ABUSE TRACKER

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Patch

By Mona Kazour (Patch Staff) – April 24, 2017

From the Diocese of Manchester: The Most Reverend Peter A. Libasci, Bishop of Manchester, and the Diocese of Manchester will mark Child Abuse Prevention Month by offering Mass to pray for victims of abuse and their families, and by providing to the public resources and information about ways to keep children and young people safe.

On Thursday, April 27, 2017, Bishop Libasci will celebrate a Mass for the Healing of Those Affected by Abuse at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, 180 Loudon Road, Concord at 6:30 p.m. A brief reception will follow in the church hall. The public is invited to attend this special liturgy.

“Through the suffering and mercy of Jesus, every Mass is a healing Mass, since God wants us to be healed through the gift of His Son in the Sacrament of the Eucharist,” said Bishop Libasci. “But on this occasion, we come together specifically to ask our Lord for the healing of those affected by child abuse.”

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | The Guam Daily Post

“Usually (a) settlement is a possibility, but in these cases I don’t know. … We’re early in the game right now.” – Patrick Civille, attorney

The Boy Scouts of America Aloha Council has retained Guam attorney Patrick Civille to represent them in the ongoing cases they are facing from alleged child sex abuse victims of their former Scout Master, Louis Brouillard.

After a scheduling conference held yesterday before Magistrate Judge Joaquin Manibusan of the District Court of Guam, Civille said he had only just started to review the dozens of cases that have been filed so far.

“We haven’t officially entered the case yet,” Civille said.

“I know the Boy Scouts are interested in short-cutting some of the procedural problems and today I discussed with plaintiff counsel that we’re not going to make them jump through any particular hoops in terms of serving the Boy Scouts – that I’ll accept service and that streamlines the process. Beyond that … I have to look at the evidence.”

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NEW YORK
ABC 7

Eyewitness News

RIVERHEAD, Long Island (WABC) — A defrocked priest pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of sexually abusing a young girl on Long Island.

Augusto Cortez, 53, pleaded not guilty to criminal sexual act, sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child, said Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said.

Spota said the crimes occurred in June 2014 and Cortez was indicted by a grand jury in October of that year.

But Cortez fled to South America in 2014 to avoid arrest, officials said. He was arrested by Southampton Town police April 22 when he was returned to the U.S.

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NEW YORK
Newsday

By Zachary R. Dowdy zachary.dowdy@newsday.com

Southampton Town police on Saturday arrested a former priest who they said fled the country in 2014 as detectives centered on him in their investigation into the sexual assault of a young girl in Hampton Bays, officials said.

Augusto Cortez, 53, was arrested by Southampton police at Kennedy Airport after he was extradited to the United States from Guatemala, police and Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota said.

He was being held without bail after he pleaded not guilty Monday during his arraignment on an indictment for first-degree criminal sexual act, first-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child before Acting Supreme Court Justice Barbara Kahn, Spota and police said.

Cortez was being represented by the Legal Aid Society, which does not comment on cases.

He had been indicted in October 2014 in connection with acts that authorities said took place in June 2014.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Road to Recovery

A Jesuit priest, Fr. Leo Pollard, SJ, stationed at Boston College High School from approximately 1951-1967, repeatedly sexually abused a minor child, Ronald Edward Casey, from approximately 1956 through 1957 when Ronald Edward Casey was approximately 11 to 13 years of age

Fr. Leo Pollard, SJ, held himself out as a Boy Scout chaplain and took Ronald Edward Casey on Boy Scout trips to Camp Loon Pond in Lakeville, MA, where Fr. Leo Pollard, SJ, repeatedly sexually abused minor child Ronald Edward Casey from approximately 1956 through 1957

The Jesuit priests and brothers of the Northeast Province, which includes Boston College High School., continue to re-victimize childhood sexual abuse victim Ronald Edward Casey by not reasonably and fairly settling the claim of sexual abuse of a minor child against Fr. Leo Pollard, SJ

What
A press conference announcing that the Jesuit priests and brothers of the Northeast Province refuse to reasonably and fairly settle the sexual abuse claim of Ronald Edward Casey who is 72 years of age and continues to suffer from the effects of sexual abuse by Fr. Leo Pollard, SJ, from approximately 1956 through 1957

When
Tuesday, April 25, 2017 at 11:00 AM

Where
On the public sidewalk in front of Boston College High School, 150 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, MA 02125

Who
Ronald Edward Casey, sexual abuse victim of Fr. Leo Pollard, SJ, assigned to Boston College High School during the period 1956 through 1957; and, Dr. Robert M. Hoatson, President of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity based in New Jersey that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families.

Why
Ronald Edward Casey was born in 1944 and grew up in a large family in South Boston, MA. His older brother, Bill Casey, was being counseled by Fr. Leo Pollard, SJ, who was assigned to Boston College High School and endeared himself to the Casey family which he visited frequently. Fr. Leo Pollard, SJ, told Ronald Edward Casey when Ronald Edward Casey was approximately 11 years old that he (Fr. Leo Pollard) was a Boy Scout chaplain. Fr. Leo Pollard, SJ, took Ronald Edward Casey on a Boy Scout trip to Camp Loon Pond in Lakeville, MA, where he was forced to sleep in the same cabin as Fr. Leo Pollard, SJ. Fr. Leo Pollard, SJ, took Ronald Edward Casey on at least six more Boy Scout trips from approximately 1956 through 1957 when Ronald Edward Casey was approximately 11-13 years of age. Fr. Leo Pollard, SJ, sexually abused Ronald Edward Casey on each of the Boy Scout trips. Ronald Edward Casey and his advocate will demand of the Jesuit priests and brothers of the Northeast Province that they do the right thing by reasonably and fairly settling his claim of sexual abuse.

Contacts
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., Road to Recovery, Inc. – 862-368-2800 – roberthoatson@gmail.com
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, Boston, MA – 617-523-6250 – garabedianlaw@msn.com

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NEW YORK
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Edmund Netter was a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, ordained in 1951. He assisted in Haverstraw, Yonkers and Manhattan parishes through the 1950s, with the exception of two years as an Army chaplain. In 1960 he was assigned to a Bronx parish, transferring in 1963 to Garnersville. There is an unexplained gap in his career trajectory 1967-1968. Netter was named pastor in of a Nanuet parish in 1968, a role he held for eighteen years. He served during 1986-1987 on the “Parish Mission Team” in Suffern, achieving ‘monsignor’ status the same year. For the following eleven years Netter lead a parish in Nyack. He died in April 1998.

Netter was accused in a 2004 lawsuit of having sexually abused a girl from approximately 1973 to 1979, when the girl was nine to sixteen years-old. The abuse was said to have taken place weekly or bi-weekly in the rectory of St. Anthony’s in Nanuet, and at a house during vacations with the girl’s family when all but the two of them were at the beach.

Born: November 4, 1925
Ordained: 1951
Died: April 11, 1998

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ITALIA
Rete L’Abuso

[Provolo: New complaints against abusers.]

Un’ex alunna del collegio per sordi della città mendozina di Luján de Cuyo ha aggiunto tre accusati alla lista di preti, suore ed impiegati pedofili. Il “fratello” Giuseppe Spinelli nella mira?

La settimana scorsa ci sono state novità nella causa giudiziaria per la quale sono già detenute cinque persone accusate di avere commesso abusi sessuali ed altri maltrattamenti su una ventina di bambine e bambini tra i 4 ed i 17 anni nell’Istituto Antonio Provolo di Luján de Cuyo.

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NEW YORK
Patch

By Lisa Finn (Patch Staff) – April 24, 2017

SOUTHAMPTON, NY — A man who fled to Guatemala after sexually abusing a female juvenile was extradited and arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport Saturday, police said.

The Southampton Town Police Department’s detective division arrested Augusto Cortez, 53, at JFK and charged him with first degree sexual abuse of a child, a felony, first degree criminal sexual act, a felony, and endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, police said.

Cortez, charged with sexually abusing a girl, 6, in Hampton Bays in 2014, fled the United States to South America after realizing he was a target of the investigation, police said.

He headed to several South American countries and was finally located in Guatemala by Interpol, police said.

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NEW YORK
27 East

Apr 24, 2017

By Erin McKinley

A former priest who fled the country three years ago—after being accused of sexually abusing a 6-year-old Hampton Bays girl and giving her a sexually transmitted disease—was arrested on Saturday after being extradited to the United States from Guatemala, according to police.

Augusto Cortez, 53, was arrested by Southampton Town Police at John F. Kennedy Airport on April 22 after being located by Interpol officials in Guatemala and extradited to America with the assistance of the U.S. Marshal’s and the Suffolk County district attorney’s offices, authorities said. They noted that he fled the country shortly after the incident in June 2014, after he was questioned by Southampton Town Police once the victim’s parents filed a complaint. Authorities said he fled to South America after realizing he was the target of a police investigation, and has lived in several different countries to avoid arrest.

It was not immediately clear how authorities located Mr. Cortez.

Mr. Cortez was charged with one count each of first-degree sexual abuse of a child and first-degree criminal sexual act, both felonies, as well as endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, according to police.

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IRELAND
Newstalk

24 Apr 2017
Stephen McNeice

The head of the Oireachtas Health Committee says he believes there is still a window of opportunity to save the new National Maternity Hospital deal

Currently, the €300 million facility is planned for a site on the St Vincent’s Hospital campus in Dublin.

Under the agreed deal, the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group would be ‘sole owners’ of the new hospital in return for the land to build the new facility.

The project is currently under review, however, amid controversy over the involvement of the religious group Sisters of Charity, who are the major shareholders of the healthcare group.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

By Stephen Walker
BBC News NI Political Correspondent

A protest march at Stormont has called on politicians to speed up help for victims of historical institutional abuse.

The group handed in a 30-page document and a letter calling for action and a start to negotiations with victims.

They said that there had been no progress since an inquiry delivered its verdict in January.

The inquiry’s chair, Sir Anthony Hart, found that some children’s homes were the scene of widespread abuse.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
The Irish News

Deborah McAleese, Press Association
24 April, 2017 1

Victims of institutional child abuse have hit out at a “derisory” recommended compensation payment of £7,500.

The victims, who were abused in children’s homes run by some churches, charities and state institutions, said the payment should be higher and should reflect the length of time spent in the institutions.

In January the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIAI) recommended that victims should receive financial redress. Chairman of the inquiry Sir Anthony Hart said the payments should range from £7,500 to £100,000.

A 30-page response by victims has criticised the level of basic payment recommended.

“The response of survivors to the HIAI recommendation of a flat £7,500 common experience payment to all was that it fell short of expectations or was derisory,” the response said.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

By Deborah McAleese
April 24 2017

Victims of institutional child abuse in Northern Ireland have hit out at a “derisory” recommended compensation payment of £7,500.

