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.

September 30, 2018

Pastor viewpoint: Where God’s spirit will lead reforms in the Catholic Church, I don’t know

RIVER FALLS (WI)

Hudson Star Observer

September 30, 2018

By Father John Gerritts

I am a Roman Catholic Priest and pastor at Saint Patrick Catholic Church in Hudson. The Catholic Church has been in the national news lately because priests and bishops in our church have been accused of rampant sexual abuse of children — which supposed leaders within the church have covered up for decades. The cover-ups continued even after church leaders made strong public commitments 16 years ago to protect children.

In the late 1970’s and early 80’s, as I was finishing junior high and moving on to high school, a priest was assigned as a chaplain at the local hospital in our community. While his primary assignment was serving at the hospital, he frequently assisted at our parish. People enjoyed it when he offered Mass since he was a good homilist, had a fun sense of humor, and was quite charismatic. He frequently attended various events with kids, such as high school athletic contests and concerts. He was close to several families in the community, including my own.

Families were thrilled that he gave attention to the kids in the church. My parents were excited because they knew I was thinking about becoming a priest, so surely his would be a good influence.

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.

Kavanaugh Saga Uncomfortable for Catholics Amid Crisis Over Sexual Abuse

UNITED STATES
New York Magazine

September 29, 2018

By Ed Kilgore

It gained some attention, even in the middle of a very crowded news cycle, when the prominent Jesuit magazine America rescinded its endorsement of Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation after Christine Blasey Ford’s Senate testimony. Kavanaugh, after all, has constantly and proudly talked about his character and career being shaped by the Jesuit education he obtained at the super-elite Georgetown Preparatory School in the Washington suburbs. And he was at Georgetown Prep when the alleged sexual assault against Ford — along with the gang rapes that Julie Swetnick, herself an alleged victim, has reported in a sworn affadavit — were said to have occurred.

America endorsed Kavanaugh back in July because of the high likelihood (which ironically, he tried so very hard to deny or obscure in his first Judiciary Committee testimony) that he would help overturn Roe v. Wade, and eliminate any constitutional right to an abortion. Its second thoughts involved an issue that is all too familiar to contemporary Catholics:

[T]his nomination battle is no longer purely about predicting the likely outcome of Judge Kavanaugh’s vote on the court. It now involves the symbolic meaning of his nomination and confirmation in the #MeToo era. The hearings and the committee’s deliberations are now also a bellwether of the way the country treats women when their reports of harassment, assault and abuse threaten to derail the careers of powerful men.

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

Church youth group leader charged with child sex abuse

RISING SUN (MD)
Associated Press via Fox 29

A Pennsylvania man has been charged with child sexual abuse dating back to his time as a youth group leader at a Maryland church decades ago.

A Maryland State Police statement says 58-year-old Allen Price of Quarryville, Pennsylvania, was arrested Friday at his home.

Indictments handed down Thursday charge Prince with more than 100 counts, including second-degree child abuse, second-degree assault, and second-, third- and fourth-degree sex offenses.

Police say Price is accused of assaulting and abusing five girls, then aged 11 to 16, who attended youth group meetings at Grace Bible Chapel in Rising Sun from 1987 until 2001. They say Price also has ties to Lewes, Delaware, where he’s been involved in youth activities.

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.

Montana Jehovah’s Witness sex abuse case underscores church’s worldwide reckoning

THOMPSON FALLS (MT)
The Missoulian

September 30, 2018

By Seaborn Larson

Perhaps the largest jury award ever to a single person claiming the Jehovah’s Witnesses church failed to protect her from a sexual predator came Wednesday in Thompson Falls, a 1,300-person town peeking out from the pines along Highway 200 in northwest Montana.

The jury’s award, $35 million in punitive and compensatory damages to one woman, is more than financial relief, the woman’s attorneys say. It’s a message to the church: If leadership won’t amend their policies in handling child sex abuse, they’re going to pay for it.

In 2012, a California jury awarded one woman $28 million for her own claims against the Witnesses. Her attorney said it was the largest jury verdict for a single victim in a religious abuse case in the entire country at that time. The payout is a direct reflection of the church’s enormous and — most importantly — centralized wealth at the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, located in Pennsylvania and New York.

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.

Chaput: Youth synod depends on faith, not sentimentality

UNITED STATES
Catholic News Agency

September 29, 2018

In an op-ed column published Saturday, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia has restated his concerns about the upcoming synod of bishops on young adults, faith and vocational discernment, set to begin Oct. 3.

The column was published in the Italian newspaper Il Foglio.

According to Chaput, after the Pennsylvania statewide grand jury report, and abuse problems in Chile, Germany and elsewhere, “the Church is in turmoil.”

“In this turbulent environment, the Holy See will host a world synod of bishops, October 3-28, in Rome. Keyed to the theme of ‘young people, faith, and vocational discernment,’ a more ironic, and more difficult, confluence of bad facts at a bad time for the meeting can hardly be imagined.

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

State needs tools to investigate wide-scale abuse

NEW LONDON (CT)
The Day

September 30, 2018

By Editorial Board

Sexual assault and abuse are crimes so revolting that their innocent victims have borne the stigma: blame the victim, shame the victim, silence the victim, shield the victim’s name from the public. The events of the past weeks have upended those old conventions, awkwardly, painfully, but irrevocably.

The Day recently published articles by staff writer Joe Wojtas, whose reporting over the years has covered sexual abuse charges against Roman Catholic priests in the Norwich Diocese and allegations of sexual misbehavior by a former Stonington first selectman. The Sept. 23 stories were prompted by coverage of local reaction to a Pennsylvania Grand Jury report detailing charges against some 300 priests in that state over many years. One is the story of a New London man who says he was assaulted in Noank by a pastor now deceased. He described the emotional burdens ever since.

Christine Blasey Ford testified openly before the Senate Judiciary Committee Friday that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were in high school 36 years ago. She had told only her husband and therapists in most of that time, but she decided that keeping her secret any longer did not serve the public interest: The person she was accusing could be appointed to the nation’s high court.

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

As younger Catholics drift away, the church considers what works

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

September 29, 2018

By Mark Arsenault

A member of the so-called Silent Generation and grandmother of 13, Mary Ann Keyes is the matriarch of a big Catholic family whose ties to the Roman Catholic Church — like those of many families — have grown more complicated with each generation.

While angered and saddened by the clergy sexual abuse scandals, Keyes, whose family is based in part on the South Shore, would never walk away. “The church means everything to me,” she said.

Her daughter, Kelly Carey, is 53, born between the baby boomers and Generation X. She considered stepping away after the abuse revelations of the early 2000s, she says, but weathered the scandals as a “roaming” Catholic, bouncing among different parishes in the area to hear individual priests she likes and respects.

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

Pope wants rosary prayed to protect Church from devil’s ‘turbulence’

ROME (ITALY)
Crux

September 29, 2018

By Inés San Martín

In a move suggesting Pope Francis believes the Church is in a moment of “spiritual turbulence,” the pontiff is asking Catholics around the world to pray the rosary every day during the month of October for protection of the Church from the devil.

The daily praying of the rosary during the “Marian month of October,” a Vatican statement Saturday said, will unite the faithful “in communion and penance, as a people of God, in asking the Holy Mother of God and St. Michael the Archangel to protect the Church from the devil, who always aims to divide us from God and among us.”

The statement also says that, as the pope noted during his daily homily on Sept. 11, prayer is the weapon against “the Great accuser who ‘travels around the world looking for accusations’.”

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.

How obscure Italian hospital became the eye of a global storm

ROME (ITALY)
Crux

September 20, 2018

By Claire Giangravè

In February 2013, in his last official act as pope, Pope emeritus Benedict XVI appointed a commissioner for a small, seemingly insignificant hospital in Rome, the Immaculate Dermatological Institute (IDI).

Two years later, that same hospital was at the center of a tug-of-war between Australian Cardinal George Pell and the Vatican’s Secretary of State. Today, IDI is deepening the rift that threatens to tear apart the Church in the U.S., and to poison its relationship with Rome.

To understand what makes this hospital such a lightning rod, one needs to look at the path that led what was once a symbol of excellence in Catholic healthcare to the brink of ruin and almost $1 billion in debt.

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.

After decades of left v. right, is it now bishops v. everybody else?

ROME (ITALY)
Crux

September 30, 2018

By John Allen

Moments of great crisis generally affect institutions in multiple ways, some of which are immediately evident and others that take longer to discern. Amid the clerical abuse scandals currently rocking Catholicism, it’s worth asking if one such long-term result is playing out before our eyes.

To wit, are we seeing a redefinition of the traditional left/right divides in the Church because the focus of popular complaint is no longer really teaching, one of the three traditional duties of a bishop, but rather governing?

Recently I sat down with a senior Church leader who was musing on criticism of the bishops of late, which he said at times seems reminiscent of Congregationalism – the idea that it’s the lay congregation, not the clerical caste, that exercises real power over Church affairs.

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.

San Jose bishop: ‘Deeds, not words’ needed in sex abuse claims

SAN JOSE (CA)
San Jose Mercury News

September 30, 2018

By Harvey Barkin

San Jose Bishop Patrick McGrath met with the outrage and clamor for immediate accountability of the clergy accused of sexual abuses at the first of three scheduled listening sessions at Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Palo Alto Sept. 29.

McGrath said the involved clergy “say ‘sorry’ but it’s not enough. Deeds, not words are what we need. This is the beginning of the process.”

Locally, the process of holding abusive priests accountable arguably began in 2002, when the Diocese of San Jose implemented the Dallas Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People after U.S. bishops approved it. The charter was updated in 2005, 2011 and this year. Also, in 2002 the diocese set up its own Office for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults. In the ensuing years, training, background checks and fingerprinting became necessary for seminarians, employees and even volunteers who work for the diocese. All diocesan personnel are mandated to immediately notify civil authorities of any suspected sexual abuse.

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

Ed Palattella: Erie manifesto calls for church to change [Opinion]

ERIE (PA)
GoErie.com

September 30, 2018

An anonymous author posted 21 Theses on the doors of St. Peter Cathedral. The message, made in response to the abuse crisis, has gained support.

More than 500 years after Martin Luther, a like-minded activist is at work in the Catholic Diocese of Erie, trying to ignite reform in response to the child sexual-abuse crisis.

Luther in 1517 sparked the Reformation by posting his 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. Luther put his name to the earth-shaking document.

The local activist is operating on a more localized scale. And the person is doing so anonymously.

The person taped a document called the 21 Theses to the doors of St. Peter Cathedral in downtown Erie on Sept. 13, according to the Twitter account @21Theses.

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

Pope urges Catholics to pray daily throughout October to protect the church from the devil’s ‘turbulence’

VATICAN CITY
Daily Mail

September 30, 2018

By George Martin

– The Pope said in a statement Saturday that Catholics should protect the church
– He called prayer a ‘weapon’ to be used against ‘the great accuser’ in statement
– The Church has been embroiled in a series of sexual abuse scandals recently
– A German report showed 3,700 children were abused between 1946 and 2014

The Pope has urged Catholics to pray daily to protect the church from ‘turbulence’, as more and more sexual abuse revelations emerge.

In a Vatican statement released on Saturday, Pope Francis urged Catholics the world over to pray every day in October in order ‘to protect the Church from the devil, who always seeks to separate us from God and from each other’.

The Pope called prayer a ‘weapon’ to be used against ‘the great accuser’ who he claimed ‘can only be defeated by prayer’.

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.

Priests leaves duties as sex abuse allegations investigated

ROCKVILLE CENTRE (NY)
Associated Press via Fox News Channel

September 29, 2018

A Roman Catholic priest accused of sexual abuse and unwanted physical contact dating to the 1980s is stepping away from his official duties while diocese officials investigate the allegations.

Newsday reported the Diocese of Rockville Center, which covers Long Island, will be looking into the allegations against Msgr. William Breslawski, who has been serving as the pastor of the Church of St. Anthony of Padua in Rocky Point, New York.

