ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED STATES
The Baltimore Sun

Alison Knezevich
The Baltimore Sun

The Archdiocese of Baltimore has responded to the organizer of a petition that urged the release of personnel files of the late priest at the center of “The Keepers” documentary, saying it treated the request “very seriously” but is still declining to make the documents public.

More than 54,000 people have signed the change.org petition, which calls on church officials to release the records of A. Joseph Maskell. The priest worked as chaplain and counselor at Archbishop Keough High School in Southwest Baltimore during the 1960s and 1970s. Multiple people have accused him of sexual abuse. He denied the allegations before his death in 2001.

The Netflix documentary series “The Keepers” explored possible connections between abuse at Keough and the unsolved 1969 killing of Sister Cathy Cesnik, who taught there.

Kevin Turowsky, a Massachusetts man who watched the series, created the online petition this spring. He said the records could shed light on Cesnik’s death and on how the church handled the abuse allegations.

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

INDIA
The Indian Express

Written by Liz Mathew | New Delhi | Published:September 16, 2017

WITH THE Catholic Church facing embarrassment over allegations of sexual assault involving some of its clergymen, the community’s top decision-making body in India has released a set of guidelines to prevent such acts at the workplace, including a code of conduct to be signed by employees in all institutions under its control.

The guidelines, released by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), are to be implemented in every “department, organisation, undertaking, establishment, institution, office branch or unit which is established, owned or controlled, wholly or partially financed by funds provided by the Catholic Church”.

The new measures have been listed in a 30-page document, titled “CBCI Guidelines to Deal with Sexual Harassment at Workplace”, which was issued this week.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Bishop Jacob Mar Barnabas of Gurgaon, chairperson of the CBCI council for women, said that apart from thousands of institutions under the Church, these guidelines should be followed by firms with more than 10 employees that are run or owned by Catholics.

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

AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph

Cathy Stubbs, Central Coast Gosford Express Advocate
September 15, 2017

AS THE Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse continues to hear heart breaking testimony from victims, the first ever Australian exhibition of art by survivors has been launched on the Central Coast.

The collection of works was created by men and women who have already given evidence to the commission about their experiences of institutional abuse.

It is being staged by counselling organisation Interrelate which has been funded by the commission to provide support for victims and their families.

Interrelate chief executive officer Patricia Occelli said the artworks were from people across NSW.

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

MASSACHUSETTS
Road to Recovery

Childhood sexual abuse victim of former altar boy supervisor, former priest, and convicted sexual abuser, Michael Walsh, to speak publicly for the first time about the sexual abuse he experienced and the inspiration he received from deceased childhood sexual abuse victim, Joe Crowley, who died on Easter Sunday, 2017

Brian Ward was a child, altar server, and parishioner of St. Brendan’s Parish, Dorchester, MA, when he was sexually abused by layman Michael Walsh who supervised altar boys at St. Brendan’s Parish and sexually abused Brian Ward in his car, at his Dorchester home, in his parish office, and on a trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, between 1988 and 1991.

Convicted pedophile Michael Walsh grew up in Charlestown, MA, was the head altar boy at St. Francis de Sales Church, and was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 2002 in Grand Rapids, MI. He is currently serving a prison sentence for sexually abusing Brian Ward. Brian Ward is currently seeking financial compensation from the Archdiocese of Boston and is represented by Attorney Mitchell Garabedian of Boston, MA

What
A press conference with Brian Ward, childhood sexual abuse survivor of Michael Walsh from St. Brendan’s Parish, Dorchester, who will discuss the abuse he experienced, the prison sentence of Michael Walsh, and the inspiration he received from Joe Crowley, deceased sexual abuse victim.

When
Sunday, September 17, 2017 at Noon

Where
On the public sidewalk in front of St. Brendan’s Roman Catholic Church, 589 Gallivan Boulevard, Boston, MA 02124

Who
Brian Ward, a childhood sexual abuse victim/survivor of convicted altar boy supervisor Michael Walsh; and, Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., Co-founder and President of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity based in New Jersey that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families

Why
Michael Walsh, former altar boy supervisor at St. Brendan’s Parish in Dorchester, MA, is serving a prison sentence after pleading guilty to sexually abusing Brian Ward, a courageous former altar boy at St. Brendan’s Parish on several occasions and in several locations. Mr. Ward will speak publicly for the first time about the sexual abuse he experienced, the harm it caused, and the inspiration he received to come forward and report the sexual abuse by Michael Walsh from Joe Crowley, sexual abuse victim of Fr. Paul Shanley, who died five months ago. Joe Crowley’s case was featured in the Academy Award-winning Best Picture, “Spotlight.”

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

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

INDIA
Financial Express

The Catholic community’s top decision-making body in India has released a set of guidelines to prevent sexual assault and also included a code of conduct which is to be signed by all employees of all institutions under its control. Allegedly, the embarrassment that the Catholic church had to go through over the allegations of sexual assault involving some of its clergymen compelled them to take this step. The set of rules which has been released by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) are to be observed in every “department, organisation, undertaking, establishment, institution, office branch or unit which is established, owned or controlled, wholly or partially financed by funds provided by the Catholic Church, ” Indian Express reported.

CBCI issued the guidelines in a 30-page handbook where the measures have been listed titled, “CBCI Guidelines to Deal with Sexual Harassment at Workplace”. Bishop Jacob Mar Barnabas of Gurgaon who is the chairperson of the CBCI council for women said that the guidelines are to be followed at any workplace which employs more than 10 people and is run or owned by Catholics. Indian Express quoted Barnabas saying, “There are hundreds of congregations, social service centres and groups as well as thousands of firms run by individuals. This would be applicable to all.”

The document which has been issued by the Catholic Church states that all the institutions or firms a “harmonious” environment at workplace which is free of intimidation, hostility, offence or any sort of abuse or harassment from the authority. It also specifies that there is zero tolerance policy on sexual harassment at workplace. In January 2017, Pope Francis had called for the enforcement of zero tolerance towards sexual crimes in church. Urging all the Bishops in a letter addressed to them, Pope had asked them to take strict actions to contain “the sin that shamed the church” referring to the sexual abuse of children by priests.

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

UNITED STATES
Open Tabernacle

September 16, 2017

By Betty Clermont

Yesterday, the AP reported: “A high-ranking priest working in the Vatican’s embassy in Washington has been recalled after U.S. prosecutors asked for him to be charged there and face trial in a child pornography investigation, Vatican and U.S. officials said Friday.

“The Vatican declined to identify the priest, but said he was currently in Vatican City and that Vatican prosecutors had launched their own probe and sought evidence from the U.S. The State Department said it had asked the Vatican to lift the official’s diplomatic immunity on Aug. 21, and said the request was denied three days later. For the State Department to make such a request, its lawyers would have needed to be convinced that there was reasonable cause for criminal prosecution.”

All the reports that I’ve read got the above facts correct. But all the reports whitewashed the case of another Vatican diplomat, Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, and Pope Francis’ lack of response to clerical sex abuse.

A “dossier” accusing papal nuncio (ambassador) Wesolowski of sex abuse of minors was sent to Pope Francis in July 2013 by Santo Domingo Cardinal Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez. The pope found the information credible enough to dismiss Wesolowski from the Dominican Republic on Aug. 21 via confidential letter.

Neither the civil authorities nor the public knew about Wesolowski until a local TV program did an expose’ on Aug. 31. The result of a year-long investigation, the broadcast contained testimony that the archbishop solicited sex for money from Santo Domingo’s poorest boys.

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

KÖLN (GERMANY)
Archdiocese of Köln

September 13, 2017

By Robert Boecker

[Summary: On September 13, 2017, Dr. Claudia Bundschuh presented her final report on the Collegium Josephinum boy’s boarding school in Bad Münstereifel, in the Archdiocese of Cologne. The school was closed in 1998. She found repeated instances of physical and sexual violence at the school. Six priests and another specialist sexually abused students. Four of them, and eight other priests, were also accused of of physical abuse. In addition to ear-pulling, sticks, kicks, and other chastisements caused lasting injuries. This article also provides links to a PDF of the full report:

Sexueller Missbrauch, physische und psychische Gewalt am Collegium Josephinum, Bad Münstereifel: Eine wissenschaftliche Aufarbeitung mit und für Betroffene, Endbericht, Köln im Juli 2017, Claudia Bundschuh.

A link is also provided to Bundschuh’s presentation.]

Bad Münstereifel. Das wissenschaftliche Projekt zur Aufarbeitung von sexuellem Missbrauch, physischer und psychischer Gewalt am Konvikt Collegium Josephinum in Bad Münstereifel hat seinen Endbericht vorgelegt. Wie Projektleiterin Prof. Dr. Claudia Bundschuh heute in Köln erläuterte, hat es an dem Konvikt, einer 1997 aufgegebenen Einrichtung für Jungen, mindestens seit den 1950er Jahren wiederholt Gewalt gegen Minderjährige in unterschiedlicher Form gegeben, einige Aussagen reichen sogar bis in die 1940er Jahre. Der Bericht kommt zu dem Schluss, dass „eine vergleichsweise hohe Zahl an Fachkräften“ ihre Macht missbraucht habe, „um die Befriedigung eigener Interessen und Bedürfnisse durchzusetzen. Es ist daher berechtigt, zumindest bis in die 1970er Jahre von einem ‚System des Machtmissbrauchs‘ zu sprechen.“

Kölns Erzbischof, Kardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, sagte bei der Vorlage des Endberichtes: „Die Gewissheit, dass in Einrichtungen unseres Erzbistums über viele Jahre jungen Menschen schlimmes Leid zugefügt wurde, noch dazu auch von Priestern, gehört zu den schwersten Erkenntnissen, mit denen ich in meinem bischöflichen Dienst umgehen muss, und erfüllt mich mit großer Trauer.“

Das wissenschaftliche Projekt war 2015 auf Initiative von Betroffenen gestartet worden. Oberstes Ziel war es, Ehemaligen mit Gewalterfahrungen in ihrer jetzigen Lebenssituation hilfreich zu sein. Das Projekt war daher so angelegt, dass die Betroffenen mit ihren Anliegen und Interessen maßgebend für die Gestaltung des Projekts und des Endberichts waren. So erklärte die Autorin des Endberichts Prof. Dr. Claudia Bundschuh: „In diesem Endbericht reden die Ehemaligen selbst. Es ist kein Bericht über Betroffene, sondern ein Bericht von den Betroffenen. Alle Ehemaligen mit Gewalterfahrungen kommen zu Wort. Sie leisten damit den entscheidenden Beitrag zur Bewusstmachung der Vielfalt, Folgen und Begünstigung von Gewalthandlungen im Konvikt.“ Finanziert wurde das wissenschaftliche Projekt, das bereits unter dem inzwischen verstorbenen Kölner Erzbischof Joachim Kardinal Meisner begonnen wurde, vom Erzbistum Köln.

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MÜNSTER (GERMANY)
Diocese of Münster

September 5, 2017

By Ludger Heuer

[Summary: Prosecutors of Oldenburg and Hanover stopped the proceedings against a 74-year-old Lohner priest who was suspected of the sexual abuse of children by presenting pornographic pictures and/or for spreading youthful pornographic writings. Bishop Dr. Felix Genn has responded by ending the church preliminary investigation by decree. The bishop justified his step on the grounds that he could not provide the CDF with evidence of any demonstrable criminal offenses. Genn removed the priest from ministry at St. Gertrud parish in Lohne and announced his immediate retirement.]

Nachdem die Staatsanwaltschaften Oldenburg und Hannover die Verfahren gegen einen 74-jährigen Lohner Priester wegen des Verdachtes des sexuellen Missbrauchs von Kindern durch Vorzeigen pornographischer Abbildungen bzw. wegen Verbreitung jugendpornographischer Schriften eingestellt haben, hat jetzt auch Bischof Dr. Felix Genn die kirchliche Voruntersuchung per Dekret eingestellt. Es lägen keine nachweisbaren kirchenrechtlichen Straftatbestände vor, die eine Weitergabe an die Glaubenskongregation in Rom nötig gemacht hätten, begründet der Bischof seinen Schritt.

