ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
Ararat Advertiser

Rex Martinich
@RexMartinich

21 Apr 2017

FORMER Horsham Catholic parish priest Father Frank Madden has died age 90.

Catholic Diocese of Ballarat Vicar General Justin Driscoll said Fr Madden passed away on Thursday night in Koroit, where he had been living in retirement.

“Fr Madden turned 90 in November last year,” Fr Driscoll said. …

Fr Madden was the priest in charge of Horsham parish when notorious paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale was sent to the Wimmera between July 1986 and June 1988.

Ridsdale has been convicted of dozens of historical child sexual abuse charges against 53 victims in Ballarat and the wider diocese, which covers western Victoria.

Fr Madden appeared at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2015.

Fr Madden accepted that he must take some responsibility for reshuffling of Ridsdale between locations and the devastation caused to people.

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NEW YORK
WWNY

[with video]

They’re trying to clean and dress the wounds they caused.

Thousands of cases of sexual abuses by members of Catholic clergy have come to light over the past few decades.

To help heal those wounds, Bishop Terry LaValley of the Diocese of Ogdensburg says he’s taking cues from Pope Francis, who calls for the Catholic Church to be a field hospital for those who are hurting.

“How can this local field hospital, really, tend to the wounds that the church itself has inflicted upon our own?”

One way: Bishop LaValley is presiding over a special “Healing Mass.”

“It’s the Mass, but the Mass with the focus of Divine mercy, and our own sinfulness, and our own failings,” he said.

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IRELAND
The Tablet (UK)

20 April 2017 | by Sarah Mac Donald

Survivor Marie Collins, who resigned from the Vatican’s abuse commission over its slow progress, backs the new appointments at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

Pope Francis’ appointment of Irish priest, Monsignor John Kennedy, as head of the disciplinary section of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) has been welcomed by clerical abuse survivor Marie Collins.

The section Kennedy now leads has a number of responsibilities, one of which deals with priests accused of child sexual abuse. “It is an important position within the Congregation,” Collins told The Tablet.

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SOUTH AFRICA
Herald Live

Lee-Anne Butler

The Port Elizabeth legal team representing Durban-based televangelist Timothy Omotoso have brought an urgent application at the Port Elizabeth high court in order to determine the whereabouts of their client.

This comes after Omotoso was arrested by the Hawks Human Trafficking unit in Port Elizabeth this afternoon [20/04/17] on a charge of alleged human trafficking‚ the elite police unit confirmed.

Omotoso is being represented by Port Elizabeth attorney Alwyn Griebenow and Advocate Terry Price SC.

Price said they were drafting papers in order to bring an urgent application before the Port Elizabeth High Court to have Omotoso brought before the courts to discover his whereabouts.

“We want to have him brought before court because they are not telling us where he is. I am his lawyer but I do not even know where he is,” Price said.

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SOUTH AFRICA
IOL

Raahil Sain

Port Elizabeth – A Nigerian pastor who allegedly sexually exploited more than 30 girls played hide-and-seek with police as he arrived at the Port Elizabeth Airport on Thursday where he was to be arrested by the Hawks.

Amidst high drama, the pastor from the Jesus Dominian International Church based in Durban was arrested at the Port Elizabeth Airport on Thursday afternoon on charges of human trafficking.

The controversial pastor also runs churches in Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Bloemfontein and in the United Kingdom.

According to an eyewitness, who did not want to be named, police initially ran through arrivals doors looking for the suspect but could not find him. The source told African News Agency (ANA) police then searched the toilets and found him.

The suspect was handcuffed out of the bathroom by police officers. The pastor is being represented by well-known Port Elizabeth attorney Alwyn Griebenow, who was also at the airport.

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SOUTH AFRICA
Times Live

Michael Kimberley And Lee-Anne Butler | 2017-04-20

A controversial Durban-based Nigerian pastor‚ wanted in connection with allegations of sexual assault‚ was arrested at the Port Elizabeth airport on Thursday afternoon.

Hawks spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Netshiunda said the pastor had been arrested shortly after arriving at the Port Elizabeth international airport by the Hawks and members of the South African Police Service’s Tactical Response Team (TRT).

“The 58-year-old pastor allegedly trafficked young women and girls from various branches of his church to a house in uMhlanga‚ Kwazulu-Natal‚ where he allegedly exploited them sexually‚” Netshiunda said.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Associated Press

HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. (AP) — Three Franciscan friars have asked a judge to dismiss criminal charges that they didn’t properly supervise a suspected sexual predator accused of molesting more than 100 children, most at a Pennsylvania high school.

Blair County Judge Jolene Kopriva has set an April 27 hearing on the defense motions filed by attorneys for Giles Schinelli, Robert D’Aversa and Anthony Criscitelli, the Altoona Mirror reported Thursday.

D’Aversa, 70, Cristcitelli, 62, and Schinelli, 73, were ordered to stand trial on child endangerment and conspiracy charges following a preliminary hearing last April.

State prosecutors contend the friars either assigned or supervised Brother Stephen Baker when he served at Bishop McCort Catholic High School in Johnstown in the 1990s.

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IRELAND
Irish Sun

By Ed Carty
20th April 2017

ONE of the country’s most respected consultant obstetricians has said nuns will not be able to stop lawful abortion or contraceptive treatment in the new National Maternity Hospital.

A deal with the Sisters of Charity proposes the new €300million facility will be built on the St Vincent’s Hospital campus in south Dublin, which the religious order owns.

Amid furore over nuns potentially determining clinical care at the hospital, Dr Rhona Mahony, Master of the National Maternity Hospital at Holles Street, said medical care at the new hospital will be entirely independent.

“Can we get real about this,” the leading consultant said.

Ms Mahony said contraceptive treatment or abortions when a woman’s life is at risk will be carried out at the new campus when it opens in about four or five years time.

“At the moment in Holles Street we provide services to women. This includes contraception. We have about five terminations a year, otherwise women would die. This will continue in the new hospital

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Jack Power, Sarah Burns, Mary Minihan

A member of the Sisters of Charity has said the new €300 million national maternity hospital on the St Vincent’s campus in Dublin will “always respect the rights of the mother and the baby”.

Sr Agnes Reynolds, a member of the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group board, said the new maternity hospital would “reach out to all creeds and backgrounds . . . and give a good service to people”.

The Department of Health’s decision to give sole ownership of the State-funded hospital to the Sisters of Charity has provoked controversy, mainly because of the congregation’s failure to meet its financial commitment to a redress scheme for victims of institutional child abuse.

It has paid €2 million of the €5 million it promised to contribute in 2009.

The congregation owns the St Vincent’s campus, which includes one of the country’s largest public hospitals and a private hospital.

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IRELAND
Befast Telegraph

The Health Minister has called on an order of nuns to agree contracts allowing lawful abortion or contraceptive treatment in the new National Maternity Hospital.

Simon Harris issued the demand to the Sisters of Charity, which owns the land in south Dublin where the new 300 million euro facility is planned next to St Vincent’s Hospital.

Amid furore over nuns potentially determining clinical care at the hospital and concerns being raised by a respected consultant obstetrician, it is one of three criteria the minister has asked health chiefs to get formal assurances on.

Questions over whether the Sisters of Charity would have ultimate ownership of the public hospital and could profit from it also provoked anger as the congregation has yet to pay three million euro of redress for victims of institutional child abuse.

Mr Harris said: “I have heard people say that nuns will be running the hospital. Not true.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

The Government must show clearly how the new National Maternity Hospital at St Vincent’s in Dublin will not in any way be under the control of its owners the Sisters of Charity or subject to their ethos, Amnesty International Ireland has said.

The organisation’s executive director, Colm O’Gorman, said the State has a clear obligation under international law to ensure it provides access to healthcare “in a manner which fully protects, respects and fulfils the human rights of people living within the State”.

It must ensure that “access to a full range of health services is not denied to people on the basis of the ideological or religious ethos of any healthcare provider that it chooses to partner with”.

It was not enough “to assure the public that this is the case. Instead it must transparently and fully provide evidence that it is, by disclosing the full detail of the agreement it has entered into with the Sisters of Charity and subjecting it to full and open scrutiny,” he said.

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IRELAND
Newstalk

Updated 21:05

Health Minister Simon Harris says the Sisters of Charity will receive no financial gain from the new National Maternity Hospital.

There have been protests and objections to putting the new facility into the ownership of the religious order.

The Sisters of Charity were party to a €128m redress scheme with the State in 2002 for child abuse, which took place at its industrial schools.

A report from the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) in December 2016 shows that the Sisters of Charity offered €5m towards the redress scheme – but have only paid €2m.

An online petition against the ownership has received more than 65,000 signatures.

There are also calls for a Dáil debate on the issue.

On Newstalk Drive this afternoon Minister Harris said the government will not proceed with the project unless the Department of Health is satisfied that the hospital will be free of religious interference and that the state’s investment will be 100% protected:

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Paul Cullen

I’ve read the State is going to hand ownership of the new €300-million National Maternity Hospital (NMH) to the Sisters of Charity when it is moved from Holles Street to St Vincent’s. What is going on?

The Holles Street building is dilapidated and the maternity hospital urgently needs new premises. So it is moving to St Vincent’s, where it will be run by an independent company. However, this company will be owned by the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group, whose sole shareholders are the Sisters of Charity. So the nuns, who own the land, will also own the new building.

Why is this being done?

It was part of a deal finalised last November to settle a row between the NMH and St Vincent’s over control of the new hospital. While the company set up to run it will be owned by St Vincent’s, the hospital will enjoy clinical and operational independence, both sides agreed at the time.

The existing role of master of the NMH is being retained under the new set-up. The autonomy of the maternity hospital will be underpinned by “reserved powers” that only the Minister for Health can amend, and the Minister will hold a “golden share”. The nominees of the NMH or St Vincent’s will also be able to consult the Minister on any operational matter about which they feel “aggrieved”.

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IRELAND
The Journal

Updated 5:51pm

AS POLITICAL PARTIES began to step up the pressure on the government over the controversy surrounding the new National Maternity Hospital, a protest was held this afternoon outside the Department of Health.

Organised by the Workers’ Party, protesters called on the government to reverse the decision that would see religious order the Sisters of Charity owning the new National Maternity Hospital.

