ABUSE TRACKER

SAN JOSE (CA)
NBC Bay Area

October 19, 2018

By Michael Bott, Stephen Stock, and Jeremy Carroll

A man who says he was sexually abused by a San Jose priest said he’s speaking out for the first time after the priest dismissed those allegations on the news Thursday night as a “misunderstanding.”

That priest is Father Phil Sunseri, a Jesuit priest dismissed from the Society of Jesus in the late 1980’s after he was accused of sexual misconduct. He was one of 15 priests the San Jose Diocese said Thursday have been “credibly accused” of sexual abuse in the South Bay. One of Sunseri’s accusers said he’s now telling his story publicly for the first time to encourage other victims to report 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.

POWAY (CA)
Fox 5 TV San Diego

October 18, 2018

It was another packed house at the Saint Gabriel’s Conference Hall in Poway Thursday evening where the Catholic Diocese of San Diego held another in a series of “listening sessions” regarding systemic sexual misconduct by church leaders reported across the country.

Church officials say the sessions are designed to give members of the public a chance to speak out, ask questions and suggest ways the church can do better. “A lot of it really boils down to: ‘How do we make sure the church is accountable, that this church is accountable, and that their voices count,'” said Kevin Eckery the Vice Chancellor of the San Diego Diocese.

The meeting was the seventh in a series of eight meetings planned across San Diego County. The last is scheduled for Nov. 5 at University of San Diego.

Previous meetings have been filled to maximum capacity and Thursday was no exception.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
NBC 10

October 19, 2018

By Maryclaire Dale and Eric Tucker

Two years ago, a federal prosecutor in Pittsburgh considered filing a racketeering lawsuit against a Roman Catholic diocese over its handling of child sex-abuse complaints, but left office before he could make the bold move.

However, a colleague in Philadelphia is now taking aim at the church this month, sending grand jury subpoenas to dioceses throughout Pennsylvania as he tries to build a federal criminal case centered on child exploitation.

U.S. Attorney William McSwain of Philadelphia has a head start on the work, given the sweeping state grand jury report released this summer, which found that 301 priests molested more than 1,000 children over seven decades. McSwain, a Harvard Law School graduate and former Marine sniper platoon commander, was appointed by President Trump and took office just four months ago.

“It’s a courageous move, whenever prosecutors take on something that there’s no precedent for, that is uncertain. You’re investing resources with potentially no return. But it needs to be done,” said David Hickton, the former U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh who looked at the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese in 2016.

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VATICAN CITY
The Wall Street Journal

October 19, 2018

By Francis X. Rocca and Ryan Dube

The pope’s keen instincts as a communicator have abandoned him at crucial moments, especially in Chile, which is no longer dominated by the church

Pope Francis took charge of the Catholic Church promising a new style of leadership that would make the church more open, candid and dedicated to the vulnerable. His response to the long-running clerical abuse scandal is undermining those goals.

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NEW YORK (NY)
The New York Times

October 19, 2018

By Laurie Goodstein

As Catholic bishops try to reassure the flock that the church is finally confronting the scourge of sexual abuse by priests, it has fallen to Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, the president of the American bishops conference, to lead the effort.

“I have no illusions about the degree to which trust in the bishops has been damaged by these past sins and failures,” said Cardinal DiNardo, in one of the many statements he has issued on sexual abuse in recent weeks. “It will take work to rebuild that trust.”

Yet Cardinal DiNardo himself has recently been criticized for allowing a priest accused of abuse to serve in a parish in his archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, disregarding the warnings by a young woman who said she told the cardinal in person seven years ago that this priest had molested her when she was 16.

The priest, who also served as the vicar for Hispanics for the archdiocese, was not removed from ministry until August, when a second victim stepped forward and the priest was arrested and charged with four counts of indecency with a child.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Daily News

October 20, 2018

The U.S. Justice Department is finally investigating seven Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania for violating child pornography laws and the Mann Act, which bans crossing state lines for sex. Where was the U.S. attorney general 16 years ago when we first learned about the priest sex abuse cover-up? Why aren’t RICO laws being enforced in every state? Why has Timothy Cardinal Dolan suddenly hired retired federal prosecutor Barbara Jones to vet how the New York Archdiocese handled pedophile priests? There are too many unanswered questions. According to USCCB 19,001 children were abused by 6,846 Catholic priests. The church has to be held accountable. The late Fr. Andrew Greeley estimated that priests molested well in excess of 100,000 kids. If every U.S. diocese opened its files and financial books to the DOJ authorities we may have fewer sex assault victims in the future. Thomas Patrick Folan

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

October 19, 2018

By Michael McDonald

SNAP Philadelphia Leader Michael McDonnell has called on the Pennsylvania State Senate to add additional legislative days to this years calendar and revive their work on statutes of limitations reform. On Wed. Oct. 17th, Senate GOP leaders pushed a bill that would have allowed victims of childhood sexual abuse by the clergy to file a civil suit but only on their perpetrator, leaving institutions like the Catholic church without fault. We believe that this proposal is unacceptable because the institutions who enabled the years of cover-up must be also held accountable alongside the abusers themselves.

Given that so many survivors were abused as children, they often do not come forward with their experiences until many years later. Providing for a two-year window would not only give survivors their much-asked-for day in court but will afford a chance at accountability for both those who prey on children and vulnerable adults as well as the institutions that have enabled them.

“We hope the Pennsylvania State Senate sees the importance of getting S.B. 261 to the floor, with Rep. Mark Rozzi’s amendment, for a full Senate vote,” said McDonnell. “Victims deserve their day in court.”

CONTACT: Michael McDonnell, (mcdo1268@gmail.com, 267-261-0578)

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Post Gazette

October 19, 2018

By Liz Navratil and Angela Couloumbis

A complicated game of calculus ensued Thursday after the Senate failed during its last voting session to reach any agreement on changes that would allow victims of child sexual abuse to file lawsuits for decades-old damage.

Was there still a glimmer of hope or was the “window” to temporarily loosen the civil statute of limitations to allow lawsuits closed? Nobody seemed certain.

Everything screeched to a halt about 11 p.m. Wednesday as support seemed to teeter for a compromise measure championed by Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson. The plan would have given some abuse victims two years in which to sue for decades-old abuse — but only to sue their abusers, not the institutions that may have ignored or covered up the crimes.

That was unacceptable to the victims and their supporters in the Senate, so neither Mr. Scarnati’s plan nor the House-passed bill temporarily opening up liability to institutions such as the Catholic Church went anywhere.

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AUSTRALIA
STARTS AT 60

October 18, 2018

Child abuse survivor, social worker, fierce campaigner; these are just a few ways to describe the inspirational Steve Fisher, whose fighting spirit has helped to change the future of thousands across the country.

Sexually abused by notorious pedophile priest Garth Hawkins when just a teenager, the Beyond Abuse founder has made it his mission to ensure other victims across the country receive the justice they deserve.

For the past 18 years Steve has fought for a change in laws to lift the veil of secrecy currently protecting priests from reporting sexual abuse at the hands of the clergy.

Now, the survivor has finally reached success in his home state of Tasmania, as the government moves to enforce the law, following in the lead of South Australia.

Although incredibly rewarding, the battle for change hasn’t been easy for Steve, who was one of seven victims Hawkins abused throughout the 1970s and ’80s. While the pedophile priest, who now goes by the name of Robin Goodfellow, was convicted of his crimes and sentenced to seven and a half years in prison in 2003, it hasn’t dulled the pain and emotions brought up by the experience.

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SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
Deseret News

October 19, 2018

By Jerry Earl Johnston

I just read another news story about the sex-abuse scandal inundating the Catholic Church.

For Catholics, it is becoming a moral holocaust.

And yet, for decades, there have been inklings of a serious issue.

While jokes and cartoons about priests and altar boys might have been around for more than 50 years ago, even appearing occasionally in mainstream magazines, nobody’s laughing at those cartoons today.

The Catholic sex scandal has exploded, leaving thousands of victims in its rubble. Like a hand grenade, it has produced collateral damage. Millions of bystanders continue to be hit by shrapnel.

I am one.

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BREVARD COUNTY (FL)
Florida Today

October 19, 2018

By John Byron, Community columnist

You’d have to be living off the grid to not know the Catholic Church is going through tough times — of the church’s own making:

• Sexual abuse of children by priests;

• Senior clergy coercing seminarians into sexual relations;

• Sex crimes by priests routinely covered up by church officials;

• U.S. Catholic Church membership down 20 percent;

• Church membership plummeting in Catholic strongholds such as Ireland, Brazil and the rest of Latin America;

• Over 3,000 sex-abuse lawsuits filed against the Catholic Church in the United States;

• Eight Catholic dioceses gone bankrupt paying restitution to victims;

• More than 1,000 Pennsylvania children found to have been abused by hundreds of priests;

• Recent report of 3,600 sexual abuse cases involving Catholic clergy in Germany;

• State investigations of the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy in New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Florida and a new federal investigation in Pennsylvania;

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

October 19, 2018

By Claire Giangravè

In a new and now third public letter, a former Vatican envoy to the United States said the Vatican’s top official for overseeing bishops confirmed many of his accusations of negligence in the handling of an infamous ex-cardinal charged with sexual abuse and once again pointed to homosexuality as the cause of the abuse crisis facing the Catholic Church.

“Cardinal [Marc] Ouellet concedes the important claims that I did and do make, and disputes claims I don’t make and never made,” said Italian Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò in a letter published on the blog of Italian conservative journalist Marco Tosatti Oct. 19.

Earlier this month, Ouellet, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops, published a letter accusing Viganò of a political “frame job” and a “deplorable and incomprehensible attack” on Pope Francis, after Viganò accused the pontiff of knowing about sexual misconduct concerns regarding ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick in 2013 and taking no action. In his original letter released Aug. 26, Viganò called on Francis to resign.

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[Judges and prosecutors defend reforms that would force Catholic Church to denounce all cases of pedophilia]

MADRID, SPAIN
El País

October 16, 2018

By Julio Núñez

Entre los cambios se encuentra la tipificación del delito como público y la prolongación de los plazos de prescripción

Las asociaciones mayoritarias de fiscales y jueces españoles proponen una reforma legislativa sobre los abusos sexuales que faciliten la denuncia y la persecución de dichos delitos. Las modificaciones planteadas son: eliminar o prolongar los plazos de prescripción del crimen (en España el delito prescribe a los 10 años después de que el menor haya cumplido 18 años) y cambiar su tipificación: de delito semipúblico (en el que solo puede denunciar la víctima o su tutor si es menor de edad) a delito público, en el que cualquier persona estaría obligada a denunciarlo. Con estos cambios legislativos, la Iglesia católica estaría obligada a denunciar todos los casos de pederastia, sean de mayores o de menores, que conociese o instruyese a través de su proceso eclesiástico.