Die am 9. August 2016 ausgesprochene Freistellung vom Dienst mit dem Verbot aller mit dem Dienst verbundenen Tätigkeiten wird aufgehoben. Gleichwohl sei ein deutlich unangemessenes Verhalten des Priesters gegenüber den betreffenden Kindern und Jugendlichen zu konstatieren, was die Befunde auf seinen Datenträgern nachweisen. Daher untersagt Bischof Genn ihm jegliche weitere Ausübung aller priesterlichen Tätigkeiten auf dem Gebiet der Pfarrei St. Gertrud in Lohne und versetzt ihn mit sofortiger Wirkung in den Ruhestand.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

September 15, 2017

By Robert Moran

[Note: See the grand jury report referenced in the article, and its sections on Brzyski: case study, pattern study, a 1984 letter to Cardinal Krol about Brzyski, summaries of abuse, and an assignment history. See also BishopAccountability.org’s database entry about Fr. James J. Brzyski.]

A Texas medical examiner on Friday officially confirmed the identity of James J. Brzyski, the defrocked Archdiocese of Philadelphia priest and suspected child sexual predator found dead Wednesday in a Fort Worth motel room.

The body of Brzyski, 66, was found dead in a Super 7 motel room surrounded by pills and bottles of vodka. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office said the cause and manner of his death were pending the results of a toxicology report.

A 2005 grand jury report released by Philadelphia prosecutors said he may have molested or raped more than 100 children. But the allegations were too old for Brzyski — or any of the other archdiocesan priests named as abusers in the report — to be prosecuted in criminal or civil courts.

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

ALLENTOWN (PA)
Crux and Associated Press

September 16, 2017

[Note: See also BishopAccountability.org’s database entry about Fr. John S. Mraz.]

Monsignor John S. Mraz pleaded guilty in June to possessing child pornography and related offenses. Court records say authorities began investigating Mraz last year, after a member of his church discovered a file link named “naked little boys.”

A Catholic priest in Pennsylvania caught with child pornography by someone helping with his computer is going to jail.

The Morning Call of Allentown reported 67-year-old Monsignor John S. Mraz apologized and was sentenced Thursday to six to 23 months. He’ll have to register as a sex offender for 15 years, and cannot have any unsupervised contact with minors.

He pleaded guilty in June to possessing child pornography and related offenses, but had asked for probation or house arrest due to health issues, including diabetes and a heart condition.

Judge Maria L. Dantos rejected this request, but did make a point of clarifying Mraz had not been accused of child molestation.

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RIDGELAND (SC)
WSAV

September 15, 2017

By Stassy Olmos

[With video. See also BishopAccountability.org’s database entry about Fr. Wayland Yoder Brown, Jr.]

The 74-year-old Catholic Priest Wayland Brown, indicted on 9 counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor, appeared in a Jasper County courtroom for a bond hearing Friday morning.

This is the 2nd time in 37 years Chris Templeton has seen the man he says raped him as a child.

“It’s a feeling I can’t even explain to be honest with you… it’s not anger…. I wish I could get angry,” Templeton told News Three afterwards.

Templeton was one of his alleged victims at St. James Catholic School in the 1970’s and 80’s.

“Wayland Brown, a priest at the St. James Catholic Church in Savannah took two children who were students at the St. James Catholic School, at separate times, into Jasper County South Carolina and sexually assault them,” Duffie Stone the Solicitor for the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit said in a press conference earlier.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Angelus News from Catholic News Agency

September 15, 2017

[Note: Provides a more detailed list of Vatican regulations than a version previously posted.]

The Vatican announced Friday that after being informed by U.S. officials of a possible breach of child pornography laws on the part of a Holy See diplomat, it has recalled the priest in question and an investigation has been opened. According to a Sept. 15 Vatican communique, on Aug. 21 the U.S. State Department notified the Vatican Secretariat of State, “through diplomatic channels, of a possible violation of laws relating to child pornography images by a member of the diplomatic corps of the Holy See accredited to Washington.”

* * *

The priest will likely face a canonical proceeding, overseen by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and a criminal trial overseen by the courts of the Vatican City State. The possession of child pornography is considered a “canonical crime” in the Church, and in 2010 Benedict XVI added it to the list of “most grave delicts,” meaning crimes dealt with directly by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and can result in dismissal from the clerical state. According to Article 4 of Law 8 of the Vatican City State, which was instituted by Pope Francis in 2013, child pornography is defined as “any representation, by whatever means, of a minor engaged in real of simulated explicit sexual activities as well as any representation of the sexual parts of a minor for primarily sexual purposes.”

Vatican law establishes six possible penalties, including hefty fines and jail time, for those found guilty of either staging, trading or offering child pornography to others:

1. Whoever stages pornographic shows using a minor, produces child pornography, or recruits or induces a minor to take part in pornographic shows, is punished with six to twelve years imprisonment and a fine from 25,000 to 250,000 euro.

2. The same penalty applies to whoever trades in child pornography.

3. Whoever, outside the cases foreseen in the preceding paragraphs, distributes, disseminates, transmits, imports, exports, offers or sells child pornography, through any means, even electronically, as well as whoever possesses child pornography for those purposes or otherwise distributes or disseminates knowledge or information directed at grooming or exploiting minors for sexual purposes, is punished with one to five years imprisonment and a fine from 2,500 to 50,000 euro.

4. Whoever, outside the cases foreseen in the preceding paragraphs, offers or supplies others, even free of charge, child pornography, is punished with up to three years imprisonment and a fine from 1,500 to 15,000 euro.

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NEW YORK (NY)
America Magazine from Associated Press

September 15, 2017

By Gerard O’Connell

A Vatican priest working in the Holy See’s embassy in Washington has been recalled after U.S. officials flagged possible violations of child pornography laws, the Vatican said on Sept. 15.

In a statement issued to the media, the Vatican press office revealed that the U.S. State Department had notified the Vatican on Aug. 21 “of a possible violation of laws relating to child pornography images by a member of the diplomatic corps of the Holy See accredited to Washington.”

The Italian news agency ANSA has named the Vatican diplomat as Monsignor Carlo Alberto Capella, 50, who was sent to the nunciature in Washington less than a year ago. A New York Times story confirmed the report.

The Vatican has not identified the diplomat, but said Friday he was currently in Vatican City and that its promoter of justice, an office equivalent to a prosecutor or investigating judge, has opened an investigation into possible violation of U.S. laws relating to child pornography.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

September 15, 2017

Following this morning’s bulletin from the Holy See that a Vatican diplomat based in Washington had been recalled to face an investigation for alleged violation of child pornography laws, the President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston has issued the following statement:

“This is a serious issue. We hope the Holy See will be forthcoming with more details. While we don’t know all the facts, consistent with our Charter, we reaffirm that when such allegations occur, an immediate, thorough, and transparent investigation should begin in cooperation with law enforcement and immediate steps be taken to protect children. The protection of children and young people is our most sacred responsibility.”

Media Contact:
Judy Keane
202-541-3200

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

September 15, 2017

By Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A member of the Vatican diplomatic corps serving in Washington has been recalled to the Vatican where he is involved in a criminal investigation involving child pornography, the Vatican said.

The Vatican press office said Sept. 15 that it was notified Aug. 21 by the U.S. State Department “of a possible violation of laws relating to child pornography images by a member of the diplomatic corps of the Holy See accredited to Washington.”

“The Holy See, following the practice of sovereign states, recalled the priest in question, who is currently in Vatican City,” the press office said.

The Associated Press reported that the State Department confirmed it had asked the Vatican to lift the official’s diplomatic immunity. It said that request was denied.

The 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, signed by most nations of the world, including the United States and the Holy See, stipulates that diplomatic personnel “shall not be liable to any form of arrest or detention” in the host country. The host country may, however, ask the sending country to waive immunity or the sending country, in this case, the Vatican, may choose to recall the diplomat and proceed with a criminal investigation and possible prosecution of its own.

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ENGLEWOOD (CO)
Patheos

September 15, 2017

By Michael Stone

Pope Francis protects pedophile priest from prosecution: Vatican uses diplomatic immunity to shield priest from child porn charges.

According to multiple reports, a high-ranking priest working in the Vatican’s embassy in Washington was caught with child pornography, including images of pre-pubescent children. However, after U.S. prosecutors indicated they were ready to charge the pedophile priest for possessing child pornography, the Vatican stepped in, claimed diplomatic immunity, and shipped the pedophile priest to Vatican city, where he is now safe from prosecution for his heinous crimes.

* * *

Let’s face it: Pope Francis is a marvelous showman – a genius at public relations and media manipulation who has successfully hustled the media, and the public at large. He says nice things like all animals go to heaven; he chastises creationists and other science deniers by noting that God is not a magician; and in a good natured gesture he asks atheists for good vibrations.

Yet despite the friendly facade, the occasional superficial liberal rhetoric, and a humorous joke now and then, Pope Francis is guilty of perpetuating the institutional immorality of the Catholic Church.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Agency/EWTN News

By Adelaide Mena

What happens when Vatican City State diplomats commit crimes? The recent recall of a Vatican diplomat from the U.S. Nunciature in Washington, following suspicions of child pornography possession brings together both the workings of the criminal justice system at the Vatican and international diplomatic law.

“We are not yet at the conclusion of the criminal investigation, but I think it wise that he’s been recalled now,” said Dr. Kurt Martens, a Professor of Canon Law at the Catholic University of America.

According to a Sept. 15 communique issued by the Vatican, the U.S. State Department notified the Vatican Secretariat of State on Aug. 21 of a possible “violation of laws relating to child pornography images” by a member of the Vatican diplomatic corps stationed in Washington, D.C.

The priest was recalled to the Vatican, where he remains. The diplomatic process of collaboration on the case – which remains under investigation – was initiated, and findings from the U.S. State Department were shared with the Vatican’s Promoter of Justice, who also opened an investigation within the city-state of the Vatican. The identity or nationality of the diplomat has not been released.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
NPR

September 15, 2017

By Merrit Kennedy

The Vatican says it has recalled a priest from its diplomatic mission in Washington, D.C., and launched an investigation into allegations of child pornography.

The priest, who has not been named, is currently in Vatican City, according to a statement from the Vatican. It says the U.S. State Department informed Vatican officials on August 21 “of a possible violation of laws relating to child pornography images by a member of the diplomatic corps of the Holy See accredited to Washington.”

The Holy See is party to the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Immunity, which grants immunity from prosecution to diplomats in foreign countries. A State Department spokesperson tells NPR that the U.S. formally requested that the Vatican’s diplomatic mission waive that immunity, which it denied.

The Vatican says it has now launched its own investigation into the issue, and has “already commenced international collaboration to obtain elements relative to the case.” It emphasizes that the content of the probe is “subject to investigative confidentiality.”

Pope Francis has said he has a policy of “zero tolerance” for abusive priests, and he has established a tribunal specifically for bishops who do not report priests accused of sexual abuse.

In 2013, Vatican law specifically criminalized producing, disseminating, selling or possessing child pornography.

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QUEBEC (CANADA)
CBC.ca

September 15, 2017

Investigators seeking other possible victims of two men, Radio-Canada’s Enquête reports

Quebec provincial police are investigating allegations of child sexual abuse by two members of a Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation in Mont-Laurier in the Laurentians, Radio-Canada’s investigative program Enquête has learned.

Both men have been sanctioned through the church’s internal disciplinary process for dealing with allegations of child abuse, but congregation elders did not share their findings with civil authorities.

One of the men being investigated, Michel Courtemanche, who has been expelled from the congregation, was acquitted of charges of sexual assault and indecent assault in 1996.

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VATICAN CITY
The New York Times

September 15, 2017

By Jason Horowitz

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican has recalled a high-ranking priest working as a diplomat in the Holy See’s embassy in Washington after American authorities sought to strip his immunity and potentially charge him with possession of child pornography, the Vatican said Friday.

