ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

By Khaleda Rahman For Daily Mail Australia

A woman who was raised inside a notorious ‘cult-like’ yoga ashram has revealed horrific details of her traumatic childhood.

The woman, identified only as Sandra although that is not her real name, opened up about how her upbringing inside the Satyananda Ashram – now known as Mangrove Yoga Ashram – left her broken in a heart-breaking piece published on news.com.au.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse found children in the ashram – located in the foothills of Mangrove Mountain on the NSW central coast were raped, sexually assaulted and threatened with violence.

Although Sandra was not sexually abused, she revealed the brutal treatment she endured there from the age of four in the 1970s and 1980s left her traumatised for life.

‘I did not receive the nurturing tha
t is needed as a child so that I could grow up to be a normal functioning person,’ she wrote.
‘Instead, my upbringing broke me. I might even go so far as to say that it fragmented me.’

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

UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Alice Ross

A Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation in Manchester has lost a legal attempt to block an investigation into its handling of sexual abuse allegations, after failing to convince a judge that the inquiry amounted to religious discrimination.

Organisations linked to the religion have fought legally to prevent the Charity Commission from launching two inquiries into allegations that survivors of sexual abuse were being forced to face their attackers in so-called judicial committees. The organisation’s efforts have been described by the commission as unprecedented.

The Charity Commission launched a statutory inquiry into the Manchester New Moston congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses in 2014, after reports surfaced that a convicted paedophile, Jonathan Rose, was brought face-to-face with survivors of his abuse in a judicial committee.

After Rose served nine months in prison for child sex offences, the New Moston congregation held a meeting attended by senior members, Rose and three of his victims – now adults – to see if he would be “disfellowshipped”, or expelled from of the congregation, the judgment notes. This would have involved “the elders of the charity (its trustees) and Mr Rose interviewing his victims, in an apparently intrusive way”.

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PENNSYLVANIA
CBS Philly

Tony Romeo

HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) — A state House committee has advanced a Senate passed bill that would allow more time for victims of child sex abuse to seek justice.

Although, it appears that the state’s House and Senate are headed for the same stand-off that prevented a bill from going to the governor in the legislature’s last two year session.

Advocates want those adult victims of child sex abuse for whom the statute of limitations has already expired to be able to file lawsuits. But the state Senate, believing that to be unconstitutional, insists that legislation to lengthen the statutes of limitations apply only going forward.

The House Judiciary Committee Tuesday advanced the Senate bill without a retroactive provision. But the chairman says he expects that language will be amended into the bill on the House floor.

Berks County House Democrat and child sex abuse victim Mark Rozzi believes the pending results of a another investigation by a statewide grand jury could break the stalemate.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philly.com

by Maria Panaritis & Karen Langley – Staff Writers

HARRISBURG — In a move that ultimately could doom the measure, a key state House committee Tuesday broadened a child sex abuse bill to allow victims who sue to pursue potentially limitless damages from both private and governmental institutions, including public-school districts.

Under the amended bill, which sparked some debate among members, government entities would lose elements of sovereign immunity, exposing them to large liability awards. It is attached to a new version of a controversial bill that died last year amid battles waged by victim advocates, the Catholic Church, and the insurance lobby.

Tuesday’s vote to lift caps on the amount of money sex abuse litigants can collect in lawsuits against governmental entities is viewed by some supporters of expanding child sex-abuse victims’ rights as a “poison pill.”

That is because in at least one other state, Colorado, legislation to expose government institutions to lawsuits unleashed the opposition of the powerful school boards association and failed. Archibishop Charles Chaput, then archbishop in Denver, was key in defeating that Colorado effort.

The issue of capping public civic payouts was not part of last year’s legislative fight in Harrisburg. That bill died over a different controversial provision: One that sought to let adult victims of decades-old abuse to sue private institutions. That provision is expected to be added to the House bill in the weeks ahead.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com

Legislation aimed at tipping the scale of justice in favor of future victims of child sex abuse is back on the table and won approval of the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday by a 22-5 vote.

Missing from the Senate-passed bill, however, is a provision that would afford past child sex abuse victims the same opportunity to seek justice as future ones. A similar measure the House passed last year but it died in the Senate.

The current bill would give child victims until age 50 to file a civil lawsuit against abusers and employers who were allegedly negligent in failing to stop them. Currently, that window to sue closes at age 30. It also eliminates a legal time limit on when child abusers can be criminally prosecuted for future crimes.

The committee amended the bill to remove the limit on damages that can be awarded in civil cases involving governmental entities.

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ROME
U.S. News

By Philip Pullella

ROME (Reuters) – Italy put the Vatican on its “white list” of states with cooperative financial institutions on Tuesday, ending years of mistrust and providing an endorsement of efforts by Pope Francis to clean up the city state’s banking sector.

The list includes countries with which Italy has agreements on the exchange of financial and tax information, such as other EU member states.

The upgrade was formalized in a decree published in the government’s Official Gazette.

The Vatican is a sovereign state in the middle of Rome whose financial activities the Bank of Italy had for decades viewed with suspicion.

Last July the BOI and Vatican’s Financial Information Authority (AIF), signed a cooperation agreement allowing authorities to monitor transactions between Italian financial entities and the Vatican.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

An Irish priest, Msgr John Kennedy, has been appointed by Pope Francis to head the Vatican’s disciplinary office of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). It is one of the four separate sections at the CDF which include the doctrinal office, the matrimonial office, that for priests, and the disciplinary office.

The disciplinary office includes among its responsibilities dealing with credible allegations of clerical child sexual abuse submitted by bishops across the world.

From Clontarf

A priest of the Dublin archdiocese, Msgr Kennedy is from Clontarf and has been working with the CDF since 2003, beginning his service there under then CDF prefect cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

He was ordained in 1993 and worked in Crumlin and Francis Street parishes before undertaking postgraduate studies in Canon Law in Rome in 1998. He entered the service of the Holy See in September 2002.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service – Bulletin

The Holy Father has appointed as head official of the Disciplinary Section of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Rev. Msgr. John Joseph Kennedy, incardinated in the diocese of Dublin, Ireland, and currently study assistant in the same dicastery.

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VATICAN CITY
Associated Press

BY NICOLE WINFIELD
ASSOCIATED PRESS

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Tuesday named a new official to oversee the Vatican office that processes clerical sex abuse cases amid mounting criticism over a yearslong backlog of cases and Francis’ handling of the problem.

The promotion of Monsignor John Kennedy to head of the discipline section of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith was the second abuse-related appointment in recent days. Francis named the Rev. Hans Zollner, one of the Catholic Church’s top experts on fighting abuse and protecting children, as an adviser to the Vatican’s office for clergy on Saturday.

Francis and the Vatican have come under fresh scrutiny over their response to the abuse crisis since Irish survivor Marie Collins resigned from the pope’s sex abuse advisory commission on March 1, citing “unacceptable” resistance to the commission’s proposals from the Vatican’s doctrine office.

Collins’ departure laid bare the cultural chasm between the commission’s outside experts, who proposed best-in-class ideas for protecting children, and the reality of the Vatican bureaucracy and its legal and administrative limitations.

Kennedy was an assistant to the previous discipline section chief, the Rev. Miguel Funes Diaz, one of three congregation officials who recently left. The Vatican spokesman, Greg Burke, said Francis had approved their replacements as well as additional staff to handle cases, which by some estimates take two to three years to process.

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MISSOURI
Lincoln County Journal

By Megan Myers
Staff Writer

A civil trial began last week in which a Lincoln County family is suing the St. Louis Archdiocese and Archbishop Robert Carlson for failing to protect their daughter from a priest who they say molested her while she was a teen.

The alleged sexual abuse by Father Xui Hui “Joseph” Jiang, who is also being sued, occurred while the woman was 16 years old and was living with her family in Old Monroe in 2012.

The civil suit was filed in 2013, after criminal charges against Jiang were dismissed.

At the time of the alleged abuse, the priest was working at the Cathedral Basilica in St. Louis, where the family was attending church.

According to court documents, Jiang “became close to the family” and “would regularly visit their home in Lincoln County.”

During one such visit, Jiang, who was 25 at the time, allegedly groped the teen’s breasts and genital area while the two were sitting next to each other underneath a blanket on the family’s couch. The plaintiff alleges that Jiang also made her touch his genital area.

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MICHIGAN
MLive

By Dominic Adams | dadams5@mlive.com

OWOSSO, MI — A retired priest wanted on suspicion of embezzling nearly $500,000 from a Catholic church in Shiawassee County is expected to be back in Michigan this week to appear in front of a judge.

The Rev. David Fisher was in charge of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Owosso for 23 years and retired to North Dakota in June 2015.

A new pastor was brought in and noticed some figures were off with the parish’s finances, according to officials with the Catholic Diocese of Lansing. The Diocese contacted the Michigan State Police and it was recommended a forensic audit, Diebold said.

The audit revealed there was at least $450,000 missing, diocese officials said.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue

This is the “President’s Desk” article that appears in the April edition of the
Catholic League journal, “Catalyst”:

When it comes to women, men have learned to be careful not to sound sexist or condescending. If they are perceived as such, they will be stigmatized. There is one exception: they can speak about traditional nuns in a vile way with impunity. This is not limited to men. Most importantly, it includes feminists.

It is a sad truism that not a single champion of women’s rights ever defends traditional nuns against vile comments and portrayals. Indeed, it is considered appropriate that those sisters who are not at war with the Church’s teachings on women and sexuality pay a price for their traditionalism.

For example, feminists never protest when these nuns, many of whom are in habit, are cruelly caricatured by Hollywood, artists, academics, and the media. Yet these nuns are precisely the ones who have given of themselves selflessly to the Church.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Mindy Aguon | For the Guam Daily Post

Donald Vincent San Agustin was 10 years old when he served as an altar boy at Saint Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church in Sinajana.

Every day he would go to the Sinajana parish to help clean up and set up the church for evening Mass and clean the church office and rectory.

Now 58 years old, San Agustin filed a civil complaint in the District Court of Guam yesterday against the Archdiocese of Agana, the Boy Scouts of America and Louis Brouillard.

The lawsuit, filed on his behalf by attorney David Lujan, alleges that in 1969, Brouillard would frequently stop by the Sinajana parish to pick up or drop off documents and grope and fondle San Agustin. Brouillard would downplay his actions by saying that he was “just playing,” court documents state.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

A Catholic priest who repeatedly 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 subjecting the teenage boy to repeated sexual abuse when he worked as a teacher at St Joseph’s College in Upholland, Lancashire, in the late 1970s.

