ABUSE TRACKER

SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
The Salt Lake Tribune

April 4, 2019

By Peggy Fletcher Stack
·
For LGBTQ Latter-day Saints and their allies, it’s been a long 3½ years.

In November 2015, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints instituted a policy deeming same-sex married couples “apostates” and generally barring their children from baby blessings and baptisms.

Such harsh and restrictive rules triggered widespread protests and soul-searching. Hundreds, maybe more, resigned their church membership. Even believers felt wounded and betrayed. Families were torn. Tensions erupted. Some were disciplined by the church. Some died by suicide.

On Thursday, the Utah-based faith walked back all the hotly disputed elements. Church rituals for children now are OK, and LGBTQ couples are not labeled apostates. The shift comes after 41 months — by Mormon historical standards, an astonishingly rapid reversal.

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HIGHLAND HEIGHTS (KY)
Odyssey

March 25, 2019

By Taryn M. Taugher

The emotional abuse by current head coach has lasting effects on its players. But, it ends here.

There is a deep, dark, hidden secret that lies within the women’s basketball program at Northern Kentucky University which has been swept under the rug by the athletic department for three years.

“The mission of NKU Athletics is to advance the University’s vision while focusing on the wellbeing of our student-athletes as we prepare and empower each of them for academic and competitive success at NKU and beyond.” This is quoted right from the NKU Athletic Department’s Mission Statement, but apparently, this doesn’t apply to the student athlete’s mental well-being.

Emotional abuse is defined as any abusive behavior that isn’t physical, which may include verbal aggression, intimidation, manipulation, and humiliation, which most often unfolds as a pattern of behavior over time that aims to diminish another person’s identity, dignity, and self-worth, and which often results in anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts or behaviors (Crisistextline.org).

Northern Kentucky University’s athletic department seems to be willing to do anything to silence the multiple emotional abuse allegations against current women’s basketball coach, Camryn Whitaker.

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DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press

April 5, 2019

By Niraj Warikoo

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is requesting $2 million in her budget for state investigations into abuse by Catholic clergy in Michigan as an advocacy group calls upon Catholic officials in Detroit to include more priests on the list of clergy accused of sexual abuse.

The money Whitmer is asking for would be used by the Michigan Attorney General’s Office for an investigation launched last year into abuse by Catholic clergy in Michigan.

“The appropriation will be used to hire investigators and victims’ advocates to continue the detailed investigative work necessary to review and pursue the information we have gathered from all seven Michigan dioceses,” Kelly Rossman-McKinney, spokesperson for Attorney General Dana Nessel, told the Free Press this week.

The $2 million would designate money that the Attorney General’s Office “has already received in settlement monies for the investigation,” Rossman-McKinney said.

The Attorney General has received about 400 tips and complaints so far of abuse allegations against Catholic clergy, Rossman-McKinney said.

In February, Nessel said Catholic Church leaders were not fully cooperating with law enforcement on the abuse investigations, claims the Archdiocese of Detroit denied.

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

April 4, 2019

We are grateful that the Diocese of Des Moines has published a list of clergy accused of abuse. This move is the first step that church officials in Des Moines can take towards protecting children in their diocese and helping survivors heal.

Now that they have taken this first step, we call on Bishop Richard Pates to take several more in order to demonstrate his commitment to transparency, accountability, and prevention.

First, Bishop Pates should include on his list the names of not only diocesan priests, but also those of religious order priests and nuns who have been accused of abuse – whether in Des Moines or elsewhere – and spent time in his diocese.

Second, Bishop Pates should also update his list to include information regarding when church officials at the Diocese of Des Moines first received the allegations against each named person and what actions they took in response to those allegations. Only by knowing what went wrong in the past can we know how to improve for the future and prevent future cases of child sexual abuse.

Third, now that this list has been published, Bishop Pates should personally visit each parish where these accused priests served, notify parishioners about the list, and urge victims, witnesses, and whistleblowers to come forward and make a report to police and prosecutors.

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Patheos blog

April 4, 2019

By Mary Pezzulo

I want to open by mentioning that I asked one of my friends who was raped by a priest if she wanted to write this article for me as a guest post, and she asked me to write it instead. That’s why I’m presuming to talk about it. I’ve taken my own medicine.

I’ve just been shown a sample chapter from a book called “Healing Our Church.” The author of this book doesn’t seem to be listed in the sample or the website, but it comes from the “Renew International” organization, with which I’m not familiar. This book is really a set of readings and instructions for the “Healing our Church” program, which is apparently a series of seminars being practiced in some parishes across the country and marketed to many more. The seminars are meant to “minister to hurting parishioners,” so that they might “start on the path to healing and renewed discipleship.”

The sample session provided is Chapter Three, “Rebuilding Our Church.” And if it’s an indicator of the thinking behind the whole of the book and the whole of the program, then I can safely say that both are worse than useless.

Let me walk you through the session as it’s written in the sample chapter. I’ll point out my objections as I go along.

It starts out with a hymn that sounds unbelievably sketchy in context. “O Jesus Healer of Wounded Souls” contains a line asking Jesus to “touch us” which I would leave out of any discussion of sexual abuse at all costs. There are better, non-triggering ways to say the same thing.

Then there’s a prayer, the Prayer of Saint Francis, which includes the line “O Divine Master, grant that I may never seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.” This is an excellent prayer for many occasions. I like to pray it myself. But as far as a meeting addressing sexual abuse, it’s toxic. Abuse survivors very often find themselves in an agonizing vortex of self-blame. What they need is consolation, love and understanding, but they have been denied it and told that they don’t need it– indeed, oftentimes they’re told by their abusers that their natural longing for understanding is the victim being selfish. I have known emotionally abusive priests to quote prayers by Saint Francis in order to paint victims demanding redress as self-centered, in fact, and I don’t think I’m the only one. This particular prayer is a shockingly imprudent choice in any context to do with abuse.

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INDIANOLA (IA)
The Simpsonian

April 4, 2019

By Alex Kirkpatrick

A former Indianola priest who served as a liaison between St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church and Simpson College was part of a list issued Thursday by the Des Moines Diocese identifying nine priests “credibly accused” of sexually abusing children, according to a KCCI report published Thursday.

The diocese said The Rev. Howard Fitzgerald, who served in Indianola from 2013-14, is one of only two living priests facing sexual abuse allegations. The other living priest, The Rev. Leonard Kenkel, lives at a senior care facility within the diocese.

The Simpsonian reported in June 2014 that Fitzgerald was placed on indefinite administrative leave after allegations of a “decades-old” incident of sexual abuse were found credible.

Fitzgerald provided personal counsel and spiritual guidance to Simpson students. He was removed from ministry in 2014 and laicized in 2015.

Alex Kirkpatrick is a 2018 Simpson College graduate and former Managing Editor for The Simpsonian. He who now works full time as the Digital Editor for KCCI News in Des Moines.

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GREAT FALLS (MT)
Associated Press

April 4, 2019

A former Roman Catholic priest in northern Montana accused of possessing child pornography plans to plead guilty.

The Great Falls Tribune reports that a motion filed in federal court last month says 80-year-old Lothar Konrad Krauth will plead guilty to receipt of child pornography at a hearing on Monday.

He was accused in November of having about 400 images of child pornography, including children as young as 2 or 3 years old, on his computer.

According to the motion, Krauth will plead guilty without an agreement with prosecutors on his punishment. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.

Krauth worked at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Great Falls from 1989 to 2014

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HARRISBURG (PA)
Associated Press

April 4, 2019

By Mark Scolforo

Two bills that could make it easier for victims of child sexual abuse to file lawsuits, an issue that roiled the General Assembly last year, are expected to get votes next week in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

House Judiciary Chairman Rob Kauffman, R-Franklin, said Thursday he supports the pair of proposals scheduled for committee votes Monday.

“It’s not perfect and everybody’s not going to like it,” said Kauffman. “But getting something done is really the key here, getting something accomplished.”

One bill would eliminate the criminal statute of limitations for child sexual abuse crimes entirely and give victims of future abuse until age 55 to file lawsuits. Current law gives victims until age 30 to pursue criminal charges and until age 50 to sue.

The other proposal would begin the process of amending the Pennsylvania Constitution to allow a two-year retroactive window for lawsuits over past abuse.

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ATLANTA (GA)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

April 4, 2019

By Shelia Poole

Atlanta Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory, in his first press conference since being named to lead the Washington Archdiocese, promised transparency and said he would rebuild trust in the church and “reclaim the future.”

“This is obviously a moment fraught with challenges throughout our entire Catholic church certainly, but nowhere more so than in this local faith community,” said Gregory, who becomes the seventh and first African-American archbishop for Washington. “And, as in any family, challenges can only be overcome by a firmly articulated resolve and commitment to do better, to know Christ better, to love Christ better, to serve Christ better.

“I would be naive not to acknowledge the unique task that awaits us. Yet, I know as I have always known that I can, and will, rely upon the grace of God and on the goodness of the people of this local church to help me fulfill those new responsibilities.”

He was introduced by Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Washington, who is Gregory’s immediate predecessor. Wuerl resigned last year amid criticism of his handling of sex abuse scandals.

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TAMWORTH (AUSTRALIA)
Northern Daily Leader

April 5, 2019

By Breanna Chillingworth

A FORMER priest will stand trial on close to 130 historical abuse charges, after prosecutors laid more child sex offences that carry life behind bars, if found guilty.

David Joseph Perrett appeared via video link in Armidale Local Court on Wednesday from prison where he was being held on more than 140 historical abuse allegations.

In court, prosecutors laid eight new counts of adult maintain unlawful relationship with a child – a charge that carries life imprisonment, if convicted.

The child abuse allegations stem from when Perrett was a serving Catholic priest in the Armidale, Walcha, Guyra and wider New England area, in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s.

Magistrate Michael Holmes formally committed Perrett for trial to the district court on 130 separate charges.

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LAFAYETTE (LA)
KATC News

April 4, 2019

Former priest Michael Guidry is now listed on the sex offender registry as he awaits sentencing.

Guidry, 76, pleaded guilty last month to sexual molestation of a juvenile, admitting that he molested a child who was the son of one of his church deacons.

KATC was in the courtroom when Judge Alonzo Harris accepted Guidry’s plea and set a sentencing date of April 30; to read that story click here. To read KATC’s continuing coverage about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, click here.

During that hearing, Harris ordered that Guidry be placed on the sex offender registry and turn over his passport.

He’s now listed in both Acadia Parish, where he lives, and St. Landry Parish, where his church was located, as a sex offender.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
National Catholic Reporter

April 4, 2019

By Tom Roberts

In what he termed “a moment fraught with challenges,” the new leader of the Archdiocese of Washington, in his first public appearance here April 4, repeatedly pledged to be honest with his flock.

“I believe that the only way I can serve the local archdiocese is by telling you the truth,” said Archbishop Wilton Gregory, who will become the seventh archbishop of Washington. He repeated the claim several times during a 45-minute news conference in which he also answered questions about the effects of clericalism, the need for transparency in the church, the need to address mistakes of his predecessors, and how he intends to relate to the city’s political scene.

Gregory, 71, currently the archbishop of Atlanta, will be installed in Washington, D.C., on May 21.

“This is obviously a moment fraught with challenges throughout our entire Catholic Church, but nowhere more so than in this local faith community,” he said in prepared remarks, making a reference to the turmoil that has roiled the archdiocese during the past year.

