ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
The Atlantic

By Rachel Donadio

March 14, 2019

The conviction of a high-ranking cardinal for sexually abusing two boys shows that civil authorities, and not Church officials, will bring abusers to justice.

This week marked a major turning point in the Catholic Church’s sexual-abuse crisis. An Australian court sentenced Cardinal George Pell to six years in prison for sexually abusing minors, a decision that not only makes him the highest-ranking Church official to face civil justice, but also underscores a central animating tension in the issue: the one between civil and Church authorities.

After years in which victims saw Church officials as lax and unresponsive, more protective of the abusers than of the abused, civil justice has moved in and filled the gap. Pell isn’t the only cardinal who’s been on trial. A French court last month convicted Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, the archbishop of Lyon, on charges of covering up for an abusive priest in his diocese in a case brought by a vocal group of victims, La Parole Libérée. Their effort is now the subject of a feature film in France. In the United States, a grand-jury report in Pennsylvania released last summer found evidence of the abuse of 1,000 children—and since then, other states have begun exploring their own grand-jury investigations.

Until Pell went back to Australia two years ago to face trial, he was seen as a reformer inside the Vatican. An adviser to Pope Francis, who named him the prefect for the Secretariat of the Economy and a member of the pope’s nine-person advisory council, Pell was known in Vatican City as a straight-talking Anglophone in an opaque Italian-run bureaucracy, a man who garnered enemies by poking under the rocks in the Vatican’s finances. In Australia, though, he has become the emblem of the Church’s abuse of power: Delivering his sentence, a judge spoke of Pell’s “staggering arrogance,” The New York Times reported.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

March 12, 2019

By David Marr

Pell’s sentencing showed he was accountable to the law – and the bravery of his accuser must be acknowledged

In the squalor of this moment there is little to celebrate. Few are jumping for joy that George Pell may spend at least three years and eight months in prison. His fall is too appalling for celebration.

But by jailing a cardinal for these sordid crimes Australia has demonstrated once again that the rule of law runs in this country. Getting here hasn’t been easy but no other country stares down the Catholic church as we do now. This is a day to be proud of that record.

In their rage and confusion, Pell’s supporters have declared their man a martyr to the mob, a victim of press vendettas, a great priest whose reputation has been sullied beyond repair by the left. But that’s not what his fall is about. Somewhere in the past few years, Rome lost the power to protect men like him.

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MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA)
AAP via The Guardian

March 12, 2019

[VIDEO]

Chief judge Peter Kidd sentences Cardinal George Pell to six years in prison, with a non-parole period of three years and eight months, for the sexual abuse of two boys at St Patrick’s cathedral in the 1990s. Pell was convicted last month on five charges of child sexual assault, following a committal hearing, a mistrial and a trial. He has lodged an appeal, which will be heard in June.

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

March 13, 2019

By Inés San Martín

Though Pope Francis has faced questions and even criticism for his overall handling of the clerical sexual abuse scandals in Catholicism, few cases touch the pontiff quite as directly as that of Argentine Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta, who was brought to Rome at the pope’s personal initiative and who now stands accused of abuse.

Appointed by Francis to the northern Argentine diocese of Oran, when the bishop resigned at the age of 53 in 2017 he said the move was for “health reasons.” A few months later, Francis named him Assessor to the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), which administers the Vatican’s financial portfolio.

Last year, it became public that Zanchetta has been accused both of sexual misconduct and of financial wrongdoing, although a Vatican spokesman insisted there were no abuse allegations at the time Zanchetta was brought to Rome.

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ATLANTA (GA)
Crux

March 14, 2019

By Elise Harris

There’s no doubt that the conviction of Australian Cardinal George Pell for “historical sexual offenses,” meaning the abuse of two altar boys in the 1990s, and his subsequent 6-year prison sentence have been among the biggest blockbuster moments in recent Catholic news.

However, the day after Pell was sentenced – he maintains his innocence, and an appeal hearing is set for June 5-6 – voices from all quarters spoke out, some hailing the sentence as an important step forward in the fight against clerical abuse, others complaining it was too light, and still others insisting they just can’t buy a guilty verdict given the evidence presented.

Pell, the former archbishop of Melbourne and the former head of the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy, was sentenced Wednesday to six years in prison after he was found guilty in December of sexually abusing two 13-year-old boys in the 1990s. That verdict was only announced in late February, after an Australian judge lifted a strict suppression order.

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ATLANTA (GA)
Crux

March 14, 2019

By Elise Harris

There’s no doubt that the conviction of Australian Cardinal George Pell for “historical sexual offenses,” meaning the abuse of two altar boys in the 1990s, and his subsequent 6-year prison sentence have been among the biggest blockbuster moments in recent Catholic news.

However, the day after Pell was sentenced – he maintains his innocence, and an appeal hearing is set for June 5-6 – voices from all quarters spoke out, some hailing the sentence as an important step forward in the fight against clerical abuse, others complaining it was too light, and still others insisting they just can’t buy a guilty verdict given the evidence presented.

Pell, the former archbishop of Melbourne and the former head of the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy, was sentenced Wednesday to six years in prison after he was found guilty in December of sexually abusing two 13-year-old boys in the 1990s. That verdict was only announced in late February, after an Australian judge lifted a strict suppression order.

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.

PROVIDENCE (RI)
Providence Journal

March 14, 2019

By Katherine Gregg

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence on Wednesday acknowledged having received a complaint in 2012 from former Lesley University President Margaret McKenna about a priest who had touched her under her clothing multiple times when she was growing up in Central Falls.

McKenna, who also served as a deputy White House counsel in the Carter administration, later told the state police that Bishop Thomas Tobin treated her “as if she were a suspect, rather than a victim.”

Names and dates are blacked out in the heavily redacted copy of a letter the diocese provided The Journal, to show that it had notified then-state police Detective Commander Michael J. Winquist of the unnamed woman’s 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.

PROVIDENCE (RI)
Providence Journal

March 14, 2019

By Katherine Gregg

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence on Wednesday acknowledged having received a complaint in 2012 from former Lesley University President Margaret McKenna about a priest who had touched her under her clothing multiple times when she was growing up in Central Falls.

McKenna, who also served as a deputy White House counsel in the Carter administration, later told the state police that Bishop Thomas Tobin treated her “as if she were a suspect, rather than a victim.”

Names and dates are blacked out in the heavily redacted copy of a letter the diocese provided The Journal, to show that it had notified then-state police Detective Commander Michael J. Winquist of the unnamed woman’s 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.

AUSTRALIA
The Conversation

March 12, 2019

The crisis of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, and the institutional denial and cover up, has left many people of faith shocked by the lack of appropriate response toward survivors.

Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane, the president of the Australian bishops’ conference, has called for a Copernican revolution on sexual abuse in the church and a shift in Catholic culture so that abuse survivors, not clergy, shape the church response.

In an interview with Crux, published during the recent Vatican summit on sexual abuse, he also compared victims of clergy abuse to Christ crucified.

Unless you see that what’s happened to the abused has happened to Christ and that therefore, they’re Christ crucified in their needs, all the external commands in the world won’t do it.

In our work, Rocio Figueroa Alvear and I have interviewed sexual abuse survivors and show that recognising Jesus as an abuse victim can help them, and help the church to change.

Jesus as victim of sexual abuse

There are good theological grounds for recognising a connection between Christ and those who have been subjected to abuse. The words of Jesus in Matthew 25:31-46 say that what is done to others is also done to Christ, and this has been explored in the work of Beth Crisp.

In Matthew 25, and presumably in the words of Archbishop Coleridge, this connection is at a theological or metaphorical level. But recent work has offered a strong argument to go beyond the theological connection and to see a more literal historical connection. In my own work, and writings by Elaine Heath, Rev Wil Gafney and Australian theologian Rev Michael Trainor, it is argued that Jesus does not just share theologically in the abuse, but that he himself experienced sexual abuse during the crucifixion.

This may seem outlandish at first. When Katie Edwards and I wrote on stripping as sexual abuse, many comments showed readers were perplexed that we could be seriously suggesting this. For many people, the initial reaction is to be startled and shocked. Some ask whether it is meant to be a serious suggestion, or say it is just jumping on a #MeToo bandwagon. However, as Linda Woodhead points out, if you look at it more closely you may start to think differently.

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 Conversation

March 12, 2019

The crisis of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, and the institutional denial and cover up, has left many people of faith shocked by the lack of appropriate response toward survivors.

Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane, the president of the Australian bishops’ conference, has called for a Copernican revolution on sexual abuse in the church and a shift in Catholic culture so that abuse survivors, not clergy, shape the church response.

In an interview with Crux, published during the recent Vatican summit on sexual abuse, he also compared victims of clergy abuse to Christ crucified.

Unless you see that what’s happened to the abused has happened to Christ and that therefore, they’re Christ crucified in their needs, all the external commands in the world won’t do it.

In our work, Rocio Figueroa Alvear and I have interviewed sexual abuse survivors and show that recognising Jesus as an abuse victim can help them, and help the church to change.

Jesus as victim of sexual abuse

There are good theological grounds for recognising a connection between Christ and those who have been subjected to abuse. The words of Jesus in Matthew 25:31-46 say that what is done to others is also done to Christ, and this has been explored in the work of Beth Crisp.

In Matthew 25, and presumably in the words of Archbishop Coleridge, this connection is at a theological or metaphorical level. But recent work has offered a strong argument to go beyond the theological connection and to see a more literal historical connection. In my own work, and writings by Elaine Heath, Rev Wil Gafney and Australian theologian Rev Michael Trainor, it is argued that Jesus does not just share theologically in the abuse, but that he himself experienced sexual abuse during the crucifixion.

This may seem outlandish at first. When Katie Edwards and I wrote on stripping as sexual abuse, many comments showed readers were perplexed that we could be seriously suggesting this. For many people, the initial reaction is to be startled and shocked. Some ask whether it is meant to be a serious suggestion, or say it is just jumping on a #MeToo bandwagon. However, as Linda Woodhead points out, if you look at it more closely you may start to think differently.

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
USA Today

March 13, 2019

By Doug Stanglin

Amid the latest spate of allegations of sexual abuse of young people by priests, an increasing percentage of Catholics are re-examining their commitment to the religion, according to a poll released Wednesday.

The Gallup poll found that 37 percent of respondents said “recent news about sexual abuse of young people by priests” has them personally questioning whether to remain Catholic — a 15 point increase since 2002.

The polling, conduct in January and February, came as Pope Francis met at the Vatican with Catholic leaders from around the world to respond to a new wave of sex abuse allegations in numerous countries.

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
USA Today

March 13, 2019

By Doug Stanglin

Amid the latest spate of allegations of sexual abuse of young people by priests, an increasing percentage of Catholics are re-examining their commitment to the religion, according to a poll released Wednesday.

The Gallup poll found that 37 percent of respondents said “recent news about sexual abuse of young people by priests” has them personally questioning whether to remain Catholic — a 15 point increase since 2002.

The polling, conduct in January and February, came as Pope Francis met at the Vatican with Catholic leaders from around the world to respond to a new wave of sex abuse allegations in numerous countries.

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.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Washington Post

March 13, 2019

By George F. 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 and 2002. But the still-reverberating detonation occurred last August in a Pennsylvania grand jury’s report on the sexual abuse by approximately 300 priests of at least 1,000 victims in six dioceses in the state.

Seven months later, the nationwide stonewalling and coverup 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.”

Shapiro says his being Jewish has not adversely affected public perceptions of his office’s scrutiny of the church. This might be because of credible reports about a boy being raped and then forced into a confessional to confess his sin. Or a boy having his mouth washed out with holy water after oral sex.

The church’s crime wave is global. A French cardinal is convicted of concealing decades of sexual abuse by a priest in his jurisdiction; The Post reports how clerical pedophiles “preyed on the most isolated and submissive children” at an institute for the deaf in Argentina. Scrutiny of Latin America, from which today’s pope came, will be interesting.

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.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Washington Post

March 13, 2019

By George F. 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 and 2002. But the still-reverberating detonation occurred last August in a Pennsylvania grand jury’s report on the sexual abuse by approximately 300 priests of at least 1,000 victims in six dioceses in the state.

Seven months later, the nationwide stonewalling and coverup 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.”

Shapiro says his being Jewish has not adversely affected public perceptions of his office’s scrutiny of the church. This might be because of credible reports about a boy being raped and then forced into a confessional to confess his sin. Or a boy having his mouth washed out with holy water after oral sex.