Today, Fianna Fáil, Labour and other parties demanded the government to provide answers surrounding the ownership of the new hospital, which will cost the State €300 million but will be owned by the Sisters of Charity.

In a statement this evening, Health Minister Simon Harris has sought to clarify the government’s position, saying that there was no question of “religious interference” in the new National Maternity Hospital.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Paul Cullen

Minister for Health Simon Harris has promised key protections against possible “religious interference” will be put in place before the move of the National Maternity Hospital to St Vincent’s goes ahead.

Mr Harris rejected claims that the Sisters of Charity, who will own the new facility through their ownership of St Vincent’s, have been “gifted” the hospital or that they will be running it.

The Sisters of Charity will lose out by making “very valuable” land available to the State for free, he pointed out. “In doing so, they have foregone the opportunity to put this land to alternative use.”

While acknowledging “legitimate questions and opinions” have been voiced since it emerged that the Sisters of Charity would own the new €300 million hospital, Mr Harris said he was committed to protecting to “absolutely protecting” public health policy, taxpayers’ money and the State.

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IRELAND
Irish Mirror

BY JOHN PATRICK KIERANS
20 APR 2017

Magdalene Laundry survivors have called for a protest against sole ownership the National Maternity Hospital being given to the Sisters of Charity.

The Magdalene Survivors together group has blasted the Government over the decision and want Health Minister Simon Harris, who is refusing to answer questions on the issue, to overturn it.

The call comes as former Holles Street boss Peter Boylan described the choice as “completely inappropriate”.

Steven O’Riordan, chairman of the survivor’s group, said: “This is not just about the Magdalene women, or the children of the past.

“This is about women and children of tomorrow also.

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IRELAND
The Guardian (UK)

Emer O’Toole

In 2009 the Ryan report into child sexual abuse in state-funded, church-run institutions was published, costing the Irish taxpayer €82m. It uncovered decades of abuse endured by children in the ostensible care of Catholic organisations including the Sisters of Charity. This is the order of nuns that will be given ownership of the €300m state-of-the-art new National Maternity Hospital by the Irish government, They will be the “sole owners” of the taxpayer-funded facility.

The Sisters of Charity were once involved in the operation of five residential schools. I will tell you some of what happened at just one of them.

At St Joseph’s Industrial school in Kilkenny, little girls as young as eight who complained of molestation by male lay staff were ignored, disbelieved or blamed for their abuse. Children were told their mothers were prostitutes. Children were fostered out to paedophiles. On three occasions the nuns hired paedophile lay workers, then failed to act when informed by children and sometimes by concerned adults about what was happening. Children were subject to severe corporal punishment right up until the 1990s.

The Sisters of Charity never issued a general public apology for the abuse suffered by children in their care. They did, however, promise to contribute €5m to the government’s €1.25bn redress scheme for victims of child abuse.

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IRELAND
IrishCentral

A decision by Ireland’s Department of Health to give the Sisters of Mercy the “sole ownership” of the new National Maternity Hospital has left thousands furious.

At the time of writing a petition asking the Government to reconsider the move has been signed by 40,000 and rising.

The Sisters of Charity were previously lambasted in the 2009 Ryan Report into child abuse as one of Ireland’s most culpable institutions; in part they were responsible for the management of the Magdalene Laundries which infamously imprisoned women who gave birth to children out of wedlock.

The petitions says the institution owes €3 million to survivors but is refusing to hand over the cash.

The petition demands, “Show the state we will not allow the abuse of our babies, children, and women to be swept under the rug… Deny them ‘sole’ ownership. Demand they formally apologise and pay redress.”

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ROME
Variety

Nick Vivarelli
International Correspondent
@NickVivarelli

ROME – Italy’s Leone Film Group has acquired rights to a series of books by Italian investigative journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi to develop an English-language TV series based on the so-called Vatileaks scandals that recently exposed rampant corruption and mismanagement at the Vatican.

The books by Nuzzi include “His Holiness: The Secret Papers of Benedict XVI,” based on documents leaked by Pope Benedict’s butler that some say helped precipitate Benedict’s historic resignation, and “Merchants in the Temple,” also based on confidential documents, which describes more recent episodes of cronyism, greed, and moral malaise and the internal attempts to sabotage Pope Francis’ crackdown.

Nuzzi’s reporting has led to the arrests of several of his sources by Vatican authorities. He was put on trial by a Vatican court in the highly publicized “Vatileaks 2” trial, but was acquitted.

“The TV series will take its cue from the events that led to the Vatileaks scandals,” said Raffaella Leone, managing director of Leone Film Group. “The idea is to start with ‘Merchants in the Temple,’ which is about a pool of experts hired by the Vatican to conduct internal investigations and audits for the pope.”

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SCOTLAND
STV

A retired priest who was accused of abusing boys over three decades is unfit to stand trial.

One of the alleged victims, Pat McEwan, has spoken of his frustration at what he feels is a lack of justice.

The 89-year-old priest has been diagnosed with dementia, meaning the accusations will not be tested in court.

The clergyman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was reported to the Crown Office in relation to alleged child abuse in Scotland from the 1950s to the 1980s.

Mr McEwan told STV News he was frustrated at the outcome, which he said has left him without justice.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Apr 20, 2017

By Krystal Paco

While he’s optimistic about settling through the Hope and Healing Guam program, attorney David Lujan says that’s not going to stop his clients from filing lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Agana. To date, over 50 plaintiffs have filed suit, majority of whom are represented by Lujan.

“I expect to get more,” said Lujan. I can tell you I’ve got three St. Anthony School [sic]. I can tell you I have three new priests – one of those names is going to shock the island, because its someone super high up there.”

To date, ten priests stand accused of clergy sex abuse: Archbishop Anthony Apuron, Antonio Cruz, David Anderson, Raymond Cepeda, Thomas Camacho, Andy Mannetta, Sigmund Hafemann, Joe R. San Agustin, Juan Camacho, and Louis Brouillard.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com Published April 20, 2017

The attorney in charge of a new program to resolve dozens of clergy sex abuse cases said he met Thursday with the lawyer representing most of the survivors to discuss victim counseling, treatment and settlement amounts, among other things.

Attorney Michael W. Caspino, executive director of the nonprofit organization Hope and Healing Guam, said his meeting with attorney David Lujan was positive.

“We are moving forward,” Caspino said. “We are both committed to getting his clients healed.”

Without touching on the specifics, Caspino said they talked about the Hope and Healing Guam board membership, which could be announced next week, timing elements, and the funding for both the treatment and settlement, or compensation.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Executive Director Michael Caspino emphasizes that he has no decision-making role in the program which is a concern raised by Attorney David Lujan.

Guam – While Attorney David Lujan calls the Hope and Healing effort a scam because of the way it is currently set up, its executive director Attorney Michael Caspino seems to paint a different picture of his meetings with Lujan so far.

“The article did come up and I told him that it must mean he really likes me,” Caspino quipped.

“And he got a good laugh out of that.”

It appears as though the two attorneys have gotten over their differences. In an interview with Lujan yesterday, the attorney representing a majority of the clergy sex abuse victims slammed the Hope and Healing program, calling it a scam. Specifically, Lujan did not agree that Caspino, who was hired by the Archdiocese of Agana for this effort, should also serve as the program’s executive director. But Caspino said the matter was never brought up at his meeting with Lujan this morning.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

[lawsuit]

[lawsuit]

Written by Janela Carrera

Two new lawsuits were filed Wednesday but Attorney David Lujan says he plans to file two more by Monday.

Guam – Attorney David Lujan says more lawsuits will be filed in the coming days including two new ones next week that will name new priests.

He just filed two Wednesday in District Court, marking the 52nd and 53rd lawsuits to be filed in a matter of months. Both lawsuits filed name former Guam priest and Boy Scout master Father Louis Brouillard as the alleged perpetrator.

One is filed on behalf of a man with the initials M.W. who is now 54 years old. His lawsuit says that Brouillard sexually assaulted him over a one year period when he was 10 to 11 years old. M.W.’s lawsuit further accuses the Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts of plotting together, saying they “developed and maintained a relationship …. by which pedophilic priests exploited the opportunity to serve as scout masters for the specific purpose of having access to young boys.” …

Meanwhile, Lujan says while the Vatican is named in most of the lawsuits he’s filed, they have not yet been named as defendants.

“There’s been various lawsuits throughout the various archdioceses in the United States and they’ve never done there like what they’re doing in Guam. They’ve never removed archbishops. So our position is Rome does in fact control Guam,” Lujan pointed out. “If we don’t come to settlement I believe that eventually we’ll be amending our complaint to sue the Vatican also, bring them in.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
WBUR

[with audio]

April 18, 2017
By Jamie Bologna and Tonya Mosley

“I was still like a kid with all this resentment and anger and rage and self pity, and it just owned me. And through a series of things, hard work, and people who were there for me in so many areas, so many ways, I learned how to be a survivor.”

That was Joe Crowley, speaking to The Boston Globe, after the release of the movie “Spotlight,” about the paper’s investigation in the Catholic Church’s cover-up of sex abuse by clergy.

Crowley, who passed away on Sunday at 58, was one of the first survivors of clergy sexual abuse to come forward, paving the way for so many more victims of abuse to speak out.

As Sacha Pfeiffer writes in the Globe today about her first meeting with Joe, “He was smart, funny, and articulate, but also nervous, insecure, and still trying to recover emotionally from what had happened to him decades earlier.”

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IRELAND
Irish Central

Niall O’Dowd @niallodowd April 19, 2017

WANTED: Clean-living young men for a long career. Women need not apply. Responsibilities: spiritual guidance, visiting the sick, public relations, marriages (own marriage not permitted).

Hours: on call 24/7.

Salary: basic stipend only.

Such was the way Time magazine a few years back illustrated how the Catholic Church in Ireland needed to regenerate itself. The ads went pretty much unanswered.

At the time Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin said, “If more young priests aren’t found quickly, Ireland’s parishes may not have enough clergy to survive.” …

But even if there were more priests, Mass attendance in Ireland is down sharply, due in part to the string of sex scandals that humiliated the Church. More than one in five people say they are no longer Catholic, a worrying figure for a church that once had close to 95 percent of the population.

