ABUSE TRACKER

WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Examiner

November 15, 2018

By Becket Adams

Pope Francis takes the cancer of clergy sexual abuse seriously, but not seriously enough to allow the U.S. bishops to move quickly to enact serious and much-needed reforms.

The American bishops appeared stunned this week after it was announced in Baltimore at the start of their annual meeting that the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops had ordered them to cancel a planned vote on measures to address the clerical sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the Roman Catholic Church.

The Vatican has instructed the U.S. bishops instead to hold off until the Church’s sexual abuse summit in Rome, which doesn’t convene until February 2019. Because what’s the rush?

“We have accepted it with disappointment,” said Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Houston, who heads the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. “We are not ourselves happy about this. We are working very well to move to action, and we’ll do it. We just have a bump in the road.”

“I remain hopeful that this additional consultation will ultimately improve our response to the crisis we face,” he added, trying his best to put some sort of positive spin on the decision.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
KDKA-TV

November 15, 2018

A law firm announced the suits were filed in 12 complaints that named the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, Bishop David Zubik and Cardinal Donald Wuerl as defendants.

The complaints name eight priests who were already named in the grand jury report along with three new individuals named by victims who have since come forward for the first time.

The priests accused in the new lawsuits include:
John Hoehl, at Quigley High School
Francis Siler, accused by two alleged victims at St. Catherine Parish and St. Margaret parish
William O’Malley, accused by two alleged victims at St. Canice Parish and St. Francis de Sales parish
George Zirwas, at St. Michael Parish
George Leech, at St. Bartholomew Parish
Edward Huff, at the parish of North American Martyrs
Raymond R. Rhoden, at St. Francis of Assisi parish
Ernest Paone, at Madonna of Jerusalem parish
John Unger, at Sacred Heart Elementary School
Peter Pilarski, at Resurrection parish
Lawrence O’Connell, accused by two alleged victims at St. Gabriel parish
Leech, Pilarski and Unger’s names were not disclosed in the grand jury report.

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ALLENTOWN (PA)
Morning Call

November 15, 2018

By Paul Muschick

I may be inviting a plague of locusts on my house by saying this. But the Vatican needs to get its act together on how the Catholic church will respond to the sex abuse crisis, or get out of the way of lower church leaders who are trying to do something.

The church had a chance this week to show a new commitment to dealing with clergy sexual abuse of children. But it blew it. Again.

There’s no doubt this time who was to blame — this blunder is on the Vatican.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops met in Baltimore from Monday through Wednesday. Their agenda included highly anticipated votes, in the works since September, to address the problem by improving accountability for themselves.

Proposals included creating a commission, to include lay experts, that would review complaints against bishops; enacting a new code of conduct for bishops; and finalizing how to permanently remove bishops who are found to be abusers.

Vatican asks US bishops not to vote on their proposals to tackle sexual abuse
Monday morning, those votes suddenly were called off.

The president of the conference, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Houston, told the gathered bishops that the pope did not want them to act on bishops’ accountability until he convened a worldwide summit of church leaders in Februa

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MILFORD (MA)
Milford Daily News

November 14, 2018

By Frank Mazzaglia

Some 4,000 Roman Catholics from across the United States gathered in Boston vowing to transform a church they claimed betrayed them by failing to protect children from sexual abuse. The date was July 20, 2002. It was the first national convention of The Voice of the Faithful, a lay reform group which originated from a church basement in Wellesley only five months earlier.

In theory, Voice of the Faithful presented three goals: 1. To support victims of abuse; 2. To support “priests of integrity”; and 3. To support structural change in the church. The core of the problem, according to noted cardiologist Dr. James E. Muller was “centralized power, with no voice of the faithful.” The idea was to bring together reform-minded and traditional Catholics and demand that laypeople have a voice on key issues.

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NASHVILLE (NC)
Religion News Service

November 14, 2018

By Yonat Shimron

Inside a squat cinderblock building on the grounds of Nash Correctional Institution, 24 inmates are hunched over white plastic tables listening to Professor James Dew explain how God is omnipotent and omniscient.

More than half of the men listening are serving life sentences for murder, armed robbery and other offenses. The rest have at least 12 years left to serve.

But Dew is not preaching to his audience as he paces the room posing questions about whether God can sin (No) or know people’s emotions (there’s disagreement, but most Christians say yes). He is teaching theology to prospective ministers.

The prisoners jotting notes, calling up documents on closed-circuit laptops or asking Dew questions of their own are earning four-year bachelor’s degrees in pastoral ministry from the College at Southeastern, the undergraduate school of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in nearby Wake Forest.

Dew’s class is part of a new niche in prison education: training inmates to become “field ministers” who serve as counselors for other inmates, lead prayers, assist prison chaplains and generally serve as a calming influence in prison yards.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
The Baltimore Sun

November 15, 2018

Baltimore Sun Editorial Board

If any truth emerged from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting this week in Baltimore, it was surely Archbishop William E. Lori’s observation that the priest sex abuse scandal “ is going to be with us for a long, long time.” The church covered up the widespread abuse of children and adults by priests for a long, long time. It denied and deflected public outrage for a long, long time. And now, when a Pennsylvania grand jury report revealed the breadth of the abuse, and the fall of former Washington Archbishop Theodore McCarrick demonstrated that it extended to the top rungs of the Catholic hierarchy, the church is waiting longer to take even the most obvious of steps to restore its parishioners’ faith.

The crisis now facing the Catholic church is born not just of the abuse by priests but also of the willingness of the church’s leaders to step in to protect the clergy at the expense of the abused. Pope Francis’ call at the beginning of this meeting for the American bishops to delay any action until after a Vatican synod on the matter this winter thus looks not like a sign that the church is finally ready to address the matter at the highest level but that its old habits of deferring to clerical rather than civil or moral authority and papering over abuse remain intact. The church once moved abusive priests from parish to parish, now it is shuffling the fallout from meeting to meeting.

The bishops go back to their dioceses for a reckoning. They have faced pointed questions if not outright defections from the pews since the Pennsylvania and McCarrick scandals broke, and now they must own up to their impotence in addressing them. Before the meeting began, Archbishop Lori published an op-ed in The Sun in which he concluded that one of the factors that worsened the crisis was a “deep-seated culture of clericalism, which fostered unhealthy notions of entitlement and exclusivity, as well as the distorted view that the priestly state puts those who abused minors, as well as those who protected them, beyond reach of civil law and authority.” Yet when the opportunity came to demonstrate a break from that past, the bishops again folded in the face of clerical authority. They could not even muster a vote to encourage the Vatican to release documents related to the investigation of Mr. McCarrick.

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BOSTON (MA)
WGBH TV

November 14, 2018

By Mike Deehan

Attorney General Maura Healey has failed to respond — at least to date — to a call from Catholic advocacy groups that her office investigate the personnel records of all Massachusetts archdioceses in order to ensure that there is no evidence of accused abusive priests being shuttled between or among parishes.

It should be noted that there have not been renewed allegations of priestly abuse in Massachusetts. The Roman Catholic Church, however, is embroiled in a heated, almost global debate about how to respond to such charges which have become almost commonplace.

The political group Catholic Democrats and church accountability organization Voice of the Faithful want an investigation of the Worcester, Springfield and Fall River Dioceses, as well as an update to a 2003 investigation of the Boston Archdiocese.

Leaders of the lay groups say knowing which priests were paid for work in what parishes, and if any additional payments or pensions were given out, can shed light on whether accused priests were relocated after accusations of abuse.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
End Clergy Abuse

November 14, 2018

President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, began the week by announcing that per the Vatican, no vote would be taken on measures to reform the process of the investigation of allegations of sexual misconduct against bishops or the bishops’ negligence in responding to allegations.

The bishops are expected today to present concrete working proposals that describe how they intend to repair their irrevocably damaged credibility, now considerably worsened by their inaction so far this week.

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LONDON (UK)
The Sun

November 15, 2018

By Gerard du Cann

A FURIOUS father partially castrated a preacher he believed raped his nine-year-old daughter in South Africa, it is alleged.

Preacher Mase Malgas, 66, died after being attacked on September 30, a court was told.

Constable Lundi Nqwelo was called as a witness by the state prosecutors and testified that the defendant had been told by his ex-wife that their daughter had been raped by Malgas, The South African reported.

The father, ex-wife and a friend of the couple tracked down Malgas, who was based at St Philips Church in Gompo, and burst into his home intent on revenge, the court heard.

Nqwelo said the accused, who cannot be named as it would also reveal his daughter’s identity, then severely beat Malgas and attempted to sever the preacher’s penis.

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FORT WORTH (TX)
Ft. Worth Star Telegram

November 15, 2018

By Domingo Ramirez Jr.

A priest at All Saints Catholic Church has been removed after he was accused of grabbing a man’s genitals at a park in September, church officials and police said Thursday.

Father Genaro Mayorga Reyes told officers he did not touch the 43-year-old man at Marine Park on the morning of Sept. 25, according to police reports.

Bishop Michael F. Olson requested that Reyes be recalled to Mexico after learning of the incident, according to a statement released by the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth last week to members of All Saints. It was effective Nov. 5.

“Please pray for Father Genaro and please pray for members of the All Saints parish,” the statement said.

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MICHIGAN
Michigan.Live.com

November 15, 2018

By Justin P. Hicks

The Catholic Diocese of Gaylord has created an online list of priests and deacons who have been “credibly accused” of sexual abuse of a minor dating back to 1971.

As of Thursday, Nov. 15, the list featured 10 clergy. Eight of the priests are deceased. The two living priests — Ronald Gronowski and James Holtz — have been “permanently removed from public ministry.”

The release of the list comes amid a state investigation of sexual abuse by priests being led by the Michigan attorney general’s office. In August 2018, the state agency began investigating the handling of allegations dating back to 1950.

The diocese said it has previously released information about the allegations of sexual abuse of minors involving priests or deacons, but chose to publish and maintain the list because it “may be helpful to the healing process for victim-survivors,” and to continue efforts for increased transparency.

A “credible and substantiated allegation,” as used by the diocese, is an accusation that, after an investigation and review of available information, appears more likely true than not and has been accepted as credible by the bishop, according to the diocese.

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YORK (PA)
York Daily Record

November 15, 2018

By Brandie Kessler and Dylan Segelbaum

The Catholic church kicked him out. He is among 301 ‘predator priests’ named by a grand jury. But he still leads a Catholic church in York County.

Harry Spencer realized that he was home.

He’d grown uncomfortable with the direction of the Catholic Church, particularly since Vatican II. The doctrines had changed. The Mass had changed. So had all the traditions and rituals.

Then, about seven years ago, Spencer started going to what would become St. Michael the Archangel Roman Catholic Church in Lower Windsor Township. It offers a traditional Latin Mass. The Rev. Virgil Tetherow, also known as Father Gabriel, leads the church.

“I have never met a priest that I’ve felt more comfortable with in his religiosity and his ability to teach the religion of the Roman Catholic faith,” Spencer said. “I love my religion. And Father Tetherow is a true Catholic priest.”

But that is not what the Catholic church says.