The church’s crime wave is global. A French cardinal is convicted of concealing decades of sexual abuse by a priest in his jurisdiction; The Post reports how clerical pedophiles “preyed on the most isolated and submissive children” at an institute for the deaf in Argentina. Scrutiny of Latin America, from which today’s pope came, will be interesting.

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)
The Detroit News

March 13, 2019

By Beth LeBlanc

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has asked the state Legislature to approve a $2 million supplemental allocation for a state investigation into clergy sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.

The $2 million is expected to pay for the entirety of the investigation and would be funded by state settlement money, said Kelly Rossman-McKinney, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Dana Nessel.

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LANSING (MI)
The Detroit News

March 13, 2019

By Beth LeBlanc

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has asked the state Legislature to approve a $2 million supplemental allocation for a state investigation into clergy sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.

The $2 million is expected to pay for the entirety of the investigation and would be funded by state settlement money, said Kelly Rossman-McKinney, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Dana Nessel.

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KALAMAZOO (MI)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

March 13

Six more accused Kalamazoo priests are ‘outed’

Most have attracted no attention in Michigan

They allegedly hurt children in other states

But each is or was in the Kalamazoo diocese

SNAP: “Bishop should post names of all the accused”

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will disclose that six publicly ‘outed’ and accused priests spent time in Kalamazoo. Most have escaped scrutiny here but were ousted or charged in other states.

They will also push Kalamazoo’s bishop to
–post his own list of those accused,
–include nuns, priests, brothers, bishops, seminarians & lay staff on that list, &
–provide photos, whereabouts and full work histories of all the accused.

WHEN
Thursday, March 14 at 10:30 a.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Kalamazoo Catholic diocesan headquarters 215 N. Westnedge Ave, (corner of Eleanor St.) in Kalamazoo

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DETROIT (MI)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

March 13, 2019

–Fr. Arthur Cooney, who was identified in 2013 in a Capuchin report as a current friar with confirmed reports of sexual abuse of minors. Cooney’s name is included on this list without any additional information on claims against him except that he was removed from public ministry and living under supervision.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/reports/2013_06_18_Burnett_Doyle_and_Freiburger_Capuchin_Report.pdf

–Fr. Leopold Gleissner, who was identified in 2013 in a Capuchin report as a current friar with confirmed reports of sexual abuse of minors. Gleissner’s name is included on this list without any additional information on claims against him except that he was removed from public ministry and was placed under supervision.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/reports/2013_06_18_Burnett_Doyle_and_Freiburger_Capuchin_Report.pdf

–Fr. Leonard R. Foisy, a New Hampshire native who also spent time in New York, Montreal, Washington DC and Maryland. He held leadership positions in thee Sulpician religious order. In 1994, he was accused in a lawsuit of abusing a boy for four years in the 1960s in Michigan, when he was at St. John’s Seminary in Plymouth. He died in 2016.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/priest/

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news13/1994_05_24_Trent_Sexual_Assault.htm

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news13/1994_05_25_UPI_Diocese_Denies.htm

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GARY (IN)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

Seven names should be added to their “accused” list, group says

SNAP ‘outed’ four in January but has since found three more

One, from Chicago, was deemed a ‘sexually violent predator’

Another one was nicknamed by police “Chester the molester”

Victims, witnesses & whistle blowers are urged to call law enforcement

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, two clergy sex abuse victims will disclose names and information about seven publicly accused child molesting clerics who spent time in the Gary area but who have attracted virtually no public attention in the area.

They will also
–prod Gary’s Catholic bishop to add more names to his “credibly accused” clergy list,
–urge victims to “step forward, get help, protect kids and expose perpetrators,” and
–beg anyone who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes or cover ups in Indiana to contact the attorney general, who is conducting a statewide investigation into clergy abuse.

WHEN
Thursday, March 14 at 2:45 p.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Holy Angels Cathedral, 640 Tyler St. in Gary (219 882 6079)

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 12, 2019

By Kelly Heyboer

Rich Fitter wasn’t sure how he was supposed to feel when his phone started lighting up late Monday night with the news that the former priest he said sexually abused him and other young boys for years was dead — shot to death in Nevada.

But Fitter said he knows one thing: John Capparelli, the former New Jersey priest and teacher who was dogged by abuse allegations for years but never prosecuted, will never be able to hurt anyone again.

“The world is a safer place without him,” said Fitter, of Sparta. “The guy had a 40-year record of abuse. Whatever lead to his death, it’s a certain amount of karma.”

Capparelli, 70, was found shot to death in his house in Henderson, Nevada, Saturday morning after police were asked to conduct a welfare check, local law enforcement officials said.

“Preliminary investigation indicates the victim died of suspicious circumstances, and the incident is being investigated as a homicide,” local police said in the statement. “A suspect has not been identified at this time and police are following up on developed leads.”

Capparelli was one of 188 priests and deacons in the state who had been “credibly accused” of child sexual abuse, according to a list released by New Jersey’s five Catholic dioceses last month. But the allegations against him were well known.

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FORT WAYNE (IN)
Journal Gazette

March 13, 2019

By Rosa Salter Rodriguez

Survivors organization adds 10 men with local ties

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests has released the names of 10 men accused of sexually abusing minors who served or spent time in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend but are not on its list of credibly accused clerics.

The organization, also known as SNAP, released the names during a news conference Tuesday in front of the diocese’s former chancery at 1103 S. Calhoun St.

All the men were credibly accused of acts outside the local diocese but spent time here, said David Clohessy, a SNAP organizer who released the list.

Five are deceased, he said. Some alleged abuse dates to the 1950s, while the most recent case came to light about three months ago, he said.

Clohessy said the list was compiled with a few hours of online research of publicly available internet postings. Many names came from www.bishop-accountability.org, a comprehensive abuse tracker.

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LANSING (MI)
WILX

March 13, 2019

By Kylie Khan

An advocacy group called the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, is planning to stand outside the Catholic Diocese of Lansing Wednesday.

They want Bishop Earl Boyea to release the names of the priests accused of sexually abusing children.

The group wants the names of the accused posted online on the diocese’s website.

They want things like work history, photos, and where those priests currently are.

The group says that’s all in addition to pushing the State of Michigan for legislative reform so survivors can “expose child molesters in court.”

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AUSTRALIA
SBS News

March 13, 2019

By Maani Truu

In sentencing, Chief Justice Peter Kidd said George Pell should not be considered a “scapegoat” for broader failings of the Catholic Church.

Australian Cardinal George Pell has been sentenced to six years in jail with a non-parole period of three years and eight months for sexually abusing two teenage boys in 1996.

In Melbourne’s County court on Wednesday, Chief Judge Peter Kidd handed down the sentence, taking into account Pell’s age and health, the severity of the crimes, the relationship of trust between Pell and the victims and the widespread publicity of the case.

Due to Pell’s age, Judge Kidd said he imposed a shorter non-parole period than usual “to increase the prospect of you living out the last part of your life in the community.”

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MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA)
CNN

March 13, 2019

By Hilary Whiteman

Cardinal George Pell, the most senior Vatican official to be convicted of sex abuse to date, has been sentenced to six years in prison for the “callous” assault of two choirboys in the late 1990s.

A former senior adviser to Pope Francis, Pell showed no reaction when Chief Judge Peter Kidd handed down his sentence in a hearing broadcast live worldwide on Wednesday from Victoria’s County Court in central Melbourne.

Pell, 77, was found guilty of one count of sexual penetration of a child and four counts of committing an indecent act with a child last December after a secret five-week trial.

Reporting of the trial and verdict was suppressed by the court to avoid prejudicing a second trial, which crown prosecutors abandoned in February after the judge ruled some prosecution evidence couldn’t be submitted.

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SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA)
The New York Times

March 12, 2019

By Damien Cave and Livia Albeck-Ripka

Despite a series of sexual abuse scandals stretching back decades, Australia’s Roman Catholic Church displays a veneer of strength.

Across Australia, more Catholic parishes have stayed open than in other countries that have weathered abuse scandals, and Catholic schools are still filled with children — owing largely to the financial and legal savvy of Australia’s most prominent cleric, Cardinal George Pell.

But it’s not the bank accounts that are empty in the Australian church; it’s the pews.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail Australia

March 12, 2019

By Charlie Moore

…- as judge says highest-ranking Catholic official ever convicted of abuse ‘showed no remorse’ for ‘breathtakingly arrogant’ crimes

– Cardinal George Pell was until last month the third most senior Catholic in world
– In December he was found guilty of molesting two choirboys in the 1990s
– On Wednesday the cardinal was jailed for six years by Judge Peter Kidd
– The 77-year-old maintains innocence and is appealing the conviction in June
Cardinal George Pell has been jailed for six years for sexually abusing two teenage choirboys in the 1990s.

The former Vatican treasurer, 77, and top adviser to Pope Francis is the most senior Catholic figure ever to be found guilty of sex offences against children.

Cardinal Pell was found guilty last December of sexually abusing 13-year-old choir boys 22 years ago in the priests’ sacristy of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne.

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WHEELING (WV)
Metro News

March 11, 2019

By Jake Flatley

The retired bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston can no longer exercise any priestly or episcopal ministry within the diocese.

Archbishop William E. Lori, the Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese, made that announcement Monday about retired Bishop Michael J. Bransfield in a release stating the preliminary investigation into allegations of sexual harassment of adults and financial improprieties by Bransfield has been completed.

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AUSTRALIA
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

March 13, 2019

Cardinal George Pell has been sentenced to six years’ jail for sexually abusing two choirboys when he was Catholic archbishop of Melbourne in the 1990s.

Pell, 77, was found guilty by a jury last December of sexually abusing the choirboys after a Sunday mass in December 1996 and then assaulting one of them a second time two months later.

The man who was once Australia’s most powerful Catholic sat in the dock dressed in a black shirt and a grey blazer, without a clerical collar, as County Court Chief Judge Peter Kidd delivered his sentence.

The chief judge described Pell’s abuse of two choirboys in the sacristy at St Patrick’s Cathedral as “a brazen and forcible sexual attack on the victims”.

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SOUTH KOREA
Soompi

March 13, 2019

By D. S.kim

On March 12, Kang Kyung Yoon, the reporter who released the initial reports on Kakaotalk chatrooms including Seungri and Jung Joon Young, participated in an interview to explain more in detail about the ongoing controversy.

Kang Kyung Yoon started the interview by explaining the steps she has taken so far. The reporter said, “I brought up the allegations of Seungri lobbying to investors by offering sexual favors as bribes last month. Since then, I reported on how the original text messages [that contained the evidence] were procured by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission and a chatroom including Seungri and other male celebrities that involved the sharing of hidden camera videos and photos.”

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.

MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA)
The New York Times

March 12, 2019

By Livia Albeck-Ripka

The sentencing of Cardinal George Pell for molesting boys more than two decades ago comes just weeks after a Vatican summit in which Pope Francis called for “all-out battle against the abuse of minors.”

Cardinal Pell is the most senior cleric in the Roman Catholic Church ever to receive jail time for child sexual abuse. But for decades, it has been victims, journalists and civil authorities who have forced abusers into the open and called them to account when church leaders failed to do so.

Law enforcement officials in some countries have become more willing in recent years to prosecute priest perpetrators, according to observers of the scandals.

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.

[Former student of deacon Hugo Montes Brunet details questionable situations]

CHILE
BioBioChile

March 11, 2019

By María José Villarroel

La Fiscalía se encuentra indagando la tramitación canónica contra el diácono Hugo Montes Brunet -quien fue premio nacional de Educación en 1995- en la arista de encubrimiento de abusos sexuales. Según consignó El Mercurio, la primera denuncia contra Montes se dio a conocer en 2010 cuando una víctima lo acusó de abuso cuando era alumno del colegio San Esteban Diácono de Vitacura.

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 information in case of deacon Hugo Montes Brunet]

CHILE
BioBioChile

March 12, 2019

By María José Villarroel

La Fiscalía indaga la tramitación canónica contra Hugo Montes Brunet -diácono y premio nacional de Educación en 1995- en la arista de encubrimiento de abusos sexuales. Según consignó El Mercurio, el exministro Enrique Correa denunció parte de las conductas del diácono en el colegio San Esteban Diácono, lo cual se dio a conocer en un correo que envió Raúl Hasbún -quien era el promotor de justicia de la Iglesia- al cardenal Francisco Javier Errázuriz en 2011.

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.

