ABUSE TRACKER

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY
MARCI HAMILTON
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Thursday, June 15, 2017

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is currently holding its annual General Assembly in Indianapolis, where no doubt church leaders are discussing politics as much as doctrine.

As they continue to run from their clergy sex abuse scandal, furiously trying to push it into the past, they cannot be happy with the release of Netflix’s “The Keepers,” the extraordinary docuseries about the death of a nun who blew the whistle on horrendous sex abuse in a Catholic high school.

Nor can they ignore the ardent momentum for the passage of New York’s Child Victims Act. It would have been law long ago but for the bishops’ lobbying against it with their alternative facts on how such laws operate.

Until now, New York has been among the worst states for justice for child sex abuse victims. Bills have been introduced to reform the statutes of limitations for these most heinous of crimes no less than a dozen consecutive years in the Assembly, only to die a painful death in the Senate each time as the bishops with their insurance-carrier lobbyists exult.

Indeed, they invest millions and concoct arguments to scare lawmakers away from doing what is right for the unjustifiably exiled victims. They tell lawmakers that statute-of-limitation reform will clog the courts with a mountain of cases and reputations will be sullied by false claims. They especially fight a “window,” which provides the only justice available for victims from the past.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Survivors of child molestation are urging lawmakers in New York to loosen the statute of limitations on lawsuits for past abuse.

A statement released Wednesday and signed by several survivors called on top lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo to hold negotiations on the bill before the legislative session ends next week.

The proposal would eliminate the criminal and civil statute of limitations for several child sexual abuse crimes and create a one-year window for past victims to file civil suits.

Victims now have until they turn 23 to sue, but supporters say it can take years before victims feel comfortable stepping forward to report their abuse.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Independent

Deborah McAleese
June 14 2017

Former residents of mother and baby homes in Northern Ireland have called for a public inquiry into allegations of abuse and forced adoptions.

The institutions, which were run by the Catholic Church, Church of Ireland and the Salvation Army, housed women and girls who became pregnant outside marriage.

Oonagh McAleer, who was forced into Marianvale mother and baby home in Newry when she became pregnant at 17, gave birth to a son in 1980.

However, she claims she was prevented from seeing or holding her baby before he was taken away for adoption against her will.

“My baby was taken from me as soon as he was born. I never even got to hold him, or even to look at his face. He was adopted against my knowledge or agreement.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

June 14, 2017

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Thursday: …

4. Archdiocese to Appear in Court in Bankruptcy Case

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the creditor’s committee in the archdiocese’s bankruptcy case are set to appear in court Thursday. Both parties had the opportunity to file objections to the case’s plans of reorganization by June 7. Thursday’s hearing will determine a schedule to further address objections to plans of reorganization.

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SCOTLAND
The Times

Mike Wade
June 15 2017
The Times

An order of nuns has admitted abusing children in its four understaffed homes where youngsters survived on “frugal” rations of food and clothing.

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry heard that 404 civil actions and complaints had been taken out against the Congregation of the Sisters of Nazareth, which operated homes known as Nazareth House.

In total, 14,766 children were cared for in Aberdeen, Kilmarnock, Glasgow and Edinburgh between 1930 and 1985, but none of the homes was staffed by more than ten sisters, and often only three or four nuns were in residence.

The congregation “didn’t have the finance to pay lay staff”, said Sister Anna Maria Doolan, the regional superior. While the aim was to care for children “as best we could”, she acknowledged “things weren’t right”.

Sister Doolan said most of the nuns had no qualifications in childcare.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Stephen Naysmith

NUNS who abused children at homes run by the Sisters of Nazareth were unsuited to work with young people, while staff took on too many children to care for them all properly, the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry heard yesterday.

The inquiry was told 257 former residents of the Catholic order’s four Scottish homes have started civil actions over alleged abuse, while an additional 147 have complained they suffered while in the sisters’ care.

Sister Anna Maria Doolan, the UK regional superior in charge of the Sisters of Nazareth, told the inquiry there had been complaints against all four Nazareth houses, in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Kilmarnock.

She said the congregation had been guilty of wanting to help too many vulnerable or destitute children. Staffing ratios at the homes were described as meaning one nun was responsible for up to 20 children, although figures presented to the inquiry appeared to show the ratios were sometimes much higher, particularly in Aberdeen.

Sister Doolan said: “With the gift of hindsight, these large numbers were probably too big for the sisters looking after them.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Stephen Naysmith

JIM BUCKLEY has been campaigning for 19 years for an inquiry into the abuse he suffered in care, he said.

But the 72-year-old has waited more than six decades for an apology from the Sisters of Nazareth, to whom he and his three younger brothers were entrusted when he was just seven, after leukaemia left them without a mother and with a father who couldn’t cope.

When the apology came, he was stunned. “I can’t describe how I feel,” he said outside the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry yesterday.

“I was quite surprised by some of the things Sister Doolan admitted. It was an apology, and it’s the first time I’ve actually heard that. It meant a lot.”

As a Glasgow family sent to the Nazareth House in Aberdeen, all four boys were told they were the “lowest of the low”, he said. Bed-wetters were humiliated, he claimed, and nuns were liberal with the use of sticks which they kept up their sleeves.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

Joanne McCarthy
15 Jun 2017

A FORMER Newcastle journalist and St Stanislaus College, Bathurst Old Boy, whose endorsement of the college led to a friend’s son being sexually assaulted, will lead a silent vigil on Friday as the college holds a controversial apology service.

Terry Jones said he would never get over the pain of knowing his recommendation led to a boy being sexually assaulted by notorious St Stanislaus chaplain Brian Spillane. It has driven Mr Jones’ campaign to have the Vincentian Catholic order and the college acknowledge the full extent of crimes committed by its representatives.

“People in Bathurst did not believe, and many still won’t believe, these things happened, and so the college sits up there on top of the hill looking over the city, still trying to control things,” Mr Jones said.

“I was a journalist working in Bathurst when a bunch of these priests were charged and when I saw my friend’s name as a victim of Spillane I was shocked. I was horrified. I was devastated. I rang my friend to apologise. His son became suicidal. He became a recluse. He’d only been a little boy when he went to the school.”

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FLORIDA
Tampa Bay Times

Kathryn Varn, Times Staff Writer

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

LARGO — The director of children’s ministry at Anona United Methodist Church and a prominent member of the local theater and dance community has been arrested after police said he inappropriately touched a 14-year-old girl.

Domenic Victor Bisesti, 31, faces a charge of lewd and lascivious molestation after the girl told police he touched her buttocks several times and tried to kiss her at the church at 13233 Indian Rocks Road, according to Largo police. Investigators and church officials don’t know of any other victims.

Jack Stephenson, senior pastor at Anona, said Wednesday that the church has removed him from programming and barred him from campus pending the investigation.

“He’s turned in his keys, he will not be on campus, he’s cleaned out his office,” Stephenson said.

Bisesti was also involved in Eight O’Clock Theatre, a community theater group based in the Central Park Performing Arts Center, and Tutterow Dance Academy, a well-known local dance troupe.

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NEW YORK
Chelsea Now

June 14, 2017.

BY PAUL SCHINDLER | Legislators aiming to relax New York’s unusually stringent statute of limitations on sexual abuse of minors remain hopeful that, with the State Assembly already having taken action, the State Senate could yet follow suit before the session ends next week. According to out gay West Side Senator Brad Hoylman, “The Governor’s office is still talking about” a program bill could eliminate time limitations on child abuse survivors filing criminal actions and ease such limitations on civil action.

Currently, childhood sexual abuse survivors must either make a criminal complaint or file a civil lawsuit by age 23. Experts agree it can often take decades for a survivor to be ready to come forward.

Last week, the Democratic Assembly, by a vote of 139-7, adopted Upper West Side Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal’s Child Victims Act, which would allow victims to bring criminal cases up to the age of 28, file civil suits up to age 50, and allow what essentially is an 18-month look-back window for abuse survivors whose cases couldn’t be brought under current law to step forward.

Hoylman’s companion bill in the Senate — which would eliminate any statute of limitations on criminal or civil action — was denied a hearing in the Judiciary Committee earlier this year by the Republican Majority and diverted to the Rules Committee, where Hoylman said “it will never see the light of day.” Hoylman’s hope for overcoming the GOP’s resistance has been for Cuomo to follow through on a January commitment to eliminate all limits on the time a victim can come forward with a criminal complaint, allow civil suits to be filed for up to 50 years after any abuse, and create the look-back the Assembly approved.

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AUSTRALIA
Central Western Daily

Jacinta Carroll
15 Jun 2017

ORANGE victims and their families are being invited to stand in solidarity with victims of historical sexual abuse in a silent vigil to be held in Bathurst on Friday.

Greens MP and the party’s spokesman on justice, David Shoebridge, who also led the fight for a stand-alone inquiry by the Royal Commission into historical sexual assaults at Bathurst’s St Stanislaus’ College, All Saints’ and The Scots School, said everyone is invited to attend the Centennial Park event.

“I’m coming up to support the victims,” he said, adding he will not be attending the official public apology being held at St Stanislaus later in the evening.

“I certainly won’t be going to any religious ceremony. I find that deeply disrespectful to the victims, and I won’t be part of it.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By the National Reporting Team’s Lorna Knowles and Alison Branley

One of Australia’s oldest Catholic boarding schools is under fire for turning an apology to victims of child sexual abuse into a religious service.

At least 160 students of St Stanislaus College in Bathurst were abused by paedophile priests and staff over three decades, between the 1970s and 1990s.

The school plans to host an “Apology Service of Sorrow and Hope” tomorrow night but victims say asking them to attend the school – where the abuse happened – and incorporating the apology into a religious service would trigger painful memories.

The head of the school, Dr Anne Wenham, said the event was intended as a genuine commitment to say sorry to victims.

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INDIANA
National Catholic Reporter

Carol Zimmermann Catholic News Service | Jun. 14, 2017

WASHINGTON

The 14th annual report on diocesan compliance with the U.S. Catholic Church’s “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” shows that church leaders have taken steps to help many find healing as victims of clergy sexual abuse, but there is still work to be done.

Introductory remarks in the 2017 report urge church leaders not to assume that “sexual abuse of minors by the clergy is a thing of the past and a distant memory. Any allegation involving a current minor should remind the bishops that they must rededicate themselves each day to maintaining a level of vigilance,” wrote Francesco Cesareo, chairman of the National Review Board, which oversees the audits.

Cesareo, who is president of Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts, reiterated that message June 14 at the bishops’ spring meeting, held this year in Indianapolis. He reminded them that their commitment to stopping clergy sexual abuse and supporting victims of abuse must remain “at the forefront” of their ministry.

The newly released report — based on audits conducted between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2016 — shows that 1,232 survivors of child sexual abuse by clergy came forward with 1,318 clerical abuse allegations in 132 Catholic dioceses and eparchies. The allegations represent reports of abuse that occurred from the 1940s to the present.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio, heugenio@guampdn.com June 15, 2017

Concerned Catholics of Guam said the Archdiocese of Agana should be rid of five priests or ministerial officers who allegedly abused their power. Some of them destroyed chancery records to hide clergy sex abuse cases, the group alleges.