In fact, Tetherow “is not recognized as a priest, is prohibited from presenting himself as clergy and is not associated with the Diocese of Harrisburg,” said Mike Barley, a spokesman for the diocese, who encouraged the faithful to not attend Tetherow’s services.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Religion News Service

November 15, 2018

By Christa Brown and David Clohessy

Ten years ago, SNAP was the butt of the most outrageous criticism in its three decades of work on behalf of clergy sex abuse survivors.

SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, was founded with a focus on Catholic clergy abuse. But as we expanded our efforts to other faiths, the worst name-calling came not from any Catholic official but from a Baptist official. Paige Patterson, a former Southern Baptist Convention president who, at the time, was head of a prominent Baptist seminary, labeled SNAP as “evil-doers” and said we were “just as reprehensible as sex criminals.”

It may seem odd to note the anniversary of such an odious aspersion, but at a time when survivor advocates have much to cheer about, it’s important that we not lose sight of how much work remains to be done in changing institutions and attitudes to make kids safer.

Too many survivors still face hostility when they attempt to confront religious leaders about clergy child molesters. The U.S. Justice Department has now launched an investigation into the sexual abuse of children and the cover-up of those crimes in the Catholic dioceses of Pennsylvania. And because the Justice Department put every diocese in the country on notice that they should preserve all documents relating to sexual abuse allegations, there appears the possibility of a broader investigation into Catholic abuses and cover-ups.

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BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

November 14, 2018

By News Editorial Board

Victims of the child sex abuse scandals in the Catholic Church were hoping for some action on reforms this week when the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops met in Baltimore.

They got thoughts and prayers instead.

The Vatican directed the U.S. bishops to delay their votes on two reform measures until a special council of bishops worldwide convenes on Feb. 8. Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston opened the conference on Monday with that announcement from Rome.

“We are not ourselves happy about this,” said DiNardo, adding he found the decision “quizzical.”

“We just have a bump in the road” on the way to reform, he said.

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BARTLESVILE (OK)
Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise

November 15, 2018

One doesn’t have to be Roman Catholic or even Christian to recognize the great good the Catholic Church has done. America would be worse off were it not its pro-life stance and numerous acts of charity.

But good works are sometimes diluted or even overwhelmed by evil works, and it is the evil works of pedophile priests that threaten to sully the good the church has done.

But what should trouble not only Catholics but non-Catholics too is the latest statement from the Vatican regarding the sexual abuse scandal, a scandal that has prompted many Catholics to leave the church and the faith altogether.

In a letter to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting in Baltimore, the Vatican, as reported by U.S. News & World Report, requested that U.S. bishops “wait until after the Vatican-convened global meeting on sex abuse takes place in February” to take action on the sexual abuse issue plaguing the church. “The conference of bishops had expected to focus … on measures to combat abuse, including establishing a new code of conduct.”

Is it just a question of timing, or yet another attempt to avoid dealing with the crisis?

The church has long been reluctant to go to law enforcement about cases of sexual abuse by priests, choosing instead to have its own officials handle the cases themselves, or as was most often the case, suppress them, moving suspected clergy from parish to parish, threatening the safety of children, and thereby continuing a pattern of depravity and neglect.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

November 14, 2018

By Torsten Ove

A Cambria County man who says a Johnstown priest abused him when he was a child is among a group of plaintiffs who sued Catholic church leaders in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, claiming they covered up the actions of pedophile priests across the nation.

Shaun Dougherty, who lives in Westmont outside of Johnstown, is one of six men who brought the suit in federal court in the District of Columbia against the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Holy See in Vatican City.

The suit, which is seeking class action status on behalf of some 5,000 potential plaintiffs across the United States, alleges that church leaders protected priests who sexually abused children and moved them around from church to church.

In addition to Mr. Dougherty, the plaintiffs are from Arizona, Mississippi, Illinois, California and New Jersey and all claim to have suffered at the hands of predator priests.

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

November 15, 2018

By Inés San Martín

A Chilean cardinal who has been at the center of the country’s clerical sexual abuse crisis acknowledged on Wednesday that he’s no longer a member of the council of nine cardinals, referred to as the C9, that advises the pope. In addition, a local prosecutor announced he’ll be summoning him under charges of covering up abusive priests.

Speaking with Radio Cooperativa, Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz said that having reached the five-year term he had been appointed to serve the pope in the C9, he had travelled to Rome to say goodbye to the pope and to “thank him for the job he entrusted us with.”

The Vatican’s press office didn’t answer Crux’s request for confirmation.

The C9 is a task force created by Pope Francis at the beginning of his pontificate to reform the government of the Church, known as the Roman Curia. Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston is the lone American on the commission.

On the same day Errazuriz made his announcement, the prosecutors’ office in Chile announced that they will be summoning the cardinal to testify on the alleged cover up of the actions of Father Jorge Laplagne, who’s been accused of sexually abusing minors.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

November 14, 2018

By Brian Roewe

After months of anticipation, Catholics hoping the U.S. bishops’ annual meeting would yield actionable steps on the sexual abuse crisis will have to settle, for now, for “a springboard.”

The three-day public portion of the fall general assembly concluded Wednesday with no final decisions or concrete steps, in part due to a Vatican request to delay any votes on proposals until after a February meeting in Rome among Pope Francis and the heads of bishops’ conferences from around the globe.

The request, delivered as the bishops began their proceedings Monday, came as a disappointment to many bishops who arrived eager to demonstrate their seriousness on the abuse issue, not to speak of the wider Catholic community and public watching to see if the church leaders would deliver on promises to address the matter with more than words.

In his concluding remarks, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, shared in the sentiment, though left room for some hope.

“Brothers, I opened the meeting expressing some disappointment. I end it with hope,” he said. “My hope is first of all grounded in Christ, who desires that the church be purified and that our efforts bear fruit.”

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AUSTRALIA
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

November 14, 2018

By Rebecca Opie

The former chief executive and artistic director of the State Opera of South Australia will stand trial accused of multiple child sex offences.

Timothy Sexton, 58, pleaded not guilty in the Adelaide Magistrates Court to four child sex charges including maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a minor and indecent assault.

Prosecutors allege the offences were committed between 1988 and 1991 in South Australia.

Mr Sexton was the artistic director and chief executive of the State Opera from 2011.

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ERIE (PA)
GoErie

November 15, 2018

By Ed Palattella

Retired bishop of Erie commented at meeting of U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in Baltimore. He also called “unjust” a proposed hotline for bishop misconduct.

The Catholic Diocese of Erie has become a case in point in the divide over how Roman Catholic bishops in the United States want to address the clergy sex-abuse crisis.

The differences within the diocese — specifically, the differences between its current bishop and retired bishop — have been on display this week in Baltimore, at the fall meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Many bishops at the conference, such as Erie Catholic Bishop Lawrence Persico, have embraced calls for change. Others, such as Persico’s predecessor as bishop, Donald W. Trautman, who retired in 2012, have criticized some of the conference’s proposals, including those designed to monitor the bishops and their handling of abuse allegations.

Trautman was outspoken in his remarks on Tuesday, the second day of the conference, which ended Wednesday.

At a session for debate, Trautman raised questions about the accuracy of “every attorney general report.” The Pennsylvania attorney general’s August grand jury report on clergy abuse statewide found that, among other things, Trautman failed “to aggressively pursue” removal of an abusive priest.

And Trautman on Tuesday questioned the accuracy of a joint investigation by the Boston Globe and Philadelphia Inquirer, published two weeks ago, that reported that “more than 130 U.S. bishops — or nearly one-third of those still living — have been accused during their careers of failing to adequately respond to sexual misconduct in their dioceses.” The report did not name Trautman, who led the 13-county Erie Catholic Diocese from 1990 to 2012.

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[Abuse in Stift Klosterneuburg: criticism of report]

GERMANY
religion.orf.at

November 2018

Der Expertenbericht zu einem Missbrauchsfall aus dem Jahr 1993 im Stift Klosterneuburg, der am Samstag vorgelegt worden war, ist von der Initiative gegen Gewalt und sexuellen Missbrauch an Kindern und Jugendlichen kritisiert worden.

In einer Aussendung vom Montag wurde etwa festgehalten, dass Sachverhalte und Zeugenaussagen nicht intensiv genug geprüft worden seien. Johannes Heibel, der Vorsitzende der Initiative mit Sitz in Deutschland, kritisierte auch, dass die Expertengruppe es nicht für notwendig erachtetet habe, „alle von der Initiative benannten Zeugen einzuladen und persönlich anzuhören“. Zudem habe die Gruppe weder über einen erfahrenen Ermittler noch über einen Kirchenrechtler verfügt. Auch die Unabhängigkeit der Expertenrunde zog Heibel in Zweifel.

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[New abuse allegations against ex-Bishop Janssen]

GERMANY
NDR.de

November 13, 2018

Gegen den ehemaligen Hildesheimer Bischof Heinrich Maria Janssen (1907-1988) gibt es einen neuen Missbrauchsvorwurf. Dies teilte das Bistum Hildesheim mit. Der amtierende Hildesheimer Bischof Heiner Wilmer erklärte am Dienstag, dass sich jein heute 70-Jähriger bei ihm gemeldet habe. Der Mann habe angegeben, ab dem Jahr 1957 gleich von mehreren Kirchenmitarbeitern sexuell missbraucht worden zu sein, darunter auch dem damaligen Bischof Janssen. Es ist bereits der zweite Missbrauchsvorwurf gegen Janssen. Vor drei Jahren hatte ein früherer Messdiener von sexuellem Missbrauch durch Ex-Bischof Janssen berich

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BALTIMORE (MD)
The Baltimore Sun

November 15, 2018

By Jonathan M. Pitts

The nation’s conference of Catholic bishops announced Wednesday that it will return to Baltimore in June for an assembly as leaders grapple with a sex abuse crisis that has engulfed the church in the United States.

The move represents a change in plans for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which was to have held its week-long summer gathering next year in Santa Barbara, Calif.

The bishops’ fall meeting — held for years in Baltimore — traditionally centers on business and agenda-setting for the approximately 300 leaders of the nation’s nearly 200 dioceses. The June assembly, which is held in different locations each year, typically includes elements of a retreat.

Speaking between sessions Wednesday on the final day of the 2018 meeting at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront, Baltimore Archbishop William Lori said that with the clergy abuse crisis dominating church affairs, conference leaders decided to treat the June assembly as a business gathering as well, and Baltimore — site of the nation’s oldest diocese — has proved an excellent site for such meetings.

Msgr. J. Brian Bransfield, general secretary of the conference, told the bishops at the end of the day that the meeting will be June 11-19.

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[New charge against Hildesheim’s old bishop “The guy has to get out of the cathedral”]

GERMANY
Der Spiegel

November 14, 2018

By Peter Wensierski

“Der Kerl muss aus dem Dom raus”
Gegen den ehemaligen Hildesheimer Bischof Heinrich Maria Janssen sind neue Missbrauchsvorwürfe bekannt geworden. Ein früherer Ministrant sieht erschreckende Parallelen zu seinem eigenen Fall.

