ABUSE TRACKER

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

June 7, 2018

Sex abuse panel seeks witness statement from Prince Charles

LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Associated Press

June 6, 2018

By Gregory Katz

Prince Charles has been asked to give a witness statement to a public inquiry into how abuse allegations against a pedophile bishop were handled.

The request for a statement from Charles and his private secretary was made public Wednesday during an Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse hearing.

The inquiry is looking into the way abuse allegations against ex-bishop Peter Ball were dealt with. He was sentenced to 32 months in prison in 2015 for numerous sexual offenses going back to the 1970s.

Inquiry lawyer Fiona Scolding said Charles’ lawyers have indicated he is willing to assist and have raised a number of issues being reviewed.

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

Serial child rapist, whose pending release drew outcry, arrested on new charges

BOSTON (MA)
CBS/AP

June 6, 2018

A 70-year-old convicted child rapist from Massachusetts who was set to be released from custody after two experts concluded he was no longer “sexually dangerous” will remain locked up. Wayne Chapman was arrested Wednesday in prison for indecent exposure and lewd acts that the Massachusetts Department of Correction said Chapman committed on Sunday and Monday.

A lawyer for some of Chapman’s victims said she was told Chapman exposed himself to a nurse.

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

Nxivm leader rips prosecutors in request for $10M bail

NEW YORK (NY)
New York Post

June 6, 2018

By Priscilla DeGregory and Lia Eustachewich

Lawyers for accused Nxivm sex cult leader Keith Raniere asked that he be sprung from jail on $10 million bond — all while ripping prosecutors as the “morality police” for filing sex-trafficking charges against him.

In new court papers, Raniere’s team of five lawyers argue that he’s neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community and should be released from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

He’s been held without bail since his arrest in April.

Raniere is accused of luring women through an offshoot of his self-help group Nxivm — pronounced “Nexium” — and blackmailing them into becoming his sex slaves.

Raniere and former “Smallville” actress Allison Mack — Raniere’s high-ranking “slave” who allegedly helped recruit women to a Nxivm side group called DOS — would brand their initials on their victims, prosecutors say.

Raniere’s attorneys, led by Marc Agnifilo, have maintained everything was consensual.

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

Customs officer involved in ‘rape table’ controversy pleads guilty; two others indicted

NEWARK (NJ)
Fox News

June 6, 2018

By Michael Bartiromo

One of three U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers charged with hazing co-workers on a “rape table” has pleaded guilty in court.

Tito Catota, 38, admitted on Monday to forcibly assaulting, impeding, intimidating and interfering with two male customs officers while on duty at Newark Liberty International Airport in 2016 and 2017, the Associated Press reports.

Two of his CBP colleagues working at the airport — Parmenio Perez, 40, and Michael Papagni, 32, were also indicted on those same charges, New Jersey U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito confirmed.

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

The question of consent with Greitens, Weinstein: This rape law could change things

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

June 4, 2018

By Melinda Henneberger

Former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens: “This was an entirely consensual relationship, and any allegation of violence or sexual assault is false. This was a months-long consenting relationship between two adults.”

Benjamin Brafman, defense attorney for former big-deal Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein: “The only rape victim that Mr. Weinstein is accused of raping is someone who he has had a 10-year consensual sexual relationship with.”

Former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman: “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.”

Have you noticed those accused of sex crimes talking about their culpability any differently post-#MeToo? I haven’t, though it’s a major myth that men can’t tell consent from its absence.

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

Michigan Senate panel: Coaches must report sexual abuse

LANSING (MI)
The Associated Press

June 6, 2018

By Alice Yin

Sports coaches are rejoining the list of people required to report child abuse under a batch of Michigan bills spurred by the Larry Nassar scandal, a Senate committee unanimously decided on Wednesday.

Lawmakers convened in a hearing to clear for a Senate vote 24 bills that would revamp how Michigan prosecutes and reports sexual assault. They also moved forward an amendment to mandate that paid coaches and assistant coaches at K-12 and college athletics programs report suspected child abuse and neglect, bucking the House’s earlier decision to remove them due to concerns about clogging the child welfare system with excess reports.

The update is the latest iteration of the legislation introduced in the wake of Nassar molesting hundreds of girls and women while employed as a sports doctor at Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics, a training ground for Olympians. Nassar is now imprisoned after pleading guilty to sexual assault and possessing child pornography.

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

Attorney names eight Rochester priests accused of sex abuse

ROCHESTER (NY)
Rochester First via WROC

June 6, 2018

By Howard Thompson

An attorney claims eight Diocese of Rochester priest are responsible for sexual abuse against children.

Of the eight priests, accusations against three of them were already public knowledge: Father Eugene Emo, Father David P. Simon, and Father Francis H. Vogt.

During a Wednesday news conference, attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who says he is representing victims in the case, named the other five priests who face accusations of sexual abuse. He says 17 victims have come forward.

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

Owego priest among 8 accused of child sex abuse in Rochester diocese

ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat and Chronicle

June 6, 2018

By Sean Lahman, Meaghan M. McDermott and Katie Sullivan

Flanked by two former priests, a Boston attorney stood on the steps of Sacred Heart Cathedral in Rochester and called Wednesday for the resignation of a Tioga County priest, naming him as one of eight clergy members accused of sexually abusing children in the Diocese of Rochester between 1950 and 1978.

The Rev. Thomas J. Valenti currently serves as the parochial administrator at Blessed Trinity — which includes St. James Church in Waverly, St. John in Newark Valley and St. Margaret Mary in Apalachin — as well as St. Patrick’s parish in Owego.

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

“Secrecy is what allows the clergy sexual abuse to continue” [video]

ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat and Chronicle

Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Shawn Dowd

Boston, Massachusetts, attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who has represented thousands of victims of clergy abuse, asks the Diocese of Rochester to come clean about sexual abuse by priests.

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

Eight priests from the Rochester Diocese accused of sexually abusing children

ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat and Chronicle

June 6, 2018

By Sean Lahman

Eight Rochester priests accused of abusing kids

Saying it is time for “the church to stop these evil acts” a Boston attorney who has spent decades representing victims of sexual abuse called on the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester to release records it may hold concerning allegations of sexual abuse of children by clergy.

Mitchell Garabedian on Wednesday stood on the steps of Sacred Heart Cathedral in Rochester and named eight priests from the Rochester diocese who are accused of sexually abusing minor children. A group of 15 men and two women, now grown, say they were abused by these priests when they were children.

Garabedian said the incidents took place between 1950 and 1978 when the alleged perpetrators were assigned to churches in the Rochester diocese. He said the victims, all of whom approached him within the past six months, are now between the ages of 52 and 77.

“And as you can see from the assignment sheets from the official Catholic directory, these priests were transferred from parish to parish, which is typical of a diocese, or archdiocese or the Catholic Church,” said Garabedian.

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

Local priests accused of sexually abusing children

ROCHESTER (NY)
News10NBC

June 6, 2018

An attorney representing victims in the our area says eight priests assigned in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester are accused of sexually abusing children over almost three decades. The attorney released names of the priests. A list of dispositions against the Diocese of Rochester can be found here.

There are new allegations of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in the Diocese of Rochester.

On Wednesday, the lawyer who helped break the abuse scandal in Boston and whose role was portrayed in the movie “Spotlight” was in Rochester with the names of eight priests, including five never before published.

Many of the eight priests are now dead. However, one is still the pastor of a church in the Diocese. Our news partner, News10NBC is not naming him or the other priest believed to be alive because they have not been charged with the crime of sexual abuse.

But in front of the steps of Sacred Heart Cathedral, attorney Mitchell Garabedian said 17 people have come forward this year telling him they were abused by the eight priests.

“These priests were transferred from parish to parish to parish, which is typical of the Diocese or Archdiocese and the Catholic Church,” Garabedian said.

Garabedian said the abuse happened between 1950 and 1978. He said during that 28-year window the victims ranged in age from five to 18, and two of the 17 alleged victims are women.

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

[Listen] Attorney Mitchell Garabedian Speaks Out Against Priests That Sexually Molested Boys And Girls

UNITED STATES
iHeartRADIO

June 6, 2018

Kimberly and Beck

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian speaks out against priests that sexually molested boys and girls and was also portrayed in the film Spotlight.

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

Statement by Kevin Ueckert, Chairman of the Board of Trustees

FORT WORTH (TX)
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

June 1, 2018

By Kevin Ueckert

Based on a number of follow-up questions I have received this week, I am providing this additional statement related to our May 30, 2018 statement. The unanimous decision by the Executive Committee to immediately terminate Dr. Paige Patterson was prayerfully considered and warranted.

We confirmed this week through a student record, made available to me with permission, that an allegation of rape was indeed made by a female student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2003. This information contradicts a statement previously provided by Dr. Patterson in response to a direct question by a Board member regarding the incident referenced in our May 30 statement. The 2003 rape allegation was never reported to local law enforcement. SWBTS will not release the student record to the public without additional appropriate permissions.

In addition, as previously disclosed, a female student at SWBTS reported to Dr. Patterson that she had been raped in 2015. Police were notified of that report. But in connection with that allegation of rape, Dr. Patterson sent an email (the contents of which were shared with the Board on May 22) to the Chief of Campus Security in which Dr. Patterson discussed meeting with the student alone so that he could “break her down” and that he preferred no officials be present. The attitude expressed by Dr. Patterson in that email is antithetical to the core values of our faith and to SWBTS. Moreover, the correlation between what has been reported and also revealed in the student record regarding the 2003 allegation at Southeastern and the contents of this email are undeniable.

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

Southern Baptist seminary drops bombshell: Why Paige Patterson was fired

WAKE FOREST (NC)
The Washington Post

June 1, 2018

By Sarah Pulliam Bailey

In a bombshell announcement Friday night, leaders of a Southern Baptist seminary explained the reasons they decided two days earlier to fire their president, a longtime leader of the denomination. In a statement, they asserted that Paige Patterson lied about his treatment of an alleged rape victim in 2003, and that in 2015 he tried to meet, with no other officials present, with another woman who had reported a sexual assault so he could “break her down.”

Concerns surrounding the behavior of Patterson, who until a few weeks ago was a towering figure in the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest U.S. Protestant denomination, with about 15 million members, have roiled conservative evangelical circles since recorded remarks surfaced this year that were viewed by many as demeaning toward women. They included Patterson’s advice to a woman to return to her abusive husband.

On May 22, the seminary’s trustees demoted the 75-year-old Patterson from his position as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, citing vague reasons about his leadership that did not include mention of comments about or treatment of women. Many Southern Baptists considered that decision too lenient because it allowed Patterson to remain on staff as “president emeritus” with compensation and the ability to retire with a campus residence.

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

Southern Baptist leader Paige Patterson fired over handling of sex abuse allegation

WAKE FOREST (NC)
The Washington Post

May 30, 2018

By Michelle Boorstein and Sarah Pulliam Bailey

A major Southern Baptist seminary has fired one of the movement’s giants of the last quarter-century, Paige Patterson, after new information came to light regarding how Patterson handled a sexual abuse allegation while he led another institution, the school said in a statement Wednesday night.

Patterson was demoted one week ago from his position as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary following the publication of a flurry of statements he made starting in 2000 about the Bible’s view of women and his beliefs about spousal abuse and why it’s not grounds for divorce. The school’s trustees moved him from being president to president emeritus, framing it as a desire for change and fresh blood.

Patterson supporters seemed willing to live with the decision but it infuriated many, especially conservative Christian women, who said Patterson had not been explicitly held accountable and had been allowed to retire with his stature intact. Ironically Patterson, leader of a historic conservative purifying in the 1980s and 1990s of Southern Baptism that called for male-only pastors and women to “submit graciously” to their husbands, was being held under the public light by conservative women, who by the thousand signed a May 6 petition calling for him to lose his job.

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

Southern Baptist leader encouraged a woman not to report alleged rape to police and told her to forgive assailant, she says

WAKE FOREST (NC)
The Washington Post

May 22, 2018

By Sarah Pulliam Bailey

A prominent Southern Baptist leader at the center of controversy this spring over comments he has made about abused women allegedly encouraged a woman who said she had been raped not to report it to the police and told her to forgive her alleged assailant, the woman has told The Washington Post.

The woman said that she was raped in 2003 when she was pursuing a master of divinity degree in women’s studies from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., where Paige Patterson was president at the time.

“I had bottled it up,” said the woman, who works in public relations in North Carolina. “My husband didn’t know about it until last week. … I told him ‘I need to do something.’ ”

A man who a seminary official confirmed was the alleged assailant’s roommate at the time of the incident said that the woman told him about the assault shortly after it allegedly happened. The woman also provided an email to The Washington Post from the seminary’s dean of students at the time referencing the alleged incident.

