Ziner, and her research, we know that there was a reporting law in effect in RI as early as 1969. Zane did, however, report the removal of White to Episcopal Bishop Seldon, who was assigned to St. George’s. We don’t know what the Bishop did, but we do know that White continued on to several later appointments within the Episcopal Church. None of the dioceses or parishes in which White served were ever told about his dismissal from St George’s because of sexual abuse.

In 1984, while White was assigned to the Grace Church, in Waynesville, NC, he abused a young girl who was a member of the parish. The North Carolina Diocese had to be aware of the 1996 West Virginia law suit, because another Episcopalian diocese was a defendant in the suit. The case resulted in a published opinion of the West Virginia Supreme Court, a document which is available nationally, and in that case the church was represented by a New York law firm. However, White continued to serve in the Grace Church parish until 2006. No one in that Diocese or parish ever took any steps to determine whether White had victimized anyone while he served there.

It is noteworthy what the church’s attorneys did in the 1996 case. They got the Court to dismiss it on a legal technicality: the statute of limitations. There was no attempt to deal with the merits of the abuse claim, and the church continued to appoint White to Episcopal parishes, regardless of his prior history.

There can be no doubt that Fr. White is a persistent abuser, a sick man who should never have had access to children. But these are the questions which now must be answered by the hierarchy of the Episcopal Church: did they take part in a series of active cover-ups, or were they simply oblivious of their obligations to protect the children within their care. The facts say that there is no third possibility.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

CARMEN DURSO
DURSO LAW
LAW OFFICE OF CARMEN L. DURSO
175 Federal Street, Suite 1425
Boston, MA 02110-2287
Tel: 617-728-9123 – Fax: 617-426-7972
carmen@dursolaw.com
www.dursolaw.com

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

Ballarat clergy abuse victims hope they can watch Cardinal George Pell as he gives testimony from Rome in the child abuse royal commission.

Cardinal Pell has offered to “meet with and listen to victims and express his ongoing support” after giving evidence at the child abuse royal commission via videolink in Rome.

David Ridsdale, a member of the Ballarat Child Abuse Survivors group that wants to go to Rome to hear the evidence, says a meeting with the cardinal would be pleasant.

But he said he knew no survivor who had labelled any dealing with Cardinal Pell or the Church-instigated Melbourne Response “a positive experience”.

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Los Angeles Times

Tracy Wilkinson

After ending a dramatic tour of Mexico, Pope Francis on Thursday seemed to open the door for limited use of artificial contraception, long prohibited by the Roman Catholic Church, to prevent pregnancies at risk from the disastrous, fast-spreading Zika virus.

Speaking to reporters aboard his flight from Mexico’s Ciudad Juarez to Rome, Francis was asked if a “lesser evil” — abortion or contraception — could be permitted to prevent the disease from harming a fetus. Researchers believe Zika may be linked to serious birth defects, such as debilitating under-formation of the brain, and hundreds of cases have been reported in Latin America.

Under no circumstances, Francis said, should abortion be considered a “lesser evil,” and he said the procedure should be avoided at all cost. “It is a crime, [killing] one person to save another,” he said. “That is something that the Mafia does … an absolute evil.”

However, preventing a pregnancy that was in danger of being exposed to Zika might be allowable, he said, but only if it would most certainly prevent a pregnancy at risk.

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COPE (Espana)

[The pope said he has zero tolerance for sexual abuse and said bishops who transfer pedophile priests from parish to parish should resign.]

Ante patologías como el abuso sexual de menores por parte de sacerdotes, el Papa ha querido ser muy tajante ante los periodistas en su viaje de vuelta a Roma, tras su visita a México: “Tolerancia cero”.

«Un obispo que cambia a un sacerdote abusador de parroquia es un insensato, y lo mejor que puede hacer es presentar la renuncia. ¿Está claro?”, preguntaba el Papa a los periodistas. El Papa ha querido acordarse del cardenal Ratzinger cuando le han preguntado. “Fue valiente para abrir esta puerta. Preparó los cimientos para destapar la olla”, ha relatado. “Si ustedes se acuerdan, diez días antes de morir Juan Pablo II, aquel Vía Crucis del Viernes Santo le dijo a toda la Iglesia que había que limpiar las porquerías de la Iglesia”, añadía el Papa.

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COLORADO
The Eagle

DENVER (AP) — A bill to double Colorado’s statute of limitations on sexual assaults from 10 years to 20 years has won initial approval in the state House.

One more vote sends the bill to the Senate.

Two Colorado women who claim Bill Cosby assaulted them decades ago testified recently that the bill would empower traumatized victims by giving them more time to come forward.

The House rejected an attempt by Democratic sponsor Rep. Rhonda Fields to add auxiliary crimes to the extension, such as a robbery that might accompany an assault. The House did not reject the idea, but members decided the idea was too broad for a short floor debate.

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The Australian

FRANCIS X. ROCCA
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
FEBRUARY 19, 2016

Pope Francis said the use of contraception could be justified in regions hit by the Zika virus, a stance that could reignite a debate over the church’s prohibition of the use of condoms to stop the spread of the AIDS virus.

The Pope also criticised Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as “not Christian” for his immigration stance, and broke with his predecessors by suggesting that Catholic politicians are free to vote for same-sex marriage and civil unions.

The pope spoke during an overnight flight Wednesday back to Rome following an intense, six-day trip to Cuba and Mexico that saw him hold a historic meeting with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, blast corruption and exploitation of the poor and defend the plight of immigrants.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 503 0003 cell, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org)

Today, again, Francis says one thing and does the opposite. Bishops who move predator priests should resign, he told reporters. But just days ago, the AP reported that Vatican officials have lifted the suspension of a convicted predator priest. How does Francis reconcile his words and deeds? How can he justify such recklessness and callousness?

[Pioneer Press]
[Catholic Philly]
[Los Angeles Times]

Last year, Fr. Joseph Jeyapaul pled guilty to sexually abusing a Minnesota girl. This year, the Vatican has given him the green light to go back to work. In fact, the lifting of his suspension, through the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, secretly began months ago.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

Christy Gutowski
Chicago Tribune

More former followers of the DuPage County-based Institute in Basic Life Principles have joined a lawsuit alleging leaders of the conservative Christian ministry conspired to cover up decades of sexual abuse and other acts of harassment.

Sixteen women and two men in an amended 213-page complaint, filed late Wednesday, allege they were victims of sexual abuse, harassment or other inappropriate conduct while they were either participants, interns or employees of the institute several years ago.

Besides monetary damages, they have asked a DuPage County judge to bar IBLP leaders from alleged plans to liquidate resources estimated at more than $100 million while they close the institute’s headquarters near Oak Brook and relocate to Texas, the lawsuit states.

In October, five women sued the institute and its board of directors. An amended suit with five more accusers filed in January dropped the individual directors as defendants but added the institute’s controversial founder and former president, Bill Gothard.

In the latest filing, Gothard is accused by three women of molestation, while other plaintiffs allege he and IBLP officials conspired to conceal various acts of wrongful conduct involving others instead of reporting it to police and state child welfare officials, according to the litigation.

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ILLINOIS
Religion News Service

Lauren Markoe | February 18, 2016

(RNS) The sexual harassment lawsuit against Bill Gothard, whose ministry preached the subordination of women to men, has grown again.

Now 18 people — 16 women and two men — are suing the 81-year-old founder of the Institute in Basic Life Principles, and the Oak Brook, Ill.-based institute itself, a once influential Christian ministry associated with the Duggar family from TLC’s “19 Kids and Counting.” Thousands of conservative Christian families have relied on the IBLP’s home schooling curriculum.

“It’s very similar to the Bill Cosby situation,” said the plaintiffs’ lawyer, David Gibbs, referring to the sexual assault lawsuit against the comedian. “More and more victims keep coming forward telling the same story.”

The story told in the pleading filed Wednesday (Feb. 17) paints Gothard and other IBLP leaders as manipulative spiritual authorities, groping girls as young as 13 and persuading them to keep the abuse from their parents. The suit also alleges that Gothard raped one young woman. One of the men suing alleges harsh physical punishment and emotional abuse from IBLP leaders. The other alleges that he was molested by a male IBLP counselor, who is not Gothard.

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Spokesman-Review

By Nicole Winfield
Associated Press

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE – Pope Francis says any bishop who moves a suspected pedophile priest from parish to parish should resign.

Francis spoke about the church’s handling of sex abuse cases while flying home Wednesday from Mexico, where victims of that country’s most notorious pedophile, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, are still coping with the trauma of his abuse.

“It’s a monstrosity,” Francis said of clerical abuse. “Because a priest is consecrated to bring a child to God. And if he eats him in a diabolical sacrifice, it destroys him.”

The role of bishops in the abuse scandal made headlines again recently after a French priest told a Vatican course for new bishops that they don’t have to report suspected abuse to police. His comments drew a swift correction from Francis’ top adviser, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who said bishops have an “ethical and moral” obligation to report suspected pedophiles to civil authorities.

“A bishop who changes parish (for a priest) when he detects pederasty is reckless and the best thing he can do is present his resignation,” Francis said. “Clear?”

Francis also reaffirmed the Vatican’s oversight of Maciel’s Legion of Christ, saying it is continuing to help the scandal-plagued religious order reform and praising his predecessor for bringing the truth of Maciel’s misdeeds to light.

Maciel founded the Legion in Mexico in the 1940s, and it became one of the wealthiest and fastest-growing orders in the world. It is, however, emblematic of the Mexican church that Francis so acutely criticized during his trip, with close ties to Mexico’s rich and powerful who by and large send their children to Legion-run schools.

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RHODE ISLAND
Rhose Island Public Radio

By ELISABETH HARRISON & CHUCK HINMAN

In the aftermath of allegations of past sexual abuse of students by employees at St. George’s School in Middletown, the school has been accused of violating Rhode Island’s duty to report law for abused and neglected children.

But, as Rhode Island Public Radio’s Elisabeth Harrison first reported, this law is not as clear as it appears to be.

