ABUSE TRACKER

SCOTLAND
Scottish Catholic Observer

A senior priest has told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry that the reforms of the Second Vatican Council ­contributed to rare but ‘horrible ­mistakes’ that the Church made in dealing with clergy accused of ­abusing children.

IAN DUNN

A senior priest has told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry that the reforms of the Second Vatican Council ­contributed to rare but ‘horrible ­mistakes’ that the Church made in dealing with clergy accused of ­abusing children.

Mgr Peter Smith, a priest of Glasgow Archdiocese and former Vatican attache at the United Nations, told the inquiry last week that during the 1970s the Church accepted the standards of the day that ‘it was better to repair the person, to fix them or to redeem them, and that was a huge mistake.’

“The circumstances of the Second ­Vatican Council made a significant ­difference to the whole way that the Church proceeded,” he said. “Prior to that we proceeded fairly legalistically and fairly authoritarian, whereas the Second Vatican Council asked us to proceed ­pastorally and caring for people. And that pastoral care was exercised very strongly towards the priests who had been accused and I think perhaps less strongly towards those who had been on the receiving end of such a vicious thing to do.”

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HAWAII
Honolulu Civil Beat

By James Wright

There are two Roman Catholic Churches when it comes to taking responsibility for child sex abuse cases in Hawaii: the repentant and the defiant.

The repentant is occasionally seen in public statements. A typical example appeared in a Jan. 9, 2004, letter to the Honolulu Advertiser by Patrick Downes as editor of the Diocesan newspaper:

“The Diocese of Honolulu acknowledges the devastating and long-lasting damage caused by the sexual abuse of minors by clergy. It pledges to deal with the problem strongly, openly and consistently in the future.”

Downes is a familiar name locally in connection with clergy sex abuse having more than 30 years of stridently defending the Church and the perpetrators — often by disparaging the victims.

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

NEW YORK
Faith Forward

By Rabbi Ari Hart

When victims of child sex abuse come forward to seek justice and stop abusers from harming others, unbelievably they are blocked by New York State law. New York ranks among the worst in the nation — alongside Alabama, Mississippi and Michigan — for how its courts and criminal justice system treat survivors of child sex abuse.

If you think a law doesn’t make much difference, take a moment to consider Sara:

“When I was 13 and 14 years old, I suffered repeated violent sexual assault by a man who was part of my religious community, a family friend who stayed over at our house. He told me that if I told anyone what he was doing, I would bring my family shame and they would blame me. I believed him. When he came to my bedroom at night, I would try to push him away, but he was stronger than me: I was trapped. I did not have words to describe the horror that I was enduring. By the time I healed enough to understand that it was not my fault, that I was a victim and could speak up about the abuse, it was too late. The New York State statue of limitations for sexual abuse was up. Our legal system no longer considered my story valid.

The predator who abused me is still at large, and because of the statute of limitations, I can do nothing to protect his present and future victims.”

As faith leaders, this issue is particularly painful and urgent. Rather than being a source of healing for victims of child sexual abuse, our religious institutions have too often discouraged victims from getting the legal and social help they need; faith leaders have been enablers; and horrifically, they have been perpetrators. Faith communities are beginning to acknowledge and undertake the hard, painful and sometimes disruptive work of confronting the specter of child sex abuse in our communities, develop policies for prevention, and support its victims.

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NEW YORK
Legislative Gazette

Written by THOMAS GIERY PUDNEY, assistant editor on June 15, 2017

Senate Democrats held a press conference today urging Senate Republican Conference to get behind legislation to allow child sex abuse victims more time to take their abuser to court.

Advocates and legislators, including Linda Rosenthal, D-Manhattan, sponsor of the Assembly Child Victims Act (A.5885-a) that passed by a telling bipartisan vote of 139-7 earlier this month, believe that this is the year the CVA makes it to the floor for a vote and, onto the governor’s desk.

“Protecting New York’s children against sexual abuse and rape and giving justice to those that have been harmed in the past is what our duty is as state legislators,” said Rosenthal. “There should be no question, it should not be up for debate.

“Without doing this bill, New York state is protecting predators.”

