ABUSE TRACKER

PITTSBURGH (PA)
Post Gazette

November 30, 2018

I deeply appreciate the Post-Gazette’s ongoing coverage and revelations about the abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. The Nov. 25 front page article, “Hiding Behind God,” left me reeling. I hope to see the issue shoved in the face of church hierarchy until atonement and justice prevail.

Every bishop should step down. Every church altar and statue should be draped in black. No one, priest or parishioner, should be permitted for a minute to forget, rationalize or dismiss the abhorrent crime that has been committed.

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NEW YORK (NY)
America Magazine

November 30, 2018

By Kevin Clarke

Investigators for the district attorney of Montgomery County in Texas executed a search warrant seeking records pertaining to the handling of instances of alleged clerical abuse at the offices of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston on Nov. 28. The spectacle of dozens of Texas Rangers and other local law enforcement swarming the Houston chancery offered the latest unprecedented moment as the church in the United States grapples with the ongoing crisis of the clerical abuse of children and vulnerable adults. The archdiocese is headed by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the person leading the U.S. bishops’ response to the crisis.

In a statement released on Nov. 28 representatives for the archdiocese said it had no comment on the investigation at this time.

The D.A.’s investigation raises questions about how Cardinal DiNardo and his staff dealt with complaints against Father Manuel La Rosa-Lopez, accused by two people of assault two decades ago when they were teenagers. Both victims told The Associated Press that they met with Cardinal DiNardo but felt he did not take their complaints about Father La Rosa-Lopez seriously.

The leader of the Houston chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests has already called for Cardinal DiNardo to step down to accept responsibility for alleged failures in Galveston-Houston and during a previous position as bishop of the Diocese of Sioux City. Presuming the bad press in Texas will continue, can Cardinal DiNardo continue to credibly lead the U.S. bishops as the conference seeks a way out of the abuse crisis?

“The answer is we don’t know,” said Tom Reese, S.J., a columnist for Religion News Service, a former editor in chief at America and a long-time observer of the U.S. church. “We have to wait until the prosecutor comes forward and says what he found and says what the situation is there.

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HOUSTON (TX)
KHOU 11 TV

November 30, 2018

By Jeremy Rogalski, Jessica Borg & Tina Macias

Two boxes of “sex allegation files” and Cardinal Daniel DiNardo’s computer are among the items seized by authorities at the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston on Wednesday, according to an evidence log obtained by KHOU 11 Investigates on Friday.

Along with DiNardo’s computer, an iPad and two other computers in his office were also taken and were among about a dozen electronics gathered by the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office.

In the search warrant filed Wednesday, the DA’s office sought files into the investigation of Rev. Manuel La Rosa-Lopez, a former priest charged with four counts of indecency with a child in Montgomery County, and confidential documents held in the Archdiocese’s Chancery and secret archives.

Investigators seized several files about La Rosa-Lopez, but that was just part of the long list of items they took into evidence. Files, a folder, binder and boxes of sex allegations, letters from parishioners about sex abuse, a spreadsheet of claims, insurance reports and multiple personnel files were also seized.

The personnel files included two for current priests. Those priests are Rev. Alberto Maullon, who pleaded guilty to exposing himself at an adult bookstore in 2010, and Rev. Terrance Brinkman, who was sued in 2010 for a sexual abuse claim dating back to the 1970s. That case was dismissed because the statute of limitations had passed.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WVUE TV

November 30, 2018

By Kimberly Curth

New information in FOX 8′s investigation of church sex abuse. We’ve learned a priest credibly accused of sex abuse at Jesuit High School in the 1970s was housed at a New York university after the abuse here allegedly happened.

According to Fordham University the now deceased Corneilus Carr lived at a Jesuit nursing home near the school’s campus after he allegedly sexually abused a minor in New Orleans.

In a statement to Fox 8, Bob Howe, Fordham’s Assistant Vice President for Communications, said “the University was not aware of the allegations against Father Carr until The Ram, the student newspaper based at our Rose Hill campus, raised them. That was a lapse on our part, and one that will not be repeated. It is the University’s duty to ensure the safety of its students, faculty, and staff, and while we don’t believe any members of the Fordham community have been placed at risk by Father Carr’s presence, it was inappropriate to house him in proximity to a college campus and high school.”

We spoke with Carr’s alleged victim in a TV exclusive. Richard Windmann, told us Jesuit High School janitor Peter Modica repeatedly raped him at the school in the late 70′s. Windmann says Carr, who was a priest and teacher at Jesuit, not only knew about the abuse but also participated.

“When he walked over to me while Pete Modica was sodomizing me and put his hand on my back and started masturbating, telling me to relax, I was just destroyed. I was destroyed,” said Windmann.

Windmann says he was eventually paid $450,000 in a confidential settlement with Jesuit High School.

“I didn’t go for money, I went for counseling and spiritual guidance and they were like nah here’s a whole bunch of money, shut up go away,” said Windmann.

