ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED KINGDOM
International Business Times

By Tom Mendelsohn
March 19, 2016

A Canadian law professor has settled for £40,000 ($57,900) in damages from the Church of England for abuse she suffered at the hands of a vicar 40 years ago. Julie Macfarlane, who teaches at the University of Windsor, Ontario, was preyed upon by a priest at the age of 16 in the mid-1970s while undergoing a religious crisis in Chichester. The abuse continued for a year, before she left for university.

She made a complaint to the Australian branch of the church in 1999, as the minister had moved there. He resigned when he discovered he would be subject to a disciplinary hearing.

However she did not make her legal claim until 2014, once she heard about the abuse scandal in the diocese. This initially led lawyers representing the CofE to claim that she could not make her claim as it the abuse had happened so long ago.

She claimed that she was “ripped to shreds” by a psychiatric expert appointed to assess her claim when she did eventually come forward in a gruelling two-hour examination. She also said that the church had tried to claim that she had consented to the relations.

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DEUTSCHLAND
WDR

Muss die Kirche ihre Verkündigung angesichts von Missbrauch überdenken? Ein Interview mit Erika Kerstner. Erika Kerstner / Barbara Haslbeck / Annette Buschmnann, Damit der Boden wieder trägt. Seelsorge nach sexuellem Missbrauch, Schwabenverlag (Ostfildern), 2016, 240 Seiten. Autor: Christoph Fleischmann

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NETHERLANDS
Dutch News

One third of the sexual abuse cases involving the Dutch Catholic church have been dealt with behind closed doors, the NRC said on Saturday.

In total, 342 of the 1,045 proven cases were dealt with outside the official complaints procedure and the amount of financial compensation paid to the victims was kept secret, the paper said. The paper bases its claim on church documents. T

he official committee set up to investigate the abuse claims had called for total transparency. Officially, 703 cases have been closed, with total compensation payments of €21.3m. According to the NRC, the secret cases – settled either with or without a mediator – involved further payments of €10.6m.

Abuse victims who went through the ‘secret’ procedure had to sign a contract pledging to keep quiet about their case and to refrain from making negative comments about the church and the perpetrators, the NRC said.

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FRANCE
La Vie

[Two truths about Barbarin case. The first truth. Across the whole of the Catholic Church, the fight against the abuse of authority was faulty or amateur. They refused to believe complaintants and the church feared scandal. They moved the aggressors instead of moving them out of the church.]

JEAN-PIERRE DENIS, DIRECTEUR DE LA RÉDACTION

Plusieurs personnes ont porté plainte contre le cardinal Barbarin pour sa gestion d’affaires anciennes impliquant des prêtres ayant commis des abus sur mineurs. Les actes eux-mêmes semblent prescrits. Mais l’époque fait remonter à la surface des souffrances qui ont cheminé de manière insidieuse. Si ce décalage temporel semble étrange, il faut admettre que dans de telles situations la victime se contraint souvent à un silence prolongé et destructeur, au point que certains plaident pour un rallongement de la prescription. Sur le plan proprement ecclésial, sans la culture du secret qui a longtemps prévalu, nombre de ces affaires seraient purgées depuis belle lurette.

Première vérité. À l’échelle de l’ensemble de l’Église catholique, la lutte contre les abus d’autorité a été défectueuse. Soit par amateurisme. Soit par refus de croire les plaignants. Soit par peur du scandale. On s’est contenté de déplacer les agresseurs au lieu de les mettre dehors, et on a fait passer victimes ou lanceurs d’alerte pour de mauvais chrétiens. En voulant protéger l’institution, on a trahi les innocents et bafoué l’Évangile. Les choses ont changé grâce à Benoît XVI et au travail des journalistes, comme le montre le film Spotlight, même s’il reste, comme l’a reconnu le président de la conférence épiscopale, Mgr Georges Pontier, « des cas épars qui apparaissent chaque année ». Je suis fier d’avoir supervisé, il y a longtemps déjà, la première grande enquête, qui portait sur plusieurs communautés religieuses.

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NEDERLAND
NOS

The 73-year-old Marcel Roomans was sexually abused in his boyhood on a Roman Catholic boys school in Maastricht. Roomans reached a settlement with the Brothers of Our Lady Immaculate.]

De 73-jarige Marcel Roomans werd in zijn jongensjaren seksueel misbruikt op een rooms-katholieke jongensschool in Maastricht. Roomans trof een schikking met de Broeders van onze lieve vrouw onbevlekt ontvangen uit Maastricht, een congregatie die scholen en internaten had. Hij zat op de Aloysiusschool in Maastricht.

Toen Roomans in de derde klas zat, smeerde een broeder zijn geslachtsdeel in met zalf. Later werd hij door een andere broeder misbruikt in een pikdonkere kast op school. Na tien minuten was het voorbij. “Hij is klaargekomen, neem ik aan”, zegt Roomans in NRC Handelsblad, dat aandacht besteedt aan alle geheime schikkingen in zaken van seksueel misbruik binnen de kerk.

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ESPANA
Diario Sur

[Miguel Angel Hurtado, the victim of a pederast priest, has initiated a collection of signatures for amendment of statute of limitation laws in Spain.]

Su nombre es Miguel Ángel Hurtado, víctima de un cura pederasta, y ha iniciado una campaña que se ha convertido en la de mayor crecimiento por minuto en la historia de Change.org. En menos de cuarenta y ocho horas ha conseguido reunir más de 200.000 firmas. Su objetivo -también por la historia de Miguel Ángel -han calado hondo: que el delito por abusos sexuales a menores no prescriban nunca, al menos, en España.

#Nohayperdón reza la campaña en Twitter. El Mundo habla con Miguel Ángel, víctima de abusos sexuales cuando tenía 16 años. El pederasta fue un sacerdote. Cuando lo denunció a los 22 años, el crimen ya había prescrito. «El motivo que me llevó a lanzar esta acción fue la indignación que sentía al ver cada vez más casos de abusos sexuales a menores en España y que estos quedaran impunes por el tiempo que había transcurrido tras ser cometidos», afirma en un tiempo en el que el escándalo de los Maristas en Barcelona y la petición fiscal de archivar por prescripción trece denuncias ponen de actualidad su caso.

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PARAGUAY
Paraguay.com

[The Paraguayan Episcopal Conference (CEP) issued a statement which confirmed that priests Francisco Javier Bareiro and Gustavo Ovela, of the Oblates of Mary Congregation, Villarrica, were removed from office. The departure occurs after the religious be accused of molesting minors.]

La Conferencia Episcopal Paraguaya (CEP) emitió un comunicado en donde confirman que los sacerdotes Francisco Javier Bareiro y Gustavo Ovelar, de la Congregación Oblatos de María, de Villarrica, fueron separados del cargo. El alejamiento se produce luego de que a los religiosos se los acusara de abusar sexualmente de menores.

La CEP considera importante el proceso de investigación que está llevando acabo la fiscalía en Villarrica. Además piden al obispo de la ciudad, Monseñor Ricardo Valenzuela, a que sigan de cerca el caso y que se mantengan en comunicación con las víctimas y familiares.

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ESPANA
El Confidencial

[The judge uncovers sexual abuse and profit in the sect of the Miguelianos]

PABLO LÓPEZ. VIGO

Durante una década Miguel Rosendo campó a sus anchas. Primero desde una pequeña herboristería de Vigo y, después, en un lujoso chalé de Oia (Pontevedra), fue formando una comunidad que llegó a alcanzar los 400 fieles a los que manipulaba con sus ínfulas. No sin levantar sospechas, pero igualmente sin oposición del Obispado de Tui-Vigo, que autorizó su orden como asociación privada de fieles y después la ascendió a asociación pública de derecho diocesano. Pero en 2014, los familiares de sus víctimas lograron que todo saltara por el aire. Un demoledor informe de un despacho de detectives detalló los abusos sexuales, físicos y psicológicos que ejercía el brujo con sus miguelianos. La juez acaba de concluir la primera fase de su investigación, con la citación de una decena de imputados a los que se les atribuye los presuntos delitos de asociación ilícita, contra la Hacienda Pública y abuso sexual.

Esta misma semana, el juzgado de instrucción número 1 de Tui (Pontevedra) alzaba el secreto de las actuaciones del caso de la Orden y Mandato de San Miguel Arcángel. Una vez completadas las diligencias de investigación previstas, y recibido el informe de la Agencia Tributaria, la titular del juzgado ha llamado a declarar a los imputados, en un caso que no ha parado de crecer desde que comenzó a aparecer en los medios de comunicación. Finalmente es más dinero presuntamente ilícito el que manejaban los miguelianos del que inicialmente se sospechaba, pero también son más las víctimas de los supuestos abusos sexuales que las que suponía la Guardia Civil cuando detuvo a Rosendo, el 11 de diciembre de 2014.

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FRANCE
CathoBel

[Karlijn Demasure: “The Church of France has not really changed in the prevention of sexual abuse”.]

18 mars 2016 par Pierre Granier

Alors que l’Eglise de France est secouée par de nouveaux scandales de pédophilie, mettant en cause la gestion du cardinal Barbarin dans l’archidiocèse de Lyon, le travail au Vatican concernant la prévention des abus sexuels sur les mineurs se poursuit. Sous la houlette de la théologienne belge Karlijn Demasure.

A Rome, le Centre pour la protection de l’enfant a été inauguré le 16 février 2015 à l’Université Pontificale Grégorienne. Il est composé de 13 experts venus du monde entier, et présidé par le père jésuite Hans Zollner, doyen de l’institut de psychologie de l’université grégorienne et membre de la commission pontificale pour la protection des mineurs créée par le pape François en 2014.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Zeit

[The true reward of our work.]

Er war Chefredakteur des “Boston Globe” und drängte seine Reporter, sexuellen Missbrauch in der katholischen Kirche aufzudecken. Der Film “Spotlight” feiert den Mut der Enthüller – und gewann dafür einen Oscar. Kleine Dankesrede

Ein Gastbeitrag von Martin Baron
18. März 2016

Bevor der Film einen Oscar bekam, wurde ich gefragt: Gibt es etwas, was Sie darin vermissen? Eine wahre Begebenheit, die nicht vorkommt, aber sich in Ihr Gedächtnis eingebrannt hat? Ich bekenne, es gibt eine Szene, die im Film fehlt. Der Zorn, den ich damals empfand, wird noch lange brauchen, um zu verlöschen.

Es geschah am 4. November 2002, bei einer Rede der Harvard-Professorin Mary Ann Glendon. Die Juristin sagte auf einer Konferenz vor Katholiken: “Ein Pulitzerpreis für die Reporter vom Boston Globe wäre wie ein Friedensnobelpreis für Osama bin Laden.” Damit machte Glendon unsere monatelange Recherche über sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern durch katholische Priester nieder. Ich war damals Chefredakteur des Boston Globe und hatte unser Investigativteam massiv gedrängt, die Vertuschung einer ganzen Serie von Missbrauchsfällen in der Erzdiözese Boston aufzudecken. Das gelang den Kollegen auch, und wir bekamen dafür einen Pulitzerpreis für den Dienst an der Öffentlichkeit. Der Angriff der Professorin ging also ins Leere, aber er sagte viel über jene Unkultur der Verleugnung und Vertuschung, die die ganze katholische Kirche vergiftete – lange bevor wir begannen zu recherchieren und auch noch lange danach.

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FRANKREICH
Aargauer Zeitung

[The cardinal, who did nothing for once.]

von Stefan Brändle, Paris

Kardinal Philippe Barbarin soll mehrere fehlbare Geistliche gedeckt und geschont haben. Der französische Premierminister Manuel Valls fordert, dass der Kardinal seine Verantwortung wahrnehmen müsse. Barbarin selber betont, er habe «nie pädophile Akte gedeckt».

Barbarin gilt als der höchste Würdenträger der französischen Kirche: Der 65-jährige Erzbischof von Lyon trägt zugleich den aus dem Mittelalter stammenden Titel «Primas von Gallien». Bekannt ist er als «Monseigneur 100 000 Volt», da er ebenso schnell zu sprechen wie zu agieren pflegt.

In einer Hinsicht soll Barbarin allerdings sehr langsam oder gar nicht gehandelt haben. Von mehreren Seiten wird ihm vorgehalten, er habe pädophile Geistliche gedeckt. Ein 55-jähriger Priester seiner Diözese soll zwischen 1986 und 1991 mehrere Pfadfinder sexuell missbraucht haben. Die Opfer verstehen nicht, warum er nicht seines Amtes enthoben wurde, ist er doch geständig und Gegenstand eines Ermittlungsverfahrens.