This most recent push comes after Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Wednesday evening a program bill that is the same as the bills passed by Rosenthal in the Assembly and sponsored by Sen. Brad Hoylman in the Senate.

This could signal to the Senate Republicans that depriving victims of the look-back window they have pushed for, or the independent tribunal that determines validity of victim’s claims on a case by case basis, as offered in Sen. Jeff Klein’s compromise bill, are not what the governor considers the best option for New York’s childhood abuse victim’s.

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NEW YORK
Times Union

By Matthew Hamilton on June 15, 2017

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has introduced his own version of the Child Victims Act to the state Legislature, mirroring his proposal on bills that already are being pushed in both the Assembly and the state Senate.

The bill was introduced through the Senate Rules Committee on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, advocates, bill sponsors and Cuomo are continuing to press the Senate to take up the legislation as lawmakers head toward the scheduled end of the legislative session on June 21.

“This is about justice and I urge this measure to be passed before the end of session and allow these victims the ability to hold their abusers accountable — something they’ve wrongly been denied for far too long,” Cuomo said in a statement.

The bill would change when the the five-year statute of limitations clock for felony sexual abuse crimes starts ticking. Under current law it starts when the abuse victim turns 18. Under Child Victims Act, it wouldn’t begin until the victim is 23.

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NEW YORK
News 10

[with video]

By Nick Perreault
Published: June 15, 2017

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – A bill is headed to the Senate that would help child victims report abuse.

The bill passed the Assembly 139 to seven, but the Senate’s failed to pass similar legislation for over a decade.

“I personally was 15 years old when I was molested by a 33 year-old man,” Bridie Farrell, a victim, said.

Farrell didn’t tell anyone.

“I thought it was really my mistake, I thought it was weird and something that wasn’t supposed to be public, but not necessarily a crime.”

It would take her a decade to realize what happened.

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

NEW YORK
WNYT

[with video]

June 15, 2017

ALBANY – Survivors of child sexual abuse and their advocates were at the Capitol Thursday pleading with Senate Republicans to “ease their pain.”

Anna Wagner, a Long Island mother of three, who was abused by a family friend when she was 9, says the emotional scars remain and the nightmares are constant.

“I ask that the Senate take a stand and help conserve children’s rights and help conserve the sweet dreams of children tomorrow,” Wagner said. “When is it going to be a priority to stop the nightmares, when we know these monsters are not haunting other children?”

The Child Victims Act would eliminate the statute of limitations and open up a one-year window so that sex abuse victims can file civil suits.

“There’s nothing more repulsive than the sexual exploitation of children by adults, “said Assembly woman Linda Rosenthal (D – New York City), “Without doing this bill, New York State is protecting predators and allowing current predators to continue their ways.”

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NEW YORK
Newsday

Updated June 15, 2017
By Michael Gormley michael.gormley@newsday.com

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Thursday introduced his own bill to give victims of child sexual abuse more time to accuse, prosecute and sue their abusers in a move that advocates of the effort called a “breakthrough moment.”

“This is about justice and I urge this measure to be passed before the end of session and allow these victims the ability to hold their abusers accountable — something they’ve wrongly been denied for far too long,” Cuomo said.

Despite a decade of opposition by the Senate’s Republican majority, advocates of the bill introduced in the final days of session said Cuomo’s action adds to momentum in what would be a major result in a so-far lackluster end of session.

“We have the momentum, we have every piece,” said Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan), who has pushed the bill for years. This year, victims of childhood sexual abuse streamed into the Capitol for months telling their stories and carrying school pictures of themselves. “And we have the governor now,” Hoylman said. “This a breakthrough moment.”

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VIRGINIA
WYFF

BECCA MITCHELL

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA —
A former youth pastor charged with sexual penetration has been found guilty by a Virginia Beach judge.

Jeffrey Bondi, 47, is charged with a crime that allegedly happened 15 years ago while he was working as a youth minister at Galilee Episcopal Church in Virginia Beach.

A woman who was 18-years-old at the time told police that Bondi sexually assaulted her while he was working at her church.

All we know about the victim is that she now lives in California and is a comedian/writer.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

Joanne McCarthy
16 Jun 2017

RETIRED Newcastle solicitor Lou Pirona lost a son who was sexually abused by a Catholic priest, and whose suicide in 2012 after “too much pain” was the catalyst for a royal commission.