We are watching a slow march to oblivion for the Church unless something dramatic changes. It may well be that married priests is the only way to stem the tide.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Update 1.15pm: Dr Rhona Mahony, the Master of the National Maternity Hospital, has said she is happy to move her hospital to the grounds of St Vincent’s Hospital under the stipulations of the current deal.

Speaking on Today with Sean O’Rourke, Dr Mahony said there was a triple lock in place to guarantee the NMH’s autonomy and clinical independence remains intact.

“There is a triple lock in place to guarantee absolute autonomy and independence of the clinical services we deliver. If this does not go ahead, and if we’re going to mix this really important critical development for women with redress scheme, are we going to punish women further in this country by actually interfering and getting in the way of building a hospital that is so urgently needed for women.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
KHOU

A.J. Perez , USA TODAY Sports , KHOU

Aaron Hernandez very likely won’t be known as a convicted murderer for much longer.

The death of the former New England Patriots tight end Wednesday will almost certainly lead to the expungement of his 2015 first-degree murder conviction for the slaying of Odin Lloyd since the case was still under appeal in Massachusetts.

“The key here is when a defendant is no longer able to assist with his appeal, the law says the conviction should be vacated,” Massachusetts School of Law Dean and President Michael Coyne told USA TODAY Sports. “In a sense, it goes back to the point where he was only charged.”

The Massachusetts Appeals Court will probably vacate Hernandez’s conviction in the coming months. …

Hernandez, Coyne points out, is hardly the first high-profile case in Massachusetts where a conviction was vacated in this manner.

Defrocked Roman Catholic priest John Geoghan, who was found guilty of child molestation in 1991, was killed in prison in 2003. That led the state’s appeals court to vacate his conviction later that year.

Like Hernandez, Geoghan had appealed the conviction. More than 150 people accused Geoghan of sexual abuse, although the statute of limitation laws at the time hampered prosecutors’ efforts to pursue more charges.

“It’s as though the reporting of father John J. Geoghan’s sexual abuse, his trial, and the jury decision never existed,” attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represented many of the Geoghan’s alleged victims, told the Associated Press in 2003.

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IRELAND
RTE News

A protest has been held outside the Department of Health in Dublin over the ownership of the new National Maternity Hospital, which is to be built on the campus of St Vincent’s Hospital.

It has emerged that the Religious Sisters of Charity is to be given ownership of the €300m taxpayer-funded hospital because it owns the land on which it is to be built.

It comes as Master of the National Maternity Hospital Dr Rhona Mahony has said she is happy with the deal reached to move the hospital to the grounds of St Vincent’s.

She said: “There is a triple-lock in place to guarantee absolute autonomy and independence of the clinical services we deliver.”

Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Sean O’Rourke, Dr Mahony said this includes the retention of the mastership system, an entirely independent board dedicated to the provision of maternity, gynaecological and neonatal services, and an independent company to run the facility.

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IRELAND
Dublin Live

BY STEPHEN MCDERMOTT
20 APR 2017

The former master of the National Maternity Hospital on Holles Street has criticised the decision to hand ownership of its new site at St Vincent’s to a religious group as “completely inappropriate”.

Peter Boylan says he believes giving ownership of the new hospital to the Sisters of Charity will lead to implications in the provision of healthcare and other medical procedures down the line.

Last month it was reported that the group, which owns the St Vincent’s site where the new National Maternity Hospital will be built, will be given “sole ownership” of the €300m facility.

The move has been widely criticised this week, with a petition against the move attracting over 50,000 signatures so far and a series of protests planned across the week.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Una Mullally

For a while now, stories about the ownership and governance of the proposed National Maternity Hospital have been bubbling. For a moment, we’ll leave aside the fact that the State is gifting the sole ownership of the €300 million maternity hospital planned for Elm Park near St. Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin to a religious order who have contributed just €2 million of their promised €5 million redress compensation after the publication of the Ryan Report in 2009. The mind boggles that it will be this order – which ran institutions where the abuse of mothers, babies and children occurred – will own our National Maternity Hospital. Talk about GUBU.

It appears that in some ways, the governance issues have been squared off, with all parties involved seemingly satisfied. Rhona Mahony said the hospital will “be clinically and operationally entirely independent in line with national maternity policy”. Minister for Health Simon Harris has echoed this sentiment. Yet the new maternity hospital will have a nine-person board of which four members will be proposed by the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group.

Dr Peter Boylan, the former master of the National Maternity Hospital, has repeatedly queried this arrangement between nuns, hospital, and State. On Thursday on RTE’s Morning Ireland he asked, “The question is why do the Sisters of Charity want to own a maternity hospital?” It’s a valid query. Boylan said that were IVF, sterilisation, abortion and gender reassignment to be carried out at the National Maternity Hospital, it would be the only hospital owned and run by a Catholic order in the world that allowed those procedures. I doubt Ireland is going to blaze a trail of this nature anytime soon

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IRELAND
Newstalk

20 Apr 2017
Stephen McNeice

Protesters opposed to nuns owning the new national maternity hospital have been gathering outside the Department of Health today.

The demonstrations comes as almost 60,000 people have signed a petition in an attempt to block the Sisters of Charity from taking charge of the new facility.

The €300m hospital will be located on the St Vincent’s University Hospital campus in Dublin, and will cater for up to 10,000 births per year.

The Sisters of Charity are the major shareholder in the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group. The Department of Health confirmed earlier this week that that group will be the sole owner of the new hospital.

Campaigners argue that the religious organisation’s failure to compensate abuse victims should prevent their involvement.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Amy Molloy

April 20 2017

THE Government, and specifically health minister Simon Harris, has been heavily criticised since it emerged that ownership of the new National Maternity Hospital – which will be funded to the tune of €300m by the taxpayer – will be handed over to the Sisters of Charity.

A demonstration will take place outside the Department of Health in Dublin at 1pm today and over 50,000 people have signed a petition in a bid to prevent the religious order from becoming owners of the new hospital.

Here is what you need to know about the controversy:

Who are the Sisters of Charity?

The Sisters of Charity are a congregation of religious women founded in Dublin. They are involved in healthcare, education and also carry out work with asylum seekers and homeless people.

However, they were also one of the organisations included in the Ryan Report, which unveiled a vast amount of systematic institutional abuse going back decades.

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IRELAND
The Journal

THE FORMER MASTER of the National Maternity Hospital has said that it is “just not on” that the Sisters of Charity are to be the owners of the new facility.

The National Maternity Hospital at Holles Street in Dublin is moving to a new €300 million facility on the grounds of the current St Vincent’s Hospital.

The site is owned by religious order the Sisters of Charity and the proposed deal will see the order owning the facility as it provides the lands at no cost.

A petition opposing plan has now topped 50,000 signatures with many pointing out that the order owes money to a redress scheme set up for the survivors of religious abuse.

Speaking today on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, former Holles St. master Dr. Peter Boylan said his concerns were based on whether the religious beliefs of the Sisters of Charity would affect medical care at the hospital.

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ISRAEL
Times of Israel

[with video]

Police arrested 28 employees of an ultra-Orthodox newspaper on Tuesday morning on suspicion of extortion and harassment.

In a nationwide sting, police arrested senior staff and editors of the ultra-Orthodox daily newspaper Hapeles, following a six-month investigation.

Police also searched the newspaper’s offices and collected files, following dozens of complaints that over the past year the newspaper allegedly extorted major corporations, including government-owned companies, in order to force them to purchase advertising in the paper.

Some 250 police officers, investigators and other security personnel took part in the raid, arresting suspects in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, Modiin Illit, Ashdod, and other parts of the country.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews rioted in Bnei Brak as the arrests were taking place.

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SOUTH AFRICA
Herald Live

April 20, 2017 Bongani Mthethwa

Controversial Nigerian pastor Timothy Omotoso has hired prominent Port Elizabeth defence attorney Alwyn Griebenow to represent him in the face of allegations that he sexually molested young girls at his home in Umhlanga‚ Durban.

Griebenow confirmed that he was Omotoso’s attorney and that he and defence advocate Terry Price will be meeting with the Hawks on Thursday afternoon in Port Elizabeth. The Hawks are investigating the allegations against Omotoso.

Omotoso‚ of the Jesus Dominion International Church in Durban‚ is accused of molesting more than 30 young girls on the pretext of rescuing them from drugs.

The Nigerian evangelist came under scrutiny after his church featured on current affairs programme Special Assignment on Sunday. The programme spoke to women who claimed that they were lured into performing sexual favours for the pastor.

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AUSTRALIA
Jerusalem Post

BY TAMARA ZIEVE APRIL 20, 2017

The Australian Federal Police said Tuesday that it is assessing a request by victims of sexual abuse at a Chabadrun institution in Melbourne to investigate allegations that one of its senior officials provided false evidence to the Royal Commission last month regarding the school’s handling of the allegations.

Rabbi Chaim Tsvi Groner had been called to appear before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse’s 53rd case study last month, following an investigation into the Yeshiva Center in East St.

The commission heard from two victims and their relatives that Rabbi Zvi Telsner, as the former head rabbi of Yeshiva Center, had delivered sermons attacking child sexual abuse victims and their families, encouraging other members of the community to ostracize them and discouraging victims from reporting their abuse to the police or media.

During the hearing last month, Groner – a member of the Yeshiva Board as well as Telsner’s brother-in-law – was questioned over Telsner’s current role at the Yeshiva.

Telsner stepped down as head of the Yeshiva in September 2015, stating that his “conduct toward victims and their families did not demonstrate the values or behavior…necessary of a rabbi in my position.”

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IRELAND
Kildare Nationalist

THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 2017

The Government is being accused of showing a total disconnect with Irish women in handing ownership of the new National Maternity Hospital to the Sisters of Charity.

A demonstration will take place outside the Department of Health in Dublin this lunchtime.

An ‘Uplift’ petition has already attracted tens of thousands of signatures in a bid to block the move.

Organisers say they have a clear message for the Minister for Health, that Ireland wants well-funded, State-run public services, that are not owned by the church, big corporations, or anyone else.

Survivors of the Magdalene Laundries say they are “shocked and angered” at the decision to hand over ownership of the new National Maternity Hospital to the religious order as part of a deal for the land at the site.

Millions of euro are still owed by the church in compensation to victims of institutional abuse.

Opposition parties have claimed there could be a conflict between medical decisions, the possibility of new abortion legislation, and the new owners’ Catholic values.

