ABUSE TRACKER

VATICAN CITY/SANTIAGO
Reuters

May 31, 2018

By Philip Pullella and Dave Sherwood

Pope Francis on Thursday promised Chilean Catholics scarred by a culture of clergy sexual abuse that “never again” would the Church ignore them or the cover-up of abuse in their country, where a widespread scandal has devastated its credibility.

The pope issued the comments in a letter to all Chilean Catholics as the Vatican announced that Francis was sending his two top sexual abuse investigators back to the country to gather more information about the crisis there.

The Vatican’s most experienced sexual abuse investigator, Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, and Father Jordi Bertomeu, a Spaniard, had visited Chile earlier this year.

In the letter released by Chilean bishops, Francis also praised the victims of sexual abuse in the country for persevering in bringing the truth to light despite attempts by Church officials to discredit them.

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CHILE
CNN

May 31, 2018

By James Griffiths

Pope Francis is sending investigators back to Chile to look into historical child abuse and accusations a bishop covered up crimes against minors, the Vatican said Thursday.

Francis said the church should be ashamed of its treatment of victims, and must move past the historical culture of abuse and secrecy.

Archbishop Charles Scicluna, one of the Vatican’s top prosecutors for sex abuse, and Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu will carry out investigations in Osorno over abuse by Chilean priest Father Fernando Karadima and his followers.

Karadima was found guilty of child sex abuse by the Vatican in 2011. Victims said Osorno Bishop Juan Barros, who Francis appointed in 2015 over local residents’ objections, covered up Karadima’s crimes.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

May 31, 2018

by Philip Pullella

Pope Francis is sending his two top sexual abuse investigators back to Chile to gather more information about the crisis that has hit the Catholic Church there, the Vatican said on Thursday.

Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta and Father Jordi Bertomeu, a Vatican official, will concentrate on the diocese of Osorno in southern Chile, seat of a bishop who has been most caught up in the scandal.

A statement said the purpose of the trip, due to start in the next few days, was to “move forward in the process of reparation, and healing for victims of abuse”.

The two prepared a 2,300-page report for the pope after speaking to victims, witnesses and other Church members earlier this year.

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UNITED STATES
The Washington Post

May 31, 2018

By Joshua Pease

The epidemic of denial about sexual abuse in the evangelical church

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, Mich., 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.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Yahoo Celebrity

May 31, 2018

By Taryn Ryder

As Allison Mack awaits trial — or a plea deal — for her involvement in an alleged sex cult, federal prosecutors are likely interested in reading her new interview.

The Smallville actress, 35, spoke with the New York Times Magazine this winter as part of the publication’s deep dive into the self-help group Nxivm. The article, which was released on Wednesday, features interviews with many high-ranking Nxivm members — including its founder, Keith Raniere. It’s the first time in 14 years the group has granted access to a journalist.

Female members freely discuss a group within the group called DOS (short for a Latin phrase that roughly translates as “Master Over Slave Women”), which they describe as a “sorority.” Mack said DOS was “about women coming together and pledging to one another a full-time commitment to become our most powerful and embodied selves by pushing on our greatest fears, by exposing our greatest vulnerabilities, by knowing that we would stand with each other no matter what, by holding our word, by overcoming pain.”

It’s a group, she declared, that’s all about female empowerment. “I found my spine, and I just kept solidifying my spine every time I would do something hard,” Mack passionately declared.

Mack was so passionate about DOS, she said, that it was her idea to brand members with a cauterized pen. “I was like: ‘Y’all, a tattoo? People get drunk and tattooed on their ankle ‘BFF,’ or a tramp stamp. I have two tattoos and they mean nothing,’” she boasted, explaining she wanted to do something more meaningful and that took guts. (Members were held down and branded with a symbol that featured Raniere’s and Mack’s initials.)

The actress broke down how joining the sorority worked. The woman who invited you to the group was your master or the “representation of your conscience, your higher self, your most ideal.”

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NEW YORK (NY)
The New York Times

May 30, 2018

By Vanessa Grigoriadis

Why did female members of Nxivm follow a guru named Keith Raniere, who now stands accused of sex trafficking? He made them feel like they were in control.

One winter morning in a conventional suburb outside Albany, N.Y., Nancy Salzman, the 63-year-old president of a self-improvement company named Nxivm, sat on a mahogany-colored stool in her kitchen. Her tasteful home was surrounded by other Nxivm members’ modest townhouses or capacious stone mansions that seemed to spring up out of nowhere, like mushrooms, on the suburban streets. In Salzman’s den, a photo of her with her two adult daughters hung on a wall, the three of them wearing smiles as wide as ancient Greek masks of comedy; the same happy photo served as the wallpaper on Salzman’s laptop. A hairless Sphynx cat prowled the lovely buffet of croissants and fruit on her kitchen island.

