ABUSE TRACKER

A digest of links to media coverage of clergy abuse. For recent coverage listed in this blog, read the full article in the newspaper or other media source by clicking “Read original article.” For earlier coverage, click the title to read the original article.

January 10, 2018

Archdiocese alerts Vatican about new allegation against Apuron

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

January 10, 2018

By Haidee V. Eugenio

There still is no word on the results of the Vatican’s canonical trial of Guam Archbishop Anthony Apuron, according to Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes, who issued a written statement Wednesday in response to the latest sexual abuse allegation against Apuron.

According to the Archdiocese of Agana, the Guam Daily Post reported that Mark Apuron, a nephew of Archbishop Apuron, alleges the archbishop sexually abused in him 1990.

No lawsuit has been filed in connection with that allegation, but Apuron currently faces four lawsuits that accuse him of abusing or raping four Agat altar boys in the late 1970s, when he was parish priest in that village.

“All subsequent information the archdiocese receives regarding this case will be forwarded expeditiously to Rome, adhering to our new, strengthened sexual abuse policy,” the archdiocese said in a statement.

“All allegations of sexual abuse brought to the attention of our archdiocese are important because of the grave, irreversible harm all victims of abuse suffer at the hands of persons they once trusted,” Byrnes stated. “We are committed to protecting all children and young people entrusted to our care and to not repeat the serious failings of the past.”

In October 2017, Byrnes said Vatican officials informed him that the Vatican tribunal had determined a verdict in Apuron’s case. The results still have not been disclosed, according to Byrnes, who was appointed as Apuron’s eventual replacement.

To date, 154 Guam clergy sex abuse lawsuits, including four alleging rape or sexual abuse by Apuron, have been filed in local and federal court.

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.

Archdiocese alerts Vatican

GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

January 10, 2018

By Mindy Aguon

The Vatican has been alerted about the newest allegation of abuse against Guam’s suspended archbishop, according to the Archdiocese of Agana.

Mark Mafnas Apuron, in an exclusive interview with The Guam Daily Post, accused his uncle, Anthony Apuron, of sexually abusing him in 1990 while at an event at the Archdiocese of Agana Chancery Office.

Mark Apuron said he was 16 when the alleged abuse occurred in his “Uncle Tony’s” bathroom at the chancery. He alleges he was raped by his uncle and the incident left him estranged from his immediate family members and feeling ashamed and petrified.

“I believed he was the powerful, untouchable uncle,” Mark Apuron said.

Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes acknowledged the allegation of sexual abuse and confirmed he alerted Vatican officials about the newest case.

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.

Pastor Andy Savage Apologizes For “Sexual Incident” With Teen Girl, But It’s Her Response You Need To Hear

MEMPHIS (TN)
Bustle

January 10, 2018

By Madhuri Sathish

It wasn’t just Hollywood that felt the full impact of the #MeToo movement. People around the world shared their experiences with sexual violence, and held those who had assaulted them accountable. Jules Woodson said a pastor, Andy Savage, sexually assaulted her almost 20 years ago in Woodlands, Texas, and she went public with her allegations last week. Savage publicly apologized to her in church Sunday and received a standing ovation from his Memphis congregation, but Woodson told Memphis’ Action News 5 that she found Savage’s apology sorely lacking.

“His apology isn’t enough because number one, he’s lying about how he handled it,” Woodson said. “He never came to me, the church told him he couldn’t talk to me and they told me I couldn’t talk to him,” she explained.

Before going public with her story, Woodson sent an email to Savage back in December — on the heels of the Harvey Weinstein scandal — with the subject line, “Do you remember?” In the email, Woodson reminded Savage of a night two decades prior, when Savage was supposed to drive Woodson home from church but instead allegedly sexually assaulted her on a deserted back road. It was only when Savage didn’t respond that Woodson spoke out, in a blog post detailing what had happened.

“It’s very hard to tell your story,” Woodson told Action News 5. “It’s very hard to speak up, especially when you feel pressured by the church to be silent.”

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.

Church in Scotland criticized for failure to meet with clergy abuse victim groups

SCOTLAND
Christian Daily

January 10, 2018

By Lorraine Caballero

The Catholic Church in Scotland has drawn criticism for its failure to meet with victims and survivors of clergy sexual abuse more than two years after the head of the Scottish bishops’ conference offered a public apology over the issue.

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland’s former moderator, Rev. Andrew McLellan, said he was “disappointed” by how long it was taking the bishops to meet with sex abuse victims and survivors. He said although the Archbishop of Glasgow, Philip Tartaglia, issued a very good apology, the intervention that came after that was not enough, Crux relayed.

“After Archbishop Tartaglia’s public apology, which he did so well, there was a long hard silence, and I was very disappointed in terms of the progress the bishops were making,” Rev. McLellan told Scottish newspaper Sunday Herald.

McLellan previously chaired a commission which examined the issue of child protection in the local Catholic Church. In the group’s report, which was published in 2015, he outlined eight policy recommendations that included prioritizing support for the abuse survivors and the revision of the “Awareness and Safety” manual on preventing abuse, which was introduced in 2007.

McLellan also highlighted the importance of serving justice to both the victim of abuse and the perpetrators. He added that there must be regular training on safeguarding against clerical abuse.

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.

Associate Pastor charged with possession of child pornography

BELLEVILLE (IL)
FOX2 Now

Janaury 9, 2018

By Chris Smith

BELLEVILLE, IL. – Tuesday the St. Clair State’s Attorney’s Office charged the Associate Pastor of Holy Childhood Catholic Church in Mascoutah with possession of child pornography. 54-year-old Gerald R. Hechenberger has been charged with 16 counts of Dissemination of Child Pornography with the Victim Under the age of 13 and 1 count of Possession of Methamphetamine.

Hechenberger was taken into custody Monday, after investigators from the Belleville Police Department and the Illinois Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force obtained search warrants to search the rectory of the Holy Childhood Catholic Church located in Belleville.

Authorities had acted on a tip that indicated that Hechenberger was distributing child pornography.

Bond for Hechenberger has been set at $2,000,000.

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.

Prosecutor seeks 15 years in prison for Russian priest charged with pedophilia

ST. PETERSBURG (RUSSIA)
RAPSI

January 10, 2018

By Mikhail Telekhov

ST. PETERSBURG, January 10 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov) – A prosecutor has demanded a 15-year prison sentence for Russian priest Gleb Grozovsky, who stands charged with sexual abuse of children, his sister Lyubov Grozovskaya has told RAPSI.

Moreover, the prosecutor asked a court to prohibit the defendant from practicing his profession for 2 years.

According to investigators, Grozovsky committed several sexual crimes against minors in 2011 and 2013.

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.

Catholic priest is charged with 16 counts of child porn and meth possession after police received an anonymous tip

MASCOUTAH (IL)
Daily Mail

January 10, 2018

By Keith Griffith

– Gerald R. Hechenberger, 54, charged with child porn on Tuesday near St. Louis
– Catholic priest is associate pastor at three parishes in southern Illinois
– Dawn raid on rectory recovered porn of kids under 13 and meth, cops say

A Catholic priest faces charges of child pornography and possession of methamphetamine after an anonymous tipster alerted police.

Gerald R. Hechenberger, 54, was arrested after a dawn police raid Monday morning on the rectory of the Holy Childhood of Jesus parish in Mascoutah, Illinois, a town 30 miles east of St. Louis.

He is charged with eight counts each of possession and dissemination of porn depicting a child under 13, and one count of possessing meth under five grams.

Hechenberger is an associate pastor at Holy Childhood, as well as at nearby parishes St. Pancratius Parish in Fayetteville and St. Liborius Parish in St. Libory.

Detectives in the Belleville Police Department initiated the investigation into Hechenbacher several weeks ago after receiving an online tip through the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force reporting line.

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.

‘Catastrophic institutional failure’ can be fixed

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

January 9, 2018

By Kieran Tapsell

The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse spent five years interviewing over 8,000 survivors, their abusers and personnel from institutions that had covered up the abuse. The Commission found that 61.8 percent of all survivors within religious institutions had been under the care of the Catholic Church.

The Commission’s 17 volume Final Report, released on Dec. 15, 2017, made hundreds of recommendations for change in structures, practices and internal laws of institutions. Many of the recommendations addressed to the church involved changes to canon law.

Two of these recommendations received massive media attention: that celibacy no longer be obligatory and that civil reporting laws should not provide an exemption in the case of confession. There has been some pushback against these recommendations because they involve overturning long traditions in the church.

But many other recommendations had more to do with church law and practice, and could be more easily implemented, if church leadership is willing to take up this challenge.

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.

LILLYBROOKE FAMILY JUSTICE CENTER OPENS

SANDPOINT (ID)
Priest River Times

January 10, 2018

By Keith Kinnaird

SANDPOINT — A new chapter is opening at one of Sandpoint’s most storied homes.

The McFarland House, the stately dwelling at the corner of South First Avenue and Superior Street, is now home to the LillyBrooke Family Justice Center.

The home will serve as an advocacy center for survivors of childhood sexual abuse, although you would not gather that from the home’s comfortable appearance.

“We’re setting it up to look like a house. We just want that feel — like you’re coming to grandma’s house,” said Peggy Frye, victim witness unit coordinator for the Bonner County Prosecutor’s Office.

LillyBrooke, which is patterned after the national child advocacy center model, will serve as something as a hub for abused children in Bonner and Boundary counties.

Children who disclose abuse will be able to do so in a setting that is closer to a home than the sterile confines and pale lighting of an office space. The home will eventually fitted with an audio/video system that will allow children to make their disclosures in one room while a multi-disciplinary team monitors the interview from a different room.

The home will also be used for forensic examinations.

The idea is to bring law enforcement investigators, prosecutors, doctors and Idaho Department of Health & Welfare officials together to take account of disclosures without sending children and their family to various locations where they have to continually restate their accounts.

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.

#MeToo campaign triggers horrid memories for Miami women

MIAMI (FL)
Miami Herald

January 10, 2018

By Brenda Medina

In an old warehouse-turned-office in northwestern Miami, a group of women is about to start a painful but empowering conversation.

Sitting on metal folding chairs around an improvised altar covered with a yellow sheet and a lit candle at its center, 16 women share intimate stories of sexual harassment and abuse.

They are not wealthy or famous celebrities like Angelina Jolie, Taylor Swift or Salma Hayek. Their accused abusers are not powerful men like Harvey Weinstein. Those present at this gathering are everyday Miami women, minorities, immigrants. They clean hotels and homes. They serve as nannies and waitresses. They help care for the sick and the elderly.

What brought them together was the national debate sparked by the #MeToo campaign. The millions of testimonies about sexual harassment and abuse that flooded social and mainstream media made them recall their own traumatic experiences, an issue that Golden Globe honoree Oprah Winfrey brought to the forefront again during a speech earlier this week.

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.

Cardinal Pell living at Sydney seminary ahead of historic sex abuse hearing

SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA)
CNN

January 10, 2018

An Australian seminary where Cardinal George Pell is living while he fights charges of historic sexual abuse says the top Vatican figure is “very much looking forward” to the start of a key court hearing, where dozens of witnesses will give evidence.

It had been unclear where Pell, the most senior cardinal in the history of the Catholic Church to face criminal charges, had been living since he was given a leave of absence from his role at the Holy See and returned to his native Australia.

The spokesman for the Seminary of the Good Shepherd in Homebush, Sydney confirmed to CNN the 76-year-old Cardinal was residing at the seminary, where 40 young trainee priests live and study as they prepare for their careers in parishes across the country.

“Cardinal Pell is now very much looking forward to the March hearing and his day in court,” a spokesman for the seminary said. “He has repeatedly said he is innocent of all allegations made against him.”s

In less than two months the Cardinal will face a four-week long committal hearing at Melbourne Magistrates Court where evidence will be heard from 50 witnesses.

At least two weeks of the hearing, which begins March 5, will be in closed court when complainants give evidence via video link. Once the hearing is completed, the magistrate will then decide if there is enough evidence to proceed to trial at a higher court.

At a news conference at the Vatican in June last year, Pell said he had been the victim of “relentless character assassination.”

“I’m innocent of these charges, they are false,” Pell said. “The whole idea of sexual abuse is abhorrent to 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.

Polygamist leader Warren Jeffs is accused of horrific sex abuse — again — and people on the Utah-Arizona line may have to pay — again

SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
The Salt Lake Tribune

January 10, 2018

By Nate Carlisle

Land trust may be the only defendant able to pay woman known as “R.H.”

The newest lawsuit against Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints President Warren Jeffs, in which he is accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a girl as young as 8 in a ritualistic fashion, lists 26 defendants.

Only one of them is sure to have money — the United Effort Plan (UEP). It’s the land trust that Jeffs used to control, but which the state of Utah seized in 2005. It has since been reorganized under the eye of a state judge and has been working to provide housing and other benefits to residents in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., collectively known as Short Creek.

The UEP may still have assets of $100 million.

Margaret Cooke assumes that’s the only reason the UEP is being sued.

“It just seems like it is a ploy to get money because nobody else has any,” said Cooke, a former member of the UEP board of trustees.

In interviews with The Salt Lake Tribune, former FLDS members recoiled at the latest sex abuse allegations against Jeffs. They also voiced bewilderment at why the land trust that has been trying to help those who consider themselves Jeffs’ victims, of one kind or another, is being asked to pay.

As Josie McDonald, 38, who was raised in Short Creek and left the polygamous sect 13 years ago, put it, the UEP is “paying for Warren’s mistakes, essentially, and not him.”

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.

Indonesia’s alleged paedophile scandal

INDONESIA
UCANews

January 10, 2018

A part-time Islam religion teacher is accused of molesting at least 41 boys aged between 6-15 years

A teacher in Indonesia has been arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing dozens of young boys, officials have said.

Wawan Sutiono, 49, was arrested on Jan. 6 in Tangerang, a town 35 kilometers west of the capital Jakarta.

The part-time Islam religion teacher is accused of molesting at least 41 boys aged between 6-15 years of age over a nine-month period, police said.

The alleged crimes were committed between April and December last year.

The arrest comes after police received a complaint by one of the alleged victims’ parents on Dec 20, 2017.

It was not clear why the police too three weeks to arrest the suspect.

If found guilty, Sutiono could face up to 15 years in prison and chemical castration under a recently introduced law to deal with convicted sex offenders.

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.

A pastor admitted a past ‘sexual incident’ with a teen. His congregation gave him a standing ovation.

MEMPHIS (TN)
The Washington Post

January 10, 2018

By Kyle Swenson

On Dec. 1, as headlines across the country blared with news about Matt Lauer’s surprise firing from the “Today” show for sexual misconduct, a woman named Jules Woodson tapped out a short email. It ran only about 80 words but was nearly 20 years in the making. “Do you remember?” the subject line read.

