ABUSE TRACKER

ONTARIO (CANADA)
CBC News

March 25, 2019

By Steve Rukavina

A Montreal priest who sexually abused two boys has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Quebec court Judge Patricia Compagnone handed down the sentence to Brian Boucher Monday, based on a joint recommendation from the Crown and the defence.

Boucher was handcuffed in the courtroom and led away by a constable.

He pleaded guilty to abusing one of the boys in January, just a few weeks after he was found guilty of abusing the other one.

Boucher has worked at 10 churches in Montreal over the last two decades.

He was found guilty of taking the first victim to motels and sexually assaulting him while Boucher worked as a priest in LaSalle in the 1990s.

The victim was just 11 when the abuse began. It continued for two years.

He was also found guilty of sexually assaulting the second victim in the rectory of a church he worked at in the town of Mount Royal starting in 2008.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Commonweal

March 25, 2019

By Massimo Faggioli

The relationship between papal power in the church and the political power of the state has been defined for centuries by diplomacy, foreign policy, revolutions, and parliaments. Now, because of the sexual-abuse crisis, it is being redefined by the criminal-justice system of the secular state.

The convictions of Cardinal George Pell by an Australian tribunal for crimes of sexual abuse against minors, and of Cardinal Philippe Barbarin by a French tribunal for failing to report an abusive priest, together mark a new chapter in the relations between church and state. Imagine there were to be a conclave in the near future. It could be the first conclave in modern history where at least one of the voting members of the College of Cardinals was unable to vote because he was behind bars (Barbarin remains free during the appeal process). The nearest precedent is the case of Cardinal József Mindszenty of Hungary, which was quite different: Mindszenty was unable to attend the conclaves of 1958 and 1963 because he had taken refuge at the U.S. Embassy in Budapest. Mindszenty had been arrested by the Hungarian Communist regime for political reasons, not common crimes. Other examples come to mind: Napoleon taking Pope Pius VII prisoner between 1809 and 1814; the archbishop of Cologne, Clemens August von Droste-Vischering, arrested by the Prussian government in 1837; the many bishops who spent years or decades in the prisons of Communist regimes, for example in Ukraine, China, and Vietnam. All these cases were obviously very different from those of Cardinals Pell and Barbarin, whatever one thinks of the verdicts against them.

With the moral standing of the Vatican deeply damaged, we may see the reopening of what was once called the “Roman question.”

These two cases have great symbolic significance in a church where symbols matter. The prospect of a cardinal missing a conclave because he’s been incarcerated for sexual abuse, or for covering up such abuse, is a fitting symbol of the way a whole system for protection of the institutional Catholic Church—a system built on status, immunities, and privileges—is falling away before our very eyes. What gives this symbol extra force is the prominence of both Pell and Barbarin. Pell is a high-profile representative of a particular Catholic culture in the English-speaking world that wants to rebuild a more assertive church that can stand up to secularism. Barbarin is archbishop of Lyon, home of the Jesuit college of Fourvière, one of the symbols of modern French Catholicism. One of the most important Jesuit theologians ever, Henri de Lubac, studied and taught at Fourvière.

These two legal cases (and the others that are likely to come) raise an important issue for the church concerning its ad extra relations. The clash between the Catholic Church and the revolutions of the late eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries reached a provisional settlement that lasted from around the time of Vatican I until quite recently. The shape of this settlement was determined by a long series of political-theological events. The first of these was the declaration of papal primacy at the Vatican Council in 1870, along with the rise of a “liberal ultramontanism” that accepted the distinction between the theological and political spheres, respected the sovereignty of the state, and aimed at the creation of an independent spiritual power in the papacy with its own territorial sovereignty. This was followed by the solution of the “Roman question” with the creation of the Vatican City State in 1929; the age of concordats in the twentieth century; the acceptance of democracy and the constitutional state at Vatican II; and the embrace by the post–Vatican II church of the fight against dictatorships in favor of human rights and freedom. The heart of this Vatican I–Vatican II dispensation was the assumption that in the future, there would be a tight, friendly, and collaborative relationship between church and state, each of which would respect the other’s sovereignty.

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YORK COUNTY (PA)
York Dispatch

March 25, 2019

By Christopher Dornblaser

The child sexual abuse allegation against a former York Catholic teacher and York County priest was deemed not credible, according to a Montana diocesan official.

The Diocese of Great Falls-Billings Chancellor Darren Eultgen told The York Dispatch in February that there was an independent investigation into the allegations against Rev. William Cawley.

Cawley was a York Catholic teacher, and he served at St. Joseph’s Parish in Springettsbury Township from 1988 to 1991 and again from 1993 until 2004.

Eultgen said Cawley was listed in a set of lawsuits against the diocese that allege multiple cases of abuse by dozens of clergy members.

“He had one accusation against him, and that was investigated by an independent investigator, and they did not find anything particularly credible in that,” he said.

Eultgen said Cawley is still with the diocese, but is not in active ministry at any parish. He said Cawley retired within the past five years.

The chancellor said the diocese offered to have the allegations independently investigated, and Cawley agreed to it.

The lawsuit, obtained by The York Dispatch on Friday, March 15, alleged Cawley and another priest physically, sexually, and emotionally abused a boy at the St. Pius X and Holy Rosary schools in Billings, Montana, from 1977 through 1982.

In August, York Catholic said the Diocese of Harrisburg received a report of the lawsuit in 2012, when it was filed, and that Cawley left the diocese that year as a result of the allegations.

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PARIS (FRANCE)
LaCroix International

March 23, 2019

By Paul Collins

Two months from now Australia’s Catholic bishops will make their quinquennial visit to Rome reporting on the state of the church. During this visit ad limina apostolorum (‘to the threshold of the apostles Peter and Paul’) bishops meet the pope and officials of the Vatican to discuss issues facing their local Catholic community.

Originating as pilgrimages to Rome, these five-yearly visits became obligatory during the over-centralization of the church in the nineteenth century. What follows is what the Australian bishops ought to tell Pope Francis and what he ought to tell them.

The bishops should begin by confessing that they are deeply divided among themselves, as revealed in the evenly split vote for bishops’ conference president in May 2018 between Brisbane’s Mark Coleridge and Sydney’s Anthony Fisher, with Coleridge winning simply on seniority.

Essentially there are three groups in the conference: there is a sizeable minority who follow the uncompromising, Cardinal Pell, boots-and-all style of Catholicism, now led by Fisher. The majority are essentially ‘neutral’.

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MORGANTOWN (WV)
WAJR Radio

March 24, 2019

By Aalex Wiederspiel

State Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said the civil suit against the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, filed in the wake of a child sexual abuse scandal, is narrowly focused on consumer protection violations.

“When you’re offering up an item or a service and you are paying tuition for it, people expect that the promises that are getting made will actually get delivered,” Morrisey said on WAJR’s “Talk of the Town” with Dave Wilson and Sarah Giosi. “Our complaint pointed out for a very prolonged period of time — really going back many decades — that the services that were in fact offered weren’t delivered.”

“The students were effectively promised a safe environment,” he continued, “but when you knowingly employ pedophiles and fail to undertake background checks and you’re not being transparent, then that ultimately puts you in jeopardy of our consumer protection laws.”

The Dallas Charter of 2002 was meant to offer reforms and protection following the lengthy investigation into Boston-area sex abuse scandals by The Boston Globe. Morrisey claims the actions of the Diocese in response to reports of sexual abuse by priests and other Diocese employees represents a consumer protection violation — and a failure to uphold those reforms.

“In spite of the new practices that the church announced back in the early 2000’s, they didn’t follow through on those and that’s obviously a real concern,” he said.

Morrisey said the Diocese’s goals should be in line with his office’s — increased transparency, more effective and efficient background checks for teachers and employees, and equal treatment of all allegations against priests and bishops alike.

“If the church were to step forward and agree with the goals that we have, then obviously the sooner that happens the quicker we can bring a lot of this to an end,” Morrisey said.

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ORLAND PARK (IL)
The Frankfort Station

March 25, 2019

By Bill Jones

A report released by a Minnesota-based attorney who advocates for sexual abuse victims names 395 alleged abusers and others with accusations of misconduct who have served, past and present, in the Catholic Church in Illinois.

The 185-page report includes all six Illinois diocese, and publishes background information, photographs and assignment histories of Catholic clergy and laypersons accused of sexual misconduct. Among those named in the report were priests who over the years have had assignments in 22nd Century Media’s southwest suburban coverage area.

Some of the allegations previously have been reported by 22nd Century Media and other publications in some cases predating this company. Some of the allegations also have been publicly reported by various dioceses or archdioceses. In the cases with ties to the area included in the text following, assignments to towns 22nd Century Media coverage are noted, but many of the priests were assigned to other parishes, as well. More information is available in the full report at andersonadvocates.com.

In the wake of the report, both the Archdiocese of Chicago and Diocese of Joliet issued statements. The Archdiocese said it reports all allegations it receives to civil authorities and does not “police itself.”

“If the Archdiocese of Chicago receives an allegation that a religious priest has engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor, the archdiocese reports it to the civil authorities, publicly withdraws the priest’s faculties to work in the archdiocese, and refers the matter to his religious superior,” according to the statement.

The Archdiocese statement also took issue with how the report “conflates people who have been accused, but may be innocent, with those who have substantiated allegations against them,” and offers several examples, some of which have been noted in the text that follows. It also notes the differences that pertain to religious order priests.

The Diocese of Joliet similarly noted it reports “all allegations of child sexual abuse to law enforcement” and in cases that involve victims who are still minors DCFS. It said all allegations in the report previously were reported by the Diocese to authorities and has posted a list on its website since 2006.

“All credibly accused priests have been removed from ministry,” according to the Diocese statement.

The statement further noted the Anderson Report includes allegations that were “unsubstantiated or deemed not credible by the Diocese of Joliet Review Board, or the claim did not involve child abuse.” It also notes some priests were of visiting status, and in such cases or those involving allegations against members of a religious order the diocese has revoked their authority to minister in the Diocese of Joliet.

“The Diocese of Joliet continues to express its genuine regret and profound sympathy to any victims and survivors of sexual abuse by clergy in the Diocese of Joliet and elsewhere,” the statement added. “We are committed to promoting the healing and reconciliation of survivors, and the protection of our children today.”

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PARIS (FRANCE)
LaCroix International

March 25, 2019

By Father William Grimm

Half a century ago, the bishops’ conference of the United States commissioned an interdisciplinary study of the priesthood in that country.

Key parts of it were led by two priests who at the time were celebrities in the Catholic community, Andrew Greeley the sociologist and Eugene Kennedy the psychologist. (Disclosure: as a seminarian I was office assistant to Kennedy in the early stages of the study.)

The results of their work, especially the psychological part, showed a large majority of American priests to be dissatisfied as well as emotionally underdeveloped and therefore unable to develop healthy relationships. Their training and insertion into the clerical culture, which in many cases started as young as age 13, froze them into a perpetual adolescence.

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[Salta leads criminal prosecution against abusive priests]

ARGENTINA
Informatesalta

March 25, 2019

Aunque todavía no cosechó ninguna condena, en los últimos meses y de la mano de los fiscales de la Unidad de Delitos contra la Integridad Sexual, Salta se convirtió en la provincia más peligrosa para los curas abusadores en todo el país, pues la mayoría de ellos no pudo evitar la cárcel.

Mientras la lista de sacerdotes de la Iglesia Católica denunciados por abuso sexual en Argentina crece, pues el número de 62 acusados, en el año 2017, aumentó a 66 al año siguiente, la mayoría de los procesos penales tienden a estancarse, ya sea por la inacción de la misma justicia o las maniobras dilatorias de las defensas.

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[The trial of Marist sexual abuse case begins]

BARCELONA (SPAIN)
El País

March 25, 2019

By Jesús García

El profesor Joaquín Benítez afronta 22 años de cárcel por tocamientos a cuatro niños

El caso del profesor de gimnasia Joaquín Benítez, que destapó una oleada de denuncias por abusos sexuales en la escuela Maristas, llega a juicio. La Audiencia de Barcelona sienta desde este lunes en el banquillo a Benítez, pederasta confeso que afronta una petición de 22 años de cárcel por abusar de cuatro niños en los Maristas de Sants. La Fiscalía y la defensa están tratando de cerrar un acuerdo que evite el juicio: a cambio de reconocer los hechos, Benítez obtendría una rebaja de la pena de prisión.

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[Church apologizes for deacon’s violent reaction to a woman holding a banner at Celestino Aós’ first mass]

CHILE
El Mostrador

March 24, 2019

Al término de la ceremonia, el religioso golpeó el cartel que levantaba la mujer que protestaba de manera pacífica con el mensaje “exigimos pastores, no patrones de fundo”.

