ABUSE TRACKER

NORTHERN IRELAND
The Irish News

CLAIRE SIMPSON
13 June, 2017

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

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

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

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

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

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NORTHERN IRELAND
RTE News

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

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

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

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

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

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

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

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

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

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

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

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

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

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

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

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

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

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

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

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

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

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Kristina Keneally

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

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

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

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

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WASHINGTON
NBC Right Now

Posted by Veronica Padilla, Reporter

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

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

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

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

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WASHINGTON
El Sol de Yakima

MOLLY ROSBACH EL SOL DE YAKIMA

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

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

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

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MASSACHUSETTS
TheMediaReport

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

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

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

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Jun 12, 2017

By Krystal Paco

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

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

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

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

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

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

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
The Tablet

12 June 2017 | by Christopher Lamb

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

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

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

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

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

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service
6.12.2017

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

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

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

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

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

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NEW YORK
Gothamist

BY JAKE OFFENHARTZ ON JUN 12, 2017

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

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

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

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

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WASHINGTON
KIMA

by Marie Schurk

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

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

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

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

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

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FRANCE
La Croix

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

Gauthier Vaillant

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

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

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

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WASHINGTON
Clay Center Dispatch

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

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

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

The priest denies the allegations.

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UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

June 12, 2017 Joelle Casteix

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

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

CrimeCon to BishopCon

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

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

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

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Worthy Adversary

June 12, 2017 Joelle CasteixChild

Read the Introduction to this series here.

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

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

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

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

The complete grand jury report can be read here.

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UNITED STATES
The New York Jewish Week

BY HANNAH DREYFUS May 25, 2017

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

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

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

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

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

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

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WASHINGTON
Yakima Herald

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

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

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

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

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

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NEW YORK
The Legislative Gazette

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

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

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

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

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

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ISRAEL
Times of Israel

BY TAMAR PILEGGI June 12, 2017

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

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

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

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

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ITALIA
Rete L’Abuso

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

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

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

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CONNECTICUT
Cleveland Jewish News

JTA

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

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

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

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

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NEW YORK
The New York Times

By FABIO COTZA
JUNE 12, 2017

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

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

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

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

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ISRAEL
Arutz Sheva

David Rosenberg, 12/06/17

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

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

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

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

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CANADA
CBC News

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

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

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

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

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Jane Lee

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

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

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

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

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | The Guam Daily Post Jun 11, 2017

Although their ultimate mission is to see Archbishop Anthony Apuron defrocked, the Concerned Catholics of Guam considers out-of-court settlement talks for the victims of sexual abuse by former Guam priests a positive effort toward community healing.

“That is excellent that the attorney for the victims is willing to sit with his clients and the (Hope and Healing program) to seek justice and fair compensation for the pain and agony experienced by these former young children and altar boys who suffered such terrible abuse,” Sablan told The Guam Daily Post.

The Archdiocese of Agana established Hope and Healing to receive complaints of abuse, provide counseling and try to negotiate a possible compensation on a case-by-case basis.

The attorney representing the bulk of the now 70-plus cases in both local and federal courts, David Lujan, announced Thursday he would be asking the U.S. District Court of Guam hold off on the cases he has filed against the Archdiocese of Agana, the Boy Scouts of America, and several former priests, including Apuron, who are accused of abusing and molesting young boys under their care in decades past.

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ITALIA
Rete L’Abuso

[Survey on pedophiles in the church and possible solutions; Here’s what the Italians think.]

Un sondaggio di cinque domande rivolte a chiesa, governo e legislatore che ha l’obiettivo di capire quale è la percezione dello stato delle cose da parte dell’opinione pubblica e proporre possibili soluzioni già attuate con ottimi risultati in altri paesi.

La partecipazione è stata notevole basti pensare che un sondaggio simile era stato proposto nel 2014 da IL FATTO QUOTIDIANO e, sulla base già buona di un campione di circa 1600 votanti, il risultato come vedremo è coerente con quello che abbiamo ottenuto noi tre anni dopo ma su un campione notevole, 4010 votanti raccolti tra il nostro sito e i vari social network in 31 giorni.

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ITALIA
Rete L’Abuso

[Sexual abuse. The Supreme Court: the parish priest Don Vito Canto cannot avoid prosecution.]

Già condannato dal tribunale ecclesiastico, don Vito Cantò patirà anche il giudizio terreno: il suo ricorso ritenuto «inammissibile»

PESCARA. «Inammissibile». Un parroco, accusato di presunti abusi sessuali, non può sottrarsi al giudizio di un tribunale dello Stato. Anche se, per lo stesso reato, è stato condannato già dalla Chiesa. Lo ha deciso la Corte di Cassazione che ha bocciato il ricorso presentato da don Vito Cantò, l’ex parroco della chiesa di San Camillo de Lellis a Villa Raspa di Spoltore accusato di presunti abusi sessuali commessi su un minorenne tra il 2011 e il 2012 e per questo finito sotto processo. E, nell’udienza di ieri, si è parlato proprio di quel ricorso che avrebbe potuto cambiare i rapporti tra Stato e Chiesa.

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FRANCE
Le Parisien

[Bishop André Fort was indicted for non-denunciation of acts of pedophilia to authorities after receiving a report of sexual abuse in the Orleans diocese.]

Florence Méréo|10 juin 2017

Un ex-évêque est mis en examen pour non-dénonciation. Une procédure rare.

Le silence n’est plus d’or dans l’Eglise. Pour ne pas avoir dénoncé à la justice des actes de pédophilie dont il avait été informé, l’ancien évêque d’Orléans (Loiret) a été mis en examen jeudi. André Fort, 81 ans, aujourd’hui retraité, était resté muet, même après avoir reçu Olivier, victime présumée d’attouchements en 1993 de la part d’un prêtre. Un tournant dans la lutte contre la pédophilie dans l’Eglise : depuis 2001, aucun évêque n’avait été mis en examen pour ne pas avoir dénoncé de tels faits. «On est très heureux. Le cœur de notre indignation, de notre combat, c’est le silence coupable de ceux qui savent mais ferment les yeux», commente François Devaux, président de l’association de victimes la Parole libérée.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Evangelisch

[The Independent Commission for the Elimination of Sexual Child Abuse set up by the federal government in 2016 does not have enough money according to a report by “Spiegel”. It can therefore no longer accept applications for confidential hearings of interested parties.

This year the commission received only 1.6 percent of the funds that it had originally calculated were necessary, the news magazine continued. A commission set up in England and Wales with similar tasks would have 23 million euro per year. The Commission’s website states that the budget of the Commission is € 1.4 million annually from the budget of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens.]

Die 2016 vom Bund eingesetzte Unabhängige Kommission zur Aufarbeitung sexuellen Kindesmissbrauchs hat nach einem Bericht des “Spiegels” zu wenig Geld. Sie könne deshalb keine Anmeldungen für vertrauliche Anhörungen von Betroffenen mehr entgegennehmen, schrieb das Nachrichtenmagazin am Wochenende unter Berufung auf einen Zwischenbericht, den die Kommissionsvorsitzende Sabine Andresen am Mittwoch in Berlin vorstellen will.

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Zwar reichten die Mittel für die knapp 1.000 Anmeldungen, die das Gremium bislang bekommen habe. “Wir wissen aber schon heute, dass der Bedarf viel höher ist”, zitiert “Der Spiegel” die Kommissionsvorsitzende Andresen: “Doch dafür brauchen wir mehr Zeit und mehr finanzielle und personelle Ressourcen.”

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY
KENNETH LOVETT
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Saturday, June 10, 2017

ALBANY — Some child sex assault survivors fear they’ve been strung along by Gov. Cuomo in their push to enact a law making it easier for victims to seek justice as adults.

Cuomo in January said passage of the Child Victims Act was a top priority this year.

But while his staff continues to meet with advocates behind closed doors, he has barely brought the issue up publicly since January nor has he introduced his own version of a bill that staffers told advocates for weeks was coming.

With just two weeks left in the legislative session time is running out.

“We saw in the marriage equality fight that the governor was able to bring Republican senators to the table and stand up to the Catholic Church, which also opposed that bill,” said Kat Sullivan, who was raped as a student in 1998 at Emma Willard, a private Albany-area girl’s school. “But with the (Child Victims Act) he thinks there’s no political cost to short-changing survivors by cynically claiming he ‘cares’ about the issue while failing to take any action.”

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UNITED STATES
The Open Tabernacle: Here Comes Everybody

[Pope Francis and Clergy Sexual Abuse in Argentina – BishopAccountability.org]

Posted on June 11, 2017

by Betty Clermont

Recent Argentine articles reported the pope’s personal involvement in the sexual torture of children (one of the two UN committees the Pope Francis obstructed and ignored “found that the widespread sexual violence within the Catholic Church amounted to torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment”) and his role in the aftermath of the Dirty War.

