ABUSE TRACKER

MIAMI (FL)
Associated Press

March 17, 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.

She did not notify police until two weeks ago after telling another priest. The Miami Archdiocese says she was told to contact authorities. Officers say Jean-Philippe confessed when confronted.

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

NEWARK (NJ)
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 towards 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 by openly addressing the abuse scandal that 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.

As laws currently stand victims of abuse have a window of two years from acknowledging their abuse in which to file a civil suit against the church. There’s a bill in the legislature that would extend that window for victims of abuse and make it easier to bring a case against the institution that sheltered and defended their abusers for decades. It’s helpful to remember the lengths the Catholic church went to protect the predators in their midst, shuffling abusive priests from parish to parish knowing full well what crimes they had committed.

The issue of sexual abuse among the priesthood was well known within the church, all the way up to the very top of the gilded halls of the Vatican, and for decades nothing was done about it. The church was only ever concerned for it’s own well being and was content to let the victims suffer as long as it was kept out of the headlines. They lost any benefit of the doubt long ago. Extend the statute of limitations and hold them accountable.

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

TRENTON NJ)
The Trentonian

March 17, 2019

By Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman

As the Catholic Church grapples with widespread sex abuse scandals, new details have emerged about a child-molesting ex-priest who targeted students at the local campus known today as The College of New Jersey.

The Rev. Vincent J. Inghilterra, better known as Father Vince, has debauched the morals of “multiple victims” and has since been removed from ministry, the Diocese of Trenton confirmed in a public tell-all outing the identities of 30 clergy members credibly accused of sexual abuse against a minor.

Among his many assignments, Inghilterra in the 1980s served as the campus town chaplain at Trenton State College, a Ewing-based institution later renamed TCNJ. The so-called Father Vince prowled around campus with a seedy reputation that preceded him, according to one of his victims.

Thomas Venditti, 56, a former student at Trenton State, transferred to another school, he said, because he needed to escape from the trauma that Inghilterra put him through.

“I don’t want Catholics to completely give up their faith,” Venditti said, “but I don’t want them to get victimized, either.”

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

[“I met with Carlos Osoro to tell him to put away the priest who abused my daughters and he did nothing”]

MADRID (SPAIN)
El País

March 17, 2019

By Julio Núñez

La madre de una víctima denuncia la inacción de la Iglesia ante las denuncias de abuso que presentó al actual cardenal de Madrid, por entonces arzobispo de Oviedo

El silencio que V. C. guardó durante más de una década era tan ensordecedor que no podía soportarlo. Explotó cuando tenía 19 años. Su secreto: Eustasio Sánchez Fonseca, el sacerdote con el que vivía junto con su madre en una comunidad cristiana en Campo de Caso (Asturias), también había abusado de ella desde los cinco hasta los 14 años. “Cuando empecé la universidad en 2002, los recuerdos de los abusos me vinieron como un flashback. No aguanté y lo conté todo. No denuncié. En esos momentos, todavía estas asimilando que alguien te robó la infancia y tienes que poner todo eso en orden antes de poder hacer algo”, narra V. C. Su madre cuenta que, a pesar de no denunciar, acudió a pedir ayuda a la Iglesia. “Hablé con un sacerdote amigo mío y consiguió que fuera a hablar con el arzobispo Carlos Osoro. Queríamos que Tito no abusara de más niños. El arzobispo me dijo que hablaría con él. A las semanas, el cura al que pedí consejo me dijo que Tito lo negó. La diócesis no hizo nada y no volví a saber nada más”, relata la madre.

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

KINGSTON (JAMAICA)
The Gleaner

March 17, 2019

By Nadine Wilson-Harris

The banning from priestly ministry of former Bishop of Mandeville Gordon Bennett for sexual harassment has come as a shocker for the local Catholic Church, but Archbishop Emeritus of Kingston, the Reverend Charles Dufour, has questioned whether ill-health might have contributed to his actions.

“We are grieved that a man we knew to be a good man apparently is alleged to have engaged in such behaviour. Having known that his character had been deeply affected by his depression and stroke, one wonders how much this contributed to his actions,” Dufour said in a statement to the press released on Saturday afternoon.

Baltimore Archbishop William Lori has announced ministerial restrictions for Bishop Bennett and Bishop Michael Bransfield, who resigned from the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston last year. Bishop Bransfield was accused of sexually harassing adults and committing financial improprieties.

According to a story carried in The Associated Press on Monday, Bennett served in Baltimore from 1998 until 2004, when he was appointed Bishop of Mandeville in Jamaica. He resigned in August 2006, a few months after the archdiocese learnt of an allegation of his sexual harassment of a young adult in Jamaica.

But Dufour said he was told at the time that Bishop Bennett’s resignation was due to ill-health.

“I learned – like everybody else when Archbishop Lori of Baltimore released his statement – that there were also other reasons linked to his departure: that of an unfortunate alleged case of sexual harassment of an adult,” he said.

“As the former Archbishop of Kingston and Bishop of Montego Bay and as the present apostolic administrator of Mandeville, I can only state how saddened and shocked we all are at learning of this event, which was reported to have taken place 13 years ago,” Reverend Dufour stated.

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

NEW YORK (NY)
The Atlantic

March 17, 2019

By Julie Beck and Ashley Fetters

As it has been for decades, the Catholic Church is in the midst of a crisis, one whose long reach has traumatized thousands and left one of the world’s oldest institutions struggling to find a way forward. In late February, the Vatican held a high-profile conference on the sexual-abuse crisis—the revelations of decades of abuse, by priests in different parts of the globe, of children, adult seminarians, and nuns. During the conference, Pope Francis called for “concrete” change, though the Atlantic reporter Rachel Donadio wrote that, on the whole, the meeting seemed largely to be a “consciousness-raising exercise,” out of step with the “zero tolerance” that many victims’ advocates in the United States have been demanding for priests who use their power to abuse. It seems the crisis will likely drag on as the Church’s highest authorities continue their slow-moving reckoning.

What is an institutional crisis for the Church is a personal crisis for the faithful. Lay Catholics are left to grapple with what this crisis means for them, their families, and their faith. Parents in particular often feel acutely conflicted. How can they not worry about sending their children to be altar servers after reading about priests taking advantage of altar servers in the past? At the same time, devout parents who deeply love the Church naturally want their children to receive its spiritual benefits. What are they to do?

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

FARGO (ND)
Associated Press

March 17, 2019

North Dakota’s Roman Catholic dioceses are mulling whether and when to release information about priests accused of sexual abuse, even as critics say they are moving too slowly following explosive revelations in Pennsylvania last year.

The Bismarck Diocese, the state’s second-largest, says it plans to release the names of priests with “substantiated claims” against them of sexual misconduct with minors after it finishes reviewing its files. But the Fargo Diocese hasn’t yet decided whether to release names.

The dioceses responded to questions from The Associated Press following revelations in Pennsylvania last summer that more than 300 priests had been credibly accused of molesting more than 1,000 children, and as Pope Francis last month convened a summit of Catholic leaders from around the world on the issue.

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

KALAMAZOO (MI)
Newschannel 3

March 14, 2019

Standing outside the offices of the Diocese of Kalamazoo, survivors of sexual abuse demanded Thursday that church leaders publish the names of six priests who have been accused of improper behavior.

The priests in question currently or formerly served in the Kalamazoo Diocese, members of the group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said, and if the diocese wants to promote transparency, it must publish their names.

“More and more victims are realizing that that’s what it takes to protect kids,” said David Clohessy, a member of the network. “That’s what it takes to heal. And in Michigan, especially, we would beg, not just victims, we would beg witnesses, whistle blowers, anybody with any knowledge or suspicion of child sex crimes on the church to come forward now because the attorney general is doing an investigation.”

Ann Philips Browning said she was abused by a priest when she was a teenager.

“The church owes us transparency and for some reason we’re not getting it unless there’s legal involvement,” said Browning.

She said the Attorney General’s Office interviewed her as part of its ongoing investigation. She said she told the office there are many people afraid to share their stories of abuse.

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

GARY (IN)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

March 14, 2019

–Fr. Bernard “Barney” McMeel, who was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1954. He also worked in 24 assignments in two Alaska dioceses (1955-1978), nine in Montana (1978 until his death 1994) and one in California (1954-1955).

In a 2006 civil lawsuit, he was accused – along with fellow Jesuit Fr. Andrew Eordogh – of having sexually abused a boy in Holy Cross, Alaska, beginning when the boy was four years old in 1967. His accuser said Fr. McMeel “handed him off” to Fr. Eordogh when Fr. McMeel left in 1968 to become Superior Regular of Jesuits in Alaska.

http://www.bishopaccountability.org/assign/McMeel_Bernard_Francis_sj.htm

–Fr. Walter George DeRoeck, who was a Chicago priest ordained in 1971. He resigned in 2001 and in 2006 was listed on the Chicago archiocesan ‘accused’ list. He “often” took boys to a vacation home he had in Michigan City with other priests, according to church records.(see AOC 012852)

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/il_chicago/#deroeck

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

— Fr. Stephen J. Muth, who is a Toronto native but was ordained in Gary in 1982. He also worked in Canada, Ohio, Missouri, Texas, Kansas and three cities in California (San Francisco, Sacramento, Santa Clara). A Byzantine Catholic priest, Muth was ordained in Toronto, Ontario in 1982. He later worked in several U.S. Roman Catholic dioceses as well as U.S. Byzantine Rite Eparchies. He was accused in 2006 of having sexually abused a 12 year-old boy in Wichita, KS in 1992.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

March 15, 2019

Victims question new church accountability plan

SNAP: “It is big bishops investigating small ones”

Group prefers independent lay body instead

It also names ‘Dangerous Dozen’ Chicago priests

Most abused elsewhere & have gotten no attention here

Survivors will also prod archdiocese over 500 still-hidden accused priests’ names

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will release a “Dangerous Dozen” list of priests publicly accused of molesting children elsewhere but who also spent time in Chicago and have escaped virtually all public attention here.

They will also ask Chicago’s Cardinal Blasé Cupich to:
—release some of the 500 accused clerics’ names that an Illinois attorney general says he and his brother bishops have not yet disclosed,
—drop his plan to have bishops investigate other accused bishops, and
—back the Springfield IL bishop’s plan for an independent lay group to do this.

