ABUSE TRACKER

WHEELING (WV)
The Intelligencer

January 29, 2019

By Barbara Miller

Rosendo Francis Dacal, a suspended Catholic deacon in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, will serve two years probation, perform 200 hours of community service and be required to register as a sex offender for 25 years after being sentenced last week by Washington County, Pa. Judge Gary Gilman.

Dacal, 74, pleaded guilty in October to two felonies — criminal solicitation of sexual abuse of children and criminal use of a communication device.

Police arrested Dacal in April 2018 on child pornography charges after North Strabane Township police Officer Gary Scherer had assumed the decoy persona of a 14-year-old boy when he was contacted by someone with the username “chubby boy” in December 2017.

The user, later identified as Dacal, sent sexually explicit messages, sought nude photos of whom he thought was the 14-year-old and exposed himself during video sessions over the course of several months.

As a youth, Dacal left Cuba after the Communist revolution and lived in a refugee camp stateside, eventually earning postgraduate degrees in business and law. As a Catholic deacon, he volunteered as a chaplain at the Allegheny County Jail.

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

KANSAS CITY (KS)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

January 31, 2019

Victims blast KS archbishop on abuse

They ‘out’ 6 publicly accused priests who are/were in KC KS

The allegations arose elsewhere but the clerics spent time here

SNAP also urges Archbishop to include those who abuse adults on his list

WHAT
Holdings signs at a sidewalk news conference, clergy abuse victims and concerned Catholics will disclose a list of six clerics publicly accused of child molestation who worked in/around KC KS but have gotten virtually no public or press attention here,

They will also call on KC KS Catholic officials to
—explain why these six names were left off their list of clergy with “substantiated” allegations,
—add the six names, along with photos, whereabouts and work histories of all publicly accused clerics, to their website, and
—include the identities of priests who have sexually abused, exploited and harassed adults as well.

WHEN
Thursday Jan. 31 at 1:45 p.m.

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HARTFORD (CT)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

January 31, 2019

Six more publicly accused child abusers are “outed”

All were left off Hartford’s new list of those “credibly accused”

Two admitted abuse, one was convicted & one is a nun

Victims want Catholic officials to “come fully clean now”

Group also urges CT to totally eliminate SOLs for child sex abuse

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will disclose the names and histories of six publicly accused child molesters, including one woman, who worked in the Hartford Catholic Archdiocese but were left off a just-posted list of those “credibly accused.” The group found six other “overlooked” publicly accused priests and brothers when the list was first released last week.

They will also call on Connecticut’s top Church officials to
–include the six new names on the Archdiocese’s “credibly accused” list,
–give more details about each abuser, especially their photos, current whereabouts and full work histories, and
–urge CT legislators to totally remove the criminal and civil statutes of limitations for child sexual abuse and open a permanent civil window.

WHEN
Thursday, Jan. 31 at 1:00 p.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside St. Joseph Cathedral, 140 Farmington Ave. in Hartford CT

WHO
Three victims and advocates who belong to a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, including Gail Howard, the group’s volunteer Connecticut leader and Donna Palomba who is also the founder of a Naugatuck- based organization, Jane Doe No More, dedicated to ending the silence surrounding sexual assault.

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.

DALLAS (TX)
WFAA TV

January 30, 2019

By Tanya Eiserer

As the Dallas Catholic diocese prepares to release the names of priests “credibly accused” of sexually abusing minors Thursday, many are wondering: What can law enforcement do with the list?

The reality is that police can only act when a victim is willing to come forward and file a police report.

“Without an outcry, the police can’t do anything,” said Brenda Nichols, a former supervisor of the Dallas PD’s child abuse unit.

Once a victim comes forward, police can investigate to determine if there’s enough evidence to obtain a warrant.

The case of accused priest Edmundo Paredes is instructive. He was the former longtime pastor at St. Cecilia Catholic Church in Oak Cliff.

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MONTEREY (CA)
Monterey Herald

January 30, 2019

By James Herrera

The fifth Bishop of the Diocese of Monterey, Daniel E. Garcia, was installed in an elaborate celebratory mass and ceremony that included many faithful, fellow clergy from brothers, sisters, priests, bishops and included the reading of the Apostolic Mandate issued from the head of the Catholic Church himself – Pope Francis.

The installation ceremony, mass and reception was held on Tuesday afternoon for hundreds of people on the grounds of Madonna Del Sasso Church and Catholic School in Salinas.

“… It’s my desire to get to know you and for you to get to know me. For me to see and visit the various and awesome communities and parishes that are located throughout the four counties of our diocese. As I said at my press conference, and I say again to you today, I want to walk with you and to serve you. I want you to help me to wash the feet of our brothers and sisters around us. Especially those who are most vulnerable and often get lost in the midst of our policies, our politics, and structures in the church and outside of the church,” said Bishop Garcia during his homily.

The new Bishop said he was humbled and moved by his appointment to be the fifth Bishop of the Diocese of Monterey by the Holy Father, Pope Francis.

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SAN ANTONIO (TX)
January 30, 2019

By Bill Barajas

On Thursday, the Archdiocese of San Antonio is expected to release a comprehensive list of priests credibly accused of sexually abusing minors.

The list includes accusations dating back to the 1950s and is meant to provide accountability and transparency.

“We feel like the list coming out is very important for many reasons. For the victims of sex abuse, it’s very important because it validates them,” said Patti Koo, San Antonio chapter leader of the Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.

“Oftentimes, they haven’t felt listened to or believed. It also empowers them. They feel like they are no longer alone. It empowers them to come forward,” Koo said.

In Oct. 2018, San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller and dioceses across Texas agreed to compile and release the names.

“It’s a very long time coming. In fact, we wonder if they could have released this a year ago. Could they have released it five years ago and 10 years ago?” Koo said.

Since 1988, SNAP’s mission is to provide a safe place for victims to share their stories and be supported.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Commonweal

January 30, 2019

By Austen Ivereigh

“Pope Lowers Expectations for Next Month’s Sex Abuse Summit”—the Associated Press headline may not have been heart-lifting, but it was fair. During Pope Francis’s flight back from Panama on January 27, he had told reporters that “we have to deflate the expectations” surrounding the bishops’ first global summit on clerical sex abuse, which is to take place at the Vatican between February 20 and February 24.

Francis described the summit as essentially a “catechesis”: to make church leaders across the world aware of the pain of victims, and their obligations to act against abuser priests, as well as to hear survivors’ testimonies and to pray, penitentially, for the church’s failures. But three days is not a long time, and no one is expecting a revolution. “The problem of abuse will continue,” Francis assured reporters. “It’s a human problem.” No one should be expecting the pope to pull a new solution out of a top hat.

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

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

January 30, 2019

Despite pledges to be transparent, Northeast Jesuit officials refused to tell Fordham University students and staff if any abusive clerics were living on-campus.

Apparently, Jesuits quietly moved “credibly accused” child molesting clerics to Murray-Weigel Hall on the Fordham campus. This strategy was also used by Jesuit officials at other colleges they operate across the US, such as at Gonzaga in Washington.

The religious order refused to say whether they are still doing this at Fordham. Instead, the university was forced to restrict student access to Murray-Weigel in order to keep them out of harm’s way. Ongoing student-volunteer programs had previously allowed student to visit the priests housed there.

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ROME (ITALY)
Washington Post

January 30, 2019

By Chico Harlan

WikiLeaks, the tell-anything anti-secrecy organization, on Wednesday took aim at one of the world’s most secretive institutions, the Vatican, releasing a small collection of documents about a power struggle involving Pope Francis, a leading traditionalist cardinal, and a medieval Catholic order of knights.

The documents offered little new about a fight that two years ago was widely covered in the media. Their contents seem especially paltry at a time when the Vatican is embroiled in full-fledged scandals on multiple continents. But the release represented the first time WikiLeaks has turned its spotlight on the often-acrimonious internal affairs of the Holy See, and some Vatican watchers wondered whether more damaging secrets might start to escape the city-state’s walls.

“The fact itself, WikiLeaks entering the internal affairs of the Vatican, is an alarm bell,” said Marco Politi, a veteran Vatican watcher. “The subject itself is not interesting. These are old diatribes, old fights. But the important thing will be the next step. Will there be a subsequent WikiLeaks [release] on something not previously revealed? Should WikiLeaks pull out stuff regarding pedophilia or banking scandals, then we would be onto something new.”

Though the Vatican has been burned by leaks in the past — mostly notably when a trove of confidential documents was released in 2012 with help from then-Pope Benedict XVI’s butler — the city-state is famed for its airtight hold on information, including its paperwork on cases involving sexual abuse.

A Vatican spokesman noted that WikiLeaks had previously touched on church affairs, in 2010 — but the documents leaked then were cables from the U.S. Embassy, describing diplomatic relations with the Holy See. WikiLeaks Editor in Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said Wednesday was the first time the organization released documents about the Vatican “conflict between the different factions.”

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ABILENE (TX)
KTAB/KRBC TV

Jan 30, 2019

By Erica Garner

A list of Abilene-area priests and other clergy members accused of sexually assaulting children will be released by the end of the day Thursday.

