ABUSE TRACKER

GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Father Mike Crisostomo said he would be meeting with Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai soon to propose the moratorium.

Guam – At least one priest is proposing a moratorium on the Neocatechumenal movement in the wake of eye-opening details of a report on the Redemptoris Mater Seminary.

Father Mike Crisostomo suggested this on Mornings with Patti on News Talk K57 and says he will make this request with Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai when he meets with him next.

The report details and confirms some of the suspicions many catholics on Guam have had for years, that the education does not follow accreditation standards, the value of the seminary is questionable, there is no credible verification process for the acceptance of seminarians, and, the report concludes, that closure of the seminary is warranted.

“I think now that this has all been revealed and exposed, I think one of the suggestions that I’m proposing is that we evaluate the neocatechumenal movement and what that means is that we ask Archbishop Hon or that there be some kind of moratorium or some kind of evaluation done. And then no further catechesis will be implemented until we actually can understand more the impact of how this movement has been in the archdiocese and is it going to be beneficial to the archdiocese and to the faithful,” said Father Crisostomo.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Dr. Ricardo Eusebio also sits on the board of directors for the Redemptoris Mater Seminary.

Guam – Redemptoris Mater Seminary Board of Directors member Dr. Ricardo Eusebio says he does not trust the ad hoc committee report on the RMS issued by Father Jeff San Nicolas yesterday. Dr. Eusebio says the report was prepared by a committee that is biased.

Dr. Ricardo Eusebio is a surgeon, a member of the neocatechumenal way, a member of the group I Familian Mangatoliku Siha Para Si Apuron or Catholic Families for Apuron and a board member of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary.

We met with him today to get his reaction to Father Jeff San Nicolas’ statement yesterday in which Father San Nicolas connected for the first time Archbishop Anthony Apuron to the neocatechumenal way. Dr. Eusebio says he has no response for such allegations from Father San Nicolas. But he does have a few words to say about an ad hoc committee report Father San Nicolas released to the media yesterday despite orders from his superiors not to do so.

The report is on the RMS and is 141 pages long. It confirms some of the suspicions many have had about the Yona seminary’s practices and its strict ties to the neocatechumenal way.

“I don’t think the people in that committee have in their best interest the Redemptoris Mater Seminary. I think their interest is to close the seminary and I think their interest is to make the seminary look bad. So why would I listen to a report in which the members forming an opinion in the report are biased?”

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Sun-Times

Jordan Owen
@byjordanowen | email

A Southwest Side priest who was charged with possessing child pornography last year has been arrested in Maryland.

Octavio Munoz, 40, was charged with one felony count of child pornography/photograph, according to Chicago Police.

He is the former director of Casa Jesus, a vocational program of the Chicago Archdiocese intended to reach out to the city’s Hispanic population.

An investigation found he was in possession of child pornography about 9 a.m. July 1, 2015, at his home in the 4000 block of South Sacramento, police said.

He was arrested Sept. 20 in Rockville, Maryland, and extradited to Chicago, police said.

Munoz appeared in court Wednesday afternoon in Chicago, where his bond was set at $50,000.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio, Pacific Daily News September 21, 2016

Dr. Ricardo B. Eusebio, president of I Familian Mangatoliku Siha Pari Si Apuron or Catholic Families for Apuron, on Wednesday said the Neocatechumenal Way should not be blamed for everything that is going wrong with the local church.

The Rev. Jeff San Nicolas, during a press conference Tuesday arranged by the Archdiocese of Agana, said leaders of the Neocatechumenal Way, locally and internationally, have been interfering with the Guam church, to the detriment of other Catholics.

The Neocatechumenal Way is a movement within the Catholic church whose practices sometimes are at odds with those of Guam’s traditional Catholic community. Apuron, who belongs to the group, has been placed by the Vatican on temporary leave over sex abuse allegations.

“I think the Neocatechumenal Way has been made to be the boogeyman. Everything that you don’t like is a fault of the Neocatechumenal Way,” Eusebio said. “The advances, the reputation of the Neocatechumenal Way, has been harmed significantly because of this.”

Eusebio, who has been a member of the group on Guam for 19 years, said the Neocatechumenal Way has more than 700 members on Guam. At least nine of the Catholic parishes on the island have members of the Neocatechumenal Way in them, he said.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLIve

By John Beauge | Special to PennLive
on September 21, 2016

MONTANDON — The pastor of Montandon Baptist Church in Northumberland County has been accused of possessing and distributing child pornography.

Thomas M. Marker, 58, of the Montandon area, was arrested Tuesday by state police and jailed in lieu of $100,000 bail.

He is charged with nine counts of sexual abuse of children by disseminating child pornography and 10 counts of the same charge for possessing child pornography.

He also is charged with one count of criminal use of a communication device that alleges he distributed child pornography through his Internet account.

The charges stem from a search warrant executed Tuesday at Marker’s home in West Chillisquaque Twp. that police said had been identified as an address where child pornography had been uploaded.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

Deanese Williams-Harris
Chicago Tribune

Charges have been filed against a Chicago priest who was removed from the ministry in July after child pornography was allegedly found on his computer.

Octavio Munoz, 40, of the 4000 block of South Sacramento Avenue, was arrested Sept. 20 in Maryland and charged with possession of child pornography, according to police.

He was extradited back to Chicago for a bond hearing Wednesday afternoon.

Munoz was removed as pastor of St. Pancratius Church on the Southwest Side after the material was found on a computer in his possession, officials said.

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GUATEMALA
Jewish Voice

Written by David Avrushmi – Created: 21 September 2016

After fleeing Israel, the United States and Canada, a Chassidic sect known as Lev Tahor is now facing a government crackdown in their new found home of Guatemala City.

Agents representing the central American country’s prosecution service paid an unexpected visit to the Lev Tahor compound last week and extricated several children on the grounds that they were both physically and mentally abused, according to reports that could not be confirmed.

It has been reported that Guidy Mamann, the attorney representing the ultra-Orthodox sect had traveled to Guatemala on Wednesday to handle the latest legal entanglement.

The Lev Tahor sect of Chassidim was founded approximately 36 years by Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans, considered by many to be a dissident rabbinical figure. He had initially led his acolytes while they were based in Israel. Due to a series of controversies that dogged the group, Helbrans and his followers left for the United States. But trouble seemed to follow Lev Tahor and from there they sojourned to Canada where charges were leveled against them of child abuse and neglect. In search of a country that would not shine a spotlight on their unorthodox practices, Lev Tahor eventually chose Guatemala as a place of settlement.

Representatives of child welfare agencies along with erstwhile sect members in both the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec have made allegations that Lev Tahor encourages child marriage. Moreover, the group has been alleged to have maintained inadequate health and hygiene standards within their compound. The group vehemently denies the charges.

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ILLINOIS
NBC Chicago

By Mary Ann Ahern

The priest who once led a prominent vocational program for Latino men interested in the priesthood has been arrested on child pornography charges, NBC 5 has learned.

Father Octavio Munoz, of Casa Jesus, will appear in bond court at noon in Chicago.

It has taken more than a year to finalize the charges against 40-year-old Munoz, who was removed from ministry in August of 2015. At that time he was pastor of St. Pancratius Church in Brighton Park, only serving there for a few months. Before that assignment, for 7 years Munoz was the rector of Casa Jesus, an Archdiocese program for young Hispanic men considering the priesthood. Munoz, who was currently living in Maryland, was brought back to Chicago to face charges.

Over the years, Munoz traveled to Latin America at the Archdiocese’s expense to invite young men to apply to Casa Jesus. But in 2015, he was transferred and sent to rehab, according to multiple sources, after pornography was allegedly discovered on his computer.

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VATICAN CITY
Bollettino

The Holy Father has appointed: …

– Bishop David P. Talley, auxiliary of Atlanta, United States of America, as coadjutor of Alexandria (area 27,810, population 383,421, Catholics 36,669, priests 74, permanent deacons 18, religious 40), United States of America.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Los Angeles Times

Molly Hennessy-Fiske

Each morning when he wakes and walks to his shower, Mark Rozzi is reminded of a priest from his childhood, and the nightmare that unfolded in the rectory back in 1983.

He was a 13-year-old student and altar boy at Holy Guardian Angels Catholic Church and school in his hometown of Reading, about 65 miles north of Philadelphia, when he was raped in the shower by the Rev. Edward Graff.

Rozzi said he managed to get away and told his parents, who complained to the principal, but Graff was never prosecuted. Instead, like so many other priests accused of abuse, he was transferred to other churches, Rozzi said. Eventually, the priest was arrested in Texas and died while in custody before trial.

Rozzi later discovered that several of his friends had been abused by Graff as well; one struggled for years with mental illness and unemployment until he committed suicide this year, on Good Friday.

“I have seen my friends kill themselves, my friends become alcoholics and drug addicts, and then the church make a mockery of us,” he said.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Sep 21, 2016

By Krystal Paco

A longtime member of the Neocatechumenal Way is speaking-out following allegations made by Father Jeff San Nicolas at a press conference on Tuesday. Father Jeff believes the NCW is pushing their agenda and interests, to the detriment of other Catholics.

Forget what you’ve heard. “Come listen,” encouraged Dr. Ricardo Eusebio. He’s been a member of the Neocatechumenal Way for nearly two decades and also serves as a member of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary’s board of directors. He refers to “The Way” as a crutch or a cane he uses to be more like Christ, but what outsiders have unfairly portrayed as a character from nightmares.

He told KUAM News, “I think the Neocatechumenal Way has been made out to be the Boogeyman. Everything that you don’t like is the fault of the Neocatechumenal Way, everything that is bad is the Neocatehcumenal Way. So much so that the advances that the reputation of the Neocatechumenal Way has been harmed because of this.”

On Tuesday, Father Jeff, the delegate to the administrator, spoke out about the NCW, alleging the group continues to push their agenda and interests to the detriment of other Catholics. Similar findings are evidenced in a 141-page report released on Tuesday by the visitation ad hoc committee who recently visited the Redemptoris Mater Seminary.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Sep 21, 2016

By Krystal Paco

A petition circulated by the Archdiocese of Agana to veto Bill 326 is officially in the hands of the governor. According to a release from the church, the petition contained over 4,500 signatures that were collected in the last four days.

Bill 326 passed on session floor earlier this month. The legislation lifts the civil statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases, which the church predicts could result in bankruptcy and put an end to other church community services as well as force closure of Catholic schools.

Governor Eddie Calvo has until Friday to take action.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Sep 21, 2016

By Krystal Paco

One member of the Archdiocese of Agana’s Presbyteral Council is going to propose placing a moratorium on the Neocatechumenal Way. In a phone interview with KUAM News, Father Mike Crisostomo of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Toto says the council may meet on Thursday, following the return of apostolic administrator Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai to Guam.

Pale Mike cites other dioceses, such as in the Philippines and in Japan, where they placed temporary prohibitions of Neocatechumenal Way activity for similar reasons.

“This is no way to say that we want the Neo or to destroy it or whatever,” the priest explained. “This is just to really access – what can we do to maybe strengthen and maybe help our church? How is it we can help? This has been something at the center of our church, and I thought this something that needed to happen.”