Liverpool Crown Court heard the boy, aged between 13 and 14 at the time of the allegations, said he would be struck with a strap if he did not attend Higginbottom’s living quarters, where much of the abuse was alleged to have happened, at appointed times.

The boarding school, which has now closed, was attended by boys aged 11 to 18, many of whom were considering a career in the priesthood.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Echo

BY LYNDA ROUGHLEY
4 APR 2017

A catholic priest repeatedly sexually abused a young boy in his care “breaching that trust in a spectacular and horrific way,” a court heard.

The boy was just 13 and 14 years old when Father Michael Higginbottom allegedly began seriously abusing him at a seminary in West Lancashire, according to prosecutors.

David Temkin, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court that the complainant “recalls the college as a cold, dark and forbidding place” and told police that for him it was the venue for “mental, physical and sexual abuse”.

Fr Higginbottom, now aged 74, of West Farm Road, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, denies eight offences – four of buggery and four of indecent assault, alleged to have taken place between September 1978 and March 20, 1979.

Mr Temkin told the jury of six men and six women that Higginbottom had been a priest and teacher at St Joseph’s College, Upholland, although he had not trained as a teacher.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

Megan Palin
news.com.au
@megan_palin

A CONVICTED paedophile and self-professed “sex witch” who enslaved, drugged, raped and prostituted teenage girls has been found living three doors away from a Melbourne primary school.

Notorious child sex offender Robin Angus Fletcher’s new home is about 100 metres from Le Page Primary School, in Cheltenham, Seven News reports.

The majority of residents living on the street are reportedly young families.

Fletcher, 60, was working as a drug abuse and sexual guidance youth counsellor, when he used hypnotism and mind-altering techniques to abuse two 15-year-old girls in the 1990s.

The Wiccan also told the young girls it was necessary to fulfil their destiny as “high priestesses of the dark covenant” and forced them into sex work.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Apr 04, 2017

By Krystal Paco

The first woman files suit against the Church for clergy sex abuse. 65-year-old B.T. lives in Saipan, but filed her complaint in the District Court of Guam on Tuesday. B.T. alleges she was sexually molested by Father Joe R. San Agustin also known as Andrew San Agustin when she and her younger sister came with the priest to Guam for vacation. San Agustin was employed by the Archdiocese of Agana, but temporarily assigned to Mt. Carmel School in Saipan where he was B.T.’s teacher. While on Guam, she alleges the priest kissed her and touched her privates as well as digitally penetrated her when she was 12-years-old. B.T. is suing for $5 million.

KUAM News has learned that San Agustin is a member of the Concerned Catholics of Guam, but no longer a priest for the Archdiocese of Agana.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

The latest allegations comes from a man who claims a former Guam priest molested him during a camping trip.

Guam – More and more alleged victims of church sex abuse are using initials to hide their identity in lawsuits being filed against the Archdiocese of Agana.

The latest lawsuit was filed by a man who goes by the initials J.C.T., marking the 40th lawsuit to be filed against the church. This claim also names former Guam priest Father Louis Brouillard who’s also accused in the majority of the lawsuits filed in recent months.

Now 58 years old, J.C.T. says he was around 15 years old when Brouillard molested him during a camping trip they took as part of the Boy Scouts while Brouillard served as the scout master.

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PENNSYLVANIA
We Are Central PA

[with video]

By: Jordan Tracy
Posted: Apr 03, 2017

Harrisburg, Pa – Thousands of blue flags and signs decorated the Pennsylvania State Capitol. The demonstration is not just to honor survivors of child sex abuse, but urge lawmakers to change the statute of limitations bill.

“Any bill that passes without a retroactive provision for victims of childhood sex abuse is a raw deal,” shouted Rep. Mark Rozzi.

Rozzi, who is abused by a priest in his church, was among the people who led Monday’s rally in Harrisburg. The current Senate bill would eliminate the statute of limitations for child abuse crimes, but it does not include a retroactive provision to include past victims.

“We all represent different sides on this bill. Anyone who supports this bill represents victims. If you don’t represent, if you don’t support retroactivity, then you are supporting perpetrators, institutions, insurance companies, so you have to pick your side here,” said Rozzi.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WFMZ

[with video]

By: Megan Park
Posted: Apr 03, 2017

HARRISBURG, Pa. – A state lawmaker from Berks County is rallying before an important vote.

Rep. Mark Rozzi and other survivors of child sex abuse gathered on the steps of the state Capitol in Harrisburg on Monday in support of changing Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations laws.

Rozzi called on lawmakers to support his new measure, which would allow victims of child sex abuse over the age of 30 to sue their abusers..

He’s also asking lawmakers to reject a measure in the Pennsylvania Senate that does not include the same provision.

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PENNSYLVANIA
ABC 27

By Dennis Owens
Published: April 3, 2017

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) – The daffodils were in full bloom on a sun-splashed day at the Capitol.

But encroaching on that beautiful scene was an ugly topic on the Capitol steps.

Dozens of victims of childhood sexual abuse rallied at noon. They brought signs. They brought their stories, intensely personal stories, that they bravely shared on the microphone.

“I watched my daughter struggle and suffer and shake because of the trauma she experienced,” one heartbroken mother said.

“I battled bouts of depression as I kept my secret and trusted no one,” said a 50-something-year-old man.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Reading Eagle

By Jim Lewis

HARRISBURG — She did not speak. Could not, not so soon after her son’s death.

Judy Deaven stood at a rally at the state Capitol here in 2015 for changes in the law for victims of childhood sexual abuse, but could not address the crowd. Her son’s death simply was too fresh.

Joe Behe, a 46-year-old Reading Central Catholic alumnus, had died of a drug overdose on April 3, 2015, after spending his life tormented by the sexual abuse he suffered as a child at the hands of a Catholic priest in Berks County, Deaven said. He lived as a recluse, unable to hold a job, unable to sleep at night because of fear sparked by his memories of the abuse.

It took him 20 years before he told anyone about the abuse by the priest, who has since died, she recalled, long after the state’s statute of limitations had expired on his case.

But Deaven had a second chance Monday, during a rally on the Capitol steps organized by state Rep. Mark Rozzi, a Muhlenberg Township Democrat and abuse survivor. She was there to persuade the General Assembly to allow victims of sexual abuse as children to press criminal charges and file civil lawsuits even after they turn 30.

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MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

By Joel Currier St. Louis Post-Dispatch

TROY, MO. • St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson testified Monday he told the Rev. Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang to counsel a Lincoln County family about their participation in a rogue nun’s religious rituals but that he didn’t know the priest sometimes slept overnight at the family’s home.

“I certainly would be concerned about it,” Carlson said, if he had known about Jiang’s sleepovers at the time.

Carlson was the first to testify in the second week of a civil trial accusing Jiang of molesting a teenager at her family’s Old Monroe home in June 2012 and leaving a $20,000 check as hush money. Carlson said Jiang called him from the airport awaiting a flight home and said he kissed the girl but did not have sex with her.

“He was hysterical,” Carlson said. “He said, ‘They’re trying to take my priesthood away from me.’” Carlson told Jiang not to flee to China if all he did was kiss her.

Last week, Jiang, 31, denied all allegations of inappropriate contact with the teen.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

The late bishop allegedly turned a blind eye to the institutional sexual abuse that ran rampant during his tenure as bishop.

Guam – Should the name for Bishop Baumgartner Memorial Catholic School be changed in light of the controversy surrounding the individual for whom the namesake was given?

The matter was brought up during a press briefing held by Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes yesterday. A school parent reportedly called for the removal of Bishop Apollinaris Baumgartner’s name from the catholic school since he has been named in several sex abuse lawsuits filed against the Archdiocese of Agana.

Although the late bishop has not been named as an alleged perpetrator, several former altar boys and boy scouts members allege that Baumgartner knew about the institutional abuse but turned a blind eye and refused to take action.

Archbishop Byrnes says he’s aware of the parent’s complaint.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Fox 43

APRIL 3, 2017, BY MATT MAISEL

HARRISBURG, Pa. — More than 4,000 blue flags line State Street and the steps leading up to the Pennsylvania State Capitol, planted in the dirt and flying to honor survivors of child sex abuse.

April in Child Abuse Prevention Month. On Monday, one of its biggest supporters, State Representative Mark Rozzi, was picking up where he left off last session: advocating for stronger reforms in Pennsylvania’s statute of limitation laws.

Rozzi (D-Berks) was a victim of sexual abuse when he was a child. Now, an outspoken critic of the state’s current laws, Rozzi was joined Monday by dozens of fellow child sex abuse victims; mothers, fathers, and adults who shared their stories on the Capitol steps of how they, or their children, were victimized years ago.

On Tuesday, the State House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hear and vote on Senate Bill 261. The legislation, sponsored by President Senator Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R-Jefferson), would eliminate the statute of limitations on criminal prosecution of child sex abuse cases. SB261 would also give child victims until age 50 to bring a civil lawsuit against institutions, such as the church, or a school.

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MINNESOTA
St. Cloud Times

David Unze, dunze@stcloudtimes.com April 3, 2017

A Sartell man who volunteered at a local church pleaded guilty Monday to sexually abusing a teenager who was an altar boy at a St. Cloud church.

Douglas Gerard Kleinsmith, 55, pleaded guilty to two counts of felony criminal sexual conduct on the day when his trial was supposed to begin. Prosecutors will ask a Stearns County judge to sentence Kleinsmith to seven years in prison when he’s sentenced June 15.

Kleinsmith volunteered to train altar boys and trained the teenage boy he would abuse, according to a criminal complaint charging him. The complaint says the boy met Kleinsmith at church when he was 15 years old, and that year also began working for Kleinsmith outside church hours.

Kleinsmith was part of a Latin Mass group that met at St. John Cantius Church, according to the Diocese of St. Cloud.

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FIJI
Fiji Times

Luisa Qiolevu
Tuesday, April 04, 2017

THE Catholic Church has in place a policy on misconduct and sexual abuse, says Roman Catholic Church Archbishop of Suva Peter Loy Chong.

He stated this during an interview by this newspaper after being questioned on few cases where Catholic priests were reported to have molested women in the past.

“We have dealt with some cases in the past, but we will not reveal more on that.

“We have a very strict policy for any misconduct in our ministry so we have a very clear policy where we don’t condone such actions,” he said.

He said a professional standard resource group would deal with the case if reported.

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AUSTRALIA
Goulburn Post

Louise Thrower
@ThrowerLouise

4 Apr 2017

The Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra/Goulburn has paid out $1.82 million in compensation to victims of sexual abuse.

The figures, tendered to the recent Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, relate to the period 1950 to 2010.