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AUSTRALIA
Australian Jewish News

THE Australian Federal Police (AFP) is assessing an allegation that Yeshivah board member Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Groner knowingly gave false or misleading testimony at February’s hearing of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The AJN can exclusively reveal that the AFP spoke to a representative from the Royal Commission this week and then stated in a letter on Tuesday that “as a result of these discussions”, the allegation “has been sent to the relevant area for assessment”.

Rabbi Groner told the Royal Commission that Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Telsner, who resigned as the head rabbi of the Yeshivah Centre in 2015 but is still being paid, does not still occupy a position of leadership within the Yeshivah Centre.

However, a victim of child sexual abuse told the AFP that Rabbi Telsner maintains an office within the synagogue, delivers sermons from the pulpit during weekly services and is waited on by other congregants.

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MARYLAND
Pedestrian TV

[with video]

If religious paraphernalia creeps you out – think white ceramic Virgin Marys and crucifixes – then the first trailer for ‘The Keepers’, a Netflix original docuseries that’s already being tipped as the next ‘Making A Murderer’, will send a big ‘ol tingle down your spine.

A seven-part series, it’ll delve into the mysterious death of 26-year-old Baltimore nun Sister Cathy Cesnik, who went missing during a Friday night shopping trip in November 1969 and whose body was discovered months later, her life snuffed out by blunt force trauma that police believe was caused by either a brick or hammer.

Information from friends, relatives, former colleagues, journalists, sexual abuse survivors, government officials and other crime experts help build on several key theories about her murder (a long-held one is that she was killed to cover-up sexual abuse within the Catholic church) in the Ryan White-doco which, frankly, looks equal parts fascinating and creepy.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Hartlepool Mail

MARK PAYNE
20 April 2017

A former Jehovah’s Witness says church leaders have failed to act on concerns over child safeguarding despite being highlighted by an international report.

Steve Rose, of Rift House, Hartlepool, was a member of the church until 2010 since when he has campaigned for change to policies he and other critics say make it difficult for allegations of child and other sex abuse to be uncovered or acted upon.

The Australian Royal Commission is looking into institutional child abuse in the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Commission has found children are not adequately protected from the risk of child sexual abuse in church and showed a serious lack of understanding of the issue.

It also said the organisation relies on “outdated policies and practices” including the 2,000 year-old two-witness rule, which says any sin must be witnessed by at least two people before action is taken.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

BY GARETH LIGHTFOOT
20 APR 2017

A child sex offender who raped a young girl after meeting her at church and grooming her with sweets has been jailed for 17 years.

Jason McSorley, 46, is now serving his second prison sentence for sexually abusing the same girl several years ago.

His new 17-year term dwarfs the earlier punishment he received for sexual assaults.

The court heard he befriended families at a Teesside church so he could groom the schoolgirl.

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GHANA
My Joy Online

The President of the Northern Ghana Union of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church has called for a national discourse on the exploitation of the vulnerable in the name of religion.

Pastor Kwame Kwanin Boakye advocates severe punishment for people whose activities breach the laws of the state to serve as a deterrent.

He says the growing tendency for some pastors to hide behind the cassock to amass wealth and perpetrate sexual and other forms of abuse against the citizenry must stop.

According to Pastor Kwanin, the modern self-seeking minister of the gospel has instituted a system which lures and preys on church members into accepting deceit for prophecy.

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SOUTH AFRICA
East Coast Radio

By Puseletso Petersen

The Hawks have launched an intense search for a Durban pastor – accused of molesting congregants, some as young as 14.

Officers have confirmed they’re investigating allegations of human trafficking against the televangelist – who leads a church in Durban.

SABC’s Special Assignment carried an expose on the pastor recently in which several victims spoke of the alleged sexual abuse.

Hawks spokesperson Robert Netshiunda says investigations into the matter are ongoing.

“We are investigating cases of human trafficking with the possibility of more charges against a pastor who allegedly abused some of his congregants as young as 14-years-old. We’ll be making a breakthrough very soon. We will formally lay charges when we formally arrest him,”he said.

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IOWA
Quad-City Times

Deirdre Cox Baker dbaker@qctimes.com Apr 19, 2017

It was a chilly November day in 2006 when Martin Amos got the call from Rome to serve the Catholic Diocese of Davenport.

Two days before his appointment was announced, the diocese declared bankruptcy because of lawsuits filed in the priest sexual abuse scandal. Not only was Amos, 64, taking on a daunting challenge, but he was leaving the area of Cleveland, Ohio, where he had lived his entire life.

He pulled no punches when asked about his upcoming work in Davenport.

“I know I can’t wreck it; that’s a positive,” he said at the time, laughing.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

TESS LIVINGSTONE
The Australian
April 20, 2017

Hundreds of posters were plastered around Rome over Easter, in praise of Pope Francis. That wouldn’t be surprising on its own if it wasn’t for the unusual source sponsoring the bills.

The Global Tolerance Initiative, a group started six months ago by Sheik Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai, where floggings and stonings prevail under sharia law, named Francis as its “Global Champion of Tolerance Easter 2017”.

At least the posters were positive. In early February, Romans woke up to find hundreds of very different posters adorning the city’s walls, featuring a photograph of a stern-looking Pope and asking: “Where’s your mercy?” The posters referred to Francis’ intervention in the Knights of Malta and other actions he has taken against groups and individuals perceived as religiously conservative.

The bitter Knights of Malta row continues, with tolerance in short supply. This week, Francis, the champion of open borders, has “forbidden’’ the former Grand Master of the Knights of Malta, Matthew Festing, whom he sacked in January, to travel to Rome (from England) for the election of his successor.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Richard J. McCormick was a ordained for the Eastern Province of the Salesians of Don Bosco (Province of St. Philip the Apostle) in 1970. Referred to sometimes as “Fr. Dick” or “Fr. Mac,” McCormick served as teacher and director of Salesian high schools, taught at junior seminaries and was rector of one, held leadership positions at Salesian retreat houses and boys’ camps, served briefly as an assistant parish priest and was a Marian Shrine director. During 1985-1991 he was provincial of the Salesian’s Eastern Province. McCormick’s work took him from Boston and Ipswich MA to Cedar Lake IN, Goshen, West Haverstraw, New Rochelle and Stony Point NY, Harvey LA and St. Petersburg FL.

In 2002 McCormick was removed from his position at St. Petersburg Catholic High School after a female student complained that he kissed her when she encountered him in a hallway. Other students defended the priest, saying “Fr. Mac” often greeted them with a kiss on the cheek.

There is a gap of several years in McCormick’s assignments after 2002; there is another, 1975-1976. In August 2009 he was suspended from the Marian Shrine in Stony Point NY, where he had been since at least 2005, after the Salesians agreed to settle with three men who had accused McCormick of sexually abusing them as Junior Seminary students in Goshen NY in the 1970s.

At some point in the 2000s the Salesians settled with a man who said McCormick sexually abused him on a trip to Rome in 1975 when the man was a 14-year-old Salesian Prep student in Cedar Lake IN.

In August 2012 McCormick was arrested for the rape of a boy, ages 9 and 10, at the Salesian camp in Ipswich MA in 1981 and 1982. He was convicted in November 2014 and sentenced to 8 to 10 years in prison, followed by 10 years’ probation. McCormick had been arrested a second time in April 2013 on charges of raping a 6- to 8-year-old boy at the same camp during 1981-1983. He was convicted in that case in August 2015 and given another 8- to 10-year prison sentence, to run concurrently with the sentence he was already serving.

At least 16 people are known to have claimed they were sexually abused as children by McCormick, some as early as 1963.

Ordained: 1970

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Stephanie Corsetti

Victims of child sexual abuse have raised concerns with the Australian Federal Police and the royal commission into child sexual abuse about evidence presented by a senior Melbourne rabbi last month, alleging it may be misleading.

Yeshivah Centre Rabbi Chaim Groner went before the commission last month and was quizzed about the resignation of his colleague, Rabbi Zvi Telsner.

Rabbi Telsner stepped down from his head role in 2015 after he appeared at the inquiry and was asked to explain comments he made in sermons about abuse victims.

Rabbi Groner told the commission Rabbi Telsner no longer had a leadership role at the centre.

Phillip Weinberg, a spokesman for Yeshivah Centre victims, has claimed Rabbi Telsner is still being introduced at public events as the head rabbi of the Yeshivah Centre.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

Joanne McCarthy
20 Apr 2017

A NEWCASTLE Anglican priest was given a three month suspended jail sentence after pleading guilty to indecently assaulting a 12-year-old boy in 1967.

Reverend Bruce Shaw, 72, was working at a spiritual retreat at Stroud in 2016 when he was charged with the offence which occurred when he was sole teacher and principal at a Victorian primary school.

Wangaratta Magistrates Court was told Shaw was 23 when he invited two young family friends to his rural property for the weekend, and insisted the 12-year-old sleep in his bed.

Six years later Shaw completed his training and became an ordained priest.

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NEW YORK
Syracuse.com

By Douglass Dowty | ddowty@syracuse.com

Syracuse, NY — A teacher’s aide at All Saints Elementary School in Syracuse quietly admitted today that she exploited two young girls — one less than a year old — for child pornography at her home and at the school.

Emily Oberst, 24, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and child porn charges in federal court today in exchange for a promised sentence of 60 years in prison. There is no parole in federal prison, so she will not be released early.

Oberst’s voice ranged from quiet to quivering during her half-hour plea proceeding.

Oberst is the second to plead guilty in the child porn case. Her boyfriend, Jason Kopp, 41, pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to 235 years in prison.

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IRELAND
Irish MIrror

BY STEPHEN MCDERMOTT
19 APR 2017

More than 18,000 people have signed a petition to block the Sisters of Charity from becoming the owners of the new National Maternity Hospital.

There has been public outrage at the Government’s decision to hand the €300million facility to the order which ran the depraved Magdalene laundries.

The Woman’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) became the latest body to hit out at the plan despite the nuns still owing €3million towards the redress fund for abuse survivors.

NWCI spokeswoman Niamh Allen said: “NWCI is still very concerned that no solution was found for the new National Maternity Hospital that would not involve the ownership and close co-operation of a religious order.

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NORTH CAROLINA
WRAL

By Laura Leslie

RALEIGH, N.C. — The state House will likely vote this week on a bill to lengthen the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits by victims of childhood sexual abuse.