The San Angelo Diocese, which parents Catholic parishes across the Big Country, says they will be releasing their abuse report on January 31, as mandated by a decision made by all 15 Texas Dioceses in September.

A press release states these lists are being released in an effort for local parishes to be transparent about the bishops, priests, deacons, and other religious leaders that served their organizations and were involved in “credible allegations of sexual abuse of a minor” dating back to 1950.

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WINONA (MN)
Post Bulletin

January 30, 2019

By Brian Todd

Individuals with a claim of child sexual abuse against the Diocese of Winona-Rochester will need to register that claim no later than April 8.

According to the diocese’s notice of chapter 11 bankruptcy, creditors — victims of abuse by clergy, staff or volunteers — need to file a proof of claim, a signed statement describing a creditor’s claim. Proofs of claim can be filed electronically on the court’s website at www.mnb.uscourts.gov. No login or password is required.

Alternatively, a Proof of Claim form may be obtained at the same website or any bankruptcy clerk’s office. Claims will be allowed in the amount scheduled unless they meet the following criteria:

• The claim is designated as “disputed,” “contingent” or “unliquidated”;

• Individuals file a proof of claim in a different amount; or

• you receive another notice, according to the bankruptcy documentation.

If an individual’s claim is not scheduled or if that claim is designated as disputed, contingent, or unliquidated, creditors must file a proof of claim or risk not being paid on their claim or unable to vote on a plan.

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CoEd.com

January 30, 2019

By Eric Italiano

Yesenia Rodriguez, a 27-year-old former teacher at St. Procopius School in Chicago, has been arrested and charged for allegedly sexually abusing a 14-year-old teen and made “physical contact” with another 13-year-old teen.

According to reports, an investigation by local authorities found that Rodriguez allegedly sexually abused the unidentified 14-year-old teenager in the 1600-block of South Allport on Tuesday, May 1, 2018.

Furthermore, the investigation into Rodriguez found that she also allegedly battered a 13-year-old teenager between the dates of September 15, 2018, and January 25, 2019, also on South Allport St. Procopius School is located at 1625 S Allport St in Chicago.

Rodriguez was arrested by authorities on Monday, January 28, and was subsequently charged with one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving a victim 13 to 18 years old, which is a felony offense.

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IRONDALE (AL)
National Catholic Register

January 30, 2019

By Peter Jesserer Smith

After traveling 300 miles by train to Albany, Michael Whelan, a Catholic survivor of sex abuse, witnessed the passage of the Child Victims Act in the state Legislature. Four decades had passed since a Buffalo priest preyed on him as a 13-year-old, taking away his childhood and altering his future forever.

“For us victims, I cried. I absolutely cried. I felt the relief they absolutely heard us,” he said. As he traveled back toward Buffalo by train, Whelan told the Register the sexual abuse he received during a skiing trip cost him many things: a happy first marriage, normal family life and a promising military career, as the trauma kept resurfacing through the years.

“It has been a slow, hard fight,” Whelan said.

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BATON ROUGE (LA)
The Advocate

January 30, 2019

By Andrea Gallo

Three months after Bishop Michael Duca pledged to release a list of local Roman Catholic clergy who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing minors, the people of Baton Rouge will find out Thursday which allegations of abuse in his diocese have previously been shielded from the public.

Duca is expected to release the list at noon Thursday, when he has scheduled a news conference.

Catholic dioceses nationwide have been under pressure to name names since a Pennsylvania grand jury last August revealed that more than 300 predator priests had abused 1,000 victims. The report set off a new wave of scandal and devastation in a clergy sex abuse crisis that has plagued the Catholic Church worldwide.

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HUNTINGTON (IN)
Our Sunday Visitor

January 30, 2019

By Brian Fraga

These days, Father John Hollowell sits at his desk and pores over financial statements, trying to figure out how to cut almost 25 percent of his two Indiana parishes’ operating budgets for next year.

“McCarrick and friends are coming home to roost in fiscal year 2019-2020 at a parish near you,” Father Hollowell wrote to his 8,800 Twitter followers on Jan. 22.

In a recent interview with Our Sunday Visitor, Father Hollowell said he noticed “a pretty sharp decline” in parish weekend collections last summer, when the national clergy sexual abuse crisis exploded anew with revelations that former cardinal Theodore McCarrick was alleged to have harassed and molested minors and seminarians several decades ago.

“I totally get why people are doing that. For many people, money is the last form of protest they have to speak to Church authorities,” said Father Hollowell, the pastor of Annunciation Church in Brazil, Indiana, and St. Paul Church in nearby Greencastle.

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FORT WORTH, (TX)
KXAN TV

Jan 30, 2019

By Jody Barr

It’s taken Texas’ Catholic dioceses 12 years to do what Fort Worth’s diocese did back in 2007. Fort Worth was the first of the state’s 15 dioceses to identify clergy members with “credible allegations” of sexually abusing children — and any other allegation against priests.

Texas has 1,320 Catholic parishes in 15 dioceses.

“We listened to victims and one of the things they articulated was the experience of frustration of not having been heard and not having been believed,” the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth Bishop Michael Olson said in October 2018 when explaining why he decided to publish the list 12 years ago.

Olson made those comments last fall after the Catholic Diocese of Dallas told the public it had an active internal investigation into 220 priests. That investigation started in February 2018, Bishop Edward Burns told reporters last fall.

But, the Dallas diocese investigation only deals with active priests, Burns told reporters.

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AUSTIN (TX)
KXAN TV

January 30, 2019

By Brittany Glas
:
He was just a first-grade student at the time. His father had suffered a heart attack and was in the hospital. His mother was trying to juggle her three children and doing the best she could to take care of their family amid their own struggles.

Fearful his parents were already too stressed to be burdened by his issues, the boy turned to a priest for help. After all, he knew he wasn’t supposed to talk to strangers, but a priest was different, right?

The man the boy turned to was supposedly a man of God.

“He set up times to see me separately where he abused me. I didn’t know what was going on because I’m seven and I know this doesn’t feel right, and I know this isn’t right, but who am I going to tell?” He continued, “I thought I was doing the right thing and now I feel like I did something wrong.”

He says the priest didn’t threaten his life, but he believes manipulation was used to ensure he never told anyone about their sexually-inappropriate.

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CHILE
La Croix International

January 30, 2019

By Marie Malzac

Bishop Santiago Silva, implicated for allegedly failing to report accusations of sexual harassment, will not take part in the summit on sexual abuse at the Vatican

Bishop Fernando Ramos, the secretary general of the Chilean Episcopal Conference, will travel to Rome for the Vatican sexual abuse summit in place of conference president, Bishop Santiago Silva, who is accused of having covered up sexual abuse. This is the second of a seven-part series profiling heads of bishops’ conferences.

The earthquake that struck the Chilean Church in 2018 continues to rumble on. A year after Pope Francis’ voyage to the South American nation, the Chilean bishops are in the process of completely re-organizing themselves in the wake of the revelations of the Church’s egregious management of sexual abuse cases.

Over this period, several bishops have resigned, judicial action has been launched and the mechanisms of silence exposed.The Chilean example has become emblematic of the silence and dysfunction that has characterized the handling of sexual abuse in the church.

One consequence of these events is that the president of the Chilean Episcopal Conference (CECh), Bishop Santiago Silva, will not take part in the summit on sexual abuse at the Vatican convoked by Pope Francis from February 21-24.

An investigation has now implicated Bishop Silva for allegedly failing to report accusations of sexual harassment made by a former seminarian, who says that he confided the facts to him during the 1960s when Silva was still a theology professor.

Prosecutors also interviewed Bishop Silva, who is now the bishop for the military, for more than five hours in October over allegations concerning his management of another case involving an army chaplain.

In addition, he was questioned about several other episodes, notably when he was auxiliary bishop in the Diocese of Valparaiso and rector of the pontifical seminary of San Rafael.

As a result, Bishop Fernando Ramos, secretary general of the CECh, will take the place of Bishop Silva at the Rome summit at the request of the latter, who has nevertheless remained president of the conference.

In an interview with the Chilean press at the end of December, Bishop Ramos explained that the decision would ensure that “attention will focus on… analyses and commentary linked to the president.”

Serious dysfunction

Pope Francis’ trip to Chile marked a turning point in his pontificate after his January 2018 visit turned to disaster. The pope had defended Bishop Juan Barros of Osorno, who was suspected of covering up the sexual abuse of Fernando Karadima, a former priest and sexual predator.

This provoked an outcry that forced the pope to look deeper into the matter sending a special envoy to Chile, Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, who was tasked with gathering testimonies.

The results of this investigation caused an about face in his attitude as well as triggering an earthquake in the whole Chilean Church, the grave dysfunction of which emerged clearly.

In May, the pope summonsed all Chilean bishops to Rome for an unprecedented meeting to share and discuss Archbishop Scicluna’s conclusions.

Archbishop Scicluna’s report noted that the facts reported to the bishops “were superficially regarded as improbable even when there were serious indices of crime” while other cases “were investigated with delay or even never investigated.”