In a statement, the Vatican said that it had been notified by the State Department on Aug. 21 of “a possible violation of laws relating to child pornography images” by a member of its diplomatic corps.

The Vatican said the priest would face an investigation and potential trial in Vatican City. But some critics saw in the Vatican’s move a reflexive step to protect its own by whisking a priest away from a justice system in a foreign land.

The statement did not identify the cleric, but Italian news media reports and an American official familiar with the investigation said it was Msgr. Carlo Alberto Capella, who was ordained in Milan in 1993 and entered the diplomatic corps in 2004. He has also worked as a diplomat in Hong Kong and as the Holy See’s liaison to Italy.

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RIDGELAND (SC)
WSAV-TV

September 15, 2017

Hotline Set up for Priest Abuse Victims

RIDGELAND, S.C. (WSAV) – A former Catholic priest from Savannah who is charged with nine counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor appeared in court today.

Wayland Brown, 74, appeared briefly today to waive his right to bond. In addition, he waived the reading of the indictment in open court.

Brown will stay in Jasper County jail until his trial.

He is accused of sexually abusing two school-aged boys in the late 1970s and 1980s in various places in Jasper County.

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HAYWOOD COUNTY (NC)
WLOS

September 15, 2017

HAYWOOD COUNTY, N.C. (WLOS) — A former minister from Bryson City has pleaded guilty to indecent liberties with a child.

Eric Jones, 49, was sentenced this week to a 30-day active sentence, plus 90 days house arrest and three years probation.

The abuse dates back to 2002 when the victim was 9-years-old.

Jones will also have to register as a sex offender.

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ENGLAND
Chester Chronicle

September 14, 2017

The Rev Rob Peters, who has since resigned as vicar of St Michael’s Church in Newton, started the attacks in the 1960s

A Chester vicar who repeatedly sexually abused four children has been jailed for two years.

The Rev Robert Peters, who has now resigned as vicar of St Michael’s in Newton, indecently assaulted two girls and two boys, who were younger than him, when he was aged between 14 and 20 or 21.

One of his victims, now a grown man, choked back tears as he told a court of the impact of the abuse on his life and two other victims also read their moving statements.

One victim spoke of their anger at his arrogance at him officiating at their father’s funeral, saying: “When he turned up to take the service at my dad’s funeral I felt sick.”

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OAK LAWN (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

September 13, 2017

A 32-year-old woman who claims the birth of her child triggered suppressed memories of allegedly being sexually abused by her youth minister as a teenager is suing the minister, the Oak Lawn church and its two owners.

Mary Ellen Wright and her attorney, Robert J. Bingle of law firm Corboy & Demetrio, filed the suit in Cook County Circuit Court on Wednesday, claiming Wright’s memories of the alleged abuse had been repressed until about October 2016, when she sought weekly counseling for postpartum depression after delivering a child, and she started to remember.

Wright alleges that she was a member of Hope Chapel Oak Lawn Foursquare Church, in the 9400 block of South 68th Court in Oak Lawn, in Summer 2000 when the church’s youth minister, Charles Price, sexually assaulted her, according to the lawsuit. Wright claims Price made an “unwanted sexual advance” on her, including inappropriate touching, fondling and oral sex.

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ST. CATHARINES (ONTARIO, CANADA)
St. Catharines Standard

September 15, 2017

By Gerard Bergie (Bishop of Saint Catharines diocese)

This column is called Faith Matters. Its purpose is to discuss matters of faith because faith matters to many.

This is why when faith shatters it is a serious matter.

There are things in life that can rock our faith and cause significant damage. An example from the Bible can be found in Job. He had a very good life and everything seemed to be going well until Job experienced many tragedies, sickness, and appeared to have lost everything.

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SUSSEX (ENGLAND)
BBC News

September 14, 2017

A former Church of England priest has been found guilty of torturing and sexually abusing two schoolboys in the 1980s and 90s.

Jonathan Graves, 60, of Eastbourne, East Sussex, restrained the children, who were aged between 12 and 14, using belts and straps, and then beat them.

At the time, he was the vicar at St Luke’s Church in Stone Cross.

He was convicted at Hove Crown Court of 12 offences between 1987 and 1992 and will be sentenced on Monday.

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NEWARK (NJ)
NJ.com

September 15, 2017

By Justin Zaremba, jzaremba@njadvancemedia.com

NEWARK — The Archdiocese of Newark received a protective order on Friday shielding the personnel files of three priests accused of sexual abuse from being disclosed to the public.

Five men and one woman have alleged the Rev. Michael Walters sexually abused them between 1982 and 1995, and a former member of Sacred Heart Parish who attended Seton Hall Preparatory School claims he was abused by two priests at those institutions, the Revs. Robert Gibney and William Giblin, respectively, in the 1960s.

Gibney and Giblin died earlier this decade, but Walters is still alive.

Avram Eule, the attorney for the Archdiocese, said these cases involved “alleged abuse” requiring extensive discovery on their part, and, as in other cases, they’ve sought a protective order “to protect the … alleged priest as well as the reputation of the Archdiocese (of Newark).”

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VATICAN CITY
The Guardian

September 15, 2017

By Stephanie Kirchgaessner

Church officials are said to have refused request by US prosecutors for priest’s
diplomatic immunity to be lifted

A Vatican diplomat in Washington has been recalled to Rome after the US state department said the priest may have violated laws related to child sex abuse images.

The US state department notified the Holy See last month of a possible violation of laws. American prosecutors said they wanted the Vatican to voluntarily lift the official’s diplomatic immunity so that he could face charges, according to several reports, but the Vatican refused. The request was made on 21 August.

The Vatican said an investigation had been opened and the church was seeking “international collaboration to obtain elements relative to the case”, and it would be handled confidentially on a preliminary basis. It said the priest had already returned to Vatican City.

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ALLENTOWN (PA)
WFMZ-TV

September 14, 2017

[VIDEO]

LEHIGH COUNTY, Pa. – A former Catholic priest will spend time behind bars for possessing child porn.

John Mraz was sentenced today to six to 23 months in Lehigh County jail.

Mraz was the pastor at the Church of St. Ann in Emmaus, which is part of the diocese of Allentown.

He was arrested about one year ago after prosecutors say nude photos of children were discovered on his laptop. Court documents say they were found by a friend of Mraz.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

September 15, 2017

By Elise Harris

Vatican City, Sep 15, 2017 / 06:26 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican announced Friday that after being informed by U.S. officials of a possible breach of child pornography laws on the part of a Holy See diplomat, it has recalled the priest in question and an investigation has been opened.

According to a Sept. 15 Vatican communique, on Aug. 21 the U.S. State Department notified the Vatican Secretariat of State, “through diplomatic channels, of a possible violation of laws relating to child pornography images by a member of the diplomatic corps of the Holy See accredited to Washington.”

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ENTRE RIOS PROVINCE (ARGENTINA)
Analisis

September 15, 2017

Primera condena por abuso sexual eclesiástico en Entre Ríos: se incorporó la sentencia completa a la causa Escobar Gaviria

Duro castigo contra el ex párroco de Lucas González

[Google Translate: Hard punishment against former pastor of Lucas González. First conviction for ecclesiastical sexual abuse in Entre Ríos: full sentence was added to Escobar Gaviria case.]

La sentencia completa contra el cura “sanador” Juan Diego Escobar Gaviria, se incorporó este jueves al expediente de la causa que se ventiló ante el Tribunal de Juicios y Apelaciones de Gualeguay. El fallo de 304 fojas, al que tuvo acceso ANÁLISIS DIGITAL, desagregó los fundamentos del veredicto que castigó con 25 años de prisión efectiva al ex párroco de Lucas González. Los vocales María Angélica Pivas (presidenta), Darío Crespo y Roberto Cadenas pronunciaron un voto unánime contra la conducta del sacerdote. Consideraron en cuanto al monto de pena que “para graduar la sanción a imponer, debe tenerse en cuenta la naturaleza de las conductas perpetradas, la forma en que las cometió, dado que evidentemente se aprovechó sexualmente del dominio que ejerció sobre los menores víctimas -cuando justamente por su condición, sea como guardador o Ministro de Culto, era de esperar que actuara como tal-, el tiempo durante el cual las llevó a cabo, la modalidad comisiva aprovechando asimismo la situación de autoridad, sino también el poder intimidatorio que les generaba a las víctimas”.

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SCOTLAND
STV News

September 15, 2017

By David Cowan

Allegations over incidents at Smyllum Park, Lanark, first emerged in the 1990s.

Police Scotland are reviewing old cases involving a notorious orphanage, raising the possibility of prosecutions nearly 30 years after it closed, STV News has learned.

Allegations that children were physically and sexually abused at Smyllum Park, Lanark, first emerged in the 1990s, but it’s thought no-one has ever been convicted of committing an offence against any of the thousands of children who lived within its walls.

Former residents from the orphanage played a central role in persuading the Scottish Government to set up the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.

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UNITED STATES
CatholicCulture.org

September 14, 2017

By Phil Lawler

In Australia, two former Catholic priests have released a report saying that the root causes of sexual abuse by Catholic priests are—the things the two ex-priests don’t like about the Catholic Church. Since what they don’t like about the Catholic Church matches what the secular media don’t like, their report will enjoy plenty of publicity, regardless of its scientific rigor (or lack of same).

Without reading the full report, however, one can make a few observations:

Anglican priests are not bound by a rule of celibacy. Nevertheless the rate of abuse by Anglican priests in Australia is the same as the rate among Catholic priests.

The mayors of 50 different American cities have been accused of sexual abuse of minors. Mayors are not bound by celibacy.

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UNITED STATES
Philly.com (Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News)

September 14, 2017

By Craig R. McCoy, cmccoy@phillynews.com

[Note: See the entry for Brzyski in the accused priest database on BishopAccountability.org.]

In a celebratory Mass, James J. Brzyski was ordained a Catholic priest on a May day 30 years ago.

Stripped of his collar, he was found dead Wednesday, surrounded by pills and bottles of vodka in a Texas motel where rooms go for $43.99 a night.

Those were among the new details that emerged Thursday, as investigators tried to piece together the final hours or days of a man characterized by Philadelphia prosecutors as one of the region’s most brutal clerical abusers.

Ron Singer, the administrator of the Medical Examiner’s Office in Tarrant County, said authorities found five bottles of “cheap vodka” in the Super 7 room Brzyski rented on Seminary Road in Fort Worth. Several pill bottles were found, at least one of which was empty, Singer said.

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ENGLAND
Shropshire Star

September 14, 2017

By Lucy Todman

Brian Spence, 78, also known as Macduff, a former Church of England priest of Sutton Road, Shrewsbury, appeared at Crawley Magistrates Court in West Sussex to answer a summons alleging that he committed four offences of indecent assault on a girl then aged between 10 and 11 in Warnham, West Sussex, between 1978 and 1980.

He pleaded not guilty to all offences and the case was committed to Lewes Crown Court for a preliminary trial preparation hearing on October 11.

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ENGLAND
Spirit FM

September 15, 2017

A man has been charged with sex offences against a young girl while he was a priest in West Sussex.

On Wednesday Brian Spence, also known as Macduff, a former Church of England priest of Sutton Road, Shrewsbury, appeared at Crawley Magistrates’ Court.

The 78-year-old was accused of committing four offences of indecent assault on a girl then aged between 10 and 11 in Warnham, between 1978 and 1980.

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TAOS (NM)
Taos News

September 14, 2017

By Cody Hooks, chooks@taosnews.com

[Note: See Archbishop Wester’s letter and list.]

At least three Roman Catholic priests who served in Taos County communities in the 1970s and 1980s and were found guilty of sexually abusing children have been publicly named by the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

The archdiocese released the list of 74 priests, deacons and brothers Tuesday (Sept. 12). Three of them – Vincent Lipinski, Roger Martinez and Michael O’Brien – served at various points in Taos, Questa and Peñasco.

