ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED STATES
The New York Times

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
JULY 7, 2017

For all of Pope Francis’ deserved acclaim in leading the Roman Catholic Church to new directions, he is failing badly on his promise to address the child abuse scandal at the crucial level where ranking churchmen systematically protected priests who raped and molested children.

His failure to confront the problem was underlined last week when the pope had to grant one of his closest advisers, Cardinal George Pell of Australia, a leave of absence from the Vatican to answer multiple charges of sexual assault in Melbourne.

Until now, Francis stood by Cardinal Pell, the Vatican treasurer, even after the cardinal admitted to a special Australian investigation last year that the church had made “enormous mistakes” in responding to the scandal while he was a ranking archbishop. But the cardinal denied any memory of priests who were abusers, or of covering up their criminal behavior, as critics charged. Some priests convicted of crimes, however, testified that Cardinal Pell did know of their activity. Heading home, the cardinal, who in the past denied allegations of molesting children as a young priest, said he expected to prove his innocence of the assault charges.

The cardinal’s deepening involvement is a severe blow to the Vatican and the pope as they try to convince the world that the scandal has ebbed with a supposedly full and forthright accounting. But while more than 800 rogue priests have been defrocked and some sent to prison, diocesan and parish superiors have largely been spared sanctions and discipline. This, despite their having abetted violators by rotating them to new parishes and concealing serial child abuse from civil authorities. Australian investigators uncovered more than 4,400 victims across a 35-year period and at least 1,880 individuals suspected of being abusers, most of them priests and religious brothers.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

By Jolene Toves – July 7, 2017

A female victim alleges that she was sexually abused by a catholic school janitor when she was 6 or 7 years old.

Guam – Two more victims have come forward with allegations sexual abuse against the Archdiocese of Agana.

R.M.S. is third female victim accusing the archdiocese of child sexual abuse. Now 41 years old, she claims that Paul Sebay who is now deceased, molested and sexually abused her when she was 6 to 7 years old and a student at San Vicente Catholic School.

Court documents indicate that Sebay was a maintenance janitor at San Vicente, a catholic parochial school operated by and under the supervision of the Archdiocese. R.M.S. alleges that she was repeatedly molested and abused by Sebay when she was in the first grade.

R.M.S. claims that Sebay would give her candy and other treats and take her to the maintenance room which was located above the auditorium.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Centre Daily Times

BY SHAWN ANNARELLI
sannarelli@centredaily.com

Rev. Anthony J. Petracca was appointed to serve at UPMC Altoona, but the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown has clarified that he has not been involved with the hospital.

Petracca allegedly committed “misconduct involving a minor” in the mid-1980s, according to the diocese. He was recently suspended by Rev. Mark L. Bartchak, bishop of the diocese, pending the results of an investigation. He was supposed to be UPMC Altoona’s chaplain and an administrator at Our Lady of Lourdes in Altoona, but did not begin the assignments.

Bartchak, according to the diocese, notified law enforcement of the allegations against Petracca.

“While on leave, Father Petracca will not be permitted to function as a priest, and he will reside at a place where he will not have contact with children,” the diocese said in a statement.

Monsignor Michael Becker will continue to serve at Our Lady of Lourdes.

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PENNSYLVANIA
ABC 23

We first told you last night about a local Priest placed on leave after allegations of sexual abuse. Tonight we found that church records show it is not his first leave of absence. Our reporter spoke to church leaders and joins us live with details. You can probably hear the bells all around me and across the street is Saint Elizabeth, Those two churches were the last places that the Father Petracca worked in the Diocese. Here is what the Diocese leaders originally told us earlier this week. “Has he ever been placed on leave before ?” “Not to my knowledge.” We checked records and directories and that shows he was on leave the for three years in 2000, 2001 and 2002. Degol says today that leave was not associated with any allegations like this most recent one is. He says he took a personal leave in 2000 and couldn’t go into details about why since it was personal. He says he was recently appointed to a new position in Our Lady of Lords and UPMC in Altoona but the Bishop placed him on leave before he started to work there.

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MEXICO
Vanguardia

[PGR admits to proceeding on an accusation against Cardinal Norberto Rivera for covering up for pedophiles in the church. The complaint was filed on June 2 based on statements made by Rivera Carrera at the end-of-year breakfast with the press where he admitted that he sent the Vatican cases of 15 violating priests.]

La demanda se presentó el 2 de junio pasado con base en declaraciones hechas por Rivera Carrera en el desayuno de fin de año con la prensa, en donde admitió que envió al Vaticano los casos de 15 sacerdotes infractores

Ciudad de México. La Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) “admitió a trámite” la denuncia presentada en contra del cardenal Norberto Rivera Carrera por presunta “complicidad y encubrimiento” en relación a casos de sacerdotes pederastas de la Arquidiócesis de México, informó el ex sacerdote Alberto Athié, quien precisó que el jueves pasado fue ratificada esa demanda y se está a la expectativa de que la PGR llame a declarar al jerarca.

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MEXICO
Cronica

La Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) indaga al Cardenal Norberto Rivera Carrera por el presunto encubrimiento de al menos 15 curas pederastas, luego de la denuncia presentada por los ex sacerdotes Alberto Athié y José Barba, presentaran una denuncia.

Rivera, al cumplir 75 años, ha iniciado su proceso para dejar de ser arzobispo, aunque esto sólo pasaría si el Papa acepta su renuncia, lo que parece haber influido en la decisión de Athié de presentar ahora la denuncia

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MEXICO
Clarin

[Cardinal Norberto Rivera is investigated for cover-up for pedophiles in the church. Rivera has submitted his resignation to Pope Francis upon turning 75 but the resignation has not yet been accepted. The Attorney General’s Office confirmed that Rivera is accused of covering up for 15 priests and he is subjected of a public inquiry. He is expected to be summoned soon. Former priest Alberto Athie filed a complaint against the cardinal two weeks ago. Athie said the cardinal should be treated like any other citizen without any special treatment.]

Las investigaciones de la justicia mexicana por casos de pedofilia alcanzaron a la máxima figura de la Iglesia católica mexicana, el arzobispo primado Norberto Rivera, que hace poco presentó al Papa Francisco su renuncia tras cumplir 75 años, pero aún no le ha sido aceptada.

La Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) confirmó que Rivera, acusado de encubrir a 15 sacerdotes, es objeto de una indagatoria y se espera que muy pronto sea citado a declarar, informó el ex sacerdote Alberto Athié, quien formuló una denuncia en su contra semanas atrás. Athié señaló que el cardenal debe presentarse a declarar “como cualquier ciudadano sin ningún tipo de privilegio” para que el encubrimiento de abusos sexuales “no quede impune”.

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MEXICO
Aristegui

[Representative of the Vatican met with Alberto Athié on a charge against Cardinal Rivera … and gave him a dispensation! Alberto Athié reveals that he is married and has children. “I resigned (since 2003) not to the sacrament but to the exercise of the ministry”.]

Alberto Athié revela que está casado y tiene hijos, por lo que han orquestado ataques y descalificaciones en su contra; “yo renuncié (desde 2003) no al sacramento sino al ejercicio del ministerio”.

El nuncio del Vaticano en México, Franco Coppola, buscó al ex sacerdote Alberto Athié para que le explicara la denuncia que interpuso en la PGR contra el cardenal Norberto Rivera.

En entrevista para Aristegui en vivo, dijo que “es la primera vez desde el 2003 que yo presenté mi renuncia pública al Papa Juan Pablo, que me cita un nuncio para hablar con él”.

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NEW JERSEY
Asbury Park Press

Payton Guion and Steph Solis , Asbury Park Press July 6, 2017

Twelve more Lakewood residents were charged Thursday on allegations of welfare fraud, bringing the total number of people charged in the ongoing investigation to 26.

Six Lakewood couples were charged Thursday morning with third-degree theft by deception, collectively defrauding the government of nearly $400,000, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.

They served warrants on the following:

Eliezer, 33, and Elkie, 31, Sorotzkin, of West Spruce Street, face charges that they illegally collected $74,960 in Medicaid benefits between January 2011 and December 2013.

Samuel, 45, and Esther, 44, Serhofer, of Whispering Pines Lane, face charges that they illegally collected $72,685 in Medicaid benefits between January 2009 and December 2013.

Yisroel, 37, and Rachel, 34, Merkin, of Hermosa Drive, face charges that they illegally collected $70,557.51 in Medicaid, SNAP, and HEAP benefits between January 2011 and December 2014.

Jerome Menchel, 33, and Mottel Friedman, 30, of Pressburg Lane, face charges that they illegally collected $63,839 in Medicaid and SNAP benefits between January 2011 and July 2014.

Tzvi, 35, and Estee, 34, Braun of Ridge Avenue, face charges that they illegally collected $62,746.74 in Medicaid, HEAP, and CICRF benefits between January 2009 and December 2013.

Moshe, 30, and Nechama, 27, Hirschmann, of Emmanuel Drive, face charges that they illegally collected $53,418.39 in Medicaid and SNAP benefits between January 2011 and December 2015. …

Eliezer Sorotzkin is the brother of Zalmen Sorotzkin, a rabbi who was arrested last week on allegations of more than $300,000 in welfare fraud. Eliezer Sorotzkin is also a business partner of Mordechai Breskin, who was arrested last week and faces federal charges in the alleged fraud, according to a source close to the investigation. Public records show that Eliezer Sorotzkin listed a business address the same as Breskin’s residence, at 33 Blue Jay Way.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Lincolnshire Live

BY ELAINE DAVIESMEDIA LINCS
6 JUL 2017

An 82-year-old man has denied historic child abuse allegations against five boys in the Lincoln Diocese.

Roy Griffiths from Sherborne in Dorset appeared in Lincoln Crown Court by video link from Bournemouth Crown Court as part of an ongoing investigation into historic abuse.

He entered not guilty pleas to 11 sexual offences and also denied eight charges of indecent assault on a boy under the age of 16.

He also denied two charges of indecency with a child under the age of 14 and one charge of an attempted serious sexual offence.

The offences are alleged to have happened between January 1963 and December 1972.

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

Lincolnshire Police confirmed in September 2016 that it was looking into abuse claims surrounding the Cathedral School in Lincoln.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Altoona Mirror

Corrected to reflect while Anthony J. Petracca had been appointed last month to the UPMC Altoona and Our Lady of Lourdes positions, he had not yet started in those positions.
—
A priest who recently had been appointed — but had not yet started — as administrator at Our Lady of Lourdes parish in Altoona and chaplain at UPMC Altoona has been placed on leave from public ministry because of an accusation of misconduct with a minor that allegedly occurred in the mid-1980s, according to the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

The Rev. Anthony J. Petracca will not be permitted to function as a priest and will live at a place where he will not have contact with children, stated a news release from the diocese.

Bishop Mark L. Bartchak, who imposed the leave, has informed law enforcement of the accusation, according to the news release.

Petracca, 61, and a native of Darby, near Philadelphia, has been parochial vicar at numerous parishes, according to the news release.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Jersey Evening Post

ISLANDERS who report abuse can be confident that their complaints will be taken seriously, investigated and prosecuted professionally, Jersey’s Attorney General has said in the wake of the findings of the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry.

Advocate Robert MacRae – the Island’s chief prosecutor – has said that his department is committed to improving the Island’s criminal justice system.

He added that victims must be encouraged to report abuse and that, when they did, their allegations would be taken seriously and ‘all possible steps taken to bring offenders to justice’.

His comments come after the States police confirmed that they had received two further complaints about abuse, bringing the total number reported to the force since the release of the report on Monday to four.

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GEORGIA
Daily Report

Katheryn Hayes Tucker, Daily Report
July 6, 2017

A woman has filed a lawsuit against her former pastor alleging he sexually abused her for years starting when she was 15, telling her it was her duty in service to the church.

