ABUSE TRACKER

GUAM
KUAM

May 09, 2018

By Krystal Paco

Another complaint of clergy sexual abuse has been filed against the local Catholic Church. The latest one filed on behalf of a 48-year-old Tamuning resident, identified only as A.A.

The victim alleges he was sexually abused in the early 80’s when he was around 11 or 12 years old serving as an altar boy at Saint Anthony’s Catholic Church in Tamuning.

A.A. identified his perpetrators as now-deceased priest Fr. Antonio C. Cruz; James Untalan, who was active in the parish at the time; and another altar boy.

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ISRAEL
YNet News

A year after 80-year-old Eliezer Berland’s release from prison after being convicted of sex offenses against women from his congregation, the rabbi’s business is thriving. Three Yedioth Ahronoth and Ynet investigative reporters infiltrate the Shuvu Banim community, get a glimpse into the financial empire he built at his poor followers’ expense, and find out just how far his supporters are willing to go to defend him.

Ariela Sternbach, Nina Fuchs

05.04.18

It’s the early evening in Eliezer Berland’s residence in “Shomrei Hahomot” (Guardians of the Walls), his small territory at the end of Mea She’arim, on the way to the Musrara neighborhood. The afternoon prayer comes to an end, and a young woman spots me and screams, “She’s a reporter.” Now’s the time to make myself scarce.

“She’s not allowed to be here,” I hear people cry out. Three men with cameras move closer in an intimidating manner. “Don’t worry,” they say, “we’ll expose your identity.” The police are already on the line, as I hear angry shouts in the background: “It’s the last time you come here.”

A group of Hasidim chases me up the narrow alley. “She posts things against the rabbi,” one of them says. “Get out of here, shiksa!” An older woman approaches me, spits and shouts, “You b*tch, don’t you dare come anywhere near here.”

The woman who started the commotion by identifying me as an investigative reporter tries to help me now. “Go into the gas station,” she instructs me. “I have to run back to the prayers.”

Meanwhile, the men around me keep offering blessings, their way. “She smells like rabies,” one of them shouts. “She’s recording everything, beware.”

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NEW YORK
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Robert P. Conlin was ordained for the Buffalo diocese in 1956. He spent his first year after ordination as the sole priest at a small East Otto parish, assigned there through the diocese’s Missionary Apostolate program. He went on to assist in Batavia, Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Albion parishes until 1977, when he was named pastor of St. Mary’s in Pavilion. Conlin remained at St. Mary’s until his death at age 66 in 1997.

In March 2018 a man came forward publicly to allege that Conlin sexually abused him in 1980, when he was a 15-year-old parishioner and Conlin was pastor of St. Mary’s in Pavilion. He said he was from a single-mother home, and that Conlin groomed him as if he were “his son.” He said he told his mother about the abuse when she found him crying in his bed.

Born: June 17, 1931
Ordained: 1956
Died: December 9, 1997

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NEW YORK
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Joseph A. Schuster was ordained for the Diocese of Buffalo in 1966. His first year in ministry he was the sole priest at St. Isadore’s in East Otto, via the diocese’s Missionary Apostolate. He then assisted in Buffalo and Niagara Falls parishes, and taught mathematics at the Diocesan Preparatory Seminary. He was also a boy scout camp chaplain. Schuster was well-known for his social justice activism and involvement with the poor and disenfranchised. In 1972 he lead the establishment of a Catholic Worker House in Niagara Falls, where he spent the remainder of his priesthood. In early 1991 Schuster announced that he was taking a leave of absence; he did not return to active ministry as a priest. He went on to marry a man and adopt three sons. He died in 2007 at age 68.

On March 30, 2018 – at 3pm on Good Friday – a man held a press conference on the steps of St. Peter’s Cathedral to announce that in 1968, at age 13, he was the victim of sexual assault by Schuster. The man said that after an event at Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish in Niagara Falls it had gotten too dark out to ride his bike home, so Schuster invited him to stay overnight at the rectory. The man said Schuster instructed him to sleep in his bed, then proceeded to molest him.

Schuster’s accuser had come forward to the diocese on March 12, 2018. The diocese released a list of credibly accused priests and lay employees and volunteers on March 20, but it included only those who were deceased if they had more than one known accusation against them. Schuster’s name was not included on the list.

Born: February 12, 1939
Ordained: 1966
Died: July 23, 2007

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NEW YORK
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Joseph P. Rappl was a Buffalo diocesan priest, ordained in 1978. He assisted at parishes in Lewiston, West Seneca, Holley and Hulberton until 1989. There is an unexplained gap in his work history 1989-1990. During 1990-1999 he was an Army chaplain in California, New York, Washington DC and North Carolina. Beyond that he appears to have left the priesthood, settling in North Carolina where he becamed married and performed sacraments as a “Roman Catholic priest” who was “no longer in the clerical state.” He also was a volunteer at a youth camp for the Buffalo diocese.

On March 19, 2018 a 48-year-old man filed a complaint with the diocese, accusing Rappl of having sexually abused him as an 11-year-old altar boy in 1981, at St. Peter’s in Lewiston. The man said he had asked Rappl to hear his confession and that the abuse occurred afterward, outside the confessional. On March 20, 2018 the diocese released a list of names of credibly accused priests and lay volunteers and employees. Rappl’s name was not included.

Ordained: 1978

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NEW YORK
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Michael M. Lewandowski was ordained in 1975 for the Conventual Franciscans of Our Lady of the Angels Province in Ellicott City, MD. He worked as a teacher and athletics coach at two high schools in the Diocese of Buffalo until 1991, after which there is an unexplained gap in his assignment history. In 1992 Lewandowski was assigned to assist at a Springfield MA parish before assuming the role of pastor of another in 1994. He moved in 1997 to the Altoona-Johnstown diocese where he began a 17-year run as pastor at St. Anne’s in Davidsville.

Lewandowski was removed from public ministry in May 2014 after his Order received an allegation that he had sexually abused a minor in the 1980s.

Ordained: 1975

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PENNSYLVANIA
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Michael J. Amy was ordained in 1978 for the Diocese of Erie. For most of his career he was assigned to high schools while residing in parishes in Erie, Johnsonburg, St. Mary’s and Bradford. In 1990 he was made lead priest of St. Callistus in Kane; he was reportedly removed in 1992 and eventually resigned from the priesthood.

Amy’s name was included on the diocese’s list released April 6, 2018 of priests, lay employees and volunteers accused of sexually abusing minors.

Ordained: 1978

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NEW YORK/PENNSYLVANIA
Buffalo News

By Mike McAndrew

May 8, 2018

A priest in the Diocese of Erie was charged Tuesday with committing sex crimes against two boys, and the Pennsylvania attorney general said the diocese covered up the priest’s sexual predator tendencies for six years.

The Rev. David Poulson, 64, of Oil City, Pa., a priest in the Erie diocese for four decades until earlier this year, was charged with indecent assault, endangering the welfare of children and corruption of minors. His victims were 8 years old and 15 years old when the abuse started, according to Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

The Diocese of Erie knew since at least May 2010 of Poulson’s sexual predator tendencies but did not report him to authorities until September 2016 when it received a subpoena from a grand jury, Shapiro said. The diocese had kept secret a May 2010 memorandum in which diocesan leaders confirmed complaints had been made about Poulson’s inappropriate contact with minors and Poulson admitted being “aroused” by a boy, and sharing sexually suggestive texts with other boys.

The Erie Diocese was led by Bishop Donald W. Trautman – a former auxiliary bishop of the Buffalo Diocese and a Buffalo native – for 22 years until he retired in 2012.

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NEW YORK
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Fred G. Fingerle was a priest of the Diocese of Buffalo, ordained in 1963. After a year at St. John of the Cross in Whitesville for the diocese’s Missionary Apostolate, Fingerle assisted in Tonawanda, Buffalo, Angola, and Hamburg parishes. In 1983 he was again assigned to St. John’s in Whitesville, as well as to Blessed Sacrament in Andover, remaining at both as sole priest until his death in 2002.

Fingerle’s name was included on the diocese’s list released March 20, 2018 of clergy removed, retired, or having left ministry after allegations of sexual abuse of a minor. The list included deceased priests only if they had more than one allegation against them.

Ordained: 1963
Died: January 25, 2002

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NEW YORK
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Dennis G. Riter was ordained for the Buffalo diocese in 1971. Early on he assisted in Lackawanna, Springville, Dunkirk and Buffalo parishes, later pastoring in Buffalo, Batavia and Dunkirk. During the 1980s Riter worked as a hospital chaplain in Dunkirk and he was involved with the diocese’s Spanish Apostolate. In the 2000s he was a vicar and a member of the diocesan council of priests.

On March 26, 2018 Riter was placed on leave after allegations surfaced that he had sexually abused two altar boys at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Buffalo, where he was then pastor. One of the alleged victims stated publicly that he was ages 10-13 when abused, and that he witnessed the abuse of the other boy, who has since died. He said Riter would invite him to play games with him in the rectory after mass, “and then the touching and all that would just start.” He disclosed the alleged abuse to his aunt in 2007. The other boy’s mother said her son told her at age 12 in 1997 that Riter tried to “play with” him underneath his robe on the altar during mass. She said she reported the abuse to a cousin who worked for the diocese, and that the cousin said “we’ll look into it.” The cousin claimed in 2018 that she did not recall the conversation. Riter’s name was not included on the list released March 20, 2018 of priests removed, retired or having left ministry after allegations of sexual abused of a minor.

A diocesan spokesperson said the District Attorney had been notified.

Ordained: 1971

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MASSACHUSETTS
Durso Law

May 8, 2018

A Suffolk Superior Court Judge today allowed a civil suit brought by 8 groups of parents and their 10 children to proceed against the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Judith Ritacco, arising out of claims the children were sexually abused while attending the Children’s Center, a daycare facility at Bridgewater State University (BSU). The Attorney General’s office filed an opposition to the amended suit, but Judge Christine Roach allowed the additional claims to proceed, and ordered the parties to appear in Court on June 6th, with a plan to move the case expeditiously.

The present claims arose out of an unusual discovery suit which was filed on behalf of three families in 2015 for the purpose of viewing BSU’s records of the events which occurred at the Children’s Center when a BSU student-employee, Kyle Loughlin, was accused of indecent assault and rape of children attending the Center, when they were in his care. Loughlin was charged and pleaded guilty in April, 2017, and was sentenced to 7 ½ years in jail. Judith Ritacco, the Director of the Center, was charged with reckless endangerment of a child, and failure to make a mandated report of child abuse. She admitted to sufficient facts for a guilty finding in September, 2017.

A copy of the Amended Complaint is available upon request.

For more information, contact:

Carmen Durso
DURSOLAW
LAW OFFICE OF CARMEN L. DURSO
175 Federal Street, Suite 1425
Boston, MA 02110-2287
Tel: 617-728-9123 – Fax: 617-517-3822
carmen@dursolaw.com
www.dursolaw.com

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UNITED KINGDOM
The London Economic

Ben Gelblum

May 8, 2018

Child abuse survivors who grew up in “hellholes” run by the Home Office and other institutions have been “ignored,” their “complaints and accounts sidelined,” the Independent Inquiry Into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales (IICSA) heard today.

The Home Office, local authorities, their insurance companies, police and social workers who disbelieved abused children, all came under fire.