“The community has known about these allegations for years. The only thing that is different is that names have come out,” said Taos Town Councilor Darien Fernandez. “Hopefully it will answer some of the questions that continue to dog the church and will give some clarity or comfort to the victims.”

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September 14, 2017

ALLENTOWN (PA)
The Morning Call

By Laurie Mason Schroeder

Priest’s lawyer worries how he’ll handle jail.

In a decision that seemed to surprise the 67-year-old Roman Catholic priest standing before her, a Lehigh County judge on Thursday sentenced Monsignor John S. Mraz, formerly of St. Ann Catholic Church in Emmaus, to six to 23 months in jail for viewing child pornography.

Judge Maria L. Dantos rejected Mraz’s request for probation or house arrest due to his many medical ailments, but noted that Mraz’s crimes didn’t rise to the level of what other Catholic priests have been accused of in recent years.

“Any time there is a case such as this and the headlines say ‘priest arrested,’ there are visions of sexual molestation, which we don’t have here,” Dantos said.

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VATICAN CITY
The Atlantic

September 15, 2017

By Emma Green

The allegations come during a turbulent period for the Roman Catholic Church on sex-abuse issues.

The Holy See announced on Friday that a priest who is part of its diplomatic corps has been recalled to Rome following allegations that he violated child-pornography laws. The official had been accredited to serve in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Department of State notified Catholic Church leaders about the alleged crime through diplomatic channels. The Vatican has opened an investigation and is keeping the name of the accused priest confidential. The AP reported that the U.S. government requested that the official’s diplomatic immunity be lifted. The request was denied.

These allegations have come at a turbulent time for the Vatican on issues of sex abuse. Earlier this summer, Cardinal George Pell was charged with multiple sex crimes by the Australian police, and returned to his home country “to clear his name,” according to a statement from the archdiocese of Sydney. Pell has been in charge of the Vatican’s treasury since 2014, and was specifically brought in to implement reforms.

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WASHINGTON, D.C.
Crux

September 15, 2017

By Charles Collins

The Vatican has confirmed a priest serving at the Holy See embassy to the United States has been recalled to Rome after receiving information he had violated child pornography laws. The priest is now being investigated by the Vatican’s Promoter of Justice.

A Vatican diplomat based in Washington has been accused of violating child pornography laws and has been recalled to Rome.

The priest, who has not been identified, is currently in the territory of the Vatican City State, and Vatican prosecutors have opened an investigation.

A statement from the Vatican press office said the U.S. State Department notified the Vatican’s Secretariat of State of the allegations on August 21.

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VATICAN CITY
The Tablet

September 15, 2017

By Christopher Lamb

The US government notified the Holy See of ‘a possible violation of laws relating to child pornography images’ by a priest

The Vatican has announced a criminal investigation into a Holy See diplomat accused of accessing child pornography while stationed in Washington DC.

On 21 August the United States government notified the Holy See of “a possible violation of laws relating to child pornography images” by a priest who was then recalled back to the Vatican.

In a statement the Holy See Press Office explained that the accused is a member of the Church’s diplomatic corps, a select group of priests who serve as envoys of the Pope and Holy See across the world.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

September 15, 2017

(Vatican Radio) The Press Office of the Holy See has released the following statement concerning the possibility that a member of the Holy See’s diplomatic mission to Washington may have violated laws relating to child pornography.

The priest in question, the statement says, has been recalled to Vatican City, in accordance with common diplomatic practice.

STATEMENT

On August 21 last, the Department of State of the United States of America notified the Secretariat of State, through diplomatic channels, of a possible violation of laws relating to child pornography images by a member of the diplomatic corps of the Holy See accredited to Washington.

The Holy See, following the practice of sovereign states, recalled the priest in question, who is currently in Vatican City.

Having received such information from the United States government, the Secretariat of State transmitted this information to the Promoter of Justice of the Vatican Tribunal.

The Promoter of Justice opened an investigation and has already commenced international collaboration to obtain elements relative to the case.

It should be noted that, as provided by the laws in force applicable to all preliminary inquiries, the investigations carried by the Promoter of Justice are subject to investigative confidentiality.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

September 15, 2017

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – The Vatican on Friday said it has recalled one of its diplomats from Washington after the U.S. State Department said the priest may have violated child pornography laws.

Prosecutors in the Vatican have opened an investigation into the case and the priest has already returned to Vatican City, a statement said.

The State Department notified the Holy See in August “of a possible violation of laws relating to child pornography images by a member of the diplomatic corps of the Holy See accredited to Washington,” the statement said.

As a member of the Vatican’s diplomatic corps, the priest, whose name was not given, could not be prosecuted in the United States, though he could have been expelled.

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VATICAN CITY
The Associated Press

September 15, 2017

By Nicole Winfield and Matthew Lee

Vatican City (AP) — A high-ranking priest working in the Vatican’s embassy in Washington has been recalled after U.S. prosecutors asked for him to be charged there and face trial in a child pornography investigation, Vatican and U.S. officials said Friday.

The diplomat was suspected of possessing, but not producing or disseminating, child pornography including images of pre-pubescent children, a U.S. source familiar with the case said. The source was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Vatican declined to identify the priest, but said he was currently in Vatican City and that Vatican prosecutors had launched their own probe.

If the accusations pan out, the case would be a major embarrassment for the Vatican and Pope Francis, who has pledged “zero tolerance” for sexual abuse. The diplomat would be the second from the Vatican’s diplomatic corps to face possible criminal charges for such crimes during Francis’ papacy. Any trial in the Vatican would come as Francis’ own financial czar, Cardinal George Pell, is on trial in his native Australia for alleged historic sex abuse cases.

The State Department said it had asked the Vatican to lift the official’s diplomatic immunity on Aug. 21. It said that request was denied three days later. For the State Department to make such a request, its lawyers would have needed to be convinced that there was reasonable cause for criminal prosecution.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. (U.S.)
The Washington Post

September 15, 2017

By Julie Zauzmer

U.S. officials found evidence implicating a Vatican diplomat in a child-pornography case, leading the Vatican to recall the official to the Holy See.

The Vatican said in a news release Friday that the U.S. State Department contacted the Vatican’s Secretariat of State on Aug. 21 to report a possible crime involving child pornography, committed by a member of the diplomatic corps based in Washington.

In addition to being the seat of the Catholic church, the Vatican is also a sovereign nation located within the borders of Italy. Pope Francis is both spiritual leader and head of state. Vatican diplomats in the United States have diplomatic immunity from prosecution for most crimes in the United States, like diplomats of all foreign nations.

The Vatican recalled the diplomat in question, whom it did not name in its press release Friday, from the District to Vatican City and opened an investigation there. The Holy See said officials are working on collaborating with foreign investigators to gather evidence in the case.

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OHIO
WTOV-TV

September 14, 2017

by Anthony Conn

ST. CLAIRSVILLE, Ohio — The Diocese of Steubenville held a training for its members, focusing on how to protect children.

For the last 15 years, the Diocese of Steubenville has been taking steps to educate its members of the proper ways to treat children.

On Thursday night, members of the diocese met at St. Mary’s Church in St. Clairsville for their annual child protection workshop.

“It’s certainly to show them the signs to be concerned about, and also to work with our children and give them the best possible way for them to grow,” said Bishop Jeffrey Monforton.

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BRISBANE (AUSTRALIA)
The Catholic Leader

September 15, 2017

By Mark Bowling

BRISBANE – Archbishop Mark Coleridge has hit back at the findings of a new study, which claims the Church in Australia has done less to safeguard children in its care than its counterparts in other countries.

The study, Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church by the Centre for Global Research at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, has for the first time compiled the findings of 26 royal commissions, police investigations, judicial probes, government inquiries, church studies, and academic research from around the world since 1985.

However, Archbishop Coleridge described the 384-page RMIT report released this month and widely reported in Australia and in the New York Times “as not as up-to-date as it might be nor is it the last or even the most authoritative word in this area”.

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SCOTLAND
BBC

September 15, 2017

A former resident of a Scottish orphanage run by Catholic nuns has described the sexual, physical and mental abuse she suffered at the home.

Theresa Tolmie-McGrane told the BBC she was sexually abused from the age of eight at the Smyllum Park Orphanage, Lanark, in the 1970s.

The care home, run by the Daughters of Charity Order, closed in 1981.

A spokesperson said the order was “shocked and saddened” by the allegations.

Ms Tolmie-McGrane, who is now a psychologist working in Norway, arrived at the South Lanarkshire orphanage in 1968 when she was six years old.

She told BBC Stories: “Every child was beaten, punished, locked in a dark room, made to eat their own vomit and I would say that most of us had our mouths rinsed out with carbolic soap.”

Ms Tolmie-McGrane said she was first sexually abused at the home by a priest when she was eight.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

September 15, 2017

Haidee V Eugenio, heugenio@guampdn.com

Former Capuchin brother Vernon Kamiaz allegedly sexually abused a boy in the Agana Heights Parish restroom after a choir practice and in a vehicle after a church service, around 1983, a lawsuit filed in federal court on Friday states.

The plaintiff, identified in court documents only as R.I.C. to protect his privacy, was about 14 years old when Kamiaz allegedly sexually molested and abused him.

At the time, Kamiaz was a Capuchin brother assigned to the Agana Heights Parish, and he supervised and chaperoned many of the youth choir events, the lawsuit states. Kamiaz was also R.I.C.’s religious education teacher.

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ST. PAUL (MN)
Minneapolis Star Tribune

September 14, 2017

By Maura Lerner

Gift will create new law clinic specializing in child abuse litigation.

St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson has donated $2 million to the Mitchell Hamline School of Law to create the “Zero Abuse Project,” to help improve the way lawyers and others respond to child abuse.

Anderson, who has made a career representing victims of child sex abuse, announced the gift Thursday.

“This is going to enable us to expand exponentially our work in the child protection area,” said Mark Gordon, the dean of the law school.

The Zero Abuse Project will, among other things, offer online training to lawyers and other professionals in what’s known as “trauma-informed” responses to child abuse cases. The training is designed, in part, to ensure that victims are treated with sensitivity, and are not “re-traumatized” by the legal system, according Prof. Joanna Woolman, who directs the law school’s child protection program.

It will also create a new law clinic that will focus on child advocacy.

“For 35 years, we have helped survivors cope with the ravages of child abuse,” Anderson said in a statement announcing the gift. “We believe child abuse can end and the Zero Abuse Project is pivotal to this mission.”

Anderson, a leading attorney in child sex abuse lawsuits against the Catholic Church and other organizations, is a 1975 graduate of the law school, then known as William Mitchell.

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AUSTRALIA
RMIT University (Australia)

September 13, 2017

For the first time in Australia, a ground-breaking research study has analysed the systemic reasons why the abuse of children has plagued the Catholic Church in Australia and worldwide.

In this podcast series, host David Glanz speaks with the report’s authors Emeritus Professor Des Cahill and Dr Peter Wilkinson. Kieran Tapsell, who studied for the Catholic priesthood in the 1960s before choosing to become a lawyer and rising to the rank of acting District Court Judge, also features in the discussion.

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SCOTLAND (U.K.)
ChurchMilitant.com

September 13, 2017

By Anita Carey

LANARK, Scotland (ChurchMilitant.com) – The Scottish prosecutors and police have exonerated the Daughters of Charity of criminal activity surrounding an unmarked mass grave of children at this time.

The discovery of a mass grave on the grounds of Smyllum Park Orphanage in Scotland sparked a media frenzy of allegations of wrongdoing and child abuse.

In a statement released Tuesday, the Scottish Crown Office said, “Based on the information currently available, there is no evidence to suggest a crime has been committed or that any deaths require to be investigated.” They have assured the public that they are keeping a watchful eye on the situation and “any allegations of criminality will be thoroughly and sensitively investigated.”

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FORT WORTH (TX)
Philly.com

September 13, 2017

By Maria Panaritis

[Note: See the entry for James Brzyski in the accused priest database of BishopAccountability.org.]