Harrison joins host Chuck Hinman for an update on the situation, and a look at the reporting law in Massachusetts.

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NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Feb. 18, 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)

A New Jersey Catholic cleric has been charged with having and watching child porn. We hope that

–anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered his crimes will call law enforcement immediately,

–students and staff at St. Joseph’s High School in Metuchen – along with Metuchen Bishop Paul Bootkoski – will aggressively see out other victims, witnesses and whistleblowers, and

–the cleric’s supervisors will put him in a remote, secure, independent treatment center so he’ll get therapy and be kept away from kids.

[NJ.com]

Br. John B. Spalding is accused of endangering the welfare of a child and possession and viewing of pornographic material, primarily child pornography. He’ll soon return to Rhode Island, where he’s from. That’s wrong. Hiss Catholic supervisors should insist he live far away in a professionally run facility so kids will be safer. Why let him live among unsuspecting families and vulnerable children?

We urge Rhode Island Bishop Thomas Tobin to object to this move and warn his flock about Br. Spalding. And we hope that anyone who has knowledge or suspicions about Br. Spalding or other abusive clerics – in New Jersey or Rhode Island – will summon the strength to call police and prosecutors so that the innocent can be protected and the wounded can be healed and more clergy sex crimes and cover ups can be stopped.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Sue Epstein | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on February 18, 2016

NEW BRUNSWICK — A brother who taught at St. Joseph’s High School in Metuchen surrendered Thursday morning on charges he possessed and viewed child pornography on his computer.

John B. Spalding, 74, surrendered to Superior Court Judge Alberto Rivas in New Brunswick on charges of endangering the welfare of a child and possession and viewing of pornographic material, primarily child pornography.

Spalding’s attorney, William Fetky of New Brunswick, entered not guilty pleas for his client at the brief hearing.

Two men have been arrested and charged with illegally disposing a corpse, the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office announced.

Fetky told the judge his client would post his $75,000 bail and then return to his home in Rhode Island, where he comes from.

Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Sheree Pitchford said Spaulding is charged with downloading and viewing the material on his computer, which he maintained at the school on June 21, 2015.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

Dan Campana
Aurora Beacon-News

The Rev. Alfredo Pedraza Arias, who was previously affiliated with two Aurora-area parishes and accused of sexually abusing two children, made his first formal court appearance Thursday after posting bond.

Arias, 49, who is listed with a High Street address in Aurora, was charged Feb. 10 with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving children under the age of 13 between January 2009 and November 2014. Prosecutors allege Arias fondled the children at Sacred Heart Church in Aurora, as well as one of the youth’s homes.

Arias has been free on $50,000 bail since posting bond Feb. 13, two days after authorities arrested him in Rockford on a warrant. As part of his release from jail, Arias is prohibited from having contact with anyone under the age of 18 or the two children referenced in the charges. He also was required to surrender his passport.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By ANTHONY JOSEPH FOR MAILONLINE

An Oxford-educated pastor who preached about abstinence raped two teenage girls after grooming hundreds of children online.

Timothy Storey, 35, sexually assaulted the churchgoers of St Michael’s Church in Belgravia, London.

The former theology student at Wycliffe Hall began his grooming by sending the girls flattering messages on Facebook.

One of his victims, who was raped twice, was so under his control she described him as ‘more influential than God’.

Both had complained to the Church of England about Storey, but the allegations were ‘brushed aside’, Woolwich Crown Court heard.

Storey claimed the girls had given their consent but today he has been convicted of three rape charges and one count of sexual assault.

The first victim, now 25, met the children’s pastor when she joined the church in 2002.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

Clifford Ward
Chicago Tribune

The case of a Catholic priest convicted of gambling away $300,000 of parish funds remains in limbo after DuPage County prosecutors Thursday asked for a hearing to revoke his probation.

The Rev. John Regan will face an April 14 hearing on the revocation, which prosecutors said was based on Regan’s failure to completely repay the money he took from St. Walter Parish in Roselle.

The priest appeared in court briefly Thursday before Judge John Kinsella, who had sentenced Regan in 2011 to four years of probation, as well as some jail time and time in the county work-release program. The judge also ordered Regan to work a menial job to begin repaying the money.

The priest has satisfied his probation requirements — his attorney, Jack Donahue, said Thursday that Regan had been “religious” about meeting his obligations — but still owes $272,000 to the Diocese of Joliet.

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POLSKA
Dziennik Schodni

[Survivors in Poland want a more severe punishment for the priest from Kalinówki who will go to prison for child molestation. In October of last year the District Court in Zamosc sentenced the priest to two years imprisonment, suspended for five years probation, 3 thousand. zł fine and banned for life from working with children.]

Trzy lata spędzi w więzieniu Stanisław G., były proboszcz parafii w Kalinówce w powiecie zamojskim. Pracował także jako katecheta w szkole w Sulmicach.

Dwa lata temu do prokuratury zgłosiła się matka 10-letniej dziewczynki, którą ksiądz G. uczył religii i przygotowywał do komunii. Powiedziała, że jej dziecko było przez kapłana molestowane. Kiedy prokuratorzy zaczęli przesłuchiwać innych rodziców okazało się, że jest jeszcze czworo innych poszkodowanych dzieci.

Jednej z dziewczynek ksiądz miał wkładać ręce pod majtki i dotykać pośladków. Innej dotykał piersi. Do molestowania dochodziło zarówno w szkole, jak i w kościele. Wiarygodność dzieci potwierdzili rozmawiający z nimi biegli psychologowie.

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PUERTO RICO
Fox News

February 17, 2016 Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Police in Puerto Rico say a former Roman Catholic priest faces new abuse charges.

They said Wednesday that 65-year-old Floyd McCoy is accused of lewd acts involving a 19-year-old man in a case from mid-2014. They did not provide any details except to say he will appear in court March 7.

McCoy already faces similar charges in another case from 2013 and 2014 that allegedly involves an underage boy. Police said he is wearing an ankle monitor as a result of that case.

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MEXICO
Vanguardia

[After seeing the movie Spotlight, Mr. Rodriguez said Mexico has not done enough to expose pedophile priests and said the media rather than investigating abuse reproduces all statements from the church.]

RAÚL RODRÍGUEZ

OPINIÓN Jueves, Febrero 18, 2016

La noche del domingo pasado, ya con el Papa en México y satisfecho con el regaño que propinó a la jerarquía católica y la profundidad de su elocuente oratoria, vi en el cine “Spotligth”, traducida aquí “En primera plana”.

El filme cuenta cómo la unidad de investigación del periódico The Boston Globe, llamada “Spotligth”, documentó las maniobras de la Iglesia Católica de Massachusetts para ocultar y encubrir un sin número de abusos sexuales perpetrados por medio centenar de sacerdotes, un excelente trabajo periodístico con que el Globe ganó el Premio Pulitzer en 2003.

La película me sacudió la cabeza: 1. Por el abandono a que hemos echado los medios mexicanos al riguroso periodismo de investigación y su falta de voluntad o agallas para enfrentar al poder, salvo contadísimas excepciones; y 2. Por el escabroso asunto de la pedofilia de sacerdotes católicos que en México tiene su más vergonzosa expresión en el fundador de los Legionarios de Cristo, Marcial Maciel, escándalo revelado por La Jornada, del que después hicieron eco en televisión Carmen Aristegui y Ciro Gómez Leyva.

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MEXICO
Sin Embargo

[SLP: Outrage at the impunity of pedophile priests.]

Sometidos en su infancia por el padre Eduardo Córdova y otros religiosos potosinos, aún siguen sufriendo un gran daño emocional; para la iglesia, el de su ex apoderado jurídico es ya un asunto juzgado.

Por Leonardo Vázquez

San Luis Potosí, 9 de febrero (SinEmbargo/ Pulso).– Eran niños y fueron abusados sexualmente por sacerdotes, al día de hoy, siendo adultos hay quienes continúan bajo la amenaza de sus agresores, sin lograr superar el daño emocional que sufrieron, de los responsables ninguno ha sido sentenciado, todos están libres, unos absueltos, otros prófugos.

En abril de 2014 se hizo público el primero de los casos, el que implica a Eduardo Córdova Bautista, expulsado del ministerio católico al mes siguiente por decisión del Vaticano, a lo largo de ese año surgió una serie de casos de pederastia y abuso sexual que en total implicó a seis sacerdotes, todos sin castigo hasta el día de hoy.

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MEXICO
Sin Embargo

[Mexico City, February 19 – Priego Juan Jesus Rivera, spokesman for the Archdiocese of San Luis Potosi, said that the institution has no guilt that priests accused of abusing minors are fugitives from justice as in the case of Eduardo Cordova and Noé Bautista Trujillo.]

El vocero de la Arquidiócesis de San Luis Potosí dijo que la Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado (PGJE) es “testigo” de la cooperación de la Arquidiócesis potosina, encabezada por Jesús Carlos Cabrero Romero, porque, aseguró, han brindado las informaciones pertinentes.

Por Ruben Pacheco

Ciudad de México, 19 de febrero (SinEmbargo/Pulso).– Juan Jesús Priego Rivera, vocero de la Arquidiócesis de San Luis Potosí, dijo que esa institución no es culpable de que curas acusados de abusar de menores sean prófugos de la justicia potosina, como es el caso de Eduardo Córdova Bautista y Noé Trujillo.

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MEXICO
Busca Noticias

En el caso del religioso Eduardo Córdova, implicado en al menos 100 casos de abuso sexual en San Luis Potosí en 2014, no hay avances, hay trabas por parte de la Iglesia católica, a la que las víctimas acusan de encubrimiento, y de la PGJE por no integrar las averiguaciones.

Por Oliver Guevara

Ciudad de México, 14 de febrero (SinEmbargo/Pulso).- Martín Faz Mora, activista y asesor legal de víctimas de abuso sexual cometido por el religioso católico Eduardo Córdova Bautista, dijo que la Procuraduría General de Justicia de San Luis Potosí (PGJE) no da el debido seguimiento a las denuncias aunque estén ”súper ratificadas” y que incluso “encontramos trabas”.