The Archdiocese’s Institute for Professional Standards and Safeguarding director Matt Casey said 73 people made a claim of sexual abuse by over the 60 years. Forty-four of these were leveled against clergy and 28 against lay people.

Half of all the claims were made against two priests, Father Pat Cusack and Father Lloyd Reynolds. The former served in Canberra and Goulburn was the target of 23 claims, Mr Casey said. He died in 1977 and the church only became aware of the allegations in 1993.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Judge Joaquin Manibusan denied the parties’ request to extend the deadline by about a month.

Guam – You’ve had more than enough time to respond to all these sexual abuse allegations. That’s what US Magistrate Judge Joaquin Manibusan told attorneys today in denying their request to once again extend the deadline for the church to answer to the complaints.

Both Attorney David Lujan, for the plaintiffs, and Attorney John Terlaje, for the defense, made a joint request to extend the deadline to respond to the first 26 of the 34 cases filed so far by about a month.

But Judge Manibusan denied their request saying, “the court does not find good cause to grant another extension to respond to the complaint to further delay the scheduling conference.” This means that the archdiocese will have until next Monday, April 10 to file a reply.

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UNITED KINGDOM
News Shopper

Tom Bull, Trainee Reporter

A bishop from Belvedere has been jailed after forcing a teenage girl to undress and pouring oil over her during a “private prayer session”.

Benjamin Egbujor, 55, of Harold Avenue, was also sentenced for sexually assaulting a woman in her 30s who he abused in the same way.

He was sentenced at Inner London Crown Court to three years and four months.

Police started investigating Egbujor in 2014 after the girl, who was under the age of 16, reported to family she had been abused by him after being taken into his private office for an individual prayer session.

During interviews the woman also revealed Egbujor had assaulted her too.

Rose Nwenwu, 43, of Thurlestone Road, West Norwood, was Egbujor’s secretary and took part in the abuse of the older victim.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philly.com

by Maria Panaritis, Staff Writer @panaritism | mpanaritis@phillynews.com

HARRISBURG — Six months after seeing it collapse under pressure from both the pulpit and political lobbies, lawmakers are poised to revisit a controversial proposal to expand the statute of limitations for victims of child sex abuse.

On Tuesday, a House committee plans to consider a new bill passed by the Senate that would eliminate criminal and civil statutes of limitations for all future cases of child sex abuse — moves long sought by prosecutors and victims.

But that bill, sponsored by Senate Republican leader Joe Scarnati, the president pro tempore from Jefferson County, excludes what was at the core of the debate that raged for months last year in the Capitol: a provision that would let victims of abuse dating to roughly the 1980s sue their attackers and the institutions that oversaw them.

That clause was included in the original version of the bill that the House adopted by a 180-15 vote last year at the height of a clergy abuse scandal in the Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. But it was removed from the legislation in the Senate, after an intense push by advocates for the church and insurance industry, who questioned its constitutionality and warned that it could unfairly punish struggling congregations for decades-old misconduct by long-gone clergy.

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BELGIUM
Brussels Times

The bishops of Belgium have declared this coming Saturday, April 8th, as the “National Day for Victims of Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church”.

A ceremony will take place, on the day, at 11 a.m. in the Basilique Nationale de Sacré-Coeur (the Roman Catholic Minor Basilica and parish church). This is located in the Koekelberg district of Brussels.

During the Service the Primate of Belgium, Cardinal Jozef De Kesel, the Bishop of Antwerp, Mgr Johan Bonny and the Bishop of Tournai, Mgr Guy Harpigny will all speak. Other senior clerics will also have the chance to say a few words.

Ingrid Rosschaert’s work, entitled “Esse est Percipi” (which translates as “Existence is a form of acknowledgement”, editor’s note), dedicated to the memory of all sexual abuse victims within the Catholic Church, will be unveiled on this occasion.

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CANADA
Lexology

Chris T.J Blom
Canada April 1 2017

In the October 3, 2016 edition of the Lloyd’s Brief I addressed the challenges of limitations in sexual abuse claims. The article discussed coverage issues including difficulties associated with proving policies of insurance in historical sexual abuse claims, the interpretation of the grant of coverage and exclusions for intentional acts. In this article we consider the further issue which arises when the employer is aware of the historical acts of sexual abuse but does not inform the insurer.

To provide some background to the discussion, we consider an institutional framework where an employee committed acts of sexual abuse in the past, as late as the mid-1980s. There is sufficient historical evidence in the employment records to suggest that the employer was aware of the abuse. The employer was insured under a commercial general liability policy with occurrence-based coverage. The employer did not advise the insurer of the abuse, nor did the insurer ask the employer if it was aware of any acts of abuse.

As discussed in the earlier article, the Supreme Court of Canada liberalized the limitation period for sexual abuse claims to the point where the limitation period does not begin until the plaintiff is reasonably capable of discovering the wrongful nature of the defendant’s acts.[1] Typically, that is not until he or she has received counselling. More recently, in Ontario, legislation has been passed to eliminate entirely the limitation period in cases of sexual abuse.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Daily Item

By John Finnerty CNHI Harrisburg Bureau

HARRISBURG — Adults who were victimized by sexual predators as children and advocates for crime victims took to the steps of the state Capitol on Monday to share horrific tales of abuse and express anger that lawmakers have been unwilling to open a window to allow civil lawsuits in cases where the statute of limitations has expired.

The rally came a day ahead of a Tuesday committee vote on whether the state House will seek to change the law moving forward without including a clause to include victims who didn’t seek justice before the statute of limitations ran out.

“We can compromise on pension reform, on liquor and on the budget,” said state Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks County, who has been leading the fight at the Capitol to get the law changed. “We should never compromise on protecting our children.”

Rozzi said the right to sue in old child sex cases “is not about the money.”

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Mindy Aguon |For The Guam Daily Post Apr 4, 2017

A Saipan woman has filed a civil lawsuit against an ordained priest who previously served at the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica, accusing him of sexually abusing her during a trip to Guam when she was 12.

The woman, identified as “B.T.” in court documents to protect her identity, accuses Joe R. San Agustin, also known as Andrew San Agustin, of embarking on a scheme to lure her and her sister to Guam where he could “engage in sexually predatory conduct”.

The lawsuit, that seeks a minimum of $5 million in damages, alleges that San Agustin met “B.T.” and her sister when he was temporarily assigned to work as a priest and teacher at Mount Carmel School in Saipan from his assignment at the Cathedral-Basilica.

The victim, who is now 65, said San Agustin became a trusted mentor and was a regular at her home for social purposes and dinner with her family.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Wigan Today

LYNDA ROUGHLEY
04 April 2017

A catholic priest repeatedly sexually abused a young boy in his care “breaching that trust in a spectacular and horrific way,” it has been claimed.

The boy was just 13 and 14 years old when Father Michael Higginbottom allegedly began seriously abusing him in varied ways at a seminary in Up Holland.

The alleged victim “recalls the college as a cold, dark and forbidding place. He told police that for him it was the venue for ‘mental, physical and sexual abuse’,” claimed David Temkin, prosecuting.

Fr Higginbottom, now aged 74, of West Farm Road, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, is on trial at Liverpool Crown Court.

He denies eight offences – four of buggery and four of indecent assault, alleged to have taken place between September 1978 and March 20, 1979.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Echo

BY LYNDA ROUGHLEY
21:55, 3 APR 2017

A Catholic priest has gone on trial accused of sexually abusing boys at a former seminary in Upholland.

Father Michael Higginbottom is accused of eight offences against a boy aged 13 and 14 almost 40 years ago.

The alleged offences, four of buggery and four of indecent assault, are said to have taken place at St Joseph’s College between September 1978 and March 20, 1979.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

by Kody Leibowitz
Monday, April 3rd 2017

HARRISBURG — Survivors of child sex abuse and their supporters took to the steps of the state capitol to ask lawmakers to pass their bill, one they are calling the “real deal.”

With his back to a row of reporters now facing his supporters, Rep. Mark Rozzi summed up why those wanting a statute of limitations reform stood together outside the Capitol Building on Monday.

“Two-year window,” Rozzi (D-Berks) shouted to cheers.

The two-year window Rozzi mentioned is the push to open up a civil retroactive window, which he said would help past victims of child sex abuse.

“Everybody that supports the bill I say represents victims. If you don’t support retroactivity, then you support perpetrators and the institutions and the insurance companies,” said Rozzi. “So you’ll have to pick your side here.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

by Kody Leibowitz and Lauren Petrelli

HARRISBURG – The statute of limitations reform will be in the spotlight again on Monday.

Survivors of child sex abuse and other supporters will be in Harrisburg to ask lawmakers to push a bill that would include a retroactive window for past victims of child sex abuse.

A local group boarded a bus in Richland Township and headed for a rally in Harrisburg.

Sex abuse survivors and other advocates are expected to meet on the front steps of the Capitol building in order to have their voices heard.

The rally will be held by Rep. Mark Rozzi, who has been pushing for the statute of limitations change since the release of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown grand jury report last March.

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MONTANA
National Catholic Reporter

Dan Morris-Young | Apr. 3, 2017

Are parish assets immune from liquidation?

That was a dominant question among those that pastors and others posed to Great Falls-Billings Bishop Michael Warfel leading up to the Montana diocese’s March 31 filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, brought on by financial pressures from sex abuse lawsuits.

The diocese embraces the concept that parish assets are held “in trust,” Warfel told NCR March 31, but attorneys for the currently 72 claimants caution otherwise.

“It is my understanding that the diocese will assert that some of its real estate holdings, investments and cash assets are held ‘in trust’ for the benefit of parishes, and are thus not available to fund a settlement or jury verdict should any case proceed to trial,” Bryan Smith, an attorney representing nearly half of current plaintiffs, told NCR in an email.

“However, there does not appear to be any evidence that the parishes are separately incorporated. If the cases do not resolve in mediation, the issue of which assets are reachable in bankruptcy could be the subject of litigation,” said Smith, who works for the Tamaki Law firm, which is based in Washington state.

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ROME
Commonweal

Letter from Rome

By Robert Mickens
April 3, 2017

Pope Francis has spent his four years as Bishop of Rome steadily and tenaciously waging a campaign to change the mentality of individual Catholics and the ethos of the entire church, which he dreams of being an outward-looking, accident-prone and getting-its-hands-dirty community that is “on the move”.

In fact, the pope’s “attitude adjustment program” is gradually reshaping the very identity of global Catholicism, even though it’s not to everyone’s liking.

