ABUSE TRACKER

ALBANY (NY)
Albany Times-Union

October 19, 2019

Recently, we shared with Paul Grondahl our story of child sexual violation and trauma by Francis P. Melfe, a pastor employed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany. We made the difficult decision to use our real names, and share intimate details of our abuse, because we wanted to openly acknowledge the trauma and pain that keeps so many silent — and had kept us silent.

Our family’s mission from the start has been truth and accountability. By breaking our silence, we hope to change the future for generations ahead. We have confidence in the spirit of justice established by the state’s Child Victims Act and the early messages of support from the church recognizing their failures in protecting children.

We are humbled, strengthened, and grateful for the care, interest and support from our communities. We wish this for all survivors. Survivors need empathy, compassion and kindness as they step into the light of truth and justice. For many, their journey has been long and painful. Research has shown that most child sexual abuse survivors tell their story for the first time between the ages of 45-65.

We must do better to create safe spaces for survivors to tell their stories, access resources and help communities learn how to prevent, treat and mitigate child sexual abuse. Our community has an unprecedented opportunity to learn from survivors how to best keep children safe, healthy and happy within institutions charged with their care.

Robert Steve, Sandra Sculli, JoAnn Stevelos, John Steve and David Melfe
Albany

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LANSING (MI)
Associated Press

October 18, 2019

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Lansing says an independent investigator determined that the diocese failed to investigate allegations that a priest had sexually assaulted a man at a boxing training camp decades ago.

The diocese on Thursday released the findings of an independent investigation conducted by a law firm it hired to look into the matter.

The investigators say the man sent the Rev. Pat Egan a letter in 1990 saying Egan had sexually assaulted him the previous year, when the accuser was about 25 years old. They say the diocese learned of the accusation in 1990 but didn’t investigate because the accuser wasn’t a minor at the time he said he was assaulted.

The Lansing State Journal reports that Egan was also accused of sexual assault in 2014. After an investigation, the diocese revoked Egan’s priestly facilities and extern status last year.

Bishop Earl Boyea says he’s “deeply sorry” the diocese’s past failure.

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PARMER COUNTY (TX)
KFDA-TV

October 18, 2019

By Arianna Martinez

[VIDEO]

The trial of Peter Mukekhe Wafula, a former priest accused of sexual abuse of a minor, continued today with more witness testimonies.

The courtroom heard from six witnesses today and watched a video of the original statement from the child.

The video also showed the child praying as the examiner stepped out of the room.

Three of today’s witnesses were friends of the child who said he wouldn’t make something like this up.

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SAN DIEGO (CA)
NBC -TV San Diego

October 18, 2019

By Alexis Rivas

[VIDEO]

Cathie Ray says she can still feel her priest’s tongue in her ear, licking her neck, while she helped him organize his stamp collection at the rectory.

“He would try to kiss me while rubbing his hands all over my body,” recalls Ray.

She was 9-years-old when she says he started molesting her – a ritual that would continue roughly twice a month for years.

Her parents would drop her off at the rectory, at the priest’s request, on Saturdays. Ray says the priest liked to pick her up and sit her on his lap, bouncing her against him until she could feel an erection.

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SIOUX XITY (IA)
nwestiowa.com

October 19, 2019

By Mark Mahoney

A Catholic priest with N’West Iowa ties who died in May has been accused of sexual abuse.

In a 13-page civil complaint filed on Wednesday, Oct. 9, in Woodbury County District Court in Sioux City against the Diocese of Sioux City, 60-year-old Samuel Heinrichs accused the Rev. Dale Koster of physically and sexually abusing him when he was about 10 years old.

According to the lawsuit, Koster’s alleged sexual abuse of Heinrichs started in 1968 and continued through at least 1970, and it happened inside the school and rectory office of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church northwest of Carroll.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Tribune-Review

October 20, 2019

The Greensburg Catholic Diocese announced Thursday the amount of money paid out of a compensation fund for victims of clergy child sexual abuse.

The local totals came to $4.35 million distributed among 57 adults. That breaks down to an average of $76,315.

That’s a significant amount of money. It’s more than the U.S. Census Bureau pegs the Westmoreland County median household income of $56,702. It’s enough to buy a starter home or put a down payment on something bigger.

But does it heal wounds? Does it buy trust? Does it fix what has been broken?

That’s hard for anyone other than the victims to say, and there are a lot of them out there. The statewide grand jury report released in August 2018 detailed 70 years of abuse by 301 priests.

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DULUTH (WI)
Forum News Service via West Central Tribune

October 18, 2019

By Tom Olson

A judge on Monday will be asked to sign off on the plan, which has received overwhelming support from abuse survivors.

Nearly four years after filing for bankruptcy, the Diocese of Duluth will go before a judge Monday, Oct. 21, for final confirmation of a reorganization plan that would provide approximately $40 million in compensation to victims of child sexual abuse.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel will review the proposed settlement at an 11 a.m. hearing at the federal courthouse in Duluth. If he signs off, up to 125 survivors who filed claims could soon begin receiving payments and the diocese would finally emerge from bankruptcy protection.

The diocese voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2015 in the wake of a $4.9 million jury verdict. That award came in the first lawsuit in the state to go to trial under the Minnesota Child Victims Act, which opened a three-year window for victims of decades-old abuse cases to file suit. An onslaught of claims followed in the bankruptcy process.

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SAN DIEGO (CA)
Yahoo News

Days after Governor Gavin Newsom signed a new law aimed at child sex abuse, three San Diego women came forward to announce a lawsuit against the Diocese of San Diego.

[VIDEO]

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SACRAMENTO (CA)
Associated Press via KUSI-TV

[VIDEO]

October 18, 2019

A new California law approved by Gov. Gavin Newsom will open the door to more civil lawsuits from the survivors of child sex abuse.

Three women who say they were abused by a Catholic priest in San Diego are using that law to take legal action.

This is newly possible because the law that Gov. Gavin Newsom approved on Sunday gives victims of childhood sexual abuse until age 40, up from age 26, to file lawsuits. It also gives victims of all ages three years to sue, starting Jan. 1.

More than 400 lawsuits were filed in New York state in August on just the first day that state opened a one-year window for victims to sue. New York and New Jersey this year both raised their statutes of limitations to age 55, with New Jersey’s law taking effect in December.

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DURANGO (CO)
Durango Herald

October 19, 2019

By Mathew Schmalz, College of the Holy Cross

After the sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church, there is a worldwide push to end the guarantee of secrecy of confession – called “the seal of the confessional.”

On Sept. 11, 2019, two Australian states, Victoria and Tasmania, passed bills requiring priests to report any child abuse revealed in the confessional.

Australia has been at the center of the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse crisis. In December 2018, influential Australian Cardinal George Pell was convicted of sexually abusing an altar boy.

Australian bishops have, however, made it clear that the seal of confession is “sacred,” regardless of the sin confessed. With regard to Tasmania’s new law, Archbishop Julian Porteous argued that removing confession’s protection of confidentiality would stop pedophiles from coming forward. That would prevent priests from encouraging them to surrender to authorities.

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BALLINASLOE (IRELAND)
Courthouse News

October 18, 2019

By Cain Burdeau

His first memory finds him walking for the first time beyond the walls of the big gray building where he’d been locked up since birth. He’s 4½ years old. He had never seen an automobile. He had never seen a dog.

“I remember that as if it was yesterday,” says Peter Mulryan, now in his mid-70s, reflecting on the first part of his life cruelly stolen from him by the circumstances of his birth: He came into the world born out of wedlock in an Ireland ruled by a repressive Roman Catholic Church. “My first memory is the day I was taken out of there when the gates opened.”

The gates that opened on a January day in 1949 were those of the St. Mary’s Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, an institution run by Catholic nuns in western Ireland’s County Galway where unmarried women and their children were housed in harsh conditions between 1925 and 1961. The home in Tuam is now the focus of a government inquiry looking into the deaths of hundreds of children whose bodies were likely buried in a sewage tank at the back of the building.

Outside the gates, an ambulance waited to take him to a new life: But it was going to be a harsh, cruel and twisted life.

“I’d never seen a vehicle before that,” he says, sitting at a table in the kitchen of his home, telling in detail the story of his life in an interview with Courthouse News.

All this is still new to him. He’s begun telling strangers about his life only in the past few years, ever since he joined a movement of people talking out against horrors inflicted upon them for being the children of unmarried women in Ireland.

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ROCKVILLE CENTRE (NY)
News 12

October 18, 2019

The Diocese of Rockville Centre has publicly named a priest accused of sexually abusing a child more than 35 years ago.

A woman, known only as Jane Doe, settled a lawsuit against Fr. Joseph D. Casaclang with the diocese. She claims that she was between the ages of 10-13 when she was a parishioner of St. Joseph’s Parish in Kings Park. According to the suit, Father Casaclang visited the family and sexually abuse the girl at her family’s home.

The alleged abuse occurred between 1979 and 1982.

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BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

October 18, 2019

By Mike McAndrew

The Child Victims Act is unconstitutional, and a decades-old childhood sexual abuse case filed under the new law should be dismissed, a Catholic religious order is asserting.

The Province of St. Anthony of Padua of the Conventual Franciscans and related entities have asked a State Supreme Court judge to dismiss a lawsuit accusing the Rev. Mark Andrzejczuk of sexually abusing a female student in the 1970s at Cardinal O’Hara High School in Tonawanda.

