ABUSE TRACKER

GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Apr 18, 2017

By Sabrina Salas Matanane

The island’s Public Guardian, Marcelene Santos, files the latest complaint of childhood clergy sexual abuse on behalf of an individual identified as “G.B.” Santos was appointed the legal guardian of G.B. in 2009.

According to the complaint filed in federal court, GB was an altar boy at the Catholic Church in Mongmong. When he was around 12 years old Father Louis Brouillard sexually abused him while he was altar boy and while he was a boy scout.

The Public Guardian and GB are suing the Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts of America. They are represented by attorneys David Lujan and Gloria Rudolph.

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ROME
Settimo Cielo

Sandro Magister

For April 29, a meeting has been scheduled in Rome of the Council Complete of State among the Professed Knights, the organ that according to statute will proceed with the election of the new Grand Master of the Order of Malta.

As is known, the previous Grand Master, Fra’ Matthew Festing of England, delivered his resignation on January 24 into the hands of Pope Francis, in obedience to his command.

Since then, the supreme authority of the Order has been represented, in the capacity of interim lieutenant, by Grand Commander Fra’ Ludwig Hoffmann von Rumerstein.

On February 4, however, Pope Francis also placed over the Order his own Special Delegate and “exclusive spokesman,” de facto endowed with full powers, in the person of Archbishop Angelo Becciu, substitute secretary of state.

The following letter is glaring proof of the exercise of these full powers.

In the name of the pope, Becciu prohibits the former Grand Master from taking part in the election of his successor. Not only that. He even forbids him to go to Rome on the occasion of the conclave.

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MARYLAND
People

BY ADAM CARLSON•@ADAM_A_CARLSON

POSTED ON APRIL 17, 2017

Sister Catherine “Cathy” Cesnik, a 26-year-old nun and teacher in Baltimore, vanished in 1969. Her body was found about two months later, but her death has never been solved.

How did she die? And why?

Cesnik’s story is now getting the Netflix true crime treatment, PEOPLE can exclusively reveal.

Following Making a Murderer and a documentary on the Amanda Knox case, the streaming service is releasing The Keepers, a Netflix original seven-part docuseries examining Cesnik’s life, the lives of the many people she touched and the broader web of hidden stories and lies in Baltimore that may be connected to her death.

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IRELAND
RTE News

The new National Maternity Hospital to be built on the St Vincent’s Hospital campus in Dublin, will have full clinical, operational, financial and budgetary independence, the Minister for Health has said.

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.

Simon Harris said it would be free from any religious or ethnic influence and the independence of the hospital will be copperfastened by reserved powers and a golden share held by the Minister for Health of the day, as part of an agreement reached last November, brokered by Kieran Mulvey who acted as a mediator, between Holles St and St Vincent’s hospitals.

Proceeds from the sale of the current Holles Street Hospital will go toward the cost of the new facility, which was originally put at €150 million but is expected to cost significantly more.

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IRELAND
The Journal

TDS AND COUNCILLORS have criticised the news that a religious group which has failed to deliver its full share to the redress for institutional abuse survivors is to be the owner of the new National Maternity Hospital.

The Department of Health confirmed that the Sisters of Charity would own the land that the new hospital is being built on.

The National Maternity Hospital is being moved from Holles Street to St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin 4, with a large development taking place there at an estimated cost of €150 million.

The move to St Vincent’s was agreed last November, when issues arose between officials from St Vincent’s and Holles Street over who would govern the hospital.

Now, the Department of Health has confirmed that the new unit will be solely under the ownership of the Sisters of Charity, who are the major shareholders of the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

UPDATE 2.35pm: The Health Minister, Simon Harris, has said there won’t be any religious influence on the governance of the new national maternity hospital.

The land on which the hospital will be built is owned by The Sisters of Charity.

However Minister Simon Harris says the hospital will have full clinical, operational, financial and budgetary independence.

His comments come after after opposition parties claimed there could be a conflict of interest between medical decisions and Catholic principles.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

A religious congregation which has failed to date to provide its share of funds to a redress scheme for institutional abuse victims, is to be given ownership of the new €300 million State-funded National Maternity Hospital.

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

The relocation of the hospital from Holles Street to the St Vincent’s hospital campus involves the largest single investment ever made in maternity services in the State. Proceeds from the sale of Holles Street will go towards funding the new maternity hospital.

A department spokesman said the “autonomy of the national maternity hospital board will be underpinned by reserved powers to ensure clinical and operational independence, and the Minister for Health will hold the power to protect those reserved powers”.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Sacha Pfeiffer GLOBE STAFF APRIL 18, 2017

No one taught me more about the incalculable damage of sexual abuse, and the surprising resiliency of the human spirit, than Joe Crowley.

I met Joe in the fall of 2001, when my Spotlight Team colleagues and I were searching for people who had been molested by Catholic priests. Through a network of lawyers and advocates, I contacted Joe, then 42. He was smart, funny, and articulate, but also nervous, insecure, and still trying to recover emotionally from what had happened to him decades earlier.

Joe grew up in Dorchester in the 1960s and ’70s in an extremely unstable family: his mother struggled with mental illness, his father was mostly out of the picture, and he and his four siblings spent years living in a children’s home.

As a teenager, Joe suspected he was gay, which is why he wound up being “counseled” by Father Paul Shanley, a long-haired, denim-clad Boston priest who created a “ministry to alienated youth’’ for runaways, drug abusers, and adolescents confused about their sexual identity.

Of all the abusive priests I covered, Shanley was the most insidious, because he deliberately surrounded himself with vulnerable, troubled teenage boys. For 15-year-old Joe and many others, the “counseling” they received culminated in coerced sex, often in Shanley’s private apartment in the Back Bay.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com April 18, 2017

A group of Catholics seeking Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron’s removal and defrocking said it’s supporting a program that offers professional counseling, treatment, spiritual healing, compensation and justice to Guam clergy sex abuse victims.

“The quicker we can bring healing and justice to the victims of clergy sex abuse, the better,” David Sablan, Concerned Catholics of Guam president said Monday, referring to Hope and Healing Guam.

Sablan said Concerned Catholics believes the program is an alternative to trying the clergy abuse cases in court, which he said have limitations in helping abuse victims heal emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

“The archdiocese is moving in the right direction in initiating the program and having an independent body administer it,” Sablan said.

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MARYLAND
International Business Times

By Jane Clayton @jane_tvhunter on April 18 2017

While viewers are waiting for “Making a Murderer” season 2, Netflix is bringing in “The Keepers,” another murder series. The upcoming show will feature the 1969 real story of a murdered nun.

Baltimore nun Sister Catherine “Cathy” Cesnik will be the center of the forthcoming Netflix seven-part docuseries titled “The Keepers.” The 26-year-old nun and teacher in Baltimore went missing nearly five decades ago.

Cesnik’s body was found about two months later by hunters in a dump outside of town. Her body showed signs of violence. The investigators concluded she was murdered but no one was ever charged, and her death remains unsolved.

Sister Cathy Cesnik taught English and drama at Archbishop Keough High School. She was one of the most popular teachers in the school. Apparently, Cesnik’s students compared her to Maria von Trapp from “ The Sound of Music.”

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NEVADA
Las Vegas Review-Journal

By Ben Botkin Las Vegas Review-Journal
April 17, 2017

CARSON CITY — The Assembly backed legislation that extends the statute of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse to sue their perpetrators.

Assembly members voted 38-0 on the bill on Monday, with four lawmakers absent.

Assembly Bill 145 extends the statute of limitations from 10 years to 20 years. The clock on the statute of limitations would start after a victim turns 18 or discovers an injury was caused by the abuse, whichever comes later.

The vote will support victims and give them the courage to come forward, said a bill sponsor, Assemblywoman Lisa Krasner, R-Reno.

“For far too long, these victims have hid in the shadows because of shame or fear,” Krasner told lawmakers before the vote.

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MARYLAND
Vanity Fair

by HILLARY BUSIS
APRIL 17, 2017

Once upon a time, Making a Murderer’s intense focus on a fishy-seeming murder case—one that invited viewers to serve as both judge and jury—led scores of people to compare the show to Serial, the hit podcast generally credited with spurring the recent true-crime revival. Now, though, the Netflix series’s own success—and the long gap between its first season and its second, which still hasn’t premiered—has left fans and commentators hungry for another show to compare to Making a Murderer itself. Was Netflix’s Amanda Knox documentary the next Making a Murderer? (No, it was a one-off movie.) What about Discovery Channel’s Killing Fields? (Nah, reviews were mixed, and it never really captured the zeitgeist.) Will an upcoming adaptation of The Von Bulow Affair do the trick? (Maybe, though if it’s airing on Investigation Discovery, probably not.)

It’s possible, of course, that there is no “next” Making a Murderer. Perhaps, though, we’ve just been waiting all this time for The Keepers, an upcoming seven-part (ding) series on Netflix (ding) that investigates the “unsolved murder of a nun and the horrific secrets and pain that linger nearly five decades after her death” (ding ding ding).

We don’t yet know much else about The Keepers, beyond its premiere date (May 19) and the fact that it’s directed by Ryan White—whose bona fides include marriage equality doc The Case Against 8 and 2016’s Serena, a portrait of one of history’s greatest tennis players. (Not to be confused with 2014’s Serena, that Bradley Cooper-Jennifer Lawrence movie you forgot existed until just now.) We do know, though, that according to Netflix, the series “will have everyone asking the question ‘who killed Sister Cathy?’ “ That tagline indicates the series will investigate the curious case of Sister Cathy Cesnik, a Baltimore nun whose decades-old unsolved murder could be connected to a church sexual-abuse scandal. In other words: sign us up.

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TEXAS
Baptist News

BOB ALLEN | APRIL 17, 2017

A second Southern Baptist state convention in a month has been slapped with an ascending liability lawsuit over alleged child sex abuse involving an affiliated ministry.

A lawsuit filed April 5 in Tarrant County, Texas, seeks to hold the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention liable for alleged physical and/or sexual abuse and neglect of seven children placed by the state in foster care at Texas Baptist Home for Children.

Meanwhile, First Baptist Church in Terrell, Texas, filed a legal response April 11 to a lawsuit filed March 8 in Oklahoma holding the congregation, another Baptist church and the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma responsible for the reported rape of a 13-year-old girl last summer at the BGCO-owned Falls Creek Conference Center.

The girl was part of a youth group from Terrell invited to share a cabin with Country Estates Baptist Church of Midwest City, Okla., for a weeklong church camp last June. While there, she met 35-year-old Benjamin Petty, an adult volunteer brought along as a cook by Country Estates Baptist Church. During the week, according to the lawsuit, Petty forcibly raped the teenager after days of grooming and manipulation either unnoticed or ignored by camp counselors.

Based in Waxahachie, Texas, Texas Baptist Home for Children was founded in 1908 by the Baptist Missionary Association of Texas, a group formed after a split within the Baptist General Convention of Texas in the 1890s.

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AUSTRALIA
Liverpool City Champion

18 Apr 2017

A man, 66, has been charged after allegedly sexually assaulting a girl under 10 he met at a south-western Sydney church. Detectives from the State Crime Command’s Child Abuse Squad started an investigation following reports the young girl had been assaulted in the church facilities.

Following extensive investigations, detectives arrested the alleged perpetrator at a home at Ashcroft last Wednesday, April 12. He was taken to Cabramatta police station and charged with having sexual intercourse with a child under 10.

Police allege he sexually assaulted the girl at a gathering after church on Sunday, April 9. He was refused bail to appear in Liverpool court last Thursday.