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FRANCE
BFM TV

[In late January, Father Bernard Peyrat was indicted because he is suspected of at least four sexual assaults on minors but the father of an alleged victims, his daughter, said the church knew about the alleged misconduct for years.]

18/02/2016

TEMOIGNAGES RMC – Fin janvier, le père Bernard Peyrat a été mis en examen car il est soupçonné d’au moins quatre agressions sexuelles perpétrées sur des scouts mineurs au milieu des années 80. Mais depuis le début des années 90 et jusqu’à l’été 2015, il aurait continué à agir selon le témoignage de ce père de famille qui fait part des gestes déplacés qu’a eu le prêtre, en 2003, sur sa fille.

Des années 1970 au début des années 1990, le père Bernard Preynat, septuagénaire originaire de la Loire, a dirigé le groupe de scouts Saint-Luc, à Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, dans la banlieue ouest de Lyon. Depuis la fin janvier, ce prêtre est mis en examen pour quatre agressions sexuelles perpétrées sur des ex-membres de ce groupe indépendant à l’époque et affilié depuis aux scouts d’Europe. Il a également été placé sous le statut de témoin assisté pour trois autres agressions qu’il a reconnu pendant sa garde à vue. Mais depuis le début des années 90 et jusqu’à l’été 2015, le père Preynat a continué d’exercer, près de Roanne dans la Loire, au contact d’enfants.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Erzbistum Berlin

[Until December 31, 2015 the Berlin archdiocese reported 49 allegations of sexual abuse or sexual assault on minors and adults by clerics. Eight new allegations were made in 2015. The allegations date back to 1947.]

18. Februar 2016 Stefan Förner Pressesprecher

Meldungen über Vorwürfe sexuellen Missbrauchs und sexueller Übergriffe an Minderjährigen und erwachsenen Schutzbefohlenen durch Kleriker, Ordensangehörige oder andere Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter im kirchlichen Dienst

Bis zum 31. Dezember 2015 gab es im Erzbistum Berlin 49 Meldungen über Vorwürfe sexuellen Missbrauchs oder sexueller Übergriffe an Minderjährigen und erwachsenen Schutzbefohlenen durch Kleriker, vom Erzbischof beauftragte Ordensangehörige und andere Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter im kirchlichen Dienst. Im Jahr 2015 wurden acht neue Vorwürfe erhoben. Insgesamt gehen die Vorwürfe bis auf das Jahr 1947 zurück, die Beschuldigten sind zum Teil verstorben. Seit dem Jahr 2002 werden Verdachtsfälle sexuellen Missbrauchs systematisch erfasst. In diesem Zwischenbericht werden erstmals auch die Vorwürfe sexueller Übergriffe mit gezählt.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Big Trial

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2016

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

He was a Catholic priest with a secret life, posing on the Internet as “Katie Caponetti,” a teenage girl.

The priest would email a photo of a girl’s naked torso, or a video of a naked girl masturbating, and claim it was “Katie.” Then he would ask the girls he met online to send back naked photos and videos of themselves.

“A predator” who sexually exploited both teenage girls and boys was how Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Rotella described Father Mark Haynes in federal court today. “He surrounded himself with children,” the prosecutor said. Throughout his 30-year career as a priest, he used his position to “sexually exploit and sexually abuse children.”

Defense Attorney Alan J. Tauber had a more entertaining explanation. He described the 56-year-old priest as a “woman occupying a man’s body.” According to Tauber, Father Haynes was a troubled soul who, while demonstrating an “extraordinary record of community service” as a priest at eight different parishes in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, never came to terms with his own “gender identity issues.”

In the end, U.S. District Court Judge R. Barclay Surrick decided that although there was “no question he did a number of good things” as a priest, Father Haynes’s crimes against children were so “outrageous” that his victims would spend “the rest of their lives” trying to recover. So the judge gave the priest a 20 year sentence, a $15,000 fine, and, upon his release, 10 years of supervised probation.

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SCOTLAND
STV

A former priest has been reported to prosecutors over historic child sex abuse allegations.

Father Paul Moore, 80, from Kilmarnock was arrested in December and has now been reported for the procurator fiscal over the claims.

Police are investigating the allegations and prosecutors say they are considering the case. The incidents are alleged to have occurred over more than 20 years from 1975 to 1996

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Victoria Weldon, Reporter

A retired catholic priest has been arrested in connection with a string of historic child sex abuse allegations.

Father Paul Moore, a former parish priest in Ayrshire, is now facing possible charges of “lewd and libidinous behaviour” towards children, according to police.

The 80-year-old was the priest at the centre of allegations involving children made by a fellow Ayrshire clergyman Patrick Lawson, who was forcibly removed from his post by the church in 2013.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

Attorney-General George Brandis says people should respect a decision by the child abuse royal commission to allow Cardinal George Pell to give evidence by videolink.

Speaking in Washington DC where he is attending the Five Country Ministerial meeting, Senator Brandis said it is not unusual to give evidence by video conference.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Cardinal George Pell has hit back at criticism of his inability to return to Australia to appear in person before the child sex abuse royal commission, following a controversial song by comedian Tim Minchin.

Australia’s most high-profile Catholic is prepared to “meet with and listen to victims and express his ongoing support” after his testimony in Rome, a statement from his office said, adding that the past few days had seen a lot of “incorrect information” surface.

“Cardinal Pell has always helped victims, listened to them and considered himself their ally,” the statement said.

“As an archbishop for almost 20 years he has led from the front to put an end to cover-ups, to protect vulnerable people and to try to bring justice to victims.”

Anthony Foster, whose two daughters, Emma and Kate, were raped by their parish priest in suburban Melbourne, said he did speak to Cardinal Pell briefly after his testimony in New South Wales.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

[with video]

Ballarat clergy abuse victims say they know of no survivors who have come out better from a meeting with Cardinal George Pell.

Cardinal Pell has offered to “meet with and listen to victims and express his ongoing support” after giving evidence at the child abuse royal commission via videolink in Rome.

The statement from the cardinal’s office on Thursday says he has always helped victims, listened to them and considered himself their ally.

David Ridsdale, a member of the Ballarat Child Abuse Survivors group that wants to go to Rome to hear the evidence, says a meeting with the cardinal would be pleasant.

But he said he knew no survivor who had labelled any dealing with Cardinal Pell or the Church-instigated Melbourne Response “a positive experience”.

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AUSTRALIA
New York Times

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSFEB. 17, 2016

CANBERRA, Australia — Pope Francis’ finance minister said Thursday that he is prepared to meet in Rome with Australian victims of clergy sex abuse who are angry the cardinal won’t travel to Australia to testify at a government inquiry.

Cardinal George Pell, whom the pope placed in charge of the Vatican’s finances in 2014, is to testify for a third time at Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

But the inquiry ruled two weeks ago that the 74-year-old cleric could give evidence by video from Rome on Feb. 29 because he was too ill to fly to Australia.

Many victims of sex abuse are angry that Australia’s highest-ranking Roman Catholic will not give evidence in person. Australian musician and comedian Tim Minchin has recorded a hit song in which he insults Pell and urges him to return to Australia.

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AUSTRALIA
Independent Australia

Tess Lawrence 18 February 2016,

Lawyers for Catholic Church sex abuse victims are applying to the Royal Commission for leave for their clients to appear with Cardinal Pell in Rome. Contributing editor-at-large Tess Lawrence reports.

NEWS FLASH!

IN A SENSATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, lawyers representing Catholic Church sex abuse victims are applying to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, seeking leave to appear with Cardinal Pell in Rome.

Independent Australia has learned that Ballarat based Ingrid Irwin, of Irwin & Irwin Law, instructing solicitor for victims Andrew Collins and Stephen Woods and barrister Jim Shaw, of Gordon & Jackson, William Crocket Chambers are two lawyers seeking leave to appear.

Others lawyers are also expected to seek leave.

If leave is granted, it would go some way to mitigate what is publicly perceived to be a judicial and psychological imbalance of power, and unfair concession granted to the domineering Cardinal Pell.

On ill-health grounds Pell controversially sought and was granted the right to give testimony from Rome by video link, and thus has avoided returning to Australia and confronting victims in person in the Royal Commission’s Ballarat sittings.

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CALIFORNIA
Thousand Oaks Acorn

Directive from French monsignor deemed ‘opinion’

By Stephanie Bertholdo
sbertholdo@theacorn.com

News reports claiming that new Vatican guidelines excluding bishops from being liable for reporting clerical child abuse cases to the police are being refuted by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and by some local churches.

According to recent media reports French monsignor Tony Anatrella told newly appointed bishops that they are not required to report abuse to law officials.

The duty, he said, is the responsibility of the victims and their families. Anatrella’s comments were reported in Catholic news sites and magazines, including Newsweek.

However, not every Catholic district agrees.

Adrian Marquez Alarcon, director of media relations for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, said the Archdiocese “has a zero tolerance policy and reports incidents of abuse, whether by clergy, staff, volunteers or others to law enforcement and collaborates actively with law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute abuse.”

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AUSTRALIA
The New Daily

Feb 18, 2016

ANTHONY COLANGELO Reporter

Controversial Vatican finance chief Cardinal George Pell has responded to criticism of his refusal to face a child abuse royal commission in person.

The commission recently granted Cardinal Pell’s request, via his lawyers, to give evidence from Rome by video link on health grounds, dismaying victim advocates.

“It is ultimately a matter for the Royal Commission to determine the precise arrangements for the provision of evidence by the Cardinal in Rome,” Cardinal Pell’s office said in a statement on Thursday.

Cardinal Pell also indicated he would be prepared to “meet with and listen to victims and express his ongoing support” after giving testimony in Rome.

The statement explained he had appeared twice before the royal commission and once before a Victorian Parliamentary Enquiry previously.

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AUSTRALIA
The Morning Bulletin

Sherele Moody | 18th Feb 2016

CLERGY sex abuse victims have responded to Cardinal George Pell’s decision to “meet with and listen to” them.