Based on Scicluna’s findings, Pope Francis also hit out at “pressure exercised on those who were responsible for the conduct of criminal prosecutions” as well as “the destruction of compromising documents by those responsible for ecclesiastical archives.”

Block resignation of the Chilean bishops

Following this meeting, the Chilean bishops presented their resignations en masse to the pope. To date, Pope Francis has accepted the resignations of seven, including Bishop Barros.

The scandal has now impacted the Chilean Catholic Church at the highest levels since Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati of Santiago is currently the subject of an investigation by Chilean prosecutors – along with six other bishops – for cover up of abuse.

Going beyond the issue of the cover up of sexual abuse cases, the scandal has also shed light on the dysfunction with respect to the information transmitted to the pope.

In mid-January, Pope Francis received the leaders of the Chilean bishops in audience for an update on the re-organization process since last year’s meeting.

Prevention and accompanying victims

Born in 1959 in the Chilean capital and ordained a priest in 1989, Bishop Ramos, who will now represent Chile at the Summit called by the pope, did not live in his country during the worst years of the sexual abuse omerta.

Sent to Rome to continue his studies in 1993, he then worked in the Congregation for Bishops until 2007 before returning to Santiago.The same year, he was appointed rector of the Pontifical Chilean Seminary. In 2011, Cardinal Ezzati appointed him as his first episcopal vicar in Santiago.

During this period, Bishop Ramos was also appointed as a member of the National Council for the Prevention of Sexual Abuse on Minors and Accompanying Victims created by the Chilean Episcopal Conference.

In 2014, he became auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Santiago, and was elected secretary general of the CECh in 2017.

Following the resignation of Bishop Alejandro Goic, Rancagua, Ramos was appointed apostolic administrator of the diocese, which is currently in a “complicated situation.”

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AUSTIN (TX)
KXAN TV

January 30, 2019

By Erin Cargile, Phil Prazan andJody Barr

Hundreds of Texans reached out to Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office, asking it to investigate Catholic Diocese in Texas after Pennsylvania’s attorney general launched prosecutions into alleged sexual abuse of children.

Paxton’s office’s response: state law doesn’t allow them to investigate.

In an interview with KXAN News, Paxton spokesperson Marc Rylander, says there are constraints on the state office.

“There should be no safer place, not only in Texas, but on earth, than the local church,” Rylander said. “But every state is set up different. Every state has different statues. Some states have the ability to go into an issue where there are reports like these and blow the whole thing up and prosecute and take down. In Texas, the law is set up differently.”

State law doesn’t give the Attorney General primary jurisdiction — also known as original jurisdiction — over these cases. “Primary jurisdiction” is the ability to investigate a local matter alone.

Investigating and prosecuting allegations against priests must begin with local police and district attorneys’ offices, he says. Those agencies must ask the Attorney General to step in to lead or to help on a local crime.

“We have to rely on local district attorneys from the 254 counties in our state to either refer the case to us or ask for our assistance as they investigate and prosecute these cases,” Rylander said.

The law is different in Pennsylvania. There, under title 42, the General Assembly gave the Pennsylvania Attorney General the power to convene a grand jury to investigate organized crime or public corruption involving more than one county in the state. The Pennsylvania Attorney General used that authority to look into the Catholic Diocese.

The Texas Attorney General only has original jurisdiction for allegations of misuse of state property, abuse of office, election law violations and offenses against juveniles in state correctional facilities.

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

January 30, 2019

A clergyman who was accused at least twice of abuse in New York City not only remained on the job there, he also continued working in southern California.

On December 20th, the New York Times disclosed that two settlements had been paid by the Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program of the Archdiocese of New York on claims against Fr. Donald Timone . Both settlements were for six figures. One of the two men committed suicide in 2015.

However, while the settlements were paid out in 2017, Church supervisors kept quiet and let Fr. Timone keep working around unsuspecting families and vulnerable kids in two states until he was outed by the Times. This violates common sense, common decency, Church policy and hundreds of pledges by prelates to remove “credibly accused” abusers.

In California, Fr. Timone worked at the Church of the Nativity in Rancho Santa Fe and taught at John Paul the Great Catholic University, in Escondido. However, as far as SNAP knows, there has been no public coverage of this deplorable situation in California.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Hill

By Tal Axelrod

January 30, 2019

A senior Vatican official has resigned after a former nun accused him of making sexual advances during confession, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

The Vatican said the Rev. Hermann Geissler has denied allegations made by Doris Wagner and noted that he has the right to file a civil suit.

Geissler said he was resigning “to limit the damage already done” to the Vatican, but noted he wants an investigation to be conducted into the woman’s allegations.

Geissler had previously worked as the chief of staff for the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which oversees sexual abuse cases.

Wagner, a former nun in Geissler’s German order, went public with her accusation in November at a conference on women and clergy sexual abuse, referring to Geissler by his position rather than his name. The allegation stems from a 2009 incident.

Several women members of the Catholic Church have come out to denounce sexual abuse and harassment by members of the clergy, according to the AP, following the #MeToo movement.

Pope Francis has convened a meeting set to take place next month with the presidents of all the Catholic bishops’ conferences to discuss sexual abuse within the church.

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FAIRFIELD (CT)
Fairfield Mirror

January 30, 2019

By Alicia Phaneuf and Sabina Dirienzo

Fairfield University President Mark R. Nemec, Ph.D. and chairman of the board of trustees Frank J. Carroll III ‘89 released an announcement on Friday, Jan. 25 stating that the University and four other defendants had reached a $60 million settlement with 133 victims of sexual abuse by Fairfield alum Douglas Perlitz ’92. Perlitz founded Project Pierre Toussaint, a school for poverty-stricken boys in Haiti. In 2007, allegations of sexual abuse began to circulate regarding Perlitz. He plead guilty in 2010 and will be imprisoned until 2026.

The other defendants in the case include Rev. Paul Carrier, S.J., a former director of Campus Ministry, the Society of Jesus of New England, the Order of Malta and Hope Carter, a member of the Haiti Fund’s board of directors.

The settlement will be considered for approval by the federal court in Connecticut on Feb. 11.

Andrea Bierstein, a partner at Simmons Hanly Conroy Law Firm, sent the amended complaint filed Jan. 25 regarding the settlement with the defendants to The Mirror.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Religion News Service

January 30, 2019

By Fr. Thomas Reese

Talking to reporters on his plane coming back from World Youth Day in Panama this week (Jan. 27), Pope Francis downplayed what he called “inflated” expectations for the upcoming meeting of bishops in Rome to deal with clergy sexual abuse. “The expectations need to be deflated,” he said. He also sought to lower expectations about the possibility of married priests.

Many in the United States have been hoping that the meeting on abuse, which will bring the presidents of the episcopal conferences from over 100 countries to the Vatican Feb. 21-24, would result in procedures for dealing with bishops who do not protect children from abusive priests. While the church has made progress in dealing with abusive priests, it still needs a process for dealing with bishops who do not protect children.

The expectations for the meeting were raised in November, when the head of the Vatican Congregation for Bishops, Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, told the American bishops not to vote on such procedures at their fall meeting in Baltimore. Ouellet said the Americans should wait for a discussion of the issue at the meeting in Rome.

It now appears that the meeting will not develop new policies but, in the words of Pope Francis, will be a “catechesis” on the problem of abuse aimed at bishops who do not understand the issue or what they should do in response to abuse.

It also appears that the meeting will establish a task force to help bishops in implementing the church’s policies and procedures for dealing with abuse.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Legal Examiner

January 30, 2019

By Eric T. Chaffin

Amidst all the reports of abuse by Catholic priests that have been circulating in the media over the past several months comes a new report alleging that priests weren’t the only ones engaging in sexual abuse. According to CBS News, several nuns have also been accused of sexual molestation and harassment, with victims now coming out to share their stories.

Former Nun Leads the Charge to Expose Abusive Nuns in the Church
Mary Dispenza, a former nun in the Catholic Church, is now working with the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) to expose the truth about child sex crimes and cover ups by nuns in the church.

Back in 2012, she sent a letter to the bishops asking them to expand their oversight of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) “into what the organization—and America’s religious orders of women—are doing and are not doing regarding child sex crimes and cover ups by nuns.”

She went on to write that many abusive nuns have never been exposed or disciplined and that many who were abused by nuns have coped by denying and mischaracterizing the crimes they suffered, leading to increased confusion, isolation, shame, and self-blame. She adds that there are more nuns than priests and that many more nuns had access to more kids, mostly because they worked in schools.

Finally, she urged the bishops to help in making the church “and our society safer from clergy child predators….”

It was after the Pennsylvania grand jury released their report of hundreds of pedophile priests back in August 2018 that Dispenza noticed an uptick in reports of abuse by religious sisters.

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.

[“Are you a faggot?”: The brutal questioning of sex abuse victim by Ecclesiastical Court in Ramón Iturra case]

CHILE
El Mostrador

January 23, 2019

El ex acólito de Constitución, Cristian Alcaíno, se presentó en el Tribunal Eclesiástico para declarar en contra del párroco Ramón Iturra, quien abusó sexualmente de él cuando tenía 11 años a principios de 1989. A través de sus redes sociales, su abogado defensor denunció los entretelones del interrogatorio a cargo del sacerdote Francisco Iglesias.