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NEDERLAND
Trouw

[One in three cases abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands has been dealt with secretly with a cash settlement, according to NRC Handelsblad on Saturday. This is not prohibited, but is against the advice of the Deetman committee who adviced transparency. It is not clear how much money the church has paid out.]

Een op de drie misbruikzaken in de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk in Nederland is in het geheim afgehandeld met een geldbedrag. Dat meldt NRC Handelsblad zaterdag. Dat is niet verboden, maar gaat in tegen het advies van de commissie-Deetman, die juist transparantie adviseerde. In 342 van de 1045 zaken is nu niet duidelijk wat er is gebeurd en hoeveel geld de Kerk heeft betaald.

Tot 1 januari dit jaar zijn 342 misbruikzaken in beslotenheid afgehandeld: 210 keer via mediation en 132 keer via een schikking, zonder mediator. Op basis van interne documenten schrijft de krant dat in deze gevallen 10,2 miljoen euro is betaald als compensatie. In ruil daarvoor moeten slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik hun mond houden over wat er zich heeft afgespeeld en mogen ze zich niet meer negatief uitlaten over de daders.

Een groot deel van de compensatieregelingen is wel openbaar te vinden, bij de Stichting Beheer & Toezicht. Tot 1 januari is via deze procedure de compensatie voor 703 slachtoffers afgehandeld. Zij kregen 21,3 miljoen euro.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Portland Press Herald

BY LYNNE TUOHY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CONCORD, N.H. — A graduate of a New England prep school who was convicted of sexually assaulting a younger student was taken into custody Friday after acknowledging that he violated conditions of his bail agreement by missing curfew multiple times.

A judge in Merrimack County Superior Court said Owen Labrie would begin his one-year jail sentence immediately.

“You are unlikely to abide by any conditions,” Judge Larry Smukler said. “I don’t relax conditions because you can’t comply with them.”

Labrie, 20, was stoic as he was handcuffed and led from the courtroom. His mother appeared to sob quietly.

Labrie was arrested in 2014 days after graduating from St. Paul’s School, an elite prep school in Concord.

He was 18 at the time of the encounter in a near-deserted building on the St. Paul’s campus. Prosecutors linked the assault on a 15-year-old freshman to a competition at St. Paul’s known as the “Senior Salute” in which seniors seek to have sex with underclassmen.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, March 18

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

We are grateful that Owen Labrie is behind bars and believe his probation violation may have three positive impacts.

[Portland Press Herald]

First, we hope Labrie’s jailing will prod law enforcement officials to look more often and more closely at other sex offenders and whether they are honoring their parole or probation requirements. Many sex offenders are narcissistic and believe, deep down, that “the rules” don’t really apply to them. So many of them, we fear, are ignoring those restrictions and getting by with it. This case should encourage police and prosecutors to more closely monitor sex offenders and take advantage of chances to revoke their probation or parole.

Second, we hope Labrie’s jailing will bring some comfort to the thousands of victims of sexual violence whose perpetrators are on probation or parole. There’s always a chance that rapists or molesters can be imprisoned if they’re caught overstepping their boundaries, as they are sadly wont to do.

Third, we believe Labrie’s jailing will bring some consolation to his victim and her family.

Finally, we are confident that Labrie’s jailing makes women safer.

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FRANCE
International Business Times

By Mary Papenfuss
March 14, 2016

In a ground-breaking case, a court in France has launched a criminal investigation into allegations that the French Catholic hierarchy protected a priest who admitted sexually abusing at least 40 boys. Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, the archbishop of Lyon, has denied any culpability in the sex abuse of young scouts by Father Bernard Preynat from 1986 to 1991.

Preynat, who told authorities he committed the crimes, was finally kicked out of the priesthood by Barbarin in 2015, at least 25 years after the assaults began. After the parents of Preynat’s victims first came forward in 1991, a former archbishop in charge at the time removed the priest from parish work where he had access to boys — temporarily. After Preynat “repented” for his crimes he was allowed to work again with children.

In 2007 he was promoted by Archbishop Barbarin to an administrative post where he helped run six dioceses and had access to even more children. The cardinal claims he did nothing wrong because the crimes didn’t happen when he was archbishop, and he eventually booted Preynat from the priesthood in 2015 — when French civil authorities finally launched an investigation into the priest’s activities.

Barbarin says he first heard of the abuse sometime in 2007 and was convinced Preynat had reformed, reports Associated Press. But Preynat’s lawyer says Barbarin knew of the charges for decades.

The French court could levy charges of “failing to report a crime” and “endangering the life of others,” which carry a maximum three-year prison sentence and fines up to €45,000 (£35,000). Ironically, the cardinal has taken a particularly harsh stand against gay marriage, arguing that same-sex unions would lead to polygamy and possibly incest.

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CALIFORNIA
My News LA

POSTED BY KEN STONE ON MARCH 18, 2016

(NOTE: This is an updated story that includes a statement from the archdiocese saying the lawsuit wrongly identified a school with a similar name to the one with which the late coach was affiliated. In addition, the archdiocese said the coach was a volunteer, not a school employee. An attorney for the plaintiffs, in a phone interview, declined to discuss the discrepancy.)

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles and a school were sued Friday by a teenage girl and her father, who allege those entities bear responsibility for her sexual abuse at the hands of a coach who killed himself after being confronted by her dad.

The plaintiffs are identified in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit as John and Jane Doe, who are seeking damages of $10 million and $5 million, respectively.

The suit erroneously named St. Lucy’s Priory High School in Glendora as a defendant instead of St. Lucy Catholic School in Long Beach, according to the archdiocese, which released the following statement:

“The lawsuit appears to incorrectly name St. Lucy’s Priory High School and the Benedictine Sisters as defendants,” the statement read. “It appears that the lawsuit refers to St. Lucy’s School in Long Beach since it also names the late Scott Landerville, a former volunteer (coach). The complaint contains a number of claims, including an allegation of misconduct involving a former student, which the complaint states to have occurred, after the student was at our school. We will be investigating the matter and have not been served in the litigation.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review

BY BRAD BUMSTED | Friday, March 18, 2016

A state legislator and former law enforcement officer is asking the Justice Department and the FBI to start an investigation of child sexual abuse by priests under a federal law designed to prosecute corrupt organizations.

State Rep. Mike Vereb, R-Montgomery County, said such an investigation should focus on cover-ups by bishops, as outlined this month in a statewide grand jury report.

Vereb wants federal investigators to use the Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act, which was established by Congress in 1970 to target organized crime. It has since been used against abusive police departments, gangs and corrupt judges. The law allows leaders of an organization to be targeted for telling others to commit crimes or for assisting subordinates’ efforts.

U.S. Attorney David Hickton declined to comment.

The statewide grand jury alleged that nearly two dozen priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown molested hundreds of victims during a 40-year period. None was charged because some people had died, statutes of limitation had expired or victims were reluctant to testify.

“RICO is one of those incredibly broad statutes,” said Bruce Antkowiak, a former federal prosecutor who teaches law at St. Vincent College.

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UNITED STATES
Orthodox Outpost

More good, more often.

Orthodox Christian writers are often called upon to author articles that focus on positive aspects of life in the Church. Mission trips, fasting recipes, and ethnic customs are all topics that make for a friendly encounter with Orthodox Christianity.

But what if the calling to do more good, more often was much more difficult?

What if doing more good, more often meant being unpopular? What if doing more good, more often meant being cast out by those around us?

The movie Spotlight recently won the Oscar for Best Picture. It tells the story of how a dedicated group of reporters fought a culture of denial and uncovered decades of abuse in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston along with efforts by its leaders to suppress accountability. Spotlight is a movie that every Orthodox Christian should watch during Great Lent. Child abuse, misuse of authority, and clericalism are not limited to the Roman Catholic Church. They are present in the Orthodox Church as well. Spotlight is a powerful reminder that genuine repentance means coming to understand reality as it is -not reality as one would like it to be. “Servants of the Truth must speak the truth.” writes St. Hilary of Poitiers.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Sean O’Neill Chief Reporter
March 19 2016

A law professor described yesterday how she was “ripped to shreds” by the Church of England when she made a legal claim over sexual abuse by a vicar when she was a teenager.

Julie Macfarlane said that the church tried to rule her claim out of date, suggested that she had consented to sex with her abuser and put her through a gruelling psychiatric examination before settling her claim last month.

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CALIFORNIA
CBS Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) —A teenage girl and her father are suing the Archdiocese of Los Angeles alleging they bear responsibility for the female’s sexual abuse at the hands of a coach who killed himself when he was confronted by the dead.

St. Lucy’s Priory High School, an all-girls school in Glendora, was also named in the suit.

The suit erroneously named St. Lucy’s Priory High School in Glendora as a defendant instead of St. Lucy Catholic School in Long Beach, according to the archdiocese, which released the following statement:

“The lawsuit appears to incorrectly name St. Lucy’s Priory High School and the Benedictine Sisters as defendants,” the statement read. “It appears that the lawsuit refers to St. Lucy’s School in Long Beach since it also names the late Scott Landerville, a former volunteer (coach). The complaint contains a number of claims, including an allegation of misconduct involving a former student, which the complaint states to have occurred, after the student was at our school. We will be investigating the matter and have not been served in the litigation.”

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CALIFORNIA
Patch

By ALEXANDER NGUYEN (Patch Staff) – March 19, 2016

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Archdiocese of Los Angeles and a Glendora Catholic all-girls high school were sued Friday by a teenage girl and her father, who allege those entities bear responsibility for her sexual abuse at the hands of a coach who killed himself after being confronted by her dad.

The plaintiffs are identified in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit as John and Jane Doe, who are seeking damages of $10 million and $5 million, respectively.

The suit erroneously named St. Lucy’s Priory High School in Glendora as a defendant instead of St. Lucy Catholic School in Long Beach, according to the archdiocese, which released the following statement:

“The lawsuit appears to incorrectly name St. Lucy’s Priory High School and the Benedictine Sisters as defendants,” the statement read. “It appears that the lawsuit refers to St. Lucy’s School in Long Beach since it also names the late Scott Landerville, a former volunteer (coach). The complaint contains a number of claims, including an allegation of misconduct involving a former student, which the complaint states to have occurred, after the student was at our school. We will be investigating the matter and have not been served in the litigation.”

Also named are former St. Lucy principal Diane Pedroni, who according to the school’s Facebook page retired last June, and Patrice Landerville, the ex- wife and special administrator of the estate of the late coach.

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MAINE
WLBZ

CANAAN, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — Maine State Police have arrested the youth pastor of a Canaan church and charged him with sexual abuse of a young girl.

Detectives have charged 37-year-old Lucas Savage of Clinton with unlawful sexual contact. Savage is the youth pastor of the Canaan Calvary Church and was arrested Friday evening in Mercer and taken to the Kennebec County Jail.

Detectives said the abuse took place at Savage’s home on Mutton Lane in Clinton. State Police have been investigating the allegations for the past month.

Detectives do not know if there are additional victims and their investigation will remain open.

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GEORGIA
Gainesville Times

By Nick Watson
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
@NickWatsonTimes

A former Gainesville Scoutmaster is the target of a civil lawsuit alleging sexual abuse that brought a 22-year-old closed investigation into the light.

Royal Fleming Weaver Jr. is accused of raping Robert William Lawson III on a scouting event in 1985, according to a civil action filed Thursday in Fulton County State Court.

Multiple attempts to reach Weaver for comment Friday were unsuccessful.

A criminal investigation was conducted at the time but no charges were brought due to the alleged incident falling outside the statute of limitations.

Weaver served as the scoutmaster for Troop 26 from 1969 to 1981, which was sponsored by the First Baptist Church of Gainesville

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MAINE
CentralMaine.com

State police arrested the youth pastor of a Canaan church Friday evening and charged him with sexual abuse of a young girl, according to Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety.

Detectives have charged Lucas Savage, 37, of Clinton with unlawful sexual contact, McCausland said in a news release. Savage, the youth pastor of Canaan Calvary Church, was arrested in Mercer and taken to the Kennebec County jail.

Detectives said the abuse took place at Savage’s home on Mutton Lane in Clinton. State police have been investigating the allegations for the past month. Detectives do not know whether there are additional victims, and their investigation will remain open.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact state police in Augusta at 800-452-4664.

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MAINE
WCVB

CANAAN, Maine —Maine State Police arrested a youth pastor Friday, charging him with unlawful sexual contact.

State police spokesman Steve McCausland said Lucas Savage, 37, of Clinton, is the youth pastor at the Canaan Calvary Church.