“Do you remember that night that you were supposed to drive me home from church and instead drove me to a deserted back road and sexually assaulted me?” Woodson wrote. “Do you remember how you acted like you loved me and cared about me in order for me to cooperate in such acts, only to run out of the vehicle later and fall to your knees begging for forgiveness and for me not to tell anyone what had just happened?”

She closed with three words and a hashtag. “Well I REMEMBER,” the email said. “#me-too.”

The message landed in the inbox of Andy Savage, a pastor at Highpoint Church, an evangelical Memphis mega-congregation that draws more than 2,000 Sunday worshipers. The 42-year-old checked all the right boxes for a rising minister: biblically trained, handsome and CrossFit-cut; an attractive wife and five young sons; social media savvy and unafraid of speaking on topics such as sex. Savage’s career had begun as a college student working at a church outside Houston, a congregation Woodson attended as a high school student.

When Savage failed to respond to Woodson’s December email, she took her allegations public on Jan. 5, posting a detailed account of the alleged sexual assault on a blog for abuse survivors. Evangelical circles started spinning with reports of a then-college student forcing a sexual encounter with a student.

Yet instead of following the course of so many recent sexual harassment scandals — reports that have toppled careers in Hollywood, media and politics — Savage’s public outing seems to have failed to upset his position. In a message on the church’s website, he admitted to a “sexual incident” with a high school student at the time. Highpoint’s main pastor, Chris Conlee, also released a statement supporting Savage. And last Sunday, the pastor addressed his congregation about the allegations, but provided little detail.

“In hindsight, I see more could have been done for Jules,” Savage said, according to video. “I am truly sorry more was not done. Until now I did not know there was unfinished business with Jules. So today, I say, Jules I am deeply sorry for my actions 20 years ago.”

As Savage finished his remarks, he was greeted with a 20-second standing ovation from Highpoint’s congregation.

“His apology isn’t enough because number one, he’s lying about how he handled it,” an unsatisfied Woodson told Memphis’s Action News 5. “He never came to me, the church told him he couldn’t talk to me and they told me I couldn’t talk to him,” she explained.

Savage did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

But Savage’s situation tracks with a larger tendency within the evangelical community, according to Christa Brown, an expert on church abuse scandals and coverups. “Religious leaders use forgiveness theology as a cover, and as an avoidance, of accountability,” Brown told The Washington Post. “And it’s a way of further shaming victims. ‘What a bad girl you are, you aren’t forgiving.’”

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.

Publicly Accused Priests, Brothers, Sisters, and Deacons in Chile

WALTHAM (MA)
BishopAccountability.org

January 10, 2018

[Note: The Chilean database is also available in Spanish.]

BishopAccountability.org has examined news and court archives and identified nearly 80 clergy in Chile publicly accused of sexually abusing minors.

The database reveals the distinctive aspects of the Catholic abuse crisis in Chile, and the degree to which much remains hidden. Most of the cases detailed below involve abuse that has occurred since 2000 and was reported to law enforcement quickly — within just a few years of occurrence. We know from Catholic abuse data published elsewhere that such cases comprise a small fraction of the total scope of the problem.

It is worth noting that the factors that have caused significant disclosure elsewhere of secret church files and abusive priests’ names – widespread litigation by victims, investigations of church entities by prosecutors, and inquiries by government commissions – have not so far occurred in Chile.

This list, then, is a fraction of the total number of accused clerics who would be known if Chile’s church leaders were required to report to law enforcement, if its legal system allowed victims more time to bring criminal and civil charges, or if dioceses and religious orders were investigated by prosecutors or state commissions. In Australia, which has half as many Catholics as Chile and a comparable number of active priests and brothers (around 5,000), a recently concluded government inquiry counted child sex abuse allegations against more than 1,100 male clergy.

The lack of external pressure allows Catholic church leaders in Chile to act with impunity. They openly reinstate, for instance, priests who have faced multiple allegations of abuse. Chile’s senior churchman, Santiago archbishop Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati, announced in December 2016 that Cristián Precht Bañados had fulfilled his canonical sentence of five years’ suspension from ministry. A church investigation had uncovered 20 victims of Precht, ranging from age 15 to 35. Yet Precht is now allowed again to say Mass publicly, Ezzati said; he has regained “his fundamental exercise of the rights he has as a presbyter.”

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.

January 9, 2018

Cardinal Pell accuser dies before sexual abuse trial begins

SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA)
Catholic News Agency

January 8, 2018

The legal case against Cardinal George Pell of Australia has taken an unexpected turn, after the death of Damian Dignan, who accused Pell of committing acts of sexual abuse.

Dignan died of leukemia last week in the Australian town of Ballarat, which will likely impact a committal hearing scheduled for March 5 addressing the sexual abuse charges levelled against Pell.

In March 2016, Dignan and two former classmates from St. Alipius school in Ballarat who together accused Pell of inappropriate sexual behavior when they were minors. The cardinal had previously been accused of acts of child sexual abuse dating as far back as 1961.

Without the sworn testimony of Dignan in court, it is possible that prosecutors could drop the case altogether. However, Victorian Police did not confirm or deny the plausibility of this happening, especially because the prosecution could still use sworn statements or evidence given under oath made before Dignan’s death.

In addition, up to 50 witnesses are still expected to testify during the upcoming committal hearing.

Former Victorian magistrate Nicholas Papas did note that convicting Pell without Dignan is a “more difficult task,” according to the DailyMail UK.

Dignan’s lawyer Ingrid Irwin said that it was “ridiculous” that Dignan died “without any justice,” according to the Herald Sun.

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.

Retired teacher is jailed for indecent assaults

ENGLAND
Kingsbridge and Salcombe Gazette

January 8, 2018

By Roger Williams

Villagers have spoken of their shock after a retired teacher was jailed for four years for indecently assaulting boys in his charge at a school in West Sussex.

Peter Burr, 73, of The Square, Kingswear, admitted nine counts of indecent assault between 1969 and 1973 on young boys at Christ’s Hospital School, a boarding school in Horsham, West Sussex.

Burr was well-known in the area. He could often be found at the Ship Inn in Kingswear or the Windjammer in Dartmouth.

Jan Henshall, chairman of Kingswear Parish Council, said: “I believe he was a member of Royal Dart Yacht Club. In the past, he attended the senior citizens lunch at Christmas in the village. He had a social life here and was well-known. From what I can gather from his friends, they are in total shock.”

Jason Byrne, of Kingswear Post Office, said: “He was a good customer and a very nice man. I’m surprised and shocked like everyone else. He’s done wrong and will now have to pay for it.

“He always kept himself to himself. If he was going away, he would not give any details. He would just say I’m going to see some friends, whereas as other people might say where they are going or have been.

“Every Saturday evening, he went to church.”

Burr attended St John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church in Dartmouth.

Richard Rendle said: “I am disappointed because I thought he was a gentleman. I know he helped at the Regatta with classic craft and was a member of the Probus Club in Dartmouth.”

A physics teacher and deputy housemaster at the school, he was sentenced to four years in prison by judge Christine Henson QC, at Hove Crown Court on Friday, January 5, and was given concurrent sentences for each of the victims and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

DC Rebecca Wilde, of Sussex Police, said; “He clearly focused his sexual attentions on boys between and 11 and 13 in his house, leaving older boys alone.

“Some of the offences took place in his study during informal Wednesday and Sunday afternoon gatherings to watch TV, with tea, biscuits and cake on offer. To be invited was regarded as a great privilege and he took advantage of this, and his status, to systematically touch and molest three of the victims.

“The fourth victim was assaulted in the dormitory area and at the school swimming pool.

“The four boys kept these traumatic experiences largely to themselves for up to 48 years and moved on with their lives.

“We were first told about Burr in February last year, when one of the victims came forward, triggered by hearing a local radio debate in London on the recently publicised football sex abuse scandal, and believing that insufficient attention was given to cases in which offenders were not public celebrities.

“One of the others later came forward after the school advised ex-pupils of the ongoing investigation.

“This is an important reminder that such reports will always be taken seriously, however long ago they are said to have happened.”

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.

TENSIONS AHEAD OF PAPAL VISIT TO CHILE

LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Tablet

January 9, 2018

By Christopher Lamb

Opinion polls say that just 36 per cent of the Catholic majority population are looking forward to the papal visit

Pope Francis departs on Monday for a trip to Chile and Peru for what will be his sixth visit to Latin America, where issues of clerical sexual abuse and church renewal are likely to feature.

The question of abuse is likely to loom largest in Chile where the Pope has faced criticism for appointing Osorno’s Bishop Juan Barros, accused of covering up abuse by a prominent priest, Fr Fernando Karadima in the 1980s and 90s.

Peter Saunders, a British abuse survivor who recently resigned as a member of the Pope’s child protection commission, says he plans to be in Chile to try and highlight the case. Bishop Barros’ appointment has been a divisive one with 650 people turning up in protest during his ordination ceremony that saw the new bishop needing protection from ushers in order to enter the cathedral.

In impromptu remarks to a group of Chilean pilgrims following a Wednesday General Audience, the Pope criticised Osorno’s protesters saying leftist politicians were leading them “by the nose” and had been allowed to “fill people’s heads, judging a bishop without any evidence.” The Vatican judged Karadima to have abused children and sentenced him to a life of prayer and penitence. Bishop Barros, who was accused of protecting Karadima, has denied covering up.

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.

Catholic ex-priest refuses to speak at sexual abuse trial in Germany

GERMANY
Deutsche Welle

January 9, 2018

It’s the second court session in which the 53-year-old declined to speak. He faces sexual abuse and other charges. He was expelled from the priesthood in 2008 but continued to pose as a cleric.

A 53-year-old former priest is currently on trial in a district court in the Bavarian city of Deggendorf. Thomas Maria B., who was born in Wuppertal, is accused of having sexually abused five German boys under the age of 14 a total of 110 times between 1997 and 2016. The man is also accused of the attempted rape of an 18-year-old in Austria. The attorney defending the former Catholic priest has said that the man “feels incapable” of testifying before the court. He also refused to address the court in December.

Mentally disturbed defendant

Public prosecutors in Deggendorf have said that the defendant is mentally disturbed and thus cannot be held entirely responsible for his actions. Nevertheless, they see a threat that he could repeat such offenses again in the future. They are therefore calling for the man to be permanently committed to a psychiatric institution. He was previously imprisoned between 2003 and 2009 for the rape and abuse of two young girls.

Entered priesthood with fraudulent documents

After completing studies in theology, the man was ordained a priest in Poland in 1994. State prosecutors accuse the man of having used fake documents to fraudulently gain access to the priesthood. A church court in the German archdiocese of Freiburg removed the man from the priesthood in 2008, which officially forbade him from carrying out priestly work. That decision was upheld by another church court in Munich in 2012.

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.

Metro East priest accused of possessing child porn

MASCOUTAH (IL)
KMOV

January 8, 2018

A Catholic priest from a church in Mascoutah, Illinois is accused of possessing child pornography.

Belleville police say they got a tip leading them to Rev. Gerald Hechenberger, who is the associate pastor at Holy Childhood Church and School.

Investigators say he was distributing images of children under 13-years-old.

He has been arrested but has yet to be charged. Police say the investigation is ongoing.

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.

Trial set in Berkeley County on lawsuit claiming Mormon church covered up abuse

MARTINSBURG (WV)
Herald-Mail Media

January 8, 2018

By Matthew Umstead

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — A jury trial is slated to begin next week in Berkeley County (W.Va.) Circuit Court on a lawsuit that claims Mormon church leaders covered up the sexual abuse of several children by a member who since has been excommunicated and imprisoned.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has adamantly denied the claims, which are connected to criminal prosecutions of Christopher Michael Jensen dating to 2004 in Berkeley County and Provo, Utah.

Jensen, now 26, is serving a 35- to 75-year prison sentence for his conviction in Berkeley County on two counts of sexual abuse and one count of sexual assault.

Jensen was convicted in February, 2013 of sexually abusing two boys while babysitting them in 2007, but the children didn’t report what occurred until 2012, attorneys said.

A pool of 100 people is expected to be summoned to possibly serve as jurors in the civil trial, which is set to begin Jan. 16.

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.

Abingdon vicar guilty of ‘spiritually abusing’ boy

ENGLAND
BBC News

January 8, 2018

A Church of England vicar has been convicted by a tribunal of spiritually abusing a teenage boy.

The Reverend Timothy Davis moved in with the boy’s family in 2013 and held two-hour private prayer sessions in the boy’s bedroom, the panel heard.

Mr Davis, of Christ Church, Abingdon, also tried to end the boy’s relationship with his girlfriend, describing her as a “bad seed”.

The Bishop’s Disciplinary Tribunal said it would fix a penalty in due course.

Church of England officials said it was thought to be the first time a tribunal had convicted a priest of spiritual abuse.

Mr Davis lived with the family, who were members of his congregation, for six months in 2013.

‘Unbecoming and inappropriate’

During the prayer sessions in the boy’s bedroom they laid hands on each other’s head, shoulders, chest and back, although the tribunal ruled there was no “sexual touching”.

The boy’s mother said she could not tell Mr Davis to stop because she was “frightened of the consequences to Tim and what God would do”.

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.

Church of England finds vicar guilty of spiritual abuse of 15-year-old boy

ENGLAND
The Guardian

January 8, 2018

By Harriet Sherwood

Tim Davis moved into boy’s Oxfordshire home and subjected him to intense prayer and Bible sessions in his bedroom

The Church of England has found a vicar guilty of spiritually abusing a teenage boy, after putting him under “unacceptable pressure” during intensive prayer and Bible-study sessions in the boy’s bedroom.

In the first judgment of its kind, a C of E tribunal found that the Revd Timothy Davis, the vicar of Christ Church, Abingdon, in Oxfordshire, was guilty of misconduct under clergy disciplinary measures.

The ruling was published on Monday as an online survey found that two-thirds of 1,591 respondents said they had personally experienced spiritual abuse.

The survey, carried out by Bournemouth University for the Churches’ Child Protection Advisory Service (CCPAS), a safeguarding charity, identified key characteristics of spiritual abuse as coercion and control, manipulation and pressuring of individuals, control through the misuse of religious texts and scripture, and providing a ‘divine’ rationale for behaviour”.

The bishops’ disciplinary tribunal for the diocese of Oxfordshire said that Davis was guilty of “conduct unbecoming to the office and work of a clerk of holy orders through the abuse of spiritual power and authority”. There was no suggestion of any sexual contact.

According to the 20-page judgment, Davis, who is in his 50s, became a mentor to a 15-year-old boy, named in the judgment as W1, in 2011. Over a period of 18 months, Davis “engaged in mentoring so intense that W1 was put under unacceptable pressure having regard to his age and maturity and was deprived of his freedom of choice as to whether to continue”.

It added: “Under the guise of his authority [Davis] sought to control by the use of admonition, scripture, prayer and revealed prophecy the life of W1 and/or his relationship with his girlfriend.”