The Post has a policy of not identifying victims of sexual assault. The former roommate is not being named so as not to reveal the identity of the alleged assailant, who was not charged with a crime and did not respond to several calls requesting comment.

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

Lawyer calls on Catholic church to release ‘secret’ records in Rochester priest scandal

ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat and Chronicle

June 6, 2018

By Sean Lahman and Meaghan M. McDermott

Saying it is time for “the church to stop these evil acts” a Boston attorney who has spent decades representing victims of sexual abuse called on the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester and its bishop to release records it may hold concerning allegations of sexual abuse of children by clergy.

Mitchell Garabedian stood on the steps of Sacred Heart Cathedral in Rochester on Wednesday and named eight priests from the Rochester diocese who are accused of sexually abusing minor children. A group of 15 men and two women, now grown, say they were abused by these priests when they were children.

Garabedian said the incidents took place between 1950 and 1978 when the alleged perpetrators were assigned to churches in the Rochester diocese. He said the victims, all of whom approached him within the past six months, are now between the ages of 52 and 77.

“And as you can see from the assignment sheets from the official Catholic directory, these priests were transferred from parish to parish, which is typical of a diocese, or archdiocese or the Catholic Church,” said Garabedian.

In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, the Diocese of Rochester said it had been in correspondence with Garabedian’s law firm regarding the priests being accused.

“The Diocese has invited participation in a process of investigation and resolution,” the statement said. “We have had little or no response.”

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

Parishioners react to sex abuse claims of area priests

ROCHESTER (NY)
WHAM13

June 6, 2018

By Carlet Cleare

The Roman Catholic Church has been dealing with claims of abuse by priests for decades. A dozen dioceses have filed for bankruptcy in order to settle victims’ claims.

On Wednesday, the attorney at the forefront of the largest investigation into the cover-up of abuse among priests in Boston, along with an anti-sexual abuse advocacy group, publicly named eight priests accused of sexual abuse.

“It’s really tragic,” said Carole Leary. “My heart breaks for these situations, because even in scripture it says if you hurt one of my little ones, it’s better to have a millstone around their neck and thrown into the sea.”

“As long as they were truly affected,” Kathleen Wyand said. “Some people have claims that there’s no substance to. So it should be investigated and settled.”

Clergy sexual abuse cases have caused several Catholic dioceses across the nation to file for bankruptcy, after paying out millions in settlements.

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

Victims of clergy sexual abuse speak out

ROCHESTER (NY)
WHEC-TV

June 6, 2018

By Daniella Genovese

Most of the local priests have passed away before these accusations but the victims of the clergy sexual abuse tell News10NBC that the actions of those perpetrators continue to haunt them every day. They say it feels like the murder of their souls.

“I have been contacted by 17 brave victims of clergy sexual abuse,” says Mitchell Garabedian, attorney.

The 15 men and two women are now between the ages of 52 to 77 however, the alleged sexual abuse stemmed from when they were between 5 to 18 years old.

“They finally have the courage to come forward because it’s time. This is why the statute of limitations in NY has to be amended,” says Garabedian.

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

Victims of clergy sexual abuse speak out

ROCHESTER (NY)
WHEC-TV

June 6, 2018

By Daniella Genovese

Most of the local priests have passed away before these accusations but the victims of the clergy sexual abuse tell News10NBC that the actions of those perpetrators continue to haunt them every day. They say it feels like the murder of their souls.

“I have been contacted by 17 brave victims of clergy sexual abuse,” says Mitchell Garabedian, attorney.

The 15 men and two women are now between the ages of 52 to 77 however, the alleged sexual abuse stemmed from when they were between 5 to 18 years old.

“They finally have the courage to come forward because it’s time. This is why the statute of limitations in NY has to be amended,” says Garabedian.

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

June 6, 2018

Hans Zollner: Two keys for priests to avoid sexual abuse

ROME (ITALY)
Rome Reports

June 5, 2018

This expert from the Vatican commission for the Protection of Minors explains that to prevent priests from sexual abuse, two aspects must be stressed.

The seminary must closely review candidates before accepting; and once these men have been ordained, they must never lose their spiritual guidance.

“The median age for a priest who begins to sexually abuse is 39. Other abusers, such as family fathers, coaches, professors, psychologists, doctors or lawyers, start at 25.”

Hans Zollner explains that a priest can become an abuser due to psychological problems or another cause: emptiness. This can push him to go through with it.

“It’s very important to look at the age and expectations of the priest in his 40s. What’s happening to him? At age 40, he’s normally responsible for a parish or other institution, which entails more responsibilities, more work. On the other hand, the spiritual life frequently stops, perhaps because he doesn’t have spiritual guidance, there’s no spiritual growth alongside the increase in responsibilities. A pastor must guide a large group of people, he must manage funds, plan, see many people. He invests more time in that than his spiritual life and he ends up emptying his internal self.”

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors teaches bishops and laity from around the world how to prevent abuse. Its fundamental principle is that the solution is found by involving everyone, not only those who govern. Thus, Zollner agrees with the message given to the Chilean people by the pope in his May 31 letter.

In it, the Holy Father said in order to prevent further abuse, it’s necessary to put an end to abuse of power by elitist clerics who don’t listen to people.

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

Hans Zollner: Two keys for priests to avoid sexual abuse

ROME (ITALY)
Rome Reports

June 5, 2018

This expert from the Vatican commission for the Protection of Minors explains that to prevent priests from sexual abuse, two aspects must be stressed.

The seminary must closely review candidates before accepting; and once these men have been ordained, they must never lose their spiritual guidance.

“The median age for a priest who begins to sexually abuse is 39. Other abusers, such as family fathers, coaches, professors, psychologists, doctors or lawyers, start at 25.”

Hans Zollner explains that a priest can become an abuser due to psychological problems or another cause: emptiness. This can push him to go through with it.

“It’s very important to look at the age and expectations of the priest in his 40s. What’s happening to him? At age 40, he’s normally responsible for a parish or other institution, which entails more responsibilities, more work. On the other hand, the spiritual life frequently stops, perhaps because he doesn’t have spiritual guidance, there’s no spiritual growth alongside the increase in responsibilities. A pastor must guide a large group of people, he must manage funds, plan, see many people. He invests more time in that than his spiritual life and he ends up emptying his internal self.”

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors teaches bishops and laity from around the world how to prevent abuse. Its fundamental principle is that the solution is found by involving everyone, not only those who govern. Thus, Zollner agrees with the message given to the Chilean people by the pope in his May 31 letter.

In it, the Holy Father said in order to prevent further abuse, it’s necessary to put an end to abuse of power by elitist clerics who don’t listen to people.

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

2 Former CPS Students Sue Board of Ed Over Failure to Prevent Sex Abuse

CHICAGO (IL)
WTTW

June 4, 2018

By Matt Masterson

[See also the complaints.]

Two former students of Chicago Public Schools, whose reports of sexual abuse at the hands of a high school security guard were among the stories detailed last week in a bombshell report from the Chicago Tribune, are suing the Board of Education.

Kyana Aguilar and Andreanna Paris filed lawsuits Friday in Cook County Circuit Court against the board, claiming it ignored complaints and warnings about their abuser for years, allowing the man to keep his job and eventually molest them both during the 2013-14 school year.

Their suits came hours after the Tribune published “Betrayed,” a series detailing systemic issues within CPS, which failed to correct “obvious child-protection mistakes” and allowed hundreds of students to become victims of sexual abuse by district employees over the past decade.

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

2 Former CPS Students Sue Board of Ed Over Failure to Prevent Sex Abuse

CHICAGO (IL)
WTTW

June 4, 2018

By Matt Masterson

[See also the complaints.]

Two former students of Chicago Public Schools, whose reports of sexual abuse at the hands of a high school security guard were among the stories detailed last week in a bombshell report from the Chicago Tribune, are suing the Board of Education.

Kyana Aguilar and Andreanna Paris filed lawsuits Friday in Cook County Circuit Court against the board, claiming it ignored complaints and warnings about their abuser for years, allowing the man to keep his job and eventually molest them both during the 2013-14 school year.

Their suits came hours after the Tribune published “Betrayed,” a series detailing systemic issues within CPS, which failed to correct “obvious child-protection mistakes” and allowed hundreds of students to become victims of sexual abuse by district employees over the past decade.

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

Court orders records unsealed in Penn State officials’ case

HARRISBURG (PA)
Associated Press

June 4, 2018

By Mark Scolforo

A Pennsylvania appeals court on Monday ordered the release of documents sealed in the criminal case against former Penn State administrators over their handling of child sex abuse complaints about former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

The three-judge Superior Court panel’s unanimous decision concerned many of the more than 200 records sealed in the case against former university president Graham Spanier, former vice president Gary Schultz and former athletic director Tim Curley.

Spanier is currently appealing his guilty verdict on a single count of child endangerment. Schultz and Curley pleaded guilty to the same offense and have served jail time. Lawyers for all three declined comment on the appeals court decision.

The judges said the basic information in many of the documents sought by The Associated Press has previously been made public and should be released, although they also ruled that sealed “proffers” were not made part of the court record and so are not subject to public disclosure. Docket entries also must be revealed.

The appeals court criticized the trial judge for issuing a blanket order sealing all documents rather than specifying why he was sealing each individual record.

News organizations applauded the appeals court’s ruling.

“Today’s decision is a victory for transparency,” said Lauren Easton, director of media relations for The Associated Press. “These records are a matter of great public interest, and The Associated Press is pleased that they will be unsealed.”

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

Court orders records unsealed in Penn State officials’ case

HARRISBURG (PA)
Associated Press

June 4, 2018

By Mark Scolforo

A Pennsylvania appeals court on Monday ordered the release of documents sealed in the criminal case against former Penn State administrators over their handling of child sex abuse complaints about former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

The three-judge Superior Court panel’s unanimous decision concerned many of the more than 200 records sealed in the case against former university president Graham Spanier, former vice president Gary Schultz and former athletic director Tim Curley.

Spanier is currently appealing his guilty verdict on a single count of child endangerment. Schultz and Curley pleaded guilty to the same offense and have served jail time. Lawyers for all three declined comment on the appeals court decision.

The judges said the basic information in many of the documents sought by The Associated Press has previously been made public and should be released, although they also ruled that sealed “proffers” were not made part of the court record and so are not subject to public disclosure. Docket entries also must be revealed.

The appeals court criticized the trial judge for issuing a blanket order sealing all documents rather than specifying why he was sealing each individual record.

News organizations applauded the appeals court’s ruling.

“Today’s decision is a victory for transparency,” said Lauren Easton, director of media relations for The Associated Press. “These records are a matter of great public interest, and The Associated Press is pleased that they will be unsealed.”

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

184 claims of Guam clergy abuse moving toward mediation

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

June 5, 2018

By Haidee V. Eugenio

One hundred eighty-four people said they were sexually abused by members of Guam’s Catholic clergy or others associated with the church, but 10 of them decided not to sue, attorneys said at Tuesday’s court hearing on the status of efforts to settle the cases through mediation.

Mediation is set for Sept. 17 to 21, which is two days longer than initially anticipated.

Seattle-based attorney Michael Patterson, counsel for the Archdiocese of Agana, told judges 142 sworn statements have so far been gathered from the 174 who filed clergy sex abuse lawsuits.

The deposition-like interviews with plaintiffs on Guam, Hawaii and other states are for case review and claims evaluation. They could wrap up by the middle of July.

U.S. District Court of Guam Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood, along with Superior Court Judge Michael Bordallo, said 116 cases have been filed in federal court and 58 in local court, for a total of 174 cases.

In addition to the 174 clergy sex abuse lawsuits, there are 10 other people who have come forward, are receiving counseling from Hope and Healing Guam, and are not suing the archdiocese, for a total of 184 alleged victims.

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

Harvey Weinstein Pleads Not Guilty to Sexual Assault Charges

NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

June 5, 2018

By James C. McKinley Jr.

Harvey Weinstein returned to court in Manhattan on Tuesday to plead not guilty to sexual assault charges lodged against him in an indictment last week.

Mr. Weinstein, unshaven and in a black suit, limped slightly as he came into State Supreme Court in Manhattan at 10 a.m. The court clerk asked him how he pleaded to first-degree criminal sexual act and other charges, and he answered “not guilty” in a gravel baritone.

It was Mr. Weinstein’s first court appearance since his May 25 arrest on charges that he sexually assaulted two women in New York.

Last week, a grand jury indicted Mr. Weinstein, 66, on the same charges — one count each of first-degree rape and third-degree rape and one count of first-degree criminal sexual act.