His immediate predecessor, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, who introduced Gregory, resigned in October after a Pennsylvania grand jury report raised questions about his handling of abusive priests in the 1990s while bishop of Pittsburgh. Wuerl’s predecessor in Washington, Theodore McCarrick, was removed from the priesthood after revelations he sexually abused a youngster and sexually harassed seminarians.

“I would be naive not to acknowledge the unique task that awaits us,” Gregory said in his remarks. He spoke of his confidence in the grace of God and the goodness of the people of the church as aids in facing his new responsibilities. “I want to come to know you, to hear your stories, to listen to the emotions and experiences and expectations that have shaped your precious Catholic faith, for better or for worse. I want to offer you hope.”

He characterized his new archdiocese, its ethnic and social diversity. In a compact line that spoke of both the material and spiritual richness and poverty of its people, he said: “The Archdiocese of Washington is home to the poor and the powerful, neither of which realizes they are both.”

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DES MOINES (IA)
Radio Iowa

April 4, 2019

By O. Kay Henderson

The Des Moines Catholic Diocese released the names of nine priests with “substantiated allegations” that they had abused children while serving at parishes in the diocese.

The list includes the names of two priests who had not previously been made public. Both have died. Bishop Richard Pates today said victims and church members deserve a “full accounting” and Pates said he’s tried to be “a bulldog” on the issue.

“The behavior by some clerics and church leaders is a source of shame,” Pate said during a news conference late this morning.

Pates said the Des Moines Diocese established a child protection policy in 1988 and has had a zero tolerance policy when it comes to child sexual abuse for nearly two decades.

“Any priest who has been established he committed an act of sexual abuse against a minor is permanently removed from church ministry,” Pates said. “One strike and you’re out.”

Pates told reporters society, the medical community, law enforcement and the church did not fully understand the issue of child sexual abuse in the 1960s and ’70s.

“At that time, it was thought that clerical sexual abuse of children was a moral disorder, a sin. We now know it is more than a sin,” Pates said. “It’s a compulsion. It’s a crime.”

Pates estimates about two-thirds of the Catholic Dioceses in the country have released similar lists. Pates, who announced his retirement recently, said he wanted this list released before the pope names his replacement.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

April 2, 2019

by Elisabeth Auvillain

Sr. Véronique Margron is a Dominican sister from and provincial prior of the Dominican Sisters of Charity of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. A theologian and specialist in moral theology, she is the former dean of the Catholic University of the West in Angers, France, and now is president of CORREF (Conférence des Religieux et Religieuses de France). CORREF aims to further ties between communities, hoping to reach a deeper communion between different institutions; encourage members to listen and pay attention to challenges and questions of the 21st century; and bring support between generations of religious men and women.

According to CORREF, there are 20,584 apostolic women religious in France, including 2,411 foreign nuns, in 315 communities, and 5,989 men religious, including 681 foreigners. Also members of CORREF are 1,079 monks and 3,038 women in contemplative orders.

Margron has written several books. Her latest, Un moment de verité (A Time of Truth), deals with the crisis of abuse in the Catholic Church.

GSR: Recent revelations of spiritual and sexual abuse of nuns by priests have shocked with their magnitude. The documentary “Abused Sisters: The Other Scandal of the Church,” shown by the Franco-German public TV channel ARTE on March 5, was a shock for many viewers, including Catholics. Were you aware of these abuses?

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LITTLE ROCK (AR)
Bilgrimage blog

April 4, 2019

In today’s Tablet, a valuable reminder from historian Kathleen Holscher of the University of New Mexico that how we view the abuse story in the Catholic church depends on how we frame it — and on who is doing the framing: Holscher writes,

There have been two side-effects of the Boston and Pennsylvania reports’ ascendance in the US. One is the absence of non-white victims from coverage of abuse, and subsequently from scholarly conversations and – importantly – ecclesial responses to it. The other is the inattention to colonialism and white supremacy as interlocking structures that formed Catholic sexual violence in many parts of the United States, and created the distinctive and historically pervasive Catholic phenomenon of sexual abuse against Indigenous young people.

To read (or read about) the Boston and Pennsylvania accounts is to learn about a pattern of behaviour by Catholic priests that plagued white ethnic, urban, suburban and semi-urban Catholic communities in many parts of the US during the twentieth century.

This has led many Catholics, both laity and members of the hierarchy, to imagine that the abuse of children by priests has been a scourge of tightly knit Irish-American, Polish-American or Italian-American parishes that pepper East Coast cities, and of Catholic communities in the industrial towns of what now gets called the Rust Belt. They have fed the assumption that perpetrators and victims of sex abuse in the United States were white, and that almost everyone involved was Catholic.

Places such as Pittsburgh or Scranton, Pennsylvania, are a big part of the history of sex abuse in the Church. Today there are thousands of people living in those and similar places who are the survivors of predator priests. Their stories are important. But these places and communities are not the history.

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ALFRED (ME)
Associated Press

April 4, 2019

A former Massachusetts priest who was convicted of sexually abusing an altar boy is awaiting a new court date in Maine.

Ronald Paquin was slated for sentencing, but that was delayed when his attorney filed a motion
requesting a mental health evaluation. Officials at York County Superior Court in Alfred say Paquin’s most recent court appearance, scheduled for March 29, was continued and a new date has not yet been selected. They say it’s unclear when his case will return to court.

Paquin was found guilty of 11 of 24 counts of gross sexual misconduct in November. A pair of men who testified during Paquin’s trial said they were altar boys when the priest invited them on trips in the 1980s and assaulted them repeatedly.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
The Advocate

April 4, 2019

By Andrea Gallo

Baton Rouge Bishop Michael Duca said Thursday that he hopes the “Way of the Cross” ceremony he will host April 5 in reparation for sexual abuse by Catholic clergymen will add a more spiritual aspect to the church’s response to the crisis, a dimension he hopes will acknowledge the pain of abuse and lead toward healing.

Duca will pray the “Way of the Cross” at 7 p.m. April 5 at St. Joseph Cathedral, a service that marks Jesus’s walk toward crucifixion. Each of the 14 stations of the cross will include specific prayers about sexual abuse within the Catholic Church and healing for those who have been hurt by it.

“Hopefully, the prayer will be a way for me to become more aware of the sin of the church, more sorrowful, more a need to ask God for forgiveness and love,” Duca said Thursday in an interview with The Advocate. “What it’ll do for the people there — that’s all grace.”

Not long after becoming bishop of Baton Rouge, Duca in late January released a list of 37 clerics who served in Baton Rouge at some point in their careers and who were credibly accused of sexual abuse. The list has since grown to 41. Since releasing the names, Duca said he has spoken to multiple people who have also wanted to share their stories of betrayal and abuse by trusted priests.

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DES MOINES (IA)
Des Moines Register

April 4, 2019

By Shelby Fleig

The Diocese of Des Moines on Thursday publicly named nine priests it said are credibly accused of sexually abusing minors while serving the diocese.

The Allegation Review Committee, made up of of local clergy, a judge, a lawyer, a police chief and a retired teacher, substantiated allegations of abuse occurring between 1940 and 1997.

“I share the anger and frustration of recent reports of clerical abuse of minors and young people,” Bishop Richard Pates wrote in a letter to parishioners Wednesday. “It is my sincere hope the release of this list facilitates healing, encourages additional victims who have faced abuse to come forward and begins to restore trust.”

Two of the nine names had not been previously tied to abuse of minors by the diocese. Both are deceased. The diocese has previously confirmed abuse allegations against Albert Wilwerding, John Ryan, Richard Wagner, Phillip Hobt and Howard Fitzgerald.

In 2003, Albert Wilwerding, John Ryan, and former Dowling president Richard Wagner were defrocked after the review committee said they were credibly accused of abusing children.

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

April 4, 2019

A proposed change to Vermont law that would help protect children and support survivors of child sexual abuse, H.330, has passed in the House and is now with the Senate Committee on Judiciary.

This important bill would eliminate the civil statute of limitations (SOL) for child sexual abuse going forward, and also allow a “look back window” for survivors whose cases are beyond the SOL.

These changes would reflect the realities of sexual violence against children. Survivors often take decades to come forward about their abuse – the average age of a survivor coming forward is 52 – and when they do speak out they are often barred from seeking justice by statutes like those that H.330 seeks to amend.

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Tablet

April 4, 2019

The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has rejected an appeal by the now-former Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron of Agana, Guam, upholding its judgment of finding him guilty of abuse against minors.

The doctrinal tribunal’s decision is final and no further appeals are possible, it said in a communique published April 4.

“The penalties imposed are as follows: the privation of office; the perpetual prohibition from dwelling, even temporarily, in the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Agana, and the perpetual prohibition from using the insignia attached to the rank of bishop,” it said.

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[Two priests and three professionals form new Catholic Church commission to protect minors from abuse]

COSTA RICA
La Nación

April 3, 2019

By Juan Diego Córdoba

Abogada en derecho de la familia y exdiputada de Restauración Nacional, Alexandra Loría, es una de los miembros

La Iglesia católica de Costa Rica tiene desde este martes una comisión para proteger a menores contra abusos sexuales. Con ese fin, los obispos de la Conferencia Episcopal reunieron a dos curas y tres profesionales en distintas áreas. Los miembros son los sacerdotes Alejandro Jiménez, del Tribunal Eclesiástico, y Mauricio Solano, de la Comisión Nacional del Clero; la comunicadora Lis Chaves, el psicólogo Juan Carlos Oviedo y la abogada en derecho de familia Alexandra Loría, quien también fue diputada de Restauración Nacional en la legislatura anterior.

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[Mayor Cuenca says the arrest of priest Aguilera “did not surprise anyone”]

ARGENTINA
Cuarto Poder Salta

March 28, 2019

El capellán de la Universidad Católica está acusado por abusar de dos personas, cuando estaba a cargo de una iglesia en Campo Santo. Al parecer todos sabían ahí qué pasaba.

Desde hace más de siete días que el capellán de la Universidad Católica, José Carlos Aguilera, está tras las rejas. Está acusado por abuso sexual a dos personas, cuando estaba a cargo de una iglesia en Campo Santo. Una de las víctimas era menor de edad.

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[Argentina’s bishops promise more cooperation with civil justice]

ARGENTINA
Valores Religiosos

April 3, 2019

El presidente de la Conferencia Episcopal aseguró que la Iglesia en Argentina y en todo el mundo se propuso “no creer que solo con un proceso canónico puede alcanzar”. También procurarán escuchar más y dar acompañamiento a las víctimas.

El presidente de la Conferencia Episcopal Argentina (CEA), monseñor Oscar Ojea, afirmó que, tras la cumbre antiabusos que convocó Francisco en el Vaticano, la Iglesia católica en Argentina y en el mundo, “se comprometió a estar cerca de las víctimas” y ofrecer “mayor colaboración a la justicia civil cuando se producen denuncias de este tipo”.

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[In addition to abusing minors, Lorenzo is accused of covering up other cases]

ARGENTINA
La Izquierda Diario

April 1, 2019

By Daniel Satur and Estefanía Velo

A mediados de los 90 un joven le relató al capellán penitenciario y de los grupos scouts el abuso que habría sufrido por parte del cura Rubén Marchioni, actual titular de la Pastoral Social de La Plata. Pero Lorenzo no hizo nada. Años después se lo acusó de conseguir impunidad para un capellán de Olmos. Asustado o preocupado, el cura habló sobre el tema en su misa dominical: “son todos una manga de mentirosos. No voy a hablar con ningún medio”, les dijo a sus fieles.