House Bill 585 had its first hearing Wednesday morning, passing the House Judiciary IV Committee by a unanimous vote.

According to sponsor Rep. Dennis Riddell, R-Alamance, although there is no statute of limitations on criminal charges for child sexual abuse, state law allows only a three-year window on civil suits. Child victims can bring suit only if they’re 21 or younger.

The measure would raise the cutoff age for civil suits by victims of childhood sexual abuse to 40 years old. Victims who are 40 years old today would have a one-year window.

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NEW YORK
Forward

April 19, 2017 By Daniel J. Solomon

Parents of four Hasidic Jewish children infected with herpes by ritual circumcision will not tell the New York City Department of Health the names of the mohels who did the procedures, according to the agency.

“Unfortunately, some in the community are resistant to sharing the name of the mohels,” Christopher Miller told DNAInfo. “This is a very insular community. This is a very religious ritual.”

Herpes was passed to the infants via a rare form of circumcision in which the mohel applies his mouth to the circumcision wound to suction out the blood.

The Health Department banned two mohels whom families identified as responsible for their children’s herpes infection. But others herpes-infected mohels remain unknown to the city.

Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg, a Hasidic rabbi who has spoken up against sexual abuse within the community, attributed the family’s silence to pressure from religious authorities. “The only [reason] why they’re not coming forward is because they’re being threatened, ostracized,” he told DNAInfo.

Read more: http://forward.com/fast-forward/369388/hasidic-parents-wont-rat-out-mohels-who-gave-their-kids-herpes/

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service – Bulletin

The Holy Father has appointed as auxiliary bishop of San Diego, United States of America, the Rev. John P. Dolan, of the clergy of the same diocese, currently vicar for the clergy and parish priest of the Saint John parish in San Diego, assigning him the titular see of Uchi Maggiore.

Rev. John P. Dolan

The Reverend John P. DOLAN was born on 8 June 1962 in San Diego, California, in the diocese of the same name. He studied philosophy at the Saint Francis seminary and at the University of San Diego (1981-1985) and theology at the Saint Patrick seminary in Menlo Park (1985-1989).

He was ordained a priest for the diocese of San Diego on 1 July 1989.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service – Bulletin

The Holy Father has accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Davenport, United States of America, presented by His Excellency Msgr. Martin J. Amos.

The Holy Father has appointed as bishop of Davenport, United States of America, Msgr. Thomas R. Zinkula, of the clergy of the archdiocese of Dubuque, currently rector of the St. Pius X Seminary in Dubuque.

Msgr. Thomas Robert Zinkula

Msgr. Thomas Robert Zinkula was born on 19 April 1957 in Mount Vernon, Iowa, in the archdiocese of Dubuque. After attending the Mount Vernon High School, Mount Vernon, he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in mathematics, economics and business from Cornell College, Mount Vernon (1979). He graduated in law from the University of Iowa in Iowa City (1983) and for several years worked as a civil lawyer. He subsequently entered the seminary where he carried out his ecclesiastical studies at the Theological College and the Catholic University of America in Washington. He later obtained a licentiate in canon law at the Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada (1998).

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UNITED STATES
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Martin J. Amos of Davenport, Iowa, and named as his successor Msgr. Thomas R. Zinkula, a priest of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Iowa, who is currently rector of St. Pius X Seminary at Loras College in Dubuque.

The pope also named Father John P. Dolan as an auxiliary bishop of San Diego. He is episcopal vicar for clergy in the diocese and a parish pastor.

The appointments were announced April 19 in Washington by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Bishop Amos is 75, the age at which canon law requires bishops to turn in their resignation to the pope. He has headed the Davenport Diocese since 2006.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

David Zurawik

Netflix released its first trailer today for “The Keepers,” a docuseries on the unsolved murder of Sister Catherine Cesnik, a 26-year-old Baltimore nun who went missing in 1969. ‘

The seven-part series will launch on May 19 on the streaming service.

Netflix has already made its mark in the true-crime genre with “Making a Murderer,” a highly successful production about a Wisconsin man tried, convicted, freed and then convicted again for murder.

“The Keepers” looks to have all of that and more with some news reports on the Cesnik case suggesting a cover-up of what police investigators found when they looked into her death.

Some believe that cover-up involved a Catholic priest, who was a suspect in her death, and a ring of sexual abuse exploiting working-class Catholic children at the high school where Cesnik taught.

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FRANCE
Le Croix

Loup Besmond de Senneville

In addition to celebrating mass on Holy Wednesday in Lyon on 12 April, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin spoke at length on the situation of Father David Gréa, the emblematic priest of the Saint Blandine parish in central Lyon who had announced a few weeks ago that he wished to get married.

Archbishop Barbarin also addressed matters related to pedophilia.Both issues were discussed for the first time in a letter addressed to all the priests in the diocese.Regarding the situation of Fr Gréa, Cardinal Barbarin said he regretted that Gréa “did not take the time to think things over as [he] had asked him to do”.

The priest has, in fact, announced his intention to get married in a civil ceremony on Saturday the 15th of April, on the same day that the church will be celebrating Holy Saturday. …

The Cardinal defends himself

In addition to the Gréa case, Cardinal Barbarin also spoke on the importance of fighting pedophilia in the diocese.

Three weeks previously the TV station France 2 aired an episode of Cash Investigation in which it was reported that many bishops, including Cardinal Barbarin, had shielded priests accused of pedophilia.

Among other things, the France 2 journalists had gone to meet a priest convicted by a court but still serving in a parish in Lyon.

In the book Church, the mechanics of silence the reporters from Mediapart wrote extensively on many cases covered for years by the Catholic hierarchy in Lyon.

“Today, no priest identified as the perpetrator of a single abuse of a minor would exercise any ministry in the parish,” said the Cardinal. “All the facts reported by the press are known to the law. The families must be able to have faith in the church.”

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Mindy Aguon | For The Guam Daily Post

Two new lawsuits have been filed against former Guam priest Louis Brouillard alleging repeated sexual abuse, and one victim has come forward alleging the former clergy member and Scout Master kept a book with the names of all of the boys he abused and their nude photos.

Thomas A. Cepeda Sr. filed a civil complaint in the District Court of Guam on Wednesday alleging he was sexually abused for three years when Brouillard served as a parish priest at Santa Teresita Catholic Church in Mangilao.

Cepeda, now 71 and residing in Washington, alleges he was repeatedly abused by Brouillard beginning at the age of 13 when he served as an altar boy at the Mangilao parish and was a Boy Scout.

The lawsuit accuses Brouillard of having “one-on-one meetings” with the boys about the development of the body. During one meeting, the priest allegedly instructed Cepeda to remove his pants so the priest could conduct a physical examination that included measuring, groping and examining his private parts.

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SOUTH AFRICA
Herald Live

April 19, 2017

Hendrick Mphande, Shenaaz Jamal, Johnnie Isaac and Sibongile Mashaba

Congregant’s allegations of abuse and ‘blessing’ add to sex-crime claims

A young Port Elizabeth woman has claimed she is among a group of victims allegedly molested by a popular Durban pastor who is being investigated by the Hawks for suspected sex crimes.

Social media has been abuzz with the claims against the widely celebrated pastor in the wake of a TV feature in which the allegations were made by a number of women who have had contact with him during his ministerial work.

The 25-year-old Port Elizabeth woman alleges she was molested at the age of 14 during an incident in Durban. She alleges she was summoned into an office where the pastor rubbed himself against her.

While police are not looking for the 58-year-old pastor as yet, the Hawks say they have been investigating a number of alleged sexual violence cases against him for months now.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Donna De Jesus

There are 52 victims who have filed sex abuse lawsuits against the church.

Guam – The latest victim, using the initials M.S., claims he was sexually assaulted by former priest and Boy Scout Master, Father Louis Brouillard, in the early 1970s.

M.S., through his attorney Kevin Fowler, states in his complaint that Brouillard started abusing him when he was 14 years old. M.S. was a member of Boy Scout Troop 24 of San Isidro Parish in Malojloj, where Brouillard was assigned. He claims Brouillard would sexually abuse him on Boy Scout camping trips. M.S. also claims that the Archdiocese knew about Brouillard’s actions but did nothing to protect the boys.

Meanwhile, a Federal Magistrate Judge Joaquin Manibusan has ordered those who filed complaints at the district court using only initials to reveal their identities, which will be filed under seal.

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UNITED STATES
Courier-Journal

Arthur McCaffrey, Guest Contributor April 18, 2017

I have just completed an extensive, comparative review of international cases of child abuse, revealing common trends and historical patterns shared across countries. These similarities also extend to the recent case of abusive mistreatment of a passenger by United Airlines, which demonstrates many of the typical features usually associated with clergy abuse of children.

For instance, a common feature of abusive environments is an asymmetry of power, often involving institutional authority figures– priests, teachers, gymnastics coach, football coach, airline cabin crew, airport security– who wield their authority to overwhelm the victim. The different means used differ only stylistically: while a priest may woo and groom his target, in the United case airport police took a more brutal, direct approach. The end result is the same: an unconscionable attack on the dignity of the human person.

Next, you have the availability of hapless, powerless, vulnerable victims who are preyed upon–an innocent 10-year-old altar boy, or a foreign-looking passenger who may not know enough English to protest.

Then comes the abuse, either sexual in the case of Catholic children, or physical in the case of the United passenger. In either case, the powerful rape the powerless, often with an almost reckless sense of invincibility, confident that it would be too risky and costly for their umbrella institution (Church or corporation) to blow their cover. One might label this the Sandusky Syndrome, after the notorious case of pedophilia at Penn State University involving assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Vivienne Clarke

The Sisters of Charity’s failure to provide its share of funds to a redress scheme for institutional abuse victims is a separate issue from the relocation of the National Maternity Hospital, the man charged with negotiating the move has said.

Kieran Mulvey, who brokered the deal between the Sisters of Charity and Holles Street hospital for the relocation of the National Maternity Hospital, said the order would have no day-to-day involvement in the running of the hospital.

The Sisters of Charity were the shareholders of the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group which the Department of Health said would be the “sole owner of the new hospital” which is to be built on a site at Elm Park in south Dublin.