James Brzyski, a defrocked Archdiocese of Philadelphia priest once described as one of the region’s most monstrous sexual predators, but who eluded prosecution after allegedly abusing dozens of boys in the 1970s and 1980s, was found dead Wednesday at a Texas motel.

Authorities confirmed they were investigating a man’s death at the Super 7 motel on Seminary Road in Fort Worth. They had not officially determined his identity or cause of death but said they did not suspect foul play.

One of Brzyski’s former neighbors told the Inquirer and Daily News she was contacted by police about his death, and a clerk at the motel confirmed that Bryzski had been staying there and that a housekeeper found him dead in his room Wednesday morning.

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UNITED STATES
Justia.com

September 14, 2017

By Marci A. Hamilton

Drawing on data from the extraordinary archive of Catholic sex abuse at BishopAccountability.org, the San Diego Tribune recently published the top 10 sexual abuse settlements by the Catholic Church in the United States. The numbers are large in the aggregate: the church paid $1.553 billion total, with $960.94 million paid to 2,458 survivors. On average, each victim received $391,000 after attorneys’ fees.

These numbers are just the tip of the iceberg as many of the victims did not receive full compensatory damages, because the dioceses pooled claims through bankruptcies or other means and avoid individual trials, thereby lowering per-victim recoveries. The cost to the church is actually higher than $1.5 billion, because it has also had to pay for its lawyers (especially for the bishops who take a scorched earth approach against the victims). They also have covered some therapy. Accordingly, Church costs have been estimated at $4 billion. The victims’ expense has not yet been aggregated by social scientists, but it is certainly well beyond $4 billion given that approximately 20-25% of children are sexually abused and the array of negative effects include addiction, alcoholism, depression, PTSD, and eating disorders, among many others.

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SANTA FE (NM)
The New Mexican

September 13, 2017

By Andrew Oxford

As the Catholic priest sexual abuse scandal burst into the nation’s collective consciousness in the 1990s, two brothers filed lawsuits against a church order, charging that some of its members had molested them while they were growing up in Santa Fe.

Tom McConnell, a teacher at St. Michael’s High School, had been one of their tormentors, they said, accusing him of repeatedly abusing young boys.

The brothers, full-grown men by the time they spoke out in 1995, depicted in their lawsuits a betrayal by the religious figures their parents had entrusted with their childhoods and their education during the 1950s and 1960s.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

September 13, 2017

By Joanne McCarthy

Celibacy a key risk factor in child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, report finds

A groundbreaking Australian study describes child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church as a global tragedy

MANDATORY celibacy, the denigration of women and the Catholic Church’s “deeply homophobic environment” are key factors in the church’s global child sexual abuse tragedy, a ground-breaking Australian research study by two former Catholic priests has found.

Mandatory celibacy “remains the major precipitating risk factor for child sexual abuse”, Dr Peter Wilkinson and Professor Des Cahill of RMIT University’s Centre for Global Research found after a five-year study into systemic reasons for child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS (Special Broadcasting Service)

September 13, 2017

A five-year Australian research project has found the Australian Catholic Church is behind other countries when it comes to safeguarding children from abuse.

The Catholic Church in Australia lags significantly behind other countries in protecting children from sexual abuse, researchers say.

Far from being a leader in child protection, the Australian church has been pushed into acting and needs to do much more work, the study of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church worldwide has found.

The Catholic Church in Australia has lagged significantly behind other comparable countries in developing policies and protocols to safeguard children and vulnerable adults, the researchers from Melbourne’s RMIT University say.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

September 13, 2017

By Melissa Davey

Report examined findings of 26 royal commissions and inquiries from Australia, Ireland, the UK, Canada and Netherlands

Mandatory celibacy and a culture of secrecy created by popes and bishops are major factors in why such high rates of child abuse have occurred in the Catholic church, a comprehensive study has found.

The report, which looked at the findings of 26 royal commissions and other inquiries from Australia, Ireland, the UK, Canada and the Netherlands since 1985, found that while the endangerment of children in institutions has been considerably lowered in Australia, children remained at risk in Catholic parishes and schools and Catholic residential institutions in other countries across the world, especially in the developing world where there are more than 9,000 Catholic-run orphanages, including 2,600 in India.

The patriarchal nature of Catholic institutions meant that abuse went unchallenged and, while a small number of nuns were abusers, the report found the risk of offending was much higher in institutions where priests and religious brothers had minimal contact with women. The report estimated about 7% of clergy had abused children between about 1950 and 2000.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC (The Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

September 13, 2017

By Andrew West for the Religion and Ethics Report

The worst of the Catholic sexual abuse scandal may be over in Australia, but the crisis is likely to hit the church in Asia, Africa and parts of Europe within a decade, a report has warned.

The RMIT study, Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church, has for the first time compiled the findings of 26 royal commissions, police investigations, judicial probes, government inquiries, church studies, and academic research from around the world since 1985.

It warns the gravest potential for future abuse of children and teenagers lies in the estimated 9,600 orphanages the church still runs, including 2,600 in India and 1,600 in Italy.

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AUSTRALIA
The New York Times

September 12, 2017

By Jacqueline Williams

MELBOURNE, Australia — A study that examines child sexual abuse worldwide in the Roman Catholic Church has found that the Australian church has done less to safeguard children in its care than its counterparts in similar countries have.

The report, released on Wednesday by the Center for Global Research at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, also found that the church’s requirement that priests be celibate was a major risk factor for abuse. And it said that the possibility of abuse in Catholic residential institutions, like orphanages, should be getting more attention, especially in developing countries.

Experts said the report could put pressure on Pope Francis, and particularly the church in Australia, to do more to prevent abuse. The Australian church was rocked in June when Cardinal George Pell, an Australian who is one of the pope’s top advisers, became the highest-ranking Roman Catholic prelate to be formally charged with sexual offenses.

Desmond Cahill, the report’s lead author, said its findings pointed to an urgent need to rethink the priesthood in the 21st century. A professor of intercultural studies at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, he said the church should reconsider the celibacy requirement for priests.

“The Catholic Church is in a state of crisis, and pressure has to be put on the Holy See to take the necessary steps to change,” Professor Cahill said.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

September 14, 2017

FORMER Catholic priests Des Cahill and Peter Wilkinson spent five years reviewing 26 studies from around the world on child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church to answer why the abuse occurred.

The studies included the Hunter-focused NSW Special Commission of Inquiry in 2013, a Victorian parliamentary inquiry in 2012 and the ongoing Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, established in November, 2012 and due to present its final report in December.

The results of their work – the 384-page Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church: An Interpretive Review of the Literature and Public Inquiry Reports – makes sobering and damning reading.

The 26 studies provide evidence that about one in 15 priests committed offences against children. The figure is shocking because those priests had unique access to children because of their roles as God’s representatives on earth.

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AUSTRALIA
Christian Post

September 13, 2017

By Stoyan Zaimov

A major report analyzing the findings of 26 royal commissions and other inquiries on child sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church has argued that mandatory celibacy for priests is one of the major factors contributing to the epidemic.

The 384-page report, titled “Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church: An Interpretive Review of the Literature and Public Inquiry Reports,” published on Wednesday by the Center for Global Research at RMIT University, warned that children are “at risk” at more than 9,000 Catholic-run orphanages around the developing world.

It argued that due to the patriarchal nature of Catholic institutions, abuse often goes unchallenged, and said that the risk of offending was much higher in institutions where priests had minimal contact with women.

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BRISBANE (AUSTRALIA)
Australian Associated Press

September 14, 2017

Brisbane’s Catholic archbishop says the Australian church is acting to protect children from sexual abuse although he concedes it has a long way to go.

Archbishop Mark Coleridge says a lot has been and is being done around Australia to safeguard children.

“But it’s very much a work in progress; we still have a long way to go,” Archbishop Coleridge said on Thursday.

“Because it’s not just a matter of changing procedures and protocols but of building a culture, and that takes time.”

A RMIT University report on child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church worldwide found Australia is significantly behind other comparable countries in developing policies and protocols to safeguard children.

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LOS ANGELES (U.S.)
TodayOnline.com

September 13, 2017

LOS ANGELES — In Dr Phil’s upcoming exclusive interview with Sinead O’Connor, the Irish songstress will open up about her struggles with mental illness and how it has affected her relationship with her family.

“The fact that there’s such stigma about mental illness means that the illness doesn’t get talked about,” O’Connor said. “It’s not easy for families of mentally ill people,” she continued. “We can be difficult.”

Earlier this month, O’Connor posted a video of herself talking about her battle with mental illness, suicidal thoughts, and feeling abandoned by her family while staying in a New Jersey motel room. …

… O’Connor rose to fame in 1990 when her single Nothing Compares 2 U became a worldwide number one hit. Since then, she has faced controversy for some of her actions, like tearing up a picture of Pope John Paul II during a performance for Saturday Night Live in 1992 to protest the child sex abuse scandals of the Catholic Church.

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Politicians and clergy among 1,200 mourners at Westminster Cathedral to mark the death of former Archbishop who ‘made no excuses’ for child abuse in the Catholic Church

ENGLAND
Daily Mail

September 13, 2017

By Richard Spillett

Cormac Murphy-O’Connor was leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales for nine years

He died aged 85 on September 1 having suffered from cancer. His funeral was held in Westminster today

Archbishop speaking at the service said: ‘He acknowledged his mistakes. He made no excuses’

Senior clergy joined politicians and mourners today for the funeral of the former Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor.

The cardinal, who became leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales in 2000 before retiring from his role in 2009, died on September 1 having suffered from cancer.

Around 1,200 mourners, including former Irish president Mary McAleese and Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, filed in to the Westminster Cathedral for a special mass today.

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BRISBANE (AUSTRALIA)
Brisbane Times

September 13, 2017

Queensland prosecutors will not appeal against the sentence of a Catholic friar jailed for molesting a primary school child.

Anthony Colbourne pleaded guilty in May to indecently assaulting an eight-year-old girl in the presbytery and his office on four separate occasions in 1974.

Colbourne was charged by police in May 2016 after the woman reported to the Royal Commission into Institutional Response into Child Sexual Abuse.

He was sentenced to 18 months’ jail, suspended for three years, after he spent four months behind bars.

Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath said the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions provided advice on the prospect of the success of an appeal against the sentence.

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ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
The Associated Press

September 13, 2017

By Russell Contreras

[Note: See the list and letter from Archbishop Wester.]

Albuquerque, N.M. • After years of criticism, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe has released the names of 74 priests and religious leaders who were accused or later found guilty of sexually abusing children by state or church authorities.

Santa Fe Archbishop John C. Wester, former bishop of the Salt Lake City Diocese, announced the release of the names Tuesday in a letter to parishioners after decades of pressure from victims and their family members who wanted a complete tally.

Some of the names of accused priests on the list had been known for years, while others had been secret.

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ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
Albuquerque Journal

September 12, 2017

By Olivier Uyttebrouck

[Note: See the list and letter from Archbishop Wester.]

Archbishop John C. Wester on Tuesday published the names of 74 clergy who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing children, together with an apology to survivors “for the pain and suffering you have endured.”

The disclosure marks the first time the Archdiocese of Santa Fe has provided a list of accused priests, deacons and religious brothers since the clergy sexual abuse crisis burst into public view in the early 1990s.

Wester called the move “a critical step” in the archdiocese’s attempt to improve transparency and promote healing.

“It is my deepest hope that our publication of this list will serve as an important step in healing for survivors, their families, and our Church and communities,” Wester wrote in a statement introducing the list.

Brian Gutierrez, an Albuquerque man who sued the archdiocese in 2014 alleging he was sexually abused by a former priest, said he was surprised by the disclosure.

“I’m glad it happened,” Gutierrez said Tuesday. “It’s something we’ve been asking for many years.”

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SANTA FE (NM)
New Mexican

September 12, 2017

By Andrew Oxford

[Note: See the list and letter from Archbishop Wester.]