His envoy heaped insult on top of injury after Pope Francis, informed of horrible sex abuse, did nothing and children suffered.

On May 19, the priest sent by the pope to investigate the horrific sexual assaults in the Provolo Institute for the Deaf in Argentina, dismissed some cases because, he said, children can be “spiteful. For example, [when] a girl or a boy falls in love with a priest, and he doesn’t respond back.” On the same day, the pope’s representative stated he was refusing to cooperate with the civil court prosecuting the atrocities.

By open letter and video message “handed to Pope Francis” in May 2014, former students at the notorious Provolo Institute for the Deaf in Italy begged the pope for justice. More than one hundred deaf and mute children had been sexually abused at the boarding school.

The letter told Pope Francis that three of the Italian perpetrators – including Fr. Nicola Corradi – held current positions at the Provolo Institute in Argentina. The pope took no action to stop the pedophiles.

Corradi and four others in the Argentine school were arrested in Nov. 2016 and charged with raping and molesting at least 22 children. Other reports poured in and “it’s now thought that as many as 60 children fell victim to abuse.”

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

A new TV series has shone a light on a low-key American priest who counselled vulnerable Irish children in the 1990s after fleeing multiple allegations of abusing US schoolgirls and a suspicion of being involved in murder. John Meagher on Father Joseph Maskell

John Meagher
June 11 2017

The green fields and high hedgerows in the Wexford countryside around the villages of Castlebridge, Screen and Curracloe must have felt utterly alien to Joseph Maskell.
Born and bred in the blue-collar city of Baltimore, Maryland, Maskell found himself in his mid-50s – after a completely urban life – in the rural heartland of the country of his father, who hailed from Limerick.

He arrived in this south-east corner of Wexford in 1994 and lived in Castlebridge – just a few miles from bustling Wexford town – but he would have been familiar with the pretty churches that were a short drive away, such as St Cyprian’s in Screen and St Margaret’s in Curracloe.

And it was in one of these churches, in April 1995, that he first came to the attention of the Diocese of Ferns. The file does not confirm whether it was in St Cyprian’s or St Margaret’s that Maskell – a Catholic priest – said Mass in place of Fr Frank Barron, who had been seriously ill, but word reached the bishop’s office and it immediately sought a response.

“I wish only to offer Mass privately and carry out my spiritual activities in a like manner,” Maskell wrote, adding that the had been granted temporary leave from his last posting and had no “plan or desire to engage in any public ministry while here”. He did not respond to a follow-up letter from the diocese seeking confirmation of his status. Fr Barron died shortly afterwards.

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VIRGINIA
The News & Advance

Casey Gillis

I never watched “Making A Murderer” or “The Jinx,” and I didn’t listen to the insanely popular podcast “Serial” when it became a phenomenon back in 2014.

But, for some reason, I decided to queue up Netflix’s crime documentary series “The Keepers” last weekend.

I was instantly hooked, and kept watching even as the subject matter became increasingly more disturbing with each installment.

The seven-episode series focuses on the 1969 disappearance and murder of Baltimore nun Catherine Cesnik, as investigated by two of her former students, as well as an allegedly wide-ranging cover-up that protected a priest accused of sexual abuse at the Catholic high school where Cesnik taught.

Now in their 60s, those former students, Gemma Hoskins and Abbie Schaub, doggedly pursue leads, talk to witnesses and even suspects, and reconnect with former classmates from the school, Archbishop Keough High School.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

[assignment record – BishopAccountability.org]

By DAVID MCGRATH |
June 11, 2017

Father Kenneth Gansmann, pastor of St. John’s Church in Union Hill in New Prague, sexually assaulted me when I was 6 years old.

He was a friend of the family and a Franciscan who wore the familiar brown robe, knotted white cord, and sandals, when he wasn’t saying Mass.

I remember him as a people-friendly monk: soft spoken, with an infectious laugh, more like a chuckle, when he talked about baseball with my father, or politics with my uncles.

And Gansmann was implicitly trusted by my parents, who felt honored to have a man of God visit their home. With charm, deception, and gifts, he manipulated a family who revered his office and power.

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SOUTH AFRICA
Christian Today

Joseph Hartropp 10 June 2017

A Nigerian pastor accused of child sex abuse and human trafficking was yesterday denied bail from the Magistrate’s Court at Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Tim Omotoso, the televangelist pastor of the Jesus Dominion International church, Durban, has been held in jail since April 20, and was expected to flee South Africa if granted bail, according to Independent Online.

Magistrate Thandeka Mashiyi made the judgement, and said that the pastor, a Nigerian national whose family are all UK nationals, faced a sentence of at least life imprisonment.

‘His family, wife and children are all United Kingdom citizens, his church has international branches which he visits from time to time, he is regarded as an illegal immigrant [and] there is nothing tying the applicant to South Africa, Mashiyi said.

Omotoso is also accused of using fraudulent travel documentation.

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CANADA
CKNW

Charmaine de Silva
Posted: June 08, 2017

Mounties are investigating an alleged sexual assault involving students from a Metro Vancouver Catholic school.

“A report was made to the police over the weekend about an incident between a small number of our students.”

Catholic Independent Schools Vancouver Archdiocese Superintendent Dan Moric says details of that report aren’t clear.

However, CKNW has learned the allegations involve a sexual assault with an aspect of it captured and shared on social media.

Moric says it’s sensitive because there are no charges, and official complaints haven’t been made to the school.

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CANADA
CTV

CTV Vancouver
Published Thursday, June 8, 2017

Mounties are investigating sexual assault allegations involving students of a North Vancouver Catholic high school.

Few details have been provided because of the age of the students, but police said the incident occurred over the weekend. Officers have asked that the media not name the school due to privacy concerns.

The Vancouver Archdiocese, which oversees the school in question, said the incident involved several students and occurred off school property, after school hours.

“I know there was a misconduct of some nature that purportedly has a criminal element to it and that the police are investigating it,” said Dan Moric, superintendent of the Catholic Independent Schools of Vancouver Archdiocese.

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CANADA
Vancouver Sun

Stephanie Ip

The RCMP is looking into an alleged sexual assault involving teens at a Vancouver-area Catholic school.

The investigation was first reported by CKNW on Thursday and involves an unknown number of students from one school. It is believed the alleged incident was possibly captured and shared via social media.

Dan Moric is the superintendent with the Catholic Independent Schools Vancouver Archdiocese. In an email to Postmedia on Friday, he confirmed the investigation was taking place and that it was prompted by a report “made directly to police.”

“I believe concerned parent(s) may have also let the school know, but not sure about timing of that,” Moric wrote. He also couldn’t confirm if or how social media was involved.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

CHRIS MARSHALL

A “dreadful misunderstanding” of child abuse led the Catholic Church to offer therapy to paedophile priests and agree deals to avoid prosecutions.

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry heard the Church attempted to “repair” clerics who committed offences against children and had made “horrible mistakes” in its treatment of victims.

Speaking on behalf of the Bishops’ Conference, Monsignor Peter Smith said the Church “seldom” used its own formal processes in the past to punish sex offenders, choosing instead to send them to retreat houses for therapy.

Mgr Smith said in cases where the police and prosecution service became involved, often no further action was taken when it was agreed the priest would receive help.

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CONNECTICUT
Associated Press

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A Jewish boarding school’s licensing is now under scrutiny by Connecticut officials after the school was ordered to pay more than $20 million in a lawsuit accusing its founding rabbi of sexually abusing a student.

Officials say the school – Yeshiva of New Haven – apparently has been operating without the proper state credentials for several years. The state Department of Children and Families is warning the school it could face court action if it doesn’t obtain required state approvals.

A federal court jury last month awarded $15 million in compensatory damages to a former student who alleges he was repeatedly raped and molested by Rabbi Daniel Greer when he attended the school from 2001 to 2005. This week, a judge tacked on $5 million in punitive damages and about $1.7 million in interest to the sum the school and Greer must pay.

Greer denies the allegations and has not been criminally charged. His lawyer has said an appeal is planned. During a deposition in the case, Greer invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY
KENNETH LOVETT
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Friday, June 9, 2017

ALBANY — The head of a breakaway group of state Senate Democrats is amending his proposal to help child sex abuse victims in a way that has won over some skeptical advocates.

Sen. Jeffrey Klein’s bill contained a provision to create a commission to examine, evaluate and make binding recommendations on time-barred civil claims within a one-year window to determine if they could move forward.

Klein said the idea of the commission is to screen cases that are barred from proceeding to trial under current law to make sure they’re not frivolous and allowing legitimate ones to proceed.

But after a number of survivors complained a commission would merely set up another hurdle that victims have to get through that victims of other crimes do not, Klein agreed to make changes.

