ABUSE TRACKER

TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Victims to leaflet outside Catholic church
The pastor was accused of molesting a boy
And they oppose archbishop’s pending promotion
Soon, it’s likely he will become head of all US prelates
But group says DiNardo should “withdraw from the race & stay home”

SNAP: “For kids’ safety & victims’ healing, he should work on prevention here”

WHAT
Handing out fliers to church-goers as they leave mass, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will urge Houston’s top Catholic official to

–end his campaign to become head of all US bishops next week, and
–post names, photos & records of ALL predator priests (not just the ones who are sued), and
— do the same with religious order clerics, so that kids can be protected and victims can heal.

They will also urge
–parishioners to be careful around their pastor who was accused of molesting a boy and
–anyone who has seen, suspected or suffered crimes or cover ups by Houston clerics to “come forward, protect kids, expose secrets, deter wrongdoing and start healing” by calling independent sources of help (therapists, police prosecutors, support groups), NOT church officials.

WHEN
Sunday, Nov. 6, 2016 from 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Prince the Peace Catholic Church, 19222 Highway 249 (near Perry Road) in Houston TX

WHO
Three-four adults who belong to a self-help group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org). Some were molested as kids; others are concerned Catholics.

WHY
1)Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston is the vice-chair of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, the organization that includes all of the prelates in the nation. According to custom and practice, he is considered to be the front runner to become president when the group meets in Baltimore Nov. 14-16. Nine other bishops are also running for the post.

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.

ITALIA
Rete L’Abuso

[In 2012, Father Federico Lombardi told journalist Federico Tulli which, according to the Holy See, pedophilia by the clergy in Italy is an intermittent issue. We produced a map showing the known cases. Lombardi’s statement seems to squeak a lot because in Italy we know of about 100 priests currently under investigation and more than 120 have been convicted in the last 15 years. Many of these priests are untraceable, other reappear after year and may be in parishes far from where they committed abuses. Others are said to be healed within the church institutions. There should be an inquiry by parliament.]

Written by Redazione Web on 5 novembre 2016

Nel 2012 padre Federico Lombardi ha dichiarato al giornalista Federico Tulli che secondo la Santa Sede, la pedofilia del clero, in Italia è un problema sporadico.

mappa italiana2A vedere la mappa che abbiamo prodotto raccogliendo i casi noti, quella dichiarazione sembra stridere parecchio perche nella sola Italia si contano la bellezza di circa 100 sacerdoti attualmente indagati e più di 120 condannati solo negli ultimi 15 anni.

Di molti di loro se ne sono perse le tracce, altri invece ricompaiono dopo anni passati non si sa dove in altre parrocchie, lontani da dove avevano commesso gli abusi. Altri vengono invece mandati si dice a curarsi in strutture della chiesa.

Siamo così andati a cercare di capire quanti di questi “rifugi” esistono in Italia. In questi luoghi vengono ospitati sacerdoti con varie problematiche tra cui la pedofilia, spesso per nasconderli da occhi indiscreti in attesa di una futura destinazione, altre volte per scontare la pena agli arresti domiciliari, una permanenza comoda e confortevole che piace anche ai tribunali che si tolgono così il problema di dover proteggere un pedofilo in un carcere.

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NEW JERSEY
Whispers in the Loggia

Fifteen years ago this autumn, at the installation of his successor in Newark, the newly-created Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington memorably tipped his red hat to the North Jersey crowd – a gesture intended to say that he owed the scarlet to them.

And now, it appears Uncle Ted has fully returned the favor, landing a cardinal to lead the 1.3 million-member fold in its own right.

In a watershed decision signaling a new era after the controversial reign of Archbishop John Myers, on Monday the Pope is prepared to name Cardinal-designate Joseph William Tobin CSSR – the 64 year-old archbishop of Indianapolis whose impending elevation at this month’s consistory stoked widespread shock – as head of New Jersey’s marquee diocese, which has been roiled by years of tumult and low morale following assertions of the Newark church’s lax handling of cases of clerical misconduct, coupled with broad distaste over Myers’ austere, distant management style.

To be sure, the reported nod isn’t merely a blockbuster, but even more historic than the Cubs winning the World Series – never before has an American cardinal been transferred from one diocese to another… and with New York just across the Hudson River, the move portends an ecclesiastical scenario heretofore unseen on these shores nor anywhere else in the Catholic world: two cardinals leading their own local churches not just side-by-side, but within the same media market.

While the move was reported late Friday night by the online affiliate of the local Star-Ledger, after credible yet unconfirmed word of the nod was received by Whispers early Thursday, two ranking ops ducked comment on the pick in deference to the pontifical seal, and – as the notoriously leak-prone Newark crowd went into overdrive on Friday – a document from the archdiocese’s Chancery was obtained by these pages bearing Tobin’s name. (Complain all you want, but this house has its due diligence to carry out.) On a separate front, late Friday the archdiocese alerted reporters to a press conference scheduled for 10.30am Monday in the Cathedral-Basilica of the Sacred Heart – keeping with standard practice on a yet-unannounced appointment, the event’s topic was not disclosed.

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.

UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Jane Mathews
6 NOVEMBER 2016

A London church built by a Victorian sex cult is at the centre of a legal battle over who should receive the proceeds from its sale.

The £1 million grade II* listed building was erected by a sect called the Abode of Love, which was founded by a defrocked priest alleged to have had sex with a virgin on a billiard table in front of his followers.

Henry James Prince started the cult in Somerset in 1846 using donations from wealthy, unmarried women after being expelled from the Anglican church.
As the group gained popularity they built other churches around the country, including the Ark of the Covenant in Clapton, north London.

When Prince died in 1902, he was succeeded by John Hugh Smyth-Piggott, another defrocked priest who gave racy sermons and told his followers that he was the second coming of Christ.

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UNITED STATES
The Daily Beast

Marcial Maciel, once the founder of the Catholic Church’s most lucrative new order, died mired in a massive pedophilia scandal. Now his former number two is also being accused.

JASON BERRY
11.06.16

Roberta Garza felt a familiar tearing this week on reading an Associated Press report that her older brother, Father Luis Garza, 58, had been accused of sexual abuse in a civil lawsuit filed in Waterbury, Conn.

The siblings have not spoken in several years. Roberta is a columnist for Milenio newspaper in Mexico City. Luis, for nearly two decades the second-ranking figure in Rome of the Legion of Christ, now seems to her an exiled figure, cast into an outback as the Philippines regional director of the Legionaries.

In the lawsuit, an adult identified as “John Roe 1” alleges that Father Garza, and two other priests, including the late Marcial Maciel Degollado, the Legion’s charismatic founder, abused the plaintiff as a young adolescent at a center the order ran near Mexico City in the early 1990s.
Father Maciel launched the order in Mexico in 1941, established a campus in Rome in the 1950s, and later an American headquarters in Cheshire, Conn. Maciel, who died in 2008, was the greatest fundraiser of the modern church. He was celebrated by Pope John Paul II for inspiring young men like Garza to become priests, for Maciel’s record in launching prep schools, several universities and religious colleges in Latin America, North America and Europe.

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

BY MARY JO LAYTON
STAFF WRITER | THE RECORD

Newark Archbishop John J. Myers is expected to name as his successor Indianapolis Archbishop Joseph Tobin, an historic appointment of a leader who has close ties to Pope Francis, is a staunch supporter of social justice and has called for a greater role for women in the church.

Tobin, the oldest of 13 children, was already due to become a cardinal in two weeks, which would make him the first cleric of that exalted rank in the 163-year history of the archdiocese, serving 1.2 million Roman Catholics in Bergen, Essex, Union and Hudson counties.

Cardinals usually preside over the nation’s largest and most important cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Myers’ predecessor, Theodore McCarrick, served as archbishop, and was elevated to cardinal after being reassigned to Washington D.C.

Myers is expected to make the announcement, which a noted Catholic blogger called “a watershed moment signaling a new era” at a press conference in Newark Monday morning.

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INDIANA
Indianapolis Star

Kaitlin L Lange, IndyStar

NJ.com reported that sources close to the Newark archbishop said they expect him to announce Joseph W. Tobin, the archbishop of Indianapolis, as his successor.

Cardinal-designate Joseph W. Tobin, the archbishop of Indianapolis, could be the next leader of the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J.

NJ.com, the online affiliate of the Star-Ledger, reported Friday that three people close to the current Newark archbishop told the paper that they expect him to announce Tobin as his successor Monday.

Whispers in the Loggia, a well-known Catholicism blog, also reported the likely successor.

Greg Otolski, the director of communications for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, did not return phone calls to the IndyStar on Saturday about Tobin’s future.

Newark Archbishop John J. Myers reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 in July. He has a news conference scheduled for 10:20 a.m. Monday at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark. However, the content of that press conference has not been released.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

Phoebe Wearne, Canberra – The West Australian on November 6, 2016

Churches, State governments and other institutions are under pressure to “opt in” to a national redress scheme for victims of child sexual abuse.

Survivors will be able to access up to $150,000 each in compensation under the Commonwealth-led program, which invites States and institutions to join.

The establishment of a national redress scheme was at the heart of 99 recommendations made by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in a report released last year.

Governments and organisations that opt in will be required to fund the cost of their own eligible redress claims.

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OHIO
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Ellis N. Harsham was ordained in 1968 for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. He taught in Catholic high schools in Dayton, Cincinnati and Hamilton while assisting in local parishes. He was also a St. Gregory Minor Seminary faculty member, and director of campus ministry at Wright State University.

In a lawsuit settled in 1994, a man alleged that Harsham sexually abused him as during 1975-1977, when the man was a high school student who met Harsham while attending a pre-seminary program on weekends at St. Gregory’s Minor Seminary. The man said Harsham plied him with alcohol, marijuana and pornography. In a suit filed in December 1993, another man claimed Harsham sexually assaulted him when the man was a Badin High School student; Harsham taught at Badin 1977-1981. Further, former students of Carroll High School in Dayton, where Harsham taught 1968-1973, stated in the 1990s that the priest showed them pornography and seduced or attempted to seduce them.

Harsham was placed on administrative leave by the archdiocese in June 1994, and he resigned from active ministry later that year. His status remained “administrative leave” until sometime in 2006, when he was laicized.

Ordained: 1968
Laicized: 2006

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno , gdumat-ol@guampdn.com November 5, 2016

Editor’s note: The Pacific Daily News this week takes a closer look at government of Guam leases.

Today: Catholic Church is landlord for some mayors.

While most of the landlords to GovGuam offices are in the business of real estate, one stands out for not being a business enterprise at all.

The administrative entity for Guam’s Catholics, the Archdiocese of Agana, makes some money – $55,200 a year – renting separate offices where the Piti Mayor’s Office and the Inarajan Mayor’s Office conduct their official business, bid documents show.