Una ronda de entrevistas a cargo del sacerdote peruano, Francisco Iglesias, se realizó en el Tribunal Eclesiástico para investigar el caso de abuso sexual denunciado por el ex acólito de Constitución, Cristián Alcaíno.

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.

[The uncomfortable silence of the Jesuits in their most complex moment]

CHILE
El Mostrador

January 30, 2019

By Felipe Saleh

La estupefacción del mundo jesuita ante la denuncia contra Renato Poblete incluye un disciplinado silencio, uno que bordea el doble estándar, a la luz de la fuerza con la que en el pasado fustigaron a otras congregaciones y figuras religiosas involucradas en casos de abuso sexual a menores de edad o mujeres, y a quienes los encubrieron. La estrategia comunicacional ha sido muy sigilosa. Las declaraciones públicas de integrantes de la orden sobre el caso han sido todas bien cuidadas, alineadas en poner el foco en el apoyo a la denunciante, Marcela Aranda, pero han esquivado hablar en profundidad del impacto interno que ha significado para la congregación que una de sus máximas figuras esté involucrada en un caso de abuso y, sobre todo, del encubrimiento que por años debe haber habido de la conducta del fallecido religioso.

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.

[Court maintains overnight house arrest for former chancellor of Santiago Archdiocese, accused of sexual abuses]

CHILE
Emol

January 30, 2019

By Tamara Cerna

El 13° Juzgado de Garantía de Santiago se negó a dictar prisión preventiva, según solicitó la fiscalía, y agregó las cautelares de arraigo y prohibiciones de acercarse a los denunciantes.

Tras casi media hora de audiencia, el 13° Juzgado de Garantía de Santiago se negó cambiar la medida cautelar que actualmente pesa sobre el ex canciller del Arzobispado de Santiago, Oscar Muñoz, formalizado por abusos sexuales y violación.

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.

[José Andrés Murillo: “There are already about eight testimonies of victims of the priest Poblete”]

CHILE
La Tercera

January 29, 2019

By María José Navarrete

“Algunos me dijeron ‘todos sabíamos que Renato era mujeriego’”, señaló en radio Duna el director de la Fundación Para la Confianza y denunciante de Karadima.

“Ya van cerca de ocho testimonios de víctimas del cura Poblete”, afirmó el director de la Fundación para la Confianza y denunciante de Fernando Karadima, José Andrés Murillo.

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.

[Jesuits in the crosshairs: Renato Poblete’s whistleblower says there are cover-ups and protection networks within the order]

CHILE
El Mostrador

January 29, 2019

Juan Pablo Hermosilla, el abogado de la denunciante Marcela Aranda, sostuvo que el comportamiento del cura capellán del Hogar de Cristo era un secreto a voces, estaba normalizado y hasta se hacían chistes con su conducta. Por eso, “lo que ella está pidiendo hoy día es una investigación para entender el comportamiento de la Compañía de Jesús y por qué nadie la apoyó en ese momento (…). Lo primero es fijar las responsabilidades dentro de la Compañía de Jesús, quién supo qué, por qué no hizo nada, y si alguien más participó en estas cosas”, dijo. La posibilidad de recurrir a la justicia civil o presentar una querella por encubrimiento no se descarta. Por su parte, el provincial de los jesuitas asegura que nunca había escuchado que el cura Poblete hubiera mantenido relaciones con mujeres.

La denuncia de la profesora de la Universidad Católica Marcela Aranda contra el fallecido sacerdote Renato Poblete y el reconocimiento de la congregación de que hay más acusaciones de similar tenor contra el capellán del Hogar de Cristo han puesto todo el foco en la Compañía de Jesús.

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EAST FALMOUTH (MA)
Cape Cod Times

January 24, 2019

By Wheeler Cowperthwaite

Two men who filed a lawsuit alleging they were sexually abused for years by a priest in St. Anthony’s Parish have each received $200,000 settlements.

Their attorney, Mitchell Garabedian, announced the October settlements Tuesday as the Archdiocese of Hartford released the names of 48 priests found to have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. Garabedian said the list was a “small step in the direction of healing for clergy sexual abuse survivors,” but said the archdiocese should also release “the names of those who participated in the cover-up.”

The link between the Falmouth case and the Hartford archdiocese is the Most Rev. Daniel Cronin, who served as bishop of the Fall River Diocese, which includes the Cape and Islands, from 1970 until 1991 and then became archbishop in Hartford, Connecticut, until his retirement in 2003. Cronin was named as defendant in the lawsuit because he supervised Monsignor Maurice Souza, who was assigned to St. Anthony’s from 1977 to 1986, and the suit said he “knew or should have known” about the abuse.

“Agents” who worked for Cronin and were supervised by him knew the boys spent the night at the rectory with Souza and went on overnight, out-of-state trips with him, the suit said.

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[Experts on the Renato Poblete case: The investigation is “necessary” although there would be no ecclesiastical sanctions]

CHILE
Emol

January 29, 2019

By Tomás Molina J

Según expertos, la indagatoria serviría para aclarar “más responsabilidades” y así reparar daños.

A comienzos de enero de este año una acusación presentada ante la comisión de escucha encargada por el arzobispo de Malta y enviado especial del Papa Francisco en Chile, Charles Scicluna, golpeó a los miembros de la Compañía de Jesús en el país.

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.

[Government says it is “reasonable” to change the name of Renato Poblete Park after accusations against the priest]

CHILE
Emol

January 29, 2019

By Leonardo Vallejos

El ministro de Vivienda y Urbanismo, Cristián Monckeberg, anunció que prontamente tomarán decisiones al respecto.

Primero fue la alcaldesa de Quinta Normal, Carmen Gloria Fernández, quien se abrió a la opción de cambiar el nombre al Parque Renato Poblete que se encuentra en su comuna.

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[Jesuit Cristián del Campo: “It has been a very hard year for all of us who are part of the Church”]

CHILE
LaTercera

January 29, 2019

By María José Navarrete

El sacerdote que encabeza la orden religiosa en Chile habla por primera vez de la denuncia contra Renato Poblete Barth. Apunta que la investigación buscará dilucidar si existió algún tipo de encubrimiento. “Nuestro compromiso hoy es investigar acuciosamente”.

Muy duro. Así ha sido el último año de Cristián del Campo como provincial de la Compañía de Jesús en Chile. El sacerdote de 48 años, quien dejará el cargo este año, ha debido hacer frente a una serie de denuncias de abusos contra jesuitas chilenos. Solo en 2018 se han iniciado investigaciones previas, destinadas a verificar la verosimilitud de las denuncias contra Jaime Guzmán, Leonel Ibacache, Raúl González, Juan Pablo Cárcamo y, la recién conocida contra Renato Poblete, ex capellán del Hogar de Cristo.

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[Accuser’s lawyer says: “Speaking with some Jesuits, they told me about a nickname that Poblete had”]

CHILE
LaTercera

January 29, 2019

By Felipe Retamal Navarro

El jurista detalló que la acusación contra Poblete no causó sorpresa en la orden jesuita, pues el clérigo era conocido por “su gusto por las jovencitas”. También confirmó que se reunirá con algunas de las nuevas denunciantes del sacerdote.

El abogado Juan Pablo Hermosilla se refirió a la denuncia realizada por su clienta, la académica de Teología de la Universidad Católica, Marcela Aranda, en contra del fallecido sacerdote jesuita Renato Poblete.

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

January 29, 2019

We applaud the New York State assembly for taking this much-needed step towards prevention, justice, and accountability. The passage of the Child Victims Act sends a strong signal to survivors that their experiences have not been forgotten and that preventing future cases of abuse is critical. By opening this civil window and allowing cases to proceed, survivors of sexual assault now have a chance to expose their abusers in court and help ensure other children are safe, something that would not have been possible but for this much-needed reform.

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.

[The priest who abused several generations of children]

MADRID (SPAIN)
El País

January 29, 2019

By Íñigo Domínguez

Dos nuevas víctimas elevan a cinco las personas que acusan al “depredador” Francisco Carreras en Salamanca

Dos nuevas víctimas acusan de abusos de menores al sacerdote Francisco Carreras cuando era párroco en Calzada de Valdunciel, en la provincia de Salamanca, en los años ochenta. Se unen a las tres que ya había localizado EL PAÍS, una en ese municipio y otras dos en Sequeros, en la misma provincia, donde estuvo con anterioridad. Ya suman cinco. Todas estas personas coinciden en asegurar que puede haber decenas. “En Calzada pasamos por su casa, al menos, desde los nacidos en 1968 hasta los de 1977, niños de ocho a trece años, ha abusado de varias generaciones de niños del pueblo, de todas las pandillas, de todas las clases sociales”, afirma una de las víctimas que han decidido contar su caso. Aportan por primera vez una foto de Carreras, de los años noventa. Todos estos casos habrían prescrito, pero se desconoce si hay afectados más recientes.