The inquiry set up by Theresa May as Home Secretary heard how these institutions had all failed shockingly to protect many of Britain’s most vulnerable children who were in their care. Testimony was heard of how children reporting and fleeing appalling abuse at children homes, were disbelieved by police officers and social workers. How they were returned to “the hands of their abuser.”

The preliminary hearing of the IICSA Inquiry Accountability and Reparations Investigation heard accusations that these institutions failed to keep children safe from sexual abuse. A failure compounded by accusations of “collusion” by institutions to protect themselves when as grown-ups, survivors wanted answers.

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

May 8, 2018

by Joshua J. McElwee

ROME — Abuse survivor advocates are expressing alarm after a Catholic archbishop accused of molesting young men, who was recently convicted in a canonical trial, appeared on a stage with other prelates at an event in Rome with Pope Francis.

Guam Archbishop Anthony Apuron was seen at a May 5 event for the 50th anniversary of the Neocatechumenal Way, a popular adult formation movement. He was sitting alongside dozens of other prelates behind Francis as the pontiff took part in a meeting with some 100,000 members of the community in a field on the edge of Rome.

A Guam native who has led the U.S. territory’s only diocese since 1986, Apuron was placed on leave by the pope in June 2016 after a series of accusations about abuse of young men in the 1960s and 70s were made public.

A Vatican tribunal announced in March that the archbishop had been found “guilty of certain of the accusations” against him, but, due to the secrecy of the canonical proceedings, it remains unclear if he was convicted of sexual abuse or of other charges.

Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of abuse tracking website BishopAccountability.org, called it “disturbing” that Francis would appear on stage near Apuron.

“Does he not realize that Apuron has been accused by at least five people of child sexual abuse?” Doyle asked in a comment to NCR. “Is he callous or is he uninformed? Either explanation is unacceptable.”

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KENTUCKY
Fox 19

May 8th 2018

Frankie Jupiter, Reporter

COVINGTON, KENTUCKY (FOX19) –
Kentucky’s attorney general joined teachers and students Tuesday in northern Kentucky to honor a 32-year employee of the Covington Independent School District.

After his December 2015 passing, Alvin Randlett donated his estate, more than $175,000, to the Office of the Attorney General’s Child Victims’ Trust Fund. The donation helps to protect children from abuse, a cause Randlett embraced while serving as a janitor at the Sixth District Elementary School.

Randlett worked at the school for 32 years as a janitor.

“How amazing is that example of pure selflessness and generosity, putting others before yourself. And it’s an honor to honor him today,” said Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear.

One of Randlett’s best friends, Jeff Siska, says if a child or a teacher was in need, Randlett was there. Randlett only had a fifth-grade education, but friends say he was smart, kind and just fun to be around.

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NEW YORK
Spectrum News

By Rochelle Alleyne

May 8, 2018

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Billboards calling out several local senators for allegedly not supporting the Child Victims Act have popped up along the 190 in South Buffalo.

The woman behind them is Kat Sullivan, a New York City based survivor of childhood sexual abuse that has been following this law for more than a decade.

The billboards specifically target state senators Pat Gallivan, Chris Jacobs and state Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan.

Sullivan says she selected those leaders because they’re opposed to keeping a clause that’s present in the recently passed Assembly version of the bill.

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NEW YORK
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A native of Poland, Benedict P. Barszcz was ordained in 1990 for the Society of the Catholic Apostolate (Pallotines). By 1993 he was with the Order in North Tonawanda, NY, in the Diocese of Buffalo. Barszcz assisted at parishes in the Brooklyn diocese during 1994-1998; in October 1998 he was assigned to assist back in Buffalo, at St. Peter’s in Lewiston.

On July 20, 1999 Barszcz was arrested and charged with public lewdness after he allegedly exposed himself to two girls, ages 14 and 15. He reportedly was sitting in a car masturbating in front of the girls, then drove away; the girls and their parents flagged down two detectives, who pulled the priest over. The diocese removed him from public ministry and he was returned to his Order in North Tonawanda.

Barszcz is last known to have been working in Poland in 2001, as a port chaplain in Szczecin.

Ordained: 1990

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NEW YORK
Buffalo News

May 8, 2018

By Siobhan M. O’Connor

“Bishop Malone’s Office, Siobhan speaking – how may I help you?” Over the last two months, a multitude of callers have been on the receiving end of my phone greeting. I’ve talked to distressed citizens who express anger over church cover-ups and silence, to concerned Catholics whose faith has been shaken by the priest abuse scandal, and to the victims of this abuse themselves. These latter individuals often share their stories, which are heartbreakingly horrible to hear. Even being on the periphery of their pain has been deeply disturbing. Yet remarkably, it is their strength more than their suffering that has most resonated with me.

It was my privilege to speak with the mother of two abused children, who said she would be praying for the abusing priest because he needs prayers more than anyone. I have spoken to a victim who began to console me when I broke down while speaking to him. Another time a victim shared his story of returning to God and how he found peace and joy through regaining his faith. Often I am overcome by the forgiveness, compassion and resiliency of these individuals.

Yet I’ve also spoken with people who literally mock victims and accuse them of being “out for money” or “making up stories.” Believe me, you can’t make this kind of horror up. The victims’ descriptions are too detailed, their pain is too raw and their memories are too powerful for them to be frauds. To suggest so is a slap in the face to these brave individuals, who have had the courage to speak of the traumatic abuse they suffered when they were young and innocent. Also, not one victim I’ve talked to is “in it for the money.” In fact, one repeatedly told me that “money can’t buy me peace, health, healing or happiness.”

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

May 8, 2018

By Michaelangelo Conte
The Jersey Journal

JERSEY CITY — Jurors could not reach verdict Tuesday afternoon, forcing a mistrial to be declared in the trial of the North Bergen “sexorcist” accused of using his stature as a “prophet” to sexually assault a young man 10 years ago.

Hudson County Superior Court Judge Mirtha Ospina set June 5 as the tentative date for the retrial of Gregorio Martinez, 50, who faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty.

The former North Bergen pastor, who was convicted in 2015 of molesting a 13-year-old boy and faces two more trials on sex charges, appeared to be pleased by the declaration of a mistrial as he was led from court in handcuffs this afternoon.

Martinez, who is said to speak in tongues, is already serving four years in prison for the molestation and five years for bail jumping. The terms are consecutive.

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NEW JERSEY
Associated Press

May 8, 2019

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) — A mistrial has been declared in the sexual assault trial of a former New Jersey church pastor who is already serving prison terms for assault and bail jumping.

NJ.com reports that Hudson County jurors reported a deadlock Friday and were asked to keep deliberating, but told the judge Tuesday they were unable to reach a unanimous decision.

Prosecutors said they would retry 50-year-old Gregorio Martinez, who is accused of assaulting an 18-year-old man. Defense attorney Daniel Gonzalez argued that no evidence corroborated the allegations.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Your Erie

Tiarra Braddock

May 08, 2018

Father David Poulson was arrested Tuesday morning for allegedly sexually assaulting two minors.

“Well, sexual abuse is wrong no matter who it is and regardless if you are a priest or an individual creeper,” said Erie resident, Melvin. Also shocking to some is the Attorney General’s allegation that the Erie Diocese knew about Poulson for years. Samantha Jones has friends who went to Poulson’s church. “Makes you really think about your church and what’s going on and why cover it up if you’re so into God, why cover it?” said Cambridge Springs resident, Samantha Jones.

Even people outside of Erie County expressed their relief with Poulson being charged. Judy Jones is with SNAP, The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. She is based out of the St. Louis area. “Many times priests get away with it, in fact, it sounds like he’s gotten away with it for quite a while,” said Judy Jones. The Erie Diocese issued a statement following Poulson’s arrest and it reads in part:

“We are committed to assisting victims on the long road to healing and wholeness, and this means offering and following a transparent, logical process.”

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ARIZONA
azcentral

Jerod MacDonald-Evoy, The Republic | azcentral.com

May 8, 2018

A priest on sabbatical in Phoenix is accused of sexually abusing a boy more than 20 years ago in Guam, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court Monday.

The claim against Adrian Cristobal is the second in two months. The latest lawsuit was filed by a 33-year-old man who accuses Cristobal of abusing him from the age of 11 to 25.

Cristobal came to Phoenix in December 2017 on sabbatical and did not have an assignment, the Phoenix Diocese said in a written statement to The Arizona Republic. He arrived with a letter of good standing, officials said. The Phoenix Diocese has since removed his faculties, or his ability to perform church sacraments.

“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,” the Diocese statement said.

Cristobal returned to Guam at the request of the Archdiocese of Agana, according to the Phoenix Diocese.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Erie News Now

May 8th 2018

In announcing sexual abuse charges against retired Diocese of Erie priest, David Poulson, 64, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said the grand jury heard from nine other men who had contact with father Poulson when they were minors.

Erie News Now talked with one of those nine, James VanSickle, 54, of Pittsburgh who voluntarily came forward to testify before a state grand jury in March. “And when I heard the new accusation, I was in a little bit of turmoil deciding what to do, but I didn’t want this kid to be the only voice,” VanSickle said.

He told the grand jury that Father Paulson groomed him, then abused him beginning in 1979 when the priest was his English teacher and chess team coach at Bradford Central Christian High School.

VanSickle said chess team dinners, progressed to private dinners where alcohol was introduced, and that led to wrestling in the rectory, and in a hotel room on a trip. “He changed into his pajamas and wanted to wrestle…obviously became aroused, which I was very aware of, he began to wrestle, and obviously it was a task to get him off of me, so it did end in a physical confrontation,” VanSickle said.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Meadville Tribune

Bishop Lawrence Persico issued this statement on Tuesday:

The Diocese of Erie learned today that Father David Poulson, 64, former pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Parish, Cambridge Springs, has been charged with one felony count of indecent assault; one felony count of endangering the welfare of children; one felony count of corruption of minors; two misdemeanor counts of indecent assault; and several misdemeanors. Father Poulson was arraigned on the charges in Jefferson County by District Judge Gregory M. Bazylak, and was placed in the Jefferson County Prison on $300,000 bond. The diocese learned of the conduct that provides the basis for these charges in January 2018 and immediately notified law enforcement. Moreover, I directed K&L Gates law firm to assist in producing to the Attorney General’s office any and all evidence they uncovered to assist in this prosecution.

I announced on Feb. 13 that I had received credible allegations against Father Poulson regarding the sexual abuse of minors. Following our Policy for the Protection of Children, I immediately turned the matter over to law enforcement and have cooperated with the state attorney general throughout the process that led to today’s arrest.

In February, I also accepted Father Poulson’s permanent resignation as pastor of St. Anthony Parish, removed him from all other assignments, and prohibited him from any public ministry and from any contact with minors.

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NETHERLANDS
JTA

May 8, 2018

AMSTERDAM (JTA) – Following an investigation, the umbrella group of Dutch Jewish communities dismissed accusations that a local rabbi molested children in the United States.

The Organization of Jewish Communities in the Netherlands, or NIK, last week announced the findings of its four-month probe of Rabbi Mendel Levine of Brooklyn, New York, who began serving the community of the eastern city of Nijmegen in 2009.

The probe followed an article in De Telegraaf daily in January reporting on accusations against Levine from 2011.

That year, Meir Seewald, a Crown Heights activist against accused child molesters in religious Jewish communities, published an online account of the alleged abuse he says he suffered in 2000 as a boy attending a summer camp belonging to the Chabad-run Gan Israel Camping Network, where Levine had worked as a counselor.