Just as he hinted he would do when he addressed fellow cardinals just four days before they elected him, Francis has been trying to liberate Jesus Christ from a church that, increasingly in the past three or so decades, had become a sick, self-referential, and theologically narcissistic institution living only for itself.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

By Dave Sutor
dsutor@tribdem.com

HARRISBURG – Hundreds of small blue flags signifying Child Abuse Prevention Month fluttered near Shaun Dougherty as he spoke from the state Capitol steps on Monday.

The Westmont resident offered his support for a bill that would eliminate the criminal and civil statutes of limitations in cases of future child sexual abuse, while also providing a one-time, two-year window of retroactivity for past victims, such as Dougherty, to bring civil claims against perpetrators.

Dougherty, during his brief comments, pointed to the area where the flags were located behind a wall.

“I don’t want any other children in this state to live the way I live,” said Dougherty, who was allegedly abused by a local priest.

“I want them to be happy. I don’t want any more of those blue flags anywhere, anywhere around here. No more. I want to burn all those damn flags.”

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FRANCE
Religion News Service

By Tom Heneghan

PARIS (RNS) Holding a colloquium to discuss dethroning an erring Roman Catholic pontiff sounds like a call to battle at a time when prominent cardinals say Pope Francis is leading the faithful astray.

Its title, “The Deposition of a Heretical Pope,” added a provocative touch after a rare challenge by four cardinals who last September urged Francis to clarify parts of “Amoris Laetitia” (The Joy of Love), a papal document they said wrongly opened the door to allowing divorced and remarried Catholics to receive the Eucharist.

So when plans for a conference were reported a few weeks ago, it created quite a buzz on the far right of the Catholic blogosphere.

As the original U.S. report was picked up and translated around Europe, it looked as if the two-day meeting in Paris could be the place where the next steps in the campaign against the pope were being worked out.

It turned out to be nothing of the sort.

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INDIA
The Hindu

The man sexually assaulted the girl

A 29-year-old man who works as a priest at various temples was arrested by the Karunagapally police on Tuesday on charges of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl and abetting her suicide. The victim’s 49-year-old mother has also been arrested.

The police said the priest, an active member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, was the woman’s paramour and he exploited that relationship to sexually assault the woman’s daughter, a Class-7 student. The police identified the accused as Renju, residing at Alumkadavu, near Karunagapally.

Unable to bear the sexual assault by the priest, the girl committed suicide. The police said the girl was subjected to unnatural sex. Though the woman had objected to it, she did not make a complaint to the police or other authorities concerned.

The probe was directly supervised by City Police Commissioner S. Satheesh Bino.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | The Guam Daily Post

Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes said yesterday a parent of a child who attends Bishop Baumgartner Memorial Catholic School has asked that the school drop the bishop’s name.

The former Guam bishop is named in numerous child sexual abuse cases as being aware of certain abuses of altar boys, and allegedly did little to stop or investigate the abuse.

During a press conference held yesterday afternoon concerning developments in the Task Force for the Protection of Minors’ efforts to educate archdiocesan schools and parishes, Byrnes fielded questions from the media which included mention of a complaint made to Bishop Baumgartner Memorial Catholic School.

“I’m aware of that particular (request), and as far as I know right now it’s simply from one person,” he said. “(It’s) taken seriously, but it’s one of those situations that’s going to take a while for us to discern the way forward because there’s going to be at least two sides to the story.”

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MONTANA
Roman Catholic Diocese of Great Falls-Billings

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Darren Eultgen, Chancellor
Diocese of Great Falls-Billings
PO Box 1399
Great Falls, MT 59403-1399
(406 727-6683
chancellor@diocesegfb.org

Diocese of Great Falls-Billings moves toward settlement in abuse claims

The Diocese of Great Falls-Billings has taken a major step toward bringing resolution to 72 current claims of abuse of minors by diocesan priests, religious community priests, women religious and lay workers who have served in the diocese.

On March 31, 2017, the Diocese is filing a chapter 11 reorganization case before the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Montana to fulfill a pre-bankruptcy mediated negotiated agreement with known abuse survivors and the Diocese’s liability insurance carrier.

Bishop Michael W. Warfel and the Diocese have chosen a pastoral approach which provided the basis for its having entered this confidential mediation process. The recent mediation resulted in the beginning stages of general parameters of proposed settlements with the victims and the insurance carrier. The details of that comprehensive agreement are still being worked on by the parties. Under the supervision and ultimate approval of the Bankruptcy Court, the diocese and its insurance carrier would both contribute to that comprehensive settlement, which would compensate the currently identified victims. There will be additional settlement funds for additional and unknown victims. The process of obtaining Bankruptcy Court approval included the opportunity for victims and creditors to vote on the proposed settlement. The Diocese expects that its reorganization will be expedited by the pre-bankruptcy negotiations with all the affected parties.

“On behalf of the entire Diocese of Great Falls-Billings, I express my profound sorrow and sincere apologies to anyone who was abused by a priest, a sister, or a lay Church worker,” said Bishop, Warfel. “No child should experience harm from anyone who serves in the Church.”

Bishop Warfel also indicated: “I want to assure you that none of those who have been credibly accused remain active in parish ministry at this time. In fact, nearly all of those accused are deceased.”

For over two decades, the diocese has had abuse prevention programs in place, including screening and training for employees, volunteers, priests and seminarians. The diocese has an independent board to review claims of abuse, whose members include several parents, a judge, two former law enforcement officers, a social worker, and a counselor. Anyone wishing to report sexual abuse of a minor may contact the Victim’s Advocate for the diocese at (406) 750-2373 or victimassistancecoord@gmail.com.
.
Bishop Warfel indicated: “We remain unwaveringly committed to promoting the Good News of Jesus Christ. Once the reorganization proceedings conclude, we will be able to plan confidently for future ministry for the people of the Church of the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings.”

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MONTANA
Tamaki Law

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA CONTACT:
TAMAKI LAW OFFICES 509-248-8338
Vito de la Cruz vito@tamakilaw.com cell (509) 952-7271
Blaine L. Tamaki btamaki@tamakilaw.com cell (509) 307-5804
Bryan G. Smith bsmith@tamakilaw.com (509) 307-7197

On March 31, 2017, just a few months before the first of many clergy sex abuse trials were scheduled to begin, the Diocese of Great Falls/Billings (covering most of Eastern Montana) filed for bankruptcy protection. Since 2012, the Great Falls Diocese has been defending 72 lawsuits, alleging childhood sexual abuse at the hands of clergy and nuns. The abuse took place over several decades from the 1950s through the 1990s.

This is the 15th bankruptcy filed by a Catholic Diocese in the U.S., and follows a bankruptcy filed by the Diocese of Helena (covering Western Montana) in 2012.

This bankruptcy will result in an automatic “stay” of all pending lawsuits, as the parties shift their focus to calculating the assets available to fund a potential settlement of these claims and any additional verified claims presented after the bankruptcy is filed.

According to Tamaki Law attorney Vito de la Cruz, who represents 34 of the 72 abuse survivors with pending lawsuits, “the abuse my clients suffered at the hands of Diocesan and religious order priests and nuns has caused profound suffering, hardship, and despair over their entire lives. However, with the Diocese filing bankruptcy instead of fighting each case individually, which would have taken years if not decades, abuse survivors hope that they will receive a measure of justice and accountability within a reasonable period of time.”

It is anticipated that the Diocese, its liability insurer, and the abuse survivors will participate in settlement discussions later in 2017.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Mindy Aguon | For The Guam Daily Post

A camping trip at Manenggon in Yona in 1973 turned into a nightmare for a former Boy Scout who recounted the horrific night in a lawsuit filed Monday in the District Court of Guam.

An individual with the initials “J.C.T.,” through attorney David Lujan, filed a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Agana, the Boy Scouts of America and former priest and Boy Scout master, Louis Brouillard.

When he was 15, “J.C.T.” and his tent mate were getting ready to sleep during a camping outing when he smelled tobacco and saw Brouillard enter his tent. The former Boy Scout accused the priest of fondling him and sexually abusing him while repeatedly telling him, “It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s okay.”

The victim recalls when Brouillard was finished molesting and abusing him, he did the same to his tent mate. “J.C.T.” was very disturbed, exited the tent and hid in the bamboo area, court documents state.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Apr 03, 2017
By Krystal Paco
. –
A 40th victim has filed suit against the Archdiocese of Agana and the Boy Scouts of America Aloha Council. Plaintiff J.T.C. alleges he was 15-years-old in the early 1970s when he was sexually molested by his Boy Scout troop leader, Father Louis Brouillard.

On a camping trip in Manenngon, Yona, the priest came into his tent and performed oral sex on him, all while assuring the teen boy “it’s okay.” Using his free hand, J.T.C. alleges Brouillard fondled his tentmate too. When he was done with J.T.C, Brouillard also performed oral sex on the second boy.

Although he would continue to go on camping trips, the plaintiff states he would fight his way out of letting the priest into his tent. J.T.C. is represented by Attorney David Lujan. He is suing for $10 million.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Paul Toohey, News Corp Australia Network
April 3, 2017

Islamic organisations have dodged scrutiny by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which has spent four years probing numerous religious organisations but made no inquiries into Islam.

The commission, now in its fourth year, has diligently investigated Catholics, Anglicans, Pentecostals, Jewish, Jehovah’s Witnesses and obscure cults — along with sporting groups and the entertainment industry.

But it has published no information on sexual abuses against children within Islam, the third largest religion in Australia, raising questions as to whether the commission, which has proactively investigated even small religious sects, has failed Islamic children.

Lawyer Peter Kelso, who has represented 15 survivors of Christian institutions, recently wrote to the commission asking if it had looked at abuse from within Islam, particularly relating to forced child marriage, female genital mutilation and child sex.

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CANADA
CBC News

Valerie Waboose, an assistant law professor from the University of Windsor, is adding her voice to the growing chorus of Indigenous people calling on Senator Lynn Beyak to educate herself on the legacy of residential schools in Canada.

Earlier this month, Beyak criticized the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for “not focusing on the good” of the “well-intentioned” institutions.

The senator continues to face criticism for her comments, but said she does not need any more education about the schools and that she has “suffered” with Canada’s Indigenous people.

“The best way to heal is to move forward together, not to blame, not to point fingers, not to live in the past,” she said. “Recognize the atrocities, but move forward.”

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FRANCE
France 24

[A journalistic inquiry denounces the exfiltration by the Catholic Church of French priests suspected of sexual abuse of young Africans. They are thus excluded from local justice.The investigation focuses in particular on Africa, which has nearly 200 million Catholics, especially Guinea and Cameroon where religious who have been convicted of sexual abuse by local authorities have been repatriated to Europe by their congregations. The findings were revealed between Monday 20 and Wednesday 22 March by a group of independent journalists.]