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UTAH
Associated Press

BY HALLIE GOLDEN
ASSOCIATED PRESS

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Complaints keep pouring in about a Utah judge who called a convicted rapist a “good man” during his sentencing hearing. But the chances of the judge being punished appear slim because his remarks don’t seem to fit within any of the five forms of judicial misconduct that would trigger reprimands, one expert said.

At least four of these categories of misconduct don’t apply to Judge Thomas Low’s remarks, Paul Cassell, a professor of criminal law at the University of Utah, said Monday. The fifth category would only apply if officials determined that his comments were damaging to the administration of justice, which is difficult to prove, Cassell said.

Last week, Low sentenced Keith Robert Vallejo, a former Mormon bishop, to up to life in prison after a jury found him guilty of 10 counts of forcible sexual abuse and one count of object rape.

The judge is now facing a deluge of complaints after saying during the hearing, “The court has no doubt that Mr. Vallejo is an extraordinarily good man …. But great men sometimes do bad things.”

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com April 18, 2017

Former priest Louis Brouillard allegedly used church monetary offerings, or limosna, to reward boys he would later sexually abused, according to the 51st Guam clergy sex abuse lawsuit filed Tuesday.

Brouillard allegedly sexually abused a man identified in court documents as G.B., when G.B. was around 12 and an altar boy and member of the Boy Scouts of America in 1973, the complaint says. Brouillard was a scoutmaster at the time.

“During the period in which he was a Boy Scout, G.B. was sexually molested and abused by Brouillard,” the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court of Guam says. G.B. also served as an altar boy at the Nuestra Señora de las Aguas Catholic Church in Mongmong.

The lawsuit states G.B.’s parents attended Mass at the Mongmong parish regularly and faithfully gave limosna as a demonstration of their trust and support for the Catholic Church, unaware the church exposed their son to a priest who was molesting their son.

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MARYLAND
Huffington Post

Mat Whitehead
Entertainment Reporter

Netflix has announced their latest addition to its true crime docuseries offerings with a seven-part documentary “The Keepers”.

After the success of “Making a Murderer” and “Amanda Knox”, the streaming platform will take a look at the unsolved murder of Sister Cathy Cesnik. Murdered in 1969, the Baltimore nun’s killer was never found, however several women who were close to Cesnik believed she was killed to cover-up an alleged underage prostitution and molestation ring occurring in the Catholic school where she was a teacher.

While her body was discovered in November 1969, Cesnik’s case returned to the public eye in the 90s when a woman who was only identified as “Jane Doe” came forward to share her experience of sexual abuse at the hands of the school’s chaplain.

In a The Huffington Post investigation from 2015, “Jane Doe” was identified as Jean Wehner, who told the harrowing tale of being driven to a garbage dump near the outskirts of the city by the chaplain. It was there she reportedly saw the body of the missing nun, where the priest whispered in her ear, “You see what happens when you say bad things about people?”

At the helm of the series is Ryan White, who directed other documentaries such as “The Case Against 8”, “Serena” and “Good Ol’ Freda”. White said: “We never set out in making this to solve a murder, but what has happened through making it is it has drawn people out in a way that wouldn’t have happened if there wasn’t going to be such a scrutiny or risk of exposure.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
The Wrap

Ross A. Lincoln | April 17, 2017

Joseph Crowley, a survivor of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic Priest who went public about his experiences as part of the Boston Globe investigation that served as the basis for the film “Spotlight,” died on Easter Sunday, the Boston Globe is reporting. He was 58, and had long suffered from heart and respiratory ailments.

Actor Michael Cyril Creighton, who portrayed Crowley in the Oscar-winning film, paid tribute to him in a post on Facebook. Crowley, said Creighton, was “a strong man, a resilient man,” who “bravely spoke about his abuse in order to help others, and never spent a moment feeling sorry for himself.”

This is long and rambling, but I am heartbroken and processing. Yesterday we lost a wonderful man who impacted my life…
Posted by Michael Cyril Creighton on Monday, April 17, 2017

Crowley was a high school student when he was raped by Paul Shanley, priest and educator at Boston College High School, where Crowley was a student. Shanley would later be defrocked by the church for an unrelated instance of sexual abuse, but was not reported to the authorities.

Crowley kept the experience a secret for most of his life, but came forward during the Boston Globe’s investigation into systemic sexual abuse by Catholic clergy and efforts by Church hierarchy to cover it up. He would later become one of the first victims of clergy sexual abuse to make his name public. After Shanley was convicted in 2005 for indecent assaults and the rape of a male minor, Crowley became an advocate for other victims.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

The man is now under the care of the Public Guardian Marcelene Santos.

Guam – Another lawsuit has been filed against the Archdiocese of Agana today naming former Guam priest Father Louis Brouillard, but this time, the alleged victim is an individual with a mental disability.

The lawsuit was filed by Guam Public Guardian Marcelene Santos on behalf of a man with the initials G.B. who is now in his 50s. The lawsuit says Brouillard sexually molested G.B. when he was about 12 years old in 1973 during outings with the Boy Scouts. Brouillard at the time was the scout master and while on swimming trips with other boy scout members, he allegedly groped and fondled several of the boys under water.

It’s not clear if G.B.’s mental disability is the result of the sexual abuse, but the lawsuit does seem to suggest it, saying “G.B. has suffered harm to a child’s physical health or welfare … because G.B. was the victim of a sexual offense.”

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MAINE
WLBZ

[with video]

Samantha York, WLBZ April 17, 2017

CASTINE, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — Neal Gumpel was allegedly sexually assaulted by a priest at Maine Maritime Academy is 1974 — it took him decades to open up about the incident, but now he is seeking justice and an advocacy group from New Jersey is helping.

”We’re looking for more victims of a professor of Maine Maritime who abused children” Robert Hoatson said as he passed fliers out to everyone that walked and drove by him in downtown Castine. Hoatson is the president of Road to Recovery — an organization dedicated to helping sexual assault victims seek justice and find peace. Now he is doing his part to help Neal Gumpel — who says he was molested at Maine Maritime Academy 44 years ago. Those allegations are against Father Roy Drake.

“We’re appealing to Maine Maritime and the Jesuits, especially of New England, to do something right for a change” Hoatson said.

Hoatson believes spreading the word — even all these years later — can motivate other victims to come forward. Gumpel was afraid to talk about his alleged assault for decades — he stated it is the root of his depression and substance abuse problems. Now he protests in front of the Jesuit headquarters in New York and even hired a lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, a couple of years ago and met with Jesuit officials. Gumpel claims they refused to publicly apologize or settle with him. They have settled with another of Drake’s victims.

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CONNECTICUT
Patch

By Rich Scinto (Patch Staff) – April 17, 2017

NEW HAVEN, CT — A prominent rabbi in New Haven was accused by a second man of longstanding sexual abuse starting when he was a child.

Aviad Hack said during a deposition that sexual encounters with Rabbi Daniel Greer started in the early 90’s and continued through 2004 at a number of different properties, according to the New Haven Independent. Greer has denied the allegations.

Hack said he was afraid to tell anyone because Greer and Hack’s family had worked together to revitalize a neighborhood and create a religious community and school. Hack is now an administrator

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Bryan Marquard GLOBE STAFF APRIL 17, 2017

Day after day in 2005, Joe Crowley sat in a courtroom while a jury heard testimony and evidence about Paul Shanley, a defrocked priest who had sexually abused him when he was a teenager.

“I was sitting 10 feet away from the man who’d raped me, pimped me, and stole my innocence,” Mr. Crowley recalled in a 2012 interview with the Globe. “Watching Shanley answer to criminal charges was the real beginning of my recovery.”

In the years after Shanley was convicted, Mr. Crowley publicly revealed details of what had happened to him and he became a prominent voice for victims of clergy sexual abuse. He even was portrayed by name in the Academy Award-winning film “Spotlight,” which recounted the Globe’s investigation of the scandal.

His health fragile for years, partly due to the drinking and smoking that had helped him subdue memories, Mr. Crowley died in his sleep and was found in his bed Easter Sunday in his Brookline residence, his family said. He was 58 and had suffered from respiratory and heart ailments.

“Every time somebody speaks up about this, every time one of us speaks up and talks about this, it’s going to be more difficult for someone to rape a child, to rape any person,” Mr. Crowley told the Globe last year, after “Spotlight” won the Oscar for best picture. Mr. Crowley watched the broadcast from a Brookline rehabilitation hospital because of ill health.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

KENNETH LOVETT
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, April 17, 201

ALBANY — The sponsor of a bill to make it easier for child sexual assault victims to seek justice as adults is pushing for a state Senate hearing on the issue.

Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan) and the seven other Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to the panel’s chairman, John Bonacic (R-Orange County) petitioning for the hearing.

The letter could put the Senate GOP, which has blocked passage of the Child Victims Act for years, in the position of either agreeing to hold the hearing or publicly voting to reject it.

According to Senate rules, a hearing must be held if one-third of the members of a committee petition for it — “unless a majority of the members of the committee reject such a petition.”

“We trust this will not be the case, and the Committee will schedule a hearing … as soon as practicable,” the letter says.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

David Zurawik

The unsolved murder of Sister Cathy Cesnik, a 26-year-old Baltimore nun who disappeared in 1969, will be the subject of a seven-part Netflix docuseries launching May 19, the streaming service announced Monday.

Titled “The Keepers,” the series will also explore “the horrific secrets and pain that linger nearly five decades after her death” in the Baltimore area, according to Netflix.

The series is produced by Tripod Productions and Film 45. It is directed by Ryan White, who made “The Case Against 8,” a powerful documentary about the effort to overturn a California ban on same-sex marriage.

Cesnik taught English and drama at Archbishop Keough High School, and was one of the school’s most popular faculty members.

A priest, who was also on staff at the school, has been considered a suspect by police and some who were students at the time of Cesnik’s disappearance.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Mindy Aguon | For The Guam Daily Post

“I can’t imagine I was the only one who Father Camacho abused. I was a little girl and he didn’t stop until I started crying.” – “T.G.”

A woman has come forward alleging she was sexually abused by Father Juan Camacho in the early 1970s when she served as a receptionist at the Santa Barbara Catholic Church in Dededo.

The lawsuit, which identified the accuser as “T.G.” to protect her identity and privacy, alleges that while working at the church when she was 14, Camacho took her into his office, locked the door and sexually abused her until she resisted and began to cry.

The 59-year-old woman said she filed the complaint in hopes to help other abuse survivors come forward.

“I can’t imagine I was the only one who Father Camacho abused. I was a little girl and he didn’t stop until I started crying,” “T.G.” stated. “The only way to hold the church accountable is for all of us to come forward so that everyone understands what happened and how it happened.”

Camacho is the brother of Monsignor Zoilo Camacho who was mentioned in a separate civil suit filed several weeks ago by Anthony Flores. In that case, Flores alleged that Monsignor Camacho ignored him when he complained that he and other boys were being abused by Father Louis Brouillard and said he was told to “be quiet and get out of my office.”

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Mindy Aguon | For The Guam Daily Post

A tribunal from the Vatican has conducted the Guam part of its multi-jurisdiction investigation into allegations of sexual abuse against Archbishop Anthony Apuron, but officials are “reaching out” to two of the former Guam Catholic leader’s accusers from the island.

“There’s still a potential for the others to testify at the canonical trial,” attorney David Lujan told The Guam Daily Post.