Mr. Weinstein’s not-guilty plea had been expected. The disgraced movie producer has steadfastly denied he forced any of the dozens of women who have accused him of sexual misconduct to have sex with him. His lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said two sexual encounters described in the indictment handed up last week were consensual.

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Woody Allen: I should be the poster face for #MeToo movement

BUENOS AIRES (ARGENTINA)
Associated Press via Daily News

June 4, 2018

Woody Allen says he should be the face of the #MeToo movement in terms of what to do right.

In an interview that was broadcast Sunday night, Allen said he’s a “big advocate” of #MeToo, and once again denied allegations that he molested Dylan Farrow, his adopted daughter.

“It’s funny, I should be the poster boy for the #Metoo movement because I’ve worked in movies for 50 years, I’ve worked with hundreds of actresses…and not a single one, big ones, famous ones, have ever, ever, suggested any kind of impropriety at all,” he told Argentine journalist Jorge Lanata in New York.

“I’m in principle, and in spirit, completely in favor of their bringing to justice genuine harassers,” Allen said during the interview with Argentina’s Channel 13.

“Now, if innocent ones get swept up in there, that’s very sad for the person, it’s unjust, but otherwise, I think it’s a very good thing to expose harassment.”

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Priest takes defamation suit with Diocese of Palm Beach to high court

PALM BEACH (FL)
Palm Beach Post

June 4, 2018

By Jane Musgrave

Photo caption: The Rev. John Gallagher talks about the libel lawsuit he filed against the Palm Beach Diocese Wednesday, January 11, 2017. The suit will also expose continuing Vatican efforts to publicly suppress child abuse cases from authorities, say he and his lawyer, Theodore Babbitt.

Rev. John Gallagher is taking his defamation case against the Diocese of Palm Beach to the Florida Supreme Court.

Arguing that an appeals court erred when it in May threw out his lawsuit, Gallagher on Friday asked the state’s highest court to overturn that decision. If it does so, a Palm Beach County jury would be allowed to decide whether the diocese defamed Gallagher by publicly questioning his sanity after he accused it of trying to cover up sexual abuse by a visiting priest.

The 3rd District Court of Appeal threw out Gallagher’s suit, citing the “ecclesiastical abstention doctrine.” The doctrine prohibits secular courts from getting involved in religious matters.

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Second allegation of child sexual abuse made against Highlandtown priest

BALTIMORE (MD)
Archdiocese of Baltimore

June 4, 2018

By Jerri Burkhardt

Jerri Burkhardt, director of the Office of Child and Youth Protection for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, sent the following letter to parishioners of Our Lady of Pompei in Highlandtown June-2-3. Click here for a Spanish version of this letter.

June 2-3, 2018

Dear Parishioners of Our Lady of Pompei,

A few weeks ago, we shared some difficult news with you about Father Luigi Esposito and an allegation of child sexual abuse against him from the 1970s. Since then, we have received another allegation from an individual who also claims to have been sexually abused by Father Esposito in the 1970s. This second individual was approximately 15 years old when the abuse occurred. Both alleged victims are females and were members of Our Lady of Pompei at the time the abuse occurred. The second allegation, which was prompted by public reports about the initial allegation, has been reported to civil authorities. The Archdiocese has extended an offer of counseling assistance to both alleged victims.

In response to inquiries regarding Father Esposito, he continues to be cared for and is in communication with family members. Any letters or cards to him should be sent to the care of Monsignor Hannon at the Archdiocese of Baltimore, 320 Cathedral Street Baltimore, MD 21201.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore is committed to protecting children and helping to heal victims of abuse. We urge anyone who has any knowledge of any child sexual abuse to come forward, and to report it immediately to civil authorities. If clergy or other church personnel is suspected of committing the abuse, we ask that you also call the Archdiocesan Office of Child and Youth Protection Hotline at 1-866-417-7469. If you have any other information relevant to this matter, please contact the Archdiocese Office of Child and Youth Protection at 410-547-5599.

Sincerely,

Jerri Burkhardt

Director, Office of Child & Youth Protection

Archdiocese of Baltimore

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Catholic priest faces trial in Jefferson County child sex crimes case

MADISON (WI)
WKOW

June 5, 2018

By Dani Maxwell

Jefferson – A Jefferson County judge says there’s enough probable cause for a trial in the case against the Rev. William Nolan.

The Catholic priest, 65, is accused of sexually assaulting a teenage altar boy in Fort Atkinson. Nolan was arrested in May and charged with six counts of second-degree sexual assault of a child. He was in court Tuesday for a preliminary hearing.

The investigating officer gave testimony, and the judge found cause to bind the case over for trial.

Ft. Atkinson Police Detective Lisa Hefty testifies the victim says when he was in seventh and eighth grade at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, he and Nolan engaged in oral sex on church property. “Also stated that it happened at the rectory, which is also located in the city of Fort Atkinson,” Hefty testifies. She also testifies there was another incident at a city park.

Nolan’s attorney asked Hefty to confirm Nolan denied having sex with the teen in 2006.

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Capitol Beat – State Rep. Mark Rozzi

YORK (PA)
WPMT FOX43

June 6, 2018

By Matt Maisel

Berks County Democratic State Representative Mark Rozzi was this week’s guest on the FOX43 Capitol Beat.

Rozzi sat down with FOX43 Morning News anchor Matt Maisel to discuss his push to reform Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations laws when it comes to child sex abuse crimes.

Rozzi has been Pennsylvania’s leading advocate for victims of child sex abuse since coming into office in 2013. Since then, he’s told his story countless times; when he was 13 years old, Rozzi was raped by his priest at his childhood church in Reading. He says as he’s gotten older, his trauma has gotten worse. Rozzi also considers himself fortunate; three of his childhood friends, also victims of the same priest, committed suicide.

Recently, the State Senate passed SB 261, which would give child victims until they turn 50 years old to seek civil damages against their abusers or those who could have potentially stopped the abuse. Current state law stops the window to sue at 30 years old.

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Pa. grand jury report on priest sexual abuse won’t be delayed by challenges, judge says

HARRISBURG (PA)
Associated Press via York Daily News

June 6, 2018

By Marc Levy

A judge on Tuesday lifted the veil somewhat on a state grand jury investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse within six of Pennsylvania’s Roman Catholic dioceses, and refused to delay the grand jury report or allow parts of it to be challenged before it is released.

Judge Norman Krumenacker, in an 11-page decision made public, wrote that people who he did not identify had argued that they have a constitutional due process right to hearings in which they can challenge parts of the grand jury report to protect their reputations before they are named in it.

Krumenacker’s decision can be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

Krumenacker, a Cambria County judge who is supervising the state grand jury, did not say what information those unidentified people wanted to challenge or what they may be accused of. Arguments in the case were sealed.

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Eight priests from the Rochester Diocese accused of sexually abusing children

ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat & Chronicle

June 6, 2018

By Sean Lahman

A Boston attorney who has spent decades representing victims of sexual abuse by priests says a group of Rochester victims will come forward.

In a press release, Mitchell Garabedian named eight priests from the Rochester diocese who are accused of sexually abusing minor children. A group of men, now grown, say they were abused by these priests when they were young boys. The incidents took place years ago when the alleged perpetrators were assigned to churches in the Rochester diocese.

Three of the accused priests had been publicly identified in the past. Allegations of misconduct by Eugene Emo, David P. Simon, and Francis H. Vogt were reported by the local press and the accusations were acknowledged by the Diocese. Emo and Simon were removed from their ministry and Vogt has since died.

But allegations against five of the priests accused Wednesday had not been previously reported.

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June 5, 2018

In Chile, a Growing Shadow Over the Church

SANTIAGO (CHILE)
US News

June 5, 2018

By Daniela Mohor

The child abuse charges in the country test the Vatican´s zero-tolerance policy toward sex abuse by clergymen.

James Hamilton recalls clearly the time in late April of this year when he traveled to the Vatican to visit Pope Francis and the pontiff shared a story from his earlier visit to Chile. A papal mass held at the port city of Iquique drew a crowd of 90,000, less than half of the 200,000 the pope’s entourage expected.

“The pope looked around and saw there was nobody,” says Hamilton, a physician who was one of the first Chilean victims of clerical sexual abuse during childhood invited to meet the pope. He and two other men allege that the abuses were covered up by the Catholic Church for decades.

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Why a convicted child molester is likely to be chosen in the MLB draft

UNITED STATES
Yahoo Sports

June 5, 2018

By Jeff Passan

Sometime over the next 48 hours, a Major League Baseball team is almost certain to ask a convicted, admitted child molester to play in its organization. It’s likeliest to happen Tuesday, during Rounds 3 through 10 of the MLB draft, or perhaps Wednesday, over the draft’s final 30 rounds. And on the off-chance that the handful of teams with Luke Heimlich on their draft boards opt against selecting him, the chance that he goes unsigned is basically zero.

For more than a year now, teams have grappled with the idea of Heimlich. He is Oregon State’s ace and one of the best college pitchers in the nation; he is the signatory of a guilty plea to molesting a 6-year-old female relative when he was 15. He is a left-hander whose fastball tops out at 97 mph; he is an endless supply of bad headlines, treacherous questions and awful publicity. He is worthy of a second chance, with low recidivism rates for the crime to which he admitted; he now says that despite the guilty plea, he didn’t commit that crime, which only confuses the matter more.

Sports so often stumbles as it tries to strike the balance between talent and principle, and Heimlich’s case is no exception. His eventual signing will represent a clear value judgment: that his ability as a baseball player outweighs the moral quagmire of his actions and serves as an admission that the organization will embrace someone who in his guilty plea wrote “I admit that I had sexual contact” with a little girl.

It presents a litmus test that the Baltimore Orioles took last year, when they engaged in conversations with Heimlich about signing him as a non-drafted free agent, three sources familiar with the conversations told Yahoo Sports. While the sides did not strike a deal, the discussions with the Orioles showed Heimlich that even a few months after the disclosure of his case by The Oregonian, he was not entirely toxic to teams.

The calculus to draft Heimlich, according to three general managers who said he is not on their boards, is simple: The amateur draft is one of the last places to reap significant surplus value. The notion of viewing Heimlich in such a manner – purely as an asset, with child molestation not a heinous act but simply a negative-value line item – is terribly cynical.

“And it’s true,” one GM said.

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Victims try to block release of convicted child rapist

BOSTON (MA)
The Associated Press

June 4, 2018

A judge on Massachusetts’ highest court cleared the way on Monday for the release of a 70-year-old convicted child rapist in poor health, drawing condemnation from an attorney for victims who vowed to continue fighting to keep the man locked up.

Wayne Chapman, who was convicted in 1977, lured young boys into the woods by pretending he was searching for his missing dog and then sexually assaulted them, court records say.

He has been civilly committed since his prison sentence ended in 2004 because he was deemed to be “sexually dangerous,” but two experts who recently examined him concluded he was no longer dangerous and should be released.

Justice Scott Kafker of the Supreme Judicial Court said in his ruling that Chapman’s victims were “understandably upset and frightened” about his potential release. But Kafker said the proper requirements governing Chapman’s release were followed under the law.

Wendy Murphy, an attorney for victims, blasted the decision and filed another bid on Monday to block his release while she tries to convince the full court to review the matter.

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Church destroys headstone of Sussex accused priest

ENGLAND
BBC News

June 5, 2018

The gravestone of a senior Roman Catholic priest has been destroyed following allegations he abused a boy.

Canon Dermod Fogarty, who died in 2012, is accused by Stephen Bernard in a book written by the Oxford academic.

Dr Bernard says the four years of abuse started in 1987 when he was 11 years old.

Deirdre McCormack, the canon’s next of kin, called for the stone’s removal as she felt the epitaph to a “much-loved, wise priest” was a “blatant lie”.

The Church agreed to remove the stone following a meeting with Ms McCormack and in a statement said it would replace it with a simple headstone.

Ms McCormack arranged for the destruction of the headstone to be filmed and asked for it to be broadcast.

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St. Landry priest accused of sexual abuse

LAFAYETTE (LA)
WWL

June 5, 2018

The pastor of St. Peter Church in St. Landry Parish has been accused of sexual abuse of a minor in an alleged incident that occurred several years ago. 75-year-old Michael Guidry has been a priest for nearly 50 years, while running St. Peter for the last nine. Lafayette Bishop Doug Deshotel says the priest has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation by law enforcement.

“If it was not then father can be restored, and his good name restored also, but if it is then there are civil penalties that will be applied, and also severe church canonical penalties.”

Guidry is also the head of the Resurrection Chapel in Whiteville.

Deshotel says the abuse occurred in a very small church community.

“St peters probably 75 to 100 families, and at Resurrection chapel maybe 50 families.”