“They, in fact, should be put through a canonical trial for the destruction of chancery records, the lies and deceit that caused tremendous scandal among the Catholic faithful on Guam,” Concerned Catholics President David Sablan said Tuesday.

Sablan was reacting to Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes’ recent expansion of the membership of the Presbyteral Council and retaining Monsignor David C. Quitugua.

As of Thursday, the Archdiocese of Agana hadn’t replied to a request for comment.

The consultative body, which has Byrnes as president, advises the archbishop on pastoral concerns and other matters of importance.

Byrnes also recently appointed members to the College of Consultors, a governing body when the archdiocese becomes impeded or vacant. Quitugua is a member of the college.

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INDIANA
America

Michael J. O’Loughlin
June 14, 2017

We will provide live updates to this page as the bishops gather in Indianapolis for their annual spring meeting. …

Chair of National Review Board: Sexual abuse by clergy “not a thing of the past”

June 14, 4 p.m.

Francesco Cesareo, chairman of the National Review Board, urged the bishops to continue to keep their commitment to stopping clergy sexual abuse and supporting victims of abuse “at the forefront” of their ministry.

He said sexual abuse of minors by clergy is “not a thing of past” and stressed the bishops have to always be vigilant and be sure to not “let complacency set in” in their efforts to stop it.

The review board is a group working with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to address and prevent sexual abuse of minors in the U.S. by clergy and other church personnel.

Cesareo pointed out there was still work to be done in this area, but he also praised the bishops for what they’ve accomplished and stressed that dioceses in the United States are among the safest places for children and are also models for rest of the world.

In his report to the bishops, he presented some of the key points of the recently issued 14th annual report on diocesan compliance with the U.S. Catholic Church’s “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.”

The report—based on audits conducted between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2016—shows that 1,232 survivors of child sexual abuse by clergy came forward with 1,318 clerical abuse allegations in 132 Catholic dioceses and eparchies. The allegations represent reports of abuse that occurred from the 1940s to the present.

One weak spot he noted in the audit process is the overall lack of parish participation, which he urged bishops to do something about to provide full transparency.

The bishops also announced the appointment of four new members to serve on the review board: Amanda Callanan, director of communications for the Claremont Institute; Suzanne Healy, a former victims assistance coordinator for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles; Dr. Christopher McManus, a Virginia physician; and Eileen Puglisi, former director of the Office for the Protection of Children and Young People in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y.

— Catholic News Service

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INDIANA
National Catholic Register

Matthew Bunson

The U.S. Bishops began their annual spring meeting on Wednesday, in Indianapolis, Indiana, and while it brought little fireworks such as can occur at their longer annual fall gathering, the day was not without poignancy and a powerful apology from the bishops for clergy sex abuse.

The spring meetings have drawn little media attention over the years, overshadowed by the fall session and slightly hampered by the limited number of public sessions. Nevertheless, in a time of heightened political, social, moral and economic challenges, there is no respite from the issues facing the Church in the United States. …

Clergy Sex Abuse

As they have for the last fifteen years, the bishops also devoted time to the seemingly never-ending tragedy of clergy sex abuse. National Review Board chair Dr. Francesco Cesareo delivered a moving annual progress report on the implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. While he praised the bishops for the immense progress over the last decade in curbing the scourge of clergy abuse and in creating a safe environment in dioceses of the United States, he called on the bishops to remember that sexual abuse of minors by clergy is “not a thing of past” and that the care of the victims must remain paramount.

Based on diocesan audits conducted between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2016, the latest report revealed that 1,232 survivors of child sexual abuse by clergy came forward with 1,318 clerical abuse allegations in 132 Catholic dioceses and eparchies. The alleged abuse occurred from the 1940s to the present day.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the USCCB, also announced the appointment of four new members to serve on the review board: Amanda Callanan, director of communications for the Claremont Institute; Suzanne Healy, a former victims assistance coordinator for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles; Dr. Christopher McManus, a Virginia physician; and Eileen Puglisi, former director of the Office for the Protection of Children and Young People in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y.

The Cardinal wrote in a letter to the newly appointed members, telling them, “The National Review Board plays a vital role as a consultative body assisting me and the bishops in ensuring the complete implementation and accountability of the Charter… The whole Church, especially the laity, at both the diocesan and national levels, needs to be engaged in maintaining safe environments in the Church for children and young people.”

The first day ended with yet another profound moment. The bishops gathered at Ss. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis for a Mass of Prayer and Penance for survivors of sexual abuse within the Church. Held in response to a call from Pope Francis for all episcopal conferences across the world to have a Day of Prayer and Penance for victims of clergy sexual abuse within the Church, the somber Mass included an apology to victims and an act of penance and humility during which the bishops knelt and recited a commemorative prayer written for survivors of abuse.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Lincolnshire Live

By Paul Whitelam | Posted: June 15, 2017

A second man has been charged as part of an ongoing investigation into historic child sex abuse in the Lincoln Diocese.

The investigation, called Operation Redstone, is a probe into allegations of abuse dating back to 1958 following a review of past safeguarding cases by the Diocese of Lincoln.

Lincolnshire Police confirmed in September 2016 that it was looking into historic abuse claims surrounding the Cathedral School in Lincoln, which educated the minster’s choristers and was amalgamated with others in 1996 to become Lincoln Minster School.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Lincolnite

A 76-year-old-man has been charged with 23 sexual offences as part of an investigation into allegations of abuse involving children.

John Bailey, 76, from Ash Tree Park in Kipped, Leeds, faces Indecent Assaults charges on females under the age of 14 between 1957 and 1981.

He has been bailed to appear at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court on July 27.

The Operation Redstone investigation follows a review of historic safeguarding cases by the Diocese of Lincoln.

Officers previously charged 81-year-old Roy Griffiths with eight sexual offences, including six counts of indecent assault on a boy under the age of 14, as part of the ongoing enquiries about Lincoln Cathedral School – also under Operation Redstone.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY
STEVE JIMENEZ
SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Three weeks ago, my father passed away peacefully after a year-long bout with pancreatic cancer; he lived to be 95. A crucial element of his peace was hearing from me at his bedside that Gov. Cuomo would soon introduce his version of the Child Victims Act to the state legislature.

My father had followed the bill’s progress for a decade and was relieved to know that the Governor was standing with survivors, advocates, and families — leading us in our final push for justice. And Gov. Cuomo is not alone in Albany: other leaders on the front line include Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, and Senators Brad Hoylman and Jeffrey Klein.

My father was a devout Catholic who had fought in two wars before he turned twenty — the Spanish Civil War and World War II; he had a finely-tuned moral compass and sense of justice. (Please listen up, Senate Majority Leader Flanagan!)

Like my mother, he felt terrible regret about failing to protect me from the predator who had sexually assaulted me for four years — my favorite teacher at Holy Name elementary school in Brooklyn. At the time, my father traveled frequently for work; my mother also worked full-time. It never dawned on them that this teacher they trusted — with whom I played hockey in the winter and went to Coney Island all summer long — was forcing me to engage in sexual acts.

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VATICAN CITY
Associated Press

BY NICOLE WINFIELD
ASSOCIATED PRESS

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis is once again flexing his papal muscle by seeking to keep tabs on his cardinals who live in Rome.

Francis asked the head of the College of Cardinals to remind his fellow Rome-based princes that they must inform him when they leave town and where they’re going.

It wasn’t known if there was a particular cardinal whose activities irked the pope, but some of his more conservative critics have delivered speeches and lectures abroad that have questioned Francis’ pastoral line, particularly concerning his divisive opening to letting civilly remarried Catholics receive the Sacraments.

Cardinal Angelo Sodano reminded his confreres in a May 31 letter that there is a “noble tradition” of cardinals informing the pope of their whereabouts. He asked that they revive it, particularly when away from Rome for long periods.

Asked Wednesday about the letter, Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said merely that it was a good and “long-standing tradition.”

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ILLINOIS
The Worthy Adversary

June 14, 2017

Joelle Casteix

<– Back to Part Two: Is There a Crook in the Diocese of Crookston?

In 2014, Fr. Bruce Wellems was banned from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Church officials there found out that he had sexually abused a seven-year-old boy when Wellems was fifteen. Los Angeles booted him back to Chicago where he had ministered for years.

But they only went halfway: they sent Wellems home, but they didn’t tell parishioners that it was for sexual abuse. When I was at the parish in 2014, parishioners told me that the allegations came from a dating relationship.

What did Cardinal Blase Cupich (pictured above) do when Wellems returned to Chicago? He immediately put the priest back into ministry. Why? Because Chicago officials had known about the abuse all along. They didn’t think it was a big deal. Even when Wellems lied about it in the 1990s.

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NEW YORK
Times Herald-Record

Opinion

As the end of the regular legislative session in Albany nears, John Flanagan, leader of the Republican majority in the state Senate, continues to refuse to allow to allow a vote on the Child Victims Act. This is the measure that would, as the sponsors explain, recognize the “unique character of sex crimes against children, which can have a multitude of effects upon victims, including being justifiably delayed in otherwise timely taking action against their abusers and/or those who facilitated in their abuse.”

The bill would acknowledge in New York the universally acknowledged dilemma that child victims often take years to understand what happened to them and even more time to get the courage to speak about it and press charges. By extending the statute of limitations for such crimes in the future, the bill would bring New York into line with other states which have adopted this humane and civilized approach.

Recognizing that this change would not help victims of previous abuse, it also would open a one-year window in which those making allegations could get a chance to have their day in court.

The Assembly approved the bill by an overwhelming margin, 139 to 7, the kind of result that is unprecedented in all but the most noncontroversial issues.

Yet Flanagan stalls and seems to be hoping that he can continue to keep the vote from coming to the Senate floor, effectively condemning the victims of child sexual abuse to another year of waiting.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY
KENNETH LOVETT
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, June 14, 2017

ALBANY — Child sex abuse survivors and advocates on Wednesday issued a call to Gov. Cuomo to convene a meeting with legislative leaders to hash out a deal on the Child Victim’s Act.

“With less than a week to go until the end of the 2017 legislative session, time is running out for survivors of childhood sexual abuse in their fight for justice,” the 28 victims and advocacy groups said in a statement obtained by the Daily News.

“If the governor is serious about justice for survivors, he needs to convene a leaders meeting and hammer out the Child Victims Act now.”

The legislation would raise or eliminate the legal timeframes that adult victims of child abuse can bring criminal and civil cases. It would also treat public and private institutions the same when it comes to child sex abuse.

Supporters also want a one-year window that would allow old cases currently time-barred under law to be revived — perhaps the biggest obstacle to a bill getting done.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian Jewish News

Nechama Bendet’s decision to leave the Yeshivah Centre has been met with cheers by victims of child sexual abuse, who believe she should have left years ago.

Less than a week after Nechama Bendet announced that she has left the Yeshivah Centre, she told The AJN that she is “deeply sorry for the pain and suffering that victims” of child sexual abuse have endured.

