ABUSE TRACKER

PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

BY SARA SMALL WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16TH 2016

HARRISBURG — House Representative Bryan Barbin, D-71st District, has introduced two new bills in Harrisburg that would change the statute of limitations on child sex abuse cases.

The timeliness of these new bills is certainly resonating with legislators as an investigation continues into the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane also announced criminal charges against three Franciscan Friars this week, involved in the Brother Stephen Baker and Bishop McCort Catholic High School case.

Barbin is joined by several legislators including Mark Rozzi of Berks County, a sexual abuse victim himself, who’ve recently introduced bills about the statute of limitations on child sex abuse cases.

“I believe the bills are the strongest to protect against the challenge that they’re unconstitutional,” Barbin said Wednesday.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

VIRGINIA
WAVY

[with video]

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A Catholic Church child abuse scandal unfolding in Pennsylvania has ties to Hampton Roads and other areas in Virginia, according to investigators.

Three ex-leaders of a Franciscan religious order were charged Tuesday with allowing a friar who was a known sexual predator to take on jobs, including a position as a high school athletic trainer, that enabled him to molest more than 100 children.

Giles Schinelli, 73; Robert D’Aversa, 69; and Anthony M. Criscitelli, 61, were successively the provincial ministers of a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church in western Pennsylvania from 1986 to 2010. In that role, each assigned and supervised the order’s members.

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VIRGINIA
The Virginian-Pilot

JOHNSTOWN, Pa.

A friar accused of molesting more than 100 children in Pennsylvania lived and worked in Norfolk in the 1970s on assignment at Holy Trinity Catholic Church while living at the James Barry Robinson Home for Boys, now known as The Barry Robinson Center.

Brother Stephen Baker, the friar at the center of the abuse allegations, killed himself in 2013 — with two knives to the heart — after church officials in Youngstown, Ohio, announced they were settling lawsuits by 11 former students who said Baker abused them at schools in Ohio from 1986 to 1990.

The case ongoing in Pennsylvania involves three ex-leaders of a Franciscan religious order who were charged Tuesday with allowing Baker to take on jobs, including a position as a high school athletic trainer, that enabled him to molest more than 100 children.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

By Peter Smith / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

ALTOONA — The large purple banners, in the symbolic color of penitence, and the subdued music fit the tone of the service Wednesday night at Altoona’s Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament.

Before scores of worshippers got up to make confessions to one of numerous priests who fanned out across the cavernous cathedral, Bishop Mark Bartchak offered a short homily, reflecting on how often people compound their sins by trying to hide them rather than confess them. “Playing hide and seek with God really doesn’t work,” he said, urging penitents to “seek the Lord while he may be found.”

There was no mention at the communal penance service, an annual Lenten observance, of the news roiling the diocese in recent weeks. But it was very much on worshippers’ minds.

The service came a day after the state announced charges against three priests from a Hollidaysburg-based Franciscan province for endangering the welfare of children for assigning a known sex offender to work with youth at Bishop McCort Catholic High School in Johnstown and other settings over nearly two decades. That offender, Brother Stephen Baker, committed suicide in 2013 as the enormity of his crimes became known.

The charges, including criminal conspiracy against each man, were recommended by the same grand jury that two weeks ago issued a report denouncing what it called a decades-long coverup of abusive priests by previous bishops of the eight-county Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By ARTHUR MARTIN FOR THE DAILY MAIL

Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey delayed a child abuse investigation for more than 20 years by failing to pass allegations to police, an inquiry heard yesterday.

Lord Carey received a complaint from a young man in 1992 about abuse he had suffered at the hands of then bishop Peter Ball.

But the Archbishop, who retired in 2002, did not pass on the accusations, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse was told.

In 1993 Ball was cautioned for gross indecency and returned to work two years later in a different diocese. He was eventually jailed for 32 months last October after admitting abuse of 18 teenagers and young men.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Express & Echo

Police have been criticised for failing to investigate an complaint lodged by a Devon man who was sexually assaulted by a Church of England priest.

The victim told BBC News he informed Devon and Cornwall Police about being abused by clergyman Vickery House in 2001 – 11 years before an investigation was launched.

Last year, Mr House was jailed for six and a half years for a string of sex offences against boys. His youngest victim was assaulted in Devon in 1970 at the age of 14.

Encouraged by his wife, the man approached police with his story in 2001. The investigation that led to House’s conviction was started by Sussex Police in May 2012.

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FLORIDA
News 965

By Tony Marino

Orange County, Fla. — Two local religious leaders are accused of turning their back on the sexual abuse of dozens of children.

Investigators in Pennsylvania said Giles Schinelli, who worked at the San Pedro Center in Winter Park and Robert D’Aversa, who worked at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Mount Dora, knew they were dealing with a child predator at a Catholic school in Pennsylvania and did nothing. Both men have been charged in Pennsylvania with endangering the welfare of children and criminal conspiracy.

Officials say Schinelli, D’Aversa and a third priest, Anthony Criscitelli of Minnesota allowed more

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FLORIDA
Daily Commercial

Millard K. Ives millard.ives@dailycommercial.com

MOUNT DORA — A Catholic priest in Mount Dora was charged in western Pennsylvania on Tuesday with conspiracy and child endangerment after he reportedly helped provide jobs to a friar who was a known sexual predator.

Father Robert D’Aversa, 69, of St. Patrick Catholic Community in Mount Dora, has until Friday to turn himself in. He has been placed on administrative leave.

Also facing the same charge is Giles Schinelli, 73, now a pastoral administrator at the San Pedro Center, a Catholic retreat in Winter Park, and Anthony M. Criscitelli, a pastor of St. Bridget Parish Community in Minneapolis.

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FRANCE
Le Parisien

Vincent Mongaillard | 16 Mars 2016

C’est un curé qui, visiblement, a été pardonné de ses pêchés par l’Eglise, aussi graves soient-ils. Son cas pose la question du «recyclage» par leur hiérarchie des ecclésiastiques condamnés par la justice. Selon nos informations, un prêtre, condamné pour agressions sexuelles sur des étudiants a été promu par Mgr Barbarin.

Les victimes étaient toutes majeures, il ne s’agit donc pas de pédophilie.

Les faits remontent à 2007 alors qu’il exerçait à Rodez (Aveyron). Ce père, 55 ans aujourd’hui, a été condamné par le tribunal correctionnel de Rodez au printemps 2007 à dix-huit mois d’emprisonnement avec sursis et mise à l’épreuve pendant trois ans. Il a été jugé coupable d’agressions sexuelles commises sur des étudiants d’un foyer dont il en était le responsable. Les victimes lui reprochaient, notamment, des caresses déplacées.

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FRANCE
Expatica

17th March 2016

A 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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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A man who was sexually assaulted by a Church of England priest has criticised police who he says failed to investigate his complaint.

The victim, from Devon, says he told Devon and Cornwall Police about Vickery House’s abuse in 2001 – 11 years before an investigation was launched.

Last year the clergyman was jailed for six and a half years for a string of sex offences against boys.
His youngest victim was assaulted in Devon in 1970 at the age of 14.

Encouraged by his wife, the man approached police with his story in 2001. The investigation that led to House’s conviction was started by Sussex Police in May 2012.

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PENNSYLVANIA
ABC News

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Mar 15, 2016

Three ex-leaders of a Franciscan religious order were charged Tuesday with allowing a friar who was a known sexual predator to take on jobs, including a position as a high school athletic trainer, that enabled him to molest more than 100 children.

Giles Schinelli, 73; Robert D’Aversa, 69; and Anthony M. Criscitelli, 61, were successively the provincial ministers of a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church in western Pennsylvania from 1986 to 2010. In that role, each assigned and supervised the order’s members.

Each was charged with conspiracy and child endangerment. Prosecutors said the three have been given until Friday to surrender.

Schinelli is now a pastoral administrator at the San Pedro Center, a Catholic retreat in Winter Park, Florida. D’Aversa is pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Community in Mount Dora, Florida. Anthony Criscitelli is pastor of St. Bridget Parish Community in Minneapolis. …

“There is a need for transparency and criminal prosecution is a great road to get there,” said Boston-based attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represented nearly 40 former McCort students who have settled claims that Baker sexually abused them. He also represented the 11 Ohio victims, whose settlements prompted the McCort victims to come forward.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that there are hundreds and hundreds of Brother Stephen Baker victims out there,” he said.

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VIRGINIA
NBC 12

By Ashley Monfort

RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) –
Investigators say there is a Virginia connection to a Catholic Church child abuse scandal unfolding in Pennsylvania.

An indictment shows several Franciscan Friars accused of being child predators worked in the Commonwealth. This indictment says there was a cover-up, which allowed four men to work in various churches in several states. They were in the Commonwealth in the 1970’s.

Click here to read the indictment

Child abuse experts fear there are victims out there who have never come forward.

This indictment says dozens of children trusted members of the Franciscan Friars only to be abused, molested and assaulted. The documents say four of them had Virginia ties. They are Brother Stephen Baker, Friar Cletus Adams, Friar Martin Brady and Brother Christian Neetz.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Third Sector

16 March 2016 by Rebecca Cooney

The judges ruled yesterday that the Watch Tower and Bible Tract Society of Great Britain was not entitled to apply for a judicial review into the scope of a statutory inquiry

The Watch Tower and Bible Tract Society of Great Britain has said it plans to appeal to the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal ruled it was not entitled to apply for a judicial review into the scope of a Charity Commission statutory inquiry.

The Court of Appeal handed down a judgment yesterday giving WTBTSB, the umbrella charity for Jehovah’s Witnesses, permission to appeal to the High Court against the scope of a production order made by the commission as part of a statutory inquiry opened in May 2014.

But it rejected WTBTSB’s appeal to be allowed to seek judicial review of the scope of the inquiry itself.

After the inquiry into WTBTSB’s safeguarding of children was launched, the charity sought a judicial review of the decision to open the inquiry and of the production order demanding documents from the charity, saying both were too broad in scope.

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UNITED STATES
Some people live more in 20 years …

The following was a response to someone who commented on my recent Hevria post about a Newsweek article detailing abuse and cover-up at Oholei Torah in Crown Heights. I’ve copied the comment here:

Abuse and its cover-ups should never be tolerated. Still, I take issue with your claim that the outrage will always be that the articles by secular outlets are anti-Semitic simply because this is such a searingly uncomfortable subject. It is pretty clear in the Newsweek article that they are pushing an agenda and trying to spread the idea that abuse like this happens BECAUSE of the nature of the religious/Chassidic community (this despite their “disclaimer” that abuse doesn’t necessarily occur more in Chassidic communities than secular). They misreport facts about the insularity of the culture and use their own misunderstandings as support for theories like “abuse is perpetuated because religious people are ignorant and close-minded”, beliefs that reek of bigotry. I think if issues were addressed with more respect, compassion, and empowerment, and less shaming and polarizing sensationalism, they’d be better received by the community and the focus would be less on the anti-Semitism of the article and more on solutions.

My response:

Three things facilitate this kind of abuse and cover-up. I’ll unpack them below. You’re welcome to call me an anti-Semite too, but these are things I’ve learned during my years of being a victim, and my years of activism on behalf of victims.

1) Willful ignorance
2) Denial
3) Conspiracy

Willful ignorance:

There is very little talk about sex and sexuality in general. It’s not considered tznius or appropriate. I’m not going to get into the merits or disadvantages of that, it’s just a fact. We shy away from anything related to it. We don’t use proper words for genitalia, like penis and vagina, we don’t have discussions about safe sex and consent, and we don’t explain children’s bodies to them, generally speaking. Many kids have no frame of reference to interpret what happened to them when they’re abused, because they don’t even know how to relate to their own bodies.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

The effect on child abuse victims when their alleged abusers undergo multiple trials is being examined by a royal commission in Sydney.