The Inarajan and Piti mayors’ offices’ annual rent falls under one lease agreement, which was signed by Archbishop Anthony Apuron in January 2014 .

The archdiocesan office wasn’t immediately available for comment on how the rent money is being used by the church.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

[with video]

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com November 5, 2016

When newly appointed Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes arrives on Guam Nov. 28, he’ll bring with him hopes of healing the island’s large Catholic church — fractured by multiple priest sex abuse allegations, a multimillion-dollar property dispute and disagreements between different factions of the church over how to worship.

“Especially in times of difficulty or times of challenges, it’s important to go back to the foundation of our faith, which is Jesus,” said Byrnes, 58, in a phone interview from Detroit, where he was born, raised and served as priest and bishop until his appointment to lead the Catholic church on Guam.

Pope Francis last Monday appointed Byrnes as coadjutor archbishop of the Archdiocese of Agana, which gives Byrnes the right to succeed Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron if Apuron, 71, resigns, retires or is removed. Under church law, bishops are required to resign at 75.

Byrnes’ pending arrival on Guam comes at a time when Apuron faces a canonical trial in Rome over allegations that he sexually abused and raped altar boys in the 1970s, when he was parish priest in Agat. Apuron has denied all allegations of sex abuse, and any criminal conduct that may have occurred is long past the criminal statute of limitations. …

Protecting children

Byrnes said he was involved in the actual removal of a priest from office over sex abuse allegations in Detroit. Byrnes has worked with a canon lawyer, among others, who has helped him navigate canon and civil legalities in addressing sex abuse allegations involving the church. He said the U.S. Conference of Bishops also has protocols to better protect children.

“I would hope that we will be able to strengthen all our parishes’ ability .. .the kind of sensitivity and awareness of protecting God’s children,” he said.

Byrnes said the Guam church’s victim response coordination team is “a very good first step.”

Regardless of what happens in the Apuron trial, Byrnes said the initial assumption is that he, Byrnes, will still hold the title coadjutor archbishop.

“It’s all up to the disposition of the Holy Father, of course. But the title of coadjutor bishop assumes that once he (Apuron) retires or resigns, I would be the archbishop,” he said.

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MICHIGAN
WOOD

Ken Kolker
Published: November 4, 2016

BRONSON, Mich. (WOOD) — Every day, Rev. Richard Fritz walked past the Ten Commandments plaque outside his church. And, nearly every day, he walked across the street to the convenience store, workers there said.

Workers at the Viking Express store told 24 Hour News 8 said Fritz, who is under investigation for allegations of embezzlement, spent hundreds of dollars a day on lottery tickets, sometimes up to $500. They say he usually bought $20 tickets.

A woman at a gas station near his other church, St. Barbara in Colon, also said the priest stopped in to buy lottery tickets.

State police confirmed that gambling is the “undertone” of their investigation. They’re investigating allegations the priest embezzled $213,000 since 2010 from both St. Mary’s and from St. Barbara Church about 12 miles away in Colon.

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AUSTRALIA
America

November 14, 2016 Issue
From CNS, Staff and other sources

Australian police questioned Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, in Rome regarding accusations of sexual abuse. Cardinal Pell was “voluntarily interviewed” by Victoria police in late October, said a statement on Oct. 26 from the cardinal’s office. “The cardinal repeats his previous rejection of all and every allegation of sexual abuse and will continue to cooperate with Victoria police until the investigation is finalized,” the statement said. Allegations surfaced in July in a report by Australia’s ABC News featuring several people who accused Cardinal Pell of sexual assault; at least one of the accusations had been found to be unsubstantiated by an Australian court in 2002.

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TEXAS
Click2Houston

[with video]

By Keith Garvin – Anchor/Reporter
November 04, 2016

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas – A family is in fear for their loved one’s safety after the arrest of a Montgomery County pastor charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl.

Ronald Wayne Mitchell, 57, remains in jail now on four counts involving a girl who was 15 years old at the time.

Demetrius Ellis said her older sister Angela Edwards, a member of Mitchell’s Body of Christ Ministry in Magnolia, has had no contact with the family for the past 10 years.

She said Mitchell drew her suspicion years ago by constantly demanding church members’ money.

“I don’t care if it’s pennies, if you just got paid. He want it,” recalls Ellis. “He don’t care if your bills were due or nothing. He wanted your money.”

According to the warrant served at Mitchell’s home, which also serves as the church where members live, he allegedly raped the girl on numerous occasions there and at nearby hotels.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com November 5, 2016

A group that has been pushing for Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron’s removal said it’s ready to file a lawsuit between now and Nov. 21 to ensure the Archdiocese of Agana doesn’t lose ownership and control of a $40 million to $75 million Yona property.

David Sablan, president of the Concerned Catholics of Guam, said the five-year statute of limitation expires on Nov. 21, unless the property ownership and control is challenged in court by then.

That’s five years since the declaration of deed restriction on the Yona property, given by Apuron to the Redemptoris Mater Seminary without restriction, was recorded with the Department of Land Management on Nov. 22, 2011, Sablan said.

“The archdiocese is working diligently on the matter of the seminary property,” the Archdiocese of Agana said in a statement. “We will comment in due time.”

Sablan said Concerned Catholics understands Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai is giving the community that controls the Redemptoris Mater Seminary and a theological institute an opportunity to return ownership and control without resorting to a lawsuit. Hon said on Tuesday the archdiocese is addressing the issue.

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TEXAS
CW 39

[with video]

NOVEMBER 3, 2016, BY CIARA ROUEGE

MAGNOLIA, Texas — Investigators released disturbing details Friday in the alleged rape of a 16-year-old girl who claims she was forced into a sexual relationship with her pastor, and her mother gave her to the man fearing that if she didn’t, the teen would lose her soul, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said.

SWAT officers arrested pastor Ronald Wayne Mitchell, 56, at The Body of Christ Ministry around 7 p.m. Monday and charged him with sexual assault of a child. The church, which sits in the 40200 block of Garwood Court in Magnolia, doubles as the pastor’s home, court documents said.

Investigators said the victim was a member of Mitchell’s church and was sent to live there for at least 21 days at Mitchell’s request in November 2015. The teen’s mother tried to get her daughter back after the time period had passed, but the pastor refused and said “God would kill her.” The teen was forced to live with Mitchell’s wife, her sister and other church members, and was forced to have sex with the pastor on multiple occasions.

The teen girl said Mitchell would lock her in his dimly lit room and would play “old people music” when he was assaulting her.

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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Register

BY KELLY PUENTE / STAFF WRITER

SANTA ANA – In a courtroom, the women addressed their former pastor – a man they once trusted who sexually assaulted them.

“I’m not going to paint every detail of the pain you’ve inflicted on myself and those around me, because you know exactly how much damage you’ve caused,” one victim said.

“We are not here today because of some story we’ve spun, we’re here because of the truth of what you did. … God have mercy on your soul. ”

On Friday, a former Lake Forest 39-year-old youth pastor, Sean Patrick Aday, pleaded guilty to two felonies and two misdemeanors of sexual battery – each count tied to a different victim.

After the plea deal was officially accepted in a courtroom filled with current and former parishioners, three victims and several of their family members addressed Aday while many in the audience cried and wiped away tears.

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TEXAS
KHOU

Michelle Homer, KHOU November 04, 2016

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas – A Magnolia teen who said she was sexually abused by a pastor said the suspect told her she would “drop dead” if she told anyone because God would kill her.

She also told investigators the pastor’s wife drove her to a clinic to get birth control shots.

The allegations are part of a graphic court document detailing the alleged sexual abuse by Ronald Wayne Mitchell.

Mitchell was arrested earlier this week and charged with sexual assault of a child.

The victim lived with Mitchell and his wife at the home where he also operated his Body of Christ Ministry. Several other parishioners also lived in the home.

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AUSTRALIA
The Weekend Australian

GERARD HENDERSON
Columnist

If there is to be a media prize for unbalanced advocacy in journalism then last Monday’s coverage by the ABC’s 7.30 of Cardinal ­George Pell deserves to be short-listed at the very least.

Louise Milligan reported on the submission of Gail Furness, counsel assisting the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which had been released earlier that day for consideration by commission chairman Justice Peter McClellan. For the third time in recent months, the tone of Milligan’s ­report on Pell was hostile. She claimed it was “considered likely” that the royal commission “will make some adverse findings against the cardinal”. Milligan did not say precisely who (allegedly) considers this to be the case.

Early in her report, Milligan said the “royal commission found” that, from 1976, the consultors (who, for a time, included Pell) to Bishop Ronald Mulkearns in Ballarat “had known … that [the Catholic priest Gerald] Ridsdale was abusing children”.

In fact, what was released on Monday was Furness’s submissions to the royal commission. Not the findings of the royal commission.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier-Mail

Matthew Condon, The Courier-Mail
November 4, 2016

ONE of Queensland’s most prestigious private schools has had at least one pedophile on staff at any given time over the past six decades, it can be revealed.

As the child sex abuse royal commission tours the country hearing evidence, The Anglican Church Grammar School, or Churchie, in East Brisbane, is battling the legacy of its own historic pedophilia.

It can also be revealed the school last year backflipped on naming a building after venerated former headmaster Henry Emmanuel (Harry) Roberts, following complaints from students who were allegedly sexually assaulted by Churchie staff when Roberts was head.

The decision sparked a furious squabble between the school and some Churchie Old Boys who dubbed the decision a “hysterical pursuit of scapegoats” and “a cruel and panicked exercise in revisionism”.

The flashpoint of the debate was former Churchie boarding master Harry Wippell, who allegedly sexually assaulted a 12-year-old boy in 1967.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Stephanie Convery, Lucy Clark and Steph Harmon
Friday 4 November 2016

Crimes of the Father by Tom Keneally (Vintage)

It’s a sad fact of humanity that abuse in the church is a perennially timely subject, but Tom Keneally’s latest novel seems to be particularly well timed with the ongoing royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

Keneally’s story explores faith, marriage, celibacy and the Catholic church through the story of Father Frank Docherty, an excommunicated priest who returns to Australia and finds himself privy to stories of abuse by a now-senior cleric. A dramatic wrestle with conscience – and pursuit of justice – follows.

Available now.

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UNITED STATES
Hevria

BY DINA FRIEDMAN • NOVEMBER 3, 2016

Every year, in the weeks leading up to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, I think about my rape. It’s not the anniversary of the first time I was sexually assaulted, and it’s not because I will see my rapist at synagogue. It is because even though I – sort of – got what many rape victims want from their attacker(s): an apology; and even though I told him I forgave him (when put on the spot), I am not so sure I did.