Bendet, whose decision to leave is not directly connected to child sexual abuse allegations, spoke about her 27 years at the school.

“It has been a privilege to work with so many talented and dedicated people and I am grateful for all the assistance that I received throughout my time at Yeshivah,” said Bendet.

“I am overwhelmed by the beautiful outpouring of support that I received since my departure from Yeshivah was announced to staff last week.

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AUSTRALIA
The Standard

Madeleine McNeil
@madeleinemads

14 Jun 2017

Emmanuel College principal Peter Morgan “fully endorses” a national apology to the victims and survivors of sexual abuse in former Christian Brothers’ schools.

In an historic first, Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA) made its first official apology on behalf of its schools to victims of sexual abuse at the National Arboretum in Canberra on June 1.

Apology: Emmanuel College principal Peter Morgan “fully endorses” a national apology to the victims and survivors of sexual abuse in former Christian Brother’s schools.
Apology: Emmanuel College principal Peter Morgan “fully endorses” a national apology to the victims and survivors of sexual abuse in former Christian Brother’s schools.
Representatives of the education body, which now governs schools and educational facilities previously under the control of Christian Brothers, met with victims of sexual abuse.

Mr Morgan said he was aware of the national apology which was made on behalf of more than 50 Catholic schools across the country. He said he would include the EREA apology in an upcoming school newsletter.

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UNITED STATES
MTV

IN HOLLYWOOD, WOMEN OVER 40 ARE RARELY THE HEROINE — EVEN OF THEIR OWN STORIES. BUT WITHIN NETFLIX’S HORRIFYING TRUE-CRIME SHOW ARE BRAVE AND BRILLIANT WOMEN WE CAN ALL LOOK UP TO.

INKOO KANG

[Spoilers for The Keepers ahead.]

The Keepers is probably the most brutal and devastating watch of the year. Streaming now, the Netflix documentary revisits a cold case — the murder of a 26-year-old nun, Sister Cathy Cesnik, nearly half a century ago — and chronicles a sexual-abuse case involving scores of teenage victims at a Baltimore Catholic girls’ high school. The rapes and other sexual assaults of as many as 100 girls (and in an earlier incident, at least one boy) by the school priest, Father Joseph Maskell, and his associates may have never come to light if it weren’t for one of Sister Cathy’s students, Jean Hargadon Wehner, who alleges in the doc that the nun was killed for her knowledge of the priest’s crimes. Wehner had already suffered sexual abuse by an uncle when she met Father Maskell and his collaborator Father Neil Magnus. The latter exacerbated her feelings of guilt about the earlier assault(s) by telling the 14-year-old victim, “I don’t really know if God can forgive this.” Wehner’s accounts of the priests’ cruelties are nauseating and infuriating — as is the decades-long guilt Father Maskell fostered in his spiritual ward by essentially blaming her for Sister Cathy’s murder. The nun disappeared shortly after Wehner reported the priest’s sexual assaults to her teacher. Months later, Wehner desperately brushed maggots off Sister Cathy’s face as Father Maskell threatened to kill anyone else the girl told her secrets to.

That Wehner and Father Maskell’s other survivors have been through hell and back is abundantly clear. But a few days after bingeing on The Keepers, I found myself recalling the doc with a smile thanks to the graceful aging of many of its protagonists. I’ve spent the better part of the past decade worrying about getting older. Pop culture — which I’m steeped in as a critic — just might be the worst lens through which to consider female aging, and the films and TV shows on the subject that stick out in my mind foretell nothing good. From All About Eve to The Clouds of Sils Maria, movies about women on the “wrong” side of 40 mark them for obsolescence and replaceability, like a leaking refrigerator. Since Getting On (HBO) is set in a gerontology ward, the hospital comedy naturally focuses on the mental and physical decline of the gray-haired. Amour, about an elderly man who kills his longtime wife after she suffers a debilitating stroke, is a personal nightmare. “Have you seen The Golden Girls?” you might ask. Yes, I have. I adore it, in fact — and, by the way, three of the four cast members are dead.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

CHRIS MARSHALL
Wednesday, 14 June 2017

More than 400 allegations of child abuse have been made against an order of nuns which ran four orphanages in Scotland until the 1980s.

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry heard details of 257 civil actions and a further 147 complaints made in connection with children’s homes run by the Sisters of Nazareth, the last of which closed in 1985.

The inquiry, before judge Lady Smith, also heard that 71 child residents of the homes were sent to Australia. Giving evidence on behalf of the congregation, Sister Anna Maria Doolan admitted children had been abused and said the order was “very sorry”.

The inquiry, which is investigating the abuse of children in care dating back decades, heard that 14,766 boys, girls and babies had been accommodated in homes in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Kilmarnock and Lasswade, near Edinburgh, between 1925 and 1984.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Cavanagh Funeral Home

September 2, 1922 – May 31, 2017
Darby, Pennsylvania | Age 94

The Reverend John Alexander Cannon was born in Oxford, Pa. in 1922. He attended West Catholic High School for Boys and St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. He was ordained a priest on May 22, 1948, and died on May 31, 2017, in Manor Health Care in Yeadon, Pa.

He was the son of the late Alexander T. and Mary Ellen [nee Keeley] Cannon, his late sisters were Margaret Mary Conway [Daniel] and Frances Cecelia Legg [Richard] and he was the nephew of the late Henrietta T. and Katherine E. Cannon.

Father Cannon is survived by numerous nieces and nephews, great-nieces and nephews, and great-great nieces and nephews. All are grateful to him for his guidance and support.

In the course of sixty nine years, he resided and served in Philadelphia and suburban counties.

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CANADA
CBC News

By Geoff Bartlett, CBC News Posted: Jun 14, 2017

Just over a year after Ottawa agreed to pay $50 million to people who suffered abuse at residential schools in Newfoundland and Labrador, work on the healing portion of the agreement has begun.

Last week, the Department of Indigenous Affairs and Northern Development announced that retired judge James Igloliorte will be its ministerial special representative.

That means he will lead the healing and commemoration portion of the agreement, going into mostly northern Labrador communities and speaking with students from all three affected Indigenous groups who attended residential schools. His activities will be funded by the federal government outside of the $50 million settlement.

Igloliorte said the task before him may seem daunting, but he plans to start small by opening conversation with the former students and their families and then going from there.

“We will hear the stories, both good and bad,” he told the St. John’s Morning Show.

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SCOTLAND
The Times

Mike Wade
June 14 2017
The Times

The head of a Catholic order that ran an orphanage notorious for its cruelty has claimed that allegations of child abuse there are shrouded in “mystery”.

Sister Ellen Flynn, the leader of the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul in Britain, said that the order “can find no evidence” of physical abuse of the children who lived at Smyllum Park House, Lanark.

Sister Flynn told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry that she accepted that accusations had been made, saying she was “appalled to think something had happened” and was “very sorry”. The elderly nuns who survived from the 1950s and 1960s were nervous about the inquiry, she added.

Sister Flynn was giving evidence during phase 1 of the inquiry in Edinburgh, a period of six weeks in which providers of childcare are offered an opportunity to lay out their understanding of the extent of historical abuse within their organisations. At a later date, conditions within individual institutions will be examined in detail and accusations of abuse laid bare.

Horrific tales of physical abuse at Smyllum were first published in the News of the World in 1998. There was public revulsion when it emerged that at least 100 children who died in the home were buried in unmarked graves near Lanark racecourse.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

NUNS from a charity accused of abusing children at a Catholic orphanage throughout the 1980s have said the claims were a “mystery” as the institution was described as “a safe haven” for deprived children.

One local councillor had described it as a “showpiece” for childcare, the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry was told.

However Smyllum Park, in Lanark, has been the focus of claims children were systematically physically abused, and routinely humiliated for offences such as bedwetting.

It is notorious for the graves of up to 158 children who died at the home, left unmarked in nearby St Mary’s churchyard.

At the inquiry, two members of the Catholic order the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent De Paul, were quizzed about the management of six children’s homes run by the congregation. However Smyllum Park, which operated from 1864-1981 dominated the questions from inquiry lead senior counsel Colin Macaulay QC.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Stephen Naysmith

One of the clear intentions of Lady Smith, chairwoman of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, has been to give organisations which potentially might face criticism later, the chance to acknowledge historic failings early on in the process.

In that context, she may have been unimpressed by Sister Flynn’s claims that nuns who worked there at the time abuse is alleged can only recall that a lot of “good things” happened for the children.

The claim, for instance, that birthdays were celebrated with presents, parties and cakes, may be directly contradicted by former residents still to speak, who say presents and cakes delivered by relatives were routinely confiscated.

Sister Flynn also said that she had only spoken briefly to the surviving sisters about the abuse claims, before the order’s lawyers took over.

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NEW YORK
The Leader

Posted Jun 13, 2017

The Finding Voice open forum series will discuss the New York state Child Victims Act at 5:45 p.m. June 20 at the Southeast Steuben County Library, 300 Nasser Civic Center Plaza, Corning.

Speakers will include Leslie Danks Burke, founder and president of Trailblazers PAC; Melanie Blow, Stop Abuse Campaign; Dina O’Herron, Chemung County Child Advocacy Center director of administrative services.

An open mic discussion will be held after the speakers.

The Finding Voice series is co-hosted by the League of Women Voters of Steuben County and the library. For more information, call 607-936-3915.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY
KENNETH LOVETT
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, June 13, 2017

ALBANY — Advocates pushing for passage of the Child Victims Act have begun running a digital ad campaign that largely targets those living in the district of state Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, who has kept the legislation from coming to the floor for a vote.

“Survivors are banding together to protect the next generation and to stand up for their rights,” said victim Ana Wagner, who is featured in the video. “We have over 70,000 signatures on a petition in support of this bill. Sen. Flanagan needs to ask himself how hard he’s going to fight against children?”

The ads will appear on social media across the state but largely target Flanagan’s Suffolk County district, said Stop Abuse Campaign Committee founder Andrew Willis.

In the Stop Abuse Campaign video, Wagner doesn’t mention Flanagan. She recounts being raped as a child and the terror she feels when she looks at her kids.

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TEXAS
KXAN

By Lauren Lanmon
Published: June 13, 2017

BUDA, Texas (KXAN) — An associate pastor at Betania Baptist Church in east Austin is facing charges of sexual assault with a child. Church members say Garcia has played a big role at the small church for many years, including his role as the youth minister.

According to court documents, 59-year-old Ruben Garcia, of Buda, has been wanted by authorities for the past two months. Garcia was arrested by the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force on Monday, after investigations in Hays County and Nueces County resulted in charges.

“It took me and my family by surprise. It’s kind of heartbreaking if it’s true especially knowing he was around children at that time,” said one of the church members who asked to remain anonymous.

Garcia is being charged with two counts of sexual assault of a child and one count of indecency with a child by sexual contact. According to court documents, Garcia groped and assaulted a female child younger than 17 on three separate occasions in Hays County in 2013 and 2014.

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MEXICO
24 Horas

[Mexico asks Interpol to issue red card against SLP priest wanted for sexual abuse.]

La Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) solicitó a la Secretaría General de Interpol la publicación, en el sitio web de la institución internacional, de la Notificación Roja del sacerdote, Eduardo Córdova Bautista, quien es buscado en 190 países por contar con una orden de aprehensión en su contra.

El mandamiento judicial en contra del sacerdote fue decretado por el Juez III Penal en San Luis Potosí por su probable responsabilidad en la comisión de los delitos de privación ilegal de la libertad, abuso sexual calificado, corrupción de menores de 18 años de edad o de personas que no tienen capacidad para comprender el significado del hecho o para resistirlo, y de violación equiparada.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

June 14 2017

Former residents of mother and baby homes in Northern Ireland have called for a public inquiry into allegations of abuse and forced adoptions.

The institutions, which were run by the Catholic Church, Church of Ireland and the Salvation Army, housed women and girls who became pregnant outside marriage.

Oonagh McAleer, who was forced into Marianvale mother and baby home in Newry when she became pregnant at 17, gave birth to a son in 1980.

However, she claims she was prevented from seeing or holding her baby before he was taken away for adoption against her will.

“My baby was taken from me as soon as he was born. I never even got to hold him, or even to look at his face. He was adopted against my knowledge or agreement.

“The nuns and the government did that to me. And they did it to my child and to so many other women and girls and their babies across Northern Ireland for decade after decade,” said Ms McAleer, who is chairwoman of the Birth Mothers and their Children for Justice NI campaign group.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
The Detail

By Kathryn Torney, 14 June 2017

THERE are growing calls from victims and campaigners for a public inquiry into Northern Ireland’s former mother and baby homes, with claims the findings would “shock this society to its core”.

Detail Data has examined archive documents and interviewed women and children who survived conditions in the homes for unmarried mothers that existed in Northern Ireland until the early 1980s – including institutions run by the Catholic Church, the Church of Ireland and the Salvation Army.

Files at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) include correspondence homes had with government departments, the minute book for one home and inspection records for a children’s home where some of the children would have moved to after their birth.

Pregnant girls as young as 13-years-old were sent into mother and baby homes and a letter from 1945 shows how the chairman of a home for unmarried mothers appealed for money and warned the government about the high infant mortality rate among “illegitimate” children.

Our research led us to look at the treatment more generally of children labelled as ‘illegitimate’ in Northern Ireland’s recent past. Official records from 1942 show that the ‘legitimate’ infant mortality rate for Northern Ireland was 72 per 1,000 births – it was 157 for ‘illegitimate’ children.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Detail Data

Information from burial records and death certificates of children from Nazareth House and Nazareth Lodge in Belfast who died in 1942.

There are 63 children identified in the records as having died in 1942, including 43 babies who died from marasmus (malnutrition). Burial records are available only on microfilm and 1942 was chosen as records for that year were the most clearly legible.

The table was created by Detail Data using information from Milltown Cemetery’s burial records – owned by Down and Connor Diocese and available from the Public Records Office of NI – and death certificates from the General Register Office NI. Children’s surnames have been removed at the request of Down and Connor Diocese, due to Data Protection legislation, to prevent the potential identification of living relatives. Parents’ names and children’s former addresses have also been removed.

The Nazareth babies were among 388 children aged under 18 interred in Milltown Cemetery’s Public Ground site that year. Detail Data’s investigation identified the cause of death for 56 of the 63 children identified in the burial records through searching for matching death certificates held by the General Register Office.

As well as being unable to locate seven certificates, information in the burial records contradicted details recorded on the death certificates found by Detail Data. For example one death certificate states that the child died 10 days after the recorded burial date from the burial record. Children’s ages vary widely between the two sets of records, in some cases their gender is contradicted and the date of death comes after the burial date in at least nine cases involving the deaths of children from the homes. In other cases, the spelling of surnames varies.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
The Detail

AT least 43 babies died from severe malnutrition at two Sisters of Nazareth children’s homes in Belfast in a single year.

That is the disturbing key finding from the examination of a year of burial records for Milltown Cemetery’s Public Ground site – otherwise known as the Bog Meadows. Thousands of stillborn and unbaptised babies are among those buried in unmarked mass graves on the west Belfast site.

We now know that they include 63 children – 21 girls and 42 boys – from Nazareth House and Nazareth Lodge who were aged between two weeks and almost two-years-old when they died in 1942. See full details on each case in the table below.

One of the babies was six-week-old George who died from severe malnutrition (marasmus) and a “septic scalp” in October 1942.

Marie died aged two-months-old in January 1942 from “cardiac failure due to marasmus”. It appears to be her twin sister Jean who died two weeks later from “haemoptysis due to congenital heart disease”. The sisters were buried in separate mass graves.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

June 14 2017

Calls are growing for a public inquiry into Northern Ireland’s former mother and baby homes after it has emerged that 43 babies died from severe malnutrition at two Belfast homes in a single year.

The institutions, run by the Catholic Church, the Church of Ireland and the Salvation Army, housed women and girls who were pregnant outside of marriage.

The Detail website found that in the year 1942 the mortality rate of babies born outside of marriage was twice that of those born to married parents.

Files at the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland show that pregnant girls as young as 13-years-old were sent to stay in the homes that existed from 1934 to 1949.

Among the key findings from an examination of a year of burial records for Milltown Cemetery’s Public Ground site by the investigatory website, was that 43 babies died in a single year from severe malnutrition from Nazareth House and Nazareth Lodge in Belfast.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

New research into infant mortality rates at former mother and baby homes in Northern Ireland has added weight to calls for a public inquiry.

The institutions housed women and girls who became pregnant outside marriage.

An investigative website has found that in 1942, the mortality rate of babies born outside marriage was twice that of those born to married parents.

The Detail’s research also claims the deaths of many babies in the homes were caused by “severe malnutrition”.

The website compiled its research by examining death certificates and archive files at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI).

It also analysed burial records for Milltown Cemetery, Belfast’s biggest Catholic Cemetery.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Register

COMMENTARY: The U.S. bishops’ June 14 penitential Mass for survivors of sex abuse comes on the 15th anniversary of the Dallas Charter.

J.D. Flynn

On June 14, as they begin the spring meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in Indianapolis, the bishops of the United States will celebrate a “Mass of Prayer and Penance” for survivors of sexual abuse within the Church.

This is a good and important occasion. Sexual abuse is a heinous crime, one that cries out for penance and prayer. This is especially true when the Church, the sacrament of salvation, is the setting in which sexual abuse has taken place, violating sacred trust and causing real spiritual harm.

The survivors of sexual abuse within the Church have suffered gravely and, in many cases, will continue to suffer in relationships, in health and in faith. The Church does well to continue praying for them and to continue making penance for the grave sins perpetrated against them.

The Church also does well to continue supporting survivors of sexual abuse by clergy or other church personnel, providing them resources for psychological assistance, pastoral care and personal healing.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

Kathryn Torney

Northern Ireland’s mother and baby homes closed decades ago, but their legacy continues to have an impact on birth mothers and their children.

Oonagh McAleer is chairwoman of the group Birth Mothers and Their Children for Justice NI, which is calling for a public inquiry into the former homes.

Ms McAleer was 17 and pregnant when she was sent to live in Marianvale mother and baby home in Newry in 1979. The home, run by the Good Shepherd Sisters, opened in the 1950s and closed in the early 1980s.

Ms McAleer, from Co Tyrone, told Belfast-based data journalism project Detail Data: “I was in the early stages of pregnancy and I was sent there initially by the priest and social services. I was brought there by a social worker in a car. I didn’t know where I was going.

“After a couple of hours at Marianvale, I realised that I was being put away. I didn’t know how long it was going to be for and I thought I was never going to get out of there.”

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

Kathryn Torney

At least 43 babies died of severe malnutrition at two Sisters of Nazareth children’s homes in Belfast in a single year.

An examination of a sample year of burial records for Milltown Cemetery’s Public Ground site has established the graves include those of 63 children from Nazareth House and Nazareth Lodge who were aged between two weeks and almost two years when they died in 1942.

Some babies born to women sent to mother and baby homes went home with their mothers or were adopted, but others went into baby or children’s homes, including the Nazareth homes.

Belfast-based data journalism project, Detail Data, established the cause of death for 56 of the 63 children by searching for death certificates held by the General Register Office, which is part of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. Detail Data is a partnership between the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action and The Detail news website.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

Statement from Diocese of Down and Connor

“It is always a matter of deep sadness when a baby or child dies. The sense of loss to a family and often a wider community is deeply felt. When we hear of the number of deaths of children and babies in 1942, at this distance in time, our hearts go out to those who endured and carried the trauma of the loss of their babies and children. All life is a gift and during a time of war, when so many lost their lives, the deaths of these children can so easily be forgotten. We acknowledge the loss and express our deep sadness for the sorrow that these deaths caused at the time and in the years that followed.

In 1884 the Sisters of Nazareth opened ‘Nazareth House’ on the Ormeau Road in Belfast to care for girls placed into adoption. A few years later, in 1900, ‘Nazareth Lodge’, Belfast, was opened for boys by the Sisters of Nazareth as a separate community, and was registered as an industrial school in 1902 where it served as an industrial school for boys until 1951.

The homes originally provided only for older children but there was a need to also provide a home for babies and younger children. The first baby was admitted to Nazareth Lodge on 16 October 1934, when the home took on the role of providing a diocesan service for babies. A purpose-built nursery named ‘Bethlehem’ was later established within the precincts of Nazareth Lodge with places for up to 90 babies. This was a Diocesan babies’ home staffed by the Sisters of Nazareth. These homes relied very heavily on charitable donations and the voluntary care provided by the Sisters.

It is a matter of deep regret that the homes were unable to provide the requisite care for the children and the recent HIAI Report noted that as state funding and training improved the facilities and care also improved.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

The Northern Ireland Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry (HIA) report last January was unequivocal in its findings about the Nazareth House (girls) and Nazareth Lodge (boys) homes in Belfast, both run by the Sisters of Nazareth.

It investigated abuses in Northern Ireland residential institutions for children in the period between 1922 and 1995.

The HIA report concluded that at the homes in Belfast “the shortage of finance and its consequent impact on staffing levels and physical standards of care amounted to a form of neglect and constituted systemic abuse. Although both central government and the welfare authorities bore some responsibility, this was primarily the responsibility of the Sisters of Nazareth.”

Up to the 1960s, the state, it said, “was content to allow the Sisters to continue to proceed as before, relying solely on the funds they could raise from the Catholic community to cover their running costs”.

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AUSTRALIA
Western Advocate

JACINTA CARROLL
13 Jun 2017

A CALL for the Royal Commission to hold a stand-alone inquiry into historic sexual abuse at three of the city’s private schools has fallen on deaf ears, angering victims who say their voices have gone unheard for too long.

Victims of abuse at St Stanislaus’ College, All Saints’ College and The Scots School, backed by Greens MP David Shoebridge, had called for a stand-alone inquiry.

However, that now appears unlikely after the Royal Commission released a one-line statement to the Western Advocate stating it had “completed its public hearing program” and had “no further comment”.

