ABUSE TRACKER

PENNSYLVANIA
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on the Philadelphia District Attorney’s ongoing vendetta against Monsignor William Lynn:

For the third time, the Pennsylvania court system has tossed out the unjust conviction of Msgr. William Lynn over his handling of sexual abuse allegations against other priests. And for the third time, the Philadelphia District Attorney vows to pursue the discredited case. Today, a judge has set a date—May 1, 2017—for yet another trial, even though Msgr. Lynn has now served all but two months of his minimum three year sentence for a conviction that has been repeatedly reversed.

Earlier this week, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the trial court “abused its discretion” in allowing evidence unrelated to this case. But D.A. Seth Williams, in a clear abuse of his prosecutorial discretion, “is just hell-bent on trying this case,” as Msgr. Lynn’s attorney, Thomas Bergstrom, noted. Msgr. Lynn has “done 33 months along with 18 months house arrest for something the Superior Court has now ruled was an unfair trial,” Bergstrom points out. Yet, “for some reason” Williams “continues to want to beat up on this guy.”

From the start, this case has been a flagrant anti-Catholic witch-hunt, perpetrated by Williams, his predecessor Lynne Abraham, and others. (Click here to read the shocking details.) One would think they would by now be satisfied that they have extracted their pound of flesh from this innocent man. But such is their maniacal hatred for him and the Catholic Church he serves, that they will not give up—no matter how many times the courts tell them what should have been obvious from the start: that they have no legitimate case, and never did.

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
Brisbane Times

Amy Remeikis

After scrapping the statute of limitations for institutional child sex abuse survivors, the Palaszczuk Government is moving to add some pages to Queensland’s law books and allow class actions.

As it stands, the Sunshine State has no class action structure in its legal system, forcing those who had cause, including the Queensland flood victims, to lodge their action in interstate courts.

Queensland will allow class actions in its court system for the first time, under legislation to be introduced later this month

After speaking to stakeholders following its announcement Queensland would follow New South Wales and Victoria and remove the statute of limitations preventing adult institutional child abuse survivors from applying for civil justice, Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath said the government would also introduce legislation to allow class actions to be filed in the Queensland court system.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Premier

Thu 04 Aug 2016
By Alex Williams

The judge leading an inquiry into the extent the Church and other UK institutions failed to protect children from sexual abuse spent three months of her first year in the position abroad.

In addition to an annual leave entitlement of 30 days, Dame Lowell Goddard also spent 44 working days in Australia and New Zealand, her home country.

A spokeswoman for the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse told Premier Dame Goddard spent a portion of her time away from the UK learning from the experiences of the Australian royal commission on child abuse.

She added: “The chair spent 44 working days in New Zealand and Australia on inquiry business in the first financial year of the inquiry.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Chronicle Live

BY LAURA HILL

Former Archdeacon, George Granville Gibson, was found guilty of two counts of indecently assaulting men at Durham Crown Court

The Bishop of Durham has apologised after a former vicar was found guilty of indecently assaulting men at his church in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Church of England has also said it will investigate accusations that the then Bishop of Durham, John Habgood, swept concerns about the former Archdeacon George Granville Gibson “under the carpet” after one of his victim’s approached him.

Gibson, 80, of Worsley Park in Darlington was found guilty of two counts of indecently assaulting vulnerable men, at St Clares Church, in Newton Aycliffe , where he was a vicar.

One vulnerable victim was just 18-years-old.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Record Searchlight

By The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A former Philadelphia church official will be retried next year over his handling of priest-abuse complaints even though his child-endangerment conviction has twice been overturned.

Monsignor William Lynn will face a pared-down trial May 1, after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court faulted the trial judge for allowing weeks of testimony from 21 victims to show the alleged cover-up by the Roman Catholic church.

The court found that testimony prejudiced the jury against Lynn, who was charged with endangering a single boy abused by a problem priest transferred to his parish in the late 1990s.

Lynn, 65, returned to court Thursday, two days after leaving prison, but did not speak at the brief hearing. The defense hoped prosecutors would drop the case, given that he’s served all but three months of his three-year sentence. But Lynn has emerged as a pivotal test case in the move to hold church and institutional leaders responsible for protecting pedophiles.

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GUAM
Washington Post

By Grace Garces Bordallo | AP August 4

HAGATNA, Guam — The archbishop of Guam told church investigators to contact those who say they were sexually abused by clergy after learning this week that another former altar boy accused a priest of molesting him decades ago.

Leo B. Tudela, 73, gave emotional testimony about the abuse he says occurred in the mid-1950s during a hearing Monday at the Guam Legislature. He urged senators to support legislation that would lift the statute of limitations for lawsuits against those who sexually abused children. It’s now two years.

It comes after three former altar boys and the mother of another filed a $2 million libel and slander lawsuit against former Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron and the archdiocese, saying they were called liars when they raised allegations that Apuron sexually abused boys in the 1970s.

He has denied the abuse and not been charged with any crime. The Vatican appointed Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai as a temporary administrator after the allegations surfaced.

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IRLAND
Katholisches

(Dublin) Die Erzdiözese Dublin bestätigte am Mittwoch, daß Erzbischof Diarmuid Martin „vorübergehend“ die Aufnahme neuer Studenten in das größte Priesterseminar Irlands untersagt hat. Grund für den Aufnahmestopp ist der Verdacht des Erzbischofs, daß sich am Priesterseminar eine „Homo-Kultur“ eingenistet habe. Der Aufnahmestopp ist nur eine Maßnahme, um gegen die Homosexualisierung des Priesterseminars vorzugehen.

Am Dienstag sagte Erzbischof Martin gegenüber dem staatlichen Rundfunksender RTE, er sei „unangenehm“ berührt wegen anonymer Anschuldigungen gegen eine nennenswerte Zahl von Seminaristen des Sankt-Patrick-Kollegs von Maynooth, die schriftlich und im Internet verbreitet wurden.

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.

DEUTSCHLAND
Frankfurter Allgemeine

[Has the priest from Ettal abused even more children?]

Der wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs in 21 Fällen verurteilte ehemalige Ettaler Benediktinerpater G. muss sich seit Donnerstag erneut vor einem Münchner Gericht verantworten. Die Staatsanwaltschaft wirft dem 46 Jahre alten Geistlichen sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern in „zehn tatmehrheitlichen Fällen“ vor. Der Beschuldigte habe 2004 und 2005 mehrmals sexuelle Handlungen an einer Person unter 14 Jahren vorgenommen oder an sich von dem Kind vornehmen lassen. Seit April dieses Jahres sitzt G. in Untersuchungshaft.

Der Mann ist laut Auskunft eines Sprechers des Klosters Ettal inzwischen aus dem Orden ausgeschlossen und darf das Priesteramt nicht mehr ausüben. Die Entscheidung habe die römische Glaubenskongregation Mitte 2015 getroffen. Seit Herbst 2010 lebe der Betroffene nicht mehr in Ettal. Die Abtei übernehme beim neuen Prozess keine Kosten für den Beschuldigten, wie sie dies zuvor getan habe.

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.

DEUTSCHLAND
BR

[Former priest from Ettal acknowledges allegations.]

Von: Elmar Voltz und David Herting
Stand: 04.08.2016

Zum zweiten Mal musste sich heute ein ehemaliger Pater aus dem Kloster Ettal vor dem Münchner Landgericht wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs an einem Internatsschüler verantworten. Er räumte zum Prozessauftakt die Vorwürfe ein. Das Urteil soll nächsten Mittwoch fallen.

Gerichtssprecherin Andrea Titz bestätigte dem Bayerischen Rundfunk, dass es im Vorfeld ein Gespräch zwischen allen Verfahrensbeteiligten gegeben habe. Die Verteidigung erklärte, der Angeklagte wolle mit dieser Entscheidung dem Opfer eine weitere Aussage vor Gericht und dem Kloster Ettal weitere, „negative Publicity“ ersparen. Damit dürfte eine Haftstrafe für den heute 46-jährigen Jürgen R. unausweichlich sein, die Staatsanwaltschaft hatte offenbar im Vorgespräch mit den Verfahrensbeteiligten eine Gefängnisstrafe von acht bis neun Jahren gefordert, die Verteidigung will dagegen nur fünf Jahre unter Einbeziehung des vorherigen Urteils. Auch die Vorsitzende Richterin spricht von einer Gesamtstrafe von sechs bis acht Jahren. Die Plädoyers werden nächsten Mittwoch gehalten, dann soll auch das Urteil gefällt werden.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Aug. 4

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

A trial date has been set for the only US Catholic official to ever do jail time for hiding and enabling child sex crimes. So now it’s time for church staff to stop protecting Msgr. William Lynn like Lynn protected predator priests. It’s time for every current and former church employee – from bookkeeper to bishop – who has information or suspicions about Msgr. Lynn’s complicity to overcome their fears, do their duty and call Philly prosecutors.

“This is excessively punitive,” some will claim. They’re wrong. This is about smart deterrence and simple justice. All of us have a duty to safeguard kids by holding those who don’t responsible for their wrongdoing.

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

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholic Philly

Posted August 4, 2016

Although Msgr. William Lynn is free from prison after posting $250,000 bail on Tuesday, Aug. 2, he will be retried next year on the same charge of endangering the welfare of a child for which he was convicted and incarcerated for most of the past three years.

The former secretary for clergy of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia was arrested and charged in February of 2011, and convicted by a jury in 2012, for failing to properly supervise a now-laicized priest, Edward Avery.

Avery pleaded guilty at that time to sexually abusing a 10-year-old altar boy in 1999 at St. Jerome Parish in Northeast Philadelphia.

Msgr. Lynn, now 65, was the first high-ranking clergyman to be convicted in the United States for a crime related to the clergy sexual abuse scandal that surfaced in 2002. Locally it led to two Philadelphia grand jury reports, in 2005 and 2011, and a Pennsylvania grand jury report on the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese in March of this year.

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NEW YORK
The Journal News

Adrienne Sanders and Lee Higgins, lhiggins2@lohud.com August 4, 2016

Yona Weinberg: A timeline

June 2008: Brooklyn district attorney indicts Yona Weinberg, a 29-year-old licensed social worker and bar mitzvah tutor, on numerous charges including nine misdemeanor counts of second-degree sexual abuse and six of child endangerment.

June 2009: Weinberg convicted of nine counts for victimizing two boys — seven counts of second-degree sexual abuse and two of child endangerment

September 2009: Weinberg sentenced to 13 months in jail. At his sentencing, Judge J. Reichbach criticizes the Orthodox Jewish community for supporting Weinberg, noting 90 letters were sent attesting to his character and innocence — and mentioning nothing about the victims.