No le gustó para nada. Una violenta reacción tuvo un diácono en contra de una mujer que se manifestaba pacificamente en la Catedral Metropolitana de Santiago, obligando al religioso a pedir disculpas en nombre de la Iglesia de Santiago. Esto durante la misa donde el obispo Celestino Aós asumió como administrador apostólico de la arquidiócesis de la capital.

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[Celestino Aós at his first Mass in Santiago: “Abuses in the Church are intolerable, we need reforms”]

SANTIAGO (CHILE
Emol

March 24, 2019

By Juan Undurraga

Además, el nuevo administrador apostólico de Santiago aseguró que “tenemos que reconocer que no siempre hicimos las cosas bien y queremos hacerlas mejor”.

Durante esta tarde, en una misa realizada en la Catedral Metropolitana, el ex obispo de Copiapó, Celestino Aós, asumió como el nuevo administrador apostólico de Santiago, tras la renuncia de Ricardo Ezzati. Instancia en la que el español aprovechó de fijar su postura sobre los casos de abuso que se han denunciado al interior de la Iglesia. “De un modo especial, atenderemos y serviremos a los que sufren el atropello a su dignidad de persona, resultado de los abusos y delitos absolutamente injustificables y absolutamente intolerables por parte de clérigos”, señaló Aós.

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[Ezzati apologizes for his “weaknesses” and Aós becomes apostolic administrator in Santiago]

CHILE
BioBioChile

March 25, 2019

By Yerko Roa and Joaquín Aguilera

Ricardo Ezzati pidió disculpas por sus “debilidades” durante la misa de este domingo en la que monseñor Celestino Aós asumió como administrador apostólico de la Arquidiócesis de Santiago. “Pido perdón en mis debilidades y mis flaquezas, y estoy confiado en la misericordia”, manifestó Ezzati en la Catedral Metropolitana, en una liturgia en que el exobispo de Copiapó, Celestino Aós, asumió su nuevo cargo.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

March 22, 2019

By Gabrielle Knowles, Nick Butterly and Rourke Walsh

A Catholic priest under investigation for the sexual abuse of a young girl is suspected to have taken his own life after being confronted by the child’s mother.

Popular and well-known parish priest Father Joseph Tran, pictured, who worked as a chaplain at several Catholic Perth schools, was found dead by police on Thursday.

WA Police confirmed to The Weekend West that it was the same day police had launched an investigation into an allegation of child sexual abuse by a priest from a southern suburbs Catholic Church.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

March 22, 2019

By Sophie Nieto-Munoz

A former New Jersey priest convicted of molesting two boys in 2004 and is now teaching children at a school in the resort town of Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, according to a report.

Hadmels DeFrias, 47, is teaching English at the Colegio del Caribe in Punta Cana, according to NBC News. He told the reporter who tracked him down he is no longer a threat to minors, and “doesn’t see the children with those eyes anymore.”

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ANAHEIM (CA)
Crux

Mar 25, 2019

By Elise Harris and John L. Allen Jr.

In his debut at America’s largest annual Catholic gathering, one of the rising stars of the U.S. hierarchy warned that full recovery from the clerical abuse scandals, including a new style of leadership in the Church, will be a “generational” task.

“We’ll be at this for a while,” said Bishop Frank Caggiano of Bridgeport, Connecticut, who made a splash at last fall’s Synod of Bishops in Rome with his blunt, forceful language on the abuse crisis.

“We have become a society that sees everything in terms of power, as an authority or force over you, rather than a service in support of you, which is what the Lord defines authority and power,” Caggiano said in a March 22 interview with Crux.

“That’s going to be a generational amount of work to get to,” he said. “You’re going to need the few saints to lead the rest of us to figure out how to do it.”

Caggiano was speaking on the margins of the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, an annual gathering held at the Anaheim Convention Center that regularly attracts in excess of 30,000 youth, catechists, religion teachers and other leaders in the Church.

The Bridgeport prelate, who’s originally from Brooklyn, was on hand to deliver two talks on Friday, one to youth and another to catechists, before taking a red-eye flight back to his diocese on Saturday to preside over a confirmation ceremony.

In his conversation with Crux, Caggiano stressed the need not just for improved structures and procedures to combat clerical abuse, but also “spiritual conversion.”

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ST. PAUL (MN)
Tommie Media

March 24, 2019

By Kayla Mayer

The sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church is a metaphorical Russian doll, as each investigation reveals more victims and corruption. In the midst of the report from Pennsylvania’s investigation and the defrocking of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, 190 bishops and clergy went to the Vatican for a summit.

The summit, which lasted four days and ended in late February, focused on sexual abuse of minors.

According to the Associated Press, summit organizer Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago, who studied at the St. John Vianney Seminary at St. Thomas, said that while sexual abuse of adults needs attention, the summit had to focus on one purpose.

“Young people, minors don’t have a voice. They are kept in silence,” Cupich said. “This is about making sure their voice is heard.”

After years of covered-up abuse, it’s refreshing to see concrete efforts to end the misdeeds that hurt the victims and the universal church. Church leaders hold a lot of power; all laypeople, especially young people, should be able to trust the ones they confess their sins to, hear the Word of God from, and those from whom they seek spiritual guidance. Taking advantage of this trust is a betrayal.

When a priest celebrates Mass or hears confessions, he acts “in persona christi” — in the person of Christ. This duty is sacred, and church members expect their leaders to treat it with such importance.

The Vatican must acknowledge the suffering of the victims, bring justice to the abused, and ensure church members that this cycle of hurt and secrecy will never happen again.

Although ordained clergy act “in persona christi” during Mass and confession, they are not infallible in their daily lives. They sin, and the Vatican must recognize that they also commit crimes.

To not hold guilty clergy accountable for their actions continues the crime. Criminal authorities should be involved, and when a priest or bishop is found guilty, the church should act on its “zero-tolerance” policy and dismiss them.

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ANAHEIM (CA)
Crux

March 25, 2019

By Elise Harris

Bishop Kay Schmalhausen of Ayaviri, Peru believes current punishments for both the crime of clerical sexual abuse (usually expulsion from the clerical state) and the cover-up are ineffective, and suggested harsher penalties including excommunication.

As a former member of a group whose founder has been charged with abuses of conscience, power and sexuality, Schmalhausen told Crux that some key questions need to be asked.

“What has been done so far with the perpetrators of such crimes? How is the damage to the victims, along with the scandal caused to the faithful of the Church and in the eyes of the world, being repaired? Is there even a minimum of proportionality and justice in the measures implemented so far?” he asked.

“Clearly the answer today seems to be no. The result is the indignation of many Catholics and non-Catholics,” he said, adding that the Church needs to admit “that faced with these new problems uncovered inside the Church, our criminal law was not, nor is it currently, ready to act.”

Ordained a priest with the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV) in 1989, Schmalhausen was appointed bishop of Ayaviri in 2006. In 2015, abuses perpetrated by the SCV’s founder and other high-ranking members, including the sexual abuse of several minors, were made public with the publication of the bombshell book, Half Monks, Half Soldiers, by journalists Pedro Salinas and Paola Ugaz.

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NORTHBROOK (IL)
Northbrook Tower

March 25, 2019

By Eric DeGrechie

Catholic clergy members from across Illinois, including Northbrook religious institutions, were accused of sexual misconduct in a 182-page report published Wednesday, March 20, by the Minnesota-based law firm Jeff Anderson and Associates.

According to The Anderson Report on Child Sexual Abuse in the Archdiocese and Dioceses in Illinois, the release of the report, which includes nearly 400 names of Catholic clergy in the state, is intended to “raise awareness about the important issues of sexual abuse, provide the public with vital information including assignment histories, and provide awareness and healing to survivors of sexual abuse.” The law firm claims that the dioceses in Illinois have not publicly made available the full histories and their knowledge of their sexually abusive agents and employees.

The clergy named in the report worked in the Archdiocese of Chicago and the dioceses of Belleville, Joliet, Peoria, Rockford and Springfield.

The former priests named with connections to Northbrook were: Rev. Robert Louis Kealy, Rev. Robert Joseph McDonald and Rev. Robert J. Lutz.

Some of the allegations previously have been reported by 22nd Century Media, parent company of The Tower, and other publications in some cases predating this company. Some of the allegations also have been publicly reported by various dioceses or archdioceses.

There were also priests from other North Shore communities in 22nd Century Media’s coverage area named including Highland Park, Lake Forest, Winnetka and Northfield.

In the wake of the release of the Anderson Report, the Archdiocese of Chicago released a statement.

It noted that the Archdiocese of Chicago does not “police itself” and reports all allegations to the civil authorities, “regardless of the date of the alleged abuse, whether the priest is a diocesan priest or religious order priest, and whether the priest is alive or dead.”

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WHEELING (WV)
The Intelligencer

March 25, 2019

By Brett Dunlap

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is looking for witnesses and people who have information regarding sexual misconduct in the Catholic church in the state of West Virginia.

Morrisey was in Parkersburg on Sunday and spoke regarding his recently filed lawsuit against the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese and former Bishop Michael J. Bransfield over alleged sexual misconduct of clergy and employees with children within the Catholic church.

“We are working hard to identify as many witnesses as possible,” Morrisey said. “We are continuing to move to the next step.”

The civil suit alleges the diocese and Bransfield knowingly hired pedophiles and did not conduct background checks on employees for schools and camps operated by the diocese. The suit also accused the diocese of not disclosing these issues to parents purchasing the educational services, a violation of state consumer protection laws.

The attorney general’s office started its investigation of the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese in September. Morrisey said the diocese has been forthcoming on some — but not all — things related to this matter.

Church officials have announced a preliminary investigation on Bransfield’s conduct while bishop was forwarded to the Vatican.

The findings included sexual harassment allegations and financial irregularities.

“We are still deeply troubled by the lack of transparency we’ve seen,” Morrisey said. “We are very hopeful they are going to step forward and be more transparent, provide us with the investigative report on Bishop Bransfield. They have yet to do that. If there is nothing to hide, then let the people know.”

The diocese has cooperated to some degree, but has resisted providing a number of additional documents and getting to the bottom of a number of things involving various people, he added.

“There are a lot of big unanswered questions that need to be addressed and we need to get to the bottom of it,” Morrisey said.

The attorney general is asking people to step forward, reach out to his office and provide information that can help with the investigations.

“A lot of times in instances like this it is the people who step forward who will provide us with additional details,” Morrisey said. “They are the ones who can make the real difference.”

They are looking for people who were in those environments, Catholic schools or camps, who saw something or experienced something to come forward and talk with their office.

Morrisey, who is Catholic, said his office has gotten some anonymous tips, but to help build a solid case he needs people who are willing to step forward and be put on the record.

“We want the folks to step up,” he said. “We believe there are more that haven’t stepped forward yet.

“We are trying to identify more victims and more witnesses.”

Morrisey said this is not limited to Catholics, but people in any environment where there has been abuse.

“People need to let us know,” he said.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

March 24, 2019

By Gaia Pianigiani

Cardinal Godfried Danneels of Belgium, a liberal supporter of Pope Francis and a former Vatican adviser whose long pastoral career was damaged in a sex-abuse scandal after his retirement, died on March 14 at his home in Mechelen, north of Brussels. He was 85.

A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Brussels-Mechelen, which Cardinal Danneels had led for three decades, confirmed the death. No specific cause was given.

Cardinal Danneels, who spoke several languages, was considered a progressive in Roman Catholic leadership, supporting a greater role for women in the church and a less rigid policy against contraception. He believed that H.I.V.-positive people should be able use condoms rather than risk transmitting the virus.

Years before Pope Benedict XVI shocked the world by retiring in 2013, Cardinal Danneels had raised the possibility of popes retiring in advanced age or when their health deteriorated.

He was a target of conservative critics in his 29 years as president of the Belgian Bishops’ Conference. They complained that he had not done enough to thwart growing secularization in Belgium, whose government has approved same-sex marriage, in vitro fertilization, euthanasia and experiments on human embryos.

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

March 23, 2019

By Inés San Martín

Although a decision had been expected, it was still a surprise when the Vatican announced Pope Francis had accepted the resignation of Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati of Santiago, Chile, who faces allegations of having covered up cases of clerical sexual abuse.

However, Ezzati was defiant to the end, saying he wasn’t ashamed of anything.

“I leave with my head up high because every allegation that has arrived at the complaints office, that I opened myself in 2011, has been or is being investigated,” Ezzati told reporters after the announcement was made.

Regarding his willingness to cooperate with the Chilean justice system, the prelate said that the prosecutor had been allowed to examine any archdiocesan document he’d requested, and that he hasn’t testified yet because he’s appealing to his right to remain silent until the time to speak comes.