The diocese said a letter had come Sept. 25 accusing Breslawski of sexually abusing a relative of the writer’s, a middle-school-age child, and referenced a previous complaint about it that had been made in 2002.

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

Pastor viewpoint: Where God’s spirit will lead reforms in the Catholic Church, I don’t know

HUDSON (WI)
Hudson Star Observer

September 30, 2018

By Father John Gerritts

I am a Roman Catholic Priest and pastor at Saint Patrick Catholic Church in Hudson. The Catholic Church has been in the national news lately because priests and bishops in our church have been accused of rampant sexual abuse of children — which supposed leaders within the church have covered up for decades. The cover-ups continued even after church leaders made strong public commitments 16 years ago to protect children.

In the late 1970’s and early 80’s, as I was finishing junior high and moving on to high school, a
priest was assigned as a chaplain at the local hospital in our community. While his primary
assignment was serving at the hospital, he frequently assisted at our parish. People enjoyed it
when he offered Mass since he was a good homilist, had a fun sense of humor, and was quite
charismatic. He frequently attended various events with kids, such as high school athletic
contests and concerts. He was close to several families in the community, including my own.

Families were thrilled that he gave attention to the kids in the church. My parents were excited
because they knew I was thinking about becoming a priest, so surely his would be a good
influence.

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.

Víctima de Karadima califica como “rara” e “irregular” la petición de sobreseimiento de Ezzati

[Karadima victim describes Ezzati’s request for dismissal as “rare” and “irregular”]

CHILE
BioBioChile

September 30, 2018

By Nicolás Parra and Nicole Martínez

“Como rara” e “irregular” calificó José Andrés Murillo, una de las víctimas del expulsado sacerdote Fernando Karadima, la petición de sobreseimiento de Ezzati, realizada por su defensa, para que no sea investigado en el caso de los delitos sexuales que se le imputan al excanciller del arzobispado de Santiago, Óscar Muñoz Toledo.

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.

Tras expulsión de Karadima del sacerdocio: Laicos de Osorno piden replicar acción con Juan Barros

[After Karadima’s expulsion from the priesthood, laity of Osorno ask for the same with Juan Barros]

CHILE
BioBioChile

September 30, 2018

By María José Villarroel

Desde la organización de Laicos y Laicas de Osorno valoraron la decisión tomada por el papa Francisco de expulsar al exsacerdote Fernando Karadima, culpado por la Iglesia Católica como autor de abusos sexuales. Mario Vargas, vocero de la agrupación en Osorno, se mostró conforme con la decisión del Papa, calificando la determinación como un gran avance respecto a la condena que recibe el ahora exsacerdote.

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.

Sacerdotes víctimas de Karadima: “Que Dios lo perdone y que él sea capaz de pedir perdón por todo lo que hizo”

[Priests abused by Karadima say: “May God forgive him and may he be able to ask forgiveness for everything he did”]

SANTIAGO, CHILE
Emol

September 30, 2018

By Leonardo Vallejos

Sergio Cobo y Eugenio de la Fuente valoran que la expulsión del ex clérigo “marca un precedente a nivel mundial”.

Los sacerdotes Sergio Cobo y Eugenio de la Fuente, son dos de las declaradas víctimas del ex párroco de El Bosque Fernando Karadima. Por eso, valoraron que el Papa Francisco haya tomado la decisión de expulsarlo del sacerdocio. “Marca un precedente a nivel mundial. No creo que pase desapercibido que luego de haber hecho un proceso hace años, el Papa, de modo excepcional, vea que lo correcto sea dimitir del estado clerical a un sacerdote que cometió abusos”, afirmó Cobo, sacerdote de la Iglesia Inmaculada Concepción de Vitacura, a El Mercurio.

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.

Sex abuse scandal: Pope seeks prayers to fight ‘devil’

VATICAN CITY
Associated Press

September 29, 2018

Pope Francis asked Saturday for daily prayers to protect the Catholic Church from what he says are “attacks by the devil,” in his latest response to the clerical sex abuse and cover-up scandal roiling his papacy.

A Vatican statement appeared to be an indirect response to accusations that Francis himself, and a string of Vatican officials before him, were complicit in covering up the sexual misconduct of a now-disgraced American ex-cardinal.

The Vatican said Francis had asked for Catholics worldwide to unite and pray the Rosary each day during October “to protect the church from the devil, who is always looking to divide us from God and from one another.”

At the same time, Francis asked for prayers so the church becomes ever more aware of its “guilt, errors and abuses committed in the present and the past and is committed to combat it without fail to prevent evil from prevailing.”

Francis identified the devil as the “Great Accuser, who roams the earth looking for ways to accuse.”

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.

Qué demora al Papa para nombrar al nuevo arzobispo de Santiago

[What delays the Pope from appointing a new archbishop of Santiago]

CHILE
La Tercera

September 27, 2018

By Paula Yévenes

Algunos sacerdotes dicen que está dentro de los plazos habituales. Otros, que la elección es excepcionalmente compleja. La reciente frase de Francisco, de que “no he encontrado a la persona”, abre suspicacias. Y dudas.

Varios nombres han surgido como eventuales reemplazos del renunciado arzobispo de Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati. Desde otros prelados, como Fernando Chomali -de Concepción y quien la semana pasada se reunió en Roma con el Pontífice-, hasta pastores extranjeros y sacerdotes locales. Todos suenan entre las opciones para encabezar la arquidiócesis. Francisco, sin embargo, mantiene la incógnita. Luego de tres oleadas de aceptación de renuncias de obispos, en las cuales se han ido siete de ellos, aún no define al nuevo pastor de la capital. Y la expectación crece.

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.

Las 48 horas de la guía de la Iglesia de Santiago para prevenir abusos

[The 48-hour controversy over Church of Santiago’s guide to prevent abuses]

CHILE
La Tercera

September 29, 2018

By J. Matus

En el documento, publicado y luego eliminado del sitio web del arzobispado, se detallaban reglas a cumplir.

El Arzobispado de Santiago publicó este jueves, en su sitio web oficial, el documento titulado “Orientaciones que fomentan el buen trato y la sana convivencia pastoral”. El objetivo: dar señales de un cambio respecto de cómo están enfrentando los escándalos por abusos sexuales en la Iglesia Católica chilena. En particular, buscan establecer directrices sobre cómo deber ser la relación del clero con niños, adolescentes y personas con algún tipo de discapacidad.

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.

Eglise : des personnalités demandent une enquête parlementaire sur la pédophilie en France

[Church: personalities demand a parliamentary inquiry on pedophilia in France]

PARIS (FRANCE)
Le Monde

September 30, 2018

Les signataires ont transmis une pétition aux parlementaires. Prenant l’exemple de l’Australie et des Etats-Unis, ils veulent que le pays rattrape son « retard » en la matière.

[The signatories sent a petition to parliamentarians. Taking the example of Australia and the United States, they want the country to catch up with the “backlog” in this area.]

Religieux, anciens ministres, avocats, victimes… Un groupe de personnalités lance un appel pour une enquête parlementaire indépendante sur les abus sexuels dans l’Eglise en France.

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.

News: Allegation Received, Investigated

DES MOINES (IA)
Diocese of Des Moines

September 28, 2018

The Diocese of Des Moines recently received an allegation against Father Leonard Kenkel of decades-old sexual abuse of a minor. Upon receiving the complaint September 6, 2018, Bishop Richard Pates immediately referred the allegation to local law enforcement where the alleged abuse occurred and has been notified that the allegation is beyond the statute of limitations.

Bishop Pates has apologized to the victim, who asked for anonymity. The diocese will honor this request.

“It has always been a top priority for me that we address all allegations of sexual abuse with utmost transparency, consistency and accountability outlined by the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. The diocese continues to work diligently to ensure a safe environment for children and all vulnerable individuals in our churches and schools,” said Bishop Pates.

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

Kansas school didn’t know Cardinal ousted over sex abuse would be living next door

VICTORIA (KS)
Kansas City Star

September 28, 2018

By Judy L. Thomas

Officials at a grade school in a rural Kansas town were stunned Friday to learn that a former Catholic cardinal — who stepped down in July over allegations that he sexually abused seminarians and minors — was now living next door.

Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington is residing at St. Fidelis Friary in Victoria, Kan., within a block of Victoria Elementary School.

“I was never made aware of it until I found out through social media today,” said Kent Michel, superintendent of USD 432 and also principal of Victoria Elementary.

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

Former presidential candidate on Viganò testimony: ‘This is a homosexual scandal’

UNITED STATES
LifeSiteNews

August 31, 2018

In a forcefully-written column titled “A Cancer on the Papacy,” former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan pulls no punches as he contends that the Catholic Church is going through perhaps its “gravest crisis” since the Protestant Reformation, and that homosexuality is to blame.

A former aid to Richard Nixon who in a 2002 column argued that Vatican II was an “unrelieved disaster,” Buchanan calls for not only a thorough investigation of the “stunning” claims made by Archbishop Carlo Viganò, but an extensive “purge” and severing from the priesthood of those who covered up the scandals.

“The issue here is whether Pope Francis knew what was going on in the Vatican and in his Church, and why he was not more resolute in rooting out the moral squalor,” Buchanan writes.

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.

Suspended priest a Dunkirk native

DUNKIRK (NY)
Observer Today

September 29, 2018

A priest who has been suspended by the Buffalo Diocese is a Dunkirk native.

According to the Buffalo Diocese, on Wednesday, the diocese received a complaint against Father Joseph C. Gatto involving an alleged sexual advance made on an adult. Bishop Richard J. Malone placed Father Gatto on administrative leave as an investigation continues.

“Please note that this administrative leave is for the purpose of investigation and does not imply any determination as to the truth and falsity of the complaint,” the diocese stated on its website. “We continue to pray for all victims of abuse. If you have any information specific to clerical sexual abuse you would like to share, please contact Jackie Joy, our Victim Assistance Coordinator, who can be reached at 716-895-3010.”

Gatto is an alumnus of Holy Trinity Elementary School and Cardinal Mindszety High School. In 1979 he graduated from Wadham’s Hall Seminary College, Ogdensburg and in 1982 he received his Bachelor of Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, Italy. He was ordained a priest at his home parish, Holy Trinity Church on July 9, 1983. Gatto had been the president and rector of Christ the King Seminary in Amherst, which prepares men for the priesthood in the Buffalo Diocese. He is accused of making a sexual advance on an adult male in 2000. In an interview with WKBW, he denied the accusation and said he was already planning on stepping down from his position, saying he was suffering from burnout and needed to take a break.

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.

Allegation of decades-old abuse made against retired Des Moines priest

DES MOINES (IA)
WeAreIowa.com

September 29, 2018

By Sarah Beckman

A priest serving in the Des Moines area for years has been accused of abuse by a minor.

Father Leonard Kenkel has been accused of decades-old sexual abuse of a minor. The complaint was received by the Diocese of Des Moines on September 6. The allegation was immediately referred to local law enforcement.

Bishop Pates has apologized to the victim, who asked for anonymity. The Diocese has obtained the services of an investigator and will consult with them what to do next.

Father Kenkel is retired from his services at the church and is in a nursing facility. Bishop Pates has suspended Kenkel’s priestly faculties so he can’t engage in public ministry.

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

Former U.S. cardinal accused of sex abuse living a block from Kansas school

VICTORIA (KS)
Associated Press via the Toronto Star

September 29, 2018

The friary in remote western Kansas that is now home to a disgraced former U.S. cardinal removed from ministry by Pope Francis over allegations of sexual abuse is just one block from an elementary school.

The Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., confirmed in a statement Friday that ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick is living at St. Fidelis Friary in Victoria, a rural town of about 1,200 that lies more than 400 kilometres west of Kansas City. The Friary is within a block of Victoria Elementary School.

News of McCarrick’s living arrangement took school officials by surprise, the Kansas City Star reported .

“I was never made aware of it until I found out through social media” on Friday, Victoria Elementary Principal Kent Michel said.

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

LI priest steps aside as allegations of sex abuse investigated, diocese says

ROCKVILLE CENTRE (NY)
Newsday

September 29, 2018

By Bart Jones

Msgr. William G. Breslawski agreed to step away while the Diocese of Rockville Centre investigates allegations he sexually abused a middle schooler nearly 40 years ago, a church spokesman said Saturday.