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Updated: Will Bishop Deshotel release names of past abusive priests?

LAFAYETTE (LA)
The Advertiser

June 4, 2018

By Claire Taylor

Bishop Douglas Deshotel would not commit Monday to releasing the names of priests in the Diocese of Lafayette whose sexual abuse victims received settlements.

The Daily Advertiser, during a news conference Monday, asked Deshotel to release the list of priests whose sexual abuse victims were paid settlements by the diocese or its insurers.

In 2014, Bishop Michael Jarrell said the Diocese of Lafayette and its insurers paid $26 million to 123 victims of priest sex abuse between 1950 and 2002.

This occurred after sworn statements from the 1990s alleging abuse by local priests came to light.

At that time, The Daily Advertiser followed by an advocacy group asked Jarrell to release the priests’ names.

Monsignor Richard Green in 2014 responded that the diocese would not release the priests’ names. He said, “Bishop Jarrell sees no purpose in such action.”

Deshotel, questioned Monday by The Advertiser, said he was unaware of such a list or if he could release it.

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Urgent call for interim report on Catholic Church by national sex abuse inquiry

ENGLAND
The Tablet

June 5, 2018

By Rose Gamble

We say that the Catholic Church, including Ealing Abbey, is not a safe place for children and it is not something we should wait to act upon

Lawyers have called on Professor Alexis Jay, chair of the national inquiry into child sexual abuse, urgently to produce an interim report on the Catholic church, saying it is “structurally, culturally and doctrinally incapable of implementing and enforcing the minimum standards of safeguarding”.

David Enright of the firm Howe and Co, who are acting on behalf of a group sexual abuse survivors, said that following a three-week hearing into the English Benedictine Congregation in December last year, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) had “heard enough” to compel it urgently to issue a report.

Mr Enright, along with other lawyers representing victims of sexual abuse, was making a submission on behalf of his clients to the IICSA panel at a preliminary hearing into the English Benedictines, which is due to consider evidence relating to Ealing Abbey and St Benedict’s School in Ealing over five days in February 2019.

“We say that the Catholic Church, including Ealing Abbey, is not a safe place for children and it is not something we should wait to act upon,” he told Professor Jay and the panel.

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Uniting Church opts in to national redress scheme for victims of child sexual abuse

AUSTRALIA
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

June 4, 2018

The national redress scheme for victims of child sexual abuse continues to gain momentum with the Uniting Church the latest to opt in to the scheme, however the Western Australia Synod’s entry is conditional on the WA Government also signing up.

The President of the Uniting Church in Australia Stuart McMillan apologized to victims at Monday’s announcement.

“We acknowledge the impact of child sexual abuse in the lives of those who have been abused in our institutions or those of our predecessor Churches,” Mr McMillan said.

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Tasmania Anglican church sales to help ‘make amends’ for abuse

SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA)
BBC News

June 5, 2018

By Frances Mao

Reverend John Stanley says he will always remember the baptisms in his church, and the weddings and funerals that took place under its steeple.

Now, however, the church in Tasmania, Australia, is one of dozens of Anglican properties in the island state that are scheduled to be sold.

Religious organisations have grappled with how they will fund compensation for survivors of child sexual abuse.

In Tasmania, Anglican leaders say property sales will play a key part.

They plan to sell 108 properties, including more than half of the state’s Anglican churches – 78 in total – to raise an estimated A$20m (£11.4m; $15.2m).

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Alleged victim speaks out after sexual abuse case against priest

WHEELING (WEST VIRGINIA)
WTRF

June 4, 2018

By Falicia Woody

It’s been over a week since the Diocese of Steubenville removed retired priest, Monsignor Mark Froehlich after allegations of sexual abuse were deemed “credible”.

But “Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests” or SNAP officials and alleged victims are now claiming the Diocese knew about the complaint since January.

There is a active investigation ongoing with the Belmont County Sheriffs Office regarding the issue, but according to SNAP, they want to see more being done.

Judy Jones, the SNAP Midwest Associate Leader, is standing alongside one of the alleged victims that came forward, Amanda Dutton. “The victim reported it way back in January. What took them so long?” says Jones.

Amanda tells me that she’s been trying to report the incident since she was a teenager. “It’s very hard to come forward…[Diocese said] Tell another priest, go within the Diocese. I did, I followed all orders, and once again they told me it was my fault for the way I was dressed.”

Fast forward to January 2018, and Amanda made a report to the Diocese of Steubenville. She later called them for an update. “I called the Diocese again, and they say ‘oh on the contrary. This has been handled.’ I said great! What happened? ‘We asked him if he did it or not.'”

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‘Pay for your sins’: Jacqui Lambie takes aim at Catholic Church abuse

BRISBANE (AUSTRALIA)
Starts at 60

June 5, 2018

She’s always one to speak her mind and former Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie didn’t hold back on Monday night’s episode of Q&A.

During a heated discussion about the Catholic Church and the National Redress Scheme, the 47-year-old called for the Catholic Church to “pay for its sins” in relation to compensating victims of sexual abuse within the institution.

Lambie became fired up after an audience member questioned why there was a big difference between the amount of compensation available to victims of family abuse and general crime, compared to that offered to people who had been abused at the hands of an institution. At present, victims of crime can access up to $10,000 in compensation, while people abused within the institution can be granted up to $150,000.

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Catholic church in Minnesota to make second-largest US payout over sexual abuse

WASHINGTON (DC)
The Hill

June 2, 2018

By Max Greenwood

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has agreed to establish a $210 million trust fund for 450 victims of clergy sexual abuse, church officials announced Thursday.

The payout is believed to be the second highest by the Catholic church in the U.S., according to The Associated Press.

“I recognize that the abuse stole so much from you — your childhood, your innocence, your safety, your ability to trust and, in many cases, your faith,” Archbishop Bernard Hebda said at a news conference, addressing survivors of the abuse.

“Lives were forever changed,” he continued. “The church let you down. I am very sorry.”

The settlement resolves years of bankruptcy proceedings for the archdiocese.

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Pope Francis names replacement for Australian archbishop who covered up abuse

LONDON (ENGLAND)
Australian Associated Press via The Guardian

June 3, 2018

Gregory O’Kelly named the special administrator of Adelaide following Philip Wilson’s conviction

Pope Francis has appointed Gregory O’Kelly, the bishop of Port Pirie, the special administrator of Adelaide following the conviction of Archbishop Philip Wilson for covering up child sex crimes during the 1970s.

O’Kelly, who will remain the bishop of Port Pirie, north of Adelaide, assumes administrative and executive authority in the archdiocese until any future decision of the Pope, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference said in a statement.

Wilson was found guilty at Newcastle local court on 22 May of failing to report to police the repeated abuse of two altar boys by paedophile priest James Fletcher in the New South Wales Hunter region.

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Pope Francis moves from listening to action against sex abuse in Chile

NEW YORK (NY)
America Magazine

June 4, 2018

By Gerard O’Connell

Pope Francis continues to work to repair the enormous damage done to the victims of the three abuses of power, sex and conscience by clergy of the Catholic Church in Chile, hoping to promote a radical renewal among its pastors and faithful people so that it becomes once again “a prophetic church” and regains the trust of the Chilean population.

Last weekend, Pope Francis hosted a second group of victims of Chile’s most notorious priest predator, the Rev. Fernando Karadima, at Santa Marta, his Vatican guesthouse residence. This time he met with five priests who were victims of Father Karadima, together with two other Chilean priests and two lay people who have helped them with their trauma and sufferings. He hosted the first group at the end of April—the three best-known victims of Father Karadima: Juan Carlos Cruz, James Hamilton and José Andrés Murillo. This time some of the five priests asked not to be identified, and the Vatican and Chilean press respected their wishes.

The group of nine arrived at Santa Marta on June 1. The following day, Francis celebrated Mass with the priests and spent more than four hours with the whole group and then met with each of the victims individually.

After their Saturday encounters, two of the priests spoke with journalists. According to media reports, they said they were deeply impressed by how Francis listened to their stories and left them feeling hope for the future.

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Pope Francis appoints first-ever layperson as rector of the Pontifical Lateran University

NEW YORK (NY)
America Magazine

June 3, 2018

By Gerard O’Connell

In another historic step to assign key positions in the Catholic church to lay people, Pope Francis has appointed a married layman, Vincenzo Buonomo, as the new rector of the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.

He is the first layperson ever to hold this important position in what John Paul II called “the pope’s athenaeum.” Some 3,000 seminarians, priests, women and men religious and lay students from 100 countries, including the United States, study at the university in Rome for degrees in theology, philosophy, civil and canon law.

The Vatican announced his appointment to lead the 245-year-old higher educational institution on June 2. He succeeds Archbishop Enrico dal Covolo, a Salesian, who served as rector of the Lateran University for the past eight years. Previous rectors include Cardinal Angelo Scola (1995-2002), the runner up in the 2013 conclave, and Archbishop Reno Fisichella (2002 -2010), president of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization.

Professor Buonomo, 57, is a both a civil and canon lawyer and a specialist in international law. He is a professor at the Lateran University and also teaches future Holy See diplomats in the field of international law at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome. He has worked with the Holy See’s missions to various bodies at the United Nations since 1983 and has provided assistance to the Vatican’s Secretariat for Relations with States. He represents the Holy See at the Venice Commission, an advisory body of the Council of Europe, and at the Advisory Committee of the U.N. Council of Human Rights. He is also a consultor at the Commission for Dialogue with Muslims at the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.

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Records show no prior complaints against Lafayette diocese priest accused of sexual abuse

LAFAYETTE (LA)
Daily Advertiser

June 4, 2018

By Claire Taylor

Diocesan records for the Rev. Michael Guidry, a church pastor accused last week of sexual abuse of a minor, show no prior complaints, Bishop Douglas Deshotel said at a news conference Monday.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Lafayette issued a news release Saturday stating the diocese was informed of an allegation of abuse of a minor by Guidry.

As a result, Guidry, 75, was placed on administrative leave pending investigations by the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office and the diocese.

Deshotel said Monday he believes the single alleged sexual abuse incident occurred at St. Peter Church parish, which is located in the St. Landry Parish community of Morrow. The congregation is “very small,” he said, with 75 to 100 families.

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The outlays for impious shenanigans

PITTSBURGH (PA)
Tribune-Review

June 4, 2018

By Ralph R. Ireland

A high school acquaintance from years ago recently told me about an incident in her family that raised concerns about sexual abuse.

Her son played ball on a traveling team. On one trip he came home a day early. The following is a close approximation of the conversation that reportedly transpired.

“You’re home early.”

“Yes, luckily. Tonight was my turn to sleep with Father.”

A sophomoric joke? Perhaps not if you’ve been paying attention.

“Spotlight,” an Oscar-winning 2015 film co-written and directed by Tom McCarthy, tells the real-life story of how an investigative team at The Boston Globe during the early 2000s researched and released numerous reports exposing sexual abuses in the Catholic Church, producing a series of fact-finding pieces that resulted in the Globe’s team becoming the 2003 Pulitzer Prize winner for public service.

“Spotlight” shows the pain and suffering of abuse victims as they tell their stories to Boston Globe reporters. Actor Neal Huff plays Phil Saviano, a Boston man who was abused by a priest when he was 11. In one scene, Huff holds a childhood photo. “When you’re a poor kid from a poor family and when a priest pays attention to you, it’s a big deal,” he states. “How do you say ‘no’ to God?”

How many in that situation, young and naïve, will say no to a priest who says he is only demonstrating a method to reduce sexual frustrations and save souls from aberrant cravings and sexual sinning?

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Pope Francis grants indulgences for Dublin participants

LONDON (ENGLAND)
BBC

June 3, 2018

By Mark McCleary

Pope Francis will be the first pontiff to visit Ireland since 1979

Participants attending the World Meeting of Families in August can be forgiven their sins or help a relative speed through purgatory.

Pope Francis has granted a “plenary indulgence” for those taking part.

In Catholic doctrine an indulgence frees you from being punished for your previously committed sins or it can be passed on to dead relatives to shorten their time in purgatory.

Even those following events on TV and radio can achieve a partial indulgence as long as they recite the Our Father, the Creed and other devout prayers.

Martin Luther’s opposition to the sale of indulgences was one of the main causes of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th Century.

The Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican body dealing with forgiveness of sins, said pilgrims would have to attend confession and Mass, pray for the Pope’s intentions and participate in some function during the five-day event.

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Pope Francis to make flying visit to Knock by helicopter

DUBLIN (IRELAND)
Irish Mirror

June 1, 2018

By David Coleman

Pope Francis will make a flying visit to Knock by helicopter, it has emerged.

The Pontiff will travel by chopper to the holy village in Co Mayo when he visits Ireland in August.