During the 18 months, Davis moved into the family home, and engaged W1 in prayer and bible study for two-hour sessions in the boy’s bedroom. The vicar also went on holiday with the family.

W1 described being mentored by Davis as “awful” and all-consuming, but did not feel able to challenge the priest. He told the tribunal that Davis became angry if he did not ring him or respond to texts.

W1’s mother, who worked at the church, also felt unable to challenge Davis because he was her boss and had made it clear that God wanted his mentoring of W1 to continue. She told the tribunal she “was scared of going against God”.

Davis told the panel that he was “shocked and confused” about the allegations, and had “no idea of the effect I was apparently having”.

Clergy guidelines acknowledge the power that priests can have over others, and state such power must not be used to bully, manipulate or denigrate. Clergy should never seek to remove autonomy from a person, nor should power be exercised inappropriately, the guidelines say.

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.

Oxfordshire vicar found guilty of spiritual abuse

ENGLAND
Premier.

January 8, 2018

By Marcus Jones

An Anglican priest, who’s accused of spiritually abusing a teenager, has been found guilty of misconduct by a Church court.

Rev Timothy Davis, from Christ Church Abingdon, is said to have breached safeguarding procedures through an “intense” mentoring programme with the school boy who’s not been identified.

A tribunal, held at Southwark Cathedral, found that the frequency of contact between the vicar and the teenager had grown to inappropriate levels including contact via telephone.

It also heard how mentoring sessions were held in the teenager’s bedroom with the door closed – however no misconduct of a sexual nature was reported.

Davis was also found to have overused scripture in conversations with the teenager.

The guilty verdict on spiritual abuse is said to be the first of its kind.

A decision will now be made in regards to suitable punishment.

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.

Associate pastor of Mascoutah church taken into police custody

MASCOUTAH (IL)
Belleville News-Democrat

January 8, 2018

By Kaley Johnson

The associate pastor of Holy Childhood Church and school in Mascoutah was taken into police custody Monday morning, according to the state’s attorney.

The priest was identified as the Rev. Gerald R. Hechenberger.

“We have been working with Belleville (police) and the task force for several weeks and we anticipate they will be submitting evidence collected pursuant to a search warrant we issued within the next 48 hours to be reviewed for charges involving Gerald Hechenberger,” St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly said.

Earlier in the day, Belleville police issued a statement saying a Mascoutah resident was identified as being in possession of child pornography, but the police statement did not identify the resident. A police captain confirmed that Belleville police officers were at the church at 419 East Church St. around 7 a.m. Monday.

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.

Nephew accuses archbishop

GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

January 9, 2018

By Mindy Aguon

For the last 27 years, Mark Mafnas Apuron has held onto a secret, one that resulted in him being estranged from his immediate family members and left him ashamed and petrified.

“When my experience happened, I thought I was the only one,” Apuron said, as he sat in an office in Hagåtña yesterday, speaking with The Guam Daily Post.

But Apuron resolved to make this year different by coming forward and speaking of the past.

The 43-year-old will be filing a lawsuit this week alleging that he was sexually abused in the chancery in 1990 by his uncle, now-suspended Archbishop Anthony Apuron.

Mark Apuron was then 16 years old and had returned to Guam with his family after his dad retired from the military. He recalls going to his “Uncle Tony’s house” – the Archdiocese of Agana Chancery Office – frequently for various functions.

Anthony Apuron was installed as the archbishop of Agana on May 11, 1986, according to the Archdiocese of Agana. He was also elected president of the Catholic Episcopal Conference of the Pacific in 1990.

During social functions at the chancery, Mark Apuron remembers making alcoholic beverages for his family members at their request, and would occasionally take a sip.

On one occasion in 1990, Mark Apuron sneaked away from the crowd to smoke a cigarette in his uncle’s bathroom inside the chancery. While inside, sipping an alcohol mixed drink and puffing on a cigarette, the 16-year-old became distracted testing out the bottles of cologne displayed on his uncle’s bathroom vanity.

“I just wanted to enjoy myself and do it in private, where nobody could see me,” Mark Apuron said, explaining that he was a teen experimenting. “I just wanted to try it.”

The next thing he knew, his uncle, Archbishop Anthony Apuron, was staring at him angrily.

“He asked, ‘What are you doing?'” Mark Apuron said. He said he froze, afraid of what trouble he was in, when his uncle allegedly pulled down his pants and pushed him onto the vanity. The teen thought he was going to get a whipping for smoking and drinking but instead, he said, his uncle raped him. He managed to shove the older relative off and get away, and stayed with his parents until they were ready to leave.

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.

OPINION: The #TimesUp Anger the Golden Globes Black Dress Parade Can’t Hide

UNITED STATES
The Daily Beast

January 8, 2018

By Tim Teeman

The black attire of celebrities at the Golden Globes was supposed to make an implicit ‘Time’s Up’ political point. But the business of showbusiness was also brutally apparent.

When is a dress more than a dress? Can a dress make a political point?

On Sunday night, if anything was refreshing about the Golden Globes red carpet, it was what was said, not the widely-hyped what was worn.

The talk, as repetitive and halting as it was—and sometimes focused on E!’s own shortcomings as Debra Messing, Sarah Jessica Parker and Eva Longoria took aim at the network over the circumstances of the departure of Catt Sadler—was of the need for political and cultural change.

Actresses and actors were dressed in black to signify support, along with pins, of the “Time’s Up” movement, targeting sexual abuse, assault and harassment in the workplace. People said “Time’s Up” a lot. Sure, the viewer thought at home: we’re agreed on that, now what?

If you were expecting revolution, the sight of dresses still costing thousands of dollars and expensive diamonds draped around perfectly proportioned necks should have provided a cooling corrective.

This was, in many ways, a very traditional red carpet. There was nobody in black T shirts, sweaters and jeans. No-one came in Bermuda shorts. The fashion statement was of the most conservative kind: the celebrities attending were wearing exactly the same kind of expensive dresses and tuxes that actors and actresses wear to awards ceremonies. They just happened to be black.

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.

Rose McGowan Blasts ‘Hollywood Fakery’ Of Black-Dress Protest At Golden Globes

UNITED STATES
The Huffington Post

January 8, 2018

By Ron Dicker

The actress’ accusations against Harvey Weinstein helped bring attention to the issue of sexual misconduct in Hollywood.

Actress Rose McGowan said Sunday that it was “Hollywood fakery” for actors to wear black to the Golden Globes as a way to protest sexual misconduct.

McGowan, an actress and activist who has accused Harvey Weinstein of raping her, criticized the awards show in an impassioned Twitter exchange with Asia Argento, another alleged Weinstein victim.

When Argento pointed out that McGowan had spoken out about Weinstein and inspired others to step forward, the former “Charmed” star wrote in reply: “And not one of those fancy people wearing black to honor our rapes would have lifted a finger had it not been so. I have no time for Hollywood fakery, but you I love, @AsiaArgento #RoseArmy.”

When word spread in December that actresses planned to wear black dresses to the awards ceremony, McGowan zeroed in on Meryl Streep. She said the Oscar winner showed “hypocrisy” for having worked with Weinstein. Streep has insisted that she knew nothing of Weinstein’s alleged criminal behavior, and told HuffPost through a representative that she was hurt by McGowan’s comments.

Actress Amber Tamblyn said at the time that she was friends with McGowan but that those remarks had been beneath her.

“Rose McGowan is a friend and while I support her kind of movement, I do not support any woman (or man) shaming or taunting the movements of other women who are trying to create change,” Tamblyn tweeted.

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.

4 former Boy Scouts file sex abuse lawsuits

GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

January 8, 2018

By Mindy Aguon

Four new child sex abuse cases were filed last week in the Superior Court of Guam by former Boy Scouts against the Archdiocese of Agana, the Boy Scouts of America and retired priest Louis Brouillard.

Attorney Michael Berman represents four clients who allege they were sexually abused by Brouillard while they were Boy Scouts in their teens. The men filed the lawsuits using initials to protect their identities.

The archdiocese now faces more than 150 sex abuse lawsuits involving alleged child sex abuse decades ago, with combined claims for damages exceeding $500 million.

The accounts of abuse in these four complaints were similar as all four plaintiffs recalled alleged abuse during Boy Scout outings with Brouillard, who was a Guam priest and a scout master.

M.W.M., 53, alleges he was abused in the late 1970s during regular swimming and camping outings over the course of a year. Brouillard took the Boy Scouts swimming and would routinely instruct the boys to remove their clothes and swim naked, the lawsuit states.

The complaint also alleges Brouillard took photos of the boys while they were nude and swimming.

M.W.M. alleges he was fondled, and contends the priest enticed them with promises of merit badges and dinner.

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.

GuideStone summit to tackle cybersecurity, sexual abuse

DALLAS (TX)
Baptist Standard

January 8, 2018

By Ray Hayhurst

DALLAS (BP)—Cybersecurity and sexual abuse in the church will be among the topics addressed at GuideStone Financial Resources’ second annual Employee Benefits Summit.

The Southern Baptist Business Officers Conference and GuideStone Benefits Forum merged last year to create the summit for church business leaders. The conference, slated for March 26–28 at The Westin Galleria in Dallas, offers an expanded menu of networking and training opportunities.

Speakers include Holly Boullion from CapinCrouse, who will cover cybersecurity, and Kimberlee Norris from MinistrySafe to address the topic of sexual abuse in the church, along with Gayla Crain, an employment law attorney.

Up to 11 qualifying hours will be available for Continuing Professional Education credit.

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.

Texas church leader placed on leave in connection with Memphis pastor sex scandal

MEMPHIS (TN)
USA Today

January 8, 2018

By Ron Maxey

A Texas church has placed on leave a staff member who was on staff with Memphis pastor Andy Savage when Savage was involved in a sexual encounter with a 17-year-old.

The Austin Stone Community Church in Austin, Texas, placed Larry Cotton on leave in connection with allegations made by Jules Woodson against Savage, whose title is now teaching pastor at Highpoint Church in East Memphis.

Monday’s move by the Texas church is the latest twist in the story since the allegations against Savage came to light. Savage remains on staff at Highpoint, which has expressed support for him.

John Young, Austin Stone’s director of communications, confirmed the action against Cotton on Monday by email.

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.

More than 1,000 churchgoers complain of spiritual abuse

ENGLAND
The Telegraph

January 8, 2018

By Olivia Rudgard

Church-goers at mainstream churches have said they are being “spiritually abused” by leaders.

Research showed that more than 1,000 British Christians said they had experienced the abuse, which usually involves members invoking God’s will or religious texts in order to punish or control and coerce a worshipper.

Two thirds of respondents to the survey carried out by Dr Lisa Oakley of the National Centre for Post Qualifying Social Work at Bournemouth University said they had experienced spiritual abuse in the past.

Respondents said church leaders were also experiencing abuse from members of their own congregations.

Dr Oakley said: “There has been a focus in previous work in this area on leaders controlling and coercing those they lead, but a strong message in this research is that ministers and leaders also experience this form of abuse.

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.

January 8, 2018

Chiesa cattolica: 250 casi di abusi sessuali segnalati in sette anni

BERN (SWITZERLAND)
TIO

January 7, 2018

[Google Translate: About 250 sexual abuses by the clergy have been reported to the Swiss Catholic Church since 2010. The accusations range from unsolicited contact to rape. The cases occurred between 1950 and today, as revealed by Le Matin Dimanche and SonntagsZeitung. More than 140 children and young people and 88 adults are involved.]

La Conferenza dei vescovi svizzeri: «Il 10% dei casi si è verificato negli ultimi otto anni»

BERNA – Circa 250 abusi sessuali da parte del clero sono stati segnalati alla Chiesa cattolica svizzera dal 2010. Le accuse vanno dal contatto non richiesto fino allo stupro. I casi si sono verificati tra il 1950 e oggi, come rivelano Le Matin Dimanche e SonntagsZeitung. Sono coinvolti più di 140 fra bambini e giovani e 88 adulti.

«Il 10% dei casi si è verificato negli ultimi otto anni, le vittime sono tutte persone adulte», ha dichiarato la Conferenza dei vescovi svizzeri.

Le aggressioni più gravi sono perseguite d’ufficio, dopo che le autorità religiose informano la giustizia, come è d’obbligo dal 2014. Alcune di queste indagini, però, sono svolte solo da persone della Chiesa, per il bene delle vittime che non vogliono sporgere denuncia.

A questo proposito, i magistrati sono scettici e mettono in guardia dal rischio che tali indagini non siano condotte correttamente. Il procuratore di San Gallo, Elmar Tremp, ha affermato attraverso le colonne del domenicale tedesco che «i casi gravi devono essere affrontati seriamente», spiegando che il personale ecclesiastico non può agire attraverso atti coercitivi come le perquisizioni o i sequestri, a volte necessari per prevenire ulteriori abusi.

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.

Pressuring harassers to quit can end up protecting them

WASHINGTON (D.C.)
The Washington Post

January 5, 2018

By Katherine Ku

Katherine Ku is a corporate and securities partner in the Los Angeles office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. She clerked for Kozinski from 2003 to 2004 and for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg from 2004 to 2005.

When I learned that Judge Alex Kozinski was retiring, after more than a dozen women accused him of inappropriate conduct and sexualized comments, part of me was relieved.

I clerked for Kozinski in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit 14 years ago and found his chambers to be a hostile, demeaning and persistently sexualized environment. I had anticipated an arduous apprenticeship with this brilliant jurist and writer. I did not expect how controlling he would be: wanting to approve the location of my apartment, complaining when his clerks wanted salad for lunch instead of whatever he was having. On one occasion, he crumpled up a printout of an email draft and threw it at me. He regularly diminished women and their accomplishments; when discussing newly selected Supreme Court clerks, he surmised, using a vulgar term, that one was lesbian. On another day, he gestured for me to come over to the computer in his office and asked me to look at a photo — unrelated to any case we were working on — of a nude man. For the rest of my year-long clerkship, I closed the door to my office and communicated with the judge as little as possible.

My experience was mild, though, compared with what other women have reported: how Kozinski showed them pornography on multiple occasions and wanted to know if it turned them on, asked them what people like them did for sex, encouraged them to exercise naked, propositioned them for sex and groped them even after they said no. In his resignation letter, Kozinski wrote that he has “always had a broad sense of humor” but apologized that he “may not have been mindful enough of the special challenges and pressures that women face in the workplace.” (His lawyer declined to comment on the characterizations in this essay.)

I’m glad to see him leave the bench. He should not be in a position to judge cases, including those involving sexual harassment.

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.

The Sexual Assault Epidemic No One Talks About

UNITED STATES
National Public Radio

January 8, 2018

By Joseph Shapiro

Editor’s note: This report includes graphic and disturbing descriptions of assault.