A Roman Catholic priest has stepped aside from his ministry while church officials investigate allegations that he sexually abused a middle schooler nearly 40 years ago and had “an inappropriate interaction” with two adults in the 1980s, the Diocese of Rockville Centre said.

Msgr. William G. Breslawski agreed to step away while the diocese investigates those allegations, Sean Dolan, a spokesman for the diocese, said Saturday.

Breslawski, who was ordained a priest in 1979, most recently served as the pastor of the Church of Saint Anthony of Padua in Rocky Point. He could not be reached for 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.

Pope Defrocks Fernando Karadima, Priest at Center of Abuse Outrage in Chile

SANTIAGO (CHILE)
The New York Times

September 29, 2018

By Pascale Bonnefoy

Pope Francis has defrocked a once-prominent priest whose case has been at the center of public outrage about clerical sexual abuse and its concealment in Chile — a rare move that Vatican officials said showed his determination to tackle a scandal that has roiled the Catholic Church here and around the world.

The priest, the Rev. Fernando Karadima, was found guilty of sexual offenses by the Vatican as long ago as 2011. But his case has proved particularly toxic for Francis, who long defended a bishop accused of covering it up, Juan Barros, including during a visit to Chile in January.

A month later, following a storm of protest, Francis sent sex crimes investigators to the country, beginning an about-face that was to result in all 34 of the Roman Catholic bishops in Chile offering their resignations.

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September 29, 2018

Retired Boise priest reaches deal in child porn case, says he had alcohol-induced depression

BOISE (ID)
Idaho Statesman

September 28, 2018

By Katy Moeller, Christina Lords, and Michael Katz

A retired Boise priest accused of possessing thousands of images and videos of children being sexually abused — and sharing some of them online with others — won’t go to trial in October.

After reaching a deal with prosecutors, the Rev. W. Thomas “Tom” Faucher pleaded guilty Friday to five of the 24 charges against him, including two counts of distribution of sexually exploitative material, two counts of possession of sexually exploitative materials and drug possession. The other charges were dismissed.

He will be sentenced at 9 a.m. Dec. 20.

Prosecutors will ask the judge to sentence Faucher to 30 years in prison, including 20 before he’s eligible for parole. The defense is free to argue for less, under the plea deal

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Ex-Boise Priest Pleads Guilty to Child Porn Charges

BOISE (ID)
Associated Press via U.S. News and World Report

September 28, 2018

A former Boise Catholic priest has pleaded guilty to child pornography charges as part of a plea deal.

News outlets report William Thomas Faucher pleaded guilty to five of the 24 charges against him, including distribution of sexually exploitative material, possession of sexually exploitative materials and drug possession.

The other charges were dismissed.

The Idaho Statesman reports Faucher, who will be 73 next month, told the court he sent an email that contained child pornography while in alcohol-induced depression and while being affected by dementia.

Prosecutors say it wasn’t one drunken mistake and that more than 2,000 photos and videos depicting child sexual abuse were found on Faucher’s computer and phone.

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Church in Poland begins publishing sex abuse data

DENVER (CO)
Crux

September 28, 2018

By Paulina Guzik

In the last week, three dioceses in Poland have published their data on clerical sex abuse, saying they are trying to better understand the issue and find effective measures to stop it.

On Sep. 27, the Diocese of Warsaw-Prague – located in the eastern part of greater Warsaw – said in the last 26 years twelve priests were accused of abusing minors, and that all of the cases were reported to the Vatican. It added that two of the accused were cleared of charges.

“I want to do everything in my power to help those who feel hurt, so they could have a safe return to the Church and regain confidence in her,” said Bishop Romuald Kaminski.

The diocese also published its policies on child protection and gave information about its special team of priests and lay experts working on issues related to abuse.

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Galveston-Houston Archdiocese housing former Conroe priest accused of sex abuse at retirement community

HOUSTON (TX)
Houston Chronicle

September 28, 2018

By Nicole Hensley

A former Conroe priest facing decades-old child molestation accusations has been staying at a gated retirement community in southwest Houston while out on bail, according to officials.

The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston has been housing Manuel Larosa-Lopez at the St. Dominic Village along Holcombe Boulevard after he was released on a $375,000 bond two weeks ago, the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office confirmed. The property is fenced off save for a guarded driveway.

The diocese touts the village, which includes a senior home and about a dozen apartments for retired priests south of the Brays Bayou, as providing “all the comforts of home” on its website.

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Pope defrocks priest at center of Chilean sexual abuse scandal

VATICAN CITY
Reuters

September 27, 2018

By Philip Pullella

Pope Francis has defrocked a 88-year-old Chilean priest who sexually abused teenage boys over a period of many years and is at the center of a wider abuse scandal that is still under investigation, the Vatican said on Friday.

Father Fernando Karadima was defrocked, or “reduced to the lay state” by the pope on Thursday, a move the Vatican called “exceptional” and done “for the good of the Church”.

Karadima, who lives in a home for the elderly in the Chilean capital Santiago, was notified on Friday.

He was found guilty in a Vatican investigation in 2011 and ordered to live a life of “prayer and penitence”, but was not defrocked at the time, the final years of the reign of former Pope Benedict. That meant he was still a priest, although he could not minister in public.

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Pope defrocks Chilean priest at center of abuse scandal

VATICAN CITY
Associated Press via Boston Globe

September 28, 2018

By Nicole Winfield

Pope Francis has defrocked a Chilean priest who was a central character in the global sex abuse scandal rocking his papacy, invoking his ‘‘supreme’’ authority to stiffen an earlier sentence because of the ‘‘exceptional amount of damage’’ the priest’s crimes had caused.

In a statement Friday, the Vatican said Francis had laicized 88-year-old Fernando Karadima, who was originally sanctioned in 2011 to live a lifetime of ‘‘penance and prayer’’ for having sexually abused minors in the upscale Santiago parish he ran.

The Vatican said Francis was doing so for ‘‘the good of the church.’’

‘‘It is without doubt an exceptional measure, but Karadima’s grave crimes have caused exceptional damage in Chile,’’ Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said.

The ‘‘penance and prayer’’ sanction has been the Vatican’s punishment of choice for elderly priests convicted of raping and molesting children. It has long been criticized by victims as too soft and essentially an all-expenses-paid retirement, and Karadima’s whistle-blowers had pressed for it to be toughened.

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Former Des Moines priest, accused of sex abuse in past, faces another allegation

DES MOINES (IA)
KCCI 8 CBS

September 28, 2018

The Diocese of Des Moines is investigating an allegation of decades-old sexual abuse of a minor against one of its priests who retired in 2008.

According to a news release, Bishop Richard Pates immediately referred the complaint made Sept. 6 against Father Leonard Kenkel to local law enforcement authorities where the alleged abuse happened. The allegation is beyond the statute of limitations.

Pates apologized to the victim, who asked for anonymity.

“It has always been a top priority for me that we address all allegations of sexual abuse with utmost transparency, consistency and accountability outlined by the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,” Pates said in a statement.

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Cupich apologizes for ‘my poor choice of words’ on priest sex abuse crisis

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

September 27, 2018

By Robert Herguth

Weeks after making remarks to news reporters that seemed to minimize the Catholic Church’s priest sex abuse crisis — and insisting his words were taken out of context — Cardinal Blase Cupich is now saying he used a “poor choice of words” and apologized “for the offense caused by my comments.”

“It was a mistake for me to even mention that the church has a bigger agenda than responding to the charges in the letter by former papal nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano,” Cupich said in an op-ed published by the Chicago Tribune.

Vigano released an explosive letter late last month contending, among other things, that Pope Francis knew of alleged sexual misconduct by disgraced ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick — who has been accused of sexually preying on adult seminarians as well as children — but allowed McCarrick to continue in ministry and serve as an influential adviser.

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Kavanaugh Saga Uncomfortable for Catholics amid Crisis over Sexual Abuse

NEW YORK (NY)
New York Magazine

September 29, 2018

By Ed Kilgore

It gained some attention, even in the middle of a very crowded news cycle, when the prominent Jesuit magazine America rescinded its endorsement of Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation in the wake of Christine Blasey Ford’s Senate testimony. Kavanaugh, after all, has constantly and proudly talked about his character and career being shaped by the Jesuit education he obtained at the super-elite Georgetown Preparatory School in the Washington suburbs. And he was at Georgetown Prep when the alleged sexual assault against Ford — along with the gang-rapes that Julie Swetnick, herself an alleged victim, has reported in a sworn affadavit — were said to have occurred.

America endorsed Kavanaugh back in July because of the high likelihood (which ironically, he tried so very hard to deny or obscure in his first Judiciary Committee testimony) that he would help overturn Roe v. Wade, and eliminate any constitutional right to an abortion. Its second thoughts involved an issue that is all too familiar to contemporary Catholics:

[T]his nomination battle is no longer purely about predicting the likely outcome of Judge Kavanaugh’s vote on the court. It now involves the symbolic meaning of his nomination and confirmation in the #MeToo era. The hearings and the committee’s deliberations are now also a bellwether of the way the country treats women when their reports of harassment, assault and abuse threaten to derail the careers of powerful men.

Substitute “children” for “women” in that last sentence and you have an issue that has been of paramount concern to Catholics everywhere recently. And while America did not mention the parallels explicitly, the church’s child sex abuse crisis had to be in the background in discussing the situation. In an article about Kavanaugh’s staunchest supporters, Emma Green noted that prominent Catholic conservative Mary Rice Hasson is battling the obvious connections between abuse allegations.

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Cupich, Chaput joust over working document for Synod of Bishops

DENVER (CO)
Crux

September 29, 2018

By Christopher White

Ahead of next week’s start to the much-anticipated month-long gathering of bishops in Rome, two American delegates have already preempted the debate by publishing an exchange on the guiding document for the meetings.

Correspondence between Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago and Archbishop Charles Chaput was published in First Things, a conservative journal on religion, in response to a September 21 column by Chaput that included a 1,300 word critique of the Instrumentem Laboris, the synod’s working document, sent to Chaput by a “respected North American theologian” and published anonymously in his article.

In the original commentary, the theologian faulted the document for its “pervasive focus on socio-cultural elements, to the exclusion of deeper religious and moral issues,” and four areas in which the author enumerated criticisms: “An inadequate grasp of the Church’s spiritual authority;” “A partial theological anthropology;” “A relativistic conception of vocation;” and “An impoverished understanding of Christian joy.”

In addition, the theologian claimed “there are other serious theological concerns, including: a false understanding of the conscience and its role in the moral life; a false dichotomy proposed between truth and freedom; false equivalence between dialogue with LGBT youth and ecumenical dialogue; and an insufficient treatment of the abuse scandal.”

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Thoughts on the Instrumentum Laboris

NEW YORK (NY)
First Things

September 21, 2018

By Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap.

Over the past several months, I’ve received scores of emails and letters from laypeople, clergy, theologians, and other scholars, young and old, with their thoughts regarding the October synod of bishops in Rome focused on young people. Nearly all note the importance of the subject matter. Nearly all praise the synod’s intent. And nearly all raise concerns of one sort or another about the synod’s timing and possible content. The critique below, received from a respected North American theologian, is one person’s analysis; others may disagree. But it is substantive enough to warrant much wider consideration and discussion as bishop-delegates prepare to engage the synod’s theme. Thus, I offer it here:

* * *

Besides the above considerations, there are other serious theological concerns in the IL, including: a false understanding of the conscience and its role in the moral life; a false dichotomy proposed between truth and freedom; false equivalence between dialogue with LGBT youth and ecumenical dialogue; and an insufficient treatment of the abuse scandal.

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The Synod on Youth: An Exchange

NEW YORK (NY)
First Things

September 28, 2018

By Blase J. Cupich and Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap.

On September 21, Archbishop of Philadelphia Charles J. Chaput presented a critique of the Instrumentum Laboris for the 2018 Synod on Young People, sent to him by a respected North American theologian. Below we publish a response to this critique from Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, followed by a note from Chaput.

