ABUSE TRACKER

FRANCE
NDTV

APF

DAX: A French bishop resigned on Thursday at the behest of the Vatican over “inappropriate behaviour” towards youths, just weeks after complaints came to the attention of his diocese. Herve Gaschignard, 57, bishop of the southwest diocese of Dax, tendered his resignation at the suggestion of the Vatican’s envoy to France, Archbishop Luigi Ventura, the French Catholic Church said in a statement.

A separate statement from the Dax diocese said the resignation was over the bishop’s behaviour with young people.

“For several weeks in the Dax diocese, rumours persisted over the bishop’s inappropriate pastoral behaviour,” the church statement said, adding that that they had been brought to the attention of church authorities.

Pope Francis accepted Gaschignard’s resignation, it added.

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FRANCE
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — The French Catholic Church says that a French bishop has resigned at the Vatican’s suggestion because of accusations of an “inappropriate pastoral attitude.”

The French Conference of Bishops said in a statement that Pope Francis accepted Monsignor Herve Gaschignard’s resignation Thursday, noting the “gravity” of the situation.

It said concerns about the bishop had been reported to the archbishop for the region, making it difficult for him to continue in his duties. The statement did not elaborate on the accusations against Gaschignard, bishop of Aire and Dax in southwest France.

Catholic newspaper La Croix reported that teen parishioners expressed concern about Gashignard’s behavior and language.

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IRELAND
IrishCentral

Gerry O’Shea @IrishCentral April 04, 2017

I recall clearly a shocking conversation that I had about 20 years ago, with a fine man from Tralee, Co. Kerry about the Christian Brothers Industrial School in that town. He recalled that some of the boys confined in the industrial school attended classes with him in The Green, the brothers’ local high school. He remembered that when the final bell rang to end the school day they would bolt for their living quarters because if they tarried at all they claimed they would be beaten.

My other memory of that conversation is much more disturbing. He told me that local people would sometimes hear screams at night from the school. As a teenager, he was surprised by this and asked his father, who worked as a laborer in the town, what was going on to cause such nocturnal cries.

His father replied that such matters were beyond his ability to deal with and that his son was better not talking about them — a very understandable response in those times.

The scene of boys crying out for help to a deaf and seemingly uncaring community in my own county 50 or so years ago, is seared in my memory. The men in clerical robes were paid by the state and honored for their work by the local clergy and dignitaries.

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NEW YORK
Catholic New York

Kevin Gallagher, who had served as a priest of the archdiocese since his ordination in 1998, has been granted a dispensation from the obligations of the clerical state by the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy. This return to the lay state, often referred to as “laicization,” means that Gallagher may not function or present himself as a priest, and he is dispensed from his priestly obligations.

Gallagher was removed from his assignment in 2015 following accusations that he had an improper relationship with a 19-year-old man. The individual who brought the allegation against Gallagher further charged that Gallagher had given him money to purchase heroin.

With his laicization, Gallagher will never again be permitted to serve as a priest in New York or elsewhere.

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OKLAHOMA
News on 6

TULSA, Oklahoma – The Holy See has announced the appointment of Reverend Monsignor Daniel H. Mueggenborg, a pastor of the Parish of Christ the King in the Diocese of Tulsa as an Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese in Seattle.

Msgr. Mueggenborg, 54, who was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Tulsa in 1989 is the second priest from the Diocese to be appointed bishop.

In 2016, Oklahoma native Msgr. Peter Wells was named Archbishop and appointed Apostolic Nuncio to South Africa.

Monsignor Mueggenborg was born in Okarche. After earning a Geology degree at OSU in 1984, he attended St. Meinrad School of Theology in Indiana and the Pontifical North American College in Rome.

In a news release, the Tulsa Diocese says following his ordination, Msgr. Mueggenborg has held several assignments in the Tulsa area including Associate Pastor to St. John Before the Latin Gate in Bartlesville and St.Bernard of Clairvaux in Tulsa; teacher and chaplain at Bishop Kelley High School; Parish Administrator at St. Pius X; Pastor of the Church of the Madalene; and Pastor of St.Clement in Bixby.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service – Bulletin

The Holy Father has appointed as auxiliary bishop of Seattle, United States of America, Msgr. Daniel H. Mueggenborg, of the clergy of Tulsa, currently pastor of the “Christ the King” parish in Tulsa, assigning him the titular see of Tullia.

Msgr. Daniel H. Mueggenborg

Msgr. Daniel H. Mueggenborg was born on 15 April 1962 in Okarche, Oklahoma, in the diocese of Tulsa. After attending the Holy Trinity School in Okarche, and the St. Francis Xavier School, the Stillwater Middle School and the C.E. Donart High School in Stillwater, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in geology from the Oklahoma State University in 1984. He then studied philosophy at the St. Meinrad Seminary in St. Meinrad, Indiana (1984-1985) and theology at the Pontifical North American College and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he obtained a licentiate in biblical theology in 1994.

He was ordained a priest on 14 July 1989 for the diocese of Tulsa.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service – Bulletin

edited by the Central Office of Church Statistics of the Secretariat of State

The Pontifical Yearbook 2017 and the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae 2015, compiled and edited by the Central Office of Church Statistics, are currently being distributed in bookstores.

Both volumes were printed by the Vatican Press.

The data shown in the Pontifical Yearbook enable some new developments to be inferred in relation to the life of the Catholic Church in the world, from 2016.

During this period four new Episcopal sees, one Eparchy, two Apostolic Exarchates and one Ordinariate were erected, and an Apostolic Exarchate was elevated to an Eparchy.

The statistical data of the Annuarium Statisticum, which refer to the year 2015, provide a summary overview of the main trends affecting the development of the Catholic Church in the world.

The following describes the evolving trends in the five year period just ended, both of baptized Catholics and of the clergy, professed men religious other than priests, professed women religious and the number of priestly vocations. In order to facilitate an appreciation of the genuine granularity of the data, the information is provided on a global level as well as for the single geographical area. On the contrary, to filter for effects attributable solely to demographic trends, the time series are related to the number of inhabitants in the area. In this paper, the data of 2015, as well as being systematically compared to those of the previous year, are also compared with those of the five-year period that began in 2010, with the aim of extrapolating the evolutionary dynamics prevalent in the medium term. The time frame considered covers a total of the last two years of the pontificate of Pope Benedict and the first three years of the pontificate of Pope Francis, with important information about the Catholic Church in the new millennium.

The number of baptized Catholics has continued to grow globally, from 1,272 million in 2014 to 1,285 million in 2015, with a relative increase of 1 %. This represents a total of 17.7% of the total population. If a medium term perspective is adopted, for example with reference to 2010, a more robust growth of 7.4% is shown. The dynamic of this increase varies from continent to continent: while, indeed, in Africa there is an increase of 19.4%, with the number of Catholics passing from 186 to 222 million in the same period, in Europe there is instead a situation of stability (in 2015 Catholics amounted to almost 286 million, whereas in 2019 there were just over 800 thousand fewer, and 1.3 million fewer compared to 2014). This stasis is due to the well-noted demographic situation, in which the population is in slight increase and is expected to decline sharply in the coming years. Intermediate situations with respect to the two described above are found in America and Asia, where the growth of Catholics is certainly important (respectively + 6.7% and 9.1%), but in line with the demographic trend of these two continents. Stagnation, obviously with lower values, is also typical of Oceania.

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AUSTRALIA
Richard Sipe

17. The plaintiff met Fr. Knowles in 1973 when she was just 19 years old. He is seven years older than she. He was working as a priest at the church where she worshipped. Fr. Knowles gradually cultivated and promoted a friendship with Ms. Herrick. An initial incident occurred in 1973 while she was driving Fr. Knowles at his behest as a chaplain to a youth retreat. He stroked her leg in the car. During the incident she stated that she was surprised and it made her jump.

The next, overt sexual incident took place in 1976. She was involved in an auto accident and was recuperating at her parents’ home. Knowles went to visit her. They were alone and he pushed himself against her and kissed her. After the incident she stated that she was confused and startled. The next incident happened in 1977 when Ms Herrick was living in Harrington. On this occasion Knowles went to visit her at her small cottage and ended up staying the night. She at first thought he would stay in a guest room to which she directed him. He ended up entering her bedroom in the early morning, got into bed with her and attempted to have sexual intercourse.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Katholisches

von Ferdinand Boischot

In den letzten 50 Jahren wurde die katholische Kirche verheert durch eine gewaltige Welle von pädophilem und ephebophilem Mißbrauch durch kirchliche Angestellten und Würdenträger.

Es wurden über lange Zeit, und teils sehr intensiv, unglaubliche Abscheulichkeiten begangen, die im totalen Gegensatz zu den Worten Unseres Herrn Jesus Christus stehen. Besonders kraß ist dabei die Einbettung der Täter in große Netzwerke und der Schutz der Täter durch Obstruktion auf vielen Ebenen der kirchlichen Hierarchie.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Stadt Zeitung

[Twenty-seven allegations of child abuse. Now the prosecutor brings charges against Zen priests from the district of Augsburg.]

Nach neun Monaten Untersuchungshaft hat die Staatsanwaltschaft nun Anklage erhoben gegen einen 61-jährigen Zen-Priester aus dem Landkreis Augsburg. Es geht um insgesamt 27 Fälle von Kindesmissbrauch. Zudem soll der Mann Kinderpornos besessen haben. Er hat die Taten teilweise eingeräumt.

Im Detail hat die Staatsanwaltschaft Anklage unter anderem wegen schweren sexuellen Missbrauchs in fünf Fällen, wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs in 22 Fällen und wegen Besitzes kinder- und jugendpornographischer Schriften zum Landgericht Augsburg – Jugendkammer als Jugendschutzgericht – erhoben.

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CHILE
Welt

[A nun is raped in the monastery and nine months later she brings a child into the world. Now she complains. The young woman from Chile also makes a serious complaint to her former fellow-sisters.]

Von Tobias Käufer, Bogota | Stand: 05.04.2017

Es war nur eine Nacht, die das Leben von Schwester Franziska, 35, für immer verändern sollte. Die junge Ordensschwester verbrachte sie im Kloster Santísima Trinidad (zu Deutsch: Heilige Dreifaltigkeit) der Klarissen-Kapuzinerinnen im Herzen von Santiago de Chile. Vier Jahre ist das nun her. Schwester Franziska war damals zu krank, um das Gebäude zu verlassen, und sie entschied sich, im Kloster zu übernachten.

Dort waren auch einige Handwerker untergebracht, deren Aufgabe es war, die in die Jahre gekommene Elektrik des Bauwerks zu reparieren. Franziska sollte die Männer während der Arbeiten tagsüber verpflegen. Doch aus der Zusammenarbeit wurde ein Albtraum.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue

To the media in Ireland and England, and to some outlets in the United States, Catherine Corless is an Irish hero, a brave woman who uncovered a “mass grave” outside a Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, Ireland. She has been lavishly praised for her painstaking research, making her the most celebrated historian in Ireland today. But before she is canonized St. Catherine of Tuam by her faithful fans, it behooves us to examine her bona fides, and her story.

The first myth concerns her expertise. Contrary to what virtually all news reports have said, Corless is not a historian: she not only does not have a Ph.D. in history, she doesn’t have an undergraduate degree. She is a typist. Her part-time course on historical research may impress some, but to those who know better, a high school equivalency diploma carries more weight.

This does not mean she is dumb—many secretaries are brighter than the professors they serve. Nor does this disqualify her from making a contribution to historical events. But she is no historian.