The victims, who were abused in children’s homes run by some churches, charities and state institutions, said the payment should be higher and should reflect the length of time spent in the institutions.

In January the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIAI) recommended that victims should receive financial redress. Chairman of the inquiry Sir Anthony Hart said the payments should range from £7,500 to £100,000.

A 30-page response by victims has criticised the level of basic payment recommended.

“The response of survivors to the HIAI recommendation of a flat £7,500 common experience payment to all was that it fell short of expectations or was derisory,” the response said.

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AUSTRALIA
Gold Coast Bulletin

Paul Weston, Gold Coast Bulletin
April 24, 2017

POLICE have launched an investigation into allegations of child abuse at The Southport School
from the late 1970s and early 1980s.

A Gold Coast businessman said he had spoken to the elite private boys school after making public a confession by his father, a retired TSS teacher.

His father allegedly told him: “I’ve done some bad things. I raped and molested (student) while he was a boarder at the school. It wasn’t just me. There were other teachers and other students.”

TSS contacted the Brisbane Anglican diocese late last week and, as part of their protocol, police were immediately made aware of the complaint.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Echo

John Lucas, Reporter / @johnlucasNQE

CHURCH bosses failed to take action when concerns were raised about a paedophile priest who was later jailed for sexually abusing a boy at a care home, an independent review has found.

Perverted Anthony McSweeney was reported to the Diocese of Brentwood while serving as parish priest at St Peter’s Church, in Eastwood Road North, Leigh, in 1998.

A cleaner had stumbled on videotapes showing boys aged about 14 being sexually abused, but she was fobbed off when she tried to alert senior clergy.

Instead, it took until 2015 for the 70-year-old to be jailed for three years after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a boy while working at the Grafton Children’s Home in Hounslow, London, between 1979 and 1981.

In the meantime, the Diocese of Brentwood transferred McSweeney to Norwich, part of the Diocese of East Anglia.

Both Diocese commissioned an independent safeguarding report into the scandal following the court case.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Institutional child abuse victims have marched at Stormont to demand justice from warring politicians who have failed to deliver a promised apology and financial redress.

The group handed in letters to party leaders at Stormont Castle asking for the recommendations of a four-year inquiry into state and church abuse to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

A number of party representatives, including Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill, UUP leader Robin Swann and the Alliance Party’s Chris Lyttle took time out from political talks to personally accept the letters from the group.

Negotiations aimed at restoring Northern Ireland’s collapsed government continued on Monday at Stormont.

The Stormont impasse has meant that the findings and recommendations of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry have still not been presented to the Northern Ireland assembly.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY
KENNETH LOVETT
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Updated: Monday, April 24, 2017

ALBANY — Some child sex abuse survivors fear Gov. Cuomo is going back on his promise to prioritize passage this year of a bill meant to help victims seek justice as adults.

The governor in January said he would introduce his own version of the Child Victims Act, but he has yet to do so.

“Gov. Cuomo needs to embrace the Child Victims Act and carry it across the finish line or the bill is not passing,” said sex abuse survivor Gary Greenberg, who created a political action committee to push for the issue. “It’s in the governor’s hands.”

Eyebrows were raised when Cuomo recently told reporters that with the state budget passed, he has no real major priorities for the rest of the legislative session that runs through June.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Eilish O’Regan
April 24 2017

Health Minister Simon Harris has called for “cool heads” in the row over giving ownership of the new National Maternity Hospital to the Sisters of Charity.

He is right – although he himself must take some of the blame for indirectly adding to the public outcry last week.

While St Vincent’s Healthcare Group is unlikely to withdraw its offer of a site for the hospital at its Dublin 4 campus when it meets on Thursday, the risk remains that the current plan could still collapse.

The reality is that this will set back the building of a new maternity hospital – currently housed in a cramped outdated building in Holles Street – by several years.

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IRELAND
Herald

Eilish O’Regan – 24 April 2017

St Vincent’s Hospital Healthcare Group will meet this week to review its offer of a free site for the new National Maternity Hos- pital at its Dublin 4 campus.

The board of St Vincent’s, which is providing the site to build the much-needed new hospital, is angry at the adverse public reaction to the decision to allow the Sisters of Charity to own the facility.

If it pulls the plug, it will mean another delay in the bid to find a new site for the €300m hospital, which currently occupies an outdated building in Holles Street.

A leaked copy of the 25-page agreement, worked out between the boards of Holles Street and St Vincent’s, appears to confirm reassurances about the autonomy of the new hospital, stating that it will be protected by its own independent company.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

On November 27th, 1970, from the opening of the new St Vincent’s hospital at Elm Park in south Dublin, this newspaper reported that the then Catholic Archbishop of Dublin John Charles McQuaid made it clear “the same sisters own and manage the new hospital” as did the old St Vincent’s hospital on St Stephen’s Green. The archbishop was referring to the Sisters of Charity.

He was unequivocal on other matters too.

“It is the unchanging character of a Catholic hospital that every member of its staff accepts with clear assent and fulfils with scrupulous exactitude the moral law that regulates their therapy, medical and surgical,” he said.

“There is one authority that proposes, explains and defends that objective moral law: the teaching authority in the church. On this solemn day when a new hospital , with the blessing of God, has been dedicated to the service of the sick, it is our duty to declare that in this institute every respect shall be shown, in theory and in practice, to the moral teaching of the church.”

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IRELAND
Dublin Live

BY BLANAID MURPHY
24 APR 2017

Fears that the Catholic Church could take control of the new maternity hospital have been confirmed by a senior cleric.

Bishop of Elphin Kevin Doran said the Sisters of Charity would have to must obey doctrine if plans go ahead.

The Order was to be been handed full ownership of the €300million taxpayer-funded facility which will be built on the St Vincent’s Hospital campus in South Dublin.

Health Minister Simon Harris has insisted the nuns would not have any say over medical decisions despite owning the land and facility.

But Bishop Doran said: “A healthcare organisation bearing the name Catholic, while offering care to all who need it, has a special responsibility to Catholic teachings about the value of human life.

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IRELAND
Dublin People

CAMPAIGNERS against a controversial decision to hand over the new maternity hospital to the Sisters of Charity religious order have vowed to continue their protest until it is reversed.

Under the current plans, the new facility will occupy a site next to the existing St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin 4, which is owned by the St Vincent’s Healthcare group, of which the Sisters of Charity are a major shareholder.

There was widespread shock and indignation last week when it emerged that the religious order would be involved in the new hospital.

A petition to block the Sisters of Charity from becoming the sole owners of the new National Maternity Hospital has grown by tens of thousands while one Southside TD told how her office had been inundated with emails and calls.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Dearbhail McDonald
April 24 2017

The narrative of the Religious Sisters of Charity embarking on a naked power grab to take control of the State’s largest maternity hospital in a bid to control Irish women’s reproductive autonomy is a potent one.

Our collective reaction to the prospect of the nuns, the owners of the St Vincent’s University Hospital Group (SVHG), imposing its Catholic ethos on Irish women while refusing to pay its share of a redress scheme for institutional abuse is real and visceral. And it is entirely understandable in the wake of Church scandals such as the discovery of the remains of babies and small children in septic tanks at a former mother and babies home in Tuam.

However, I wonder if the real reason why the SVHG insisted on the National Maternity Hospital coming under its control was less to do with Catholic ethos and more to do with its toxic relationship with the HSE and its €150m debts.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Apr 24, 2017

By Krystal Paco

Nearly half of the over 40 clergy sex abuse lawsuits filed in the District Court of Guam could be booted back to the local courts. And the federal court is raising concerns over jurisdiction.

Plaintiff Leo Tudela lives in Hawaii. Former priest and named defendant Father Louis Brouillard lives in Minnesota. This could be an issue for the District Court of Guam who may not have jurisdiction over many of the cases of clergy sex abuse. In court on Monday, Magistrate Judge Joaquin Manibusan expressed his concern over diversity jurisdiction – whether the court can entertain controversies between citizens of different states.

“The judge wants us to file our position as to why if there is jurisdiction on each of the cases. All right. So of course, we’ve got three weeks to do that. And we will be filing that of course. I believe that some of the cases of course I don’t think we’ll be able to show jurisdiction and that’s all right,” he said.

Attorney David Lujan represents all of the plaintiffs who’ve filed suit in the federal court. He suspects jurisdiction issues could affect nearly half of the over forty cases he’s filed to date. “In those cases, we’ll simply stay and file in Superior Court of Guam. Simple as that,” he said.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Editorial

We now know that Alicia Limtiaco, the recently resigned top federal prosecutor for Guam and the Northern Marianas, has accepted the position as board chairwoman of Hope and Healing, an entity established by the Archdiocese of Agana to help multiple victims of sex abuse by former Guam priests.

This is a new challenge for Limtiaco, who’s still at the prime of her career but happened to be among dozens of holdover top federal prosecutors President Donald Trump wanted to replace, regardless of their performance.

When that legal door closed for Limtiaco, it turned out another opened. This one could give her a chance to have an impact on helping a community heal from the hurt of a trail of alleged abuses of children – numbering more than 50 as of last week – by Guam priests decades ago.

After Limtiaco’s new role was announced yesterday, she made statements that:

* the archdiocese or anyone in the church leadership will not control the Hope and Healing board’s decisions and actions to help the victims of priest abuse; and

* that Hope and Healing will let victims decide whether to pursue legal action or get help from Hope and Healing.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

The plaintiffs will have have three weeks to file diversity jurisdiction.

Guam – In related news, some of the church sex abuse cases will be held in abeyance as a federal court judge determines diversity jurisdiction.

The matter came up today during what was supposed to be a scheduling conference for six of the 43 cases filed in District Court so far. Magistrate Judge Joaquin Manibusan raised issues regarding jurisdiction since the plaintiffs in these six particular cases reside off-island and the alleged perpetrator, Father Louis Brouillard also is no longer a resident of Guam.

The six cases in today’s hearing were filed by Leo Tudela, Norman Aguon, James Bascon, Bruce Diaz, Vicente Perez and Anthony Vegafria, all of whom accused Brouillard of sexually abusing them when they were minors. Brouillard, at the time, was serving both as priest of different parishes and as Scout Master for the Boy Scouts.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Attorney David Lujan said he would let Attorney Michael Caspino know this week if he agrees with Alicia Limtiaco’s nomination to the Hope and Healing Guam board.

Guam – Former US Attorney and Attorney General of Guam Alicia Limtiaco has been named the board chairperson for the Hope and Healing program, but Attorney David Lujan’s continued to express some reservation with her nomination since for most of his career, she’s always been on the opposite side.