The controversial Australian Catholic leader’s office released a statement early on Thursday following wide-spread anger over his refusal to return home to face victims of paedophile priests like the notorious Gerald Francis Ridsdale.

The statement also follows the release on Tuesday of comedian Tim Minchen’s parody song urging Cardinal Pell to appear in person at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse later this month.

The song, Come Home (Cardinal Pell), is sitting at number one on the iTunes music chart.

“The past few days has seen a great deal of incorrect information relating to Cardinal George Pell and his upcoming royal commission appearance,” the statement from the cardinal’s office reads.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Melissa Davey
@MelissaLDavey
Wednesday 17 February 2016

Survivors of child sexual abuse have welcomed news that Australia’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, will meet them in Rome, but say their priority is still seeing him give evidence before a royal commission.

David Ridsdale, who is the nephew and victim of notorious paedophile priest Gerald Francis Ridsdale, is one of those co-ordinating a group of child sex abuse survivors and their supporters to fly to Rome following the success of a fundraising campaign which has raised more than $170,000.

But Ridsdale said the purpose of flying there was to watch Pell give evidence before Australia’s royal commission into institutional responses into child sexual abuse, not to have a separate, private meeting with him.

“We will happily meet with him,” Ridsdale said.

“But this will be a very gruelling, triggering trip for everyone. We are putting ourselves through that to be in the same room as him and to see him be part of the royal commission’s process, which we have all been involved with. We can always meet him at a later date, but for me, there is little point going to Rome if we can’t see him give evidence, and that’s our priority.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

By Melissa Cunningham
Feb. 18, 2016

St Patrick’s College principal John Crowley has shed many silent tears for past students at previous Royal Commission hearings into child sexual abuse.

They were tears for boys who were let down by a systematic failure of children in Ballarat which spanned decades.

Mr Crowley is bracing for another difficult week with the distressing history of the school set to be put under the spotlight again. A hearing into allegations of sexual abuse concerning the Christian Brothers begins at the Ballarat Magistrates Court on Monday.

Mr Crowley said for many survivors of sexual abuse, the Royal Commission hearings were an extremely difficult time. He said the school’s number one priority was to support and listen to victims.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Intelligencer

By Christian Menno, staff writer

A former priest with ties to Bucks and Montgomery counties was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to 20 years in prison for child sexual abuse and exploitation.

Mark Haynes, 56, of West Chester, pleaded guilty June 8 to a variety of charges including using the internet to entice a minor to engage in sexual conduct, transferring of obscene material to a minor and distribution and possession of child pornography.

Haynes was ordained in 1985 and served in a number of area pastoral assignments including Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Doylestown (1989-1991), Archbishop Wood High School in Warminster (1990-1991), Saint John of the Cross in Roslyn (1991-1994) and Our Lady of Good Counsel in Upper Southampton (1994-2000), according to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

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RHODE ISLAND/WEST VIRGINIA
Providence Journal

By Karen Lee Ziner
Journal Staff Writer Posted Feb. 17, 2016

An Episcopal priest embroiled in a sex-abuse scandal at the elite St. George’s School in Middletown was sued 20 years ago by a West Virginia man who said the Rev. Howard W. White Jr. sexually molested him when he was approximately 11 years old.

The suit also asserts that The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of West Virginia (“the Diocese”) “conspired” to cover up White’s alleged misconduct to avoid “public knowledge, criminal prosecution, disgrace and scandal.”

In his 1996 complaint, Richard Albright stated that the Diocese “knew, or should have known” of White’s “alleged proclivity for deviant sexual behavior, but failed to alert its parishioners of the potential danger to their children,” and was vicariously liable for White’s actions.

Instead, the Diocese kept appointing White to various assignments “within the Diocese of West Virginia and elsewhere, without reporting the criminal sexual misconduct to law enforcement authorities.” White, the suit alleged, “is and was unfit” to be a priest, and “is and was a severe danger to persons who were his potential prey.”
The Journal located the documents this week.

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UNITED STATES
Boston Globe

By Peter Keough GLOBE CORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY 18, 2016

“The Club,” Chilean director Pablo Larraín’s oblique allegory about clerical criminality in the Roman Catholic Church, begins with a familiar quote from Genesis 1:4: “God saw that the light was good and he separated the light from the darkness.” Enigmatic, atmospheric, and seductive, the film unfortunately sheds little light on subjects that have too long been hidden in the dark.

The title refers to a group of four priests in a house overlooking the ocean in a Chilean village. At certain angles, the house looks like it belongs on a horror movie poster. Adding to the unwholesome atmosphere, each priest has the disreputable look of a bishop in Luis Buñuel films. As it turns out, each represents a different vice, of which the sexual abuse of minors is only the most obvious. And then there’s Sister Mónica (Antonia Zegers), the creepiest nun on screen since Vanessa Redgrave in “The Devils” (1971), who oversees the inmates and does housework.

Accustomed to isolation, the seedy group unexpectedly receives three visitors in as many days. The first, a new resident, doesn’t hang around very long. The second is a bearded young tramp who calls himself Sandokan (Roberto Farías); he stands outside their door and shouts obscene and terrible accusations. And the third, Father Garcia (Marcelo Alonso), comes from the Church hierarchy with an assignment to investigate the retreat and the clerics who live there.

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AUSTRALIA
BBC News

A provocative song and a public drive to raise funds to send child sex abuse victims to the Vatican have sparked fresh controversy around Australia’s most senior Catholic, writes Trevor Marshallsea.

In 2014, Cardinal George Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney, was summoned to Rome to become chief of the Vatican’s finances, a new position created by Pope Francis in the wake of scandals at the Vatican Bank.

But Cardinal Pell left another scandal behind him, and the anger over widespread sexual abuse of children by members of the Catholic clergy continues to rage in Australia.

The cardinal was once again under fire this week over his refusal, on medical grounds, to return home to front the Royal Commission which is investigating how various institutions responded to the child abuse allegations.

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CHICAGO (IL)
CBS Chicago

[with video]

By Dana Kozlov

(CBS) — Confusion, anger and depression. One Chicago man battled all of these emotions for more than ten years before he finally told someone he had been molested by former Catholic priest, Daniel McCormack.

The man, who we are not identifying, speaks out for the first time about the abuse and his lawsuit against McCormack and the Archdiocese of Chicago

“I figured it was time to get some help to tell my dark secret,” he said.

The young man, who we’ll call John Doe, isn’t ready to reveal his identity. He still struggles to talk about what happened inside Saint Agatha’s School on Chicago’s West Side, when he was alone with former priest, Daniel McCormack.

“Hey, I thought this guy, he was okay, so I kind of stuck to him like glue,” he said.

John says he trusted McCormack, and “It ended up turning into sexual abuse.”

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INDIA
Live Mint

Uday Bhatia

There are many great films about journalists, but only a few excellent ones about journalism. It’s easy to see why: journalists, those deadline-battling, chain-smoking mythical beings, make for naturally exciting cinema. But the actual stuff of journalism —the late nights and false starts, the endless cups of coffee, the decidedly unglamorous pursuit of a source for a quote—is tougher to weld into movie magic.

Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight is that rare film that is first and foremost about journalism.

Methodically but stirringly, it tells us of the time in 2001 when the Boston Globe —more precisely, the investigative “Spotlight” team of Michael Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo), Walter Robinson (Michael Keaton), Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams) and Matt Carroll (Brian d’Arcy James)—stumbled upon, investigated and reported a story on the Boston Catholic Church shielding priests guilty of sexual abuse. It’s a film about the many things, big and small, mundane and pivotal, that go into reporting something of this magnitude. (Note that McCarthy played a journalist in the last season of The Wire, another forensic look at a newspaper office.)

We see the story’s genesis in a staff meeting, with the paper’s newly appointed editor, Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber), bringing up a column about a lawyer named Mitchell Garabedian (Stanley Tucci) who claims to have proof that the Archbishop of Boston knew of a particular priest who’d molested children but had done nothing about it. Baron asks Robinson, head of Spotlight, to follow up. The team speaks to Garabedian, then to some of the victims and church officials. As they continue to dig, they realize the cover-up is on a much larger scale than they or anyone else had imagined.

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UNITED STATES
PopZette

by Lawrence Meyers

A man exits prison, and his first stop is the apartment of a priest, whom he shoots in the head, splattering blood everywhere. Across the country, the man’s eldest son works as a “fixer,” operating beyond the boundaries of the law, beating stalkers with a baseball bat and cheating on his wife with a girl half his age. One of his brothers is an alcoholic and sexual anorexic, with the mind of a 12-year-old.

Welcome to the family of “Ray Donovan,” Showtime’s series about a Hollywood “fixer,” but whose subtext is about the long-ranging and devastating effects of sexual abuse at the hands of a priest. Every storyline is informed by the Donovan family’s grim past and, as such, elevates the drama and the societal issue far above the superficial treatment the same issue receives in the Oscar-nominated “Spotlight.”

“Spotlight” is a good film, with a solid script, and workmanlike performances from all involved. Yet it lacks any real exploration of the psychological and physical damage suffered by those who endured the abuse. The audience is provided a few scenes with victims, yet they are little more than generic stand-ins that exist more to push the plot forward than to provide any context or detail about life after abuse.

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INDIA
New Kerala

Film: “Spotlight”; Director: Tom McCarthy; Cast: Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Live Schreiber, John Slattery, Brian d’Arcy James, Stanley Tucci, Billy Crudup, Paul Guilfoyle, James Sheridan and Len Cariou; Rating: ****

Based on actual events that occurred in Boston, USA, “Spotlight” is an intense film that deals with investigative journalism. It is the 2003 Pulitzer Prize winning team’s fight against the system that stirred a hornet’s nest in the locality and the Roman Catholic Church.

The film gets its name from the section of The Boston Globe which specifically deals with exploratory stories. This section is handled by a four-member team headed by editor Walter Robinson, also known as Robby, reporters Michael Rezendes, Matt Carroll and Sacha Pfeiffer.

