ABUSE TRACKER

COLUMBUS (OH)
The Columbus Dispatch

March 20, 2019

By Danae King

An advocacy group for survivors says it has identified seven priests who have been accused of abusing children but were not on the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus’ list of “credibly accused” clergy released on March 1.

On Wednesday afternoon, two representatives of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) stood in front of St. Joseph’s Cathedral on East Broad Street Downtown, calling for more action by the church. One of them held a sign with photos of 12 children who they said are survivors of priest abuse.

“We have to remind ourselves these are children,” said Steven Spaner, a volunteer coordinator with SNAP. “They might be grown up adults now, but they were children.”

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WEST VIRGINIA
CNN

March 20, 2019

By Daniel Burke

West Virginia’s attorney general has sued the state’s diocese and former bishop, saying they “knowingly employed pedophiles” while failing to alert parents about potential risks at Catholic schools and other activities.

“Parents who pay and entrust the Wheeling-Charleston diocese and its schools to educate and care for their children deserve full transparency,” Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said in a statement.

“Our investigation reveals a serious need for the diocese to enact policy changes that will better protect children, just as this lawsuit demonstrates our resolve to pursue every avenue to effectuate change as no one is above the law.”

In the lawsuit filed Tuesday, Morrisey said he opened an investigation last fall after a grand jury in Pennsylvania found evidence that more than 300 Catholic priests had abused children in that state since the 1950s. Most of the accusations dated to before 2002, when many Catholic dioceses in the United States instituted new child safety protocols.

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JEFFERSON CITY (MO)
Missourinet

March 20, 2019

By Alisa Nelson

Victims of clergy abuse say the Catholic Diocese of Jefferson City has not gone far enough to tell the public about a priest under investigation for alleged “boundary violations” involving minors. Bishop Shawn McKnight has informed Immaculate Conception School families in Jefferson City about Father Geoffrey Brooke being placed on leave during the review.

Missouri diocese accused of withholding information about priest under investigation

David Clohessy, president of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, says Bishop Shawn McKnight did not inform members where Brooke previously served – at the Newman Center on the Mizzou campus in Columbia.

“I honestly think he (McKnight) tried to pull a fast one,” says Clohessy of St. Louis. He really hoped that there would be a chance at least that nobody at the Jefferson City parish would contact anybody in the press and that this could all go under the radar. To hide this information serves no one, except those who commit and those who conceal abuse.”

The Diocese’s website lists priests accused of abuse, but Clohessy says the page should also include every clergy member credibly accused of abuse, all locations the priests served and their whereabouts.

“Bishops disclose the absolute bare minimum, only when they feel like they have to, only under public pressure,” he says. “If Bishop McKnight is going to claim that he’s coming clean on abuse, then for Heaven sakes, come clean. Tell us all the names because that’s what protects kids and tell us where they worked, tell us where they are now.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
USA TODAY

March 20, 2019

By Aamer Madhani

Nearly 400 Catholic clergy members in Illinois have been accused of sexual misconduct, according to attorneys who represented clergy sex abuse victims across the USA.

A 182-page report, published Wednesday by the Minnesota-based law firm Jeff Anderson and Associates, includes the names, background information, photos and assignment histories of each accused clergy member.

“The danger of sexual abuse in Illinois is clearly a problem of today, not just the past,” the report concludes. “This will continue to be a danger until the identities and histories of sexually abusive clerics, religious employees and seminarians are made public.”

Anderson said he hopes the report will push church leaders to publicly identify hundreds more clergy who faced allegations.

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

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RAPID CITY (SD)
Associated Press

March 20, 2019

The Rapid City Diocese has published a list of 21 priests credibly accused of sexual abuse.

The list includes priests who were credibly accused while in schools, churches, hospitals and on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations from 1951 to 2018.

Bishop Robert Gruss wrote in a letter posted on the diocese’s website that publishing the list is “essential in restoring the trust that has been broken as the result of the misconduct of a few.”

The 21 priests include those who were permanently assigned to the diocese as well as those who served in the diocese but fell under control of a different bishop or religious order.

All are dead except for John Praveen, a priest who awaits sentencing after pleading guilty in February to sexually touching a 13-year-old girl.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Staten Island Advance

March 20, 2019

By Anthony J. Raiola and Michelle Simpson Tuegel

For decades, the Catholic Church has turned a blind eye to the child predators in its ranks and refused to be held accountable for the thousands of lives it ruined.

Yet it took less than two days for the Brooklyn Diocese to respond to a joke on Saturday Night Live that compared the Catholic Church to R. Kelly.

There is no greater evidence that the Church refuses to take its child abuse problem seriously. It is clear the priorities lie in feigning outrage, not actually changing the culture of secrecy and abuse that has become the tenet of the modern Catholic Church.

Take, for example, the recent Vatican conference on sexual abuse of minors that was portrayed by many as a positive step forward by the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, the conference failed to establish any real solutions or tangible outcomes for survivors of clergy abuse. The Church has knowingly allowed abuse against minors to go on for decades, working hard to keep the abuse quiet and rotating sexual predators around different communities. Despite a contrite tone, Pope Francis proposed no concrete solutions to deal with the scourge of clergy abuse and failed to promise a zero-tolerance approach from the Church.

Survivors of clergy abuse in New York and beyond deserve more. It is time for Catholic bishops in New York state to make real reforms rather than empty promises, and do what the participants of the Vatican conference refused to do — focus on the survivors and enact concrete changes so that this abuse never happens again.

For example, New York bishops must convene a statewide summit and actually listen to the voices of survivors, not the clergy and institution that allowed this corruption to happen. By failing to prioritize the needs of survivors, the Church is once again choosing its leadership over the people it has failed to protect for decades.

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CINCINNATI (OH)
Xavier Newswirre

March 20, 2019

Headlines of abuse dominated news cycles in August 2018 after the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report released the names of hundreds of priests who had sexually abused children for more than seven decades. Since then, evidence of the global epidemic within the Catholic Church of sexual abuse of the innocent has continued to surface. The Associated Press publishes a new article nearly every week about new investigations, diocese reports, complaints by survivor advocacy groups and continued corruption. This sex abuse does not only mar religious institutions. Since places of worship have acted as the backbone of communities for centuries, this festering wound underlying the fabric of our secular institutions reaches from sea to shining sea.

But the grand jury report was eight months ago, and the public is more numbed than motivated to demand change. The 300 predatory priests’ names that were just released by dioceses in Texas, the confirmation that the Catholic Church has destroyed documents proving they were aware of priests’ predatory behavior and even the confirmation that six Jesuits who worked with Xavier as recently as 2002 were credibly accused of sexual assault read as old news. What is even more stale to read is how states are not stepping in.

Dioceses have conducted their own internal audits to oust sexual predators since the Boston Globe exposed the misdeeds of then-priest James G. Geoghan in 2002. That year, clergy leaders from across the nation committed to a set of policies called the Dallas Charter. These policies seek to prevent child sex abuse as well as make the names of known abusers available to both law authorities and the public for the safety of parishioners.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
Patriot News

March 20, 2019

By Ivey DeJesus

The Diocese of Harrisburg has made a substantial change to eligibility requirements for its victims compensation fund.

On Wednesday, Bishop Ronald Gainer announced he would waive the requirement that survivors of clergy abuse must have identified themselves to the diocese by Feb. 11. Under the revised guidelines, survivors of abuse who had not previously come forward to the diocese are eligible for the program.

Gainer rolled out the change after recently completing a series of meetings with parishioners across the diocese. In a written statement, diocesan officials noted that the bishop had made the change based in part on the feedback from those sessions.

“Our goal is to help as many survivors of clergy sexual abuse as possible and we encourage you to come forward and contact our fund administrators, Commonwealth Mediation & Conciliation, Inc. (CMCI),” Gainer said in the statement. “Again, in my name and on behalf of the Church, we extend our prayers, heartfelt sorrow and apologies to all survivors of clergy sexual abuse.”

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LITTLE ROCK (AR)
Bilgrimage blog

March 20, 2019

By William Lindsey

Corruption of Pretend Heterosexuality Coupled with Abominable Treatment of Queer People

I have now made my way about halfway through Frédéric Martel’s In the Closet of the Vatican, trans. Shaun Whiteside (London: Bloomsbury, 2019), and am finding the book grim going. It’s, as many commentators have noted, eye-popping, and overwhelming in the detail with which it tells — and documents — its story of corruption. To quote Mary Oliver in her poem “The Chance to Love Everything,” this is for me the dark heart of the story here: it’s a story of incredible corruption running through the governing structures and clerical culture of a major Christian institution, a story that does a very convincing job, I think, of rooting that corruption genetically in the intense homophobia of the governing elite of this institution.

This passage leaps out at me:

It was when I met the cardinals, bishops and priests who worked with him that I discovered the hidden side – the dark side – of his very long pontificate. A pope surrounded by plotters, thugs, a majority of closeted homosexuals, who were homophobes in public, not to mention all those who protected paedophile priests.

“Paul VI had condemned homosexuality, but it was only with the arrival of John Paul II that a veritable war was waged against gays,” I was told by a Curia priest who worked at John Paul II’s ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Irony of history: most of the players in this boundless campaign against homosexuals were homosexual themselves” (p. 194)

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CHICAGO (IL)
CBS TV

March 20, 2019

By Vi Nguyen

A new report out today lists hundreds of names, work histories and background information of Catholic priests in Illinois accused of sexual abuse.

The survivors behind the 185-page report—the most comprehensive to date–hope it pushes bishops to reveal the identities of hundreds of more clergy involved in the cases.

The report was assembled by law firm Jeff Anderson and Associates, which gathered information from survivors, lists of credible allegations and other outlets.

Some of the names mentioned in the report have already been released by the Archdiocese of Chicago.

The report will detail the assignment histories of 395 Catholic clergy who the law firm says worked or continue to work at six dioceses in the state.

Attorneys representing some of the victims want Catholic bishops in the state to release all names and files of Catholic clergy accused of sexual abuse.

They want that information handed over to law enforcement and say this is something the public needs to know.

Last December a report from the Illinois Attorney General found more than 500 priests who have not been publicly named by the Catholic Diocese in Illinois.

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WHEELING (WV)
Herald Star

March 20, 2019

By Linda Comins

The Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston said it “strongly and unconditionally rejects” West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s assertion that the diocese is not wholly committed to the protection of children.

On Tuesday, Morrisey filed a civil lawsuit against the diocese and its retired bishop, the Rev. Michael J. Bransfield, for allegedly failing to protect children from sexual abusers.

Diocesan spokesman Tim Bishop released a statement from the diocese late Tuesday.

Church officials stated, “The diocese will address the litigation in the appropriate forum. However, the diocese strongly and unconditionally rejects the complaint’s assertion that the diocese is not wholly committed to the protection of children, as reflected in its rigorous Safe Environment Program, the foundation of which is a zero tolerance policy for any cleric, employee or volunteer credibly accused of abuse.

“The program employs mandatory screening, background checks and training for all employees and volunteers who work with children.”

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

Meanwhile, representatives of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests applauded Morrisey’s civil action against the diocese and Bransfield.

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DETROIT (MI)
Metro Times

March 20, 2019

By Michael Betzold

It didn’t look like anyone was living at the home north of Port Huron — no cars in the driveway, no tire tracks in what was left of the snow and ice.

Looking through a screen, I saw two pairs of boots on the floor, the corner of a treadmill, and a chair and table. Just as I was going to leave, he got up from the table, clutching a copy of Inside the Vatican magazine.

Suddenly I was face to face with Archbishop John Nienstedt.

He looked surprised but confirmed who he was — then when I started asking questions, he quickly murmured “no, thank you” and shut the door in my face.

Archbishop John Nienstedt. Named as one of the Catholic Church’s five top offenders in the entire world who most deserve to be expelled from the priesthood.