¿Cómo puede Eduardo Lorenzo mantenerse incólume como capellán del Servicio Penitenciario Bonaerense y párroco de diversas iglesias de la región, desde hace más de veinte años, encubriendo casos de abusos sexuales y siendo él mismo acusado desde hace más de una década? ¿Tan normal es esto dentro de la Iglesia?

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PARIS (FRANCE)
LaCroix International

April 4, 2019

By C. Colt Anderson and Christopher M. Bellitto

As former seminary professors, we have looked upon the last several months of revelations about clergy sex abuse, cover-ups, and institutional infighting with the same disgust and sadness as our sisters and brothers—but we are not surprised.

Though we honor and support the many good people who work and study in seminaries, we know that seminaries have played a significant role in the church’s current crisis. It is essential to understand how priests and thus, ultimately, bishops are formed, especially the way they are enculturated into clericalism from their first days in seminary.

It is the air they breathe there.Clericalism in seminary formation is explicitly singled out as a problem in the Synod on Youth’s final document, approved in late October 2018, and it affects everyone in the church—it is a systemic and widespread problem.

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MONTREAL (CANADA)
The Canadian Press

April 3, 2019

One of the victims of a Montreal priest recently sentenced to eight years in prison for sexually abusing boys under his supervision is suing the archdiocese of Montreal.

A class-action lawsuit was filed Wednesday on behalf of victims of sexual abuse by priests in the Montreal archdiocese between 1940 and the present.

A 33-year-old victim of Rev. Brian Boucher is acting on behalf of the entire class as lead plaintiff and is seeking a total of $600,000 in damages in his name. A judge must authorize the action for it to move forward.

Boucher was sentenced last week to a federal prison term for assaulting two boys.

The filing alleges the lead plaintiff knows of at least two other victims of Boucher, who worked in 10 Montreal-area churches between 1985 and 2015.

The law firm spearheading the action says it covers anyone assaulted by an agent of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Montreal, or as it was known before 1950, the Corporation archiepiscopale catholique romaine de Montreal.

The archdiocese of Montreal said in a statement that it had received notice of the class action. It would not comment further but noted the Quebec Superior Court filing is limited to facts arising from the criminal proceedings against Boucher.

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SANTA FE (NM)
Associated Press

April 3, 2019

Four men who say they were sexually abused by the same Roman Catholic priest decades ago have been recounting the details of their experiences as children before federal jurors this week in a Santa Fe courtroom.

One of the accusers, identified as John Doe No. 8, testified, while wiping tears from his face, that he still sometimes thinks about dying, but he couldn’t take his own life because he cares for a son who is a quadriplegic.

The trial of 81-year-old Arthur Perrault before a federal judge in Santa Fe began Tuesday and is expected to last another two weeks.

Perrault’s case marks an unusual federal criminal prosecution of a former priest in a state where dozens of clergy abuse victims have won more than $50 million in settlements from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. The archdiocese also is in the midst of bankruptcy proceeding as a result of the church-wide scandal, which has tarnished parishes across the globe.

Testimony earlier this week by one of the unnamed men revealed that the archdiocese in 1992 had denied that he had been sexually abused by the priest, but the claims were settled out of court at the time with the promise that Perrault would get therapy to prevent another boy from being harmed.

John Doe No. 8, told jurors the first assault occurred when he was 12. Perrault was driving the altar boy to the mountains outside of Albuquerque, he said, and the priest had told the boy’s parents they would be doing “church business.”

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NEWARK (NJ)
North Jersey Record

April 4, 2019

By Deena Yellin

When Johnrocco Sibilia finally broke a 29-year silence about the priest who sexually abused him when he was a teenager, he said he hoped to ease his pain and extinguish the demons that tortured him for years.

Instead, he said he was thrown into a labyrinth of frustration that left him wondering if opening up about his past was a mistake.

At first, he said he was hopeful, moved by Cardinal Joseph Tobin’s impassioned speeches apologizing for the sins of the church, and urging victims to step forward.

But when he approached the Archdiocese of Newark, he said, each person to whom he revealed his terrible secret either sent him to someone else or brushed him aside.

One reason could be that his alleged abuser, the Rev. Rene Lima, was a member of the Society of Divine Vocations (SDV), also known as the Vocationist Fathers, a Roman Catholic congregation of priests founded by the Rev. Justin Russolilo in 1920.

The dioceses do not consider it their responsibility to investigate claims against religious orders, even if their priests work in diocese churches.

As a result, the victims of religious order priests have fallen through the bureaucratic cracks, experts say. Their abusers are excluded from lists of credibly accused priests, and the victims are not generally compensated through the diocese funds, experts say.

There are about 11,424 Catholic religious order priests in the United States, including the Vocationist Order, Jesuits, Benedictines, Franciscans and Dominicans, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, based in Washington, D.C.

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GUAM/VATICAN CITY
The Associated Press

April 4, 2019

By Nicole Winfield

The Vatican has upheld its conviction of Guam’s ousted archbishop for sexually abusing minors and has added an additional penalty on appeal

The Vatican has upheld its conviction of Guam’s ousted archbishop for sexually abusing minors and has added a further penalty on appeal that effectively prevents him from presenting himself as a bishop.

The Vatican announced the definitive decision against Archbishop Anthony Apuron on Thursday. In doing so, it revealed for the first time that he had been originally convicted of sexually abusing youths in the remote U.S. Pacific territory.

Apuron has strongly denied the charges and said he is a victim of slander. His replacement hailed the verdict as necessary closure to a “long and painful period for our church.”

“The victims, survivors and their families who have suffered greatly can have some measure of solace that justice has been rendered in the church’s tribunal process,” Agana Archbishop Michael Byrnes said in a statement.

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[Unanimous vote: Senate approves imprescriptibility of sexual crimes against minors]

CHILE
BioBioChile

April 4, 2019

By Jonathan Flores and Gonzalo Cifuentes

Como “un momento histórico para las víctimas, para la sociedad civil y para la propia legislación”, calificaron los senadores el respaldo unánime que entregaron ayer miércoles al proyecto de ley “derecho al tiempo”, que declarará imprescriptible los delitos sexuales contra menores. Siguieron atentamente el debate y la votación desde las tribunas, los representantes de la organización Derecho al Tiempo, quienes tuvieron que esperar nueve años para ver a la iniciativa superar su primer trámite en el Congreso.

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ROME
Crux

April 3, 2019

By Inés San Martín

You can take the pope out of Latin America, but, as it turns out, it’s much harder to take the Latin America out of the pope.

Once again over recent days, there have been several noteworthy developments in and around the church in Latin America, at least some which involve history’s first pontiff from the region either directly or indirectly.

A week after being appointed to replace a prelate being investigated by civil prosecutors for allegedly covering up sexual abuse, the apostolic administrator (interim leader) of Santiago, Chile, is in Rome to meet with the pope.

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MONTREAL (CANADA)
CTV Montreal

April 3, 2019

Victims of sexual abuse in Montreal’s Catholic Church are requesting to file a class-action lawsuit against the diocese.

The request for class action was filed Wednesday on behalf of sexual assault survivors who endured abuse by members of the clergy in Montreal from 1940 to today.

The application was filed against the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Montreal and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Montreal.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Inquirer

April 3, 2019

By Marci A. Hamilton and Sarah G. Klein

Legend has it that the Roman emperor Nero “fiddled while Rome burned.” Today, Pennsylvania legislators are fiddling while victims are denied legal access to justice by outdated and unfair statutes of limitations (SOLs) for child sex abuse.

Pennsylvania allows victims of child sex abuse to come forth with civil claims until they are 30, and pursue criminal prosecution until age 50. Both age caps fall short of most states and the estimated average age of victim disclosure, 52.

Instead of passing the urgently needed statutory reform that would give victims from the past a “window” in which to seek justice against their abusers, legislators are making empty promises. A window permits those with expired civil statutes of limitation to bring lawsuits within a given period of years. As neighboring states, such as New York and New Jersey, lead the way on SOL reform with swift passage in 2019, Pennsylvania has taken a step backward.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

April 3, 2019

By Erin Cox

A Senate panel on Wednesday voted down a bill that would have let childhood sex abuse victims of any age sue institutions that harbored their attackers.

The legislation, proposed amid a global clergy sex abuse scandal, had passed the House of Delegates overwhelmingly last month. But the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee declined to advance it, with one Democrat joining the committee’s four Republicans in voting it down.

The bill had become a heightened source of controversy in Annapolis after its lead sponsor accused the Catholic Church of swindling him into deal that may have granted the organization irreversible immunity from sex abuse cases that happened decades ago.

That deal, part of a 2017 law extending the civil statute of limitations, was a key reason cited by a senator who voted against this year’s proposal.

“It wiped out the compromise from two years ago,” Sen. Michael Hough (R-Frederick) said after the vote. The 2017 law raised the statute of limitations for civil sex abuse cases, increasing the age victims can file from 25 to 38 years old. It also included language some legal experts say makes it unconstitutional by increasing the statute of limitations again.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

April 3, 2019

By Marci A. Hamilton and Sarah G. Klein

Legend has it that the Roman emperor Nero “fiddled while Rome burned.” Today, Pennsylvania legislators are fiddling while victims are denied legal access to justice by outdated and unfair statutes of limitations (SOLs) for child sex abuse.

Pennsylvania allows victims of child sex abuse to come forth with civil claims until they are 30, and pursue criminal prosecution until age 50. Both age caps fall short of most states and the estimated average age of victim disclosure, 52.

Instead of passing the urgently needed statutory reform that would give victims from the past a “window” in which to seek justice against their abusers, legislators are making empty promises. A window permits those with expired civil statutes of limitation to bring lawsuits within a given period of years. As neighboring states, such as New York and New Jersey, lead the way on SOL reform with swift passage in 2019, Pennsylvania has taken a step backward.

Even though state Attorney General Josh Shapiro and a nationally recognized organization led by one of us (Marci Hamilton) have separately argued that reviving an expired civil SOL is constitutional under Pennsylvania law, the Republican leadership has decided that a window cannot happen without a constitutional amendment. Of course it can: It would simply require a majority vote from both houses of the legislature, like any other statute. The preference for a constitutional amendment is just that, a preference.

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MANHATTAN (KS)
Manhattan Mercury

April 3, 2019

Most of the incidents of sexual abuse happened years ago, and most of the priests who committed the abuse are dead now. Those who aren’t are no longer members of the clergy.

But the Salina Catholic Diocese’s report last week naming 14 priests who, according to substantiated reports, abused children while serving in positions of power in churches and schools, is still tragic and deeply disturbing.

The Salina Diocese oversees Manhattan’s Catholic churches. Of the 14 people named, three of the accused priests had served in Manhattan.

One of them, Monsignor William Merchant, was the superintendent of the Catholic schools here in the mid-1950s to late 1960s. According to a firsthand account from three men who were students at that time, Merchant molested and sexually assaulted them and others while he was overseeing the schools.

“In our collective opinion, Msgr. Merchant’s avocation was masquerading as a Catholic priest while pursuing his true vocation as an aggressive sexual predator,” they wrote, as part of the report.

To learn of such incidents even all these years later is heart-wrenching for our community and especially for the faithful. Parishioners put their trust in these men, and that trust imbues them with power. Some abuse that power.

Over the last decade or so, we’ve learned that across the country, sexual abuse among the clergy is not just a rare anomaly; it’s a disease, an epidemic. The cases now number in the thousands over the last 50 years. That’s appalling.

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DES MOINES (IA)
KCCI TV

April 3, 2019

A spokesperson for the diocese said the names will be released at a news conference scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday at the Catholic Pastoral Center in downtown Des Moines.