September 2009: Weinberg loses appeal.

2010: Weinberg released from jail after serving roughly a year. He returns to his Brooklyn home, where he lives with his wife and young children. Weinberg is designated a Level 3 sex offender (high risk of repeat offense and threat to public safety).

June 2014: Police investigate a complaint Weinberg allegedly groped an 11-year-old boy after they were watching television in Weinberg’s apartment earlier that year. Prosecutors declined to bring charges, according to the Daily News.

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NEW YORK/ISRAEL
The Journal News

Adrienne Sanders and Lee Higgins, lhiggins2@lohud.com August 4, 2016

A child molester who moved from New York to Israel as he was being sought on a new misdemeanor assault charge has turned to the Israeli court system to quiet a Rockland County rabbi intent on spreading the word about his crimes on the internet and in Jerusalem.

Yona Weinberg, who spent roughly a year in jail for sexually abusing two boys in Brooklyn, lost his bid Tuesday in an Israeli court for an order of protection against Rabbi Yakov Horowitz of Monsey.

Horowitz was visiting Jerusalem to teach a child-safety class in Weinberg’s neighborhood, Har Nof. The order would have prevented the rabbi from lecturing there because the community center where he was teaching is within a third of a mile of Weinberg’s home.

The bid for the protection order followed Weinberg’s filing a defamation lawsuit against the rabbi, who put out tweets warning Weinberg’s neighbors in Israel of his presence. The lawsuit remains pending.

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
Manny Waks

4/8/2016

​The letter below was recently sent by the Adass Israel School to its community. This school has been embroiled in the Malka Leifer affair. While the letter is a welcome development, and contains both positive and important information, there are two glaring omissions.

Firstly, there is no acceptance of responsibility or an unequivocal apology – for that matter, there is no apology whatsoever. From the victims’ perspective, the letter would be meaningless, if not downright offensive.

Secondly, the encouragement to report allegations of child sexual abuse is vague. Adass should have made it absolutely clear that community members must report all allegations directly to the police. Indeed this requirement should have been supported with a clear endorsement by their most senior rabbis.

I suspect these omissions were deliberate, which is disappointing. Nevertheless, this letter is at least a positive development.

27 July 2016

Dear Parent and Community Members

We wish to advise the community of the steps we have taken to comply with the Government’s Child Safe Standards, which aims to change the culture in organisations to enhance the protection of children from abuse, including prevention and effective response. We strongly support and accept these measures.

​We are pleased to advise many of the requirements have been in place for some years and we are ready for legal compliance on 1 August 2016. A copy of the Adass Israel School statement of commitment and associated policies and procedures are available for perusal at the School Office. The process will involve continual review and we will keep you up to date with progress in terms of the enhancement of our policies and procedures.

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PENNSYLVANIA
NBC 10

[with video]

By Morgan Zalot

Two days after he walked free from a northeastern Pennsylvania prison on bail, Monsignor William Lynn, accused of shielding pedophile priests, learned when he’ll face a new trial.

Lynn served nearly three years in prison before a judge granted him bail earlier this week after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed a lower court’s decision to overturn his conviction, granting him a new trial. At a hearing Thursday morning, a Philadelphia judge set Lynn’s new trial for May 2017.

In the wake of Lynn’s release, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams vowed to re-try the former Archdiocese of Philadelphia official, contending that he endangered thousands of children throughout the city’s Catholic parishes when he knowingly transferred child-molesting priests to cover up abuse.

Lynn’s now-overturned conviction is historical, because he is the first Roman Catholic Church official in the United States ever to be charged with shielding pedophile priests.

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]

Haidee V Eugenio, Pacific Daily News August 4, 2016

Guam church still funds priest removed from ministry 31 years ago for sex abuse

A former Guam priest who was publicly accused during a Legislature hearing this week as having molested an altar boy in the 1950s said Thursday “it’s possible” he abused altar boys on island and he’s asking for forgiveness from those he may have hurt.

Father Louis Brouillard, now 95, was removed from his position in 1985 while serving in a Minnesota diocese.

Brouillard spoke to Pacific Daily News on Thursday via telephone from his residence in Pine City, Minnesota, about 70 miles north of Minneapolis. Brouillard said he’s sorry about the possible abuses.

Leo Tudela, 73, a former altar boy, told Guam senators on Monday that Brouillard and two other church members sexually abused him around 1956. Tudela, who spoke during a public hearing on a bill that would lift a time limit on filing lawsuits against accused child molesters, is the latest in a growing number of former island altar boys who’ve accused members of the local Catholic church of sexual abuse.

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UNITED STATES
Independent Catholic News

Thursday, August 4, 2016

From September, fifteen seminarians from the Saint John Vianney College Seminary (SJV), from the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, will pursue their academic formation at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Rome, and are to transfer their residency from the university’s Bernardi campus to the Pontifical Irish College, Rome. The new arrangement will initially run during the academic year 2016/17.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin and the Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Pontifical Irish College, along with the board of Saint John Vianney College, approved the new partnership at their June meeting. Welcoming the seminarians Archbishop Martin said: “The presence of these United States’ seminarians will enrich and consolidate the seminary community in the Pontifical Irish College, under the overall leadership of its rector, Monsignor Ciaran O’Carroll. Together with Archbishop Bernard Hebda of Saint Paul Minneapolis, I wish the project every blessing and success.”

According to SJV Rector Father Michael Becker: “This new partnership is a testament to the strong collaboration between the University of Saint Thomas’ Catholic Studies Rome Program and Saint John Vianney College Seminary. Our association with the Pontifical Irish College will only enhance what has already been established.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Miguel Otárola GLOBE CORRESPONDENT AUGUST 04, 2016

A 55-year-old woman has sued her former teacher and coach at a Catholic high school in Framingham, alleging that she sexually abused her for nearly two years.

The woman, who filed the lawsuit anonymously, claims that Diane Ryszewski abused her from 1975 to 1977, her first two years at Marian High School. During the woman’s freshman year, Ryszewski arranged for her to live with her, the suit claims, and “engaged in continuous acts of sex abuse and rape.”

Administrators and teachers were aware that Ryszewski lived with the student, but “took no action to protect [her] or to end the relationship,” the suit claims.

In an interview Wednesday at the Boston office of her attorney, Carmen L. Durso, the woman said that her relationship with Ryszewski was common knowledge.

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ARIZONA
AZCentral

Anne Ryman, The Republic | azcentral.com

Actor Michael Keaton portrayed Robinson in 2015 movie about investigative reporters revealing clergy sex abuse and cover-up.

The Boston Globe editor who led the investigations team portrayed in the Academy Award-winning movie “Spotlight” is coming to Arizona State University to teach.

Walter “Robby” Robinson will be a visiting professor, beginning in January, ASU officials announced this week. He will teach an investigative-journalism class at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and work with Cronkite News reporters.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2016

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

Boston area Catholic officials are accused of committed and concealing child sex crimes by a female teacher against a girl. We hope this lawsuit will bring comfort to some, knowing that an alleged sex offender has now been “outed” and knowing that youngsters are now safer. We also hope this case will expose what her colleagues and supervisors did and didn’t do to protect kids. And we hope others who have information or suspicions about her crimes will come forward now to protect others and begin healing.

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NORTH CAROLINA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2016

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

A female teacher who now lives in Charlotte is accused of repeatedly sexually abusing a girl. For the safety of children, we call on Charlotte Catholic officials to warn parents, police, prosecutors, parishioners and the public about the alleged predator.

We hope this new lawsuit, filed today in Boston, will bring comfort to some, knowing that an alleged sex offender has now been “outed” and knowing that youngsters are now safer. We also hope this case will expose what her colleagues and supervisors did and didn’t do to protect kids. We hope others who have information or suspicions about her crimes will come forward now to protect others and begin healing. And again, we hope Charlotte Bishop Peter Jugis will use his vast resources to sound the alarm about this credibly accused child molester.

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UNITED STATES
Forward

Sam Kestenbaum
August 2, 2016

Applications are now being accepted for a year-long course on New Age tantric sex, which include instruction on “total body orgasms,” “Prayer Sexing” and “Pleasure Dharma.” Classes begin in October and applicants who enroll before August 15 receive a generous discount.

One of the course’s teachers? Controversial one-time rabbi Marc Gafni.

Gafni, a New Age guru and former rabbi accused of abuses of power through his career, including molestation of a teenage girl, has another venture — as “wisdom teacher in residence” at the Institute for Integral Evolutionary Tantra.

“We need to be willing to stand with each other in sexuality,” Gafni wrote in an introductory message on the organization’s website. “We need to learn what that means with all of its complexity, with all of its shadows.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Burton Mail

A 77-YEAR-OLD man from Burton has been accused of sexually abusing a pupil at a Derbyshire school “twice a week” over a four year period, a court has heard.

The victim, who is now in his 50s, said John Thompson, a former junior school teacher, turned Baptist minister, would make him undress in his office at Crich C of E Junior School and then went on to touch the boy sexually.

The victim said his experiences at the hands of Thompson ‘destroyed my life’ and that he did not come forward until 40 years after the alleged abuse as he was “ashamed and embarrassed with myself”.

Thompson, of Tutbury Road, Burton, faces charges of six counts of indecent assault and two of gross indecency with the-then pupil for offences that date back to the 1970s.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Aug 04, 2016

By Sabrina Salas Matanane

The Concerned Catholics of Guam group is questioning why a priest accused of child sex abuse is still getting paid by the Archdiocese of Agana. As a matter of fact, the CCOG has been questioning the alleged actions of this priest since January 2015.

During a recent public hearing on Bill 326, legislation to lift the statute of limitations on child sex abuse cases, Leo Tudela alleged he was abused by members of the clergy when he was 13 years old. He came from Saipan to Guam to attend Catholic school and eventually became an altar boy at the Santa Teresita Church in Mangilao. That’s where he encountered Father Louis Brouillard, who he alleges sexually molested him.

“I was shocked and felt very uncomfortable,” Tudela said earlier this week. “I was shaking, scared, and started to cry.” Since his testimony, apostolic administrator Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai has gone on various media, including KUAM Radio, acknowledging the tremendous pain Tudela is experiencing for coming forward and assures the community the matter has been referred to the archdiocese’s sexual abuse response coordinator (SARC).

Ironically, allegations involving Fr. Brouillard have been reported to the former SARC before. Matter of fact, in a report compiled by the CCOG in January 2015 it states that the priest was stripped of his faculties by former Archbishop Felixberto Flores after credible allegations arose against him. Fr. Brouillard then went back to his home state of Minnesota.

