ABUSE TRACKER

SACRAMENTO (CA)
ABC 10 News

December 7, 2018

By Giacomo Luca

Eleven priests who served in Sacramento over the last 50 years were among a list of priests with credible sexual abuse allegations against children, the Catholic Jesuit West province released on Friday.

The priests served in the Diocese of Sacramento at Jesuit High School, St. Ignatius of Loyola Parish or St. Elizabeth Parish, Bishop Jaime Soto of the Sacramento Diocese said in a statement.

In October, the Sacramento Diocese announced that it had begun compiling a list of priests credibly accused of who served in the organization.

“We are compiling that list now, and have enlisted the help of an independent auditor respected for her work in protecting children and the vulnerable from abuse,” Soto said.

Dan McNevin, 59, was abused by a priest in the Oakland diocesed when he was a child, he said.

Now, he’s an advocate with the Survivor’s Network of those Abused by Priests, a national support network of more than 25,000 members who have been abused by clergy.

“A lot of people are devastated by this,” McNevin said. “This is a rape of the soul, not just of the body. Because these priests are there spiritual conduits to heaven.”

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
KMOV TV

December 8, 2018

By Marielle Mohs

A St. Louis based Jesuit province released a list of 42 Catholic priests and other ministry officials who are accused of sexual abuse. The list shows the allegations date back to 1955.

The Jesuits U.S. Central and Southern Province, which includes Missouri and Southern Illinois, released the list on their website Friday night.

The list shows that 17 of the 42 priests accused of sexual abuse by the province worked in the St. Louis area. According to the list, 12 of the 17 who worked in the St. Louis area worked at St. Louis University High School (SLUH).

The Jesuits says for each name listed there has been a credible claim of sexual abuse of a minor or a vulnerable adult. They make it clear that this list does not imply that the abuse allegations are true or that the accused individual has been found guilty of a crime.

In addition to the names on the list, the Jesuits have also provided the list of all the parishes, schools or Catholic hospitals they’ve worked at, the number of accusations of sexual abuse against them and the years the alleged abuse took place.

The list does not include photos of the accused priests, however. If they are still living, the list also does not provide their current location or place of work.

One of the St. Louis area priests listed is John “Jack” Campbell (1920-2009). The Jesuits say he has been credibly accused of sexually abusing 13 people, including a SLUH student back in the 1970s. The Jesuits say the Missouri Province of Jesuits paid a $185,000 settlement to that former student who now lives in Virginia and went public about his high school molestation after Campbell had already retired.

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BOSTON (MA)
The Pilot

December 7, 2018

By Zita Ballinger Fletcher

German police and prosecutors are launching investigations into clergy sexual abuse following the Sept. 12 leak of a report containing evidence of 3,700 alleged child sex abuse cases in the Catholic Church over a 68-year-period.

Authorities in Cologne, Passau and Gorlitz have publicly initiated criminal proceedings following the release of the report, according to Welt news. Six law professors filed criminal complaints against all 27 dioceses in October. A further 20 public prosecutors nationwide are currently examining evidence against church officials in Germany’s 27 Catholic dioceses.

According to a Dec. 6 report by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, public prosecutors who have not yet openly brought charges are doing so with an aim to identify all parties involved in cover-ups and root out larger conspiracies within the church. Details of the investigations are being kept confidential. Authorities currently doing investigative research include those of Osnabruck, Wurzburg and Bamberg.

Archdioceses currently being affected by criminal proceedings have been asked to reveal all details of known cases and to hand over all relevant documents to government authorities.

The abuse cover-up scandal, which caused widespread shock in Germany, has also drawn attention from Germany’s national government. On Nov. 22, the permanent council of the German bishops’ conference announced it was cooperating with the federal government to take further steps following the release of the report, including the standardization of file management in all dioceses, establishing contacts for victims not affiliated with dioceses, and identifying, through an independent review, who exactly was responsible for institutional cover-ups.

Spokesmen for the German bishops’ conference have declared its “full cooperation” with judicial authorities. Some archdioceses have already made their files available to public prosecutors, according to KNA, the German Catholic news agency.

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CHARLESTON (SC)
Post And Courier.com

December 7, 2018

By Rickey Ciapha Dennis Jr.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston will release the names of priests in South Carolina credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors dating back to 1950, the diocese announced Friday. The names will be released by mid-February.

“We are committed to transparency,” Bishop Robert E. Guglielmone said in a statement. “Releasing the names of those credibly accused is another step in the healing process for all who have been harmed by priests.”

For decades, Catholic officials knew of the abuse but often preferred to reassign clergy to posts in other jurisdictions, protecting the church while putting additional children in harm’s way.

As early as 2002, the diocese had received allegations against 24 priests since the 1960s, 12 of whom were removed from the ministry.

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

December 6, 2018

According to reports, US Jesuit provinces will begin to release the names of proven, admitted and “credibly accused” child molesting clerics tomorrow.

We are glad that officials from the Jesuit order are taking this first step towards transparency. Releasing these names publicly not only helps survivors heal, but also encourages victims who may be suffering alone and in silence to come forward. These lists also expose men who may not have been previously identified as dangerous but who may be living and working in places that gives them access to children.

Still, the fact remains that this is a long-overdue move prompted only by pressure from prosecutors, parishioners and the public.

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

December 6 2018

Today, the Archdioceses of Mobile, AL released a list of 29 priests who have served in their diocese and been accused of child abuse. We are grateful for this development and urge further action.

Releasing these names publicly is crucial not only for the healing of survivors, but also to encourage victims who may be suffering in silence to come forward and to deter future clergy sex crimes and cover-ups. However, releasing these names is only the first step on the path towards healing and deterrence.

If Archbishop Thomas Rodi is confident in the accuracy of this list, we think he should reach out to Alabama’s attorney general and urge an outside, independent investigation into his diocese and other dioceses in the state. Only trained law enforcement professionals can truly judge when an accusation is credible or not and compel full transparency.

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YORK (PA)
York Daily Record

December 7, 2018

By Candy Woodall

Until Friday morning, Terry McKiernan had 178 Jesuit priests on a list of abusive clergy members in the U.S.

His list grew after the U.S. Central and Southern Province released the names of 42 Jesuit priests credibly accused of sexually abusing children.

The wholesale release of names of abusive priests has been trending among dioceses around the world since August, when a grand jury report identified 301 predator priests in Pennsylvania. Friday marked the first time a Jesuit order named their abusers in a long list.

While the Catholic priest abuse scandal might seem more transparent than ever, McKiernan said we know fewer than half of all abusive priests by name.

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CHARLESTON (SC)
WCIV TV

December 7, 2018

The Catholic Diocese of Charleston is preparing to release the names of its clergy “credibly accused” of sexually abusing minors, a spokesperson said Friday.

Bishop Robert Guglielmone plans to release the list of names no later than mid-February, diocese media relations director Maria Aselage said in a news release Friday.

The list will span decades, to include “all priests” from the diocese accused of sex crimes against minors dating back to 1950, per Aselage.

“The Diocese is currently in the process of reviewing its priest personnel files from 2007 through today,” Friday’s release says. “Once the current review is complete, the list will be released.”

The diocese already has such files largely compiled, as they were collected during a detailed review of Diocesan priest personnel and other relevant files in 2007 as part of a class action lawsuit settlement agreement, Aselage says.

Law enforcement officials are already privy to the contents of the files, per Aselage.

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PORTLAND (OR)
Jesuits, Western Region

December 7, 2018

Dear Friends in the Lord:
Today, Jesuits West Province releases the names of priests and brothers who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors since 1950. We do so because the People of God demand and deserve transparency. We do so because we hope that this act of accountability will help victims and their families in the healing process. We do so because while the vast majority of Jesuits of our province are not on this list, it is important that parents not wonder whether their children are safe in a church, in a school or in any other setting where a Jesuit may be present.

On behalf of the Society of Jesus, I apologize to the victims and families who put their trust in a Jesuit, only to have that trust so profoundly betrayed. It is inconceivable that someone entrusted with the pastoral care of a child could be capable of something so harmful. Yet, tragically, this is a part of our Jesuit history, a legacy we cannot ignore.

Thankfully, sixteen years after shocking cases of clergy sexual abuse were brought to light in Boston in 2002, there has been significant reform in how the Church and religious orders like ours handle allegations of sexual abuse. Jesuits West has both a zero-tolerance policy for credible allegations made against a Jesuit involving a minor or a vulnerable adult and stringent procedures to ensure the safety of minors. No Jesuit who has a credible allegation of sexually abusing a minor is allowed to remain in public ministry. The majority of the cases related to the names that we release today date back decades. While even one case is abhorrent, it is consoling to know that the safeguards we have put in place are helping to create safe environments for everyone.

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BIRMINGHAM (AL)
AL.com

December 7, 2018

By Christopher Harress

Eight Catholic priests who served at Spring Hill College in Mobile have been named as part of a list Friday that accuses former Jesuits of sexually abusing children.

The list of 42 comes one day after the Archdiocese of Mobile named 29 former priests and clergy who had similar accusation of sexual child abuse made against them.

Fr. Ronald Mercier, the leader of the Central Southern organization, said in a letter that the names represented a “sinful part of history.”

He added: “Words cannot possibly suffice to express our sorrow and shame for what occurred, our promise of prayers for healing, and our commitment to work with them. Caring for these survivors – and preventing any such future events – must be our focus as we move forward.”

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ROME (ITALY)
Associated Press

December 7, 2018

The Vatican has launched an investigation into a small Chilean religious order of nuns after some sisters denounced sexual abuse at the hands of priests and mistreatment by their superiors, a turning point that shows the Holy See is now willing to investigate allegations of sexual violence against nuns.

The scandal at the Institute of the Good Samaritan was revealed publicly in an investigative report by Chilean national television earlier this year at the height of outrage over how Chilean Catholic hierarchy covered up decades of sexual abuse of children by priests.

In the report, a half-dozen current and former nuns said sisters were thrown out of the order after they denounced the abuse to their superiors. The report followed the sisters as they testified before two Vatican investigators sent to Chile by Pope Francis to get to the bottom of the church-wide scandal there.

In a statement, the Vatican embassy to Chile announced that an “apostolic visitation,” or investigation, had begun Wednesday in the institute. It said over the coming months the probe would take testimony from current and former sisters and those affiliated with the institute so the Vatican can understand the situation and make whatever changes are necessary.

The institute is located in the diocese of Talca, which since 1996 had been headed by Bishop Horacio del Carmen Valenzuela Abarca. Pope Francis removed Valenzuela as bishop in June as part of his cleanup of the Chilean hierarchy. Valenzuela had been one of the bishops trained by Chile’s most infamous predator priests, the Rev. Fernando Karadima.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBC TV

December 7, 2018

The Jesuits U.S. Central and Southern Province released a list of names of Jesuit priests and brothers with credible allegations of sexual abuse involving minors.

Six on the list had pastoral connections at some point in their ministry to either Rockhurst High School or Rockhurst University.

They include:
Burton J. Fraser, SJ, was ordained in 1935 and died in 1971. Of his eight pastoral assignments, one was at Rockhurst High School. The Jesuits estimated the time frame of abuse happened in the 1950s. Fraser had died by the time the allegation was received.

Francis J. Kegal, SJ, had a pastoral assignment at Rockhurst High School and St. Louis University High School in St. Louis. The Jesuits estimated the time frame of abuse happened in the 1940s, and Kegel had left the Society of Jesus when the allegation was received. He died in 2009.

Paul C. Pilgram, SJ, who was ordained in 1970, spent time at Rockhurst High School in his six pastoral assignments. The Jesuits estimate the suspected abuse happened from the 1970s to the 1990s. Pilgram’s ministry with minors was restricted in 1991. He was removed from the ministry in 2003.

Chester E. Gaiter, SJ, who was ordained in 1976, had six pastoral assignments, including Rockhurst High School. The Jesuits said the alleged abuse happened between the 1970s and 1980s. Gaiter was ill at the time of the allegations and died in 2010.

Philip D. Kraus, SJ, was ordained in 1975, and was suspected of abuse in the 1970s. Kraus had pastoral assignments at St. Francis Xavier parish and Rockhurst University. The Jesuits said Kraus’ ministry with minors was restricted in 1996 and he was removed from the ministry in 2003 and lives under supervision.

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CASPER (WY)
Casper Star-Tribune

December 7, 2018

By Seth Klamann

The Diocese of Cheyenne is compiling a list of priests, bishops and deacons who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse since 1950, Bishop Steven Biegler announced this week, signaling that the Wyoming diocese is joining a wave of public self-examinations by dioceses across the country.