With the appointment of the new editor Marty Baron in July 2001, the Spotlight team is assigned to investigate allegations against a defrocked priest John Geoghan, who was accused of sexually abusing children in his parish in 1976.

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ROME/AUSTRALIA
Global Post

Agence France-Presse
Feb 17, 2016

Vatican finance chief George Pell Thursday said he was ready to meet with child sex abuse victims after an outcry over his decision not to appear in person at an Australian inquiry.

Pell, an Australian, was due at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in the town of Ballarat, northwest of Melbourne, later this month but will give evidence via video-link from Rome instead, citing illness.

He has always denied knowing of any child abuse occurring in Ballarat, where he was once based, including by paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale, who abused dozens of children over two decades.
The former Archbishop of Sydney’s decision to testify remotely sparked a crowdfunding campaign this week to send 15 victims to Rome to witness him giving evidence.

It has so far raised more than Aus$176,000 (US$126,000), easily surpassing the original Aus$55,000 target.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

February 18, 2016

Marissa Calligeros
Online reporter

Cardinal George Pell has responded to attacks on his refusal to travel to Australia to face the child abuse royal commission in person, including a provocative song penned by comedian Tim Minchin.

In a strongly-worded statement, Cardinal Pell said he considered himself an ally of abuse victims and was willing to meet with them, listen to them, and express his ongoing support.

“The past few days has seen a great deal of incorrect information relating to Cardinal George Pell and his upcoming royal commission appearance,” Cardinal Pell’s office said in a statement on Thursday.

“The Cardinal is anxious to present the facts without further delays.

“Cardinal Pell has always helped victims, listened to them and considered himself their ally. As an archbishop for almost 20 years, he has led from the front to put an end to cover ups, to protect vulnerable people and to try to bring justice to victims.”

The Cardinal has claimed he is too ill to travel to Australia to give evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

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AUSTRALIA/ROME
Huffington Post

By Eoin Blackwell

Cardinal George Pell is willing to meet with abuse survivors in Rome, following a crowdfunding campaign to send representatives to hear his testimony before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Survivors of abuse at Catholic institutions in Ballarat are hoping to attend the hearings in person, following a crowd funding campaign that raised more than $170,000 in three days, surpassing its aim of $55,000 on its first day.

Pell is expected to give evidence as part of the Commission’s inquires into how the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne and Catholic Church authorities in Ballarat responded to wide-spread abuse, and in early February it accepted medical evidence a long-haul flight posed risks to the Cardinal’s health.

“Cardinal Pell has always helped victims, listened to them and considered himself their ally,” Pell’s statement said.

“As an archbishop for almost 20 years he has led from the front to put an end to coverups, top protect vulnerable people and to try and bring justice to victims.

“As Cardinal Pell has done after earlier hearings, he is prepared to meet with and listen to victims and express his ongoing support.”

He said he was anxious to present all the facts without delay, and will cooperate with “whatever arrangements the Royal Commission determines”.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Comedian and singer-songwriter Tim Minchin has released a single, Come Home (Cardinal Pell), calling on George Pell to return to Australia to give evidence to the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse. In the song, which has been viewed hundreds of thousand of times, Minchin labels Australia’s most senior Catholic a ‘coward’ and a ‘pompous buffoon’. All proceeds from the song will go towards a campaign raising money to send child sexual abuse survivors and their supporters to Rome to see Pell give evidence via videolink on 29 February

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philly.com

by Jeremy Roebuck, STAFF WRITER.

By the time he was in high school, Mark Haynes felt called to devote his life to the Catholic priesthood.

But from a much earlier age, his lawyer said Wednesday, Haynes realized something else that set him apart – an unshakable feeling that by some accident of genetics he had been born a woman stuck in the body of a man.

Haynes’ therapist would later conclude the dissonance between his vocation and the condition he came to view as an affliction led him to an addiction to child pornography and a series of predatory sexual encounters with children that have now landed 56-year-old suspended prelate in prison.

But federal prosecutors balked at that explanation Wednesday as Haynes, most recently of SS. Simon and Jude Parish in Westtown, was sentenced to 20 years incarceration in a case as notable for the charges he will never face as those to which he pleaded guilty last year.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

By Tyron Butson

Australian Cardinal George Pell has hit back at his detractors, saying there has been a “great deal of incorrect information” peddled following his successful bid to remain in Rome during a royal commission in to child abuse.

The 74-year-old clergyman will appear via a video link from Rome after the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse accepted a doctor’s report stating he would risk serious heart complications if he flew to Australia to testify in person.

The commission will question Cardinal Pell over his knowledge of sexual abuse by priests in the Victorian Catholic diocese of Ballarat. He served as a priest in the diocese before becoming a Bishop in Melbourne.

But the Cardinal’s decision not to return to Australia has triggered the ire of abuse victims and the public.

Performer Tim Minchin even penned a scathing song, labelling the clergyman a “coward” and “scum” for not facing victims face to face. …

But Cardinal Pell’s office today released a statement saying he had “always helped victims, listened to them and considered himself their ally”.

“The past few days has seen a great deal of incorrect information relating to Cardinal George Pell and his upcoming Royal Commission appearance,” the statement read.

“As an archbishop for almost twenty years he has led from the front to put an end to cover ups, to protect vulnerable people and to try to bring justice to victims.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Fox 29

PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) Authorities announced on Wednesday a former priest was sentenced for child sexual abuse and exploitation.

Mark Haynes, 56, of West Chester, Pa., was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Authorities say Haynes, a former parochial Vicar at Saint Simon and Jude’s Church in West Chester, pleaded guilty on June 8, 2015 to using the Internet to entice a minor to engage in sexual conduct, transfer of obscene material to a minor, distribution of child pornography, possession of child pornography, and destruction or concealment of evidence. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge R. Barclay Surrick ordered 10 years of supervised release, a fine of $15,000, and a $700 special assessment

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Mercury

By Lucas Rodgers, lrodgers@21st-centurymedia.com, @LucasMRodgers on Twitter
POSTED: 02/17/16

PHILADELPHIA >> A former priest with ties to Montgomery and Chester counties was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in federal prison for child sexual abuse and exploitation.

Mark Haynes, 56, of West Chester ,was a parochial vicar at Sts. Simon and Jude Parish in Westtown for about a year, until the time of his arrest, in February 2015.

Haynes pleaded guilty on June 8, 2015 to using the Internet to entice a minor to engage in sexual conduct, transfer of obscene material to a minor, distribution of child pornography, possession of child pornography, and destruction or concealment of evidence.

In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge R. Barclay Surrick ordered 10 years of supervised release, a fine of $15,000, and a $700 special assessment.

Around 2010, Haynes posed as a 15-year old girl named “Katie” on a teen pen pal site on Instagram. As “Katie,” Haynes would meet young teenage girls online, engage in sexual chats, and send them child pornography photos and videos in an attempt to entice them to take and send sexually explicit pictures of themselves. Haynes is also charged with distributing other images and videos of children being sexually assaulted over the Internet in 2014.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Houston Chronicle

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A suspended suburban Philadelphia priest has been sentenced to 20 years in prison on a child pornography conviction.

Fifty-six-year-old Mark Haynes of West Chester pleaded guilty in June to using the Internet to entice a minor to engage in sexual contact as well as to possession and distribution of child pornography and destroying or concealing evidence.

Prosecutors said that around 2010 Haynes posed as a 16-year-old girl named “Katie” on a teenage dating website, met minor girls online and requested that they take and send sexually explicit pictures.

Officials said he was vicar of Saints Simon & Jude parish in Westtown Township since September 2013 and served in seven other suburban Philadelphia parishes.

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MASSACHUSETTS
MassLive

By Lindsay Corcoran | lindsay.corcoran@masslive.com
on February 17, 2016

WORCESTER – A Santeria priest has been indicted on nine charges of disinterment of a body in the theft of skeletons from Worcester’s Hope Cemetery last year.

Amador Medina, 32, of 245 Preston St., Apt. 2, Hartford, was indicted by a Worcester County grand jury on Wednesday in thefts from two mausoleum’s last year.

Medina had been arrested and charged in district court last December in connection with the theft of five skeletons from the Houghton-family mausoleum. He was held on $100,000 bail.

Police later discovered an additional three skeletons missing from another mausoleum in the cemetery. The ninth disinterment charge comes from a sixth casket opened in the Houghton-family mausoleum.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Metro

A Catholic priest from the Philadelphia area who pleaded guilty to child porn charges last year was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Wednesday.

Mark John Haynes, 56, a former priest at Saint Simon and Jude Church in West Chester, Pennsylvania, was arrested after federal investigators tracked child porn to a church computer — which he later destroyed in an attempt to conceal evidence.

He got two decades in prison after pleading guilty to child porn, destruction of evidence, and using the internet to entice a minor to engage in sexual conduct.

In 2010, Haynes created accounts for an imaginary 15 year-old-girl named Katie on social media websites including Facebook, Instagram, and dating sites.

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MICHIGAN
The Morning Sun

By Susan Field, sfield@michigannewspapers.com, @sfield_msun on Twitter

Negligent supervision and defamation, including being labeled a “Jezebel” by an employee of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saginaw are among the claims a former Central Michigan University student is alleging in a civil suit in Isabella County.

Megan Winans, who is suing former St. Mary’s University Parish priest Denis Heames, the Saginaw diocese and one of its employees, Trudy McCaffery, said in the suit that Heames coerced her into having a sexual relationship with him, then revoked an internship when the relationship ended.

Filed in Isabella County Trial Court, the suit is not set for any court dates but indicates a jury trial in Chief Judge Paul Chamberlain’s courtroom is requested.

Winans is also asking for in excess of $25,000, attorney fees and costs in the 10-count suit, that accuses Heames, the diocese, St. Mary’s and McCaffery of battery, defamation, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, negligent supervision and vicarious liability.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PhillyVoice

BY DANIEL CRAIG
PhillyVoice Staff

A former Chester County priest will go to prison for two decades for the distribution of child pornography, according to media reports.