I believe in Jewish karma: I want G-d to forgive me, so I have to forgive others. In the Jewish tradition while we need to ask G-d for forgiveness for sins against G-d, forgiveness for sins against other people can only be granted by the person injured. And we are encouraged to forgive. One tradition even holds that if forgiveness is not granted, the sin then belongs to the person not accepting the apology – the injured party!

This requirement to forgive is heavy.

Every holiday season for the past many years, this pressure to forgive filled me with anxiety – because I don’t feel like I truly forgave my rapist when he asked. Each year, I pray with as much devotion I can muster. But I emerge from Yom Kippur feeling as if I emerged from a mikvah holding a dead rat – technically pure, but holding something filthy.

Finally, I had to talk to someone. Gritting my teeth with utter humiliation about telling the gory details to another person, I called my rabbi’s wife. Her response shocked me. First, she said, “I have to double check with my husband, but I don’t think you have to forgive this.”

“What?”

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Mark Mueller | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on November 04, 2016

In a historic moment for the Archdiocese of Newark, Archbishop John J. Myers on Monday is expected to announce his successor, Cardinal-designate Joseph W. Tobin, NJ Advance has learned.

Tobin, a moderate leader who has supported a greater role for women in the church, has also expressed the need for more dialogue over gay parishioners and sparred with Indiana Gov. Mike Pence over the resettlement of Syrian refugees..

Tobin, the archbishop of Indianapolis since October 2012, was named a cardinal by Pope Francis last month. The designation takes effect. Nov. 18.

The appointment would make him the first cardinal in the 163-year history of the archdiocese, which serves about 1.2 million Roman Catholics in Essex, Union, Hudson and Bergen counties.

He also would be the first member of a religious order to preside in Newark. Tobin was ordained a priest in the Redemporist order in 1978. …

Monday’s press conference is expected to be streamed live on the archdiocese’s Facebook page.

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UNITED STATES
The Mennonite

11.4. 2016 Written By: Barbra Graber

Barbra Graber is a leader of the Anabaptist Mennonite Chapter of SNAP (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests). She attends Park View Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg, Virginia.

“It is very tempting to take the side of the perpetrator. All the perpetrator asks is that the bystander do nothing. [The perpetrator] appeals to the universal desire to see, hear and speak no evil. The victim, on the contrary, asks the bystander to share the burden of pain. The victim demands action, engagement and remembering.”— Judith Herman

Sometime in the early 1990s, Meetinghouse, a consortium of Mennonite and Brethren in Christ editors, commissioned James Coggins, associate editor of the Mennonite Brethren Herald, to write an article he entitled “Should We Report Scandal in the Mennonite Press?” It appeared in the April 1991 issue. Coggins answers the question with a resounding yes.

Coggins writes: “Why do we name the names of church leaders who have violated and betrayed the trust instilled in them by brothers and sisters of their faith communities? Why drag it all back into the open? Why not let it go? Think of their wives and children. Is it really worth all the embarrassment they will feel?

“Any abuse of power, in any form, must be dealt with publicly, swiftly, with termination of duties, and ongoing support for any victims. These decisions can either pave the way toward a truly vibrant, redeemed and renewed pacifist denomination or continue to promote denial, complacency and inaction.”

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VIRGINIA
Eastern Mennonite University

September 28, 2016Last updated October 17, 2016 by Lauren Jefferson

The fall Sexuality Series at Eastern Mennonite University brings together campus experts with authors and advocates from a variety of settings to address sexuality, spirituality, healing and wholeness.

“With this series, Campus Ministries is contributing to campus conversations with resources to reflect on these themes,” says Brian Martin Burkholder, campus pastor. “Hopefully this approach opens discussion and engagement. We’re eager to see if there is interest in continuing the series into spring semester.”

Adds Ken L. Nafziger, vice president for student life and dean of students, who is one of the speakers: “In the midst of appropriately heightened concern about sexual assaults on college campuses, this sexuality series adds an important perspective and holistic emphasis that moves beyond safe sex towards an exploration of the spiritual and metaphysical aspects of truly knowing your partner.”

The series opens Oct. 5 with Professor Carolyn Stauffer presenting a chapel talk on “Sex & Millennials: #NewScripts,” a spiritual and relational framing for sexuality. Stauffer, who teaches in the Applied Social Science Department and in the MA in Biomedicine program, has spent much of her career listening to women on three continents tell of violence in their lives. Her three-year “Silent Violence” project researched the resilience of domestic abuse survivors from within communities of homeless women, undocumented Latinas and Mennonite women from Old Order or conservative church communities. …

Father Tom Doyle, a Catholic priest who has worked with survivors of priest sex abuse for more than three decades, gives a 40-minute presentation Nov. 7 in Martin Chapel on “The Spiritual Impact of Sexual Abuse in Religious Contexts.”

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MINNESOTA
Albert Lea Tribune

By Sam Wilmes

A local catholic church is protecting its children from abuse.

VIRTUS — a program that has been in place at St. Theodore Catholic Church and school for five years — is a mandatory diocesan program for each church employee and volunteer, and raises awareness of the issues that are caused by child abuse, such as the harm it causes to its victims, the parish and the community, according to the church and school leaders.

An awareness session — led by a trained facilitator — helps adults learn to recognize the warning signs of abuse and shows them the appropriate way to respond to suspicious behavior.

St. Theodore church and school have taken steps to ensure children are safe, such as ensuring that rooms that are not in use are locked.

All church employees and volunteers must pass a background check.

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OHIO
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Thomas Feldhaus was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 1976. He assisted at parishes in the communities of Mt. Airy and Delhi Hills before beginning an eleven-year pastorship in Ripley in 1990, followed by a pastorship in Cincinnati in 2001. Feldhaus also spent several years in the late 1970s-early 1980s in Rome for graduate studies, and was a hospital chaplain for several years in the late 1980s-early 1990s.

In November 2003 a man reported to the archdiocese that Feldhaus had “inappropriately touched” his young son in 1979 while assigned to St. Therese, The Little Flower in Mt. Airy; Feldhaus was placed on administrative leave. In a lawsuit filed in March 2004 another man accused Feldhaus of having sexually abused him as a boy. This accuser, a former student of Our Lady of Victory in Delhi Hills, said the abuse occurred 1986-1991.

Feldhaus remained on administrative leave until October 2014, when his laicization was announced by the Vatican.

Ordained: 1976
Laicized: 2014

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier-Mail

Michael Madigan, The Courier-Mail
November 4, 2016

CHILD rapes, ritual humiliations, sadism and physical violence – Queensland’s known history of child abuse reaches back almost a century, impacting on every demographic and leaving thousands of people emotionally crippled, incapable of conducting a normal life.

Today’s revelation of the number of convicted pedophiles employed between 1947 and 2010 at one of Queensland’s most prestigious schools, the Anglican Church Grammar School, popularly known as “Churchie” is yet another hideous chapter in a story of misery and betrayal.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the terms of reference for which were established nearly four years ago on January 11, 2013, has played a pivotal role in uncovering hundreds of ugly stories of child abuse which may have remained untold and in reminding us of other cases.

In Queensland, we were reminded of the horrors perpetrated by Toowoomba Catholic primary schoolteacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes – the school’s “child protection officer’’ who, in 2010, pleaded guilty to 44 child sex offences involving young girls, including rape, between 2007 and 2008.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

November 5, 2016

SARAH MARTIN
Political reporterCanberra
@msmarto

A national compensation fund for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse is expected to cost more than $4 billion, with the federal government challenging states, charities and church groups to fund the long-awaited redress scheme for tens of thousands of victims.

NSW and Victoria yesterday welcomed the Turnbull government’s announcement for a ­national opt-in compensation scheme to be rolled out over 10 years from 2018, but victims’ groups warned of a “two-tiered” system dependent on where ­victims were abused if some states refused to sign up.

Announcing the federal government would provide between $550 million and $770m to the fund for cases where it was the ­responsible entity, Social Services Minister Christian Porter said the “best practice” scheme would provide psychological support and individual payments of up to $150,000 for each victim.

He said the “simple and supportive” system would attempt to make the process of redress as easy as possible, and would also provide trauma counselling for survivors and the opportunity for victims to tell their stories to the relevant institution.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

BY LUCINDA CAMERON

THE report into allegations of abuse made a number of recommendations but Very Rev Andrew McLellan says bishops are ignoring them.

THE Catholic Church in Scotland has denied suggestions that it is not implementing recommendations made in a report into allegations of abuse.

A commission led by the Very Rev Andrew McLellan made a raft of recommendations in August last year, including that justice must be done for those who have been abused, and the church’s safeguarding policies and practices are rewritten and subject to external scrutiny.

But in a letter sent to the Bishops’ Conference, Dr McLellan said the bishops are “appearing to ignore” the recommendations of the report.

He said he believes the recommendation to put survivors first and introduce an independent element into safeguarding within the church has not happened.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Harriet Sherwood Religion correspondent
@harrietsherwood
Friday 4 November 2016

Pressure is mounting for a public inquiry into the adoption of hundreds of thousands of babies born to unmarried women over a 30-year period amid claims from some mothers who say they were coerced into handing over their children.

A letter will be sent to the home secretary, Amber Rudd, next week from solicitors at two eminent law firms calling on her to convene a public inquiry into historical adoption practices in the UK. The solicitors say an inquiry would uncover the truth about the practices – stretching over three decades after the end of the second world war – and hold agencies to account.

Meanwhile more women have come forward to tell their stories of being pressured into having their babies adopted.

The call for an inquiry will be sent to Rudd on Thursday, the day after the broadcast of a television documentary relating the stories of several women. That film has prompted an apology from Cardinal Vincent Nichols, head of the Catholic church in England and Wales, and a statement expressing regret from the Church of England. Religious institutions and agencies handled most adoptions until 1976, after which the process became the responsibility of local authorities.

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AUSTRALIA
Chinchilla News

Janine Hill | 3rd Nov 2016

UPDATE 1.50PM: The principal of Peregian Beach College has become emotional at the conclusion of his evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Chris Shirley was previously the head of Shalom Christian College, a Townsville school for predominantly indigenous students, where a 14-year-old female boarder was allegedly gang raped in 2006.

Mr Shirley, who has been at Peregian since 2009, blinked and appeared to battle to express himself when asked at the commission how safety concerns had been managed at Shalom following the alleged incident.

“Safety concerns were an ongoing issue and probably still are. It takes a toll on everybody,” Mr Shirley said.

The girl’s parents had told the commission earlier in the week that Mr Shirley had painted their daughter as promiscuous and tried to discourage them from taking the matter further, saying the boys were from influential families.

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AUSTRALIA
Townsville Bulletin

VICTORIA NUGENT, Townsville Bulletin
November 3, 2016

THE principal of Shalom Christian College told a Royal Commision he did not have the resources to guarantee students’ safety just hours before a wild brawl erupted at the school yesterday.

