ABUSE TRACKER

FRANCE
Newstalk (New Zealand)

French police have questioned the Roman Catholic cardinal-archbishop of Lyon in an investigation into the activities of a paedophile priest in the early 1990s and why they were not reported to the civil authorities.

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, 65, who has denied covering up the activities of Father Bernard Preynat, was questioned on Wednesday as a witness by officers of the child and family protection brigade at a police station in the central city, his lawyer said.

“Like any witness, he is being asked what he knew,” lawyer Andre Soulier said, adding that the questioning “will not be followed by any obligation to appear in court, any opening of a judicial investigation or any indictment”.

Several victims of alleged paedophile abuse have filed complaints against the prelate, who holds the honorific title of Primate of the Gauls, for failing to report the incidents to the justice authorities and leaving the accused priest in place.

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FRANCE
Columbus Telegram

PARIS (AP) — Police are questioning a prominent French cardinal about alleged failure to report pedophile priests under his watch.

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin has been under pressure for months since he was targeted in France’s highest-profile cases to date of sexual abuse of children by priests.

Barbarin, one of the highest-ranking figures in the French Catholic Church, is accused of failing to report two cases of pedophile priests to judicial authorities. He has denied covering up abuse, but acknowledged some mistakes in handling and appointing some priests.

Barbarin’s lawyer Andre Soulier said the cardinal is being questioned Wednesday in Lyon as part of normal proceedings in the case.

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ISRAEL/AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Middle East correspondent Sophie McNeill and Fouad Abu-Gosh

Israel’s state prosecutor has failed in a bid to see Malka Leifer, the former principal of an ultra-Orthodox girls school in Melbourne, returned to house arrest in Israel.

Leifer is wanted by Victorian police on 74 charges of indecent assault and rape allegedly involving girls at the Adass Israel School in Melbourne, where she was principal from 2003 until 2008.

Last Thursday, Leifer was ruled mentally unfit to face extradition and had her home detention lifted in a move that shocked and deeply concerned Australian officials and outraged her alleged victims and Jewish community leaders in Melbourne.

Legal proceedings around her extradition were stopped for six months, during which time she will undertake court-ordered psychiatric treatment.

The ABC understands Israeli prosecutors had hoped to argue that because the case was an extradition request, the judge had the authority to continue Leifer’s home detention despite proceedings being frozen.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

Jennifer Haselberger

06/07/2016

Someone recently sent me a link to the current (January 2016) newsletter of the Pontifical North American College in Rome, and drew my attention to page 4, where the members of the Board of Governors of the seminary are listed. Those of you who follow the link will see that the Vice Chairman is the Emeritus Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Archbishop John C. Nienstedt.

Perhaps not surprisingly, I did not find this information anywhere else on the PNAC website.

I wish I could say I was surprised.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Ivey DeJesus | idejesus@pennlive.com

Efforts by the Catholic church to defeat a child sex crime bill ahead of a Senate hearing next week continued on Tuesday to fuel outrage among the faithful.

Parents of children who attend Catholic schools in Philadelphia were on Tuesday emailed a letter urging them to help the church defeat House Bill 1947, which would reform the statute of limitations. A similar letter was distributed last week to schools in the Harrisburg Diocese.

Gretchen Dahlkemper, whose son attends St. Mary Interparochial School in Society Hill, said she was outraged over the letter.

“We put our trust in the church to heal and to move past what was decades of cover up, really systemic cover-up of widespread abuse,” said Dahlkemper. “The email sent to parents and the effort by the Catholic Church to continue are disgusting.”

The email, which was sent out by the principal of the school and signed by Chris Mominey, secretary of Catholic education, for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, states that the pending legislation in the Senate “has the potential to cripple our schools, catechetical programs, parishes, and charitable works that serve those in need.”

The letter contains documents similar to the ones distributed at Masses on Sunday, including a fact sheet and summary of the negative impact the bill would have on the church.

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NEW YORK
Huffington Post

Courtney M. Soliday
AOL

Hundreds of survivors of childhood sex abuse and their families and friends were joined by advocacy organizations from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania on June 5th to march across the Brooklyn Bridge to demonstrate broad public support for Assemblywoman Margaret Markey’s Child Victims Act.

The Assemblywoman was joined by Senator Brad Hoylman who sponsors the Child Victims Act in the NY State Senate.

The bill will eliminate the civil and criminal statute of limitations for child sex abuse crimes. It will also create a one-year civil “window” to get justice for adult survivors of abuse and help expose pedophiles and those who have hidden them.

At a rally on the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge after the “Walk for the Window” march, Assemblywoman Markey said: “My sincere thanks to you and all those who continue to speak out on behalf of survivors and children. Your voices and strong support reflected by this march gives me real hope that the Legislature will, at long last, act in 2016 to bring justice to survivors and help protect children by exposing predators who continue to abuse new generations of kids.”

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UTAH
Fox 13

BY BEN WINSLOW

SALT LAKE CITY — A fourth person has now come forward, alleging they were sexually abused while participating in a program run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for Native American children.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Navajo Nation Tribal Court, accuses the LDS Church of not reporting the abuse to the proper authorities.

“This can’t be swept under the rug,” the man, identified in court papers as “LK,” told FOX 13.

LK claims in court papers that he was taken from his home on the Navajo Nation as a child, baptized into the Mormon faith, and placed with a host family under a program the church ran called the “Lamanite Placement Program.” Also known as the “Indian Placement Program,” the lawsuit claims it was “the LDS Church’s desire to convert Native American or ‘Lamanite’ children and assimilate them into their culture reflects teachings in the Book of Mormon, a book of canonized scripture unique to the Mormon religion.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholic Philly

Posted June 6, 2016

The following letter by Archbishop Charles Chaput, or a similar letter signed by archdiocesan pastors, was read or made available in all 219 parishes of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia during Masses last weekend, June 4-5.

In addition to the letter in English and Spanish, a document explaining HB 1947, a bill that would retroactively lift the statutes of limitation in Pennsylvania for civil lawsuits in cases of child sexual abuse, was also provided to parishioners in English and Spanish to help them understand the issue more fully.

Also provided was a document in English and Spanish detailing steps the Philadelphia Archdiocese has taken to meet the needs of victims of clergy sexual abuse and to prevent future abuse of any child.

***
A bill is currently pending in our state senate, HB 1947, that poses serious dangers for all of our local parishes and for the ministries, charities and schools of our archdiocesan Church. With this letter, I urge you to write or telephone your local state senator and members of the state Senate Judiciary Committee to vote against HB 1947, and especially to oppose any retroactivity provision in the civil statute of limitation covering sexual abuse.

All of us are rightly angered by the crime of sexual abuse. Over the past decade the Church has worked very hard to support survivors in their healing, to protect our children and to root this crime out of Church life. But HB 1947 and bills like it are destructive legislation being advanced as a good solution. The problem with HB 1947 is its prejudicial content. It covers both public and religious institutions — but in drastically different and unjust ways. The bill fails to support all survivors of abuse equally, and it’s a clear attack on the Church, her parishes and her people.

HB 1947 is retroactive for private and religious entities, but not retroactive for public institutions. It places very low caps on damages for sexual abuse in public schools in the future. And it makes it hard for abuse victims to sue public institutions going forward. Meanwhile, private and religious entities face unlimited liability for exactly the same evil actions, and not just going forward, but also in the past.

This is not justice. In fact, HB 1947 actually excludes most victims. And it also targets innocent Catholic parishes and families, like your own, who will bear the financial burden of crimes committed by bad individuals in the past, along with the heavy penalties that always result from these bad bills.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Church Militant

by Joseph Pelletier • ChurchMilitant.com • June 7, 2016

Abp. Charles Chaput argues reform opens church to unlimited liability

PHILADELPHIA (ChurchMilitant.com) – The archbishop of Philadelphia is decrying a proposed law extending the statute of limitations in cases of sexual abuse, calling the legislation a “clear attack on the Church.”

In a letter distributed Sunday to all 219 parishes in the archdiocese of Philadelphia, Abp. Charles Chaput declared that Pennsylvania House Bill 1947, also referred to as HB 1947, “poses serious dangers” for local parishes and Catholic ministries and schools within the state as it exposes religious institutions to “unlimited liability” for clerical sex abuse currently decades past the current statute for legal action.

“All of us are rightly angered by the crime of sexual abuse,” the archbishop affirmed. “Over the past decade the Church has worked very hard to support survivors in their healing, to protect our children and to root this crime out of Church life. But HB 1947 and bills like it are destructive legislation being advanced as a good solution.”

“This is not justice,” he argues.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Commonspace

What is Kincora Boys’ Home?

Kincora’s Boys’ Home was a children’s home that became the centre of a notorious child abuse scandal in Belfast, Northern Ireland from 1958 to 1980. The home provided full-time accommodation for 15-18-year-old boys who faced an abusive or compromised home life. It closed in 1980 following allegations of wide scale child sexual abuse. At least 29 boys were raped, prostituted or otherwise sexually abused by senior care staff while resident in the home. The scale of the abuse remains unclear. There have been allegations of a decades-long cover up involving British intelligence services, prominent political figures, and the aristocracy.

What happened at Kincora?

As soon as the home was opened, warden Joe Mains began abusing boys in his care, and soon recruited his deputy Raymond Semple and housemaster William McGrath to join the daily abuse. Some of the victims allege that they were not only abused at Kincora, but were trafficked to England in order to be subjected to further abuse at locations including the infamous Dolphin Square and Elm Guest House.

Dolphin Square is an apartment block situated in Pimlico, London, near Westminster, that became the centre of a Metropolitan Police investigation in 2014. The inquiry was sparked after two separate witnesses claimed that the block was a venue for routine child sex abuse by groups of men including prominent MPs. …

Was there a cover-up?

There have been constant claims that MI5 and MI6 allowed the abuse at Kincora to continue in order to blackmail politicians and establishment figures during the Troubles.

McGrath was the leader of a rightwing Ulster loyalist movement, Tara, which espoused a brand of evangelical Protestantism, and extreme anti-Catholic views. Author Martin Dillon claimed that McGrath may have been blackmailed by MI5 in return for intelligence on other loyalist groups.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
The Guardian

Press Association
Tuesday 7 June 2016

A former resident from Kincora boys’ home has described being stripped naked and sexually assaulted on his first day at the Belfast facility.

The man, given the cipher HIA199/R3, broke down in tears after telling the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry, how he was singled out and abused over four years.

He said: “When I came to Kincora I was an an innocent 14-year-old boy. I never had a sex education and this is what I had to deal with for four years.”

The witness, who spent his entire childhood in care, had three separate stints at Kincora during the 1960s and 1970s. He left shortly after turning 18.

On the day he was admitted from Purdysburn hospital, he said he was taken into a bathroom and assaulted by warden Joseph Mains during what was supposed to be a medical examination, the HIA was told.

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NEW YORK
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on today’s lead story in the Daily News:

The Daily News is back at it again slamming the Catholic Church. But this time they really did themselves in: They floated a front-page story by a notorious anti-Catholic bigot accusing a local bishop of bribery.

Assemblywoman Margaret Markey—the number-one enemy of Catholics in New York—has accused Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of offering her a $5,000 bribe. He allegedly tried to get her to drop her support for a bill that would lift the statute of limitations on offenses involving the sexual abuse of minors. The bishop vehemently denies it.

Only a fool would believe Markey. First of all, the alleged bribe took place in 2010. Now are we supposed to believe that the same woman who is fixated on the statute of limitations as it relates to sexual abuse didn’t know that the statute of limitations for bribery in New York is three years?

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VATICAN CITY/GUAM
Catholic Herald (UK)

In a video filmed in St Peter’s Square, Archbishop Anthony Apuron said he was a ‘victim of horrible calumnies’

The Archbishop of Guam says he welcomes the appointment of a Vatican administrator to run the Catholic Church on the Pacific island pending an investigation into allegations he sexually abused young boys decades ago.

In a video shot in St Peter’s Square, Archbishop Anthony Apuron spoke to his flock in the US territory, insisting he remained their archbishop and was a “victim of these horrible calumnies.”

Pope Francis on Monday named a high-ranking Vatican official to take over the Agana archdiocese after abuse allegations against Archbishop Apuron resurfaced in recent weeks. A church deacon publicly accused Apuron of keeping the archdiocese’s sex abuse policy weak to protect himself.

The Archbishop has accused the deacon, Stephen Martinez, of being part of a conspiracy to oust him over a soured property deal.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Louella Losinio | Post News Staff

Archbishop Anthony Apuron issued a decree Sunday branding the Concerned Catholics of Guam (CCOG) as a “prohibited society” and forbidding all members of the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Agana from associating with the organization.

Apuron said in the decree that the organization has assumed the name and use of the term “Catholic” without the consent of a competent ecclesiastical authority, as required by law.

But, according to David Sablan, CCOG vice president, the word “Catholic” in the organization’s title refers to the faithful who call themselves Catholic – the laity of the church.