The media was invited to a Sunday press conference at the Hilton Resort board room for the formal announcement of the chairpersonship of the Hope and Healing Program.

Limtiaco will now head the evaluation board that will be made up of seven members. She addressed any previous concerns that Hope and Healing had any ties to the Archdiocese of Agana and noted that despite being catholic herself, Limtiaco said her faith will have no influence over her role in assisting victims of abuse.

“It has been made clear to me and I have been reassured that this board will be an independent board, that we will not be controlled by the archdiocese, that we are not a board that is here to defend the church or the archdiocese or any perpetrators of clergy abuse,” asserted Limtiaco.

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CAMBODIA
Chiangrai Times

PHNOM PENH – A 53-year-old Dutch Old Catholic church official has been arrested in Cambodia on suspicion of producing child pornography involving young teenage boys.

Evrard Nicolas Sarot, 53, who has been seconded to provide pastoral care at Schiphol airport, is said to have paid the boys, all younger than 15, to pose for him. Police found almost 1,300 nude photographs on his camera and Ipad.

Local police chief Chhay Haklong told the Cambodia Daily: ‘He gave them some money, a couple US dollars for each person to have a naked photo. All boys, no clothes.’

The paper says anti-pedophile NGO Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE) received a report of the alleged abuse in late December from an informant and helped police investigate and identify victims.

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VERMONT
Burlington Free Press

Adam Silverman , Free Press Staff Writer

Emerging from a priest-sex-abuse scandal but still confronting challenges with finances and decreasing participation, Vermont’s Roman Catholic diocese is embarking on a yearlong re-examination of church structure and rules.

Bishop of Burlington Christopher Coyne plans to convene “an extraordinary council of the church” known as a synod next year — the first for Vermont’s Catholics in more than half a century.

The goal: Find new ways to engage and keep Catholics active in the faith. That’s a recognition the church no longer can keep doing what it always has, Coyne said: maintaining numerous parishes, celebrating regular Masses and hoping people will attend.

The decisions that emerge from the synod will be significant for each of Vermont’s 118,000 residents who identify as Catholic.

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WEST VIRGINIA
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

By GREG JORDAN Bluefield Daily Telegraph

PRINCETON — A diagnostic evaluation was completed recently for a former youth pastor and admitted transgender sex offender who is facing a prison term after pleading guilty last year to sexual abuse first degree.

James Lilly, 25, of Bluefield pleaded guilty in August 2016 in Mercer County Circuit Court to three counts of sexual abuse in the first degree. Raleigh County Judge John A. Hutchinson, who was assigned to the case after Mercer County Judge Derek Swope recused himself, delayed Lilly’s sentencing on Dec. 21, 2016 and remanded him to the state Department of Corrections so a diagnostic study could be completed with regard to how he would be classified as an inmate.

Lilly was arrested Jan. 12, 2016 and indicted in February that same year on 28 counts of sexual abuse in the first degree as well as charges of sexual assault third degree and incest.

After the arrest, Detective K.L. Adams of the Bluefield Police Department said that Lilly, by his own admission, was transgender and in the process of becoming a woman.

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CAMBODIA
The Cambodia Daily

BY HANNAH HAWKINS | APRIL 24, 2017 | អានជាភាសាខ្មែរ

A Dutch priest who was arrested in Siem Reap City last week after allegedly taking more than 1,000 photographs of naked boys had told a bishop in his home country about his “sexual preference for underage boys,” church representatives said on Sunday.

Evrard-Nicolas Sarot, 53, was charged with possessing and producing child pornography by the Siem Reap Provincial Court on Thursday and is accused of paying 19 boys, all under the age of 15, a few dollars each to pose nude for photos.

Chhay Haklong, deputy chief of the provincial police’s anti-human trafficking unit, said last week that 19 victims—who appeared in some of the roughly 1,300 photos on a camera found on Mr. Sarot at the time of his arrest—had been interviewed by police. Unidentified victims also appeared in nearly 4,000 images later found on the suspect’s laptop, he said.

It has now emerged that Mr. Sarot had confessed to his sexual interest in young boys to a senior member of the Catholic church while he was training to be a priest.

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NEW YORK
Times Union

THE ISSUE:
A new report documents decades of abuse at a prominent girls school.

THE STAKES:
It’s yet another reason why the state needs to revisit the statute of limitations.
—
About the last thing parents expect when they send their children off to school is that they’ll be sexually abused by a teacher. Yet as a new report from Emma Willard School shows, that happened all too often, over the course of at least seven decades.

It’s to the Troy private school’s credit that it commissioned an outside review, and made public the 96-page “Report of Historical Allegations of Sexual Abuse & Misconduct.” The account of faculty-student sexual relations from the 1950s to the current decade involves the sort of scandalous activity institutions normally try to cover up.

The issuance of the report, however, should not be the end of the matter for those outside the Emma Willard community. The revelations underscore the need for state lawmakers to revisit long-stalled legislation to extend the statute of limitations for criminal and civil action in cases of sexual abuse.

The Emma Willard report depicts decades of exploitation from the supposedly prim 1950s through the free-wheeling years of the late 60s and 70s and more recent decades, when there has been less tolerance and more awareness of the damaging effects of child sex abuse. Some administrators who looked into the rumors met a wall of silence, others looked the other way.

Emma Willard’s report follows the disclosure earlier this month by Choate Rosemary Hall, a Connecticut boarding school, of instances of sexual abuse of students as far back as the 1960s. It would be naive to think there won’t be more such revelations at more schools, just as scattered reports of sexual abuse by Catholic priests mushroomed into a global scandal.

Which brings us to an issue New York state has struggled with for years: how to afford victims of sex abuse justice years after the incidents occurred.

After at least a decade of failed efforts, this year again brings legislation in the Assembly and Senate that would afford victims of child sexual abuse extra time to come forward. Where the statute now covers two to five years after the offense is reported or the child turns 18, whichever is earlier, there are bills to extend that to between ages 28 and 33. One would set the statute of limitations at 15 years after the act.

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UNITED STATES
Crux

Kathryn Jean Lopez April 24, 2017
CRUX CONTRIBUTOR

In his new book ‘Hurting in the Church: A Way Forward for Wounded Catholics,’ Father Thomas Berg says he wants priests to listen to the experiences of hurting Catholics. He says the book is an invitation to a kind of Church-wide self-examination: Where have we failed in charity? Why is our day-to-day, interpersonal living of that Christ-like gift of self, agape-love, so languid at times, so passive, so anemic?

“If the Church has ever succeeded in her mission, it was every time she was able – in the lives of faithful and committed Christians – to embody the self-sacrificing love exemplified by her Divine Spouse,” Father Thomas Berg writes in his new book Hurting in the Church: A Way Forward for Wounded Catholics.

What many know of the Church today, however, “are the times her members have failed in that great task, the times we have failed to correspond to the mandate of our Savior” to love one another “as I have loved you.”

He writes as a former member of the Legionaries of Christ, who, among other things, asks “forgiveness for the ways in which, in my ignorance, I myself contributed to propagating the cult of personality surrounding [Marcial] Maciel [founder of the order], and to perpetuating the web of deceptions in which we were all trapped.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Donna De Jesus

C.P. and S.A.F. have filed child sexual abuse lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Agana and the Boy Scouts of America.

Guam – Two new victims represented by Atty. David Lujan have filed child sexual abuse lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Agana and the Boy Scouts of America.

Both victims, using the initials C.P. and S.A.F. have named former priest Fr. Louis Brouillard. Both men claim they were assaulted in the 1970s when they were altar boys and part of the Boy Scouts.

C.P. was between the ages of 7 and 10 when he claims he was first abused by Brouillard. In his complaint, he states that for about four years, Brouillard would require C.P. to spend the night at the Malojloj parish rectory, using the excuse that he did not want him to be late for early morning mass the following day. It was during these sleepovers, court documents say, that Brouillard would sexually molest C.P. Documents add that, in the convent showers, Brouillard would get into the shower with C.P. and other boys so he could grope them, and later instruct them to go into his bedroom where he would molest them. As a member of the Boy Scouts, C.P. says in the complaint that Brouillard would take some of the boys swimming, instructing them to swim naked so he could grope them.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com April 24, 2017

Former island priest Louis Brouillard was sued again Monday in federal court, including by a man who says he was about seven years old when Brouillard sexually abused him — the youngest age alleged so far in the dozens of lawsuits filed against the priest.

The two latest lawsuits, filed by former altar boys, identify the accusers by the initials C.P. and S.A.F., bringing to 56 the number of clergy sex abuse lawsuits filed so far against the Archdiocese of Agana and 10 different priests. The two men also are suing the Boy Scouts of America.

C.P.’s complaint states he was only about seven when Brouillard started sexually abusing him as an altar boy, around 1970, and he continued to be abused when he joined the Boy Scouts of America, where Brouillard was a scoutmaster.

C.P., now 54, and S.A.F., now 52, both live on Guam and are represented by attorneys David Lujan and Gloria Lujan Rudolph. They demand a minimum $10 million each in damages.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Maeve Sheehan
April 23 2017

The 25-page unpublished “Terms of Agreement” between the two hospitals spells out how the independence of the maternity hospital will be protected through a new Designated Activity Company providing maternity services.

It says:
• The new company’s memorandum and articles to provide for “reserved powers” and a “golden share” – effectively a ministerial veto – to protect the autonomy of the board.

• The “agreed reserve powers” are “to be exercised in an undiluted manner by all of the directors” and include specific reference to the hospital’s “clinical and operational independence” in providing maternity services “without religious, ethnic or other distinction”.

• The “reserve powers” also refer to budgetary control, the retention of the master role and “the retention and utilisation” of any donations, gifts or bequests to the maternity hospital”.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Editorial

The heated debate over the proposed move of the National Maternity Hospital to a site owned by a religious order at St Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin has led to a situation where the entire project has been placed in doubt pending the outcome of a meeting of the hospital board, which has been announced to review the agreed plan. The threat to the development is to be greatly regretted, but is not entirely surprising. When it comes to such projects, this country seems to be unsurpassed in terms of obfuscation and delay, particularly when various vested and competing interests are at play. Now is a time for calm heads and measured public comment with one outcome in mind, which is that the development of a much-needed new maternity hospital can proceed without undue delay.

The belated doubts thrown over the development of the maternity hospital come at a time when renewed concerns have been expressed about the funding and running costs which are delaying a final government decision to go ahead with the proposed new €1bn National Children’s Hospital in Dublin. This is also a much-needed facility, but it has been repeatedly delayed due to location and planning issues and is now at renewed risk of being set back further because of associated spiralling costs.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Fiach Kelly, Paul Cullen

The National Maternity Hospital’s planned move to the campus of St Vincent’s University Hospital will be scuppered by any effort to alter the agreement, the man who negotiated the deal has warned.