WHEN
Friday, March 15 at 11:15 a.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Chicago Archdiocesan Headquarters at 835 N. Rush Street (corner of Rush and Pearson)

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

CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of those Abuswed by Priests

March 15, 2019

–Fr. Joseph Fertal was involved in at least one civil suit and was criminally investigated in connection with allegations of child sexual abuse. He was purportedly sent to St. Michael’s Institute, an institution known for treating priests accused of child sexual abuse, multiple times beginning in the 1980s. According to San Bernardino church officials, Fr. Fertal was permanently banned from ministry in that diocese and was included in its list of clergy credibly accused of child sexual abuse. In 2003, he was believed to be living in Jemez Springs, New Mexico, the site of another church priest treatment center, but his current whereabouts are unknown. Fr. Fertal was at LoyolaUniversity and in the Philippines twice: in Manila and at the University of San Carlos in Cebu City.

He belongs to a religious order known as the Divine World Missionaries and worked twice at its seminary in TechnyIL. The order is based in Rome.

https://www.andersonadvocates.com/Documents/posts/Diocese%20of_San_Bernardino_Report.pdf

Potentially dangerous because:
Only the most dangerous clerics ever get barred or banned from a diocese, also because of his international travel and because his whereabouts are unknown.

–Fr. James Vincent Flosi was sued in 2005 for allegedly abusing a Quigley Theological Seminary student in 1980 while assigned to Holy Name Cathedral. He faced multiple reports of sexual abusing kids dating to the 1970s. In 1991, he was accused of teaching several middle school age boys to masturbate and the following year he resigned from the priesthood and was defrocked in 2010. Later, he became the founder and CEO of Aidscare in Chicago.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/il_chicago/#flosi

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

WARSAW (POLAND)
Catholic News Service

March 16, 2019

By Jonathan Luxmoore

A top Polish Catholic leader, named the first bishops’ conference delegate for child protection, welcomed a church report on sexual abuse by clergy in his country and vowed efforts to combat it.

Archbishop Wojciech Polak of Gniezno spoke at a March 14 news conference launching the abuse report, compiled from dioceses and religious orders by the Polish church’s Statistics Institute and Child Protection Center. The report listed 382 cases of sexual abuse between 1990 and 2018, involving 625 minors: 58 percent boys and 42 percent girls.

“Every one of these victims should awaken pain, shame and guilt, both among clergy and in me as a leader,” said Archbishop Polak. “We can never do enough.”

The report said canonical procedures had been followed by the church in 95 percent of instances, with three-quarters of cases brought to completion. However, it added that only a quarter of cases had seen the defrocking of abusers; 40 percent ended in restrictions on priestly ministry.

Work transfers, suspensions and acts of penance had been ordered in 12 percent of cases, while 13 percent of cases had been discontinued and 10 percent of suspected abusers acquitted.

The report said “differences of reliability” among Polish dioceses and religious orders in responding to enquiries had necessitated “additional monitoring and data verification,” while there had been “a certain ignorance” about church rules on abuse.

Last September, Poland’s bishops responded to accusations of failure to tackle clerical abuse by setting out plans for new child protection guidelines, as well as prevention programs and data collection.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

March 16, 2019

By Erin Cox

Amid worldwide investigations of child sexual abuse allegations against the Catholic Church, Maryland lawmakers on Saturday advanced legislation that would let people sue their assailants for damages in civil court regardless of when the abuse took place.

Lawmakers said that as the clergy sexual abuse scandal widens, it should be easier for victims to hold perpetrators — and the church — accountable.

“This is an issue that is growing in magnitude every single day; it is growing in magnitude across the country,” said House Judiciary Chairman Del. Luke Clippinger (D-Baltimore City).

“Those people should get relief,” he said.

More than a dozen attorneys general have launched state-level criminal investigations into child sexual abuse allegations involving the church. Officials in Maryland, Virginia and the Districtare among them.

Maryland’s legislation won preliminary approval in the House of Delegates on Saturday, and it would erase an existing statute of limitations on bringing civil sexual abuse cases in the future. It would also apply retroactively, giving victims until October 2021 to file suit over abuse alleged to have happened at any time in the past.

If the proposal becomes law, it will create a new avenue for victims who are now adults to seek monetary damages. The civil cases can be filed regardless of whether law enforcement agencies pursue criminal charges.

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

PARIS (FRANCE)
LaCroix International

March 16, 2019

Catholic reaction to the conviction of George Pell for child sexual abuse was as diverse as the Catholic community itself.

Some of the reaction has a public voice, including the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, the Catholic commentariat, individual bishops, leaders of Catholic agencies and education authorities, and prominent Catholic survivors. This aspect of Catholic reaction can be identified.

Some explored the trial, conviction and forthcoming appeal, while the remainder discussed the likely impact on the Catholic community, sometimes a gut reaction of a personal kind.Some emphasised the value of the Church’s works in the community while others gave reassurance that the Church is now a safe environment. Some questioned the verdict or urged against a rush to judgement before the completion of the appeal process.

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

MIDLAND (MI)
Midland Daily News

March 16, 2019

Voice of the Faithful will meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 19, in Conference Room A of Blessed Sacrament Parish, 3109 Swede Ave., Midland.

Sister Janet Fulgenzi, Diocese of Saginaw coordinator for the Office of Child and Youth Protection, will present an overview of two training programs offered by the diocese for the protection of children and prevention of abuse. This will be an opportunity to learn more and ask questions about VIRTUS, a program offered to all employees and volunteers. She also will explain Child Lures Prevention and Teen Lures Prevention, designed for youth to recognize lures and predator grooming behavior.

The public is welcome. For more information, contact Jim Kosinski at 989-837-2819 or jimkosinski@charter.net.

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

[Monsignor Oscar Ojea, Episcopate president, calls for “radical cut” in church abuses]

ARGENTINA
Clarín

March 11, 2019

Fue al encabezar la apertura de la asamblea en Pilar donde se reúnen los obispos de todo el país.

Los obispos de todo el país se reúnen desde este lunes —y hasta el jueves— en la primera asamblea plenaria del año. Encabezada por el presidente de la Conferencia Episcopal Argentina (CEA), monseñor Oscar Ojea, la reunión se desarrolla en la casa de retiros El Cenáculo de Pilar. En la primera jornada hubo una alusión directo a los abusos en la Iglesia a los que llamaron a dar “un corte radical”.

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

WASHINGTON, DC
Catholic Herald

March 11, 2019

By Christopher Altieri

Bishop Zanchetta joins the Pope and senior Vatican officials on the retreat despite being under investigation for sexual and financial wrongdoing

The Catholic Herald has learned that a bishop currently under investigation for sexual misconduct and financial mismanagement, including claims he had naked selfies and gay pornography on his phone, is on retreat with Pope Francis and other senior members of the Roman Curia.

The bishop is Gustavo Zanchetta, emeritus of Orán, Argentina, and currently Assessor to the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA). The bishop confirmed by phone to the Herald that he was on retreat.

The week-long Lenten retreat at the Casa del Divin Maestro began Sunday afternoon.

A January 4 statement from the Press Office of the Holy See said that Bishop Zanchetta would “abstain himself from work” during the investigation. “If the elements to proceed are confirmed,” the January 4 statement said, “the case will be referred to the special commission for the bishops.”

The Press Office of the Holy See had not responded by press time to requests from The Catholic Herald for information regarding Bishop Zanchetta’s current status.

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

[Ezzati asks Pope to speed Tito Rivera’s removal from clerical state after controversial interview]

CHILE
BioBioChile

March 15, 2019

By Yerko Roa and Nicole Martínez

El arzobispo de Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati, le pidió al papa Francisco apurar la dimisión del estado clerical del cura Tito Rivera –denunciado por una violación al interior de la Catedral Metropolitana–, luego de una entrevista que dio al programa Mentiras Verdaderas, donde reconoció su sexualidad activa. Nada bien cayeron las declaraciones del sacerdote Tito Rivera el miércoles por la noche en Mentiras Verdaderas de La Red.

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

[Arias confirms abuse investigation against Trappist monks of Codegua]

CHILE
BioBioChile

March 16, 2019

By Manuel Stuardo and Nicole Martínez

El fiscal regional de O´Higgins, Emiliano Arias, confirmó que existe una investigación en contra del Monasterio de Monjes Trapenses de Codegua, la que aún se encuentra desformalizada, siendo parte de los antecedentes que se allanaron en el arzobispado de Santiago. Son al menos dos casos los que se indagan por el Ministerio Público, uno contra el actual abad, Pedro Barrientos, que incluye a un denunciante que postulaba para ser monje.

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

NEW YORK (NY)
New York Post

March 13, 2019

By Gabrielle Fonrouge and Craig McCarthy

The New Jersey pedophile priest who was found shot to death in his Nevada home had a history of hiring male prostitutes, and police believe he was targeted for death, according to reports and neighbors.

The Henderson Police Department outside of Las Vegas has declined to comment on John Capparelli’s “suspicious” death, which has been ruled a homicide by the Clark County Coroner, but the local Fox 5 outlet reported the disgraced and defrocked priest had a history of ordering male prostitutes, citing police sources.

Capparelli, who’s been accused of sexually abusing at least two dozen young men while a New Jersey priest in the 1970s and 1980s and appeared on a list of Garden State priests credibly accused of sex abuse last month, was found dead on his kitchen floor on Saturday with a gunshot wound to his neck, the coroner’s office said.

When reached by The Post, neighbor Martha Lovato, 71, said police implied Capparelli’s death was a targeted attack.

“A policeman came to our door to ask if there were any outside cameras… they said they were investigating a crime in the neighborhood,” Lovato said.

Lovato added cops told her there was no cause for concern, leading her to believe it was a targeted attack.

“It sounds to me that somebody had a personal vendetta against him,” she said.

Another neighbor said cops believe Capparelli was killed last Wednesday Mar. 6 because he didn’t show up for dinner plans with a friend that night. Joann D’Angelo said the friend came by on Saturday morning to check on Capparelli and called police, who broke in and found his body.

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

JEFFERSON CITY (MO)
News Tribune

March 16, 2019

A Catholic priest in Jefferson City has been placed on administrative leave while alleged boundary violations with minors at Immaculate Conception Church and School are investigated.

Information was shared with parishioners and students’ families this week regarding the Rev. Geoffrey Brooke, associate pastor at Immaculate Conception Church.

In a letter to Immaculate Conception School families dated March 10, Bishop Shawn McKnight of the Catholic Diocese of Jefferson City stated the diocese had received allegations of violations involving Brooke. He wrote the diocese had notified the Missouri Children’s Division hotline and Brooke may not function publicly as a priest while on leave.

The letter was shared with the News Tribune by a community member, and Director of Diocesan Communications Helen Osman confirmed its authenticity.