[By Cardinal Cupich]

The increasing use of anonymous criticism in American society does not necessarily contribute to healthy public discourse, but in fact can erode it. For this reason, the anonymous critique of the Instrumentum Laboris (IL) for the 2018 Synod, published by First Things on September 21, 2018, raises essential questions about the nature of theological dialogue in our Church and the problematic nature of some forms of anonymity. It also raises fundamental questions about why First Things would publish such an anonymous critique.

The mature vision of Donum Veritatis (On the Ecclesial Vocation of the Theologian), speaks of dialogue that is public and forthright in the search for truth, generous in spirit, fair in critique and balanced in tone. The anonymous critique published by First Things rejects these elements, substituting selectivity, condescension, and the deployment of partial truths to obfuscate the fullness of truth. Worse, this piece distorts the truth at many points and shows condescension toward the issues raised by the bishops’ conferences of the world on which the IL is based.

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Do You Pray for Priests?

NEW YORK (NY)
National Review

By Kathleen Beckman, interviewed by Kathryn Jean Lopez

September 29, 2018

An urgent need for all of us.

Pray for Priests. It’s the constant refrain of Kathleen Beckman, a friend and adviser to many of them. She is a founder of the Foundation for Prayer for Priests and the author of the upcoming Praying for Priests: An Urgent Call for the Salvation of Souls. At this time, when so much scandal is coming to light, it’s a call for more who believe in Christ and love their faith to take it more seriously. She talks about the priesthood and the Church and the call to prayer and sacrifice in an interview.

Kathryn Jean Lopez: Some of the news stories — certainly the August Pennsylvania grand-jury report — that have come out about abuse are unbearable to read. It all gives some window into the suffering of men and women who have experienced abuse at the hands of priests. What is your prayer for those who have suffered such abuse?

Kathleen Beckman: As unbearable as it is read the horrific accounts of clergy sexual abuse, we must face this reality if justice is to be done for the victims and the perpetrators. The victim’s pain is a heavy weight upon my heart. At daily Mass and holy hour, I pray that victims will experience Christ’s personal, transformative love. Intercessory prayer is powerful; it stirs God’s heart to intervene in miraculous ways. Fasting and offering up suffering is part of my intercession. As a layperson, I have a duty to pray and work toward building up the Body of Christ. The Church is my family — hearts are broken, minds are baffled, we are ashamed of sins and crimes, and ridiculed for staying. The Church is God’s family. He will purify and revive us. I pray that we will earn the back trust through necessary reform and renewal.

Lopez: Do you pray for the perpetrators? Do you pray for those who have died?

Beckman: Indeed, I pray for the living and dead perpetrators because love of God demands prayer for the conversion of sinners and salvation of souls. As president of the Foundation for Prayer for Priests apostolate, I sometimes receive correspondence from lay, deacon, or clergy prison chaplains. A deacon once wrote asking for prayer for an anonymous elderly priest who had been incarcerated for years — despondent over his horrible deeds, living in fear that he would be forever damned to hell. The chaplain described the daily agony of this priest’s tormented soul as self-hatred consumed him. For love of the Eternal High Priest, I pray for the priest “most in need of His mercy.” If we aim to be Christ-like, justice and mercy must intertwine as they did when Jesus hung on the Cross praying to His Father for the forgiveness of his murderers.

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Former bishops’ aide calls on Pope Francis to break silence on abuse

DENVER (CO)
Crux

By Christopher White

September 26, 2018

One of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s former closest collaborators and one of the U.S. Church’s leading crusaders for sex abuse reform, is calling on Pope Francis to break his silence about what the Vatican knew about the previous archbishop of Washington’s history of abuse and to act more decisively on the issue.

In the hope of ending the “silence and secrecy” surrounding the Church’s handling of abuse, John Carr – who served for two decades as the Capitol Hill point man for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) – also revealed that he was abused by priests while in high school seminary.

“Pope Francis has been too slow to understand and act on the moral and spiritual consequences of abuse. I believe his recent efforts to listen to victims/survivors, challenge destructive clericalism and call leaders of the entire church to Rome offer steps forward,” Carr told a crowd of over 500 attendees at Georgetown University’s Initiative for Catholic Social Thought and Public Life panel discussion on “Confronting a Moral Catastrophe: Lay Leadership, Catholic Social Teaching, and the Sexual Abuse Crisis.”

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Communiqué

VATICAN CITY
Holy See Press Office

September 28, 2018

Pope Francis has removed Fernando Karadima Fariña, of the archdiocese of Santiago de Chile, from the clerical state. The Holy Father has taken this exceptional decision in conscience and for the good of the Church.

The Holy Father has exercised his ordinary power, which is supreme, full, immediate and universal in the Church (cf. Code of Canon Law, canon 331), conscious of his service to the people of God as successor of Saint Peter.

The decree, signed by the Pope on Thursday, 27 September 2018, came into force automatically from that moment, and also implies the dispensation of all clerical obligations. Karadima Fariña was notified on Friday 28 September 2018.

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221 priests, 8 bishops face probes for abuse and cover-up in Chile

DENVER (CO)
Crux

By Inés San Martín

September 29, 2018

According to the latest count by the Chilean national prosecutor’s office, some 221 priests and 8 bishops are being investigated up and down the country on charges of sexual abuse and cover-up, all due to allegations made from the year 2000 to date.

In the total is Fernando Karadima, the country’s most infamous predator priest, who was removed from the clerical state by Pope Francis on Thursday in an “exceptional” decision communicated by the Vatican on Friday, the same day the man who once led an impressive lay movement in Santiago was informed.

Karadima had been found guilty by the Vatican in 2011, but instead of being removed from the priesthood at that time was sentenced to a life of penance and prayer.

To put the ongoing crisis of the Chilean Church in perspective, information gathered in three raids on two dioceses- Rancagua and Santiago- led prosecutor Emiliano Arias to open 70 investigations in the last three months. All of them, according to La Tercera, are against members of the Chilean bishops’ conference who allegedly had knowledge of abuses committed by clerics.

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Editorial: Publishing list a good start in regaining trust

MARIETTA (OH)
Marietta Times

September 29, 2018

The Steubenville Diocese, which includes some parishes in Washington County, has made an important and welcomed announcement. It will publish the names of priests in the diocese against whom credible allegations of sexual abuse have been made, and who have been removed from active ministry.

Good. It is encouraging to see such a move. Too much damage has been done already, because that information was kept in the dark.

Bishop Jeffery Monforton appears to have decided to do the right thing.

“He wants to get the trust back in the church,” said diocese communications director Dino Orsatti. “So much has been lost in different investigations over the years, and we want to make sure we are as open as possible.”

There is some question as to whether the diocese will publish the names of priests who are no longer living. If it truly wants to be as open as possible, it should.

“Even if the priest is dead, it helps the victims know they are not alone,” said Judy Block Jones, Midwest regional leader for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

According to Orsatti, the diocese already knows there may be legal consequences in publishing this list. Likely seeing names on the list will prompt more to come forward with allegations of abuse.

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Pope Francis invites the faithful to pray the Rosary in October

VATICAN CITY
Vatican News

September 29, 2018

A communiqué released by the Holy See’s Press Office on Saturday states that Pope Francis invites “all the faithful of all the world, to pray the Holy Rosary every day” during the Marian month of October.

The following is the full text of a comuniqué released on Saturday by the Holy See’s Press Office regarding an invitation extended by Pope Francis to all the faithful to join in praying the Rosary during the month of October:

Pope Francis’ invitation

The Holy Father has decided to invite all the faithful, of all the world, to pray the Holy Rosary every day, during the entire Marian month of October, and thus to join in communion and in penitence, as the people of God, in asking the Holy Mother of God and Saint Michael Archangel to protect the Church from the devil, who always seeks to separate us from God and from each other.

In recent days, before his departure for the Baltic States, the Holy Father met with Fr. Fréderic Fornos, S.J., international director of the World Network of Prayer for the Pope, and asked him to spread this appeal to all the faithful throughout the world, inviting them to conclude the recitation of the Rosary with the ancient invocation “Sub Tuum Praesidium”, and with the prayer to Saint Michael Archangel that he protect us and help us in the struggle against evil (cf. Revelation 12, 7-12).

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Abuse settlement from 2005 with Cardinal Wuerl’s name raises questions

WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

By Michelle Boorstein and Julie Zauzmer

September 29, 2018

Cardinal Donald Wuerl, who has said repeatedly that he didn’t know about years of sexual misconduct complaints involving his predecessor in the District, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, was named in a 2005 settlement agreement that included allegations against McCarrick, according to the accuser in the case and documents obtained by The Washington Post.

Robert Ciolek, who left the priesthood and later became an attorney, spoke for the first time publicly this summer about the $80,000 settlement he reached in June 2005 with three New Jersey dioceses over his allegations against McCarrick and a teacher at his Catholic high school. McCarrick led the church in Newark and Metuchen before coming to the District in 2001; Ciolek’s high school was in New Jersey as well.

In an interview with The Post this month, Ciolek said for the first time publicly that the settlement included allegations against a third person, a Pittsburgh priest Ciolek says made unwanted sexual contact with him in seminary, where the priest was a professor. The first page of the settlement agreement lists the Diocese of Pittsburgh and Wuerl, who supervised the priest as bishop of Pittsburgh at the time, among the numerous parties to the settlement. The agreement was signed by Ciolek and the three New Jersey dioceses.

Ciolek shared a copy of the settlement with The Post.

[American Catholics’ demands for reform intensify after letter implicates Pope Francis in sex abuse coverup]

The presence of Wuerl’s name on Ciolek’s settlement agreement raises questions about the cardinal’s assertion that he did not know about any allegations against McCarrick before they became a topic of public discussion this summer.

Wuerl’s D.C. spokesman, Ed McFadden, said this week that Wuerl had been unaware of the legal agreement.

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Editorial: Lawmakers have to deliver justice to abuse victims before Election Day

MECHANICSVILLE (PA)
PennLive

September 26, 2018

Bill Cosby. Harvey Weinstein. The Roman Catholic clergy named in the Pennsylvania grand jury report. Brett Kavanaugh.

They all have two things in common: They’ve been accused, to varying degrees, of sexual misconduct. And all face accusations involving incidents said to have happened years ago.

Victims deserve to be heard. They deserve justice. But the accused also must be afforded the opportunity to defend themselves, in a court of law if necessary, and not branded as criminals based on accusation alone.

Cosby had his day in court; a jury convicted him and a judge sent him to prison. Weinstein has been indicted and faces criminal prosecution. Kavanaugh and his accuser will appear at a U.S. Senate hearing Thursday.

The problem in nearly every one of these cases is that time degrades memory. While the central incident may be alive in a victim’s memory, circumstantial details fade.

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Seguirá recibiendo una pensión: El futuro de Fernando Karadima tras su expulsión del ministerio sacerdotal

[Fernando Karadima will continue to receive a pension after his expulsion from the priestly ministry]

CHILE
Emol

September 29, 2018

By Tomás Molina J.

Por orden papal, desde ayer el ex párroco ya no forma parte del clero, por lo que no podrá residir en el hogar donde cumplía su condena eclesial. Eso sí, seguirá recibiendo una pensión “mínima”.

¿Cuál será el futuro de Fernando Karadima? Esa es una las principales dudas que han surgido tras la determinación del Papa Francisco de, finalmente, expulsarlo ayer del sacerdocio producto de los abusos sexuales a menores perpetrados por el ex párroco de El Bosque. Por lo anterior ya se encontraba cumpliendo una pena vitalicia de penitencia y oración en el hogar de ancianos San José de las religiosas de la congregación de Santa Teresa Jornet, residencia ubicada en la comuna de Lo Barnechea.

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Erie university strikes former bishop’s name from building

PITTSBURGH (PA)
Tribune-Review

September 29, 2018

Gannon University Friday joined the list of Catholic institutions citing the Aug. 14 Pennsylvania grand jury report on clergy sexual abuse in a decision to revoke honors accorded a former bishop.