In a move that shattered its long-held policy of secrecy, the Santa Fe Archdiocese on Tuesday released a list of 74 Catholic priests, deacons and brothers who it says were credibly accused of sexual misconduct over the last several decades.

Archbishop John C. Wester said he decided to make the names public at last in the hope that their disclosure would help survivors of sexual abuse.

“It is my deepest hope that our publication of this list will serve as an important step in healing for survivors, their families, and our Church and communities. But we will not stop here,” Wester said in a statement.

The list includes 72 priests and two deacons. Thirty-eight of the men listed are deceased.

“It’s about time,” said Diana Abeyta, an Albuquerque woman who says she was in the second grade when she was sexually assaulted by a priest in her parish.

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SANTA FE (NM)
Archdiocese of Santa Fe

September 12, 2017

By Archbishop John C. Wester

[Note: The new Santa Fe list provides the names of more than 20 persons not previously known to be accused. See BishopAccountability.org’s webpage about the Lists of Accused Priests Released by Dioceses and Religious Institutes for more information.]

While we have put good programs in place, we must continue to be vigilant – not only to prevent child sexual abuse but also to help victims of past abuse heal and recover from this tragedy. To the survivors of childhood clergy and religious sexual abuse, their families and loved ones, I am so deeply sorry for the pain and suffering you have endured. The history of this terrible abuse at the hands of those who were supposed to love and protect you is a deep source of sadness and shame for our Church. We as a Church must forever strive to support and assist you on your road to recovery.

Here at the archdiocese, we have been continually working to identify additional ways that we may aid in the healing process. Not long after I became your archbishop, I concluded that a critical step is for the archdiocese to publicly acknowledge and identify those clergy and religious who have been accused of perpetrating child sexual abuse within our archdiocese. We must practice openness and transparency whenever possible, as this is essential for rebuilding trust and healing wounds. While many of the accused names have already been made public or have been identified elsewhere, this is the first time the archdiocese has published such a list.

I have not made this decision lightly or in haste. There are many countervailing principles at stake. First, we must always do right by the victims and survivors of past abuse, whose healing and recovery may benefit from the archdiocese’s public identification of the perpetrators of abuse. We must also do what we can to ensure perpetrators of such abuse never harm anyone else. At the same time, we must be mindful of the rights of the accused, under both civil and canon law, to due process in defending themselves. A clergy or religious member who has been wrongly accused of child sexual abuse may never be able to prove his innocence or repair his reputation. In cases when the accused is already deceased when accusations are made, there is not an opportunity to fully investigate allegations of abuse.

The Archdiocese of Santa Fe’s list of accused clergy and religious includes the following:

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COLOGNE (GERMANY)
RTL

August 31, 2017

[Note: A summary of the Gerald Ridsdale case; he is called “Gerald R.” in this article. See also the comprehensive account of the Ridsdale case at Broken Rites.]

Immer mehr Opfer melden sich

Seit 1994 sitzt der ehemalige Priester Gerald R. in Australien im Gefängnis, trotzdem melden sich immer noch weitere Opfer. Damals hatten ihn die Richter wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs an neun Jungen zu 23 Jahren Haft verurteilt. Doch das war nur die Spitze des Eisbergs. Nun stand der pädophile Katholik wieder vor Gericht.

Priester wurde immer wieder versetzt

Zwischen 1961 und 1988 missbrauchte der Priester das Vertrauen der Familien in seinen Gemeinden und verging sich regelmäßig an mindestens 65 Kindern, ohne dass deren Eltern etwas ahnten. Opferverbände gehen davon aus, dass R. noch viel mehr Kinder unsittlich berührte oder vergewaltigte. Die Opferzahlen lägen höchstwahrscheinlich im dreistelligen Bereich. Viele haben sich wohl bis heute aus Scham nicht bei der Polizei gemeldet.

Die katholische Kirche tat nichts, um den Mann aufzuhalten. Immer wenn seine Vorgesetzten Wind von den Missbrauchsvorwürfen bekamen, wurde R. in eine andere australische Gemeinde versetzt. So konnte der Priester sich jahrelang ungestört an Dutzenden Kindern in verschiedenen Orten im Bundesstaat Victoria vergreifen. Dabei war R. offenbar nichts heilig. Einige seiner Opfer missbrauchte er im Beichtstuhl oder sogar auf dem Altar seiner Kirche, berichtete der australische Sender ‘ABC’.

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BUENOS AIRES (ARGENTINA)
Clarín

September 6, 2017

[With the recent sentencing of Fr. Juan Diego Escobar Gaviria, nine priests have been convicted of the sexual abuse of minors in Argentina. This article provides photos of the priests and a summary of each case: Juan Diego Escobar Gaviria, Héctor Pared, Mario Napoleón Sasso, Julio César Grassi, José Mercau, Fernando Enrique Picciochi, Isaac Gómez, Luis Eduardo Sierra, and Ladislao Chomín. See also BishopAccountability.org’s Database of Accused Argentine Priests.]

Tras el caso Escobar Gaviria
Uno por uno, los 9 curas que ya fueron condenados por abusar de menores en Argentina
Todos fueron acusados de crímenes aberrantes. Las sentencias van de 4 a 25 años de prisión.

Con la reciente sentencia al párroco de Entre Ríos Juan Diego Escobar Gaviria ya suman nueve curas condenados por abusos sexuales a menores en Argentina. Estos son los casos.

Juan Diego Escobar Gaviria

​Le dieron una pena de 25 años de prisión, la más alta hasta ahora. De origen colombiano, estuvo por 11 años en la Parroquia San Lucas Evangelista de Lucas González, una localidad de 4.500 habitantes situada en el departamento Nogoyá, en la región central de Entre Ríos. Fue acusado de corrupción de menores contra al menos cuatro chicos.

Héctor Pared

Fue condenado en marzo de 2003 a 24 años de prisión por abuso sexual agravado y corrupción de menores en un hogar de la localidad bonaerense de Florencio Varela.

El cura sólo cumplió pocos meses de la sentencia, ya que en septiembre de ese año murió y fue entonces cuando sus víctimas se enteraron que tenía VIH, un dato que había sido ocultado por el cura y el servicio penitenciario.

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SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA)
The Australian

September 12, 2017

By John Ferguson

An estimated $613 million worth of taxpayer-funded compensation claims have emerged as the key sticking point over a national child sex abuse redress system amid growing angst from the states over who will pay.

The states are demanding a fair deal over what the child sex abuse royal commission estimates is $613m worth of funder-of-last-resort costs facing the nation after institutions that ­failed to prevent abuse ceased to exist. Funders of last resort will also include institutions that still exist but have no assets to draw on to compensate victims, an issue that is possible as the Turnbull government finalises its $4 billion response.

The states, territories and commonwealth are negotiating a deal to share the costs, with Social Services Minister Christian Porter stating that the final details of the funder-of-last-resort bill will not be known until the scheme’s ­architecture is set up.

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SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA)
The Australian

September 12, 2017

By Robert Llewellyn-Jones

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that Julia Gillard launched in 2012 ends soon. As an abuse survivor and a practising psychiatrist treating many abuse survivors, I cannot stress too much how important it is to continue the commission’s work.

It would be a callous betrayal of the thousands who have courageously told their stories if the commission’s recommendations are not adopted, to prevent a repetition of the sordid past and the possibility of abuse echoing down the corridors of history in some other malignant form.

For almost five years, thousands of harrowing stories have finally been heard; stories of institutional denial, obfuscation and cover-ups, of actions and inaction that placed institutions’ reputations ahead of the safety and wellbeing of children.

Some institutions claim they should not be held accountable for the actions of the offending “bad apples”. But these “bad apples” frequently were moved on when their offending was discovered and no action was taken to prevent them reoffending. Chil­d­ren were punished, threatened and intimi­dated when they disclosed abuse to those who were charged with keeping them safe.

Moreover, abuse often took place in institutions that promoted a culture of physical and emotional cruelty or were wilfully ignorant of such brutality. Many cases of historical abuse have been referred to the police, but few convictions have resulted. Many institutions have promised to do better. The reputations of individuals who failed to keep children safe have been tarnished but they have mostly escaped more serious outcomes.

The national redress scheme proposed by the royal commission almost two years ago has yet to be established. The Australian’s John Ferguson reported yesterday the $4 billion scheme is due to be up and running next year. He revealed deep divisions among the states and Canberra about how the scheme should be run and who should fund it.

Most states are refusing to opt in until the Turnbull government explains the scheme’s architecture. Meanwhile, survivors seeking compensation continue to be subjected to gruelling adversarial litigation. Some of them tell me that lawyers acting for some of the offending institutions are privately using aggressive legal tactics even as the institution itself is making public claims of responding to survivors with compassion.

The adverse effects of institutional abuse have been catastrophic. The assault on sur­vivors’ human dignity was often compounded by the searing fusion of physical, emotional and sexual abuse. As adults many survivors have existed in a twilight, unable to give voice to their pain until the royal commission was convened.

Many lives were blighted or destroyed by descent into addiction in attempts to block out the pain caused by recurrent nightmares, flashbacks, panic attacks and depression. Many could not hold down jobs or sustain stable relationships. Suicide has not been uncommon.

It is tempting to turn away. As a survivor of child abuse and as a psychiatrist, I do not have that luxury. I felt the searing evil of sexual abuse as a child and with every revelation of abuse that I hear from my patients I again face the challenge of how not to lose faith in the better angels of human nature. What sustains me is the conviction that the work of child protection is never done. It is the work of every generation. It is a narrative as old as the human race.

The capacity for human oppression takes countless forms. Abraham Lincoln’s better angels thrive only when societies establish cultures that respect diversity, eschew all forms of sexual violence, uphold the rights of children, promote equality and have zero tolerance for the powerful dominating the weak.

Robert Llewellyn-Jones is a psychiatrist who assists survivors of sexual abuse and who was abused at Geelong Grammar School.

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HOBART (TASMANIA, AUSTRALIA)
The Mercury

September 7, 2017

By Julian Punch

My studies for the priesthood began at Werribee in Victoria in 1958, four years before the start of the Second Vatican Council and seven years before the papal decree on priestly training, Optatam Totius, radically changed the emphasis from sacrifice to having a pastoral role.

The Corpus Christi campus was a historic property formerly owned by the Chirnside family.

It looks impressive, but the mansion is shrouded in the sadness of insanity and suicide.

Fred Schepisi’s semi-autobiographical film, The Devil’s Playground, which was made there in 1976, tells the story of a boy like me who grew up in a Catholic seminary dealing with temptations of the flesh and all its manifold tensions.

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HOBART (TASMANIA, AUSTRALIA)
The Mercury

September 11, 2017

By Helen Kempton

A push to remove and destroy a sculpture depicting convicted sex offender Monsignor Philip Green has been broadened to removing all plaques bearing his name in Tasmanian hospitals, schools and churches.

Gay with God author Julian Punch, a former Catholic priest, says he has received messages of support for his push to remove all references to Green. The messages have come from Green’s victims, their loved ones and the broader Tasmanian community.

A member of one victim’s family, who did not want to be named for fear of retribution, said the family supported the proposal wholeheartedly.

“Sex offenders have historically been stripped of honours and awards once convicted,” they said.

Mr Punch has now called on Archbishop Julian Porteous to meet him and others to discuss the issue in a public forum.

“We have been told the statue at St Mary’s Cathedral will be removed this week,” Mr Punch said.

“That is one step but we want it to be destroyed and for other plagues bearing his name — like the one at Calvary Hospital — to be removed as well.”

The Archdiocese of Hobart this week said Archbishop Porteous would deal with any plaque or acknowledgment appropriately when he became aware of them.

In 2004, Green pleaded guilty to groping a grieving 22-year-old man and received a suspended three-month jail term.

In his book, Mr Punch alleges Green had other victims and said he too was sexually assaulted by Green in the late 1960s.

“Having the statue destroyed — perhaps melted down as it is copper — would give great consolation to victims,” Mr Punch said.