Une enquête journalistique dénonce l’exfiltration par l’Église catholique de prêtres français soupçonnés d’abus sexuels sur de jeunes africains. Ils sont ainsi soustraits à la justice locale.

L’investigation se concentre notamment sur l’Afrique, qui compte près de 200 millions de baptisés catholiques, et en particulier sur la Guinée et le Cameroun, d’où des religieux reconnus coupables d’abus sexuels par les autorités locales ont été rapatriés en Europe par leurs congrégations. Les constats ont été révélés entre le lundi 20 et le mercredi 22 mars par un collectif de journalistes indépendants, We report, associés à Mediapart, et l’émission de France 2 Cash Investigation.

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URUGUAY
Subrayado

[Investigation continues into an allegation of alleged abuse by a priest of a 14-year-old boy. The priest was school director. The incident was first made known in November 16 by the alleged victim who is now 22.]

La jueza penal de 13° Turno, Ana Claudia Ruibal, tiene a su cargo un caso sobre presunto abuso sexual de un sacerdote hacia un menor de edad.

Según informó Telenoche, la denuncia fue presentada en noviembre de 2016 por un joven de 22 años, quien aseguró que el abuso ocurrió cuando él tenía 14 años.

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FRANCE
Slate

[The struggle against pedophilia of the clergy must be made a real priority.]

Henri Tincq — 02.04.2017

Quand en finira-t-on avec ce cancer de la pédophilie du clergé? Avec cette honte inscrite au front d’une institution de deux mille ans, une Église tenue pour sacrée par plus d’un milliard de fidèles dans le monde entier? On croyait à une sorte de «rémission» après les efforts de contrition, de transparence, de «tolérance zéro», le dialogue ouvert avec les victimes, les gestes et paroles de «repentance», le déblocage de sommes considérables pour dédommager les victimes d’abus sexuels par des prêtres. Rompant avec des années de silence, d’immobilisme et de contournement de la loi, tant canonique que civile, la politique mise en œuvre par les papes Benoit XVI (2005-2013) et François a conduit à nombre de signalements à la justice et à des condamnations fermes de prêtres abuseurs.

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AUSTRALIA
BBC News

By Hywel Griffith
BBC News, Sydney

An Australian child abuse survivor has called on the Catholic Church to reform its laws on confession to ensure crimes are reported to police.

Peter Gogarty said perpetrators knew anything disclosed in confession would not be revealed to authorities.

He told the BBC it was effectively a “get-out-of-jail-free card”.

It follows the final public hearings in an Australian inquiry, which has heard evidence of abusers confessing knowing their actions would not be divulged.

The issue of mandatory reporting has split Australia’s Catholic Church, with archbishops differing on whether information given by a child victim during confession should be relayed to police.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com April 3, 2017

Guam’s clergy sex abuse lawsuits reached 40 on Monday, April 3, when a man alleged former priest Louis Brouillard sexually abused him.

An accuser with the initials J.C.T., represented by attorney David Lujan, filed suit to demand a jury trial and $10 million in minimum damage, according to court documents. Since last week, some plaintiffs have chosen to use their initials to protect their identity, their lawyers said.

The latest lawsuit, filed in the District Court of Guam, named the Archdiocese of Agana, the Boy Scouts of America and Brouillard as defendants, along with up to 50 others who may have aided, abetted, concealed or covered up the alleged abuse.

Brouillard was also a scout master in the Boy Scouts of America while he was a priest on Guam. Most of the 40 lawsuits filed so far in local and federal courts accuse Brouillard, who has admitted to abusing at least 20 boys on Guam when he was a priest here.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

Pressure by politicians on religious congregations to pay half the €1.5 billion cost of compensating those abused in Catholic institutions “is immoral and should stop”, one of the congregations has said.

The Oblates (Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate), who were severely criticised by the Ryan Commission report which investigated institutional abuse, dismissed the notion they were under “moral pressure” to pay more towards the compensation bill.

Nor do any of the 18 congregations involved “have a moral obligation to pay a share of the administration and ancillary costs of the Commission of Investigation and the redress board. Such a demand has never been made in all the history of the State,” it said.

Further, in a challenge to findings in the Ryan Commission report, it refers to “the huge gap between the way the congregations have understood their own history and the way it is presented in the report”.

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AUSTRALIA
The Standard

Rachael Houlihan
@rachaelhoulihan

3 Apr 2017

CLERGY sexual abuse survivor Andrew Collins has called on Ballarat Diocese Bishop Paul Bird to resign after he refuted calls to remove plaques which include the name of disgraced bishop Ronald Mulkearns.

Mr Collins, who went to Rome last year to hear Cardinal George Pell’s evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, called on the Vatican to remove Bishop Bird if he would not resign. Bishop Bird told The Standard it was important to accurately record historical events where the community had gathered to celebrate with Bishop Mulkearns.

He said each school or church council had to make its own decision in regards to the removal of plaques and called on those making such decisions to also recognise the good work done by Bishop Mulkearns.

Bishop Mulkearns, who died last year, was known as the “keeper of secrets” and headed the Ballarat Diocese while paedophile members of the clergy abused children.

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GUAM
KUAM

[with video]

Updated: Apr 03, 2017

By Krystal Paco

We can expect more transparency from the Archdiocese of Agana, who today launched the first of a monthly series called Updating the Faithful. Today’s update was on efforts to educate and prevent child sex abuse in the Catholic school system.

Faculty and staff at all 14 of Guam’s Catholic schools know what to do should they suspect a child is a victim of abuse. The efforts were spearheaded by the Task Force for the Protection of Minors led by longtime social work professional Sarah Thomas-Nededog, who said, “The schools know much better what the mandatory reporting law was all about to understanding the issues of boundaries and the importance of setting those boundaries and respecting them and teaching and supporting children to be more empowered to protect themselves, as well.”

The task force was created in September shortly after allegations of clergy sex abuse went public. To date, 39 plaintiffs have filed suit alleging members of the church knew of the ongoing abuse decades ago, but failed to do anything about it. The group’s mission is now expanded to educate the parishes.

Today’s press conference is the first of a monthly series. Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes chose this month’s topic to highlight ongoing Child Abuse Prevention Month, as he announced, “My main role here is to say thanks to you all for really taking the lead and providing some really effective measures through the training.”

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com April 3, 2017

Archbishop Michael Byrnes on Monday held the first of his “Updating the Faithful” monthly briefings, starting with updates on sexual abuse prevention and response training at Catholic schools and parishes.

Byrnes launched his series, which will be held every first week of the month, to update the faithful about the archdiocese’s issues, initiatives and efforts, he said.

To date, 14 archdiocesan schools and four parishes have received training from the Task Force for the Protection of Minors, said chairwoman Sarah Thomas-Nededog, a longtime social work professional. The task force was formed last year by temporary Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai.

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AUSTRALIA
Catholics for Renewal

Catholics for Renewal has drafted this letter in consultation with many Catholics strongly committed to the teachings of Jesus and their Church. People of the Church have been distressed by the increasing failings of our Church, particularly in the context of the evidence before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Australian Catholics are invited to consider and sign below the following Open Letter to the Bishops of Australia. The Open Letter provides an opportunity, consistent with the Church’s Code of Canon Law, for the faithful – lay people, religious, priests, all members of the Church – to seek renewal of the Church.

Open Letter to the Bishops of Australia
‘Please Listen and Act Now’

Dear Bishops

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has exposed grave governance failures in our Church, failures that undermine its very mission. We, the undersigned Catholics of Australia, write to you as Pilgrim People of God, accepting shared responsibility for our Church, expressing our sense of faith which Vatican II recognised as critical to the life of the Church, and asking you our bishops to listen and to act decisively, executing necessary reforms now.

Over several decades we have seen our Church declining steadily to its now shameful state. Countless Catholics have been alienated, particularly younger generations who are our Church’s future. The Royal Commission has now exposed dysfunctional governance, an entrenched culture of clericalism, and a leadership not listening to the people. Too many bishops have denied the extent of clerical child sexual abuse and its systemic cover-up, and even protected paedophiles ahead of children.

The Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry also found that the Church’s governance contributed to coverups and further abuse. Yet the failings go beyond the scandal of child sexual abuse. Archbishops have admitted to “a catastrophic failure of leadership”, and some have spoken of ‘criminal negligence’. Church credibility has been squandered. To rebuild trust, there must be reform of governance based on Gospel values, reflecting servant leadership and engagement with the faithful. There has to be accountability, transparency, and inclusion particularly of women.

Changing processes is not enough. We ask each and every bishop to act now on these reforms:

1. Eradicate the corrosive culture of clericalism – “an evil . . . in the Church” (Pope Francis).

2. Become truly accountable with full involvement of the faithful, including diocesan pastoral councils, and diocesan assemblies or synods; with pastoral plans and annual diocesan reports.

3. Appoint women to more senior diocesan positions, such as chancellor and delegate of bishops.

4. Hold diocesan synods/assemblies in 2018, with deanery and parish listening sessions, to develop the agenda for the national 2020 Plenary Council; and as part of normal diocesan governance.

5. Further remodel priestly formation, including ongoing development, assessment and registration.

6. Reconcile publicly and fully with all the persons abused, their families and communities, and commit to just redress.

7. Send an urgent delegation, including laity, to Pope Francis:

i. urging him to purge child sexual abuse from the Church: legislating civil reporting of abuse, and ensuring effective discipline, major canon law reform, and review of priestly celibacy;

ii. advising him of the Royal Commission’s exposure of the Church’s global dysfunctional governance; particularly its clericalist culture and lack of accountability, transparency, and inclusiveness, especially the exclusion of women from top decision-making positions; and

iii. requesting immediate reform of bishop selection processes, fully including the faithful in identifying the needs of dioceses and local selection criteria.

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AUSTRALIA
Barossa Herald

Joanne McCarthy
3 Apr 2017

Australia’s bishops must lead an urgent delegation to Pope Francis seeking changes to some of the church’s most fundamental views on women, celibacy, governance and the handling of child sex cases, according to Australia’s peak Catholic reform group in a call to arms to Catholics across the country.

In an open letter sent to all parishes, Catholics for Renewal has urged bishops and archbishops not to “defer to the Holy See”, or wait for the recommendations from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, before acting on serious issues identified by the commission that contributed to the child sexual abuse crisis.

Catholics for Renewal president and former senior Australian government bureaucrat, Peter Johnstone, said bishops needed to be prepared to urge Pope Francis to require mandatory reporting of all child sex abuse allegations to police and immediately appoint women to the church’s highest ranks.