Both Jeremy Roebuck of the Philadelphia Inquirer and FOX29 tweeted Wednesday that Mark Haynes was given a sentence of 20 years.

Details regarding the circumstances of his sentence were not immediately made available.

Haynes, 56, pleaded guilty to charges related to the distribution of child pornography in June.

Prosecutors said that Haynes, who last served as parochial vicar at Saints Simon and Jude Parish in West Chester before his 2014 arrest, posed as a 16-year-old girl to obtain sexually explicit photos from underage girls online.

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LOUISIANA
Evangeline Today

By: RAYMOND PARTSCH III
Managing Editor

For the first time in its 98-year history, a native of Evangeline Parish will serve as Bishop of the Diocese of Lafayette.

Rev. J. Douglas Deshotel, a native of Basile, was appointed Wednesday morning to serve as the seventh Bishop of Diocese of Lafayette, replacing Rev. Michael Jarrell.

Deshotel was born on Jan. 6, 1952 in Basile and would go on to attend Immaculata Minor Seminary High School in Lafayette. After graduation, Deshotel would attend Holy Trinity Seminary in Texas, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and then a Masters of Divinity from the University of Dallas.

Deshotel was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Dallas on May 13, 1978 in his hometown church of St. Augustine’s in Basile. Deshotel was later ordained as Auxiliary Bishop of Dallas on April 27, 2010 in the Cathedral Shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Guadalupe.

Deshotel’s assignments have included serving as associate pastor and pastor of church parishes in the Diocese of Dallas, as well as serving as Vice Rector of Holy Trinity Seminary in Irving, Texas.

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LOUISIANA
The Advertiser

[with video]

Dominick Cross February 17, 2016

As we know, Pope Francis named Bishop John Douglas Deshotel as the seventh Bishop of the Diocese of Lafayette.

Here are five things you may not know about the new bishop:

1. For his motto, Deshotel selected the Latin phrase, “Christus Caritas Urget Me” / “Christ’s love that urges him on.”

2. Deshotel’s Coat of Arms are composed of two main sections. The upper portion, known as a chief is blue, white and red, with a white star on the blue field, which is the arrangement of the Acadian flag, pointing to his Cajun roots — after all, the bishop is from Basile.

3. Deshotel celebrated his 64 birthday Jan. 6.

4. Deshotel is the third of eight children of Welfoot Paul Deshotel and Luna Marie Manual, of Basile.

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LOUISIANA
The Advocate

BILLY GUNN| BGUNN@THEADVOCATE.COM
Feb. 17, 2016

The Diocese of Lafayette announced Wednesday morning that the Most Rev. J. Douglas Deshotel has been appointed as bishop of the diocese, succeeding Bishop Michael Jarrell.

Deshotel is a native of Basile and was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Dallas in 1978. He was ordained as Auxiliary Bishop of Dallas in 2010 and will continue to serve there until his installation as the seventh bishop of Lafayette.

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LOUISIANA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Feb. 15, 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)

A new bishop has been picked to head the Lafayette Louisiana diocese (where more than 30 years ago, Fr. Gilbert Gauthe became the first pedophile priest in the US made national headlines.) We think this is another irresponsible move by Vatican officials.

A Louisiana native, Auxiliary Bishop Douglas Deshotel of Dallas has been in the “inner circle” in that diocese for years. He’s also been on the priest personnel board and the ‘review board’ that looks at clergy sex abuse reports. We have seen no evidence, however, that he has done anything noteworthy to protect kids and deter cover ups by exposing those who commit or conceal heinous crimes against children. So we are disappointed in Deshotel’s promotion.

According to BishopAccountability.org, there are 20 publicly accused predator priests in Dallas. We can find no instance in which Deshotel or his church colleagues voluntarily disclosed any information about any of them, made any of them live in a treatment center far away, or took any but the most minimal, mandatory steps regarding them.

In fact, Deshotel stayed silent when a proven Dallas predator priest was put back on the just two years ago: http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2014/07_08/2014_07_29_David_Priests_TX-_priest.htm

This is reckless, callous and in violation of the countless “zero tolerance” promises by Catholic officials keep making but ignoring.

Roughly 30 US bishops have posted predator priests’ names on their websites. Sadly, neither Dallas nor Lafayette are among them.

As long as Catholic officials elevate clerics who show no genuine concern for the safety of kids, this long abuse and cover up nightmare in the church will continue.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

FEBRUARY 18, 2016 1

Want to attack the Catholic Church? Your ABC is happy to lend a helping hand.

Such a witty ditty. The Guardian Australia, Friday:

Tim Minchin has written a song about Cardinal George Pell, in which he lambasts Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric over the fact he won’t be returning from Rome to testify at the royal commission into institutional child abuse. “It’s a really nice song, the chorus just goes, ‘Come home, Cardinal Pell / We hear you’re not feeling well’,” Minchin said … “There’s also a bit where I call him a f..king coward.”

With the lyrics cleaned up it gets some lovely promotion in news bulletins on the commercial-free ABC. ABC News website, yesterday:

Tim Minchin released a song on Tuesday calling on Cardinal Pell to come back to Australia … “You’re a coward, Georgie, come and face the music,” Minchin sings. “You owe it to the victims, Georgie.”

Plus a handy plug on AM. ABC radio, also yesterday:

Reporter: Singer-songwriter Tim Minchin … wants … Pell to return to Ballarat to face victims of sexual abuse. The cardinal was due to give evidence in Ballarat, but he says he’s too ill to travel, so he’ll instead appear via video link from Rome.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

Cardinal George Pell has responded to calls for him to return to Australia to give evidence to the child abuse royal commission by noting hearing arrangements are a matter for the inquiry.

The commission has agreed to allow Cardinal Pell to give evidence from Rome via an audiovisual link on health grounds, but abuse survivors groups believe he should come home and appear in person.

“It is ultimately a matter for the Royal Commission to determine the precise arrangements for the provision of evidence by the Cardinal in Rome,” his office said in a statement on Thursday.

“The cardinal will continue to co-operate with whatever arrangements the royal commission determines.”

This week a crowdfunding effort raised more than $160,000 to help Ballarat clergy abuse victims travel to Rome for the cardinal’s testimony due to be given on February 29.

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AUSTRALIA
Sunshine Coast Daily

A VICTORIAN bishop is making it possible for victims of past clergy child sex abuse to sue for damages.

Ballarat Bishop Paul Bird will put himself forward as a civil defendant so victims of his diocese can take legal action for past attacks.

The move stems from the nation’s Catholic dioceses and religious orders signing an agreement to provide “entities” for victims to sue.

Bishop Bird’s decision to stand in place of dead bishop James O’Collins means victims of notorious pedophile priest Gerald Francis Ridsdale can now sue for abuse at Ridsdale’s hands.

Ridsdale, 81, was jailed for more than 150 sexual abuse and indecent assaults against more than 50 children in the 1960s-1980s.

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PENNSYLVANIA
6 ABC

WEST CHESTER, Pa. (WPVI) — A suspended priest from West Chester, Pa. has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in a child pornography case.

56-year-old Mark Haynes pleaded guilty in June 2015 to using the Internet to entice a minor to engage in sexual contact, possession and distribution of child pornography and destroying or concealing evidence.

Before his suspension by the archdiocese following his 2014 arrest, Haynes had been vicar of Saints Simon & Jude parish since September 2013.

Prosecutors said Haynes had posed as a 16-year-old girl named “Katie” on a teenage dating website around 2010, met minor girls online, and requested that they take and send sexually explicit pictures.

While under court supervision, officials say Haynes had an 86-year old friend of his mother retrieve his computer from his apartment at the rectory. Haynes then destroyed the computer, discarding the hard drive in a dumpster in New Jersey.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Christian Today

Harry Farley JUNIOR STAFF WRITER 17 February 2016

Peter Ball was found to have abused his position as the Bishop of Lewes in southern England.
A sex abuse survivor has accused senior clergy in the Church of England of repeated attempts to prevent him from sharing his story.

Graham Sawyer was the victim of sustained abuse by Bishop Peter Ball, former Bishop of Lewes and Bishop of Gloucester, during the 1970s and early 1980s. In a fringe meeting of General Synod on Tuesday night, Sawyer said he experienced “enduring harassment, vilification and intimidation” from senior clergy when he tried to speak about his experiences.

Sawyer, one of Ball’s 17 victims, said that anyone who “lifts their head above the parapet and dares to give testimony of their experiences” suffers consequences.

Bishop Ball, 83, was jailed in December 2015, for misconduct in public office and indecent assault. He was cautioned in 1993 for one act of gross indecency against a 16-year-old but was allowed to work in churches until 2010.

Tuesday’s gathering, held in Methodist Central Hall, was organised by the Church Reform Group and the National Council of Hindu Temples. Sawyer, who is chair of the Church Reform Group, said Ball and some of his friends were behind a “web of hate and bullying” seeking to cover up abuse crimes.

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CANADA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release Wednesday, February 17, 2016

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

About 60 former students of the Montreal Institute for the Deaf have settled their child sex abuse and cover up lawsuits against a Catholic group called the Clerics de St. Viateur.

[National Post]

The credit for this settlement lies squarely with the brave victims who had the strength to come forward, the wisdom to seek justice in the courts, and determination to persist despite years of expensive, futile and self-serving legal maneuvers by church officials.

No amount of money can possibly restore the shattered childhoods, the broken trust, and the devastated emotional lives of these courageous but wounded men and women. We hope they feel some healing and closure at this point. We know they have exposed horrific wrongdoing – both by predator priests and their complicit colleagues. And we’re deeply proud of and grateful to them for this.

We applaud these brave victims whose actions have helped protect kids. We hope this settlement will help victims continue to move toward healing.

We urge each of these victims to stay in therapy, keep attending support groups, and avoid the tempting assumption that this agreement will magically ‘cure’ depression, addictions, and other long term damaging effects of terrible childhood trauma and betrayal.