Bishop Richard Pates wrote in a letter to parishioners that he apologizes “for the pain experienced by those abused by our priests, as well as the pain this has caused to all the faithful and those in our broader society.”

“I share the anger and frustration of recent reports of clerical abuse of minors and young people, he continued. “It is my sincere hope the release of this list facilitates healing, encourages additional victims who have faced abuse to come forward and begins to restore trust.”

In February, at least 28 priests were credibly accused of having sexually abused more than 100 boys and girls while working for the Diocese of Sioux City.

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SANTA FE (NM)
Associated Press

April 3, 2019

By Susan Montoya Bryan

Four men who say they were sexually abused by the same Roman Catholic priest decades ago have recounted the details of their experiences as children as federal jurors prepared Wednesday to hear more about the alleged patterns of abuse.

The trial of 81-year-old Arthur Perrault before a federal judge in Santa Fe began Tuesday and is expected to last another two weeks.

Perrault’s case marks an unusual federal criminal prosecution of a former priest in a state where dozens of clergy abuse victims have won more than $50 million in settlements from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. The archdiocese also is in the midst of bankruptcy proceeding as a result of the church-wide scandal, which has tarnished parishes across the globe.

Testimony on Tuesday by one of the unnamed men revealed that the archdiocese in 1992 had denied that he had been sexually abused by the priest but the claims were settled out of court at the time with the promise that Perrault would get therapy to prevent another boy from being harmed.

That man, identified only as John Doe #8, told jurors the first assault occurred when he was 12. Perrault was driving the altar boy to the mountains outside of Albuquerque. He told the boy’s parents they would be doing “church business.”

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LINCOLN (NE)
Lincoln Diocese

April 2, 2019

The Diocese of Lincoln developed this list with the assistance of Bishop Conley’s Task Force on Child Sexual Abuse, which reviewed the diocese’s records related to allegations of sexual misconduct. The Task Force specifically recommended that the diocese publish the names of any diocesan clergy with substantiated allegations.

A “substantiated allegation” is an allegation that, after review of available information, appeared more likely true than not in the judgment of the independent Task Force.

There are no time limitations on this list and it will be treated by the diocese as a living document that will be updated and supplemented from time to time. The information available to the Task Force and the diocese with respect to historic allegations of abuse is largely limited to what exists in the diocesan records. However, if the diocese receives new allegations or new information about existing allegations, it will revisit adding names to this list. The diocese continues to cooperate with the Attorney General’s statewide investigation of clergy sexual abuse and, if that investigation yields more allegations or information about existing allegations, the diocese will add names to the list if warranted.

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SPRINGFIELD (MO)
Ozarks First

April 3, 2019

By Beth Finello

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau has released a letter regarding sex abuse settlements.

Bishop Edward Rice detailed in the letter how much was spent on settlements and legal fees.

In August of 2018, Bishop Rice wrote a letter to members of the church expressing his sorrow for the hurt inflicted upon anyone in the Diocese by the clergy sexual abuse scandal.

In the 2018 letter, Bishop Rice also stated, “in the spirit of accuracy, transparency, and truthfulness, I directed an independent review of diocesan personnel files of all clergy, diocesan and religious, so that we could have an accurate accounting for the 63-year history of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau.”

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WEST PALM BEACH (FL)
Newsmax

April 3, 2019

By Cathy Burke

More than one in three Catholics question if they want to remain Catholic — a sign of their deep “frustration” with church leadership amid reports of widespread sexual abuse, according to one expert.

In a Gallup poll last month, 37% of U.S. Catholics said news of the abuse caused them to doubt their loyalty to the church — up from 22% in 2002.

In a Gallup podcast Wednesday examining the results, lawyer and Catholic activist Sister Simone Campbell said Roman Catholic leaders need to pay attention to those findings.

She said the remark she most often hears about Catholics is “‘when will they ever learn, when will they stop this?’” adding that the Pennsylvania attorney general report on decades of abuse was “shocking and horrifying.”

“Folks are really frustrated by that,” she said.

“My neighbor told me he quit going to church,” she recounted, but said more of “what I hear [from Catholics] is [they’re] shopping around more, looking for leadership they can trust.”

“When there are broader groups involved in managing the diocese… then there’s a whole different change,” she added, saying what’s important for the church leadership to do is “being willing to talk about the sin of our church.”

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

April 2, 2019

A criminal trial against a former Connecticut priest accused of abusing nearly 30 children starts Monday in New Mexico.

According to Bishop Accountability, Fr. Arthur Perrault worked in Hartford, East Hartford, Naugatuck and on the Yale campus in the 1960s.

It’s not too late for people with knowledge or suspicions about Fr. Perrault’s crimes to help law enforcement convict him. We hope that Fr. Perrault will be found guilty and kept away from kids for the rest of his life. And we hope anyone who may have been hurt by Fr. Perrault will come forward, make a report to law enforcement, and find help and healing from independent therapists and support groups.

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

April 3, 2019

The list published today by the Diocese of Lincoln is a small step forward for transparency on clergy sex crimes in Nebraska. We call on Church officials to take additional steps to keep children in Nebraska safe and to help victims heal.

First, the Diocese should include the names of not only Diocesan priests, but also those of religious order priests, brothers, nuns and lay employees who have been accused of abuse and spent time in Lincoln.

Second, the Diocese should include information about when it first received the allegations against each named person and what actions it took in response to those allegations. Only by knowing what went wrong in the past can we learn how to improve for the future and prevent additional cases of child sexual abuse.

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GREENVILLE (NC)
Reflector

April 3, 2019

By Terry Mattingly

At the end of the movie “Spotlight,” the screen went black before a message appeared noting that in 2002 alone, The Boston Globe’s investigative reporting team published nearly 600 stories about sexual abuse by Catholic clergy.

The next screen noted, “249 priests and brothers were publicly accused of sexual abuse within the Boston Archdiocese.”

But there was more. The first time Sister Veronica Openibo of Nigeria saw this film — which won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2016 — she was stunned to see four screens packed with the names of 223 American dioceses and nations in which major abuse scandals had been uncovered.

“Tears of sorrow flowed,” she said, speaking at the Vatican’s global summit on clergy sexual abuse. “How could the clerical church have kept silent, covering these atrocities? The silence, the carrying of the secrets in the hearts of the perpetrators, the length of the abuses and the constant transfers of perpetrators are unimaginable.”

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KANSAS CITY (KS)
Associated Press

April 3, 2019

In a story April 2 about a delay in the trial of a Kansas priest accused of molesting a child, The Associated Press reported erroneously that he was on a list of 22 priests that the Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas identified as facing substantiated claims of abuse. He appeared on a separate list of priests facing public allegations that the diocese wasn’t able to substantiate.

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CHARLESTON (SC)
The Associated Press

April 3, 2019

By David Purtell

The Catholic diocese in South Carolina on March 29 released a list of 42 priests with ties to the state who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing children.

All but 11 of the priests on the list released by the Charleston Diocese have died. The list doesn’t specify the parishes or institutions where the priests served.

Locally, three of the priests on the list had ties to St. Mary Our Lady of Ransom Catholic Church in Georgetown. In addition, at least one each at Precious Blood of Christ Catholic Church in Pawleys Island and St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Garden City.

Priests who were assigned to St. Mary’s in Georgetown who are on the list include:

Frederick Suggs, who was assigned to Georgetown two times: from 1945-1947 and 1962-1968; died in 1998

John Bench, Georgetown, from 1985-1991, died in 2009

Gerald Ryfinski, Georgetown, from 2000-2001. Ryfinski was laicized (removed from the clerical state) in April 2007. A note on the list states “Unlike others on the list, this case involved possession of child pornography.”

Others who were assigned to nearby parishes include:

Thomas Evatt, Precious Blood of Christ, Pawleys Island, 1986-1988. He died in 2003. He was also with St. Cyprian’s Catholic Church in Georgetown.
Hayden Vavarek, St. Michael’s, 1999-2000. Vavarek was laicized in May 2016

The list was broken into four parts. Twenty-one priests served in South Carolina. Others were named in a class-action settlement over abuse, had abuse claims from a diocese outside South Carolina or were a visiting priest to the state.

Bishop Robert Guglielmone said he was releasing the list with a heavy heart, but also wanting to assure accountability and transparency.

“It is my fervent hope and prayer that publishing this list will help bring healing to the victims and their families who have been so grievously harmed by the betrayal of priests and Church leadership,” Guglielmone wrote in a note released with the list.

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TORONTO (CANADA)
Toronto Star

April 1, 2019

By Lisa Queen

The Southdown Institute mental health treatment centre missed a chance to explain what its mission is when it didn’t respond to accusations that priests who had sexually assaulted children were sent there as part of a coverup scheme by the Catholic Church, says the institute’s new president.

Attention last August focused on the 53-year-old centre, which operated in Aurora before moving in 2013 to Holland Landing just north of Newmarket, after the release of an explosive Pennsylvania grand jury report.

Of 300-plus priests who had sexually abused boys and girls in that state over decades, the grand jury identified seven predators sent to Southdown for treatment rather than facing criminal charges.

A Southdown spokesperson declined to discuss the revelation then.

Report details how hundreds of priests abused children in Pennsylvania, and the church covered it up

However, on Feb. 1, the centre welcomed new president and chief psychologist, Father Stephan Kappler, who believes Southdown missed an opportunity to respond to the accusations and explain its mission to the community.

The priest and Dr. Eran Talitman, a psychologist with Southdown for 20 years, sat down for a far-ranging interview, including accusations the centre “laundered” offending priests before the church reassigned them to unsuspecting parishes and concerns abusive clergy were tested out in local churches before going on to unknowing congregations.

Both men said they are upset thinking the community might fear Southdown and its clients.

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WARRNAMBOOL (AUSTRALIA)
Warrnambool Standard

April 3, 2019

Victims of sexual abuse are mounting a renewed push to rename a Warrnambool street which honours a senior priest who knew about abuse but failed to act.

Warrnambool mayor Tony Herbert previously told a victim that Fiscalini Drive’s name would be changed – but it hasn’t happened despite the issue being first raised mid-last year.

The Standard has contacted Cr Herbert for comment but he has not responded yet.

Monsignor Leo Fiscalini was told by a victim she was being sexually abused in 1972 and he accused her of “telling lies” and left her in the care of her abuser.

The county court has since jailed her abuser.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuses acknowledged Fiscalini and former Bishop of Ballarat Ronald Mulkearns knew of complaints relating to pedophile Gerald Ridsdale in the 1970s but permitted him to continue working in the region.

The sex assault victim, who revealed her abuse to Monsignor Fiscalini in a confessional, has previously received support from Cr Herbert.

“I received a very empathetic email,” she said.

“On July 12 last year I first wrote to Tony Herbert seeking support for the name of the street being changed after the story in The Standard.

“He said he was supportive of the removal of names from all public recognition of both those responsible for committing crimes and those who concealed crimes.

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[Aós’ first day at the Vatican]

CHILE
La Tercera

April 2, 2019

By M. J. Navarrete

Religioso confirmó que le pedirá al Papa Francisco levantar el secreto pontificio de algunas de las investigaciones por abusos a menores de la Arquidiócesis de Santiago.

El nuevo administrador apostólico de Santiago, Celestino Aós, arribó hoy, cerca de las 6.30 de la madrugada (hora de Chile), al aeropuerto de Fiumicino, en Roma. Allí, se refirió a las expectativas de su viaje, que se extenderá por 10 días, donde confirmó que le pedirá al Papa Francisco levantar el secreto pontificio de algunas de las investigaciones por abusos a menores de la Arquidiócesis de Santiago.