The Director of Public Prosecutions in Victoria, John Champion SC, says individual victims of child sex abuse suffer when complaints are split into multiple trials.

Mr Champion will take the stand for a second day at the child sex abuse royal commission hearing into criminal justice issues.

In a statement to the commission on Wednesday, Mr Champion said the severance of charges in multi-complainant cases had “many very adverse consequences” for child sex assault victims, but also for the administration of justice generally.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

BY MARIA MILLER WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16TH 2016

EBENSBURG — Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane was back in Cambria County Wednesday alongside county and state leaders to help announce thousands of dollars in funding to help victims of sexual abuse.

A total of $250,000 is being put aside to help sexual abuse victims, specifically in the Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, and on Wednesday elected leaders called on those victims to reach out.

“You are not alone,” said Josh Shapiro, chairman of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. “If you’re a victim and you have yet to come forward, we want to make sure that you have the support system in place in order to get the care that you need.”

“The silence is over,” Kane said. “We will no longer tolerate it here in PA.”

Leaders say the goal is to get the victims help whether they think they need it or not. Authorities say many victims have been dealing with this for decades, some of them their entire lives. Experts say seeing the headlines and stories on 6 News every day, can trigger painful memories. They say now is the time to call and with new money, more services will be available.

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PENNSYLVANIA
We Are Central PA

Ebensburg, Cambria County, Pa.

Support services are getting the money they need to help the increasing number of victims of child sexual abuse in the Altoona- Johnstown Catholic Diocese.

Wednesday the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency announced $250,000 in federal funding will be available for support services

PCCD Chairman Josh Shapiro, Attorney General Kathleen Kane, Cambria County District Attorney Kelly Callihan, and State Victim Advocate Jennifer Storm stood before victim service organizations, ensuring them victims will get the help they need.

The funding will be dispersed on an as-needed basis, but this is not the only money victim service organizations can receive. The $250,000 comes in addition to the federal VOCA dollars from the PCCD that are dispersed annually. On top of that, there is still money coming through the endowment fund from the Penn State Settlement as a result of the Sandusky case.

Officials are still fighting to pass legislation to eliminate the statute of limitations. They demanded change and said the victims deserve justice.

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CANADA
Edmonton Journal

CLAIRE THEOBALD

A church pastor west of Edmonton has been charged with child luring, says the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team or ALERT.

Drayton Valley RCMP first got involved in May 2015 after parents reported finding sexually explicit text messages between their 15-year-old daughter and a man she met through a church youth group.

ALERT’s Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) team then joined the investigation and the man was charged Monday.

Investigators say the man was employed as a pastor with the Meewasin Free Methodist Church in Duffield, about 65 kilometres west of Edmonton, when the alleged offences occurred. The man was subsequently removed from the position after the allegations were made.

Anyone with information pertaining to the investigation or any case of child exploitation is urged to contact police or leave a tip at www.cybertip.ca.

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CANADA
CBC News

A small-town church pastor in central Alberta has been charged with child luring.

Glenn Harvey Boyde, 59, a pastor at the Meewasin Free Methodist Church in Duffield, Alta., was arrested on Monday.

Police say the investigation began last May after the parents of a 15-year-old girl discovered inappropriate text messages on her phone. The texts were thought to be from man who was known to the family through the church and youth social gatherings the girl participated in.

Drayton Valley RCMP and ALERT’s Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) team eventually identified Boyde as a suspect. He was employed as a pastor when the alleged offenses took place, but was removed from his official position shortly after the complaint came forward, police said.

After his arrest, Boyde was released from custody on a number of conditions. His next court appearance is scheduled for March 30 in Stony Plain.

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CANADA
CTV

Julia Parrish, Web Reporter, CTV Edmonton
@JuliaParrishCTV

Published Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Police said Wednesday that a pastor based out of Duffield was facing charges after inappropriate texts were discovered on a teenager’s cell phone.

According to ALERT’s Internet Child Exploitation team, Glenn Harvey Boyde, 59, was facing a charge of child luring.

The investigation started in May, 2015, when the 15-year-old girl’s parents found texts on her cell phone – the messages were believed to be from an adult male that was known to the family through the church and youth social gatherings the teen had participated in.

As a result, Drayton Valley RCMP and the ICE Unit was notified.

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MISSISSIPPI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, March 16

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)

Thank heavens for the attentive and responsive parents who reported an allegedly abusive Baptist youth pastor to the Hancock County sheriff. Often kids can’t tell, parents don’t believe them, or families foolishly tell church figures, not secular authorities. This mom and dad, however, promptly did the proper thing – they honored their moral and civic duty by calling law enforcement. We applaud them for their courage and wisdom.

[WAPT]

We’re grateful that Rev. David Matthew Thorne of Picayune, a youth pastor at Goodyear Baptist Church in Pearl River County, has been arrested. But it’s a long way from arrest to conviction. Now is not the time for complacency. Anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered Thorne’s crimes – or cover ups by church staff or members – must come forward.

We urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups at Goodyear Baptist to protect kids by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling journalists, get justice by calling attorneys, and get comfort by calling support groups like ours. This is how kids will be safer, adults will recover, criminals will be prosecuted and cover ups will be deterred and the truth will surface.

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MINNESOTA
St. Cloud Times

David Unze, dunze@stcloudtimes.com March 16, 2016

Attorneys representing the Diocese of St. Cloud are asking a Stearns County judge to dismiss parts of a lawsuit filed against the diocese, Cathedral High School and a priest who is accused of sexually abusing a Cathedral student in the 1970s.

The diocese is asking Stearns County District Court Judge John Scherer to dismiss a “public nuisance” claim that accuses the diocese of concealing information about priests who were accused of sexually abusing children.

That claim was made in the lawsuit accusing the former Rev. Anthony “Tony” Marfori of abusing a Cathedral student. A second lawsuit was filed Wednesday by another former Cathedral student who says that Marfori also abused him in the late 1970s.

Successful public nuisance claims in other lawsuits have led to the release of numerous priest files and the disclosure to the public of large portions of those files. In court Wednesday, one of the attorneys representing the man suing said that the nuisance continues today.

The diocese hasn’t added Marfori’s name to its list of credibly accused priests, and Bishop Donald Kettler recently allowed Marfori to leave St. Cloud to return to his native Philippines, said Josh Peck, an attorney who represents the man accusing Marfori of sexual abuse.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

3/15/2016

In Hearing Tomorrow, Diocese of St. Cloud Seeks to Dismiss Public Nuisance Claim from First Marfori Suit

Marfori Antonio Assignment History
Doe 96 Complaint
Marfori Antonio Photo

(St. Cloud, MN) – In a hearing tomorrow in Stearns County District Court, the Diocese of St. Cloud will ask the court to dismiss a public nuisance claim brought by survivor Doe 75 in October 2015. In his lawsuit, Doe 75 claims the Diocese of St. Cloud created a public nuisance by concealing the identities and information pertaining to priests in the diocese who were accused of sexually abusing children. This allowed the known child molesters to live freely in the community without informing the public. Doe 75 was sexually abused by Fr. Anthony “Tony” Marfori when Marfori worked at Cathedral High School.

Immediately following the hearing at the Stearns County Courthouse, attorneys Jeff Anderson and Mike Bryant will announce the filing of a second lawsuit on behalf of Doe 96 who was also sexually abused by Marfori and they will discuss how the Diocese of St. Cloud has responded to the lawsuits and subsequently handled Marfori. The Diocese of St. Cloud, Cathedral High School and Marfori are named as defendants. Marfori sexually abused Doe 96 when he was a student at Cathedral High School in the late 1970s.

Stearns County Courthouse – 1:15PM
Wednesday March 16, 2016
Honorable Judge John H. Scherer
725 Courthouse Square
St. Cloud, MN

*News Conference to follow at the courthouse

In 2014 the Diocese of St. Cloud released a list of 33 priests who worked in the Diocese that it knew had sexually abused children. Father Marfori’s name was not on that list. Until Doe 75 filed his lawsuit, Marfori was an active priest of the Diocese of St. Cloud, working on “special assignment” at St. Andrew’s Parish in Elk River.

Both Doe 75 and Doe 96’s lawsuits were made possible by the MN Child Victims Act which allows survivors of child sexual abuse to come forward confidentially and bring a claim against their abusers and the institutions that protected their abusers. The deadline expires May 25, 2016.

Notes:
• A copy of the complaint and other information will be available tomorrow at www.andersonadvocates.com.

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office: 651.927.7872 Cell: 612.817.8665
Contact Mike Bryant: Office: 320.259.5414 Cell: 800.359.0061

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MINNESOTA
WJON

By Lee Voss March 16, 2016

ST. CLOUD — The Diocese of St. Cloud has been named as a defendant in a civil lawsuit involving a priest who has been accused of sexual abusing a minor.

Father Antonio Marfori was charged last October with sexually abusing a student while he was a teacher at St. Cloud Cathedral High School in the late 1970’s.

A statement from the Diocese indicates they are reviewing the civil complaint against them and that there had been no reports of sexual misconduct by Father Marfori prior to the October 2015 complaint.

Bishop Donald Kettler removed Father Marfori from his priestly duties while the allegations are being investigated.

The statement says Bishop Kettler held a series of listening sessions last month to assure parishioners of his support and assistance, to offer a process for sexual misconduct issues and concerns to be voiced, and to allow other victims the opportunity to come forward and receive assistance and healing.

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MISSISSIPPI
WAPT

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. —Authorities said a youth pastor has been arrested on charges of sexually abusing a child twice in the last three months.

The Sun Herald reported Hancock County sheriff’s investigators booked 35-year-old David Matthew Thorne, of Picayune, Tuesday on two counts of sexual battery of a minor.

Chief Investigator Glenn Grannan said Thorne, a youth pastor at Goodyear Baptist Church in Pearl River County, sexually abused the same child on Jan. 31 and Feb. 7.

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FRANCE
Le Monde

[What we know about the pedophile scandal in Lyon.]

Par Samuel Laurent

1. Que s’est-il passé ?
L’affaire de Lyon comprend plusieurs volets et se déroule en plusieurs temps :
L’affaire Bernard Preynat. De 1971 à 1991, Bernard Preynat encadre, en tant que prêtre, le groupe de scouts de Saint-Luc, à Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, ville prospère jouxtant la capitale des Gaules.
A la fin de 2015, une ancienne victime présumée du prêtre écrit au procureur de la République pour dénoncer des actes de pédophilie commis par ce dernier, contre lui et contre d’autres anciens scouts. Il dit avoir effectué cette démarche après avoir rencontré d’autres victimes du père Preynat, et surtout après avoir, en vain, contacté le cardinal Barbarin, sans que rien ne soit fait, selon son récit à Rue89.

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FRANCE
France 24

Allegations of a cover-up in the highest reaches of French Catholicism have revived the spectre of clerical child sex abuse and cast a pall over France’s most prominent cardinal.

“Are we seeing the makings of a French ‘Spotlight’?” asked French daily Le Figaro on Tuesday, referring to the Oscar-winning movie that charts the disclosure of a massive cover-up of child abuse by the Roman Catholic Church in the US. While the comparison with the nascent French investigation is tempting, it is obviously a long stretch – if only because of the absence, in the French case, of a Spotlight-like team of investigative journalists uncovering the facts.

Still, the allegations have the potential to profoundly rattle the Church in a country where half the population continues to consider itself Catholic. In particular, they threaten to derail the career of France’s most prominent clergyman, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, the archbishop of Lyon, a man long touted as a possible candidate for the papacy.

The 65-year-old prelate has fiercely denied charges that he covered up paedophilia crimes by failing to remove a priest in his diocese known to have abused boy scouts decades before he took up his post in 2002. Barbarin is also accused of failing to act against another Lyon priest when it emerged in 2009 he had abused a boy in the past.

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FRANCE
Gay Star News

A prominently anti-gay French cardinal has been accused of turning a blind eye to pedophile priests abuse in his diocese.