[He wants more time: at defense request, court suspends hearing about dismissing Ezzati charges]

CHILE
El Mostrador

March 13, 2019

“Creo que a esta altura discutir sobre el sobreseimiento definitivo de Ezzati, frente a la cantidad abrumadora de antecedentes que hay contra él es extraño, pero ellos tienen el derecho de pedirlo y nosotros estaremos acá para oponernos”, dijo el abogado de las víctimas, Juan Pablo Hermosilla.

A solicitud de la defensa del cardenal Ricardo Ezzati, la Corte de Apelaciones de Santiago decidió suspender la audiencia de sobreseimiento de las acusaciones de encubrimiento de abusos sexuales en el clero que lo tiene imputado por la Fiscalía.

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 faces serious “turbulence” in Costa Rica for pedophilia investigations]

SAN JOSE (COSTA RICA)
El País (Spain)

March 12, 2019

En el único país confesional de América, la institución intenta atender el llamado del Papa al tiempo que trata de contener las acusaciones por abusos y encubrimiento

Hace un año, los obispos católicos de Costa Rica estaban bajo el foco por haber impulsado una ola ultraconservadora que amenazaba con arrebatar el Gobierno al centroizquierda; después, el catolicismo resultó vital en la derrota del predicador evangélico Fabricio Alvarado y, meses después, en septiembre, los prelados hacían de intermediarios entre el Gobierno y los sindicatos del sector público ante una la polémica reforma fiscal que provocó la huelga más larga del siglo. En este país centroamericano —el único Estado del continente en el que el catolicismo es la religión oficial, explícita en su Constitución— la Iglesia suele estar en la primera plana y casi nunca en las páginas de noticias policiales. Pero ya lo está.

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[Parade of bishops begin testifying at Rancagua prosecutor’s office]

CHILE
La Tercera

March 12, 2019

By M.J. Navarrete and S. Rodríguez

Este martes fue el turno de Galo Fernández (Talca). Este miércoles declarará Fernando Ramos (Rancagua). El Jueves lo harán Fernando Chomali (Concepción) y Moisés Atisha (Arica).

Más de seis horas estuvo en la Fiscalía Regional de O’Higgins el obispo auxiliar de Santiago y administrador apostólico de Talca, Galo Fernández. El prelado, de 58 años, fue citado en calidad de testigo y respondió a las consultas del fiscal Emiliano Arias, quien indaga presuntos delitos relacionados con abusos a menores cometidos por miembros del clero. Además, dentro de las aristas, se investiga el eventual encubrimiento de algunos de estos hechos por parte de obispos, entre ellos el cardenal Ricardo Ezzati.

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MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA)
The Guardian

March 12, 2019

By Melissa Davey

Chief judge calls Pell’s crimes ‘breathtakingly arrogant’ as he sentences Pell to six years in jail, with non-parole period of three years and eight months

[Cardinal George Pell sentenced to six years in prison – video]

Cardinal George Pell has been sentenced to six years in jail after being convicted of sexually abusing two 13-year-old choirboys in 1996.

The former Vatican treasurer, 77, was handed a non-parole period of three years and eight months by the judge, who described his offending as “brazen and forceful” and “breathtakingly arrogant” because he believed the victims would never complain.

The sentence means he may spend at least three years and eight months in jail.

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MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA)
Associated Press

March 13, 2019

By Rod McGuirk

The most senior Catholic convicted of child sex abuse was sentenced Wednesday to six years in prison for molesting two choirboys in an Australian cathedral in a crime the judge said showed “staggering arrogance.”

Cardinal George Pell must serve a minimum of 3 years and 8 months before he is eligible for parole, according to the judge’s order. The five convictions against Pell carried a maximum possible sentence of 10 years each.

“In my view, your conduct was permeated by staggering arrogance,” Victoria state County Court Chief Judge Peter Kidd said in handing down the sentence.

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MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA)
The Wall Street Journal

March 12, 2019

By Robb M. Stewart

Sentence took into account severity of the crimes, but was mitigated by the cardinal’s age, health and otherwise good character, judge said

Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican’s former finance chief, was sentenced to six years in prison Wednesday for sexually abusing two choirboys inside a Melbourne cathedral in the 1990s.

Cardinal Pell is the most senior Vatican official ever to stand trial on child sex-abuse charges, and the sentence imposed by County Court Chief Judge Peter Kidd will see him eligible to seek parole after three years and eight months. In a hearing that lasted about an hour and was broadcast live, Judge Kidd said the sentence took into account the severity of the crimes and the brazen nature of the attacks, but was mitigated by the cardinal’s advanced age, poor health and otherwise good character.

The 77-year-old cleric was found guilty by a jury in December of one count of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and four counts of an indecent act with or in the presence of a child. Each count carried a maximum sentence of 10 years, though his lawyers had argued the severity should be mitigated by Cardinal Pell’s age, a history of heart problems and the likelihood he wouldn’t reoffend.

The Cardinal has maintained his innocence, and his lawyers will argue for the right to appeal the convictions at a hearing in the Supreme Court scheduled for early June.

Cardinal Pell’s sentencing deepens a crisis that is roiling the Catholic Church. Last week, French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin was found guilty of failing to report child sex abuse, the first conviction of such a high-ranking Roman Catholic official for covering up instances of criminal practice. In December, an Australian judge overturned a conviction and sentence of home detention against former Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson, who had earlier been found guilty of concealing child sex abuse.

Cardinal Pell has been held at a prison in Melbourne since his bail was revoked by Judge Kidd two weeks ago, and he has been added to a sex offenders’ registry in the state of Victoria as a serious offender.

In mid-December, a jury of eight men and four women unanimously accepted the testimony of a man who said that in late 1996 he and a fellow 13-year-old choir soprano were confronted and sexually abused in one of the sacristy rooms at St. Patrick’s Cathedral by Cardinal Pell, who had only recently taken over as Archbishop of Melbourne. About a month later, again following Sunday Mass, the same boy was in a corridor headed to a choir rehearsal room when the Archbishop squeezed his genitals, according to testimony read in court.

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MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA)
The Washington Post

March 12, 2019

By A. Odysseus Patrick

Cardinal George Pell was sentenced to six years in prison by an Australian judge Wednesday for sexually assaulting two boys in the 1990s, making him the most senior Catholic official to be imprisoned in the worldwide wave of abuse that has blighted the church for the past several decades.

Dressed in an open black shirt, gray jacket and black trousers, Pell blinked but otherwise didn’t react as the judge told him that he would probably spend a substantial portion of the rest of his life in prison.

Pell will be eligible for parole in three years and eight months, and he will be placed on a register of sexual offenders for the rest of his life.

His five convictions carried a maximum possible penalty of 10 years each. Chief Judge Peter Kidd said Pell’s age — he is 77 — was a major factor in the sentence.

He also took into account Pell’s great power over the two boys, who were required to sing at Pell’s cathedral as part of their scholarship to a private Catholic school, and the prelate’s lack of remorse. Pell pleaded not guilty, did not give evidence at his trial and is appealing the verdict.

Some church victims complained Kidd was far too lenient.

“To give out such a light sentence is just insulting to the victims and no deterrence to future pedophiles,” said Michael Advocate, a 52-year-old who said he was abused at his Catholic boarding school in the late 1970s.

Pell’s conviction for fondling one 13-year-old boy and forcing another 13-year-old to perform oral sex on him at St. Patrick’s, Melbourne’s grandest cathedral, in 1996 shocked Catholics in Australia and worldwide.

Pell behaved with “staggering arrogance” when he caught the boys who had sneaked into a change room after Mass to drink sacramental wine, the judge said. “It was a brazen and forcible sexual attack upon the two victims,” he said.

During the sentencing, Kidd emphasized that he was not holding Pell responsible for the church’s broader problems.

“It is vital the community understands that you are not to be made a scapegoat for any failings, or perceived failings, of the Catholic Church,” he said to Pell, who showed no emotion and did not look at the judge. “To other victims who may be present, this sentence is not, and cannot be, a vindication of your trauma.”

One of the victims is now dead. The other, who cannot be legally identified, said he appreciates that the court recognized that he was assaulted but was waiting to see whether Pell’s appeal would succeed.

“It is hard for me to allow myself to feel the gravity of this moment,” he said in a statement. “It is hard for me, for the time being, to take comfort from this outcome. I appreciate the court has acknowledged what was inflicted upon me as a child. However, there is no rest for me.”

The lawyer who represented the dead victim’s father, Lisa Flynn, said he regarded the sentence as inadequate and would continue to fight for justice.

“Today is the start or a part of a long journey for many victims of abuse around the country,” the lawyer said. “For many, the battle against the Catholic Church has just begun.”

Kidd allowed the sentencing to be broadcast live on television. Courtroom broadcasts are rare in Australia, and the decision might have been an effort by the court to dispel a perception that Pell, 77, received special protection when the court imposed an Internet-wide gag order on his trial and guilty verdict. That order was defied by The Washington Post and other news outlets.

At the end of the sentencing, Kidd said: “If Cardinal Pell could be taken away, please.”

Pell bowed his head to the judge, then walked slowly out of the packed courtroom, with the help of a wooden cane and escorted by five police officers.

Pell, who oversaw the Vatican’s finances, is one of the most senior Australian religious figures in history. Since the conviction, a powerful network of allies and supporters has emerged to suggest that he may have been a victim of a miscarriage of justice.

“Should the appeal fail, I hope and pray Pell, heading for prison, is not the unwitting victim of a nation in search of a scapegoat,” Frank Brennan, a prominent Jesuit priest and human rights lawyer, wrote in the newspaper the Australian.

Victims and victims’ advocates expressed disappointment that the integrity of the legal system was being questioned after Pell was found guilty in a unanimous verdict by a 12-member jury overseen by a senior judge.

While one of Pell’s victims died several years ago of a heroin overdose, the other said he had experienced shame, loneliness and depression.

The choirboys’ abuse was first exposed by journalist Louise Milligan, who had spoken to one of the victims and briefly mentioned the abuse in a longer television report in July 2016. She later published a book, “The Cardinal,” that detailed Pell’s rise through the church hierarchy and the allegations against him.

Milligan, who was criticized by some Catholics for her reporting, sat in the front row of the courtroom on Wednesday, facing the judge.

“That’s the thing about these cases,” she said in an interview afterward. “He has to live with this for the rest of his life, and it’s a horrible crime and no sentence will ever make up for that.”

After Pell was found guilty, Robert Richter, his lead attorney, told the judge that the assault was “no more than a plain vanilla sexual penetration case.”

The comment by Richter, one of Melbourne’s leading criminal defenders, was regarded by many victims of sexual abuse as trivializing the psychological harm they suffered at the hands of priests.

Richter had to be shielded by police guards when he left the courthouse on Wednesday, surrounded by a mob of journalists and victim advocates, some of whom yelled abuse.

A government-ordered inquiry into sexual abuse in Australia last year calculated that 4,444 people reported allegations of child sexual abuse to Catholic authorities between 1980 and 2015, and that 7 percent of Catholic priests over sixty years were accused of abuse.

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LANSING (MI)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

Even now, the clerics are “under the radar” in the state

Group blasts central Michigan Catholic officials on abuse

SNAP wants bishop to post ALL alleged offenders’ names online

“More details are also needed to better protect the vulnerable,” it says

“The real solution,” group insists, “is criminal prosecution & legislative reform”

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will disclose that three publicly accused priests were or are in the Lansing diocese. Each spent time in central Michigan but have attracted little or no media or public attention before in the state.

The victims will also call on local Catholic officials to
–post the names of ALL accused priests on their diocesan website,
–include details like their work histories, whereabouts and photos, and
–join with victims in pushing for real legislative reform, like repealing Michigan’s “archaic, predator-friendly statute of limitations” so survivors can do what bishops will not do: expose child molesters in court.

WHEN
Wednesday, March 13 at 3:15 p.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Lansing Catholic diocesan headquarters, 228 N. Walnut St, (corner of W. Ottawa St.) in Lansing, Michigan

WHO
Two – three victims and advocates who belong to a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, including a Missouri man who was the group’s former long time executive director

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.

TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade

March 12, 2019

By Nicki Gorny

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests is questioning why the Roman Catholic Diocese of Toledo has not publicly acknowledged four priests who spent time at local schools and parishes before or after they allegedly sexually abused minors in other jurisdictions.

“The bishop’s silence is the voice of complicity,” Claudia Vercellotti, a local leader for SNAP, said. “It is the reason that these types of crimes continue and it is the coverup that keeps these crimes going. The only way to stop that is to expose them and to demand accountability.”

