ABUSE TRACKER

A digest of links to media coverage of clergy abuse. For recent coverage listed in this blog, read the full article in the newspaper or other media source by clicking “Read original article.” For earlier coverage, click the title to read the original article.

February 9, 2016

THE LAST CONFESSION

TEXAS
CBS News

[Background story about Irene Garza’s murder.]

Produced by Lourdes Aguiar, Peter Shaw and Jennifer Simpson Ashmawy

[This story first aired on March 1, 2014. It was updated on July 26.]

It’s been more than 50 years, but the shadow of the unsolved murder of Irene Garza still hangs over McAllen, Texas.

“This was an atrocious case,” Noemi Ponce Sigler told “48 Hours” correspondent Richard Schlesinger. “And I couldn’t understand it. To this day, I can’t understand it.”

Sigler, who is part of Irene’s extended family, has never been able to forget this case — especially after she visited her aunt’s house several years ago.

“There was a portrait of Irene that I hadn’t looked at in years,” Sigler said. “So, I went up to the picture and I was mesmerized… And that’s when I said … ‘Irene where did you go?’ … I wanna know what happened to her.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

Arrest Made in 56-Year-Old Murder Case

TEXAS
KRGV

The Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office made an arrest in the murder of Irene Garza. She’s the second grade school teacher who was murdered in 1960.

No one was ever arrested for the crime until today.

CHANNEL 5 NEWS’ Cary Zayas was there when the former priest John Feit was arrested in Phoenix on Tuesday.

The former Reverend John Feit is officially being charged right now with the murder of Irene Garza.

We will continue following this story.

Note: Original post said “66-year-old” it should be “56-year-old murder case.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

Authorities arrest priest in connection with Irene Garza case

TEXAS
The Monitor

STAFF REPORT | Posted: Tuesday, February 9, 2016

The man suspected in connection with the 1960 murder of a McAllen woman was arrested Tuesday.

John Feit, a former priest who was with Sacred Heart , was arrested by Maricopa County Sheriff’s office in Arizona Tuesday. He was never charged with killing the 25-year-old beauty queen in 1960, but was widely accused of the crime.

District Attorney Ricardo Rodriguez confirmed late Tuesday his office presented the case to the grand jury last Thursday and they came back with a true bill.

“We had kept it quiet as much as we could — we sealed the indictment,” he said.

Rodriguez said the next step is to see whether or not Feit will contest his extradition to Texas or waive it.

“We would have to get a governor’s warrant. It usually happens even it’s contested,” Rodriguez said.

Former Hidalgo County District Attorney Rene Guerra came under fire when the case was reopened and went to an Hidalgo County grand jury in 2004, but the grand jury failed to indict.

When current DA Ricardo Rodriguez beat out the incumbent in March 2014, Guerra challenged him to finally solve the case. Garza’s family also asked Rodriguez to pursue it.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

SNAP Calls For Catholic Church To Host Public Meeting Regarding Joel Wright

OHIO
10TV

[with video]

By Maureen Kocot
Tuesday February 9, 2016 7

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The group SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is calling on the Catholic Diocese of Columbus to hold a public meeting, and to discuss the arrest of former seminary student, Joel Wright.

The Columbus diocese has repeatedly told 10TV it has no affiliation whatsoever with Wright.

Homeland Security says in January, the 23-year old tried to travel to Mexico to buy three girls, ages 1, 2, and 3, for sex.

Wright was sponsored by another diocese, the Steubenville Catholic Diocese, to study to be a priest at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus.

On Tuesday, SNAP urged Bishop Frederick Campbell to talk openly to Columbus parishioners about this case.

“When they’re sitting back and saying nothing and doing nothing,” SNAP member Judy Jones said.

Jones wants to know why Wright wasn’t exposed sooner?

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

Former St. Boniface priest sentenced to 2 years behind bars

CANADA
CBC News

The former priest of a St. Boniface parish has been sentenced to two years behind bars for sexual assault.

Last July, Ron Leger pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual assault and one count of sexual interference with someone under the age of 16.

Leger, 77, used to lead Holy Family Parish and founded Teen Stop Jeunesse. He was defrocked by the church last summer.

The charges against Leger relate back to a series of incidents that occurred between 1984 and 2004.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

NM–Records from church HQ seized in child sex case; Victims respond

NEW MEXICO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016

Statement by David Clohessy, director of SNAP (314 566 9790, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)

Police have seized documents from the headquarters of the Catholic church in New Mexico because of a child sex abuse case. We applaud this move and hope it results in top church officials being criminally charged for ignoring or hiding evidence about possible child sex crimes.

[New Mexican]

All too often, law enforcement agencies are not aggressive in pursuing those who commit or conceal heinous crimes against kids in religious settings. All too often, they go after the predators but not the enablers. All too often, they take church officials’ word that church staff have little or no relevant information in these cases.

Such a naïve approach is irresponsible, especially given the long and continuing pattern of Catholic officials valuing secrecy over openness and protecting their own careers over their flocks.

So we applaud the decision by New Mexico secular authorities to secure and execute search warrants on both the church headquarters and a parochial school (Santo Nino Regional Catholic School in Santa Fe).

We hope every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes by Aaron Chavez or cover ups by his colleagues will come forward, get help, expose wrongdoers, protect kids and start healing.

And we hope Archbishop John Wester will use personal news conferences, pulpit announcements, church bulletins and parish websites to beg anyone with information or suspicions about crime by Chavez or cover ups in the Santa Fe archdiocese to call police and prosecutors.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

Police seize Santa Fe archdiocese files in molestation case

NEW MEXICO
Seattle PI

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Authorities have seized records from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe as part of an investigation into claims that a Catholic school teacher inappropriately touched female students.

The New Mexican reports (http://bit.ly/1mpCoUk ) that Santo Nino Regional Catholic School art teacher Aaron Chavez has been charged with five counts of sexually touching young girls during classes.

The archdiocese says the 47-year-old Chavez was placed on administrative leave.

Affidavits for search warrants filed in district court Monday say deputies took items from the school and archdiocese offices, including student files, teacher’s personnel files, a laptop computer and electronic memory cards.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

Purge at the Mount

MARYLAND
Inside Higher Ed

February 9, 2016
By Scott Jaschik

The president of Mount St. Mary’s University in Maryland on Monday fired two faculty members without any faculty review of his action or advance notice. One was a tenured professor who had recently criticized some of the president’s policies. The other was the adviser to the student newspaper that revealed the president recently told faculty members concerned about his retention plans that they needed to change the way they view struggling students. “This is hard for you because you think of the students as cuddly bunnies, but you can’t. You just have to drown the bunnies … put a Glock to their heads,” the president said.

Many believe a third faculty member may also be fired, as he also has criticized the president’s policies. Administrators were seen trying to find that faculty member today for an urgent meeting, which is how the two who were fired were dismissed. It is unclear whether they were able to locate the third faculty member.

Monday’s firings follow the dismissal on Friday of Provost David Rehm, who also raised questions about President Simon Newman’s retention plans. (Rehm held on to his faculty position.)

Newman’s letter firing the tenured professor — Thane M. Naberhaus of the philosophy department — accused him of disloyalty. …

Mount St. Mary’s is a small Roman Catholic university, with a strong emphasis on a rigorous and traditional liberal arts education.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

Priest convicted of molestation will not get a new trial

PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

By Torsten Ove / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A Johnstown-area priest convicted of molesting orphans in Honduras will not get a new trial after a judge on Monday ruled that his lawyer failed to show that new evidence regarding one of the victims would result in an acquittal.

U.S. District Judge Kim Gibson, presiding in Johnstown, denied Rev. Joseph Maurizio’s request for a second trial and set sentencing for March 2.

Rev. Maurizio was convicted in September of traveling to Honduras under the guise of doing missionary work and molesting three boys between 2004 and 2009.

The priest’s lawyer, Steven Passarello, had argued that one line in a statement by one of the alleged victims, in which he said Rev. Maurizio did not molest him, had been improperly withheld by government lawyers.

The victim made the claim in a five-page victim-impact report on Sept. 20, the day before closing arguments.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

CMU Student Files Lawsuit Against Isabella County Priest

MICHIGAN
9 and 10 News

By Karie Herringa, Web Producer

Father Denis Heames was a priest at the St. Mary’s Parish on the campus of Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant.

Back in July, Father Denis Heames was placed on administrative leave by the Catholic diocese of Saginaw after he was accused of violating priestly conduct. He was permanently replaced by Father Thomas McNamara in August.

Last month, a CMU student filed a lawsuit against Father Heames, stating he initiated weekly one-on-one counseling to help her spiritually after joining the parish in August 2012. From there, the relationship became sexual.

According to the lawsuit, Father Heames hired the student as a media intern for the parish in 2012 in an attempt to help conceal their relationship.

The student worked for the parish and had a relationship with Father Heames for two years.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

Catholic Church officials deny responsibility for supervising priests in damages lawsuit

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Giselle Wakatama

The Catholic Church is arguing it has no responsibility for the supervision of its priests, as it fights a damages case launched by an alleged victim of a dead priest in the New South Wales Hunter Valley.

A 2013 special commission of inquiry found the Catholic Church knew that father Denis McAlinden was a paedophile, dating back to the 1950s.

Among those officials who allegedly knew was the dead bishop Leo Clarke, whose estate is now being pursued as part of a damages case brought by a woman known as LG.

The inquiry found the former bishop failed to report McAlinden throughout the 20 years he was in his job.

The inquiry also found bishop Clarke’s inaction in relation to the paedophile priest was inexcusable.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

After Six Months Away, Pastor at Center of Church Cover-up Scandal Returns

MISSOURI
Riverfront Times

Posted By Danny Wicentowski on Tue, Feb 9, 2016

Who does Steve Wingfield think he’s fooling? The question seemed to twist through the pastor’s sermon on Sunday, which he delivered before an audience of roughly 200 in the main chapel of First Christian Church of Florissant, or FCCF.

It was Wingfield’s first trip to the pulpit of the evangelical church since his unceremonious banishment to a six-month sabbatical in August, and his return was met with high anticipation from those still faithful to the church and the Wingfield family name.

For Wingfield’s detractors — which by now include hundreds of former congregants — there was nothing but disappointment.

Wingfield’s sabbatical came after months of bad press and infighting within the north county megachurch. Under Wingfield’s leadership, FCCF worked feverishly to insulate itself from scandal after a former youth minister named Brandon Milburn was unmasked as a serial child molester and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

As chronicled in a Riverfront Times feature story, several congregants-turned-whistleblowers maintain that Wingfield ignored warnings about Milburn’s behavior and even trusted him with access to the church’s youth programs. In response, Wingfield and FCCF sued the whistleblowers and did everything he could to shut them up. It didn’t work. Then the pastor went on leave.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MO–Complicit pastor is back on the job; Victims respond

MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016

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

A vengeful, selfish pastor is back on the job while the brave whistleblowers he sued and hurt are still suffering, as are the families whose kids were abused by a now-imprisoned child molester who worked at the church.

[Riverfront Times]

Six months ago, the board of First Christian Church of Florissant put Rev. Steve Wingfield on leave, after he had “banned former FCCF members, (and) his own brother, pastor Paul Wingfield of White Flag Church, pressured a Christian college to fire an outspoken professor-turned-critic,” according to the Riverfront Times.

The controversy erupted after several courageous and concerned congregants began challenging church officials over how they dealt with Brandon Milburn, who sexually assaulted several youngsters.

These individuals, including Doug Lay, Dawn Varvil and Titus and Kari Benton, are heroes. They were ostracized and wounded because they dared to question an egomaniac minister and support abuse victims. And even now, virtually no official at FCCF has taken a single step to ameliorate their suffering. It’s utterly tragic.

Shame on FCCF’s Stan Dubose, vice chairman of the board of elders, and on every person who brought Wingfield back to the church and sat passively by while he ducked and dodged in his sermon last Sunday, expressing no real contrition whatsoever for his selfish, mean-spirited attacks on his own church members.

Ministers should not sue church members, period. They should welcome, not attack, those who expose wrongdoing, prevent abuse and help victims.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

MI–Saginaw priest is sued; Victims respond

MICHIGAN
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Feb. 9, 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)

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.

[Central Michigan Life]

For about two years, Fr. Denis Heames of St. Mary’s University parish manipulated, deceived, hired and supervised a student named Megan Winans. For about a month, Saginaw Bishop Joseph Cistone kept silent about Winans’ lawsuit against church officials, which was filed Jan. 14.

Shame on Bishop Cistone for keeping the case quiet for weeks. Why is his delay problematic? Because hours and days are crucial in a sex abuse case. Every minute a predator’s crimes are kept secret gives him and his allies’ time to destroy evidence, fabricate alibis, intimidate victims, threaten witnesses and discredit whistleblowers.

We suspect Fr. Heames has hurt other vulnerable students families with similar clerical misconduct. So we urge Bishop Cistone to aggressively reach out to others who may have been hurt by Fr. Heames.

Many know about child molesting Catholic clerics. But few realize priests abusing vulnerable adult parishioners is as or more widespread but still deeply hidden. It’s always wrong and hurtful for doctors to have sex with patients, therapists to have sex with clients and ministers to have sex with congregants. That’s especially true in Catholicism, where parishioners are taught, from birth, to respect and trust priests as holy celibate men who can forgive sins and get them into heaven.

In 17 states, it’s a crime for a cleric to have sex with a congregant.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

Diocese bankruptcy settlement hits a snag

NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, NM, Feb. 3, 2016

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

ALBUQUERQUE – Attorneys for the Diocese of Gallup will not be filing a plan of reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court this week as they had predicted in January.

And hopes for a finalized settlement agreement with clergy sex abuse claimants might be sabotaged by an ongoing dispute between two parties in the bankruptcy case.

The dispute, which has been the subject of vague discussions in previous hearings, spilled out into open court during a status hearing Tuesday before Judge David T. Thuma. It involves an impasse between Michael P. Murphy, the future claims representative, and Catholic Mutual, which offers liability coverage to the Gallup Diocese.