Investigators allege the reported abuse involving a young girl happened at Savage’s home on Mutton Lane in Clinton. McCausland said police have been investigating the allegations for the past month.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Lexology

March 11 2016

Cox v Ministry of Justice Mohamud v WM Morrison Supermarkets Plc Supreme Court 2 March 2016

As the opening sentence of Lord Reed’s judgment in Cox says, “vicarious liability is on the move” and the conjoined appeals of Cox v Ministry of Justice and Mohamud v WM Morrison Supermarkets Plc provided the UK Supreme Court with “an opportunity to take stock of where it has gone so far”.

Recent years have seen the courts extend the scope of the doctrine of vicarious liability and these appeals presented the UK’s highest court with an opportunity to either rein it in, or allow its further expansion and, crucially, outside the arena of child abuse claims. The growing theme in recent years has seen a loosening of the criteria such that it is easier for claimants to pursue cases against those more likely to have the financial means to pay compensation.

The Supreme Court has continued that onward trajectory deciding that the defendants in both cases were vicariously liable for the personal injuries suffered by the two claimants. Paul Donnelly and Andrew Cousins look at the development of the doctrine of vicarious liability and where these judgments take us.

Vicarious liability

Vicarious liability is the doctrine through which a person or organisation can be held strictly liable for tortious acts or omissions committed by others i.e. without a breach of any duty of care owed by, or fault on the part of, that person or organisation. The doctrine’s roots can be traced back to the Middle Ages but, as a legal principle, came to the fore in the Victorian era when the industrial society was developing. A useful explanation of the purpose of the doctrine can be taken from Ward LJ’s judgment in JGE v The Trustees of the Portsmouth Roman Catholic Diocesan Trust (2012). He noted a growing acceptance that “the existence of the master/servant relationship was itself enough to impose liability on the master if the servant was acting within the scope of his employment” and quoting Lord Brougham in 1839: “The reason I am liable is this, that by employing him I set the whole thing in motion; and what he does, being done for my benefit and under my direction, I am responsible for the consequences of doing it”.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Guardian (UK)

Joanna Walters
@Joannawalters13
Saturday 19 March 2016

Bringing criminal charges against church leaders for covering up abuse is almost unprecedented in the US despite the serial scandals that have engulfed the church since widespread abuse and concealment of the crimes began being exposed by the media in Boston in 2002.

But on Friday, three Catholic friars appeared in district court in Hollidaysburg, near Altoona, accused of allowing a known predator in their midst to have access to children.

Friars Robert D’Aversa, 69, Anthony Criscitelli, 62, and Giles Schinelli, 73, were arraigned in court on child endangerment and conspiracy charges, felonies that carry a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.

“My son is dead because of your poor decision-making,” Barbara Aponte of Poland, Ohio, shouted as the three men, wearing traditional clerical collars and black outfits, entered court.

The woman’s son, Luke Bradescu, had been abused while the predator previously worked at the high school he attended in Ohio. Bradescu killed himself in 2003 at the age of 26.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PA Homepage

By Adam McGahee | amcgahee@pahomepage.com
Published 03/18 2016

(WBRE/WYOU) ALTOONA Three Franciscan friars accused of covering up sexual abuse in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese have been removed from their religious assignments.

Charges against Giles Schinelli, Robert D’Aversa and Anthony Crisitelli turned themselves in on Friday morning. They’re accused of allowing Brother Stephen Baker to remain at Bishop MCCort High School in Johnstown and covering up the sexual abuse of more than one hundred students.

Baker spent decades working as a bishop in high schools before committing suicide in 2013.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pocono Record

By Michael Rubinkam
The Associated Press

HOLLIDAYSBURG — Three Franciscan friars charged with allowing a suspected sexual predator to hold jobs where he molested more than 100 children surrendered Friday in western Pennsylvania, where they were confronted by the mother of one of his victims.

Robert D’Aversa, 69, Anthony Criscitelli, 62, and Giles Schinelli, 73, are free on unsecured bond until an April 14 preliminary hearing on child endangerment and conspiracy charges. Each is a third-degree felony carrying up to seven years in prison.

The friars served successively as ministers provincial who headed a Franciscan religious order in western Pennsylvania from 1986 to 2010. In that role, each assigned and supervised the order’s members, including Brother Stephen Baker, who authorities say molested scores of children, most of them at Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown, where he was assigned from 1992 to 2000.

Baker killed himself at the Franciscan monastery near Hollidaysburg by plunging two knives into his heart in January 2013. That occurred nine days after Youngstown, Ohio, church officials announced settlements involving 11 students who accused Baker of molesting them at schools there in the late 1980s.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Morning Times

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Throughout the 1990s, priests across Philadelphia and Altoona were molesting hundreds of children.

Grand jury investigation reports have detailed the horrific crimes of sodomy, rape, and countless other acts of depravity carried out in confessionals, sacristies, rectory bedrooms, locker rooms and cars on altar boys, members of choirs and legions of other children across parishes.

Across Catholic communities, few parents suspected such an unthinkable travesty, investigators concluded, but there were some who did.

Scores — if not hundreds — of parents and individuals in the state’s Catholic Church communities called Pennsylvania’s ChildLine hotline throughout those years to report that they suspected a priest of molesting a child, according to former Childline staffers.

Restricted by weak laws, the clerks and counselors who staffed the hotline could do little to help the callers or the possible victims. All they could do was to alert local law enforcement officials — the very people who, according to a recent state grand jury report, often ignored or colluded with church officials to hide the abuse.

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OREGON
KATU

[with video]

BY KELLEE AZAR, KATU NEWS FRIDAY, MARCH 18TH 2016

Portland, Ore — A local priest is still on the job weeks after a civil complaint was filed alleging he sexually abused a Portland boy for over 10 years.

The man claims he was sexually abused by Father Vogt at Holy Rosary Church in Northeast Portland when he was an altar boy.

Bill Crane and David Clohessy work for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) helping victims of abuse in the Catholic Church. The recent complaint in Portland against Holy Rosary brought them to the steps of the church.

“It says that there were at least 10 times Father Vogt physically molested a boy and fondled him — at least 50 times kissed the boy on the mouth,” SNAP Director David Clohessy said.

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UNITED STATES
Brain Blogger

by Richard Kensinger, MSW | March 18, 2016

I am prompted to compose this article for two primary reasons. First, I live in a Catholic Diocese (Altoona-Johnstown, PA) where a grand jury report very recently exposed that over four decades, over 50 priests and other church officials have harbored, protected, and enabled the victimization and mortification of hundreds of innocent children and youth in our community. Second, an article appearing in the New York Times written by Frank Bruni and published this past week, explores the impact of child sex predators in the Boston, Mass. Archdiocese.

These incidents are revealed in the searing and troubling movie Spotlight. This movie’s focus is on the very courageous efforts of investigative journalists to expose the wide complicity of many in that community who protected these predators. The article is entitled “The Catholic Churches Sins Are Ours”.

In Bruni’s article, he highlights how “churches benefit from the American Way of giving religion a free pass”. He ends his article by indicating that “if it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse one”!

My intent here is to discuss the clinical impact of this type of abuse by focusing what happens to these innocent victims. In a previously published article appearing on BrainBlogger, I offer a profile of a serial preferred predator in my area: Jerry Sandusky and the Penn State Scandal still rocking our community.

I am guided in my clinical focus by Erik Erickson’s stages of psychosocial development, Abraham Maslow’s needs hierarchy, and Judith Herman who published a book in 1992, Trauma and Recovery. I present here the accumulative damage of lifelong development of this kind of trauma.

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GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Jasmine Stole | Post News Staff

The Department of Land Management corrected recording errors pointed out by former Sen. Robert Klitzkie three months ago and issued new certificates of titles for the Yona seminary property this week.

However, Klitzkie said the corrections were not done the right way. “The memorial is correct but the way it was done is not correct,” Klitzkie said.

In a news release, DLM officials said their department and the legal counsel for the archbishop of Agana settled on canceling the four certificates of title issued on Oct. 30, 2015 and issuing four new certificates of title to include the Declaration of Deed Restriction, in favor of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary, a non-profit organization.

The certificates of title issued on Oct. 30 were printed in the U’ Matuna Si Yu’os and were shown as evidence supporting that Archbishop Anthony Apuron is the “owner of the seminary property,” according to the article in the U’Matuna.

In the Oct. 30 2015 certificates of title, there is no Declaration of Deed Restriction listed under memorials. In the certificates of title for the same property Klitzkie obtained in December 2015, the Declaration of Deed Restriction is listed under the Memorials section. They were also listed in favor of Archbishop Anthony Apuron.

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MASSACHUSETTS
WCVB

Editorial

BOSTON —Sometimes an Oscar win for Best Picture is cause for celebration beyond Hollywood, not just limited to those individuals involved in making the movie. Such is the case with, “Spotlight,” the now Academy Award-winning film about the Boston Globe’s investigation into the city’s clergy sex abuse scandal.

The headlines first appeared over 15 years ago, and many of the abuses themselves go back for decades, even 40 to 50 years ago. So it’s easy to imagine public attention to what these innocent, young victims endured might easily have begun to fade. The film and its attendant publicity assures it won’t, re-focusing attention where it belongs – on the continuing struggles of survivors, many of whom carry lifelong scars. They continue to need support, if only to know they’ve been heard, and will not be forgotten.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Religion News Service

Emily McFarlan Miller | March 18, 2016

CHICAGO (RNS) Bill Gothard’s Institute in Basic Life Principles has lost its membership in the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, which gives accreditation to leading Christian nonprofit organizations.

Its membership was terminated last Friday (March 11) for failure to comply with its standards for governance, according to the ECFA website.

The loss of accreditation is yet another setback for the Institute in Basic Life Principles. Eighteen people are suing the Oak Brook, Ill.-based institute, and Bill Gothard, its 81-year-old founder, for sexual harassment.

Christianity Today noted ECFA’s explanation of its governance standards on its website:

“When a ministry encounters failure—or even worse, scandal—its difficulties can almost always be traced to a breakdown in governance. For this reason, ECFA places much emphasis on strong, effective governance.”

Those standards require organizations to be governed by a majority-independent board that must include at least five people and meet at least semiannually to establish policies and review accomplishments.

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UNITED STATES
Deseret News

By David Gibson, Religion News Service
Published: Friday, March 18

The headline was eye-catching, and most likely that was the goal:

“Pope fires Vatican ambassador to U.S. over Kim Davis,” shouted the story this week in the left-leaning Daily Kos.

Pretty amazing, if it were true.

In reality, Pope Francis’ current ambassador, or nuncio, to the U.S., Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, was still in his job, though that could change at any minute.

Church sources say that the pontiff has chosen French-born Archbishop Christophe Pierre, now the Vatican’s representative to Mexico, to be his next envoy to the U.S., a move that has generated widespread speculation about what Pierre will do when he arrives, in part because the man he is replacing has been so controversial.

Vigano gained notoriety last September when it emerged that he set up a secret meeting between Francis and Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who briefly went to jail for refusing to sign marriage certificates for gay couples.

The encounter took place at the Vatican Embassy in Washington when the pontiff was visiting the nation’s capital. When news leaked a few days after Francis returned to Rome, it caused an uproar because it made it seem the pope had quietly been giving support to an icon of the very culture wars that he had spent his visit preaching against.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Boston Globe

By Kathy McCabe GLOBE STAFF MARCH 18, 2016

CONCORD, N.H. — Owen Labrie was sent to jail Friday after a judge found he had violated the terms of his bail by missing curfew.

Labrie, who was free on bail as he appealed his conviction for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl who was a fellow student at the elite St. Paul’s School, showed no emotion as he was led away in handcuffs to begin his one-year sentence.

“You made the decision,” Merrimack Superior Court Judge Larry Smukler told Labrie as he revoked his bail.

Prosecutors said Labrie had thumbed his nose at his bail conditions by traveling to Boston several times to visit his girlfriend at Harvard University.

Under his bail conditions, Labrie was supposed to be at his home in Vermont between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m. each night, but on some trips to Boston he left earlier and returned later.

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Times

Paddy Agnew in Rome

The Vatileaks 2 trial in a Vatican City court took a bizarre turn yesterday when Italian media reported one of the chief defendants, Spanish Msgr Lucio Ángel Vallejo Balda, had given false medical documents about Pope Francis to the Chinese secret service in Dubai in 2014.

During a raid on Msgr Vallejo’s apartment last autumn, Vatican police discovered emails and other documents which showed the monsignor had travelled to Dubai and allegedly gave a confidential medical report on the pope to Chinese agents

However, the document handed over to the Chinese instead contained detailed information on the health of Msgr Vallejo’s 82-year-old mother. Msgr Vallejo allegedly removed his mother’s name from the medical files, replacing it with that of the pope.