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LINCOLN (NE)
Lincoln Journal Star

November 30, 2018

By Peter Salter

The Catholic Diocese of Lincoln isn’t ready to identify priests or personnel accused of sexual abuse and misconduct with minors, it said Friday — the same day the Omaha Archdiocese named nearly 40 clergy members with substantiated claims leveled against them.

But in a statement, Lincoln Bishop James Conley said his diocese has fully cooperated with the attorney general’s office, which in late August asked the state’s three bishops to provide internal investigative records of abuse allegations since 1978.

Conley also said he was waiting for an independent task force — announced by the diocese in early November — to finish its own review of past sexual abuse and misconduct allegations, and how the diocese handled them.

“It would be premature to publish any information regarding clergy and diocesan personnel while the independent task force is in the midst of its review,” he said.

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CANADA
Global News

December 1, 2018

By Amanda Jelowicki

Father Brian Boucher’s trial lasted one week, with shocking testimony from two alleged victims, detailing horrific sexual abuse.

Also coming out of the trial are questions about when the church first learned of the allegations against Boucher, and why it took so long to arrest him.

A verdict is not expected until January. Meanwhile, those questions remain.

“The Roman Catholic Church has for a long time tried to put a lid on the cover of sex abuse by its priests,” said Carlo Tarini, a spokesman for the Quebec Association of Victims of Priests.

Boucher started working at the Our Lady of the Annunciation Church in TMR in 2005. That’s the year one alleged victim testified the abuse started. The victim was 12 at the time.

In his testimony, Boucher admitted he left the parish in 2014, before the end of his mandate. He left to undertake ecclesiastical studies in Washington.

Some parishioners told Global News they were surprised, saying the departure felt “abrupt.”

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
WISN Radio

November 30, 2018

By Nick Bohr

A 13-year-old girl claims Pastor Charles Hanel indecently touched her a year ago at Queen of Apostles Catholic Church in the city of Pewaukee.

She told her parents six months later, and Hanel was arrested.

A court commissioner Friday decided there was enough evidence for the case to proceed.

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PARKERSBURG (WV)
The Intelligencer

December 1, 2018

By Jess Mancini

A support group for victims abused by priests says the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston omitted the bishop who resigned earlier this year when it released a list of names this week.

However, the case on Bishop Michael Bransfield is a separate investigation, Tim Bishop, director of marketing and communications for the diocese, said.

“That investigation is still underway and we cannot comment further on it as it is still open,” he said.

Bransfield resigned in September, which was accepted by Pope Francis, amid allegations of the sexual harassment of adults. Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore was appointed apostolic administrator with the instruction to conduct an investigation of Bransfield.

On Thursday, the diocese released a list of priests with credible accusations against them.

“We appreciate this move by church officials in West Virginia, especially for including the names of priests who served in West Virginia, but were accused of abuse in dioceses outside Wheeling-Charleston,” said Judy Jones, Midwest regional leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “However, we cannot help but note the omission of Bishop Michael J. Bransfield, who has been accused of abusing at least one minor and resigned in September over allegations that he had sexually harassed a number of adults.”

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PARKERSBURG (WV)
The Intelligencer

December 1, 2018

The Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston said Friday it didn’t include its former bishop among lists it released the day before because allegations that he had sexually abused children were not credible.

“Allegations made against Michael Bransfield involving alleged charter issues took place while he was a priest in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia,” said Tim Bishop, director of marketing and communications at the diocese, about the former bishop. “The archdiocese concluded those allegations to be non-credible, they therefore were not added to the (Wheeling-Charleston) list. Any questions about that investigation should be forwarded to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.”

During the 2012 criminal trial of two other priests in Philadelphia, two witnesses and a prosecutor alleged that Bransfield sexually abused children. Bransfield has denied those allegations.

“As is pertains to the current investigation of allegations against Bishop Michael Bransfield for the sexual harassment of adults: The allegation does not involve a charter issue and would not be listed for that reason,” the spokesman said.

The lists the diocese released Thursday afternoon included 31 priests who it said had been credibly accused of sexual abuse against minors or who had other credible allegations regarding the Charter for Protection of Young People. One list included priests who had been accused while serving in the diocese. A second list included clergy members who had a credible accusation and had worked in the diocese. However, those accusations had occurred elsewhere.

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BANGOR (ME)
Bangor Daily News

December 1, 2018

By Judy Harrison

Prosecutors from the state want a Hampden homicide victim’s spiritual journal to become evidence in their case against her alleged killer. But the priest who directed her to keep the journal says it should be treated as if he heard its contents in a confessional.

A superior court justice is set to decide whether the journal is evidence in the case against Renee Henneberry Clark’s alleged killer, her brother-in-law Philip Clark, after a Wednesday hearing on the prosecutors’ request.

Prosecutors want to read the diary to see if its contents can be used as evidence in their murder case against Clark.

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