“The Diocese should have a current master list so it can be confident that it has applied the current standards to all living credibly accused offenders — and especially the standards of zero tolerance — in all situations,” Biegler wrote in a column in the December issue of the Wyoming Catholic Register. He added the review will also examine how the six bishops who have served since 1950 — himself included — handled the allegations.

The diocese previously conducted a review in 2002 — the same year that former Bishop Joseph Hart was cleared of abuse allegations by the Natrona County District Attorney’s Office — of clergymen who were working in it at the time. That review “verified that no priest with a substantiated allegation of sexual abuse of a minor was serving in the public ministry in any way in the Diocese of Cheyenne,” Biegler wrote.

This latest examination comes as dioceses across the country conduct sweeping reviews of their own troubled histories with clerical sexual abuse. On Thursday, the church named 29 men accused of abuse in southern Alabama, allegations that dated back to 1950. In November, a diocese in Missouri named 33 priests and religious brothers who had been credibly accused. In August, a grand jury in Pennsylvania wrote that more than 300 Catholic priests had molested more than 1,000 children for decades.

The work on this latest review began after mid-September, when the Star-Tribune requested information regarding all credibly accused priests, all settlements and the amount paid in these agreements dating back to 1950, said Rev. Carl Gallinger, the diocese’s vicar general. He said the “commitment” to conducting the review predated the newspaper’s request. He said he had no time estimate on when the review, which will be conducted by an “independent law firm,” would be completed.

Biegler was unavailable to comment Thursday. It’s unclear how much detail will be in the list.

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BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

December 7, 2018

By Jay Tokasz and Dan Herbeck

Mark Lynch says he was molested by a priest when he was 13. The abuse happened 50 years ago, well beyond when a sex crime could be prosecuted.

But the FBI wanted to know more, anyway.

Lynch said two federal agents visited him at his Youngstown home about a month ago, armed with questions about the abuse and the Buffalo Diocese’s response to his allegations against the Rev. Joseph Schuster.

“We sat at my kitchen table for about an hour, and I told them what happened. They were very thorough and already had a file on me. They had done their homework,” said Lynch. “They asked a lot of questions about who I spoke to, who I reported the incident to at the diocese. They told me they hope to talk with everyone who has come forward with a complaint.”

Federal authorities have fanned out across Western New York to learn more about a clergy abuse scandal that until now largely has been ignored by law enforcement.

“They’re really looking for proof of a cover-up,” said Nicole Delisio Wright, an advocate for victims of clergy abuse. “Any type of proof that there’s a widespread cover-up.”

The aggressive federal interest is happening in other parts of the country, as well.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Times-Picayune

December 7, 2018

By Kim Chatelain

The Jesuit religious order on Friday (Dec. 7) released the names of 42 priests, brothers and scholastics who are credibly accused of sexual abuse over the past several decades, supplementing a list of 57 similarly accused Roman Catholic clergymen named by the Archdiocese of New Orleans last month.

The new list includes six clergymen who were included in a list of credibly accused men of the cloth released by the Archdiocese of New Orleans last month. There are 13 Jesuits with ties to Louisiana who were not previously named.

Those named Friday were members of the U.S. Central and Southern Province and its predecessor entities: the New Orleans Province, the Missouri Province, or the Independent Region of Puerto Rico of the Society of Jesus.

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BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

December 7, 2018

By Alan Pergament

At a Catholic church forum Monday designed to move forward from the sexual abuse crisis in the Buffalo Diocese, WGRZ-TV (Channel 2) anchor Maryalice Demler ended up upsetting some in attendance who interpreted her remarks as an unprofessional critique of a competing TV station.

Multiple people came away from the panel at St. Joseph University Church near the University at Buffalo campus on Main Street calling Demler “unprofessional” in what they termed her “insinuations” about the way whistle-blower Siobhan O’Connor and WKBW-TV (Channel 7) and reporter Charlie Specht handled the story – without mentioning the two by name.

In an email response, Demler said her remarks were misrepresented by those offended and that she has the support of another panelist.

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WARSAW, POLAND
Associated Press

December 7, 2018

By Czarek Sololowski

The mayor of the Polish city of Gdansk has asked the local Roman Catholic archbishop to investigate allegations that a now-deceased priest who rose to prominence in the Solidarity pro-democracy movement sexually abused minors.

The allegations against the late Mgr. Henryk Jankowski surfaced this week when Barbara Borowiecka told the “Duzy Format” magazine and TVN24 television he abused her and others when she was a girl and his parishioner in the 1970s, before his pro-Solidarity activity.

Another woman — who did not show her face — also told TVN24 that Jankowski touched her inappropriately when she was only six.

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MOBILE (AL)
WKRG TV

December 6, 2018

By Chris Best

The Archdiocese of Mobile released the names of 28 clergy members who have been “credibly accused” of child sex allegations since 1950. News 5 Investigators are mapping out their service, where they served, and when the abuse allegations occurred. We’ve discovered some disturbing trends just based on the minimal information provided by the archdiocese. Several of the 28 priests or deacons served at several different locations. The Catholic church has faced harsh criticism in the past for moving pedophile priests from parish to parish or school. Several parishes or schools have the multiple accused clergy. Some of clergy served at several of the the same parishes or schools. And the allegations against them overlap in time period as well.

For example, three who served at McGill-Toolen also served at Little Flower Parish. Allegations against Vernon Dahmen span from the mid ’70s to the early 80s. At the Same time from the 1960s to 1982 Arthur Schrenger is accused of sexual misconduct with minors. He also served at McGill-Toolen and Little Flower.

Patrick Nicolson was accused in 1976, and again served at McGill-Toolen and Little Flower.

News 5 Investigators mapped out other connections, watch the video for more. And click here for the entire list and complete letter from the Archbishop. We’ll also have LIVE team coverage on News 5 at 5 and 6.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CNA/EWTN News

December 6, 2018

A new statistical analysis seeks to contextualize data about child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in Pennsylvania, four months after a grand jury report detailed hundreds of abuse allegations in six of the state’s diocese, spanning nearly eight decades.

To “properly understand the import” of the grand jury’s findings, the statistical analysis compares the number of abuse allegations to other institutions during similar time periods, and seeks to better understand when most of the cases of alleged abuse took place.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia commissioned the analysis, which was conducted by the law firm Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP.

The 884-page grand jury report, released Aug. 14, was written by 23 grand jurors who spent 18 months investigating the six dioceses with the help of the FBI, examining half a million pages of documents in the process. The six diocese are Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, and Scranton.

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BIRMINGHAM (AL)
WVTM News

December 6, 2018

By Mary O’Connell

Danny Molloy grew up in Boston and served as an altar boy at church. He says while serving, a priest molested him.

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WINSTON-SALEM (NC)
Baptist News Global

December 7, 2018

By Christa Brown

Since last July when Southern Baptist Convention president J.D. Greear announced the formation of a sexual abuse study group, people have been asking me, “Do you think they’ll finally change things?”

Often, I hear a note of hopefulness in the question and remember when I too might have believed that such an announcement meant Baptist officials were rising to the task of addressing clergy sex abuse. Not anymore. After 12 years of hearing the stories of survivors of Baptist clergy abuse, I’ve learned that, on this subject, the words of Baptist leaders are worthy of wariness.

SBC officials say they’re “studying it.” So what?

First, let’s remember that SBC officials have sung this “studying it” song before. Their prior 2008 “study,” with its seemingly predisposed do-nothing result, left many of us Baptist abuse survivors with a healthy measure of skepticism.

“But this is a new generation of Baptist leaders,” people say, and true enough, there are some younger faces. However, this is not a problem of old-guard versus new-guard.

“Decades of institutional patterns will not be changed by simply repopulating the same inadequate structures with new faces, no matter how well-intentioned they may be.”

The problem is that the SBC system fosters a climate for abuse and cover-ups because it lacks effective structures for clergy accountability and for information-sharing among congregations. Decades of institutional patterns will not be changed by simply repopulating the same inadequate structures with new faces, no matter how well-intentioned they may be.

Second, it’s not even clear exactly what SBC officials are “studying” this time around. The details of their process are not transparent, and some of their remarks provide little reason for confidence. It’s hard to imagine that these leaders will be able to remediate effectively their own institutional failures when, so often, they avoid even speaking of them. For example, Executive Committee chairman Mike Stone claimed there had “never” been any “hesitancy about addressing these issues” in the SBC, and said it was engaging the study because of the increased emphasis on sexual abuse “in the culture and in the media.” Executive Committee interim president Augie Boto talked about the study as a way “to address evil, human failure and the consequences of sin.”

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Patch

December 6, 2018

By Paige Austin

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles Thursday released the names of dozens of local priests accused of abusing children, a move likely to stir up trauma and catharsis across LA parishes. The list includes 54 priests, most of whom are dead or defrocked, included 30 who had not be publicly identified before.

Most of the abuse took place decades ago but only came to light in the last decade. Twenty-seven of the priests were identified well after hey were dead. The announcement is a move designed to increase trust and transparency. It’s the first time the archdiocese has publicly updated its list of abusers in a decade, when the archdiocese agreed to a $660 million settlement with 508 victims.

The list does not identify the parish where the priest ministered.

“To every one of you who has suffered abuse by the hand of a priest, I am truly sorry. Nothing can undo the violence done to you or restore the innocence or trust that was taken from you,” Archbishop Jose Gomez said at a news conference at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles. “I am humbled by your courage and ashamed at how the church has let you down.”

According to the list, only three priests in the county have been accused of abusing children within the past decade. Two were investigated, removed from the ministry and referred to law enforcement while a third one left the country. According to the church, the archdiocese has publicly identified all living priests accused of abuse since 2008 in announcements to the communities where they served. But on Thursday, they decided to release the names of deceased priests that were accused in the last decade as well as “plausible” accusations, in an effort toward transparency. The plausible” allegations could not be investigated because the priest had died or had long ago left the archdiocese. However, authorities determined the accusation matched up with the priest’s time of service and place of ministry.

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PHOENIX (AZ)
NBC Channel 12

December 6, 2018

By Joe Dana

Tomorrow, faculty and staff at Brophy College Preparatory in Phoenix and 70 other Jesuit high schools and colleges throughout the west will likely pay close attention to what is revealed in a new report on priest abuse.

Jesuit West is a religious order of the Catholic Church that oversees Jesuit high schools and universities.

“While this is a necessary part of the healing process and reconciliation, I think what you will see with this list is the majority are cases dating back decades,” said Tracey Primrose, Director of Communications for Jesuits West Province. “There is no one who has a credible claim who is working actively in ministry in the Jesuits.”

Some of the men named in the report are deceased and did not have a chance to defend themselves against the accusations. But, the claims against those men have been evaluated and substantiated by the Jesuit West review board, Primrose said.

“This is us, on our own, deciding to do something transparent to be accountable,” Primrose said. “Some of those names will have already been out there.”

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
City News Service

December 6, 2018

Attorneys, Activists Demand More Data on Priest Sexual Misconduct

A Camarillo man is suing multiple Roman Catholic dioceses throughout the state, claiming he was abused by a priest as a boy.

The group alleges there has been widespread covering up of sexual abuse misconduct among clergy in Orange County for years.

They called on Diocese of Orange Bishop Kevin Vann to release the names of all clergy accused of sexual misconduct.

A Camarillo man, who is suing multiple Roman Catholic dioceses throughout the state and who claims he was abused by a priest in Anaheim as a boy, Thursday joined attorneys and other clergy abuse activists to call on the Diocese of Orange to release “secret” files on priests accused of misconduct.

At a news conference at a hotel in Orange Thursday morning, the group alleged there has been widespread covering up of sexual abuse misconduct among clergy in Orange County for years.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
KABC TV

December 7, 2018

Archbishop Jose Gomez of the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has released an updated list of the names of priests accused of sexually abusing minors.

This is the first update since 2008.

The list now has an additional 54 priests, added because the criteria has changed. The list already held almost 300 names of priests directly or indirectly associated with the Archdiocese who had been accused of abuse. Of those on the list, 120 are now deceased and six were exonerated.

“To every one of you who has suffered abuse at the hand of a priest, I am truly sorry,” Gomez said. “I am humbled by your courage and ashamed at how the church has let you down.”

The church says the names were added if there was “a single plausible report of sexual misconduct against the priest which could not be confirmed since the priest died or left the archdiocese long before the allegation was received.”