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[Spanish Church plans to force clergy to report abuses to prosecutors]

MADRID, SPAIN
El País

October 19, 2018

By José Manuel Romero and Julio Núñez

El presidente de la comisión episcopal antipederastia defiende actualizar los protocolos para adecuarlos a la ley del menor. Los fiscales consideran insuficiente la medida

La Iglesia española pretende actualizar sus protocolos ante los casos de abusos a menores de manera que, a partir de ahora, los obispos o sacerdotes estén obligados a notificar a la fiscalía las denuncias que reciban. El protocolo de la Conferencia Episcopal vigente desde 2010 señala tan solo que “la autoridad eclesiástica invita o aconseja a las víctimas a denunciar ellos mismos los hechos ante la policía, el ministerio fiscal o el juzgado”.

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[The Chilean Church’s other secret]

CHILE
El Mostrador

October 19, 2018

By Michelle Chapochnick

En un hermetismo infranqueable permanecen ocultos los casos en que, producto de una relación afectiva, un sacerdote tiene un hijo con una mujer. La jerarquía de la Iglesia católica chilena tiene una política definida para abordar esa situación. Se pueden encontrar diferencias en el tratamiento de un caso y otro, pero la norma es que se otorgue protección económica a los hijos de un religioso si es que sigue en el camino sacerdotal y, al mismo tiempo, se le instruye que se desvincule totalmente y para siempre del menor.

Hace varios años, en medio del caso Karadima, llegaron a mis manos antecedentes desconocidos sobre la Iglesia católica chilena. Inicié una investigación al respecto, que por diversos motivos –que no vale la pena explicar en detalle ahora –nunca terminé entonces ni tampoco más tarde, a pesar de varios intentos.

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[In Rancagua, two accused priests of “the brotherhood” are reinstated]

CHILE
La Tercera

October 18, 2018

Luego que las investigaciones canónicas y de la justicia arrojaron que las denuncias “no son verosímiles”, los párrocos Aquiles Correa y Gino Bonomo retomarán sus labores religiosas.

El administrador apostólico de la Diócesis de Rancagua, obispo Fernando Ramos restituyó en sus funciones a los sacerdotes Aquiles Correa y Gino Bonomo, quienes fueron involucrados en el caso de abusos sexuales dentro de una organización denominada la “Cofradía”.

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[Letters indicate that Errázuriz did not take statements in investigation into Karadima]

CHILE
BioBioChile

October 18, 2018

By María José Villarroel and Nicole Martínez

La Corte de Apelaciones de Santiago revisó el recurso de casación y apelación por la demanda civil de víctimas del expárroco de El Bosque, Fernando Karadima, contra el Arzobispado capitalino por encubrimiento. La audiencia se extendió por más de tres horas, la mitad de ella fue utilizada para leer los antecedentes de este caso. El recurso pretende que se revise el rechazo que tuvo esta demanda civil en un principio, en la cual piden indemnización por encubrimientos de delitos sexuales.

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[Errázuriz’s letter describes Karadima as “not very intelligent” and demanding to be treated as a saint]

CHILE
BioBioChile

October 19, 2018

By María José Villarroel and Nicole Martínez

En el marco de la demanda civil de las víctimas del expárroco de El Bosque, Fernando Karadima, contra el Arzobispado de Santiago por encubrimientos a casos de abuso sexual, la defensa dio a conocer un nuevo antecedente que podría ser considerado por la Corte de Apelaciones. Se trata de una carta del 1 de febrero de 2009 que envió el cardenal emérito Francisco Javier Errázuriz para el nuncio Ivo Scapolo, en la que le cuenta los procedimientos que realizó con respecto a esta denuncia en contra de Karadima.

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ROME
Crux

October 19, 2018

By Elise Harris

Paola Ugaz, an investigative journalist and co-author of the blockbuster book Half Monks, Half Soldiers, that details years of abuse inside the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV), is the second journalist to be sued by Archbishop José Antonio Eguren Anselmi of Piura, a member of the group, on charges of defamation.

Ugaz received the complaint, filed before the Fifth Single-Judge Criminal Court and liquidator of the Superior Court of Justice of Piura, at her home in Lima, charging her with defamation and asking that she pay a fine of more than $60,000 dollars and spend three years in jail.

Nearly three months ago, on July 31, Pedro Salinas, a former SCV member and a co-author of the book, was served by the archbishop with similar charges and asked to pay the same fine and serve jail time. The complaint followed the publication by Salinas of a series of articles and interviews making various accusations against Eguren Anselmi, which he refused to retract when asked to do so by the archbishop.

In comments to Crux, the Archdiocese of Piura said they are handling the case against Ugaz in the same way as the case against Salinas, which is to “leave it in the hands of justice.”

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
The Guardian

October 19, 2018

By Harriet Sherwood

The church is reeling from the fallout as at least 13 states have launched investigations, and pews are emptying

A few weeks after the devastating extent of child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests in Pennsylvania was laid bare in a 900-page grand jury report, Father Michael Stumpf was approached by one of his parishioners.

“She demanded: ‘What do you know?’ And with a shock, I realised that because I’m a member of the clergy, people think I’m complicit. And I can totally understand why,” said the priest at St Mary of the Mount, which overlooks downtown Pittsburgh.

“I’ve had feedback in the last few weeks that I’ve never experienced before. It’s been challenging and disturbing – but also encouraging. The candour with which people have spoken has been refreshing. There’s an awakening and an empowerment because of this.

“Are we seeing fewer people coming to church, a decrease in people’s giving? Yes, some – a little. People let their voices be heard in one way or another.”

One of his parishioners, who did not want her name published, was more blunt: “Close friends of mine feel the church is tainted. Some won’t attend mass any more.”

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LOUISVILLE (KY)
Louisville Courier Journal

October 18, 2018

By Caitlin McGlade

The Archdiocese of Louisville on Thursday touted reforms implemented since 2002, when hundreds of people revealed that priests had abused them as children.

Abuse survivors and their advocates dismissed the effort as nothing new and underwhelming.

“They’re like Marlboro cigarettes,” said Jeff Koenig, who was abused by a priest as a child. “They’re just trying to make their name brand look good and keep their name brand alive.”

While revealing no new information about sex-abuse allegations, church leaders professed their allegiance to rules and training programs designed to create safe environments for children and healing support for survivors.

They did acknowledge that more should be done. Chancellor Brian Reynolds pledged to take advice from child sex-abuse survivors as the church creates new ways to offer them support.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Gatehouse Media Illinois

October 18, 2018

This isn’t the first such lawsuit that Jeff Anderson & Associates has jointly filed against Catholic dioceses in the U.S.

Earlier this month, Anderson’s firm filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles against the Vatican. That suit seeks the release of files maintained by church leaders and the names of all offenders worldwide, “held secret by the Vatican, who sexually abused kids, many of whom remain in ministry and in our communities today.” That suit also seeks the disclosure “of all top officials held secret by the Vatican who were known and found to be complicit in the cover-up of child sexual abuse, including Vatican officials, Cardinals, Bishops, and religious superiors worldwide.”

In September, a lawsuit was filed in Hawaii by Kailua lawyer Mark Gallagher and Anderson’s firm on behalf of a man who alleged he was sexually abused by a priest in the 1980s. That lawsuit, naming as defendants the Diocese of Honolulu and the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, a religious order, accused the priest of molesting the man when he was a child.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
CNHI

October 19, 2018

By John Finnerty

Advocates aren’t giving up on the crusade to get the state to open a window to let adults who’d been molested as children sue beyond the normal statute of limitations, even though the state Senate failed to pass legislation to allow that to happen before ending its session on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the findings of a statewide grand jury into sexual abuse by clergy and church leaders’ conduct are now being investigated by the U.S Department of Justice.

As the Associated Press first reported Thursday, the Justice Department has opened an investigation of child sexual abuse inside the Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania, using subpoenas to demand confidential files and testimony from church leaders.

The subpoenas, served last week, follow a scathing state grand jury report over the summer that found that 301 “predator priests” in Pennsylvania had molested more than 1,000 children over several decades and that church leaders had covered up for the offenders.

“The Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg will cooperate fully with this inquiry, just as it has with the Office of Attorney General’s investigation,” a statement from Rachel Bryson, executive director of public relations for the diocese, said. “The Diocese has worked to be open and transparent regarding the issue of child sexual abuse and its past.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
KMTV

October 18, 2018

By Maya Saenz

Omaha archbishop name mentioned in lawsuit

The scandal rocking the Catholic church is hitting closer to home. This time an accuser says she met with Archbishop George Lucas after making complaints about two priests.

Lucas was the bishop in Springfield, IL at the time of the claims. On Thursday, one of the plaintiffs specifically mentioned Lucas by name at a news conference in Chicago announcing a lawsuit.

Lucas is not being sued, however, he was mentioned by a plaintiff as having done nothing to investigate claims of priests sexually abusing kids.

During a press conference, three men and a one woman who say they were sexually abused by priests decades ago filed a lawsuit against every diocese in Illinois for an alleged ongoing scheme to cover up sexual assault by priests.

“I remember clearly in the late 80s. In my late teens, early twenties. I said, someday I will be healthy enough and I will be healed enough that I will do something about this,” said plaintiff Cynthia Yesko.

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CHICAGO (IL)
GLT 89.1 FM

October 18, 2018

By Eric Stock and Ryan Denham

UPDATED 4:10 p.m. | The Catholic Church in Illinois has been sued by four people who claim they were sexually abused by priests and that the church protected the priests by concealing the abuse.

Two of the victims claim they were abused in the Peoria diocese.

The public nuisance lawsuit filed Wednesday in Cook County names the Catholic Conference of Illinois and each of the six Catholic dioceses in Illinois.

“(It’s) a conspiracy of silence, a conspiracy of secrecy, a conspiracy of self-protection and scandal avoidance,” attorney Jeff Anderson said at a news conference in Chicago.

The 54-page complaint asks the Catholic church to release the names of each priest or church leader accused of child molestation and to implement policies that would “better protect children and the general public from further harm.”