Attorney Dennis Vacco, who represents the Franciscan order, also said in court papers that the lawsuit should be tossed because the plaintiff waited too long to sue.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Washington Post

October 17, 2019

By Hannah Knowles

Pope Francis has made waves as a modernizer of the Roman Catholic Church as he signals new openness to divorced worshipers and considers loosening celibacy requirements for priests.

This week, the Vatican turned heads with another nod to changing times: a wearable “Click to Pray eRosary” complete with a smartphone app, the religious organization’s latest attempt to connect with young people.

Made of 10 dark beads and a “smart cross” to store data, the $110 rosary, which can be worn as a bracelet, syncs up with what Vatican News calls “the official prayer app of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network.”

After activating the device by making the sign of the cross, users can then choose to pray a standard rosary, a contemplative one or different kinds of thematic rosaries that will be updated every year, Vatican News said. The smart rosary keeps track of the user’s progress.

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SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
KUTV

October 16, 2019

By Cristina Flores

Kristy Johnson, now a resident of Utah, is preparing to sue The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints under a newly-passed California law designed to help adults who were sexually assaulted as children.

California Assembly Bill 218 becomes law in 2020.

Unlike Utah law, which allows adults who were victimized as children to sue perpetrators as individuals, the California law also allows victims to sue entities and institutions that covered up the sexual assault or allowed it to happen when they had the power to stop it.

“These places that have purposely covered up, I don’t care who you are, it’s time to pay the price for that,” Johnson said.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic Herald

October 18, 2019

By Ed Condon/CNA

A man claiming to be a former child victim of McCarrick says the ex-cardinal sexually abused a series of minors

A man claiming to be a former child victim of Theodore McCarrick has written an open essay in response to a recent interview given by the former cardinal. Writing under the name Nathan Doe, the man says that McCarrick sexually abused a series of minors during his years as a cleric.

Media reports have detailed a string of allegations made against McCarrick since the announcement of a Vatican investigation in June 2018. Those reports have referred to McCarrick’s alleged victims as including eight former seminarians and three minors.

“The ‘third’ accuser they were referring to in those news articles was me,” Doe said.

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FRANCE
NPR

October 17, 2019

By Andrew Lapin

In the opening scenes of the new French drama By The Grace Of God, we see a Catholic family man named Alexandre (Melvil Poupaud) taking his wife and five kids to church. He’s happy, excited to share his faith with his family. In voiceover, though, we hear him say he’d been molested repeatedly by his priest thirty years prior. What’s more, he’s recently learned the priest has returned to the area, and is again in close contact with children.

This is something new in our growing canon of films about institutionalized sexual abuse: a survivor who isn’t being filtered through the lens of some neutral character, and who’s able to live a well-adjusted life many years after the fact, despite living in an environment filled with the trauma of that time. Later in the movie, we’ll meet other men who had been abused by the same priest, and they haven’t always fared as well. They’ve suffered deep emotional scars, and they want some kind of retribution. Finding it won’t be easy.

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DENVER (CO)
KDVR

October 16, 2019

By Joe St. George

Rev. Ryan O’Neill, vocations director for the Archdiocese of Denver, is responsible for every new priest that joins the seminary.

“That’s something I definitely take seriously,” O’Neill said.

Ahead of a new Colorado Catholic Church report set to be released by the Attorney General’s Office in the new few weeks, O’Neill sat down with FOX31 to discuss how the archdiocese works to keep abusers out of the church.

“Are you confident that the young men studying to be priests in this seminary are good guys?” FOX31 reporter Joe St. George asked.

“I am,” O’Neill said.

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CANADA
Glacier Media

October 17, 2019

By Jeremy Hainsworth

“He was molesting people,” archbishop says of priest

Kamloops Roman Catholic Archdiocese officials knew of the sexual activities of a priest before a schoolteacher reported her abuse at the man’s hands in 1977, the former bishop told B.C. Supreme Court Oct. 17.

“He was misbehaving,” testified Adam Exner, later archbishop of Winnipeg and Vancouver. “He was a playboy.”

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NEW YORK (NY)
Catholic News Service

October 17, 2019

The New York Archdiocese has placed four of its priests — three pastors and the director of priest personnel — on administrative leave following an allegation of abuse with minors dating back several decades.

The three pastors are Msgr. Edward Barry of Holy Rosary Parish in Hawthorne, Father William Luciano of Blessed Sacrament Parish in New Rochelle and Msgr. James White of St. Vito-Most Holy Trinity Parish in Mamaroneck. The fourth priest is Msgr. Edward Weber, director of the archdiocesan Priest Personnel Office. Their ministries have been temporarily restricted.

“As is our practice, we reported this to the District Attorney’s Office,” New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan said in letters sent to the three parishes Oct. 3. “The archdiocese will now follow its policy and protocols, which include having outside independent investigators look into and assess the allegation, before presenting it to our independent Lay Review Board.

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NEW HAVEN (CT)
New Haven Register

Oct. 19, 2019

By Steven R. Wilf

Where is the community in the Rabbi Daniel Greer child-rape case? Greer was convicted on four charges pertaining to risk of injury to a minor. According to testimony, Greer repeatedly engaged in sex with Eliyahu Mirlis, a student in his New Haven school, and propositioned with offensive touching another student. The abuse began when Mirlis was 14 years old. Even more devastating was the 2017 civil trial where Greer was found liable with a $15 million judgment for these actions. In the civil case, evidence was presented that Greer abused another student over a period of years.

As in most criminal trials, the focus was largely on the perpetrator and the victim. Yet the Jewish community loomed unexpectedly large. Was it an enabler that provided the cultural fabric to allow the sexual abuse to proceed? Did the particular fraught power dynamic between rabbi and student impede reporting by the victim? And was the tightly knit character of Orthodox Jewish communities critical in allowing the years of sexual exploitation to occur without being detected?

Expert testimony by forensic psychologist Gavriel Fagan did as much to exoticize the Orthodox Jewish community as it did to make its world more transparent. The question that loomed over the trial was why Mirlis did not report the sexual abuse earlier and why he maintained contact with Greer after his marriage — and even honored him at his son’s circumcision. Much was made of the charismatic authority of rabbis, religious sexual repression and the Orthodox Jewish insistence upon remaining isolated from the outside world.

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AMARILLO (TX)
KFDA TV

Oct. 17, 2019

By Arianna Martinez and Kaitlin Johnson

The trial of Peter Mukekhe Wafula, a former priest accused of sexual abuse of a minor, began today with opening statements and testimonies from several witnesses.

Wafula served in Hereford, Friona and Bovina before he was removed from the ministry in 2018.

The courtroom heard from several witnesses today, including some priests who work at the churches Wafula provided ministry to.

The first witness, Father Nestor Lara who works at San Jose Church in Hereford, spoke about a conversation he witnessed between Father Ramon Molina Mora, Wafula and the child’s family.

He described Able De La Cruz Jr., the child involved in the case, as scared and crying during the conversation.

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TORONTO (CANADA)
Global News

Oct. 17, 2019

By Katie Scott

Corey Feldman is celebrating a new California law that gives victims of childhood sexual abuse more time to sue their abusers.

“It was a great day,” Feldman told Radar after Gov. Gavin Newsom approved the law on Sunday.

The law gives victims until age 40, up from age 26, to file lawsuits. It also gives victims of all ages three years to sue, starting Jan. 1.

“The most important part is it creates a three-year lookback window. For the next three years, people are able to bring cases forward that happened prior to 2017,” Feldman told the outlet.

Feldman has publicly stated that he was a victim of sexual abuse as a child.

“I’m able to bring my abusers to justice” thanks to the law, he said. “I can take them to court. I can at least get a civil trial going.”

Feldman filed a report with Los Angeles police in early November 2017 after publicly naming some of his alleged abusers while appearing on The Dr. Oz Show.

The LAPD previously said that it dropped its investigation into Feldman’s claims that a pedophile ring had been victimizing young actors in Hollywood because too much time had passed since the alleged incidents.

“They’re going to have to listen now,” Feldman said to Radar. “They can’t say this is beyond the statue. Now they can’t say that anymore.”

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HYANNIS (MA)
Cape Cod Times

Oct. 17, 2019

By Cynthia McCormick

When Sacha Pfeiffer broke the story about the Catholic Church’s cover-up of clergy sex abuse as part of The Boston Globe’s investigative Spotlight team, silence was an enemy.

Church officials stonewalled reporters seeking answers, Pfeiffer said during a keynote talk with WCAI’s Mindy Todd Thursday as part of this year’s annual Champions for Children conference sponsored by Children’s Cove.

At one point, a spokeswoman for the church said officials would not only not answer questions, they did not even want to see them, said Pfeiffer, who with other members of the Spotlight team won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for public service.

These days the sheer amount of noise on social media can diminish the impact of important news stories, Pfeiffer said.

“People have what I consider outrage fatigue,” said Pfeiffer, who is now a reporter for NPR’s national investigative team.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Religion News Service

Oct. 17, 2019

By Emily McFarlan Miller

A formal church complaint accusing a United Methodist clergyman of sexual misconduct has drawn the United Methodist Church into the #MeToo movement.

Four women have filed a formal complaint against the Rev. Donald “Bud” Heckman — an elder in the denomination’s West Ohio Conference who is well known in interfaith circles — of sexual harassment, misconduct and abuse, according to a United Methodist News Service report published Thursday (Oct. 17).

The women include Heckman’s ex-wife, Laura Heckman.

The West Ohio Conference did not identify the church charges against Heckman, according to UMNS. However, it confirmed to the denomination’s news outlet that the elder has been suspended from ministry and faces “the strong likelihood” of a church trial, which tentatively has been scheduled for Dec. 2-4.