But a special commission set up by the NIK could not verify the account in dozens of conversations, the organization said.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Sharon Herald

May 9, 2018

By KEITH GUSHARD Meadville Tribune

A priest of the Catholic Diocese of Erie has been charged with multiple counts of sexual abuse against two young boys over a period of eight years.

David L. Poulson, 64, of Oil City, has been arraigned on a total of eight counts involving boys who were ages 8 and 15 at the time when the abuse started, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in announcing the charges Tuesday.

Poulson was an active priest in the Erie diocese for four decades until earlier this year, including serving as pastor at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Cambridge Springs until February.

The charges were recommended by a statewide investigating grand jury, which found that Poulson sexually assaulted the boys while employed in active ministry as a priest by the Erie diocese, Shapiro said.

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SCOTLAND
Evening Times

May 9, 2018

Stephen Naysmith
Social affairs correspondent

A WOMAN has told how a nun in a home run by the Sisters of Nazareth in Glasgow used to take her to visit a nearby farm and leave her to be raped by the farmer.

The anonymous witness, known as Margaret at the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, said the regular trips were on the pretext of gathering eggs, but she said she never carried any eggs and was “100 per cent sure” the nun knew about the rapes.

“I didn’t know that was what he was doing at the time,” she said. “But the nun also sexually assaulted me. She didn’t penetrate me but she mauled me all over my body on a regular basis.”

In a written statement which was read into the inquiry record, the woman said she was living at Nazareth House, in Cardonald, Glasgow, from the age of two, in 1943, and was told her mother had died giving birth to her.

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CHILE
London School of Economics and Political Science

May 9, 2918

Pope Francis’ attempts to move the Catholic Church beyond the conservative sexual agenda of his predecessors have been undermined by abusive sexual practices within the Church itself, writes José Manuel Morán (Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, CONICET).

• n.b. republished courtesy of Sexual Policy Watch; Creative Commons licence does not apply

Things did not turn out as expected in Chile.

Pope Francis, whose image as a charismatic leader sharply contrasts with that of his predecessor Benedict XVI and who often deploys discourses that distance themselves from those promoted by John Paul II in his obsession with sexuality, was not as successful in connecting with Chilean people as on previous visits to Latin America.

The Pope was harshly criticised, even by local Catholic communities, in particular due to his lack of empathy towards victims of sexual abuse committed by Chilean priests. To many observers, the Pope’s visit to the country was the worst Francis has undertaken since he took office.

The Chilean context

What happened in Chile? Why didn’t the Pope attract religious people in the same way as in other Latin American countries?

Chile, while sharing a common history with the rest of the region, has certain peculiarities that differ from other regional contexts, which may underpin the failure of the papal visit in January, 2018.

At least two factors can be mentioned:

1. The impact that the clergy’s sex-abuse scandals had on people’s religious identification with the Church seems to be different from the rest of Latin America.
2. Francis’ marked disconnection with the “popular world” and Chilean social movements seems to be unprecedented in the region.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
Attorney General of Pennsylvania

May 8, 2018

Church Knew of Predator Priest’s Behavior for Eight Years

[Note: Includes a list of Poulson’s assignments and the informative presentment with more assignment details.]

Erie – Attorney General Josh Shapiro today announced criminal charges against a Catholic priest in the Diocese of Erie for sexual abuse committed against two young boys over a period of many years. One of the victims was 8 years old when the priest began abusing him. The second victim was 15 when the abuse started.

Father David Poulson, 64, of Oil City, a Catholic priest in the Erie diocese for four decades until earlier this year, was arrested this morning and charged with indecent assault, endangering the welfare of children and corruption of minors. Three of the counts against Poulson are felonies. The charges were recommended by a statewide investigating grand jury, which found that Poulson sexually assaulted the boys while employed in active ministry as a priest by the Erie diocese.

“Poulson assaulted one of his victims repeatedly in church rectories,” Attorney General Shapiro said at a news conference at the Erie County Courthouse where Poulson’s arrest was announced. “He made that victim go to confession and confess the abuse – to Poulson. This was the ultimate betrayal and manipulation by Poulson. He used the tools of the priesthood to further his abuse.”

According to the grand jury’s presentment made public today:

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ERIE (PA)
GOerie.com

May 8, 2018

By Ed Palattella

The Rev. David Poulson resigned in February as pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Church in Cambridge Springs. The diocese had called the allegations against him credible.

The Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General on Tuesday charged a Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Erie with indecent assault involving two boys.

Criminal charges were filed in Jefferson County on Tuesday morning against the Rev. David L. Poulson, 64.

He faces one felony count of indecent assault, person less than 13 years old from February 2006; two misdemeanor counts of indecent assault, involving one person less than 16 years old and one person less than 13 years old, in January 2002; a felony endangering the welfare of children charge, from January 2002; a felony corruption of minors charge, from December 2010; and misdemeanor counts of indecent assault, endangering the welfare of children and corruption of minors, from January 2003, according to the court docket.

Poulson was arraigned on the charges in Jefferson County by District Judge Gregory M. Bazylak on Tuesday at 10:15 a.m. and was placed in the Jefferson County Prison on $300,000 bond.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

May 8, 2018

By Haidee V. Eugenio

The Archdiocese of Agana said it is investigating the allegations against former Chancellor Adrian Cristobal, who has been ordered to immediately return to Guam from his mission in the Diocese of Phoenix in Arizona.

Cristobal is now twice accused of sexual abuses, from 1995 to 2013, based on lawsuits filed on April 10 and May 7.

The archdiocese did a preliminary investigation regarding the first allegation against Cristobal and the findings were forwarded to the independent review board in accordance with strengthened sexual abuse policy, according to Tony Diaz, director of communications for the archdiocese.

Diaz said the board itself is not involved in conducting investigations.

“Rather, the independent review board serves as a confidential, consultative body. Its duty is to objectively review the findings of the investigation and advise the archbishop in his assessment of allegations of sexual abuse of minors,” Diaz said.

The same process will be applied in the second allegation against Cristobal, who studied canon law in Ottawa, Canada.

“The archdiocese takes all allegations of sexual abuse seriously. With this new allegation against Father Adrian, the archdiocese will follow the same steps outlined in our policy,” Diaz said.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

May 8, 2018

By Brian Roewe

Bishops’ conference announces request for proposals for firms to conduct 2020-22 annual audits

The search process has begun for the next compliance auditor for the U.S. bishops’ clergy sexual abuse policies.

In a press release April 30, the National Review Board of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced a request for proposals for firms to conduct the 2020-2022 annual audits of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, also known as the Dallas Charter.

Since its adoption in June 2002 at the bishops’ meeting in Dallas during the peak of the church’s clergy sexual abuse crisis, the charter has called for an audit process as part of an annual public progress report issued by the conference’s Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection. The audit has been conducted each year since 2003.

The 2016 audit, the report most recently released, was conducted by StoneBridge Business Partners, an auditing firm based in Rochester, New York. StoneBridge has audited the charter since 2011 report, and is under contract to oversee the next three-year cycle (2017-2019), as well.

James Marasco, a founding partner at StoneBridge, told NCR the firm, whose contract expires in 2019, has been invited to submit a bid for the next audit cycle, but has yet to make a decision. The deadline for letters of intent is June 10, with final proposals due by Aug. 30, followed by an interview process in the fall.

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ERIE (PA)
Penn Live

May 8, 2018

By Ivey DeJesus

As early as this month, the findings of a grand jury investigation into clergy sex abuse across six Pennsylvania dioceses could be released by the state’s Office of Attorney General.

The findings into the abuse of children by priests and church workers in the dioceses of Harrisburg, Scranton, Allentown, Greensburg, Pittsburgh and Eric would mark the latest chapter into the decades-old clergy sex abuse scandal in this country.

This three-minute video helps broadly explain the some of the key developments in this country, particularly out of Pennsylvania.

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ERIE (PA)
The Meadville Tribune

May 8, 2018

A priest in the Catholic Diocese of Erie has been charged with multiple counts of sexual abuse against two young boys over a period of eight years.

David L. Poulson, 64, of Oil City, has been arraigned on a total of eight counts involving boys who were ages 8 and 15 when the abuse started, according to Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who announced the charges this morning.

Poulson was an active priest in the Erie diocese for four decades until earlier this year, including serving at churches in Cambridge Springs and Saegertown.

The charges were recommended by a statewide investigating grand jury, which found that Poulson sexually assaulted the boys while employed in active ministry as a priest by the Erie diocese, Shapiro said.

Poulson had served as priest at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Cambridge Springs and St. Bernadette Church in Saegertown.

Anne-Marie Welsh, director of communications for the Catholic Diocese of Erie, said a statement would be issued later today.

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MANHATTAN (NY)
NBC Chicago

May 8, 2018

By Melissa Russo, Jonathan Dienst and Andrew Siff

The women accusing Eric Schneiderman said seeing him speak out on sexual misconduct issues was part of the impetus in them coming forward

The Manhattan district attorney’s office said early Tuesday it had opened an investigation into the allegations of physical abuse four women made against Eric Schneiderman, accusations that prompted a resignation from the state attorney general within hours of publication in an expose by The New Yorker.

A spokesman for Cy Vance confirmed the investigation in an early morning statement, but provided no further detail.

Schneiderman, who had been running for re-election and had taken on high-profile roles as a women’s issues advocate, said in a statement late Monday he contested the women’s accounts, but “while these allegations are unrelated to my professional conduct or the operations of the office, they will effectively prevent me from leading the office’s work at this critical time.”

He said he would resign at the close of business on Tuesday. Barbara Underwood will step in as acting attorney general. She has been the state’s Solitictor General since 2007. Before that she served as Chief Assistant to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. She has also worked in the Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn district attorney offices. She got an undergraduate degree from Harvard and law degree from Georgetown.

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ERIE (PA)
Trib Live

May 8, 2018

By Megan Guza

A Catholic priest in the Diocese of Erie sexually abused two boys for years and forced one of the children to confess to the sex acts during confession, Attorney General Josh Shapiro said Tuesday in announcing charges against the priest.

Father David Poulson, 64, of Oil City, is charged with indecent assault, corruption of minors and child endangerment. Poulson served the diocese for 40 years.

“Poulson assaulted one of his victims repeatedly in church rectories,” Shapiro said in a press release. “He made that victim go to confession and confess the abuse – to Poulson. This was the ultimate betrayal and manipulation by Poulson.”

The victims were 8 years old and 15 years old at the time of the alleged abuse.

Shapiro charged that the diocese knew of Poulson’s predatory tendencies since at least 2010 but did nothing for more than six years.

A grand jury subpoena to the Erie diocese turned up a secret memo dated May 24, 2010, in which a bishop noted complaints about Poulson’s contact with children. The memo stated that Poulson admitted during an interview that his text messages with some boys were “suggestive to sexual advances,” according to the grand jury.

The bishop wrote in the memo that he admonished Poulson and told him to stop.

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ERIE (PA)
The Morning Call

May 8, 2018

A Catholic priest in the Diocese of Erie has been charged with the sexual abuse of two young boys over a period of many years, forcing one boy to confess the abuse to him, Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced today.

In a news release, Shapiro said one of the boys was 8 years old when Father David Poulson, 64, started abusing him. The second boy was 15 when the abuse started, Shapiro said.