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[The key woman in the Karadima case]

CHILE
BioBioChile

April 3, 2019

By Erik López

“En tiempos en que hablamos de empoderamiento de las mujeres, es inevitable destacar el rol de una mujer en el caso Karadima. Lo que hoy presenciamos, el inédito fallo que responsabiliza a la Iglesia Católica por los abusos sexuales cometidos por un cura, tiene su origen en el trabajo profesional y sin miedo de una mujer”. “Se trata de la ministra de la Corte de Apelaciones de Santiago, Jessica González, quien en noviembre del 2011 dictó un fallo que sería el cimiento firme de la resolución que acogió la indemnización a las víctimas del cura Fernando Karadima”.

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

April 3, 2019

By Inés San Martín

To grasp the depth of Chile’s clerical sexual abuse crisis, imagine if around 68 of the United States’ 255 active Catholic bishops had been subpoenaed by civil prosecutors on suspicions of either committing the abuse of a minor, covering it up, or both.

That’s the situation in Chile, where nine of 34 bishops (27 percent) have been subpoenaed, including Cardinals Francisco Javier Errazuriz and Ricardo Ezzati, both former and current archbishops of Santiago, respectively. Errazuriz is also a former member of the council of cardinals that has been advising Pope Francis on Vatican reform.

Ezzati’s resignation was accepted by the pope March 23. The 77-year-old faces not only accusations of abuse cover-up, but is also the target of a $500,000 lawsuit involving an alleged rape at a residence in his cathedral that Ezzati allegedly failed to report.

Ezzati was replaced by Bishop Celestino Aós Bracco, who’s been appointed as apostolic administrator, meaning he’s not the new archbishop, and who himself has a troubled history on the abuse crisis.

The pontiff is having trouble finding a permanent replacement, much as he did when he replaced the other eight bishops whose resignations he accepted after last May, when every Chilean prelate offered his resignation to Francis when he summoned them to Rome. Each bishop was replaced by an apostolic administrator, rather than by a permanent replacement.

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KANSAS CITY (KS)
Associated Press

April 2, 2019

A criminal trial of a priest charged with molesting a child has been delayed until at least summer.

The trial of Rev. Scott Kallal was set to begin April 15 in Wyandotte County District Court. But a hearing last week, the court granted Kallal’s request for more time. A status conference is set of June 7.

Kallal was charged in in 2017 with two felony counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. He has pleaded not guilty.

He was suspended from public priestly ministry in 2017 as associate pastor at Holy Spirit Church in Overland Park.

In January, Kallal was on a list of 22 priests the Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas said have had substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of minors made against them in the past 75 years.

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GREAT FALLS (MT)
KTVQ News

April 2, 2019

Lothar Konrad Krauth of Great Falls intends to plead guilty to a receipt of child pornography charge.

Court documents filed on March 22 indicate Krauth, a retired Catholic priest, plans to change his plea to guilty at a hearing next week.

Court documents state Homeland Security agents received a cyber report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on Oct. 10, 2018.

The report showed a user with an IP address in Great Falls had uploaded an image of a nude prepubescent male child.

A summons to the internet service provider identified the IP address as assigned to Krauth, according to court documents.

Agents and Great Falls police executed a search warrant at Krauth’s residence on Oct. 26, 2018, where they seized approximately 20 items of electronic media including a desktop computer, external hard drives, six thumb drives, and more.

Court documents state a preliminary examination of the desktop computer identified approximately 400 images of child pornography while a subsequent analysis revealed thousands.

The images showed children as young as two or three years old, according to court documents.

Krauth was assigned to Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Great Falls from 1989 to 2014.

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CAPE GIRARDEAU (MO)
Southeast Missourian

April 3, 2019

By Mark Bliss

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau has paid out more than $517,000 to victims of clergy sexual abuse and another $189,337 in legal fees since 1986, the diocese’s bishop disclosed in a letter posted on the diocese website and emailed to Catholics in southern Missouri.

The diocese emailed a copy of the letter to the Southeast Missourian on Tuesday.

Bishop Edward Rice wrote the diocese paid $355,000 out of unrestricted cash reserves to settle eight claims. Another three claims were paid by the diocese’s insurer, Catholic Mutual Relief Society, at a cost of $92,500, according to Rice.

The diocese also spent more than $70,000 to assist abuse victims. The money was spent on prescriptions, counseling and “future funeral expenses,” Rice wrote.

The legal fees were incurred in the handling of the claims and the recent review of diocese personnel files, the bishop wrote.

“Absolutely no funds have come from any parishes or the Diocesan Development Fund or the Capital Endowment Campaign,” he wrote.

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SANTA FE (NM)
Albuquerque Journal

April 2, 2019

By Colleen Heild

When he was a 12-year-old altar boy, John Doe #8 told his mother he was being molested by the Rev. Arthur Perrault, and she didn’t believe him. In June 1992, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe denied the boy had been sexually abused but settled his civil claim out of court, promising Perrault would get therapy to prevent another boy from being harmed.

On Tuesday, the now 60-year-old John Doe #8 told a federal court jury, sometimes through his tears, how he was seduced and eventually molested by Perrault some 48 years ago.

He recalled that the first assault occurred while Perrault was driving him to the mountains northwest of Albuquerque, telling his parents they had “church business” to do.

Perrault began groping him 30 minutes into the trip, he testified, then pulled off the road, stopped the car and finished the assault.

Their trip ended at a building complex John Doe #8 now believes was the Servants of the Paraclete center in Jemez Springs, where pedophile priests from around the country were sent for rehabilitation.

Once they arrived there, he testified, they lit candles, knelt down and prayed the rosary.

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ROCKFORD (IL)
Register Star

April 2, 2019

By Chris Green

Involve lay people in the selection of priests and in the power structure of the Catholic Church, hold priests accountable for their behavior as well as for their ministry, and make celibacy an optional requirement for priesthood.

Those were some of the suggestions offered Tuesday night during a panel discussion titled, “Engaging Lent 2019: Ending the Sex Abuse Crisis.” About 80 people, mostly seniors, attended the event held at Rockford University’s Fisher Memorial Chapel and moderated by Register Star Metro Editor Kevin Haas.

The Rev. David Beauvais, a retired Catholic Diocese of Rockford priest, said church leaders from the Vatican down have been slow to acknowledge and fully address the crisis.

“They have to break the clerical stranglehold and allow more people in on the decision-making,” he said.

Ruth Kolpack, a former pastoral associate of St. Thomas in Beloit, added, “If lay people, mothers and fathers, were involved in the governance of the church, this sex abuse business would not be happening.”

Beauvais, Kolpack and Dick Kunnert, a former victim assistance coordinator for the Rockford diocese, served as the panelists.

What is normally a difficult topic to discuss became at times very frank. Sex abuse survivor Don Bondick of Rockford spoke about his long and continuing road of recovery from the horrors of being strangled and sodomized as a child at the hands of a priest and family friend.

“And the priest tells you, ‘Who are you going to tell?’”

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Hoya

April 3, 2019

By Alexandra Bowman

Reports emerged Thursday that Pope Francis is set to appoint Archbishop of Atlanta Wilton Gregory to replace Cardinal Donald Wuerl as the archbishop of Washington, D.C., after the latter resigned following reports that he had mishandled sexual assault cases.

The Catholic News Agency first reported on Gregory’s appointment; however, the report’s reliance on anonymous sources has led many Catholic institutions and D.C. news outlets to question its validity, according to The Washington Post. As of Saturday, no other Catholic media or mainstream outlet had confirmed the report other than the far-right, web-based Catholic news outlet, Church Militant.

NOTABLE NAMES DATABASE Critics of Catholic News Agency’s report speculate that reports that Archbishop of Altanta Wilton Gregory has been selected as Cardinal’s Wuerl’s replacement may be tactic to hurt Gregory’s actual chances of selection.

Gregory’s appointment would be a historic milestone for the Catholic Church in the United States, according to The Washington Post. If appointed, Gregory would be the first black Catholic archbishop of D.C.

Gregory’s appointment follows the ongoing clergy sexual abuse scandal within the church, which has implicated two former archbishops of D.C.

Former Archbishop of Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was found guilty of abuse of minors and solicitation of sex from adults during confession. McCarrick became one of the highest-ranking Americans to be formally dismissed from the clerical state when he was officially defrocked by the Catholic Church on Feb. 16.

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BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

April 3, 2019

By Jay Tokasz

Kevin J. Koscielniak drove 250 miles from his suburban Detroit home to report an alleged crime in Western New York from 40 years ago.

Koscielniak told police that the Rev. James Burson from the former Cardinal Dougherty High School in Buffalo molested him in 1979 on a weekend retreat in Amherst.

“I wanted a public record of it. I felt that was important to have. I know there’s a lot of people out there who think we’re just lying,” said Koscielniak, who drove back to Michigan that same day last June.

Koscielniak, 55, plans to sue the Buffalo Diocese in August, when New York State begins a one-year window suspending the statute of limitations in sex abuse lawsuits.

Some attorneys said they expected tens of thousands of lawsuits to be filed across the state within the window established by the Child Victims Act, against all varieties of institutions, not just Catholic dioceses.

“There’s a lot of Catholic Church. There’s a lot of state foster care cases. There’s a lot of schools,” said Samantha Breakstone, a former prosecutor who now handles child sex abuse and human trafficking cases at the Weitz & Luxenberg law firm in New York City. “I don’t think people realize how prevalent it is.”

“I think the numbers are going to be astounding,” she added.

Buffalo attorney Barry Covert said his law firm is now handling 45 to 50 cases that fall under the Child Victims Act. About 20 of those cases involve the Catholic church, said Covert.

“I would say on the first day of the window, and the first week or the second week, you’re just going to see a flood of cases,” he said. “I would not be surprised to see 400 or 500 cases being filed, just locally.”

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CHARLOTTE (NC)
WCNC TV

April 2, 2019

Tuesday, people took to the streets of uptown Charlotte to call out abuse in the Catholic church.

Members of a support group called the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests held signs at a sidewalk news conference, calling for Charlotte Catholic officials to reveal the names of credibly accused priests.

The group is upset that predator priests who are or were in the Charlotte area have not been outed, calling for Charlotte Catholic officials to make the names of these priests public like other dioceses have recently done.

Additionally, the group is asking for anyone who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes or cover ups to call law enforcement and their support group.

The Diocese of Charlotte released a statement in response to the protest, thanking SNAP for its efforts “on behalf of the victims on behalf of the victims of sexual abuse.”

Additionally, the Diocese of Charlotte urges victims of abuse to report it to authorities.

“The alleged abuse by priests highlighted today by SNAP appears to have taken place outside of the Diocese of Charlotte and involved priests who had some connection to the diocese but were not serving in the diocese at the time of the alleged incidents,” the statement continues. “As we have done since the passage of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People in 2002, we will review this and any new information about alleged incidents of abuse or misconduct that comes to us from any source to determine if a credible allegation exists.”

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HOUSTON (TX)
Houston Chronicle

April 2, 2019

By Robert Downen

Texas Catholic leaders have joined Southern Baptists in their support of a bill that would allow churches to share former employees’ sexual abuse and misconduct allegations without being sued.

The bill, filed last month in the Texas Legislature by Southern Baptist minister and McKinney Rep. Scott Sanford, comes as Catholics and Southern Baptists — the nation’s two largest faith groups — wrestle with sexual abuse crises.