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LANSING (MI)
Lansing State Journal

Oct. 17, 2019

By Kara Berg

The Diocese of Lansing did not handle a sexual assault case from the 1990s appropriately, according to a report commissioned by the diocese, which was released Thursday.

The Rev. Pat Egan, who was found to have sexually assaulted a man in 2014, had also sexually assaulted someone in the 1990s.

An independent law firm reviewed how the diocese handled the two reports of sexual assault against Egan and found that, while the diocese handled the 2014 case well, it failed to investigate the 1990 report.

“I repeat publicly now what I have said privately and personally to the victim in question: I am deeply sorry for the Diocese’s past failure and all should know that the allegation would have been handled differently today,” Bishop Earl Boyea said in a statement.

In September, the diocese released a list of 17 priests credibly accused of sexually abusing minors. All 17 priests are either dead, have been removed from active ministry or are defrocked.

Egan, now 82, first arrived in Lansing from the Archdiocese of Westminster in England as an extern priest in 1983. He has lived on-and-off in the Ann Arbor area since then, according to the diocese.

A 27-year-old man wrote to Egan in February 1990, telling the priest he had sexually abused him, according to the report, which was compiled by Patrick Hurford and his law firm, Honigman LLP.

The man said Egan sexually abused him while taking part in boxing training the year prior. Egan disputed the report, and the diocese was made aware of it.

No investigation, however, was done into the man’s allegation and no action was taken against Egan, according to the report.

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

Oct. 17, 2019

According to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday, the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento assisted a priest in obtaining a new position in Mexico following four sexual abuse accusations in Northern California. The legal complaint includes a letter, reportedly written by the diocesan attorney and approved by the bishop at the time, allowing the cleric to work in Mexico as long as the diocese there assumed “full responsibility” in the event the clergyman committed a sex offense while working in in that country.

We applaud the brave survivor, Juan Ricardo Torres, for coming forward. He was promised 30 years ago that Fr. Jose Antonio Pinal Castellanos would be kept away from children. Instead, Juan is the one that is making the world a safer place, as his abuser’s current whereabouts are unmasked and he will hopefully be removed from ministry once and for all.

Fr. Castellanos is on the list of “credibly accused” clergy released by the Diocese of Sacramento on April 30, 2019, under the name of Jose Antonio Pinal. However, contrary to what the letter says, the list claims that the priest’s faculties were removed in 1989, and that he fled to Mexico. There is absolutely no mention of the deal with the Diocese of Cuernevaca to allow Fr. Castellanos to continue functioning as a priest.

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LITTLE ROCK (AR)
Encyclopedia of Arkansas

Oct. 10, 2019

By William Lindsey

Since 2002, when the public became widely aware of sexual abuse of minors by clergy members, an international movement has developed to address such abuse. In January 2002, the Boston Globe’s “Spotlight” team published a ground-breaking series about abuse in the Catholic archdiocese of Boston, Massachusetts, and its extensive cover-up for years. This exposé brought international attention to the problem and led to criminal investigation of Catholic officials in Boston. When the files of the Boston archdiocese were opened due to legal actions following the “Spotlight” report, it was found that abuse by priests was documented in many dioceses other than Boston, leading more cases to come to light. Individual clergy of various denominations have been exposed as abusers in Arkansas over the years, but only in the twenty-first century has the systemic extent of such abuse started to come to light thanks, in large part, to ongoing monitoring of such abuse. However, the exact scope of sexual abuse by clergy in the state remains poorly documented, with documentation currently limited to Roman Catholic and Southern Baptist denominations.

As a precursor to the “Spotlight” reports, journalist Jason Berry published an investigation of abuse in the Catholic diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana, titled Lead Us Not Into Temptation (1992). This book provided one of the first glimpses of the problem of sexual abuse by clergy and how it was being treated by Catholic officials. In response to the Boston Globe series, when the U.S. Catholic bishops met in Dallas in 2002, they adopted the “Dallas Charter,” which promised a zero-tolerance policy regarding abuse of minors in Catholic institutions. As the bishops met, journalists Brooks Egerton and Reese Dunklin published an article in the Dallas Morning News reporting that two-thirds of bishops had allowed priests accused of abuse of minors to work in their dioceses.

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SPOKANE (WA)
Gonzaga Bulletin

Oct. 15, 2019

By Luke Kenneally

The University Commission on Gonzaga’s Response to the Catholic Sexual Abuse Crisis met with GU students and community members on Sunday to engage in a Q&A inviting community feedback. Approximately 20 people attended the event.

The commission was formed in response to news stories in December detailing that priests who had credible claims of sexual assault against them were housed in the Jesuit-owned Cardinal Bea House in the middle of GU’s campus, near St. Aloysius Church.

The formation of this commission was announced in April and the group has met six times since.

Members of the commission include co-chairs Michelle Wheatley, acting vice president of mission and ministry, and Megan McCabe, assistant professor of religious studies. Also on the commission is Vince Salyers, who serves as dean of the School of Nursing and Human Physiology, Steven Robinson, chair of GU’s board of regents, Patrick McCormick, GU professor of religious studies, licensed psychologist Fernando Ortiz, GU class of 2020 student Lindsay Panigeo, Fr. Tim Clancy, associate professor of philosophy and Jerri Shepard, an associate professor in the School of Education.

Not present were Ed Taylor, Ph.D., (BA ’82, MA ‘83), Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs at the University of Washington and a GU trustee, and Jerri Shepard, associate professor in the School of Education.

Several themes were reiterated throughout the event including keeping victims and survivors at the forefront, moving forward as a community and making a meaningful contribution to discussion surrounding these issues.

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GREENSBURG (PA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

October 17, 2019

By Peter Smith

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Greensburg has paid out nearly $4.4 million to 57 victims of sexual abuse by its clergy and seminarians through an out-of-court compensation program, it announced Thursday.

Most Pennsylvania dioceses set up compensation funds in the wake of a 2018 grand jury report detailing a 70-year history of allegations of sexual abuse by priests and coverup by bishops.

Most of the report dealt with abuses that happened decades ago, but amid a push for legislation to create a window in the Pennsylvania statute of limitations allowing for lawsuits over long-ago abuse, most of the state’s dioceses set up compensation programs to reach settlements with victims.

The Greensburg diocese said it paid $4,350,000. That averages out to about $76,000 each for the 57 claimants, although such programs typically vary compensation depending on factors such as the severity and frequency of abuse and the age of the victim.

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NEW YORK (NY)
The New York Times

October 17, 2019

By Glenn Kenny

The often irreverent French director François Ozon gets serious with a fact-based story about a group of men who were childhood victims of a pedophile priest.

For a member of the clergy to sexually violate a child is one of the most stark and cruel betrayals imaginable. That an institution would prevaricate and dissemble about these betrayals rather than take immediate, decisive action to pursue justice and provide restitution creates a greater betrayal. After years of such actions, betrayal reaches a near-unimaginable level.

And yet. We don’t have to imagine. In the Roman Catholic Church, these violations have been rife, and the stories behind them are appalling.

In “By the Grace of God” François Ozon, one of France’s most brazen and talented directors, tells a story of a group of men in Lyon, all childhood victims of a pedophile priest. These adults find each other and form an organization to bring that priest and the church’s higher-ups who covered for him to account for their actions.

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STATEN ISLAND (NY)
SILive

October 17, 2019

By Maura Grunlund

A priest allegedly sexually abused a teen at Blessed Sacrament R.C. Church prior to his conviction on sex charges for an incident involving a youth at a parish in Dutchess County, according to a lawsuit and Advance records.

The West Brighton parish and the Archdiocese of New York have been sued by an anonymous victim under the Child Victims Act in the lawsuit filed on Aug. 14 by Jeff Anderson & Associates.

Although not listed as a plaintiff, the lawsuit names Daniel Calabrese, a defrocked Roman Catholic priest, as the alleged abuser.

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OAKLAND (CA)
Bay Area News Group

October 16, 2019

By Angela Ruggiero

Monsignor Vincent Breen accused of molesting 100s

It’s been more than 50 years since Sharon McCann reported being sexually abused by her priest to her principal, regarding one of the “most prolific” child molesters in the Bay Area.

She was 6 years old when the abuse started, and now at 65, she and two other sex assault victims have filed a lawsuit against the Oakland Catholic Diocese, alleging that the diocese knew about decades of abuse by Monsignor Vincent Breen, and did nothing.

Breen was at Holy Spirit parish in Fremont for 29 years from 1953 to 1982, and was accused of molesting at least eight girls ages 7 to 14. But the actual number is estimated at closer to 100.

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BRIDGEPORT (CT)
CT Insider

October 16, 2019

By Daniel Tepfer

A recently retired senior official of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, cited in a report for actively participating in hiding clergy sexual abuse, claims he was “thrown under the bus,” and is demanding the bishop apologize.

“Now, normally people have to wait until after death to be canonized, but you and the current Archbishop of Baltimore (William Lori) found a way to attain saintly status right here and now and I’m far from being alone among God’s people to have noticed that,” Monsignor Laurence Bronkiewicz states in an email to Bishop Frank J. Caggiano that was obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media. “Unfortunately, the Caggiano report and your press conference accomplished their objective by throwing me under the bus as the saying goes and ‘me’ includes [sic] my good name and reputation which has taken me a lifetime to build with God’s help.”

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SACRAMENTO (CA)
KTXL

October 15, 2019

By Doug Johnson

This past weekend, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a new bill into law that allows victims of childhood sexual abuse more time to file civil suits.