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AUSTRALIA
The Daily Telegraph

NEIL KEENE, The Daily Telegraph
August 4, 2016

PRIESTS within the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle conspired to burn a collection of child and gay porn videos owned by a paedophile priest.

A Royal Commission heard this morning that serial paedophile Father Peter Rushton recruited the help of another priest within the diocese to dispose of “hundreds” of pornographic videos stored in his home.

Former Archdeacon Colvin Ford told the commission that he was told the videos were burnt in the backyard of a rectory.

“He needed to use a 44-gallon drum in order to get rid of them,” Mr Ford said.

“He also told me that the covers of some of the videos depicted men and boys which I took to mean primary school age children.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
CBS Philly

[with video]

By Joe Holden

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Debbie and Mike McIlmail say they couldn’t stomach watching the video, on Tuesday, of Msgr. William Lynn leaving state prison.

“My son was abused because of his decisions,” said Mike. Sean McIlmail was a sixth grader at Resurrection Parish School when it’s alleged that he was molested by Father Robert Brennan. Sean kept quiet about what allegedly occurred for a dozen years, until one day in 2012.

“I was blown away. I’m thinking wow. Everything I was always taught about the Catholic Church…a lie.” Mike said.

Sean made a report to police, all the while his parents say he was fighting a drug addiction. Just days before he would testify against Brennan at a hearing, he died from an overdose. Sean was 26.

His parents hold Msgr. William Lynn responsible for bringing Brennan into their lives. “He is responsible for so much pain and suffering,” Mike said.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Fox 9

[with video]

PHILADELPHIA (WTXF/AP) –
A former Philadelphia church official is due back in court two days after he was released from prison when his child-endangerment conviction was overturned.

Monsignor William Lynn, 65, has served all but three months of his three-year sentence since his high-profile 2012 trial.

But Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams insists he will retry the case. A judge could set a trial date at the 10am Thursday hearing.

Lynn is the first church official ever charged or convicted over his handling of complaints that priests were molesting children.

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PENNSYLVANIA
NBC 10

[with video]

By Morgan Zalot

Two days after he walked free from a northeastern Pennsylvania prison on bail, Monsignor William Lynn, accused of shielding pedophile priests, is expected to appear in Philadelphia court on Thursday.

Lynn served nearly three years in prison before a judge granted him bail earlier this week after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed a lower court’s decision to overturn his conviction, granting him a new trial. At his hearing on Thursday, a new trial date will likely be discussed.

In the wake of Lynn’s release, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams vowed to re-try the former Archdiocese of Philadelphia official, contending that he endangered thousands of children throughout the city’s Catholic parishes when he knowingly transferred child-molesting priests to cover up abuse.

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TEXAS
TXKtoday

By Field Walsh – August 3, 2016

A youth pastor at the Anchor Church in Texarkana is in the Miller County jail on charges of sexual assault involving a teen church member.

David Farren, 41, was arrested Wednesday afternoon on three charges of first degree sexual assault, according to officials. Farren’s alleged misconduct with the girl occurred when she was 16 and 17 years of age.

Farren is expected to make an initial court appearance before a Miller County judge sometime Thursday. Bail is expected to be set at that time.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Dan Cox

An Anglican Church abuse survivor has told a royal commission’s hearings in Newcastle his abuse continues to prey on his mind, 40 years later.

The man, who can only be identified as CKA, gave evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The public hearings at Newcastle courthouse are looking at the past and present systems, policies and practices within the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle for responding to allegations of child sexual abuse.

CKA told the commission he was an altar boy between 1971 to 1975 when he was sexually abused by a priest, known to the commission as CKC.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Alan O’Keeffe
PUBLISHED
04/08/2016

Following Archbishop Diarmuid Martin’s decision, it was rumoured Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan would send his seminarians to Rome.

Reports suggested the Bishop of Waterford and Lismore had let it be known he would be withdrawing trainee priests from St Patrick’s College.

As the fallout from Dr Martin’s comments on the culture at Maynooth continued, Bishop Cullinan did not confirm his position on the issue.

However, late on Tuesday night, the Bishop confirmed to the Irish Independent that he had no plans to withdraw seminarians from St Patrick’s.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Una Mullally

The dogs on the street of Maynooth and everywhere else know that gay priests exist in large numbers.

The gay priest is so common, he is a cliche. This week, Catholicism’s most open secret was given another public airing when Archbishop Diarmuid Martin stirred things up by confirming that the archdiocese of Dublin will move three trainee priests to Rome, so that they will avoid St Patrick’s Maynooth seminary, where gay priests have allegedly been using the sex and dating app Grindr.

One would imagine many clergy members are furious at Archbishop Martin for drawing attention to Maynooth, and the sexuality and sex lives of gay priests. The church operates behind closed doors, resents answering to anyone but its own hierarchy, and has massive self-interest in maintaining a pious position in society. Why did Archbishop Martin draw attention to Maynooth now? Maybe he wanted Maynooth to get their act together. Maybe he wanted to get ahead of the second aspect of this news story, which is the much more serious aspect of sexual harassment.

So there seems to be two elements to the Maynooth story. One is around gay priests; that gay priests exist within the seminary, that they are having sex, that they are using the dating and sex app Grindr to communicate with other gay men or other gay priests in order to hook up.

The other is around accusations of sexual harassment, with one former trainee priest saying he was harassed by a member of staff. Men having consensual sex is obviously not illegal, but sexual harassment or assault very much is. Although the church’s warped attitude towards sexuality tends to categorise all sexual contact that takes place outside of heterosexual married partnerships as wrong, it’s important to separate these two elements. The church might view homosexuality as wrong, but it isn’t. Historically, the Catholic Church has failed miserably in adopting a proactive stance on harassment and abuse, as Ireland and other countries witnessed when the devastating incidents of child rape, torture, abuse and assault were exposed over decades, along with the church’s subsequent protection of paedophiles within its organisation.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Nicola Anderson, Ciara Treacy and Alan O’Keeffe
PUBLISHED
04/08/2016

A former lecturer at Maynooth has claimed a culture of “excessive drinking” and “sexual intimidation” at the college dates back decades.

Mark Dooley, a former philosophy lecturer at the seminary, yesterday claimed the culture in Maynooth was “all-pervasive” among staff as well as students.

“One was almost expected to conform to this culture and if one expressed any desire to be faithful to one’s vocation, one was made to feel like a pariah,” he said.

Dooley’s comments come after Archbishop Martin explained his decision to send seminarians to Rome instead of Maynooth due to allegations of a “homosexual, gay culture – that students are using an app called Grindr, a gay dating app”.

Martin’s controversial stance has left him isolated by his colleagues. Yesterday, an Archbishop and six bishops said they will continue to send priests to the embattled college in Maynooth regardless of the controversy.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Nicola Anderson

PUBLISHED
04/08/2016

The former senior dean at Maynooth College – who was “demoted and humiliated” after expressing concerns about activities at the college in the 1980s – has said the current saga reads “like deja vu”.

And Fr Gerard McGinnity warned “any would-be whistleblowers” to “be prepared for a difficult passage” unless they have someone there to protect them.

He said he can see “the features of what occurred 30 years ago repeated” in a lot of the recent narrative about the national seminary and said that it raises doubts that anything has changed there in the intervening years.

In 1984, as Senior Dean, Fr McGinnity took up senior seminarians’ concerns over the behaviour of then college vice-president Monsignor Micheál Ledwith in relation to junior seminarians – “including concerns of a sexual nature”.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Thursday, August 04, 2016

Joe Leogue

A former senior dean at St Patrick’s College Maynooth said he has a sense of “déjà vu” when reading of the current culture at the college and that he was “shafted” by his superiors when he raised concerns about complaints made against a vice-president there in the 1980s.

In 2005, the Ferns Inquiry found it was “entirely understandable” that Fr Gerard McGinnity felt he was victimised as a result of his raising the concerns of seminarians.

The report detailed how seminarians had expressed concerns over the “allegedly extravagant lifestyle” and “alleged sexual orientation and propensity” of Monsignor Micheal Ledwith, who was vice-president at the college at the time.

Fr McGinnity said reports this week of a culture of secrecy and gay dating at Maynooth had features of what occurred in the college when he raised his complaints.

“It sounds and reads like a déjà vu in many respects, because I can see the features of what occurred 30 years ago repeated in a lot of the narrative about it,” he told RTÉ’s News at One.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

Fourteen of the 26 Catholic diocesan bishops in Ireland have so far indicated they will continue to send seminarians to Maynooth, with some saying they will also send trainee priests to the Irish College in Rome.

The Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, said this week he had decided not to send seminarians to Maynooth due to “an atmosphere of strange goings-on there”.

He said it seemed like “a quarrelsome place with anonymous letters being sent around”, adding, “I don’t think this is a good place for students.”

Dublin seminarians would go to the Irish College in Rome instead.

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IRELAND
Christian Today

James Macintyre 04 August 2016

Fourteen of the 26 Catholic diocesan bishops in Ireland have said they will continue to send seminarians to the national seminary, despite the decision by the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin to cease sending trainee priests there.

The move by Martin came because of what he described as “strange goings-on” at Maynooth, in north County Kildare, amid reports of a “gay sub-culture” and claims that some of the 60 resident seminarians were using the gay dating app Grindr.

Martin this week told The Irish Times: “I wasn’t happy with Maynooth…There seems to be an atmosphere of strange goings-on there, it seems like a quarrelsome place with anonymous letters being sent around. I don’t think this is a good place for students”.

Following the archbishop’s comments, The Irish Times emailed bishops asking if they were planning to continue to send their seminarians to Maynooth. Fourteen said they would.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Vivienne Clarke

An American canon lawyer says he suspects there is a great deal more to the story of what is happening in Maynooth seminary.

Fr Tom Doyle told RTE’s Morning Ireland that he has great respect for Archbishop Diarmuid Martin and his judgement.

His comments come after the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin said earlier this week that he had decided to transfer three seminarians to Rome after concerns emerged about “strange goings on” and a gay subculture at St Patrick’s College in Maynooth.

Fr Doyle said he believed Dr Martin’s decision to withdraw seminarians from Maynooth was “an excellent decision.”

There is a toxic subculture in some American seminaries, he said, with a lot of backbiting. “If that’s the discord in Maynooth then he was right to take the steps he took and I respect him for that.

“If there is a subculture going on then it has to be addressed immediately and decisively. In the US seminarians who reported were not believed and the subcultures continued.”

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Nicola Anderson and Ciara Treacy
PUBLISHED
04/08/2016

A former lecturer at Maynooth has claimed “excessive drinking and dubious sexual practices” were in the air for decades at St Patrick’s College.