“Jetzt bricht alles wie ein Kartenhaus zusammen”, sagt ein ehemaliger Ministrant, der sich vor drei Jahren im “SPIEGEL” zu Wort gemeldet hatte, weil er als Junge vom Hildesheimer Bischof Heinrich Maria Janssen missbraucht worden sei. Der Betroffene hatte angegeben, dass der Bischof ihn in den Fünfziger- und Sechzigerjahren regelmäßig durch Masturbation, Oral- und Analverkehr missbraucht habe.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Catholic Thing

November 14, 2018

By Robert Royal

I’ve been on the road and much occupied the past two days; my first glance at the news about the Vatican’s request that our American bishops not vote on steps to resolve the abuse crisis came as I was boarding a plane. It’s been almost twenty-four hours since then, as I’m writing – and trying, on the move, to catch up with this odd development. Second thoughts may follow, but for now, I find it hard to believe that it’s not just a bad dream.

The Vatican knew for months that the bishops would deal with abuse at their regular Fall gathering. The pope asked them to cancel it and hold a spiritual retreat instead until the heads of bishops’ conferences from around the world meet in February. It’s hard to say with any degree of precision what Pope Francis fears might happen at such a gathering.

We’re hearing vague claims that decisions by the American bishops might conflict with canon law. But when has this papacy ever been held up by law – or wanted bishops everywhere in the world to follow universal rules – when it really wanted to get something done?

Whatever the fear, to wait until the very day the meeting opened to request no voting take place is almost without precedent. For many Americans, sad to say, the pope has probably just confirmed what he was forced to admit in Chile: he’s part of the problem. That no one convinced him this move would be a public relations nightmare – and would cause more trouble than a frank discussion and voting (which he could always massage later anyway) – is a sign of where we are in the Church now.

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NASHVILLE (TN)
WZTV

November 9, 2018

By Harriet Wallace

Mike Coode is 79 years old. The trauma of what he says happened to him starting at age 12 still haunts him.

“After that I was pretty nuts. I did crazy things because I felt guilty, like I needed to be punished. It hurts so bad. As I said, I was devastated,” said Mike Coode.

Coode, who is no longer a practicing Catholic, went to Catholic school and church in Nashville and says a priest molested him for more than 10 years. He claims the Diocese protects guilty priests and continues to do so.

“All we’ve ever wanted was the truth, and they won’t give it to us,” said Coode.

What the Nashville Diocese is giving up are the names of 13 priests accused of molesting kids. Nine are dead, two are in prison and two are no longer acting priests. Diocese spokesman Rick Musacchio says the Diocese is being transparent and doing right by the victims.

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SAN DIEGO (CA)
The San Diego Union-Tribune

November 14, 2018

By Peter Rowe

The Rev. James Burson, a Catholic priest now living in San Diego County, has been accused of molesting a Buffalo, N.Y., high school student in the 1970s.

Burson recently was added to the Diocese of Buffalo’s list of priests credibly accused of sexual misconduct. The alleged molestation involved a boy at Cardinal Dougherty High School in Buffalo in 1979.

Moving from Buffalo to San Diego around 1996, Burson initially worked as a chaplain at Alvarado, Grossmont and Kaiser hospitals. He also served as a priest at San Diego’s Blessed Sacrament parish until his retirement on July 1, 2009.

Then he moved to St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Carlsbad. As recently as Nov. 4, the parish bulletin listed him “in residence.” However, a Diocese of San Diego spokesman said that poor health caused him to enter a board and care facility last year.

At Cardinal Dougherty, “there were multiple incidents of abuse,” said Mike Reck, a lawyer in the Los Angeles office of Jeff Anderson & Associates. “There are probably survivors that need to know about this.”

The Diocese of San Diego has received no complaints about Burson, a diocesan spokesperson said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet

November 14, 2018

By Christopher Lamb

The 288-page book, published last week, and so far only available in Italian, draws on sources who worked with Viganò

“The truth emerges,” Ben Bradlee, the former editor of the Washington Post once said.

It’s a phrase that might usefully be applied to the testimony of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the former papal ambassador to the United States, who in August called on Pope Francis to resign for allegedly ignoring sexual misconduct allegations against ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. In an explosive 11-page dossier of accusations, he claimed that the Pope had not only ignored formal sanctions that had been placed on McCarrick but had elevated him to a role as trusted adviser; he also made assertions about the pernicious influence of “homosexual currents” in the Vatican.

Since then, Archbishop Viganò has pulled back from his call for the Pope to resign, and has admitted there weren’t formal sanctions on Archbishop McCarrick, only private restrictions.

A new book, “Il Giorno del Giudizio” (“The Day of Judgment”), by two experienced Vatican journalists, Andrea Tornielli (whose interviews with Pope Francis were published in 2016 as “The Name of God is Mercy”) and Gianni Valente, helps to untangle Archbishop Viganò’s claims further, placing them into context and going some way to separating fact from fiction.

The 288-page book, published last week, and so far only available in Italian, draws on sources who worked with Viganò and from inside the Vatican. Although many details of the McCarrick case remain mysterious, this is a forensic and sober analysis that sheds new light on the career of the 88-year-old McCarrick, who was removed from public ministry and the College of Cardinals by Francis when a credible allegation he had abused a minor emerged. What “Il Giorno del Giudizio” tries to demonstrate is that attempts to turn the McCarrick saga into a “J’accuse” against Francis involves twisting facts to suit an agenda. Viganò, Tornielli and Valente claim, built a castle of accusations on grains of truth.

A new claim made in the book is that McCarrick’s sexual misconduct – which included inviting seminarians to share his bed at a beach house – was reported to the Vatican in 1999, a few months before Pope John Paul II appointed McCarrick Archbishop of Washington. Cardinal John O’Connor, Archbishop of New York, according to the authors’ sources, “wrote a heartfelt letter” to Rome in which he referred to “homosexual harassment” by McCarrick. “He declared that McCarrick was charismatic, very good at raising funds,” the book explains. “O’Connor remembered that he had recommended him in the past but that now, in conscience, he felt that he should not be chosen [for Washington].”

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TEXAS
Baptist Standard

November 13, 2018

By Scott Floyd

Previous articles considered the rate of childhood sexual abuse and how abuse impacts children and adults. Now, we ask what is the church’s role in ensuring protection to children and their families? To answer this question, we will consider a brief theology of care of children and then will look at how the church can provide effective protection for the safety of children.

What does Scripture say about care for children?

The Bible gives a clear pattern for how the world should work. In God’s design, children are to grow up in a safe environment where they can learn about God. Big people, like parents and adults who work with children, are to be loving and caring and to help little people grow up to be healthy, responsible adults who follow God with all their hearts.

Passages like Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and Psalm 78:5-8 tell of the importance of parents passing their faith along to their children. These children grow up and, in turn, pass their faith along to their children.

Mark 10:13-16 relates a time when Jesus was in Judea, well into his ministry. Individuals were bringing their children to Jesus. The disciples believed it was not the best use of Jesus’ ministry for him to spend time with children. They actually rebuked parents for bothering Jesus with their little ones.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WVUE

November 13, 2018

By Kimberly Curth

There are disturbing allegations in a new lawsuit against the Catholic Church in New Orleans. Four men have come forward claiming they endured sexual and physical abuse at the orphanage and youth home, Madonna Manor and Hope Haven, when they were boys in the late 1970s and 80s.

The men are only identified as John Roes. They’re suing the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Catholic Charities and the Salesian Society.

One alleged victim says when he was 9, he was selected to be an altar boy for Masses that were performed at the Madonna Manor Chapel. And, “during numerous different occasions at these masses, the priests took John Roe I to the chapel sacristy where he would be raped by certain visiting priests.”

He also says he was sexually assaulted on a field trip to St. Joseph’s Abbey in Covington by an unknown cleric.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

November 13, 2018

By Pat Perriello

The NCR editorial staff did not mince words in its open letter to U.S. Catholic bishops. Its insistence that “it is over” is compelling.

Let me just highlight a few points that the editorial makes.

First, the editorial highlights the efforts church leaders made to hide the truth of the scandal from the faithful, the public and law enforcement.

The authors then go on to describe the pharisaical nature of our hierarchy. They have been “imbibing the excesses of power, authority and privilege that have accrued over centuries.”

It is also important to note just how big a deal the present crisis is. NCR says there is no precedent in U.S. church history and perhaps in global church history for what is facing the church right now. This is not about a debatable religious or dogmatic issue. It is a “rot at the heart of the culture entrusted with leadership of the Catholic community.”

While the editorial acknowledges that the church has done some good things that makes it a safer place today, it notes that these changes were essentially made only because the scandal became public. Thus, “you were moved to words of contrition because you were, once again, caught.”

These are strong words from the editorial staff of NCR. The staff is still looking to the hierarchy for a true personal examination, sincere desire for forgiveness, and a resolve to change. It demands ceding authority and ridding the clerical state of privilege and power.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

November 13, 2018

Child sexual abuse victims were treated like “third class citizens” and “a scourge” by a Roman Catholic Archdiocese, a survivor has claimed.

An inquiry is examining Birmingham Archdiocese’ response to allegations made against four priests including Father John Tolkien, son of novelist JRR Tolkien, who died in 2003.

Fr Tolkien allegedly forced a boy to kneel and pray with his trousers down.

The survivor said he was told he was chosen “for a very special position”.

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UNITED STATES
USA Today

November 14, 2018

By Melinda Henneberger

Catholic to her church: After a lifetime of stubborn adherence on my part and criminal behavior on yours, you have finally managed to drive me away.

For months, American Catholics had been asked to be patient just a little longer. We were promised that the church’s “summer of shame,” following only the latest revelations about the systemic cover-ups of clerical sex abuse, would finally be addressed this week in Baltimore at the biannual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

This wouldn’t be just one more round of forced apologies, either, but would involve action — and maybe even a vote on a new standard of conduct for bishops, and an outside commission to review violations of it.

Only, to the astonishment of no one past the age of reason, that’s not going to happen after all.

Instead, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the bishops conference, who has himself shielded at least one predator, opened the meeting by announcing that the Vatican had insisted on delaying any action until after a February Vatican summit on the scandal.

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DENVER (CO)
The Associated Press

November 13, 2018

A Catholic priest from Denver accused of sexually abusing an adult seminary student was temporarily placed in a parish after officials learned of the allegations over a decade ago but later removed.

The Philadelphia Inquirer first reported on the case Monday after former seminarian Stephen Szutenbach went public partly because he is upset Rev. Kent Drotar wasn’t officially defrocked.

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AOTEAROA (NEW ZEALAND)
Maori Television

November 13, 2018

By Moana Makapelu Lee

The Anglican church is welcoming the government’s announcement to include faith-based institutions in its inquiry into historical abuse of children in state care. Northland Bishop Te Kitohi Pikaahu says the inquiry must not be limited to the state sector and churches must also be held accountable.

The Anglican church says the inquiry will provide a pathway to healing for the victims of abuse.

Bishop Pikaahu says, “This is inquiry is about resolution for men and women in state and church care.”

He says many children were placed into church care from 1940-1980 and an investigation would unveil the extent of abuse.