Now, a 48-year-old Butte County man is suing the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, claiming it allowed his alleged abuser to continue to work as a priest in Mexico just months after he reported that priest had abused him.

At the time, Juan Ricardo Torres was only 15 years old. His lawsuit is likely one of the first of many this new law has opened the door for.

“Since this happened I’ve always like tried to forget about it but you can’t,” Torres said. “The more you try to forget about it the harder it is.”

Assembly Bill 218 becoming law is allowing child sexual abuse victims like Torres to finally share their stories.

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FRANCE
People’s World

October 17, 2019

By Eric A. Gordon

François Ozon’s new film By the Grace of God (Grâce à Dieu) is a gripping true story of three adult men who banded together to expose the code of silence in the Catholic Church that continued to enable a priest who abused them as boys.

The powerful indictment of the ecclesiastical hierarchy that allowed scandalous priestly behavior to go on unrestrained for decades is brought up to date with legal developments in the case as recently as the summer of 2019.

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AUSTRALIA
BBC News

October 17, 2019

A former Anglican Dean of Newcastle in Australia has been jailed for raping a 15-year-old boy in 1991.

Graeme Lawrence, now 77, is reported to be the second most senior Australian religious figure to be convicted of child sexual abuse, after Catholic Cardinal George Pell.

Lawrence was Anglican dean in the New South Wales city when he lured the boy to his home and raped him.

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PARMER COUNTY (TX)
KFDA

October 16, 2019

By Arianna Martinez and Kaitlin Johnson

Jury selection began today for the trial of a former priest accused of sexual abuse in Parmer County.

Peter Mukekhe Wafula is accused of sexual abuse of a minor.

Wafula served in Hereford, Friona and Bovina before he was removed from the ministry in 2018.

He was indicted by the Parmer County Grand Jury in October of 2018.

His name was among those of 30 former priests who served in the Diocese of Amarillo and have been accused of sexually abusing a minor. The names were released in January by the Diocese of Amarillo.

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SCOTLAND
Irish Examiner/Press Association

October 17, 2019

A former pupil at a Catholic boarding school has told how he was raped by a monk who he suspects to be his father.

The witness, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had a statement about his time at St Columba’s in Largs, North Ayrshire, read to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry on Thursday.

The man, now in his 50s, claims to have suffered a serious sexual assault at the hands of a monk before enrolling at the school.

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CANADA
CBC News

October 16, 2019

By Bartley Kives

Robert-Falcon Ouellette calls Leah Gazan rhetoric unacceptable; she pledges to be more careful on social media

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PLATTSBURGH (NY)
Press-Republican

October 17, 2019

By McKenzie Delisle

The day M.G. turned 23, he lost the chance to sue his childhood abuser. Now, nearly three decades later, the Child Victims Act has returned his voice.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed the legislation earlier this year, loosening up some state regulations surrounding child sexual abuse claims.

A key piece of the act was its one-year revival period, which beginning mid-August temporarily lifted New York’s statute of limitations on such cases, allowing victims of any age to step forward.

Since, hundreds have filed cases statewide with many against Catholic clergymen and their institutions.

M.G., 54, was one of those plaintiffs.

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NEW ZEALAND
RNZ

October 16, 2019

By Phil Pennington

A high-profile Catholic woman says a bishop would not have had sex with a woman unless he loved her.

Joy Cowley, a celebrated children’s author of books like The Silent One and Nest in a Falling Tree, told RNZ the sexual relationship would have made Charles Drennan a better bishop.

The Pope accepted the resignation of Father Drennan, as Bishop of Palmerston North, after he admitted to inappropriate sexual behaviour with a young woman.

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IRELAND
The Irish News

October 16, 2019

A MAN allegedly subjected to “horrific” abuse at a Catholic-run school in Belfast 60 years ago is to receive a £50,000 payout.

The 73-year-old claimed he suffered beatings with a strap and bunch of keys, and was forced to sleep on a mattress with bare springs at St Patrick’s training school.

His legal action against the De La Salle Order, who ran the facilities on the Glen Road, was settled at the High Court today.

Mr Justice Maguire was told an award of £50,000 plus costs is to be made.

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HOUSTON (TX
Catholic News Service

October 16, 2019

A Vatican congregation said an allegation of abuse made against Auxiliary Bishop George A. Sheltz of Galveston-Houston “is manifestly unfounded” and he has returned to public ministry.

In an Oct. 10 statement, the Texas archdiocese said it had received the allegation against the bishop, who also is chancellor, in June and referred it to the Vatican Congregation for Bishops, “who in turn referred it to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which has competency in these matters.”

“The CDF has determined that the allegation against Bishop Sheltz is manifestly unfounded,” the statement said. “The Congregation for Bishops has notified us and this brings the matter to a close and Bishop Sheltz is restored to full public ministry.”

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KIRKWOOD (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

October 17, 2019

By Nassim Benchaabane

A longtime therapist who has counseled dozens of abusive Catholic priests on Wednesday named for the first time the priest who she says molested her as a child in 1939.

Sue Lauber-Fleming, 84, has long told stories of the suffering she endured, but decided Wednesday it was time to publicly identify Monsignor George Dreher, who died 57 years ago, as her abuser.

“I thought it only right in my heart to name him just in case someone else might be out there that had been abused by him,” Lauber-Fleming said.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Commonweal

Oct. 17, 2019

By Nicholas Frankovich

Two national news stories about sexual abuse coincided late last year. On August 14, 2018, the grand jury investigating abuse by Catholic clergy in Pennsylvania released their report, documenting hundreds of cases and rekindling public indignation at the long history of crimes and cover-ups committed by priests and bishops. Meanwhile, in July, Christine Blasey Ford told her congresswoman in California that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her thirty-six years earlier, when they were in high school. By mid-September, Ford’s allegation, which had been forwarded to the FBI, was blazing across the media landscape, where it dominated the headlines for the next three weeks. The controversy continues to smolder a year later.

Public reaction to the first story remains markedly different from public reaction to the second. Any allegation against a priest or bishop tends to elicit swift and near-universal denunciation of the accused, on the assumption that any skepticism would only compound the wrong done to the putative survivor. Ford, by contrast, has been met with almost as much suspicion as sympathy. True, more Americans believe her than him, according to polls conducted shortly after their Senate testimonies; in explaining why they find her account credible, some women cite their own experience. At the same time, however, Kavanaugh benefits from an army of media advocates who defend his innocence with vigor, picking apart the case brought by Ford and, in effect, putting her on trial, accusing her of lying and defaming Kavanaugh or, at best, of being confused about the identity of her assailant.

His defenders, her opponents, begin with the legal principle that the burden of proof lies with the prosecution. Although Ford v. Kavanaugh was not a court trial, it assumed the form of one, so the inclination to consider him innocent until proven guilty was not irrational. It meant, however, that Ford was presumed to be dishonest, or honest but mistaken. Few of us these days would presume that of anyone filing an accusation of sexual abuse by a priest. Behold the double standard.

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NASHVILLE (TN)
Baptist News Global

Oct. 15, 2019

By Bob Allen

A woman who claims in a lawsuit that she was mistreated after reporting rape at a Southern Baptist Convention seminary won’t get her day in court before 2021.

The lawsuit against Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and former president Paige Patterson alleges that seminary officials dismissed claims that the woman identified as Jane Roe was repeatedly stalked and raped at gunpoint in 2014 and 2015 by a male student who also worked on campus as a plumber.

Jane Roe claims in her complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Texas that Patterson — a past president of the Southern Baptist Convention and key leader in the denomination’s rightward shift during the last quarter century — called her rape “a good thing” and waited to “break her down” in a private meeting before turning her story over to campus police.

The incident, coupled with reports that Patterson also mishandled a rape allegation years earlier at another SBC seminary, led to his firing in 2018.

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WIIKWEMKOONG (ONTARIO, CANADA)
Manitoulin Expositor

October 16, 2019

By Warren Schlote

By mid-1990s, victims start to share their stories publicly

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following story contains information about sexual abuse that took place in Wiikwemkoong during the mid-to-late 20th century. This information may be disturbing to those who have suffered from sexual abuse. Support is available 24/7 through the First Nations and Inuit Hope for Wellness Help Line at 1-855-242-3310 or the Manitoulin Family Resources crisis line at 1-800-465-6788.

When The Expositor began reporting in the 1990s on the news of Father George Epoch’s abuses as well as the associated lawsuits taking place at the time, more victims found the courage to reconcile with what had happened to them and stepped forward to share their stories. A meeting in late August 1996 at Rainbow Lodge in Whitefish River First Nation offered a chance for survivors to meet, discuss the lingering impacts of these abuses and see that they were not alone in their strife.

Although much of the attention in this case has been paid to Father Epoch, a man who has been labeled as one of the worst sexual abusers in Canadian history, the lawsuits from the ‘90s extended to Brother Norman Hinton as well. The current lawsuit also names a Brother O’Meare.

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CINCINNATI (OH)
FOX19

October 16, 2019

By Jennifer Edwards Baker

A priest accused of raping an altar boy 30 years ago is set to return to court Wednesday.

The Rev. Geoff Drew, 57, is scheduled to enter a plea or have his trial date set. He’s expected to appear at 9 a.m. before Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Leslie Ghiz.

Last week, the judge denied a request from Drew’s attorney to reduce his $5 million bond.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters announced Drew raped an alter boy while serving as music minister at St. Jude School in Green Township between 1988 and 1991.