And a former principal told the commision the school dealt with about 20 sexual assaults a year, with a third of students having sexually transmitted diseases when a 14-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped by four male sudents.

The Townsville boarding school has been under the spotlight this week at the Royal Commission into institutional responses to child sex abuse.

The commission is examining the school’s response to the alleged gang rape in 2006.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

Lauren Martyn-Jones
The Courier-Mail

THE former principal of an indigenous boarding school in Townsville has told the royal commission the school dealt with about 20 sexual assaults a year.

Christopher Shirley, who was the principal of Shalom Christian College in 2006 when a 14-year-old female student was allegedly gang-raped by four boys, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that his school was “very under-resourced”.

Mr Shirley said the indigenous boarding school was forced to divert money from its education budget to health and wellbeing programs to try to look after its students.

The parents of the teenage victim told the royal commission on Wednesday they believed the school tried to cover up the 2006 rape and that they were treated like “dumb black people” by Mr Shirley.

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VATICAN CITY/GUAM
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Nov. 3, 2016

The papal appointee given authority to take charge of a Guam archdiocese rocked by allegations of sexual abuse against its archbishop has said the Vatican is preparing to put the prelate on trial.

Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, who Pope Francis appointed in June to step-in over Agana Archbishop Anthony Apuron, told reporters Tuesday that “they just formed all the conditions for the trial.”

“I’m going to receive some news, some updates later,” said Hon, who has been serving as the archdiocese’s apostolic administrator while also remaining the second-in-command of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Hon, a native of Hong Kong, spoke to journalists Nov. 1 following Francis’ appointment Oct. 31 of Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Michael Byrnes as the new coadjutor archbishop of the Agana archdiocese, the island’s only Catholic diocese.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Shannon Deery, Herald Sun
November 3, 2016

ONE of Victoria’s most infamous child sex abusers has admitted more evil offending.

Christian Brother Robert Best is currently serving a minimum 11-year jail term for crimes against children.

Today he pleaded guilty to a string of fresh charges laid by Sano Taskforce detectives in August.

The offending relates to abuse of children during the 1960s, 70s and 80s in Ballarat, Box Hill and Geelong.

Best pleaded guilty at the Melbourne Magistrates Court, appearing via video link from prison.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Adam Cooper

The Christian Brothers have made no moves to expel paedophile Robert Charles Best from their order despite him pleading guilty to another slew of child-sex offences spanning 20 years.

Best appeared before Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday, via video link from prison, to plead guilty to sexually abusing 15 boys in Ballarat and Box Hill between 1968 and 1982 and in Geelong in 1987 and 1988.

The 75-year-old was in 2011 jailed for 14 years for abusing 11 boys he taught at schools in Ballarat, Box Hill and Geelong between 1969 and 1988.

Soon after his plea, the Christian Brothers Province of Oceania issued a statement reiterating their “unreserved apology” for Best’s “grievous betrayal of trust”, and urging people to contact police if they had been sexually assaulted.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Jody Harrison , Reporter / @JodeHarrisonHT

SURVIVORS of sexual abuse at Catholic churches and institutions say they continue to be ignored by Bishops who once pledged to involve them in reforms.

Alan Draper, of the In Care Abuse Survivors group (INCAS), said that many of the 400 people represented by the organisation were still waiting to be approached by the church and had been offered no compensation for the abuse they suffered at the hands of priests, staff and teachers.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By political reporters Dan Conifer and Alexandra Beech

The Federal Government has announced a compensation scheme for victims of institutional child sexual abuse.

The Commonwealth will lead the program, while states, territories and institutions, including churches, will be able to opt in.

Victims will be able to access up to $150,000 each.

The cost for just the Commonwealth over the 10-year period was estimated to be between $570 million and $770 million.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter told reporters in Perth that the scheme would run for 10 years with an option to extend.

He said an advisory council would be established to help oversee its delivery.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Sarah Farnsworth

Convicted paedophile Robert Best, a Christian Brother, has pleaded guilty to more cases of child sexual abuse dating back nearly 50 years.

Best, 75, appeared via video link in the Melbourne Magistrates Court from Ararat Prison were he is serving a sentence for child abuse.

He has now admitted to abusing 15 boys between January 1968 and October 1988, at Box Hill, Geelong and Ballarat.

Dressed in a green prison jumper, Best sat still, blinking slowly before he pleaded guilty to 22 offences including indecent assault and false imprisonment.

Lawyers informed the court 17 other charges against him had been dropped as the matter had been resolved in a guilty plea.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

November 4, 2016

RACHEL BAXENDALE
ReporterCanberra
@rachelbaxendale

The Turnbull government has today announced a Commonwealth-led opt-in compensation scheme for victims of institutional child sexual abuse, giving them access to up to $150,000.

Social Service Minister Christian Porter said the scheme would be lead by the Commonwealth, with states, territories and institutions, including churches, strongly encouraged to opt in.

The establishment of a national redress scheme was a key recommendation of the royal commission into institutional child sexual abuse, but Mr Porter said the Commonwealth did not have the jurisdiction to force states or territories to be part of the scheme.

States, territories or institutions which do opt-in will be required to fund the cost of their own eligible redress claims.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Tom McIlroy, Rachel Browne

States, churches and charities are under pressure to support the federal government’s national scheme to compensate victims of child sexual abuse with payments of up to $150,000.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter announced the national opt-in scheme on Friday, a key recommendation from the child sex abuse royal commission and a long-held demand of victims and advocates.

Advocacy groups have welcomed the announcement but slammed the “opt-in” element.

Care Leavers Australia Network chief executive Leonie Sheedy said states must be compelled to contribute and churches and charities should be penalised if they try to dodge their obligations.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Elle Hunt
@mlle_elle
Friday 4 November 2016

A new national compensation scheme for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse has been designed to have “maximum reach to Australian victims”, the social services minister has said.

Survivors may be entitled to up to $150,000 each under the scheme, which Christian Porter announced on behalf of the federal government in Perth on Friday.

States, territories and institutions , including churches and charities, will be able to opt in to the scheme, which will be run by the commonwealth.

Members of the scheme would opt in on the understanding that they fund the cost of their own eligible redress claims, in accordance with the recommendations of the royal commission into institutional child abuse made late last year.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

COUNSELLING, individual payments and the opportunity for survivors to tell their story will be available under a new Commonwealth Government scheme to compensate survivors of child sex abuse.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter announced the Commonwealth Redress Scheme on Friday.

The scheme would invite state governments and institutions to “opt-in” to the scheme on the basis that the entity found to be responsible — whether it be church, institution, charity or government — would compensate the individual survivors.

Survivors could seek a maximum payment of $150,000 for the sexual abuse they suffered as children.

The Minister said a guiding principal would be to try to avoid survivors being re-traumatised by telling their stories as they applied to the scheme.

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LOUISIANA
The Times-Picayune

By Ken Daley, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

The jailed former pastor of a Marrero church was accused of rape and other sex crimes against seven child victims Thursday (Nov. 3) in a nine-count indictment handed up by an Orleans Parish grand jury.

Algiers’ Sherman R. Smith, 56, was a pastor at Marrero’s Second Highway Baptist Church, at 1533 Haydel Drive. Authorities said Smith took advantage of his position of trust to rape or sexually abuse young girls who often were friends of his own children. Seven different victims are named in the indictment, which charges Smith with sex crimes against juveniles alleged to have occurred between September 1989 and November 2001.

Criminal District Court Judge Ben Willard raised Smith’s bond amount from $2.35 million to $5 million after the new indictment was read.

Smith initially was arrested last November on first-degree rape and sexual battery charges after three people came forward. He was booked with additional charges Sept. 13, court records showed, that included indecent behavior with a juvenile, sexual battery and molestation of a juvenile or person with a disability.

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AUSTRALIA
International Business Times

By Anne Lu @chelean on November 04 2016

The Australian government has announced up to $150,000 compensation to sexual abuse victims. The Commonwealth redress scheme was announced on Friday as key recommendation from the child sex abuse commission.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter told reporters in Perth that the Commonwealth will lead the program, with states, territories, churches and institutions allowed to “opt in.” The scheme, which will provide emotional, mental and other support to victims of sexual abuse, will run for 10 years, starting in early 2018, with an option to extend.

The maximum payout for individual victims is $150,000.

“A fair, simple and generous process for redress is the most significant thing that we can do for survivors of sexual abuse,” Porter said.

While the government would like all jurisdictions to opt in, it was unable to compel them to do that. Instead, it would just encourage that opt in is to be clear and transparent. In the case of territories, though, the Commonwealth has the right to legislate to compel them to join if they did not opt in.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WFMZ

EMMAUS, Pa. – A monsignor with the Diocese of Allentown will stand trial in a child pornography case.

John Mraz, 66, waived his preliminary hearing Thursday morning.

In September, Mraz was charged with sexual abuse of children, criminal use of a communications facility and obscene and sexual material and performances.

Mraz was the pastor at St. Ann’s Church in Emmaus, Lehigh County.

On July 25, Mraz asked a friend and parishioner to update his laptop computer. The friend subsequently discovered files in the computer’s recycling bin depicting images of nude males of an unknown age, according to court documents.

After completing the update, the friend returned the computer to Mraz, who asked him to update another laptop. On that laptop, the friend reported finding a file named “naked little boys,” or “something similar to that name,” according to court paperwork.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Chris Wong | Post News Staff

With the Oct. 31 announcement of Bishop Michael Jude Byrnes’ appointment as coadjutor archbishop of the Archdiocese of Agana, the Post contacted Byrnes yesterday morning Guam time and spoke with him to get a better understanding of the newest leader of the Catholic Church on Guam.

Below are the archbishop’s responses to the Post’s questions:

Question: Is there any update on your expected date of arrival on Guam?

Answer: Yes, my initial visit is now scheduled for Nov. 28, 2016. I will stay in Guam for three weeks and return back to Detroit during the holiday season to visit my family. Around mid-January, I will have a specific date set when I arrive on Guam, of when I expect to move into my residence on Guam.

Q: What was your reaction upon being chosen by Pope Francis to head the archdiocese on Guam?

A: I was shocked. The first thing I asked was “Where is Guam?” I had no idea I was appointed for the position.

Q: With news of the appointment, some in the local community feel that an outsider would not be able heal the deep divisions and issues the Catholic Church is dealing with on Guam. Others feel that your appointment is a welcome breath of fresh air. What initial steps will you take to heal the community?

A: First and foremost to listen to and to talk with the congregation. I cannot come in with preconceptions of any issue. I need to listen [about] what we can do to resolve and heal the wounds left in the community.

Q: Have you encountered and experienced controversial issues in the community during your time as a member of the clergy?