“The government are now listening. Churches must also be held to account for any wrongdoing against those in their care.”

In a letter to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in March, the Anglican church requested that churches be included in the inquiry but were turned down.

“I believe it’s because they were afraid of how far the extent of the issue went, but nothing will go amiss in this inquiry.”

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BALTIMORE (MD)
The Associated Press

November 13, 2018

By David McFadden and David Crary

A Roman Catholic bishop at a meeting of his U.S. colleagues has suggested a nonbinding vote to convey a sense of their aspirations regarding anti-abuse efforts.

Several Roman Catholic bishops on Tuesday urged colleagues at their national meeting to take some sort of action on the clergy sex abuse crisis despite a Vatican order to delay voting on key proposals.

Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, suggested a nonbinding vote to convey a sense of the bishops’ aspirations regarding anti-abuse efforts.

“We are not branch managers of the Vatican,” he said. “Our people are crying out for some action.”

Bishop George Murry of Youngstown, Ohio, echoed Paprocki’s call, saying parishioners and priests in his diocese are “very, very angry.”

The three-day assembly opened Monday with a surprise announcement by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The Vatican, he said, was ordering the bishops to delay votes on two anti-abuse proposals until after a Vatican-convened global meeting on sex abuse in February.

DiNardo indicated there were two principal reasons for the Vatican order: to ensure that steps taken by the U.S. bishops would be in harmony with steps decided at the February meeting, and to provide more time for vetting aspects of the U.S. proposals that might conflict with church law.

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YOUNGSTOWN (OH)
The Vindicator

November 12, 2018

By Justin Dennis

A month before the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown named 34 clergymen associated with the diocese who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing a minor, it received one new allegation that is now under investigation.

The diocese last week also amended that list of accused to include one more name: One of the former friar’s accusers, who traveled with him as an altar boy in the mid-1980s, said the man forced himself on him when he was a pre-teen in St. Aloysius Parish in East Liverpool.

Simultaneously, a former Youngstown diocese priest, John F. Warner of Louisville, said he has worked to clear his name after the diocese’s Oct. 30 release, which exposed another disgraced priest with the exact same name.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
CNA/EWTN News

November 14, 2018

More than 20 bishops and cardinals offered passionate speeches during an open-floor discussion on the sex-abuse crisis at the U.S. bishops’ meeting in Baltimore on Tuesday afternoon.

More bishops wanted to speak, but due to time constraints, their comments were reserved for the next morning.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), opened the discussions with the announcement that he had created a “deliberately small” task force, comprised of himself and the former presidents of the USCCB.

The task force, which includes Cardinal DiNardo and Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz and Archbishop Wilton Gregory, will work closely with the committees of the conference to examine instances of abuse and mishandling of abuse cases, and their work will culminate in a report presented at the next bishops’ meeting in June, Cardinal DiNardo said.

Afterward, Cardinal DiNardo opened the floor to any comments on the task force or the issue of the sex-abuse crisis at large.

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CHICAGO (IL)
The Christian Century

November 14, 2018

Elizabeth Palmer interviews Anna Groff

“Churches are places of high trust—and high risk.”

Anna Groff is the executive director of Dove’s Nest, an organization that equips faith communities to build safe environments for children and survivors. It trains teachers in the Circle of Grace curriculum, a tool for helping young people maintain physical boundaries and recognize inappropriate situations.

For those who don’t know the Circle of Grace curriculum, what’s the one point it makes that is most important to teach children?

Many children already receive sexuality and boundary education in school. Circle of Grace is distinct in communicating that people in the church care about all the parts of life, including our physical bodies and body safety. We want children to know that God cares and the church cares that they are safe and that their bodies are respected. Circle of Grace enables Christian educators to teach that no topic is off limits in church.

For example, a few days before Circle of Grace was being taught at a church in Grand Rapids, a first-grade student at a local Christian school texted a photo of his penis to another student. Since several of the church’s children attended that school, the text message came up in conversation during a Circle of Grace lesson. The teacher alerted the director of children’s ministries, who brought the parents into the discussion at dismissal time. “We can have those kind of conversations—about sexting, safety, our bodies—at church,” the director told me. “It is fair game.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Associated Press

November 14, 2018

Victims of child sexual abuse by clergy in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia can begin filing claims as part of a victim compensation fund.

Claims administrators said Tuesday they sent 342 packets to survivors who had previously reported credible allegations.

They say the archdiocese has committed to pay accepted claims, there is no appeal process and there is no cap on the fund or the amount individual victims can receive. Victims have to waive their rights to sue the archdiocese in the future to accept offers.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Catholic News Service

November 13, 2018

The U.S. bishops gave a standing ovation Nov. 13 to Francesco Cesareo, chairman of the National Review Board, for his report on the widening abuse crisis in the church and his calls for more action from them to address the abuse.

Cesareo, board chairman since 2013, called for broadening the scope of the “Charter on the Protection of Children and Young People” to include bishops. He also urged publishing complete lists of credibly accused clergy in all dioceses; improving the audit process; and enhancing accountability for bishops regarding cases of abuse.

He urged the bishops to take action and continue to move solutions to abuse forward. “Don’t stagnate it, or slow it down,” said Cesareo during a question-and-answer period following his report. “If that does not happen, I fear for the future of our church.”

Cesareo’s report came at the beginning of the second day of the annual fall assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore. The day’s agenda included discussion of proposals for addressing the abuse crisis but items that a day earlier the Vatican asked they delay voting on.

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DENVER (CO)
The Denver Post

November 12, 2018

By Elise Schmelzer

Former seminarian says he feels betrayed by the church, lied to by those he knows in its leadership
A Catholic priest in Denver accused of having sexually abused a young seminarian over the course of four years in the early 2000s was placed in a local church with a school after the Archdiocese of Denver learned of the allegations.

The clergyman, Kent Drotar, lost permission to work as a priest less than two months later and was removed from his post at Notre Dame Catholic Church in southwest Denver after a disciplinary team found the allegations against him credible, as first reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer on Monday and confirmed by The Denver Post.

Stephen Szutenbach, now 37, studied at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver from 2001 to 2004, and said Drotar — then the vice rector at the seminary — repeatedly made unwanted sexual contact with him. The abuse began in the summer of 2000 when Szutenbach was 18 and worked as a groundskeeper at the seminary after graduating from Conifer High School, Szutenbach told the Post in an interview Monday.

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UNITED STATES
Hollywood Reporter

November 13, 2018

By Katie Kilkenny

In a special preceding ‘Scientology and the Aftermath’s’ third season, Remini gathered ex-members to discuss their experiences with the church on issues including blood transfusions, justice and women’s rights.

Leah Remini kicked off the third season of her A&E series Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath on Tuesday night with a deep-dive, two-hour special on the Christian denomination Jehovah’s Witnesses.

On Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath: The Jehovah’s Witnesses, Remini led a panel of ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses as they explained some of the church’s most controversial positions and practices: its belief in Armageddon, disavowal of blood transfusions, disfellowships and subjugation of women.

As Remini explained at the beginning, the special stemmed from letters and social-media messages the production received, asking it to look into the denomination. “I thought Jehovah’s Witnesses were just nice people knocking on doors,” Remini said. But “We have received many letters, [saying], ‘Please look into the Jehovah’s Witnesses'” and making the connection between Scientology and Jehovah’s Witnesses, she noted.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
National Catholic Reporter

November 14, 2018

By Heidi Schlumpf

Some bishops have been more concerned about the reputation of the church than about victims of sexual abuse, indicating “clear corruption” and “a blind spot” that must be addressed, said Archbishop Paul Etienne of Anchorage, Alaska.

Etienne suggested a study — similar to the 2011 John Jay College “causes and context” study of priests who abused minors — to help understand “the episcopal attitude that was able to handle the abuse situation in such an inept way over the decades.”

He also criticized bishops “who have gotten too accustomed to listening to lawyers over victims” and said that he and his brother bishops must remain vigilant against “the three Ps” — pride and the desire for privilege and power.

“That’s a corruption of our life as shepherds that has to be called out and say ‘No more. It’s not tolerable,’ ” Etienne told NCR in an interview after the Nov. 13 morning session of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting in Baltimore.

Later that day, Bishop Shawn McKnight of Jefferson City, Missouri, took to the floor and suggested a similar study of “the root causes of abuse of power” in the crisis.

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ROME
Crux

November 14, 2018

By Claire Giangravè

An Italian priest on the front lines of the fight against sexual abuse, and a member of a commission that shortly will be producing the Italian bishops’ new guidelines for safeguarding children, said he’s optimistic about the handling of abuse cases on the peninsula.

The guidelines “will address formation, information and prevention, as well as everything necessary to ensure that the Church becomes a safe haven of care capable of handling these issues,” said Father Fortunato Di Noto, an internationally renowned figure respected for his work in the fight against pedophilia, in a phone interview with Crux.

The Italian bishops’ conference gathered Nov. 12-14 for an extraordinary assembly that is tackling, among other things, sexual abuse. Pope Francis requested that the bishops provide new guidelines, to be added to those already published in 2014, and to focus primarily on prevention.

After a year and a half of work, the commission will present the new guidelines to the assembly and the bishops will take them back to their dioceses for reflection until they are called to express their vote.

The date in which the guidelines will be voted upon and released has not been set.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
WJZ

November 13, 2018

By Kimberly Eiten

Welcomed to Baltimore by protestors Tuesday on the waterfront, 300 of the nation’s bishops met inside the Marriott Hotel for the second day under the spotlight of the church’s sex abuse scandal.

Monday, the Pope asked that the bishops delay a formal vote on measures aimed at dealing with the church’s sex abuse crisis.

But Catholic leaders said even without a vote, the issue is still at the forefront this week.

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LAS CRUCES (NM)
Las Cruces Sun-News

November 13, 2018

Sun-News Editorial Board

After years of rumors and allegations, we finally learned the full scope of sexual abuse that has taken place in the Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces in the past 35 years.

Or, as close to the full scope as we can get at this point.

Last week the diocese released the names of 28 members of the clergy who served in the diocese and were “credibly accused” of sexual misconduct with a minor. It is still possible the list of alleged abusers could grow as more people who were victimized long ago find the ability to step forward.

The exact number of victims will never be known. The diocese has put out a public request for anyone with knowledge of sexual abuse of a minor committed by a member of the clergy to contact the local police or sheriff’s department.

Church officials said they hope that releasing the list of alleged abusers will lead more victims to come forward. And, they have also established a victim’s assistance coordinator, Margarita Martinez, who can be contacted at 575-523-7577.

Many of the 28 alleged abusers are now dead. We are told by the diocese than none are still active in the ministry.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV News

November 13, 2018

By Charlotte Cross

Harrowing details of violent and sexual abuse at the hands of Roman Catholic priests in the Midlands have been revealed today.

An inquiry panel has heard how for years, claims by victims and survivors were ignored, minimised and brushed under the carpet by senior figures in the Archdiocese of Birmingham – with suggestions the police may have been aware of what was going on.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse is spending this week looking into the way the Archdiocese – the biggest such province in England and Wales – handled reports of abuse.