“This does not mean there is a determination of guilty or if the allegations are credible,” McKnight noted in the letter.

McKnight said the Diocesan Review Board will receive information relevant to these allegations and update McKnight with its recommendation on what should happen with Brooke.

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

[Priest Hector “Tito” Rivera asked “to be resigned from the clerical state”]

CHILE
La Tercera

March 14, 2019

By Angélica Baeza

Ayer el religioso, acusado de violación al interior de la Catedral de Santiago, dio una polémica entrevista donde negó tajantemente las acusaciones, mientras que el Arzobispado rechazó varias de sus afirmaciones.

El sacerdote Héctor “Tito” Rivera solicitó hoy “ser dimitido del estado clerical”, en el marco de la investigación tras la denuncia en su contra, por violación de un mayor de edad al interior de la Catedral Metropolitana.

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

[Ezzati reappears in homily and asks forgiveness for “the situations of sin, of abuses, committed by some of our brothers”]

CHILE
La Tercera

March 14, 2019

By Angélica Baeza

El arzobispo de Santiago había estado distanciado de las ceremonias masivas en medio de la investigación que se lleva en su contra, por encubrimiento de abusos sexuales.

Desde Navidad que el arzobispo de Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati, no aparecía en una ceremonia de alta convocatoria, como la de hoy, la Eucaristía de los 201 años del Voto de O’Higgins, en la Catedral Metropolitana.

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

[Prosecutor Arias: “The bishops in general have answered questions”]

CHILE
La Tercera

March 15, 2019

By M. J. Navarrete

El persecutor señaló que el énfasis de la investigación está en los casos que no han prescrito y destacó que después se verían eventuales encubrimientos.

El fiscal regional de O’ Higgins, Emiliano Arias, se refirió a la investigación que lleva respecto de presuntos abusos a menores cometidos por miembros del clero de la Iglesia Católica. El persecutor señaló que el énfasis de la investigación está en los casos que no han prescrito y destacó que después se verían eventuales encubrimientos. Respecto de las declaraciones de los obispos de esta semana, en que fueron citados Galo Fernández (Talca), Fernando Ramos (obispo auxiliar de Santiago y administrador apostólico de Rancagua), Moisés Atisha (Arica) y Fernando Chomali (Concepción), el persecutor señaló que “los obispos que han sido citados como imputados en general han prestado declaración y han respondido a las preguntas que se le realicen, con dos excepciones: Ezzati y Atisha”.

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

[Priest Tito Rivera speaks out, denies accusations against him as “a montage in order to get money”]

CHILE
El Mostrador

March 14, 2019

El sacerdote está en la mira de la justicia por la denuncia de violación en la Catedral, un hecho que además salpica al arzobispo de Santiago, cardenal Ricardo Ezzati por un supuesto encubrimiento. “La Iglesia me dio la espalda. Creo que el cardenal Ezzati ha sido prudente, pero de mis compañeros ninguno se ha tomado la molestia de visitarme”, añadió el religioso que asegura que “el 50% de los sacerdotes chilenos son homosexuales”

“Esta historia es inventada, un montaje con el fin de sacar dinero”. Esta fue una de las declaraciones del sacerdote Tito Rivera, quien rompió el silencio tras las graves acusaciones en su contra, que incluyen una violación en plena Catedral de Santiago.

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

[Church meets with victims but does not commit to investigating past abuses]

MADRID (SPAIN)
El País

March 14, 2019

By Julio Núñez

La asociación nacional Infancias Robadas entrega 13 propuestas al presidente de la Conferencia Episcopal contra la pederastia

Representantes de la asociación nacional de víctimas de abusos sexuales se han reunido este jueves por primera vez con el presidente de la Conferencia Episcopal Española (CEE), Ricardo Blázquez, para exigirle que tome medidas contra los casos de abusos abiertos o prescritos. Entre las exigencias de la agrupación Infancia Robada (AIR) destaca una: que se abra una investigación sobre la pederastia en las últimas décadas. Pero el cardenal no se ha comprometido a investigar el pasado, solo a trasladar el texto a la comisión antipederastia, según han informado los afectados al salir de la reunión. “El pasado también cuenta y cuando Blázquez dice que no investigará aquellos casos nos produce daño y enfado, vergüenza ajena y nos sentimos de nuevo agredidos”. En la Conferencia Episcopal no han querido hacer declaraciones.

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

NEW SOUTH WALES (AUSTRALIA)
Insight blog

March 16, 2019

In the aftermath of the George Pell scandal, a question has kept me awake at night: Why would anyone want to be a teacher at a Catholic school?

While this is not something I can freely discuss in the staff room, I don’t think I’m the only Catholic teacher who has come to this conclusion: I will continue to practice my faith; and I will continue to teach my students; but the Church is dead to me.

In the lead up to Pell’s sentencing, scores of priests used – or rather: abused – their Sunday pulpits to express contempt of the Australian judicial system. This denial from priests at every level in the Church is staggering – but not surprising. When the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse began, representatives from the Catholic Education Office sat us down and told us how we should respond to any parent raising concern or anger at the Church. We were told to say we are ‘saddened’ by these ‘unfortunate’ revelations. At this point I publicly disagreed. I am not sad that the Church had been exposed – I am outraged that children have been abused. And I’m outraged by the Church’s response.

The Church must be accountable to Civil Law like any other institution.

Even now, in the face of George Pell’s sentencing, bishops from around the country sent school principals letters stating the Church will not comment on Pell’s imprisonment until his appeal in June. The one part of the letter I did agree with, however, was the focus we must give to all victims.

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

ROME (ITALY)
Crux

Mar 16, 2019

By Inés San Martín

Chilean bishops began testifying at the local prosecutor’s office this week on charges that they covered up cases of clerical sexual abuse.

Their questioning comes less than a year after every bishop in the country presented their resignation to Pope Francis, who said that many of them were guilty of cover-up and destroying evidence implicating abusive priests.

In all, eight Chilean bishops have been called to testify – some of them on charges that they themselves sexually abused either minors or seminarians.

At least three of them had court appointments this week. One of these, Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati, requested to postpone a hearing to request his case be dismissed after news broke earlier in the week that the cardinal had allegedly covered up for Father Tito Rivera, who’s been accused of raping an adult male in the Santiago cathedral.

Ezzati and the archdiocese are now being sued by the man for $500,000.

Francis is expected to accept Ezzati’s resignation soon, but sources with knowledge of the situation have told Crux that the pope is working hard to make sure he has the right replacement, and is at the same time not opposed to Ezzati feeling the edge of the sword of Damocles hanging over his head for a bit longer.

Lay people in Santiago and several members of the local clergy, on the other hand, are demanding the pontiff take action now.

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

ATLANTIC CITY (NJ)
Press of Atlantic City

March 15, 2019

Your report of clerical abuse of children in the Roman Catholic Camden Diocese sparks special interest. I was educated at Blessed Sacrament in Margate and Holy Spirit in Absecon in the 1960s and 1970s, and many of the 56 accused priests’ names are familiar to me.

Galling best describes Camden Bishop Dennis J. Sullivan’s statement that 56 named priests were a “small percentage” of the more than 800 priests who had served over the past eight decades. His characterization of the problem sums up the problem itself: This is an epidemic of abuse enabled by church hierarchy.

The Catholic hierarchy has long known the findings of the late Richard Sipe, the psychotherapist and former Benedictine monk who treated and studied pedophile priests for decades. His findings estimated that 6 percent of clergy are child sexual predators. The Camden Diocese said 7 percent of its clergy have been credibly accused of acting out sexually with minors.

The diocese’s website lists the pedophile priests by name, along with their assigned parishes. Many of the clergy were reassigned with absurd frequency — up to 16 times — suggesting the diocese allowed these men to serially abuse youth with impunity.

Ted Gallagher
New York

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

LANSING (MI)
Veracity blog

March 15, 2019

A woman’s own investigation into a priest she says sexually harassed her at a church in Fenton has prompted more calls for Lansing Bishop Earl Boyea to resign from his position.

In an open letter released Thursday, the woman also asks for the resignation of Lisa Kutas, who is the director of Human Resources for the Diocese of Lansing.

The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, is a parishioner at St. John the Evangelist in Fenton. She said she has been an active member of the church for several years.

Veracity is not naming her because she is a victim of sexual harassment. She also fears retaliation against her family.

The woman filed a sexual harassment complaint against Father Mathew Joseph in August 2018. She sent three letters to Bishop Boyea.

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

ROCHESTER (NY)
Rochester First

March 14, 2019

By Howard Thompson

The Diocese of Rochester says it is concluding its settlement process as it reviews cases of reported sexual abuse at churches.

When complete, the diocese says more than 30 victims’ claims will have been heard as part of the process. In a statement, the Diocese of Rochester says it “now wants to assess where we are as we prepare to respond to and cooperate with the process set forth in this recent legislation.”

The legal process will continue, with Judge Robert Lunn serving as a mediator for the remaining claims. But, victims who have gone through the investigative process will have their claims administered by Judge Lynn.

“The Diocese has a long-established process of working directly with victims and will continue to do so,” the church adds.

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

ROCHESTER (NY)
Diocese of Rochester Website

March 14, 2019

With the passage of the Child Victims Act, the Diocese will conclude our settlement process involving Justice Robert J. Lunn, who has been serving as an independent neutral to resolve claims against the Diocese involving allegations of sexual abuse of minors. The Diocese now wants to assess where we are as we prepare to respond to and cooperate with the process set forth in this recent legislation. The program with Justice Lunn will not end immediately. Instead, all claimants who have now completed the investigation phase of the program will have their claims administered by Justice Lunn. When the process concludes, more than 30 claimants will have been heard. The Diocese has a long-established process of working directly with victims and will continue to do so.

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

VATICAN CITY
Associated Press

March 7, 2019

By Nicole Winfield

The conviction of French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin for failing to report a known pedophile priest to police deepens the crisis confronting an already discredited Catholic Church hierarchy. The verdict handed down by magistrates Thursday shows the church’s once-untouchable “princes” increasingly are judged accountable for priests who abuse children and the superiors who allowed the abuse to continue.

After centuries of impunity, cardinals from Chile to Australia and points in between are facing justice in both the Vatican and government courts for their own sexual misdeeds or for having shielded abusers under their watch..

Here is a look at cases implicating Catholic cardinals, members of the exclusive club of prelates that advises the pope and eventually elects his successor.