Salzman, an extremely fit woman wearing the type of thin athleisure sweatshirt that’s all the rage with the middle-aged bourgeoisie these days, turned her attention to a woman sitting at the island: Jacqueline, a 27-year-old with long dark hair, who was a psychology student in college, told me that she hadn’t experienced anything as effective as Nxivm (pronounced “nexium,” like the heartburn medication). Like Scientology’s L. Ron Hubbard, whose 1950 handbook “Dianetics” was billed as the “modern science of mental health” and whose pseudoscientific methods were, in his view, world-changing, Keith Raniere, Nxivm’s 57-year-old founder, believed his organization could heal individuals and transform the world. The way Nxivm did this was through techniques, or “technology,” meant to rewire your emotional self.

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UNITED STATES
ABC News/GMA

May 31, 2018

By Luchina Fisher

CNN stands by its reporting on Morgan Freeman in which eight women accused the actor of sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct.

The cable news network responded today to a 10-page letter from Freeman’s attorney Robert Schwartz earlier this week demanding a retraction of the story and an apology.

In its five-page response, CNN wrote that it “stands by its reporting and is prepared to fight aggressively any attempt to intimidate it into silence.”

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BUFFALO (NY)
WIVB

May 31, 2018

By Evan Anstey and Jenn Schanz

Another priest within the Diocese of Buffalo has been placed on administrative leave.

Bishop Richard Malone placed Rev. Mark J. Wolski on leave after receiving a complaint of sexual abuse against him.

The complaint is under investigation.

Earlier this month, the Diocese announced it was re-opening an investigation into an abuse complaint against Father Fabian Maryanski.

In March, a list was released naming more than 40 local priests who had credible allegations of child sexual abuse against them.

Father Wolski most recently served at Saints Peter and Paul Parish in Hamburg according to a spokesperson for the Buffalo Diocese.

Wolski retired in 2012, but still led Mass as need by the Buffalo Diocese.

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ERIE (PA)
Your Erie

May 31, 2018

By Ryan Emerson

A former priest in the Erie Catholic Diocese is expected to appear in court today.

David Poulson, 64, is due in court for his preliminary hearing.

On May 8th, Poulson was arraigned in Jefferson county on felony counts of indecent assault, endangering the welfare of children and the corruption of minors. At the time of his resignation, he was pastor of Saint Anthony of Padua Church in Cambridge springs.

When Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced the charges, he said it was unconscionable that the Diocese of Erie knew of Poulson’s alleged actions and allowed him to stay in ministry.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW

May 31, 2018

By Charlie Specht

Rev. Mark Wolski accused of child sex abuse

He was the chaplain at Children’s Hospital.

He was a prominent priest.

He was even a member of the child abuse review board for the Diocese of Buffalo.

But now, the Rev. Mark J. Wolski is just the latest cleric to be suspended by the diocese over an allegation of child sexual abuse.

“After receiving an abuse complaint against Rev. Mark J. Wolski, Bishop Richard J. Malone has placed Father Wolski on administrative leave as an investigation continues,” the diocese said in a statement Thursday morning. “Please note that this administrative leave is for the purpose of investigation and does not imply any determination as to the truth or falsity of the complaint.”v

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UNITED STATES
GQ

May 31, 2018

By Sophia Benoit

The good news is that we’ve started to have more healthy and productive conversations about sexual assault and harassment, in and out of the workplace. The bad news is that these discussions can turn awkward and uncomfortable for people who are grappling with these problems for the first time. Don’t worry, we’re here to help. We have some advice on how to be supportive and inoffensive in your discussions about assault and harassment. And yes, you really need to have these conversations.

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ST. PAUL (MN)
Jeff Anderson & Associates

May 31, 2018

Video of press conference in which Jeff Anderson announced the $210,290,724 settlement plan with the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and discussed the 10 points of the plan and its context. Also speaking were survivor-members of the creditor’s committee Jamie Heutmaker, Jim Keenan, and Marie Mielke.

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ST. PAUL (MN)
Pioneer Press

May 31, 2018

By Sarah Horner

On a hot summer’s day in 1969, Heutmaker, then 14, and one of his peers were sexual abused by a priest from the Church of St. Mark in St. Paul.

Although the Rev. Jerome Kern’s conduct was reported to Catholic Church staff by his parents, it wasn’t until now, Heutmaker said, that he felt some measure of justice.