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SPRINGFIELD (IL)
WAND

October 18, 2018

A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of victims alleging clergy abuse against each diocese and bishop in the Catholic church in the state of Illinois.

The suit, filed in Chicago, seeks to force the church and its bishops to open files on abuse by priests and by what lawyers call a cover-up to hide those abuse cases. Some of those cases date back decades and many of the priests involved are either dead or no longer in active ministry.

Among those claiming to have been abused is Cindy Yesko. Yesko says she was abused in the Springfield Diocese beginning at the age of six.

“I was abused, sexually abused, by two different priests,” said Yesko of the two priests who are now dead. “At the time I was too little to do anything about it. I was really scared and it was overwhelming.”

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BROOKVILLE (PA)
The Associated Press

October 17, 2018

A Roman Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing two boys and having one confess afterward is scheduled to appear in a western Pennsylvania courtroom Wednesday for what is described as a plea hearing.

The case’s online court record does not specify the type of plea that involves the Rev. David Lee Poulson, 65, of Oil City, who was arrested in May.

Poulson is one of two priests charged as a result of a statewide grand jury investigationthat concluded about 300 priests had abused at least 1,000 children over seven decades. The report has roiled the Catholic church and prompted calls for Pennsylvania state legislation to allow people to file civil lawsuits over child sexual abuse allegations that would otherwise be too old to pursue.

The other, the Rev. John Thomas Sweeney of the Greensburg Diocese, pleaded guilty to indecent assault this summer and awaits sentencing.

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CHICAGO (IL)
WGN9/The Associated Press

October 18, 2018

By Gaynor Hall

Three men and one woman who say they were sexually abused by priests decades ago filed a lawsuit Thursday against every diocese in Illinois for an alleged ongoing scheme to cover up sexual assault by priests.

The lawsuit was filed in Chicago by attorney Jeff Anderson, who has represented clergy abuse victims across the country, and seeks to compel dioceses throughout Illinois to provide the names of all their priests accused of child molestation.

“Defendants have, for decades, and continue to adopt policies and practices of covering up criminal activity… (that) have endangered numerous children in the past and these practices will continue to put children at risk in the future,” reads the lawsuit against all six dioceses in Illinois, as well as the Catholic Conference of Illinois.

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LOUISVILLE (KY)
Courier Journal

October 19, 2018

By Michael Norris, Opinion contributor

I was sexually abused by a Catholic priest at the age of 10 at a summer camp. At that age, I knew nothing about sex, so I did not fully comprehend what this man was doing to me.

On top of that, the fact that I was taught that a Catholic priest is an extension of God, it was as if God was molesting me.

Because my mother was a devout Catholic, I knew she revered priests and their status in the community. I felt it was easier for me to not talk about the abuse than to tell my mother, thinking she wouldn’t believe me anyway.

My teenage years were very difficult as a result of the abuse. I lacked constructive coping mechanisms, which led to drug and alcohol abuse, culminating with a suicide attempt. At the age of 17, after dropping out of high school, I joined the Navy. I held the story internally for 15 years, not telling anyone.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

October 18, 2018

By Sam Charles

Four survivors of sexual abuse by priests filed a public nuisance and conspiracy lawsuit against every diocese in the state Thursday, asking a judge to order the release of all records related to every abusive priest in Illinois.

Jeff Anderson, one of the attorneys who filed the suit, said the goal was to expose “a conspiracy of silence, a conspiracy of secrecy, a conspiracy of self-protection and scandal-avoidance that is causing a hazard and a danger in real time today.”

Anderson said the dioceses have long maintained records of abusive priests who no longer are involved in ministry, as well as records of top church officials “complicit” in covering up abuses.

Three plaintiffs chose to identify themselves; the fourth opted to remain anonymous. None of the alleged attacks occurred within the Archdiocese of Chicago, though Cardinal Blase Cupich heads the Illinois Catholic Conference, which is a defendant in the lawsuit.

Plaintiff Darin Buckman said he was sexually assaulted by a priest in the Peoria Diocese between the late ’70s and early ’80s; he was 8 to 14 years old at the time.

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NEW ZEALAND
Otago Daily Times

October 19, 2018

By Chris Morris

Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull and Catholic Bishop Michael Dooley have added their voices to fresh calls for an expanded Royal Commission that includes faith-based victims of sexual abuse.
The calls came as about 30 survivors, supporters and representatives from the Catholic Diocese of Dunedin – including Bishop Dooley – gathered on the steps of St Joseph’s Cathedral yesterday.

They fell silent to remember victims of clerical abuse who had taken their own lives, then tied coloured ribbons to the cathedral gates to show support for survivors.

The ribbons came from across New Zealand and around the world, including from survivor and supporter groups in Australia and the United Kingdom.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
Penn Live

October 18, 2018

By David Wenner

A former Catholic priest turned advocate for sexual abuse victims says he hasn’t lost hope — even after the collapse of a bill that would have created a window for older victims of abuse by priests to sue. The bill failed late Wednesday despite strong support among Pennsylvania lawmakers.

“There is no way I’m going to quit this fight,” said James Faluszczak, a former Erie priest who says he was sexually abused by a priest as a child. “From my standpoint, nothing changes moving forward. We are going to keep pushing for a two-year retroactive window.”

Faluszczak was reacting Thursday morning to the failure of a bill that would have given victims of abuse who are now adults a two-year window for suing both priests who abused them and the Catholic church. Under current law, they can’t sue if they have already turned 30.

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UNITED STATES
CBS NEWS

October 18, 2018

By Nikki Battiste

For the first time ever, the Justice Department has opened an investigation into child sex abuse within the Catholic Church. Seven of the eight Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania said Thursday they had received subpoenas. CBS News has learned the U.S. attorney in Buffalo, New York, has also served the diocese there. The focus involves alleged trafficking of minors across state lines for the purpose of sex abuse.

The news of the first federal probe into sex abuse in the church comes the day after an “Eye on America” report on the “CBS Evening News” in which two victims confronted the priest they say abused them when they were children. In the 24 hours since the story of a confrontation with Rev. George Koharchik aired, messages of support flooded Shaun Dougherty’s phone.

Dougherty said he heard from other alleged victims and countless supporters from around the world.

“Overwhelming show of support,” he said.

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SAN JOSE (CA)
Diocese of San Jose

October 18, 2018

This list is being published as part of the Diocese of San Jose’s commitment to transparency and accountability to assist in the process of reconciliation and healing.

The individuals on this list were assigned to a parish or diocesan ministry in Santa Clara County by the Bishop of San Jose or, in the years before our founding in 1981, by the Archbishop of San Francisco. We have included all known assignments as part of our commitment to transparency. Please see our FAQ for more information about the list: www.dsj.org/disclosurelist.

We will continue to contribute to this effort of transparency and accountability with an independent review of our personnel files. As a result of that process, names or information may be added to the list. Anyone who has been a victim of sexual abuse by anyone working on behalf of the Church is encouraged to contact civil authorities (police department or sheriff’s office) and then to the Office for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults at 408-983-0113 or https://opcva.ethicspoint.com.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

October 18, 2018

by NCR Editorial Staff

Cardinal Marc Ouellet’s concise and sharply worded refutation of the now infamous Viganò letter is the very point needed to burst the bubble of fabulist concoctions spinning around the Catholic far right. Those theories, which wouldn’t pass for bad fiction, are easily unveiled as clumsy attempts to discredit the Francis papacy.

Ouellet’s out-of-the-ordinary pronouncement is fitting for these extraordinary times. Its very existence signals with some finality the end of the pretense of unity with which the hierarchy in recent decades attempted to mask deep divisions in its ranks.

It also bares as pretenders those who previously claimed the high ground of “orthodoxy” as defined, in their world, by unquestioning loyalty to the pope and the magisterium. In fact, their orthodoxy extended only so far as their agreement with prevailing papal tendencies.

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UNITED STATES
Christianity Today

OCTOBER 2018

By Kimi Harris

Rachael Denhollander, the attorney who spearheaded the fight to take down Larry Nassar for sexually abusing hundreds of young female gymnasts, experienced both damaging and healing responses from her church communities. Before she came forward, she recalled the kind of church culture that had previously silenced her.

During a youth group discussion, Denhollander remembers a student asking whether they could consider King David’s misuse of power toward Bathsheba as sexual assault, and their teacher said no, opening the floor for others to give their opinions. (You can read why it is assault from a theological viewpoint here.) A friend of Denhollander’s raised his hand to share: “I think it had to have been her fault, because she could have chosen to die rather than have sex with him.”

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La Procuraduría General de Justicia de la Ciudad (PGJCDMX) mantiene abiertas y en proceso cuatro investigaciones en contra de distintos sacerdotes de la Iglesia católica, los cuales están acusados de abuso sexual o violación. Sus víctimas, en tres casos son menores de edad, otro fue un joven con retraso mental.

Según informes de la dependencia a los que ContraRéplica tuvo acceso, de esas cuatro indagatorias, el Ministerio Público ya llevó a proceso penal al sacerdote de una iglesia de la zona Centro, quien está acusado de abusar sexualmente de una niña en la casa sacerdotal. En los otros tres casos, los ministerios públicos de la Fiscalía Central para la investigación de Delitos Sexuales recaba pruebas para enviarlos ante distintos jueces capitalinos.

Las tres denuncias fueron presentadas apenas este año. Una en julio pasado y las otras en agosto.

Estos casos que actualmente están en proceso de ser enviados ante un juez se encuentran registrados bajo los números de expediente CI-FDS/ FDS-6 /771 /08 -2018, CI-FDS/FDS-1/ UI-FDS-1-02/483/08-2018 y CI-FDS/ FDS-1/UI-FDS-1-03/432/07-2018.

La Procuraduría reveló que en todos éstos, autoridades y representantes legales del Arzobispado de México se presentaron en la dependencia para conocer las denuncias. 

De hecho, en uno de ellos fue el personal del Tribunal Eclesiástico, que acompañó a la madre de una víctima para que presentara su denuncia contra el sacerdote Luis Calderón, párroco de una iglesia ubicada en la alcaldía Miguel Hidalgo.

La víctima en este caso era una niña de ocho años, su madre denunció que permitía que su hija fuera con el cura al cine, y ahí fue donde él “la tocaba en su área genital”.

Otra denuncia fue presentada por una madre que refirió que su hijo de seis años le relató cómo el clérigo “lo había besado y acariciado”.