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

VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register

March 14, 2019

By Edward Pentin

The archbishop emeritus of Mechelen-Brussels was a controversial ‘reformer’ who jokingly admitted to being part of a ‘mafia’ club that tried to prevent Benedict XVI’s election in 2005.

Cardinal Godfried Danneels, who headed the Catholic bishops’ conference of Belgium for more than 30 years — and who favored changes to the Church that often put him at odds with Catholic teaching — died Thursday at the age of 85.

* * *

In 2010, Cardinal Danneels was accused of covering up a clerical sex-abuse case, which led to civil authorities raiding his private residence, as well as St. Rombaud Cathedral and archdiocesan property.

Leaked audio recordings revealed the Belgian cardinal urging the victim in that case not to make public that his abuser was the victim’s own uncle, Bishop Roger Vangheluwe of Bruges, and pressuring the young man not to force Bishop Vangheluwe to resign, which he did in 2010.

The cardinal’s spokesman said at the time that “there was no intention of any cover-up” and the recording had been taken out of context. But even if there was never a policy of cover-up, commentators criticized Cardinal Danneels for keeping Bishop Vangheluwe’s admission of guilt to himself, failing to convince his brother bishop to resign immediately, and for never involving a commission for protection of minors or his successor.

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

KANSAS CITY (KC)
Catholic News Service via National Catholic Reporter

March 14, 2019

By Junno Arocho Esteves

Vatican City – Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels, retired archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, died March 14 at the age of 85.

Pope Francis expressed his condolences to Danneels’ family and the Belgian faithful and praised the late prelate’s zeal for the church, especially during the Synod of Bishops on the family in 2014 and 2015.

“This zealous pastor has served the church with dedication not only in his diocese but also at the national level as president of the Belgian bishops’ conference, as well as serving as a member of various Roman dicasteries,” the pope said in March 14 telegram to Cardinal Jozef De Kesel, the current archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels.

“I ask Christ, conqueror of evil and death, to welcome him into his peace and joy,” the pope said. Born June 4, 1933, in Kanegem, Belgium, Danneels was the oldest of six children. He was ordained a priest in 1957 and two years later became chairman of the department of theology and spiritual director at the seminary in Bruges. In 1969, he became professor of theology at Louvain University.

* * *

Despite being respected within and outside the church, Danneels faced criticism in 2010 after meeting a victim of clergy sex abuse by a local bishop.

Belgium’s Flemish-language De Standaard and Het Nieuwsblad dailies published an alleged transcript of the then-retired cardinal’s April 2010 meeting with relatives of the nephew of Bishop Roger Vangheluwe of Bruges. The unnamed nephew was abused by his uncle before and after the bishop’s 1985 consecration.

Vangheluwe resigned in the same month after admitting abusing his nephew for 13 years.

According to the text, Danneels drew a distinction between “public and private punishment” of the bishop and suggested “forgiveness and forgiving” to the unnamed victim, who said he would leave the decision about going public to the cardinal.

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

LYON (FRANCE)
Associated Press via U.S. News and World Report

March 7, 2019

By Nicolas Vaux-Montagny

French cardinal offers to resign after court convicts him of failing to report known pedophile priest to police.

In a surprise ruling, France’s senior Catholic cleric, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, was convicted Thursday of failing to report a known pedophile priest to police, the latest high-ranking churchman to fall in the global reckoning over clergy sex abuse and cover-ups.

Magistrates in Lyon found that Barbarin had an obligation to report the Rev. Bernard Preynat to civil authorities and gave the cardinal a six-month suspended prison sentence. Barbarin offered to resign.

Preynat, who is scheduled to be tried on sexual violence charges next year, has confessed to abusing Boy Scouts in the 1970s and 1980s. People who said they were among the victims accused Barbarin and other church officials of covering up the priest’s crimes for years.

Nine victims brought the case to trial. A group of Preynat’s victims hailed the unanticipated conviction as a victory for child protection and a strong signal that church leaders will be held accountable.

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

DENVER (CO)
Crux

March 9, 2019

By Paulina Guzik

On a day set aside for prayer and atonement for victims of sexual abuse in Poland, a statue of a Cold War-era priest was removed in the city of Gdańsk, after he was accused of abusing minors.

Penitential liturgies have been organized throughout Poland on the first Friday of Lent, including the Archdiocese of Gdańsk. On the same day, a statue of the legendary priest, Father Henryk Jankowski of Solidarność, was dismantled by order of the city council.

The coastal city of Gdańsk could be where “transparency,” the new flagship slogan of the Catholic Church – proclaimed during the Feb. 21-24 Vatican abuse summit – could run into the shallow waters of Poland.

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

SOUTH BEND (IN)
16 WNDU

March 14, 2019

By Karina Flores

Activists from a support group for victims abused by clergy members claim the bishop of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend failed to acknowledge 11 priests accused of abuse.

“We’re here because we believe the bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend is deliberately concealing names of predator priests,” said David Clohessy, the St. Louis director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.

Clohessy is traveling across the region calling for Bishop Kevin Rhoades to reconsider the list he released of clergy who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor.

“If [the bishop] is going to claim to come clean, he should really come clean and name all of the abusive priests, nuns, seminarians, bishops, brothers, monks – all of them,” Clohessy said.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
The Hoya

March 15, 2019

By Harrison Hurt

In the midst of an abuse crisis within the Catholic Church, the five Jesuit provinces in the United States released lists in December and January of priests accused of child sexual abuse. Yet the incomplete nature of these lists has sparked even greater criticism from lawyers and advocates, including lawyer Mitchell Garabedian, who has represented over 2,000 survivors of clerical abuse.

“The diocese and Jesuit Provinces want to appear as doing the right thing when they’re in fact doing the bare minimum,” Garabedian said in a phone interview with The Hoya.

Two ordained Jesuits with previous Georgetown affiliations and credible abuse allegations — Fr. Thomas M. Gannon, S.J., and Bernard Knoth — served in the Maryland Province but did not appear in the province’s Dec. 17 report, even after another province’s report revealed their time at Georgetown four days later.

For two former Jesuits mentioned the report, Fr. Neil McLaughlin, S.J., and H. Cornell Bradley, the province omitted time both priests had spent on Georgetown’s campus.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
The Hoya

March 15, 2019

by Myroslav Dobroshynskyi

In 1983, Fr. Thomas M. Gannon, S.J., received the faculty member of the year award from Loyola University Chicago for his work as chair of the sociology department. The same year, Gannon left Loyola to become a professor at Georgetown University and the director of the Woodstock Theological Center in Lauinger Library — a move that came after Gannon sexually abused a minor at a church in Highland, Ind., that year.

That accusation, deemed credible by the U.S. Midwest Province of the Society of Jesus in 2018, is one of several against Gannon, both before and after his time at Georgetown from 1983 to 1986. Gannon, who died in 2011, also sexually abused minors while teaching at an Ohio high school in the 1960s and at two parishes in the 1990s, according to the Midwest Province.

While he was chair of the sociology department at Loyola, Gannon — who would later teach sociology to undergraduates at Georgetown — allegedly sexually assaulted and harassed at least two graduate students, allegations that were reported at the time to Loyola administrators in the Jesuit order, but were not public until now.

Gannon taught Georgetown undergraduate classes on comparative social structures and the sociology of religion from 1983 to 1986, according to archives of class schedules from those years. During his time at Georgetown, Gannon lived in a Jesuit residence two blocks from the front gates and worked as the director of the Woodstock Theological Center, a research center located in the basement of Lauinger Library that was managed by the Maryland Province of the Jesuit order until the center closed in 2013.

Georgetown University, which first learned of allegations against Gannon from the Midwest Province’s report Dec. 17, 2018, has not publicly acknowledged his past work on campus.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
The Hoya

March 15, 2019

By Riley Rogerson

“We have a nightmarish fear that Father Walsh may sexually molest innocent female students, and little girls in the Georgetown area.”

Sarah Lynne Landsdale was 5 years old when her uncle, Fr. William J. Walsh, S.J., first molested her while wearing his clerical clothing. Approximately 40 years later, in 1996, she and four of her sisters told the Maryland Province that Walsh had abused each of them hundreds of times. And two years later, in 1998, she and her sisters called a press conference to plead for their uncle’s removal from Georgetown University’s campus.

Walsh, who served as a Georgetown professor during the 1966-67 school year and conducted research on campus from 1996 until 1998, sexually abused minors in at least four locations — including Washington, D.C. — over the course of four decades, according to a December 2018 report issued by the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus that deemed allegations against him credible.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
The Hoya

March 15, 2019

by Will Cassou

Fr. Daniel C. O’Connell, S.J., once a popular professor in the Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus, was removed from his position as president of St. Louis University in 1978 after an allegation of sexual abuse. His work at Jesuit universities, however, continued for another 20 years, bringing him to Loyola University Chicago and Georgetown University, which only began the process of revoking his title of professor emeritus of psychology this week.

Though notified of credible allegations against O’Connell in 2009, Georgetown University did not decide to rescind O’Connell’s professor emeritus title until Wednesday, eight days after receiving questions from The Hoya for this story.

Fr. Daniel C. O’Connell, S.J., worked at Georgetown University as a professor, chaplain-in-residence and department chair. He was a professor emeritus at Georgetown until Wednesday.

Now 90, O’Connell served as a chaplain-in-residence in Harbin Hall and taught undergraduate psychology courses at Georgetown between 1989 and 1998, serving as chair of the psychology department for six of those years, according to university archival material. After leaving the university in 1998, he was granted professor emeritus status, a title he held for 16 years after his first legal settlement with a survivor of his abuse.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
The Hoya

March 15, 2019

By Sana Rahman

In between two periods of abusing minors as an administrator and a teacher at Gonzaga College High School in the 1960s and 1970s, former Jesuit priest H. Cornell Bradley worked as a campus minister at Georgetown University. Neither the university nor the Maryland Province of the Jesuit order, which has deemed allegations against Bradley credible, have acknowledged his time at Georgetown since his abuse was made public in 2006.

One year after his ordination, Bradley, who left the Jesuits in 2007 shortly after being removed from ministry, came to Georgetown in 1970, according to the Official Catholic Directory and contemporaneous records catalogued by the Maryland Province.

Bradley, now 80, lived two blocks from the university’s front gates at Holy Trinity Church from 1972 until 1976, according to a December 2018 report issued by the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus.

The Province did not include Georgetown on Bradley’s assignment record for the report, but later acknowledged his work on campus in a March 13 statement to The Hoya. Georgetown has not publicly acknowledged the allegations against Bradley, of which it was first notified by a March 1 email from The Hoya.