Mark Dooley, a former philosophy lecturer at the seminary, yesterday claimed the culture in Maynooth was “all-pervasive” amongst staff as well as students.

“One was almost expected to conform to this culture and if one expressed any desire to be faithful to one’s vocation, one was made to feel like a pariah,” he said.

Mr Dooley explained how he had been approached by a number of students in 2010 who asked him to sit down because they had a things to “get off their chest”.

The meeting was mediated by a priest and was attended initially by around 10 or 11 students who were “very hesitant” and “terribly upset”, he said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By PRESS ASSOCIATION

Dame Lowell Goddard, the head of Britain’s inquiry into child abuse, has spent more than 70 days working abroad or on holiday in her first year in the role.

This was made up 44 working days abroad and 30 days of annual leave, according to The Times.

Dame Lowell, 67, a New Zealand high court judge, was appointed to lead the inquiry following the resignation of two previous chairwomen.

It was set up in 2014 amid claims of an establishment cover-up following allegations that a paedophile ring operated in Westminster in the 1980s.

An inquiry spokesman told The Times: “The chair spent 44 working days in New Zealand and Australia on inquiry business in the first financial year of the inquiry. In addition she is entitled to 30 days’ annual leave.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Telegraph Reporters
4 AUGUST 2016

The head of Britain’s inquiry into child abuse has reportedly spent more than 70 days working abroad or on holiday during her first year in the role.

Dame Lowell Goddard, who is Britain’s highest paid civil servant, worked for 44 days in New Zealand, her home country, and Australia after taking up the role in April last year, according to the Times.

This is in addition to her 30 days of annual holiday leave, the newspaper reported, bringing the total to 74 days – which equates to three working months.

Dame Justice Goddard, 67, a New Zealand high court judge, was appointed to lead the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA) following the resignation of two previous chairwomen.

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UNITED KINGDOM
National Secular Society

Posted: Thu, 04 Aug 2016

One of the most senior cardinals in France, Lyons’ Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, has been told by the prosecutor that he will not face charges following allegations that he had failed to report suspicions of child abuse by a priest under his control, as is required by French law.

Bernard Preynat, a priest in his diocese, was charged in January after admitting to sexual assaults on four boy scouts between 1986 and 1991 — crimes which his lawyers say he can no longer be convicted of. There are thought to be many more victims.

Associated Press has reported that the “statute of limitations had expired for some of the allegations” against the Cardinal and the evidence for other accusations was not “sufficient”.

In May at the height of prosecutors’ investigations into Cardinal Barbarin’s actions, the Pope said publicly that it would be “nonsensical and imprudent” to seek the archbishop’s resignation at this stage, although Cardinal Barbarin admitted last month to “errors in the management and nomination of certain priests”, while vehemently denying any cover-up.

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LOUISIANA
KLFY

[with video]

BREAUX BRIDGE, La. (KLFY)—Father F. David Broussard, Pastor of St. Bernard Roman Catholic Church in Breaux Bridge is accused of having hundreds of child porn images on his computer.

News 10 filed a freedom of information act request with Louisiana State Police. According to the initial complaint, the St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office contacted the State Police Special Victims Unit on July 15.

The complaint says Father Broussard searched for child porn between July 2014 and July 2016.

Investigators found more than 500 images of child sexual abuse on Broussard’s desktop computer and hard drive.

The complaint says Broussard did the searches from the rectory where he lived.

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CANADA
Kingston Whig-Standard

By Sue Yanagisawa, Kingston Whig-Standard
Wednesday, August 3, 2016

The man accusing a retired Roman Catholic priest of sexually molesting him as child wanted Superior Court Justice Wolfram Tausendfreund to know, Wednesday, that he never wanted to be sitting where he was sitting in the courtroom.

Asked by assistant Crown attorney Gerard Laarhuis what he was feeling when he bolted from the witness stand a day earlier, the 41-year-old said “frustration, having to be up here talking about my life in front of so many people I don’t know.

“Having them looking at me, smiling at me, winking at me.”

He spent the better part of two days this week testifying at the trial of 68-year-old Robyn Q. Gwyn, who stands accused on two counts of sexually assaulting the complainant when he was an adolescent and young teen from the mid-1980s into the early 1990s; touching him when he was under 14 for a sexual purpose; sexually exploiting a position of trust; and invitation to sexual touching.

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LOUISIANA
The Advocate

BY JAMES GILL | jgill@theadvocate.com AUG 3, 2016

It’s been seven years since Rebecca Mayeux filed suit against her parish priest and the Diocese of Baton Rouge, but the case has gotten nowhere as the courts mulled the competing claims of state and church law.

The case revolves around what Mayeux told Father Jeff Bayhi during confession. The diocese has maintained that the confidentiality of the confessional should prevent her from testifying about it, but a state Court of Appeal panel ruled last week that she can’t be gagged.

The vote was only 2-1, but this should have been a clear-cut issue. It would be a strange justice system that allowed defendants to evade legal liability simply by asserting the supremacy of their own doctrine.

Bayhi, being sworn to secrecy under pain of excommunication, will not be able to contradict what Mayeux says in court. But that is hardly reason enough to deny an aggrieved parishioner the right to speak and seek redress. We have judges and juries to weigh the truth of testimony.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Profile: Micheál Ledwith

Luke Byrne
PUBLISHED
04/08/2016

The current crisis at St Patrick’s College seminary is not the first time it has been subjected to controversy and allegations of sexual misconduct.

Micheál Ledwith, a former president of the institution, was defrocked as a priest by the Pope in 2005.

It came just over a decade after he suddenly stood down from his role at the college, amidst allegations against him of sexual abuse of a minor.

Mr Ledwith, who in recent times has lectured for a religious cult group in the US, was a rising star of the Catholic Church when he was appointed at the age of 42 as president of St Patrick’s in 1985.

He had served as its vice-president, a professor of dogmatic theology, written its history, and was due to celebrate the college’s bicentenary when he unexpectedly stood down in June 1994. At the time, there were rumours of allegations made against him.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX
Crime reporterSydney
@DanBox10

A church-run telephone hotline for child abuse victims was answered by a senior cleric who was later defrocked for having group sex with a teenager, a royal commission has heard.

Graeme Lawrence, then the dean of Newcastle’s Anglican Cathedral in NSW, also failed to tell those calling the hotline that he had a close working relationship with at least one priest who was the subject of repeated allegations of abuse.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has heard Mr Lawrence was part of a powerful “Gang of Three” within the church, who protected another serial child abuser, the later Father Peter Rushton.

One victim, who cannot be named and who reported his abuse to Mr Lawrence on two occasions in the 1990s, said “it never occurred to me to ask ‘Are you a pedophile and who is your offsider?’

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

By Annette Blackwell – AAP on August 4, 2016

A furniture removal crew was so shocked by pornography they found at an Anglican priest’s home in NSW that they refused to go back to finish the job, the child abuse royal commission has heard.

Colvin Ford, former archdeacon of the Upper Hunter in the diocese of Newcastle, told the commission on Thursday a manager of a local furniture removal company rang him in 1998 to say distressing pornography had been found at the home of Peter Rushton, a senior priest in the diocese.

Rev Ford said the manager Jim Jackson said “our men are no angels but they were shocked by the material”.

Rev Ford reported the conversation to Bishop Roger Herft and had a meeting with him, a retired bishop and Rushton.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
Thursday 4 August 2016

An Anglican priest accused of child sex abuse 15 years ago may face a retrial, a royal commission has been told.

The trial against the priest, given the pseudonym CKC, fell over when his defence team, made up of prominent church people, produced a register showing that the abuse could not have happened when the complainant said it did.

CKA, the man who alleged serious prolonged abuse by the priest, told a hearing of the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse in Newcastle on Thursday he would never recover from the impact of the church’s response, which was to throw its full weight behind the priest who ruined his life, he said.

“I cannot get over the sheer frustration of dealing with bishops and clergy who, I believe, knew full well what CKC was doing and did nothing,” CKA said as he outlined how at every turn he was met by a wall of friends all focused on supporting one another.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Ian Kirkwood

A former Anglican altar boy has told a royal commission of four years of abuse at the hands of a priest code-named CKC.

A trial against the priest was discontinued soon after it started and the 55-year-old former altar-boy – given the pseudonym CKA – told how his family suffered abuse and death threats as a result of him taking action against CKC.

He said an elderly woman from the church spat on him and said he was “nothing but a troublemaker”.

He said he had nails put in his tyres and could have died when he realised the car he was driving felt funny and he pulled over to find all of its rear wheel nuts had been loosened.

CKA named the person he believed responsible, a prominent lay figure in the Newcastle Anglican church.

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LOUISIANA
Catholic News Agency

Baton Rouge, La., Aug 4, 2016 / 12:52 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A state appeals court in Louisiana reaffirmed that Catholic priests cannot be forced by law to violate the seal of the confessional.

According to local news station WBRZ, the court ruled on Friday that Father Jeff Bayh does not have to disclose any discussion that took place during the Sacrament of Confession.

Catholic priests are bound to observe the seal of confession and cannot reveal to anyone the contents of a confession or whether a confession took place. Priests who violate the seal are automatically excommunicated.

At issue is a civil lawsuit involving a woman who said that in 2008, when she was a minor, she told Fr. Bayhi that she was being abused by a parishioner. The alleged conversation with the priest took place during the Sacrament of Confession. The woman is now in her mid-20s.

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RHODE ISLAND
NBC 10

[with video]

by MICHELLE R. SMITH and DENISE LAVOIE, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wednesday, August 3rd 2016

The elite St. George’s School has agreed to a sexual abuse settlement that would provide compensation for up to 30 former students who were assaulted.

The Middletown boarding school announced the pact on Wednesday in a joint statement with a group representing victims, saying the institution will provide an undisclosed sum to settle the claims. Paul Finn, a mediator who also worked on the clergy sex abuse settlement in Boston, will determine how much each person will receive.

The announcement was greeted with relief by some victims, dozens of whom have come forward in the past several months with stories of abuse by school employees and fellow students as far back as the 1970s and as recently as the 2000s.

“This was never about the money. This was about being heard, and St. George’s realized that what they have done to us in the past is completely wrong,” abuse victim Katie Wales Lovkay said in an interview. “It’s nice to know it’s done, it’s over.”

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RHODE ISLAND
CBS News

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — St. George’s School has agreed to a settlement that would provide compensation for up to 30 former students who say they were sexually abused, the elite Rhode Island boarding school announced Wednesday.

The Middletown school announced the pact in a joint statement with a group representing sex abuse victims, saying the institution will provide an undisclosed sum to settle the claims. Paul Finn, a mediator who also worked on the clergy sex abuse settlement in Boston, will determine how much each person will receive.