Kieran Mulvey, the former chairman of the Workplace Relations Commission, acted as a mediator between the hospitals, whose deal with the Department of Health will lead to the new maternity hospital being owned by the Sisters of Charity.

“Any attempt to change the agreement in any essential form will put us back to the starting blocks, and if we go back to the starting blocks this will never take off,” he said.

Dr Rhona Mahony, the hospital master, has said the existing facility is no longer fit for purpose.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Kitty Holland, Michael O’Regan

An alternative site for a national maternity hospital (NMH) must be found if a deal that would see the State have full control of the facility cannot be brokered with the Sisters of Charity, Labour leader Brendan Howlin has said.

Mr Howlin was speaking at the end of his party’s conference in Wexford on Sunday in response to assertions by the Bishop of Elphin, Kevin Doran, who said the congregation which owns the site of the planned hospital in Dublin would have to apply Roman Catholic teaching in the new facility.

Bishop Doran told the Sunday Times: “A healthcare organisation bearing the name Catholic while offering care to all who need it has a special responsibility…to Catholic teachings about the value of human life and dignity, and the ultimate destiny of the human person.”

When asked in August 2013 by The Irish Times if St Vincent’s University Hospital would carry out abortions to save a woman’s life, a spokesman said the hospital would “as always be following the law of the land”.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Maeve Sheehan
April 23 2017

Every time the health watchdog dispatches its inspectors to the National Maternity Hospital on Holles Street in Dublin, the conditions get worse. Inspectors have repeatedly warned of the dangers of packing ever increasing numbers of expectant mothers and infants into the dilapidated 19th century structure.

Most recently, they found the intensive care unit filled with 46 babies when it was designed to care for 36 and “poor hygiene” on the delivery ward. The building is no longer fit for purpose and the Master of the National Maternity Hospital, Dr Rhona Mahony, has pleaded with inspectors to “acknowledge the context of our challenges”.

The National Maternity Hospital has been fighting for a new home for two decades. So it was smiles all around at a press conference hosted by Health Minister Simon Harris last November to announce that a new National Maternity Hospital would be built on St Vincent’s Healthcare Group’s Elm Park campus.

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IRELAND
The Irish Mirror

BY BLANAID MURPHY
23 APR 2017

Fears that the Catholic Church could take control of the new maternity hospital have been confirmed by a senior cleric.

Bishop of Elphin Kevin Doran said the Sisters of Charity would have to obey doctrine if plans go ahead.

The Order was to be been handed full ownership of the €300million taxpayer-funded facility which will be built on the St Vincent’s Hospital campus in South Dublin.

Health Minister Simon Harris has insisted the nuns would not have any say over medical decisions despite owning the land and facility.

But Bishop Doran said: “A healthcare organisation bearing the name Catholic, while offering care to all who need it, has a special responsibility to Catholic teachings about the value of human life.

“Public funding, while it brings with it other legal and moral obligations, does not change that.”

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IRELAND
The Irish Mirror

BY BLANAID MURPHY

Economist David McWilliams today attacked the religious order at the centre of the controversy over the new National Maternity Hospital as landlords with rosary beads.

On the Marian Finucane show on RTE Radio 1 he questioned what the Sisters Of Charity were doing running a property company and why they wouldn’t gift the land to the State. He said: “This is like landlordism with rosary beads. It’s like Nama for religious people. It’s nonsense.

“I can’t understand what do nuns do for money? They extract rent, they’re property developers in this case.

“We have a ridiculous situation where religious orders have developed a property portfolio by levying taxes on the ordinary Joe at church collections,” he said.

The main controversy surrounding the plans to build the new National Maternity Hospital on the grounds currently owned by the religious order centres around ownership. Under the deal – which has not been made public by the Minister for Health Simon Harris – the state would spend in the region of €300m to build the hospital but the SoC would retain ownership of the land.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Guam’s previous top federal prosecutor has been named chairwoman of the board of Hope and Healing, the organization created by the archdiocese to address multiple accusations of sexual abuse by former Guam priests, decades ago.

Chairwoman Alicia Limtiaco’s role was announced during a press conference yesterday at the Hilton Guam Resort and Spa.

Limtiaco is the previous U.S. Attorney for Guam and the Northern Marianas. She resigned recently after the Trump administration asked holdover U.S. attorneys from the Obama administration to resign. She was a Bush-era appointee and a former elected attorney general of Guam.

Limtiaco said she’s committed to a board that will be victim-sensitive. The board will understand the dynamics of abuse and exploitation; and will be compassionate, fair and understand the effects and the impacts of trauma on the victims and in their lives.

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IRELAND
Today FM

BY: TOM SWIFT

The Labour leader Brendan Howlin says he is not surprised at comments by a Catholic bishop insisting the Sisters of Charity would have to obey the rules of the church if they become owners of the new National Maternity Hospital.

The Bishop of Elphin has told the Sunday Times that public funding does not change the responsibility of a Catholic organisation to adhere to church teaching.

Speaking at the end of his party’s national conference in Wexford, Brendan Howlin said the Government needs to ensure State ownership of the new hospital on the proposed St. Vincent’s site, or move it to another location:

The controversy centres on the decision to allow the Sisters of Charity to retain ownership of the hospital, because the land is being donated by the order.

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IRELAND
The Journal

THE BISHOP OF Elphin has said the Sisters of Charity will have to obey the rules of the Catholic Church if they become the owners of the new national maternity hospital.

There has been growing controversy about the issue in recent days, with many people expressing concern about what impact the religious order owning the hospital could have on how it is run.

In a statement to the Sunday Times, Bishop Kevin Doran said: “Any healthcare organisation bearing the name Catholic, while offering care to all who need it, has a special responsibility … to Catholic teachings about the value of human life and the dignity and the ultimate destiny of the human person.”

Health Minister Simon Harris has insisted the hospital will be independently run despite being under the ownership of the order, which owns the land at St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin 4 where the new hospital is set to be built.

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IRELAND
RTE News

Fianna Fáil leader Michéal Martin said the new National Maternity Hospital would have to have clinical independence and should not be compromised.

He was responding to reported comments in The Sunday Times by the Bishop of Elphin Kevin Doran, that the Sisters of Charity will have to obey Catholic Church rules if they become owners of the new National Maternity Hospital.

He said the new hospital had to be free of any religious ethos.

Mr Martin called on the Minister for Health Simon Harris to be fully transparent about the process and the deal that has been made.

Earlier this week, it emerged that the Religious Sisters of Charity was to be given ownership of the €300m taxpayer-funded hospital because it owns the land on which it is to be built.

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IRELAND
Breaking News

Update: 11.35am: The Minister for Social Protection has called for calm heads to prevail amidst controversy over the new national maternity Hospital.

Leo Varadkar insists the facility – which is to be built on land owned by the Sisters of Charity – will have clinical independence.

He has given his backing to Simon Harris saying the Ministry is the only position in cabinet that has a lot of responsibility but lacks in authority.

Minister Varadkar who formerly worked at the National Maternity Hospital in Holles Street says the new facility urgently needs to go ahead.

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IRELAND
The Sunday Times (UK)

Justine McCarthy
April 23 2017
The Sunday Times

The Religious Sisters of Charity will have to obey the rules of the Roman Catholic church if they become owners of the new National Maternity Hospital (NMH) in south Dublin, according to the bishop of Elphin, Kevin Doran.

“A healthcare organisation bearing the name Catholic, while offering care to all who need it, has a special responsibility . . . to Catholic teachings about the value of human life and the dignity and the ultimate destiny of the human person,” said Doran, who chairs the hierarchy’s committee on bio-ethics.

“Public funding, while it brings with it other legal and moral obligations, does not change that responsibility.”

His statement to The Sunday Times appears to confirm warnings by Peter Boylan, the chairman of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, that the €300m maternity hospital may not provide services such as sterilisation, infertility treatment, gender reassignment surgery and abortion.

Doran’s statement also echoes a warning by Tom Lynch, chairman of the Ireland East Hospital Group, which includes St Vincent’s, that locating the maternity hospital on its campus would raise issues of medical ethics. Lynch told Jim Breslin, secretary-general of the Department of Health, that canon law obliged a hospital on Catholic land to operate by Catholic rules.

Doran referred to three tenets of canon law which decree that land held by religious institutions is “ecclesiastical property” over which the Pope has “primacy of governance”. He said he was speaking “in general terms” as the NMH is not in his diocese and he was unfamiliar with the legal relationship between the Sisters of Charity and St Vincent’s Healthcare Group (SVHG).

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IRELAND
The Irish Sun

By David Kearns
23rd April 2017

The National Maternity Hospital must obey Church doctrine if plans to hand over the site to the Sisters of Charity go ahead, claims Bishop Kevin Doran.

The bishop of Elphin believes any healthcare organisation “bearing the name Catholic… has a special responsibility to Catholic teachings… [including] the value of human life and the dignity and the ultimate destiny of the human person.”

“Public funding, while it brings with it other legal and moral obligations, does not change that responsibility,” he told the Sunday Times.
Mr Doran believes that canon law “obliges a hospital on Catholic land to operate by Catholic rules”.

In his statement to the Sunday Times, he refers to canon law which decrees that land held by religious institutions is “ecclesiastical property” over which the Pope has “primacy of governance”.

His comments this weekend seem to confirm warnings by many groups opposed to the Sisters of Charity’s ownership of the new national maternity hospital.

Already over 87,000 people have signed a petition calling on Minister for Health Simon Harris to prevent the religious order from taking ownership of the facility.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Hayley Halpin
April 23 2017

Dr. Ciara Kelly has lashed out against move to make the Sisters of Charity the sole owners of the new National Maternity Hospital

Dr. Kelly criticised the religious order in showing a “significant failure of atonement” in failing to pay off their outstanding debt to the redress scheme, adding that there was a “huge anger” among the public.

“The big thing is about the ethos. There is a long history of conflict between the church and providing women’s health in this country. The church does not approve of contraception, sterilisation, IVF, egg freezing,” Dr. Kelly said.

“It’s not acceptable that women have to fight for healthcare in this country.”

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BELGIE
NRC

Mark Vangheluwe’s testimony about abuse caused an avalanche in Catholic Church. He was abused by Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, his uncle and later the bishop of Bruges. He wrote a book, Letter to the Pope.].

Mark Eeckhaut
21 april 2017

‘We dragen het verslag in het bijzonder op aan de moed van het slachtoffer waarmee alles begon, op 23 april. Een man van veertig die durfde te getuigen over seksueel misbruik, tegen alle hiërarchie in. Het dwong respect af, het gaf een onbekende massa plots een stem.”

