ABUSE TRACKER

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

Nov. 5, 2019

Al Mohler wants to lead the Southern Baptist Convention, but when it comes to dealing with clergy sex abuse, he has not shown leadership. To the contrary, he has long dragged his heels and has found himself forced to acknowledge a problem only because of courageous survivors, determined attorneys and tenacious journalists.

For example, it was only after massive media exposure that Mohler finally admitted to “serious errors” in his support for C.J. Mahaney, a pastor at the heart of claims about a longstanding cover-up of abuse reports involving 13 alleged perpetrators.

That is not leadership; that is belated bare-bones acknowledgment of a problem.

And now, though Mohler has learned to say nice-sounding words, they are words that we as survivors have all heard before. So words are not nearly enough nor are they evidence of leadership. The time for meaningful action is overdue.

Mohler is right, of course, that the SBC “can – and should – do more to track predators who’ve worked in affiliated churches.” But absent a concrete plan, Mohler’s words remain as just words.

SNAP remains wary of seeing too much praise and hope heaped onto any single individual who might lead this denomination, which is the country’s second-largest faith group.

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.

LITTLE ROCK (AR)
Bilgrimmage blog

Nov. 5, 2019

By William Linsdey

I’d like to point you today to a resource Ruth Krall has told me about: as the video at the head of the posting indicates, recently, a lecture that Father Tom Doyle gave last month at Gonzaga University has come online in video format. The lecture is entitled “What the Sexual Abuse Phenomenon Has Done to the Catholic Church,” and was presented under the auspices of Gonzaga’s Flannery Lecture series.

Drawing on his thirty-five years of intense involvement with the abuse problems of the Catholic church, Tom Doyle focuses on the ways in which the abuse situation reveals something deeply concerning about systemic corruption within the Catholic institution itself. His thesis is that the abuse phenomena are “deeply embedded in the very fiber of the institution itself.”

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.

Get Religion blog

Nov. 5, 2019

By Terry Mattingly

When it comes to Catholic demographics — think birth rate, membership and new clergy — researchers know where to look if they want to find the good news and the bad news.

It you are seeking new life and growth, all roads lead to Africa — where the Catholic population has grown by nearly 250% since 1980.

Anyone seeking bad news can examine trends in Europe.

Take Germany, for example. The Catholic church lost 216,078 members in 2018, according to the German Bishops’ Conference. Researchers at the University of Freiburg predict that Catholic membership totals will fall another 50% by 2060. How is the priesthood doing? Things were already pretty bad in 2005, with 122 diocesan priests ordained in Germany. That number fell to 58 in 2015.

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.

PALM BEACH (FL)
Palm Beach Post

Nov. 5, 2019

Civil lawsuits filed last month have raised allegations of sexual abuse involving a longtime Spanish River High School teacher, three years after Palm Beach County School District police investigated a similar, anonymous complaint.

The suits filed under New York’s Child Protection Act accuse Dianna Vacco of sexually abusing two young students hundreds of times in the early 1980s when she taught fifth- and sixth-grade science at a Catholic school in Angola, a village outside Buffalo.

In their complaints, the two former students claim that the sexual abuse occurred both in New York and Florida when they were between the ages of 10 and 15. Court documents do not detail where in Florida the abuse is alleged to have taken place.

Vacco, 65, who appears to live in St. Augustine after moving from Wellington, could not be reached for comment. Court records do not list an attorney representing her in the civil cases.

Mitchell Garabedian, an attorney who has represented numerous sexual abuse victims in high-profile cases, including cases against the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, is one of several attorneys representing the two women in the civil suits. Reached by telephone last week, Garabedian declined to comment.

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.

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

Nov. 5, 2019

Starting this week, virtually all U.S. Catholic bishops will begin travelling to Rome to meet face-to-face with Pope Francis. During these “ad limina” visits, we hope that Church officials and the pontiff will focus almost solely on combatting cases of clergy abuse and improving how Catholic leaders respond to victims and protect children.

They can start by exhorting Pope Francis to expand his reporting directive to require that all allegations of abuse must be reported to secular law enforcement. U.S. Bishops wrote this directive into their Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People way back in 2002, but as recent reports have shown, those directives have had no teeth and bishops have been free to ignore them. Perhaps if the pope deigned to use his considerable power and require that these measures be taken seriously, Church officials would actually listen.

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.

CAROL STREAM (IL)
Christianity Today

Nov. 5, 2019

By Kate Shellnutt

The elders of Harvest Bible Chapel have concluded that their former pastor James MacDonald is biblically disqualified from ministry and can never return to leadership at their congregation.

A church investigation into charges against MacDonald—who was fired in February— found he failed to meet the elder qualifications laid out in Scripture. They attested he instead “had a pattern of being disruptive,” “insulting, belittling, and verbally bullying others,” “improperly exercising positional and spiritual authority,” and “extravagant spending utilizing church resources resulting in personal benefit,” according to a statement released Sunday.

The announcement said while the Bible doesn’t teach that disqualification from ministry is permanent, his damage to Harvest would prevent him from serving again as an elder or pastor there.

“We believe James could be restored to ministry someday, but in order for that day to come, the fruits of repentance must be evident. Based on Harvest Bible Chapel’s interpretation of the Scripture, we have not yet seen evidence of this,” wrote the eight-member elder board (all of whom assumed their positions earlier this year, when the elders who served during MacDonald’s leadership stepped down).

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.

ROME (ITALY)
Crux

Nov. 4, 2019

By Elise Harris

[Editor’s note: This is the first installment of a four-part series by Elise Harris.]

When Chrystian Contreras Javier Gomez, entered Argentina’s Hermanos Discípulos de Jesús de San Juan Bautista at age 15, he thought he was walking among spiritual giants whose life of contemplative prayer fueled a heroic service to the poor.

Yet it wouldn’t take long for him to discover that there were more sinners than saints behind the community walls.

Within his first three years in the order, Contreras was sexually abused by the order’s founder and later raped by a deacon belonging to the community. After leaving, he attempted to make a civil complaint against the two but gave up after being humiliated at the police station. He eventually made a canonical complaint, but almost a year later, he has heard nothing more about it.

The order has now been suppressed and the founder and another prominent member are currently facing criminal charges of alleged sexual abuse from two other victims, however, Contreras still has no clue about the status of his case, where his rapist is, or if he is still in ministry.

Contreras’s story is not unique. And while the suppression of his order might seem like a victory for himself and other victims, the chaos left in the aftermath might well be a classic case of “be careful what you wish for.”

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.

Legal Examiner blog

Nov. 5, 2019

By Kelly McClintock

A report just released, commissioned by the Catholic Diocese of Lansing, states that the Church failed to keep parishioners safe from a priest abusing his power and sexually assaulting at least two young men. Patrick Egan sexually assaulted a man in his 20s during a Church boxing session in the 1990s, which he reported to the Church. However, the Lansing Diocese failed to properly investigate when the survivor made his disclosure in 2003. Later, in 2014 Patrick Egan sexually assaulted a second young man during a boxing session at the Church.

According to the report (the Catholic Church hired their own lawyers to conduct), Patrick Egan’s “priestly faculties” have been revoked, “essentially removing him from the Diocese of Lansing.” The Lansing State Journal reports the Lansing Diocese has requested Egan return to the Diocese of Westminster, England, where he originates.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
Religion News Service

Nov. 5, 2019

By Christa Brown

Last week, confronted with criminal charges of having repeatedly raped a teenage girl, the Rev. Bryan Fulwider killed himself while out on bail. At the time of the alleged offenses, he was senior pastor at First Congregational Church of Winter Park, Florida.

Many will no doubt think that the pastor’s death should put an end to the disturbing questions about what he may have done during his life: Let the dead rest in peace.