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CANADA
Yahoo! News

The Canadian Press
April 5, 2017

OTTAWA — Conservative Sen. Lynn Beyak, who famously declared “some good” came out of Canada’s residential schools, has been kicked off the Senate’s committee on Aboriginal Peoples.

Jake Enwright, a spokesperson for interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose, confirmed the decision in a statement late Wednesday.

“Ms. Ambrose has been clear that Sen. Beyak’s views do not reflect the Conservative party’s position on residential schools,” Enwright said.

Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission spent six years examining the legacy of the government-funded, church-operated schools, infamous hotbeds of abuse and mistreatment that operated from the 1870s to 1996.

The Conservatives were in power in 2008 when the federal government delivered an abject apology in the House of Commons to families and survivors, a fact not lost on Enwright.

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NEBRASKA
3 News Now

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – A bill that would lift the statute of limitations for child abuse sex victims to sue perpetrators has won first-round approval in the Nebraska Legislature.

Lawmakers advanced the measure with a 29-3 vote.

Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha says ending the statute of limitations is important because child sex abuse victims sometimes repress their memories or feel too ashamed to talk about what they experienced until later in life.

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ROME
Crux

Austen Ivereigh April 6, 2017
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

The breakaway traditionalist group the Society of St. Pius X is rumored to be closer than ever to coming back into full communion with the Catholic Church. But recent revelations on how the SSPX has handled sex abuse allegations should cause the Vatican to put a halt to any proposed reconciliation, until there can be a guarantee that child safety norms are followed.

In the will-they-won’t-they saga of the traditionalist breakaway group SSPX reconciling with Rome, there always seems to be a last-minute snag or ugly revelation that scuppers the deal.

The most recent was in March 2012, when the Society of Pius X, a wealthy schismatic group with 600 priests in 37 countries, rejected Benedict XVI’s offer of an Opus Dei-type personal prelature in exchange for accepting certain criteria for the interpretation of Catholic doctrine.

SSPX, which regards as heresy the Second Vatican Council’s teachings on religious freedom and other faiths, demanded, as it always does, that if Rome wanted them back, they would have to take them as they were. And to make clear this wasn’t just an argument about the 1960s, they cited Benedict’s hosting of an inter-religious summit in Assisi and even his beatification of Pope John Paul II as additional stumbling blocks.

The traditionalists’ current leader, Archbishop Bernard Fellay, declared at the time that “it is our duty to continuously go [to Rome], knock at the door, and not beg that we may enter – because we are in – but beg that they may convert; that they may change and come back to what makes the Church.”

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NEW ZEALAND
NZ Catholic

By Michael Otto – April 6, 2017

A New Zealand Catholic Church official has suggested that priests accused of sex abuse would be better dealt with regionally, rather than their cases being referred to Rome.

Bill Kilgallon, the national director of the National Office for Professional Standards in New Zealand, was one of several members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors to appear before a hearing of Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on February 23 in Sydney.

Mr Kilgallon responded to an invitation to comment on how well the process of referring accused Catholic priests to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith works.

He described the process as “slow”, adding that “there are systems that could be improved considerably”.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

REBEKAH ISON AND JAMIE MCKINNELL
Australian Associated Press
April 6, 2017

The response of Perth’s outgoing Anglican Archbishop to child sexual abuse allegations was “weak, ineffectual, and showed no regard for the need to protect children”, the royal commission has been told.

In submissions published on Thursday, counsel assisting Naomi Sharp said Archbishop Roger Herft had mishandled complaints about senior and domineering priests Graeme Lawrence and Peter Rushton when he was head of the Newcastle diocese between 1993 and 2005.

“His response was weak, ineffectual and showed no regard for the need to protect children from the risk that they would be preyed upon,” she told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in the submissions.

“It was a failure of leadership.”

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse held hearings into the Newcastle Anglican diocese last year.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

Of the four reviews published by the Catholic Church’s National Board for Safeguarding Children that of the Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd congregation is far and away the best.

Conducted in December 2015, it was found to be almost totally compliant with the board’s child safeguarding standards.

The congregation was found to have partially met two requirements out of six under the board’s “Communicating the Church’s Safeguarding Message” standard.

Authorities

Five abuse allegations, which include complaints, expressions of concern and one allegation of emotional abuse, were made against five members of the congregation between January 1st, 1975 and December 2015. Two of those sisters are still living. All allegations had been reported to relevant authorities.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Freya McClements

A woman who was sexually abused by serial paedophile Fr Brendan Smyth in the United States has condemned the Catholic Church for its “disturbing” failure to change its ways.

“It’s all nothing more than window dressing to me. They haven’t taken real action. Release the files, prosecute the predators, and compensate the victims,” said Helen McGonigle, reacting to the latest Irish inquiry reports.

She was raped and sexually assaulted by Fr Smyth in the 1960s in Rhode Island in the US, in a school, a church basement and his car, when she was aged between six and nine-years-old. He also assaulted her mother after he was sent back to the Rhode Island parish following church-ordered treatment in hospital in Ireland.

A review of four institutions by the Catholic Church’s National Board for Safeguarding Children carried out in 2015/16 was published on Wednesday.

It found that in regard to the De La Salle Brothers, the Norbertines and the Nazareth Sisters “their performance in the recent past does not demonstrate any real change from their historical behaviour in terms of ensuring good safeguarding practice or putting in place effective pastoral responses to complainants who have made allegations of abuse”.

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IRELAND
The Times (UK)

Seán McCárthaigh
April 6 2017
The Times

Three religious orders whose members were linked to more than 500 allegations of child abuse have been criticised by a church oversight body for showing no discernible change in attitude to child protection until very recently.

The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCCI) said in a review published yesterday that the De La Salle Brothers, the Norbertines and the Sisters of Nazareth had demonstrated weak and occasionally poor practice in the implementation of child protection standards introduced in 2009. “Their performance in the recent past does not demonstrate any real change from their historical behaviour in terms of ensuring good safeguarding practice or putting in place effective pastoral responses to complainants who have made allegations of abuse,” the board said.

It said that the records used by the three congregations were not well maintained which had made the task of reviewing their compliance with child protection standards more difficult.

Publication of the review had been postponed by two years due to the historical institutional abuse inquiry in Northern Ireland which completed its work in January. Among the issues investigated by the inquiry was the case of Brendan Smyth, a Norbertine priest, who was one of the most notorious paedophile priests in recent decades until his arrest in 1994.

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IRELAND
RTE News

The Catholic Church-backed watchdog on child sexual abuse has said the global leadership of the Norbertine order, of which the paedophile priest Brendan Smyth was a member, has failed to respond to its correspondence over the past three years.

Speaking after the publication of reviews of child safeguarding which found that three of four religious orders investigated have not really changed their performance in dealing with abuse, Teresa Devlin, chair of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland, said she will be writing to the Abbot Superior of the order again.

The NBSCCCI criticises the De La Salle Brothers, the Norbertine order of priests and the Nazareth Sisters for failing to put in place effective pastoral responses to people who have alleged they were abused by members of the congregations.

However, it says that in the past year the De La Salle Brothers and Nazareth Sisters have engaged more fully with the NBSCCCIto improve the situation.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Thursday, April 06, 2017

Three religious orders, including notorious paedophile Fr Brendan Smyth’s Norbertines, have shown no “real change from their historical behaviour” in terms of safeguarding children, writes Conall Ó Fatharta.

A series of reports by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCI) severely criticises three of the four orders reviewed.

The performances in the recent past of the De La Salle Brothers, the Norbertine order of priests, and the Nazareth Sisters are criticised for failing to “demonstrate any real change from their historical behaviour, in terms of ensuring good safeguarding practice or putting in place effective pastoral responses to complainants who have made allegations of abuse”.

The NBSCCI notes that, across the three orders, the case management records were “poor or non-existent” and responses to allegations of abuse were driven by legal advisers and lacked any pastoral approach.

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UNITED STATES
Christianity Today

KAREN SWALLOW PRIOR

As a professor, I like to use Facebook as an extension of my classroom, a place where I can offer interesting articles and challenging discussions. Because the Facebook Live rape case and other events have put sexual assault and predatory behavior all over the news lately, I recently posted this question:

“What do you wish people knew/understood about experiencing sexual assault?”

Given the private nature of the question and the public nature of the medium, I anticipated only a handful of responses. I was astonished that dozens and dozens of people responded, whether directly on the thread or in private messages. (I should also note that I know most of the respondents in real life, including many who have been my students.) Their comments altogether filled up 60 pages.

I was surprised—and yet not surprised. A few years ago, I conducted a similar informal survey on Twitter by sharing the story of being stalked by my high school teacher and using the hashtag #howoldwereyou. It generated an equally tremendous response. In my research for a related essay, I learned the sobering statistics about childhood sexual abuse: 7 percent of girls in grades 5–8 and 12 percent of girls in grades 9–12 report having been sexually abused, along with 3 percent of boys grades 5–8 and 5 percent of boys in grades 9–12. The numbers for sexual assault are only worse for adults, and college students are particularly vulnerable. The University of Texas at Austin recently released a report indicating that 15 percent of its female undergraduate students have been raped.

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OKLAHOMA
Duncan Banner

By Charlene Belew The Duncan Banner

On Wednesday, April 5, Jody Hilliard, a former assistant pastor from Duncan, waived his right to a speedy trial in a case which Hilliard allegedly committed lewd or indecent acts to a child under age 12.

According to court documents obtained from the Stephens County Courthouse, Hilliard, the defendant, requested and was met without objection on continuing his case and waiving speedy trial. His court date is set for Sept. 18, 2017. Docket call will be Aug. 28, 2017.

Hilliard was arrested in April 2016 when detectives with the Duncan Police Department received a report from the Department of Social Services in the state where the victim resides, advising them about ongoing sexual abuse while the minor was in Duncan.

The report stated Hilliard allegedly touched the victim in her private parts without clothes on and made the victim touch Hilliard in his genital area.

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GEORGIA
Golden Isles News

By WES WOLFE wwolfe@goldenisles.news

Wednesday at the Glynn County Courthouse, A.J. testified he and his girlfriend T.V. began being openly flirty at church after they had been romantically intimate for the first time. He said the Rev. Kenneth Adkins noticed this behavior, and that was when Adkins asked the then-15-year-old whether the two were having sex, and whether they were being careful not to get her pregnant.

A.J., whose is not being identified because he is allegedly a sexual abuse victim, testified that not long after, Adkins offered up his office as a venue and offered to observe the couple, making sure that “they were doing it right.”

“It was awkward,” A.J. said, “but I felt it was the right thing at the time.”

Adkins is on trial on child molestation charges regarding alleged illegal acts conducted between him, A.J. and T.V. between 2009 and 2010.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

By Kevin Magee
BBC News NI investigations reporter

Police and prosecution services have been criticised for not bringing a paedophile to justice when he confessed to his crimes in the 80s.

Retired church pastor Henry Clarke, 75, confessed to abusing three different boys at care homes in Northern Ireland.

One of his victims has said his abuser should stand trial now.

A child protection expert has said he should not have been allowed to get away with the crimes, and that police had enough to pursue a prosecution.

“In this incidence you had an admission, so you didn’t have… to worry that the allegation was old, and the evidence may be stale,” said Jim Gamble, a former senior officer with the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

Joanne McCarthy
6 Apr 2017

FORMER Newcastle Anglican Bishop Roger Herft’s response to child sexual abuse allegations was “weak, ineffectual and showed no regard for the need to protect children from the risk that they would be preyed upon,” counsel assisting the royal commission has found in a final submission.

“It was a failure of leadership,” said counsel assisting Naomi Sharp, in a 276-page submission released on Thursday.