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ALABAMA
Montgomery Advertiser

Marty Roney, Montgomery Advertiser September 20, 2016

WETUMPKA – News that a former pastor with a Wetumpka connection has been charged in a Florida child sex sting has shocked this close-knit community.

David Donald Hoppenjan, 52, was among 22 men recently arrested in a sting dubbed “Operation Undertow” according to the Pensacola Police Department. At the time of his arrest, Hoppenjan was a pastor at First United Methodist Church in Pace, Fla. He is no longer a United Methodist pastor, according to the Alabama-West Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church.

According to media reports, Hoppenjan is a former youth minister at First United Methodist Church in Wetumpka. The district would not comment of any of Hoppenjan’s previous positions or the years that he served.

“I was shocked, you could have knocked me over with a feather when I heard about it,” said District Attorney Randall Houston, who attends First United Methodist Church in Wetumpka. “I remember I was sad when he left us, because he did such a good job. But it didn’t surprise me when he left and went on to bigger things, because he was such a good communicator.”

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Sep 21, 2016

By Krystal Paco

Apostolic administrator Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai is anticipated to make his return to the island on Thursday. As we’ve been reporting, Guam’s interim archbishop was appointed to Guam in June while Archbishop Anthony Apuron was placed on leave amid allegations of child sex abuse.

Earlier this month, Hon traveled to Rome where he reports he’s been urging the Holy See to remove Apuron as the bishop of Guam and to appoint a successor. The trip follows a previous attempt to remove Apuron.

According to Hon, the Presbyteral Council wrote to Apuron asking him to step down. That letter was sent in July and was unsuccessful.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Reading Eagle

By Liam Migdail-Smith

PHILADELPHIA – National advocates for victims of child sexual abuse don’t find it a coincidence that Pennsylvania has been home to some of the most notorious abuse scandals.

The state’s time limits for victims to pursue lawsuits or criminal charges, known as statutes of limitation, are on the more-restrictive side. And that signals to pedophiles that it’s a safe place to abuse kids, advocates for victims said.

“For pedophiles, we know this is the most important thing in their lives and they use the statute of limitations as a shield,” said Jeff Dion, an abuse survivor and director of the National Crime Victim Bar Association. “They know they don’t have to keep victims quiet forever. They know they just need to keep victims quiet long enough to run out the clock.”

The comments came during a press conference advocates gave while at the Philadelphia Sheraton Tuesday for the National Center for Victims of Crime’s annual conference.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review

Editorial

An expanding state grand jury investigation into sexual abuse by priests in dioceses throughout Pennsylvania is an encouraging step toward bringing closure to the horrific scandals that have rocked the Roman Catholic Church for years.

There’s new hope in the cooperation by all involved: law enforcement, legislators and the church, which after decades of sheltering abusers now appears to be on board in the clarion call for justice.

But state legislators, refusing to extend the statute of limitations on such crimes, are failing that mission. Experts say the ever-brighter light of the grand jury probe could be the pressure needed to bring them into the fold. “The more there is public information about the abuse in a valued institution, the more likely it is that the Legislature will actually do something to protect our children,” Marci Hamilton, CEO of Child USA, told the Tribune-Review.

A bill that passed the state House 185-14 before dying in the Senate focused on extending the statute of limitations for civil and criminal actions by clergy. It should be resurrected and passed — with amendments that extend the action to all child abuse cases.

Helping these victims should not be predicated on the place — be it a church, school or day care center — where the abuse took place. The time is ripe for action — and justice — on behalf all victims of sexual abuse.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Premier

Wed 21 Sep 2016
By Alex Williams

A Surrey man abused during childhood by his Catholic school house master is donating £30,000 awarded to him in compensation to pay the school fees of 50 children at an orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya.

The survivor, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was one of ten victims targeted by convicted paedophile David Lowe at schools in London and Yorkshire between 1978 and 1984.

His lawyer, Tracey Emmot of Emmot Snell in Bedford, said: “It’s that sense of justice and making something good come out of all this which has driven my client who has made the donation to the orphanage.

“From all the bad things that happened to him as a child, he can use the money to make a difference to other children’s lives.”

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COLORADO
Denver Post

By JESSE PAUL | jpaul@denverpost.com
PUBLISHED: September 19, 2016

A former assistant pastor at a Thornton church has been arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a child congregant, prosecutors announced Monday.

Robert Duane Wyatt, 50, of Agape Bible Church, is accused of sexual assault on a child, sexual assault on a child as a pattern of conduct and sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust.

The Adams County District Attorney’s Office say Wyatt sexually assaulted a girl, who is now 14 years old, whose family attended the church at 8761 Huron St.

“The girl reported that the conduct had been going on for nearly two years, beginning when she was 12,” the office said in a news release.

Wyatt surrendered to authorities on Monday afternoon and was being held in lieu of $20,000 bail.

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OKLAHOMA
Lawton Constitution

Scott Rains

A 72-year-old longtime assistant Duncan pastor and former teacher and principal in Elgin and Ninnekah is set for arraignment on child sexual abuse charges in October.

The Stephens County District Court set 9 a.m. Oct. 13 as the time and date for the arraignment of Jody Hilliard, 72, who is charged with two felony counts of lewd or indecent acts to a child, court records indicate. Each count is punishable by no less than 25 years in prison and falls under the 85 percent rule. He would have to serve a little more than 20 years before being eligible for parole, if convicted.

Hilliard was charged with the crimes in April. He is accused of repeatedly sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl who had been in his care in the summer of 2015.

Duncan police began investigating Hilliard on March 11 after a detective completed a report on behalf of the Missouri Department of Social Services following a review of the girl’s statement and an interview with a case worker.

An incident report from the Cole County, Mo., Sheriff’s Office had been provided to Duncan police. The girl told investigators that she’d stayed with Hilliard in June 2015 and while there, he “did a number of things that she knew he should not do,” according to the probable cause affidavit, including touching her “butt,” crotch and breasts a number of times and that he also forced her to touch his naked penis. She later told a detective that Hilliard also used his tongue on her while in his art studio in the back of the house.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
Wednesday 21 September 2016

A senior figure in the Catholic Church has been interviewed by police over whether he and others failed to report paedophile ex-priest John Farrell to authorities, the child sex abuse royal commission has heard.

Former vicar general of Sydney John Usher told the commission he gave a statement to officers from Strike Force Glenroe in May.

“They told me that the department of police prosecutions, the DPP, had asked them to investigate this Farrell matter,” Usher, 75, told the commission on Wednesday.

Usher’s police statement said he did not recall Farrell making any direct admission to committing sexual offences on children during a 1992 meeting with himself and two other priests.

“If he had done so, I would have reported the matters to the appropriate authorities,” the statement said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Nicole Chettle

It was the practice of some clergy not to ask questions when it came to the issue of child molestation, a senior Catholic official has told the royal commission into child sexual abuse.

The Sydney hearing is examining how the dioceses at Armidale in northern New South Wales and Parramatta in Sydney’s west responded to allegations made against Father John Farrell.

Appearing at the hearing, Monsignor John Usher, who spent 20 years as director of the Catholic welfare agency Centacare, said he interviewed Farrell for an hour in 1990 and found his ongoing need to spend time with children was a grave concern.

Father John Farrell ‘should not have been a priest’

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CALIFORNIA
Record

By Almendra Carpizo
Record Staff Writer

Posted Sep. 20, 2016

STOCKTON — The Diocese of Stockton on Tuesday announced a plan that could result in its exit out of bankruptcy more than two years after legal costs stemming from dozens of child sexual-abuse lawsuits depleted its funds.

Bishop Stephen E. Blaire said the diocese, which filed for bankruptcy in January 2014, negotiated with all the parties involved to reach a consensual plan, which includes:

$15 million to survivors of sexual abuse and a trust for the benefit of survivors.

Payment of at least 50 percent of what is owed to unsecured creditors.

Restructuring of unsecured loans.

Funding from the plan will come from the Diocese of Stockton, settling insurance carriers and other entities associated with the diocese.

The $15 million settlement agreed upon by the diocese, the plaintiffs’ attorneys and insurance companies is to “provide for the healing of the survivors,” Blaire said during a news conference. The diocese is responsible for $9.89 million of the total amount.

The Bishop said the plan, if accepted, will allow the diocese to exit bankruptcy by the end of the year and continue operating.

Blaire said the plan will settle the cases of 27 victims who came forward during the period of bankruptcy, but $750,000 out of the $15 million will be set aside for any future plaintiffs who did not come forward in that time frame.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WFMZ

PHILADELPHIA – A Berks County lawmaker said Tuesday that victims of clergy abuse should be able to seek justice at any age. Pennsylvania Rep. Mark Rozzi, a victim of child sexual abuse by a priest, joined several other victims and child abuse experts at a conference of the National Center for Victims of Crime in Philadelphia.

Rozzi has been making headlines as of late after talking about his own experience. He revealed to 69 News last week that he was called to testify before a grand jury about clergy abuse within the Diocese of Allentown, which includes the five-county region of Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton and Schuylkill.

The Pennsylvania dioceses of Greensburg, Erie, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton are also part of the state probe. Rozzi is pushing for Pennsylvania legislators to pass a bill that changes the statute of limitations.

“The statute of limitations hurts no one but victims, and it helps no one but perpetrators, and I think it’s no coincidence that we look at states that have the biggest scandals. They’re the ones with the most restrictive statutes of limitations,” said Jeff Dion, director of the National Crime Victim Bar Association.

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PENNSYLVANIA
York Daily Record

Brandie Kessler, bkessler@ydr.com September 20, 2016

Days after confirming a statewide grand jury investigation into six Catholic dioceses, including Harrisburg, State Rep. Mark Rozzi stood with survivors of clergy sex abuse in Philadelphia to issue a call to action.

Rozzi and others spoke in support of statute of limitations reform that includes a retroactive provision to allow adults who were victims of childhood sexual abuse to seek justice. Rozzi said a retroactive provision that was included in House Bill 1947, which would reform the statute of limitations for civil action in Pennsylvania, was “gutted” by the Senate during the last legislative session.

Rozzi said he hopes to reintroduce the legislation with the retroactive provision during the next legislative session.

Here are three takeaways from the news conference Tuesday:

SOL ‘as a shield’

It’s no coincidence that states with the most restrictive statute of limitations laws have the biggest scandals, said Jeff Dion, an abuse survivor and the director of the National Crime Victim Bar Association.

Perpetrators know what the laws are, he said, and “they use the statutes of limitations as a shield. They know that they don’t have to keep victims quiet forever, they just have to keep them quiet long enough to run out the clock.”

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CALIFORNIA
CBS Sacramento

STOCKTON (CBS13) – The Diocese of Stockton could pay out a total of $15 million to more than two dozen victims who claim they were sexually abused by priests in the diocese.

Bishop Stephen Blaire announced Tuesday the diocese filed a reorganization plan with the bankruptcy court as part of the proposed settlement.

CBS13 spoke to one of the first abuse victims who came forward almost 40 years ago who says the diocese should have taken action sooner.

