ABUSE TRACKER

PENNSYLVANIA
The Tribune-Democrat

By Marcia Moore
CNHI News Reports

Health officials around Pennsylvania are sounding the alarm on child protection.

Pat Bruno, director of the Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital Child Advocacy Center in Sunbury said the public needs to understand how adverse childhood experiences affect adults later in life.

“What we need now is a movement,” Bruno said. “We need to make people aware that we’re dealing with a public health crisis.”

Researchers of the Adverse Childhood Experience Study found traumatic childhood experiences can lead decades later to physical and mental health problems.

“We know the more adverse childhood experiences you have, the more likely in the long term you’ll have physical problems, behavioral problems, psychological problems as an adult,” Bruno said. “We know your life expectancy will be decreased by as many as 20 years.”

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UNITED STATES
Popesugar

May 27, 2017 by MAGGIE PEHANICK

There are things in The Keepers that you can never un-hear. Netflix’s latest true crime series explores the unsolved 1969 murder of Sister Cathy Cesnik, and it’s not long until the story takes a horrific turn. The seven-part series delves into allegations of unthinkable sexual assault, perpetrated by a trusted Father at the all-girls Catholic High School where Cesnik worked. Hearing from the victims is traumatizing enough, but the way the show concludes is both frustrating and depressing. That said, the story isn’t over. Here’s every bit of news that has come out since The Keepers wrapped production.

1. Maskell’s DNA Was Tested Against DNA Found Near the Crime Scene

In February, Father Joseph Maskell’s body was exhumed. His remains were tested by a forensics lab, and his DNA did not match a sample that was taken from the Cesnik crime scene. “For now, we’ve pretty well reached the end of the road when it comes to forensic evidence,” said a spokesperson for the Baltimore County Police Department. “Our best hope for solving this case at this point lies with the people who are still alive. And we hope that someone will be able to come forward with conclusive information about the murder.

2. Maryland’s Statute of Limitations on Sex Abuse Reports Has Been Extended

In April, C.T. Wilson, the delegate who was featured in The Keepers, was finally able to pass his bill. Beginning on July 1, survivors of sexual abuse will have until age 38 to sue their abusers.

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GUAM
KUAM

May 28, 2017
By Krystal Paco

Another $5 million lawsuit is lodged against the church. 41-year-old G.J. alleges he was sexually molested and raped by Father Andrew Mannetta while he was an altar boy at the Catholic Church in Mangilao in the mid-1980s. During sleepovers at the rectory, the priest allegedly let the altar boys watch “softporn.”

On one such sleepover, Mannetta allegedly called G.J. to the bedroom where the boy was instructed to massage and masturbate the priest before he was raped. The incident was life changing and prompted G.J. to quit as an altar boy as well as give up on his dream of becoming a priest. In 2009 or 2010, the civil complaint states G.J. reached out to the church.

Deacon Jeff Barcinas and Deacon Steve Martinez were able to determine G.J.’s allegations were true. He marks the 70th plaintiff to file suit.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

AAP, Herald Sun
May 28, 2017

THE FAMILY of Anthony Foster has accepted the Victorian government’s offer of a state funeral, which Premier Daniel Andrews says was to honour a man who “quietly and profoundly changed Australian history.”

Mr Foster, 64, died this week, reportedly after a major stroke.

Mr Andrews said in a statement today:

“History will record that a man named Anthony Foster quietly and profoundly changed Australian history.

“This afternoon, I offered his family a State Funeral in his honour.

“His wife, Chrissie, has accepted.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

By Jacob Polychronis For Daily Mail Australia and Australian Associated Press

A high-profile advocate for child sex abuse victims, whose daughters were repeatedly raped by a Melbourne priest, has died after suffering a major stroke.

Anthony Foster, 64, became a relentless campaigner after his daughters Emma and Katie were sexually abused by priest Kevin O’Donnell at their Melbourne primary school between 1988 and 1993.

He is believed to have died on Friday evening after falling and hitting his head.

Mr Foster rose to prominence after engaging in a decade-long battle with the Catholic church for a compensation payout.

The Fosters were offered a $50,000 payout from the church which they rejected – later taking them to court.

The church settled the Fosters in 2006 for $750,000.

Mr Foster publicly accused Cardinal George Pell – who was archbishop of Melbourne at the time – for stalling their compensation claim.

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UNITED STATES
Salon

ERIN KEANE

Note: This story contains spoilers for the Netflix series “The Keepers.”

True crime fans cleared their schedules for a Netflix binge last weekend when the streaming service dropped the nonfiction cold case investigation “The Keepers,” a seven-part series about the 1969 disappearance and murder of a young nun in Baltimore. Comparisons to Netflix’s 2015 sensation “Making a Murderer” were unavoidable — another fascinatingly ambiguous criminal case for fans to get lost in, debate with fellow fans, and maybe even engage in some amateur sleuthing of their own.

Once upon a time — as recent as two years ago, a lifetime in Peak TV years — new seasons of fictional prestige dramas like “House of Cards” were awaited breathlessly. True crime was more the domain of documentary features and magazine shows like “Dateline” or “The First 48,” those nonfiction procedural counterparts to the “CSI” and “Law & Order” franchises. But three influential shows paved the way for true crime stories to claim a solid berth in the prestige tier of mass entertainment. Of course networks are now looking for the next story that could stretch into a multi-part binge-worthy series rather than a one-and-done feature film.

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IRELAND
The Times (UK)

Toby Harnden, Washington
May 28 2017
The Sunday Times

A potential Irish victim of Joseph Maskell, an American priest who fled to Co Wexford in the 1990s following allegations of sexual abuse in Baltimore, Maryland, has come forward after a Netflix documentary revealed his possible involvement in murder.

Maskell fled to Ireland in 1995 after US police uncovered a trove of incriminating documents, including psychological profiles of his victims, that he had buried in a Baltimore graveyard the previous year. While in Ireland he worked as a psychologist in private practice and with the local area health board.

One potential victim has come forward in Ireland, where Maskell said mass despite being defrocked. “One of the attorneys in my office took a call concerning a potential victim of sex abuse in Ireland by Maskell,” said Joanne Suder, a Baltimore lawyer who represents many of the victims.

There have been no previous reports of allegations against Maskell in Ireland, which Suder said had in the past protected paedophiles. “Historically, Ireland has not been receptive to sending priests back. It’s been a safe haven for priests and it doesn’t make Ireland safer,” she said.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

Joanne McCarthy
28 May 2017

ANTHONY Foster was integrity personified.

His death on Saturday, aged 64, after he collapsed on Wednesday, has shattered everyone who knew him.

His death has added to the merciless toll that’s a consequence of the Catholic Church’s history of child sexual abuse.

Anthony and wife Chrissie’s two eldest daughters, Emma and Katie, were sexually assaulted by Catholic priest Kevin O’Donnell when they were barely five and six years old, and O’Donnell was in his 70s. Emma died of a medication overdose in 2007, aged 25. Katie was struck by a car in 1999, aged 16, after periods of binge drinking. She survived, but with profound disabilities.

Since the 1990s Anthony and Chrissie Foster have fought the church on behalf of their daughters, but increasingly on behalf of all survivors.

On my desk I have the book Chrissie wrote in 2010, Hell on the Way to Heaven, about that fight, including their attempt to meet Pope Benedict in Sydney during World Youth Day events in 2008, and the church’s shocking response – that some people were “dwelling crankily on old wounds”.

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AUSTRALIA
The New Daily

Kaitlyn Offer

High-profile child sex abuse victims advocate Anthony Foster will be honoured with a state funeral.

Mr Foster’s wife, Chrissie, was on Sunday offered the service to commemorate a man who “quietly and profoundly changed Australian history” and she accepted, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said in a statement.

Mr Foster, 64, died on Friday, reportedly after a major stroke.

Anthony Foster and wife Chrissie spent years battling for justice for their abused daughters.He became a relentless advocate after his daughters, Emma and Katie, were raped by notorious abuser and pedophile Father Kevin O’Donnell at their Melbourne primary school in the suburb of Oakleigh between 1988 and 1993.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

The family of long-time advocate for child sex abuse victims, Anthony Foster, has accepted an offer from the Victorian Government for a state funeral.

Mr Foster, who died in a Melbourne hospital on Friday, aged 64, after a fall last week, was yesterday hailed as “brave and gracious” and a “hero” for his campaigning for victims.

He dedicated his life to seeking justice for child sex abuse at the hands of the Catholic Church after two of his daughters were repeatedly raped by a priest in the 1980s.

“History will record that a man named Anthony Foster quietly and profoundly changed Australian history,” Premier Daniel Andrews said in a statement.

“This afternoon, I offered his family a state funeral in his honour.

“His wife, Chrissie, has accepted.”

In a two decade-long quest to hold the Catholic Church accountable for crimes against children, Mr Foster and his wife Chrissie told the harrowing story of their family’s treatment at the hands of the church to the media and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Josh Gordon

Anthony Foster, the tireless advocate for victims of child sexual abuse, is to receive a state funeral.

Mr Foster, who ran a high-profile campaign accusing the Catholic Church of covering up abuse, died on Friday evening at the age of 64 after suffering a stroke.

Premier Daniel Andrews said he offered Mr Foster’s family a state funeral on Sunday afternoon, and his wife Chrissie had accepted.

Mr Andrews said Mr Foster would be remembered as a man who “quietly and profoundly changed Australian history”, after campaigning for justice from the Catholic Church.

“He fought evil acts that were shamefully denied and covered up,” Mr Andrews said in a statement. “He and Chrissie lost so much, but never their dignity, grace and strength. Anthony won’t be forgotten, and the fight for justice goes on.”

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

Kaitlyn Offer – AAP on May 28, 2017

High-profile child sex abuse victims advocate Anthony Foster will be honoured with a state funeral.

Mr Foster’s wife Chrissie was on Sunday offered the service to commemorate a man who “quietly and profoundly changed Australian history” and she accepted, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said in a statement.

Mr Foster, 64, died on Friday, reportedly after a major stroke.

He became a relentless advocate after his daughters, Emma and Katie, were raped by notorious abuser and pedophile Father Kevin O’Donnell at their Melbourne primary school between 1988 and 1993.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio, heugenio@guampdn.com May 28, 2017

Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes met in private for the first time with a family who says their life has been broken by Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron. Forty years ago, he allegedly raped the now deceased, former altar boy Joseph “Sonny” Quinata.

But the family said it is now putting the broken pieces together so they can all heal.

“The actions of one man have affected a whole generation of my family…I lost a brother and my children lost a father. This man affected my brother and myself,” John Michael “Champ” Quinata, 47, told Pacific Daily News.

Champ Quinata publicly accused Apuron of repeatedly raping his older brother Sonny when Sonny was 9 years old, in 1977.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com May 28, 2017

The Archdiocese of Agana investigated and found to be true, in 2009 or 2010, an allegation that former Guam priest Andrew Mannetta sexually abused a former altar boy in 1985, according to a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court of Guam.