In February, Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, the judge of the tribunal, and other participants of the Vatican justice system came to Guam to investigate allegations of sex abuse filed against the suspended archbishop.

The tribunal’s visit was part of the canonical trial for Apuron, who faces penal charges in connection with allegations that he sexually abused altar boys decades ago when he was a priest.

During the visit, Lujan objected to his clients’ participation in the depositions as he was not allowed to be present and he wasn’t clear on the canonical trial procedures and rules and whether his clients’ interests would be protected.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

Editorial

New York and Connecticut are neighboring states. Yet in the way they allow people victimized as children to pursue their abusers, they are far apart.

An exhaustive report by an elite Connecticut boarding school helps explain why.

The examination by an investigator working for the board of trustees at Choate Rosemary Hall detailed decades of sexual misconduct by faculty and staff.

Going back more than five decades, it names a dozen former educators who engaged in a broad range of sexual misconduct, including rape.

Nothing was reported to police. In some cases, school administrators let perps slide by with glowing recommendations — enabling them to find soft landings at other schools.

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UTAH
10 News

Chris Jones, KUTV , WTSP April 16, 2017

(KUTV) The fallout over comments made by a Utah County judge who praised a convicted sex offender continues.

The group, Restore Our Humanity, is working to file a complaint against Judge Thomas Low of Utah’s 4th District.

Low, moments before sentencing a former LDS bishop Keith Vallejo for sexually assaulting two relatives, gave glowing praise to the convicted sex predator.

“The court has no doubt that Mr. Vallejo is an extraordinarily good man,” Low said. “But great men, sometimes do bad things.”

“It was appalling,” said Mark Lawrence, head of the civil rights organization, Restore Our Humanity. He said the judge’s remarks were insensitive, and re-victimize the victims.

“This judge was clearly showing he was not independent here, is clearly showing favoritism towards the perpetrator,” Lawrence said.

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UTAH
Standard-Examiner

STANDARD-EXAMINER EDITORIAL BOARD

After a Utah jury found a former Mormon bishop guilty of rape and 10 counts of forcible sexual abuse, the judge called him a good man.

An “extraordinarily good man.”

A “great” man.

No, your honor. He isn’t.

He’s a rapist. A sexual predator. A criminal.

He abused two women.

And you just held him up as a model of moral conduct.

No wonder Utah finds it so difficult to address the horror of sexual violence.

Julia Kirby lived at Keith Robert Vallejo’s house when she attended Brigham Young University in 2013. She’s related to the former LDS bishop.

Kirby, now 23, said Vallejo repeatedly groped her. Another woman also said she was abused at Vallejos’ home in 2014, when she was 17. After a Provo jury convicted Vallejos in late March, Judge Thomas Low allowed him to remain free on bail until his April 12 sentencing.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com Published April 17, 2017

The number of priests accused of sexually abusing children on Guam decades ago, reached 10 on Monday after a woman sued, saying she was sexually abused by the now-deceased Father Juan Camacho when she was 14, around 1972.

The Guam resident, named as T.G. in court documents, said the priest asked her to serve as a receptionist at Santa Barbara Catholic Church in Dededo. At one point, she alleged, Camacho took her into his office, locked the door behind her, asked her about her school work and whether she had any boyfriends, and then sexually abused her.

T.G., 59, alleges Camacho continued to force himself on her after she resisted, and only stopped when she began to cry.

At the time, the priest assured T.G. and her parents that she would be able to do her homework while working as a receptionist, the complaint filed in the Superior Court of Guam states.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Northern Echo

Joanna Morris, Reporter (Darlington) / jomorrisecho

LANCASHIRE police have refused to answer a series of questions relating to reported abuse by priests at St Joseph’s Catholic seminary.

In 2006, the force was told of allegations suggesting Father Michael Higginbottom and other priests had abused a pupil at the college in West Lancashire.

Despite Higginbottom being based in Darlington at the time the initial reports were made, Durham Constabulary could find no record of having been informed of the allegations facing him and of having a suspected sex offender living on their patch.

The initial police investigation was eventually dropped, with the Catholic Church paying the alleged victim £35,000 in an out of court settlement.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Apr 17, 2017

By Krystal Paco

Priests may have been covering up for one another. This according to the latest victim to file suit against the Church.

Father Juan Camacho is accused of making sexual advances on a 14-year-old girl in the early 1970s. Father Camacho was a priest at Santa Barbara Catholic Church in Dededo and also brother to Monsignor Ziolo Camacho. The plaintiff, only identified as 59-year-old T.G., alleges the priest asked her to serve as a receptionist for the Church, but behind closed doors, he fondled her breasts and ran his hands up her thighs. The abuse only stopped when the girl cried.

In a press release from her attorney, Kevin Fowler, he states, “We have heard from a number of plaintiffs who allege they told priests that they were being abused and were ignored. T.G. initially came forward because she believes Father Juan Camacho likely abused other girls given how aggressive he was with her. But her story raises serious questions about whether Monsignor Camacho ignored complaints about Father Louis Brouillard abusing children because he knew his own brother was abusing children.” T.G. marks the 50th plaintiff to file suit.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Apr 17, 2017

By Krystal Paco

He’s a named plaintiff in four civil suits in the District Court of Guam for clergy sex abuse. But what’s the status with Archbishop Anthony Apuron’s canonical trial in Rome?

One Apuron accuser met with the group charged with the investigation and they report the end could be near.

Rewind to last summer, where Walter Denton announced publicly, “I was raped by Anthony Sablan Apuron, who at that time was a priest in Agat. I shouted out to father Anthony to stop. I kept shouting and I tried to move but all I could feel was him on top of me. It seemed like forever father Anthony stayed on top of me. I was crying out to him asking him to please stop.”

And fast forward to today, Archbishop Apuron’s accusers could see closure as early as this summer. “They’re hoping the canonical trial will be over early summer, probably around July timeframe,” said Denton.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Apr 17, 2017

By Krystal Paco

Defense counsel for the Archdiocese of Agana is asking the Court to consolidate 37 lawsuits against the Church. All 37 lawsuits were filed by Attorney David Lujan. The motion was made to streamline the process, seeing as each of the cases has identical legal issues and similar facts.

As reported, the Church is challenging the constitutionality of Guam law that was changed to lift the civil statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases. The Church also intends to challenge the individual causes of action pleaded by each complaint as being legally defective on various grounds. The motion to consolidate further states “all of these issues should be decided through one law and motion proceeding, and not by briefing and arguing the same issues through repetitive and identical motions in each case.”

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Walter Denton met with Cardinal Raymond Burke and two others to provide his testimony.
Guam – Some of the alleged victims who accused Archbishop Anthony Apuron of sexual abuse have already provided their testimony to a tribunal leading the canonical trial of the suspended archbishop. We spoke Walter Denton who was among the first to share his emotional story of surviving sexual assault.

Denton, along with three other people, came out to share their story of sexual abuse at the hands of none other than the shepherd of Guam’s archdiocese, Archbishop Anthony Apuron. The details were disturbing but each of them wanted to share their story to expose the leader of Guam’s church. It was their very public statements that paved the way for what is now the canonical trial of Apuron.

Denton tells PNC that he provided testimony to a Vatican tribunal exactly a month ago. He met with Cardinal Raymond Burke, a canon lawyer who’s leading the investigation into sex abuse allegations against Apuron, and other members of the tribunal at the Archdiocese in San Francisco.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Donna De Jesus

Latest victim names former Santa Barbara parish priest, Father Juan Camacho.

Guam – More victims are accusing the church of child sexual abuse. The 50th lawsuit to be filed was the second by a female victim and the first to name Dededo priest, Father Juan Camacho.

The latest victim accusing the Archdiocese of child sexual abuse, who is now 59 years old, claims that Father Juan Camacho, who is the brother of Monsignor Zoilo Camacho, sexually abused her when she was 14 years old in 1972 under the pretense of having her work as a receptionist at Santa Barbara Church in Dededo. In court documents, the victim, using only the initials T.G., alleges that Father Camacho would take her into his office, lock the door, and force himself on her, and only stopped when she began to cry.

This is the only incident documented in the complaint, but T.G.’s counsel, Atty. Kevin Fowler, said “T.G. initially came forward because she believes Father Juan Camacho likely abused other girls given how aggressive he was with her. But her story raises serious questions about whether Monsignor Camacho ignored complaints about Father [Louis] Brouillard abusing children because he knew his own brother was abusing children.” In a complaint filed over a month ago, abuse victim Anthony Flores claimed that Monsignor Zoilo Camacho ignored his complaints about altar boys being victimized by Brouillard, telling Flores to “be quiet and get out of my office.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Visiter

BY NEIL DOCKING
17 APR 2017

The Catholic church has expressed its “profound sorrow” to a man who, as a boy, was repeatedly sexually abused by a paedophile priest.

Father Michael Higginbottom, 74, was last week jailed over the sickening abuse, which he carried out while working at St Joseph’s College, in Up Holland, near Ormskirk.

The sexual assaults took place in the 1970s.

A statement released by the church said: “The diocese expresses profound sorrow for the terrible crimes of child abuse committed by Father Michael Higginbottom and offers a heartfelt apology to the victim who should have been afforded and expected utmost care from someone in such a position of trust. There can be no excuses.

“Our thoughts are with the victim and his family at this time.”

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MAINE
Road to Recovery

JESUIT PRIEST; COLLEGE PROFESSOR AND RESEARCHER; AND, SERIAL CHILD ABUSER, FR. ROY DRAKE HAD ACCESS TO THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN DURING HIS SEVERAL YEARS LIVING AND WORKING IN NORTHERN MAINE TOWNS AND CITIES – ORONO, CASTINE, AND BUCKSPORT (APPROXIMATELY 1971-1977)

FR. ROY DRAKE RECEIVED A DOCTORAL DEGREE IN EDUCATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MAINE, ORONO, AND LIVED IN ORONO, MAINE, FOR AT LEAST PART OF THE 1971-1977 PERIOD OF TIME WHEN HE ALSO CONDUCTED A STUDY OF LEARNING STYLES OF STUDENTS

FR. ROY DRAKE WAS EMPLOYED AS A PROFESSOR AND PROJECT DIRECTOR AT MAINE MARITIME ACADEMY IN CASTINE, MAINE, FROM APPROXIMATELY 1974-1977, WHERE HE SEXUALLY ABUSED INNOCENT CHILD NEAL E. GUMPEL WHO WAS VISITING MAINE MARITIME ACADEMY IN APPROXIMATELY 1976

FROM 1974-1976, FR. ROY DRAKE, WHILE EMPLOYED AT MAINE MARITIME ACADEMY, WAS THE PROJECT DIRECTOR OF A GRANT PROGRAM AT A BUCKSPORT, MAINE, PAPER MILL, THAT ESTABLISHED A FAMILY LEARNING CENTER AT THE PAPER MILL FOR EMPLOYEES AND THEIR FAMILIES

What
A leafleting of two towns, Castine, Maine, and Bucksport, Maine, whose children were or may have been victims of serial pedophile and Jesuit priest, Fr. Roy Drake, who was a professor at Maine Maritime Academy and directed a project in Bucksport, Maine, during the period of approximately 1974-1977

When
Monday, April 17, 2017

Where
Bucksport, Maine – from 9:00 am until 11:00 am
Castine, Maine – from Noon until 2:00 pm

Who
Members of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity based in New Jersey that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families, including its co-founder and President, Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D.