Archbishop John Nienstedt. Resigned after a legal settlement that bankrupted the archdiocese he ran in Minnesota because of its cover-up of perpetrator priests.

Archbishop John Nienstedt. Hounded out of Battle Creek by angry parishioners.

Archbishop John Nienstedt. Unwelcome to remain even at right-wing California think tank the Napa Institute.

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BECKLEY (WV)
Register-Herald

Mar 19, 2019

By Erin Beck

West Virginia’s attorney general filed a consumer protection lawsuit Tuesday morning against the state’s Catholic diocese – the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston – and its former Bishop Michael Bransfield, alleging that Catholic leaders employed predatory priests while falsely advertising a safe environment at Catholic schools and camps.

The Diocese, meanwhile, issued a statement Tuesday afternoon accusing Morrisey of making errors in his lawsuit, and defending itself as “wholly committed to the protection of children.”

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s office isn’t responsible for criminal prosecutions. That task would fall to county prosecutors.

Instead, Morrisey is arguing the Diocese violated the state’s Consumer Credit and Protection Act, although he said he has been in touch with some prosecutors.

West Virginia’s Consumer Credit and Protection Act states, “Unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce are hereby declared unlawful.”

Morrisey’s lawsuit, filed in Wood County circuit court, argues that the Diocese “sells and supplies educational services” and that it “advertised services not delivered” and accuses it of “failure to warn of dangerous services.”

“Now some may ask why are we pursuing a consumer protection action in this matter, but the answer is very straightforward,” Morrisey said, during a press conference at the State Capitol Tuesday. “Every parent who pays a tuition for a service falling under our consumer protection laws deserves to know that their schools that their children are attending are safe.

“Now this is obviously not a common action for our office to file but it is a critical one, as the public relies upon the state attorney general to enforce a variety of laws, especially as they may impact the well-being of children, our most precious resource.”

In August of 2018, a Pennsylvania grand jury issued a report identifying hundreds of predatory priests, including one or more who worked in West Virginia, according to the lawsuit.

Morrisey said his office began their investigation in September of 2018 into whether Catholic priests accused of sexually abusing children had worked in West Virginia.

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NEW YORK (NY)
NBC News

March 19, 2019

By Corky Siemaszko

The West Virginia attorney general filed a lawsuit Tuesday claiming that a local Roman Catholic diocese and former bishop failed to protect children from predator priests and teachers — and violated consumer protection laws by not alerting parents there were abusers on the payroll.

The suit takes what appears to be a novel approach by using state consumer protection laws, with parents as “purchasers” of services for their children.

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey claims in the suit that former Bishop Michael Bransfield and the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese engaged in “intentional concealment.”

“Omissions of these material facts caused the purchasers of their educational and recreational services to buy inherently dangerous services for their children for many decades,” the court papers state.

The lawsuit, which cites the specific West Virginia code that Bransfield and the diocese allegedly violated, is seeking a permanent court order “blocking the diocese from continuation of any such conduct.”

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PHILADEPHIA (PA)
The Philadelphia Inquirer

March 19, 2019

By Jeremy Roebuck and William Bender

West Virginia authorities on Tuesday accused Michael J. Bransfield, a Philadelphia native and former Roman Catholic bishop of Wheeling-Charleston, W. Va., and his predecessors of “knowingly employing pedophiles” — including some priests cited in last year’s Pennsylvania grand jury report examining decades of clergy sex abuse and cover-up.

In a civil suit, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey alleged that West Virginia’s prelates had endangered children for decades by failing to conduct adequate background checks or disclose abuse accusations against clerics and diocesan employees to parents in the parishes where those people were assigned.

In some cases cited in the filings, child molesters were allowed to stay in parish assignments that brought them in routine contact with minors for years after they had admitted their crimes.

The lawsuit is the latest in a series of high-profile civil actions taken by state authorities across the country in the last year against a church that they say has been too slow to respond to — and in some cases covered-up — a crisis of sex abuse within its ranks.

Mr. Bransfield — the scion of a family of prominent Philadelphia clerics who resigned last year facing his own allegations of sexual misconduct — dismissed Tuesday’s action as little more than a fishing expedition.

“I don’t understand why there is a sudden concern,” he said in an interview with the Inquirer. “Considering the publicity about my own situation, they’re trying to find other things that could have happened. This is all happening because of what’s happening to me.”

A spokesperson from the diocese disputed the suit’s allegations, though he said in a statement that church officials would address the matter in “the appropriate forum.”

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COLUMBIA (MO)
KOMU TV 8

March 19, 2019

By Eric Graves

Victims of clergy sexual abuse said the Jefferson City Diocese needs to be more open about a priest recently put under investigation for “boundary violations with a minor.”

Father Geoffrey Brooke has been barred from practicing while the diocese investigates the allegations.

David Clohessy, a representative of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said Bishop Shawn McKnight should release the work history of any priest accused of sexual misconduct.

“The more information we have the better we can protect our families,” he said.

Clohessy said Brooke’s work wasn’t confined to Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Jefferson City. Brooke also worked at the Newman Center, a gathering place for Catholics on the University of Missouri campus, Clohessy said.

Helen Osman, a representative of diocese, said she could not confirm whether Brooke was involved at the Newman Center.

A student there, Tyler Peterson, said he knows Brooke.

Peterson told KOMU 8 Brooke went to the Newman Center and attended MU, “like 10 years ago.”

Peterson said he took a class taught by Brooke at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. He said, during the time he was in Brooke’s class, he did not notice anything wrong.

“There’s nothing that I know of that would make me think he would do anything malicious to children or anyone like that,” Peterson said.

He said he is not going to make any judgments until there is an investigation.

“I want to know the details, and, for now, he should definitely not have his name slandered,” Petterson said.

The Jefferson City Diocese maintains a web page listing clergy who have been accused of abuse. Clohessy said, in addition to the names, it should include all of the locations where that clergy member has worked.

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COLUMBIA (MO)
Columbia Tribune

March 19, 2019

By Roger McKinney

With Sacred Heart Catholic Church in the background, two members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests accused Bishop Shawn McKnight and the diocese of Jefferson City of continuing to withhold information about abusive priests.

“We’re here to essentially protect the vulnerable and heal the wounded,” said David Clohessy, SNAP’s president based in St. Louis.

Geoffrey A. Brooke Jr., a priest at Immaculate Conception Church and School in Jefferson City, has been placed on administrative leave while being investigated for allegations of “boundary violations” with minors. The bishop sent an email to school families, which was passed on to a Jefferson City reporter. The email said the Missouri Children’s Division hotline had been notified.

Clohessy said Brooke previously was at the Newman Center at the University of Missouri, something not revealed by the bishop.

“He thought it wouldn’t show up in the press,” Clohessy said about the bishop’s failure to disclose information. “It’s heartbreaking.”

Clohessy said he didn’t know details, but Brooke was at the Newman Center recently because he was ordained just in 2015.

“It is tragically reckless that Bishop McKnight continues to be secretive about these dangerous clerics,” Clohessy said.

Clohessy said Brooke was ordained long after a screening process for priests was established in 2002, but he added that he didn’t think there’s any way of screening for child abusers.

The diocese in December added the name of Mel Lahr to the list of priests with credible allegations of abuse. Clohessy said Lahr was a pastor at Sacred Hearth Catholic Church in the 1970s and 1980s.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
WUWM Radio

March 19, 2019

By Latoya Dennis

Former Archbishops William Cousins and Rembert Weakland’s names have removed from buildings in Milwaukee

The Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee has removed the names of two former Milwaukee Archbishops — William Cousins and Rembert Weakland — from buildings as part of the church’s response to sexual abuse by clergy.

The Archbishop Cousins Catholic Center, which was named in honor of William Cousins, will be renamed on Friday. And Rembert Weakland’s name has been removed from the parish center at St. John the Evangelist in downtown Milwaukee.

Cousins and Weakland led the Milwaukee Archdiocese between 1958 and 2002 and helped cover up clergy sexual abuse of children.

Jerry Topczewski is chief of staff for current Archbishop Jerome Listecki, and says he hopes the name removals provide healing for victims.

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ROME (ITALY)
Catholic News Service

March 19, 2019

By Hannah Brockhaus

French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin will remain the Archbishop of Lyon, the Vatican announced Tuesday. According to a statement released by the Holy See Press Office, Pope Francis has not accepted the cardinal’s resignation, though Barbarin has stepped back from the day-to-day leadership of the diocese.

Barbarin was convicted by a French tribunal on March 7 on charges of failing to report allegations of sexual abuse committed by a priest of his diocese. He was given a six-month suspended prison sentence and plans to appeal the verdict.

Barbarin met with Pope Francis March 18 to submit his resignation as archbishop. Papal spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said March 19 that Francis chose to not accept the resignation of Barbarin as Archbishop of Lyon but, aware of the “difficulties” of the archdiocese at the present moment, “left Cardinal Barbarin free to make the best decision for the diocese.”

According to Gisotti, Barbarin has decided to “retire for a time,” leaving the vicar general of the Archdiocese of Lyon in charge during his absence.

In a statement on the Lyon archdiocesan website March 19, the cardinal said the pope did not want to accept his resignation, “invoking the presumption of innocence.”

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BOSTON (MA)
The Heights

March 19, 2019

John L. Allen Jr., editor of online Catholic newspaper Crux, and Rev. Matt Malone, S.J., president and editor-in-chief of American Media, spoke on a panel titled “Revitalizing Our Church: Ideas from the Catholic Press” on Thursday. University Spokesman Jack Dunn moderated the event, the first part of The Church in the 21st Century Center’s three-part Easter Series conversations.

The talk, stylized in a question-and-answer format, was part of an ongoing discussion surrounding numerous sex abuse scandals within the Catholic Church. Dunn asked the panelists questions pertaining to both the crisis in general and the media’s role in providing solutions.

“There are things now that we can do that we don’t have to wait to do,” Malone said. “We don’t have counsel. We don’t have to have a change in the magisterium’s articulation of the church’s doctrine. For example, if who is in the room when the decisions are made matters, let’s get a greater amount of diversity in the room where the decisions are made.

“We should take an inventory of every job in the church in this country and ask ourselves if it really has to be done by a cleric, and if it doesn’t, then it should be done by a layperson with a preference for a woman. … If we change the people in the room, the culture will follow.”

Malone also said that introducing more women into the clergy would be beneficial, noting that there are already female chancellors, or bishops’ law officers.

“If we keep governing the church as if it’s 1955, it’s going to be a long way to Easter,” he said.

Dunn asked Allen about the role of the Catholic press in the journey toward the renewal of the church. Allen replied that he sees himself as a journalist who happens to be Catholic rather than a Catholic journalist, maintaining that the press is formed by secular institutions and that it should remain a secular enterprise uninfluenced by Catholic doctrine.

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ROME (ITALY)
New York Times

March 19, 2019

By Elisabetta Povoledo and Aurelien Breeden

Pope Francis has rejected the resignation of a French cardinal, the Vatican announced on Tuesday, despite the cardinal’s conviction this month for covering up decades-old allegations of sexual abuse by a priest in his diocese.

A French court found Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, archbishop of Lyon, guilty on March 7 of failing to report abuse to the authorities, and imposed a six-month suspended sentence.

Cardinal Barbarin, 68, promptly offered to resign, though he is appealing the verdict. He met with Pope Francis on Monday to personally hand in his resignation, but both the cardinal and a Vatican spokesman, Alessandro Gisotti, said on Tuesday that the pope had not accepted it.

Instead, they said, the cardinal, one of the highest-ranking and best-known Roman Catholic officials in France, will step aside for an unspecified length of time.

Cardinal Barbarin said in a statement that the pope had acted “invoking the presumption of innocence.”