Ms. Vercellotti and David Clohessy, a former national director and current St. Louis director of SNAP, held a news conference outside the Toledo Diocese, 1933 Spielbusch Ave., on Tuesday to call attention to four priests identified by the USA Midwest Province of the Society of Jesus in December in relation to “one or more established allegations of sexual abuse of a minor.”

The Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, are the largest male religious order in the Catholic Church. They have a presence around the world.

While each allegation faced by the four priests took place outside the Toledo diocese, each at some point served here. The Jesuit Midwest Province identified more than 50 total clerics, many of whom are dead. The earliest allegation is dated to 1944.

SNAP called on diocesan officials to add the names of the four clerics who served locally to a list of clergymen against whom credible allegations have been made within the Diocese of Toledo. The diocese identifies some of the 46 clerics accused in incidents between 1950 and 2012 on its website, notably excluding 13 who have died and who “can neither defend themselves against the accusation nor possibly be a future threat to anyone if the allegation were true.”

SNAP also called on diocesan officials to “aggressively reach out to anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered any wrongdoing by” the four Jesuit priests.

“It’s important that even the dead predators are publicly acknowledged because it’s incredibly healing for a victim when he or she sees a priest or a brother or a nun or a seminarian who molested them – when that victim sees that their name is finally out in the public,” Mr. Clohessy said.

Diocesan spokesman Kelly Donaghy said in a statement that the diocese only identifies priests against whom they have received substantiated allegations related to an assignment within the Toledo Diocese. They have not received any accusations against the four priests whom the Jesuits identified as having spent time locally.

Mr. Clohessy criticized such an approach by bishops as “incredible hair-splitting.”

“They say things like, ‘he wasn’t ordained here.’ … ‘he wasn’t suspended here.’ ‘We don’t have an allegation against him.’ Or in this case, ‘well, he belonged to a religious order, so I never signed his paycheck,’” he said. “We believe all of those are flimsy excuses to maintain secrecy.”

Ms. Donaghy also said the local diocese is “currently in the process of updating our website to include the assignment history of any priest who has a substantiated allegation of sexual abuse of a minor while serving in the Toledo Diocese.”

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MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA)
The Associated Press

March 12, 2019

By Rod McGuirk

The most senior Catholic to be convicted of child sex abuse will be sentenced to prison Wednesday in an Australia landmark case that has polarized observers

The most senior Catholic to be convicted of child sex abuse will be sentenced to prison in Australia on Wednesday in a landmark case that has polarized observers. Some described the prosecution as proof the church is no longer above the law, while others suspect Cardinal George Pell has been made a scapegoat for the church’s sins.

Pope Francis’ former finance minister, who had been described as the third-highest ranking Catholic in the Vatican, has spent two weeks in a Melbourne remand jail cell since a sentencing hearing in the Victoria state County Court on Feb. 27 in which his lawyers conceded the 77-year-old must spend time behind bars.

Pell had been convicted in December of orally raping a 13-year-old choirboy and indecently dealing with the boy and the boy’s 13-year-old friend in the late 1990s, months after Pell became archbishop of Melbourne and initiated a compensation scheme for victims of clergy sexual abuse. A court order had prohibited media from reporting on the verdict until two weeks ago, when prosecutors abandoned a second trial on charges that Pell had groped two boys in a public swimming pool in the 1970s.

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WHEELING (WV)
WTRF

March 11, 2019

SNAP is urging another investigation from law enforcements following the Bishop Michael Bransfield investigation.

SNAP officials are encouraging West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey to open an investigation into clergy sex abuse in the state.

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UNITED STATES
The Huffington Post

March 12, 2019

By Ron Dicker

Catholic officials in New York City demanded on Monday an apology from “Saturday Night Live” and NBC for Pete Davidson’s “disgraceful and offensive” jab at the church in a bit involving R. Kelly.

In the “Weekend Update” segment on the show, the comedian noted that Kelly, a singer facing multiple charges of sexual abuse, “is a monster who should go to jail forever.”

“But if you support the Catholic Church,” he continued (as seen in the clip above), “isn’t that like the same thing as being an R. Kelly fan? I don’t really see the difference, except like one’s music is significantly better.”

The Diocese of Brooklyn blasted the routine in a statement.

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NEW YORK (NY)
The New York Times

March 12, 2019

By Liam Stack

The archdiocese of Baltimore said on Monday that it had barred two bishops from performing priestly duties and referred their cases to the Vatican after an internal investigation into allegations that they had sexually harassed adults, including one claim that was dismissed by church investigators a decade ago.

The announcement shined a light on the alleged abuse of adults, an often overlooked corner of the Catholic Church abuse scandal, and drew parallels to the downfall of Theodore E. McCarrick, a former cardinal and archbishop of Washington, who was expelled from the priesthood last month after the church found him guilty of abusing children and adult seminarians.

“When you have a situation like this, usually there is a power imbalance where the victim feels compelled to do what the priest is telling them to do,” said David Lorenz, an abuse survivor and local leader in Maryland with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “That was the case with Cardinal McCarrick and the seminarians.”

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BALTIMORE (MD)
Catholic News Service

March 11, 2019

By Christopher Gunty

Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore announced March 11 that a preliminary investigation into allegations of sexual harassment of adults and financial improprieties by Bishop Michael Bransfield, formerly of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, has been completed and will be forwarded to the Vatican for final judgment.

At the same time, the archbishop announced restrictions on the bishop’s ministry.

The Vatican announced Bransfield’s retirement from the diocese Sept. 13, and Pope Francis appointed Lori as apostolic administrator, with a mandate to investigate the allegations against the bishop.

A news release from the Archdiocese of Baltimore March 11 noted that the preliminary investigation took place over five months. Lori conducted the investigation with the assistance of a team of five lay experts.

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CHICAGO (IL)
The Chicago Tribune

March 11, 2019

Editorial Board

Editorials reflect the opinion of the Editorial Board, as determined by the members of the board, the editorial page editor and the publisher.

“Leaving Neverland,” the HBO documentary alleging Michael Jackson sexually abused two young boys, examines an insidious aspect of child sex abuse: the way predators might groom children and even parents to build intimacy and trust.

Unfortunately, many of these alleged behaviors are only clear in retrospect. Gifts and outings with an admired adult may seem normal and even welcome. The child is flattered. The parents are proud. Only later might the plot become clear.

Jackson died in 2009. His family and estate have long denied the allegations contained in “Leaving Neverland.” But the documentary raises uncomfortable questions about predatory behavior. Among them: How does a mother luxuriate in a hotel suite while her young son is in bed with a grown man a few floors away? At least part of the answer is a grooming process in which victim and family come to trust and care for the accused predator. Viewers may pat themselves on the back for being smart enough not to let their children sleep with a gloved pop star. But look at Larry Nassar, the USA Gymnastics doctor accused of molesting hundreds of girls and grooming an entire community. Or at the hundreds of abuser priests who were widely trusted figures.

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UNITED STATES
Forbes

March 9, 2019

By Sarah Aswell

As millions of viewers watch the crime documentary Abducted in Plain Sight on Netflix, the overwhelming response is shock and disbelief. How could this have possibly happened? How in the world could a man abduct the same child twice? And then not face consequences for it?

As the story unfolds, these questions aren’t completely answered in a satisfying way – even filmmaker Skye Borgman told Vanity Fair that the family’s explanations of the events frustrated her so much that she had to take a six-week break from making the movie.

But there’s one explanation for the outrageous tale that isn’t fully explored in the film (and Borgman herself agrees): the role that faith, religion, and the Mormon church played in the kidnappings, not only when it comes to perpetrator Robert “B” Berchtold’s actions, but also the actions of victim Jan Broberg and her family.

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SANTIAGO (CHILE)
CNA

March 11, 2019

Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati Andrello of Santiago on Thursday denied knowing and giving money to the complainant in a rape case in the cathedral which took place in 2015.

The Archbishop of Santiago gave an interview to Informe Especial which was broadcast March 7.

In the interview, he discussed a rape complaint against Fr. Rigoberto Tito Rivera Muñoz, who was found guilty in August 2018 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of the sexual abuse of adults.

Rivera sexually assaulted Daniel Rojas Alvarez, who was then about 40, in a room of the Santiago Metropolitan Cathedral in 2015.

Rojas claims he told Cardinal Ezzati of the attack during a confession, and that the archbishop asked him to pray for the abuser, gave him 30,000 pesos ($45), and asked that he not asked him not to share what happened.

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EAST LANSING (MI)
Michigan State University Museum

March 12, 2019

Speaker Series for “Finding our Voice: Sister Survivors Speak”

Join us at the MSU Museum on Tuesday, March 12 at 5:30 p.m. for our spring speaker series panel discussion titled, “Covering the Crisis: Journalism and Sexual Violence.”

March 12, 2019
5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
Entry Hall, MSU Museum

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OHIO COUNTY (WV)
WTOV9

March 11, 2019

By Jaime Baker

After more than 5 months, a preliminary investigation of allegations against Bishop Michael Bransfield is complete.

Bransfield is facing allegations of sexual harassment of adults, and now, another issue is coming to light.

In September, the church announced a preliminary investigation into Bransfield after allegations of sexual harassment of adults surfaced.

That report is now complete and is entering the final of three phases.

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WHEELING (WV)
The Intelligencer/Wheeling News- Register

March 11, 2019

An investigation into former Wheeling-Charleston Diocese bishop Michael Bransfield involved not only allegations of sexual harassment but also financial improprieties, and the matter has now been forwarded to the Vatican in Rome, the Diocese announced Monday.

On Sept. 13, 2018, the Holy See announced Bransfield’s retirement as bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston and appointed Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori as Apostolic Administrator of Wheeling-Charleston, with a mandate to conduct a preliminary investigation into allegations of sexual harassment of adults and financial improprieties by Bransfield.

The preliminary investigation, which took place over five months, was conducted by Lori with the assistance of a team of five lay experts. The investigative team examined multiple allegations of sexual harassment of adults and financial improprieties. It involved interviews with more than 40 individuals, including Bransfield. The investigation has now been completed and will be sent to the Holy See for final judgment.

At the request of those who provided testimony, victims will not be identified, nor will details of their personal accounts be disclosed.

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WHEELING (WV)
WTRF

March 11, 2019

Parishioners within the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston have been left with questions for months after the resignation of Bishop Michael J. Bransfield among allegations of sexual harassment of adults.

Baltimore Archbishop William Lori, who has been serving as Apostolic Administrator, and a group of outside investigators have been looking into those allegations for months, and have just completed a preliminary investigation.

Diocesan officials now say the fate of Bishop Bransfield is in the hands of the Holy See in Rome.

They will make the final judgment.

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FT. WAYNE/SOUTH BEND (IN)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

March 12, 2019

1–Fr. Gregory H. Poser was ordained for the Crosiers, a religious order, in 1975. He spent time in the archdioceses of St. Paul-Minneapolis MN and Chicago IL and the dioceses of Kalamazoo MI and St. Cloud MN. In 1991 he was transferred to Indonesia, where he lived and worked as a missionary for many years. In 2003 he returned to MN, where he worked at three parishes and a mission church. Fr. Poser was suspended from those assignments in May 2016, when the diocese received a report that he had sexually abused a minor when he was working at a Shoreview MN parish in the 1970s.

From 1979-82, he was at the Crosier House of Studies and from 1982-83 he was at the Crosier Retreat Center, both in Ft. Wayne. From 1983-84, he was at the Crosier Fathers & Brothers in Garrett Indiana.

http://www.bishopaccountability.org/assign/Poser_Gregor_H_OSC.html

2–Fr. Vincent Arthur “Fr. Art” Yzermans was a St. Cloud MN diocesan priest, ordained in 1951. In addition to working in parishes throughout the diocese, he was also a writer, editor and a communications consultant during three sessions of Vatican II in Rome. In the mid-1960s, he was a press advisor to the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops in Washington DC and the editor of a national Catholic paper, Our Sunday Visitor.

Fr. Yzermans struggled with alcoholism for which he was in and out of treatment more than a dozen times. In the mid 1970s, he spent a year in Santa Rosa CA, a year at St. Thomas College in Minneapolis, and later at a parish in Anchorage AK. He was on medical leave 1979-1984 before returning to St. Cloud. His name was among 33 released by the St. Cloud diocese in 2014 of clergy involved in incidents of likely claims of sexual abuse of minors. From 1967-69, he was at the Victory-Noll Motherhouse Novitiate Juniorate and College in Huntington Indiana.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/Yzermans_Vincent_Arthur.htm

3–Fr. Harvey Lamothe was accused of sexually abusing at least one boy in the Manchester NH diocese between 1979-1985. He was named as an abuser in a 2002 civil settlement with several victims. From 1950-1951, he was at the Divine Heart Seminary in Donaldson Indiana.