The man, identified in court documents only as G.J., alleged that Mannetta sexually molested and abused him when he was 9 or 10 years old and serving as an altar boy at the Santa Teresita Catholic Church in Mangilao.

“After the sexual abuse, G.J. began to fail in school and lost interest in the priesthood,” the lawsuit says. “Eventually, G.J. ceased being an altar boy and gave up on his dreams of becoming a priest.”

The lawsuit says around 2009 or 2010, at a stage in G.J.’s life where he continued to suffer deep trauma from his childhood abuse at the hands of Mannetta, the former altar boy reached out to the church.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Islington Gazette

26 May 2017 Sam Gelder

A Catholic priest who repeatedly raped and assaulted boys is facing jail.

Father Eugene Fitzpatrick, 68, was found guilty of the horrific attacks at Blackfriars Crown Court yesterday after he denied all charges.

He raped one boy multiple times between 1986 and 1992 while working at Our Lady and Saint Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Balls Pond Road, Islington.

Fitzpatrick also indecently assaulted another boy throughout the 1960s and 1970s. The first offence took place in Tufnell Park in 1965 when he was just 17 and the boy aged under eight.

Crown Prosecution Service lawyer Mubeena Cockar-Khan said: “Eugene Fitzpatrick repeatedly indecently assaulted one boy and raped another for his own gratification.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

Dan Rodricks
The Baltimore Sun

Richard Sipe, the former priest who spent 25 years studying the sexual behavior of the Catholic clergy, appears in “The Keepers,” the Netflix documentary series about the unsolved murder of Sister Catherine Cesnick and the monstrous abuse of some of her students by the chaplain of a Baltimore high school in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Sipe is the bearded fellow with the cool eyeglasses in Episode 4.

A Benedictine monk and priest for 18 years, Sipe came to Baltimore to study counseling at the old Seton Psychiatric Institute. He left the priesthood at 38 and married a former Maryknoll sister. He practiced psychotherapy in Maryland before moving to California with his wife in the late 1990s. He has written six books and contributed to numerous documentaries on the celibate priesthood and sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy. He estimates that he has reviewed more than 1,500 cases and provided expert testimony in 230.

Sipe famously helped the Boston Globe reporters who broke the story of widespread abuse by priests in Massachusetts. In “Spotlight,” the Oscar-winning film about the Globe’s investigation, the actor Richard Jenkins plays Sipe – or at least his voice, by phone – telling reporters that his lengthy study of priests found that six percent of them had had sex with children. Sipe provided the Globe Spotlight team with guidance throughout its lengthy investigation.

So he’s an old hand at this. He’s heard a lot of stories and told many.

But even Sipe felt physically ill – “I got sick,” he says – when he heard the descriptions of sexual abuse by the victims of the late A. Joseph Maskell, the former priest who served as chaplain at Archbishop Keough High School more than four decades ago.

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IRELAND
Wexford People

By Maria Pepper
May 27 2017

A new Netflix documentary series ‘The Keepers’ which was released last weekend, has broadcast harrowing descriptions of sex abuse allegedly carried out by the deceased American priest, Fr. Joseph Maskell who spent over three years living in Wexford where he worked as a psychologist for the former South Eastern Health Board.

During his time in Wexford from approximately late 1994 to 1998, Fr. Maskell lived in Castlebridge and worked for about eight months as a clinical psychologist for the SEHB (now the Health Service Executive) which referred children to him for assessment. He later spent about three years in private practice at an office in Common Quay Street.

During his stay, the Diocese of Ferns became aware of his activities and contacted the Archdiocese of Baltimore for information, subsequently notifying the SEHB and the gardai about the risks of him having access to children.

The HSE has refused to release any information about Fr. Maskell due to a data protection policy relating to current and former employees although at the time, it informed the Diocese that Fr. Maskell had given an assurance not to work with anyone under the age of 18.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philly.com

by David Gambacorta & Maria Panaritis – Staff Writers

One name stands out on an otherwise innocuous list of upcoming clerical assignments issued this month by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia: the Rev. Louis Kolenkiewicz.

He’s scheduled to return from a leave of absence on June 19, and become a parochial vicar at the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul, around the corner from the archdiocese’s administrative offices. What’s left unsaid in the announcement is the reason why Kolenkiewicz has been on leave since 2015.

Bucks County prosecutors investigated the priest in 2011 for more than 12,000 pornographic images found on a computer he used at St. Bede the Venerable Parish in Holland, Bucks County, where he had been assigned. And while they did not file charges, they said they remained so concerned about the priest returning to active ministry that they helped provoke his suspension two years ago.

District Attorney Matthew D. Weintraub described the news of Kolenkiewicz’s reinstatement as a surprising development after a frustrating investigation he said was hobbled by the church’s failure to preserve evidence found a decade ago and leaving local law enforcement in the dark.

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CANADA
BBC News

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected next week to ask Pope Francis for a formal apology over the Catholic Church’s role in the country’s residential school system.

The request stems from a report into Canada’s history of taking indigenous children from their parents and sending them to residential schools.

Many children experienced neglect and abuse while far from their families.

Mr Trudeau meets with the Pope on Monday.

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SCOTLAND
The Courier

Michael Alexander
May 27 2017

A man who claims he was trafficked to Ireland and drugged and raped by multiple men whilst in the care of a former residential home in Fife is to hold a vigil in Edinburgh on the opening day of the Scottish child abuse inquiry.

Dave Sharp, 58, who says he was abused whilst in the care of the Christian Brothers running the former St Ninian’s School in Falkland, intends to hold the vigil outside of Rosebury House on Wednesday May 31 to remember “all victims of abuse”.

Mr Sharp, who was awarded a £15,000 pay out from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority in 2015, said: “As far as the programme goes the plan is for the vigil to be from 9am till 5pm.

“At 1pm we will all stop for a minute’s silence to remember all the children (across the country) whose lives were lost or taken because of child abuse and also to remember all the survivors who died without ever seeing justice.

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SCOTLAND
BBC News

A former priest has been found guilty of assault to injury of a pupil at a former Catholic boarding school at Fort Augustus in the 1970s and 1980s.

The jury in Father Benedict Seed’s trial found five other charges not proven by a majority.

The 83-year-old, who appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court under the name Thomas Michael Seed, belted Paul Curran on the wrists until he bled.

Seed, of Brora, denied all the charges against him. He has been fined £1,000.

Mr Curran, now a 50-year-old businessman living in Hong Kong, told the jury at Inverness Sheriff Court that he had dreams of being “hunted” by Seed for the five years he attended the now closed Fort Augustus Abbey school in the Highlands.

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CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

Joseph Serna

A youth mentor at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest has been accused of lewd acts involving two teenage boys while he volunteered there, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said Friday.

Ruven Meulenberg, 32, was arrested Thursday and booked on suspicion of lewd and lascivious acts on a child and is being held on $100,000 bail, authorities said. Jail records show he is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in a Santa Ana courtroom.

Detectives were alerted after a 14-year-old boy told his parents that Meulenberg had molested him, Lt. Lane Lagaret said. The parents told the church’s youth pastor, who called the Sheriff’s Department, Lagaret said.

Another 14-year-old boy turned up during the detectives’ investigation, Lagaret said.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

27 May, 2017

Chair of the Royal Commission Justice Peter McClellan said the Commissioners and staff of the Royal Commission are deeply saddened by the death of Anthony Foster. We extend our condolences to Chrissie Foster and her family.

Anthony and Chrissie dedicated many years of their lives to bringing about justice for survivors of child sexual abuse.

Their tireless advocacy helped bring about this Royal Commission.

They attended hundreds of days of public hearings and participated in many of our policy roundtables.

With a dignity and grace, Anthony and Chrissie generously supported countless survivors and their families whilst also managing their own grief.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

27 May 2017

IT took the NSW Upper House seven months to debate Newcastle Animal Justice Party Upper House MP Mark Pearson’s motion to condemn the Catholic Church for its history of child sexual abuse in Australia.

He first raised it in October, 2016, in a powerful speech in Parliament after a Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse public hearing in Newcastle about abuse in the Hunter Catholic Church over decades.

He was supported by barrister and NSW Greens Justice spokesman David Shoebridge, who has been a champion for survivors of child sexual abuse in Australia for many years.

It was not until Thursday that the major parties responded, and survivors and survivor groups experienced a chill about the future – after the royal commission has delivered its final report in December and politicians are responsible for how governments address its recommendations.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Bournemouth Echo

Alex Winter / Winter_Alex

A FORMER Boys’ Brigade leader and charity founder who sexually abused four children has been jailed.

One of David Wall’s victims were driven to attempt suicide as a result of the attacks, which took place between 1981 and 2001.

Wall, a married church-goer, abused his power in the Christian organisation to indecently assault three boys in his care.

The father-of-two, now 53, went on to abuse a fourth child, who was not a member of the Boys’ Brigade. Wall later founded Hampshire-based Christian charity Acts 4 Sharing.

He was finally brought to justice around two decades after the last offence he committed.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post

The national child sexual abuse inquiry is to hold its preliminary hearing into allegations relating to a leading North Yorkshire independent school early next month.

The preliminary hearing relating to Ampleforth College will be held in London on June 6 to examine procedural issues ahead of the full inquiry which is due to start in December.

Now Ampleforth faces charity probe linked to sex abuse claims It is part of an investigation into “the extent of any institutional failures to protect children from sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church”, which is one of 13 separate areas of investigation being looked into as part of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).

The first case study in the Catholic church investigation is into the English Benedictine Congregation, a Catholic religious order whose affiliated monasteries run or have run a number of prestigious private boarding schools around the country, including Ampleforth. Professor Alexis Jay, chair of the national inquiry, told a conference in York that the inquiry has set out a work programme.

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TEXAS
Christian Post

BY LEONARDO BLAIR , CHRISTIAN POST REPORTER
May 26, 2017

A third woman and former member of the now defunct Renew Ministries in New Braunfels, Texas, has alleged in a new lawsuit that former Pastor Terry Knighten took advantage of his position as spiritual leader and counselor to have sex with her, and is now seeking $1 million in damages.

The woman, Kristi, and her husband, Samuel Guerrero, who were wed by Knighten in 2011, accuse him in the lawsuit of conducting “a scheme of sexual exploitation” that caused repeated sexual contact between the disgraced pastor and Kristi Guerrero.

The lawsuit filed April 28 called Knighten “a sexual predator,” who groomed Kristi Guerrero before forcing her into “unreciprocated sexual intercourse” in May 2015 at his New Braunfels home which she was paid to clean, according to the San Antonio Express-News.

It charges that officials at Renew Ministries, formerly known as Celebrate Life Church, did not act when they became aware of Knighten’s alleged misconduct.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

AAP

The chair of Australia’s child sex abuse royal commission has said he is “deeply saddened” by the death of tireless victims advocate Anthony Foster.