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, Archbishop of Lyon, faces accusations of covering up pedophilia crimes despite a priest admitting to them.

French authorities have started a criminal investigation into the allegations, involving not just the Archbishop but wider parts of the Church’s hierarchy.

Father Bernard Preynat, a priest in the archdiocese, admitted to sexually abusing boy scouts between 1986 and 1991, according to AFP.

The International Business Times, among others, report Preynat admitted to at least 40 cases of sexual abuse, leading to the case being called the French Spotlight in reference to the Oscar-winning film on the Boston child abuse scandal.

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FRANCE
The Local

French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, accused of covering up sex abuse, is a hardline Catholic who has been outspoken against gay marriage and championed the cause of Christians persecuted in Iraq and Syria.

The 65-year-old archbishop of Lyon, France’s second largest city, has fiercely denied charges that he covered up paedophilia crimes by failing to remove a priest in his diocese known to have abused Boy Scouts decades before he took up his post in 2002.

Barbarin is also accused of failing to act against another Lyon priest when it emerged in 2009 he had abused a boy in the past.

“I have never, never, never covered up acts of paedophilia,” Barbarin said, adding that both cases had passed the legal statute of limitations when they were reported, adding an unfortunate “thank God”.

He later apologized for his choice of words.

It was not the first time Barbarin had to backpedal on his own comments.

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UNITED KINGDOM
National Secular Society

Posted: Wed, 16 Mar 2016

A report by Ian Elliott, an expert in child safeguarding, has found “repeated failures” by clergy and bishops in the Church of England to deal with reports by survivors of child abuse.

A single survivor of child sex abuse told “over 40 members of the clergy during the 1970s, 80s, 90s and 2000s” of sexual abuse he had suffered at the hands of a senior member of the Church of England, but failed to receive an adequate response – including from people in “very senior positions within the Church” and the office of Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

As late as 2014 the survivor made another report of the historic sex abuse and found “the response less than adequate.” The Church offered no “real investigation into his disclosures” and “every question arising from the issue of senior disclosures was entirely ignored from the outset by the bishop he reported to, the Head of Safeguarding.”

The report has been made public after the Church initially released its conclusions alone. David Greenwood, a lawyer specialising in helping child abuse victims claim compensation, said in a press release that the church had “indicated that it does not wish to publish the whole report so the survivor is taking the step of providing the report to the press.”

The report offers a damning verdict on the Church’s response to allegations by the survivor, referred to as “B”.

According to the report, it was “deeply disturbing” that despite B reporting the case to a “large number of people”, some of them claim to have “no memory of the conversations.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Chroncle Live

A pervert vicar has been jailed for eight years after pleading guilty to four counts of indecent assault against a boy in the 1970s.

Trusted Leonard Skinner, 79, has brought shame on the church after he admitted the offences covering a four-year period.

Skinner, of Brighton Grove in Whitley Bay, was convicted of four counts of indecent assault against the same boy while he worked in the south of England.

The pensioner, who moved to North Tyneside following his retirement, was sentenced at Blackfriars Crown Court in London. He had pleaded guilty on February 11 at Highbury Magistrates’ Court to two counts of indecent assault on a boy aged under 14 and two counts of indecent assault on a boy aged under 16.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston College

The producers of the Academy Award-winning film “Spotlight” have issued a statement that confirms BC News & Public Affairs Director Jack Dunn’s contention that the dialogue attributed to him in the movie was fabricated and misrepresents what he did and said while serving as a trustee at his alma mater, Boston College High School.

Issued nationally on March 15, the statement reads:

“As is the case with most movies based on historical events, ‘Spotlight’ contains fictionalized dialogue that was attributed to Mr. Dunn for dramatic effect. We acknowledge that Mr. Dunn was not part of the Archdiocesan cover-up. It is clear from his efforts on behalf of the victims at BC High that he and the filmmakers share a deep, mutual concern for victims of abuse.”

As part of the settlement, Open Road Studios agreed to make donations in Dunn’s name to local charities, including the Big Brother Association of Boston, in memory of his “Little Brother” John Esposito who was killed in 1990, and to a non-profit organization Dunn selected called Resilient Kids, made in honor of one of Dunn’s BC High classmates who was victimized by Rev. James Talbot, S.J., while a student at BC High.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, March 15, 2016

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

At least eight other Franciscan friars – besides notorious serial predator Brother Stephen Baker – had been transferred to other locations following abuse allegations. So says Pennsylvania’s attorney general.

The next step is obvious: The Franciscans must disclose who and where these eight accused predators are and have been. That’s a belated but crucial step forward.

Unless or until they do, we urge

–bishops in Altoona, Richmond, St. Paul, Detroit and Youngstown to immediately suspend all Franciscans in their dioceses,
–Catholics to stop donating to Franciscans,
–shoppers to stop buying products at the Franciscan shop in the Altoona-Johnstown area mall, and
–mall owners to try to oust the Franciscans from the mall.

Sound harsh? Remember that these Franciscans knowingly enabled Brother Baker to assault at least 100 kids by refusing to call police or warn parents about his crimes.

Unless we as a society pressure and punish those who help child molesters, many of them will keep helping child molesters.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 16 March 2016 – Yesterday afternoon the director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., informed journalists briefed accredited journalists on the day’s hearing in the trial for dissemination of reserved information and documents which began at 10.30 yesterday, Tuesday 15 March, at the Vatican City State Tribunal.

As on Monday 14 March, the hearing was attended by the College of judges (Professors Giuseppe Dalla Torre, Piero Antonio Bonnet, Paolo Papanti-Pellettier and Venerando Marano), the Promoter of Justice (Professors Gian Piero Milano and Roberto Zannotti), and the defendants Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda, Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui, Nicola Maio and Emiliano Fittipaldi with their respective lawyers. As announced previously, the defendant Gianluigi Nuzzi was absent but his lawyer, Roberto Palombi, attended the proceedings.

The hearing, which lasted three hours, was dedicated to the interrogation of Msgr. Vallejo Balda by the lawyers representing the other defendants, after which the minutes of yesterday’s interrogation were read and approved.

At around 1.30 p.m, the hearing was interrupted for an hour and a half. It resumed at 3 p.m. with the examination of the defendant Emiliano Fittipaldi by the Promoter of Justice and all the lawyers. At the end the minutes of the interrogation were approved.

The hearing ended at around 4.30 p.m.

Further hearings for the questioning of the defendants are scheduled for the afternoon of Friday 18 March, at 3.30 p.m., the morning of Monday 21 at 10.30 a.m. and the afternoon of Tuesday 22 at 3.30 p.m. After Easter, hearings will be held in the morning of 30 March at 9.30 a.m., 31 March at 9.30 a.m. continuing into the afternoon, 1 April at 9.30 a.m. continuing into the afternoon, and 2 April at 9.30 a.m. However, confirmation by the Tribunal is awaited for the forthcoming hearings.

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CANADA
North Shore News

Brent Richter / North Shore News

The former North Vancouver Anglican priest accused of sexually abusing a number of boys in a youth detention centre in the 1980s is now facing more than a dozen new charges.

Gordon William Dominey, 63, had been the interim priest at St. Catherine’s Anglican Church for about six months. The Diocese of New Westminster put him on administrative leave when he was arrested at his Coquitlam home on Feb. 4.

Edmonton Police Service announced last week that four more alleged victims had come forward and that Crown counsel has approved 13 more charges of sexual assault and four more charges of gross indecency, bringing the total to 27.

The alleged incidents happened when Dominey worked at the Edmonton Youth Detention Centre between 1985 and 1989. The alleged victims were aged 14 to 17 at the time. Dominey transferred from the Diocese of Edmonton to the Diocese of New Westminster in July of 1990 and has worked in at least nine parishes in the Vancouver area since then.

– See more at: http://www.nsnews.com/news/former-north-vancouver-anglican-priest-facing-more-sex-charges-1.2198347#sthash.VQmuzpZn.dpuf

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MINNESOTA
Noaker Law Firm

Contact Info:

Patrick Noaker
Cell: (612) 839-1080
Patrick@Noakerlaw.com

Noaker Law Firm LLC
333 Washington Ave. N.
#329
Minneapolis, MN 55401

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Diocese exposed children to predator priest at Church of St. Joseph in Silver Lake

(New Ulm, Minnesota – March 6, 2016) A Minnesota man has filed suit against the Diocese of New Ulm and Holy Family Parish in Silver Lake stemming from child sexual abuse perpetrated by Father Michael Skoblik at Church of St. Joseph, which merged into Holy Family parish in 1993.

Click Here for Complaint Filed with Brown County District Court

“We filed suit to shine a spotlight on the horrific violations of a known pedophile priest,” said Attorney Patrick Noaker, alluding to the academy award winning movie, “Spotlight”, about the Boston Archdiocese sexual abuse crisis. “The failure of church leadership happened here, just as it did in Boston. The problem is systemic.”

The suit describes Skoblik forcing the child under threat of violence to “perform oral sex upon Fr. Skoblik.” Skoblik also performed “masochistic acts upon Plaintiff.” Some of the abuse “occurred while Plaintiff was a student at St. Joseph’s Catholic School, during school hours.”

According to the lawsuit, the Diocese took no steps to “discover the specific nature of Fr. Skoblik’s problems or to determine whether he was fit to work with children,” despite clear indications of danger.

Skoblik worked for the Diocese of New Ulm from 1940 through 1989.

This lawsuit has caused a childhood friend of John Doe 122, James Hlavka, who is also suing the Diocese of New Ulm relating to sexual abuse by Fr. Skoblik using John Doe 116, to speak publicly for the first time. “When I filed my lawsuit, I still felt shame and fear from the sexual abuse. Now, I realize that I was just a kid when this happened and it is the Diocese of New Ulm and Fr. Skoblik who should be ashamed,” explained Hlavka. “I am here to support my childhood friend and to force the Diocese of New Ulm to be accountable for the many boys who were sexually abused in our small Silver Lake parish.”

James Hlavka is available for a telephone interview. Contact Patrick Noaker to coordinate an interview.

“Our client is fortunate he came forward before the May 25, 2016 deadline,” said Lee James, a nationally known attorney working with Patrick Noaker and constitutional expert Professor Marci Hamilton.

“Minnesota’s Child Victim Act opened a window of time for adult survivors of child sexual abuse to bring their claims,” explained Professor Hamilton. “That window will close on May 25th. Our team, called Hamilton James, is helping survivors meet that deadline.”

Hamilton James is a three-firm team of attorneys and staff who have devoted resources to assist abuse survivors. It has filed other cases involving Skoblik and is asking anyone with information on Skoblik or other Priests believed to have harmed children to call.

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UNITED STATES
Knights of Columbus

3/15/2016

The Knights of Columbus and Crux are pleased to announce that they plan to enter into a partnership in which Crux will remain an independent news outlet headed by John Allen and Inés San Martín.

The project is designed to make one of the world’s best known Catholic news platforms even stronger. The partnership will combine the Knights’ resources and spirit of service with the journalistic experience and commitment of Crux.

As part of the project, Catholic Pulse, a news and commentary website operated by the Knights of Columbus, will merge with Crux, adding its resources to Crux’s blend of staff-generated reporting and analysis with pieces by respected guest contributors. The Crux website will feature the tagline: “Keeping its finger on the Catholic Pulse.”

Reporting and analysis by John Allen and Inés San Martín will continue to focus primarily on the Vatican, the Church and Catholic issues generally, and international religious freedom. The aim is to ensure that informed, responsible, and fair journalism helps to set the tone for discussion of Catholic affairs in the United States and around the world. Over time, plans call for additional contributors to be identified to add their commentary to the lineup.