“We are not an organization of the Archdiocese of Agana. Otherwise, we would have to have the blessing and sanction of the archbishop. We know that,” Sablan told the Post.

Sablan said if they were to call themselves the “Catholic Society of Guam” or the “Catholic Organization of Guam,” then the use of the term “Catholic” would need the approval of the archbishop.

“But that is not how we are using that term. We are identifying ourselves as Catholics – persons who are baptized Catholics, bound together for a common purpose which is not related to associations needing the approval of the appropriate ecclesiastical authority (the Archbishop of Agana) as defined in Canon Law,” he said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A retired Catholic priest has been acquitted by a jury of sexually assaulting nine girls and one boy.

Father Mortimer Stanley, 82, denied 19 indecent assaults allegedly committed in Rochdale between 1977 and 2002.

He was accused of targeting most of the complainants, aged under 11, in his presbytery at St Vincent de Paul RC Church in Norden.

Judge John Potter has recorded not guilty verdicts on two counts at Manchester Crown Court.

‘Totally untrue’

The court heard jurors had been unable to reach a verdict on one of the counts but prosecutor Andrew Mackintosh said the Crown would not seek a retrial and a not guilty verdict was recorded.

The judge said another count involving a 10th female complainant who was too unwell to give evidence during the trial would also be recorded as not guilty.

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UNITED STATES
protectjewishkids

Rabbi Samuel Waldman

I decided to investigate some of the rabbis who worked at the Mesivta of Long Beach. (It was also called Torah High School. After Chaim Weiss’ murder, the name appears to have been changed to Mercaz Hatorah.)

The first name that got my attention was Rabbi Samuel Waldman. In 2014, he was arrested on Federal distribution of child pornography charges by the Department of Homeland Security. At the time Waldman was arrested, he was a teacher at the Bais Yaakov of Boro Park.

Waldman wrote the book “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt” published in 2002. In it, he thanks 2 Mesivta rabbis (Levi Dickstein the rosh yeshiva and Chaim Zelikovitz, a teacher) for hiring him as the yeshiva’s mashgiach. The mashgiach is the equivalent of the dorm counselor, confidant and mentor to the yeshiva boys. It appears that Waldman was the mashgiach for 8 years, all of them when Rabbi Shlomo Lesin was the school administrator. I’ll get to Lesin shortly.

In his book, Rabbi Waldman also acknowledges his former rabbi and Torah teacher, Rabbi Gabriel Bodenheimer. Bodeheimer was convicted of child endangerment when he was principal of a yeshiva in Monsey, NY. Rabbi Waldman also acknowledges Rabbi Yisroel Belsky who reviewed his book. Belsky is notorious for publicly accusing the father of a boy who was molested in Lakewood, NJ of molesting his own son. Belsky also publicly exonerated Rabbi Yosef Kolko who was arrested for the crime.

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AUSTRALIA/VATICAN CITY
The Australian

TESS LIVINGSTONE
THE AUSTRALIAN
JUNE 8, 2016

Australian Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican’s treasurer, today turns 75, the age when Catholic bishops automatically submit their resignations to the pope. Cardinal Pell, however, has been asked by Pope Francis to continue working until 2019.

After Pope Francis visited the office of the Secretariat for the Economy last month, Cardinal Pell’s office said in a statement he would “be continuing with his current role for the full five-year term”. He was appointed to clean up the Vatican’s corrupt financial system in February 2014.

“The Holy Father said he fully supported their work and re-emphasised the ongoing need for transparency in continuing with their reforms,” its statement said. About 4000 Vatican Bank ­accounts of individuals and ­organisations not entitled to hold them have been closed and 200 have been referred to authorities.

Cardinal Pell’s secretariat is also engaged in a battle with the powerful Secretariat of State, after Italian Archbishop Angelo Becciu, the number two official in that office, suspended an external audit of Vatican finances by international accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, which was trying to improve the transparency of Vatican finances to international anti-money-laundering standards.

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NEW YORK
Road to Recovery

New York State legislature has eight (8) days to do the right thing by eliminating the statute of limitations on sexual abuse of children and allowing victim/survivors to hold their abusers accountable

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian of Boston, who was portrayed by Stanley Tucci in the Academy Award-winning movie, “Spotlight,” and whose work with clergy sexual abuse victims is well documented, will stand with two of his clergy childhood sexual abuse clients, Cecilia Springer and Neal Gumpel, to demand reasonable and just settlements of their claims and changes in the New York State statute of limitations concerning childhood sexual abuse

Cecilia Springer is an 85 year-old ex-nun who was abused by her high school Principal, Sr. Mary Andrew, SU, a Sister of St. Ursula, in the 1940s. The Sisters of St. Ursula refuse to help Cecilia in her senior years despite the fact that Cecilia Springer’s father donated a Manhattan building to the Sisters of St. Ursula

Neal Gumpel, 57, originally from Port Chester, NY, was sexually abused by a Fordham Preparatory School (Bronx, NY) Jesuit priest, Fr. Roy Alan Drake, SJ, a serial pedophile, who received permission from his Jesuit superiors to teach at Maine Maritime Academy in the 1970s. The Jesuits have found Neal Gumpel’s story credible but refuse to help him heal by reasonably settling his claim

What
A press conference alerting the media to the cases of two childhood sexual abuse victims, represented by Boston Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, portrayed by Stanley Tucci in the movie, “Spotlight,” who have been re-victimized by two religious orders, the Sisters of St. Ursula, based in Dutchess County, New York, and the Northeast Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), based in Manhattan, because of their refusal to help the victims heal. The press conference will also demand that the New York State legislature enact laws allowing childhood sexual abuse victims to gain access to the courts in a fair and just manner.

When
Wednesday, June 8, 2016 at 1:00 pm

Where
On the public sidewalk outside Notre Dame School, 327 West 13th Street, New York, NY 10014

Who
Boston Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, portrayed by Stanley Tucci in the Academy Award’s 2016 Best Picture, “Spotlight,”; Cecilia Springer, a childhood sexual abuse victim and ex-nun; Neal Gumpel, a childhood sexual abuse victim and Hollywood screenwriter; Dr. Robert M. Hoatson of Road to Recovery, Inc., advocate and sexual abuse victim as a young adult in five counties of New York State; Helen Gumpel, wife of Neal Gumpel; friends, and supporters

Why
New York State has one of the most restrictive statutes of limitations on the sexual abuse of children in the country, and the New York legislature is currently discussing ways to change that. Attorney Mitchell Garabedian of Boston will stand with two of his clients, Cecilia Springer and Neal Gumpel, and discuss the injustice of the Sisters of St. Ursula in not reasonably settling credible claims of childhood sexual abuse by a nun, Sr. Mary Andrew, S.U., who was Cecilia Springer’s Principal at Notre Dame School in the 1940s. Sister Mary Andrew, S.U., followed high school student Cecilia Springer up the school stairway from the lunchroom, grabbed her from behind, and hugged and kissed her. Cecilia Springer suffers from the effects of that sexual abuse.

Attorney Garabedian will also stand with Neal E. Gumpel, who was invited by his brother to spend the weekend at Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, Maine in the 1970s. Neal Gumpel was told when he arrived that he would be staying in the apartment of Fr. Roy Alan Drake, SJ, who was a professor of science at Maine Maritime Academy. Fr. Roy Alan Drake plied Neal Gumpel with alcohol and sexually assaulted him during that weekend. The Jesuits of the Northeast Province, based in Manhattan, have found Neal Gumpel’s story credible but refuse to reasonably settle his case.

The press conference will demand that the Sisters of St. Ursula and the Society of Jesus Northeast Province (Jesuits) do the right thing, reasonably settle the two claims, and help the victims heal.

The press conference will also demand that the New York State legislature eliminate the statute of limitations regarding childhood sexual abuse and allow victims of childhood sexual abuse, whenever it occurred, to have their day in court.

Contacts
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., Road to Recovery, Inc. – 862-368-280
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, Boston, MA – 617-523-6250

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Louella Losinio | Post News Staff

After nearly four decades of silence, Walter Denton yesterday spoke to those gathered in front of the Pastoral Office at the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral Basilica in Hagåtña, alleging that he was sexually molested by then-parish priest, now Archbishop Anthony Apuron. The confession followed an announcement that Pope Francis has relieved Apuron of his duties and appointed an interim administrator for the archdiocese.

“I was raped by Anthony Sablan Apuron, who at that time was a priest in Agat,” Denton said at the media conference yesterday.

With family and supporters by his side, Denton – making the third accusation of sexual abuse of altar servers by Apuron within the last three weeks – said the incident “changed the direction of his life,” and described how the abuse started in April 1977 when Apuron asked him to stay overnight at the rectory of Mount Carmel Church in Agat, where Apuron was a priest.

Denton, then a 13-year-old altar boy, said Apuron insisted that he sleep in the bedroom with him. He said that during the night, he was sodomized by Apuron.

Denton, 52, currently lives in Casa Grande, Arizona. He said he spent 23 years 11 months in the U.S. military but over the years, the experience of being raped by Apuron weighed on him.

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VATICAN CITY
Newsday

Updated June 7, 2016

By NICOLE WINFIELD (Associated Press)

VATICAN CITY – (AP) — The Catholic archbishop of Guam is insisting he’s a victim of a campaign to oust him and says he welcomes the appointment of a Vatican administrator to take over pending an investigation into allegations he sexually abused young boys decades ago.

In a video shot in St. Peter’s Square, Archbishop Anthony Apuron addressed himself to his flock in the Pacific U.S. territory, insisting he remained their archbishop and was a “victim of these horrible calumnies.”

Pope Francis on Monday named a high-ranking Vatican official to take over the Agana archdiocese after abuse allegations against Apuron resurfaced in recent weeks. A church deacon publicly accused Apuron of keeping the archdiocese’s sex abuse policy weak to protect himself.

Apuron has accused the deacon, Stephen Martinez, of being part of a conspiracy to oust him over a soured real estate deal.

On Tuesday, the archdiocese posted on its website a decree Apuron signed on the eve of his demotion declaring an association of Catholics who have been critical of his leadership “prohibited.” The decree says the faithful should refrain from associating with it.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Irish News

Kim Pilling, PA
07 June, 2016

A CATHOLIC priest has been cleared by a jury of historical allegations that he sexually abused nine girls and one boy.

Limerick-born Father Mortimer Stanley (82) from Ballybunion, Co Kerry, had denied a string of indecent assaults said to have been committed in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, between 1977 and 2002.

The Crown alleged the priest targeted most of the complainants, aged under 11, in his presbytery at St Vincent de Paul RC Church in Norden, when he would sit them on his knee.

Fr Stanley said children would often climb on his knee of their own accord but nothing inappropriate ever happened.

He dismissed the claims from the male complainant that he was abused after “something like chloroform” was put over his mouth as “totally untrue”.

Fr Stanley retired from the priesthood in 2002 and returned to Ireland.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

ROCCO PARASCANDOLA
RYAN SIT
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, June 7, 2016

A pastor is charged with molesting a 6-year-old girl his wife was baby-sitting in Queens, the district attorney said Monday.

James Love, pastor of New Mount Zion Baptist Church in Bushwick, Brooklyn, allegedly fondled the girl and exposed himself to her at his Woodside Houses apartment in Woodside on Thursday and March 7, according to the criminal complaint.

The victim’s mother told police Love once “exposed his genitals to her and placed her hand on his genitals,” and on several occasions, “rubbed his genitals against (hers)” while they were both clothed, the complaint read. He also repeatedly tried to put his hand under the little girl’s clothes, the DA charged.

The abuses were reported to police Friday, a cop source said. Investigators arranged a phone call between Love and the victim’s mother in which Love denied the allegations.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno, gdumat-ol@guampdn.com June 7, 2016

Archbishop Anthony Apuron has issued a decree declaring Concerned Catholics of Guam a “prohibited society” and warning island Catholics to avoid associating with the whistleblower group.

Apuron issued the decree on June 5, a day before Pope Francis removed Apuron’s administrative authority over the Archdiocese of Agana and named a high-level official from Rome, Archbishop Savio Tai Fai Hon, as temporary apostolic administrator in Guam.

Apuron has been placed on leave, but gets to keep his archbishop title, while Hon will govern the archdiocese.

Apuron stated his decree would take effect on June 14, but now that a new administrator from Rome is in charge, it’s unclear if his ban on the Concerned Catholics of Guam and its supporters will stand. …

Concerned Catholics responded that the organization doesn’t fall under the authority of the Archdiocese of Agana and doesn’t need the blessing and sanction of Apuron.

“We are identifying ourselves as Catholics — persons who are baptized Catholics, bound together for a common purpose, which is not related to associations needing the approval” of Apuron, according to the organization.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis will set up a panel of legal experts to help him in deciding whether to remove a religious superior or bishop from office for failing to protect minors and vulnerable adults from sex abuse.

Vatican offices will continue to investigate claims of negligence on the part of bishops, ordinaries or religious superiors under their jurisdiction. But the pope — who makes the final decision about a bishop’s removal from office — will now be assisted by a papally appointed “college of jurists,” according to procedures that take effect Sept. 5.