A: Yes, in 2011 when a priest in our diocese went before a canonical trial after being accused of sexual abuse and misconduct. I have experience in dealing with financial issues and personal issues that were controversial within our congregation of 1.3 million Catholics, in a metropolitan area of 3.4 million people.

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NEW ZEALAND
Radio New Zealand

3 November 2016

The New Zealand judge who formerly headed a major child sex abuse inquiry in Britain says false and defamatory articles were placed in the media by her political opponents.

Dame Lowell GoddardDame Lowell Goddard Photo: SUPPLIED
In a letter to British MPs explaining her resignation, Dame Lowell Goddard said she decided to quit in August when three members of the inquiry’s panel met her to voice their dissatisfaction with her leadership.

Read the 10-page letter, dated 28 October 2016 (PDF, 140KB)

Dame Lowell told the MPs she was not aware of tensions within the inquiry until then, and believed intense media pressure damaged perceptions of her.

“I have been the subject of extensive, false, and defamatory comment in the British media, and have had to instruct London lawyers in these matters. These are current and not resolved,” she wrote to Home Affairs Committee chair Yvette Cooper.

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CALIFORNIA
Fox 40

OCTOBER 31, 2016, BY SONSEEAHRAY TONSALL

SACRAMENTO — Three and a half months after thieves entered a Sacramento home and left a 60-year-old man dead as they fled, new details are emerging about the last person arrested in the case and what may have motivated the killing.

While the crime, a vicious stabbing, according to witnesses, is alarming enough, the fact that the latest alleged murderer is a Hindu priest is sending shock waves through the Hindu community.

Ashok Kumar was killed in August in his home on Grandstaff Drive.

A month later Sacramento police arrested Tiwan Greenwade, Vicky Rainone and the victim’s wife, Rohini Kumar, for murder.

Last week Raghua Sharma was charged with the same, and officers announced they believed there were no more suspects outstanding.

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CALIFORNIA
AOL News

SACRAMENTO (KTXL) — Three and a half months after thieves entered a Sacramento home and left a 60-year-old man dead as they fled, new details are emerging about the last person arrested in the case and what may have motivated the killing.

While the crime, a vicious stabbing, according to witnesses, is alarming enough, the fact that the latest alleged murderer is a Hindu priest is sending shock waves through the Hindu community.

Ashok Kumar was killed in August in his home on Grandstaff Drive.

A month later Sacramento police arrested Tiwan Greenwade, Vicky Rainone and the victim’s wife, Rohini Kumar, for murder.

Last week Raghua Sharma was charged with the same, and officers announced they believed there were no more suspects outstanding.

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UTAH
The Davis Clipper

by BRYAN GRAY
Nov 02, 2016

I have seldom written about religion or spiritual matters. There are three simple reasons. First, there are people who are more knowledgeable and passionate than I am. Second, religion is deeply personal, not the type of thing to bait in a weekly newspaper column. Third, what someone believes is nobody else’s business!

But as most of you are aware, the number of people attending church services in the U.S. continues to creep lower. Furthermore, the fastest-growing “religious group” in America are the “nones,” comprising people who have fallen away from established religions and found a personal spiritual life apart from church buildings, services, and dogma. Among Americans under age 35, there are reportedly more “nones” than membership in any single organized religion. The Pew Research Group finds a decreased membership and activity in almost every single religious faith.

Utah families recognize the fallout. Every family I meet admits to a son, daughter, or grandchild, sometimes even a spouse – of leaving his or her previous faith. Often, those who leave don’t join a different faith either.

The reasons vary of course. Some would trace it to the urbanization of America. Others point to an anti-religious sentiment from the entertainment industry. Still others blame the publicity surrounding the pedophile priest scandal. Then, of course, some religious stalwarts give all the credit to Satan himself!

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TEXAS
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: John T. Keller was ordained for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston in 1974. He assisted in parishes in Houston and Spring and, in 1983, became pastor of his first of three Houston parishes. He also spent a number of years on the archdiocesan Presbyteral Council.

In 2002 the archdiocese received a complaint that Keller had sexually abused a 16-year-old altar boy in the early 1980s, while assigned to Christ the Good Shepherd in Spring. The complaint was made by the boy’s father, who had been a parish dean and a friend of Keller’s. He said that on a camping trip with his son, Keller plied the boy with alcohol, then invited him into his bed where he put his hands into the boy’s pants. Keller’s accuser said that in the mid-1990s he and his therapist met with Keller, who reassured him that “he was the only one.” The accuser’s mother wrote to Bishop Fiorenza in Fall 2002 saying, in part, that shortly after the camping trip she found in her son’s room “love letters” to the boy from Keller. She said she confronted Keller, who said he was “dealing with his problem in therapy.” Keller admitted that he “crossed a proper boundary,” but denied his behavior was abuse. The archdiocesan review board determined that Keller “acted very inappropriately” but that his behavior was not sexual abuse. Keller was kept in ministry, including during the investigation.

Ordained: 1974

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TEXAS
Houston Chronicle

By Andrew Kragie and Mike Glenn November 3, 2016

Montgomery County Sheriff’s detectives arrested a Magnolia pastor Tuesday on charges he sexually assaulted a young girl – and officials believe there could be more victims.

Detectives, prosecutors and the MCSO SWAT team raided The Body Of Christ Ministry Church in the 40200 block of Garwood Court and later apprehended 56-year-old Ronald Mitchell.

Police say they found evidence of the alleged sexual assault and a “large cache of weapons and ammunition” in a residence at the church.

MCSO SWAT members made the arrest near Texas 75 and Texas 105 in Conroe, jail records show. Mitchell is being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $250,000 bond.

Since Mitchell led his church from different locations around the greater Houston area, including Tomball, South Houston and Montgomery County, investigators believe there could be more victims who have yet to come forward.

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MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

Published November 3, 2016

BY KATY BERGEN, LAURA BAUER AND MARÁ WILLIAMS
The Kansas City Star
kbergen@kcstar.com, lbauer@kcstar.com, mdwilliams@kcstar.com

David, 60

For about four or five years as a teenager, I was repeatedly molested by a priest. But I came to realize this only after long-repressed memories surfaced in my 30s, sending me into a sudden downward spiral. (I’d long made inexplicable and self-destructive decisions and struggled with intimacy and self-worth. Learning I’d been sexually violated, however, led to a real emotional tailspin for months and months.)

Fortunately, I had (and still have) a remarkably supportive partner. Though I just turned 60, I’m still in therapy but have also made great strides in healing through my work with an amazing self-help group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. The wisdom and resilience of the hundreds of victims I’ve met inspires me every day and reminds me that it wasn’t my fault, I did nothing wrong, I can recover from this trauma, and I can help prevent other kids from suffering in the same way I have suffered. …

Mark, 56

I was 14 years old when I met Father R. at my high school. He groomed me in the hallways and took me to city parks where gay people met for sex. We partied in his apartment many evenings. The frequency of our visits increased and so did the sexual advances he made. I always froze. It was never pleasurable. This relationship lasted for almost two years. I was told to leave the school when the principal discovered this and accused me of being a drug addict, which I was.

As a teenager, I was preoccupied with trying to survive the numerous expulsions of being gay by the public at large, from family members, followers of the church, and other predators within the gay community. I was not able to determine what was right and what was wrong during those years. I wish I could experience what it would be like to exist as a young gay man with dignity and not have experienced the behaviors caused by a pedophile. I have made so many misguided decisions since then and because of this.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholic Philly

By Lou Baldwin • Posted November 3, 2016

New financial statements for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia released Nov. 3 by the Office for Financial Services covering the fiscal year (FY) ended June 30, 2016 show continuing progress on the path to financial stability, especially in addressing the core operating deficit.

The financial statements, which were audited by the independent auditing firm Grant Thornton, show the core operating deficit for FY 2016 to be $0.3 million as opposed to $0.7 million in FY 2015.

That is down from $2.3 million in FY 2014, $4.9 million in 2013 and a whopping $17.6 million in 2012, the first year of Grant Thornton’s audits.

Over the same period, underfunded balance sheet obligations have decreased from $354.4 million to $236.6 million.

“Our recurring deficit of $300,000 shows well and continues our recent trend of a somewhat stabilized result,” said archdiocesan Chief Financial Officer Timothy O’Shaughnessy. “It’s a deficit though and we’re still too fragile. I don’t believe we can sustain even at this slight deficit without further changes. We are committed to achieving a break-even result for our fiscal year ending June 30, 2018 and we are reviewing plans for that. These plans do not include a reduction in staff.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Lancaster Online

EMMAUS, Pa. (AP) — A Roman Catholic priest in Pennsylvania has waived a preliminary hearing on child pornography charges.

His attorney says Monsignor John Stephen Mraz, of Bethlehem, gave up his right to a preliminary hearing because he committed the crime.

Attorney John Waldron tells The Allentown Morning Call (http://bit.ly/2f5r0uL ) that 66-year-old Mraz downloaded and he viewed pornographic computer files as alleged.

He says “the important thing” is he never tried to contact children.

Waldron says he expects the case to be resolved in a guilty plea and not go to trial.

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PENNSYLVANIA
NBC 10

By Dan Stamm

A lawyer for a Roman Catholic priest in the Lehigh Valley says his client downloaded and viewed child porn but he says “the important thing” is the priest never tried to contact any children.

Attorney John Waldron says Monsignor John Stephen Mraz, of Bethlehem, has waived his right to a preliminary hearing on child pornography charges because he committed the crime.

Waldron tells The Allentown Morning Call he expects the 66-year-old priest will plead guilty and the case won’t go to trial.

Prosecutors said a friend of the priest’s discovered a file labeled with a reference to nude boys while working on Mraz’s computer. Some of the terms Mraz searched for online included “nude boys wrestling,” “teen boys spanked,” “small boy nudes,” “handcuffed nude boys,” “boy bondage” and other terms involving boys and sexual acts, said police.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Birmingham Mail

BY
RICHARD VERNALLS
BEN HURST

A disgraced imam who fled to Bangladesh after being convicted of historical sex attacks on two girls he tutored has been jailed for 11 and a half years in his absence.

Hifiz Rahman was captured on CCTV boarding a plane to Dhaka the day after a Wolverhampton Crown Court jury found him guilty of five counts of indecent assaults on victims as young as six.

During his sentencing it emerged that Rahman had a Bangladeshi passport, which the British authorities knew nothing about, allowing him to flee.

Rahman, who had diabetes, was on bail during the two criminal trials which saw him convicted, and was unable to attend some days after complaining of feeling unwell.

Sentencing the 58-year-old for a “gross breach of trust”, Judge Nicholas Cartwright said Rahman had “deceived” not only the parents of his victims, but also his own solicitors and barrister at trial by lying about being sick.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

An imam who fled the country after being convicted of historical sex attacks has been jailed for eleven and a half years.