While many of those who committed the abuse have died, we hope that law enforcement will also investigate those that enabled, shielded and protected the predators. We encourage anyone who has been harmed to come forward and begin healing. We hope that anyone who has seen or suspected these crimes will contact law enforcement.

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TEXAS
The Vindicator

Posted: Thursday, January 19, 2012

August William Pucar, age 77, of Houston died Tues., Jan. 17, in Houston, Texas, of congestive heart failure.

He demonstrated great strength of character throughout his illness. He was born in Galveston, Texas to Frank and Melania Pucar, who predeceased August along with his sisters, Mary Anonsen and Catherine Ducoff, brother Frank Pucar, and niece, Cindy Ann Farine.

August graduated from Galveston’s Kirwin High School in 1952 and then worked for the Santa Fe Railroad in Galveston for three years before attending and graduating from St. Mary’s Seminary and being ordained into the priesthood in May 1963 at Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral. The Reverend “Augie” Pucar served in various capacities at churches throughout southeast Texas, including St. Mary’s in Orange, St. Anne’s in Beaumont, Immaculate Conception Church in Groves, All Souls Church in Silsbee, and its mission, Infant Jesus Church, in Lumberton. He served as pastor of St. Charles Church in Nederland before taking some time off from active ministry, but working weekends assisting various churches throughout the Houston area. He returned to the Beaumont Diocese and was loaned to the Victoria Diocese as pastor of the Yoakum Church. The Reverend Pucar celebrated his 30th anniversary as a priest in 1993 at Immaculate Conception in Liberty with a mass and reception with family, friends and parishioners. He retired in 2000 and moved to Houston where he said Mass at various churches for several years.

The Reverend Pucar stressed to his parishioners the need to accept people for who they are, regardless of their background. He also felt that we should obey the Lord’s command not to judge people and that no one was truly worthy of Christ’s mercy. He would say that, “Jesus said ‘Judge not lest you be judged’… that is how we should live our lives.”

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MICHIGAN
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 503 0003 cell, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org)

A Central Michigan University investigation has found that a priest “engaged in sexual harassment” of a teenager who he had counseled and hired.

[Central Michigan Life]

[MLive]

The cleric is Father Denis Heames. His boss, Saginaw Bishop Joseph Cistone, refuses to disclose Fr. Heames’ whereabouts.

Fr. Heames was removed from St. Mary’s University Parish, after a brave Central Michigan University student, Megan Winans, accused him of sexually exploiting her.

Shame on Fr. Heames for claiming his abuse of Winans was “a relationship between two adults.” And shame on Cistone for letting this deliberately self-serving and hurtful inaccuracy stand unchallenged. These are well-educated men. They know that no Catholic, especially not a teenager, can genuinely ‘consent’ to sex with a man who she’s been led to believe, since birth, is God’s representative on earth and who can forgive her sins and help her achieve eternal life, and a man whose bishop holds him out publicly as being a safe, celibate shepherd.

And shame on Fr. Heames for questioning if “someone is exploiting the system in order to harass another individual.” Again, this is self-serving. It’s an attack on a victim. It’s designed to deter others who have been hurt by Fr. Heames from speaking up like Winans has.
Let me repeat what SNAP director David Clohessy said about this case a few weeks ago: A Saginaw priest is being sued for sexually exploiting a college student. We applaud her courage while we deplore the secrecy of Saginaw’s bishop.

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TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Feb. 17, 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 assistant Dallas bishop has been picked to head the Lafayette Louisiana diocese (where more than 30 years ago, Fr. Gilbert Gauthe became the first pedophile priest in the US made national headlines.) We think this is another irresponsible move by Vatican officials.

Auxiliary Bishop Douglas Deshotel has been in the “inner circle” in the Dallas diocese for years. He’s also been on the priest personnel board and the ‘review board’ that looks at clergy sex abuse reports. We have seen no evidence, however, that he has done anything noteworthy to protect kids and deter cover ups by exposing those who commit or conceal heinous crimes against children. So we are disappointed in Deshotel’s promotion.

According to BishopAccountability.org, there are 20 publicly accused predator priests in Dallas. We can find no instance in which Deshotel or his church colleagues voluntarily disclosed any information about any of them, made any of them live in a treatment center far away, or took any but the most minimal, mandatory steps regarding them.

In fact, Deshotel stayed silent when a proven Dallas predator priest was put back on the just two years ago: http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2014/07_08/2014_07_29_David_Priests_TX-_priest.htm

This is reckless, callous and in violation of the countless “zero tolerance” promises by Catholic officials keep making but ignoring.

Roughly 30 US bishops have posted predator priests’ names on their websites. Sadly, neither Dallas nor Lafayette are among them.

As long as Catholic officials elevate clerics who show no genuine concern for the safety of kids, this long abuse and cover up nightmare in the church will continue.

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NIGERIA
Daily Post

By David-Chyddy Eleke on February 17, 2016@dailypostngr

Worshipers at St Dominic’s Catholic Church, Adazienu in Anaocha local government area of Anambra State were shocked to their shells last weekend, when a US-based catholic priest, Rev Father Mike Steve Ezeatu attacked a 70 year old man after mass and beat him to coma.

Indigenes of the community said the Reverend Father had just finished celebrating a funeral mass and made to leave in his SUV, when he sighted the man identified as Mr Innocent Nwolisa and beckoned on him to come close.

First son of the victim, Ebuka Nwolisa who spoke to journalists narrated that his father was about to leave the compound of Ifedigbo in Ugweni Ojii, where the funeral mass of one late Ifeoma Ifedigbo had just been celebrated by Ezeatu, when he was called back by the priest.

“I think my father went because we are related to the priest, and they know each other, he may be calling him to give him special blessing, but what he got was beating. The only saving grace he had was that I was not around, that was why he got way with his action.”

Another eyewitness, Mr Arinze Ezeatu, who is a younger brother of the priest said, Father Mike complained that the old man was releasing evil powers at him while he was at the alter celebrating mass, and that was the reason for his action.

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CANADA
Journal de Montreal

MICHAEL NGUYEN
Mercredi, 17 février 2016

Plus de 150 personnes sourdes ayant été agressées sexuellement par les Clercs de Saint-Viateur recevront 30 millions $, du jamais-vu au Québec.

«Cela représente de loin l’indemnisation la plus élevée jamais payée au Québec pour des agressions sexuelles commises sur des mineurs», s’est réjoui Me Robert Kugler par voie de communiqué.

La somme s’élève à 200 000 $ en moyenne pour chaque victime.

Les agressions ont commencé dans les années 40, et le manège des Clercs a duré pendant 42 ans, à l’ancienne Institution des sourds de Montréal, située sur le boulevard Saint-Laurent au nord de Jean-Talon.

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AUSTRALIA
Reveal: The Center for Investigative Reporting

By Trey Bundy / February 17, 2016

A Jehovah’s Witnesses elder in Australia was put behind bars last week for sexually abusing minors, according to The West Australian.

Over seven years, David Frank Pople sexually assaulted two teenage boys he met through a congregation near Perth. One of his victims told elders about the abuse in 1997, but no one notified police until one of the victims filed a report in 2014. Pople pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years in prison.

The details of Pople’s story mirror those of other abuse cases involving Jehovah’s Witnesses around the world. Elders failed to report child sexual abuse to secular authorities. The perpetrator was kicked out of the organization, only to be reinstated later.

Moreover, the story fits a pattern of Jehovah’s Witnesses leaders ejecting members who abuse children, not for the abuse, but for failing to show adequate repentance.

After Pople admitted to elders in 1997 that he had assaulted one of the boys, he was disfellowshipped – the Witnesses’ version of excommunication – for being “insufficiently repentant,” according to the newspaper’s story. A year later, after Pople requested reinstatement, the congregation welcomed him back.

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CANADA
National Post

Catherine Solyom, Postmedia News | February 17, 2016

A judge has ordered a religious order, the Clercs de St. Viateur du Canada, and the church-run Montreal Insitute for the Deaf to pay $30 million to a group of former students who were sexually assaulted by priests, making it the largest settlement for sexual assault in Quebec history.

At least 60 deaf students were assaulted by members of the religious community and lay people working at the school between 1940 and 1982. The school changed its name to the Institut Raymond-Dewar in 1984.

The judgment brings to an end a long and painful process that began with the authorization of a class action suit in 2012.

Represented by Robert Kugler, of the firm Kugler Kandestin, which also secured a landmark decision last week when its client was awarded $8 million for a hockey injury, the plaintiffs will now apply to an adjudicator, former Appeal Court Justice André Forget, in private, and with a sign-language interpreter.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

Rick Morton
Social Affairs reporter
Sydney

It will take the Catholic Church “two to three generations” to regain­ the moral authority it had before the revelations of widespread, global child-sex abuse and attempts to cover it up, according to a cultural adviser to the Vatican.

John Haldane — a Catholic philosopher in Australia for a semester professorship at Notre Dame University and a series of 13 lectures titled The Good Society, its Nature and Foundations — said the rebuilding of trust was “no small question” .

“Even within Catholicism itself it has been recognised that sexual exploitation by the clergy is a particularly heinous offence, so heinous that it cannot be ordinarily forgiven or absolved,” Professor Haldane told The Australian.

“The effect on the church … is for it to lose respect and authority. On this rebuilding, it is not going to happen in the lifetimes of people alive today. I think we are looking at two or three generations.”

Part of Professor Haldane’s lament­ about modern society is its inability to prosecute arguments in a reasonable and civil manner.

He said he was moved after hearing a “compelling, human argument” of the father of two sexua­l-abuse victims yesterday in which the father made the case for victims travelling to Rome to hear Cardinal George Pell give evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

“This would, he said, create the conditions for the existential real­ity of that suffering to be present in the room at the same time in which he (Pell) was giving evidence,” Professor Haldane said.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Last week, I noted that it was being reported that the Vatican is informing newly appointed bishops that they do not have an obligation to report sexual abuse of minors by priests to criminal officials. As I noted, reports were indicating that, in issuing such advice to new bishops, the Vatican was relying on a training manual by French priest Tony Anatrella. Anatrella is a well-known opponent of “gender theory” and of more affirming approaches to LGBT people, and he seems intent on continuing the scapegoating meme that seeks to make gay priests responsible for the abuse crisis.