Since the 2008 report, three priests accused of abusing children were removed from the priesthood.

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CINCINNATI (OH)
WKRC TV

December 6, 2018

By Walter Smith-Randolph

Fr. Kenneth Hendricks, a priest from Cincinnati, is now accused of molesting 10 boys while living and working in the Philippines, but American investigators believe there may be more victims of Hendricks.

Hendricks has been working in the Phillippines for 37 years, but investigators say he would visit Cincinnati in the summers. Local 12 has found archived newspapers that say Hendricks worked at St. Francis Seraph Church in Over-the-Rhine and was known as Brother Pius Hendricks.

“Given what we know, we believe thus far that there’s a high possibility that other children may have been impacted by his alleged actions,” said Special Agent Steve Francis with the Department of Homeland Security.

A spokeswoman for the Franciscan order confirms Hendricks took his vows in 1962 in Cincinnati but left the order in 1986. That’s when Hendricks went to the Phillipines and was ordained a priest.

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SACRAMENTO (CA)
KCRA TV

December 6, 2018

By Vicki Gonzalez

The Diocese of Sacramento is taking action following two new claims of sex abuse against two former priests.

The man who came forward said the assaults took place at Camp Pendola and Holy Family Catholic Church in Citrus Heights in 1985. He said he wants to be identified as John Doe.

The alleged abuse took place when he was 17 years old while on a camp work trip with former director of Camp Pendola, Monsignor Murrough Wallace.

Wallace is now retired.

“In light of the allegation raised (Thursday) by Mr. Doe, Bishop Soto has directed Msgr. Murrough Wallace, retired pastor of St. Theresa Parish in South Lake Tahoe, to withdraw from ministry until more facts can be gathered,” Fr. Michael Vaughan said in a statement.

KCRA was able to reach Wallace on the phone about the sex abuse allegations. He did not want to comment.

A couple years ago, John Doe said after years of counseling he was able to confront Wallace about what happened.

“I went on to tell the details of what he did, and as I finished telling my details, he was crying and he apologized,” he said. “I am asking him to come forward and tell the truth and help those suffering in silence.”

The second sex abuse allegation involves a former monsignor at Holy Family Catholic Church in Citrus Heights. The priest has since died.

The diocese did not acknowledge the second priest in their statement.

“I have come to know two additional victims. One of each priest, both male,” John Doe said. “I am coming forward and telling my story as John Doe because all of my family doesn’t know.”

His attorney, Joseph George, said there is not a lawsuit due to the statute of limitations. But, his client chose to move forward after the diocese announced they are delaying the public release of each accused priest until next year.

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MOBILE (AL)
WKRG TV

December 6, 2018

By Chris Best

Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich is urging victims of priest and clergy abuse to come forward so she can prosecute. The Archdiocese of Mobile Thursday released the names of 29 priests and deacons who have been “credibly accused” since 1950. Although of them are now dead, several are not. Rich says victims must come forward and ask her office to prosecute. She’s also asking anyone with evidence to come forward. Rich says there’s no statute of limitations on any sex offense if the victim is under 16, regardless if it involves force or serious injury.

The sexual misconduct allegations range from 1950 up until at least 2012.

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ORANGE (CA)
Associated Press

December 6, 2018

Advocates for survivors of child sex abuse say they have compiled a list of 72 priests who served in the Southern California Diocese of Orange and who are accused of abusing kids.

Lawyer Mike Reck on Thursday said that’s many more than those reported by the Diocese and demanded greater transparency.

He says the list was compiled with publicly available information including criminal cases, lawsuits and press statements.

dvocates have issued similar reports in other jurisdictions in a push to hold church officials accountable for child sex abuse cases.

The Diocese of Orange says the lawyers are trying to re-litigate old claims and that the church takes any accusations of abuse “extraordinarily seriously.”

Diocese officials issued a report in 2016 saying 14 clergy accused of abuse were removed from min
California United States North America

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MORRISTOWN (NJ)
Morristown Daily Record

December 6, 2018

By Peggy Wright

A civil trial that stems from a six-year-old lawsuit brought by Delbarton School against an attorney involving a confidential 1988 sex abuse settlement began Wednesday in Morris County.

The jury heard testimony from Gregory Gianforcaro, the attorney who represented a former student, who in 1984 claimed he had been abused by Rev. Timothy Brennan.

Gianforcaro is being sued by The Order of St. Benedict, which runs the school, for allegedly disclosing in 2012 the confidential settlement sum reached with the student in 1988.

While trying to get a gag order lifted in the case in 2012, Gianforcaro said, at a news conference, the settlement between former student William Wolfe and the school had been about seven figures. The Order alleges the attorney at that time violated the confidentiality agreement.

The suit also alleges Gianforcaro committed a breach of duty of good faith and fair dealing. Delbarton attorneys Christopher Kinum and Robert Gold want the jury of six men and two women to award damages that equal Wolfe’s 30-year-old settlement, which has never been precisely disclosed.

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NEWARK (NJ)
Associated Press

December 6, 2018

By David Porter

A lawsuit filed by a Catholic school against an attorney it claimed breached a confidentiality clause in a clergy sex abuse settlement has been resolved, both sides said Thursday.

Neither side offered details on the resolution.

It brings an end to a six-year battle among the Order of St. Benedict of New Jersey, the private Delbarton School and Gregory Gianforcaro, an attorney who has represented numerous clergy sex abuse victims.

The suit claimed Gianforcaro violated a confidentiality clause in a former Delbarton student’s 1988 settlement with the school when the lawyer told reporters in 2012 that the settlement was “approximately seven figures.”

At the time, Gianforcaro was seeking to have the confidentiality clause lifted, and it eventually was. Gianforcaro denied violating the agreement because, among other factors, he was not representing the former student in 1988 when it was signed.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

December 6, 2018

By Laura Newberry

For the first time in a decade, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles on Thursday updated its list of clergy accused of molesting children, addressing renewed outcry about how the Catholic Church responds to abuse allegations.

“We owe it to the victim-survivors to be fully transparent in listing the names of those who perpetrate this abuse,” Archbishop Jose H. Gomez said in a statement in releasing the list of 54 names.

The decision to disclose names of accused clergy has been made by bishops across the United States after the release in August of a Pennsylvania report, which revealed a decades-long cover-up of child sex abuse involving more than 1,000 victims and hundreds of priests. Dioceses in San Diego, San Jose, Orange County and San Bernardino have also released names of accused clergy this year.

In 2006, a Los Angeles Times analysis found that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles partially or completely omitted 11 known cases of clerical abuse from its “Report to the People of God.” This was after then-Archbishop Roger Mahony said the report provided the “fullest possible disclosure” of how the church responded to sex abuse allegations.

The report reveals two cases of alleged abuse of minors reported in the jurisdiction since 2008, when the list was last updated. Those accused priests, Juan Cano and Jose Luis Cuevas, have since been investigated by law enforcement and removed from the ministry, according to the archdiocese. Cuevas was charged with groping a girl in Long Beach. He later pleaded no contest to sexual assault charges. Cano is under investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department.

In all, 54 names were added to the archdiocese’s “Report to the People of God,” originally published in 2004. Most of those names belong to clergy who allegedly committed abuse before 2008 and had already been publicly accused. Twenty-seven are dead.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Law office of Jeff Anderson

December 6, 2018

In response to pressure from the public, survivors, the lawsuit filed by Tom Emens in October 2018, and a report exposing 307 clergy offenders released by Jeff Anderson & Associates, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has updated its list of credibly or publicly accused clergy after 10 years. This is a positive step in the right direction for the Archdiocese.

However, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and its officials have repeatedly shown that they cannot be trusted to self-report without oversight. The next step is the public disclosure of documents regarding the histories of these offenders and the identities of Church officials who were complicit in the cover-up of these crimes. This can only be accomplished by requiring the Archdiocese release this information to law enforcement and trained third parties to verify that it is complete and accurate. Until this information is released, the Archdiocese’s efforts remain a half-truth.

Now the survivors who have been waiting for acknowledgement of their perpetrator’s identity can take steps toward healing and accountability. Thank you to every survivor who has come forward to share their truth to make our communities safer for children.

The report naming 307 offenders and the complaint filed by Tom Emens can be found at www.andersonadvocates.com.

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SACRAMMENTO (CA)
Law office of Joseph C. George

December 6, 2018

He’s “outing” two accused priests for the 1st time
One worked at Sacramento Cathedral and the other predator headed youth camp for 20 years
Victim is upset by local diocese’s “recklessness & secrecy”

WHAT:
At a news conference, a survivor of clergy childhood sexual abuse (who will be identified as John Doe) will disclose the sexual abuse he suffered as a child at the hands of two Sacramento priests who have never been publicly identified as credibly accused perpetrators: Msgr. Murrough Wallace and Msgr. Vito Francis Mistretta. Bishop Quinn and Bishop Weigand knew that Msgr. Mistretta sexually abused a minor and never warned parents.

John Doe is frustrated by Bishop Soto’s delay in publicizing the list of predators and wants to alert other victims of these two priests that they are not alone and need not suffer in silence. There are resources for victims of clergy sexual abuse to get help. The church’s current system to “help” survivors is inadequate and shameful.

WHERE:
Law Offices of Joseph C. George, Ph.D., 601 University Avenue, Suite 230, Sacramento, CA

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LOS ANGELES (A)
Los Angeles Archdiocese

December 6, 2018

Below is the 2018 Update which supplements the 2004 Report to the People of God. The status of those listed in the 2004 Report, as amended through 2008, is also being reissued to show their current status . The 2018 Update includes priests accused since 2008. We recommend that you read the introduction page and FAQs below before exploring the lists.

The names of living priests in the 2018 Update include instances where the allegations were found to be credible. The names of those who were in ministry at the time of the accusation have previously been made public through announcements at parishes and schools where the accused served in the Archdiocese. In addition, the list includes names of deceased priests or priests who had long ago left the Archdiocese before the allegations were received and, where there is a single, plausible allegation of sexual misconduct against the priest even though it could not be investigated. Those names are being included in the 2018 Update out of respect and deference to the victim-survivors who made the reports.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Angelus News

December 6, 2018

By Pablo Kay

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles released on Thursday an updated list of priests accused of sexual abuse of minors, with the report showing two cases of alleged abuse of current minors in the archdiocese since 2008.

The two cases were made public at the time the allegations were first received. Upon receiving the accusations, the archdiocese removed the two priests, Juan Cano and Jose Luis Cuevas, from ministry and reported them to law enforcement. Following separate investigations by police and by an Archdiocesan oversight board, the men were permanently removed from ministry.

“As disturbing as their behavior was, it shows that thanks to the swift action of alert teachers, parents and even children themselves, we can catch signs of abusive behavior early,” said Dr. Heather Banis, Victims Assistance Ministry Coordinator for the Archdiocese.

Overall, the update added the names of 54 priests—27 of them now dead—to the Archdiocese’s “Report to the People of God,” originally published in 2004 by Cardinal Roger Mahony, and updated in 2005 and in 2008. The archdiocese has posted the full list, along with a message from Archbishop José H. Gomez, on a new website.

“We owe it to the victim-survivors of abuse to be fully transparent in listing the names of those who perpetrate this abuse,” Archbishop Gomez said.

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NEW YORK (NY)
America Magazine

December 4, 2018

By Louis J. Cameli

In February of next year, Pope Francis will meet with presidents of episcopal conferences throughout the world to talk about the Catholic Church’s response to clerical abuse. The U.S. bishops met in November of this year and discussed the same topic. In many dioceses, parishes have been or will be hosting listening sessions for concerned parishioners. All these meetings are meant in some way to address the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church.

The current round of gatherings and news coverage strikes many people as sadly familiar—a replay of what happened in the early 2000s. But this is different. Today’s conversations have shifted. The focus now falls on bishops who were negligent, incompetent or downright devious in dealing with clergy who had perpetrated abuse against minors. This new scrutiny of abuse in the church, one earnestly hopes, will lead to necessary structural realignments. Reforms may include new paths for accountability and transparency, a more rigorous application of existing church law or its amendment if needed, and closer cooperation with civil authorities to deal with criminal activity and any related cover-up.

Structural reform and renewal are absolutely necessary to reclaim a measure of integrity for the church and—some would even say—for her very survival.

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BUFFALO (NY)
Spectrum Local News

December 5, 2018

By Mark Goshgarian

Democrats will head both the Assembly and the Senate next month after taking control away from the Republican majority in last month’s election.