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[Commission approves initiative to grant more time to report sexual crimes against minors]

COSTA RICA
La Nación

March 20, 2019

By Juan Diego Córdoba

Víctimas de abuso o violación durante la infancia o adolescencia tendrían hasta los 43 años para acudir a la vía judicial

Los diputados de la comisión de Asuntos Jurídicos dictaminaron, de forma unánime y en su primer día de discusión, el proyecto de ley denominado “Derecho al Tiempo”, iniciativa que pretende ampliar el plazo de prescripción de las causas penales en delitos sexuales contra menores de edad.

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[Archbishop rejects obligation to inform Education Ministry about expulsion of priest who ran Limón school]

COSTA RICA
La Nación

March 20, 2019

By Juan Diego Córdoba

José Rafael Quirós explicó al ministro Edgar Mora, que el cura sancionado pertenecía a una sociedad religiosa, cuya autoridad no es la arquidiócesis

La arquidiócesis de San José rechazó la existencia de alguna obligación de informar al Ministerio de Educación Público (MEP) sobre la expulsión del estado clerical del sacerdote Ricardo Reyes, a quien el proceso canónico lo halló responsable de abusos sexuales contra un menor de edad. Este es el contenido de una carta que el arzobispo José Rafael Quirós envió al ministro de Educación, Edgar Mora, luego de que este último pidiera explicaciones sobre el caso, la semana pasada.

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[Abuses: what laws do we have and what do we need?]

ARGENTINA
La Nación

March 22, 2019

By Violeta Galanternik

El 144 no da abasto desde el 11 de diciembre, la tarde en que Thelma Fardin, en el marco del colectivo de Actrices Argentinas, hizo pública la denuncia en la Justicia del abuso sexual sufrido en su adolescencia. Ya pasaron casi tres meses y la ola de denuncias y de pedidos de ayuda de otros miles de mujeres no cesa. La palabra de Thelma representó muchas cosas, pero sobre todo, sin lugar a dudas, fue un canal de apertura a que se estime el derecho de la mujer a contar la situación que vivió. Fue lo que destapó una olla con miles de Thelmas silenciadas que se encontraron reflejadas para tomar la fuerza y el apoyo para decir “basta”.

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[For 19 years, she reported clergy abuse and now the Church acknowledges it]

ARGENTINA
Puntal

March 23, 2019

Carolina Ferreyra es la denunciante. Dice que su victimario es un sacerdote que actualmente se desempeña como intendente. Días pasados recibió una carta del Obispado de Río Cuarto con la resolución de la Santa Sede que da validez a los hechos por ella narrados calificándolos de “creíbles y graves”.

“Se informa a la señorita Carolina Ferreyra que se ha concluido la investigación previa sobre la denuncia por ella presentada contra el presbítero (…) La misma fue enviada a la Congregación del Clero. Posteriormente este Dicasterio ha respondido que la Santa Sede considera inconveniente que un presbítero preste un servicio político como el de intendente municipal, y por otra parte, considera que las denuncias que pesan sobre él son creíbles y graves”.

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[Abuses in the Church: “The chain of cover-up reaches the Pope”]

ARGENTINA
Ahora

March 22, 2019

Así lo señaló una integrante de la Red de Sobrevivientes de Abuso Sexual Eclesiástico. “Esto es un plan sistemático de la Iglesia para ocultar lo que pasó” indicó

“La cadena de encubrimiento llega hasta el Papa. Esto es un plan sistemático de la Iglesia para ocultar lo que pasó. Cuando se conoce el abuso, el cura es trasladado a otro lado, donde seguirá abusando” señaló la especialista en contacto con el Canal 20 de la UNER.

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[Abuses in the Church: Catholic University chaplain arrested]

ARGENTINA
Cuarto Salta a Diario

March 22, 2019

Fue denunciado por dos hombres que habrían sido abusados hace quince años.

El capellán de la Universidad Católica de Salta, José Carlos Aguilera, fue detenido este viernes tras haber sido denunciado de abuso sexual por dos personas que habrían sido abusadas hace quince y veinte años. Aguilera fue llevado a la alcaidia, donde permanece encerrado.

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COLUMBUS (OH)
Columbus Dispatch

March 24, 2019

BtyDanae King

After being criticized for taking months longer than the other five Ohio dioceses to release its list of priests accused of sexually abusing children, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus said it didn’t include information on where and when each priest worked in the diocese because it would have further delayed the list and might have exposed victims.

Yet the diocese releases that information when it receives an allegation against an individual priest and has done so in recent years ­ and doesn’t express the ssame concerns in that process.

When asked why the processes for reporting the abuse of a single priest versus releasing a list of all ‘credibly accused’ clergymen are different, the Rev. Monsignor Stephan Moloney, vicar general and victims assistance coordinator for the Diocese of Columbus, said “it just is.”

“It was just a decision that was made,” he said.

Advocates for survivors say that a priest’s history within a diocese could help trigger victims’ memories of their abuse and prompt them to report it.

“They need to have the assignment history in there because there’s still victims out there suffering in silence and shame,” said Judy Jones, Midwest regional director for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

Yet Moloney said seeing “the names will give those victims courage to come forward.”

Columbus is one of many dioceses across the country that have released lists in the wake of a July Pennsylvania grand jury review that revealed allegations of more than 1,000 children being sexually abused by more than 300 priests.

The level of detail provided on other dioceses’ lists vary widely, but some do include the assignment history of the priests, said Terence McKiernan, co-president of Bishop Accountability, a national group that works to track allegations of abuse by Catholic officials and publishes that information on its website.

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NATCHEZ (MISSISSIPPI)
Natchez Democrat

March 24, 2019

By Kevin Cooper

Mississippi Catholics finally did something they’ve been asking parishioners to do for centuries — a full confession.

Last week the Jackson Diocese released a list of 37 priests and others affiliated with the church in Mississippi that had been credibly accused of sexual abuse against children.

Of those 37, 30 were accused of abuse during their time in Mississippi and seven were accused of committing abuse elsewhere.

Six names on the list had served in the Natchez community in the past. Nearly all of the alleged abuse had occurred decades ago, some as long as 80 years ago.

The church deemed a reported abuse as credible only after an internal, independent review board had completed an investigation.

After literally decades of denial that a problem with sexual abuse at the hands of priests existed at all, the Catholic Church has come a long way to opening up, letting some light be shed on the problem and beginning the healing process.

In making things public the church did the right thing. Further, they went above and beyond by providing the complete history of abusers dating back so many years.

Beyond that, though, the church did something churches typically don’t like to do — it apologized.

In what likely came as surprise to many, Bishop Joseph Kopacz, who leads the Jackson Diocese, publicly apologized for the church’s secretive way of handling these things in the past.

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ZURICH (SWITZERLAND)
Swiss Broadcasting Corporation

March 24, 2019

More than 300 victims have come forward with allegations of sexual abuse against priests in Switzerland since 2010, according to the SonntagZeitung newspaper, which on Sunday devoted an article to how the Catholic Church handles the alleged perpetrators.

In 2017, a record number of cases – 65 incidents – were reported in Switzerland, according to the German-language newspaper. Of these, only ten were serious enough for the judiciary to act. Eight cases were reported by the church itself and the other two were investigated by prosecutors.

The church declined to give details of the attacks, but one case reportedly concerns the rape of a woman.

Only three clerics have been convicted over allegations of abuse since 2010, according to an internal document of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference (SBC) cited by the newspaper.

The same paper reportedly notes that 111 of the accused are already dead, three perpetrators are “untraceable” or “unknown,” and in 10% of the cases the information is partial or “insufficient.”

Such figures are partial at best. For example, the community of the Pius Brothers does not provide any information. Two priests of that order were convicted of sexual buses in 2018.

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OLEAN (NY)
Olean Times Herald

March 24, 2019

By Tom Dinki

The Catholic Diocese of Buffalo has substantiated an allegation of child sexual abuse against a suspended Ellicottville priest.

The diocese announced Thursday the Rev. Ronald Mierzwa, pastor of Holy Name of Mary Church in Ellicottville, will remain on leave while the results of its investigation are reviewed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican in Rome, which will make the final determination.

The diocese said Buffalo Bishop Richard J. Malone determined the claim against Mierzwa was credible after considering the advice of the Independent Diocesan Review Board, which met Wednesday and reviewed the reports of Scott F. Riordan and Steven L. Halter.

Mierzwa, who was ordained in 1976 and had been pastor of Holy Name of Mary since 1994, was placed on administrative leave in September for what the diocese then called an allegation of abuse.

While the diocese has not provided any details on the child sex abuse allegation, Meirzwa’s suspension came just two weeks after WKBW-TV reported Sept. 12 that a woman accused him more than 15 years ago of making her sons “parade around in their underwear.”

WKBW did not name Mierzwa in that original report about the allegation, but the news station reports Mierzwa turned himself in to Malone a few days later, leading to his suspension.

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LAGOS (NIGERIA)
Herald Nigeria

March 24, 2019

By Demola

A man has reportedly canceled his wedding plans after he learned that his wife-to-be has had sexual intercourse with her priest.

Sharing his plight with The Chronicle, the pained lover, McDonald Maijaya, stated that he got to know about his fiancee’s romantic relationship with the priest after he went through her WhatsApp chats with him.

He explained that the priest, Father Itai Mangenda, and Rutendo Mudzingwa, his lover, had been seeing each other since February 2018.

While giving the account of how he found out, the 32-year-old man said, “I discovered that the two were in a relationship since last year and we have been having misunderstandings with my girlfriend over the issue. This is unacceptable, how can a priest who vowed not to marry interfere with my relationship?

“I don’t know what to do because right now, I’m really hurt. This is disturbing especially considering that l was putting my all into the relationship and was thinking of paying something (bride price) in April.”

McDonald further mentioned that the priest’s brother reached out to him to not expose the matter to the public and made attempts to bribe him.

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INDIANAPOLIS (IN)
Indianapolis Star

March 24, 2019

By John Tuohy

Three men have filed lawsuits alleging that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lafayette covered up sexual abuse by a priest at Brebeuf high school in Indianapolis and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in the 1970s and 1980s, and clerical abuse watchdogs fear there could be many more victims.

The accusers, identified in court papers as John Does 1, 2 and 3, were 12 or 13 years old at the time and said they met Father James Grear at Mount Carmel, where he celebrated Mass.

One of the men claims he was violently assaulted in the gym at Mount Carmel during a youth rally. When he told a bishop in his home parish, he was cautioned not to report it and to ask for God’s forgiveness, the lawsuit said. The two other men said Grear while dean of students at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School took them on trips, gave them gifts and molested them in his apartment across the street from the high school on 86th Street.

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BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

March 24, 2019

By Jay Tokasz

Monsignor J. Grant Higgins was a Catholic priest for 60 years, but when he died in 2016 at age 90, the Buffalo Diocese tried to make it seem as if he wasn’t a priest.

A paid death notice for Higgins omitted the honorific title of “Reverend” that is standard in priest death notices and obituaries. The Mass of Christian Burial for Higgins was held at a church in North Buffalo, more than 25 miles away from his last parish assignment in the Village of Angola, where he was well-known and had served for 14 years. The diocese did not publish an obituary on Higgins in its own Western New York Catholic, a monthly newspaper that assiduously chronicles the deaths of area priests, deacons and nuns. Nor did the diocese send The Buffalo News the priest’s assignment history, as it usually does when a priest dies, so that The News could write an obituary.

When Higgins died, diocese officials gave area Catholics no explanation as to why they were obscuring his life as a priest.

They did it because Buffalo Bishop Richard J. Malone decided in 2013 that funeral arrangements for priests credibly accused of molesting children needed to be handled differently.

But for nearly five years after that, the bishop was unwilling to publicly identify priests, living or dead, who were accused of sexually abusing minors. Malone didn’t name names until 2018, after a clergy abuse scandal erupted.

That’s the first time parishioners found out about Higgins.

Malone explained in a 2013 internal memo obtained by The Buffalo News that the new funeral policy was to be more sensitive to survivors of clergy sex abuse.

But now some abuse survivors and their advocates said the guidelines helped shield clergy abuse cases from the public, even in the aftermath of reforms that called for bishops to be more transparent about abusive priests.

“This, it seems, is another method to keep it under cover. To me, it’s a consistent policy of the church, going back decades, of hiding and covering up,” said Tim Lennon, president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a national organization. “At all costs, the reputation of the church is more important than anything.

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[Muñoz, Laplagne and Rivera: legal cases that involve Ricardo Ezzati]

CHILE
La Tercera

March 23, 2019

By Consuelo Ferrer

El Papa Francisco aceptó la renuncia del ahora ex arzobispo de Santiago este sábado, un día después de que la justicia rechazara la solicitud de sobreseimiento de su defensa en los casos de abuso sexual que investiga el Ministerio Público.