As the future claims representative, Murphy will represent anyone who might come forward in the future with a clergy sex abuse claim against the diocese. Catholic Mutual has agreed to issue a certificate coverage to the diocese to cover the amount of the future claims fund.

Most of Tuesday’s hearing was dominated by back and forth discussion of the divisive issue separating Murphy and Catholic Mutual — how much of an inquiry into Catholic Mutual’s financial condition Murphy should be allowed as part of his fiduciary duty and how much financial information Catholic Mutual is willing to provide Murphy.

David Spector, an attorney for Catholic Mutual, objected to the “extraordinary review of the books and records of the financial condition of Catholic Mutual” that he claimed Murphy and Young Kim, Murphy’s representative in court, were insistent on receiving. Spector said Catholic Mutual was willing to let Murphy view only a financial balance sheet — after Murphy had signed an “ironclad protective order” that would protect the confidential nature of the information.

“But that is as far as we’ll go,” Spector said. “We won’t go any further. Mr. Murphy and Mr. Kim have insisted that that is the starting point.”

Under questioning by Thuma, Kim was unwilling to say Murphy might not want further financial information from Catholic Mutual. Kim noted that Catholic Mutual is not regulated or overseen by any organization and it is not a rated insurer.

Spector, who threatened to withdraw financing for the future claims fund, also complained that Murphy had been recommended for the future claims representative position by attorneys representing clergy sex abuse claimants. That, however, is not backed up in the court record. Murphy was actually nominated by attorneys for the Diocese of Gallup in a court motion filed Feb. 11, 2015. Diocesan attorneys cited Murphy’s experience as the future claims representative in church bankruptcy cases in Stockton, California; Fairbanks, Alaska; and Davenport, Iowa.

James Stang, legal counsel for the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, which represents the interests of clergy sex abuse claimants, weighed into the dispute and expressed frustration that the Gallup Diocese’s settlement could fall apart if Catholic Mutual does not finance the future claims fund.

“Are we really going to lose this entire deal because people are speculating that someone’s going to be unreasonable or someone’s going to refuse to offer an answer to a question?” Stang said. “And that’s what’s frustrating me. I just can’t understand why we can’t at least start the first step on this path and see where it goes.”

By the end of the nearly hour long hearing, the judge also appeared frustrated by the lack of resolution. Addressing diocesan attorney Lori Winkelman, Thuma asked, “What happens to your time line if this conversation just continues ad nauseam and we never get anywhere?”

“We’ve got to get this figured out,” Thuma added, “and we’ve got to do it soon.”

Thuma then scheduled another continued status hearing Wednesday afternoon, and he instructed Kim to talk with Murphy and communicate Murphy’s views to the other parties in the bankruptcy prior to Wednesday’s hearing.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

Diocese bankruptcy lurches forward again

NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., Feb. 4, 2016

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

ALBUQUERQUE – The Diocese of Gallup’s bankruptcy case is back on track — at least until next week.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David T. Thuma held a continued status hearing Wednesday afternoon after a dispute Tuesday threatened to derail the Gallup Diocese’s plans to file a plan of reorganization. Different representatives from both sides stepped forward to cooperate on a couple initial steps to possibly mend the breach.

On Tuesday, Thuma navigated a legal conflict between Catholic Mutual, the insurer for the diocese, and Michael P. Murphy, the future claims representative who has the responsibility of representing the interests of any clergy sex abuse claimants who might come forward in the future.

David Spector, an attorney for Catholic Mutual, had vehemently objected to allowing Murphy a review of Catholic Mutual’s financial books and records, while Murphy’s representative, Young Kim, declined to agree that Murphy would be satisfied with viewing only a financial balance sheet from Catholic Mutual. Thuma had told Kim to talk with Murphy and report back during Wednesday’s hearing.

Murphy, who is returning to the United States from Hong Kong Friday, appeared at Wednesday’s hearing telephonically. He and Everett Cygal, an attorney for Catholic Mutual, agreed to work together to get a protective order signed that would guard the confidentiality of Catholic Mutual’s financial information.

Murphy also agreed to view the documents Catholic Mutual is willing to show him, which are the most recent audited balance statement and recent unaudited balance statements.

“It has been the offer that Catholic Mutual has been making for several months now to the future claims rep,” Cygal said.

In response, Murphy said he’s been willing to look at those documents for some time.

If Murphy believes the documents indicate Catholic Mutual has the financial wherewithal to cover the future claims fund, he will give the court a “thumbs up” and presumably the Gallup Diocese’s settlement agreement and plan of reorganization will continue to move forward.

However, if Murphy’s inspection of the documents leads to a “thumbs down,” the case could once again derail by the next status hearing Tuesday.

Susan Boswell, the diocese’s lead bankruptcy attorney, told the court she was continuing to work on the plan of reorganization in spite of the dispute.

“This issue simply cannot be the thing that drives whether or not this plan gets confirmed,” Boswell said.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

Diocese bankruptcy costs exceed $3.6 million

NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., Feb. 6, 2016

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

ALBUQUERQUE – As the Diocese of Gallup pushes to conclude its Chapter 11 case in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, its bankruptcy costs have exceeded $3.6 million. Attorneys, accountants and other professionals submitted quarterly billing statements totaling $340,520.07 for the period of Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, adding up to a total current cost of $3,587,597.65.

However, the quarterly statements do not represent a completely accurate total of the Gallup Diocese’s bankruptcy expenses. They do not include the $38,675 the diocese has paid the U.S. Trustee Program, which oversees the administration of bankruptcy cases.

The statements also do not include miscellaneous expenses the diocese has been paying each month from its bank accounts, such as the $45,000 the diocese paid Tucson Realty & Trust Co. and Accelerated Marketing Group to conduct two property auctions in September. Those U.S. Trustee and miscellaneous bankruptcy payments total more than $93,000 and push the post-bankruptcy filing total to more than $3.6 million.

In addition, prior to filing its Chapter 11 petition Nov. 12, 2013, the Diocese of Gallup made payments to some of its bankruptcy law firms and its accounting firm.

Unless otherwise stated, the following final quarterly figures for 2015 and the total fees and expenses will not be paid until the Gallup Diocese has an approved plan of reorganization:

-Quarles & Brady LLP: The Diocese of Gallup’s lead bankruptcy law firm from Tucson submitted a quarterly statement of $180,208.33 for legal fees and expenses. The firm’s total post-petition legal bill is now $1,994,521.23.

-Keegan, Linscott & Kenon P.C: This Tucson accounting firm has been overseeing the Gallup Diocese ‘s finance office. The firm submitted a quarterly statement for $18,596.50 in fees – its lowest quarterly bill during the bankruptcy. It did not bill for any expenses. The firm’s total post-petition bill is now $431,385.96.

-Stelzner, Winter, Warburton, Flores, Sanchez & Dawes P.A.: The diocese’s special counsel law firm from Albuquerque billed $303.87 in fees this quarter. The firm’s total post-petition bill is now $12,435.21.

-Insurance Archaeology Group: This insurance research company did not submit a statement for this quarterly period. To date the company has billed the Gallup Diocese $48,819 and has received payment for that amount.

-Estate Valuation Consultants Inc.: This real estate appraisal company did not submit a statement for this quarterly period. To date the company has billed the diocese $22,100 and has received payment for that amount.

-Michael P. Murphy: Murphy is the court appointed future claims representative who will represent any clergy sex abuse claimant who might come forward in the future. Murphy has not been paid yet, but his fee of $50,000 plus expenses will be due and payable upon the effective date of any plan of reorganization.

-Walker & Associates P.C.: The diocese’s Albuquerque bankruptcy law firm did not submit a statement for this quarter. To date, the firm has billed $18,062.40 in post-petition fees and expenses.

-Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones LLP: This California law firm is the legal counsel for the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, which represents the interests of clergy sex abuse survivors who have filed claims against the diocese in the bankruptcy case. Although the committee represents abuse claimants, the Diocese of Gallup is responsible for those legal fees. The law firm submitted a quarterly statement for $141,412.37 in fees and expenses. The firm’s total post-petition bill is now $1,060,273.85.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

Syracuse Catholic diocese closes controversial retirement home for priests

NEW YORK
Syracuse.com

By John O’Brien | jobrien@syracuse.com
on February 09, 2016

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Catholic Diocese of Syracuse has closed its retirement home for priests after 59 years, citing financial concerns.

The decision to close the Tommy Coyne Residence for Priests in December was unrelated to concerns raised last year by survivors of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of priests, diocese spokeswoman Danielle Cummings said.

The diocese had been planning for two years to close the home because of the expense, Cummings said. She wouldn’t say how many priests were living in the 22-room home when it closed.

“The building simply was becoming too costly and the repairs needed did not justify continuing it as a retirement residence for priests,” she said.

Over the past 15 years, the facility was home to at least four priests against whom the diocese had found credible allegations of child-molesting, according to public records. Those priests were monsignors Charles Eckermann, Charles Sewall and John Zeder, and the Rev. Chester Misercola.

Another priest who lived at the home in recent years, the Rev. Robert Ours, was convicted of possessing child pornography.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

State Police start internal investigation after arrest of accused child molester

NEW MEXICO
KRQE

SANTA FE (KRQE) – State Police have started an internal investigation following the arrest of an art teacher, who had been investigated by their officers years ago.

State Police got a complaint against Aaron Chavez in 2012, accusing him of touching a student at Santo Nino Catholic School where he works. But State Police say investigators never took action and they don’t know why.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

Police seize Santa Fe archdiocese files in molestation case

NEW MEXICO
KRQE

SANTA FE (AP) – Authorities have seized records from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe as part of an investigation into claims that a Catholic school teacher inappropriately touched female students.

The New Mexican reports that Santo Nino Regional Catholic School art teacher Aaron Chavez has been charged with five counts of sexually touching young girls during classes.

The archdiocese says the 47-year-old Chavez was placed on administrative leave.

Affidavits for search warrants filed in district court Monday say deputies took items from the school and archdiocese offices, including student files, teacher’s personnel files, a laptop computer and electronic memory cards.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

Sheriff’s deputies seize Archdiocese records in molestation case

NEW MEXICO
The New Mexican

Posted: Monday, February 8, 2016

By Uriel J. Garcia
The New Mexican

Santa Fe County sheriff’s deputies have seized records from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe as part of an investigation into allegations that an art teacher at the Santo Niño Regional Catholic School inappropriately touched female students.

Affidavits for search warrants filed Monday in state District Court say deputies took various items Friday from archdiocese offices in Albuquerque as well as the school south of Santa Fe, including files on five students, the teacher’s personnel files, a laptop computer and electronic memory cards.

Criminal complaints filed recently in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court charge Aaron Chavez, 47, with five counts of sexually touching young girls during classes.

The archdiocese said last week that Chavez was placed on administrative leave as a result of the criminal investigation. On Monday, a spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Chavez is currently free on bond, court records show.

Chavez’s lawyer, John Samore, has said his client “denies and will vigorously defend against these allegations.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

Bishop of Durham defends Church of England paedophiles who made ‘mistakes’

UNITED KINGDOM
The Sun

EXCLUSIVE By DAVID WOODING, Sunday Political Editor
6 Feb 2016

A BISHOP leading a probe into paedophile priests was blasted last night for describing their child abuse as “mistakes”.

Rt Rev Paul Butler made the remark in reference to ex-Bishop of Gloucester Peter Ball, jailed last year for a string of offences.

The Bishop of Durham told the House of Lords: “We have to recognise that it’s possible for great people to make mistakes.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VATICAN REMOVES SHADY PANEL MEMBER

UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on the Vatican’s suspension of one of the members of its commission on priestly sexual abuse:

The Vatican has announced that Peter Saunders, one of two representatives of abuse victims on its Commission for the Protection of Minors, has been suspended from the commission.

Saunders refuses to go quietly, however, saying only Pope Francis can dismiss him from the commission—even though, by his own statement, the commission’s vote to suspend him was unanimous, save for one abstention. So unless we are to assume bad faith on the part of every one of the 16 other commission members—beginning with its president, Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston—there must be some merit to the members’ conclusion that they could not work with Saunders.

We have long had our own concerns about Saunders. From his savage attack last June on Australian Cardinal George Pell—whom Saunders never met—branding him as “callous,” “coldhearted,” “almost sociopathic”—to seeming inconsistencies in Saunders’ personal tale of abuse, we have good reason to question his character.

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G-9 meeting: Decentralization and the new dicasteries

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The latest meeting of the Council of Cardinals, Pope Francis’ closest advisers, ended on Tuesday. During their meetings, the cardinals discussed the theme of ‘synodality’ and Pope Francis’ call at last year’s Synod of Bishops for the Church to move towards “a healthy decentralization.” The other main item on the agenda was a discussion and approval of the cardinals’ final proposals concerning the two new dicasteries that are being set up within the Roman Curia.

Pope Francis attended all three sessions, held on Monday morning and afternoon and on Tuesday morning. Often called the G-9, the Council of Cardinals is a group of cardinals chosen by the Pope to advise him on governing the Church and reforming the Roman Curia. It meets at regular intervals.

At a briefing following the end of this meeting, Father Federico Lombardi, the Director of the Holy See’s Press Office, summarized the main issues discussed.

Father Lombardi said the first session of the G-9 discussed the issues raised during the Pope’s keynote speech at the Synod of Bishops on October 17th 2015. This speech reflected on the theme of synodality within the Church and spoke of the need “to proceed towards a healthy decentralization” and Father Lombardi said this call by the Pope remains an importance reference point for the ongoing work of reforming the Curia.

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Victims seek Catholic bishop’s help

OHIO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

OH–FACT SHEET: Accused Catholic sex offender clerics linked to The Josephinum in Columbus

They also release list of 8 accused Columbus clerics
All attended same school as just-arrested seminarian
SNAP: “Ohio church staff ignored repeated red flags”
Prelate should hold “open public meeting” about case
“Why do Catholic institutions still put kids at risk?” group asks
All priests should “reach out now to any local victims,” SNAP says

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and supporters will disclose the names of eight publicly accused sex offender clerics who spent time at a Columbus seminary. They will also beg the top Catholic official in Columbus to

—hold an open public media about the “troubling” pending case of a seminarian who offered $150 to babysit Ohio kids and arranged to buy infants and toddlers for sex, and
—use pulpit announcements, church bulletins and parish websites to “prod anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes or misdeeds by the seminarian to call police.”