“He gave me the freedom to make the decision that seemed best, today, for the life of the Lyon diocese,” the cardinal said. At the pope’s suggestion, he said, he was stepping aside “for a while,” effective immediately, and would leave the day-to-day handling of church affairs to Father Yves Baumgarten, the vicar-general in Lyon.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Patch

March 19, 2019

By Brendan Krisel,

A man who claims he was abused by a priest as a freshman at Cardinal Hayes High School in the 90s is calling on the Archdiocese of New York to remove the priest from his current posting on the Upper West Side.

Rafael Mendoza and his lawyers stood across from the Church of Notre Dame with his lawyers Tuesday morning and called on the church to suspect the church’s administrator Monsignor John Paddack so that he cannot have any more contact with children. Mendoza and four other unnamed victims claimed they were abused by Paddack between 1988 and 2002 when the priest taught at three different high schools.

“He took advantage of me when I was at my weakest point,” Mendoza said Tuesday. “I believe he should be removed. I don’t know if he is still [abusing] anyone else or any kids out there.”

Mendoza said Paddack abused him in 1996 during his freshman year at Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx when he was just 14 years old. Mendoza was new to the school and said he was abusing pills and suicidal when he reached out to Paddack, the school’s counselor, for help.

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ARLINGTON (VA)
USA Today

March 19, 2019

By Chris Woodyard

West Virginia’s attorney general filed a lawsuit Tuesday against a retired Catholic bishop and a diocese alleging that they knowingly employing pedophile priests and failed to conduct adequate background checks.

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s suit follows the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston’s disclosure last November of 18 priests who were credibly accused of having sexually abused children over a span from 1950 through last summer and another 13 who were accused in other states and then came to West Virginia, though no complaints were lodged against them there.

“The diocese and its bishops chose to cover up and conceal arguably criminal behavior of admitted child sex abusers,” the lawsuit states.

The diocese had no immediate comment. In September, it announced Bishop Michael Bransfield’s retirement and said he had been under investigation over allegations of sexual harassment of adults and financial improprieties. A team of investigators had interviewed 40 people over four months and delivered its findings to the Vatican, the diocese said.

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WHEELING (WV)
Reuters

March 19, 2019

By Gabriella Borter

West Virginia officials sued the state’s Roman Catholic diocese on Tuesday, accusing the church of knowingly employing priests and lay people in schools, parishes and camps who had admitted sexually assaulting children.

The lawsuit alleges the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston violated consumer protection laws by failing to disclose possible unsafe conditions at schools, parishes and camps caused by the employment of people who had records of child sexual assault. It seeks unspecified financial damages.

The lawsuit, which follows an investigation by the state, marks the latest move by U.S. officials to take on long-running patterns of sex abuse, which have driven down attendance and undercut the church leadership’s moral authority around the world in recent years.

“The Wheeling-Charleston Diocese engaged in a pattern of denial and cover-up when it discovered its priests were sexually abusing children, particularly in schools and camps run by the Catholic Church and funded through tuition paid by West Virginia consumers,” West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said at a news conference.

Diocesan representatives did not respond to a request for comment. Attempts to reach the people named as defendants, including priests and bishops, were unsuccessful.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, the world’s biggest support group for people hurt by religious and institutional authorities, said it was grateful to Morrisey for undertaking the investigation and “bringing these egregious oversights into the light.”

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DALLAS (TX)
Dallas Morning News

March 19, 2019

By David Tarrant

Three months after members of the Dallas Jesuit community were named on a list of clergy “credibly accused” of sexual abuse of a minor, a lawsuit has been filed by a former student at Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas.

The suit claims Donald Dickerson, a former Jesuit priest, sexually assaulted the student in the late 1970s. Dickerson was one of 11 men who previously worked at Dallas Jesuit included on a list released by the Jesuits in December of clergy members “credibly accused” of sexual abuse of a minor.

Dickerson was removed from the Jesuit order in 1986 and died in 2018.

The plaintiff in the case — listed in the suit only as John Doe — is seeking damages in excess of $1 million, said his attorney, Hal Browne, who filed the suit Monday in Dallas County District Court.

Dallas Jesuit Prep and the Catholic Society of Religious and Literary Education, within the Jesuits U.S. Central and Southern Province, are named as defendants in the suit. The school is located within the Central and Southern Province of the Jesuits.

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JACKSON (MS)
Mississippi Clarion Ledger

March 19, 2019

By Sara Fowler

For more than 70 years, Father Paul Canonici has been a prominent figure in the Mississippi Catholic community. Tuesday, he was one of more than a dozen priests identified by the church Tuesday who has been credibly accused of sexual abuse.

In his Madison home Monday afternoon, Canonici, 91, spoke for over an hour about the allegations against him.

“I’m not aware that I have abused, that I have done anything that was sexually abusive to people,” he said.

A native of Shaw, Canonici joined the priesthood when he was 30 years old. Over the course of his tenure, he served as the diocesan superintendent of education, assistant principal and then principal of St. Joseph High School in Madison as well as the priest for multiple parishes throughout the Jackson metro area.

He retired when he was in his mid 70s, he said, but remained active in the church. Despite his five decades with the diocese, he’s not listed on the church’s website of retired priests.

Canonici said he’s “devastated” to be named on the list of accused priests and feels like the process is “unfair.”

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

March 19, 2019

By Bruce Vielmetti

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee announced Tuesday it would remove the names of former archbishops William E. Cousins and Rembert G. Weakland from buildings as part of the Catholic Church’s response to the clergy sexual abuse scandal.

The sign at the Archbishop Cousins Catholic Center in St. Francis will be removed at noon, and a new name announced with a temporary sign at 10 a.m. Friday., according to the announcement from the archdiocese.

The Weakland Center is located north of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in downtown Milwaukee and is the site of parish offices and outreach initiatives. It was named after Weakland following the renovation of the cathedral and the surrounding block in 2000.

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Tablet

March 19, 2019

A senior Catholic MP has written to Pope Francis warning him that the Church is facing its worst crisis since the Reformation.

Sir Edward Leigh, Conservative MP for Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, calls on the Pope to take “urgent and strong action” to renew the Catholic Church, arguing that even among the faithful, “there is widespread disillusion”.

Reiterating the comment by the Archbishop of Brisbane Mark Coleridge that the Church’s credibility is “shot to pieces”, Sir Edward says the policy must be one of zero tolerance: “Half measures will not do. Only root and branch reform will cut out this cancer.” Priests proven to have abused children must be stripped of the priesthood, he says, not just moved around, or covered up.

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STARKVILLE (MS)
Starkville

March 19, 2019

By Ryan Phillips

Bishop Joseph Kopacz of the Catholic Diocese of Jackson will hold a press conference Tuesday to formally release the names of clergy and lay ministers connected to the Diocese who are “credibly accused of abuse.”

The move comes amid both a nationwide push for transparency from the church as it relates to priests accused of abuse and local incidents in the Starkville parish and Jackson diocese that have drawn backlash from parishioners and prompted a federal investigation.

Parishioners under the Jackson diocese were notified over the weekend through a letter from Bishop Kopacz, announcing the list of accused clergy would be made public during a press conference Tuesday at 10 a.m. at the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle on North West Street in Jackson.

“We know that this list will cause pain to many individuals and communities and I am truly, deeply sorry for that pain,” Bishop Kopacz said. “The crime of abuse of any kind is a sin, but the abuse of children and vulnerable adults is especially egregious. First and foremost, it is a sin against the innocent victims, but also a sin against the Church and our communities. It is a sin that cries out for justice.”

The bishop will be joined by members of his chancery team during the press conference, including Chancellor and Archivist Mary Woodward and Coordinator for the Office of Child Protection Vickie Carollo.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Kansas City Star

March 19, 2019

By Judy L. Thomas

A priest of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas defrocked last year over what church leaders said were credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors is no longer licensed to practice medicine in Kansas and Missouri.

John H. Wisner, who had been a priest for more than 45 years, also was a psychiatrist who held a medical license in both states. Those licenses remained valid months after he was defrocked.

But now, an “active licensee” search for Wisner’s name in Missouri professional registration records comes up empty. And Kansas records currently list Wisner’s license — which wasn’t due to expire until July 31 — as “inactive.”

“The designation of inactive is available for a person who is not regularly engaged in the practice of healing arts in Kansas and who does not hold oneself out to the public as being professionally engaged in such practice,” said Kathleen Selzler Lippert, executive director of the state Board of Healing Arts, in an email to The Star.

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NARACOORTA (AUSTRALIA)
Naracoorte Herald

March 19, 2019

By Lee Curnow

As the world followed Cardinal George Pell’s sex crimes trial, one Apsley resident was watching closer than most.

Rosemary Nolan is one of hundreds of western Victorians who have been directly or indirectly affected by the actions of Cardinal Pell and his cohort of so-called “paedophile priests”.

Rosemary’s family – and many other people she knows from her time growing up in Edenhope – were impacted forever by a three-year stint in their town by now convicted paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale.

“Ridsdale arrived in 1976 in Edenhope and was there for three years. Eventually it came out that whilst he was in Edenhope, he was abusing boys,” Rosemary recalls.

“He was the first of the modern priests, he had a flash car, he was extremely friendly. We were so naive, we didn’t even know there was such a thing as a paedophile.”

Sadly, Rosemary’s brother John Ruth became one of Ridsdale’s victims during that time.]

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NEW SOUTH WALES (AUSTRALIA)
The Australian

March 19, 2019

By Tessa Akerman

A convicted paedophile priest who confessed his abuse to another paedophile priest has pleaded guilty in the Victorian County Court to sexually abusing three children.

Paul David Ryan today pleaded guilty to one count of indecent assault, one count of sexual penetration with a person aged between 16 and 18 years and one count of indecent act with a child under 16.

Ryan was committed to stand trial on nine charges but ultimately pleaded guilty to just three.

In a separate case, Ryan had pleaded guilty in 2006 to three charges of indecent assault against one victim.

The royal commission into child sexual abuse heard authorities would have known about Ryan’s “activities with adolescent boys” by 1981-1982.

Ryan said he made confessions to priests, including now deceased Ronald Pickering, also a paedophile, as a way to reconcile his actions with God.

“I know that was very seriously flawed. I mean I was seriously flawed in the way I assessed myself and fooled myself, rationalised I suppose is the word,” Ryan told the commission.

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ROME (ITALY)
Agenzia Nazionale Stampa

March 2019

Pope Francis has not accepted the resignation of Lyon Archbishop Philippe Barbarin, found guilty earlier this month of failing to report sexual abuse of minors in the 1970s and ’80s at the scout camps of Father Bernard Preyna, and sentenced to six months in jail, Vatican Spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said Tuesday.

But “the Holy Father has left Cardinal Barbarin free to take the best decision for the Diocese and Cardinal Barbarin has decided to retire for a period of time,” Gisotti said.

Vicar General Yves Baumgarten will take over the diocese, Gisotti said.

Barbarin, 68, was sentenced to six months in jail by a Lyon court on March 7.

It was a conditional sentence.

Barbarin tenders his resignation as archbishop after the sentence.

The Catholic Church has been roiled by abuse scandals and last month a Vatican summit of world bishops vowed zero tolerance on the issue.

Also last month, former Vatican No.3 George Pell became the top Catholic Church figure to be convicted of sex abuse of minors, in his native Australia.

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JEFFERSON CITY (MO)
KWOS Radio

March 19, 2019

A Jefferson City priest is on administrative leave after allegations of what are called ‘boundary violations with minors’. Father Geoffery Brooke serves at Immaculate Conception Parish. The Missouri Children’s Division confirms they received a hotline call about the priest. The agency is heading up the investigation. The Diocese published a list of staff accused of sexually abusing children last fall.