Se trata de Armando Calvillo Ortiz, párroco de una iglesia de San Miguel Topilejo, Tlalpan. “El sacerdote le realizó tocamientos a su hijo de seis años, por lo que presentó su denuncia por escrito”, se detalla en el expediente.

La tercera denuncia, que está en proceso, fue contra el sacerdote Gabriel Piña Landa, de una iglesia del Centro, en la alcaldía Cuauhtémoc, quien “le impuso la cópula vía anal” a un joven que padece retraso mental.

El otro caso, cuyo nombre del cura se reserva por el proceso penal, ocurrió en una iglesia de la colonia Doctores. Una madre denunció que el sacerdote atacó a su hija mientras se encontraba en la casa parroquial.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

October 18 2018

The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a much-needed investigation into the clergy sex abuse crisis.

With today’s announcement, the Department of Justice has given hope to survivors and advocates across the country. Too often institutions are able to escape accountability through a mix of archaic laws like statutes of limitations, strong-armed agreements to silence survivors who have come forward, or by advancing a culture that keeps survivors fearful, ashamed, and afraid to tell others what had happened to them. Fortunately for survivors and others who value accountability, the Department of Justice is able to investigate despite Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations. This is certainly a welcome development.

SNAP has previously voiced the importance of a federal investigation and has called for investigations in 2003, in 2014, and as recently as two months ago. We know that thousands have suffered needlessly due to these sex crimes and cover-ups, and while we are glad that this investigation is finally underway, we cannot help but wonder how many children and vulnerable adults would have been spared had the investigation first occurred after the Boston Globe report in 2002.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
Patriot News

October 18, 2018

By Ivey DeJesus

Coming one day after the General Assembly failed to advance a statute of limitations reform bill, news that the federal government had launched an investigation into clergy sex abuse in Pennsylvania served to advocates a reminder that their fight is not over.

“I’m not surprised. What was in this latest grand jury report was horrific,” said Rep. Mark Rozzi, the Berks County Democrat who led the effort to enact a retroactive window into reform legislation. “We’ve said all along that the crimes committed by perpetrators are bad but the crimes committed by the church are egregious. It’s not surprising that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating at all.”

The Associated Press on Thursday first reported that the federal government had opened an investigation into the sexual abuse of minors by priests inside the Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania.

Dioceses have already received subpoenas demanding confidential files and testimony from church leaders, AP reported.

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SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle

October 18, 2018

By Kimberly Veklerov

The Catholic Diocese of San Jose on Thursday released the names of 15 former clergy members who were known by the church to be credible child sex abusers.

All of the priests on the list are either dead or permanently banned from the ministry. Don Flickinger, who was sued for sexual abuse years ago, was described as currently being with the Fresno diocese, though that could not be immediately confirmed. Flickinger also was described as having been permanently banned from from the ministry in 2006.

The allegations of sexual misconduct, which were not described in detail, spanned 1961 to the early 2000s. The 15 men were assigned to a parish or diocesan ministry in Santa Clara County by the bishop of San Jose or, before the diocese was founded in 1981, by the archbishop of San Francisco.

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[The new inquisition: counterattack hits victims who have accused the Church]

CHILE
El Mostrador

October 18, 2018

By Alejandra Carmona López

Uno de los acusadores en el llamado” caso Maristas”, Jaime Concha, relata que estas acciones se pueden ver en niveles diferentes. Por una parte, está la presión que se ejerce vía redes sociales: “Aparece gente extraña con perfiles en Twitter, amenazantes, gente que no tiene seguidores, con perfiles vagos e imposibles de identificar. También aparecen las denuncias, el ninguneo y las descalificaciones explícitas”, explica. Pero habla asimismo de presiones en directo, incluso en las fuentes laborales.

La noche del domingo 7 de octubre, Javier Molina –ex acólito y denunciante del sacerdote Jorge Laplagne– relató durante varios minutos el infierno que vivió mientras fue abusado por el religioso. Hace ocho años fue la primera vez que habló del calvario que sufrió, pero eso quedó en nada, nadie le creyó y quienes debían seguir adelante con la investigación parecieron no agotar los recursos para legar a la verdad de lo sucedido.

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[Priest Hasbún testifies for two hours in cover-up investigation]

CHILE
La Tercera

October 17, 2018

By Leyla Zapata Sánchez

El sacerdote declaró por dos horas y media como imputado por presunto encubrimiento de abusos.

“Feliz con el gol del Nico Castillo”, fue lo único que dijo Raúl Hasbún Zaror a su llegada a la Fiscalía Centro Norte. En ese lugar, el fiscal jefe de Alta Complejidad de O’Higgins, Sergio Moya, le tomó declaración por dos horas y media como imputado por el presunto encubrimiento de los delitos sexuales que habría realizado el sacerdote Jorge Laplagne, en cuyo caso Hasbún participó como promotor de justicia.

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[La Araucanía’s Catholic schools must deliver protocol to prevent abuse by month’s end]

CHILE
BioBioChile

October 17, 2018

By Manuel Stuardo and Hugo Oviedo

Hasta fines de octubre se amplió el plazo para que los 23 colegios católicos de La Araucanía, informen el estado de sus protocolos para la prevención de abusos sexuales a menores, que es una de las medidas para enfrentar casos de pederastia en la Iglesia. Se trata de los colegios Greenhouse, Madre Admirable, San José de Angol, La Salle, Escuela Francia, Providencia, San Francisco, entre otros, los que deberán actualizar la forma en que enfrentan este tipo de delitos, al interior de la comunidad escolar.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
Associated Press

October 18, 2018

By Marc Levy

The collapse of legislation in Pennsylvania’s Senate leaves questions about whether lawmakers will pass recommendations in a landmark grand jury report on child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests.

The state Capitol was quiet Thursday. Lawmakers left town and there are no scheduled voting days before the two-year legislative session expires Nov. 30.

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[Chile’s national prosecutor expresses concerns about Church’s attitudes and actions in investigation]

SANTIAGO, CHILE
Emol

October 17, 2018

By Tamara Cerna

El jefe del Ministerio Público se refirió a las indagatorias por presuntos abusos y aseguró que algunas acciones de la institución significan “prácticamente negar una cooperación que se nos ha indicado”.

Con el fin de abordar el rechazo de la solicitud de destitución presentada en su contra y recalcar que el Ministerio Público no hay “protección a los poderosos”, el fiscal nacional, Jorge Abbott, comenzó mencionando algunos de los casos vigentes que lleva adelante el ente persecutor.

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PEORIA (IL)
Journal Star

October 18, 2018

By Phil Luciano

Taking particular aim at Peoria, a lawsuit claims Catholic dioceses and bishops statewide conspired to create a decades-long public “nuisance” that endangered children by failing to release the names and files of clergy accused of sexual abuse.

Filed in Cook County Circuit Court, late Wednesday, the suit relies heavily on allegations of pedophilia by two Peoria clergy. One was removed from ministry years ago, while the other never has been publicly associated with such charges.

Peoria Bishop Daniel Jenky did not immediately respond to a Journal Star request for comment, nor did Patricia Gibson, legal counsel for the diocese.

Named as defendants were the dioceses of Peoria, Springfield, Rockford, Joliet and Belleville, along with the Archdiocese of Chicago. The suit also names the Catholic Conference of Illinois, which represents Illinois bishops and archbishops and their diocese.

The suit was brought by four plaintiffs, represented by Jeff Anderson & Associates, a legal firm based in St. Paul, Minn., that specializes in sexual abuse by clergy. Two of the plaintiffs make accusations of pedophila within the Peoria Diocese. One alleges sexual abuse between 1979 and 1984 (starting when the plaintiff was 8 and ending when he was 14) by then-Father John Anderson, who has since been publicly removed from the priesthood. Another plaintiff claims a different Peoria clergyman — heretofore never named publicly regarding molestation allegations — had sexual contact in 1981 with the plaintiff, then 15.

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[Catholic Church suspends Dominican priest accused of sexually abusing a minor]

SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Primera Hora

October 2, 2018

By EFE

El proceso de investigación aún no concluye.

La Iglesia Católica en República Dominicana dio a conocer hoy que dispuso la suspensión de un sacerdote luego de que trascendiera que había tenido “vínculos indebidos” con una menor de edad. El Arzobispado de Santo Domingo explicó en un comunicado que abrió una investigación sobre las actuaciones del sacerdote José Rosario González, a raíz de denuncias presentadas ante la Justicia por familiares de la menor.

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[Church honored a priest after he was sentenced for abusing a child]

MADRID, SPAIN
El País

October 18, 2018

By Joaquín Gil

El sacerdote, sentenciado por acosar sexualmente a un monaguillo de 11 años, trabaja como capellán en un hospital público de Alicante

La diócesis de Guadix (Granada) homenajeó en junio de 2017 al cura Amador Romero. Un párroco que fue condenado en 2001 a 18 meses de prisión por un delito continuado de abusos sexuales a un monaguillo de 11 años. El entonces obispo de Guadix, monseñor Ginés García, presidió la celebración. Se festejaban las bodas de plata, 25 años en el sacerdocio, del religioso sentenciado por abusos sexuales, según reconoce un portavoz oficial de la Iglesia y confirma un asistente al encuentro.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Associated Press

October 18, 2018

By MaryClaire Dale and Eric Tucker

The U.S. Justice Department has opened an investigation of child sexual abuse inside the Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania, using subpoenas to demand confidential files and testimony from church leaders, according to two people familiar with the probe.

The subpoenas, served last week, follow a scathing state grand jury report over the summer that found that 301 “predator priests” in Pennsylvania had molested more than 1,000 children over several decades and that church leaders had covered up for the offenders.

Now federal prosecutors are bringing the Justice Department’s resources to bear, according to two people who were not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

U.S. Attorney William McSwain of Philadelphia, who issued the subpoenas, wants to know if priests, bishops, seminarians or others committed any federal crimes.

He demanded the bishops turn over any evidence that anyone in their ranks took children across state lines for illicit purposes; sent sexual images or messages via phone or computer; instructed anyone not to contact police; reassigned suspected predators; or used money or other assets as part of the scandal.

The grand jury subpoenas also seek documents stored in “Secret Archives,” ″Historical Archives” or “Confidential Files,” and records related to the dioceses’ organizational charts, finances, insurance coverage, clergy assignments, treatment and other documents, according to the people who spoke to the AP.

A representative for McSwain declined to comment, as did a Justice Department spokeswoman.