Foster, who became a relentless advocate after his daughters were raped by a priest, was reported to have died on Friday evening from a major stroke.

Foster and his wife, Chrissie, shared their torment to the media and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Justice Peter McClellan extended his condolences to the Foster family and praised their dedication to achieving justice for survivors of child sexual abuse.

“They attended hundreds of days of public hearings and participated in many of our policy roundtables,” McClellan said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

May 27, 2017

JOHN FERGUSON
Victorian EditorMelbourne
@fergusonjw

Anthony Foster, the relentless and deeply respected advocate for Catholic abuse victims, has died, sparking tributes from across the community.

Mr Foster, aged in his early 60s, died after complications relating to an apparent brain injury incurred this week.

Child sex abuse royal commission chairman Peter McClellan today described Mr Foster’s work as having been key to the formation of the national inquiry.

Mr McClellan offered the commission’s condolences to his wife Chrissie, with the pair having campaigned for abuse survivors as recently as last weekend in Ballarat.

“Anthony and Chrissie dedicated many years of their lives to bringing about justice for survivors of child sexual abuse,’’ he said.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

Tributes have poured in for Anthony Foster, who dedicated his life to seeking justice for victims of child sex abuse at the hands of the Catholic Church.

He is believed to have died from a major stroke after falling and hitting his head on Friday night. He was 64.

Mr Foster became a relentless advocate after his daughters, Emma and Katie, were raped by notorious abuser and pedophile Father Kevin O’Donnell at their Melbourne primary school between 1988 and 1993.

Mr Foster and his wife, Chrissie, shared their torment to the media and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Their daughter Emma took an fatal overdose of medication in 2008, and Katie was hit by a car after binge drinking in 1999, leaving her brain-damaged and in need of 24-hour care.

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SOUTH AFRICA
AllAfrica

By Pontsho Pilane, Carl Collison

A test lawsuit will determine whether the time limit on reporting sexual assault will be lifted.

It took more than three decades for Gavin Hendricks to come to terms with the sexual abuse he suffered during his teenage years and lay charges against the priest he accuses of abusing him.

“It took a lot of courage to lay that charge. I was very intimidated and kind of reluctant, but I knew it was something I had to do,” says 51-year-old Hendricks, who chose to use a pseudonym. For years, he was sexually abused by the priest – “a trusted family friend” – in the Cape Flats township of Bonteheuwel.

After opening a case at the Bishop Lavis police station last year, Hendricks was told that, because the abuse had taken place more than 20 years ago, the matter could not go to court. The man he accuses of abusing him would never face his day in court.

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AUSTRALIA
The Weekend Australian

May 27, 2017

REBECCA URBAN
JournalistMelbourne
@RurbsOz

The former prosecutor who put gangland killer Carl Williams behind bars has suggested charges against George Pell are a distinct possibility but warned that he had concerns about whether he could get a fair trial.

Retired Victorian senior crown prosecutor Geoffrey Horgan­ QC told The Weekend Australian there were unique pressures when weighing up cases. “It seems to me it’s going to take a tough-minded police … to say ‘we will not try this case’,” Mr Horgan said. “It’s much harder to decide to not prosecute than to prosecute. The public backlash would be enormous.”

Mr Horgan’s comments come as Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton confirmed this week that police were reviewing final advice from the state’s ­Office of Public Prosecutions on allegations of child sexual­ abuse against Cardinal Pell and a decision on charges was ­“imminent”.

Mr Horgan, who successfully prosecuted serial killer Peter Dupas during almost two decades with the OPP, has backed concerns about whether the Ballarat-born clergyman could receive a fair trial.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

Simone Ziaziaris – AAP on May 27, 2017

High-profile advocate for child sexual abuse victims, Anthony Foster, has reportedly died after suffering a major stroke.

Mr Foster, who became a tireless advocate after his daughters were raped by a priest, is believed to have died on Friday evening after falling and hitting his head, media are reporting.

Mr Foster and his wife Chrissie shared their torment to the media and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

His daughters, Emma and Katie, were traumatised by the sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of pedophile priest Kevin O’Donnell at their Melbourne school between 1988 and 1993.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Anthony Foster, who dedicated his life to seeking justice for victims of child sex abuse at the hands of the Catholic Church after two of his daughters were repeatedly raped by a priest, has died in a Melbourne hospital, aged 64.

In a two decade-long quest to hold the Catholic Church accountable for crimes against children, Mr Foster and his wife Chrissie told the harrowing story of their family’s treatment at the hands of the church to the media and the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The couple’s daughters Emma and Katie were raped by Melbourne paedophile priest Father Kevin O’Donnell when they were in primary school in the 1980s.

Emma suffered from eating disorders, drug addiction and self harm. In 2008 she overdosed on medication and died at the age of 26.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Melissa Cunningham

Tributes are pouring in for Anthony Foster who became a tireless and high-profile advocate for child sexual abuse victims after his daughters were raped by a priest.

Mr Foster died after suffering a stroke on Friday evening.

He rose to national prominence after he publicly accused Cardinal George Pell of stalling the family’s compensation claim against the Catholic Church when he was archbishop of Melbourne.

It is believed Mr Foster fell and hit his head before suffering a major stroke. He died with his wife Chrissie by his side.

Two of the Fosters’ daughters, Emma and Katie, were repeatedly raped by disgraced Melbourne priest Kevin O’Donnell while pupils at a primary school in Melbourne’s Oakleigh parish.

After years of turmoil and a decade-long court battle, Emma died by suicide at the age of 26.

Her sister Katie drank heavily before being left severely disabled when hit by a drunk driver in 1999.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

May 27, 2017

JOHN FERGUSON
Victorian EditorMelbourne
@fergusonjw

Anthony Foster, a relentless and high-profile advocate for Catholic abuse victims, is gravely ill after suffering what is believed to have been a major stroke.

Key members of the community rallying against church abuse were told yesterday that Mr Foster faced the battle of his life to survive the illness.

Mr Foster, aged in his early 60s, rose to national prominence during the 2008 visit to Australia by Pope Benedict for World Youth Day, when he publicly chided the pontiff and Cardinal George Pell over the church’s handling of the scandal that engulfe­d his family.

Two of Mr Foster’s daughters were raped by Father Kevin O’Donnell at a primary school in Melbourne’s Oakleigh parish, with one committing suicide in 2007 and another profoundly injured­ after apparently self-medicating and being struck by a car in 1999.

Peter Blenkiron, an abuse survivor from the western Victorian diocese of Ballarat, said Mr Foster was a relentless supporter of victims. “I think we’ve all fought alongside him on the battlefield for truth,’’ he said. “It’s bought so many people together. It just breaks my heart.’’

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SCOTLAND
The Times

David Love
May 27 2017
The Times

A former priest has been found guilty of assault to injury of a pupil at a Catholic boarding school more than 30 years ago.

Thomas Seed, 83, faced another five charges, all of which the jury found not proven by a majority.

Fining Seed £1,000, Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood said: “I am obliged to deal with you by the law that applied when the offence was committed. You were in a position of trust and you abused that.”

Also known as Father Benedict, Seed belted a young private schoolboy until his wrists bled at the Fort Augustus Abbey boarding school on the shores of Loch Ness.

Paul Curran, 50, now a businessman in Hong Kong, told a jury at Inverness sheriff court that he “lived in fear” of the Benedictine monk. Mr Curran said that after being caught swearing by the monk he was belted with a tawse, which left his hands and wrists bleeding, swollen and bruised.

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IRELAND
Dublin Live

BY AENGUS O’HANLON

A father and son are taking on the State to in a bid to stop the Sisters of Charity from taking ownership of the proposed €300million National Maternity Hospital.

Veteran campaigner Dick Spicer, 70, and his son Norman have launched a High Court challenge against the decision, which they claim is unconstitutional.

The Spicers were keen to state that they had no issue with any religious order, or their beliefs, but rather the Government, for what they said was the “inexplicable decision” to build the new hospital at St Vincent’s.

There was a public outcry when it announced last month that the Sisters were to be handed full ownership of the taxpayer-funded facility, which will be built on the St Vincent’s Hospital campus in Dublin 4.

Mr Spicer, a co-founder of the Campaign to Separate Church and State, said: “There is a State-owned site in Tallaght right beside a major hospital with gynaecology.

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ILLINOIS
CBS Chicago

CHICAGO (CBS) — Two men are suing Willow Creek Community Church in suburban South Barrington and say they were allegedly sexually abused over several years by a youth minister at the church.

The complaint, filed Thursday under the aliases John Doe and Joe Doe, claims Brian Wongkamalasai, 30, sexually abused them beginning in 2009 when they were 16 and 14 years old and Wongkamalasai was 22.

Wongkamalasai was convicted of sexually abusing a 16-year-old in 2013, and is a registered sex offender currently living in Denver, Colorado, Illinois State Police records show.

According to the suit, John Doe and Joe Doe were sexually abused in more than 300 instances between September 2009 and December 2011. Both said Wongkamalasai masturbated them and performed oral sex on them.

Wongkamalasai was working for Willow Creek Community Church as a counselor, youth minister, youth leader, supervisor, monitor and accountability partner to Joe Doe and John Doe when the abuse occurred, according to the suit. In return for those services on behalf of Willow Creek Community Church, he was allowed to stay in John Doe’s and Joe Doe’s homes.

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ILLINOIS
Christian Today

Leonardo Blair 26 May 2017

Two men who say they were sexually abused as teenagers more than 300 times over several years by a former youth minister at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, are now suing the church, seeking more than $50,000 in damages for pain and suffering.

The men, identified by aliases John and Joe Doe, alleged that former Willow Creek youth minister Brian Wongkamalasai, now 30, started sexually abusing them in 2009. They were just 16 and 14, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The former counselor, who is now a registered sex offender living in Denver, Colorado, was convicted of sexually abusing a 16-year-old in 2013.

His current accusers alleged that between September 2009 and December 2011, Wongkamalasai masturbated them and performed oral sex on them more than 300 times.

During the time of the abuse, Wongkamalasai was allegedly working for Willow Creek as a youth minister, youth leader, supervisor, monitor and accountability partner to the men. He was allowed to stay in the home of the then teenagers in exchange for his work.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Mindy Aguon | For The Guam Daily Post

A second victim has filed a civil lawsuit against former St. Anthony Catholic School music and religion teacher Ray Caluag, alleging school officials and police took no action against the teacher, who allegedly sexually abused and raped him as a boy.

Troy Torres, through his attorney, David Lujan, filed a civil complaint in the District Court of Guam against Caluag, St. Anthony Catholic School and the Archdiocese of Agana yesterday accusing Caluag of repeatedly sexually abusing and raping him when he was a student at St. Anthony’s in 1993.

Torres, the governor’s senior policy adviser, was in the 8th grade and was required to take music class.