Retired policeman and former Italian secret service operative, Giuseppe Di Donno has confirmed he accompanied Msgr Vallejo during his visit to Dubai. Mr Di Donno , who now works for a private “security and intelligence” company called “G-Risk”, was, however, unable to confirm that the senior Vatican official met with Chinese agents.

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UNITED STATES
Christianity Today

Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra [ POSTED 3/18/2016

Bill Gothard’s former ministry has lost its seal of approval from the leading group that sets the standards for evangelical ministries.

The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) terminated the membership of the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) last Friday, citing “failure to comply” with its governance standard.

ECFA requires member organizations to have a board of at least five people (mostly independents) that pray, chart long-range strategy, and identify potential conflicts of interest, among examples of other duties.

“When a ministry encounters failure—or even worse, scandal—its difficulties can almost always be traced to a breakdown in governance,” states ECFA’s explanation of Standard 2. “For this reason, ECFA places much emphasis on strong, effective governance.”

ECFA declined to specify to CT how IBLP failed to meet its governance standard. IBLP did not respond to CT’s request for comment by press time.

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NEW YORK
Newsweek

BY LUCY WESTCOTT ON 3/18/16

Hundreds of people are expected to attend a protest in Brooklyn on Sunday following a Newsweek exposé on the alleged sexual and physical abuse of students by rabbis at a Crown Heights school.

Survivors of sexual abuse and survivor advocacy groups will meet in front of Oholei Torah, a yeshiva on Eastern Parkway, at 6 p.m. on Sunday, according to a press release. The protest is timed to take place during an annual fundraising gala for the boys’ yeshiva, attended by roughly 2,000 students.

“For too long, teachers and principals in this school have ignored children being abused physically and sexually. There is evidence to suggest that in most of these cases the school knew about these crimes and chose not to act,” reads a statement on the Facebook page for the protest, which is being organized by Chaim Levin, whose story of abuse at Oholei Torah was chronicled in the Newsweek article.

“Furthermore, three of the people mentioned in the Newsweek article, people who either abused children themselves or oversaw it, are still employed by the school,” the statement said.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

A centre working with child sex abuse survivors has received a $110,000 grant from the Victorian Government.

The government said it was matching the funds remaining from crowd funding efforts that sent survivors to Rome for the evidence of Cardinal George Pell to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

It means the Ballarat Centre Against Sexual Assault will receive more than $200,000 to work with survivors in Ballarat and Western Victoria.

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PENNSYLVANIA
NBC 10

[with video]

Three Franciscan friars charged with allowing a suspected sexual predator to hold jobs where he molested more than 100 children have surrendered in Pennsylvania on child endangerment and conspiracy charges.

State prosecutors say Schinelli assigned Brother Stephen Baker to Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown, where he molested students from 1992 to 2000.

D’Aversa and Criscitelli also headed Baker’s Franciscan order based near Hollidaysburg. They are charged with continuing to allow Baker to teach or have access to the school and its students.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

BY RON MUSSELMAN FRIDAY, MARCH 18TH 2016

HOLLIDAYSBURG — Three Franciscan Friars facing criminal charges were arraigned Friday morning in Blair County.

The men are accused of enabling a serial sexual predator to continue to prey on children by a grand jury.

Robert J. D’Aversa, Anthony M. Criscitelli and Giles Schinelli are facing one count each of endangering the welfare of children and criminal conspiracy. All of the charges are felonies.

They appeared before Magisterial District Judge Paula Aigner.

D’Aversa, Schinelli and Criscitelli all received $75,000 unsecured bail.

They do not have to remain in the jurisdiction, but are required to make weekly check-ins with court personnel.

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MINNESOTA
KARE

Associated Press and KARE Staff , KARE

HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. – A Minnesota parish leader is one of three Franciscan friars arraigned Friday morning in Pennsylvania after being charged with allowing a suspected sexual predator to hold jobs where he molested more than 100 children.

Anthony Criscitelli, Robert D’Aversa, and Giles Schinelli are free until an April 14 preliminary hearing on child endangerment and conspiracy charges. Each carries up to seven years in prison.

State prosecutors say Schinelli assigned Brother Stephen Baker to Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown, where he molested students from 1992 to 2000.

Criscitelli and D’Aversa also headed Baker’s Franciscan order based near Hollidaysburg. They are charged with continuing to allow Baker access to the school and students.

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ROME
Commonweal

Robert Mickens
March 16, 2016

The pandemic of clergy sex abuse of children and adolescents has not abated. But you wouldn’t know that by reading some of the statements coming out of the Holy See Press Office lately. You’d think the Church has already rounded the corner on this issue and all it needs to do now is continue reinforcing a basically sound program and various protocols it’s implemented over the past several years.

The press office director, Fr. Federico Lombardi SJ, must have been instructed to at least defend the church’s cardinals any time one of them is accused of covering up abuse or shuffling around known priest abusers.

Back on March 4 he issued a long statement on Vatican Radio following the four nights of testimony that Cardinal George Pell gave from Rome via Internet to Australia’s Royal Commission on institutional responses to the sexual abuse of minors. At times it sounded bitter and defensive.

Among other things it offered praise for the cardinal’s testimony, calling it “dignified and coherent,” and for his willingness to meet victims who had come to Rome from Australia to be present at his hearing. Now Fr. Lombardi has rushed to the defense of French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin who is under intense scrutiny for allowing at least two, but most likely three and perhaps even more priests with histories of abusing minors to remain in ministry.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Orlando Sentinel

HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. (AP) — Three Franciscan friars — including two from Central Florida — have surrendered in Pennsylvania on child-endangerment and conspiracy charges, accused of allowing a suspected sexual predator in that state to hold jobs where he molested more than 100 children.

Robert D’Aversa, Giles Schinelli and Anthony Criscitelli were arraigned Friday morning.

D’Aversa is the head pastor at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Mount Dora and Schinelli is the director at San Pedro Center, a Catholic retreat in Winter Park.

Anthony Criscitelli is a priest at St. Bridget parish in north Minneapolis.

Both have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, according to the Diocese of Orlando.

All three are free until an April 14 preliminary hearing on child endangerment and conspiracy charges. Each carries up to seven years in prison.

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UNITED KINGDOM
North Devon Journal

A DEVON man who claims to have been sexually assaulted by a Church of England priest has said police failed to investigate his complaint more than a decade ago.

Last year priest Vickery House was jailed for six and a half years for five sexual offences against boys. The youngest of House’s victims was 14.

BBC News has reported a victim informed Devon and Cornwall Police about being abused by the priest in 2001 – 11 years before an investigation was launched.

The victim who cannot be named, contacted police with his story in 2001. The investigation that led to House’s conviction was started by Sussex Police in May 2012.

“I reached a point when I couldn’t function properly as a human being,” he told the BBC.

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UNITED STATES
aka Catholic

By Randy Engel

ntroduction

February 23rd on the traditional Roman Catholic calendar is the feast day of one of the greatest saints in the Church, Saint Peter Damian (1007 – 1072), an Italian Benedictine monk and hermit, Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia, a precursor of the Hildebrandine reform in the Church, a key figure in the moral and spiritual reformation of the lax and incontinent clergy of his time and a Doctor of the Church.

I first made the acquaintance of Saint Peter Damian in 2002 when I was researching the history of sodomy and pederasty in the Church in the Middle Ages for The Rite of Sodomy. When I obtained Damian’s treatise Liber Gornorrhianus (The Book of Gomorrah) written sometime between 1049 and 1054, as an inter-loan acquisition from Catholic University of America, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Indeed, heaven or Paradiso was where Dante has placed the saintly Peter Damian near the end of his Canto XXI (Seventh Heaven: Sphere of Saturn) in his epic literary masterpiece, the Divine Comedy.

So impressed was I with Peter Damian’s work, that I took two months off from my research to pen a two-part series for Catholic Family News (June/July 2002) titled, “St. Peter Damian’s Book of Gomorrah – A Moral Blueprint for Our Times.” Later, I expanded the article for inclusion in The Rite of Sodomy. Today, fourteen years later, this article continues to be the most popular reprint on the New Engel Publishing website.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – Lateline

Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 17/03/2016
Reporter: Steve Cannane

Lateline’s exclusive report as a former Catholic Church co-ordinator reveals former Melbourne Archbishop George Pell prevented her from helping victims of abuse in Doveton, a parish devastated by a notorious paedophile priest.

Transcript

TONY JONES, PRESENTER: A former pastoral care co-ordinator with the Catholic Church in Melbourne has called on the royal commission and police to subpoena all of the Church’s secret files on sexual abuse by clergy. Helen Last has told Lateline that until all the secret documents known internally as the “red files” are made available, the public’s only getting part of the truth about the scope of the crimes committed against children. She also says that former Melbourne Archbishop George Pell preventing her from helping victims of abuse in Doveton, a parish devastated by the notorious paedophile priest Peter Searson. Steve Cannane has our exclusive report.

STEVE CANNANE, REPORTER: Do you still have the support of the Pope, Cardinal?

GEORGE PELL, CARDINAL: Counsel, this was an extraordinary world, a world of crimes and cover-ups.

HELEN LAST, FMR CO-ORDINATOR, PASTORAL RESPONSE OFFICE: It was surprising for me to hear him say that it was a world of crimes and cover-ups, whereas in days before he’d been saying he knew nothing, he saw nothing, he was never told anything, and then he called it a world of crimes and cover-ups.

STEVE CANNANE: In 1997, Helen Last was the co-ordinator of the Pastoral Response Office for the Melbourne Archdiocese. She says then Archbishop Pell personally stopped her from going to Doveton parish to investigate and provide care to the victims of the notorious paedophile priest Father Peter Searson.

HELEN LAST: They did not want our pastoral work on that professional level to start in that area because it was so full of sexual crimes and terrible trauma and terrorisation of altar boys. They did not want us to be working there to be uncovering it and to helping people specifically who had suffered that.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

By Peter Smith / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A Pittsburgh lawyer is blasting the Altoona-Johnstown bishop, saying his public silence about a sexually abusive friar wrongly shifted blame to his client — a high school principal — and contributed to his leaving his job in 2013.

The comments about Bishop Mark Bartchak by George Bills, attorney for former Bishop McCort Catholic High School principal Ken Salem, came days after a state grand jury report that led to criminal charges against three Franciscan priests. They are charged with endangering the welfare of children and criminal conspiracy for allowing Brother Stephen Baker to work at the Johnstown school and elsewhere despite warnings about his behavior.

The priests, the Very Rev. Giles Schinelli, Robert J. D’Aversa and Anthony Criscitelli — who between 1986 and 2010 led the Hollidaysburg-based religious province that Baker belonged to — were placed on leave from ministry by the order after the charges were announced. D’Aversa had been a pastor in Florida, Schinelli had led a retreat center in that state, and Criscitelli was a pastor in Minnesota. They are expected to be arraigned today.

Baker committed suicide in January 2013 at the province’s Hollidaysburg monastery when the enormity of his crimes began to become public with news of legal settlements with his victims. Soon afterward, the school’s board suspended Mr. Salem. He resigned in mid-2013.

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NEW ZEALAND
Scoop

Friday, 18 March 2016, 2:22 pm
Press Release: Clan NZ

Shining the Light on New Zealand’s Historic Institutional Child Abuse

Comment by CLAN NZ (a branch of Care Leavers Australasia Network)

The Oscar winning film Spotlight is easily one of the most important, powerful films of the last few years.

Spotlight is the factual drama of how in 2002 a Boston Globe team of investigative reporters exposed more than 200 paedophile clergy in that city alone. It was the first major newspaper reporting on clerical abuse worldwide. It shocked the USA, indeed the world, and brought to public attention the protection of abusers by senior clerics and the silencing of victims and their families by the church and its lawyers.

The Spotlight epic has worldwide implications, including within New Zealand.

For many viewers the most disturbing and shocking moment of the film is when the list of cities from around the world, where this kind of clerical abuse had occurred, is screened. Numerous Australian and New Zealand cities are featured. To the uninitiated that list of cities is horrifying.

Pope Francis has been quoted as saying that reliable data indicates that “about 2%” of clergy in the Catholic Church are paedophiles. Without quibbling over the exact number of paedophile priests involved, any reasonable person would have to agree that even one is too many.

A 2014 study commissioned by the U.S. Catholic Church showed that more than 4,000 U.S. priests have faced sexual abuse allegations in the last 50 years. Bearing in mind that most research suggests that only a third of abuse cases are ever reported, it is patently obvious that this is a problem of gigantic and worldwide proportions.

