ABUSE TRACKER

PENNSYLVANIA
Crux

May 18, 2018

Several dioceses in Pennsylvania have said they will not try and block a report from a grand jury investigation into clerical sexual abuse in the state.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office is overseeing the grand jury investigation into six of the eight Catholic dioceses in the state: Allentown, Harrisburg, Scranton, Erie, Greensburg and Pittsburgh.

“The Diocese of Allentown continues to cooperate fully with the Office of the Attorney General,” spokesman Matt Kerr said in a statement Thursday. “We will not challenge the release of the grand jury report.”

“The Diocese of Scranton continues to cooperate fully with the grand jury and has informed the Attorney General’s office that it will not challenge the release of the report,” Diocese of Scranton spokesman Bill Genello said on Thursday.

Erie Bishop Lawrence Persico on Wednesday said he wouldn’t try and block the report after meeting with Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

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.

VATICAN CITY
Rappler

May 18, 2018

AFP

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis on Thursday, May 17, promised “changes” to the Chilean church to “restore justice” following a child abuse scandal that has come to haunt his papacy.

However in a short letter addressed to 34 Chilean bishops, whom the Argentinian pontiff met in groups from Tuesday, May 15, to Thursday, he gave no indication of eventual consequences for those suspected of keeping silent about the abuse.

“I thank you for the full availability that everyone has shown to adhere to and collaborate in all the changes and resolutions that we will have to implement in the short, medium and long term, necessary to restore justice and ecclesiastical communion,” the pope said in a statement in Spanish circulated by the Vatican.

He said the meetings had been a “frank” exchange about “the grave events that have damaged ecclesiastical communion and weakened the work of the Church of Chile in recent years”.

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.

VATICAN CITY
Vatican News

May 17, 2018

At the conclusion of three days of “fraternal” meetings, Pope Francis hands the following letter to the 34 Chilean bishops with whom he had closely examined the clerical sex abuse scandal that has tarnished the image of the Latin American Church in recent decades:
To the bishops of Chile:

Dear brothers in the episcopate,

I wish to thank you for having accepted my invitation so that, together, we may make a frank discernment regarding the serious events which have damaged the ecclesial communion and undermined the work of the Church in Chile in recent years.

In light of these painful incidents which concern abuse – of minors, power, and conscience – we exchanged views on their seriousness as well as on their tragic consequences, particularly for the victims. For each of them I have wholeheartedly asked for forgiveness, an action to which all of you have united in one will and with the firm intention of repairing the damage done.

I thank you for the total willingness each one of you has shown to join and collaborate in all the changes and resolutions that we will need to implement in the short-, medium-, and long-term in order to restore justice and ecclesial communion.

Following these days of prayer and reflection, I give you a mandate to continue building a prophetic Church capable of giving pride-of-place to what is most important: Service to the Lord in the hungry, the prisoner, the migrant, and the abused.

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NORTH DAKOTA
Cache Valley Daily

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — A Roman Catholic priest accused of molesting two boys in North Dakota in the 1990s has pleaded guilty to two counts of felony gross sexual imposition.

Court documents show that Fernando Sayasaya entered the pleas Thursday during a scheduling conference. He’s accused of abusing two underage siblings from 1995 to 1998, while he was assigned to the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church and St. Mary’s Cathedral in the Fargo area.

Sayasaya was returned to the United States in December from the Philippines, where he had been since 1998.

Sentencing is scheduled for July 30. Sayasaya faces up to 20 years in prison

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CHILE
La Tercera

[Meeting with Scicluna and omissions: The complete letter of Monsignor Errázuriz to the bishops.
A detailed account of the way he carried out the canonical investigation and process against Fernando Karadima is the one made by Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz in the letter he sent to the Chilean bishops on May 10, a few days before the expected meeting in Rome. with Pope Francisco. This includes the moment in which the accusations against El Bosque’s expárroco were credible and their actions before Monsignor Charles Scicluna in 2009, who gave him -as he says- indications for the investigation.]

M. Eugenia Fernández G.

17 MAY 2018

Un pormenorizado relato de la forma en que llevó adelante la investigación y proceso canónico contra Fernando Karadima es la que hizo el cardenal Francisco Javier Errázuriz en la carta que el 10 de mayo envió a los obispos chilenos, pocos días antes de la esperada reunión en Roma con el Papa Francisco. Este incluye el momento en que las acusaciones contra el expárroco de El Bosque fueron verosímiles y sus gestiones ante monseñor Charles Scicluna en 2009, quien le dio -según dice- indicaciones para la investigación.

En el documento titulado “Declaración testimonial” -a cuyo contenido completo accedió La Tercera PM, luego de que Associated Press publicara algunos fragmentos- el ex arzobispo de Santiago intenta defenderse de las “difamaciones” que ha recibido “en las últimas semanas”, en las cuales se le ha tildado de “encubridor, delincuente, criminal y persona despreciable”

Errázuriz afirma que “me han pedido con insistencia que no guarde más silencio y escriba una aclaración” y que “quienes me conocen personalmente, quienes han colaborado conmigo, y quienes han seguido de cerca o de lejos mi labor como sacerdote, obispo y cardenal, nunca me han calificado de esa manera, porque saben que he querido ser justo y caritativo”.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

May 17, 2018

by Junno Arocho Esteves, Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — After several days of private meetings with Chilean bishops, Pope Francis called on them to build a “prophetic church” that places care for the suffering, especially survivors of sexual abuse, at its center.

In a letter given to the bishops and released by the Vatican May 17, the pope thanked the bishops for accepting his invitation to discuss “the serious acts that have damaged ecclesial communion and weakened the work of the church in Chile in recent years.”

“In light of these painful events regarding abuses — of minors, of power and conscience — we have delved into the seriousness (of the abuses) as well as the tragic consequences they have had, particularly for the victims,” the pope said.

The bishops met at the Vatican May 15-17 to discuss with Pope Francis their handling of clerical sex abuse allegations.

Pope Francis invited three sex abuse survivors — Juan Carlos Cruz, Jose Andres Murillo and James Hamilton — to stay at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the Vatican residence where he lives, and to meet with him individually April 27-29. They met him again as a group April 30.

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WISCONSIN
Roman Catholic Diocese of Madison – Catholic Herald

Thursday, May. 17, 2018

MADISON — The Diocese of Madison offers the following brief statement, regarding the recent arrest and initial appearance in court of a retired priest of the diocese, Fr. William Nolan:

The diocese recently learned that Fr. William Nolan (64) was arrested by the Fort Atkinson police, with charges pending. Today, we were informed that he has been charged with six counts of second-degree sexual assault of a minor (under the age of 16), as documented in the formal criminal complaint, filed today in Jefferson County Circuit Court.

Upon learning of his arrest and pending charges a diocesan representative contacted the Fort Atkinson police assuring them of our full cooperation.

Simultaneously, and although Father Nolan has been retired since 2007 and does not hold any ecclesiastical office or function, Bishop Robert C. Morlino placed him on what is commonly called “administrative leave,” as required by the Essential Norms in force in the dioceses of the USA. This includes a total exclusion from any exercise of priestly ministry while the matter is pending. The diocese also began its own canonical process of investigating these allegations, and the diocesan Sexual Abuse Review Board was engaged.

Father Nolan retired from full-time ministry in the diocese in 2007, at his request. His last assignment was as pastor of St. Joseph Parish, Fort Atkinson, from 2002-2007. This is when and where the allegations being investigated are claimed to have taken place. They were brought directly to the civil authorities in Fort Atkinson and were only shared with Church officials as Father Nolan’s arrest was set in motion. This is the very first the diocese has heard of these accusations.

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WISCONSIN
Madison State Journal

May 17, 2018

SHELLEY K. MESCH smesch@madison.com

A retired Madison priest has been charged with several criminal counts relating to sexual abuse allegations during his tenure at a Fort Atkinson church.

Bill Nolan, 64, faces counts of second degree sexual assault of a child, according to court records, and made his initial court appearance through a video conference from Jefferson County Jail.

Nolan is a retired priest-in-residence at Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish, parish officials told parishioners in an email Thursday.

Judge Jennifer Weston set bail at $50,000 with the stipulation that Nolan not leave the state, have no contact with any children under the age of 18, no presence at St. Joseph’s and no contact with the accuser, court documents show.

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WISCONSIN
Channel 3000

May 17, 2018

FORT ATKINSON, Wis. – A retired priest in residence at Our Lady Queen of Peace in Madison is facing felony counts after he allegedly sexually assaulted a boy in Fort Atkinson for years, according to documents filed in court Thursday.

William A. Nolan, 64, of Madison, was charged in Jefferson County court Thursday with six felony counts of second-sexual assault of a child under 16 years old.

Nolan appeared in court via teleconference. The judge ordered a $50,000 signature bond. As conditions of bond, Nolan was ordered not to leave Wisconsin, can’t have contact with any children under 18, cannot be at St. Joseph Church or school in Fort Atkinson and can’t have contact with the victim.

According to the criminal complaint, more than 100 assaults took place between February 2006 and the summer of 2010, when the boy was 13 to 17 years old.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register

May 17. 2018

Elise Harris/CNA/EWTN News

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis thanked Chile’s bishops for their “frank” dialogue during a 3-day Vatican meeting on the Chilean abuse scandals, and asked them to focus on serving abuse victims as they return to their dioceses and prepare to implement short and long term resolutions.

“After these days of prayer and reflection I invite you to continue building a prophetic Church, which knows how to put what is important at the center: service to the Lord in the hungry, the prisoner, the migrant and the abused,” the Pope said in a letter to Chilean bishops.

Published May 17, the letter was given to each of the bishops by Pope Francis during their final meeting earlier that evening.

He thanked the bishops for their presence and for the “frank discernment” they carried out in terms of how to face the “serious acts that have damaged ecclesial communion and weakened the work of the Church in Chile in recent years.”

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – A crisis meeting between Pope Francis and Chilean bishops about the cover-up of sexual abuse in the country ended on Thursday amid growing speculation among clergy and media that some of them would resign.
In a letter the Vatican said the pope handed to each of the 34 bishops at the end of four days of meetings, Francis said the discussions were “frank” and they had discussed “painful events regarding abuses – of minors, of power and of conscience”.

He said the bishops had agreed to short, medium and long-term changes in order to restore justice and Church unity, but did not elaborate. The meeting ended with “the firm intention to repair the damage done,” the pope said.

One of the bishops is holding a news conference on Friday and there has been growing speculation that he, or the Vatican, could announce the resignation of one or more of the bishops most tainted by the scandal that has shaken the country.

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NEW YORK
WKBW

[with video]

Catlin Bogard

May 17, 2018

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) – The news about the Catholic Church hasn’t been especially positive recently, with some calling for the bishop to resign over revelations of sexual abuse among priests dating back decades in the Buffalo diocese.

But what does this news mean to local Catholics? Has it shaken their faith? Do they feel that things are changing in a positive way, despite the negative headlines?

We sat down with local Catholics to have an open and honest discussion.

“It upset me very much,” Kelly, a parishioner at Our Lady of Charity in South Buffalo, told us. “I believe my church should always act with decency and candor and having a cover-up let me feel…I felt betrayed by the church. I didn’t feel it was handled in the proper way.”