GoErie first reported news of the Catholic university’s decision Friday afternoon.

Fallout from the grand jury report that said 301 priests abused about 1,000 children across Pennsylvania over seven decades has rippled across Pennsylvania and the nation over the last six weeks.

GoErie reported that Gannon University trustees voted to strike retired Bishop Donald W. Trautman’s name from a campus building on its downtown Erie campus, revoked an honorary degree it had bestowed on the bishop who headed the diocese from 1990-2012 and canceled a lecture series that bore his name.

Trautman, 82, who came under fire in the report for not moving aggressively on allegations of clergy sexual abuse defended his record saying he had disciplined and defrocked pedophile priests.

GoErie quoted Trautman as calling Gannon’s decision “unjust and unchristian.”

Gannon said it was following Catholic tradition of “giving voice to victims.”

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El camino a la expulsión de Karadima: Cronología de la crisis que vive la Iglesia Católica en Chile

[The road to Karadima’s expulsion: Chronology of the crisis in Chile’s Catholic Church]

CHILE
Emol

September 28, 2018

El Papa Francisco puso fin a la carrera sacerdotal del ex párroco de El Bosque, uno de los casos más simbólicos de abusos sexuales cometidos por integrantes del clero en nuestro país. La Fiscalía Nacional contabiliza casi 180 víctimas.

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Expulsión de Karadima: La conducta “difícil de controlar” del ex párroco mientras cumplía su anterior condena canónica

[Karadima Expulsion: Former priest showed “difficult to control” behavior during his previous canonical sentence]

SANTIAGO, CHILE
Emol

September 29, 2018

Fue el vicario judicial del Arzobispado de Santiago, Jaime Ortiz de Lazcano, quien comunicó la decisión papal al ahora ex presbítero. “Impactado, molesto y dolido”, habría sido su reacción.

“Impactado, molesto y dolido”. Esa habría sido la reacción del ex párroco de El Bosque, Fernando Karadima, luego de que durante la mañana de ayer el vicario judicial del Arzobispado de Santiago, Jaime Ortiz de Lazcano, llegara hasta el hogar San José de Lo Barnechea para comunicarle la decisión tomada por el Papa Francisco: despojarlo de su estado clerical.

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Denunciantes protestan frente a casa marista y acusan que allí viven 7 religiosos implicados en abusos sexuales

[Whistleblowers protest in front of Marist house, claiming 7 clergy members involved in sexual abuse live there]

CHILE
El Mostrador

September 27, 2018

La protesta llegó a un punto de máxima tensión cuando Paola Givovich, hermana de uno de los denunciantes, ingresó a la residencia y pidió que el marista Adolfo Fuentes “diera la cara”.

Un grupo de denunciantes y sobrevivientes de abusos sexuales del denominado caso Maristas protestaron este jueves frente a la casa de la congregación ubicada frente a la Nunciatura Apostólica en Providencia. Con carteles, lienzos y gritos, los manifestantes denunciaron que en la residencia viven 7 religiosos acusados de abusos, informó Cooperativa.

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La Iglesia católica no para: manual del Arzobispado califica abusos sexuales como muestras de afecto “inapropiadas”

[The Catholic Church does not stop: the Archdiocese’s manual describes sexual abuses as “inappropriate” displays of affection]

CHILE
El Mostrador

September 29, 2019

Este viernes se filtró un documento llamado “Orientaciones que fomentan el Buen Trato y la Sana Convivencia Pastoral”, que está firmado por Ricardo Ezzati, donde se señalan algunas medidas y recomendaciones para que los sacerdotes no estén envueltos en polémicas, justo cuando la iglesia católica está cuestionada por los abusos sexuales a menores. Precisamente, uno de los puntos del manual habla sobre eso, dando algunos consejos

Durante la jornada del viernes, se hizo público un manual que el Arzobispado de Santiago le está enviando a los sacerdotes, donde les indica cómo deben actuar con los menores, para no ser acusados de abuso sexual. El documento, firmado por el mismo Ricardo Ezzati, se titula “Orientaciones que fomentan el Buen Trato y la Sana Convivencia Pastoral”. En él, se detallan siete puntos para la sana convivencia pastoral.

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Pope Francis defrocks Chilean priest at center of sexual abuse scandal

CHILE
Associated Press

September 28, 2018

By Nicole Winfield

Pope Francis has defrocked a Chilean priest who was a central character in the global sex abuse scandal rocking his papacy, invoking his “supreme” authority to stiffen an earlier sentence because of the “exceptional amount of damage” the priest’s crimes had caused.

In a statement Friday, the Vatican said Francis had laicized 88-year-old Rev. Fernando Karadima, who was originally sanctioned in 2011 to live a lifetime of “penance and prayer” for having sexually abused minors in the upscale Santiago parish he ran.

The Vatican said Francis was doing so for “the good of the church.”

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September 28, 2018

Más vale tarde que nunca: Papa Francisco expulsa a Karadima del sacerdocio

[Better late than never: Pope Francis exiles Karadima from the priesthood]

CHILE
El Mostrador

September 28, 2018

A través de un comunicado del Vaticano, se informó que el Papa “ha tomado esta decisión excepcional en conciencia y por el bien de la Iglesia”. Una de las víctimas de Karadima, Juan Carlos Cruz, agradeció el gesto del Papa contra “este hombre que le ha hecho daño a tanta gente”. La expulsión del ex párroco de El Bosque se produce a días de la decisión que afectó al ex vicario de la Solidaridad, Cristián Precht, otra figura emblemática de los casos de abusos dentro de la Iglesia católica chilena.

A días de sacar del sacerdocio a Cristián Precht, el Papa Francisco volvió a golpear la mesa y decidió dimitir del estado clerical al otrora poderoso ex párroco de El Bosque, Fernando Karadima Fariña.

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Sobreseen a tres de los sacerdotes investigados por caso “La Cofradía” de Rancagua

[Three priests cleared in investigation of “La Cofradía” of Rancagua]

SANTIAGO, CHILE
Emol

September 28, 2018

By Tomás Molina J.

El Ministerio Público no logró acreditar ningún delito cometido por Gino Bonomo, Aquiles Correa y Fernando Armijo. Este último era sindicado como el eventual líder de la organización, lo que finalmente fue descartado.

Tres de los al menos 14 sacerdotes que la fiscalía de O’Higgins investiga en el marco del denominado caso “La Cofradía” de Rancagua, fueron sobreseídos ayer por el Juzgado de Garantía de Pichilemu. En esta causa en la en que se indagan presuntos abusos sexuales cometidos por los religiosos, algunos contra menores de edad.

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Monseñor Ramos se declara sorprendido por expulsión de Karadima: “Una decisión largamente anhelada”

[Monsignor Ramos is surprised by Karadima’s expulsion: “A long-awaited decision”]

CHILE
BioBioChile

September 28, 2018

By Guido Focacci

El secretario general de la Conferencia Episcopal, monseñor Fernando Ramos, se refirió esta tarde a la decisión del papa Francisco de de dimitir del estado clerical a Fernando Karadima. “La tomo, en primer lugar, como una decisión largamente anhelada por mucha gente y que hace justicia, creo yo. Porque están más que demostrados los delitos que él cometió y eso es absolutamente incompatible con el ejercicio del ministerio sacerdotal”, dijo Ramos en entrevista con Podría ser Peor, de Radio Bío Bío.

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La emoción de Juan Carlos Cruz tras expulsión de su abusador: “Nunca pensé que llegaría este día”

[Emotional Juan Carlos Cruz after Karadima’s expulsion: “I never thought this day would come”]

CHILE
BioBioChile

September 28, 2018

By Valentina González

Uno de los principales denunciantes de Fernando Karadima, Juan Carlos Cruz, valoró la decisión de expulsar del sacerdocio al exreligioso, hallado culpable por la Iglesia de abusos sexuales contra menores. “El pedófilo Karadima expulsado del sacerdocio. Nunca pensé que vería este día. Un hombre que le arruinó la vida a tantas personas“, escribió Juan Carlos, una de sus víctimas.

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Papa Francisco expulsó a Fernando Karadima del sacerdocio a 8 años de conocerse sus abusos

[Pope Francis expels Fernando Karadima from the priesthood 8 years after his abuses were known]

CHILE
BioBioChile

September 28, 2018

By Felipe Delgado and Nicole Martínez

El Vaticano dio a conocer este viernes la decisión del papa Francisco de dimitir de su estado clerical a Fernando Karadima, ahora exsacerdote que fue hallado culpable por la Iglesia Católica como autor de abusos sexuales, esto tras una investigación canónica.

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Vaticano por Karadima: “Estábamos ante caso muy serio de podredumbre y había que arrancarlo de raíz”

[Vatican spokesman on Karadima: “We were facing a very serious case of rot and it had to be rooted out”]

CHILE
BioBioChile

September 28, 2018

By Guido Focacci and Nicole Martínez

Greg Burke, director de la Oficina de Prensa de la Santa Sede, se refirió también a la expulsión del sacerdocio de Fernando Karadima por parte del propio papa Francisco. “Hay dos claves para entender este decreto, la primera, que el Papa lo hace en conciencia. La segunda, la motivación: por el bien de la Iglesia. El papa Francisco está actuando como pastor, como padre, por el bien de todo el pueblo de dios”, dijo el vocero del Vaticano.

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“Es un excelente signo para la Iglesia universal”: El análisis de experto en historia católica sobre la expulsión de Karadima del sacerdocio

[“It is an excellent sign for the universal Church”: The analysis of an expert in Catholic history on Karadima’s expulsion from the priesthood]

CHILE
La Tercera

September 28, 2018

By Carla Pía Ruiz

Marcial Sánchez, doctor en Historia y autor de libros sobre la iglesia chilena, afirmó a La Tercera que “lo que hoy el Papa ha tomado por decisión es, por justicia, lo que debería haber hecho hace tiempo”.

“Era uno de los hombres más depredadores que hemos tenido en la historia de Chile”. Con estas palabras, Marcial Sánchez, doctor en Historia y especialista en la Iglesia Católica chilena, valoró este viernes la decisión del Papa Francisco de expulsar del sacerdocio a Fernando Karadima.

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Ezzati sobre expulsión de Karadima: El “nunca más” también debe ser “una realidad en nuestra Iglesia de Santiago”

[Ezzati on the expulsion of Karadima: The “never again” must also be “a reality in our Church of Santiago”]

CHILE
La Tercera

September 28, 2018

By Angelica Baeza

El arzobispo de Santiago, mediante un comunicado de prensa, indicó que “los católicos de Santiago y la gente de buena voluntad estamos llamados a acoger esta determinación del Santo Padre”.

Luego de que la Santa Sede informara la expulsión de Fernando Karadima, el arzobispo de Santiago Ricardo Ezzati, emitió un comunicado de prensa en el que dice que el Papa Francisco tomó una decisión dentro de sus facultades y que espera que estos casos de abusos sexuales no ocurran nunca más.

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Las particularidades en la expulsión de Fernando Karadima

[The details of Fernando Karadima’s expulsion]

CHILE
La Tercera

September 28, 2018

By Angelica Baeza

El abogado canónico Camilo Cortés, asegura que “lo que hizo es Papa lo hizo como pastor de la Iglesia, corrigiendo una decisión que se tuvo que tomar mucho antes”.

En 2010 se dieron a conocer las denuncias de abuso sexual en contra de Fernando Karadima, quien fuera párroco de El Bosque. Seis años más tarde la Doctrina de la Fe lo declara culpable y lo confina a una vida de oración, alejado de la vida clerical. Y hoy 28 de septiembre de 2018 ocurrió lo que muchos ya pensaban no pasaría. El Papa Francisco lo notifica de su expulsión del sacerdocio. ¿Pero en realidad que significa esto?

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1st U.S. cardinal ousted over sex abuse to live ‘life of prayer and penance’ in Kansas

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

September 28, 2018

By Judy L. Thomas

Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who stepped down in July over credible allegations that he sexually abused seminarians and minors for decades, is now living in a friary in Kansas.