Unbelievably no official N.Z. Catholic Church figures have been kept on the total number of clergy to have faced abuse allegations here. The Church has acknowledged only “38 substantiated” cases of clerical abuse in the past 50 years. (That is men against whom they believe abuse has been proven). So it seems in N.Z. that we have so far only seen “the tip of the iceberg”.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

By Annette Blackwell – AAP on March 18, 2016

The pendulum of public awareness about child sexual abuse has swung so far in one direction that those accused of abuse are in danger of not getting a fair trial, a senior defence lawyer says.

Peter Morrissey SC, who is head of the Criminal Bar Association in Victoria, told the child sex abuse commission on Friday it needed to be extremely cautious about recommending changes to rules of evidence when it came to abuse trials.

Mr Morrissey was on a panel giving evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which is exploring if changes need to be made with regard to the admissibility of evidence about the character and past conduct of defendants.

Courts usually take a cautious approach to admitting such evidence because of the danger of prejudicing jury decisions.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Sean O’Neill Chief Reporter
March 18 2016

An order to senior bishops to end all contact with a victim of clerical sexual abuse came from an insurance company that was established “to protect the Anglican Church”, The Times can disclose.

The instruction was given by the Ecclesiastical Insurance Group (EIG), which was set up in the 19th century to insure the Church of England and states on its website that it remains “committed to doing this today”.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 17 March 2016 – The director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., announced this morning that following the presentation by the counsel for the defendant Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui of medical certification pursuant to a hospital visit requiring “total bedrest” for twenty days, the President of the Tribunal has ruled that the next hearing will take place on 6 April at 10.30 a.m.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

The preliminary hearings into allegations of child sexual abuse involving the Anglican Church and allegations of child sexual abuse involving Cambridge House, Knowl View and Rochdale were held today in Court 73 of the Royal Courts of Justice.

Applications for Core Participant status, submissions on the timetable and broadcast of future proceedings were heard during each hearing.

Preliminary hearings are not broadcast, but they are open to the press and public. Seats are allocated on a first come, first served basis.

A preliminary hearing is a legal hearing which considers procedural issues relating to the conduct of future public hearings and the Inquiry’s investigations. The issues that will be decided at preliminary hearings will include the timetable for public hearings, naming individuals and institutions as core participants and other procedural matters.

Transcripts are available – see the investigation pages for Anglican Church and Rochdale on our website for the relevant transcript of each hearing.

The preliminary hearing on allegations of child sexual abuse involving children in the care of Lambeth Council will take place at 10.30 am on Thursday 24 March, in Court 73 of the Royal Courts of Justice.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Church Times

by Gavin Drake

Posted: 18 Mar 2016

A PROPER investigation into the abuse carried out by the disgraced former Bishop of Gloucester, Peter Ball, was delayed for 20 years because the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, failed to act on a “very detailed complaint” sent to him in 1992, Justice Goddard, the head of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), heard on Wednesday.

Bishop Ball finally faced justice last year, and was sentenced to just under three years in October 2015, after he admitted a string of indecent assaults and the abuse of 18 young men.

The allegation against Lord Carey was made by the national manager for abuse claims at the law firm Slater and Gordon, Richard Scorer. Mr Scorer represents 14 victims of abuse who have been given core-participant status at the IICSA. He made his comments at a preliminary hearing of the inquiry’s investigation into the Church of England and Church in Wales, which was heard at the Royal Courts of Justice on Wednesday.

Mr Scorer was making a renewed application for three of his other clients to also be made core participants. The three, identified as A10, A11, and A13, had had their previous applications for core-participant status rejected on the grounds that they were over 18 at the time they were abused.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Observer-Reporter

AP

HOLLIDAYSBURG – Three Franciscan friars charged with allowing a suspected sexual predator to hold jobs where he molested more than 100 children were removed from their religious assignments in Florida and Minnesota.

Robert D’Aversa, 69; Anthony Criscitelli, 61; and Giles Schinelli, 73, are scheduled to surrender today, said Jeffrey Johnson, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office. They’re charged with child endangerment and criminal conspiracy.

The friars served successively as ministers provincial who headed a Franciscan religious order in Western Pennsylvania from 1986 to 2010. In that role, each assigned and supervised the order’s members including the late Brother Stephen Baker, who allegedly molested scores of children, most of them at Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown, where he was assigned from 1992 to 2000.

Schinelli was removed as pastoral administrator at the San Pedro Center, a Catholic retreat in Winter Park, Fla., while D’Aversa likewise was removed as pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Community in Mount Dora, Fla., according to the Orlando Diocese.

The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis said Anthony Criscitelli was removed is pastor of St. Bridget Parish Community in Minneapolis.

Orlando Bishop John Noonan issued a statement Wednesday saying he supported the decision of the Rev. Patrick Quinn, the current minister provincial of the Hollidaysburg-based Franciscan order, to remove D’Aversa and Schinelli from their Florida assignments.

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UNITED STATES
Verdict

18 MAR 2016 JOHN DEAN

No Academy Award was more surprising this year than that for Best Picture, which went to the film “Spotlight”—the dramatized account of the investigative team at the Boston Globe in uncovering sexual abuse by Catholic priests in the Boston school system. The award was surprising because it has been known since the film’s release that the story defamed (merely for dramatic purposes) one of those involved in uncovering sexual abuse by the clergy, not to mention the film has distorted the roles of others as well.

When Jack Dunn, the director of public affairs at Boston College, went to see “Spotlight” at its release last November, he came out of the theatre to vomit—his reaction to the way he had been falsely portrayed. He hired a lawyer. But there was little they could do to prevent further damage by the film that had already been released nationally.

“We spent enormous time researching in depth what happened in Boston—interviewing individuals, reviewing e-mails, poring over court documents. The movie is based on real events and uses, by necessity, scenes and dialogue to introduce characters, provide context, and articulate broad themes. That is true of every movie ever made about historical events,” Tom McCarthy, the film’s co-writer and director, explained to Boston Globe columnist Kevin Cullen. According to Cullen, Dunn was not alone in being falsely depicted; legendary Globe reporter Steve Kurkjian is portrayed in the film as a curmudgeon dismissive of the sex abuse story, which was flat-out untrue. In fact, Kurkjian had been a key member of the team that won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for the Globe by exposing the cover-up. In addition, other reports reveal that former Globe publisher Richard Gilman, and a sex abuse victim’s attorney, Eric MacLeish, also were falsely represented in the film. Cullen called for apologies but all anyone got was a slap in the face from the Academy Awards. “Spotlight” received six Academy Award nominations and was awarded Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture.

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AUSTRALIA
Who

Louise Talbot – Who on March 18, 2016

After the second night of Cardinal George Pell’s testimony in Rome’s Quirinale Hotel on March 1, Anthony Foster was heading towards his Quirinale room when he ran into Pell on the lobby staircase.

Foster, whose daughters were sexually abused by a priest, had flown to Italy to hear Pell’s evidence for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

He called Pell’s name and then pleaded with the cardinal to discuss the Catholic Church’s dealings with child abuse in Melbourne.

But Australia’s most senior Catholic, “said something negative, like ‘I can’t do that,’” Foster tells WHO. “I looked him in the eye … I said, ‘You are looking at a broken man.’ I don’t know where the words came from.” Pell then walked off. Adds Foster: “There was no offer at all to do anything.”

Foster is on a crusade to end that familiar response. From 1987, Foster and wife Chrissie’s daughters Emma and Katie were raped by priest Kevin O’Donnell at Sacred Heart Primary School in Melbourne’s Oakleigh, when they were 5 and 6.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philly.com

by Charles J. Chaput

Adults have a duty to love and protect children. Yet not a day goes by when we don’t hear a story about children abused by someone they know and trust. Perpetrators cover a very wide spectrum, from parents to coaches to teachers to clergy. But especially bitter for the statewide Catholic community is a March 1 grand jury report detailing historical abuses that took place in Western Pennsylvania’s Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

This news brings back ugly feelings for so many within our archdiocese, which learned its own lessons about child sexual abuse the hard way. The most important lesson is that the persons who suffer most in these tragedies are the survivors and their families. I’ve met personally with many survivors over the years. Their stories and experiences are intensely painful. I am deeply sorry for all they’ve endured, for the past failures of the Church, and for the role it has played in their suffering.

When I arrived here more than four years ago, we committed the archdiocese to do all it can to support survivors on their path toward healing and to create Church and school environments to protect our young people and keep them from harm.

My predecessor, Cardinal Justin Rigali, had already started by hiring respected professionals – experts from the victim-services and law-enforcement communities – to establish and implement best practices. Their charge was based on two simple requirements: Law-enforcement authorities must be notified immediately and properly when any allegation of abuse is made; and survivors need to be cared for professionally and with compassion.

We’ve made progress. Today, the archdiocese has a zero-tolerance policy for clergy, lay employees, and volunteers who engage in misconduct with children, and it takes immediate action when an accusation is made. Any allegation of abuse must be reported immediately to law enforcement, and any substantiated allegation against a member of the clergy results in immediate removal from ministry.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

MARCH 17, 2016 BY SUSAN MATTHEWS

In today’s Philadelphia Inquirer, Archbishop Chaput shares his reaction to a recent grand jury report that details the historical clergy sex abuse and cover up that took place in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

Chaput doesn’t mention that an alleged predator priest mentioned in the report was sent to St. John Vianney in Downington. During the approximate timeline of his stay, Kathy Kane raised concerns about safety at Bishop Shanahan High School and in the surrounding community. The Philadelphia Archdiocese assured her and the press that there weren’t any child predator priests there. And the alleged child predator from Altoona was hardly the only out-of-towner. Vianney seems to have become a destination for problem priests from Cardinal Dolan’s Diocese in New York.

Why would the archdiocese risk housing them? We hear predator priest “patients” like these bring in about $13,000 a month. Call me cynical but I’m beginning to think a profit center like this might help underwrite the cost of victims’ settlements.

You may be wondering why they aren’t in jail. They can’t be criminally charged because of the cover up hid them until the PA statutes of limitations expired. Some are laicized and disappear into our communities. They aren’t on any lists. Those who remain priests go into the prayer and penance program paid for by the Church (your donations). But where are they housed?

For some, the prayer and penance program takes them to St. John Vianney or St. Luke’s in Maryland. There is no cure for child sex abuse according to the majority of psychiatrists. So while they are at Vianney, what is the safety protocol? Admittance is voluntary and it’s not a lock-down facility. It’s not associated with a legally-enforced program.

Although, when we ask questions, they do make them use the back door. We are also told unofficially that they will now be driven into the neighboring shopping centers and movie theater and dropped off rather than having them walk over. Who watches these priests with grounds-only privileges while they are out? When Kathy asked if priests who have child pornography issues are allowed off the grounds, she was told “not necessarily.” So some are? Do we really need more of this in our Archdiocese? These priests have admitted themselves to an inpatient facility. Why the endless hours of recreation out in the community unattended?

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FRANCE
Worldcrunch

Tribune de Lyon, March 17, 2016

“Can Barbarin fall?” asks French-language weekly Tribune de Lyon on its cover this week, in reference to Archbishop of Lyon Philippe Barbarin, who is accused of covering up acts of paedophilia.

Cardinal Barbarin, one of France’s top Catholic clerics, is accused of failing to take action against 70-year-old priest Bernard Preynat in 2009, when he became aware that Preynat had sexually abused children between 1986 and 1991. Preynat, who was removed from duty in May, has been under official investigation since January.

“I have never, never, never covered up acts of paedophilia,” Barbarin told journalists at a press conference in Lourdes earlier this week.

Although the Vatican is backing Barbarin, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has asked Barbarin to “take responsibility” in the child sex abuse case that Tribune de Lyon likens to the Boston scandal depicted in the movie Spotlight.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Pat Pheifer Star Tribune MARCH 17, 2016

A Twin Cities Catholic priest who had been on leave for seven months after allegations of past sexual abuse of a minor surfaced, was reinstated to public ministry Thursday in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, church officials said.

The allegations against the Rev. Robert J. Fitzpatrick were from the 1980s.

Fitzpatrick was pastor of St. Rose of Lima and Corpus Christi parishes in Roseville when he took a volunteer leave of absence last August, pending an investigation.

Archdiocese spokesman Tom Halden said St. Paul police investigated the allegations. In a prepared statement, interim Archbishop Bernard Hebda said police “completed their investigation and closed their case based on lack of evidence and the statute of limitations.

The Archdiocesan Ministerial Review Board also did its own investigation and “determined that there was not a reasonable basis to find that the alleged abuse occurred,” the statement said.