But the problem is this: The death of a child molester doesn’t automatically bring peace for his victims. To the contrary, it often brings greater pain. Having already had their innocence, trust and bodily autonomy stolen, a perpetrator’s untimely death may then rob victims further by depriving them of the opportunity for vindication and justice in a court of law.

As reported, the arrest documents said Fulwider had raped the girl “well over 100 times” beginning when she was 14. Though Fulwider pleaded not guilty, prosecutors described their case as “extremely strong,” pointing to an hourlong recorded phone call in which Fulwider admitted to having a “sexual relationship” with the victim when she was younger than 18 and that he was a predator in the “eyes of the law.” Fulwider’s own sons have said “we believe the victim.”

If we assume the truth of the victim’s allegations, then Fulwider’s suicide will not spare her the traumatic fallout from all that he did to her. For many clergy sex abuse survivors, trying to heal from such a soul-murdering offense is a lifelong process.

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.

NODIA (INDIA)
India Today

Nov. 5, 2019

Agroup of 37 priests from the Mysuru Diocese has written a letter to Pope Francis requesting his urgent intervention in the affairs of the Bishop of Mysuru KA William. The priests have demanded that the Bishop be removed over his alleged involvement in criminal offences, misappropriation of funds and sexual misconduct.

The Bishop has also been accused of practising factionalism, favouritism and also getting married.

Melwyn Fernandes of the Association of Concerned Catholics, has released a press note stating, “This is an issue involving crimes of moral turpitude by Bishop William of Mysuru, involving financial irregularities, sexual misconduct, kidnapping and suspected murders.”

Speaking to India Today TV, Fernandes said, “There are allegations with regard to children. We demand that paternity tests should be done so that the innocence of the Bishop can be proved. We also demand an enquiry be conducted into the alleged kidnapping of a girl at the behest of the Bishop and how that girl’s child was shown to her through a CCTV camera when she was at a different location.”

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.

MOREE (AUSTRALIA)
Moree Champion

Nov. 5, 2019

By Breanna Chillingworth

A FORMER Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing 40 children over three decades has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

David Joseph Perrett appeared in Armidale District Court for an arraignment hearing on 139 historical sex abuse charges.

The child abuse allegations stem from when Perrett was a serving Catholic priest in the Armidale, Walgett, Moree, Guyra and wider New England area, as well as Sydney and the coast, between the 1960s and 1990s.

Perrett has been living on strict bail in Armidale.

Judge Jeffery McLennan is yet to set a date or location for the trial of the charges, which include assault; buggery; carnal knowledge of a child; and maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child under the age of 16.

The trial – which could take three months – has not been set down yet, but Perrett will return to court in February next year.

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.

NEW BEDFORD (MA)
South Coast Today

Nov. 4, 2019

By Kiernan Dunlop

One of the two Roman Catholic priests put on administrative leave for alleged misconduct has strong ties to New Bedford.

Fr. Daniel W Lacroix grew up in the city and attended St. Mary’s Parish and the accompanying school as a child, according to a profile on the priest by The Standard-Times when in 2017 he returned to be the pastor of the parish where he grew up. This year, Lacroix was named co-pastor at three North End Churches — St. Joseph-St. Therese, St. Mary, and Our Lady of Fatima Parishes — before being placed on administrative leave.

In the profile Lacroix said, “I never thought I would be so blessed as to return to St. Mary’s,” and explained that it’s very rare for a priest to be assigned to his home parish.

Lacroix was ordained a priest in 1988 and over the past three decades he was assigned to Holy Name Parish in New Bedford, St. Patrick Parish in Wareham, and St. Francis Xavier Parish in Acushnet, along with parishes in Chatham, Mansfield, Hyannis, and Seekonk, according Director of Communications for the Fall River Diocese John Kearns.

In 2016, Lacroix was named dean of the New Bedford district which, according to the Fall River Diocese website, means the bishop appointed Lacroix to assist him in the promotion of coordination of apostolic and pastoral activity in that area.

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.

ONTARIO (CANADA)
Catholic diocese was told of Grecco’s sex abuse, alleges victi

The St. Catharines Standard

Nov. 5, 2019

By Grant LaFleche

Niagara Catholic diocese knew a serial sex abuser was among its ranks of priests but did nothing about it, alleges one of the man’s victims in a lawsuit against the church.

In a statement of claim filed in a St. Catharines court in May, William O’Sullivan says the Diocese of St. Catharines — which governs Catholic churches and priests in Niagara — was told now ex-priest Donald Grecco had sexually abused a child, but did nothing to protect them.

“(The diocese) failed to remove Grecco from his duties upon learning of the allegations of sexual and other inappropriate conduct thereby leaving the plaintiff exposed to Grecco and his actions without protection,” says O’Sullivan’s statement of claim, which also alleges the diocese failed to investigate Grecco’s actions once it was made “fully away of his shortcomings in an effort locate and assist any victims.”

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.

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

Nov. 5, 2019

An in-depth report from the Denver Post has reinforced findings from an earlier AP report that large numbers of accused child abusers are alive and remain dangerous in whichever communities they live. We call on Catholic officials throughout Colorado to take steps to warn communities where these dangerous men live and work, so that children and the vulnerable are protected and so that parents, parishioners, and the public are better informed.

According to the Attorney General’s report on Catholic abusers; at least 22 diocesan priests in Colorado have been accused of abuse. While any number is too high, this figure does not include clergymen from religious orders – who were not covered in the scope of the Special Master’s report – so this count is more likely incredibly low.

Of those 22 diocesan priests, at least 11 are alive. Their diaspora has included Ecuador, Florida, other Catholic dioceses, other religions and other communities in Colorado. They have new jobs as priests, therapists and in other related professions that keep them in touch with children. Several have spent time in prison. Each is a dangerous man, and representatives of the three Colorado dioceses say they do not actively track the location andactivities of the clerics named in the report. As clergymen changed their location or left the Church, they faded from the dioceses’ radar.

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.

ROME (ITALY)
Crux

Nov. 5, 2019

By Elise Harris

[Editor’s note: This is the second installment of a four-part series. Part one can be found here.]

ROME – When the Vatican suppressed Argentina’s Hermanos Discípulos de Jesús de San Juan Bautista, this summer, the act was welcome news for ex-members, some of whom have been waiting for years to get justice for alleged abuses suffered under the group’s founder and other members.

Scandals in new movements and communities such as the Legion of Christ founded by the late Mexican Father Marcial Maciel Degollado or the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV) launched by Peruvian layman Luis Fernando Figari, have become all too familiar a story in global Catholicism in recent years.

Like the Legionaries and the SCV, members of the Hermanos allegedly endured a wide range of abuse and manipulation, including psychological abuse, abuse of power/authority, and sexual abuse, including the abuse and rape of minors.

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.

Patheos blog

Nov. 4, 2019

By Rebecca Bratten Weiss

Recent statements by theologian and former president of Ireland Mary McAleese have been making a stir in Catholic circles, prompting reactions in the extremes of both negative and positive.

According to an article by Sarah Mac Donald, McAleese stated that the Catholic priesthood is based around a “fundamental lie”:

She told a conference in TCD on Saturday attended by up to 400 people, including the Provost, Dr Patrick Prendergast, that a clericalised priesthood was not attracting vocations today and that many of those who are attracted to priesthood have a “deeply problematic” sexuality because the Church demands that those priests and seminarians who are not heterosexual pretend to be.

Recalling the six years she spent studying for a doctorate in canon law in Rome, living in the environs of a seminary and monastery, she said she had encountered many young seminarians and priests.

“I became very much aware of the dysfunction at the heart of seminary life and the dysfunction at the heart of much of the priesthood.”

“The number of fake-hetero misogynistic homophobic gays I met frightened me. The homophobia of people who are gay is a lie – it is a vicious lie. But they live it and in living it, apart from making themselves miserable, they also make a lot of other people miserable.” She said that as pastors, “their capacity for dispersing misery is really immense. That worries me greatly.”