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

4–Fr. Joseph F. Mika (aka Rev. Salvatore Mika) was accused in 2004 of having sexually abused a female student when he worked in Pulaski, WI in the 1950s. Mika “expressed sorrow” about the abuse, and his supervisers said he was under “appropriate restrictions.” From 1951-52, he was at Immaculate Conception of Lourdes Monastery in Cedar Lake IN.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/assign/Mika_Joseph_F_OFM.htm

5–Fr. John J. Gallen, who in 2018 was included on a list of credibly accused abusers by his Jesuit supervisors. He became an internationally known scholar and author who led seminars around the world on Catholic liturgy and worship.

In 1993, a man reported to his then-home diocese of Milwaukee that, when he was a 16-year-old altar boy in 1980 at a Toledo OH parish, Gallen sexually abused him. Gallen was at the parish in March 1980 to lead a week-long retreat. His accuser said Gallen touched him inappropriately and kissed him. The man said that Gallen later got his parents to allow him to help the priest with a move from Phoenix to Sacramento and that, during the trip, Gallen forced him into oral sex. Fr. Gallen’s accuser said he reported the abuse to two of his parish priests shortly thereafter, but that the priests did not believe him.

Fr. Gallen sent his accuser letters of apology for his behavior in 1993 and 1994. Gallen could not be prosecuted because the statute of limitations had expired.

From 1977-1979, he was the Director of Center for Pastoral Liturgy at Notre Dame.

http://image.jesuits.org/MIDWESTPROV/media/All_Pastoral_Assignments_of_Jesuits_on_Midwest_Jesuits-12-17-18_List_posted_21_Dec_2018.pdf

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/assign/Gallen_John_J_sj.htm

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4 more accused priests were in Toledo

But they’ve attracted no public attention

One faced 16 Native American accusers

New disclosure by Jesuits spans 60+ years

SNAP: “Bishop & order should do outreach”

Group also wants accused cleric list expanded

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will disclose that four recently ‘outed’ Jesuits with “established allegations of sexual abuse of minors” worked in Toledo.

They will also push Toledo’s bishop to
–add the four names to his ‘accused’ priests list,
— explain his omission, and
–expand that list to include photos, whereabouts and full work histories of all the named clerics

WHEN
Tuesday, March 12 at 4:00 p.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Toledo Catholic diocese HQ (”chancery office”), 1933 Spielbusch (near Cherry St.) in Toledo

WHO
Three members of a support group called SNAP (the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), including the organization’s former long time Toledo volunteer director and the organization’s former long time national director

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

Victims blast Ft.Wayne bishop

SNAP: “He’s hiding alleged at least 13 accused priests”

The clerics mostly abused elsewhere but escape scrutiny here

They were in Fort Wayne, South Bend, Garrett, Donaldson & Cedar Lake

“Victims, witnesses & whistleblowers should call attorney general,” group says

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victim and advocate will publicly disclose for the first time that 13 publicly accused predator priests (including one who became an internationally known author and lecturer) have been left off the diocese’s ‘accused’ abusers list.

They will also
–prod Ft. Wayne’ bishop to explain these omissions, add the priests, and other alleged predators, to his “accused” clergy list, and
–beg anyone who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes or cover ups in Indiana to contact the attorney general who they say should be conducting an investigation into this crisis.

WHEN
Tuesday, March 12 at 2:00 p.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Ft. Wayne diocese headquarters (“chancery”), 915 S. Clinton St. (corner of East Washington) in Ft. Wayne, IN

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Loyolan

March 11,2019

By Isabella Murillo

Former LMU Jesuit and retired Bishop Gordon Bennett has been accused of sexual harassment, according to an article by the Catholic News Agency.

Bennett will no longer be able to perform any priestly or episcopal ministry. This status only applies to work in the Archdiocese of Baltimore or the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, the archdiocese said in a press release on March 11.

Archbishop Lori of Baltimore and five lay experts revealed the allegation was filed against Bennett in May 2006. Three months later, Bennett resigned from his Jamaican diocese, which he held for only two years. He retired in August 2006 at 60 years old, reportedly due to health issues. The ordinary retirement age for bishops is 75.

Bennett is currently listed as a member of Alpha Sigma Nu at LMU on the LMU website, but the University said he left in August 2018. When asked for comment, Father Deck, the rector of LMU Jesuits program said they were “very sad” to hear about the incident.

Bennett worked at LMU for ten years and became a prominent figure at the University. He narrated a marketing video for LMU titled “Fall in Love at LMU,” which was deleted on March 11, when the press release detailing the sexual assault came out. He has also spoken out at many lectures and Jesuit events, such as “The Wit and Wisdom of LMU’s Jesuits” and a “Jubilee Year of Mercy” lecture series. His speech at Mission Day in 2010 called on crowd to “maintain Ignatian principles.”

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ALBANY (NY)
The St. Rose Chronicle

March 11, 2019

By Sophia Rijo

It should come as no surprise that the Roman Catholic Church has always had rumors about them relating to the sexual abuse of children, specifically young boys. On Feb. 24, a top Cardinal of the Catholic Church admits that the Church has been destroying files related to the sexual abuse of children.

This news was first revealed on Feb. 23 during Pope Francis’ clergy abuse summit. German Cardinal Reinhard Marx stated that there were many documents that were filed by survivors but Church officials have been keeping them a secret.

Religion has always been a sensitive topic to speak about, since there are many variations of religion across the entire world. Children who come from religious families are immediately taught that they have to believe what the Priest says because they are the ones who send out God’s message. It has been that way for many centuries, back in medieval times, the Church was seen as the overall power – not even the Kings and Queens could disobey the word of God.

But as it has been proven before and it is proven now, no one, not even Priests, are exempt from corruption and lies. As the Cardinal continues, he said, “Instead of the perpetrators, the victims were regulated and silence imposed on them.”

It is ironic, once someone has done something wrong, they are immediately labeled as an outsider to separate them from the original source. The ones who abused those children while they are predators and offenders, they were first priests. This issue of priests preying on the children – who place their trust in them because they speak the word of God – had been going on for long enough and it is apparent that the Church has done little to ward off those types of people from entering their midsts.

One woman, Veronica Openibo, the first African elected to lead the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, openly criticized the priests who “supported accused brethren over victims” and even questioned Pope Francis on his record on abuse.

Issues like these are not openly covered by mainstream media, and only those who dig and search will find stories like this one. Issues of abuse, corruption and cover ups by the Church only drive people away from believing in the Church again. There are many things that are written in the books of multiple religions that say that people must follow certain rules described, but people seem to forget that those rules applied back centuries ago and should be reviewed and updated to fit the current times.

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

March 11, 2019

The investigation against the former bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston has concluded, diocesan officials have confirmed. Now, as the results of the diocesan investigation are sent to the Holy See for review, SNAP is urging another investigation into the claims, this time by West Virginia law enforcement officials.

As a result of the investigation into Bishop Michael Bransfield, the current diocesan administrator of Wheeling-Charleston, Archbishop William Lori, has announced that Bransfield “is not authorized to exercise any priestly or episcopal ministry within the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston.”

For the protection of children and the prevention of future abuse, we’re glad that these few details have been made public and that some steps have been taken and are sure that those review board members who helped the Diocese investigate the allegations against Bransfield did so to the best of their ability and knowledge. But as we have consistently been shown in the past six months, we cannot count on church officials to be forthcoming about clergy sex crimes.

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CHARLESTON (WV)
Gazette Mail

March 11, 2019

By Rebecca Carballo

A investigation into alleged sexual and financial misconduct by former Catholic bishop Michael J. Bransfield has ended after five months, and the former leader of West Virginia’s Catholics faces more restrictions while waiting for the Vatican to respond.

In a statement issued Monday, Archibishop William E. Lori of Baltimore said the investigation results have been sent to the Holy See. Lori was appointed to temporarily take Bransfield’s place at the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston when Bransfield’s retirement and the investigation were announced in September.

“Pending the assessment of the findings of the Holy See, as Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, I have directed that Bishop Bransfield is not authorized to exercise any priestly or episcopal ministry within the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston,” Lori said in Monday’s statement. “I have further directed the Diocese to implement a third-party reporting system for any sexual or financial impropriety on the part of its bishop, clergy, religious and lay employees and volunteers.”

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MUVATTUPUZHA (INDIA)
Catholic News Agency

March 11, 2019

Last month a provincial superior of the Franciscan Clarist Congregation explained that the recent transfer of Sister Lissy Vadakkel was unrelated to her acting as a witness in the case against a bishop accused of serially raping another nun.

Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jullundur was accused in June 2018 by a nun of the Missionaries of Jesus of raping her during his May 2014 visit to her convent in Kuravilangad. In a complaint to police she alleged that the bishop sexually abused her more than a dozen times over two years.

Police in Kerala had charged Sister Alphonsa Abraham, superior of the FCC’s Nirmala Province, based in Vijayawada, and three of her deputies, with the wrongful confinement of Sister Lissy, The News Minute reported Feb. 22.

Sr. Alphonsa stated that Sr. Lissy, 53, had been staying in a guest house in Muvattupuzha “for the last 14 years … in her personal capacity and not for any work associated with the Vijayawada Province.”

“During her stay there, she had established a relationship with the nuns of the Kuravilangad convent and gave a statement to the police against Bishop Franco Mulakkal clandestinely,” the provincial superior wrote. Kuravilangad is located about 20 miles south of Muvattupuzha.

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BERKSHIRE (MA)
The Berkshire Eagle

March 11, 2019

By Larry Parnass

District attorneys say they will probe complaints of clergy sexual abuse in Western Massachusetts, even if the passage of time leaves them unable to bring charges.

“We want to honor and respect what people in our area have gone through,” said Berkshire District Attorney Andrea Harrington. “Prosecution is about standing up for what’s right and wrong — and for morality. Whether you can or cannot win a case.”

Harrington and Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan, who represents Hampshire and Franklin counties, say they feel a moral obligation to aid survivors, amid questions about whether the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield has adequately relayed abuse complaints to prosecutors.

“It’s really about the Diocese of Springfield being transparent, disclosing all the allegations of adult and child sexual abuse and then being accountable,” Sullivan said. “It may not be a criminal prosecution, because the statute of limitations may have run on many people.

“But there’s other forms of justice, for people to be acknowledged for the harm that was done to them. That restorative justice that goes on can be outside of the courts,” he said in an interview at his Northampton office.

Separately, Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni last month created a telephone hotline staffed by state police detectives that is accepting complaints of clergy abuse from any time period.

Moves by the three district attorneys — the top law enforcement officers for the four western counties — come as the office of Attorney General Maura Healey fine-tunes a memorandum of understanding related to how Catholic church officials report complaints of abuse. A spokesman for Healey declined to comment on the memorandum, but said the office is working with district attorneys “to make sure the policies and systems we have in place are strong to protect against these crimes, and remain a resource for survivors.”

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
The Advocate

March 11, 2019

By Ramon Antonio Vargas

A volunteer firefighter from North Carolina who claimed that he was sexually abused in 7th grade by
disgraced former New Orleans deacon George Brignac settled his lawsuit with the Archdiocese of New Orleans last week.

The amount of the settlement paid to Morris Daniels, who claimed to have been repeatedly abused by Brignac while a student at Holy Rosary School in the early 1980s, wasn’t disclosed by either side. But the plaintiff’s attorney, Roger Stetter, described the figure as “substantial” during an interview Monday.

Stetter said he and Daniels, 49, opted to settle the case rather than proceed to trial so that the plaintiff could get a measure of finality without having to again recount the abuse he allegedly suffered at the hands of Brignac, a suspected serial child molester.

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WHEELING (WV)
The Intelligencer

March 11, 2019

An investigation into former Wheeling-Charleston Diocese bishop Michael Bransfield involved not only allegations of sexual harassment but also financial improprieties, and the matter has now been forwarded to the Vatican in Rome, the Diocese announced Monday.

On Sept. 13, 2018, the Holy See announced Bransfield’s retirement as bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston and appointed Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori as Apostolic Administrator of Wheeling-Charleston, with a mandate to conduct a preliminary investigation into allegations of sexual harassment of adults and financial improprieties by Bransfield.