According to his spokeswoman, in addition to having a former prosecutor and a defense attorney, the five-member commission would now also be required to include a medical trauma expert and another plaintiff lawyer with experience litigating sexual abuse claims. The panel would also have to use a “good faith standard” when deciding whether a case can proceed.

Klein initially proposed having the court system develop new standards for the commission.

With the changes, Klein said that “I stand by the legislation as the best way to move forward to get a very important issue resolved.”

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

Phil Davis
Baltimore Sun Media Group

A former Bible study instructor at an Annapolis church was arrested and charged with sexually abusing a child, Anne Arundel police said Friday.

Police said Erick Ernesto Granados-Zeledon, 39, was arrested without incident at his home in the 1700 block of Oldtown Road in Edgewater on Thursday.

A child told investigators he had been sexually abused by Granados-Zeledon, who was a chaperone and Bible study instructor at Iglesia Hispana Emmanuel in Annapolis. The child was 10 at the time of the alleged abuse.

Police spokesman Lt. Ryan Frashure said none of the abuse happened at the church, but the department is concerned there may be more victims because Granados-Zeledon’s position put him in regular contact with children.

Charging documents state Granados-Zeledon was a friend of the victim’s family through the church and that he would take the child “from [the family’s] residence to church, out to eat and occasionally to his residence in Edgewater.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

GERARD WINDSOR
The Australian
June 10, 2017

Two confessions. First, I’m a practising, albeit sinful, Catholic. Second, I’ve crossed swords, in print, with ­George Pell.

So, is the lengthening charge sheet against the cardinal merely a vast smear campaign? In particular, is it one fuelled by a fierce antipathy to religion, to Christianity, and especially to Catholicism?

Certainly there is a stark contemporary context for this public indictment. By virtue of his status as a cardinal, his uncompromising personality and his position in the Vatican, Pell is perceived as the representative Australian Catholic. And that too at a time when the Catholic Church is seen as the major obstacle to a raft of proposed liberal social reforms: euthanasia bills before the NSW and Victorian parliaments, an abortion liberalisation bill in NSW, and the nationwide marriage equality debate.

The logic is obvious: discredit Pell and you discredit Catholic opinion on these issues. It’s a knockout blow.

Certainly we are seeing widespread expressions of the feeling that the Catholic Church has lost any right to be dictating, or even joining a discussion, on moral issues. There are secular zealots barracking shrilly as each new nail is hammered into the Pell coffin. And you know that it’s not simply justice they’re after.

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CONNECTICUT
CT Post

By Daniel Tepfer Saturday, June 10, 2017

NEW FAIRFIELD — When The Rev. Martin Federici looked out the window of the rectory of St. Edward Confessor Church that spring afternoon in 1984, he spied a 15-year-old boy getting the best of another in a fistfight.

“Father Fed,” was drawn to athletic boys.

Thirty-four years later the boy— who said he was sexually abused by Federici over a six-year period, starting that very day — accepted a settlement from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport. The Church’s action this past week was the last to address the more than 60 people who claimed in lawsuits they were similarly victimized by priests in the 1970s and 80s.

Now an adult, that boy says he is still suffering the aftershocks of those long ago sex assaults.

Because he hasn’t told members of his family about the abuse, including his four teenage sons, he asked that Hearst Connecticut Media identify him only as “Patrick.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Michael Arditti
Saturday 10 June 2017

Although Christ equivocally declared that some men “have made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven’s sake”, nowhere in the New Testament is celibacy enjoined on priests. St Paul, while advocating chastity as an ideal, assumed that most church leaders would be married, and St Peter, traditionally regarded as the first pope, had one of the most prominent mothers-in-law in the Bible.

Priestly celibacy, which was only enshrined in law in medieval times, emerged less for spiritual than for practical reasons. The church was determined to consolidate its property and its power: in the first case, by preventing priests from leaving their possessions to their children, and in the second by controlling their most powerful human instincts. Carnal passion was denigrated as animalistic and women as the instigators of their downfall. Priests should strive to emulate the sinless, sexless Christ.

Historically, clerical celibacy has been more honoured in the breach than in the observance. The most notorious offenders were the Renaissance popes, but there has been a long tradition of “the priest’s woman”, often his housekeeper. Statistics are understandably hard to obtain, but in a survey by the University of Chicago, quoted by Thomas Keneally in his new novel, 60% of Catholic priests admitted to sexual experience of one kind or another, findings that have been duplicated elsewhere.

It is those who repress their sexuality until, at breaking point, they target their most vulnerable charges who wreak irreparable damage on both their victims and their church. In an authorial preface, Keneally, who as a youth trained for the priesthood, acknowledges that “the education to make me celibate … could create, encourage or license the young men whose abusive tendencies are mourned in this novel”. That awareness permeates the entire book, from its central conflict to case studies, such as that of the priest who, having abused an altar boy, declares with horrifying candour that “a man is only human”.

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MARYLAND
CBS Baltimore

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A former chaperone and bible study instructor at Iglesia Hispanic Emmanuel Church in Annapolis faces several charges after being accused of sexually abusing a juvenile.

The Anne Arundel County Child Abuse Unit launched an investigation in May, interviewing the victim identifying 39-year-old Erick Ernesto Granados-Zeledon as a suspect.

Detectives obtained an arrest warrant and charged the suspect with Second Degree Sex Offense, Second Degree Child Abuse, Third Degree Sex Offense, Fourth Degree Sex Offense, Sexual Abuse of a Minor, Sodomy and Second Degree Assault.

On Thursday, they arrested him without incident at his residence in the 1700 block of Oldtown Road in Edgewater.

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MARYLAND
Capital Gazette

Phil DavisContact Reporter
pdavis@capgaznews.com

A 39-year-old bible study instructor at an Annapolis church was arrested and charged with sexually abusing a child, Anne Arundel police said Friday.

The police department said Erick Ernesto Granados-Zeledon was arrested without incident at his home in the 1700 block of Oldtown Road in Edgewater on Thursday.

A child told investigators they had been sexually abused by Granados-Zeledon, who was a chaperone and bible study instructor at the Iglesia Hispanic Emmanuel Church in Annapolis.

Police spokesman Lt. Ryan Frashure said none of the abuse happened at the church itself, but the department is concerned there may be more victims as his position put him in regular contact with children.

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MARYLAND
WBAL

ANNAPOLIS, Md. —
A church chaperone and Bible study instructor is accused of sexually abusing a child, Anne Arundel County police said.

Erick Ernesto Granados-Zeledon, 39, of the 1700 block of Oldtown Road in Edgewater, is charged with second-degree sex offense, second-degree child abuse, third-degree sex offense, fourth-degree sex offense, sexual abuse of a minor, sodomy and second-degree assault.

Police said detectives interviewed the juvenile victim and learned that Granados-Zeledon was a volunteer at the Iglesia Hispanic Emmanuel Church in Annapolis.

The church has been cooperating with law enforcement in regards to the investigation, police said.

Police said Granados-Zeledon is no longer a volunteer at the church and had no affiliation with its private school or day care.

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UNITED STATES
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

WASHINGTON—As they begin the Spring General Assembly, Bishops from across the U.S. will gather at Ss. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis for a Mass of Prayer and Penance for survivors of sexual abuse within the Church. The Mass is being 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 sexual abuse within the Church and will be held June 14, 2017 at 5:00 pm at Ss. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis.

The bishops will gather together in solidarity to pray for victims and to acknowledge the pain caused by the failures of the Church in the past. The Mass will mark the opening for the June Plenary Assembly of bishops taking place June 14-15 in Indianapolis. Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston and President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will be the principal celebrant. Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory, of Atlanta, and former President of the USCCB, will be the homilist.

In an act of penance and humility, the bishops will also kneel and recite a commemorative prayer that has been written for survivors of abuse in their healing. Intercessory Prayers of the Faithful will also be offered for those who have suffered due to clergy sex abuse. All dioceses and eparchies have been provided the suggested intercessory Prayers of the Faithful for use at any time of their choosing after June 14.

In addition to this specific Day of Prayer and Penance, many dioceses and eparchies will also schedule their own Masses or other events to promote healing within their diocese/eparchy throughout the year.

The Mass is scheduled to be livestreamed. The livestream link will be available on the USCCB website.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic News Service

By Carol Zimmermann Catholic News Service
6.8.2017

WASHINGTON (CNS) — 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.

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.

The report also shows an increase of 730 allegations from the previous year’s report and stresses that a most of the increase in allegations this year comes from the six dioceses in Minnesota, because the state in 2013 opened its civil statute of limitations for such claims until May 2016, giving victims over age 24 a three-year window to sue for past abuse. These six dioceses reported 351 more allegations than they did in the 2015 audit year.