His trip to the Marian shrine will also see him say mass at the Knock Basilica, the Irish Daily Mail reports.

A source said: “Helicopter arrangements are being made for Pope Francis to go to the Co Mayo village.

“It will take him from Dublin to Knock as it is the quickest option.

“There was always going to be a visit to Knock but the logistics of travelling had to be made.

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On Chile, Pope Francis is way past the tip of the iceberg now

DENVER (CO)
Crux

June 4, 2018

By Inés San Martín

Rome – It’s a universally acknowledged reality of the sea that it’s never the tip of the iceberg that sinks a ship, but what lies under the water unseen. Yet, to the trained eye, the visible white mass usually is enough to warn of the dangers ahead and to change course.

In the case of Chile’s clerical sexual abuse scandals, Pope Francis first brushed against the tip of the iceberg in 2015, when he decided to transfer a Chilean bishop named Juan Barros, accused of having covered up abuse, to a southern diocese.

Yet Francis repeatedly ignored the alarms that came loud and clear. Victims of the pedophile priest Fernando Karadima, for whom Barros allegedly covered up, spoke with anyone who would listen, including members of the pope’s own Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. The media, both in Chile and in Rome, kept the case in the spotlight. Chilean politicians sent a letter to the pope asking him to change course, and even some bishops spoke up against the nomination.

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Pope wants ‘prophetic Church’ in Chile, but what does it mean?

DENVER (CO)
Crux

June 5, 2018

By Inés San Martín

Rome – As Pope Francis comes to terms with the magnitude of the abuse crisis in Chile, which pivots not only on widespread sexual abuse but also abuses of conscience and power, he has repeatedly called on the Chilean Church to recover its “prophetic” identity – which, presumably, means it had that identity once and, somewhere along the way, lost it.

The obvious question is, what exactly does it mean to be a “prophetic” Church? While people seem to agree on some broad outlines, the details often lie in the eye of the beholder.

Layman Alexis Parra of Catholic Voices Chile told Crux that for the Church to be prophetic, it has to “announce the Good News; denounce the structures of sin, that today have reached the Chilean Church at all its levels; [and] intercede through prayer, particularly with the Eucharist that is source and summit of Christian life.”

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June 4, 2018

Nevada candidate for governor reveals past abuse in TV ad

LAS VEGAS (NV)
Las Vegas Review-Journal

June 4, 2018

By Ramona Giwargis

Nevada gubernatorial candidate Chris Giunchigliani is revealing a painful truth in a new TV commercial responding to attacks ads from a group supporting her opponent.

“An 8-year-old girl was sexually abused for over a year,” Giunchigliani begins, looking straight into the camera. “Her sister was kidnapped, held in a trailer and raped for three days. I’m Chris G. And that 8-year-old girl was me.”

Giunchigliani shared the story after a PAC linked to the Clark County Education Association — which has endorsed her Democratic opponent Steve Sisolak — released an ad alleging that Giunchigliani “single-handedly protected perverts.”

The 30-second spot refers to a 2005 amendment introduced by the Nevada Assembly Ways and Means Committee, which was vice chaired by Giunchigliani. The amendment excluded certain people, including teachers, from registering as sex offenders — though they would have to register if convicted of sexual assault or child abuse.

The amendment and the bill passed unanimously. Giunchigliani has said that without the amendment, the bill would have died.

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Parents of Blue Earth football beating victim describe toll on family

MINNEAPOLIS (MN)
Star-Tribune

June 4, 2018

By John Reinan

Blue Earth, Minn. – Only a year ago, Tonya and Dale Hurley thought they had found a home for life in this southern Minnesota community of 3,400.

But that was before four of their son’s high school football teammates allegedly beat him so brutally at a house party last fall that he lost consciousness.

Now, the Hurley home is for sale. Tonya and Dale Hurley have quit their jobs, and their 16-year-old son left school because of bullying. As the family packs a rental truck this week for a move to Nebraska, the couple’s marriage is in tatters, too.

“I’ve been depressed. Sometimes I sit here and I feel like I’ve just been in a fog,” Tonya Hurley said Monday, weeping as she described the fallout from the Oct. 18 assault that left her son with concussions.

On Monday, the first of the teammates charged in the case admitted his guilt.

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Churches, Scouts and YMCA join Australian abuse redress plan

CANBERRA (AUSTRALIA)
Associated Press via Boston Globe

June 1, 2018

By Rod McGuirk

Four in five victims of child sexual abuse in Australian institutions will be eligible for compensation after three churches, the Scouts movement, and the YMCA joined a federal government redress plan, an official said Thursday.

The Catholic Church, Australia’s largest denomination, on Wednesday became the first nongovernmental institution to commit to the $2.9 billion national plan.

The Anglican Church, Salvation Army, Scouts Australia, and the Young Men’s Christian Association, or YMCA, committed to join on Thursday.

Flanked by representatives of the churches and associations, Social Services Minister Dan Tehan said their participation meant that 80 percent of Australia’s 60,000 known victims were now covered.

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Expert: Apuron verdict tied to child sexual abuse charges

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

June 2, 2018

By Haidee V. Eugenio

Board certified clinical social worker Vincent P. Pereda, who performed clinical evaluations on sex offenders for years, on Thursday says the Vatican verdict on former Archbishop Anthony Apuron was undeniably mostly related to child sex abuse cases because of the credibility of the accusers or victi Pacific Daily News

A Vatican tribunal’s guilty verdict on former Guam Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron can be reasonably linked to the credibility of those who accused him of child sexual abuse, according to a board-certified clinical social worker.

Vincent P. Pereda, who’s also a licensed mental health counselor with specialty in evaluating and counseling sex offenders, believes the victims’ disclosures were “very strong and they were credible.”

“In my experience, the vast majority of victims who disclose being victims of child sexual abuse tell the truth, and they very rarely lie,” Pereda said. “This is not to say that victims never lie, but if you take a look at the statistics, the vast majority of victims are truthful and I believe the four that initially came forward presented very credible stories of how they were victimized.”

A fifth accuser, Apuron’s nephew, filed a lawsuit in January this year, two months before the Vatican handed a decision on the canonical trial. Apuron has denied all allegations of child sexual abuse against him.

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US bishops’ annual abuse audit highlights concerns about complacency

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

June 1, 2018

By Brian Roewe

The annual audit of the U.S. bishops’ Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People revealed that the number of allegations and alleged victims “decreased significantly” from recent years, but also warned of “worrisome signs” of growing complacency in the prevention of child sexual abuse.

The charter, also called the Dallas Charter, requires the bishops to annually audit compliance with the charter and make the audit report public. The report was released June 1 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The audit was conducted by StoneBridge Business Partners from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017. The Rochester, New York, firm has overseen the audit since 2011. Its contract extends through the 2019 audit. The bishops’ conference in April opened a search for its next auditor.

The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, or CARA, at Georgetown University collects information from the dioceses and eparchies on new allegations of sexual abuse of minors and the clergy against whom these allegations were made.

The full report is available on the bishops’ conference website.

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Bishop Malone: ‘There’s nothing being hidden’

BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

June 3, 2018

By Jay Tokasz

It’s been a difficult past few months for Bishop Richard J. Malone.

A retired priest’s admission in February that he had molested dozens of boys triggered a cascade of other sexual abuse allegations against Buffalo area clergy. It also thrust Malone into the middle of the historical cover up of abuse by the hierarchy of the Buffalo Diocese. As new revelations of abuses continue to surface, some victims have accused Malone of being part of the cover up and want him to resign. Malone disputes the characterization, saying he “acted immediately” to put priests on leave and investigate complaints of abuse.

Earlier this week, The News sat with the spiritual leader of more than 600,000 Western New York Catholics for an exclusive interview – Malone’s first in-depth discussion about the scandal since a March news conference. Malone answered questions about why the diocese paid $1.5 million to settle a lawsuit, what he knew about child sex abuse among clergy in the Archdiocese of Boston and how the Buffalo diocese investigates allegations of abuse.

Question: The narrative of the clergy sex abuse scandal in the U.S., as revealed through lawsuits, is that bishops did whatever they could to keep it hush.

Malone: Some bishops. You don’t want to generalize too much. But I agree with what you’re saying.

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Bishop: We are dedicated to safe environment for all children

LAFAYETTE (LA)
KATC ABC3

June 4, 2018

Bishop Douglas Deshotel held a press conference today to answer questions about an alleged case of sexual abuse by a priest.

This weekend, the diocese announced that Father Michael Guidry, Pastor of St. Peter Church in Morrow and Resurrection Chapel in Whiteville, had been placed on administrative leave while allegations of sexual abuse against Guidry are investigated. To read our story about the announcement, click here.

Today, Deshotel said the abuse was reported by the parents of the alleged victim and their current pastor in Ville Platte. The abuse allegedly occurred while the victim was a minor; he is now an adult, the Bishop said. The alleged abuse happened since Guidry became pastor in Morrow, the Bishop said.

Deshotel said that he checked Guidry’s file and there have been no other complaints against him during his nearly 50 years as a priest.

The St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office is investigating the allegations, the Bishop said. He encouraged anyone with information about any alleged abuse to report it.

“We encourage anyone to notify us or the civil authorities if they have knowledge of or reason to believe abuse has occurred,” Deshotel said.

During the press conference, we asked the Bishop if he would be identifying the priests known to have abused children while practicing in his diocese in the past. Several years ago, a national advocacy group for victims of sexual abuse by priests asked the Diocese to release the names of the 15 priests the diocese has acknowledged offended against minors from 1950 to 1984.

At that time, the request was denied. When asked about it today, Deshotel said he did not know about a list.

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Father Faucher’s fall from grace: Once a respected priest, now he holds Mass in jail

BOISE (ID)
Idaho Statesman

June 3, 2018

By Katy Moeller

The 72-year-old inmate’s body looks frail, but his mind and voice are sharp and clear.

His demeanor reads more stunned victim than shamed perpetrator.

His tone is burdened, not broken.

The Rev. W. Thomas “Tom” Faucher, best known as Father Faucher, is clad in a maroon jail jumpsuit and sitting in a wheelchair at the Ada County Jail. He uses a wall phone to communicate with a reporter on the other side of the glass partition.

“I get probably six or seven letters or cards every day almost from supporters,” he says of his life behind bars the previous 10 weeks. “And I have the newsletter. Now, did you get your copies of the newsletter? There’s now 15 editions of it.”

The retired Roman Catholic priest is in the fight of his life. Faucher talked exclusively to the Statesman several times, including during a May 7 jail visit, though on his attorney’s advice he declined to discuss the charges that landed him behind bars.

His legacy as a good shepherd for nearly a half century has been marred by allegations that he collected and traded images of children being sexually abused, and that he talked in chat rooms about wanting to rape and kill children. Investigators said they found the illicit drugs LSD, ecstasy/MDMA and marijuana during a Feb. 2 search of his church-owned home in Northwest Boise.

Prosecutors say he had more than 2,000 child porn images and videos on his computer and cellphone. Most of the 24 charges against him are felonies, carrying a maximum penalty of 275 years in prison.

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Vatican denies protecting founder of Peruvian movement accused of abuse

LIMA (PERU)
Catholic News Service

June 4, 2018

By Barbara J. Fraser

Vatican officials have denied protecting the founder of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, a Peru-based religious movement, who is accused of sexual, physical and psychological abuse of minor and young adult members of the group.

In a communique dated May 25 and released by the Peruvian bishops’ conference at a news conference June 1, the Vatican Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life said it was responding to claims that it had “hidden” Luis Fernando Figari in Rome and was “protecting him.”

Meanwhile, the archbishop of Guayaquil, Ecuador, announced that he is awaiting a final ruling from the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the case of a priest who is accused of physical and sexual abuse of adolescents while he was affiliated with Sodalitium in that city.

The communique from the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life responded to criticism of guidelines issued to Sodalitium more than a year ago in the case of Figari, who founded the movement in 1971.

In January 2017, the congregation informed Sodalitium’s superior general, Alessandro Moroni, that an investigation begun in 2015 determined that Figari had been authoritarian and had committed “acts against the Sixth Commandment,” including at least one case of sexual abuse involving a minor.

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Grand jury report on abuse looms for six Pennsylvania dioceses

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
National Catholic Reporter

June 4, 2018

By Mark Dent

Pennsylvania State Rep. Mark Rozzi often tells people his emotional trauma doesn’t get better. The memory of a trusted priest at Holy Guardian Angels in Reading raping him in a shower at age 13 haunts him as strongly today as it did years ago, if not worse.

He’s told people about it for years — constituents, media and fellow lawmakers — but the story never felt as powerful and meaningful as it did on a recent occasion when he explained what happened in front of a grand jury in a Pennsylvania courtroom.