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TEXAS
San Antonio Express-News

By Mark D. Wilson Updated
Thursday, March 17, 2016

SAN ANTONIO — Officers who found Father Virgilio Elizondo dead inside his West Side home Monday discovered a suicide note near his body and his finger still on the trigger, according to an incident report obtained by MySA.com.

The report said Elizondo, who was pronounced dead at the scene, was slumped over in a chair and still had his finger on the trigger of a loaded revolver when officers arrived to his home. Elizondo had placed paperwork for his attorney on a desk in his room, the report said.

Police interviewed a woman at the scene who had originally found Elizondo, 80. The woman, who is not named in the report, told officers that the priest had never mentioned being suicidal.

Elizondo, a religious scholar and author, was named in a lawsuit filed in Bexar County last year accusing him of sexually abusing an unidentified boy more than 30 years ago. The woman interviewed by police at the scene mentioned the allegations to police, the report said.
Elizondo has denied the allegations.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By ELIZABETH MOHR | emohr@pioneerpress.com
March 17, 2016

A Roseville priest has been reinstated after investigations by St. Paul police and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis showed no evidence of a crime.

The Rev. Robert Fitzpatrick, pastor at Corpus Christi parish and St. Rose of Lima parish and school, went on leave in August following an allegation that he sexually abused a minor in the 1980s. He denied the allegation.

“Law enforcement completed their investigation and closed their case based on a lack of evidence and the statute of limitations,” a statement from the archdiocese said Thursday. “With authorization from law enforcement, the archdiocese commenced its own investigation of the allegation.”

The Archdiocesan Ministerial Review Board, composed primarily of laypersons, reviewed the case and determined “there was not a reasonable basis to find that the alleged abuse occurred.”

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MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A Twin Cities priest can return to his parishes after a sex abuse allegation was found to be unsubstantiated, according to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Rev. Robert Fitzpatrick was reinstated Thursday, and will transition back into his roles at St. Rose of Lima and Corpus Christi churches in Roseville.

Officials say an investigation by the Archdiocese Ministerial Review Board, which covered Fitzpatrick’s 42 years of service in the Twin Cities, cleared him of any wrongdoing.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Mukhtar Ibrahim Mar 17, 2016

A Roseville priest who was put on leave pending investigations into an allegation that he sexually abused a minor will return to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Archbishop Bernard Hebda announced Thursday.

Rev. Robert Fitzpatrick will be reinstated to public ministry in the archdiocese after the completion of two investigations by law enforcement and the archdiocese.

In August last year, the archdiocese contacted the police after it received an allegation that Fitzpatrick had sexually abused a minor in the 1980s. Fitzpatrick, a pastor at Saint Rose of Lima and Corpus Christi churches, denied the allegation and took a leave of absence.

“Law enforcement completed their investigation and closed their case based on a lack of evidence and the statute of limitations,” Hebda, who serves as temporary head of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, said in a statement.

The archdiocese also said it launched its own investigation. It turned investigative materials over to the Archdiocesan Ministerial Review Board, which “determined that there was not a reasonable basis to find that the alleged abuse occurred,” according to the statement.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Phil Lawler Mar 17, 2016

John Allen has a useful suggestion on how the Vatican can close out the “Vatileaks II” scandal and avoid another public-relations debacle.

Msgr. Lucio Vallejo Balda has already admitted leaking the confidential documents, and his explanation– that a woman had lured him into a compromising situation and then threatened him– doesn’t constitute an excuse. He betrayed his office, and he’s subject to Vatican law; he should be punished.

But the other three prominent defendants are Italian citizens; it is not clear that the Vatican could enforce a criminal sentence, even if one or more are convicted. Nor is it clear that the Vatican should want a conviction.

Two of those “name” defendants, Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi, are journalists. A strong case can be made that they were doing their job by publishing the material that was given to them. An even stronger case can be made that it’s losing proposition for any goverment to prosecute journalists who expose corruption. These two journalists, Allen notes, are setting themselves as martyrs for the cause of press freedom.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Spectator

Theo Hobson

A ‘damning’ report has been published into the Church of England’s handling of a particular abuse case. Except it’s not very damning.

In 1976 a 16-year old was abused by a priest called Garth Moore – an attempted rape took place. He kept quiet about it for a couple of years, then told various priests about it over the next few decades, including some bishops. Moore died in 1990. The Church did nothing about his claims until 2014, when it began an inquiry that led to him receiving some compensation last year.

The report says that the Church was at fault for failing to advise him to report it to the police, and for failing to launch its own investigation earlier. But there is no allegation that the Church dissuaded the victim from pressing charges. It was his decision, whether or not to go to the police while his abuser lived. If he chose not to, there was little that the Church could do. It couldn’t really have been expected to launch its own detailed investigations into such an allegation. It was a matter for the police.

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HAWAII
Honolulu Star-Bulletin

The Rev. Anthony Pascale, 85, of Honolulu, associate pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Church, founding pastor of St. John Apostle and Evangelist Parish in Mililani, and World War II U.S. Marine Corps veteran, died Jan. 9 in Straub Clinic and Hospital. He was born in Syracuse, N.Y. Mass: 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace. Call after 5 p.m. Burial: 10 a.m. Wednesday at Hawaiian Memorial Park.

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MINNESOTA
The Legal Examiner

Posted by Mike Bryant
March 17, 2016

Time is running out. Survivors of sexual abuse have until May of 2016 to seek justice against their attackers. The Window is limited by the statute of limitation that was expanded by the Child Victims Act. Anyone who was sexually abused by an employee of the diocese, or who believes the diocese is liable for their abuse have until May 2016.

Those with claims must act within that time.

Abuse of children and the continued silence by the offenders needs to be prevented. If you suffered, saw, or suspected such events, it is important to know that there is help out there.

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VATICAN CITY
ANSA

(ANSA) – Vatican City, March 17 – The so-called Vatileaks 2 trial into the leaking and publishing of confidential Vatican documents was adjourned Thursday until April 6.

The trial was adjourned after PR expert Francesca Chaouqui, one of the five defendants, presented medical papers showing she needed “a period of absolute rest” since she is six-months pregnant.

This week the Vatican tribunal heard testimony from Monsignor Lucio Vallejo Balda, another of the defendants, on the leaking of classified Holy See documents to two investigative reporters.

On Monday the Spanish prelate, a former member of the now-defunct COSEA commission set up to advise Pope Francis on the reform of the Holy See’s economic and administrative structure, admitted leaking the documents.

“Yes, I handed over documents,” Vallejo Balda told the court, adding that he had acted under pressure from co-defendant Chaouqui who allegedly also tried to seduce him.

“Francesca said she belonged to the secret services, indeed that she was the number two in the Italian secret services,” he said of the PR expert and fellow COSEA member.

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VATICAN CITY
The Daily Beast

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU

Oh, what a tangled web of seedy deceit the latest Vatican leaks trial is turning out to be.

ROME—Sometimes Pope Francis must surely wish he had a magic wand instead of a shepherd’s staff.

That way he could just wave it and make the embarrassing Vatileaks II case go away. Instead, the trial against a monsignor, a public relations specialist, an administrative aide, and two journalists for leaking and publishing secret documents is raining sleaze on the pope’s Easter parade.

The trial, which has been on a hiatus for three months while experts determined what technical and computer evidence could be used against the defendants, kicked off this week with a bang. The hearing started Monday with Spanish monsignor Lucio Vallejo Balda, the only one of the five suspects in Vatican custody, on the witness stand.

Balda had been enjoying house arrest in Vatican City under the condition that he didn’t communicate with the outside world. Then, a few days before the trial reconvened, a sleuthing Vatican techie noticed that there was a spike in Wi-Fi usage from the wing where the monsignor was staying. Curious, the techie traced the Internet usage to a cellphone someone had smuggled in to the prelate, apparently inside a cutout in a religious book about the Franciscan order, according to the website Infovaticana, which is a sort of Drudge Report for Vatican watchers. Now Balda is back in a Vatican cell while the trial goes on.

When asked in court if he had leaked documents pertaining to his time on the Pontifical Commission for Reference on the Organization of the Economic-Administrative Structure of the Holy See (COSEA) to journalists Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi, Balda admitted that he had, though he said he wasn’t “fully lucid” at the time. “Yes, I passed documents,” he told the court, explaining that he gave Nuzzi five emails and 87 passwords for documents related to the COSEA’s work. “I was convinced I was in a situation without exit.”

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VATICAN CITY
Daily Mail

By SARA MALM FOR MAILONLINE

The controversial ‘Vatileaks’ trial has been postponed after the Spanish priest who confessed to leaking classified Vatican documents claimed he had slept with one of his co-accused.

Monsignor Lucio Vallejo Balda told the court in the Vatican that he had a night of passion with Italian PR expert Francesca Chaouqui, who then took to social media to not only deny that they had slept together, but out him as gay.

Married Chaouqui, who is six months pregnant, refuted Vallejo Balda’s claims, and said that on the night in question, the Spanish priest had confessed his homosexuality to her.

The trial has been adjourned until April 6 after Chaouqui was advised to rest by doctors after Thursday’s session.

Chaouqui, a former member of an economic reform commission established by Pope Francis, is accused of conspiring with Vallejo Balda and his assistant to leak documents which revealed serious irregularities in Vatican spending.

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VATICAN CITY
Yahoo! News

Angus MacKinnon
AFP
March 17, 2016

Vatican City (AFP) – The Vatican’s controversial trial of journalists and others was adjourned Thursday until next month as a new account emerged of an alleged night of sex and secrets between two of the accused.

The adjournment until April 6 was announced by the Vatican after one of the five accused, PR consultant Francesca Chaouqui, who is six months pregnant, was advised to rest by doctors.

Chaouqui, a former member of an economic reform commission established by Pope Francis, is accused of conspiring with Spanish Monsignor Lucio Vallejo Balda and his assistant to leak documents which revealed serious irregularities in Vatican spending.

Vallejo Balda admitted in court on Monday to handing over files and passwords to two reporters who are also on trial.

But he said he did so under duress having been effectively blackmailed by his female colleague, with whom he claims to have had a sexually charged relationship culminating in a “compromising” encounter in a Florence hotel.

Chaouqui, who is married, has categorically denied having sex with the cleric.

In her version of the night in Florence, published on her Facebook page on Wednesday, she implies Vallejo Balda had confided in her about a previous gay encounter or relationship.

“He told me something in confidence, something he said only I knew,” she wrote.

“I stayed, I listened. I cried with him. I understood what he was going through, as a man and as a priest.

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NEW YORK
Maryknoll Mission Archives

Born: April 1, 1912
Ordained: September 17, 1938
Died: May 22, 1983

On Pentecost Sunday, the 22nd of May, while all of us were praying to the Father to send the Spirit into our lives,Father Francis Joseph Daubert received the gift of the Spirit as he became one with the Risen Christ.

On May 18th, Father Daubert entered Phelps Memorial Hospital for an operation on his eyes. His condition deteriorated after treatment and at 6:00 a.m.,on the morning of May 22nd, Father Daubert died at the age of 71.

Francis Daubert, the youngest of eight children, was born in Philadelphia on April 1, 1912 to John Daubert and Dorothy Lucas. His early schooling took place in Philadelphia and after finishing three years of high school at Northeast Catholic High,he entered the Venard in September of 1928.

From an early age Frank had the desire to enter the priesthood, being very much influenced by a nun in his seventh year of grammar school. He was undecided whether to become a diocesan or a religious priest. Two Maryknoll Sisters spoke to his eighth grade and because of this he subscribed to Maryknoll Junior and later to The Field Afar. Father John Dever encouraged in him a vocation to the foreign missions, but it was not until he read A Modern Martyr, a life of Blessed Theophane Venard, that he decided to enter Maryknoll.

On June 14, 1938, Father Daubert was ordained and his first mission assignment was to Kweilin, China. In 1945 he briefly served on the Venard Faculty and then returned to China.In 1950 he was assigned to Formosa and in December of the same year was confined to a compound at Laipo by the Communists. Released in June, 1951, he returned to the U.S. to teach at the Venard until April, 1955, when he was once more assigned to Formosa. Five years later he left Formosa for Hawaii where he remained until 1967 when he returned to the States to help out at Transfiguration Parish in lower Manhattan. In 1968 he was assigned as Chaplain to the Maryknoll Sisters’ Novitiate in Valley Park,Missouri. In December, 1971, he became Chaplain to Phelps Memorial Hospital. This latter position he left only a short time ago to reside at St. Teresa’s Residence. In June, 1979, he was assigned to the Special Society Unit.