Katie Wales Lovkay told the headmaster in 1979 that an athletic trainer abused her, but he sent her to the school therapist and did not report it to authorities. A week before her 1980 graduation, she was expelled.

“This was never about the money. This was about being heard, and St. George’s realized that what they have done to us in the past is completely wrong,” Lovkay said. “It’s nice to know it’s done, it’s over.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Fox 25

[with video]

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. —
A former student at a Catholic school in Framingham is suing the school for alleged sexual abuse in the 1970’s.

The lawsuit claims a catholic high school and the Boston archdiocese looked the other way while a teacher repeatedly raped one of her students.

“The teachers knew, the kids knew. It was not a hidden thing. That’s why I thought there was nothing wrong with it,” said the victim.

The woman, who is now in her 50’s, says when she was a 14-year-old at Marion High School when the abuse began. The lawsuit claims the former teacher repeatedly raped her over a two year period.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Milford Daily News

By Brad Avery

Posted Aug. 3, 2016

BOSTON – A former student at a private Catholic school in Framingham is suing the school and the Boston Archdiocese for failing to stop a female gym teacher from sexually abusing her while the two lived together in the mid-1970s.

The student, referred to as “Jane Doe” in a complaint filed in Suffolk County Superior Court, accuses Diane Ryszewski, a former gym teacher at Marian High School in Framingham, of sexually abusing her while she lived at the teacher’s home in Hopkinton, starting at age 14, according to Doe’s lawyer, Carmen Durso, who held a press conference Wednesday in his Boston office.

At the age of 14, in 1975, Doe said she moved in with Ryszewski in Hopkinton because of some troubles with Doe’s family. At the time, Ryszewski taught physical education and sexual education at Marian. She also coached several school sports teams; Doe played on some of the teams.

Doe is now 55 and no longer lives in Massachusetts. In 2015, she came to terms with the victimization she suffered as a teenager and sought out Durso last year to seek compensation, she said in a press conference at Durso’s Boston law office. The woman agreed to speak to the press as long as she is not identified.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Source: Most Reverend Bernard A. Hebda

July 20, 2016, was an important day for this local Church. In open court, the archdiocese reported significant progress on its efforts under the Civil Settlement Agreement — reached and announced last December — to create the safest environment possible for children. Ramsey County District Court Judge Teresa Warner then commended the archdiocese and described our actions taken in concert with the Ramsey County attorney as “the right thing to do.”

A few moments later, in that same courtroom, it was announced that Ramsey County Attorney John Choi would be dismissing the criminal case later in the day. I’m convinced the fair resolution of those charges was an answer to the prayers of so many of you throughout the archdiocese, and for that I am most grateful.

Many have asked how it came to be that the Ramsey County attorney dropped the criminal charges. It was a long, involved process of calm dialogue, relationship-building and respect. That process began last fall when we attempted to negotiate a resolution of both the criminal and civil cases. I personally spent hours with Mr. Choi and his team and know that the archdiocesan staff and attorneys spent many more. I continue to be grateful that from the time of our very first meeting, we were able to agree on the paramount goal of protecting children.

However, from the outset, we disagreed with the county attorney over one important thing: an insistence that the archdiocese plead guilty to the criminal charges in some way, shape or form. The simple truth is that if we believed we were guilty, we would have pled guilty. But, I had received advice from experts in this area of criminal law and discussed the matter with the various consultative bodies in the archdiocese, such as the Finance Council, the Board of the Corporation and the College of Consultors. There was a broad consensus that the archdiocese was not guilty of a crime.

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MINNESOTA
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Aug. 3, 2016

In the wake of the dismissal of criminal charges, the head of the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese is maintaining its legal innocence in its response to abuse allegations concerning former priest Curtis Wehmeyer, drawing a distinct line between a failure and a crime.

In addition, Archbishop Bernard Hebda stated he will not release the investigative report into sexual misconduct allegations raised against his predecessor Archbishop John Nienstedt, calling it “unwise” at this point.

Hebda made the comments Tuesday in a column and interview published in the archdiocesan newspaper. They came nearly two weeks after the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office ended its criminal case against the archdiocese after it agreed to include an admission of wrongdoing into an earlier civil settlement along with several additional provisions.

The criminal case, brought last summer and soon followed by the resignations of Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piché, alleged that the archdiocese failed to protect children in relation to three minors sexually abused by Wehmeyer, a priest in the Twin Cities before he was laicized in March 2015. He is currently in prison in Wisconsin.

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OHIO
WDTN

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — A Huber Heights priest who stole from his own church was sentenced in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court.

Former St. Peter Pastor Father Earl Simone was sentenced for aggravated theft Wednesday afternoon in Judge Dennis Langer’s courtroom.

In March, Simone took a plea deal, admitting he stole more than one million dollars from St. Peter Catholic Church over a more than 20 year period. As part of a plea deal, Simone will spend five years in prison and will have to pay back $1.9 million to the church.

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VIRGINIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, August 3rd, 2016

Statement by Barbra Graber, SNAP Leader, 540-214-8874, Mennonite@snapnetwork.org

We are grateful that the Mennonite Panel on Sexual Abuse Prevention did not affirm the choice of D. Stafford and Associates as EMU’s chosen consulting firm. For a range of reasons, we believe it is inappropriate and even potentially harmful for this law firm to ‘investigate’ EMU or any other Mennonite institution regarding sexual misconduct by church leaders.

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RHODE ISLAND
Providence Journal

By Karen Lee Ziner
Journal Staff Writer

Posted Aug. 3, 2016

The Rhode Island director of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) credited alumni survivors of sexual abuse at St. George’s School on Wednesday for a settlement agreement reached with the school.

St. George’s and representatives of alumni survivors Wednesday announced the undisclosed settlement with up to 30 people, whose compensation will be determined individually.

“We applaud the brave, compassionate and persistent victims … for being smart enough to unite, brave enough to share their pain, wise enough to consult attorneys and strong enough to endure a long process of justice, prevention and healing,” said Ann Hagan Webb, Rhode Island director of SNAP. “Their success should deter would-be wrongdoers and inspire suffering victims.”

Hagan Webb said, “We suspect that there are others who were molested at St. George’s who are still suffering in shame, silence and self-blame. We hope they’ll be inspired by the courage of their former colleagues and step forward now so they can recover and so that others can be spared.”

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
Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | Post News Staff

Since holding his first press conference last week, Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Agana, has been meeting with local media outlets to address concerns of the public. In recent months, the Catholic Church has come under scrutiny for its failure to address child sexual abuse allegations that surfaced earlier this year.

Starting in mid-May, four people – Roy Quintanilla, Walter Denton, Roland Sondia and Doris Concepcion – have made allegations of sexual molestation of altar boys by Archbishop Anthony Apuron when he was a parish priest altar boy at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Agat in the 1970s.

Hon arrived in Guam in early June to serve as the apostolic administrator for the island in the place of Apuron who had been put on leave by Pope Francis on June 6.

Apuron’s whereabouts are unknown and Hon reaffirmed his lack of information regarding Apuron. “He (Apuron) is on leave so he has free reign to travel where he wants,” Hon told the Post. Hon dispelled any reports that Apuron is on island.

Hon reiterated that the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith was the Vatican authority responsible for investigating matters of alleged child sex abuse against members of the clergy.

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CONNECTICUT
WNPR

By RAY HARDMAN

Last week, the Hartford Archdiocese won a case against the insurance company who refused to reimburse the Archdiocese for payments made to victims of priest sexual abuse.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton found that the insurance company, Interstate Fire and Casualty, was in breach of it’s contract for refusing to reimburse the Archdiocese for payments it made to four victims of priest sexual abuse dating back to the 1970s and ’80s.

Under the terms of the insurance contract, Interstate agreed to reimburse the Archdiocese “for all sums arising out of any occurrence.”

“Occurence” was defined as an “accident or continued exposure to conditions which unintentionally results in personal injury.”

In federal court in April, Interstate said they nullified the claims based on the “occurence clause” because they believed the Archdiocese was aware that the three priests in this case were predatory priests, and did nothing to keep the four victims out of harm’s way.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

A royal commission investigating an alleged cover-up of child sex abuse within a NSW Anglican diocese will hear from an abuse survivor who rang a church hotline only to be answered by a priest who was later accused of sexual misconduct.

CKA will be the third abuse survivor to give evidence at the hearing which began on Tuesday.

On Thursday he is expected to tell of repeated attempts to report being sexually abused by a parish priest in a Newcastle parish in the 1970s.

In 1996 and 1999 when CKA rang the diocese’s sexual abuse hotline the telephone was answered by Graeme Lawrence who was dean of Christchurch Cathedral in Newcastle.

Lawrence was defrocked by Bishop Brian Farran in 2010 for sexual misconduct.

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FRANKREICH
Frankfurter Allgemeine

02.08.2016, von MICHAELA WIEGEL, PARIS

Eine Woche nach dem islamistischen Terroranschlag auf die Kirche in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray haben Gläubige am Dienstag Abschied von dem ermordeten Priester Jacques Hamel genommen. In der Kathedrale von Rouen versammelten sich am Nachmittag rund 2000 Menschen zu einer Trauerfeier für den 85 Jahre alten katholischen Geistlichen. Viele weitere, die keinen Platz mehr in der Kathedrale fanden, wohnten der Übertragung vor Großbildschirmen am Eingang bei. Danach wurde Hamel im Familienkreis beigesetzt.

In der Kathedrale wandten sich seine Schwester und eine Nichte an die Trauergemeinde. Sie erinnerte daran, dass sich ihr Bruder während des Algerien-Kriegs entschieden habe, als einfacher Soldat zu dienen, obwohl ihm damals der Offiziersgrad angeboten worden sei, sagte die Schwester. Diesen habe er abgelehnt, da er keine Befehle zum Töten habe geben wollen. „Er war mein Bruder. Er war unser aller Bruder“, sagte Roselyne Hamel. Der Erzbischof von Rouen, Dominique Lebrun, verurteilte jegliche Gewalt. Es könne nicht sein, dass Morde nötig seien, um einander zu Gerechtigkeit und Liebe zu bekehren. Zu den Katholiken in Frankreich sagte er: „Wir sind verletzt, bestürzt, aber nicht geschlagen.“ Er begrüßte die „Worte und Gesten unserer muslimischen Freunde“, die zeigten, dass auch sie Gewalt ablehnten.

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RHODE ISLAND
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Aug. 3

Statement by Ann Hagan Webb, Rhode Island director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

(annhaganwebb@gmail.com, 617-513-8442)

We applaud the brave, compassionate and persistent victims at a Rhode Island for being smart enough to unite, brave enough to share their pain, wise enough to consult attorneys and strong enough to endure a long process of justice, prevention and healing. Their success should deter would-be wrongdoers and inspire suffering victims.