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.

CHARLESTON (WV)
Gazette Mail

Nov. 4, 2019

By Ryan Quinn

From the late 1980s until a couple of years ago, the physical heart of the church at the heart of downtown Charleston’s Catholic complex was made of mahogany.

At what is now the Basilica of the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, that fine wood made up the ambo (or pulpit) from which Monsignor Edward Sadie read the gospel, and the altar from which he gave Mass.

The bishop’s chair, called the cathedra, in which Sadie could not sit, also was mahogany. The cathedral, in which that chair sits, is technically the bishop’s church.

So, until he left his post last year, the chair belonged to Michael Bransfield, bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston. So did the church.

And Bransfield, now notorious for spending Diocese money on personal luxuries, wanted a marble chair, a marble ambo and a marble altar.

The Bishop’s Fund — the nonprofit that, as reported by The Washington Post, Bransfield created and then funded entirely through Wheeling Hospital money — paid for about $2.3 million worth of renovations to Sacred Heart in 2017.

These renovations, done within the past few years, replaced the mahogany with marble. The renovations covered the floor with marble, too.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
The Hill

Nov. 4, 2019

By Aris Folley

Former megachurch pastor and evangelical author Joshua Harris said in a recent interview that he believes some of the massive support President Trump has enjoyed from the evangelical community has been “incredibly damaging to the Gospel and to the church.”

Harris, an influential evangelical teacher and writer during the late 1990s and up until he announced he’d abandoned his faith earlier this year, added that having “a leader like Trump I think is in itself part of the indictment” of Christians.

Evangelicals have been staunch supporters of Trump since his 2016 election, with his job approval higher than average among white evangelical Christians throughout the three years of his presidency, according to Pew Research Center data. In a poll earlier this fall conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute, about 77 percent of evangelicals approve of the president’s job performance, compared to an average 43 percent in other polls.

But Harris told Axios’s Mike Allen that he’s concerned about the end result of the church becoming “identified with President Trump.”

“I don’t think it’s going to end well,” Harris said in a clip of an interview on “Axios on HBO” released Monday.

“And I think, you know, you look back at the Old Testament and the relationship between the prophets and really bad leaders and kings, and oftentimes it was, it’s not something you unwind because it’s, it’s actually in the scriptures presented as God’s judgment on the False Religion of the day,” Harris said.

“You think Christians today who are embracing President Trump are due for a judgment?” Allen asked.

“I think it is the judgment,” Harris responded. “I think it is part of the judgment.”

“What do you mean by that?” Allen asked.

“To have a leader like Trump I think is in itself part of the indictment, that this is the leader that you want and maybe deserve,” Harris answered. “That represents a lot of who you are.”

Harris, who served as the senior pastor at the Covenant Life megachurch Gaithersburg, Md., for more than a decade before resigning from his post in 2015 amid controversy over the church’s handling of a child sexual abuse scandal, rose to prominence shortly after the 1997 publication of “I Kissed Dating Goodbye” at age 21. The book was once highly influential to evangelical youth group teaching.

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.

ALBANY (NY)
Times Union

Nov. 4, 2019

By Cayla Harris

A newly filed lawsuit claims retired Bishop Howard Hubbard told a teenage boy more than 60 years ago that he should “forget about” alleged sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of another priest who had what Hubbard allegedly described as “a moment of weakness.”

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.

NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WVUE TV

Nov. 4, 2019

By Rob Masson

Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests gathered in front of Notre Dame seminary Monday with several demands. They want the list of credibly abused priests expanded and they want more statewide prosecution.

They met outside the seminary with stories that have become all too familiar.

“He put a pillow over my head to quiet me, and control me, and kill me…i don’t think he cared,” said National SNAP president Tim Lennon, talking about his own abuse in Iowa, some 40 years ago.

Members of SNAP want the Archdiocese of New Orleans to expand, a list of credibly accused clergy that was released one year ago this week. They want it expanded, from 57 names to 81, as outlined on the webisite ‘Bishopaccountability.org’.

“It wasn’t good enough because most of the priests on that list were dead and statute of limitations prohibits suing anyone who is dead in civil law,” said Louisiana SNAP president Kevin Bourgeois.

The archdiocese says many of the names on the Bishopaccountability.org list, includes non priests, who were members of religious orders, and not under the archdiocese. They put out a statement saying,

‘Our goals as we work to address the clergy abuse crisis are to walk with victims towards healing and to work diligently through our safe environment program to prevent abuse from occurring. we continue to address and investigate allegations that are reported to us and once again pledge our full cooperation with any law enforcement investigations into criminal actions.’

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.

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

Nov. 4, 2019

Catholic watchdog site lists 81 perpetrators

SNAP analytics suggests there are still others not yet reported

Revealing these “hidden predators” and their enablers helps to protect children today

Survivors’ group calls for AG investigation and statute of limitation reform

WHAT:
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, child sex abuse survivors and their supporters will
— call on Archbishop Gregory Michael Aymond to expand his list of abusers,
— urge a statewide investigation into clergy sex crimes by the AG’s office, and
— advocate for the reform of state laws limiting the ability of victims to have their day in court.

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.

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

Nov. 4, 2019

A former priest from the Diocese of Steubenville was arrested last week for sexual misconduct with a minor. We are glad that church officials took steps to warn the public about him and urge them to undertake further outreach.

We believe that Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla is right to be concerned that there might be more victims of Ronald S. Burkhead. Child predators rarely stop abusing with just one or two.

It was acknowledged by the Steubenville diocese that Burkhead worked as a teacher at St. Francis Central in Toronto, OH from 2000-01 and Holy Rosary Central in Steubenville from 2004-05 . Yes, the Diocese of Steubenville officials did the right thing in regard to Burkhead, but they need to do more.

We call on Bishop Jeffrey M. Monforton to do outreach to any possible victims at each of the schools at which Burkhead worked. Bishop Monforton should also make it a point to send a letter to the alumni from both schools urging them to contact police if they have any knowledge about abuse or may have been harmed by Burkhead themselves. It is very possible that they would be within the SOL to get him in jail and away from kids. Finally, Bishop Monforton should add Burkhead’s name, picture, and assignment history to the list of accused clerics on their diocese web site.

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.

DENVER (CO)
Colorado Politics

Nov. 4, 2019

By Michael Karlik

Democratic Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff asked in a Nov. 1 tweet why his opponent, former Gov. John Hickenlooper, had not initiated a grand jury investigation of suspected child abuse in the Catholic Church.

“This is a devastating account of children abused & justice denied,” Romanoff wrote. “Why didn’t Gov. Hickenlooper request a grand jury investigation?”

Romanoff referenced a report that the attorney general’s office released on Oct. 23 detailing how at least 166 children appear to have been the victims of sexual abuse in Colorado’s Catholic dioceses from 1950 to 1998.

The Colorado Sun reported last week that during Hickenlooper’s final months in office, then-Attorney General Cynthia Coffman discussed with him the allegations she had heard. She would have needed the governor to authorize any grand jury investigation.

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.

SAN SALVADOR (EL SALVADOR)
Associated Press

Nov 4, 2019

El Salvador’s top Roman Catholic cleric apologized Sunday for the alleged sexual abuse by a priest of an unidentified minor 25 years ago.

“We have apologized to the victim and now I am repeating it publicly, and we also ask for forgiveness from the community for the scandal that this has caused,” San Salvador Archbishop José Luis Escobar Alas said in a news conference after celebrating Mass.

“At the same time we pray for the victim and also for the priest,” he said.

The victim was received by the Archdiocese’s Commission on Childhood Protection, which according to Escobar, “found merit in their accusation and suggested that the proper canonical process be initiated.”

The priest, identified as Leopoldo Sosa Tolentino, was suspended, the archbishop said.