Attorney Jeb Butler of Butler Tobin said his client decided to go public with her allegations last month because she learned of other victims. He filed the lawsuit in Muscogee County Superior Court in Columbus, where the pastor lives. Butler said he timed the filing to meet the July 1 deadline for the extension created by the Hidden Predators Act allowing survivors of childhood sexual abuse to count the date of disclosure of the allegations rather than the event for calculating the statute of limitations.

The lawsuit named Lewis Clemons and churches he started and served as pastor, including Wynnton Road Ministries Church of God. The complaint said the intention is to bring the case against “each and every church” where Clemons—who calls himself “Apostle”—has pastored since 2000, including Faith Unlimited Ministries Church of Christ and the current church, Kingdom Awareness Ministries International.

Clemons could not be reached for comment after leaving messages at his church and home. Butler said he does not believe Clemons has retained an attorney.

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MEXICO
El Sol de Nayarit

[The PGR has accepted the denouncement against Cardinal Norberto Rivera for alleged cover-up of pedophile crimes.]

La Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) aceptó el recurso interpuesto por el ex sacerdote Alberto Athié y por Jesús Romero Colín, en contra del Cardenal Norberto Rivera, por el presunto encubrimiento de 15 curas pederastas.

Luego de la denuncia, la Fiscalía Federal dio a conocer que ya abrió una investigación por los hechos denunciados por Athié y Romero Colín, quienes además acusar que “ni el cardenal ni la Arquidiócesis de México informaron” sobre los hechos de los que sí tenían conocimiento.

La PGR inició las averiguaciones el 19 de junio, mientras que los denunciantes acudieron esta semana a ratificar la queja. Se espera que el Cardenal decida si acude o no a comparecer.

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MEXICO
Aristegui

[Cardinal Rivera did not report 15 cases of pederasty that he know about: Alberto Athie. For the first time a Mexican bishop is going to be investigated for cover-up, said Athie.]

“Por primera vez un obispo mexicano va a ser investigado (por encubrimiento) y por lo mismo llamado a declarar respecto de sus mismas palabras dichas en público respecto a estos delitos”, contó en Aristegui en vivo.

El ex sacerdote Alberto Athié explicó la denuncia presentada el 2 de junio contra el cardenal Norberto Rivera, por “presunto encubrimiento de delitos cometidos por sacerdotes presuntamente pederastas”, ya que el propio Rivera reportó 15 casos a Roma pero no los reportó a las autoridades mexicanas.

En entrevista para Aristegui en vivo, respondió a la “serie de descalificaciones” por parte del vocero de la Arquidiócesis, Hugo Valdemar, “diciendo que no tenía sustento y era para hacer escándalo y ruido ante la renuncia del cardenal”.

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MEXICO
NSS Oaxaca

[PGR investigates Cardinal Norberto Rivera for covering up pedophiles.The Attorney General’s Office (PGR) is investigating Catholic Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera after a group of religious presented a complaint against him for the alleged cover-up of 15 pedophile priests.The ex-priest Alberto Athié Gallo heads the group who filed the complaint before the PGR, a branch that accepted the legal remedy and could cite Rivera Carrera. This week the complainants ratified the complaint, according to information released in various media.]

Esta semana, el exsacerdote Alberto Athié ratificó la denuncia contra Norberto Rivera por el supuesto encubrimiento de curas pederastas.

La Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) investiga al cardenal católico Norberto Rivera Carrera, después de que un grupo de religiosos presentara una denuncia en su contra por el supuesto encubrimiento de 15 sacerdotes pederastas.

El exsacerdote Alberto Athié Gallo encabeza la denuncia presentada por curas y organizaciones civiles ante la PGR, dependencia que aceptó el recurso legal y podría citar Rivera Carrera. Esta semana, los denunciantes ratificaron la queja, de acuerdo con la información difundida en diversos medios de comunicación.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
U.S. News

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A former priest who was convicted in New Hampshire of sexually assaulting two teenage boys in the 1990s and sentenced to 30 years in prison has been granted parole because he has terminal cancer.

WMUR-TV reports Roger Fortier had about 11 years left on his sentence. But after a doctor said Thursday that he has about six months to live, the state parole board agreed his condition was incurable and that the cost of caring for him would be high. Fortier plans to live with his sister, under house arrest. A parole officer would need to approve it.

Fortier said Thursday he’s sorry and has no excuse for what he did.

Fortier, formerly of St. Peters Church in Farmington, was convicted in 1998. His lawyer argued one boy made up the claims, and the other boy was schizophrenic and wasn’t taking his medication.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Members of the press were this morning asked to leave the courtroom just as Archbishop Charles Scicluna was about to take the witness stand to face cross-examination in the civil proceedings for damages instituted by 10 victims of clerical sex abuse.

The civil suit for compensation was filed in May 2013 by Lawrence Grech, Joseph Magro, Leonard Camilleri, David Cassar, Noel Dimech, Angelo Spiteri, Raymond Azzopardi, Charles Falzon, Philip Cauchi and Joseph Mangion.

Two priests, Carmelo Pulis and Godwin Scerri, tasked with caring for the orphaned children at St Joseph’s Home, were jailed in 2012 after the appeals court confirmed their conviction. They were found guilty of sex abuse on 11 underage victims entrusted to their care.

However, since all efforts to obtain monetary compensation for their suffering had failed, the victims were forced to open a civil suit against the Church.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
WMUR

Andy Hershberger
News Reporter

CONCORD, N.H. —
A former Farmington priest who was convicted of sexually assaulting two altar boys was granted parole Thursday.

Roger Fortier was sentenced in 1998 to 30 years in prison for sexually assaulting the boys. He had 11 years left on his sentence, but the parole board granted his release, in part, because he has terminal cancer.

A doctor told the board that Fortier may have six months to live, but she said that is only an estimate. The board determined that his condition is incurable and that the cost of his continued care at the prison would be high.

Board members expressed concern for public safety and ordered that Fortier live alone with his sister, be under house arrest and wear an electronic monitoring device. They said the only time he would be able to leave his sister’s house would be for visits to the doctor.

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ROMA
Il Fatto Quotidiano

[ TheVatican gay partying and drugs at a palace of the former Holy Office.]

Il segretario di un importante cardinale colto in flagrante dalla Gendarmeria della Santa sede e spedito a disintossicarsi nel riserbo più assoluto. La lussuosa auto con targa d’Oltretevere lo avrebbe protetto dai controlli della polizia italiana. Il religioso era in predicato di diventare vescovo, ma la nomina è stata fermata. Papa Francesco furioso

di Francesco Antonio Grana | 28 giugno 2017

Un festino gay a base di droga. È quello che hanno scoperto gli uomini della Gendarmeria vaticana in un blitz all’interno di un appartamento nel Palazzo dell’ex Sant’Uffizio. Proprio lì dove per un quarto di secolo l’allora cardinale Joseph Ratzinger ha svolto il suo incarico di prefetto della Congregazione per la dottrina della fede prima di essere eletto Papa. L’inquilino dell’appartamento, stando a quanto raccontano in Vaticano, è un monsignore che svolge le mansioni di segretario di un importante porporato a capo di un dicastero della Curia romana.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Telegraph

KATE SMURTHWAITE
6 JULY 2017

Police, we learnt yesterday, were reportedly called to break up a gay orgy. Which doesn’t make sense as a headline if you hit pause on the moral outrage button and remember that the gender and number of other people having sex is neither a legal matter nor any of your God damn business.

Although, there will be many who see this particular orgy as, quite literally, a God damn business – seeing as it allegedly took place at the home of one of Pope Francis’s key advisors in the Vatican.

The apartment raided is reportedly the residence of the secretary to cardinal Francesco Coccopa­l­merio – a key aide to the 80-year-old Pope. It apparently belongs to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is in charge of tackling clerical sexual abuse. According to Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano, the police found drugs and a group of men engaged in sexual activity.

It is also that time of year when newspapers are full of recommendations for holiday reading. So here’s one from me: Nigel Cawthorne’s memorable work The Sex Lives of the Popes. An utter page turner in our house; more salacious than Jilly Cooper or Fifty Shades; and guaranteed to get you the armrest on your budget flight.

The one thing you’ll soon realise when reading it, us that gay orgies are not new to the Vatican. Over the last couple of millennia, they’ve mainly served as a refreshing change from all the straight ones. Historians now widely accept that Pope Leo X (1513-1521) was homosexual – the Romans having been perplexed as to why he didn’t bring a mistress with him when took office.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Derry Now

Thursday 6th of July 2017

Immediate steps towards establishing a compensation fund for the victims of historical institutional abuse can be taken under a plan proposed by Sinn Féin today, the party’s Northern Leader Michelle O’Neill has said.

Commenting on the proposed legal and financial framework, which would also seek contributions from various religious orders and the British Government, she said victims deserved clarity amid the ongoing political uncertainty.

Michelle O’Neill said: “Sinn Féin has always fully supported the victims and survivors of historic abuse.

“We welcomed the publication of the panel report from the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry recommending redress payments and we want to see those recommendations implemented as soon as possible.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

By Ann-Marie Foster
BBC News NI

A survivor of abuse at the notorious Kincora Boys’ home in Belfast has made a passionate appeal for politicians to take urgent action to help other victims of institutional abuse.

Hundreds of victims gave evidence about their experiences at a number of institutions in Northern Ireland to the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry last year.

Its chairman, Sir Anthony Hart, presented his final report in January, making a series of recommendations including a memorial, financial compensation and a public apology from the Northern Ireland Executive.

But Stormont collapsed in January – days after the report was published – and, without an executive, the recommendations cannot be enacted.

Last year, Clint Massey, from Bangor, County Down, told the inquiry about being sexually abused at Kincora, a home in east Belfast. Three senior care staff at the home were jailed in 1981 for abusing 11 boys in their care.

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FRANCIA
Rete L’Abuso

[France: The Diocese of Saint Etienne reports suspected sexual abuse of three minors.]

Parigi. La diocesi francese di Saint Etienne ieri martedì 4 luglio ha denunciato i sospetti abusi sessuali commessi su tre minorenni negli anni ’80 dello scorso secolo da un prete che oggi ha 84 anni: i fatti sarebbero prescritti dalla legge, ma la diocesi ha ugualmente deciso di sospendere il religioso dal suo ministero; il vescovo, monsignor Sylvain Bataille, ha dichiarato di aver parlato con il prete sotto accusa, il quale gli avrebbe confessato di essere colpevole.

Le prime denunce contro l’ormai anziano religioso furono presentate all’inizio degli anni 2000, ma non hanno mai avuto seguito; la vicenda aveva suscitato un vasto scandalo in Francia sull’atteggiamento della Chiesa cattolica nei confronti degli episodi di pedofilia, spingendo infine le gerarchie ecclesiastiche ad adottare un nuovo codice di condotta per contrastare il fenomeno.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A priest in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown was placed on leave pending the diocese’s investigation of an allegation of misconduct involving a minor in the 1980s.

A Wednesday statement by the diocese did not specify nature of the alleged misconduct.

It’s the latest development for a diocese that last year was the subject of a state grand jury report describing extensive past sexual abuse by priests and alleging coverup by its past bishops.

The Rev. Anthony J. Petracca, who was ordained in 1985, has served at various parishes and most recently was named administrator at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Altoona and chaplain at UPMC Altoona.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Mindy Aguon | The Guam Daily Post

A woman has come forward alleging she was sexually molested by a maintenance janitor when she was 6 years old while attending school at San Vicente Catholic School in the early 1980s.

R.M.S., who used her initials to protect her identity, alleges she was sexually abused by Paul Sebay, who is now deceased.