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MISSISSIPPI
Sun Herald

BY WESLEY MULLER
wmuller@sunherald.com

PEARL RIVER COUNTY — Authorities have filed a third charge against a Baptist youth pastor arrested Tuesday in Hancock County on allegations he sexually abused a child.

Pearl River County deputies filed a sexual battery charge against David Matthew Thorne of Picayune on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after he was booked in Hancock County on two similar charges.

Thorne, 35, a youth pastor at Goodyear Baptist Church in Pearl River County, is accused in the sexual abuse of the same child three times, PRC Chief Deputy Shane Tucker said.

Hancock County sheriff’s Chief Investigator Glenn Grannan said the child was first abused Jan. 31 in Hancock County.

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MISSISSIPPI
Washington Times

By – Associated Press – Thursday, March 17, 2016

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (AP) – Authorities have filed a third charge against a Baptist youth pastor arrested in Hancock County on allegations he sexually abused a child.

The Sun Herald reports (http://bit.ly/1VdFtFw) Pearl River County deputies filed a sexual battery charge against 35-year-old David Matthew Thorne, of Picayune, on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after he was booked in Hancock County on two similar charges.

Pearl River County Chief Deputy Shane Tuckers says Thorne, a youth pastor at Goodyear Baptist Church, is accused in the sexual abuse of the same child three times.

Hancock County sheriff’s Chief Investigator Glenn Grannan said the child was first abused Jan. 31 in Hancock County.

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FRANKREICH
Radio Vatikan

[The French state secretary for victims issues Juliette Meadel has demanded the resignation of Lyons Cardinal Philippe Barbarin. Resignation is the least Barbarin could do and he should do more rather than hide behind legal niceties, she said.]

Staatssekretärin Juliette Meadel hat den Rücktritt von Lyons Kardinal Philippe Barbarin gefordert. „Nicht in der Lage zu sein, um Verzeihung zu bitten, ist nicht sehr christlich“, sagte die sozialistische Politikerin einem Radiosender am Donnerstag. Ein Amtsverzicht sei „das Mindeste“, was Barbarin noch tun könne, statt sich „hinter juristischen Spitzfindigkeiten zu verstecken“, so die Staatssekretärin für Opferfragen. Die Ehrenvorsitzende der französischen Christdemokraten, Christine Boutin, antwortete via Twitter, es sei „nicht sehr christlich“, sich so exponiert zu äußern, „ohne Kenntnis der Akten zu haben“.

Kardinal Barbarin sieht sich wegen des Vorwurfs der Missbrauchsvertuschung wachsendem Druck ausgesetzt. Dem Erzbischof von Lyon wird vorgeworfen, einen Priester nicht suspendiert zu haben, dem sexueller Missbrauch eines damals 16-Jährigen im Jahr 1990 vorgeworfen wird. Eine entsprechende Anklage gegen den Priester wurde 2009 wegen Verjährung fallengelassen.

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FRANCE
La Depeche

[Pedophilia: Cardinal Barbarin is weakened by a new case.]

Depuis plusieurs jours, la pression médiatique et même politique ne cesse d’augmenter sur l’archevêque de Lyon, figure majeure de l’Eglise de France.

Après le Premier ministre Manuel Valls, qui lui a demandé mardi de “prendre ses responsabilités, de parler et d’agir”, sa secrétaire d’Etat à l’Aide aux victimes, Juliette Méadel, est allée plus loin jeudi, jugeant que le départ du cardinal serait “la moindre des choses”.

Didier Guillaume, président du groupe PS au Sénat, estime que “l’Eglise doit faire le ménage en toute transparence”, tout en soulignant qu”‘il ne (lui) appartient pas de dire s’il doit démissionner ou pas”.

Son homologue chez Les Républicains, Bruno Retailleau, souligne que la pédophilie est “un crime encore plus abject lorsqu’il s’agit d’un prêtre” mais “(s)e méfie du tribunal médiatique”.

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FRANCE
kath.ch

[Barbarin case: the Catholic press protests against the media lynching of Cardinal Barbarin. While the lay press covers the “Barbarin Affair”, the Catholic media are trying to make sense of things. While criticizing the efforts of the church in treatment of abusive priests, Catholic commentators are outraged what what they consider to be a “media lynching” of Barbarin and
failure to respect presumption of innocence.]

17/03/2016 Raphael Zbinden

“The Barbarin affair” , named after the Archbishop of Lyon accused of covering up cases of pedophilia, continues to shake the French media sphere. While the lay press roundly on the Primate of the Gauls, the Catholic media are trying to make sense of things. While criticizing the errors of the Church in the treatment of abusive priests, Catholic commentators are outraged Cardinal Barbarin of the media lynching and the failure to respect the presumption of innocence.

17.03.2016 par Raphaël Zbinden

“L’affaire Barbarin”, du nom de l’archevêque de Lyon accusé d’avoir couvert des cas de pédophilie, continue de secouer la sphère médiatique française. Alors que la presse profane tire à boulets rouges sur le primat des Gaules, les médias catholiques tentent de faire la part des choses. Tout en fustigeant les erreurs de l’Eglise en matière de traitement des prêtres abuseurs, les commentateurs catholiques s’indignent du lynchage médiatique de Mgr Barbarin et du non respect de la présomption d’innocence.

“S’agissant de tels faits, les catholiques – pas seulement la hiérarchie ecclésiale – ont trop longtemps cherché la protection du silence”, reconnaît Guillaume Goubert, directeur de La Croix. Un constat semblable est posé d’emblée par Jean-Pierre Denis, directeur de la rédaction du magazine chrétien La Vie. “A l’échelle de l’ensemble de l’Eglise catholique, la lutte contre les abus d’autorité a été défectueuse”, note-t-il. Même son de cloche chez le blogueur catholique à succès Erwan Le Mordehec, qui souligne sur son site Koztoujours, qu’il “comprend on ne peut mieux la colère des victimes”, face à la passivité de l’Eglise, qui a laissé en fonction un prêtre manifestement pédophile. Ainsi, pour Guillaume Goubert, “un tel silence se paie très cher (…) Surtout pour les victimes condamnées à intérioriser une douleur qui les ronge”. Il rappelle que “l’Eglise est au service d’une Parole qui libère. Le devoir lui impose de faire davantage de place en son sein à la parole de ceux qui ont été blessés”.

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AUSTRALIA
Manny Waks

17/3/2016

I’m pleased to share the apology I received today from the Rabbinical Council of Victoria. It’s important that every individual – especially leaders, and in my opinion even more so religious leaders – who have done wrong in the context of what transpired in Australia regarding the child sexual abuse scandal, reflects on their past misdeeds and attempts to remedy the situation. It’s significant that Victoria’s most senior Orthodox rabbinic body has done just that; they have taken responsibility for their inappropriate action. On a personal level, I feel satisfied and vindicated. On a communal level, hopefully this is another step that will regain the community’s trust and respect for the Rabbinate. I look forward to continue to build on the constructive dialogue that has commenced post the Royal Commission public hearing with the RCV and many others.

Rabbinical Council of Victoria letter:

Thursday, 17 March 2016
7 Adar II 5776

Manny Waks
[REDACTED]

Dear Manny,

We trust this letter finds you and your family well.

Thank you for your understanding regarding the timing of our response to you.

Thank you for meeting with us at the end of last year. We felt the meeting was constructive, positive and open. It was great to be able to resolve to work together in the future and to commit to having dialogue between the RCV and yourself for any future issues that may arise.

One of the matters you raised at the meeting was your disappointment with the RCV for having called for your resignation as CEO of Tzedek. You explained that the RCV had not previously called for any other resignations and you therefore felt it was a personal attack on you.

Upon reflection, the RCV regrets and apologise for calling for your resignation publicly without first discussing the matter with you directly and giving you the opportunity to present your perspective.

We hope to work together with you in the future and that we give each other the opportunity to first discuss matters between us before taking further action.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor March 17, 2016

ROME — In an ideal world, doing the just thing and doing the wise thing would always coincide. Real life, however, is often not that simple, and the “Vatileaks 2.0” trial currently playing out in Rome may be a classic case where justice and wisdom collide.

To recap, the trial pivots on five people accused of stealing and publishing secret Vatican documents about finances, including three former members of a papal commission known by its Italian acronym COSEA and two journalists. If convicted, the defendants could face up to eight years in prison, although it’s not entirely clear how that sentence could be enforced on those who are Italian citizens and neither clergy nor employees of the Vatican.

Just like the first Vatileaks affair under Pope Benedict XVI four years ago, this one seems more of a soap opera with every passing day.

This week, testimony in the trial resumed after it was suspended in November. Day one featured an admission by Spanish Monsignor Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda that he did, indeed, pass documents to journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, including a set of 87 computer passwords that allowed Nuzzi to access the material.

Vallejo Balda insisted that he acted under “enormous pressure” from his alleged co-conspirator, PR expert Francesca Chaouqui, who supposedly convinced him that she was connected to the Italian secret service, and also supposedly once told him that the only force that could help him was the Mafia.

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IRELAND
The Irish Catholic

by Michael Higgins
March 17, 2016

If the Roman Catholic Church hoped to escape from the “spotlight”, as it were, at the Academy Awards Ceremony in Hollywood last month, no such reprieve was granted.

Spotlight, the American film that explored with searing forthrightness the rot at the heart of the Archdiocese of Boston around clerical sex abuse, won Best Picture of the Year Award. Statements, testimonials and public declarations of outrage, accompanied the cinema hoopla, the book version of the film is showcased in all major book chains, media outlets are abuzz with commentary and ancillary revelations, and the Church, beleaguered and spiritually depleted by the scandal, once again faces the seemingly endless task of trying to get ahead of the depressing news focus around this institutional blight.

Measures

It is not that the Church hasn’t reacted with new protocols, disciplinary measures, appropriate suspensions, and a refreshing transparency of effort and accountability. In many jurisdictions it has.

There is a Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Adults, bishops have been fired for negligence, alleged cases are now pursued with commendable rigour, and an abundance of educational and pastoral efforts to ensure compliance with civil law have taken shape.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Kirchensite

[The Jesuit Hans Zollner, member of the Pontifical Child Protection Commission in Rome, has called on people to open their hearts, doors and ears to abuse victims. Children are the most precious asset we have, he said at a gathering at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Muenster. People need to use all possible means that children are protected, he said.]

Bistum. Der Jesuit Hans Zollner, Mitglied der Päpstlichen Kinderschutzkommission in Rom, hat beim letzten Geistlichen Themenabend im St.-Paulus-Dom dazu aufgerufen, die Herzen, Türen und Ohren für die Missbrauchsopfer zu öffnen. “Kinder sind das kostbarste Gut, das wir haben”, sagte Zollner in seiner Fastenpredigt zum Thema “Kinder schützen” am Mittwoch (16.03.2016). “Wir sollten uns auf alle erdenkliche Weise dafür einsetzen, dass sie geschützt aufwachen können.”

In seiner eindringlichen Ansprache in einem nur spärlich besetzten Dom warnte der Experte mit großem Nachdruck davor, das Thema Missbrauch und sexuelle Gewalt in der Kirche abzuhaken. “Die Vertuschung hat die Verbreitung des Bösen begünstigt”, unterstrich Zollner. “Die Frage ist jetzt, ob wir eine Kirche sein wollen, in der die vom Missbrauch Betroffenen einen Platz haben.”

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Vatikan Radio

[Meter: Abuse is a crime against humanity]

Seit Jahren wird über Pädo-Pornographie und sexuelle Gewalt gegen Kinder gesprochen, Täter wurden identifiziert und die Opfer haben angefangen zu reden, zuerst in den USA, dann auch in Europa. Ist deswegen der Missbrauch von Kindern zurück gegangen? Leider nein, im Gegenteil, sagt die italienische Organisation „Meter“: Es geht weiter und der Missbrauch produziert auch weiter finanzielle Gewinne. Im Jahresbericht 2015 der Organisation des Priesters Fortunato Di Noto, der in dieser Woche im Funkhaus von Radio Vatikan vorgestellt wurde, werden wieder einmal Millionen von Fotografien und Videos genannt, Europa sei dabei nach wie vor das „Mutterland“ der Pädo-Kriminellen.

Meter kämpfe bei der UNO darum, dass Missbrauch von Kindern als Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit anerkannt werde, sagt di Noto unserem Radio. „Die Zahlen rechtfertigen das“. Seit 27 Jahren beobachte Meter die Szene, noch nie habe man aber beobachten müssen, dass die Anzahl der Bilder sich in einem Jahr verdoppelt habe. Das bedeute 700.000 Kinder mehr, die betroffen seien, so der Gründer von Meter. Die Anzahl der einschlägigen Webseiten sei von 7.000 auf 9.000 gestiegen. Geradezu explodiert sei die Zahl der pädokriminellen sozialen Netzwerke im so genannten „Deep Web“, also im nicht offen zugänglichen Teil des Internets: von 180 auf 3.000 in einem Jahr, hat Meter ermittelt.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Source: Tom Halden, Director of Communications

From Archbishop Bernard Hebda

Rev. Paul Moudry was ordained in 1987. In November 2013, he took a voluntary leave of absence from priestly ministry.