Sanford said the legislation would help prevent sexual predators from moving into unsuspecting churches, an issue that was detailed in “Abuse of Faith,” a recent investigation by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News that found at least 700 victims of sexual abuse or misconduct by Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers since 1998.

In some of those cases, the newspapers found, churches did not alert other congregations about allegations against former employees out of fear of lawsuits. The Texas bill would give immunity to those who make such disclosures in “good faith.”

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DENVER (CO)
Crux

April 2, 2019

By John L. Allen Jr.

Tuesday made official a transition that’s been quietly underway for a while in terms of the Vatican’s response to the clerical sexual abuse scandals: Pope Francis and his aides are rethinking, if not the substance of a “zero tolerance” policy, at least the rhetoric of it, becoming increasingly unwilling to use that phrase.

Confirmation came with release of a document from the pontiff drawing conclusions from last fall’s Synod of Bishops on young people, where tensions over “zero tolerance” formed one of the major pieces of drama. In the end, Francis’s 35,000-word, 63-page text discusses the abuse crisis at some length, devoting almost 1,000 words to the subject, but makes no mention of “zero tolerance.”

Here’s the thing: There may be compelling reasons for caution about the phrase, beginning with the point that it seems to have come to mean wildly different things depending on who’s using it.

However, if the pope is now planning to avoid a term he himself helped to cement as a pillar of the Church’s commitment to reform, somebody will need to explain why – otherwise, people may be tempted to think this reconsideration is actually a retreat.

When Francis convened a synod on young people last October, questions surrounded how the bishops would handle an avalanche of fresh twists in the clerical abuse scandals.

Those developments included a damning Pennsylvania grand jury report; the resignation of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick; a controversy in Australia over eroding the seal of the confessional; laicizations, bishops’ resignations and fresh revelations in Chile; and an infamous letter from Italian Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò accusing Pope Francis of knowing about McCarrick and covering it up.

Two weeks before the synod opened, the Vatican announced Francis would summon presidents of all the bishops’ conferences in the world to Rome to discuss child protection Feb. 21-24. Nonetheless, several bishops at the synod representing areas hardest hit by the crisis pushed ahead, tackling it head-on.

One such moment came when Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Australia directly addressed the 36 young people who joined the bishops, apologizing for the failures of Church leadership. He drew sustained applause, and he was joined by several other prelates who engaged the issue both in floor speeches and in small group discussions. It seemed there was momentum towards a strong statement.

On Tuesday, Oct. 23, synod participants were presented with a draft version of the final document they would vote on Saturday, Oct. 27. It included a clear affirmation of “zero tolerance.”

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Kansas City Star

APRIL 02, 2019

By Judy L. Thomas

Sexual abuse victims and their advocates making plans to attend a rare criminal trial this month of a priest charged with molesting a child will now have to wait until at least this summer.

The trial of the Rev. Scott Kallal, which was set to begin April 15 in Wyandotte County District Court, has been continued. At a hearing last week, the court — over the prosecution’s objection — granted Kallal’s request for more time. A status conference on the case is set for June 7, and a new trial date has not yet been scheduled.

The action frustrated victims’ advocates.

“Accused wrongdoers often exploit delays, hoping that victims, witnesses and whistleblowers will give up or get intimidated,” said David Clohessy, former executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “We hope this move will help prod others with knowledge of or suspicions about him to step forward…”

Kallal, a priest of the Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, was charged in Wyandotte County District Court in 2017 with two felony counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. Kallal has pleaded not guilty.

At Kallal’s preliminary hearing in 2017, a 13-year-old girl testified that when she was 10, Kallal twice tickled her breasts against her wishes. The first alleged incident was at a friend’s graduation party in Bonner Springs in spring 2015. The girl said she and other girls were outside playing soccer when Kallal tickled her inappropriately.

The second alleged incident took place a few months later at the parish hall gymnasium at St. Patrick’s Church in Kansas City, Kansas.

The archdiocese suspended Kallal in 2017 from public priestly ministry as associate pastor at Holy Spirit Church in Overland Park. It later issued a statement saying Kallal “denies any moral misconduct or malicious intent and has agreed to undergo evaluation and counseling.”

In January, the archdiocese named Kallal on a list of 22 priests in its files who it said have had substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of minors made against them in the past 75 years. The document said that Kallal was “on administrative leave.”

Kallal’s court hearing on Friday came the same day that another Catholic diocese in Kansas released its own list of abusive priests.

The Diocese of Salina published on its website the names of 14 diocesan priests who it said have had substantiated allegations of abuse of a minor. The list was released after newly appointed Bishop Gerald Vincke in September commissioned an independent review of the diocese’s priest files. The review was conducted by Courtney Boehm, at the time the Marion County attorney and now a district court judge in the 8th Judicial District.

“The entirety of this comprehensive report was immediately turned over to the Attorney General’s office, who then forwarded it to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI),” Vincke said in a statement Friday.

None of the 14 priests are in active ministry today, the Salina diocese said. Twelve are deceased, and the remaining two have been removed from the priesthood.

The Salina diocese also published the names of 13 priests of the Order of Franciscan Minors Capuchin Province of St. Conrad who have served in that diocese at some point in their ministry and have had credible allegations of abuse of a minor lodged against them. The province, which is headquartered in Denver, released those names last week after conducting its own independent investigation.

The Capuchins are a religious order that has had a strong presence in the Salina diocese, particularly in the Hays and Victoria areas in western Kansas. The St. Fidelis Friary in Victoria made national headlines last fall when former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, who stepped down in July over allegations that he sexually abused seminarians and minors for decades, was sent there to live out a “life of prayer and penance.” McCarrick was defrocked by the Vatican in February.

The friary is located next to the Basilica of St. Fidelis in Victoria, which is more commonly known as “The Cathedral of the Plains.” The church, which attracts thousands of visitors each year, is on the National Register of Historic Places and in 2008 was named one of the “8 Wonders of Kansas.”

Vincke apologized to victims and parishioners and described several cases in which the diocese mishandled allegations of priest sex abuse.

“It is difficult to share these failings with you,” he said. “But, I think it is necessary. The Church needs to be open, honest and transparent. The Church has made mistakes. The Diocese of Salina has made mistakes. I am very sorry for the mistakes that we have made. It is my sincere desire that we can learn from our errors and never let them happen again.”

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CHARLOTTE (NC)
Charlotte Observer

April 2, 2019

By Bruce Henderson

Survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests demanded Tuesday that the Diocese of Charlotte release the names of priests who have been credibly accused of harming children, as other U.S. dioceses have done.

The resignation last week of Monsignor Mauricio West, the longtime second-in-command of the Charlotte diocese, “is just the tip of the iceberg and Bishop (Peter) Jugis knows this,” Rene Anctil, the Raleigh leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, told reporters.

“We watch nationwide what’s going on, who’s revealing names, who’s not,” Anctil added. “Unfortunately in this area, Bishop Jugis is holding on to the old ways.”

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

April 2, 2019

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims has found three priests who have been publicly accused of molesting kids but are not on the Charleston Catholic diocese’s just-released list of abusers.

For “the safety of kids and the healing of victims,” SNAP wants the Charleston diocese to “include ALL proven, admitted and credibly accused clerics – priests, nuns, bishops, brothers, deacons, seminarians and lay employees – and provide their photos, whereabouts and full work histories.”

The three names missing from the list are:

–Fr. Cletus Altermatt, who was ordained in Great Falls Montana but was at Mepkin Abbey in Moncks Corner South Carolina in the 1950s. In 2016 and again in 2018, church officials in three states put him on their lists of credibly accused abusers.

Fr. Altermatt also worked in Kentucky (Louisville), Minnesota (Ivanhoe and Lucan) and Ohio (Steubenville, Bloomingdale and Buchtel). He died in 1978.

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NORWICH (CT)
The Day

April 1. 2019

It has been nearly two months since the Catholic Diocese of Norwich released its list of priests that it said had been credibly accused of sexual misconduct involving minors. If the purpose of releasing the list was intended to provide transparency and start to move past the scandal that has long dogged the church, it was an abject failure.

The problem is that Bishop Michael Cote wants to define the parameters of transparency, unadvised and unquestioned by any independent entity. He has lifted the veil, but only so far. The result is that rather than reassuring parishioners and the public, the attempt at coming clean has only generated more questions and, to a degree, created greater distrust about the church’s real intentions.

Was the intent to truly come to grips with what happened or to make a gesture and move on? The evidence suggests the latter was the greater motivation. It didn’t work.

The release of 43 names provided little context. There were names, dates of ordination, whether the individuals were removed from ministry, if they had died, and whether they were a member of the diocese at the time of the credible abuse allegations.

But there was no listing of the parishes these men had served in at the time of their abusive actions or information on the scope of their behavior or the number of potential victims. Most disappointingly, there was no acknowledgement of how their cases were handled by former bishops and the diocese.

The bishops were the enablers of this becoming a massive scandal. It is a reality many still appear unwilling to confront. How often were these priests reassigned, often after supposedly being “cured” by counseling of their propensity for deviancy, only to find new child victims in parishes left unaware of their past misconduct? Why were police or child welfare agencies not contacted? Or were they?

As for what was released, the diocese fumbled and stumbled forward. Within days the diocese added three names of priests, men who served the Diocese of Norwich but had credible allegations lodged against them elsewhere.

Most troubling, the diocese removed the name of a former priest from the list, admitting there were no allegations of sexual abuse of a minor in the individual’s record, but making no apology. The priest, now deceased, had however ministered to the homosexual community in a manner that was in opposition to church teaching and orders. He was dismissed from the priesthood in 1994. Why was he listed? There was no explanation.

Evidence has continued to surface that there were other priests who faced credible claims of sexual abuse of children, but never made the list. At the time the diocese released the names, it stated $7.7 million had been paid out to victims, but did not state which priests were tied to settlements. Personal injury attorneys, who have represented plaintiffs suing the church for permitting the abusive conduct, said the settlement number appeared low. Soon after, the diocese announced another $900,000 settlement.

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AUSTIN (TX)
KEYE

April 1, 2019

Catholic priest in Austin, Texas was arrested after police say he assaulted a woman in hospice care.

75-year-old Rev. Gerold Langsch has been charged with assault by contact, class a misdemeanor.

The incident allegedly happened in October 2018 when a woman was put on hospice care after suffering from several medical conditions. The police were contacted five days later, but an arrest wasn’t made until early March. The Austin Police Department says the investigation was delayed due to complications with the woman’s health. This month she was able to identify the priest in a lineup helping officers make an arrest.

While on hospice, the victim’s ex-husband contacted the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic-based fraternal service organization, to inform them of the victim’s illness.

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[Aós will ask Pope to lift “pontifical secret” about clergy abuse cases Santiago]

CHILE
La Tercera

April 2, 2019

By M.J. Navarrete and J.M. Ojeda

El administrador apostólico de la Iglesia capitalina viajó este lunes al Vaticano y estará allí hasta el 11 de abril.

El nuevo administrador apostólico de Santiago, Celestino Aós, visitará el Vaticano durante 10 días para reunirse con el Papa Francisco y con distintos dicasterios de la curia romana. “Espero hablar con el Santo Padre del tema de los abusos y de las víctimas, pero no voy a pedirle expresamente que entregue el Informe Scicluna”, explicó ayer Aós, antes de abordar el avión.