In an apostolic letter given “motu proprio” (on his own initiative), dated June 4, the pope reaffirmed that bishops of a diocese or eparchy and those responsible for other kinds of particular churches can be “legitimately removed” for negligence.

In order for it to be grounds for removal, such negligence — either through omission or commission — will have had to cause “serious harm to others,” including individuals or a community, the letter said, and “the harm can be physical, moral, spiritual” or to property.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | Jun. 7, 2016

The fact that we, as a Church, are still wrestling with how to confront the crime of clergy sexual abuse of minors invites all manner of emotional and programmatic responses. This weekend’s release of a new motu proprio on episcopal accountability makes those invitations clamant.
Some people, as we know, have left the Church: The rise of the “nones” among Catholics in the Northeastern part of the United States is largely attributable to the clergy sex abuse crisis, although this cause melded with the rise of the Religious Right and its involvement with politics. Others, including some leaders of victims’ advocacy groups have become fatalistic about reform: Understandably suspicious, each additional revelation of clergy sex abuse and, even more, of bishops covering that abuse up, only feeds their suspicion that the leaders of the Church will always be more concerned with institutional self-preservation than with protecting children. Still others think the crisis only confirms their suspicions about the hierarchic organization of the Church more generally, that this issue, like all issues, is really only about power.

There is no doubt that the Vatican curia is a unique subculture. I recall many years ago a friend who worked there explaining to me that the curia did not exist to help the Holy Father govern the universal Church, but to get red for the more talented among its employees. I doubt there is more ambition there than one finds at the summit of any large organization, but ambition has less competition: For example, curial cardinals do not have to worry about the kids, as most members of Congress do, nor about advances in technology as captains of industry do.

The Vatican curia, and the episcopacy more generally, have also been operating at major cross-currents to the ambient culture for a couple of hundred years. The dominant fact of political life for the last two centuries has been democratization, while the Church has seen the burial of Gallicanism, the great ideological opponent of Roman centralization, and the separation of Church & State yielding yet more control over local churches by Rome than could have been imagined previously. While monarchies fell, the Church embraced the doctrine of papal infallibility.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

Editorial

Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio is a vehement opponent of giving alleged childhood sex abuse victims one year to file civil suits that have been barred by New York’s tight statute of limitations.

Democratic Queens Assemblywoman Margaret Markey has long sponsored legislation that would allow the so-called one-year look back.

Now, stunningly, Markey says that in 2010, DiMarzio offered her $5,000 to drop her push — her account coming as close as possible to describing the New York crime of third-degree bribery.

Through a spokesman, DiMarzio denied ever making such an offer. Regardless, this fan of restrictive sex-offense statutes of limitations has nothing to worry about in terms of a law enforcement investigation.

The New York statute of limitations on bribery third degree is but three years and the federal limit is five years.

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NEW YORK
News 12

YONKERS – Months of tensions over the issue of code enforcement in Rockland’s private yeshivas reached a boiling point Monday when the county threatened to take legal action.

“It is beyond my comprehension what the issues are anymore,” said Rockland County Executive Ed Day just moments after learning several yeshivas refused to let county fire inspectors inside Monday morning to conduct state-ordered safety checks. He added that the schools told the inspectors to make an appointment and come back.

But those yeshivas could soon be forced to let in the inspectors as Day’s lawyers will be at the county courthouse asking a judge for warrants. Soon after the threat of jail time, the schools’ lawyer called the county to say inspectors will be allowed in Wednesday morning.

Although Rabbi Moishe Schwab, of Yeshiva Degel Hatorah, is listed as compliant, he said other school leaders feel they are being targeted because of their religion, prompting them to form the School Religious Freedom Coalition. But Executive Day points out that the county also ordered the reinspection of Catholic schools as well, and that only the yeshivas have turned away inspectors.

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UNITED STATES
Stop Baptist Predators

Christa Brown

On June 3, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests released a letter to top officials of the Southern Baptist Convention, calling on them to create a “safe place” office to which clergy sex abuse survivors can file reports about their alleged perpetrators and predicting that, without action, Baptists will become the next target of a “Spotlight”-style exposé. The letter, from SNAP’s Executive Director David Clohessy and Outreach Director Barbara Dorris, was directed to SBC Executive Committee President Frank Page and SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission President Russell Moore. Here it is.

Dear Dr. Page and Dr. Moore:

With the approach of the Southern Baptist Convention’s 2016 annual meeting, we are writing with two requests:

First Request. We ask for the creation of a denominationally-funded “safe place” office to which Baptist clergy abuse survivors may file a report about their alleged perpetrators and that the “safe place” office be widely publicized.

Reason for First Request. It is flat-out cruel for Baptist denominational officials to persist in telling clergy abuse survivors that they must go to the church of the accused pastor if they want to report him within the faith community. This is like telling abuse survivors that they must go to the den of the wolf who savaged them. It is a response that inflicts additional harm on greatly wounded people and that turns a cold shoulder to those who seek only to protect others. To avoid the hopelessness that often besieges survivors who see no realistic avenue for even making a report, and to encourage Baptist clergy abuse survivors to speak out, the SBC needs to provide a “safe place” where survivors may report their perpetrators to people who have the professionalism and experience to receive those reports with compassion and care.

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UNITED KINGDOM
National Secular Society

Posted: Tue, 07 Jun 2016

Sex abuse victims doubt Pope’s decree on negligent bishops

A new decree issued by Pope Francis on 4 June under which bishops can be removed from office if found guilty of negligence involving grave abuse of minors or vulnerable adults has been greeted with cynicism by the National Secular Society and a victim support group.

The new decree does not equate to a criminal prosecution under secular law and the maximum sanction for bishops found guilty under this decree is removal from office, and even that is subject to Pontifical approval. Those disciplined under the new decree will not have a criminal record as a result and the decree does not apply to those of higher, or indeed lower, rank than bishops. Cardinals have been implicated in such facilitation but appear to be immune from sanction.

In a similar move last year, the Pope announced a Tribunal to discipline such bishops, but it appears never to have met. This decree, and the Tribunal that preceded it, may be a Church response to the growing willingness to prosecute senior clerics, especially in the US, on charges such as child endangerment. By announcing such disciplinary measures, the Church implies that criminal prosecutions are unnecessary and that those suspected of facilitating abuse will be subjected to due process by the Church.

Those states that have signed up to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which includes the Vatican, are subject to a five-yearly review. A review of the Vatican concluded in 2014 that “almost all those who concealed child sexual abuse [were allowed] to escape judicial proceedings in States where abuses were committed”. It recommended that the Church’s archives should be shared in order that “all those who concealed their crimes and knowingly placed offenders in contact with children” were held accountable.

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UNITED STATES
Times of Israel

David Cheifetz

Last week, I visited Israel and met up with my friend Manny Waks. Manny has become a leading spokesperson for sexual abuse victims in the Jewish community. I too came out publicly three years ago as a victim of sexual abuse at an Orthodox Jewish sleep away camp in the United States when I was 13-years-old.

Manny and I spent the day on the beach in Tel Aviv soaking up the rays of the sun, cooled by a comfortable breeze. Afterwards, we retired to the lounge in the Sheraton until late in the evening.

So what did Manny Waks and I talk about in the many hours that we spent together?

In addition to laughing and joking around, we had serious discussions about the whole “awakening” across the various sectors of the Jewish community worldwide around the topic of sexual abuse, particularly of minors. We spoke of the parallels between the very different communities in which we grew up: Me, in the yeshivish and, later, Modern Orthodox communities; and Manny, in the Chabad community in Australia.

One of the core commonalities that we discussed is the fundamental hypocrisy and intellectual dishonestly of much of the institutionalized rabbinic and lay leadership in their failure to adequately address the topic of sexual abuse.

The rabbis describe themselves as messengers of Torah, as the keepers and “Guardians of Halacha.” Even when there are halachic differences, the rabbis stand by the rules that they teach, the Rules of the Divine. And these are indeed the Rules of the Divine, for in the mainstream view of tradition, at least in mainstream Orthodoxy — including Modern Orthodoxy and the Chareidi communities — Torah is indeed Divine. Torah is MiSinai, given at Mount Sinai, and rules not captured in the Torah itself are themselves Halachot LeMoshe MiSinai, laws handed down by the Divine to Moses on Sinai, and passed down orally throughout the centuries.

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GUAM
KUAM

Posted: Jun 07, 2016

By Nestor Licanto

An expert in canon law says there is no specific timetable to complete the investigation of Archbishop Apuron. But in light of Pope Francis’ recent decree against sexual abuse, the results could come sooner than expected. Father Wilmer Rosario is a judge in the tribunal for the Archdiocese of Manila, and a graduate of the Angelicum, a pontifical university in Rome.

He told KUAM News, “We hope that since the issue of sexual abuse is egregious, especially against minors have a special or extraordinary gravity as considered in the church and church law, maybe it would be swifter, it would be quicker to decide on, but of course as always due process is considered.”

Father Rosario says the appointment of a temporary replacement for the archbishop does not necessarily mean he will be replaced. But should there be a removal, nominations for a successor are usually received from the local bishop or clergy and sent to the papal nuncio, the permanent diplomatic representative of the pope to a state. Both Archbishop Apuron and his predecessor the late archbishop Felixberto Flores are from Guam.

But Father Rosario says there is no local mandate, adding, “So all the candidates can come from whoever the clergy is most fit for the position. The papal nuncio conducts an investigation when there are nominations of a candidate, they do an investigation and that is supposedly secret, secreto, they investigate the character, the past ministry and then the papal nuncio, the papal legate submits the nomination to the holy see, to the Vatican.”

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GUAM
Pacific News Center – K57

Interview between Patti Arroyo and Tim Rohr about the appointment of Arch Bishop Savio Tai Fai Hon as the apostolic administrator for the Arch Diocese of Agana.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center – K57

Interview between Patti Arroyo and Joelle Casteix, SNAP, about the appointment of Arch Bishop Savio Tai Fai Hon as the Apostolic Administrator for the Arch Diocese of Agana.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center – K57

Interview between Patti Arroyo and Father Mike Crisostomo about the appointment of a Apostolic Administrator to the Arch Diocese of Agana by Pope Francis.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Roselle Romanes

The Archdiocese of Agana issued a general decree.

Guam – Two days before the appointment of another archbishop to oversee the Archdiocese of Agana, Archbishop Anthony Apuron issued a general decree ordering Catholics on island not to associate with the group “Concerned Catholics of Guam.”

The Concerned Catholics of Guam is a nonprofit group made up of mostly outspoken critics of Archbishop Anthony Apuron and they have expressed their opposition time and time again, especially in regards to sexual abuse complaints and financial transparency associated with the archdiocese. In the decree, the Archdiocese of Agana calls the Concerned Catholics of Guam a prohibited society under a particular law of the archdiocese. Also stated in the decree, CCOG instigates public opposition and solicits and disseminates fraudulent or malicious allegations.

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FRANCE
La Croix

[Victims of sexual abuse in the French Catholic Church are beginning to speak out.]

Marie Malzac et Christine Legrand, le 06/06/2016

Depuis la médiatisation des abus sexuels commis par des prêtres dans le diocèse de Lyon, un lent processus de libération de la parole des victimes s’est mis en route. Dans l’Église mais aussi plus largement.

Les révélations d’abus sexuels commis par des prêtres dans le diocèse de Lyon ont réveillé des souvenirs que Luc (1) pensait dépassés depuis longtemps. « Je me rends compte que je suis resté dans le déni pendant des années », reconnaît aujourd’hui ce quinquagénaire, marié et père de famille.

Vingt-cinq ans plus tôt, alors qu’il traversait une période délicate et s’interrogeait sur sa sexualité, il s’en était ouvert à un ami prêtre. « Un jour que je l’avais invité à dîner, il m’a fait des avances explicites. Cet événement a ressurgi dans ma mémoire à la faveur des récentes révélations », confie-t-il à La Croix. Il reconnaît avoir « sous-estimé à quel point cette histoire l’avait perturbé ».

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DEUTSCHLAND
katholisch

[In the fight against sexual abuse in the church, it is not enough to hold the perpetrators to account, says Father Klaus Mertes. Therefore in an interview with katholisch.de he praises the Motu Proprio of Pope Francis, according to which bishops can be punished easier for covering up abuse.]

Pater Klaus Mertes über Missbrauchsaufklärung im Vatikan
St. Blasien – 07.06.2016

Im Kampf gegen sexuellen Missbrauch in der Kirche ist es nicht damit getan, die Täter zur Verantwortung zu ziehen, sagt Pater Klaus Mertes. Im Interview mit katholisch.de lobt er daher das Motu proprio von Papst Franziskus, wonach Bischöfe für Vertuschung leichter bestraft werden können. Die eigentliche Frage sei jedoch noch immer nicht beantwortet, moniert der Jesuit Mertes.