Caluag was a trusted mentor and friend who manipulated his authority to procure compliance with his sexual demands from his victims and induce the victims to continue to allow the abuse, the lawsuit states.

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MARYLAND
ABC 2

[with video]

“The Keepers” series on Netflix has Anne Arundel County residents asking questions about the 1969 murder of 20-year-old Joyce Malecki.

In response to requests from the public, The Anne Arundel County police released the following statement saying the FBI is investigating her case.

“There is information circulating among on-line blogs and websites that state the Joyce Malecki murder investigation was at some point in time handed over to the Anne Arundel County Police Department by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This is not an accurate statement. Because Ms. Malecki’s body was found on Federal property, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is the lead investigating agency for this case.”

“The Keepers” suggests that Joyce Malecki’s murder may be linked to the murder of Sister Catherine Cesnik at the Old Archbishop Keough.

Malecki’s body was found near a Fort Meade shooting range and left in a similar manner as Sister Cesnik’s.

Anne Arundel County Police said they’ve been fielding calls from viewers who want to know what is going on with the investigation.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

Kate Coiro

If you’ve watched “The Keepers,” on Netflix, chances are you have some questions about Sister Cathy Cesnik’s unsolved killing and the allegations of sexual assault at Baltimore-based Archbishop Keough High School.

Fortunately, director Ryan White turned to the social networking site Reddit on Thursday for an “AMA” (short for ask me anything), where he answered fans’ questions about Netflix’s new seven-part production.

Here are eight tidbits from White’s AMA.

1. The Archdiocese of Baltimore showed up. A user named ArchBalt, presumably, the Archdiocese of Baltimore, chimed in when White mentioned that he wished the Archdiocese would release their internal records on Rev. Joseph Maskell, who was at the center of the abuse allegations detailed in the show.

“Archdiocesan records related to Maskell are confidential, and Archdiocesan policy and state law would preclude us from disclosing much of the information in them as they include confidential personal information (e.g. names of alleged sexual abuse victims), personnel records, health records, attorney-client communications, personally identifying information (such as social security numbers), etc.,” ArchBalt wrote.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Crown Prosecution Service

25/05/2017

A Catholic priest who repeatedly raped and indecently assaulted boys more than 25 years ago has been convicted of child sex offences.

Father Eugene Fitzpatrick, 68, was found guilty by a jury at Blackfriars Crown Court today [25/05/2017] of raping a boy on multiple occasions between 1986 and 1992.

Fitzpatrick was working in Our Lady & Saint Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Kingsland in the borough of Hackney at the time.

He was also found guilty of 11 counts relating to non-consensual sexual activity with another child in the 1960s and 1970s. The first assault took place in Tufnell Park in 1965 when Fitzpatrick was 17 years old and the boy was under the age of 8.

Mubeena Cockar-Khan, London CPS reviewing lawyer, said: “Eugene Fitzpatrick repeatedly indecently assaulted one boy and raped another for his own gratification.

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IRELAND
Offaly Express

Ruaidhrí Giblin
26 May 2017

The Catholic Church funded legal representation for a retired priest who successfully appealed his conviction for indecently assaulting a schoolboy in the 1970s, according to lawyers for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Earlier this week, Tadhg O’Dalaigh (73), of Woodview, Mount Merrion Avenue, Blackrock, successfully appealed his conviction for indecently assaulting a schoolboy at Colaiste Chroi Naofa in Carrignavar, Co Cork in the 1970s.

He had been found guilty by a jury and was sentenced to five years imprisonment with the final two suspended by Judge Donagh McDonagh on December 18, 2014, a sentence which he had served by the time his appeal was determined.

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SCOTLAND
The Press and Journal

A jury has begun considering its verdict in the case of a former monk accused of excessively punishing six schoolboys with a belt and cane at a Highland school.

Defence counsel John Campbell QC yesterday delivered his closing speech in the trial of 83-year-old Thomas Seed from Brora, known as Father Benedict when he taught at Fort Augustus Abbey boarding school in the 1970 and 1980s.

He told the jury that everyone would find the use of the cane and tawse (leather strap) as “abhorrent” now.

But he added: “We simply cannot judge this by the standards of today. What was reasonable chastisement in the 1970s is not compared to today.

“Teenage boys are hard work and there was a need for discipline and punishment. You have to translocate yourselves back in time and judge this by the standards of that era.”

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Eilish O’Regan
May 26 2017

A High Court challenge has been lodged to prevent the new National Maternity Hospital being built on land owned by the Order of the Sisters of Charity on the campus of St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin.

The new twist comes as talks between the Department of Health and St Vincent’s Healthcare Group over the future ownership of the €300m State-funded hospital enter a crucial phase today.
Challenge

The legal challenge is to be announced this morning by Dick Spicer (70), co-founder of the Campaign to Separate Church and State, and his son Norman.

He confirmed yesterday he has already lodged the High Court summons against the State, the Health Minister and the Attorney General.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post

CHRIS BURN, MULTIMEDIA REPORTER
Friday 26 May 2017

The woman who brought the scale of the horrifying Rotherham scandal to light is now urging other child abuse victims in Yorkshire to come forward.

Chris Burn reports. Professor Alexis Jay is not a woman to sugarcoat the truth in any aspect of her life. An unflinching inquiry by the softly-spoken Scotswoman revealed that 1,400 children in the Yorkshire town of Rotherham had been sexually exploited, largely by men of Pakistani heritage, and failed desperately by police and social services.

Almost three years on, she arrived back in Yorkshire on Thursday as the chair of national Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in a bid to encourage victims and survivors from all walks of life to come forward and share their experiences with her and her team.

Meeting the Yorkshire Post before speaking to a conference in York on the aims of the Truth Project, Professor Jay gives a glimpse of her no-nonsense attitude as a cup of milky tea she is handed fails to meet with her approval.

“Baby tea,” she says with a grimace after a sip. “You are obviously not used to northern tea!” That straight-talking approach in even the most minor of matters gives an insight into what has made her an ideal choice as the chair of the independent abuse inquiry, providing it with new focus and impetus after a deeply-troubled beginning which saw the resignations of the three previous chairwomen.

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CANADA
The Globe and Mail

GLORIA GALLOWAY
OTTAWA — The Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, May 25, 2017

The federal government and the centre created to preserve the memory of Canada’s residential schools are asking the Supreme Court to rule that the intimate and heart-wrenching tales of abuse recounted by survivors in closed-door compensation hearings should be preserved in national archives.

They urged the top court on Thursday to overturn the Ontario Court of Appeal ruling that documents related to the hearings held under the Independent Assessment Process (IAP) should be maintained for 15 years and then destroyed unless the claimants explicitly agree that the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) in Winnipeg should have them.

Justice Department lawyers argued that federal privacy, access and archive legislation demands the documents be saved.

And a lawyer for the NCTR told the court that reconciliation requires knowledge, not the destruction of the past. The documents of the IAP “provide a unique window into the horrors of the residential schools and Canada’s efforts to come to grips with those horrors,” Joanna Birenbaum said.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Troy Torres is seeking $5 million in damages.

Guam – Troy Torres, the governor’s senior advisor, has filed a sexual abuse complaint in District Court against his former music Teacher at St. Anthony Catholic School, Ray Caluag.

Torres’ complaint is the first to indicate that the sexual abuse was reported to the Guam Police Department as well.

“However, Caluag was never arrested,” court documents state.

Torres has previously indicated on social media that he was sexually abused as a minor by a former teacher. In his complaint, Torres alleges that he was first raped by Caluag when he was 13 years old and in the 8th grade at the catholic school. Torres says it happened on December 8, 1993, which is when the island usually celebrates the procession for Santa Marian Kamalen. Torres was ordered to report to school for drama practice, but says he was the only student there.

Caluag then took Torres to his home, forced him to perform oral sex on Caluag, the complaints states, and then raped him.

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AUSTRALIA
Illawarra Mercury

John Silvester
26 May 2017

Cardinal George Pell is not someone who attracts public sympathy. He presents as cold and aloof and as someone who at best did not have the capacity to deal with systemic child abuse committed within the Catholic Church.

For an intelligent man he misread the play alarmingly when giving evidence to the child abuse royal commission saying of one case, “It is a sad story and it wasn’t of much interest to me.” (He later desperately sought to clarify his meaning).

But now he is accused of being more than just an arrogant prick with the empathy of a polar bear stalking a seal pup. He is under investigation as a child molester – with police likely to decide whether to charge within weeks.

This began when two men came forward and alleged that when students at St Alipius in 1978 Pell sexually assaulted them at a Ballarat swimming pool.

The Sano Taskforce investigated the allegations, three detectives flew to Rome to interview the Cardinal, a Brief of Evidence was prepared and has bounced around between prosecutors and police ever since. One source in the know described it as “an exercise in arse covering”.

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MARYLAND
Refinery29

MORGAN BAILA
MAY 25, 2017

The Keepers, currently streaming on Netflix, documents the heartbreaking and completely shocking accusations about events happening within the walls of Archbishop Keough High School in Baltimore, Maryland during the 1960s and ’70s. The seven-part documentary centers around the death of a 26-year-old nun teaching at the school, Sister Cathy Cesnik. From there, the story widens to include the sexual abuse allegations against one Father Joseph Maskell, now deceased, by “Jane Doe,” later identified as Jean Wehner. The true crime series has been hailed for its ability to focus on the victims (Sister Cathy’s murder is still unsolved, and Wehner patiently waits for justice to be brought to the men she says sexually abused her), instead of merely highlighting the horrific details of the crimes themselves.

Now, nearly a week after its premiere, the series director, Ryan White, hosted a Reddit Ask Me Anything forum (shorthanded as AMA) for invested fans to ask him questions and even potentially spur new leads. And would you believe that the Archdiocese made an appearance to defend the Catholic Church? Because, as E! Online points out, they sure did.

A redditor asked: “Who would you most like to talk to, still living, that you think has information? Either for a follow up interview or a first timer.”

White passionately responded: “The Archdiocese!”

He then expanded as to why: “They have internal records on Maskell. I would love for them to be transparent and show the world what they have. I’m especially interested to see the files on the investigation they supposedly did in the 1990’s after Jane Doe came forward. Jean’s family found dozens of victims just by sending out a letter in the mail, so I’m confused on what this Archdiocese ‘investigation’ involved.”

An hour later, would you guess who came to troll White’s AMA? The Archdiocese themselves, under the very obvious username, “ArchBalt,” a referenced to the Arch(diocese) of Balt(imore). The talking head for the Catholic Church wrote: “Archdiocesan records related to Maskell are confidential, and Archdiocesan policy and state law would preclude us from disclosing much of the information in them as they include confidential personal information (e.g. names of alleged sexual abuse victims), personnel records, health records, attorney-client communications, personally identifying information (such as social security numbers), etc.”