Hifiz Rahman, 58, was found guilty of five sexual assaults at Queens Cross mosque in the West Midlands between March 1986 and August 1987.

He took a flight from Birmingham Airport to Bangladesh the day after his conviction last month.
Rahman was sentenced in his absence at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

Judge Nicholas Cartwright said the father-of-seven from Netherton, who had not attended some of his trial because he claimed he was too unwell, had deceived his victims and own solicitors by lying about being sick.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Nov. 3, 2016

The papal appointee given authority to take charge of a Guam archdiocese rocked by allegations of sexual abuse against its archbishop has said the Vatican is preparing to put the prelate on trial.

Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, who Pope Francis appointed in June to step-in over Agana Archbishop Anthony Apuron, told reporters Tuesday that “they just formed all the conditions for the trial.”

“I’m going to receive some news, some updates later,” said Hon, who has been serving as the archdiocese’s apostolic administrator while also remaining the second-in-command of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Hon, a native of Hong Kong, spoke to journalists Nov. 1 following Francis’ appointment Oct. 31 of Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Michael Byrnes as the new coadjutor archbishop of the Agana archdiocese, the island’s only Catholic diocese. …

Hon explained that Francis had appointed Byrnes to have special faculties over the Agana archdiocese, saying: “This appointment suggests a more permanent solution.”

“As a matter of fact, in this appointment the Holy Father has expressly granted His Excellency Msgr. Byrnes all the faculties, rights and obligations of the archbishop of Aganda, civilly and ecclesiastically without any exception,” Hon continued.

“In other words, as coadjutor archbishop, Msgr. Byrnes has the complete right of responsibility over everything concerning the archdiocese,” said Hon.

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SCOTLAND
BBC News

The Catholic Church in Scotland has denied claims that it has failed to implement changes after the publication of a report into child abuse.

In August 2015, Dr Andrew McLellan made a raft of recommendations following a review into abuse allegations connected with the church.

He said that since then bishops seemed to be “ignoring” his findings.

However, the Catholic Church said it accepted his recommendations and that they would be implemented in full.

Dr McLellan, a former Church of Scotland moderator, was tasked with coming up with proposals aimed at making the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland “a safe place for all” in January 2014.

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UNITED STATES
Daily Mail (UK)

By KELLY MCLAUGHLIN FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

A bishop at one of the largest African-American Christian churches in the United States has been accused of grooming and sexually assaulting a female member of the denomination for more than 20 years.

Kimberly Pollard, who is now 37, filed a $12.2-million lawsuit against the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) and Bishop James L’Keith Jones, accusing the church of allowing her to be sexually assaulted by the high-ranking bishop for 20 years, according to court papers obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com.

Pollard claims that Jones not only groomed her into what became a 20-year sexual relationship and extra-marital affair, but also tried to groom her six-year-old daughter, telling her she looked ‘sexy’ and that he would wait until she was 18 to date her.

The mother-of-one from Lubbock, Texas, says that the relationship between her and Jones turned sexual in or around 1995, when she was still a minor.

She says that during a Holy Convocation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Jones used his relationship as a then-pastor to sexually assault her and engage in an illicit sexual relationship.

And over the next 20 years, as Jones was promoted to higher rankings and given more responsibility in the church, he continued the sexual relationship through coercion, threats and his position as a spiritual adviser, Pollard claims.

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AUSTRALIA
The Educator

by Heather Jane
03 Nov 2016

A principal of a top private school told the Royal Commission into child abuse that the sensationalist tendencies of the media are a “strong disincentive” for principals to report abuse allegations, Sky News reported.

The comments were made by The King’s School principal, Dr Timothy Hawkes, as he responded to suggestions that his failure to report an indecent assault was influenced by his concern for the school’s reputation.

David Lloyd, the counsel assisting the Commission, referred to an email from Hawkes to other private school heads about his attitude to reporting abuse following negative media reports about sex abuse allegations at Trinity Grammar School in 2000.

In the email tendered to the commission, he wrote:

“If in reporting an incident, it means the broad flapping ears of the press will be allowed to sensationalise the case on the front page of their newspapers, then this will be a very strong disincentive to report anything,” he wrote.

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AUSTRALIA
Townsville Bulletin

VICTORIA NUGENT, Townsville Bulletin
November 2, 2016

THE former principal of a Townsville boarding school said a rape victim was sent to a different campus to prevent the offenders from fleeing the school and escaping investigation.

Christopher Shirley, who was Shalom Christian College’s principal at the time of the 2006 assault, said the 14-year-old girl, referred to during the commission as CLF, was sent to the school’s Crystal Creek campus after disclosing the incident.

He added that he wanted to prevent the boys from “absconding from the school” if they thought the matter was being under investigation.

“My main concern was to make sure CLF was safe,” he said.

“My intention was to keep things calm, let them think no punishment was going to happen.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Two boys at a Queensland boarding school ‘boasted’ to staff they’d had group sex with a female student but it was five days before the incident was formally reported, the abuse royal commission has heard.

Shalom Christian College is under the spotlight at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse over a gang rape in 2006.

A 14-year-old girl, referred to as CLF, was sexually assaulted by four male behind the school, the commission heard.

Counsel assisting David Lloyd said staff in the boys’ and girls’ dormitories noticed students were missing on the night of March 23, 2006.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A third of pupils at a Queensland indigenous college had sexually transmitted diseases when a 14-year-old boarder alleged she was gang raped by other students, the abuse royal commission has heard.

Shalom Christian College in Townsville has been under the spotlight this week at the commission over its response to claims the girl was assaulted by four boys in March 2006.

As the inquiry delved into the school’s failed handling of the incident, alarming statistics about the prevalence of sexual abuse across the school were revealed.

Former principal Christopher Shirley gave evidence that he made more reports about serious sex-related incidents to authorities in one year at Shalom than in 20 years at other schools.

“In a year at Shalom … it would probably be somewhere about five (reports) a term, 20 a year,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Ben Millington

The principal of a North Queensland boarding school where a teenage girl was raped says the school still cannot guarantee the safety of its students due to a lack of funding.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is looking into how Townsville-based Indigenous school Shalom Christian College handled the sexual assault of a 14-year-old female student in the 2000s.

The girl, known to the commission as CLF, was raped by four boys behind a classroom at night when the students were supposed to be in the boarding house.

At a hearing in Sydney, current principal Christopher England was asked if he could provide a safe environment for students in the boarding houses with resource levels.

He replied: “No sir.”

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AUSTRALIA
Goulburn Post

Louise Thrower
@ThrowerLouise

3 Nov 2016

Two former Salvation Army officers have been charged over historic child sex offences allegedly committed in the 1960s and 1970s.

Strike Force Lehmann, comprising officers from the State Crime Command’s Sex Crimes Squad, was established to investigate allegations of sexual abuse by former Salvation Army officers at two boys homes in Bexley and Goulburn.

The allegations were raised at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse.

Following extensive inquiries, Strike Force detectives arrested a 74-year-old man at a property in Waterloo about 7.30am on Wednesday.

He was taken to Redfern Police Station where he was charged with 23 counts of indecent assault upon a male, two counts of buggery, and procure indecent act with male.

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AUSTRALIA
The Advertiser

Australian Associated Press
November 2, 2016

Two former Salvation Army officers have been charged with sexually abusing children at NSW boys’ homes in the late 60s and early 1970s.

A 74-year-old man was arrested at his Waterloo home in Sydney on Wednesday morning and charged with 23 counts of indecent assault, while the second man, aged 77, was arrested in his Windsor home and charged with 13 offences.

Officers from the State Crime Command Sex Crimes Squad allege boys were sexually abused at homes in Bexley and Goulburn between 1968 and 1974.

The 74-year-old has been remanded by police and is due to face Central Local Court on Thursday. The 77-year-old has been granted conditional bail and will face court next month.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Two former Salvation Army officers have been charged with child sex abuse at boys’ homes in New South Wales, allegedly committed in the 1960s and 1970s.

The allegations, concerning homes at Goulburn and Bexley, were raised at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse.

A 74-year-old man was arrested at a property at Waterloo in inner Sydney yesterday morning.

He was charged with 23 counts of indecent assault on a male, two counts of buggery, and procuring an indecent act with a male.

Police will allege the man assaulted children at boys’ homes in Bexley and Goulburn between 1971 and 1974.

He is due to face Central Local Court today.

A second man, aged 77, was arrested on Wednesday at a home in Richmond in Sydney’s west.

He was charged with two counts of indecent assault upon a male, seven counts of assault occasio

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

By DANIEL PETERS FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Two former Salvation Army officers have been charged with a total of 28 counts of sexually assaulting boys in NSW orphanages.

The men, aged 77 and 74, were arrested on Wednesday over allegations of horrific sexual abuse at boys’ homes in Bexley and Goulburn in the 1960s and 1970s.

The allegations were first raised at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse, which took place in early 2014.

A 74-year-old man was arrested at a home in Waterloo, in Sydney’s inner-city, at 7.30am on Wednesday.

He was charged with 23 counts of indecent assault on a male, two counts of buggery (anal intercourse), and one count of procure indecent act with male.

Police will allege the man sexually assaulted boys at orphanages in Bexley and Goulburn between 1971 and 1974.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Harriet Sherwood Religion correspondent
@harrietsherwood
Wednesday 2 November 2016

The head of the Catholic church in England and Wales has apologised for its part in the” hurt” caused to young unmarried women who say they were felt pressured into handing over their babies for adoption in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols acknowledged the “the grief and pain caused by the giving up of a child through adoption”, adding: “Sadly for unmarried mothers, adoption was considered to be in the best interests of the mother and child because of the associated stigma and the lack of support for lone parents.”

A documentary telling the stories of some of the women – who gave up an estimated half a million children during a period when the Catholic church, the Church of England and the Salvation Army ran “mother and baby homes” and adoption agencies in the UK – is to be broadcast on ITV on 9 November.

In a statement at the end of the programme, Nichols apologises for the church’s role, saying: “The practices of all adoption agencies, whether religious, charitable or state, reflected these attitudes and were sometimes lacking in care and sensitivity. We apologise for the hurt caused by agencies acting in the name of the Catholic church.”

The documentary, Britain’s Adoption Scandal: Breaking the Silence, relates the stories of several women whose babies were given up for adoption over the 30-year period. Adoption reached a peak in 1968, when more than 16,000 babies born to unmarried mothers were handed over to new families.

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UNITED STATES
Forward

Marc Gafni
November 3, 2016

A few months after the Forward published a searing essay by Sara Kabakov describing how Marc Gafni sexually abused her, Gafni asked to respond. The Forward believes it has a journalistic obligation to allow him to do so. But his essay demands analysis and context, so the Forward asked a number of experts in sexual abuse to analyze Gafni’s assertions. Those experts challenged Gafni’s claims that Kabakov consented to this relationship and that her age was not an issue, and questioned his reliance on polygraph tests. Their responses are published below Gafni’s essay.