Why
Fr. Roy Drake is a deceased Jesuit priest and serial pedophile. He was involved in towns and cities of northern Maine for approximately six years (1971-1977). Fr. Roy Drake lived and/or worked in Orono, Castine, and Bucksport, Maine, during that approximate six-year period and sexually abused at least two innocent children during that time. The leafleting of the towns of Castine and Bucksport will alert residents, businesses and the general public of the sexual abuse of children by Fr. Roy Drake and urge those who may have been sexually abused by Drake of anyone else to come forward and begin to heal.

Contact
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., Road to Recovery, Inc. – 862-368-2800 – roberthoatson@gmail.com

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IRELAND
Newstalk

15 Apr 2017
Aidan McKelvey

This week the government published the second interim report from Judge Yvonne Murphy’s Commission of Investigation in Mother and Baby Homes. Murphy recommended that the redress scheme for institutional child abuse be extended to some of those who lived in the Mother and Baby Homes. But the government has said no, because they estimate that the cost could run to 1 billion euros.

Would financial compensation at this point make any difference to the damage done? And if not money, then what can be done to undo the harm?

To discuss this week’s Talking Point Sarah was joined by:

Gerry O’Regan – Columnist with The Irish Independent
Patsy McGarry – Religious Affairs Correspondent with The Irish Times
Susan Lohan – Co-founder Adoptions Rights Alliance

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CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

April 15, 2017 Joelle Casteix

That’s today’s lesson for Claretian priest Fr. Tony Diaz.

He’s the organizer of San Gabriel Mission’s May 25 Build the Dreams Scholarship Fundraising Dinner. His fatal error was deciding to honor admitted child molester Bruce Wellems along with actor Edward James Olmos. Wellems is a priest of questionable standing who has been banned from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, removed from ministry in the Archdiocese of Chicago, and told he may not act as a priest by his own order, the Claretians.

In fact, he couldn’t even answer a reporter’s question as to whether he is still a priest at all.

Why? Wellems admitted to molesting a seven-year-old before he became a priest, is being sued for abuse, and has allegedly admitted to other misconduct.

When a reporter from the Pasadena Star News asked Fr. Tony Diaz about the May 25 event, Diaz stated that he had full permission of the Archdiocese of LA to honor Wellems.

What did the Archdiocese say?

[A] spokesman for the Archdiocese, said no such permission was given.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times

Christine Flowers, Delaware County Daily Times

Last weekend on my radio show, I had the distinct honor of interviewing Angela Liddle, the president of the Pennsylvania Family Support Alliance, a heroic organization based in Harrisburg that lobbies on behalf of children who are in danger of being abused, or who have already suffered abuse. During our hour-long conversation, this native of York, Pa., did what so many of us have failed to do, blinded by our politics and our passions: Find real solutions to protect the most vulnerable among us.

People who have read my column in the past know full well that I have very strong opinions on child abuse, whether physical or emotional, and whether the abuser is part of a church, a secular institution or the nuclear family. I’ve railed against what I’ve viewed as disparate treatment in the courts and the legislatures, and I’ve been very outspoken about what I see as an unfair focus on the Catholic archdioceses, both nationally and in our own neck of the woods. As recently as last week, I wrote about proposals in Harrisburg which would level the playing field between public and private institutions, legislation that has created a great deal of controversy between those who care more about their pocketbooks than about due process.

Angela, and her organization, are above the partisan bickering. The PFSA doesn’t care about who can sue, and who can be liable for past harm. Well, perhaps it does at some level, but the focus of this organization is not to avenge but, rather, to protect. While a lot of the focus on child abuse has been on who can get their pound of flesh or their righteous reward (depending upon your particular, partisan point of view,) the PFSA is concerned with one thing only: Making sure that children are raised in a safe and nurturing environment. For this exceptional group of people, success is not measured in how many lawsuits can be filed and how many people can be prosecuted. It is determined by how many children grow up without ever knowing what the word “abuse” means. Prevention, not punishment, is the central focus of PFSA. Or, as the vision statement carried on its website proclaims, “Every child deserves to grow and thrive free from abuse and neglect.”

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com April 16, 2017

A former Agat altar boy and the mother of a now deceased altar boy testified before a Vatican tribunal for the canonical penal trial of Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron, who is accused of raping and sexually abusing four altar boys in the 1970s.

Walter G. Denton, who accused Apuron of raping him during a sleepover at a church rectory when he was 13 in 1977, said he gave his testimony to the Vatican tribunal led by Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke on March 17 at the Archbishop’s Residence in San Francisco, California.

“I have waited a long time to tell people my story. Telling my story to the tribunal was like telling my story to the Pope. I feel that these Vatican officials are representing the Pope himself. I wanted everyone to hear my testimony. I just wanted to tell someone who would listen to what happen to me,” Denton told Pacific Daily News.

Denton said the tribunal is hoping that Apuron’s canonical trial would be completed sometime early summer, based on information he got from the Rev. Justin M. Wachs. Wachs serves as the Vatican court reporter for the Apuron trial.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Northern Echo

Joanna Morris, Reporter (Darlington) / jomorrisecho

DISGRACED Catholic priest Michael Higginbottom was at the centre of a wider paedophile ring involving other clergymen, it has been alleged.

As former Darlington parish priest Higginbottom is jailed for 17 years over the abuse of a teenager, allegations have been uncovered suggesting that boys at St Joseph’s seminary were preyed upon by perverted priests.

At least four Catholic priests have been accused of abusing children at the facility in West Lancashire, with several pupils having reported horrifying mistreatment at the hands of clergymen.

Lancashire Police and the Catholic Church have issued apologies via the media to Higginbottom’s victim but maintained their lengthy silence in relation to allegations of wider abuse at St Joseph’s.

The authorities refused to address claims that a number of priests were involved in the abuse of youngsters at the seminary, including Father Ernest Sands, who killed himself last year as he was due to face charges of indecently assaulting five boys while a music teacher at the college.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Twenty years now, and in those twenty years, the story that perhaps more than any other characterizes the Roman Catholic church and has come to brand it in the eyes of the public is the crisis caused by clerical sexual abuse of minors and the cover-up of such abuse by church pastors. In continuation of the theme I began on Palm Sunday, I’m sharing with you now a letter I sent Bishop William Curlin of Charlotte on 10 September 1997 — some twenty years ago — speaking about the abuse crisis before it had even broken out in American Catholicism via media reports (with the exception of Jason Berry’s ground-breaking coverage), and about what I could foresee it would mean, when news of it did really reach the world. This letter builds on the 1 September letter I posted here on Holy Thursday. It refers to Mother Teresa because Bishop Curlin has regarded himself as a close personal friend of Mother Teresa and brought her to Charlotte.

Here’s my letter from 10 September 1997:

Dear Bishop Curlin:

Soon after I wrote you on September 1, I received the September 5 issue of the National Catholic Reporter. That issue has news about the pedophilia trial in Dallas, on which my September 1 letter commented.

Since this news is deeply disturbing to me, and has bearing on my story in the Charlotte diocese, I am writing again to comment on the latest revelations from the Dallas case.

As you may know, the NCR article indicates that the bishop of Dallas has met secretly with “a group of powerful laymen” to plan “an aggressive legal and public relations campaign designed to discredit … the … verdict in the Rudolph Kos sex abuse case.” Notes from the meeting contain evidence of possibly unethical communication between the judiciary slated to hear a motion in the case, and an attorney present at the meeting.

The meeting notes also show that the diocese plans a public relations campaign designed to assure Catholics of the diocese’s “compassion,” while suggesting that the trial was unfair. According to these notes, at least one of the “powerful men” present at the meeting observed, “We can control the media.” The notes identify “protection of assets” as a key diocesan objective.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Premier

Sat 15 Apr 2017
By Aaron James

A diocese has apologised after one of its priests was jailed for 17 years for repeatedly abusing a boy.

Fr Michael Higginbottom, 74, was convicted of four counts of buggery and four counts of indecent assault, committed during his time at St Joseph’s College in Upholland, Lancashire, in the 1970s.

The college, now shut, was for boys exploring becoming priests. Higginbottom’s victim attended St Joseph’s for six months when he was 13 and 14.

Liverpool Crown Court heard the victim also claimed two other priests at St Joseph’s abused him, however both have now died.

The lawyer defending Higginbottom said since he’d committed the offences he’d led a “positive” life ministering as a parish priest.

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NEDERLAND
Trouw

[The ultra-Catholic Fraternity of St. Pius X is accused of having covered up sexual abuse by some clergy.]

De ultrakatholieke Priesterbroederschap Sint-Pius X wordt ervan beschuldigd seksueel misbruik van enkele geestelijken te hebben toegedekt. Dat beweert het tv-programma Uppdrag Granskning van de Zweedse publieke omroep SVT.

Drie priesters en een vrijwilliger zouden zich in verschillende landen in totaal aan twaalf kinderen hebben vergrepen. Aanwijzingen voor het misbruik zouden niet aan de burgerlijke autoriteiten zijn doorgegeven. De vrijwilliger, werkzaam bij de broederschap in de Amerikaanse staat Idaho, is inmiddels tot levenslang veroordeeld voor het misbruik van zeven jonge kinderen.

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BELGIGUE
CathoBel

[The Arbitration Center is competent to deal with cases of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Belgium. From 2012 to 2016, the Center granted 507 requests for victims of priests or religious, for a total amount of 3 million euros.]

Le Centre d’arbitrage est compétent pour traiter des dossiers d’abus sexuels dans l’Eglise, en Belgique. De 2012 à 2016, le Centre a fait droit à 507 demandes de victimes de prêtres ou religieux, pour un montant global de 3 millions d’euros. C’est ce qui ressort du rapport du Centre publié ce jeudi 13 avril par le Parlement fédéral.

Après la découverte, en 2010, des abus sexuels présumés commis par Roger Vangheluwe, l’Eglise en Belgique a vraiment pris conscience de l’ampleur de ces abus, commis pour 80 % des cas il y a plus de 30 ans. Cette année-là, le parlement fédéral a mis en place une Commission spéciale, présidée par Karine Lalieux (PS). Cette commission mènera des auditions et recommandera la création d’un Centre d’arbitrage pour indemniser les victimes de faits prescrits depuis longtemps.

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OSTERREICH
Nachrichten

[“There is nothing to see from the elucidation of mass abuses in the Catholic Church, dear Holy Father, for enlightenment would mean, among other things, to bring victims and perpetrators to a table,” writes the Steyrer.]

STEYR. Das, was Karl-Heinz Lindlgruber vor mehr als 30 Jahren als Kind im Erziehungsheim Steyr/Gleink erleben musste, verfolgt ihn immer noch.

Schläge, Misshandlungen und sexueller Missbrauch durch seine Mitzöglinge habe er ertragen müssen, berichtet der heute 46-Jährige. 15.000 Euro Entschädigung wurden ihm mehr als drei Jahrzehnte nach diesen Vorfällen von der Klasnic-Kommission zugesprochen.

Nun wandte sich Lindlgruber in einem Offenen Brief an Papst Franziskus und findet klare Worte: “Von Aufklärung der massenhaften Missbräuche in der katholischen Kirche ist weit und breit nichts zu sehen, lieber Heiliger Vater, denn Aufklärung würde unter anderem auch heißen, Opfer und Täter an einen Tisch zu bringen”, schreibt der Steyrer.

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OSTERREICH
religion@orf

[After the allegations of violent and sexual assaults in a Salesian’s upper Austrian boarding school in the 1970s, another man has reported he was ill-treated in the ’80s. However, the Order of Salesians now considers a counter-accusation against the first man because the accusation is “not tenable.”]