“It was disturbing to hear,” Lucy, a parishioner at the Blessed Sacrament in the Town of Tonawanda, said. “And it was sad to hear. But my faith never changed and it didn’t waiver because the message the Catholic Church teaches and the message of Christ has never changed.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

May 17, 2018

by Matthew Stevens

ERIE, Pa. – Diocese of Erie Bishop Most Rev. Lawrence Persico said he met with state Attorney General Josh Shapiro Wednesday to discuss the grand jury report into child sex abuse accusations within the diocese.

Persico said that he has decided not to seek any legal challenges to the grand jury process and its work.

“I realize that the grand jury report will contain information that will be difficult for all of us to hear, but in order for us to focus on the future, we have to have a solid knowledge of the past,” said Persico.

“The grand jury investigation and its report will provide a voice for the victims. We must listen to that voice and learn from it as we move forward.”

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

Inés San Martín
VATICAN CORRESPONDENT

May 17, 2018

ROME – After a three-day summit between Pope Francis and 34 Chilean bishops to discuss sexual abuse and abuses of power, the pontiff thanked the Chileans for being open to changes in the “short, medium and long term … to restore justice and ecclesial communion,” but did not describe the content of those changes.

In a letter the pope gave the bishops which the Vatican released Thursday afternoon, the pope called the Chilean bishops to continue working for a “prophetic Church, capable of putting at the center what’s important: the service to her Lord in the hungry, the imprisoned, the migrant, the abused.”

In the text, Francis also thanked the bishops for “welcoming the invitation” to undertake a “frank discernment about the grave events that have damaged ecclesial communion and weakened the work of the Church of Chile in recent years.”

The pope had summoned the bishops to Rome after dispatching Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Spanish Father Jordi Bertomeu to Chile to look into the case of Bishop Juan Barros, accused by survivors of clerical sexual abuse of covering up for his mentor Father Fernando Karadima.

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VATICAN CITY
Associated Press

May 17, 2018

By NICOLE WINFIELD

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Thursday ended his emergency summit with Chile’s bishops by thanking them for their “full willingness” to do whatever it takes to recover from a sex abuse and cover-up scandal that has discredited the church.

Francis bid farewell to each of the 34 bishops from Chile amid indications that heads will roll after four days of meetings and prayer. Vatican television showed the Chilean bishops thanking Francis as they took their leave. The only one Francis is shown kissing on each cheek and patting on the arm was Bishop Juan Barros, who is at the center of the scandal.

In a farewell letter given to each bishop, Francis said he had already apologized to the sex abuse victims he had discredited. He reminded the churchmen that they had joined in that apology “with the firm aim of repairing the wounds.”

“I thank you for the full willingness each one of you has shown to cooperate in all the short, medium and long-term changes and resolutions that we must implement to re-establish justice and the ecclesial communion,” Francis wrote.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

PETER SMITH
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

MAY 16, 2018

Roman Catholic Bishop Lawrence Persico of Erie says he will “forgo any legal challenges “ to a statewide grand jury investigating sexual abuse in his and five other dioceses across Pennsylvania.

Bishop Persico met Wednesday with Attorney General Josh Shapiro, whose office is investigating the dioceses in conjunction with a statewide grand jury.

It is unclear from statements from Bishop Persico and from Mr. Shapiro what sort of legal challenge a diocese could mount to a grand jury proceeding if it chose to do so.

The 40th statewide grand jury, convening in Pittsburgh, is believed to have wrapped up its proceedings last month and to be preparing a wide-ranging report on abuse in most of the state’s dioceses over the past seven decades.

“I realize that the grand jury report will contain information that will be difficult for all of us to hear, but in order for us to focus on the future, we have to have a solid knowledge of the past,” Bishop Persico said Wednesday in his statement. “The grand jury investigation and its report will provide a voice for the victims. We must listen to that voice and learn from it as we move forward.”

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CALIFORNIA
KTVU

By: Azenith Smith

MAY 17 2018

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Dozens of people gathered Wednesday night in San Jose over growing concerns an all-girls Catholic high school failed to handle past sexual abuse claims. Former students organized the meeting.

One of the organizers said a teacher touched her inappropriately but the school failed to act. Now, she and other alums are demanding the principal and the president of the school’s board of directors to resign.

The meeting started with a compilation video of former students who said they reported sexual misconduct to Presentation High School administrators and they did nothing.

“After talking to some of the parents and students, it’s clear that now everyone knows what’s going on,” said Former Student Kathryn Leehane.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call

May 17, 2018

Steve Esack
Call Harrisburg Bureau

The Allentown Diocese has become Pennsylvania’s second regional Catholic administration to announce it will not attempt to stall publication of a statewide grand jury report expected to detail decades of clergy sex abuse.

The Pennsylvania attorney general’s office is finishing the report. It would follow a grand jury investigation, started in 2016, into six of eight Catholic dioceses that serve communities in nearly every part of the state.

“The Diocese of Allentown continues to cooperate fully with the Office of the Attorney General,” spokesman Matt Kerr said in a statement today. “We will not challenge the release of the grand jury report.”

It’s not clear what, if any, legal challenge a diocese or other institution or individual could use to stop a prosecutor’s office from publishing a grand jury investigation.

“Any investigating grand jury, by an affirmative majority vote of the full investigating grand jury, may, at any time during its term submit to the supervising judge an investigating grand jury report,” according to the state law outlining jury rules.

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NEW YORK
WAER

By CHRIS BOLT

Public Meeting on Child Victims Act May 21 @ 6:00 pm, CrestHill Suites, East Syracuse.

A bill that would give victims of child sexual assault a window to bring old cases against their abusers is stalled in Albany. A group advocating for the Child Victims Act is raising awareness about the measure in hopes of countering opponents of the bill … and perhaps making New York safer for kids.

Bridie Farrell was a 15-year-old competitive speed skater in Saratoga Springs, when then 33-year-old Olympian Andy Gabel came to town to train. Farrell says the iconic athlete abused here multiple times…and her complaints to Olympic Team officials fell on deaf ears.

He has since admitted an inappropriate relationship and been stripped of membership in the national skating body. But the statute of limitations on such crimes prevents Farrell from bring a criminal or civil suit against Gabel.

Now Farrell is trying to get the Child Victims Act passed to open up cases in which statutes of limitations prevent any action.

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ECUADOR
El Telegrafo

[A new complaint is added to the two previous ones against the Cuenca priest César C. The affected one assures that he was a victim of rape by the priest when he was 7 years old.]

16 de mayo de 2018

Una nueva denuncia se suma a las dos anteriores en contra del sacerdote cuencano César C. El afectado asegura que fue víctima de violación por el cura cuando tenía 7 años.

El hombre, de 64 años, que no se identificó, dijo que fue a la escuela Miguel Ortiz, que funcionaba cerca de su hogar.

A los pocos meses, el sacerdote fue a su casa y habló con su madre para que le permitiera asistir a la catequesis.

“Cuando llegué el guardián me llevó hasta un cuarto oscuro y allí estaba el cura que me pidió que escogiera el juguete que deseaba”, agregando que luego le dijo que se sentara en sus piernas y allí fue que, supuestamente, lo violó, pero no fue la única vez que sucedió.

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WISCONSIN
Daily Jefferson County Union

May 17, 2018

By Ryan Whisner rwhisner@dailyunion.com

Posted on May 17, 2018

A retired former Fort Atkinson Catholic priest is expected to face allegations of sexual assault that occurred during his tenure at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in the community.

The Rev. William A. Nolan, 64, was arrested Tuesday by the Fort Atkinson Police Department at 12:35 p.m. on multiple allegations of sexual assault of a child under 12 and repeated sexual assault of a child.

If those are the charges, he would face a maximum sentence of 60 years on each count, if convicted. The Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office determines what the actual charge(s) would be.

Nolan is expected to make an initial appearance in court this afternoon before Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Weston. He currently is in custody at the Jefferson County Jail.

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MICHIGAN
Lansing State Journal

Matt Mencarini, Lansing State Journal

May 11, 2018

For the second time this year, a major MSU donor is under scrutiny for comments he’s made about Larry Nassar’s victims.

While waiting with a crowd to enter a gubernatorial debate held in Grand Rapids earlier this week, Sterling Riethman, one of the 204 women and girls who gave statements earlier this year during Nassar’s sentencing hearings on sexual assault charges, says she heard Peter Secchia say, “These girls are going to ruin the state of Michigan. We have to stop them.”

Secchia, who has donated millions to Michigan State University over the years and has his name on several university buildings, denied the allegation when the Lansing State Journal contacted him. He said Riethman misheard him and that he said the package of bills would ruin the state. The bills were inspired by Nassar, the disgraced former MSU physician accused of sexually abusing hundreds of patients.

Riethman had testified at a state House committee about why she supports legislation intended to extend the statute of limitations for criminal and civil cases involving sexual assault cases, among other changes. Hours later Riethman was waiting to take her seat to watch the debate between Republican candidates.

A group of men were having a conversation within feet of her and she heard one ask Secchia if he had heard that some of Nassar’s victims had been “paraded” in front of the state House Law and Justice Committee to testify in support of the Nassar-inspired bills, Riethman told the State Journal on Tuesday.

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ARIZONA
azcentral

Anne Ryman, The Republic | azcentral.com

May 17, 2018

A Wisconsin priest with a long history of complaints involving children, and who was sentenced to jail last year on sex charges, was assigned to the Phoenix Diocese in the early 1970s.

The Diocese of Phoenix told The Arizona Republic on Wednesday evening that it recently became aware that Robert Raymond Marsicek, a priest of the Milwaukee-based Salvatorian religious order, is listed as having served at St. Mark’s Parish in south Phoenix in 1974.

“According to our records, there have been no reported incidents or allegations against Father Marsicek in the Diocese of Phoenix,” the Diocese said in a statement.

“Anyone who has been a victim of abuse or who may have information concerning this situation is encouraged to call a local law enforcement agency.”

Marsicek, 76, was sentenced to one year in jail in December after pleading guilty to three counts of misdemeanor sexual contact with a girl. The incidents occurred at a Catholic school in Wauwatosa between 2007 and 2011, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which covered the case extensively.

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MARYLAND
PRNewswire

NEWS PROVIDED BY
Murphy, Falcon & Murphy

BALTIMORE, May 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Murphy, Falcon & Murphy filed a class action lawsuit against Saint Frances Academy, a private Roman Catholic high school located in Baltimore City, on behalf of Jill Doe1, a current Saint Frances Academy student, and all current and former students at Saint Frances Academy who were harassed, sexually assaulted, abused, exploited, and/or inappropriately touched by Ryan Penalver, a former teacher and administrator at Saint Frances Academy. The lawsuit names as defendants Penalver, as well as Saint Frances Academy, Inc. and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Baltimore (“Archdiocese”), both of which own, operate and/or manage Saint Frances Academy and employed and supervised Penalver.