WHEN
Tuesday, Feb. 9 at 1-p.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the St Joseph Cathedral, 212 East Broad St. in Columbus

WHO
Three-four members of a self-help group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), including a Missouri woman who is the organization’s associate Midwest director

WHY
Victims are upset that Columbus Bishop Frederick Campbell is largely “being silent and passive” about Joel A. Wright, the recently-arrested Columbus seminarian who had arranged to buy, adopt and rape Mexican youngsters.

Until last month, Wright was a student at The Pontifical College Josephinum, just north of Columbus, and within the boundaries of Bishop Campbell’s diocese. (Bishop Campbell in fact has taught at the Josephinum.)

But in cases like this, SNAP says, bishops “distance themselves from and pretend to be powerless over Catholic institutions in their dioceses,” instead of “stepping up, admitting responsibility and aggressively helping law enforcement.” According to Catholic church practice, custom and law, a bishop is responsible for the safety and well-being of his entire flock, SNAP says.

“If Josephinum staff were ripping off Columbus Catholics financially, Bishop Campbell wouldn’t be passively sitting back and keeping quiet,” said Judy Jones, SNAP’s assistant Midwest director. “He can and should do more.”

“The only prudent assumption is that Wright has assaulted or exploited kids around here,” Jones said. “And Columbus Catholic officials have the ability and duty to see if that’s true by using their resources to beg others with information or suspicions about Wright to call police.”

SNAP is also releasing what it says is “a partial list” of “publicly accused sex offender clerics who have spent time at the Josephinum.” The group believes most of them, including Wright, also helped out at Columbus area parishes temporarily, another reason they say Bishop Campbell should do outreach seeking other victims of Wright.

News accounts show that Ohio Catholic officials had at least three warnings about Wright. But it seem clear that they did little or nothing to heed those warnings, SNAP says.

1) An informant for Homeland Security called and wrote to Josephinum staff about Wright and his efforts to buy infants or toddlers so he could abuse them.

2) Franciscan University officials in Steubenville reported to police that Wright had offered to pay $150 to babysit young kids alone (but the university may not have told Josephinum officials).

3) Wright’s mother admits that more than 40 seminaries across the US had rejected her son’s applications for enrollment. (She claims it was because of his physical disabilities, but SNAP leaders don’t believe this is true.)

On Jan. 29, he was arrested in San Diego en route to Mexico to obtain youngsters. At the time, his studies were sponsored by Steubenville Bishop Jeffrey Montforton.

[10TV]

This “horrific case” shows that the Catholic hierarchy still act recklessly with kids’ safety, SNAP says.

“Once again, Catholic officials endanger kids by ignoring clear, repeated warnings about an obviously sexually troubled cleric,” said David Clohessy, SNAP’s director. “And once again, when abuse reports surface, Catholic officials basically clam up instead of aggressively reaching out. They should be using pulpit announcements, church bulletins, parish websites and mailing lists to help find victims, witnesses and whistleblowers who could help law enforcement prosecute and convict Wright so kids will be protected from him for many years to come.”

SNAP is especially worried that Wright may have molested one or more Ohio children. When asked if he had ever had sex with an infant before, Wright wrote “had made it very close.”

[10TV]

Wright is originally from Vermont. A photo of Wright is at BishopAccountability.org

Columbus diocesan priests: Fr. Ronald J. Atwood, Fr. Thomas J. Brosmer, Fr. Michael Ellifritz, Fr. Joseph N. Fete, Fr. Michael F. Hanrahan, Fr. Robert E. “Paul” Hayden, Fr. David Heimann, Fr. Philip J. Jacobs, Fr. Raymond E. Lavelle, Fr. Frederick A. Loyd, Fr. Thomas L. McLaughlin, Fr. Samuel E. Ritchey, Fr. Francis R. Schaefer, Br. Fintan Shaffer (a.k.a. Guy Dale Shaffer), Fr. Martin “Marty” V. Weithman, Fr. Robert A Brown, Fr Aaron AJ Cote, Francis A Benham, and John J. Walsh
http://www.columbustruth.org/Photo_Page_Columbus.html

CONTACT

Judy Jones (314 974 5003, SNAPjudy@gmail.com), Carol Zamonski, 614 447 2084, doro@copper.net, David Clohessy (314 566 9790, davidgclohessy@gmail.com), Barbara Dorris (314 503 0003, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org)

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Yeshivah Centre abuse victims fear bullying, intimidation

AUSTRALIA
The Age

[with video]

February 9, 2016 –

Timna Jacks
Education Reporter

Yeshivah Centre abuse victims still fear they will be bullied and ostracised if they disclose their abuse, one year after widespread cover-ups and intimidation of victims was revealed at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Fairfax Media is aware of at least four Yeshivah victims who have refused to take compensation from the centre, in protest against its new redress scheme.

They don’t trust the new scheme, fearing that their confidential disclosures will be handled poorly, or leaked to third parties, which they fear might lead to harassment and ostracisation.

Jewish Care Victoria – an organisation engaged by Yeshivah to receive initial inquiries from survivors of abuse – has already breached one victim’s trust, after a private email sent to the board of Jewish Care was leaked to a board member at Yeshivah.

“This identifies me to Yeshivah – that was the last thing that I want,” said the victim, who did not want to be named.

“Yeshivah, and in particular, its leadership, has a terrible history of bullying and harassing victims and the last thing victims want is to be identified to Yeshivah, because of that history.”

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Bistum unterscheidet bei Entschädigung der Opfer

DEUTSCHLAND
Welt

[The Regensburg diocese has paid out secretly much more money to victims of abuse than was previously known.]

Ein unabhängiger Anwalt klärt jetzt den Skandal bei den Regensburger Domspatzen auf. Derweil zahlt das Bistum Regensburg insgeheim viel mehr Geld an Missbrauchsopfer als bisher bekannt. Von Tim Röhn , Christian Eckl, Regensburg

Es gibt bei dieser Sache so viele Emotionen – Angst, Scham, Wut und auch Rachegelüste. Darum ist es gut, dass nun ein Mann wie Ulrich Weber die Zügel in der Hand hält. Weber, groß, breit, Rechtsanwalt, ist ein nüchterner Typ, seine Mimik und Gestik sagen: Ist mir wurscht, was ihr von mir denkt. Der 45-Jährige sitzt am Esstisch seines Regensburger Einfamilienhauses und sagt über sich: “Ich verstehe mich als Aufklärer, der die Basis für Aufarbeitung schafft.”

Deshalb beschäftigt er sich seit einem Dreivierteljahr mit fast nichts anderem mehr als dem Missbrauchsskandal bei den Regensburger Domspatzen, einem der berühmtesten und ältesten Kirchenchöre der Welt. 2010 hatte es erste Berichte über körperliche und sexuelle Gewalt bei den Domspatzen gegeben – ernsthaft untersucht werden die Vorfälle erst, seitdem Weber, der Mitarbeiter der Opferschutzorganisation Weißer Ring ist, zum unabhängigen Chefaufklärer ernannt wurde.

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Will Pope Francis confront the ‘devil’ in the Mexican Church?

MEXICO
Fusion

by Rafa Fernandez De Castro | February 9, 2016

MEXICO CITY—When Pope Francis visits Mexico from Feb. 12-17, many people will be watching to see if he finally addresses the Vatican’s failures to prevent and punish cases of child sexual abuse by some members of the Mexican clergy.

There’s plenty of such scandals to address—from a priest in Oaxaca accused of abusing indigenous minors to the fugitive priests of San Luis Potosí on the run from sexual abuse charges. There are other cases of the Church hierarchy allegedly protecting accused pedophile priests such as Nicolas Aguilar Rivera, who was transferred from Puebla to Los Angeles, California, after facing several accusations in Mexico.

But perhaps the most notorious case is that of Marcial Maciel, a priest accused of sexually abusing dozens of minors during his tenure as the leader of the powerful Catholic order known as “The Legionaries of Christ.” Maciel founded The Legion in Mexico City in 1941 as a movement to prepare young men for the priesthood and Catholic leaders from across Latin America. Today, the Legion is best known for creating dozens of private schools and universities that primarily serve Mexico’s middle- and upper-classes.

In a recent interview with a Mexican reporter, Pope Francis said Maciel, who died in 2008, was “sick, greatly sick.” But he downplayed the Vatican’s involvement in any cover-up. The pope told Televisa that Maciel most likely had an enabler within The Vatican—someone who “suspected and didn’t know” about the priest’s pederasty.

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Vorschläge zugunsten von Missbrauchsopfern

ROM
Zenit

Missbrauchsopfer sollen künftig unmittelbar von kirchlichen Repräsentanten Antwort auf ihre Anfragen erhalten. Die Päpstliche Kommission zum Schutz von Minderjährigen sieht dies so vor. Zudem ist ein „Welttag des Gebets“ und eine Bußliturgie in Vorbereitung. Eine Erhöhung der Transparenz kirchlicher Verfahren soll durch Arbeitsgruppensitzungen über die rechtlichen Aspekte des Kinderschutzes vorbereitet werden. Daran werden auch externe Experten teilnehmen. Eine Internetseite mit vorbildlichen Praxisbeispielen zum Kinderschutz wird darüber hinaus entwickelt.

Mit einer Reihe von Bischofskonferenzen sowie mit Konferenzen von Orden und Kongregationen arbeitet die Kommission zusammen, dabei einem Wunsch Papst Franziskus‘ folgend. Mitglieder der Kommission haben sich im zurückliegenden Jahr mit Vertretern von Einrichtungen aus Europa, Lateinamerika, Asien, Ozeanien und Australien getroffen. Ab März werden die Kontakte nach Afrika eng ausgebaut. In einer Woche beginnt zudem an der Päpstlichen Universität Gregoriana ein Diplomkurs zum Schutz von Minderjährigen, mit 19 Teilnehmern aus vier Kontinenten.

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Missbrauchsopfer Saunders wirft Papst Untätigkeit vor

VATIKAN
religion@orf

Der Brite Peter Saunders, der im Jahr 2014 von Papst Franziskus in die Kinderschutzkommission des Vatikans berufen wurde, hat dem Kirchenoberhaupt weitgehende Untätigkeit beim Kampf gegen die Pädophilie vorgeworfen.

Er habe immer das „Recht auf freie Rede“ für sich in Anspruch genommen, sagte Saunders AFP-Journalistin Ella Ide. Dies sei aber „mit der Funktionsweise der Kirche und der Kommission nicht kompatibel“. Hier liege der Schlüssel dazu, warum „Missbrauch in der Kirche noch immer so verbreitet“ sei.

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Peter Saunders wirft Papst Franziskus Untätigkeit vor

VATIKAN
T-Online

Der Brite Peter Saunders, der im Jahr 2014 von Papst Franziskus in die Kinderschutzkommission des Vatikans berufen wurde, hat dem Kirchenoberhaupt weitgehende Untätigkeit beim Kampf gegen die Pädophilie vorgeworfen. “Der Papst könnte so viel mehr tun – und er tut fast nichts”, sagte Saunders. Saunders ist selbst ein Missbrauchsopfer.

Der Vatikan erklärte am Montag, Saunders sei aufgefordert worden, aus der Kinderschutzkommission auszutreten. Saunders sagte dazu, lediglich der Papst könne ihn dazu zwingen, die Kommission zu verlassen. Er habe sein Amt nicht niedergelegt.

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Two ex-Marist brothers could attempt to avoid trial on child sex abuse charges

AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

February 9, 2016

Christopher Knaus and Megan Gorrey

Two former Marist brothers have signalled they will try to avoid going to trial on historical child sexual abuse charges.

John William Chute, 83, and Gregory Joseph Sutton, 64, were among four men police charged with fresh offences as part of an ongoing investigation into child sexual abuse in ACT schools in the 1980s.

Chute did not appear in court to face two charges of indecent assault on a male and two acts of indecency on a person aged between 10 and 16.

His defence lawyer told Magistrate Bernadette Boss his client was infirm and suffered from Parkinson’s disease and dementia.

The court heard Chute, known as Brother Kostka, was the subject of separate charges in NSW that were set to come before court on Friday.

He had been assessed by experts to determine whether he could be declared unfit for trial.

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Altoona-Johnstown Catholic Diocese puts two priests on leave amid sex abuse allegations

PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

BY LAUREN HENSLEY MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8TH 2016

ALTOONA, Pa.– The Altoona-Johnstown Catholic Diocese said two more priests are on leave, each facing allegations of child sex abuse.

This brings the total to three suspended priests in just over a month. Each case involves allegations made decades ago.

Sunday Bishop Mark Bartchak announced Sunday the Rev. David Arseneault seen from Huntingdon’s Holy Trinity and the Rev. James Coveney, who is retired from Saint Mark’s Church in Altoona, have both been placed on leave from the ministry.

They are two priests accused in two separate incidents, but the church said they have one thing in common, the accusations date back about 20 years. Why is the church now choosing to review these accusations?

“I can’t answer that question but obviously Bishop Bartchak feels it is important to review these cases,” said Tony DeGol, secretary for communications.

6News sought to question the bishop directly but we were told he was unavailable.

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Sceptics query decision to allow Pell to give evidence via video link

AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

Cardinal George Pell will not be ordered back to Australia to testify to the child abuse royal commission, a ruling met with scepticism by abuse survivor groups.

Cardinal Pell will remain in his new home at the Vatican in Rome, with commissioner Peter McClellan accepting an Italian doctor’s evidence he is too sick to fly to Australia.

The decision has been met with suspicion by lawyers for former Melbourne school principal Graeme Sleeman, who resigned in 1986 in frustration over diocese inaction about an abusive parish priest.

Barrister Paul O’Dwyer, for Mr Sleeman, asked Justice McClellan on Monday to make Cardinal Pell’s medical report public.

“One of the issues in this case is the fact the church and particularly Archbishop Pell has a continuous history of non-disclosure and we would contend that this report, this medical report, is more of the same,” Mr O’Dwyer said.