“Hoy día, al terminar mi servicio, con la conciencia muy tranquila y muy serena, les puedo decir que he sido fiel a esa promesa”. Fueron las palabras que emitió este sábado el ahora obispo emérito Ricardo Ezzati, al comunicar que se sentía “agradecido” por la decisión del Papa Francisco de aceptar su renuncia, presentada junto a la de toda la Conferencia Episcopal hace ya diez meses.

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[Episcopal Conference: The Pope’s decision is not related to Ezzati’s legal situation]

CHILE
La Tercera

March 23, 2019

By Camila Díaz S.

Ahora, el cardenal se retirará a una congregación salesiana y podría seguir prestando servicios pastorales.

Ante la decisión del Papa Francisco de aceptar la renuncia del arzobispo de Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati, comunicada esta mañana por la Nunciatura Apostólica en Chile, el vocero de la Conferencia Episcopal, Jaime Coiro, aseguró que se trata de una medida tomada que “no tiene fundamento en la situación jurídica que ocurrió ayer”, cuando la 8° Sala de la Corte de Apelaciones de Santiago rechazó el cierre de la investigación por supuesto encubrimiento en casos de abusos sexuales a menores de edad.

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[Canonical expert: Despite Ezzati’s departure “the Catholic Church will continue to live between the light and the shadows”]

CHILE
La Tercera

March 24, 2019

By Juan Undurraga

Así lo anunció Marcial Sánchez, quien si bien comentó que la llegada de Celestino Aós a la arquidiócesis de Santiago traería “esperanza”.

Durante esta mañana se anunció que el obispo de Copiapó, Celestino Aós, asumirá el cargo de administrador apostólico de la sede vacante de la arquidiócesis de Santiago. Esto luego de que el Papa aceptara la renuncia de Ricardo Ezzati.

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[Karadima survivors react to Ezzati’s departure: “It represents everything we have fought against for years”]

CHILE
La Tercera

March 23, 2019

By Angélica Vera

Los sobrevivientes señalaron que esperan que su reemplazante “tenga la valentía y fuerza para traer una cultura centrada en las víctimas, en las personas vulnerables, y ya no más en el abuso y menos el encubrimiento”.

Las víctimas de abusos del párroco del Bosque Fernando Karadima; Juan Carlos Cruz, Juan Andrés Murillo y James Hamilton se refirieron a la salida del arzobispo emérito de Santiago, el cardenal Ricardo Ezzati luego que de que el Papa Francisco aceptada su renuncia durante este sábado en la mañana.

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[Aós, the Capuchin psychologist who lands in Santiago]

CHILE
La Tercera

March 24, 2019

By C. Palma, S. Rodríguez, F. Massone, M.J. Navarrete, and Fernando Fuentes

El Papa aceptó la renuncia del cardenal Ezzati y designó como administrador apostólico al español, de 73 años y 35 en Chile.

“Mejor corrámonos a la sombra, mire que aquí se me quema la pelá”, pidió ayer el obispo Celestino Aós, en Copiapó, cerca de las 11.30 horas, al pequeño enjambre de periodistas que lo rodeaba. Era su primer punto de prensa, luego de que la Nunciatura Apostólica informara, de madrugada, que el Papa Francisco lo había designado como nuevo administrador apostólico de Santiago. En rigor, no es el sucesor del cardenal Ricardo Ezzati, arzobispo con todas las de la ley, sino más bien su reemplazante a tiempo indefinido, en espera del definitivo.

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[Ezzati: “I hold my head high, sure that my innocence will be proven”]

CHILE
La Tercera

March 24, 2019

By M.J. Navarrete

A sus 77 años, el cardenal deja la conducción de la Iglesia de Santiago. En su homilía dijo que los “pecados y crímenes” del clero “nos solicitan pedir perdón una y mil veces”.

“Les puedo decir que tengo la conciencia absolutamente tranquila y serena”, afirmó ayer el cardenal Ricardo Ezzati, en su homilía para el inicio del año pastoral 2019 de la Iglesia de Santiago. Al mediodía de Roma, y a las 8 horas de Santiago, el Vaticano hizo el anuncio oficial: el Papa Francisco aceptaba su renuncia como arzobispo y, en su lugar, como administrador apostólico, nombraba al obispo de Copiapó, Celestino Aós.

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BALLARAT (AUSTRALIA)
CNN

March 24, 2019

By Hilary Whiteman, Anna Coren and Jo Shelley

Nearly 150 people would later tell an Australian royal commission looking into institutional sex abuse that they had been abused by Catholic priests and brothers across the diocese from the 1960s to the early 1990s.

“The amount of kids I saw get taken out of class, sexual abuse was rampant, was definitely rampant, there’s no other way you could put it. That’s what it was; they were doing it all the time,” says abuse survivor Phil Nagle.

Some of Australia’s worst pedophiles were preying on children in Ballarat, then a city of about 60,000 people.

Now after Pell’s conviction on five charges of sex offenses against two choirboys in Melbourne’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral in the 1990s, Ballarat locals are again examining who knew what — and what went so wrong.

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BOULDER (CO)
Daily Camera

March 23, 2019

The Colorado attorney general and Catholic Church last month announced an agreement that established an inquiry into allegations of sexual abuse of children by clergy. This is Colorado’s contribution to a broader search for truth that’s occurring in states across the country. In some states, law enforcement officials are aggressively pursuing relevant information, but that’s not happening in Colorado. In fact, the terms of the agreement are so favorable to the church and so incommensurate to the gravity of crimes uncovered in numerous other dioceses that it’s doubtful to result in an honest account of abuses that took place in Colorado.

The agreement between Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and the state’s three archdioceses sets up an “independent review” conducted by a so-called special master, a position that was assigned to former Colorado U.S. Attorney Robert Troyer. Troyer is charged with reviewing diocesan files and records, which the church has agreed to make available for the review, and he’s supposed to complete by Oct. 1 a report that describes substantiated allegations of abuse.

The shortcomings of the arrangement are numerous.

First, the “independent review” is not altogether independent. In the language of the agreement itself the review was established “in the spirit of compromise and cooperation.” That’s the opposite of independent. Troyer will be required to meet with church representatives at least once a month to update them on his progress. Before he issues his final report, Troyer must submit a draft of the document to the church, whose officials will have the opportunity to suggest changes. An investigatory entity that consults with the subject of its investigation and grants the subject influence over findings cannot claim impartiality.

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ULTIMO (AUSTRALIA)
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

March 23, 2019

By Francis Sullivan

Many have asked whether the Catholic Church can survive the shock of the conviction of Cardinal George Pell and the impact on its credibility, even utility.

Yet to assume that the institution is exclusively the Church is to miss the point: Cardinal Pell has been sentenced, not Australia’s Catholics.

Believers, and those who identify with the Catholic faith tradition, are the real Church. The institution is but an organised mechanism to give expression to some of that believing community’s social and practical activities.

For the Church to survive, its members need to take responsibility for their future.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Journal Sentinel

March 23, 2019

By Annysa Johnson

A Catholic priest with ties to a Waukesha religious community has been charged with misdemeanor assault in Texas for allegedly groping a woman while administering her last rites.

The Rev. Gerold Langsch, 75, a member of the Schoenstatt Fathers, could face up to a year in jail and a fine of $4,000 if convicted.

Langsch appears to have moved to Austin in 2015 to serve at a parish there. According to news accounts, on Oct. 5, he was called to the home of a 60-year-old woman in hospice care who was suffering from renal failure as a result of diabetes.

The woman told police Langsch anointed her chest with holy oil, then massaged her breast with lotion and pinched her nipple, asking, “Does that feel good?” He then tried to reach into her diaper, but could not, authorities said.

Langsch was arrested this month on a charge of assault by contact and released on $15,000 bond.

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BRITICH COLUMBIA (CANADA)
BC Local News

March 21, 2019

By Rick Stiebel

Fifty-five years later, I can still feel the scratch of his stubble and the smear of his spittle on my cheek.

Although the memories of Brother Gary and what he tried to do have dulled under the weight of decades passed, they still ooze to the surface occasionally from my personal quagmire of Catholic schooling buried deep within. Disturbing revelations of serial sexual abuse by 286 priests in Texas – suppressed for years until the end of January – act as a trigger that causes the spam-like files to crawl back into the inbox of my mind.

Even though he wasn’t one of my regular teachers at Father McDonald Memorial High School, I looked up to Brother Gary in every possible way. I had considered, at least as seriously as any 13-year-old altar boy on the brink of puberty can, to one day become a priest, Brother of the Sacred Heart or missionary, like the one who visited our home to regale me with tales of doing the Lord’s work in Africa.

Brother Gary approached me to help him sort books in the school library after school one day and suggested I give my parents a heads-up that I would be late for supper. After the school had cleared, including the last janitor emptying the trash cans in each class, I found myself trapped on the lap of his six-foot-four frame with no way to escape, the vice-like clamp of his arms coiled around me like a boa constrictor. Wracked with panic and a feeling of impending doom, I feigned submission just long enough to knock his glasses askew. He reached up to catch them, and I was out the nearest exit in a blink, running the entire mile all the way home. I can still picture the family all seated at the table and my mother retrieving my dinner covered in aluminum foil from the oven.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

March 23, 2019

By Peter Smith

When he was removed from the priesthood in February over the sexual molestation of minors, the 88-year-old former Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick didn’t lose a roof over his head. He’s staying in a monastery in Kansas.

When Australian Cardinal George Pell’s conviction for sexual abuse was announced the same month, the church didn’t need to provide such housing — because the penitentiary system was providing it.

But such cases raise a question that also pertains to priests who are removed due to one or more substantiated cases of sexual abuse.

Since 2002 in the United States, the policy has been to ban such priests from ministry for life.

But then what becomes of them? Does the church still owe a cleric a living even if he betrayed the trust placed in him?

It mainly depends on whether a diocese keeps him under its wing or not, and if it doesn’t, whether he’s able to fend for himself.

And when the church does provide a living, it’s typically at subsistence levels.

“It’s basically not putting them out on the street,” said Sister Sharon Euart, a canon lawyer and executive director of the Resource Center for Religious Institutes, based in Maryland. They would get food, shelter and other basic needs but no luxuries, said Sister Euart, a former executive coordinator of the Canon Law Society of America and canonical consultant for religious institutes and diocesan bishops.

Since the U.S. bishops adopted a zero-tolerance policy in 2002, there are two scenarios for handling a priest who is found to have committed abuse:

1. A bishop could start a “canonical” process within the church legal system, asking the Vatican to defrock the priest (“dismissed from the clerical state,” in canonical language).

2. In other cases, particularly “for reasons of advanced age or infirmity,” a bishop could allow the man to retain the technical status of priest but with a lifetime ban on public ministry and such trappings as clerical garb and the title “Father.”

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WILMETTE (IL)
Wilmette Beacon

March 23, 2019

By Eric DeGrechie

Catholic clergy members from across Illinois, including 11 from Wilmette’s Loyola Academy and five from other Wilmette religious institutions, were accused of sexual misconduct in a 182-page report published Wednesday, March 20, by the Minnesota-based law firm Jeff Anderson and Associates.

According to The Anderson Report on Child Sexual Abuse in the Archdiocese and Dioceses in Illinois, the release of the report, which includes nearly 400 names of Catholic clergy in the state, is intended to “raise awareness about the important issues of sexual abuse, provide the public with vital information including assignment histories, and provide awareness and healing to survivors of sexual abuse.” The law firm claims that the dioceses in Illinois have not publicly made available the full histories and their knowledge of their sexually abusive agents and employees.

The clergy named in the report worked in the Archdiocese of Chicago and the dioceses of Belleville, Joliet, Peoria, Rockford and Springfield.

Some of the allegations previously have been reported by 22nd Century Media, parent company of The Beacon, and other publications in some cases predating this company. Some of the allegations also have been publicly reported by various dioceses or archdioceses.

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BRIDGEPORT (CT)
NBC Connecticut

March 23, 2019

The Diocese of Bridgeport has added the names of 10 priests to its list of clergy it says are credibly accused of sexual abuse.

The Most Rev. Frank Caggiano, Bishop of Bridgeport, said in a letter posted on the Diocese’s website, that the names are being added because of new circumstances surrounding their investigation.

Caggiano said the diocesan Sexual Misconduct Review Board expanded its investigation to include allegations of abuse against priests who died years before the creation of the Board. He said the Diocese has also received new allegations of sexual abuse of minors that date back several years, and that they have also re-reviewed cases in which new information has become available.

The Bridgeport Diocese made its original list of credibly-accused clergy public in October 2018.

The 10 names added to the list on Friday include nine diocesan priests and one visiting priest from Venezuela who only spent the summer of 1991 in the Bridgeport Diocese, according to Caggiano. Of the nine diocesan priests, eight are dead and one is living. The one living priest has not served in the Diocese since 1984 and was put on permanent administrative leave after an allegation in 2006 of sexual abuse of a minor dating back to the 1970s, Caggiano said.