The preliminary investigation, which took place over five months, was conducted by Lori with the assistance of a team of five lay experts. The investigative team examined multiple allegations of sexual harassment of adults and financial improprieties. It involved interviews with more than 40 individuals, including Bransfield. The investigation has now been completed and will be sent to the Holy See for final judgment.

At the request of those who provided testimony, victims will not be identified, nor will details of their personal accounts be disclosed.

“Pending the assessment of the findings of the Holy See, as Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, I have directed that Bishop Bransfield is not authorized to exercise any priestly or episcopal ministry within the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston,” Lori said. “I have further directed the Diocese to implement a third-party reporting system for any sexual or financial impropriety on the part of its bishop, clergy, religious and lay employees and volunteers.”

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WHEELING (WV)
WTRF TV

March 11, 2019

By Sam Coniglio

A five-month-long investigation into allegations of sexual harassment and financial impropriety against Bishop Michael Bransfield has come to a close, according to Archbishop William Lori.

The investigation was conducted by Archbishop Lori with the assistance of five lay experts, and it involved interviews with more than 40 people, including Bransfield. The findings of the investigation will be sent to the Holy See in Rome for a final judgment.

Diocesan officials say that there was no criminal conduct found during the course of the investigation.

“Pending the assessment of the findings of the Holy See, as Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, I have directed that Bishop Bransfield is not authorized to exercise any priestly or episcopal ministry within the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston,” Archbishop Lori said. “I have further directed the Diocese to implement a third-party reporting system for any sexual or financial impropriety on the part of its bishop, clergy, religious and lay employees and volunteers.”

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LINCOLN (NE)
Lincoln Journal Star

March 11, 2019

By Peter Salter and Riley Johnson

The Catholic church pushed back against state investigators this month, asking a judge to toss the 400 subpoenas the Nebraska attorney general served on churches and schools this week seeking evidence of clergy sex abuse of minors.

Short of that, church officials asked a judge to give them more time to comply, and to force Attorney General Doug Peterson to narrow his requests.

“The attorney general has improperly attempted to use these subpoenas like warrants without a showing of probable cause, by demanding immediate responses, threatening sanctions for failing to comply, and using the element of surprise,” lawyers for the bishops wrote.

On Tuesday, Peterson announced he’d instructed law enforcement officers across the state to serve 400 subpoenas on Catholic churches, schools and other institutions. Specifically, he required all records related to any assault or abuse by those employed or associated with each church or institution, whether previously reported or not, according to his news release.

What the release didn’t say: Peterson was demanding information covering 22 years, according to court documents. He was expecting immediate compliance from the offices of the Diocese of Lincoln and Archdiocese of Omaha. And he was giving churches and schools three days to turn over records.

Attorneys for both sides met privately with Lancaster County District Judge Robert Otte in his chambers March 1 before agreeing in court to delay the fight. Both sides will return to court later this month. Until then, the attorney general’s office has agreed not to enforce the subpoenas.

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BROOKLYN (NY)
Brooklyn Catholic Diocese

March 11, 2019

The Diocese of Brooklyn is demanding an immediate public apology from “Saturday Night Live” and NBC after Saturday night’s disgraceful and offensive skit in which cast member Pete Davidson, during the Weekend Update segment, said: “If you support the Catholic Church, isn’t that the same thing as being an R. Kelly fan?” The statement clearly shocked the studio audience as gasps could be heard off camera.

Apparently, the only acceptable bias these days is against the Catholic Church. The faithful of our Church are disgusted by the harassment by those in news and entertainment, and this sketch offends millions. The mockery of this difficult time in the Church’s history serves no purpose.

The clergy sex abuse crisis is shameful, and no one should ever get a laugh at the expense of the victims who have suffered irreparably. The Diocese of Brooklyn strives every day to ensure that sexual abuse by clergy never happens again.

For nearly two decades, the Diocese of Brooklyn has taken this crisis seriously and instituted widespread changes mandated by the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

Those changes include a zero-tolerance policy in which any clergy member credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor is permanently removed from ministry. Since 2002, the Diocese of Brooklyn has shared all of its files and allegations against clergy with the District Attorneys of Brooklyn and Queens. In 2004, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio instituted a reporting line that sends reports directly to law enforcement authorities.

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DENVER (CO)
National Catholic Register

March 11, 2019

By Tim Busch

The time has come for an “all-out battle.”

So said Pope Francis at the conclusion of the Vatican’s first-ever summit on sexual abuse, which brought together the heads of bishops’ conferences from around the world, along with many cardinals. It was a powerful moment at the end of an important gathering, and the Pope deserves praise for convening the meeting and for his strong words.

But the Pope’s exhortation doesn’t just apply to the bishops. It’s also a call to action for lay Catholics. In the wake of the summit, the faithful must support the Pope by prayerfully and respectfully requesting a greater role in the purification of our Church.

For Catholics in the United States, our focus needs to be the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ upcoming assembly in June in Baltimore. We’ve been blessed with many bishops who are committed to reform, accountability and healing. We need to let them know that we support them, which is why the laity should encourage the bishops to use the Baltimore gathering to expand one of the most effective Church reforms in U.S. history — the Dallas Charter.

The Dallas Charter was drafted by the bishops in June 2002 after the Boston abuse scandal hit earlier that year. It instituted many new and long-overdue procedures to crack down on predator priests. One of its most important reforms was the creation of lay review boards.

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

March 11, 2019

Today, New Jersey advances the safety of victims of sexual abuse with the expected approval of reform bills in NJ house and senate.

NJ bill A3648 to be heard this Monday March 11, 2019 before the New Jersey Assembly Judiciary Committee. The hearing will take place at 1 pm in Room 11 on the 4th floor of the NJ State House Annex building.

Many survivors of sexual abuse will be testifying in support of this long overdue legislation, that will modify NJ’s Statute of Limitation (SOL) laws for both child victims and adults. The Bill will create a two-year window for victims regardless of age beginning Dec 1, 2019 thru Dec 1, 2021. After which the SOL will be extended to age 55 or 7 years from discovery whichever is later.

When these bills, Senate S477 and Assembly A3648, pass it will move NJ from having one of the worst SOL laws in the country to one of the best. Since 2002, forty other states have already modified its SOL laws for child sexual abuse. Survivors of sexual abuse, both child victims and adult survivors, will have a fairer opportunity to seek justice in this state.

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COLUMBUS (OH)
The Columbus Dispatch

March 9, 2019

By Danae King and Marty Schladen

Sixteen years after the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus formed a review board to advise the bishop on allegations against priests of child sexual abuse, it released a list of priests that it has deemed “credibly accused.”

But the options for victims of these priests to seek justice are limited.

Systems such as those within the Diocese of Columbus ­ in place to exact justice for victims of childhood priest sexual abuse ­ and in the broader legal system often are stacked against adult survivors, advocates say.

Within the church, their accusations are judged by colleagues or superiors of the priest the victims are accusing; a victim’s advocate who is also high-ranking clergy; and a board made up almost entirely of parishioners.

Outside the church, the Ohio legislature has so far rejected changes in laws that limit damages awarded to victims in civil cases, and prevent civil cases and criminal charges because of a statute of limitations.

“The church is the richest institution in the world, and with that money they buy influence and power,” said Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who has made a career out of representing victims of clergy sexual abuse and was made famous by the 2015 movie “Spotlight.”

The Columbus diocese list, released March 1, named 34 clergy members and said the most recent credible claim of abuse happened in 1992. Though it took six months longer for it to release the list than it did the five other Ohio dioceses, Columbus added two more names March 5, making the total 36. Twenty-two of them are dead and the rest have been removed from ministry, according to the diocese.

The release of the list has brought added attention to the Columbus diocese, which did not see major repercussions after the 2002 Boston Globe investigation that forced other dioceses and archdioceses nationwide to open their files, face courts and offer justice to victims.

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TRENTON (NJ)
Politico

March 7, 2019

By Matt Friedman

A bill to expand New Jersey’s statute of limitations on sexual abuse lawsuits appears on its way to passage after being stalled in Trenton for years, thanks in part to the release last year of a Pennsylvania grand jury report into sexual abuse by Catholic clergy.

“Every single day that passes without changing this law is a reminder to [victims] that they don’t matter,” said state Sen. Joe Vitale (D-Middlesex), the bill’s sponsor.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted, 8-1, Thursday to approve the bill, NJ S477 (18R), which allows victims of child sexual abuse up to 37 years after they turn 18 to file a lawsuit against their perpetrators and the institutions that harbored them. Beyond the age of 55, victims would have seven years from the time they realize the abuse has damaged them to file suit.

It’s a massive expansion of New Jersey’s current law, which only allows adult victims just two years from the time they realize the abuse has damaged them to file suit.

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BEEVILLE (TX)
Beeville Bee-Picayune

February 28, 2019

By Gary Kent

One of the witnesses who testified in the 2018 aggravated sexual assault trial of a former Catholic priest was indicted this month on five counts of aggravated perjury.

The defendant, 37-year-old Jose Padron, allegedly gave false information while under oath on March 2, 2016.

Aggravated perjury is a third degree felony. If convicted, Padron could be sentenced to up to 10 years in state prison and fined as much as $10,000 on each count.

According to the indictment, Padron had claimed, under oath, that he called the former priest, Stephen Tarleton Dougherty, on Dec. 16, 2011.

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MEMPHIS (TN)
WMCActionNews5

March 9, 2019

The Memphis Catholic Diocese will have a new Bishop next month.

Days after Bishop David Talley was named for the position, a list came out of the Richmond, Virginia Diocese of priests with credible sexual abuse allegations against them.

Memphis Diocese founder Bishop Carol Dozier was on that list.

David Brown is a member of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests or SNAP.

Outside the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception in Midtown, where Dozier’s body rests, Brown called for Talley to tackle allegations of abuse by Dozier head on.

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NEW JERSEY
North Jersey Record

March 8, 2019

By Svetlana Shkolnikova

A 26-year-old man filed a sexual abuse lawsuit Friday against the Archdiocese of Newark and the Union County Catholic parish where he alleges he was abused by a priest as a minor.

The victim, named under the pseudonym Richard Roe in the complaint, accused the Archdiocese of failing to act on a sexual abuse claim lodged against the Rev. Kevin Gugliotta in 2003 and exposing Roe to abuse by allowing Gugliotta to serve as head of youth ministry at St. Bartholomew the Apostle parish in Scotch Plains.

“Kevin Gugliotta should have never been a part of my client’s life, he should have never had the opportunity to be around my client,” said Greg Gianforcaro, Roe’s attorney, in a press conference announcing the lawsuit. “We warned them about this guy but the Catholic Church just did not get the message.”

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NEW JERSEY
North Jersey Record

March 7, 2019

An attorney representing victims of clergy abuse says he plans to file a “significant childhood sexual abuse” lawsuit Friday against the Archdiocese of Newark and a Union County Catholic parish.

The suit will allege that the Rev. Kevin Gugliotta sexually abused a child while Gugliotta served as the head of youth ministry at St. Bartholomew the Apostle parish in Scotch Plains, a position he retained after the Archdiocese was told that Gugliotta was a predator, according to attorney Greg Gianforcaro.

Gugliotta, who was named on a list of credibly accused priests released by the Newark Archdiocese in February, had been removed from ministry after being charged with possession of child pornography at his vacation home in Pennsylvania. Gugliotta told probation officers that he collected the pornography to get “revenge” on God for his poker losses, according to records.

Even before the child pornography case, Gugliotta had once stepped down from ministry after he was accused of sexually abusing a minor. The accusation, lodged in 2003, involved abuse that was alleged to have occurred in the 1980s, before Gugliotta was ordained as a priest.

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MEMPHIS (TN)
WMC TV

March 9, 2019

The Memphis Catholic Diocese will have a new Bishop next month.

Days after Bishop David Talley was named for the position, a list came out of the Richmond, Virginia Diocese of priests with credible sexual abuse allegations against them.

Memphis Diocese founder Bishop Carol Dozier was on that list.

David Brown is a member of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests or SNAP.

Outside the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception in Midtown, where Dozier’s body rests, Brown called for Talley to tackle allegations of abuse by Dozier head on.

“I feel for him. Bishop Talley is going to have his hands full, but he has an immediate need and that’s to reach out to these survivors here in Shelby County and West Tennessee,” said Brown.

According to the list released by the Richmond Diocese, they became aware of allegations against Dozier in 1985. That was 15 years after Dozier became Bishop in Memphis.

“Did he stop abusing when he came down here? We find most of the time pedophiles don’t do that,” said Brown.

In an exclusive interview with Talley, he said he was told about the allegations against Dozier immediately.