Justice McClellan made some of Cardinal Pell’s medical details public but refused to release them in full.

He revealed the Italian report said Cardinal Pell was suffering high blood pressure and ischemic heart disease complicated by a previous heart attack.

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Cardinal George Pell issues statement on royal commission

AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

February 8, 2016

Shannon Deery
Herald Sun

CARDINAL George Pell says he wishes he could have returned to Australia to testify at the child abuse royal commission in person.

Instead Cardinal Pell, the third most senior figure in the global Catholic Church, will give his evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse from the Vatican.

It follows a ruling by commission chair Justice Peter McClellan that Pell could testify via videolink because of the cardinal’s poor health.

In a statement issued this morning from Rome Cardinal Pell said he was eager to respond to specific claims that have been made against him.

They include that he turned a blind eye to abuse and was involved in decisions to shuffle notorious paedophile Gerald Ridsdale between parishes. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

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Group Protests Diocese Of Steubenville For Handling Of Joel Wright Case

OHIO
TV10

[with video]

By Maureen Kocot
Monday February 8, 2016

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – The group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, is calling on the Steubenville Catholic Diocese to go further to protect children after a seminary student was arrested by federal agents.

The Department of Homeland Security says 23-year-old Joel Wright tried to travel to Tijuana, Mexico to purchase three little girls, ages 1, 2, and 3, for sex.

Wright was sponsored by the Steubenville Diocese and a first year seminary student at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus.

The Diocese says Wright passed a stringent criminal background check, but SNAP wants to know why the diocese was unaware of a police report taken by Steubenville police that could have raised a red flag.

The report, obtained by 10TV, documents a Craigslist ad posted by a Joel Wright offering to pay parents $150 to babysit their children.

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US judge denies new trial for Maurizio

PENNSYLVANIA
The Altoona Mirror

February 9, 2016

By Phil Ray (pray@altoonamirror.com) , The Altoona Mirror

JOHNSTOWN – A new sentencing date was set Monday for Father Joseph D. Maurizio Jr. of Somerset County, who was denied a new trial on charges that he sexually abused several Honduran children in an orphanage he helped support over the years.

U.S. District Judge Kim R. Gibson in Johnstown ruled the 71-year-old priest will be sentenced on March 2 for illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place, possession of sexually explicit photographs of a minor and using money raised for the ProNino orphanage in El Progresso to pay for sexual services from the children.

Gibson, in a 48-page opinion, rejected a petition from Maurizio’s Altoona attorneys Steven P. Passarello and Daniel Kiss asking for a new trial because, the defense charged, the government withheld an impact statement in which one of the young victims denied Maurizio sexually abused him, which was contrary to the boy’s testimony during Maurizio’s trial last September.

“I am somewhat perplexed by the opinion,” Passarello stated Monday afternoon in reaction to the Judge’s decision.

The judge, he said, agreed with almost every point the defense raised: that the government had withheld a statement that showed Maurizio was innocent and that the statement was “material” in that it reflected on the credibility of the government’s testimony.

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“Spotlight” reporters address media students

INDIANA
Indiana Daily Student

By Austin Faulds

Michael Rezendes and Sacha Pfeiffer, journalists recently depicted in the Oscar-nominated film “Spotlight,” spoke to Media School students Monday about their experiences in journalism. af

Pfeiffer and Rezendes, along with other journalists on the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team, uncovered a series of child molestation scandals within Boston-area Catholic churches in 2002, which ultimately led to a major investigation and international reform within the Catholic Church. af

“This was the worst kept secret in town, maybe in the country, maybe in the world,” Rezendes said. af

In the film adaptation of their reporting, Pfeiffer and Rezendes were portrayed by Rachel McAdams and Mark Ruffalo, respectively. af

Through the investigation, the number of Boston clergymen participating in the sexual assault rose from 13 clergymen to about 90.

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The harsh truth

UNITED STATES
Evangelical Focus

AUTHOR José de Segovia

“If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse one”, says the honourable lawyer played by Stanley Tucci in “Spotlight”.

It had been a long time since I had seen a character represent this profession with so much dignity. The same can be said of the journalists who are part of the investigative team of the newspaper that brought the shocking figures of child abuse in the archdiocese of Boston to light – around a thousand children for only 249 priests! –.

However, everything in it is so rigorous and contained, that even the catholic critics have taken their caps off to this film, which is probably the best that the industry has offered us in the last year.

Having already received a whole string of prizes, it is difficult not to talk about this film using superlatives. However, in these mediocre times, productions like this are so unusual that you might be forgiven for thinking that the clock had stopped ticking.

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Aker competent to stand trial

KENTUCKY
Ledger-Independent

CHRISTY HOOTS christy.hoots@lee.net

VANCEBURG | A former Lewis County preacher who currently faces sexual abuse charges, was found to be competent to stand trial during a recent circuit court appearance.

Duncan Aker of Greensburg, Ind., and formerly of Vanceburg, was arrested in May 2015, and charged with five counts of sexual abuse and four counts of sodomy after a Lewis County grand jury handed down an indictment against him in April 2015.

According to the indictment, Aker allegedly engaged in sexual intercourse and sexual contact through forcible compulsion with a male under the age of 12 between October 2007 and March 2010.

The indictment also states that Aker allegedly committed some of the offenses in the church where he was minister.

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Gallup diocese owes $3.5M in costs

NEW MEXICO
Albuquerque Journal

By Olivier Uyttebrouck / Journal Staff Writer
Published: Tuesday, February 9th, 2016

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Legal and professional costs in the Diocese of Gallup’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case exceeded $3.5 million through Dec. 31, new filings in the case show.

An Arizona law firm representing the diocese, Quarles & Brady LLP of Tucson, is seeking fees and expenses totaling $1,994,521, according to a disclosure statement filed this month.

A Los Angeles firm, Pachulski, Stang, Ziehl & Jones LLP, is seeking payment for $1,060,274 in fees and expenses. The firm represents 57 alleged victims of sexual abuse by priests who have filed claims in the case.

Most legal costs will remain unpaid until a reorganization plan has been approved by presiding U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David T. Thuma.

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Melbourne priest Paul Grasby moves to Malaysia to pursue ‘young Asian men’ while on paid leave

AUSTRALIA
The Age

February 9, 2016

Nino Bucci
Crime reporter for The Age

EXCLUSIVE

A Catholic priest stood down amid child sexual abuse allegations has moved to Malaysia, where he is using a gay dating website to seek the company of “young Asian men” while on paid leave.
Father Peter Grasby, who is suspected of abusing boys from at least two Melbourne parishes during almost 40 years as a priest, also propositioned a former parishioner on a gay dating website, it can be revealed.

Father Grasby, the former parish priest of St Mary Magdalen in Jordanville, near Chadstone, was placed on administrative leave from the position when he was accused of abusing a boy aged 10 to 14 in another parish more than three decades earlier.

He was also accused in a Victorian parliamentary inquiry of allowing boys to sleep in his former presbytery at St Michael’s in North Melbourne and of surrounding himself with a concerning number of young Vietnamese boys at St Mary Magdalen.

The case of Father Grasby, who was placed on administrative leave in 2012, raises questions about the Melbourne Response, engineered by the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne to handle sexual abuse complaints, and the role it plays in allowing suspected serial offenders to go free on paid leave without supervision, a victim’s support group says.

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Former WA Catholic college student ‘too embarrassed’ to report sexual abuse

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Joanna Menagh

A former student at a Catholic college in Western Australia has told a Perth court he never spoke to anyone after he was sexually abused 45 years ago because he was “too embarrassed”.

The man was giving evidence in the District Court at the trial of Catholic Bishop Max Davis, who is accused of sexually abusing five boarders at Saint Benedict’s College in New Norica between 1969 and 1972.

Davis was a teacher and a boarding master at the school and in 1971 was ordained a priest.

Most recently he was the Catholic Bishop of the Australian Defence Force but he stood aside from his duties when he was charged two years ago.

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February 8, 2016

Acusan abuso sexual de curas en Campeche

MEXICO CITY (MEXICO)
Reforma [Ciudad de México, Mexico]

February 8, 2016

By Antonio Baranda

Read original article

Los sacerdotes Martín Mena Carrillo y Francisco Velázquez Trejo fueron demandados por cometer abuso sexual contra Luis Felipe Izquierdo Cundafe entre 2007 y 2008.

Izquierdo presentó una demanda por daño moral en el Juzgado Tercero Civil del Primer Distrito Judicial de Campeche contra los padres, además demandó a Ramón Castro y Castro, Obispo de Cuernavaca, y José Francisco González González, Obispo de Campeche, por supuesto encubrimiento.

El actual “sacerdote veterocatólico”, como se define, presentó la demanda por daño moral y psicológico el 30 de noviembre del año pasado.

Ya en julio de 2015, el originario de Huimanguillo, Tabasco, había hecho público el presunto caso de pederastia, aunque no había emprendido acciones legales.

El escrito que Izquierdo presentó al juez señala que a principios de 2007, cuando tenía 16 años, viajó de Mérida a Ciudad del Carmen, para participar en una misión de paz.

Durante la misión de 15 días, a la cual fueron otros jóvenes, conoció en la parroquia de la “Divina Providencia” al padre Martín, quien lo invitó a entrar al Seminario de Campeche.

Izquierdo aceptó y en julio del mismo año regresó a dicha iglesia, donde Martín le dijo que primero se haría cargo del apoyo espiritual a grupos juveniles de la comunidad.

Según la demanda, el padre dio a Izquierdo un trato “muy especial”, con regalos y paseos, hasta que una noche de agosto lo invitó a su habitación, en la casa de la parroquia.

“Estaba (el padre) con una botella de licor y me dijo ‘toma’, y me dio a tomar, era la primera vez que tomaba licor. Entonces comenzó a tocarme la pierna y acariciaba mi parte íntima.

“Mientras me acariciaba mi miembro, con voz excitada me decía ‘esto es normal, no pasa nada, esto es cariño que se demuestra cuando uno quiere mucho, y yo te quiero mucho’. Ese día me hizo sexo oral en la hamaca donde dormía”, aseguró Izquierdo en el documento.

Días después, Martín lo volvió a invitar a su cuarto, a lo cual accedió. El escrito señala que esa noche el entonces adolescente fue obligado a penetrar al padre.

En octubre del mismo año, Luis Felipe conoció en la ciudad de Campeche al padre Francisco Velázquez Trejo, “El Bimbo”, de la parroquia del “Sagrado Corazón de Jesús”.

Meses después, ya en 2008, el padre Francisco fue a la “Divina Providencia” y luego de ingerir bebidas alcohólicas con el padre Martín y Luis Felipe, invitó a éste a su habitación.

“Comenzó a tocarme mis genitales. Yo estaba muy nervioso porque el cuarto de Martín quedaba cerca y se podía enojar conmigo.

“En ese momento el padre Francisco me dijo que lo penetrara porque sabía lo que hacía con Martin, y me amenazó. Me vi obligado a (hacerlo)”.

Intentos de suicidio y exilio

Luis Felipe relata que también fue acosado por otro padre identificado como “Leobardo”, por lo que intentó suicidarse en tres ocasiones, cuando ya había entrado al Seminario.

Cuenta que el 18 de marzo de 2009 se tomó “un montón” de pastillas que había en la enfermería del seminario. Días después hizo lo mismo y luego trató de ahorcarse.

El joven llamó entonces a sus tíos Rafael y Miguelina, quienes fueron por él una semana después. Sin embargo, regresó al Seminario a finales del mismo año.

Durante “buen tiempo”, refiere, se dio cuenta que Martín le hizo lo mismo a otros menores, por lo que decidió revelar el abuso al entonces Obispo de Campeche, Ramón Castro y Castro.

Sin embargo, éste lo amenazó con meterlo a la cárcel si ventilaba algo. El padre Francisco también lo contactó para ofrecerle dinero a cambio de no decir nada.

Luis Felipe se fue del seminario y viajó a Chile donde radica actualmente y profesa la religión veterocatólica, también conocida como Iglesia católica antigua.

Revelación

El demandante dice que envió cartas contando lo sucedido al Cardenal Norberto Rivera, al Obispo de Tabasco Gerardo de Jesús, así como al Arzobispo de Yucatán y al Nuncio Apostólico.

“Pasaron los meses y me llegó un correo, era el Obispo Ramón Castro y Castro, reclamándome y reprochándome por qué había enviado cartas a los Obispos.

“Manifestándome que él me había apoyado económicamente y me apoyó en todo”, apunta.

En dicha comunicación, aparentemente en 2014, Castro le pide a Luis Felipe hablar primero antes de recurrir a “otras formas”.

El año pasado, Luis Felipe envió una carta al Papa Francisco con detalles del caso. El contenido de la misiva se publicó en el Diario Tribuna de Campeche el 2 de julio.

“Entre los sacerdotes hay autoprotección, son una mafia porque la Iglesia no sanciona a los responsables. Tengo la decisión de denunciar estos hechos ante las autoridades competentes.

“Con el fin de que no continúen esos atropellos y violaciones cometidos por los sacerdotes católicos, porque no sabemos cuántos menores han sufrido lo mismo”, indica.

Luis Felipe asegura que los “predicadores de la fe” se aprovecharon de él para obligarlo a cometer actos indignos, denigrantes y humillantes que dejan secuelas perdurables.

“Se me expuso al descrédito, deshonor y desprecio de amigos, familiares y de la sociedad, con lo que se me afectó en mis sentimientos, honor, decoro, reputación, creencias, vida privada”.


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After Bill Cosby and Brenda Tracy, lawmakers weigh more changes to sexual assault laws

OREGON
The Oregonian

By Ian K. Kullgren | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on February 08, 2016

SALEM — For the second time in as many years, lawmakers are considering changing the way officials prosecute sexual assault cases.

A bill in the Oregon Senate would create an exception to the 12-year statute of limitations for the most serious sex crimes — including rape, sodomy and child abuse — allowing prosecutors to bring charges if new concrete evidence emerges.

For example, they could reopen the case if multiple victims come forward with similar allegations or if new written evidence is discovered.