“It’s a lifetime battle,” said Nancy Sloan, one of the victims who was abused by the now-defrocked priest Oliver O’Grady.

Sloan was one of the first victims to come forward and report being abused in the in 1970s.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | Post News Staff

In an emotionally wrought address to media, lay organizations and members of the clergy, Rev. Jeff San Nicolas read from a statement in which he reiterated the archdiocese’s opposition to the passage of Bill 326-33.

“The Archdiocese of Agana is not seeking to protect child sexual abusers of any kind, it simply desires for the people of God to be well informed about the true effects of Bill 326-33,” he said.

Bill 326-33 would remove the statute of limitations on civil lawsuits involving accusations of child sex abuse. The bill passed with an unanimous vote by the legislature and is now awaiting the governor’s signature by Friday. If the governor does not either sign or veto the bill by then, it would lapse into law.

Speaker Judi Won Pat said in comments released to the Post that all bills vetoed by the governor would be placed on the session agenda scheduled for Oct. 17 and that in the event of an override vote, she would vote in favor of its passing.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philly.com

by Maria Panaritis, STAFF WRITER

With the fate of a child sex-abuse bill on the line in Harrisburg, clergy sex-abuse victims and their relatives told their stories Tuesday as part of a renewed push to change Pennsylvania law so victims can sue for decades-old attacks.

A bill that passed the House in April would have, among other things, expanded the statute of limitations so victims age 50 and under could sue the men or women who abused them decades ago, as well as the institutions that supervised them.

Citing concerns about its constitutionality and after critics, notably the Catholic Church, warned the measure could unfairly cripple some parishes, the Senate removed that provision.

It left intact provisions to eliminate the criminal statute of limitations for such acts and to apply the expanded civil statute of limitations to all future victims. The bill still needs full approval by the House and Senate.

Rep. Mark Rozzi (D., Berks) a key proponent of the original law and organizer of Tuesday’s gathering, said he was not sure he would support what’s left of the measure.

With only a few weeks left in the current legislative session, Rozzi said he and House leaders were considering pushing to amend the Senate’s version of the bill but also were weighing whether to just wait and revive the fight for retroactive lawsuits after a new legislature arrives January.

Rozzi noted the revelations last week that the Attorney General’s office has expanded its criminal probe of clergy sex abuse to include six of Pennsylvania’s eight Catholic dioceses. He also cited the arrest of an Allentown area priest last week on child pornography charges.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PhillyVoice

BY JOHN KOPP
PhillyVoice Staff

Joe Crowley says he knew nothing about statutes of limitation when he first described the sexual abuse he suffered to a Boston Globe reporter investigating clerical abuse in Massachusetts.

Simply gaining the courage to share his story publicly had taken years. Eventually, Crowley faced his abuser in court. But there are some sexual abuse victims in Pennsylvania who might never get that opportunity unless changes are made to the statute of limitations.

“I knew that they knew and did nothing,” Crowley said of the Catholic Church. “That was one of the most healing things. It just changed my perspective. The last time I ever saw my perpetrator — he was in shackles.”

Crowley is one of several abuse victims portrayed in the movie “Spotlight,” which detailed the Boston Globe’s efforts in bringing the Catholic abuse scandal to light. He and two others depicted in “Spotlight” joined state Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks, in Philadelphia on Tuesday to trumpet legislation that would enable generations of sexual abuse victims to seek justice in Pennsylvania civil courts.

House Bill 1947 would eliminate the criminal statute of limitations on future child sex abuse crimes. But it also would retroactively extend civil statutes, allowing victims until their 50th birthday to pursue legal action. Victims currently must do so before turning 30 years old.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times

By Kathleen E. Carey, Delaware County Daily Times
POSTED: 09/20/16

PHILADELPHIA >> Surrounded by those integral to the clergy sex abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Boston, advocates of statute of limitation reform here in Pennsylvania pleaded their cause Tuesday during a press conference

“The statute of limitations hurts no one but victims and it helps no one but perpetrators,” said Jeff Dion, director of the National Crime Victim Bar Association, during the press conference at the Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown Hotel.

He stood next to state Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-126, of Berks County, Massachusetts victims Phil Saviano and Joe Crowley, and attorney Roderick “Eric” MacLeish as he voiced his support for the expansion of the statute of limitations, or the time a victim can bring a claim against a defendant, here in Pennsylvania. The saga of the scandal in the Boston Archdiocese formed the backdrop for the movie “Spotlight,” which won this year’s Best Picture at the Academy Awards detailing the work of the Boston Globe investigative unit that blew the lid off years af abuse and a cover-up by the church hierarchy.

As the General Assembly begins its fall session, one of the things that may be considered is HB 1947, a state law repealing the statute of criminal limitations for childhood sex abuse. It also contained a controversial provision sponsored by Rozzi to extend the civil statute of limitations by 20 years – and also make it retroactive, in effect allowing victims from decades ago to be able to bring suit against their abusers now. The measure was overwhelmingly approved in the Pa House earlier this year, before stalling in the Senate.

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KENTUCKY
WKMS

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS & ROB CANNING

The Catholic Diocese of Owensboro has reinstated a priest who was suspended after being accused of sexually abusing a juvenile in the 1980s.

The Diocesan Review Board reviewed the complaint against the Reverend Freddie Byrd and decided there was not enough information to substantiate the allegation. Byrd was reinstated last week to active ministry at St. Ann Church in Union County after being suspended in June.

A complaint to the diocese accused Byrd of engaging in inappropriate conduct with a 17-year-old in 1983, at a time when Byrd was not yet a priest. The diocese alerted law enforcement, Kentucky State Police spokesman Corey King says authorities did not conduct an investigation.

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MEXICO
Urgente24

Desde que Jorge Omar Bergoglio asumió su pontificado como papa Francisco hizo uno de sus banderas la condena de la pedofilia que tanto ha manchado a la Iglesia Católica Apostólica Romana. Pero la condena no debe limitarse a las palabras sino que sería conveniente acompañarla con hechos. No ayuda al Obispo de Roma lo que está sucediendo en Oaxaca, México.

El sacerdote José Ataulfo García fue absuelto de cualquier delito por la Arquidiócesis Primada de México tras confesar haber abusado sexualmente de decenas de niñas en la comunidad indígena de Oaxaca, según informa la plataforma ‘Anonymous’ de México. Al delito de abuso y violación de unas 30 niñas de entre 5 y 10 años, admitido por el propio clérigo, se suma el hecho de que García es portador de HIV.

Ni el Estado de México ni ninguna organización defensora de los derechos de la niñez se ha pronunciado sobre esta absolución, probablemente debido al respeto que la Iglesia Católica inspira en las zonas indígenas. Además, esta institución religiosa cuenta con una gran influencia en las instituciones mexicanas: de la gran cantidad de víctimas, solo 2 se atrevieron a denunciar oficialmente.

El sitio de internet Anonymous.mx citó a la revista “Hablemos de México” como fuente de la denuncia original, en julio, en respuesta a que la madre de una de las víctimas pidió reunirse con el papa Francisco; sin embargo, con escrito desde Roma se dio a conocer el dictamen del caso.

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MEXICO
Daily Mail (UK)

By ARIEL ZILBER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

The Catholic Church has acquitted an HIV-infected priest who has admitted to raping close to 30 young girls between the ages of five and 10 years old.

According to a bombshell report, which appeared in the Spanish-language news site Urgente24.com, the priest, Jose Garcia Ataulfo, was absolved of any wrongdoing by the Archdiocese of Mexico.

Ataulfo has admitted to sexually assaulting indigenous young girls from Oaxaca, a state in southern Mexico known for its large indigenous population.

The priest has yet to face any criminal charges, most likely due to the significant influence that the Catholic Church wields in Mexico, particularly in areas populated by indigenous ethnic groups.

According to Urgente24.com, only two of the over two dozen rape victims have come forward to denounce the acquittal.

The website Anonymous Mexico reported that the mother of one of the victims asked to meet with Pope Francis in Rome, but she was rebuffed by the Vatican which wrote a letter stating that it considered the matter closed.

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ISRAEL
Jerusalem Post

In the national-religious sector, as in any other closed, faith-based community, scandal – particularly sexual scandal – is often dealt with in accordance with a warped and ultimately self-destructive dynamic.

Community leaders expend much energy maintaining secrecy and protecting reputations. Victims of sexual harassment are not only denied justice, they are often placed under extraordinary social pressure to discourage them from filing police charges – particularly when the suspected sexual offender happens to be a high-profile community leader.

Matters are often settled behind closed doors because the victim has been intimidated into remaining quiet or because the wider community wishes to prevent the publication of a scandal that might besmirch the entire national-religious sector.

The Takana Forum was created within the religious-Zionist community to combat this self-destructive pattern.

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PENNSYLVANIA
York Daily Record

In an August editorial about a list of 15 priests accused of sexual abuse who had served in the Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, we wondered whether that list represented “just the steeple of a massive cathedral of corruption and exploitation.”

That, sadly, is what was found in the Altoona-Johnstown when the state attorney general’s office conducted an investigation.

Do we have a similar situation in our region?

It’s impossible to say from the outside.

And the Harrisburg Diocese has not been transparent or forthcoming.

Diocese officials grudgingly confirmed the names of 15 priests accused of sexual abuse who had served in this region in response to YDR’s inquiries.

But we knew from previous news reports that 24 accused priests had served in the diocese.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

September 20, 2016

DAN BOX
Crime reporterSydney
@DanBox10

A pedophile Catholic priest allegedly told senior church officials “the full story” of his offending but this was not reported to the police, a royal commission has heard.

The priest, John Farrell, is alleged to have admitted to sexually abusing five boys during the early 1980s while he worked in the northern NSW parish of Armidale, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse has heard.

Two clerics who met with Farrell to discuss his crimes, Brian Lucas and John Usher, have since said publicly that Farrell made no specific admissions during their 1992 meeting, the commission heard.

Father Lucas is now the Australian director of Catholic Mission, while Father Usher recently stepped down as chancellor of the Archdiocese of Sydney.

Letters detailing a second and third meeting between the priests that year allege “John Usher stated that it was understood only John Farrell, Brian Lucas, John Usher, Wayne Peters and Bishop Manning knew the full extent of the story at this stage,” the commission heard today.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | Post News Staff

A new organization purporting to support Archbishop Anthony Apuron has been established and is making itself known.

The group, “I Familan Mangatoliku Siha Pari Si Apuron,” or “Catholic Families for Apuron,” was formed by Catholics who support Apuron and maintain his innocence until otherwise determined by a court of law.

Dr. Ricardo Eusebio, president of the new organization, authored a letter to Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Agana.

In the letter, Eusebio laments Hon’s actions and statements regarding Apuron.

“You treat him as if he has already been declared guilty; therefore, stirring a public lynching,” Eusebio wrote.

He attributes much of the division and confusion in which the church currently finds itself mired to statements released by the archdiocese on behalf of Hon.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

A top official of Guam’s Catholic church said the leadership of the Neocatechumenal Way, both here and internationally, has been advancing the group’s interests to the detriment of other Catholics on Guam.