On RTÉ radio Mr Mulvey said the redress question was a matter of historic concern that “should be addressed elsewhere in an appropriate forum”.

He said it was an imperative that Holles Street moved as early as possible to the St Vincent’s campus.

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IRELAND
My Uplift

Campaign created by
Denise Kiernan

Sign and share this petition to prevent the Sisters of Charity becoming ‘sole owners’ of the hospital. Show the state we will not allow the abuse of our babies, children, and women to be swept under the rug. Demand a formal apology from Sisters of Charity and demand they pay their share of the redress scheme.

Why is this important?

The Sisters of Charity is one of 18 residential institutions that is highlighted by the Ryan report 2009 to have been responsible for child abuse. They still owe €3 million to the redress scheme for its survivors. The Sisters of Charity, along with three other religious congregations, were responsible for the management of Magdalene Laundries. In 2013 they stated they would not be making ANY contributions to the State redress scheme to the women who had been subject abuse in the Magdalene Laundries. The Department of Health now want to give ‘sole’ ownership of the new €300 million State-funded National Maternity Hospital.

Deny them ‘sole’ ownership. Demand they formally apologise and pay redress.

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IRELAND
The Journal

[the petition]

MORE THAN 20,000 people have signed a petition calling for the Sisters of Charity to be prevented from becoming the owner of the national maternity hospital.

Yesterday, TDs and councillors were among those to criticise the fact a religious group which has failed to deliver its full share to the redress scheme for institutional abuse survivors is to be the owner of the new hospital.

The Sisters of Charity own the land at St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin 4 where the new hospital is being built.

A petition seeking to prevent the group becoming the sole owner of the hospital has, at the time of publication, been signed over 20,000 times.

Emily Duffy of Uplift, the group behind the petition, said: “This is an issue that people in Ireland are clearly outraged about.

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IRELAND
Breaking News

An online petition to block The Sisters of Charity from owning the new national maternity hospital has got thousands of signatures overnight.

18,000 people have added their names to the protest, set up after the religious order was revealed as the new owner of the facility due to be built in Dublin.

Emily Duffy, spokesperson for Uplift who are behind the petition, said it was rare for such a petition to get so much attention so quickly.

“ This is an issue that people in Ireland are clearly outraged about – it’s rare we see a petition go viral so rapidly, and it shows that people are deeply troubled by the State’s utter disregard for the many victims of abuse which took place in institutions run by orders such as the Sisters of Charity.”

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DEUTSCHLAND
SR

[The prosecutor’s office has closed her fourth investigation against former Freisen pastor M. The pastor was investigated for possible child abuse.]

Die Staatsanwaltschaft hat ihr viertes Ermittlungsverfahren gegen den ehemaligen Freisener Pfarrer M. eingestellt. Sie hatte zuletzt den Verdacht auf Missbrauch eines Kindes geprüft.

Der Fall um den Freisener Pfarrer M. soll über 20 Jahre zurückliegen und wäre somit verjährt. Zuvor hatte die Staatsanwaltschaft bereits in drei weiteren Missbrauchs-Verdachtsfällen gegen den Priester ermittelt und die Verfahren ebenfalls eingestellt.

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MASSACHUSETTS
YouTube

Published on Apr 18, 2017

Panel discussion about the Boston Globe’s Spotlight Investigation into Catholic clergy child sex abuse, and the subsequent Academy Award winning film “Spotlight.” Panelists are Boston clergy abuse survivors Phil Saviano and Joseph Crowley, Globe reporter Sacha Pfeiffer, and attorney Eric MacLeish. Moderators are Philadelphia plaintiff attorneys Slade McLaughlin and Paul Lauricella. The “Spotlight” Plenary took place on September 20, 2016 at the National Center for Victims of Crime’s annual National Training Institute, held that year in Philadelphia, PA. This is PART 1 of a two-part videotape. Look for Part 2 of the program hosted on this same Phil Saviano Channel here on YouTube.

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MASSACHUSETTS
YouTube

Published on Apr 18, 2017

This is PART II of a panel discussion about the Boston Globe’s Spotlight Investigation into Catholic clergy child sex abuse, and the subsequent Academy Award winning film “Spotlight.” Panelists are Boston clergy abuse survivors Phil Saviano and Joseph Crowley, Globe reporter Sacha Pfeiffer, and attorney Eric MacLeish. Moderators are Philadelphia plaintiff attorneys Slade McLaughlin and Paul Lauricella. The “Spotlight” Plenary took place on September 20, 2016 at the National Center for Victims of Crime’s annual National Training Institute, held that year in Philadelphia, PA. This is PART 1 of a two-part videotape. Look for Part I of the program hosted on this same Phil Saviano Channel here on YouTube.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Mindy Aguon | For the Guam Daily Post

The archdiocese’s recent announcement of the establishment of a Hope and Healing program has come under criticism by attorney David Lujan, who represents several dozen victims of clergy sexual abuse.

“It’s a scam. The institution that knows about scams, there’s no greater institution than the Catholic Church. They’ve mastered the art of deception and deceit,” Lujan told The Guam Daily Post.

Two weeks ago, the Archdiocese of Agana announced the formation of the Hope and Healing program as part of its efforts to reach out to victims of clergy sexual abuse by establishing a victim’s settlement fund. The fund would develop as the archdiocese raises money through a liquidation of assets and resources. California-based attorney Mike Caspino was named the director of the independent group that will administer the settlement fund for victims and said, during a media conference, that the program aims to help ease the pain caused by the abuse.

“It already shows that they’re not operating in good faith. We will never agree to anyone that is related to the church,” Lujan said.

Lujan confirmed he met with Caspino two weeks ago and there was never mention of the California lawyer being the director of the program. The Guam attorney accuses Caspino of having an ulterior motive. “It’s not a fair mediation. He charges the church by the hour. Of course, his loyalty is to the church, not to (victims),” Lujan said. “He’s here to pick our pockets.”

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio, heugenio@guampdn.com April 19, 2017

Three new lawsuits filed Wednesday detailed former priest Louis Brouillard’s alleged sex abuse of children in the 1950s and 1970s on church premises and during Boy Scouts of America activities.

A man identified in court document as M.S. filed his suit in the Superior Court of Guam, while Thomas A. Cepeda Sr. and a man identified as M.W. filed theirs in the U.S. District Court of Guam. The federal cases each ask for $10 million in damages. Their lawsuits bring to 54 the total number of Guam clergy sex abuse lawsuits filed so far in local and federal courts.

Brouillard is being sued in 31 of the cases, and is accused, but isn’t being sued, in three others. The latest lawsuits named the Archdiocese of Agana, Brouillard and the Boy Scouts of America and its Aloha Council Chamorro District as defendants.

M.S. accused Brouillard of sexually abusing him many times when he was about 14 around 1972, in a church rectory, in a tent during Boy Scouts camping trips and during rides in Brouillard’s vehicle. M.S. is now 59 and lives on Guam.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

“Jesus Christ, he represents the church. We might as well deal with Archbishop Byrnes.” — Attorney David Lujan

Guam – Attorney David Lujan is slamming the Hope and Healing fund saying they are misleading the public into thinking that they are here to help victims of sex abuse. Lujan represents a majority of the 52 alleged victims who have sued the archdiocese so far while the Hope and Healing fund is being run by an attorney hired by the church.

“I think it’s a scam, really. It’s all one-sided,” Lujan argued.

Last week, at a press conference, the church announced that stateside Attorney Michael Caspino would be the executive director of the Hope and Healing Guam program. But according to Lujan, at a meeting with Caspino two weeks earlier, that was never revealed to him.

“That’s new to me and I would never agree to him being a part of the program. Jesus Christ, he represents the church. We might as well deal with Archbishop Byrnes,” Lujan lamented. “Let me deal with the real McCoy.”

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IRELAND
Irish Post

THOUSANDS of people have signed a petition to halt the Sisters of Charity, who once ran one of Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries, from running an Irish maternity hospital.

The Sisters of Charity is one of 18 religious congregations who managed residential institutions for children investigated by the Ryan Commission and was party to the 2002, €128million indemnity agreement with the State.

After the Ryan Report in 2009, the Sisters of Charity offered to contribute a further €5million towards the €1.5billion redress costs incurred by the State involving former residents of the institutions.

But according to the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report last month the Order have contributed just €2million of their 2009 offer.

The Department of Health said late last year the National Maternity Hospital, at Holles Street in Dublin and St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group – of which, the Sisters of Charity are a major shareholder – agreed a new governance structure, creating a new company to be established called The National Maternity Hospital at Elm Park.

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IRELAND
Dublin Live

BY BARRY ARNOLD
19 APR 2017

Two Dublin politicians have slammed the decision to grant The Religious Sisters of Charity group “sole ownership” of the new National Maternity Hospital.

North Inner City councillor Eilis Ryan believes the decision presents a “nightmare scenario” for women who will depend on the €300 million hospital.

The Worker’s Party councillor has called into question whether, if the 8th amendment repealed, the new legislation would be “implemented fully in a hospital wholly owned by the Catholic Church”.

Councillor Ryan said: “The decision to grant ownership of the National Maternity Hospital makes a mockery of the supposed neutrality of the Citizens’ Assembly.

“Do any of us really believe that, if and when the 8th amendment of our constitution is repealed, any new legislation for abortion will be implemented fully in a hospital wholly owned by the Catholic Church?

“Every week another story emerges of the extraordinary harm done to women by the church, with state complicity, in this country.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

By Catherine Shanahan
Health Correspondent

The State’s investment in the proposed €300m national maternity hospital will be protected and it will be free of religious interference, according to Health Minister Simon Harris.

The Master of the National Maternity Hospital (NMH), Rhona O’Mahony, said the hospital will “be clinically and operationally entirely independent in line with national maternity policy”.

Mr Harris and Dr O’Mahony’s comments follow reports that the Sisters of Charity will be sole owners of the hospital when it transfers from its current site at Holles St to St Vincent’s University Hospital campus at Elm Park.

The notion of the Sisters of Charity having sole ownership of a State-funded hospital sparked outrage among those angered that the order has not fulfilled commitments to survivors of institutional abuse.

The order had pledged an additional €5m after the 2009 publication of the Ryan Report which inquired into child abuse in religious-run institutions — but €3m remains outstanding.