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

WHEELING (WV)
The Intelligencer

Nov. 4, 2019

Ronald S. Burkhead, of Rayland, was arrested last week and charged with various offenses involving alleged sexual misconduct with a minor. Burkhead, 41, had been employed by the Buckeye Local school system as a traveling teacher who worked at various schools.

After the arrest, Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla said another minor with whom Burkhead allegedly had a relationship had been identified. The sheriff speculated there may have been other victims, and he encouraged parents whose children may have come in contact with Burkhead to discuss the matter with them.

Then it was revealed — by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Steubenville — that Burkhead had taught for a time at diocesan schools. They were St. Francis Central in Toronto from 2000-01 and Holy Rosary Central in Steubenville from 2004-05, diocesan Permanent Deacon Paul D. Ward said.

Ward added that anyone who has been harmed by anyone serving on behalf of the church should contact the diocese and law enforcement authorities.

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.

FALL RIVER (MA)
WJAR — NBC 10 News

Nov. 3, 2019

Two priests were put on administrative leave from the ministry pending an investigation of alleged misconduct from decades ago, according to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River.

The diocese identified the priests as the Rev. Richard Degagne, pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Easton, and the Rev. Daniel Lacroix, co-pastor of St. Joseph- St. Therese, St. Mary, and Our Lady of Fatima parishes in New Bedford.

Officials said the alleged misconduct of Degagne dates back to before he was a priest.

Parishioners were informed of the allegations in a letter from Bisop Edgar da Cunha which was read at all weekend Masses.

“Nothing is more important than the welfare of survivors, children and our community at-large,” said da Cunha. “We have pledged to handle all matters of abuse in a pastoral and professional way and have implemented many new reforms since 2017. I continue to pray for anyone who has been affected by the scourge of sexual abuse.”

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.

DENVER (CO)
Denver Post

November 4, 2019

By Elise Schmelzer

One Colorado priest left the church after allegations he sexually assaulted a 17-year-old and went on to work as a U.S. Veterans Affairs therapist and a wellness director tasked with leading a children’s club at a Trinidad nonprofit. Another priest, after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a minor, became a counselor to drug users before finding a new religious group to lead.

At least 11 of the 44 men named as predators in a report published Oct. 22 on clergy sexual abuse in Colorado’s Catholic dioceses are still alive. After leaving or being forced from the priesthood, some men became social workers, religious leaders and counselors. Others who remain priests are now retired and live in Denver and Pueblo.

At least three of the priests’ whereabouts are unknown — it’s not even clear if they’re alive. The Diocese of Pueblo does not know where Clifford Norman or Lawrence Sievers are, a spokeswoman said. Norman left the diocese in 1975 and moved to Mexico, and Sievers left the priesthood in 1973. Similarly, the Diocese of Colorado Springs does not know where William Martinez lives or whether he is alive. Martinez permanently left the priesthood in 2004.

The Colorado dioceses do not actively track the location and activities of priests named in the report, representatives of the three dioceses said. Those abused by the priests often did not report their assaults until decades later and the dioceses often did not report the allegations to law enforcement. As priests moved locations or left the church, they faded from the dioceses’ radars.

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Patheos blog

Nov. 2, 2019

By Captain Cassidy

As if one huge, long-running, top-level scandal wasn’t enough for Catholics, they’ve now got a new one to contend with. And it’s exposed at the worst time possible for their leaders. Join me today for a look at Catholicism’s newer scandal, and how hardline Catholics are reacting to the news.

The news broke recently: the Vatican has yet another scandal on its hands.

This time, it didn’t involve the rape of underage children or the murder of vulnerable infants and women, so that’s good, I suppose. Those scandals went on for many centuries before finally poking up from a sea of submerged fear.

The inevitable results of giving unlimited power and no ethical barriers to entry to any group. (NSFW for, well, everything.)

Instead, this new scandal involves the discovery of troubling financial corruption at the highest levels of Catholicism.

I suspect most people–especially non-Catholics–know by now that this group regularly commits enormous financial shenanigans. The news constantly confirms this opinion. (See endnote for a truly hilarious example.)

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Review of Books

Nov. 1, 2019

By Elizabeth Bruenig

In January the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, suffered a minor scandal concerning the virtue of the Mother of God. It came to light that an English professor had taught Emmanuel Carrère’s 2014 book The Kingdom—a self-consciously provocative work about the author’s struggle with his Catholic faith and the unlikely survival of the early Church—to a group of five upperclassmen as part of an elective course in the spring of 2018. The Kingdom is something of an odd elegy to faith by an agnostic who finally couldn’t believe, and thus Carrère takes aim at the religion’s more incredible dogmas; the perpetual virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary never seems to escape this particular kind of complaint. “This woman knew a man in her youth,” Carrère muses, somewhere between argument and fantasy. “She had sex. She might have come, let’s hope so for her, maybe she even masturbated.”

When word of The Kingdom’s use on campus began to circulate among the wider Catholic community, Franciscan initially came to its professor’s defense. But a day later, as outrage mounted, the university banned the book, and the professor who had assigned it was removed from his post as the English department’s chair. There’s more than enough in The Kingdom for a Catholic to dispute, but it was the doubt cast on Mary’s virginity that got the book banned and its unfortunate instructor chastened. If the Church and world persist for another two thousand years, the subject will still be maddeningly controversial.

Why is this particular doctrine of the faith so deeply important? The virgin birth emphasizes Christ’s divinity by giving him appropriately mystical origins. Permanent celibacy also maintains for Mary a special category of sinlessness, marking her as free of lust. And, set against her historical background, Mary’s perpetual virginity would have lent her a unique singleness of purpose. Scripture is full of people whose loyalties are divided between the earthly and heavenly—David is divided between his Lord and his lust; Peter is divided between Christ and cowardice—but Mary’s cause is one and all-consuming: “Her prerogative is the consequence of her divine motherhood which totally consecrated her to Christ’s mission of redemption,” as Saint Pope John Paul II put it in a Vatican audience in 1996.

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CHICAGO (IL)
WBBM Radio

Nov. 3, 2019

By Andy Dahn

Sunday marked the second annual All Survivors Day for victims of sexual abuse but the story of one local gathering for Catholic clergy abuse survivors was its dismal turnout.

“Where is everybody?” asked Kate Bochte, a spokeswoman of the Chicago chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP. “It’s so hard to find the strength just to even come out here on the sidewalk.”

Larry Antonsen said he was sexually abused by a priest at St. Rita High School on the southwest side when he was 15. He called the lack of progress in addressing the issue “frustrating.”

“One in four girls, one in six boys will be sexually abused before they’re 18-years-old,” Antonsen said. “We’re here to help protect them. We want things in place by the church to protect kids. That’s what this is all about.”

What had Bochte frustrated was the small crowd outside of Holy Name Cathedral. Located on the near North Side, Holy Name Cathedral is the seat of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

“Survivors cannot hear you pray,” she told reporters. “Survivors cannot hear your little conversations with your children or your friends about how much you support survivors. Tell them that. They don’t hear you.”

Antonsen said keeping children safe shouldn’t be so difficult.

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NORWICH (CT)
The Day

Nov. 3. 2019

By Sten Spinella

A small group of demonstrators stood outside the Cathedral of Saint Patrick on Sunday to mark All Survivors’ Day, which recognizes survivors of sexual abuse.

As men and women in military dress exited the Cathedral following the 28th annual Red, White & Blue Mass’s reception, they strode past the group of demonstrators, which fluctuated between four and eight survivors and their supporters.

Protesters in Norwich from the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests “stood in solidarity with survivors and supporters from CT Alliance to end Sexual Violence and other groups,” according to a release before the event. People affiliated with SNAP held similar events at cathedrals in Hartford and Bridgeport on Sunday.