Nach den Vorwürfen der gewalttätigen und sexuellen Übergriffe in einem von Salesianern geführten oberösterreichischen Internat in den 1970er Jahren, hat sich ein weiterer Mann gemeldet. Er gab Misshandlungen in den 80er Jahren an.

Ein ehemaliger Schüler gab vor einigen Tagen körperliche Züchtigung und erzwungenen Oralverkehr von Seiten zweier Padres an. Er erkrankte im Alter von 22 Jahren an Kehlkopfkrebs und hat Klage auf Schadensersatz eingereicht. Am Freitag meldete sich laut einer Aussendung der Plattform Betroffener kirchlicher Gewalt ein weiteres Opfer: Der heute 50jährige gibt an, in den 80er Jahren massiver körperlicher Gewalt von Seiten zweier Padres ausgesetzt gewesen zu sein.

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CANADA
CTV

Henry Clarke’s past is coming back to haunt him.

The retired Meadow Lake pastor, who’s still living in the Saskatchewan community, was recently hand-delivered a letter from a BBC reporter stating he was publicly named in a Northern Ireland government inquiry into historical institutional abuse.

The inquiry reports Clarke sexually abused three boys while working for Bawnmore and Firmount children’s homes in the 1970s and at his parents’ home in 1968, according to the letter. The BBC was hoping to speak with Clarke about the report.

“You can’t walk away from it. It’s always part of you. There’s something always there reminding you of what you’ve done,” Clarke told CTV Saskatoon. “What I did, I did. I’m very ashamed of that.”
He did speak with BBC, and last week the broadcaster published several stories on Clarke and the abuse cases. CTV sat down with him Wednesday afternoon.

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UTAH
Huffington Post

By Hayley Miller

A sexual assault survivor was forced to hear a judge call her convicted rapist “an extraordinarily good man” before sentencing him to prison this week.

Utah Judge Thomas Low allegedly held back tears as he sang the praises of Keith Vallejo, a former bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints found guilty of sexually abusing two women in separate incidents dating back to at least 2013, reports local news channel KUTV.

“The court had no doubt that Mr. Vallejo is an extraordinarily good man,” Low told the courtroom Wednesday moments before sentencing Vallejo. “But great men, sometimes do bad things.”

Julia Kirby, who was 19 years old when her brother-in-law assaulted her, said she was appalled by Low’s decision to offer a glowing character assessment of Vallejo.

“That judge shouldn’t have done that,” Kirby told KUTV. “For him to say that in a court room in front the victim who was abused and raped by this man, that he is a great person, to me was unacceptable and unprofessional.”

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ROME
Reuters

By Philip Pullella | ROME

Pope Francis, presiding at a Good Friday service, asked God for forgiveness for scandals in the Catholic Church and for the “shame” of humanity becoming inured to daily scenes of bombed cities and drowning migrants.

Francis presided at a traditional candlelight Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) service at Rome’s Colosseum attended by some 20,000 people and protected by heavy security following recent attacks in European cities.

Francis sat while a large wooden cross was carried in procession, stopping 14 times to mark events in the last hours of Jesus’ life from being sentenced to death to his burial.

Similar services, known as the Stations of the Cross, were taking place in cities around the world as Christians gathered to commemorate Jesus’ death by crucifixion.

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UTAH
KSL

By Hallie Golden – Associated Press | Posted Apr 14th, 2017

SALT LAKE CITY — A Provo judge is facing a deluge of complaints after calling a former LDS bishop convicted of rape an “extraordinary, good man” who did something wrong, a judicial oversight organization said Friday.

The criticism of Judge Thomas Low began when he let Keith Robert Vallejo out of custody after a jury found him guilty of 10 counts of forcible sexual abuse and one count of object rape, said Jennifer Yim, executive director of the Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission.

Then at sentencing earlier this week, Low said: “The court has no doubt that Mr. Vallejo is an extraordinary, good man. But great men sometimes do bad things.”

Yim said 75 complaints made by a combination of emails, voicemails and Facebook messages arrived Thursday and Friday.

The volume is “pretty rare,” Yim said. Many wrote they were survivors of sexual assault who felt re-victimized by the judge’s comments.

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ROME
Associated Press

BY FRANCES D’EMILIO
ASSOCIATED PRESS

ROME (AP) — Thousands of people, including nuns, families with toddlers, and young tourists, endured exceptionally tight anti-terrorism checks to pray at the Good Friday procession at the Colosseum, where Pope Francis expressed shame over humanity’s failings.

Francis, wearing a plain white coat, presided over the traditional, evening Way of the Cross procession from a rise overlooking the popular tourist monument as faithful took turns carrying a tall cross and meditations were recited to encourage reflection on Jesus’ suffering and crucifixion.

After the 90-minute-long procession ended, Francis, in a quiet voice, read a prayer he composed that alternated expressing shame for humanity’s failings and hope that “hardened hearts” will become capable of forgiving and loving.

With Easter two days away, Francis said faithful look to Christ “with eyes lowered in shame and with hearts full of hope.”

Such shame, he said, derives from “all those images of devastation, destruction, shipwrecks, that have become routine in our lives.” Hundreds of thousands of migrants have endured hardships at the hands of human traffickers to try to reach Europe, which has increasingly been rejecting them, and thousands of them have perished at sea during the last few years.

Evoking wars and conflicts, as well as attacks on Christian minorities, Francis also voiced shame for “the innocent blood spilled daily by women, children, immigrants, and persons persecuted because of the color of their skin, or for the ethnic or social group they belong to, and for their faith” in Jesus.

The pontiff also made a reference to clergy’s handling of sex abuse of minors, saying: “shame for all those times that we bishops, priests and other clergy scandalized” the church.

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UTAH
Associated Press

BY HALLIE GOLDEN
ASSOCIATED PRESS

PROVO, Utah (AP) — A woman says she is shocked by a Utah judge’s comments in which he called a former Mormon bishop convicted of sexually assaulting her a “good man” during his sentencing hearing.

Julia Kirby said Friday that Judge Thomas Low appeared to care more for her attacker than he did about her.

“He only cared about the person he was convicting, and I think that is really kind of despicable,” said the 23-year-old Kirby, who has given The Associated Press permission to publish her name

Low sentenced Keith Robert Vallejo to up to life in prison this week after a jury found him guilty of 10 counts of forcible sexual abuse and one count of object rape.

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ROME
International Business Times

By Ananya Roy
Updated April 15, 2017

Expressing shame over the failures of the Church and humanity in protecting the dignity and lives of innocent people, Pope Francis called for the almighty’s forgiveness during his Good Friday speech at Rome’s Colosseum.

Wearing a plain white coat, he presided over the traditional evening Way of the Cross procession and later addressed the 20,000 people gathered at the place amid extremely tight security.

The pontiff said that their eyes were “lowered in shame” and hearts were “full of hope” because of “all those images of devastation, destruction, shipwrecks, that have become routine in our lives”. He specifically mentioned the sexual abuse allegations against several Catholic Church clergymen and said that the shame was also “for all those times that we bishops, priests and other clergy scandalised” the church.

Referring to the migrant crisis in Europe, he said that hundreds of thousands of displaced people have endured hardships at the hands of human traffickers in attempts to reach European countries, but these nations have increasingly been rejecting their asylum pleas. He expressed grief over the loss of hundreds of lives lost while sailing to Europe through risky sea routes.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio, heugenio@guampdn.com

A new program that the Archdiocese of Agana initiated seeks to resolve dozens of Guam clergy sex abuse cases by summer’s end, offering an alternative to years of court litigation, according to the attorney in charge of the program.

Attorney Michael W. Caspino, executive director of the non-profit organization Hope and Healing Guam, said the independent program seeks to offer professional counseling, treatment, spiritual healing, compensation and justice to clergy abuse victims.

The program is two-pronged:

* Professional counseling has started for those who have already called the Hope and Healing Guam hotline, 1-888-649-5288. This will be followed by rehabilitation and long-term treatment as needed, and guidance from a spiritual director.

* Individual review of each claim for compensation, along with referral for investigation, once an independent board is formed, as early as next week.

Caspino, of California, said similar programs in other states could be administered by the diocese. But in Guam’s case, Hope and Healing is acting independent of the Archdiocese of Agana, whose only role is fund the program in the millions of dollars.

That’s partly because the suspended Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron, who is among those facing clergy sex abuse cases in court and is undergoing a Vatican canonical penal trial, is still technically an archbishop, Caspino said.

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UNITED STATES
New York Times

By MICHELLE STEVENS
APRIL 14, 2017

My heart is racing as he kisses my cheek. “Bye, Mom,” he says. Then he grabs his backpack and walks away. I want to snatch him back. I’ll settle for puking instead.

It’s the summer of 2015, and my baby is going off to camp. It’s 3,000 miles away. It’s his first time flying on a plane by himself. When he gets to the other side, a stranger will pick him up and drive him to the Poconos. To a cabin I’ve never seen. To sleep in some foreign, far-off bed.

Although he’s only 9, my boy fears none of this. On the contrary, he’s excited about the adventure. My son is unusually independent, which doesn’t surprise me.

I raised him to be like that.

It hasn’t been easy taking this approach to parenting. When I was 8, a sadistic pedophile decided to make me his victim. He terrorized me for the next six years and left me a nervous wreck for the rest of my life.

He was a teacher who molested dozens of his students over the course of two decades. Like the teachers at Choate Rosemary Hall who, we found out this week, sexually abused students for years without consequence, he was very skilled at choosing his prey. He wanted kids who were lacking in self-confidence, because kids like that don’t know they can say no. They’re also too afraid to tell anyone that they’re being molested.

Pedophiles are very good at conning parents. My abuser convinced my mother — and many other mothers — that he was a nice, trustworthy guy. Believing this, my broke, single mom eagerly accepted his offer to provide free child care. She thought it was safer to have me stay with him than for me to walk home from school alone.

Now that I have a kid, I’ve noticed that most parents think like this. They believe children are safe only when they are in the care of adults, in part because kids have to be protected from would-be pedophiles and abductors. But as a psychologist with an expertise in child abuse, I can tell you this theory is hogwash. It’s exceedingly rare for a child to be taken by a stranger, and in around 90 percent of sexual abuse cases, the perpetrator is someone the kid already knows.

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UNITED STATES
Daily Mail (UK)

By Anna Hopkins For Dailymail.com

A Utah judge reportedly held back tears as he condemned a rapist he characterized as an ‘extraordinarily good man’ to prison this week.

Julia Kirby, the victim and sister-in-law of Keith Vallejo, was in the courtroom as the judge tasked with delivering her justice praised her attacker.

Vallejo, a former Mormon priest, was convicted of first-degree felony of object rape and 10 second-degree felonies of forcible sexual abuse in the cases of Kirby and another one of her female relatives.

‘The court had no doubt that Mr. Vallejo is an extraordinarily good man,’ Fourth District Court Judge Thomas Low told the courtroom on Wednesday, according to the Huffington Post.

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CALIFORNIA
Pasadena Star-News

By Christopher Yee, Pasadena Star-News
POSTED: 04/14/17

SAN GABRIEL >> Representatives from a group advocating for justice for victims of sexual abuse by church leaders are calling for the San Gabriel Mission Church to retract an award intended to be given to an embattled former parish pastor.

According to a weekly bulletin, San Gabriel Mission Church intends to honor Bruce Wellems at its May 25 “Build the Dreams” scholarship fundraising dinner. Actor Edward James Olmos is also set to be honored at the dinner.