Marc Gafni’s Response

Over the last year, I have been attacked in the press and on Internet blogs, falsely accused of everything from sexual harassment to plagiarism. My character and work have been demeaned. These attacks have unfolded as a series of articles reaching back to the end of 2015. I believe that these articles are the result of a highly orchestrated smear campaign.

I want to directly address a particular false story by Sara Kabakov that is being used in an attempt not only to destroy my reputation, but now has become the basis for a wider organized campaign to destroy the reputations of peers and colleagues.

The series of articles and blogs I’m referring to, particularly ones published in Jewish press, cite the alleged “molestation of Sara Kabakov, starting at age 13, by her former Rabbi and spiritual guru, Marc Gafni.” They present this claim as if it were an established and self-evident truth. It is not.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The Bishop of Oxford has insisted he did act when a priest told him he was raped repeatedly as a teenager.

The Right Reverend Dr Steven Croft, who became Bishop of Oxford in September, was told of the allegation in 2012 by the priest, who has since retired.

Dr Croft said he followed up the allegations and those concerned were “properly supported”.

But the man said Dr Croft “did nothing” and “couldn’t get off the phone quick enough” when he told him.

“I would have thought he would have wanted it sorted out before he was enthroned [in Oxford] but he has persistently not engaged,” he said.

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VIRGINIA
WSET

BY ASHLEY ANN & KATIE BROOKE WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2ND 2016

CAMPBELL Co, Va. (WSET) — A former youth pastor is facing a minimum of five years behind bars. Wednesday, a jury found Major L. Hillman guilty of indecent liberties with a child and electronic solicitation of a minor.

The Commonwealth’s Attorney says this case is all about an abuse of trust. They say the then 14-year-old victim came to Hillman for counseling about a prior sexual assault.

The counseling sessions led to texting and then “Snapchatting” that quickly turned sexual. The jury saw several naked pictures Hillman sent to the eighth grade girl and she returned naked photos to him.

Hillman called the picture exchange a counseling technique – though he mentioned in his interview with police he knew the girl was underage and it was illegal.

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LOUISIANA
New Orleans Advocate

By James Gill
NOV 3, 2016

After the lawsuit was filed, a trial was scheduled for 2009, but it was called off while an army of attorneys haggled before the judges of four different courts.

We are still waiting for a trial date to set. Only a great deal of judicial bungling could cause such a delay. Indeed, the state Supreme Court, in a decision handed down last week, blamed itself for some of the “widespread confusion” that has left the case to yo-yo around the system for so long.

Surely it is only in complex cases that judges should have to cudgel their honorable brains for seven whole years before a trial can begin. The issue that has held up proceedings here could hardly be simpler. A layman, reading the plain words of the relevant statute, could have resolved it at the beginning. It takes years of legal training to get lost in so many blind alleys.
an’t legally be forced to reveal what’s heard in confessional, Louisiana Supreme Court rules

The suit was filed on behalf of Rebecca Mayeux, who alleged that in 2008, when she was 14, she had been sexually molested on several occasions by George Charlet, an elderly parishioner at her Catholic church in Clinton. Mayeux claimed she complained to her priest, Jeff Bayhi, during confession, but he had given her the brush-off. Bayhi was legally obliged to report Mayeux’s accusations to the civil authorities, according the lawsuit, which was filed after Charlet died.

Just before trial was due to begin before state judge Mike Caldwell, the archdiocese filed a motion to exclude any reference to what had been said in the confessional. Caldwell denied it on grounds that the priest/penitent privilege did not bar Mayeux from waiving her own right to secrecy. He noted, however, that, regardless of secular law, Bayhi would probably refuse to divulge what had been said at confession.

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SCOTLAND
Premier

Wed 02 Nov 2016
By Antony Bushfield

The Catholic Church in Scotland is being accused of ignoring safeguarding recommendations made by a commission in 2015.

Former Church of Scotland moderator Dr Andrew McLellan had carried out an investigation examining Safeguarding Protocols in the Catholic Church.

In an open letter to the Bishops’ Conference he warned the Church was “confirming the worst fears of survivors… by appearing to ignore” the findings of his commission.

The Catholic Church hit back saying “every recommendation will be implemented”.

Dr McLellan’s commission met with survivors of abuse. In the open letter he said: “When will we see action from the Catholic Bishops of Scotland in response to the Report?

“Not only do the Scottish public know nothing of the action taken in response to the Report, as far as we can tell from Catholic friends the members of the church themselves know nothing.

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SCOTLAND
Scottish Catholic Observer

[Implementation Plan of the Recommendations of The McLellan Commission]

The Scottish Church has strongly rejected claims they are being slow to implementing the McLellan Commission’s report into safeguarding children from abuse.

Rev Andrew McLellan (above left) – a former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland – chaired a two-year long commission into safeguarding procedures in the Catholic Church which concluded 15 months ago. The report made 49 key recommendations, designed to prevent abuse from happening in future.

Rev McLellan and six other members of the commission have now written to the Church claiming that action is not being taken, survivors are not being supported and independent scrutiny is not being introduced.

In response, the assistant general secretary of the Scottish Bishops’ Conference, Fr Thomas Boyle, insisted the Church’s commitment to carrying out the report’s recommendations ‘has not diminished in any way’ and ‘every recommendation will be implemented.’

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

FOR survivors of child abuse within the Catholic Church in Scotland, the McLellan Commission was a great sign of hope and potential change. Not only did the appointment of Dr Andrew McLellan, a former moderator of the Church of Scotland, appear to demonstrate that the Church was prepared to genuinely open itself to independent scrutiny, the hierarchy responded well to the final report. Archbishop Philip Tartaglia offered a profound apology to the victims and the Church said that change was coming.

However, more than a year on from the publication of the report, some of its authors appear to have lost faith in the process. In a letter to The Herald, Dr McLellan and six other members of the commission have suggested the Bishops appear to be ignoring their report. “A year ago the bishops might have used the opportunity of the publication of the report to introduce systemic reform,” says the letter. “Now they are in danger of confirming the worst fears of survivors and observers by appearing to ignore its recommendations.”

The letter also makes a number of specific allegations. One of the report’s recommendations was that the church would publish a timetable for action, to be followed by a progress report within 12 months, but the letter says that has not happened. Another key recommendation was that the church would put survivors first – again, the letter says that has not happened. And on the recommendation the church be transparent and open, the letter writers say they are disappointed: “As far as we can tell from Catholic friends the members of the church themselves know nothing.”

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Lorna Siggins

When PJ Haverty joined a candle-lit walk into Tuam, Co Galway on Wednesday night, he could only think of the distressed steps taken on the very same route by his late mother, Eileen.

“For 5½ years she was in and out of the town on foot to the mother and babies home, begging for me to be returned to her,” Mr Haverty said.

Mr Haverty was one of more than 300 participants in a vigil which began at the unofficial burial grounds for the former Bon Secours home on the Dublin Road and continued to Tuam Town Square.

The vigil, organised by artist Sadie Cramer and local historian Catherine Corless, is part of a series of community events recognising the legacy of the institution which housed unmarried mothers and their children from the 1920s to 1961.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Kate Evans

Catholic priest Father Frank Docherty was expelled from the Sydney Archdiocese in the 1960s for his activism against the Vietnam War and Apartheid South Africa.

After years in Canada, he returns to Sydney and finds himself confronting evidence of abuse within the church. It’s 1996 and the church is flexing its legal muscle.

As familiar as the scenario sounds, there is no Father Docherty. He is a central character in Tom Keneally’s new novel, Crimes of the Father. Nothing too equivocal about that title.

With the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse ongoing, the novel’s timing makes sense, culturally and historically. But why was it the right time for Keneally himself?

It began in 2002, when he was asked to write an article for The New Yorker. A “failed seminarian” and an ex-Catholic, he says the church as an institution still matters to him for its “combination of tribalism, mystery, [its] mytho-poetic corpus”.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

SCOTLAND’S Catholic bishops appear to be ignoring the findings of an independent report into historic child abuse within the church, a former Kirk Moderator has claimed.

Dr Andrew McLellan, chair of the commission which investigated Catholic abuse following a series of scandals, said the Church had failed to deliver on its promises of acting on his recommendations and claiming it was at risk of “confirming the worst fears of survivors and observers”.

In a letter co-signed by six other members of the commission, Dr McLellan makes a series of criticisms aimed at the Catholic hierarchy, including ignoring abuse survivors.

But the Church has refuted all allegations made by the Commission members, stating it had published its plans, including a public consultation on them, and was close to announcing the progress made since the report was released in August 2015.

It said Dr McLellan had last been in contact with the Church at the beginning of the year and would have provided a progress update had it been requested by the Commission members.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

3 November, 2016

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will hold a public hearing commencing in February 2017 into the current policies and procedures of each religious institution named below in relation to child protection and child-safe standards, including responding to allegations of child sexual abuse.

This hearing is expected to include consideration of factors that may have contributed to the occurrence of child sexual abuse in religious institutions and factors that may have affected the institutional response of religious institutions to child sexual abuse. This hearing may also examine the responses of named institutions to relevant case study report(s).

The Royal Commission invites submissions from individuals and organisations concerning the current policies and procedures in place and the response of the institution to the relevant case studies and case study reports.

The Royal Commission may invite selected individuals or organisations to speak to their submissions, however, it is not proposed that leave to appear will be granted.

Those institutions are:

* Catholic Church authorities in Australia;
* Anglican Church authorities in Australia;
* Yeshivah Melbourne and Yeshiva Bondi;
* Uniting Church in Australia;
* Jehovah’s Witnesses and Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia Ltd.

The identity of anyone who provides information will be protected and will be kept confidential.

Submissions should be made by 25 November 2016 in writing to GPO Box 5283, Sydney, NSW, 2001 or via email to solicitor@childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au. Submissions can be anonymous.
If individuals have participated in a private session and would like their session to be recognised as a formal, confidential submission, please contact the Royal Commission at solicitor@childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au.

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VIRGINIA
The News & Advance

Christopher Cole

Update: RUSTBURG — A Campbell County jury found a former youth pastor guilty Wednesday of electronic solicitation and indecent liberties with a child.

Jurors called for a total of six years in prison for Major Lance Hillman, 23, of Lynchburg, after convicting him on two felony counts in a day-long trial.

Prosecutors sought a maximum prison sentence of 40 years for Hillman, with Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Jason Todd calling him “predatory.”

It took the jury of eight women and four men about 45 minutes to return guilty verdicts on both counts.

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OKLAHOMA
Fox 23

by: Hector Mejia Updated: Nov 2, 2016

Witnesses took the stand on the final day of jury selection in the case against an accused child molester.