[NECN]

A settlement like this usually only happens when school or church officials are sitting on mountains of evidence that they repeatedly and callously put kids in harm’s way. Terrified of having this incriminating information surface in court or in public, they eventually pull out their checkbooks and so do their insurers.

We suspect that there are others who were molested at St. George’s who are still suffering in shame, silence and self-blame. We hope they’ll be inspired by the courage of their former colleagues and step forward now so they can recover and so that others can be spared.

We also suspect that criminal charges against some of the wrongdoers are still possible. And we remind everyone that it’s our duty to share what we know or suspect about child sex crimes and cover ups with law enforcement. It’s their job to determine whether formal charges can be filed.

We call on Episcopal bishops in New England – where most victims and most of those who committed and concealed these crimes are apt to be living – to use their vast resources to seek out and help other victims of St. George predators. They should use parish bulletins, church websites, pulpit announcements and news conferences to beg anyone with information or suspicions about these predators to step forward. And they should use these same resources to warn families who are near these predators about them.

Now is no time for complacency at St. George’s. Complacency endangers kids. Vigilance protects 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.

CONNECTICUT
Insurance Journal

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford has won a judgment against an insurer it sued for failing to reimburse the archdiocese for payments it made to settle sexual misconduct cases involving priests and minors.

A federal judge in New Haven ruled against Interstate Fire & Casualty last Thursday and ordered the Chicago-based company to pay the archdiocese $945,000 plus an amount of interest to be determined later.

The insurer denied allegations that it breached its contract by refusing to reimburse church officials for more than $1 million in payments made in four abuse cases after the company reimbursed them for previous settlements.

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UNITED STATES
Frum Follies

Yehuda Shohat and Ariela Sternbuch reported in Yediot Aharonot a year ago about the advice that Israeli rabbis give about whether to report sexual assaults to the police. Sternbuch called up 27 individuals describing obviously criminal sexual assaults.

Until now, only the interaction with Rabbi Ratzon Arussi was translated into English along with his rationalizations (See Haanah Katsman, “Rabbi Defends Not Reporting Sex Abuse”).

What is notable for most of these responses is they did not invoke any prohibitions of mesira (snitching).

Instead they engaged in victim blaming, worried about the impact on the offender and his family, warned about impact of reporting in the marriage prospects of the victim, and insisted the police were ineffective. They often assumed the offense was a one-time event and assumed teshuva (repentence). Their practical solutions for preventing repetitions of this offense involved giving the offender a tongue lashing.

These rabbis abdicated their responsibility to protect the public from presumed sexual assailants.

This is why I always advise against contacting rabbis for advice about reporting abuse, except for the small number of rabbis with reliable reputations for supporting the use of the police to protect the community. Even some of those are inconsistent, supporting it in theory or in special cases but not in others.

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.

MASSACHUSETTS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Aug. 3

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

Boston area Catholic officials are accused of committed and concealing child sex crimes by a female teacher against a girl. We hope this lawsuit will bring comfort to some, knowing that an alleged sex offender has now been “outed” and knowing that youngsters are now safer. We also hope this case will expose what her colleagues and supervisors did and didn’t do to protect kids. And we hope others who have information or suspicions about her crimes will come forward now to protect others and begin healing.

[WCVB]
[NECN]

We believe Catholic officials were warned about Diane Ryszewski before she reportedly “sexually abused the then 14-year-old girl between 1975-1977” while both were at Marian High School in Framingham and lived together in Hopkinton. We also believe they could and should have done more to stop her wrongful actions.

All of us must accept the painful reality that women can be sexual predators too. We must also be careful to use appropriate language to describe these crimes.

We hope that

–her victim (or victims) feel some relief, and

–archdiocesan and school officials aggressively seek out others who may have seen, suspected or suffered this teachers’ crimes.

We also hope that Cardinal Sean O’Malley will

–alert his colleagues in North Carolina, where Ryszewski now lives, and ask them to warn families about her, and

–use parish bulletins, church websites and pulpit announcements to beg victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to contact the independent, experienced professionals in law enforcement.

Regardless of what Catholic officials do or don’t do now, we beg current and former school staff, students and parents to take action, rather than wait for and hope that O’Malley will step up. We beg everyone associated with this school, now or in the past, to spread the word about these charges against Ryszewski and prod potentially helpful sources and witnesses to call law enforcement immediately.

We suspect that Ryszewski could still be criminally convicted. If so, we hope she ends up behind bars as long as possible so more kids are safe. And we hope secular authorities will consider charges against anyone who may have ignored or hidden her crimes.

Finally, we applaud this brave, wounded but strong woman who is taking action today to safeguard others and deter similar crimes and cover ups now and in the future. It takes real courage to squarely face one’s pain and to publicly confront wrongdoers. We are confident that this lawsuit will be a positive step forward in her long journey of healing.

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

(The victim is represented by Boston attorney Carmen Durso.)

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ISRAEL
Frum Follies

They called it Belzen-Bergen for its reign of terror of physical abuse, psychological abuse, and sexual abuse.

I rarely hesitate, but just this once, I will pass on the details reported in Yediot Achronot.

וּרְאִיתֶם אתו וּזְכַרְתֶּם אֶת כָּל מִצְות ה’ וַעֲשיתֶם אתָם וְלא תָתוּרוּ אַחֲרֵי לְבַבְכֶם וְאַחֲרֵי עֵינֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם זנִים אַחֲרֵיהֶם

In a strange inversion of religious tradition, tzizit (ritual fringes), which are supposed to remind one of all the commandments are used by these cretins to cover their faces, to conceal and get others to forget all the rules of civicivilization they are accused of violating.

As always, the greater question is how could this go on for so long and hurt so many kids with no one noticing, with no one breaking into this torture chamber and shutting it down.

The answers, I suspect, include too much concern with enforcing authority and not enough with listening to children, too much concern for the reputation of adults, especially leaders, and not enough concern for the dignity and rights of children.

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RHODE ISLAND
Seattle PI

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — St. George’s School has agreed to a settlement over sexual abuse allegations that would provide compensation for up to 30 former students, the elite Rhode Island boarding school announced Wednesday.

The Middletown school announced the pact in a joint statement with a group representing sex abuse victims, saying the institution will provide an undisclosed sum to settle the claims. Paul Finn, a mediator who also worked on the clergy sex abuse settlement in Boston, will determine how much each person will receive.

Katie Wales Lovkay told the headmaster in 1979 that an athletic trainer abused her, but he sent her to the school therapist and did not report it to authorities. A week before her 1980 graduation, she was expelled.

“This was never about the money. This was about being heard, and St. George’s realized that what they have done to us in the past is completely wrong,” Lovkay said. “It’s nice to know it’s done, it’s over.”

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RHODE ISLAND
Boston Globe

By Bella English GLOBE STAFF AUGUST 03, 2016

Survivors of sexual abuse at St. George’s School and school officials announced Wednesday that they have settled a claim for compensation for up to 30 alumni for incidents going as far back as the 1970s.

The settlement, the terms of which remain confidential, caps months of allegations of sexual abuse at the elite school in Middletown, R.I., by dozens of alumni.

Both sides released a statement praising what some are calling reparations.

“St. George’s has done something meaningful and important for survivors,” said Anne Scott, whose allegation of rape in the late 1970s by the former school athletic director was the catalyst that brought forth other allegations. “It’s hard to put into words what it feels like to receive this kind of validation and support, after all these years.”

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ISRAEL/UNITED STATES
Arutz Sheva

Shai Landesman, 03/08/16

Yona Weinberg, a convicted sex offender from the United States who is now living in the Har Nof neighborhood in Jerusalem, is stepping up litigation against Rabbi Ya’akov Horowitz, an American Rabbi who’s been warning people living around Weinberg of his past.

Rabbi Horowitz is slated to give a lecture in a Har Nof community center about protecting the community and especially children from sexual harassment and abuse. Horowitz is well-known in the US as an activist for the cause of raising awareness of sex abuse of children in the Jewish community.

Weinberg, 37, was convicted on two counts of sexual abuse of minors, 13-year-old boys who he was teaching for their Bar-Mitzvahs, in 2009. He served 13 months in prison for the offenses. His name and picture are listed in the US sex offenders database, and was designated as someone who still poses a significant threat to the public.

Rabbi Horowitz tweeted a warning to Har Nof residents to “beware of convicted sex offender Yona Weinberg”, for which Weinberg sued him for slander.

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.

MASSACHUSETTS
Carmen L. Durso

WHAT: LAW SUIT BY ADULT v. MARIAN HIGH SCHOOL, FRAMINGHAM, PRINCIPAL, TEACHER, AND BOSTON ARCHDIOCESE, FOR SEXUAL ABUSE OF HER AS A TEENAGE GIRL, BY A FEMALE TEACHER FOR TWO YEARS, WHEN SCHOOL SUPERVISORS KNEW SHE WAS LIVING IN TEACHER’S HOME

WHEN: WEDNESDAY, 10:30 A.M.

WHERE: 175 FEDERAL STREET, SUITE 1425, BOSTON

PLAINTIFF WILL BE PRESENT AND WILL SPEAK WITH MEDIA WHO WILL AGREE TO PROTECT IDENTITY AND ALTER FACE & VOICE

COPY OF COMPLAINT AVAILABLE

Carmen Durso
DURSOLAW
Law Office of Carmen L. Durso
175 Federal Street, Suite 1425
Boston, MA 02110-2287
T: 617-728-9123 / 800-287-9123
carmen@dursolaw.com
www.dursolaw.com

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FRANKREICH
kathpress

Paris, 02.08.2016 (KAP/KNA) Die französische Staatsanwaltschaft hat die Ermittlungen gegen Lyons Kardinal Philippe Barbarin eingestellt. Das berichten französische Medien am Montag. Es habe keine Hinweise auf mögliche Straftaten gegeben, hieß es. Der Anwalt Barbarins, Andre Soulier, begrüßte die Entscheidung laut dem Fernsehsender France Info, betonte jedoch zugleich, diese komme nicht überraschend. Es gehe nun nicht darum, zu triumphieren oder Revanche zu fordern, sondern allein um die Feststellung, dass Barbarin und seine Mitarbeiter keine Fehler gemacht hätten. Der Kardinal sei in Gedanken stets bei den Opfern, so Soulier.