Drew was not a priest at the time, Deters said.

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MISSOULA (MT)
The Associated Press

October 15, 2019

A Missoula priest has been removed from his parish after acknowledging he had inappropriate contact with a woman.

The Missoulian reported Tuesday the Rev. Rich Perry was relocated to the Jesuit Center in Los Gatos, California, a retirement community for church leaders accused of misconduct.

The Rev. Joseph Carver, the pastor at St. Francis Xavier Parish, said the woman came forward on Oct. 2, Perry was confronted the same day and was relocated to California on Oct. 7. Perry is a former pastor of the church and has been an associate pastor in recent years.

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WESTCHESTER COUNTY (NY)
White Plains Daily Voice

October 15, 2019

By Kathy Reakes

A longtime area Catholic priest has been placed on administrative leave following an allegation of child abuse from years ago.

Monsignor Edward Weber, the director of Priest Personnel Office in the archdiocese, is one of four priests in the Archdiocese of New York to be placed on leave following new allegations, said an article in the Catholic New York, the archdiocese’s newspaper.

The three other priests include Msgr. Edward Barry of Holy Rosary parish in Hawthorne, Father William Luciano of Blessed Sacrament parish in New Rochelle, and Msgr. James White of St. Vito-Most Holy Trinity parish in Mamaroneck, have had their ministries temporarily restricted, the diocese said.

Letters were sent from Cardinal Dolan to parishioners of the three parishes on Thursday, Oct. 3.

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SACRAMENTO (CA)
Capital Public Radio

October 15, 2019

By Bob Moffitt

A new lawsuit filed on Tuesday claims the Catholic Church’s Sacramento diocese assisted one of its priests in obtaining a new position with a parish in Mexico after sexual abuse accusations in Northern California in the 1980s.

The lawsuit includes a letter allegedly written by Diocese of Sacramento attorney Louis N. Desmond and indicates that former Bishop Francis A. Quinn approved a request by Priest Jose Antonio Pinal Castellanos to begin working in Mexico.

Castellanos was accused by four boys of sexual assault, then fled the United States.

The agreement was contingent that the diocese in Mexico “assume full responsibility,” including financial liability, if Castellanos committed a sex offense while working in Mexico.

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WESTCHESTER (NY)
Rockland/Westchester Journal News

October 15, 2019

By Matt Spillane

A Catholic priest who spent years as a pastor and vicar in Rockland County is now facing an allegation of child abuse from decades ago.

Monsignor Edward Weber was one of four priests in the Archdiocese of New York to be placed on administrative leave following such an accusation, according to Catholic New York, a newspaper run by the archdiocese.

Weber has served as pastor of St. Francis of Assisi parish in West Nyack since 1994 and as regional vicar of Rockland County since 2002. He will leave those positions. Before that, he served as parochial vicar at St. Margaret of Cortona, the Bronx; and St. Margaret Mary and St. Sylvester’s, both on Staten Island. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1976 and named a monsignor in 2006.

He recently served as a weekend associate at St. Gregory Barbarigo Church in Garnerville.

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UNITED STATES
CNN

October 10, 2019

By Abigail Pesta

Abigail Pesta is an award-winning journalist whose investigative reporting has appeared in major publications around the world. She is the author of the new book “The Girls: An All-American Town, a Predatory Doctor, and the Untold Story of the Gymnasts Who Brought Him Down.” The views expressed here are hers. Read more opinion on CNN.

Fifteen years ago, Brianne Randall-Gay might have stopped one of the most prolific sexual predators the world of sports has ever known — if anyone had listened. She was a 17-year-old soccer and tennis player when she and her mother went to the Meridian Township Police Department in Michigan to report that Larry Nassar had sexually abused her. The police interviewed Brianne, then Nassar. They listened to him, and dismissed her. Case closed.

Nassar went on to abuse hundreds of young women and girls.

When Nassar got sentenced to prison last year, the police publicly apologized to Brianne for their profound failure. She told me about it in an interview for my book “The Girls: An All-American Town, a Predatory Doctor, and the Untold Story of the Gymnasts Who Brought Him Down,” saying the apology left her with “complicated” feelings. While she appreciated the gesture, she wrestled with the fact that if the police had listened, years of abuse could have been stopped.

That has all changed now in the #MeToo era, right?

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HARTFORD (CT)
Hartford Courant

October 9, 2019

By Dave Altimari

The former associate athletic director at the University of St. Joseph has filed a federal lawsuit against the school alleging sexual discrimination by former longtime UConn basketball coach and current St. Joseph coach Jim Calhoun and his longtime assistant Glen Miller. The suit alleges disparaging comments the coaches made about her, including Calhoun calling her “hot” and Miller telling her he’d “swipe left.”

The lawsuit filed Wednesday by Jaclyn Piscitelli against the university also names former athletic director Bill Cardarelli for failing to take any action when she brought allegations against Calhoun to him and alleges that the former UConn basketball coach turned the athletic department into a “male-dominated, hostile work environment” for any females.

Piscitelli was fired from her job in June of this year and replaced by Josh Ingham, the sports information director.

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NEW YORK (NY)
The New York Times

October 9, 2019

By Jim Windolf, John Koblin and Rachel Abrams

The revelations prompted a denial from Mr. Lauer, the former “Today” host. His accuser, Brooke Nevils, called the response “victim shaming.”

For more than 20 years, Matt Lauer was a star anchor of NBC’s most profitable franchise, “Today.” His downfall came in November 2017 when the network fired him after receiving a complaint of sexual misconduct against him. The accusation was soon followed by others.

Now, the circumstances of that firing have resurfaced in a book by the investigative journalist Ronan Farrow that contains new details from Mr. Lauer’s primary accuser, including her account of a rape. The book, “Catch and Kill,” is expected to be released on Tuesday.

The accuser provided an account of her interactions with Mr. Lauer to The New York Times nearly two years ago, but said she was not willing to go public with her story at the time. On Wednesday, Variety reported that Mr. Farrow had secured an on-the-record interview with the woman, Brooke Nevils, who allowed the author to name her.

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WESTCHESTER (NY)
News12

October 15, 2019

A popular priest from the Hudson Valley is the latest to be accused of sexual abuse.

Monsignor Edward Weber, who preached at Saint Francis of Assisi in West Nyack, is facing charges for allegedly raping a boy at least 150 times while at a parish in Staten Island in the 1970s and 1980s.

Weber was the pastor in West Nyack between 1994 and 2012. Part of the West Nyack church is even named in his honor – an educational center for kids.

Terri McCullagh says she’s known Monsignor Weber for decades. She says he baptized all her three children and remains a close friend.

“I’ve known him for so long and I just can’t see him doing this. He is the most kind, gentle person you could ever meet,” she says.

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SÃO PAULO (BRAZIL)
CRUX

October 14, 2019

By Eduardo Campos Lima

In Brazil, most of the criticism directed towards the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon came from the government, not from members of the hierarchy.

Bishop José Luís Azcona is among the minority of Brazilian prelates to raise concerns about the synod, calling the Vatican meeting’s preparatory document “weak and inconsistent.” Still, he has sought to distance his criticism from that of President Jair Bolsonaro, who he said wants to meddle in the Brazilian Church.

In the past few months, the Spanish-born Azcona, bishop emeritus of the Prelature of Marajó – located in the Amazonian State of Pará – has been vocal in his strong criticism of the working document, called the Instrumentum Laboris.

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HOUSTON (TX)
Archdiocese of Houston-Galveston

Oct. 10, 2019

In late June, the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston received an allegation of abuse against Most Reverend George A. Sheltz, our Auxiliary Bishop and Chancellor.

The allegation was referred to the Congregation for Bishops in Rome, who in turn referred it to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), which has competency in these matters. The CDF has determined that the allegation against Bishop Sheltz is manifestly unfounded.

The Congregation for Bishops has notified us and this brings the matter to a close and Bishop Sheltz is restored to full public ministry.

We are very grateful Bishop Sheltz is resuming his normal ministry activities effective immediately.

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FRESNO (CA)
Fresno Bee

Oct. 15, 2019

By Robert Rodriguez

A former Anglican priest charged with multiple counts of sexual battery told one of his followers that he was cursed and was going to die unless the alleged victim agreed to one of his special healing massages.

Police say the massage given by Jesus Antonio Castaneda Serna wasn’t special at all, and was just a way for the accused priest to sexually assault his victims, nearly all adult males.

Serna was arrested in February and has pleaded not guilty to 18 counts of felony sexual battery involving 10 members of his former church, Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe church in Fresno.

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SEARCY (AK)
The Christian Chronicle

October 14, 2019

By Bobby Ross Jr

‘Christian Chronicle Live’ panel tackles sexual abuse in Churches of Christ.

The predator repented. Or so he claimed.

He’d done his time and confessed his sins. He was a changed man. Or so he told the elders of a congregation willing to forgive.

He was welcomed into the fold. But to protect children, the leaders determined that they couldn’t be too careful.

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OKLAHOMA CITY (OK)
The Oklahoman

October 13, 2019

The Oklahoman Editorial Board

With its approach to determining which of its priests may have committed sexual abuse, the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City impressed even a group that’s been one of the Catholic Church’s most vocal critics throughout the clergy abuse scandal. There’s a lesson to be learned here.

Zach Hiner, executive director of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said the archdiocese’s report “goes into much greater detail than most other reports commissioned by church officials.”

“Notably, it is one of few that goes into detail about crucial information which church officials often leave off their own reports: when were allegations received, and what actions church officials took in response,” Hiner said.