Tim Kennedy, Western New York’s only Democratic senator and soon to be part of that majority, said in a statement:

“With a change in leadership, I’m confident we’ll finally see powerful reform and long-overdue justice.”

One of those reforms is the Child Victims Act, a measure that, in part, extends the age limit abuse victims can file civil suits or seek legal charges.

The measure passed the Assembly twice, but has stalled in the current GOP-controlled Senate.

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UNITED STATES
Bloomberg

December 5, 2018

By Allison McNeely, Josh Saul and Eben Novy-Williams

USA Gymnastics, under threat of being decertified by the U.S. Olympic Committee, filed for bankruptcy after running short of funds to pay victims of Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse.

The organization filed for Chapter 11 status in the Southern District of Indiana on Wednesday with estimated total assets and liabilities of $50 million to $100 million, according to a court filing. USAG aims to continue operating while it settles the victims’ claims, which its says are covered by insurance previously purchased by the organization, according to a statement.

But in court filings, USAG said there may not be enough to go around. It estimated the potential impact of these lawsuits at $75 million and $150 million, while the organization has assets of just $6.5 million in cash and investments, and said that the insurance policy might prove insufficient.

“We owe it to the survivors to resolve, fully and finally, claims based on the horrific acts of the past and, through this process, seek to expedite resolution and help them move forward,” chair Kathryn Carson said in the statement.

The bankruptcy extends a tumultuous year for USA Gymnastics, which installed new leadership after the trial of former team doctor Larry Nassar. Nassar was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison on child pornography charges and another 40 to 125 years in prison for a decades-long string of sexual abuse. His victims number more than 150 current and former gymnasts, including several Olympic champions.

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INDIANAPOLIS (IN)
USA Gym

December 5, 2018

USA Gymnastics today filed a voluntary petition for protection under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana. This filing will enable USA Gymnastics to continue to support its athletes, to fully operate and meet its responsibilities to the entire membership and to expeditiously resolve the claims made by the survivors of sexual abuse perpetrated by Larry Nassar.

“We owe it to the survivors to resolve, fully and finally, claims based on the horrific acts of the past and, through this process, seek to expedite resolution and help them move forward,” said Kathryn Carson, who was recently elected chair of the USA Gymnastics Board of Directors. “Our sport is safer and stronger thanks to the bravery of these women. The Chapter 11 filing and the expedited resolution of these claims are critical first steps in rebuilding the community’s trust.

“At the same time, the filing will allow us to continue the important work of supporting our outstanding gymnasts at all levels, including the current and next generation of Olympic hopefuls,” continued Carson. “Since joining the Board last June, I have been inspired by the commitment of our members — the administrators, judges, coaches and club owners — who work daily to foster a safe, positive and encouraging environment where thousands of young people can learn gymnastics and life skills, compete and pursue their dreams.

“We are moving forward with our plans to strengthen our organization to further support the work of our members and gymnasts,” said Carson. “We have made significant progress in implementing safety initiatives and are in the process of searching for a new CEO who has the experience to build a leadership team that will restore confidence in USA Gymnastics, and set and execute a clear vision for a successful future.”

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INDIANAPOLIS (IN)
Indianapolis Star

December 5, 2018

By Tim Evans, Nancy Armour, Rachel Axon and Marisa Kwiatkowski

USA Gymnastics filed for bankruptcy protection Wednesday, a move it says will help resolve lawsuits stemming from Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse, but one it’s also counting on to hold off the U.S. Olympic Committee.

The filing, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana, stays all “pending actions” against the governing body. That includes lawsuits filed by hundreds of Nassar survivors as well as the USOC’s Section 8 complaint aimed at stripping USA Gymnastics of its status as the national governing body.

“Our board has been talking about this bankruptcy strategy for a while now — well before the Section 8 complaint was filed,” said Kathryn Carson, chair of the USA Gymnastics board. “Our primary reason to do this is to expedite those survivor claims.”

But John Manly, an attorney who represents many of the survivors, was skeptical.

“Today’s bankruptcy filing by USA Gymnastics was the inevitable result of the inability of this organization to meet its core responsibility of protecting its athlete members from abuse,” Manly said in a statement.

“The leadership of USA Gymnastics has proven itself to be both morally and financially bankrupt. They have inflicted and continue to inflict unimaginable pain on survivors and their families.”

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UNITED STATES
Reuters

December 6, 2018

By Joseph Ax

USA Gymnastics, the sport’s governing body, filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday, saying that it is staggering under the weight of lawsuits filed by hundreds of women who were sexually abused by former national team doctor Larry Nassar.

The organization’s chairwoman, Kathryn Carson, cited the lawsuits in the decision to seek protection from creditors in federal bankruptcy court in Indianapolis.

“Our organization is a financially solid going concern but for the hundred lawsuits that we do have out there,” Carson said on a conference call with reporters. “That is the primary reason that we made this filing, to use the Chapter 11 process as a vehicle for resolving those claims.”

Nassar was sentenced to up to 300 years in prison in two different trials in Michigan last February after more than 350 women testified about abuse at his hands, including Olympic champions Aly Raisman and Jordyn Wieber.

The scandal prompted the entire board of directors at Indianapolis-based USA Gymnastics to resign, along with the president and athletic director at Michigan State University, where Nassar also worked. The school agreed to a $500 million settlement with his victims earlier this year.

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CINCINNATI (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer

December 6, 2018

By Cameron Knight

A priest who started his career in Cincinnati more than 50 years ago has been detained in the Philippines on charges of molesting young boys.

Kenneth Bernard Hendricks was arrested by Philippine immigration authorities Wednesday. He has been indicted in Ohio. U.S. Attorney Ben Glassman will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. during which he is expected to reveal more details about the accusations.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Daily Beast

December 4, 2018

By Emily Shugerman and Rich McHugh

A California woman says her warnings about Det. Neil Kimball went unheeded before he was accused of a raping a 14-year-old.

A veteran Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department detective was charged last week with tying up and raping a 14-year-old girl whose case he was investigating. The arrest of Neil Kimball, a seasoned sex-crimes investigator, sent shockwaves through the law-enforcement community—especially when it was revealed that he had already been accused of sexual misconduct years earlier.

But the allegations didn’t surprise Sara Abusheikh, a Los Angeles-based fashion designer who told The Daily Beast she tried to warn authorities about “creepy” Kimball four years ago. The detective assigned to investigate her sexual assault case repeatedly crossed the line, she said—making flirtatious comments, accusing her of liking her alleged assailant, and even encouraging her to go back to see him.

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UNITED STATES
LinkedIn

November 14, 2018

By John Seng

Time to Reform The Catholic Church

People who attend Catholic Masses with any regularity will recognize the following ritual, as explained by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops:

At the very beginning of the Mass, the faithful recall their sins and place their trust in God’s abiding mercy. The Penitential Act includes the Kyrie Eleison, a Greek phrase meaning, “Lord, have mercy.” This litany recalls God’s merciful actions throughout history.

At Sunday worship in recent months, it’s dawned on me that in this year’s new light of horrifying revelations of abuse by clergy over many years worldwide, maybe it’s time to turn the tables. Aren’t Catholics in the pews the ones who should expect their Catholic Church celebrants to, perhaps for the next 50 years, initiate each Mass by recalling the sins of priests, bishops and cardinals themselves, apologizing at every assembly and begging the Lord’s mercy?

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NEW YORK (NY)
America Magazine

December 4, 2018

By Louis J. Cameli

In February of next year, Pope Francis will meet with presidents of episcopal conferences throughout the world to talk about the Catholic Church’s response to clerical abuse. The U.S. bishops met in November of this year and discussed the same topic. In many dioceses, parishes have been or will be hosting listening sessions for concerned parishioners. All these meetings are meant in some way to address the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church.

The current round of gatherings and news coverage strikes many people as sadly familiar—a replay of what happened in the early 2000s. But this is different. Today’s conversations have shifted. The focus now falls on bishops who were negligent, incompetent or downright devious in dealing with clergy who had perpetrated abuse against minors. This new scrutiny of abuse in the church, one earnestly hopes, will lead to necessary structural realignments. Reforms may include new paths for accountability and transparency, a more rigorous application of existing church law or its amendment if needed, and closer cooperation with civil authorities to deal with criminal activity and any related cover-up.

Structural reform and renewal are absolutely necessary to reclaim a measure of integrity for the church and—some would even say—for her very survival.

Structural reform and renewal are absolutely necessary to reclaim a measure of integrity for the church and—some would even say—for her very survival. These changes, however, are not enough to bring healing. The abuse crisis is about more than just logic and reason. The current crisis has revealed the unreliability of church leaders in protecting the flock entrusted to their care. And that matters very much to everyone with or without a direct experience of abuse. I would argue that any effective healing must take the experience of reliability versus unreliability as a central focus.

People familiar with the work of the British psychiatrist Donald Winnicott know the centrality of reliability for the most fundamental of human relationships. As Winnicott observed the interaction of infants and their mothers, it became apparent to him that the foundation of all healthy subsequent development for a child rested in the experience of that first and all-important mother-child relationship as reliable. When that early relationship turns out to be unreliable, as Winnicott saw in his psychotherapeutic practice with adults, people have significant problems relating to others and functioning well in their lives.

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ROME (ITALY)
Catholic News Service

December 6, 2018

By Cindy Wooden

Pope Francis marked the fifth anniversary of his election in March in the midst of a firestorm over his handling of clerical sexual abuse and bishops’ accountability in Chile.

He soon apologized for his slow response and invited Chilean abuse survivors to the Vatican and then all the country’s bishops to meet with him in May. By mid-October, the pope had dismissed two Chilean bishops from the priesthood and accepted the resignations of seven others.

The firestorm began when Pope Francis visited Chile and Peru in January, but the trip also included a meeting with the region’s indigenous peoples, marking an important stage in the preparation for the 2019 special Synod of Bishops on the Amazon, which will focus on safeguarding creation and on the pastoral care of the people who live in the region.

Also during 2018, Pope Francis traveled to the Geneva headquarters of the World Council of Churches to celebrate the ecumenical body’s 70th anniversary; he went to Ireland for the World Meeting of Families; and he visited the Baltic nations of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
Fox 43

December 6, 2018

A retired Captain who successfully ran the Megan’s Law Section of the Pennsylvania State Police will run the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg’s Safe Environment program. Retired Capt. Janet A. McNeal, through her firm Law and Grace Consulting, will review the Diocese’s current youth protection programs, develop programs and policies to make any needed improvements and will serve as our Safe Environment Coordinator.

“Captain McNeal brings a wealth of experience with her,” said Bishop Ronald W. Gainer. “As a contractor with the Diocese, she is a neutral party, with no conflicts of interest, who has dedicated her entire professional career to seeing that justice is served and survivors of a range of crimes, but specifically sexual crimes, are heard and supported.

“As part of her role, Capt. McNeal will review every clergy child abuse case reported to the Diocese, in order to evaluate what went wrong and help us continue improving our youth protection policies and trainings, as a means of reducing the risk for future abuse.”

McNeal brings 26 years of law enforcement investigative and policy development experience to this position. She has a three year contract with the Diocese and will operate independently, reporting her recommendations directly to Bishop Gainer. McNeal has been granted complete access to all the Diocese’s records. In addition to reviewing every case reported to the Diocese, McNeal will also meet with survivors to hear their stories and determine what stage they are at in the healing process.

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MOBILE (AL)
AL.com

December 6, 2018

By Christopher Harress

The Archdiocese of Mobile released Thursday 29 names of Catholic priests, deacons and brothers who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing a child since 1950.

The first 12 names are those that were formally part of the Archdiocese of Mobile, while the second list contains 17 names of men and priests who belong to religious orders but were not formally attached to the Archdiocese.

In an accompanying letter, Archbishop Thomas Rodi asked for forgiveness from those that had been hurt.

“The most vulnerable members of the Church, the children, have been grievously hurt by clergy and religious, the very people who should have been trusted to help and not to injure,” wrote Archbishop Rodi. “In addition, the Church has at times failed to act as it should have to immediately protect children and to promptly remove those who have preyed upon them. To all the people of the Church, and especially to the victims of child sexual abuse by clergy and religious, I ask for your forgiveness. From the depths of my heart, I ask your forgiveness.”