The Archdiocese of Washington confirmed McCarrick’s residency in a statement issued Friday.

“In late July 2018, our Holy Father Pope Francis requested that Archbishop Theodore McCarrick withdraw from all public ministry and events,” the statement said. “To that end, Archbishop McCarrick now resides at St. Fidelis Friary in Victoria, Kansas, in the Diocese of Salina, with the permission of the Provincial Superior of the Franciscan Capuchin Community responsible for the Friary, Fr. Christopher Popravak, O.F.M. Cap., and the Bishop of Salina, Most Reverend Gerald Vincke.”

The statement added that “out of consideration for the peace of the community at St. Fidelis Friary, respect for the privacy of this arrangement is requested.”

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Duluth priest sues ex-Duluth cop, his ‘credible’ abuse victim, and wins. Wait, what?

DULUTH (MN)
City Pages

September 27, 2018

By Mike Mullen

A priest and a former cop walk into a courtroom.

Do not stop us; you have not heard this one before.

And even if you read the strange little tale told in Minnesota Lawyer, it’s hard to make heads or tails of this one. Even the “long story, short” takes some explaining.

William Graham, a Roman Catholic priest with St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Duluth, was sued in 2016 by T.J. Davis Jr., a former parishioner who attended Cathedral Senior High School (later rechristened Marshall School) in that port city some 40 years ago.

Davis, who as an adult joined the Duluth Police force, claimed in his lawsuit Graham had abused him during his high school years. That claim meant Graham was automatically put on “administrative leave” from his job with the church, and therefore went without a $500 stipend as the civil case played out in court.

This displeased the priest, who was later found — as part of a massive clergy sex abuse action that has bankrupted the Diocese of Duluth — to be a “credibly accused” perpetrator. So Graham, the reverend, took the rarely-if-ever seen step of suing his accuser, alleging Davis had purposely tried robbing him of his livelihood … by suing him, for sexual abuse.

And a jury agreed.

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Jehovah’s Witnesses ordered by jury to pay $35M to abuse survivor

HELENA (MT)
The Associated Press

September 27,.2018

The defendant said the church covered up her sexual abuse as a child at the hands of a congregation member.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses must pay $35 million to a woman who says the church’s national organization ordered Montana clergy members not to report her sexual abuse as a child at the hands of a congregation member, a jury ruled in a verdict.

A judge must review the penalty, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ national organization — Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York — plans to appeal.

Still, the 21-year-old woman’s attorneys said Wednesday’s verdict sends a message to the church to report child abuse to outside authorities.

“Hopefully that message is loud enough that this will cause the organization to change its priorities in a way that they will begin prioritizing the safety of children so that other children aren’t abused in the future,” said attorney Neil Smith Thursday.

The Office of Public Information at the World Headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses responded to the verdict with an unsigned statement.

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64 Syracuse area clergy abuse victims among 981 NYers to get paid by Catholic church

SYRACUSE (NY)
syracuse.com

September 28, 2018

By Julie McMahon

Sixty-four Central New Yorkers are among the nearly 1,000 victims of clergy sexual abuse in New York state who plan to take settlements from the Catholic church.

The victim compensation program offered through the Catholic Diocese of Syracuse is nearing its conclusion after about seven months. Victims have started to receive and accept financial offers in Syracuse and across the state.

Program administrator Camille Biros said in five New York dioceses, there were 1,262 claims. From that, 1,133 offers were made. As of Thursday afternoon, 981 signed releases to settle the claims.

In Syracuse, 85 victims were invited to participate in the program. That’s more than the 76 “credible” victims the church has previously acknowledged publicly.

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Chilean hero expelled from priesthood over sex abuse charges

ROME
Crux

September 16, 2018

By Inés San Martín

A priest who was once a national hero in Chile, and who now finds himself another casualty of that country’s massive clerical sexual abuse crisis, has been expelled from the priesthood by Pope Francis after being found guilty of abusing minors and vulnerable adults.

The Archdiocese of Santiago in Chile released a statement on Saturday saying that Cardinal Luis Ladaria, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, had notified the Chilean Church that on Sept. 12 Francis had decreed, “with no possibility of appeal,” the “removal from clerical state ‘ex officio et pro bono Ecclesiae’” of Father Cristián Precht Bañados.

Precht, who rose to fame in Chile for his defense of human rights during the government of dictator Augusto Pinochet, had already been suspended from ministry from 2012-2017 after the CDF found him guilty of abusing both minors and adults.

The former priest had played a key role during the visit of St. John Paul II to Chile in 1987, serving as the vice-president of the local organizing committee and also as head of liturgies.

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Vaticano sanciona con expulsión del estado clerical a Cristián Precht

Vatican sanctions Cristián Precht with expulsion from the clerical state

SANTIAGO
24Horas.cl Tvn

September 15, 2018

La determinación fue confirmada por el Papa Francisco y comunicada por la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe.

Este sábado el Arzobispado de Santiago informó que el Papa Francisco sancionó con dimisión inapelable del sacerdocio al exvicario Cristián Precht.

A través de un comunicado, el Arzobispado de Santiago confirmó que “el Santo Padre Francisco ha decretado, de forma inapelable: La dimisión del estado clerical ‘ex officio et pro bono Ecclesiae’ y la dispensa de todas las obligaciones unidas a la sagrada ordenación, del Rev. Cristián Precht Bañados. El mismo decreto establece que el obispo comunique a la brevedad la nueva situación canónica del afectado al pueblo de Dios”.

De esta manera, Precht, quien recurrió a la justicia con recursos de amparo y protección, dejará de ser sacerdote.

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Papa Francisco decreta expulsión del sacerdote Cristián Precht

Pope Francis decrees expulsion of priest Cristián Precht

SANTIAGO
Emol / Agencias

September 15, 2018

By Camila Gálvez

El Arzobispado de Santiago informó que el prefecto de la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe, cardenal Luis F. Ladaria, S.J. les notificó este sábado su decisión.

A través de un comunicado el Arzobispado de Santiago dio a conocer que el prefecto de la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe, cardenal Luis F. Ladaria, S.J., los notificó este sábado de la decisión del Papa Francisco de decretar la expulsión del sacerdote Cristián Precht.

“La dimisión del estado clerical ‘ex officio et pro bono Ecclesiae’ y la dispensa de todas las obligaciones unidas a la sagrada ordenación, del Rev. Cristián Precht Bañados. El mismo decreto establece que el obispo comunique a la brevedad la nueva situación canónica del afectado al pueblo de Dios”, informaron.

El religioso es indagado por denuncias de abusos sexuales a menores en el marco del caso Maristas.

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Über die Täter

About the perpetrators

GERMANY
Frankfurter Allgemeine

September 24, 2018

By Lydia Rosenfelder

Am Dienstag stellen die deutschen Bischöfe eine Studie über Kindesmissbrauch vor. Nur ein Viertel der Fälle wird beleuchtet – doch schon das hat es in sich.

Am Dienstag wird die Studie über sexuellen Kindesmissbrauch in der katholischen Kirche vorgestellt. Sie liefert wichtige Erkenntnisse. Zum Beispiel erklärt sie, welches Verhältnis zwischen Tätern und Opfern besonders riskant ist. Etwa dieses: Ein Junge, gerade in der Pubertät, wird von seinen Eltern auf ein katholisches Internat geschickt. Er wird nicht gefragt, er muss sich fügen. Im Internat hat er Heimweh. Ein Erzieher nimmt sich seiner an. Der Erzieher ist selbst einsam und zudem noch unreif. Er wird zudringlicher, der Schüler zieht sich zurück, spürt etwas „Fremdes“ im Verhalten des Mannes. Doch ihm fehlt der Mut, das auszusprechen. Der Erzieher fühlt sich nur noch stärker zu ihm hingezogen, immer wieder bedrängt und nötigt er den Jungen sexuell. Rückblickend schildert der Mann das als Ausdruck eines unkontrollierbaren Impulses. Das Verhältnis schlägt in Gewalt um. Die Autoren der Studie schreiben: Der Erzieher sei in dieser Beziehung, auch für ihn selbst überraschend, mit der ganzen Intensität seiner Gefühlswelt, Erotik und Sexualität konfrontiert worden. Damit er weitermachen kann, setzt er den Jungen unter Druck. Macht ihm Versprechungen, droht Strafen an. Der Junge wird schließlich so stark von ihm misshandelt, dass die Internatsleitung darauf aufmerksam wird. Der Erzieher wird versetzt.

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Ein tiefer Blick in die dunkle Vergangenheit

A deep look into the dark past

GERMANY
Frankfurter Allgemeine

September 25, 2018

By Daniel Deckers

Die Ergebnisse eines Forschungsprojekts über den Missbrauch innerhalb der katholischen Kirche erschüttern selbst die erfahrensten Wissenschaftler. Die Reaktion der Kirche: Sie will sich bessern – wieder einmal.

Sie waren alle drei Messdiener. In der „MHG-Studie“, wie der Projektbericht „Sexueller Missbrauch an Minderjährigen durch katholische Priester, Diakone und männliche Ordensangehörige im Bereich der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz“ kurzgefasst heißt, kommen sie vor. Nicht namentlich, denn in der Studie gibt es weder Namen noch Orte. Auch keine Täter, nicht einmal Opfer. Die Rede ist von Betroffenen, wie den drei Kindern, und Beschuldigten, wie ihrem Peiniger.

Ihm, einem katholischen Priester, hat man seine Untaten nachweisen können. Sie wurden sogar dokumentiert. Das war nicht immer so. Manch andere Täter tauchen in den Akten oder in Berichten von Betroffenen nur als Beschuldigte auf. Was wirklich vorgefallen ist, wird man nie erfahren. Viele sind längst verstorben, andere lassen sich nicht mehr identifizieren. Personalakten oder andere Dokumente seien in unbekannter Zahl „vernichtet oder manipuliert worden“, stellen die Wissenschaftler der Universitäten Mannheim, Heidelberg und Gießen (daher das Akronym MHG) um den Forschungskoordinator Harald Dreßing fest. Und wenn man ihrer doch habhaft werden konnte, dann erwiesen sie sich als „ausgesprochen heterogen und ohne einheitliche Standards“. Nicht-Wissen-Wollen als System? Dreßing, der als forensischer Psychiater in mehr als dreißig Jahren vieles gesehen und erlebt hat, zeigte sich am Dienstag in einer persönlichen Bemerkung ob des Ausmaßes von sexueller Gewalt in der katholischen Kirche in Deutschland und dem Umgang damit „erschüttert“.

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Sexueller Missbrauch

Sexual abuse

GERMANY
Deutschen Bischofskonferenz

September 25, 2018

Seit Ende Januar 2010 wird durch die bekannt gewordenen Fälle sexuellen Missbrauchs am Canisius-Kolleg in Berlin eine öffentliche Debatte zu diesem Thema geführt. Bischof Dr. Stephan Ackermann (Trier) ist Beauftragter der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz für Fragen des sexuellen Missbrauchs im kirchlichen Bereich und für Fragen des Kinder- und Jugendschutzes. Lesen Sie auf dieser Themenseite mehr zu den relevanten Aspekten.

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Forscher setzen Kirche im Missbrauchsskandal unter Druck

Researchers press church in the abuse scandal

GERMANY
Radio Bamberg

September 25, 2018

Fulda (dpa) – Eine erschütternde Studie über jahrzehntelangen sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern und Jugendlichen bringt die katholische Kirche in Deutschland unter Reformdruck.

Die in Fulda vorgestellte Untersuchung zeigt nicht nur die erheblichen Verfehlungen katholischer Kleriker in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten auf, sondern benennt auch problematische Strukturen, die Missbrauchsfälle auch heute begünstigen könnten. Der Leiter der Studie, Harald Dreßing, betonte, die Missbrauchsthematik sei daher keineswegs überwunden. «Das Risiko besteht fort», sagte er.

Die Studie ergab unter anderem, dass zwischen 1946 und 2014 mindestens 1670 katholische Kleriker 3677 meist männliche Minderjährige missbraucht haben sollen.