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ROANOKE (VA)
Roanoke Times

March 19, 2019

How can any group or organization call itself a Church and advocate a set of religious beliefs while amassing a fortune of over $150 billion. Right now I’m talking about the Catholic Church. WWJD??? Would He approve? What was that thing He did with the money changers in the Temple a few years back?

Throughout its history the Catholic Church has had numerous financial scandals and now the clerical sex abuse scandal is out in the open. How long has it been going on?? Ever since this so-called church was established, I’m sure. And I’m equally sure that every pope who ever sat in Rome has known about it and I bet some of them were guilty also. I will never believe Pope John Paul, who is now a saint, didn’t know about the abuse, as Pope Francis has known about it for years. Aren’t they guilty of aiding and abetting? Isn’t that a criminal act? Isn’t pedophilia a crime? Why aren’t hundreds of priests, bishops, cardinals and other assorted officials of the Catholic Church in prison?

I read that the pope had “punished” a cardinal by banishing him. Gee whiz, poor guy. He can’t go to Mass any more. I guess he will have to join another church, perhaps another one that has amassed a fortune and yet preaches about money being the root of all evil.

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

Two more alleged predators were in Columbia

One, ousted last week, was at MU Newman Center

The other, ‘outed’ last month, was at a local parish

A third priest, just publicly accused, worked nearby

SNAP wants University officials to “do real outreach”

Group also wants mid-MO bishop to update accused list

WHAT

Holding childhood photos and signs at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will disclose
–that a just-ousted publicly accused priest worked in Columbia.
–the name of another publicly accused abusive priest who worked in mid-MO, and
–the name of a third publicly accused abusive priest who worked nearby.

Only one of them is on the Jefferson City diocese’s list of accused clerics.

They will also prod
–University of Missouri officials to “aggressively reach out to ex-staff and students” who may have been hurt by the just-ousted accused priest, and
–mid-Missouri’s Catholic bishop to do the same.

WHEN
Tuesday, March 19 at 11:00 a.m.

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WASHINGTON ( DC)
WTOP TV

March 19, 2019

In 1987, televangelist Jim Bakker resigned as chairman of his PTL ministry organization amid a sex and money scandal involving Jessica Hahn, a former church secretary.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

March 19, 2019

By Thomas P. Doyle

The so-called “summit” on the clergy sex abuse crisis was not a total failure. The process and the outcome of the Feb. 21-24 meeting of bishops at the Vatican were clearly a serious disappointment to the victim-survivors, their families and countless others who hoped for something concrete to happen. The accomplishments can only be understood in the context of the totality of the event: the speeches, especially those of the three women, the bishops’ deliberations, the media reaction, and the presence and participation of the victims-survivors from at least 20 countries.

I have been directly involved in this nightmare since 1984, when the reality of sexual violation of the innocent by clerics, and the systemic lying and cover-up by the hierarchy (from the papacy on down) emerged from layers of ecclesiastical secrecy into the open. By 1985, Pope John Paul II and several high-ranking Vatican clerics possessed detailed information about what was quickly turning into the church’s worst crisis since the Dark Ages.

From that time onward, bishops on various levels of church bureaucracy have been engaged in almost nonstop rhetoric about the issue that has been a mixture of denial, blame-shifting, minimization, explanations (the most bizarre, that it’s the work of the devil), apologies, expressions of regret, promises of change. The rhetoric has been accompanied by procedures, policies, protocols and a few changes in canon law. The gathering in February was no exception.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

March 19, 2019

By Chris Kudialis

More than a week after police found him shot in the neck in his house in the Nevada desert, John Capparelli’s killer remains a mystery.

Police say they are still investigating who shot the disgraced ex-priest from New Jersey in the kitchen of the well-kept house where the alleged child molester had started a new life.

“We have no additional information,” said Officer Rod Peña, a spokesman for the Henderson, Nevada, police department.

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

March 17, 2019

By Drew Sheneman

The NJ dioceses release of 188 priests accused of sexual abuse was a step in the right direction toward transparency and finally healing the gaping wounds left by the massive, worldwide sexual abuse scandal. The Pope has been saying all the right things, as well as openly addressing the abuse scandal, which would have been unthinkable under different church leadership.

Transparency and openness are good, but the church’s contrition apparently only goes so far. It stops at the statute of limitations for civil cases brought against it. The church is happy to admit wrongdoing and act contrite, as long as it doesn’t cost them anything.

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SANTA ANA (CA)
Anderson Advocates

March 18, 2019

Diocese Protected Fr. John Ruhl In Spite of Multiple Abuse Accusations

What: At a press conference Tuesday in Santa Ana, California, survivors, advocates, and the law firm of Jeff Anderson & Associates will:

• Announce a lawsuit on behalf of a man naming the Diocese of Orange and Fr. John E. Ruhl as defendants. The lawsuit alleges that Fr. Ruhl sexually abused the boy at a Placentia parish.

• Discuss the lawsuit and history of Fr. Ruhl, who has now been accused of sexually abusing at least four students before being incardinated in the Diocese of Orange.

• Address troubling public safety danger and lack of information regarding the whereabouts and status of this alleged offender.

• Challenge Bishop Kevin W. Vann to publicly and permanently take action against Fr. Ruhl and to release the identities, whereabouts and files of all clergy accused of sexual misconduct that have ever associated with the Diocese of Orange, including Fr. Ruhl.

• Demand Bishop Vann release the names of all Church officials, past and present, in the Diocese of Orange, who were complicit in concealing child sex abuse.

When/Where: Tuesday, March 19, 2019 at 10:00 AM PST
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Santa Ana – Orange County Airport
Ballroom F
201 E. MacArthur Boulevard
Santa Ana, California 92707

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JACKSON (MI)
WAPT TV

March 19, 2019

The Catholic Diocese of Jackson is releasing names of Mississippi clergy members it said have been credibly accused of sexual abuse.

Bishop Joseph Kopacz said the list will be published Tuesday on the Diocese website.

“We know that this list will cause pain to many individuals and communities and I am truly, deeply sorry for that pain,” Kopacz said in a letter released Monday. “The crime of abuse of any kind is a sin, but the abuse of children and vulnerable adults is especially egregious. First and foremost, it is a sin against the innocent victims, but also a sin against the Church and our communities. It is a sin that cries out for justice.”

The bishop said he encourages anyone who has been sexually abused by a clergy member or church employee to come forward.

“We know it can take years for a victim to come forward,” Kopacz said. “We want to hear from those who have been abused by a member of the clergy or an employee of the church. Not only is it our legal duty to report these cases, helping victims find healing and wholeness is our moral imperative.”

Kopacz also said the church is taking steps to prevent abuse, including screening and educating employees and volunteers.

“I apologize from the depths of my heart to those who have been sexually abused by clergy and church personnel, to the families damaged by these crimes and to the Catholic community for the scandal this scourge has brought upon our Church,” Kopacz said. “There is no room for this evil in our society or our churches.”

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ROME (ITALY)
National Public Radio

March 18, 2019

By Sylvia Poggioli

In February, Pope Francis acknowledged a longstanding dirty secret in the Roman Catholic Church — the sexual abuse of nuns by priests.

It’s an issue that had long been kept under wraps, but in the #MeToo era, a #NunsToo movement has emerged, and now sexual abuse is more widely discussed.

The Vatican’s wall of silence was first broken in Women Church World, a supplement of the official Vatican daily, L’Osservatore Romano. An article in the February issue by editor Lucetta Scaraffia — a history professor, mother and feminist — blamed abuse of women and minors on the clerical culture of the all-powerful priesthood. The piece was based on hundreds of stories she heard from nuns.

It’s very hard for a nun to report she has been raped by a priest, says Scaraffia, because of the mindset that, in sex, women can always say no.

“These nuns believe they’re the guilty ones for having seduced that holy man into committing sin,” she says, “because that’s what they’ve always been taught.”

Adding to the trauma, she says, raped nuns who get pregnant become outcasts from their orders.

“These poor women are forced to leave their order and live alone raising their child with no help,” she says. “Sometimes they’re forced to have abortions — paid by the priest because nuns have no money.”

“We are unobserved, invisible, ignored and not respected”

Sister Catherine Aubin, a French Dominican nun who teaches theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome, says the abuse is the result of male domination in church leadership.

“The Vatican is a world of men,” she says. “Some truly are men of God. Others have been ruined by power. The key to these secrets and silence is … abuse of power. They climb up a career staircase toward evil.”

Aubin, who also works on Women Church World, describes women’s treatment inside the male Vatican world this way: “We are unobserved, invisible, ignored and not respected.”

The first extensive report on abuse of women in the church was in 1994 by an Irish nun, Sister Maura O’Donohue. Her report covered more than 20 countries — mostly in Africa, but also Ireland, Italy, the Philippines and the United States.

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JACKSON (MS)
Magnolia State Live

March 18, 2019

A list of Mississippi Catholic priests who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse is scheduled to be publicly released Tuesday in the church’s effort for full disclosure.

Parishioners across Mississippi were given a letter from Bishop Joseph Kopacz, The Clarion Ledger reported. In the letter Kopacz wrote that the release of the list would cause pain to some people and communities.

Kopacz wrote that while he regretted the pain the release of the names is likely to cause, he acknowledged sexual abuse against children and vulnerable adults was “especially egregious.”

Tuesday’s expected release follows a number of similar lists released by Catholic dioceses across the country.

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Baltimore Sun

March 18, 2019

By Pamela Wood

The Maryland House of Delegates on Monday approved a bill removing the statute of limitations for filing lawsuits arising from child sexual abuse.

The House passed the bill by a bipartisan vote of 136-2 without debate, sending it to the state Senate for consideration.

The bill would allow victims of child sexual abuse to file a lawsuit anytime. And victims who previously were barred from filing a lawsuit because of the prior limits would have a two-year window to file a lawsuit.

Under current law, child sexual abuse victims have until age 38 to file a lawsuit. The law was expanded from age 25 to age 38 two years ago.

The vote to lift the statute of limitations was applauded by advocates for sexual abuse victims.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said that if the bill becomes law, it would take Maryland from having “one of the worst” statute of limitations laws to “one of the best.”

“Survivors of sexual abuse, both child victims and adult survivors, will have a fairer opportunity to seek justice in this state,” read a statement from SNAP Maryland.

The two-year window for lawsuits “will open the doors of the courts to allow past victims a chance at justice and to expose predators,” SNAP Maryland said.

There’s been an increasing focus on child sexual abuse as the public has become more aware of the scope of abuse committed by Catholic priests, which bill sponsor Del. C.T. Wilson cited in arguing in favor of his bill Saturday.

Locally, it was recently revealed that 10 adults in positions of power at the private Key School in Annapolis sexually abused students in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s.

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

March 18, 2019

Today, a French Cardinal who two weeks ago was given a six-month suspended sentence ignoring allegations of sexual abuse will meet with Pope Francis to tender his resignation.

We hope that rather than accept the resignation letter of Cardinal Philippe Barbarin that Pope Francis will instead make the decision to fire him. While in practice, both situations mean Cardinal Barbarin will be removed from his position of power, we believe that it is critical for the Pope to show that he is taking this crisis seriously by taking deliberate action against those who would perpetuate it.

At the end of his summit, Pope Francis called for an “all-out battle” to end clergy sexual abuse. In failing to report allegations, Cardinal Barbarin is a deserter in the Pope’s army – as such, he should be fired when he and the Pope meet, not allowed to resign with his title intact.

Regardless of what happens today, we hope that those paying attention to this case will realize how critical it is to bring allegations immediately to police and prosecutors, not church officials.

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SAN MATEO (CA)
Patch

March 18, 2019

By Sue Wood

California Sen. Jerry Hill, (D-San Mateo), has introduced legislation to require clergy of all faiths to report suspected child abuse or neglect to law enforcement without regard to the circumstances.