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

Jonathan M. Pitts
The Baltimore Sun

This was already going to be a bittersweet spring at Seton Keough High School. The Archdiocese of Baltimore announced in October that it would be closing the Catholic school for girls at the end of the school year, and the community has spent the final months honoring the school’s history before bidding it farewell.

But the release of the hit Netflix documentary series “The Keepers,” which explores sexual abuse at then-Archbishop Keough High School decades ago and the still unsolved killing of a young teacher, has cast a darker shadow on the last days of the beloved institution.

“The Keepers” debuted last week. The school is to celebrate its final graduation ceremony Friday at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen.

Students, staff and alumni voice strong support for the seven-part documentary, which depicts the struggle of six women to bring to light their stories of sexual abuse at the hands of a priest at the school in the 1960s.

Many just wish it weren’t happening right now.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

Dan Rodricks
The Baltimore Sun

Richard Sipe, the former priest who spent 25 years studying the sexual behavior of the Catholic clergy, appears in “The Keepers,” the Netflix documentary series about the unsolved murder of Sister Catherine Cesnick and the monstrous abuse of some of her students by the chaplain of a Baltimore high school in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Sipe is the bearded fellow with the cool eyeglasses in Episode 4.

A Benedictine monk and priest for 18 years, Sipe came to Baltimore to study counseling at the old Seton Psychiatric Institute. He left the priesthood at 38 and married a former Maryknoll sister. He practiced psychotherapy in Maryland before moving to California with his wife in the late 1990s. He has written six books and contributed to numerous documentaries on the celibate priesthood and sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy. He estimates that he has reviewed more than 1,500 cases and provided expert testimony in 230.

Sipe famously helped the Boston Globe reporters who broke the story of widespread abuse by priests in Massachusetts. In “Spotlight,” the Oscar-winning film about the Globe’s investigation, the actor Richard Jenkins plays Sipe – or at least his voice, by phone – telling reporters that his lengthy study of priests found that six percent of them had had sex with children. Sipe provided the Globe Spotlight team with guidance throughout its lengthy investigation.

So he’s an old hand at this. He’s heard a lot of stories and told many.

But even Sipe felt physically ill – “I got sick,” he says – when he heard the descriptions of sexual abuse by the victims of the late A. Joseph Maskell, the former priest who served as chaplain at Archbishop Keough High School more than four decades ago.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com Published May 26, 2017

Troy Torres, Gov. Eddie Calvo’s special policy adviser, sued the Archdiocese of Agana on Friday, alleging his former Catholic school music teacher, Ray Caluag, raped and sexually abused him when he was about 13 years old in 1993.

Torres, now 37, named Caluag and Saint Anthony Catholic School among the defendants in his lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court of Guam. Represented by attorney David Lujan, Torres demands a jury trial and $5 million in minimum damages.

Nearly 70 lawsuits have been filed since late last year, when Guam lifted the statute of limitations on childhood sexual abuse civil cases. Torres’ lawsuit is the second that doesn’t accuse a priest.

Torres was required to take music class while attending Saint Anthony Catholic School, the lawsuit states. At the time, Caluag was the school’s music and religion teacher, as well as director of drama productions, the complaint states.

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TEXAS
ValleyCentral.com

by Freddy Vela

Former priest John Feit, who is accused of allegedly killing Irene Garza in April of 1960, was back in court on Wednesday.

Feit’s attorneys motioned to get the trial moved outside of the Rio Grande Valley, claiming the jury has an unfair bias due to pre-trial media coverage of Feit’s case.

The defense presented two witnesses and a pre-trial expert in an attempt to show how much Hidalgo County residents know about the 1960 murder.

The prosecution argued that most cases receive media coverage, and residents are able to separate personal opinions and offer a fair, unbiased judgement during the case. The prosecution also tried to discredit the expert after the expert referenced the 2014 district attorney race and a 48 Hours report.

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CANADA
CBC News

By Stephanie Tobin, CBC News Posted: May 25, 2017

The Crown is planning to appeal a stay of proceedings in sexual assault charges against a former priest who was accused from his time in western Newfoundland.

Gary Gerard Hoskins was charged Nov. 8, 2012, with assaults between Jan. 1, 1984, and Dec. 31, 1986.

Hoskins, who worked in Stephenville when the assaults are alleged to have happened, applied for a stay of proceedings, stating his right to a trial within a reasonable time had been breached.

He applied for the proceedings to be stayed under the new rules out of R. v. Jordan. Corner Brook Supreme Court Justice David Hurley granted the stay.

Hoskins, who now lives in Ontario, has had previous convictions of sexual assault from the late 1980s.

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SWEDEN
The Local

A priest who had created a profile on an online dating website deemed to be ‘pornographic’ has been defrocked by the Church of Sweden.

In his profile on the dating website, which is classified as ‘pornographic’ by the Church of Sweden’s internet policy documents, the priest stated he was seeking a mistress, friend, sex buddy, a relationship, partner, date, or fellow nude swimmers.

It was also clear from his presentation and picture that he was a priest, and the information he had provided could be linked to his name.

The diocese of Strängnäs found that to actively seek sexual relations with several people in the way the priest had done was not compliant with the way of life a priest ought to have, reports Swedish Radio’s local news in Södermanland, where the priest was working.

“He has been defrocked and is no longer allowed to be a priest,” Miriam Arrebäck, press secretary at the diocese, told TT newswire.

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ILLINOIS
CBS Chicago

CHICAGO (CBS) — A Cook County judge this fall will determine whether defrocked Chicago priest Daniel McCormack will remain in state custody indefinitely, even after serving prison time for molesting young boys at his West Side parish.

McCormack has been held at a state Department of Health institution in downstate Rushville, following his release from prison on a five-year sentence for fondling five boys. Cook County Judge Dennis Porter will rule on whether to commit McCormack to custody of the state Department of Human Services after a bench trial set to begin on Sept. 6.

Prosecutors and the state Attorney General’s Office moved to have McCormack ruled a “sexually violent person” in 2010, as his parole date was approaching. Proceedings dragged on as McCormack faced criminal charges as other boys came forward with allegations of abuse, but those cases had largely fallen apart as his accusers refused to testify.

Under the state’s Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act, a person can be committed if they have been convicted of a sexually violent offense and suffer from a mental disorder that makes them likely to commit future violent sexual acts. Once committed, offenders can’t be released from custody until another evaluation determines they are fit for less stringent confinement.

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SCOTLAND
The Press and Journal

A priest denied he was “a monster on the loose who exploded with temper” as he punished pupils at a Catholic boarding school.

Thomas Seed, an 83-year-old former monk who taught at Fort Augustus Abbey, was giving evidence during the third day of his trial in which he denies assaulting eight boys in his charge.

A jury was told by five former pupils that Seed, also known as Father Benedict, would cane or belt them until they bled, with one accusing him of using a spiked golf shoe.

The boys, now adults, were aged between 11 and 15 at the time, and claimed Seed was excessive in his use of the cane or tawse. They also accused him of being “in an uncontrollable rage.”

However asked by his defence counsel, John Campbell QC: “You have been characterised as an intemperate, quick to anger, aggressive and disproportionate with your punishment man – a monster on the loose who explodes with temper.

“Does that ring true for you?” Mr Campbell asked.

Seed replied: “No. It is not me. I could have been impatient or mistaken. None of us are perfect all the time.”

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FRANCE
La Croix

Bénévent Tosseri, Lyon
France

Almost a year after the French justice system decided to drop criminal proceedings against Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, the archbishop of Lyon, and six others for failing to report sexual abuse of boy scouts committed by a priest, the case has been reopened.

The abuses took place between 1978 and 1991.

“If we stop now, who will bring the debate into the public domain?” said François Devaux, the head of La Parole Libérée (“Lift the Burden of Silence”) an organisation of former Saint-Luc Scout Group members, many of whom who were allegedly sexually abused by the priest who led the group, Bernard Preynat.

After a preliminary investigation, it was decided in August 2016 not to pursue a case against Barbarin and the other six.But the priest’s alleged victims have now come together to bring a civil action against that decision.

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TEXAS
KRGV

[with video]

EDINBURG – A former priest accused in a 1960 murder case was back in court on Wednesday. He’s asking the judge for a change of venue.

John Feit is accused in the murder of Irene Garza.

Feit’s attorney said there has been so much publicity about the case there is no way Feit can be tried in Hidalgo County and get a fair, unbiased trial.

“The pretrial publicity in this case was, in fact, prejudicial and prejudiced. But more importantly the pretrial publicity has reached that point where there is no reasonable likelihood we can reach a fair and impartial jury to sit on this case,” Defense attorney Oscar Rene Flores said.

But prosecutors from the district attorney’s office said that’s simply not true and his trial should happen in the community where the crime was committed. The state filed an 84-page objection to Feit’s motions to move his trial out of the Rio Grande Valley.

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TEXAS
The Monitor

NAXIELY LOPEZ-PUENTE | STAFF WRITER

EDINBURG — The judge presiding over the case of a former priest accused of murdering a McAllen beauty queen will wait until next week before ruling on a change of venue petition by the defense — but his ruling could be to delay the decision even further.

State District Judge Luis Singleterry heard arguments Wednesday from both the defense and prosecution regarding the media attention surrounding the Irene Garza case.

The defense for John Feit said the case was too important to the community and had even swayed the last Hidalgo County district attorney election. The emotion surrounding the case makes it difficult for jurors to be impartial, the defense argued.

“That’s just how our brains work,” expert witness Bryan Edelman told the court Wednesday.

Edelman, co-founder and jury consultant at Trial Innovations, travels across the country conducting pre-trial research for various cases, including the 2012 movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado.

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TEXAS
San Antonio Express-News

By Aaron Nelsen Updated Wednesday, May 24, 2017

EDINBURG — Attorneys for a former priest accused of murdering a beauty queen 57 years ago say pervasive media coverage has made a fair trial virtually impossible in Hidalgo County.

John Feit, 84, was arrested in Scottsdale, Arizona, last February and charged in the 1960 slaying of Irene Garza, a 25-year-old elementary school teacher from McAllen.

“The pretrial publicity has reached that point where (Feit) cannot … reasonably receive a fair and impartial jury in this case,” said Attorney O. Rene Flores, who is representing Feit.

A trial consultant testified Wednesday that media coverage of dramatic events are seared into the public conscience and can prejudice jurors. According to a survey conducted by the expert witness, 76 percent of prospective jurors had heard, read about or seen television news reports about the killing.

“Despite the passage of time, this case is really important to this community,” said Bryan Edelman, a trial consultant with the California-based Trial Innovations. “Actually it was an important factor in determining the outcome of the election for district attorney.”

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CANADA
Toronto Star

By TANYA TALAGA
Staff Reporter
Wed., May 24, 2017

Who ultimately controls the stories of 38,000 residential school survivors may finally be decided on May 25 when the question goes before the Supreme Court.