According to the civil complaint filed yesterday in the District Court of Guam against the Archdiocese of Agana and San Vicente Catholic School, R.M.S. was in the first grade when she was repeatedly sexually molested by Sebay, who was employed by the Catholic school.

R.M.S. and her brother frequently had to wait after school for their mother to pick them up, and while waiting, Sebay allegedly gave the girl candy and treats, and took her to the maintenance janitor room above the school’s auditorium.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Washington City Paper

CHRIS KLIMEK JUL 6, 2017

Reality bites. In recent years, D.C. playgoers have seen fictionalized versions of Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, closeted red-baiter (and paradoxically, Donald Trump mentor) Roy Cohn, and long-serving Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. The Scalia drama, The Originalist, returns to Arena Stage on July 7.

But the night before that, the Capital Fringe Festival will host the premiere of another play about a powerful conservative whose departure was swift and surprising: Bernard “Barry” Freundel, the rabbi who led Georgetown’s Kesher Israel synagogue for 25 years before being arrested in 2014 for voyeurism.

Freundel was accused of making secret video recordings of women from his congregation as they undressed to use the mikvah, a ritual bath. Most of his victims were converts or students, women he was helping to shepherd into the faith. His primary device was a clock radio with a camera concealed inside. He edited the videos, organizing them and labeling them, as police discovered when they raided his residence and seized a dozen computers along with various portable storage drives. In 2015, Freundel pleaded guilty to filming 52 women without their knowledge, though some 100 additional victims were unable to press charges because the statute of limitations had expired. He was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison.

A.J. Campbell, 48, who was raised a Modern Orthodox Jew in Southern California before coming to D.C. in the early aughts, followed the case in the press obsessively. Having spent most of her career as a graphic artist, she’d been itching to take another run at playwriting, a pursuit she’d experimented with in her early twenties. Her early efforts are, she says now, “unwatchable.” Constructive Fictions, which imagines Freundel in his jail cell as he is visited by four women—composites of his victims—is her third play, and her first contribution to the Fringe Festival. It’ll be her first as an attendee, too, though she says she sees plays “as often as I can afford it.”

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CURACAO
NL Times

By Janene Pieters on July 6, 2017

The court on Curacao sentenced pastor Orlando B. to nine years in prison for sexually assaulting three teenage girls and four young women. The court also banned him from working as pastor for 14 years, NOS reports.

The Public Prosecutor demanded 18 years in prison and a professional ban of 20 years against the man. He was charged with sexually assaulting a total of 10 women and girls. In three cases he was acquitted.

B. is the founder and leader of the Rains of Blessings church. According to the Prosecutor, he raped girls under the ruse of an exorcism. He frightened them by saying that there were demons in their bodies and that he would wake them if they reported him.

The allegations of sexual abuse refer to incidents dating back to 2003. Late in 2015 one girl was brave enough to report what happened. After that, reports started streaming in. The youngest victim that came forward was 11 years old when the abuse started. There are ten more allegations of sexual abuse against the pastor that did not form part of this trial.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Gloucester Review

Thursday, 6 July 2017 By John Hawkins

Shock and dismay over catalogue of sexual abuse by former Bishop of Gloucester Peter Ball

Bishop of Gloucester, the Right Rev Rachel Treweek, has spoken of her ’shock and distress’ at the scale of sexual abuse carried out by her predecessor, Peter Ball.

Bishop Rachel issued a statement after the publication, last month, of ’An Abuse of Faith’ – an independent review led by Dame Moira Gibb into Ball’s offending.

The damning report by former social worker Dame Moira found that the Church of England had failed to protect 18 vulnerable men and boys abused by Ball over a 20-year period.

“I have read Dame Moira’s report and I am greatly shocked and distressed by its content,” said Bishop Rachel.

“The report presents a devastating account of Peter Ball’s abuse and it is a matter of deep shame and regret that a Bishop in the Church of England committed such horrendous crimes and that as a Church we repeatedly failed to act and protect those who came forward for help.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

Joanne McCarthy
5 Jul 2017

A FORMER Hamilton Marist Brother whose contact details appeared on the Marist Schools Australia website, despite him being a convicted child sex offender, has pleaded guilty to child pornography offences.

Brother Terry Gilsenan, 61, was charged with five counts of making child abuse material in March, 2016, nine months after a complaint from Hunter victims’ advocacy group, Clergy Abuse Network, and questions from the Newcastle Herald about his prominent position on the website.

He will be sentenced in November.

Gilsenan was jailed in 2001 for sexual intercourse with a 12-year-old boy in the 1980s, but was the Marist Schools Australia contact person for school resources including the “Champagnat Comic Book”, cards, posters and publications for an unknown period after his release.

He was identified on the website only as “Brother Terry”, and his email address, land line and mobile phone numbers were listed. He remained the contact person until the Hunter complaint.

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FRANCE
Le Monde

[The diocese of Saint-Etienne reports the alleged abuses of a priest in the 1980s.]

Le diocèse de Saint-Etienne a révélé, mardi 4 juillet, les abus présumés d’un prêtre de 84 ans dans les années 1980 à l’encontre de trois mineurs, des faits aujourd’hui prescrits mais pour lesquels il a été relevé de son ministère.

« Le prêtre en question, que j’ai rencontré à trois reprises, reconnaît et regrette profondément ses gestes qui ont été dénoncés au fil du temps », a souligné lors d’une conférence de presse à l’évêché Mgr Sylvain Bataille, confirmant une information du journal 20 Minutes Lyon.
Selon ce dernier, le premier signalement à la justice a été fait en 2000 par la famille de l’une des trois victimes, des garçons âgés de 12 à 16 ans à l’époque des faits, et les deux suivants en 2014 puis en mars dernier par le diocèse, qui avait été prévenu par les intéressés.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

Jane Goodman-Delahunty, Mark A Nolan and Evianne L van Gijn-Grosvenor

July 2017

ISBN 978-1-925622-18-8
Executive Summary

This transdisciplinary report reviews contemporary scientific psychological research on the memory of child sexual abuse as evidence. This report is particularly relevant for police officers, legal practitioners, judges and juries who must assess child sexual abuse victims’ memory capabilities and the reliability of their memories. The purpose of the report is to summarise what is known about how victims remember experiences of abuse, how victims optimally remember their experiences, and how this affects their reporting and the evidence given at trial.

This report aimed to gather contemporary psychological scientific research evidence that police, lawyers and juries should be aware of when responding to victims of child sexual abuse, in general, and to victims of child sexual abuse in institutional contexts, in particular. The report summarises what victims can be expected to remember about experiences of child sexual abuse, how they can be assisted to optimally remember those experiences, and how these experiences affect their reporting to police and their evidence in legal proceedings.

This empirical guidance on memory in cases of child sexual abuse applied a transdisciplinary approach to optimise the way in which the scientific psychological research was translated for use by police, legal practitioners, judges, juries and law reformers. Based on this empirical review, a standalone summary of key guidance on the effects of child sexual abuse on memory and complainants’ evidence was prepared, presenting the main findings derived from the report. This guidance was fully cross-referenced to evidence-based sources in each of the substantive chapters of the report.

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FRANCE
La Croix

Gauthier Vaillant with Bénévent Tosseri at Saint-Étienne
France

The need of victims for recognition has continued to cause historic cases of sexual abuse by priests to re-surface in the French Church.

This has occurred once again over the last few days in the dioceses of Saint Etienne in the Loire region and Nancy in Meurthe-et-Moselle.

In the Loire region, the priest involved is Fr Régis Peyrard, 84, a chaplain in an aged care home, who has admitted to events going back thirty years.

At the time he was the parish priest in La Talaudière, a commune near Saint Etienne.On Tuesday, the newspaper 20 Minutes published the testimonies of three of Fr Peyrard’s victims, who are now in their forties, leading Bishop Sylvain Bataille to make a statement at a press conference that evening.

The three victims had already made themselves known to the diocese in 2000, 2014 and last March. Each time, the matter was referred to prosecutors but in each case, it was barred by the expiry of the time limit for prosecution.

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GEORGIA
WTVM

COLUMBUS, GA (WTVM) – We take a closer look at accusations of sexual abuse against a Columbus pastor as a woman recently filed a lawsuit claiming Lewis Clemons molested her as a teenager.

That woman has since come out publicly to media outlets after filing the lawsuit in Superior Court.

In a statement sent by Lequita Jackson’s attorney, she now seeks a Muscogee County Superior Court order that will “prohibit defendant Clemons from serving as a pastor or church official ever again.”

Her accusations of sexual abuse against Clemons date back to when she was a teenager.

In a lawsuit filed in Muscogee County Superior Court, Lequita Jackson claims her long-time pastor, Lewis Clemons, sexually abused her for years.

The suit alleges Clemons began molesting Jackson when she was 15 after she confided she had been inappropriately touched by the music director at Faith Unlimited Ministries on Floyd Road.

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SCHWEIZ
Saiten

[Two years after former pupils of the Children’s Home in Appenzell Innerrhoden reported in the media about the terror regime between 1945 and 1984 in the orphanage, a scientific examination report is now available. The institution was led by Ingenbohler religious nurses under state supervision.]

Zwei Jahre nachdem ehemalige Zöglinge des Kinderheims Steig in Appenzell Innerrhoden in den Medien über das Terror-Regime zwischen 1945 und 1984 in der Waisenanstalt berichteten, liegt nun ein wissenschaftlicher Untersuchungsbericht über diese Zeit vor. Die Institution wurde von Ingenbohler Ordensschwestern unter staatlicher Aufsicht geführt.

Im Zuge der Aufarbeitung der Zwangsmassnahmen und Fremdplatzierungen in Appenzell Innerrhoden sind von der Kantonsregierung die mit dieser Thematik vertrauten Historiker Mirjam Janett und Urs Hafner beauftragt worden, die Vorgänge auf der Steig zu untersuchen. Der Einblicke in den Heimalltag, der sich in ihrem Bericht auftut, lässt einem das Blut gefrieren.

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DEUTCHLAND
HPD

Liberation and disgrace. Mueller had distanced himself from Pope Francis and publicly objected to the pope, a very rare occurrence, and rebuked his behavior. on doctrine. Mueller was nothing more than a tool of Herr Ratzinger. And Ratzinger knew why he had promoted this man. Mueller had already done everything to praise Ratzinger’s “Gesammelte Werke” and papal gestures, a truly painstaking activity.]

Von: Horst Herrmann

3. JUL 2017

Endlich hat er eingegriffen. Italienische Medien haben es unisono berichtet, und der Vatikan hat die Meldungen bestätigt: Papst Franziskus hat sich von einem Kardinal befreit, der ihm seit langem auf die Nerven gegangen ist, wie ich aus Rom höre. Im Ernst: Der Anstellungsvertrag mit dem Amtschef der Glaubenskongregation, dem deutschen Kardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, lief gestern (2. Juli 2017) ab und wird nicht mehr verlängert. Müller, bisher einflussreichster Amtsträger, sitzt vor der Tür. Eine Blamage sondergleichen.

Nach menschlichem Ermessen ist Müllers Karriere damit zu Ende. Wahrscheinlich wird er in irgendeine Ecke abgeschoben. Franziskus hat ihm den Kardinalspurpur belassen, und ein Kardinal, vor allem ein unter vatikanischem Zeitmaß so junger wie der noch nicht einmal 70jährige Müller, muß beschäftigt werden. Ende der Karriere? Müller kann abwarten, vielleicht hat der junge Mann eine Chance bei einem künftigen Konklave. Fürs Erste ist er weg vom Fenster.

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SCOTLAND
Holyrood

Written by Tom Freeman on 6 July 2017

A judge has ruled a compensation claim by the former chair of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry should be dismissed

Susan O’Brien QC quit the troubled inquiry last year after it emerged she faced ministerial intervention to remove her.