Although current law includes clergy members in the list of 46 professionals with social workers and teachers as mandated reporters, the law also exempts clergy from such reporting if they gain their knowledge or suspicion of the crimes during “a penitential communication.”

Senate Bill 360 would remove that exemption.

“SB 360 is about the safety and protection of children,” said Hill, who represents San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. “Individuals who harm children or are suspected of harming children must be reported so a timely investigation by law enforcement can occur. The law should apply equally to all professionals who have been designated as mandated reporters of these crimes – with no exceptions, period. The exemption for clergy only protects the abuser and places children at further risk.”

Judy Klapperich-Larson, vice president of Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests’ Board of Directors, expressed strong support of the legislation on behalf of SNAP, which was founded 31 years ago and now has supporters throughout the world.

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BUCKINGHAM (ENGLAND)
Buckingham Today

March 18, 2019

By Sam Dean

Last week former Catholic priest Francis McDermott, who practised in Aylesbury between 1990 and 2005, was sent to prison for almost ten years for sexually abusing six children in the 1970s. During the trial, which this reporter attended, a common theme throughout was the importance of Mr McDermott’s role as a priest with regards to enabling him to commit his crimes for so long undetected.

Stephen Evans, CEO of The National Secular Society Many victims spoke of their parents’ piety and consequent lack of scrutiny of the priest’s behaviour, resulting in them being left alone as young children for hours at a time with a man in his thirties.

One victim said: “Because of their Catholic faith they believed what they were told – that’s what the Catholic religion meant to my mother – she wouldn’t question it.”

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SAGINAW (MI)
Saginaw News

March 17, 2019

By Bob Johnson

The attorney for Robert “Father Bob” DeLand Jr. argued in a Saginaw County District courtroom Monday that extensive media coverage will make it difficult to seat an unbiased jury in the Saginaw Catholic priest’s upcoming trial.

During the hearing that took place on Monday, March 18, in Judge Darnell Jackson’s courtroom, attorney Alan Crawford asked for a change of venue as well as additional challenges when vetting potential jurors.

“It’s going to be rare that we find anyone who hasn’t heard anything about this case,” Crawford said.

Prosecution argued that media coverage was not grounds for a venue change and called it premature.

The attorney is claiming heavy media coverage has prejudiced potential jurors against his client.

Jackson denied the additional challenges of potential jurors that Crawford requested, but did not rule on a venue change, stating that he will reserve that ruling for once jury selection begins.

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JEFFERSON CITY (MO)
ABC 17 News

March 18, 2019

By Madison Fleck

A priest at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church was placed on leave last week after he was accused of “boundary violations with minors.”

Father Geoffrey Brooke was placed on leave while the allegations are investigated, according to a notice sent by Rev. W. Shawn McKnight to church members on March 10. The allegations were reported to the Missouri Children’s Division hotline, which will investigate the situation. The Diocesan Review Board will then review the results of the investigation and make a recommendation on how the Diocese should handle the issue.

Father Joshua Duncan was appointed as the part-time associate pastor for the Immaculate Conception parish, starting Monday.

The Diocese of Jefferson City released a list of clergy or brothers credibly accused of sexually abusing children in November.

Allegations against Brooke were made after the list was released, and those allegations will not be considered credible until the investigation has been completed, said Helen Osman, a spokeswoman with the Diocese of Jefferson City.

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BIRMINGHAM (AL)
For Such a Time as This blog

Anti-Abuse Rally Planned Outside 2019 Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Annual Meeting

In June 2018, For Such a Time as This Rally gathered in Dallas outside the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting to call for decisive action on addressing abuse. With the Houston Chronicle’s three-part series “Abuse of Faith” published a week ago, the urgency of abuse within the SBC cannot be overstated.

Today, For Such a Time as This Rally is announcing it will join the SBC’s 2019 annual meeting, this time in Birmingham, Alabama on June 11-12, 2019.

Rally organizers have requested appointments with SBC President J.D. Greear and met with representatives of his office. Representatives from the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, which is overseeing the Sexual Abuse Study Group, have also met with rally organizers. While rally organizers appreciate recent announcements and apologies in the wake of the Houston Chronicle’s coverage, there remains a long road ahead.

One of those who raised the alarm over abuse in the SBC decades ago is #ChurchToo survivor, advocate, and attorney Christa Brown. She responded to Greear’s unveiling of www.churchcares.com website and curriculum by stating: “J.D. Greear promised ‘bold steps.’ This isn’t bold. It’s bare-bones. The SBC still has a long ways to go.”

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Patheos blog

March 18, 2019

By Melinda Selmys

Several months ago, I announced that I was no longer able to worship in the Catholic Church. This has prompted several people to ask, quite reasonably, why I am still blogging for the Catholic channel. They deserve an answer.

When The Field Hospital Isn’t Safe

First, it’s important to understand that I haven’t rejected Catholicism. I’m currently working out how I feel and think in the aftermath of an abusive marriage, and there is a strong relationship between that marriage and my faith. I converted alongside my ex, and to a large degree my relationship with him formed and shaped my religious beliefs and practice.

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[“We have brought to justice 105 cases of pedophilia in the Mexican Church”]

MEXICO
El País (Spain)

March 17, 2019

By Georgina Zerega

El secretario general de la Conferencia Episcopal mexicana, Alfonso Miranda, exige a los obispos notificar a las autoridades los casos de abuso sexual

La Iglesia mexicana promete haber iniciado la lucha contra la pederastia. Lo hace a viva voz. Una institución que se ha mantenido durante décadas bajo la sombra de resonantes casos de abuso contra menores, se dispone ahora a investigarlos. A dos semanas de haber vuelto de la cumbre del Papa en Roma, Alfonso Miranda, secretario general de la conferencia episcopal mexicana, atiende a EL PAÍS por teléfono y revela los primeros resultados del único registro interno que se ha hecho sobre el tema. “Hemos presentado ante la autoridad civil 105 casos”, dice

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[Priests sign letter against abuses in the Church: Lay group calls for concrete measures]

CHILE
BioBioChile

March 18, 2019

By Alberto González and Edgar Pfennings

70 sacerdotes suscribieron una carta en contra de los abusos sexuales ocurridos al interior de la Iglesia Católica, la que fue leída en misas a lo largo del país durante el fin de semana. La Agrupación de Laicos y Denunciantes afirmaron que se necesitan medidas concretas y colaboración con la justicia.

“Esperamos que todos los delitos sean sancionados oportunamente por la justicia civil como corresponde y que también se apliquen las sanciones canónicas más rigurosas”, señala la misiva.

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COLUMBUS (OH)
The Columbus Dispatch

March 15, 2019

Length: 18:45

Description
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, made famous by his portrayal by Stanley Tucci in the 2015 movie ‘Spotlight,’ tells Dispatch reporters Danae King and Marty Schladen about how he uncovered abuse in the Archdiocese of Boston and sheds some light on clergy abuse in Columbus.

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JOHNSTOWN (PA)
NBC News

March 17, 2019

By Corky Siemaszko

“They really circled the wagons and supported Dr. Barto,” one victim said. “You know how predators groom victims? Well, he groomed a community to believe he could do no wrong.”

More than 20 years later, it’s the ribbons that stick out in Erika Brosig’s memory of the day when it seemed like the entire town showed up at the high school football game to support Dr. Johnnie Barto.

Though Brosig, who was 15 and a member of the Richland High School color guard, does not recall the color of the ribbons, she remembers with a still-sickening clarity the feeling when she pinned one on her uniform.

“I remember that ribbon burning a hole in my chest,” Brosig, 36, said.

A 65-year-old Johnstown mother, who asked not to be identified, said she also remembers being at Herlinger Field on that crisp fall day in 1998 and how she waved off a volunteer who tried to give her a ribbon.

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LEXINGTON (KY)
The Key News Journal

March 12, 2019

By Patrice K. Muhammad

Now an adult, she says police, prosecutors and the church failed her

In 2017 Tanyqua Oliver attended a church service at House of Prayer in Nicholasville, KY. To her surprise, she said, Darnell Nutter was there.

When Tanyqua was 14, in 2006, the Department for Community Based Services (DCBS) and Lexington Police investigated Darnell Nutter for raping her over several years, from the age of 9 until she was most 13 years old.

Tanyqua says that Darnell was not a church visitor like her that day, he started helping out and made the alter call, inviting people to accept Jesus and join the church. During the service Tanyqua could not think of anything except the children, she recalled. Children were at the church, many without parents.

Painfully, she confronted the church’s pastor Tammel Thomas, who is her own mother and who was married to Darnell during the years he raped her in their home.

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LOUISVILLE (KY)
Religion News Service

March 14, 2019

By Adelle M. Banks

A Southern Baptist publishing executive recently revealed that she was a victim of alleged abuse for more than a decade from another Baptist leader.

In an online statement posted Friday (March 8), Jennifer Lyell, director of the books ministry at LifeWay Christian Resources, alleged that she was the victim of a now-resigned professor at the flagship seminary of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

The alleged sexual misconduct and abuse of power started during a mission trip when Lyell was a seminary student and continued for years. She said that she feared coming forward out of concern that revealing what happened would cause “collateral damage.”

“That collateral damage was the reason that the abuse had continued for so long,” she wrote. “The reason that a professor was able to continue grooming and taking advantage of his student was because I became like part of his family.”

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AUSTRALIA
10 Daily

March 13, 2019

By Andrew Collins

Hopeful survivor of childhood sexual abuse, and advocate for other victims who can’t speak up

I sat in my psychologist’s office watching Pell’s sentencing with him.

I wanted to do it in a safe environment, then have the opportunity to process it and talk about it. I knew that it would have an effect on me, and it did. It reminded me of sitting in court when one of my offenders was sentenced. My stomach was knotted, and I was full of apprehension.

I kept reminding myself that this is just a part of a legal process, and that it isn’t necessarily about justice. The judge has to weigh up a lot of different factors, and needs to explain how he came to the decision that he made. When he spoke of Pell’s character, I understand that he is bound to take this into account, and that it isn’t unusual.

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KALAMAZOO (MI)
FOX17

March 14, 2019

By Lauren Edwards

Ann Phillips Browning said she was on social media Thursday morning when she saw that the local SNAP chapter was going to hold a press conference in front of the Catholic Diocese on Westnedge Avenue at 10:30 a.m. The group was requesting the diocese publish the names of six priests accused of sexual assault.

Browning immediately got in her car and drove five miles in the rain to the presser.

“I thought, that’s interesting I have a list of 12,” Browning said during an interview after the presser. “I wanted to see who their six were and where they came from.”

Browning said she isn’t a part of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. However she supports their mission considering she is a survivor herself.

“I want accountability,” Browning said. “I want every offender to be tracked [and] to be followed.”

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ALTOONA (PA)
Altoona Mirror

March 14, 2019

A former music teacher accused of grooming and molesting a 14-year-old boy has waived his right to a preliminary hearing.

Richard Kuiawa, of 2111 16th Ave., appeared briefly at Central Court on Wednes­day to waive 10 charges, including five felonies, related to the alleged sexual abuse of a then-14-year-old boy in 2007 on to Blair County Court.

Kuiawa taught music at Bishop Guil­foyle High School for five years, between 1982 and 1987, and along with being the founder and director of the Keystone Chorale, he ran his own music school where he taught voice and piano.

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ALTOONA (PA)
Altoona Mirror

March 15, 2019

By Russ O’Reilly

Few details available about Mazur’s placement on leave

About 100 people attended Mass at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Altoona at noon Thursday. Some were visitors who were unaware of recent news, and some were lo­cals who just didn’t hear the news yet.

It’s safe to say more than a few were a bit confused when the presiding priest referenced “difficult times” in the opening and closing prayers.

Monsignor Robert C. Mazur, the Cathedral’s rector since 1995, was placed on leave from public ministry Wednesday.

John McIntyre of Hollidaysburg attends Mass daily at the Cathe­dral or another church.