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ABILENE (TX)
KTXS

October 14, 2019

By Nick Bradshaw

Jeff Berry — best known in Abilene as the worship leader in the late 90’s at Grace Bible Study, a non-denominational bible-study for college students — was arrested on a child sex crime.

Berry — who now lives in Franklin, Tennessee — was arrested around 4:30 p.m. by the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office on a sealed indictment out of Taylor County.

He’s charged with being a fugitive from justice.

Berry’s bond was set at $10 million.

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OKLAHOMA CITY (OK)
The Journal Record

October 14, 2019

By Joe Hight

I’ll never forget attending an Oklahoma City-area Catholic Church in 2002 after the release of the Boston Globe’s “Spotlight” team’s series. The pastor was blaming the media for revealing that priests had and were sexually abusing children.

I was outraged. Credible evidence and interviews with victims had already shown the “pure evil” intentions of the abusers, Walter “Robby” Robinson, editor of the Globe’s investigative team, said during the Oklahoma Pulitzer Centennial in 2016.

At that time in 2002, according to a recently released report from the law firm McAfee & Taft, the Oklahoma City Archdiocese had been actively involved in covering up sexual abusers. Perhaps the same could be said of the Tulsa Diocese.

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SACRAMENTO (CA)
ChurchMilitant

October 14, 2019

By Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.

Stephen Brady: ‘Los Angeles archdiocese will be one of the biggest hit in the country’

California just became the sixth state to drop its statute of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse.

The law signed on Sunday by California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom gives all victims of childhood sexual abuse a three-year period beginning Jan. 1 to file lawsuits. Following that period, the new law will extend the age limit of the victim filing from 26 to 40 and the time limit of when the abuse is discovered to when the case is filed from three to five years.

Church Militant reached out to Stephen Brady, head of watchdog organization Roman Catholic Faithful, on the impact this law will have on the Church in California.

“This situation in California will make New York and other states that passed similar laws look like small-time cases,” remarked Brady. He then explained:

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CHARLOTTE (NC)
WCNC

October 14, 2019

The Catholic Diocese of Charlotte has learned of five more men that are now being investigated had connections to the diocese.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
PhillyVoice

October 14, 2019

By Virginia Streva

The Rev. Robert J. Potts, 82 was the pastor of St. Ursula Church in Fountain Hill

Authorities are investigating allegations that a Lehigh County priest sexually abused a minor.

The Rev. Robert J. Potts, 82, pastor of St. Ursula Church in Fountain Hill, has been removed from ministry services. Potts is accused of sexually abused a child in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Diocese of Allentown announced Sunday.

Potts was the pastor at St. George Parish in Shenandoah during the time of the alleged abuses.

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SONOMA COUNTY (CA)
The Press Democrat

October 15, 2019

By Mary Callahan

Attorneys who specialize in child sex abuse cases say Sonoma County residents can expect to see a slew of fresh lawsuits against Catholic institutions and others under a new law granting greater leeway to adult victims who want to file claims against their abusers — including a three-year suspension of the statute of limitations beginning Jan. 1.

The floodgates already are opening, with a lawsuit to be filed Tuesday by three former clients of Hanna Boys Center who claim they were abused repeatedly by Father John S. Crews, the facility’s executive director for 29 years until 2013.

“We’re eager to get moving,” said Sacramento attorney Joseph George, who represents the three men and is filing the cases under a provision of the new law that extends the statute of limitations to cases that are pending on Jan. 1. “These guys have been waiting for a long time.”

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SHENANDOAH(PA)
WNEP

October 13, 2019

By WNEP Web Staff and Brit Purdy

A priest in the Diocese of Allentown has been accused of abusing a child years ago while serving at a church in Schuylkill County.

Fr. Robert Potts was currently serving as a priest in Bethlehem, but he’s accused of molesting a child while working in Schuylkill County back in the 1980s and 1990s.

Potts, 82, is accused of sexually abusing a child decades ago while serving at the former St. George Parish in Shenandoah.

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NEW ROCHELLE (NY)
CBSNewYork/AP

October 14, 2019

As the sun shines down on Holy Rosary Church in Hawthorne, N.Y., a cloud of suspicion hovers over its parish priest and three other priests in the New York archdiocese now facing allegations of abusing children several decades ago.

The four clergy of the Archdiocese Of New York have been accused of abuse with minors, cases not included in the special investigation released two weeks ago.

The men, three pastors and a member of the archdiocese administration office, have been placed on administrative leave.

The accusations include Msgr. Edward Barry of Holy Rosary parish in Hawthorne, Father William Luciano of Blessed Sacrament parish in New Rochelle and Msgr. James White of St. Vito-Most Holy Trinity parish in Mamaroneck. Msgr. Edward Weber, director of the Priest Personnel Office in the archdiocese.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Warrington Guardian

October 15, 2019

By Adam Everett

A PENSIONER who raped a 14-year-old more than three decades ago has been jailed.

John Chu gained the trust of his victim by working alongside her as a volunteer at a Whitecross church in the 1980s before sexually assaulting her in his car and raping her.

Decades later, the 74-year-old was handed nine years behind bars for his sickening abuse.

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MALTA
Malta Today

October 14, 2019

by Raphael Vassallo

Rocked by over a decade of child abuse scandals, the Catholic Church is in the process of renewing its structures and policies. Fr Aaron Zahra – abbot of the Dominican Priory in Vittoriosa, and author of a dissertation about sex abuse in Catholic schools – argues that the Church has a lot to learn from its past mistakes

Recently, you wrote an opinion piece criticising the Church for its mishandling of the international child abuse scandals of recent years. How seriously do you think this issue has dented the credibility of the Church, both globally and locally?

Let’s start with this: when it came to cases of abuse of minors by priests and members of religious orders, the Church thought it could grab the bull by the horns by keeping everything behind closed doors because it gave more importance to its own reputation on the outside, than to the good of the victims. The Church’s priority was, so to speak, to sweep everything under the carpet; and to safeguard the reputation of the priesthood, so that the figure of the priest would be kept on a pedestal as ‘a man of God’… as if priests were, by definition, incapable of doing such things.

Meanwhile, as far as the victims were concerned… it was as though the Church used them to glean information about what happened; and then stopped there. Even worse than that, I have heard of many cases where victims were even offered money to keep their mouths shut. Or where perpetrators were transferred to other parishes, where they continued to abuse other victims… It’s a bit like playing chess: you move your pieces around on the board… as if the abuse will stop happening, once the perpetrator is in a different place.

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RICHMOND (VA)
The Presbyterian Outlook

October 15, 2019

By Katrina Pekich-Bundy

“Don’t walk alone at night.”

“Always carry pepper spray.”

“Never leave your drink unattended at a party.”

“When walking alone in a parking garage, always put your keys between your fingers.”

Most females have heard these recommendations at some point. They are the sacred conversations that happen from woman to girl — words of wisdom and warning. Grandmothers and mothers continue this oral tradition from generation to generation. The terminology and situation change over time. Now the conversation includes: “Never meet a man you met online in a private place.” The sentiments remain: Stay safe.

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AUSTRALIA
New Castle Herald

October 15 2019

By Joanne McCarthy

BRETT Sengstock was seven when he was sexually abused by prominent evangelical Christian Frank Houston, and close to death in July last year when the church Houston founded slammed the door on compensation.

“There was no Christ in how they treated me,” said Mr Sengstock, 58, about Australian Christian Churches and its most prominent entity, the Hillsong Church led by Frank Houston’s son, Brian.

“I think Hillsong is nothing but a business.”

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NEW ZEALAND
RNZ

October 11, 2019

By Phil Pennington

The dark past of the Dunedin diocese and its clutch of clerical paedophiles** still ensnares Marc. But he means to be free of it.

One drunken night in 2013 in Melbourne, Marc* wrote an email to the Catholic Church in New Zealand. He was drunk a lot back then.

“I could drink half a bottle of vodka right now and probably still have a lucid conversation with you,” he said. Not now, now he’s dry.

He was a functioning alcoholic back then, but still, he couldn’t remember sending the email.

“The first line, and this was five years ago, was, ‘If there’s ever a Royal Commission in New Zealand, I will come back and give evidence’.

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CINCINNATI (OH)
Catholic News Service

October 15, 2019

Father Dan Dorsey, president of the Glenmary Home Missioners, said the religious community of priests and brothers “has become painfully aware that in the past we have failed to protect minors and vulnerable adults.”

“We have realized how often our response to victims has been inadequate. We deeply regret these failures,” he said Oct. 11. “We continue to seek your forgiveness for our mistakes. We are committed to healing and justice for all those involved.”

Dorsey made the comments in an open letter released with a list of men credibly abused of sexual abuse. The list is the result of a yearlong forensic review commissioned by Glenmary.

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

Oct. 15, 2019

By Inés San Martín

A shirtless protest in front of one of the world’s largest cathedrals. A discredited papal representative heading to Portugal from Chile acknowledges failures in responding to allegations of clerical sexual abuse. And as murder rates continue to rise, a Mexican cardinal says that killing cannot be the solution to conflict.

Here’s a roundup of news coming from the Catholic Church in Latin America.

In Argentina, activists again call for burning down churches

A rally happening during Argentina’s annual “National Encounter of Women” on Sunday included a protest against the cathedral of La Plata, the city hosting the event this year.

The rally, organized by Argentina’s leading leftwing party, wasn’t officially supported by the organizers of the women’s event.

As in previous years, participants at the rally threw Molotov cocktails and human excrement on churches.