“A personal plea to Cardinal (Fernando) Filoni and those leaders in the Neocatechumenal Way who are seeking to advance the agenda and interest of the Neocatechumenal Way — Please be merciful. Have mercy on the people of Guam,” the Rev. Jeffrey San Nicolas said Tuesday during a press conference in Hagåtña.

The archdiocese called the press conference to discuss its objections to a bill that would allow victims of child sex abuse to sue the perpetrators and the institutions they work for, including the church.

But San Nicolas talked mostly about the Neocatechumenal Way — a movement within the Catholic church whose practices sometimes are at odds with those of Guam’s traditional Catholic community.

Guam Archbishop Anthony Apuron, who has been temporarily replaced as a result of sex abuse allegations, belongs to the group, sometimes referred to as “The Way.”

“Neither I nor Archbishop Hon is the church authority over decision-making regarding the Redemptoris Mater Seminary, even over simple matters such as who can visit. Cardinal Filoni is in charge.”

San Nicolas currently is the delegate for Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, who temporarily is in charge of the local archdiocese, by order of the Vatican.

San Nicolas said the lines of authority in the Guam archdiocese are not clear because Cardinal Filoni, in Rome, and other leaders of the Neocatechumenal Way are interfering in Guam church matters.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

September 21, 2016

DAN BOX
Crime reporterSydney
@DanBox10

A private meeting of Cardinal ­George Pell’s staff was allegedly told a senior Catholic cleric would publicly claim that a letter detailing a priest’s confession to child sex abuse had been “embellished”, a royal commission has heard.

File notes tendered to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse show the July 2012 meeting was called after Car­dinal Pell told the ABC the priest had made “no admissions” at the time.

Brian Lucas, currently Australian director of Catholic Mission, told the meeting “he would talk to (the letter’s author, Wayne Peters) about … the need for him to say he had embellished it”.

“That would be the end of it and ‘gets him off the hook’. This is the only way ‘to clear this up and ­explain things’,” Father Lucas is recorded as saying in the file note.

The letter in question detailed a 1992 meeting between pedophile priest John Farrell, Father Lucas and two other priests, John Usher and the late Father Peters. Father Usher, until ­recently chancellor of the Sydney arch­diocese, subsequently told Cardinal Pell that Farrell made no admissions during the meeting.

However, Peters’s letter, written eight days after the meeting, alleged that Farrell admitted sexually assaulting five young boys.

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CALIFORNIA
OC Weekly

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2016

BY GUSTAVO ARELLANO

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the formation of the Catholic Diocese of Orange, and its PR handlers are in full spin mode. Over the past couple of weeks, they’ve dangled the continuing transformation of the former Crystal Cathedral into Christ Cathedral to distract a gullible press from any real reporting. The Los Angeles Times basically danced a jig about a virtual reality tour, with the Orange County Register following close behind. But far more offensive was a retrospective by reporter Deepa Bharath on the Orange see’s history that allowed retired, pedophile-protecting Bishop Tod D. Brown to gladly lie about his role in letting collared monsters prey on innocent kids.

Brown, of course, was head of OC’s 1.2 million Catholics at a time when revelation after revelation came out about how pedophiles essentially had free reign in the diocese from its foundation right through 2004, when he settled with dozens of sex-abuse victims for what was at the time the largest payout in the history of the Catholic Church. Yet Brown had the gall to tell Bharath he was “unaware of the problem” of sex-abuse in the Catholic Church—and Bharath then let him babble on about how he solved the problem to “protect the youth.”

No, actually Brown did it to save his ass from getting thrown into prison, where the pendejo belongs. And while Bharath did let John Manly, the lawyer (and Mater Dei alum, but don’t hold it against him) rip apart Brown for his legacy, she didn’t challenge Brown’s ignorance, and even credited a couple with founding Santa Margarita High, when the whole world knows that the main force behind the school was pedo-priest extraordinaire Michael Harris.

But back to Brown. Rather than me offer link after link showing how Brown not only knew about pedophiles in the Orange diocese before he came into town in 1998, but dealt with them when he was bishop in the Boise diocese and when he served as an administrator at the Diocese of Monterey, I’ll direct readers to a quick summation of His Excellency’s pedo-protecting past written by Joelle Casteix. She just happens to be a sex-abuse survivor herself whom Brown infamously used as a photo op after announcing a $100 million settlement.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

[with video]

Haidee V Eugenio, Pacific Daily News
September 20, 2016

Former altar boys who recently accused Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron and other clergy of raping and sexually abusing children said they hope and pray Gov. Eddie Calvo will sign into law a bill allowing child sex abuse victims to sue the perpetrators and the institutions with which they are associated.

Lawmakers on Sept. 12 passed Bill 326-33 by a vote of 13-0. Gov. Eddie Calvo has until Friday to act on the bill, which would retroactively eliminate the statute of limitations for civil cases on child sexual abuse.

The Archdiocese of Agana is circulating a petition asking the governor to veto the bill, saying it would financially ruin the Catholic Church and disrupt social services and schools.

Temporary Guam Archbishop Savio Tai Fai Hon issued a written statement last weekend, stating the bill has serious implications for the Archdiocese because it would lift the time restriction on lawsuits against institutions, such as the Archdiocese, that have employed those accused of sexual abuse.

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PENNSYLVANIA
York Daily Record

Brandie Kessler, bkessler@ydr.com
September 20, 2016

State Rep. Mark Rozzi said he believes the high volume of reports of clergy abuse to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office spurred a statewide grand jury investigation into six Catholic dioceses, including Harrisburg.

“After the Altoona-Johnstown (diocese grand jury report) came out, and the Attorney General put out the hotline, and they took so many hundreds of calls, you weren’t just having Altoona-Johnstown victims calling, you were having victims from all over the state calling,” Rozzi said.

The Harrisburg diocese, which includes York County, acknowledged being subpoenaed, and Rozzi said five others — Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton — are also being investigated.

Rozzi, of Berks County, who said he was abused by a priest in 1984, said that when he knew a grand jury had been impaneled, he started posting things on social media, like Facebook, encouraging victims of clergy sexual abuse to get their story on the record. He said he didn’t post on social media that there was a grand jury investigation, rather that he would put survivors in touch with people who could help them.

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.

AUSTRALIA
The Age

Former NSW priest John Joseph Farrell claimed boys in his old parish of Moree were telling lies and were “out to get him” when he was confronted about child sex abuse allegations, a royal commission has heard.

Senior Catholic Church figure Brian Lucas said Father Farrell was defensive and evasive at a 1992 meeting with senior priests, who’d been tasked with persuading Fr Farrell to leave the church.

“[He made] reference to the boys in Moree that he said were all making up lies and telling lies about him, were out to get him and things like that,” Fr Lucas told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse on Tuesday.

“I was never sure … whether it was fantasy or truth. He was just very defensive and evasive was my impression of his demeanour.”

Fr Lucas, the national director of Catholic Mission, repeatedly stated that while he came away from the meeting with the impression Fr Farrell was guilty of some wrongdoing, there were no specific admissions.

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DENMARK
The Local

A 46-year-old priest admitted in court on Tuesday to having sexually relations with a girl who was just 12 years old at the time, TV Øst reported.

The man has been in police custody since late June and is suspected of sexually abusing several children who he met through his position as the priest at Tømmerup Church in the western Zealand town of Kalundborg.

The man admitted to having sexual intercourse and other genital contact wit the girl, who was 12 and 13 when the attacks took place.

TV Øst said that the man had also partially admitted to sexually assaulting a 12-year-old boy but denied his guilt on that charge in court on Tuesday. He is accused of having anal intercourse with the boy, offering the boy money for sexual favours and pressuring the boy to send nude photos.

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UNITED STATES
Verdict

15 SEP 2016

MARCI A. HAMILTON

Sometimes I feel like I should pen a letter of apology to the Framers of the Constitution. They fundamentally understood that people are inevitably tempted to abuse power and that concentrations of power are dangerous. It was a fortuitous and sage combination of common sense and the Presbyterianism of Princeton at the time. To put it a bit more simply: power must be checked, or it will run amok, and that goes double for combinations of power. And, oh yes, those who have power will work hard to be unaccountable. Power without accountability is the gravest danger we can face.

With that as the foundation, we really should be able to do better. Instead, lawmakers are increasingly the unaccountable power-grabbing people the Framers warned us about. And nowhere are our elected officials failing more spectacularly right now than in the case of child sex abuse.
The good news is that there is an antidote, and the people need to administer it.

Let’s start with some facts: one in four girls and one in five boys are sexually abused. Children have been abused in apparently every conceivable venue where they are available to predatory adults. Those “safe havens” like pricey boarding schools and elite sports, and churches and synagogues, have turned out to be available venues for abuse. The sad march of the truth goes on: children who are hungry have been forced into the sex trade just to eat. Child pornography continues to explode, with trusted adults from priests to coaches recently identified.

As you ponder this ongoing series of scandals, witness recent developments, where politicians are so stuck in the mud of unaccountability that facts apparently don’t matter:

In Pennsylvania, where lawmakers have been “debating” the merits of obtaining justice for child sex abuse victims for over a decade, some members have latched onto an almost hilarious (if it were not so painful to the survivors) “discussion” of the constitutionality of reviving expired statutes of limitations. They have become positively expert on the “Remedies Clause.” The cases in Pennsylvania actually add up most logically to a conclusion that revival of expired SOLs is constitutional, as I testified, but one need not even go that far. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the issue, so it is an issue for the courts. That leaves the door open for Pennsylvania lawmakers to do what is right.

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MICHIGAN
The Detroit News

Nicholas G. Hahn III, The Detroit News
September 19, 2016

Pope Francis is expected to soon announce the creation of new cardinals, and some in the Vatican anticipate certain archdioceses will receive red hats.

But the pope hasn’t elevated any U.S. prelates to the college of cardinals, and a favorable September 2015 visit stateside might translate into more American leaders of the church.

When the pope considers American churchmen for the rank of cardinal, watch for Francis to “head for the periphery.” That catchphrase of this papacy is reflected in the pontiff’s choices at consistories. The pope has refused to make cardinals out of bishops who expect it, as dioceses with large amount of Catholics might or ones that have historically had a cardinal. Instead, he has awarded red hats to places like Les Cayes, Haiti, or Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

That might be good news for Detroit, an American archdiocese on the periphery. Once among the largest dioceses in the country, the Motor City has lost nearly 300,000 Catholics and 91 parishes since 2000. Detroit was the poorest major U.S. city in 2014 with about 40 percent of its population unable to make ends meet and still over half of the city’s children living in poverty.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

By Peter Smith / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

In compelling Pennsylvania’s Roman Catholic dioceses to turn over as much as 70 years’ worth of records on sexually abusive priests, the state attorney general’s office is mounting what would be the most wide-ranging criminal investigation ever into scandal in the United States.

Diocese of Altoona-JohnstownAnd if history is any guide — in particular, the history of the , which was the subject of the initial two-year grand jury investigation that mushroomed into the statewide probe — here are a few things to expect in the coming months or years:

• Few if any people will be prosecuted, either the alleged abusers themselves or those who enabled them, due to the deaths of many potential defendants and the expiration of the statute of limitations that prohibits filing charges after several years.