Regarding Mazur, he said he knew him to be a good man.

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AUSTRALIA
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

March 15, 2019

By Louise Milligan

In the end, he was just an elderly, grey-faced man in the dock.

Not a prince of the church, not a cardinal, but a man convicted of and sentenced for terrible crimes against children.

A man who once flew first class will celebrate his 78th birthday in prison, and at the very least, his 79th, 80th and 81st.

A large part of it will be in protective custody because this man is and remains a lightning rod for discontent in the Australian community and, as a psychiatrist who specialises in child sexual abuse once told me, prisons are full of victims of these crimes.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service

March 18, 2019

As he announced he would do after he was convicted of covering up sexual abuse committed by a priest, French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon met Pope Francis on 18 March to hand in his resignation.

The Vatican confirmed the meeting took place but gave no details and no immediate sign of whether the pope agreed that the 68-year-old cardinal should step down.

The cardinal’s lawyers have filed an appeal of the conviction, which was handed down March 7 by a French court. Cardinal Barbarin was given a six-month suspended sentence.

The court found the cardinal guilty of covering up abuse by Father Bernard Preynat at Lyon’s Saint-Luc Parish, where he ran a large Catholic Scout group in the 1970s and 1980s. Although Cardinal Barbarin did not become head of the Lyon archdiocese until 2002, it was alleged that he had known of the abuse at least since 2010.

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ERIE (PA)
Erie News Now

March 15, 2019

Poulson was notified by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on March 5 that he was released from all obligations attached to holy orders.

The former Erie Catholic Diocese priest who is serving time for sexually molesting two boys between 2002 and 2010 has been formally removed from the priesthood, according to a news release from the diocese.

David Poulson was sentenced in January to spend 2 years, 6 months to 14 years in prison after pleading guilty to corruption of minors and endangering the welfare of children in October.

Poulson was notified by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on March 5 that he was released from all obligations attached to holy orders.

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EAST LANSING (MI)
The State News

March 13, 2019

By Riley Murdock

A group of journalists and media professionals gathered at the Michigan State Museum Tuesday evening to discuss their experiences covering the Larry Nassar cases and their impact.

The panel discussion, titled “Covering the Crisis: Journalism and Sexual Violence,” was the fourth of the “Sister Survivors Speak” series. The series consists of five panels leading up to the opening of the MSU Museum’s “Finding our Voices: Sister Survivors Speak” exhibit, set to open April 16.

Among the panelists were Matt Mencarini from the Lansing State Journal, Kim Kozlowski from The Detroit News, Kate Wells from Michigan Radio and independent journalist Alexandra Ilitch. Others on the panel included WKAR Digital News Director Reginald Hardwick and MSU School of Journalism professors Judith Walgren and Joanne Gerstner. The panel was moderated by MSU School of Journalism professor Sue Carter.

Before she started “Believed”, a podcast documenting the experiences of Nassar survivors, Wells said it seemed like a really bad idea at first. Nassar was in prison, the national media had moved on and it appeared MSU was starting to be held accountable, she said.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Hoya

March 15, 2019

By Mason Mandell

Fr. Michael Barber, S.J., who was removed from the ministry in 1994, served as a chaplain at the Georgetown University Hospital from 1976 to 1978 in the department of pastoral care, where he assisted patients and staff in their religious life.

But in 1994, Barber, now 76, admitted to sexual abuse of a minor, according to a December 2018 disclosure by the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus.

Georgetown Hospital chaplains offer Mass, visit patients and their families, and counsel staff in decision-making, according to the hospital’s website.

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UNITED STATES
TowleRoad

March 15, 2019

By Andy Towle

In an excerpt from his new memoir, Too Much Is Not Enough: A Memoir of Fumbling Toward Adulthoodh, Andrew Rannells describes becoming an altar boy in the Catholic Church while he was in high school and was beginning to understand things about his sexual orientation.

In the excerpt, published on Vulture, Rannells discusses his interactions with both the nuns and the priests that operated around the school and church he attended. He said he attended mass once a week and it was during one particular confession that a priest forced himself upon him.

“This was not your typical confession with private rooms and curtains drawn,” wrote Rannells. “Priests would set up two chairs close to each other in various darkened corners of the quad, turn on music at a low volume to muddle the sound of confessions, and then you would basically just get right up in a priest’s face and whisper your sins. Sometimes he would close his eyes and grab the back of your neck firmly while you confessed. It seemed very ‘Roman Wrestler’ at the time, but looking back it was also very ‘Abusive Pimp.’ I waited in line to talk with Father Dominic, who was popular for confessions. I told myself that he was going to be helpful, that this was my best option.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun Times

March 15, 2019

By Sam Charles

Leaders of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests on Friday called on Cardinal Blase Cupich to rethink his proposal that metropolitan bishops should lead investigations into sexual abuse by members of the clergy.

“We believe, in order for this crisis to end, there needs to be accountability brought in from outside, independent and secular sources,” SNAP’s Executive Director, Zach Hiner, said during a press conference outside the Archdiocese of Chicago’s office at the corner of Pearson and Rush. “And given what we’ve learned about clergy sex abuse over the past six months — much less the past several decades — how could we have confidence in the metropolitan plan, which is basically more bishops policing bishops.”

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OWOSSO (MI)
Argus Press

March 17, 2019

By Cavan W. Concannon

A string of sex abuse scandals have rocked Christian communities recently: In the Roman Catholic Church, revelations related to sex abuse by priests continue to unfold across the globe. Within the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S., media reports have brought into public view allegations of sexual abuse dating back decades.

These scandals stand alongside abuses by prominent male church officials that have occurred in independent Christian communities, such as Harvest Bible Chapel, Willow Creek Community Church and Mars Hill Church.

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Patheos blog

March 14, 2019

By Rebecca Bratten Weiss

I’ve spent a lot of time, in the past few months, in conversation with abuse survivors.

It’s been painful to hear what they have to say, but my pain in hearing is nothing in comparison to the pain they carry with them – sometimes for most of their lives.

Turning away from these stories is not an option for me, uncomfortable though they may make me. Because in so many cases, the pain survivors carry is multiplied and exacerbated by the fact that over and over no one would listen. No one would believe them.

I’ve had a tiny taste of that frustration myself, when people refused to believe I was telling the truth about the abuse and toxicity I witnessed in a former workplace. Instead of listening, people over-wrote my story of injustice with a narrative that was more comfortable for them:

Maybe I was the problematic one?

I must have been causing drama.

I was probably overreacting.

It takes two to tango.

Anyway these problems are everywhere, so why the big fuss?

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Patheos blog

March 15, 2019

By D. G. Hart

The National Association of Evangelicals, one of the major institutional outlets for white Protestants who coalesced around the ministry and institutions associated with Billy Graham, has issues a call addressed to the increasing awareness of sexual abuse in Christian circles. A Call to Sexual Purity and Child Protection has three sections, a code of ethics for pastors, another for congregations, and one more for church leadership. Here is a sample of the call’s instructions for pastors:

Avoid sinful sexual behavior and inappropriate involvement. Resist temptation: “Among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality” (Ephesians 5:3a);

Identify a minister/counselor who can provide personal counseling and advice when needed;

Develop an awareness of personal needs and vulnerabilities;

Avoid taking advantage of the vulnerabilities of others through exploitation or manipulation; and

Address the misconduct of another clergy member directly or, if necessary, through appropriate persons to whom that member of the clergy may be accountable.

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NEW YORK (NY)
First Things

March 17, 2019

By Charlotte Allen

On February 20, California Democratic State Senator Jerry Hill, whose affluent, liberal-leaning district encompasses the San Francisco Peninsula and portions of Silicon Valley, introduced a bill to abolish legal protection for the Catholic Church’s sacramental seal of confession, at least as regards confessions of child abuse.

Specifically, the bill would remove an exemption for “penitential communications” in an existing state law that designates more than forty categories of professionals—clergy, physicians, teachers, counselors, social workers, and the like—as “mandated reporters” who face criminal penalties if they fail to report sexual and other mistreatment of children that they learn about in their professional capacities. Currently, the law carves out a narrow exception for information obtained during the Catholic sacrament of Penance and other religions’ similar penitential rituals, which bind clergy to secrecy. If the California legislature enacts Hill’s bill, that exception would disappear—and Catholic priests, bound by canon law not to disclose the contents of a confession, could face criminal prosecution and imprisonment for refusing to comply. “The law should apply equally to all professionals who have been designated as mandated reporters of these crimes—with no exceptions, period. The exemption for clergy only protects the abuser and places children at further risk,” Hill said in a statement accompanying the proposed measure, SB-360.

The Catholic doctrine of the seal of confession dates back to the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215, which mandated that Catholics confess their grave sins to a priest via the sacrament of Penance. The latest formulation of the church’s Code of Canon Law states: “The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore it is absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason.” The penalty for any priest who divulges anything heard in confession—or even a penitent’s identity—is automatic excommunication. Eastern Orthodox churches do not have such an explicit rule, but they do have the same expectation of absolute secrecy surrounding sacramental confession. Since the Middle Ages it has not been unusual for priests to risk—and occasionally endure—martyrdom from secular authorities rather than break the seal, as did several priests executed by militant secularists during Mexico’s Cristero uprising of the 1920s and the Spanish Civil War a decade later. Alfred Hitchcock’s 1953 film, I Confess, involves a priest who risks conviction for a murder he did not commit after the true murderer confesses the crime to him and he is bound not to reveal it.

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The Cheat Sheet

March 17, 2019

By Amanda Harding

By now most people know why the original series about the Duggar family, 19 Kids and Counting, got canceled on the TLC network. The reality show followed Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar as they navigated the trials of raising a family with 17, then 18, then 19 children. But one thing no one anticipated was a sexual abuse scandal that would mean the end of the series.

The eldest son in the family, Josh Duggar, was accused of sexually molesting several of his sisters and a babysitter when he was a teenager. By the time the scandal broke in 2015, Josh was already married with three kids. But the controversy was enough to get the show canceled and disgrace the family name.

One popular question in the wake of the abuse is this: Do Josh Duggar’s sisters forgive him? Several have spoken out on the matter, and it appears they all agree.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Daily Herald

March 17, 2019

By Susan Sarkauskas

Even as Harvest Bible Chapel attempts to recover from scandal, its leaders are facing more negative news.

The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability announced last week it suspended its accreditation of Harvest, while it investigates whether the church violated the organization’s core principles.

In its announcement, the organization said it launched an investigation of Harvest Nov. 28, and after an on-site visit in December, believed the church was in compliance.

But it has received new information, it said, that has it concerned the church “may be in serious violation” of four standards of stewardship.

“The investigation has been and will remain ongoing during the suspension as we work to determine whether Harvest Bible Chapel should be terminated, advised of the steps necessary to come into full compliance or whether they are in fact in compliance with our standards and should, therefore, be restored to full membership,” council President Dan Busby said in an announcement of the suspension.

The standards require that every organization be governed by a responsible board of not less than five individuals, a majority of whom are independent; prepare complete and accurate financial statements; exercise appropriate management and controls to provide reasonable assurance that all of the organization’s operations are carried out in a responsible manner; and set compensation of its top leader in a manner that demonstrates integrity and propriety.

The statement did not provide details about Harvest’s suspected violations.

Efforts to reach Harvest officials Sunday were unsuccessful.

However, an interim leadership team has announced that the church is opening a new bank account to handle members’ tithes, and the money will be used only for ministry expenses, “banking obligations” and staff salaries. None of it will be directed to the senior pastor’s office, or to items in past budgets, the church’s website says.

It also announced that donations recently have decreased 40 percent. As a result, the church will reduce its weekly operating expense by 25 percent, from $409,000 a week to $308,000 a week. It did not say how it would do so.