Frage: Pater Mertes, der Papst hat mit seinem Motu proprio bekräftigt, dass Bischöfe, die Missbrauchsfälle verschleiern, ihres Amtes enthoben werden können. Was bringt das aus Ihrer Sicht den Opfern?

Klaus Mertes: Für sie ist das eine wichtige Entscheidung. Gerade die Opfer haben ja ein tiefes Gespür dafür, dass der Missbrauch nicht nur in der Tat im engeren Sinne besteht, sondern auch in der Vertuschung oder im unangemessenen Umgang der Institution damit. Sie fühlen sich von der Institution Kirche im Stich gelassen – und waren es vielen Fällen ja auch. Deswegen sind strukturelle Entscheidungen notwendig.

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OSTERREICH
Austria-Forum

[A survey shows priests want reform in the Catholic Church.]

Paul M. Zulehner: Wie geht’s, Herr Pfarrer ? Ergebnis einer kreuzundquer-Umfrage: Priester wollen Reformen. Styria Verlag Wien, Graz, Klagenfurt 2010. 176 S. € 19,95

“Aus gegebenem Anlass” hat die Religionsabteilung des ORF-Fensehens beim Institut GfK Austria eine repräsentative Telefonumfrage unter den katholischen Pfarrern aller österreichischen Diözesen in Auftrag gegeben. Geleitet und interpretiert wurde die Studie vom prominenten Pastoraltheologen Paul Michael Zulehner. Beruf und Privatleben der Priester sollten erkundet werden, ebenso ihre Erwartungen an die Zukunft. Einige markante Ergebnisse:

* 90 % fordern die Durchführung der Konzilsbeschlüsse
* Drei Viertel fühlen sich stark überlastet
* Zwei Drittel würden wieder Priester werden,
– leben die Ehelosigkeit in “eigenständig gewählten verantwortbaren Formen”

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VATIKAN
Deutschlandfund

[Pope Francis has tightened the rules for the punishment of child abuse in the Catholic Church.]

Von Christiane Florin

Franziskus liebt die Mütter. Glaubt man seinem Reden und Schreiben, sind Frauen, die Kinder großziehen, gütig, gerecht und geerdet. Von Männern hat er keine ganz so hohe Meinung, von Kirchenmännern erst recht nicht. “Wie eine liebende Mutter” – so hat er seinen jüngsten Erlass überschrieben. Motu Proprio heißt das Dokument in der vatikanischen Amtssprache. Es besagt unter anderem, dass sich Bischöfe einer schweren Verletzung der Sorgfaltspflicht schuldig machen, wenn sie nicht entschieden Missbrauchsfällen in ihrer Diözese nachgehen. Als Strafe droht ihnen künftig die Amtsenthebung. Im September wird das Motu Proprio in Kraft treten.

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FRANKREICH
Radio Vatikan

[Alain Christnach, who heads the French Catholic commission against pedophila has shown commitment to analyze objectively each known case of pedophila in the church.]

Der Vorsitzende der französischen katholischen „Kommission gegen Pädophilie“, Alain Christnacht, hat sich entschlossen gezeigt, jeden bekannten Fall von sexuellem Missbrauch in der Kirche objektiv zu analysieren. Es sei notwendig, Abstand von den Ereignissen zu gewinnen und jeden Fall in seiner Komplexität zu betrachten, sagte Christnacht im Interview mit der französischen Zeitung „La Croix“ vom Montag. „Wir müssen eine Stellungnahme zu den Tatsachen und Persönlichkeiten ausarbeiten, ohne dabei Untersuchungsrichter, Psychologen oder Psychiater zu sein“, so Christnacht. Gleichzeitig gab er die Mitglieder der „Kommission gegen Pädophilie“ bekannt. Darunter sind unter anderem die Psychologin Martine de Maximy, der Präsident des katholischen Zentrums für Medizin, Bertrand Galichon, und der Psychiater Bernard Granger. Zudem werde noch eine Mutter ausgesucht. Die Kommission sei multidisziplinär, damit die gewonnenen Informationen aus verschiedenen Blickwinkeln diskutiert werden könnten, so der Vorsitzende.

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FRANCE
La Croix

[Alain Christnacht, who heads an independent commission studying pedophilia in the Catholic Church of France, said there must be zero tolerance of abuse.]

Recueilli par Bruno Bouvet et Céline Hoyeau, le 05/06/2016 à 18h29 Envoyer par email
Président de la mission de la commission nationale d’expertise indépendante sur la pédophilie mise en place par la Conférence des évêques de France, Alain Christnacht explique la mission de cette instance, dont La Croix dévoile la composition en exclusivité.

La Croix : Quel sera le rôle de la commission que vous avez composée ?

Alain Christnacht : Disons d’emblée ce que nous ne ferons pas : nous ne conseillerons pas aux évêques de saisir la justice ou non. C’est de leur responsabilité. Notre mission, bénévole et confidentielle, consiste à rendre des avis uniquement à ceux qui nous le demanderont, avis qu’ils seront libres de suivre ou non.

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PHILIPPINES/UNITED STATES
Sun.Star

Tuesday, June 07, 2016

MANILA Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle will serve as the spiritual director of the 2016 Special Assembly of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to be held this month in the United States.

In a statement, the Archdiocesan Office of Communications said that Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, president of the USCCB, invited the head of the Archdiocese of Manila to be part of the Special Assembly, which will be held on June 13-17 at the Diocese of Orange in the state of California.

According to Bishop John Barres of Allentown, chairman of the USCCB Special Assembly Planning Committee, “the spiritual director serves as the central figure of the assembly, delivering daily reflections and homilies on a theme central to the episcopal ministry.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times

By Phil Heron, Delaware County Daily Times
POSTED: 06/07/16

Down at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia headquarters, they are putting the wagons in a circle.

Again.

And, once again, the issue is the child sex abuse scandal that has dogged the church for a decade.

Specifically, the church is taking aim at legislation being considered in Harrisburg that would change the statute of limitations to allow victims of abuse more time to file civil actions.

That, as you might expect, is raising more than a few eyebrows at the archdiocese. In other words, it could cost them millions in civil lawsuits based on old abuse cases.

House Bill 1947 passed the House by a 180-15 vote. It is now being taken up by the Senate. No vote has yet been scheduled, but a hearing on the bill is expected to be held next week.

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GUAM
KUAM

Posted: Jun 06, 2016

By Sabrina Salas Matanane

Local blogger Tim Rohr says it’s a “complete insult” for Archbishop Anthony Apuron to claim that he was the one who requested Rome to appoint an apostolic administrator for the Archdiocese of Agana. Rohr has been reporting on the controversies in the local Catholic Church for several years on his blog, JungleWatch.

He issued a video statement to KUAM today detailing his thoughts on the matter.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

[with video]

Haidee V Eugenio, Pacific Daily News June 7, 2016

A 52-year-old man on Tuesday accused Archbishop Anthony Apuron of raping him when he was a boy in 1977.

The man’s accusation is the third allegation of sexual abuse against the archbishop in recent weeks. It is the second recent accusation by an alleged victim.

Speaking to media outside the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral Basilica in Hagåtña, Walter Denton, 52, of Casa Grande, Arizona, said that Apuron raped him when he was a boy while sleeping over in the Rectory of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Agat.

A man in his early 50s, Roy Quintanilla, recently came forward to say that Apuron molested him when he was an altar boy in the 1970s. Apuron, at the time, was a parish priest at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Agat.

Quintanilla inspired Doris Y. Concepcion to also come forward days later to say that, before her son passed away 11 years ago, he told her that he was molested by Apuron when he was an altar boy in Agat, also in the 1970s.

Pope Francis named on Monday night (Guam time) a new apostolic administrator “sede plena” for the Archdiocese of Agana, pending investigation of allegations of sexual abuse against Apuron.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

[with video]

Written by Janela Carrera

This brings the number of alleged victims to three.

Guam – Explosive details from another man who says Archbishop Anthony Apuron raped him when he was 13 years old. Now 52, Walter Denton is the third victim to come forward with sex abuse allegations against the archbishop.

“It hurts so much just thinking about it. It’s like it just happened yesterday,” says Denton as he holds back tears.

Denton says it happened on April 16, 1977 at the rectory of Mt. Carmel Catholic Church in Agat. He slept over at the request of Apuron who was a priest at the time. Here are excerpts from his statement, some of which are graphic in nature.

“I said I was going to sleep on the lazy boy chair. He said no and he insisted I sleep in the bedroom with him,” he describes. “Sometime late that evening or early morning I woke up feeling something–.”

At this point, Denton is struggling to maintain his composure.

“I felt something penetrating me. I was pinned down to the bed on my stomach with my legs spread apart. I could not move my arms or my legs. I was crying out to him asking him to please stop. I kept saying that it hurt so much,” he recalls as he wiped away tears.

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GUAM
Jungle Watch

This is the full statement of Walter Denton. An abbreviated version was read to the press on June 7, 2016, on the steps of the Agana Cathedral Pastoral Center. This full statement was delivered to Archbishop Apuron via a Cathedral office staff member.

For 38 years I have carried a heavy burden. This tragic incident that I experienced totally changed the direction of my life and what I wanted to be. I was raped by Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron, who at that time was a priest in Agat, and whom I trusted. I worshiped the ground he walked on. He was my mentor, my teacher. He was like a father to me, so I thought. He was the PRIEST I wanted to become but, he took that all away from me.

My name is Walter G. Denton of Agat, Guam. At the young age of 8 years, I did something I have always wanted to do and that was to be an Altar Boy for my church in Agat, Guam. I always attended church services every Sunday morning with my parents. Watching the Alter Boys perform their duties during church service motivated my desires to serve God and to become a priest. I attended Mount Carmel Catholic School and also attended Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) Classes on the weekends to learn more about God and his teachings. I may have been young but, I knew that was my calling. Going to Church and attending CCD classes was a priority for me. Fast forward to Friday April 15, 1977 on or about 5:30 pm. Father Anthony Apuron (ARCHBISHOP) was to give the Friday evening service. I was on the schedule to assist Father Anthony Apuron during Mass. After Mass, Father Tony asked me to stay at the Rectory on Saturday evening. I told Father Anthony I had to ask my Dad. My Dad told me I could.

When it came to the Church and my duties as an Altar Boy, my Dad never stood in the way. On or about Saturday evening April 16, 1977, I went to the Rectory where Father Anthony was waiting for me. I asked if anyone else was spending the night and Father Anthony said no. I didn’t think anything of it but, in a way I felt kind of weird being there by myself. I have never spent the night there alone in Rectory with Father Anthony let alone any other priest. It’s always been with the other Alter Boys.

We ate dinner and talked a little bit. After dinner I helped Father Anthony wash the dishes. After cleaning up the dirty dishes I went into the living room and sat on the lazy boy chair and watched TV for a little bit. I started to feel tired and sleepy. I pulled the handle of the lazy boy and got it to recline. As I was laying on the lazy boy chair Father Anthony came into the living room and asked me if I was ready to go to sleep. I told yes and that I was going to sleep on the lazy boy chair. He said no and he insisted I sleep in the bedroom with him. I said okay Father. At the same time I did not feel comfortable but, I did anyways. We went into the bedroom and I went straight to bed. I remember feeling so tired and the next thing I was fast asleep.

Please forgive me for what I am about to say. It hurts so much just thinking about it. Whenever I talk about it, I start to break down and cry. It’s like it just happened yesterday.

Sometime late that evening or early morning, I woke up feeling something or someone on top of me smothering me and I felt something going in my ass-hole and it was hurting me. I was pinned down to the bed on my stomach with my legs spread apart. I could not move. I could not move my arms or my legs. I was pinned down. I felt something going into my ass and it hurt so much. I shouted out to Father Anthony to stop. I kept shouting and I tried to move but, all I could feel was him on top of me thrusting something into my ass.

He told me it will be alright. He said he will take care of me and give me straight A’s in Theology. It seemed like forever that Father Anthony stayed on top of me. I was crying out to him asking him to please stop. I kept saying that it hurts and to please stop. I could hear him moaning and him thrusting his penis in me. He finally stopped and he laid down on me like he was resting. He got off me and I immediately got off the bed. I was crying and breathing hard. I can feel my butt was all wet. I asked him why he did that to me. I kept asking why. He said if I said anything to anyone, no will believe me.

I got my clothes and I went out to the living room and I stood by the front door. I opened the door but, I had nowhere to go. It was so dark outside and I was so scared. I remember looking at the clock and it was about 1or 2 in the morning. It was Sunday morning and I remember I couldn’t wait for the sun to come up. I wanted to go home so bad but I couldn’t. If I went home I know my DAD would figure that something was wrong. I was afraid to go home. If my DAD knew what had happen to me, he would have come down and Kill Father Tony. Nobody messed around with my DAD. So I stayed at the Rectory. I stayed in the living room. I could not go back to sleep. I was so afraid of Father Tony.