In early May of 2018, abusing his position as a member of the Saint Frances Academy faculty, Penalver engaged in sexual relations with a minor student. Worse yet, Penalver had begun grooming this student using his school email account since April. After the student sought his support for emotional and mental distress, instead of helping her, he used his position of trust and authority to sexually abuse, assault, and exploit her, coercing her into exchanging sexually explicit photographs and videos, and forcing her to engage in sexual acts while on school property– acts to which she could not legally consent.

The lawsuit further alleges that, upon information and belief, Penalver harassed, engaged in inappropriate sexual communications with, and/or sexually abused, assaulted, and/or exploited other students at Saint Frances Academy. Upon information and belief, agents, employees, and/or administrators at Saint Frances Academy knew or should have known about Penalver’s propensity to harass and exploit others, yet Saint Frances Academy, Inc., and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Baltimore failed to protect Jill Doe and other students and failed to prevent Penalver’s unconscionable actions.

Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that Saint Frances Academy administrators knew or should have known that, on or about November 12, 2017, Penalver had been formally charged with criminal harassment in the District Court of Maryland for Baltimore City. The lawsuit further alleges that, upon information and belief, prior to Penalver’s assault of Jill Doe, members of the Saint Frances school community had knowledge that Penalver had previously engaged in inappropriate communications with other students. Saint Frances Academy, Inc.’s and the Archdiocese’s failure to adequately and properly supervise Penalver, failure to adequately investigate complaints and concerns regarding Penalver’s conduct and propensities, and failure to terminate Penalver on or before November 2017 exposed Jill Doe and others to a teacher with a propensity to harass, abuse, harm, and assault others. As such, the lawsuit claims that Saint Frances Academy, Inc. and the Archdiocese are liable for Penalver’s actions.

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ROME
Crux

Inés San Martín
VATICAN CORRESPONDENT

May 17, 2018

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated with comments from Cardinal Javier Errázuriz.

ROME – Spanish Father Jordi Bertomeu, perhaps the Vatican figure other than Pope Francis who knows the Chilean church best right now, told reporters Thursday that “history is being made” in Rome this week in an extraordinary summit between the pope and 34 Chilean bishops.

“We are at a very particular moment for the universal Church, not only for Chile,” Bertomeu told reporters. “What has happened is not normal, to call [in] an entire bishops conference. If I were you [a journalist], I would deduce that it’s necessary to expect some measures [to be taken[. I believe we’re making history.”

Bertomeu is the lesser-known of the two men Pope Francis tasked with carrying out a deep dive into the situation of the Catholic Church in Chile, originally to investigate the case of Bishop Juan Barros, accursed of covering up for his mentor, who’s been found guilty by the Vatican of sexually abusing minors.

Due to circumstance, Bertomeu, an official of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, ended taking lead after Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna was hospitalized in Chile for emergency gall bladder surgery.

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WASHINGTON
KXLY

Rachel DeYoung

May 16, 2018

SPOKANE, Wash. – A former Gonzaga University priest and professor was sentenced Wednesday to six months in jail for downloading and viewing child pornography.

Gary Uhlenkott, 67, pleaded guilty in February to viewing depictions of minors engaged in sexual explicit conduct in the 2nd degree back in April 2013.

Uhlenkott had been a Jesuit priest for 25 years at the time and was a professor of music at Gonzaga.

According to court documents, in October 2010, the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) and the Toronto Police Service started investigating a movie production company in Toronto, ‘Toronto Company’, that was the subject of more than 20 complaints of child pornography.

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NEW YORK
Watertown Daily Times

MAY 17, 2018

In opposing various measures that would benefit victims of child sexual abuse, leaders of the Roman Catholic Church are once again circling the wagons.

And Republican members of the state Senate have helped them. They have for years blocked legislation that would eliminate “the statutes of limitation for prosecuting child sexual abuse crimes and filing civil lawsuits for damages against individuals, public institutions, and private institutions related to child sexual abuse. This act also creates a one-year revival period for previously time-barred civil actions which alleged conduct representing the commission of certain sexual offenses committed against a child less than 18 years of age,” according to language in S809, also known as the Child Victims Act.

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, who oversees the archdiocese in much of New York City, described the one-year lookback as “toxic” for the Catholic Church, according to an article published March 20 by the New York Daily News. He urged legislative leaders to reject the bill.

And he got his wish. Before the state budget was approved earlier this year, the Child Victims Act was removed from the overall spending plan. While members of the Assembly and Senate could still act on the bill as an individual piece of legislation, it’s obvious that far too many officials lack the will to push it through.

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OREGON
USA Today

Gillian Flaccus, The Associated Press

May 16, 2018

PORTLAND, Ore. — A U.S. jury found a Christian missionary from Oregon guilty Wednesday of multiple sex abuse charges for molesting children living at an unlicensed Cambodian orphanage that he operated in Phnom Penh over a period of years.

Daniel Stephen Johnson, 40, was convicted of six counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place and one count each of travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and aggravated sexual assault with children. He faces a minimum of 30 years in prison when sentenced in August in Eugene, Oregon.

Federal public defender Craig Weinerman did not return calls or e-mail from The Associated Press seeking comment after business hours Wednesday. His co-counsel, Lisa Maxfield, declined comment.

U.S. authorities said nine Cambodian children ranging in age from 7 to 18 have disclosed Johnson’s abuse or past abuse in lengthy interviews with trained child-forensic interviewers. The FBI launched an extensive investigation of Johnson and his potential victims after learning of the case in 2013, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Portland said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Kevin Rawlinson

16 May 2018

Oxfam’s chief executive is to stand down from his position with the charity at the end of the year.

Mark Goldring, who took up the post in 2013, was at the head of the organisation when news broke of the by then members of the charity’s staff.

Announcing his decision to depart, he said: “Following the very public exposure of Oxfam’s past failings, we have redoubled our efforts to ensure that Oxfam is a safe and respectful place for all who have contact with us. We are now laying strong foundations for recovery. I am personally totally committed to seeing this phase through.

“However, what is important in 2019 and beyond is that Oxfam rebuilds and renews in a way that is most relevant for the future and so continues to help as many people as possible around the world build better lives. I think that this journey will best be led by someone bringing fresh vision and energy and making a long-term commitment to see it through.”

Oxfam said Goldring had presided over “the biggest annual humanitarian response in its history, encompassing the refugee crisis as well as conflicts including Yemen, Syria and South Sudan”. His time at the head of the charity, it said, was characterised by an increasing focus on tackling global poverty and its causes.

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ISRAEL
Sydney Morning Herald

By Gabrielle Weiniger

17 May 2018

Accused child abuser Malka Leifer will undergo another psychiatric evaluation from behind bars after a Jerusalem District Court judge requested her mental state be reassessed once again.

The court is trying to determine whether Leifer is fit to undergo extradition proceedings.

Leifer did not attend Wednesday’s hearing despite being present at the Jerusalem court, after her lawyer Yehuda Fried claimed she was feeling unwell.

She will return to court on May 31 to hear the outcome of the new assessment from a district psychiatrist, as well as a review of the evidence presented against her.

The 54-year-old is accused of 74 counts of sexual abuse during her time as principal of the ultra-
Orthodox Adass Jewish girls’ school in Melbourne over a decade ago.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

May 16, 2018

Lizzie Dearden Home Affairs Correspondent @lizziedearden

The embattled head of Oxfam GB has resigned in the wake of a scandal over sexual misconduct by its staff in Haiti and other disaster zones.

Mark Goldring, who resisted pressure to step down amid outcry in February, said he was “proud” of the charity’s work over the past five years.

“But I think the time is coming for a new leader,” he added. “Following the very public exposure of Oxfam’s past failings, we have redoubled our efforts to ensure that Oxfam is a safe and respectful place for all who have contact with us.

“We are now laying strong foundations for recovery. I am personally totally committed to seeing this phase through.”

Following anger over revelations that Oxfam staff had used prostitutes in Haiti in 2011, Mr Goldring provoked fresh ire by claiming the reaction was “out of proportion”, adding: “The intensity and the ferocity of the attack makes you wonder, what did we do? We murdered babies in their cots?”

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MINNESOTA
St. Cloud Times

Stephanie Dickrell, sdickrell@stcloudtimes.com

May 16, 2018

ST. CLOUD — A lawyer representing the Rev. Anthony Oelrich is arguing evidence gathered ahead of a criminal sexual conduct charge is inadmissible at trial.

Oelrich, 51, was charged with criminal sexual conduct in the third degree in February.

Oelrich was scheduled to have a hearing reviewing the evidence to be used at trial this week. Paul Engh, his lawyer, filed several motions challenging various evidence in the trial and the way it was gathered.

The hearing was moved to May 30 to allow counsel and witnesses time to prepare, said Joshua Kannegieter.

Kannegieter is prosecuting the case for the Stearns County Attorney’s Office. He said in general, the motions challenge a search warrant, Oelrich’s arrest and discussions about evidence that must be available to both sides. Kannegieter refused to elaborate, nor would he comment on possible outcomes of the hearing.

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VATICAN CITY
telesur

May 17, 2018

Abuse victims demanded that the Holy See leave off with the prayers and penance and deliver serious justice to perpetrators.

Pope Francis must acknowledge the crimes, coverups, and the need for compensation, Chilean sexual abuse victims demanded in a statement to the emergency Vatican summit on Wednesday.

In a letter to the Pope, at least six assault victims demanded that the Holy See leave behind the prayers and penance, delivering serious justice to perpetrators for the years of suffering brought on by cover-ups and incredulity.

“We insist on the need for the Vatican to modify its discourse and- in addition to speaking about pain, forgiveness and sins- it is imperative that they recognize crimes, wrongs, and reparations and trust all the information it has to the hands of federal justice,” the delegation said, some of whom identified themselves as victims of the Marist Brothers religious order.

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CALIFORNIA/ARIZONA
Modesto Bee

BY GARTH STAPLEY
gstapley@modbee.com

May 16, 2018

Police in Modesto and Scottsdale are in touch for an investigation of clergy sexual abuse, authorities in Arizona said at a town hall meeting Tuesday.

Heather Graves, spokeswoman for Modesto police, on Wednesday confirmed contact between the two agencies, although the Modesto department has taken no reports of abuse at the hands of former pastor Les Hughey.

Hughey, 65, resigned last month from the megachurch he founded in Scottsdale. He stepped down four days after The Modesto Bee published a report about sexual encounters with young women in his charge four decades earlier when he was a youth pastor at a prominent Modesto evangelical church.

Shortly after The Bee’s report, four women came forward with stories that Hughey fondled them when he was their youth pastor in the 1980s at Scottsdale Bible Church. That church launched an independent investigation, and hosted Tuesday’s meeting featuring authorities with Scottsdale police and Maricopa County prosecutors, attended by about 60 people.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

May 16, 2018

By Christine Vendel cvendel@pennlive.com

The Erie Catholic Bishop met with the state’s attorney general Wednesday as the diocese braces for the pending release of a grand jury report on clergy sex abuse that is likely to be unflattering.

Bishop Lawrence Perisco said he and Josh Shapiro met in Erie and “discussed in detail” the diocese’ efforts to implement a revised policy to protect children, Perisco’s testimony before the grand jury and the looming report.