While Father Moudry was on leave, an investigation of an anonymous allegation of misconduct was conducted. During the investigation, Father Moudry self-reported that he engaged in inappropriate conduct with adults in the 1970s and 1980s. That conduct did not involve minors and was not illegal. Father Moudry cooperated during the investigation and the subsequent review process.

After examining Father’s file, reviewing the investigation and interviewing Father Moudry, the Ministerial Review Board recommended that Father Moudry be permitted to return to ministry. The Director of Ministerial Standards concurred with the board’s recommendation. I accepted those recommendations and am now considering an assignment.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Steve Cannane and Brigid Andersen

A former Catholic Church insider has called on police and the royal commission to subpoena all of the church’s secret clergy abuse documents — known as the “red files”.

Helen Last, a former coordinator of the Melbourne Archdiocese’s Pastoral Response Office, said the full extent of church abuse would not be known until all the documents were made available.

“These files should be handed over, they are of important public interest, they have forensic material in them, they cover criminal activity by clergy, they cover the anguish and information of parents and parishioners speaking to the Vicar General at the time,” she said.

“They are of great importance to the truth of what has happened here and the victims and the public want the truth but they are only getting part of the truth at the present time.”

Ms Last first learnt of the red files from the late Monsignor Gerry Cudmore, who set up the Pastoral Response Office in the 1990s.

Ms Last said Monsignor Cudmore ended up resigning as Vicar General because he did not like Cardinal George Pell’s handling of abuse claims, which he thought was too legalistic.

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UNITED STATES
Whispers in the Loggia

Simply put, in the long, horrid road of American Catholicism’s tragic history of sexual abuse and cover-up, few days have been as stunning as this.

Add in the mounting questions swirling around Rome over the Pope’s commitment to tackling the global storm, and at least on some levels, it almost feels as if the ghost of 2002 has returned….

And yet again, just in time for Holy Week.

* * *
Early this morning, word circulated from San Antonio that Fr Virgilio Elizondo, the widely-hailed godfather of Latino theology in the US – and with it, long the lead prophet of a Hispanic ascendancy that’s since come to comprise a plurality, if not the current majority of the nation’s 70 million faithful – had been found dead at 80 yesterday, amid the looming cloud of a lawsuit alleging his abuse of a seminarian in the 1980s.

While the city’s newspaper only relayed the statement of the cleric’s assistant that Elizondo “died of a broken heart,” an independent local news-site, The Rivard Report, cited unnamed sources in saying that the vaunted theologian had taken his own life by “a self-inflicted gunshot wound.” The shocking news confirmed shortly thereafter by a Whispers op appraised of the situation, later in the day it emerged that the Notre Dame professor’s death had indeed been ruled a suicide. …

Hours after that first jolt, at midmorning another press conference was called in Midstate Pennsylvania, the attorney general again presiding.

Two weeks after a Commonwealth grand jury leveled a searing indictment of generations of leadership in the diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, today saw the other shoe drop as charges were announced against three former provincials of the area’s Third Order Regular (TOR) Franciscans, all indicted on child endangerment and conspiracy counts in enabling prolific abuse by one of their own.

Fourteen years after Boston, the move represents a watershed: never before have the superiors of a religious community been held criminally liable for facilitating a cover-up among their confreres. And with all of two US church administrators having faced similar charges until now, with today’s development, the number suddenly stands at five.

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FRANCE
The Local

In the latest accusations against France’s Cardinal Philippe Barbarin he has been accused of promoting a priest despite a previous conviction for sex abuse.

French cardinal accused of covering up the sexual abuse of children by a priest faced new accusations on Wednesday that

he had promoted another cleric despite the man having a previous conviction for sexually abusing adult students.

Le Parisien newspaper reported that Archbishop of Lyon Philippe Barbarin had allowed an unnamed priest to take up a job in his diocese in central France despite the man having been given a suspended 18-month jail sentence for sexually abusing students in a residential home that he supervised.

The episcopate denied the accusations, saying the man had not been promoted although it admitted he was still employed by the Lyon diocese.

The newspaper’s allegations are likely to add to the pressure on Barbarin, who faced calls this week from Prime Minister Manuel Valls to “take responsibility” in the case of another priest, Bernard Preynat.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review

Editorial

Charges against three retired superiors of a Franciscan order reveal an alleged sexual abuse conspiracy and an all-too-familiar code of silence. Sadly, that enabled a predatory monster under the guise of religious trappings to abuse dozens of children as a Johnstown high school athletic trainer.

Giles A. Schinelli, 73, Robert J. D’Aversa, 69, and Anthony M. Criscitelli, 61, allegedly provided cover for Brother Stephen Baker to abuse students of Bishop McCort Catholic High School, where Rev. Baker was assigned from 1992 to 2010. He committed suicide in 2013 — a coward’s exit amid allegations of sexually abusing children in Ohio dating back to 1986.

The Franciscan case follows this month’s grand jury report that accused two former bishops of the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese of covering for more than 50 priests who abused hundreds of children over many decades. But this time the alleged enablers haven’t slipped away.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Care Appointments

Written by The Press Association

The public inquiry into historical child sex abuse will hold preliminary hearings linked to its investigations into allegations that exploitation took place within the Anglican Church and through Rochdale council.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse is investigating the appropriateness of child protection policies and practices within the Church of England, the Church in Wales and other Anglican churches in the two countries.

Investigations will focus on the prevalence of child sex abuse, the adequacy of previous case reviews and the extent to which the culture within the Anglican Church inhibited the exposure and prevention of exploitation.

The inquiry will examine sexual abuse associated with the Diocese of Chichester, as well as failings over Peter Ball, the former Bishop of Lewes and Bishop of Gloucester who was jailed for 32 months in October 2015 after pleading guilty to historical sex offences, 22 years after originally being investigated and cautioned by police.

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IRELAND
The Irish Catholic

by Greg Daly
March 17, 2016

A high-profile body set up to advise Pope Francis on preventing abuse is under threat unless the Vatican releases further funding, it has been claimed.

Baroness Nuala O’Loan has described as “very disturbing” claims that Vatican officials have been slow to release funding for the Pontifical Council for the Protection of Minors.

Irishwoman Marie Collins, a long time campaigner and survivor of abuse, who sits on the commission told The Irish Catholic that a lack of funding is hindering the work of the body.

Baroness O’Loan warned that “proper funding is the key to the ability of an organisation such as the commission to function.

“Many good initiatives have failed because they have been starved of the necessary funding,” Mrs O’Loan writes in The Irish Catholic this week.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Nicole Chettle

Changing the evidence that is admissible in Australian child sexual abuse trials could see more offenders jailed, a British academic has told a royal commission in Sydney.

Professor John Spencer from Cambridge University told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that changes to Britain’s Criminal Justice Act in 2003 allowed evidence of a defendant’s “bad character” to be admitted in criminal trials.

Professor Spencer appeared before the commission, which is examining how the criminal justice system handles allegations of sexual abuse, via video link and said the government introduced the measure thinking it would increase the conviction rate.

“I don’t think it has produced any dramatic increase in the conviction rate,” Professor Spencer said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Nicole Chettle

It is “inconceivable” that a survivor of child sexual abuse was told by the Queensland Department of Public Prosecutions it could not afford to pursue a trial against a convicted sex offender, the organisation’s director has told a royal commission.

Abuse survivor Denis Dodt told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse he was urged not to proceed with a case against Graham Noyes, who abused him at Enoggera Boys’ Home in Brisbane in the 1960s.

But the current Queensland Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Michael Byrne QC has told the commission it was “inconceivable to me that any prosecutor would have ever told a victim that we don’t have the time to conduct a trial”.

The commission heard that 14 people had come forward to say they were assaulted by Noyes, who was a trainee police officer and volunteer at the home at the time.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

The cross-examination of a boy who was sexually abused by a teacher at a Perth private school was so traumatising other parents were deterred from reporting abuse, his mother says.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has been examining how victims fare when they give evidence in the trials of their abusers.

In the first part of a two-part hearing, the commission is exploring how different jurisdictions make judicial decisions on the admission of tendency evidence – that is evidence on an alleged abuser’s likelihood to sexually molest children.

It has heard from survivor witnesses and Crown prosecutors involved in trials in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia that when judges rule tendency and coincidence evidence is not admissible, an abuse victim can end up being the only complainant in a separate trial.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Ekklesia

By Savi Hensman
MARCH 17, 2016

A review of how the Church of England handled allegations of sexual abuse by senior clergy has revealed serious failings. In recent years, similar problems have come to light in other churches and major public institutions. These raise important questions about child and adult protection, truth, power and justice.

A survivor, known as ‘Joe’ or ‘B’, has revealed that he was sexually assaulted in the 1970s when in his mid-teens, then emotionally exploited when he sought help two years later. He tried to inform dozens of priests and bishops but even those who met him failed to act, or indeed to keep records of conversations.

Most of those he told “were essentially good people in a dysfunctional institution riven with inertia. Kind words were never going to be enough in the face of a crime/justice issue, but, because it was perceived primarily as a pastoral issue, my hearers drifted along in the same boat as everyone else – a boat that was carrying their church careers reassuringly forward,” he wrote in 2015 in the Church Times.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

Paul Peachey Crime Correspondent @peachey_paul 1

An investigation into a paedophile priest may have been delayed for more than 20 years partly because a former Archbishop of Canterbury failed to pass a complaint to police, an inquiry has heard.

The disgraced former Bishop of Gloucester, Peter Ball, was jailed for 32 months last year but one victim had written to George Carey in 1992 alerting him to the abuse, solicitor Richard Scorer, told a public inquiry into child sex abuse.

Prosecutors had considered charging Ball with some offences in 1993 but the cleric avoided a trial by accepting a caution for the abuse of one young man and resigned his post as Bishop of Gloucester.

After Ball was convicted last year, Lord Carey denied presiding over a cover-up in the 1990s but said he regretted failing to deal properly with Ball’s victims. It emerged that Lord Carey had telephoned the CPS in 1993 and claimed to have been told: “The matter is closed.” The extent of what Lord Carey was said to have been told emerged yesterday at a preliminary hearing before the Dame Lowell Goddard inquiry hears evidence of allegations of Anglican church collusion in child sex abuse.

Mr Scorer said: “[Victim] A13 can tell the inquiry about a very detailed complaint he made to Archbishop George Carey in 1992, reporting Peter Ball’s behaviour … years previously. We believe that the Archbishop failed to pass that information on to the police and is one reason, we believe, a proper investigation of Peter Ball’s behaviour and abuse was delayed by over 20 years.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLIve

By Ivey DeJesus | idejesus@pennlive.com

Amid mounting clergy sex abuse cover-up scandals in Pennsylvania, a state lawmaker long opposed to amending the laws that would allow victims to go after their abusers on Wednesday did an about-face on his stance.

House Urban Affairs Committee Democratic Chairman Thomas Caltagirone, (D-Berks), came out in support of full a wholesale change to the statute of limitations, which victims and their advocates have long claimed have thwarted victims’ efforts in facing their alleged abusers in court.

“Today, I am announcing after many hours of soul searching, praying and deliberations, that I have decided to come out in support of my good friend, state Representative Mark Rozzi in his efforts to combat child sexual abuse within Pennsylvania,” Caltagirone said.

“I feel compelled to act and do what I can to move legislation forward that will help protect our children: past, present and future. I will spend my remaining time in the legislature protecting children.”

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TEXAS
Star-Telegram

BY MITCH MITCHELL
mitchmitchell@star-telegram.com

An evangelist who founded the Freedom in Worship Church is no longer free, a judged ruled Wednesday.

Emiliano Patino, 40, of Fort Worth was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 10 years of probation for sexually abusing two teenage sisters nearly 18 years ago when he was 23.

Patino’s sentences will run concurrently, state District Judge George Gallagher ruled. Patino must serve at least five years before he becomes eligible for parole, and if he is released before serving the full 10 years, he will be on probation for the remainder of his sentence, prosecutor Eric Nickols said.

“We’re very pleased with the sentence,” Nickols said after the verdict. “Child sexual abuse is a serious crime deserving of prison time no matter how long ago it occurred.”

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