A footnote to the preceding report: as Rosie Scammell notes for Religion News Service yesterday, the head of the papal commission on abuse, Cardinal Seán O’Malley, underscored in a statement on Monday that church officials do have an obligation to report clerical abuse of minors to the civil authorities. In a report for The Guardian yesterday, Stephanie Kirchgaessner puts this statement into the broader context of a rift within the Vatican’s Curia about the handling of abuse cases.

She reports,

A battle is being waged within the Vatican over how senior clergy ought to handle accusations of sexual abuse amid signs that a special commission created by Pope Francis to handle the issue is being sidelined by senior church officials in Rome.

The rift was exposed after a report in the Guardian about a training course that was offered to new bishops last year in which a controversial French monsignor instructed them that it was “not necessarily” their duty to report accusations of abuse to law enforcement authorities if local laws did not require it.

That stance was rejected this week by Pope Francis’s point man on abuse issues, Boston cardinal Seán O’Malley, who heads a special pontifical commission to protect minors.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reproter

Carol Glatz Catholic News Service | Feb. 17, 2016

ROME
Every bishop and cardinal must watch the film “Spotlight,” so they realize reporting abuse — not silence — will save the church, said the Vatican’s former chief prosecutor of clerical sex abuse cases.

The film underlines the key problem of “omerta” or a code of silence, said Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna of Malta, according to the Italian daily La Repubblica Feb. 17.

“The movie shows how the instinct — that unfortunately was present in the church — to protect a reputation was completely wrong,” he said after a showing of the film in Valletta, Malta.

“All bishops and cardinals must see this film,” he said, “because they must understand that it is reporting that will save the church, not ‘omerta.'”

The archbishop, 56, is the head of a board within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that deals with appeals filed by clergy accused of abuse. Before he was named an auxiliary bishop in Malta in 2012, Scicluna spent 10 years as promoter of justice at the doctrinal congregation, handling accusations of clerical sex abuse.

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VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service

Rosie Scammell | February 17, 2016

VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Catholic Church is under fire for revoking the suspension of a priest in India, despite his previous extradition to the United States and conviction for sexual abuse.

Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul, 61, was suspended by the southern Indian diocese of Ooty in 2010 and later turned over to the U.S. justice system. He was found guilty of abusing a girl between 2004 and 2005 while working as a priest in the diocese of Crookston in Minnesota.

Despite the conviction the Vatican lifted his suspension last month, on advice from an Indian bishop, news agency AFP reported on Wednesday (Feb. 17).

Ranjana Kumari, director of the Centre for Social Research, an advocacy group for the rights of women and girls, called the move “totally unacceptable.”

“The lifting of the suspension amounts to the Church condoning his actions,” Kumari reportedly said.

A spokesman for Ooty diocese, Sebastian Selvanathan, told AFP that despite the lifting of the suspension Jeyapaul would not return to active service.

The case has also been highlighted by the U.S.-based Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, which published an article online asking: “Why has south India’s Catholic Church re-inducted a convicted child molester priest.”

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UNITED STATES
The Christian Century

Feb 17, 2016 by Christopher M. Bellitto

Nearly 15 years ago, the Boston Globe broke the story of the priest-pedophilia and bishop-cover-up crimes. The film Spotlight, which chronicles the investigative reporting behind the newspaper’s Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage, is now up for a Best Picture Academy Award. While this new film shines a light on what happened then, watching it now reveals how the Catholic landscape has changed (and not changed) since the story broke in 2002.

While the reporters depicted in Spotlight initially pursue the stories of particular priest-pedophiles, the editors see the bigger picture: the bureaucratic system, the hierarchy, and the mindset that allowed these priests to be moved from parish to parish without legal intervention. Who thought it was acceptable that these criminals weren’t arrested and prosecuted? Many in the pews said then and say now: “Who the hell do these people think they are?”

The movie correctly portrays how clericalism, hypocrisy, and arrogance enabled these criminals. For centuries good Catholics were told to say, “Yes, Father.” Abuse survivors in the film and in many other accounts relate that having a parish priest in your house for dinner or going with him on a trip felt like God was paying attention directly to you. Often, those who did stand up to these predators and their protectors were attacked, told to sit down and shut up, or even threatened: “How dare you attack this man? What could he do wrong? After all, he’s a priest.”

In the years since the events recounted in Spotlight there have been some steps forward, but not enough. Dioceses around the world have put into place greater oversight, reporting, and zero-tolerance measures. But survivor networks and watchdog groups remind us that compliance is not guaranteed. The United States witnessed the forced and overdue resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law in Boston in late 2002. And last year bishops in Minnesota and Missouri stepped down, again long after calls for them to do so. But open inquiries persist, including troubling cases in Chile and Germany. Measures are still not firmly in place to bring to legal account those bishops who were complicit in pedophilia by failing to call the police.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

By Melissa Cunningham
Feb. 17, 2016

The first time he was sexually abused Dominic Ridsdale remembers counting the tiny holes on the vinyl roof of his uncle’s car.

“I just wanted to remove myself from what was happening,” he said.

His uncle disgraced paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale had taken him for a drive on the pretext of fixing the headlights on his car.

He was 12.

He remembers his uncle pulling the car over and getting out to check the headlights.

The shadow of Ridsdale was illuminated by the bright lights.

He could see his uncle, hands in pockets, staring at him through the windscreen.

It’s an image that still haunts him.

“A person’s hands are always large to look at for a child,” Dominic said. “But on this night, I felt like his hands reached from my neck to my knees.”

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FRAANCE
La Parole Liberee

[Letter to Pope Francis: Lyon, 02/12/2016 They are questioning the text written by Monsignor Tony Anatrella, consultant to the Pontifical Council for the Family, in which he said it is not always necessary for a bishop to resport instances of sexual abuse to the authorities.]

Lyon, le 12.02.2016

Très Saint Père,

Nous sommes les fondateurs et représentants d’une association d’Aide aux Victimes (La Parole Libérée) d’un prêtre pédophile récemment mis en examen pour agressions sexuelles sur mineurs de moins de 15 ans et ayant sévi dans un Groupe de Scouts entre 1970 et 1991 en France, dans la banlieue de Lyon, dans le diocèse du Rhône dirigé actuellement par le Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, Archevêque et Primat des Gaules, et pour lequel un de nos membres vous a déjà écrit en 2015 à deux reprises.

Nous nous en remettons à votre bienveillance et à votre écoute, après avoir découvert dans la presse qu’un texte émanant du Vatican et paru le 11/02/16 écrit par Monseigneur Tony Anatrella, consultant pour le Conseil pontifical pour la famille, remettait complètement en question vos propos sur votre priorité absolue à traiter avec la plus grande fermeté le lourd problème de la pédophilie au sein de notre Eglise. Il y est en effet écrit, entre autre, “qu’il n’incombe pas forcément à un évêque de signaler les suspects aux autorités, à la police ou à un procureur s’ils sont informés d’un crime ou d’un acte immoral”.

Or vous aviez, très Saint Père, appelé vous même à “une tolérance zéro” en la matière, en précisant sans ambiguïté que “tout doit être fait pour débarrasser l’Eglise du fléau des abus sexuels”. De même, la congrégation pour la Doctrine de la Foi, (en accord d’ailleurs avec la Conférence des Évêques de France) à écrit que “l’on suivra toujours les prescriptions des lois civiles en ce qui concerne le fait de déferrer les crimes aux autorités compétentes, sans porter atteinte au for interne sacramantel” Vous aviez également dit face à des victimes d’actes de pédophilie perpétrés par des religieux et rencontrés aux Etats-Unis en septembre 2015 que “Dieu pleure pour ceux qui ont été agressés. Ceux qui ont souffert sont devenus de vrais héros de la miséricorde” et que “les responsables répondront de leurs actes”.

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FRANCE
Sir

In these hours, the diocese of Lyon is in the grip of a case of sex abuse committed about 25 years ago by a priest, father Bernard Preynat, on some boy Scouts. The case was raised by a victim of the priest, who is now a cardiologist and co-founder, with other victims, of the association “La Parole liberée”. The event dates back to the Eighties, when the boy was just 10 years old. He thought the priest had died, but then he happened to see a photo of him, in a paper, surrounded by children, and he was “shocked”. Many are the children who have been abused by the priest. The case is undergoing criminal investigations, and the priest, who is now 71, has been indicted and put under court supervision “for aggravated sex abuse” after four reports were filed against him in May 2015. But it seems the case is not over yet: since December, the association’s blog was been literally bombarded with reports, and there seem to be about “45 self-confessed victims”. Asked about it by the Catholic newspaper “La Croix”, cardinal Philippe Barbarin tells that he became aware of the episode in 2007/2008, but also that he believed in the version the indicted priest had given him about what had happened: “Someone from Sainte-Foy-lès–Lyon – the cardinal says – told me about F. Preynat’s conduct in 2007-2008. So, I asked him for a meeting, so I could ask him if anything had happened in this respect since 1991. And he reassured me: ‘Nothing at all, I have been completely stung by this case’. Someone blames me for believing him … Yes, I did”.

“When I arrived in Lyon – the cardinal goes on – I did not know anything. Then, when I learnt about the events, we had no reports. I am waiting for the civil proceedings to end. If the lawsuit is statute barred, then I will open canonical proceedings, because the case must be judged: that’s why I will ask Rome to remove the statute barring that is provided under canon law”. Cardinal Barbarin also says that he asked cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley, president of the Pontifical Committee for the Protection of Minors, set up in 2013, for advice. And then he adds: “I can say that, because I am a bishop, every time a case of abuse has been reported to me, I have immediately responded, I suspended the priest and alerted the judiciary system: it happened in Lyon in 2007 and in 2014. With father Preynat, the situation is very different, because these were old events for which there was no report or any sign of recurrence. My only concern has always been to make sure no evil is ever committed again”.

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