The main goal of the event was to call for the state legislature to eradicate all statutes of limitation for sex crimes. At the moment, those who allege they were sexually assaulted by priests cannot file civil lawsuits against the church if they are 51 or older.

Tim McGuire of New London, who alleges that he was sexually assaulted by a priest in Noank as an 8-year-old altar boy, has become an ardent advocate for survivors. On Sunday, he held a sign reading “Say no to the Catholic fondling of state laws. Your laws!”

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CHICAGO (IL)
Sun Times

Nov. 3, 2019

By Sam Kelly and Tom Schuba

A Bridgeport priest who was removed from active ministry has been reinstated after officials found allegations that he sexually abused a child were “unfounded,” according to a statement issued Saturday by Cardinal Blase Cupich.

Father William McFarlane was asked to “step aside” from Nativity of Our Lord and St. Gabriel Parish in July after an accusation that he sexually abused a child in 1997 was brought to the attention of the Archdiocese of Chicago, Cupich said.

The archdiocese confirmed that McFarlane would be reinstated in a new role after the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office deemed the allegations “unfounded” and the archdiocese’s independent review board further decided they were unmerited.

“At their meeting on Saturday, October 26, 2019, the Board found that there was insufficient reason to suspect that Father McFarlane had committed sexual abuse of a minor,” Cupich said. “Therefore, I am restoring Father McFarlane to active ministry, effective immediately.”

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HYANNIS (MA)
Cape Cod Times

Nov. 3, 2019

By Doug Fraser

The Diocese of Fall River announced Sunday that two priests have been placed on administrative leave, including one with ties to the Cape.

The Revs. Daniel Lacroix and Richard Degagne were placed on leave after an internal investigation and external review of personnel files revealed alleged misconduct that occurred decades ago, according to diocesan spokesman John Kearns.

Lacroix served as the assistant pastor, also known as a parochial vicar, at the Holy Redeemer Church in Chatham from 1988 to 1991, and as the pastor of St. Francis Xavier Church in Hyannis from 2008 to 2014. Degagne did not serve in any Cape or Islands parish, according to Kearns.

Both men have denied the allegations, Kearns wrote in a press release. He said the cases have been referred to the Cape and Islands and Bristol County district attorney’s offices.

Both incidents happened decades ago, and Degagne’s incident occurred before he was ordained, according to the press release.

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DENVER (CO)
Colorado Public Radio

Nov. 3, 2019

By Avery Lill

It’s a group no one wants to be a part of: communities scarred by abuse in Catholic Churches.

With the Attorney General’s office’s report, Colorado now has at least a partial accounting of child sexual abuse in the state’s three dioceses. The independent inquiry revealed that priests abused, at minimum, 166 children in Colorado over 70 years.

The Centennial State is far from the first community that has already been down this path.

A prominent one is Boston, where in 2002, the Boston Globe’s Spotlight investigation revealed widespread sexual abuse of children by priests in the Archdiocese of Boston and an ensuing cover-up by church leaders.

Walter Robinson led that coverage as the Spotlight team’s editor. The stories drew national attention and won the paper a Pulitzer. The 2015 movie about the reporting, “Spotlight,” won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.

When Robinson spoke to Colorado Matters, he said Colorado’s special report was “eerily similar” to inquiries in Massachusetts and other states.

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BOISE (IDAHO)
Idaho Statesman

Nov. 3, 2019

By Bob Kustra

Recent news of the Vatican defrocking a Boise priest now serving 25 years without parole for possessing violent and extreme child pornography brought back memories long forgotten. Raised in the Catholic Church, I spent my youth as an altar boy with clergy officiating at daily Masses, funerals, weddings and who often assumed administrative or teaching roles in the Catholic schools I attended.

One priest, the principal of my high school, invited his favorite students to his cabin on the river to fish and enjoy water sports in the summer. Looking back on it all, it never once occurred to me during those outings that some of the questions he would ask about our personal lives might be an indicator of some repressed sexual desires that the church seemed to ignore with its vow of celibacy for priests.

It wasn’t until a few years ago when I read an account of the director of the film, “Guardians of the Galaxy”, James Gunn, that I realized the same priest/principal who was befriending boys in my high school was also prominent in the young life of this successful director in a parish across town from my experience. According to Gunn, that same priest would give young boys in his class alcohol and pornography.

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LAGOS (NIGERIA)
New York Times

Nov. 3, 2019

By Julie Turkewitz

It was, she said, a secret that burned so badly she could no longer keep it inside. So at age 34, Busola Dakolo, a well-known Nigerian photographer, went on television and finally spoke.

She said she had been raped twice as a teenager by her former pastor, Biodun Fatoyinbo, a church leader whose services draw thousands, and whose fans, admiring his flashy lifestyle, have taken to calling him “the Gucci pastor.” He has denied the allegations.

After years in which silence around rape and sexual harassment have been the norm, West Africa is seeing a wave of #MeToo proclamations.

Accusations have come from a Gambian beauty queen who said the former president raped her; a former presidential adviser in Sierra Leone who said she was sexually assaulted by a church leader; and a Nigerian journalist with the BBC who captured hidden camera footage of university professors soliciting sex in exchange for admission and grades.

The footage shook the region, drew outrage from political leaders and led to the suspension of at least four lecturers.

But many women who have come forward in recent months have also experienced a fierce backlash, including attacks on their reputations and accusations that they’ve lied about the assaults. While their critics say they are merely applying appropriate skepticism to unproven allegations, their supporters say that the hostile reaction reveals just how difficult it is for women in the region to speak out about abuse.

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NEW YORK (NY)
NBC TV 4

Nov. 1, 2019

A New Jersey man snared in a child sex sting is going back to prison more than 20 years after he was convicted of sexually assault a boy when he was a church counselor.

A judge in Ocean County on Friday sentenced 48-year-old Thomas Blumensteel of Manchester to seven years in prison for luring.

He must serve at least five years before he’ll be eligible for parole and must register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law.

Blumensteel was arrested in September 2018 in a sting in which an undercover detective posed on social media as a 15-year-old boy.

Prosecutors say Blumensteel arranged to meet for sex.

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TAMPA (FL)
News Channel 8

Nov. 2, 2019

A registered Florida sex offender is accused of using a bible app to befriend young girls in a church youth group.

A confidential source notified police that 50-year-old Tampa man Douglas Kersey was using The Bible App – YouVersion to befriend teenage girls in their church and talk with them online.

The confidential source told law enforcement Kersey crated a profile under the name “Doug K” and started befriending girls in the same youth group.

Investigators learned Kersey never registered the email used on his bible app profile with the sheriff’s office, which sexual offenders are required to do. Failure to register any new email address with the sheriff’s office or FDLE is a third degree felony.

Kersey is charged with two counts of failure of sexual offender to register and violation of probation from prior out-of-county arrests.

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FORT WORTH (TX)
Star Telegram

Nov. 1, 2019

By Domingo Ramirez, Jr.

An Arlington church and one of its former pastors failed to prevent the sexual abuse of a 4-year-old by a 13-year-old boy who was a church member, according to a lawsuit.

Officials at The Welcome Table Christian Church in Arlington and former pastor Estel Harven Tewes were negligent in failing to report the sexual abuse and failing to train employees on recognizing and preventing sexual abuse, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday in Fort Worth by a man who is related to the 4-year-old boy.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Religion News Service
·
Nov. 1, 2019

By Russell L. Meek

“David raped. It’s important we get that right.”

This crucial bit of biblical interpretation came in a tweet in early October from Rachael Denhollander, the first young athlete to accuse Gymnastics USA physician Larry Nassar of sexual assault and now a speaker and author on surviving abuse. She was responding to a tweet from evangelical leader Matt Smethurst who, while listing the various sins of biblical figures, stated, “David fornicated.”