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NEW YORK
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Kenneth F. O’Connell was ordained for the Archdiocese of New York in 1956. He served as an assistant at parishes in Manhattan and Mt. Vernon before being named pastor in Larchmont in 1981. O’Connell was involved throughout his career with the Catholic Boy Scouts, locally and nationally; he was chaplain and chair of the National Catholic Committee on Scouting 1973-1975. He also held leadership positions for the Archdiocesan Catholic Youth Organizations, as assistant director 1973-1975, then director 1975-1978. In 1973 O’Connell founded a scouting camp called Camp Spes Mundi, in Hope Falls, NY. He died in 1984 at age 54.

In May 2017 O’Connell was accused publicly of having perpetrated sexual abuse against a boy scout in 1973. O’Connell’s accuser claimed that when he was 12-years-old, O’Connell raped him at Camp Spes Mundi. The former boy scout said that, after injuring his ribs while wrestling with fellow campers, he was prescribed muscle-relaxants by a doctor and told to sleep indoors. That was when he said O’Connell had him spend the night in his room to “keep an eye” on him, then forcefully sodomized him. He said O’Connell left camp the next day and he never saw him again.

O’Connell’s accuser received a financial settlement from the archdiocese in 2017 via its Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program.

Ordained: 1956
Died: November 21, 1984

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Friday, June 09, 2017

By Conall Ó Fátharta
Irish Examiner Reporter

The Justice For Magdalenes Research (JFMR) group has written to the Ombudsman expressing its long-held concerns over the Magdalene redress scheme.

Ombudsman Peter Tyndall notified the Department of Justice of its intention to launch an investigation into the scheme last December.

In February, JFMR sent a 14-page letter to the office of the Ombudsman outlining eight separate areas where it claimed the scheme was not being administered fairly by the department, including:

The failure to provide the full range of health and community care services recommended by Mr Justice Quirke in 2013;

* Failure to backdate pension payments to retirement age;
* The lack of assistance for particularly vulnerable Magdalene survivors;
* The failure to establish important aspects of the recommended dedicated unit;
* The lack of fair procedures and/or transparency regarding the duration of time assessment;
* The unreasonable exclusion of women who worked as children in Magdalene Laundries on the basis of an irrationally narrow interpretation of the “admitted to” criterion;
* Lack of public access to the archive of state records informing the IDC Report;
* The refusal to accept state responsibility for forced labour or other abuse in Magdalene Laundries.

The department has at all times claimed it is administering the scheme in line with recommendations.

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FRANCE
L’Independent

Dix ans après avoir été informé par une victime présumée d’attouchements sexuels de la part d’un prêtre de son diocèse, l’ancien évêque d’Orléans André Fort a été mis en examen jeudi pour n’avoir pas dénoncé les faits à la justice.

Mgr André Fort, évêque d’Orléans de 2002 à 2010, a été mis en examen jeudi matin par un juge d’instruction à la suite d’une décision de la chambre d’instruction d’Orléans, ont indiqué Martin Pradel et Edmond-Claude Fréty, avocats de trois victimes présumées du prêtre, qui se sont portées partie civile.

Mgr André Fort fut évêque du diocèse de Perpignan-Elne entre 1995 et 2002, date à laquelle il a été transféré à Orléans.

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FRANCE
GMA News

Published June 9, 2017

ORLEANS, France – The former bishop of the French city of Orleans was charged Thursday with failing to report a pedophile priest under his watch, lawyers for the plaintiffs said.

Andre Fort, who was bishop of Orleans from 2002 until his retirement in 2010, was charged by investigators in the northern city, according to Martin Pradel and Edmond-Claude Frety, lawyers for three alleged victims pressing civil charges against disgraced priest Pierre de Castelet.

De Castelet, 66, is accused of child abuse dating back to 1993 when he served as chaplain at a camp for young Christians and was charged in 2012. He also worked as a chaplain for the European Scouts movement.

It was Fort’s successor Jacques Blaquart who reported de Castelet to authorities after one of the alleged victims contacted him in 2011. Blaquart said last year that the case involved “eight or nine cases of the touching of minors, of victims aged around 12”.

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NEW YORK
Staten Island Advance

BY DIANE C. LORE

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Clergy sex abuse survivor Shaun Dougherty will be attending upcoming community board meetings in Staten Island to discuss the New York Archdiocese compensation program for abuse victims.

The deadline to apply for the program was set for July 31, but the Archdiocese has extended it to Nov. 1.

A total of 145 victims have submitted claims under the program so far since it was announced by Cardinal Timothy Dolan in October, 2016; 122 have accepted the compensation offered, according to archdiocesan spokesman Joseph Zwilling.

Dougherty said he wants to encourage survivors to register before the program expires.

As part of his effort to raise awareness for the program, he is also sending letters to local churches urging them to discuss the program with their parishioners.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Friday, June 09, 2017

By Conall Ó Fátharta
Irish Examiner Reporter

Gardaí have forwarded a complaint for the personal attention of the Data Protection Commissioner that files relating to vaccine trials in Bessborough mother and baby home were altered in 2002.

The complaint was made by Mari Steed after the Irish Examiner revealed in November that the files of mothers and children used in the 1960/61 4-in-1 vaccine trial were altered in 2002 — just weeks after the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse sought discovery of records from the religious order running the home.

Ms Steed was one of the children used in the trial and was subsequently adopted in the US. Her natural mother’s file is one of those listed as having been changed. Gardaí investigating the matter have written to her to say the complaint has been forwarded for the “personal attention” of Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon.

Ms Steed said she felt she had a personal obligation to make a Garda complaint on the matter, She said Tusla, which now holds the records, has “an ethical, moral, and public interest” in contacting all of the people it can confirm were part of a trial.

The Irish Examiner put a series of questions to the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in relation to the document outlining the above changes. The order declined to answer any of them.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Islington Gazette

Sam Gelder

The name of a paedophile priest who raped and assaulted boys for decades before being jailed last month was handed to police in 1992, the Gazette can reveal.

“Father Eugene” was identified in information about suspected child abuse given to former Islington social worker and whistleblower Liz Davies, who passed it on to police.

Dr Davies contacted the Gazette after reading our story last week about Father Eugene Fitzpatrick, who was jailed for 22 years for carrying out horrific abuse at Our Lady and Saint Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Balls Pond Road and elsewhere in Islington.

It follows an investigation by the Gazette that revealed new evidence about child abuse in the borough in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s.

Dr Davies and former Evening Standard journalist Eileen Fairweather, who blew the lid on the borough’s child abuse scandal in 1992, have both confirmed the name “Father Eugene” was passed to Scotland Yard.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

CHRIS MARSHALL
Friday 09 June 2017

A “dreadful misunderstanding” of child abuse led the Catholic Church to offer therapy to paedophile priests and agree deals to avoid prosecutions.

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry heard the Church attempted to “repair” clerics who committed offences against children and had made “horrible mistakes” in its treatment of victims.

Speaking on behalf of the Bishops’ Conference, Monsignor Peter Smith said the Church “seldom” used its own formal processes in the past to punish sex offenders, choosing instead to send them to retreat houses for therapy.

Mgr Smith said in cases where the police and prosecution service became involved, often no further action was taken when it was agreed the priest would receive help.

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SCOTLAND
The Daily Mail

By Graham Grant For The Daily Mail

The Catholic Church in Scotland has admitted it made a ‘huge mistake’ by sending paedophile priests away to be ‘fixed’ rather than prosecuting them.

A senior cleric said yesterday that abuse was seen as a ‘sin’ and the church focused more on ‘treating’ child molesters than on helping their young victims.

He said there were occasions when prosecutors turned a blind eye and agreed not to bring charges on the condition abusers received therapy, with their crimes seen as a ‘moral fault that could be fixed by prayer and retreat’.

Some abusers were sent to a hospital in Ireland, he revealed.

Monsignor Peter Smith, former chancellor of the Archdiocese of Glasgow, told a hearing of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry in Edinburgh that abuse had ‘always been seen as a serious sin for a cleric’ and that there was an internal court process for accused priests.

But he said the ‘reality was these processes were seldom used’ because the abuse was seen as a ‘sin’ that could be ‘sorted’.

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., June 6, 2017

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent
religion@gallupindependent.com

GALLUP — Officials with the Diocese of Gallup have postponed a healing service for clergy sex abuse survivors that had been scheduled this week in Thoreau.

The healing service was originally scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School. It has been pushed back three weeks to June 29.

“In order to properly accommodate the 30-day requirement we found it necessary to reschedule the healing service,” Suzanne Hammons, the diocese’s spokeswoman, said in an email Friday.

According to the non-monetary provisions of the diocese’s Chapter 11 plan of reorganization, Gallup Bishop James S. Wall is required to visit each operating Catholic parish or school in the diocese where sex abuse occurred or where a credibly accused abuser was assigned. The diocese is also required to publicize each healing service 30 days in advance through notices posted in parishes, church bulletins, on the diocesan website, and in the diocese’s Voice of the Southwest publication.