However, the State has not “gifted” sole ownership to the nuns; the land on which the new hospital will be built is owned by St Vincent’s Healthcare Group of which the Sisters of Charity are a major shareholder. This does not mean the nuns could dispose of the hospital on a whim because the minister, who holds a “golden share” in the company set up to run it, can withhold his approval.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Allison Bray
April 19 2017

Survivors of the Magdalene Laundries are appalled that the controversial Sisters of Charity order that ran the notorious workhouses will still own the new National Maternity Hospital – even if it is independently run.

Dr Rhona Mahony, Master of the National Maternity Hospital, issued a statement last night insisting that the new €300m hospital at Elm Park in south Dublin, will be “operated by a new company with an independent board and will be clinically and operationally entirely independent in line with national maternity policy”.

But Steven O’Riordan, chair of Magdalene Survivors Together, said rather than the State paying the order for the land, the nuns should be required to hand the proceeds back to the State and have nothing to do with the hospital.

Survivors are infuriated that the order still hasn’t lived up to its legal and moral responsibilities to pay millions of euro in compensation to victims of institutional abuse – despite agreeing to do so more than 15 years ago.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Mary Minihan

An Independent TD who frequently supports the Government has said the religious congregation that will own the new national maternity hospital has a “moral duty” to provide its share of funds to a redress scheme for institutional abuse victims.

Michael Harty, who is a Clare GP and chairman of the Oireachtas health committee, was referring to the Sisters of Charity, the shareholders of the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group (SVHG).

“The Sisters of Charity have a moral duty to honour their commitment to pay the balance of the €3 million due given the value of their share [IN THE]St Vincent’s site especially given their status as a religious order,” he told The Irish Times.

The religious congregation is to be the owner of the new €300 million State-funded national maternity hospital, which is to be built on a site at Elm Park in south Dublin.

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IRELAND
RTE News

The former chairman of the Workplace Relations Commission has said monies owed by the Sisters of Charity order to a redress scheme did not feature during negotiations to move the National Maternity Hospital to the St Vincent’s campus.

The land on which the new hospital will be built is owned by the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group and the Sisters of Charity are a major shareholder in the group, which will own the new hospital.

Kieran Mulvey acted as a mediator between Holles Street and St Vincent’s hospitals during the negotiation process.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Sean O’Rourke, Mr Mulvey said he empathised with victims but the issue was separate to the one he had been dealing with.

He said his terms of reference were to deal with the relocation of Holles Street and to put in appropriate arrangements for all concerned.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Apr 19, 2017

By Krystal Paco

The 52nd plaintiff files suit for clergy sex abuse. “M.S.” filed his complaint in the Superior Court of Guam on Wednesday naming the Archdiocese of Agana and the Boy Scouts of America Aloha Council as defendants.

His alleged abuser is Father Louis Brouillard. According to the plaintiff, he was a parishioner of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Inarajan. Because the parish didn’t have its own Boy Scouts troop, he joined the Malojojo troop led by Father Brouillard.

The complaint states that the priest would get naked and fondle the plaintiff while other boy scouts were forced to looked at photographs of naked boys. On other occasions, M.S. was on camping trips when the priest would come into his tent and sexually abuse him.

His local attorney is Kevin Fowler who believes others are likely to come forward with allegations against the priest.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Apr 19, 2017

By Krystal Paco

Filed in the District Court of Guam were two more cases of clergy sex abuse. Thomas A. Cepeda Sr. and M.W. both allege they were sexually molested by Father Louis Brouillard.

Cepeda, who is 71 years old today, lives in Washington, but grew up in Mangilao. He says he was abused by the priest in the late 1950s through the early 1960s. Brouillard allegedly instructed him to remove his pants so he could conduct a physical examination but the priest measured his penis and groped him before telling the boy to bend over so he could rub his privates.

M.W. says he was molested by the priest in Malojojo. The priest allegedly had the boys stay after mass to clean, but would give them leftover wine to drink before sexually molesting them.

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UTAH
Deseret News

By McKenzie Romero
@McKenzieRomero
Published: April 17, 2017

PROVO — A flood of criticism is flowing in about a Provo judge’s handling of a sexual assault case.

Constant calls have police evaluating how to keep the judge safe. The defendant’s attorney is arguing statements from the bench are being taken out of context. And a victim in the case is calling the judge’s comments a painful obstacle for others who have been sexually assaulted.

Fourth District Judge Thomas Low has made international headlines for his apparent praise of a former LDS bishop as he sentenced the man to prison last week for sexually abusing two women while they stayed at his home.

As he ordered Keith Vallejo, 43, to spend at least five years and potentially life in prison, the judge called Vallejo “an extraordinarily good man.”

As Low’s comments spread online — with news organizations including the New York Daily News, Washington Post, Associate Press, Huffington Post and others picking up the story — Utah State Courts spokesman Geoff Fattah said a steady string of calls have come in from people voicing criticism or disappointment about the judge.

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INDIANA
Kokomo Perspective

Devin Zimmerman Apr 18, 2017

(Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of stories concerning Temple Baptist Church Kokomo. In the coming weeks, multiple victims will tell their stories of alleged abuse – physical, mental, and spiritual – while attending the church and the church’s school, Temple Baptist Academy.)

It all began when Dawn Price posted a video to YouTube on Feb. 27, 2017.

Through a heartfelt reading of a letter she wrote to her parents at the behest of a counselor, Price detailed her painful childhood while choking back tears. In just under 15 minutes, she described the alleged sexual abuse she claims to have endured at the hands of her father, Donald Croddy, who sources say served in various capacities around children at Temple Baptist Church.

Adopted at the age of 5, and now 45, Price claims her father began grooming her shortly after she and her brother were brought into the Croddy home in Kokomo.

“You made naptime and playing house with daddy normal,” said Price in her video. “You took away my innocence. No child should know about sex or orgasms. You have no idea how you screwed up my sexual development.”

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TENNESSEE
The Tennessean

Joey Garrison , USA Today Network – Tennessee Published April 18, 2017

Nashville will name a one-block overpass bridge on Jefferson Street after Bishop Joseph Walker III, one of city’s most prominent pastors, following action from the Metro Council on Tuesday.

The council voted 30-0, with an unusually high eight abstentions, to honor Walker, pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church, with the distinction. The overpass crosses the interstate between 11th and 12th avenues on Jefferson Street near one of Mt. Zion’s three churches.

The honorary name, pushed by At-large Councilman Erica Gilmore, has caused a hubbub in the council. Some have questioned whether it’s appropriate to name civic structures after people who are living. Council members Sharon Hurt and Tanaka Vercher have said other pastors besides Walker are also worthy of being honored.

Councilman Scott Davis told colleagues Tuesday that the real “elephant in the room” is previous allegations made against Walker. He was referring to 2012 lawsuits led by a woman parishioner that accused Walker of sexual abuse. A judge dismissed the complaints because of the statute of limitations.

Davis said he would let his own daughter attend programs at Mt. Zion and said the allegations against Walker aren’t true.

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SOUTH AFRICA
ENCA

Wednesday 19 April 2017

JOHANNESBURG – A manhunt for a pastor accused of sexually molesting his congregants is likely to be over soon.

Police said in a statement they had made contact with pastor Tim Omotoso and his arrest was being arranged.

Omotoso, a Nigerian national, is the leader of the Jesus Dominion International in Durban.

Girls have accused him of luring them into his house to molest them.

Most of the church’s members are young people, who say he has betrayed their trust.

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UNITED STATES
WSIU

[with audio]

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

In the early 2000s, investigative reporters at The Boston Globe helped uncover cases of child sexual abuse by priests in the Catholic Church in Boston, a story that was recently told in the movie “Spotlight.” Since then, the church has implemented some changes to make children safer. That might not have happened without Joe Crowley. He was one of the first men to talk about his abuse to reporter Sacha Pfeiffer.

Joe Crowley died this past Sunday at age 58, and this morning in The Boston Globe, Pfeiffer wrote a tribute to Crowley. She’s with us now. Sacha Pfeiffer, welcome.

SACHA PFEIFFER: Thanks for having me.

MCEVERS: How did you first meet Joe Crowley?

PFEIFFER: I was introduced to him through a network of lawyers and advocates. And we met at a cafe, and I remember thinking that he was so smart and funny and articulate. But he was also really insecure and very nervous. And he clearly was still recovering from what had happened decades earlier just emotionally and psychologically. And we stayed in touch ever since.

MCEVERS: What happened to him?

PFEIFFER: When Joe was growing up, he lived in an extremely unstable family. His mom had schizophrenia. His dad was mostly out of the picture. There were five siblings total. They actually spent a few years in a children’s home, sort of the equivalent of an orphanage.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Robert J. Lawler and Crosby Funeral Home

Crowley — Joseph Anthony of Brookline, April 16, 2017. Beloved son of Annamae (Grealish) Crowley and the late Edward F. Crowley. Devoted brother of Monica Crowley of Jamaica Plain, Regina and Bill Evans of Boston, Anne Marie Crowley of Cambridge and Edward Crowley of Boston. Also survived by his aunts, uncles, cousins, his fellow survivors and friends from the AA community.

Visiting hours in the Robert J. Lawler and Crosby Funeral Home 1803 Centre St., West Roxbury, on Saturday, April 22, from 3:30 to 5:30pm. Followed by a Vigil Service at 5:30pm. Relatives and friends are invited to attend. Interment Private.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made in Joe’s memory to SNAP, www.snapnetwork.org or to P.O. Box 56539 Saint Louis, MO 63156 or to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay 75 Federal St., 8th Fl.,
Boston, MA 02110
www.lawlerfuneralhome.com

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MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

BY JUDY L. THOMAS
jthomas@kcstar.com

A lower court was correct in dismissing defamation and other claims against a national Catholic organization by a former altar boy whose sexual abuse case was part of a $10 million settlement with the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese, a federal appellate court has ruled.

In an opinion issued Tuesday, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that Jon David Couzens waited too long to file the lawsuit.

The case, filed in Jackson County Circuit Court in 2013, named as defendants the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights; its president and CEO, William Donohue; the KC Catholic League; and two Kansas City men who were officers of the now-dissolved local organization.

Couzens said that Donohue published false statements about him in news releases, on the Catholic League’s website and in documents distributed to churches. Couzens also accused the defendants of invasion of privacy and inflicting emotional distress.