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DENVER (CO)
Crux

March 18, 2019

By Claire Giangravè

A U.S. parish priest and author, who experienced sexual abuse by clergy, takes on the “crisis of masculinity” in society and the Catholic Church one lecture at a time, by always “keeping it real” and remembering that “even in the midst of all this darkness, there is always hope.”

“We need to be called to this new masculinity, which isn’t a power thing, it isn’t about dominating anything,” said Father Larry Richards in a March 14 interview with Crux. “A true masculinity is he who lays down his life in love.”

“A true masculinity is Christ on the Cross,” he added.

Richards has been a diocesan priest for over 30 years, ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Erie, Pennsylvania by Bishop Michael Murphy. He has been a Catholic chaplain to college campuses and a teacher at all-boys high schools.

In 2004 he founded “The Reason For Our Hope Foundation,” which – in his words – focuses on bringing people closer to the Catholic faith and showing them that “God is not out to get you, he’s out to love you.”

In 2009 he released his first book, Be a Man! Becoming the Man God Created You To Be, which became Ignatius Press’s number one book in 2010.

“My thing is to try and help people – especially men – to come to know God, to know God’s love,” he said.

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
Sunday Mirror

March 18, 2019

By Geraldine McKelvie

Young Steve Rowell watched in horror as his abuser spoke to the bride and groom about love, honesty and faithfulness.

Traumatised Steve suffered at the hands of pervert priest King more than 350 times.

Today he reveals his six-year ordeal and tells how he demanded to meet Church leaders to bring about change.

And a top bishop has now urged fellow abuse survivors to step forward.

Steve was assaulted by King from the age of 11 but the predator cheated justice by killing himself after being quizzed by police.

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GERMANY
La Croix International

March 18, 2019

As thousands of victims of predator priests in Germany seek redress for clerical sex abuse, German Catholic bishops conceded they must admit wrongdoing and make amends, but failed to offer a timetable.

Cardinal Reinhard Marx, head of the German bishops’ conference, said March 14 that the culture of silence and cover-ups “is over,” adding this should have been dealt with “perhaps 20 years, 30 years ago,” AFP reports.

However, “the process of cleansing is not finished in three days, it’s a continuing path,” he said.Critics say Cardinal Marx was resorting to the Church’s default setting of stonewalling on the issue, as he would not be drawn on concrete plans or dates for new policies or compensation payouts.

The prelate made the remarks at the end of a four-day episcopal conference in Lingen that was punctuated by a rally outside its gates organized by the Catholic Women’s Community of Germany.

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HOMESTEAD (FL)
Local 10 News

March 18, 2019

By Peter Burke and Liane Morejon

Some parishioners at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Homestead were in denial Sunday after learning the news that a priest there was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault.

The Rev. Jean-Claude Jean-Phillippe, 64, was arrested Friday on a charge of sexual battery on a victim who was physically incapacitated.

Adolphe is an altar server and longtime parishioner at the church.

“I feel like it’s a setup, for real,” he said. “In my opinion, I feel like it is.”

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

March 17, 2019

Regarding the March 14 Metro article “More U.S. Catholics ponder exit from church”:

The reason to be Catholic is because one believes in the teachings of the church; it’s not a social club that should be judged by its worst members. Every large organization is going to have a small percentage of people who commit evil acts.

Fewer than 5 percent of Catholic priests have been accused of sexual abuse. The Catholic Church made widespread reforms in 2002 regarding abuse, and abuse cases have slowed to a trickle. The reforms are working. The vast majority of the abuse cases are from decades ago — before the 2002 reforms were put in place.

The Catholic Church is one of the safest places for children today. Compare this with public schools, which have not reformed and have unions that protect abusive teachers. Of course, we wouldn’t consider ending public schools because of a few bad teachers.

The Catholic Church is given no credit for the reforms of 2002, which many people don’t even know about because they are not publicized in the media. This is unfair and wrong.

Brian Wood, Gaithersburg

In his March 14 op-ed, “The greatest crime in U.S. history?,” George F. Will drew attention to the unfolding Catholic institutional criminal operation that has exploited children. The Pennsylvania report is only the latest report that, when combined with reports issued in other countries, provides the same sorts of gruesome details of criminal behavior by clerics. Then Catholic leadership used its unique powers not only to hide sexual predators but also to protect their priesthoods, thus perpetuating expansion of the number of victims.

Our bishops have tried to put assets beyond the reach of victims. Our bishops are fighting actions to modify statutes of limitations for child sexual crimes to avoid litigation against perpetrators of heinous actions.

We must cry out against these horrific practices, for justice for victims and for an accounting of crimes. We must support civil authorities shedding light onto these practices. And we must begin asking church leaders how they can credibly serve as moral authorities setting things right on this most fundamental issue.

We faithful Catholics are part of the problem. We demand too little. How much more will we put in the collection basket? Our Confirmation calls each of us to be more than disciples. We are called to be apostles and demand of our apostle bishops that they live up to their anointed leadership role.

Betty Walter, Annandale

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

March 17, 2019

By Beth Reinhard, Kimberly Kindy and Julie Tate

A federal investigation into alleged sexual misconduct by multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein had flagged scores of potential underage victims, including the 14-year-old girl who first alerted police. But when he pleaded guilty in state court in 2008, the only minor Epstein was convicted of soliciting was 16 years old at the time the offenses began, according to information obtained by The Washington Post.

The younger girl who initially notified police has long believed that hers was the case referenced in the guilty plea, her attorney said. Some media accounts said as much. Publicly available charging documents contained no name or age, however. Pressed to resolve the ambiguity, state prosecutors in Florida recently provided The Post with the victim’s date of birth.

The decision to charge Epstein with a crime involving an older teen — part of a plea deal that has already been criticized as overly lenient — has eased his obligations to register as a sex offender. In New Mexico, for instance, where Epstein has a 7,600-acre property called Zorro Ranch, he is not required to register because his victim was not under 16, state officials said.

The case has faced growing scrutiny since last month, when a federal judge ruled that the prosecution team led by then-U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta, now President Trump’s labor secretary, violated the rights of alleged victims by failing to notify them of an agreement not to bring federal charges. Some House Democrats are calling for the resignation of Acosta, whose department oversees investigations into sex trafficking and workplace abuses.

Attorneys for the alleged victims are seeking to void the non-prosecution agreement, which ended the federal probe and granted immunity to any potential co-conspirators.

“They were cutting a plea deal. It wasn’t a prosecution,” said attorney Spencer Kuvin, who represented the 14-year-old girl who alerted police, referencing the number of victims court records say federal prosecutors identified. “They had a grab bag of 40 girls to choose from.”

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DU BOIS (PA)
Courier Express

March 16, 2019

The Vatican has defrocked a former Roman Catholic priest who is serving a prison term for the sexual assault of two boys in Jefferson County.

Bishop Lawrence T. Perisco of the Erie Diocese announced Friday that David Lee Poulson “was granted a dispensation from all the obligations attached to holy orders.”

“Because Mr. Poulson has now been removed from the clerical state, he is forbidden to function as a priest in the Catholic Church and should no longer present himself as a priest and not be admitted as a priest in the celebration of the sacraments,” Perisco said in a statement.

Poulson pleaded guilty in October to two felony charges in connection to repeated sexual assaults against one boy and the attempted assault of another. The boys were age 8 and 15 at the time of the abuse, which reportedly occurred at a remote cabin in Cook Forest. Poulson was also accused of assaulting one victim in a church rectory and then making that victim confess the abuse to him afterward.

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MIAMI (FL)
Associated Press

March 18, 2019

A Roman Catholic priest in Florida is facing charges that he drugged a female parishioner and raped her.

The Rev. Jean Claude Jean-Philippe was in a Miami-Dade County jail late Saturday charged with sexual battery on an incapacitated victim.

The Miami Herald reports that in October the 64-year-old priest invited the victim to his home at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Homestead. The woman said she drank tea he gave her and passed out. She told investigators she woke up two hours later naked in Jean-Philippe’s bed, believing she was raped.

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NORWICH (CT)
The Day

March 18. 2019

By Joe Wojtas

State Sen. Mae Flexer, D-26th District, and other Democratic leaders are working to modify a pending bill so it would eliminate the statute of limitations on the filing of civil lawsuits in cases of sexual assault.

If the General Assembly approves the bill, it is expected to impact the state’s Roman Catholic dioceses, where alleged victims of sexual abuse by priests, nuns, deacons and bishops have been prohibited from filing suits after they turn 48.

Victims and their supporters say that for a variety of reasons, some victims do not disclose they were abused until much later in life.

One of the victims is John “Tim” McGuire of New London, who discovered when he went to a lawyer to find out about suing the Diocese of Norwich, that he had missed the deadline for filing a suit by a mere three weeks. McGuire, who alleges he was sexually assaulted by the late Rev. James Curry when he was an 8-year-old altar boy at St. Joseph’s Church in Noank, has been lobbying legislators to eliminate the statute of limitations for himself and other victims.

“This is great news,” McGuire said Sunday, saying he knows of people in his support group of people assaulted by priests who would file suits if the change is approved.

The Day has spoken to a number of alleged victims in recent months who say they too would file suits against the Diocese of Norwich if the law is changed.

“There’s a great injustice here in Connecticut because victims of sexual assault have such a limited opportunity for justice both on the criminal and the civil side. The church needs to take responsibility for its actions,” said Flexer, who described herself as an active Catholic.

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Patheos blog
March 18, 2019

By Gene Veith

Sexual abuse of minors in the Catholic Church–as well as other churches–is a horrible scandal. That does not mean, however, that every clergyman accused of these crimes is guilty. And the climate of outrage about these revelations can lend itself to false accusations, hoaxes, and a lynch mob mentality.

A prominent conservative churchman, Cardinal George Pell, was accused of sexually assaulting two 13-year-old choir boys in 1996 when he was Archbishop of Melbourne in Australia. He was recently tried, convicted, and sentenced to six years in prison.

But there are compelling reasons to believe that he is innocent.

According to the man who testified that he was abused, Cardinal Pell caught the two choir boys in the vestry immediately after Mass, where they had gotten into the Communion wine. In the course of chastising them, Cardinal Pell allegedly forced them to perform oral sex.

A shocking, repellant story, similar to others that we have heard about pedophile, homosexual priests. But there are major problems with that story.

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

March 18, 2019

By Inés San Martín

When Pope Francis decided in 2017 to bring an Argentine bishop to Rome and give him a job in the Vatican, the prelate had been accused of “strange behavior” but not of criminal sexual conduct, Crux has learned.

The first formal allegations against Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta, formerly of the northern Argentine diocese of Oran, came in 2015 when a diocesan secretary found pornographic pictures on the prelate’s phone.

The images included gay porn featuring young men, but not minors, as well as images of Zanchetta touching himself. They were allegedly sent to unknown third parties.

Local newspaper El Tribuno published documents from 2015 and 2016 that prove the Vatican, including the pope, knew about the bishop’s improper behavior. There were also allegations of financial wrongdoing. Zanchetta was not suspected of stealing money, but of failing to report diocesan income.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Daily News

March 18, 2019

By Kerry Burke, Molly Crane-Newman and Michael Gartland

Five former Catholic school students are accusing a priest of sexually abusing them when they were boys attending schools and churches in the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island.

The men, four of whom wished to remain anonymous and spoke through a lawyer, claim that Monsignor John Paddack isolated them from other students, sought to offer them advice in private and then groped them.

Collectively, the accusers and their lawyers claim the abuse took place from 1988 to 2002 at Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, St. Joseph by the Sea High School on Staten Island and the Church of the Incarnation in Upper Manhattan.

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LITTLE ROCK (AR)
Bilgrimage blog

March 15, 2019

By William Lindsey

The jailing of Cardinal George Pell resonates because he was so powerful in an institution that covered up the abuses of its clerics.