Now Mr Pirona is speaking up for survivors of sexual abuse at his old school, St Stanislaus College, Bathurst, over a controversial apology at the college on Friday and the Vincentian order’s failure to acknowledge the full extent of crimes committed there.

“I just wanted the survivors to know I support them. I wanted them to know I understand a little bit of the impact of these sorts of things, so it really comes from the heart,” Mr Pirona said.

Survivor Damien Sheridan and son Zakarie, survivor Tor Nielsen and mother Carole, St Stanislaus Old Boy Terry Jones and NSW Greens MP and justice spokesman David Shoebridge will hold a vigil outside the college on Friday from noon. They will protest against an apology during a liturgy at the school where the crimes occurred, which a leading survivor group said would be “inherently re-traumatising” for many people.

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

UNITED STATES
Christian Post

BY MICHAEL GRYBOSKI , CHRISTIAN POST REPORTER
Jun 15, 2017

Sexual abuse by clergy continues to be a problem within the Roman Catholic Church, according to a recent annual report.

The Church’s National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People found in May that between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2016, there were 1,232 abused individuals who brought forth 1,318 allegations of sexual abuse by clergy.

“These allegations represent reports of abuse between a specific alleged victim and a specific alleged accused, whether the abuse was a single incident or a series of incidents over a period of time,” noted the annual report.

“Compared to 2014 and 2015, the number of allegations has continued to increase. This is due to six dioceses experiencing an influx of allegations during the 2016 audit year. Of the increase in these six dioceses, two were due to bankruptcy proceedings and the other four were due to the state opening the statute of limitations.”

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CURACAO
NL Times

By Janene Pieters on June 15, 2017

A 54-year-old pastor from the Rains of Blessing church on Curacao is standing trial for raping 10 girls. His youngest victim was 11 years old. On Wednesday the Public Prosecutor demanded 18 years in prison against him, and that he be banned from leading any church for 20 years, NOS reports.

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. More than 20 cases came in, with victims from Curacao and the Netherlands – the church also has branches in Tilburg, The Hague, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Orlando B. is currently on trial for 10 of those cases.

B. raped girls under the guise of exorcism, according to the broadcaster. He told his victims that they were possessed by demons he put in them, and that he would wake the demons up if they went to the police. He used a lot of violence. Some girls woke up covered in blood.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Jean Hopfensperger Star Tribune JUNE 15, 2017

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis was back in bankruptcy court Thursday, as U.S. Judge Robert Kressel heard objections to the competing victim settlement plans.

A key issue was whether the plan put forth by attorneys for the clergy abuse victims complied with Chapter 11 bankruptcy law, which allows an organization to reorganize its debt. The victim’s plan would tap what attorneys say is $1 billion in archdiocese property and assets not accounted for in the archdiocese’s settlement plan.

“Chapter 11 doesn’t expect a body to liquidate its assets,” Kressel told the court. “It doesn’t mean [the archdiocese] is not complying with bankruptcy code.”

Kressel also labeled “inflammatory” some of the language used in court documents filed by victims’ attorneys when describing the archdiocese’s proposed settlement. The archdiocese had filed a motion seeking the removal of the language, which attorneys did.

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DELAWARE
Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington

“The Keepers,” the Netflix documentary series that explores sexual abuse at a Baltimore Catholic school for girls, and the murder of a nun in the 1960s, hints that Bishop Malooly may have participated in a cover-up regarding the abuse by A. Joseph Maskell, a Baltimore priest. The abuse apparently took place at the school from 1967 until 1975. Bishop Malooly served in various administrative roles with the Archdiocese beginning nine years later in 1984 and continuing until his appointment as the Ninth Bishop of Wilmington in 2008.

Here is Bishop Malooly’s response to these insinuations:

“In the spirit of truth, I would like to make some clarifications regarding some of the claims and insinuations that were made in ‘The Keepers.’ My intention is to set the record straight, and in no way do I wish to minimize the pain and suffering caused by the abuse perpetrated by Joseph Maskell, or any other priest.