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[Spokesman for Lay Network of Santiago on Aós appointment: “We take this appointment with caution”]

CHILE
La Tercera

March 23, 2019

By Daniela Silva

Según indicó Osvaldo Aravena, vocero de la organización, el actual administrador apostólico recién nombrado por el Papa Francisco ha sido parte del episcopado chileno, por lo tanto también tiene un grado de responsabilidad en las omisiones y en los errores que ha cometido la iglesia jerarquía en no colaborar con la justicia.

“Creemos que las graves crisis de la iglesia católica no se van a resolver con el cambio de una persona dentro de la jerarquía”, expresó esta mañana Osvaldo Aravena, vocero de Red de laicos de Santiago a 24Horas, luego de que desde la Nunciatura Apostólica en Chile se diera la noticia que el Papa Francisco había aceptado la renuncia del cardenal Ezzati, nombrando como administrador apostólico sede vacante de la arquidiócesis de Santiago de Chile al obispo Celestino Aós Braco.

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[Jesuits sanction priest for ten years for “transgressions of a sexual nature”]

CHILE
La Tercera

March 22, 2019

By Angélica Baeza

Esto tras la investigación de dos denuncias de dos mujeres, por hechos acontecidos a comienzo de los años noventa y otro a mediados de la década pasada.

Mediante un comunicado de prensa, el padre provincial de los Jesuitas, Cristián del Campo, informó que se determinó el castigo de prohibición por diez años de acompañamiento espiritual de personas y dirección de retiros espirituales en contra del sacerdote Juan Pablo Cárcamo.

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[Ezzati defends his tenure: “It is not enough to say one is a concealer, you have to prove it”]

CHILE
La Tercera

March 23, 2019

By Angélica Vera

De acuerdo al ex arbozispo de Santiago, su salida de la arquidiócesis de Santiago responde a un “criterio del derecho canónico” relacionado con su edad.

El arzobispo emérito de Santiago, el cardenal Ricardo Ezzati se refirió a su salida de la arquidiócesis de Santiago, oficializada por el Papa Francisco luego de que aceptara su renuncia, y la designación del obispo Celestino Aós como administrador apostólico sede vacante de la arquidiócesis de la capital.

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[Celestino Aós, apostolic administrator of Santiago archdiocese after Ezzati: “This mission I assume with tranquility”]

CHILE
La Tercera

March 23, 2019

By Sergio Rodríguez

El prelado continúa en Copiapó y se comentó a La Tercera que se enteró de su nuevo cargo “un tiempito antes, no anoche, pero también todo ha sido muy rápido”.

Esta mañana el Papa Francisco aceptó la renuncia del cardenal Ricardo Ezzati y designó al obispo Celestino Aós Braco como administrador apostólico de la sede vacante de la arquidiócesis de Santiago. La designación fue dada a conocer cerca de las 8 de la mañana en Chile (mediodía en Roma) por la Nunciatura Apostólica en Chile y según comentó Aós a La Tercera, el prelado también se enteró de su nuevo cargo hace poco. “Esto me toma igual que a ustedes, con sorpresa y como una misión de Dios para su Iglesia”.

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[Bitter Friday for Ezzati: court rejects attempt to dismiss him in abuse cover-up case]

CHILE
El Mostrador

March 22, 2019

La Corte de Apelaciones rechazó en decisión unánime el recurso de la defensa del cardenal que está siendo investigado, pero aún no ha sido formalizado, por su posible encubrimiento en los casos del sacerdote Oscar Muñoz, ex canciller del Arzobispado

En votación unánime,la Octava Sala de la Corte de Apelaciones de Santiago, integrada por los ministros Juan Cristóbal Mera, Mireya López y Tomás Gray– rechazó la solicitud de sobreseimiento interpuesta por la defensa del cardenal Ricardo Ezzati Andrello, investigado por el Ministerio Público como encubridor en la causa que sigue en contra del excanciller del Arzobispado de Santiago, Óscar Muñoz Toledo, por estupro y abuso sexual.

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[Prosecutor Arias admits Vatican has provided “nothing at all” to help in sexual abuse investigations in Chilean Church]

CHILE
El Mostrador

March 21, 2019

“Nada de nada” fue la respuesta del persecutor frente a la pregunta de si la Santa Sede había respondido a los tres requerimientos de información hecha por la justicia. Además confirmó que existen antecedentes para formalizar al cardenal Ezzati pero que junto a su equipo aún no lo han decidido. Hoy concurrió a declarar el sacerdote Tito Rivera.

El fiscal regional de O’higgins, Emiliano Arias que encabeza las investigaciones por abuso sexual al interior de la Iglesia Católica chilena reconoció lo que a su juicio ha sido la nula cooperación de el Vaticano en cuanto a entregar información que sea útil en las diversas indagatorias en torno a estos delitos. La fiscalía ha hecho tres requerimientos de información a la Santa Sede. En este contexto, Arias fue consultado respecto de si han recibido respuesta. “Nada de nada”, contestó a radio Cooperativa.

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WINDSOR (CANADA)
Windsor Star

March 22, 2019

By Dalson Chen

Over the course of 38 years, William “Hod” Hodgson Marshall — who served as a Basilian priest and Catholic teacher in Sudbury, Toronto and Windsor — sexually abused at least 17 minors.

“I grew up Catholic in Windsor. I was an altar boy at a church in the east end,” recalls filmmaker Matt Gallagher.

“I was a grown man when these things about certain priests started coming out … I haven’t considered myself a Catholic since I was 18 years old. But this film was still very difficult to do.”

“It’s stories of abuse, told by men, kept secret for so long.”

Set for a world premiere next month, Gallagher’s latest documentary project — a TVO production entitled Prey — gets particularly close with one of Marshall’s victims, Rod MacLeod, and his search for justice.

MacLeod was a student at an all-boys high school in Sudbury in the 1960s when he first became subject to Marshall’s attention at the age of 13.

The abuse went on for four years.

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[Reactions to cardinal’s exit: “Anything is better than Ezzati”]

CHILE
El Mostrador

March 23, 2019

El papa Francisco finalmente aceptó la renuncia del arzobispo de Santiago, imputado por el encubrimiento de casos de abuso sexual al interior de la iglesia. En su reemplazo fue nombrado el obispo Celestino Aós como administrador apostólico. Juan Carlos Cruz, uno de los denunciantes de Karadima, fue uno de los primeros en reaccionar sobre la determinación, deseando lo mejor a la gestión del religioso entrante y haciendo un llamado a que el saliente prelado responda ante la justicia chilena “antes de escapar del país”.

El papa Francisco finalmente aceptó la renuncia presentada -en mayo del año pasado- por el cardenal Ricardo Ezzati. Se supone que los obispos deben presentar sus renuncias al papa una vez cumplen los 75 años de edad, pero la salida de Ezzati, de 77, se produce justo en un momento en el que es investigado por encubrir casos de abusos sexuales a menores por parte de curas.

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[Who is Celestino Aós, the Spanish bishop who will assume as apostolic administrator of Santiago after Ezzati’s resignation]

CHILE
Emol

March 23, 2019

By Juan Undurraga

El prelado llegó de forma definitiva a Chile en el año 1983, tras ser nombrado vicario parroquial en Longaví.

Durante esta mañana, la Nunciatura Apostólica en Chile anunció que el Papa Francisco aceptó la renuncia del cardenal Ricardo Ezzati y que en su lugar asumirá quien hasta ayer era obispo de Copiapó, Celestino Aós Braco. El prelado nació en el año 1945 en la ciudad de Navarra, España, país en el que estudió las carreras de filosofía y teología, además de realizar una licenciatura en psicología.

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HOUSTON (TX)
Houston Chronicle

March 14, 2019

By Robert Downen

Texas nonprofits would be allowed to disclose sexual misconduct allegations against former employees without being sued under a new bill that was filed one month after the Houston Chronicle detailed hundreds of sexual abuses in Southern Baptist churches.

Introduced last week by McKinney Republican Rep. Scott Sanford, House Bill 4345 is the latest in what one expert said is a national wave of similar policies sparked by the #MeToo movement and ongoing religious sexual abuse scandals.

The Texas bill has support from two groups associated with the Southern Baptist Convention, which has been grappling publicly with its own sexual abuse crises since a February investigation by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News found hundreds of Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers have been charged with sex crimes in the last two decades. The newspapers also found dozens of instances in which church leaders apparently failed to disclose concerns about former employees who applied for jobs at other congregations.

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[Pope Francis accepts resignation of Cardinal Ezzati]

CHILE
La Tercera

March 23, 2019

By Daniela Silva and Angélica Vera

En su reemplazo nombró al obispo Celestino Aós como administrador apostólico sede vacante de Santiago de Chile.

Esta mañana la Nunciatura Apostólica en Chile comunicó que el papa Francisco ha aceptado la renuncia presentada por el cardenal Ricardo Ezzati y ha nombrado como administrador apostólico sede vacante de la arquidiócesis de Santiago de Chile al obispo Celestino Aós Braco.

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LITTLE ROCK (AR)
Bilgrimage blog

March 22, 2019

By William Lindsey

As I keep reading Frédéric Martel’s In the Closet of the Vatican, I’d like to say more about the theme of corruption I featured in my last commentary about thiss book. I noted, pointing to several important passages in Martel’s book as documentation, that much of the corruption in the Catholic church right now is rooted in the historical matrix of the papacy of St. John Paul the Great. The corruption is rooted quite specifically in the following: while hiding homosexual secrets, the powerful Vatican courtiers surrounding John Paul chose to mount war against the queer community, combating its rights, scapegoating LGBT people — especially for the abuse crisis in the church — and targeting theologians calling for compassionate outreach to queer people.

As I also added in my previous commentary, it’s the corruption of pretend heterosexuality coupled with abominable treatment of queer people — all engineered by homosexual clerics posturing as heterosexual — that’s the very dark heart of the corruption within the Catholic institution. So much of the corruption — real corruption, as in Vatican financial shenanigans, cover-up of clerical sexual abuse, and policies throwing progressive priests in Latin America to murderous wolves — begins with this dark heart of the story.

More needs to be said about the very specific kind of corruption, combining flagrant hypocrisy on the part of homophobic men acting out in homosexual ways with financial malfeasance with gross abuse of fellow human beings who do not belong to the entitled boys’ club that is the Catholic clerical club. It’s, to my way of thinking, a bit too easy to conclude, “Oh, these are men with homosexual secrets who had no choice except to cover up abuse of minors by fellow clerics, lest they themselves be outed as homosexual.” The corruption Martel is describing runs much deeper than that. Here are some key passages documenting the specific kind of corruption with which we’re dealing, especially in the historical matrix of John Paul’s papacy — a matrix that still has enormous influence in many Catholic circles including the governing circles in the Vatican.

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MELBOUNRE (AUSTRALIA)
The New Daily

March 23, 2019

A West Australian priest has been found dead after being alerted that he was under investigation over child sex-abuse allegations.

Catholic priest Father Joseph Tran was found dead, with reports in Western Australia saying he died by his own hand.

“Police commenced an investigation relating to an allegation of child sexual abuse by a priest from a Catholic Church located in the southern suburbs,” a WA police spokesman said.

“During the investigation (on Thursday) the priest was located deceased.”

The Catholic Archbishop of Perth released a statement on Saturday addressing the circumstances.

“This news is heartbreaking for everyone involved,” Archbishop Costelloe said.

The dead priest was allegedly confronted by allegations of sexual abuse of a young teenage girl before his sudden death.

Tran spent 15 years in Whitford, about 24 km north of Perth, leaving in early 2018 to become the parish priest in St Francis Xavier, Armadale.

A parish newsletter marking his departure cited his “fondest memory” as leading 170 young people to 2008’s World Youth Day in Sydney event.

“That was really amazing experience. Many fond memories of the parish will go with me,” Fr Tran said.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

March 23, 2019

A new report lists nearly 400 priests and other Catholic Church officials with Illinois ties who have been the subject of child sex abuse claims, according to the group of lawyers who represent victims and released the study.

Many of the names on the so-called Anderson Report have been revealed before through court documents, criminal charges, media reports and church officials themselves. Some, like Daniel McCormack, have become notorious symbols of the abuse scandal in Chicago. Now defrocked, he pleaded guilty to sexually abusing multiple boys, many from St. Agatha’s Parish on Chicago’s West Side. McCormack served prison time and then last year was designated a sexually violent person so he could continue to be held indefnitely in a state facility.

Here’s a look at just a few of the lesser-known cases highlighted in the new report.

Monk convicted of crime against child in ’68 — and then again in ’94
In 1993, the Rev. Augustine Jones, then a Benedictine monk at Marmion Abbey in Aurora, was accused of having had inappropriate contact with a minor.