This week, one of the schools at the centre of the historic abuse, St Stanislaus’ College, will hold a public apology and service of healing aimed at expressing sorrow for the past and hope for the future.

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MINNESOTA
Legal Examiner

Posted by Mike Bryant
June 13, 2017

Survivors of sexual abuse have until Sept 28th, 2017 to seek justice against their attackers.

That is just a little over four months away. The Window that has been limited due to bankruptcy by the diocese is part of a federal court order. Anyone who was sexually abused by an priest of the order, or who believes the order is liable for their abuse must act before the Sept 28th bankruptcy filing.

Nationally renowned priest abuse attorney Jeff Anderson’s website details instructions. There are a number of key points:

• You must file a claim by Sept 28th.
• Your privacy and confidentiality can be protected.
• Filing your claim can help you and help protect children.

Please act now, because any further delay will result in loss of your right to make a claim

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

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NEW YORK
Staten Island Advance

COMMENTARY BY SHAUN DOUGHERTY

The New York Archdiocese compensation program provides access to compensation for adult survivors of child sexual abuse even though their claims may be barred under New York law. Clergy sex abuse survivors in Staten Island have a very small window to pursue their abusers in court–one of the shortest in the country and one that is woefully inadequate. New York’s “statute of limitations” leaves survivors with little recourse; however, for a short period of time the New York Archdiocese is offering its own compensation program, and I encourage all eligible survivors on Staten Island to participate before it’s too late.

As a survivor of clergy sex abuse in Pennsylvania, I understand how difficult it can be to come forward. I was abused at 10 years old by Father George Koharchik, who was my priest, teacher, and coach, as well as a close family friend. I kept silent about my abuse and years passed before I could share my story with family and friends.

During this time, I struggled in school and in relationships and experienced depression, addiction and even a suicide attempt. I am now happily married, have built a successful restaurant in Long Island City, and am an outspoken advocate for survivors in both Pennsylvania and New York. I’ve been fortunate, but I still struggle. I know others do too, which is why survivors need to be able to access services and support that can help them rebuild their lives.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Den of Geek

REVIEW

Louisa Mellor

This review contains spoilers.

Give me the child and I’ll give you the man, says an old Jesuit adage I’m paraphrasing and probably misattributing, but nonetheless the wisdom stands: what we learn in childhood forms us as adults. Of Broken’s many messages, that’s the loudest.

In childhood, Michael Kerrigan learned there was something wrong with him. He learned to keep quiet. He learned the sexual abuse he suffered was his fault. None of that’s exclusive to Catholicism – those are the lessons all abused children learn and they’re the fastest to sink in. Unlearning them can be the job of a lifetime.

It’s a job that Father Michael, now in his fifties, is still working on. As he struggles to support his bruised community and atone for his past wrongs, he’s also trying to make sense of the abuse he suffered. Why him? Why was it allowed to continue? And why didn’t he speak out about it? Episode three shows him still reeling from the trauma, and, in its most powerful scene, finally confronting his painfully indifferent abuser.

Father Michael’s story is Broken’s most affecting strand. Not because it’s the saddest—you can hardly rank these desperate stories by weight of wretchedness, they’re dreadful to a one—but because it has the most complexity. As a child, Sean Bean’s character suffered physical and sexual abuse by priests and then became a priest, a vocation in which he clearly believes. Michael was terribly wronged by the adults in his life, later went on to wrong others—women, and now lives a life of atonement. He gets angry. He can be selfish. He could have, but didn’t, save a boy’s life for want of picking up the telephone. He struggles to square his anger and pain with his faith’s aspirations to forgiveness and mercy. Put simply, he’s not perfect.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Whisleblowers

Three national organizations dedicated to the protection of children, young people, and vulnerable adults unite to call on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to re-open and re-assess the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. The USCCB is meeting from June 14-16 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

What – A press conference featuring the National Survivor Advocates Coalition, Catholic Whistleblowers, and Road to Recovery, Inc. which will call on the Catholic Bishops of the United States to place on its November, 2017, meeting agenda the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People that was developed in 2003 as “The Dallas Charter” and has not been fully complied with or implemented by dioceses and eparchies throughout the country.

When – Wednesday, June 14, 2017 at 4:00 PM

Where – On the public sidewalk outside the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, 1347 North Meridian Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202

Who – Kristine Ward (Ohio), Chairperson, National Survivor Advocates Coalition; Ginny Hoehne (Ohio) Member, National Survivor Advocates Coalition; Mary Heins (Indianapolis), Member, National Survivor Advocates Coalition; Rev. James Connell (Wisconsin), Member, Catholic Whistleblowers; and Dr. Robert M. Hoatson (New Jersey), President, Road to Recovery, Inc., and Member, Catholic Whistleblowers

Why – The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has used the nearly two decades-old “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” as its guide for handling allegations of sexual abuse of children and young people, but the “Charter” has not been faithfully or successfully followed or implemented. Children, young people, and vulnerable adults continue to be at risk across the country. Several serious “issues” with the “Charter” will be exposed and discussed, including the fact that the “Charter” generally has “no teeth” to it. Advocates for victim/survivors, including a Church canon lawyer, will call on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to strengthen its commitment to and protection of children, young people, and vulnerable adults.

Contacts – Kristine Ward, 937-272-0308; Ginny Hoehne, 937-726-9360; Fr. Jim Connell, (414) 940-8054; Robert M. Hoatson, 862-368-2800

Mary Heins, 317-359-7128

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

Joanne McCarthy
14 Jun 2017

A FORMER Newcastle man who was sexually assaulted by a priest at a Vincentian Brothers college has slammed the order, the college and the Catholic Church for an apology to victims on Friday, June 16, the day Vincentian founder St Vincent de Paul was made a saint.

“If he saw what’s happened at that school he’d be turning in his grave,” said Damien Sheridan of Bathurst’s St Stanislaus College, where 16 priests, Vincentian Brothers or laymen associated with the college have been the subject of serious child sex allegations, with multiple convictions.

“They’re saying sorry to try to make themselves look good, but putting it on that day shows it’s still all about them. It’s still all about the church. They couldn’t even make an apology without putting a church angle on it.”

Mr Sheridan was sexually assaulted by notorious St Stanislaus teacher and college chaplain Brian Spillane in 1985 when he was 13 and a boarder at the school.

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AUSTRALIA
Anglican Journal

BY MARITES N. SISON ON JUNE, 13 2017

(This editorial first appeared in the June issue of the Anglican Journal.)
In March, Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse released its initial report on how Australian institutions—including churches, schools, sports clubs and government organizations—have responded to allegations of child sexual abuse.

The groundbreaking report revealed that children were allegedly sexually abused in more than 4,000 Australian institutions, including the Catholic and Anglican churches.

From 1980 to 2015, about 4,500 allegations of child abuse involving 1,880 alleged offenders were brought to the attention of authorities in the Australian Catholic church. In that same period, more than 1,100 complaints of child sexual abuse were made in the Anglican Church of Australia. The alleged abuses involved 285 laypeople and 247 clergy from 22 of the church’s 23 dioceses.

Since the numbers do not include unreported cases, the true magnitude of the abuse remains unknown. However, the inquiry clearly established the lasting and multi-generational impact of childhood sexual abuse and the great lengths institutions went to protect predators. The commission interviewed more than 1,200 witnesses in public hearings and held 6,500 private sessions with survivors and witnesses, including those in nursing homes and hospitals.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

SAINT Vincent de Paul was a French Catholic priest who died in 1660 after a life dedicated to helping the poor.

He was canonised a saint in 1737 and the modern society that bears his name was begun in France in 1833 by a lawyer and academic, Frédéric Ozanam. Known originally as the Conference of Charity, it expanded around the world during the 19th century, and today serves its mission in more than 130 countries.

Its work for the poor stands unchallenged, but as the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has shown, it has also – like many Catholic organisations – been a home to substantial numbers of paedophiles.

In its February 2017 analysis of child sexual abuse claims made against Catholic institutions, the Royal Commission, the Congregation of the Mission, as the Vincentian society is known, came 15th in a list of Catholic organisations ranked by the amount of compensation paid to victims.

All up, 49 people had made claims against the Vincentians, with 28 of these receiving a financial payment: the total of $3.7 million amounted to an average of $137,000 per person.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

June 13 2017

Theresa May must immediately implement a promised redress scheme for victims of historical child abuse in Northern Ireland, the Ulster Unionist Party has said.

The collapse of Stormont has meant that victims have been left without any redress, despite promises of a public apology, compensation and counselling following a major public inquiry into historical child abuse at churches, charities and state institutions.

Ulster Unionist leader Robin Swann said that due to the lack of a functioning government in Northern Ireland it is up to the Prime Minister to implement the redress scheme.

His comments come after the chairman of the inquiry into historical child abuse, former High Court Judge Sir Anthony Hart, publicly raised concern over the delay in introducing the scheme.

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MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

By Joel Currier
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

TROY, Mo. • A judge has denied a woman’s request for a new civil trial seeking damages against a Roman Catholic priest after a Lincoln County jury in April found insufficient evidence that he fondled her at her home.

St. Louis Circuit Judge Steven Ohmer on Monday also ordered the woman to pay legal expenses of the St. Louis Archdiocese and the Rev. Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang totalling $48,516.84. Ohmer’s order requires she pay $19,316.51 to the archdiocese and $29,200.33 to Jiang.

The woman sought a new trial last month after a jury found in favor of Jiang following a two-week trial. She had accused him of molesting her as a 16-year-old in June 2012 while her relatives were in the same room. The jury also rejected her claims that the St. Louis Archdiocese failed to protect her and should have known Jiang was dangerous to children.

Jiang denied the woman’s claims at trial and told jurors the woman’s family was trying to steal his dreams of serving as a priest in the United States.

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NEW YORK
Village Voice

by LAUREN EVANS

JUNE 13, 2017

As the state’s legislative session winds to a close, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has yet to announce his support for the Child Victims Act despite his promises to survivors that he’d help get a bill passed this year.

The act, which would extend the restrictive time frame for victims of child sexual abuse to seek justice, recently sailed through the Assembly with a vote of 139 to 7 before stalling, as such bills do, in the state Senate.

Politico reported that Cuomo met with survivors’ advocates last week, but his spokesperson, Rich Azzopardi, remained noncommittal. “All options remain on the table,” Azzopardi said.

But senators in the powerful Independent Democratic Conference have drafted an amended version of the legislation that stands a modest chance of appeasing everyone from abuse survivors to the act’s foes, who face intense pressure from the Catholic Church to oppose it.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

13 June

The Inquiry has today launched a consultation on the impact of child sexual abuse on victim and survivors and access to and use of support services.

The consultation marks the start of an ongoing engagement with victims and survivors and their families to gather views about support service provision. The consultation will be open for three months, from now until early September.

The consultation will examine a series of issues relating to victims’ and survivors’ experiences of support services. There are questions dealing with a range of issues connected to the impact of abuse and support service provision. We want to know more about experiences of the different types of support and the differences in the way they are experienced by children and adults.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The MJ

By Mark Conrad | 13 June 2017

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) has been rocked after a second influential victims group with strong links to council children’s homes quit.