The Knights will respect the editorial freedom of Crux, trusting it to present news and commentary in a way that serves the good of the Church.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Australian

The Times

MARCH 17, 2016

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s office ignored ­repeated calls for help from a child sex abuse victim after staff were told to avoid contact with him to protect the Church of ­England’s financial interests.

The revelation of a cover-up at the top of the Anglican communion came as French cardinal Philippe Barbarin denied ­accu­sations that he covered up the sexual abuse of children.

A senior Anglican bishop in charge of child protection broke off communication on the orders of the church’s insurers, according to an independent report into the handling of the victim’s case.

Justin Welby promised to ­reform the approach to safeguarding and to learn from failures in a string of historical abuse cases when he became archbishop of Canterbury in 2013.

The latest case, however, points to denial and cover-up under his leadership.

For years, the victim tried to report abuse by two senior clerics in the 1970s, but the church’s treatment of him was reckless, caused distress and put him at risk, the report said. It branded child protection practices as ­unacceptable and incomplete.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

By John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor 16 Mar 2016

Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, might have helped prevent a sex abuser bishop being brought to justice for more than 20 years, a public inquiry has been told.

He allegedly failed to pass on “very detailed” allegations made in the early 1990s against the former Bishop of Lewes Peter Ball – who was jailed last year for abusing a string of boys and young men – it was claimed.

It was one of the reasons a “proper” police investigation into Ball’s abuse was delayed for more than two decades, the inquiry into historic sexual abuse in England and Wales being overseen by Justice Lowell Goddard was told.

Claims about the alleged failure were set out by Richard Scorer, one of Britain’s leading child abuse lawyers, who is representing several of Ball’s victims at the inquiry, which will examine allegations relating to the Church of England and other Anglican churches as one of its key strands.

During the first session looking at allegations relating to the Anglican churches, Justice Goddard heard legal argument about which victims should be designated officially as “core participants” in the inquiry.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Rajeev Syal and Harriet Sherwood
Wednesday 16 March 2016

The former archbishop of Canterbury George Carey failed to pass on a specific allegation of sexual abuse to the police, which allowed a bishop to continue committing offences for another 20 years, a public inquiry has heard.

Carey was sent a detailed letter by an alleged victim of the bishop Peter Ball in 1992 outlining claims of sexual abuse, a preliminary hearing of the independent inquiry into child sex abuse (IICSA) was told.

Last year Ball was sentenced to 32 months in prison for misconduct in public office and indecent assault after admitting the abuse of 18 young men between 1977 and 1992.

Richard Scorer, a partner at Slater and Gordon, which represents victims of Ball, said the victim known as A13 by the inquiry knew Ball through family. He said A13 wrote to Carey outlining the abuse in 1992, but the claims were not given to the police.

“We believe that George Carey failed to pass that information on to the police and that was one reason why a proper investigation into Ball’s activities was delayed by over 20 years,” Scorer said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Belfast Telegraph

Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey delayed a “proper investigation” into a senior priest’s paedophile crimes for two decades by failing to pass information to police, an inquiry heard.

A lawyer for some victims of Peter Ball, the disgraced former Bishop of Lewes and Bishop of Gloucester, made the claim to Dame Lowell Goddard’s public inquiry into child sex abuse.

Ball, 84, was jailed for 32 months in October 2015 after pleading guilty to a string of historical sex offences.

But 22 years previously, in 1993, he was investigated and let off with a caution for gross indecency by police after abusing a trainee monk.

Richard Scorer, who represents 17 victims, made the claim about Lord Carey while an application for three of them, all men, to be “core participants” in the inquiry at a preliminary hearing in the Royal Courts of Justice.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A public inquiry is to consider whether there was interference by the Church of England in the case of jailed former Bishop of Lewes Peter Ball.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse heard Archbishop George Carey failed to act on abuse claims made against Ball, 84, in 1993.

It also heard Ball had “permission to officiate” at church services, despite being cautioned for indecency.

Ball was jailed last year for abusing young men between the 1970s and 1990s.

The allegations are part of Dame Lowell Goddard’s inquiry investigation into how the Church of England and other public bodies dealt with claims of abuse.

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IRELAND
RTE News

The child protection commission established by Pope Francis is being hindered because of funding shortages, according to its Irish member, Marie Collins.

The only female survivor of child clerical abuse to be appointed to the body told the Irish Catholic newspaper there is talk in commission circles about fundraising, but she personally opposes going down that route.

She told the newspaper the Catholic Church has been spending large sums of money on compensating victims of clerical abuse and the commission is trying to make sure nobody is abused in the future.

She said “it’s very hard to get answers … The funding we have from the Holy See is for the practical things like the administrative staffing of the office, travel to meetings and meeting costs.

“We don’t have any clarity on where our funding comes from after that.”

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ITALIA
Il Fatto Quotidiano

di Francesco Antonio Grana | 14 marzo 2016

“Ogni volta che si accerta un caso di pedofilia si rinnova in noi il dolore e la vicinanza alle vittime e ai familiari; insieme ribadiamo la condanna dei colpevoli, mentre cresce la preoccupazione per lo scandalo delle anime”. Risponde così il cardinale Angelo Bagnasco alle recenti critiche sulla gestione dei casi di abuso sessuale dei preti sui minori. “Com’è noto, – ha precisato il porporato nella prolusione della sessione primaverile del Consiglio permanente della Cei, eccezionalmente svoltosi a Genova – i vescovi italiani sono stati tra i primi a mettere in essere con rigore le indicazioni della Santa Sede in ordine all’accertamento degli addebiti e all’erogazione delle pene, e hanno rafforzato le strutture di recupero nonché i criteri di prevenzione.

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FRANKREICH
Spiegel

Wegen seiner Agilität bekam Kardinal Philippe Barbarin einst den Spitznamen “Monseigneur 100.000 Volts” verpasst. Jetzt ist Frankreichs Primas in Erklärungsnot geraten. Dem 65-Jährigen wird vorgeworfen, in seiner Diözese Missbrauchsvorwürfe nicht angezeigt zu haben.

Konkret geht es um einen Fall aus dem Jahr 1990. Ein heute 42-Jähriger wirft einem Priester vor, ihn auf einer Ferienfreizeit im südfranzösischen Biarritz masturbiert zu haben. Das mutmaßliche Opfer war zum Tatzeitpunkt 16 Jahre alt. Es wandte sich 2009 an die Justiz, der Fall war aber verjährt. Barbarin soll von dem Verdacht gewusst haben. Jetzt kommt es zu einer Voruntersuchung gegen ihn – wegen Verdachts auf Nichtanzeige eines Verbrechens.

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FRANCE
ABC News

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
PARIS — Mar 16, 2016

Twenty-seven members of staff in French schools and high schools were struck off in 2015 because of pedophilia-related offenses, Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said Wednesday.

Vallaud-Belkacem said most of those fired where male staffers. She did not say whether they were teachers or administrative personnel, nor when the offenses happened.

France was shocked last year by the disclosure that a school headmaster who had been appointed despite a previous conviction for possessing child pornography was charged with aggravated rape of several pupils. Earlier this year, a high school teacher who had been convicted in Britain 10 years ago was given preliminary charges of sexual assault after police found pornographic images and video in his mobile phone. …

Meanwhile, the French Catholic Church is also facing child abuse allegations that led Prime Minister Manuel Valls to urge a cardinal at the center of the scandal to take action. Cardinal Philippe Barbarin insisted Wednesday that he never concealed cases of child abuse reported to him.

Barbarin is among six church officials targeted in a preliminary judicial investigation that grew out of allegations that a priest had molested boy scouts in the 1980s.

“Whether it’s school or church, I have a simple principle,” Vallaud-Belkacem said. “Pedophilia is something extremely serious that destroys lives. The principle is no silence, total transparency. Those who think that things can be settled internally or by remaining silent are making a serious mistake. I will be firm and sanctions will be issued when necessary. I’m expecting the same from every institution.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Evening Standard

MARK CHANDLER

A former vicar who sexually abused a boy from his north London church has been jailed for eight years.

Leonard Skinner, 79, was working as a vicar in Grange Park, Enfield, in the 1970s when he carried out the abuse.

Blackfriars Crown Court heard how Skinner befriended the boy and gained his trust, inviting him to the vicarage for confirmation lessons before abusing him over a four-year period from January 1972 and June 1975.

The boy was aged just 12 when the assaults began but Skinner’s crimes were not reported to police until last October.

Skinner, now of Brighton Grove, Tyne and Wear, had admitted two counts of indecent assault on a boy aged under 14 and two against a boy aged under 16.

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PENNSYLVANIA
TheMediaReport

During a confidential deposition over two full days in May and June 2014, Dan Gallagher – the Philadelphia native whose varying and preposterous tales of abuse as an altar boy in the late 1990s landed three Catholic priests and a school teacher in prison – stated more than 130 times that he could not remember some very basic facts about his claims.

That is just one of the many eye-popping new details appearing in this week’s issue of Newsweek uncovered by veteran journalist Ralph Cipriano, who continues to doggedly pursue the cause for justice for the wrongfully incarcerated men.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Nicole Chettle

Offenders have escaped conviction because cases have been heard separately instead of in a single trial, a deputy senior crown prosecutor has told the royal commission into child sexual abuse.

Richard Herps told the hearing he spent 12 years as a prosecutor in Penrith in Sydney’s west, and that of the 250 District Court trials he handled in the 1990s, nearly half involved child sexual assault.

“The Monday and Wednesday call-overs gave priority to child sex assault matters, which took up at least 40 per cent of the list,” Mr Herps said.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Sydney is looking at the handling of such complaints in the criminal justice system.

Mr Herps said that in Penrith, these cases were almost always heard separately – even if an offender was accused of crimes against several children.

“You were always presenting a single complainant without anyone being able to buttress or support their evidence” Mr Herps said.

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INDIANA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, March 14, 2016

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

An accused predator priest, who was allowed to keep working for months despite being named in a lawsuit as an abuser, has taken his own life.

[The Rivard Report]

It’s tragic whenever anyone commits suicide. We grieve for Fr. Elizondo’s family. But we grieve even more for his victim or victims. (He was a Notre Dame professor for five years.)

We urge Fr. Elizondo’s supporters to show restraint and sensitivity. It will be tempting to publicly profess his innocence. But that’s callous and hurtful and will only deter other victims of sexual violence to remain trapped in silence, shame and self-blame.

We as adults face a simple choice. We can either make it easier for child sex abuse victims to come forward, or harder. Publicly rallying around Fr. Elizondo makes it harder. It makes the church more dangerous.

And we again urge Catholic officials to honor their “zero tolerance” and “one strike” pledges. After the lawsuit against Fr. Elizondo was filed, he should have been suspended pending an investigation. That did not happen. That is yet another reckless betrayal by Catholic officials.

Finally, we must, as a society, understand and accept the fact that most child predators are just like Fr. Elizondo: charming, charismatic, warm, outgoing and loveable. If they weren’t, no child would want to be near them and no parent would trust their child near them. The notion that child molesters are obvious creeps and social misfits is just wrong. Worse, it’s dangerous.

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WEST VIRGINIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, March 15, 2016

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

Criminal charges have been filed against three Catholic officials who assigned priests to work in the Wheeling-Charleston diocese. We challenge Bishop Michael J. Bransfield to take action to help prosecutors convict these complicit clerics.

Franciscans, including notorious serial predator Brother Stephen Baker, have worked for years in Philippi, WV. A grand jury in Pennsylvania has found that Franciscan officials moved eight accused clerics elsewhere after they were accused of assaulting kids.

Bransfield can do nothing. Or he can issue a strong public plea for Franciscan victims to come forward. And he can turn over to prosecutors every shred of evidence he and his staff may have about Br. Baker to secular authorities.

Who knows what e mail from what Wheeling-Charleston diocesan official to what Franciscan official might be the “smoking gun” that wins a conviction against Franciscan Frs. Giles Schinelli, 73, Robert D’Aversa, 69, and Anthony Criscitelli, who are charged with one count of endangering the welfare of children and criminal conspiracy; each are third degree felony charges.