On the second day of hearings, the panel heard from a survivor known as A31, who was targeted by former priest James Robinson; as well as a man who says he was abused by Father John Tolkien, the son of Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
CNA Daily News

November 13, 2018

James Grein, the man who came forward this summer alleging he was abused for 18 years by Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, appeared in public Tuesday for the first time and revealed his full name. Previously, the New York Times had identified him only as “James.”

Grein appeared at the Nov. 13 “Silence Stops Now” counter-rally organized by several groups critical of the bishops’ approach to addressing the sexual abuse crisis. The rally was held near the location of the USCCB’s Fall General Assembly in Baltimore.

Grein was visibly nervous taking the stage, where he delivered a short speech about his experience coming forward with his story, and received an extended standing ovation when he finished.

In July Grein came forward with his story to the New York Times. He said McCarrick began abusing him when he was 11 years old. At that time, McCarrick was 39 years old, and a priest of the Archdiocese of New York.

This abuse continued for the next 18 years, he said, during which McCarrick was consecrated a bishop and served in the local Churches of New York, Metuchen, and Newark. In November 2000, he was appointed Archbishop of Washington, where he served the remainder of his career until his 2006 retirement. In 2001, McCarrick was elevated to the College of Cardinals. About a week after Grein’s allegation was published, McCarrick resigned from the College of Cardinals.

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ROME
The Daily Beast

November 12, 2018

By Barbie Latza Nadeau

At a moment when optics matter most, Francis pulled the plug on U.S. bishops as they met to do something measurable on clerical sex abuse—and precisely as new allegations emerged.

There has perhaps never been a more critical moment in the history of the American Catholic Church to appear to be doing the right thing on clerical child sex abuse than this week as their leadership meets in Baltimore.

But in the hours before the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, or USCCB, representing some 196 dioceses, gathered Monday morning, word came down from Rome that Pope Francis didn’t want the Americans to vote on two important items on their agenda—essentially ordering them to halt their vital work on reforms.

Instead, he wants any vote by individual national churches to take place after a Feb. 21-24, 2019, summit in Rome, where the global leaders of the church will be focused on its worldwide response to abuse.

But it means that this U.S. meeting, which was supposed to herald a change of course, is now just another meeting in which nothing concrete is accomplished.

Anne Barrett Doyle, the co-director of Bishops Accountability, a website that lists all cases of misconduct and coverups by clergy, called the Vatican’s move “truly incredible.”

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VATICAN CITY
The Independent

November 12, 2018

By Sarah Harvard

The Vatican has instructed US Catholic bishops to postpone plans to vote on proposed new steps to address the clergy sex abuse crisis embroiling the church.

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) was planning to vote on a referendum that would hold bishops responsible for failing to protect children from sexual abuse in the church.

In an announcement to his fellow Catholic clergymen, USCCB President Cardinal Daniel DiNardo said the Holy See requested the conference to hold off their vote until February when the Vatican will hold their global meeting on sexual abuse.

“We are not, ourselves, happy about this,” Mr DiNardo said – with much chagrin – at a press conference in Baltimore on Monday morning. “We have been working hard to get to the action stage, and we’ll do it, but we have to get past this bump in the road.”

Mr DiNardo said he was made aware of the decision on Sunday.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
The Atlantic

November 14, 2018

By Olivia Paschal

In an unprecedented move, the Vatican intervened this week to scuttle a vote on proposed changes to bishop oversight.

This week’s fall assembly of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops was supposed to be the first high-profile occasion for the Church’s top leaders to take steps toward rebuilding public trust after a series of revelations this summer in the ongoing sex-abuse crisis. The assembly was slated to vote this week on a series of reforms to address the crisis, but its plans were quickly upended by the Vatican, throwing the reforms’ future into doubt.

Had they passed, the proposed measures would have created a code of conduct for bishops and a special commission, including six lay members, tasked with working with the apostolic nuncio, the Pope’s diplomatic representative to the United States Church, to investigate allegations of bishop misconduct. These would have been small, but significant, moves toward making bishops more accountable when they fail to report abusive priests, or when they are accused of abuse themselves. But even these limited actions were delayed.

On Monday morning, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the conference’s president, announced that the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops had asked the bishops to delay a vote on the reforms. They would wait until a February meeting between Pope Francis and the heads of bishops’ conferences around the world. The Holy See’s request came as an unwelcome shock to many of the bishops, and may further strain the already tense relationship between American bishops and the papacy.

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VATICAN CITY
Yahoo News Video

November 14, 2018

By Kayla Jardine

The Vatican halted a plan by U.S. bishops to address the age-old sexual abuse issues plaguing the Roman Catholic Church.

“At the insistence of the Holy See, we will not be voting on the two action items in our documentation regarding the abuse crisis,” said Cardinal Daniel DiNardo.

America’s Catholic leaders hoped to vote on the first code of conduct for bishops. This would make it easier to investigate misconduct and abuse in the Catholic Church.

The announcement was made at an annual meeting, and many were left disappointed and frustrated by the news from Rome.

“We can bring a lot in terms of what we’ve managed to accomplish over 16 years, in terms of cleaning up our act, making sure our churches are safe for children, our schools are safe for children,” said Bishop Christopher Coyne.

Leaders planned to hold bishops more responsible for reported cases of misconduct and abuse.

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LEICESTER (UNITED KINGDOM)
Crux

November 13, 2018

By Charles Collins

Allegations of abuse lodged against Father John Tolkien, son of Lord of the Rings creator J.R.R. Tolkien, were discussed on Monday and Tuesday by a British government inquiry into abuse into the Archdiocese of Birmingham.

The priest, who died in 2003, was accused of making a group of boys strip naked during a camping trip in the 1950s, as well as abusing a child seeking help with his reading skills.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse is this week examining the Archdiocese of Birmingham’s response to historic allegations made against several priests, including Tolkien.

The inquiry was established by the British Home Office – which oversees similar areas as the U.S. Departments of Justice and Homeland Security – but is independent and does not answer to the government.

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JOHNSTOWN (PA)
The Tribune-Democrat

November 14, 2018

By Dave Sutor

A Westmont resident is one of six named plaintiffs in a federal class action civil suit filed Tuesday against the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Holy See.

Shaun Dougherty, an alleged victim of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of a priest within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, has joined the lawsuit that is about the alleged “endemic, systemic, rampant, and pervasive rape and sexual abuse of Plaintiffs and Class Members” perpetrated by cardinals, bishops, monsignors, priests, sisters, lay leaders and members of church orders, according to the document, obtained late Tuesday by The Tribune-Democrat.

Plaintiffs also argue that the alleged abuse and coverup constitutes a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act case, because multiple alleged violations involved the federal mail and wire fraud.

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PITTSFIELD (MA)
The Berkshire Eagle

November 13, 2018

For the Roman Catholic Church in America, this week was to have been a time of self-realization, confrontation and admission of past sins, and the development of concrete action to resurrect an institution in crisis. As the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops opened its meeting in Baltimore on Monday, attendees were determined to address the 16-year-old abuse scandal that had been re-energized over the summer by a Pennsylvania grand jury’s allegations that at least 1,000 children had been abused by 301 priests over the past 70 years. The underlying sentiment was that only a thorough process wherein even bishops would be held accountable for sexual misconduct and/or covering up such acts within their dioceses would return disillusioned former faithful to the church’s flock.

As the bishops learned to their shock and dismay at the conclave’s opening, orders had arrived from Pope Francis to stand down until a worldwide meeting of senior clergy had an opportunity to meet next February. While the American church has a tradition of following its own procedural path within certain guidelines, the assembled bishops, whether they liked it or not, acknowledged that they owed their fealty first and foremost to the Pope, regardless of how expectant and hopeful victims and laity might greet the news.

In a speech in Estonia in September, Pope Francis acknowledged that the clergy abuse scandal was eroding the faith of Catholics and chasing many from the church. The speech, in which the Pope said the church must change, coincided with a stinging report on clergy abuse of children in Germany. Unfortunately, the Pope’s request of the American bishops feeds cynicism that the church does not intend to go beyond words to action.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
The Associated Press

November 14, 2018

Several Roman Catholic bishops on Tuesday urged colleagues at their national meeting to take some sort of action on the clergy sex abuse crisis despite a Vatican order to delay voting on key proposals.

Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, suggested a nonbinding vote to convey a sense of the bishops’ aspirations regarding anti-abuse efforts.
“We are not branch managers of the Vatican,” he said. “Our people are crying out for some action.”

Bishop George Murry of Youngstown, Ohio, echoed Paprocki’s call, saying parishioners and priests in his diocese are “very, very angry.”

The three-day assembly opened Monday with a surprise announcement by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The Vatican, he said, was ordering the bishops to delay votes on two anti-abuse proposals until after a Vatican-convened global meeting on sex abuse in February.

DiNardo indicated there were two principal reasons for the Vatican order: to ensure that steps taken by the U.S. bishops would be in harmony with steps decided at the February meeting, and to provide more time for vetting aspects of the U.S. proposals that might conflict with church law.

Even without the option of a formal vote this week, the U.S. bishops proceeded with discussion of the two key proposals. One would establish a new code of conduct of individual bishops; the other would create a nine-member special commission, including six lay experts and three members of the clergy, to review complaints against the bishops.

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GAYLORD (MI)
9and10 News

November 14, 2018

By David Lyden

The investigation into clergy sex abuse in the Catholic Church is now reaching into Northern Michigan.

The Diocese of Gaylord has published the names of all priests accused of misconduct dating back to 1971.

That list includes 10 names and has been made public on the diocese’s website.

Some of the priests have passed away, but others are simply listed as removed from public ministry.

The list does not include what they were accused of or their assignment history.

We should also note the diocese did not make any formal announcement that the list had been published.

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UNITED STATES
La Croix International (with Catholic News Service)

November 12, 2018

They will also include some other agenda items, such as a statement on racism and election of chairmen for several committees

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will gather for the 2018 Fall General Assembly in Baltimore today when top of the agenda will be the sex abuse crisis and accountability for bishops.

The Nov. 12-14 meeting will also include some other agenda items, such as a statement on racism and election of chairmen for several committees.

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VIENNA TWP. (OH)
WFMJ

November 12, 2018

By Cristen Manion and J. Breen Mitchell

A Vienna pastor placed on administrative leave pending an allegation into inappropriate behavior with a minor has faced a similar allegation in the past.

According to the Youngstown Catholic Diocese, Reverend Denis G. Bouchard, F.S.S.P., is on administrative leave following allegations of “inappropriate behavior with a minor,” which came to light in September.

The victim was between the ages of 9 and 11 at the time of the alleged abuse.

Bouchard is currently the pastor of Queen of the Holy Rosary Parish, Vienna, Ohio.

21 News has learned this is not the first time there has been an allegation of misconduct against Bouchard. Casey told 21 News a previous allegation had been made against him, but the alleged victim, in that case, was not cooperative with investigators at the time, so the allegation was never deemed to be credible. Casey said she has also reached out to that alleged victim but has also encountered the same reluctance to cooperate. Bouchard was not on a list of priests deemed to have been credibly accused of sexual abuse released last month by the Diocese.