The courts have consistently ruled it is up to the survivors to decide what happens to their own accounts of their experiences, stories that led to Ottawa paying out more than $5 billion in compensation, and that it is the survivors’ wishes that must be upheld and respected. The courts say the 38,000 survivors have 15 years to decide individually if their stories should be preserved in an archive at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) at the University of Manitoba or be destroyed.

But a coalition representing the children and grandchildren of residential school survivors was recently granted intervention status at the hearing. They want to save the 38,000 stories, which they say are the largest firsthand accounts of the residential school system.

“When I ask people if they want their story deleted, I ask them to think about it in the intergenerational perspective,” said Carey Newman, founder of the Coalition to Preserve Truth and the artist behind the Witness Blanket, a massive, art installation — made up of leftover pieces of residential school items, churches and government buildings. The blanket is currently touring the country. Newman is of British, Kwagiulth and Salish descent.

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CANADA
Metro

By: Kristy Kirkup The Canadian Press Published on Thu May 25 2017

OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada is set to hold a hearing today on the federal government’s appeal of a decision that allows personal records from survivors of residential schools to be destroyed after 15 years unless individuals decide otherwise.

Ottawa argues it controls the documents and that they are subject to legislation pertaining to access to information, archiving and privacy.

“To ensure that the history of what happened at the residential schools is not forgotten or lost on future generations, the documentary record must be preserved,” the attorney general argued in her factum to the court.

The government also argues that the use of the court’s “inherent jurisdiction” to order the wholesale destruction of the records “fails to respect the intentions”of the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement, which settled the largest class action in Canadian history.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Press

Mike Laycock, Chief reporter

THE chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse will visit York today to raise awareness of a project giving victims and survivors the chance to share their experiences.

Professor Alexis Jay will meet more than 80 delegates from organisations from across the north-east, including the police, NHS, local authorities and charities, at a meeting being held at the Principal Hotel near York railway station.

She will talk about the ‘Truth Project’, which gives victims and survivors of child sexual abuse the chance to share their experiences and offer suggestions to the inquiry on how to keep the next generation safe.

She will say she wants to collaborate with organisations that have local expertise working with victims and survivors, said a spokeswoman.

“The north east was one of the first regions to open the Truth Project in June 2016,” she said. “So far, over 700 people have now come forward across England and Wales and the inquiry has taken accounts from victims and survivors in the north west, Wales, the south west and London.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

ANALYSIS
By Paul Kennedy

Survivors of child sexual assault and cover-ups are watching with familiar trepidation the making of an unprecedented national redress scheme.

The Government does not yet know how many states or institutions will opt into its proposed model for victims unable to find justice through common law.

The only certainty is a limit on payments.

Attorney-General George Brandis and Social Services Minister Christian Porter have already defied part of an expert recommendation from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

In 2015, the royal commission found negligent institutions should make “modest monetary payments as a tangible means of recognising the wrong survivors have suffered”. It estimated 60,000 survivors would be eligible to make a claim under a $4.3 billion scheme.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

MAY 25, 2017

Australian Associated Press

A decision on whether or not to charge Cardinal George Pell over historical child sexual assault allegations is imminent, Victoria’s police chief says.

Detectives are reviewing final advice from the state’s Director of Public Prosecutions about the allegations, which Cardinal Pell has repeatedly denied.

Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton says a decision is “not too far off”.

“The decision is imminent on that,” Mr Ashton said during a regular appearance on Fairfax Radio on Thursday.

Mr Ashton said the DPP advice was being reviewed by the lead detective and officer in charge of the Sano taskforce, which investigates allegations arising from a Victorian parliamentary inquiry and the royal commission into institutional child sexual abuse.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Thursday, May 25, 2017

By Conall Ó Fátharta
Irish Examiner Reporter

Caranua paid almost €100,000 to a Catholic Church-funded counselling service to provide support to abuse survivors over the last two years.

The revelation is contained in documents sent by Caranua to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), following its appearance before the committee last month. Caranua was established by the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act 2012 to oversee the use of cash contributions of up to €110m, pledged by the religious congregations, to support the needs of survivors of institutional child abuse.

In the documents, Caranua outline details of €94,648 it paid to the Towards Healing counselling service in respect of 59 individuals in 2015 and 2016. The bulk of this, €87,263, was paid in 2015, with the remainder paid the following year.

Towards Healing provides a face-to-face and telephone counselling service to people who experienced abuse in institutions managed by religious congregations on behalf of the State, clerical sexual abuse, and to others impacted by such abuse. According to its website, it is funded by way of a €3m budget every year, which comes exclusively from the Catholic Church.

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GEORGIA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By Christian Boone – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

It’s become a familiar narrative: Respected community leader, active in the Boy Scouts, accused of sexual abuse but shielded for decades from prosecution and exposure.

Ernest Boland, whose predatory behavior was detailed in so-called “perversion files” that the Boy Scouts of America maintained for decades to identify volunteers accused of child molestation, was named in a lawsuit filed this week by two former Scouts who say they were among his many victims. Filed in Athens-Clarke County Superior Court, the suit comes with a little more than a month remaining on a special provision that extended the statute of limitations in Georgia for childhood victims of sexual abuse seeking damages.

The plaintiffs, whose names are being withheld by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution because they were victims of sexual assault, allege the Boy Scouts of America and its Northeast Georgia Council knew of the accusations against Boland dating back to 1961 — several years before they were abused — but did nothing to stop him.

Two Athens churches named as co-defendants — Green Acres Baptist and Beech Haven Baptist — were also aware of the accusations, the suit alleges, but “undertook no actions to protect minor Scouts from Boland’s sexual predations or provide information to the general public.”

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TENNESSEE
Tennessean

Holly Meyer , USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee May 24, 2017

A controversial Williamson County ministry scrutinized for being a cult is selling its 7,400-square-foot house and more than 5-acre lot for nearly $1.4 million.

The 5 bedroom home on Old Natchez Trace northwest of Franklin listed on the real estate service website Redfin is owned by Wayne Jolley Ministries, Inc., according to online Williamson County property records.

A Christianity Today report published in Dec. 2015 revealed serious concerns with how the late Wayne Jolley treated the members of The Gathering International, a small church group connected to his ministry.

Former members told the magazine that Jolley’s ministry took their money, ruined families and covered up accusations of physical and sexual abuse. The church group met at the property on the outskirts of Franklin, the report said.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

Jerri von den Bosch

We moved from Baltimore to a small suburb in Pennsylvania when I was 7 years old. I remember the day my mom enrolled me in public school. I was upset. I wanted to go to Catholic school like my friends and cousins back in Maryland. Today, I understand. My mother is one of the women featured in the latest Netflix crime saga “The Keepers.” She was sexually abused by A. Joseph Maskell, the former chaplain at Archbishop Keough High School in Baltimore, and a string of other men to whom Maskell gave access.

The trauma she and his other victims suffered is unspeakable. But that trauma has had a ripple effect, often overlooked, affecting their friends and families. We are the sounding board for victims even when we don’t want to be. Even when we believe we are incapable of it.

My family has spent the last two and half years hearing about “The Keepers” in its various stages, giving my mother space so she can be filmed with no pressure from the family, driving her to Baltimore for various meetings, and just listening to her talk about her abuse. What probably does not come across in the docu-series is that the sexual abuse that was committed against these girls at Keough in the 1970s is a 24/7 reality for them. It affects how they act, think and communicate. My mom does everything in a guarded manner. No amount of money, prayer or time will change her life now. Because of my mother’s abuse, she has only ever been able to be a friend to me, and a distant one at that. This may seem fun growing up, but children need parents, someone to set parameters and guide them.

My mom and I sat down a week ago Friday, the day “The Keepers” premiered, to watch it. We were excited to see our friends and cousins on Netflix, despite the gravity of the topic. It was funny to us that these very not famous people were on TV. We watched the entire series together in one day. Sometimes an expletive would fly, and sometimes there was radio silence in the living room. About three hours into viewing, I logged onto Facebook to find hundreds of messages of support from around the world. I told my mom and she broke into tears: “No one ever believed us before!” she said.

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UNITED STATES
The Tablet (UK)

24 May 2017 | by Ellen Teague

The Netflix documentary series is exploring whether alleged sexual abuse by a Catholic priest played a role in the nun’s death

Church did not interfere in unsolved murder case of Baltimore nun, confirms Archdiocese as ‘The Keepers’ documentary series released

As Netflix released a seven-part documentary about the unsolved 1969 murder of a Baltimore nun on 19 May, officials of the Archdiocese of Baltimore reaffirmed that the Church did not interfere in the investigation of her death.

Sr Cathy Cesnik was a 26-year-old teacher when she was killed on 7 November 1969. Her body was found two months later.

The Archdiocese says, “unfortunately, the producers asked very few questions of the archdiocese before releasing the series and did not respond to the archdiocese’s request to receive an advance copy of the series”.

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MARYLAND
New York Magazine

By Catie L’Heureux

After the premiere last Friday of Netflix’s true-crime series The Keepers, the Baltimore Police Department created an online form for sexual-assault survivors to report abuse related to the documentary.

The Netflix series investigates the murder of Sister Cathy Cesnik, a 26-year-old nun who went missing in Baltimore in 1969. The film suggests that Cesnik was killed because she planned to expose rampant sexual abuse at Archbishop Keough High School, a Catholic all-girls school where Cesnik taught. In the documentary, six people claim they were sexually abused by Father A. Joseph Maskell, a priest who worked at the school as a chaplain and guidance counselor in the 1960s and ‘70s. Maskell died in 2001.

“People have since come forward [after] watching this documentary,” a police spokesman told the Baltimore Sun. He declined to share how many people called, but said each person claimed “they were victims of sex offenses that went unreported back then.” The spokesman explained the new online form is meant to inform detectives and make it easier for survivors to share their stories.

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MARYLAND
The Catholic Spirit

Catholic News Service | Chris Gunty | May 24, 2017

As Netflix prepared to release a seven-part documentary about the unsolved 1969 murder of a Baltimore nun, officials of the Archdiocese of Baltimore reaffirmed that the Church did not attempt to interfere in the investigation of the death of Sister Catherine Cesnik.

Sister Cathy, as she was known, had been a popular teacher at Archbishop Keough High School in the 1960s. She was on a year’s leave of absence from her order, the School Sisters of Notre Dame, to teach in the Baltimore public school system when she was reported missing after she left her apartment Nov. 7, 1969, and never returned, the Catholic Review reported Jan. 9, 1970, after her body was found near a garbage dump.

Related to the investigation into her murder are allegations that she was aware of alleged sexual abuse by a priest at Archbishop Keough High School, where Sister Cathy had taught. That priest, Father A. Joseph Maskell, was not a suspect during the original investigation of the murder in 1969-1970.