The New York-based Catholic League successfully got the lawsuit moved to U.S. District Court. That court dismissed the case in 2015 after agreeing with the Catholic League that the material was first published in New York and because of that, the statute of limitations had expired.

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CANADA
Ottawa Sun

BY ANDREW DUFFY, POSTMEDIA NETWORK
FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, APRIL 18, 2017

An Ottawa man says he was sexually abused in August 1979 by Bishop John Beahan, who was then one of the most powerful figures in the Archdiocese of Ottawa.

The man, now 52, has launched a $2-million lawsuit against the Catholic archdiocese. It represents the first time that Beahan, once the second-highest-ranking member of the Ottawa clergy, has been named in a sex abuse lawsuit.

The allegations also raise a potential motive for Beahan to dismiss sex abuse claims made against fellow clergy members in the 1970s and 80s.

Appointed auxiliary bishop in May 1977, Beahan also served for 12 years as vicar general — essentially, the archdiocese’s chief administrative officer — until he suffered a fatal stroke in March 1988. In his role as vicar general, Beahan would have been responsible for managing complaints lodged against abusive priests

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IRELAND
Newstalk

18 Apr 2017
Jack Quann

A Government minister says he is “sure” Health Minister Simon Harris will clarify ownership of the new National Maternity Hospital.

There has been widespread criticism of plans to award ownership of the hospital to the Sisters of Charity.

The group are to be the sole owner of the new hospital, as a major shareholder in the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group.

In a statement, the Department of Health said: “The new company will have clinical and operational independence in the provision of maternity, gynaecology and neonatal services, without religious, ethnic or other distinction, as well as financial and budgetary independence.

“This independence will be assured by the reserved powers which are set out in the agreement and which will be copperfastened by the golden share which will be held by the Minister for Health.”

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IRELAND
The Cork

18 April 2017
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie

Cork North Central Solidarity TD Mick Barry this morning voiced strong opposition to plans to make the Sisters of Charity the sole owners of the new National Maternity Hospital.

Deputy Barry is a member of the Dail’s Committee on the Future of Healthcare which is due to issue its report next month.

He said that the Sisters of Charity were in “serious breach of commitments given to the State regarding payments for redress for survivors of institutional abuse and should not be rewarded by being made sole owners of the new 300 million euro National Maternity Hospital.”

Mick Barry said “the Sisters of Charity have a 3 million euro debt outstanding on a 5 million euro payment pledged after the publication in 2009 of the Ryan report and have yet to transfer ownership of the Sacred Heart Centre in Waterford to the State as agreed in 2002 as part of the indemnity deal. The Sisters of Charity refused to make any contribution to redress for survivors of those Magdalene Laundries it was responsible for.”

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IRELAND
Irish Sun

By Megan Roantree
18th April 2017

THE Religious Sisters of Charity Ireland are set to be given “sole ownership” of the new National Maternity Hospital.

The €300million facility will be located at St Vincent’s Hospital grounds at Elm Park in south Dublin.

Proceeds from the sale of Holles Street maternity hospital will go towards funding the new one which is due to start being built in 2021.

The Religious Sisters of Charity organisation still owes €3million to the State redress scheme for victims of institutional abuse, agreed to in 2002 after the Ryan commission investigation.

In 2009, the organisation agreed to pay €5million to former residents of religious institutions.

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IRELAND
The Journal

HEALTH MINISTER SIMON Harris has said that the new National Maternity Hospital will have “clinical and operational independence”, without “religious, ethnic or other influence”.

Severe criticism was levelled at the involvement of the Sisters of Charity in the new hospital, which has failed to deliver its full share to the redress for institutional abuse survivors.

The Department of Health confirmed that St Vincent’s Healthcare Group, of which the Sisters of Charity is a major shareholder, owned the land that the site of the hospital would occupy, but Simon Harris has sought to play down the religious group’s involvement.

In a statement, the Master of the National Maternity Hospital, Dr Rhona Mahony, also sought to reassure of the independent nature of the new hospital facility.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Mary Minihan

Minister for Health Simon Harris has insisted his “golden share” in the new €300 million State-funded national maternity hospital means the public interest will be protected and the facility will operate independently.

Opposition politicians have been critical of the fact that a religious congregation is to be the owner of the hospital, which is to be built on a site at Elm Park in south Dublin.

The Sisters of Charity, a congregation which has failed to date to provide its share of funds to a redress scheme for institutional abuse victims, are the shareholders of the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group (SVHG).

Mr Harris tweeted on Tuesday: “New maternity hospital will have full clinical, operational, financial & budgetary independence, free of any religious or ethnic influence.”

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

Survivors of child abuse in residential institutions have expressed shock at the fact that the sole owner of the new National Maternity Hospital in south Dublin will be the the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group, of which the Sisters of Charity are the shareholders.

The Sisters of Charity have yet to fulfil their commitments under the 2002 indemnity agreement, under which they and 17 other congregations that ran residential institutions for children agreed to pay the State €128 million towards redress costs.

They have also to meet commitments they made in 2009 to pay a further €5 million towards redress,€3 million of which remains outstanding.

The congregation is one of four that managed the Magdalene laundries in Ireland, all of which explicitly refused in 2013 to contribute anything to the State redress scheme for women who had been in the laundries.

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CANADA
CBC News

The Roman Catholic priest for three rural parishes in northwestern Saskatchewan is on trial this week for sexual assault.

Father Javier de los Angeles Cortazar, 48, was charged after an incident at a cabin near Goodsoil, Sask., more than two years ago.

Shortly afterward, a fellow priest went to police, alleging Cortazar had sexually assaulted him. The victim’s name is subject to a publication ban.

The trial is set to run all week at Court of Queen’s Bench in Meadow Lake, Sask.

After he was charged, Cortazar continued to preside over weekly services and sacraments for parishioners in Goodsoil, Loon Lake and Pierceland.

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GHANA
Peacefmonline

Rev. Josh Laryea of ICGC has become the most talked about Ghanaian man of God in the last few days–for having been suspended for an alleged sexual affair with a woman who is not his wife.

Following his suspension, Ghanaian musician-Mzbel came out to say the suspension vindicates her and that when the same Josh Laryea “molested” her and she complained later, the church covered it up.

Interesting, Mzbel and Josh Laryea have been friends for long.

In fact, Josh Laryea was the pastor who officiated the naming ceremony of Mzbel’s son, Aaron at ICGC.

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SOUTH AFRICA
Times Live

Shenaaz Jamal‚ Sibongile Mashaba And Julia Madibogo | 18 April, 2017

The Hawks say they are investigating allegations that a popular televangelist molested several girls‚ but say the preacher is not on the run.

SABC’s Special Assignment carried an expose on the pastor in which several victims spoke of the alleged abuse. The programme claimed the pastor who leads a church in Durban‚ KwaZulu-Natal‚ was on the run from authorities. Hawks spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Netshiunda said they were already investigating the allegations months prior to the Special Assignment feature.

“Even before the matter was reported we were already investigating it and speaking to victims‚” said Netshiunda.

He said the SABC had “exaggerated the matter” when it claimed the Hawks were searching for the man‚ saying he was not on the run.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Mindy Aguon | For The Guam Daily Post

A new civil complaint filed in the District Court of Guam alleges a former priest sexually abused a boy – who had a mental illness – while the boy was an altar boy and a Boy Scout.

The lawsuit, filed by Public Guardian Marcelene C. Santos, on behalf of an individual using the initials “G.B.,” alleges when the boy was 12, he was sexually molested and abused by Louis Brouillard, who was the parish priest at the time at the Nuestra Señora de las Aguas Catholic Church in Mongmong.

The complaint accuses Brouillard of sexually abusing G.B. when the victim was an altar boy at the Mongmong parish in 1973 and later when he was a Boy Scout. The alleged sexual abuse occurred during swimming outings. G.B. alleges he was sexually molested and saw other boys being groped and fondled by Brouillard.

The lawsuit also alleges that Brouillard “misappropriated” limosna, or church offerings, from parishioners for his “evil campaign” to abuse young boys and reward them with food from restaurants. G.B.’s parents were unaware the church exposed their son to a priest who was molesting their son, court documents state.

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UNITED STATES
Minnesota Public Radio

Bob Collins April 18, 2017

If not for people like Joe Crowley, the Catholic Church’s chronic problem of sexual abuse might never have found its believers.

Crowley was [edit] among the the first victims to come forward publicly when the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team resisted all the pressure the Boston Archdiocese could muster to stop the investigation.

“Joe took an incredible risk coming forward,” said Barbara Dorris, national managing director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “And when one survivor does it, it’s like giving the rest of the survivors permission to tell. We’ll never know how many people came forward because Joe did, and how many people had hope because Joe did it.”

Dorris, who noted that some clergy sexual abuse victims have committed suicide, added of Mr. Crowley: “He’s probably saved lives.”

He suffered from alcoholism, depression, anger, and unemployment, a familiar trajectory for the victims of priests, the Globe says.

He was a Boston College High School student when a priest raped him, then passed him on to other priests.

Ultimately, people began to believe what Crowley, played by Michael Cyril Creighton in Spotlight, courageously tried to tell them through the Globe’s team of reporters.

He died on Sunday.

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INDIANA
The Mennonite

Erin Bergen, a former student at Goshen (Indiana) College, has filed a complaint through Goshen’s federally mandated Title IX process. Last fall, she filed a report with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR), claiming discrimination on the basis of sex. In December 2016, the OCR contacted Bergen to inform her that they would investigate her complaint against Goshen College.

In an April 12 post on the website Into Account, Bergen, who was sexually assaulted while a student, describes her experience in filing the complaint after seeing patterns during her two years as a Goshen student. Bergen writes that “a survivor’s story and experience are minimized” and that “when a survivor does come forward they are met with skepticism.”

According to the Clery Act, colleges must report statistics of crime on their campuses. Nationally, 23.1 percent of all female undergraduate students experience rape or sexual assault through physical force, violence, or incapacitation according to RAINN, a national anti-sexual violence organization. Goshen, however, reported zeros on its Clery Act statistics from 2013-2015.

Bergen writes: “This does not reflect the actual number of sexual assaults that have occurred on campus. Students have brought forward concerns to the administration for years with little to no change taken by the powers that be.

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