The grand jury that had been studying how six dioceses, including Erie, handled reports of sexual abuse reportedly finished its term April 30, according to goerie.com. That indicates that the report could be released any day.

Perisco said in a news release Wednesday night that he has “chosen to forgo any legal challenges to the grand jury process and its work. I realize that the grand jury report will contain information that will be difficult for all of us to hear, but in order for us to focus on the future, we have to have a solid knowledge of the past.”

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GENEVA
YouTube

May 15, 2018

Interview with Joelle Casteix, Founding Member, Board of Directors, The Zero Abuse Project, at the AI for Good Global Summit 2018, ITU, Geneva, Switzerland.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Go Erie

May 17, 2018

By Ed Palattella
@ETNPalattella

Persico says he and Shapiro discussed pending grand jury report, which Persico says will contain ‘difficult’ information.

In the latest example that the Catholic Diocese of Erie is preparing for the release of a grand jury report, Erie Catholic Bishop Lawrence Persico met in Erie on Wednesday with Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, whose office is conducting the grand jury investigation.

The attorney general’s office has yet to release the grand jury report, though the grand jury’s term ended on April 30, suggesting that the release of the report could come soon.

In a statement released Wednesday night, Persico said he met with Shapiro to discuss the report, and Persico said he will accept its findings and will not block its release.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

May 17, 2018

Christina Tkacik
The Baltimore Sun

A class-action lawsuit has been filed against an East Baltimore Catholic school and a teacher who worked there following his arrest in a sex abuse case.

The lawsuit filed on behalf of the student alleges that Ryan Penalver, 27, a history teacher who had worked at St. Frances Academy, used his school email account to prey on the 15-year-old who expressed a desire to harm herself.

“This family [of the victim] is devastated and has asked us to uncover exactly how this happened,” said attorney Hassan Murphy, whose firm, Murphy, Falcon & Murphy, is handling the case.

The lawsuit alleges that prior to his abuse of the victim, listed under the pseudonym “Jill Doe,” Penalver had also engaged in inappropriate communications with other students and that members of the school community were aware of this.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Go Erie

May 17, 2018

The opening of the former Erie Catholic bishop’s second statement regarding a priest facing sexual abuse charges is curiously worded: “The Erie Times-News stated in its May 14, 2018, edition ‘that the Diocese of Erie engaged in a cover-up of David Poulson’s behavior under the administration of Bishop Donald Trautman,’ according to Attorney General Josh Shapiro.”

Let’s remove Trautman’s emphasis on the messenger and go to Shapiro’s own words concerning evidence the bishop never got around to mentioning in either of his statements.

“I would point out that Bishop Trautman was the leader during this time. … And this abuse and cover-up occurred largely during Trautman’s tenure,” Shapiro said at a May 8 news conference.

Shapiro’s characterization is drawn from an investigative grand jury’s presentment in the case charging the Rev. David Poulson, 64, with sexually abusing two boys between 2002 and 2010. The presentment cites a confidential memo dated May 24, 2010, in which Trautman references Poulson.

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CANADA
CBC News

May 16, 2018

An expert in preventing child sex abuse says that while convicted offenders changing their names may raise public concern, scorn from society can increase the risk they will reoffend.

This year, two Saskatchewan men released after serving time for child pornography offences have been thrust back into the public eye after legally changing their names. One of those men has since been charged with new offences.

Jenny Coleman, director of Stop It Now, a U.S.-based organization dedicated to preventing child sex abuse, said supports such as community acceptance, faith-based counselling and proper housing can help past offenders reintegrate into society. On the flip side, attention and disdain from their communities can push them back down a dark path.

“When their life is imbalanced, when it’s stressed out, when they’re a mess — it’s easier for them to cross lines and to cross boundaries,” said Jenny Coleman, director of Stop It Now, a U.S.-based organization dedicated to preventing child sex abuse.

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MICHIGAN
New York Post

By Natalie Musumeci

May 16, 2018

Michigan State University has reached a $500 million settlement with the hundreds of women and girls who say they were sexually abused by sicko sports doctor Larry Nassar.

The settlement was announced Tuesday by the university – where the depraved ex-USA Gymnastics doctor was on staff – and lawyers representing his more than 300 victims.

“Michigan State has shown leadership by its willingness to begin closing this dark chapter,” Jamie White, one of the attorneys suing MSU, told the Lansing State Journal. “The victims of Nassar can never be made whole but this is a step in the right direction.”

Nassar, who worked for the Olympic governing body of gymnastics and MSU for decades, has been sentenced to three prison terms — two for his sex abuse crimes and another for federal child pornography charges.

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MICHIGAN
Detroit Free Press

David Jesse and Gina Kaufman, Detroit Free Press

May 16, 2018

Michigan State University has settled hundreds of lawsuits filed against it by the survivors of MSU doctor Larry Nassar’s sexual assaults.

The settlement will cost the school $500 million. The school will pay $425 million now and hold $75 million in reserve in case other Nassar victims come forward.

MSU will now work on how it will pay the settlement, MSU spokeswoman Emily Guerrant told the Free Press.

Survivor attorney Jamie White said this is a chance for the women to begin to move forward.

“I don’t think they can ever be made whole, but this is a step in the right direction,” he said.

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ALABAMA
WTVY

By Ken Curtis

May 16, 2018

Dothan (WTVY)– A Baptist pastor charged earlier this year with three counts of Sexual Abuse involving two children is now charged with molesting a teenager.

Besides the earlier cases that investigators say involve boys under the age of 12, Williamson was most recently charged with illegally touching a 16-year old boy.

In the latest case, investigators say he “pushed in on the victim’s private parts in an effort to make him sit down.” He previously was charged with brushing against clothing in the genital area of two boys, one of them twice.

Houston County Sheriff Donald Valenza said the first three incidents occurred at a summer church camp last year. Investigators say the latest arrest involves molestation that occurred between August and September of 2017.

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VATICAN CITY
Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) — A group of Chilean church sex abuse victims is making its voice heard as the country’s Catholic leadership meets with Pope Francis, demanding that the Vatican recognize crimes, cover-ups and the need for reparation.

A statement from six named victims of the Marist Brothers religious community — and other unnamed abuse survivors — was issued Wednesday on the second day of the emergency summit Francis convened with 34 Chilean bishops.

The scandal within the Marists, who operate schools in 79 countries, exploded in August when the community revealed that at least 14 minors had been abused by a brother. Another brother abused at least five more.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet

16 May 2018

by Ruth Gledhill

It is “vital” that Cardinal Vincent Nichols give evidence to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), a lawyer has told a hearing.

Sam Stein QC, said at a preliminary hearing into the Archdiocese of Birmingham, that he has been pressing “for some time” for Cardinal Vincent Nichols to appear in person. Mr Stein said that whilst he appreciated counsel to the inquiry is “wanting to take a step-by-step process” in terms of potentially calling him as a witness, “it is obvious that where he was the Archbishop of Birmingham from the year 2000 to 2009, he is key to many of these events.”

Setting out details of the hearing, which is taking place in November, counsel to the inquiry, Jacqueline Carey, said that a number of core participants had also requested the Cardinal give evidence; he will be asked to give a statement and after it has been received, consideration would be given to him appearing in person. She added: “It is also anticipated that Cardinal Nichols will be asked to provide a statement in respect of the wider Roman Catholic Church investigation and, again, once received, the inquiry will consider that statement and consider whether he should be called in respect of the wider hearing as well.”

Ms Carey outlined that allegations of abuse had been made against more than 40 people “involving a large number of complainants” and that at least 14 priests have been convicted before the criminal courts. The inquiry will consider several case examples more fully, including those of Fr Samuel Penny and Fr James Robinson both of whom were convicted.

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NORTH CAROLINA
Forward

Ari Feldman

May 16, 2018

he Reform movement’s rabbinical association censured the rabbi of a Durham, North Carolina synagogue after receiving a complaint that was “sexual in nature,” but didn’t tell his congregation, spurring a watchdog group to demand that the movement be more forthcoming about accusations of sexual wrongdoing against its clergy.

“It’s kind of shocking,” said Shulamit Magnus, a professor of Jewish history at Oberlin College who helps lead the Committee on Ethics in Jewish Leadership, a group that has advocated for a standard set of professional ethical guidelines across Jewish organizations. “After all the awareness that’s been raised in the #MeToo era, this is not something that we should be hearing about at this stage.”

The committee’s call for more transparency comes almost a year after the Reform movement’s Central Conference of American Rabbis admitted it had not widely disclosed that another rabbi had been expelled for violating “sexual boundaries” and for “financial misconduct.” The Conference subsequently released a list of expelled rabbis.

Now activists like Magnus are saying the lack of transparency on the part of the CCAR toward Durham’s Judea Reform Congregation shows that the list is not enough. The CCAR needs to tell congregations about any sexual complaints they receive against their rabbis, she said.

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MARYLAND
JMore

by Simone Ellin, Associate Editor

May 4, 2018

This article was updated at 10:30 a.m. on May 9.

A letter was recently made public by nearly 40 congregants of Temple Oheb Shalom, expressing support for the synagogue’s board of directors regarding last week’s suspension of Rabbi Steven M. Fink for alleged sexual misconduct.

On the morning of May 3, members of Temple Oheb Shalom were notified in an email signed by the Pikesville congregation’s president, Mina Wender, that the synagogue’s longtime spiritual leader was suspended with pay.

According to the temple’s letter, the suspension came after allegations “of an improper incident of a sexual nature that may have occurred a number of years ago involving Rabbi Fink and a then teenager, who was a minor at the time.”

Also on May 3, an email titled “An Open Letter to Oheb Shalom” was circulated among a select group of congregants.

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UTAH
Fox 13

MAY 16, 2018

BY BEN WINSLOW

SALT LAKE CITY — In a pair of legal motions, both The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the ex-Missionary Training Center leader accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 1984 ask a federal judge to dismiss her lawsuit.

McKenna Denson speaks to reporters at a news conference alongside her attorney, Craig Vernon, over her lawsuit against the LDS Church. (Photo by Ben Winslow, FOX 13 News)

McKenna Denson filed a lawsuit earlier last month against the LDS Church and Joseph Bishop, accusing him of attacking her inside a room at the faith’s Missionary Training Center when she was a young sister missionary. In their response to those lawsuits, the Mormon church and Bishop say the lawsuit is brought too late.

“Plaintiff McKenna Denson initiated this lawsuit amid a media flourish in early April 2018. At the core of her complaint is the allegation that Defendant Joseph Bishop sexually assaulted her in early 1984,” Bishop’s attorney, Andrew Deiss, wrote in a motion to dismiss.

“The time to prosecute these claims, however, is long past—they are all barred by the applicable statute of limitations. Because the time to bring these claims has expired, the Court should dismiss all claims against Mr. Bishop with prejudice.”

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JAPAN
NHK

The chief priest at Yakushiji Temple in Nara City has resigned over what he calls an improper relationship with a woman. The temple is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The Buddhist temple’s chief steward said on Tuesday that the temple had accepted Taiin Murakami’s resignation, and allowed him to leave Yakushiji.