Poulson, a Catholic priest in the Erie diocese for four decades until earlier this year, was arrested this morning and charged with indecent assault, endangering the welfare of children and corruption of minors. Three of the counts against Poulson are felonies.

A statewide investigating grand jury recommended the charges.

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NEW ZEALAND
Radio NZ

May 8, 2018

By Phil Pennington

Church abuse survivors have resigned themselves to being excluded from the upcoming Royal Commission of Inquiry.

The public consultation period about how the inquiry should run wrapped up a week ago and its chair Sir Anand Satyanand has begun going through the 300 submissions.

“At this stage I have not formed any final views or recommendations,” he said in a statement last night.

However, Liz Tonks of the Network of Survivors of Faith-based Institutional Abuse said she got a very different impression from meeting with Sir Anand.

“I asked him who he had received submissions from when he suggested there wasn’t anyone else except us asking for all survivors to be included,” she said.

“I asked him had they been proactive in the inquiry and approached other churches, had they considered approaching sportsclubs. His response to that was that he didn’t see it as his job, that the inquiry was public and people knew they could make submissions.”

The commission launched a major public awareness campaign at the start of April, two months into the three-month public consultation period on the inquiry’s terms of reference which closed last week.

Ms Tonks said her group had trouble getting to see Sir Anand, but he said he had met a wide range of people and groups and canvassed many issues.

“The issues have involved things like clarity of expression, appropriate placement of the Treaty of Waitangi, coverage of Pacific people as well as Māori, and as well the matter of a parallel inquiry financed by the Churches,” he said.

That last issue came up, he said, when he met the leaders of the Catholic Church and Anglican Church in March.

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WAYNESVILLE (NC)
FOX Carolina

May 7, 2018

By Amanda Shaw

Authorities confirmed on Monday that a former western North Carolina priest has been arrested on child sex crimes.

Howard Willard White was taken into custody on Thursday and is charged with first-degree forcible sex offense, two counts of indecent liberties with a child, first-degree rape, second-degree forcible rape and second-degree rape.

According to indictment documents, the 76-year-old suspect is accused of sexually assaulting multiple children in 1985.

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ERIE (PA)
WJAC

May 8, 2018

By Matthew Stevens

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro on Tuesday charged a priest who was with the Catholic Diocese of Erie for nearly 40 years with sexually abusing two boys.

Father David Poulson, 64, was charged with indecent assault, endangering the welfare of children and corruption of minors. The charges come after a state grand jury investigation.

According to the grand jury presentment, Poulson first started to abuse two boys, when they were ages 8 and 15, over many years.

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ERIE (PA)
WKBN

May 8, 2018

By Chelsea Simeon

A Catholic priest in the Diocese of Erie is facing criminal charges for what prosecutors say was the sexual abuse of two young boys.

Father David Poulson, 64, of Oil City, is charged with indecent assault, endangering the welfare of children and corruption of minors.

He was indicted by a grand jury and was arrested Tuesday morning.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro said one of the victims was 8 years old when the priest began abusing him, while the second boy was 15 when the abuse started.

The assaults took place more than 20 times, including at the rectory where one of the victims served as an altar boy, according to investigators.

Investigators said Poulson required the victim to make a confession to the sexual assaults in which he served as the priest receiving the confession.

“This was the ultimate betrayal and manipulation by Poulson. He used the tools of the priesthood to further his abuse,” Shapiro said.

Investigators said Poulson assaulted the other boy at a remote hunting cabin that he owned in Jefferson County.

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ERIE (PA)
The Associated Press

May 8, 2018

By Claudia Lauer 

A Roman Catholic priest was arrested and charged Tuesday with sexually abusing at least two boys during his four decades in the Erie, Pennsylvania, diocese, and making one of them say confession after the alleged assaults.

State Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced the arrest of the 64-year-old Rev. David Poulson, of Oil City, as part of a statewide grand jury investigation. According to court records, Poulson is facing at least eight charges, including indecent assault and child endangerment for incidents dating to 2002.

Court records did not list an attorney for Poulson, and a phone call to a number listed for him was not answered Tuesday.

Prosecutors said Poulson, who resigned from the diocese in February, abused one of his victims in multiple church rectories more than 20 times while he served as an altar boy. Poulson would then require the boy to make confession to him and confess the sexual assault to receive absolution.

“This was the ultimate betrayal and manipulation by Poulson — he used the tools of the priesthood to further his abuse,” Shapiro wrote in an emailed release about the charges.

The allegations also state Poulson took that victim and another boy to a secluded hunting camp without electricity or running water, where he would watch horror movies with them on his laptop then assault them.

Prosecutors said the Erie Diocese had received complaints about what they say were Poulson’s “sexual predator tendencies” as far back as 2010, but did not report him to law enforcement until the grand jury issued a subpoena in September 2016.

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AUCKLAND (NEW ZEALAND)
National Catholic Reporter

May 7, 2018

By Michael Otto

Bill Kilgallon is looking back on his three years as a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors with sense of achievement, alongside a certain sense of frustration.

Kilgallon’s three-year term on the commission came to an end last year, and he was not reappointed to a second term, an outcome he had anticipated.

When asked to point to the achievements by the commission in its first term, he pointed first to the establishment of the body itself, which involved the bringing together of people from different professional backgrounds from all around the world to work as a team.

The commission did its work by way of working groups and Kilgallon chaired the group dealing with guidelines — starting with those for the prevention of and response to sexual abuse in the Church.

He described the completion of templates for guidelines to assist bishops’ conferences around the world to use as “a very significant piece of work.”

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BALLARAT (AUSTRALIA)
The New York Times

April 29, 2018

By Jacqueline Williams

Rob Walsh was outside Melbourne Magistrates’ Court recently awaiting a pretrial hearing for Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican’s third-highest-ranking official, when, he said, he unexpectedly walked into the cardinal himself.

The encounter wasn’t their first. They both were raised in the same old mining town, which could be why the cardinal extended his hand, inviting Mr. Walsh to shake it. Mr. Walsh declined — a gesture that signified the lasting impact of a decades-long sexual abuse scandal that has rocked this town, Ballarat, and sent shock waves around the world.

“The ripple is still on the lake and it’s still occurring,” Mr. Walsh said from his home in Ballarat, referring to the lingering effects from that scandal, in which priests preyed on children, including Mr. Walsh, during the 1960s and 1970s.

“It’s gone through families and generations.”

This town, officially a city of about 100,000 people, was once the center of Australia’s gold rush, but is now better known as the epicenter of that pedophile ring, in which Catholic clergy preyed on those who depended on them the most — children from Ballarat’s poor, blue-collar neighborhoods.

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TASMANIA (AUSTRALIA)
The Australian

May 9, 2018

By Matthew Denholm

The Anglican Church has been ­accused of “emotional blackmail” after linking the unpopular sale of almost half of its churches in Tasmania with compensation for survivors of abuse by pedophile priests.

Bishop Richard Condie has released a list of 55 churches earmarked for sale, with 21 more to follow, and tied 25 per cent of the proceeds to a redress scheme for child sex abuse survivors.

However, many communities are in revolt over the plans and believe it is unfair and inappropriate to link the fire sale — of 76 of 156 Anglican churches in the state — to justice for abuse victims.

“It is blatant emotional blackmail,” said Angela Turvey, a member of Friends of St John the Baptist, a historic church in Buckland, northeast of Hobart, among those slated for sale.

“It is punishing communities around Tasmania for what the church was ultimately responsible for. That’s what insurance and liability is for. This is not the way to be redressing child sexual abuse.”

The state government also expressed concern and Treasurer Peter Gutwein said he had secured a meeting with the diocese to discuss issues such as public access to cemeteries and interment plots.

Bishop Condie said many Angli­cans were willing to pay for the sins of others.

“Making a costly sacrifice to right past wrongs is a profoundly Christian thing to do, and most worshipping Anglicans I have spoken to in the last weeks are prepared to do it gladly,” he said.

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ULTIMO (AUSTRALIA)
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

May 7, 2018

By Danny Tran

A former detective, who was financially and professionally ruined by his own superiors for trying to bring a paedophile priest to justice, will receive compensation almost 50 years after he was pushed out of Victoria Police.

Denis Ryan gave up his police pension when he chose to resign from the force after being ordered to drop his investigation into Monsignor John Day, a Catholic paedophile priest who preyed on children in the Mallee.

The decision had a profound impact on his life, costing him a marriage and the prospect of a comfortable retirement. Until now, he has lived in a rented unit on the proceeds of an aged pension.

But a month after his plight was revealed by the ABC, the Victorian Government has reached a confidential settlement with the 86-year-old.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

May 7, 2018

By Meagan Flynn

Denis Ryan spent more than half his life waiting for someone to listen.

Nearly 50 years ago, when he was a detective on the police force in Victoria, Australia, he tried to tell his superiors that a prominent priest, Monsignor John Day, was sexually assaulting and molesting altar boys and Catholic school girls. Ryan had interviewed 12 alleged victims by 1972, taking statements from all of them.

But Ryan’s superiors — devout Catholics, some of whom were close to Day — didn’t want to hear it, according to a 2017 report.

The superintendent of police told Ryan to drop the investigation, the report said. A top inspector recommended no charges be filed. Day, who was never charged, denied the allegations and was transferred from his post in the town of Mildura and became a priest at another parish far away in Victoria, where he died in 1978.

Ryan resigned, effectively forced out of his job because he wouldn’t stop investigating, the report said. He lost his pension and his benefits, as well as his pay, and became a fruit packer.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

May 7, 2018

By Kurt Streeter

Corvallis OR – Luke Heimlich, one of the best players in college baseball, and certainly its most controversial, strode to the mound, dusted away a patch of dirt with his cleats and lined up for his first pitch.

The home crowd of nearly 3,000, most in orange and black, the colors of Oregon State, cheered, “Luke! Luke! Luke!” They wanted a victory against Arizona State, one of their biggest rivals.

More than that, they wanted a performance that would hark back to a different time — the time before anyone had heard that Heimlich, 22, their hero, had pleaded guilty to a felony: sexually molesting his 6-year-old niece when he was 15.

Otherwise, this game in Goss Stadium seemed completely normal, as has been true all season, which has unfolded in a surprisingly ordinary way. The Beavers are again among the elite. They have a good chance of making it back to the College World Series in June. They might win the national championship.

But, given his past, the question remained, why was Heimlich even on the mound?

In a series of interviews with The New York Times this weekend, Heimlich flatly denied committing the crime he had admitted to, saying he pleaded guilty to quickly dispense with the case and for the sake of family relations.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

May 7, 2018

By The Editorial Board

Until Monday evening New York’s Attorney General Eric Schneiderman was a public champion of the #MeToo movement. Now he appears to be the latest sickening example of the scale and insidiousness of the cruelty that movement is confronting. He resigned late Monday after The New Yorker magazine published an article in which four women accused him of abusing them physically and emotionally.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo should appoint a responsible, independent prosecutor to investigate any possible criminal charges against Mr. Schneiderman and abuses of his office.

Mr. Schneiderman admitted no wrongdoing. Instead, he said in a statement that the “serious allegations, which I strongly contest,” had made it impossible to do his job.

But the allegations outlined by the women are consistent, detailed and bone-chilling.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

May 7, 2018

By Danny Hakim and Vivian Wang

Eric T. Schneiderman, the New York State attorney general who rose to prominence as an antagonist of the Trump administration, abruptly resigned on Monday night hours after The New Yorker reported that four women had accused him of physically assaulting them.