Senate Bill 1553 was inspired by high-profile rape cases, including the one involving Brenda Tracy, who reported being raped by four football players in Corvallis in 1998, and the one involving Bill Cosby, the former comedian facing a barrage of sexual assault allegations.

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SNAP addresses seminary student arrested on child sex charges

OHIO
WTOV

[with video]

BY KENDALL FORWARD MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8TH 2016

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio — Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) are urging Steubenville’s Catholic Diocese to take action to notify potential victims of a former Franciscan student who was arrested in San Diego, CA by federal agents recently.

The victims’ rights group showed up at the Diocese office in downtown Steubenville on Monday. They’re concerned 23-year-old Joel Wright may have had contact with children in the area, and they are encouraging anyone who may have been victimized to speak up.

Wright was arrested on allegations that he was traveling to Mexico with the intention of adopting or buying a three-year-old girl and raping her.

Wright was studying to be a priest at a seminary college in Columbus, but had previously spent two semesters at Franciscan University.

A Steubenville police report also reveals that Wright was investigated for an online post seeking to pay people to babysit their children.

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Lawsuit filed against former St. Mary’s priest

MICHIGAN
Central Michigan Life

By Sydney Smith

For nearly two years, St. Mary’s University Parish Priest Denis Heames asked a Central Michigan University student to keep his sexual relationship with her a secret, according to a lawsuit filed in Isabella County’s 21st Circuit Court.

Senior Megan Winans is asking the court to consider whether she was abused by Heames, who was removed from St. Mary’s in June, during her work as a “media intern” at the church from 2012 to 2014. A civil lawsuit was filed Jan. 14 claiming battery, defamation, breach of fidiciary duty, fraud, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent supervision and retention.

Winans is suing for economic losses equivalent to $25,000 for each count and any other costs she may be entitled to.

Heames, who now resides in Canada according to the documents, was placed on leave for “boundary violations.” No other specific details were given in a press release from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saginaw other than to point out the violations had nothing to do with minors.

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‘Spotlight’ revelations transformed abuse group

UNITED STATES
The Morning Call

Bill White

David Clohessy, national director for the group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, likes to tell the story of the struggling early days of his organization — and when that changed, dramatically.

Clohessy, a victim of sexual abuse by a priest for about four years starting when he was 11 or 12, began volunteering for the support, information and advocacy group SNAP in the early ’90s. But as you saw if you’ve watched the Oscar-contending movie “Spotlight,” SNAP had a terrible time generating interest in the things it knew about child sexual abuse by priests and the way cases were covered up, in Boston and all over the country.

The movie dramatizes the Pulitzer Prize-winning Boston Globe investigation that exposed widespread child sexual abuse by Boston area priests and the massive coverup that allowed it to continue. It also depicted the frustration of New England SNAP founder/leader Phil Saviano, who had had no success in interesting the Globe in this larger story despite occasional individual reports of abuse by priests.

Clohessy said he had the same conversation every December with SNAP founder and fellow priest abuse survivor Barbara Blaine as they reviewed another frustrating year. “It went like this,” he said. “‘This is going nowhere. None of this will ever see the light of day. Why don’t we pack it up?'”

So it was in December 2001, just before the Globe story broke in early 2002. “I said to Barbara, ‘Well, these folks at the Boston Globe say they’re doing a big investigation. Let’s try it for one more year.

“Just a couple of weeks later, we felt like geniuses for not shutting the whole thing down.”

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Convicted Somerset County priest’s request for new trial denied

PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review

BY LIZ ZEMBA | Monday, Feb. 8, 2016

A Somerset County priest convicted of molesting boys at a Honduran orphanage will not receive a new trial.

U.S. District Judge Kim R. Gibson issued an order Monday denying the Rev. Joseph D. Maurizio’s request for a new trial and setting a sentencing hearing for March.

In the 48-page opinion and order, Gibson found that defense attorney Steven Passarello of Altoona failed to show that newly discovered evidence contained in a witness’ victim-impact statement would result in a not-guilty verdict at another trial. Gibson said he took into account other evidence at the September trial when rendering his decision.

“Given the substantial evidence that exists in this case, and the court having examined the evidence already weighed and considered by the jury in the defendant’s first trial, the court finds that it is unlikely that a jury at a second trial would acquit defendant,” Gibson said in the opinion.

Passarello, who noted that Gibson sided with him on several points he raised, said he is disappointed in the denial.

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No New Trial for Priest Convicted of Sex Tourism With Boys

PENNSYLVANIA
ABC News

By JOE MANDAK, ASSOCIATED PRESS PITTSBURGH — Feb 8, 2016

A priest who was convicted of sexually assaulting poor street children during missionary trips to Honduras and said federal prosecutors wrongly withheld evidence in his case won’t get a new trial, a judge ruled.

The priest, 70-year-old Joseph Maurizio, was convicted in the sexual tourism case in September.

U.S. District Judge Kim Gibson rejected his appeal, clearing the way for him to be sentenced on March 2, barring further appeals. The Johnstown judge found that an accuser’s statement was wrongly withheld but wouldn’t have changed the outcome of the priest’s trial.

“Given the substantial evidence that exists in this case … the court finds it unlikely that a jury at a second trial would acquit defendant,” he wrote in the ruling, issued Monday.

The appeal, which prompted a hearing before the judge last week, concerned a statement given by one of the accusers who told investigators he wasn’t “abused” by the priest.

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CT–Controversial Catholic group invests in porn

CONNECTICUT
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Feb. 8, 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)

A new book says that a high profile and controversial Connecticut-based Catholic religious order “invests in companies involved in the arms race, pornography and high-end real estate” and a Catholic journalist says this may make “a mockery” of Francis’ more progressive agenda. ­­­­­­­­­­

[National Catholic Reporter]

In The National Catholic Reporter, veteran investigative journalist Jason Berry reports that the Legion of Christ is pilloried in a new book. Berry calls the Legion “only marginally reformed.” We think that’s a generous assessment. We believe it’s still a secretive cult-like group more dedicated to enriching itself than protecting kids, exposing enablers, or ousting predators.

We urge Francis to denounce the Legion. We urge caring Catholics and citizens to boycott the Legion’s hotel and pontifical complex in Jerusalem (the Notre Dame Institute), its building company (the ECO Development Group, a.k.a. Equipo de Coordinación de Obras, SC), and its travel agency, New Gate Tours (a.k.a. Artic SA de CV) with branches in the USA, Italy and Spain.

We hope every single person who has seen, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes or cover ups in the Legion of Christ – whether by Legion founder Fr. Marcial Maciel or others – will speak up, expose wrongdoers, protect kids and start healing.

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Standing in the Spotlight: Without Shame

UNITED STATES
Good Men Project

By Peter Pollard

I sat in a theater in New York’s Times Square recently, soaking in every nuance of the film Spotlight. I already intimately knew the story of the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team’s investigation of the Archdiocese of Boston’s cover-up of sexual abuse by scores of its priests. I knew most of the characters: the reporters, the survivors, the attorneys, the Archdiocese’s higher ups – I even caught a glimpse of the name of the priest who sexually abused me back in the mid-1960s on a list of priests under review.

But what moved me most was the two adolescent boys sitting near me in the theater. They were laughing at inappropriate places and nudging one another during some of the most poignant moments in the film. Just before I leaned over to reprimand them for their disrespect, I stopped, and considered the fact that they were there at all. Of 25 films showing that night in the multiplex, they’d chosen the one about sexual abuse by clergy.

The boys’ discomfort was palpable.

I realized then, that through the film, the Spotlight team’s tireless efforts were perhaps freeing two more souls from the belief that they were alone and powerless – just as the team’s long series of stories in 2002 had freed so many of us, who once felt hopeless that our experiences of betrayal by the Catholic hierarchy would ever come to light.

I remember clearly, twenty eight years ago this month, storming out of the Chancery Office of the Archdiocese of Boston, shouting over my shoulder “maybe I’ll go to the Boston Globe. “ My then-idle threat felt like the only leverage I had left after the Archdiocese refused to remove from active ministry the priest who had sexually abused me two decades earlier.

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Victims applaud police and challenge Catholic officials

MASSACHUSETTS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Feb. 8

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

We’re grateful to the Chicopee police for warning the public about ex-priest Richard Lavigne. We wish Springfield Catholic officials would likewise step up and alert and remind parents about this dangerous man.

[MassLive]

The mere passage of time doesn’t make child molesters less dangerous. We believe Lavigne is still a threat to kids. We hope that every single person who saw, suspected or suffered his crimes will find the courage to call police, expose wrongdoers and protect children.

And we hope that Springfield Catholic officials who recruited, educated, ordained, trained, hired, transferred and shielded Fr. Lavigne for decades will also aggressively seek out and support others who were hurt by him and beg them to call law enforcement. We hope that Bishop Mitchell Rozanski will lead this effort. But if he doesn’t, we hope that other church staff in the diocese will show real courage and use pulpit announcements, church bulletins and parish websites to do it.

Our hearts go out to the brave Crouteau family and everyone else who has been impacted by Lavigne’s crimes and church cover ups of those crimes.

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Vatican sex abuse commission ends turbulent meeting, cites progress

VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service

Rosie Scammell | February 8, 2016

VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican commission on clerical sexual abuse has wrapped up a turbulent week-long meeting during which one of two victims on the panel was effectively ousted and Chilean Catholics upset that Pope Francis has not sacked a controversial bishop delivered protest letters.

But a statement released on Monday (Feb. 8) at the end of the biannual meeting of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors made no mention of its decision on Saturday that Peter Saunders, a clerical abuse victim from Britain, would take a “leave of absence.”

After that announcement, following a majority decision by the 17-member commission indicating they could no longer work with Saunders, he insisted that he had no intention of resigning.

The final statement by the papal commission on Monday instead cited progress on a range of issues and reiterated that its chief task is establishing policies that churches around the world should follow to protect children.

Saunders, founder of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood in Britain, has frequently been critical of the Vatican’s handling of clerical abuse and the apparent slow working pace of the commission, which was created by Pope Francis nearly two years ago.

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Pope Francis broke my heart, says child abuse victim sidelined by Vatican

ROME
Straits Times (Singapore)

ROME (AFP) – A British paedophilia survivor who has been asked to step down from a Vatican panel on the issue said Monday that he felt betrayed by Pope Francis.

“Of course Pope Francis has established he is part of the problem,” Peter Saunders said in an interview with AFPTV, during which he insisted he had not resigned and that only the pontiff himself could force him to quit the Vatican commission.

“That breaks my heart because when I met him 18 months ago I thought there was a sincerity and a willingness to make things happen, and I am afraid that has been dashed now.”

Saunders, the head of Britain’s National Association for People Abused in Childhood, was personally asked to join the panel by Pope Francis.

His involvement, along with fellow survivor Marie Collins, helped burnish its credentials as a symbol of the Church tackling the abuse head-on.

But Saunders now says he realises the commission was always going to be about “smoke and mirrors” and that he is convinced the Church will never act alone to cure the “cancer” in its midst.

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Latest sex offender notice from Chicopee police includes defrocked Roman Catholic priest

MASSACHUSETTS
The Republican/MassLive

By Patrick Johnson | pjohnson@repub.com
on February 08, 2016

CHICOPEE – Police on Monday released information on two registered Level 3 sex offenders residing in Chicopee as a way to alert the community of their presence.

Neither man is wanted for any crimes, and police warn against harassing either of them.

One of the two names, Richard Lavigne, is likely to be familiar to people in the area.

Lavigne, 74, is a defrocked Roman Catholic priest who was pleaded guilty in 1992 to two counts of molestation of a minor and was given a 10-year probation sentence.

He was also the only publicly identified suspect in the 1972 murder of Springfield alterboy Daniel Croteau. That slaying remains unsolved.

All people convicted of sex offenses are required to register with the state Sex Offenders Registry Board. The board then assigns a ranking based on the likelihood an offender will commit additional sex crimes. A level 3 offender is considered most likely to re-offend.

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PA–Victims blast Altoona bishop

PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Feb. 8, 2016

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

Two more central Pennsylvania priests have been suspended because of child sex abuse reports. This means that 31 Altoona-Johnstown Catholic priests are publicly accused of sexually assaulting kids.

Fr. David Arseneault (AR’-sen-oh) and Fr. James Coveney are on leave due to allegtions that they molested kids.

Bishop Mark Bartchak’s announcement about this move was troubling.

First, he minimizes the horrors and promotes dangerous complacency by stressing that the alleged crimes happened years ago. That’s self-serving but wrong. He should be urging vigilance, not complacency.

Second, Bartchak says he must “re-examine” these abuse reports.” That suggests that he’s known about them for some time. Bartchack must honor his pledges of “openness and transparency” and reveal how long he’s been aware of these abuse reports and why he’s “re-examining” them now.

Third, he deceptively describes child sex crimes as “sexual misconduct involving young people.” Again, he’s mischaracterizing and minimizing sexual violence against children. Shame on him.

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Gallup Diocese bankruptcy case’s costs exceed $3.6 million

NEW MEXICO
Washington Times

GALLUP, N.M. (AP) – Costs for the Diocese of Gallup’s bankruptcy proceedings have exceeded $3.6 million.

The figures, which come from quarterly billing statements submitted by attorneys, accountants and other professionals, do not include the more than $38,000 the diocese has paid the U.S. Trustee Program or other miscellaneous expenses, according to the Gallup Independent (http://bit.ly/1LbKdDK).

The majority of the expenses will not be paid until the diocese has an approved plan of reorganization.

A bulk of the diocese’ bill is owed to Tucson, Arizona,-based law firm Quarles & Brady LLP, which has a total post-petition legal bill of more than $1.9 million. A Tucson accounting firm is also asking for more than $431,000.

The diocese Albuquerque-based law firm billed about $303 between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, bringing their total bill to more than $12,000.

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Pope’s anti-abuse panel presses on despite criticism from survivor

ROME
Crux

By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent February 8, 2016

ROME — A day after announcing that one of two members who is a survivor of clerical sexual abuse is taking a leave of absence amid bitter criticism of the Church and the pope, a sexual abuse commission created by Francis sent a clear signal on Monday that its work will go on.