Senior figures within the Survivors of Organised and Institutional Abuse (SOIA) group – which represents many victims of alleged historical sexual abuse at local authority homes – have said the organisation has withdrawn its support for the inquiry, citing a loss of confidence in the process.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

CHRIS MARSHALL

The head of a religious order which ran a controversial children’s home has described allegations of abuse as a “mystery”.

Sister Ellen Flynn, leader of the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul in Great Britain, told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry her congregation could find “no evidence” of abuse taking place at Smyllum Park in Lanark, South Lanarkshire.

The inquiry, led by Lady Smith, heard more than 4,000 children passed through the home between 1930 and its closure in 1981.

Former residents have alleged the sisters administered severe beatings at Smyllum, where the bodies of up to 100 orphans lie in an unmarked grave.

Asked by Colin MacAulay QC, the senior counsel to the inquiry, if she accepted children had been abused at Smyllum, Sr Flynn said: “The first view is that we are extremely saddened that accusations were made. We are very apologetic, but in our records we can find no evidence or anything that substantiates the allegations.”

Asked what her reaction would be if the allegations were proved to be true, she said: “If true, it tells us there was a systemic failure, but we have no evidence there was.”

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OHIO
Vindicator

YOUNGSTOWN — Bishop George V. Murry of the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown appointed 11 people to a committee that will review allegations of sexual abuse of minors by church personnel.

The Diocesan Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People is comprised of Dr. Joseph Irilli, Brigid Kennedy, Atty. Alan Kretzer, Dr. Ronald Mikilich, Dr. Joseph Mosca, Sister Jean Orsuto, Timothy Schaffner, Rev. John Sheridan, Rev. Mark Williams, Deacon Gregory Wood and Mary Ann Woods.

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AUSTRALIA
Christian Today

James Macintyre 13 June 2017

A leading Australian writer and former politician has likened child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church to ‘terrorism’ and extremism, arguing that it is responsible for many deaths, mainly by suicide.

Kristina Keneally, a former Australian Labor party leader and premier of New South Wales, wrote in the Guardian that the label ‘institutional sexual abuse’ was inadequate and ‘too bland to confront us with the terror and deadly impact on the victims’. She added: ‘It allows abusers – individually or as a class – to continue hiding behind the institution.’

Instead, Keneally wrote: ‘The end result of this flawed theology and ecclesiology is the nauseating, terrifying, grotesque, ritualised and repeated violent assaults and rapes of children by Catholic clergy and religious.

‘Should we label this “Catholic terrorism”? The Australian victims of sexual abuse have been terrorised by the Catholic church, no doubt. Is it “radical Catholic ideology” or “extremist Catholic belief” to cover up the sin of sexual abuse for “the greater good”? It’s hard to deny it. As a Catholic, I shudder at the thought. But I know that such labels would be truthful. ‘

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

June 14, 2017

DENNIS SHANAHAN
Political Editor
Canberra

Police are still canvassing for new evidence and allegations against George Pell in relation to sexual abuse claims almost a month after Victorian Police Commissioner Graham Ashton said a decision on laying charges would be made “fairly quickly”.

Victoria Police confirmed last night that a decision on laying charges was expected “soon”.

Last week, however, police were still investigating the claims and interviewed at least three men who were choirboys at St Patrick’s Cath­edral between 1996 and 2001, when Cardinal Pell was the archbishop of Melbourne

The Australian understands the police were told none of the men had any knowledge of any abuse when they were there and they had offered to make further statements for police or in court.

Police have been investigating allegations of sexual abuse by Cardinal Pell for more than two years, including that he sexually abused two choir boys at St Patrick’s Cathedral in East Melbourne, and have twice sought advice from the Victorian Office of Public Prosecutions in the past year.

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RUSSIA
RAPSI

ST. PETERSBURG, June 13 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov) – The Priozersk City Court in the Leningrad Region will begin hearing the case against Russian priest Gleb Grozovsky, who stands charged with sexual abuse of children, on June 22, RAPSI reports from the court on Tuesday.

Earlier, the court extended Grozovsky’s detention until December 2, his attorney Mikhail Utkin told RAPSI. A motion to return the case to prosecutors has been dismissed, the lawyer added.

According to investigators, Grozovsky committed several crimes against minors in 2011 and 2013.

In 2013, he fled to Israel and applied for citizenship. However, his application was dismissed.

In April 2014, Grozovsky was put on the international wanted list. Israeli police arrested him in September. In January 2015, a court in Jerusalem ruled that the priest should be extradited to Russia pursuant to the European Convention on Extradition. The ruling was appealed but rejected. In April 2016, the Justice Minister signed an order on Grozovsky’s extradition.

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LOUISIANA
KATC

An appeals court has rejected the appeal of a former priest convicted of rape, molestation and sexual battery of children.

Mark Broussard was convicted by a Calcasieu Parish jury last spring of five child sex charges. The crimes occurred while he was a Catholic priest in the 1980s. He’s no longer a priest; he left the church in 1994, according to evidence presented at his trial.

Broussard was convicted of molesting and raping an altar boy over the course of four years, beginning when the child was 10 years old. He is serving two life sentences, plus 55 years on the charges. All the sentences are being served consecutively, or one after the other. The life sentences are without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence.

Shortly after he was sentenced, he asked the Court to reconsider that sentence. His motion was denied without a hearing.

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MINNESOTA
The Worthy Adversary

June 13, 2017

Joelle Casteix

<– Back to Part One: Altoona-Johnstown

Last month, Crookston, MN Catholic deacon and child sex abuse survivor Ron Vasek (pictured above) came forward and filed a lawsuit saying that “Crookston Bishop Michael Hoeppner threatened to undermine his religious work and that of his son’s [a priest in that diocese] if he didn’t retract a child sex clergy abuse claim.”

This alleged threat happened in 2015. Yes … 2015. As in TWO YEARS AGO.

Vasek says he was sexually abused as a child by Monsignor Roger Grundhaus, the former Vicar General of the Crookston Diocese, a very powerful and well-known priest.

According to the lawsuit, during a closed-door 2015 meeting, Hoeppner said that Vasek’s son’s priestly career would be in jeopardy if he didn’t sign the document saying he was never sexually abused by Grundhaus.

That’s bad news. No one likes to ruin their son’s vocation. So Vasek signed the letter. And he immediately regretted it. So in 2017, Vasek decided to come forward and tell the truth.

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HAWAII
Honolulu Civil Beat

By Denby Fawcett

Sometimes people call me with information that’s so maddening I wish I had never heard it.

Such was a call I received recently from a friend who told me St. Anthony of Padua Church in Kailua is still referring to its parish hall as “Father Henry Hall.”

Father Joseph Henry was a serial child sex abuser.

One of his victims, on learning that the now deceased Catholic priest’s name is still on the church website, was surprised and upset.

“”Father Henry destroyed many lives,” says John Michael Pedro Jr. of Kailua. “His name should not be anywhere, not on St. Anthony’s parish building, not on the website, not in church publications.”

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INDIANA
Fox 59

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Archdiocese of Indianapolis will introduce its new archbishop Tuesday morning.

Pope Francis named Bishop Charles C. Thompson as the seventh archbishop of Indianapolis. Thompson will be introduced during a 10 a.m. news conference. He’ll succeed Cardinal Joseph Tobin, who was relocated to Newark, N.J., last year.

Thompson, 56, is the oldest of three children and was born in Louisville, Ky., according to the archdiocese. He attended Moore High School in Louisville and graduated from Bellarmine College in 1979 with a degree in accounting. He attended St. Meinrad School of Theology in Indiana, where he earned a master of divinity degree in 1987. He received his Licentiate (Master in Canon Law) from Ottawa’s St. Paul University in 1992.

He was ordained as a priest for the Archdiocese of Louisville in May 1987. His previous assignments include: Associate Pastor of St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral, in Bardstown, 1987-90; Part-time Associate Pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish, in Louisville, 1992-93; Metropolitan Judicial Vicar & Director of Tribunals, 1993-98; Parish Administrator of St. Peter Claver Parish, in Louisville, 1994-96; Pastor of St. Augustine Parish, in Lebanon, 1996-2002; Pastor of Holy Trinity Parish, in Louisville, 2002-June 2011).

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NORTHERN IRELAND
The Irish News

CLAIRE SIMPSON
13 June, 2017

THE chairman of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry has called on the north’s political leaders to implement a compensation scheme for victims.

Sir Anthony Hart said he had taken the “highly unusual” step of writing to the politicians asking them to urgently set up the payments.

The inquiry, which found widespread abuse and mistreatment of children in homes run by some churches, charities and the state, published its report in January.

It recommended victims receive compensation of between £7,500 and £100,000.

However, the collapse of power-sharing has meant the report’s recommendations have not been advanced.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
RTE News

The chairman of an inquiry into historical child abuse has demanded that Northern Ireland’s political leaders implement a victims’ redress scheme as a matter of urgency.

Former High Court Judge Anthony Hart said he had taken the “highly unusual” step of writing to all party leaders at Stormont to voice his concern over the delay in bringing forward a promised redress scheme.

He said the delay was adding to the burden already being carried by abuse victims, many of whom are in poor health.

In January the inquiry into historical institutional child abuse found that children’s homes run by some churches, charities and state institutions in Northern Ireland were the scene of widespread abuse and mistreatment of young residents.

Judge Hart recommended compensation, a memorial and a public apology to abuse survivors.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

The Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) Inquiry panel has written to political party leaders urging a “speedy implementation” of its recommendations.

The inquiry studied allegations of abuse in 22 homes and other residential institutions between 1922 to 1995.

Its verdict recommended compensation, a memorial and a public apology to abuse survivors.
The panel was chaired by Sir Anthony Hart.

Sir Anthony said a tax-free payment should be made to all survivors, including in homes and institutions that were not covered by the inquiry.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | neil@postguam.com Jun 13, 2017

Archbishop Anthony Apuron has not agreed to any settlement talks as he expects a decision in the ongoing canonical trial as soon as this summer, according to his attorney, Jacqueline Terlaje.

“I’ve received word that there may be a decision forthcoming but it’s always prospective,” she said.

Terlaje’s announcement came as the U.S. District Court of Guam held a status conference this morning on cases involving the island’s suspended leader of the Catholic Church.

Walter Denton, Roy Quinatanilla, Roland Sondia and Doris Concepcion, on behalf of her late son Sonny Quinata, filed civil suits against Apuron accusing him of child sex abuse when they were altar boys at the Mount Carmel Church in Agat in the 1970s.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

His attorney, Jacque Terlaje, says the archbishop’s canonical trial should be coming to an end sometime this summer.

Guam – Attorney Jacque Terlaje says her client, Archbishop Anthony Apuron, will not be participating in any settlement negotiations pending the outcome of Apuron’s canonical trial in the Vatican which she says should be rather soon.

There are still a number of issues that are tying up settlement talks between the Archdiocese of Agana and the scores of victims suing for civil claims of sexual abuse. Specifically, Attorney David Lujan, who represents all victims who have filed in federal court, says he’s still waiting for Hope and Healing Guam Executive Director Michael Caspino to turn over financial statements for the archdiocese as well as the church’s insurance policy.