Denhollander followed up her response the next day and again a few days later, outlining the biblical support for her assertion that what David did to Bathsheba was not fornication or adultery, but rape.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Nov. 1, 2019

By Peter Smith

An attorney for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh raised the prospect of bankruptcy in a court hearing Friday over whether the church can use a trust fund for needy children, worth more than $8 million, toward compensating victims of sexual abuse by priests.

Attorney Robert Ridge said during a hearing in Allegheny County Orphans Court that the diocese is looking at every available funding source to go toward a compensation fund for victims.

He told Orphans Court Administrative Judge Lawrence O’Toole that the diocese was asking for a determination now on whether the trust fund could be used because, if the diocese does need to file in bankruptcy court, the same question will come up there.

The hearing came in response to a challenge by Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s office over a petition by the diocesan-affiliated Catholic Institute of Pittsburgh to use the fund.

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HOUSTON (TX)
Houston Chronicle

Nov. 2, 2019

By Robert Downen

Rev. Albert Mohler, the longtime president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., said Thursday that he’d like to lead the faith group once current president J.D. Greear’s second term ends in June. SBC presidents are term-limited, and are elected each year by thousands of delegates at the faith group’s annual meeting in June.

If elected, Mohler would take the SBC’s helm at a time of increasing divide over race and gender issues, as well as the sex abuse crisis that’s been detailed in an ongoing Houston Chronicle investigation. The investigation, Abuse of Faith, found that hundreds of Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers have been convicted of sex crimes in the last two decades. They had more than 700 victims, most of them children.

The Florida pastor who nominated Mohler, leader the SBC’s flagship seminary since 1993, said he is “the statesman leader we need at this precise moment.”

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ODESSA (TX)
Odessa American

Nov. 2, 2019

By Bob Campbell

In its annual meeting that concluded here this week, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention passed a resolution thanking the state Legislature for a new law protecting churches from civil liability when disclosing information about sexual predators.

Convention Communications Director Gary Ledbetter of Grapevine said House Bill 4345 lets churches and their staff members and volunteers provide much more than just the dates of employment when answering inquiries about former employees. That information will help in the fight against sex abuse in churches.

“It will keep somebody who was accused of child abuse or sexual abuse from going from church to church,” Ledbetter said.

The resolution says God “abhors violence against the weak and defenseless and calls his people to defend the hurt and oppressed, to stand for justice and to deliver victims of abuse from the hands of their oppressors.”

Attended by 772 messengers, or delegates, and 257 guests, the three-day event featured prominent ministers, including a video address by Paul Chitwood, president of the Richmond, Virginia,-based International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Adam Greenway, new president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, among others.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

Nov. 2, 2019

By Ross Douthat

Fifty years ago, many observers of American religion assumed that secularization would gradually wash traditional Christianity away. Twenty years ago, Christianity looked surprisingly resilient, and so the smart thinking changed: Maybe there was an American exception to secularizing trends, or maybe a secularized Europe was the exception and the modernity-equals-secularization thesis was altogether wrong.

Now the wheel has turned again, and the new consensus is that secularization was actually just delayed, and with the swift 21st-century collapse of Christian affiliation, a more European destination for American religiosity has belatedly arrived. “In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace” ran the headline on a new Pew Research Center survey of American religion this month, summing up a consensus shared by pessimistic religious conservatives, eager anticlericalists and the regretfully unbelieving sort of journalist who suspects that we may miss organized religion when it’s gone.

The trends that have inspired this perspective are real, but the swings in the consensus over a relatively short period should inspire caution in interpretation. One important qualifier, appropriate to the week of Halloween, is that the decline of Christian institutions and the weakening of Christian affiliation may be clearing space for post-Christian spiritualities — pantheist, gnostic, syncretist, pagan — rather than a New Atheist sort of godlessness. (The fact that The New York Times, occasionally stereotyped as secular and liberal, is proclaiming “peak witch” while The New Yorker gives friendly treatment to millennial astrology, is suggestive of just how un-secular the American future might become.)

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HARRISBURG (PA)
Johnstown Tribune Democrat

Nov. 2, 2019

By John Finnerty

State lawmakers have some big issues left to confront in the few days they have scheduled in 2019.

Lawmakers left the Capitol Wednesday, and they have only four days scheduled for session in November. The House has six session days scheduled for December, while the Senate has just three.

Advocates and lawmakers say the controversy over allowing adult survivors of child sex crimes to sue organizations, like the Catholic Church, for covering up for predators, may be on the agenda.

Senate President Pro Temp Joseph Scarnati, R-Jefferson, said that he expects the Senate will vote later this month on a proposed constitutional amendment to open a window to allow for civil lawsuits in cases where the existing statute of limitations has expired.

“We plan to move these bills through the Senate this fall,” Scarnati said in a statement provided by his office. “I remain hopeful that all parties involved can come together to move these important reforms forward in the near future.”

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NORWICH (CT)
The Day

Nov. 1, 2019

By Joe Wojtas

A man has sued the Diocese of Norwich and retired Bishop Daniel Reilly, alleging he was the target of sexual assault and misconduct by two different priests connected with Sacred Heart Church in Groton.

He alleges the first incident occurred at the church when he was a 7-year-old altar boy, and then numerous others when he was a teenager by another priest who allegedly took him on “sleepovers” and plied him with whiskey.

Court records show the lawsuit was filed on behalf of John Doe, a pseudonym, by a New Haven law firm. The suit also named as defendants Sacred Heart Church, The Society of St. Edmund, the Rev. Charles Many and the estate of the late Father J. Lawrence Ouimet.

The suit is one of many filed against the diocese and Reilly in which adults now allege they were sexually assaulted as children by priests working in the diocese. Many of these incidents allegedly occurred during the 1975-1994 tenure of Reilly, who records show transferred priests he knew had been accused of sexually assaulting children to other parishes. The diocese has paid out more than $8 million in settlements to victims, one of whom says he was assaulted by Many, and faces more than 20 pending suits by other alleged victims.

Earlier this year, the diocese released a list of 45 priests who have had “allegations of substance” made against them. Both Many and Ouimet were on the list but the diocese offered no information about the allegations against them, which parishes they served or whether it had reported the allegations to police or the state Department of Children and Families as it has been required by law to do since 1971 if abuse is suspected.

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DUBLIN (IRELAND)
RTE

Nov. 1, 2019

By Joe Little

The Catholic bishop of Raphoe has offered “every possible co-operation” to a garda investigation he requested following the latest allegations that the diocese concealed widespread child sexual abuse by a priest and a national teacher convicted some 20 years ago.

The move follows Wednesday’s screening of a television documentary which alleged that a victim’s mother in the Co Donegal diocese was told by her parish priest that she would have to leave the area if a scandal broke about abuse by a teacher in a parochial school.

An Garda Síochána have said they would encourage anyone with information on the issues raised in the documentary to report it to them.

The added “It will be dealt with sensitively and professionally, and any victims reporting to us will be provided with support.”

TG4’s programme “Finné”, which will be re-broadcast Friday, interviewed retired Garda Detective Martin Ridge who investigated the crimes of the late Fr Eugene Greene who ministered for some years in Gortahork, Co Donegal and of Denis McGinley, a former primary school teacher in the locality.

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BATON ROUGE (LA)
WAFB TV

Nov. 1, 2019

By Kiran Chawla

A group that provides resources to victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests is demanding the Louisiana Attorney General’s office launch an official investigation.

The group is called the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

“I was abused at Jesuit High School in New Orleans as well by a priest and a janitor,” said Richard Windmann.

Windmann is vocal as to what he allegedly happened to him on the Jesuit High School campus in the 70′s.

“I was going to commit suicide. I tried to commit suicide, and I woke up with a tube down my throat and charcoal all over my body and actually lived through the experience,” said Windmann.