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

January 28, 2019

Abuse victims blast Gary Catholic officials

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

SNAP: One has been found to be a ‘sexually violent predator’

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 four publicly accused child molesting clerics who spent time in the Gary area but 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 predators,” and
–beg anyone who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes or cover ups in Indiana to contact the attorney general and urge him to conduct a statewide investigation into this crisis.

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.

[Pedophilia in the French Church 2018: A year of unpacking, progress, and vacillations]

FRANCE
FranceInfo

January 12, 2019

Vous avez bousillé ma vie”, assène un ancien scout lyonnais. Sur le site de l’association La Parole libérée, des dizaines de victimes du père Bernard Preynat, mis en examen pour des agressions sexuelles sur de jeunes scouts dans les années 1980-1990, témoignent, réclament justice et somment le cardinal Philippe Barbarin de s’expliquer sur ses silences.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service

January 30, 2019

An Austrian priest under canonical investigation stepped down as an official at the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in an effort “to limit the damage already done to the congregation and to his community,” the doctrinal office said.

The priest, Father Hermann Geissler, “affirms that the accusation made against him is untrue and asks that the canonical process already initiated continue. He also reserves the right for possible civil legal action,” the office said in a note released by the Vatican press office on 29 January.

The 53-year-old theologian, who is a member of a community called The Spiritual Family The Work, submitted his resignation on 28 January to the prefect, Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer, who then granted his request. He had worked at the congregation for 25 years and had been head of its doctrinal section since 2009.

Doris Wagner-Reisinger, a German theologian, told the National Catholic Reporter on 21 January that, with the help of a canon lawyer, she reported to doctrinal congregation officials in 2014 that the priest had propositioned her in 2009 during confession — a serious crime reserved to the doctrinal congregation for judgment.

She told NCR that after her accusation, “I got a response that stated that Father Geissler had admitted, and had asked pardon, and was admonished.”

She had talked about the unwanted encounter at a November event in Rome, which featured three women survivors of clergy sexual abuse.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Journal Sentinel

January 30, 2019

For several months before his death, Father Alfred Kunz co-hosted a radio show called “Our Catholic Family.”

Some would later say Kunz planned to expose sexually deviant priests by reading their names on the program.

Back then, in the late 1990s, such a move would have been almost unheard of. While a few isolated complaints had come to light, neither the extent of abuse by American clergy nor the hierarchy’s efforts to keep it secret would be revealed until the Boston Globe published an investigative report in 2002.

And so, in publicizing a list of pedophile priests, Kunz and his best friend Father Charles Fiore would have been defying their superiors’ orders to let church officials handle such complaints.

But Kunz never discussed their efforts — or pushback from church leaders — on the radio show. His co-host, Peter Kelly, said he never intended to do so.

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

MILWAUKEE (WI)
Journal Sentinel

January 23, 2019

By Gina Barton

Deputy David Cattanach was on his way to check on a wounded cat when a more pressing call came over the radio: Someone had suffered an injury at St. Michael School. A fall maybe. Or an accident. The dispatcher mentioned blood on the floor.

The kitten would have to wait.

Cattanach turned onto the winding road that led to the rural Wisconsin town of Dane, population 621, give or take a few. It was a sunny March morning in 1998, more spring than winter, and the roads were clear.

A few minutes into his 10-mile drive, another radio call came through: The man on the floor of the school wasn’t just injured; he was dead.

An ambulance was already idling in the parking circle when Cattanach arrived at the school, which was connected to the church. Two medical techs walked toward their vehicle, supporting a young man, unsteady on his feet. His hands were covered in blood.

The dead man, he said, was the parish priest.

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IRONDALE (AL)
National Catholic Register

January 29, 2019

Father Raymond J. de Souza

How could the bishops of Kentucky get it so wrong?

It’s partly another consequence of the sexual-abuse crisis, wherein the protocols for handling allegations have created an environment where immediate action precedes investigation. That post-Dallas Charter culture is well-known inside the Church, but can be a bit surprising when encountered by the general public.

And it was only because there was video evidence to exonerate the students that the bishops were forced to reverse themselves. Otherwise, an investigation would have ground on for weeks or months while the students’ reputations were effectively destroyed. That would not have been an accident, but business that now is usual.

Still, despite the quick exoneration, it was a very bad week for the boys of Covington Catholic High School. It was a worse week for the bishops of Kentucky. It is a terrible thing to be the victim of slander due to rash judgment. It is morally worse to perpetrate slander because one is guilty of rash judgment.

The bishops of Kentucky were lightning-quick to condemn the conduct of the Covington Catholic students after the March for Life. The Diocese of Covington, led by Bishop Roger Foys, and Covington Catholic High School condemned the students the very day the original video came to light, without waiting to view the entire recording or even hear alternative explanations.

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NEW YORK (NY)
The Fordham Ram

January 30, 2019

By Erica Scalise

In an interview with The Ram on Jan. 29, Bob Howe, Fordham’s senior director of communications said the university is prohibiting all students from visiting Murray-Weigel Hall, the Jesuit New York Province’s infirmary and retirement home on campus.

Howe said the university could have done more to investigate the Northeast Province’s placement of priests at Murray-Weigel Hall.

“With the opportunity to review these matters in hindsight, with the information now available to us, the University should have sought to handle matters related to the Province’s assignments differently, much like the University’s recent insistence that current tenants of Murray-Weigel against whom credible allegations have been made be immediately removed,” Howe said.

In response to the Northeast Province’s release of a list of names of priests credibly accused of abuse, Howe said the university is no longer allowing students on the premises of Murray-Weigel.

“Unless and until the province can assure us they will not assign restricted Jesuits to Murray-Weigel Hall, even on a temporary basis, we are prohibiting all students from visiting the premises, nor will any restricted priests who may reside at Murray-Weigel Hall have access to Fordham facilities,” Howe said.

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NEW HAVEN (CT)
Yale News

January 30, 2019

By Eric Krebs

What to do with a dead abuser? My high school, an all-boys Jesuit school, seems to be trying to figure that one out. The Jesuit Northeast Province recently released a report of over 50 priests from dozens of schools and parishes who have been identified as abusers. The numbers are truly frightening. The reports go back to the 1940s. Some are as recent as 2008. There are often decades between dates of incidents and dates of reports. All the while, generations of boys learned, graduated and forgot. My school makes the list upward of seven times and while no recorded incidents for said priests occurred during their time at my high school, they walked the halls, taught classes and shaped the lives of boys like myself all the same.

This isn’t new. We’ve all heard about the massive cases, while thousands of the individual cases, cover-ups and scandals have dotted the map and flown under our radars. And while the school community knew that these cases were out there, we never expected them to hit so close to home. It was foolish to think that we would escape it, but that’s always the hope when engaging with a flawed institution: that your iteration of it can exist without the baggage of its larger structure. Wishful thinking.

There are many outcomes that can occur when a Jesuit is credibly accused of misconduct: incarceration, impediment, laicization and departure from the order are a common few.

Of the 50 Jesuits on the list, 35 are deceased, with the vast majority having died before their abuses went recorded. Now that these men are six feet under, most of them long-deteriorated, are we to exhume their corpses? They’re dead. It sickens me to know that these predators will never face the music. Or will they? “To those who abuse minors, I would say this: Convert and hand yourself over to human justice and prepare for divine justice,” Pope Francis declared in a speech this past December. In the eyes of the church, the afterlife is a real place, capable of punishments greater than anything an orange jumpsuit can deliver.

But for those who don’t subscribe to that cosmic view of justice — and even for most who do — that is not enough. It can feel pointless to hate the dead, to want to shout at those who will never listen. But even if these priests are not alive somewhere in the afterlife, they’re not really dead. Their crimes, their lack of punishment, live on in the trauma of their victims and the structures that permit new victims to be made and new abusers to get away with it.’

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MALTA
Malta Winds

January 30, 2019

By Giselle Scicluna

Statistics published by Discern, the research institute of the Archdiocese of Malta paint a very grim picture for the Church in our country. A mere fifty years ago, the number of faithful who attended Sunday mass was at a whopping eight-two percent of the population. Fresh from the abhorrent religio-political war of the early sixties, with people still reeling from the horrific effects of ‘id-dnub il-mejjet’ (interdiction), eighty-two percent was then a huge number indeed.

Fast forward five decades and that number has dwindled to a scant thirty-six percent, which figures show is hugely made up of attendees who are over fifty years of age. The same published data also predicts that if numbers keep on declining at the current rate, by 2040 only ten percent of Malta’s Catholic population will be attending Sunday Mass. Interestingly, against this scenario, the same study also reveals that ninety-two percent of the population believe they are Catholic.

So, in a nutshell, we can conclude that the decimated Sunday Mass attendance is not due to some existential crisis of faith, but to other perhaps more telling issues, which are increasingly keeping the faithful away from their Church.

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ERIE (PA)
Erie Times News

January 30, 2019

National religion writer defends retired bishop in a parsing of the Pennsylvania grand jury report.

Peter Steinfels remains a notable name among journalists who cover religion. When Steinfels, a former senior religion writer for the New York Times, produced a lengthy examination of the Aug. 14 Pennsylvania grand jury report on clergy sexual abuse, I took notice.