I remember he came out to the living room and he tried to talk to me. I don’t remember what he was saying to me. All I know is that I wanted to leave. Finally, the sun came up and it was Sunday morning and it was time to go to mass. I did not serve in the mass with Father Tony. I went walking around the school till church ended and then I went home. I remember being distant from my family. I never went back to church as an Altar Boy. I quit serving as an Altar Boy but, I still went to Church. I attended Mass every Sunday so that my DAD wouldn’t know that something was wrong. He knew I wanted to be a Priest. I went to Church during the times Father Anthony wasn’t giving Mass. If he gave the 7:00 am Mass, then I would attend the 9:00 am Mass. It was hard to go back to school because Father Tony was my Theology teacher. I sat in the back of the room and I never made eye contact with him again. He never called on me for anything during class. He just left me alone. I felt so sick every time I went to class.

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.

CANADA
Metro

By: Sue Bailey The Canadian Press Published on Mon Jun 06 2016

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — There is one thing the elderly man most remembers about living at the Mount Cashel orphanage more than 60 years ago: fear.

“They had complete control over you,” he said of the Irish Christian Brothers, a Roman Catholic order that ran the once-iconic institution in St. John’s, N.L. “You were beaten continually.

“They’d come to your bed at night,” said the man, now in his ’70s, who can’t be identified under a court-ordered publication ban.

“They’d masturbate you and lie on top of you, rub you and kiss you and all of that. I used to try and say a prayer and, you know, it didn’t work.”

He was in court Monday as a civil trial resumed in provincial Supreme Court involving about 60 claimants. They’re arguing the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corp. of St. John’s should compensate victims for alleged abuse dating back to the 1940s.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Walter Denton, with family and friends behind him in Hagåtña on Tuesday, June 7, describes to members of the media how Archbishop Anthony Apuron allegedly raped him in 1977 when he was 13 years old. Denton, 52, was an altar server under Apuron when he served as a priest at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Agat. Tony Azios/Post

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GUAM
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Agana

Concerning the Group So-Called “Concerned Catholics of Guam”
For the People in and of the Archdiocese of Agana
In the Territory of Guam

Prot. N. 2016-028

June 5, 2016

WHEREAS The group calling itself Concerned Catholics of Guam, established within the Archdiocese of Agana and purporting to be an association of the faithful therein, has, as an organization conducted itself in the following way:

Setting itself to recruit, by membership or other representation, members of the faithful of this Archdiocese, under the guise of promotion of public worship, Christian virtue, and charitable endeavor without having been erected by competent ecclesiastical authority (c.301 §1);

Assuming the name and usage of the term “Catholic” without the consent of competent ecclesiastical authority, as required by law (c. 300);

Actively promoting opposition, both ad hoc and organized, public and private, to legitimate acts of ecclesiastical governance placed by the Ordinary or those acting in his name (c. 1373);

Instigating manifest and public opposition to the Ordinary, with whom they are obliged to preserve communion (c. 209);

Soliciting and disseminating fraudulent or otherwise malicious allegations against the person of the Ordinary (c. 220);

AND WHEREAS Membership, promotion, or direction of such a society is manifestly detrimental to the communion of the faithful in this archdiocese, the good of souls, and to ecclesiastical discipline;

AND WHEREAS The law provides the general principle that membership of such societies is constituted a delict (c. 1374);

AND WHEREAS It is proper to the office of the Ordinary, as the competent ecclesiastical authority, that this above cited canon be applied to such societies within the territory as seems prudent and necessary to the Ordinary, by means of particular law

BE IT THEREFORE KNOWN, EX DECRETUM GENERALIUM, The group calling itself Concerned Catholics of Guam is, hereby, established as a prohibited society under the particular law of this archdiocese.

CONSEQUENTLY All members of the faithful in and of this archdiocese, clerical or lay, are to:

Avoid association with this organization;
Refrain from signing, or otherwise promoting, acts or other measures of that organization;
Renounce membership, or any other position, within that organization;
Refrain from speaking, publicly or privately, on behalf of that organization.

THIS IS ESTABLISHED AS PARTICULAR LAW IN AND FOR THIS DIOCESE by means of this Decree and shall take effect on midnight on Tuesday, June 14, 2016 (cc. 8, 29).

Such members of the faithful in and of this archdiocese who have heretofore retained membership in this group are paternally and pastorally urged to renounce such membership and avoid the organization, until such time as it be reconciled to competent ecclesiastical authority and this law be repealed.

Given on the 5th day of June, 2016.

Servus tuus,
/s/ Most Rev. Anthony Sablan Apuron, OFM Cap., D.D.
Archbishop of Agana

/s/ Rev. Adrian Cristobal
Chancellor

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NEW YORK
WHEC

Under the current state law, people who have been sexually abused cannot file charges or sue after they turn 23. This bill would change that if passed.

Several religious groups oppose state legislation that would allow people who were sexually abused as children to file a lawsuit after age 23. Republican lawmakers in Albany have blocked the bill.

The Catholic Church as well as other religious groups (including some members of the Orthodox Jewish community) are against the bill, claiming that if it is passed it would put these religious groups in financial jeopardy and open a flood of lawsuits.

The Executive Director at Bivona Child Advocacy Center says this legislation needs to pass. “Most kids who have been sexually abused don’t tell until they are an adult, so if they’re 27 and want to disclose what happened to them when they were 13 and do something about that, they would have no recourse because the statute of limitations has expired,” says Mary Whittier.

The bill has been blocked in the Senate but has support in the assembly. There are 10 days left in the session to pass this bill. Those fighting for the bill to be passed are hoping Governor Cuomo gets involved. They’re calling on him to support the proposal and work to pass a last minute plan to change this law.

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AUSTRALIA/ISRAEL
Herald Sun

June 7, 2016

Shannon Deery
Herald Sun

FUGITIVE principal Malka Leifer could still be extradited to Australia after a fresh bid by prosecutors to force her to face justice.

Ms Leifer is in hiding in Israel where she fled after allegations of child sexual abuse were levelled at her in 2008 while principal of Elsternwick’s Adass Israel School.

Police have been told the mother of eight molested up to 10 girls, and they say she will be charged with more than 70 child sex offences if she returns to Melbourne.

Last week an Israeli judge lifted a home detention condition, halted extradition proceedings, and placed Ms Leifer on a psychiatric treatment regimen that could last 10 years. It came after Ms Leifer failed to appear at court on almost a dozen occasions citing mental illness and anxiety.

While not appealing the decision, prosecutors want a travel ban placed on Ms Leifer to stop her from leaving Israel. They say they want to ensure extradition proceedings can be resumed once she is deemed mentally fit for trial.

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GUAM
KUAM

[with video]

Posted: Jun 07, 2016

By Krystal Paco

It’s the latest of allegations made against Archbishop Anthony Apuron. Early Tuesday afternoon, former Agat resident and altar boy Walter G. Denton publicly accused then-priest Anthony Apuron of rape. Denton is the third alleged victim to surface in the last few weeks. Roy Quintanilla and Joseph “Sonny” Quinata were also Agat altar boys.

“I was raped by Anthony Sablan Apuron, who at that time was a priest in Agat,” said a teary-eyed Denton before island media on the steps of the Agana Cathedral Basilica. Like other alleged victims, Denton was an altar boy at Mount Carmel Church in Agat. Surrounded by dozens of family and friends, he addressed media on a secret he’s been keeping since he was 13 years old.

“Please forgive me for what I’m about to say. It hurts so much,” he said, struggling to hold back tears. It hurts so much just thinking about it. It’s like it just happened yesterday.” It was in April 1977 when then-Father Apuron allegedly asked Denton to sleep over at the rectory. “I told Father Anthony I had to ask my dad. And my dad told me I could,” he recalled.

That night, there were no other boys staying over, just Denton and Apuron. Denton wanted to sleep on the couch. Apuron insisted they sleep together on the bed. Denton recalls waking up pinned down on his stomach, legs spread apart and the Apuron on top of him from behind. “It seemed like forever Father Anthony stayed on top of me. I was crying out to him asking him to please stop. I kept saying that it hurt so much, to please stop. I could hear him moaning and him thrusting himself in me. He finally stopped and he laid down on me like he was resting,” said Denton.

“I kept asking why? He said if I said anything to anyone, no one would believe me.”

The alleged incident was life changing, and spoiled Denton’s dream of becoming a priest. Instead, he joined the US Army and would later come face-to-face with his alleged perpetrator while in Washington State. The confrontation left both men in tears. “I told him he ruined my life and my dreams. I said to him that he raped me. And took something away from me. I told him I would never forgive him for what he did to me. I broke down and cried, and he started to cry as well, but that didn’t matter to me. I was so angry,” he said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic Herald

by Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith
posted Monday, 6 Jun 2016

The Pope’s new set of canons are significant because they locate the epicenter of the abuse crisis in the episcopacy

The Pope has approved a new set of canons that will facilitate the swift removal of bishops who fail to deal with child abuse in their dioceses, this magazine reports.

The learned Dr Ed Condon has some commentary on this website, that can be read here. He makes the very interesting point that this latest legislation is a sign of centralisation in the Church, and thus runs counter to the perceived decentralising tendencies of the current papacy. Moreover, both the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian have reported on the same story. Their reports make instructive reading about the way the world sees the Church’s handling of the abuse crisis.

I am not a canon lawyer (some readers may wish to stop reading at this point) but the new canons strike me as highly significant, and at the same time perhaps not making much difference. Let me explain.

This move is significant because it locates the epicenter of the abuse crisis in the episcopacy. This is where the heart of the problem lies. It is not in abusive priests and laity per se, but rather in the way abusive priests and laity can get away with their crimes thanks to the failure of bishops to oversee their dioceses properly.

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PHILIPPINES
UCA News

Joe Torres, Manila
Philippines June 6, 2016

The head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines underscored the “virtue in silence” amid renewed attacks made by incoming President Rodrigo Duterte against church leaders.

“Mine is the silence of respect for those who consider us their enemies but whose good we truly pray for and whose happiness we want to see unfold,” said Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, the conference’s president.

The prelate made the statement June 5 after Duterte accused Philippine bishops and priests of corruption, child abuse, and of breaking their vows of celibacy.

The incoming president said the country’s Catholic bishops, whom Duterte claimed campaigned against him during the elections, are hypocrites for receiving luxury cars as charity from a state lottery.

In his message titled “Understanding Silence,” Archbishop Villegas defended his refusal to answer the allegations of Duterte.

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VATICAN CITY/AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric Cardinal George Pell will tender his resignation to Pope Francis on Wednesday.

But this does not mean the controversial churchman, who has given evidence three times at the child abuse royal commission, will leave his job as the Vatican’s Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy – Vatican treasurer – any time soon.

Protocols introduced by the Pope in 2014 oblige cardinals to present their resignations at 75, and Dr Pell reaches this age on June 8.

However, the Pope does not have to accept Dr Pell’s resignation.

Observers say it is a high probability the Australian cardinal will stay on for another few years, given his crucial role in reforming the Vatican’s medieval financial structure.

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VATICAN CITY/GUAM
Guam Daily Post

In a video message from St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on Tuesday, June 7, Anthony Apuron, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Agaña, responds to Pope Francis’ decision to appoint Archbishop Savio Tai Fai Hon as apostolic administrator – a temporary administrator of the archdiocese while Apruin remains archbishop pending results of an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse.

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GUAM
KUAM

By Nestor Licanto

Archbishop Anthony Apuron continues to deny the accusations lobbed against him. In a message from Rome, Apuron says he remains the Archbishop of Agana, but it was he who requested the Pope appoint a temporary replacement.

“The appointment of an apostolic sede plena means that while the administrator will discharge the archdiocesan pastoral duties, I remain your bishop,” Apuron announced. The Vatican announced Monday that Archbishop Savio Tai Fai Hon will serve as temporary apostolic administrator of the Guam Archdiocese.

Apuron says this allows for an independent investigation of the sexual abuse accusations against him to proceed. “I reaffirm my innocence and I’m victim to these horrible calumnies, and I welcome the assistance provided by the Holy Father in sending us Archbishop Hon. I urge you, my dear people, to pray for me, your shepherd, and for our church.”

Meanwhile, the archdiocese also struck back at its main critics. It issued a decree against the Concerned Catholics of Guam organization, declaring it a prohibited group that church members should renounce and avoid. It accused them of actively promoting opposition to the archdiocese, and soliciting and manifesting fraudulent and malicious allegations.

The decree is set to take effect on June 14.

In response. Concerned Catholics of Guam vice president Dave Sablan issued the following statement:

I read the “Decree”.

First, our organization was organized under Guam corporate law.

Secondly, the word “Catholic” in our title refers to the Faithful people who call themselves “Catholic”; the Laity of the Church, if you will. We are not an organization of the Archdiocese of Agana, otherwise, we would have to have the blessing and sanction of the Archbishop. We know that.

We could have easily called ourselves “Concerned Christians of Guam”; or Concerned Laity of Guam. Our organization has no connection to the Archdiocese. If we formed an organization called the “Graduates of Father Duenas High School Corporation”, should I need the permission of the principal of the school to use the name of the school from which we graduated in this instance? Same difference with “Concerned Catholics of Guam.”