“The appointment of women would be revolutionary, but I would argue the Pope could do that tomorrow and that would be a catalyst for forcing ultra-conservative bishops to realise they’ve got no choice but to get on board,” Mr Johnstone said.

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AUSTRALIA
On Line Opinion

By Brendan O’Reilly – posted Monday, 3 April 2017

This . . . can only be interpreted for what it is: a massive failure on the part the Catholic Church in Australia to protect children from abusers and predators, a misguided determination by leaders at the time to put the interests of the Church ahead of the most vulnerable and, a corruption of the Gospel the Church seeks to profess. As Catholics we hang our heads in shame . Frances Sullivan, CEO, (Catholic) Truth, Justice and Healing Council.

A key official report for one Catholic diocese found that:

the diocese’s preoccupations in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse, at least until the mid-1990s, were the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the Church, and the preservation of its assets. All other considerations, including the welfare of children and justice for victims, were subordinated to these priorities ……and (the diocese) did its best to avoid any application of the law of the State”. The report concluded that there is “no doubt that clerical child sexual abuse was covered up.

So which Catholic diocese do you think the report related to? Ballarat? Newcastle? Sydney?

No. The extracts come from the Murphy Commission’s report into child sex abuse within the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin released in 2009. Investigations into clerical sexual abuse of Catholic children in the US came up with broadly similar conclusions, and you don’t need to be Nostradamus to foresee that Australia’s Royal Commission is going to come up with much the same findings. The similarity in the Catholic Church’s behaviour across countries stands out, and suggests a systemic problem along with an organised cover-up world-wide.

At the request of the Royal Commission, the Australian Catholic Church has released survey data revealing that 7% of priests, working between 1950 and 2009, have been accused of child sex crimes. The figures were even higher for some orders of religious brothers: 40% for the Brothers of St John of God, 22% for the Christian Brothers, and 20% for the Marist Brothers.

Between 1980 and 2015, 4,444 alleged incidents of child sexual abuse relating to 93 Catholic Church authorities in Australia were reported. The average age of victims was 10.5 for girls and 11.6 for boys, and (notably) the overwhelming majority were male.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

Joanne McCarthy
2 Apr 2017

STEVE Smith’s daughter remembers the day in 2001 when her father drove to a court case that nearly broke him.

The dreadful details of that child sex trial against Newcastle Anglican priest George Parker – including “considerable doubt” about the veracity of diary entries used to stop the case – were only revealed to Mr Smith’s family during a Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse public hearing in August.

In an open letter to “abusers of children and those who help conceal those crimes”, that was one of the final documents tendered as evidence on the royal commission’s final public hearing day on Friday, Mr Smith’s daughter Danika spoke about the ripple effect of child sexual abuse on the families of the abused.

“You ensured a traumatic childhood for us where our Dad was emotionally unavailable because he was just trying to survive every day. He closed off from the world, including even his kids at times,” said Danika, who did not want her surname revealed.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

The Archdiocese of Agana will be holding monthly briefings to update the community on various initiatives the church is taking.

Guam – Since the Archdiocese of Agana’s implementation of the Task Force for the Protection of Minors, some individuals have come forward to report abuse within the catholic community.

Today, Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes and the task force gave an update on the curriculum so far. They’ve made significant progress in implementing a sexual abuse curriculum within the catholic schools and parishes. Several members provided updates to the public on that progress.

So far, all 14 catholic schools have received the training. Now, the focus will be within the different parishes. But since the this task force was created, we asked Byrnes if the archdiocese has received any reports of sexual abuse from any of the students or minors they’re entrusted to protect.

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INDIA
Evartha

Kollam: Sexual atrocities towards children doesn’t seem to end in state, as a temple priest has been arrested for sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl, who was later found dead at her house in Karunagappally.

The accused priest, identified as Renju, is said to be the paramour of the child’s mother. She is also in police custody.

The postmortem report had revealed that the child was subjected to unnatural sex. The woman had confessed to the police that the child was sexually abused.

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GEORGIA
Florida Times-Union

Posted April 2, 2017
By Eileen Kelley

BRUNSWICK, Ga. — Kenneth Adkins sits in jail and ticks off the hours … days … dreaming about reinventing himself.

Perhaps he’ll go to work and advocate for coeds who attend historically black colleges in the Atlanta area, or so he said on Day 216 behind bars. Or perhaps there’ll be a national appetite for an “Apprentice”-type reality TV show where former convicts like himself vie for jobs on the outside, something he floated to the Times-Union sometime around Day 158.

Adkins knows a thing of two about reinventing himself. He went from a drug-addicted con man in the 1980s and ’90s to a fairly prominent public relations man in Jacksonville. Although clean, he’s made many financial mistakes.

Adkins also became a pastor and more recently a bishop.

Along the way he’s earned accolades from Trumpian-types who love his tell-it-like-it-is approach. And he’s earned his fair share of fist shaking from those he has crossed. Then there are those who simply say Adkins crossed the line too far this time, something he now freely admits he did when he championed the anti-gay, anti-transsexual stance during the public debates leading up to Jacksonville’s expansion of the Human Right Ordinance.

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AUSTRALIA
The Standard

Andrew Thomson
2 Apr 2017

THE Catholic Bishop of Ballarat has refuted calls to remove plaques which include the name of disgraced bishop Ronald Mulkearns.

Bishop Paul Bird made the comment prior to a visit to Warrnambool on Sunday.

He said it was important to accurately record historical events where the community had gathered to celebrate with Bishop Mulkearns.

The bishop said other events, including Bishop Mulkearns’ failings, had been recorded elsewhere. Bishop Bird said he thought it was going too far. Bishop Mulkearns, who died last year, was the bishop of the Ballarat Diocese while pedophile members of the clergy abused children.

He was aware of pedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale’s offending in 1975 but chose to move him to parishes within the diocese, allowing the notorious offender to keep committing crimes.

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COLORADO
Greeley Tribunei

Even though the 19-year-old Greeley woman did everything she could to report the rape correctly, two men police believe sexually assaulted her will never be convicted of that crime under Colorado’s current laws.

Hours after the men left her in a dark alleyway in the 1500 block of 8th Avenue in the early morning hours of July 31, 1984, she was speaking with a Greeley police detective. Not long after that, she underwent a medical exam, and a nurse collected the DNA evidence. In the days that followed, she walked police through the alleys and side streets, where the two men had threatened to kill her if she didn’t submit to them.

She shared details with the detectives many victims say are agonizing and humiliating.

But the investigation stalled.

For over three decades, not much else happened. She had no idea who the men were who raped her that night, and, it seemed, neither did police or prosecutors.

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IRELAND
IrishCentral

IrishCentral Staff @IrishCentral April 02, 2017

A prominent Catholic priest in Ireland has defended how the church handled the issue of unmarried mothers in institutions like Tuam in Galway, where 800 children have no burial records.

Father Padraig McCarthy was writing in the influential Catholic publication “The Furrow.”

He stated other countries used sterilization which was mandatory in some. He stated women were sent to asylums in many countries for being “feeble minded” and “promiscuous.”

He wrote that several countries such as Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Switzerland, Iceland, Austria, France, Belgium and the Czech Republic, operated mandatory sterilization programs for those judged unfit to have more babies.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Rachel Browne

Australian legal firms are experiencing unprecedented demand from people who have suffered alleged child sexual abuse in institutions such as churches, schools and youth groups.

The demand has been spurred on by revelations from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and legal reforms which allow survivors to make a claim for damages regardless of when the abuse allegedly occurred.

Shine Lawyers received 61 inquiries about historical child sexual abuse in 2012, prior to the commencement of the royal commission in 2013. Last year the firm received 730 inquiries, an increase of more than 1000 per cent.

Law firm Maurice Blackburn has also experienced a surge in people exploring their legal options, with hundreds of new inquiries.

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CANADA
The Province

A carved pole installed Saturday at the University of B.C. contains thousands of copper nails that serve as a reminder of Canada’s traumatic colonial past.

Each nail — hammered into the 16.8-metre-tall, 800-year-old red cedar pole by residential-school survivors, affected families and school children — represents an indigenous child who died at a residential school.

Officially know as the Reconciliation Pole, the monument tells the story of the school system, which was founded in the 1800s and not shuttered until 1996.

“My hope for the pole is that it moves people to learn more about the history of residential schools and to understand their responsibility to reconciliation,” said James Hart, Haida master carver and hereditary chief, in a media release.

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CANADA
Question

Canadian Press

VANCOUVER — A 17-metre totem pole installed at the University of British Columbia is a permanent reminder of the strength and resilience of the countless children victimized by the residential school system, one survivor said.

Elder Barney Williams used his remarks to a crowd gathered Saturday for the raising of the totem pole to talk about his experience of being raped and abused at a residential school on Meares Island, B.C.

“This is real folks, this is not something we make up because we want sympathy,” he said.

The mistreatment of generations of indigenous people, he said, is a “Canadian problem, not just a First Nations problem.”

The Reconciliation Pole, carved by Haida Nation hereditary chief James Hart, honours the victims and survivors of Canada’s residential school system.

– See more at: http://www.whistlerquestion.com/totem-pole-at-ubc-honours-first-nations-victimized-by-residential-schools-1.13732658#sthash.4Iko3C2a.dpuf

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

Rachel Roberts

A church minister who sexually assaulted a teenage girl and a woman has been jailed, along with his female secretary who acted as his accomplice.

Benjamin Egbujor and Rose Nwenwu “preyed on their victim’s vulnerabilities, whilst satisfying their own sexual urges under the guise of private prayer,” said Police Constable James Bell, of Scotland Yard’s Offences and Child Abuse Command (SOECA).

The Inner London Crown Court heard the younger victim, who was under the age of 16, was told by Egbujor, a bishop at the Jubilee Christian Centre in Peckham, South London, that she had been “chosen” to attend a special private prayer session.

But after being taken to the 55-year-old’s office, the girl was forced to undress and oil was poured over her.

After she told her family what happened, they reported the incident to London’s Metropolitan Police who discovered during the course of their inquiries that another woman in her 30s had also been sexually assaulted by Egbujor.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

By Chip Minemyer
cminemyer@tribdem.com

Penn State’s former leaders have been found guilty of endangering children, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown has been forced to adopt new policies and the Pennsylvania Legislature is wrestling over the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse.

As we enter April’s Child Abuse Prevention Month, major institutions are in turmoil because of past sins – while the quest for justice for those who suffered at the hands of priests, coaches and other trusted adults remains a struggle.

If only someone in power had showed the courage and compassion years ago to say: “This stops now.”