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NEW YORK (NY)
Vogue Magazine

December 6, 2018

By Mary Beth Keane

The joke about my younger son, Emmett, is that at age seven he’d still crawl back into my womb if he could. He’s more reserved than his gregarious older brother, and sticks to me in social situations that overwhelm him. He worries about things that wouldn’t even occur to another child. Recently I picked him up from a birthday party and also collected the sons of two close friends to spare them a trip. Walking across the parking lot in a foursome of first-grade boys, Emmett kept glancing at another classmate who was leaving with his mother. Later he told me he worried the boy had seen the group heading to our car and thought Emmett was having a “big fun playdate” and hadn’t invited him, and that his feelings might have been hurt.

Tall, with skinny limbs and hair the color of a penny, Emmett often chooses a collection of Bible stories my mother gave him years ago as a bedtime book. One evening he asked me about “the holy cracker” he’s going to get to try soon, when he makes his first Holy Communion in second grade.

“That’s the Eucharist,” I told him. “The priest performs a miracle on the altar, and that cracker becomes the body of Christ.” Like all things to do with Catholic doctrine, it feels insane when said aloud. When it comes to religion, the only concern my kids really have is whether everyone who’s good ends up in Heaven. I’ve decided to simply say yes. Will the dog go to Heaven? Yes. The same Heaven as us? Yes. I deliver these answers with total confidence, as if I know.

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SPRINGFIELD (IL)
Springfield Journal Register

December 5, 2018

By Crystal Thomas

A city of Springfield employee appears on the list the Catholic Diocese of Springfield released last week that named priests it said had been credibly accused of sexually abusing minors.

Joseph D. Cernich, 62, of Springfield, was laicized, or stripped of his priestly duties, in June 2003 and hired by the city in November of the same year. Cernich currently works as a technical support specialist in City Water, Light and Power’s information systems division and makes about $56,000 a year.

Requests for comment from Cernich went unanswered. He hung up when The State Journal-Register called his work phone number.

In response to a State Journal-Register inquiry into whether the new information affects Cernich’s employment, city attorney Jim Zerkle wrote the “the situation is presently under review.”

″… (C)onsistent with the City personnel policy, the City cannot comment on individual personnel matters,” Zerkle wrote.

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MANILA (PHILIPPINES)
Associated Press

December 6, 2018

By Jim Gomez

Philippine immigration authorities say they have arrested an American Roman Catholic priest accused of sexually assaulting altar boys in a remote central town in a case one official described as “shocking and appalling.”

Bureau of Immigration spokeswoman Dana Sandoval said Thursday the Rev. Kenneth Bernard Hendricks, who has been indicted in Ohio for alleged illicit sexual conduct in the Philippines, was arrested in a church in Naval town on the island province of Biliran.

An Ohio court had issued a warrant for the arrest of 77-year-old Hendricks, who has been living in the Philippines for 37 years, Sandoval said, adding that the U.S. criminal case stemmed from complaints from Filipino minors who were allegedly victimized in the Philippines.

Hendricks is listed on the Archdiocese of Cincinnati website as a missionary in Asia.

Federal officials will announce charges against Hendricks at 11 a.m. Thursday. WCPO will live stream the announcement.

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BUFFALO (NY)
The Spectrum

December 6, 2018

Monsignor Patrick Keleher of UB’s Newman Center does not want Catholic students to lose faith, despite the reemergence of a 17-year sexual abuse scandal that has again rocked the Catholic Church.

He’s been in the church for half a century and knows worshippers in the Buffalo Diocese, which has in the past year been consumed with a new string of abuse accusations and calls by prominent Catholics for Bishop Richard Malone to resign. He knows Catholics worldwide are undergoing a crisis of faith.

But Keleher believes the 2,000-year-old Catholic Church will find its strength again.

“We pray that the church can change,” said Keleher, the director of the Newman Center, which has served Catholic students since 1936. “We need change and we’ve had too much secrecy, too much clericalism, all of the things we hear about all the time.”

UB’s Catholic community wants to bring believers together to help them maintain their faith and discuss how the church can change moving forward so such acts won’t happen again, local religious leaders told The Spectrum. Community churches like the Newman Center and the St. Joseph University Parish near South Campus are coming to terms with the abuse scandal through forums and discussions, as priests are opening their doors and listening to students’ and community members’ concerns.

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SIOUX CITY (IA)
Sioux City Journal

December 6, 2018

By Nick Hytrek

Leaders of the Diocese of Sioux City and the diocese’s attorney will meet with Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller Thursday to discuss child sexual abuse allegations against clergy members.

Miller will meet with Bishop R. Walker Nickless, the Rev. Bradley Pelzel, vicar general of the diocese, and Sioux City attorney Mike Ellwanger. The four will discuss sex abuse issues in the diocese, how to move forward and the development of a list of priests who have been credibly accused, said Susan O’Brien, director of development and communications for the diocese.

Miller is meeting individually with each of the four Catholic bishops in Iowa. The meetings were requested by Archbishop Michael Jackels, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, O’Brien said.

In a letter Tuesday to priests, deacons and other boards throughout the Sioux City Diocese, Nickless announced the meeting and other steps the dioceses is taking to address allegations of sexual abuse and the perception that church officials have kept information from the public.

“I know there is a lot of confusion, sadness and upset about clergy sexual abuse, past and present, as well as about information being shared in the news about clergy in our diocese,” Walker wrote. “I am sorry that we are all going through this, and I am praying for all of you. I hope you also pray for me, our clergy, as well as the dedicated staff throughout our diocese.”

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MANILA (PHILIPPINES)
New York Times

December 6, 2018

By Jason Gutierrez

An elderly American priest has been arrested by United States Homeland Security agents on charges that he sexually assaulted at least seven Filipino altar boys in the rural central Philippines, where he has ministered for decades.

The suspect, Rev. Kenneth Bernard Hendricks, 77, was arrested Wednesday in the town of Naval, an impoverished community in Biliran Province, said Dana Krizia Sandoval, a spokeswoman for the immigration bureau of the Philippines.

“We received information from U.S. authorities regarding the alleged sexual exploitation of multiple minor Filipino boys by Hendricks,” Ms. Sandoval said. “Several of his victims have come forward with their statements.”

Ms. Sandoval said “at least seven children have come forward, but our sources estimate at least 50 cases have been unreported.”

Operatives from the immigration bureau’s Fugitive Search Unit joined with the national police and Homeland Security agents in making the arrest, which shocked residents in the community of 50,000.

“Hendricks allegedly sexually assaulted a number of boys living in his residence,” Ms. Sandoval said, adding that the priest allegedly told the boys that he would be imprisoned if the authorities learned of his behavior.

“It is shocking and appalling,” she added. “I am horrified reading the charges against him. We will not allow sexual predators to prey on our children.”

The priest allegedly ordered the boys to take baths with him and molested them either one on one or with other boys, she said.

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NEWCASTLE (AUSTRALIA)
Associated Press

December 6, 2018

An Australian appeal court has overturned a conviction against the most senior Roman Catholic cleric ever found guilty of covering up child sex abuse.

New South Wales state District Court Judge Roy Ellis on Thursday upheld former Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson’s appeal against his May conviction for concealing the sexual abuse of two altar boys by a pedophile priest in the 1970s. Ellis found there is reasonable doubt that the 68-year-old cleric had committed the crime, which is punishable by up to two years in prison.

Wilson has served almost four months of a year-long home detention sentence at his sister’s house outside Newcastle. He was to become eligible for parole after serving six months.

The judge also dismissed a prosecution appeal against the leniency of the sentence.

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UTICA (NY)
Utica Observer Dispatch

December 6, 2018

By Greg Mason

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse has confirmed 41 former clergy members accused of child sex abuse had ties to parishes in Oneida County at one time or another.

The diocese earlier this week released a list of 57 clergy members in total who were accused of child sex abuse. Of the 57, 37 were tied to allegations the diocese found credible. Only 19 of the 57 are still alive; there is no priest in active ministry in the diocese with a credible complaint of child sexual abuse, according to the diocese.

The clergy members on the lists are either dead, removed from ministry, dismissed from the clerical state or laicized.

To be removed from ministry is to remain a priest in spirit, though the person cannot function, identify themself or act as a priest or wear clerical attire. Those dismissed were released from the clerical state and are no longer affiliated with the diocese. Those laicized voluntarilty were dispensed from clerical obligations and also have no ties to the diocese, according to the diocese.

A diocese spokeswoman said the diocese could not provide the parishes each clergy member has been affiliated with at this time. Using newspaper archives and online records, the Observer-Dispatch has identified parishes where a number of the priests once served in the Oneida County area.

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Tablet

December 6, 2018

By Michael Sean Winters

The unfolding clergy sex-abuse scandal in the US widened last week, with a joint raid by federal, state and local police on the office of Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the US bishops’ conference and Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, writes Michael Sean Winters.

The Montgomery County prosecutor, Brett Ligon, said the raid was targeted specifically at recovering documents relating to allegations made against Fr Manuel La Rose-Lopez.

Arrested in September, the priest is accused of two counts of sexual indecency with a child between 1998 and 2000. Ligon emphasised the narrow scope of the search, saying: “This is not a search warrant of the Catholic Church, nor is it of its employees.” However, Ligon also indicated that Cardinal DiNardo and his staff had not been informed of the warrant in advance. “The State of Texas is not required to go through the Catholic Church” in its investigations, he said.

Television images of police removing crates of documents from the chancery building spread across the Internet.

The same day, the office of the Attorney General of New Mexico served a similar search warrant on the administrative offices of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, seeking documents related to two priests, Marvin Archuleta and Sabine Griego, previously accused of sex abuse. The archdiocese had previously removed both men from ministry and in 2017 it published their names with those of 72 other clergy credibly accused of sexually abusing minors.

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IRONDALE (AL)
National Catholic Register

November 29, 2018

By Msgr. Charles Pope

Many today rightly speak of the need for courage in the midst of the current sexual abuse scandal and its coverup. It does indeed take courage to speak out and engage in the awkward task of insisting on accountability and reform from our bishops and the Pope, whom we have been taught to revere and respect. There are potential dangers, especially for clergy and lay leaders in the Church, who may risk sanctions of some sort for speaking up. (Thankfully, most bishops have been tolerant of the airing of grievances and calls for reform.) There are also consequences for speaking out that are more irksome than dangerous, such as being labeled divisive, negative, unjust or a scandal-monger.

While courage would be the more common way to describe what is needed, I would argue that the more traditional term “fortitude” may be a more accurate description of what will be required to ensure this crisis is addressed credibly and in a lasting manner. Courage is a part of fortitude, but as a cardinal virtue and especially as a gift of the Holy Spirit, fortitude has other important aspects.

The cardinal virtue of fortitude enables us to withstand even great difficulties that hinder us from attaining our goal; a chief feature is being able to see an act or decision through to the end, despite obstacles. So it is more than being brave or courageous in the face of danger or sallying forth into battle; it is also being steadfast in the face of difficulty and enduring without sadness or loss of faith. Fortitude’s loftiest expression is prudently facing down danger and even death, but it is operative at levels short of mortal danger as well. The most common act of fortitude is enduring in order to see a thing through despite obstacles, hardships, persecution and other difficulties.

St. Thomas lists four “parts” of fortitude in his Summa Theologiae (II, IIae, qq. 123-140), and all of them are important as we seek to remain steadfast in insisting on reform and accountability that is credible and substantial. I would like to list each of the four parts and relate them to the current sexual abuse crisis.

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PITTSBURGH (PA).
The Pitt News

December 6, 2018

Pennsylvania’s Catholic dioceses is no stranger to sexual assault allegations. A grand jury released a report in August detailing the sexual abuse of more than 1,000 minors committed by more than 300 Catholic clergymen, 11 of whom had their names redacted.

On Monday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court voted 6-1 to keep those 11 priests anonymous.

“[The ruling] is a victory for all Pennsylvanians,” Justin Danilewitz, an attorney who represented many of the priests in August’s grand jury report, said. “Victims can take comfort … that their voices were heard, but not at the expense of innocent individuals.”

But the decision is only a victory for serial sexual abusers and self-interested church officials. It completely denies victims the justice they deserve and erases the network of accountability the Catholic Church desperately needs to bring assailants to justice.

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FORT WORTH (TX)
Star Telegram

December 6, 2018

By Nichole Manna and Bill Hanna

A petition requesting an investigation by the Catholic Church into the Diocese of Fort Worth and Bishop Michael Olson had more than 400 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon.

The petition comes after years of turmoil between some of the parishes and the bishop. It’s spearheaded by parishioners at St. Martin de Porres in Prosper.

“Since his ordination as our Bishop in January of 2014, Bishop Olson has operated against canon law on numerous occasions, has employed abusive language and vindictive actions against priests and the lay faithful in our diocese,” the petition on the Care2 Petitions website states.