Ms Sharp named defrocked former Dean of Newcastle, Graeme Lawrence, business manager Peter Mitchell, diocese solicitor and trustee Keith Allen and diocesan deputy chancellor Paul Rosser, QC, as part of a “network of long term diocesan ‘insiders’” during Bishop Herft’s tenure from 1993 to 2005.

They “worked together to frustrate efforts by other leaders, including the bishop, to deal with the sexual abuse of children by priests and others within the diocese”, Ms Sharp said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Giselle Wakatama

A counsel assisting the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has taken aim at several former Newcastle Anglican bishops, concluding one was “weak and ineffectual on child sexual abuse”.

In its Newcastle and Sydney hearings in 2016, the royal commission heard claims of paedophile networks and cover ups during its probe into Newcastle’s Anglican Diocese.

The royal commission today published the written submissions for the public hearings into the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle.

In her submission, counsel assisting the royal commission, Naomi Sharp, made nearly 150 observations known as ‘available findings’ in the report.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

6 Apr 2017

ON June 25 the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle will mark its 170th anniversary.

On that day in 1847 the church – almost certainly with high hopes for the future – established a base in the Hunter region, and became one of its most influential players.

Christchurch Cathedral’s dominance on the Newcastle skyline attests to the significance of the church in the region, and the esteem in which it has been held.

If there were plans to mark the 170th anniversary in a celebratory mood, they’ve probably been quietly shelved. The day should be marked because the Anglican Church has contributed much to the Hunter, but not with a celebration. By June the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will have published its final report into how Newcastle Anglican Diocese responded to child sex allegations.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Sarah MacDonald
April 6 2017

Three religious congregations have been severely criticised for their child-safeguarding practices by the child protection watchdog.

The National Board for Safeguarding Children found the Norbertine order, the De La Salle brothers and the Sisters of Nazareth required “urgent corrective action” in their protection of children.

Notorious paedophile Fr Brendan Smyth was a member of the Norbertines. The audit of the Norbertines, who were formerly based at Kilnacrott Abbey in Co Cavan, was published by the National Board (NBSCCCI) on Tuesday. Reviewers refer to the order as “notorious” for its “mismanagement” of Smyth, who died in prison in 1997.

Criticising the Nobertines’ “significant history of poor child-safeguarding practice”, the child protection watchdog reveals it looked at a total of 103 child safeguarding concerns or allegations in relation to four Norbertine priests.

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CALIFORNIA
Your Central Valley

[with video]

By: Eric Luttrell

Fresno State Athletic director Jim Bartko is sharing his own story of childhood sexual abuse. Bartko is speaking at a “sexual assault awareness month” event. It’s his first public appearance since he spoke with the media back in january.

Bartko sat down with Eyewitness News before he took the stage. He told us he’ll be talking about his guilt, and what suppressing those feelings did to him. Bartko did seek help, something he says, he’ll be urging the students to do.Bartko’s own story has already resonated with many. He says, he still gets letters from around the country.

Bartko says, he was abused by a childhood priest and coach at age 7. He says that abuse continued two years. The priest involved was based out of Oakland and was convicted and served time for lewd and lascivious acts. Still, Bartko says the guilt and shame stayed with him, for 44 years. ” Hopefully people can say, if he can talk about it, we can talk about it and hopefully it will save someone and their emotions, whether it’s sexual assault, rape, what I went through with the priest, or whatever it might be, hopefully, there’s all different forms of it, and tonight it’s all about that, and that’s what it should be about”, according to Bartko.

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GUAM
KUAM

[with video]

Updated: Apr 06, 2017

By Krystal Paco

The numbers are climbing. “I don’t know when the end is for the number of suits coming forward,” said Archbishop Michael Byrnes. “We’ll deal with them as they come. And our prayers multiply.” The coadjutor notes the litany of lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Agana, both in local and federal courts.

The archbishop attended today’s Child Abuse Prevention and Sexual Assault Awareness Month resolution and proclamation signing, where it was evident – this is an islandwide problem. “I was encouraged today by seeing a community-wide awareness to this,” His Excellency shared with KUAM News. “We’ve become very aware in the church and just knowing that we’re not alone in that awareness is a big help.”

Yet another filing was made on Thursday in the Superior Court of Guam, this time from a former altar boy at the Nuestra Senora de las Aguas Church in Mongmong. Only identified by his initials “D.C.”, he alleges he was sexually molested by his priest, Father Antonio Cruz in the late 1950s when he was 13 or 14 years old. The plaintiff alleges the priest groomed him for the sexual assault to come – complimenting him and allowing him to drink communion wine.

He alleges the priest took him on a car ride, but parked hidden in the jungle stating “I want something from you.” He alleges the priest asked him about his experiences with girls and performed oral sex on him. The priest would later bribe him not to tell anyone. D.C. quit as an altar boy and stopped attending mass. Cruz passed away in 1986.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Mindy Aguon |For The Guam Daily Post Apr 6, 2017

A former altar boy alleges his was sexually abused by a priest in the late 1950s and then bribed to keep quiet.

A lawsuit, filed Thursday in the Superior Court by an individual with the initials, “D.C.” to protect his identity, accuses Father Antonio Cruz of sexual abuse when he was the parish priest at Nuestra Senora De Las Aguas Church in Mongmong.

He is represented by a team of attorneys including Attorney Anthony C. Perez, the James, Vernon and Weeks law firm in Washington, and Attorney Randall Rosenberg in Hawaii.

“D.C.” was raised as a devout Catholic and had been serving as an altar boy since he was six years old. He was one of two altar boys serving along with Anthony Sablan Apuron before he became an ordained priest on Guam and later the Archbishop of the Agana Archdicoese.

The lawsuit alleges Cruz “groomed” the plaintiff by pretending to have a good relationship with him by complimenting him, permitting him to drink communion wine and fully trusting in him.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

Joanne McCarthy
6 Apr 2017

SYSTEMIC issues in Newcastle Anglican diocese allowed a network of child sex perpetrators to operate within the diocese for more than 30 years, counsel assisting the royal commission, Naomi Sharp, said in a final submission released on Thursday.

Central figures during that period included child sex offender priest Peter Rushton and defrocked former Dean of Newcastle Graeme Lawrence, who enlisted the support of senior diocese clergy and lay members to remain dominant.

People who reported allegations of child sexual abuse to senior clergy were treated as if they had fabricated the allegations, and were sometimes threatened with legal action, Ms Sharp said.

Child sex allegations were not reported to police; there was “permissive and timid leadership by successive bishops”, and there was an “over-reliance on the perceived honesty of alleged perpetrators when confronted with allegations.

“There was a lack of turnover of those in positions of governance within the diocese, leading to entrenched positions, conflicts of interest and a narrowed pool of expertise,” Ms Sharp said.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

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

A man who was an altar boy with Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron in Mongmong in the late 1950s became the 46th person to file a Guam clergy sex abuse lawsuit.

A man identified in court documents only by his initials, “D.C.,” to protect his privacy, alleged in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that the late Father Antonio Cruz sexually abused him in 1957 or 1958, when he and Apuron were the only two altar boys at Nuestra Senora De Las Aguas in Mongmong. D.C. was only 13 or 14 years old at the time.

While D.C. quit being an altar boy after Cruz allegedly sexually abused him, Apuron went on to become an ordained priest and Guam’s archbishop for nearly 31 years.

Apuron, who’s identified Cruz as his mentor, is undergoing a Vatican canonical penal trial and is facing civil lawsuits allegedly for raping or sexually abusing four altar boys in the 1970s when he was a parish priest in Agat.

D.C., represented attorney Anthony C. Perez, filed the case in the Superior Court of Guam against the Archdiocese of Agana and up to 20 others who may have helped conceal or cover up the sexual abuse. Cruz, who died in 1986 at the age of 62, is one of eight Guam clergy who were named in the 46 lawsuits filed so far in local and federal court.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

The donations were to be used to assist in the litigation of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary dispute.

Guam – The Concerned Catholics of Guam has announced that it will give its donors a refund of their donations.

In a release, CCOG said that it no longer needs the money donated to them for the purpose of litigating the return of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary. The grassroots catholic organization received over $52,000 in donations from over 300 donors to cover legal expenses in “researching the clandestine transaction and determining the legal options CCOG had to secure the return of the property.”

Of that amount, less than $40,000 was spent. The savings was realized when Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes stepped in and abolished the RMS boards, amended the articles of incorporation and got rid of a controversial deed restriction that gave the property away.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has published the written submissions for the public hearing into the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle today.

The public hearing was held in Newcastle in August 2016 and in Sydney in November 2016.

It inquired into the experiences of survivors of child sexual abuse perpetrated by clergy and lay people involved in or associated with the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle.

Read the submissions.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | The Guam Daily Post

Archbishop Anthony Apuron, whose administrative authority has been removed in light of decades-old sex-abuse allegations, filed court papers yesterday asking for the dismissal of cases filed against him.

Apuron was accused of child sexual abuse which allegedly took place in the 1970s when he was the parish priest for Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Agat. His accusers are four former altar boys from the Agat parish, including Walter Denton, Roland Sonia and Roy Quintanilla. Mary Jane Quinata Cruz also sued Apuron in her capacity as the administrator of alleged abuse victim Joseph Quinata’s estate.

Apuron’s motions to dismiss states, in part, that the allegations of sex abuse filed by former altar boys against him are past the legal time limit to file cases, and further states that the law which granted the filing of the cases in the first place is “inorganic,” or unlawful under the Organic Act of Guam.

The motions in the four cases were filed on behalf of Apuron in his personal capacity. Attorney Jacqueline Terlaje filed the motions for Apuron.

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CANADA
Toronto Star

By BRUCE CAMPION-SMITH
Ottawa Bureau
Wed., April 5, 2017

OTTAWA—Sen. Lynn Beyak, who stirred controversy for saying there was an “abundance of good” in the residential school system has been removed from the Senate committee that oversees aboriginal issues.

Interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose made the move Wednesday after continued pressure from critics who wanted Beyak, a Conservative senator, off the committee, even out of the Senate entirely.

“Ms. Ambrose has been clear that Sen. Beyak’s views do not reflect the Conservative Party’s position on residential schools,” Jake Enwright, press secretary for Ambrose, said in a statement that tried to distance the party from the controversy.

“It was prime minister Stephen Harper who made an historic apology to the victims of residential schools and launched the Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” Enwright said.

In a speech on March 7, Beyak highlighted what she called the “somewhat different side of the residential school story.”

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CANADA
Global News

OTTAWA – Conservative Sen. Lynn Beyak, who famously declared “some good” came out of Canada’s residential schools, has been removed from the Senate’s committee on aboriginal peoples.

A spokesperson for interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose says the senator’s controversial comments do not reflect the party’s position on residential schools.

Earlier this week, an indigenous senator who sits on the committee said she would boycott its meetings as long as Beyak was still a member.

Sen. Sandra Lovelace Nicholas says she was “shocked and dismayed” by her Senate colleague’s remarks

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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., March 30, 2017

Once again Bishop James S. Wall and Diocese of Gallup officials have stumbled in their efforts to demonstrate to survivors of clergy sexual abuse that they are genuinely remorseful about the trauma these survivors endured as children and are sincerely interested in helping them find emotional, mental and spiritual healing.

To those not familiar with the vulnerability many clergy sex abuse survivors struggle with, the latest misstep of the Gallup bishop and his chancery officials may not seem like a big deal. The bishop postponed eight healing services for abuse survivors — originally scheduled for January, February and July — and postponed them all to March 2018. So what’s the problem with that?