• Many of the cases will be decades old.

• Many names of alleged abusers will already be public due to criminal or civil trials, but some new names may emerge.

• Internal church documents will show real-time decisions by bishops and other church officials in their own words — some of which may prove shocking and dismaying, others of which may even vindicate bishops’ handling of cases.

• Some documentation will be conspicuously absent, evidence of church policies providing for the purging of scandalous documents after a time, although some such documents are retained long after the fact.

• The investigations could yield an overall narrative over the years on how Catholic bishops handled case of abuse by priests, whose cases are often reported in isolation.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Governor Eddie Calvo has until Friday, September 23, to take action on bill 326.

Guam – There has still been no action on bill 326 from Governor Eddie Calvo, who has until Friday to take action; however, this would not be the first time the governor has had to take action on a similar measure.

Similar legislation was passed in 2011 for civil action on child sex abuse. It was authored by Vice Speaker BJ Cruz and it lifted the statute of limitations for a period of two years.

However, because the bill was essentially gutted on the session floor, the version that passed into law made it difficult for attorneys to pursue cases because failure could cost them their license.

When Governor Eddie Calvo signed the bill into public law 31-07 back in 2011, in his signing message, he said “I initially had concerns about the version of the bill as originally introduced because it included language which took the focus away from individual sex offenders and instead sought to involve further removed institutions and organizational entities.”

Fortunately, the governor wrote, the legislature amended the bill on the session floor in “appropriate ways.”

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Roland Sondia and Roy Quintanilla also reacted to Father Jeff San Nicolas’ tearful statement.

Guam – The alleged victims of Archbishop Anthony Apuron are weighing in on Father Jeff San Nicolas’ statement.

At least two of the five survivors who have come forward claiming clergy sex abuse acknowledge Father Jeff San Nicolas’ sincerity, but also question the church’s priorities in protecting children from sexual abuse.

PNC spoke with Roy Quintanilla, who’s currently in Hawaii. He’s the first alleged victim to come forward with allegations of sexual abuse against Archbishop Apuron. We also reached out to Roland Sondia, the fourth alleged victim to come forward against Apuron.

Quintanilla says he listened to Father Jeff San Nicolas’ statement and felt it was sincere. But Quintanilla also expressed dismay with how Father San Nicolas followed his apology.

“The only thing really that really didn’t make sense to me was that the church wants to protect their assets … and I’m just sad that they made that a priority over taking responsibility for what happened to children by no fault of their own,” said Quintanilla.

“I think the church needs to take responsibility, whatever that responsibility is, and money and possessions those things can be replaced, you can’t replace what you took away from a child,” he pointed out.

Sondia expressed similar sentiments, noting the sincerity in Father San Nicolas address, but he questioned who really was in control at the archdiocese.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Father Jeff San Nicolas released the full Seminary Report to the media this afternoon.

Guam – Father Jeff San Nicolas, the delegate to Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, made a tearful plea to senators, the governor and churchgoers to carefully consider the consequences bill 326 will have on the local church.

Several dozen people filled the conference room at the Cathedral Basilica today to listen to Father Jeff San Nicolas’ statement on bill 326, which seeks to lift the statute of limitations on civil litigation on child sex abuse.

Father San Nicolas’ address on bill 326 did not differ much from that of Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, the temporary administrator for the Archdiocese of Agana. Archbishop Hon also called upon Governor Eddie Calvo to consider the bill and circulated a petition to call for its veto. Like Archbishop Hon, Father San Nicolas also apologized to victims and survivors of clergy sex abuse.

Father San Nicolas then spoke about the grave consequences bill 326 could have on the church, noting that bankruptcy and insolvency would be inevitable. …

“I was also instructed not to release the seminary visitation report. I will do just that soon after this press briefing. I realize that I am taking a stand against my superiors but I must because the vast majority of the people on Guam who have suffered from a leadership over the past several years has not been kept informed about issues that directly concern them,” he added.

The full Seminary Report was released to the media this afternoon.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Sep 20, 2016

By Krystal Paco

It was an emotional morning for Father Jeff San Nicolas as he addressed the press and a room full of concerned Catholics on Tuesday morning. Although it was anticipated that he was to speak on the Archdiocese of Agana’s recent stance on Bill 326 and the legislation’s potentially crippling effects to the church, Catholic schools, and other church services, he instead disclosed a harsh reality: that the local archdiocese isn’t calling the shots.

Father Jeff choked back his tears as he confirmed what critics have suspected for years – that the Neocatechumenal Way continues to interfere with local church affairs. “I realize I am taking a stand against my superiors, but I must because the vast majority of the people on Guam,” he said, visibly shaken. “[The people] who have suffered from a leadership over the past several years has not been kept informed about issues that directly concern them.”

Earlier this month, the priest as delegate of the administrator, approved for a small group comprised of members of the Laity Forward Movement to visit the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Yona. Father Jeff hoped the visit could prove a breakthrough between conflicting Catholic groups and start a dialogue. Instead, it proved local church leadership isn’t calling the shots.

In an email to Father Jeff from acting RMS rector Monsignor David Quitugua, the rector states the visit was denied by Fernando Cardinal Filoni, prefect of the Congregation of the Evangelization of Peoples. “Neither I or Archbishop [Savio] Hon [Tai Fai] is the church authority over decision making regarding the Redemptoris Mater Seminary – even over simple matters such as who can visit,” Father Jeff read.

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NEW MEXICO
SF Gate

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

GALLUP, N.M. (AP) — The Diocese of Gallup has announced it has sold an iconic western New Mexico building amid a bankruptcy case linked to clergy sexual abuse.

The Gallup Independent reports (https://goo.gl/FXmufQ) that Bishop James S. Wall said in a letter last week the sale of the chancery offices will allow the diocese to make a “substantial contribution” to its Chapter 11 payment plan.

Wall says a California couple bought the build and will be donating it to a convent for the nuns of Sisters of Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Joseph.

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.

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

[with video]

Steve Limtiaco and Masako Watanabe, mwatanabe@guampdn.com
September 20, 2016

The Archdiocese of Agana held a press conference today to address its concerns related to the recent passage of Bill 326-33.

At the press conference, Father Jeff San Nicolas, speaking as delegate of temporary Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai’s, said if the bill becomes law, it will bankrupt Guam’s Catholic church.

San Nicolas also spoke on the Neocatechumenal Way’s influence over Guam’s Catholic churches, stating Archbishop Anthony Apuron continued to arrogantly support the Neocatechumenal Way despite credible accusations of child sexual abuse against him. He said a majority of Guam’s Catholics suffered while being kept in the dark about the leadership.

Bill lifts statute of limitations for lawsuits

Bill 326-33, which Guam lawmakers passed Sept. 12 by a vote of 13-0, with two senators absent, would retroactively lift the statute of limitations on civil lawsuits related to child sexual abuse.

Alleged victims would be allowed to sue their abusers and also “their enablers” and “their institutions at the time.”

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WASHINGTON
Q13 Fox

SEPTEMBER 19, 2016, BY STEVE KIGGINS

MONTESANO, Wash. — A local pastor pleaded not guilty to two counts of child molestation Monday afternoon.

Grays Harbor County sheriff’s deputies arrested 67-year-old Adair Krack last week for allegedly sexually molesting two young girls.

Court records said the two victims in the case are sisters and the latest alleged assault happened last summer during a vacation bible school.

Several local ministers told Q13 News they were shocked to hear about the allegations, saying Krack is a beloved and trusted member of the community.

Krack did not respond to requests for comment as he walked into the courtroom Monday.

Sheriff Rick Scott said Krack’s crimes date back more than a decade.

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COLORADO
9 News

Krystyna Biassou, KUSA September 19, 2016

KUSA – The assistant pastor of a church in Thornton faces charges of sexual assault on a child.

Robert Wyatt, 50, is accused of assaulting a girl whose family attended Agape Bible Church.

Prosecutors claim the abuse started when the girl was 12 and lasted for nearly two years.

He’s charged with sexual assault on a child, sexual assault on a child as a pattern of conduct and sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust.

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UNITED STATES
Herald Malaysia

WASHINGTON D.C: In light of Pope Francis’ call to pray for the victims of sexual abuse, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will support a Worldwide Day of Prayer for Sexual Abuse Survivors, highlighting the importance of healing and noting the progress the Church has made over the years

.“With a pastor’s heart, Pope Francis renewed the call of the universal Church to pray for, help heal and proactively protect children from the terrible sin of sexual abuse,” said Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a Sept. 16 statement.“

This universal expression of healing and sorrow, joined by our brothers and sisters around the world, will be a powerful reminder that no survivor should walk the path toward healing alone,” he said.

The Worldwide Day of Prayer was originally suggested at the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (PCPM) Plenary Assembly by a survivor of clerical child sexual abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

Source: AAP
20 SEP 2016

Former NSW priest John Farrell claimed boys in his old parish of Moree were telling lies and were “out to get him” when he was confronted about child sex abuse allegations, a royal commission has heard.

Senior Catholic Church figure Brian Lucas said Father Farrell was defensive and evasive at a 1992 meeting with senior priests, who’d been tasked with persuading Fr Farrell to leave the church.

“(He made) reference to the boys in Moree that he said were all making up lies and telling lies about him, were out to get him and things like that,” Fr Lucas told the child sex abuse royal commission on Tuesday.

“I was never sure … whether it was fantasy or truth. He was just very defensive and evasive was my impression of his demeanour.”

Fr Lucas, the national director of Catholic Mission, repeatedly stated that while he came away from the meeting with the impression Fr Farrell was guilty of some wrongdoing, there were no specific admissions.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Nicole Chettle

A senior Catholic official has told the royal commission into child sexual abuse the information he had about a former priest’s “wicked and criminal” conduct was too vague to report to police.

The commission heard Father Brian Lucas, the National Director of Catholic Mission, was interviewed on the ABC radio current affairs program AM in July 2012, after an ABC Four Corners investigation into the church’s handling of allegations against Father John Farrell.

The commissioner, Justice Peter McClellan, asked Father Lucas to explain why he told the ABC Father Farrell’s behaviour was “wicked and criminal”, but did not report the matter to police.

Father Brian Lucas: The first thing the police would say is: ‘Well what, where and to whom and when?’ None of which I could have answered.

Justice Peter McClellan: No, but they could have made their own inquiries couldn’t they, knowing that they had a foundation for them?

Father Lucas: Well they’d already presumably made their inquiries.

Justice McClellan: Well how do you know?

Father Lucas: Well it’s not something, your honour, that I directed my mind to in those circumstances.
Justice McClellan: Well your explanation that there was no utility in going to the police, it doesn’t have any substance does it?

Father Lucas: With due respect I think you can’t go to the police with something as vague as that.

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AUSTRALIA
Bay 93.9

Rebecca McDonald / 20 September 2016

A former Geelong-based paedophile priest is due to be sentenced next week after confessing to having abused children for three decades.

Robert Claffey has admitted to abusing boys and girls over thirty years in areas including Apollo Bay and Skenes Creek.