In commenting on Cardinal Pell’s conviction and sentence, Michael Cook’s Lessons from Cardinal Pell’s 6-year jail sentence makes a move that should trouble all of us concerned about shoring up the legitimacy of court systems and criminal justice systems in democratic societies. Cook opens by reminding us of that Pell was conficted on the basis of the testimony of one person testifying behind closed doors.

He then goes on to state,
The Pell trial shows that the victim will be presumed to be truthful when he steps into the witness box.

This is something none of us who were not in that closed-door court hearing can possibly know or affirm with any certainty. Because the hearing was, as Cook himself reminds us, a closed-door hearing… It is a judgment without any substance when it’s offered by anyone who was not at the closed-door hearing in which testimony was given.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Rolling Stone

March 17, 2019

By Nicholas Lord

In late October 1996, Cardinal George Pell stood before a panel of reporters in Melbourne, Australia, and apologized. He apologized on behalf of the Australian Catholic Church, who, as it had recently surfaced, was complicit in covering up pervasive and unimaginable child abuse by priests. “I would like to make a sincere, unreserved, and public apology,” Pell said, according to David Marr’s The Prince: Faith, Abuse and George Pell. He had a his peculiar manner of speaking — an Australian accent polished by an Oxford education. “First of all to the victims of sexual abuse, but also to the people of the archdiocese for the actions of those Catholic clergy.” He declared himself an advocate in the fight against child abuse, and announced a new compensation scheme for the victims of his religious brothers.

Yet only a few weeks later, Pell cornered two thirteen-year-old choirboys in the sacristy of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and sexually abused them, a jury has found. He forced one boy to perform oral sex while the other flinched away — “crying” and “sobbing” and “whimpering,” as a judge later described. It was a Sunday morning, after mass. The boys had just finished singing hymns. They were on a singing scholarship and came from poorer communities. Pell had just been appointed archbishop.

After years of accusations involving Pell’s complicity and direct abuse — and several trials later—Cardinal Pell has been convicted of child abuse on five counts and sentenced to six years in jail. News of the court proceedings was suppressed until only recently, as his case was protected by a strict media gag order common in high-profile criminal cases in Australia. The verdict was announced formally only days after Pope Francis’s Vatican summit to address child abuse within the Catholic Church, an institution that’s still grappling with its horrifying history of child abuse around the world. As the global investigations continue, the church is left in a crisis: how to handle the child abuse epidemic, how to ensure it doesn’t continue and how to respond to a community left at odds with their faith.

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[Salta Church investigates another priest for allegations of sexual abuse]

ARGENTINA
GrupoLaProvincia.com

February 27, 2019

El sacerdote José Carlos Aguilera, a cargo de la parroquia del barrio Santa Lucía de la capital salteña, y director de la Pastoral Social, es investigado por un tribunal del Arzobispado de Salta por denuncias de abuso sexual, revelaron hoy fuentes vinculadas al caso. Fuentes cercanas a la investigación confirmaron a Télam que Aguilera se suma así a la lista de sacerdotes denunciados por el delito de abuso sexual en Salta, entre los que se encuentran los sacerdotes Emilio Lamas y Agustín Rosas, ambos con causas en la justicia.

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[Río Cuarto priest suspended after sexual abuse report]

ARGENTINA
La Voz

March 8, 2019

El obispo de la diócesis de Río Cuarto, Adolfo Uriona, resolvió suspender cautelarmente al cura Carlos Alberto Maffini, quien prestaba servicio pastoral en la localidad de Carnerillo, en el sur provincial, a raíz de una denuncia de abuso sexual. En un comunicado del Obispado, Uriona detalló que la denuncia contra Maffini fue presentada el 7 de marzo por una mujer adulta. Ese mismo día se dispuso la investigación previa que manda el Código de Derecho Canónico.

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[Vatican investigates Salta priest for sexual abuse]

ARGENTINA
Noticias

March 2, 2019

By Juan Luis González

La Santa Sede de Francisco comenzó una investigación al cura José Aguilera, acusado por abusos sexuales. La opinión del arzobispado de esa localidad.

El arzobispado de Salta confirmó hoy una noticia que venía sacudiendo a la provincia: el Vaticano comenzó una investigación formal sobre el presbítero José Carlos Aguilera, párroco del barrio Santa Lucía, en la capital, capellán y profesor de la Universidad Católica de Salta, y titular de la Pastoral Universitaria de esa localidad. El cura está acusado por presuntos delitos de abuso sexual.

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[Abuse case against priest Agustín Rosa Torino goes to trial]

ARGENTINA
El Tribuno Salta

March 8, 2019

La Sala I del Tribunal de Juicio será la encargada de juzgar al sacerdote por los delitos de abuso sexual gravemente ultrajante y abuso sexual simple, en ambos casos agravados por ser ministro de culto reconocido.

La fiscal penal 2 de la Unidad de Delitos contra la Integridad Sexual, María Luján Sodero Calvet, fue notificada de que la causa Agustín Rosa Torino, imputado por los delitos de abuso sexual gravemente ultrajante y abuso sexual simple, en ambos casos agravado por ser ministro de culto reconocido, fue elevada a juicio y recayó en la Sala I del Tribunal de Juicio, que deberá fijar fecha para la audiencia de debate de acuerdo a su agenda.

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[Chillán Diocese issues update on abuse cases, Pope removed one priest]

CHILE
Publimetro

March 16, 2019

By Aton [news agency]

“La Diócesis de Chillán expresa su compromiso de seguir enfrentando en la verdad las situaciones escandalosas de abuso, contribuyendo a forjar una cultura del cuidado y la protección”, señalaron en el comunicado.

El Obispado de Chillán informó sobre la situación de sacerdotes de la diócesis que actualmente están sujetos a una investigación o proceso canónico, a causa de denuncias por abuso sexual de menores. Uno de ellos fue dispensado del sacerdocio por el papa Francisco.

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[Church: more than 70 priests sign letter against abuse]

CHILE
La Tercera

March 17, 2019

By T. Yáñez, G. Peñafiel and C. Said

Misiva comenzó a ser leída desde las 20 horas de ayer en misas y templos de Santiago. El documento no alude a los obispos.

El caso del sacerdote Tito Rivera, quien enfrenta una denuncia por eventual violación en la Catedral, ha provocado diversas reacciones, tanto dentro como fuera de la Iglesia Católica chilena. Una de ellas es que un grupo de cerca de 70 sacerdotes de la diócesis de Santiago suscribió una carta, que desde las 20 horas de ayer comenzaron a difundir entre los fieles, en misas y otros encuentros religiosos.

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COLUMBUS (OH)
The Columbus Dispatch

March 17, 2019

By Danae King

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus is one of only three dioceses in the country with a priest assigned to take reports of clergy sex abuse from survivors.

Several victim advocates, survivors and coordinators of victim assistance in other dioceses say having to meet with someone in the same uniform and position as the person who abused them as a child could re-traumatize survivors or dissuade from reporting abuse.

“If you’re looking at survivors, their abuse was a cleric, so you’re wanting to make sure you’re not causing further trauma because it’s someone in a collar,” said Deacon Bernie Nojadera, executive director of the Secretariat for Child and Youth Protection with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “It’s all in the approach, in the manner the person carries out the ministry, and the competence.”

In Columbus, all reports of clergy sex abuse — which come iin as phone calls, emails and forms that the public can fill out — ggo to Monsignor Stephan Moloney, the vicar general and victim assistance coordinator.

Read more: Victims of abusive priests won’t likely see justice, expert say
Moloney, who is also the pastor of St. Andrew Parish in Upper Arlington, has been taking reports of child sex abuse by priests in the diocese since 1997. But he and many others across the country officially gained the title of victim assistance coordinator in 2002, when the conference of bishops started requiring the archdioceses and dioceses to create the position.

“I have always taken a pastoral approach to it,” Moloney said.

He said that in the past 22 years, he has taken dozens of abuse reports, including a half-dozen or so involving priests in active ministry.

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TORONTO (CANADA)
CBC Broadcasting

March 17, 2019

By Ainsley Hawthorn

The spectre of Mount Cashel loomed large in my late childhood, both literally and figuratively.

My family moved to St. John’s from the west coast of Newfoundland when I was eight years old. It was October 1989, and a judicial inquiry’s hearings on the allegations of child abuse by the Christian Brothers had begun only one month earlier.

I enrolled in Vanier Elementary, a small school in the east end of the city. The classrooms for Grades 4 to 6 were in the back of the building, facing a broad field where we would spend recess and lunch.

At the end of the field, beyond a chain-link fence, stood the Mount Cashel Orphanage.

Even at our young age, my classmates and I shivered at the name “Mount Cashel.” We understood that secrets had been revealed, that children like us had been hurt by the people who were meant to protect them.

The orphanage itself was imposing but dilapidated. Looking up at it as a child, I had the impression that a great institution had fallen.

The Mount Cashel hearings rocked a province where more than a third of the population identified as Catholic. As the full scope of the abuse came to light, some disillusioned Newfoundlanders and Labradorians stopped going to church altogether.

Today, fewer than 19 per cent of all residents of this province attend weekly religious services, compared with 32 per cent in 1989.

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Daily Mail

March 16,2019

Bt Ariel Zilber

A former priest raped an 8-year-old girl nearly 30 years ago to the point where she vomited – only to then force her to clean up the mess, it has been alleged.

Sabine Griego, 81, was arrested on Tuesday at his New Mexico home for the alleged assault and other rapes involving the girl.

Griego, a resident of Las Vegas, New Mexico, has been charged with one count of sexual penetration of a minor and coercion resulting in great bodily harm and mental anguish.

The charges are just the latest allegations against Griego, who has also been accused of sexually assaulting more than 30 children over decades while in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican.

Between 1993 and 1995, Griego was implicated in eight closed cases. He was put on leave from the church in 1993, but it wasn’t until 2005 that he was formally dismissed from clerical duties.

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SANTA FE (NM)
New Mexican

March 16, 2019

By Rebecca Moss

It was early summer and the altar servers for Holy Cross Catholic Church were squirming in the heat of their white robes. There was no air conditioning in the sacristy behind the chapel as the children prepared the church for the 10:30 a.m. Mass.

Isaac Casados, who was 10 at the time, had grown up in this church. He planned to become a priest and felt that leading his fellow altar servers was the first step.

“Every young kid at Holy Cross was taught being an altar server is the greatest thing,” said Casados, now 37. “At the same time, all the nuns would always teach you the priest was kinda the closest thing to God. What they did, what they said, was firm. You did not refute it, you did not question it. Because if you did, you’d go straight to hell.”

On that hot Sunday nearly three decades ago, Casados was a fourth-grader at a school run by Holy Cross and one of several children assigned to help the Rev. Marvin Archuleta, an assistant priest for the Sons of the Holy Family at Santa Cruz de la Cañada parish in Española.

Casados said in a recent interview that the priest, known as Father Marvin, told him he needed to adjust his altar robe, which had bunched in the back.

“I thought he was going to straighten out my shirt,” Casados said. “He came up behind me … and instead, his hand went straight into my pants.”

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HOMESTEAD (FL)
Patch

March 16, 2019

By Paul Scicchitano

A 64-year-old Catholic priest assigned to a South Florida church was taken into custody over the weekend and accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a female parishioner whose wedding he once officiated at.

Fr. Jean Claude Jean-Philippe was charged by Miami-Dade police with sexual battery of a physically incapacitated person. He was arrested 8:30 p.m. Friday night at 1701 NW 87 Ave. in Doral.

A spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Miami said Jean-Philippe served as parochial vicar at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Homestead, which is about 38 miles from Miami.

“Effective immediately, Archbishop Thomas Wenski has removed Fr. Jean-Philippe from Sacred Heart Catholic Church, placing him on administrative leave,” the spokeswoman said.

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