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[Rape in the Cathedral: Church appoints a lawyer and questions victim’s lawsuit against Tito Rivera]

CHILE
BioBioChile

April 1, 2019

By Jorge Molina Sanhueza

El abogado y profesor de Derecho Civil en la Universidad Católica, Ramón Cifuentes Ovalle, asumió el patrocinio del Arzobispado de Santiago, en la demanda por 350 millones de pesos que presentó Daniel Rojas, quien aseguró haber sido víctima de violación en una habitación de La Catedral por el cura Tito Rivera. El profesional cuestionó el libelo civil que hoy lleva la ministra de fuero Maritza Villadangos, ya que a su juicio no está clara cuál es la responsabilidad de la iglesia chilena en el hecho, dirigida hasta la semana antepasada por Ricardo Ezzati.

La iglesia designó al abogado, Ramón Cifuentes Ovalle, quien patrocinará al Arzobispado de Santiago en la demanda por 350 millones de pesos presentada por Daniel Rojas, quien acusó haber sido violado en La Catedral por el sacerdote Tito Rivera, en 2015. Asumida la representación, el profesional ingresó un escrito -conocido como “excepción dilatoria”– ante la ministra de fuero, Maritza Villadangos, quien sustancia el libelo civil.

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[Aós will ask Vatican to better collaborate in abuse investigations during this week’s visit]

CHILE
BioBioChile

April 2, 2019

By Gonzalo Cifuentes and Nicole Martínez

Serán cerca de dos semanas las que el administrador apostólico Celestino Aós estará en el Vaticano, donde además de reunirse con el Papa, se juntará con la curia vaticana para conocer algunas cosas específicas de la situación chilena. También pedirá obispos auxiliares y podría abordar mecanismos para mayor colaboración, ante el secreto que por mandato tienen sobre algunas informaciones.

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[Aós meets with prosecutors ahead of his trip to the Vatican]

CHILE
Emol

March 31, 2019

By Leonardo Vallejos

El administrador apostólico de Santiago manifestó la completa disposición para cooperar en las investigaciones. Mañana lunes emprenderá vuelo a Roma para citarse con el Papa Francisco.

El administrador apostólico de Santiago, Celestino Aós, se reunió esta tarde con el Fiscal Nacional, Jorge Abbot, y los fiscales Emiliano Arias (Fiscal Regional de O’Higgins), Raúl Guzmán (Fiscal Metropolitano Zona Sur) y Xavier Armendáriz (Fiscal Metropolitano Centro Norte). Arias es quien está llevando las causas de abusos en la Iglesia Católica de Chile. La cita se da justo un día antes que el religioso viaje mañana lunes al Vaticano para reunirse con el Papa Francisco.

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[Opus Dei closes preliminary investigation against priest Patricio Astorquiza and sends background to Vatican]

SANTIAGO (CHILE)
Emol

April 1, 2019

By Consuelo Ferrer

La prelatura recibió tres nuevas denuncias contra el ex capellán del Colegio Tabancura por hechos ocurridos hace casi veinte años. Las medidas cautelares establecidas para el presbítero se mantienen vigentes.

Fue en febrero cuando la prelatura del Opus Dei en Chile informó que recibió dos denuncias en contra del sacerdote Patricio Astorquiza, de 82 años, por hechos ocurridos hace aproximadamente veinte años, cuando los denunciantes eran menores de edad. Las denuncias fueron presentadas en el contexto de la recolección de testimonios por parte del obispo de Malta, Charles Scicluna, y se referían a un acoso persistente en el tiempo y a un abuso de conciencia, ambas con “posible connotación sexual”.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

April 2, 2019

By Philip Pullella

Pope Francis said on Tuesday the Catholic Church had to acknowledge a history of male domination and sexual abuse of women and children and repair its reputation among young people or risk becoming “a museum”.

But, in a major document in which he mentioned an array of scandals and again admitted significant failings by clergy, he also said the Church “could not agree with everything some feminist groups propose,” a clear reference to the Church’s ban on a female priesthood.

The pope is grappling with criticism over the Church’s response to a decades-long clerical sexual abuse crisis that has gravely damaged its standing around the globe and seen it pay out billions of dollars in compensation.

Francis made his comment in a 50-page “Apostolic Exhortation” about a month-long meeting of bishops in October on the role of young people in the 1.3 billion-member Church.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily

April 2, 2019

By Kevin Kerrigan

An attorney for the Archdiocese of Agana has asked Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood to issue an order setting a sexual abuse filing “bar date” of Aug. 15 at 5 p.m. That is the date by which any remaining sexual abuse plaintiffs must file their complaints.

In his motion, Ford Elsaesser, the bankruptcy attorney for the archdiocese, states that “the establishment of a deadline to file claims is critical” because it will allow the archdiocese to know “the universe of claims” before it.

The island’s Catholic Church is facing more than 200 sexual abuse lawsuits. On average, each plaintiff is seeking $5 million in damages, which amounts to roughly $1 billion in claims.

In the face of those lawsuits, the Archdiocese of Agana on Jan. 16 filed a petition for reorganization in the District Court of Guam under Chapter 11 of the U.S. bankruptcy code.

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FREMONT (CA)
KRON

April 1, 2019

By Maureen Kelly

In the East Bay, a Catholic priest has been arrested at his Fremont church and is being held in jail tonight, facing 30 counts of child sexual abuse.

Father Hector David Mendoza-Vela was booked into the Dublin’s Santa Rita Jail on 30 felony counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child between the ages of 14 and 15.

The Alameda County sheriff says the male teen victim had been a parishioner at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in San Lorenzo, which was Vela’s first assignment after being ordained in 2013.

The alleged abuse happened over a span of 18 months between 2016 and 2018 with most of the incidents taking place in a private home in an unincorporated area of the county.

“People in their good nature often except the church and the clergy into their life,” said Sgt. Ray Kelly with the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department. “And in this particular case we believe Father Vela took advantage of those relationships and that he used those relationships to pray on this particular child.”

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MURRAY (UT)
ABC4 News

April 1, 2019

By Andrew Reeser

At least 15 state attorneys general have publicized investigations into clergy sex abuse in the Catholic Church. Utah’s attorney general won’t comment on whether his office is or isn’t investigating clergy abuse, but the investigations chief Monday said stopping child abuse in Utah is a top priority for the office.

ABC4 News questioned Attorney General Sean Reyes’ Chief of Investigations Leo Lucey Monday about whether the office was pursuing active cases of Catholic priest abuse.

“I can’t talk about any open investigations,” said Lucey. “For us to open a case we have to have a complaint and somebody that allegedly committed a crime and a location and we would initiate our process from there.”

“In the interest of protecting the innocent and bringing criminals to justice, we do not discuss ongoing investigations,” according to the Attorney General’s Office website.

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COLUMBIA (SC)
The State

March 29, 2019

By John Monk, Bristow Marchant, and Maayan Schechter

The names of 42 Catholic priests with South Carolina ties and who had been credibly accused of sexual abuse or misconduct with children were made public late Friday afternoon by Diocese of Charleston, which oversees all Catholic churches in South Carolina.

Thirty-one of the 42 alleged child sex predator priests have died, the church said in a Friday afternoon news release. No one on the list is currently a priest.

The list included only priests who had credible, or believable, accusations against them, the church said.

Although the church listed the names of accused abusive priests, in most cases, it did not reveal cases the specific S.C. churches or schools the offenders were associated with.

Nor did the church provide an estimate of the number of victims the priests had abused. Child sex abuse experts say the number of children a molester victimizes before he is caught can run into the hundreds.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Headlines

April 2, 2019

By Jim Denison

This Washington Post article caught my eye: “I’m not passing my parents’ religion on to my kids, but I am teaching their values.”

The author is Jared Bilski, a writer and comedian based in Pennsylvania. He tells of growing up in the Catholic church, attending Catholic school from kindergarten through high school, and serving as an altar boy and a church reader. He says he “even strongly considered going into the priesthood.”

However, Bilski writes, “I lost faith in my faith. There were too many unanswered questions, too many problematic absolutes, too much fearmongering and way too much hypocrisy. For a religion that placed such a premium on loving thy neighbor, it sure had a lot of restrictions on whom you were allowed to love.”

The clergy-abuse scandal was the last straw. When it broke, Bilski says, “I knew I’d never return.”

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SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Catholic San Francisco

April 1, 2019

By Nicholas Wolfram Smith

Dominican Father Pius Pietrzyk, an assistant professor at St. Patrick’s Seminary & University and a canon lawyer, discussed governance in the church with Catholic San Francisco in a March 29 interview at the seminary in Menlo Park. (Photo by Nicholas Wolfram Smith/Catholic San Francisco)

While the abuse crisis has shaken trust in the church, Dominican Father Pius Pietrzyk, an assistant professor of pastoral studies and chair of the Pastoral Studies Department at St. Patrick’s Seminary & University, told Catholic San Francisco that the church’s governance structure is fundamentally sound.

“Canon law reserves governance in the church to clergy, while permitting laity to cooperate in that governance,” said Father Pietrzyk, who is also a canon and civil lawyer.

Governance in the church involves “the authority to issue binding decisions on a community,” whether in a legislative, executive or judicial form, Father Pietrzyk said.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
CNHI

April 2, 2019

By John Finnerty

A Republican lawmaker has introduced legislation that would give voters the chance to change the state Constitution and allow victims of expired child sex abuse cases to sue their abusers and institutions that may have covered up the crimes even if the statute of limitations has expired.

Blair County freshman State Rep. Jim Gregory’s legislation, if passed, would put a Constitutional amendment ballot question before voters as soon as 2021.

Critics of the proposal say that’s not soon enough.

The move could end an impasse at the Capitol over questions of whether the General Assembly can legally change the law to allow the Catholic Church, and other organizations to be sued in civil court if the existing statute of limitations have expired.

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SALINA (KS)
KRSL

April 1, 2019

Posted by David Elliott

Salina Catholic DioceseThe Salina Catholic Diocese on Friday released a list of substantiated allegations of clergy sexual abuse of a minor.

According to a statement from Bishop Gerald Vincke, there are 14 diocesan priests who have substantiated allegations of abuse of a minor. Additionally, the results of the independent investigation conducted by the Order of Franciscan Minors Capuchin Province of St. Conrad, headquartered in Denver, listed 13 capuchins who have served in the Salina diocese at some point within their ministry and who have credible allegations of abuse of a minor.

The Diocese of Concordia was founded in 1887. The Diocese of Concordia then became the Diocese of Salina in 1944. During a span of 132 years, with approximately 300 diocesan priests having served in the Diocese of Salina, 14 diocesan priests were identified to have substantiated allegations of abuse of a minor. A substantiated allegation is one that has been corroborated with witness statements, documents, emails, photos, texts or by another source, such as law enforcement.

None of the 14 priests are in active ministry today. Of the 14 priests, 12 are deceased and the remaining two are laicized. At this time, the Diocese of Salina is only releasing the names of clerics with substantiated allegations of abuse of a minor. Any cleric with an allegation of abuse of a minor that is unsubstantiated has been excluded from the list. If new information is provided that leads to the substantiation of a case, the Diocese of Salina will update the list of clergy abuse of minors accordingly.

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JOHNSTOWN (PA)
The Tribune- Democrat

April 1, 2019

By Ronald Fisher

An evening focusing on the mission of ending sexual, relationship and domestic violence will take place on April 25, as the Community Connection Team holds its annual Take Back the Night event from 6 to 9 p.m. at Bottle Works in Johnstown’s Cambria City neighborhood.

The international event has been held in more than 36 countries and 800 communities since it began more than 40 years ago.

This year marks the seventh annual event organized by the Community Connection Team.