“It’s been my great honor and privilege to serve as attorney general for the people of the State of New York,” Mr. Schneiderman said in a statement. “In the last several hours, serious allegations, which I strongly contest, have been made against me.

“While these allegations are unrelated to my professional conduct or the operations of the office, they will effectively prevent me from leading the office’s work at this critical time. I therefore resign my office, effective at the close of business on May 8, 2018.”

His resignation represented a stunning fall for a politician who had also assumed a prominent role in the #MeToo movement.

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NEW YORK (NY)
The New Yorker

May 7, 2018

By Jane Mayer and Ronan Farrow

Eric Schneiderman has raised his profile as a voice against sexual misconduct. Now, after suing Harvey Weinstein, he faces a #MeToo reckoning of his own

Update: Three hours after the publication of this story, Schneiderman resigned from his position. “While these allegations are unrelated to my professional conduct or the operations of the office, they will effectively prevent me from leading the office’s work at this critical time,” he said in a statement. “I therefore resign my office, effective at the close of business on May 8, 2018.”

Eric Schneiderman, New York’s attorney general, has long been a liberal Democratic champion of women’s rights, and recently he has become an outspoken figure in the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment. As New York State’s highest-ranking law-enforcement officer, Schneiderman, who is sixty-three, has used his authority to take legal action against the disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein, and to demand greater compensation for the victims of Weinstein’s alleged sexual crimes. Last month, when the Times and this magazine were awarded a joint Pulitzer Prize for coverage of sexual harassment, Schneiderman issued a congratulatory tweet, praising “the brave women and men who spoke up about the sexual harassment they had endured at the hands of powerful men.” Without these women, he noted, “there would not be the critical national reckoning under way.”

Now Schneiderman is facing a reckoning of his own. As his prominence as a voice against sexual misconduct has risen, so, too, has the distress of four women with whom he has had romantic relationships or encounters. They accuse Schneiderman of having subjected them to nonconsensual physical violence. All have been reluctant to speak out, fearing reprisal. But two of the women, Michelle Manning Barish and Tanya Selvaratnam, have talked to The New Yorker on the record, because they feel that doing so could protect other women. They allege that he repeatedly hit them, often after drinking, frequently in bed and never with their consent. Manning Barish and Selvaratnam categorize the abuse he inflicted on them as “assault.” They did not report their allegations to the police at the time, but both say that they eventually sought medical attention after having been slapped hard across the ear and face, and also choked. Selvaratnam says that Schneiderman warned her he could have her followed and her phones tapped, and both say that he threatened to kill them if they broke up with him. (Schneiderman’s spokesperson said that he “never made any of these threats.”)

* * *

In a statement, Schneiderman said, “In the privacy of intimate relationships, I have engaged in role-playing and other consensual sexual activity. I have not assaulted anyone. I have never engaged in nonconsensual sex, which is a line I would not cross.”

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ROME (ITALY)
Voice of America

May 7, 2018

By Sabina Castelfranco

[Video report.]

Pope Francis has yet to comment on the latest developments regarding Cardinal George Pell, the highest-ranking Catholic Church official charged with sexual offenses, who faces trial in Australia. Sabina Castelfranco reports from Rome calls have been mounting for greater efforts in the worldwide fight against pedophilia in the Roman Catholic Church.

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JACKSONVILLE (FL)
CBS 47 – Fox 30

May 7, 2018

The arrest warrant for the retired Orange Park pastor accused of sexual battery on a minor says the victim was allegedly raped and molested since 2007.

William Randall, 73, who was arrested Thursday, had preached for over 20 years at St. Simon Baptist Church.

According to his arrest warrant, Randall faces a custodial sexual battery charge, and reportedly had committed the crime between the years 2009-2013.

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
BBC

May 3, 2018

Glasgow – Father Paul Moore, 82, was found guilty of the crimes at the High Court in Glasgow earlier this year.

Judge Lady Rae told Moore he had committed “despicable crimes”.

On Thursday an official at the High Court in Edinburgh confirmed that Moore’s legal team had lodged an appeal against conviction and sentence.

The trial heard that Moore abused one boy at a school, another at a leisure centre and a third on the beach at Irvine in the 1970s.

He was also found guilty of indecently assaulting a student priest in 1995.

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MUMBAI (INDIA)
Reuters via New York Times

May 8, 2018

He was lured into a room near where he played cricket, a man then shut the door and window, and raped him. That’s what a 14-year-old Mumbai boy told his mother from his hospital bed last July.

The boy died soon after, killed by the rat poison he consumed after the assault, according to details described to Reuters by his parents and police.

Inspector Balwant Deshmukh, the investigating officer, said police have all but given up hope of finding out who raped the boy. “We will revive the case if we get new clues, but as of now it’s in cold storage,” he told Reuters.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government last month introduced the death penalty for rape of girls below 12 and increased the minimum punishment for those whose victims were under 16, after the rapes of an eight-year-old girl and a young woman in two states ruled by his party led to public protests.

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BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

May 7, 2018

By Jay Tokasz

{See also the front page with this story]

A Diocese of Buffalo priest accused of having sexual contact with a teenage girl in the mid-1980s has been put on administrative leave.

Bishop Richard J. Malone will reopen an investigation into allegations that the Rev. Fabian J. Maryanski had sexual contact with a female parishioner of St. Patrick Church in Barker starting when the girl was 15.

“This has been one of the most horrific things I and my family has ever had to endure, second only to the abuse itself, and we have hope that speaking out will bring healing to not only us, but to every victim, the Diocese of Buffalo and especially to the entire Church,” said Stephanie McIntyre, the woman who accused Maryanski. “It’s 25 years too late. I wonder how many girls were preyed upon during that time period.”

The diocese was made aware of the accusations in a 1995 letter from the accuser’s lawyer, but it allowed Maryanski to serve in parishes for more than a decade afterward.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

May 7, 2018

By Sarah Pulliam Bailey

The Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination and a major force in conservative Christianity, is encountering its own #MeToo moment: a wave of anger over repeated comments by a prominent church leader seen as demeaning to women.

In sermons he gave between 2000 and 2014 that have been made public, Paige Patterson, seminary president and former denominational president, has encouraged women who are abused by their husbands not to divorce but to pray instead. He also commented in the sermons on female bodies, including that of a teenage girl, and women’s appearances. Now, thousands of people are calling for his removal just weeks before he is scheduled to deliver a key sermon at the huge denomination’s annual convention.

As some — including women — in the evangelical denomination rally around Patterson, 75, who is revered as an instrumental figure in the group’s rightward shift over the past several decades, other leaders are voicing concern that this furor is about much more than one man’s sermons. The uproar calls into question how women are treated in this religious community that preaches the theology of complementarianism, which says men and women are called to different roles, with men leading in the church and the home.

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MINNEAPOLIS (MN)
Star Tribune

May 5, 2018

By Jean Hopfensperger

Dozens of men accuse a 96-year-old priest of molesting them when they were boys

The Rev. Louis Brouillard has kept a low profile at his home in Pine City. But the Catholic priest faces growing notoriety on the island of Guam, where he’s been sued by at least 60 men who say he sexually abused them as children.

The tiny Pacific island is reeling from a clergy sex abuse scandal not unlike the one that rocked Minnesota a few years back, with tearful victims revealing memories of sexual indignations committed decades ago. The priest most frequently accused is a 96-year-old man in a senior apartment 7,000 miles away.

A Minnesota native, Brouillard lived more than 30 years on the remote island before being transferred in 1981 to the Duluth Diocese, where he served in three churches even as he reportedly brought teen boys from Guam to live with him.

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VATICAN CITY
America

Gerard O’Connell

May 07, 2018

Pope Francis would not have known in advance that the former archbishop of Guam, Anthony S. Apuron, would be on stage with him in Rome on May 5 at the Te Deum celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Neocathecumenal Way, one of the biggest pastoral and spiritual movements in the church today, if at times a controversial one.

A Vatican source (who asked not to be identified) explained that whenever the pope is invited to such a large public event he does not see the guest list in advance nor is the list checked by Vatican officials, as they trust the organizers of these gatherings to act in a responsible way. Archbishop Apuron had been condemned by a Vatican tribunal on March 16. He left Guam in 2016 after child molestation charges against him surfaced, including a more recent allegation of abuse from his own nephew.

A Vatican source said that the organizers “should have known better” than to invite Archbishop Apron.

At the celebration at Tor Vergata, a field outside of Rome, there were many cardinals and bishops from all over the world, including Archbishop Apuron—who has been one of the most friendly bishops to the movement in the Pacific—as well as around 100,000 people from some 130 countries. All the attendees were invited by the Neocathecumenal Way organizers. The movement began in Spain in 1964 and claims more than one million adherents in 6,000 parishes worldwide.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Phil Lawler

May 07, 2018

One step forward, two steps back. One excellent statement about a no-nonsense commitment to fighting sexual abuse, then a public act that suggests the issue is still not a top priority.

Chilean abuse victims were moved and encouraged by their private meetings with Pope Francis last week. Then on May 5, when the Pontiff joined a public celebration for the 50th anniversary of the Neocatechumenal Way, Archbishop Anthony Apuron— who was only recently convicted of abuse by a Vatican tribunal— was seated on the stage near the Pontiff.

True, Archbishop Apuron has appealed his conviction, and still proclaims his innocence. But he is one of only two archbishops ever found guilty of sexual abuse— not merely of ignoring evidence of abuse, but of molesting boys himself. Why would the Vatican give him a prominent role in a public ceremony, just a few weeks after announcing his conviction?

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TEXAS
Baptist Press

by Tom Strode

, May 07, 2018

DALLAS (BP) — Sexual abuse and assault will be subjects of a panel discussion convened by the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission on the eve of the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention June 12-13 in Dallas.

The ERLC will sponsor a conversation on some of society’s hottest topics during “Gospel Sexuality in a #MeToo Culture” at 9 p.m. June 11. Panelists will discuss how the Gospel of Jesus guides the Christian view of such subjects not only as sexual assault, abuse and harassment but domestic violence, pornography and infidelity.

Even before June 11, the ERLC will co-host with The Village Church a two-day conference on the church’s Gospel engagement with the world. The event — titled “The Gospel and the Future of the Church” — will be held June 8-9 in partnership with Southern Baptist Theological Seminary at The Village Church’s Flower Mound campus in metro Dallas.

The June 11 panel discussion will come at a time when the church and country are going through a crash course regarding sub-biblical treatment of women. Recent months have seen an ongoing series of revelations of sexual harassment, abuse and misconduct by pastors in the evangelical church and prominent men in the culture. The pastoral handling of domestic abuse of Christian wives also has generated controversy recently.

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NEW YORK
WBFO

May 7, 2018

By MICHAEL MROZIAK

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo on Monday announced it has placed a priest on administrative leave, one day after a published report revealed that priest had been accused in 1995 of sexually abusing a then teenaged girl. Meanwhile, a New Jersey-based advocacy group representing victims of alleged past abuse turned up pressure on Bishop Richard Malone, demanding he release all information on abuse cases or step down.

Father Fabian Maryanski, who was most recently serving as a retired assistant priest at the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Clarence, was identified Sunday within a Buffalo News article in which an unidentified woman accuses the priest of abusing her 23 years ago.