“It was very rewarding to get in front of people who were caring and actually listening,” he said, “and can make a difference.”

Rozzi is one of dozens of witnesses to testify over the last two years as the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office completes an investigation into six of Pennsylvania’s eight dioceses. Later this month, the office is expected to release a report of 800-plus pages detailing widespread sexual abuse and cover-ups. The report is to come a few weeks after an Erie priest was indicted for sexual assault and two years after another presentment for the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese was released.

This grand jury presentment will feature information on the dioceses of Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton. The six dioceses have already been given copies of the grand jury report ahead of the public, though they and the Attorney General’s Office have remained mum on the contents.

Pennsylvania has dealt with major sexual abuse scandals before, not only those involving the Catholic Church. The Jerry Sandusky scandal at Pennsylvania State University led to convictions for assault by the former assistant football coach and for cover-ups by three prominent university officials. And recent accusations have been leveled against the now-resigned director of the Cadets, a renowned drum corps based in Allentown.

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Clergy sex abuse cases’ pre-mediation hearing on Tuesday; archbishop calls for continued prayers

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

June 4, 2018

By Haidee V. Eugenio

A joint court hearing on the status of about 170 clergy sex abuse cases filed in local and federal courts is set for 8 a.m. on June 5, as parties continue to pursue mediation with the Archdiocese of Agana and other defendants.

Parties are scheduled to attend a hearing in federal court to provide a status update on the archdiocese’s ongoing interviews with the plaintiffs as part of the mediation process.

They will present the information to U.S. District Court Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood and Superior Court of Guam Judge Michael Bordallo.

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There’s an epidemic of denial about sexual abuse in the evangelical church

UNITED STATES
The Washington Post

June 4, 2018

By Joshua Pease

Rachael Denhollander’s college-aged abuser began grooming her when she was 7. Each week, as Denhollander left Sunday school at Westwood Baptist Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan, he was there to walk her to her parents’ Bible-study classroom on the other side of the building. He brought Denhollander gifts and asked her parents for her clothing size so he could buy her dresses. He was always a little too eager with a hug. The Denhollanders led one of the church’s ministries out of their home, which meant the man would visit their house regularly, often encouraging Rachael to sit on his lap, they recalled.

The man’s behavior caught the attention of a fellow congregant, who informed Sandy Burdick, a licensed counselor who led the church’s sexual-abuse support group. Burdick says she warned Denhollander’s parents that the man was showing classic signs of grooming behavior. They were worried, but they also feared misreading the situation and falsely accusing an innocent student, according to Camille Moxon, Denhollander’s mom. So they turned to their closest friends, their Bible-study group, for support.

The overwhelming response was: You’re overreacting. One family even told them that their kids could no longer play together, because they didn’t want to be accused next, Moxon says. Hearing this, Denhollander’s parents decided that, unless the college student committed an aggressive, sexual act, there was nothing they could do.

No one knew that, months earlier, he already had.

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‘I’m sick to my stomach’ — Chicago schools CEO Janice Jackson on sexual violence against students

CHICAGO (IL)
The Chicago Tribune

June 1, 2018

by David Jackson, Gary Marx, Juan Perez Jr. and Jennifer Smith Richards

In a burst of tweets Friday morning, Chicago schools CEO Janice Jackson said she was “sick to my stomach” to learn of the Chicago Tribune’s investigative findings on sexual violence against CPS students.

Jackson praised students and recent graduates for speaking out in the articles about their experiences of being abused by school employees.

“I want to acknowledge the victims and thank them for their bravery,” she said in one of the tweets, which began about 7 a.m., shortly after the Tribune series “Betrayed” was launched on the paper’s website.

“To all Chicago parents: I will not stop. I will not rest. I will not be satisfied until I’m confident that the district is doing everything in our power to protect our children,” Jackson wrote.

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BETRAYED

CHICAGO (IL)
The Chicago Tribune

June 1, 2018

By David Jackson, Jennifer Smith Richards, Gary Marx and Juan Perez Jr.

Chicago schools fail to protect students from sexual abuse and assault, leaving lasting damage

They were top athletes and honor-roll students, children struggling to read and teenagers seeking guidance.

But then they became prey, among the many students raped or sexually abused during the last decade by trusted adults working in the Chicago Public Schools as district officials repeated obvious child-protection mistakes.

Their lives were upended, their futures clouded and their pain unacknowledged as a districtwide problem was kept under wraps. A Tribune analysis indicates that hundreds of students were harmed.

Drawing on police data, public and confidential records, and interviews with teens and young adults who spoke out, a Tribune investigation broke through the silence and secrecy surrounding these cases and found that:

When students summoned the courage to disclose abuse, teachers and principals failed to alert child welfare investigators or police despite the state’s mandated reporter law.

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Pope: new bishop replaces convicted Australian cleric

VATICAN CITY
Associated Press

Pope Francis has appointed a bishop to administer an Australian archdiocese whose archbishop was convicted of covering up for a pedophile priest.

The Vatican said Sunday that Bishop Gregory O’Kelly, an Adelaide native, will serve as apostolic administrator for the Adelaide archdiocese.

Two weeks ago, Archbishop Philip Wilson became the most senior Catholic cleric worldwide to be convicted of covering up child sex abuse. He faces a possible two-year prison term.

Also in Australia, Cardinal George Pell, who was one of the pope’s top aides when he served as Vatican finance minister, faces trial on sexual assault charges.

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Pope names administrator for Australian diocese after child sex abuse case

VATICAN CITY
Reuters

June 3, 2018

Pope Francis nominated on Sunday a special administrator to the Australian archdiocese of Adelaide after its head was found guilty last month of concealing child sex abuse by a priest.

Gregory O’Kelly – who is the Bishop of Port Pirie, a diocese north of Adelaide – will take the role known in Church law as “Apostolic Administrator”.

The Vatican appoints such administrators in a variety of circumstances including when a bishop or archbishop cannot fulfill his duties.

Philip Wilson, the archbishop of Adelaide and a former president of the Roman Catholic Church’s top body in Australia, was accused of covering up a serious indictable offence by another priest, James Fletcher, after being told about it in 1976.

Wilson is expected to be sentenced by an Australian court in June. He faces a maximum penalty of two years in jail.

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Francis appoints interim leader to Adelaide after Archbishop Philip Wilson found guilty of abuse cover up

LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Tablet

June 4, 2018

By Christopher Lamb

Wilson is the highest ranking Church figure to be convicted of such an offence – last month announced he would step aside from his duties

Pope Francis has appointed an interim leader of the Archdiocese of Adelaide after its archbishop, Philip Wilson, was found guilty of covering up child sexual abuse.

Bishop Gregory O’Kelly was on Sunday named apostolic administrator of the church in Adelaide, a role which hands him the executive functions of an archbishop but without the title.

The new administrator, who is a Jesuit and Bishop of neighbouring Port Pirie diocese, takes over an archdiocese plunged into crisis by the decision of a court in New South Wales to convict Archbishop Wilson of concealing abuse committed by a priest in the 1970s.

The 67-year-old prelate is the highest ranking figure in the Church to be convicted of such an offence and last month announced he would step aside from his duties.

While the archdiocese said a vicar-general would take over Archbishop Wilson’s responsibilities, Francis’ move overrides that decision and gives the archdiocese episcopal leadership from a figure outside the diocese.

Apostolic administrators are normally appointed when a bishop cannot fulfil his duties or has died. They govern in the name of the Pope until a new bishop is appointed. While administration have the same powers as a bishop their powers are restricted when it comes to selling property, restructuring a diocese and appointing new priests to parishes.

As result, Archbishop Wilson technically remains the Archbishop of Adelaide. The archbishop, who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, maintains his innocence despite his conviction and says he cannot remember being told about allegations of abuse committed by priest James – “Jim” – Fletcher.

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Rosario: On church settlement, true heroics and newspaper and trucking woes

ST. PAUL (MN)
Pioneer Press

June 3, 2018

By Rubén Rosario

Things that made me scratch, nod or shake my head this past week:

A settlement for all seasons — $210,290,724. That’s the price tag the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis agreed to shell out to compensate more than 440 clergy sex abuse survivors after declaring bankruptcy three years ago. The settlement was the largest involving a Roman Catholic Church archdiocese that has filed for bankruptcy protection. It was reached after more than three years of “long and contentious” negotiations among an army of lawyers representing the archdiocese and insurance companies and the attorneys working with a survivors committee.

“This is a story of trauma to triumph and the pursuit of truth and accountability,” St. Paul-based attorney Jeff Anderson said during an emotional news conference Thursday.

The litigation, he noted, revealed 91 offenders and top church officials and their role in keeping a lid on or “managing” the sex abuse scandal. Of course, the lawyers on both sides will get their cut. But imagine if the church hierarchy here or in many other locales had done the right and moral thing: blow the whistle on the abusive clergy in their midst instead of transferring pedophile priests from one parish to another. Imagine if their first priority had been to protect and offer help to the child victims and their families instead of paying them under the table for their silence.

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Mother of abuse survivor to sue the Catholic Church

BALLARAT (AUSTRALIA)
The Courier

June 4, 2018

By Leanne Younes
.
The mother of clergy abuse survivor, Paul Levey, may be the first parent and secondary victim to sue the Catholic Church.

Anne Levey, who is haunted daily by knowledge of Paul’s horrific abuse by laicised and jailed priest Gerald Ridsdale, said she will be pursuing a case against the Catholic Church as a secondary victim because of the damage and pain suffered.

Ms Levey and son, Paul, are represented by Sydney-based Dr Martine Marich and Associates.

“We have been patient. They (the lawyers) have assembled all the paperwork and we’ve just been waiting for the legislation change,” Mr Levey said.

The quashing of the Ellis Defence, which closes a technical legal loophole that prevented the Catholic Church from being sued, marks a significant shift for survivors of clergy abuse who, until now, have been unable to sue unincorporated organisations.

Ms Levey is one of many secondary victims of the child sexual abuse epidemic and, as a first, her case against the church may become a ‘test’ case.

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Q&A: Law professor sheds light on Twin Cities archdiocese bankruptcy settlement

MINNEAPOLIS (MN)
MPR News

June 1, 2018

Interview of Jonathan Lipson by Tom Crann

After years of legal wrangling, clergy sex abuse survivors and the Twin Cities archdiocese announced a $210 million settlement this week.

There’s still a lot we don’t know yet. Among the big unanswered questions is how the settlement will be allocated. In other cases around the country, the process has ranged from amicable to acrimonious.

Jonathan Lipson, a professor of law at Temple University in Philadelphia with expertise in diocesan bankruptcies, spoke to All Things Considered host Tom Crann about what to watch for as the settlement process proceeds.

Q: There are some 450 victims here. How is it decided who gets how much?

It sounds from what little we know about the settlement there will be effectively a pot of money created by contributions from insurance companies and from the archdiocese itself. Then two things would have to happen: Number one, the claimants would [each] have to demonstrate that the archdiocese actually was liable. Number two, you have to figure out for how much.

Q: How has this process played out in other situations where there has been a similar settlement?

It varies, and the most important question is “what is the level of acrimony?” In cases that have been more amicable, like the Tucson case, for example, I think it was fairly easy for the victims and the church to decide exactly how much was owed and then to pay it out. So, there wasn’t much more wrangling.

In Milwaukee, it sounds like there was still quite a bit of wrangling and here, I don’t know exactly what the tenor of the relationship is between the victims and their attorney on one hand on the archdiocese on the other. If they truly have reconciled in some way, it could be a fairly quick and painless process. But if they haven’t resolved the claims at that level of detail they might still find themselves in dispute.·

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Twin Cities archdiocese bankruptcy settlement: The basics

MINNEAPOLIS (MN)
MPR News

June 1, 2018

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and survivors of clergy abuse have reached a $210 million agreement to compensate those victims and lead the archdiocese out of bankruptcy.

What is this settlement all about?

The archdiocese sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2015, after facing huge potential costs tied to clergy abuse.

At the time, the church was dealing with the aftermath of reports that showed an ongoing cover-up of clergy sex abuse by then-Archbishop John Nienstedt and other top officials, including three clergy abuse lawsuits and concerns mounting over the cost of future claims.

After nearly 41 months of bankruptcy proceedings, a total of $210,290,724, will go into a fund to pay survivors, with the amount for each survivor to be determined.

Besides the financial settlement with the Twin Cities archdiocese, survivors’ attorney Jeff Anderson said the deal “actually advances the ball on child protection in a way that’s never really been done in this country.” He didn’t elaborate and declined to take questions afterward.