Dem Erzbischof von Lyon war vorgeworfen worden, einen Priester nicht suspendiert zu haben, der einen damals 16-Jährigen sexuell missbraucht haben soll. Der als “Pierre” bezeichnete Kläger, heute ein ranghoher Ministerialbeamter, wirft dem Pfarrer Jerome Billioud vor, 1990 bei einer Ferienfreizeit in Biarritz auf ihn masturbiert zu haben. Er sei lange Zeit traumatisiert gewesen und habe mit niemandem darüber sprechen können. Als er sich 2009 an die Justiz wandte, wurde die Klage wegen Verjährung fallengelassen.

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IRLAND
Spiegel

Diarmuid Martin hat offenbar die Nase voll. Der Erzbischof von Dublin hat Priesteranwärtern empfohlen, sich von Irlands ältestem Priesterseminar, dem St Patrick’s College in Maynooth, fernzuhalten.

Der Grund? In anonymen Briefen sei ihm von “Sexskandalen” am College berichtet worden, sagte der Leiter der größten irischen Diözese laut “Guardian”. Junge Männer sollen belästigt worden sein, auch die flächendeckende Verbreitung der Schwulen-Dating-App Grindr bereitet Martin demnach Sorgen.

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IRELAND
The Journal

A SPOKESPERSON FOR the Association of Catholic Priests has said that allegations of sexual misconduct at St Patrick’s College are “unfounded and have no substance”.

Father Brendan Hoban told Morning Ireland that Ireland’s only seminary always had a “strange hot-house kind of atmosphere, seminaries are that kind of thing”, and that the accusations came from groups that had always been critical of how the priest training college was run.

His comments come after days of controversy surrounding St Patrick’s College in Maynooth, where 55 priests are currently being trained for the priesthood.

Anonymous allegations have been made concerning gay sexual misconduct and priests using the gay dating app ‘Grindr’ in the seminary.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Minster FM

12:45pm 2nd August 2016

North Yorkshire Police is currently carrying out two investigations into alleged sexual abuse at Ampleforth College, both of which are historic.

One man has been arrested in connection with the investigation and enquires remain ongoing.

A police statement says

“North Yorkshire Police is fully co-operating with the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse and is keen to continue working closely with all those involved.

We have already provided a considerable amount of information, and we may be in a position to provide more as the inquiry progresses”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Frances Perraudin, North of England reporter
@fperraudin
Wednesday 3 August 2016

Police have arrested a man as part of their investigations into historical sexual abuse allegations at Ampleforth College, a prestigious Catholic boarding school in North Yorkshire.

The school is being investigated by the independent Goddard inquiry into child sexual abuse in England and Wales. The inquiry was announced in July 2014 following the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal.

North Yorkshire police confirmed two investigations into alleged sexual abuse at the school were being carried out by the force and that one man had been arrested. A police spokesman said the force was fully cooperating with the Goddard inquiry and was keen to work closely with all those involved.

“We have already provided a considerable amount of information, and we may be in a position to provide more as the inquiry progresses,” he said.

Ampleforth College was founded in 1802 and is run by the Benedictine monks and lay staff of Ampleforth Abbey. Allegations of sexual abuse at the school date back decades but police first started investigating in 2003 when a psychologist employed by Ampleforth to carry out risk assessments on pupils turned whistleblower.

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MASSACHUSETTS
WCVB

BOSTON —A woman is filing a lawsuit claiming a former teacher sexually assaulted her for years, and claims school administrators knew it was happening and did nothing to stop it.

According to the lawsuit, the unidentified victim claims former Marian High School physical education teacher and sports coach Diane Ryszewski sexually abused the then 14-year-old girl between 1975-1977.

The victim claims the assaults occurred daily, according to the lawsuit.

Shortly after the victim started high school Ryszewski, who was her coach, took a strong interest in her and eventually arraigned for the victim to live with her at her Hopkinton home, the lawsuit said.

During the time Ryszewski allegedly provided the victim with alcohol and drugs and engaged in continuous acts of sex abuse and rape.

The lawsuit claims that administrators, teachers and students knew of previous claims of abuse against Ryszewski before she allegedly abused the victim.

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ISRAEL
Sputnik

Israel’s Supreme Court of Justice rejected an appeal against the order to extradite Russian priest Gleb Grozovsky, suspected of child abuse, to his homeland, Grozovsky’s attorney Haim Azencott said, adding that the failed appeal was the last resort in their arsenal.

TEL AVIV (Sputnik) – In April, Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked signed a decree to extradite Grozovsky, who is wanted in Russia on charges of sexual abuse against children. The extradition was postponed after Grozovsky’s defense appealed against the decision, requesting among other issues to guarantee the defendant security in his homeland.

“We received a refusal of the Supreme Court. It was our last resort, but it seems that the Supreme Court trusts a lot the Russian legal procedures,” Azencott told RIA Novosti, adding that he has run out of means to counter the decision on Grozovsky’s extradition.

He said that he would meet with his client in the near future and together they will decide on further action.

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IRELAND
Galway Independent

The Galway historian who uncovered the ‘Tuam Babies’ story has spoken of her disappointment that an investigation into Mother and Baby Homes will not include adoptions.

The Commission investigating 18 Mother and Baby Homes across the country, including the one in Tuam, was last week granted an extension of time to complete its three reports into the homes. However, it will not now include adoptions that took place outside these institutions.

All reports must now be completed by February 2018. Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Katherine Zappone said the extension of time was to accommodate “the large number of witnesses coming forward”.

At least 150 witnesses have come forward since the Commission was set up in January 2015 and it is expected this could rise to 500.

Speaking this week, Tuam historian Catherine Corless said, “I was disappointed with Minister Zappone’s statement on the illegal adoption front and also for the group who have campaigned for so long to have everyone included in the Inquiry.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
NECN

[with copy of the lawsuit]

[with video]

A former student says she was sexually abused by her coach and gym teacher back in the 1970s

By Ally Donnelly

The first time her coach and gym teacher crossed the line was when she got into the shower with her after softball practice.

“She was laughing and making a big joke about it – I didn’t know.”

It was the 1970s. She was 14, gay, and a freshman at the Marian High School, a Catholic school in Framingham, Massachusetts.

Because she is an alleged sexual assault survivor, necn has agreed to shield her identity and call her Jane. She claims former teacher – Diane Ryszewski – sexually abused her for nearly two years and the school did nothing to stop it.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC Brisbane

03 August 2016 by Terri Begley

A milestone yesterday for survivors of institutional sex abuse in Queensland.

State Cabinet will this month lift the three-year statute of limitations on victims taking civil action against state or privately run institutions.

So what does that mean for survivors what’s the next step?

KnowMore is a free, independent legal service funded by the Attorney General’s department their sole purpose is to inform and advise people who are engaging or thinking of engaging with the Royal Commission

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UNITED STATES
The News Hub

Jarred Booth

The Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses has issued a letter to all bodies of elders, giving instructions on how to handle accusations of child sexual abuse among their members or individuals associated with the religion. Dated August 1, 2016, the letter replaces previous instructions given in October 2012.

The organization has been hit with a steady stream of lawsuits and investigations over the past several years, due to what is perceived as a poor record of handling child sexual abuse allegations. The most notable lawsuits are the Candace Conti and the Jose Lopez cases, both in California and both resulting in multi-million dollar payouts by Watchtower.

In 2015 the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse investigated the Jehovah’s Witness religion, and currently the U.K. Charity Commission is working on conducting its own investigation.

The Australian Royal Commission called for sweeping changes in the way Watchtower responds to abuse allegations, including involving women in the decision-making process (I published an article in May regarding some of Watchtower’s statements on women) and not being so strict with the “two witness rule” (this rule says that, in the absence of a confession by the abuser, or some definitive physical evidence, there must be a second witness to the abuse, or else no action is taken against the abuser). The Commission also called for elders to contact the relevant authorities regarding each accusation, something that can often be done anonymously.

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GUAM
KUAM

[with video]

Updated: Aug 03, 2016

By Krystal Paco

Aside from the contentious issues over ownership of the Redemportis Mater Seminary and new allegations of child sex abuse by a priest, Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai sat in the hot seat today on KUAM Radio with Isla63-AM host Jess Lujan. A part of the discussion focused on the status of Monsignor James Benavente and Father Paul Gofigan and whether in fact they were restored to their original positions.

As you may remember, the two were removed from their posts years ago by Archbishop Anthony Apuron; Father Gofigan for allegedly being disobedient and Monsignor Benavente for alleged financial mismanagement.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Sarah MacDonald
PUBLISHED
03/08/2016

The president of Maynooth has emphasised there is a “healthy, wholesome” atmosphere at the college despite the controversy currently engulfing the national seminary.

Monsignor Hugh Connolly was commenting following on from Archbishop Diarmuid Martin’s decision to pull ­trainee priests under his charge from St Patrick’s College due to a “an ­atmosphere of strange ­goings-on there”.

Msgr Connolly admitted that he was “worried” about the allegations that some seminarians had been listed on a gay dating app, but there was no “concrete detail” to back it up.

But he emphasised that there was a good atmosphere at the college.

“The broader atmosphere is, I think, actually quite a wholesome, healthy one because there are a lot of interplay between students of many, many disciplines, lay students and clerics, male and female, people who are engaged pastorally,” he told RTÉ’s ‘Drivetime’.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
The Irish News

SUZANNE MCGONAGLE
03 August, 2016

THE north’s largest Catholic diocese has said it “plans to continue to send seminarians to Maynooth” despite a boycott by the Archbishop of Dublin.

Dr Diarmuid Martin said he is now sending trainee priests to the Irish College in Rome amid allegations students at St Patrick’s College in Co Kildare are using the gay dating app Grindr.

He said he was “somewhat unhappy” about “an atmosphere that was growing in Maynooth” following a series of anonymous accusations in letters and blogs.

“There are allegations on different sides,” he said.

“One is that there is a homosexual, a gay culture, that students have been using an app called Grindr, which is a gay dating app, which would be inappropriate for seminarians, not just because they are trained to be celibate priests but because an app like that is something which would be fostering promiscuous sexuality, which is certainly not in any way the mature vision of sexuality one would expect a priest to understand.”

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

The closed strange world of seminaries,’ was how Archbishop Diarmuid Martin put it yesterday, when speaking of the latest Maynooth crisis. There is no doubt that the opaque culture of such institutions has contributed greatly to the latest controversy besetting Ireland’s national seminary.

“Maynooth is 200 years old. It has a long tradition and a proud tradition but I feel that for the situation in Dublin we probably need a different way in the long term,” the archbishop said.

O tempora! O mores! (Oh the times! Oh the customs!) It is already clear, whatever the reaction of other bishops, that nothing can be the same again if Maynooth is to retain the confidence of Irish Catholics.