Events get canceled and postponed all the time. That’s life.

Actually, there are a lot of problems with that, and it is disheartening that diocesan officials are oblivious to them.

Someone who has worked with many clergy abuse survivors offered this insight: Although canceling and rescheduling healing services may seem like a simple administrative function for the bishop and his staff, it oftentimes carries much more meaning for survivors of abuse. Survivors often struggle with trusting others, especially the Catholic Church, so when Wall unilaterally cancels healing services and fails to fulfill his promise, it is a reminder that bishops and priests cannot be trusted. Another way to think about the lengthy postponements is to reframe them in personal terms. Suppose you have deeply hurt a family member and come to the realization that a face-to-face apology is necessary. You contact that family member, tell them you would like to meet them in person to apologize and then set up an appointment. However, something interferes with that date and you have to reschedule. Wouldn’t you reschedule as soon as possible to demonstrate your sincerity? On the other hand, if you told them you couldn’t meet until the following year, what would be the message you are giving them?

That is the same message many abuse survivors received loud and clear from Wall’s postponements.

So what should Wall have done differently?

First, he shouldn’t have canceled the healing service in St. Johns, Arizona, when it was scheduled the same evening as his Mardi Gras fundraiser celebration in Gallup. Yes, the Mardi Gras event raises a lot of money for the diocese each year. But by canceling the healing service, Wall chose money over people. What if Wall had instead asked a fellow bishop to be his stand-in at the Mardi Gras fundraiser so he could minister to the needs of abuse survivors in St. Johns? Had Wall done that, he would have garnered both good publicity and goodwill.

Secondly, Wall shouldn’t have postponed his upcoming healing services in Overgaard and Snowflake, Arizona, originally set for July, just so he can deliver a speech at the annual Tekakwitha Conference. Wall’s opportunity to live up to his promise to abuse survivors shouldn’t have been easily pushed aside for a conference that is held each year. One local abuse survivor contacted the Independent and raised the following question: Why it is so important for Wall to deliver a speech to Native Americans in South Dakota, but it is not so important for him to deliver a promise to local abuse survivors, some of whom are Native American?

Thirdly, Wall and his chancery staff should have rescheduled the eight postponed healing services sooner and in a more sensibly paced way. According to the healing services schedule, the bishop is not offering any services this month, he is only holding one in April, and for the remaining months he has only one to three services per month. Yet he has scheduled the eight postponed services all into a 17-day period in March 2018? Couldn’t those eight services been rescheduled in a more evenly spaced way over the upcoming months?

Those eight services now appear to be simply an inconvenience to the bishop’s important schedule — something to push aside, cram together and hurriedly get through.

It should be noted that during the healing services Wall has held thus far, he has offered this apology: “I apologize in the name of the church for failing to minister to you in a way that was respectful to your human dignity.”

In light of the sloppy and inconsiderate way these eight healing services have been canceled and postponed, the bishop’s apology to abuse survivors rings hollow.

In this space only does the opinion of the Gallup Independent Editorial Board appear.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Magazine

By Victor Fiorillo | April 5, 2017

It’s not every day that a person charged with a federal crime picks up the phone, so Wednesday was a bit unusual in that regard. We called Villa St. Joseph, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s retirement home in Delaware County, to find out whether administrators there had any comment about the charges against the home’s rector — and the rector himself picked up the phone.

“I don’t have any comment about that,” Monsignor William Dombrow told us before ending the call.

On Wednesday, the United States Attorney for Philadelphia charged Dombrow, 77, with four counts of wire fraud, alleging that he fraudulently diverted $535,258 in funds to an account at Sharon Savings Bank under his control. The scheme allegedly took place between 2007 and 2016, all while Dombrow was a monsignor in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the rector for Villa St. Joseph, where good priests go to retire and priests who have admitted to committing sexual abuse have been sent for a “prayer and penance” program.

According to prosecutors, the funds in question came primarily from estates and life-insurance policies. They were supposed to be directed to accounts under the control of the Archdiocese and Catholic Human Services, but instead, Dombrow allegedly took them for his personal use.

The charging documents point to four specific transactions in which Dombrow is said to have diverted checks for his own purposes: In 2013, a $10,000 from Beneficial Bank; in 2014, a $25,000 check from Wells Fargo Bank; in 2015, a $14,410 check from Citizens Bank, and, most recently, a 2016 check from the Bank of America for $10,000.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philly.com

by Jeremy Roebuck, STAFF WRITER @jeremyrroebuck | jroebuck@phillynews.com

The rector of an Archdiocesan retirement home for aging priests was charged Wednesday with embezzling more than a half million dollars from the facility to cover his tastes for fancy dinners, Philadelphia Pops concerts, and local casinos.

Federal prosecutors accused Msgr. William A. Dombrow, 77, of siphoning funds for nearly nine years from a private account set up to support the Villa St. Joseph, the facility in Darby that also houses priests that have been accused of sexual abuse.

Much of the money that flowed into that account came from the life insurance payouts of priests who had died while residing there or bequests from the estates of parishioners who intended to support the facility.

The theft was discovered, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Rotella said, after the bank which administered the account flagged several suspicious payments and deductions at Harrah’s Casino in Chester and notified the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
PhillyVoice

BY JERRY GAUL
PhillyVoice Staff

A monsignor with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia is facing fraud charges for allegedly embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from retired priests, federal prosecutors said.

Monsignor William Dombrow, 77, of Darby, was charged Wednesday with four counts of wire fraud, Acting U.S. Attorney Louis D. Lappen announced.

According to court documents, Dombrow was the rector of Villa Saint Joseph, a Delaware County facility which serves as a retirement home for retired priests. From December 2007 through May 2016, Dombrow allegedly directed $535,258.11 in donations from wills and life insurance policies to a bank account that only he controlled. The funds were intended for the Archdiocese.

Dombrow is currently on administrative leave by the Archdiocese.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The rector of a church-owned retirement home for Roman Catholic priests has been charged with embezzling $535,000 to pay for casino visits, high-end dinners and Philadelphia Pops concerts.

Federal prosecutors have charged Msgr. William A. Dombrow with skimming money for nearly nine years from an account meant to support Villa St. Joseph.

The Philadelphia archdiocese runs the facility to house aging priests and those accused of sexual abuse. Much of the stolen money came from insurance payments for priests who died and from parishioners who left the facility money.

Authorities say the 77-year-old Dombrow had sole access to the account.

Dombrow has been charged by way of a criminal information, which often means a defendant is cooperating. His attorney hasn’t returned a phone message left Wednesday seeking comment.

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GUAM
James, Vernon & Weeks

CONTACT:
Anthony Perez, sex-abuse attorney, acp@perezlawguam.com; (671) 475-5055 Leander James, sex-abuse attorney, ljames@jvwlaw.net; (208) 667-0683 (cell)
Craig Vernon, sex-abuse attorney, cvernon@jvwlaw.net; (208)-691-2768(cell)
Randal Rosenberg, sex-abuse attorney, randall@rmhlawhawaii.com; (808)536-4270

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MANNETTA STILL AT LARGE AND A RISK TO CHILDREN

As documented at bishop-accountability.org,
http://bishop-accountability.org/priestdb/PriestDBbylastName-M.html, Mannetta continued to abuse children after leaving Guam for Hawaii. He was later transferred to New York.

Mannetta has escaped criminal prosecution for his crimes against children. He is believed to currently reside in Connecticut.

Hagatna, Guam This morning, Attorneys representing two Plaintiffs, M.B and G.G., filed suit against the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Agana seeking justice for sexual abuse occurring in approximately 1986-87. Both Plaintiffs served as altar boys at the Santa Teresita Church, Mangilao, Guam, where Andrew Mannetta (“Father Andy”) was assigned as the Priest. Both say Fr. Mannetta molested them.

According to the Complaints, when Plaintiff M.B. was 13 years old, Father Andy would host “sleep overs” at the rectory for the Santa Teresita altar boys, including M.B.. At these “sleep overs”, Father Andy would commonly ply M.B. and other altar boys with alcohol and have them watch sexual movies. In this setting, Father Andy isolated and sexually abused M.B..

Plaintiff G.G., was approximately 14 years old when Father Andy, under the guise of training G.G. to be a Priest, convinced G.G.’s parents to allow him to move into the rectory. There, in the rectory, Father Andy sexually abused G.G.

Plaintiffs are represented by a team of attorneys, including Anthony C. Perez of Hagatna, Guam, a Hawai’i firm and a Mainland Firm. “I chose a team approach to provide powerful advocacy and resources for clients,” Perez explains. In addition to this lawsuit, this attorney team has previously filed other claims for survivors of sexual abuse under a new law in Guam. Perez commends lawmakers, including Governor Eddie Calvo, for passing this law last September. “Our lawmakers have sent a clear message of zero tolerance for those who prey on the most innocent and vulnerable, and for the institutions that protect these predators and conceal the evidence of their monstrous crimes”, says Perez.

Attorneys Leander James and Craig Vernon of James, Vernon and Weeks, P.A., have represented many hundreds of survivors of clergy abuse across the United States. “M.B.’s and G.G.’s courage to come forward is an example to all those abused by Fr. Andy and other predators,” says James. “Abuse survivors can seek justice and healing. They are not alone. It was not their fault.”

“Father Andy was trusted by Plaintiffs and their parents,” adds Vernon. “He was a Priest. He was supposed to be a holy man of God. For him to commit horrendous acts that destroyed the innocence of young altar boys is the ultimate betrayal of trust.”

Another team attorney, Randall Rosenberg of Honolulu, who has represented many survivors of clergy abuse in Hawaii, notes that Mannetta’s assignment history shows a familiar and disturbing pattern: “This notorious pedophile was shifted from Parish to Parish within Guam, before being transferred to Hawaii. He left a trail of abused and broken children everywhere the Church sent hini, until he was finally defrocked as a Priest around 2002.”

Download the Complaints here:

Download the Complaints here:

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

It is practice when reviews of child protection standards are published by the Catholic Church’s National Board for Safeguarding Children that these are followed by many apologies from the institutions concerned.

These follow a usual formula welcoming the review, apologising for what was uncovered, and assurances that such will never, ever happen again.

Yesterday, the De La Salle Brothers, the Norbertines, the Nazareth Sisters and the Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd congregations followed suit.

The only one worth considering was from the Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd congregation. Their review proved they are serious about child protection.

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IRELAND
The Journal

A REVIEW INTO some religious orders that ran schools in Ireland has found “substantial wrongdoing” with poor reporting practices, poor record keeping, and opportunities missed when it came to safeguarding children.

The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCCI) similar to the Historical Abuse Inquiry (HIA), had waited until after the HIA had published its report.

The HIA found “unspeakable cruelty and vicious abuse”, and the NBSCCCI found said that their results were in line with the HIA’s.

The report looked at the De la Salle Brothers, Norbertines, Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd and the Sisters of Nazareth.

Teresa Devlin, CEO of the NBSCCCI, said: “Our goal here was not to replicate the work of the HIA, though of course there is some overlap.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

A total of 294 physical and emotional abuse allegations were made against 61 Nazareth Sisters, 40 now deceased. None was convicted in the courts. Just 115 were reported to police and health authorities.

Eight of the accused sisters remain in ministry, 13 accused are retired and one has left the congregation.

The Catholic Church’s National Board for Safeguarding Children was “unable to assess the extent to which the Sisters of Nazareth have dealt with the allegations and concerns that have arisen, due to the unavailability of any contemporaneous case file records”.