Het citaat van kinderpsychiater Peter Adriaenssens staat in het voorwoord van het eindrapport van september 2010 van de commissie-Adriaenssens, de kerkelijke commissie tegen seksueel misbruik in een pastorale relatie.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Apr 23, 2017
By Krystal Paco

Former US Attorney for Guam and the CNMI Alicia Limtiaco has been named as the chairwoman of the board of evaluators for Hope for Healing Guam. The non-profit organization is separate from the Archdiocese of Agana and was established earlier this month to address clergy sexual abuse claims.

Several rescusals have previously been declared from other officials due to conflicts with their faith. Limtiaco said that she is Catholic, but it will not impede her ability to lead the board.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com April 23, 2017

Former U.S. Attorney for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands Alicia Limtiaco has been tapped as volunteer chairwoman of an independent board helping out dozens of Guam clergy sex abuse victims.

Limtiaco is now chairwoman of the board of Hope and Healing Guam, a program offering professional counseling, treatment, spiritual healing, compensation and justice to clergy sex abuse victims.

Although initiated and funded by the Archdiocese of Agana using a seed money of $1 million, Hope and Healing acts as an independent body. Other board members will be announced later. Counseling has started for those who have called the program’s hotline, 1-888-649-5288.

The board will review each victim’s claim, but Limtiaco said the program is not a substitute for any litigation.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com April 23, 2017

Minnesota-based canon lawyer and former priest Patrick J. Wall said there appears to be more than sufficient evidence for a Vatican tribunal to come to a decision on Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron’s canonical penal trial, after two accusers provided testimony in March.

“In short, the Roman Pontiff can step in and make a decision since he is the supervisor of Apuron,” said Wall, who since 2002 has advocated for hundreds of clergy abuse survivors.

Pope Francis suspended Apuron in June 2016, weeks after former altar boys came forward and publicly accused the archbishop of raping and sexually abusing them as children in Agat in the 1970s.

“If Rome is going to act, they generally do so prior to July 31, when most Romans go on summer vacanza, until mid-September,” said Wall, co-author of “Sex, Priests, and Secret Codes,” a leading book on the 2,000-year history of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Gaynor D. Daleno | The Guam Daily Post

“We’ve learned that when you slug it out in court and go back and forth and eventually settle the cases, it doesn’t do anybody much good.” – Mike Caspino, director, Hope and Healing program

The director of a recently created program to promote hope and healing for multiple victims of child sex abuse at the hands of Guam priests decades ago said he’s aiming for an out-of-court resolution of all the Guam cases.

And not only is Mike Caspino aiming to resolve all cases, which have topped 50 accusers in recent weeks, he’s optimistic he can get all the parties to agree to a resolution by this summer.

Caspino was recently named by the Archdiocese of Agana as the director of the Hope and Healing program as part of archdiocesan efforts to reach out to victims of clergy sexual abuse by establishing a victims settlement fund.

He said the goal for a resolution by this summer is possible “through a lot of hard work and prayers.”

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Alicia Limtiaco is the former US Attorney for Guam and was also a former Guam Attorney General.

Guam – Hope and Healing Guam has announced that former US Attorney Alicia Limtiaco will be the program’s new chairperson of their Board of Evaluators.

Hope and Healing Guam is a non-profit agency created to offer counseling services and compensation to victims of clergy sexual abuse. The executive director, Attorney Michael Caspino, was hired by the Archdiocese of Agana which is also funding the program. Caspino says initial seed money for the project is $1 million.

Caspino said that in their search for a chairperson, Limtiaco’s name continued to pop up. Although Limtiaco has an extensive legal background, having served as Guam Attorney General and US Attorney, Caspino notes that Limtiaco was chosen not necessarily for her legal background but for her character and integrity.

In addition, Caspino said he spoke with Attorneys David Lujan and Kevin Fowler whose clients are suing the Archdiocese of Agana for civil claims of sexual abuse, and he says both seemed receptive of Limtiaco’s designation. Caspino also intends to speak with Attorney Anthony Perez who has also filed lawsuits against the church on behalf of his clients.

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JAMAICA
Jamaica Observer

With Balford Henry

Sunday, April 23, 2017

The Joint Select Committee (JSC), which has been completing the review of the Sexual Offences Acts, will resume meeting on Tuesday morning at Gordon House.

The new JSC was established in December 2016 by the Government, with current chairman being Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck, replacing his predecessor Senator Mark Golding.

It has met twice, including in February when Police Superintendent Enid Ross-Stewart, head of the Centre for Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA), landed a shocker when she informed the committee that clergymen and policemen were the most consistent “high-profile” people being arrested for having sex with girls under the age of 16.

Superintendent Ross-Stewart’s declaration, coming on the heels of the media exposure of two leaders of the Moravian Church community, former President Dr Paul Gardner and his former deputy, Jermaine Gibson, being arrested on charges of carnal abuse and indecent assault in January, was a major news issue then.

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NIGERIA
The Guardian

By Francis Akin-John
23 April 2017

“Giving no offence in anything, that the ministry be not blamed: But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God…” II Corinthians 6:3, 4. It is no gainsaying, but a true fact that respect for pastors by church members and the society is at very low ebb today. Pastors have become the butt of jokes everywhere. Wealthy people don’t respect pastors because they believe that every pastor has a price and can be bought with money. The society at large sees most pastors as ‘money monger’ and that church is a commercial venture. At every turn, aspersions are cast at the church and the name of our Lord is dragged in the mud, due to the misdemeanors of big time, popular and famous pastors. People plot, plan and work against pastors through wrong accusations and the press and social media is daily awash with fake, cooked up stories of pastoral sins and evil deeds. It was not like this 35 years ago, when I got saved. Then, there was high respect and honour for pastors.

We looked at pastors as junior Jesus, because of their Christlike lifestyles and honoured them for the great and sacrificial work they were doing. What happened and why this evil trend today? Well, our research has uncovered the following reasons:

• Becoming a pastor is no longer by God’s calling, but promotion and appointment by the church. It started in the middle 80s, when churches that wanted to expand by all means began to appoint, ordain every Ade, Ada and Adamu into pastoral positions. There were no more considerations for God’s calling into the ministry. By so doing, many who had no business or grace to shepherd GOD’S people found themselves in this stressful work and they messed up big time, and are still messing up. If God did not call you into this work, His power will never back you up. You are simply on your own, and you will cut corners to meet up with people’s expectation of you.

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OHIO
Toledo Blade

By RYAN DUNN and ALLISON REAMER | BLADE STAFF WRITERS Published on April 23, 2017

On Easter Sunday, 2014, the Rev. Cordell Jenkins preached from his church’s stage with a passion that emboldened the congregation.

Voice rising into the microphone, the pastor at Toledo’s Abundant Life Ministries praised God’s grace. This sermon detailed how minor setbacks precede major comebacks.

“And sometimes God allows setbacks in your life, to help you re-evaluate what’s still most important. Because if things always went your way, you would not need God as much as you say you need God,” Mr. Jenkins said.

Mr. Jenkins spent this past Easter incarcerated at the Lucas County jail.

Federal authorities said he and a second Toledo pastor sex-trafficked a teenage girl.

Prosecutors this month filed charges against Mr. Jenkins, 46, of 2423 Barrington Dr. and his co-defendant, the Rev. Anthony Haynes, Sr., 38, of 4926 Ventura Dr. in South Toledo. Both men are accused of repeatedly paying the juvenile for sexual acts.

Officials said in court documents Mr. Haynes’ relationship with the girl stretched from about January, 2014, to last month. Mr. Haynes eventually introduced her to other men, including Pastor Jenkins in September, records stated.

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SOUTH AFRICA
News 24

Dumisane Lubisi

Friday. The scene: Port Elizabeth Magistrates’ Court.

Inside, televangelist Timothy Omotoso is appearing on charges of human trafficking after a number of women made allegations that the pastor had sexually abused them.

But the real scene to watch is outside, where two groups are gathered.

One is demanding that Omotoso should not get bail because of the alleged crimes he committed.

The other, made up mainly of women and members of his church, has come to defend the pastor.

The posters they hoist say it all: “Let them talk daddy, they know nothing”; “Tim Omotoso my father”; “Omotoso Nation Aisijiki”.

This jarring show of support for the oppressor by the oppressed has played itself out before.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

JENNINE KHALIK, AMANDA GEARINGThe Australian
April 22, 2017

The controversial opening of the $23 million library at Brisbane’s Anglican Church Grammar School last night has been described­ as an attempt to “rewrite­ history” after a former headmaster’s name was dumped.

The school, known as Churchie, last year reversed its decision to name the new building after the late headmaster Harry Roberts, following heavy criticism of how he handled students’ sexual abuse allegations against staff while principal from 1947 to 1969.

Queensland Governor Paul de Jersey opened the building, the Centenary Library, last night. Mr De Jersey — a former student and the state’s long-serving chief justice — officiated at a ceremony in November 2015 when construction began and announced then that the library would be named the Roberts Centre for Learning and Innovation.

Victims of abuse at the school demanded a name change following the removal of the name of the Brisbane Grammar School’s former­ headmaster Max Howell from a building on its campus.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

T Ryle Dwyer
April 23 2017

During the eight years that I spent at university in the United States, I only heard of my home town of Tralee mentioned on the American news on one single occasion. And that was on this day 50 years ago – when Dr Denis Moynihan, the Bishop of Kerry, asked the people of Kerry to boycott the public appearance that night of movie star Jayne Mansfield at the Mount Brandon Hotel, Tralee.

Seamus McConville, the editor of The Kerryman, had informed the bishop of the appearance of the busty starlet, who boasted of her vital statistics – 40-21-35. He actually played down the controversy in the subsequent issue of The Kerryman.

Possibly the newspaperman just called the bishop for a comment. The Bishop may have actually been spurred into action by a letter from Archbishop John Charles McQuaid

This story played out against the backdrop of a complaint of the sexual and physical abuse of children in the Industrial school in Tralee. In his book, Holy Terrors, about the sexual and physical abuse that he experienced at St Joseph’s Industrial School, Michael Clemenger related that shortly after his release from the school in March 1967, he went to Monsignor John Lane, the Dean of Kerry.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Guam’s previous top federal prosecutor has been named chairwoman of the board of Hope and Healing, the organization created by the archdiocese to address multiple accusations of sexual abuse by former Guam priests, decades ago.

Chairwoman Alicia Limtiaco’s role was announced today during a press conference at the Hilton Guam Resort and Spa.

Limtiaco is the previous U.S. Attorney for Guam and the Northern Marianas. She resigned recently after the Trump administration asked holdover U.S. attorneys from the Obama administration to resign. She was a Bush-era appointee and a former elected attorney general of Guam.