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LOUISVILLE (KY)
Louisville Archdiocese

October 18. 2018

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:

May God bless you! Amid the offenses of a prelate in the Church as well as accounts of sexual abuse that took place in dioceses of Pennsylvania, we are distressed and angered by horrible events in which bishops, priests, and other church leaders broke the sacred trust with those they have promised to serve as well as their promises of chaste living. This history brings to the surface deep wounds of victim survivors of sexual abuse and testifies to the depth of the grave harm that has been done. This harm has been compounded by the inaction, negligence, or inadequate response of bishops. I personally have felt the weight of these scandals.

In the Archdiocese of Louisville, we share a sad history of such abuse. This pastoral report to you, the faithful of the Archdiocese, aims to bring the light of truth and the healing of Jesus Christ into the darkness of these sinful actions. The wounds of abuse, even if decades old, reveal the terrible damage and pain for victims harmed by the sin and crime of sexual abuse. Our hearts go out to the victims and their loved ones.

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LOUISVILLE (KY)
Louisville Courier Journal

October 18, 2018

By Caitlin McGlade

Amid a growing chorus of critics, the Archdiocese of Louisville on Thursday pledged to take advice from child sex abuse survivors as it creates new ways to offer them support.

While revealing no new information about alleged misconduct, church leaders also said they will seek experts in law enforcement to review how the archdiocese has managed abuse in order to improve record-keeping and reporting.

The archdiocese announced its next steps in a four-page report responding to the national outrage stoked by a recent investigation of Pennsylvania dioceses. That grand jury report found church leaders protected more than 300 “predator priests” for decades.

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BROOKVILLE (PA)
The Associated Press

October 17, 2018

One of two Roman Catholic priests charged as a result of the damning Pennsylvania grand jury investigation admitted he sexually abused children, pleading guilty Wednesday to corruption of minors and child endangerment.

The Rev. David Lee Poulson , 65, of Oil City, was arrested earlier this year during a grand jury probe that concluded hundreds of clergy in the state had sexually abused at least 1,000 children over seven decades.

Prosecutors say Poulson abused an altar boy in church rectories and had him confess afterward. They say he also abused the boy and attempted to assault another boy at a hunting camp.

“Today’s guilty plea by a predator priest in Jefferson County is a clear statement that no matter who abuses a child, no one is above the law,” said state Attorney General Josh Shapiro at a news conference after the hearing in the Brookville courthouse, which is about 80 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

Poulson took the victims to his primitive, secluded hunting camp in Jefferson County about a decade ago, where they watched horror movies on a laptop and he abused them, prosecutors said. The victims were 8 and 15 at the time the crimes occurred, according to authorities.

Shapiro said he expected Poulson to have to register as a sex offender for at least a decade. Sentencing has not been scheduled.

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LAFAYETTE (LA)
KATC News

October 17, 2018

Abbeville attorney Anthony Fontana, who has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a St. Landry family in an alleged priest sex abuse case, is seeking a list of priests who have credible complaints against them.

Fontana is representing a person alleged to be a victim of priest Michael Guidry, who was arrested earlier this year by St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s deputies on sex abuse charges. Read more of our stories about him here and here.

Fontana filed Interrogatories and Requests for Production to Guidry and the Diocese of Lafayette in the lawsuit. Interrogatories are questions that parties in a lawsuit ask each other; Requests for Production are requests for documents. Answering them is not optional – there are deadlines and requirements that parties have to follow. If the questions aren’t answered, the court gets involved to order compliance.

In his discovery, Fontana asks Guidry and the Diocese to name all priests who have credible complaints against them since 2002, as well as all church employees who have credible complaints against them.

Fontana, who handled several lawsuits against the diocese back in the 1980s when the allegations of sexual abuse by priests first came to light, did not explain why he limited his requests to the time since 2002. However, that year is significant because it is the year that America’s bishops adopted what they called a “zero tolerance” policy toward child molestation and accused priests.

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[Hildesheim bishop accuses predecessor cover-up\

GERMANY
Die Nachrichten

October 18, 2018

Der Hildesheimer Bischof Wilmer wirft einem seiner Vorgänger im Zusammenhang mit dem Thema sexueller Missbrauch Versagen und Vertuschung vor.

Der damalige Bischof Homeyer und seine Bistumsleitung hätten fürchterliche Dinge zugedeckt, sagte Wilmer im NDR. Er reagierte damit auf neue Berichte über den Jesuitenpater Peter R., der als einer der Haupttäter in dem Missbrauchsskandal am Berliner Canisiuskolleg gilt und später unter anderem als Pfarrer im Bistum Hildesheim tätig war. Am Dienstag hatte ein Sprecher des Bistums Hildesheim erklärt, dass sich zusätzlich zu den bekannten Anschuldigungen weitere Betroffene äußern wollten. Der 2010 gestorbene Homeyer war von 1983 bis 2004 Bischof von Hildesheim.

Bischof Wilmer kündigte an, dass Missbrauchsfälle in seinem Bistum künftig mit Hilfe von außen aufgeklärt werden sollten. Man benötige externen Sachverstand. Es sei unmöglich, dass die Kirche hier nur eine Binnenkultur pflege, betonte Wilmer.

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ROME
National Catholic Register

October 18, 2018

Pope Francis told a group of Italian seminarians to report immediately to their bishop if they ever see or suspect any kind abuse, sexual or otherwise, on the part of a priest.

“On this point, speak clearly,” the Pope told the students from Lombardy last weekend.

“If you see something like [abuse], [go] immediately to the bishop, to help that abusive brother — immediately to the bishop.”

The Pope met the group in the Vatican’s St. Clementine Hall Oct. 13. The text of the lengthy question-and-answer session was released by the Vatican Oct. 16. During the meeting, he answered a question about scandals in the Church and how to help Catholics to not lose hope despite the “poverty of its ministers.”

“Scandal wounds. We must be clear: On this point, do not yield. To scandals, no. Especially when the scandals hurt little ones,” he said, emphasizing that though statistics show abuse by priests or other clerics to be a small percentage of total cases in society, it is not a reason to ignore the issue.

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SCOTLAND
The Scottsman

October 17, 2018

By Martyn McLaughlin

Nearly five years have passed since the Catholic Church in Scotland took the first tentative steps on a journey many hoped would close the yawning gulf between its public statements and private deeds when it came to abuse. In November 2013, the Scottish Catholic Bishops asked the Very Reverend Dr Andrew McLellan, a former moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, to carry out an external review of safeguarding protocols and procedures. The subsequent report, published in August 2015, became known as the McLellan Commission. Its recommendations were plentiful but two were key.

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JEFFERSONVILLE (IN)
WHAS

October 17, 2018

By Dennis Ting

It’s hard to miss St. Augustine Catholic Church with its metal crosses towering in the sky at the corner of Locust Street and Chestnut Street in Jeffersonville, but there are some things at the church that have not been as obvious until now.

“A lot of people have been let down by the Church, so we’re doing all that we can to try to make right some of these wrongs,” Father Doug Marcotte, the pastor of St. Augustine, said.

The Archdiocese of Indianapolis released a list last week of clergy “credibly accused” of sexually abusing children.

The Archdiocese said an allegation was deemed credible “if, after a thorough investigation and review of available information, the accusation was determined to be more likely to be true than not in the judgment of the Archdiocesan Review Board.”

“I pray the release of this list of credibly accused clergy will help all survivors of sexual abuse find the strength to come forward and will set them on the path to healing,” Archbishop of Indianapolis Reverend Charles C. Thompson said. “I apologize to all victims for the abuse that was done to them and for the failure of the Church to keep them from harm. I pledge to do everything within my power to protect our youth.”

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HARRISBURG (PA)
The Associated Press

October 18, 2018

By Marc Levy

Legislation to respond to Pennsylvania’s landmark grand jury report accusing hundreds of Roman Catholic priests of sexually abusing children over decades stalled on the Legislature’s final scheduled voting day of 2018 amid a showdown over a key provision.

The dispute came down to opposition by the Senate’s huge Republican majority to a provision recommended by the grand jury and backed by Attorney General Josh Shapiro, Gov. Tom Wolf, the House of Representatives, Senate Democratic leaders and victim advocates.

That provision would give now-adult victims of child sexual abuse a two-year reprieve from time limits in state law that otherwise would bar them from suing perpetrators and institutions that covered it up.

It was one of four recommendations made by the grand jury in its Aug. 14 report.

It passed the House overwhelmingly last month, but Republican senators had said they considered it unconstitutional and warned that cash awards in such lawsuits carried serious consequences for church charities.

The Catholic Church and for-profit insurers also opposed it.

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TEXAS
BuzzFeed News

October 18, 2018

By Hannah Allam

A young woman filed a lawsuit and a police report accusing a Texas imam of sexual misconduct. Those who know her say it’s a landmark moment for Muslims saying #MeToo.

Late at night on Dec. 5, 2016, the respected imam of one of the biggest mosques in Texas allegedly invited an 18-year-old to a prepaid room at the Motel 6 in Grand Prairie.

The young woman, identified as Jane Doe in the lawsuit she filed in July of this year, said she agreed to go to the motel because the man, Zia Ul-Haq Sheikh, was a trusted spiritual guide who’d counseled her since she was 13. He was privy to her biggest teenage problems — an absentee father, discord with her mother, bullies at school.

The lawsuit depicts a man who was more like a savior or a Svengali than a counselor, using his power over Doe to make her dependent on him. He helped her buy a car and loaned her cash for tuition and a laptop. He helped Doe navigate a turbulent home life and essentially stepped in as a father figure. She even began calling the imam Baba, Arabic for Dad.

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ALTOONA (PA)
WTAJ

October 17, 2018

By Emma Catalano

To understand how wide this abuse within the Catholic Dioceses spans, you really have to look at where it all began.

The first reports that stemmed a further investigation and pushed for change to the current Statute of Limitations came after allegations against priests in the Altoona-Johnstown Catholic Diocese.

The first reports of abuse publicly happened back in March of 2016.

Then Attorney General Kathleen Kane, announced a grand jury report found that at least 50 priests in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese abused hundreds of children for decades and clergy leaders had covered it up.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
KYW Newsradio

October 17, 2018

By Tony Romeo

Victims want legislation that would expand the statue of limitations retroactively

With hours remaining in the last scheduled voting day of the year, a proposal by the top-ranking Republican in the state Senate to exempt the Catholic Church from sex abuse lawsuits is landing with a thud among Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro and other victim advocates.