SPECIAL SERIES: abused and betrayed: people with intellectual disabilities and an epidemic of sexual assault

Pauline wants to tell her story — about that night in the basement, about the boys and about the abuse she wanted to stop.

But she’s nervous. “Take a deep breath,” she says out loud to herself. She takes a deep and audible breath. And then she tells the story of what happened on the night that turned her life upside down.

“The two boys took advantage of me,” she begins. “I didn’t like it at all.”

Pauline is a woman with an intellectual disability. At a time when more women are speaking up about sexual assault — and naming the men who assault or harass them — Pauline, too, wants her story told.

Her story, NPR found in a yearlong investigation, is a common one for people with intellectual disabilities.

NPR obtained unpublished Justice Department data on sex crimes. The results show that people with intellectual disabilities — women and men — are the victims of sexual assaults at rates more than seven times those for people without disabilities.

It’s one of the highest rates of sexual assault of any group in America, and it’s hardly talked about at all.

Pauline was part of that silent population. But she says she decided to speak publicly about what happened to her because she wants to “help other women.”

NPR’s investigation found that people with intellectual disabilities are at heightened risk during all parts of their day. They are more likely than others to be assaulted by someone they know. The assaults, often repeat assaults, happen in places where they are supposed to be protected and safe, often by a person they have been taught to trust and rely upon.

Pauline is 46, with a quick smile and an easy laugh. (NPR uses rape survivors’ first name, unless they prefer their full name be used.) She has red hair and stylish, coppery-orange glasses.

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.

Former Texas youth minister Andy Savage admits to sexual assault of teen girl

HOUSTON (TX)
Houston Chronicle

January 7, 2018

By Heather Leighton

A former youth minister at a church in The Woodlands is admitting to sexually assaulting a teen in his youth group in 1998.

Andy Savage, currently a teaching pastor at Highpoint Church in Memphis, has admitted to sexually assaulting Jules Woodson. The abuse occured when she was a 17-year-old youth member at Savage’s former employer, The Woodlands Parkway Baptist Church, which is now known as Stonebridge Church.

In an open letter published on the blog Watch Keep, Woodson shared her story.

According to the woman’s open letter, the incident occurred while Savage was giving her a ride back to her mom’s house following a meeting at the church.

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.

Memphis Megachurch Stands By Pastor Accused Of Sexually Assaulting Teenager

MEMPHIS (TN)
The Huffington Post

January 7, 2018

By Dominique Mosbergen

Andy Savage acknowledged the 1998 encounter and said he remains “very remorseful” for “the pain I caused.”

Responding to a recent report that one of their pastors had allegedly sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl while serving as a youth minister at his previous church, leaders of a megachurch in Memphis, Tennessee, said they’d long known about the incident.

“This information is not new to me or to our leadership,” Chris Conlee, the lead pastor of Highpoint Church, said in a statement Friday. Earlier that day, The Wartburg Watch, a Christian blog, had published the account of a woman who’d accused Andy Savage, teaching pastor at Highpoint, of sexually abusing her in the late 1990s when she was a teenager.

“On behalf of the elders, pastors, staff, and Trustees of Highpoint, I want to affirm that we are 100% committed to Andy [Savage] … and his continued ministry at Highpoint Church,” Conlee said, stressing his “total confidence in the redemptive process Andy went through” after the sexual encounter.

Savage, an author and podcast host, acknowledged the “sexual incident” in a statement of his own.

“I was and remain very remorseful for the incident and deeply regret the pain I caused her and her family, as well as the pain I caused the church and God’s Kingdom,” he said.

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.

Tennessee megachurch pastor accused of sexual assault

MEMPHIS (TN)
Fox13Memphis

January 7, 2018

A pastor of a Memphis, Tennessee, megachurch has been accused of sexual assault.

Andy Savage, of Highpoint Church, released a response to the accusations on social media platforms. Savage said he “had a sexual incident with a female high school senior” 20 years ago when he was a college student on staff at a Texas church.

He said he apologized immediately and asked for forgiveness from the victim, who was 17 at the time. Savage is coming forward after the woman shared her story on a blog, which is graphically detailed.

In the blog, the alleged victim detailed what happened and said she felt manipulated and used. She claimed she took her accusations to the church’s leaders, but police were never called.

The blog also states she has recently filed a report with law enforcement, saying what happened to her was sexual assault.

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.

Retired Vic priest in court over sex abuse

AUSTRALIA
9News

January 8, 2018

Men and women who were allegedly abused as children more than 30 years ago have begun giving evidence against a former Catholic priest accused of multiple child sex offences.

Retired priest Peter Maurice Waters, 72, appeared before Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday charged with 20 child sex offences between 1974 and 1987.

He is accused of sexually abusing six children.

Several complainants began giving evidence on Monday during a committal hearing that will determine whether Waters should stand trial.

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.

Agencies work together to open Lenawee County Child Advocacy Center

ADRIAN (MI)
The Daily Telegram

January 7, 2018

By Lonnie Huhman

ADRIAN — Lenawee County finally has a service that it’s needed for a long time: a child advocacy center.

The Lenawee County Child Advocacy Center, a program of Catholic Charities of Jackson, Lenawee and Hillsdale Counties, announced Friday it will have a grand opening from 4 to 6 p.m. Jan. 26. The ribbon cutting is at 4:30 p.m. The center is at 122 S. Broad St. in downtown Adrian.

“We’re excited about this because the community needs this,” said Sue Lewis, executive director for Catholic Charities of Jackson, Lenawee and Hillsdale Counties.

Lewis said the LCCAC is there to provide solutions to the increasing problem of child sexual abuse and severe physical abuse in the Lenawee County community.

“I think the community needs to be aware these issues exist and why this center is needed,” Lewis said.

The center is a collaboration of the Lenawee County Prosecutor’s Office, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ Child Protective Services, Lenawee Community Mental Health Authority, all law enforcement agencies in Lenawee County, ProMedica, the University of Michigan Child Protection Team and Catholic Charities. Leaders from these organizations make up the LCCAC steering committee.

“This truly is a community collaboration,” Lewis said.

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.

Nichols probe: Loophole doesn’t require private schools to report sexual misconduct

BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

January 7, 2018

By Dan Herbeck

Three former administrators from Nichols School were criticized in an investigators’ report for failing to take action against teachers involved in sexual misconduct or inappropriate relationships with their students.

If the administrators worked in public school systems, New York state laws would have required them to report such allegations immediately to law enforcement.

But because of a loophole in state law, there is no such requirement for administrators at private schools like Nichols.

“For a public school administrator, it’s a crime not to report it. For a private school administrator, there’s no law against failing to report it,” said Stephen P. Forrester, director of government relations for the not-for-profit New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. “There is a huge loophole in state law, and it’s long overdue to fix it.”

Forrester and his organization are working with legislators on a proposed state law that would put the same requirements on private school administrators. One of the proposed law’s big supporters is Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn.

Thousands of children who attend private schools throughout the state deserve the same protections as children in public schools, Flynn said.

“This is an issue that I have thought about since I first took office,” Flynn said. “It’s absolutely wrong, and I absolutely support changes in the law.”

Flynn’s comments came one day after Nichols released a report detailing its investigation into 10 teachers who had improper relationships with students over more than four decades. Nichols hired a Washington law firm to investigate last May after receiving a letter from Elizabeth Russ Mohr, a 1994 Nichols graduate who reported having a romantic and sexual relationship with her physics teacher at the school. Mohr was 17 at the time of the affair, and the teacher, Arthur Budington, was 48.

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.

George Pell accuser dies before cardinal faces child sexual abuse trial

AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

January 7, 2018

By Melissa Davey

Damian Dignan alleged Pell sexually assaulted him while he was a student in Ballarat East, which Pell denies

A man who publicly accused Australia’s most senior Catholic cardinal, George Pell, of child sexual abuse has died following a long illness.

Damian Dignan, who lived in the Victorian town of Ballarat, made allegations which were strenuously denied by Pell.

Dignan was one of a number of complainants who made allegations against Pell of historical sexual offences.

Dignan’s death was confirmed by his former partner, Sharon Rixon. “It is with great sadness that my best friend and the father of my children has passed away today,” she wrote on Facebook. “I will continue to love and guide and support our children through this difficult time.”

QC and former chief Victorian magistrate and crown prosecutor, Nicholas Papas, told Guardian Australia that Dignan’s death would affect the structure of Pell’s upcoming court case in Melbourne.

“The death of a witness if generally very serious and can affect whether the case proceeds or not,” he said. “But it’s not as simple as that, as there may be other evidence or witnesses. In a murder case, for example, the victim is obviously never there and yet a case can proceed. So it’s not that it’s unusual for witnesses to be dead, but in a case where an allegation involved historic sexual assault and there may be no other direct witnesses to that abuse, it can seriously affect the case.”

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.

Trust in clergy in US declines to historic low, Gallup poll finds

UNITED STATES
The Christian Times

January 8, 2018

By Jardine Malado

A recent Gallup poll has found that less than half of Americans believe that clergy members are honest and have high ethical standards.

The poll, titled “Americans’ Ratings of Honesty and Ethical Standards in Professions,” has revealed that trust in the clergy has declined from a high of 67 percent in 1985 to its lowest rating of 42 percent in 2017.

The number of people who have said that clergy has “very high” or “high” honesty standards have dropped precipitously in 2002 amid the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. The clergy’s ratings recovered slightly in the next few years, but it fell to 50 percent in 2009, and it has declined steadily since that time.

Clergy have been ranked behind judges (43 percent), day care providers (46 percent), police officers (56 percent), pharmacists (62 percent), medical doctors (65 percent), grade school teachers (66 percent), military officers (71 percent), and nurses (82 percent) as the most honest and ethical profession.

Religious breakdowns of the data provided to Christianity Today indicated that self-identified Christians are almost twice as likely to still have faith in religious leaders. Almost half of 776 Christian respondents said pastors had high ethical standards, but only a quarter of 236 non-Christian respondents agreed.

Non-Christians are more likely to trust grade school teachers, judges and newspaper reporters, while Christians are more likely to trust police officers, auto mechanics and business executives.

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.

National childcare register: Dodgy operators named and shamed online

QUEENSLAND (AUSTRALIA)
The Courier-Mail

January 5, 2018

By Matthew Killoran

A CHILDCARE centre operated by a Pentecostal church and linked to a child sex abuse case is one of the Queensland centres that will today be named and shamed by the Federal Government for dodgy practices.

For the first time, childcare providers barred or suspended from receiving government rebates after breaking the rules or ripping off taxpayers and parents will be named in an online register to be published today.

There have been 21 sanctions and payment cancellations slapped on Queensland childcare centres since July 2016, including penalties for fraudulent claims, not passing on subsidies or falsifying records.

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.

‘Their time is up’: Oprah’s inspiring Golden Globes speech

UNITED STATES
The Irish Times

January 8, 2018

‘A new day is on the horizon’: Oprah Winfrey thanks those who shared abuse stories

Oprah Winfrey became the first black woman to be awarded a Golden Globe for lifetime achievement on Sunday, delivering an impassioned speech in support of those who have exposed sexual misconduct in Hollywood and beyond.

Actor, movie and television producer, and chief executive of cable channel OWN, Winfrey (63) was celebrated as a role model for women and a person who has promoted strong female characters.

Her honour came in a year when the awards show, Hollywood’s first leading up to the Oscars, was dominated by a scandal that has seen the downfall of dozens of powerful men as women break years of silence.

Winfrey, who along with most of the show’s other attendees donned a black gown to show support for victims of sexual misconduct, was the first black woman to receive the annual Cecil B De Mille award, joining the likes of Meryl Streep, Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand and Sophia Loren.

Winfrey used her speech to praise women who have shared their stories of sexual harassment and abuse, and to declare that “a new day is on the horizon” for girls and women.

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.

Lawsuits: Brouillard abused boys in plain view of other victims

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

January 8, 2018

By Haidee V. Eugenio

Three more men have come forward to accuse former Guam priest Louis Brouillard of sexually abusing them when they were children, according to lawsuits filed Friday afternoon in the Superior Court of Guam. One man said he was abused weekly for a year.

A fourth accuser, who had sued Brouillard and the church in September, filed an amended lawsuit Friday in Superior Court, providing more details about the alleged sexual assault.

The three new lawsuits accuse Brouillard, who also was a scoutmaster with the Boy Scouts of America, of abusing the plaintiffs during Boy Scouts swimming trips. The plaintiffs also state they saw Brouillard abuse other boys during those trips and on church grounds.

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.

Opinion: It’s Time To Stop Singing Shlomo Carlebach’s Songs

NEW YORK (NY)
Forward

Originally Published on December 7, 2017

By Sharon Rose Goldtzvik

I can’t walk into any synagogue in America – and barely any synagogue in the world – without hearing songs written by the man who sexually assaulted my mother.

That’s because my mom is one of the many of girls and young women whom Shlomo Carlebach sexually harassed, assaulted or abused while he traveled the country performing his music.

In 1998, Lilith Magazine published a longform article about Carlebach’s history of sexual abuse, documenting testimonies from women he abused. I first read the article when I was around 16. That’s when I finally understood that my mom’s story was just one of many, and the problem was much bigger than I could have imagined.

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.

Ex vittima di un prete accusa il Papa:«Perchè ha fatto scadere la Commissione anti abusi?»

ITALY
Il Messaggero

January 5, 2018

di Franca Giansoldati

[Google Translate: A former victim of a priest accuses the Pope: “Why did he expel the anti-abuse commission?”]

CITTA’ DEL VATICANO – Marie Collins stavolta punta il dito contro Papa Francesco per avere fatto scadere la Pontificia Commissione per la Tutela dei Minori senza avere ancora provveduto a rinnovarla e a nominare nuovi membri. Collins è una mite signora irlandese, abusata da un prete quando aveva 13 anni, e da anni impegnata in una complicata battaglia perchè la Chiesa possa dotarsi al suo interno di una maggiore consapevolezza di questa piaga, a cominciare dai danni che subiscono per sempre i bambini abusati. Nel 2014 fu chiamata a fare parte della Pontificia Commissione (scaduta il 17 dicembre) ma poi da quell’incarico si è dimessa con una lunga scia di polemiche dopo avere misurato troppe omissioni da parte della struttura centrale della curia. Marie Collins chiedeva venisse istituito una specie di tribunale per i vescovi insabbiatori, coloro che avevano dato copertura ai preti pedofili per evitare scandali (un po’ quello che aveva fatto il cardinale Law a Boston).