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ROME (ITALY)
LaCroix International

March 22, 2019

By Robert Mickens

Pope Francis is now in his seventh year as Bishop of Rome and chief pastor of the Universal Church. His pontificate, which began in March 2013 with such promise and hope, now seems to have been struck a mortal blow by an institutional crisis that looks to be spiraling out of control.

While there are still too many men in the Catholic hierarchy who continue to put their heads in the sand, it can no longer be denied that the phenomenon of clerical sex abuse (and its cover-up) is global in scope.The organizers of last month’s abuse “summit” at the Vatican made it their primary goal to convince all the world’s bishops of this fact.

But let’s be honest, is it really possible that prelates from Africa and Asia (and even Italy!) – where the abuse crisis continues to be downplayed or ignored – could be persuaded in the course of only four days of something that it took decades to drill into the heads of their confreres in places like the United States, Germany, Australia and Ireland?

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QUINCY (IL)
Herald-Whig

Mar. 22, 2019

By Matt Hopf

Twelve priests with local connections have been named in a 182-page report naming 395 Catholic priests and lay people reportedly accused of sexual misconduct in Illinois. Seven of the names already had been released by the Springfield and Peoria dioceses in reports of substantiated claims.

Named in the report are:

º Alvin Campbell, who briefly served at St. John Catholic Church in Quincy in 1952.

º Joseph Cernich, who had been a deacon at St. Mary Catholic Church in Quincy before ordination in 1983.

º Kevin Downey, who worked at Quincy College, now Quincy University, in two different stints from 1983 until 1985 and from 1986 to 1991.

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DENVER (CO)
National Catholic Register

March 23, 2019

By Krista Keil

Catholic bishops from around the world commenced a meeting last month in Rome to address the issue of clergy sexual abuse of minors. In the days leading up to the conference, another layer in this crisis emerged and was acknowledged by Pope Francis: sexual abuse of nuns in Africa by priests.

As an adult female victim of sexual abuse by a Catholic priest — abuse that occurred across international borders — I want to share my story.

In November 2012, I was 22 years old and headed to Tanzania, Africa, to do missionary work for the Catholic Diocese of Geita. On my second day in the country, a Catholic priest attempted to rape me at a diocesan-run hotel and conference center (known as TEC) in the capital of Dar es Salaam (Dar), where I was temporarily staying. After my perpetrator locked us in my hotel room, he eventually fled the scene after I began yelling and let out cries for help.

While there were three priests I was acquainted with that day who had taken me to experience Tanzanian culture and see the city of Dar, only one priest was responsible for the physical assault.

I was shocked, intimidated, confused, jet-lagged and completely alone in a foreign country. I didn’t speak the local language and had no idea how to report the incident to local authorities.

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

March 23, 2019

By Inés San Martín

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Chilean Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati, Archbishop of Santiago, who’s been subpoenaed by a local prosecutor’s office to testify over allegations that he covered up for cases of clerical sexual abuse.

Ezzati’s resignation came on Saturday and was announced by the Vatican’s press office.

To replace him, the pontiff tapped Bishop Celestino Aós Braco, of Copiapó, as Apostolic Administrator “sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis.”

As was the case with the other seven Chilean bishops whose resignations Francis accepted in the past year, the Vatican failed to provide an official explanation for Ezzati’s departure, though it’s widely understood that it has to do not only with his age, as he’s over 75, the mandatory age for bishops to offer their resignation, but also with his role in the country’s massive clerical abuse scandals.

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VICKSBURG (MS)
Vicksburg Post

March 22, 2019

The Catholic Diocese of Jackson took the bold step last week of identifying 37 former clergy members accused of sexually abusing children.

Eleven priests and one deacon who once served in parishes in Warren County were credibly accused of the sexual abuse. Thirty of the 37 were accused of sexual abuse while serving in Mississippi with the investigated cases happening between 1939 and 1998. The other seven worked in the Mississippi diocese but were accused of abuse in other states.

Bishop Joseph Kopacz publicly apologized at a news conference outside a cathedral in downtown Jackson after the diocese published the list on its website as part of the Catholic Church’s international reckoning.

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BRUSSELS (BELGIUM)
Brussels Times

March 23, 2019

The funeral took place in Mechelen on Friday of Cardinal Godfried Danneels, who died last week at the age of 85.

The ceremony in the Sint-Rombouts cathedral was attended by King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, as well as a number of leading politicians and 175 members of the clergy. The funeral was conducted by Cardinal Jozef De Keser, the current head of the church in Belgium.

Cardinal Danneels was “a good shepherd for many years,” who had guided the church through “a turning point for the church and for society,” Cardinal De Keser said in his homily.

“It was not easy to be guide and shepherd at the same time, but he managed it with courage and authority,” he said.

A letter was read out at the service from Pope Francis, who had been elected by a conclave attended by Danneels.

The end of Danneels’ career as head of the church was marked by the scandal of sexual abuse by clergy, which by then had reached as high as the former bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe. His successor as bishop is now Danneels’ successor as primate – Cardinal De Keser. And he took the opportunity of the service to bring up the subject of the scandal.

“When his biography was presented several years ago, he spoke in public for the last time,” De Kesel said. “At that point the church was sorely confronted by sin and weakness within its own ranks. And he said, ‘Where I fell short, I rely on God’s forgiveness’. That is the prayer today of all of us.”

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TAOS (NM)
Taos News

March 22, 2019

By Cody Hooks

The last day to file a claim against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe related to sexual abuse by its clergy will be June 17.

The announcment appeared in the Legal notices of The Taos News March 21 and was posted to the archdiocese’s website.

The “bar date” is part of the Archdiocese bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for New Mexico.

The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in December. It has about $49 million in assets, including about $31.6 million in property, according to the court documents. Under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, the debtor — in this case, the church — comes up with a plan to pay its debts while also continuing to operate.

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FT. WAYNE (IN)
The Journal Gazette

March 23, 2019

By Dave Gong

University of Saint Francis professor Adam DeVille has been writing about sex abuse in the Catholic Church for 27 years.

Now, he’s written a book that examines the structural issues of governance in the church. Specifically, DeVille’s book discusses how current structures, which centralize power with bishops and popes, must be reformed in favor of new structures that put power in the hands of localities.

The book, “Everything Hidden Shall Be Revealed: Ridding the Church of Abuses of Sex and Power,” has been endorsed by various bishops, clergy and theologians in the United States, Europe and Australia, according to a news release from the university.

DeVille’s book was released about a week ago, and so far, he said he’s received some mixed reaction.

DeVille said he anticipates his work will be somewhat controversial.

“I think that it’s going to be a stretch for some people, in some ways, to think about some of these changes, so I expect the reception will be critical in some ways and very controversial,” he said.

“I say, bring it on because we can’t just stick with the status quo.”

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WHEELING (WV)
The Intelligencer

March 23, 2019

By Linda Comins

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston issued a letter Friday to the “faithful of the diocese,” outlining diocesan efforts to ensure a safe environment for children and to deal with any allegations of sexual misconduct.

The letter comes three days after West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey filed a civil suit against the diocese and its retired bishop, the Most Rev. Michael J. Bransfield, for allegedly violating the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act. Morrisey’s 14-page complaint, filed Tuesday in Wood County Circuit Court, seeks to enjoin and restrain the diocese from violating the Consumer Credit and Protection Act and to order Bransfield and the diocese to pay civil penalties for violations of the West Virginia Code.

In the unsigned letter, church officials state, “The diocese will address the litigation in the appropriate forum. However, the diocese strongly and unconditionally rejects the complaint’s assertion that the diocese is not wholly committed to the protection of children, as reflected in its rigorous Safe Environment Program, the foundation of which is a zero tolerance policy for any cleric, employee or volunteer credibly accused of abuse. The program employs mandatory screening, background checks and training for all employees and volunteers who work with children.”

In addition, the officials said, “The diocese also does not believe that the allegations contained in the complaint fairly portray its overall contributions to the education of children in West Virginia nor fairly portray the efforts of its hundreds of employees and clergy who work every day to deliver quality education in West Virginia.”

The “safe environment” mandate was part of a Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People adopted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in June 2002. Church officials said the diocese implemented its own sex abuse policy in the mid-1990s.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

March 23, 2019

By Thomas Reese

Last month’s summit in Rome on child sex abuse did not break new ground for those, like myself, who have been following this crisis for more than 30 years, but it did made clear — again — that the sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church has been devastating for the victims of abuse and for the church as a whole.

There are three parts to the crisis, which I plan to deal with in three successive columns.

First, there is the failure to protect children; second, the failure to hold bishops accountable; and third, the lack of transparency in dealing with the crisis.

Protecting children is a fundamental obligation of any adult, even of those who are not parents. Children are vulnerable and abuse is criminal. It is impossible not to be moved when listening to the horrible stories of survivors of abuse, who can be permanently scarred by the experience.

Abuse occurs in other settings, of course, including schools and in families’ homes, but that fact is no excuse for the church’s poor handling of abuse.

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ALTOONA (PA)
WJAC TV

March 22, 2019

By Crispin Havener

Some are praising the memory of the longest serving bishop in the region’s history for transforming the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. Many others Friday were remembering his record of hiding the child sex abuse scandal inside the church.

It all comes following the death of Bishop Emeritus Joseph Adamec on Wednesday. His “unexpected” death was announced Thursday by the diocese, though no cause was given.

“He was a man at times who would have a focus on something and he was going on it and there were times where he would sit back and say what do you folks think?” said Very Rev. James Crookston, Rector of St. John Gaulbert Cathedral in Johnstown. “He’s been living the life of penance and prayer (since his retirement).”

The diocese’s announcement of his death highlighted what he did to modernize the diocese, through mergers, ministry and bringing everyone together. But he was in charge in 1994 when the Francis Luddy case first cracked the child sex abuse scandal wide open, and has overtaken the diocese, the nation, and the world in the quarter century since.

“My sadness is for the hundreds of child sexual abuse victims of priests, teachers and employees the Diocese Of Altoona-Johnstown, and for their pain and despair, rather than someone in a position of power and respect that enabled and protected child predators,” said Richard Serbin, the lawyer for the victim in the Luddy case who would later bring may cases against the diocese.

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SIOUX FALLS (SD)
KELO TV

March 22, 2019

By Angela Kennecke

A day following the Sioux Falls Catholic Diocese release of a list of names of 11 priests who abused children, KELOLAND Investigates is looking back at the history of the priest sex abuse problem in Sioux Falls.

Our requests for an interview with current Bishop Paul Swain on the release of this list of priest was denied.

In 2002, more than a dozen new cases of accused sexual misconduct surfaced against former Sioux Falls priests. At that time Bishop Robert Carlson did grant KELOLAND News an interview.

Robert Carlson is now an Archbishop of St. Louis where he has been lauded for his transparency when it comes to the church’s dealings with abusive priests. He’s given Missouri’s attorney general access to the church’s policies and procedures.

He reportedly did the same in South Dakota when he was bishop in Sioux Falls after the 2002 sex-abuse crisis.

“I think with the policies we have in place and those we’re going to add, I think we’ll be on top of it and will be handled in a way people will be happy with and at the same time can trust the good priests who are out there, because obviously the reputation of all of us is on the line,” Bishop Robert Carlson said in a KELOLAND News Interview on May 8, 2002.

The Bishop revealed in 2003 that 38 people had accused 16 different priests of sex abuse over the previous 53 years.

In 2014, Carlson testified in a sexual abuse lawsuit in Minnesota. Carlson admitted he didn’t turn Reverend Thomas Adamson in to police after Adamson admitted to him he had abused a child in 1984.

Attorney Jeff Anderson: Archbishop, you knew it was a crime for an adult to engage in sex with a kid?

Carlson: I’m not sure whether I knew it was a crime or not, I understand today it’s a crime.

Carlson’s statement received national attention.

Carlson later went on to say that his statement from the 2014 Minnesota deposition was taken out of context and that he was responding to a specific point of Minnesota mandatory reporting law, not the act of abuse itself when he said, “I’m not sure whether I knew it was a crime or not. I understand today it’s a crime.”

We’ve told you that the list of abusive priests put out by the Sioux Falls Catholic Diocese Thursday had 11 names on it.

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

DALLAS (TX)
Dallas News

March 22, 2019

An Austin priest faces an assault charge after allegedly groping a woman while administering her last rites in the fall, authorities say.

The victim, who suffers with complications from diabetes, was in home hospice care when Langsch was called to perform the religious ceremony, which offers absolution of sins before dying.

It was then that Langsch allegedly applied holy water and lotion to the victim’s chest, massaged her breast and asked, “Does that feel good?” according to the affidavit.

Although the incident took place several months ago, an arrest couldn’t be made until the victim was well enough to identify the priest in a lineup, Austin police told Fox.

The arrest came a month after Langsch’s removal from the Diocese of Austin’s active ministry in February.