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors released a statement saying it is preparing to ask Pope Francis to remind all bishops of the importance of personal outreach to abuse victims, and also to institute a “Universal Day of Prayer” as well as a penitential liturgy for the crime of sexual abuse.

Led by Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston, the commission was created in December 2013 to advise Francis on best practices in the fight against child sexual abuse. It’s an advisory body, with no authority to set policy or to judge specific abuse complaints.

In upcoming months, commission members say they’ll hold workshops on the legal aspects of the protection of minors with the goal of promoting more transparent Church trials and present recommendations to the commission’s next general assembly.

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Francis heads to Mexico amid Legionaries of Christ disclosures

MEXICO
National Catholic Reporter

Jason Berry | Feb. 8, 2016

ANALYSIS On Feb. 12, Pope Francis flies to Mexico, a vast land scarred by barbaric drug cartels and deep poverty that are pushing migrants to America — all front-burner issues for a papacy advocating mercy and justice.

Amid this, a new book, El Imperior Financierio de Los Legionarios de Cristo was published in December by Grijal-bo in Mexico City. There is no English translation as yet. Written by Raúl Olmos, an investigative journalist in Mexico, the book focuses on the Legionaries of Christ, a religious order founded by the late Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, a notorious pedophile dismissed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006 to “a life of prayer and penitence.” The home base of the order is Mexico City, in the world’s second-largest Catholic country (after Brazil).

The investigation into the order began in 2004, ordered by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future pope, as an ailing Pope John Paul II praised Maciel and gave the Legionaries control of the Notre Dame Center in Jerusalem.

The Legion operates a network of elite private schools and a major university in Mexico, with another university and house of studies in Rome. Among their many super-wealthy backers in Mexico is Carlos Slim, a telecommunications magnate and one of the world’s wealthiest men. He is the largest single investor in The New York Times, with a $100 million stock investment,according to Forbes.

In 2009, a year after Maciel’s death, the Legion disclosed that he had a daughter by a woman he never married; he supported both women in Madrid. In 2010, two men and a woman came forth, declaring themselves mother and sons of a second shadow-family in Mexico, which the Legion did not dispute. …

Fr. Pablo Perez, who left in 2012, after 39 years, tells Olmos: “They do not care about education or children — it’s the money. Legionaries do not waste their time with the poor or middle class. They choose their vocations among little white boys. We rent priests for your beautiful and expensive events, weddings, funerals, first communions.

“The son of Carlos Salinas de Gortari” — the former Mexican president, a figure disgraced by scandal, his brother in prison for corruption — “got married in April 2013. For his wedding, it was not a bishop or a cardinal, but a Legionary priest.”

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NC–Minister accused of molesting in Canada, NC and PA

NORTH CAROLINA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Feb. 8, 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)

A Pennsylvania minister who is accused of molesting “at least three boys” at a Rhode Island school and reportedly admits molesting one in Canada is now being investigated by North Carolina police department for perhaps abusing a child in North Carolina.

[Providence Journal]

Rev. Howard W. White Jr. worked at two places in North Carolina. In the 1980s, Rev. White Jr. was headmaster of what was then the Asheville Country Day School in Asheville, North Carolina and was rector of Grace Church in the Mountains in Waynesville, North Carolina.

He now leads St. James Episcopal Church in Bedford, Pennsylvania and also worked at a school called Chatham Hall in Chatham, Virginia. But most of the accusations against him stem from his years in Rhode Island at St. George’s Episcopal School in Middletown.

A report issued by the school says that Rev. White — whom it refers to as “Employee Perpetrator #2” — had “inappropriate and potentially sexual misconduct with at least three male students.” School officials quietly “fired Rev. White in 1974 after a student’s parent reported the misconduct, which Rev. White admitted to the headmaster, but “the school never notified child-protection authorities — as required by the state’s 1974 mandatory reporting law,” according to the Providence Journal.

Waynesville police are investigating a new allegation of abuse against Rev. White.

We urge Episcopalian officials in all four states: North Carolina, Rhode Island, Virginia and Pennsylvania, to use church websites, parish bulletins and pulpit announcements to aggressively seek out anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered Rev. White’s crimes and beg them to call police. This is the very least that church officials should do.

All too often, when clergy sex crimes emerge, church staff pretend to be powerless. They are not. They have both the resources and the duty to spread the word and actively help police and prosecutors build a strong case against predatory preachers.

We hope every single person who has information or suspicions about Rev. White will summon the courage to call law enforcement, expose wrongdoers, protect kids and start healing. Our hearts go out to the brave individuals who have already stepped up and spoken up and shed light on this serial child molesting cleric.

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IS THE CATHOLIC CHURCH’S SEX ABUSE CRISIS THREATENING TO OVERWHELM POPE FRANCIS?

ROME
The Tablet (UK)

08 February 2016 | by Christopher Lamb in Rome

Despite his popularity, the Pope is in danger of being blindsided by the Vatican’s reaction to victims

Is the Catholic church’s sex abuse crisis threatening to overwhelm Pope Francis?

Anyone who has seen the new Spotlight film detailing clerical sexual abuse and its cover-up in Boston will be reminded how damaged the Church, in particular its bishops and the clerical leadership system, has been by the scandal.

Abuse and how it was handled dogged the papacy of Benedict XVI and it could also wound Pope Francis. At the weekend it was announced that Peter Saunders, a British abuse survivor, was no longer working with the pontifical child protection commission. Mr Saunders, a founder of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC), disputed his enforced “leave of absence” saying he was seeking a meeting with Pope Francis about the matter.

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Brits misbruikslachtoffer wil expertencommissie niét verlaten

VATIKAN
Kerknet

De Commissie voor de Bestrijding van Seksueel Misbruik schorst Peter Saunders na een vertrouwenstemming, maar hij wil voorlopig geen stap terugzetten.

De Brit Peter Saunders, een voorvechter van de strijd tegen seksueel misbruik en als kind zelf misbruikslachtoffer van twee katholieke geestelijken, maakte dit weekend bekend dat hij zijn taak bij de Vaticaanse Commissie voor de Bestrijding van Seksueel Misbruik niet zomaar tijdelijk neerlegt.

Saunders werd vrijdag geschorst na een vertrouwensstemming binnen de commissie. Daarna werd een communiqué verspreid waarin werd aangekondigd dat Saunders een rustperiode neemt om na te gaan op welke manier hij zich het best ten dienste kan stellen van de commissie. Dat moet hem tijd geven voor een bezinning, nadat hij had getracht om persoonlijk tussen te komen in concrete misbruikdossiers.

17 leden tellende commissie

Saunders zei zaterdag dat hij verontwaardigd is over de verspreiding van het communiqué zonder zijn inspraak en weigert zich bij de schorsing neer te leggen: Ik heb mijn taak niet neergelegd en ben dat ook niet van plan. Ik werd persoonlijk door de paus benoemd en wil enkel met hem overleggen.

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What happened to Jim? Experiments on Canada’s indigenous populations

CANADA
Global News

By Leslie Young
Investigative Reporter Global News

Jim White has six scars – three on each shoulder – left over from his time at a residential school in the early 1950s.

He’s not sure what they are, though he remembers how he got them.

He was told to report back to the nurse the next week to have the bandage changed. “By the time the week arrived to see the nurse, the smell that came off this was just, it was horrendous. It smelled like rotten food, is what it smelled like. And it went on until these openings closed up which took about a month or two.”

He was told nothing about why he was cut as a young child, he said.

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‘Spotlight’ is reminder of news media’s important role

PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call

Bill White

It’s rare to see a movie in which reporters and their work are depicted in a realistic way.

The most notable exception was “All the President’s Men,” although most of us don’t look like Robert Redford. It offered a nice feel for a real newsroom and the kind of dogged digging that produces great stories

The results were so momentous and the movie’s portrayal of those events so compelling that they inspired a generation of journalists, not just to become reporters but to more vigorously embrace the role of a diligent press in a free society. I know I found it exhilarating.

To that short list of uplifting but realistic depictions of journalists, we now can add “Spotlight,” the Oscar Best Picture contender that dramatizes the Boston Globe investigation that exposed the horrible depth of child sexual abuse by Boston area priests and the massive cover-up perpetrated by Boston’s religious, legal and government establishment.

It’s a great movie, and it’s been gaining momentum throughout this awards season. But I had a special interest in it even before I knew how well it told this story.

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Vatican Stresses Policy Role of Sex-abuse Panel After Member’s Ouster

VATICAN CITY
Voice of America

Associated Press
February 08, 2016

VATICAN CITY—
Pope Francis’ sex-abuse commission stressed Monday that its sole purpose is to propose initiatives to protect children from pedophiles, after it effectively suspended a member who advocated a more activist role.

On Saturday, the commission told Peter Saunders, a British survivor of abuse, to take a leave of absence after he criticized the slow pace of progress and pressed to have the commission intervene immediately in individual cases, rather than just craft long-term policies to fight abuse.

In a statement Monday, the commission cited from its founding documentation that its “specific task” is to provide the pope with proposals to protect children and help local churches take responsibility for the problem.

It didn’t mention Saunders in the statement concluding its weeklong plenary meeting.

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Mit Bußliturgie?

VATIKAN
domradio

[The Vatican Child Protection Commission intends to propose to Pope Francis introducing a World Day of Prayer for victims of abuse. This could include a penitential liturgy.]

Die vatikanische Kinderschutzkommission will Papst Franziskus die Einführung eines Weltgebetstags für Missbrauchsopfer vorschlagen. Darüber hinaus könne über eine Bußliturgie nachgedacht werden.

Sechs Arbeitsgruppen hatten sich in der Vorwoche in Rom zu einer Bestandsaufnahme getroffen und mögliche Richtlinien und Vorschläge für die Zukunft erarbeitet, die dem Papst präsentiert werden sollen, wie aus einer am Montag veröffentlichten Presseerklärung des vatikanischen Gremiums hervorgeht.

Vorgeschlagen wurden auch Workshops zu rechtlichen Aspekten sowie zu mehr Transparenz bei den Verfahren, die unter Beteiligung externer Berater noch dieses Jahr stattfinden sollen. Das Gremium kündigte zudem den Start eines Universitätskurses zum Schutz von Minderjährigen an der Gregoriana in der nächsten Woche an.

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Vorschläge der vatikanischen Kinderschutz-Kommission

VATIKAN
Radio Vatikan

Die päpstliche Kommission für den Schutz von Minderjährigen setzt sich für die Einführung eines „Welttags des Gebets“ und einer „Bußliturgie“ ein. Sie sollen die Aufmerksamkeit für die Rechte Minderjähriger und gegen Missbrauchsfälle in der Kirche wachhalten. Außerdem betont die Kommission, alle Verantwortlichen in der Kirche müssten „Opfern, die sich an sie wenden, eine direkte Antwort geben“.

Das steht in einer Schlusserklärung der Kommission, die nach ihrer einwöchigen Tagung im Vatikan veröffentlicht wurde. Im weiteren Verlauf des Jahres will sich die von Papst Franziskus 2014 eingesetzte Kommission u.a. mit der Frage beschäftigen, wie bei kanonischen Prozessen gegen Missbrauchs-Täter „größere Transparenz“ hergestellt werden kann. Eine Webseite soll bald auf „Best Practice“-Beispiele aus aller Welt beim Kinderschutz aufmerksam machen.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

VATICAN CITY
Juan Carlos Cruz – via BishopAccountability.org

[includes copy of the letter to Pope Francis. incluye copia de la carta a Papa Francisco]

From: Juan Carlos Cruz

Rome – February 7, 2016 – At noon today Juan Carlos Cruz delivered two letters to Pope Francis with the help of Pontifical Commission member, Peter Saunders. The letters were given to Cardinal Sean O’Malley who is to personally deliver them to his Holiness. The letters are from the organization of lay Catholic people of Osorno, Chile, and another one from the clergy of the same city. Both letters plea with the Holy Father to remove Bishop Juan Barros who is causing an unprecedented division in the diocese because of his implication in the cover-up of sexual
abuse in Chile.

Osorno is the community of faithful Pope Francis called “dumb” and “leftist” last year because of their refusal to accept the imposition of a bishop involved in the most emblematic case of child sexual abuse in Latin America.

Excerpt from the letter to Pope Francis from organization of lay members of the diocese of Osorno; “The frustration that your decision has caused us, Pope Francis, does not resist more silence or omission. During this year we have knocked on every door including the nuncio, the cardinals and the bishop’s conference and have received nothing but mockery.”

According to Juan Carlos Cruz, “We can never give up when it comes to protecting children and this is not the message being sent by Pope Francis appointing Bishop Barros to Osorno. This bishop witnessed my own abuse and that of many other boys over a period of 35 years. With the help of Peter Saunders, this is what I expected to tell the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors at their meeting in Rome this weekend. Previously, Commission member Marie Collins told me that they were going to investigate and talk about the issue. Sadly, the commission attempted to silence Peter Saunders instead and thereby avoided my presence and all the inherent questions about my situation.”

“The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors has become another Vatican corner of secrets and lies while children are still being abused all over the world and many bishops remain silent,” continued Cruz. “Apparently there is more to the emails between Cardinals Errazuriz and Ezzati who influenced the removal of my name as a prospective Commission member. This has been denied by Cardinal O’Malley during a phone call he made to me.

However, it contradicts Cardinal Errazuriz’s statement under oath where he said, “In fact it is true that I intervened so that he was not appointed.”
Cruz will remain in Rome until Tuesday speaking to the media and meeting with relevant individuals.

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Peter Saunders, Member of Vatican Abuse Commission, Silenced, and I Finish Reading Diarmaid MacCulloch’s Silence: A Christian History: Making the Connections

UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Silences such as Christian involvement in child abuse, anti-Semitism, slave-owning, demand constant rupture. On such noise does the health of Christian society depend.
~ Diarmaid MacCulloch, Silence: A Christian History (NY: Penguin, 2013), p. 216.