«Al momento la Commissione è solo sulla carta, un nome vuoto, perchè di fatto non è stato ancora nominato nessun membro» dice attraverso Twitter. Il Papa alla fine di dicembre ha assicurato il cardinale O’Malley, presidente della Commissione, che la struttura avrebbe continuato a lavorare come prima. Padre Hans Zoellner, il gesuita della Gregoriana in prima linea sul tema degli abusi, ripete che le nomine sono ancora al vaglio e che la struttura continuerà il lavoro di sempre. Chi ne farà parte resta un mistero e padre Zollner non si vuole sbilanciare. Di fatto la Commissione voluta da Bergoglio come simbolo del cammino fatto in merito alla tolleranza zero comincia a fare riflettere. Prima dell’addio della Collins un’altra vittima, Peter Saunders aveva sbattuto la porta e se ne era andato polemicamente accusando persino Papa Francesco di avanzare lentamente e senza troppa convinzione.

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.

Sale of Yona seminary could help church’s considerable legal fees

GUAM
KUAM News

January 8, 2018

By Krystal Paco

Those pursuing priesthood will have to go elsewhere for their education. This after the seminary officially closed doors late last month. What comes next, hopefully, will help the church with paying down millions in clergy sexual abuse lawsuits.

A new year brings big changes to the Church.

“By January 1, Archbishop (Michael) Byrnes had in his hands officially the keys to the entire facility,” said Tony Diaz, the archdiocese’s director of communications, referring to the Redemptoris Mater Seminary. Mid-December marked their final semester after nearly two decades in existence. “It has officially ended as far as the formation and academics. No more seminarians down there are undergoing formation,” he said.

Up to 20 seminarians, all affiliated with the Neocatechumenal Way, will have to continue their studies elsewhere and on someone else’s dime. “The seminary has ceased formation and these young men are on their own with the help of their groups,” he said. “They’re moving on to other seminaries elsewhere, off-island. We pray for them. The archbishop, when he made the announcement; he said he was committed to helping these young men who would continue their studies elsewhere.”

Late last year, Archbishop Byrnes announced closure of the seminary and reported the model just wasn’t working for Guam. The Church, instead, will send those pursuing priesthood to seminaries off-island. Diaz confirms the Church is funding the education for three young men who are currently attending St. Patrick’s Seminary and University in Menlo Park, California.

With the seminary closed, the real work can begin on the property itself.

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.

Two-thirds say they have suffered ‘spiritual abuse’ in churches and Christian organisations

LONDON (ENGLAND)
Christian Today

January 8, 2018

By Harry Farley

Two-thirds of churchgoers have been spiritually abused, according to research on behalf of the Churches’ Child Protection Advisory Service (CCPAS).

Pointing to characteristics such as ‘coercion and control, manipulation and pressuring of individuals, control through the misuse of religious texts and scripture and providing a “divine” rationale for behaviour’, 1,002 out of 1,591 respondents to an online survey said they had suffered from ‘spiritual abuse’.

However caution was urged in response to the results which made up part of a report, Understanding Spiritual Abuse in Christian Communities, published by CCPAS on Sunday.

Although 74 per cent of respondents said they were confident they knew what ‘spiritual abuse’ meant, the report admits that work around the issue ‘is still in its infancy’ and ‘there is not currently universal agreement about this as a term’.

Co-author, Justin Humphreys, executive director of safeguarding at CCPAS, said: ‘Yes, the results are significant, as [being spiritually abused] was not a prerequisite for participation. Having said this, in some ways it is not surprising, as many will have taken this as an opportunity to share their story in anonymous form, possibly for the first time.’

Led by academics from Bournemouth University under Dr Lisa Oakley, the study called for an agreed-upon definition. ‘The results show that there is a need for a clear definition of spiritual abuse and that defining this term is complex,’ the report said.

While 64 per cent of participants were confident they could respond well to a disclosure of spiritual abuse, only 33 per cent said their church or Christian organisation had a policy that included spiritual abuse and only 24 per cent had received training on spiritual abuse.

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.

Four lawsuits filed citing church sex abuse

GUAM
KUAM News

January 8, 2018

By Krystal Paco

Four new clergy sexual abuse victims file lawsuits in the Superior Court of Guam.

Only identified by their initials to protect their privacy, M.W.M., G.C., M.M., and A.E.P. all allege they were molested and sexually abused by former Guam priest and boy scout master, Father Louis Brouillard.

Each complaint details abuse occurring on church grounds where the priest routinely exposed himself in front of the boys and exposed them to adult magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse.

During Boy Scout outings, plaintiffs report the priest would reward them with McDonalds or other dining experiences as well as merit badges if they swam naked.

He also reportedly took pictures of them nude and swimming without their consent.

The victims today range in age from 53 to 61 years old.

Each is suing for $5 million and is represented by Attorney Michael Berman.

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.

Church in Scotland criticized for not meeting abuse victim groups

SCOTLAND
Crux

January 8, 2018

The author of an independent review of the child protection policies of the Catholic Church in Scotland has said he is “disappointed” in the progress the bishops are making in meeting victims and survivors of clerical sexual abuse.

Rev. Andrew McLellan, the former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, was asked in 2013 to chair an interdenominational commission looking at the issue of child protection in Scotland’s Catholic Church.

The McLellan Report, presenting the findings of the commission, was published in 2015, and said, “Support for the survivors of abuse must be an absolute priority for the Catholic Church in Scotland in the field of safeguarding. The Bishops’ Conference of Scotland should make a public apology to all survivors of abuse within the Church.”

In August 2015, Archbishop Philip Tartaglia, Archbishop of Glasgow and president of the Scottish bishops’ conference, said the bishops were “shamed and pained” by clerical sexual abuse and offered a “profound apology” on behalf of the bishops.

“After Archbishop Tartaglia’s public apology, which he did so well, there was a long hard silence, and I was very disappointed in terms of the progress the bishops were making,” McLellan told the Sunday Herald, a Scottish newspaper.

McLellan, who once served as the Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland, said he was pleased with certain areas of progress, like the promised publication of a new safeguarding manual, but said meeting with victims is the priority.

“When our report was published there was a sense that there was a new mood in the Church and it was determined to turn its back on these unhappy practices. I’m astonished that it has taken so long to establish contact with survivor groups,” he told the newspaper.

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.

Pope Francis’ trip to Chile, Peru may help restore trust in church

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

January 8, 2018

By Joshua J. McElwee

This article appears in the Francis in Chile and Peru feature series. View the full series.

Pope Francis’ most recent foreign trips have seen him tackle some of the world’s most difficult geopolitical issues. In September, he traveled to Colombia to back an unpopular peace deal with guerilla militants. In November, he went to Myanmar to focus global attention on the government’s persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority.

Now, the pope is preparing to embark on a trip to Chile and Peru that may shift the focus from politics to problems inside the church community.

Local observers and prominent expatriate voices say attention during the Jan. 15-21 visit may center on how Francis can help the Chilean church regain trustworthiness after a recent spate of cases of clergy sexual abuse.

Complicating that possibility, the observers say, is Francis’ own record on the abuse issue, especially his 2015 appointment of Bishop Juan Barros Madrid of Osorno, Chile. Barros has been accused of covering up abuse by a prominent priest in the 1980s and ’90s.

Mario Paredes, who has advised both the Vatican and the U.S. bishops on Latin American issues for decades, told NCR he hoped the pope could help Chile’s hierarchy “restore credibility that in recent years it has lost.”

“No matter how you look at it, those cases have been horrendous, scandalous, and the church has lost credibility,” said Paredes, a Chile native who is now CEO of Advocate Community Partners, a network of primary care physicians in New York City. “I expect that he will make a strong appeal for a church that is really transparent [and] truthful.”

But Jesuit Fr. Antonio Delfau, the former longtime editor of Chile’s Jesuit-run Mensaje magazine, said the Barros appointment undercuts what Francis might be able to achieve while in the country.

“One of the bishops appointed by this pope is a bishop that is questioned … not only by the people of the place but also by most of the other bishops,” said Delfau, now based in Rome as the assistant to the Jesuit curia’s general treasurer. “That’s a big problem.”

Barros, who served as the head of Chile’s military diocese until Francis moved him to the small southern city of Osorno in 2015, has been accused of protecting Fr. Fernando Karadima, who was sentenced by the Vatican to a life of prayer and penance in 2011.

Though Barros was not implicated in Karadima’s canonical trial, victims say the bishop destroyed incriminating correspondence from the priest. Other victims claim Barros was even a witness to some of the sexual abuse.

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.

January 7, 2018

Catholic church in Switzerland still dealing with abuse claims

BERN (SWITZERLAND)
SwissInfo

January 7, 2018

Some 250 cases of sexual harassment within the Catholic church in Switzerland have been reported since 2010, according to media reports. A sizeable number involve abuse cases against adults.

The information was first revealed on Wednesday on local radio station Rhône FM, and was reported again in several Sunday newspapers.

According to Le Matin Dimanche, which followed up on statistics released by the Conference of Swiss Bishops, some 10% of the 250 incidents have taken place since 2010; the rest date back as far as 1950.

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.

A sickness has infected the Catholic church in Scotland

LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Guardian

January 6, 2018

By Kevin McKenna

[Note: See the McLennan Commission report. See also McKenna’s The Catholic church must think upon its sins.]

Not an ounce of compassion has been shown to survivors of sex abuse; if the hierarchy doesn’t wake up the church will not survive in the 21st century

The dawn of the new year brought with it an old tale with some familiar themes for the Catholic church in Scotland. These included an attitude towards some of its most vulnerable and damaged members that bordered on callous.

It was revealed that more than two years after the conclusion of the McLellan report into historical sex abuse in the church no contact has been made with victims’ groups. The report was compiled and delivered by the Very Reverend Dr Andrew McLellan, a former moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. He expressed astonishment at the Catholic hierarchy’s conduct.

McLellan’s report reviewed child protection and safeguarding policies and the church’s leaders greeted it with apparent humility and honeyed phrases. The archbishop of Glasgow, Philip Tartaglia, issued what sounded like a genuine and heartfelt apology. Two years on, his contrite tone rings hollow in the ears of many survivors of sex abuse in the Catholic church.

The Catholic church’s response is pitiless: why are you making trouble now, so long after the event?

The clumsy attempt by the church to ridicule McLellan’s claims was chillingly familiar to those who have found themselves on its wrong side in recent years. A spokesperson said this: “Crucially, no individual or organisation has a monopoly on survivor representation or interaction. Contact with survivors, by its nature confidential, is taking place across the church. Many survivors do not identify with or join national groups and such groups should not presume to speak for them.”

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.

Damian Dignan, who publicly accused Cardinal George Pell of sexual abuse, has died

MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA)
Herald Sun

January 7, 2018

By Chanel Kinniburgh

One of the men who publicly accused Cardinal George Pell of sexual abuse has died.

Damian Dignan of Ballarat reportedly lost his battle to a long-term illness on Saturday.

His “best friend” and former partner Sharon Rixon said Mr Dignan had “the biggest heart” and loved their children unconditionally.

“It is with great sadness that my best friend and the father of my children has passed away today,” Ms Rixon posted to Facebook late on Saturday night.

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.

January 6, 2018

Waterford bishop warns local schools of paedophile ex-priest’s ‘recent activities’

DUBLIN (IRELAND)
The Journal

January 5, 2018

[Note: This article includes a screenshot of a portion of the bishop’s letter.]

In a letter sent out before Christmas, the Bishop said that convicted paedophile Oliver O’Grady was “seeking victims in our midst”.

The bishop Waterford and Lismore has sent a letter to local primary schools and teachers warning them about a convicted paedophile ex-priest who is living in the Waterford city area.

The letter concerned Oliver O’Grady, who admitted to sexually abusing children while serving as a parish priest in California from 1973 onwards.

In 1993 he was convicted for molesting two brothers over a 10-year period while in the US, and served a seven-year sentence before being deported back to Ireland.

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.

Former priest pleads guilty in child sex case

GLENS FALLS (NY)
Post Star

January 5, 2018

By Don Lehman

Ballston Spa – A defrocked former Catholic priest who lived at a “retreat” in Washington County pleaded guilty Friday to two felony charges for having sexual contact with an underage boy.

Michael R. Hands, 51, pleaded guilty to counts of third-degree criminal sexual act for sexual contact with a child younger than the age of 17 in the town of Charlton last July. He had also been accused of sharing pornography with the teen.

The charges were brought because the teen was too young to legally consent to sexual relations.

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.

Review: Into Silence and Servitude – How American Girls Became Nuns, 1945-1965 by Brian Titley

DUBLIN (IRELAND)
Irish Times

January 6, 2018

By Catriona Crowe

This a well-researched, vividly written account of a cohort of women who had great influence on female life in America

Nuns are in the air. In Alice McDermott’s recently published eighth novel, The Ninth Hour, much of the plot centres on a community of nuns, the Little Nursing Sisters of the Sick Poor, dedicated to caring for New York’s needy population. Netflix recently had a hit with The Keepers, which explores the unsolved murder of Sister Cathy Cesnik, who taught English and drama at Baltimore’s Archbishop Keough High School, and her former students’ belief that there was a cover-up by authorities after Cesnik suspected that a priest at the school, A Joseph Maskell, was guilty of sexual abuse. And The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood’s 1985 book recently made into a riveting TV series, mimics the hierarchical structures of convent life with its dystopian Handmaids, Marthas and Aunts.

Brian Titley’s Into Silence and Servitude examines the mechanisms through which young American girls and women became nuns between 1945 and 1965. He chose this time period because it was during these years that the greatest number of girls attended Catholic schools, and the greatest numbers became nuns. The period also covers the timespan between the end of the second World War and the second Vatican Council.

Titley takes us through the various phases of formation for nuns: aspirancies, high schools for boarders dedicated to attracting young girls to convent life; postulancy, their first introduction to life as a nun; the novitiate, a period of intensive religious training leading to reception and profession of vows.

The Catholic church was seriously opposed to the American public school system, and set up its own network of Catholic elementary and high schools, where religion was an integral part of the curriculum. As Baby Boom children began to appear after 1945, it was clear that the church would need to increase its school network, and that it would need large numbers of new recruits to religious life to staff it. Teaching nuns were cheap: they did not get a salary, and were prepared to suffer onerous working conditions which would not have been tolerated by their secular colleagues.

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.

Training sessions to help tackle high rate of rape, sexual assault on Guam

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

January 6, 2018

By Haidee V. Eugenio

With Guam having the second-highest number of rape per capita in the nation, advocates against sexual assault and family violence want to help change that by organizing training sessions this month on prevention and addressing cases.

Guam’s only rape crisis center, Healing Hearts Crisis Center, reported serving 903 victims of sexual assault between 2008 and 2015, according to the Guam Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Family Violence.

In 2015, the rape crisis center served 137 victims. Seventy-seven percent of them were minors, the coalition said.

The national rate for reported rape is 25.2 per 100,000 people. But on Guam, there are 64.2 reported rapes per 100,000 people, the coalition previously stated.

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.