She then raised an action for damages at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.

O’Brien claimed ministerial intervention amounted to a breach of contract. In her resignation letter, O’Brien said government interference had left her with “no alternative” but to step down.

However, Lord Pentland called the £500,000 claim “misconceived” as he threw the case out of court yesterday.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The judge has confirmed that the decision by ministers to undertake an investigation was, in the circumstances, appropriate, proportionate and fair.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Harriet Sherwood Religion correspondent

Thursday 6 July 2017

Survivors of clerical sexual abuse in the Church of England are stepping up their campaign for accountability after a damning independent review last month which said senior Anglican figures had colluded to downplay criminal offences.

Survivors have called for a body without links to the church to take over its safeguarding process, prompting an offer from Lambeth Palace to meet survivors to discuss their proposals.

Graham Sawyer, a survivor, told the Guardian: “I fear that until it does so this is going to become worse and worse as matters have simply gone too far now.”

Another, Matt Ineson – previously known as “Michael” – has waived his anonymity to tell of his alleged rape as a teenager by a vicar. He has made his identity public as part of a campaign for justice sent to almost 500 members of the C of E’s ruling body, the synod, which meets in York this weekend.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Passauer Neue Presse

[After dismissal: Cardinal Müller attacks Pope Francis. Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Mueller has sharply criticized the nature of his dismissal as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In an interview with the PNP, he said that on the last working day of his five-year term as a prefect of the congregation, Pope Francis informed him “within a minute” of his decision not to extend the mandate. Moreover, no reasons had been given to him. “I can not accept this style,” emphasized Müller. The occasion for the interview was the death of Cardinal Joachim Meisner , who died on Wednesday at the age of 83 in Bad Füssing. Müller had been talking to the former Archbishop of Cologne on the evening before, talking about the non-prolongation of his previous office. Meisner had shown himself “deeply affected” about the dismissal. “That personally moved him and hurt him – and he saw it as a damage to the church”, the Mueller said in describing Meisner’s reaction.

von Karl Birkenseer

Kardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller hat die Art seiner Entlassung scharf kritisiert. Im Interview mit der PNP erklärte er, Papst Franziskus habe ihm am letzten Arbeitstag seiner fünfjährigen Amtszeit als Präfekt der Glaubenskongregation “innerhalb einer Minute seine Entscheidung mitgeteilt”, das Mandat nicht zu verlängern. Zudem seien ihm keine Gründe dafür genannt worden. “Diesen Stil kann ich nicht akzeptieren”, betonte Müller in deutlicher Distanz zum Vorgehen des Papstes. Im Umgang mit Mitarbeitern müsse auch in Rom “die Soziallehre der Kirche gelten”.

Kardinal Meisner zeigte sich über die Entlassung “tief betroffen”

Anlass für das Interview war der Tod von Kardinal Joachim Meisner, der am Mittwoch 83-jährig in Bad Füssing gestorben ist. Müller hatte mit dem früheren Kölner Erzbischof noch am Vorabend telefoniert und dabei auch über die Nichtverlängerung seines bisherigen Amtes gesprochen. Meisner habe sich über die Entlassung “tief betroffen” gezeigt. “Das hat ihn persönlich bewegt und verletzt – und er sah es als einen Schaden für die Kirche an”, beschrieb der Kurienkardinal die Reaktion Meisners.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Jul 06, 2017

By Krystal Paco

Keeping with Church news… A Mass opening the Year of Reparation is being held at this hour at the Hagatna Cathedral.

On Wednesday, the Archdiocese of Agana announced the period would focus on prayer, fasting, and alms-giving in order to promote spiritual justice and make amends with those hurt by clergy sex abuse. In a statement from Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), Volunteer Western Regional Leader Joelle Casteix commends the Archdiocese of Agana and the laity for efforts to show solidarity with victims, but more needs to be done, especially from leadership.

Casteix calls on Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes to stop relying on the laity to made amends. “Coadjutor Byrnes has the immediate power to enact change in the courts, open files, stop wrongdoing, and hold those who committed or covered up child sex abuse accountable,” Casteix said.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

[with video]

Haidee V Eugenio, heugenio@guampdn.com July 6, 2017

Saying they want to give the Vatican space to make a decision, Catholic community groups calling for Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron’s permanent removal will hold their last picket in front of the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica on Sunday.

Concerned Catholics of Guam president David Sablan and Laity Forward Movement president Lou Klitzkie, along with Catholic issues blogger Tim Rohr, announced their decision Wednesday night.

Sablan said his group has already made its position known to the Vatican; they want “Apuron out.”

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GUAM
KUAM

[with video]

Updated: Jul 06, 2017

By Krystal Paco

The group investigating Archbishop Anthony Apuron is done gathering testimony. Now all that’s left is a decision. The Archdiocese of Agana, in a press conference today, confirms they’re anxiously awaiting the verdict of Apuron’s canonical trial, which could be revealed any day now.

Should his name be cleared, current church leadership predicts disaster ahead.

The fate of Apuron now rests with three unnamed judges. “The discovery period of the trial has ended and the next phase that will happen in the next several weeks, will be a convening of the three judges to deliberate on what they heard. There’s three possibilities: not guilty. Guilty. Or not proven,” said Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes.

Along with the thousands of faithful who await the decision, there’s so much uncertainty for Guam’s current leader, Archbishop Byrnes. “There’s this question: what happens if Archbishop Apuron comes back?” he proposed. “I think it would be a disaster if Archbishop Apuron were to return as the bishop of record. And again, that’s my opinion. My estimation. It’s based on nothing that I’ve heard from Rome, but really, sincerely, from my experience.”

In his seven months on island, Archbishop Byrnes says the Archdiocese was a mess under Apuron’s leadership.

The sentiment from the Faithful, he says, is they want Apuron out. “There was a very widespread disarray and ineffectiveness many of the operations that you’d expect to be going on in a regular archdiocese. Some of the consultative bodies were not being utilized in the way they should’ve been used. Some of the policies that had been around for a long time, for instance the sexual abuse policy, was sorely lacking,” he said.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | The Guam Daily Post Jul 6, 2017

Following the announcement from church leadership about the start of the Archdiocese of Agana’s “Year of Reparations,” a Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP) representative is accusing church officials in Guam of shirking their responsibilities to victims of clergy sex abuse.

“Coadjutor Archbishop Byrnes must stop putting the burden of amends on the laity—that burden must sit squarely on the shoulders of church officials and their attorneys,” Joelle Casteix, a wester regional leader for SNAP, said. “Prayers are for those without the immediate power to enact change. Coadjutor Byrnes has the immediate power to enact change in the courts, open files, stop wrongdoing and hold those who committed or covered up child sex abuse accountable.”

Castiex’s comments come after Byrnes held a press conference in which he announced the start of a “Year of Reparations” in which Catholic faithful are called to spend a year praying, fasting and almsgiving in a show of unity and solidarity with victims of clergy sex abuse and any who suffer.

According to The Guam Daily Post files, SNAP, and Casteix in particular, has long criticized local Catholic Church leadership for their handling of abuse allegations.

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AUSTRALIA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn

Media Statement | 30 June, 2017

The Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn welcomes the Independent Review of the processes surrounding the decision to place a priest with sustained findings of inappropriate behaviour into Lanigan House, Garran, ACT.

“I am very grateful for this thorough and comprehensive report. It identifies many important issues requiring immediate attention,” Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn, Christopher Prowse, said.

“The report reveals failure in our policies, procedures and protocols.”

Archbishop Prowse acknowledged the hurt, stress and confusion caused, especially to the Garran community.

“Our communications with the community were inadequate, causing understandable confusion and anger,” he said.

“Again, the Archdiocese apologises unreservedly for the stress and hurt to people and the whole Garran community. We must learn from this.

“We accept all the findings and recommendations of the Independent Review and are eager to fully implement them.”

In particular, the Archdiocese commits itself to:

* To begin the work of establishing an Advisory Panel, comprising experts and community members, both Catholic and other faiths. The panel will advise the Archdiocese on a range of child protection and other issues.
* Never placing a priest with sustained findings of inappropriate behaviour with minors near schools, childcare centres and other places where unaccompanied children gather.
*A thorough review of our policies and procedures, particularly in relation to
-risk assessment,
-communication protocols, and
-privacy and public disclosure.

MEDIA enquiries: Keri Hull 0417073659
The Lanigan House Review can be viewed at: Lanigan House Review (pdf – 213 KB)

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AUSTRALIA
Tamut and Adelong Times

By Frances Vinall – July 6, 2017

The independent review into the decision to place former Tumut parish priest Father Brian Hassett next to a Canberra primary school, after he was removed from this parish following an investigation into inappropriate behaviour towards children, has been completed.

Contrary to desires expressed by the Tumut community to Canberra-Goulburn Archbishop Christopher Prowse, the review did not incorporate the investigation that led to Father Brian’s removal from Tumut in the first place. That investigation was conducted by Archdiocesan Professional Standards Officer Matt Casey, who is no longer employed by the Archdiocese as of Friday – timing the Archbishop says is coincidental.

Dr Juliet Lucy, Barrister, conducted the review, after the barrister originally hired for the job, Jane Seymour, stepped aside. Dr Lucy’s report is, in the Archbishop’s own words, “highly humiliating for the Archdiocese.”

One of her key findings is the Archdiocese’s either inability or unwillingness to communicate openly with the community and other stakeholders as the affair became public knowledge.

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UNITED STATES
Triad City Beat

By Jordan Green – July 6, 2017

I have a strange relationship with the city of Baltimore because my dad, who died in a tractor accident in 1992, came of age there in the mid-1960s. He came to revere the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and volunteered in a campaign against housing segregation there. He first smoked pot there. He rebelled against his parents.

By 1966, his family had moved to Urbana, Ill. because my grandfather, who taught English at Johns Hopkins University, accepted a position at the University of Illinois. My dad split for San Francisco; there was little reason to maintain ties with Baltimore.

Baltimore was and is a heavily Catholic city, as the new Netflix documentary series, “The Keepers,” observes. My dad’s family was Catholic, too; my grandfather had studied to be a Jesuit priest at one point. As far back as I can remember, my dad always identified as a lapsed Catholic. He only came to the Disciples of Christ church — where my mom, my sister and I attended — for fellowship dinners, and then only after the worship service had concluded. In his later years, he attended Sufi dance ceremonies. The only remnant of his Catholic faith was our subscription to the Catholic Worker, the radical anarchist-pacifist newspaper founded by Dorothy Day.

My dad had no reservations about telling the reason why he left the faith. I was probably 10 when he told me about how a nun in junior high had told him to stop crying after he had been called to the office for being involved in a fight. He said he was never able to cry after that. He also told me about a priest who was known to molest boys. The Catholic boys would take turns sleeping over at the priest’s house. My dad was savvy enough to come up with an excuse for not staying over with the priest. It would be a well over a decade before the Boston Globe brought recognition of the widespread nature of sexual abuse by priests and the church’s systematic cover-up of the crimes.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com July 6, 2017

Former priest Louis Brouillard allegedly raped an altar boy in the early 1970s, while a Catholic school janitor is accused of sexually abusing a 6- or 7-year-old girl in the early 1980s, according to two lawsuits filed Thursday in federal court.

Both lawsuits filed in the U.S. District Court name the Archdiocese of Agana among the defendants. The plaintiffs are represented by attorney David Lujan.