Some things appear not to change, don’t they? Just as I had finished reading Diarmaid MacCulloch’s Silence, news broke that abuse survivor and member of the Vatican commission on abuse Peter Saunders had been pushed off the commission — apparently, because he has been too outspoken. As Paddy Agnew reports for The Irish Times, Saunders has recently been vocally critical of Pope Francis for reneging on a promise to attend meetings of the commission and address commission members’ questions about his handling of the abuse crisis in the Catholic church.

Last week, the film “Spotlight” was screened at the Vatican for the abuse commission. Pope Francis conspicuously did not attend the screening of the film, a “silence” widely reported by media outlets around the world.

And because he refused to keep silent about Pope Francis’s obvious (to all of us with eyes to see) unwillingness to confront the abuse crisis forthrightly and transparently, Peter Saunders has now been silenced. As Rosie Scammell and Stephanie Kirchgaessner report for The Guardian (first link above), following his sacking by members of the abuse commission, Peter Saunders told the media,

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Priests placed on leave

PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

The Bishop of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown has announced that two priests have been placed on leave.

Rev. David J. Arseneault, 70, and Rev. James B, Coveny, 79, have been placed on leave from the public ministry.

Arseneault served as Pastor of Most Holy Trinity Parish in Huntingdon since 2000 and Coveny was ordained to the Priesthood in 1964 and retired in 2011.

The Bishop, Mark L. Bartchak, said it is a precautionary measure while the Diocese takes a further into the allegations of sexual misconduct that dates back over 20 years.

The Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown said that they will continue to cooperate with law enforcement to resolve the issue.

“I remain committed to doing everything I can to ensure the protection of young people in this

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Spotlight: a dull, drama-less wallow in misery

UNITED KINGDOM
Spiked

CHARLOTTE GILL
WRITER

There are bad things in the world. But not every bad thing needs a film about it.

Someone should have told the producers of Spotlight, a piece of Oscar bait that’s dull, uninspiring and does little more than tell you that something bad happened.

It’s based on the true story of a group of journalists who, while working for the Boston Globe in 2001, began a campaign to expose the extensive child abuse carried out by Roman Catholic priests in the Boston area. The plot is as follows: the journalists expose the paedophiles. Everyone is horrified. The end.

That really is just about all there is to Spotlight. In fact, nothing much happens in it at all, other than the journalists tracking down the Catholic priests, interviewing them and documenting their crimes.

Of course, people should be able to make films about bad things. But there has to be something else to it – intellectual analysis, parallels in the plot and nuanced editing. It is not enough simply to record, like a documentary, a series of events; the writing and direction must also bring something more out of the material. Otherwise it doesn’t really do justice to true events.

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Sordid stories of child abuse undermine confidence in churches

AUSTRALIA
Mercury

February 8, 2016

REX GARDNER
Mercury

THE moment you mention the church and child abuse, people turn off. They’re suffering overload.

After years of hearing about institutional betrayal of young people and their parents, many want something more palatable and uplifting in their lives than these grubby stories. It’s understandable we want to turn away, because our trust and lifelong belief in people and places that deliver moral and spiritual guidance is taking a hammering — probably more than at any time in this nation’s history.

The church at the end of the street doesn’t stand for what it used to.

The brands and reputations of our major churches and some educational institutions are close to being smashed, and irretrievably so.

Their ongoing message — however meaningful — will simply bounce off people who have lost faith and trust. We’re not listening and believing the message any more, no matter what you say.

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Pontifical Commission on Minors concludes Plenary

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors has released a communiqué at the end of its week-long Plenary Assembly at the Vatican. Dated February 8, 2016, the statement details the focal points and proposals that emerged from the six Working Groups of the session, including a request for Pope Francis to remind all authorities in the Church of the importance of responding directly to victims and survivors who approach them, the finalization of a Universal Day of Prayer, and a penitential liturgy.

The communiqué goes on to list upcoming activities of the Commission and partner organizations, including workshops on the legal aspects of the Protection of Minors with a view to to establishing greater transparency around canonical trials, and the development of a website to facilitate sharing of best practices for the protection of minors around the world.

Below, please find the full text, in its official English version, of the communiqué from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors

***************************************
News Release
Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors
8 February 2016
TO BE RELEASED IMMEDIATELY

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors has had seven full days of meetings in Rome. Meetings of the six Working Groups focused on updates for current projects, and developing and drafting proposals. Outside collaborators who assisted the Working Groups included the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development (CAFOD), and an expert in Penal Canon Law. Draft proposals were presented to the Plenary Assembly for further discussion and decision about policies to propose to the Holy Father. Policies endeavor to recognize the diversity of information and guidance currently available to the Church around the world.

Examples of proposals being finalized for Pope Francis’ consideration include: a request for him to remind all authorities in the Church of the importance of responding directly to victims and survivors who approach them; the finalization of a Universal Day of Prayer and a penitential liturgy.

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Church should respond to child abuse

VATICAN CITY
ANSA

(ANSA) – Vatican City, February 8 – The Catholic Church should respond “directly” to victims of child sex abuse by clergy, according to a recommendation by the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors announced on Monday. Other proposals to be submitted to Pope Francis for consideration following seven days of meetings in Rome include establishing a universal day of prayer and creating a penitential liturgy, the Vatican said in a statement.

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors came into being in 2014 as part of a drive by Pope Francis to rid the church of the scourge of child abuse and help victims. It is mandated to advise the pope on how the Catholic Church should protect children and help victims of sexual abuse by the clergy.

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Child abuse claims: why due process and a fair hearing matter

UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Michael White
Monday 8 February 2016

It looks as if the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, is edging towards an apology to Field Marshall Lord Bramall (92) over unfounded allegations of child sex abuse and that some kind of further apology is coming to the family of the late Leon Brittan. It’s too late to do him much good, as it is to former prime minister Edward Heath, also caught up by some wildly improbable allegations.

Today’s report by senior Dorset police officer James Vaughan into the Met’s handling of the Brittan allegations shows how complicated such historic claims can be.

Vaughan’s report says detectives were “fully justified” in pursuing a “fairly compelling account” of rape in 1967, but only made to police in 2012, though procedural mistakes were made.

Newspapers that made hay with separate lurid claims of sexual abuse and worse, made by someone known as “Nick” and others, later switched sides, as their reporting of Vaughan confirms today.

His report did not say Brittan would have been cleared, only that an acquittal was more likely than a conviction.

It’s worth noting in passing that Vaughan concluded that a key police officer in the Brittan case misunderstood the law on consent and it would have been reasonable to arrest the former cabinet minister, which nearly happened but didn’t. As so often, loose ends need tidying up.

But is (arguably) the most distinguished of all those accused, George Bell, Bishop of Chichester (1929-58) – a saint by some reckonings – being quietly traduced by the Church of England to cover its own back?

I’ve made some inquiries, but don’t claim to know the definitive answer. Others are furious in his defence. One of them, ex-Telegraph editor and formidable Thatcher biographer, Charles Moore, thinks that Bell has been stitched up by the police and his church. This case is again bubbling this week thanks to a scoop in the Brighton Argus – of which more later.

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Altoona-Johnstown bishop puts 2 on leave over abuse claims

PENNSYLVANIA
Washington Times

ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) – A central Pennsylvania bishop has placed two priests on leave over child-sex abuse allegations more than 20 years old.

Altoona-Johnstown Bishop Mark Bartchak says he’s put the Revs. David Arseneault (AR’-sen-oh) and James Coveney on leave while the diocese “re-examines allegations of sexual misconduct involving young people.” The priests could not immediately be located for comment Monday.

The 70-year-old Arsenault has been pastor of Most Holy Trinity Parish in Huntingdon since 2001. Coventry, who is 79, has been retired since 2011.

The bishop isn’t detailing the allegations other than to say they date back more than 20 years.

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Abuse victim tells Francis to sack Chile cover-up bishop

VATICAN CITY
Buenos Aires Herald

VATICAN CITY — A man who says he was sexually abused by a priest on multiple occasions delivered two letters yesterday addressed to Pope Francis from Chilean Catholics, asking the pontiff to remove a Chilean bishop accused of protecting a notorious paedophile.

Juan Carlos Cruz delivered the letters with Peter Saunders, a prominent and outspoken British member of a papal advisory commission on sexual abuse by the clergy. Saunders on Saturday refused to step down from his position despite a no-confidence vote, and said only the pope could dismiss him, raising tensions.

The letters were left for Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, the president of the commission, at a Rome guest house where the commission was meeting. O’Malley was asked to give them to the pope.

The letters involve Juan Barros, who was installed last year as bishop of Osorno. The appointment outraged many parishioners, legislators and abuse victims who said Barros had protected a priest accused of having been one of the nation’s most notorious sexual predators.
The priest in question has denied he abused Cruz and the bishop has denied knowledge of wrongdoing.

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Sex Abuse Survivors Outraged As George Pell Remains In Rome

AUSTRALIA
Huffington Post

By Eoin Blackwell

Survivors of abuse at Catholic orphanages say they are bitterly disappointed by a decision by the Royal Commission into Child Sex Abuse to allow Cardinal George Pell to give evidence via video link.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Monday excused Pell from giving evidence in person, instead allowing him to appear before the inquiry via video link from Rome.

He is expected to give evidence on church abuse and the management of abusive priests in Ballarat.

Commission Chair, Justice Peter McClellan, said he accepted medical evidence there would be a risk to the 74-year-old’s health if he is forced to fly to Australia to give evidence.

“There is a risk to his health if he undertook such travel at the present time,” McClellan said while delivering his ruling on Monday.

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Phil Saviano, el primer denunciante que destapó los casos de abusos sexuales en la Iglesia

CHILE
El Mostrador

[Phil Saviano. The first whistleblower who uncovered cases of sexual abuse in the Church.]

por ALEJANDRA CARMONA 8 febrero 2016

Phil Saviano llega hasta las oficinas del Boston Globe con una caja. En ella hay recortes de pequeñas notas de prensa y fotografías. El eco de su voz ignorada por años. Pruebas en las que pocos medios de esa ciudad habían querido ahondar. Un cargamento de pistas que llevaron a la unidad de investigación de ese periódico, Spotlight, a revelar una serie de abusos cometidos por sacerdotes en Massachusetts, no solo ignorados por otros medios sino también por la propia Iglesia Católica.

Ese Phil Saviano, el de la caja, es en realidad un actor que interpreta a Saviano. Pero no se distancian mucho porque el propio Phil ayudó con sus relatos al guionista Josh Singer. Una historia que podría ser la misma que escuchamos desde hace años –insistentemente– en Chile. “Es también un abuso espitirual”, dice –en una de las escenas de la película– Phil, el actor que lo interpreta con su mismo nombre.

Para el propio Saviano (63), esas líneas del guión son lo mismo. O peor.

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Catholic Bishop on trial for molesting boys

AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

Tim Clarke
February 8, 2016

The Catholic Bishop to Australia’s Defence Forces has gone on trial in Perth accused of sexually molesting five boys while he was teaching at a Benedictine boarding school in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Max Leroy Davis has denied six charges of gross indecency relating to five different boys aged between 12 and 15 at the time they say they were all assaulted while pupils at St Benedict’s College in New Norcia.

The five victims, who are all now in their 50s, alleged remarkably similar abuse while boarding at the school – and all say it was Mr Davis who abused them.

The 70-year-old was at the time a Dorm Master, and dean of discipline at the school, which was run under the Benedictine order of monks who still reside in the town north of Perth.

A jury at Perth District Court was told the boys will all give evidence they were touched on the genitals by Mr Davis in their beds, in the school’s infirmary, or in Mr Davis’ quarters in the school.

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Bishop’s New Norcia child sex allegations a ‘mistake’, court hears

AUSTRALIA
WA Today

The former head of the Catholic Church’s military diocese has been wrongly accused of being a child sex abuser while two other clergymen may have been responsible, a Perth court has heard.

Bishop Max Leroy Davis is charged with six counts of being grossly indecent with five boys under the age of 15 between December 1968 and October 1972 at St Benedict’s College in New Norcia, northeast of Perth.

Davis, 70, was the dorm master and in charge of discipline and corporal punishment at the boarding school at the time, the West Australian District Court heard on Monday.

In his opening address, prosecutor Mark Nicol said the boys were touched sexually under the guise of medical examinations in their bed or infirmary, or while seeking clarification on sex education.

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Former ADF Catholic bishop Max Davis ‘abused boys under pretence of medical exam’

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Pamela Medlen

The former head of the Australian Defence Force’s Catholic diocese allegedly abused five students under the pretence of giving them medical examinations, a charge he denies, a Perth court has heard.

Max Davis is accused of six counts of indecent dealings with male children between 1969 and 1972 when he worked at a St Benedict’s College in New Norcia.

The prosecution alleges Davis performed indecent acts on five students aged between 13 and 15 years old.

One of the alleged victims told the court he had gone to the school infirmary with a sore stomach and that Davis prodded his abdomen before grabbing his genitals.

In his opening statement, Davis’ defence lawyer said he would not dispute the men had been sexually abused while at the college.

However, he told the jury there were two other religious men who were known to have been involved in inappropriate behaviour with boys, and that the victims could have mistaken them for Davis.

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Bishop’s child sex offences a ‘mistake’

AUSTRALIA
Sky News

The former head of the Catholic Church’s military diocese, who is accused of sexually abusing boys more than 40 years ago, is a victim of mistaken identity, a Perth jury has heard.

Bishop Max Leroy Davis, 70, is charged with six counts of being grossly indecent with five boys under the age of 15 between December 1968 and October 1972 at St Benedict’s College in New Norcia, northeast of Perth.

Davis was the dorm master and in charge of discipline and corporal punishment at the boarding school at the time, the West Australian District Court heard on Monday.

In his opening address, prosecutor Mark Nicol said all the victims were touched sexually under the guise of medical examinations or while seeking clarification on sex education.

After touching one boy, Davis allegedly told him he would ‘grow up to be a powerful man’.

The court heard the boys were shocked and uncomfortable, but did not discuss what happened to them with anyone at the time.

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IS THE CATHOLIC CHURCH’S SEX ABUSE CRISIS BECOMING A HEADACHE FOR POPE FRANCIS?