The diocese says the Diocesan Review Board met and recommended to Bishop George V. Murry, S.J., further investigation to determine its credibility and substantiation.

The Diocese of Youngstown says their policy dictates that Father Bouchard be placed on administrative leave while a thorough investigation proceeds.

The Victim Assistance Coordinator for the Diocese, retired police Sergeant Delphine Baldwin-Casey, says the allegation is within the statute of limitations and they are conferring with the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office about potential charges, but said it will likely be up to the victim whether they want to pursue charges, since they are of legal age now.

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LOURDES (FRANCE)
La Croix International

November 12, 2018

By Bruno Bouvet

Religious appear to agree on the importance of a balanced community life to prevent abuse, including the correct use of speech and authority

French religious communities, whose leaders are meeting in Lourdes until Nov.13, have not been immune from the problems and abuses highlighted by Pope Francis in his Letter to the People of God. Many now view these difficulties as an opportunity for renewal, particularly in Church governance.

What did Father Jean-Pierre Longeat, a monk from Ligugé and former president of the Conference of Men and Women Religious in France (CORREF), mean when he spoke of “beneficial situations that are forcing us to take a stand”?

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CHINA
La Croix International

November 12, 2018

By Michael Sainsbury

Their fate was not included in the recent deal with Beijing and remains under discussion

On the face of it, one of the more curious issues about the recent “temporary” deal between the Vatican and Beijing on the appointment of bishops, as described in the official state-run Chinese media, was the lack of any resolution of the status of bishops appointed by the Vatican but not recognized by Communist Party-run Catholic groups.

It would seem to have been a logical quid pro quo — something granted or expected in return for something given — for the Vatican’s forgiveness and recognition of seven bishops (including one recently deceased bishop) appointed by the Chinese Communist Party’s twinset of Catholic apparatus. These are the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and the Bishops’ Conference of the Chinese Catholic Church (BCCCC). This meant their de facto excommunications were also revoked.

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[Episcopal Conference leader Gil Tamayo admits Church’s “complicit silence” but extends it to the whole society]

MADRID (SPAIN)
El País

November 14, 2018

El secretario general de la Conferencia Episcopal Española pide al resto de la sociedad que no se calle y que asuma “su cuota de responsabilidad”

El secretario general y portavoz de la Conferencia Episcopal Española, José María Gil Tamayo, ha admitido que durante años la Iglesia ha guardado un “silencio cómplice” ante los casos de pederastia en el seno de esta institución, que ha enmarcado en un contexto de “inacción de toda la sociedad española” ante estos delitos.

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LOURDES (FRANCE)
La Croix International

November 13, 2018

By Bruno Bouvet

Work groups and dedicated study days being organized to help inform decisions; open new avenues of investigation and action

Following directly from measures outlined by the French bishops in the conclusion of their autumn plenary assembly in Lourdes, representatives of men and women religious have confirmed their engagement in the fight against sexual abuse.

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[Church of Santiago: how money received in 2017 was used]

CHILE
La Tercera

November 13, 2018

By M. Navarrete and S. Rodríguez

Arzobispado publicó el balance de su última gestión, con ingresos por $ 11 mil millones. El trabajo pastoral y social de sus vicarías se lleva más de la mitad de los recursos.

En estos días en que se desarrolla en Santiago la Asamblea Plenaria de la Conferencia Episcopal, donde, entre otros temas, se abordarán los casos de abusos por parte del clero, la Arquidiócesis de Santiago transparentó este martes sus ingresos y gastos de 2017, año en que se anunció la visita del Papa Francisco a Chile y que antecedió a la actual crisis eclesial.

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[Juan Barros after testifying in cover-up case: “I hope everything will be clarified for good”]

CHILE
La Tercera

November 14, 2018

By Claudia Soto

El obispo emérito de Osorno declaró como imputado ante el fiscal Sergio Moya, en el marco de las indagatorias por los presuntos delitos sexuales cometidos por el ex capellán de la Fach Pedro Quiroz.

Hasta la fiscalía de O’Higgins llegó esta mañana el obispo emérito de Osorno, Juan Barros, para declarar en calidad de imputado por el eventual encubrimiento de los presuntos delitos sexuales cometidos por el ex capellán de la Fach, Pedro Quiroz.

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[Cardinal Errázuriz says goodbye to the Pope and ends his C9 participation]

CHILE
La Tercera

November 14, 2018

By Sergio Rodríguez and María José Navarrete

El encuentro con el Pontífice ocurrió el fin de semana reciente. “Fui a Roma a despedirme del Santo Padre y a agradecerle el fecundo trabajo que nos confió para reformar la Curia Romana”, ratificó el prelado chileno.

“No es un renuncia. Me despedí al término del período para el cual fui nombrado”, aclaró ayer a La Tercera PM el cardenal Francisco Javier Errázuriz, en relación al viaje que efectuó el fin de semana último al Vaticano, para cerrar su trabajo en el Consejo de Cardenales, también conocido como C9.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Washington Post

November 14, 2018

AN EDITORIAL FROM THE WASHINGTON POST

The Catholic Church proves incapable of exorcising clergy sex abuse — again

It is evident that the Catholic Church is incapable on its own of exorcising the scourge of clergy sex abuse. The scandal raged unchecked for decades and, even after it was exposed in 2002 by the Boston Globe, has been met by the church hierarchy with denial, temporizing, stonewalling and half-measures.

Even as the bishops of America’s 196 Catholic dioceses and archdioceses gathered in Baltimore on Monday to grapple with the latest major revelations — a Pennsylvania grand jury’s report from August detailing decades of abuse involving more than 1,000 victims and at least 300 clergy members — they were stopped in their tracks by an abrupt message from the Vatican, which asked them to hold off. That intercession arrived along with a warning from Pope Francis’ ambassador in the United States, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, who seemed to scoff at the proposal, which the bishops had been set to vote on, to establish a lay commission that would assess bishops’ misconduct — “as if we were no longer capable of reforming or trusting ourselves,” as he put it.

That remark crystallized the arrogance that has often characterized the church’s stance even as countless exposes have laid bare the culpability of its leaders. From high and low, the church has broadcast its conviction that its own transgressions are no worse than that of other institutions; that state statutes of limitations that shield dioceses from lawsuits should be preserved; and that no foothold may be allowed for mechanisms to discipline bishops who have enabled abuse by transferring pedophile priests from parish to parish.

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SEATTLE (WA)
The Seattle Times

November 13, 2018

By Lewis Kamb

Jim Hauer and the five other men each claim they were victimized as children decades ago by priests assigned to churches and schools throughout Western Washington. In addition to receiving settlements, several expressed a demand that the church reveal its infamous “secret files” that for years protected and enabled abusers.

He’d just finished the eighth grade and was pursuing a plan to devote his life to God when Jim Hauer met the priest who he says introduced him to evil.

Back then, in 1976, Hauer said he “didn’t understand” how Father Theodore Marmo — a supervisor of the Seattle Archdiocese’s seminary studies program at John F. Kennedy High School in Burien — allegedly groomed him for abuse.

“I was innocent of thought,” Hauer recalled this week.

But now, some four decades later, Hauer can plainly recognize the tactics his alleged rapist employed: How Marmo separated him from the other boys his age; how the priest took him skiing and to movies; how he hired Hauer for jobs that kept the boy at St. Edwards Hall, the live-in seminary, over weekends and otherwise “enabled him to take advantage of me.”

Decades later, memories of what Marmo did to him mostly remained buried deep in Hauer’s mind until two years ago. That’s when the then-53-year-old San Francisco-based technology sales executive and married father of two sons received an unexpected call. A legal investigator in Seattle was on the line, checking into another man’s abuse claims about the priest.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
Catholic News Agency

November 13, 2018

Seven of the eight Roman Catholic dioceses of Pennsylvania will create compensation funds for victims of clergy sex abuse.

Seven of the eight Roman Catholic dioceses of Pennsylvania will create compensation funds for victims of clergy sex abuse, following a grand jury inquiry into abuse of minors by Catholic priests in the state.

“The damage done to innocent young people and their families by sexual abuse in the past is profound. It can’t be erased by apologies, no matter how sincere. And money can’t buy back a wounded person’s wholeness,” Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia said in a Nov. 8 column for CatholicPhilly.com.

“But what compensation can do is acknowledge the evil done and meaningfully assist survivors as they work to find greater peace in their lives,” he said.

The archdiocese-funded reparations effort will pay “the amounts that independent claims administrators deem appropriate,” he said.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
The New Orleans Advocate

November 13, 2018

By Ramon Antonio Vargas

Four more men have come forward with detailed claims of being abused both sexually and physically while living at two troubled Catholic-run youth homes in Marrero in the 1970s and ’80s, according to a new lawsuit filed Tuesday.

The 24-page suit appears to be the first aimed at the Archdiocese of New Orleans since, earlier this month, it revealed the names of 57 clergy members considered to have been credibly accused of sexually abusing children within the last 50 years.

That list included eight clergymen who worked at the two homes, Hope Haven and Madonna Manor, which have been the focus of earlier lawsuits settled by the archdiocese. The homes are largely vacant these days.

By design, the list of fallen priests and deacons released Nov. 2 did not include the names of any lay staff or religious brothers and nuns working at archdiocese facilities. Those omissions, the lawsuit claims, run counter to the archdiocese’s stated aim of being completely transparent in the wake of the child sex abuse crisis that has dogged the Catholic Church for decades.

The lawsuit says that along with priests of the Salesian order, lay staffers and a religious brother were among the victims’ tormentors. The victims don’t provide their names in the suit, which describes numerous acts of molestation.

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ALLENTOWN (PA)
The Morning Call

November 13, 2018

By Tim Darragh and Peter Hall

A 29-year-old man is suing Allentown Diocese Bishop Alfred Schlert, former Bishop Edward Cullen, a former diocesan priest and a treatment center for priests in a complaint alleging he was sexually molested between the ages of 10 and 12.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in Lehigh County Court, alleges that former priest Bruno Tucci groped the man, identified in the lawsuit as “John Doe,” when he was an altar boy at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Nesquehoning between 1999-2001.

Attorneys Gerald J. Williams of Philadelphia, Michelle Simpson Tuegel of Dallas and Muhammad S. Aziz of Houston, who represent John Doe, said during a news conference in Philadelphia the suit is the first seeking monetary damages that is based on information contained in the Pennsylvania grand jury report on clergy abuse released this summer.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WVUE

November 13, 2018

By Kimberly Curth

There are disturbing allegations in a new lawsuit against the Catholic Church in New Orleans. Four men have come forward claiming they endured sexual and physical abuse at the orphanage and youth home, Madonna Manor and Hope Haven, when they were boys in the late 1970s and 80s.

The men are only identified as John Roes. They’re suing the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Catholic Charities and the Salesian Society.

One alleged victim says when he was 9, he was selected to be an altar boy for Masses that were performed at the Madonna Manor Chapel. And, “during numerous different occasions at these masses, the priests took John Roe I to the chapel sacristy where he would be raped by certain visiting priests.”

He also says he was sexually assaulted on a field trip to St. Joseph’s Abbey in Covington by an unknown cleric.