A man, identified in court documents only as M.M. to protect his privacy, said Brouillard sexually molested, abused and raped him on the grounds of San Isidro Catholic Church of Malojloj or during Boy Scout of America outings. M.M. was an altar boy and a Boy Scout around 1972 or 1973 and age 10 or 11 when the abuse happened, the lawsuit says.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Jul 06, 2017

By Krystal Paco

Two more victims of sex abuse take their case to the federal court. 41-year-old R.M.S. alleges she was repeatedly molested by San Vicente Catholic School janitor, Paul Sebay, who is now deceased. R.M.S. was around six to seven years old when she and her brother would wait after school for her mother to pick them up. During this time, Sebay allegedly gave the girl candy and other treats before taking her to the upstairs maintenance room where he allegedly touched her privates.

In a second filling, 55-year-old M.M. states he was an altar boy and Boy Scout at the Malojojo parish when he was repeatedly molested by Father Louis Brouillard in the early 1970s. Although M.M. reportedly told Father Miguel during confession, the priest told him to pray three Our Fathers, three Hail Marys, and the Act of Contrition and said that God would forgive M.M. Father Miguel is only identified as a Spanish priest assigned to the Malojojo parish.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Catholic News Service | Jul. 5, 2017

WASHINGTON Pope Francis has named Atlanta Auxiliary Bishop Luis R. Zarama to head the Diocese of Raleigh, North Carolina.

He succeeds Bishop Michael F. Burbidge, who last October was named to head the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, where he was installed Dec. 6.

Zarama, 58, has been an Atlanta auxiliary bishop since 2009. A native of Colombia, he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Atlanta in 1993.

The appointment was announced in Washington July 5 by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | The Guam Daily Post Jul 6, 2017

A panel of Vatican judges will soon begin deliberating the fate of suspended Archbishop Anthony Apuron, who is facing accusations of child sex abuse when he was a Guam priest decades ago.

Apuron’s ongoing canonical trial in the Vatican is in its penultimate phase, said Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes during a press conference held earlier this morning.

“I have been notified, in the past couple of weeks, by the notary of the tribunal (confirming) that the discovery period of the trial (has) ended and the next phase, which will happen sometime in the next several weeks, will be a convening of the three judges to deliberate on what they heard,” Byrnes said.

After the Vatican judges deliberate, Byrnes said they will publish the sentence, which will include what he called “the point of the trial” in addition to the verdict.

He said three possible verdicts may be reached: guilty, not guilty or not proven.

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ILLINOIS
Cook County Record

by Louie Torres | Jul. 5, 2017

CHICAGO — A man is suing the Catholic Bishop of Chicago, alleging negligence for allowing him to be sexually abused by priest Walter Turlo.

An unnamed plaintiff filed a complaint on June 8 in Cook County Circuit Court against the Catholic Bishop of Chicago alleging church leadership allowed a priest to commit wrongful acts against the plaintiff in the late 1970s.

According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges he sustained serious physical and emotional damages from abuse by Turlo. The plaintiff holds the defendant responsible because it allegedly allowed Turlo to sexually abuse the plaintiff from the ages of 9 to 10.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

By Janela Carrera July 6, 2017

Archbishop Anthony Apuron’s canonical trial could come to a close within the next few weeks.

Guam – Whether or not Archbishop Anthony Apuron is cleared of sexual abuse charges in Rome, his potential return to Guam would be a disaster for the island. That’s according to Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes who shared his personal opinion of the disgraced Apuron whose trial is in its final phase with a decision expected soon.

“There’s been a tremendous loss of trust that’s really hard to win back,” noted Byrnes.

Archbishop Byrnes called for a press conference today to give an update on the canonical trial of Archbishop Anthony Apuron whose faculties were removed about a year ago after allegations of sexual abuse surfaced from multiple former altar servers dating back to the 1970s.

“The discovery period of the trial has ended and the next phase, which will happen sometime in the next several weeks, will be a convening of the three judges to deliberate on what they heard,” Byrnes said.

Archbishop Apuron’s canonical trial began earlier this year in Rome but the specific charges have not been disclosed. Byrnes says unlike civil cases, a canonical case is confidential. With the discovery phase now over, the next step is for three judges to deliberate and then ultimately decide Apuron’s fate.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WITF

AP

(Altoona) — A priest in a Pennsylvania diocese has been placed on leave from public ministry following an allegation of misconduct involving a minor dating back to the mid-1980s.

Bishop Mark Bartchak of the Altoona-Johnstown diocese said he had notified law enforcement about the accusation against the Rev. Anthony Petracca, who hasn’t been charged with any crime.

He said that Petracca won’t be permitted to function as a priest while on leave and will live at a place where he won’t have contact with children. A spokesman said the diocese didn’t have contact information for Petracca.

Sixty-one-year-old Petracca is a Darby native and has served as parochial vicar at numerous parishes.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

By David Hurst
dhurst@tribdem.com

A longtime Altoona-Johnstown Catholic church clergyman has been suspended from his duties due to accusations of misconduct with a minor that dates back three decades.

The Rev. Anthony Petracca, 61, will not be able to work as a priest and must reside at a location where he will have no contact with children, Altoona-Johnstown Diocese Bishop Mark Bartchak said.

Bartchak, through a release to media, said the move stems from an incident alleged to have occurred in the mid-1980s.

Petracca was ordained into the priesthood in 1985.

According to Tribune-Democrat archives, then-Bishop James Hogan assigned Petracca to his first church, Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Altoona in the spring of 1985.

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NEW MEXICO
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Michael P. O’Brien was a priest of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, ordained in 1970. After assisting in a San Jose parish for two years he pastored a series of parishes in Moriarty, Estancia, Ranchos de Taos, Mora, Las Vegas and Questa, New Mexico. The parishes were affiliated with many mission churches in the state. In 1973 O’Brien established ‘Pilgrimages for Vocations’ through which he would lead youth on week-long walks across northern New Mexico, staying at churches along the way. O’Brien died at the age of 48 in 1993, possibly of AIDS.

In 2012 a man told the archdiocese that O’Brien had sexually abused him many times during the 1980s, when the man was a ten- or eleven-year-old altar boy at St. Anthony’s in Questa. He filed suit in April 2013; within several weeks three more men filed suit, also claiming O’Brien sexually abused them as boys. In May 2013, there were lawsuits from an additional five alleged O’Brien victims and, as of December 2015 there were seventeen, at least nine of which had been settled. O’Brien’s modus operandi was said to have been to groom boys with massages and sometimes foot and leg washing, leading to genital washing, fondling and then rape. He reportedly would also ply boys with alcohol and pornography. His victims were allegedly as young as age eight and as old as age seventeen. The abuse is said to have occurred throughout his priesthood, at his assigned parishes and during pilgrimages.

Ordained: 1970
Died: January 14, 1993

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

by Ron Musselman

HOLLIDAYSBURG — A priest in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown was placed on leave from public ministry Wednesday.

Rev. Mark L. Bartchak, bishop of the diocese, said in a release that Rev. Anthony J. Petracca has been placed on leave from public ministry.

The action comes after an accusation of misconduct involving a minor that allegedly occurred in the mid-1980s.

Bartchak has notified law enforcement of the accusation against Petracca. While on leave, Petracca will not be permitted to function as a priest, and he will reside at a place where he will not have contact with children.

Petracca, 61, is a native of Darby, Pennsylvania. He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown in 1985 and has served as parochial vicar at numerous parishes. Recently, he was appointed administrator of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Altoona and Chaplain at UPMC Altoona.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian Jewish News

THE Adass Israel School in Melbourne has come under fire after appointing Rabbi Meir Shlomo Kluwgant as its new principal.

Rabbi Kluwgant, the former president of the Rabbinical Council of Australasia, was forced to step down from all his communal leadership positions after the 2015 Royal Commission into Instutional responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

While there has never been any claim or implication that Rabbi Kluwgant acted inappropriately with children himself, concerns were raised by victims and victims’ advocates over how he handled issues related to child sexual abuse.

Reacting to the appointment, Dassi Erlich, who was awarded more than $1 million in damages in a civil case by the Victorian Supreme Court for sexual abuse by former Adass principal Malka Leifer, said the school should learn from the past.

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GEORGIA
Ledger-Enquirer

BY CHUCK WILLIAMS
chwilliams@ledger-enquirer.com

A Columbus woman has accused a longtime local minister of years of sexual abuse that started in 2002 when she was 15, according to a lawsuit filed in Muscogee County Superior Court last month.

The civil suit was filed against Pastor Lewis Clemons, Church of God in Christ Inc., Wynnton Road Ministries Church of God in Christ, Inc., and five other parties that were not named. Clemons is currently senior pastor at Kingdom Awareness Ministries, where his title is apostle.

Lequita Jackson, who started attending Clemons’ church when she was 14 and did not leave it until last month, alleges that Clemons led her into “inappropriate sexual contact.” She said Clemons used his position of leadership in the church to make her “do what he wanted and to justify his actions.”

Jackson, her husband of five years Jonathan Jackson, her attorney Jeb Butler of the Atlanta firm Butler/Tobin and Maria Herlth of the Columbus Sexual Assault Support Center sat down for an interview with the Ledger-Enquirer Wednesday morning to discuss the lawsuit and allegations.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet

05 July 2017

If reports are correct, it is impossible to see how the newly appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), Archbishop Luis Ladaria Ferrer SJ, can take up his new post. Together with the then Prefect, Cardinal William Levada, he is said in 2012 to have put his name to a letter calling for secrecy “lest it cause a scandal amongst the faithful”, about a parish priest convicted – by a tribunal inside the Vatican itself – of several counts of the sexual abuse of children. The fear of causing scandal is precisely what lies behind the numerous cases where abuse has been covered up by church authorities, which has caused such uproar all over the world.

But there is worse. The priest was laicised. The Italian daily, La Repubblica, reports that because his previous record as a paedophile was kept secret thanks to this letter, he was appointed as a soccer coach to a boys’ team. He went on to abuse at least one other child. He was arrested and convicted, and is now serving a sentence of eight years. Other cases are still being investigated by the police. Had the authorities been properly informed, it is unlikely children would have been abused by this priest after his laicisation.

That is not the end of the matter. Under its previous Prefect, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the CDF had been dragging its feet in investigating bishops alleged to have covered up abuse cases. Before his appointment to succeed Cardinal Müller, Archbishop Ladaria had been the Congregation’s secretary. The Congregation had been charged with creating a disciplinary tribunal to deal with such allegations, and has not yet done so. Two members of the papal commission dealing with child abuse left it after expressing concerns about obstruction by the CDF over this issue.

Cardinal Müller’s departure from the top of the CDF seems likely to be because he was out of tune with some of the approaches Pope Francis was taking, for example regarding the admission of divorced and remarried Catholics to Holy Communion. The cardinal was close to Pope Benedict, who was adamantly against such a change during his pontificate. If the intention behind appointing Archbishop Ladaria was to have someone more amenable in such a key position, Pope Francis will now have to think again.

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ROME
U.S. News

By Megan Trimble, Associate Editor, Social Media | July 5, 2017

Vatican police have reportedly raided a Vatican-owned apartment and arrested an aide to one of Pope Francis’ key advisers.

Police in late June found widespread drug-use and men engaged in homosexual activity during the bust at the home owned by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, according to Il Fatto Quotidiano, an Italian newspaper that first reported the incident. Among its duties, the congregation guides the Church’s response to clerical sexual abuse cases.

Authorities reportedly arrested the secretary of Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, who was an occupant of the apartment, but official charges in connection with the incident have not been reported. Coccopalmerio, who serves as president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts and leads interpretations of the laws of the Church, is said to have recommended his secretary for a promotion to bishop.

Police were reportedly tipped off by neighbors, who complained of unusual behavior and “a constant coming and going” from the apartment.

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SCOTLAND
Scottish Sun

By Paul Ward
5th July 2017

THE former chair of Scotland’s child abuse inquiry has lost a £500,000 damages claim against the Scottish Government.