“Over the years, the event has grown and more survivors are coming forward and speaking about their abuse and healing,” said Stephanie Rex, sexual assault and violent crimes counselor at Victim Services Inc. “Take Back the Night began as a protest and was intended to stop violence against women, men and children.

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METUCHEN (NJ)
Bridgewater Courier News

March 29, 2019

By Nick Muscavage

Clergy abuse victim advocates claim the Diocese of Metuchen failed to name eight more priests, in addition to one they named previously, accused of child sexual abuse in its list of credibly accused clergy it released last month.

According to Mark Crawford, New Jersey director of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), at least two priests alleged to have sexually abused children, in addition to the Rev. Romano Ferraro who they previously named, were also assigned to St. John Vianney Church in the Colonia section.

The namings by Crawford come on the heels of advocates meeting outside the church Thursday to release documents depicting how the Metuchen Diocese accepted Ferraro, who allegedly abused boys in New York, into its parishes from the Diocese of Brooklyn.

Ferraro, who later was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in Massachusetts for raping a 7-year-old boy there, came to Metuchen in the 1980s under the watch of then-Bishop Theodore McCarrick. McCarrick was defrocked by the Vatican last month after claims of sexual abuse of a child and young adult men were found credible by the church.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register

April 1, 2019

By Judy Roberts

As the Church confronts the sins of clergy sexual abuse, the stories of the ‘children of the ordained’ are increasingly being told as well.

Jim Graham’s father was an academic and a sensitive soul who likely would have made an ideal mentor — but because he also happened to be a priest, his son never knew him.

Graham’s story and those of others like him are woven into the fabric of yet another quandary the Church is facing: how to acknowledge and support children when their conception and birth violate the requirement of priestly celibacy.

As the Church confronts the sins of clergy sexual abuse, the stories of these “children of the ordained” are increasingly being told as well, even though many, though not all, involve consensual relationships between adult women and priests.

The Boston Globe detailed several such stories, including Graham’s, in a two-part series in 2017. Graham, who had his father’s body exhumed in 2018 to confirm his paternity through DNA testing, continues to tell his story through social media and interviews. More recently, the Chicago Archdiocese revealed that several priests, including four who remain in ministry, have had children.

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MINNEAPOLIS (MN)
Star Tribune

March 29, 2019

By Jean Hopfensperger

Former church employee alleges church failed to respond to her harassment complaints.

A former pastoral associate at two western Minnesota Catholic churches has sued her priest-supervisor and the St Cloud Diocese, accusing the priest of sexual harassment and the diocese of failing to respond to repeated reports of misconduct.

The lawsuit, filed by Theo­dosia Orlando, alleges that the Rev. Joseph Backowski subjected her to “ongoing, unwelcome and offensive verbal and physical harassment and abuse” during her five months working with him. It says the diocese fired her in January because of her complaints.

The complaint says Backowski attempted to manipulate Orlando into a sexual relationship through verbal come-ons and with written messages saying he could “dust the rust off your beauty.” He wrote that he prayed he wouldn’t “become a wolf to consume you like meat,” according to the complaint, which was filed last week in Stearns County District Court.

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ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
The Associated Press

March 29, 2019

By Mary Hudetz and Karen Jowers

A priest and Air Force Reserve chaplain who was captured in Morocco last year after fleeing the U.S. decades ago is facing a federal trial on charges that he sexually abused a New Mexican boy in the early 1990s at Kirtland Air Force Base and a veterans’ cemetery.

The trial of 80-year-old Arthur Perrault is set to begin Monday in Santa Fe with jury selection. Prosecutors are expected to call dozens of witnesses, including a former deacon, parents and former military members who knew Perrault in the early 1990s.

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HAYS (KS)
KAKE

April 2, 2019

Bishop Jerry Vincke and Provincial Minister Father Christopher Popravak, O.F.M.Cap., will host a listening session regarding clergy abuse.

The listening session will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 2 at St. Nicholas of Myra Church in Hays.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Washington Post

March 30, 2019

By Michelle Boorstein

When the pope names a new bishop for a diocese, it’s always buzzy Catholic news. But a leaked report this past week about the next archbishop of Washington was big news for unexpected reasons.

The Catholic News Agency, citing anonymous sources, reported Thursday that Pope Francis is going to appoint Atlanta Archbishop Wilton Gregory to replace embattled D.C. Cardinal Donald Wuerl — which would make Gregory the first black Catholic archbishop of the capital, one of the most high-profile posts in the nation. The news was quickly eclipsed by questions, doubts and conspiracy theories about the sources behind it.

Had Gregory really been offered the job — or was someone allied with the pope floating a trial balloon to gauge sentiment in the District, an epicenter of the current clergy sexual abuse crisis?

Or could the report, in a conservative-leaning publication, have been leaked purposely by Francis critics in the Vatican or elsewhere to hurt and possibly scuttle the pick of Gregory, loathed by some orthodox Catholics as too liberal?

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HOUSTON (TX)
Get Religion

April 1, 2019

By Bobby Ross Jr.

Back in February, the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News published the results of a six-month investigation into sex abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention.

The “Abuse of Faith” series, which can be read online, was mammoth in size and devastating in its findings. Here at GetReligion, I characterized the project as “exceptionally important, powerhouse journalism.”

Immediately, the stories sent tremors through the nation’s largest Protestant denomination and prompted SBC President J.D. Greear to propose reforms. However, our own tmatt noted that the SBC’s legal structure would affect the fight against abuse.

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HARTFORD (CT)
Hartford Courant

April 1, 2019

By Christopher Keating

Victims of pedophile priests and others urged lawmakers Monday to pass a sweeping overhaul of Connecticut’s laws on sexual assault and harassment that would eliminate the statute of limitations for major sex crimes in the future.

Marci A. Hamilton, founder and chief executive officer of Child USA and a fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, said adults who come forward about sexual assaults decades later are virtually always telling the truth.

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CONROE (TX)
KTRK

April 1, 2019

A Houston priest who formerly served a Conroe Catholic church, where another clergy member was accused of sexual misconduct with minors, has been removed from active ministry.

According to a Facebook post to followers by Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Father Jesus Suarez was removed due to allegations of sexual misconduct with minors while serving in Colombia. The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston elaborated in a statement that one of the minors may have given birth:

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NEW LONDON (CT)
The Day

April 1, 2019

By The Day Editorial Board

It has been nearly two months since the Catholic Diocese of Norwich released its list of priests that it said had been credibly accused of sexual misconduct involving minors. If the purpose of releasing the list was intended to provide transparency and start to move past the scandal that has long dogged the church, it was an abject failure.

The problem is that Bishop Michael Cote wants to define the parameters of transparency, unadvised and unquestioned by any independent entity. He has lifted the veil, but only so far. The result is that rather than reassuring parishioners and the public, the attempt at coming clean has only generated more questions and, to a degree, created greater distrust about the church’s real intentions.

Was the intent to truly come to grips with what happened or to make a gesture and move on? The evidence suggests the latter was the greater motivation. It didn’t work.

The release of 43 names provided little context. There were names, dates of ordination, whether the individuals were removed from ministry, if they had died, and whether they were a member of the diocese at the time of the credible abuse allegations.

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HARTFORD (CT)
The Day

April 1, 2019

By Joe Wojtas

Sitting before the legislature’s Judiciary Committee on Monday, Dwayne Gray of Guilford told his story in public for the first time.

The now 57-year-old business owner told members that from 1973 to 1976, the Rev. Daniel McSheffery performed oral sex on him multiple times in a room off the sacristy and one day took him to a cottage on the church property where he began to perform anal sex on him. Gray said he managed to escape and run home.

But when he got there, he said he was knocked to the ground and his parents began yelling at him — the church had called to say his services as an altar boy were no longer needed because of his actions against McSheffery. His father yelled that he could not hit a priest while his mother beat him with a belt for days.

He told senators and representatives on the committee that he never spoke about the incident because of the shame he felt and the feeling that the church was too powerful. He said he never had children because he worried about the anger he had inside from the assaults.

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WEST VIRGINIA
The Intelligencer

March 31, 2019

By Mike Myer

If West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey wins his lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, he ought to put any damages awarded by a judge to good use, a local woman suggested to me last week.

Morrisey filed the suit, naming the diocese and former Bishop Michael Bransfield as defendants, in Wood County. In the action, Morrisey accuses the diocese and some of its officials of knowingly employing pedophiles and not conducting background checks on some personnel at church schools and a camp.

No specific dollar amount is specified for damages Morrisey seeks. The suit was filed under the state Consumer Credit and Protection Act.

If he wins, Morrisey’s office could rake in millions of dollars. He has in other consumer protection actions, though there’s no guarantee on this one.

What would the attorney general do with the money?

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ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM MOROCCO
National Catholic Reporter

March 31, 2019

By Joshua J. McElwee

Editor’s note: This story was updated March 31 at 4:20 p.m. to include additional comments from the papal press conference

Pope Francis has indicated he will reconsider his decision not to accept the resignation of a French cardinal convicted of covering up sexual abuse after the prelate’s appeal is heard.

In a press conference aboard the papal flight back to Rome after a two-day visit to Morocco, the pontiff also admitted that Lyon Cardinal Philippe Barbarin may be guilty, but asked for the continued observation of presumption of innocence during the appeal.

“In classic global jurisprudence there is the presumption of innocence during the time that the case is open,” the pope said.

“When the second court gives its sentence, we will see what happens,” he said. “Maybe he is not innocent. But there is the presumption.”

Barbarin, who maintains his innocence, was convicted by a French court earlier this month of covering up for the notorious abuser Fr. Bernard Preynat. The cardinal, who received a six-month suspended sentence, met with Francis in Rome March 18 to hand in his resignation, which the pope refused.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pennsylvania Capital Star

March 31, 2019

By John L. Micek

A little more than two years into his first term, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro has hardly been idle.

The Montgomery County Democrat gained national — and international — attention last year with the bombshell release of a grand jury report detailing years of child sexual abuse, and a subsequent cover-up, by six of Pennsylvania’s Roman Catholic dioceses.

He’s sued President Donald Trump’s administration nearly two dozen times, most recently over administration family planning rules designed to choke off the flow of federal money to Planned Parenthood.

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ERIE (PA)
Erie News Now

April 1, 2019

By Paul Wagner

Advocate for Victims Criticizes Bishop Persico

An advocate for victims of clergy sex abuse is speaking out against Erie Catholic Bishop Lawrence Persico.

Bob Hoatson of the Road to Recovery, says he is not happy with a statement released by Persico last week.

The statement coming after the diocese paid a $2 million settlement to a victim of defrocked priest David Poulson.

Persico repeating earlier statements, saying he was not aware of concerns about Poulson’s behavior until January 2018.

Former Bishop Donald Trautman wrote a memo dealing with concerns about Poulson in 2010. But he has said the information was sketchy, and said there was no cover up.

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DENVER (CO)
Hays Post

April 1, 2019

A listening session regarding clergy abuse will be held in Hays at 7 p.m. Tue., April 2 at St. Nicholas of Myra Church, 2901 E. 13th St.

Salina Bishop Jerry Vincke and Capuchin Provincial Minster Fr. Christopher Popravak of Denver will host the meeting. Questions can be emailed anonymously in advance to pledgetoheal@salinadiocese.org or asked during the session. The public is invited to attend.

The Salina Catholic Diocese on Friday released a list of 13 clergy members with substantiated allegations of clergy sexual abuse with a minor on its website and in its diocesan newspaper, The Register. The list coincides with a similarly themed list released March 28 by the Capuchins of Denver, in which 12 of 13 suspects had ties to Hays or Victoria.

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