A number of the problems between parishioners and Olson have played out in public, including the removal of Father Richard Kirkham from St. Martin de Porres over the summer, a change in leadership at Fort Worth’s Nolan Catholic High School during Olson’s first year as bishop, as well as the closure of the San Mateo Catholic Church and the Catholic Renewal Center.

The petition also mentioned the departure of numerous priests, including Rev. Jeff Poirot, who was known for his beer-making skills but was asked by Olson to stop the activity while he was at Holy Family Catholic Church in Fort Worth. Poirot has since taken a leave of absence from active ministry.

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Get Religion

December 5, 2018

By Clemente Lisi

Is there a difference between the Catholic “church and its “hierarchy”?

That’s a question that very few, if any, editors and reporters working in either the mainstream or religious press seem to have asked themselves. It’s just another of the many questions to come out of the clerical sex-abuse scandal and the downfall of now-former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick that highlighted news coverage since this summer.

It’s a question that was surfaced by Father Thomas Reese (for decades a major source in many mainstream news reports) in a recent opinion piece that ran on Religion News Service. Journalists need to think about what he’s saying, so here’s an excerpt:

I remember in the 1980s taking a tour of the House of Commons in London. The tour guide pointed to a plaque on the wall in honor of a minister “who was killed by the Irish Catholics.” Not the IRA, not the Provos, not the terrorists, but the Irish Catholics.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Verdict

December 6, 2018

By Marci Hamilton

Last week, the Miami Herald published a searing investigative report by reporter Julie Brown on the fact that multi-millionaire Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused dozens of girls at his home in Palm Beach and was permitted to cut a ridiculously lenient deal with local, state, and federal prosecutors. He was allowed to plead to two counts of prostitution, leading to a measly 13-month sentence, where he was even treated to daily work release. He did have to register as a sex offender, but with dozens of girls there and across the United States (and the globe) as his victims, the deal was beyond the pale. This was yet another instance when men in power kept each other’s secrets and covered them up as though the victims were basically collateral to the “real” issues, like men’s reputations and power. We have seen this again and again, whether it was President Graham Spanier of Penn State failing to stop Sandusky or the bishops trading around pedophile priests as though they are chess pieces rather than dangerous weapons against children. There is not a lot of daylight between these examples. Indeed, the Catholic Church’s problems in this arena are a blueprint for understanding the whole map, as I discussed here.

Why did Epstein get this deal? One has to wonder whether it didn’t have something to do with the fact that his friends and cohorts were powerful, including former President Bill Clinton and President Donald Trump and his lawyers—a veritable who’s who list like Ken Starr (whose failures in this arena I discussed here) and Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, among others. Both Trump and Dershowitz have been implicated in the abuse side of Epstein’s lifestyle, but both deny it.

There is no question that the system for protecting children is broken when a federal prosecutor chooses a cozy plea deal like Epstein’s. A prosecutor is supposed to represent the public interest in safety and be a “crimestopper.” The Epstein case was a textbook on serial pedophiliac behavior with children not only abused but also paid to bring in other children. The federal prosecutor who let Epstein get away with this level of sexual assault of girls was Alexander Acosta, who at the time was the South Florida United States Attorney and is now the Secretary of Labor in the Trump administration. Not only did Acosta let him get away with it, this prosecutor also cut the victims out of the process. They didn’t even know there was going to be a plea until they read about it. Far from being permitted to testify at his sentencing as did over 100 victims of Dr. Larry Nassar, these victims were completely ignored. These girls, most of whom were poor and came from broken homes, were throwaway victims.

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OAKLAND (CA)
Law office of Joseph C. George

December 5, 2018

At a news conference, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse by long-time perpetrator Father Vincent Breen speaks out against the Diocese of Oakland and urges any survivors of clergy childhood sexual abuse to report to the Attorney General’s office.

The Diocese of Oakland knew of Father Vincent Breen’s sexual abuse of children
In 1967, Sharon McCann (then 13 years old) and her mother reported Breen’s sexual abuse of Sharon to Sister Jean Higgins, the principal of Holy Spirit
The Diocese of Oakland failed to report the sexual abuse to any law enforcement agency and child protective services agencies
Fremont Police Department concluded that Father Vincent Breen sexually abused at least eight (8) young girls in 1981.
Now, on November 23, 2018, the Diocese of Oakland announced that it would not release a list of priests credibly abused of childhood sexual abuse until 2019 supposedly because the Diocese had not been in touch with some victims “in years” and that “It’s a situation in which you don’t want to re-traumatize people, because even though their names aren’t going to be there, the name of their perpetrator could be released.”
The Diocese of Oakland knew of Sharon McCann’s report and knew of the identities of the young girls in the 1981 Fremont Police Report and never contacted any victim

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SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Bay State Reporter

December 5, 2018

By Alex Madison

A gay San Francisco pastor, who has historically fought for gay rights in the Lutheran Church, was arrested on charges of possession of child pornography, according to the San Francisco Police Department.

The Reverend Steven Sabin, pastor at Christ Church Lutheran at Quintara Street and 20th Avenue, was arrested November 15 on three felony charges.

Sabin, 59, was arraigned November 21 and pleaded not guilty to one count of distribution of child pornography and two counts of possession or control of child pornography, according to a spokesman for the San Francisco District Attorney’s office. Private defense attorney Art Lipton is representing Sabin. Lipton did not respond to a request for comment from the Bay Area Reporter.

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BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

December 5, 2018

The Buffalo Diocese has offered $400,000 to a woman who accused the Rev. Fabian J. Maryanski of sexually abusing her when she was a teenager in the 1980s.

It’s the largest known settlement offered under a new diocese program aimed at compensating victims of clergy sex abuse.

Stephanie McIntyre, who lives in South Carolina, said Wednesday that she probably will accept the offer but was still working out all of the emotions she’s experienced since first learning about it from her lawyer, Barry Covert, on Tuesday.

Offers began going out to victims last Friday, and two lawyers who represent many victims said this week that about 20 early award amounts ranged from $10,000 to $360,000.

McIntyre, 50, is the first survivor of abuse in the Buffalo Diocese who has spoken publicly about an award offer. She will have 60 days to accept the offer, in exchange for agreeing not to sue the diocese over the abuse.

She told The Buffalo News the money “will have zero impact in my life.”

“It was never about the money. It was about accountability, and that still has not occurred,” she said.

McIntyre criticized the diocese for not adding Maryanski to its list of priests who were credibly accused of abuse.

“I feel that without placing my abuser on ‘the list,’ the diocese is saying: ‘Just take the money and shut up. The justices may believe you, but we don’t,’ ” she said. “It begs the question, what does Maryanski have on them that is keeping him safely off that list?”

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

December 5, 2018

The Diocese of Las Cruces in New Mexico has released a list of names of priests who have been “credibly accused” of sexual abuse.

We are grateful to Attorney General Hector Balderas for compelling the diocese to take this action. Without his active investigation into clergy sex abuse, we doubt that this list would have been released nor would it have included as much detail as it currently does. We hope that any survivors who are encouraged to come forward by this disclosure will take advantage of the resources that the attorney general’s office has made available on their website and make their report to independent law enforcement authorities, not to the Church.

It is worth noting that this announcement refers only to “credible accusations.” This, in our opinion, means that many names are probably missing from this list. Church officials are not the best arbiters of what is credible and what is not, especially since there have been many examples – such as this case in California – where accusations deemed “not credible” actually turned out to be very real. We believe that Bishops should release all names and allow independent law enforcement officials to determine credibility.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Baltimore Sun

December 5, 2018

By Vincent DeGeorge

Pope Francis in late August appointed Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori to lead an investigation into the alleged “sexual harassment of adults” by former Catholic bishop Michael J. Bransfield of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, which comprises all of West Virginia. However, Archbishop Lori’s own record and actions seem to demonstrate a church “protectionism” that comes at the expense of transparency and accountability.

In 2002, when he was Bishop of Bridgeport, Conn., Archbishop Lori participated in writing the Dallas Charter, the U.S. Catholic Church’s most substantial accountability policy document on clerical sexual abuse which purports “zero tolerance.” However, here Archbishop Lori contributed to removing bishops from accountability under this document saying that the drafting committee “would limit it to priests and deacons, as the disciplining of bishops is beyond the purview of this document.”

Archbishop Lori also fought a multi-year legal battle to keep hidden Bridgeport clerical sex abuse records, some dating back as far as the 1960s, instead of readily complying with a state order to make them public. Archbishop Lori’s containment efforts finally ended in 2009 when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to block the release of documents.

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SYRACUSE (NY)
Syracuse.com

December 5, 2018

By Julie McMahon

The Catholic Diocese of Syracuse has acknowledged its list of 57 priests accused of child sex abuse could be incomplete.

The diocese published the list for the first time on Monday, after years of advocates calling for more transparency in the handling of clergy sex abuse cases.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse has released a list of priests who faced credible allegations of abuse.

A chorus of those same advocates — including victims and lawyers — now say the list is incomplete. Three survivors of clergy sex abuse and three lawyers who have represented victims told Syracuse.com they were aware of allegations against priests who were not on the list.

Diocese Chancellor Danielle Cummings said her office has heard from people who believe the list is incomplete.

As allegations surface, the diocese will investigate and update the list as needed, Cummings said. The list is published on the diocese’s website. Cummings said she expects to make a public announcement if any new names are added.

The diocese is still investigating allegations concerning conduct from decades ago, Cummings said. The allegations surfaced in the last year as the diocese started a compensation program for victims, she said.

Yet advocates say the list also excludes names of priests who were reported to the diocese years or even decades ago.

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SILVER CITY (NM)
Silver City Daily Press

By Christine Steele

December 5, 2018

Last month, the Diocese of Las Cruces published the names of 28 priests who have been credibly
accused of sexual misconduct with minors and have served within the geographical boundary of the diocese. Among these are several priests who served in churches in Grant County, mostly during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. The last priest served in 1990.

In addition to the names, the list also includes, if known, the dates of the alleged incidents, the date they were reported to the diocese, the status of the accused and the date and location of their assignments in the diocese.

The publication of the list of names comes after the diocese received a letter from New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas demanding “full disclosure and full transparency” following the release of a Pennsylvania grand jury report with ties to New Mexico that details a massive cover-up of sexual abuse by priests in that state, according to an Aug. 14 story in the Washington Post.

In the letter to Las Cruces Bishop Oscar Cantu, Balderas wrote that like the Pennsylvania cases, most of the New Mexico cases would never be criminally prosecuted due to the statute of limitations having passed. But, he wrote, “Any complacency or silence in answer to misconduct must not be tolerated.”

In some instances, the abuse is alleged to have occurred prior to the Diocese of Las Cruces being established in 1982 or in another diocese altogether, but the individuals have been included because they served in the Diocese of Las Cruces at some point, the release said. Some of those identified have died and the rest have been removed from the ministry or retired.

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SANDUSKY (OH)
Sandusky Register

December 5, 2018

By Matt Westerhold

Almost three months after launching an investigation into allegations that a local bishop molested two boys beginning in the late 1970s, leaders of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World Inc. church have not announced any findings.

They also will not say whether any disciplinary action has been taken in response to the allegations. It appears, however, the church took no action after investigating, or church leaders failed to address the molestation allegations, entirely.

Church leaders said in September the Rev. Rufus Sanders would step down from his leadership post At Emmanuel Temple on Adams Street in Sandusky while church leaders investigated allegations made by brothers Roy and Victor Matthews. It has not been confirmed, however, whether Sanders ever stepped down or if he remains bishop.

The Matthews brothers contend Sanders repeatedly molested and raped them when they were children. Achie and Odell Matthews, their parents, were founding members of Emmanuel Temple, and Sanders was its founding minister.

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SYRACUSE (NY)
Syracuse.com

December 5, 2018

To the Editor:

I write as a 67-year-old survivor, former victim, advocate, author of “In The Shadow Of The Cross,” support person, lecturer, SNAP Leader of Syracuse and CNY, also greater Raleigh, North Carolina.

Monday was a day of very mixed emotions for survivors (“Syracuse diocese releases list of 57 sexually abusive priests,” Dec. 2, 2018). It was long coming. It should’ve been done years ago. I was happy to see that some of the priests are on the list, finally. I was also sad to see some that were reported to me and the diocese that were not on the list. For the survivors of those priests, it had to be an especially sad day. Survivors want justice and accountability.

I have been helping survivors for the past 16 years. I have listened to their pain and told them they are not alone. I continue to try so hard to make them feel that there is hope.