Susan O’Brien resigned in June last year after formal proceedings were launched to remove her following claims she made comments that were ”offensive” to survivors.

The lawyer said she took the decision because she could not reassure the public that the inquiry would be conducted independently of government and had been left with no alternative.

A case at the Court of Session in Edinburgh was lodged against the Scottish Government that the motion to remove her from chairing the inquiry “constituted a material breach of contract” and was against her rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.

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ROMA
Il Fatto Quotidiano

[Vatican gay party with drugs for the secretary of Cardinal Coccopalmerio.]

Salernitano, 50 anni, Luigi Capozzi è addetto di segreteria di seconda classe presso il Pontificio Consiglio per i testi legislativi. Dopo lo scandalo che lo ha travolto è stato prima ricoverato presso la clinica romana Pio XI, poi ha trascorso un periodo di ritiro presso un monastero e attualmente si trova al Policlinico Gemelli di Roma. Coccopalmerio punta a restare in sella almeno fino a 80 anni

di Francesco Antonio Grana | 5 luglio 2017

Non c’è pace per Papa Francesco. Archiviati, almeno per il momento, gli scandali della pedofilia con il “congelamento” del cardinale George Pell dal ruolo di prefetto della Segreteria per l’economia e il licenziamento del cardinale Gerhard Ludwig Müller dalla guida delle Congregazione per la dottrina della fede. Sulla scrivania di Bergoglio, però, resta ancora da risolvere il caso del festino gay a base di droga svoltosi nell’abitazione vaticana di monsignor Luigi Capozzi, segretario del cardinale Francesco Coccopalmerio, presidente del Pontificio Consiglio per i testi legislativi.

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OREGON
Catholic Sentinel

Ed Langlois
Of the Catholic Sentinel

A man who claimed he was sexually abused as a boy by Dominican Father Emmerich Vogt has dropped his lawsuit against Holy Rosary Parish in Portland and the California-based Dominican province.

A lack of evidence and exculpatory testimony by the plaintiff’s brothers caused the shift, says John Kaempf, a Portland attorney representing Holy Rosary and the Dominicans.

“It is a shame that he was able to anonymously damage Father Vogt, Holy Rosary, and the province through false public allegations and organized protests, thereby using his anonymity as a sword, not a shield,” Kaempf says. “My clients have worked diligently and successfully to prevent child abuse, and they will continue to do so.”

The suit, filed in February 2016, alleged that abuse began 20 years ago at Holy Rosary and lasted a decade. Father Vogt denied the allegations.

The brothers, who were altar servers with the plaintiff whenever he was with Father Vogt, say there was no abuse. When the church and the friars discovered the lack of evidence and the brothers’ statements, they refused to pay to settle the suit. The plaintiff then dismissed it, Kaempf says.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on an editorial in the Washington Post July 2:

In yet another attack on Pope Francis for his handling of sexually abusive clergy, the Post editors state that the Holy Father’s “zero tolerance” policy toward such abuse is “not a priority for him.”

Their evidence? Chiefly, that two cardinals appointed by Pope Francis to the Vatican’s nine-member Council of Cardinals—Cardinal George Pell of Australia and Cardinal Javier Errázuriz of Chile—were “alleged” to have “turned a blind eye” toward priests accused of abuse in their jurisdictions.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Nursery World

05 July 2017 by Meredith Jones Russell

A new report calling for regular data on child sexual abuse and exploitation has been published today.

The Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse has compiled local authority and criminal justice data in England and Wales to conclude that 15 per cent of girls and 5 per cent of boys experience some form of sexual abuse.

However, the study highlights ‘significant gaps’ in data and says that improving understanding of the scale and nature of child sexual abuse is essential to tackling the problem effectively.

The report, entitled ’Measuring the Scale and Changing Nature of Child Sexual Abuse and Child Sexual Exploitation’, finds that recording of key information, including about victims and perpetrators, is often incomplete or inconsistent.

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ROME
The Sun (UK)

By Jon Lockett
5th July 2017

THE Vatican police reportedly broke up a gay orgy in an apartment belonging to the department charged with tackling sexual abuse within the church.

The occupant of the flat – in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – is said to be a secretary of Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio – a key adviser to the Pope.

The cardinal is reported to have recommended his aide at one stage for promotion to the rank of bishop.

However, those career plans are likely to be disrupted by news of the orgy and by a period spent recovering from a drug overdose in a Rome hospital and another in an Italian monastery.

The shocking allegations – in Il Fatto Quotidiano – come just a week after Australian Cardinal George Pell was charged with a string of historic sexual offences in his homeland piling pressure on the Pope.

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NEW YORK
SOME PEOPLE LIVE MORE IN 20 YEARS…

JULY 5, 2017
ASHER LOVY

I don’t want anyone thinking that we’ve packed up and gone home just because we didn’t get the Child Victims Act this past session. I don’t want anyone thinking that our last protest was just revenge against Agudah for lobbying against it. We haven’t forgotten. We haven’t run out of steam. We haven’t given up. And it’s not just about the Child Victims Act.

We’re going to be protesting again this month, this time outside of the Novominsker Shul at 1644 48th street. Join us there on July 23rd at 3 PM to send Yaakov Perlow, the Moetzes, and Agudah a message:

We won’t go away until the Child Victims Act is passed.

We won’t go away until you make it unequivocally clear that the proper response to child sexual abuse is to report the abuser immediately to the authorities, not asking a rabbi or reporting to administrations.

We won’t go away until we are satisfied that the children in your community are safe, that the people who prey on them will be brought to justice, and that the survivors are supported.

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MICHIGAN
Lansing State Journal

Beth LeBlanc , Lansing State Journal July 5, 2017

Local prosecutors have filed paperwork to seize the home of a priest charged with stealing from his Okemos parish.

The June 26 filing lists Rev. Jonathan Wehrle’s more than $1.4 million home in Williamston and a vacant parcel nearby as subject to civil forfeiture.

Chief Assistant Ingham County Prosecutor Lisa McCormick said the paperwork provides legal notice that the property is part of a criminal complaint and is subject to civil forfeiture.

Wehrle has not been convicted of a crime.

“If there’s no criminal conviction then you do not proceed on the forfeiture,” McCormick said.

If Wehrle is convicted and his property forfeited, his home could be sold and used as restitution, McCormick said.

Wehrle, the founding pastor of St. Martha Parish in Okemos, was charged in May with embezzlement of $100,000 or more. Police believe Wehrle used at least $1.85 million in parish funds on his Williamston home.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Devon Live

By Neil_Shaw | Posted: July 05, 2017

The case of a Mormon elder who killed himself after being accused of child abuse has been closed formally by a Judge. Stewart Allsford took his own life by jumping off Berry Head at Brixham half way through a trial at Exeter Crown Court where he was accused of sexually assaulting two girls.

The case was closed formally by Judge Geoffrey Mercer, QC, after a death certificate was supplied by police. An inquest will be held later. Allsford left home at 5am on the third day of his trial in June and his car was found close to the cliff edge at Berry Head, near Brixham later that morning.

The 66-year-old, of Davies Avenue, Paignton, was on trial after denying four counts of indecent assault, one of assault by penetration and one of abducting a child under 16. The alleged abuse took place during the 1990s at a time when he was in charge of a congregation of the Church of Latter Day Saints in Torbay, holding the title of Bishop.

He had admitted indecently assaulting one of the victims, but said it had only happened when she was 14. She told the jury she was younger. Allsford’s body was found on Seaton beach in East Devon on June 10, three days after he disappeared on June 7. It was carried across Lyme Bay the tidal stream and gale force South Westerly winds.

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SCOTLAND
BBC News

A £500,000 damages claim brought against the Scottish government by the former chairwoman of a child abuse inquiry has been thrown out of court.

A judge ruled Susan O’Brien QC’s compensation claim should be dismissed.

He said she had failed to plead a relevant case of breach of contract or infringement of article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights.

Lord Pentland held that the case advanced on behalf of Ms O’Brien for breach of contract was “misconceived”.

He ruled that the article 8 breach arguments of the action, covering the right to respect for private and family life, were “unsound”.

Ms O’Brien was appointed to head the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry in July 2015 but resigned a year later after facing the sack over “unacceptable” comments.

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ISRAEL
The Jerusalem Post

BY JEREMY SHARON JULY 4, 2017

An initiative called Din Ve’Cheshbon, or “Settling the Score” in Hebrew, has been launched to encourage victims of sexual assault in the haredi community to come forward and demand compensation from sex offenders and persons who supported their attackers or helped keep their offenses quiet.

The project coordinator Nachman Rosenberg says it began with haredi businesspeople from abroad who have become increasingly outraged at the growing number of news reports regarding sexual abuse against women, children and youths in the community which are not appropriately dealt with.

In March, for example, the police apprehended almost two dozen suspected haredi sex offenders in Jerusalem and three haredi-majority cities, after having previously arrested the head of a so-called Modesty Guard committee in the haredi community who was found to be in the possession of numerous records of men who had committed sex offenses.

In the majority of cases, the head of the Modesty Guard would instruct the perpetrators to get some form of therapy within the haredi community but would not report their crimes to the police.

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VATICAN CITY
New York Post

By Tamar Lapin July 5, 2017

Vatican police raided a drug-fueled gay sex party at the apartment of an aide to one of Pope Francis’ key advisers, according to an explosive new report.

The Holy Father is “enraged,” since the home, inhabited by Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio’s secretary, belongs to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith — the arm charged with tackling clerical sex abuse, Italian paper Il Fatto Quotidiano reports.

Cops raided the apartment in late June after neighbors complained about multiple people visiting the apartment and acting strangely.

Inside, police said they found men getting high and getting it on, the paper reports.

They arrested the priest after taking him to a clinic to detox from the drugs he’d ingested — presumably on drugs charges, as gay sex isn’t illegal in Vatican City. He is now on a spiritual retreat in a convent in Italy, the paper reports.

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SCOTLAND
Scottish Legal News

A QC who sued the Scottish Government after resigning as chair of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry has had a £500,000 claim for damages dismissed.

A judge in the Court of Session dismissed a claim by Susan O’Brien QC that a decision by the Scottish Ministers to instigate the process for terminating her appointment amounted to a “material breach of contract” and “infringed” her human rights.

Lord Pentland heard that the pursuer wrote to John Swinney MSP, the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, on 4 July 2016 advising that she had decided to resign as chair of inquiry with immediate effect.

She then raised an action seeking an order from the court declaring that the actions of the defenders in invoking the procedure under section 12 of the Inquiries Act 2005 and seeking unilaterally to terminate her appointment constituted a material breach of contract, and separately that the defenders’ actions were incompatible with her rights under Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Christian Today

James Macintyre 05 July 2017

A survivor of alleged historical sexual abuse in the Church of England has complained that he has received no direct reply after writing to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, for the thirteenth time.

Archbishop Welby met the survivor last year and the Church of England, which is conducting an internal review into its handling of his case, has put him in regular contact with its National Safeguarding Team (NST).

The survivor, who has been known in media reports as ‘Michael’, was allegedly the victim while a teenager of abuse three decades ago by a retired vicar who was found to have committed suicide last month after he failed to attend court. The body of Trevor Devamanikkam, 70, was found by police when they went to his home in Witney, Oxfordshire, to arrest him.

Devamanikkam had been due to appear before Bradford and Keighley magistrates charged with three counts of buggery and three counts of indecent assault in the 1980s. The charges were brought under the Sexual Offences Act 1956 and related to a time when the homosexual age of consent was 21.

Last year, Michael, whose has now waived his anonymity and whose real name is Matt Ineson, lodged complaints of misconduct against the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, and four serving bishops, claiming that they had failed to act on his disclosures of rape.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Domradio

[According to Pope Francis the new prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer now occupies another leading position in the Vatican as a Jesuit.]