Limtiaco said she’s committed to a board that will be victim-sensitive. The board will understand the dynamics of abuse and exploitation; and will be compassionate, fair and understand the effects and the impacts of trauma on the victims and in their lives.

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ILLINOIS
The Southern

MOLLY PARKER The Southern

OZARK — Paul Wesselmann remembers well the day he made the decision to reach out for help for the sexual abuse he endured as a young teen. It was 1994 — the year “Forrest Gump” was buzzing as the must-see movie of the summer. Wesselmann, then a young man in his 20s, went to see it alone. On the way to the grocery store after leaving the theater, he had to pull over because he was sobbing so hard.

It was that famous scene where Forrest came looking for Jenny because she didn’t get on the bus for school that morning that rattled him to the core. As Jenny’s father stumbles drunk outside with a flask in his hand and yelling for his daughter, Jenny tells Forrest to run. They head out into the cornfield behind her Alabama shack as her father chases after her, and she hits her knees and says, “Pray with me, Forrest,” and then begins to chant, “Dear God, make me a bird, so I can fly far, far, far away from here.”

The implication made in the movie — expressed through Forrest Gump’s naiveté; he described Jenny’s father as “a very loving man” — was that young Jenny wanted to get away because her father was sexually molesting her and her sisters. Wesselmann was struck by how much he related to the character’s desire to be transported from that horrid abuse — as it happened in real time, and the many times after that it played like a broken record in his head.

Shortly afterward, Wesselmann said he picked up the phone and scheduled an appointment to see a counselor. He realized that he could no longer shove into the dark reaches of his soul the tragedy he endured as a young teenager at Camp Ondessonk in the early- to mid-1980s.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Concerns raised about a Catholic priest later jailed for sexual assault were not acted upon or taken seriously by the Church, a review has found.

Anthony McSweeney, 70, was jailed for three years in 2015 for abusing a boy at a west London care home.

In the wake of the case an independent review was commissioned by the Dioceses of Brentwood and East Anglia.

The review said McSweeney was found with videos of adolescent boys in 1998 but this was not reported to police.

The review revealed how McSweeney was moved in 1999 from the Diocese of Brentwood, where he served at Saint Luke’s in Harlow and at Saint Peter’s in Eastwood, to St George’s Parish, Norwich, which is part of the Diocese of East Anglia, after the tapes were discovered.

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IRELAND
Connacht Tribune

Galway Bay fm newsroom – There was a large turnout at UHG this afternoon for a protest against plans to hand ownership of the new national maternity hospital to the Sisters of Charity.

The demonstration was hosted by the ‘Parents for Choice’ group and coincided with protests taking place at hospitals across the country.

The group is calling on the Government to reverse it’s decision to vest ownership of the 300 million euro facility to the religious order.

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CAMBODIA
APLE

A Dutchman arrested this week in Siem Reap province in possession of nearly 1,300 photographs of naked boys was charged with child pornography on Thursday—and identified as a former member of the Catholic clergy in his country, a court official and sources in the Netherlands said.

Evrard-Nicolas Sarot, 53, is alleged to have paid about 20 boys, all of whom were under the age of 15, a few dollars each to pose for nude photos, police said.

On Thursday, he was charged by the Siem Reap Provincial Court under the anti-human trafficking law after his arrest on Tuesday outside a Siem Reap City hotel, said Ream Chanmony, a spokesman for the provincial court.

Mr. Sarot is being provisionally detained at the provincial prison, Mr. Chanmony said.

Police found a laptop computer inside Mr. Sarot’s hotel room on Wednesday that held more photos of naked Cambodian boys, different from the images found on Tuesday on his Nikon camera, said Chhay Haklong, deputy chief of the provincial police’s anti-human trafficking unit.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

There is no “plan B” if the proposed move of the National Maternity Hospital (NMH) to St Vincent’s Hospital does not go ahead, Minister for Health Simon Harris has admitted.

Mr Harris said there was no other hospital in the geographical area that could be used to accommodate the NMH and deliver co-location with adult services.

Speaking to reporters in Galway, the Minister said he did not believe changes were needed to the agreement reached between the two hospitals last November about relocating the maternity hospital.

While he had not changed his mind about the agreement reached between two voluntary hospitals, this did not take away from his legal and contractual responsibility to protect the rights of the State and the taxpayer.

“Just because they have a robust agreement doesn’t negate my responsibility to ensure the clinical independence of the hospital is underpinned in contracts and our financial investment is protected.”

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IRELAND
Irish Mirror

BY AENGUS O’HANLON
22 APR 2017

Health Minister Simon Harris needs to “do the right thing” in the ongoing row over the new national maternity hospital, a campaign group said.

Uplift believes the public is “deeply confused, hurt and angry” by the plan to transfer ownership of the proposed €300million site to the Sisters of Charity, which was linked to the abuse of women in the Magdalene Laundries.

A petition on the group’s website had more than 85,000 signatures today – making it the largest of its kind since the body started in December 2014.

Spokeswoman Siobhan O’Donoghue said: “People are deeply, deeply confused, hurt and angry by the plan to transfer ownership of this badly needed maternity hospital to a religious order linked to the abuse and mistreatment of women taken into the Magdalene Laundries.

“This just goes to show there is real outrage about the planned ownership of National Maternity Hospital by the Sisters of Charity amongst the Irish public. People are willing to take action and show leadership. Uplift members have done much more than just sign the petition.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Mindy Aguon | For The Guam Daily

“The true goal of Hope and Healing is to get victims to sign away their hard-won legal rights and trade ‘spiritual counseling’ for transparency and accountability from church officials. That’s disgusting.” – Joelle Casteix, western region director, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

An organization that helps thousands of child sex abuse victims nationwide says a new program designed to help victims on Guam heal from past abuse is “disgusting.”

Joelle Casteix, western region director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), told The Guam Daily Post she was “horrified” at the initial press conference that announced the Hope and Healing program and the selection of Mike Caspino as the director.

Caspino, a California-based attorney, was hired by the Archdiocese of Agana to lead the program and urged sex abuse victims to come forward to heal.

“The true goal of Hope and Healing is to get victims to sign away their hard-won legal rights and trade ‘spiritual counseling’ for transparency and accountability from church officials. That’s disgusting,” said Castei

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CONNECTICUT
Record-Journal

April 22, 2017

By Matthew Zabierek, Record-Journal staff

WALLINGFORD — Following the release of a report that revealed several incidents of alleged sexual abuse at Choate Rosemary Hall since the 1960s, state officials and legal experts say state laws regarding the reporting of child abuse need to be clarified to allow claims to be investigated after the victim turns 18 years old.

State law currently allows the state Department of Children and Families to investigate reports of child abuse until the victim turns 18 and is considered an adult. Once an individual reaches adulthood, DCF historically hasn’t “accepted reports relating to potential victims if that person is no longer a minor,” said Julie Fay, a lawyer who specializes in school law at Hartford-based law firm Shipman & Goodwin.

Fay said existing state laws do not provide guidance for how DCF should investigate claims from an adult who alleges abuse as a child, “creating question as to how to handle information relating to suspicions that involve children who are now adults.”

“We need to make sure that we’re crystal clear about how we respond to child abuse in Connecticut,” said Mickey Kramer, an associate child advocate with the state Office of the Child Advocate. “If the law isn’t clear, then how can we expect DCF to respond consistently and reliably?”

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IRELAND
The Journal

MINISTER FOR HEALTH Simon Harris has come out again to strongly defend the government’s decision to allow the new National Maternity Hospital to be built on land owned by religious group the Sisters of Charity.

Addressing the annual general meeting of the Irish Medical Organisation, Harris said that, in this country, “doctors and healthcare professionals make clinical decisions – nobody else”.

However, at the Labour Party national conference today, Joan Burton accused Harris of being “hapless, helpless and hopeless” on the issue.

The question of a religious order owning a maternity hospital providing a range of services for women and children has been subject to severe scrutiny this week.

To date, over 80,000 people have signed a petition calling on a block to be placed on the Sisters of Charity owning the new National Maternity Hospital.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Paul Cullen, Pat Leahy 
 
The proposed move of the National Maternity Hospital to a religious-owned site at St Vincent’s Hospital is in jeopardy after the board of St Vincent’s announced it plans to review the status of the project.

The board said the decision was prompted by “controversy and misinformation that has arisen in recent times” and the views expressed by Minister for Health Simon Harris and other TDs.

The Irish Times understands St Vincent’s was extremely reluctant to agree to the relocation of the National Maternity Hospital to its campus in the first place, and was subjected to considerable pressure from Government and the HSE to accept the plan.

When St Vincent’s agreed to accept the move from Holles Street, it sought to integrate the new hospital into its structures, but compromised to accept a separate legal entity and to preserve the mastership system of the National Maternity Hospital, which sees the hospital led by a doctor.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Eilish O’Regan
April 22 2017

Health Minister Simon Harris today called for “cool heads” as he waded into the row which threatens the future of a new national maternity hospital.

The minister was attempting to quell the controversy which has led to St Vincent’s Healthcare Group to review its offer of a site at its Dublin campus for the new hospital.

Asked if he intends to meet the group, he said will allow its board to meet to discuss the issue next week.

The row erupted over the decision to give ownership of the new maternity hospital to the Sisters of Charity, the religious order who own the campus where the St Vincent’s public and private hospitals are located.

The plan is to re-locate the maternity hospital to a new €300m building to be constructed at St Vincent’s campus in Elm Park, two miles away.

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IRELAND
The Irish World

The Irish agency in charge of a €110 million fund for victims of abuse must be reformed as it is “completely out of its depth”, according to a member of Dail Eireann’s Public Accounts Committee, Independent TD Catherine Connolly. Caranua, which runs a redress fund for victims of institutional abuse, admitted it was overwhelmed by applications, managed its finances poorly and provided a poor service.

Last week TDs were told the agency is nevertheless about to spend €240,000 of the fund’s money in annual rent for a new office in Dublin city centre.

Survivors

Caranua was set up to distribute funds provided by religious orders to survivors of abuse at industrial schools, who can apply for help based on their health, housing or educational needs. The agency started in 2013 but didn’t have a financial manager until last summer. Its administrative costs are paid out of the fund itself and there is now €48 million of the initial €110 million left. Two per cent of applicants have been awarded one fifth of the total fund so far.