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MHG-Studie: Sexueller Missbrauch an Minderjährigen durch Kleriker

MHG study: Sexual abuse of minors by clerics

GERMANY
ZI

September 24, 2018

By Harald Dreßing

Ziel des Forschungsprojektes war es, die Häufigkeit des sexuellen Missbrauchs Minderjähriger durch Kleriker im Verantwortungsbereich der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz zu ermitteln. Darüber hinaus wurden die Formen des Missbrauchs beschrieben und kirchliche Strukturen und Dynamiken identifiziert, die Missbrauchsgeschehen begünstigen können.

Mit einem interdisziplinären wissenschaftlichen Ansatz, der kriminologische, psychologische, soziologische, psychiatrische und forensisch-psychiatrische Kompetenz einbezieht, haben die Forscher von 2014 bis 2018 im Auftrag der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz den Missbrauch in einem Umfang untersucht, der in keiner der bisher publizierten nationalen und internationalen Studien zu dieser Thematik in dieser Breite zu finden ist. Alle 27 Diözesen Deutschlands hatten sich vertraglich verpflichtet, am Forschungsprojekt teilzunehmen.

Neben Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftlern des Zentralinstituts für Seelische Gesundheit waren auch Forscher des Instituts für Kriminologie sowie des Instituts für Gerontologie der Universität Heidelberg und des Bereichs Kriminologie, Jugendstrafrecht und Strafvollzug der Universität Gießen beteiligt (MHG-Studie steht für Mannheim, Heidelberg, Gießen). Prof. Dr. Harald Dreßing, Leiter Forensische Psychiatrie am ZI, koordinierte das Forschungskonsortium. Das gesamte Projekt gliederte sich in sieben Teilprojekte (TP1 bis TP7):

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Leitender Forscher beklagt mangelnden Aufklärungswillen in Kirche

Leading researcher laments lack of education in church

GERMANY
Epoch Times

September 25, 2018

Der Wissenschaftler Harald Dreßing beklagt einen mangelnden Aufklärungswillen in weiten Teilen der Kirche. Die Missbrauchsthematik sei keineswegs überwunden und das Risiko bestehe weiter fort.

Der Wissenschaftler Harald Dreßing, der das Studienprojekt über Missbrauch in der deutschen katholischen Kirche geleitet hat, beklagt einen mangelnden Aufklärungswillen in weiten Teilen der Institution. Das Ausmaß des sexuellen Missbrauchs von Kindern und Jugendlichen als auch „der Umgang der Verantwortlichen damit“ hätten die Forscher „erschüttert“, sagte Dreßing am Dienstag in Fulda bei der Vorstellung der Untersuchung.

Er betonte, die Missbrauchsthematik sei keineswegs überwunden. „Das Risiko besteht fort“, sagte der forensische Psychiater, der am Zentralinstitut für Seelische Gesundheit in Mannheim arbeitet. „Unsere Studienergebnisse legen nahe, dass es in der katholischen Kirche Strukturen gab und gibt, die den sexuellen Missbrauch begünstigen können“, sagte er. Gründe dafür seien beispielsweise der Missbrauch klerikaler Macht, die Verpflichtung der Priester zur Ehelosigkeit (Zölibat) sowie ein innerkirchlich „problematischer Umgang“ mit dem Thema Sexualität, vor allem mit der Homosexualität.

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Pope removes notorious Chilean abuser from the priesthood

ROME
Crux

September 28, 2018

By Inés San Martín

Seven years after Fernando Karadima was found guilty by the Vatican of sexually abusing minors and sentenced to a life of penitence and prayer, Pope Francis has made the “exceptional” decision to remove him from the priesthood.

A Vatican statement released on Friday said the decision was made “in conscience and for the good of the Church.”

The now former priest had been found guilty of abuse by the Vatican in 2011, and had been sentenced to a life of penitence and prayer.

Karadima was never sentenced by Chilean courts due to the country’s statute of limitations.

To this day, it’s unknown how many people were sexually abused by Karadima. Presumably, the number of people who were psychologically abused, victims of his abuse of power, or who had their consciences manipulated by the priest, is even larger.

In the 1980s and 1990s Karadima led a one-time impressive lay movement from his parish in El Bosque, Chile, with some 40 young men finding their vocation to the priesthood there. Four of these men, who formed his “iron circle,” were later made bishops.

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Accuser blasts pope silence, ‘slander’ over cover-up claims

VATICAN CITY
The Associated Press

September 28, 2018

By Nicole Winfield

The former Vatican ambassador who accused three popes and their advisers of covering up for a disgraced American ex-cardinal has challenged the Vatican to say what it knows about the scandal and accused Pope Francis of mounting a campaign of “subtle slander” against him.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano penned a new missive a month after his initial 11-page document sent shockwaves through the Catholic Church. It was uploaded to a document-sharing site late Thursday.

Vigano denounced the official Vatican silence about his claims and urged the current head of the Vatican bishops’ office to speak out, saying he has all the documentation needed to prove years of cover-up by the Vatican about alleged sexual misconduct by ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

“How can one avoid concluding that the reason they do not provide the documentation is that they know it confirms my testimony?” Vigano wrote. “The pope’s unwillingness to respond to my charges and his deafness to the appeals by the faithful for accountability are hardly consistent with his calls for transparency and bridge building.”

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Bishops’ Victim Compensation Plan Ignores Greater Good

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics 4 Change

September 27, 2018

By Susan Matthews

Last week, Pennsylvania bishops issued a joint statement outlining a myopic and self-serving plan for compensating past victims of clergy child sex abuse.

Read the statement here.

In a PhillyCatholic.com editorial on the statement, Archbishop Chaput seemingly boasts about how the archdiocesan victim’s assistance program “has quietly served hundreds of abuse victims and their families for more than 15 years and underwritten their therapy and care in an amount totaling more than $18 million.”

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Protecting children, vulnerable adults: Diocese outlines policies and procedures dealing with abuse by clergy

DAVENPORT (IA)
The Catholic Messenger

September 2018

By Barb Arland-Fye

Catholics in the Diocese of Davenport and around the country want to know what they can do to prevent clergy sexual abuse and its cover up from ever happening again. Their outrage and call for action comes after news broke this summer about some bishops’ culpability in covering up clergy sexual abuse committed decades ago.

What they may not know is that the Davenport Diocese’s rigorous policies and procedures to protect children and vulnerable adults from clergy sexual abuse appear to be having a positive effect. Bishops, priests and deacons are members of the clergy.

In 2002, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) approved the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People which was implemented in dioceses across the country, including the Davenport Diocese. Allegations of abuse of minors or vulnerable adults have been reported in the Davenport Diocese since then, but none allege abuse that occurred post-2002, said diocesan Chief of Staff Deacon David Montgomery.

“The Dallas Charter is working,” writes Stephen J. Rossetti in America magazine (Sept. 20). “Abuse rates in the Catholic Church have fallen dramatically,” added Rossetti, who assisted the U.S. bishops’ committee on the drafting of the charter.

Deacon Montgomery provided statistics of allegations the diocese has received over the past five years. All of the allegations relate to abuse reported to have occurred more than 20 years ago:

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Statement on Archbishop Theodore McCarrick’s Residence

WASHINGTON (DC)
Archdiocese of Washington

September 28, 2018

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In late July 2018, our Holy Father Pope Francis requested that Archbishop Theodore McCarrick withdraw from all public ministry and events. To that end, Archbishop McCarrick now resides at St. Fidelis Friary in Victoria, Kansas in the Diocese of Salina, with the permission of the Provincial Superior of the Franciscan Capuchin Community responsible for the Friary, Fr. Christopher Popravak, O.F.M.Cap., and the Bishop of Salina, Most Reverend Gerald Vincke.

Out of consideration for the peace of the community at St. Fidelis Friary, respect for the privacy of this arrangement is requested.

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Why a victim of sexual abuse by a Broome priest gave his compensation back to the church

BINGHAMTON (NY)
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin

September 28, 2018

By Maggie Gilroy

When he was a child, a Broome County priest sexually abused him.

About 30 years later, the Catholic Diocese of Syracuse offered him money in compensation for the trauma he endured.

How the victim chose to spend it is a testament to the process of healing.

Now an adult no longer living in the area, the man is using the money to aid two Broome County food pantries and to purchase masses to be said for the victims of clerical sex abuse — as well as for their abusers.

He hopes the donation will demonstrate forgiveness and bring healing at a time when major bombshells — such as the Pennsylvania grand jury report of abuse by over 300 priests and allegations against former archbishop of Washington, D.C., Cardinal Theodore McCarrick — have triggered hurt and rage against the Catholic church.

“I didn’t feel that I needed to heal. But a lot of other people do,” the victim said. “And that’s why I’m doing what I’m doing. There is a tremendous amount of hurt and anger and sorrow and suffering out there, which is all entirely valid and lamentable, and I hope bit by bit can be mitigated and maybe even brought to a sense of peace and comfort somehow.”

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‘Wave’ of local victims may come forward

STEUBENVILLE (OH)
The Marietta Times

September 28, 2018

By Michael Kelly

Diocese of Steubenville will publish names of abusers in October

The Diocese of Steubenville, which includes several parishes in Washington County, announced Wednesday it will publish the names of priests in the diocese against whom credible allegations of sex abuse have been made and who have been removed from active ministry.

Diocese Communications director Dino Orsatti said Wednesday the list, which is expected to include between 12 and 20 names, will appear on the diocese website around the end of October.

Both Orsatti and an advocate for victims expect that publication of the names is likely to bring a wave of victims forward, as has happened in other locations where the names of accused priests have been made public.

Judy Block Jones, Midwest regional leader for SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), said Wednesday the Diocese of Steubenville announcement is “a welcome step” but further measures are needed.

Jones, who now lives in the St. Louis area but grew up in southeast Ohio, said she has heard from several people who have stories of abuse in Washington, Belmont and Noble counties but have not come forward publicly with accusations.

“It’s very quiet in that area, but I know about these things personally because the victims have contacted me directly,” she said. “These are small parishes, they’re afraid to come forward, and a lot of times they blame themselves even though they were just kids.”

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Galveston-Houston Archdiocese housing former Conroe priest accused of sex abuse at retirement community

HOUSTON (TX)
Houston Chronicle

September 28, 2018

By Nicole Hensley

A former Conroe priest facing decades-old child molestation accusations has been staying at a gated retirement community in southwest Houston while out on bail, according to officials.

The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston has been housing Manuel Larosa-Lopez at the St. Dominic Village along Holcombe Boulevard after he was released on a $375,000 bond two weeks ago, the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office confirmed. The property is fenced off save for a guarded driveway.

The diocese touts the village, which includes a senior home and about a dozen apartments for retired priests south of the Brays Bayou, as providing “all the comforts of home” on its website.

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Pennsylvania AG Shapiro: New information has surfaced since Catholic sex abuse report

HARRISBURG (PA)
Trib Live

September 27, 2018

By Deb Erdley

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro had no idea the flood gate he was opening last month, when he went public with a grand jury report on Catholic clergy sexual abuse.

The clergy sexual abuse hotline in the attorney general’s office has been ringing day and night for six weeks, tallying 1,181 new calls as of Thursday, he said.

“As a result of the heroism of the survivors (who testified before the grand jury), more and more survivors are finding voices,” Shapiro said.

He declined to discuss specifics about the deluge of new complaints.

“There has been a lot of useful information, helpful information and information we are working through right now,” he said. “And there has been information about matters we were not aware of.”

Shapiro said he also has fielded calls from attorneys general in 40 other states seeking to launch their own investigations. Within 10 days of the release of the Pennsylvania report, attorneys general in Missouri and Illinois launched investigations. Last week, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette did the same.

Likewise, the U.S. Justice Department has reached out to Pennsylvania’s top prosecutor.

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Toward a fair and reasonable way forward

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholic Philly

September 25, 2018

By Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap.

To the people of the Archdiocese:

Dear friends,

On Friday, September 21, the bishops of Pennsylvania issued a joint statement pledging substantial new financial aid for victims of clergy sexual abuse in decades past. I want to underline our commitment to helping abuse survivors, whether their claims are time-barred or not.