Audit finds archdiocese ‘substantially compliant’ with clergy abuse settlement terms

ST. PAUL (MN)
Pioneer Press

January 5, 2018

By Sarah Horner

Former Hennepin County Attorney Thomas Johnson stood inside the Ramsey County District Courthouse on Friday morning and rattled off his email address and cellphone number to a handful of reporters gathered nearby.

Then he made the unusual request of asking the media to share his personal contact information with the public.

That’s the only way Johnson can do what the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office have collectively asked him to do: Serve as an independent and ongoing point-of-contact for victims of clergy sexual abuse seeking help and a confidential ear.

Little Canada woman charged after husband found with intestines exposed New Year’s Day
Ramsey County authorities say missing 16-year-old from Little Canada has been found safe
The new ombudsman role is voluntary and self-led, meaning Johnson won’t be answering to anyone or picking up a paycheck.

Standing alongside Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Ramsey County Attorney John Choi, Johnson said he wants to help those affected by the decades of clergy abuse within the archdiocese and help ensure the climate changes.

Johnson spoke on the same day the archdiocese released to the courts the results of the first of three court-ordered independent audits aimed at assessing the archdiocese’s compliance with the settlement agreement reached with the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office in 2015 over its handling of sexual abuse claims.

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.

Bishop warns parishioners about ‘extremely dangerous’ paedophile ex priest living 150 yards from primary school

DUBLIN (IRELAND)
Irish Mirror

January 5, 2018

By Ciaran Murphy

A bishop has warned parishioners about “an extremely dangerous paedophile” ex-priest who lives about 150 yards from a primary school.

Convicted paedophile Oliver O’Grady, 72, originally from Limerick, now lives near six schools and a Montessori in the heart of Waterford city.

The sicko was convicted for raping and abusing at least 25 children in California from 1973 onwards.

Astonishingly, O’Grady lives close to an all-boys primary school.

He is also within a kilometre of two other primary schools, two secondary schools, a Montessori school and a primary and secondary school that share the same grounds.

Meanwhile, children regularly use a playground about 300 yards away from his front door.

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.

First clergy abuse lawsuit of 2018 seeks $10M: 151 cases filed so far

GUAM
Guam Daily Post

January 5, 2018

By Mindy Aguon

A former altar boy and Boy Scout has filed a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Agana, the Boy Scouts of America and retired priest Louis Brouillard alleging he was sexually abused in 1958.

G.M., who used initials to protect his identity, alleges Brouillard sexually molested and abused him during Boy Scout outings and while he was an altar boy.

The civil complaint, filed by G.M.’s attorney, David Lujan, alleges one night during confession when G.M. was 15 years old, Brouillard summoned him to sit next to him and then allegedly started fondling the teen and then sexually abused him.

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.

Kansas priest will not return to parish after hiking trip with children

WICHITA (KS)
Wichita Eagle

January 5, 2018

By Stan Finger and Katherine Burgess

A Catholic priest removed from the pulpit after taking a group of boys on an unsupervised hike in October will not return to the parish, Bishop Carl Kemme announced in a letter to parishioners in Conway Springs.

The Catholic Diocese of Wichita would not comment on or confirm Friday the news about the Rev. Andrew Seiler, who was removed from St. Joseph Catholic Church in Conway Springs in mid-October after the incident. Being alone with a minor goes against behavioral boundaries set by the diocese.

“Based on my own meetings at the parish … as well as letters and emails I have received since then, I understand that some will agree with this decision and others will not,” Kemme’s letter to the parish states. “In the end, I have come to the conclusion that it would be best for everyone involved if St. Joseph Parish received a new pastor at this time.”

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.

Bishop’s letter to schools warns of ‘dangerous paedophile priest’

DUBLIN (IRELAND)
Independent

January 6, 2018

By Sarah MacDonald

Concerns have been expressed over the lack of supervision of a notorious paedophile former priest whom the Catholic Bishop of Waterford and Lismore has warned is “extremely dangerous” and is “actively seeking victims”.

Clerical abuse survivor Marie Collins paid tribute to Bishop Phonsie Cullinan for a letter he sent to priests and schools in his diocese just before Christmas about convicted paedophile Oliver O’Grady, who is living in Waterford city.

In the letter, Dr Cullinan attached a photo of the former cleric who served in the US and said he had informed gardaí of his recent activities in the locality.

He asked the letter’s recipients to advise all parish groups, especially those working in any way with children, to be “aware that this man continues to be an evil menace to innocent children”.

Speaking to the Irish Independent, Ms Collins, a survivor of clerical abuse and former member of the Vatican’s Commission for the Protection of Minors, commended Bishop Cullinan.

“While it is good to see the bishop issuing this warning and passing on his concerns to gardaí, I would ask who is monitoring this very dangerous paedophile?”

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.

Ex-priest admits to new abuse in Saratoga County

ALBANY (NY)
Times-Union

January 5, 2018

By Robert Gavin

Ballston Spa – A former priest convicted of molesting a 13-year-old boy on Long Island in 2003 pleaded guilty Friday to sexually attacking a new young victim on two occasions in Saratoga County.

Michael Hands, 51, admitted to two counts of third-degree criminal sex act, the legal name for sodomy. He faces 7 to 8 years in prison at his March 2 sentencing by Saratoga County Judge James A. Murphy III.

The age and sex of the victim were not disclosed. Hands admitted he engaged in sexual contact with a child younger than 17 in July in the town of Charlton.

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.

January 5, 2018

Archdiocese of Boston Reaches Settlement with Victim of Priest in Jamaica Plain

BOSTON (MA)
Jamaica Plain News

January 5, 2018

By David Ertischek

The Archdiocese of Boston has reached a five-figure settlement with a man, who as a boy, was sexually abused by a priest at the St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Jamaica Plain in the 1970s.

When he was approximately from the ages of 10 to 13, William Brown was sexually abused by Father Arnold Kelley, who now lives in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Brown was a parishioner, band member and religious education student (CCD) at St. Aquinas Parish (located at 97 South St.). Kelley was assigned to the St. Aquinas Parish from 1966 to 1976.

Brown filed a civil lawsuit in the Essex County Superior Court in 2016 after coming forward alleging that Kelley sexually abused him from 1973 to 1976.

As early as 1997, the Archdiocese of Boston was made aware of sexual abuse allegations by a child against Kelley at St. Rita’s Parish in Lowell. A media conference announcing the settlement was held on the sidewalk outside of St. Rita’s on Jan. 3rd.

“My client, by coming forward, is creating transparency which the Catholic Church should create but refuses to. In doing so William Brown is empowering himself, other victims and making the world a safer place for children,” said Mitchell Garabedian, Brown’s attorney. “This is another example of purportedly the most moral institution in the world acting the most immorally.”

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.

“Don Euro”, chiesto il rinvio a giudizio per il sacerdote e per il vescovo

ITALY
La Nazione

January 5, 2018

By Maria Nudi

[Google Translate: Massa, 5 January 2018 – For the investigation of alleged “cheerful” expenses of Don Luca Morini , parish priest of Massa Carrara, renamed also “don Euro”, the prosecution has asked for the trial of the priest and also of the bishop of Massa Carrara and Pontremoli, Monsignor Giovanni Santucci . The position of Bishop Santucci, however, “within our investigations is still marginal, ” according to what was said by the attorney of Massa Aldo Giubilaro.]

Chiesto il processo anche per un ex sacerdote

Massa, 5 gennaio 2018 – Per l’inchiesta sulle presunte spese “allegre” di don Luca Morini, parroco di Massa Carrara ribattezzato anche “don Euro”, la Procura ha chiesto il rinvio a giudizio del sacerdote e anche del vescovo di Massa Carrara e Pontremoli, monsignor Giovanni Santucci. La posizione del vescovo Santucci, tuttavia, “all’interno delle nostre indagini risulta comunque marginale”, secondo quanto ha detto il procuratore di Massa Aldo Giubilaro .

Chiesto il processo anche per un ex sacerdote, Emiliano Colombo. Diverse le ipotesi di reato contestate agli indagati. Per Morini, parroco prima ad Avenza poi di Fossone e Caniparola, il processo è stato chiesto per truffa ed estorsione nei confronti dei fedeli, al vescovo contestata la frode e l’estorsione in relazione a presunte pressioni che avrebbe fatto su un’assicurazione per concedere a “don Euro” un punteggio di invalidità superiore al dovuto e per un passaggio di denaro dal conto della Curia a quello del parroco.

Ricettazione infine l’ipotesi di reato per Colombo accusato dalla procura di aver aiutato Morini a nascondere soldi sul suo conto. La vicenda parte nel 2015 quando un escort napoletano rivelò alla stampa il suo rapporto con don Morini, parlando di grandi disponibilità economiche del parroco. Arrivarono poi tante denunce dei fedeli sull’impiego, a scopi personali, delle offerte.

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.

Feste, lusso, escort gay: le spese pazze del parroco con i soldi delle offerte

ITALY
Secolo d’Italia

January 5, 2018

[Google Translate: The Massa Carrara Public Prosecutor’s Office , as part of the investigation into alleged “cheerful” expenses of Fr. Luca Morini, a 56-year-old from Pontasserchi, parish priest in the Apuan province, nicknamed “don Euro”, has requested that the priest, the bishop of Massa Carrara and Pontremoli, Monsignor Giovanni Santucci, and former priest, Emiliano Colombo. The news has been announced today Il Tirreno. The confirmation came then from the Massa Carrara Public Prosecutor’s Office. The attorney of Massa, Aldo Giubilaro, however, stressed that the position of Monsignor Giovanni Santucci, “within our investigations is still marginal”. From the diocese, with a note, it was underlined that “in relation to the news on the request for indictment for the bishop of the diocese of Massa Carrara and Pontremoli, it is specified that today Monsignor Giovanni Santucci has not received any official communication from the power of attorney, either directly or through their lawyers, about the charges that are challenged ».}

La Procura di Massa Carrara, nell’ambito dell’inchiesta sulle presunte spese ”allegre” di don Luca Morini, 56enne di Pontasserchi, parroco nella provincia apuana, soprannominato “don Euro”, ha chiesto il rinvio a giudizio del sacerdote, del vescovo di Massa Carrara e Pontremoli, monsignor Giovanni Santucci, e dell’ex prete, Emiliano Colombo. Ne ha dato notizia oggi Il Tirreno . La conferma è arrivata poi dalla Procura di Massa Carrara. Il procuratore di Massa, Aldo Giubilaro, ha comunque sottolineato che la posizione di monsignor Giovanni Santucci, «all’interno delle nostre indagini risulta comunque marginale»”. Dalla diocesi, con una nota, è stato sottolineato che «in relazione alle notizie sulla richiesta di rinvio a giudizio per il vescovo della diocesi di Massa Carrara e Pontremoli, si precisa che ad oggi monsignor Giovanni Santucci non ha ricevuto alcuna comunicazione ufficiale da parte della procura, né direttamente né attraverso i propri legali, circa gli addebiti che gli vengono contestati».

L’inchiesta parte nel 2015 quando un escort napoletano rivelò alla stampa il suo rapporto con don Morini, parlando di grandi disponibilità economiche del parroco, che partecipava a feste su yacht, compra scarpe di lusso e che avrebbe persino tenuto un “tesoretto” Arrivarono poi tante denunce dei fedeli sull’impiego, a scopi personali, delle offerte. Diverse le ipotesi di reato contestate agli indagati. Per Morini, parroco prima ad Avenza poi di Fossone e Caniparola, il processo è stato chiesto per truffa ed estorsione nei confronti dei fedeli, al vescovo contestata la frode e l’estorsione in relazione a presunte pressioni che avrebbe fatto su un’assicurazione per concedere a don Morini un punteggio di invalidità superiore al dovuto e per un passaggio di denaro dal conto della Curia a quello del parroco. Ricettazione infine l’ipotesi di reato per Colombi, accusato dalla procura di aver aiutato Morini a nascondere soldi sul suo conto.

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.

Settlements with insurers pivotal for bankrupt Duluth diocese-lawyer

DULUTH (MN)
Reuters

January 4, 2018

By Jim Christie

The judge overseeing the bankruptcy of the Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota is expected to soon approve settlements between the Roman Catholic diocese and two of its insurers which will raise nearly $10 million, mostly for victims of clergy sex abuse, a lawyer for the diocese said on Wednesday.

The bulk of the money will come from a settlement with the Catholic Mutual Relief Society of America. It will set aside $8.95 million for victims in a reorganization of diocese’s finances.

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.

PRIEST ACCUSED OF ABUSING BOYS IN OC IN THE 80S TURNS UP IN PERU

LOS ANGELES (CA)
L.A. Taco

January 5, 2018

By Gustavo Arellano

A former Catholic priest in heavily brown SoCal parishes who was listed among alleged child abusers in 2004 has turned up a remote port city in Peru.

The former priest, Horacio Edgardo Arrunátegui Jimenez, appears in a Peruvian television magazine investigation that aired last month confirming that the long-hiding priest was happily posted in Chimbote, on Peru’s northern coast, serving as a hospital chaplain under the auspices of the local diocese.

Jimenez has been moving around between assignments in his native Peru and in Spain since he was abruptly removed from the ministry in Orange County. He was a popular priest in the late 1980s and early 1990s at the largely Latino parishes of St. Mary in Fullerton and St. Anthony Claret in Anaheim (yes, in Orange County).

And then he disappeared.

Diocesan officials told shocked parishioners back then that Jimenez had left on a missionary assignment, but they finally revealed the truth in 2004, in a press release that revealed all Orange County priests removed from ministry after “credible allegations” of child sexual abuse.

Those names were submitted to the John Jay College of Criminal Justice as part of the school’s pioneering 2004 study into the Catholic Church pedophile priest scandal. Jimenez was the only priest named who was not part of a $100 million settlement the Orange diocese reached with over 90 victims in 2005 — at that time, the largest settlement in the history of the American Catholic Church.

Now, Cuarto Poder — something like the 60 Minutes of Peru — has tracked down Jimenez to Chimbote. The report revealed that Jimenez had bounced around the world after Orange County by using different iterations of his full name. Horacio Jiménez in one country, Edgardo Arrunategui in another, and so forth. At one point in the report, a Cuarto Poder correspondent catches up with Jimenez as he is entering his home — accompanied by what the narrator drolly described as “an underage youth.”

“Talk to the bishop,” an angry Jimenez tells the reporter, adding:“There’s nothing to declare.”

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.

The Role of the Apology in Abuse Redress Schemes

AUSTRALIA
Mediate.com

January 2018

by Greg Rooney

The profound apology has been an essential part of abuse redress schemes adopted by a number of religious institutions in Australia for supporting victims of abuse within their organisations.

It has also been applied by the Australian Government in its response to institutional abuse within the Australian Defence Force through the Defence Abuse Response Taskforce (DART). A number of Australian State governments are in the process of adopting a similar redress scheme for dealing with abuse within their local police forces.

These schemes have not only had a transformative effect for the victims of that abuse they also have had a profound effect on those representatives giving the apology. As a result they have a powerful influence on bringing about a change of culture within those institutions.