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

Oct. 15, 2019

In their latest effort to dodge the deluge of lawsuits from survivors of clergy abuse, Jesuit officials are deploying a new tactic that is obviously aimed at scaring victims and witnesses into silence. We hope their tactic is thrown out in court today, and that survivors will be protected as they exercise their legal rights.

The hearing will be held on Tuesday, October 15, 2019, at 3:00 PM EDT, at 111 Centre Street (75 Lafayette Street, between White and Franklin Streets), Courtroom 1127, Judge George Silver presiding.

As lawsuits continue to move forward thanks to New York’s Child Victims Act, church officials from the Jesuit order are demanding that survivors filing lawsuits as Jane or John Doe must instead use their real name publicly.

This is a move designed to be hurtful and scare additional survivors from coming forward. Not every victim is ready to share the details of their abuse with their communities and they should not be prevented from coming forward and filing a lawsuit due to fear of being exposed by the very people who were responsible for the abuse they suffered in the first place.

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ROCHESTER (NY)
Rochester Beacon

Oct. 15, 2019

By Will Astor

Might the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester consider altering a promise made to donors and use some charitable contributions to compensate survivors of sexual abuse suffered at the hands of its priests?

The question, posed by an abuse survivor to Rochester diocese Bishop Salvatore Matano last week, comes as the diocese simultaneously kicks off its annual Catholic Ministries Appeal and begins to thread its way through the Chapter 11 bankruptcy it filed in September.

The diocese did not rush to embrace the suggestion, but also did not definitively turn it down.

The overseer of the Roman Catholic churches in a 12-county region of Upstate New York, the diocese sought court protection from creditors last month, stating that it made the move in anticipation of a flood of sex-abuse claims that could make it liable for as much as a $100 million payout.

Not yet known is the number of claims it will be hit with during a one-year window in which victims of long-buried abuse by priests and other church functionaries can file claims that otherwise would have been barred by a statute of limitations.

So far, the diocese has taken pains to assure donors that their contributions would not be used to satisfy sex-abuse claims.

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SACRAMENTO (CA)
The Associated Press

October 14, 2019

By Don Thompson

Thousands of lawsuits will be filed against alleged child molesters as well as the institutions that employed them under a new California law taking effect next year, attorneys predicted Monday.

The California School Boards Association called the new law an “existential threat” to smaller school districts. Attorneys said the Roman Catholic Church, Boy Scouts of America and other institutions will also face a flood of lawsuits that could force bankruptcies.

They are newly possible because the law that Gov. Gavin Newsom approved on Sunday gives victims of childhood sexual abuse until age 40, up from age 26, to file lawsuits. It also gives victims of all ages three years to sue, starting Jan. 1.

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CALIFORNIA
KSBY

October 14, 2019

By Melissa Newman

Victims of child sex abuse have more time to seek justice as part of a new bill AB 218, signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom Sunday.

The bill changes the statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit against an alleged abuser, allowing people who are up to 40 years old to file suits and provides a three-year window for survivors to file a lawsuit, regardless of when the abuse occurred and regardless of their current age.

San Luis Obispo attorney Taylor Ernst says the previous laws forced them to turn some people away.

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CALIFORNIA
Associated Press

October 14, 2019

Thousands of lawsuits will be filed against alleged child molesters as well as the institutions that employed them under a new California law taking effect next year, attorneys predicted Monday.

The California School Boards Association called the new law an “existential threat” to smaller school districts. Attorneys said the Roman Catholic Church, Boy Scouts of America and other institutions will also face a flood of lawsuits that could force bankruptcies.

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CALIFORNIA
The Epoch Times

October 14, 2019

By Bowen Xiao

The state of California is giving childhood victims of sexual abuse more time to decide if they want to file lawsuits, the latest in a growing trend among states to loosen statute of limitation laws in the United States.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the law into effect on Oct. 13 to give childhood sexual abuse victims until the age of 40, or five years from the discovery of the abuse, to file civil lawsuits. Previously, the limit was at 27 years old, or within three years of the discovery of the abuse.

The new law also entirely suspends the statute of limitations for three years, beginning from January 2020, allowing victims of any age the ability to bring lawsuits if they wish.

A statute of limitations blocks prosecutors from having the power to charge someone once a certain number of years have passed since a crime was committed.

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ALBANY (NY)
Spectrum News

October 14, 2019

A fourth allegation has been made against former Albany Bishop Howard Hubbard.

A lawsuit filed under the umbrella of the Child Victims Act in Albany County Supreme Court on Friday also contained allegations against Gerald Kampfer, a former pastor.

The alleged abuse is said to have happened at St. John the Baptist between 1988 and 1990.

While the lawsuit does not go into specifics, the filing claims the church received a number of complaints against Hubbard and Kampfer — saying policies didn’t protect children.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

October 13, 2019

By Kelly Heyboer

Scott remembers he wasn’t feeling well when his mother dropped him off for his first camping trip with his Boy Scout troop back in the early 1960s.

But Scott, then 12, didn’t want a routine childhood illness to keep him from hiking in a beautiful canyon near Amarillo, Texas, and sleeping beneath the stars. One of his troop leaders assured his mother he would keep a close watch on him and have the boy share his tent, Scott recalls.

“That was the first night I was basically attacked and sexually abused,” said Scott, now 69, who asked that his last name not be used.

He says the sexual abuse that began in the tent that night continued for more than a year as he was abused by two Boy Scout leaders until he finally quit the group and moved away. Scared and confused, he says he never reported the alleged abuse.

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ROME (ITALY)
Daily Beast

Oct. 15, 2019

By Barbie Latza Nadeau

A few hours before Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with his Vatican counterpart Pietro Parolin in Rome in early October, the Swiss Guard gendarmes raided a key office in Parolin’s department.

They were acting on orders from “up high,” and cleaned out the offices of the Holy See’s Financial Information Authority (AIF), which is essentially meant to be the watchdog agency set up to keep an eye out for any illicit activities at the Vatican Bank, which has been embroiled in dozens of scandals over the years. The gendarmes carted away computers, documents, and as many secret hard drives as they could find. Then they left and sealed the office.

The investigators were looking into what may seem like just the latest scandal within the Vatican’s beleaguered financial system. But this time it touched Pope Francis personally with allegations that money meant for his beloved charities for the poor was actually going into pricey London property and seedy apartments alleged to be used for sinful activities.

Five people, including AIF director Tommaso Di Ruzza, were banned from entering the Vatican’s fortified walls while the investigation tied to the raid was carried out. A wanted poster—featuring photos of the five people who worked in the office and meant for Swiss Guards’ eyes only to know who not to let in—was inevitably leaked to the press.

Pope Francis, to put it mildly, was pissed off that the wanted poster was leaked and the reputations of those on it—who may not be guilty of anything—sullied. A Vatican statement condemned the outing of those on the wanted poster as “prejudicial to the dignity of the people involved.” The pope turned to his security chief Domenico Giani to find out exactly who leaked the photo. On Monday, his detective work still fruitless, Giani resigned.

In his official letter of explanation, he blamed his inability to smoke out whoever leaked the photos. “I felt shame for what happened and for the suffering of these people,” he wrote, according to the letter sent to Vatican accredited journalists. “Having always said I was ready to sacrifice my life to defend the Pope’s, in the same spirit I made the decision to resign.”

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GREENSBURG (PA)
KDKA TV

Oct. 14, 2019

A retired priest from the Diocese of Greensburg who was placed on administrative leave after credible allegations of sexual abuse of a minor has died.

Michael W. Matusak, who retired in July after he was placed on administrative leave due to accusations of sexually abusing a minor, died at age 69 at the diocese’s residence for retired priests.

The Diocese of Greensburg says law enforcement did not make the results of their investigation known to them at the time of Matusak’s death.

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FRAMINGHAM (MA)
MetroWest Daily News

Oct. 13, 2019

By Arthur McCaffrey

This fall marks the 15th anniversary of the start of the grassroots Parish Vigil Resistance Movement (PVRM) which began in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston (RCAB) during September-October in 2004. This Occupy movement — unique in the 200 year history of the archdiocese — saw parishes organize 24/7 vigils inside their churches to protest Archbishop O’Malley’s plans to close over 80 diocesan parishes in 2004. While the newly arrived bishop claimed he was only responding to changing demographics in his diocese, we knew better.

After the mess left behind by his fugitive predecessor, Cardinal Law, who escaped to Rome, O’Malley was faced with a very large bill for paying financial settlements to abuse victims. So he targeted for closure a broad swathe of both weak and strong parishes as revenue generators, like my own in Wellesley, St. James the Great, which was both financially and religiously viable, with a strong, vibrant congregation, including young families with children in CCD classes, and money in the bank— not to mention eight very attractive acres along Rte. 9.

O’Malley sent out his dreaded Fedex letters in the summer of 2004, notifying which parishes were getting the axe. In response, 24 parishes grouped together to challenge O’Malley’s decision, using legitimate canon law appeals to both the archdiocese and the Vatican. In an act of spontaneous combustion, about a dozen of us went one step further by going into full-time vigil to prevent a lockout in our parish churches.

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KINGSTON (NY)
Daily Freeman

Oct. 14, 2019

By Patricia R. Doxsey

Msgr. William Williams, a former vicar of Ulster County, has died five months after being cleared by a Vatican-authorized tribunal of sexually abusing a child.

Williams was 85 when he died at the Ten Broeck Commons nursing home in Lake Katrine on Oct. 9, according to his obituary.