Hammons was asked how the diocese is publicizing the St. Bonaventure healing service since the school will be closed for the summer and Thoreau has no Catholic parish and therefore no church bulletins.

Hammons said the new date has actually been posted on the diocesan website for several weeks, and notices have been sent to several parishes near Thoreau for inclusion in their bulletins.

“The new date was not made to fit in the schedule of the school year,” she said. “Students at St. Bonaventure are not the intended audience for the healing service — our first priority is the survivors.”

However, the one publicly known clergy sex abuse survivor from Thoreau is a former St. Bonaventure student who was abused at the school by the Rev. Douglas McNeill, the school’s former director for 20 years. That abuse survivor filed a clergy abuse lawsuit in 1994 and signed a settlement agreement with the Diocese of Gallup and St. Bonaventure in 1995. His settlement of approximately $135,000 has been the only individual settlement amount publicly disclosed in the Gallup Diocese.

The abuse survivor, who lives in northern New Mexico, attended one of the Diocese of Gallup’s bankruptcy hearings in Albuquerque in 2016. In comments to the Independent after the hearing, the man alleged he was not the only male student at St. Bonaventure to be sexually abused by McNeill, but he said he was the only one who came forward.

Thoreau area abusers

According to the Diocese of Gallup’s list of credibly accused clergy sex abusers, the following abusers have worked in Thoreau or nearby parishes or missions:

– Clement Hageman: Mission Center for Navajo Indians at Smith Lake and Thoreau, 1939.

– Douglas McNeill: St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School in Thoreau, 1974-1994.

– Santino Casimano: St. Paul Parish in Crownpoint, 1975-1976.

– Michael Aten: St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School in Thoreau, June 1976.

– John Boland: St. Paul Parish in Crownpoint and Risen Savior Mission in Bluewater, 1999.

Any abuse survivor who attends the healing service at St. Bonaventure is invited to meet privately with Wall after the service. The service is expected to be about 35 minutes.

According to the non-monetary provisions, any abuse survivor who wants a private meeting with the bishop at a different time has the right to make that request. In addition, communications to abuse survivors are required to be returned within two business days. Currently, there are two safe environment contacts in the diocese. Elizabeth Terrill, the victims’ assistance coordinator, can be contacted at 505-906-7357 or victimsassistance@dioceseofgallup.org. The Rev. Matthew Keller, the vicar general in the diocese, can be contacted at 505-722-6644 or vicargeneral@dioceseofgallup.org.

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NORTH CAROLINA
WLOS

by Jennifer Emert

Thursday, June 8th 2017

RUTHERFORD COUNTY, N.C. (WLOS) — A minister at Word of Faith Fellowship faces a second trial next month.

Brooke Covington is charged with kidnapping and assaulting former church member Matthew Fenner. Four others are also charged in the case.

The judge declared a mistrial earlier this week after the jury foreman passed out documents to other jurors.

The next court calendar is set for July 17.

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NEW YORK
Forward

June 8, 2017 By Sam Kestenbaum

The New York State Assembly on Wednesday approved the Child Victims Act legislation to extend the statute of limitation for criminal and civil child sex abuse cases.

It was the first time either chamber of the Legislature has approved that bill since 2008, the Times Union reported — though the legislation’s chances of passing in the state Senate are uncertain.

Under current law, the statute of limitations for felony sexual abuse crimes runs five years and begins at age 18.

But under this legislation, the five-year statute wouldn’t begin until the victim is 23, according to the Times Union, and the statute of limitations (for civil cases) would extend to age 50. The legislation would also create a one-year window for past victims of sexual abuse whose time period to bring a lawsuit has passed to file a civil lawsuit.

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NEW YORK
Riverdale Press

By Alexandra Hutzler

It’s happened in our own backyard.

Oftentime, Riverdale can seem like a leafy oasis separate from outside chaos and corruption, with its stately red-brick homes and charming stony sidewalks built for raising families and hosting students.

But the community was rocked in 2012 with the revelation that Horace Mann School was the site of decades of sexual abuse. Then, in 2015, others claimed a rabbi at the Riverdale Jewish Center was taking naked boys as young as 12 into the sauna after games of racquetball or squash, though he was never accused of overt sexual acts.

As New York state law now stands, victims of child sex abuse have five years to bring forward a case once they turn 18. This means they have until they are 23 to confront their abusers — the same age many young adults graduate college or move into their first apartment.

The only other states with such a statute of limitations are Mississippi, Alabama and Michigan — all of which rank among the worst in the nation in terms of how their criminal justice laws treats victims, according to the National Association for the Prosecution of Child Abuse.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | The Guam Daily Post

The attorney representing the plaintiffs in more than 50 clergy child sex abuse cases filed in federal court announced yesterday he would be filing a motion to stay his clients’ cases as he enters negotiations for possible out-of-court settlements with the Hope and Healing program.

Attorney David Lujan is representing dozens of named and unnamed plaintiffs who have accused former archdiocese clergy including priests and bishops, the Boy Scouts of America and the Archdiocese of Agana as a whole of either perpetrating, aiding or abetting the sexual abuse of minors from as far back as the 1950s up to as recently as the 1980s. Lujan told District Court Magistrate Judge Joaquin Manibusan yesterday that he would be filing for a stay sometime next week.

Lujan reported that Hope and Healing’s goal is to settle all the cases by Sept. 1. However, given the short period of time between now and the start of September, he added that if settlement talks began and his clients were satisfied with the result, he feels it would not matter whether all of the cases had been completely resolved by then.

“As each case is evaluated and settled, some I expect will settle and some I expect may not settle because perhaps the offer that is being given is not enough,” Lujan said. “It depends on the particular plaintiff.”

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SOUTH AFRICA/UNITED KINGDOM
Church Times

by TIM WYATT 09 JUNE 2017

JOHN SMYTH, the man accused of savagely beating young men at Evangelical Christian camps during the 1970s and ’80s (News, 13 April), has been formally expelled from his church in South Africa, where he now lives.

In a lengthy statement, the elders of Church-on-Main, Cape Town, where Mr Smyth and his wife, Anne, have worshipped since 2013, announced that the Smyths would be “excommunicated, with all its scriptural implications”, because of Mr Smyth’s refusal to engage with the church leadership about the allegations.

The statement explains that the church was aware that some had criticised Mr Smyth’s holiday-camp ministry in Zimbabwe when he first joined Church-on-Main, four years ago, but had been assured that this was nothing more than jealousy at the ministry’s success.

Last September, however, the church elders found out that Mr Smyth was regularly meeting young men from Church-on-Main at a sports club, playing squash before showering together and then questioning them about “pornography, masturbation, and other sexual matters”.

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NEW YORK
Riverdale Press

Posted June 9, 2017

There’s a big difference between being prayed for and preyed upon. That’s one of the many lessons moviegoers learned from the Oscar-winning film “Spotlight” a couple years back about The Boston Globe journalism team that uncovered a child sexual abuse problem that extended well beyond a handful of bad priests.

The abuse scandal continues to rock the Catholic Church, even today, although we should be careful not to forget such heinous, innocence-destroying acts aren’t limited to a single group.

The Crimes Against Children Research Center, part of the University of New Hampshire, has found that 1-in-20 boys are victims of sexual abuse. It’s far worse for girls, however, where 1-in-5 are victimized.

And that’s just what’s reported. The shame and fear that floods a sexual abuse victim traumatizes these children into long-term silence, many well into adulthood — if not forever. It easily could take years for a victim to seek justice, yet in New York, if you don’t recover enough by the time you’re 23, you’re out of luck.

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NEW YORK
The Journal News

Jorge Fitz-Gibbon, jfitzgib@lohud.com June 9, 2017

Long before he was defrocked, the Rev. Francis Stinner was a familiar figure in his Somers neighborhood, walking his poodle along the narrow residential streets where local kids were frequently found playing stick ball, kickball or basketball.

Many of them were from Italian- and Irish-Catholic families, and they knew Stinner from the old St. Joseph’s Church in Croton Falls. Some would ultimately sit in his classes at John F. Kennedy Catholic High School, just a few miles away on Goldens Bridge Road, where he taught for years.

His home was a neatly-kept, one-story corner house that still sits there today. It is where he raped one of those boys.

“He would give me rides sometimes, buy me, like, soda or that type of thing. I’d be over to his house, and that’s when the incident happened,” said the then-12-year-old boy, now a middle-aged father and businessman.

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UNITED STATES
Collider

BY ADAM CHITWOOD JUNE 8, 2017

The true crime “docuseries” format is a relatively new phenomenon, but one that’s seen great success with watercooler shows like The Jinx and Making a Murderer. Netflix recently went all in on a new docuseries, The Keepers, which chronicles the murder of a nun in 1969 Baltimore, but what sets The Keepers apart from these others shows is its emotional core. While the series does indeed delve into the murder of Sister Cathy Cesnick, there’s an even more sinister undercurrent having to do with systemic sexual abuse by a Catholic priest at an all-girls school.