ROME
The Tablet (UK)

08 February 2016 | by Christopher Lamb in Rome

Despite his popularity, the Pope is in danger of being blindsided by the Vatican’s reaction to victims

Is the Catholic church’s sex abuse crisis becoming a headache for Pope Francis?

Anyone who has seen the new Spotlight film detailing clerical sexual abuse and its cover-up in Boston will be reminded how damaged the Church, in particular its bishops and the clerical leadership system, has been by the scandal.

Abuse and how it was handled dogged the papacy of Benedict XVI and it could also wound Pope Francis. At the weekend it was announced that Peter Saunders, a British abuse survivor, was no longer working with the pontifical child protection commission. Mr Saunders, a founder of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC), disputed his enforced “leave of absence” saying he was seeking a meeting with Pope Francis about the matter.

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George Pell to remain in Rome

AUSTRALIA
The New Daily

MICHELLE BROWN

Cardinal George Pell has been excused from giving evidence in person to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Cardinal Pell will appear before the inquiry by video link from Rome to give evidence on church abuse in Ballarat.

Commission chair Justice Peter McClellan said he accepted medical evidence that the 74-year-old would be at risk of heart failure if forced to fly to Australia to give evidence.

“Although people with the conditions that Cardinal Pell has may fly long distances, it is apparent from the medical report that in the case of Cardinal Pell there is a risk to his health if he undertook such travel at the present time,” Justice McClellan said.

“Having regard to the nature of his aliments it could not be expected that his health is likely to improve and remove those risks.”

“Although it remains preferable that he gives evidence in Australia, when the alternative that he give evidence by video link is available the Commissioners are satisfied that course should be adopted.”

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Consultant to review diocese finance records

NEW MEXICO
Albuquerque Journal

By Olivier Uyttebrouck / Journal Staff Writer
Published: Monday, February 8th, 2016

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A consultant last week agreed to review limited financial records provided by an insurer for the Diocese of Gallup and make a “thumbs-up or thumbs-down” decision whether to oversee a trust fund to handle future claims that may be filed by alleged victims of clerical sexual abuse against the diocese.

Settlement talks in the 26-month-old Chapter 11 bankruptcy case stalled last month after Catholic Mutual Relief Society of America, a church-owned nonprofit, declined to turn over extensive financial records demanded by the consultant, Michael P. Murphy, the managing director of Michigan-based AlixPartners LLP.

Murphy was hired last year to represent the interests of sexual abuse victims who may file claims in the future.

Murphy on Wednesday told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David T. Thuma of Albuquerque that he would view Catholic Mutual’s financial statement early this week, then decide whether to oversee a future-claims trust fund to distribute money paid by Catholic Mutual. Attorneys say the future-claims trust fund is a vital part of a settlement in the case.

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Vatican treasurer may front Australian abuse inquiry remotely – judge

AUSTRALIA
Central Chronicle

Agency, Sydney

The Vatican’s Australian finance controller was cleared today to testify at a child abuse inquiry in his homeland via videolink because of a heart condition, a ruling bound to frustrate victim groups who wanted him to appear in person. Cardinal George Pell, once seen as a contender to become pope, was scheduled to testify at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on December 16 but asked to give evidence by videolink instead.

The judge chairing the inquiry said he accepted a January 29 medical report saying the former archbishop of Sydney and Melbourne had hypertension and ishcemic heart disease complicated by a previous heart attack, and said he could testify remotely. “Although people with the conditions that Cardinal Pell has may fly long distances, it is apparent … that in the case of Cardinal Pell there is a risk to his heath if he undertook such travel at the present time,” the judge, Peter McClellan, told the inquiry.

“Having regard to the nature of his ailments, it could not be expected that his health is likely to improve and remove these risks,” McClellan said, effectively reversing his December statement that he wanted Pell to testify in person. McClellan said Pell must testify from Rome via videolink on February 29. The inquiry heard testimony last year that priests suspected of abuse in Pell’s former diocese were moved between parishes and put in church-appointed rehabilitation instead of being reported to police. Pell, 74, has denied those allegations.

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February 7, 2016

Royal Commission: George Pell to give evidence by video link

AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

February 8, 2016

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

Cardinal George Pell will not return to Australia to give evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse despite abuse victims’ calls for him to appear in person.

Commission chairman Peter McClellan​ ruled that while it would be preferable for the Vatican-based cardinal to appear in person, he accepted medical evidence that a long-haul flight posed a serious health threat to the 74-year-old.

A hearing held in Sydney on Monday was told Cardinal Pell suffered from a number of heart troubles.

Part of a medical report from an Italian specialist was read out at the hearing.

The medical report found Cardinal Pell suffered from hypertension, ischemic heart disease, complicated by a previous myocardial infarction, and cardiac dysfunction related to the arterial hypertension.

“The undertaking of a long journey could induce an episode of heart failure and were this to occur during a flight it would also be difficult to treat,” the report concluded.

Justice McClellan accepted the findings of the medical report, telling the hearing there would be a risk to Cardinal Pell’s health if he flew to Australia to give evidence about alleged child sexual abuse in Diocese of Ballarat and the Archdiocese of Melbourne.

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George Pell excused from giving evidence at child abuse royal commission in person

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Michelle Brown

Cardinal George Pell has been excused from giving evidence in person to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Cardinal Pell will appear before the inquiry by video link from Rome to give evidence on church abuse in Ballarat.

Commission chair Justice Peter McClellan said he accepted medical evidence that the 74-year-old would be at risk of heart failure if forced to fly to Australia to give evidence.

“Although people with the conditions that Cardinal Pell has may fly long distances, it is apparent from the medical report that in the case of Cardinal Pell there is a risk to his health if he undertook such travel at the present time,” Justice McClellan said.

“Having regard to the nature of his aliments it could not be expected that his health is likely to improve and remove those risks.”

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George Pell cleared to give sex abuse royal commission evidence by video link

AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Melissa Davey
@MelissaLDavey
Sunday 7 February 2016

Australia’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, will give evidence about child sex abuse that occurred within his parishes via videolink following a ruling by the chair of the royal commission into institutional responses into child sexual abuse, Justice Peter McClellan.

Child sexual abuse victims have been waiting to hear whether Pell would appear in person since December, when his lawyers told the commission days before he was due to give evidence that he was too unwell to make the flight from Rome to Melbourne.

At the time, McClellan refused Pell’s request to instead appear via video link, saying the issues that Pell was due to give evidence on were complex and his answers would be better delivered in person. He said the commission would wait until February to see if Pell’s health had recovered enough to allow the flight.

On Friday, Pell’s lawyer, Allan Myers QC, tendered medical documents to the commission that indicated Pell was still too unwell to fly. After hearing from lawyers for the victims, who largely argued that Pell’s medical condition was “very common” to anyone of the cardinal’s age, 74, McClellan adjourned to consider his position.

On Monday McClellan revealed that the conditions were hypertension and ischaemic heart disease. While it would be preferable that Pell fly to Australia to give evidence, McClellan said the commissioners were satisfied doing so would pose a risk to Pell’s health and that his condition was unlikely to improve.

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Chile Catholics Demand Pope Fire Bishop Complicit in Sex Abuse

CHILE
Telesur

The appointment of Juan Barros as bishop of Osorno in 2015 sparked controversy as the cleric is accused of protecting a notorious child-abusing priest.

Outraged Chilean Catholics asked Pope Francis to fire a controversial bishop accused of shielding a pedophile priest in a pair of letters delivered on Sunday by one of the victims of the Chilean priest’s sexual abuse.

The letters addressed to Pope Francis were delivered by Juan Carlos Cruz, a Chilean sexually abused by a Catholic priest as a teenager, and Peter Saunders, a British member of an advisory committee to the pope on sexual abuse in the church. The two left the letters with a cardinal to be delivered to the Pope.

Catholics in Chile wrote to the Holy See to demand that Juan Barros, controversially appointed bishop of Osorno, be removed from his post. Hundreds outraged by the appointment protested in southern Chile last year to try to block Barros from being ordained, but Pope Francis dismissed the outcry, claiming the accusations against Barros had been invented by a bunch of “leftists.”

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TWITTER THWARTS TERRORISTS’ TWEETS

MISSOURI
Berger’s Beat

FORMER ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE PROF Larry Stukenholtz has passed away. He was suspended in 2007 after SNAP had disclosed he’d been sued for child sex crimes at a Catholic school in Orange County, CA

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Directions Hearing: 5 and 8 February 2016

AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

[live stream]

The Royal Commission has called a directions hearing to be held in Sydney on Friday 5 and Monday 8 February 2016.

The purpose of the directions hearing is to consider Cardinal George Pell’s capacity to attend the third part of the public hearing into Catholic Church authorities in Ballarat.

This will be immediately followed by a directions hearing to consider Bishop Ronald Mulkearns’ capacity to attend the third part of the public hearing into Catholic Church authorities in Ballarat.

Stage 3: February 2016

This public hearing will be continued from 22 – 26 February 2016.

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Juan Carlos Cruz envía cartas al Papa Francisco para que remueva al Obispo Barros

CHILE/CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
24 Horas

[Juan Carlos Cruz sends letters to Pope Francis to remove the Bishop Barros.]

El denunciante del caso Karadima, entregó las misivas a un miembro de la comisión que asesora al Santo Padre en temas de abusos sexuales por parte del clero.

Juan Carlos Cruz, envió dos cartas al Papa Francisco pidiéndole que remueva al obispo Juan Barros, acusado de proteger a Fernando Karadima.

El denunciante del caso Karadima, envió las cartas a través de Peter Saunders, un prominente miembro británico de la comisión de asesoramiento papal sobre abusos sexuales de parte del clero.

Las cartas quedaron en una casa de huéspedes de Roma, donde se reúne la comisión, para que fueran recogidas por el cardenal de Boston Sean O’Malley, presidente del cuerpo, a quien se le pidió que las misivas llegaran a manos del Papa.

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George Pell: Royal commission into child sexual abuse to decide whether Cardinal can testify from Rome

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Charlotte King

Australia’s most high-profile Catholic Cardinal George Pell will learn this afternoon whether he will be able to give evidence to the child abuse royal commission from Rome.

Access to Cardinal Pell’s two-page medical report was given to counsel assisting the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse at Friday’s hearing, on the condition the details were not published.

His lawyers applied for the 74-year-old to be able to appear via an audio visual link at hearings of the inquiry dealing with abuse in Ballarat.

A Ballarat victim of child sex abuse criticised Cardinal Pell, saying he was demanding more from the royal commission than had been offered to survivors.

Abuse survivor David Ridsdale said there needed to be transparency surrounding the reasons given for the Cardinal not wanting to appear in person.

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Laicos de Osorno critican salida de miembro de comisión papal que criticó a obispo Barros

CIUDAD DEL VATICANO/CHILE
Bio Bio

Tras la separación de Peter Saunders de la Comisión Papal de abusos sexuales, quien había invitado a Juan Carlos Cruz para relatar situación de Obispo Juan Barros en Osorno, el Movimiento de Laicos de la comuna dijo que esto demuestra que los abusos dentro de la iglesia “siguen siendo un tema tabú”.

Recordemos que la invitación nace de Saunders, luego que Juan Carlos Cruz haya sido excluido de integrar dicha comisión que aborda los abusos sexuales ocurridos en iglesias. Según explicó el denunciante de Fernando Karadima, cuando estaban almorzando y comentando lo que se iba a exponer en dicha instancia, entre eso la situación de Barros, Saunders fue avisado de su separación de la comisión.

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Update: Former Edmonton bishop doesn’t recall priest charged with sexual assaults

CANADA
Edmonton Journal

CLAIRE THEOBALD
KEITH GEREIN, EDMONTON JOURNAL

Published on: February 7, 2016

A former bishop of Edmonton’s Anglican diocese says he has no recollection of ever meeting a priest accused of sexually assaulting teen boys at a city youth jail in the 1980s.

Ken Genge, who served as bishop from 1988 to 1996, said Sunday he read news of the arrest of Father Gordon William Dominey, but it didn’t trigger any memories. Pictures of the priest published over the weekend also failed to register.

“His name is vaguely familiar, but I don’t remember him,” Genge said from his home in Langley, B.C. “Obviously, it’s a very serious thing.”

Edmonton police say two people came forward in September saying they had been sexually assaulted by a priest employed at the Edmonton Youth Development Centre in the 1980s.

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Churchgoers shocked after priest arrested for alleged sex assault

CANADA
CTV

North Vancouver churchgoers say they were stunned to learn their priest is facing five historic sex assault charges against children in Edmonton.

“It’s horribly shocking,” said Evan Jennings, who attends St. Catherine’s Capilano Anglican Church. “It’s awful. The poor guy…poor all the people, I guess.

Father Gordon William Dominey, 63, allegedly sexually assaulted five youth while he was employed at now-closed Edmonton Youth Development Centre from 1985 to 1989. He was working at the time as a priest in the Diocese of Edmonton.

In September 2015, Edmonton police say they began investigating reports of sexual assaults that occurred at the facility in the 1980s.

Police say the victims were between 14 and 17 years old.

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Chileno víctima de abuso sexual envía carta al Papa pidiendo remoción de un obispo

CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
swissinfo

Por Philip Pullella

CIUDAD DEL VATICANO (Reuters) – Un chileno que dijo haber sufrido abuso sexual de parte de un sacerdote envió dos cartas al Papa Francisco pidiéndole que remueva al obispo Juan Barros, acusado de proteger a un reconocido pedófilo en el país sudamericano.

Juan Carlos Cruz envió las cartas a través de Peter Saunders, un prominente miembro británico de la comisión de asesoramiento papal sobre abusos sexuales de parte del clero.

Las cartas quedaron en una casa de huéspedes de Roma, donde se reúne la comisión, para que fueran recogidas por el cardenal de Boston Sean O’Malley, presidente del cuerpo, a quien se le pidió que las misivas llegaran a manos del Papa.

Las cartas refieren a Barros, quien fue nombrado el año pasado como obispo de Osorno, lo que generó indignación entre muchos católicos, legisladores y víctimas de abuso sexual, que dicen que el ahora obispo protegió al padre Fernando Karadima, uno de los pedófilos más notorios del país.

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