Williams’ name appeared on an April 26, 2019, list released by the Archdiocese of New York that contained the names of 120 priests who had been “credibly accused” of sexual abuse. Williams was among 12 priests in the Mid-Hudson Valley who appeared on the list.

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DENVER (CO)
Colorado Sun

Oct. 14, 2019

Jennifer Brown

Investigators examining decades of child sexual abuse by Colorado priests are expected to release their report within weeks. The reckoning is due, say Catholic leaders, but the public account will sting as it brings a fresh round of damage to the church.

“Our psyche at large as a church, as the body of Christ, has just taken so many strikes to the same wound, that just becomes a traumatic experience,” said Father Ryan O’Neill of the Archdiocese of Denver. “Is this stabbing of the same wound over and over again going to hamper the church’s ability to move forward? That’s what trauma does. It makes you turn on yourself.”

Bracing for the report’s release, church leaders detailed the changes in policy over the years intended to prevent abusers from entering the priesthood. They include psychological evaluations of men who want to become priests, including probing questions about pornography, sexual urges, homosexuality and narcissism.

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Patheos blog

Oct. 14, 2019

By James Haught

[Editor’s Note: For readers who hail from my home state, today’s post is relevant since New York’s Child Victims Act recently took effect. This law opens a one-year window for victims of child sexual abuse, who were previously shut out by the statute of limitations, to file civil lawsuits against their abusers and the churches and other organizations that sheltered them. As with other issues, statute-of-limitations reform was blocked for years by Republicans (who were doing the bidding of the Catholic church’s lobbyists), and was swiftly passed when Democrats took control of the state senate. —Adam]

“Give me that old-time religion…”

Pentecostal evangelist Mario Leyva of Columbus, Ga., sodomized more than 100 church boys. He was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison in 1989. Two assistant pastors got 15 and 12 years for transporting the boys state-to-state for orgies.

“Give me that old-time religion…”

The Rev. Roy Yanke of Beverly Hills, Mich., pleaded guilty in 1991 to robbing 14 banks of $47,000 to pay for his daily use of prostitutes. He got seven years in prison.

“Give me that old-time religion…”

Some 400 U.S. Catholic priests have been charged with child molestation in the past decade, and the church has paid an estimated $400 million in damages and costs. One priest, James Porter, is accused of abusing perhaps 100 victims in three states — including a boy in a full body cast who couldn’t move to resist.

“It’s good enough for me….”

Born-again con-artist Michael Douglas of Antioch, Ill., who specialized in investments for wealthy fundamentalists, got a 12-year sentence in 1991 for swindling 131 people out of $31 million.

“It was good for Paul and Silas…”

Army chaplain aide Steven Ritchie of Fort Lewis, Wash., was sentenced to 26 years in prison in 1990 for raping a six-week-old baby girl.

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

Oct. 13, 2019

We applaud lawmakers in California, especially Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez for introducing this important reform bill and Governor Gavin Newsom for signing it into law yesterday. Californians can be proud of their leadership on this issue.

With AB 218 signed into law, California is now the latest state to pass sweeping reform to their civil statute of limitations for survivors of child sexual abuse. These changes come as more states around the country are amending their laws to reflect the realities of sexual violence: the average age of a survivor coming forward is 52, and by the time most feel comfortable to come forward, they are barred by the statute of limitations.

Fortunately, for the next three years that is no longer the case for victims in California.

By opening a “window to justice” and allowing survivors whose cases were previously barred by SOL to be heard in court, important information can be exposed that can help create safer, more informed communities. We hope that other legislators around the country will look to California as an example as they begin to take up SOL reform in their own states.

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

Oct. 14, 2019

In their latest effort to dodge the deluge of lawsuits from survivors of clergy abuse, Jesuit officials are deploying a new tactic that is obviously aimed at scaring victims and witnesses into silence. We hope their tactic is thrown out in court and that survivors will be protected as they exercise their legal rights.

As lawsuits continue to move forward thanks to New York’s Child Victims Act, church officials from the Jesuit order are demanding that survivors filing lawsuits as Jane or John Doe must instead use their real name publicly.

This is a move designed to be hurtful and scare additional survivors from coming forward. Not every victim is ready to share the details of their abuse with their communities and they should not be prevented from coming forward and filing a lawsuit due to fear of being exposed by the very people who were responsible for the abuse they suffered in the first place.

Church officials have long hidden the name of abusive clerics from public view. In fact, only in the past several months have Jesuit leaders started to post the names of abusers publicly. To us, this move seems to me like a spiteful reaction to having their own veil of secrecy pulled back and seeing their crimes exposed.

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DENVER (CO)
Catholic New Service via Crux

October 13, 2019

By Mark Pattison

Anybody who sees “By the Grace of God,” a new French-language film that details a true-to-life French clerical sex abuse scandal, may be struck by similarities to the U.S. drama “Spotlight,” which dealt with the abuse scandal that erupted in Boston in 2002.

“The two films are complementary,” said Francois Ozon, director of “By the Grace of God.” “In ‘Spotlight,’ the story is told from the point of view of the journalists. In my film, it’s from the point of view of the survivors.”

He added, “When I met the victims, I was very touched. And they all talked to me about ‘Spotlight.’ It was, of course, a big success. I understood, they trusted me, and they told me their story. In a certain way, they wanted me to do the French ‘Spotlight,’ because they knew ‘Spotlight’ won an Oscar (Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay) and was a big movie in America. And they were right.”

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SACRAMENTO (CA)
Associated Press via ABC News

October 13, 2019

By Adam Beam

California is giving childhood victims of sexual abuse more time to decide whether to file lawsuits, joining several states in expanding the statute of limitations for victims over warnings from school districts that the new rules could bankrupt them.

The law signed Sunday by Gov. Gavin Newsom gives victims of childhood sexual abuse until age 40, or five years from discovery of the abuse, to file civil lawsuits. The previous limit had been 26, or within three years from discovery of the abuse.

It also suspends the statute of limitations for three years — beginning Jan. 1 — giving victims of all ages time to bring lawsuits if they wish.

“The idea that someone who is assaulted as a child can actually run out of time to report that abuse is outrageous,” said Democratic Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, the author of the bill.

California is at least the third state this year to take this step. Earlier this year, New York and New Jersey raised their statutes of limitations to age 55. New York also suspended its statute of limitations for one year, leading to hundreds of lawsuits against hospitals, schools, the Roman Catholic Church and the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

October 13, 2019

By Patrick McGreevy

Sacramento – Victims of childhood sexual abuse will have more time to report allegations and file a lawsuit under a California law signed Sunday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The legislation was introduced following widespread allegations of abuse of minors by Catholic priests as well as the 2018 conviction of Larry Nassar, a former U.S. Olympic gymnastics team doctor, for molesting young athletes.

“The idea that someone who is assaulted as a child can actually run out of time to report that abuse is outrageous,” said Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego), the bill’s author. “More and more, we’re hearing about people who were victims years ago but were not ready to come forward to tell their story until now.”

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ALLENTOWN (PA)
Morning Call

October 13, 2019

By Emily Opilo

[Includes list of properties and photographs.]

Five months ago, the Allentown Diocese opened a window for people who were abused by priests to apply for a payout from the church.

To the hundred or so people who already had reported abuse, the diocese sent information about applying for compensation. To those who had kept silent, they extended an invitation. On Sept. 30, the window closed, capping the amount of money the diocese will be offering victims.

Diocesan officials see the fund as a step toward righting some of the wrongs documented by an explosive grand jury report in 2018, which named dozens of Allentown Diocese priests among the 301 accused of abusing about a thousand children across Pennsylvania.

The payouts will also cause “severe financial stress,” the diocese cautioned in December, four months before it opened the fund to claims. It said then that it would tap available cash, borrow money and sell assets “to the extent possible” to cover the fund, noting no money would be taken from parishes.

But public records show the diocese has left one of its largest collective assets — more than $323 million of property it controls in Lehigh and Northampton counties — largely intact.

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.

ALLENTOWN (PA)
Diocese of Allentown

October 13, 2019

For three straight days this week, The Morning Call newspaper has published articles claiming that the Diocese of Allentown has $323 million in property in the Lehigh Valley.

That is wrong.

For three straight days, the implication of these website articles has been that the Diocese could have sold this property to raise cash, but has chosen not to.

That also is wrong.

In one article, there is a list of “Highest-value Allentown Diocese parcels.” Most of them are thriving parishes like St. Thomas More, St. Joseph the Worker and St. Catharine of Siena. Others are thriving high schools like Allentown Central Catholic, Bethlehem Catholic and Notre Dame. The implication? These are properties owned by the Diocese, and they could be sold.

Wrong again.

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.

ALLENTOWN (PA)
Diocese of Allentown

October 13, 2019

[Includes assignment history.]

Father Robert J. Potts, pastor of St. Ursula Church, Fountain Hill (Bethlehem), has been removed from ministry pending investigation of an allegation that he sexually abused a minor in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The allegation was made recently to the administrators of the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program, who then notified the Diocese. The Diocese had no prior knowledge of the allegation until being notified by program administrators. The program was established by the Diocese to provide compensation to abuse victims as one part of their healing.

On the day he was notified of the allegation, Bishop Alfred Schlert immediately removed Father Potts from ministry and immediately directed that law enforcement be notified.

The removal of Father Potts from ministry at this time is not a determination of guilt, but rather a precautionary measure until the appropriate investigations are completed.

The abuse allegedly occurred when Father Potts, now 82, was pastor of the former St. George Parish, Shenandoah. He was ordained in March 1964.

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.