Throughout the series, director Ryan White maintains a laser focus on the survivors of this abuse, allowing them to tell their stories—no longer silenced. It makes The Keepers all the more emotionally involving and, in the end, long-lasting. It’s not a thrilling yet fleeting walk through a crime story. It’s a complex web of abuse that occurred and was allowed to occur by those in power, and one that’s taken years to fully uncover.

I recently got the chance to speak with White about the series. We discussed how he first became involved with this story, the evolution of its focus as time went on, aspects of the story that were left out of the finished series, and trying to keep everything together as the story got more and more convoluted. Given that there are so many unanswered questions we also addressed some theories regarding certain events and discussed the recent revelations having to do with Father Maskell as Baltimore continues to investigate Sister Cathy’s murder. It’s a wide-ranging interview that hopefully provides some insight into what it was like to bring this show to life, and the emotional impact that these stories had on White himself.

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UNITED STATES
Oxygen

by Eric Shorey
June 8, 2017

Episode 3 of Netflix’s true crime doc starts with Jean Hargadon Whener, the Jane Doe who came forward with startling accusations against the administrators at Archbishop Keough High School. “This is not just a story, this really happened,” she says as she lights a candle.

Doe remembers being taken to the body of Sister Cathy as an intimidation tactic to keep her from coming forward, with the abuses she suffered growing increasingly horrendous. Doe maintains she completely buried the memories for two decades before they arose again – she had created a completely normal life with no recollection of her trauma for 20 or so years. Interviews with Whener’s family reveal a semi-idyllic upbringing in Baltimore and an inclination towards religiosity. In the early 90’s, Wehner has a chance encounter with a former Keough high school student who asks her to come to a class reunion. Wehner reports experiencing extreme discomfort, although she couldn’t explain why. While praying on her confusion later, she slowly began recalling the abuse she detailed in episode 2.

Whener talks about the denial she dealt with while she recovered these deeply repressed memories – and the antecedent guilt about not reporting it. Jean attempted to inform various pastors about the abuse. They begin to build a case against the abusive administration, with Jean eventually making a formal statement to the Archdiocese. They asked Jean to find another student who faced abuse to corroborate on her story. Not only couldn’t she, she was also unwilling to ask anyone to re-live their trauma. Whener brought forward more names of potential abusers, but the archdiocese refuses to cooperate until someone else comes forward with allegations – they’re baseless otherwise.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

David Marr
Friday 9 June 2017

Philip Wilson, archbishop of Adelaide, is preparing to step aside from his duties after the New South Wales court of appeal unanimously dismissed his latest attempt to have a charge of failing to report child abuse quashed.

A spokeswoman for archbishop told Guardian Australia. “Now that there has been clarification on some of the points of law which arise, the archbishop is keen to move onto the trial preparation phase and will take time away from his duties when the trial approaches so that he can prepare his defence and demonstrate his innocence.”

Wilson is the most senior Catholic in the world to be charged with failing to report child sex abuse. He stood aside in March 2015 after a magistrate held he had to stand trial but resumed duties in Adelaide early last year as his legal team continued to fight through the courts.

The archbishop has now failed at every hurdle. The magistrate, a supreme court judge and now three members of the court of appeal – including the chief justice of NSW Tom Bathurst QC – have all found that the archbishop must stand trial.

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UNITED STATES
Junkee

by MEG WATSON 9 JUNE 2017

If Netflix had a category labelled Trauma – and it surely can’t be far away – The Keepers would be a Top Pick. There’s never been any secret that this, a show about a murdered nun, was full of tragedy. But the sheer scope and depth of that hurt has taken many by surprise.

This is a show primarily about a 26-year-old woman who was abducted and murdered; her head caved in and body left to rot, infested with maggots. The first episode then tells us of a second woman, abducted, killed, and largely forgotten; and their two families who are without answers. This is, ostensibly, our mystery.

But The Keepers, as we go on to learn in six more gut-wrenching instalments, is also a story of rape and assault and psychological torment; of institutional abuse, and men who were given powers to act like gods. It’s a story of women (it is almost exclusively women) who were manipulated and silenced and defeated, by threat or circumstance. The series lets us get to know these survivors, and tracks their pains as it collides with the monolithic structures of the Catholic Church and police.

The tragedy of The Keepers isn’t just in a dead nun and those she left behind. The tragedy is that the documentary barely has a starting point to go off, and often doesn’t know exactly what it’s looking at. How do you hunt for a killer – let alone feel any thrill in the chase – when you’re watching everyone wash someone’s blood off their hands?

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Phil Lawler Jun 08, 2017

The short piece that appears below was originally posted on this site one year ago: on June 6, 2016. The references are now dated (when I refer to “last June,” for instance, it’s now the June before last; and the motu proprio now more than year old), but the logic still holds. We’re still waiting for reassurance that the Vatican under Pope Francis is serious about a crackdown on bishops who ignore sexual abuse.

The new motu proprio is entitled Come una Madre Amorevole, but it might just as well have been named “And This Time We Really Mean It.” The papal document does not (despite what you might have read in the headlines) create a policy for removing bishops who neglect evidence of sexual abuse. The Code of Canon Law already provided for the removal of bishops “for grave causes.” The new motu proprio only clarifies the process for ousting a bishop, and states clearly what everyone should already know: that failure to curtail sexual abuse of minors by clerics is a “grave cause.”

Thus it was already possible—a week or a year or a decade ago—for the Vatican to remove a bishop who protected sexual predators. With the release of the motu proprio we know more about how the Vatican would go about ousting a negligent bishop. We still don’t know whether or when the new procedures will be put to use.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Lehigh Valley Live

BY SARAH CASSI scassi@lehighvalleylive.com,
For lehighvalleylive.com

A former Emmaus priest admitted on Thursday to downloading nude pictures of children for sexual gratification.

John Mraz, a monsignor and pastor of St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Emmaus before being removed from public ministry, pleaded guilty to all three charges against him: possession of child pornography, illegal use of a communication facility and obtaining obscene/sexual images.

He is slated to be sentenced at a later date, following a presentence investigation. Under the plea deal, Mraz’s minimum sentence is capped at 6 months in jail, meaning the judge could

The 67-year-old Mraz has “serious medical issues,” according to prosecutors, and used a walker to walk into court and up to the judge’s bench. Mraz currently lives at Holy Family Villa for priests in Bethlehem while being free on $50,000 unsecured bail.

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NORTH CAROLINA
WLOS

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) —
A former Waynesville priest pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a Rhode Island boarding school student.

Howard White Jr. was rector at Grace Church in Waynesville from 1984 until 2006.

Prosecutors say the now 75-year-old White assaulted the boy during two overnight trips to Boston when the boy was 15 and 16. At the tim, White worked at St. George’s School in Middletown, Rhode Island.

White, who was stripped of his priesthood by the Episcopal Church, received an 18-month sentence.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call

Laurie Mason Schroeder
Of The Morning Call

A Roman Catholic priest forced to step down after child pornography was discovered on his computer, pleaded guilty Thursday in Lehigh County Court.

Monsignor John S. Mraz, formerly of St. Ann Catholic Church in Emmaus, told Judge Maria L. Dantos that he didn’t remember downloading the child pornography but didn’t contest that he possessed it.

“This is the first that I’m hearing a description of the pictures,” Mraz said. “I don’t recall those types of images, but if they’re on the computer, they’re there.”

Mraz, 67, pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography, criminal use of a communication device and possessing obscene or sexual materials, all felonies. He will be sentenced in about 90 days, following a Megan’s Law review.

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NEW YORK
Legislative Gazette

Written by By THOMAS GIERY PUDNEY, assistant editor on June 8, 2017

The Assembly passed a long-contested Child Victims Act bill Wednesday afternoon, giving childhood sexual abuse victims hope they may soon have the opportunity seek justice for crimes committed years ago.

Passing by a margin of 129-7, the Child Victims Act (A.5885-a) extends the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution of sexual acts committed against a child from 23 to 28 years of age, and allows for civil action until the victim’s 50th birthday. The bill also allows for a one year “lookback window” during which victims are allowed to file suit against abusers formerly protected by the statute of limitations in New York state, which is one of the most limited in the country.

This one-year window has been the main sticking point for this bill over the last several years. Churches and other organizations fear an onslaught of legal actions for abuse that may have happened decades ago, holding innocent members and donors financially responsible for crimes they didn’t commit.

On the other hand, proponents of the bill say allowing previous victims to seek compensation is the only way victims will find justice and closure.

“Legislators have a responsibility to protect kids. Senate Republicans have failed miserably at this.” said Gary Greenberg, an abuse survivor and founder of the Fighting for Children Public Action Committee. “I call on this governor to speak up now . . . provide safety, protect our kids, bring justice for victims and take predators off the street.”