Claffey replaced Australia’s worst paedophile priest, Gerard Ridsdale at the Apollo Bay parish.

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MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

By Joel Currier St. Louis Post-Dispatch

ST. LOUIS • Circuit Judge Steven Ohmer on Monday set a March 27 trial date for a civil lawsuit in which a Lincoln County teenager and her family accused St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson of knowing a priest was a danger to children before the cleric was charged with molesting the teen in 2012.

The lawsuit was filed the following year in Lincoln County by the girl’s parents against Carlson and the Archdiocese of St. Louis after she told police the Rev. Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang, then an associate pastor at the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica in the Central West End, had molested her at her home in Old Monroe. Jiang was added as a defendant in the lawsuit last year.

The alleged victim was 16 at the time of the alleged abuse. Jiang was in his late 20s. Charges of child endangerment and witness tampering — Jiang had been accused of leaving a $20,000 check and an apology on a family’s car as hush money — were dismissed in 2013.

At a hearing Monday in Ohmer’s courtroom, Kenneth Chackes, a lawyer for the alleged victim, described a letter sent to Carlson from a man whose family became close to him after helping him emigrate to the United States from China. The letter was sent before Jiang was ordained in 2010 warning Carlson that Jiang was a threat to children because he suffered “deep psychological problems,” “faked a relationship of intimacy with his family” and “lacked maturity.”

Jiang’s lawyers denied those claims Monday and sought dismissal of the lawsuit, arguing the alleged acts did not occur on archdiocesan property and were not intended to inflict emotional distress.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

Source: AAP
20 SEP 2016

A Catholic Church leader is expected to face more tough questions about his knowledge of former priest John Farrell when the child abuse royal commission resumes on Tuesday.

National director of Catholic Mission Brian Lucas was grilled over a full day on Monday about the church’s response to child sex abuse allegations, including allegations against Fr Farrell.

In the late 1980s and 1990s Fr Lucas was a media spokesman for the Sydney archdiocese and part of a group within the church that dealt with abuse complaints against clergy.

He insisted he did not recall Fr Farrell confessing to the abuse of five boys in Moree, in northern NSW, during a 1992 meeting.

The alleged admissions were recorded in graphic detail in a letter eight days later by another priest who was at the meeting.

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KENTUCKY
Tristate Homepage

The Catholic Diocese of Owensboro announces it has reinstated a priest after investigating allegations he had engaged in inappropriate conduct with a minor several years ago.

Fr. Freddie Byrd will resume his position as pastor of St. Ann Church in Morganfield, Kentucky.

On June 8, 2016, Fr. Byrd was temporarily suspended from public ministry after being accused of engaging in inappropriate conduct with a minor in 1983, five years before he was ordained to the priesthood.

The Diocese of Owensboro issued the following statement on the investigation:

“On September 14, 2016 the Diocesan Review Board further explored the information that has been compiled and counseled the bishop that there was insufficient information to substantiate the allegation.”

Fr. Byrd has also served at the following parishes in the Diocese of Owensboro: St. Stephen Cathedral and Blessed Sacrament Chapel in Owensboro (June 1988-June 1990), Dean of Students at Owensboro Catholic High School (May 1988- June 1990), Blessed Mother Parish in Owensboro (June 1990-June 1992), Sts. Joseph and Paul Parish in Owensboro (June 1997-June 1998), Blessed Mother Parish (June 1998-June 2008), and St. Peter of Antioch and Sacred Heart Parishes in Waverly (June 2008-June 2012).

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KENTUCKY
Messenger-Inquirer

By James Mayse Messenger-Inquirer

The Rev. Freddie Byrd — a priest who was suspended from active ministry earlier this year after Catholic Diocese of Owensboro received a complaint alleging that Byrd had inappropriate sexual contact with a minor in the 1980s — has been reinstated to active ministry.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Times Leader

By Mark Guydish – Click for more information on Mark
mguydish@timesleader.com – @TLMarkGuydish – 570-991-6112

SCRANTON — Retired Diocese of Scranton Bishop James Timlin remains an active, upbeat member of the church he has served for six decades, and the public has been invited to attend a “Mass of Thanksgiving” Wednesday marking the 89-year-old’s 65th year as a priest and 40th anniversary of being ordained an auxiliary bishop.

But the celebration comes on the heels of renewed scrutiny of diocesan practices regarding child sexual abuse. Spokesman Bill Genello confirmed the 11-county diocese has received a subpoena in relation to a grand jury probe in Pittsburgh.

The Morning Call of Allentown reported last week that Scranton is among six diocese in the state to get subpoenas related to an abuse probe.

Reached by phone Monday, Timlin exhibited his usual self-effacing attitude regarding the special Mass. “I’m not anxious to be celebrating all these anniversaries, but I go along,” he said. “It’s not my style to be celebrating things like this.”

Asked about the subpoena and the grand jury investigation — which The Morning Call reported has included the dioceses of Erie, Greensburg, Pittsburgh, Scranton, Harrisburg and Allentown — Timlin demurred.

“I’m not the bishop, it’s not my place to comment,” he said.

In a written statement, Genello reiterated what he said is the diocesan commitment to protecting children and supporting victims. “The Diocese of Scranton cooperates fully with all civil authorities in their investigation of such matters.”

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AUSTRALIA
Lawyers Weekly

The Queensland Government is moving to do away with restrictive time limits for certain child sexual and physical abuse compensation claims, but while the law change is welcomed, it doesn’t go far enough, writes Mark O’Connor.

While it’s good that Queensland is following NSW to remove claims limitation periods that have previously blocked claims made more than three years after abuse occurred, the Queensland plan is flawed.

Victims of child sexual and physical abuse will no longer face tough limitation periods when seeking compensation in NSW. Reports state about 22,000 people are expected to benefit from the change.

Following repeated calls for Queensland to fall into line with NSW’s stance, the Queensland Government is introducing legislation to end the three year time limit period in this state. But the move is baffling because it only applies to victims of sexual abuse by, at or connected to institutions.

The issue has now been further complicated by a second piece of proposed legislation, a private member’s bill by independent MP Rob Pyne, which would remove claims time limits for all victims.

As one of Queensland’s most senior personal injury lawyers, I am troubled that the State’s proposed legislation would create two classes of victims.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

The Concerned Catholics of Guam, meanwhile, says Archbishop Hon’s message that the bill would destroy the church is nothing more than “fear mongering.”

Guam – There are differing opinions from experts on bill 326, a measure that seeks to lift the statute of limitations indefinitely and retroactively for pursuing civil claims on child sex abuse.

Former Attorney General Doug Moylan says the measure may not hold up if challenged in court while Concerned Catholics of Guam President Dave Sablan says other dioceses that have had to file bankruptcy as a result of similar legislation have bounced back.

Bill 326 seemed to breeze through the legislature smoothly. People testified in its favor and the measure passed unanimously last week during session. But now, at the eleventh hour, there is a push for the bill to vetoed by the governor. At the helm of that petition is Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, the temporary administrator of the Archdiocese of Agana.

“In my opinion, this is fear mongering of the part of Archbishop Hon. Does he really look at us as being influenced by all this fear mongering that we’re just gonna blindly go and sign this petition after we supported the bill in the legislature. So it’s an insult to us for him to ask us to do this,” says Sablan.
Sablan says Archbishop Hon’s letter did nothing to address the concerns of catholics on Guam and in fact did the opposite.

“So is this really a lot of double speak? Is it really something he really is going to do because between when he said it and when the action is gonna take place, nothing much has happened,” he notes.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

[with video]

Written by Janela Carrera

“We request the governor of Guam’s consideration in vetoing the bill…” the petition says.

Guam – A petition is being circulated around catholic churches on Guam that encourages Governor Eddie Calvo to veto bill 326 which seeks to lift the statute-of-limitations for pursuing civil claims for child sex abuse.

The bill passed in the legislature last week and is now on the governor’s desk for passage or veto.

The petition is displayed along with a letter written by Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, the apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Agana, in which Archbishop Hon talks about the “unintended consequences” of the bill.

“One of the unforeseen side effects of the bill will be to erase the good work of those in the archdiocese who serve the neediest, who provide quality education to thousands of our children including the poor, and who themselves have made enormous and selfless sacrifices for the good of others,” Hon writes.

That sentence also appears in the petition and additionally says, “We request the governor of Guam’s consideration in vetoing the bill and to work with the legislature to introduce similar legislation to instead specifically punish the guilty and to allow survivors to come forward and achieve justice without crippling the innocent work of countless others who share in the church’s ministry of service to our community.”

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GUAM
USA Today

Haidee V Eugenio, Pacific Daily News (Guam)
September 19, 2016

HAGATNA, Guam — A group of local Catholics has stepped forward to defend Guam Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron, saying he is being treated as if he already was found guilty of abusing altar boys.

The group, which calls itself I Familan Mangatoliku Siha Pari Si Apuron or Catholic Families for Apuron, led by Dr. Ricardo B. Eusebio, disagrees with statements made last weekend by temporary Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, who is running the local church pending a Vatican investigation into the abuse allegations against Apuron.

Several former Agat altar boys have accused Apuron of raping or molesting them in the 1970s, when he was parish priest.

Hon, in a written statement that he instructed to be read at Sunday Mass, said he is in Rome, urging the pope to remove Apuron and to appoint a successor.

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VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service

By Josephine McKenna

VATICAN CITY (RNS) The special investigator Pope Francis appointed to look into allegations that the Catholic archbishop of Guam abused altar boys is urging the Vatican to remove the cleric.

In a statement read at services in the island’s 26 Catholic churches on Sunday (Sept. 18), Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai said he was now in Rome and had asked the Holy See to dismiss Archbishop Anthony Apuron and appoint a successor after Apuron refused to stand down voluntarily.

“I can assure you that the gravely serious allegations against Archbishop Apuron will continue to be dealt with by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, which will hold a canonical trial, “ he said, referring to the powerful Vatican department that investigates abuse cases.

“His Holiness, Pope Francis, is monitoring the proceedings.”

Francis has pledged zero tolerance for clerical sexual abuse and set up a commission to tackle the issue and ensure the protection of minors.

Hon’s statement, also published on the diocese website, was entitled: “Putting the house in order without burning it down.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

September 20, 2016

DAN BOX
Crime reporter Sydney
@DanBox10

Senior Catholic officials were ­allegedly told by a pedophile priest that he had been abusing children but made no record of the conversation and did not contact police, a royal commission has heard.

Those involved in the meeting subsequently gave conflicting ­accounts of what was said, including telling Cardinal George Pell that no such admissions were made, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard yesterday. Following the publication of a letter in 2012 detailing the priest’s alleged admissions, the archdiocese of Sydney put out a media release that was also incorrect, the commission heard.

Written eight days after the meeting took place, the letter states that pedophile priest John Farrell met two members of the church’s Special Issues Resource Group, Brian Lucas and John Usher, in September 1992.