Accept severe criticism

Further, the sisters had been “exceptionally slow to take up their responsibility for child safeguarding, and they have to accept severe criticism for this. The first Church guidelines were published in Ireland in 1996, but it was 2015 before the congregation appeared to take any real action; this is completely unacceptable”.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

The Catholic Church’s National Board for Safeguarding Children was unequivocal following its review of child protection standards where the De La Salle Brothers were concerned.

“Something has gone badly wrong in relation to how some members of the De La Salle Brothers in Ireland have interpreted their mission to teach and witness to children and so to lead them to God,” it said.

The congregation had been “incomprehensively late for a large religious congregation involved in the provision of schools to produce its first written policy and procedures in 2011. It is noteworthy that the Church in Ireland first iterated guidance on child protection in 1996.”

Child protection policy

It said that “of the 14 schools in which the De La Salle Brothers still have an involvement, four do not have a child protection policy available on their school websites”.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times

Gerry Moriarty

The Sisters of Nazareth and the De La Salle Brothers again issued apologies to those who suffered abuse in their care homes after the latest safeguarding report was published on Wednesday, but the expressions of contrition didn’t wash with some of the people who spent time in these institutions.

Margaret McGuckin says she suffered physical abuse over an eight-year period from 1958 while at a home run by the Sisters of Nazareth on the Ormeau Road in south Belfast. She and her sister and two brothers were taken into care after her mother, as she says, “went walkabout” and a parish priest and welfare officials decided her father could not cope.

One of her brothers, who she says suffered sexual abuse at the De La Salle Rubane House in Kircubbin in Co Down, is still in state care.

As chief spokeswoman for Savia – Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse – and after being heavily involved in the recently concluded Northern Ireland Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, she has been very busy for several years. But now she has more time to think.

Before the report was published on Wednesday morning, Ms McGuckin spent time with her therapist, where she learned why all her life she has had an anxious tendency to hold her breath.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Harriet Sherwood Religion correspondent

A British Catholic priest who has been excommunicated twice by different popes is allegedly harbouring clergy accused of sexual abuse in his renegade religious order.

Richard Williamson, who was illicitly ordained as a bishop in 1988 by an ultra-conservative group, the Society of St Pius X (SSPX), and later convicted of Holocaust denial by a German court, is now head of the “SSPX Resistance”, based in Broadstairs, Kent.

Two Catholic SSPX priests who have been accused of sexual abuse have found a refuge in Williamson’s breakaway movement, according to an investigative documentary to be aired on Swedish television on Wednesday.

The Golden Jail, made by Ali Fegan, a Swedish journalist whose interview with Williamson about his Holocaust denial was broadcast in 2009, claims that the SSPX protected priests and failed to report claims of abuse to the police or civil authorities. Internal canonical trials of two men – one French, one English – were allegedly conducted with Vatican approval.

The English priest, referred to as Father S, left the SSPX before the conclusion of the trial to join the SSPX Resistance in 2014, going to live in Broadstairs. He declined to speak to the documentary team.

The French priest, Father P, was found guilty and banned from working with children. He joined the SSPX Resistance, and was filmed celebrating mass at a church in Bordeaux last November. He also refused to discuss allegations against him with the TV journalists.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | The Guam Daily Post

One of the newest child sexual abuse lawsuits filed yesterday alleges a former Guam priest used his position within the church to molest altar boys from his own parish, and used his post as a Boy Scout troop leader to abuse children from other parishes.

The complaint identifies the plaintiff only as “R.B.” and states the man’s initials are being used “in order to protect his privacy.”

In his complaint, R.B., who currently resides in Hawaii, alleges that in the early 1970s, he and his family were parishioners at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Inarajan, Guam. Because St. Joseph Catholic Church did not have a Boy Scout Troop of its own, R.B. claims that he joined Boy Scout Troop 24, which he alleges was sponsored by San Isidro Parish in Malojloj where former Guam priest Louis Brouillard served as parish priest.

According to Post files, Brouillard served at the Malojloj parish between the late 1960s into the 1970s where he is alleged to have abused at least 16 boys who were either altar servers or members of Boy Scout Troop 24.

R.B. alleges that Brouillard was the Troop leader of Troop 24 and that he used his position as the troop leader to sexually abuse him. For example, R.B. alleges Brouillard would take him and other Boy Scouts on camping trips, and during some of those trips Brouillard would enter R.B.’s tent and sexually abuse him. R.B. claims the abuse occurred in approximately 1972 or 1973, when he was 13 or 14.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Mindy Aguon | For The Guam Daily Post

A former priest who worked in Guam and Hawaii “left a trail of abused and broken children” everywhere the Church sent him, said attorneys representing two former altar boys who allege they were sexually abused between 1986 and 1987 by Father Andrew “Andy” Mannetta.

Mannetta, 61, is named for the first time in civil lawsuits filed in the Superior Court of Guam by a team of attorneys, including Attorney Anthony C. Perez, the James, Vernon and Weeks law firm in Washington, and Attorney Randall Rosenberg in Hawaii.

The alleged abuse occurred while the victims were altar boys and Mannetta was the parish priest at Santa Teresita Catholic Church in Mangilao.

One lawsuit, filed by “M.B.,” to protect his identity, alleges that Mannetta hosted “sleep overs” for the altar boys at the Mangilao parish rectory and required the boys to only wear their underwear. The lawsuit alleges that Mannetta would provide alcohol such as communion wine to the boys, display sexually explicit movies and command the boys to give him a group massage.

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LOUISIANA
The Times-Picayune

By Ken Daley, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

A New Orleans man who is a nationally known Wiccan high priest, musician and author suggested through his attorney Wednesday (April 5) that a bitter ex-wife is responsible for the trove of child pornography videos found on his computer three years ago by Louisiana State Police.

In opening arguments in the child porn case of Kenneth “Kenny” Klein, defense attorney Bradley Phillips told jurors his client’s ex-wife was a software expert and Wiccan high priestess, who with Klein established the nature-worshipping Blue Star tradition of Wicca. Phillips said Klein and Dr. Tzipora Katz, who in the 1980s performed folk music at Pagan festivals and Renaissance fairs under the moniker Kenny and Tzipora, divorced in 1992. Allegations that Klein had sexually molested children and shared child pornography began after their divorce, Phillips said.

“You can’t imagine the hell that this woman has put Kenny Klein through for the last 30 years,” Phillips told the jury. “And remember, computers are not some Fort Knox. They’re not impenetrable.”

He added: “We’re not contesting that these were found on the computer belonging to Kenny Klein. It will horrify you, but you will learn it also horrifies Mr. Klein.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Wigan Today

A man who alleges he was sexually abused by a catholic priest nearly 40 years ago has denied that he invented the claims to get compensation.

“No compensation was on my mind – justice was on my mind,” he told a jury today. (Wed)

The alleged victim has claimed that while he was a pupil at St Joseph’s College, a seminary for prospective priests, in Upholland, Father Michael Higginbottom repeatedly seriously sexually assaulted him.

Fr Higginbottom, now aged 74, of West Farm Road, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, is on trial at Liverpool Crown Court. He denies eight offences alleged to have taken place between September 1978 and March 20, 1979.

The alleged victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, told police that for him it was the venue for ‘mental, physical and sexual abuse’, claimed David Temkin, prosecuting.

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SCOTLAND
Holyrood

By examining the current issues and the extent of child abuse in Scotland this event, chaired by Jacquie Roberts OBE, Former Chief Executive, Care Commission, subsequently the Care Inspectorate, will help delegates learn about and discuss the part we must all play in protecting our children and how we can make this a safer place for them to grow up.

Context

With the uncovering of each new scandal of historic child abuse rocking some of the institutions at the heart of our communities and society, the sheer scale of its reach has become horrifyingly clear. What remains to be seen is how we can ensure that the most vulnerable are protected, especially when with those charged with their care.

The Scottish Government is taking their role in this process seriously, having launched the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry in 2015 to look at the abuse of children in care. This inquiry is one of the widest ranging inquiries ever held in Scotland.

Following successive high profile cases, victims of child abuse have had the confidence to come forward and ensure the perpetrators pay for their actions, even if that is decades later. This is now showing that the victims will be listened to by authorities and have nothing to fear in coming forward.

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SCHWEIZ
kath.ch

[The Capuchin Joël Allaz was employed in the diocese of Lausanne, Geneva, Freiburg (LGF) at the time when his sexual assaults against Daniel Pittet happened. So far the Capuchins have been the focus of the media. But what role did the bishopric play?]

Zürich, 5.4.17 (kath.ch) Der Kapuziner Joël Allaz war zum Zeitpunkt, als dessen sexuelle Übergriffe gegenüber Daniel Pittet geschahen, im Bistum Lausanne, Genf, Freiburg (LGF) angestellt. Im medialen Fokus standen bisher die Kapuziner. Doch welche Rolle spielte das Bistum nach Bekanntwerden der Übergriffe? Eine Rekonstruktion der Ereignisse.

Sylvia Stam

Wir sprechen vom Jahr 1989. Zu dieser Zeit war Pierre Mamie (+ 2008) Bischof im Bistum LGF, wo der Kapuziner Joël Allaz angestellt war. Jean-Claude Périsset, der heute als Priester im Ruhestand wieder im Bistum LGF lebt, war damals Offizial (Gerichtsvikar) im Bistum und somit für die innerkirchliche Rechtssprechung zuständig. In diesem Jahr, 21 Jahre nach den ersten Übergriffen, informierte Daniel Pittet Périsset über die sexuellen Übergriffe durch Joël Allaz.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Correctiv

[For decades overseers in North Rhine-Westphalian Protestant children’s and youth homes systematically deceived the people entrusted to them. They beat, abused and forced the children to swallow medication for testing purposes. Even today the victims suffer from the consequences.]

Ann-Kathrin Seidel

Über Jahrzehnte misshandelten Aufsichtspersonen in nordrhein-westfälischen Kinder- und Jugendheimen systematisch die ihnen Anvertrauten. Sie prügelten, missbrauchten und zwangen die Kinder, zu Testzwecken Medikamente zu schlucken. Noch heute leiden die Betroffenen unter den Folgen.

Im Sommer 1969 ist Reiner Gläser neun Jahre alt. Bis dahin hat er mit seinen Brüdern bei seinen Eltern in Bliesheim gelebt, vor den Toren Kölns. Jetzt soll er eine Schule für besonders intelligente Kinder besuchen. Er darf sich selbst aussuchen, in welche er möchte. Reiner sieht sich Fotos genau an. Das Gut an der Linde in Moitzfeld, einem Stadtteil von Bergisch Gladbach, fällt ihm gleich ins Auge: Das schwarz-weiße Fachwerkhaus steht inmitten von Wiesen und Feldern. Harmonisch wirkt das auf ihn. Friedlich. Da möchte er hin.

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ITALIA
La Repubblica

[Florence: A former priest convicted of “enslaving” the followers of a sect.]

di FRANCA SELVATICI

La riduzione in schiavitù – uno dei delitti più gravi previsti dal nostro codice – non riguarda solo giovani donne disperate costrette a mendicare o gettate sui marciapiedi, non solo gli immigrati inchiodati per ore nei campi o nei laboratori in condizioni impossibili, né solo le spose bambine. Possono essere ridotti in schiavitù anche uomini e donne con una buona cultura, benestanti, con un lavoro. Può accadere se diventano membri di una setta. E’ quel che ha affermato la corte di assise di Arezzo, che il 12 dicembre scorso, accogliendo la richiesta del pm distrettuale Angela Pietroiusti, ha condannato a 15 anni per riduzione in schiavitù e violenza sessuale l’ex sacerdote Mauro Cioni , 72 anni, e che nelle motivazioni spiega ora le ragioni della condanna, la prima nel suo genere in Toscana.