Murakami assumed the post in August 2016. He led the project to reconstruct most of the temple’s buildings by May 2017. A ceremony was held this month to connect the central pillar of the East Pagoda.

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CANADA
Global News

May 15, 2018

By Mike Armstrong
Global National Quebec Correspondent Global News

A convicted pedophile priest has left behind a confession meant to help his victims sue the church.

Paul-Andre Harvey died of natural causes May 3 at a minimum security prison in Laval, Que. He was serving a six-year sentence for the sexual abuse of 39 girls.

Over the last several months, Harvey wrote a series of documents in French, explaining his crimes and laying out how he got away with them for decades.

Harvey blames police for not stopping him, and his superiors for not getting him help.

Harvey writes that when he was confronted by the bishop at the time, there were no consequences. “He told me to be more careful around children in the future and to pray more.”

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

May 15, 2018

By Kelly Heyboer kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com,
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

One of New Jersey’s most elite private schools says it will improve programs to protect students on its campus as part of a settlement reached last week with 21 victims of alleged sexual abuse at the school.

The Pingry School also reached a financial settlement with the victims for an undisclosed amount, according to a statement released Friday.

“We are deeply sorry for the abuse the survivors experienced while at our school and the pain they have endured since. Their courage in coming forward is extraordinary,” Jeffrey Edwards, chairman of Pingry’s board of trustees, said in the statement.

Pingry released a report last year that said a popular teacher and Boy Scout leader at the school was accused of abusing at least 27 boys over six years in the mid 1970s.

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SCOTLAND
Bishops’ Conference of Scotland

March 2018

1.1 We promote the safe use of Church premises.

1.1.1 The provision of safe environments is an essential requirement for all Church activities that involve children and vulnerable groups.

1.1.2 Where premises are owned, leased or occupied by the Catholic Church and used by parish groups working with vulnerable groups, the group leader must take responsibility for agreeing the use of Church premises with the Parish Priest or with the person appointed by him.

1.1.3 Where a non-parish-based group uses Church premises for activities involving vulnerable groups on a regular basis, the group leader must produce written evidence that the group observes an appropriate Safeguarding policy in their organisation. This must be presented to the person responsible for managing the Church premises, prior to the group using the premises.

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SCOTLAND
Bishops’ Conference of Scotland

This leaflet outlines the Safeguarding efforts of the Catholic Church in Scotland, in terms of people and policies.

It also provides advice to anyone who has a concern about, or who receives an allegation of, abuse.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

16 May 2018

Last month, the Catholic Church in Scotland ­published its new ­safeguarding manual, In God’s Image, offering comprehensive ­guidance and instruction on every aspect of safeguarding in the church.

It has been shaped by the recent experience and developing expertise of those involved in the front line of safeguarding in the church, both in Scotland and internationally.

In signing and ratifying this ­publication, the bishops of Scotland took the opportunity to repeat and renew apologies made to those who have suffered any form of abuse, at any time, by anyone representing the church.

We aspire to the highest standards of care and protection and we are committed to rebuilding trust and confidence in the ways in which we ensure that children, young people and vulnerable adults are kept safe.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Inside Higher Ed

By Jeremy Bauer-Wolf

May 16, 2018

The accusations against Columbia International University President Mark Smith were shocking enough — a former university general counsel alleging that Smith covered up rampant sexual harassment and bigotry by his son when they were both employed by another religious college.

With the allegations against Smith and his son, Doug Smith, still reverberating at the university, alumni have gone public with other stories about a longstanding climate of sexual harassment and assault. How the former Columbia International president Bill Jones would stroke the hair of students and tickle them without permission. How professors there would do everything from kiss students’ foreheads to pass on rumors they had dated “too many men.”

One faculty member sexually assaulted a student, a graduate alleges.

While the university maintains administrators were ignorant of these allegations, and indeed the graduates said they did not report them at the time, they reinforce an image of religious institutions that many have tried to shake: that sexual misconduct at best goes ignored, and worst, is knowingly dismissed.

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TEXAS
Star-Telegram

SARAH SMITH
ssmith@star-telegram.com

May 15, 2018

A pastor booted from a megachurch for viewing “inappropriate images” on his church computer in 2016 has found a job as an associate pastor in Fort Worth, according to his website.

Scott Crenshaw had served as a senior pastor at the New River Fellowship Church at the time, which has campuses in Mineral Wells, Benbrook and Hudson Oaks (the corporate office is in Weatherford).

The board of directors removed him and issued a statement: “Leadership confronted him and discussed at length the concern, the nature of which was related to inappropriate images on his church office computer.” Crenshaw had agreed to seek counseling, the statement said.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican News

May 15, 2018

By Vatican News

Pope Francis has given the Bishops of Chile a series of themes for meditation at their meeting Tuesday at the Vatican.

Addressing the crisis

Chile sex abuse: Pope Francis begs forgiveness for “serious mistakes”
The Holy Father called the meeting with the Chilean episcopate to address the crisis of clerical sexual abuse, and the failure of church leaders to respond adequately to it. The meeting was prompted by the reception of 2300-page report by two special envoys sent to Rome by Pope Francis earlier this year. The envoys, Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta and Fr Jordi Bertomeu Farnós, travelled to the Americas to hear testimony from victims of clerical abuse.

Upon receiving the final report, Pope Francis “humbly” requesting the Bishops’ “collaboration and assistance in discerning the short-, mid-, and long-term measures that must be adopted to re-establish ecclesial communion in Chile, with the goal of repairing as much as possible the scandal, and re-establishing justice.” The meeting in Rome is intended to discuss the results of the envoys’ visit and discuss the Pope’s conclusions.

A time for meditation and prayer

The Pope held the first meeting with the Bishops on Tuesday afternoon in the auletta of the Paul VI Hall. Thirty-four Chilean Bishops were in attendance. According to a statement from the Holy See Press Office, the Pope gave each of the Bishops a text with themes for meditation. “From this moment and until the next meeting, a time is open [which is] dedicated exclusively to meditation and prayer,” the statement said.

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NEW MEXICO
Albuquerque Journal

May 15, 2018

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Since law enforcement never filed rape and molestation charges against former Catholic priest Sabine Griego, seven people who say they are victims of his sexual abuse are now taking up the mission of accountability in a civil lawsuit filed last week.

Documents released under court order by the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in a separate civil lawsuit show that by 2017 the archdiocese had reached settlement agreements with 32 New Mexicans who alleged that Griego sexually abused them as children. The Archdiocese faces dozens of suits regarding its role in covering up pedophile priest behavior.

This suit, filed May 9 in 4th District Court in Las Vegas by Albuquerque attorneys Brad Hall and Levi Monagle, targets Griego as an individual. It alleges he raped, abused and molested six male children and one female child at his home, in his car, at the churches he worked at and at his mother’s home in Las Vegas over decades.

The seven plaintiffs, now all New Mexico residents in their 50s, are in addition to victims identified by the church who were abused by Griego and by two other priests, Jason Sigler and Arthur Perrault, who have been named in dozens of civil lawsuits dating to the 1990s.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

Inés San Martín
VATICAN_CORRESPONDENT

May 15, 2018

ROME – After the first meeting between Pope Francis and 34 Chilean bishops to talk about “extraordinary challenges [regarding] abuse of power, sexual [abuse] and [abuses] of conscience” facing the Chilean Church, on Tuesday the Vatican released a statement saying Francis had given the prelates a text on which to “pray and meditate.”

“This afternoon the pope gave each of the bishops a text with some themes on which to meditate; from now on until the next meeting, a moment opens dedicated exclusively to meditation and prayer,” the short statement says.

The statement was released after the first meeting between the pope and the prelates came to an end. Having started at 4:00 pm local, it lasted for about two hours and took place in the auletta of the Paul VI Synod Hall, a room located in the hall where popes hold their weekly audiences during bad-weather months.

There will be three more meetings: One on Wednesday afternoon and two on Thursday.

The bishops were summoned to Rome by Francis in a letter dated April 8. He penned it after receiving a report from Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Spanish priest Jordi Bertomeu. The pontiff had tasked them with looking into Bishop Juan Barros, who’s been accused of covering up for a pedophile priest.

Scicluna and Bertomeu presented a 2,300-page long report that led to Francis acknowledging that he’d made “serious errors.” He also asked three victims of Father Fernando Karadima, who’s been found guilty by the Vatican of sexually abusing minors, to come to Rome. They did so in late April.

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MICHIGAN
Huron Daily Tribune

By Brenda Battel
Tribune Staff Writer

[wtih documents]

May 15, 2018

BAD AXE — A prosecutor handling a sexual abuse investigation involving priests from the Diocese of Saginaw denies threatening the Diocese in a 2004 letter.

Mark Gaertner is a former Huron County prosecutor who now works as an assistant prosecutor in Saginaw County. The Saginaw County Prosecutor’s Office is working with law enforcement regarding investigations of prior sexual abuse of minors by priests in the Diocese.

Gaertner was the Huron County prosecutor when Bad Axe Police investigated a former Bad Axe Priest, Jack E. Leipert, following allegations of sexual abuse while serving at Sacred Heart Church in 2000. In that case, the county elected to not file charges against Leipert.

At the time, a 21-year-old Caseville man claimed Leipert sexually molested him.

The Diocese told the Tribune this week that it was that complaint that led to Leipert’s removal from the ministry in 2001

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INDIA
New Indian Express

16th May 2018

By Express News Service

KOCHI: In yet another child abuse case, the Kochi central police on Tuesday registered an FIR on the statements given by three minor sisters. Though a case under the POCSO Act has been registered, the police are yet to name any person. A Christian priest is allegedly involved, they said.

As per the girls’ statement, they and their mother were at a retreat centre at Madukkarai near Coimbatore. During prayer time, a woman at the centre had a revelation the elder girl, around 16 years old, is hiding something from them, the statement said. “When asked, the girl revealed they were sexually abused at their school at Kakkanad. They were also taken to other Christian establishments and subjected to sexual abuse there too,” the FIR said.

The police took the children for medical examination and shifted them to a children’s home. “We have registered an FIR. The allegations are very sensitive and we are probing them in detail,” said a cop.

The police said this may be a tip of the iceberg, and more children might have been lured to the retreat centre. The girls’ father had said Unnieshobhavan authorities were canvassing innocent people, particularly Kerala women, on false promises. Those who run the asylum were dismissed from the diocese for illegal activities and are maintaining the asylum to achieve their ill motives of keeping innocent in their custody in the name of Jesus.

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ILLINOIS
WGN

MAY 15, 2018

BY MARCELLA RAYMOND AND NANCY LOO

CHICAGO — A former youth minister has been accused of sending inappropriate pictures and messages to minors several times since 2014.

Daniel Ramos, 29, of Burbank, was arrested Monday. He appeared in bond court Tuesday and was charged with four felonies including child pornography, indecent solicitation of a child and grooming. The alleged victims are as young as 12 and as old as 17.

Daniel Ramos was the youth pastor at Victory Worship Church on the Northwest Side up until last summer when one of the alleged victims, who was between 14 and 15 at the time of the abuse, told her mother, who told the lead pastor.