The bishop said Monday that some survivors did not want the pedophiles’ names released. I take exception to that. I have been answering a national hotline for those sexually abused three days a week for at least 10 years. I have spoken to thousands of victims, and I have never heard once, not once, that they want their predator not publicly named. Survivors say they do not want to have their names released but never say “don’t expose my predator.” The release of the names allows others to come forward and begin their healing. It is a very hard thing to do — to admit that this has happened to you. And I always respect the victim. I believe it’s the church’s idea not to identify the perpetrators in order to keep the public from knowing the truth.

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SYRACUSE (NY)
Syracuse.com

December 5, 2018

By Dave Pasinski

“No, it can’t be. He was such a good priest.”

“I’m glad to finally see this man’s name made public. He damaged the lives of so many people”

“What a tragedy! For his victims and for him and for society and for the Church.”

“This should’ve been stopped long ago. It was the bishops’ fault that things went as bad as they did.”

These statements represent the range of reactions to the release of the names of Syracuse diocesan priests that were credibly found to have been sexual abusers. While it may come from a variety of motivations, Bishop Robert Cunningham deserves credit for publishing these names, but there is no joy in recognizing the history of what this represents.

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[Archbishop will send Vatican information on the investigation into priest Diego Ossa, member of Karadima’s inner circle]

CHILE
La Tercera

December 4, 2018

By Claudia Soto

La Iglesia chilena busca que la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe determine si hay elementos suficientes para ordenar un proceso penal u otras medidas.

Esta tarde, el Arzobispado de Santiago informó a través de un comunicado que remitirá los antecedentes sobre la investigación previa que pesa contra el sacerdote Diego Ossa, a la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe.

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[“Shootball” is first documentary about clergy abuse among Marists in Catalonia]

MADRID (SPAIN)
El País

By Julio Núñez

El primer documental sobre el caso de los maristas en Cataluña relata el silencio y el encubrimiento de dicha orden respecto a los abusos sexuales en sus colegios

“Tenía una adicción, un comportamiento distorsionado. Pero no era un pederasta, sino que actuaba como uno”. Con esta frase el exprofesor Joaquín Benítez del colegio marista de Barcelona Sants-Les Corts intenta explicar las razones por las que abusó de una veintena de niños desde 1980 hasta 2016. Con mirada esquiva, Benítez aparece entrevistado el documental Shootball, el primero en tratar de manera extensa los casos de pederastia en varios colegios de la orden de los maristas en Cataluña. Su director, Fèlix Colomer, reconstruye el relato a través de entrevistas a víctimas, familiares, abogados, profesores, políticos y especialistas de cómo salió a la luz uno de los casos de pederastia en la Iglesia española más significativos de los últimos años. “No se estaba haciendo nada sobre este tema y decidimos entrevistar a Manuel Barbero [padre de una víctima] y filmar cómo llamaba a Benítez. Fue un material muy potente [el abusador reconoció los hechos y pidió perdón] y decidimos seguir investigado. Hemos estado año y medio grabado”, explica el cineasta.

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[Former seminarians of Astorga demand that bishop punish those who covered up abuse in the Church]

ASTORGA (SPAIN)
El País

By Julio Núñez

Una veintena de exalumnos se manifiestan para pedir la excomunión del abusador José Manuel Ramos, castigado a un año de ejercicios espirituales

Cargados con carteles contra los abusos sexuales en la Iglesia, una veintena de exalumnos del seminario menor de La Bañeza (León) y del colegio Juan XXIII de Puebla de Sanabria (Zamora) han acudido este sábado a las puertas del obispado de Astorga para protestar contra la pena canónica que el actual obispo y presidente de la comisión contra la pederastia de la Conferencia Episcopal Española (CEE), Juan Antonio Menéndez, ha impuesto al sacerdote José Manuel Ramos Gordón por abusar sexualmente de al menos un niño en el colegio Juan XIII a principios de los ochenta y de otros tres en La Bañeza entre 1988 y 1989. El castigo: un año de ejercicios espirituales por los delitos de La Bañeza —tras una denuncia silenciada en 2017— y la expulsión a un monasterio fuera de la diócesis durante 10 años por el del colegio zamorano, esta última sentencia anunciada en septiembre por la diócesis.

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[Column: Fools]

SPAIN
El País

December 5, 2018

By Leila Guerriero

Alguien tendría que explicar a estos sujetos que las personas abusadas no hablan cuando quieren sino cuando pueden

Los curas tienen su propia Liga de la Justicia, y así logran que sus colegas pedófilos obtengan, como condena, graciosos retiros espirituales. Hay motivos para creer que los fallos de la tal Liga, además, se basan en la ignorancia. Este diario publicó conversaciones que el obispo de Salamanca, Carlos López, sostuvo en 2013 con Javier Paz, que denunció al cura Isidro López por haber abusado de él entre sus 12 y sus 20 años. En ellas, el obispo le reprocha a Paz: “¿Por qué no lo han denunciado a su debido tiempo? Ahora la Iglesia es culpable de haberlo ocultado (…) ¿las víctimas por qué se han callado?”.

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[Cathedral of Santiago priest removed from public duties after accusations he touched young people]

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELLA (SPAIN)
El País

November 27, 2018

By Sonia Vizoso

Los supuestos abusos ocurrieron en Mondoñedo (Lugo) y el Obispado resta importancia al asunto: “No se sentían víctimas de nada”

Un sacerdote de Mondoñedo (Lugo) ha sido apartado por la Iglesia tras ser denunciado a finales de agosto por tocamientos ante el obispo de la diócesis de Mondoñedo-Ferrol, Luis Ángel de las Heras. Se trata, según han confirmado a este periódico fuentes eclesiásticas, del exdeán de la Catedral de Santiago José María Díaz Fernández, de 88 años, máxima autoridad en el templo compostelano cuando fue robado el Códice Calixtino en 2011 y hermano del actual deán de la Catedral de Mondoñedo, Pedro Díaz Fernández.

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MANILA (PHILIPPINES)
The Strait Times

December 5, 2018

By Raul Dancel

A 77-year-old American priest was arrested in the Philippines on Wednesday (Dec 5) for allegedly molesting dozens of boys while serving for over three decades at a church in Biliran province, south of Manila.

Agents from the US Department of Homeland Security and the Philippine Bureau of Immigration nabbed Kenneth Hendricks inside the Cathedral of Our Lady Rosary Parish in Naval town, in Biliran.

“He did not resist arrest,” said Senior Superintendent Julius Coyme, the provincial police director.

A report from the immigration bureau said Hendricks had an arrest warrant for a rape complaint filed in Ohio for “engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places”.

The complaint was lodged by one of his alleged victims.

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ALLENTOWN (PA)
The Morning Call

December 5, 2018

By Christine Schiavo

On Monday, the state Supreme Court ruled that the names of the 11 priests who challenged their inclusion in a statewide grand jury report on sexual abuse by 301 priests in the Catholic Church may be kept secret. The report, which was released in August, named accused priests in the six dioceses that the grand jury investigation covered, including Allentown, though nearly all the cases exceeded the statute of limitations for prosecution. The 11 priests argued that disclosing their names would damage their reputations and violate their constitutional right to due process. And the court agreed.

Is the ruling a surprise?
Not really. The court ordered the 11 names temporarily redacted before the report came out in August. During a hearing in September, the judges’ questions provided a glimpse into how they might rule. For example, Justice David Wecht asked why the state didn’t just accept the redacted report as the final version; and Justice Christine Donohue asked why it was necessary to name

Why does the attorney general want to name names?
Attorney General Josh Shapiro said concealing the names would be like ignoring some victims’ accounts. He also has said that the church – sometimes with the help of law enforcement – protected priests and covered up the crimes. Redacting the names, he said, enables those priests to remain in the shadows.

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ST. PETERSBURG (FL)
Poynter

December 5, 2018

BY Bill MItchell ·

The new movie about Gary Hart’s demise at the hands of the Miami Herald, “The Front Runner,” challenges media scrutiny of the personal lives of politicians as a distraction from what really matters.

Fair enough. I happen to believe the Herald did the right thing with that story, but it’s certainly a topic worthy of the debate the film is provoking.

But here’s a challenge to Hollywood: Isn’t it time you cleaned up your sloppy approach to the fiction embedded in films based on true stories and featuring the names of real people?

I recognize you’re in the entertainment business, not the news business, and that audiences increasingly demand high drama and neatly tied loose ends. It’s the muddling of history that bothers me, and I believe you could do less of that without sacrificing audience engagement.

It’s difficult to imagine a better time than now to pay closer attention to the facts of the matter — focused on real as opposed to imagined history — as we stumble our way through the fog of alternative facts and White House mendacity.

“The Front Runner” has prompted lots of discussion about the relevance of a candidate’s sex life, comparisons with coverage of President Trump’s sexcapades, even the possibility of Hart being set up by a Republican dirty trickster. All good.

But it was the question of what’s real and what’s not that was on my mind as I took my seat in a downtown Boston theater one day last week to watch the new film based on the Herald’s 1987 surveillance of Hart and Donna Rice, the 29 year-old woman he invited to his Capitol Hill townhouse.

Some of the best and worst reflections of the “true story, real people” genre were illustrated with the “Spotlight” movie I viewed three years ago in the same theater. The Oscar-winning account of the Boston Globe’s investigation of clergy sexual abuse managed to capture several Globe staffers with uncanny accuracy. At the same time, it distorted the role of another, Stephen Kurkjian, and unfairly savaged the reputation of a PR guy named Jack Dunn.

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BUFFALO (NY)
Spectrum News

December 4, 2018

By Mark Goshgarian

More than nine months after the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo announced the creation of an Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program, dozens of cash offers have been made to clergy abuse victims.

An attorney who represents several people who claim abuse at the hands of priests in the diocese stated that he is receiving settlement offers for his clients.

Mitchell Garabedian said eight offers have come in from the compensation program, with amounts ranging from $10,000 to $340,000.

“It’s an insult. It’s outrageous,” he said. “A re-victimization of my clients. They’re adding salt to the wound.”

The voluntary program was designed to help those who’ve filed claims they were sexually abused as a child at the hands of local clergy.

Program administrators, though selected and paid for by the diocese, are two independent former judges who solely decide the amount based on specific criteria.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

December 5, 2018

By Danny McDonald

The Catholic religious order that runs the Paulist Center in Boston said Tuesday that credible allegations of sexual abuse involving minors have been made against three priests who once lived or ministered in the city in years past.

The allegations were made against the Rev. Thomas Dove, the Rev. Robert Michele and the late Rev. Frank M. Sweeney, and involve two females and one male, according to an e-mail sent Tuesday evening by the director of the Paulist Center.

“To the Paulists’ knowledge, these are the only Paulists ever stationed or living in Boston who have had credible allegations raised against them,” the Rev. Michael McGarry wrote in the e-mail sent to members of the Paulist Center community.

The allegation against Dove, now 84, involved a minor female at the Catholic Information Center in Los Angeles, and has only recently “been established and reported to the authorities,” according to the e-mail. He served in LA from 1965 to 1974, the e-mail said.

Dove served in Boston at the Park Street center for one year immediately after he was ordained, from 1961 to 1962, said McGarry. He currently lives at the Paulist House in San Francisco.

In September, a credible and substantiated allegation involving a minor female was made against Michele when he was an associate pastor at a church in Oregon more than 40 years ago, according to McGarry.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
Catholic News Service

December 5, 2018

In a 6-1 decision Dec. 3, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said the identities of some clergy accused of abuse that were redacted from a grand jury report issued in mid-August must remain permanently blocked from release.

“We conclude … we must make permanent the redaction of petitioners’ identifying information … as this is the only viable due process remedy we may now afford to petitioners to protect their constitutional rights to reputation,” Justice Debra Todd said.

Lawyers for 24 priests named in the report said their clients fought the release of their identities because they said they “were denied an opportunity to appear before the grand jury to defend themselves, question witnesses, or provide contradictory evidence,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

“They later argued that the report received so much publicity that it poisoned public opinion against their clients. The only solution, they contended, was to permanently block the names,” it said.

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OSWEGO (NY)
Oswego County News

December 5, 2018

By B. Rae Perryman

After the names of 57 Diocesan clergy linked to child sex abuse were released Monday by Bishop Robert Cunningham, a Diocese of Syracuse spokesperson is denying that parishioner contributions are paying victim’s settlements directly and that the closing of churches in Oswego has “definitely no connection whatsoever” with the scandal.