In 2018, documents released by the Jesuits included the names of 42 priests, all credibly accused of sexually abusing children in the Catholic church. Windmann’s alleged abuser was on that list, as was another survivor’s, John Gianoli’s.

“In my eighth-grade year, I was molested by my parish priest who was also my teacher in the Catholic grammar school that I went to,” said Gianoli.

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CALAVARAS (CA)
Calavaras Enterprise

Nov 1, 2019

By Dakota Morlan

A former St. Andrew’s Catholic Church priest who once confessed to abusing dozens of children in Northern California has been arrested in Portugal under suspicion of child pornography-related offenses in his native Ireland.

Oliver O’Grady, 74, was arrested last month by local police in the Algarve area of Portugal under a European Arrest Warrant and will likely be extradited to Ireland, The Irish Times reported.

The Limerick-born former priest was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 1993 after he was convicted of repeatedly molesting two Turlock, Calif. brothers over the course of more than a decade. However, he was paroled after serving just seven years at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, deported to Ireland and defrocked as a priest shortly after.

Between the early 1970s and 1990s, O’Grady served as a pastor at Diocese of Stockton parishes in Lodi, Stockton and Turlock, as well as St. Andrew’s in San Andreas.

O’Grady later admitted to molesting more than 20 children during that time in the 2006 documentary film “Deliver Us from Evil.” The documentary alleged that the diocese knowingly concealed the ongoing abuse by moving O’Grady from parish to parish.

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LA JUNTA (CO)
La Junta Tribune-Democrat

Oct. 31, 2019

By Christian Burney

The late Father Delbert Blong was named in a report commissioned by the Colorado Attorney General’s office released last week indexing sex crimes against 166 children by variousRoman Catholic priests across Colorado over 70 years.

The report accuses Blong of sexually abusing six males from the 1950s to the 1970s in parishes in La Junta and Alamosa, according to the report prepared by former U.S. Attorney Robert Troyer, who conducted the probe with the cooperation of Colorado’s Catholic dioceses.

The report says Blong abused his first reported victims while serving as the assistant pastor at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in La Junta. His second, third and fourth victims were targeted while he served as pastor at the same La Junta parish, the report states, adding that his fifth and sixth victims were abused during his tenure as pastor at the Sacred Heart Parish in Alamosa.

The report documents Blong’s predatory behavior across each of the six cases. In each example, the report said, Blong engaged in grooming behaviors with each of his victims, telling them in some instances they were special and that his love for them justified his actions.

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UKIAH (CA)
Ukiah Daily Journal

November 1, 2019

By Terry Mattingly

U.S. cardinals needed someone who was willing, in the spring of 2002, to face waves of microphones and cameras and answer questions about a clergy sexual abuse crisis that kept growing more and more intense.

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick stepped forward. The Washington Post hailed him as the Vatican’s “man of the hour,” an “attractive public face” at a time when many Catholic leaders seemed “arrogant, secretive and uncaring.”

“If you’re looking to the future, I would say it’s pretty clear that the Holy Father is calling for zero tolerance,” the archbishop of Washington, D.C., told reporters.

These words rang hollow to some men who watched this drama, men who knew that McCarrick knew they would be stabbed by every word he spoke.

After all, the man some called “Uncle Ted” had “already completed a personal campaign of predatory sexual abuse of minors and young adult males that stretched back across four decades,” according to “Nathan Doe,” the anonymous author of “Delicta Graviora (More Grave Crimes),” posted at EssayForTheFaithful.com.

“While the national media waxed poetic about this charming and charismatic cardinal with a twinkle in his eye,” writes Doe, “they had no idea that McCarrick was using them to send a powerful message to his countless victims that he was untouchable and in complete control. … It would be another 16 years – and an unspeakable amount of spiritual carnage later – before McCarrick was finally stopped.”

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NEW YORK (NY)
The New York Times

October 30, 2019

By Sara McDougall

Dr. McDougall is an associate professor of history at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the CUNY Graduate Center in New York.

The push to allow married men to serve as priests isn’t progress. It’s another form of misogyny.

The modern Catholic Church is beset with serious problems. Among them is that not enough men want to be priests. Over the past three weeks, 184 bishops gathered at a Vatican summit to seek solutions for the Amazon region in particular, singled out because of myriad crises it is facing, including environmental devastation, violence and a shortage of priests to serve the needs of the faithful there.

The bishops’ solution: Do anything other than ordaining women as priests.

On Oct. 26, in a “revolutionary” decision, the bishops gathered at the Vatican voted 128 to 41 to allow an exception to what has essentially been a 1,000-year ban on the ordination of married men as priests. They recommended this change for only certain parts of the Amazon and for only married men already made deacons, meaning men already allowed to perform marriages and baptisms, but not to officiate at mass, which only priests can do. It is now for Pope Francis to decide whether the decision goes forward.

It is surprising in many ways that the bishops made this decision. Allowing a married man to be a priest violates several longstanding rules. They voted as they did despite the tremendous importance of chastity for the Catholic Church and the old idea that sexual activity is a pollutant that cannot be allowed near the holy ritual of the mass. They voted in favor of married priests despite a longstanding fear that for a priest to have a wife and a family would lead to serious conflicts of interest. There is a legend that the word “nepotism” was invented in honor of the grasping nephews of popes who sought and obtained more than they deserved thanks to their powerful uncles (and “nephews” we can sometimes see as a euphemism for “sons”).

These potential conflicts of interest and other dangers that family influence and obligations bring, therefore, are something Catholic authorities have long recognized and have eagerly sought to prevent. They voted as they did despite the symbolic importance, too, of the idea that a priest be united to only one spouse, the Church, just as Jesus Christ was united in an exclusive bond with the Church.

All of that paled in comparison to letting a woman, even a celibate woman, act as priest.

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NEW YORK (NY)
The New York Times

October 30, 2019

By Azi Paybarah

The New York City medical examiner strongly disputed the claim that evidence from the autopsy suggested strangulation.

A forensic pathologist hired by Jeffrey Epstein’s brother disputed the official finding in the autopsy of his death, claiming on Wednesday that the evidence suggested that he did not take his own life but may have been strangled.

The New York City medical examiner’s office concluded in August that Mr. Epstein had hanged himself in his jail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

But the private pathologist, Dr. Michael Baden, said on the morning TV show “Fox & Friends” that Mr. Epstein, 66, experienced a number of injuries — among them a broken bone in his neck — that “are extremely unusual in suicidal hangings and could occur much more commonly in homicidal strangulation.”

“I think that the evidence points to homicide rather than suicide,” said Dr. Baden, who observed the autopsy done by city officials.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Washington Post

October 29, 2019

By Katie Shepherd

In the shadow of a red-brick hospital surrounded by neatly manicured grass, a University of Kansas graduate student told three police officers she had been recently raped following a night of drinking with close friends during homecoming weekend in September 2018. She said she didn’t want to press charges or file a formal police report — she just wanted to preserve any evidence in case another woman ever came forward with a similar accusation.

The police asked to look at her phone. She handed it over.

In one of the messages, sent just 16 minutes before the woman met with the officers at the hospital, she called the encounter “borderline rape,” KCTV reported, and said she had “the bruises and statements to prove it.” In other texts sent to a friend in the hours after the 30-year-old woman woke up — still drunk, naked and confused in the Lawrence, Kan., apartment of her then-boyfriend’s best friend — she expressed regret and made jokes about what had happened.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Variety

October 29, 2019

By Gene Maddaus

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has formally dropped a case against actor Kevin Spacey, after the accuser died.

The accuser, a massage therapist, alleged that Spacey tried to kiss him and forced him to grab his genitals during a session in Malibu in October 2016. The accuser, who was never identified, went to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which referred the investigation to the D.A.’s office in July 2018.

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INDIANAPOLIS (IN)
Indianapolis Star

October 29, 2019

By Vic Ryckaert and Andrew Clark

A suspended Indianapolis priest was in the Hamilton County Jail Tuesday on felony charges stemming from allegations he sexually abused a teen.