Regardless of what Catholic officials do or don’t do, we urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups – especially by religious order cleric – to protect kids by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling journalists, get justice by calling attorneys, and get comfort by calling support groups like ours. This is how kids will be safer, adults will be healed, criminals will be prosecuted, cover ups will be deterred and the truth will be revealed.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Reading Eagle

A plan to remove time limits for victims of childhood sexual assault to bring criminal and civil cases against their abusers now has the backing of the former chairman of the committee tasked with reviewing the proposal.

State Rep. Thomas R. Caltagirone, a Reading Democrat, issued a statement today calling for the removal of both the criminal and civil statutes of limitations and the opening of a window for victims already past the current limits to bring civil cases.

The former House Judiciary Committee chairman had voiced opposition to the measure in the past. But he said today that after some soul searching in the wake of a state investigation that found rampant abuse by Altoona-area priests was covered up for decades, he concluded more needs to be done. – See more at: http://www.readingeagle.com/news/article/caltagirone-backs-plan-to-remove-statute-of-limitations-for-child-sex-abuse-cases#sthash.DLXqw8qw.dpuf

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PENNSYLVANIA
We Are Central PA

[with video]

By Marielena Balouris | mbalouris@wtajtv.com
Published 03/15 2016

Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.

Three Franciscan Friars are accused of allowing the sexual abuse of more than 100 children at Bishop McCort High School.

The charges stem from the investigation in to allegations against Brother Stephen Baker — who committed suicide in 2013 after he was accused.

Investigators say his supervisors knew he was a child predator — and intentionally concealed his crimes from police and school administrators. Giles Schinelli, Robert D’Aversa and Anthony Criscitelli now face felony charges. That’s because the statute of limitations in this case have not expired. The Attorney General said these men took a vow of silence, and allowed baker to molest more than 100 children.

Kathleen Kane, PA Attorney General, said, “We cannot stress enough the importance of holding those who treat and abuse our children accountable for what they’ve done.”

These new charges come just two weeks after a Grand Jury report detailed a cover-up inside of local Catholic churches. According to this latest Grand Jury report, the Franciscan Friars at the Province of the Immaculate Conception had “considerable experience in handling members of the order…who faced allegations of sexual child abuse.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) Director of the Holy See press office, Fr Federico Lombardi, issued two statements to journalists Tuesday, one the regarding Vatileaks, and the other on the unrelated case of Cardinal Philippe Barbarin.

Fr. Lombardi issued an update to journalists on the March 15 sessions of the Vatileaks trial at the Vatican City State tribunal.

Those present were the judges, along with four of the defendants charged for their involvement in the leaking of the documents. The fifth defendant, Gianluigi Nuzzi was absent and was represented by his defense attorney.

Defendants Msgr. Vallejo Balda and Emiliano Fittipaldi were questioned over the course of the day’s hearings, which concluded at 4:30 in the afternoon.

Fr Lombardi said further hearings are scheduled for later this and next week, with more tentatively scheduled for after Easter.

In a separate statement Fr. Lombardi addressed a letter published by the French association “La Parole libérée” regarding a case of pedophilia which took place in France years ago.

French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin is accused of covering up sex abuse by failing to remove a priest known to have abused minors decades earlier.

French authorities have recently opened investigations into the matter.

Fr Lombardi stressed the Church’s development of awareness and increasing responsibility “which must be continually renewed.”

The letter in question requests a private audience with Pope Francis, although Fr Lombardi said such requests made through a publication do not typically result in a meeting with the Pope.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

A Salvation Army officer accused of abusing four boys in the same training centre was acquitted when evidence was disallowed, a national inquiry has been told.

The child sex abuse royal commission heard on Wednesday Norman John Poulter, an officer at the Bayswater Boys’ Home in Victoria, was charged in 2008 with 14 counts of child sex abuse against four boys.

A trial judge decided that a joint or group trial could be held, and coincidence evidence – in this case evidence showing children of about the same age complained about the same man in the same place – should be admitted.

When lawyers for Poulter appealed the judge’s decision, the Victorian Court of Appeal ruled the evidence was not admissible and ordered separate trials.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

By DAVID JEANS FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Comedian and musician Tim Minchin is still overwhelmed one month after he released a satirical song that urged Cardinal George Pell to return to Australia from Rome and face questions by the Royal Commission into child sex abuse.

The song raised enough money and publicity to send the Ballarat survivors of child sex abuse to Rome and watch George Pell answer questions, after he stated he couldn’t come to Australia because of illness.

Minchin says the song, ‘Come home, Cardinal Pell’, was produced in a single day and is one of his greatest achievements.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

Dozens of Church of England officials failed to take action after being told of ‘sadistic’ abuse on a boy by a paedophile clergyman, a damning report has revealed.

Over 40 years, the victim repeatedly spoke about the treatment he suffered as a 15-year-old, in what was described as ‘a tragic catalogue of exploitation and harm’.

But an independent report by safeguarding expert Ian Elliott found officials failed to act – leading the church to issue an official apology last night and promise it would introduce a raft of changes on how it handles sex abuse allegations.

The Church of England published only the conclusions and recommendations of the review, without names, but last night The Guardian revealed further details from within the report.

The newspaper said the victim was subjected to a ‘sadistic’ assault in 1976 – and named the perpetrator as Garth Moore, chancellor of three dioceses and vicar of St Mary’s Abchurch in the City of London. The clergyman died in 1990.

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MISSISSIPPI
Sun Herald

BY WESLEY MULLER
wmuller@sunherald.com

HANCOCK COUNTY — A youth pastor was arrested Tuesday on charges of sexually abusing a child twice in the last three months.

Hancock County sheriff’s investigators booked David Matthew Thorne, 35, of Picayune, on two counts of sexual battery of a minor.

Chief Investigator Glenn Grannan said Thorne, a youth pastor at Goodyear Baptist Church in Pearl River County, sexually abused the same child on Jan. 31 and Feb. 7.

The alleged crimes occurred in Hancock County and came under investigation after the child’s parents notified authorities, Grannan said.

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MISSISSIPPI
Clay Center Dispatch

Associated Press

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (AP) — Authorities say a youth pastor has been arrested on charges of sexually abusing a child twice in the last three months.

The Sun Herald reports (http://bit.ly/1TMJPE1) Hancock County sheriff’s investigators booked 35-year-old David Matthew Thorne, of Picayune, Tuesday on two counts of sexual battery of a minor.

Chief Investigator Glenn Grannan said Thorne, a youth pastor at Goodyear Baptist Church in Pearl River County, sexually abused the same child on Jan. 31 and Feb. 7.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

BY MARIA MILLER TUESDAY, MARCH 15TH 2016

JOHNSTOWN — Following the announcement of criminal charges against three Franciscan Friars, accused of covering up sexual abuse by a former Bishop McCort teacher and athletic trainer, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane said Tuesday her office found no criminal wrongdoing by the Bishop McCort board, the Johnstown Police Department or the Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

However, a few weeks ago Cambria County District Attorney Kelly Callihan told 6 News she thinks the Johnstown Police Department could have done more.

Allegations of sexual abuse at Bishop McCort Catholic High School first surfaced in 2011. That’s when Bishop Mark Bartchak notified Johnstown police of two victims.

“At least two individuals had previously come forward previously to the Johnstown Police Department and they never notified me of that,” said Callihan.

It wasn’t until 2013 that Callihan said she was informed when more people came forward after a similar case in Ohio.

“The grand jury could also not find conclusive evidence that the Johnstown police engaged in any criminal wrongdoing,” Kane said. “However, unprofessional conduct on the part of this law enforcement, it does not appear that the officials engaged in any criminal conduct.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

[with video]

BY KODY LEIBOWITZ TUESDAY, MARCH 15TH 2016

JOHNSTOWN — A number of victims of Brother Stephen Baker’s happened at Bishop McCort High School.

The investigation began years ago with a number of civil lawsuits: civil suits in Blair county and in Ohio.

Three high ranking members of the Franciscan Friars, Third Order Regulars, Province of the Immaculate Conception are facing felony criminal charges.

Attorney General Kathleen Kane described it as a cover-up of religious leaders allowing sexual abuse of more than 80 children, charging Giles Schinelli, Robert D’Avers and Anthony Criscitelli.

But the cases began when 11 victims of Brother Baker filed civil suits against JFK High School in Ohio and the Diocese of Youngstown.

They were represented by Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian.

“The 11 victims of Brother Baker who first brought the case to light about four years ago in Ohio should be commended, empowering themselves and other victims to make this world a safer place for children,” said Garabedian.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Source: Tom Halden, Director of Communications

From Archbishop Bernard Hebda

Today, Rev. Anthony Criscitelli, a priest of the Franciscan Friars of the Third Order Regular (TOR) and pastor of the Church of Saint Bridget in Minneapolis, was removed from ministry in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, pending the outcome of criminal charges that were filed against him this morning in Pennsylvania.

Those actions were taken in coordination with Fr. Criscitelli’s Religious community, the Province of the Immaculate Conception of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis, upon learning that he had been indicted by the Attorney General of Pennsylvania in a case involving his Order. The precise criminal charges of “endangering the welfare of children and criminal conspiracy” are based on his supervision, as Minister Provincial of the Order of Friars Minor, Province of the Immaculate Conception, from 2002 to 2010, of a Franciscan friar from that Province, Brother Stephen Baker, TOR.

Father Criscitelli has served in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis since 1982. The Archdiocese has no record of any allegations of misconduct against him. Brother Baker’s name already appears on the Archdiocese’s website listing of those with substantiated claims of sexual abuse of a minor. He had been assigned by the Franciscans to the Church of Saint Patrick in Inver Grove Heights from 1977 to 1981.

As per our protocols, the Archdiocese will cooperate with law enforcement. A temporary administrator will be appointed to cover administrative duties and to serve in the role of pastor during the interim.

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MINNESOTA
Catholic Spirit

Catholic News Service | March 15, 2016

Three Franciscan priests, including one assigned to a Minneapolis parish, were charged with conspiracy for endangering the welfare of children as well as for endangering the welfare of children in connection with a two-year investigation into sexual abuse in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

Franciscan Fathers Giles Schinelli, Robert D’Aversa and Anthony Criscitelli were expected to return to Pennsylvania to answer the charges, said Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane at a news conference March 15 at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown campus.

Father Criscitelli is pastor of St. Bridget in Minneapolis. He has been removed from ministry pending the outcome of the criminal charges, according to a March 15 statement from Archbishop Bernard Hebda, apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Father Criscitelli has served in the archdiocese since 1982. The archdiocese has no records of misconduct allegations filed against him, Archbishop Hebda stated.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

BY SARA SMALL TUESDAY, MARCH 15TH 2016

JOHNSTOWN — Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane is crediting one man for speaking up for victims of child sexual abuse by priests.

Kane thanked George Foster Tuesday morning during a press conference where she announced the filing of criminal charges against three Franciscan Friars for their role in the Brother Stephen Baker case.

Kane says the brothers made it possible for Baker to sexually abuse hundreds of children. It was the investigation of Baker’s actions at Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown that led to the grand jury report detailing decades of abuse within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

The Attorney General spoke about Foster’s actions to root out child sex abuse within the Diocese.

Foster is well known to the press in the Johnstown area for researching and investigating child sex abuse by priests. He started being a victim’s advocate and did something Kane says should be seen as an example; he spoke up and gave the victims a voice.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Altoona Mirror

March 16, 2016

By Russ O’Reilly (roreilly@altoonamirror.com) , The Altoona Mirror

Brother Stephen Baker wasn’t a diocesan priest but a Franciscan friar of a province in Hollidaysburg, and he wasn’t the only friar of the province serving the Altoona-Johnstown Catholic diocese despite allegations of child molestation against them, the Office of the Attorney General revealed.