Removing barriers for victims to obtain redress

These redress schemes have a number of unique features.

Firstly, claimants are accepted into the scheme without having to prove the criminal standard of proof of beyond reasonable doubt that the abuses occurred. Some schemes have reduced the level of proof to the civil onus of the balance of probabilities while others have adopted a far lesser onus requiring the application simply to have the appearance of being plausible. This makes it easier for victims to come forward and report the abuse.

These type of claims are evidentially hard to prove because it is usually one person’s word against the other. Historical claims are also difficult to sustain because of the passing of time. Dropping the onus of proof to a lower level allows the matter to be dealt with without the claimant having to re-engage with the perpetrator through the investigating process. This takes further pressure off claimants

Secondly, there is no involvement by the perpetrator of the abuse once the claim has been accepted. The apology is given by senior religious figures, military officers and police commanders on behalf of the institution in which the abuse occurred. Again this protects the claimant from having to re-engage with the perpetrator avoiding the very real potential for re-traumatisation.

The traditional restorative justice/ victim offender mediation approach of focusing on the rehabilitation of offenders through reconciliation with victims and the community at large does not apply with these redress schemes.

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.

Bishop warns parishioners about ‘extremely dangerous’ paedophile ex priest living 150 yards from primary school

WATERFORD (IRELAND)
Irish Mirror

January 5, 2018

By Ciaran Murphy

Parents have been warned of his presence in the community

A bishop has warned parishioners about “an extremely dangerous paedophile” ex-priest who lives about 150 yards from a primary school.

Convicted paedophile Oliver O’Grady, 72, originally from Limerick, now lives near six schools and a Montessori in the heart of Waterford city.

The sicko was convicted for raping and abusing at least 25 children in California from 1973 onwards.

Astonishingly, O’Grady lives close to an all-boys primary school.

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.

Judge OKs 2 insurance settlements in Diocese of Duluth’s bankruptcy

DULUTH (MN)
Forum News Service

January 5, 2018

By Tom Olsen

DULUTH, Minn. — A judge overseeing the Diocese of Duluth’s bankruptcy has signed off on two insurance company settlements that will pump nearly $10 million into the case.

The agreements, approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel at a hearing in Minneapolis on Thursday, will provide almost $9 million to victims of child sexual abuse and allow officials to pursue additional compensation.

The settlements with Catholic Mutual Relief Society of America and Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. resolve two-fifths of a federal lawsuit filed in June 2016 that has stalled the bankruptcy proceedings.

The diocese, which filed for Chapter 11 protection in December 2015 in the wake of a $4.9 million verdict, brought the suit against five insurers in an effort to force coverage of claims received from 125 people who said they were abused by priests.

Nebraska-based Catholic Mutual in November agreed to contribute $8.95 million to victims, becoming the first insurance company to resolve its role in the case after prolonged litigation and mediation.

Representatives of both the diocese and the victims said the settlement marked a “major step forward” in moving the bankruptcy case toward a global resolution that will adequately compensate victims and allow the diocese to emerge from Chapter 11 protection.

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.

Confidential deals can obscure sexual misconduct allegations against doctors as Cleveland Clinic case shows

CLEVELAND (OH)
USA Today

January 5, 2018

By Jayne O’Donnell

The Cleveland Clinic, one of the nation’s largest and most renowned hospitals, knew of at least two cases in which one of its surgeons was accused of raping patients but kept him on the staff while reaching a confidential settlement, a USA TODAY investigation has found.

Ryan Williams, a colorectal surgeon accused in police reports by two women of anally raping them in 2008 and 2009, left Cleveland Clinic last summer for another hospital, which placed him on leave after learning of the complaints against him.

As prominent men in government, the judiciary and entertainment lose their jobs for varied forms of sexual harassment, doctors accused of sexual assaults of patients are regularly unaffected professionally or publicly.

But the same types of secret settlements criticized for their role in sex abuse and harassment cases from Hollywood to Capitol Hill are also frequent in health care. Doctors and hospitals worried about their public image feel like, “If I can’t get silence what’s in it for me?,” says Jim Hopper, a clinical psychologist and expert witness in cases involving institutions’ treatment of patients.

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.

Lawsuit: Priest sexually abused boy during confession night in 1958

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

January 5, 2018

By Haidee V. Eugenio

Father Louis Brouillard allegedly sexually abused an altar boy during confession night in or around 1958, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in federal court.

The plaintiff, identified in court documents only as G.M. to protect his privacy, said Brouillard’s sexual molestation and abuse included fondling, masturbation and oral copulation during the time G.M. was a minor altar boy at the Mangilao parish and as a Boy Scout in the Mangilao troop.

G.M. is represented by attorney David Lujan’s law firm. The lawsuit said G.M. is now 66 years old and was 15 at the time of the alleged abuse. However, a 15-year-old in 1958 would not be 66 now. Attempts to reach the law firm for clarification weren’t successful.

The $10 million lawsuit also alleges G.M. was sexually abused by Boy Scout leader Edward Pereira around the same time.

G.M. said in his lawsuit that Brouillard also sexually abused him and other boys during weekly Boy Scouts outings by instructing them to remove their clothes and swim naked. The lawsuit says while swimming, Brouillard would grope and touch the boys’ private parts.

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.

Abuse survivor says conviction rate ‘a joke’

DUNEDIN (NEW ZEALAND)
Otago Daily Times

January 4, 2018

By Chris Morris

A Dunedin survivor of historic abuse in state care says the number of prosecutions resulting from a national listening service is ”a joke”.

Figures released to the Otago Daily Times, following an Official Information Act request, showed just two offenders had been successfully prosecuted as a result of referrals to police by the Confidential Listening and Assistance Service (CLAS).

The CLAS panel, launched in 2008, travelled the country to hear from about 1100 people – 57% of whom said they had been sexually abused in state care – before issuing its final report in 2015.

However, information released to the ODT by Detective Inspector David Kirby, the national manager of the police’s sexual violence and child protection unit, underscored the difficulties in securing convictions for historic offending dating back to the 1950s.

The figures showed the CLAS had referred 90 people to police, but 54 were for requests for further information only.

The remaining 36 referrals had led to criminal investigations being conducted, but charges were laid in just eight cases and just two prosecutions had been successful by September last year, the figures showed.

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.

Newcastle Herald Letters to the Editor

NEW LAMBTON (AUSTRALIA)
The Newcastle Herald

January 5, 2018

I CONFESS that I have never had much time for canon lawyers. Father Tom Doyle shows that once a canon lawyer always a canon lawyer (‘Cleric urges government to be bold’, Newcastle Herald, 4/1).

Making tax concessions contingent on the Catholic Church classifying child sexual abuse as a crime in canon law does not achieve much in terms of changing hearts or helping survivors. Classifying child sexual abuse as a crime is no substitute for empathy and nor does it guarantee moral integrity.

Child sexual abuse is evil because it is enabled by a lack of empathy. The survivors want to make sure that what they endured is not inflicted upon another.

The best way to prevent further abuse and to show empathy is to remove the perpetrator from the office of ministry that made the abuse possible.

If Rome remains ambivalent or tardy about such removal then we need local leaders prepared to make a stand on what should be non-negotiable.

Mark Porter, New Lambton

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.

Fury as State probe axed into ‘cover up’ of Waterford paedophile Bill Kenneally’s abuse

DUBLIN (IRELAND)
Irish Mirror

January 4, 2018

By Niall Moonan

Victims say they and their families’ lives are on hold waiting for investigation into how sex abuse complaints were not acted upon

Victims of Ireland’s worst paedophile were told yesterday that an inquiry promised last year into claims the State covered up the horrific abuse, has been shelved.

They had hoped the probe would finally expose the organisations which knew – but did nothing about – the decades-long torture they suffered at the hands of depraved basketball coach Bill Kenneally.

But Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan yesterday said it can not proceed because of fresh allegations against the jailed pervert.

One brave victim, Jason Clancy, 47, told The Mirror last night that neither he nor fellow survivors were told about the decision and learned about it through the media.

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.

DEBRA MESSING EXPLAINS SIGNIFICANCE OF #METOO CAMPAIGN

LONDON (ENGLAND)
Reuters via Eyewitness News (EWN)

January 5, 2018

Debra Messing says the #MeToo campaign has helped her realise how many times she’s been sexually harassed.

LONDON – New York-born actress has spoken about how the #MeToo campaign has impacted her own life.

Debra Messing says the #MeToo campaign has helped her realise how many times she’s been sexually harassed.

The 49-year-old actress says that the fallout from the Hollywood sex scandal – which led to the launch of the MeToo campaign on social media, encouraging abuse victims to share their own experiences – has caused her to understand how many times she’s been subjected to inappropriate, unwanted advances.

Debra said the campaign “made me realise that I hadn’t processed how many times I had actually been sexually harassed throughout my life”.

The ‘Will & Grace’ star said that the scandal – which was triggered by a series of allegations made against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein – has underlined the need for more female representation in positions of power.

She told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: “We need people who are not white men to be in positions of power, that’s what has become most clear through all of this.”

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.

Catholic Monsignor Who Stole Money to Cover Gambling Expenses Sentenced to Federal Prison

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Casino.org

January 4, 2018

By Kevin Horridge

Catholic Monsignor William Dombrow is headed to federal prison for the next eight months for stealing $535,000 from the Philadelphia Archdiocese to predominantly cover his gambling expenses.

US District Judge Gerald Pappert sentenced Dombrow yesterday in Philadelphia, but he didn’t go lightly on the once-vaunted Catholic priest. The federal judge explained in his verdict that Dombrow’s confession and willingness to take advantage of donors was a crime that needed to be properly punished.

While Dombrow, 78, admitted most of the money was used to fuel his gambling escapades, the priest also purchased dozens of concert tickets, took lavish trips, and ate at expensive restaurants.

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.

Guest Opinion: Let’s foster a culture where victims feel they can speak out

LEVITTOWN (PA)
Bucks County Courier Times

January 5, 2018

By Penelope Ettinger

So many of the men who sexually assault children and women are known in their respective communities as “a good man” — the priest, teacher, mentor, boyfriend, grandfather, elected official, lawyer, business leader or husband. Few are complete strangers to their victims.

On the other hand, when women come forward and disclose their abuse, we often wonder “why didn’t she say anything until now?” But the more important questions that we really need to focus on are “What can we all do to help prevent sexual assault?” “How do we provide an environment where every victim can feel safe to come forward?” And lastly, “Why are we blaming the victim?”

The facade of being a “good man” is key to many perpetrators’ ability to maintain social and professional circles so egregious behavior is not so easily recognized. The “good man” can hold exceptional power to control their victim and shame or threaten them into silence. Whether the victim is a child or an adult — grooming from a position of power on the part of the perpetrator is key to controlling a victim.

We would all like to believe that sexual assault only happens outside of our wonderful community. However unfortunate, women, children and men are sexually assaulted every day here in Buck County. Affluence, poverty, race, age, zip code of residence and ethnicity do not define who and where children, women or men will be sexually assaulted. The Network of Victim Assistance is the comprehensive victim services organization and rape crisis center in Bucks County.

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.

Caldey Island monk sexual abuser was warned by abbot

CALDEY ISLAND (WALES)
Jackson Observer

January 5, 2018

A monk who sexually abused children on Caldey Island was warned by an abbot that he risked “severe penalties” if his behaviour continued.

Father Thaddeus Kotik‘s abuse was reported to Brother Robert O‘Brien in 1990 but not to police, a letter seen by Wales shows.

Dyfed-Powys Police said it received reports of the abuse in 2014 and 2016.

They investigated but could not prosecute as Kotik died in 1992.

Six women have been paid compensation in an out-of-court settlement by Caldey Abbey following the sexual abuse claims.

Kotik befriended families who regularly visited the island. After gaining the trust of parents he would babysit the children and sexually abuse them, court papers have suggested.

One of them, , said she “bitterly regrets” that her abuser was never jailed.

There are fears there could be more victims and calls have been made for an by the Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors group.

In the letter, Brother Robert showed Kotik‘s behaviour was known about in the monastery, a place which attracts tourists to the small island.

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.

Caldey Island sexual abuse independent inquiry call

CALDEY ISLAND (WALES)
Jackson Observer

January 4, 2018

Victims of historic sexual abuse at a monastery on Caldey Island deserve an independent inquiry, a support group has said.

Six women have been paid compensation in an out-of-court settlement following sexual abuse claims in the 1970s and 1980s by a monk at the abbey.

The Children‘s Commissioner is to write to the monastery for an assurance that children who visit the island are safe.

The Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors group want an investigation.

“It is human nature to protect those around you,” said Jo Kind, the Welsh representative of the group which supports women and men who have been sexually abused by members of the Church.

“In order for that to be open and for all of the facts to be found out, there does need an independent inquiry from somebody who is not part of the institution, who can come in with expertise, ask the right questions and find out what happened.”

Dyfed-Powys Police has confirmed it received reports of historical sexual abuse by a monk on Caldey Island.

Father Thaddeus Kotik, who lived on the Pembrokeshire island for 45 years, abused six children in the 1970s and 1980s.

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.

First church sex abuse of 2018 filed, seeking $10M

GUAM
KUAM News

January 5, 2018

By Krystal Paco

The New Year brings more allegations of clergy sexual abuse. Only identified by his initials to protect his identity, 66-year-old “G.M.” alleges he was molested and abused by former Guam priest and Boy Scout master, Father Louis Brouillard.

G.M. detailed an incident in which the priest asked if he had masturbated before removing G.M.’s pants and performing sexual acts on him.

G.M. was only 15 years old at the time.

He’s suing for $10 million.

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.

January 4, 2018

Australian of the Year: Chrissie Foster’s resolute battle ‘to right a wrong’ for abused kids

SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA)
The Australian

January 5, 2018

By Tessa Akerman

Chrissie Foster said last year she and her late husband Anthony only “struggled to do the right thing and try to right a wrong”.

Their struggle resulted in the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child abuse by religious and other organisations and showed the need for a royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

Ms Foster drew state attention to the issue of clergy abuse with her book Hell on the Way to Heaven, co-written with Paul Kennedy, which detailed the Fosters’ fight for justice after two of their daughters were abused by pedophile priest Kevin O’Donnell.

The scale of child sexual abuse and failings by institutions led to a damning report in 2013 and highlighted the need for the royal commission announced by then prime minister Julia Gillard in 2012.

“It has been a long time — for us it has been a 16-year wait,’’ Ms Foster said.

“This just feels like we’ve been heard and believed, which feels like justice.’’

The Fosters gave evidence before the royal commission and supported other survivors, even travelling to Rome for cardinal George Pell’s testimony in 2016.

“This is helping the work of the royal commission on a world stage,” Ms Foster said.

“It’s been such a godsend for the victims of Australia.”