There are now eleven alleged pedophile priests affiliated with Oswego County parishes.

Oswego priests implicated in credible allegations of child sexual abuse by the Diocese of Syracuse are: Paul A. Brigandi; Daniel W. Casey, Jr.; Francis J. Furfaro; John F. Harrold; James C. Hayes; William A. Lorenz; Chester Misercola; Thomas E. Neary, Jr.; Albert J. Proud; Edward G. Quaid and John M. Zeder.

Monsignors Quaid and Brigandi join the ranks of nine others mentioned identified Tuesday by The Palladium-Times as implicated in a clergy sex abuse lawsuit.

Brigandi succeeded Furfaro as the spiritual leader of St. Joseph’s Church in Oswego and Quaid was the pastor of St. Mary’s in Oswego from 1935 to 1964.

St. Mary’s parishioners reported Tuesday that Quaid’s picture had been removed from the rectory but Quaid remains a lauded figure in St. Mary’s history. The church’s public records note his “outstanding qualities of priestly devotion” were recognized by Pope Pius XII on April 20, 1952 and he was elevated to the rank of Domestic Prelate with the title of Right Reverend Monsignor,” the record says.

The release of the 57 names is another in a long line of faith-shaking events that have pained local Catholics.

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ALLENTOWN (PA)
The Morning Call

December 4, 2018

By Paul Muschick

A debate may be brewing about the fairness of Pennsylvania’s grand jury process following Monday’s state Supreme Court opinion blocking publication of the names of some priests accused of sexually abusing kids.

Go ahead, have the debate.

But don’t let it become a smokescreen. The focus must remain on the conclusions of the contested grand jury report — that clergy preyed on children for decades, and Catholic church leaders and others didn’t do enough to stop it.

There’s no debate about that.

Many of the allegations in the August grand jury report, which accused hundreds of priests of sexually abusing more than 1,000 children, came directly from the church’s own records — what the grand jury referred to as the “secret archive.” The archive held memos and letters from bishops, clergy and others. While not every priest who was accused of sexual abuse in those records acknowledged it, some did.

Also, more than a dozen priests testified before the grand jury during its two-year investigation. According to the report, “most of them admitted what they had done.”

Grand jury members should be lauded for enduring tough testimony about priest sex abuse
The grand jury investigation identified 301 predator priests. About 270 names were published in the report. Only 11 current and former clergy fought to keep their names out of the report. Don’t let them steal the headlines with their cries about how unfair the grand jury process was.

They raise valid questions about the inability to defend themselves during a one-sided legal process. With the majority of the Supreme Court justices siding with them and allowing their names to be concealed, that could lead to more challenges of the system during future grand jury probes. Defense lawyers have applauded Monday’s ruling, so expect them to run with it.

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YORK (PA)
York Daily Record

December 4, 2018

BY Candy Woodall

Decades after their crimes were reported and largely ignored, more than 78 priests accused of child sex abuse are still collecting paychecks and pensions from Pennsylvania dioceses.

Each of those priests has been removed from ministry by Pennsylvania bishops, but the pope himself needs to sign off on all clerics being removed from the priesthood and the payroll.

That process is formally known as laicization, and it can take years or decades, if it happens at all.

The Vatican received 3,400 credible reports of priest abuse from 2004 to 2014, according to church statistics. About 850 priests were defrocked in that period of time for raping or molesting children. The rest were told to repent and ask forgiveness.

Some diocese officials say the Vatican isn’t motivated to remove the abusers from the priesthood if they are old or infirm. In other cases, the bishops decide themselves to keep them from being defrocked and allow abusive priests to receive church-funded retirements.

Their final assignment is a life of prayer and penance, a program that cares for priests who raped children and allows them to die with a noble title – a reverend, a father, a retired priest.

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ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
Associated Press

December 5, 2018

New Mexico’s largest Catholic diocese has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in recent months on lawyers to fight claims of clergy sex abuse and to prepare for a potentially lengthy battle in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

The Archdiocese of Santa Fe’s petition for reorganization provides a rare look into the finances of a religious organization that for decades has been wrestling with the financial and social consequences of a scandal that rocked churches across the country.

Archbishop John Wester describes the filing as an equitable thing to do as church reserves dwindle. He says compensating the victims is a top priority.

National watchdog groups and attorneys for victims of clergy sex abuse said Tuesday the archdiocese’s actions suggest otherwise.

They point to the money spent by the archdiocese on lawyers over the last three months and the tens of millions of dollars in real estate that has been transferred to parishes in recent years, effectively reducing the amount of assets held by the archdiocese.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
The Advocate

December 4, 2018

By Ramon Antonio Vargas

Leaders of the Jesuit religious order plan to release a list of priests and other members Friday who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse, including those who worked in New Orleans and surrounding areas.

The list, provided by the Jesuits’ U.S. Central and Southern Province, will follow a similar release last month by New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond, which named 57 priests and deacons who allegedly abused minors over the past several decades.

While some Jesuit priests who worked in New Orleans schools and parishes were named by the archdiocese, the order will also provide names of religious brothers and men studying to be Jesuits while teaching locally, which may expand the numbers of alleged abusers Jesuit officials had stationed in the area.

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TITUSVILLE (PA)
The Herald

December 5, 2018

By Sean P. Ray

Erie Bishop Lawrence Persico responded to a litany of questions and comments about the sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the Pennsylvania Catholic Church at a public interview at the Edinboro University, Tuesday.

The interview was conducted by Debra Erdley, a reporter from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and was part of a series at the university titled “Uncomfortable Conversations.” Erdley has covered the scandal since it was launched by the release of a grand jury report in August, and also previously covered the Jerry Sandusky trial in 2012. Following the one-on-one interview, Persico took questions from the gathered audience.

Erdley began the interview by asking Persico about what moved him to cooperate with the grand jury investigation, breaking ranks with his fellow bishops. Persico was praised by Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro for working closely with the probe, which unveiled numerous accusations of sexual abuse across Pennsylvania. Three priests with ties to Titusville were included in the report, including Monsingor James F. Hopkins, who served at St. Titus church for many years.

Persico said that when he was initially issued the subpoena for church documents in 2016, he asked a law firm to perform an independent investigation into accounts of sexual abuse performed by diocese personnel.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

December 5, 2018

By Haidee V Eugenio

Another former Guam priest, Father Michael Lee Friel, was named for the first time in a lawsuit involving child sexual abuse that happened decades ago, while a second complaint was filed against former Guam priest George Maddock.

The latest lawsuits were filed in the Superior Court of Guam on Wednesday afternoon.

A plaintiff, identified in court documents only as J.Q.G. to protect his privacy, said in his lawsuit that Friel sexually abused him in the sacristy of the San Dionisio Catholic Church in Umatac for about six weeks, in or about 1977.

J.Q.G., represented by Attorney David Lujan, said in his $5 million lawsuit he was around 13 years old at the time the sexual abuses happened.

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SIOUX CITY (IA)
KTIV TV

December 4, 2018

The Diocese of Sioux City has released an updated statement about the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. In the statement, the Diocese acknowledges the pain and confusion of parishioners, and is trying to reach out to as many people as possible to answer questions.

The statement indicates the Diocese Review Board has held several meetings to work on what is referred to as a list of credibly-accused priests that will be released to the public.

The four bishops of Iowa are scheduled for a meeting with the State Attorney General and the church continues to respond to emails, calls, and messages from those with concerns.

Meetings with victims are being conducted. In addition, cases are going before the Diocese Review Board, who advises the Bishop on how to move forward with each case.

The Diocese emphasizes there is a zero tolerance policy for sexual abuse. If it is confirmed a priest has committed sexual abuse, that person no longer is allowed to function as a priest.

Anyone who suspects sexual abuse by a member of the clergy can call law enforcement, or the Victims Assistance Coordinator at Mercy Child Advocacy Center, at 1-866-435-4397.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
KDKA-TV

December 4, 2018

A day after a state Supreme Court ruling that the names of 11 accused Roman Catholic clergy should not be made public, a group is calling on Cardinal Daniel DiNardo to be more transparent.

The state grand jury report, released earlier this year, names more than 300 priests statewide accused of abusing children. But 11 names have been redacted.

The state Supreme Court said in the ruling on Monday that revealing those names would violate the state constitutional right of the 11 clergy to have their reputation protected.

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ERIE (PA)
GoErie.com

December 4, 2018

By Lori Wescoat

Court sides with some priests in Pennsylvania abuse report, shields names

The Erie Catholic Diocese responded to reports of two priests’ names being redacted from the grand jury report.

Yesterday, we reported that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled the 11 Roman Catholic clergy cited in the grand jury report on sexual abuse could not be made public, saying that releasing the information would have violated the clergymen’s state constitutional right to have their reputations protected.

Two of those 11 clergymen were from the Erie Catholic Diocese.

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YORK (PA)
York Daily Record

December 4, 2018

By Candy Woodall

One retirement complex houses more than a dozen priests who sexually assaulted children.

In some cases, requests for them to be defrocked have stalled out awaiting approval by the pope.

Decades after their crimes were reported and largely ignored, more than 78 priests accused of child sex abuse are still collecting paychecks and pensions from Pennsylvania dioceses.

Each of those priests has been removed from ministry by Pennsylvania bishops, but the pope himself needs to sign off on all clerics being removed from the priesthood and the payroll.

That process is formally known as laicization, and it can take years or decades, if it happens at all.

The Vatican received 3,400 credible reports of priest abuse from 2004 to 2014, according to church statistics. About 850 priests were defrocked in that period of time for raping or molesting children. The rest were told to repent and ask forgiveness.

Some diocese officials say the Vatican isn’t motivated to remove the abusers from the priesthood if they are old or infirm. In other cases, the bishops decide themselves to keep them from being defrocked and allow abusive priests to receive church-funded retirements.

Their final assignment is a life of prayer and penance, a program that cares for priests who raped children and allows them to die with a noble title – a reverend, a father, a retired priest.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

December 5, 2018

By Haidee V Eugenio

Another former Guam priest, Father Michael Lee Friel, was named for the first time in a lawsuit involving child sexual abuse that happened decades ago, while a second complaint was filed against former Guam priest George Maddock.

The latest lawsuits were filed in the Superior Court of Guam on Wednesday afternoon.

A plaintiff, identified in court documents only as J.Q.G. to protect his privacy, said in his lawsuit that Friel sexually abused him in the sacristy of the San Dionisio Catholic Church in Umatac for about six weeks, in or about 1977.

J.Q.G., represented by Attorney David Lujan, said in his $5 million lawsuit he was around 13 years old at the time the sexual abuses happened.

“After the sixth week of volunteering at the Umatac Parish, J.Q.G. could no longer handle the pain, humiliation, and embarrassment Lee inflicted on him, so he quit going to church and cease volunteering his services,” the lawsuit says.

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

December 3, 2018

Today, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled the names of 11 clergy – who were included in the most recent Pennsylvania Grand Jury report but not specifically named – can remain hidden.

This ruling has only made clearer the desperate and immediate need for statute of limitations reform, in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. We know that people who were sexually abused, especially those who were abused as children, are unlikely to report their abuse for many years. As they currently exist, statutes of limitations only prevent justice for the victims that have finally come forward and – as today’s ruling demonstrates – prevents information that might prevent future cases of abuse from getting out.

If bishops in Pennsylvania are serious about their pledges for “full transparency,” they should disclose these names and allegations regardless of the court ruling. There should be a moral imperative to do the right thing, not a legal impetus.

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

December 4, 2018

Newly-released records show that a Catholic priest was imprisoned for abusing a Nebraska child, but he has never been “outed” before, as best we can tell. Fr. Paul J. Schwarten spent 18 months in jail for “inappropriate touching of a minor,” according to the Diocese of Wheeling, WV. The disclosure was made last week when Archbishop William Lori released a list of clergy who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors as it pertains to the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

Given that this disclosure shows abuse of at least one child in Nebraska ,we hope Nebraska’s bishops will now follow Archbishop Lori’s lead and post their own lists of clergy who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors as it pertains to the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

We also hope anyone who may have suffered or seen sexual abuse by a member of the Catholic Church, or suspected sexual abuse by a member of the Church, will end their silence and report what they know, saw or suspect to law enforcement officials. We also hope that Catholic officials in both Nebraska and West Virginia will aggressively seek out other victims, witnesses, whistle blowers – using pulpit announcements, church bulletins and diocesan websites – of Fr. Schwarten and other current or former church employees, no matter where they are from or whether they are alive or deceased.

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