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DEUTSCHLAND
Regensburger Nachricten

[The investigations have been taking place for several years and now the number of possible victims amounts to about 422 former at the Domspatzen.cathedral choir.]

Seit mehreren Jahren laufen die Ermittlungen, mittlerweile beläuft sich die Zahl der möglichen Opfer auf etwa 422 ehemalige Domspatzen. Erstmals trat 2010 Alexander Probst mit seinen Erfahrungen ans Licht, von Pax Christi wurde ihm deshalb dieses Jahr ein Preis für Zivilcourage verliehen. Bis Ende 2017 sollen die Opfer mit zwischen 5.000 und 20.000 Euro Schmerzensgeld entschädigt werden, je nach Schwere des Missbrauchs.

Die Opfer, die in den vergangenen Jahren nach und nach vortraten, wurden zwischen 1945 und Anfang der 1990er sexuell und körperlich missbraucht und gedemütigt. Viele trauten sich nicht darüber zu reden – bis Alexander Probst (Foto unten), in der Hoffnung endlich Frieden und Aufklärung zu finden, den Schritt wagte und als Erster an die Öffentlichkeit trat. Wie die Anderen, die ihm später folgten, hatte er Geschichten von Grausamkeit, Pädophilie und Perversion zu erzählen, ein Schicksal, das viele berührte und viele, die es teilten, dazu ermutigte auch an die Öffentlichkeit zu gehen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
BR

Das Bistum Würzburg hat einen 55-jährigen Ruhestandspriester bei der Staatsanwaltschaft wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs eines Minderjährigen angezeigt. Dieser Missbrauch soll Anfang der 1990er Jahre in Österreich passiert sein. Dort war der Priester damals Mitglied einer Ordensgemeinschaft.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Bistum Wurzburg

[Würzburg (POW) On Thursday 8 June, the Diocese of Würzburg denounced a retired priest (55) to the Würzburg prosecutor’s office for an allegation of the sexual abuse of a minor.]

Würzburg (POW) Die Diözese Würzburg hat am Donnerstag, 8. Juni, einen Ruhestandspriester (55) bei der Staatsanwaltschaft Würzburg wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs eines Minderjährigen angezeigt.

Dieser Missbrauch soll sich Anfang der 1990er Jahre in Österreich ereignet haben, wo der heute in der Diözese Würzburg lebende Priester als Mitglied einer Ordensgemeinschaft in einem Kloster tätig war. Erste Hinweise auf den angezeigten Vorfall waren in den vergangenen Wochen an das Bischöfliche Ordinariat Würzburg herangetragen worden. Nach eigenen Recherchen und der Konfrontation des Priesters mit dem Vorwurf erfolgte durch Generalvikar Thomas Keßler die Anzeige. Die Diözese Würzburg informierte unverzüglich die römische Glaubenskongregation von dem Vorfall.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Main Post

[The diocese of Würzburg has advised Würzburg prosecutor’s office of a retired priest who allegedly abused a minor. This was announced by the Ordinariat on Thursday.]

Christine Jeske
WÜRZBURG

Die Diözese Würzburg hat einen Ruhestandspriester bei der Staatsanwaltschaft Würzburg wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs eines Minderjährigen angezeigt. Das teilte das Ordinariat am Donnerstag mit. Die Diözese stützt sich auf Hinweise, die sie durch den Vorsitzenden einer Opferinitiative, Johannes Heibel, und dieser Redaktion erhalten hat. Ebenso auf eigene Recherchen.

Aufgrund dieser Anfragen wurde der Diözese bekannt, dass sich der mutmaßliche Missbrauch Anfang der 1990er Jahre in Österreich ereignet haben soll. Ab 2000 wurde dem Priester eine Gemeinde in der Diözese Würzburg anvertraut. Dort hat er nachweislich 2002 einen Jungen missbraucht und wurde zu einer Freiheitsstrafe von zehn Monaten auf Bewährung verurteilt.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Johanna Seltz GLOBE CORRESPONDENT JUNE 08, 2017

The Scituate Roman Catholic church occupied for nearly 12 years by parishioners opposed to its closing is on the market for $2.2 million.

St. Franccs X. Cabrini church and its surrounding 16.2 acres are likely to become a residential development, according to the realtor listing the property.

“We are getting a lot of interest in the land from many, many developers,” said Elaine Bongarzone of the Jack Conway real estate firm.

Vigilers held their last service at St. Frances X. Cabrini in May 2016.

The Archdiocese of Boston closed the church in 2004 — a move challenged by parishioners who staged an almost 12-year vigil and occupied the church round-the-clock until their legal appeals ran out. The parishioners held a farewell service in May 2016.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY
KENNETH LOVETT
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, June 7, 2017

ALBANY – The Assembly on Wednesday gave long-awaited passage to a bill to make it easier for child sex abuse survivors to seek justice — but not before a lawmaker emotionally recounted how as a 10-year-old she was molested by her pastor.

Assemblywoman Rodneyese Bichotte (D-Brooklyn) during the two-hour debate talked about being bedridden and home-schooled after a horrific car accident.

She said her religious mother arranged a large prayer group that eventually dwindled down to one — her pastor — as she recovered. That’s when things turned “sinful,” she said.

The pastor began to touch and kiss her in different parts of her house, including the living room and near the garage.

It was 34 years ago, but Bichotte said “that is an experience that I will never forget.”

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AUSTRALIA
Eureka Street

Stephen de Weger | 06 June 2017

In light of the proposed Catholic Synod in 2020, there is an issue that, if not included, may prove to be a fatal flaw for the current church hierarchy.

As distasteful as it may be, having now been dragged through the public square of the royal commission, unless the Synod faces up to another plank in the Church’s own eye, that of clergy sexual activity and misconduct involving adults, its hopes may well be dashed before they are even discussed.

Such sexual activity may be perceived in many ways. While it may be seen as a deeply human and spiritual expression of love between a celibate and an understanding other, it has also been described and experienced as ‘mistakes’ or ‘experiments’ on the journey to celibacy; the repercussions of mandatory celibacy; professional sexual misconduct; sexual/indecent assault; or simply spiritual and power abuse.

Regardless of how it is perceived, sexual activity between clergy and adults happens, and must be addressed. Not only does it happen, but research has shown ‘clerics are more likely to engage in sexual misconduct with adults than minors’.

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UNITED STATES
Slate

By Kathryn VanArendonk

This article originally appeared in Vulture.

Netflix’s new true-crime series The Keepers tells a familiar story. As its very thorough trailer makes clear, it’s a series about a murder, with the added fillip of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church—a tale so common that it’s now been told through investigative journalism, an Oscar-winning film, and multiple Law & Order episodes.

And yet, at its core, The Keepers is built on a different scale than many of the other series in its true-crime cohort. Where shows like The Jinx or Making a Murderer focus intensely on a small handful of individuals, and tend to center their storytelling on a few obsessively detailed criminal investigations, The Keepers casts an unusually wide net. From the initial focus on the death of one nun, Sister Cathy Cesnik, it then spins outward to encompass a story full of horrific sexual abuse, apparent cover-ups, and a massive web of tenuous, suggestive, notable, and often unproven connections.

If you’re looking for analogous models in fictional series, The Keepers is not Top of the Lake or The Honorable Woman or True Detective. Many fictional crime series reach for broad networks of conspiracy, but they almost always boil down to a few primary players: the detective. The murderer. The red herring. The key witness. The Keepers doesn’t work that way; it is not Sherlock Holmes. It’s The Wire.

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UNITED STATES
Inverse

By Caitlin Busch on June 7, 2017

On May 19, Netflix released its latest true-crime documentary series, The Keepers, which introduced the world to the potential corruption at the Catholic, all-girls Seton Keough High School in Baltimore, and allegations of sexual abuse and cover-up against the city’s Catholic Archdiocese. Particularly, the series focuses on the 1969 murder of Sister Cathy Cesnik (a teacher at Seton Keough), the potential reasoning behind her murder, and accusations of a “sex ring” led by Catholic priest Father Joseph Maskell at the school. None of the accused abusers or murder suspects have ever been formally charged with wrongdoing, but the Archdiocese of Baltimore has, as expected, had quite a bit to say about The Keepers.

The Archdiocese took a firm stance against The Keepers from the beginning, repeatedly tweeting from its official Twitter account, using hashtags such as #TheKeepersUntold and #TheKeepersTruth. The church’s official Twitter account also tweeted, at one point, “We don’t dispute the abuse committed by Fr. Maskell, but The Keepers premise & conclusion are wrong.” And as reported by BuzzFeed, The Keepers director Ryan White took a screenshot of a particularly controversial Archdiocese’s tweet — one using emojis and the phrase “SPOILER ALERT!” — before it was deleted.

“When you flippantly brag about the violent abuser’s DNA sample,” White wrote, “you continue to hurt survivors. Sickening #thekeepers #wehearyou.”