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ONTARIO (CANADA)
Blackburn News

March 22, 2019

By Miranda Chant

A former Anglican priest convicted of sexually abusing four boys on the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation 40 years ago has been sentenced to nine years in prison.

David Norton, 72, was found guilty last November of three counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual assault. He was sentenced for his crimes at the London courthouse on Friday.

The nine year sentence delivered by Superior Court Justice Lynda Templeton matched the joint sentencing submission provided by the Crown and the defence earlier this week.

“Both the Crown and I recognized that, that sentence was at the higher range of sentencing,” Norton’s defence lawyer Lakin Afolabi said after the sentencing hearing. “The judge stated that she had to send a message of specific deterrence and general deterrence. She had very strong words for [Norton’s] behaviour and she felt that this sentence meets the ends of justice.”

Norton served as the rector of St. Andrews church on the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation in the 1970s and early 1980s. The abuse took place during that time.

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Patheos blog

March 22, 2019

By Hemant Mehta

According to just released 2018 data from the General Social Survey, “Nones” are now the largest single “religious” demographic in the country (23.1%), statistically tied with Catholics (23.0%) and just above evangelical Christians (22.5%).

While the single data point may not tell you much, look at those trend lines. “No religion” just keeps getting higher and higher, apparently pulling people from mainline Christian denominations and maybe some evangelicals, too.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Celebrity Insider

March 22, 2019

By Suzy Kerr

For more than a decade, the Duggars have been one of the most popular families on reality TV thanks to their fundamentalist lifestyle and uber-conservative beliefs. Counting On fans love to watch the Duggar kids as they start courting, get engaged, and then get married – and that all usually happens in less than a year. But what TLC cameras don’t often capture is what the Duggar men do for a living, and fans are wondering how they make their money.

Of course, TLC pays thousands of dollars per episode to feature the Duggar family on their network every week. But, when you split that money up between the family, it doesn’t go very far. So, the Duggars have their own businesses to create more income and to make ends meet.

Family patriarch Jim Bob started in the real estate game before 19 Kids & Counting debuted, and over the years he has made money acquiring different commercial and rental properties and also by flipping houses. He has taught some of his sons the family business, but many of the men in the family are either in school or working random jobs.

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NEW YORK (NY)
America Magazine

March 21, 2019

Since the summer of 2018, the church has seen three cardinals face specific consequences in connection with sexual abuse. Understanding these already complex cases has been made more difficult by unclear canonical procedures, by decisions reserved to Pope Francis himself and—most vexing—by limited communication from the Vatican about what process is being followed on what timeline.

Taken together, these cases illustrate why accountability for bishops has become a focus of the sexual abuse crisis in the church. Both process and communication need to be improved in order to rebuild trust among the people of God that the church is committed to healing and reform.

A quick review of the cases of the three cardinals suggests the challenges the church faces. With allegations of sexual abuse of a minor found to be credible and substantiated by the Archdiocese of New York, former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was restricted from ministry and dismissed from the College of Cardinals (both decisions made under Pope Francis’ personal authority) very quickly. Even though the criminal statute of limitations had passed, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith conducted a canonical process and he was finally dismissed from the priesthood in early 2019, just before the international summit on preventing sexual abuse in the church began.

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TORNOTO (CANADA)
Global News

March 22, 2019

By Liny Lamberink

A disgraced Anglican priest “forever stained the white collar” that he wore, said the London judge in charge of delivering his second sentencing in under a year.

Norton, a 72-year-old man who is already serving a four-year prison term for sexually abusing a young boy in the ’90s, was sentenced to another nine years behind bars for the sexual abuse of four altar boys at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church in Chippewa of the Thames First Nation decades ago.

Superiour Court Justice Lynda Templeton found Norton guilty on three counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual assault last November, and on Friday said he was a “man divided.”

“Mr. Norton purported to be a man of God,” she told the courtroom, calling his actions in the ’70s and ’80s, a “profound and abhorrent breach of trust.”

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

March 21, 2019

–Fr. Charles Potocki, whose name was included among 17 released by the St. Paul archdiocese in 2014 as part of settlement. The list was of priests with ‘substantiated’ claims of sexual abuse of minors against them. Fr. Potocki worked in Louisiana, Minnesota, Nebraska and Mississippi. He was ordained in 1970, belonged to a religious order called the Order of Friar Minor also known as Franciscan Province of the Sacred Heart (OFM) and died in 1992

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/diocesan_lists/St_Paul_and_Minneapolis/2014_10_23_Disclosures/2014_10_23_Potocki_Downloaded_2014_10_27.pdf

http://bishop-accountability.org/priestdb/PriestDBbylastName-P.html

–Br. Robert B. McGovern, who was named in a 2005 lawsuit alleging child sexual abuse in New Jersey at some point after 1975. He was born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, attended Iona College and Manhattan College, joined the Congregation of Christian Brothers in 1962, and took his final vows in 1969. Fr. McGovern worked at several New York schools (mostly in the Bronx) and at Holy Child School in Mississippi.

In 2011, he was the co-leader of annual Edmund Rice Youth Camp at Brother Rice High School in Chicago. He died in Chicago in 2016.

https://www.andersonadvocates.com/PriestList/382/Father-Robert-B.McGovern.aspx

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2007/07_08/2007_08_17_Abbott_PriestContinues.htm

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/complaints/2006_01_10_Hoatson_v_Egan_Amended_Complaint.htm

http://bishop-accountability.org/priestdb/PriestDBbylastName-M.html

–Fr. Kenneth M. Brigham was a Chicago priest who spent at least a month in Bay St. Louis MS. He retired to Las Vegas in 2005 and died in 2006. Fr. Brigham’s personnel file is one of 30 files of priests ‘credibly accused’ of sexually abusing minors produced by Chicago archdiocese in 2014 and released by plaintiffs’ counsel Jeff Anderson of St. Paul MN.

https://www.andersonadvocates.com/Documents/priest_files/BRIGHAM.pdf

https://www.andersonadvocates.com/Documents/timelines/Brigham%20Kenneth%20final.pdf

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WASHINGTON (DC)
WTOP TV

March 22, 2019

By Neal Augenstein

Rev. Urbano Vazquez has rejected a plea offer from D.C. prosecutors, maintains his innocence and will fight current charges of sexually abusing two children and an adult female parishioner.

In a status hearing, assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Williams told Superior Court Judge Juliet McKenna that Vazquez has turned down a plea offer that would have him plead guilty to reduced charges of one count of 2nd degree child sexual abuse, one count of misdemeanor sexual abuse of a child with aggravating circumstances, and one count of misdemeanor sexual abuse.

Currently, Vazquez faces a statutory maximum of 30 years, 6 months in prison. With the reduced charges, he could have faced up to 11 years, 3 months behind bars.

McKenna asked Vazquez, who was standing next to defense attorney Robert Bonsib, if he was rejecting the offer — Vazquez said yes.

Outside the courtroom, Vazquez’s attorney said: “He maintains his innocence. He will contest the charges at trial,” which was set to begin Aug. 5.

As WTOP first reported, a 9-year-old girl told police Vazquez had kissed her on the mouth and inappropriately touched her approximately 60 times in 2017.

After Vazquez’s arrest was reported, he was charged with two more crimes, involving another minor, and an adult woman.

Prosecutors have said in addition to the three victims Vazquez has been charged with abusing, three other victims — two minors and an adult — had accused him, but the statute of limitations had expired.

The plea offer extended by prosecutors would have precluded other charges involving the six alleged victims.

It’s unclear whether prosecutors intend to charge Vazquez with assaulting other victims. Williams told the judge he expects Vazquez will be indicted on the current charges by early May.

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WHEELING (WV)
West Virginia Public Broadcasting

March 22, 2019

By Glynis Board

West Virginia’s attorney general is suing the state’s Catholic Church. The lawsuit filed this week claims the church knowingly employed pedophiles in schools and camps without informing parents.

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey says the state is stepping in because the church violated the state’s Consumer Credit and Protection Act when it failed to disclose important information to families paying for educational services.

“We allege that the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese persisted in covering up and keeping secret the criminal behavior of priests related to sexual abuse of children,” Morrisey said during a press conference.

Investigations into the Catholic Church exist in more than a dozen other states, many suits drawing criminal charges in specific abuse cases.

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LEXINGTON (KY)
Herald Leader

March 22, 2019

By John Cheves and Daniel Desrochers

As attorney general and as a gubernatorial candidate this year, one of Democrat Andy Beshear’s biggest issues has been protecting Kentucky children, particularly from sexual predators. Beshear frequently touts his record of hammering on pedophiles and child-porn offenders.

“Whether it’s been years or whether it’s just been days, let us seek justice for you,” Beshear said as he proposed legislation last year to allow him to convene a statewide grand jury to investigate sexual abuse of children in the Catholic church. “That’s how we stop this activity from occurring again and make sure we try to build the type of commonwealth where no child and no person is ever harmed.”

But Beshear sang a different tune six years earlier in Paducah.

Then, as a lawyer in the firm of Stites & Harbison, Beshear successfully defended the Boy Scouts of America from two lawsuits filed by men who said they were sexually molested by their scoutmaster when they were minors in the 1970s. The men — with some evidence, including a 1979 letter — said Scout officials knew at the time of their scoutmaster’s predatory behavior but failed to stop it.

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[Rape in the Cathedral: accused priest Tito Rivera testifies in Rancagua]

CHILE
BioBioChile

March 22, 2019

By Alberto González, Roberto Rojas, and Jorge Molina Sanhueza

Por cerca de 6 horas declaró en calidad de imputado el sacerdote Tito Rivera, acusado por abuso y violación en la Catedral de Santiago. El religioso llegó este jueves hasta la Fiscalía de Rancagua acompañado de su abogada, María Pinto, en una diligencia que se realizó antes de su formalización programada para el próximo 29 de marzo en Santiago.

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[“We went to denounce the abuses and the director threw us out of the office”]

MADRID (SPAIN)
El País

March 22, 2019

By Iñigo Domínguez

Una cuarta víctima en el colegio de los jesuitas en Gijón acusa a un sacerdote en los años noventa, que fue apartado en 2001 por hacer fotos de niñas en el centro

Los jesuitas del colegio la Inmaculada de Gijón apartaron en 2001 a uno de sus profesores religiosos, Cándido Alonso, tras recibir quejas de familias de alumnos por su comportamiento con menores y porque, admiten ahora, ya en los años noventa se había registrado otra protesta similar de una familia. En concreto, ha explicado la orden, tomaba fotografías de las niñas en el patio. Portavoces de la Compañía de Jesús han reconocido que durante una década no se tomaron medidas contra este religioso. Tras hallar esta información “en los archivos”, han confirmado los datos a EL PAÍS, que ha encontrado una mujer que acusa de abusos a este jesuita, fallecido en 2013. Se trata del cuarto caso de presuntos abusos en este colegio, protagonista de un nuevo escándalo desde hace diez días tras varias noticias aparecidas en la prensa local.

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[Toledo archbishop dismisses priest accused of abuse more than a year after victim wrote to Pope]

MADRID (SPAIN)
El País

March 22, 2019

By Julio Núñez

La joven puso una querella judicial en 2017 y la envió al Vaticano. Un año y medio después, la justicia tomará declaración al acusado.

El arzobispado de Toledo ha apartado a un sacerdote imputado por abusar sexualmente de una menor entre 2010 y 2013. Después de denunciar los hechos ante la justicia civil en octubre de 2017, la supuesta víctima escribió una carta al papa Francisco y otra al cardenal Luis Ladaria, prefecto de la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe, y adjuntó una copia de la querella. El obispado abrió un proceso canónico contra dicho clérigo, José Luis Galán Muñoz, aunque no ha precisado la fecha concreta y cuándo tomó las medidas cautelares. En junio de 2018, el vicario general de la diócesis tomó declaración a la supuesta víctima. La justicia ha tardado dos años y cuatro meses en llamar a declarar a la joven, ahora de 22 años, y espera escuchar al acusado este viernes. Después, la jueza decidirá si abre o no un juicio penal.

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[Toledo archbishop dismisses priest accused of abuse more than a year after victim wrote to Pope]

MADRID (SPAIN)
El País

March 22, 2019

By Julio Núñez

La joven puso una querella judicial en 2017 y la envió al Vaticano. Un año y medio después, la justicia tomará declaración al acusado.