“We want to discuss the possible creation of an alternative sculpture to remember the victims of sexual abuse by Monsignor Green …

“It is timely for a proactive program of apology and reparation to be developed in discussion with Catholics and the clergy.

“The Archbishop needs to provide the public and Catholic faithful with assurances that old threats and intimidation are not the way to deal with this terrible affliction in the Church.”

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Times

September 12, 2017

By Sean O’Driscoll

Dozens of Irish children are allegedly buried in an unmarked grave used by a Catholic orphanage that is under investigation by the Scottish authorities, campaigners have said.

Andi Lavery, who has obtained a list of more than 400 children he believes may be buried at the site near Smyllum Park Catholic orphanage in Lanark, called on the Irish state to help press for further information on the children.

“There was mass migration from Ireland to Scotland for a long, long time. Some of those children ended up in Smyllum. I think that if the Irish government can stand up for Irish children in Tuam and Cork, it should also stand up for them in Scotland,” he said.

Mr Lavery said that he wanted the UN to intervene in the case. The Scottish child abuse inquiry is preparing to investigate the claims.

The alleged high infant mortality rate has raised concerns about conditions at the orphanage, which was operated by the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul.

Researchers pieced together the names of those believed to be buried in the unmarked grave using the same techniques as Catherine Corless, the amateur historian who uncovered the names of hundreds of infants who were buried in an unmarked grave at a Catholic orphanage in Tuam, Co Galway. The Irish Mother and Baby Homes Commission, set up by the Irish government, confirmed earlier this year that it has uncovered an unmarked burial site at the Tuam orphanage.

The BBC has investigated the Smyllum case and has produced a radio documentary on the orphanage. File on 4: The Secrets of Smyllum Park is broadcast on BBC Radio 4 tonight at 8pm. It will allege that severe physical abuse took place there before its closure in 1981. The institution, which looked after children from broken homes, opened in 1864 and closed in 1981.

An estimated 11,600 children stayed at the orphanage from its opening to its closure. Former residents claim they were beaten and kicked by staff.

Learning from techniques used in Tuam, the BBC and Scottish Sunday Post found 402 death certificates for Smyllum Park children. Burial records were found for only two of the children. Based on the death records, an average of one child died every three months at Smyllum. About a third of those who died were aged five or under. Most of the deaths are believed to be from natural causes, mainly from disease such as TB, pneumonia and pleurisy.

A partial list of the children believed to be buried at the nearby site include many Irish émigrés and children born in Scotland to Irish parents. Some of the children have Irish birth certificates or their parents are listed as Irish.

They include Francis McColl, who died aged 13 in 1961 from what was listed by the nuns as a brain haemorrhage, and Catherine Hennessy, who died of a heart attack in 1948, aged ten. Others are five-month-old Margaret Daly, who died of heart failure in 1940; one-year-old James McDermott, who died of pneumonia in 1940; five-month-old Edith O’Hara, who died of malnutrition in 1939; and Margaret McNamara, Ellen McCann and Thomas McCready, all under the age of three, who died of measles in 1938.

The Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul have confirmed that there is an unmarked grave for the orphanage children at a nearby graveyard, but has not commented further.

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SALTILLO (MEXICO)
La Heraldo

September 12, 2017

[Jesus “N”, the 23-year-old youth who on January 3 killed priest Joaquín Hernández Sifuentes at Sacred Heart Parish in La Aurora, will be able to recover his freedom. His lawyers, Rodolfo Richards and Anabel Rodríguez, were able to prove that Jesus “N” acted in self-defense, when the priest was sexually abusing him.]

Jesús “N”, el joven de 23 años de edad que el pasado 3 de enero diera muerte al sacerdote Joaquín Hernández Sifuentes en instalaciones de la Parroquia del Sagrado Corazón, en La Aurora, podrá recobrar su libertad este martes de septiembre, toda vez que sus abogados, Rodolfo Richards y Anabel Rodríguez, consiguieron acreditar que Jesús “N” actuó en defensa propia, cuando el sacerdote estaba abusando sexualmente de él.

En la sentencia penal No 281 relativa al proceso penal 21/2017, los Magistrados Oscar Aarón Nájera Davis, Armín Valdés Torres y Juan José Yáñez Arreola determinaron que Jesús “N” cometió el homicidio del sacerdote bajo emoción violenta, por lo cual revocaron la sentencia de cuatro años de prisión dictada el pasado 16 de junio por la Juez de Control del Juzgado de Primera Instancia en Materia Penal, concediéndole en cambio la condena de libertad condicional vigilada, y rehabilitándole además todos sus derechos políticos.

En entrevista con EL HERALDO, el pasado mes de junio los abogados Rodolfo Richards y Anabel Rodríguez, dieron a conocer que la noche en que ocurrieron los hechos, Jesús se encontraba ingiriendo bebidas embriagantes con el sacerdote, cuando posteriormente se quedó dormido en el transcurso de la convivencia.

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SALTILLO (MEXICO)
Zócalo

September 11, 2017

By Rosalío González

[The Bishop of Saltillo, Raul Vera López, said that the allegations of abuse at the Seminary of Saltillo must be proved. He stated that he has not received any complaint other than those already submitted to the Attorney General of the State.]

Saltillo, Coahuila.- El Obispo de Saltillo, Raúl Vera López, se deslindó de las acusaciones realizadas por el exseminarista de Piedras Negras y presunta víctima de pederastia del sacerdote José Manuel Riojas “Meño”, Ignacio Martínez Pacheco, quien acusó que en la década de los 90 una red de presbíteros cometió abusos en el Seminario de Saltillo.

Vera López pidió que quienes acusen se comprometan a probar los dichos, porque él no ha recibido ninguna denuncia a parte de las ya presentadas ante la Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado (PGJE).

Sobre la presunta suspensión de 10 miembros de la Iglesia por “conductas inapropiadas”, el fraile aseguró que quienes se han ido es por voluntad propia “porque sus familias no vivían aquí o porque así lo decidieron”, y descartó que él los haya forzado a abandonar su trabajo.

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

SALTA (Argentina)
TN (Todo Noticias)

September 11, 2017

[Fr. Agustín Rosa, founder of the Disciples Institute of Jesus of San Juan Bautista in Salta, is still under investigation for alleged abuse. Now, the car of one of the whistleblowers has been destroyed by fire “accidentally”.]

El principal acusado es el sacerdote Agustín Rosa, que obtuvo la prisión domiciliaria. Avanza la contradenuncia contra una exreligiosa, principal impulsora de la causa, pero hay contradicciones en el testimonio de la supuesta víctima.

El cura Agustín Rosa, fundador del Instituto Discípulos de Jesús de San Juan Bautista, en Salta, sigue investigado por presuntos abusos después de que TN.com.ar revelara el caso y diera a conocer testimonios de las víctimas. Ahora, apareció incendiado “por accidente” el auto de uno de los denunciantes.

Hace 10 días, la Justicia salteña le concedió al sacerdote la prisión domiciliaria; el mismo beneficio que había obtenido, semanas antes, la exmonja Alicia Pacheco, conocida como “Hermana Micalea”, acusada de abuso sexual gravemente ultrajante sobre una chica de 13 años. El juez Félix Costas, del Tribunal de Impugnación Número 2, tomó esa decisión pese a las declaraciones de novicios que acusaban al cura de someterlos y proteger a otros sacerdotes que abusaban sexualemente de ellos. Mientras tanto, sigue la polémica por el fallos de la Cámara que pone la lupa sobre la víctima de la exmonja, que habla de una conducta sexual “temprana e impropia” de la denunciante y aseguraba que la “Hermana Micaela”, como se la conocía, “no tenía el perfil de la agresora sexual”.

“El auto del traidor” (denunciante)

El misterioso incendio, supuestamente accidental, por una falla en el motor, de un automóvil en plena noche en un barrio de la ciudad de Salta, en la esquina de Las Heras y pasaje Alfonso Peralta, sería en realidad una intimidación contra un testigo importante.

Con su declaración en el juzgado, el dueño del coche había convalidado dos de las denuncias de abuso sexual contra Rosa. Se trata de un sacerdote exintegrante de la congregación, que en la madrugada, mientras dormía en la casa de su padre, se despertó con el ruido y advirtió que se estaba quemando el auto. Según le refirieron vecinos que llamaron al 911, escucharon que los responsables del siniestro se movilizaban en motos y decían: “Este es el auto de ese traidor”.

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ERIE (PA)
Diocese of Erie

September 10, 2017

Previously, a civil complaint was filed against the Diocese of Erie and St. Joseph Parish and St. Michael the Archangel Parish in DuBois in the U.S. District Court. The parties have reached a resolution of the case, but neither side can comment further because of a mutual confidentiality clause.

To provide the faithful clarity concerning the status of Father Daniel Kresinski, Bishop Lawrence Persico brought the matter to the Clergy Review Board for consideration. The bishop has accepted its recommendation that Father Kresinski refrain from public ministry until further notice for the good order of the Church.

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

DuBOIS (PA)
Courier Express

September 12, 2017

By Katie Weidenboerner

A DuBois priest has been ordered to refrain from public ministry after a civil harassment suit was resolved by both parties out of court.

A civil complaint had been filed against the Diocese of Erie and St. Joseph Parish and St. Michael the Archangel Parish in DuBois in U.S. District Court in May 2016, saying that Fr. Daniel Kresinski had sexually harassed an employee of the church.

The plaintiff, Kathleen A. Clement, 60, said in the suit that Kresinski repeatedly touched himself inappropriately in her presence and that his superiors did nothing to stop his behavior despite her complaints.

Kresinski had been serving St. Michael the Archangel Church and St. Joseph Church, both in DuBois, starting there in March 2013, about the same time as Clement.

Kresinski created “an offensive, sexually hostile work environment” from March 2013 until October 2013, when Clement resigned as a facilitator of religious programs for St. Joseph and two other parishes, according to the suit.

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PASADENA (CA)
Courthouse News Service

September 12, 2017

By Erik De La Garza

Edinburg, Texas — A state judge on Monday delayed until early October the trial of the former Catholic priest charged with the 1960 murder of a South Texas beauty queen, because of scheduling conflicts with one of his attorneys.

O. Rene Flores, one of two attorneys representing 84-year-old John Feit, is scheduled for trial next week in another high-profile murder case making local headlines. Prosecutors in that case accuse the daughter of a former Hidalgo County commissioner, Monica Melissa Patterson, of the death of a 96-year-old man who was under her care as director of Comfort House, a hospice facility.

Feit appeared trial-ready at a Monday morning hearing, for the first time out of prison clothes, dressed in a blue blazer, slacks and a button-down shirt. He was expected to face trial as early as this week, with jury selection scheduled for Wednesday.

Instead, Hidalgo County state court Judge Luis Singleterry set an Oct. 3 trial date and considered a proposed 13-page, 61-question jury questionnaire to which attorneys on both sides have agreed.

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PASADENA (CA)
Courthouse News Service

September 5, 2017

By Erik De La Garza

[Note: See the 1960 Police Offense Report.]

Edinburg, Texas — Unable to shake decades of suspicion for the 1960 murder of a 25-year-old beauty queen from South Texas, former Catholic priest John Feit will finally face a jury next week, more than 57 years after the crime left a community looking for answers.

Opening arguments will come immediately after jury selection begins on Sept. 13, nearly a lifetime after the partially decomposed body of Irene Garza was found in an irrigation canal days after she was last seen receiving confession from the now 84-year-old ex-priest.

As years bled into decades, the mystery surrounding the Easter weekend rape and murder of the devoutly religious schoolteacher from McAllen lingered in silence until the turn of the century brought with it renewed interest, fresh eyes and undying suspicion.

The Early Investigation

Sunset had just fallen in McAllen on April 16, 1960 when Garza drove her father’s car a few dozen blocks from the home she shared with her parents to Sacred Heart Catholic Church, for confession on Holy Saturday, according to a 9-page police offense report that details the early days of the investigation.