Nach Papst Franziskus ist nun mit dem neuen Präfekten der Glaubenskongregation, Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, eine weitere Spitzenposition im Vatikan mit einem Jesuiten besetzt. Das ist selbst Ordensbrüdern nicht geheuer.

domradio.de: Sie sind Mitglied im Jesuitenorden. Das ist auch der Orden, dem Papst Franziskus angehört. Am Wochenende wurde bekannt, dass auch der neue Präfekt der Glaubenskongregation Jesuit ist. Welche Rolle spielt Ihr Orden im Moment im Vatikan? Eine ziemlich große, oder?

Pater Hans Zollner SJ (Theologe, Psychologe, Jesuit und Angehöriger der päpstlichen Kinderschutzkommission im Vatikan): Ja, im Moment spielen wir nominell eine ziemlich große Rolle. Wir waren über die letzten Jahrzehnte, man kann fast sagen Jahrhunderte, immer als Berater im Vatikan vertreten. Aber das hat sich immer mehr im Hintergrund abgespielt. Dass es jetzt zwei Leute sind, die an der Führungsspitze der katholischen Kirche stehen, ist sehr außergewöhnlich. Ich kann auch sagen, dass dies vielen von uns nicht geheuer ist.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Regensburg Digital

[At last he is gone! “Well, finally!”, “Hurray, hurray! Hallelujah! “Or simply a simple” Yes! “. This was the reaction which had entered our editorial office when on Friday it was announced that Pope Francis had dismissed Gerhard Ludwig Müllers as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.]

Von Stefan Aigner in Meinung

„Na endlich!“, „Hurra, hurra! Halleluja!“ oder einfach ein schlichtes „Yes!“. So oder so ähnlich sahen Reaktionen aus, die bei uns in der Redaktion eintrudelten, seit am Freitag bekannt wurde, dass Papst Franziskus sich Gerhard Ludwig Müllers als Chef der Glaubenskongregation entledigt hat.

Mit den kolportierten Verwerfungen zwischen Papst und Müller rund um Glaubensfragen haben diese Reaktionen aber allenfalls am Rande zu tun. Es geht um Müllers Zeit in Regensburg und die Verwüstungen, die er hier hinterlassen hat.

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ROM
Queer

[Vatican: Police stop gay sex orgy that included use of drugs.]

Der Skandal um den im Vatikan residierenden australischen Kurienkardinal George Pell, der am Donnerstag als drittmächtigster Mann der Kirche in der Heimat wegen mehrfachen Kindesmissbrauches angeklagt wurde (queer.de berichtete), hat einen weiteren Skandal aus den italienischen Medien verdrängt, der kein Verbrechen umfasst, aber eine Menge Doppelmoral.

Mehrere Medien berichteten am Mittwoch, die Gendarmerie des Vatikans habe – bereits vor einiger Zeit – die Wohnung eines Prälaten im Palazzo del Sant’Uffizio gestürmt, der unter anderem der Dienstsitz der Glaubenskongregation ist und früher das Arbeitszimmer von Kardinal Joseph Ratzinger umfasste, bevor dieser Papst wurde. Das exterritoriale Gebäude des Vatikans in dessen unmittelbarer Nähe habe dem Mann einen guten Schutz vor Kontrollen der Schweizer Garde oder Gendarmerie gegeben, berichteten Medien. Zugleich habe der – nach Medienangaben “luxuriöse” – Dienstwagen mit Siegel des Vatikans eine gute Immunität gegenüber italienischen Behören geboten.

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AUSTRALIA
Central Western Daily

MURRAY NICHOLLS
5 Jul 2017

THE Anglican Diocese of Bathurst is preparing a new list of potential asset sales as it braces for multi-million dollar compensation payouts for victims of sexual abuse.

Bishop Ian Palmer wrote to parishioners at the weekend asking them to identify assets within their communities that could be sold to help raise $2 million.

It comes a year after the diocese was forced into a fire sale of assets to help repay a $40 million debt to the Commonwealth Bank.

Additionally, in October, 2013 the diocese sold Orange Anglican Grammar School and Macquarie Anglican Grammar School in Dubbo to the Sydney Anglican School Corporation.

Bishop Palmer said in the letter to parishioners that the Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses To Child Sexual Abuse had highlighted the damage to victims.

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GUAM
KUAM

[with video]

Updated: Jul 05, 2017
By Krystal Paco

We’re hearing plenty about reparations as of late, but that’s mostly related to war reparations. Now, the Archdiocese of Agana is talking about making amends with survivors through a Year of Reparation. It’s a step towards spiritual justice.

“What are we doing? What is this year of reparation about? Well, we understand civil remedies and ecclesiastical remedies are always insufficient,” explained Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes acknowledges the body is hurting – large in part due to the growing number of clergy sex abuse lawsuits against the Church.

To date, 80 victims have come forward alleging they were sexually abused or molested by priests or Catholic school staff.

That’s what prompted a Year of Reparation, which will start on Thursday. The Faithful will focus on praying, fasting, and almsgiving.

HIs Excellency added, “What our prayers do is say to those victims to those who suffer, that they are worth our attention, our sacrifices, and our prayers. It’s a way of the body of Christ expressing to all those who suffer, we’re with you. We’re in solidarity with you. And we think that a year of persistent prayer, fasting and almsgiving is a way for us to express to you your value.”

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Guam – While attorneys and organizations are work on getting justice for victims of church sex abuse, the Archdiocese of Agana is also embarking on a new initiative for “spiritual” justice.

Spearheaded by Archbishop Michael Byrnes, this endeavor will be called the Year of Reparation.

It’s not just the scores of sex abuse lawsuits that have rocked the church or the controversial dispute over the Redemptoris Mater Seminary property, or even the division between the traditional catholics and the neocatechumenal group, Coadjutor Archbishop Byrnes says problems exist within the community that are hurting the fabric of society like divorce rates, crime, child abuse and drug abuse.ltimately the metric of Christian success

“Ultimately, the metric of christian success is, do we see some of these social ills going down? Do we see more healing and less brokenness?” noted Byrnes.

In an effort to heal a divided church and community, Archbishop Byrnes called upon the Liturgical Commission to assist. Archbishop Byrnes was sent to Guam by Pope Francis after Archbishop Anthony Apuron was ousted stemming from the multiple allegations of sexual abuse. Liturgical Commission Chairperson Father Paul Gofigan says reparation was a priority for Archbishop Byrnes.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

By Janela Carrera
July 5, 2017

Guam – An update on the canonical trial of Archbishop Anthony Apuron will be made Thursday which also happens to fall on the same date as the next hearing for some of the sex abuse lawsuits in District Court.

“Tomorrow we’ll call another news briefing and we’ll talk about the archbishop,” announced Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes during a news conference Wednesday.

Byrnes declined to give details, but he noted that it will not focus on any decisions that may have been made during Apuron’s canonical trial. Archbishop Apuron’s legal counsel, Attorney Jacque Terlaje, has indicated in previous interviews that her client’s canonical trial is expected to come to a close sometime this summer.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com July 5, 2017

Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes said Wednesday the Vatican has not yet issued a decision on the canonical trial of Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron.

Apuron faces multiple civil lawsuits over the alleged rape and sexual abuse of altar boys in the 1970s.

Byrnes said he will hold a news conference, as soon as Thursday, to provide an update on the Vatican’s canonical trial process.

As of 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, the Archdiocese of Agana hadn’t provided further details about the news briefing.

Apuron’s ongoing canonical trial came up during he question-and-answer portion of Byrnes’ monthly “Updating the Faithful” series on Wednesday.

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FIJI
Fiji Sun

by LUSIANA TUIMAISALA , Suva

The Archdiocese of Suva is developing policies to protect children and minors from sexual abuse.

A two-day workshop at St Joseph’s Secondary School hall that rounds up today includes headteachers and school principals of Catholic schools in Fiji.

Archbishop Peter Loy Chong said many items mentioned in the resource document are applicable to ministry with adults.

“The policy establishes a set of general guidelines and boundaries for people ministering to minors and addressing explicitly proper contact with persons under 18 years of age,” Archbishop Loy Chong said.

The workshop also includes training on Safeguarding, and Ministerial Integrity to priests, teachers, religious sisters and Brothers.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Derry Now

Survivors of historical institutional abuse in Northern Ireland have called for the recommendations contained in the Historical Institutional Abuse Report to be introduced.

Despite urging for movement following the publication of the report the process has been delayed due to the collapse of the power-sharing Executive at Stormont.

Various issues including reparations for victims remain outstanding.

Jon McCourt Chairperson of Survivors (North West) said: “With another deadline having passed at the ongoing discussions at Stormont, it is time to have some mechanism developed that will deliver on the recommendations contained in the Historical Institutional Abuse Report.

“We now will probably go to the end of the Westminster summer recess before any discussion starts on developing a way forward.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

[with video]

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com July 5, 2017

Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes has declared a “Year of Reparation” for the Catholic Church on Guam because of the magnitude of clergy sexual abuses and outbreaks of violence, child abuse, drug abuse and the highest divorce rate in the world, among other things.

“(Reparation) is a way of restoring the balance of justice when people have been harmed,” Byrnes said during his monthly “Updating the Faithful” series Wednesday morning.

Byrnes said declaring a Year of Reparation, which will begin July 6, signifies solidarity with all victims of social ills, including clergy abuse and violence, and a collective quest for justice.

He said civil and ecclesiastical remedies are always insufficient in restoring justice, but he said the power of prayer and acts of mercy go a long way in helping to achieve that.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Heute

[In Bavaria, an accusation was filed against a 53-year-old ex-priest. He is accused of the abuse of five boys in more than 100 instances. He is also said to have attempted to rape between 1995 and 1996 of a then 18-year-old.]

In Bayern wurde eine Anklage gegen einen 53-jährigen Ex-Priester erhoben. Ihm wird der Missbrauch von fünf Buben in mehr als 100 Fällen vorgeworfen. Zudem soll er zwischen 1995 und 1996 eine damals 18-Jährige versucht haben zu vergewaltigen.

Der Deutsche war nicht nur in seinem Heimatland, sondern auch in Polen, der Schweiz und auch in Österreich tätig. Die längste Zeit davon in Niederösterreich. Aus diesem Grund hat sich auch die Staatsanwaltschaft Krems in den Fall eingeschalten. Der Ex-Priester hätte auch Wallfahren nach Italien und Bosnien organisiert, jedoch kann man hier aufgrund von Verjährung nicht weiter ermitteln.

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FRANCE
Diocese de Ste. Etienne

[A press article published this morning concerns Father Regis Peyrard, without naming him explicitly, for acts of sexual assault on minors. He recognizes the facts. Such acts are always unspeakable. We are thinking first of all of the victims and their families, their suffering and the dramatic consequences of these acts.]

Un article de presse paru ce matin met en cause le Père Régis Peyrard, sans le nommer explicitement, pour des faits d’agressions sexuelles sur des mineurs. Celui-ci reconnaît les faits. De tels actes sont toujours inqualifiables. Nous pensons d’abord aux victimes et à leurs familles, à leurs souffrances et aux conséquences dramatiques de ces actes.

Depuis l’an 2000, à trois reprises des victimes se sont manifestées et à chaque fois les faits ont été signalés à la justice. Dès le premier signalement, des mesures internes à l’Eglise ont également été prises : résider dans une maison de retraite et exercer un ministère restreint. Une procédure canonique est engagée avec la Congrégation pour la Doctrine de la Foi et la commission Christnacht de la Conférence des Evêques de France a été saisie.