Now, if we are to call ourselves the “Catholic Society of Guam” or the “Catholic Organization of Guam”, then the use of the term “Catholic” would need the approval of the Archbishop. But that is not how we are using that term. We are identifying ourselves as Catholics–persons who are baptized Catholics, bound together for a common purpose which is not related to associations needing the approval of the appropriate ecclesiastical authority (the Archbishop of Agana) as defined in Canon Law.

Thirdly, CCOG, last year, had requested to officially meet with the Archbishop on at least a couple of occasions. He never granted us the audience. So, what are we to do, if he does not seem to want to talk to us to understand our purpose and objectives, which we outlined in our bylaws and articles of incorporation, filed with the Department of Revenue and Taxation?

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Wallace R. Johnson JUNE 6, 2016

Jeff Anderson, the lead attorney representing many, if not all, of the plaintiffs in the sexual-abuse cases involving the Catholic Church, insists that the church hierarchy is hiding well more than a billion dollars in assets that should be made available to the victims he is representing. The church has claimed in its bankruptcy filing approximately $65 million in assets. Anderson believes that amount to be totally inadequate for his clients. He insists that the value of individual parishes, schools, cemeteries, etc., be included in the assets available for determining just compensation, despite the fact that these entities are all legally structured as separate corporations.

I certainly do not know if those entities will be legally exempt from inclusion or not. I expect that to be determined by the courts. What I do know is that the parishes, schools and cemeteries were created and paid for primarily by parishioners who had absolutely no responsibility for the sexual abuse but who are emotionally hurting and deeply offended victims. Parishioners had little or no choice as to who would be assigned to their parishes and schools. They had absolutely no knowledge of their assigned leaders’ prior history of improper sexual behavior.

Parishioners are additional victims who have been devastated by the sexual abuse. Humiliation, embarrassment, confusion and disruption to their religious way of life have permeated the entire Catholic community through no fault of their own. Anderson continuously demonstrates his implied sympathy for his clients’ need for increased compensation (currently estimated at $145,000) knowing full well those additional assets would be taken from the thousands of completely innocent Catholic victims. That quest is both shameful and appalling.

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TEXAS
KENS

[with video]

Roma Villavicencio and Kens5.com staff

SAN ANTONIO — A San Antonio youth sports coach has been arrested and charged with sexual abuse of a child, according to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators said Jeffrey Ramos, 48, is charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child.

BCSO investigators were called to the victim’s school last Tuesday after being contacted by Child Protective Services.

James Keith with BCSO said, “We don’t believe that this is a false claim. There’s evidence that supports that in fact did happen.”

The victim told BCSO investigators that Ramos sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions during the summer of 2015 through December 2015.

Ramos was a coach with the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) at the time.

The sheriff’s office said it it unknown whether there are other victims in this case. Anyone who may have been victimized is asked to call the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office Tip Line at (210) 335-TIPS.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

By Dave Sutor
dsutor@tribdem.com

Pope Francis’ recently released decree that outlined procedures for investigating bishops who allegedly fail to protect victims of child sexual abuse would not likely apply to former Bishop Joseph Adamec, according to one of Pennsylvania’s prominent Canon law lawyers and the leader of a victims’ advocacy group.

By releasing the document, the pontiff wanted to point out the “grave reasons” a diocese leader can be removed from office include “the negligence of the bishops in the exercise of their office, in particular in relation to cases of sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults.”

Earlier this year, the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General released a grand jury report, accusing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona–Johnstown of carrying out a decades-long cover-up of child sexual abuse.

Adamec, who served as the diocese’s bishop from 1987 to 2011, was criticized for allegedly protecting accused priests.

However, since Adamec is no longer the bishop, Professor Nicholas P. Cafardi, dean emeritus for the Duquesne University School of Law, cannot see how the pope’s guidelines and punishments would apply to him since “He has no office to deprive him of.”

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

KENNETH LOVETT
MICHAEL O’KEEFFE
STEPHEN REX BROWN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, June 6, 2016

The head of the Catholic Church in Brooklyn offered a $5,000 bribe to an Albany politician in exchange for dropping her support for the reform of a state law preventing victims of child sexual abuse from seeking justice, the pol claimed Monday.

Assemblywoman Margaret Markey, who has for a decade advocated for an overhaul of the state’s statute of limitations on claims of child sexual abuse, said she turned down the unholy hush money from Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio in 2010.

“I’m not a billionaire, but I don’t need $5,000 to buy me off,” Markey told the Daily News.

The offer came across as a payoff, not a campaign donation, she added.

The Brooklyn Diocese called the allegation “patently false.”

“The bishop did not, would not and has never attempted to bribe an elected official or anyone else,” said Carolyn Erstad, a diocese spokeswoman. “This is a very serious allegation against a clergyman with an impeccable reputation. It is beyond comprehension that an elected official would not report an alleged crime of this kind to the proper authorities. She did not report it. It is not true. And it would be irresponsible for your paper to print it.” …

Markey (D-Queens) said DiMarzio, who as head of the Brooklyn Diocese presides over 1.5 million Catholics, invited her into his chancery at the now-shuttered Bishop Ford High School on Prospect Park West in early 2010.

A nun was present when he offered the money, she recalled.

Markey’s spokesman Michael Armstrong said that DiMarzio suggested to Markey that the money would go toward therapy for one of her family members who had been sexually abused as a child.

After declining the offer, DiMarzio targeted her with robocalls as she ran for reelection against Republican challenger Anthony Nunziato, saying she did not have Catholic values, Markey said.

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WASHINGTON
ipetitions

Dear Archbishop Sartain:

We, as Catholics of the Archdiocese of Seattle, believe that the profound damage and alienation caused by the clergy abuse crisis remains with us and that our young people continue to be vulnerable because of the incomplete response to this crisis by the Archdiocese. We know of your deep concern for abuse victims and appreciate your willingness to extend pastoral care to them. We also acknowledge that some procedures have been put in place to safeguard our youth. However, we believe that more is needed if we are to truly protect our youth, heal the wounds caused by this horrific evil, and address the continued alienation of Catholics from their Church. We urge you to:

1. Establish and implement a protocol for the release of all files, memoranda, settlements and communications related to credible claims of abuse by all clergy and religious who have ministered in this Archdiocese or will do so in the future (with the names of victims redacted). Doing so would meet the expectation set forth in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” (Dallas Charter) that there be “open and transparent communication with the public.” (Article 7)

2. Consistent with the intent of the Dallas Charter, empower a reconstituted Review Board that would have: a) broad, independent access to all Church files concerning clergy abuse of minors, and b) authority to investigate and make recommendations as to policy and discipline for all matters relating to such abuse in the Archdiocese – past, present and future. The majority of members on this independent Review Board should be selected by the laity and all of its recommendations made public unless the Archbishop explains in writing to the Catholic community the reasons for not doing so.

We urge you to take these actions because the interests of abuse victims must be placed above those of the abusers and those who protected them. A final and definitive revelation of the historical truth regarding clergy abuse, including attempts to cover up acts of abuse and shield abusers, will provide some measure of justice to the victims who have suffered so horribly. Although many victims continue to come forward, we know, too, there are many others who have and will continue to suffer in silence. We must honor them as well by disclosing the whole truth of what has happened.

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WASHINGTON
National Catholic Reporter

Dan Morris-Young | Jun. 6, 2016

An open letter in the form of an online petition asks Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain to address what it charges is the archdiocese’s “incomplete response” to the “clergy abuse crisis.”

Posted late Sunday, June 5, the petition acknowledges the archbishop’s “deep concern for abuse victims” and “willingness to extend pastoral care to them,” but claims “more is needed if we are to truly protect our youth, heal the wounds caused by this horrific evil, and address the continued alienation of Catholics from their Church.”

The letter specifically asks:

* For the public release of “all files, memoranda, settlements and communications related to credible claims of abuse by all clergy and religious who have ministered in this archdiocese or will do so in the future”;
* For the empowerment of “a reconstituted Review Board” that would have “broad, independent access to all Church files concerning clergy abuse of minors,” and the “authority to investigate and make recommendations as to policy and discipline for all matters relating to such abuse in the Archdiocese — past, present and future”;
* That the majority of a new Review Board be “selected by the laity and all of its recommendations made public unless the Archbishop explains in writing to the Catholic community the reasons for not doing so.”

The demands are all “consistent with the Dallas Charter,” the narrative stated, alluding to the U.S. bishops’ Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People issued following the bishops’ historic 2002 gathering in Dallas to deal with explosive clerical abuse revelations. The document was revised in 2011.

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VIRGINIA
Roman Catholic Diocese of Arlington

2016-05-28

Rev. Kevin J. Downey, O.F.M., a priest of the Franciscan Friars of the Holy Name Province, has been placed on administrative leave pending investigation of an allegation of sexual misconduct involving a male minor in 1990 in another state. The investigation is in its early phases, and no final determination has yet been made regarding the allegation.

Rev. Downey denies the accusation. Like all priests, diocesan employees and volunteers who work with children, he underwent an official background check prior to beginning his service in the Catholic Diocese of Arlington.

Law enforcement in the jurisdiction where the incident is alleged to have occurred have been notified, and the diocese and the Holy Name Province will cooperate fully with any law enforcement investigation.

Rev. Downey has served as pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Triangle since 2011. Previously, he served as pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in Pompton Lakes, N.J., from 2002-2011, as pastor of St. Bonaventure Parish in Allegany, N.Y., from 1999 to 2001, as parochial vicar of St. Mary’s Parish in Pompton Lakes, N.J., from 1993 to 1999, and as parochial vicar at St. Francis Parish in Raleigh, N.C., from 1991 to 1993. He served as executive vice-president and vice-president for development at Quincy University in Illinois from 1983 to 1991.

Rev. John F. O’Connor, O.F.M., has been appointed as parochial administrator of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church.

The diocese encourages anyone who knows of any information related to this case, or of any misconduct or abuse on the part of any cleric or employee of the diocese, to notify civil authorities, as well as to reach out to the diocesan Victim Assistance Coordinators at 703-841-2530.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

By Tony Azios | Post News Staff

The Vatican has appointed an apostolic administrator with temporary authority to govern the archdiocese of Agaña while Archbishop Anthony Apuron faces fallout from at least two allegations of sexual abuse.

On Monday, Pope Francis named Archbishop Savio Tai Fai Hon, the secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, as apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Agaña. A late night press release from the Archdiocese of Agaña confirms that while Apuron remains archbishop of Agaña, Archbishop Hon has been given temporary authority to govern the archdiocese.

The release claims that Hon’s appointment follows a request for Apuron for an apostolic administrator pending the investigation of an abuse allegation.

On Saturday, Pope Francis established new legal procedures to remove bishops deemed negligent in protecting members of their flock from pedophile priests. Specifically, it states that negligence in handling abuse cases is a cause for dismissal.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

[Abuse-Enabling Bishops Who Resigned or Were Removed – BishopAccountability.org]

By Editorial Board June 6

POPE FRANCIS has made empathy for the downtrodden and the powerless a hallmark of his papacy, but he has been less deft in dealing with the Roman Catholic Church’s own most defenseless victims — children sexually abused by clergy. At the outset of his visit last fall to the United States, the pope spoke feelingly of the pain and suffering endured by American bishops who had withstood the ongoing clergy sex-abuse scandal. His words of sympathy for the actual victims of that abuse — those whose lives have been scarred and destroyed by priests — came on the final day of his journey and, to many survivors, seemed nearly an afterthought.

Three years into his papacy, Francis is trying to hit the reset button on his sputtering efforts to add muscle to the church’s stated policy of zero tolerance for clerical abuse. After trying and failing for 12 months to establish a special Vatican tribunal that would hold negligent bishops accountable, he has issued a decree, in the form of an apostolic letter, serving notice that bishops can and should be removed from office if they actively or passively sanction sex abuse in their dioceses.

That Francis is making such a proclamation now, 14 years after explosive revelations of the church’s complicity in allowing and covering up the sexual abuse of minors in the United States , is a measure of how slowly, partially and inadequately the Vatican has come to terms with the scandal. Even after countless disclosures, year after year, Catholic bishops — who in many cases shuffled pedophile priests from one parish to another, allowing them to abuse again and again — continue to enjoy something approaching official impunity from Rome.

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GUAM
Catholic News Agency

Hagatna, Guam, Jun 6, 2016 / 04:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- After sex abuse and other allegations were leveled against Guam’s archbishop, Pope Francis on Monday appointed a Vatican official to be the local Church’s apostolic administrator while an investigation is carried out.

On June 6, Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai, secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, was appointed apostolic administrator “sede plena” of the Archdiocese of Agaña, which serves Catholics in Guam, a U.S. island territory in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.

The appointment was made shortly after Archbishop Anthony Apuron of Agaña was accused of sexual abuse dating from the 1970s, and of failing to implement strong policies on the handling of clerical sex abuse.