El arzobispado de Toledo ha apartado a un sacerdote imputado por abusar sexualmente de una menor entre 2010 y 2013. Después de denunciar los hechos ante la justicia civil en octubre de 2017, la supuesta víctima escribió una carta al papa Francisco y otra al cardenal Luis Ladaria, prefecto de la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe, y adjuntó una copia de la querella. El obispado abrió un proceso canónico contra dicho clérigo, José Luis Galán Muñoz, aunque no ha precisado la fecha concreta y cuándo tomó las medidas cautelares. En junio de 2018, el vicario general de la diócesis tomó declaración a la supuesta víctima. La justicia ha tardado dos años y cuatro meses en llamar a declarar a la joven, ahora de 22 años, y espera escuchar al acusado este viernes. Después, la jueza decidirá si abre o no un juicio penal.

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PUNTA CANA (DOMINICAN REPUBLIC)
NBC News

March 22, 2019

By Evelyn Gruber and Nicole Acevedo and Corky Siemaszko

A former Roman Catholic priest who was defrocked and convicted of molesting two boys in New Jersey has found a new vocation in a new location — teaching children English at a private school in this resort town. The former priest, Hadmels DeFrias, 47, told the NBC News reporter who tracked him down that he is no longer a threat to minors and also claimed to be a bishop in the “progressive Celtic church. “I don’t see the children with those eyes anymore,” DeFrias said in an extensive interview outside the Colegio del Caribe school in Punta Cana, where he watched over dozens of young boys and girls while shielding himself from the sun with an umbrella.”For me they are children and they need to be treated like children because that is what they are,” he said. “I don’t feel the attraction. I am not telling you that maybe someday it won’t be there, because I can’t predict the future.”As a priest, DeFrias, who is originally from the Dominican Republic, was assigned to the St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Elizabeth, New Jersey, when he was accused of fondling two brothers, both under 14, in 2001 and 2002 while the brothers were working in the church rectory, according to court records and published reports. Charged with criminal sexual contact, DeFrias pleaded guilty in August 2004 and was sentenced to three years of probation, court records show. As part of his sentencing agreement, he was barred indefinitely from any future contact with children under 18 in the state of New Jersey. After being contacted by NBC News, the Union County Prosecutor’s Office in New Jersey issued a statement disapproving of DeFrias’ position working with children.”It is deeply concerning to hear that a defendant prosecuted, convicted and sentenced here for criminal sexual contact with children has resurfaced overseas, apparently with supervisory capacity over children,” the office said. “We would urge anyone in any jurisdiction to be vigilant and immediately report allegations of such conduct to local authorities.”NBC News has reached out to both the Dominican Republic educational officials and the school where DeFrias is employed to find out if they were aware of his criminal past. So far, neither has responded. In the interview, DeFrias expressed regret for assaulting the brothers but insisted that his urges are under control and that he has been in therapy for a decade. He said he told school officials about his criminal past before they hired him, even though he claims he didn’t need to “inform them.”

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PUNTA CANA (DOMINICAN REPUBLIC)
NBC News

March 22, 2019

By Evelyn Gruber and Nicole Acevedo and Corky Siemaszko

A former Roman Catholic priest who was defrocked and convicted of molesting two boys in New Jersey has found a new vocation in a new location — teaching children English at a private school in this resort town. The former priest, Hadmels DeFrias, 47, told the NBC News reporter who tracked him down that he is no longer a threat to minors and also claimed to be a bishop in the “progressive Celtic church. “I don’t see the children with those eyes anymore,” DeFrias said in an extensive interview outside the Colegio del Caribe school in Punta Cana, where he watched over dozens of young boys and girls while shielding himself from the sun with an umbrella.”For me they are children and they need to be treated like children because that is what they are,” he said. “I don’t feel the attraction. I am not telling you that maybe someday it won’t be there, because I can’t predict the future.”As a priest, DeFrias, who is originally from the Dominican Republic, was assigned to the St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Elizabeth, New Jersey, when he was accused of fondling two brothers, both under 14, in 2001 and 2002 while the brothers were working in the church rectory, according to court records and published reports. Charged with criminal sexual contact, DeFrias pleaded guilty in August 2004 and was sentenced to three years of probation, court records show. As part of his sentencing agreement, he was barred indefinitely from any future contact with children under 18 in the state of New Jersey. After being contacted by NBC News, the Union County Prosecutor’s Office in New Jersey issued a statement disapproving of DeFrias’ position working with children.”It is deeply concerning to hear that a defendant prosecuted, convicted and sentenced here for criminal sexual contact with children has resurfaced overseas, apparently with supervisory capacity over children,” the office said. “We would urge anyone in any jurisdiction to be vigilant and immediately report allegations of such conduct to local authorities.”NBC News has reached out to both the Dominican Republic educational officials and the school where DeFrias is employed to find out if they were aware of his criminal past. So far, neither has responded. In the interview, DeFrias expressed regret for assaulting the brothers but insisted that his urges are under control and that he has been in therapy for a decade. He said he told school officials about his criminal past before they hired him, even though he claims he didn’t need to “inform them.”

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WEST VIRGINIA
WV Public Broadcasting

March 22, 2019

By Glynis Board

West Virginia’s attorney general is suing the state’s Catholic Church. The lawsuit filed this week claims the church knowingly employed pedophiles in schools and camps without informing parents.

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey says the state is stepping in because the church violated the state’s Consumer Credit and Protection Act when it failed to disclose important information to families paying for educational services.

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

WEST VIRGINIA
WV Public Broadcasting

March 22, 2019

By Glynis Board

West Virginia’s attorney general is suing the state’s Catholic Church. The lawsuit filed this week claims the church knowingly employed pedophiles in schools and camps without informing parents.

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey says the state is stepping in because the church violated the state’s Consumer Credit and Protection Act when it failed to disclose important information to families paying for educational services.

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

JACKSON (MS)
WLBT TV

March 22, 2019

By Nick Ducote

On Tuesday March 19th, the Jackson diocese released the names of 37 former priests and church leaders accused of sexually abusing children.

Two days later, local members of the group SNAP, or “Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests,” say that four names were omitted from the list of credibly accused priests.

Mark Belenchia, SNAP Mississippi coordinator, says the four men omitted from that list were publicly accused of abusing children.

“They were in the diocese at some point in some capacity. I’m not sure what those capacities were, some were here longer than others. But they spent time here in Mississippi. Not having a complete list of credibly accused clergy puts children in Mississippi in harms way,” said Belenchia.

Belenchia and a small group of people stood outside the diocese, and the cathedral of St. Peter with a sign with the 4 men’s classification and their last names. When the group looked them up the andersonadvocates.com, the website gives a full brief of the accused priest.

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JACKSON (MS)
WLBT TV

March 22, 2019

By Nick Ducote

On Tuesday March 19th, the Jackson diocese released the names of 37 former priests and church leaders accused of sexually abusing children.

Two days later, local members of the group SNAP, or “Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests,” say that four names were omitted from the list of credibly accused priests.

Mark Belenchia, SNAP Mississippi coordinator, says the four men omitted from that list were publicly accused of abusing children.

“They were in the diocese at some point in some capacity. I’m not sure what those capacities were, some were here longer than others. But they spent time here in Mississippi. Not having a complete list of credibly accused clergy puts children in Mississippi in harms way,” said Belenchia.

Belenchia and a small group of people stood outside the diocese, and the cathedral of St. Peter with a sign with the 4 men’s classification and their last names. When the group looked them up the andersonadvocates.com, the website gives a full brief of the accused priest.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

March 21, 2019

The all-but-impregnable wall of power and influence that for decades blocked victims of child sex abuse from seeking justice and compensation from pedophiles and their enablers has started to crumble — not a moment too soon. Stunned by revelations in Pennsylvania and elsewhere documenting the scale of abuse by priests given cover by the Catholic Church, state lawmakers are starting to tear up laws that set strict limits on the number of years that victims are given to bring lawsuits.

Until now, the church, along with insurance companies and a few other private organizations, including the Boy Scouts of America, has had the lobbying muscle to impede such measures, especially in states with sizable populations of practicing Catholics. In New York, for instance, people molested as children by pedophiles had until age 23 to press criminal charges or file civil lawsuits against their abusers. Repeated efforts to loosen that law were blocked by Republicans in the state Senate.

The dam of opposition to reform in Albany broke after Democrats took control of the upper house in last fall’s elections. In January, the church dropped its long-standing opposition to a more open system — allowing criminal charges until childhood victims turn 28 and civil suits until they turn 55 — when lawmakers agreed to apply the new law to public schools, as well as private entities such as the church. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the legislation into law last month.

A similar bill has advanced in New Jersey; a push for reform is underway in Pennsylvania.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

March 21, 2019

The all-but-impregnable wall of power and influence that for decades blocked victims of child sex abuse from seeking justice and compensation from pedophiles and their enablers has started to crumble — not a moment too soon. Stunned by revelations in Pennsylvania and elsewhere documenting the scale of abuse by priests given cover by the Catholic Church, state lawmakers are starting to tear up laws that set strict limits on the number of years that victims are given to bring lawsuits.

Until now, the church, along with insurance companies and a few other private organizations, including the Boy Scouts of America, has had the lobbying muscle to impede such measures, especially in states with sizable populations of practicing Catholics. In New York, for instance, people molested as children by pedophiles had until age 23 to press criminal charges or file civil lawsuits against their abusers. Repeated efforts to loosen that law were blocked by Republicans in the state Senate.

The dam of opposition to reform in Albany broke after Democrats took control of the upper house in last fall’s elections. In January, the church dropped its long-standing opposition to a more open system — allowing criminal charges until childhood victims turn 28 and civil suits until they turn 55 — when lawmakers agreed to apply the new law to public schools, as well as private entities such as the church. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the legislation into law last month.

A similar bill has advanced in New Jersey; a push for reform is underway in Pennsylvania.

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

WHEELING (WV)
WTRF TV

March 21, 2019

It has been two days since West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced his suit against the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston and people are continuing to react.

Thursday afternoon, people from Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) rallied together today in front of the Cathedral in Wheeling in support of the lawsuit.

SNAP leader Judy Jones said that they hope that this lawsuit helps dictate the future of other Diocese investigations in every state.

“We are hoping is that what the Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has done here is going to prod other Attorney Generals in other states to do the same thing,” said Jones.

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WHEELING (WV)
WTRF TV

March 21, 2019

It has been two days since West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced his suit against the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston and people are continuing to react.

Thursday afternoon, people from Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) rallied together today in front of the Cathedral in Wheeling in support of the lawsuit.

SNAP leader Judy Jones said that they hope that this lawsuit helps dictate the future of other Diocese investigations in every state.

“We are hoping is that what the Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has done here is going to prod other Attorney Generals in other states to do the same thing,” said Jones.

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BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

March 21, 2019

The Movement to Restore Trust is a panel of influential local Catholics working to suggest reforms to the church in Buffalo in the aftermath of the sexual abuse scandal that opened wounds in the diocese.

The panel, after convening six different work groups that each came up with its own recommendations, this month delivered a report with nine key recommendations for the Buffalo Diocese. They deserve to be implemented.

The nine points urge the diocese to: work with the laity to restore trust; make changes voluntarily; address the needs of survivors for support; provide full transparency into the scale of the sexual abuse; ensure “the faithful” are central to the church’s organizational structures; delegate more authority to consultative bodies in the diocese; schedule periodic reviews of implementation; engage the leadership roundtable and “revive the Spirit of Vatican II.”

Bishop Richard J. Malone would do well to see that all nine are implemented. The Vatican II ideal, according to the Movement to Restore Trust website, is that “the Church is not simply the clergy, it is not simply the hierarchy, and it is not just the Vatican or the Chancery; the Church is the people of God.”

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DUPAGE COUNTY (IL)
Suburban Life

March 20, 2019

By Sherri Dauskurdas

Three hundred ninety-five Catholic members of clergy, publicly accused of childhood sexual abuse, have been named this week in a report that highlights their Illinois service histories, allegations of abuse, history of their subsequent transfers and any disciplinary action taken by both church and authorities.

A Bannockburn-based law firm specializing in cases involving clergy abuse released the list March 20. Within it are the names and photos of the nearly 400 members of clergy who have been publicly accused in the State of Illinois of abusing one or more children. All were either accused in a public forum or a settlement was reached between the church and the victims/families, according to representatives from the firm of Jeff Anderson & Associates.

Names, photos and locations where clergy served through the years of their duties all are included in the report. They are associated or were associated with the Diocese of Chicago, Joliet, Belleville, Peoria, Springfield and Rockford.

The Diocese of Joliet listing includes 43 alleged child abusers, 33 of whom worked for periods of time in DuPage County churches and schools.

Among them are:

Fr. John F. Barret, who served 1960-2011 at St. Peter and Paul in Naperville, Notre Dame in Clarendon Hills, St. Alexander in Villa Park, and Mary Queen of Heaven in Elmhurst.

Fr. Richard L. Bennett who served from 1976-1986 at St. Pius X in Lombard, St. Raphael in Naperville, St. Mary in Downers Grove, Catholic Community of Wheatland, and Holy Spirit Catholic Community Church in Naperville

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