So did a number of readers of the Erie Times-News.

They sent me copies of Steinfels’ 11,000-word analysis of the grand jury report, published online Jan. 14 and in the Jan. 25 print edition of Commonweal, an American Catholic magazine.

“Vehemently misleading,” reads the headline of the article’s print version. “The Pennsylvania grand-jury report is not what it seems.”

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SPRINGFIELD (MA)
The Republican

January 30, 2019

By Anne-Gerard Flynn

Springfield diocesan Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski will discuss and respond to questions about how the diocese has been addressing allegations of sexual abuse against clergy in the first of four “listening and dialogue” sessions Wednesday, Feb. 6, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Mary, Mother of Hope Church, 840 Page Boulevard.

In a Jan. 15 letter to parishioners, Rozanski noted the Catholic Church has “once again found itself confronting the crisis of child sexual abuse, specifically the past failures of the church to respond to this terrible evil within our midst.”

Rozanski cited two such church-related failures of reporting in the letter – Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick and the Pennsylvania grand jury report – as having “no direct relationship to our diocese” but being the “cause of renewed concerns within our Catholic community.”

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DENVER (CO)
Crux

January 30, 2019

By Maria Wiering

Frank Meuers and Tim O’Malley meet every month or so, often for breakfast, to talk about the Catholic Church and clergy sex abuse.

Meuers is the southwest Minnesota chapter director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, and O’Malley directs the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment.

Since its founding, SNAP has often positioned itself as an adversary of the institutional church, which is why these meetings – and the men’s resulting collegiality – is so extraordinary. Meuers said he knows of no other SNAP leader with a similar relationship to a church official.

Meuers, 79, is one of more than a dozen clergy sexual abuse survivors in regular – sometimes daily – contact with O’Malley and his office. O’Malley looks to them for advice and insight into improving and expanding the archdiocese’s outreach to survivors, and he expects that collaboration will broaden and deepen now that the archdiocese’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case is complete.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
69 News & Associated Press

January 28, 2019

With a new legislative session now underway in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania state Rep. Mark Rozzi said he is ready to continue his fight on behalf of child sexual abuse survivors.

The Berks County Democrat, a Catholic clergy abuse victim himself, has been leading efforts to reform the state’s statute of limitations.

“There are definitely different avenues that we should make available to these victims to be able to not only receive compensation, but to get justice,” Rozzi said.

Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati led the resistance to House legislation giving now-adult victims a two-year reprieve from time limits that bar them from suing perpetrators and institutions that may have covered it up.

A bill failed to come up for a vote in the Senate late last year, three months after the state attorney general’s grand jury report on child sexual abuse in Pennsylvania’s Roman Catholic dioceses.

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ALBANY (NY)
Niagra Gazette

January 29, 2019

By Rick Pfeiffer

For survivor Paul Barr, the passage the long-awaited passage of the Child Victim’s Act meant one thing.

“It means vindication,” Barr said. “It means I get to defend 16-year-old Paulie Barr. Now I can stick up for that kid. Now (survivors of abuse at the hands of Catholic priests) get to stick up for the children we were and confront those who abused us or let us be abused.”

The legislation relaxes the statute of limitations for child molestation cases to give victims more time to file lawsuits or seek criminal charges. It was approved unanimously by the the Democrat-controlled Senate and Assembly late Monday afternoon.

It had failed in previous legislative sessions because of opposition by Republican members of the State Senate. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has promised that he will sign the bill into law.

Opposition to the law from Catholic Dioceses across the state which had been strenuous in prior legislative sessions melted away on Monday.

“My gut tells me they acquiesced when they had no choice, and they made it sound like it was their idea,” Barr said.

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TOWNER (ND)
KFYR TV

January 29, 2019

By Jack Springgate

The wintry weather prompted the courts to cancel Tuesday’s sentencing for a Minnesota man accused of attacking an Anamoose priest a year ago.

43-year-old Chad Legare was supposed to be sentenced today for his assault on Father Robert Wapenski.

Legare originally pleaded not guilty to three felony charges before changing to an Alford plea on an attempted murder charge in November.

Two lesser charges were dropped.

Legare remains in custody in Rugby.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Newsday

January 29, 2019

For decades, young people were victimized twice — first by their tormentors, then by institutions that covered up what happened, protected abusers and offered victims no recourse. No opportunity for justice, no opportunity for compensation, no opportunity to heal. Religious institutions, schools, scouting groups, athletic organizations, politicians and even families were complicit in shielding perpetrators, hiding the truth and exacerbating the suffering.

The Child Victims Act passed overwhelmingly by the New York State Legislature was long overdue. It finally will change the dynamic surrounding childhood sexual abuse in favor of victims, and force a consideration of cases long buried in time. In the bill that passed, school districts were not exempted; this heinous behavior must be rooted out everywhere, which won’t happen without the purge the legislation promises.

The bill raises the age by which victims can pursue criminal charges against abusers to 28, and allows survivors to file civil suits up to age 55 — critical changes since victims can struggle for years to admit and address what happened to them. The measure includes what had been the most controversial provision, a 1-year window for people abused in the past to sue for damages, regardless of when the period expired for such lawsuits. That time frame should be adequate for the aggrieved to file claims while allowing the institutions being sued to know with certainty their possible liability.

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WAUSAU (WI)
Wausau Daily Herald

January 29, 2019

By Laura Schulte

Police in Merrill are investigating at least two more sexual assault allegations against a former Wisconsin priest who already has been charged with molesting four young males in Sawyer County.

The latest complaints stem from the former Rev. Thomas Ericksen’s time at St. Robert’s Catholic Church in Merrill in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Merrill Police Chief Corey confirmed his department is investigating cases involving Ericksen but declined to comment on the nature of the offenses.

Ericksen, 71, is being held in the Sawyer County Jail in Hayward on a $510,000 cash bond while facing charges that he sexually assaulted boys while he was stationed in the town of Winter in the early 1980s.

The Catholic Diocese of Superior transferred Ericksen from Merrill to St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Winter in July 1982, according to Wausau Daily Herald archives. He’s facing one count of first-degree sexual assault of a child, one count of second-degree sexual assault of a child and two counts of second-degree sexual assault of an unconscious victim. He was arrested in Minneapolis on Nov. 16 and extradited to Hayward, the county seat of Sawyer County, on Nov. 30.

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SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
Fox 13 News

January 29, 2019

By Ben Winslow

A bill being drafted in the Utah State Legislature would allow churches and other nonprofit organizations to apologize for abuse, but not admit culpability.

The forthcoming bill, sponsored by Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan, is an effort to provide abuse victims with some measure of comfort.

“We want to empower these organizations to reach out and minister and help and support victims in their most dire time of need,” he said in an interview with FOX 13.

Rep. Ivory said an apology wouldn’t mean an admission of liability in a civil lawsuit, nor would it block any litigation.

“They’re able to reach out, to apologize, to minister, to aid the victims without that being considered any type of basis of liability to such organizations,” he said. “Now it doesn’t mean that if there’s some liability, if they’re culpable for something, that’s a separate question.”

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HOUSTON (TX)
Houston Chronicle

January 29, 2019

Decades in, scandal involving pedophile priests and elaborate coverups still festers within the Catholic Church like an open wound.

Law enforcement officials recently raided the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston for evidence on a Conroe priest accused of abuse. To understand why scandal persists and what should be done to fully address it, we talk to Anastasiya Zavyalova, assistant professor at Rice Business School who specializes in reputation management of organizations in crisis.

From Tylenol to VW, companies face controversies that can destroy them if not handled properly. Find out how the horrifying pattern of child abuse within the Catholic Church affects victims, the faithful and individual parishes and why it’s is an exceptional crisis in desperate need of resolution.

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ST. PAUL (MN)
The Catholic Spirit

January 28, 2019

By Joe Ruff

Susan Mulheron, chancellor for Canonical Affairs for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, is gaining national attention with her experience and study of the clergy sexual abuse crisis in light of canon law.

She was the keynote speaker last September at a meeting of experts in Naples, Florida, discussing the abuse crisis, brought together by the Catholic-based International Center on Law, Life, Faith and Family. Mulheron addressed the cultural, institutional and systematic roots of the crisis and ways canon law can be used to address it — or misused to exacerbate it.

Mulheron spoke in October at the national convention in Phoenix of the Canon Law Society of America, where she serves on the board, on canonical considerations in the Church’s response to scandals, particularly the abuse crisis.
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ROME (ITALY)
Associated Press

January 29, 2019

A top Vatican official has resigned after a former nun from his community publicly accused him of making sexual advances during confession, the Vatican said Tuesday.

The Vatican said that the Rev. Hermann Geissler denies the allegation and reserves the right to a civil suit.

Geissler, who said he wants the church to continue its investigation of the woman’s allegations, said he was resigning “to limit the damage already done” to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican office that handles sex abuse cases and where he was chief of staff.