Victims of child sex abuse have long sought legislation that would, essentially, expand the statute of limitations retroactively so that lawsuits can be filed. Late last month, the House sent the Senate a bill to create a two-year window of opportunity for lawsuits. But the Senate balked at that idea and now, after being briefed on it, Attorney General Shapiro says the latest proposal is to create a window for lawsuits against individuals.

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PERU
Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas

October 17, 2018

By Paola Nalvarte/TM

Peruvian journalist Paola Ugaz was criminally denounced for aggravated defamation by the Archbishop of Piura and Tumbes, José Antonio Eguren Anselmi. The religious figure accuses Ugaz of having damaged his honor and reputation in seven tweets the journalist published on Jan. 20, 2018 about alleged sexual abuses and land trafficking allegedly committed by his ecclesiastical community.

Eguren, who belongs to the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SVC) as a member of the generation that founded the community, has requested three years of prison for Ugaz and 200,000 soles (about US $60,000) in civil reparations. The SVC is an ecclesiastical community linked to the Catholic church.

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PASSAIC COUNTY (NJ)
Wayne Patch

October 16, 2018

By Daniel Hubbard

Rev. Ronald Tully was among those named by the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington as being ‘credibly accused’ of sexual abuse of minors.

An ex-Catholic high school vice principal was among several priests named Monday by the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington as being “credibly accused” of sexually abusing minors.

Monsignor Ronald Tully became a priest for the archdiocese in 1970s when he left the Augustinian Order. He was among more than two dozen others who faced allegations of abusing minors since 1948.

The archdiocese did not elaborate on the allegations that landed Tully on the list, but NJ.com reported that a woman settled a lawsuit with Paterson Roman Catholic Diocese in 2015 regarding claims that Tully fondled her 20 times when she was a student at Pope Pius XII Regional High School in Passaic County.

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PATCHOGUE (NY)
WCBS 880

October 17, 2018

A teenager abused by the former music director at a Long Island Catholic church is suing the Diocese of Rockville Center, claiming the church ignored guidelines designed to protect children.

Newsday reports the allegation is detailed in a lawsuit against the pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Patchogue, the Diocese of Rockville Center and Bishop John Barres.

The church’s former music director, Efrain Villafane, now 62, pleaded guilty to rape charges last year, and was sentenced to 10 years of probation. He will also be registered as a sex offender for life.

The victim, now 18-years-old, said she was only 15 when the abuse began.

The diocese claims it contacted the district attorney’s office as soon as it learned of the allegations in 2016.

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BATON ROUGE (LA)
The Advocate

October 16, 2018

By Andrea Gallo

The head of the Diocese of Baton Rouge announced Tuesday he will release the names of clergy members who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse within his territory — a major milestone in the fallout of a widespread Catholic sex abuse crisis and a significant decision for Bishop Michael Duca in his short time as the church’s leader here.

Duca’s announcement came on the same day that bishops and administrators in the Archdiocese of New Orleans and three other dioceses in Louisiana said they would release the names of priests who have been accused of sexual abuse. The Louisiana bishops had said in late September that they were weighing whether to release the names and that they would they were planning a “united response” to avoid putting too much pressure on one diocese.

“The Diocese of Baton Rouge, which was formed in 1961, will release the names of priests who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors,” Duca said in a statement late Tuesday afternoon. “This is of the highest priority to us.”

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NORTH PATCHOGUE (NY)
News 12 Long Island

October 16, 2018

The Catholic Church is being sued by a teen who says she was sexually abused by a former choir director.

The alleged victim says Efrain Villafane repeatedly abused her on the grounds of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in North Patchogue back in 2015.

The lawsuit claims church workers ignored safeguards meant to protect kids.

Villafane pleaded guilty to rape in 2017, and was sentenced to 10 years’ probation.

The lawsuit says that Villafane often told the girl, “If you tell your mother or anyone, I will take you down with me.” It goes on to say she didn’t report the abuse for a long time because she was confused, embarrassed, ashamed and fearful.

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YORK (PA)
York Daily Record

October 15, 2018

By Brandie Kessler and Sam Ruland

Survivors of childhood sexual abuse and their supporters were back at the state capitol on Monday applying pressure on legislators who they say will either allow a path to justice or stand in its way.

Demonstrators stood in the Senate hallway, some holding signs demanding a #WindowToJustice, while others took turns reading from the nearly 900-page state grand jury report that was released in August and details sexual abuse of about 1,000 children by 301 predator priests.

The window would allow survivors for whom the civil window has already closed to file a retroactive civil claim against their abuser.

Since at least 2005, Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse has been up for discussion among advocates for reform.

And yet, survivors who have passed beyond the deadline to file a civil claim have yet to see reform that they believe would provide them some measure of justice: the opportunity to sue their abuser.

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NEW YORK (NY)
CBS News

October 17, 2018

By Nikkei Battiste

Sean Dougherty and Brian Sabo hadn’t been back here together in nearly 30 years.

“I don’t have happy memories here. When I think of grade school I think of this. I think of the abuse,” said Dougherty.

“You drive by something that most people just drive by, and we see it,” Sabo said. “You have these feelings of being 12 years old again.”

They came to sit face to face with Rev. George Koharchik, their former teacher who they say molested them when they were in Catholic grade school. Dougherty said the abuse began when he was 10.

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HONOLULU (HAWAII)
HawaiiNewsNow

October 16, 2018

The priest worked in Hawaii for three years before his arrest and subsequent conviction.

A Catholic priest with connections to Hawaii was named in a list released by the Washington Catholic Archdiocese of clergymen who have been ‘credibly accused’ of sexually abusing children, according to a report released Monday by The Washington Post.

Arthur O’Brien, who the archdiocese says died nearly seven years ago, was ordained in 1983 and immediately began working in Washington. The list, which also includes the names of 30 other members of the clergy, says the first sexual abuse claim against O’Brien was filed in the same year he was ordained.

He was removed from the Ardiocese of Washington in 1984, and records show he was subsequently “treated and cleared for return to ministry.” The same records indicate that O’Brien, who was transferred to Hawaii in 1989, was arrested and convicted of sexual abuse in Honolulu in 1992.

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ERIE (PA)
Erie News Now

October 16, 2018

By Paul Wagner

Former Priest Scheduled to Plea in Child Sex Abuse Case

A former priest in the Erie Catholic Diocese is expected to enter a plea tomorrow rather than face trial on child sex abuse charges.

Sixty-four year old David Poulson has been free on bond since shortly after his arrest on eight charges involving the abuse of two boys.

He was charged with incidents at church rectories in Cambridge Springs and Fryburg , Clarion County and at a remote hunting cabin in Jefferson County.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW

October 18, 2018

Bt Charlie Specht

When Father Joseph Gatto last month was added to the list of more than 100 priests in Buffalo who stand accused of sexual misconduct, many Catholics were stunned.

Gatto won praise and popularity as a dynamic priest with stirring homilies, and some thought he would someday wear a bishop’s hat. Gatto was promoted by Bishop Richard J. Malone, who named him the president and rector of Christ the King Seminary.

But others were aware of what they saw as Gatto’s darker side.

“We don’t want to think that the person that we’re vulnerable to or the person that we’re confiding in, the person that we trust with our family, is actually a predator,” said Marty Lougen, whose brush with Gatto nearly two decades ago resulted in Gatto’s recent suspension.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
The New Orleans Advocate

October 16, 2018

By Ramon Antonio Vargas

Yielding to calls from Catholics who have demanded a full accounting of local clerical abuse cases in the wake of other disclosures across the U.S., New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond and the leaders of four other Louisiana dioceses said Tuesday they will release the names of clergy members who have been “credibly accused” of child sexual abuse in the past 50 years.

Aymond said the release of names “will be sooner rather than later,” though he stopped short of giving a firm date.

Allegations are deemed to be credible when, after a thorough review, the clergy who are accused are removed from ministry, according to the archdiocese.

“The clergy files are being examined very carefully,” Aymond said in a statement. “It is important to note that the review of the files goes back at least 50 years to ensure the list is accurate and complete. We will publish the list as soon as this work is finished.”

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BETHESDA (MD)
Bethesda Magazine

October 17, 2018

By Glynis Kazanjian

Local Catholics stunned to learn clergy they knew were accused of sexual abuse

On Monday, the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington released a list of 31 clergy members credibly accused of sexually abusing minors dating back to the late 1940s. Local parishioners, including those affiliated with parishes in Bethesda and Silver Spring, are stunned to see names they recognize on the list. [Washington Post]

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BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW

October 16, 2018

By Charlie Specht

Embattled Buffalo Bishop Richard J. Malone, who has come under fire for allowing an accused priest to work again with children, is being edited out of a national child abuse training video.

The Archdiocese of Cincinnati is the first diocese in the country to remove any references to Malone from its training videos, which are titled “A Time to Protect God’s Children” and “A Plan to Protect God’s Children,” the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

The training videos are used across the country and are produced by Virtus, a national Catholic insurance group that conducts training sessions for Catholic churches and schools. Employees and volunteers who come in contact with children in Buffalo and elsewhere are required to view the videos as part of their training sessions.

“Despite our best efforts, there is a nightmare which no child should have to face and no parent should have to worry about,” Malone says in the videos. “I speak about childhood sexual abuse.”

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Washington Post

October 18, 2018

By Rev. Thomas V. Berg

While clergy sexual abuse scandals aren’t new, the ones that have rocked the Catholic Church this summer revolved around a group seldom focused on before: seminarians. The sexual harassment and abuse of seminarians, and the response of seminary leaders, have been at the center of the case of former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, whose removal from ministry in June launched months of focus on the topic of abuse.

Many Catholics share a heightened, even unprecedented, level of concern for the well-being of Catholic seminarians. They rightly wonder, as well, whether our seminaries can not only screen out potential sexual predators, but also rise to the challenge of preparing for life and ministry men who are emotionally mature, and psychologically and sexually healthy. This requires training for contemporary American society.

The convergence of these concerns invites a long-needed conversation about reform in American seminaries.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Tribune Review

October 17, 2018

By Deb Erdley

A grand jury report that detailed rampant clergy sexual abuse and cover-ups in six Catholic dioceses across Pennsylvania continued Wednesday as the Catholic Diocese of Greensburg announced the formation of a new advisory council for the protection of children, and officials in Harrisburg debated one of the grand jury’s more controversial recommendations.

Bishop Edward Malesic of the Greensburg diocese said a retired state trooper, a lawyer, a college student, a clinical psychologist and abuse survivor are among the individuals who will serve on a lay advisory council the diocese formed to assure the safety of children and vulnerable individuals.