Former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, founder of The Second Mile for troubled kids, was convicted in 2012 on 45 counts of child sexual abuse.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Trust (Nigeria)

By Abdullahi Tasiu Abubakar, London | Publish Date: Apr 2 2017

A UK-based pastor, believed to be originally from Nigeria, has been jailed in London for sexually assaulting a girl and a woman during “private prayer sessions”.

Fifty-five-year-old Benjamin Egbujor, of Harold Avenue in Kent, was found guilty of sexual assault and causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

His 43-year-old secretary, Rose Nwenwu, of Thurlestone Road in London, was also found guilty of aiding him and of participating in sexual assault.

The Metropolitan Police said Benjamin and Rose committed the offences at their Jubilee Christian Centre (JCC) in Penarth Street in London.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Daily Item

By John Finnerty CNHI Harrisburg Bureau

HARRISBURG — With the state House poised to take up legislation to reform the state statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases, supporters are preparing a final push to make the bill cover old sex crimes and not just future abuse.

The state Senate unanimously passed a statute of limitations bill last month that would give victims until the age of 50 to file lawsuits against abusers or their employers if there were allegations of cover-ups.

Under current law, victims have until the age of 30 to sue for old sex crimes. The Senate bill also eliminates the statute of limitations entirely for criminal investigations of child sex abuse.

But controversially, the measure provides no retroactive relief. If the statute of limitations has expired on old child sex cases, the law change doesn’t help those victims seek justice.

The House judiciary committee is scheduled to take up the Senate bill on Tuesday. Ahead of that vote, supporters of an effort to get a retroactive window opened for victims of old child sex crimes will rally Monday at the Capitol. The push for rewriting the rules regarding how long victims have to sue for child abuse reignited last spring after revelations that the Catholic Diocese of Johnstown-Altoona had covered up decades of abuse of children by priests. On Monday, a busload of victims and their supporters is expected to travel from Johnstown to join the Capitol rally.

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GUAM
The Courier

Posted On Sun. Apr 2nd, 2017

HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — The Catholic Church on the Pacific island of Guam has been devastated by allegations that its longtime archbishop sexually abused altar boys. But even before the scandal broke, Guam’s church was divided over another issue – the presence of a controversial European lay movement that became so toxic that a community of nuns fled to the mainland U.S. in despair.

The battle on the tiny tropical U.S. territory pits the Neocatechumenal Way lay group against critics on a majority Catholic island that was colonized by Spanish missionaries in the 17th century. The Way was founded in the 1960s in Madrid and is best known for sending families out on missions to evangelize in places where Catholics are a either a minority or have fallen away from the church.

For years, locals on Guam have complained that the Way represented a new missionary movement trying to introduce an unusual version of Catholicism to their church, which is the most influential institution on the island. The Way’s practices include celebrating Mass on Saturday night in special communities of 30-40 people seated around a table, rather than facing an altar in a church open to all.

Guam’s critics aren’t alone. Bishops in Japan, the Philippines and elsewhere have sought to limit the Way’s activity in their territories, complaining of sectarian and culturally insensitive practices.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Mail on Sunday

By Adam Luck For The Mail On Sunday

A British campaigner who has been ousted from a Vatican child abuse commission has accused the Catholic Church of treating child sex abuse victims with contempt.

Peter Saunders, who was abused by two priests as a child, said he had lost faith in Pope Francis after learning that the only other abuse victim on the commission had resigned because of a lack of progress.

The father of two, who was last year forced to take ‘leave of absence’ from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, believes that he will shortly be officially dismissed from his role after clashing with other members of the inquiry.

Pope Francis formally set up the commission in 2014 amid a rising tide of abuse allegations surrounding the Catholic clergy and mounting evidence of high-level cover-ups by bishops and cardinals.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Southwark News

OWEN SHEPPARD (01 April, 2017)

“I fear there may be other victims who have not yet come forward and I urge them or any victim of sexual abuse to tell the police what happened,” Met officer said

A bishop who sexually assaulted a young girl and a woman during “private prayer sessions” at a Christian centre in Peckham, has been jailed.

Benjamin Egbujor, 55, from Kent attacked both victims – who cannot be named for legal reasons – between 2011 and 2013.

Egbujor selected a girl who was aged under sixteen from his congregation, and invited her to a private prayer session, at the church in SE15.

After being taken into his private office, the girl was exploited by being forced to undress, and oil was poured over her.

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MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

By Joel Currier St. Louis Post-Dispatch

TROY, MO. • The Rev. Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang testified Friday that he never kissed on the mouth, sexually abused nor groomed a teenage girl over an 18-month relationship with her and her family.

But the priest did acknowledge that he sent hundreds of texts and emails expressing his love for them, and, in one instance, left the family a $20,000 check as well as an apology.

The 31-year-old Catholic priest’s testimony Friday in a Lincoln County courtroom was his first public response to abuse allegations that first surfaced five years ago. He is on trial this and next week in a civil suit accusing him of molesting the teen during a June 2012 a visit to her home in Old Monroe and in the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica rectory parking lot after Sunday Mass. At the time, Jiang was an associate pastor there.

Jiang emphatically denied on Friday ever having inappropriate contact with the teenager.

“They were my family,” Jiang said on the stand Friday. “I was very close to the [girl’s] family. I would do anything to help them.”

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

GIVEN the circumstances that led up to the creation of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, it was appropriate that Newcastle’s Steve Smith was the final person to give evidence to this groundbreaking and historic investigation.

Mr Smith first spoke publicly in 2013 about the abuse he suffered as an Anglican altar boy and has been a forceful advocate for institutional reform. Speaking to the commission on Friday afternoon, he lamented the lives that had been devastated or lost through what he described as the self-serving attitudes of Australian religious institutions.

Children needed to have the confidence that adults will look after them, Mr Smith said. But as this royal commission has repeatedly shown, that confidence has been all too often misplaced and abused.

In his closing remarks, the chair of the commission, Justice Peter McClellan, said the courage and determination of survivors had helped the public to gain a greater understanding of the impact of sexual abuse of children. He thanked those survivors who were “determined to give evidence”, saying they had “given a voice” to the tens of thousands of children who had been abused over the years in Australian institutions.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Christian Today

Andy Walton CHRISTIAN TODAY CONTRIBUTING WRITER 31 March 2017

he Church of England has issued a progress report, one year on from the publication of a major report into safeguarding in the Church.

The Elliot Report, issued in 2016, came as a result of investigations into ‘the treatment of ‘Joe’, a victim of clergy sexual abuse. ‘Joe’ reported that he had disclosed information about the abuse he suffered on several occasions but hadn’t received an adequate response.

As a result, a number of measures were put in place, which the Church now says it is implementing fully. These include, ‘Strengthening of the training for handling disclosures with a bespoke module for bishops and senior church staff; an independent audit of safeguarding in all dioceses, due to be completed at the end of the year; further plans to work more closely with survivors to learn from their experience.’

At the time the report was received the Church said the Archbishop of Canterbury would ensure that all recommendations were implemented as soon as possible.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Church of England

31 March 2017

The Church of England’s National Safeguarding Team has today published a progress report, one year on from the Elliott Review, which recommended a range of safeguarding proposals for the Church, particularly in the areas of handling disclosures and accountability.

The independent review, by safeguarding consultant Ian Elliott, was commissioned in 2015, to look at lessons learnt in the case of ‘Joe’, a survivor of clerical sexual abuse. He reported that he had disclosed his abuse over a number of years to different people on separate occasions, both within and outside the Church and that he had not received a response which he felt adequately addressed his needs. The report, which was received by the Bishop of Crediton, Sarah Mullally, as a senior woman in the Church, at the request of the survivor, made a range of recommendations.

The Church has issued an unreserved apology to Joe and on publication of the report last year, said it was fully committed to implementing the recommendations. The responses to these include: Strengthening of the training for handling disclosures with a bespoke module for bishops and senior church staff; an independent audit of safeguarding in all dioceses, due to be completed at the end of the year; further plans to work more closely with survivors to learn from their experience.

The full recommendations and responses can be read in the Progress Report.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Premier

Fri 31 Mar 2017
By Premier Journalist

The Church of England has released a progress report one year on from the release of the Elliot Review outlining how the Church is improving its response to allegations of abuse.

The Elliott Review was commissioned in September 2015 to look into alleged sexual abuse committed against a man known as ‘Joe’ during the 1970s.

Joe’s claims were made to a number of different people on separate occasions through the intervening years, both within and outside the Church, but no action was taken.

The review left leaders of the Church of England “embarrassed” and “appalled” by their failings.

The Church issued an unreserved apology to Joe after the Elliot Review report was published last year.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com April 1, 2017

U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Joaquin V.E. Manibusan granted a second request from retired Saipan Bishop Tomas A. Camacho to have more time to respond to a former altar boy’s lawsuit, alleging the former Guam priest raped and sexually abused him from about 1971 to 1974.

The judge gave Camacho, represented by Attorney William M. Fitzgerald, until April 10 to respond to Melvin Duenas’ lawsuit. The deadline was supposed to be March 31.

Fitzgerald and Duenas’ attorney, Gloria Rudolph of the law firm of Lujan & Wolff, submitted on March 27 a stipulation on the second proposed extension. The judge granted the time extension on March 29.

Duenas, now 55 and living in Yona, filed on Feb. 13 in the U.S. District Court of Guam a lawsuit alleging that Camacho sexually abused and raped him when Camacho was priest at Saint Joseph Catholic Church in Inarajan. Duenas also alleged that former island priest Louis Brouillard sexually abused him on church grounds and during Boy Scouts of America activities.

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OKLAHOMA
News on 6

BY: EMORY BRYAN, NEWS ON 6

TULSA, Oklahoma – A school principal accused of viewing child pornography is out of the Tulsa County jail on bond.

Jeffrey Goss may be out of jail, be he has to wear an ankle monitor and remain home, except to go to court.

The church that employed Goss said his arrest was a complete shock. Pastor Jim Thornton said since Tuesday he’s been busy meeting with families from the school, which is housed inside the Tulsa Hills Church of the Nazarene.

“This came as a complete shock to us – not because we were in denial, but because we took all the precautions we thought were necessary to prevent something like this. There was nothing on our radar to cause any concern,” Thornton said.

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OKLAHOMA
KTUL

by Ethan Hutchins

TULSA, Okla., (KTUL) — A pastor at a Tulsa church where a principal has been arrested for child porn is speaking out about the investigation.

An investigation that rocked two Tulsa communities after a pastor and the principal of a separate church were arrested.

Both churches dealing with the unthinkable this week.

“We have tried the best we can to eliminate all variables beyond human will,” said Pastor Jim Thornton.