In 1992, while serving as Chancellor and Vicar General for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, I was first made aware of the accusations of sexual abuse of minors by Joseph Maskell. At that time, the adult survivor and her attorney were urged to report the abuse to civil authorities, and the survivor was offered counseling assistance. Maskell was removed from ministry and referred for evaluation and treatment with full disclosure to the facility as to the reason for the treatment. Maskell denied the allegation, and after months of evaluation and treatment, he was returned to ministry in 1993 after the Archdiocese was unable to corroborate the allegation following its extensive investigation.

When additional allegations were made in 1994, Maskell was permanently removed from ministry on July 31, 1994. The Archdiocese of Baltimore publicly stated that it wanted to speak with individuals who had information regarding Maskell. A detective was hired to search for anyone who may have been abused by him. In 1994, a music director at a Catholic church told the Archdiocese that Dr. Charles Franz may have information regarding Maskell, and so we reached out to him and set up a meeting for October 20, 1994.

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DELAWARE
The News Journal

Jessica Masulli Reyes, The News Journal June 15, 2017

The bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington denies allegations in the Netflix documentary “The Keepers” that he tried to cover up sexual abuse by a Baltimore priest decades ago.

The seven-part series released in late May focuses on a priest, Rev. Joseph Maskell, who was accused of sexually abusing students at Baltimore’s Archbishop Keogh High School in the 1960s and 1970s.

The series explores a theory that Sister Catherine Anne Cesnik, a teacher at the school, was killed in 1969 because she suspected Maskell was abusing students. Cesnik’s murder remains unsolved, and Maskell was never criminally charged for the abuse before his death in 2001.

Bishop W. Francis Malooly, who was assigned to the Archdiocese of Baltimore before he became Wilmington’s bishop in 2008, is mentioned only in the final episode of the series. Malooly posted to the Archdiocese of Wilmington’s website a lengthy statement challenging the accusations.

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INDONESIA
Catholic Register

BY CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
June 15, 2017

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Dozens of Indonesian priests have quit their posts after accusing a bishop on the Catholic majority island of Flores of embezzling more than $100,000 of church funds for personal use.

Ucanews.com reported that at least 69 priests from Ruteng Diocese submitted letters of resignation in mid-June, quitting their posts as episcopal vicars and parish priests, and demanded that Bishop Hubertus Leteng heed their calls for a complete overhaul of how the diocese is run.

Bishop Leteng told reporters June 12 that he did not want priests to leave their posts, but stepping down “was their free choice.”

“If you love the church, you must create calm among people,” he said. The bishop refused to comment about the allegations against him.

Father Marthen Chen, spokesman for the priests, said the overhaul is desperately needed “so the church can be truly in line with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.”

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NEW YORK
Frum Follies

Important groups stand in the way of strengthening legislation against child sex abusers in New York State: the Roman Catholic Church and its pipsqueak partner, Agudath Israel of America (aka Agudah).

Both groups decry sexual immorality, preach protection of the weak, and rhapsodize about their children. Yet they both have long, ugly histories of helping their molesters escape prosecution and financial reparations.

In 2010, Governor Andrew Cuomo badly wanted to legalize gay marriage in NYS. As always, the obstacle was the lobbying of the RCC and Agudah. So he cut a deal with them. They would denounce the act but not pressure legislators. In return they got his off-the-record promise not to extend the statute of limitations for child sex abuse. Instead, NYS would continue to have one of the shortest SOL’s in the US, requiring survivors to file criminal and civil complaints before their 23rd birthday.

Most survivors need more time before they are ready to confront their own demons and take on their abusers. He also protected them from what they feared, a window allowing survivors to sue for abuse that happened before the SOL’s were changed. Such windows expose abusers and force culpable individuals and institutions to compensate victims. They are embarrassing and costly for institutions that long covered up abuse, such as yeshivas, camps (e.g., Camp Agudah), and the RCC.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

CHRIS MARSHALL
Thursday 15 June 2017

The leader of a religious order has apologised for a “disturbing lack of awareness” which allowed staff to physically and sexually abuse boys at residential schools.

Brother Laurence Hughes, head of the De La Salle Brothers in Great Britain and Ireland, told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry he would have expected other members of staff to have known what was going on.

Br Hughes said he had already met with survivors abused by the congregation in Northern Ireland and was prepared to do so in Scotland.