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ITALIA
Rete L’Abuso

[The former rector of the seminary of Rubano is on trial for sexual assault of a former student: for the judges there was a “lack of motivation” and the process returns to Court of Appeal.]

L’ex rettore del Seminario di Rubano è a giudizio per violenza sessuale verso un ex allievo: per i giudici c’è stata una «mancanza di motivazioni» e il processo ritorna in Corte d’Appello

di Carlo Bellotto

PADOVA. Doveva essere l’ultimo atto che metteva la parola fine ad anni di accuse infamanti per l’allora rettore del Seminario di Rubano: violenza sessuale verso un suo allievo. Non è stato così.

La Corte di Cassazione ha annullato la sentenza della Corte d’Appello che assolveva don Gino Temporin, rinviandola ad una nuova sezione della Corte d’Appello. Sia la procura generale che l’avvocato Emanuele Fragasso Jr (che tutela la parte offesa, un ragazzo veneziano ora maggiorenne) avevano sostenuto c’era stata una mancanza di motivazioni nella sentenza della Corte d’Appello e che c’era una motivazione manifestamente illogica: ossia veniva riportato che c’erano dubbi sulle accuse mosse dal ragazzo all’epoca tredicenne perchè raccolte quando lo stesso era ricoverato in ospedale e quindi in condizioni psocofisiche provate.

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ITALIA
Rete L’Abuso

[Provolo: Chains and sexual abuse scandal between Verona and Argentina.]

Il direttore dell’istituto per sordomuti ai domiciliari. Mandato di cattura per la suora

VERONA Don Nicola Corradi. Per tentare di sbrogliare la matassa di uno scandalo destinato a rimbalzare per migliaia e migliaia di chilometri, è impossibile prescindere dalla storia di questo sacerdote veronese di 82 anni, ai domiciliari in Argentina. È lui, provato dall’età avanzata e costretto su una sedia a rotelle, la figura cardine della maxi-inchiesta deflagrata lo scorso autunno nel Paese natale di Papa Bergoglio. Un’indagine su una serie di abusi ai danni di una sessantina di alunni che frequentavano la sede di Lujàn dell’Istituto per sordomuti «Antonio Provolo».

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ITALIA
Rete L’Abuso

[Ceprano – Shocking testimony in court from the boy who accuses the priest of having abused him from an early age, even in the sacristy.]

Ceprano – Sconvolgente deposizione in aula da parte del ragazzo che accusa il sacerdote di avere abusato di lui fin dalla tenera età, anche in sagrestia

Una deposizione fiume. Un atto d’accusa durato due ore e mezza. Nel processo a don Gianni Bekiaris, accusato di violenza sessuale nei confronti di un parrocchiano, sin da quando era in tenera età, è stata sentita la persona offesa, che ora ha 32 anni, ed è rappresentata dall’avvocato Carla Corsetti. Il ragazzo, davanti al tribunale di Frosinone, ha raccontato di aver subito le attenzioni sessuali del sacerdote, sin da quando aveva otto anni fino a 23. Teatro dei fatti, la chiesa di Ceprano.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Civil Society News

David Ainsworth

A judge has dismissed an appeal by trustees of a Jehovah’s Witness charity against a Charity Commission decision to launch a statutory inquiry into safeguarding.

The regulator launched an inquiry into two charities, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain, and the Manchester New Moston Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, in May 2014 to investigate if adequate safeguarding procedures were in place, following revelations that trustees of the charity had allowed a convicted child abuser to question his victims.

Jonathan Rose, an elder of the New Moston congregation, was jailed for nine months for abusing two women when they were young girls.

When he was released, a series of “disfellowship” meetings were held to decide whether Rose should remain a member of the organisation, and the women were asked to recount their ordeal.

At one meeting, Rose was allowed to ask the women questions. Since then the New Moston charity has launched a series of appeals challenging the right of the regulator to launch the inquiry.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

April 6, 2017

DAN BOX
Crime reporterSydney
@DanBox10

Four former Salvation Army offic­ers and one soldier have been charged with dozens of physical or sexual assault offences, leading to two of the men being recently convicted while the others are due to face court next month.

That follows the revelation of horrific evidence to the Royal Commission into Institu­tional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse about the treatment of children at boys’ homes run by the church across NSW and Queensland.

The Salvation Army said yesterday it was “deeply sorry for the profound impact this abuse and trauma has had on their lives. We also acknowledge we have broken the trust placed in us, which we must now seek to rebuild”.

A spokesman for the church’s eastern territory said it had “implemented significant changes to our protection policies and procedures” since the commission’s hearings and was “not aware” of any other officers or staff current­ly facing criminal charges.

The commission heard 19 Salvation Army officers and employees had allegedly abused children over decades. A dedicated strike force, run by the NSW police Sex Crimes Squad and which has charged two of the men currently before the courts, is ongoing.

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UNITED STATES
Forward

Brocha ShanesCOMMUNITY CONTRIBUTOR

My first confrontation with sexual harassment was not on the streets but within my small Modern Orthodox high school. As I walked down the hallways, its walls decorated with quotes from prominent rabbinical figures and pictures of students bent over Judaic texts, I heard my name being called alongside whistles and jeers, crude language and gestures, and comments on my body and clothes. The harassment even followed me into the classroom, where I had such difficulty concentrating that my grades slipped. Yet while I certainly felt hurt, and scared enough that I avoided interaction with a number of perpetrators as often as possible, I had no language to describe the crimes being committed against me. I had never been given an opportunity to learn about consent; the closest thing to sex-education my high school offered was a three-day series of “kallah classes,” (bridal classes) two of which were spent learning the Jewish laws concerning a married woman’s menstruation and the last of which was spent on a field trip to the mikveh (ritual bath). I had never heard the term sexual harassment, and perhaps more importantly, I had never learned that I had a right to be uncomfortable with it and stand up for myself. Without this understanding, I remained a victim of harassment for years.

An appreciation of both the severity of the sexual crimes one may be committing and that of the crimes committed against them is dependent upon comprehension of bodily autonomy and the constant relevancy of consent. When institutions responsible for educating young people neglect to ensure that they recognize consent or a lack thereof, they indirectly facilitate sexual transgressions. The importance of actively protecting against such ignorance is particularly relevant in light of these students’ age-appropriate vulnerability. Yet my Orthodox school is only one of many that toss the subject out of their curriculum with the rest of sex-ed.

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AUSTRALIA
The Standard

Clare Quirk
5 Apr 2017

ADVOCATES for sexual assault victims say recent comments by the Catholic Bishop of Ballarat demonstrate the church’s focus is on protecting itself rather than the crimes committed on south-west children.

Bishop Paul Bird refuted calls to remove plaques which include the name of disgraced bishop Ronald Mulkearns. He told The Standard it was important to accurately record historical events where the community had gathered to celebrate with Bishop Mulkearns.

South West Centre Against Sexual Assault manager Mary Clapham said the bishop’s comments had illustrated the difficulty the church had in acknowledging the harm the clergy had done over many decades. She said part of the problem of sexual abuse within institutions was that the hierarchy was much more focused on protecting the church rather than acknowledging the harm and criminality done.

“There is no mention of the children, and many who are now adults, who have been impacted by the sexual offending that has occurred and what’s particularly disappointing is the comments about ‘lets look at the whole person here and remember the good’. I would think that people who have been impacted by sexual abuse would find that quite disturbing.”

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IRELAND
RTE News

Three of the four religious orders, whose reviews of child safeguarding have been published, have not really changed their performance in dealing with abuse, according to the Catholic Church’s abuse watchdog.

The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Church criticises the De La Salle Brothers, the Norbertine order of priests and the Nazareth Sisters for failing to put in place effective pastoral responses to people who have alleged they were abused by members of the congregations.

However, it says that in the last year the De La Salle Brothers and Nazareth Sisters have engaged more fully with the NBSCCI to improve the situation.

While the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity the Good Shepherd recently sent a member of staff to learn how to improve individual nuns’ understanding of child safeguarding.

The reviews were carried out last year and in 2015 but publication was deferred because the orders concerned were being investigated by Northern Ireland’s Historical Abuse Inquiry.

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IRELAND
National Board for Safeguarding of Children in the Catholic Church

Overview of Safeguarding Practice Arising from Four Child Safeguarding

Reviews.

The final four Child Safeguarding Reviews, assessed against the Church’s 2009 Safeguarding Children Standards were conducted in 2015/6, but publication of the resulting Review Reports was deferred due to the statutory Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA) taking place in Northern Ireland. The National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCCI) agreed not to release the four reports back to the religious orders in question until the HIA had reported.

The four Church Bodies are:

* Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (De La Salle Brothers)
* Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (Norbertines)
* Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd
* Sisters of Nazareth (Irish Region)

Information about the four Orders is already in the public domain through the publication of the HIA Report in January 2017. The Review Reports produced by the NBSCCCI do not seek to replicate or reference the information or findings contained within the HIA Report.

They are instead assessments of practice at the time of each review against the Church’s Child Safeguarding Standards.

Three of the four reports highlight concerns relating to weak or, on occasion, poor practice which require urgent corrective action. In the three Church bodies that those reports cover – the De La Salle Brothers, Norbertines and Nazareth Sisters – the records relied on were not well maintained, making the work of the reviewers difficult.

However, all four Church bodies, have now adopted the revised Safeguarding Children Policy and Standards for the Catholic Church in Ireland 2016; and three have signed a memorandum of understanding with the NBSCCCI, which commits them to complying with the Church’s policy and standards; while the fourth, Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, is in process of doing so.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

“Urgent corrective action” is needed in three religious congregations where the protection of children is concerned, the Catholic Church’s National Board for Safeguarding Children has said.

Its reviews of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (De La Salle Brothers), the Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (Norbertines), Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, and the Sisters of Nazareth (Irish Region) were conducted in 2015/16 but publication was held over pending completion of the statutory Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry in Northern Ireland.

The latter published its final report last January.

The board reviews are assessments of practice at each congregation against the Catholic Church’s child safeguarding standards. These are its remaining reviews of child protection in Catholic institutions on the island of Ireland which assess practices in each against the Church’s child safeguarding standards.

It found that 512 allegations of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse had been made against 146 priests, brothers, and sisters belonging to the four congregations, five of whom were convicted in the courts.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com Published April 5, 2017 | Updated 3 hours ago

Guam’s clergy sex abuse cases increased to 45 on Wednesday, with former priest Andrew Manetta named as a defendant in the two latest filings.

Two men, identified only with their initials — “M.B.” and “G.G.” — to protect their privacy, alleged Manetta sexually molested them during sleepovers at the rectory of Santa Teresita Church in Mangilao, around 1986 to 1987, when they were altar boys, ages 13 and 14, respectively.

One of their attorneys, Randall Rosenberg, of Hawaii, described Manetta in the lawsuit as a “notorious pedophile” who was shifted from parish to parish within Guam before being transferred to Hawaii.

Originally from New York, Manetta first came to Guam in 1980 as a seminarian and was ordained into the priesthood at the Archdiocese of Agana in May 1983, according to Pacific Daily News files. Manetta was accused of sexually abusing a minor in Hawaii, from 1997 to 2001, but the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu settled with the accuser for $375,000 to avoid trial, PDN news files state. The priest later was transferred to New York.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Apr 05, 2017

By Krystal Paco

A new priest is named in two additional lawsuits filed against the Archdiocese of Agana. Father Andrew Mannetta was a priest at Santa Teresita Church in Mangilao when he allegedly molested former altar boys M.B. and G.G. in the late 1980s.