Dr. Robert Hoatson of Road to Recovery holds a sign in downtown Buffalo, across the street from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo’s headquarters. One day after the Buffalo News published allegations against a priest, Hoatson demanded Bishop Richard Malone release all files on past cases or resign.

The Diocese, in a brief statement announcing their action, explained that Father Maryanski was being placed on leave “for the purpose of reopening the previous investigation” and added that the move does not imply any determination of truth or falsity of the complaint.

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NEW YORK
WKBW

Charlie Specht

May 7, 2018

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) – Sexual abuse victims on Monday called on Bishop Richard Malone to reveal more information on sexually abusive Buffalo priests or resign as bishop.

“I think Buffalo, New York is ‘Boston, Massachusetts West,'” said Robert Hoatson, a former priest who runs Road to Recovery Inc., which helps victims of clerical sex abuse. “What you and we have uncovered and are uncovering is a cover-up of epidemic proportions.”

Hoatson pointed to Sunday’s front-page story in The Buffalo News which revealed that:

Diocese of Buffalo officials assigned the Rev. Fabian J. Maryanski to work in parishes for more than a decade after he was accused of having sexual contact with a teenage girl in a church rectory.

The priest started his sexual advances on the girl when she was a 15-year-old parishioner at St. Patrick Church in Barker, according to a 1995 letter sent by her lawyer to diocese officials.

Hoatson said it is time for Malone to reveal everything he knows about all 64 accused priests that have been identified by the media. The diocese originally said it had only received abuse complaints against 42 priests.

“So we’re here today to say to Bishop Malone, ‘Reveal it all or resign,’” Hoatson said. “And perhaps the latter is the most appropriate, because he doesn’t seem to be able to reveal.”

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CANADA
The Sault Star

Jim Moodie, The Sudbury Star

May 7, 2018

SUDBURY – A settlement reached last week closes a chapter in the long saga of a Sudbury sex predator and numerous male victims.

But whether it is the final chapter remains to be seen.

On Monday Denis Beland, 61, accepted just shy of $1 million in a pre-trial agreement concerning the abuse he suffered as a youth at the hands of Father William Marshall, who taught at St. Charles College high school in Sudbury between 1961 and 1979.

Beland is one of at least seven known Sudbury victims of the priest and the last of the St. Charles students seeking compensation through civil suits.

Had an agreement not been reached on Monday, the case would have gone to a jury trial on May 14.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

Charles Collins
MANAGING EDITOR

May 7, 2018

An archbishop accused of the sexual abuse of minors and convicted by a Vatican court “of certain … accusations” was given a place of honor at a recent event attended by Pope Francis.

Guam Archbishop Anthony Apuron was seen seated with other bishops and prelates on Saturday at a papal event to mark the 50th anniversary of the Neocatechumenal Way movement, which was founded in Spain.

In March, a canonical trial found Apuron, accused among other things of the sexual abuse of five minors, guilty of some of the charges and imposed that he leave his position as archbishop and never return to Guam.

Apuron has consistently denied the charges, and his lawyers have said he is appealing the decision.

Over 150,000 people from 135 countries attended the event at the “Tor Vergata” University grounds, on the Roman outskirts. It is unclear if Francis was aware of Apuron’s presence. A Vatican spokesman refused to comment.

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NEW YORK
WGRZ

Dave McKinley

May 7, 2018

BUFFALO, NY – Buffalo’s Catholic Bishop, The Most. Rev. Richard Malone, has placed another priest on leave amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

In a statement, the Diocese confirmed: “After receiving a recent letter regarding a previous abuse complaint against Father Fabian Maryanski, Bishop Richard J. Malone has placed Father Maryanski on administrative leave for the purpose of reopening the previous investigation. Please note that this administrative leave is for the purpose of investigation and does not imply any determination as to the truth or falsity of the complaint.

Maryanski, 77, is accused by a now 49 year old woman of having seduced her into a sexual relationship when she was a teenager in the 1980s, according to an article published in Sunday’s editions of the Buffalo News.

Their encounters allegedly occurred when Maryanski, who most recently celebrating mass Nativity BVM Church in Clarence, was the pastor at St. Patrick’s parish in Barker.

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NORTH CAROLINA
WLOS

by Kristy Steward

May 7th 2018

HAYWOOD COUNTY, N.C. (WLOS) — A judge in Haywood County sets a high bond for a former Episcopal priest facing sexual abuse allegations.

Howard Willard White, 76, appeared in court in Waynesville on Friday after being returned to our area from Massachusetts. White is one of six offenders named in the sex abuse scandal at St. George’s School in Middletown, R.I. Last year, he entered a guilty plea to five counts of assault and battery for his abuse of a former student in the 1970s. White served 12 months of an 18-month sentence.

After White was dismissed from the Rhode Island school in 1974 he went on to work at other parishes including Grace Church in Waynesville. White was rector at Grace Church from 1984 until 2006.Two accusers in the Waynesville indictment came forward with their claims in the wake of the St. George School scandal in 2015.

White’s charges in North Carolina include first-degree forcible rape, second-degree forcible rape, second-degree forcible sexual offense and indecent liberties with a child. The charges stem from alleged sexual abuse dating to the 1980s.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

May 7, 2018

by Michael Sean Winters

Cardinal George Pell is going on trial in Australia to face charges he sexually abused minors. As victims’ advocate Anne Barrett Doyle told my colleague Josh McElwee, this trial is a “turning point” in the long saga of compelling accountability by church leaders. It is even more of a turning point than Doyle may realize. Because the big story here is the dog that did not bark, the fact that the Vatican has made no protest at the prospect of a prince of the church standing trial before a civil magistrate.

I cannot think of a single preoccupation of the Catholic Church that has more frequently defined the stances she takes vis-à-vis the ambient culture than the concern for the church’s independence and freedom. From the Middle Ages onward, popes undertook a delicate balancing act with other powers seeking control of the Italian peninsula. In individual countries, the church often fought for her rights against monarchs who wanted to control the church’s personnel or money or both.

One of the most famous such cases was that of St. Thomas Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury, England. He was killed precisely because he refused to concede that King Henry II had the right to try a cleric for any reason, not only for violations of ecclesiastical law. The church alone claimed the right to judge ecclesiastical persons.

In the 18th century, the Catholic faith was in a bad way. Pope Clement XIV bowed to pressure from the Bourbon monarchs and suppressed the Society of Jesus. Pope Pius VI was coerced into traveling to Vienna to meet with the emperor and seek a rapprochement: The emperor’s play backfired as the simple peasants lined the route to seek the blessing of their spiritual father. Pius later fell afoul of Napoleon’s endless ambitions and died in custody. His successor also spent many years as Napoleon’s prisoner and, after Waterloo, dispatched his crafty secretary of state, Cardinal Ercole Consalvi, to the Congress of Vienna to earn back the Papal States, all in the interest of preserving papal independence.

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NEW YORK
Spectrum

May 7, 2018

Another priest in the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo is under investigation for allegations of abuse.

According to the Buffalo News, a 49-year-old woman is accusing Father Fabian Maryanski of abuse in the 1980s.

The Diocese confirms there was an investigation in 1995 which is now being reopened.

Bishop Richard Malone released a statement, saying “Since the investigation was conducted at a time before I became bishop of Buffalo, I have decided to reopen the investigation.”

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NEW YORK
WIVB

Evan Anstey

May 07, 2018

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – The Diocese of Buffalo announced Monday morning that Father Fabian Maryanski has been placed on administrative leave.

This was in regard to a previous abuse complaint against Maryanski.

“Bishop Richard J. Malone has placed Father Maryanski on administrative leave for the purpose of reopening the previous investigation,” George Richert, director of communications for the Diocese of Buffalo, wrote.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Payu Tiwari

May 6 2018

A Catholic priest has allegedly emerged as a prime suspect in a garda probe into images showing two men engaging in sex acts on a church altar.

The images appear to show the men engaging in sexual acts on the altar of a church in Munster.

Yesterday, ‘independent’ bishop Pat Buckley revealed to The Sunday World that he has reported the images to church bosses.

In the photograph, the men can be seen participating in a variety of different acts, both on top of, and adjacent to, the church altar.

Bishop Buckley told The Sunday World that the images originated from a priest, not believed to be attached to the church in question, on a well known website who sent them to another web-user in a bid to solicit him for a sexual rendezvous.

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UNITED STATES
Esquire

And on the island of Guam, they did.

BY CHARLES P. PIERCE

MAY 7, 2018

At what was perceived to be the height of the clerical child abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, I had some good priests and involved laypeople tell me that the next shoe to drop was going to drop overseas, in the Catholic missions to remote areas in places like Africa and the islands of the Pacific Ocean. Surely, they told me, if predatory priests were enabled to commit their crimes in the crowded urban areas of the United States, the same thing, or worse, must have been going on in distant places beyond the reach of the spotlight, or of Spotlight.

The sound you just heard was that other shoe, dropping. From The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

Brouillard’s peaceful life stands in stark contrast to the torment of 122 men and two women–all middle-age or retired now—who accuse him of sexually molesting them as children on the island of Guam. They have broken long-held silences and filed lawsuits. Some have protested and begged for justice. Some have left the church. A long time ago, some of them complained. Brouillard confessed, and was told to pray and try harder. Eventually, the island’s Catholic church simply sent Brouillard away.

It gets worse because it always gets worse. This guy also was a Boy Scout leader.

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VATICAN CITY
KUAM

May 07, 2018

By Krystal Paco

Guam’s suspended Archbishop Anthony Apuron has been sighted again in Rome, this time for a celebration for the Neocatechumenal Way. A video was posted on the Vatican News YouTube channel on Sunday.

Joining Apuron is Guam’s Father Edivaldo Oliveira who is listed on the Archdiocese of Agana’s website as a priest on mission.

Both sit among a crowd of bishops on the same stage as Pope Francis.

As reported, Archbishop Michael Byrnes put a halt to any formation of new communities by the Neocatechumenal Way here on Guam. That year-long period, KUAM files show, ended in March.

Earlier this year, the Vatican released its verdict against Apuron finding him guilty of certain charges.

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VATICAN CITY
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio, heugenio@guampdn.com

May 7, 2018

Nearly two months after the Vatican announced he had been convicted in a canonical trial, former Guam Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron was seated near Pope Francis on a stage in Rome during Saturday’s 50th anniversary of the founding of the Neocatechumenal Way.

Apuron is part of the Neocatechumenal Way, which he welcomed to Guam in the mid-1990s, and whose practices are sometimes at odds with Catholic teachings, beliefs and practices.

Pope Francis, in his May 5 message, urged the Neocatechumenal Way to respect different cultures and not try to impose its own pre-established models.

“Love the cultures and traditions of peoples, without imposing pre-established models. Do not start from theories and fixed mindsets, but from concrete situations: it will thus be the Spirit Who shapes the proclamation according to His times and His ways. And the Church will grow in His image: united in the diversity of peoples, gifts and charisms,” the pope said at the event.

Apuron found guilty

Apuron was found guilty of certain accusations in a canonical trial that included allegations he sexually abused or raped children on Guam before or while he was archbishop, based on a March 16 announcement from the Vatican.

Apuron, who said he will appeal the conviction, was stripped of his position as archbishop and banned from the island’s archdiocese.

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VATICAN CITY
The Guam Daily Post

May 7, 2018

Mindy Aguon | The Guam Daily Post

The Vatican may have stripped former Guam Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron of his title following a canonical trial, but Apuron continues to wear his bishop robe as he attended the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Neocatechumenal Way in Tor Vergata, Rome, on Saturday.