Father Lucas, the current ­director of Catholic Mission, and Father Usher, who recently stepped down as chancellor of the Sydney archdiocese, were “the ­architects of the church’s ­response” to child abuse, counsel assisting the commission, Gail Furness SC, has said.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Church Militant

by Joseph Pelletier • ChurchMilitant.com • September 19, 2016

HARRISBURG, Pa. (ChurchMilitant.com) – The majority of Pennsylvania’s dioceses are being subjected to a sweeping state grand jury investigation into both clerical sex abuse and the subsequent cover-ups allegedly perpetrated by Pennsylvania Church hierarchy.

Subpoenas from the state attorney general were issued late last week to the dioceses of Erie, Allentown, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Greensburg and Scranton demanding all six dioceses hand over any documentation regarding sexual abuse committed by Pennsylvania clergy as part of a broad investigation into the matter. The archdiocese of Philadelphia was excluded from the probe, having already been the subject of three grand jury reports since 2003, which unearthed unreported claims of abuse at the hands of hundreds of priests. The remaining diocese, Altoona-Johnstown, is currently under investigation and has been since the release of an individual grand jury report in March.

Most of the dioceses in question have expressed their willingness to cooperate with authorities. “I could not agree more [with the probe],” stated Pittsburgh bishop David Zubik. “We are absolutely committed to protecting children from abuse.”

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CANADA
CBS News

A Roman Catholic priest in northwestern Saskatchewan is carrying on with his work in three parishes despite being charged with sexual assault.

Father Javier de los Angeles Cortazar is accused of assaulting another priest two years ago, at a cabin near the village of Goodsoil.

Cortazar’s trial is set for April, 2017 at Court of Queen’s Bench in Meadow Lake. A publication ban prevents the name of the victim from being published.

Since the accusations first came to light, Cortazar has continued to work as a priest. He is currently the parish priest for the communities of Pierceland, Goodsoil and Loon Lake.

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GUAM
Church Militant

by Aaron Maxwell • ChurchMilitant.com • September 19, 2016

Guam has been racked by a sex abuse scandal for months

HAGATNA, Guam (ChurchMilitant.com) – An administrator from the Vatican is urging leaders in Rome to remove the head of the Catholic Church in Guam over child sex allegations.

Archbishop Anthony Apuron has been accused of four counts of sexual assault committed in the late 1970s. The accusers are three men who claim when they were altar boys at Agat parish, when Apuron was the parish priest, he molested them. Also, the mother of a deceased former altar boy Joseph Anthony Quinata is accusing the priest of abusing her son, who told her everything that had happened before he died 11 years ago.

Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai was sent to Guam, June 6, to investigate the accusations and currently holds Apuron’s duties in the diocese. In a statement read Sunday, Hon said he had asked the Holy See to dismiss Apuron after the cleric refused to stand down voluntarily.

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PENNSYLVANIA
We Are Central PA

Altoona

A priest with the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese is now on leave after concerns about his behavior.

According to the Diocese, Reverend David Rizzo of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Altoona was placed on leave for behavior inconsistent with church ministry.

Details remain limited as the investigation is on going, but we do know the incident does not involve a minor.

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ALABAMA
Tuscaloosa News

Police say a 20-year-old youth pastor accused of sending pictures of his genitals to teenage boys in a church youth group has been arrested in central Alabama.

By Wire Report

PLEASANT GROVE — Police say a 20-year-old youth pastor accused of sending pictures of his genitals to teenage boys in a church youth group has been arrested in central Alabama.

Jefferson County Bessemer Cutoff District Attorney Bill Veitch tells local news media that Brandon Wade White used social media platforms such as Snapchat to solicit minors. He is charged with enticing a minor, sodomy second degree, possession of child pornography and electronic solicitation of a minor.

White, a college student, is a member of the youth group at First Baptist Church of Pleasant Grove.

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AUSTRALIA
Courier

Alicia Thomas
@aliciajthomas

19 Sep 2016

A former Ballarat priest who has pleaded guilty to a string of historic child sexual abuse charges spanning a 22-year period has been forced to listen to his victims relive the horror he inflicted on them.

Robert Claffey, 73, sat with his head down and eyes closed at a County Court sitting in Geelong on Monday as the details of the crimes he committed on each of his 12 victims were read out loud.

The victims, many who were abused at the hands of Claffey while he was parish priest in Ballarat, detailed the self blame, suicidal tenancies and failed relationships that have plagued their lives since Claffey’s abuse.

One victim, who was also the victim of disgraced paedophile priest Gerald Risdale at Apollo Bay, told the court he knew he had to be careful about Claffey because “there was something creepy about the way he looked at me.”

“I felt dirty and complicit in what had happened … if only I had the courage to speak out to save other children,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Rachel Browne

A paedophile priest told a bishop children “enjoyed” sexual activity and asked the Catholic Church for a $25,000 loan at the same time he was being blackmailed by one of his victims, according to documents tendered in evidence to a royal commission.

John Joseph Farrell, who was jailed in May after pleading guilty over a string of sexual offences against youngsters, “never expressed any regret for his actions” according to former Parramatta bishop Kevin Manning.

A 2005 letter from Bishop Manning, tendered to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, recounts a meeting with Farrell in which he confronted the priest about “widespread sexual activity with children”.

“When confronted with facts [Farrell] said: ‘I don’t know what you are on about, these kids came looking for it, they enjoyed it’,” Bishop Manning wrote.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Sep 19, 2016

By Krystal Paco

It appears a new group has surfaced in support of Archbishop Anthony Apuron. Called I Familian Mangatoliku Siha Pari Si Apuron (Chamorro for “Catholic Families for Apuron”), president Dr. Ricardo Eusebio addressed a letter to apostolic administrator Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai today, calling him out for public lynching.

According to Dr. Eusebio, statements made by the church continue to attack, discredit, and smear Apuron and violate the common law that every person is innocent until proven guilty.

The organization has also chimed-in on Bill 326, stating the legislation clearly and unfairly targets the Catholic Church. Although Catholic Families for Apuron also wants justice for victims of child sex abuse, they do not believe justice is accomplished by the proposed legislation.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Sep 19, 2016

By Krystal Paco

Guam could soon have a new archbishop leading the Archdiocese of Agana. In a message read to parishioners over the weekend from apostolic administrator Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, he announces he’s in Rome to meet with the Holy See to remove Archbishop Anthony Apuron and to appoint a successor. According to Hon, he and the Presbyterial Council wrote to Apuron calling on him to resign.

That, however, was unsuccessful.

According to delegate of the administrator Father Jeff San Nicolas, that letter to Apuron was addressed in July. Father Jeff has been left in charge until Hon’s return this Thursday.

Father Jeff said, “What he is doing in Rome is advocating that our diocese be made a status sede vacante, meaning that we would no longer have a bishop. In other words, that Archbishop Apuron would no longer be the bishop of our archdiocese.”

The action is welcome news to the Concerned Catholics of Guam, who’ve been rallying for years for Apuron to step down or be removed as head of the local church. Andrew Camacho is the vice president of the CCOG, and told KUAM News, “That was a very positive thing that happened and we hope that the Pope and the Holy See will see fit to follow that advice.”

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Editorial

Gov. Eddie Calvo should sign Bill 326, the measure, which passed the Guam Legislature unanimously that would lift the statute of limitations on civil lawsuits involving child sex abuse. Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, the apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Agana has urged the governor to veto the bill because he fears “the archdiocese will be will be exposed to unlimited financial liability.” That liability “will very likely” bankrupt the archdiocese, he wrote in his letter that was read to Guam congregations attending Sunday Mass this past weekend.

The governor’s legal team may find some legitimate reason to veto the bill, but it should not be because of concern about the impact on the people or institutions involved in such monstrous behavior, whether as perpetrator, facilitator or after-the-fact concealer. The sexual abuse of minors is a heinous crime and should be treated as such.

The legislation follows recent allegations of sexual abuse of altar boys by members of the clergy decades ago, but the legislation does not mention the church or any other person or institution. The archdiocese, or anyone else, will only be penalized after a trial in a court of law, in which damages and culpability must be demonstrated to the legal standard.

We presume the church or anyone else accused of wrongdoing would be treated fairly in the courts. But fairness is also owed to the victims; they are also due their day in court.

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GUAM
KUAM

Sep 19, 2016

By Krystal Paco

While Bill 326 is intended to give justice to survivors of child sex abuse, the Archdiocese of Agana over the weekend asked parishioners to reconsider the legislation’s unintended consequences and to sign a petition to urge Governor Eddie Calvo to veto the measure that’s already passed on session floor. Specifically, the church says they’d be subject to unlimited financial liability as those who’ve been victimized by clergy decades ago would sue the church and potentially force closure of not only vital community service providers, but also Catholic schools.

If passed into law, the Archdiocese of Agana predicts Bill 326 could force the church to go broke, saying, “The church would fundamentally go into bankruptcy, and bankruptcy would put all the assets of the diocese on the table,” Father Jeff San Nicolas said. “Among those are the schools and other institutions in our church.”

The archdiocese is currently circulating petitions to veto the legislation and in its place introduce a measure that holds only the abuser, not their affiliated institutions, accountable for past crimes. Father Jeff, the delegate of the administrator, admits the church was wrong not to speak up at public hearings. He assures parishioners that the church wants justice – but not at the expense of the innocent.

To address this, the church is setting up a trust fund for victims.

He continued, “We understand and we agree with its intent. Unfortunately we feel that the full story of the bill has not been told because there are unintended consequences of the bill. Mainly to curtail and to harm the good work that the church does provide. The church is already setting up a fund. It’s already in the process because we recognize there is a financial responsibility that the church has towards victims. We do not want to escape that, or escape justice for the victims.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Shannon Deery, Herald Sun
September 19, 2016

ANOTHER serial paedophile priest is behind bars with victims saying he could be among Australia’s most prolific child sexual abusers.

Robert Claffey was today compared with Australia’s worst paedophile priest, Gerald Ridsdale, with one of his victims saying he was even more cunning.

Claffey, who has admitted molesting 14 kids, and Ridsdale, who says his victims number hundreds, worked together in the Catholic Church’s Ballarat diocese.

When Ridsdale was moved from the diocese’s Apollo Bay parish for abusing kids, Claffey replaced him.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Sep 19, 2016

By Nestor Licanto

A former attorney general and long-time legislative legal counsel cautions that Bill 326 may not survive a legal challenge. Doug Moylan is urging the governor and senators to seek an opinion from the Supreme Court of Guam on whether the measure even meets constitutional muster.

Moylan says the section of the proposed legislation extending the statute of limitations indefinitely for child sex abuse crimes could be a problem, because a previous law for filing abuse cases already opened a two year window that has since closed. “But then all of a sudden the Legislature is attempting now to revive it, which hits the due process and equal protection clause of the Organic Act and the US Constitution,” he stated.

But Moylan is also concerned that the law would open the floodgates for claims that could bring the church to its financial knees, adding, “You open up the can of worms by letting a lawsuit proceed by opening the statute of limitations. again the amount of money the Catholic Church is going to have to invest to pay people like me – lawyers – to defend itself is going to be ruinous to them”

He says victims should file against the individual perpetrators, not the local institution. And for those abusers who have died or lack resources to pay? Moylan says the Vatican has a procedure to provide restitution for victims similar to a government claims act. “In this case,” he said, “part of it goes to peoples trust in the Vatican.”