Malesic said the Safe Environment Advisory Council — which will advise the church on best practices for the protection of children and issue an annual compliance report on those guidelines — consists of Catholics and non-Catholics. The panel, which includes nine individuals from the four-county diocese, will begin its work overseeing listening sessions in parishes next week.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Post

October 17, 2018

By Sohrab Ahmari

The Catholic Church hierarchy has descended on Rome this month, and the theme of the gathering is youth. Pope Francis wants his bishops to figure out how to “help the church better accompany all young people in a joyful life.” That’s a worthy goal, but documents drafted by the bishops in the dense jargon of “Vaticanese” are unlikely to achieve it.

Not so long as a certain disgraced prelate casts a shadow across the Catholic world.

I’m speaking of Theodore McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington who resigned his cardinal’s hat this summer after church authorities determined that he stood credibly accused of abusing underage boys decades earlier.

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NEW YORK
Irish Central

October 15, 2018

By Niall O’Dowd

Child sex-abuse finding have been made against Monsignor Charles Coen, a former pastor and famed Irish musician on Staten Island. IrishCentral understands the priest, now 85 and living in a retirement home in New York, strongly disputes the finding as do many in the Irish music community.

According to Catholic New York, the official newspaper for the Archdiocese of New York, Coen is one of four monsignors and a priest “who had an allegation of sexual abuse of minors brought against them in the Archdiocese’s Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program [IRCP].”

Allegations against all five clergymen have been “found credible and substantiated,” SILive.com.

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SAN JOSE (CA)
NBC Bay Area

October 18, 2018

The Diocese of San Jose on Thursday is expected to release the names of its clergy who are “credibly accused” of child sex abuse, the church’s bishop announced.

After holding several listening sessions for survivors and allowing them to speak about their experiences of abuse in the Catholic Chuch, Bishop Patrick McGrath said the meetings were informative and painful.

Some aren’t happy with the church’s approach in handling the situation.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

October 18, 2018

By Liz Navratil and Angela Couloumbis

After a marathon day of negotiations, Republican leaders in the state Senate failed to push through a compromise on an emotionally charged bill aimed at helping older victims of clergy abuse gain the right to sue, leaving its fate in limbo as they wrapped up the last voting day of the legislative season.

Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, said at a press conference shortly after 11 p.m. that he had tried to gather support for a plan that he believed would help victims seek justice, but that no one would meet him half way.

His plan would have allowed for a temporary reprieve in the statute of limitations so older victims could sue their attackers — but not the institutions, such as the Catholic Church, that may have covered up the abuse.

“We are at a standstill,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS News

October 18, 2018

By Rosemary Bolger

A Melbourne artist who was sexually abused at an Australian orphanage has commissioned a painting to document the royal commission and his fight for justice.

It is with a sense of pride that Melbourne artist Robert House gazes at the latest addition to his art collection.

Mr House, who was sexually abused at an orphanage in Sydney as a young boy in the late 1960s, commissioned friend and artist Peter Daverington to create a painting to honour survivors of child sexual abuse and the fight for justice.

“I wanted to lock it in history and make sure that the story is told for generations to come. And, mainly, the victory of the story, not so much the bad side of the story but the reason to fight for a cause and never give up until you achieve what you want,” Mr House told SBS News.

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GREENSBURG (PA)
Trib Live

October 17, 2018,

By Deb Erdley

Fallout from the August grand jury report that detailed rampant clergy sexual abuse and cover-ups in six Catholic dioceses across Pennsylvania continued Wednesday as the Catholic Diocese of Greensburg announced the formation of a new advisory council for the protection of children, and officials in Harrisburg debated one of the grand jury’s more controversial recommendations.

Bishop Edward Malesic of the Greensburg diocese said a retired state trooper, a lawyer, a college student, a clinical psychologist and abuse survivor are among the individuals who will serve on a lay advisory council the diocese formed to assure the safety of children and vulnerable individuals.

Malesic said the Safe Environment Advisory Council — which will advise the church on best practices for the protection of children and issue an annual compliance report on those guidelines — consists of Catholics and non-Catholics. The panel, which includes nine individuals from the four-county diocese, will begin its work overseeing listening sessions in parishes next week.

His announcement came as abuse survivors and their advocates waged a last-minute effort to push the state Senate to vote on one of the recommendations that came out of the grand jury report, which concluded that church leaders routinely covered up allegations that 301 priests in six dioceses, including Greensburg and Pittsburgh, had abused about 1,000 children over seven decades.

The recommendation that passed the state House by an overwhelming margin earlier this fall would establish a two-year window of opportunity to allow adult survivors of child sexual abuse who were barred by the statute of limitations to sue their alleged abusers.

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FRESNO (CA)
The Fresno Bee

October 17, 2018

By Yemeni Amaro

Bishop Armando X. Ochoa is working with a review board to determine what information the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno may release about area priests accused of sexual misconduct, including the possibility of publicly identifying those priests by name.

The Diocese of Fresno oversees 87 parishes in the counties of Fresno, Tulare, Kings, Kern, Inyo, Madera, Merced and Mariposa.

Teresa Dominguez, chancellor for the Diocese of Fresno, said Ochoa in early September raised the issue with the Fresno Diocesan Review Board. The board is made up of members that come from diverse professional backgrounds, such as law enforcement, education, social work and victim psychological services.

It remains unclear how much longer those discussions will take before a conclusion is reached on what to release and when.

“This is a very thoughtful process that will also include discussions that take place within the California Catholic Conference of Bishops and the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops,” she said. “Both meetings are taking place this fall.”

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WEST NEWTON (MA)
Metro

October 15, 2018

By Kristin Toussaint

Two former students of the boarding school allege sexual abuse at the hands of Fessenden School employees in the 1960s and 1970s.

Two former students of the Fessenden School west of Boston have filed a lawsuit seeking compensation for the alleged sexual abuse they suffered by employees of the all-boys boarding school in the 1960s and 1970s.

The lawsuit was recently filed in Middlesex County Superior Court on behalf of two former Fessenden School students: John Sweeney, who now lives in Connecticut, and William A. Greaves II, who now lives in Norfolk.

The plaintiffs allege that Fessenden officials, including the headmaster, assistant headmaster, and director of residential life, were negligently hired, trained and supervised. These employees knew, or should have known, about the abuse, the lawsuit alleges, and were thus not fit to be around adolescent boys.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
KHTS

October 17, 2018

By Devon Miller

Four Catholic priests with ties to the Santa Clarita Valley have been named a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse in the Los Angeles Archdiocese, according to a report released this month.

Priests who have been employed at Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH) in Newhall are included in a 120-page report of sexual abuse allegations released by the attorneys of Thomas Emens, who filed a suit on Oct. 2 in the Los Angeles Superior Court.

The report contained more than 300 names of clerics from the Los Angeles Archdiocese who have been accused of sexual abuse. Emens is suing bishops in California for allegedly covering up sexual abuse, according to the lawsuit.

The California Catholic Conference, which oversees the California Catholic Conference of Bishops, said in a statement Wednesday, they use safety measures including background checks and fingerprinting.

The organization has a zero-tolerance standard and training were implemented years ago and these safe environment programs aid students and staff in identifying and preventing abuse, according to church officials.

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JEFFERSONVILLE (IN)
WHAS

October 17, 2018

By Dennis Ting

The Archdiocese reports Albert Vincent Deery, who served as the pastor of St. Augustine in Jeffersonville, abused at least 23 victims.

It’s hard to miss St. Augustine Catholic Church with its metal crosses towering in the sky at the corner of Locust Street and Chestnut Street in Jeffersonville, but there are some things at the church that have not been as obvious until now.

“A lot of people have been let down by the Church, so we’re doing all that we can to try to make right some of these wrongs,” Father Doug Marcotte, the pastor of St. Augustine, said.

The Archdiocese of Indianapolis released a list last week of clergy “credibly accused” of sexually abusing children.

The Archdiocese said an allegation was deemed credible “if, after a thorough investigation and review of available information, the accusation was determined to be more likely to be true than not in the judgment of the Archdiocesan Review Board.”

“I pray the release of this list of credibly accused clergy will help all survivors of sexual abuse find the strength to come forward and will set them on the path to healing,” Archbishop of Indianapolis Reverend Charles C. Thompson said. “I apologize to all victims for the abuse that was done to them and for the failure of the Church to keep them from harm. I pledge to do everything within my power to protect our youth.”

Among the names listed is Albert Vincent Deery, who served as the pastor of St. Augustine from 1942 until his death in 1972. The Archdiocese reports Deery abused at least 23 victims.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
AP/KDKA

October 15, 2018

Attorney General Josh Shapiro says recommendations from a state grand jury report that found Roman Catholic priests sexually abused more than a thousand children over decades will pass if given a vote in Pennsylvania’s Senate.

Shapiro spoke Monday while greeting victims of sexual abuse demonstrating outside Senate offices.

Senate Republican majority leaders haven’t promised a vote on all four recommendations. The chamber’s top Republican, President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, says one recommendation is unconstitutional.

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GATLINBURG (TN)
Yahoo Sports

October 17, 2018

By Jason Owens

Former USA Gymnastics President Steve Penny was arrested in his Gatlinburg, Tennessee cabin late Wednesday on felony charges of tampering with evidence related to the Larry Nassar scandal.

Prosecutors announced in a press release Wednesday that a Texas grand jury returned felony charges on Penny in late September, prompting an investigation into his whereabouts.

Officials searched for Penny since Sept. 28

The investigation by Texas Deputy U.S. Marshals and members of the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force led officials to his cabin Wednesday night, where he was arrested.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Associated Press

October 16, 2018

By Ashraf Khalil

Days after Washington’s archbishop resigned over his handling of sexual abuse allegations, the Archdiocese of Washington released the names of more than two dozen clergy members it says have been “credibly accused” of sexually abusing minors.

The revelation comes just four days after Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Cardinal Donald Wuerl and while the Washington Archdiocese is still reeling from recent revelations that Wuerl’s predecessor as archbishop had a decades-long string of abuse allegations.

The archdiocese posted the list of priests on its website late Monday. It names 28 clergy members and three priests who were part of religious orders, but served in Washington parishes or schools. Most of the cases date back multiple decades and only three of the alleged abuses took place after 2000. Of the 31 men listed, 16 are dead.

The list includes several priests who were accused of abuse and convicted, and some who were accused, “treated” and returned to work only to be accused again. Some were removed from their clerical positions or the ministry at some point.