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BROWNSVILLE (TX)
KVEO-TV

September 11, 2017

By Amy Martinez

[Includes video.]

Edinburg, Texas – Former priest John Feit was back in court for a final pre-trial hearing.

The 84-year-old Feit is charged with the 1960 murder of school teacher Irene Garza.

In this highly anticipated trial, more than 3,000 Hidalgo County residents were summoned as potential jurors in this case.

Of those 3,000 residents, over 800 will be summoned this week to narrow down the group moving on to the jury selection phase.

During the hearing, attorneys agreed to have jury selection begin on October 3. While there’s no telling how long the selection process will take, the presiding judge says he hopes to have the trial begin on October 9.

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CINCINNATI (OH)
WCPO 9

September 12, 2017

By Paula Christian

[Note: See the entry for Fr Robert Poandl GHM in the BishopAccountability.org database.]

A Catholic priest lost his attempt to appeal a 2013 conviction for taking a 10-year-old Price Hill boy across state lines and allegedly raping him.

Robert “Father Bob” Poandl, 76, is in prison after a jury in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati convicted him of taking an altar boy, David Harper, on a trip to serve Mass at a church in West Virginia and raping him in a rectory bedroom there in 1991.

Poandl’s attorneys filed a motion in May asking the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals for a chance to appeal that conviction. He claimed that his attorneys made mistakes during trial, and he questioned whether any Catholic priest accused of pedophilia could receive a fair trial in the aftermath a sexual abuse scandal that rocked the church more than a decade ago.

The appeals court ruled against Poandl on Aug. 31. In a four-page order the court dismissed all of his claims, describing them as “insignificant in relation to the evidence of Poandl’s guilt.” U.S. Attorney Benjamin Glassman praised the appeals court’s decision, the hard work of his prosecutors, and the courage of Harper and his family for testifying at trial.

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

GUAM
USA Today

September 11, 2017

By Haidee V Eugenio

Hagåtña, Guam — Father Louis Brouillard sexually abused an altar boy and influenced him to watch other boys being abused, a lawsuit filed late last month in the Superior Court of Guam states.

The plaintiff, identified in court documents only as R.C. in order to protect his privacy, was sexually abused by Brouillard on church grounds and at Boy Scouts outings during the time he was an altar boy for the Barrigada and Tumon parishes and a boy scout with Troop 13, the lawsuit states.

Now 53 and living in Barrigada, R.C. was around 13 or 14 at the time of the alleged abuse, from 1979 to 1981, the complaint states.

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SCOTLAND
Crux

September 12, 2017

By Charles Collins

The Smyllum Park orphanage is currently undergoing investigation by the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, after previous residents accused staff of neglect and physical abuse. A new investigation claims hundreds of children from the institution are buried in an unmarked grave at a nearby cemetery.

Hundreds of children who died at a Scottish orphanage run by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul were allegedly buried in a mass grave, according to a new investigative report.

The Smyllum Park orphanage was operated in Lanarkshire, Scotland, from 1864 until it closed in 1980.

A joint investigation by The Sunday Post and the BBC claims up to 400 children who died at the institution in its 116-year existence were buried in a mass grave at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Lanark, located about a mile from the orphanage. The cemetery also holds the remains of the sisters and other staff members who died at the institution, although their graves are marked with headstones.

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MONTANA
Great Falls [MT] Tribune

September 11, 2017

By Seaborn Larson, slarson@greatfallstribune.com

Two days of negotiations toward a settlement between the Great Falls-Billings Diocese and 86 victims who were reportedly abused by eastern Montana priests during the 1900s ended last week in a stalemate.

The mediation sessions took place in federal bankruptcy court in Reno, Nevada on Sept. 6 and 7. On Monday, Judge Gregg Zive filed a notice effectively terminating the mediation between the two parties.

Bruce Anderson, an Idaho attorney representing the Great Falls-Billings Diocese in the settlement negotiations did not return calls from the Tribune for comment on the ending of the mediation. Neither did attorneys for the victims who have reported abuse in the case.

[Related: Montana reservations reportedly ‘dumping grounds’ for predatory priests]

Zive told the Tribune on Monday that settlement negotiations are confidential. Many routes can still be taken toward an eventual conclusion in the federal bankruptcy case, including a return to mediation sometime in the future.

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

VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

September 11, 2017

By Junno Arocho Esteves

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis’ international Council of Cardinals — the so-called C9 — is nearly done with its work of advising the pope on a major reform of the Vatican bureaucracy, the secretary of the council said.

Bishop Marcello Semeraro of Albano, secretary of Pope Francis’ Council of Cardinals, told Vatican Radio Sept. 11 that “as far as the reform process of the Roman Curia is concerned, it is even more than three-quarters of the way there — it is almost complete.”

“It is nearly complete at the level of proposals made to the pope,” he said.

The Council of Cardinals was meeting at the Vatican Sept. 11-13. Pope Francis, who returned from his visit to Colombia Sept. 11, did not attend the first day’s meeting.

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GUAM
KUAM

September 9, 2017

By Krystal Paco

105 clergy sex abuse lawsuits and counting. The latest case was filed on Friday afternoon in the District Court of Guam naming Vernon T. Kamiaz, a former Capuchin brother assigned to the Agana Heights Parish.

When 50-year-old C.J.I. was 15, he alleges Kamiaz sexually molested him. The alleged incident occurred after a fundraising event for the Agana Heights Youth Organization. Kamiaz reportedly drove C.J.I. home, but not before making a stop at his family’s house.

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

PENNSYLVANIA
LancasterOnline

September 11, 2017

By Jennifer Todd

An Amish bishop pleaded guilty in Dauphin County court last week to a charge of failure to report child abuse.

Christ M. Stoltzfus, 70, of Elizabethville, entered the plea Thursday before Judge Deborah E. Curcillo and was sentenced to three months probation, according to the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office.

State police launched an investigation in January after a confidential source alleged child sexual abuse in the Amish community.

Officials said a church member told Stoltzfus in 2011 about two cases involving 44-year-old Daniel Ray Fisher, according to previous reports. Stoltzfus reportedly told state police that he’d been told the abuse “wasn’t really that bad.”

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HAMPSHIRE, ENGLAND
GetSurrey.co.uk

September 11, 2017

By Tom Beasley

Father Martyn Neale was arrested by the Met Police eight days before his death as part of an investigation into historic sexual offences, an inquest heard

A Church of England vicar, who was at the centre of a police probe into historic sexual offences, “incinerated himself” in his garden with a can of petrol, an inquest has heard.

The body of Father Martyn Neale, 60, was found by his sister, Janis Chandler, in the garden of the vicarage where he lived.

Mr Neale’s body was found on July 25 – just eight days after he was initially arrested by the Metropolitan Police in relation to historic sexual offences committed 20 years ago.

Tributes were paid to Father Neale, who was vicar at Holy Trinity in Hawley, following his death back in July, which police said was not being treated as suspicious.

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NORTH CAROLINA
The Dispatch [Lexington NC]

September 8, 2017

A 40-year old former pastor charged with sexual abuse of a 10-year-old girl has been additionally charged with multiple counts of sexual abuse and rape involving the 10-year-old and three additional children, all under the age of 12 years old.

Daniel Gene Little, 40, of 1563 Jerusalem Road, has been charged with 13 counts of felony sexual offense with a child, 11 counts felony child abuse by committing a sexual act, two counts of felony rape of a child, two counts felony incest with a child younger than 13 and indecent liberties with a child.’

Little is the former pastor of Yadkin College Baptist Church in Lexington. In May, he was charged with felony first-degree sex offense sexually assaulting a female juvenile under the age of 17.

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

PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive.com

September 11, 2017

By Wesley Robinson, wrobinson@pennlive.com

Six years after failing to report sexual abuse in the Amish community, a local bishop admitted to covering up the allegations.

Christ Stoltzfus was mandated to report the sex abuse allegations under Child Protective Services law but failed to report the abuse in 2011. Stoltzfus, 69, of Roller Road in Mifflin Township, told investigators that he was informed one of the incidents “wasn’t really that bad” during an interview in February 2017, according to state police.

A month prior to Stoltzfus’ interview with police, a member of Stoltzfus’ church told troopers he informed the bishop of the cases of child sexual abuse that occurred in 2011. Both cases involved Daniel Ray Fisher, 44, of Weaver Road in Mifflin Township, records state.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Tablet (UK)

September 11, 2017

By Mark Brolly

In the days after the Commissioner’s address, General Synod approved rules to protect children that are binding on all clergy and church workers

Australia is a country where “people have lost trust completely” in the Church, according to Jesuit Fr Hans Zollner, a founding member of Pope Francis’ Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

Fr Zollner, who is also President of the Centre for Child Protection at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, told church workers in Brisbane that “there seems to be almost nil trust in what the Church says”, The Catholic Leader newspaper reported on 7 September.

“This is not true in other parts of the world,” he said. “I think you are in a pretty unique situation.”

Fr Zollner said while many countries in Europe and North America had been dealing for some years with effectively safeguarding against sexual abuse, most countries were still yet to grapple with the issue.

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SCOTLAND (UK)
Daily Record

September 10, 2017

Future Pathways urges survivors of abuse in care to come forward and seek support from a £13.5 million fund set up to help.

Tragically, many children raised in care in Scotland were subjected to abuse or neglect but, with Future Pathways, they can now access support to help them find a more positive path ahead.

Anyone over 18 who experienced abuse while living in care, which includes residential or foster care, boarding school – state or private – a long-term stay in hospital or time spent in a young offenders institution, can apply.

A £13.5 million fund is available until March 2021 to help support people abused when they should have been cared for and nurtured.

It doesn’t matter where you live now, or even if you don’t live in Scotland – as long as the abuse or neglect took place in Scotland, you could still access support from Future Pathways.

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WINNIPEG, MANITOBA (CANADA)
CBC NEWS

September 7, 2017

By Katie Nicholson and Vera-Lynn Kubinec

[Note: See the page devoted to Rev. Ronald Léger on Sylvia’s Site, with links and chronology.]

3 men come forward with new charges against Ronald Léger, now accused of sexually assaulting 7 men

A Catholic priest who founded and ran a youth centre in Winnipeg for decades is facing new sexual assault charges from three alleged victims, on top of charges laid last year following accusations from four other men.

Ronald Léger, 79, was charged Aug. 31 with three new counts of sexual assault against three men, who were teenagers at the time of the alleged assaults.

Last October, four other men came forward alleging they were sexually assaulted by Léger in their youth. Léger was charged at that time with multiple counts of sexual assault. A trial date for those charges — which span three decades from 1983 to 2013 — has been set for March 5, 2018.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

September 8, 2017

By Calla Wahlquist, @callapilla

The woman’s ‘extremely difficult’ 13-month ordeal to receive a payout adds weight to calls for an independent redress scheme, says her lawyer

A Victorian woman who was sexually abused as a teenager says the process of getting compensation from the Catholic church was “unnecessarily agonising” and sent her to “an absolute state of unwellness”.

The woman’s revelation adds weight to calls for an independent redress scheme, the final framework of which is expected to be released in the coming weeks, following a proposal put forward by the federal government last year.

Therase Lawless (not her real name) was 14 when she was first approached by a teacher at her school in northern Victoria in the 1980s, who conducted a sexually abusive relationship with her from the ages of 15 to 17.

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REPUBLIC OF MALAWI
Nyasa Times/Mana (Malawi)

September 6, 2017

CCAP Synod of Livingstonia cleric Reverend Chiwawa Banda will on Wednesday be sentenced by Rumphi First Grade Magistrate’s Court after he was convicted for defiling a 13- year-old girl (name shielded for legal reasons.)

The girl claimed Reverend Banda of Chiswamapira Village Traditional Authority Kabunduli in Nkhatabay but based at Luzi in Rumphi, sexually assaulted her three times.

He was accused of taking he girl to woodlot for sexual assualt.

The cleric had also bought a mobile phone for the girl so that he could have more contact with her on Whatsapp.

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