While the journey has been marked by losses, including the death of her daughter Emma in 2008 and her husband’s death last year, Ms Foster has continued to speak out for victims and travelled to Canberra last month to see the commission’s final report handed down.

Ms Foster is adamant the government and church must follow through on the commission’s recommendations to the Catholic Church, including on such matters as the sanctity of the confessional seal.

“The government must be brave and follow the royal commission’s informed recommendations,” she said.

“The Catholic Church priesthood says confession is sacrosanct. I say the bodies of children are sacrosanct.”

Ms Foster was Victoria’s 2017 nominee for Australia’s Local Hero and is one of The Australian’s Australian of the Year nominees.

Readers are encouraged to make a nomination for Australian of the Year by filling out the coupon, sending an email or going to our website.

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.

Community comes together for Lina’s project

NEWCASTLE (AUSTRALIA)
MN News

January 3, 2018

By Joanne Isaac

In September the launch event for The Atonement: Lina’s Project took place at Newcastle City Hall. It was arguably the first time a Catholic diocese had facilitated a project conceived by a victim of child sexual abuse.

Lina, who was abused by a member of clergy in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle, devised The Atonement: Lina’s Project as a way of rebuilding her own trust in “my Church” and bringing some healing to the “average, ordinary human beings” whose skin had been “burnt, scorched and blistered” by the actions and inactions of the church.

Lina hoped that by admitting its criminal history and cover-ups at the launch event and then projecting images onto the façade of Sacred Heart Cathedral, the diocese might take a step towards atonement with the community.

The audio-visual presentation has been viewed over 1,600 times, so clearly, people are engaging with Lina’s message. You can watch it on the Lina’s Project website, www.linasproject.com.au. The projection onto the cathedral also saw a significant number of people watching each evening.

Around 500 people attended on Friday 15 September. Victims, survivors, families and friends, clergy, religious, principals, teachers, diocesan staff and many others sat together. The mood was, as Pat Feenan described, “quiet, respectful and sad, which was exactly as it should be”.

ABC presenter, Juanita Phillips, welcomed all and explained how Lina’s Project came to be.

A 16-minute presentation was shown. The focus was the naming of perpetrators of abuse, as well as those who concealed their crimes, but Lina’s voice and words anchored the film and − along with statements from other victims and survivors who lent their voices − gave the presentation its compass.

The silence during the presentation was moving. One person described the event as “beautifully sensitive and heartbreakingly truthful”.

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.

Priest gets 8 months in prison for embezzling $500,000

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Associated Press

January 4, 2018

The rector of a retirement home for Roman Catholic priests who was convicted of embezzling a half-million dollars has been sentenced to eight months in federal prison.

Authorities say Monsignor William Dombrow spent the stolen funds on casino visits, expensive dinners and concerts.

At his sentencing Wednesday, Dombrow acknowledged committing a “serious crime” and said he would accept the judge’s decision.

Dombrow’s attorney says the priest was sometimes accompanied on those outings by residents of Villa St. Joseph. The Philadelphia Archdiocese runs the facility in Darby to house aging priests and treat those accused of sexual abuse.

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.

Renowned harpist who played privately for royal family accused of sexually abusing teenage boy

ENGLAND
The Independent

January 4, 2018

By Rachel McDermott

Danielle Perrett, 58, in court along with former boyfriend Richard Barton-Wood, 68, a church warden, over seven counts of indecent assault dating back to 1980s

One of the world’s most renowned harpists, who has played privately for the royal family, has appeared in court accused of sexually abusing a teenage boy.

Danielle Perrett, 58, is accused of seven indecent assaults which date back to the 1980s.

She is charged with church warden Richard Barton-Wood who she is understood to have been in a relationship at the time of the alleged offences.

Barton-Wood, 68, has pleaded not guilty to five counts of indecent assault on a teenage male, two charges of attempting to commit buggery and a further allegation of attempting to indecently assault a teenager.

Barton-Wood, of Wymondham, Norfolk, is said to have been involved in teaching in Suffolk, at the time.

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.

Family of late Stone Mountain priest settles child molestation suit

ATLANTA (GA)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

January 3, 2018

By Joshua Sharpe

When a 47-year-old man decided to sue a former DeKalb County priest in 2017, he dreamed of facing his alleged abuser in court. But it turned out Father Stanley Idziak, who’d been accused of molesting multiple children in Dunwoody and Stone Mountain, had died months earlier, leaving the only legal recourse suing his estate.

On Tuesday, the plaintiff withdrew the complaint after receiving a settlement from the priest’s family, attorney John Burdges said.

“It just meant a lot to him that he had that opportunity to fight back,” Burdges said of his client, whose name is sealed in court filings. “His statement to me was, ‘John, it’s finally over.’”

Burdges declined to say how much money was involved in the settlement, other than that it was all the family could give from the estate after administrative costs. Idziak’s estate was worth $62,000, according to a copy of his will obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Burdges said it seemed the priest’s family felt for the victim. Their attorney, Stephen H. DeBaun, declined to comment Wednesday.

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.

A second mediator is in the works for church settlement

GUAM
Pacific News Center

January 4, 2018

By Janela Carrera

Mediation is expected to conclude in June.

Guam – The Archdiocese of Agana and Attorney David Lujan who has the bulk of the church sex abuse cases have agreed to seek a second mediator.

The parties filed a notice in District Court that they have already discussed this with their current proposed mediator Tony Piazza. But because of the number of cases involved, over 140, an additional mediator will be needed.

In fact, they have already identified that second mediator as Judge Molloway, who they propose will assist Piazza.

Settlement negotiations were expected to conclude in March or April of this year but has since been pushed back to June this year.

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.

Racist cult leaders accused of ritualistic sex abuse of children in new lawsuit

SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)

January 3, 2018

By Brendan Joel Kelley

Last week, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints’ (FLDS) “prophet,” Warren Jeffs, along with three other church leaders, were accused in a Utah lawsuit of ritualistic rape of the unnamed plaintiff beginning when she was eight years old

The FLDS is a polygamist, white supremacist, homophobic cult that Jeffs ruled with an iron fist, a splinter group that broke from the mainstream Mormon church when it abandoned the doctrine of polygamy in the late 19th century. In 2005, the Southern Poverty Law Center designated the FLDS as a hate group due to Jeffs’ racist, anti-LGBT, misogynistic teachings.

As “prophet,” Jeffs assigned marriages of underage girls to male FLDS members. FLDS members who did not comply with Jeffs’ decrees were separated from their families and lost their homes. Jeffs is serving a life sentence in a Texas prison for raping two of his own child brides, ages 12 and 15, who were among his 78 wives.

The allegations in the new lawsuit go far beyond the child bride practice, though. The plaintiff, now 21 years old, accuses Warren Jeffs, along with his brothers Lyle Jeffs and Seth Jeffs, and Wendell LeRoy Nielsen — all leaders in the FLDS at one time, to varying degrees — along with 20 unnamed John Does, of gathering underage girls and ritualistically raping them while other FLDS members watched and documented the abuse.

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.

State looks to close Hanna Boys Center

SONOMA (CA)
The Press Democrat

January 3, 2018

By Paul Payne

License revocation proceedings have begun against Sonoma Valley’s embattled Hanna Boys Center following a year of controversy in which a former top manager was charged with molesting four children, a second employee was accused of having sex with a youth and the facility was slapped with numerous civil lawsuits containing further allegations of abuse.

A six-page complaint filed late last month by the Community Care Licensing Division of the Department of Social Services seeks to stop the 73-year-old, Catholic Church-based center on Arnold Drive from operating as a group home while stripping its former clinical director, Kevin Scott Thorpe, of the ability to ever work in a state-licensed facility again.

Thorpe, 39, of Rohnert Park was arrested in June after a former resident came forward alleging Thorpe sexually abused him over a five-year period. An investigation turned up three more former residents who claim Thorpe molested them at the facility and during off-site, solo outings, in incidents dating back to at least 2006.

Thorpe, who also ran a youth ministry program as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, remains in jail awaiting a February preliminary hearing with bail set at $1.8 million.

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.

No additional mediator in clergy sex abuse cases

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

January 4, 2018

By Haidee V. Eugenio

Attorneys for clergy sex abuse accusers and the Archdiocese of Agana told the federal court Thursday that no additional mediator is needed to settle 150 Guam clergy sex abuse lawsuits filed in the local and federal courts.

Antonio Piazza, of the San Francisco-based Mediated Negotiations, is the mediator chosen by the parties in the abuse cases.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood had asked the parties to consider having an additional mediator, Judge Susan Mollway, to assist in the proposed mediation. The judge gave the parties until Jan. 4 to respond to her proposal.

“It is the desire at this time to proceed with Mr. Piazza, who will bring with him additional staff, to commence and complete the mediation between all the parties involved,” archdiocese counsel John Terlaje and plaintiffs’ attorney David Lujan said in a Jan. 4 federal court filing.

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.

Catholic Church rocked by new sex abuse scandal as 10 paedophile priests named in Switzerland

SWITZERLAND
International Business Times

January 4, 2018

By Isabelle Gerretsen

One victim has accused the church in Sion of covering up allegations of clerical abuse.

The Catholic Church has been rocked by new sex abuse allegations, with victims in Switzerland identifying ten paedophile priests who abused children between the 1950s and 1990s.

Jean-Marie Lovey, the bishop of the Swiss city Sion, apologised this week to the victims for the suffering they endured.

Around 220 victims came forward with allegations between 2010 and 2016, according to Swiss news agency SDA.

Last year, several victims accused ten priests of being paedophiles.

Three of the accused clergymen are still alive. In February, the Swiss Bishops Conference set up a commission to award compensation to victims abused by Swiss priests.

One of the victims, who chose to remain anonymous, told Radio Rhône FM that the church in Sion had covered up the abuse and moved priests who had been caught abusing children to other parishes.

He said that he had met around 50 victims in Sion, but believed that there were many more.

Bishop Lovey, who was appointed by Pope Francis in 2014, has denied that the church in Sion covered up abuse allegations. He said priests were moved to other parishes as a preventive measure.

Last month, Cardinal Bernard Law, who was at the heart of the Boston sex abuse scandal, died in Rome, having never faced punishment for covering up the clerical abuse.

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.

Catholic church in Valais rocked by new sex abuse claims

SWITZERLAND
The Local

January 4, 2018

Accusations of historic sexual abuse have been made against around ten Catholic priests in the bishopric of Sion in the canton of Valais.

The bishop of Sion, Jean-Marie Lovey, has asked the victims for forgiveness, the Swiss news agency SDA reported, quoting Radio Rhône FM.

It said the abuse of children and young people happened between the 1950s and 1990s, and all the cases were now too old for a prosecution to take place.

The paedophile priests were identified after some ten victims went to the diocese of Sion with abuse allegations last year.

Three of the accused clergymen are still alive.

One of the victims told the radio the numbers of reported abuse cases did not correspond to the reality.

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.

Single mediator will handle church lawsuits

GUAM
KUAM News

January 4, 2018

By Krystal Paco

A new year hopefully brings the Church closer to resolving the 150-plus clergy sexual abuse lawsuits against them.

In a joint filing on Thursday, attorneys for both parties agree that they wish to proceed with only Tony Piazza as their choice mediator for settlement talks.

As reported, the federal court asked parties to consider Judge Susan Mollway to join their team.

According to plaintiffs’ attorney David Lujan and Church attorney John Terlaje, “It is the desire to proceed with Mr. Piazza, who will bring with him additional staff, to commence and complete the mediation between all parties involved.”

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.

OPINION: Church reform is coming agonizingly slowly

PETERBOROUGH (ONTARIO, CANADA)
The Peterborough Examiner

January 4, 2018

By Rosemary Ganley

I once again take up the topic of reform in the Catholic church, because I’m a kind of an insider/outsider, a Pope-watcher, and an analyst who knows the immense power and global reach of this church. And the sad effects of its mistaken teachings and practices.

There were two items in recent news: one the death of American Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, age 86, who, after being indicted on charges related to his cover-up of clergy sex abuse against children, fled to Rome in 2002 and was put in charge of a major church. Remember the courageous journalism of the Boston Globe and the subsequent film Spotlight.

Here is what Canadian politician Charlie Angus, NDP MP from Cobalt, had to say in an anguished post:

“I learned my lessons in faith and justice in the church. I remember pastors organizing over the grape boycott for farmworkers. I was working at a Catholic Worker house when the sexual abuse scandals first came to light. They were stunning revelations, but even more stunning was to see powerful men who were supposed to follow the words of Jesus suppress, cover-up and protect serial predators. Cardinal Law was eventually brought down by a grand jury indictment, but protected by Pope John Paul II. He was a disgrace to everything Jesus stood for. Good riddance.”

In Canada, we had our own searing scandal at Mount Cashel orphanage in Newfoundland 40 years ago, where 300 young persons alleged physical and sexual abuse by the Christian Brothers, cover-up by churchmen and police collusion.

The Newfoundland government ordered an inquiry and the report in 1992 by former Lt.-Gov. Gordon Winter caused the Archbishop, Alphonsus Penney to resign, the orphanage to be closed and razed, some priests to go to jail and the churches largely to be emptied.

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.

Joliet Diocese compromises on wording of woman’s grave marker

JOLIET (IL)
The Herald News

January 3, 2018

By Alex Ortiz

‘She supported priest sexual abuse victims’

Weeks after an initial request, Marguerite Ridgeway’s grave finally hosts a marker stating, “She supported priest sexual abuse victims,” after her years of advocacy and death in 2015.

Ridgeway’s son, Jack Ruhl, a professor of accountancy at Western Michigan University, sent a letter to the Diocese of Joliet in October requesting a marker be added to his mother’s grave which would read, “She supported priest rapist victims.”

The diocese took issue with the use of the word “rapist,” stating in a letter from diocese attorney Maureen Harton that their “concern must be with the many people who visit Assumption Cemetery with the expectation that their quiet time with their loved ones will be peaceful, tranquil and free of stress and anxiety.”

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.

Abuse survivor pushes for extending statute of limitations

WEBSTER (NY)
WHAM ABC 13

January 3, 2018

By Carlet Cleare

Webster, N.Y. – A Webster woman, who is an abuse survivor, is pushing for extended statute of limitations on childhood sexual assault victims.

Across the state, advocates of sexual assault victims are pushing the governor to expand the limitations for child victims. Currently, they only have until the age of 23 to bring criminal or civil charges against their abuser.

Rebecca Holley was 13-years-old when a family friend molested her.

“I was staying overnight with his daughter, and that was the first night he molested me,” said Holley.

The abuse lasted for a year, happening at different times while she babysat for his children.

“It happened over and over again,” Holley recounted. “For hours in his house or anyplace that we’d be as families.”

“I never really understood what was happening,” she added.

Once Holley did, she mustered the courage to confront her abuser.

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.