Two people received €100,000 or more, three people were given €90,000 or more and another three were granted between €80,000 and €85,000, The Times reported in an investigation published in its Irish edition last week. Last June Caranua put a €15,000 cap on pay outs, the year before it increased its chief executive Mary Higgins’ annual pay by €10,000 bringing it to more than €87,000. Ms Higgins has been criticised for saying that whatever the agency did or paid out some of the victims would never be happy.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Catherine O’Mahony
April 22 2017

Feelings are running high – that’s for sure. Tens of thousands of people have signed a petition to block the state from granting sole ownership of the proposed National Maternity Hospital to the Sisters of Charity, the order that owns the St Vincent’s Hospital site in Dublin’s Ballsbridge where the new hospital is set to land.

So vehement is the opposition that the board of St Vincent’s Healthcare Group yesterday said it was reviewing the status of the whole project.

Calls are being made for a clear divide between church and state on matters regarding health. Questions are being asked as to why any religious order should take ownership of the state-funded hospital, much less a maternity hospital where procedures sometimes need to take place that run counter to Catholic teachings.

Survivors of abuse at Magdalene Laundries are justifiably outraged because the Sisters of Charity have so far paid out only €2m of the €5m they are due to pay in redress.
There can be no excuse for this order not to pay its due. If the state can exert influence in this regard, it must.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

The Health Service Executive is seeking a new service provider to run a centre for people with intellectual disabilities in Cork following two highly critical Hiqa reports into the facility when it was operated by the Sisters of Charity.

A spokeswoman told The Irish Times “the process is well under way”.

This is the second Sisters of Charity health service against which the HSE has moved following recent severely critical Hiqa reports.

The religious order is at the centre of controversy over plans for it to become the sole owner of the new National Maternity Hospital at St Vincent’s hospital campus in Dublin.

The HSE confirmed that in June 2015 the District Court in Kilkenny granted an order to Hiqa to cancel the registration of Our Lady’s Unit at the St Patrick’s Centre there, run by the Sisters of Charity, due to concerns over fire safety. The court appointed the HSE as registered provider.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Eilish O’Regan
April 22 2017

The future of the new national maternity hospital has been thrown into doubt as the row over its ownership deepened last night.

The board of St Vincent’s Healthcare Group – controlled by the Sisters of Charity – announced it is to review its decision to allow the hospital to be built on its campus.

It follows days of controversy over the decision to allow the religious order to own the new €300m national maternity hospital which will be built on its land surrounding St Vincent’s Hospital. In a statement yesterday, the chairman of St Vincent’s Group, James Menton, said: “In view of the controversy and misinformation that has arisen in recent times regarding the project, and the views expressed by the Health Minister and other members of the Oireachtas, the board of St Vincent’s Healthcare Group will review the status of the project in light of the current situation.”

Critics, including some of the past residents of the Magdalene Laundries, said the religious order should not be allowed to own the hospital.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Pat Leahy

“How do I get to Killarney?” the American tourist asked. “If I were you I wouldn’t start from here at all,” came the reply. An awful lot of policy debates in Irish politics trundle around similar territory. The controversy of the week has been whether the State should give the Sisters of Charity ownership of the National Maternity Hospital when it moves from Holles Street to a new €300 million building on the campus of St Vincent’s University Hospital.

Minister for Health Simon Harris has been lambasted for agreeing to the arrangement. He promises that the nuns will have no influence on the medical care. The current master pleads for the new hospital to be built, whoever owns it. Conditions at Holles Street are becoming intolerable for patients, she says. A forthcoming inquest into the death of one of those patients is likely to underscore the urgency, I’m told.

The concerns that the nuns were going to be sitting in the corner of the delivery room, directing the obstetricians – “Watch it there, doctor! Have you said the rosary?” – were slightly hyperventilated but not entirely misplaced. As my colleague Una Mullally fairly asked in an online column, why do the nuns want to own a maternity hospital anyway?

The answer, I think, is more about money and the protection of assets than about medical practice. The religious orders are not stupid. They can see as well as the rest of us that pretty soon barely any nuns will be left, just as the massed ranks of priests and brothers who taught generations of boys in Ireland’s schools are now a thing of the past. Many regret the passing of the orders; others remember only the crimes that some of them seemed to specialise in. Either way, they are going, going.

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IRELAND
98 FM

22 Apr 2017
Sharron Lynskey

A protest is taking place in the city this afternoon over the ownership of the new National Maternity Hospital at the St Vincents site.

Campaigners say ownership should not handed over to the Sisters of Charity.

The new facility is now in doubt, after the board of St Vincent’s said it’s now reviewing the project because of the ‘controversy’ surrounding it.

Nobody denies but that Holles Street needs a new premises as a matter of urgency and you know, funding has been allocated for that”, says Social Democrat leader Roisin Shorthall.

“But the important thing is that we get assurances and we find out the full detail in relation to what the agreement entails, in relation to ownership and in relation to governance of the hospital”.

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IRELAND
The Nationalist

Health Minister Simon Harris has been urged to “publish all the deals and all the side deals” with a religious order involved in the mother and baby homes scandal over the building of the new national maternity hospital, writes political correspondent Fiachra Ó Cionnaith.

Labour TD and former tánaiste Joan Burton called for the immediate move as she lashed out at Mr Harris being “hapless, helpless and hopeless” over his response to what happened and for failing the women of Ireland.

In a hard-hitting speech during an emergency debate on three motions in response to last night’s revelations the Sisters of Charity are considering scrapping the national maternity hospital plan, Ms Burton said “secret deals” with the church have no role to play in modern Ireland.

Warning public trust has been shattered by what has emerged this week, she said no one has been re-assured by the Government’s response and that what happens now will be central to a deal “that will last the next 100 years”.

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IRELAND
The Cork

22 April 2017
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie

Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Health Billy Kelleher TD has called on Minister Simon Harris to publish the deal reached between the National Maternity Hospital and the Sisters of Charity regarding the provision of the new maternity hospital.

Deputy Kelleher said, “The ownership of the new National Maternity Hospital has been subject to intense discussion and debate in recent days. There have been many reports and counter-reports regarding the proposed governance structure for the hospital which is due to be constructed on the site of the current St. Vincent’s Hospital.

“While I have requested the Master of Holles Street – Dr Rhona Mahony – to attend the Oireachtas Health Committee, alongside Kieran Mulvey, I am also requesting that all details of the various reports, reviews and deals on the hospital be fully published so that people can ascertain the facts. We need clarity on what is actually contained in the deal reached to provide a new National Maternity Hospital.

“I am also extending the invitation to Minister Harris to attend the Health Committee so that he can outline exactly what he agreed to and at what stages he was consulted.

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IRELAND
RTE News

The Irish Medical Organisation has said the project for the new national maternity hospital seems to have been very badly handled.

Earlier this week, it emerged that the Religious Sisters of Charity was to be given ownership of the €300m taxpayer-funded hospital because it owns the land on which it is to be built.

The new hospital is to be built on the campus of St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin.

Dr Ann Hogan, the IMO’s new president, said it was very distressing and could mean a delay in the new facility that is so badly needed for women and babies.

Speaking at the union’s annual general meeting in Galway, she said both Minister for Health Simon Harris and the Master of Holles Street Hospital Dr Rhona Mahony had given assurances that they had the range of medical services and independence of the facility copper fastened and now there was uncertainty.

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ITALIA
Rete L’Abuso

[Don Felice La Rosa, 42, a former pastor of Zungri, was suspended by Bishop Luigi Renzo after he and two other suspects were charged with child prostitution.]

L’indagine risale allo scorso novembre. Il sacerdote avrebbe pagato una somma di denaro per le prestazioni sessuali di un 15enne

Salta il filtro dell’udienza preliminare e va all’immediato don Felice La Rosa, 42 anni, ex parroco di Zungri, sospeso dal vescovo Luigi Renzo, dopo che questi, insieme ad altri due indagati, è stato accusato di prostituzione minorile. L’indagine della Squadra mobile, coordinata dalla Procura di Catanzaro, che ha consentito di svelare un giro di prostituzione minorile, risale a novembre 2016. Don La Rosa è stato arrestato dalla polizia assieme ad altre due persone, un cittadino bulgaro, M.I., e un pensionato, F.A, di Briatico. Secondo gli inquirenti, il bulgaro avrebbe offerto per denaro al pensionato e al sacerdote le prestazioni sessuali di un 15enne, anch’egli straniero.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Nordwest Zeitung

[The investigations of a priest from Lohne (Kreis Vechta) on suspicion of possession of child pornographic writings has been suspended. The priest had previously been investigated by the Oldenburg Public Prosecutor’s Office for sexual abuse.]

LOHNE/MÜNSTER Die Ermittlungen gegen einen Priester aus Lohne (Kreis Vechta) wegen des Verdachts auf den Besitz jugendpornografischer Schriften sind eingestellt worden. Es habe sich „kein hinreichender Tatverdacht“ ergeben, bestätigte die Erste Staatsanwältin der Staatsanwaltschaft Hannover, Kathrin Söfker, am Freitag.

Die Dateien auf dem beschlagnahmten Computer des zunächst Verdächtigen seien gelöscht gewesen, dann aber wiederhergestellt worden, so die Staatsanwältin. Einige wenige Bilder darin hätten möglicherweise als jugendpornografisch gelten können. Allerdings sei das Alter der abgebildeten Menschen nicht einzuschätzen gewesen. Es könne sich auch um Volljährige handeln, so dass die Bilder „legal“ gewesen seien, hieß es.

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CANADA
The Globe and Mail

TRACY BEAR AND CHRIS ANDERSEN
Special to The Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Apr. 21, 2017

Tracy Bear is director of the Indigenous Women’s Resilience Project in the Faculty of Native Studies and Department of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Alberta. Chris Andersen is interim dean of the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta.

The year 2017 is especially symbolic for Canada. In addition to marking the 150th year of its confederation, it also is the third anniversary of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s completion. Two years ago, the TRC released its final report and 94 calls to action to “redress the legacy of residential schools and advance the process of Canadian reconciliation.” Amid celebrations, a vigorous debate has erupted over the gap between the Canadian federal government’s promises to Indigenous peoples and what might charitably be termed the muted delivery on those promises.

At possibly no other time in our history has so much discussion taken place, country wide, about issues relating to reconciliation and the calls for a renewed relationship between Canada and Indigenous peoples. In the midst of these ostensibly celebratory conversations, however, some examples have emerged that demonstrate just how far we have to go. Nationally, Senator Lynn Beyak recently commented on what she regarded as the TRC’s excessively negative depiction of Canada’s Indian residential schools. Her remarks are as profoundly tone deaf as they are historically inaccurate and they led to her removal from the Senate committee on aboriginal peoples. Here in Alberta, the local council in Strathcona County (directly east of Edmonton) recently voted against beginning its meetings with an acknowledgment of their presence on Treaty 6 territory.