Baker’s roommate at St. Bernardine’s monastery on Catfish Road and several other friars of the Province of the Immaculate Conception in Hollidaysburg remained in ministry after allegations were levied against them, the grand jury report released Tuesday stated.

It is the second report issued in two weeks regarding a statewide grand jury investigation of the diocese.

The investigation of the diocese began in 2014 with allegations against Baker, a teacher and athletic trainer at Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown from 1992 to 2000. Allegations of abuse originate even earlier, when he was assigned to a diocese in Ohio.

And while there’s no evidence that Bishop Joseph Adamec was aware of allegations against Baker, Attorney General Kathleen Kane said Tuesday that the diocese and leaders of the Franciscan province in Hollidaysburg communicated about other friars with allegations against them.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

[with video]

BY JILLIAN HARTMANN WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16TH 2016

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Parents and alumni from Bishop McCort speak out after Pennsylvania Attorney General, Kathleen Kane announced the filing of criminal charges against three Franciscan friars for their role in the Brother Stephen Baker case.

Kane made the announcement Tuesday morning saying Father Giles Schinelli, Father Robert D’Aversa and Father Anthony Criscitelli made it possible for Baker to sexually abuse hundreds of children.

Parents and alumni from Bishop McCort Catholic High School told 6 News justice needs to be reserved.

“They should be in jail, all of them should be in jail,” said Bishop McCort alumni, Patty Kimball. “They did a very great injustice to those young victims, it’s horrible.”

Baker served as a teacher and athletic trainer at Bishop McCort in the 90s. Kane said each of the three men had a hand in Baker’s placement at McCort.

“I was happy the Attorney General’s office actually followed through and they are taking action,” said Bishop McCort parent, Kim Nagy.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Harriet Sherwood Religion correspondent
@harrietsherwood
Wednesday 16 March 2016

The independent inquiry into child sex abuse is to hold a preliminary hearing on Wednesday in an investigation into the track record of Anglican churches in England and Wales in preventing exploitation, dealing with perpetrators and helping survivors to overcome trauma and obtain justice.

Scrutiny of the Church of England’s policies and practices on child sex abuse comes a day after a damning review of the church’s failures to respond to a survivor over a period of almost 40 years called for far-reaching cultural and structural change.

One strand of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse (IICSA), headed by Lowell Goddard, will focus on the diocese of Chichester, which has been at the centre of allegations of child protection failures.

Last year Peter Ball, the former bishop of Lewes, which falls within the diocese, was jailed for 32 months for the abuse of 18 vulnerable young men and boys dating back to the 1970s. After a police investigation in the 1990s resulted in a caution, Ball resigned as a bishop but continued to officiate within the church.

Also last year, the C of E issued an apology and paid compensation to an alleged victim of George Bell, the former bishop of Chichester who died in 1958. The survivor first reported being abused as a small child by Bell 20 years ago, but the matter was not investigated or referred to police at the time.

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FRANCE
Business Insider

Agence France Presse

Lourdes (France) (AFP) – A French cardinal on Tuesday denied accusations he covered up the sexual abuse of children amid a growing scandal that has deeply embarrassed the Catholic Church in France.

Even the fiercely secular French government weighed in, with Prime Minister Manuel Valls urging Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, the archbishop of Lyon, to “take responsibility” in the case.

“I have never, never, never covered up acts of paedophilia,” Barbarin retorted during a news conference in Lourdes, a major Catholic pilgrimage site in southwestern France where the country’s bishops were meeting.

Barbarin has been caught up in the scandal over abuses that took place 25 years ago, long before he became archbishop of Lyon in 2002.

A priest in his diocese, Bernard Preynat, was charged in January after victims came forward with claims he had sexually abused Scouts between 1986 and 1991.

Prosecutors say Preynat has admitted the charges.

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FRANCE
Tru News

One of France’s most senior Catholic clerics on Tuesday denied having covered up acts of pedophilia, his second denial in two weeks, after Prime Minister Manuel Valls demanded that he take responsibility for the situation.

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin’s initial denial came in a statement on March 4 after news that the Lyon prosecutor’s office had opened an inquiry into complaints made against him and five other people.

The prosecutor is investigating whether charges of failure to denounce a crime and endangering the lives of others could be made in the context of a paedophilia investigation involving 70-year-old priest Bernard Preynat.

Preynat has been under investigation since January over allegations of sexual abuse of children between 1986 and 1991.

“Never, never, never have I covered up the least pedophile act,” the Archbishop of Lyon, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, said at a news conference in the southern French town of Lourdes where he was attending a twice-yearly meeting of bishops.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Newcastle’s Anglican Bishop Greg Thompson says having the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse come to Newcastle will be important for the community.

The Royal Commission will hold a two-week public hearing into Newcastle’s Anglican diocese starting on June 20.

The ABC has previously reported that several alleged paedophile rings are being investigated by police and the Royal Commission.

Bishop Thompson said Newcastle needed to hear the stories of victims and come to terms with the abuse.

“One of the most important things is for the community to understand the abuse stories are being heard and not just for the institution but for the community,” he said.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Mark Shanahan GLOBE STAFF MARCH 15, 2016

Open Road Films, the studio that distributed the Oscar-winning film “Spotlight,” issued a statement Tuesday acknowledging that dialogue attributed in the movie to Boston College spokesman Jack Dunn was fictional.

When “Spotlight” was released last fall, Dunn expressed outrage, saying that he was depicted as someone who downplayed the suffering of people who were sexually abused by priests. He enlisted a lawyer to contact Open Road and demand the removal of a scene in the movie in which his character discusses whether previous administrators at Boston College High School were aware of sexual abuse there.

At that time, Open Road refused and defended the portrayal of Dunn, saying the film merely shows him to be “a trained public-relations professional” and not someone who had conspired with the Catholic Church to cover up abuse.

On Tuesday, the studio softened its stance. “As is the case with most movies based on historical events, ‘Spotlight’ contains fictionalized dialogue that was attributed to Mr. Dunn for dramatic effect,” it said in a statement.

“We acknowledge that Mr. Dunn was not part of the Archdiocesan coverup. It is clear from his efforts on behalf of the victims at BC High that he and the filmmakers share a deep, mutual concern for victims of abuse,” the studio said.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Sharon Herald

THEY KNEW and they let it happen! To kids!

That’s a quote from the movie Spotlight attributed to real-life reporter Mike Rezendes when he was investigating Boston priests accused of sexually molesting altar boys and other children 15 years ago.

The comment could just as well be applied to Pennsylvania authorities who for decades did precious little to stop similar abuse by priests and cover-ups by religious leaders in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

A grand jury report released recently by Attorney General Kathleen Kane said an investigation had revealed evidence of “several instances in which law enforcement officers and prosecutors failed to pursue allegations of child sexual abuse occurring within the Diocese.”

Cambria County Judge Patrick T. Kiniry, a former district attorney, reportedly told state investigators that the close relationship between local authorities and diocesan officials when the alleged abuse cases occurred was a reflection of the Catholic Church’s influence.

Evidence presented to the grand jury included material gathered in a raid of diocesan offices last August by state agents. They found a “secret archive” of documents, including handwritten notes sent to Bishop Joseph Adamec by the late Bishop James Hogan, which detailed alleged abuse cases, including victims’ statements.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Milton Eggerling was ordained for the Sioux Falls SD diocese in 1954. His career is marked by many transfers within and among multiple dioceses, including Sioux Falls, St. Paul-Minneapolis MN, Bismarck ND, Oakland CA, Austin TX, San Jose CA, Lima Peru, and Boston MA. He died in 2008. Eggerling was accused in a March 2016 lawsuit of sexually abusing an Austin TX altar boy in the 1970s, beginning when the boy was 11-years-old and continuing for five years. The boy was from a ‘broken home;’ Eggerling reportedly plied him with special attention, gifts, trips and alcohol.

Ordained: 1954
Died: February 29, 2008

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

[with video]

BY MARIA MILLER TUESDAY, MARCH 15TH 2016

JOHNSTOWN — Inside Pitt-Johnstown’s Heritage Hall Tuesday morning, Pennsylvania’s attorney general announced criminal charges in a two-year investigation at Bishop McCort Catholic High School. At the same time, a man who’s been fighting for justice for years for the alleged victims in the case stood outside.

“We have said from the very beginning that all these people wanted was healing,” said Robert Hoatson.

Hoatson is the founder of “Road to Recovery,” an organization that helps victims of sexual abuse. It’s also an organization that’s dealt specifically with alleged victims of Brother Stephen Baker for years.

“Finally, finally. I wanted to hug Attorney General Kane,” Hoatson said. “But at the same time my goosebumps were there thinking of the families in Johnstown who for years have been just living with this nightmare.”

Allegations against Baker first surfaced from nearly a dozen young boys taught or trained by Baker in the ’80s at a school in Ohio. That’s when Hoatson first became involved.

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UNITED STATES
Hollywood Reporter

3/15/2016 by Gregg Kilday

Open Road, which distributed the Oscar-winning movie, admits that fictional dialog was attributed to Boston College High School alumnus Jack Dunn.

Just weeks after the fact-based Spotlight won the best motion picture Oscar, Open Road Films, which distributed the film, has admitted that fictionalized dialogue was attributed to one of the real-life figures portrayed in the movie, Jack Dunn, and acknowledged that Dunn was not part of the Catholic Church cover-up dramatized in the movie.

Dunn, who currently serves as a spokesman for Boston College, appears in the film as an alumnus of Boston College High School who appears to react to the news of an abusive priest as if he’s complicit in the cover-up.

In the movie, the Dunn character, played by Gary Galone, when confronted by Michael Keaton’s character about what he knew about abuse at the school, responds, “It’s a big school, Robbie, you know that. And we’re talking about seven alleged victims over, what, eight years?”

Dunn has told various press outlets in the Boston area then when he saw that scene, he walked out of the movie and threw up. In fact, Dunn, a ’79 graduate of the school and a member of its board of trustees, told the Boston Globe that when he heard of the allegations about priests who taught at BC High, he presented the school’s board of trustees a four-point plan to address the allegations.

Dunn hired a lawyer and demanded that the scene be removed from the film. In response, Open Road released a statement that said, “We believe the complaint against Spotlight is without merit. The filmmakers meticulously researched what happened in Boston. The movie is based on real events and was made with the cooperation and help of the people who lived them. The movie uses — as is the case of all movies made about historical events — scenes and dialogue to introduce characters, provide context, and articulate broad themes. We feel confident, based on the extensive research conducted, that the movie authentically captures the nature of events, issues, and pressures of the time.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Herald

Jack Encarnacao Tuesday, March 15, 2016

The studio behind the Oscar winning film “Spotlight” acknowledged in a statement today that it fictionalized dialogue attributed to Boston College spokesman Jack Dunn as part of an agreement to fend off legal action.

“As is the case with most movies based on historical events, ‘Spotlight’ contains fictionalized dialogue that was attributed to Mr. Dunn for dramatic effect,” read this afternoon’s statement from Open Road Films. “We acknowledge that Mr. Dunn was not part of the Archdiocesan cover-up. It is clear from his efforts on behalf of the victims at BC High that he and the filmmakers share a deep, mutual concern for victims of abuse.”

The film about The Boston Globe’s investigation of clergy sex abuse featured a scene in which Dunn’s character attempted to downplay the extent of abuse in a meeting with a Globe reporter Walter “Robbie” Robinson, played by Michael Keaton.

Dunn’s character, who is portrayed in his capacity as a trustee at Boston College High School, tells Keaton “it’s a big school” and adds “we’re talking about seven alleged victims over, what, eight years?”

Dunn said he was sickened by the portrayal and that script writers had assigned his character the damning dialogue after it was originally to be said by a completely fictionalized character.