While the Archdiocese refused, at first, to comment when prompted by BuzzFeed, it eventually relented. Sean Caine, the director of communications at the Archdiocese, said, “Obviously, as complex of a story as this is, it’s not really ideal to play out on social media,” but “the suggestion that the archdiocese didn’t do everything it could to corroborate the initial allegation in ‘92 by Jean Wehner is really unfair. We invested hundreds of hours, we hired a private investigator, we interviewed former students, former faculty members, people in the community.”

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

[with video]

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com June 8, 2017

The attorney representing dozens of people who have accused priests, the Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts of America of child sexual abuse on Thursday announced plans to settle some of their lawsuits out of court by Sept. 1.

Attorney David Lujan told U.S. District Court of Guam Magistrate Judge Joaquin Manibusan that he wants to postpone further court action, pending out-of-court settlements or alternative dispute resolution.

“Nothing to lose, your honor, all to gain,” Lujan told Manibusan during a status hearing Thursday morning in the U.S. District Court of Guam in connection with more than 50 clergy sex abuse cases.

Manibusan congratulated parties in the case for finding an alternative dispute resolution.

The judge said he will wait for Lujan’s filing of a motion to stay and will not take further action until that motion has been filed.

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AUSTRALIA
The Spectator (UK)

Crimes of the Father
Thomas Keneally
Sceptre, pp.382, £18.99

James Walton

This may seem an odd thing to say about a writer who’s been officially declared a National Living Treasure in his native Australia, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times before winning it with Schindler’s Ark — but I sometimes think Thomas Keneally is badly underrated. After all, Schindler’s Ark won that Booker Prize 35 years — and 19 Keneally novels — ago, and since then his reputation appears to have settled down into that of a solid craftsman: the sort of novelist who rarely lets you down, but who never quite hits the literary heights either.

As to how this wildly unjust verdict has come about, my own theories would include the traditional suspicion of prolifigacy (in those 35 years, Keneally has also written 18 non-fiction books); and maybe even that his unfailing good-bloke geniality doesn’t fit our preferred image of a Great Author. One thing that certainly can’t be the reason, though, is the quality of Keneally’s work.

Of course, as he genially admits, over a 53-year career, some of his books have been better than others. Now and again, his tendency to wear his considerable heart on his sleeve can lead to sentimentality — as in 1989’s Towards Asmara, about the Eritrean fight for independence. Yet at his best — 2012’s towering first world war novel Daughters of Mars, for example — he’s pretty much matchless: his humanism combined with clear-eyed analysis, exhilarating story-telling and prose of unforced grandeur.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

Joanne McCarthy
8 Jun 2017

IT was bad timing for St Stanislaus College at Bathurst in February, when one of its most notorious teacher/priests, Brian Spillane, was sentenced for terrible sex crimes against students only days before the college marked its 150th anniversary.

In a statement after the sentencing the college acknowledged it was “deeply sorry” for what Spillane’s victims experienced at the Vincentian school.

“The abuse they experienced was a failure by this staff member to fulfil the college mission of proclaiming the Gospel in the spirit of St Vincent de Paul and to open them to God’s loving presence in their lives,” the statement said.

No, actually, I’ll take issue with that.

Spillane didn’t just stuff up on theology. He was a predator who committed crimes, including what used to be called buggery, against boys. That’s why he’s in jail. If he’d just failed to proclaim the Gospel he could have had a few sessions with the Bible. If he’d just sinned – say, lied about saying his prayers that morning – he could have confessed.

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NEW YORK
King’s County Politics

In a historic moment and after years of lobbying, an emotionally charged State Assembly today passed the Child Victims Act legislation, 129-7, extending the statute of limitation for criminal and civil child sex abuse cases.

It was the first time that either chamber of the legislature has approved the measure after 10 years of lobbying.

Under current law, the statute of limitations for felony sexual abuse crimes runs five years and begins at age 18. Under the today’s passed legislation, the five-year statute of limitations clock wouldn’t begin until the victim is 23. The statute of limitations for civil cases would be extended to age 50. The new measure would also create a one-year window of time for past victims of sexual abuse whose time period to bring a lawsuit has passed to file a civil lawsuit against their abuser.

Among the most active groups lobbying against the measure are the Catholic Church and Agudath Israel of America, which lobbies on behalf of a number of Yeshivas. Extending the statute of limitations, they argue, could cost these institutions millions of dollars for rabbis and priests that committed sexual abuse on young students years ago.

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GUAM
KUAM

[with video]

Updated: Jun 07, 2017

By Krystal Paco

They’re compassionate, reasonable, and fair. Those words were used to describe the newly announced Hope and Healing Guam board.

Their burden heavy – to review and address each of the claims of clergy sex abuse called in via their hotline number. Over fifty, but less than 100 individuals have called in.

Dozens already in counseling, while settlements are likely forthcoming now that the board met for the very first time today.

Alicia Limtiaco said, “It is with honor and my privilege to announce the members of the hope and healing board.” Joining Limtiaco, the Hope and Healing Guam chairperson, in addressing claims of clergy sex abuse ere Reverend Tom Van Engen, also known Pastor Tom of Faith Presbyterian CRC. The U.S. Army Veteran has a background in psychology and currently sits on the Guam parole board.

Retired educator Dr. Nieves Flores who has decades of experience working with individuals with special needs. Social worker Lydia Diaz Tenorio who is a retired Human Services Administrator with over 30 years of service with the Bureau of Social Services Administration of the Department of Public Health and Social Services. And OB/GYN Dr. Ellen Bez, who is currently off-island. She’s the president of Sagua Managu Birthing Center and the Medical Consultant for Healing Hearts Rape Crisis Center.

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ITALIA
Rete L’Abuso

[SAVONA: The Diocese is available to give compensation for victims of don Giraudo.]

Alla fine ha prevalso il buonsenso e anche la sensibilità di non voler sottoporre ancora una volta le vittime e la stessa diocesi ad una lunga, onerosa e impopolare causa civile che avrebbe solo inutilmente prolungato il risolversi dei problemi.

D’altra parte la cosa era auspicabile, lo stesso vescovo Calogero Marino sin dal primo giorno, parlando dello scandalo dei preti pedofili savonesi, ha sempre espresso il desiderio e la necessità che le vittime potessero finalmente voltare pagina ed avere l’opportunità, legittima, di guardare concretamente ad un futuro.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Attorney Lujan says he may seek a stay in court as early as next Monday.

Guam – A settlement is now in the works for the scores of sex abuse lawsuits filed against the catholic church, but not everyone is on board just yet.

In particular, Archbishop Anthony Apuron’s legal counsel and a couple other parties are still not aware of the negotiations between Attorney David Lujan and Hope and Healing Guam, the non-profit organization funded by the archdiocese to provide compensation for victims of church sex abuse.

It’s been about a year since the first allegation of clergy sexual abuse surfaced against the catholic church publicly and in just a few months’ time, the pending scores of lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Agana could see an end. Attorney David Lujan says a majority of the clients who are suing the church and various clergy members are looking forward to settling, saying “I doubt if any of my clients are going to reject a check.”

“They’re very optimistic, which is one of the things that’s attractive is the hope from them is to settle everything by Sept. 1st,” said Lujan.

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NORTH CAROLINA
Associated Press

RUTHERFORDTON, N.C. (AP) — The Latest on the trial of a North Carolina minister accused of orchestrating the beating of a gay congregant (all times local):

5:35 p.m.

The son of a juror arrested during the trial of a North Carolina minister charged with beating a gay congregant says his father made a mistake by taking unauthorized documents to court.

The jury was in its second day of deliberations Tuesday in the trial of Brooke Covington, a minister at Word of Faith Fellowship in Spindale, North Carolina, when 71-year-old Perry Shade Jr. was charged with contempt for bringing the papers.

Judge Gary Gavenus had warned jurors not to do their own research.

Gavenus declared a mistrial and sentenced Shade to 30 days in jail and $500 fine.

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CANADA
Catholic Register

BY ANREW EHRKAMP, CATHOLIC REGISTER SPECIAL
June 8, 2017

EDMONTON – Archbishop Richard Smith doesn’t know if Pope Francis is coming to Canada but he is convinced the Pope has been deeply affected by the testimonies of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

“The pain was just etched on his face as he listened to the stories, so we know we can trust Pope Francis to do what is right and what is good and take very seriously the request that has come from the government and the TRC process,” Smith said. “And we’ll see.”

Smith and other western Canadian bishops discussed the residential schools during their ad limina visit with Pope Francis in March.

“Just to see the look on his face as we recounted some of the challenges, he’s a clearly a man with a very, very serious pastoral heart,” Smith said during his annual media breakfast on May 29, the same day Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked the Pope to come to Canada to apologize for the Church’s role in the residential schools.

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