Lead pastor Chris Wallace stresses Ramos hasn’t worked with the center for many months, and said the church alerted authorities last summer after learning of possible misconduct.

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CHILE
National Catholic Register

May 15, 2018

Edward Pentin

While Pope Francis meets the bishops of Chile over the next three days to formulate a response to the abuse crisis in the country (see below), a case involving sexual abuse in a Jesuit school for 12- to 17-year-old boys has been making headlines in Chile but receiving little attention outside the country.

The charges relate to abuse perpetrated in the 1980s and 1990s by Father Jaime Guzman Astaburuaga who has been prevented from exercising ministry or being in the vicinity of minors after the Society of Jesus found him guilty in 2012 of a series of abuses.

The abuses included improper touching in the confessional, taking photographs of students in the nude during retreats and displaying the pictures on a school bulletin board, and perpetrating acts of violence against minors. The abuse only became public in January.

While Pope Francis meets the bishops of Chile over the next three days to formulate a response to the abuse crisis in the country (see below), a case involving sexual abuse in a Jesuit school for 12- to 17-year-old boys has been making headlines in Chile but receiving little attention outside the country.

The charges relate to abuse perpetrated in the 1980s and 1990s by Father Jaime Guzman Astaburuaga who has been prevented from exercising ministry or being in the vicinity of minors after the Society of Jesus found him guilty in 2012 of a series of abuses.

The abuses included improper touching in the confessional, taking photographs of students in the nude during retreats and displaying the pictures on a school bulletin board, and perpetrating acts of violence against minors. The abuse only became public in January.

The Colegio San Ignacio at which Father Guzman taught is reputed by local Catholics in Chile to have a history for being “ultra-liberal,” and is located just three blocks away from the conservative and affluent El Bosque parish, once run by Father Fernando Karadima. Found guilty of a series of abuses dating back to the 1980s, Father Karadima is at the center of the abuse crisis in the country, involving charges of cover-up by four of the country’s bishops. at which Father Guzman taught is reputed by local Catholics in Chile to have a history for being “ultra-liberal,” and is located just three blocks away from the conservative and affluent El Bosque parish, once run by Father Fernando Karadima. Found guilty of a series of abuses dating back to the 1980s, Father Karadima is at the center of the abuse crisis in the country, involving charges of cover-up by four of the country’s bishops.

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UNITED STATES
The Guardian (UK)

May 14, 2018

Children are being coerced and blackmailed into live-streaming their own sexual abuse from their own homes, researchers have found.

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), which carried out the study, says that large numbers of victims are white girls apparently from relatively affluent backgrounds, often streaming from their bedroom. Their profile contrasts markedly with that of typical offline abuse victims who are often homeless or poor, it points out.

In a three-month period last year, the charity identified 2,082 images and videos of live-streamed child sexual abuse. Of that number, 96% were girls and 98% were children aged 13 and under, with most (69%) assessed to be between 11 and 13. Almost three in 10 (28%) were aged under 10 and the youngest victim was just three years old.

The vast majority (96%) showed a child on their own in a home environment, leading the IWF to conclude they are being groomed, coerced and blackmailed into live-streaming their own sexual abuse over webcams, tablets and mobile phones.

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VATICAN CITY
Associated Press

By NICOLE WINFIELD

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The retired archbishop of Santiago is denying he covered-up for an abusive priest in Chile, but is acknowledging the priest’s popularity and ability to produce seminarians weighed on his decision-making.

Cardinal Javier Errazuriz wrote a letter May 10 to his fellow bishops defending his handling of the case at the center of Chile’s sex abuse and cover-up scandal. That scandal is at the heart of an emergency summit between Pope Francis and 34 bishops that began Tuesday to try to map a recovery strategy from the crisis that has discredited the Chilean church and tarnished Francis’ own reputation.

In the letter, obtained by The Associated Press, Errazuriz insisted that he was only following church law in waiting more than five years before launching an investigation into the Rev. Fernando Karadima. Only in 2009, after he received a third complaint from one of Karadima’s young parishioners, did he start the process.

Errazuriz wrote that it had been “difficult” to reach the Vatican-required standard of being convinced that the accusations were “at least likely,” particularly given Karadima’s popularity.

“They were accusing a priest with a great pastoral calling, whose preaching enriched more than 30 young people who were ordained priests and four priests who were consecrated bishops,” Errazuriz wrote. “They also accused a priest who inspired a youth association that propagated his fame.”

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

May 15, 2018

Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Thirty-four Chilean bishops summoned to the Vatican over a cover-up of sexual abuse by clergy began crisis meetings with Pope Francis on Tuesday that could result in a purge of Chile’s Catholic hierarchy.

“We feel pain and shame,” Fernando Ramos, an auxiliary bishop of Santiago, told a news conference ahead of the three days of closed-door meetings.

The scandal has devastated the credibility of the Church in the once staunchly Catholic country. It has also hurt the pope’s own image because this year he strongly defended a bishop accused in the alleged cover-up before reversing his position.

Bishop Juan Ignacio Gonzalez of the city of San Bernardo said he could not rule out some of the tainted bishops resigning or being sacked, as many Chileans have demanded.

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AUSTRALIA
Yahoo!

May 15, 2018

Melbourne (AFP) – The trial of top Papal aide Cardinal George Pell for alleged historic sexual offences could be held in secret after prosecutors on Tuesday sought a blanket ban on media coverage.

Pell’s case returns to the Victoria County Court in Melbourne on Wednesday, when trial dates are expected to be set and the judge is due to rule on the media ban.

Pell will be the highest-ranked Catholic to face a jury after being committed to stand trial a fortnight ago. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

But reporting could be off-limits after prosecutors applied for an order to suppress “any report of the whole or any part of these proceedings and any information derived from this proceeding and any court documents associated with this proceeding”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet

May 15, 2018

A Chilean bishop has acknowledged the damage inflicted on survivors of clerical sex abuse and the mishandling of cases by church leaders in the country.

“I am not saying that perhaps we have made mistakes. We have made mistakes,” said Bishop Juan Ignacio Gonzalez Errazuriz of San Bernardo.

Bishop Gonzalez, along with Auxiliary Bishop Fernando Ramos Perez of Santiago, met with journalists on 14 May on the eve of a three-day meeting between Pope Francis and 34 Chilean bishops.

Chile’s bishops are meeting with Francis this week (15 – 17 May) in an attempt to understand the causes of the clerical sexual abuse crisis in their country and the “mechanisms” that led to its cover up.

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PENNSYLVANIA
TribLive

May 14, 2018

The state Legislature needs to address the statute of limitations regarding child sex cases.

There are far too many cases that cannot be prosecuted because victims did not report these heinous crimes when they were children.

“Children are targeted by predators because they are vulnerable, they are young and they struggle with shame, confusion or fear,” state Attorney General Josh Shapiro said. “But once a victim finds the courage to come forward, law enforcement must take action.”

Shapiro made his remarks May 1 when announcing charges against a Catholic priest from the Diocese of Erie who is accused of abusing two boys for years. Even more sickening, prosecutors allege the priest forced one of the children to “confess” to the sex acts during confession.

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NEW MEXICO
KOB

Chris Ramirez

May 14, 2018

LAS VEGAS, N.M. — For the countless victims of clergy sex abuse in New Mexico, many feel let down by police, prosecutors and other adults who should have helped them.

The fight isn’t over. In a new lawsuit, seven men allege that former Catholic Priest Sabine Griego raped them repeatedly between 1968 and 1984.

“The goal in these seven survivors in focusing on Griego specifically is to draw attention to the fact that he has escaped any kind of prosecution, even though he has been known as a credible abuser for more than 20 years,” said Levi Monagle, who is one of the attorneys in the case.

In November 2017, 4 Investigates found Griego living in Las Vegas and discovered he had taught at a local community college where he had access to minors. When asked about the dozens of people who have accused him of raping them as children, he stormed off.

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ROME
Crux

Claire Giangravè
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

May 15, 2018

ROME – In the ongoing case involving the leader of a lay Catholic association in Sicily charged with the sexual abuse of at least six underage girls, a former bishop of the local diocese in the 1980s has denied having any knowledge of the accusations and said the issue “had been buried.”

“No one came to tell me clearly how things stood,” said Monsignor Giuseppe Malandrino, who was Bishop of Acireale for over 18 years (1979-1998), in an early May interview with local media. “What can I control if there’s nothing? Now everyone speaks, but at the time…”

The lay-led “Catholic Culture and Environment Association,” or ACCA, came under fire in August 2017 when its spiritual leader, Piero Alfio Capuana, 73, was arrested and charged with the sexual abuse of six minors.

Capuana, who denies the allegations, is known as the “Archangel” among his followers. He spent six months in prison, and is currently under house arrest awaiting trial.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican News

May 15, 2018

Pope Francis is currently holding a series of closed-door meetings with the Bishops of Chile to formulate a response to the abuse crisis that has rocked the Church in that country. The discussions are being attended by 31 diocesan and auxiliary bishops and 3 emeritus bishops, and will be ongoing until May 17th.

Press conference of two Chilean bishops

On the eve of the meeting, two Chilean bishops held a press conference in Rome. They are Bishop Fernando Ramos, Auxiliary Bishop of Santiago and General Secretary of the Chilean Episcopal Conference, and Bishop Juan Ignacio González of San Bernardo.

Called by the Pope

Archbishop Ramos recalled Pope Francis’ letter of April 8th with which he summoned the bishops to the Vatican. He explained how the Bishops have come specifically: “To receive the conclusions of the report by Archbishop Scicluna following his visit to Chile, and also to discern short, medium and long term measures to restore communion and justice”. These, according to the General Secretary of the Bishops’ Conference were “the two great themes to which the Holy Father invited us with his letter”.

Discerning responsibilities

Speaking at the press conference in Rome, Archbishop Ramos said the content of the meetings with the Pope would include: “The issues of abuse of power, abuse of conscience, and sexual abuse, that have occurred in recent decades in the Chilean Church, as well as the mechanisms that led, in some cases, to concealment and serious omissions against the victims. A second point is to share the conclusions the Holy Father drew from Archbishop Scicluna’s report. And a third point is the Pope’s invitation to make a long synodal process of discernment to understand the responsibilities of each and every one regarding these terrible wounds of abuse, and to seek necessary changes so that they are not repeated”.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio, heugenio@guampdn.com

May 14, 2018

About half of the nearly 170 people who filed clergy sex abuse lawsuits have completed giving details and additional information to the Archdiocese of Agana’s attorneys during interviews to help evaluate claims for possible settlement.

Attorney David Lujan said 40 of the nearly 120 clergy sex abuse victims he represents had already been interviewed as of last week and interviews will continue in the next few weeks.

More than 40 plaintiffs represented by two other law firms gave their interviews in March and April. A third law firm, representing 10 plaintiffs, also has separate interviews.

Interview is part of pre-mediation process

The interview process is much like a deposition. Each person who filed a clergy sex abuse lawsuit is interviewed for an average of two hours, and those present during the interview are attorneys for the defendants including the archdiocese, along with the plaintiff’s own attorney.