The Netflix documentary series, titled “The Keepers,” debuted May 19 and focuses on allegations of sexual abuse in the 1960s and ’70s at Archbishop Keough High by Maskell and of a relationship between that abuse and Sister Cathy’s death. As of press time, neither the Catholic Review nor the Archdiocese of Baltimore had been provided with an advance copy of the series, although advance copies were provided to other media outlets.

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ILLINOIS
Chicago Sun-Times

Andy Grimm
@agrimm34 | email

A Cook County judge this fall will determine whether defrocked Chicago priest Daniel McCormack will remain in state custody indefinitely, even after serving prison time for molesting young boys at his West Side parish.

McCormack has been held at a state Department of Health institution in downstate Rushville, following his release from prison on a five-year sentence for fondling five boys. Cook County Judge Dennis Porter will rule on whether to commit McCormack to custody of the state Department of Human Services after a bench trial set to begin on Sept. 6.

Prosecutors and the state Attorney General’s Office moved to have McCormack ruled a “sexually violent person” in 2010, as his parole date was approaching. Proceedings dragged on as McCormack faced criminal charges as other boys came forward with allegations of abuse, but those cases had largely fallen apart as his accusers refused to testify.

Under the state’s Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act, a person can be committed if they have been convicted of a sexually violent offense and suffer from a mental disorder that makes them likely to commit future violent sexual acts. Once committed, offenders can’t be released from custody until another evaluation determines they are fit for less stringent confinement.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Beau Donelly

Sex crimes detectives are poised to make a decision about whether or not charges will be laid against Cardinal George Pell.

Victoria’s police chief on Thursday said a decision about charging the senior Catholic figure was “not too far off”.

“The decision is imminent on that,” Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton told Melbourne radio station 3AW.

The SANO taskforce is reviewing advice received last week from the Director of Public Prosecutions about the historic child sexual assault allegations against Cardinal Pell.

Police and the DPP would not comment on the advice, but it is understood the brief suggests that there is sufficient evidence to charge Cardinal Pell.

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ARGENTINA
Rete L’Abuso

[Argentina: The church does not cooperate with the investigation into abuses at Provolo due to an old agreement where they do not have to turn over information to the courts.]

Un vecchio concordato concede alla Santa Sede di poter indagare in modo del tutto indipendente, senza l’obbligo di fornire le informazioni raccolte con la magistratura ordinaria

È terminata la seconda fase dell’indagine dei sacerdoti inviati da Papa Francesco per far luce sugli abusi sessuali contestati ad un gruppo di laici e religiosi dell’istituto Provolo di Mendoza, in Argentina. Nella prima parte, hanno ascoltato i due sacerdoti accusati, tra cui il veronese Nicola Corradi, mentre in questa seconda missione hanno raccolto informazioni dalle vittime. Tutto il materiale raccolto sarà portato in Vaticano, dove si deve decidere se procedere anche con giudizio canonico.

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VIRGINIA
Culpeper Star-Exponent

By Rhonda Simmons | Culpeper Star-Exponent

CULPEPER — A former Precious Blood Catholic Church priest received a 30-day suspended jail sentence Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to groping an 87-year-old parishioner.

Culpeper County General District Judge Dale Durrer approved an agreement Wednesday in which the Rev. Anselme Malonda–Nkuanga pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and battery and was given a suspended sentence and $400 fine, which the judge reduced to $200.

The suspended sentence and reduced fine are contingent on Malonda–Nkuanga remaining on good behavior for two years. He also must pay $89 in court costs.

Malonda–Nkuanga, who served as the parish pastor in Culpeper from July 2012 until July 2016, also was instructed not to contact the victim or her family. Malonda–Nkuanga left Precious Blood last summer and was serving as minister at St. Eugene Catholic Church in Wendell, North Carolina, when the incident occurred on Oct. 1.

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ARGENTINA
Christian Today

Ruth Gledhill EDITOR 24 May 2017

Some children who have accused priests of child sex abuse are no more than ‘spiteful’ boys who fell in love with priests and were rejected, according to a Vatican envoy.

The Buenos Aires Herald reports that Father Dante Simon, one of two envoys sent to investigate an alleged cover-up at the Antonio Próvolo Institute for deaf children in Mendoza province, said some cases had been dismissed because the accusers were ‘spiteful’.

More than 60 former students have made allegations of sexual abuse at the institute.

Simon told the Herald’s reporter Martín Tejerina. ‘A few have been dismissed. Because there are people who are spiteful. For example, a girl or a boy falls in love with a priest, and he doesn’t respond back. The boy can be very spiteful like a woman can. So, they denounce [the priest].”

The Herald reports that Simon’s attempts to meet with victims and family members of victims have been unsuccessful.

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SCOTLAND
BBC News

A former priest has denied he was “a monster” who “exploded with temper” as he punished pupils at a former Catholic boarding school at Fort Augustus.

Father Benedict Seed, 83, is charged with assaulting eight pupils in the 1970s and 1980s. He denies the charges.

Appearing under the name Thomas Michael Seed, he has given evidence in his trial at Inverness Sheriff Court.

He told the court that caning pupils at Fort Augustus Abbey school “was very rare” and belting was “pretty rare”.

The jury in his trial has heard from five former pupils that Father Benedict Seed would cane or belt them until they bled, with one accusing him of using a spiked golf shoe.

Another said he was repeatedly punched, kicked and hit in the private parts with a hockey stick because he refused to go to sports as he was ill in bed.

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UNITED STATES
KPCC

[with audio]

by Michelle Lanz and John Horn | The Frame May 23

A year ahead of “Spotlight” winning the best picture Academy Award, and months ahead of the premiere of the Netflix series, “Making a Murderer,” filmmaker Ryan White was hard at work in Baltimore, looking into a decades-old murder.

The 1969 killing of Sister Cathy Cesnik was the genesis of White’s “The Keepers,” a new seven-part series that just dropped on Netflix.

As White dug deeper into the nun’s still-unsolved murder over the course of three years, his documentary series shifted into a tale of pedophile priests and an apparently well-orchestrated coverup by local Roman Catholic leaders, all bound together by the heartbreaking accounts of several victims of sexual abuse.

Unlike the professional Boston Globe journalists at the center of “Spotlight,” a lot of the investigative work in “The Keepers” was performed by ordinary citizens who were compelled to bring the killer or killers of Cathy Cesnik and another local woman to justice.

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ILLINOIS
Our Quad Cities

By: Krista Burris
Posted: May 23, 2017

MOLINE, Ill. – Young victims of sexual abuse might have more time to file criminal charges against their offenders.

Illinois state lawmakers passed legislation to remove the statute of limitations on these crimes.

“Research shows the brain blocks these memories. People don’t even remember them until they’re finally ready to process them,” said Child Abuse Council of the Quad Cities Executive Director Mark Mathews.

Mathews says the legislation is necessary because many victims aren’t ready to take action against offenders until they’re well into adulthood.

“I think it will help more people feel comfortable coming forward. In the cases of Dennis Hastert or Penn State University, what built the case was the pattern of abuse and so many different people coming forward with similar stories,” said Mathews.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Concord Monitor

By ALLIE MORRIS
Monitor staff
Wednesday, May 24, 2017

St. Paul’s School is lobbying New Hampshire lawmakers to repeal the statute of limitations for prosecuting sex crimes involving underage victims, as a new report revealed 13 faculty members had inappropriate relations with students at the prep school decades ago.

A bill filed at the request of St. Paul’s would let victims of sexual assault file criminal charges at any age. But it would preserve restrictions preventing victims from seeking civil damages once they turn 30 years old.

The bill stalled this year after advocates said the repeal should apply evenly to victims of all ages and to both civil and criminal cases.

“If we are going to be moving forward with a statute of limitations reform, it needs to be comprehensive,” said Amanda Grady Sexton, director of public affairs for the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Juedische Allgemeine

[The subject of abuse is taboo in ultra-orthodox circles. After the recent incidents, more and more rabbis realize that something has to change.]

18.05.2017 – von Lissy Kaufmann

Erst als ihr fünfjähriger Sohn versuchte, vom Balkon zu springen, um sich das Leben zu nehmen, wurde Lea klar, dass sie nicht länger schweigen konnte. Sie musste handeln, sie musste schnell weg von hier, aus ihrem Zuhause, um sich und die vier Kinder in Sicherheit zu bringen.

Mehr als sechs Jahre war Lea, damals 25 Jahre alt, verheiratet. Mehr als sechs Jahre lang hat ihr Mann sie, wie sie sagt, emotional missbraucht, geschlagen und zum Geschlechtsverkehr gezwungen. Ein Nein habe er nie akzeptiert. »Ich wusste nicht, dass ich sechs Jahre lang vergewaltigt wurde. Ich wusste nicht, dass es für Frauen schön sein kann, ja schön sein muss. Ich dachte, ich mache das, um Kinder zu kriegen«, sagt sie heute.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Elbe Wocheblatt

[Abuse allegations relate to the 1980s in the church kindergarten Margaretenhort.]

Missbrauchsvorwürfe betreffen die 1980er Jahre im kirchlichen Kinderheim Margaretenhort

Von Olaf Zimmermann.

Im kirchlichen Kinderheim Margaretenhort in der Haakestraße wurden Anfang der 1980er Jahre offenbar Mädchen und Jungen sexuell missbraucht. Der Kirchenkreis Hamburg-Ost hatte Ende Oktober 2016 entsprechende Vorwürfe öffentlich gemacht und Betroffene gebeten, sich zu melden. Einige Personen haben dies getan, weitere werden noch gesucht. Nicht nur Missbrauchsopfer, sondern auch Menschen aus dem Umfeld, die mitteilen können, was sie in der Zeit, in der die sexuellen Übergriffe geschehen sind, wahrgenommen haben.

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FRANCE
France 3

Par LUCAS BARON
Publié le 23/05/2017

[Two people originally from Nice accuse a priest, now deceased, of having abused them in their childhood. The bishop of Nice asked for forgiveness on Tuesday, 23 May in the name of the diocese.]

Plus d’un demi-siècle après, ils ont décidé de briser le silence. Jean et Serge se sont rencontrés sur le site internet “coabuse.fr”. Une plateforme qui met en lien des victimes d’abus sexuel d’une même personne pour leur permettre de s’entraider en communiquant de manière anonyme.

Jean (64 ans) vit aujourd’hui à La Réunion, et Serge (71 ans) à Toulon. Petit, ils fréquentaient la même paroisse à Nice. Tous deux ont connu l’abbé Dallas (auteur présumé des faits), qui officiait à l’église Sainte-Thérèse-de-l’enfant-Jésus, quartier Magnan. Leur rencontre tardive a tout changé et se sont tant bien que mal confessés.

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FRANCE
RCF Radio

[The revelation of the Preynat affair provoked a stir in the diocese of Lyon. Cardinal Philippe Barbarin is now directly implicated in his management of sensitive cases linked to attacks on minors.]