Doris Wagner, a former nun in Geissler’s German order known as “the Work,” publicly accused Geissler at a conference on women and clergy sexual abuse that was held in Rome in November. The allegations stem from 2009, and Wagner didn’t refer to Geissler by name but by his position as section leader at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Wagner’s allegations come amid a reckoning of religious sisters denouncing sexual abuse and harassment by clergy, an outgrowth of the (hash)MeToo movement and the ongoing clergy sex abuse scandal. Pope Francis has convened a meeting of the presidents of all the Catholic bishops’ conferences in the world next month to discuss the issue sexual abuse scandals rocking the church.

Soliciting sex in a confessional is considered a grave crime in the church, given that the penitent is in a vulnerable state, asking for forgiveness for sin from a priest in a Catholic sacrament.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Post

January 29, 2019

By Timothy Cardinal Dolan

It’s been a rough time for faithful Catholics recently in our state government’s frantic rush for “progressive” ideas.

I’m thinking first of the ghoulish radical abortion-expansion law, which allows for an abortion right up to the moment of birth; drops all charges against an abortionist who allows an aborted baby, who somehow survives the scissors, scalpel, saline and dismemberment, to die before his eyes; mandates that, to make an abortion more convenient and easy, a physician need not perform it; and might even be used to suppress the conscience rights of health care professionals not to assist in the grisly procedures. All this in a state that already had the most permissive abortion laws in the country.

As if that’s not enough, instead of admitting that abortion is always a tragic choice, and that life-giving alternatives should be more vigorously promoted, the governor and his “progressive” supporters celebrated signing the bill. At the governor’s command, even the lights of the Freedom Tower sparkled with delight.

Those who once told us that abortion had to remain safe, legal and rare now have made it dangerous, imposed and frequent.

Then our governor insults and caricatures the church in what’s supposed to be an uplifting and unifying occasion, his “State of the State” address.

The bishops of this state have long supported a reform of the inadequate laws around the sexual abuse of minors. Yes, we and many others expressed reservations about one element, the retroactive elimination of the civil statute of limitations, but urged dramatic reform that, in many ways, was tougher than what was being proposed by legislators. A month ago we renewed that stance, and even dropped our objections to the “look-back” section if all victims would benefit. The governor was aware of all this.

Why, then, would he use his address to blame the church, and only the church, for blocking this bill? Why would he publicly brag in a political address about his dissent from timeless and substantive church belief? Why would he quote Pope Francis out of context as an applause line to misrepresent us bishops here as being opposed to our Holy Father? Why did he reduce the sexual abuse of minors, a broad societal and cultural curse that afflicts every family, public school, religion and government program, to a “Catholic problem?”

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NEW YORK (NY)
Esquire Magazine

March 2019

Melissa Herrington, artist
In 1917, Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain forever altered and scandalized the established art world, challenging the very definition of art. But what if the founding father of conceptual art was actually a woman? Recent speculation is that Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, the forgotten pioneering feminist, may be responsible for the most significant work of art of the 20th century.

Cynthia Herrup, history and law professor, USC
For duration, extent of damage, and betrayal of trust, no scandal matches the Catholic Church’s exploitation of authority over sexuality.

Jenna Glass, author, The Women’s War
Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse of more than 300 young gymnasts is a crime, not a scandal. But the massive cover-up; the length of time it went on; and the number of adults who made excuses, ignored complaints, and chose to protect institutions instead of the gymnasts? That’s the biggest sports scandal ever.

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TOKOYO (JAPAN)
The Diplomat

January 29, 2019

By Priyanka Borpujari

A Catholic nun has alleged that he [the bishop] had sex – natural and unnatural – with her 13 times between 2014 and 2016. Thirteen is believed to be an unlucky number… Billions of men and women copulate every day for reasons I do not have to explain. This has been happening right from the days of Adam and Eve. But a modern-day Eve finds it convenient to claim that she was raped when she is caught in the act.

These sentence, part of an article titled “Villains as Victims,” appeared in India Currents, a magazine run under the patronage of the Catholic Church in India. The sentiment within sums up the response of the Catholic Church toward a 44-year-old nun in Kerala, in India’s south, who has filed a complaint with the police against a bishop for raping her 13 times since 2014. Following a long-drawn process where the nun was first ignored and then threatened, the accused – Bishop Franco Mulakkal of the diocese of the northern Indian town of Jalandhar – was interrogated at length and then arrested. He was let out on conditional bail after three weeks.

A week later, on October 22, Father Kuriakose Kattuthara, who had testified against Mulakkal, was found dead in his room.

Now the rape survivor and five nuns who have been supporting her are facing threats from their own congregation, the Missionaries of Jesus, of being transferred away from Kerala. The five nuns have been asked to join different convents across the country in a move to weaken their case against Mulakkal.

Christian institutions in India have been hushing up crimes at their altar, leaving scores of believers disappointed with their spiritual institution. In a case dating back to 1992, a Catholic nun was found dead in a well in a convent in Kerala. The local police had closed the case back then, calling it a suicide. The case was reopened by the federal Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and nearly 16 years later, two priests were arrested on charges of having an illicit affair with the nun. Last year, several persons were arrested in the alleged cover-up of the rape and pregnancy of a 16-year-old girl, who had been raped by a priest in Kerala.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Catholic News Agency

January 29, 2019

By Ed Condon

New York state legislators yesterday passed the Child Victims Act. The new measure extends the period of time in which both civil suits and criminal charges can be brought in cases of child abuse. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said he will sign the act into law in the coming days.

The act, versions which had been passed by the state assembly six times over the last twelve years, was given approval by the state senate for the first time on Jan. 28, passing 63-0.

The act allows for victims of child abuse to bring civil charges against their abuser until the age of 55, previously this had been 23. Criminal prosecutions can be brought up to the age of 28.

The act also creates a one-year window for victims of any age to come forward.

Previous versions of the bill drew a distinction between private and public institutions, broadening the scope for the law for the former but shielding the latter. The most recent version eliminated this disparity, allowing lawsuits to be filed for allegations of abuse in public schools.

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SYRACUSE (NY)
Syracuse.com

January 28, 2019

This is in response to the many daily articles bashing our Catholic bishop. He has been complying with the minor victims’ parents request to keep the molesting accounts secret to prevent embarrassment and stigma. The guilty clergy were removed from contact with children; and in some cases they were expelled altogether from the priesthood.

It is now way beyond the statute of limitations. Also, the economy has increased far beyond that at the time of the molestations. But greed has obviously surfaced to change their original request for privacy to sue now for all they can.

Parishioners funded building many schools, provided modest housing for the nuns who taught, day care after school and summers (with meals) for children whose parents worked. Nowadays they are paying additional lay teachers with salaries, insurance and retirement benefits. Because of this, they have to charge tuition to cover the extra expenses. Plus they fund Catholic Charities and some nursing homes.

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
Daily Mail

January 29, 2019

By Connor Boyd

A senior Vatican priest who oversaw sex abuse cases has resigned after being accused of making advances towards a nun during a confession.

Austrian Father Hermann Geissler, 53, a top official at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said he was stepping down ‘to limit the damage already caused to the Congregation and its Community’.

He professed his innocence and asked that a canon trial – which has already started – should continue.

Geissler – whose office oversaw sex abuse cases – said he would consider legal action to protect his reputation.

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ALBANY (NY)
NBC News

January 28, 2019

By Corky Siemaszko

Alleged sex abuse victims would be able to sue the Roman Catholic Church and other groups for damages.

The long and bitter battle for legislation that would allow New York sex abuse victims to sue the Roman Catholic Church and other organizations for monetary damages ended with victory Monday when the state Senate passed the Child Victims Act.

The vote was 63 to nothing, a spokeswoman for one of the bill’s sponsors, state Sen. Brad Hoylman, said.

The new law does away with the statutes of limitations that have prevented some alleged abuse victims from going to court to seek damages. And it includes a one-year “look-back window” that will allow others who weren’t able to sue in the past to file fresh claims.

“Passage of the Child Victims Act is an exhilarating and empowering moment for those of us who have been waging this battle in Albany for a dozen years,” Stephen Jimenez, a sex abuse survivor and advocate for other victims, said after the vote.

The Democratic-controlled Assembly was also expected to pass the measure later Monday and Gov. Andrew Cuomo was expected to sign the bill, which was sponsored by Hoylman and Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, both Manhattan Democrats.

“Today, in passing the Child Victims Act, we are finally telling the survivors: The State of New York and the full force of its law is behind you, and you will not be turned away,” Hoylman said in a statement.

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ANNAPOLIS (MD)
Associated Press

January 28, 2019

By Brian Witte

A private school in Maryland confirmed Monday that 10 adults in positions of authority engaged in sexual misconduct or inappropriate relationships with students from the 1970s through the early 1990s, and that the school failed to protect students from them.

The Key School said at least 16 former students were subjected to the abuse. Officials there released the report on the school’s website after an investigation that began in April, initiated by the school.

School officials said in a statement the report’s findings “left us in shock” and described them as “inexcusable.”

The school’s administration and board of trustees said they took steps after becoming aware of social media posts discussing inappropriate interactions between former faculty members and students in the 1970s.