Wellems, a Roman Catholic priest originally from Chicago who was a member of the Claretian Missionaries, served as parish pastor in San Gabriel from 2012 to 2014 until he abruptly resigned.

Following his resignation, members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) published documents indicating Wellems admitted to sexually abusing another boy when he was 15 years old.

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ITALIA
Affaritaliani

[A priest from Argentina – Rev. Carolos Buela – who has been accused of sexual abuse is said to be living in the Genoa diocese which is headed by Cardinal Angela Bagnasco, president of the Italian bishops conference. He was already condemned by the Vatican court for sexually abusing seminarians.]

CHIESA: PRETE PEDOFILO OSPITE NELLA DIOCESI DI GENOVA

“E’ grave che proprio la diocesi di Genova, quella del cardinale Angelo Bagnasco presidente della Cei, ospiti da circa tre anni un sacerdote come don Carlos Buela, argentino, accusato di pedofilia e già condannato dal Tribunale del Vaticano per abusi sessuali a seminaristi”. E’ quanto sostiene all’AdnKronos Francesco Zanardi, fondatore della rete L’Abuso. “Per la Chiesa, la sanzione è stata il trasferimento in Italia, per trascorrere un periodo di isolamento – riferisce Zanardi – Ma per noi non basta: è di fatto un modo per allontanarlo e sottrarlo alla giustizia in Argentina”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Northern Echo

“CRUEL and sadistic” Catholic priest Michael Higginbottom was jailed for 17 years on Thursday.

Former Darlington parish priest Higginbottom repeatedly raped a boy almost 40 years ago and, following decades of silence, was finally brought to justice this week.

A judge told the 74-year-old he had made a young boy’s life a “living hell” for six months in the late 1970s, while he was a priest and teacher at St Joseph’s seminary in Upholland, West Lancashire.

At Liverpool Crown Court, Judge Andrew Menary, QC described Higginbottom as “someone who undoubtedly had a mean and cruel streak, saying: “The evidence makes plain that when you were teaching you employed methods that today – if not then – would be recognised for what they were cruel sadistic bullying.”

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IRELAND
The Times (UK)

Ellen Coyne
March 27 2017
The Times

An agency set up to help survivors of institutional child abuse has been accused of wasting redress funds on expensive administrative costs amid criticism of delays in paying out to victims.

Mary Higgins, chief executive of Caranua, received a €10,000 raise in 2015, taking her salary to more than €87,000. Her wages are paid out of a fund from religious congregations established to compensate victims of institutional abuse.

Caranua was set up in 2012 to manage the €110 million fund and make payments to survivors who have health, housing or educational needs. There is €48 million left in the fund.

The Times has spoken to ten survivors who have had negative experiences dealing with the agency. Some said they had waited up to 18 months for cheques to be paid. Others complained of calls not being answered and emails not being replied to in a timely manner.

They also accused staff of making hurtful remarks and said they were afraid to report incidents they were unhappy with in case it led to their payments being denied. Some said they were confused about their entitlements and that the application process was not explained to them fully.

Many of the victims, some of whom were raped while in institutional schools, said they believed that they were losing out and accused Caranua of being too generous with the fund when it was first set up in 2014.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Michael O’Regan

Minister for Education Richard Bruton has said he was aware of “concerns’’ raised about the statutory body Caranua.

The body was set up in 2012 to manage the €110 million pledged by religious congregations to enhance the lives of the survivors of childhood institutional abuse.

“It is vital that in all our dealings with victims of abuse they are dealt with in a sensitive, fair and compassionate manner,’’ Mr Bruton said.

The Minister was replying in the Dáil on Wednesday to Independent TD Catherine Connolly who asked if he could stand over reported comments by the body’s chief executive Mary Higgins.

Ms Connolly said the chief executive, who earns an annual salary of €87,000, had said “some applicants will never be happy and grievances suit a narrative’’.

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IRELAND
RTE News

To date €210m has been provided by religious congregations towards the cost of compensating victims of institutional abuse, the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee has been told.

The Comptroller and Auditor General has said that the final overall cost of investigating and responding to victims of institutional abuse is estimated to be €1.5bn, with the vast majority of costs relating to the Redress Scheme.

The committee heard evidence on a special report by Seamus McCarthy on the cost of the Abuse Inquiry and Redress schemes, which he published last December.

A senior official from the Department of Education said that when the contributions from the religious congregations provided for in the 2002 Indemnity Agreement are combined with the subsequent voluntary offers, the maximum total contribution is expected to be €321m, of which €210m has been received.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Friday, April 14, 2017

By Fiachra Ó Cionnaith
Irish Examiner Political Correspondent

The head of the State body overseeing compensation payments to religious abuse victims has admitted its initial approach to victims was “appalling”, despite his own CEO defending claims some people are “so damaged” they will never be happy with the help that is given.

Caranua chair David O’Callaghan made the admission as the group faced fresh criticism over a new €15,000 cap on repayments and has admitted counselling services it obtained from a Catholic organisation have already cost more than €90,000.

Speaking during an at times heated Dáil public accounts committee on how the 2002 redress scheme is working, Mr O’Callaghan said the reality is a large number of victims have “not been treated properly” by Caranua.

He said lengthy delays in having their compensation claims assessed were commonplace when the group was set up in 2014, but insisted increased staffing levels mean the “appalling” situation has now been resolved.

However, during the same meeting his CEO Mary Higgins appeared to contradict the claims, saying while she “regrets” recent media interviews in which she described victims as “damaged” any criticism was because some people want to “suit a certain narrative”.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Kitty Holland

The chief executive of Caranua has withdrawn “unreservedly” comments in which she described survivors of institutional abuse as “these people” who were “damaged” and some of whom would “never be happy”.

Mary Higgins faced robust questioning at the Dáil Public Accounts Committee on Thursday about survivors’ experience of Caranua and her comments about survivors in this newspaper and on radio last month.

Caranua is an independent statutory body, established under legislation in 2012, to manage €110 million pledged by religious congregations to enhance abuse survivors’ lives. Survivors can apply for grants for services under headings such as health and wellbeing, housing support, and education, learning and development.

Survivors however described last month being “re-traumatised” by their dealings with Caranua. They complained of long delays in getting a response from the organisation, being told without warning they could no longer apply for services, and being spoken to without respect.

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TEXAS
Courthouse News Service

ERIK DE LA GARZA
April 14, 2017

EDINBURG, Texas (CN) — A state judge has delayed the April trial of the former Catholic priest charged with the 1960 murder of a South Texas beauty queen, and will hear arguments next month that a “media frenzy” has poisoned the jury pool.

O. Rene Flores and Ricardo Flores, representing 84-year-old John Feit, filed a 34-page memorandum last week asking to move Feit’s case out of Hidalgo County. They argued that the “inflammatory nature of the media coverage” in the past 57 years has made it impossible for him to receive a fair trial.

On Wednesday, Hidalgo County Judge Luis Singleterry agreed that the ex-priest is entitled to a hearing and set a May 17 court date. He also scrubbed the original April 24 trial date.

“The media’s reporting of this case has created an irreversible fog of pretrial publicity,” Feit’s attorneys said in the motion to change venue. “The extent and nature of the publicity surrounding Feit’s case make it nearly impossible for Feit to receive a fair and impartial trial in the Rio Grande Valley.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Tammy Mills

A survivor of sex abuse has slammed a bishop in Victoria’s north-east for statements he says deny the past and minimise the consequences of institutional abuse.

Australian Education Union vice-president Greg Barclay, who was abused by Catholic Marist brother John Skehan as a schoolboy, accused Bishop Leslie Tomlinson of manipulating statistics from the Royal Commission to minimise the impact of abuse.

The commission released statistics in February that put the Sandhurst Diocese, which includes Bendigo, as having the second-highest proportion of priests subject to abuse allegations in Australia.

Bishop Tomlinson, who presides over the diocese, recognised the massive failure of the church to protect children, but went on to say the figures needed to be read in the “correct context”.

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UNITED STATES
Let’s Think This Out

Bruce R. Nelson
Posted on April 13, 2017

A few days ago in this space I kicked off Holy Week with an expression of dismay over the Catholic Church’s incorrigible ineptitude in dealing with its never-ending child sex abuse scandal. I wrote about being stunned over the Church’s legislative campaign to make it more difficult for people to sue their rapists and molesters.

The subject was out of my wheelhouse. I am neither Catholic nor a theologian. Yet, the concept of the country’s largest Christian denomination serving, in effect, as a pedophile lobby seemed preposterously creepy. The post triggered more reaction than anything I’ve written since the inception of this site. It was read by hundreds throughout the United States and 12 other countries. Thanks to the comments, email and private messages it produced, I know more about this ecclesiastical quagmire than I did a week ago.

Here’s a smattering of what I learned:

• Holy Week is treacherous for many sexual abuse survivors. It ignites memories of torture that defy comprehension. For some, it means reliving a boyhood Good Friday ritual in which they were tied, naked, to large wooden crosses by their parish priests, and then molested. For other survivors, a term that carries more positive energy than “victims,” the week brings back images of when, at 11 or 12, priests sodomized them in a confessional.

• A 48-year-old man, after multiple suicide attempts and several breakdowns, finally came to grips with the reality that, at age 11, his priest repeatedly raped him, always assuring the boy that this was part of God’s plan. The statute of limitations in his state barred him from filing suit.

• A man in his 20s filed a complaint with Church officials detailing the sexual abuse he encountered years earlier by a priest who ran a boys prep school. After a lengthy internal investigation, the Church exonerated the priest. The man killed himself years before other victims came forward and the state lifted the deadline for filing suit.

• The statute of limitations issue is not just about money. For the survivors, it is about truth telling, pulling back the Church’s veil of secrecy that has draped this scandal, to one extent or another, since the beginning.

With apologies for burying the lede, that last bullet point is the most important one. I always believed plaintiff attorneys had their fingers crossed when they told jurors that, “This is not about the money.” These survivors have nothing crossed. The salve for their unimaginable wounds is not a seven-figure damage award. It is total and complete transparency. They want to open up every dark nook and cranny of this scandal and let the light of day shine in.

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OHIO
WHIO

By: Tom Beyerlein – Staff Writer

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati on Monday sued a former business manager, Thomas “Shaun” Martin of Mason, alleging he stole more than $353,000 from three Hamilton County parishes over a period of years.

Spokesman Dan Andriacco said the archdiocese has been “working closely” with county prosecutors, but Martin has not been criminally charged. “We felt it was time to move on with our part of it, the civil part,” Andriacco said of the lawsuit in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.

Martin, who is no longer employed by the archdiocese, is accused of embezzling the money while he worked for Holy Family, St. John the Evangelist and St. John the Baptist parishes in separate stints over a number of years. He worked consecutively at five Hamilton County parishes since 2000. Andriacco said the investigation “came about because of irregularities that turned up in one parish that caused us to look at others.”

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NEW YORK
Syracuse.com

By John O’Brien | jobrien@syracuse.com

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A former teacher’s aide at a Syracuse elementary school is expected to plead guilty next week in connection with a child pornography case.

Emily Oberst, 24, is scheduled for a “change of plea” hearing Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Glenn Suddaby at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, according to court records. The records don’t say what charge she’s expected to plead guilty to.

Oberst was indicted last year along with Jason Kopp of sexually exploiting children for the purpose of making child pornography and distributing child porn.

Her lawyer, Kim Zimmer, would not comment on the expected guilty plea. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa Fletcher also wouldn’t comment.