M.B. alleges the priest hosted sleepovers at the rectory where he would serve the boys alcohol and make them watch sexual movies. That’s when the priest would isolate M.B. and sexually assault him.

G.G. was subject to abuse after the priest convinced his parents to move into the rectory. There he alleges he was sexually molested by Father Andy.

Both plaintiffs are represented by Attorney Anthony Perez who has teamed with Hawaii and mainland firms. In a release from attorney Perez’s office, he states Father Andy is still at large and a risk to children and was moved from Guam to Hawaii and later New York. He’s believed to presently reside in Connecticut.

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ISRAEL
JTA

April 4, 2017

(JTA) — A rabbi who was extradited to Israel from South Africa after years on the run to face sexual abuse charges was released early to undergo cancer treatment.

Rabbi Eliezer Berland, 80, had been sentenced to 18 months in prison in November after being convicted of two counts of indecent assault and one count of assault as part of a plea bargain.

The Israel Prisons Service Parole Board on Monday accepted Berland’s request for an early release in order to receive medical treatment for advanced cancer. He will observe the rest of his sentence under house arrest, according to Ynet.

Berland, a leader of one of the main factions of Breslov Hasidism and founder of the Shuvu Bonim religious seminary in Israel, fled Israel in 2013 for Morocco when allegations that he molested two female followers, one of them a minor, were first published in the Israeli media. Berland also lived in the Netherlands and Zimbabwe with followers.

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

Caitlyn Rintoul

Lawyers are gathering information to launch a class action against the Catholic Diocese of Bunbury for sex crimes allegedly committed by a former Esperance priest.

Porters Lawyers are preparing the lawsuit on behalf of three people who say they were victims of institutionalised sexual abuse by Father William “Kevin” Glover, who died in 1999.

Porters Lawyers principle Jason Parkinson said Father Glover was never convicted, but betrayed the Esperance community.

“They were harbouring a viper to their breast,” Mr Parkinson said.

“He was loved by all and that’s what upset so many people. He hoodwinked the Esperance population.

“These paedophiles always cultivate the halo effect. In the dark, they’re committing the most serious crimes.”

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ILLINOIS
The Journal

For more information on the following bills, and many more, please visit the Illinois General Assembly website at ilga.gov. There you will find details of the bills, where each is at in the procedural process, and information on which state representatives support them.

SB 189

Introduced by State Senator Scott Bennett of Champaign, the bill seeks to eliminate the statute of limitations for felony child abuse and sexual assault crimes.

Many experts agree that this extension would greatly benefit victims, as many are not mentally or emotionally ready to deal with the abuse they suffered as a child until later in adulthood.
The current statute on child abuse and sexual assault crimes is 20 years after the victim turns 18. Compared to most states, this time period is gracious; the standard is usually no more than 10 years.

Murder, arson, treason, forgery, and child pornography have no statutes of limitations in the state of Illinois.

Previously, in 2013, then-Governor Pat Quinn signed legislation that removed the statute of limitations in certain cases, particularly those with corroborating physical evidence or a failure on the part of a mandatory reporter.

SB 189 passed in the state senate on March 29, and has since moved into a house rules committee.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Apr 05, 2017

By Krystal Paco

It was almost a year ago the first survivors of clergy sex abuse went public. They are former Agat altar boys Roy Quintanilla, Walter Denton, Roland Sondia, and Joseph “Sonny” Quinata who reportedly told his mother on his death bed he was sexually abused by beloved priest Archbishop Anthony Apuron.

Their stories sparked a change in local law that provided an avenue for other survivors to sue their predators. The same law is under fire by Apuron’s legal counsel who this week filed her motion for dismissal in the federal court.

Defense attorney Jacqueline Terlaje is calling local law that lifts the civil statute of limitations for child sex abuse unconstitutional and inorganic. She’s referring to Bill 326 which passed unanimously in the 33rd Guam legislature and signed off by Governor Eddie Calvo last year.

Attorney Terlaje represents Archbishop Anthony Apuron who’s a named defendant in federal complaints by Quintanilla, Denton, Sondia, and Mary Jane Quinata Cruz on behalf of the deceased Quinata. According to attorney Terlaje’s motions to dismiss filed in the District Court of Guam this week, the Guam legislature “unconstitutionally impaired vested rights, opened the door to unverifiable and potentially undefendable claims, and creates a prejudicial environment for defendant Apuron’s defense.”

That argument is up to the courts to decide. Former senator Frank Blas, Jr., who authored Public Law 33-187, told KUAM News, “It’s quite amazing that we’re going to do this in an unincorporated territory where not all of the constitution applies to us and whether or not that organic act was actually legal. So, I think that question needs to be answered first. If it’s not constitutional, does the constitution apply?”

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Written by Janela Carrera

Apuron says the cases are so old that he would not have the benefit of witnesses, memory, physical evidence or records to be able to effective defend himself from the allegations of sexual abuse.

Guam – Still hiding from plain view in California, ousted Archbishop Anthony Apuron broke his silence in federal court, responding to the allegations of sexual abuse filed against him.

Through his attorney Jacque Terlaje, Archbishop Apuron filed a motion for the cases against him to be dismissed. Apuron cites the recently passed Guam law that lifted the statute of limitations for filing civil claims against institutions for cases of sexual abuse but says that the law does not quote retroactively revive a decades old statute.

He further says in court papers “the attempt to revive a more than 30-year-old time-barred cause of action is impermissibly inorganic.”

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Archbishop Anthony Apuron, whose administrative authority has been removed in light of decades-old sex-abuse allegations, today filed court papers asking for some of the cases to be dismissed.

Apuron’s motion to dismiss states, in part, that the allegations of sex abuse filed by former altar boys against Apuron are past the legal time limit to file cases.

Apuron filed his motion in his personal capacity. The motion was filed on his behalf by Attorney Jacqueline Terlaje.

The passage of Guam Public Law 33-187 last year cannot be applied to allegations that occurred before the law was passed, the motion to dismiss states, in part.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A Catholic priest who sexually abused a teenage student breached his position of trust in a “spectacular and horrific” way, a court has heard.

Father Michael Higginbottom, 74, is accused of abusing the boy while he was a teacher at St Joseph’s College in Upholland, Lancashire, in the 1970s.

It was a venue for “mental, physical and sexual abuse’, Liverpool Crown Court was told.

He denies four counts of a serious sexual offence and indecent assault.

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IRELAND
Offaly Express

Justin Kelly
4 Apr 2017
Email: justin.kelly@iconicnews.ie

Daingean native, William Gorry, has opened to the Offaly Express up about his horrifying experiences at the Mount Carmel Industrial School in Moate, Co. Westmeath in the 1970s.

The Offaly man now lives in Kilmainham, Dublin, and says, “I owe it to others and the public to admit what went on in Mount Carmel, which left many children like me facing many difficulties in our adult lives.”

William was born into a large family in Daingean, Co. Offaly, and had seven brothers and five sisters. He told the Offaly Express that with such a large family, his mother and father were ‘under financial pressure as they tried to look after us all’. He says a social worker was involved but insisted that there was no assistance given by the Midland Health Board.

“We had no running water, electricity, toilet facilities or heating, and we had to carry water from a well, use tilly lamps for lighting and open fire places for heat,” he recalled.

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VIRGINIA
Fairfax County Times

By Trevor Baratko/Loudoun Times-Mirror

Federal authorities conducted a raid Friday at a Sterling apartment owned by the controversial Calvary Temple church.

A neighbor reported seeing multiple firearms and computers seized from the apartment located at 125 Westwick Court, which land records show is owned by Calvary.

According to Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Kraig Troxell, the local sheriff’s office was assisting the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in executing the federal warrant.

Calls to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were not returned Monday morning.

“Multiple sheriffs’ [deputies] and many ATF agents seized hunting rifles, assault rifles and computers along with many other smaller items,” an eyewitness said.

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TEXAS
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

By GABRIEL MONTE A-J Media

A Lubbock mother told her daughters’ abuser he used his role as a youth minister to get close to her children and sexually abuse them.

“I hate that you used God to get close to children to hurt them,” she told Rogelio Pena, 51, who was sentenced on Tuesday to 25 years in prison in exchange for a plea of guilty to a charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child.

Pena admitted to sexually abusing an 8-year-old family member in August 2015. However, the girl’s mother accused Pena of also sexually abusing a younger daughter.

“I know God will make you pay for the sins you committed,” she told Pena in her victim impact statement in court.

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MARYLAND
WJZ

[with video]

By Ava-joye Burnett

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) — A Maryland delegate’s personal story of being abused as a child is helping to push through new legislation that may make it easier for victims to sue abusers.

Ava-joye Burnett tells us the bill which had opposition for years, finally received majority support in Annapolis.

Victims of child sex abuse will now have up to the age of 38 to file a lawsuit against an abuser the bill finally passed this year after a consensus was reached with the catholic church.

The stigma of being sexually abused as a child is a battle this Maryland lawmaker says he knows all too well.

Shuffled from foster home to foster home delegate C.T. Wilson said he was abused from about seven all the way till he was 16.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Record

BY ADAM BENNETT
5 APR 2017

A pervert bishop forced a teenager to undress before pouring oil over her in a “private prayer session”.

Evil bishop Benjamin Egbujor, 55, took the girl, who was under 16, to his private office for an individual prayer session where she was forced to strip before she was assaulted.

After police began investigating the attack another victim, a woman in her 30s, came forward and said she had been abused in the same way by Egbujor and his secretary Rose Nwenwu, 43.

The pair were jailed Inner London Crown Court for the offences, which took place at a south London Christian Centre between March 2011 and January 2013.

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GEORGIA
WOKV

By: Stephanie Brown @SBrownReports
April 4, 2017

Three of the eleven counts he was indicted on were dropped before the proceedings formally started, but now the child molestation trial for controversial pastor Ken Adkins is underway.

Adkins was initially arrested in August 2016 for child molestation and aggravated child molestation. He turned himself in, and has been in the Glynn County, Georgia Jail since.

In November 2016, Adkins was formally indicted on a total of eleven charges, including child molestation, enticing a child for indecent purposes, aggravated child molestation, and influencing a witness. Just ahead of the formal start of the trial, two counts of child molestation and the count of influencing a witness were dropped.

A jury of eleven women and three men- including two alternates- has been seated for this trial.

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MARYLAND
Washington Post

By Ovetta Wiggins and Josh Hicks April 4

Del. C.T. Wilson (D-Charles) testified for three straight years before his fellow Maryland lawmakers about how his adoptive father repeatedly raped him, pleading with them to increase the amount of time sexually abused children have to sue their abusers.

And each year that his bill died in committee, Wilson vowed to sponsor it again.

On Tuesday, he was cheered as he joined Gov. Larry Hogan (R) to watch him sign the bill, approved by the legislature, into law. It increases the window of time a victim of child sexual abuse has to file a lawsuit from age 25 to 38.

“I never wanted to share my personal business on this level, but I did it because I thought it would help people,” Wilson said shortly after the bill signing. “I wanted the victims of sexual abuse to know they are not alone and that we care about them.”

Wilson’s bill was one of seven measures signed by Hogan on Tuesday, with a week to go in the annual legislative session.

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IOWA
Dallas County News

By Clint Cole – Editor

The trial for Randy Johnson, the former pastor for the Dallas Center Church of the Bretheren accused of multiple charges of sexual abuse, has been canceled and a new trial date will be set at a later time. The trial was originally supposed to start on April 24 at 9:30 a.m.

An order for continuance of pre-trial conference to May 25 at 9 a.m. was filed by District Judge Randy V. Hefner on Friday, March 31. Court records state that the trial date will be reset at the next pretrial conference.