During opening arguments, prosecutors claimed that Timothy Cato, a Tulsa pastor and youth mentor, molested five children over the course of several years.

However, Cato’s defense claimed the state jumped to conclusions, arguing Cato’s innocence.

The first witness, the senior pastor at Liberty Church, testified Cato admitted to him he had molested at least one child after Tulsa police opened an investigation back in 2014.

He said Cato lived with boys during a Falls Creek church camp and confessed to molesting a child who had nothing to do with the church. Prosecutors also said Cato told police he’d molested one child

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Robert Mendick, chief reporter
2 NOVEMBER 2016

Dame Lowell Goddard quit as chairwoman of the national child sex abuse inquiry after panel members including the woman who succeeded her turned against her in an apparent power struggle.

Dame Lowell disclosed in a letter to MPs how she was forced into her sudden resignation in the summer after being confronted by colleagues she previously believed were loyal.

The account given by Dame Lowell of why she quit will put pressure on the new inquiry chairman Professor Jay – the fourth in two years- to explain her role in the resignation that plunged the £100 million inquiry into crisis.

Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, had previously told MPs that Dame Lowell had resigned because she was “homesick and lonely”.

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TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016

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

A gang rape has happened each of the last four years at Baylor University in Texas. On a new website, the school’s president pledges to be “more transparent” about sexual violence on campus. But we’re highly skeptical.

[Los Angeles Times]

[Wall Street Journal]

The very top of the website shows a defensive posting that criticizes one media outlet for its coverage of the Baylor scandal. That’s hardly “transparent” or encouraging. We suspect this new site is essentially the creation of the school’s public relations and legal defense teams, not a genuine effort to prevent sexual violence.

If President David E. Garland is genuinely interested in promoting openness about rape and sexual assault, he should promptly and publicly punish – or at least suspend – at least one school staffer who ignored or concealed sexual violence. That’s the quickest, clearest and most effective way to begin to reform a campus climate that has historically been secretive and unhealthy when it comes to the safety of students. Until he takes this simple step, his words will continue to ring hollow.

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

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IRELAND
Galway Bay FM

Galway Bay fm newsroom – Hundreds are expected to turn out for a special vigil in Tuam this evening to remember the residents of the Tuam mother and baby home.

The event is led by Corrandulla artist Sadie Cramer whose exhibition of memorabillia from the home will also open at Tuam Town Hall.

The vigil begins at the children’s graveyard at 7pm.

The procession will then make its way to the Square, retracing the steps of the children on the route they travelled to school.

A minute silence will also be observed as well as a short poetry recital.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

John O’Connor | Post News Staff

Attorney David Lujan expects four civil lawsuits to be filed next week in addition to the four that were filed on Nov. 1 by abuse victims Roland Sondia, Roy Quintanilla, Walter Denton and Leo Tudela. The lawsuits were filed against Archbishop Anthony Apuron, the Archdiocese of Agana and former Guam priest Rev. Louis Brouillard.

The lawsuits are part of at least a dozen suits expected to be filed over the next few weeks. The next four to be filed next week include a suit on behalf of the late Joseph “Sonny” Quinata and three victims who have not yet been named. Lujan said his clients were seeking monetary damages but they have not yet stated the amount.

“Until the case progresses then we’ll decide what it is that we’re asking for,” Lujan said.

Quintanilla, Denton, Sondia and Doris Concepcion – on behalf of Quinata, her son – are also plaintiffs in a separate libel and slander lawsuit against Apuron and the archdiocese. The four are seeking damages of $500,000 each in that suit and Lujan said the intention was to move forward with it.

The defendants in the libel and slander suit filed a motion to dismiss in September, but Lujan said he filed a motion in opposition on Oct. 20. A response from the defendants is expected on a Friday, either this week or next week, according to Lujan.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Andrew Bolt, Herald Sun
November 2, 2016

THE media last week missed the big story about Cardinal George Pell, target of the most vicious witch hunt. The case against Pell — that he covered up for paedophile priests — is falling to bits.

Last week the royal commission, which grilled Pell for many hours, surprisingly decided to publish the final submissions of its counsel assisting, Gail Furness. I heard Furness go for Pell as he sat in the witness box for four days in March. She treated him with contempt, it seemed to me. Her submissions are not findings — that’s up to the royal commissioners — but do represent Furness’s best case against Pell.

To which I say: is this all you’ve got? Is this all anyone can pin on the man who was branded “scum” in the Tim Minchin song played on high rotation by the ABC? Who was attacked in the media as a “liar”, “sociopath”, “coward” and “dangerous individual”?

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

Jenny Noyes

Ever since Cardinal George Pell went to Rome in 2014, Australians have been waiting to see him return to front the child sex abuse Royal Commission. But while he’s finally been back in the hot seat again this week (albeit via video link), the anticipation of justice hasn’t made his testimony any easier to listen to.

Not with lines like: “It was a sad story; it wasn’t of much interest to me,” in reference to his awareness of abuse perpetrated by notorious paedophile priest Gerard Ridsdale.

But one thing that has given succour to the audience of this depressing spectacle – whether of abuse victims and their families in the room with her, or those of us watching, listening and reading about it from home – was the job done by Gail Furness SC, the counsel assisting the commission and the hero-woman who won’t take evasion and shrugs for an answer.

Furness has grilled Pell fiercely over the past four days, though always calm; labelling his answers as “implausible” and “designed to deflect blame”.

Her approach has earned her a lot of fans and, this week, made her a household name. News Corp even described her as having “rock star status” – although there are no attention-seeking rock star stylings to be seen here.

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Nov. 2, 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)

We’re alarmed but not surprised that a convicted child molesting Catholic priest is back in a parish. We call on LA law enforcement officials to quickly but promptly investigate whether more charges can be brought against this cleric. And we call on Archbishop Jose Gomez to use church bulletins, parish websites, archdiocesan websites and pulpit announcements to warn his flock him and seek out others with information or suspicions about his crimes to call police.

[My News LA]

[Fox LA]

We understand Rodriguez has been defrocked and he’s in some parish that’s reportedly isn’t affiliated with the LA archdiocese. Neither of these facts, however, absolves Gomez and his colleagues of their moral and civic duty to protect the vulnerable from shrewd predators, especially one who has been recruited, educated, ordained, hired, trained, transferred and shielded by Gomez’ predecessors. If your institution protects a child rapist for decade, your obligate to safeguard others doesn’t end the minute you finally stop paying him.

Gomez should also work hard to help make sure every predator priest is prosecuted or put in remote, secure, independent treatment centers far away from the families they’ve duped and betrayed. He should do everything he possibly can to let the police, prosecutors, parents, parishioners and the public know who and where these dangerous men are. He should beg anyone who might be able to help law enforcement charge Rodriguez with more crimes to step forward immediately.

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

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AUSTRALIA
New South Wales Police Force

Thursday, 03 November 2016

Two former Salvation Army officers have been charged over historic child sex offences allegedly committed in the 1960s and 1970s.

Strike Force Lehmann, comprising officers from the State Crime Command’s Sex Crimes Squad, was established to investigate allegations of sexual abuse by former Salvation Army officers at two boys homes in Bexley and Goulburn.

The allegations were raised at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse.

Following extensive inquiries, Strike Force detectives arrested a 74-year-old man at a property in Waterloo about 7.30am yesterday (Wednesday 2 November 2016).

He was taken to Redfern Police Station where he was charged with 23 counts of indecent assault upon a male, two counts of buggery, and procure indecent act with male.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

November 3, 2016

TESSA AKERMAN
ReporterMelbourne
@TessaAkerman

The Archdiocese of Melbourne has flatly rejected Cardinal ­George Pell’s key evidence to the child sex abuse royal commission that he was purposely deceived by the Catholic Education Office over pedophile priest Peter Searson.

The issue of his handling of Searson has dogged Cardinal Pell, with counsel assisting the royal commission recommending this week that Cardinal Pell’s evidence be rejected.

Searson was the parish priest of Doveton between 1984 and 1997 when he was placed on administrative leave by then archbishop Pell but in 1989 the cardinal played a key role in dealing with serious complaints against Searson.

Searson died in 2009 and was never charged with any offences in relation to sexual abuse of children, but there had been complaints he had sexually abused children, took a handgun to school and showed children a body in a coffin.

When Cardinal Pell gave evidence in March from Rome to the commission he said it was an ­“incorrect assumption” that he was told what the education office knew when he received a delegation from it in November 1989 and agreed it had deceived him.

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UNITED STATES
Irish Times

Dave Hannigan

Six years after taking over at Baylor University, Art Briles was earning $5 million a season, the inflated salary reflecting how he had transformed the Texan college into a national powerhouse and become one of the most coveted coaches in gridiron.

During that time, 19 of the players who made his reputation on the field were accused of sexually assaulting female students off it, including four cases of gang rape. In at least one of those instances, Briles received a full report about the incident but chose not to go to the police. Welcome to the corner of the sporting world where the moral compass points only towards the scoreboard.

After a Philadelphia law firm delivered a report into the litany of allegations surrounding the team back in May, Briles addressed the college’s board of regents about the scandal. At one point, as he struggled to explain how such a culture of rampant sexual violence was allowed to flourish in his locker room, he burst into tears.

Bizarrely, the sight of him crying caused some of those on the other side of the table, his supposed higher-ups, to well up too. Then, he quoted scripture, always a canny move in a college founded by the Texas Baptist Education Society in 1844, and a place that prides itself on remaining devoutly Christian in its ethos.

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PENNSYLVANIA
GoErie

If effective governing is ever to return to Pennsylvania, it will be thanks to reasonable, broad-minded legislators who are smart, independent and focused on the good of their constituents and the commonwealth, not rigid ideology or special interests.

That candidate in the 3rd Legislative District is Democratic incumbent Ryan Bizzarro of Millcreek Township …

A principled, independent streak is also seen in his courageous support for legislation that would extend the statute of limitations for victims of sex abuse by clergy and others to sue private institutions that employed the abusers.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Parliament

Letter from Hon Dame Lowell Goddard QC to Yvette Cooper MP, Chair of the Committee, 28 October 2016

May I first congratulate you on your election as Chair. During my time as Chair of the IICSA, and since, I have had a close experience of the work of the Committee and the important role that it plays in the British Parliamentary structure.

I am today writing separately with my further response to the matters raised in the letters from Mr Loughton MP as Acting Chair.

I made the decision to resign as IICSA chair because I judged that to be necessary in order to protect the Inquiry and its work, and so that the problems I encountered might be overcome. I came to this sad conclusion when I found that, despite my best efforts, I could not achieve what was needed in the Inquiry’s best interests.

In resigning, I put the interests of the victims and their families (and also the wrongly accused) first.

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