Thornton is the pastor at Tulsa Hills Church of the Nazarene.

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MISSISSIPPI
Sun Herald

BY ANITA LEE
calee@sunherald.com

The guardian of a former St. Alphonsus Catholic School student is suing the school and the Catholic Diocese, alleging the child was sexually assaulted at age 6 by a 12-year-old student while both were in an after-school program.

The lawsuit says the older boy put his mouth on the younger child’s genitals in a bathroom off the school cafeteria in May 2011. The lawsuit says the 12-year-old also was “French kissing” the 6-year-old during the 30 minutes to two hours they were in the bathroom.

St. Alphonsus and the Catholic Diocese were aware the older boy had a history of aggression toward younger students, the lawsuit says, even requiring him at one point to be psychologically evaluated before continuing his education there. The lawsuit also names principal Pamela Rogers, who the parents claim tried to dissuade them from contacting law enforcement authorities when they reported the alleged abuse to her.

The lawsuit, filed in Jackson County Circuit Court by Ocean Springs attorney Jonathan Franco, represents only the alleged victim’s side of the story. Gulfport attorney Joe Sam Owen, who represents the diocese, said he just received a copy of the lawsuit and needs time to review it before commenting.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Reading Eagle

By Liam Migdail-Smith
MUHLENBERG TOWNSHIP, PA

State Rep. Mark Rozzi is planning to re-ignite his push to give child sexual abuse victims more time to confront their abusers in court with a Harrisburg rally Monday.

The Muhlenberg Township Democrat plans to speak on the Capitol steps with abuse victims and their advocates to urge lawmakers to enact his proposal to overhaul the statute of limitations in child sexual abuse cases.

Rozzi, who has made the proposal his signature effort since taking office in 2013, was himself raped as a teen by a Catholic priest.

The rally comes a day before the House Judiciary Committee plans to consider an overhaul of sex abuse laws that cleared the Senate earlier this year.

The Senate’s proposal would extend time limits for victims to sue or press criminal charges but is missing the element Rozzi and many other victims have demanded: A chance for victims for whom those limits have already expired to file lawsuits.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com April 1, 2017

Superior Court of Guam judges continue to recuse themselves from hearing Catholic clergy sex abuse cases, now that the local court is seeing a second wave of filings.

As of March 30, local judges have filed 89 disqualification memos to avoid doubts about their partiality.

The first wave of former altar boys filed their lawsuits in the Superior Court of Guam as early as Nov. 1, 2016, but started moving their cases to the U.S. District Court of Guam in January.

Local court judges said they have familial or business ties to either the plaintiffs or the defendants, court documents show.

But since March 9, the local court started seeing new cases.

Clynt Ridgell, director of Policy Planning and Community Relations at the Judiciary of Guam, said in a case in which all Superior Court judges have been disqualified, the presiding judge will send a request to the chief justice to assign a judge pro-tempore.

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MONTANA
Great Falls Tribune

Seaborn Larson, Great Falls Tribune March 31, 2017

An attorney representing nearly half of the 72 survivors who suffered sexual abuse and rape at the hands of priests and nuns in rural Montana say the church’s decision to file for bankruptcy is a step in the right direction.

The Diocese of Great Falls-Billings on Friday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal court, effectively setting in motion the process to reorganize its assets toward a settlement in a lawsuit in which more than 20 religious community leaders sexually abused at least 72 victims in eastern Montana over the course of several decades.

Vito de la Cruz, an attorney with Tamaki Law representing 34 of the 72 victims, said the bankruptcy filing marks an incremental win for his clients. He said he expects the diocese to begin negotiating an appropriate financial settlement with the court in August or September of this year.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” he said.

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SCOTLAND
Evening Times

The first sessions of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry will hear evidence from faith-based organisations and residential and foster care providers.

Expert witnesses, the Scottish Government and survivor groups will also give evidence at the hearings, which will begin on May 31.

The inquiry is examining historical allegations of the abuse of children in care and has been taking statements from witnesses since last spring.

It covers the period within living memory of anyone who suffered such abuse, no later than December 17, 2014.

The first phase of hearings will take place at Rosebery House in Edinburgh and is expected to last about seven weeks.

They will hear evidence of the history and governance of large care providers of residential and foster care to children in Scotland and whether there is any retrospective acknowledgement of abuse.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

CHRIS MARSHALL

A number of religious organisations including the Catholic Church and Church of Scotland will be called to give evidence by the national child abuse inquiry, it has been confirmed.

Led by judge Lady Smith, the inquiry will hear from expert witnesses, the Scottish Government and survivors’ groups when the first phase of hearings gets under way in May.

Evidence will also be taken from large care providers including Quarriers, Barnardo’s and the Aberlour Child Care Trust, as well as faith-based organisations.

The inquiry published a list of ten such organisations, including CrossReach, previously known as the Church of Scotland Board of Social Responsibility and the Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church.

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SCOTLAND
Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry

The Inquiry has issued a notice providing information about the scope and purpose of the Inquiry’s first phase hearings which will start on 31 May. There is also information about how to apply for what is called “leave to appear”.

Members of the public do not need “leave to appear” to watch the hearings from the public seats.

The evidence to be heard will include:

^ Evidence from expert witnesses about:
* The legislative and regulatory framework governing children in care in Scotland up to 1968;
* The early development of care services in Scotland;
* Societal attitudes towards children; and
* The nature and prevalence of child abuse in Scotland.

* Evidence from the Scottish Government on the nature, extent and development of the State’s areas of responsibility for children in residential and foster care in Scotland.
* Evidence of the history and governance of a number of care providers, including faith based organisations, and whether there is any retrospective acknowledgement of abuse.
* Evidence of the background, development, purpose and work of survivor groups.

The first part of the first phase hearings will end no later than 20 July 2017. The second part of the first phase will resume in autumn 2017.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Stephen Naysmith

CHARITIES and faith-based groups will be asked whether they admit overseeing the abuse of children, during the first public hearings of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.

The Inquiry has announced 10 Christian organisations and three charities will appear during seven weeks of hearings, beginning on May 31 as it takes evidence in public for the first time.

They will be asked what residential care they provided for children, when, and how it was governed. The inquiry will also ask each charity whether they acknowledge abuse took place on their watch.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian (UK)

Melissa Davey

Anthony Foster, an outspoken advocate for child sexual abuse victims and survivors, noticed a glaring absence from the hearing rooms during the final week of the child sexual abuse royal commission.

“There has not been one representative from one religious institution present,” says Foster, whose daughters Emma and Katie were sexually abused by a Catholic priest.

“Not one. And all of the survivors have noticed it.”

The absence of senior religious leaders and other high-profile institutional representatives was particularly jarring to Foster, given the closing week of public hearings focused on the nature, cause and impact of child sexual abuse, and prevention and responses.

On Monday, the chair of the commission, Justice Peter McClellan, revealed that children were allegedly sexually abused in more than 4,000 Australian institutions.

“The non-attendance of the representatives of those institutions this week is palpable,” says Foster, whose own evidence in 2013 highlighted the gross flaws in the handling of sexual abuse cases by the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne. “It has been such an important, enlightening week.”

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AUSTRALIA
America

Gerard O’Connell
March 31, 2017

In this exclusive interview with America, Francis Sullivan, the chief executive officer of the Australian Catholic Church’s “Truth, Justice, and Healing Council,” reflects on what contributed to the abuse of minors by priests and religious in Australia, and what he thinks the Royal Commission that has been investigating this abuse might say in its report at the year’s end.

T.J.H.C. was set up by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and Catholic Religious Australia soon after the federal government announced on Jan. 11, 2013, the establishment of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. It represents dioceses, archdioceses and religious congregations across the country. It was set up for the church to address the past openly and honestly, and to speak with one voice before the Royal Commission.

Mr. Sullivan was one of the speakers at the seminar on “Safeguarding children in homes and schools” held at the Gregorian University in Rome last week. He spoke with America on March 27.

At the seminar, you said that while recognizing that the abuse of minors is widespread, the question is: Why did it happen in the Catholic Church, too? From your experience in Australia, what answers have you come up with?

Clearly, those in positions of authority, whether they were bishops or leaders of religious orders, instinctively chose to look after the institution no matter how, at times, scandalous were the cases. Instinctively their heart was with an institutional agenda, not with a compassionate agenda that speaks of the Gospel. So it’s a matter of instinct, and instinct is always shaped and nurtured by culture, a culture that’s self-protective, that’s about continual preservation and promotion. It’s a culture where people can identify with certainty and security, and when something like child sex abuse, clerical sex abuse, confronts them it’s a disruptor, and the way institutions deal with disruptors is to get rid of them. They don’t integrate the experience.

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JAMAICA
The Gleaner

There has been a delay in the transfer of the sex offence case of Moravian minister Rupert Clarke from the St Elizabeth Parish Court to the Home Circuit Court in Kingston.

Clarke, who is 64, is charged with having sex with a minor in relation to a 14-year-old girl in the parish.

Yesterday, when he appeared in the St Elizabeth Parish Court, it was expected that the judge would have granted permission for the matter to be transferred on a voluntary bill of indictment.

But Clarke’s new attorney Deborah Martin asked for time to peruse the affidavit which she said was only served on her yesterday by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution.

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MONTANA
James, Vernon and Weeks, P.A.

NEWS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Leander James (Cell 208 818-6775)
Craig Vernon Cell (208-691-2768)
James Vernon & Weeks P.A.
1626 Lincoln Way
Coeur D’Alene, ID 83814
ljames@jvwlaw.net
cvernon@jvwlaw.net
Tel: (208) 667-0683
Fax: (208) 664-1684

(Great Falls, Montana – March 31, 2017.) The Roman Catholic Diocese of Great Falls-Billings filed bankruptcy today as a step toward settling 72 lawsuits seeking monetary and non-monetary redress for claims of child sexual abuse perpetrated by Catholic priests, nuns and lay workers from the 1950s through 1990s.

The filing automatically stays any further action in the lawsuits and paves the way for a global settlement and payment of claims through the bankruptcy court. The first cases were scheduled for trial in July.

The Catholic Church uses bankruptcy laws that allow corporations to continue doing business after paying off their creditors to shed itself of child sexual abuse claims and continue to operate. This is the 15th Diocesan bankruptcy in the United States, falling in the wake of the Diocese of Helena bankruptcy in 2015 and the Northwest Jesuit bankruptcy in 2012.

“While we had hoped to obtain justice for our clients at trial,” said Attorney Leander James, “we are hopeful that the Diocese bankruptcy will result in non-monetary terms for the protection of children and monetary recognition of the tragedies endured by victims.”

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