The Rev. David J. Marcotte was booked into the jail at 4:47 a.m. Tuesday on felony charges of child solicitation, vicarious sexual gratification and dissemination of matter harmful to a minor, records show. He was released on his own recognizance, according to the Hamilton County sheriff’s office.

Marcotte, 32, appeared in Hamilton Superior Court for an initial hearing on Tuesday afternoon. His next hearing was scheduled for Jan. 7.

Marcotte, who most recently served as a chaplain for Roncalli High School, was suspended from priestly duties on Feb. 12, just six days after the Archdiocese of Indianapolis said it received an abuse complaint.

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OXFORD (MS)
HottyToddy

Nov. 1, 2019

By Meagan Harkins

Father Joe Tonos has personal insight into the trauma of those abused by priests, considering he was mistreated himself.

When Tonos was 18, he said a priest came on to him while they were discussing the vocation of priesthood. Tonos said the priest made sexually suggestive comments and offered to purchase him alcohol. Although he was not physically touched, he described the encounter as one that made him angry, but it didn’t turn him away from the church.

Tonos has been an ordained Catholic priest for 25 years and is serving his 15th year at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Oxford.

His story is not an isolated one. The Google search term “priest abuse” has stirred traffic since 2004, as far back as Trends data goes. Interest spiked in August 2018 when Pennsylvania released a list of more than 300 Roman Catholic priests accused of sex abuse. Following the Pennsylvania incident, a similar list was released for Mississippi.

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NASHVILLE (TN)
Baptist News Global

Oct. 31, 2019

By Bob Allen

While kids celebrate Halloween and liturgical churches observe All Saints’ Day, several advocacy organizations are combining efforts to recognize survivors of sexual abuse.

All Survivors Day, Nov. 3, is an international day to share survivor stories, raise awareness and seek to change a culture that allows sexual abuse to continue. First held last year, it is an extension of All Saints Day – a celebration in both Catholic and Protestant traditions forall the saints of Christian history – on Nov. 1, and All Souls Day, Nov. 2, a Catholic holiday celebrated in Latin countries as Day of the Dead.

“All Survivors Day is a call to action to all people to come together and help change the culture that surrounds sexual abuse and assault,” said Tim Lennon, board president of one of the sponsoring organizations, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “By stepping into the light and telling our stories, we are hoping to motivate others to join us as we seek to prevent future cases of sexual abuse and show others what they can do to get involved in their own communities and institutions to ensure this never happens again.”

Marci Hamilton, CEO and academic director of ChildUSA, said victims of sex abuse and assault “have been silenced and ignored for too long.”

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

Nov. 1, 2019

Colorado’s former attorney general is pushing for much needed reform to the state’s statute of limitations laws. We hope Colorado lawmakers are listening and will act quickly on this wise recommendation.

It is a big deal when the former top law enforcement official in a state agrees with victims and advocates that statute of limitations reform is sorely needed. In our view, these are archaic laws that impose arbitrary, predator-friendly deadlines that not only do not reflect the realities of how and when victims of sexual violence report, but in fact prevent most child sex abuse victims from exposing perpetrators in court.

We also applaud Ms. Coffman’s push for added power in the attorney general’s office that would allow them to pursue future criminal investigations. But first things first: legislators in Colorado should listen to the former AG and work to fix these outdated laws. Instead of slamming the courthouse doors in the faces of victims who have found the courage to expose their abusers, they should be opened to all so that children are safer and communities are better informed.

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LEICESTER (ENGLAND)
Crux

Nov. 1, 2019

By Charles Collins

It was “very disappointing” the Vatican failed to give testimony during an investigation into sex abuse in the Catholic Church in England and Wales, according to the lead counsel to the inquiry.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) investigation into the bishops’ conference’s response to the sex abuse crisis is taking place Oct. 28 – Nov. 8, and there has been frustration with the lack response from the Holy See to requests for information.

“The Holy See has not provided any evidence about the role of the CDF and/or laicization and declined to provide the inquiry with a witness statement,” Brian Altman, the inquiry’s lead counsel, said on Monday.

The requests were made to the Vatican ambassador to the UK, Archbishop Edward Adams. Like all ambassadors, he has diplomatic immunity and cannot be subpoenaed by his host country.

“Let me make perfectly clear that the inquiry went through established diplomatic channels and all proper procedures, including seeking assistance and advice from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, despite which no statements have been provided to the inquiry by the Holy See,” Altman complained.

“The Holy See’s refusal to provide the Inquiry with all the evidence it has sought is very disappointing. In his introduction to the recent Motu Proprio, Vos estis lux mundi, Pope Francis acknowledged the ‘physical, psychological and spiritual damage’ done to the victims of child sexual abuse, and added that ‘a continuous and profound conversion of hearts is needed, attested by concrete and effective actions that involve everyone in the Church,” Altman said.

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NEW YORK (NY
Church Militant

Nov. 1, 2019

The onslaught of damning news surrounding Vatican corruption, sexual and financial, all has one thing in common: It’s always exposed by outside interests.

These hierarchs never admit or confess a thing. Doesn’t matter what it is; no scandal is too small or too big to try and cover up. These men lie and distort; they never admit anything until they are caught — and then it’s always someone else’s fault, or they were advised poorly, etc.

Poor, naïve prelates. No one understands them. Please!

Take, for example, the case of former cardinal, now Mr. Theodore McCarrick. Where exactly does the investigation on him stand right now? It was, after all, more than 13 months ago that Pope Francis himself said,”We we will follow the path of truth wherever it may lead” as we scour through “the entire documentation.”

This does not look good at all, and frankly, it doesn’t look good because it isn’t good.

The entire McCarrick affair — filthy and sordid — involves dozens of high-ranking Churchmen who profited handsomely by keeping their mouths shut and allowed McCarrick to keep sexually assaulting dozens of seminarians — and as is coming out now, not just a few minor boys but a sizeable number.

But good luck getting any response from the Vatican on the state of the investigation.

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DENVER (CO)
Crux

Nov. 1, 2019

By Christopher White

Brooklyn’s Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio has completed his investigation into the troubled diocese of Buffalo, New York, where Bishop Richard Malone faces accusations of covering up sexual abuse by priests.

A statement released on Thursday by the diocese of Brooklyn said that DiMarzio had made three trips to Buffalo over the past month where he met with nearly 80 individuals during a total period of seven days.

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ULTIMO (AUSTRALIA)
Australian Broadcasting Company

Nov. 1, 2019

By Caitlin Furlong and Cecilia Connell

A former Catholic priest from north-west New South Wales accused of assaulting 40 victims across eight parishes and nearly 30 years has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

David Joseph Perrett, 82, faced Armidale District Court on 139 charges relating to sexual offences against children.

Now an elderly man, the accused appeared frail in court, sitting in a wheelchair and using a hearing loop for assistance.

He was accompanied by two supporters.

The court heard the former Catholic parish priest is accused of assaulting the victims over a period of time stretching from the 1960s to the mid-1990s.

The offences allegedly took place when the children were aged from three years to their mid-teens.

Thirty-seven of the complainants are men and three are women.

The charges relate to a range of offences including assault, acts of indecency, buggery, carnal knowledge, and maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child under 16.

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JOLIET (IL)
WJOL Radio

Nov. 1, 2019

The Diocese of Joliet is being sued over allegations that a priest sexually assaulted a man who has a disability while visiting a Kankakee development center. Reverend Richard Jacklin was charged in 2017 after a nurse reported walking in on him performing a sex act on a paralyzed man with an intellectual disability who was living at the Shapiro Developmental Center. A lawsuit filed this week accuses the diocese of failing to properly investigate Jacklin and protect people with disabilities from him. Jacklin no longer has the ability to minister.

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