The lawsuit says the sexual and physical abuse continued until he was admitted to a mental institution where he stayed for more than two years because of a severe emotional collapse.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Jurist

November 13, 2018

By Professor SpearIt; Edited by Jessica Lasky

JURIST Guest Columnist Professor SpearIt of the Jesuit-affiliated Gonzaga University School of Law discusses critical questions and possible implications of the DOJ investigation into the Catholic Church…

The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently launched an investigation into the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania. The central focus of the inquiry seeks to determine whether there have been violations of federal child sex-crimes and related crimes among Church leaders. This investigation raises a number of critical issues, including the potential impacts on American law and society. For the Church, there are no certainties about what the investigation portends for clergy or congregation. In the best-case scenario for church leadership, the investigation could be concluded quickly and painlessly, with little or no legal consequence; more menacingly, the investigation could lead to indictments and trigger investigations far and wide.

The catalyst for the federal investigation was a report released by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in August 2018, detailing its own investigation into the Church. The twenty-three grand jurors who helped compile the report included practicing Catholics who based their reporting on internal documents surrendered by six Dioceses and on testimony from victims. The findings indicated that more than 300 priests in Pennsylvania had sexually abused children over seven decades, and the priests were protected by a hierarchy of church leadership. The findings stated:

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Washington Post

November 14, 2018

It is evident that the Catholic Church is incapable on its own of exorcising the scourge of clergy sex abuse. The scandal raged unchecked for decades and, even after it was exposed in 2002 by the Boston Globe, has been met by the church hierarchy with denial, temporizing, stonewalling and half-measures.

Even as the bishops of America’s 196 Catholic dioceses and archdioceses gathered in Baltimore Monday to grapple with the latest major revelations – a Pennsylvania grand jury’s report from August detailing decades of abuse involving more than 1,000 victims and at least 300 priests – they were stopped in their tracks by an abrupt message from the Vatican, which asked them to hold off. That intercession arrived along with a warning from Pope Francis’ ambassador in the United States, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, who seemed to scoff at the proposal, which the bishops had been set to vote on, to establish a lay commission that would assess bishops’ misconduct – “as if we were no longer capable of reforming or trusting ourselves,” as he put it.

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.

CHICAGO (IL)
FOX 32

November 13, 2018

In a FOX 32 special report: losing the faith.

After decades of clergy abuse allegations in the catholic church, new revelations are coming to life. But what keeps parishioners coming back week after week?

For John Prezzia, the Catholic church is where he was raised. It’s part of his identity and where he continues to find solace.

“There’s nowhere else to go for true joy, true peace, and true love,” Prezzia said.

“I grew up on the south side of Chicago. A cradle Catholic, very religious family,” said Therese Albrecht-Key.

But while some found true joy, others found pure hell. Therese Albrecht-Key says her priest began abusing her — in the church — when she was only 8 years old.

“The touching started, and then it escalated to rape and sodomy over a desk in the classroom,” Albrecht-Key said.

She said it lasted for years and when she finally got the courage to speak up, she was dismissed.

“What he did to me, killed my spirit, murdered my soul. I’m hanging on, by the skin of my teeth,” Albrecht-Key said.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
KYW Newsradio

November 13, 2018

By Steve Tawa

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s independent compensation program for victims of clergy abuse has begun to provide support for survivors.

Members on the panel for the Independent Reconciliation and Reparations Program (IRRP) will begin to hear claims, regardless of when victims were harmed.

The panel disclosed for the first time that its initial mailing of packets went to 342 known survivors within the Archdiocese of Philadelphia who submitted credible allegations. The work will be monitored by an Independent Oversight Committee, chaired by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell.

“Sexual abuse of minors by members of the Catholic Church clergy is a tragedy,” Mitchell said. “It seriously and adversely affected many innocent victims that mars the church’s considerable contribution to the fabric of American life. Also of great concern, are the failures of many archdioceses to prevent these unspeakable acts from occurring.”

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

November 13, 2018

By Drew Broach

Pedophile priests accused of molesting children at the former Hope Haven and Madonna Manor orphanages are targets of a new lawsuit filed Tuesday (Nov. 13) against the Archdiocese of New Orleans and the Salesian order to which the priests belonged. Two lawyers filed the suit in Orleans Parish Civil District Court on behalf of four unnamed adults who as children lived at the Marrero orphanages in the 1970s and 1980s.

The suit comes 11 days after the archdiocese disclosed the names of 55 priests and two deacons whom it said had been “credibly accused” of sexually abusing children in its jurisdiction since 1917. Eight of those priests, six of them now dead, worked at Hope Haven.

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OGDENSBURG (NY)
Watertown Daily Times

November 14, 2018

By Larry Robinson

The Diocese of Ogdensburg has released a statement and a list of priests implicated in the church’s sexual abuse scandal on the diocesan website.

The posting comes following a Sunday statement from Bishop Terry R. LaValley promising to make the names public.

“Diocesan Priests removed from ministry and those who were deceased or left ministry prior to a finding of reasonable grounds by the Diocesan Review Board and/or the Diocesan Bishop due to sexual misconduct with a minor or vulnerable adult,” the statement reads.

Eight of the 28 priests on the list, John Fallon, Theodore Gillette, John Hunt, Liam O’Doherty, Robert Shurtleff, Clark White, David Wisniewski and Paul Worczak were named by a Minnesota-based law firm representing victims of child abuse in March.

“The Diocese of Ogdensburg can be viewed as a microcosm of the national problem of priests sexually assaulting minors because the diocese fails to fully disclose its knowledge of sexually abusive priests,” the law firm’s report stated.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
WKBW

November 14, 2018

Survivors of alleged sexual abuse at the hands of priests nationwide are set to announce a federal class-action lawsuit aimed at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

In the lawsuit, the group and their attorneys say the Conference “knowingly concealed” the identities and actions of known abusers. So they’re calling for the bishops to release the names and files of every known accused priest in the country.

They’re due to make the announcement at 1:00 Wednesday afternoon in Baltimore, where those bishops are for the final day of their annual meeting.

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HAMDEN (CT)
The Quinnipiac Chronicle

November 13, 2018

By Garret Reich

Waterbury priest sued for sexual abuse

“If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse one,” Mitchell Garabedian said in the 2015 movie “Spotlight.”

I watched this movie last week for the third time. Even then, I did not realize how relevant the issue of sexual abuse in the Catholic church still is today.

Nor did I think that it would hit so close to home.

Last Wednesday, it was revealed that a former Connecticut priest is being accused of sexual abuse toward Kevin Distasio, an altar boy at the Waterbury Blessed Sacrament Church in 1980.

The Waterbury Church is only half an hour away from Quinnipiac.

Now, 38 years later, 46-year-old Distasio is suing.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Washington Times

November 13, 2018

By Stephen Dinan

Six men filed a class action and racketeering lawsuit Tuesday against the Vatican and America’s Catholic bishops, arguing they were aware of but ignored evidence of rape and sexual abuse within the clergy.

The 80-page complaint, filed in federal district court in Washington, D.C., asks a judge to order a personal apology from the church hierarchy to abuse victims, to demand a full public accounting of all cases dating back to 1940, and to compensate victims and create a medical monitoring fund to help in recovery.

The plaintiffs all say they were abused when they were children attending churches from Mississippi to Iowa, and California to Pennsylvania.

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[Expert: “The Spanish Episcopal Conference must give justice to the victims”]

SPAIN
El País

November 13, 2018

By Daniel Verdú

Hans Zollner, miembro de la comisión para la prevención de abusos a menores del Vaticano y experto en la materia, cree que España puede hacer mucho más en esta cuestión

El jesuita Hans Zollner es uno de los principales expertos en prevención y tratamiento de casos de abusos a menores por parte del clero. Hombre de la máxima confianza del Papa en este asunto, psicólogo, presidente del Child Protection Center en la Universidad Gregoriana y miembro de la comisión que Francisco creó a su llegada para tratar una cuestión que se ha convertido en un asunto principal de este pontificado. Prueba de ello es la histórica reunión convocada en febrero en el Vaticano con todos los presidentes de las conferencias episcopales del mundo. Zollner, que recientemente ha liderado el proyecto de creación de un máster para la prevención de abusos, no pone paños calientes: algunos países han avanzado mucho y otros, como España, pueden hacer “mucho más”.

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[Osorno laity highlight Scicluna’s new position and call for changes in canon law]

CHILE
BioBioChile

November 13, 2018

By Manuel Stuardo and Pedro Abarzúa

La Organización de Laicos de Osorno destacó el nombramiento de Charles Scicluna, como nuevo secretario adjunto de la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe, pero aseguraron que hay que cambiar las leyes canónicas.

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[Court of Appeals dismisses possibility of reversing Precht’s expulsion from the priesthood]

CHILE
BioBioChile

November 12, 2018

By Valentina González and Erik López

La Corte de Apelaciones de Santiago desechó la posibilidad de revertir la expulsión del sacerdocio del ex Vicario de la Solidaridad, Cristián Precht, investigado por presuntos abusos sexuales.

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[Archbishop who investigated the Chilean Church assumes key Vatican position]

CHILE
La Tercera

November 14, 2018

By Juan Paulo Iglesias

El Papa nombró a Charles Scicluna, actual titular de la arquidiócesis de Malta, secretario adjunto de la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe.

La primera señal fue a fines de enero pasado. Tras la polémica desatada por sus dichos sobre el obispo Juan Barros al concluir su viaje a Chile, el Papa designó al arzobispo Charles Scicluna enviado especial para recabar antecedentes sobre la situación del entonces obispo de Osorno. El llamado “007 del Vaticano”, como lo califican algunos medios italianos, volvía así a la primera línea de la lucha contra los abusos en la Iglesia. Sin embargo, hoy el regreso fue completo. El Papa lo nombró “secretario adjunto de la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe”, es decir número tres del organismo encargado de velar por la doctrina y llevar a cabo las investigaciones ante las denuncias de abusos contra religiosos.

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[Appeals court rejects Precht’s appeal against the Archbishop of Santiago]

CHILE
La Tercera

November 12, 2018

By Claudia Soto

El tribunal de alzada descartó un actuar arbitrario de parte de la institución religiosa al aplicar cautelares al exsacerdote en proceso de investigación previa, según la ley canónica.

En un fallo unánime, la Séptima Sala de la Corte de Apelaciones de Santiago rechazó el recurso de protección que el ex sacerdote Cristián Precht interpuso contra el Arzobispado de Santiago, tras descartar un actuar arbitrario de parte de la institución religiosa al aplicar cautelares al exsacerdote en proceso de investigación previa, según la ley canónica.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
The Associated Press

November 12, 2018

By David McFadden and David Crary

At the Vatican’s insistence, U.S. Catholic bishops abruptly postponed plans Monday to vote on proposed new steps to address the clergy sex abuse crisis roiling the church.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said he was told on the eve of the bishop’s national meeting to delay action until after a Vatican-convened global meeting on sex abuse in February.

“We are not ourselves happy about this,” DiNardo told reporters in an unusual public display of frustration at a Vatican pronouncement.