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

NEW YORK (NY)
America Magazine

March 11, 2019

By David Clohessy and Rev. Dr. Serene Jones

[Includes 30-minute audio interview.]

Religious people need to face reality. The Rev. Dr. Serene Jones is the president of the Union Theological Seminary and the author of Trauma and Grace: Theology in a Ruptured World. As Dr. Jones tells it, “we need to get out of our sweet little worlds…and not be afraid of the horror of what’s happening around us.” We need to listen.

For the next two weeks, “Deliver Us” will feature four episodes where sex abuse survivors have a chance to tell their stories, in their own words.

Listening to the survivors of sexual abuse can be difficult, but it is an essential part of the process of healing, says Dr. Jones. Bearing witness is a crucial component of the Christian life and Dr. Jones noted that “giving testimony and bearing witness is the absolute, most essential part of the process of healing. Until the stories and the reality of what’s happened can come out into voice and can be heard by another person received by them, you can’t start the healing process.”

Each survivor’s story illustrates a unique journey through the shattering trauma of sexual abuse. We spoke with some people who found healing in breaking the silence and telling their stories. Another survivor committed herself to justice, fighting to prevent abuse from happening in the future. One survivor made his way back to his home parish and his spirituality after years away. There are many others who are just beginning these journeys.

As we prepared these episodes, Dr. Jones reminded us that when the stories become too much, we have to be able to admit that to ourselves and to find places, communities and people where we can also share our responses and “work through in [our] own heart what happened.”

In our first survivor stories episode, we will hear from Dr. Jones and sex abuse survivor and former national director of SNAP, David Clohessy.

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

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post-Dispatch

March 10, 2019

By Nassim Benchaabane

Seven more Jesuit priests who worked in St. Louis have been identified as being credibly accused of sexual abuse, according to a list posted months ago by a Jesuit province but not publicized here until a survivors group outed the names on Friday.

Four of the priests were assigned to St. Louis University as recently as the 1970s, according to the Midwest Jesuit Province. One priest worked at Washington University in the late 1960s. Two, including one assigned to SLU, worked at St. Stanislaus Seminary in the 1940s. One of the priests, and a second convicted of abuse in Michigan, were patients at a Catholic treatment center in Dittmer as recently as 2012.

David Clohessy, spokesman for the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, which pointed out the new information on Friday, said the Midwest Province should have published the information earlier.

“They tried to pull a fast one,” Clohessy said at a press conference SNAP called on Friday in front of St. Francis Xavier “College” Church on Lindell Boulevard on the SLU campus.

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

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Insurance Journal

March 15, 2019

By Dave Kolpack

North Dakota’s Roman Catholic dioceses are mulling whether and when to release information about priests accused of sexual abuse, even as critics say they are moving too slowly following explosive revelations in Pennsylvania last year.

The Bismarck Diocese, the state’s second-largest, says it plans to release the names of priests with “substantiated claims” against them of sexual misconduct with minors after it finishes reviewing its files. But the Fargo Diocese hasn’t yet decided whether to release names.

The dioceses responded to questions from The Associated Press following revelations in Pennsylvania last summer that more than 300 priests had been credibly accused of molesting more than 1,000 children, and as Pope Francis last month convened a summit of Catholic leaders from around the world on the issue.

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

CORPUS CHRISTI (TX)
Caller-Times

March 12, 2019

By Tim Acosta

Two priests whose names were released by the Diocese of Corpus Christi in a list of priests who had been “credibly accused” of sexual misconduct have filed lawsuits against the diocese and Bishop Michael Mulvey.

Attorneys for Fr. John Feminelli and Msgr. Michael Heras filed lawsuits on behalf of both men Thursday in Nueces County. The men both claim Mulvey and the diocese made “false” statements by including them in the list and claiming they had been credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor.

“Defendants knew the statement was false and acted with reckless disregard for the truth,” both lawsuits state. “The publication of the statement was made with malice.”

Both Feminelli and Heras are seeking up to $11 million each in damages, according to the filings. They claim that there “was, and is, no evidence” that they were credibly accused “of the crime of sexual abuse of a minor.”

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

WARSAW (POLAND)
Konferencja Episkopatu Polski (Polish Bishops Conference)

March 14, 2019

[See also the report (in Polish): Sexual abuse of minors by some clerics and some religious.]

382 reported cases of sexual abuse of minors, including 198 cases concerning minors under the age of 15, and 184 above the age of 15; the reported cases cover the time from January 1, 1990, to June 30, 2018 – according to the data received by the Secretariat of the Polish Bishops’ Conference from all dioceses and religious orders. They were elaborated by the Institute for Catholic Church Statistics and the Child Protection Centre.

The total number of victims in all (also unconfirmed) cases under the age of 15 accounted for 345. Whereas, above the age of 15 – 280. Among the victims, in all reported cases, male minors accounted for 58.4%, while the female minors – 41.6%.

Among all the cases, in which the status of the canonical process was identified (94.8% of all reported cases), 74.6% of cases were already completed, and 25.4% of them were still in progress.

The cases completed with dismissal from the clerical state represented 25.2%. Other penalties (suspense, canonical admonition, prohibition on work with minors, removal from office, restriction of ministry or prohibition on public appearances) represented 40.3%.

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

NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

March 14, 2019

By Joanna Berendt

Warsaw – The Roman Catholic Church in Poland released long-awaited statistics on Thursday that shed light on the sexual abuse of children by priests over the past 28 years.

The study, commissioned by the Episcopal Conference of Poland and pulling together data from over 10,000 local parishes, found that from 1990 to mid-2018, church officials received abuse reports concerning 382 priests.

During that time, the statistics said, 625 children, most of them aged 15 or younger, were sexually abused by members of the Catholic clergy.

Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki, the president of the conference, said it was “particularly painful, even tragic” that priests betrayed public trust by “hurting those who are most vulnerable.”

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

NEW YORK (NY)
Associated Press via New York Times

March 7, 2019

By Aurelien Breeden

Paris – A Catholic cardinal offered his resignation on Thursday after being found guilty by a French court of covering up decades-old sexual abuse by a priest in his diocese, a surprise victory for the priest’s accusers, who had forced the case to trial after it was dropped by prosecutors.

The conviction of Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, the archbishop of Lyon, was the first in France against such a high-profile clergyman, adding to a long list of sexual abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church just weeks after a landmark meeting at the Vatican ended without a concrete plan to tackle the issue.

Cardinal Barbarin, 68, was found guilty of failing to report child abuse by the Rev. Bernard Preynat to the authorities from 2014 to 2015, after parishioners accused the priest of sexually abusing dozens of Boy Scouts in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The court handed down a six-month suspended prison sentence to Cardinal Barbarin, who had faced up to three years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros, nearly $51,000. His lawyers said they would appeal.

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

GRAND RAPIDS (MI)
M Live Media

March 14, 2019

By Emily Monacelli

Kalamazoo – A support group for men and women abused by members of the Roman Catholic Church has called on the Diocese of Kalamazoo to publicly list the former Kalamazoo-area priests who have credible allegations against them.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests on Thursday, March 14, called for Diocese of Kalamazoo Bishop Paul Bradley to post the names of all church staff accused of molesting children on the websites of Kalamazoo churches. The post should include photos and work histories, SNAP said.

David Clohessy, director of SNAP Network’s St. Louis chapter, said he has found six priests who have worked in the Kalamazoo area and have been publicly accused of sex abuse.

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

HARTFORD (CT)
Hartford Courant

March 12, 2019

By Dave Altimari

The Norwich Diocese has agreed to pay a former altar boy at a Pomfret church $900,000 to settle a claim that a priest sexually abused him “hundreds of times” over a six-year period in the 1990s.

The lawsuit was originally filed in 2016 by Jonathan Roy against the diocese and now-deceased priest Paul Hebert, who was the pastor at The Most Holy Trinity Church in Pomfret when the alleged abuse took place between 1990-1996, the lawsuit said.

The case was settled rather than going to trial. The two sides were supposed to pick a jury in January but it was postponed while further mediation took place. The case was settled recently.

“We hope that the recent settlement reached in the case of allegations concerning late Father Paul Hebert brings closure to the parties involved,” Norwich Diocese spokesman Wayne Gignac said in a statement Tuesday.

New London attorney Kelly Reardon, who represented Roy, said Tuesday that Roy “is relieved that this ordeal is over and happy to get this behind him.” The lawsuit initially sought $2 million.

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

NEW YORK (NY)
Fox News

March 14, 2019

By Ryan Gaydos

A defrocked Roman Catholic priest who was among nearly 200 New Jersey priests facing accusations of sexual abuse was shot and killed in a Las Vegas suburb, officials said Tuesday.

John Capparelli, 70, was found dead Saturday inside the kitchen of his Henderson home with a gunshot wound to his neck, said Nicole Charlton, the Clark County Coroner’s Office medical examiner. Capparelli had moved into the $319,000 home in August 2016, according to property records.

Police believe Capparelli died amid “suspicious circumstances,” but authorities haven’t divulged details as to whether there’s a suspect in his death or if the killing had anything to do with the abuse allegations.

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

ROCHESTER (NY)
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

March 14, 2019

By Steve Orr

A new wave of allegations against Roman Catholic clergy will emerge in New York as a result of the new Child Victims Act. Matthew Leonard, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

The Diocese of Rochester ended its voluntary program to compensate victims of child sexual abuse Thursday, a move that could invite a greater number of lawsuits being filed by victims.

The diocese’s reconciliation and compensation program, formed at the direction of the church hierarchy, aimed to settle claims from people who said they had been sexually abused as children by priests or other church figures.

The purpose was to offer a non-confrontational way to resolve claims without costly litigation.

About 30 people have entered into the settlement process, the diocese said, and compensation has been awarded in at least a half-dozen cases.

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

NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

March 12, 2019

By Rick Rojas and Liam Stack

Allegations of sexual abuse trailed John Capparelli, a former priest, for decades, resurfacing in the years after the Archdiocese of Newark removed him from ministry. There were the lawsuits from accusers, and last month his name was included on a list published by the Roman Catholic Church in New Jersey that identified priests who had been credibly accused of sexual abuse.

On Saturday, Mr. Capparelli was found fatally shot in his home in Nevada, and the authorities there said that his death was being investigated as a homicide.

The police said that officers found Mr. Capparelli’s body in his kitchen after being sent to do a wellness check at his home in Henderson, Nev., a city of 300,000 people just outside Las Vegas, where he has lived for the past few years.