The inquiry, before Lady Smith, was told an estimated 9,300 pupils, many with emotional and behavioural difficulties, attended five institutions run by the Brothers between 1914 and 1992.

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CALIFORNIA/OKLAHOMA
The Worthy Adversary

June 15, 2017 Joelle Casteix

Jose Alexis Davila accepted a plea deal for battery against a 20-year-old female parishioner in 2012. The plea agreement came when the victim was too scared to testify. Why? Well, a parishioner ‘lynch mob’ tried to stop her mother from attending prayer group and accosted her brother. They also called her a liar and a slut. Nice.

Then-San Diego Bishop Cirilo Flores did nothing to help the victim or reach out to parishioners and warn them about the harm they were doing.

Prosecutors were able to get a sentence of three years’ probation and community service. Despite this, the Diocese of San Diego tried to reinstate Davila, until local outrage and media attention stopped the move.

Davila disappeared until 2016, when he showed up at a parish in in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. When parishioners became upset, Oklahoma Archbishop Paul Coakley said that he had all of the information necessary about Davila and considered him “fit for ministry” and safe.

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PENNSYLVANIA
NBC Philadelphia

Three Franciscan friars are asking a judge to dismiss criminal charges that they didn’t properly supervise a suspected sexual predator accused of molesting more than 100 children, most at a Pennsylvania high school.

Blair County Judge Jolene Kopriva has set a hearing Wednesday on the defense motions filed by attorneys for Giles Schinelli, Robert D’Aversa and Anthony Criscitelli.

State prosecutors say the friars assigned or supervised Brother Stephen Baker when he served at Bishop McCort Catholic High School in Johnstown in the 1990s. Baker killed himself in 2013, shortly after a settlement was announced that he had molested students at a school in Youngstown, Ohio.

That settlement prompted more than 80 former McCort students to come forward with molestation allegations, that have resulted in more than $8 million in settlements.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

by Katie O’Toole

HOLLIDAYSBURG — Judge Jolene Grubb Kopriva heard arguments for pretrial motions Wednesday in the case of three Franciscan priest accused of covering up for an alleged child sex abuser.

Brother Stephen Baker, who has since killed himself, was accused of molesting more than 100 children. He did so while at schools where the three priests had allowed him to work.

Giles Schinelli, Robert D’Aversa and Anthony Criscitelli are each charged with endangering the welfare of children, and criminal conspiracy.

The defense asked for a change in venue Wednesday due to the local public opinion and knowledge about the case, but Kopriva suggested that decision would be too premature.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

By Dave Sutor
dsutor@tribdem.com

HOLLIDAYSBURG – Attorneys for three Franciscan friars accused of failing to properly supervise suspected serial child sexual abuser Brother Stephen Baker presented reasons on Wednesday why they believe charges against their clients should be dismissed.

The priests are charged with one count each of conspiracy and endangering the welfare of children.

Lawyers argued a conspiracy did not exist between the Revs. Anthony “Giles” A. Schinelli, Robert J. D’Aversa and Anthony M. Criscitelli and that the statute of limitations has expired on endangerment. Daniel Dye, a prosecutor from the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General, disagreed with their positions, telling the court: “There was no error in holding this matter for trial.”

Blair County Judge Jolene Kopriva said she will rule on the issues “as quickly as possible.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Altoona Mirror

JUN 15, 2017

KAY STEPHENS
Staff Writer
kstephens@altoonamirror.com

HOLLIDAYSBURG — Attorneys for three Franciscan friars tried Wednesday to convince a Blair County judge that prosecutors have no case to support the criminal charges filed against their clients.

“There’s zero evidence of a conspiracy. There’s zero evidence of a course of conduct,” attorney Charles Porter told Judge Jolene G. Kopriva on behalf of Anthony “Giles” Schinelli.

Schinelli, Robert J. D’Aversa and Anthony M. Criscitelli previously served as ministers provincial for the Franciscan Friars of the Third Order Regular, Hollidaysburg, starting in 1992. In those roles, they supervised Brother Stephen Baker whose work assignments allegedly put him in a position to sexually abuse male youths.