Dunn’s lawyer, David Rich, told the Herald today the statement is “part of a broader resolution of Mr. Dunn’s dispute with the makers of Spotlight.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
NECN

Boston College spokesman Jack Dunn had taken issue with a scene in the movie

By Marc Fortier

The producers of “Spotlight,” which won Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards, acknowledged on Tuesday that they fictionalized dialogue attributed to a real person who was portrayed in the film, according to Entertainment Weekly.

Boston College spokesman Jack Dunn had taken issue with a scene in which his character – in his role as a BC trustee – attempted to downplay the extent of the clergy sex abuse case.
‘Spotlight’ Tops Oscars, Diversity Takes Limelight

“As is the case with most movies based on historical events, ‘Spotlight’ contains fictionalized dialogue that was attributed to Mr. Dunn for dramatic effect,” Open Road Films said in a statement.

“We acknowledge that Mr. Dunn was not part of the Archdiocesan cover-up. It is clear from his efforts on behalf of the victims at BC High that he and the filmmakers share a deep, mutual concern for victims of abuse.”

The studio had previously defended the movie’s portrayal of Dunn.

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UNITED STATES
The Wrap

No money changed hands in the arrangement, which arrives several weeks after the film won Best Picture

“Spotlight” distributor Open Road has issued a new statement in response to Jack Dunn, the Boston College High School board of trustees member who said the film did not accurately portray him and his meeting with Boston Globe staffers investigating pedophile priests.

“As is the case with most movies based on historical events, ‘Spotlight’ contains fictionalized dialogue that was attributed to Mr. Dunn for dramatic effect. We acknowledge that Mr. Dunn was not part of the Archdiocesan cover-up. It is clear from his efforts on behalf of the victims at BC High that he and the filmmakers share a deep, mutual concern for victims of abuse,” Open Road said in a statement released to the media on Tuesday.

The statement is a result of a private settlement between Open Road and Dunn that did not involve any money changing hands, an individual with knowledge of the arrangement told TheWrap.

Dunn saw “Spotlight” and was worried the film implicated him in the Catholic Church’s cover-up of years of sexual abuse by its priests, though by most accounts, the community of Boston did not hold him responsible for what happened in any way. Nevertheless, Dunn subsequently came after Open Road, which issued a statement on Nov. 23 about the scene in question.

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UNITED STATES
Entertainment Weekly

Distributor admits dialogue attributed to Boston figure was fictionalized ‘for dramatic effect’

BY OLIVER GETTELL • @OGETTELL

Jack Dunn, the Boston College spokesman who criticized the Oscar-winning movie Spotlight for portraying him in an unflattering light, feels “vindicated” after Open Road Films acknowledged that the filmmakers attributed “fictionalized dialogue” to him “for dramatic effect,” and that he was not involved in the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal.

“I feel vindicated by the public statement and relieved to have the record set straight on an issue that has caused me and my family tremendous pain,” Dunn said Tuesday in a statement to EW.

“While it will never erase the horrific experience of being falsely portrayed in an Academy Award-winning film, this public statement enables me to move forward with my reputation and integrity intact.”

Directed by Tom McCarthy and released last November, Spotlight chronicles how a team of Boston Globe reporters exposed decades of clerical sex abuse in 2002. Dunn denounced the film for wrongly depicting him as callous, even complicit in the cover-up to suppress the truth when Globe reporters met with administrators of Boston College High School.

Open Road, the movie’s distributor, released a statement earlier Tuesday that said, “As is the case with most movies based on historical events, Spotlight contains fictionalized dialogue that was attributed to Mr. Dunn for dramatic effect. We acknowledge that Mr. Dunn was not part of the Archdiocesan cover-up. It is clear from his efforts on behalf of the victims at BC High that he and the filmmakers share a deep, mutual concern for victims of abuse.”

Open Road and the filmmakers behind Spotlight previously defended the movie’s portrayal of Dunn on multiple occasions.

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VATICAN CITY
ANSA

(ANSA) – Vatican City, March 15 – Monsignor Lucio Vallejo Balda testified during the so-called Vatileaks 2 trial Tuesday that he leaked confidential Vatican documents to a couple of investigative journalists to “pay for his freedom”. The defendant alleged co-defendant Francesca Chaouqui “bragged she had information about my private life, my assets, my properties, and even my tax problems,” he said according to trial deposition documents”. Vallejo added he never told anyone about his plans to leak the documents. “I didn’t even tell Chaouqui because I didn’t trust her – it was a way to pay for my freedom,” Vallejo said. “I hadn’t thought of it before meeting the journalists.

Then I did it”.

Vallejo, PR expert Chaouqui, and Balda’s former assistant Nicola Maio stand accused in a Vatican court of criminal association and conspiracy to leak classified documents.

Emiliano Fittipaldi, author of the bestselling book Avarice documenting lavish spending by clergymen is on trial on charges of spreading classified information along with Gianluigi Nuzzi, author of another controversial book, the Way of the Cross, documenting alleged Vatican waste and mismanagement.

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VATICAN CITY
Rome Reports

[with video]

In today’s continuation of the interrogation of Monsignor Vallejo Balda, he further delves into some aspects of which he revealed yesterday.

He has answered the questions from the lawyers of the other accused. He further acknowledged that he had “felt threatened,” although he has not been able to show conclusive evidence of such threats.

When asked if the threats were directed at him, he mentioned a WhatsApp message sent by Francesca Chaoqui in which she says: “I will destroy you in front of the press, I could destroy you.”

Since he felt threatened, he decided to give the information: “Delivering those documents was the only way to pay for my freedom”. While acknowledging that he do not receive any direct threats from the journalists Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi.

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VATICAN CITY
New York Times

by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MARCH 15, 2016

VATICAN CITY — A Vatican monsignor said Tuesday he never felt threatened by two journalists to whom he passed confidential documents — but did fear the colleague who introduced them.

Monsignor Angelo Lucio Vallejo Balda, a former high-ranking official in the Vatican’s finance office, made the concession during cross-examination Tuesday in the Vatican’s leaks case.

Italian journalists Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi wrote blockbuster books last year about Vatican waste, mismanagement and greed. Key documents came from a papal reform commission that Vallejo directed.

Vatican prosecutors have accused the journalists of illegally “soliciting and exerting pressure” on Vallejo to obtain the documents and of publishing them, itself a crime under Vatican City State law. Prosecutors have cited threats Vallejo said he received from the journalists.

Vallejo admitted he gave documents to the journalists. But he said he did so because he felt pressured by the woman who introduced them: Francesca Chaouqui, a flamboyant communications expert and a member of the reform commission.

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VATICAN CITY
Yahoo! News

Vatican City (AFP) – Francesca Chaouqui, the PR consultant at the centre of the Vatican’s controversial leaks trial, threatened to “destroy” a Spanish priest she worked with, a Holy See court heard on Tuesday.

“I will destroy you in the press and you know I can do it,” Choauqui allegedly wrote in a WhatsAPP message to Spanish monsignor Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda that was cited by the prosecution in the case against two journalists and three Vatican employees.

Vallejo Balda has admitted leaking classified documents to the two journalists, who have written books on the mismanagement of Vatican finances.

But he says he only did so under pressure from Chaouqui, with whom he claims to have had a “compromising” relationship.

Chaouqui, a former PR consultant to the Vatican who is married and six months pregnant, denies any sexual contact between her former colleague in an economic reform panel set up by Pope Francis.

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FLORIDA
Orlando Sentinel

David Harris

Two pastors now working in the Orlando area were charged in Pennsylvania with child endangerment on Tuesday for allegedly allowing a man to work with children despite knowing he had a history of molesting kids, officials say.

Friar Giles Schinelli and Father Robert D’Aversa were in charge of assigning members of a Franciscan religious order to jobs in Western Pennsylvania between 1986 and 2010. A third pastor with no ties to Florida also was charged.

According to the complaints filed by the Pennsylvania state Attorney General, the pastors continued to let Brother Stephen Baker work at a high school where he had interactions with kids as an athletic trainer and teacher. More than 100 victims came forward to accuse Baker, who committed suicide in 2013 amid the allegations, of inappropriate conduct.

D’Aversa was the head pastor at St. Patrick’s church in Mt. Dora and Schinelli was the director at San Pedro Center, a Catholic retreat in Winter Park.

Both are placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, said the Diocese of Orlando. Their positions will be vacated, the diocese said.

The allegations left at least one St. Patrick’s church parishioner shocked.

“I don’t believe [D’Aversa] is capable of doing anything that’s not above board,” said Joan Koontz, 80, of Mt. Dora. “He seems to be a very good person, a very helpful person and a very saintly person.”

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WEST VIRGINIA
WCBC

March 15th, 2016 by WCBC Radio

A grand jury report released Tuesday by Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane indicted three members of the Franciscan Friars, Third Order Regulars in the Province of the Immaculate Conception located in Blair County, for alleged mishandling of members of the order who were accused of child sexual abuse dating back to the 1960s.

Three of eight members of the order accused of being child sex predators served at West Virginia parishes in Fort Ashby and Romney in the late 1980s and early 1990s, court documents showed.

Father Reginald Krakovsky served at Our Lady of Grace Church in Romney from 1991-1992.

Krakovsky, who died in 1997, allegedly engaged in child sexual abuse between 1963 and 1964 with two young boys at Holy Family Church in Minnesota. The matter resulted in civil litigation in 1994, with documents filed against the order saying the order “breached a duty to provide a safe environment for a child by exposing the child to Father Reginald Krakovsky who was in a position of trust and authority,” the grand jury report said.

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PENNSYLVANIA
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Mar. 15, 2016

Three friars of the Third Order Regular Franciscans were criminally charged Monday in Pennsylvania with conspiracy and endangering children for their alleged role in enabling a brother in their order believed to have sexually abused upwards of 100 minors, primarily at a Catholic high school.

The charges were announced Tuesday by Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, who acted on recommendations brought by the same statewide grand jury investigation that had also revealed widespread abuse and misconduct by priests and church officials in the Altoona-Johnstown, Pa., diocese.

Franciscan Frs. Giles Schinelli, 73, Robert D’Aversa, 69, and Anthony Criscitelli, 61, were each charged with one count of endangering the welfare of children and criminal conspiracy; each are third degree felony charges, which carry a maximum seven-year prison sentence and $15,000 fine.

The three men served in succession as provincial superior from 1986-2010 of the Franciscan Brothers of the Third Order Regular, Province of the Immaculate Conception, in Hollidaysburg, Pa. The Associated Press reported that each of the priests, all currently living outside Pennsylvania, have until Friday to turn themselves into authorities.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, March 14, 2016

Statement by Barbara Blaine of Chicago, national president member of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (312-399-4747)

We are grateful that three Catholic officials who enabled a serial predator to assault 90 kids are being criminally charged. Those who commit clergy sex crimes are sometimes charged. But those who conceal those crimes are rarely charged.

One of them is in the Twin Cities:

http://stbridgetnorthside.com/staff/father-anthony-2/

We hope these charges will prompt more victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to come forward, call police, expose wrongdoers, protect kids and start healing. Now is no time for complacency. These complicit church officials will no doubt get top notch lawyers and try desperately to exploit any and every legal loophole to evade conviction. So it’s crucial that others with suspicions about or knowledge of wrongdoing by Franciscans step forward.

We also hope these charges will bring sorely-needed attention to religious orders. These Catholic groups are often even more reckless, callous and deceitful in clergy sex abuse cases than bishops are.

We strongly suspect that many more Franciscans knew of and ignored or hid Br. Baker’s crimes. We hope that some of them can be charged too.

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TEXAS
Terra

El sacerdote católico Virgilio Elizondo, un profesor de la Universidad de Notre Dame considerado como el fundador de la teología latina en Estados Unidos, se suicidó en su casa de San Antonio, Texas, informó hoy la Oficina del Médico Forense del Condado de Bexar.