The controversy that forced Wuerl’s resignation does not actually cover his time in Washington; it centers on a Pennsylvania grand jury report accusing him of covering up multiple sexual abuse allegations and shuffling pedophile priests through different parishes, during his 18-year tenure as a bishop in Pittsburgh.

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ROCKVILLE CENTRE (NY)
The Wall Street Journal

October 16, 2018

By Corinne Ramey

Suit claims Diocesse of Rockville Centre on Long Island knowingly sent a priest previously accused of abuse to Florida and is therefore responsible for alleged abuse there

When Mark Cattell was 9 years old in 1981, he said, he met a priest who had been transferred to Florida from a Long Island, N.Y., diocese. He said the priest fondled him after Mass. On another occasion, he said, the priest forced him to give oral sex.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Women’s March WI

October 16, 2018

Earlier today Women’s March Wisconsin State Co-Chair, Sarah Pearson, and former Midwest Director of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, Peter Isely, hand-delivered a letter calling for a statewide investigation of clergy sex abuse crimes to Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel. The letter demands a full-scale investigation of the 60,000 court-ordered publicly available documents which detail alleged abuse by 48 Catholic priests of the Milwaukee Archdiocese. At least one hundred allegedly abusive clergy have never been publicly identified, and their documents remain sealed. The Milwaukee Archdiocese is one of five Wisconsin dioceses the groups want Schimel to review.

In his response (which was recorded), Schimel said that retired Milwaukee Bishop Richard Sklba who characterized returning sex offenders back into ministry as an “experiment” made a “mistake.” Attorney General Schimel should know that secretly using Catholic children as test subjects and parishes as laboratories for child molesters is a crime, not a mistake.

Since Pennsylvania’s groundbreaking Grand Jury report that found over 300 priests guilty of sexually assaulting over 1,000 victims, thirteen attorneys general, including six Republicans, have opened investigations into the Catholic dioceses within their respective states.
In last Sunday’s debate with Democratic candidate, Josh Kaul, moderator Mike Gousha asked Schimel if he would be open to investigating the Wisconsin dioceses for alleged cover-up of clergy sex crimes. Schimel stated he does not “indict by headline,” saying he would not destroy people’s lives without evidence.

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ST. PETERSBURG (FL)
Tampa Bay Times

October 17, 2018

By Waveney Ann Moore

A former parishioner of Christ the King Catholic Church in Tampa, now a lawyer and magistrate in the Virginia Supreme Court, has filed suit against the Diocese of St. Petersburg alleging that he was sexually abused as a child by a now deceased priest.

According to the lawsuit filed this week, Mark Cattell says he was 9 years old in 1981 when he was sexually abused by the Rev. Robert D. Huneke. Cattell, now 45, was a student at Christ the King Catholic School and attended the parish church.

During a news conference Wednesday, Cattell’s attorney, Jeff Herman, called what happened to his client “a crime that was committed at the highest level of the Catholic church.” It involved, he said, “two bishops and a pedophile priest.”

According to the lawsuit, Huneke had previously been assigned to St. Dominic’s parish in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, in Long Island, N.Y., where he sexually molested a boy named John Salveson. Herman produced letters that he said Salveson, who is not a party in the suit, wrote as an adult to the Long Island bishop about the abuse that began when he was 13 years old.

By then, Huneke was in Florida, at Christ the King. In a July 26, 1980, letter on Christ the King stationery to the Rockville Centre bishop, Huneke admits to “past incidents” in New York and says he has “undergone counseling as well as spiritual direction.”

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HARRISBURG (PA)
Patriot News

October 17, 2018

By Ivey DeJesus

House Majority Leader David Reed warned the Senate Wednesday that his chamber will reject a plan to reform the statutes of limitation that exempts institutions from lawsuits.

“We will not accept that proposal,” said Reed, an Indiana County Republican. “We will not accept anything that does not have a clear window to hold not just individuals but the institutions who helped perpetrators commit crimes for decades upon decades.”

Lawmakers are clashing over plans to revamp the state’s law regarding child sexual abuse and the statutes of limitation. The GOP Senate majority on Wednesday was ironing out the last details on a plan that would revise Senate Bill 261. Most notably, the plan would include a clause that would require victims who file lawsuits under a retroactive window to name an individual abuser rather than institutions, such as the Catholic church.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW

October 16, 2018

By Charlie Specht

The Rev. Joseph C. Gatto, who runs the seminary for the Diocese of Buffalo, has been placed on administrative leave by the diocese, as he faces an allegation of sexual misconduct.

On Thursday morning, Gatto told I-Team Chief Investigator Charlie Specht that he is taking a “leave of absence” from Christ the King Seminary in East Aurora, which prepares men for the priesthood in the Buffalo Diocese.

“The pressures of the job, all the things that I’ve been doing — it’s just a temporary thing,” he said in a brief phone interview with 7 Eyewitness News. “I’ve had so many responsibilities. I’m just burned out. I’m just taking some time.”

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WASHINGTON (DC)
WUSA TV

October 16, 2018

By Janice Park

The Archdiocese of Washington released a list Monday of 31 priests. It names priests involved in cases with credible accusations of abuse.

David Fortwengler says he was only 11 when the abuse happened.

Fortwengler keeps newspaper clippings in his car. Like scars, they are physical reminders of his painful past.

“During the criminal case more info came out, that he had horribly raped two brothers in 1966,” said Fortwengler.

Fortwengler’s abuser, Robert Petrella was eventually convicted of molesting David and another boy in the 60’s, while they were both alter boys at an Oxon Hill, Maryland church.

“I have this part inside me that is so angry and pissed off, I hate carrying that feeling, what would help get rid of it is truth, justice and accountability,” said Fortwengler. David says the list gives him little comfort.

And there’s another issue.

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ERIE (PA)
Penn Live

October 17, 2018

By Ron Southwick

A former priest in the Diocese of Erie has admitted to sexually assaulting one boy and attempting to assault another boy, the state attorney general’s office said Wednesday.

David Poulson pleaded guilty to two felony crimes – corruption of minors and endangering the welfare of children – in a hearing in Jefferson County Common Court.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who has led the grand jury investigation of clergy sex abuse across Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania, said the former priest assaulted a victim in church buildings. Citing the plea, Shapiro is urging lawmakers to revamp state law to help victims of clergy sex abuse take their cases to court.

“Poulson assaulted one of his victims in church rectories,” Shapiro in a news conference at the courthouse in Brookville. “He made that victim go to confession and confess the abuse – to Poulson. He used the tools of the priesthood to further his abuse. Today, Poulson is being held accountable and facing justice for his crimes.”

Poulson assaulted one boy repeatedly at two different churches and attempted to assault another boy at a cabin, the grand jury presentment found.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
Penn Live

October 17, 2018

By Ivey DeJesus

The Pennsylvania Senate reconvened Wednesday for its last afternoon session of the term amid disparate reports that a bill to reform child sex crime laws would protect the Catholic Church from lawsuits.

Some advocates have urged lawmakers to approve a window to allow clergy sex abuse victims to file civil suits, even if the abuse occurred decades ago. But critics say a new proposal would bar victims from using that window to sue institutions, including the Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church figures large in the discussion over the bill. A reincarnation of previous attempts, the bill comes at the heels of a blistering grand jury report that found thousands of children had been sexually molested and raped by Catholic priests across the state.

Lobbyists from the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference and the Insurance Federation of Pennsylvania have aggressively opposed the retroactive component to the bill.

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GREENSBURG (PA)
Trib Live

October 16, 2018

By Deb Erdley

An Allegheny County man who says he was sexually abused for three years beginning in 1978 by a now-deceased priest in the Greensburg Diocese has sued the diocese, citing the August statewide grand jury report.

The man, a former altar boy identified only as John Doe, filed his lawsuit Tuesday as the Pennsylvania Senate weighed a measure recommended by the grand jury and recently approved by the state House. The proposal would create a two-year window for survivors of childhood sexual abuse who are now older than 30 to sue their abusers. Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations currently bars people like Doe from filing civil claims related to childhood abuse after they turn 30.

The new complaint names the late Joseph A. Tamilowski, a priest who served in several parishes from 1954 until his death in 1994. Diocesan records revealed that another former altar boy reported in 2002 that Tamilowski fondled him on multiple occasions during the 1960s at Mission of St. Mary Church in Schenley, the grand jury report said.

The Greensburg Diocese did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit, which was filed in Westmoreland County.

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UNITED STATES
ESPN News Services

October 17, 2018

Former congresswoman Mary Bono announced Tuesday that she has resigned as interim president and CEO of USA Gymnastics after a tenure of four days.

Bono’s selection had been immediately criticized by several high-profile gymnasts, including Olympic gold-medal winners Simone Biles and Aly Raisman.

Raisman questioned Bono’s association with law firm Faegre Baker Daniels, which advised USA Gymnastics during the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal.

“Why hire someone associated with the firm that helped cover up our abuse?” Raisman asked.

Biles took issue with Bono’s response to Nike’s advertising campaign featuring NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

Bono, who was appointed to her new roles on Friday, recently posted a photo of herself blacking out a Nike logo on a golf shoe. In response, Biles tweeted: “*mouth drop* … don’t worry, it’s not like we needed a smarter usa gymnastics president or any sponsors or anything.”

In a statement announcing her resignation, Bono said: “It is with profound regret, coupled with a deep love for the sport of gymnastics and respect for those who aspire to be great gymnasts, that I today tendered my resignation as the Interim CEO of USA Gymnastics. … My withdrawal comes in the wake of personal attacks that, left undefended, would have made my leading USAG a liability for the organization.”

Bono said in her statement she proudly stood behind her work at Faegre Baker Daniels.

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[Sexual Abuse in the Church: Senate Rejects a Request for a Commission of Inquiry]

FRANCE
La Croix

October 17, 2018

La demande socialiste pour la création d’une commission d’enquête au sénat sur les abus sexuels dans l’Église a été rejetée mercredi 17 octobre, 27 ont voté contre, 14 pour, 4 se sont abstenus.

Le Sénat, mercredi 17 octobre, a jugé irrecevable la demande socialiste de la constitution d’une commission d’enquête sur les abus sexuels dans l’Église. 27 sénateurs, majoritairement de droite, ont voté contre, 14 pour, 4 se sont abstenus.

Cette décision devrait être confirmée, sauf énorme surprise, mercredi soir en conférence des présidents.

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