In criminal charges filed in March 2016, three years after Baker fatally stabbed himself at his monastery residence in Hollidaysburg, the state attorney general accused Baker’s three supervisors of endangering the welfare of children and conspiracy to endanger the welfare of children.

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PENNSYLVANIA
We Are Central PA

Hollidaysburg, Blair County, Pa. – Giles Schinelli, Robert D’Aversa and Anthony Criscitelli appeared in court Wednesday morning for pretrial arguments. The three face conspiracy and child endangerment charges.

Lawyers for the three Friars moved to have the dispute over what their duty entailed as Minister Provisional determined by the judge and not by jury. They say the prosecution’s definition of their duty is too generalized.

The also argued that there is no evidence to suggest that the Friars engaged in a conspiracy. They say there is no documentation of an agreement between them to conspire. The prosecution argued that information about allegations regarding Brother Stephen Baker was available to all three of them and that their course of action indicates a conspiracy.

The defense claims that only Schinelli knew of the allegation against Baker from 1988 that was discovered in 1992. They say that this was never discussed with D’Aversa nor Criscitelli. They say that the evidence suggests that Schinelli took appropriate follow-up action on the allegations and found no further evidence to suggest any wrongdoing by Baker. It’s said that Schinelli then had Baker see a doctor and it was found that there was nothing to suggest that Baker was a pedophile.

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INDIANA
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Wilton D. Gregory
Archbishop of Atlanta

In the very same chapter of his Gospel in which St. Matthew presents his rendition of the Beatitudes, Jesus tells us that He has not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. Clearly, the Beatitudes are in fact a startling new edition of God’s Law. Jesus is Himself both the new law and the fulfillment of the old law.

He calls us to see with new eyes how to live in a world so continually filled with sorrow, injustice and violence and how important it is to acknowledge our own share in causing or compounding the sorrows, suffering and violence that often seem to surround us.

We bishops have learned a great deal about the sorrow and pain of those we love and serve, even as we have to acknowledge humbly, publicly and pitifully our share in bringing much of that pain to bear. We feel, we see, we live with, as they do in much greater measure, the impact of behaviors, responses and revelations that have no place in Matthew’s Gospel, in the Beatitudes, or in the narrative of Jesus’ promise to fulfill God’s Law.

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UNITED STATES
The Tablet (UK)

15 June 2017

‘The Holy Father has called us respectfully to acknowledge our own share in causing the pain that so many are still enduring,’ said Gregory

Atlanta Archbishop Wilton Gregory said today (14 June) that the US Catholic bishops “can never say that we are sorry enough for the share that we have had in this tragedy of broken fidelity and trust” – the clergy sex abuse crisis.

He made the comments in the homily at an evening Mass said to commemorate a “Day of Prayer and Penance” for victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. The liturgy was celebrated at St Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis at the end of the first day of the bishops’ spring assembly.

“At this Mass, we bishops humbly and sincerely ask for the forgiveness of those who have been harmed, scandalised or dispirited by events that, even if they happened many years ago, remain ongoing sources of anguish for them and for those who love them,” he said.

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CALIFORNIA
ABC 30

By Nathalie Granda
Wednesday, June 14, 2017

LOS BANOS, Calif. (KFSN) — Robert Gamel’s case will now move to trial after law enforcement took the stand Wednesday.

Gamel was arrested back in April for violating his probation after deputies found illicit images in his Merced residence.

“First thing I noticed was a briefcase in the closet,” said Jose Grandanos, Merced County Deputy Probation Officer.

Granados testified in court he was the one who found the briefcase with three sexually explicit images inside.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

Kathryn Torney

A warning about the level of infant mortality among illegitimate children in Northern Ireland was sounded in 1945.

The warning on the Church of Ireland home is included in the files on the North’s mother-and-baby homes that are available to view at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (Proni).

Other files have been retained by religious orders.

In a letter to the North’s ministry of finance in 1945, Major David Anderson, the chairman of the committee of Hopedene Hostel for unmarried mothers and their children, raised concern about “the heavy mortality figures among illegitimate children” and ‘illegitimate children are allowed to die’.

He also asked for “sympathetic attention” to be given to his request for financial assistance for the home.