23 MAI 2017 Par Valérie-Anne Maitre

La révélation de l’affaire Preynat provoque des remous dans le diocèse de Lyon. Le cardinal Philippe Barbarin est désormais directement mis en cause dans sa gestion de dossiers sensibles liés à des agressions sur mineurs.

[MàJ le 23 mai 2017 à 15h]

MAI 2017

23 mai: La Parole libérée sollicite à nouveau la justice : une citation directe pour sept personnes, dont le cardinal Barbarin, pour non-dénonciation d’abus sexuels est déposée auprès du tribunal correctionnel de Lyon. Le cardinal Barbarin et Régine Maire le sont pour le motif supplémentaire de non-assistance à personne en danger. Dix victimes présumées du père Preynat se constituent parties civiles.

MARS 2017

20 mars: Une enquête du site Médiapart, du magazine Cash investigation (ainsi que d’un livre) sur la pédophilie dans l’Eglise est publiée sur internet et à la télévision. 25 évêques dont le cardinal Barbarin n’auraient pas dénoncés des faits de pédophilie dans leurs diocèses. La Conférence des évêques de France dénonce les méthodes des journalistes dans un communiqué.

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FRANCE
La Croix

[Cardinal Philippe Barbarin and six other people are summoned to appear before the Criminal Court of Lyon, announces the association La Parole Libérée.]

Bénévent Tosseri à Villeurbanne (métropole de Lyon), le 23/05/2017

Le cardinal Philippe Barbarin et six autres personnes sont citées à comparaître devant le tribunal correctionnel de Lyon, annonce l’association La Parole Libérée

« Si nous arrêtons maintenant, qui portera le débat sur la place publique ? » Personne, a répondu en substance François Devaux, président de La Parole Libérée, association regroupant des victimes présumées du Père Bernard Preynat, fondateur du groupe scout Saint-Luc à Lyon. Alors que la procédure pénale suit son cours, la « non-dénonciation » des abus sexuels commis par ce prêtre entre 1978 et 1991 avait fait l’objet en août dernier d’un classement sans suite.

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FRANCE
Le Monde

[Cardinal Philippe Barbarin and six other people are summoned to appear before the Lyon Criminal Court in September by victims of sexual assault within the church who accused them of not having reported the abuse to justice, lawyers for the victims announced .]

Les victimes d’agressions sexuelles au sein de l’Eglise reprochent au cardinal Philippe Barbarin et à six autres personnes de ne pas avoir dénoncé ces faits à la justice.

Le Monde.fr avec AFP | 23.05.2017

Le cardinal Philippe Barbarin et six autres personnes sont citées à comparaître en septembre devant le tribunal correctionnel de Lyon par des victimes d’agressions sexuelles au sein de l’Eglise, qui leur reprochent de ne pas avoir dénoncé ces faits à la justice, ont annoncé mardi 23 mai leurs avocats.

Cette procédure de citation directe survient après le classement sans suite, il y a dix mois, d’une enquête préliminaire diligentée sur ce dossier par le parquet de Lyon.

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AUSTRALIA/ROME
Daily Mail

By Kate Darvall For Daily Mail Australia

Police could be powerless to make Cardinal George Pell return to Australia to face charges because he is so high up in the Vatican that he has diplomatic immunity.

Cardinal Pell was appointed to the Vatican’s Secretariat of Economy in 2014, the third highest ranked position within the church.

His high ranking grants him diplomatic immunity in Australia, meaning he cannot be forced to attend court or provide information, according to legal experts.

Cardinal Pell has been accused of sexually abusing and grooming boys.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4536068/Cardinal-George-Pell-police-powerless-return-Australia.html#ixzz4hzbS2a5u
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
New Hampshire Union Leader

By MARK HAYWARD
New Hampshire Union Leader

CONCORD — St. Paul’s School does not have to report every instance of assault involving a student to Concord police, according to an agreement the school provided to the New Hampshire Union Leader Tuesday.

The school provided its updated agreement with the Concord Police Department, signed in September 2012, upon request.

The Union Leader made inquiries about any written agreement with police in light of the blockbuster report, released Monday, that detailed decades of sexual misconduct at the prestigious preparatory school.

The current agreement is written in compliance with the New Hampshire Safe Schools Act and spells out what crimes must be reported to police.

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TEXAS
San Antonio Express News

By Zeke MacCormack Updated Tuesday, May 23, 2017

NEW BRAUNFELS — A third lawsuit has been filed in state court here accusing former Renew Ministries Pastor Terry Knighten of abusing his position to have sex with female congregants, while a related fight in federal court pits the now-defunct church against its insurer.

The newest plaintiffs are Samuel and Kristi Guerrero, a local couple wed by Knighten in 2011 whose suit accuses him of pursuing “a scheme of sexual exploitation” that resulted in repeated sexual contact between Knighten and Kristi Guerrero.

The suit, which seeks $1 million in damages, also names as a defendant Renew Ministries, formerly known as Celebrate Life Church. It accuses church officials of failing to properly supervise Knighten and of not acting when they became aware of his alleged misconduct.

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GEORGIA
Gainesville Times

By Nick Watson
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
@NickWatsonTimes
POSTED: May 24, 2017

A lawsuit and Boy Scouts of America documents show a former Gainesville scoutmaster continued working with the organization for more than a decade after confessing to church and scout leaders about sexually abusing scouts.

Royal Fleming Weaver Jr. is the subject of a lawsuit filed in Cobb County Superior Court by Robert William Lawson III. Lawson claimed he was raped by Weaver during an Order of the Arrow scouting event in 1985.

Weaver was the former Gainesville scoutmaster of Troop 26, based at First Baptist Church of Gainesville. Lawson filed an amended complaint Thursday which includes more documentation from the Boy Scouts of America.

In addition to the Boy Scouts, Weaver and the church, the lawsuit names former First Baptist pastor Steven Brown, the Northeast Georgia Council and the estate of Gene Bobo, who served in council leadership.

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AUSTRALIA
Central Telegraph

A WOMAN who sustained sexual abuse as a 12-year-old at the hands of the boarding master at a Toowoomba private school has appeared publicly for the first time to speak of her experiences.

Lyndal’s story is the subject of a book by prominant Toowoomba lawyer Stephen Roche who represented her during a landmark civil case in Toowoomba against the Anglican Church and Diocese of Brisbane and is now a movie titled Don’t Tell currently in cinemas.

She was repeatedly sexually abused by her boarding master Kevin Guy in the early 1990s and 10 years later successfully sued the church and diocese.

Now a mother and working in education, Lyndal appeared on Channel 9’s 60 Minutes program last night to speak out against the scourge of child sexual abuse and the system that, in her view, doesn’t support the victims as well as it should.

“We need to keep that conversation alive… to let other victims know that… they’re not alone,” Lyndal told 60 Minutes reporter Liz Hayes.

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MARYLAND
Washington Post

By Tom Jackman May 23

The Rev. A. Joseph Maskell, who died in 2001, is a suspect in the 1969 slaying of Sister Catherine Cesnik, the subject of a new series on Netflix. (Baltimore Sun)
The new Netflix series “The Keepers” focuses on the slaying of Sister Catherine Cesnik in 1969, but also examines allegations of sexual abuse committed by Catholic priests and covered up by the church. On Tuesday, Baltimore police created an online form for those who think they were victimized long ago and may now want to report it.

Cesnik taught at Archbishop Keough High School in Baltimore and disappeared in November 1969. Her body was found just over the city line in Baltimore County in January 1970. She had been beaten to death, and her killer was never found. In the 1990s, a number of women came forward to allege that the chaplain at Keough, the Rev. A. Joseph Maskell, had sexually molested them. One woman told the Baltimore Sun that Maskell had taken her to Cesnik’s body. Other women said that they confided in Cesnik about sexual abuse by Maskell and that she may have been preparing to confront the priest about this. Maskell denied committing any sex crimes or murder and was never charged before his death in 2001. A seven-part documentary about the case was released by Netflix on Friday.

Baltimore police spokesman T.J. Smith said after the series was released, “We’ve heard from people who previously hadn’t reported their offense. We just wanted to streamline the process. This is a crime that occurred to them, they don’t need to constantly relive the nightmare, telling the story over and over again.”

Smith said he did not know how many calls his department had received but noted that victims in the case were probably teenagers at the time, and “this is bringing back memories for them. We just wanted to cut out the middleman and want to rout them directly where they need to go.” He said sex crimes detectives will receive the online submissions and reach out to anyone who believes they were victimized. The form is here.

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UNITED STATES
Los Angeles Times

Amy Kaufman

They call themselves retired grandma Nancy Drews. One is a former emergency room nurse, the other a longtime elementary school teacher.

They make notes on coffee filters instead of index cards and wear clam diggers and sensible sneakers.

But thanks in part to the amateur sleuth work of Gemma Hoskins and Abbie Schaub, the 47-year-old unsolved murder of a young Catholic nun is gaining national attention. Earlier this year the Baltimore County Police Department conducted DNA tests on the exhumed body of a priest in relation to the case. And now, with the debut last Friday of Netflix’s “The Keepers,” the seven-part docu-series in which the two are central figures, Hoskins and Schaub are being treated like Cagney and Lacey.

The two were classmates at Archbishop Keough High School in the 1960s, where Sister Cathy Cesnik served as their teacher. But the nun disappeared suddenly on Nov. 7, 1969, after driving to a local shopping center to buy some Muhly’s dinner rolls, cash a paycheck and purchase an engagement gift for her sister. She never returned home, and her car was found directly across the street from where she lived, parked haphazardly, the rear jutting out into the road. The tires were caked with mud, and a twig hung from the steering wheel. The Muhly’s bag was still inside the vehicle.

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NEW YORK
The Journal News

Jorge Fitz-Gibbon , jfitzgib@lohud.com May 23, 2017

The Archdiocese of New York paid out more than $1.5 million through a victim compensation program to settle sexual abuse claims filed against six former Catholic priests from the Lower Hudson Valley.

The cases date as far back as the 1970s and involve defrocked priests who include the former president of Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains and onetime pastors at churches throughout Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties.

The claims against them come from seven men who were abused by the priests as children and filed claims against them through the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program, receiving individual settlements between $150,000 and $350,000.

“I think that the suburbs are a particularly troublesome area because it’s more diffused with these large parishes that were able to kind of hide multiple perpetrators over multiple time periods,” said J. Michael Reck, an attorney for the seven men, whose identities will remain confidential.

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MARYLAND
WBAL

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Tyler Waldman, WBAL NewsRadio 1090

Baltimore police are asking anybody spurred by the new Netflix series “The Keepers” to report abuse allegations online.

Anyone who may have been abused at Archbishop Keough High School or anywhere else is asked to report the abuse online.

Before and, largely, since A. Joseph Maskell’s 2001 death, the defrocked priest has been the target of a number of sexual assault allegations. Before he died, Maskell denied allegations of misconduct. However, the Archdiocese of Baltimore has paid out numerous civil settlements stemming from the allegations.

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