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Twin Cities parishes react to archdiocese’s $210 million settlement with abuse survivors

MINNEAPOLIS (MN)
MPR News

June 3, 2018

By Nina Moini

The pews were nearly full Sunday morning inside Our Lady of Lourdes in northeast Minneapolis.

Father Dan Griffith took the last few minutes of Mass to fill everyone in about the landmark $210 million settlement between the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and 450 survivors of sexual abuse by priests. The agreement, announced Thursday, is the largest sexual abuse settlement yet of any Catholic diocese in the United States.

“This is an opportunity for a new beginning,” Griffith said. “But, to never lose sight of why we’re in this position, that we were not vigilant in protecting children.”

Griffith says he made a donation from his parish to a fund to help pay the abuse survivors, because it was the right thing to do.

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June 3, 2018

Chilean priests say they’re ‘trusting,’ ‘hopeful’ after meeting Pope

DENVER (CO)
Crux

June 3, 2018

By Inés San Martín

Rome – After meeting with Pope Francis for more than four hours, a second group of Chilean sex abuse victims, joined by priests who’ve supported them for 20 years, said they’re “trustful and hopeful” about reforms he’s begun in their Church, where new allegations of clerical sexual abuse arise virtually every day.

Francis met the nine Chileans, two of them laity, on Saturday. Of the seven priests, five are victims of the country’s most notorious pedophile priest, Father Fernando Karadima. It hasn’t been announced which ones in the group are victims of sexual abuse versus abuses of power and conscience.

The group is staying in the Santa Marta, the residence on Vatican grounds where Francis has lived since the beginning of his pontificate.

“Having spoken with the Holy Father and seeing the renewal through a synodal path that he’s undertaken, we are completely trusting and hopeful about what he’s doing,” said Father Eugenio de la Fuente, one of Karadima’s victims.

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Letter from Pope Francis to the Catholics of Chile

VATICAN CITY
Holy See

May 31, 2018

By Pope Francis

Al Pueblo de Dios que peregrina en Chile

Queridos hermanos y hermanas:

El pasado 8 de abril convocaba a mis hermanos obispos a Roma para buscar juntos en el corto, mediano y largo plazo caminos de verdad y vida ante una herida abierta, dolorosa, compleja que desde hace mucho tiempo no deja de sangrar. Y les sugeria que invitaran a todo el Santo Pueblo fiel de Dios a ponerse en estado de oración para que el Espiritu Santo nos diera la fuerza de no caer en la tentación de enroscarnos en vacios juegos de palabras, en diagnósticos sofisticados o en vanos gestos que no nos permitiesen la valentia necesaria para mirar de frente el dolor causado, el rostro de sus victimas, la magnitud de los acontecimientos. Los invitaba a mirar hacia donde el Espiritu Santo nos impulsa, ya que “celrar los ojos ante el projimo nos convierte también ciegos ante Dios”.

* * *
El “nunca más” a la cultura del abuso, asf como al sistema de encubrimiento que le permite perpetuarse, exige trabajar entre todos para generar una cultura del cuidado que impregne nuestras formas de relacionarnos, de rezar, de pensar, de vivir la autoridad; nuestras costumbres y lenguajes y nuestra relación con el poder y el dinero. Hoy sabemos que la mejor palabra que podamos dar frente al dolor causado es el compromiso para la conversión personal, comunitaria y social que aprenda a escuchar y cuidar especialmente a los más vulnerables. Urge, por tanto, generar espacios donde la cultura del abuso y del encubrimiento no sea el esquema dominante; donde no se confunda una actitud critica y cuestionadora con traición. Esto nos tiene que impulsar como Iglesia a buscar con humildad a todos los actores que configuran la realidad social y promover instancias de diólogo y constructiva confrontación para caminar hacia una cultura del cuidado y proteccion.

Google translation of excerpts:

Last April 8, I called my brother bishops to Rome to seek together in the short, medium and long term paths of truth and life before an open, painful, complex wound that has not stopped bleeding for a long time. And he suggested that they invite all the faithful Holy People of God to put themselves in a state of prayer so that the Holy Spirit would give us the strength not to fall into the temptation of coiling ourselves in empty puns, in sophisticated diagnoses or in vain gestures that they did not allow us the necessary courage to face the pain caused, the face of its victims, the magnitude of events. He invited them to look to where the Holy Spirit impels us, since “to blind our eyes before our neighbors also makes us blind before God”.

* * *
The “never again” to the culture of abuse, as well as the system of concealment that allows it to perpetuate, requires working together to generate a culture of care that permeates our ways of relating, praying, thinking, living authority; our customs and languages ​​and our relationship with power and money. Today we know that the best word we can give in the face of the pain caused is the commitment to personal, community and social conversion that learns to listen and take special care of the most vulnerable. It is urgent, therefore, to generate spaces where the culture of abuse and concealment is not the dominant scheme; where a critical and questioning attitude with betrayal is not confused. This has to impel us as a Church to humbly seek out all the actors that shape the social reality and promote instances of dialogue and constructive confrontation in order to move towards a culture of care and protection.

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Twin Cities parishes step up to help pay clergy sex abuse settlement

MINNEAPOLIS (MN)
Star-Tribune

June 2, 2018

By Jean Hopfensperger

Twin Cities churches will bear $13M of the $210M settlement for sex abuse.

Parishioners at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Minneapolis are finding a letter in their church bulletins this weekend that explains the parish’s decision to contribute to an unexpected fund — the archdiocese’s long-in-the-making financial settlement with clergy sex abuse victims.

On Thursday, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis announced that it had reached a $210 million settlement for about 450 victims — the largest of its kind nationwide. Of that, roughly $13 million is to be paid by parishes.

Up to half of the archdiocese’s 187 churches are donating or considering doing so. They include parishes where children were abused as well as those where there were no incidents, such as Our Lady of Lourdes.

“It’s the right thing to do,” said the Rev. Daniel Griffith, the parish’s priest. “We’re all part of the archdiocese, and we all need to be part of the solution.”

Many Twin Cities Catholics walked into church this weekend grateful that the archdiocese had finally reached an agreement with abuse victims but uncertain about what it means for their own parishes.

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Fr. Griffith’s Letter Regarding the Archdiocesan Bankruptcy Settlement

MINNEAPOLIS (MN)
Our Lady of Lourdes Parish

June 3, 2018

By Father Daniel Griffith

Dear Friends in Christ,

As you have heard, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis announced Thursday that it had reached a consensual agreement with victim survivors and insurers definitively resolving bankruptcy claims against the Archdiocese. The settlement establishes a trust fund of approximately $210 million dollars which will be available for the resolution of the claims, including significant funds for the numerous victim survivors who have been abused and harmed by clergy. The settlement amount is the largest of its kind involving a Catholic diocese in the United States. This is indeed a positive outcome which provides victim survivors some measure of justice and the opportunity for all to move forward to a place of greater healing and restoration. I am very heartened that a settlement has been reached and particularly happy for the victim survivors as this resolution will help bring needed closure and greater peace. I am deeply sorry for the abuse that was experienced by victim survivors at the hands of clergy.

Archbishop Hebda spoke at a press conference Thursday at the Chancery in St. Paul and began his remarks by focusing on the pain of victim survivors. The Archbishop thanked them for bravely coming forward and expressed sorrow for the pain they had experienced at the hands of the Church. He said that without their “courage and persistence, today could not be possible.” Archbishop Hebda went on to say that he recognized “that the abuse stole so much from you – your childhood, your innocence, your safety, your ability to trust, and in many cases, your faith. Relationships with family and friends, relationships in your parishes and communities were harmed. Lives were forever changed. The Church let you down, and I’m very sorry.”

I watched the press conference live and was very moved by the sincere and empathetic words of Archbishop Hebda. He is a good shepherd and a man of compassion and that was fully on display as he delivered his statement. I thank Archbishop Hebda and all those worked so diligently to arrive at a resolution which will now allow all to move forward to a place of greater light – fulfilling the sacred mission that Christ has entrusted to the Church. In regard to how the settlement effects the parishes of the Archdiocese, Archbishop Hebda noted that the settlement includes a special provision that enables “parishes to avoid further litigation stemming from these claims.” While Our Lady of Lourdes does not have a claim against it, the comprehensive nature of the settlement is indeed good news for everyone.

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Pope digs deeper into roots of Chile sex abuse scandal

VATICAN CITY
Associated Press

June 2, 2018

By Nicole Winfield

Pope Francis dug deeper into the roots of Chile’s sex abuse scandal by meeting Saturday with a group of priests who were trained in a cult-like Catholic community and suffered psychological and sexual abuse there.

Francis celebrated Mass with priests trained by the Rev. Fernando Karadima, a powerful preacher in Chile who was sentenced by the Vatican in 2011 to a lifetime of penance and prayer for having sexually and spiritually abused young parishioners through an abuse of power.

The Vatican said the Mass and subsequent weekend meetings would help Francis better understand life inside Karadima’s El Bosque community, which catered to the rich and powerful of Santiago society during and after the Pinochet dictatorship.

A Vatican statement said Francis hopes to help heal the divisions that the El Bosque scandal has created in Chile’s church and help rebuild healthy relationships between priests and their flock “once they become conscious of their own wounds.”

El Bosque generated some 30 priests and four bishops before Karadima was removed from ministry and a priestly society affiliated with El Bosque was closed. The recent eruption of the scandal has focused on one of the four bishops, Juan Barros, after Francis strongly defended him only to then admit he had made grave errors in judgment.

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Lafayette Diocese priest accused of abuse of a minor

LAFAYETTE (LA)
Daily Advertiser

June 2, 2018

The Diocese of Lafayette was informed this week of an allegation of abuse of a minor, the Diocese said in a statement released Saturday at 4 p.m.

According to the statement, the alleged incident occurred several years ago, and the alleged victim is now an adult. The Diocese and the alleged victim have reported the allegation to law enforcement authorities and the Diocese is assisting and cooperating fully with the civil investigation.

The allegations have been made against Father Michael Guidry, Pastor of St. Peter Church in Morrow and Resurrection Chapel in Whiteville. In accordance with Diocesan policy, Father Guidry has been placed on administrative leave, pending the outcome of the civil and Diocesan investigations.

Out of respect and in the interest of privacy of the alleged victim, the Diocese will provide no further details concerning the case. During the interim, Bishop Deshotel has appointed Father Tom Voorhies as administrator of St. Peter Church and Resurrection Chapel.

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Vatican replaces archbishop convicted of concealing child sex abuse

ATLANTA (GA)
CNN

June 3, 2018

By Delia Gallagher and Sheena McKenzie

The Vatican on Sunday announced a temporary replacement for an Australian archbishop who was convicted of concealing child sex abuse by a fellow priest in the 1970s.

Pope Francis said in a statement that Greg O’Kelly, the current Bishop of Port Pirie, in the state of South Australia, would temporarily replace Philip Wilson, the Archbishop of Adelaide, who stepped aside after being convicted of covering up abuses last month.

Wilson is the highest ranking Catholic official to be convicted of covering up sexual abuse, part of a global scandal that has dogged the Vatican for decades.

The 67-year-old was found guilty of having concealed the abuse of altar boys in the 1970s by a pedophile priest colleague, James Fletcher, when he was an assistant parish priest in the state of New South Wales.
Archbishop Wilson stepped down on May 23, a day after he was convicted at the Newcastle Local Court in New South Wales.

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Former Delbarton teacher admits he had sex with 50 boys; school settles 5 sex abuse suits

MORRISTOWN (NJ)
NorthJersey.com

June 1, 2018

By Abbott Koloff

The Catholic order that runs the Delbarton School in Morris Township has settled lawsuits brought by five men who alleged they were sexually abused by five monks — including a former headmaster of the school.

Six additional lawsuits are pending against the Order of St. Benedict of New Jersey and St. Mary’s Abbey, which runs the school — three filed on Tuesday. Details of the settlements, made over the past couple of months, were not disclosed.

Meanwhile, a priest at the center of eight of the lawsuits allegedly admitted to having sexual encounters with about 50 boys, according to documents filed with the lawsuits in Superior Court in Morristown.

That priest, Timothy Brennan, is accused in three of the settled cases and five pending complaints. He was convicted 30 years ago of aggravated sexual contact with a 15-year-old Delbarton student.

The abuse outlined in the suits allegedly took place while most of the victims were students at Delbarton or St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Linden, which was managed by the order in an agreement with the Newark Archdiocese, according to an order spokesman.

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Catholic order settles sexual abuse lawsuits

MORRISTOWN (NJ)
Associated Press

June 2, 2018

A Catholic order in New Jersey has settled lawsuits with five men who claim they were sexually abused by monks and a headmaster at a private school.