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INDIANA
Catholic Whistleblowers

Organizations dedicated to the protection and safety of children in the Catholic Church; namely, the National Survivor Advocates Coalition, Catholic Whistleblowers, and Road to Recovery, Inc. will call on Pope Francis and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to fulfill a promise made by Pope Francis in 2015 that he would establish a Vatican commission “with teeth” that would hold accountable those bishops who mishandled and covered up cases of childhood sexual abuse by priests and deacons. Pope Francis’ refusal to set up the commission to hold bishops accountable and instead allow members of the Vatican bureaucracy to determine the culpability of fellow bishops is outrageous and unacceptable.

What – A demonstration by advocates for victim/survivors of childhood, teenage, and vulnerable adult sexual abuse protesting Pope Francis’ suspension of the commission he promised to establish in order to hold bishops accountable for their mishandling of sexual abuse cases in their dioceses.

When – Wednesday, June 15, 2017, from Noon until 1:30 PM

Where – On the public sidewalk outside the JW Marriott Hotel, headquarters of the annual meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 10 South West Street, Indianapolis, IN 46204

Who – Members of the National Survivor Advocates Coalition, Catholic Whistleblowers, and Road to Recovery, Inc.

Why – Demonstrators will call on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and Cardinal Sean O’Malley, President of the Vatican commission on child protection, to support the Catholic Whistleblowers requests of 2015 and 2016, contained in extensive credible documentation, that it act in a timely manner on the removal of four American bishops who were particularly egregious in their handling of childhood sexual abuse cases: Cardinal Raymond Burke (formerly of St. Louis, MO, and La Crosse, WI; Archbishop Justin Rigali (formerly of Philadelphia, PA); and, Archbishop John Myers (formerly of Peoria, IL, and Newark, NJ). Added to this list for the first time is Bishop W. Francis Malooly, currently bishop of Wilmington, DE, who was exposed recently for covering up and mishandling cases in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, MD, including the unsolved murder of a Catholic nun as featured recently in the Netflix seven-episode series, “The Keepers.”

Contacts – Kristine Ward (Ohio), Chairperson, National Survivor Advocates Coalition, 937-272-0308; Ginny Hoehne (Ohio), Member, National Survivor Advocates Coalition, 937-726-9360; Mary Heins (Indianapolis), Member, National Survivor Advocates Coalition, 317-359-7128; and Robert Hoatson (New Jersey), President, Road to Recovery, Inc., and Member, Catholic Whistleblowers

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

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

ALBANY – With just a week left in the legislative session, Gov. Cuomo on Wednesday introduced for the first time his own Child Victims Act bill.

The bill, obtained by the Daily News, mirrors the one passed by the Assembly last week.

“This is about justice and I urge this measure to be passed before the end of session and allow these victims the ability to hold their abusers accountable — something they’ve wrongly been denied for far too long,” Cuomo said.

The move won praise from many of the victims who have been fighting for the issue for more than a decade.

“I applaud Governor Cuomo’s strong leadership and his commitment to justice and the safety of children,” said Kathryn Robb, who was one of the survivors and advocates who have been working with the governor’s staff in recent months. “He is, to my mind, the justice governor.”

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

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

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

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

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

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

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

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

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

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

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

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

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Independent

Deborah McAleese
June 14 2017

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

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

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

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

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

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

June 14, 2017

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

4. Archdiocese to Appear in Court in Bankruptcy Case

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

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SCOTLAND
The Times

Mike Wade
June 15 2017
The Times

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

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

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

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

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

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Stephen Naysmith

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

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

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

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

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

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Stephen Naysmith

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

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

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

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

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

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

Joanne McCarthy
15 Jun 2017

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

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

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

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

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FLORIDA
Tampa Bay Times

Kathryn Varn, Times Staff Writer

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

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

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

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

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

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

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NEW YORK
Chelsea Now

June 14, 2017.