He said after he takes his position on April 2, he will get the information from Richmond.

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SCOTCH PLAINS (NJ)
WPIX TV

March 11, 2019

Attorney Gregory Gianforcaro said he and his old client, known only as Mr. X, met with the Archdiocese of Newark on October 24, 2003, to detail allegations of sexual abuse by Father Kevin Gugliotta.

Mr. X did not want money. He wanted Father Gugliotta to be kept away from kids.

Instead, Gugliotta was assigned to St. Bartholomew the Apostle in Scotch Plains, less than 2.5 miles from Mr. X’s home.

It took Gugliotta less than one year to meet his next alleged victim.

“I don’t understand what the problem is with this Catholic Church,” exclaimed Gianforcaro. “After the warning — he was made head of youth ministry.”

That’s where he met Richard Roe.

Richard Roe is an alias. His real name has not been disclosed.

Roe was 11 years old in 2004, when he claims Father Gugliotta forced him to participate in oral sex, fondling and masturbation on trips and on church property.

His mother just found out a year ago. Roe is now 26.

“We were just both in shock and dismay of what happened,” she said.

Gugliotta was later transferred to a parish in Mahwah, New Jersey.

“The younger the victim is the much harder it is for them to come forward,” said Mark Crawford, head of New Jersey Survivors of those Abused by Priests.

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(AUSTRALIA)
news.com.au

March 11, 2019

By Warren Barnsley

A former Catholic priest who took nude photos of a schoolboy while he has a teacher at Brisbane’s Villanova College has been jailed.

Michael Ambrose Endicott, 75, was found guilty last week of three counts of indecently dealing with the child about 40 years ago.

He was handed an 18-month jail sentence on Monday, to be suspended after he serves six months.

Endicott was in charge of religious education at the school during the 1970s, his Brisbane District Court trial heard.

The victim said he was first abused by Endicott on a school hiking trip in 1975. Endicott asked the nine-year-old boy to accompany him to a secluded area in dense bush, where he photographed the student naked.

Endicott told him: “There’s nothing to worry about. It’s okay. You’re doing a good job.”

Three years later, Endicott abused him in the school tower. Again, the boy was photographed naked.

Years later, when the boy was a teenager, Endicott took him into a change room and told him to strip when photos were taken of him in the shower.

“He went along with the defendant’s behaviour … because he was a priest,” crown prosecutor Russell Clutterbuck said.

“He said, ‘at school, priests ruled. They have absolute power over everything’ and he dared not speak out against them.”

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NEWARK (NJ)
Star-Ledger

March 11, 2019

To sum up five hours of absolutely brutal testimony before the New Jersey Senate, some of which will be repeated today for the Assembly: It’s easy to rape a child and get away with it.

We heard this from four sisters abused as girls by the same priest, and two of the Olympic gymnasts assaulted byteam doctorLarry Nassar. We heard it from burly men and grandparents, who cried as they relived their childhood terror.

The problem is, child victims are put on a clock. By law, they have only two years to file a civil suit, from the time they first realize that the abuse damaged them. When a person sexually assaulted at age 7 finally figures this out, and grapples with the trauma, it can be too late. The predator goes unpunished, and so do his enablers.

The bill would expand the two-year statute of limitations in New Jersey, allowing childhood victims of sexual assault more time to file a civil lawsuit.

And without the discovery phase of a civil lawsuit, forcing testimony from church officials, for instance, we may never know why an abuser was moved from parish to parish.

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NEW SOUTH WALES (AUSTRALIA)
Newcastle Herald

March 11, 2019

By Joanne McCarthy

A CATHOLIC Church child sexual abuse survivor who prayed for death to relieve extreme pain after pelvic mesh surgery has accused key elements of Australia’s health system of acting like the church over the mesh scandal.

“I went to the Catholic Church and there was minimising, inaction and denial. I complained after mesh surgery and the response was the same from the health system. It was just denying, denying, denying there was a problem with mesh for years,” said Joan Isaacs, who was one of the first Catholic survivors to give evidence to the child abuse royal commission in 2013.

“In the past we’ve trusted doctors, just like the church. We put doctors up on a pedestal, just like priests and bishops, and both groups have minimised and denied when vulnerable people have been hurt. There’s not much difference.”

She told the royal commission the church’s Towards Healing process for abuse survivors was “re-abuse”, and wept this week as she talked about similar feelings while dealing with the health system, including the Therapeutic Goods Administration which approved mesh devices for use in Australia.

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[Rape in the cathedral: Ezzati tried to dodge receiving legal notice of complaint]

CHILE
BioBioChile

March 11, 2019

By Jorge Molina Sanhueza

La información consta en un documento remitido a la ministra de fuero que sustancia el libelo, Maritza Villadangos, por la receptora judicial, Silvia Larravide, quien el 7 de marzo llegó a las oficinas del Arzobispado para entregarle la demanda interpuesta por “Z”, quien fue violado en el principal templo religioso del país por el presbítero Tito Rivera. “Certifico y me consta que el demandado está en el lugar”, escribió Larravide. En todo caso, la mujer no cejó. Al día siguiente llegó temprano y logró su cometido. De esta manera le entregó a Ezzati el libelo y tres resoluciones dictadas por Villadangos, pero Ezzati se negó a firmar. En tanto, para el próximo 29 de marzo quedó fijada la formalización por abuso sexual, en contra de Tito Rivera, solicitada por el fiscal regional de O’Higgins, Emiliano Arias.

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[Andrea Idalsoaga, episcopal delegate: “I think it is necessary to create a real commission”]

CHILE
La Tercera

March 11, 2019

By MJ Navarrete and S. Rodríguez

La abogada, encargada de coordinar la prevención de abusos en la arquidiócesis capitalina, afirma que se ha avanzado en la colaboración con la fiscalía y defiende el rol del cardenal Ezzati en el caso del sacerdote Tito Rivera.

“Las mujeres dentro de la Iglesia hemos tenido un rol distinto al del hombre, pero no lo llamaría secundario”, afirma la abogada Andrea Idalsoaga, quien desde septiembre pasado encabeza la Delegación para la Verdad y la Paz del Arzobispado de Santiago. Allí coordina el trabajo que se realiza en materia de abusos, como la recepción de denuncias, la determinación e inicio de procesos canónicos y la atención a las víctimas.

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DUBLIN (IRELAND)
Irish Times

March 10, 2019

By Patsy McGarry

A leading French nun has accused the Vatican and Catholic bishops of having sanctioned the spiritual and sexual abuse (including rape, prostitution and forced abortions) of women religious in many countries and on every continent for over 20 years and probably much longer.

“Any criminal organization would not have done worse,” said Dominican nun Sr Véronique Margron, president of the French Conference of Men and Women Religious (CORREF)

She accused the Church leadership of responding to reports if such abuse of nuns with silence, cover-up and in-action. It was shocking, she said.

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FALL RIVER (MA)
WJAR NBC 10 NEWS

March 10, 2019

A Fall River priest was placed on leave after complaints accused him of sending inappropriate communications to several adult parishioners the Fall River Diocese announced on Sunday.

According to the Diocese, the Bishop of Fall River placed Father Mark R. Hession on leave based on complaints received against the priest.

In a statement, the Diocese said Hession was placed on leave due to “conduct inconsistent with standards of ministerial behavior and in direct violation of the Code of Conduct for priests in the Fall River Diocese.”

During his time on leave, Hession will not be permitted to exercise public ministry nor present himself as a priest in public settings said the Diocese.

Hession was previously in the news after spending at his old church, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, was called into question.

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SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Catholic San Francisco

March 11, 2019

By Nicholas Wolfram Smith

Changing canon law to allow lay people “authentic and honest participation” could encourage renewal in a wounded church, an expert in church law said in a talk to the Catholic student group at UC Berkeley’s law school.

Jennifer Haselberger has a Ph.D. in philosophy and a licentiate in canon law and served as chancellor at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis before resigning in protest in 2013 over concerns about how the archdiocese handled clergy abuse cases. In her Feb. 26 lecture at UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall, Haselberger, one of many commentators across the ideological spectrum to emerge in a growing public debate over the roots of the clergy abuse crisis, discussed institutional factors and how they church can respond.

Haselberger said canon law restricts the power to exercise church governance to those who have received sacred orders. But she argued that the practice of the church makes that a “legal fiction.”

In single-judge annulment decisions, for example, the judge must be a cleric. Haselberger said small dioceses often lack a full-time priest for this work and instead use a lay person to author annulment decisions. By adding a digital signature, their work becomes valid in the eyes of the law.

Haselberger said a similar process can happen in parish finance, where the pastor has sole control but can often delegate all significant decisions to an administrator.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

March 11, 2019

by Peter Feuerherd

Editor’s note: This is the sixth part of a series focusing on seminaries in the United States. Every priest, including those accused of sexual abuse or those who disagree with Pope Francis, attended seminary. How are priests being formed? Who is teaching them? How are seminaries adapting to the new wave of abuse crises and condemnation of clericalism from the papacy? NCR will attempt to answer these questions and more.

All accused priest sex abusers attended seminary. While that relationship does not constitute a cause, it has not escaped the attention of seminary rectors and scholars.

Seminaries — set apart from the secular world and seen by some as a breeding ground for clericalist attitudes that fostered the sex abuse crisis — have come in for criticism. Yet leaders of Catholic seminaries say that their priestly formation programs have already successfully implemented curricula that can check future sex abuse.

Like other academic institutions, seminaries have varying reputations regarding academic quality. But perhaps even more important is the reputation each institution retains for its philosophy and theology of priestly formation, the term that implies a complete look at a man’s qualifications to be ordained.

Some emphasize the cultic nature of the Catholic priesthood, focusing on setting men apart in the sacramental life of the church, which can include the wearing of elaborate attire, such as cassocks, as everyday wear. Others focus on what Pope Francis has described as nurturing the “smell of the sheep,” educating priests to better relate to the world of lay people. Still others combine elements of both.

Seminary leaders say they have a largely untold success story. Via classes in preventing sex abuse and more careful screening of candidates, public reports of sex abuse among new priests have declined considerably.

Franciscan Sr. Katarina Schuth, a longtime scholarly researcher about seminary life, is professor emerita at the Seminaries of St. Paul, part of St. Thomas University, in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Schuth noted that the perpetrators cited in the Pennsylvania grand jury report graduated from seminaries well before the 1990s. The vast majority of cases detailed in the horrific accounts of that report involve priests who attended seminaries in the last century.

Changes in seminary formation date in part from a document issued by Pope John Paul II in 1992. The apostolic exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis described the need for human formation, including knowledge of psychology and sociology, in the formation of priests. Schuth also cited the 2002 Dallas Charter of the U.S. bishops, ousting any priest from ministry credibly accused of sex abuse, as another landmark document in how seminary formation deals with the issue.

“I think about it every day. We are on the frontlines,” said Sulpician Fr. Phillip Brown, president-rector of St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WBFO Radio

March 10, 2019

By Mark Scott

After three months of work by hundreds of Catholic lay volunteers, the Movement to Restore Trust has presented its recommendations to Bishop Richard Malone.

The movement was started by nine organizing members in the wake of clergy sexual abuse revelations in the Buffalo Catholic diocese, but has since grown quickly by thousands. Its mission is to assert the laity’s role to restore trust and confidence in the Church.

“Our very clear sense from everything we’ve seen and read was that there has been a serious erosion of trust in the Diocese of Buffalo arising out of the handling of the sex abuse scandal,” said Canisius College President and MRT organizer John Hurley, “and that there’s a lack of confidence by the laity of the church, in the institutional church and particularly here in Buffalo.”

Hurley said the Bishop is in a position to start the process of change and MRT members want him to be a leader in that.

Facilitator Stephanie Argentine said lay volunteers broke down into six workgroups and came up with nine initial recommendations for the Bishop:

Commit to a partnership with the laity to restore trust
Embrace the opportunity to act voluntarily now
Address the needs of survivors for support and healing
Provide complete transparency into the scale of th4e abuse in both human and financial terms
Ensure the faithful are central within the organizational structures within the church
Voluntarily delegate greater authority to the consultative bodies in the diocese
Establish accountability with periodic review of implementation
Engage the Leadership Roundtable
Revive the spirit of Vatican II
Hurley said an Executive Summary of those recomendations were presented to Malone and discussed during two meetings, which he characterized as “productive.”