In addition, Lujan told US Magistrate Judge Joaquin Manibusan that he needs more time to determine which parties will be a part of an alternative dispute resolution or ADR. This ADR would open up the door for a settlement agreement. Most parties are on board with only a few who have yet to state their position. However, so far, out of the parties who are aware of the potential settlement, the one defendant who is not willing to participate is Archbishop Anthony Apuron.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Kristina Keneally

Call it the Abbott Test for Moral Action. We can’t defeat a threat until we properly identify and name it, and the most important threats are those that have already proven deadly.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott led a chorus of voices last week demanding that political leaders define recent deadly terrorist attacks as Islamic. Abbott rejected concerns that such comments could inflame anti-Islam sentiment: “Islamophobia hasn’t killed anyone,” he said.

Abbott is wrong on that point. The recent murders in Portland, Oregon appear to be just the latest prompted by “Islamophobia.” But Abbott is right that we ought to correctly identify the mortal threats we face.

I’ve never had a problem using phrases like “radical Islam” or “extremist Islamic terrorists.” Being theologically trained, I understand that scripture is always interpreted in context and culture, and some interpretations are radical, extreme and seriously flawed.

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WASHINGTON
NBC Right Now

Posted by Veronica Padilla, Reporter

GRANGER, WA – The pastor of the Catholic Church in Granger is permanently taken out of his parish by the bishop of the diocese of Yakima after an allegation of abuse that was found by the Diocese to be credible. This is the first abuse allegation against a priest in the diocese of Yakima in 18 years, and they are taking it seriously.

“We know that sexual abuse is a reality throughout our society,” said Monsignor Robert Siler, Episcopal Vicar & Chancellor for the Diocese of Yakima. “In our families, in our schools, and in the church too…but we want to make the church a safe place for everyone. Especially for our children and youth.”

Bishop Joseph Tyson removed Father Gustavo Gomez Santos from all public ministry, including being a pastor of Our Lady Of Guadalupe Parish in Granger.

“You know, it’s a shock for people to hear that someone that they love who has been so kind and good to them could even possibly do this,” Monsignor Siler said. “We’re just going to continue to reach out to the community and help them to work their way through this.”

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WASHINGTON
El Sol de Yakima

MOLLY ROSBACH EL SOL DE YAKIMA

El sacerdote Gustavo Gómez Santos, de la parroquia de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, en Granger, ha sido suspendido de todo ministerio público tras las denuncias de un joven, a quien Gómez Santos abusó sexualmente durante su adolescencia, informó la Diócesis de Yakima, esta mañana.

La víctima, de 21 años, vivía en Mattawa, cuando el sacerdote lo manoseó por cinco o seis años mientras Gómez Santos servía en la Parroquia de San Juan Diego en Cowiche, declaró la víctima ante la oficina del Sheriff del Condado de Yakima.

Gómez Santos, de 51 años, es de Guadalajara, México, y fue ordenado en Yakima en 2002. Luego de las acusaciones, fue puesto en libertad el 5 de mayo, después de que la Oficina del Sheriff compartió las declaraciones con la Diócesis. Éste continuará viviendo en un “ambiente supervisado”, mientras sigue la investigación de la iglesia, dijo la Diócesis.

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MASSACHUSETTS
TheMediaReport

For many people, sometimes the facts hit too close to home, and there comes a breaking point.
For many years, TheMediaReport.com has been a relentless critic of the Boston Globe and its corrupt reporting on the Catholic Church abuse story.

This site has repeatedly exposed the paper’s dishonest “Spotlight” narrative and unmasked its rank hypocrisy in reporting sex abuse.

So it comes as little surprise that the folks at the Globe would eventually reach a point that they would snap. And that point apparently came with our post last week. Using data from the actual report, we revealed how the Globe completely deceived its readership.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Jun 12, 2017

By Krystal Paco

The attorney representing Archbishop Anthony Apuron in four of his clergy sexual abuse cases isn’t proceeding with out-of-court settlement. According to Attorney Jacque Terlaje, it’s too soon to do so.

This is because Archbishop Apuron is currently undergoing a canonical trial in Rome. According to Attorney Terlaje, a decision is expected to be made in the summer months.

Attorney David Lujan who represents the plaintiffs says he too can’t proceed with out-of-court settlement until he’s received financial documents from Hope and Healing Guam, specifically the Archdiocese of Agana’s insurance policies and audited financial statements dating back to 2010.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Haidee V Eugenio, heugenio@guampdn.com June 13, 2017

Archishop Anthony Apuron isn’t considering settling sex abuse lawsuits against him while his canonical trial is ongoing.

The canonical trial may be coming to a conclusion, said his attorney in the abuse lawsuits, Jacqueline Terlaje.

“I’ve received word that there may be a decision forthcoming but it’s always prospective, especially when it comes from a sovereign nation,” Terlaje said after a hearing at the District Court of Guam Tuesday morning.

Attorney David Lujan, counsel for all Guam clergy sex abuse cases filed in federal court, said he doesn’t care much about Aputon’s Vatican canonical trial.

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VATICAN CITY
The Tablet

12 June 2017 | by Christopher Lamb

Results will be seen as a boost for Pope Francis’ Vatican financial reforms, which he has entrusted to Australian Cardinal George Pell

The Vatican Bank has reported a more than 100 per cent increase in profits in their latest annual report thanks to what they describe as a “prudent approach” to managing investments.

In the 136 page annual report, the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR) report that net profits for 2016 were €36 million up from €16.1 million the year before, with these gains then being distributed in aid of the Holy See’s mission.

The latest statement, released this afternoon (12 May), also reveals a €4 million decrease in expenses to €19.1 million which was achieved by a “rationalisation” of outside contractors.

These results will be seen as a boost for Pope Francis’ Vatican financial reforms, which he has entrusted to Australian Cardinal George Pell. Soon after taking over as Prefect of the Secretariat of the Economy, Cardinal Pell announced a new management of the bank, including appointing billionaire hedge fund guru Michael Hintze to its board.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) A statement from the Institute for the Works of Religion, popularly known as the Vatican Bank, published its annual financial report on Monday, showing net gains of €36 million for the year 2016.

That figure is more than twice the €16.1 million income of the previous year, which the statement says was achieved through “a prudent approach in managing IOR’s investments in a year characterised by high volatility, global political uncertainty due to unexpected outcomes of major electoral events and low interest rates”.

The statement shows that in 2016 the IOR served nearly 15,000 clients worldwide, who entrusted to the Institute assets worth € 5.7 billion.

Please see below the full statement from the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR)

Vatican City, 12 June 2017 – For the fifth year, the Istituto per le Opere di Religione (IOR) has published its financial statements. The financial statements have been audited by the independent audit firm Deloitte & Touche S.p.A. The Board of Superintendence of the Istituto per le Opere di Religione unanimously approved the 2016 financial statements on April 26 and proposed to the Cardinals Commission the distribution of the entire amount of profits to the Holy See. In 2016 IOR has continued to serve with prudence and provide specialized financial services to the Catholic Church worldwide and the Vatican City state. The highlights are as follows.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service
6.12.2017

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Institute for the Works of Religion, often referred to as the Vatican bank, made a profit of 36 million euros (about $40 million) in 2016, according to its annual report.

The institute held assets worth 5.7 billion euros at year’s end, which included deposits and investments from close to 15,000 clients — mostly Catholic religious orders around the world, Vatican offices and employees, and Catholic clergy.

Before the report’s release, the 2016 financial statements were audited by the firm Deloitte & Touche and were reviewed by the Commission of Cardinals overseeing the institute’s work.

According to a statement from the bank June 12, all of the profits will be turned over to the Holy See, with none being placed in the institute’s reserve account.

According to the report, most of the institute’s clients “are active in missions or perform charitable works at institutions such as schools, hospitals or refugee camps.” That work is conducted all over the world, including “in countries with very basic infrastructure and underdeveloped banking and payment systems,” which means they rely on the institute, particularly in transferring donations from wealthier nations to poorer ones.

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NEW YORK
Gothamist

BY JAKE OFFENHARTZ ON JUN 12, 2017

Back in January, Cuomo promised that passage of the Child Victims Act—a law extending the amount of time that abuse victims can seek justice as adults—would be one of his top priorities. But six months later, in the waning days of the state’s legislative session, some survivors of sexual assault are beginning to wonder if the governor has hung them out to dry.

“[Cuomo] looked me in the eye three times while shaking my hand and said to me ‘I got this, Andrew, I got this,'” Andrew Willis, a childhood survivor of rape and the founder of the Stop Abuse Campaign, told Gothamist. “But I’m getting nervous. There’s very few days left for the governor to show that he’s got it, and I keep saying to myself: Why wouldn’t he want to get this bill passed?”

The bill, which passed 139-7 in the State Assembly last week, extends the current statute of limitations for childhood abuse victims seeking to bring civil or criminal charges against their abusers. Under current state law, most victims can only bring charges against their abusers until the age of 23. In the assembly’s version of the CVA, that statute of limitations would be extended between five and fifty years (depending on the nature of the suit). Additionally, the bill would create a one-time “look back” window for one year, in which victims of any age would be permitted to bring civil suits against individuals or institutions.

These changes would throw a life raft to the estimated 43,000 children who are abused in New York each year, Willis says, as research shows that a majority of childhood victims wait at least five years before telling anyone. Willis himself was raped at the age of 10, but says he was too racked with guilt to mention it to anyone until he was almost 50 years old. The teacher responsible was eventually accused of abusing more than 100 other students, Willis told me.

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WASHINGTON
KIMA

by Marie Schurk

GRANGER, Wash. – A Granger pastor has been removed from his position in the Roman Catholic Church due to reports of sexual abuse of a minor.

Reverend Gustavo Gómez Santos, who was most recently the pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, was permanently removed from all public ministry, according to a June 12 news release from the Yakima Diocese.

Gómez Santos, 51, was placed on leave May 5 after Yakima County Sheriff’s Office (YCSO) detectives shared an interview from a 21-year-old former Mattawa resident with the Diocese.

The victim reported he was fondled by the priest while he was serving as pastor at St. Juan Diego Parish in Cowiche roughly five years ago.

The Diocese began an investigation after YCSO officials determined the incident could not be prosecuted due to the statute of limitations, reports said.

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FRANCE
La Croix

Emeritus Bishop André Fort of Orleans was charged last Thursday with failing to report pedophile acts allegedly committed by a priest of his diocese in 1993. This comes as a relief for victims of the priest, who was finally charged in 2012 after three successive bishops failed to report him to authorities.

Gauthier Vaillant

The decision of the Republic Prosecutor of Orleans last Thursday to prosecute Emeritus Bishop Fort is the first such case for more than fifteen years.

The last similar case and the only other one to date took place in 2001 when Pierre Lacan, a former bishop of Bayeux-Lisieux, was charged.He was eventually convicted and given a suspended prison sentence of three months.