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UNITED STATES
Christianity Today

ED STETZER

The explosive controversy surrounding Bill O’Reilly has captured the attention of global news networks, and his sudden departure has sparked conversation about harassment, bullying, and organizational response. Wednesday night, I watched Fox News briefly mention O’Reilly at the beginning of his former time slot, and then quickly move to other topics. This was in sharp contrast to almost every other major news network, which ran the story as a main focus of conversation on TV and online outlets.

The attempt to subdue the conversation actually just displayed a palpable disconnect.

There are many lessons Fox News needs to learn from this situation, and certainly O’Reilly has a lot to learn as well.

But I’m wondering something different.

I want to know, what can the Church learn from this debacle?

Here are some thoughts.

First, the way we respond to an accusation teaches people how we value others.

Many leaders have publicly dismissed these accusations against Bill O’Reilly as a smear campaign without knowing the facts. Dismissal like this has almost become a default in some organizations, especially in the case of sexual misconduct.

Yes, I know (and am glad) we live in a society where legally people are presumed innocent until proven guilty. But when leaders respond to allegations of sexual harassment and bullying with automatic defensiveness, doubt, and dismissal, that teaches people who have been hurt how much you value them. To put it bluntly, it teaches them they won’t be believed.

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JAMAICA
The Gleaner

Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it – Proverbs 22:6

Growing up, it has always been the norm for parents to advocate that children be ‘raised’ in the Church. Be it Sabbath or Sunday School, the principle was that if they even turned away to focus on ‘things of the world’, then the innate training would manifest itself once more.

But with the many reports coming out of Christendom regarding the abuse by leaders of the flock on their young charges, reports on pastors swindling poor souls out of their hard earned monies, doubts have arisen on how much of a sanctuary the Church really is.

Dr Edina Bayne, associate pastor and member of the American Associations of Christian Counsellors, who is currently in Jamaica reached out to Family and Religion on what she termed ‘a burning issue’.

“The Church, which one would love to think would be the final frontier, a place that is built on family, and where families should feel safe – especially safe from sexual abuse, manipulation and control – is everything but safe. Now we find that in all too many instances in the churches, charismatic pastors and leaders are preying on the Church instead of praying for them,” she said.

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MALAWI
Vatican Radio

A Child Protection activist in Malawi, Sister Agnes Jonas of the Teresian Sisters, has challenged Children Animators in the Church to safeguard and protect children from all forms of abuses including physical and emotional ill-treatment; sexual abuse; neglect or negligent treatment of children. She said the Church could also advocate against commercial interests that harm children.

Sr. Jonas spoke about the importance of protecting children during a presentation on Child Protection to 96 Animators under the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM).

“This includes exploitation, resulting in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust and power,” said Sr. Jonas.

According to Sr. Jonas, the Church is crucial in ensuring that it assists victims of abuse. This support to victims encompasses cooperating with civil authorities and offering Counselling to victims.

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NEW YORK
InformNY

By: Christopher Bucher
Posted: Apr 21, 2017

There will be a special mass held this weekend in St. Lawrence County designed to try and bring peace to victims of sexual abuse.

According to 7 News, Bishop Terry LaValley of the Diocese of Ogdensburg plans to hold a “Healing Mass” at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Ogdensburg.

The hope is to try and alleviate pain suffered by the thousands of people who were sexually abused by the overall Catholic clergy over several decades.

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ARIZONA
The Catholic Sun

The Diocese of Phoenix Office of Child and Youth Protection planted a pinwheel garden outside of the Diocesan Pastoral Center April 18 to mark April as Child Abuse Prevention Month.

The pinwheel “is an uplifting symbol of childhood. It represents all our efforts to ensure a healthy and safe environment of children in our community,” said Anne Vargas-Leveriza, director of the Child and Youth Protection Office.

The program began with a Rosary led by students from St. Agnes School, followed by a Mass celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Eduardo A. Nevares.

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NEW YORK
Watertown Daily Times

By LARRY ROBINSON
LROBINSON@OGD.COM
PUBLISHED: SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 2017

OGDENSBURG — Bishop Terry R. La­Valley, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg, will apologize for past sexual abuse and other harmful acts by clergy and church officials during a special service at 3 p.m. Sunday at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Ogdensburg.

The so-called Mass of Healing is being held on what Catholics celebrate as Divine Mercy Sunday, the Sunday following Easter.

Bishop LaValley said Friday that the liturgy will acknowledge the pain caused by some pastoral leaders and other members of the church, whether it involved the sexual abuse of minors or other inappropriate actions.

“It’s an opportunity to come together and seek the Lord’s forgiveness,” Bishop LaValley said. “To express our sorrow, our regret, our shame, and to come together as the members of one family of faith to pray for each other and support each other.”

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UNITED STATES
Telegraph (UK)

Rebecca Hawkes
20 APRIL 2017

In Baltimore, Maryland, in 1969, a 26-year-old Catholic nun was murdered and her suspected killers, alleged abusers and paedophiles, left free to their continue their crimes.

Years later, a new seven-part Netflix series, the forthcoming The Keepers, has thrust the case into the public eye – and, judging by its gripping trailer, may have uncovered new evidence about a decades-old cover-up.

But the release of The Keepers is just the latest chapter in a long, ongoing story, which encompasses not just a murder, but a probable paedophilia ring, and deep-set corruption on the part of police force and church officials in Baltimore.

In 2015 The Huffington Post published an in-depth piece on the case, focusing on the stories of the former Catholic schoolgirls who came forwards, years later, to share their stories of the sexual abuse they endured at Archbishop Kenough High School, and their memories of the charismatic young teacher, Sister Catherine “Cathy” Cesnik, who promised to help them – and later ended up dead.

The key events from the case

November 1969: Sister Cathy Cesnik disappears

Cesnik, a popular teacher at the all-girls Archbishop Kenough High School, disappeared after leaving the flat she shared with another nun, Sister Helen Russell Phillips, on November 7 1969. When she hadn’t returned by 11pm, Phillips became concerned and called two priests, Father Gerald J. Koob and Father Peter McKeon, who later contacted the police. Cesnik’s car was discovered nearby, parked illegally (and away from her usual spot).

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UNITED STATES
Daily Mail (UK)

By Jennifer Smith For Dailymail.com

Netflix has unveiled the trailer for its next addictive true crime docu-series.

The Keepers examines the 1969 murder of Baltimore nun Cathy Cesnik, a grisly crime that has haunted the city for years.

It promises to expose a web of corruption, sexual abuse and lies within the Baltimore’s entrenched Catholic community.

The film was created by Tripod Media and Film 45. It will be launched on Netflix on May 19.

Cathy Cesnik was murdered in November 1969. She was 26 and taught English teacher at Archbishop Keough High School.

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UNITED STATES
news.com.au

ONE evening in November, 1969, Sister Catherine “Cathy” Cesnik, left the home she shared with a fellow nun to buy some dinner rolls, shop for an engagement gift and cash a cheque.

When the 26-year-old hadn’t returned by 11pm, her concerned flatmate called two friends who were priests. They eventually contacted local Baltimore police and reported their friend missing.

Her car was discovered unlocked, parked illegally, and away from her usual spot. There was no sign of Cathy.

In early 1970 Sister Cathy’s badly decomposed body was discovered at a rubbish dump. A forensic examination revealed that the popular schoolteacher had been choked, then killed by a blow from a blunt object — possibly a hammer or a brick.

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IOWA
Quad-City Times

Thumbs up to Bishop Martin Amos and welcome to his soon-to-be successor at the Catholic Diocese of Davenport, Monsignor Thomas Zinkula.

Amos came to a diocese in crisis in 2006, at the height of allegations of past sexual abuse. He helped steer the diocese through the bankruptcy and financial hardships that followed, while doing the important work of reaching out to survivors of abuse. Through it all, Amos remained steady.

The Diocese of Davenport is in a much better place because of his decade at its helm.

In will walk Zinkula on June 22, a lawyer, religious scholar and rector of St. Pius X Seminary in Dubuque. Zinkula immediately addressed issues such as priest shortages and burnout in his introductory comments. And did so with a certain sense of humor, particularly about how people tend to butcher his name. Zinkula looks to be up to the challenge of representing a religious community amid a changing political landscape.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

Joanne McCarthy
22 Apr 2017

NEWCASTLE Anglican Diocese will hold a two day professional standards board hearing into the fitness for ministry of Reverend Drew Hanlon.

In a short statement the diocese did not reveal any details about the reason for the hearing on April 27 and 28, but confirmed it is open to the public. Venue is level 1, 19 Darby Street, Newcastle.

Reverend Hanlon became an Anglican priest in December, 1993 and started work with Newcastle diocese in January, 2011. Reverend Hanlon concluded ministry at Samaritans in April, 2013 and has recently been living in South Australia.

The board hearing will be presided over by former NSW local court magistrate Colin Elliott after he accepted reappointment as president of the professional standards board in October.

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IRELAND
Connacht Tribune

Galway Bay fm newsroom – A campaign group will protest at UHG this weekend over government plans to hand ownership of the new national maternity hospital to the Sisters of Charity.

The demonstration is being hosted by the ‘Parents for Choice’ group.

The group is calling on the government to reverse its decision to vest ownership of the 300 million euro facility to the religious order.

The protest will take place outside UHG at 3pm on Saturday to coincide with similar protests at maternity units across Ireland.

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IRELAND
Newstalk

One of Ireland’s largest hospitals does not provide women with the contraceptive pill – based on its operational ethos as a Catholic institution.

In-patients at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital in Dublin are not provided with access to the pill, regardless of whether they need it due to illness or are suffering without it.

While doctors are free to prescribe the medication, the hospital does not stock the pill at its on-site pharmacy and expects women to source their own from outside. …

The Department of Health has refused to comment on the revelations – insisting that the Mater is a private institution free to operate under its own ethos and guidelines.

Dr Murphy said that while the hospital is a private institution, it is funded by the government. …

The situation will do little to calm fears however, that the planned delivery of sole ownership of the new National Maternity Hospital to another religious order, the Sisters of Charity, will compromise its clinical and operational independence.

A department spokesman said the new facility will be operating “very much under a different situation” with a “triple-lock” system in place to guarantee its autonomy and clinical independence.

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IRELAND
The Journal

THE BOARD OF the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group plans to review the status of the new National Maternity Hospital project, in light of recent developments.

In a statement, the group said it would review plans to build the new maternity hospital at the St Vincent’s Hospital site, in light of the controversy surrounding the development.

“In view of the controversy and misinformation that has arisen in recent times regarding the project, and the views expressed by the Minister for Health and other members of the Oireachtas, the board of St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group will review the status of the project in light of the current situation,” said Jimmy Menton, Chairperson of St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group.

“Pending this review, the Board does not intend to make any further comment.”

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