As apostolic administrator “sede plena,” Archbishop Hon will govern the archdiocese because its ordinary is incapable of doing so. Though Archbishop Apuron remains archbishop, he will not exercise his office while Archbishop Hon remains as apostolic administrator.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A religious minister has never been prosecuted despite admitting abuse linked to a state-run home in Belfast, an inquiry has heard.

The pastor told the RUC in the 1980s that he abused a boy who was being cared for at the former Bawnmore children’s home in north Belfast.

The inquiry also heard from counsel Christine Smith that the former care worker told the RUC in the mid-80s about “other sexual incidents involving other people in the various places” where he worked.

The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry was told that the police wanted to pursue a prosecution against the man who cannot be named.

However, prosecutors decided against it because the incidents linked to the Bawnmore boy happened 17 years previously.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Monday named Archbishop Savio Tai-Fai Hon, currently serving as secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, to the post of Apostolic Administrator of the archdiocese of Agana, on the Pacific island of Guam.

The archdiocese in the U.S territory said last week it had hired a top law firm and was working with an independent investigator to examine accusations that Archbishop Anthony Apuron, had sexually abused two boys in the 1970s.

The archbishop has denied the allegations and has not been charged with any crime.

Pope Francis’ nomination came two days after he issued a new document establishing norms for the removal of Church leaders who have been negligent in protecting children or vulnerable adults from abuse.

Hong Kong born Archbishop Savio Tai-Fai Hon has been a member of the International Theological Commission since 2004 and the number two at the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples since 2010.

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GUAM
KUAM

By Sabrina Salas Matanane

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) has released the following statement following the Vatican naming a new apostolic administrator for the Archdiocese of Agana in light of the abuse allegations that have been brought up against Archbishop Anthony Apuron, which he has vehemently denied.

We are encouraged that the Vatican has taken this first step. Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron is now a twice-accused predator archbishop—who has also been accused of intimidating victims, bullying Catholics, and manipulating church rules regarding abuse to protect himself.

But this is only a first step.

We urge the new administrator Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai to engage in a complete and independent investigation of the allegations against Apuron and act upon the findings swiftly and appropriately.

We hope that the new administrator reaches out to and works with victims and local Catholics who have demanded transparency and change. Without their bravery and tenacity, Apuron’s alleged crimes would never have been exposed.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLIve

By Ivey DeJesus | idejesus@pennlive.com

At 72, Nancy O’Brien has been a devout Catholic all her life.

On Sunday, O’Brien walked out of Mass in disgust. She did so after her priest at St. Anthony of Padua in Ambler, just outside Philadelphia, read a letter from the head of the archdiocese encouraging parishioners to help defeat a proposed legislation that would reform the state’s child sex crimes.

St. Anthony’s wasn’t the only parish to receive the letter. All 219 parishes across Philadelphia were read the letter from Archbishop Charles Chaput urging them to contact their lawmakers by mail or telephone and encourage them to vote against House Bill 1947, which would reform the statute of limitations.

“It was bull****,” O’Brien said on Monday. “I don’t have to listen to this bull**** anymore. I’ve been a practicing Catholic all my life. I’m not going to be anything else. I thought it was an insult. I know what’s been going on.”

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MINNESOTA
St. Cloud Times

Editorial

With the closing of a temporary three-year window that lifted the statute of limitations on allegations of sexual abuse of minors in Minnesota, a sorry set of statistics has emerged:

* Seventy-four claims were made against the Diocese of St. Cloud for clergy sex abuse of minors during the window.
* Claims were made against 31 members of the clergy who had served in the diocese.
* Of 131 parishes in the diocese, 30 were named in the claims.
* Eleven clergy members named in the lawsuits weren’t on a list of “clergy identified” released by the diocese in 2014.

Tragic. Sad.

The state Legislature made a good decision by opening the three-year window to file claims. While there is no way to repair completely the damage suffered by victims of abuse by clergy, it may give them some comfort.

The diocese has said none of the clergy named in the claims are currently in parish ministry.

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MINNESOTA
Chronicle of Philanthropy

The federal judge overseeing the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’s bankruptcy is weighing a call by victims of clergy sexual abuse to include hundreds of millions of dollars from church-affiliated charities among its assets, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The archdiocese has proposed setting aside at least $65 million to help compensate about 450 victims. Lawyers for the victims say the archdiocese is significantly undervaluing its assets by not including hundreds of related but legally distinct entities such as schools, parishes, and charitable foundations that they claim are effectively controlled by the archbishop.

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TEXAS
KURV

It will be at least another month before attorneys for former McAllen priest John Feit will be able to inspect a part of the San Juan Basilica in connection with the 56-year-old murder of beauty queen and school teacher Irene Garza.

During a court hearing today, prosecutors and defense attorneys told the judge it’s taken longer than expected to coordinate the inspection. District Court Judge Luis Singleterry last month ruled defense attorneys could inspect a building where it’s been alleged that Feit kept Garza, before her body was dumped into a canal.

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GUAM
Religion News Service

By Rosie Scammell

(RNS) Mounting accusations of sexual abuse against the archbishop of Guam have prompted Pope Francis to name a Vatican official to oversee the Catholic Church on the Pacific island territory while the charges are investigated.

The decision announced Monday (June 6) to force Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron, who has led the Agana Archdiocese for 30 years, to yield his authority, at least temporarily, is the latest sign that Francis is taking tougher steps to tackle the sexual abuse crisis.

Over the weekend, the Vatican announced that the pope had signed off on new measures to remove bishops who fail to respond to abuse allegations.

In the case of Guam’s archbishop, however, the accusations are that Apuron himself abused boys during the 1970s.

The charges emerged last month when 52-year-old Roy Taitague Quintanilla claimed while he was an altar boy Apuron molested him. “I cried then, and I’ve never stopped crying,” Quintanilla was quoted as saying by Pacific Daily News.

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ITALY
Can-India

Rome, June 6 (IANS/AKI) A court in southern Italy on Monday sentenced a Calabrian priest to four years in jail for paying for sex with minors.

The court in Reggio Calabria found Father Antonello Tropea, 44, guilty of paying 20 euros for sex in his car and of possessing child pornography.

Tropea was arrested in December after highway police spotted him parked in his car with an under-age boy.

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TEXAS
The Monitor

LORENZO ZAZUETA-CASTRO | STAFF WRITER

EDINBURG — The trial of a former priest accused of killing a former beauty queen and McAllen school teacher will be delayed at least a month after attorneys met in court Monday.

John Bernard Feit was all smiles moments before a scheduled hearing Monday inside the 92nd state District Court.

The 83-year-old former priest is accused in the April 1960 death of Irene Garza, a schoolteacher and beauty queen who was last seen going to confession at McAllen’s Sacred Heart Church. Her body was found five days later after it was dumped in a canal.

During the brief status hearing, Feit’s attorneys, O. Rene Flores and Ricardo Flores, and the state’s attorneys Michael Garza and Krsytine Ramon, after speaking to church officials in San Juan, said they are closer to a walk-through date to inspect one of the alleged crime scenes.

“We have scheduled a meeting to inspect the physical evidence but due to counsel’s schedule and my schedule we have been unable to coordinate that; we’ll get that done with McAllen (police),” Garza said. “An issue arose this morning concerning the order that was entered regarding the inspection of the basilica, the order was brought but it needed to be, and we were able to narrow that order down to a specific location. Counsel for the basilica is writing a letter of protocol, which will give us a specified time, date, which people will be present, and where exactly we will be directing them.”

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

Inés San Martín
June 6, 2016
VATICAN CORRESPONDENT

Archbishop Anthony Apuron of Guam faces multiple accusations of abuse from decades ago, and on Monday Pope Francis named a senior Vatican official as “apostolic administrator” of his archdiocese while an investigation plays out.

In his latest effort to show resolve against clerical sexual abuse, Pope Francis on Monday appointed an apostolic administrator to take over the Church in Guam, where the island territory’s archbishop faces multiple allegations of abusing minors in the 1970s while he was a parish priest.

Until the situation surrounding Archbishop Anthony Apuron is clarified, his archdiocese, Agaña, will be supervised by the Hong Kong-born Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai, currently the number two official of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Tai-Fai was appointed apostolic administrator “sede plena,” a rare practice used for grave or special reasons, typically when the current bishop is either incapacitated by illness or advanced age, or unable to govern for some other serious motive.

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CANADA
680 News

by THE CANADIAN PRESS
Posted Jun 6, 2016

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – The Mount Cashel civil trial heard Monday that three boys separately told the same priest in confession they were being abused by Christian Brothers.

The boys lived in the orphanage in St. John’s, N.L., in the 1950s and can’t be named as part of a publication ban.

Their agreed statements of facts were entered as part of a lawsuit arguing the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corp. of St. John’s should compensate former residents for alleged abuse dating back to the 1940s.

Lawyer Geoff Budden represents about 60 clients and says the archdiocese knew or ought to have known about sexual and physical abuse but didn’t stop it.

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CALIFORNIA
Courthouse News Service

By JEFF D. GORMAN

(CN) — The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles is not off the hook for two men’s claims that a monsignor molested them decades ago, a California appeals court ruled.

Juan H.J. Doe and Juan H.L. Doe claimed that Monsignor Benjamin Hawkes molested them from the mid-1970s to the early to mid-1980s. During that period, the boys were ages 14 through 21.

Hawkes, who died in 1985, “lavished them with meals, clothes, travel and money,” according to court records. He also allegedly financed trips and paid for J. Doe’s private school tuition.

The monsignor, who worked for the Los Angeles archdiocese at the time, “communicated in words and deeds that the compensation he was providing for them was for the abuse he was committing upon them, and that by providing for [them] in this manner, Hawkes believed he owned [them],” according to the two men’s lawsuit.

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CANADA
The Telegram

Barb Sweet
Published on June 06, 2016

Three agreed statements of facts were submitted to the Mount Cashel civil trial Monday from 1950s-era residents who told their parish priest during confession they were sexual abused by Christian Brothers.

Episcopal Corp. of St. John’s lawyer Susan Adam Metzler speaks with Father Frank Puddister and Archbishop Martin Currie (left) at the Mount Cashel civil trial Monday. Puddister is testifying Tuesday. — Photo by Barb Sweet/The Telegram

Those statements and some 1990 videotape from the Hughes Inquiry formed a short day as the trial resumed after a roughly one-month break.

It was the 14th non-consecutive day of testimony in this trial — a John Doe lawsuit against the RC Episcopal Corp. of St. John’s seeks compensation and involves four test cases that claim the church should be held liable for the physical and sexual abuse of boys at the orphanage by certain Christian Brothers during the period late 1940s to early 1960s. The test cases represent about 60 claimants in the case being pursued by Budden and Associates.

The church contends it did not run the orphanage, therefore is not responsible for actions of the lay order Christian Brothers there.

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NEW YORK
Staten Island Advance

By Daniel Leddy | For the Staten Island Advance

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — As the current legislative session in Albany winds down, efforts are intensifying to pass legislation that would either extend or eliminate the statute of limitations for both civil and criminal cases involving the sexual abuse of children.

The issues are complex, however, and not resolvable according to whether legislators are “with the kids or with the predators,” as a Manhattan tabloid has been screaming virtually every day.

Few would dispute that those sexually abused as children deserve to be compensated for having endured such ordeals, some so horrific that they entail catastrophic, lifelong consequences.

At the same time, charges of sexual abuse are easily made and sometimes false, particularly when traceable to the machinations of warring parents engaged in custody and visitation disputes. This, and the ever-present possibility of false accusations generally, underscores the need to provide accused individuals with a fair chance to defend themselves against allegations so heinous that they ruin reputations, decimate finances, and put people behind bars.

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GUAM
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Agana

Mr. Stephen Martinez, on June 1, 2016, released to the media a number of malicious and intentionally false claims against our Archbishop. Regarding these calumnious statements, the archdiocese points out that:

We are facing one allegation – contradicted by other testimonies – and some unsubstantiated rumors of sexual abuse. We are dealing with unproven allegations, not with proven crimes. To insult the archbishop as Mr. Martinez did is not only against any Christian standard, but also below any standard of due process which have to be granted to every person: a man is innocent until proven guilty and the Archbishop has adamantly denied these allegations.

The Archbishop has always taken very seriously any allegations, and even rumors, of sexual abuse and acted on them: this is what he did in the case of Fr. Paul Gofigan, who was removed when he refused to restrict from active and voluntary church activities a registered sex offender and murderer; this is what he did when he limited the faculties of Fr. John Wadeson following the surfacing of an old unproven allegation (subsequently cleared by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles); and, lately, when Fr. Luis Camacho was removed as pastor, and had his ministry limited, when his only accuser was the same Stephen Martinez who was reporting rumors.

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GUAM
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Agana

On June 6, 2016, following a request from Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron for an apostolic administrator pending the investigation of an abuse allegation, Pope Francis named Archbishop Savio Tai Fai Hon, the secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, as apostolic administrator “sede plena” of the Archdiocese of Agaña, Guam.