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IRELAND
The Times (UK)

Cormac Lucey

Francis has done much to address inequality and homophobia but his efforts on this vile part of the church’s history need more work

Next year Pope Francis is scheduled to come to Ireland in what will be the second papal visit since John Paul II popped by in 1979.

The charismatic Argentinian’s visit is likely to be a big success. The pontiff’s appeal to old-style leftists such as President Michael D Higgins will ensure that. Calling inequality the root of social evil, the Pope regularly pressures governments to help the poor and there is much to admire in his simple lifestyle and refusal to move into the papal palace. He is also rumoured to sneak out of the Vatican to talk to the homeless and give them money.

In one of his most celebrated comments, the Pope said: “If someone is gay, and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” It represented a huge shift from the position of Pope Benedict, his predecessor, who described homosexuality as an intrinsic moral evil.

Compared to his stuffy and conservative predecessors, Pope Francis is a breath of fresh air, but the Irish state should be circumspect in our welcome for him next year. He does preside, after all, over an organisation that still refuses to deal in a moral way with its legacy of child abuse and child rape. As the Pope knows, one should not forgive a sinner until the sinner truly repents.

Last month Marie Collins, who was molested by a Dublin hospital chaplain when she was 13 years old, resigned from a special Vatican commission that was created by Pope Francis to propose child protection initiatives and address the issue of clerical sex abuse. Ms Collins lamented that some senior figures in the church continue to put “other concerns” before the safety of children and vulnerable adults.

She also complained that the reluctance of some in key sections of the Vatican to implement recommendations or co-operate with the work of a commission set up to improve the safety of children and vulnerable adults around the world was “unacceptable”.

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UTAH
KUTV

by Chris Jones, KUTV Friday, April 14th 2017

Provo, Utah — (KUTV) — Fourth District Court Judge Thomas Low had glowing praise for a man who was convicted of molesting two female relatives while they stayed at his home three years ago.

“The court had no doubt that Mr. Vallejo is an extraordinarily good man,” Low said just moments before sentencing Keith Vallejo to prison for sexually abusing the two females. “But great men, sometimes do bad things,” Low continued.

During the sentencing, Low appeared to be emotional as he read the sentence. His praise came as at least one of the victims, Julia Kirby, sat in the court room.

“For him to say that in a court room in front the victim who was abused and raped by this man, that he is a great person, to me was unacceptable and unprofessional,” she told 2News by phone.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Northern Echo

A PERVERTED choirmaster has been jailed for a string of sex offences on young girls during the 60s and 70s.

John Gilbert Blacktop, who went on the run for nine days following his conviction, has been imprisoned for 21-years for a catalogue of offending on five young victims.

The 81-year-old, of Morecambe, Lancashire, was sentenced in his absence last month after he failed to attend Bradford Crown Court where a jury had earlier convicted him of 33 counts of indecent assault, one count of rape and one count of attempted rape.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Crux

Richard Szczepanowski April 14, 2017
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON, D.C. – During an April 11 Mass for healing of abuse victims, Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl offered prayers for sex abuse victims, reiterated the Archdiocese of Washington’s commitment to keep children safe, and offered sympathy and solidarity to victims of the recent Coptic church bombings in Egypt.

Cardinal Wuerl – offering the Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle on the Tuesday of Holy Week – said it was appropriate to offer the Mass “during the first three days of Holy Week when the Gospel focuses on human failure and our need for God’s gracious mercy.”

The cardinal said the Gospel reading at the Mass, in which Jesus at the Last Supper announces Judas’s betrayal, shows “the tragic consequences of giving in to human frailty” and the “betrayal, failure, pain and sorrow” that ensues.

About 60 people – including members of the Archdiocese of Washington’s Child Protection Advisory Board – attended the Mass that was concelebrated by Washington Auxiliary Bishop Barry C. Knestout; Monsignor W. Ronald Jameson, rector of the cathedral; and several other priests.

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GEORGIA
Southern Cross

Following is the homily Bishop Gregory J. Hartmayer, OFM. Conv., gave March 29 at the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Savannah during the diocese’s first Lenten prayer service for survivors of abuse.

The suffering of the innocent has mystified and bewildered people of Faith long before Isaiah the Prophet wrote the moving description of God’s suffering Servant that we just heard in our first reading.

The suffering of the innocent goes back to Cain killing his brother Abel out of jealously; out of a complete lack of respect for the sanctity and the preciousness of human life.

Christians have always envisioned Jesus as the unique Innocent One whose suffering is a unique source of healing and life for all of us. Yet we also know that Christ is not the only innocent person ever to have suffered.

Recently we have had to admit that far too many innocent ones have lived with the pain of abuse at the hands of those who should have protected them, nurtured them, and sanctified them.

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MISSOURI
St. Louis Review

By Joseph Kenny | jkenny@archstl.org | twitter: @josephkenny2

A jury in Lincoln County took little time April 6 to find in favor of both Father Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang and the Archdiocese of St. Louis in a civil lawsuit that alleged the priest had sexual contact with a 16-year-old girl in 2012. In the trial, the plaintiff sought more than $1 million in compensatory damages. The jury began deliberations just past 1 p.m. and returned the verdict just before 3 p.m.

A statement from the archdiocese reported that “the archdiocese and Father Jiang have steadfastly denied these allegations since they were first raised and are pleased with the jury’s decision.”

In closing arguments, Jerry Carmody, an attorney for Father Jiang, detailed dozens of reasons why the jury should dismiss the allegations. First, he said, Father Jiang, a native of Shandong, China, could have returned to his home country instead of remaining to fight the allegations. He also said Father Jiang never attempted to be alone with the teenage girl, now 21. The allegation was unbelievable, he said, because it was said to have happened in a family room with the teen’s parents and siblings present, seven people in all. It was alleged to have occurred while they were sitting under a blanket on the living room couch.

The two didn’t have sexual or romantic texts, Carmody said. The family didn’t contact the police with their suspicions, he added. The girl, he said pointing to testimony, was controlled by her mother and afraid of the consequences if she didn’t go through with the lawsuit.

Father Jiang adamantly denied the accusation that he had sexually abused her and maintained his innocence throughout the time frame.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Chronicle Live

KATIE DICKINSON
13 APR 2017

A Catholic priest from Newcastle has been jailed for 17 years for repeatedly sexually abusing a teenage boy while working as a teacher in the 1970s.

A church spokesman for the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle has issued an apology to the victim after Father Michael Higginbottom was sentenced for the abuse, which happened when he worked at St Joseph’s College in Upholland, Lancashire.

The 74-year-old of West Farm Road, Newcastle, had denied four counts of buggery and four counts of indecent assault but was found guilty after a trial.

Liverpool Crown Court heard his victim attended the seminary, for boys who wanted to become priests, for six months when he was aged between 13 and 14.

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UNITED STATES/IRELAND/ZAMBIA/UNITED KINGDOM
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Bernard Lynch was ordained in his native Ireland for the Society of African Missions in 1971. After a short stint in Zambia, he was sent to New York to study counseling and psychotherapy. While in New York he assisted at a Bronx parish and was chaplain for a private boys’ school, Mount St. Michael’s. He also became involved with the support group for gay Catholics, Dignity, and ministered in the 1980s to men dying of AIDS.

In July 1987 Lynch became the subject of a criminal investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse, after Mount St. Michael’s teachers filed a complaint that he and acting principal, Marist Brother Timothy Brady, were possibly molesting students. Both were charged; Brady was convicted. Lynch was tried in April 1989 on charges of molesting one Mount St. Michael’s student in 1985 or 1986. Lynch’s attorney said it was the boy who made a pass at Lynch. Lynch strongly denied the accusation and claimed he was the victim of a witch-hunt by the church because of his AIDS ministry. He was found not guilty.

Lynch moved in 1992 to England where he started a ministry for closeted gay priests. He was expelled from his order in 2011 and, in a 2012 memoir, he announced that he had been married to a man for fourteen years. In April 2017 Lynch works independently as a counselor and spiritual director. He has not been laicized.

Ordained: 1971

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GUAM
Hawaii Public Radio

[with audio]

By NEAL CONAN

This week, the Archdiocese of Guam asked a federal court to dismiss dozens of law suits filed by former altar boys who say they were raped and assaulted by priests as far back as the 1970s. The key to the suits was a law passed last year that lifted the statute of limitations, and as we hear from Neal Conan in today’s Pacific News Minute, that law is also the basis of the Archdiocese’s argument.

Under the old law, suits had to be filed within one or two years after the alleged abuse. But as outrage grew following publication of the altar boys stories, the legislature approved a bill that removed the time limit entirely. Even as he signed the bill, Governor Eddie Calvo wondered whether it was constitutional to lift the statute of limitations retroactively. Afterwards, 47 cases were filed, which ask for millions of dollars in damages from individual priests, from the Archdiocese and, in some instances, from the Boy Scouts.

On Monday, attorneys for the Archdiocese argued that, even if the law is constitutional, it only applies to perpetrators, and not to third parties.

Last week, attorneys for Archbishop Anthony Apuron asked the federal court to find the 2016 law entirely unconstitutional, and dismiss the four suits that name him as an abuser.

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IRELAND
Dublin City University

Dr James Gallen of the DCU School of Law and Government has been appointed by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs as an expert adviser to assist the Commission on Mother and Baby Homes by mapping out a model of ‘transitional justice’ as a means of giving voice to former residents of Mother and Baby Homes and County Homes.

Dr Gallen’s expertise in transitional justice will help to develop an approach which can acknowledge the experiences of former residents and further enhance public awareness and understanding of this part of our history.

13th April, 2017

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NEW YORK
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Morgan J. Kuhl was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of New York in 1993. He assisted for five years at Holy Child parish on Staten Island, moving to St. Mary of the Assumption in November 1998 where he served as the sole priest and administrator.

In October 1999 Kuhl was arrested in New Jersey in a sting operation. He had traveled to Perth Amboy after arranging over the internet to have sex there with a 15-year-old boy. The ‘boy’ was actually an undercover FBI agent. Kuhl admitted to his intentions. He reportedly had attempted previously to meet up with another New Jersey boy. He was sentenced in October 2000 to four months in a halfway house and four months under house arrest; a U.S. district judge later reduced his sentence to five years’ probation and ordered him to “adhere to the program” at Trinity Retreat in Larchmont, New York. Kuhl was arrested again in September 2002, this time on charges that he fondled a 16-year-old boy in 1999. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced in May 2003 to 45 days in jail. The judge gave him a one-year conditional discharge.

In April 2017 Kuhl’s whereabouts and status are unclear.

Ordained: 1993

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Parish honoring admitted child molester

He has been banned from LA and Chicago archdioceses and taken out of ministry by his religious order
He was sued for abuse last year, however
San Gabriel Parish still calls him priest, gives him award
May 25 event will also honor actor Edward James Olmos, others
Victims to Archdioceses: Act now to stop dangerous callous behavior

Victims of child sex abuse wrote a letter today to the Archdioceses of Los Angeles and Chicago and a Chicago-based religious order to express their outrage that a banned priest and admitted child molester is being honored by a local Los Angeles-area parish.

That man, Bruce Wellems, has been banned from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, removed from the priesthood in both Los Angeles and Chicago, and has also been taken out of ministry by the Claretians, a religious order—all for allegations of sexual abuse.

[Chicago Tribune]

Last year, he was sued for child sexual abuse.