When a trustee at Maynooth such as Archbishop Diarmuid Martin publicly articulates in such forthright terms his anxieties about what has been going on there, action will be forced on his fellow trustee archbishops and bishops to act. But venerable institutions are notoriously difficult to change, as has been seen with the Catholic Church itself. Old customs/practices die very hard.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Nicola Anderson
PUBLISHED
03/08/2016

The following are excerpts from an interview Archbishop Diarmuid Martin gave on ‘RTÉ News One’ yesterday.

‘There is a tradition that there were no Dublin students in Maynooth for a long time. But on this particular occasion, I was somewhat unhappy and I made this decision some months ago, that there was an atmosphere growing in Maynooth and which you would learn about through anonymous accusations made, letters and blogs, accusing people of either misconduct or accusing the faculty of Maynooth of not treating allegations correctly. And I felt that a quarrelsome attitude was not the healthiest place for my students to be and I decided to send them to the Irish College in Rome.”

In response to a question that his decision was due to a quarrelsome attitude among staff in Maynooth:

“No, coming from a whole series of anonymous allegations being passed around and this was on blogs. Some of the material has resulted to be true, but the trouble with anonymous complaints is that it’s almost impossible to investigate them and carry them through to success from my point of view in the seminary.

“I simply felt that type of quarrelsome attitude and a culture of anonymous letters is poisonous and until that’s cleared up, I would be happier sending my students elsewhere.

“The allegations are that a homosexual, gay culture (exists), that students (are) using an app called Grindr, a gay dating app, which would be inappropriate for seminarians. Not just because they are training to be priests but an app like that is something which would be fostering promiscuous sexuality, which is certainly not in any way the mature vision of sexuality you would expect a priest to understand.

“Then there are people saying anyone who tries to go to the authorities with an allegation, that they’re being dismissed from the seminary.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

David Quinn
PUBLISHED
03/08/2016

Seminaries have been part and parcel of the life of the Catholic Church only since the 16th Century.

I say ‘only’ because this means that for the first 15 centuries of the Church’s existence, there were no seminaries. Priests did not train in seminaries. For the most part they learned by what was, in effect, an apprenticeship system – that is, they learned by working alongside an experienced priest. A tiny minority attended universities.

What does this mean? It means that the Catholic Church did without seminaries for the great part of its history and it can do without them again. It means that the Church in Ireland can do without St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, if needs be.

The key thing is that candidates for the priesthood are well trained. That means they are well trained intellectually, and also that they receive good moral and spiritual formation.

It’s probably useful enough for the purposes of this exercise to think about a seminary in the same way we think about a school. Obviously, the students in a seminary will be older than the students in a school, but schools, like seminaries, want to educate their students well, they want to help form their moral characters, and in the case of faith schools, provide them with some sort of spiritual formation also.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Tony Flannery
PUBLISHED
03/08/2016

The current dispute over certain “goings on” in the national seminary in Maynooth raises serious questions for and about the Catholic Church, questions that will not be resolved by simply changing personnel, or by adjusting the type of spiritual or theological formation being taught there.

These questions are not peculiar to Maynooth, but are common to seminaries in Europe, North America and other places.

Reading the reflections of people who have worked in seminaries in the last 20 years or so, it appears that applicants for admission to seminaries came largely from one or other of two categories of young men. Many are of homosexual orientation, or are young and confused or uncertain about their sexuality. This is due in part to the enormous change that has taken place in society’s view of sexuality, and consequently much less value being put on a life of celibacy.

Church teaching and attitudes have also become much more positive in this area. The modern young heterosexual male is much less inclined to sacrifice marriage, sexuality and intimacy than previous generations.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Editorial

To some, Diarmuid Martin is the very model of a modern major archbishop. To others, he is an anachronism, too hard-wired into the Vatican to countenance going down the roads many feel the Church must take to avoid being left behind.

The current imbroglio over Maynooth, to which he will no longer be sending seminarians of the Dublin diocese, is symptomatic of the difficulties that a church with one foot in the past has in coming to terms with the 21st century.

But if Dr Martin no longer believes the National Seminary is the right environment for men to study to become priests, should he not be attempting to reform it? Turning his back on it and sending his charges to Rome suggests he has made a judgment call.

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IRELAND
RTE News

A member of the Association of Catholic Priests has criticised Archbishop Diarmuid Martin’s decision to transfer three seminarians to Rome.

Fr Brendan Hoban said the National Seminary in Maynooth could be extremely damaged by the move.

Yesterday, Dr Martin said he does not believe the seminary in Co Kildare is the right environment for men to study to become priests.

He made the comments following allegations of gay sexual activity, the use of the dating app Grindr and other anonymous allegations of misconduct at the seminary.

The Archbishop said he made his decision to send the Dublin seminarians at Maynooth to study at the Irish College in Rome because he was “somewhat unhappy” about a growing atmosphere in Maynooth where anonymous allegations were being made accusing people of misconduct or accusing the faculty at Maynooth of not treating allegations correctly.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Sarah MacDonald, Alan O’Keeffe and Nicola Anderson
PUBLISHED
03/08/2016

Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has been left isolated by his colleagues in his stance against the national seminary in Maynooth.

A series of senior bishops have backed the college amid allegations of a “gay culture” in St Patrick’s College. Archbishop Martin has withdrawn his trainee priests from Maynooth due to what he described as allegations of a “homosexual, gay culture, that students are using an app called Grindr, a gay dating app”.

However, the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland will continue to send trainee priests to Maynooth. A spokesman for Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin, the Primate of All Ireland, told the Irish Independent the Archdiocese was “extremely grateful to St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, for the spiritual, human, pastoral and academic formation that he received there”.

Archbishop of Cashel and Emly Kieran O’Reilly also says he will send seminarians to Maynooth.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

Clear division has emerged between the Catholic archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin and his fellow archbishops over the suitability of St Patrick’s College Maynooth for training priests.

It came as the authorities at Maynooth said they have “has no concrete or credible evidence of the existence of any alleged ‘active gay subculture’”.

On Monday Archbishop Martin, a trustee at the college, said he had decided not to send Dublin seminarians to Maynooth any longer due to “an atmosphere of strange goings-on there”.

“It seems like a quarrelsome place with anonymous letters being sent around. I don’t think this is a good place for students,” Archbishop Martin said.

Dublin seminarians would go to the Irish College in Rome instead, he said.

However, in response to queries from The Irish Times, the three other archbishop trustees at Maynooth disagreed.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Vivienne Clarke

Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin is “moving the deck chairs on the Titanic” rather than addressing the important issues facing the Catholic Church in Ireland, a member of the Association of Catholic Priests has said.

Speaking after the Archbishop’s decision to transfer three seminarians to Rome after concerns emerged about “strange goings on” and a gay subculture at St Patrick’s College in Maynooth, Fr Brendan Hoban said he did not understand Dr Martin’s intentions.

“Behind all of this is the bigger question of vocations to the priesthood,” he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.

“Dublin has 99 parishes, over a million Catholics, and only one diocesan priest under the age of 40. So it seems extraordinary that attention is being given to what seems to be moving deck chairs on the Titanic rather than getting to the issues that are important.”

Dr Martin’s move follows anonymous allegations being circulated about seminarian activities in Maynooth, including that some had been using a gay dating app.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

IAN KIRKWOOD
3 Aug 2016

FORMER Newcastle Bishop Alfred Holland has repeatedly denied being told of allegations of child sexual abuse against any priest during his time in Newcastle.

Giving evidence by video link from Sydney, Bishop Holland said he had no idea that Father Peter Rushton or any other priest had been abusing boys.

He told Commissioner Peter McClellan that he now accepted that Rushton and others had been serial paedophiles but he insisted that was only because it had been published in the media.

He disputed earlier evidence from a lay church member, Suzan Aslin, that she had told him of Rushton’s abuse of another priest’s son, who had been discovered curled in a ball on his bed after Rushton had assaulted him at the age of four or five.

Asked by counsel assisting Naomi Sharp if there was a framework for reporting priest misconduct at that time, Bishop Holland said: “There was no structure to deal with that”.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM

MARK COLVIN: This following story from the child abuse royal commission contains details you may find disturbing.

An Anglican priest has issued a scathing criticism of members of the church hierarchy at a public hearing investigating decades of abuse at the hands of the clergy.

The inquiry is focusing on the Diocese of Newcastle in New South Wales, but Reverend Roger Dyer says the church has been affected by the actions of paedophiles Australia-wide.

And he’s spoken openly about how he was ostracised when he attempted to raise the alarm in recent years.

But one former Bishop remains adamant that he never knew that a priest who he promoted was a prolific child sex offender.

Thomas Oriti reports.

THOMAS ORITI: Peter Rushton has been described as a serial paedophile, but the Anglican priest from Newcastle died in 2007 without ever being convicted, and that haunts Reverend Roger Dyer.

ROGER DYER: At no stage has anyone ever apologised to me for the treatment I have received as a consequence of speaking out. My intention at St Luke’s was to expose and acknowledge the pain caused by paedophilia, and to enable the parish to heal from the abuse that it experienced, and to move forward.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio, Pacific Daily News August 3, 2016

Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai said Tuesday the Archdiocese of Agana treats seriously the latest accusation of sex abuse against a priest and two members of the church.

During a public hearing at the Legislature on Monday, Leo B. Tudela, 73, told senators a priest and two other members of the Catholic Church sexually abused him in the 1950s. Tudela was one of several people who testified on a bill that would lift the time restriction for victims of child abuse to file lawsuits against their perpetrators.

Tudela said the Archdiocese of Agana appears to have failed to not only stop abuses but also tolerated and perpetuated “evil acts upon young innocent boys.”

Hon on Tuesday reiterated his desire to meet with people who’ve recently accused Arcbishop Anthony Apuron of sexual abuse. He also said he wants to meet with Tudela.

“As I said previously, when allegations of this sort happen, we realize it is a very serious matter so we treat them as such, independent of whatever feeling I have,” Hon said.

Following an interview with Pacific Daily News on Tuesday, Hon released a statement to media listing additions to the local church’s current policy on how to handle sexual misconduct cases.

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OKLAHOMA
NewsOK

Kyle Schwab Published: August 3, 2016

A Del City man on Tuesday was sentenced to more than 27 years in federal prison for sexually exploiting a 15-year-old girl who attended a religious course he taught at a Del City church.

Donnie Ray Schultz, 45, pleaded guilty in April to one count of sexual exploitation of a child. Oklahoma City federal prosecutors said Schultz was in a sexual relationship with the victim’s mother at the time of the crime.

During Tuesday’s sentencing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Hale called it a “twisted triangle of a relationship.”

Schultz apologized Tuesday and told the judge, “I’m broken for what I’ve done.”

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