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

The bill that aims to lift the statute of limitations in child sex abuse cases should become law.

It’s a good bill that would help victims of child sexual abuse seek justice. For that reason, the bill has widespread support in the Legislature and community.

Sen. Frank Blas Jr. introduced Bill 326-33 a few months ago, after several people stepped forward with allegations of clergy sexual abuse. If the bill becomes law, it could allow accusers to sue individuals and institutions.

Earlier this month, a petition with more than 3,000 signatures was given to Blas in favor of the bill.

After the bill was unanimously passed last week, it was sent to Gov. Eddie Calvo for signing. The governor’s decision is due Friday.

Supporters of the bill were heartened until this weekend when Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai lobbied against the signing of it. He said the bill would expose the archdiocese to unlimited financial liability and bankruptcy.

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GUAM
USA Today

[with video]

Jojo Santo Tomas and Haidee V Eugenio, Pacific Daily News (Guam)

HAGATNA, Guam — Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai asked Guam’s clergy to deliver a message to Catholic churchgoers during Mass on Sunday: “… I am in Rome to urge the Holy See to remove Archbishop (Anthony) Apuron as archbishop of Agana and to appoint a successor.”

It was what Catholic protesters had demanded on picket signs since their first protest against Apuron late last year. Since May, members of the Concerned Catholics of Guam, the Laity Forward Movement and nonaffiliated parishioners staged protests every Sunday morning in front of the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral Basilica.

And while it was welcome news that Hon stood behind Apuron’s removal, the rest of Hon’s letter only served to disappoint and anger the protesters.

Hon asked churchgoers to sign a petition lobbying against the signing of Bill 326 into law. The bill would lift the time restriction on lawsuits against institutions such as the Archdiocese of Agana that have employed those accused of child sexual abuse. He said the bill would expose the archdiocese to unlimited financial liability and bankruptcy. Hon also wrote that similar legislation enacted in 13 U.S. dioceses led to school closures and cessation of vital services.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

AAP
19 SEP 2016

A senior member of the Catholic Church insists he doesn’t recall NSW priest John Farrell making child abuse confessions during a meeting they both attended 24 years ago.

National director of Catholic Mission Brian Lucas has told the child sex abuse royal commission he doesn’t remember Fr Farrell making detailed admissions about abusing five boys in the 1980s, while he was an assistant priest at Moree in northern NSW.

Fr Farrell allegedly confessed at the 1992 meeting to touching some of the boys on the leg, and fondling the genitals and having oral sex with others.

Fr Lucas and two other senior priests, Wayne Peters and John Usher, were at the meeting.

The admissions were detailed in a letter by Fr Peters to then-Bishop of Armidale Kevin Manning eight days after the meeting, but Fr Lucas said he doesn’t remember them.

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SOUTH AFRICA
IOL

Genevieve Serra

Cape Town – A Cape Town church leader has pleaded guilty to raping three of his daughters.

The 40-year-old man, who cannot be identified to protect the identity of his victims, was sentenced to 18 years in jail after he entered into a plea agreement at the Wynberg Regional Court last week.

On September 13, the Lotus River father pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual assault and two of rape, following an investigation by Detective Constable Morne Jackson of the Family Violence and Sexual Offences Unit.

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GUAM
The Tablet (UK)

19 September 2016 | by Sean Smith

New law which will allow civil suits against church for alleged child sex abuse of archbishop will force sale of assets

Vatican representative pleads with people of Guam to help save church from bankruptcy
A Vatican administrator who was sent to the small pacific island of Guam to investigate accusations of child sex abuse against Archbishop Anthony Apuron, 70, who denies any wrongdoing and refuses to step down from his post, has taken the unprecedented step of issuing a statement that was read out at all church services on the fiercely Catholic island.

Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai who is currently at the Vatican took the step of writing to the Roman Catholic faithful on the island after it emerged that Guam’s legislature passed a bill to remove the statute of limitations on civil lawsuits on the US territory which would allow alleged victims to sue the church for reparation despite many of the alleged abuses taking place in the 1970s and now being out of time to be pursued in the civil courts.

“I can assure you that the gravely serious allegations against Archbishop Apuron will continue to be dealt with… a canonical trial. His Holiness, Pope Francis, is monitoring the proceedings,” Tai-Fai said in the letter read out across the territory which is considered to have one of the most strategically important US military bases in the world – holding thousands of US military personnel on the island which sits in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and China.

“On behalf of the church, I want to apologise personally to the survivors of sexual abuse everywhere who have suffered so much at the hands of clergy,” he added. “We cannot undo the betrayal of trust and faith and the horrendous acts that the clergy have committed against the youngest and the most innocent amongst us.”

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GUAM
West Hawaii Today

GRACE GARCES BORDALLO Associated Press

HAGATNA, Guam — A Roman Catholic administrator is urging the Vatican to remove Guam’s archbishop, who has refused to resign amid accusations of sexual abuse against altar boys.

The move comes after a letter delivered in July from leaders in the Archdiocese of Agana did not move Archbishop Anthony Apuron to leave his post.

Archbishop Savio Hon, a temporary apostolic administrator for Guam who was appointed by the Vatican after the allegations surfaced, also is urging parishioners to sign a petition upholding the statute of limitation on civil lawsuits for child sex abuse. He said the archdiocese “will be exposed to unlimited financial liability” forcing the sale of church property.

A bill that lifts the current statute of limitation passed the Guam Legislature and is expected to be delivered to the governor’s desk on Sept. 21. The Guam church has not submitted any substitute bill for consideration.

“Right now we hope any legislation would not damage the social service agencies and the schools that are not a part of these accusations,” said Father Jeff San Nicolas, who is Guam’s apostolic delegate.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Chris McGillion and Damian Grace

Since its inception, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has been a lightning rod for longstanding disillusionment with the Catholic Church.

Among its critics, an impression seems to have formed that the Catholic Church has been exceptional among the institutions examined in regard to child sexual abuse and that it is, in fact, rotten to its core and in desperate need of root and branch reform.

Given the commission concludes its hearings on Catholic organisations this week, it is timely to consider whether what has been learned over the past 3½ years supports or challenges this impression.

Of the 5866 survivors who have testified before the commission in private sessions to date, 40 per cent have told of abuse in Catholic institutions. This compares with 8 per cent who have reported abuse in Anglican institutions and 4 per cent in those run by the Salvation Army. On the face of it, these figures seem to rest the case.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Sep. 19, 2016

VATICAN CITY
A member of Pope Francis’ commission on clergy sexual abuse has revealed that one of her colleagues in the group has resigned his position. The resignation, previously not made public, means two of the pontiff’s seventeen original appointees to the commission are no longer taking part in its work.

Marie Collins, an Irish laywoman and member of the Pontifical Council for the Protection of Minors, made the revelation in an NCR interview in response to a question about the status of fellow member Peter Saunders, who the commission put on a leave of absence from the group in February.

“There has been a resignation from the Commission,” Collins responded. “But Peter has not resigned or been dismissed: he is still on leave of absence.”

The Irishwoman, an abuse survivor, spoke to NCR following the commission’s meeting in Rome last week.

Emer McCarthy, the commission’s projects and media coordinator, said Monday that a member of the group resigned in May due to personal reasons.

McCarthy identified the resigned member as Claudio Papale, an Italian who teaches canon law at the Pontifical University Urbaniana. The Vatican’s 2015 phonebook also lists him as an official at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

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KENTUCKY
Lex 18

Sep 19, 2016

POWELL COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) – The trial for the Powell County youth pastor accused of sexual abuse will begin Monday.

52-year-old Steve Williams is accused of sexually abusing at least two minors. Williams was a school bus driver for Powell County Schools and pastor of the Bowen First Church of God for about two and a half years. Powell County deputies say the church has one of the largest youth groups in the area, and Williams was very involved with many children in the congregation.

Authorities were first alerted about the alleged misconduct by the Powell County Board of Education on Thursday, after a student who attends Powell County Middle School reported that she had been sexually abused by Williams.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

Inés San Martín
September 18, 2016
VATICAN CORRESPONDENT

ROME-During the last week, a group of over 150 bishops who were appointed by Pope Francis during the past year were in Rome to participate in what some have dubbed the “baby bishops’ boot camp.”

As is always the case for this yearly appointment, which began in 2001, the lessons were kept private. This is due mostly for two reasons: Some are dubbed of little interest to the general public, while others will potentially be collected in a book, as was last year’s case.

Yet many social media savvy prelates have been sharing tidbits on what went on in Rome from Sept. 10-18. …

He urged bishops not to get caught up in a “game of numbers” with vocations, and to instead focus on forming high-quality, mature priests, who are not “prey to their whims and slaves of their fragility, but free to embrace what God asks of them.”

Francis also warned the new bishops against using their office to be self-serving, urging them to use it instead to share the holiness, truth and love of God.

“The world is tired of lying spellbinders and, allow me to say, ‘trendy’ priests or bishops. The people sniff them out – they have God’s sense of smell – and they walk away when they recognize narcissists, manipulators, defenders of their own causes, auctioneers of vain crusades,” he said. …

One point that emerged clearly was the desire for stronger presentations on the fight against clerical sexual abuse, and the Church’s responsibility on protecting minors. Given what a cancer this issue has been for the Catholic Church, the Vatican this time attempted to give the bishops a state-of-the-art presentation on best practices in terms of preventing such meltdowns in the future.

For this edition, the speakers were members of the Vatican’s Commission for the Protection of Minors, including Boston’s Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, who heads the commission, and Irish lay woman Marie Collins, a survivor of clerical sexual abuse.

Also on this topic, the baby bishops heard from the Vatican’s former sex-crimes prosecutor, Archbishop Charles Scicluna, currently in Malta.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

September 19, 2016

DAN BOX
Crime reporterSydney
@DanBox10

A senior Catholic official personally interviewed around 35 allegedly abusive priests, convincing them to plead guilty or resign, but made no record of the conversations and did not report them to the police, a royal commission has heard.

Brian Lucas, the Australian director of Catholic Mission, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that he was acting to protect children by removing dangerous priests from their positions.

Counsel assisting the commission, Gail Furness SC, has described him as one of the “architects of the church’s approach” to the issue of child sex abuse committed by clergy.

Under questioning this morning, Father Lucas was asked about previous evidence he has given saying he interviewed 35 allegedly abusive priests around the early 1990s, a figure he described as “very, very rubbery”, he said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Biggleswade Today

A former resident of a Catholic boys’ home told jurors of a catalogue of sadistic beatings and sex abuse at the hands of nuns, priests and carers.

The man, who cannot be identified, was giving evidence in a trial of facts for James McCann, 80, who is accused of 52 charges of physical and sex assaults on 26 boys in the 1960s and 70s.

The Old Bailey heard this week that the alleged offences took place at St Francis children’s home in Shefford, where abuse was already deeply entrenched in the culture.

The person in charge, Father John Ryan, was described by the witness as “the most evil man I have ever met in my life”. The witness said the “well built and scary” priest had slapped and punched him on many occasions.

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