Saint-Etienne le 4 juillet 2017
+ Sylvain Bataille, évêque de Saint-Etienne

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FRANCE
BFM TV

[Catholic authorities in Saint-Etienne made public on Tuesday the sexual abuse of minors committed by a priest in the 1980s. Now 84 years old, the man of the church was relieved of his ministry. He acknowledged the facts.]

Les autorités catholiques de Saint-Etienne ont rendu publics mardi les abus sexuels sur mineurs qu’aurait commis un prêtre dans les années 80. Aujourd’hui âgé de 84 ans, l’homme d’Eglise a été relevé de son ministère.

Il a reconnu les faits. Un prêtre du diocèse de Saint-Etienne, dans la Loire, a été relevé de son ministère, a annoncé le diocèse lui-même, après avoir rendu public les agressions sexuelles dont l’ecclésiastique est soupçonné. Les actes, commis à l’encontre de trois mineurs, remontent aux années 80. Les trois jeunes garçons étaient alors âgés entre 12 et 16 ans.

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ROME
New Zealand Herald

Vatican police have raided a cardinal’s apartment where a drug-fuelled homosexual orgy was taking place.

Police entered an apartment at the former palace of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (or Holy Office) last month not far from the Vatican City.

The occupant of the apartment is alleged to be a priest who serves as a secretary to cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, the head of the Pontifical Council for Legislative texts and a personal adviser to the Pope.

The allegations of the orgy were first published by newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano.

According to the paper, neighbours became suspicious before complaining about irregular behaviour of those coming and going at the apartment.

When police showed up at the apartment, they reportedly found drugs and a group of men engaged in sexual activity.

The priest was then arrested and taken for questioning.

Il Fatto Quotidiano suggested that Pope Francis has been infuriated by the news and may force Coccopalmerio into retirement.

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ROME
International Business Times

The priest serves as secretary to cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, Pope Francis’ personal adviser.

By Ananya Roy
Updated July 5, 2017

A new scandal is rocking the Vatican as police recently raided a drugs and gay sex party at a cardinal’s apartment near the city.

Without revealing the name of the occupant of the apartment, police said that the person is believed to be a priest who serves as a secretary to cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, the head of the Pontifical Council for Legislative texts and a personal adviser to Pope Francis.

According to Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano which first published the news, police raided the apartment in June after complaints from neighbours who reported unusual behaviour among people visiting the apartment.

The newspaper quoted the police as saying that they found drugs and a group of men engaged in sexual activity when they entered the apartment.

The police have arrested the priest and taken him for questioning, presumably on drugs charges. It is not a criminal offence to engage in private same-sex activity in Vatican City.

The apartment belongs to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, whose duties include investigating clerical sexual abuse.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Nursery World

04 July 2017 by Katy Morton

A report looking at the impact of child sexual abuse on victims, their families and wider society has been published today.

The report is by researchers from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), which was set-up by the then Home Secretary Theresa May in 2014.

The inquiry is investigating whether public bodies and other non-state institutions have taken seriously their responsibility to protect children from sexual abuse in England and Wales, as well as make recommendations for change.

The report is part of the inquiry’s work into examining the impact of child sexual abuse on the lives of victims and survivors and their families, as well as wider society.

Entitled ‘The impacts of Child Sex Abuse: A rapid Evidence Assessment’, the report has been published at the same time as an inquiry seminar on victims and survivors’ experiences, which is taking place on 4-5 July in London.

During the two-day seminar, which will be streamed live, a range of experts, including victims and survivors will speak. The information and views they give will be gathered and considered by the inquiry on the impact of CSA on victims, survivors and their families, their support needs and current support provision.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

4 July

Victims, survivors and experts talked about the impact of child sexual abuse during an Inquiry Seminar held today (4 July).

The Seminar, which is being held across two days, will enable the Inquiry to gather information and views for consideration.

An Inquiry report, The Impacts of Child Sexual Abuse: A Rapid Evidence Assessment, was also discussed by participants at the seminar.

Speaking about the impact of CSA on victims and survivors, Claire Soares, a member of the Inquiry’s research team, said: “The report found there were significant, lifelong and wide-ranging adverse impacts of CSA. But resilience and recovery are possible provided there is effective and timely support available to victims and survivors.”

Cate Fisher, also a member of the research team, said that the impact of CSA on wider society was also significant. She said analysis conducted by the NSPCC concluded that CSA cost the economy an estimated £3.2 billion a year – including money spent on the criminal justice system and mental health services. However she said that the largest part of this cost to the economy was due to victims and survivors of CSA being more likely to be unemployed or in lower-paid jobs.

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UNITED STATES
Crux

Carolyn Woo SPECIAL TO CRUX

The Convocation of Catholic Leaders, a large national gathering of diverse leaders from across the Catholic Church in the United States, is taking place July 1-4 in Orlando. Having followed the convocation from its inception and planning, I can attest to the intention of opening a window to let in some new air.

The idea is to hang a freshly-painted welcome sign on the Church, prominently placed over a door that once seemed forbidding. It’s also to deploy communication devices that can pick up the channel of today’s people, and allow for two-way exchanges.

The focus is on the lay people of the dioceses, going beyond just the “usual suspects” to invite new voices and emerging leaders. The content is impressively comprehensive, with 66 breakout sessions on topics ranging from the expected (social justice, immigration, parish vitality, faith formation) to the uncomfortable (the “nones,” reaching out to those hurt by leaders and members of the Church, ministry to people with same-sex attraction).

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UNITED STATES
La Croix (France)

July 3, 2017

About 3,000 American Catholic Church officials are participating in a unique convention in Orlando, Florida, from July 1 to 4. The gathering is seen as an opportunity for the church leaders to reflect on how to spread the gospel and reach out to a country that is becoming secular.

Céline Hoyeau, Orlando
United States

He may be at the helm of one of the most dynamic Roman Catholic parishes in Florida, with the 3,000 families present each weekend at one of the seven masses at Saint Peter’s Church in Deland, but Father Thomas Connery is still worried.

“We have many retirees in Florida, so the churches are full but take them away and it’s a catastrophe,” says Father Connery. “We’re not managing to reach the young generations.

“For every person baptized, the American church loses six Catholics,” he laments. “We don’t dare talk about it among priests, doubtless because we do not know what to do, but it is past time to break this taboo.

“Imagine a company facing such a problem. It would immediately launch an emergency plan! What about us?”

U.S. bishops do not yet have an emergency plan, but they have organized a unique gathering. For the first time in a hundred years, priests, laymen, monks, nuns and other heads of services and movements from all over the United States have come together at a meeting in Orlando, Florida from 1 to 4 July.

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IRELAND
Irish Legal News

Two women who were forced to work in Magdalen laundries have been granted an order of certiorari, quashing the refusal of the Minister for Justice and Equality to admit them to a government compensation scheme.

Mr Justice Michael White refused to grant relief on the basis that the decision was unreasonable and irrational, but held that the decisions were reached in violation of their right to natural and constitutional justice and fair procedures.

The ex gratia scheme

Two women, MKL and DC, sought orders of certiorari quashing the refusal of the Minister to admit them to the ex gratia scheme established by the Government of Ireland in December 2013 for women who were admitted to and worked in the Magdalen Laundries.

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IRELAND
The Journal

WITH TEARS IN his eyes John Feighery told a room full of other institutional abuse survivors now it is time for them to stand up for themselves, like they could never do as children.

For 11 years John attended industrial schools in Letterfrack, Co Galway, run by Christian Brothers.

Earlier today, he spoke at the launch of a highly critical report highlighting issues with how the State has dealt with victims like him.

The report, ‘Reclaiming Self’, authored by Anne Marie Crean and Fionna Fox, will be presented to the United National Committee Against Torture (Uncat).

It addresses three specific questions raised by Uncat in relation to the 2009 Ryan report on child abuse:

* The state’s proposals to implement the recommendations of the Commission into Child Abuse.
* Independent investigations of abuse cases and prosecution of perpetrators.
* Ensuring that all victims obtain redress.

The report criticises the lack of action in prosecuting abusers and the State’s failure to put in place a sensitive and appropriate redress scheme for victims.

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IRELAND
Connacht Tribune

Galway Bay fm newsroom – COPE Galway has moved to hire construction firm to begin work on a new domestic violence refuge in the city.

The conversion of the old Magdalene Laundry at 47 Forster Street will involve the demolition of parts of the existing building, and the construction of a new extension to the rear.

COPE Galway previously said the conversion would be delayed until the outcome of the future of an investigation into mother and baby homes is determined.

Last year, Waterside House worked with 314 women and 158 children.

They provided 161 accompaniments to court but were unable to accommodate 204 women and 246 children.

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DENMARK
The Local

4 July 2017

A former priest at the Tømmerup Church in Kalundborg has been charged with sexually assaulting seven children and committing indecent exposure against a further five.

The 47-year-old priest, who has been remanded in custody for the last year, has been charged for 30 separate breaches of the law, reports broadcaster TV2.

He is charged with sexually abusing seven children, who were all under the legal age of consent at the time of the crimes; and indecent exposure against five boys, whom he contacted on Skype, pretending to be a girl, according to TV2’s report, which is based on a charge sheet obtained by the television station.

The assaults are reported to have taken place at the 47-year-old’s place of residence over a 10-year period between 2006 and May 2016.

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UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

July 4, 2017

Joelle Casteix

I have remained quiet on the subject of the changes in SNAP, the Survivors Network.

This is because I have been very deeply involved in the recent transition in leadership, our refocus and change in messaging, and the shift from an organization with two founders in power to an organization with a working board, a managing director, and a core of passionate volunteers getting things done.

But after yet another recent article where, once again, the script was that the organization is facing an “uncertain future,” I have decided that it is time to shift the narrative and allow SNAP to own its story.

Yes, founder Barbara Blaine and executive director David Clohessy left the organization. But their departure had been in the works since the fall of 2016.

Let’s face it: No organization should be run by its founders for decades. It’s called “Founder’s Flounder” or “Founder’s Syndrome.”

We all knew it was time for change.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Archbishop Cranmer

July 3, 2017

Child abuse is a seriously distressing matter. The violation, confusion, fear, self-loathing, guilt, depression… suicidal thoughts. It can take years and decades to come to terms with the misery and emotional agony, and the scars never really heal. They may fade in time, but are easily inflamed when scratched or picked at by tormented forefingers. And then you try to hide them all over again, ashamed of the sores and blemishes of a sin which wasn’t even yours. Or was it?

Child abuse in the Church is not only seriously distressing, it is eternally consequential: “If anyone causes one of these little ones – those who believe in me – to stumble,” said Jesus, “it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

The Church of England has already thrown Bishop George Bell into a very deep pond. It has also just hurled former Archbishop George (Lord) Carey into a reservoir of excrement. In the case of Bell, the solitary, uncorroborated testimony of ‘Carol’ was deemed sufficient to trash his reputation – some 70 years after the alleged abuse took place. In the case of Carey, the report of Dame Moira Gibb was sufficient for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, to demand Lord Carey’s resignation as an honorary assistant bishop in the Diocese of Oxford, for apparently ‘colluding’ in child abuse some 20 years ago. There is more than a whiff of scape-goating.

Contrast the swiftness and severity of these judgments with the harrowing account below. This story has been circulating in the media for a number of years, not least because the alleged abuser – a priest by the name of Trevor Devamanikkam – committed suicide before the case against him could be heard. His victim has hitherto remained anonymous – often named ‘Michael’ in the media. He has lodged complaints of misconduct against the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, and four other serving bishops, claiming they had failed to act on his disclosures of rape. Nothing happened: apparently, a CDM (Clergy Discipline Measure) has to be issued within 12 months of the alleged misconduct. This might be appropriate if your vicar is filching hymn books, but it is woefully inadequate for dealing with the cover-up of chronic child abuse, the effects of which may take the victim many, many years to process.

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