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OHIO
The Blade

By Jennifer Feehan | BLADE STAFF WRITER

May 14, 2018

One of three Toledo area pastors caught up in an alleged child sex trafficking scheme admitted in court Monday that he had sex with two minor girls, even at times at his friend’s church office.

Kenneth Butler, 38, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to conspiracy to sex traffic children, obstruction of a sex trafficking investigation, and two counts of sex trafficking of children.

Although three of the charges carry maximum possible sentences of life in prison, Butler is to be sentenced to 17½ years in prison as part of a plea agreement. Judge Jack Zouhary scheduled sentencing for Sept. 12.

“This defendant has admitted to crimes that include preying on a foster child who was previously the victim of sexual abuse, and he committed these crimes in a house of worship,” U.S. Attorney Justin E. Herdman said in a news release. “Butler may hold himself out to the community as a pastor, but in the eyes of the law he is a criminal who pays money to sexually assault children.”

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OHIO
Patch

By Chris Mosby, Patch Staff

May 14, 2018

TOLEDO, OH — A former Toledo-area pastor had sex with two underage girls, including a victim of sexual abuse, according to a plea agreement released by the Department of Justice. Kenneth Butler will now likely spend the next 17 years of his life in prison.

“This defendant has admitted to crimes that include preying on a foster child who was previously the victim of sexual abuse, and he committed these crimes in a house of worship,” U.S. Attorney Justin E. Herdman said. “Butler may hold himself out to the community as a pastor, but in the eyes of the law he is a criminal who pays money to sexually assault children.”

According to Butler’s plea agreement, between 2015 and March 2017, the pastor had sex with two girls both under the age of 18. On different occasions, he gave the girls small amounts of cash or rides before engaging in sexual acts.

Prior to coming to Toledo, Butler was a pastor of a Detroit church for five years. His church closed in 2013, and then he moved south and became a member of the Greater Life Christian Center in Toledo. Butler became friends with Anthony Haynes, who was the lead pastor of the church at that time.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

May 14, 2018

An investigation into how an ex youth worker jailed for child sex offences almost became a foster carer is due to start after almost a year of delays.

Ex youth worker Michael ‘Mik’ Smith was jailed in 2014 for sexual offences against children.

He was almost approved to become a foster carer by Pembrokeshire council despite concerns about his conduct.

The council said an independent chairman would be appointed in June.

A cabinet inquiry into the council’s dealings with Smith was due to begin in June 2017, but it has not yet begun after attempts to start it failed due to issues forming a task and finish group.

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MARYLAND
WBAL

May 14, 2918

Barry Simms

BALTIMORE —
A former teacher at a Baltimore Catholic school faces child sex abuse charges.

Police arrested Ryan Penalver, 27, after St. Frances Academy received allegations that he had an inappropriate relationship with a 15-year-old female student. Penalver had been held without bail, but a judge released him Monday on his own recognizance.

Penalver has taught history at St. Frances Academy for seven years. He’s charged with sex abuse of a minor, third- and fourth-degree sex offenses, second-degree child abuse and perverted practice.

“We believe the relationship started in April and continued into May. A friend of the victim reported it to the school, who immediately contacted Child Protective Services, and they contacted us,” Baltimore police Detective Jeremy Silbert said.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

By Elise Harris

Vatican City, May 14, 2018 / 01:55 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Speaking on the eve of a 3-day meeting with Pope Francis about a massive clerical abuse scandal, several Chilean prelates said they are ready to listen, and to work toward eradicating sexual abuse in the Church.

In a May 14 press conference ahead of their May 15-17 meeting with Pope Francis, two leading Chilean bishops said clerical sexual abuse is “unacceptable” and “intolerable,” and is something they are committed to eradicating.

The bishops said their attitude going into meetings with the pope this week is one of “pain and shame,” and that their main goals are to listen to what Francis has to say and to find a way forward which brings both healing and reparation for victims, as well as stricter prevention measures.

In comments to the media, Bishop Fernando Ramos, auxiliary bishop of Santiago, said he and his fellow prelates feel pain because “there are victims, people, who have suffered these abuses and this causes us great pain.”

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MARYLAND
Fox Baltimore

May 14, 2018

by Bryna Zume

BALTIMORE (WBFF) – A teacher at an east Baltimore Catholic school has been fired after he allegedly had “an inappropriate relationship with a student,” according to a letter sent by the school.

Ryan Penalver, 27, was a history teacher at Saint Frances Academy, on East Chase Street near Greenmount Avenue, since 2012.

He allegedly had a relationship with a 15-year-old student and was arrested Friday, said police.

The school sent a letter to parents and guardians saying: “In accordance with Maryland law and the policies of the school, SFA reported the allegations to Child Protective Services as soon as possible. Mr. Penalver was relieved of his duties immediately, and is no longer an employee of the school.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

PETER SMITH
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

MAY 14, 2018

A 1983 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette feature article opens with heart-warming words that — 35 years later — now chill the blood:

“The Rev. Lawrence A. O’Connell, pastor of St. Gabriel of the Sorrowful Virgin Church in Whitehall, wishes only to live out his remaining years near his beloved elementary school and its children.”

The longtime parish pastor, officially retiring at age 77, said he hoped “to remain here to teach religion and stay active with the children. … I used to greet them all as they came in the door.”

O’Connell died of a heart attack in 1986, his public good name intact.

In 2004, a different narrative emerged.

That year, two women sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh to say that in those hallway greetings when they were young students in the 1950s and 1960s, O’Connell would for years put his arms around them, fondle their breasts and force them to kiss him.

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CANADA
Oak Bay News

STEVEN HEYWOOD

May. 14, 2018

Angel Sampson recalls being called “heathen,” “savage,” and “evil.”

She also remembers the fear of attending school, where she experienced not only emotional abuse, but physical harm at the hands of the people entrusted with her education and care.

From 1964 to ‘67, and starting when she was six years old, Sampson attended the Tsartlip Indian Day School in Brentwood Bay. It wasn’t what people might recognize as a residential school — the site of pain and suffering by many of Canada’s Indigenous people — but the conditions Sampson says she faced were not any different.

In fact, the only difference, she said, was that the children got to go home at night.

That still didn’t prevent the abuse from happening, she said. Sampson remembers having her hair pulled, being choked and battered unconscious to the point where other students thought she’d died. As a young child, she said you were afraid to talk about it, and the nuns of the Catholic Church who ran the Day School created an environment where the children were fearful of speaking up.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

May 14, 2018

by Junno Arocho Esteves, Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — A Chilean bishop acknowledged the damage inflicted on survivors of clerical sex abuse and the mishandling of cases by church leaders in the country.

“I am not saying that perhaps we have made mistakes. We have made mistakes,” said Bishop Juan Ignacio Gonzalez Errazuriz of San Bernardo.

Gonzalez, along with Auxiliary Bishop Fernando Ramos Perez of Santiago, met with journalists May 14 on the eve of a three-day meeting between Pope Francis and 34 Chilean bishops.

The bishops are meeting at the Vatican May 15-17 to discuss with Francis their handling of clerical sex abuse allegations.

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ROME
America

Gerard O’Connell

May 14, 2018

The 34 Chilean bishops have come to Rome “in pain and shame” because of the victims who have suffered abuse in their church, and they are conscious that as bishops they have erred. They have come “in a spirit of humility and openness,” willing to hear what Pope Francis has to say to them, and “ready to collaborate with him and do whatever he asks.” That was the message that two representatives of the Chilean bishops communicated to the international press at a conference at the Vatican Radio center on May 14.

The bishops had delegated two of their number to meet the press this evening: Fernando Ramos Pérez, the secretary general of the bishops’ conference and auxiliary bishop in the Santiago archdiocese, and Juan Ignacio González Errázuriz, the bishop of San Bernardo and a member of Opus Dei.

Bishop Ramos said they would have several meetings with Pope Francis over the next three days, starting early Tuesday afternoon, May 15, and continuing until May 17. They would meet him as a group “in a long synodal process,” which may not necessarily conclude in these three days, “to discern the short-, medium- and long-term measures” that need to be taken in the face of the present situation. They did not yet know if they will have individual meetings with him. Nor is it scheduled that they will concelebrate the Eucharist with the pope, he said. They did not know exactly how this whole process will unfold.

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ROME
Crux

Inés San Martín
VATICAN CORRESPONDENT

May 14, 2018

ROME – Some might say that the 34 Chilean bishops who are now in Rome to meet with Pope Francis to address the way they’ve handled clerical sexual abuse scandals are like lambs to the slaughter. Two of them projected just that image when talking to journalists on Monday, saying that they’ve come to Rome with “pain,” “shame,” and “humility,” to “listen” and “discern.”

Bishop Fernando Ramos Pérez, secretary general of the Chilean bishops’ conference, said that the bishops who have arrived in Rome have done so with “pain, because there are people who’ve been victims of abuse,” but also with shame, “because the abuses have occurred in ecclesial environments where this type of abuse should never happen.”

“We have made mistakes, many mistakes,” said Bishop Ignacio González, who acknowledged that the Catholic Church in Chile had failed when it comes to protecting children.

The bishop, a member of the Chilean council for the prevention of abuse and accompaniment of victims said he “understood the rage, the anger,” of Chilean survivors of abuse who’ve asked for Cardinal Francisco Errazuriz, the former Archbishop of Santiago, to face trial for covering up abuse.

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WISCONSIN
The Cap Times

May 14, 2018

By Jessie Opoien

Milwaukee attorney Matt Flynn’s campaign manager said Monday the candidate is the subject of a “smear campaign” as he faces calls from Wisconsin women’s groups to drop out of the Democratic gubernatorial primary.

Flynn, a former chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, represented the Archdiocese of Milwaukee against victims of sexual abuse by priests during his work with the law firm Quarles & Brady.

His campaign held a call with reporters on Monday to announce a series of videos featuring three supporters of Flynn’s campaign, including Karen Gotzler, the former director of the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center. Gotzler said as a person who was raised Catholic, she is pleased Flynn worked to “rid our church of these abusers.”

The call comes a week after the Wisconsin Women’s March and the Madison and Wisconsin chapters of the National Organization for Women called on Flynn to end his campaign.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Erie News Now

May 14th 2018

Bishop Emeritus Donald Trautman of the Erie Diocese issued a new statement Monday regarding the charges filed against former priest David Poulson for the sexual abuse of two young boys.

It reads:

The Erie Times News stated in its May 14, 2018, edition “that the Diocese of Erie engaged in a cover-up of David Poulson’s behavior under the administration of Bishop Donald Trautman,” according to Attorney General Josh Shapiro. There was no such cover-up.

Why would I cover up Father Poulson’s behavior when I had reported to several district atttorneys the behavior of other priests? I know of no sexual abuse by Poulson during my time as Bishop of Erie. Why would I cover up Poulson’s sinful behavior when I had removed 22 priests from ministry and sought their dismissal from the clerical state?

Can a bishop be misled? Yes, I was misled, and others were as well. In early 2018, members of the clergy continuing education committee invited Poulson to give the Day of Recollection for the priests of the Erie Diocese. Needless to say, the Day of Recollection was cancelled.