Perennial critics of the Church may dismiss the bishops’ statement; this is a regrettable part of today’s ugly political environment. But our local Church has proven the sincerity and scope of her commitment since I arrived here as Archbishop seven years ago. In fact, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Victims’ Assistance Program has quietly served hundreds of abuse victims and their families for more than 15 years and underwritten their therapy and care in an amount totaling more than $18 million.

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Pope defrocks priest at center of Chilean sexual abuse scandal: Vatican

VATICAN CITY
Reuters

September 28, 2018

By Philip Pullella

Pope Francis has defrocked Father Fernando Karadima, the 88-year-old priest at the center of the vast sexual abuse scandal in Chile, the Vatican said on Friday.

Chilean priest Fernando Karadima is seen inside the Supreme Court building in Santiago, Chile, November 11, 2015. REUTERS/Carlos Vera
Karadima was found guilty in a Vatican investigation in 2011 of abusing teenage boys over many years. He was ordered to live a life of prayer and penitence, but he was not defrocked.

Seven Chilean bishops have resigned since June following an investigation into an alleged cover-up of Karadima’s actions.

Karadima, who has always denied wrongdoing, escaped civilian justice because of the statute of limitations in the country.

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Pope defrocks Chilean priest at center of abuse scandal

VATICAN CITY
The Associated Press

September 28, 2018

By Nicole Winfield

Pope Francis has defrocked the Chilean priest at the center of the global sex abuse scandal rocking his papacy, invoking his “supreme” authority to stiffen a sentence originally handed down by a Vatican court in 2011.

In a statement Friday, the Vatican said Francis had laicized the 88-year-old Rev. Fernando Karadima, who was originally sanctioned to live a lifetime of “penance and prayer” for having sexually abused minors in the upscale Santiago parish he ran.

The “penance and prayer” sanction has been the Vatican’s punishment of choice for elderly priests convicted of raping and molesting children. It has long been criticized by victims as too soft and essentially an all-expenses-paid retirement.

The Vatican didn’t say what new evidence, if any, prompted Francis to re-evaluate Karadima’s sanction and impose what clergy consider to be the equivalent of a death sentence. It said Francis made the “exceptional decision” for the good of the church, and cited the church canon that lays out the pope’s “supreme, full, immediate and universal power” to serve the church.

The statement said the decree, signed Thursday, takes effect immediately and that Karadima was informed of it Friday.

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Pope Francis Defrocks Priest Fernando Karadima, A Notorious Abuser In Chile

CHILE
NPR

September 28, 2018

By Bill Chappell

Pope Francis has defrocked Chilean priest Fernando Karadima, making what the Vatican calls an “exceptional” decision based on his own conscience and concern for the good of the Catholic Church. Karadima has been the face of the Church’s abuse scandal in Chile.

The move is effective immediately. It was announced in a brief communique from the Vatican’s press office, stating that Francis had signed the decree removing Karadima from the priesthood on Thursday, and that Karadima was informed of the pope’s decision on Friday.

Karadima, 88, had already been forced to retire from ministerial duties, after a Vatican tribunal found him guilty in 2011 of sexually abusing dozens of minors, in a scandal that erupted in 2010.

In June, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of three bishops over the church’s handling of the sexual abuse cases — including Bishop Juan Barros of Osorno, who has been accused of covering up Karadima’s actions.

Barros was a protégé of Karadima, who was accused of abuse in cases that date back to the 1980s. Both of them have denied the claims against them.

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OPINION: With Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony, the dam of female rage has burst

CANADA
The Globe and Mail

September 27, 2018

By Elizabeth Renzetti

Women made time Thursday to gather around television sets and laptops to watch Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony to the U.S. Senate judiciary committee. Judging by the outpouring on social media, some of them were in tears. Some were enraged. Far too many of them understood, in the heart and the brain and the gut, what Prof. Blasey Ford meant when she said, “Brett’s assault on me drastically altered my life.”

Brett is of course Brett Kavanaugh, U.S. President Donald Trump’s choice for Supreme Court justice, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by two other women in addition to Prof. Blasey Ford. (Justice Kavanaugh denies the allegations.) The consequences of that day, at a drunken impromptu party in suburban Washington more than three decades ago, were evident in Prof. Blasey Ford’s shaking voice. She remembered that Mr. Kavanaugh pushed her into a room and locked the door and got on top of her and tried to remove her clothes and covered her mouth with his hand to stifle her screams. She remembered that he and his friend, also in the room, laughed uproariously. It was her most indelible memory, she told the committee: They were “having fun at my expense.”

Prof. Blasey Ford was too ashamed and afraid to tell anyone initially what had happened. Her schoolwork suffered, she testified. She had trouble making friends. The legacy of that day followed her into adulthood: When she renovated her house a few years ago, she insisted that two front doors be installed, a suggestion that at first mystified her husband, but is abundantly clear from the point of view of someone who is always looking for a way of escape.

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National Sexual Assault Hotline Spiked 147% During Christine Blasey Ford Hearing

UNITED STATES
TIME

September 27, 2018

By Abigail Abrams

When Christine Blasey Ford testified on Thursday in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee about her accusation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her 36 years ago, millions of Americans listened to her describe the intimate details of her alleged assault and the trauma she says she has lived with for decades since.

For many of those people, her words and the questions she was asked brought up personal memories. Some shared their experiences on social media, others talked to friends or co-workers and others called into news networks to publicly recall their incidents of assault. It turns out many people also called the National Sexual Assault Hotline looking for help.

The National Sexual Assault Hotline saw a 147 percent increase in calls on Thursday compared with a normal weekday on which sexual assault did not dominate the news, according to RAINN, a large anti-sexual violence organization that administers the hotline.

The organization told TIME it often sees an uptick in survivors asking for help when sexual assault is in the news.

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Catholic Diocese of Green Bay: Firm to review clergy files in wake of sexual abuse crisis

GREEN BAY (WI)
Green Bay Press-Gazette

September 27, 2018

By Shelby Le Duc

The Catholic Diocese of Green Bay, with the help of a third party investigator, is launching an investigation next month into of all of its priests and Deacons.

A Texas-based independent investigative firm will be conducting an “outside review of the files of all priests and deacons who have served in the diocese,” according to a Catholic Diocese of Green Bay news release.

“As we work to assure all clergy abuse cases have been identified and objectively reviewed, the diocese has arranged for Defenbaugh & Associates Inc., who specializes in this kind of work, to review files beginning in early October,” the release states.

The announcement of the investigation comes a week after news broke that retired Bishop Robert Morneau withdrew from public ministry. He said his exit was prompted by his failure to report a priest’s sexual abuse of a minor almost 40 years ago that allowed the priest to assault other youths.

In a letter to the diocese, Morneau admitted to failing to report to police a 1979 incident in which former priest David Boyea sexually abused a child. Boyea then went on to abuse more children, and in 1985 pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual assault of a child and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was also permanently removed from the priesthood.

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Archbishop Vigano issues new letter on Pope Francis and McCarrick

VATICAN CITY
CNA/EWTN News

September 27, 2018

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has issued a new letter addressing his allegation that senior prelates have been complicit in covering up alleged sex abuse by Archbishop Theodore McCarrick.

Headed with Archbishop Viganò’s episcopal motto, Scio Cui credidi (I know whom I have believed), the letter, dated Sept. 29, was released Sept. 27.

The former apostolic nuncio to the US prefaced his letter giving “thanks and glory to God the Father for every situation and trial that He has prepared and will prepare for me during my life. As a priest and bishop of the holy Church, spouse of Christ, I am called like every baptized person to bear witness to the truth … I intend to do so until the end of my days. Our only Lord has addressed also to me the invitation, “Follow me!”, and I intend to follow him with the help of his grace until the end of my days.”

He noted it has been a month since he released his testimony, “solely for the good of the Church,” alleging that Pope Francis and other high-ranking prelates knew of grave sexual sins committed by Archbishop McCarrick.

He said he chose to disclose the cover-up “after long reflection and prayer, during months of profound suffering and anguish, during a crescendo of continual news of terrible events … The silence of the pastors who could have provided a remedy and prevented new victims became increasingly indefensible, a devastating crime for the Church.”

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Jury: Jehovah’s Witnesses Must Pay $35M to Abuse Survivor

HELENA (MT)
The Associated Press

September 27, 2018

By Matt Volz

A Montana jury has ruled that the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization must pay $35 million to a woman who says the church covered up her sexual abuse as a child at the hands of a congregation member.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses must pay $35 million to a woman who says the church’s national organization ordered Montana clergy members not to report her sexual abuse as a child at the hands of a congregation member, a jury ruled in a verdict.

A judge must review the penalty, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ national organization — Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York — plans to appeal.

Still, the 21-year-old woman’s attorneys say Wednesday’s verdict sends a message to the church to report child abuse to outside authorities.

“Hopefully that message is loud enough that this will cause the organization to change its priorities in a way that they will begin prioritizing the safety of children so that other children aren’t abused in the future,” attorney Neil Smith said Thursday.

The Office of Public Information at the World Headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses responded to the verdict with an unsigned statement.

“Jehovah’s Witnesses abhor child abuse and strive to protect children from such acts. Watchtower is pursuing appellate review,” it said.

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Opus Dei Sex Abuse Case: An exclusive interview

SPAIN
AKA Catholic

September 24, 2018

By Randy Engel

AN INTERVIEW WITH MR. JUAN CUATRECASAS ON THE GAZTELUETA SEX ABUSE CASE
[Note: The following interview with Mr. Juan Cuatrecasas Asua is a follow-up to the detailed investigative report of the Gaztelueta sex abuse case by this writer that originally appeared as a two-part series, “The Gaztelueta Sex Abuse Case – Opus Dei On Trial,” on AKA Catholic HERE and HERE. The reader may want to refer to that report before reading this interview with Mr. Cuatrecasas, the victim’s father. The Gaztelueta case is expected to go to trial on October 4 to October 11, 2018, at the Audiencia provincial de Vizcaya (Bizcaia) in Basque, Spain. – R.E.]

Randy Engel: Thank you, Mr. Cuatrecasas, for agreeing to this interview. I am grateful that you write and speak English so well. Is this your first American interview on the Gaztelueta case?

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Bar Association asks judiciary committee to delay Kavanaugh vote: media

UNITED STATES
Reuters

September 28, 2018

The American Bar Association has called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to delay the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh so that the FBI can investigate the sexual assault accusations against him, the Washington Post reported.

Association President Robert Carlson requested the delay in a letter sent to the committee on Thursday evening, the Post reported, after a day of testimony by university professor Christine Blasey Ford who accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her 36 years ago, and by Kavanaugh who denied it.

“The basic principles that underscore the Senate’s constitutional duty of advice and consent on federal judicial nominees require nothing less than a careful examination of the accusations and facts by the FBI,” Carlson wrote to Chairman Charles Grassley and ranking committee Democrat Dianne Feinstein that, the Post reported.

Kavanaugh, a conservative federal appeals court judge chosen by President Donald Trump, said he was the victim of “grotesque and obvious character assassination” orchestrated by Senate Democrats.

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BREAKING: Viganò releases new ‘testimony’ responding to Pope’s silence on McCarrick cover-up

ROME
LifeSiteNews

September 27, 2018

By Diane Montagna

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has today issued a new extraordinary testimony, responding to Pope Francis’ refusal to answer the charge that he knew of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s sexual abuse, yet made McCarrick “one of his principal agents in governing the Church.”

In the four-page document (see below), the former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States also responds to the Pope’s recent homilies which seem to cast himself in the role of Christ and Viganò as the diabolical “Great Accuser.”

“Has Christ perhaps become invisible to his vicar? Perhaps is he being tempted to try to act as a substitute of our only Master and Lord?” Archbishop Viganò asks in the new statement, sent to LifeSiteNews today.

Given the symbolic date of September 29, the liturgical feast of St. Michael the Archangel, and bearing the Archbishop’s episcopal coat of arms and motto, Viganò:

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