Apuron appears seated among cardinals and bishops on the stage holding a cane, in a video posted by Vatican News. Father Edivaldo Da Silva-Oliviera, who is listed as a priest “on mission” from the Archdiocese of Agana, was seated next to Apuron as they listened to Pope Francis deliver an address to the crowd.

The event celebrated the Neocatechumenal Way, one of the Catholic Church’s biggest and most contentious missionary movements.

Pope Francis, in his May 5 message, urged the Neocatechumenal Way not to impose pre-established models or have fixed mindsets or theories.

During his address, the pope urged the movement to respect different cultures and not try to conquer souls as it spreads the faith around the world, according to the Vatican News

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GUAM
KUAM

May 07, 2018

By Krystal Paco

A second man comes forward accusing Father Adrian Cristobal of molestation and rape.

Only identified by his initials to protect his privacy, 33-year-old J.C.C. reports the abuse started in 1995 and ended in 2013, occurring almost daily.

The alleged abuse occurred at San Vicente Catholic School, both the Barrigada and Maina Parishes, at Father Adrian’s residence, his car, and his private beach in Ipan.

It started when the priest groped the boy after teaching him how to properly tuck in his shirt.

Other occasions occurred under the table during meal times – the priest reportedly using his feet to touch the boy’s private parts.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

May 7, 2018

Mindy Aguon | The Guam Daily Post

A 33-year-old man has come forward alleging he endured nearly 15 years of sexual molestation and abuse at the hands of Father Adrian Cristobal, the former Archdiocese of Agana chancellor, leading him to drugs for self-medication.

A lawsuit filed in the District Court of Guam by J.C.C., who used initials to protect his identity, alleges the abuse began when he was 11 years old and an altar boy at San Vicente Ferrer/San Roke Catholic Church in Barrigada, where Cristobal served as parish priest and continued until 2013.

J.C.C. was raised in a religious family whose members were devout Catholics and active in the church.

Beginning in 1995, J.C.C. was repeatedly sexually molested and abused by Cristobal and the boy was forced to perform sexual acts on the priest at San Vicente School where he attended classes, the Barrigada parish, the Maina parish where Cristobal was later assigned, Cristobal’s private residence, Cristobal’s vehicle, and Cristobal’s private beach in Ipan, the civil complaint states.

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NEW YORK
Buffalo News

By Jay Tokasz

May 7, 2018

Bishop Richard J. Malone is reopening an investigation into allegations that the Rev. Fabian J. Maryanski had sexual contact with a teenage girl in the mid-1980s.

Diocese of Buffalo officials confirmed that Maryanski, 77, was investigated in 1995 following an accusation of sexual abuse.

“Since the investigation was conducted at a time before I became bishop of Buffalo, I have decided to reopen the investigation,” Malone said in a statement.

The statement came after The Buffalo News published a story Sunday stating that Maryanski was assigned to work in parishes for more than a decade after he was accused of having sexual contact with a teenage girl in a church rectory.

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AUSTRALIA
The New Daily

May 6, 2018

Lucie Morris-Marr

A series of mysterious adverts are encouraging supporters to donate to a “trust fund” to help Cardinal George Pell pay for a top legal team to fight the abuse allegations against him.

Bank details of the fund, run by a Melbourne-based solicitor, are included in the adverts which have appeared in Catholic newsletters, magazines and websites around the world.

Mystery still surrounds who sent the adverts – which all share similar wording – and whether they were part of a co-ordinated campaign.

One of the adverts posted on the website of the Catholic Diocese of Ballarat says the bank account details were “provided by Cardinal Pell’s staff at the Sydney Archdiocese”.

All of the adverts go on to say that funds can be deposited into a Bendigo Bank account run by Ferdinand Zito and Associates, a law firm with a small office next to a post office in the Melbourne suburb of Ivanhoe East.

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UNITED STATES
KPCC

Thursday, May 24, 2018

The #MeToo movement has rocked the entertainment, political, media and tech worlds. More recently, it has reignited old conversations and started new ones within faith communities in the United States and around the world.

Accusations of sexual impropriety by male religious leaders have surfaced across faiths — from evangelical Christianity to Islam — fanned by the #MeToo movement, and social media has amplified the voices of accusers. But the conversation about women’s rights and treatment in religious circles is arguably less pronounced than in the secular world. Will it stay that way? Or is the conversation a slow burn ready to catch on?

Join KPCC’s Josie Huang on Thursday, May 24, at the Crawford Family Forum in Pasadena for a talk about the #MeToo movement and its place in faith and spirituality.

Guests:

Edina Lekovic – director of policy and programming, Muslim Public Affairs Council
Brie Loskota – executive director, Center for Religion and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer

MAY 5, 2018

by Mark Scolforo, Associated Press

HARRISBURG — Two Franciscan friars who supervised a third friar who fatally stabbed himself in the heart while facing child-molestation allegations pleaded no contest to child endangerment charges Friday and were sentenced to five years of probation.

Proscecutors say Brother Robert J. D’Aversa, 71, of Hollidaysburg, Blair County, failed to tell officials at Bishop McCort Catholic High School in Johnstown that he reassigned the friar, Brother Stephen Baker, in 2000 because of new credible allegations about Baker’s past.

They also say Brother Anthony J. Criscitelli, 64, of Hollidaysburg, knew a safety plan was in place for Baker, but still allowed him to potentially be around children.

Former Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane brought charges against the two, along with a priest, following a March 2016 Pennsylvania grand jury report accusing bishops of ignoring or hiding decades of sexual abuse by priests and religious leaders against hundreds of children in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Danny McDonald GLOBE STAFF

MAY 06, 2018

A former teacher fired from an elite Cambridge school over sexual abuse allegations in the 1980s committed suicide last month, according to his death certificate.

Edward “Ted” Washburn, who pleaded guilty to raping his 13-year-old nephew in 1987 and received a suspended sentence, killed himself on April 6, according to the certificate.

Washburn, 75, of Lexington, had taught at Buckingham Browne & Nichols, a day school that serves prekindergarten through 12th grade in Cambridge.

The 1987 rape case was the biggest scandal in the history of that institution, which was established in 1974 with the merger of two schools that were founded in the 19th century.

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NEW YORK
Buffalo News

By Matthew Spina

May 7, 2018

The state’s Catholic Conference has spent $1.8 million over six years lobbying Albany to, among other things, derail a bill to make it easier for sex abuse victims to sue.

The Democratic-led state Assembly approved the Child Victims Act last week, but its prospects for passage in the Republican-led Senate are less likely.

The act’s most controversial provision would open a one-year window in which victims currently blocked by New York’s statute of limitations could sue for damages linked to decades-old abuses. But the Catholic Conference says the act would force institutions to defend misconduct “about which they have no knowledge, and in which they had no role.”

To head off the bill and to push other items on its agenda, the Catholic Conference has spent hundreds of thousands a year on lobbyists. For example, the conference last year paid Sheinkopf Ltd. $5,000 a month, the Greenberg Traurig firm $6,000 a month and New York City attorney Stanley K. Schlein another $6,000 a month.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Conservative Woman

By Andrew Tettenborn

May 7, 2018

Politician in need of a headline or two? Easy: demand an inquiry into something. The wider-ranging and less focused the terms of reference, the better the publicity. Unfortunately the more vaguely the remit of any inquiry is drawn, and the more politically charged its subject, the less likely it is to do much good. If you want proof, the saga of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, whose interim report appeared a couple of weeks ago, provides it in spades.

It was set up by then Home Secretary Theresa May in 2014 amid swirling and often self-serving claims of pederasty against what seemed almost anybody connected with the establishment. Things have not gone well. It is now on its fourth chair, ex-chief social work inspector Alexis Jay, assisted by human rights law professor Sir Malcolm Evans, radical barrister Ivor Frank, and former CPS luminary and HM Inspector of Constabulary Drusilla Sharpling. The first two chairs, a judge and a corporate lawyer, were eased out as being too patrician: the third, a New Zealand judge, resigned in murky circumstances after alleged incautious remarks about race and what seems to have been open warfare between her and the other members.

The inquiry’s terms of reference are a curious combination of matters clearly drawn up to placate particular pressure groups. On one side there is a vague injunction to find out all about child sexual abuse in the past, who was to blame, and what to do about it. To this are subjoined instructions to consider the experience of survivors, providing opportunities for them to ‘bear witness’.

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CANADA
The Sudbury Star

By Jim Moodie, The Sudbury Star

Monday, May 7, 2018

A settlement reached last week closes a chapter in the long saga of a Sudbury sex predator and numerous male victims.

But whether it is the final chapter remains to be seen.

On Monday Denis Beland, 61, accepted just shy of $1 million in a pre-trial agreement concerning the abuse he suffered as a youth at the hands of Father William Marshall, who taught at St. Charles College high school in Sudbury between 1961 and 1979.

Beland is one of at least seven known Sudbury victims of the priest and the last of the St. Charles students seeking compensation through civil suits.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Shropshire Star

By Mat Growcott

May 7, 2019

Investigators into child sexual exploitation in Telford must not focus too much on the past, or risk missing how the crime is carried out today, it has been claimed.

Craig Badley, one of the people behind the Telford Time 4 Change survivor support group, said today’s groomers were using the internet to find their victims.

Telford Time 4 Change was started when its founders decided there was too much focus on politics in the discussion of CSE, and not enough on supporting the victims.

“Survivors said they didn’t feel they were being listened to before,” Craig, 45, said.

“We’ve helped about 10 people so far. We’ve had meetings with the police and other similar groups, and we can put their voice across to those organisations.”

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NEW YORK
Post-Journal

MAY 7, 2018

JOHN WHITTAKER

State Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, R-Jamestown, has three reasons for voting against the Child Victims Act legislation approved recently in the state Assembly.

As unfair as sexual abuse is to victims, lengthy statutes of limitations could be just as unfair to everyone else.

The Assembly legislation would extend for five years the statute of limitations on felony sex crime allegations against a minor until the abuse victim turns 28; would extend until the age of 50 the opportunity for child sex abuse victims to pursue civil litigation and create a one-year period where there would be no statute of limitations on claims to come forward. Assemblyman Joe Giglio, R-Gowanda, was one of the 139 Assembly members to vote for the legislation.

After the Assembly’s passage, state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman used the Assembly’s 130-10 margin of passage on May 1 to pressure the state Senate into passing the legislation. The Senate has no votes scheduled on Child Victims Act legislation for the rest of the 2017-18 session; a fact that Gov. Andrew Cuomo has cited several times in speeches in recent weeks as reason for voters to elect Democrats to the state Senate and to try to convince state Sen. Simcha Felder, D-Brooklyn, to begin caucusing with Democrats in the Senate rather than with Republicans.

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AUSTRALIA
BBC News

May 7, 2018

Former Australian detective Denis Ryan was driven out of the police force in 1972 when he tried to bring a paedophile priest to justice.

Now almost 50 years after he was ordered by superiors to drop the case – and deprived of a police pension – Mr Ryan will receive compensation.

The 86-year-old man was recently awarded an undisclosed sum by the state government of Victoria.

“When I heard the news, I nearly jumped out of my socks,” he said.

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FLORIDA
WFLA

By: Corey Davis

May 06, 2018

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. – A church deacon in Hillsborough County is behind bars after deputies say he admitted to sexually assaulting young children.