“It feels really good to be here today,” Heutmaker, now 62, said tearfully amid a crowd of survivors of clergy sexual abuse gathered in a downtown St. Paul law office Thursday afternoon. “Never in my life did I think it would come to this, 49 years later. … I am extremely grateful.”

Led by their attorneys, including Jeff Anderson, the group gathered to announce a historic $210 million settlement in the bankruptcy battle between 450 survivors of clergy sexual abuse and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

May 31, 2018

By Jacey Fortin

In one of the biggest settlements of its kind, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis plans to establish a $210 million trust fund for hundreds of victims of clergy sexual abuse, the archbishop announced on Thursday.

The plan is the result of a yearslong battle and arduous negotiations in one of the country’s most high-profile cases involving abuse in the Roman Catholic Church.

If approved, the settlement will be the largest ever for a sex abuse case involving an archdiocese that has filed for bankruptcy protection and the second largest over all, said Terry McKiernan, co-director and president of BishopAccountability.org, which tracks clergy sex abuse cases. (According to the website, the largest settlement, $660 million, was reached by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and 508 survivors in 2007.)

“Survivors are getting, on average, substantial settlements for what they suffered, and that’s really important,” Mr. McKiernan said of the Minnesota case.

The settlement is pending approval from a judge and 450 survivors. Their lawyer, Jeff Anderson, said he expected them to vote in its favor.

He said the case could be a model for other clergy sex abuse cases because it forced the church to be more transparent than usual. “That heat and that light has been put on them through the courage of the many, many survivors who found their voice and took action,” he added.

Jim Keenan, one of the abuse survivors, told reporters on Thursday that others should not be afraid to speak up.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

May 31, 2018

By Brian Roewe

A $210 million settlement has been reached in the bankruptcy of the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese, what attorneys for more than 400 survivors of clergy sexual abuse are calling the “largest settlement ever reached in a Catholic bankruptcy case.”

At a press conference in his St. Paul office May 31, Jeff Anderson, attorney for abuse victims, announced that a consensual agreement was reached late Wednesday night, essentially concluding an often contentious process begun nearly three and half years ago.

Anderson used a red Sharpie marker to write the final sum on a white easel pad of paper: $210,290,724.

That total represents more than triple the archdiocese’s initial proposed plan of $65 million, and $50 million more than its most recent proposal. The settlement, pending approval by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Kressel, will resolve all litigation against the archdiocese and its parishes and other entities related to the clergy sexual abuse scandal. A trust fund, headed by an independent trustee, would be responsible for distributing payments among 450 abuse survivors.

“This has been a long day coming,” said Jim Keenan, an abuse survivor and chair of the creditors’ committee. “It’s a triumph … an absolute triumph.”

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MINNEAPOLIS (MN)
Associated Press via Chicago Tribune

May 31, 2018

By Steve Karnowski and Amy Forliti

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has agreed to a $210 million settlement with 450 victims of clergy sexual abuse as part of its plan for bankruptcy reorganization, making it the second-largest U.S. payout in the scandal that rocked the nation’s Roman Catholic Church.

Victims’ attorney Jeff Anderson said the settlement was reached with the victims and the archdiocese and includes accountability measures. The money, a total of $210,290,724, will go into a pot to pay survivors, with the amount for each survivor to be determined.

Anderson said a formal reorganization plan will now be submitted to a bankruptcy judge for approval, and then it will be sent to the victims for a vote. Anderson expected they will readily approve it.

“We changed the playing field,” said Jim Keenan, who was sexually abused as a child by a Twin Cities-area priest. “They have to listen to victims now, and that is huge.”

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MINNEAPOLIS (MN)
Star-Tribune

May 31, 2018

By Rochelle Olson and Mary Lynn Smith

For many, the announcement was closure as they continue to heal their scars of emotional trauma.

Marie Mielke held her arms out as far as she could reach, her hands open and her fingers spread.

That’s how expansive and open to the world she felt as she stood before the bright media cameras in her lawyer’s office Thursday among fellow survivors of childhood sex abuse by Minnesota priests.

“Father Michael Keating didn’t take anything from me,” she said staunchly. “I’m standing here now fighting for my babies.”

Mielke was the third victim to speak after attorney Jeff Anderson announced the $210 million settlement for nearly 450 Minnesota victims. Several victims stood alongside lawyers and media in the darkly paneled conference room.

The victims, now adults, were preyed upon, sexually assaulted and raped by priests as children at church and school.

Those who ended up in Anderson’s conference room described pain-filled decades of post-traumatic stress as the archdiocese both covered up for predator priests and denied their bad behavior.

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