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

NEWARK (NJ)
NJ.com

March 13, 2019

By Rebecca Everett

It’s not unusual for victims of clergy sex abuse to wait decades to report what happened to them. But a lawsuit filed Friday claims a boy abused by a Vineland priest in 1962 was in a car within minutes of the abuse, being driven in the middle of the night to report it to the then-bishop of the Diocese of Camden.

“Never speak of this again,” was the response he received from the late bishop Celestine Damiano, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit filed by a 73-year-old Ocean County man describes abuse at age 16 by Father Richard Gerbino, then a priest at the St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Vineland. He is among the credibly-accused priests the New Jersey dioceses released publicly in February.

And in a twist, the priest the boy immediately reported the abuse to — and who drove him to meet with the bishop — also ended up being outed as a child abuser decades later.

The driver, John P. “Jack” Connor was named in the Pennsylvania clergy abuse grand jury investigation report. The report alleged bishops in Camden, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh shuffled him from diocese to diocese, even after he admitted to abusing a boy in 1984, until he was removed from ministry in 2002.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
The Hoya

March 15, 2019

By Adam Shaham, Will Simon and Will Cassou

Since 1937, Georgetown University students have learned from, lived with and sought the guidance of religious leaders on campus. Of those leaders, 14 have been credibly or plausibly accused of sexual abuse, according to an investigation by The Hoya.

Their names are Fr. Engelbert M. Axer, S.J.; Fr. Michael L. Barber, S.J.; H. Cornell Bradley; Fr. Neil Carr, S.J.; Fr. Martin J. Casey, S.J.; Fr. Augustine J. Ferretti, S.J.; Fr. Thomas M. Gannon, S.J.; Fr. Jack Kennington; Bernard Knoth; Fr. Anthony McGinley; Fr. Neil P. McLaughlin, S.J.; Fr. Daniel C. O’Connell, S.J.; Fr. William J. Walsh, S.J.; and Sr. Lisa Zuccarelli.

The credibility of accusations against each priest is based on settled lawsuits, the review of Catholic Church authorities or admissions of guilt. Each priest’s affiliation with Georgetown was verified through media reporting, public church statements or university archival material.

Georgetown confirmed all 14 priests were at some point affiliated with the university in a March 13 statement to The Hoya. Yet the university has publicly recognized abuse allegations against only four. One retained the title of professor emeritus at Georgetown until this week.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

March 15, 2019

NCR readers had a myriad of reactions to the Feb. 21-24 summit of bishops at the Vatican to discuss the clerical sex abuse crisis. You can find all of NCR’s coverage here. A sampling of letters from NCR readers reacting to the summit are below. They have been edited for length and clarity.

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

FERNDALE (MI)
Church Militant

March 14, 2019

Lansing – An abuse survivor has issued a public letter to Michigan Bp. Earl Boyea urging that he resign over his mishandling of clerical abuse cases.

“You must inform the public about your relationship with Egan and Inglot,” the letter begins, “why you permitted both to be in charge of or near athletic men whom they would find attractive, and why the diocese attacked and discredited men who came forward.”

The young man, who has asked to remain anonymous, was a victim of Fr. Pat Egan, who was stripped of his faculties in Sept. 2018 after a credible allegation of “inappropriate sexual behavior with an adult male,” according to the diocese’s statement.

The diocese left out the significant fact that Boyea had first learned of the allegation in 2014 but had taken no action to remove the priest from ministry for four years.

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

DETROIT (MI)
Associated Press via CBS 62 Detroit

March 15, 2019

Saginaw – Church leaders in the Saginaw Diocese say a priest who was a local school principal in the 1980s is on a list of priests with credible allegations of sexual abuse.

Francis Landwermeyer died in September in Texas. The Saginaw Diocese says it learned Wednesday that he was accused of sexually abusing minors elsewhere, although his name was publicly disclosed by the Jesuit order in December.

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

ST. PAUL (MN)
Religion News Service via Crux

March 12, 2019

By Maria Wiering

Father Kevin Finnegan said he didn’t know what to expect when he arrived at St. Peter in Mendota.

The pastor of Our Lady of Grace in Edina was responding to an invitation Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda had extended to priests of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis: to join him for an evening to reflect on the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

But Finnegan was grateful he went.

With about 80 other priests, he listened to presentations from a clergy abuse survivor and his mother. Both shared how the experience affected their Catholic faith and suggested ways priests can better help other survivors.

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

TOPEKA (KS)
Lawrence Journal-World

March 13, 2019

By Dylan Lysen

A bill that would require clergy to be mandatory reporters of suspected sexual assault received broad support during its first hearing in the Kansas Legislature.

Several people who identified themselves as victims or related to victims of sexual violence spoke Wednesday in support of Senate Bill 218 before the Kansas Senate’s state and federal affairs committee. Baldwin City Democrat Sen. Tom Holland introduced the bill in January.

The bill would add religious leaders, regardless of religion, to already existing laws that require teachers, social workers, firefighters, police, psychologists, therapists and other professionals to relay information of possible sexual assaults and other abuse to law enforcement.

“This, to me, is a no-brainer,” Holland said. “This is an issue across all religions and denominations.”

Janet Patterson, a Wichita woman who said she has fought for years to shed light on sexual violence committed by Kansas priests, shared the story of her son Eric, who killed himself at the age of 29. Patterson said that shortly before Eric’s death, she learned that Eric said he had been sexually assaulted by Robert Larson, a Catholic priest in Wichita. Larson pleaded guilty in 2001 to abusing three altar boys and another man, and he served several years in prison before his death in 2014, according to the Wichita Eagle.

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

NEW JERSEY/NEVADA
NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

March 14, 2019

By Kim Chatelain

A former New Jersey priest who was credibly accused of groping young boys was shot to death in his Nevada home, NJ.com reported.

The body of John Capparelli, 70, was found in the kitchen of his home in Henderson, Nevada, by police who were conducting a welfare check on Saturday (March 9). He had been shot once in the neck, the website reported.

Capparelli’s name was included in a list of 188 clergymen in New Jersey who had been “credibly accused” of sex crimes against children. The state’s five Catholic dioceses released the names while under mounting pressure to identify clergy accused of sexual misconduct, according to NJ.com.

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

NEW YORK (NY)
Jezebel

March 14, 2019

By Maria Sherman

There’s been a major update in the ongoing criminal trials surrounding NXIVM, the self-help organization and alleged “sex cult” that reportedly branded women with the initials of their leader Keith Raniere and forced them to offer up life-destroying collateral should they ever speak out publicly against the group. Nancy Salzman, the registered nurse who co-founded the group with Raniere, has plead guilty to conspiracy during a hearing in federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Her sentencing is set for July 10.

Salzman teamed up with Raniere to form what she assumed was going to be a totally legitimate self-help organization, but quickly became involved in criminal activities to protect it. She admitted to stealking the identities of people looking to expose the group, hacking into their emails from 2003-2008, and tried to edit videos illuminating her criminal activities before they were surrender to plaintiffs in New Jersey. Salzman told the courtroom:

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

NEW YORK (NY)
The Associated Press

March 13, 2019

Nancy Salzman, a registered nurse who was known as “Prefect” within the embattled upstate New York self-help organization, was involved in stealing identities of the group’s critics and hacking into their email accounts from 2003 to 2008, prosecutors said.

A co-founder of an embattled upstate New York self-help organization pleaded guilty on Wednesday in a case featuring sensational claims that some followers became branded sex slaves.

An emotional Nancy Salzman told a judge in federal court in Brooklyn that she teamed up with Keith Raniere, the NXIVM group’s self-styled spiritual leader, because she wanted to help people improve their lives. But Salzman admitted that she later lost her way when she joined efforts to spy on perceived enemies seeking to expose the Albany-based group as a cross between a pyramid scheme and a cult.

“It has taken some time and soul searching to come to this place,” said Salzman, choking back tears. “I accept that some of what I did was not just wrong, but criminal. If I could go back and do it all over again, I would. But I can’t.”

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

NEW YORK (NY)
BuzzFeed News

March 13, 2019

By Brianna Sacks

Keith Raniere, a self-help guru who allegedly recruited women into his group and forced them to be sex slaves, also victimized teenage girls, according to new court filings.

The co-founder of NXIVM, the self-help group that was allegedly used as a front of a secret sex cult, now faces child pornography charges.

Federal prosecutors, who announced the charges Wednesday, allege Keith Raniere took photos of two underage girls, one of whom he made a “slave.”

Authorities in New York arrested Raniere last year, busting open the bizarre operation of the self-help group that prosecutors say recruited women into a type of pyramid scheme, then brainwashing and manipulating them into becoming sex slaves while following strict diets and performing manual labor.

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

DETROIT (MI)
WWMT

The Associated Press

March 13, 2019

The Archdiocese of Detroit says it will re-examine names on a list it put together of clergy credibly accused of abuse.

The Detroit News reports that the announcement Wednesday follows allegations by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests that the list is incomplete.

Members of the support group say more than two dozen clerics accused of child molestation are not on the list even though they are or were in the Detroit area.

The archdiocese says it also will look at information provided by religious orders and that oversights on the list will be corrected.

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

DETROIT (MI)
Click on Detroit

March 13, 2019

By Rod Meloni and Amber Ainsworth

Man says list of accused clergy members is incomplete

An activist claims the Archdiocese of Detroit is not being fully honest in how it is handling clergy members accused of sexual abuse.

“We believe that the Detroit archbishop is being less than honest with his list of credibly accused priests,” David Clohessey said.

Clohessey is the former national president of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. He says that Archbishop Allen Vigneron’s handling of the priest abuse scandal is insufficient.

For instance, the archdiocese put out a list of more than five dozen clerics who have Detroit ties, but a former priest who is in prison for criminal sexual conduct isn’t on the list. James Francis Rapp, who was a priest at the Lumen Christi High School in Jackson, is serving 40 years at the Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility.

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

HARRISBURG (PA)
CBS 21

March 14, 2019

By Alexandra Simon

A former priest in the Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg was arrested Thursday morning on accusations that he molested two altar boys between 1997 and 2002.

John G. Allen was arrested on four counts of indecent assault and two counts of corruption of minors.

According to the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office, an investigation into Allen, now 75, began in October 2018 after the Diocese of Harrisburg notified the DA’s office of allegations made against the former priest.

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

WARSAW (POLAND)
The Associated Press

March 14, 2019

Poland’s Catholic Church leaders revealed Thursday they have recorded cases of 382 priests abusing minors since 1990.