David Kenneth Buser, 72, of Plant City is believed to have sexually abused at least two victims, according to Hillsborough County arrest records.

The abuse of one of the victims had been going on for a decade, deputies claim. Records show that the most recent sexual assault happened two months ago.

Jessey Bradshaw, pastor of New Hope Freewill Baptist Church in Dover says Buser worked for the church for several years and occasionally taught Sunday school.

According to the report, the abuse did not happen at the church.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM

May 7, 2018

By Felicity Ogilvie on PM

The Anglican church in Tasmania is planning to sell 76 of its 133 churches in order to fund the national child sex abuse redress scheme.

Locals are upset to lose the churches, some which are more than 130 years old.

But those who survived abuse say while they feel for locals, it sends an important message of acknowledgement.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio, heugenio@guampdn.com

May 7, 2018

Former Archdiocese of Agana Chancellor Adrian Cristobal has been accused of sexually abusing and raping a Catholic school student for about 18 years, from 1995 through 2013 at two parishes, the school, the priest’s residence, his vehicle, and in his private beach in Ipan, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court on Monday.

This is the second time Cristobal has been accused in a clergy sex abuse lawsuit. The first lawsuit naming him was filed in April.

Cristobal is currently a priest on a mission to the Diocese of Phoenix in Arizona.

The church has said Cristobal was being called back to Guam as a result of the April lawsuit. As of press time, the church was unable to provide an update on whether Cristobal has returned to the island.

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CANADA
CBC News

Jason Warick · CBC News ·

May 06, 2018

Jenny Spyglass wishes she could forget the day she walked in on a priest raping her sister, Agnes.

“I’m a little better now, but I hate thinking about it,” Spyglass, 76, said in an interview with CBC News.

It’s not the only traumatic memory of her time at Delmas Indian Residential School — little brother Reggie dying of tuberculosis, older brother Martin left outside to suffer massive frostbite to his hands, Spyglass herself being locked for long periods in a dark, concrete basement, and the near-starvation rations of oatmeal, beans and biscuits.

“I still hate porridge,” she said.

Like more than 30,000 residential school survivors, Spyglass and her surviving siblings applied for compensation under a national program.

They were awarded between $10,000 and $20,000 each.

“We got abused, then robbed. I guess there’s nothing we can do about it now,” said Spyglass, who now lives in North Battleford, Sask., and took up powwow dancing late in life as one way to heal.

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MINNESOTA
USA Today

Haidee V. Eugenio and Dana Williams, Pacific Daily News and Nora Hertel, St. Cloud (Minn.) Times

May 6, 2018

PINE CITY, Minn. — Statues of the Virgin Mary and portraits of Jesus loom over Louis Brouillard in his small apartment. He lives alone, two blocks from Pine City Elementary School and across the street from St. Mary’s Catholic preschool – close enough to hear children’s laughter when they play at recess.

The retired priest no longer wears a collar, but the people in this small town an hour north of Minnesota’s Twin Cities still call him “Father.” He is 96 years old.

Brouillard’s peaceful life stands in stark contrast to the torment of 122 men and two women – all middle-aged or retired now – who accuse him of sexually molesting them as children on the island of Guam. They have broken long-held silences and filed lawsuits. Some have protested and begged for justice. Somehave left the church.

A long time ago, some of them complained. Brouillard confessed, and was told to pray and try harder. Eventually, the island’s Catholic church simply sent Brouillard away.

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INDIA
Opindia

May 6, 2018

The 2015 movie ‘Spotlight’ had a profound, lasting impact worldwide, not only because it was a finely made motion picture that spoke about the long-standing issue of child sexual abuse by the church, but also for the manner in which it highlighted the fact that the church and the whole organisational system of Christian authorities go to elaborate lengths to deny, hide, hush up the crimes and take great measures to shelter and rehabilitate the guilty priests. In one powerful scene, Mitchell Garabedian tells the journalist Michael Rezendes, “If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse one.” He was, of course, referring to the deeply rooted system of the clergy, lawyers and private patrons including government officials who go to great lengths to cover up the crimes and help the guilty go unpunished.

India, sadly, has not been immune to the plague either. Christian priests and churches, like most cases worldwide, have been targeting the poor, destitute for their crimes and the cases go unnoticed. At most, a case grabs a little spot in newspapers for a day or two and then is lost in obscurity. It is mostly due to the speed and reachability of digital and social media that nowadays, more and more cases are coming to highlight. Even if there are many, many cases, none of them get the media attention or outrage. The sordid tale was also documented by one Varun Reddy on Twitter.

Recently in Vallampadu, Andhra Pradesh, a 45-year-old pastor was booked for brutally raping an 11-year old girl. In July 2017, Father Saji Joesph, a priest who was the director of a children’s home in Kerala’s Wayanad district, was arrested after allegations of sexually abusing minor boys. In 2013, an illegal shelter home housing dozens of children from extremely poor families in North Eastern India was reported in Jaipur. One girl had accused priest Jacob John of rape and as many as 13 girls were suspected to have been sexually abused by the priest.

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NEW YORK
Post-Star

May 6, 2018

Sometimes it takes a painfully long time to do the right thing.

That gives us hope that the time has come to pass the Child Victims Act.

The New York State Assembly voted 124-9 this week to pass a statute that gives victims of child molestation a longer window to seek justice. The proposal was first considered 10 years ago in New York.

Both local Assembly members — Dan Stec and Carrie Woerner — voted in favor of the measure.

A Siena College poll earlier this year found 79 percent of those polled support the measure.

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NEW YORK
Buffalo News

By Jay Tokasz

May 6, 2018

Diocese of Buffalo officials assigned the Rev. Fabian J. Maryanski to work in parishes for more than a decade after he was accused of having sexual contact with a teenage girl in a church rectory.

The priest started his sexual advances on the girl when she was a 15-year-old parishioner at St. Patrick Church in Barker, according to a 1995 letter sent by her lawyer to diocese officials.

The letter from Rochester attorney Charles A. West Jr. to then-Bishop Edward D. Head alleged that Maryanski’s sexual advances escalated from hugging and kissing to sex. The abuse is alleged to have started in the mid-1980s, when Maryanski was pastor of St. Patrick Church.

Maryanski, 77, was not among the 42 diocesan priests identified by Bishop Richard J. Malone in March as having a credible allegation of child sexual abuse lodged against them.

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CANADA
Anishinabeck News

May 5, 2018

By Kathleen Imbert

Bishops of Canada advised Pope Francis to not apologize to First Nations. Their letter addressed to “Indigenous Brothers and Sisters” said, “The Catholic Bishops of Canada have been in dialogue with the Pope and the Holy See concerning the legacy of suffering you have experienced. The Holy Father is aware of the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which he takes seriously. As far as Call to Action #58 is concerned, after carefully considering the request and extensive dialogue with the Bishops of Canada, he felt that he could not personally respond”. (Letter from Bishop Legendre, March 28, 2018.)

Popes, on the one hand, and in the past, have apologized for the ‘evils’ of the priests that make up the Catholic Church, the latest being in 2014 by Pope Francis.

“Before God and his people I express my sorrow for the sins and grave crimes of clerical sexual abuse committed against you,” the Pope said. “And I humbly ask forgiveness. I beg your forgiveness, too for the sins of omissions on the part of Church leaders who did not respond adequately to reports of abuse made by family members, as well as by abuse victims themselves.”

In 2013, Francis formed a Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, made up of clergy and laity, which included two sexual abuse survivors of the clergy. One of them, Peter Saunders from England, was asked to take leave after criticizing the Pope on how he publicly gave support to the highly placed clergy. Marie Collins, an Irish survivor, resigned and in a letter to Cardinal Muller, who presides the Doctrine of Faith (a key Vatican department and keeper of good Catholic practices), gives an account of her experience in the commission and her insights on its inertia on the case of sexual abuse. “It appears that for you, the concern that the local bishop might feel disrespected far outweighs any concern about disrespecting the survivor.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

May 5, 2018,

Lizzy Buchan Political Correspondent

A former Conservative MP who was falsely accused of child sex abuse is suing Scotland Yard and his accuser for more than £1 million.

Harvey Proctor, 71, has lodged a High Court claim against the Metropolitan Police and the man, identified only as “Nick”, who sparked the Westminster sex abuse scandal by claiming he had been raped and abused by a VIP paedophile ring.

Operation Midland was launched in 2014 into historic allegations of child murder, rape and torture by senior figures in politics, the army and the security forces in the 1970s and 80s – based largely on Nick’s allegations.

However £2.5m investigation collapsed without any arrests and Nick has since appeared in court charged with possession of indecent images of children.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Associated Press

By MARK SCOLFORO

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Two Franciscan friars who supervised another friar who fatally stabbed himself in the heart while facing child molestation claims pleaded no contest to child endangerment charges Friday and were sentenced to five years of probation.

Prosecutors say Robert J. D’Aversa, 71, of Hollidaysburg, failed to tell officials at Bishop McCort Catholic High School in Johnstown that he reassigned the friar, Brother Stephen Baker, in 2000 because of new credible allegations about Baker’s past.

They also say Anthony J. Criscitelli, 64, of Hollidaysburg, knew a safety plan was in place for Baker, but still allowed him to potentially be around children.

Messages left for their lawyers were not immediately returned.

“These defendants knew the abuser was a serious threat to children — but they allowed him to engage with children and have access to them as part of his job within their order,” said Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a Democrat. “They chose time and time again to prioritize their institution’s reputation over the safety of victims.”

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AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

By Jon White

6 May 2018

The recent article (‘Ineffective’ system sees sexually abused children re-traumatised) has shone a light on a persistent issue in the criminal justice system: how children give evidence.

It is now well accepted in our legal system that the evidence of children is not inherently less reliable than the evidence of adults. Indeed a case I recently took to the High Court, The Queen v GW, was an important development in that area.

The High Court held that unsworn evidence (which generally means evidence given by children) is not any less reliable than sworn evidence.

There have been some significant advances for children giving evidence in the ACT, which is in fact ahead of most Australian jurisdictions. Child witnesses in serious offences (including of course child complainants in sexual offence cases) are interviewed by trained police officers and this interview becomes their “evidence in chief” in court proceedings.

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VATICAN CITY
Associated Press

May 5, 2018

By NICOLE WINFIELD

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis on Saturday urged one of the Catholic Church’s biggest but most contentious missionary movements to respect different cultures and not try to conquer souls as it spreads the faith around the world.

Francis headlined a big rally marking the 50th anniversary of the Neocatechumenal Way’s arrival in Rome. The community founded in Spain in the 1960s seeks to train Catholic adults in their faith and each year sends out families on mission around the globe.

The Vatican under the past two popes in many ways kept the Way at arm’s length because of its unusual liturgical practices, which include celebrating Mass on Saturday nights, and its occasionally divisive presence in dioceses. The Way’s statutes were only approved in 2008. …

Most recently, the Way has been in the spotlight in the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam after its main supporter on the island, Guam Archbishop Anthony Apuron, was removed to stand trial at the Vatican on sex abuse charges.

Apuron’s replacement, heeding criticism by ordinary faithful on Guam, placed restrictions on the Way, mandating a yearlong “pause” in the creation of new prayer communities, ordering that its members obey Vatican rules in celebrating Mass and launching a review into the quality of their training as Catholic teachers.

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