On March 27, an order for extending the deadline for filing pre-trial motions to May 15 was filed by District Judge Paul R. Huscher.

Johnson was arrested on Jan. 25, 2017, without incident, and charged with the following crimes:

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MARYLAND
WTOP

By Kate Ryan | @KateRyanWTOP
April 5, 2017 12:33 am

WASHINGTON — A Maryland lawmaker didn’t want to share his story of being sexually abused as a child — ever. And he didn’t want to have to do it for a third year in a row.

But Del. C.T. Wilson said he was willing to go through it all again if it meant he could get a bill passed so victims of child sexual abuse get more time to bring civil suits against their abusers.

Since Wilson first brought the bill to Annapolis two years ago, he said he has heard from hundreds of abuse survivors.

“The thing that they all have in common is they feel that nobody’s listening and that nobody cares,” said the Democrat representing the state’s 28th District.

But on Tuesday, Wilson stood alongside Gov. Larry Hogan as the governor signed HB 642 into law. It extends the time that survivors of child sexual abuse have to file civil cases against their abusers. They now have until they are 38 years old. The prior statute of limitations ran out when a survivor turned 25.

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PENNSYLVANIA
GoErie

By the Editorial Board

Two years.

That is all state Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks County, is asking for in his renewed push to expand the statute of limitations to allow victims of child sexual abuse to reach into the past and sue their attackers in court.

The state House of Representatives and Senate have each supported important legislation that would extend the statute of limitations for criminal and civil child sexual abuse cases moving forward.

Rozzi wants to open a two-year window to allow victims up to the age of 50 — for whom the current statute of limitations has expired — to retroactively seek civil remedy in court for past child sexual abuse.

The Legislature should not waste any more time on spurious objections and throw open that window.

This fight has been going on for more than a decade as grand jury investigations, including most recently in the Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, have exposed decades of child sexual abuse and cover-ups by church officials. Prosecutors overseeing those probes have repeatedly recommended that victims be allowed to sue retroactively. The issue grows more urgent as state grand jury investigations of at least six other Pennsylvania dioceses, including the Diocese of Erie, are underway.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Daily Item

By John Finnerty CNHI Harrisburg Bureau

HARRISBURG — Legislation to change the statute of limitations for child sex crimes is going to the floor of the House without a provision that would allow victims of old crimes to sue the Catholic church and other institutions that allegedly covered up for predators.

The House Judiciary Committee approved a bill that passed the Senate unanimously, making a number of changes but without discussing a proposal long sought by victims of child sex abuse to allow them to sue now even if the statute of limitations in their cases has expired.

State Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks County, who has led the campaign to get the law changed to allow victims of old child sex crimes to sue, said he plans to amend the bill on the floor of the House.

While victims have been assured that the measure will get voted upon when the legislation gets to the House floor, Shaun Dougherty, a Johnstown native who has disclosed he was molested by a priest, said he was disappointed by the House panel’s vote.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | The Guam Daily Post Apr 5, 2017

The newest child sexual abuse lawsuit filed in Guam today alleges a former Guam priest used his position within the church to molest altar boys from his own parish and used his post as a Boy Scout troop leader to abuse children from other parishes.

The complaint identifies the plaintiff only as “R.B.” and states the man’s initials are being used “in order to protect his privacy.”

In his complaint, R.B., who lives in Hawaii, alleges that in the early 1970s, he and his family were parishioners at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Inarajan, Guam. Because St. Joseph Catholic Church did not have a Boy Scout Troop of its own, R.B. claims that he joined Boy Scout Troop 24, which he alleges was sponsored by San Isidro Parish in Malojloj, where former Guam priest Louis Brouillard served as parish priest.

According to court documents and Guam Daily Post files, Brouillard served at the Malojloj parish between the late 1960s into the 1970s where he is alleged to have abused at least 16 boys who were either altar servers or members of Boy Scout Troop 24.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com Published April 5, 2017

A man who filed the latest Guam clergy sexual abuse lawsuit said Wednesday he feared, as a child, that his devout Catholic parents wouldn’t believe him if he told them a priest he only knew as “Father Louis” was sexually abusing him during Boy Scout camping trips around 1972.

Now 58, the man identified in court documents only as “R.B.” in order to protect his privacy, said he’s not sure if he will ever forgive former priest Louis Brouillard for what he did to him and his fellow scouts.

“How can I forgive if I can’t forget about it?” R.B. said in a phone interview from Hawaii, where he now lives.

He said he has only one thing to say about Brouillard at this time: “May God have mercy on his soul.”

R.B. is the 43rd person to file a Guam clergy sex abuse lawsuit in local and federal court, alleging that Brouillard entered his camping tent on at least two separate occasions and sexually abused him, along with another scout he was sharing his tent with.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Reading Eagle

By Liam Migdail-Smith
HARRISBURG, PA

A state House panel advanced a measure Tuesday that would give victims of child sexual abuse more time to press charges or sue.

But the measure – as written now – stops short of doing what many victims and their advocates have called for: Giving victims for whom the limits have already expired a chance to file lawsuits.

Tuesday’s vote by the House Judiciary Committee forwards the bill to the full chamber for consideration, which will likely happen later this month. The plan cleared the Senate earlier this year.

State Rep. Mark Rozzi, a Muhlenberg Township Democrat who’s pushed to overhaul the limits, said he plans to amend the bill on the House floor to include a retroactive provision that would allow victims to sue regardless of when they were abused.

That’s the route he took with a similar measure last year that cleared the House 180-15. Rozzi said he expects the House would show similar support for a retroactive element this session.

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ROME
Crux

Inés San Martín April 5, 2017
VATICAN CORRESPONDENT

An explosive report airing tonight on Swedish television charges that the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X knew about at least three cases of its priests being accused of sexually abusing minors, but failed to enforce a ‘zero tolerance’ policy. An alleged victim told Crux he believes the Vatican should have done more to hold the society accountable.
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ROME – A major report airing tonight on Swedish television documents four clerical sexual abuse cases, with previously unknown details on three of them, within the Society of St. Pius X, a traditionalist breakaway group founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in the wake of the Second Vatican Council.

At the center of the report are four different men. Three are priests, who remain in active ministry, and one is a former seminarian and volunteer at a church run by the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) in Idaho who’s been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of abusing seven boys over the course of a decade.

They allegedly have abused at least 12 minors over the span of three decades, in France, Germany, Australia, Ireland, the United States and the United Kingdom

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Apr 05, 2017

By Krystal Paco

It’s the first time we’ve heard a response to the child sex abuse lawsuits filed against Archbishop Anthony Apuron. His attorney, Jacqueline Terlaje has filed motions to dismiss the cases filed by Roland Sondia, Roy Quintanilla, Walter Denton, and Mary Jane Quinata Cruz (filed on behalf of deceased Joseph “Sonny” Quinata).

The victims allege they were sexually abused by Apuron when he was a priest at Mt. Carmel Church in Agat several decades ago. According to the motions to dismiss Apuron’s attorney argues that the local law that lifted the statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases is “inorganic”. Bill 326 was passed by the 32nd Guam legislature and was signed into law by Governor Eddie Baza Calvo.

“A blanket retrospective removal of all statutes of limitations is unconstitutional and inorganic,” court documents state.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Written by Donna De Jesus

This week’s complaints also mark the first female to file a complaint, and the naming of new priests.

Guam – Forty-five: that’s how many people have come forward, accusing the church of sexual abuse. Five victims have filed a lawsuit recently: Donald San Agustin, and four more individuals using the initials B.T., R.B., M.B. and G.G. Aside from former priest Father Louis Brouillard, new priests have been named as well.

Donald San Agustin, represented by Atty. David Lujan, claims he was abused as an altar boy and as a boy scout. He was 10 years old when he was serving at St. Jude Catholic Church in Sinajana, where Brouillard frequently stopped by the parish to drop off or pick up documents. San Agustin says that, while he was cleaning the rectory or the church, Brouillard would grope his private parts and try to downplay his actions by saying he was “just playing” when San Agustin would tell him to stop. As a Boy Scout, court documents say San Agustin had a different scoutmaster for his troop, but had to learn how to swim with Brouillard to earn his merit badge. In the complaint, San Agustin says he had a hard time learning the swimming techniques because Brouillard would touch him inappropriately while they were in the water. Because of this, San Agustin quit both the Boy Scouts and serving as an altar boy.

B.T., represented by David Lujan and Gloria Lujan Rudolph, is the first female to file a child sex abuse complaint against the Archdiocese. She is a resident of Saipan, now 65 years old, but says she was abused in 1963 when she was 12 years old. She named Guam priest Joe R. San Agustin, also known as Andrew San Agustin, who worked for the Archdiocese of Agana but was temporarily assigned to Mt. Carmel Catholic School in Saipan as a teacher. There, San Agustin earned the trust of B.T.’s parents, who were devout Catholics. The complaint states that he convinced B.T.’s parents to allow her and her younger sister to travel with him to Guam for a vacation. B.T. states that all throughout the trip, San Agustin would molest her in the bedroom whenever her sister was away. She was traumatized from the experience and was afraid her parents wouldn’t believe her, so she suffered in silence.

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CANADA
Leader-Post

ASHLEY MARTIN, REGINA LEADER-POST

On a Tuesday afternoon in Cupar, the main doors to the two-tone brick St. Patrick’s Catholic Church are locked up. The white-on-black sign lists the next service as Saturday.

The rectory is similarly quiet. Its resident, retired priest Robert MacKenzie, has been moved to a retirement home in Regina in light of allegations of sexual abuse in Scotland dating back 36 years.

“He claims he’s innocent,” said Archdiocese of Regina Archbishop Don Bolen, who met with MacKenzie on Monday morning, just hours after returning home from Rome.

“Even when he gets to the priest retirement place, he tells them why he’s there, because there’s this accusation. He’s not hiding the fact that there is an accusation and he talks openly about it.”

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Jack Kennington was ordained for the Baltimore Province of the Redemptorist Order in 1959. He spent his first nearly two decades of priesthood in Brazil, in the states of Mato Grosso and Paraná. In 1979 he returned to Baltimore, residing at Sacred Heart parish until 1981, when he moved to the Catholic Information Center at Woodstock Theological Center – Georgetown University in Washington DC. In 1983 Kennington was assigned to Most Holy Redeemer parish in New York City, where he assisted until 1990. The Directories show a gap in his assignments 1990-1993. He appears to have been assigned during 1993-1994 to a parish in Opa Locka, Florida, under the name “John Kenning, C.S.s.R.” He reappears as Kennington in 1995 at the Redemptorists’ Mount Alphonsus Monastery in Esopus, New York. There he was assigned the task of archiving a research collection regarding the Shroud of Turin.

In 1989 a woman was told by her teenage daughter that Kennington had sexually abused her and her younger brother from 1984 to 1987, beginning when the two were ages 8 and 11. Kennington, who was a close family friend, had stepped in to help the newly divorced mother, including with childcare. The family were Most Holy Redeemer parishioners. The abuse was said to have occurred in the family’s apartment, on vacations in the Hamptons and during visits to the mother’s parents home in Florida. Kennington allegedly would play strip poker to the point of nakedness with the children, would molest one child while having the other watch, and would masturbate in the children’s presence while viewing pornography. Kennington admitted to playing strip poker with the children, but denied abusing them.

The brother filed suit in 1993 against the Redemptorists and the Archdiocese of New York. The sister was unable to sue due to New York’s statute of limitations. The suit was settled in 2001, after eight years, and included a confidentiality agreement.

Ordained: 1959

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