The figure includes 198 priests who abused minors under 15 years old and 184 priests who abused others, aged between 15 and 18, according to Wojciech Sadlon, the head of the church’s Institute of Statistics.

The crimes occurred from 1990 through the middle of last year, he told a news conference.

Archbishop Wojciech Polak, the primate of Poland, expressed “pain, shame and the sense of guilt that such situations happened.”

The figures were released following a three-day session of Poland’s Episcopate in Warsaw that discussed abuse and ways of protecting children.

The release came just weeks after Pope Francis convened church leaders from around the world to the Vatican, where they discussed the issue of sex abuse of minors by the clergy.

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

ALTOONA (PA)
Altoona Mirror

March 14, 2019

A priest at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament has been put on leave, a move the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese indicated is because of an investigation into allegations involving a minor.

“This comes as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged misconduct involving a minor, which occurred years ago,” diocese spokesman Tony DeGol said in a statement about Monsignor Robert C. Mazur that was sent out to news media late Wednesday afternoon.

“This matter is reported to law enforcement,” DeGol added, although what law enforcement agency DeGol is referring to remains unknown at this time.

The 68-year-old Mazur served as the rector of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament since 1995 and was also administrator of Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Altoona since 2015.

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

HARRISBURG (PA)
Penn Live

March 13, 2019

By Travis Kellar

A former priest with the Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg has been arrested on child molestation charges, according to the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office.

John G. Allen, 75, of York was arrested Thursday by detectives from the District Attorney’s Criminal Investigation Division. Allen is charged with four counts of indecent assault and two counts of corruption of minors.

Allen is accused of molesting two boys between 1997 and 2002 while they served as altar boys for St. Margaret Mary’s Alacoque Church in Harrisburg, police say.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
ChurchMilitant

March 13, 2019

By Christine Niles, M.St. (Oxon.), J.D

Permitted McCarrick’s living arrangements at IVE Seminary

Cardinal Donald Wuerl allowed Theodore McCarrick to move onto seminary property, in spite of knowing about allegations of homosexual predation, giving McCarrick free access to seminarians, some who lived and traveled with him.

In 2009, McCarrick was ordered by Pope Benedict to move out of Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Seminary in Washington, D.C. McCarrick then moved into a parish, but shortly afterwards left to live on the grounds of another seminary: the Institute of the Incarnate Word (Instituto del Verbo Encarnado, IVE), with Wuerl’s full knowledge and permission.

As Church Militant has reported, McCarrick had close ties to the IVE, frequently flying down to Argentina to stay at the community’s headquarters in San Rafael, where he visited with its founder, Fr. Miguel Buela, and ordained priests.

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

SAGINAW (MI)
WNEM

March 13, 2019

By Brianna Owczarzak and Jamie Sherrod

Victims of sexual abuse from priests are speaking out against the Catholic church in Saginaw, calling for more transparency from church leaders.

It comes on the same day the church’s most senior cleric ever to be convicted of child sexual abuse is heading to prison.

“Our mission is to protect the vulnerable and heal the wounded. And that’s essentially what we’re doing here today,” said David Clohessy, leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) in St. Louis.

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

SANTA FE (NM)
Santa Fe New Mexican

March 13, 2019

By Rebecca Moss

Former Roman Catholic priest Sabine Griego was arrested Tuesday at his home in Las Vegas, N.M., accused of raping an 8-year-old Albuquerque girl nearly three decades ago.

Griego, 81, has been charged by the state Attorney General’s Office with one count of sexual penetration of a minor and coercion resulting in great bodily harm and mental anguish. He is being held without bond at the San Miguel County Detention Center in Las Vegas.

Documents filed by the Attorney General’s Office this week suggest the Archdiocese of Santa Fe knew of the rape allegations made by “Jane Doe A” for at least 15 years and likely much longer.

According to the arrest warrant, a 2004 letter marked “confidential” and signed by then-Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan provides “direct evidence” that the rape occurred and that the archdiocese had appeared to have conducted an investigation.

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

SAGINAW (MI)
MLive

March 13, 2019

By Bob Johnson

The Catholic Diocese of Saginaw said it has learned of new allegations against a deceased former priest accused of sexually abusing minors.

According to a statement released by the diocese on Wednesday, March 13, Francis M. Landwermeyer, a former Jesuit priest who served as principal of Nouvel Catholic Central High School from 1985-88, was “credibly accused of multiple allegations” of sexual abuse.

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

ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
U.S. News & World Report/The Associated Press

March 14, 2019

Santa Fe Archbishop John Wester says people shouldn’t write off the Roman Catholic Church because of former priests who are facing child rape and sexual abuse charges.

Santa Fe Archbishop John Wester says people shouldn’t write off the Roman Catholic Church because of former priests facing child rape charges.

Wester told The Associated Press on Wednesday he understands the hurt and anger surrounding news of former Catholic priests being accused of sexual misconduct. But Wester says the church shouldn’t be judged by the actions of a few and those actions don’t represent the more than a billion Catholics around the world.

This week, the New Mexico Attorney General’s office announced it had filed charges against a former priest who prosecutors say brutally raped a young girl at an Albuquerque Catholic school 30 years ago.

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

SAGINAW (MI)
MLIve

March 13, 2019

By Cole Waterman

The sexual assault trials of a Roman Catholic priest charged in Saginaw County could occur elsewhere if a judge agrees with defense counsel’s argument that media reports have made it impossible to seat a fair jury.

Attorney Alan A. Crawford, representing the Rev. Robert J. “Father Bob” DeLand Jr., on March 11 filed a motion seeking a change of venue in his client’s matters. Crawford said heavy media coverage of DeLand has prejudiced potential jurors.

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

IQUALUIT, NUNAVUT(CANADA)
Nunatsiaq News

March 13, 2019

By Jane George

“The alleged crimes of Fr. Rivoire have created a devastating legacy in Nunavut”

Nunavut Premier Joe Savikataaq has written to the federal government to complain that Canada has backed away from extraditing Father Joannis Rivoire, a fugitive priest accused of sexually abusing Inuit children in the 1960s.

“The alleged crimes of Fr. Rivoire have created a devastating legacy in Nunavut, one that continues to impact our families and cultivate lingering trauma,” Savikataaq said in a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that was tabled on March 6 in the legislature.

Savikataaq made the commitment to write the letter to Trudeau in the legislature last month after facing questions from Aggu MLA Paul Quassa on the subject.

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

GERMANY
evangelisch.de

March 13, 2019

[Google translate: Study: extent of sexual abuse in churches much higher]

Das Ausmaß sexuellen Missbrauchs in beiden großen Kirchen in Deutschland ist einer neuen Studie zufolge wahrscheinlich deutlich höher als bislang angenommen.

Es sei von etwa 114.000 Betroffenen sexuellen Missbrauchs durch katholische Priester und noch einmal so vielen durch Pfarrer und Mitarbeiter in evangelischen Kirchen auszugehen, heißt es in der Untersuchung der Universität Ulm, die dem Evangelischen Pressedienst (epd) vorliegt. Zuerst hatte die Tageszeitung “Die Welt” (Dienstag) über die Studie berichtet.

Wissenschaftler um den Direktor der Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie der Universität Ulm, Jörg Fegert, rechneten 2018 eine repräsentative Umfrage auf die Gesamtbevölkerung in Deutschland hoch. Dabei kamen sie auf bis zu 30 Mal so hohe Zahlen wie die Missbrauchsstudie der deutschen katholischen Bischöfe.

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

WARSAW (POLAND)
Reuters

March 14, 2019

By Marcin Goclowski

As many as 382 children were sexually abused by clergy in Poland between 1990 and 2018, according to findings presented on Thursday by the Polish Catholic Church in one of the most devout countries in Europe.

The report follows investigations into widespread abuse of minors by clergy in other countries – notably in Chile, the United States, Australia and Ireland – that have shaken the Roman Catholic Church to its foundations.

“This is an especially painful, tragic issue as it is connected with consecrated people, who devoted themselves to serving the church, other human beings. They have social trust and this social trust was so tragically violated,” Archbishop Marek Jedraszewski said at a news conference.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
National Catholic Register

March 12, 2019

By Peter Jesserer Smith

Throughout the Church’s history, the laity have proved essential to the reform of the clergy, and the present crisis is no exception.

Peter Isley, a sex-abuse survivor, has seen the sex-abuse crisis erupt in the Church three times. But this last time is different: The scope of the crisis emerging is global, the responsibility of the bishops for the cover-up of abuse is laid bare, and the laity are now taking the reform of the Church into their own hands.

“I’ve not seen this level of laypeople angry,” he said. “They’re just not tolerating this anymore.”

For Isley, a U.S. spokesman for the Ending Clergy Abuse coalition, this moment in the Church’s history comes after decades of a via dolorosa, where he and other victims suffered enormous persecution as they tried to wake up the lay faithful to the sex-abuse crisis and the cover-up by bishops and their chanceries.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
The Chicago Tribune

March 12, 2019

By George Will

“Horseplay,” a term used to denote child rape, is, says Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, part of a sinister glossary of euphemisms by which the Catholic Church’s bureaucracy obfuscates in documents the church’s “pattern of abuse” and conspiracy of silence “that goes all the way to the Vatican.” “Benevolent bishops” are those who allow predatory priests, shuffled from other dioceses, to continue as priests.

The fuse for the national explosion of fury about sexual abuse by Catholic clergy was lit in Boston — the excellent 2015 movie “Spotlight” recounts The Boston Globe’s victory over the stonewalling Catholic hierarchy in 2001-2002. But the still-reverberating detonation occurred last August in a Pittsburgh grand jury’s report on the sexual abuse by approximately 300 priests of at least 1,000 victims in six Pennsylvania dioceses.

Seven months later, the nationwide stonewalling and cover-up continue by the church that, Shapiro says, has resisted discovery “every step of the way.” And “bishops are still involved.” The church fought his office’s jurisdiction, and fought the release of the report with its sickening details of, for example, giggling priests photographing and fondling boys, and “whips, violence and sadism.”

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

UNITED STATES
National Public Radio

March 10, 2019

By Michel Martin

Lent is meant to be a time of reflection for Christians around the world. But once again this year, it comes at a time of deep disquiet within the faith. Sexual abuse and misconduct scandals have continued to rock the Catholic Church, leading many to question their religious institutions, or even their faith itself.

Just this past week, a French Catholic Cardinal was found guilty of covering up dozens of incidents of sexual abuse by a priest in his diocese.