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

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

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

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

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AUSTRALIA
Central Western Daily

Jacinta Carroll
15 Jun 2017

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

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

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

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

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

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

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

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

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

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

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INDIANA
National Catholic Reporter

Carol Zimmermann Catholic News Service | Jun. 14, 2017

WASHINGTON

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

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

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

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

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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INDIANA
America

Michael J. O’Loughlin
June 14, 2017

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

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

June 14, 4 p.m.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

— Catholic News Service

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INDIANA
National Catholic Register

Matthew Bunson

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

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

Clergy Sex Abuse

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

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

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

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

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

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UNITED KINGDOM
Lincolnshire Live

By Paul Whitelam | Posted: June 15, 2017

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

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

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

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Lincolnite

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

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

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

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

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

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

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

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

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
Associated Press

BY NICOLE WINFIELD
ASSOCIATED PRESS

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

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

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

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

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

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ILLINOIS
The Worthy Adversary

June 14, 2017

Joelle Casteix

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

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

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

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

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NEW YORK
Times Herald-Record

Opinion

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

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

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

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

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

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

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

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

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

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

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

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

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian Jewish News

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

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

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

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

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

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AUSTRALIA
The Standard

Madeleine McNeil
@madeleinemads

14 Jun 2017

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

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

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

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

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UNITED STATES
MTV

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

INKOO KANG

[Spoilers for The Keepers ahead.]

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

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

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

CHRIS MARSHALL
Wednesday, 14 June 2017

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

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

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

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

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PENNSYLVANIA
Cavanagh Funeral Home

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

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

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

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

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

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CANADA
CBC News

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

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

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

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

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

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

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SCOTLAND
The Times

Mike Wade
June 14 2017
The Times

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

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

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

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

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

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

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

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

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

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

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

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Stephen Naysmith

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

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

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

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

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NEW YORK
The Leader

Posted Jun 13, 2017

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

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

An open mic discussion will be held after the speakers.

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

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

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

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

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

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

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

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TEXAS
KXAN

By Lauren Lanmon
Published: June 13, 2017

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

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

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

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

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MEXICO
24 Horas

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

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

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

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

June 14 2017

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

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

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

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

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

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

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NORTHERN IRELAND
The Detail

By Kathryn Torney, 14 June 2017

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

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

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

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

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

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Detail Data

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

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

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

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

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

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NORTHERN IRELAND
The Detail

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

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

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

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

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

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

June 14 2017

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

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

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

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

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

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

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

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

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

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

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

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

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Register

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

J.D. Flynn

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

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

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

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

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

Kathryn Torney

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

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

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

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

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

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

Kathryn Torney

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

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

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

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

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

Statement from Diocese of Down and Connor

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

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

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

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

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

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

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

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

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

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AUSTRALIA
Western Advocate

JACINTA CARROLL
13 Jun 2017

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

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

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

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

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MINNESOTA
Legal Examiner

Posted by Mike Bryant
June 13, 2017

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

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

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

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

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

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

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NEW YORK
Staten Island Advance

COMMENTARY BY SHAUN DOUGHERTY

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

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

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

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UNITED KINGDOM
Den of Geek

REVIEW

Louisa Mellor

This review contains spoilers.

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

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

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

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

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Whisleblowers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mary Heins, 317-359-7128

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

Joanne McCarthy
14 Jun 2017

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

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

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

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

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AUSTRALIA
Anglican Journal

BY MARITES N. SISON ON JUNE, 13 2017

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

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

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

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

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

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

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

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

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

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

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

June 13 2017

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

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

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

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

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MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

By Joel Currier
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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

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

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

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

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NEW YORK
Village Voice

by LAUREN EVANS

JUNE 13, 2017

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

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

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

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

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

13 June

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

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

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

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UNITED KINGDOM
The MJ

By Mark Conrad | 13 June 2017

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

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

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

CHRIS MARSHALL

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

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

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

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

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

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

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OHIO
Vindicator

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

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

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AUSTRALIA
Christian Today

James Macintyre 13 June 2017

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

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

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

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

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

June 14, 2017

DENNIS SHANAHAN
Political Editor
Canberra

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

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

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

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

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

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RUSSIA
RAPSI

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

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

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

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

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

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LOUISIANA
KATC

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

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

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

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

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MINNESOTA
The Worthy Adversary

June 13, 2017

Joelle Casteix

<– Back to Part One: Altoona-Johnstown

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

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

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

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

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

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HAWAII
Honolulu Civil Beat

By Denby Fawcett

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

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

Father Joseph Henry was a serial child sex abuser.

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

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

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INDIANA
Fox 59

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

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

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

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

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