La dependencia determinó este martes que la causa oficial de la muerte de Elizondo, ocurrida la tarde del lunes, fue una herida de bala en la cabeza.

Elizondo, quien tenía 80 años de edad, vivía bajo una nube de sospecha tras ser acusado en mayo del año pasado de abuso sexual en una demanda en el condado de Bexar. Elizondo negó la acusación y se comprometió a demostrar su inocencia.

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PENNSYLVANIA
NPR

March 15, 2016

LAURA WAGNER

Prosecutors in Pennsylvania have charged three former leaders of the Franciscan religious order with conspiracy and child endangerment for allowing a friar who was a known sexual predator to work in a high school. The prosecutors say the friar had molested more than 80 children.

Giles Schinelli, 73, Robert D’Aversa, 69, and Anthony M. Criscitelli, 61, were successively in charge of the Franciscan Friars, Third Order Regulars, Province of the Immaculate Conception in western Pennsylvania from 1986 to 2010.

The three friars allegedly hid allegations of abuse against a member of their order, Brother Stephen Baker, who eventually pleaded guilty to molesting three boys in 2007 and served part of a 10-year sentence before killing himself at a monastery in 2013.

After his suicide, more than 100 abuse claims were filed by former students of Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown, Pa., where Baker worked from 1992 to 2000, the Associated Press reports. Millions of dollars in damages have been paid out.

“These men knew there was a child predator in their organization. Yet they continued to put him in positions where he had countless opportunities to prey upon children,” Kane said when she addressed the media Tuesday to announce the charges. “Their silence resulted in immeasurable pain and suffering for so many victims. These men turned a blind eye to the innocent children they were trusted to protect.”

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TEXAS
South Bend Tribune

South Bend Tribune Report

SAN ANTONIO — A University of Notre Dame theology professor accused of sexually abusing a boy in the 1980s killed himself Monday.

Police responded to a report of a shooting at the home of the Rev. Virgilio Elizondo fewer than 10 minutes before his official time of death on Monday afternoon, according to the law enforcement and county records, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

The 80-year-old Elizondo had vehemently denied the allegations put forth by a San Antonio man in a lawsuit. The man, who has not been identified, lived in a San Antonio orphanage as a child. The accuser says he was the victim of sexual abuse at the hands of another priest, the Rev. Jesus Armando Dominguez, from 1980 to 1983. The accuser says he sought counsel in 1983 from Elizondo, who was then a priest at the San Fernando Cathedral, about what Dominguez had done to him, but Elizondo kissed and fondled him. The man’s lawsuit named both priests and the Archdiocese of San Antonio as defendants.

According to the lawsuit, Dominguez would molest the boy multiple times per week. If the boy complained, Dominguez would feign a heart attack, or threaten to kill the boy and himself, the lawsuit claims. Dominguez later served as a priest in Los Angeles before being defrocked and charged with 58 criminal counts of sexual abuse, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Dominguez disappeared, and police believed he had fled to Mexico, The Times reported.

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PENNSYLVANIA
New York Times

By DAVE PHILIPPSMARCH 15, 2016

Three former leaders of a Franciscan religious order were charged with felonies in Pennsylvania on Tuesday for allowing a friar, who was a known sexual predator, to work in a job that enabled him to molest scores of children.

Tuesday’s complaint was the first time members of a Roman Catholic religious order have been charged with abetting an abuser. The church has faced thousands of lawsuits over sexual abuse by members of the clergy in the past decade, but criminal prosecutions of the supervisors accused of covering up for abusers have been rare.

The complaint, filed by the state’s attorney general, Kathleen Kane, charged three leaders of the Franciscan Friars, Third Order Regulars — Giles A. Schinelli, 73; Robert J. D’Aversa, 69; and Anthony M. Criscitelli, 61 — with conspiracy to endanger children. The three are accused of knowing about accusations of abuse against the friar, Brother Stephen Baker, but of not reporting him to the police or removing him from positions where he had access to children, including one he held for nearly a decade as an athletic trainer at a local school where he regularly told students to undress for massages.

“They were more concerned with protecting the image of the order and more concerned with being in touch with lawyers than with the flock that they served,” Ms. Kane said at a news conference Tuesday.

Lawyers and victims groups said the prosecutions were a stark warning to Roman Catholic organizations across the country that covering up abuse could lead to jail time.

“This is the missing piece,” said David Clohessy, the director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “For years, there have been pledges of reform, but we still see the same deceitful practices because those who stay silent or lie to cover up have not been held accountable.”

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UNITED STATES
Crux

By Crux Staff
March 15, 2016

Crux will live to see another day.

Veteran Vatican reporter John L. Allen Jr., associate editor of Crux, and the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization, have announced that they will enter into a partnership in which Crux will remain an independent news outlet headed by Allen and Vatican correspondent Inés San Martín.

Allen said the joint project is designed to make one of the world’s best known Catholic news platforms even stronger. The partnership will combine the Knights’ resources and spirit of service with the journalistic experience and commitment of Crux.

As part of the project, Catholic Pulse, a news and commentary website operated by the Knights of Columbus, will merge with Crux, adding its resources to Crux’s blend of staff-generated reporting and analysis with pieces by respected guest contributors. The Crux website will feature the tagline: “Keeping its finger on the Catholic Pulse.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
CBS 58

By Christie Green

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (AP) —Three ex-Franciscan leaders charged in a child sex-abuse scandal in Pennsylvania all still have pastoral duties with the Roman Catholic Church.

The three were accused Tuesday of taking part in a conspiracy that enabled a friar to molest more than 100 children.

Records show Giles Schinelli is pastoral administrator of the San Pedro Center in Winter Park, Florida. Robert D’Aversa is pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Community in Mount Dora, Florida. And Anthony Criscitelli is pastor of St. Bridget Parish Community in Minneapolis.

A message left for Schinelli at the retreat was not returned. People answering the phones at the churches where D’Aversa and Criscitelli work said they were either traveling or not available for comment.

The attorney general’s office initially said erroneously that the three were retired.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

BY RON MUSSELMAN TUESDAY, MARCH 15TH 2016

Reaction to the three religious leaders who were criminally charged Tuesday for taking part in an alleged conspiracy that allowed more than 80 victims to be sexually abused by Stephen Baker, a proven child predator, and put hundreds of other children in danger.

Charges against Giles A. Schinelli, 73, Robert J. D’Aversa, 69, and Anthony M. Criscitelli, 61, were announced by Attorney Kathleen Kane during a news conference at Pitt-Johnstown’s Heritage Hall.

Bishop McCort Catholic High School Board of Trustees:

“Our goal always was and always will be the safety of God’s children. From the beginning, this Board has taken aggressive, proactive steps to investigate and address the disturbing actions of Brother Stephen Baker. Though we did not have any legal jurisdiction or power, we were the only group to do so for far too long.

“Though this has been a long road, we are pleased that the Attorney General has decided to move forward and hold those complicit legally accountable, and we are committed to continuing to fully cooperate with law enforcement as this process continues. We pray that this is one more step on the path to helping the victims of Brother Baker reach peace and closure from this tragedy. And we pray that the healing of the victims and our community may begin.”

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MINNESOTA
Fox 9

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) – A Minnesota pastor is one of three Catholic officials charged Tuesday for their roles in an alleged cover-up that allowed more than 80 victims to be sexually abused in Pennsylvania. Father Anthony Criscitelli, 61, is currently at St. Bridget’s Parish in north Minneapolis.

The others indicted Tuesday are Giles Schinelli, 73, and Robert J. D’Aversa, 69. All three men are charged with one count each of endangering the welfare of children and criminal conspiracy.

“These men knew there was a child predator in their organization. Yet they continued to put him in positions where he had countless opportunities to prey upon children,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane said in a statement. “Their silence resulted in immeasurable pain and suffering for so many victims. These men turned a blind eye to the innocent children they were trusted to protect.”

According to the indictment, Criscitelli, D’Aversa and Schinelli were members of a panel that had “total control over the assignment of personnel within the organization.” The attorney general said that means they officially assigned “proven child predator” Stephen Baker to Bishop McCort Catholic High School for 8 years. Baker is accused of molesting more than 80 children at the school between 1992 and 2010, when he worked as an athletic trainer.

Statement from SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

We are grateful that three Catholic officials who enabled a serial predator to assault 90 kids are being criminally charged. Those who commit clergy sex crimes are sometimes charged. But those who conceal those crimes are rarely charged. One of them is in the Twin Cities.

We hope these charges will prompt more victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to come forward, call police, expose wrongdoers, protect kids and start healing. Now is no time for complacency. These complicit church officials will no doubt get top notch lawyers and try desperately to exploit any and every legal loophole to evade conviction. So it’s crucial that others with suspicions about or knowledge of wrongdoing by Franciscans step forward.

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UNITED STATES
Minnesota Public Radio

The Associated Press Johnstown, Pa. Mar 15, 2016

Three ex-leaders of a Franciscan religious order were charged Tuesday with allowing a friar who was a known sexual predator to take on jobs, including a position as a high school athletic trainer, that enabled him to molest more than 100 children.

Giles Schinelli, 73; Robert D’Aversa, 69; and Anthony M. Criscitelli, 61, were successively the provincial ministers of a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church in western Pennsylvania from 1986 to 2010. In that role, each assigned and supervised the order’s members.

Each was charged with conspiracy and child endangerment. Prosecutors said the three have been given until Friday to surrender.

Schinelli is now a pastoral administrator at the San Pedro Center, a Catholic retreat in Winter Park, Florida. D’Aversa is pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Community in Mount Dora, Florida. Anthony Criscitelli is pastor of St. Bridget Parish Community in Minneapolis.

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TENNESSEE
Greenville Sun

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

A post-conviction hearing initially scheduled to be held last November in Sullivan County Criminal Court for former Catholic priest and Greene County resident William Casey will now be held on Aug. 15.

A hearing re-scheduled for March 9 was reset to the August date. It’s at least the third time that Casey’s post-conviction hearing has been continued.

Casey, now 82, was found guilty of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of aggravated rape in 2011. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison. He will be eligible for parole consideration in 2025 when he is 91, according to the state Department of Correction website.

The charges stemmed from conduct that occurred in 1979 and 1980, while victim Warren Tucker attended a Kingsport school associated with the church.

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UNITED STATES
newnownext

by Matthew Tharrett

The priest who set up a meeting between Pope Francis and disgraced Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis during the Pontiff’s visit to the United States last year will soon be replaced, the Washington Post reports.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò is a staunch conservative and was vocally opposed to same-sex marriage throughout his five-year tenure as the Vatican’s ambassador to the United States.

He stirred controversy for arranging the meeting between the Pope and Davis, who spent five days in jail last summer for refusing to obey federal law and issue same-sex marriage licenses, in September without the Pope’s prior approval.

A friend of the Pope’s claimed he was blindsided by the meeting, and the move caused the Vatican to distance itself from Viganò, leading many to believe the Pope would quietly replace him as his “statutory retirement age” was approaching.

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MINNESOTA
KARE

Steven Eckert, KARE

MINNEAPOLIS – The head of a Catholic parish in Minneapolis has been indicted in Pennsylvania on charges he helped cover up cases of priest abuse there.

Father Anthony Criscitelli of St. Bridget’s Parish was accused with two other members of the Franciscan Friars of one count each of child endangerment and criminal conspiracy. Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane announced the indictment Tuesday.

“These men knew there was a child predator in their organization. Yet they continued to put him in positions where he had countless opportunities to prey upon children,” Kane asserted. “Their silence resulted in immeasurable pain and suffering for so many victims. These men turned a blind eye to the innocent children they were trusted to protect.”

The charges say the three men were members of a church panel that had “total control” over how Friars were assigned.

KARE 11 attempted to contact the 61-year-old Criscitelli today at St. Bridget’s parish but we were told he was out of the office.

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