Bishop Fort, now 81, was bishop of Orleans from 2002-2010. He now lives in a retirement home in the sanctuary of Notre Dame du Laus in the Diocese of Gap in the Hautes Alpes region.

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WASHINGTON
Clay Center Dispatch

GRANGER, Wash. (AP) — A Catholic priest in the Yakima Valley town of Granger has been removed from all public ministry following allegations by a young man that the priest sexually abused him.

The Catholic Diocese of Yakima said Monday that it took the action against the Rev. Gustavo Gomez Santos from Our Lady of Guadalupe parish.

The Yakima Herald-Republic says the 21-year-old victim told the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office the priest had fondled him five or six years earlier when Gomez Santos was serving in a church in the town of Cowiche.

The priest denies the allegations.

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UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

June 12, 2017 Joelle Casteix

The 2002 Dallas Bishops’ Conference was a barn-burner. On the heels of the Spotlight series and scandals in dioceses across the nation, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) got together at their annual June meeting to put together “massive reforms.”

Those reforms became the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People and its accompanying Norms. It was later referred to as the 2002 Dallas Charter.

CrimeCon to BishopCon

Flash forward to 2017. The bishops’ June meeting is currently underway in Indianapolis. As luck or fate would have it, I found myself in the same city, at their very hotel (The JW Marriott Downtown) as the 2017 USCCB June Conference. I am in town attending CrimeCon 2017 (a conference for true crime aficionados) to meet some people interested in my work. (And wouldn’t you know it, The Keepers was the talk of the conference.)

Less than 3 hours after CrimeCon checked out last night, the bishops began checking in.

While the USCCB official schedule says the spring meeting doesn’t begin until June 14, they are well entrenched in the third floor conference center of the hotel, where CrimeCon signs still point people to the USCCB conference rooms (ah, the irony). Meetings are going on as I type.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Worthy Adversary

June 12, 2017 Joelle CasteixChild

Read the Introduction to this series here.

In 2016, the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General announced that “a statewide investigating grand jury has determined that hundreds of children were sexually abused over a period of at least 40 years by priests or religious leaders assigned to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-­Johnstown.”

The two-year investigation included a search warrant of the Altoona Bishop’s “secret archive.” That secret archive is the file cabinet under lock and key in the bishop’s office that holds evidence of child sex abuse and cover-up, including letters, reports, photos, records, statements, memos, etc. A bishop is required to keep this file under Canon Law.

The report also determined former Altoona Bishop Joseph Adamec was at the forefront of the cover-up and acted to avoid scandal rather than protect children.

The widespread abuse involved at least 50 priests or religious leaders and endangered thousands of children and allowed proven child predators to abuse additional victims.

The complete grand jury report can be read here.

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UNITED STATES
The New York Jewish Week

BY HANNAH DREYFUS May 25, 2017

he seeds for Shira Berkovits’ organization were planted in rural Minnesota at the breakfast table of a devout Lutheran family.

The table belonged to Victor Vieth, founder of a national child protection training center and an expert in addressing child abuse in small communities. During the summer of 2013, Berkovits, who is Orthodox, lived with Vieth and his family in order to absorb everything she could about systematically preventing abuse.

“We’d sit at the breakfast table and start brainstorming,” recalled Berkovits, who was a law student at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at the time — the summer experience with Vieth was a legal internship.

“I remember saying, ‘Victor, what would it look like if we did all this in the Jewish community?’”

Sacred Spaces, a nonprofit that aids institutions across the broader Jewish communal landscape in developing policies to prevent institutional abuse and properly handle it when it occurs, is the realization of that dream. Launched last July, the initiative aims to train Jewish community professionals around the world about child protection policies, best practices and boundary violations. The end goal is to create an accreditation system for the Jewish community.

Unlike other initiatives that have sprung up to address this problem, Sacred Spaces is not focused on helping victims or exposing offenders — it is aimed at reshaping institutions.

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WASHINGTON
Yakima Herald

By Molly Rosbach
mrosbach@yakimaherald.com Jun 12, 2017

GRANGER, Wash. — Rev. Gustavo Gomez Santos from the Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in Granger has been removed from all public ministry following allegations by a young man that the priest sexually abused him in his teenage years, the Yakima Diocese reported Monday morning.

The 21-year-old victim is a former Mattawa resident who told the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office the priest had fondled him five or six years earlier when Gomez Santos was serving in the St. Juan Diego parish in Cowiche.

Gomez Santos, 51, is from Guadalajara, Mexico, and was ordained in Yakima in 2002. He was placed on leave on May 5 after the Sheriff’s Office shared the allegations with the diocese. He will continue to live in a “supervised setting” while the church’s investigation continues, the diocese said.

The priest continues to deny the allegations. But his credibility was undermined by admissions that he violated the diocese’s code of conduct in numerous other ways, including giving alcohol to minors, giving and receiving massages to and from minors, giving them expensive gifts, and allowing them to stay overnight in his residence in several parishes, the diocese release said.

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NEW YORK
The Legislative Gazette

Written by THOMAS GIERY PUDNEY, assistant editor on June 12, 2017

With the legislative session winding down, advocates as well as legislators, are looking to Governor Cuomo to cut through the cacophony and use his political influence to pass a bill that would expand protections for survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

A version of the Child Victims Act passed by the Assembly on Wednesday faces an uncertain fate in the Senate as the factioning within the state’s upper chamber — and multiple versions of child victims’ rights bills — causes some confusion as to what comes next. The bill passed Wednesday (S.6575) is sponsored by Sen. Brad Hoylman, and provides for some of the strongest legal options for victims of childhood sexual abuse.

Hoylman’s bill would raise the statute of limitation for sexual abuse of a minor. Currently in New York, there is a five-year statute of limitations for filing legal actions once the victim turns 18, meaning that a victim must take action against their abuser before the age of 23. Hoylman’s bill would start the clock on that five-year statute at the age of 23, effectively doubling the current limit. It also would provide a one year look-back window during which victims of abuse that occurred many years ago would have an opportunity to take legal action against their alleged abuser.

Independent Democratic Conference Leader Senator Jeff Klein has sponsored a CVA bill (S.6585) similar to Hoylman’s with the exception of a commission set up by Klein’s, which would determine if cases occurring beyond the statute of limitations have merit.

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ISRAEL
Times of Israel

BY TAMAR PILEGGI June 12, 2017

A Jerusalem business owner now working at a girl’s seminary was arrested Sunday on suspicion of raping dozens of ultra-Orthodox women he employed.

Police launched an undercover investigation into the suspect last month following a tip-off by a nonprofit organization that works with rape victims that had received numerous sexual assault complaints by the female employees of the 30-year-old advertising manager.

On Monday, the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court approved a police request to search the suspect’s home and office. The judge ordered the suspect’s name not be released out of consideration for his victims.

A statement from police spokeswoman Luba Samri on Monday said an initial investigation revealed the suspect carefully groomed each of his victims prior to assaulting them. He promised certain women and girls help in advancing their careers and lavished them with attention.

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ITALIA
Rete L’Abuso

[Priest accused of abuse in the Rozzano the diocese: “We acted with conscience”.]

«La diocesi e la parrocchia di Rozzano – si legge in una nota dell’Ufficio comunicazioni sociali della diocesi di Milano – hanno gestito il caso con scrupolo e coscienza, provvedendo cautelativamente a sollevare don Mauro Galli dal ministero e a trasferirlo a Roma per completare i suoi studi. Il trasferimento è avvenuto diversi mesi prima che fosse presentata la denuncia querela da parte del legale del giovane, intervenuta solo nel luglio 2014. Tutto questo in attesa che la giustizia faccia luce con il processo penale».

Così sul quotidiano cattolico Avvenire viene commentata dalla Diocesi di Milano la vicenda che vede coinvolto un sacerdote, don Mauro Galli, con un passato a Legnano, accusato di reati sessuali ai danni di un giovane della parrocchia di Rozzano.

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CONNECTICUT
Cleveland Jewish News

JTA

A Connecticut yeshiva whose founding rabbi was ordered to pay $20 million to a former student who claimed he was raped by the rabbi is operating without proper certification, the state said.

The school came under additional scrutiny from state regulatory agencies last month after a federal jury ordered Rabbi Daniel Greer and the Yeshiva of New Haven to pay Eliyahu Mirlis $15 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages in a civil lawsuit filed last year.

The yeshiva has not filed any paperwork with the state since 2011 and never received permission to operate as a boarding school, the New Haven Independent reported.

The newspaper reported that the school lost most of its students in 2016 when news of Greer’s alleged molestation became public. Today the students come from outside the state and the school is under new management transplanted from New Jersey. Greer, the Orthodox Jewish school’s former principal, reportedly does not play a large role in the yeshiva, but does participate in daily prayers with the students.

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NEW YORK
The New York Times

By FABIO COTZA
JUNE 12, 2017

I was only 9 years old when my landlord’s teenage son led me into the basement with the promise of new toys. Instead, he forced me to touch him. He made me do things my young body and mind weren’t prepared to do. I distinctly remember how the damp floor and walls smelled of mildew, and how cold it was. I begged him to stop.

He said he would call me a “faggot,” and warned that his father could kick my immigrant family out of our apartment if I ever told anyone. Terrified, I kept silent.

But the memories tormented me every single day into adulthood. One night, I wrote my goodbye letter to the world and swallowed a bottle of pills.

My suicide attempt failed — luckily. But I decided that after 20 years of silence and fear I had to face what happened to me. I was 28 when I finally told someone that I had been sexually abused. But the law told me that I was five years too late to seek justice.

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ISRAEL
Arutz Sheva

David Rosenberg, 12/06/17

Rabbi Eliezer Berland, the former dean of the Shuvu Banim Yeshiva in the Old City of Jerusalem, was rushed to the hospital Monday morning.

Berland was convicted in a plea bargain agreement and sentenced to 18 months in jail last November after two female followers complained of sexual abuse by the 80-year old Breslov rabbi.

After the complaints surfaced in 2012, Berland fled the country, evading authorities in Europe and Africa until he was finally caught and extradited to Israel in 2016.

Berland served five months in jail and was released to house arrest in April.

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CANADA
CBC News

The chief commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is receiving an honorary degree from the University of Calgary.

Sen. Murray Sinclair, who was appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the upper chamber in 2016, spent six years documenting the dark legacy of Canada’s residential schools.

Sinclair, the first Indigenous judge appointed in Manitoba, will receive a doctor of laws, the highest academic honour at the University of Calgary, which is bestowed upon individuals whose notable achievements and community service merit recognition.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, borne out of the largest class-action settlement in Canadian history, issued 94 calls to action at the end of its mandate touching on a host of problems including health and education.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Jane Lee

People who were sexually abused by Victorian clergy as adults are being excluded from the Catholic Church’s pledge to top-up historic compensation payments.

Last November, Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart doubled the ceiling for payments to victims, through the Melbourne Response compensation scheme, to $150,000.

This was one of the recommendations of former federal court judge Donnell Ryan, QC, who reviewed Melbourne Response in 2014.

The church also came under pressure to make the scheme more generous and transparent during the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

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