“Miracles of miracles, it happened,” Hurley said. “The Bishop said all the right things about affirming our work, believing in our work. He reminded me that he’s a Vatican II priest. He’s firmly committed to Vatican II. He said, ‘I’ll have to study this, but as I look at your foundational recommendations, there’s nothing here jumping off the page that tells me I gotta be worried about.”

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MEMPHIS (TN)
Fox 13 News

March 10, 2019

By Siobhan Riley

The victims abused by priests spoke out Saturday morning about the first Catholic bishop of Memphis who has been named on a list of priests accused of child sexual abuse.

FOX13 spoke with a victim involved in a separate incident who is demanding immediate action from the newly named Bishop for Memphis Catholic Diocese.

“All these buildings, all these facilities, all these awards named after Carroll T. Dozier, I want them taken down,” said David Brown with Survivors Network of those abused by Priests or SNAP.

Victims abused by priests have several questions after recent headlines accusing Bishop Carroll Dozier’s of sexual abuse against a minor.

The Richmond Virginia Diocese released the list accusing Dozier of the allegations. Dozier who led the Memphis Diocese from 1971 to 1983 was the first Catholic Bishop of Memphis.

“Did they report that to the Memphis Diocese, did they tell them then or did they remain silent which begs to question, they maintain what we call canonical files on all these priests, these are what they call the secret files, where are they,” Brown stated.

We spoke with Brown outside of Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Midtown where Dozier was buried.

Last month we reported that there was a list released by Richmond Diocese saying the allegation of abuse against Dozier was made after his death in 1985.

“There may be survivors of him down here that have been so afraid to speak out,” Brown said.

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MCALLEN (TX)
The Monitor

March 10, 2019

By Maria Luisa Salcines

“Leaving Neverland,” HBO’s documentary in which Wade Robson and James Safechuck detail the sexual abuse they say they suffered from Michael Jackson when they were young will turn your stomach. The two men were convincing.

It was heart-wrenching watching these men give explicit detail about what their experiences, and to know that the alleged abuse has affected their lives.
Both men said they are in therapy and working on forgiving their mothers for not protecting them as children.

Their families were allegedly seduced and groomed by Jackson, who was one of the biggest stars in the world. Both respective mothers loved Jackson and never imagined that Jackson would hurt their children.

As a mother, however, it’s difficult for me to comprehend how these women didn’t think it was inappropriate for their sons, who were 7 and 10 at the time, to allegedly sleep in the same bed as Jackson.

Jackson is accused of becoming friends with the parents, fooling them into thinking he was trustworthy. His home was filled with toys and video games. He is portrayed as someone who didn’t have adult friends, but would befriend and hang out with little boys. All of these are red flags.

Oprah Winfrey’s interview with the accusers aired after Part 2 of “Leaving Neverland.”

She began her interview by saying, “This is a moment in time that allows us to see this societal corruption that’s like a scourge on humanity. And it’s happening right now. It’s happening in families — we know it’s happening in churches, and in schools, and sports teams everywhere. So if it gets you, our audience, to see how it happens, then some good would have come of it.”

The innocence of the child and inexperience makes them incapable of understanding that what is happening is wrong.

As we have seen in the news lately with Catholic priests and the Penn State and Syracuse scandals, child abusers hide behind positions of power, using their positions to seduce and manipulate their victims.

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SANTA CRUZ (CA)
Santa Cruz Sentinel

March 9, 2019

It is both harrowing and infinitely sad to see “Leaving Neverland” and “Surviving R. Kelly,” two cable television documentaries about the crime of child sexual abuse, its perpetrators and victims.

R. Kelly currently sits in a Chicago jail cell for failure to pay child support, while at the same time, years of allegations about his sexual abuse of underage girls, have finally caught up with him. The R&B star says he is unfairly accused and that his career has been ruined by the allegations.

“Leaving Neverland” aired last week, profiling two men who say Michael Jackson sexually abused them when they were children.

Jackson died in 2009 and his family has filed a lawsuit against HBO which aired the documentary.

That Kelly and Jackson face these accusations is hardly shocking, considering previous allegations both have faced, but the depravity of the alleged acts described by the victims — who come off eminently believable — is shattering. Much of the same debate has also been heard during the Roman Catholic Church’s repeated scandals of child sex abuse and in the #MeToo movement.

One of the questions asked of the two latest Jackson accusers is why they took so long to come forward and why they first denied they had been repeatedly molested by the pop star.

Both Wade Robson, who testified for Jackson in the singer’s court trial, and James Safechuck still suffer guilt and shame over what happened. Both men say they will spend the rest of their lives trying to come to terms with what happened, and about the feelings they still harbor.

They were groomed — or manipulated — by Jackson when they were little boys and considered him, in their words, like a “god” who turned them against anyone who might want to intrude into their twisted world. Both said they didn’t consider it “abuse” until relatively recently.

Safechuck, in particular, seems to remain traumatized at age 40, three decades after he met Jackson during the filming of a soda commercial. Jackson, in addition to allegedly repeatedly assaulting the child, also bought him a “wedding ring” that Safechuck still possesses.

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MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA)
The Age

March 10, 2019

Elevating women and lay people to positions of power in the Catholic Church may help drag the institution into the modern world but will not address the heart of the sexual abuse problem (“Call for Catholic female voice”, The Sunday Age, 3/3). Only when male and female clergy are free to enjoy healthy sexual relations and marry will sexual misconduct begin to be solved. Imposed celibacy and denying the inherent sexual drive of men and women is an archaic practice providing fertile ground for sexual abuse and other psychological illness.
Dr Paul Mulkearns, Mount Macedon

Empower women and reclaim the church
How refreshing to hear “The view from the pews” (Comment, 7/3) as Jim Barber speaks up for the many committed Catholic people who continue to support their church, damaged and publicly disgraced as it is. His pragmatic attitude balances the conflicting tensions of critical analysis and ongoing allegiance. Along with Pope Francis, he calls for an end to clericalism and he rightly urges the church to empower women to exercise their God-given gifts, and for committed lay people “to reclaim their church”.
Father Kevin Burke, Eltham

Bring the Eucharist back home
Jim Barber is right to say that now is the time for Catholics to reclaim their church. We should begin by taking back the Eucharist. In the early church this was celebrated over a meal with family and friends, following the simple directive of Christ that it be done in memory of Him. We Catholics should return to our roots and bring the Eucharist back home where it belongs.
Sssan Glover, South Melbourne

Christ showed the way to follow
Catholic parishioners are less acquiescent than a few years ago, but of those who go to Mass, many do not speak up about matters of concern in the church.
Priests, by the very nature of their training and because of church culture, at times seem subservient to church authorities and they can be treated badly by them. There are a small number of priests who are notable exceptions to the ordinary priests and they are amazingly brave and compassionate.
A priest asked last weekend what was God on about with all that has been going on in the church. My answer was that I thought he wanted Catholics to reform the church, to be a better, kinder, more understanding church with more people following Christ’s example of how to live in the community.
Mary Lane, Mornington

While terrible, abuse not the only issue
A thoughtful reminder from Jim Barber that most Catholic clergy were naively innocent while the abuse scandal bubbled away outside their gaze. I believe this is mostly true and they deserve our understanding. However, while he is still there in the pews the abuse issue was just one of the end points for many ex-Catholics. The faith no longer provides a useful narrative to us of why we are here and where we are going.

Peter McCarthy, Mentone

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DENVER (CO)
Crux

March 10, 2019

By John L. Allen Jr.

Charles Collins, the managing editor of Crux, is a smart guy. Recently he wrote a typically perceptive analysis about problems with the idea of using Metropolitan archbishops to deliver accountability for clerical sexual abuse, and so we had him on Crux’s weekly radio show on March 4 to talk about it.

After he got done explaining why the Metropolitan may not be the best way to foster accountability, I asked Charley what Church officials ought to do instead. I can’t remember his exact words, but the gist was, “It doesn’t matter, because grand juries and public prosecutors will do it for them.”

Right on cue, three days later Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon, France, was found guilty by a French court of failure to report sexual abuse by one of his priests and was given a six-month suspended jail sentence. It’s the third time a Catholic bishop in France has been convicted of a similar offense, and the first time for a cardinal.

Barbarin has said he will appeal the verdict, and he declared in court that “I never tried to hide, much less to cover up, these horrible facts.” Following the verdict, he nonetheless said he’ll submit his resignation to Pope Francis.

(Presumably, no one in the Vatican today will be self-destructive enough to do what Colombian Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, at the time the head of the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy, did in 2001 after French Bishop Pierre Pican got a three-month suspended sentence for failure to report. Castrillon sent a letter to Pican congratulating him for refusing to turn in one of his priests, which a Vatican spokesman was forced to disown when it became public.)

On Friday, the daily newspaper Parisien described the Barbarin verdict as a “cataclysm” for the French clergy, given that the 68-year-old Barbarin is a member of the Legion of Honor and the Primate of Gaul.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Christian Post

March 10, 2019

By Leah MarieAnn Klett

To guard against the temptations and abuses that come with positions of power and influence in the church, pastors must cultivate a life of prayer marked by honesty and vulnerability, two evangelical leaders have said.

In a recent video posted on the Gospel Coalition website, Kyle Strobel, professor of spiritual theology and formation at Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, California, and Jamin Goggin, a pastor at Mission Hills Church in San Marcos, California, warned that every pastor will, at some point, be tempted by worldly power in ministry.

“Just because you’re doing ministry doesn’t mean somehow you’re not going to be tempted to employ worldly power for the sake of it,” said Strobel.

One way to combat this temptation, Strobel said, is to cultivate a life of prayer “where honesty is at its core.” He encouraged pastors to consider the areas in their lives where they might be tempted toward power, from getting more people to download sermons to filling church pews.

“We need to be open to all these areas in our hearts where we’re actually trying to use God,” he said. “We’re actually trying to come up with ways where we can employ ourselves and wield them to try to further His Kingdom. All of these things are temptations toward power.”

“As I see myself being tempted by these things, now I have to come and say, ‘Lord, look at this,’” Strobel continued. “‘I hear your message. I hear that without you, I can do nothing. I look at my life. I know how much you’ve done for me. I know everything I have is because you are a gracious Father, and yet I consistently look for ways where I can wield worldly power.'”

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

March 8, 2019

By Shaila Dewan

The explosive documentaries “Leaving Neverland” and “Surviving R. Kelly” have reignited a national conversation about child sex abuse.

“Leaving Neverland” profiles two men who say Michael Jackson sexually abused them when they were children. Jackson faced several allegations that he molested young boys dating back to 1993, but was never convicted of any charges.

For more than two decades, R. Kelly has been trailed by a series of allegations of sexual misconduct with minors. Then in February, after “Surviving R. Kelly” aired, the authorities in Chicago charged him with 10 counts of sexual abuse. He denies the charges.

With these developments coming years after the alleged abuse, many are asking why victims can take so long to come forward, why they might at first deny the abuse and whether their parents could have done more. Here are some answers to those difficult questions.

Why do some victims take so long to come forward?

It can take decades for people who are sexually abused as children to come forward, for a multitude of reasons. They may suffer from effects of trauma or believe they are to blame, and it can take years for them to even identify what happened as abuse. In one German study, the average age of disclosure was 52. Despite that, some states in the United States gave victims only two or three years after reaching the age of 18 to seek criminal action.

The Catholic church child abuse scandal in the early 2000s drove most states to change their statute of limitation laws, extending the time those abused as children had to come forward. More recently, a wave of reports like one in Pennsylvania that found more than 1,000 child victims of Catholic priests has renewed a push to allow more time.

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[Universidad Católica ignores decision of the Court of Appeals and awards semester “sabbatical” to teaching priest investigated for sexual harassment]

CHILE
The Clinic

March 6, 2019

En un comunicado a la comunidad de la Facultad de Teología de la Pontificia Universidad Católica, firmado por su decano Joaquín Silva, la institución desconoce la parcialidad de la investigación interna llevada a cabo por una denuncia de acoso sexual contra el sacerdote Rodrigo Polanco, que fue corroborada por la Corte de Apelaciones. Así también, informa que el Consejo de Facultad aprobó la solicitud del docente para adelantar el “inicio de las investigaciones que realizaría en el marco del sabático ya aprobado para el segundo semestre de este año”.

El 25 de julio de 2018, la investigadora designada para el sumario contra el profesor Rodrigo Polanco, María Graciela Donoso, propuso a la Secretaría General de la Universidad Católica el sobreseimiento definitivo del proceso de investigación por el acoso sexual que habría cometido el sacerdote contra la alumna K.H.M., alegando que “los hechos denunciados carecen de fundamento plausible”.

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