NPR’s Michel Martin spoke with Sister Joan Chittister, a Benedictine nun from Erie, Penn. and author of numerous books, about the turmoil caused by these scandals — and how she believes that Lent can help people get their faith back on track.

Length: 6:01

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

SAGINAW (MI)
WSGW News Radio 790

March 13, 2019

Clergy sex abuse victims have come forward to demand information on more priests that have been accused of sexual misconduct.

The Saginaw catholic diocese has come under fire for priests who have been involved in sexual abuse cases during or prior to their time in Saginaw. During an informational picket session, SNAP ( Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) made a point to reveal the newly accused priests as Fathers Roy Drake, Francis Landwermeyer, and Austin Schlaefer for their alleged involvement.

Schlaefer and Drake have since passed away, but SNAP still wants to bring attention to the issue of sexual abuse in the diocese to prevent any future acts or history from getting swept under the rug.

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

UNITED STATES
Religion News Service

March 13, 2019

By Jack Jenkins

A new survey reveals that more U.S. Catholics are questioning whether they should remain in the church today than when news of the “Spotlight” child sex abuse scandal broke in the Boston Archdiocese in 2002.

According to a poll released Wednesday (March 13) by Gallup, more than a third of U.S. Catholics — 37 percent — surveyed in January and February said they have questioned whether they should remain in the church. That’s up from 22 percent in 2002, when The Boston Globe published its report detailing widespread child sex abuse by priests in the city.

Frequent churchgoers were less likely than other Catholics to say they are rethinking their affiliation with the faith this year. Only 22 percent of Catholics who attend church weekly today said they have considered leaving the faith, compared with 37 percent of those who attend nearly weekly or monthly and 46 percent of those who seldom or never attend.

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

DETROIT (MI)
The Detroit News

March 13, 2019

By Sarah Rahal

The Archdiocese of Detroit said Wednesday that it will re-examine its list of religious order priests accused of abuse that some victims allege is incomplete.

The announcement came after members of a support group called SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) claimed city’s Catholic officials are being “reckless and secretive” by withholding details of all accused priests.

“As a result of these concerns, the archdiocese will carefully re-examine each name on our current list as well as the source information provided by the religious orders. If we discover any oversight on our part, it will be corrected immediately,” the diocese said in a statement to The Detroit News.

SNAP members shared a list of 28 publicly accused clerics with allegations of child molestation who are or were in Detroit area but are not on the Detroit’s archdiocese’s list of credibly accused clerics.

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

BOSTON (MA)
The Patriot Ledger

March 13, 2019

To the editor:

I have represented 153 clergy sexual abuse victims of the late John J. Geoghan, who was convicted of child molestation in Massachusetts before he was murdered in prison.

Today, many clergy sexual abuse victims of Geoghan feel as though they have not been forgotten even though the ruling of the court (“Aaron Hernandez’s murder conviction reinstated,” March 13) does not apply retroactively to his conviction.

MITCHELL GARABEDIAN
Boston

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

FRESNO (CA)
KFSN – Fresno

March 13, 2019

He was accused of groping and brutalizing teenage boys, but still worked as a teacher and home tutor for high school and college students.

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

FRANCE
AFP

March 7, 2019

[Google Translate: In Lyon, Cardinal Barbarin suspended on the verdict of men’s justice]

Silence coupable ou “erreur d’appréciation”? Le cardinal Philippe Barbarin va savoir ce jeudi si le tribunal de Lyon le condamne pour ne pas avoir dénoncé les agressions pédophiles d’un prêtre de son diocèse.

L’audience de début janvier avait marqué les esprits, tant le prélat incarne depuis trois ans en France la crise de l’Église face à la pédophilie, qui vient de faire l’objet d’un sommet inédit de la hiérarchie catholique au Vatican.

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

UNITED STATES
Yahoo Lifestyle

March 14, 2019

By Kristine Solomon

About four dozen high school students have been disciplined after authorities uncovered a sexting scandal in which the classmates, aged 14 to 17, sent explicit photos to one another.

Last month, a parent informed the principal of Georgia’s Union County High School of the illegal photo exchange, which led to a larger investigation, according to WSB-TV. Police determined athat t least 46 students were involved in the incident, but Union County Schools superintendent John Hill says that number could be closer to 50 — accounting for 6% of the school’s population of 850 students.

Hill realizes the situation is more than mere misconduct — but he’s not convinced the students do. “In Georgia, if you’re under the age of 18, [sexting nude photos is] actually manufacturing and distribution of child pornography,” he said. “Most of the kids do not have a clue that they are committing a crime.”

That’s why the district chose not to press felony charges, though they could have.

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

ROME
DW

March 13, 2019

Pope Francis once made George Pell one of the Vatican’s most powerful men. Now, the cardinal is headed to prison for sexual abuse. It is time for the Catholic Church to reform itself, says DW’s Christoph Strack.

Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican’s third-highest ranking official who once served as the pope’s finance chief, was sentenced to six years behind bars on Wednesday for child sex abuse. The Australian is the most senior Catholic to ever be convicted of such crimes. Pell’s lawyers have appealed the decision but for now Pell will go straight to jail, giving him time to think about his deeds — just like his victims are forced to come to terms with what Pell once did to them. Indeed, for a very long time the Catholic Church refused to acknowledge cases of sexual abuse even existed.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

March 2019

Now that George Pell has been found guilty of child sexual abuse, we can ask ourselves: what does his story tell us about the Catholic church? The rise of Pell, from a country diocese in Australia to the highest ranks of the Vatican, shows us what attitudes and actions find swift promotion in this ancient organisation

Length: 27:22

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

ROME
The Globe and Mail

March 13, 2019

By Michael W. Higgins

Michael W. Higgins is distinguished professor of Catholic thought at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn.

It is a strange and disturbing business to see several cardinals lined up for indictment, censure, canonical sanction, jail sentences and public humiliation. It is not the customary way cardinals deport themselves.

But times have changed. Hans Hermann Groer of Vienna may be deceased, but he ushered in the legacy of shame back in the 1980s when he abused seminarians. As did Keith O’Brien of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, who also retired in disgrace and died before having to return his red hat. Theodore Edgar McCarrick plunged the U.S Catholic Church into a crisis that is still roiling, and when he was judged to have abused a minor, in addition to seminarians, he paid the heaviest price yet: compelled to resign from the College of Cardinals and stripped of his priesthood. And now, Philippe Barbarin – Archbishop of Lyon and Primate of France – is paying a visit to Pope Francis to submit his resignation following a court trial that found him guilty of a clerical sex-abuse cover-up, while George Pell, a senior adviser to the Pope on economic matters and the most powerful Catholic prelate in Australia, has been sentenced to six years in jail for the abuse of two choir boys.

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

ROME
Religion News Service

March 13, 2019

By Thomas Reese

Six years ago, on March 13, the College of Cardinals surprised the world with the election of the Argentine Jesuit Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio as pope. Taking the name Francis, he won the admiration and respect of Catholics and non-Catholics alike with his simplicity and concern for the poor and marginalized.

With each passing year, however, criticism of the pope has become more vocal, especially from the Catholic right, who think he is breaking with traditional church teaching, and the political right, who don’t like his views on global warming, immigration and social justice. Francis has also been unable to satisfy those who say the Catholic hierarchy’s response to the clergy sex abuse crisis has been inadequate.

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

ROME
Medium

March 11, 2019

By Antonio Spadaro, SJ

As much as the calendar marks the anniversary of the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio to the pontificate, you can’t stop time and take a snapshot. In short: it is not time for assessments. Reality is in motion. However, it is possible to reflect on these years highlighting some basic characteristics of Francis’ action.

First of all, the Pontiff has given the Church a synodal “rhythm” through which in six years three synods (on family and on youth) were celebrated, a synodal encounter (on the protection of minors) was held and the Synod on the Amazon is in preparation. The latter will have — as is already well understood now — a universal value, certainly not just regional. Reform is not the gesture of an isolated Don Quixote, but is the fruit of a long process of involvement for the Church.

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

ROME
National Catholic Reporter

March 13, 2019

By Michael Sean Winters

It was the early afternoon Eastern time when the smoke started to billow from the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel. At first, it was hard to tell if it was white or not, but as the camera stayed trained on it, and the TV anchors debated its color, the smoke grew whiter and whiter, and then the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica began to ring. Habemus papam.

It has been six years to the day since the cardinals elected Jorge Mario Bergoglio as pope, and Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the senior cardinal deacon, announced: Qui sibi nomen imposuit Franciscum.

The new pope emerged on the loggia wearing a simple white cassock and greeted the people gathered in the square below with the simple words of greeting: “Buona sera.” The choice of name indicated a concern for the poor, and the simplicity of his manner suggested a less exalted or, at any rate, a less fancy papacy.

Unlike his concern for the poor and a more simple papal style that were immediately apparent, something not discernible that first night turned out to be foundational: Pope Francis has retrieved a sense of synodality that had been obscured, but never eliminated, after almost two centuries of Ultramontanist ecclesiology. As Jesuit Fr. Antonio Spadaro, one of the Holy Father’s closest confidants, wrote earlier this week:

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

ROME
Crux

March 13, 2019

By John L. Allen Jr.

In early June, Cardinal George Pell of Australia will have a hearing before the Supreme Court of Victoria regarding his appeal of a conviction for sexually abusing two minor altar boys in the 1990s, for which he was sentenced Wednesday morning local time to 6 years in prison with the possibility of parole after half that time is served.

While many uncertainties remain about the Pell case, at the level of public perceptions perhaps the greatest is this: Is the 77-year-old prelate destined to become the Adolf Eichmann, the Count of Monte Cristo, or the Rosenbergs of the clerical abuse scandals?

Respectively, those figures have passed into history as leading symbols of the following possibilities vis-à-vis criminal justice:

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

BOSTON (MA)
The Boston Globe

March 13, 2019

By John R. Ellement

Aaron J. Hernandez’s first-degree murder conviction must follow him to his grave, the state’s highest court ruled Wednesday as it jettisoned a murky 44-year-old legal principle that would have erased his conviction.

The former New England Patriots star was convicted in Bristol Superior Court in 2015 of murdering Odin L. Lloyd in June 2013 in North Attleborough, but he committed suicide in his maximum security prison cell in 2017 before the appeal of his murder trial could be heard.

A lower court judge had thrown out the conviction, relying on a legal principle known as “abatement ab initio” that became part of Massachusetts case law via a 1975 ruling by the state Supreme Judicial Court.

In its 6-0 ruling Wednesday, the high court said it could not find a “reasoned analysis” to have ever used the concept in the first place.

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