“We are working very hard to move to action — and we’ll do it,” he said. “I think people in the church have a right to be skeptical. I think they also have a right to be hopeful.”

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DETROIT (MI)
Click on Detroit

November 11, 2018

By Dane Sager Kelly

An allegation that a priest who died in 1994 sexually abused a child has been found to be credible, the Archdiocese of Detroit said.

The archdiocese said in a news release Sunday that the complaint against Monsignor Thaddeus Ozog was brought to a review board and shared with prosecutors.

Ozog served as pastor or associate pastor at parishes in Detroit, Birmingham, Wayne, Waterford, Flat Rock and Hamtramck.

It is unknown if the allegation against Ozog was found in documents turned over by Roman Catholic dioceses across Michigan in a state investigation of sexual abuse by priests.

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VATICAN CITY
Whispers in the Loggia

November 13, 2018

By Rocco Palmo

Especially as yesterday’s Vatican move to nix the US bishops’ votes on several crisis-spurred reforms had the effect of detonating an ecclesial bomb of confusion and outrage, this Tuesday’s latest salvo from Rome is all the more significant: six years since “The Most Dangerous Man in the Vatican” was quietly slipped out of town, Archbishop Charles Scicluna is coming home to the “Holy Office.”

At Roman Noon, the Pope named the 59 year-old Maltese (above right) as adjunct secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – a second #3 official, joining the Bronx-born Archbishop Gus DiNoia OP, another Ratzinger favorite alongside whom Scicluna worked closely during his first CDF tour. In a unique arrangement not seen for the Curia in a half-century, however, the announcement added that Scicluna “will remain archbishop of Malta,” where he was recently given an auxiliary to help balance his already increased Roman workload.

(Correcting an earlier part of this piece, while DiNoia reached the retirement age of 75 in July – and has already voiced a hope to return to the US upon its acceptance – earlier this year, Francis asked the Yale-trained theologian to remain in post for the time being. Considering CDF’s vastly expanded role as the global church’s clearinghouse of abuse cases – now including accusations against bishops – on top of its traditional role as guardian of doctrine, the provision of two additional top officers tracks with the rapid growth of the caseload and related issues.)

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
NBC 10

November 13, 2018

By Dan Stamm

The creation of an independent commission to review church policies will be led by former U.S. Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell.

A week after the Archdiocese of Philadelphia said that it would pay financial reparations to victims of clergy sex abuse, even from years ago, the Church is revealing how it will carry out the compensation program.

The Independent Reconciliation and Reparations effort will be funded by the archdiocese, which said it was not sure how much money would be required but that the financial commitment was “significant.”

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BALTIMORE (MD)
ABC News

November 13, 2018

By Meghan Keneally and Pete Madden

Protests are slated to take place in Baltimore this week as church leaders gather at the annual General Assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to discuss the ongoing sexual abuse crisis.

Several prominent groups advocating for the rights of survivors of sexual abuse by clergy have planned demonstrations outside the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront as U.S. bishops contemplate their response to the widening scandal, described by one observer as “The Catholic Church’s biggest crisis since the Reformation.”

An event that was expected to culminate in steps toward increased transparency and accountability took a sudden turn on Monday morning when Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, announced in his opening remarks that a pair of votes on proposed policy changes to address the abuse crisis would be delayed “at the insistence” of the Vatican.

DiNardo, who told the assembled church leaders he was informed of the order late Sunday, said he was “disappointed” but remained “hopeful” progress could be made.

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YORK (PA)
York Daily Record

November 13, 2018

By Mike Argento

THE CHURCH ISOLATES ITS MEMBERS, SHAMES AND SHUNS VICTIMS WHO COME FORTH AND INSTRUCTS ELDERS TO KEEP REPORTS SECRET. AND CHILDREN ARE BEING ABUSED.

Sarah Brooks was 17, riding in her dad’s pickup, when she told him.

She had always been a daddy’s girl, she said. She was a tomboy growing up, playing with the boys, and later, when she could wield a wrench, working on cars with her dad. After some detours in life, she would work as a welder. She liked working with her hands, and she and her dad were close.

It was hard to tell her dad. She knew what had been happening to her was wrong. She knew that it needed to stop. She felt deep shame and deep guilt. She was the victim, but still, she felt that what had happened to her was her fault, that she was a horrible, dirty person. She knew there would be consequences. The people who did those things to her had warned her not to tell, they said that if she did, she would be ruining lives and that nobody would believe her and that she would be the one to suffer in the end.

Still, she needed to tell. It was wrong. Something had to be done. So, she told.

Sarah told her dad that Joshua and Jennifer had sexually abused her over a period of months, starting when she was 15. Joshua was Joshua Caldwell, a friend from church. Jennifer was Jennifer McVey, married to Sarah’s brother and having an affair with Caldwell. Caldwell was 12 years older than Sarah; McVey, six. Sarah had been working for the couple cleaning out houses that were in foreclosure.

She had met them through their church, the Yorkana Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and thought that working for them would be safe and good, the church being a close and cloistered community.

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BATON ROUGE (LA)
NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

November 12, 2018

By Kim Chatelain

The diocese of Baton Rouge hopes to release the names of Roman Catholic clergy members under its auspices who have been “credibly accused” of abusing minors before the end of January, Bishop Michael G. Duca said.

In a letter Duca asked priests to read at weekend Masses, the bishop said last week researchers began an independent review of personnel files of priests and deacons who have served the diocese since it was carved out of the Archdiocese of New Orleans in 1961.

The Baton Rouge law firm Hebert, Spencer & Fry has been hired to perform the review. The lawyers have employed the accounting and consulting firm Postlethwaite & Netterville to assist. It will take a minimum of four to six weeks to complete the review, after which a comprehensive report will be turned over to the diocese, the letter said.

“Neither I nor any of my staff is involved in this review, and the auditors will have full access to clergy personnel files while they are on site,” Duca said in the letter. “From this information, I will compile a list of credibly and substantially accused clergy to be publish hopefully before the end of January.”

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LANSING (MI)
Religion News Service

November 12, 2018

“No More Victims,” a group of laypeople located in the diocese of Lansing, MI, has prepared a sweeping collection of accounts drawn from national and local headlines concerning the clergy sexual misconduct with respect to adults. The reader, titled “What We the Laity are Reading that has Shaken us to the Core,” is 32 pages long; it includes excerpts from some of the most shattering articles published on the subject in recent months and information about additional resources. The full reader is available here, and will be available online at nomorevictimsMI.org.

Copies of the reader have been sent to all U.S. Bishops in advance of their Fall Meeting, which begins today, Monday, Nov. 12. No More Victims hopes the bishops will regard the document as a vital resource and a tool in confronting the full problem of clergy sexual abuse in all its complexity and scope. It is not just Archbishop McCarrick who is the problem or clergy who abuse minors, but also clergy who engage in sexual misconduct with adults.

In the letter they wrote to the Bishops that accompanied the reader, No More Victims member Al Kresta writes, “As you deal with the scandal of McCarrick and abuse committed by bishops, we urge you to include in your concerns efforts to rid seminaries, dioceses and all Church institutions and structures of those who are involved in sexual misconduct with adults. We believe clergy sexual misconduct with adults is at the core of so many of the problems of the Church in the last many decades.”

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YORK (PA)
York Daily Record

November 12, 2018

By Jasmine Vaughn-Hall

In a news conference on Monday, a man named Allentown Diocese Bishop Alfred Schlert and former Bishop Edward Cullen in a lawsuit suing a former priest and a treatment center for priests, according to The Morning Call.

The man, now 29, alleges he was sexually molested by former priest Bruno Tucci between the ages of 10 and 12.

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MOBILE (AL)
The Associated Press

November 12, 2018

Roman Catholic church offices in Alabama and Mississippi will publicly release the names of clergy members accused of sexually abusing minors over decades, church leaders said.

A statement from Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi of Mobile said each of the four Catholic dioceses in the two states will report the names of people who were removed from ministry after being accused of abuse.

Diocese offices are in Birmingham, Alabama, plus Jackson and Biloxi in Mississippi, and the archdiocese is in Mobile.

The Mobile office will release names involved in accusations dating back to 1950, Rodi said. He did not say when the list would be made public.

“It is a time-consuming effort to examine each clergy personnel file from the last almost seven decades. This effort is under way and will be completed as quickly as possible,” Rodi said in the statement released Thursday.

The Biloxi diocese said it would forward any of its names to the office in Jackson should cases predate its 1977 founding.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Catholic News Service

November 12, 2018

By Rhina Guidos

Luis A. Torres Jr. stood before a group of U.S. bishops during one of the most publicly watched of their fall annual meetings Nov. 12 in Baltimore and in doing so revealed to the world the reality that he has lived with since childhood: that he was abused by a priest.

“I’m not private anymore. Everyone knows,” said Torres, a lawyer and member of the Lay Review Board of the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, which examines policies for removing priests who have abused.

It was unclear but it seemed that the moment marked the first time he revealed the truth publicly. He also spoke of what he witnessed toward those who have come forward in the Catholic Church when they revealed what had happened to them at the hands of clergy.

“I witnessed a church that didn’t understand or didn’t seem to care, or worse, a church that was actively hostile to the children who had trusted and suffered under its care,” he said. “A church that professed faith but acted shrewdly, a church that seemed to listen less to Christ’s teachings and more to the advice of lawyers, a church that seemed less interested in those it had harmed.”

He spoke of a church more concerned with the protection of assets than its people.

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PENNSYLVANIA
NBC News

November 12, 2018

By Corky Siemaszko

The Allentown Diocese did not tell parishioners there was an admitted molesting priest in their flock

A former altar boy claimed in a lawsuit Monday that he was molested repeatedly by a Pennsylvania priest who had admitted sexually abusing another boy a decade earlier — and who had been cleared to work with kids by a New Mexico clinic for troubled clergy that was derided in Catholic circles as “Camp Ped.”

Bruno Tucci, now 76, allegedly abused the altar boy — who is identified in court papers only as a 29-year-old “John Doe” — between 1999 and 2001 at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish in Nesquehoning, a small town 30 miles north of Allentown, Pennsylvania.

On one occasion, Tucci allegedly told the then pre-teen boy to “put his arms out like Jesus on the cross” while he fondled his exposed genitals, the lawsuit states.

“He is a broken young man,” the accuser’s chief lawyer, Gerald Williams, said during a press conference in Philadelphia. “He veers from anger to despair to depression.”

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BATON ROUGE (LA)
WBRZ

November 11, 2018

By Trey Couvillion

In a letter read in all Baton Rouge Catholic parish masses today, Bishop Michael Duca said the church has hired a legal firm to fully investigate all personnel files that could shed more light on diocesan abuses in recent decades.

“This week an independent review was begun of all the personnel files of the priests and deacons who have served in our diocese since we were created out of the Archdiocese of New Orleans over a half century ago. The outside law firm of Hebert, Spencer & Fry, L.L.P. has been engaged to do the work, and it has hired the highly-respected accounting and consulting firm of Postlethwaite & Netterville, APLC to assist in performing this independent review,” the letter said in part.

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