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VATICAN CITY
Associated Press

May 13, 2019

NICOLE WINFIELD

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Chile’s Catholic bishops said Monday they were open to whatever Pope Francis proposes to overhaul the Chilean church, including the removal of bishops, reforms of seminaries and paying financial reparation to victims of a clergy sex abuse and cover-up scandal.

Representatives of the Chilean bishops conference told reporters they were heading into three days of meetings with Francis humbled, pained and shamed for their own errors in handling abuse cases. They said they wanted to listen to Francis and would follow his lead in asking forgiveness of the victims they had discredited.

A conference spokesman, Bishop Juan Ignacio Gonzalez, said “it’s possible” some bishops would offer to resign, but that it was up to the pope. “We’ll respect what he says. If he asks, we’ll do it,” he said.

Francis summoned the bishops to Rome for an emergency summit after receiving a 2,300-page report on the abuse cover-up scandal, which he had helped fuel. During a visit to Chile in January, Francis strongly defended a bishop, Juan Barros, who was accused by victims of Chile’s most notorious predator priest of having witnessed and ignored their abuse.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By Stephen Wright for the Daily Mail

14 May 2018

A woman’s claims that she was the victim of a Westminster paedophile plot will not be examined by the public inquiry into child sex abuse after doubts emerged about her story.

Four months after the Daily Mail raised questions about Esther Baker’s account of supposed VIP abuse, it has been announced that her allegations will not be investigated by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).

Inquiry chairman Professor Alexis Jay described Miss Baker’s allegations as ‘highly contentious’ and added that she is the subject of a complaint to police that she had perverted the course of justice.

‘I have decided that the inquiry will not investigate the issues that Miss Baker has raised that relate to her own alleged experiences of child sexual abuse,’ Professor Jay said.

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By Post Editorial Board

May 13, 2018

Does New York City — with its once-unimaginable record-low crime rates — still need private (but city-funded) citizen-patrol groups?

The question became more pressing with the arrest Thursday of Jacob Daskal, politically wired president and co-founder of the Boro Park Shomrim, on charges he repeatedly raped a 15-year-old girl over a period of months in his home.

It’s not the Brooklyn group’s first brush with the law, either.

Last year, Shomrim official Alex “Shaya” Lichtenstein was sentenced to 32 months in prison for bribing cops on a regular basis to get hard-to-obtain full-carry handgun permits for paying clients, including some with criminal records.

The group itself has been accused of violently beating suspects it apprehends. And Daskal reportedly was able to arrange for Orthodox Jews arrested for minor crimes to avoid being booked through the system.

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EGYPT
News 24

2018-05-13

Egypt on Friday arrested an activist who posted a video on social media in which she hit out at national institutions and voiced opposition to sexual harassment, security sources said.

In the clip uploaded to Facebook this week, Amal Fathi criticised organisations including state-owned Banque Misr, whose male security staff she accused of being predatory towards women.

She also criticised the government over human rights and economic conditions in the country, as well as accusing it of failing to protect women.

Fathi, a 33-year-old mother, stands accused of “insulting all the institutions of the state” and undermining patriotism, the security sources said.

She would be brought before Egypt’s prosecutor general.

London-based human rights watchdog Amnesty International said Fathi was arrested for her criticism of the government “for failing to protect women”.

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MAINE
Press Herald

BY PENELOPE OVERTON
STAFF WRITER

May 14, 2018

Kevin Battle was a baby when church officials raided his family home in Ireland and plucked him from the arms of his mother, an unmarried 24-year-old who had run away from the convent where she and hundreds of other Irish girls were sent to give birth to secret children.

After raising the boy she named William for more than a year, his mother couldn’t bear to give him up, so she grabbed her chubby-cheeked boy and escaped home to her family in County Limerick. But the nuns had plans for the boy, so they tracked down the mother and child and forcefully reclaimed him.

Within weeks of seizing the baby, the Catholic Church sold him to an Irish couple in New York grieving the death of their own infant. The price? A $1,000 donation to the church. Records show that the convent, Sean Ross Abbey, secretly exported 438 children like Battle to America.

Yet Battle, a retired South Portland police officer who works as a harbor master and state legislator, grew up knowing none of this. He’d always known he was adopted. He’d searched for his mother, following the paper trail to Ireland in 1978, but the nuns there told him she was dead.

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By Jennifer Bain, Larry Celona and Laura Italiano

May 11, 2018

The politically connected Shomrim leader accused of repeatedly raping a 15-year-old girl implicated himself in a recorded phone call with his victim, prosecutors revealed Friday.

Jacob “Yanky” Daskal, 59, who helped found the neighborhood Boro Park Shomrim patrol group some 30 years ago, knew his victim prior to the alleged attacks, prosecutors said.

The major campaign donor pleaded not guilty at his Friday arraignment in Brooklyn Supreme Court and quickly posted $75,000 bond.

At the brief hearing, prosecutors said they set up and recorded a phone call earlier this week between Daskal and the young girl he is accused of sexually abusing in the Borough Park home he shares with his wife and family.

“There was a controlled phone call,” said Assistant District Attorney Kevin O’Donnell.

O’Donnell did not describe the call or elaborate on Daskal’s relationship with the girl, except to say “the parties are known to each other.”

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AUSTRALIA
New York Times

By Damien Cave

May 14, 2018

SYDNEY, Australia — An Australian court is to decide on Wednesday whether two planned trials for Cardinal George Pell, the senior Vatican official accused of sexual abuse, will be conducted in secret with the public barred from knowing what took place until the proceedings are over.

On Friday, prosecutors in the state of Victoria applied for a “super injunction” against news coverage of the separate trials. Legal experts described the application as an extreme move aimed at keeping juries in both cases from learning anything that might cause bias.

But a trial held behind closed doors would also limit accountability for the judge, jury and lawyers in the case.

“The proposed order is a blanket ban and is the most extreme form of order that can be made,” said Jason Bosland, deputy director of the Centre for Media and Communications Law at Melbourne Law School.

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WISCONSIN
Blugold Media

[with audio]

Sydney Purpora

May 13, 2018

Peter Isely, a survivor of priest abuse and a founding member of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), was sexually assaulted at age 13 at Saint Lawrence Seminary High School in Fond Du Lac county. His story illustrates the struggles he and other survivors faced and how the abuse changed his life.

Documents discussed in the podcast are linked below for listener reference:

* Isely publicized his abuse in the Milwaukee Journal in 1992.
*Victim blaming tactics used by Isely’s offender.
*Court documents and victim testimony involving accused priests at St. Lawrence.

Father Gale Liefeld starting abusing Peter Isely when he was 13. The grooming techniques Liefeld used are recognized in a 2015 research article written by the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire professor and researcher, Jason Spraitz. The tactics priests who abuse children use, make it hard to identify and stop the assault.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Erie News NOW

May 14th 2018

Erie-area Catholics headed to mass this weekend, many entering their churches for the first time since new charges of priest sexual abuse were unveiled in the Erie Diocese.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General announced charges Tuesday against former priest David Poulson, 64, related to the sexual abuse of minors.

He also took former Bishop Donald Trautman to task for a secret memo that, if handled differently, may have protected future victims.

Most parishioners did not want to talk. One man who chose not to show his face said he is glad it is now in the open.

“I think that it was a cover up,” said a St. Patrick Church parishioner. “I think it needed to start from the Pope all the way down to the bishop, but I also think it’s been going on for years. That’s my personal opinion. Hopefully, they’ll clean it up. Unfortunately, if it came down to alter boys, that’s sad that it happened.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Go Erie

By Ed Palattella

May 14, 3018

The child sex abuse charges filed against the Rev. David Poulson were largely based on evidence the Catholic Diocese of Erie gathered and gave police.

The phone call was from Texas. It rang in the offices of the Catholic Diocese of Erie in late January.

The call set off a series of events that culminated on Tuesday with the arrest of the Rev. David L. Poulson on charges that he sexually abused two boys from 2002 to 2010.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office charged Poulson based on a presentment from a statewide investigative jury that heard evidence in the case.

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AUSTRALIA
Crux

Christopher White
NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT

May 14, 2018

In recent months, the Australian Catholic Church has been in the spotlight, primarily due to news that the former Archbishop of Sydney and the pope’s current finance minister, Cardinal George Pell, will stand trial for “historical sexual offenses” amid continuing fallout from the Church’s clerical abuse crisis.

As the Church attempts to change the narrative about its role in public life, Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane has been elected as the new head of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference. Serving as his vice-president will be Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney.

Soon after their election, Bishop Richard Umbers, an auxiliary bishop of Sydney, tweeted that with the election of Coleridge and Fisher, the Australian bishops had “put forward the two most articulate bishops in the conference.”

In an interview with Crux, Coleridge describes how he intends to navigate the tensions between the Church and various political and ecclesial battles in Australia – and in a way that puts Jesus Christ at the center of his work.

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IRELAND
Irish Mirror

By Sylvia Pownall

14 MAY 2018

Presidential hopeful Kevin Sharkey has called on Pope Francis to apologise to the people of Ireland on behalf of the Catholic Church.

The 56-year-old claimed the Vatican has left us “adrift” in the wake of clerical sex abuse scandals.

The artist and former TV presenter, who wants to become the country’s first black president, was born in a mother and baby home.

He suffered a childhood of abuse after being adopted and sent to an industrial school in Galway.

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ROME
Crux

Inés San Martín
VATICAN CORRESPONDENT

May 14, 2018

ROME – Starting Tuesday, 33 Chilean bishops will meet Pope Francis in Rome for three days to talk about the “extraordinary challenges” created by clerical sexual abuse and abuses of power in the country’s Church “in the last decade.”

The quotes come from a Vatican statement issued on Saturday, ahead of the meeting.

One bit of mini-drama heading in was whether Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz, the retired archbishop of Santiago who’s been accused by survivors of covering up abuse cases, would attend. A member of the pope’s “C9” council of cardinal advisers, Errazuriz originally said he would skip the meeting but eventually boarded a plane for Rome on Saturday, saying simply, “I changed my mind.”

Saturday’s Vatican statement, presumably released with the pope’s green light, appeared to leave no room for doubt: At least some in the Chilean hierarchy have been found wanting, even if no actual canonical processes have taken place.

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CHILE
Associated Press

May 14, 2018

EVA VERGARA

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Even as Pope Francis apologized for his failures in connection with Chile’s most famous case of clerical sex abuse, the pope and that country’s deeply discredited Catholic Church are under mounting pressure to address another, even bigger sex scandal.

The blooming scandal of the Marist Brothers, a congregation dedicated to education, has not yet drawn great attention worldwide — unlike allegations that a bishop covered up the crimes of a pedophile priest, Rev. Fernando Karadima.

Francis recently spent several days at his Vatican hotel in talks with three of Karadima’s victims; this week he is meeting with all of Chile’s bishops to address the crisis that has implicated several church leaders and religious orders.

In the Marist case, the accusations of abuse are many.

“It’s a situation of systematic abuse where there are multiple abusers throughout time, within and outside the congregation,” Juan Pablo Hermosilla, an attorney for some of the victims told The Associated Press. He said that there at least 20 cases of abuse, but that there could be more.

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