The appointment of an apostolic “sede plena” means that while the administrator will discharge the archdiocesan pastoral duties, Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron remains the Archbishop of Agana.

The Archdiocese and the Archbishop warmly welcome Archbishop Hon to Guam.

Download Full Statement

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

June 6, 2016 by Henry Benjamin

A member of Melbourne’s Adass Yisroel community has told J-Wire that no-one is aware of anyone within the community funding Malka Leifer who lives in Israel but is wanted by authorities in Australia to face 74 charges of child sexual abuse.

The offences took place when Leifer was employed by the Adass Yisroel school as its principal . She fled Melbourne in 2008 when allegations were surfacing and has avoided extradition on ten occasions to Australia failing to appear in court on psychiatric grounds.

Melbourne’s “The Herald Sun” has reported that it “can reveal a bank account linked to Mrs Leifer is being topped up by Adass community members here”.

The report stated that “deposits are being made over the counter at a bank in Elsternwick”. Elsternwick borders the suburb of Ripponlea, home to the Adass community.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY
EDGAR SANDOVAL
MEGAN CERULLO
STEPHEN REX BROWN

The Catholic Church’s powerbrokers should listen to their better angels!

That was the message from city parishioners in favor of changing a law that prevents many victims of child sex abuse from seeking justice. Current state law prohibits the victims from bringing criminal charges or civil claims against abusers after the victim’s 23rd birthday.

“It should definitely be extended. It’s a terrible thing, and I know people who have had encounters and I feel very sorry for them. I don’t think that’s what our religion should be,” said Annette Gould, who attends Masses at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Araceli Colato, who had just attended the Sunday service at the storied house of worship, agreed.

“It’s never too late for justice. People deserve a say, even if years have passed. I understand why the church wants to keep the law as is, but it’s not fair,” Colato, 27, said. “In most cases, victims become adults. But they can’t do anything about it.”

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Jun. 6, 2016

ROME

Pope Francis’ move to grant several Vatican offices authority to initiate removal of Catholic bishops negligent in their response to clergy sexual abuse has drawn mixed reviews from canon lawyers and survivors’ advocates, who say the pontiff’s action may not go far enough in stemming the abuse crisis.

The experts are expressing confusion over why the pontiff chose not to go forward with a proposal from his Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors for a new tribunal tasked specifically with judging bishops in their handling of sexual abuse and instead directed four existing Vatican congregations to take on the work.

In one example, a canon lawyer at the Catholic University of America tweeted that the pope had promised the creation of that new tribunal more than a year ago.

With Saturday’s publication of the motu proprio Come una madre amorevole (“Like a loving mother”), that tribunal “seems to get [a] first class funeral,” Kurt Martens continued.

“Everyone seems to be excited about the new [motu proprio], but there is really no change,” he said in a later conversation with NCR. “That which was already done is now put in a text format.”

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | Jun. 6, 2016

The Vatican took an enormously large step towards completing the Catholic church’s assault on the scourge of sexual abuse by clergy on Saturday when Pope Francis issued his motu proprio entitled “Come una madre amorevole” or, in English, “Like a loving mother.” My colleague Joshua McElwee was yet again first with the story and you can find his report here.

The document helps confront the last, critical piece of the puzzle in any effective strategy to confront the scourge of clergy sex abuse: episcopal accountability. Until bishops know that they will be held accountable for their actions and, perhaps more importantly, for their inaction, all the other architecture for protecting children was sitting on a shaky foundation. You can train ministers who work with children. You can adopt norms like those in the Dallas Charter that established zero tolerance for priests and deacons who abuse a child sexually. You can require lay review boards and have diocesan audits. But, unless the bishops who oversee all this know that they are accountable for enforcing the norms and the culture of zero tolerance, it is easy to see how there can be backsliding.

In far too many depositions pertaining to conduct after, repeat, after, the Dallas Charter on Child Protection was adopted in 2002, we see bishops and other diocesan officials thinking that they can handle Fr. X or that they can get Fr. Y to amend his ways. No, no, no. This is too close to the kind of thinking that got us into the scandal in the first place: That also had a heavy dose of thinking a cover up would somehow serve the church, to say nothing of the careers of the bishops and clergy doing the covering up. But, the idea that we can ignore the rules that are in place to handle something on our own, on an issue like this, has proven to be the opening wedge for a regime of laxity and, consequently, the endangerment of children.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service – Bollettino

Vatican City, 6 June 2016 – The Holy Father has appointed Msgr. Savio Hon Tai-Fai, S.D.B., as apostolic administrator “sede plena” of the archdiocese of Agaña, Guam, U.S.A.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio, Pacific Daily News June 7, 2016

Pope Francis named on Monday night (Guam time) a new apostolic administrator “sede plena” for the Archdiocese of Agana, pending investigation of allegations of sexual abuse against Archbishop Anthony Apuron.

While Apuron remains archbishop of Agana, Archbishop Savio Tai Fai Hon — as apostolic administrator — has been given temporary authority to govern the Archdiocese of Agana.

“The appointment of an apostolic administrator ‘sede plena’ means that while the administrator will discharge the archdiocesan pastoral duties, Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron remains the Archbishop of Agana,” the Archdiocese of Agana confirmed in a statement sent after 11 p.m. Monday.

This may well be the first time ever — or at least the first in recent history — that the Vatican made such an appointment in a U.S. territory.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Register

BY CAROL GLATZ, CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
June 6, 2016

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis will set up a panel of legal experts to help him in deciding whether to remove a religious superior or bishop from office for failing to protect minors and vulnerable adults from sex abuse.

Vatican offices will continue to investigate claims of negligence on the part of bishops, ordinaries or religious superiors under their jurisdiction. But the Pope — who makes the final decision about a bishop’s removal from office — will now be assisted by a papally appointed “college of jurists,” according to procedures that take effect Sept. 5.

In an apostolic letter given “motu proprio” (on his own initiative), dated June 4, the Pope reaffirmed that bishops of a diocese or eparchy and those responsible for other kinds of particular churches can be “legitimately removed” for negligence.

In order for it to be grounds for removal, such negligence — either through omission or commission — will have had to cause “serious harm to others,” including individuals or a community, the letter said, and “the harm can be physical, moral, spiritual” or to property.

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NEW YORK
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on today’s front-page story in the New York Daily News:

The Daily News stooped to a new low yesterday when it assigned reporters to interview the faithful as they exited St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and other Catholic churches in New York City; they were asked about proposed changes in the statute of limitations for offenses involving the sexual abuse of minors.

There were no reporters assigned to a synagogue over the weekend, even though Orthodox Jews are united with Catholics in opposing the “look-back” provision of some bills that would allow alleged victims to bring a lawsuit for offenses that occurred decades ago.

Why the discrimination? Why were only Catholics badgered as they left a service? This blatant expression of religious bias is of a piece with a lot of reporting by the Daily News lately—it has been on a tear against the Catholic Church.

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UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Statement by Joelle Casteix of Newport Beach, CA, Western Regional Director of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

We are encouraged that the Vatican has taken this first step. Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron is now a twice-accused predator archbishop—who has also been accused of intimidating victims, bullying Catholics, and manipulating church rules regarding abuse to protect himself.

But this is only a first step.

We urge the new administrator Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai to engage in a complete and independent investigation of the allegations against Apuron and act upon the findings swiftly and appropriately.

We hope that the new administrator reaches out to and works with victims and local Catholics who have demanded transparency and change. Without their bravery and tenacity, Apuron’s alleged crimes would never have been exposed.

We also encourage anyone who has seen or suspected abuse to report immediately to civil authorities.

Finally, we ask Guam’s lawmakers to revisit legislation that allows victims of sexual abuse to use the civil courts to expose their abuser and the organizations that cover-up and facilitate abuse. It is only through this kind of legislation—that includes exposing organizations that hire and protect predators—that the people of Guam can learn the true scope and scale of the cover-up of sexual abuse.

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GUAM
KUAM

By Sabrina Salas Matanane

Catholic World News reports that Archbishop Savio Tai Fai Hon has been appointed by the Pope as apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Agana. The article on catholiculture.org states the appointment follows recent abuse allegations that were made against Archbishop Anthony Apuron.

In the past two weeks, two people have come forward alleging sexual molestation. Roy Quintanilla alleged he was sexually abused by the Archbishop when he was an altar server at Mt. Carmel Church in Agat where Apuron was a priest at the time. His story, prompted former Guam resident Doris Concepcion to break her silence after more than a decade. She said her son while on his death bed told her too had been molested when Apuron was a priest in Agat. Like Quintanilla, her son was an altar server. The Archbishop has denied the allegations.

During a recent press conference held by Deacon Steven Martinez, a former Sex Abuse Response Coordinator for the Archdiocese of Agana, said the local church’s sex abuse policy was “flawed” and claimed the Archbishop purposely kept the policy weak. According to the Archdiocese of Agana’s sex abuse policy the Archbishop has control of all investigations.

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service – Spiritual Politics

By Mark Silk

A year ago, Pope Francis announced that a special tribunal would be set up within the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) to judge bishops accused of covering up the abuse of minors. Three months ago, the AP’s Nicole Winfield reported that the tribunal was going nowhere: no special secretary for discipline had been appointed, no staff assigned, no resources allocated, nada.

On Saturday, Francis told the CDF to forget about it. In an apostolic letter written on his own authority (motu proprio), he announced that beginning in September, such accusations — involving not only bishops but also heads of religious orders — will be handled by the Vatican “congregations” charged with overseeing them. The final decision will be up to the pope, acting with the assistance of a new “college” of jurists.

Unsurprisingly, SNAP’s David Clohessy was unimpressed. “Instead of just sacking bad bishops, or turning over abuse records to law enforcement, the Vatican is setting up yet another untested, internal church “process” to purportedly deal with bishops who ignore or conceal child sex crimes,” he said in a statement.

With due respect, Clohessy is wrong. The pope has done something far more consequential than setting up another internal process.

The apostolic letter, titled “Like a Loving Mother,” declares that not dealing properly with abuse accusations is an administrative failure sufficiently serious to warrant removal from office, even if there is no serious moral culpability on the bishop’s part (anche senza grave colpa morale da parte sua). In other words, there’s no need to prove that the bishop personally engaged in a cover-up. If it happened on his watch, he can be removed.

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NEW YORK
News 12

[with video]

BROOKLYN – Hundreds of people walked across the Brooklyn Bridge Sunday to raise awareness against sexual abuse against children.

Victims of abuse, survivors, parents, children and other supporters all united at Cadman Plaza Park for the “Walk for a Window.”

The public walk was created by abuse survivor Anna Wagner as a demonstration for children’s civil rights.

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.

NEW YORK
News 12

RAMAPO – Orthodox Jewish leaders and Rockland County officials are at odds over the county’s move to re-inspect dozens of schools for fire safety violations after a Ramapo town fire inspector was accused of missing hazardous conditions.

Many, but not all, of the schools believed to have wrongfully passed inspections are private yeshiva schools.

The Orthodox leaders say their community is being targeted by the county.

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UNITED STATES
Frum Follies

[with video]

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry about the latest pronouncements about child sex abuse by Agudath Israel of America’s lead figure, the Novominsker Rebbe, Rabbi Yaakov Perlow, on Sunday, May 26th at the Annual Convention of Torah Umesorah, the national umbrella organization for ultra orthodox Jewish schools. Below is a full transcript of the videotaped talk with translations in parentheses and my annotations below each section.

One of the problems that we are facing, more today, that we weren’t aware of, and it has to be mentioned, for a number of reasons, is the abuse of young people, b’oifen gufni (physical abuse) and molestation, al d’avoinoseinu harabim (which because of our many sins), have gotten into our tzibur (community).

Rabbi Yaakov Perlow (RYP) is dishonest in claiming they were not aware if the problem for decades. In fact he participated in the cover-up of the sex abuse of Yehuda Kolko among many other cases where molesting teachers were allowed to keep their jobs.

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VATICAN CITY
ABC News

By NICOLE WINFIELD, ASSOCIATED PRESS
VATICAN CITY — Jun 6, 2016

Pope Francis on Monday named a special administrator for the Catholic Church on the Pacific island of Guam after its archbishop was accused of sexually abusing young boys and of keeping church abuse policies weak to protect himself.

The archdiocese of Agana in the U.S. territory said last week it had hired a law firm and independent investigator to look into the allegations against Archbishop Anthony Apuron and how abuse cases were handled by his church.

On Monday, Francis named Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai, currently the No. 2 official in the Vatican’s mission office, as “apostolic administrator” for Agana. Apostolic administrators are often named to run dioceses or archdioceses temporarily before a new archbishop is named.

Apuron, who remains in his post, has vigorously denied allegations he sexually abused an altar boy and a now-deceased son of an Arizona woman in the 1970s. The allegations came to the fore last week after a church deacon accused Apuron of purposely keeping the archdioceses’ sexual abuse policy weak to protect himself.

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.