[Associated Press]

Despite this, San Gabriel Mission is honoring Wellems at a scholarship dinner alongside actor Edward James Olmos.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Mindy Aguon | For The Guam Daily Post

The Archdiocese of Agana and the Boy Scouts of America should have known about the “sexually abusive and exploitative propensities” of a priest who served in parishes around the island for more than two decades and also served as a leader in the Scouts organization in Guam, said a new lawsuit filed in the District Court of Guam.

An individual identified with the initials “J.D.” to protect his identity, filed a lawsuit that marks the 49th civil complaint lodged against the Catholic Church in Guam.

J.D. alleges that he was sexually molested and abused by Father Louis Brouillard over a three-year period while J.D. was an altar boy at San Isidro Catholic Church in Malojloj and a Boy Scout.

The lawsuit alleges that Brouillard obtained permission from J.D.’s parents to spend the night so the boy wouldn’t be late to serve the next day as an altar boy during early morning Masses.

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CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

April 13, 2017 Joelle Casteix

Not fake news. They’re really doing it. And Edward James Olmos is gonna be there, too.

Bruce Wellems is a problematic guy, to say the least.

He’s been banned from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He’s been removed from ministry in the Archdiocese of Chicago and by the Claretian order. Last year, he was sued for child sex abuse by one of his alleged victims.

He’s even admitted to molesting the alleged victim.

But the San Gabriel Mission (where he was working when he was banned from Los Angeles—and whose leadership is well aware of everything I have written here) is still honoring him at their May 25 Build the Dreams Scholarship Fundraiser, alongside actor Edward James Olmos.

My sources tell me that Olmos has known for more than a year about Wellems. We will see if he pulls out of the event.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

It’s Holy Thursday, and so I’m thinking, of course, about Jesus’ command that his followers serve each other and not seek to lord it over others. As was typical in his ministry, he put this message into action by taking a basin and towel and washing his disciples’ feet, an action people considered “lower” than others — slaves and women — undertook in his culture.

Thinking about the significance of the gospel accounts on which Holy Thursday is based brings to mind another letter I wrote to the the-bishop of Charlotte, North Carolina, in September 1997. As with the letter I shared on Palm Sunday, I have spoken about this letter in a previous posting without sharing its entire text here. Now I’d like to share the letter in full.

Colleen responded to the letter I shared on Palm Sunday by noting that it struck her as amazing that I spoke out in 1997 in the way I did in that letter, when the abuse crisis had not yet taken place. She’s right about the fact that my 1997 letters predated the breaking open of the abuse crisis in the Catholic church. Later in the year in which I wrote the letter I shared on Palm Sunday, I began to have more and more inklings that something was looming on the horizon for the church — revelations about clerical sexual abuse. Already in 1997, as a lay theologian, I had begun to hear hints about this from priests, who usually carefully guarded their tongues when speaking about clerical secrets — hints of abuse cases and pay-offs to silence families filing such cases.

I heard discussions, in fact, between two former monks of Belmont Abbey about two cases in which there had been pay-offs to silence victims, about which they knew in a very direct way, and I believe they wanted me to overheard their conversation. One of these actually made the news when information about it reached the media.

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ITALIA
Rete L’Abuso

[The prosecutor of Palermo is assuming that catechist Benedetto Salemi, who was arrested last month for alleged sexual assault on a 11-year old-girl, could have raped other youngsters.]

La Procura di Palermo ipotizza che Benedetto Salemi, arrestato il mese scorso a Termini per presunte violenze sessuali su una ragazzina di 11 anni, possa aver violentato altri adolescenti.

Conosceva tanti ragazzini, non solo perché a Termini Imerese per diversi anni è stato catechista alla chiesa Madre, ma anche perché, sempre lì, è contitolare di una cartolibreria, molto frequentata dai più giovani. E’ per questo che la Procura di Palermo ipotizza che Benedetto Salemi, 44 anni, arrestato lo scorso 3 febbraio per presunti abusi su una ragazzina di 11 anni, possa aver violentato altri adolescenti. Le indagini del procuratore aggiunto Salvatore De Luca e del sostituto Federica La Chioma si stanno muovendo adesso proprio in questa direzione.

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ITALIA
Rete L’Abuso

[A special program on pedophilia among clergy in the Catholic Church will be held April 28 in Rome. The program will be presentation of a book about pedophilia in the Italian church by Federico Tulli.]

Libreria Feltrinelli di viale Libia 186 a Roma, venerdì 28 aprile 2017 ore 18

Perché in Italia, la Chiesa non ha ancora disposto un’indagine nazionale come quelle che in Irlanda, Usa, Olanda, Belgio, Australia, Germania etc, hanno consentito di arginare notevolmente la diffusione della pedofilia nel clero?

«Perché in Italia non ce n’è bisogno» si sentì rispondere nel 2012 il giornalista Federico Tulli dall’allora portavoce vaticano mons. Federico Lombardi.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Lexology

Bolt Burdon Kemp

Further questions are being asked in relation to an alleged cover up of child abuse which was endured by teenage public school boys at the hands of a British barrister, John Smyth QC, in the 1970s and the 1980s.

On behalf of the Iwerne Trust, John Smyth ran religious summer camps in the 1970s and early 1980s, which were attended by boys from elite public schools. It is alleged that Smyth subjected the school boys to horrific beatings in order to purge them of their “sins”.

Allegations of abuse emerged back in 1982 after one of Smyth’s alleged victims attempted to commit suicide. In response, the Iwerne Trust commissioned an internal inquiry into the abuse which was conducted by Mark Ruston, a Church of England vicar. The report detailed the prescribed punishments for “sins” such as masturbation and pride, 100 and 400 strokes respectively. It was reported that over a three year period, eight boys had received 14,000 lashes between them, with two of the boys being whipped 4,000 times each. The report also stated that these beatings were carried out while the boys were either naked or semi-naked in order to “increase humility”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Wigan Today

A “cruel sadistic” catholic priest who repeatedly raped a boy almost 40 years ago in a former Wigan seminary was jailed for 17 years today.

A judge told 74-year-old Father Michael Higginbottom: “For about six months in the late 1970s you made a young boy’s life a living hell.”

The offences, which a jury found him guilty of yesterday, took place at St Joseph’s seminary in Upholland in UpHolland where the defendant was a priest and teacher.

Judge Andrew Menary, QC described Higginbottom as “someone who undoubtedly had a mean and cruel strike.

The evidence makes plain that when you were teaching you employed methods that today – if not then – would be recognised for what they were cruel sadistic bullying.”

He said that the victim, now aged 52, “has been haunted by demons” ever since and an eloquent and moving impact statement from the victim was read to the court.

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MISSOURI
Lincoln County Journal

By Megan Myers
Staff Writer

An emotional scene unfolded inside a Lincoln County courtroom Thursday, after a jury ruled in favor of a Catholic priest who had been accused of sexually abusing a minor.

The jury deliberated for about two hours before reaching their decision.

No punitive damages were awarded to the plaintiff in the civil suit on either counts of sex assault or battery.

The female accuser, who lived in Old Monroe during the time of the alleged abuse, left the room in tears after the verdict was read by St. Louis judge Steven Ohmer.

Her family and legal team joined her outside the courtroom, where they declined to comment on the ruling.

The accused priest, Father Xui Hui “Joseph” Jiang, also reacted emotionally when the verdict was read. He collapsed into the arms of his defense counsel and sobbed loudly.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

A Catholic priest from Newcastle has been jailed for 17 years for repeatedly sexually abusing a teenage boy.

Father Michael Higginbottom, of West Farm Road, Newcastle, had denied four counts of buggery and four counts of indecent assault but was found guilty after a trial.

The abuse took place when Higginbottom, 74, worked as a teacher in the 1970s. He worked at St Joseph’s College, a boarding school in Upholland, Lancashire.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that his victim attended the seminary, for boys who wanted to become priests, for six months when he was aged between 13 and 14.

In a victim statement read to the court, he said:
My sexual abuse happened so often I became numb to what was happening to me.

I cried so often I believe I could have drowned in my own tears.
– VICTIM

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UNITED KINGDOM
Manchester Evening News

NEIL DOCKING
13 APR 2017

A Catholic priest has been jailed for 17 years after a catalogue of horrific sexual abuse against a young boy which left him praying for death.

Father Michael Higginbottom, 74, repeatedly raped his victim who told the court that the “evil” priest had ruined his life.

Higginbottom revelled in “cruel, sadistic bullying” at St Joseph’s College, a seminary for prospective priests, in Upholland, near Wigan .

He used a strap and cane on boys as punishment and said he could “make this as easy or as hard” as the victim wanted before carrying out sickening sexual abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

Taelor Pelusey
Thursday, 13 April 2017

Lawyers building a case against the Catholic Diocese of Bunbury are seeking witnesses to the alleged sexual crimes of a former South West priest who died almost 20 years ago and once served in Margaret River.

Canberra-based Porters Lawyers are preparing to file individual lawsuits against the diocese on behalf of three people who claim they were abused as children by Father William Kevin Glover in Esperance during the 1960s and 1970s.

Principal solicitor Jason Parkinson told the Times the claim would be that the diocese was “vicariously liable” for the alleged crimes of Fr Glover and was calling for witnesses in all regions where the priest had served.

“He was their (the diocese’s) agent and we have to prove they knew, or ought to have known, he was a risk to children,” he said.

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UNITED STATES
Digital Journal

An open letter from advocacy leaders asks: “Will Whole Foods CEO ‘Get Real’ About Sexual Assault Awareness Month?” John Mackey to lead “Get Real” session at Conscious Capitalism 2017 conference in Philadelphia, April 18-20

An open letter from anti-sexual violence leaders to Conscious Capitalism, Inc. urges Whole Foods CEO John Mackey to disavow spiritual leader Marc Gafni, a former rabbi facing allegations of sexual abuse.

The letter’s lead signer, Matthew Sandusky, is founder of nonprofit Peaceful Hearts Foundation, and adopted son of former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky, a convicted pedophile.

The open letter is in response to an announcement about the Conscious Capitalism annual conference in Philadelphia, April 18–20: “Conscious Capitalism, Inc., the nonprofit organization dedicated to elevating humanity through business, announced today the addition of a ‘Get Real with…’ session featuring Whole Foods Market co-founder and CEO, John Mackey.”

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IRELAND
The Irish News

Marie Louise McConville
13 April, 2017

THE future of crisis-hit Maynooth and its suitability as a national training base for seminarians is “an important question”, Bishop Donal McKeown has said.

The Bishop of Derry was responding to questions about the recent crisis at the Co Kildare seminary amid claims of inappropriate behaviour among some of the trainee priests.

Last August it was reported that some students had been using the gay dating app Grindr.

Questions were raised about the seminary’s suitability by Dublin archbishop Diarmuid Martin who has since opted to send his student priests to the Irish College in Rome.

The Archbishop however played down any link between his decision and the allegations of inappropriate behaviour at the seminary saying he had made the decision before the crisis arose.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Rachel Browne

Light sentences for people convicted of historical sexual offences against children could “undermine community confidence in the administration of justice”, the chairman of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will tell a conference of leading legal professionals.

In the second part of a presentation about justice for victims, Peter McClellan raised concerns about sentencing historical offenders in accordance with standards at the time of the crime.

Research commissioned by the royal commission found it can take decades for people abused as children to report to authorities. In one case, almost 52 years passed between the offence and the sentencing of the perpetrator.

“In most Australian jurisdictions, an offender is sentenced with reference to the sentencing standards in existence at the time of the offending. There are a number of concerns with this practice,” Justice McClellan will say in a keynote address to the Modern Prosecutor Conference in Melbourne on Thursday.

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