The Order of St. Benedict of New Jersey settled with the men who said they were abused while attending the Delbarton School in Morris Township, The Record reported Friday. Six other lawsuits are pending against the order that name faculty at Delbarton and St. Mary’s Abbey, which runs the school. Details of the settlements were not disclosed.

The abuse allegedly took place while the victims were students at Delbarton or St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Linden, which was managed by the order.

Priest Timothy Brennan was named in eight of those complaints. He was convicted of aggravated sexual contact with a 15-year-old Delbarton student three decades ago. According to court documents, Brennan admitted to abusing 50 boys.

Brennan didn’t reply to the newspaper’s requests for comment.

Former Delbarton headmaster Luke Travers also was named in a lawsuit. He has denied the allegations.

“I’m so impressed with all of my clients and the strength and courage they’ve had and that they’ve maintained in coming forward and fighting this fight,” attorney Gregory Gianforcaro, who has represented some of the plaintiffs, said Friday.

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June 2, 2018

Another person comes forward, accuses a former Buffalo priest of sexual abuse

SNYDER (NY)
WIVB

June 1, 2018

By Shannon Smith

Another person has come forward — accusing a former Buffalo priest of sexual abuse. He’s named Donald Becker as his abuser.

Friday, June 1st is the deadline for victims of alleged sexual abuse to file for compensation from the Buffalo Catholic Diocese.

“I literally sat in my office and cried. And that point I knew I had to do something,” said John Polvino.

For months, John Polvino watched several people come forward with sexual abuse allegations against many Buffalo priests. He says something clicked when he saw Michael Whalen, who spoke with News 4 in March, share his story.

“So courageous, so brave, that he shouldn’t be – you know, I needed to pay it forward. He saved my life by coming out,” said Polvino.

So, after 43 years, Polvino finally revealed he was sexually abused at 13-years-old. Something he’s never shared with anyone, even his wife.

He’s since filed a report with the Buffalo Catholic Diocese against former priest Donald Becker. Becker is listed by the Diocese as one of 42 priests accused of sexually abusing minors.

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Christians told not to confess sex abuse secrets to Church of England clergy because they will tell the police

ENGLAND
The Telegraph

May 30, 2018

By Olivia Rudgard

Christians have been told not to confess sex abuse secrets to Church of England clergy because they will tell the police.

Guidance from the diocese of Canterbury says clergy must tell penitents that if their confession “raises a concern about the wellbeing or safeguarding”, the priest will be “duty bound” to tell the “relevant agencies”.

Church of England canon law states that information divulged during confession must be kept secret.

The issue was raised during the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse earlier this year, amid concerns that evidence of abuse could be kept from the authorities.

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Annual audit of church’s abuse allegations shows cautious improvement

WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service

June 1, 2018

The 15th annual report on the implementation of the U.S. bishops’ “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” shows a decrease in allegations of clergy sex abuse from the two previous years but also indicates the need for continued vigilance since charges were raised by more than 650 adults and 24 minors.

The overall decrease in allegations coupled with the fact that charges of abuse are still being made is something Francesco Cesareo, chairman of the National Review Board, which oversees the audits, finds troubling.

In introductory remarks to the report released June 1, he said: “While progress continues to be made, there are worrisome signs for the future revealed in this year’s audit that cannot be ignored.”

He said he was most concerned by signs of general complacency such as a shortage of resources available to fully implement programs, failure by some dioceses to complete background checks in a timely manner and, in some cases, poor record keeping.

Cesareo wrote that this “apparent complacency” could indicate that some in the church think “sexual abuse of minors by the clergy is now an historic event of the past.”

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Expert on abuse says it’s about, ‘Who are we as a Church?’

ROME
CRUX

June 1, 2018

By Inés San Martín

German Jesuit Father Hans Zollner is widely recognized as one of the Catholic Church’s leading experts on the fight against child sexual abuse. Zollner heads the Centre for Child Protection at Rome’s Jesuit-run Gregorian University and is a member of the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

Recently, Crux sat down with Zollner to discuss the sexual abuse crisis playing out in the Church in Chile, and how to understand the dynamics that made the crisis possible.

Among other points, Zollner stressed that at bottom, sexual abuse is not a “liberal v. conservative” issue, while adding that the clericalist attitudes which can underlie abuse sometimes, as in the Chilean case, flourish best in a traditional, strongly conservative milieu.

“What we’ve seen in the Karadima case especially is a very moralistic approach, which bizarrely, is then combined with an absolutely immoral approach to people,” he said. “Some of those who purport to defend the Church and her doctrine behave in a blatantly contradictory way, thereby destroying the credibility of the Church.”

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Vatican at crossroads in handling clergy sexual abuse cases

ROME
Los Angeles Times

June 1, 2018

By Tom Kington

Pope Francis did an about-face last month and denounced the widespread cover-up of sexual abuse by priests in Chile, prompting all 34 of the country’s bishops to offer their resignations.

He has said he was not receiving “truthful and balanced” information from the bishops, and on Thursday he released a letter to all Chileans declaring the Roman Catholic Church would “never again” tolerate “the culture of abuse and the system of cover-up that allows it to perpetuate.”

The Vatican also announced the pope was sending a team of prelates to Chile to “advance the process of reparation and healing of abuse victims.”

But Francis has not revealed his plans for the church officials who ignored or actively covered up the abuse.

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Bingo anyone? Victims of clergy sex abuse make light of matters with a board game

PENNSYLVANIA
Penn Live

May 31, 2018

By Ivey DeJesus

Comedy comes from the darkest places.

Turns out that somewhere between the enduring trauma of having been sexually abused as a child by a priest and their fight for legislative reform to laws that would permit them legal recourse, victims of clergy sex abuse can make some light of their experience.

Just weeks away from the release of the findings of a grand jury investigation into child sex abuse across Pennsylvania’s Catholic communities, three survivors of clergy sex abuse have collaborated to produce a game that takes a light-hearted approach to the topic.

The game is called Bishop’s Response Bingo, and, as the name suggests, the game is built around the concept of the bingo strategy: Each of the slots in the 25-square grid offers a possible response from a church bishop to the findings of the investigation.

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Erie priest waives hearing on sex abuse charges

ERIE (PA)
Trib Live

May 31, 2018

Debra Erdley

A former Catholic priest from the Erie Diocese is headed to trial on charges that he sexually abused two boys over a period of years.

The Rev. David Poulson, 64, of Oil City, is one of two priests– one each from the Greensburg and Erie dioceses– facing charges stemming from a statewide grand jury probe of allegations of sexual abuse in six Catholic dioceses across the state.

A spokesman for the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office said Poulson, formerly a priest in the Erie Diocese, waived his right to a preliminary hearing in Brookville on Thursday on charges that he repeatedly sexually abused two boys in a remote Jefferson County cabin.

Bail remained at 10 percent of $300,000 for the former priest who has been held in the Jefferson County Jail since his arrest last month.

Poulson was a Catholic priest in the Erie diocese for four decades until earlier this year. He was charged with indecent assault, endangering the welfare of children and corruption of minors. Three of those counts are felonies. The charges were recommended by a statewide investigating grand jury.

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Read the Mormon church’s presentation on when clergy should report child abuse

SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
The Salt Lake Tribune

June 1, 2018

By Nate Carlisle

Full statement on behalf of the Utah-based faith is included.

A prosecutor in Mohave County, Ariz., has filed a bar complaint against a lawyer representing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The complaint accuses the attorney of practicing in Arizona without a license by telling an LDS bishop he did not need to report child sexual abuse.

The following is an excerpt from the complaint and its exhibits, including slides from a presentation from the Salt Lake City-based law firm of Kirton McConkie on when LDS clergy should report child abuse in Arizona. Also below is a full statement from a Phoenix attorney representing the LDS Church and Kirton McConkie.

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More secular oversight needed to curtail sexual abuse by priests: Letter

POUGHKEEPSIE (NY)
Poughkeepsie Journal

June 2, 2018

This letter is in response to the April 7 Poughkeepsie Journal story, “Report: NY Archdiocese ‘secretive’ on priest abuse.”

The non-profit watchdog group BishopAccountability.Org said New York’s Archdiocese is one of the “most secretive” bishoprics in the nation when it comes to exposing sexual abuse by priest.

A spokesman for the Archdiocese called the statement “unreliable and scurrilous.”

Yet sexual abuse allegations involving clergy continue to make headlines and critics say the Archdiocese is often parochial and unwilling to reveal the identity of faithless priests fearing widespread clergy agitation, humiliation and exposure to hostile litigation.

Ecclesiastical misconduct, which doesn’t rise to criminality, is even more secretive and rarely defrocking or loss of the clerical state, commonly called laicization, for consensual sexual indiscretions or financial improprieties is made public.

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Sacred Heart has history of sex abuse

NASHUA (NH)
Nashua Telegraph

June 1, 2018

By Damien Fisher

A review of Associated Press articles by The Telegraph indicates the Roman Catholic religious order behind Bishop Guertin High School, named in a recently filed sexual abuse lawsuit, is linked to a long history of sexual abuse victims in New Hampshire.

“They did a lot of work and a lot of damage in New Hampshire,” said Terry McKiernan with the nonprofit Bishop-Accountability.org, which tracks cases of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

A former Bishop Guertin student, Larissa Troy, filed a lawsuit against the order earlier this month, accusing a former teacher, Shawn McEnany, of sexually assaulting her in the 1990s. According to the lawsuit filed in the Hillsborough County Superior Court in Nashua, the school hired McEnany as a teacher despite knowing he was already a convicted sexual offender in Maine.

Several brothers with Sacred Heart involved with Bishop Guertin were accused of abuse on the early 2000s, including former headmaster Leo Labbe. A class-action lawsuit resulted in numerous settlements with purported victims. McKiernan said religious orders such as Sacred Heart are often overlooked.

“Religious orders in general, an the Brothers of the Sacred Heart in particular, succeed in being under the radar,” he said.

According to information from Bishop-Accountability.org, every Sacred Heart school in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island was staffed at times by alleged or admitted sexual abusers.

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Sexual abuse victims call for bishops’ resignations, criminal investigation of Buffalo diocese

BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW

June 1, 2018

By Charlie Specht

Cite reporting by 7 Eyewitness News I-Team

Summoning outrage at the results of a recent 7 Eyewitness News investigation into the covering up of sexual abuse in the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, abuse victims Friday called for the resignation of two bishops and urged law enforcement to begin a criminal investigation of the church hierarchy in Buffalo.

“Bishop Malone promised us that he was thoroughly reviewing the files of the Diocese of Buffalo,” said Robert Hoatson, a former priest and advocate of sexual abuse victims. “Well, we now know that that’s not true. The ones who have been thoroughly analyzing the files are you folks, the media.”

In calling for the immediate resignations of Bishop Richard J. Malone and Auxiliary Bishop Edward Grosz, Hoatson and other victims pointed to two a three-part investigative series by 7 Eyewitness News that revealed secret documents spelling out the covering up of sexual abuse by priests by multiple bishops in the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo.

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June 1, 2018

Clergy abuse survivors to receive $210 million from Catholic Minneapolis Archdiocese

ST. PAUL and MINNEAPOLIS (MN)
Good Morning America

June 1, 2018

By Courtney Han

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has reached a $210 million settlement to be dispersed among 450 survivors of alleged clergy abuse as part of its bankruptcy reorganization, an archbishop said.

The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in 2015, two years after the Minnesota Legislature opened a three-year window that allowed people who said they had been sexually abused in the past to sue for damages, according to The Associated Press. That resulted in hundreds of claims being filed against the archdiocese.

“I recognize that the abuse stole so much from you. Your childhood, your safety, your ability to trust and in many cases your faith. Relationships with family and friend relationships in your parishes and communities were harmed. Lives were forever changed. The church let you down. I am very sorry,” Archbishop Bernard Hebda said in a news conference Thursday outside archdiocese offices.

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Arizona case shows why Mormon bishops are not reporting sex abuse to police every time. That has a prosecutor complaining about the church’s lawyers.

SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
The Salt Lake Tribune

May 31, 2018

By Nate Carlisle

An Arizona prosecutor, who says a lawyer for the LDS Church told a bishop he didn’t need to inform police that a child was being sexually abused, has filed a bar complaint against that attorney and his law firm.

An indictment against the child’s parents suggests the abuse went on for a decade. The Mormon bishop in Kingman may face a criminal charge, too, for not notifying police, though Arizona law doesn’t always require clergy to report abuse and, documents say, the bishop encouraged the now-teenager to speak to law enforcement.

Meanwhile, both a prosecutor and a victims’ advocate in northwest Arizona are expressing concern about the advice the LDS Church’s law firm, Salt Lake City-based Kirton McConkie, is giving to the faith’s lay leaders.

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