“Reading this report is incredibly difficult,” said a letter sent from Key to the school’s community along with the 41-page report. “Actions, and inaction, described within are hard to process and have left us in shock and dismay. It is clear that adults at Key in the past abused, mistreated and failed to protect children entrusted to them.”

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ALBANY (NY)
Anderson Advocates

January 28, 2019

The Historic Reform Legislation Will Change Lives

(Albany, NY) – By passing the Child Victims Act (CVA) today, the New York Legislature gave long-suffering survivors a chance to come forward and begin the healing process. It is a new day.

We applaud the New York Legislature for doing the right thing. Sen. Brad Hoylman and Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal deserve credit for sponsoring and guiding the legislation.

Most of the credit goes to child sexual abuse survivors, who have endured years, sometimes decades, of trauma and suffering. Without their courage and support, this historic legislation is not possible. Under the CVA, child sexual abuse survivors in New York will have until age 55 (instead of age 23) to bring a civil lawsuit against abusers and institutions. And there will be a one-year window for child sexual abuse victims of any age to bring lawsuits for abuse that occurred even decades ago. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is expected to sign the CVA into law.

The Child Victims Act is not perfect. There should be no statute of limitations for sexual abuse. We know that it can take survivors decades to be able to come forward. But this legislation is a great improvement and it gives many survivors a chance. Lawsuits allow survivors to secure information and secret documents from abusers and institutions that cover up for them. This results in more accountability and transparency, and helps protect the public. And the information and documents show survivors that they are not alone and no longer need to suffer in silent isolation.

By coming forward and seeking justice, survivors begin to take back power stolen from them when they were kids. They begin to heal. It takes a lot of courage and we greatly admire them for it. They can have a better life. Today in New York, they were given a chance.

Contact: Jeff Anderson: Cell: (612)817-8665; Office: (651)227-9990; Mike Reck: Cell: (714)742-6593; Office: (646)759-2551

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Medium

January 28, 2019

By Benjamin Sledge

One afternoon in late 2014, a friend told me that he’d been blocked on Twitter by The Gospel Coalition.

The sheer power and influence that The Gospel Coalition (TGC) holds is mind-boggling. The group is an online evangelical juggernaut that was co-founded by Tim Keller, a popular New York City pastor, respected by liberal and conservative Christians alike.

TGC’s online articles — which cover anything from Christian living to Bible and theology — generated 74.8 million page views in 2016. The group’s 2017 conference drew 10,000 attendees, paying roughly $200 a ticket.The TGC council boasts some of the most influential leaders in modern evangelicalism, including Al Mohler, Russell Moore, David Platt, and John Piper. We’re not talking about small fish. We’re talking about an organization with the financial means and influence to do whatever the hell it pleases.

So, if you’re Goliath, why block the ant on Twitter?

Intrigued, I asked my friend what he’d done to incur the wrath of TGC. “I asked them why they’ve been silent about the Sovereign Grace Ministries sexual abuse case. I told them we should listen to the victims.” Shrugging, he continued, “They seem to protect their buddies involved in the case and blocked me for asking. Blocked a ton of other people, too.”

Curious, I opened Twitter and found a number of users who had used the hashtag #IStandWithSGMVictims and then reported being blocked by TGC’s account. Over the next few years, this would become a common response from the organization whenever it was faced with questions about its practices, or criticized for posting articles like this one: “When God Sends Your White Daughter a Black Husband.”

“What happened at Sovereign Grace?” I mumble as I continue to scroll through tweets.

My friend waits until I look up from my phone. His face shows genuine concern. “How deep down the rabbit hole do you want to go?”

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KERALA (INDIA)
CNN

January 29, 2019

By Swati Gupta and Subhrangshu Pratim Sarmah

A group of nuns who spoke out about alleged sexual abuse by a bishop in the southern Indian state of Kerala claim the church is attempting to transfer them to other parts of the country, in an apparent attempt to silence them.

The nuns recently asked the chief minister of Kerala to intervene on their behalf, after they say church officials ordered them to leave the state.

All the women who received transfer notices had supported a fellow nun who alleged last year that Bishop Franco Mulakkal had raped her 13 times between 2014 and 2016. The incidents purportedly occurred in a guest house of the St. Franco Mission Home in Kerala.

“They want to split all of us and put into different locations in India,” the nuns said in a letter to Kerala authorities. “We will not be able to appear and give evidence before the court at the trial stage in such situations.”

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ARGENTINA
La Croix International

January 29, 2019

By Marie Malzac

The two men have long shared similar concerns, particularly for the poor. This is the first of a seven-part series profiling heads of bishops’ conferences.

Aged 72, Bishop Oscar Vicente Ojea has known Pope Francis for many years. Indeed, in 2006 he was appointed as auxiliary bishop to Jorge Bergoglio, the then archbishop of Buenos Aires.The two men have long shared similar concerns, particularly for the poor. In this sense, Bishop Ojea of San Isidro, not far from the Argentine capital, is a leading disciple of Pope Francis, who has complete confidence in him.

During the World Youth Day events in Panama, the two men were observed discussing informally for more than a quarter of an hour during an official event.

In another indication of their ties, Pope Francis appointed Bishop Ojea as a member of the pre-Synodal council responsible for preparing the Synod of Bishops special assembly on Amazonia, which will take place in October despite the fact that Argentina is not geographically involved.

Same wavelength as Pope Francis

Since his appointment as the head of the Argentine Bishops Conference (CEA) in autumn 2017, “all leaders of the Argentinean episcopate at national level are now on exactly the same wavelength as Pope Francis,” said Hernan Reyes Alcaide, a Vatican specialist with the archdiocesan Curia in Buenos Aires.

Bishop Ojea was appointed coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of San Isidro in 2009 prior to becoming its bishop in 2011.The same year he was appointed president of the Episcopal Commission for Caritas Argentina while Cardinal Bergoglio was still leading the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires. In this capacity, Bishop Ojea began to acquire a good understanding of the situation of dioceses across the country.

A scandal on a large scale

In 2016, Argentina found itself facing a large scale sexual abuse scandal although this occurred prior to Bishop Ojea’s election as the head of the CEA.This was the scandal involving the Provolo Institute, an establishment for deaf-mute children located at the foot of the Andean cordillera in the Diocese of Mendoza.

A series of testimonies impugned two priests of rape and sexual abuse that took place over a period of several years and which were allegedly covered up by a Japanese nun. All three are now awaiting trial. According to several victims, the pope also neglected alerts dating from 2008.

In any event, the affair genuinely shocked the Argentine bishops. Under fire from critics, the Argentine Catholic Church responded by establishing a “Pastoral Council for the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Adults.”

In June that year, a seminar on sexual abuse was also held at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina at Buenos Aires.This provided an opportunity for the Argentine bishops to offer a mea culpa for their poor management of the matter.

The Bishop Zanchetta case

Recently, the Argentine Church was again rocked by the problem case of Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta, who was appointed by Pope Francis to the Vatican in 2017 to a post specially created for him after he resigned from the Diocese of Orán in murky circumstances.This affair may also raise questions over the pope’s action since accusations of financial as well as sexual abuse have emerged concerning the bishop, who is now the subject of a preliminary investigation.

Like Pope Francis, Bishop Ojea knows Bishop Zanchetta very well, having taken part in his episcopal consecration.This affair somewhat resembles the case of Bishop Juan Barros, who was appointed by Pope Francis to the Chilean Diocese of Osorno despite accusations that he had covered up sexual abuse.

In January 2018, Pope Francis characterized the new accusations against Bishop Barros as “calumnies” before sending a special envoy to Chile to investigate the issue.

Soon after, in a letter addressed to the Chilean faithful, the pope recognize having “made serious errors in the evaluation and perception of the situation.”

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NEW DELHI (INDIA)
Economic Times

January 29, 2019

The stories spill out in the sitting rooms of Catholic convents, where portraits of Jesus keep watch and fans spin quietly overhead. They spill out in church meeting halls bathed in fluorescent lights, and over cups of cheap instant coffee in convent kitchens. Always, the stories come haltingly, quietly. Sometimes, the nuns speak at little more than a whisper.

Across India, the nuns talk of priests who pushed into their bedrooms and of priests who pressured them to turn close friendships into sex. They talk about being groped and kissed, of hands pressed against them by men they were raised to believe were representatives of Jesus Christ.

“He was drunk,” said one nun, beginning her story. “You don’t know how to say no,” said another.

One sister, barely out of her teens, was teaching in a Catholic school in the early 1990s.

It was exhausting work, and she was looking forward to the chance to reflect on what had led her — happily — to convent life.

“We have kind of a retreat before we renew our vows,” she said, sitting in the painfully neat sitting room of her big-city convent, where doilies cover most every surface, chairs are lined up in rows and the blare of horns drifts in through open windows. “We take one week off and we go for prayers and silence.”

She had traveled to a New Delhi retreat center, a collection of concrete buildings where she gathered with other young nuns. A priest was there to lead the sisters in reflection.

The nun, who like others interviewed for this story spoke on condition she not be identified, is a strong and forceful woman who has spent years working with India’s poor and dispossessed, from battered wives to evicted families.

But when she talks about the retreat her voice grows quiet, as if she’s afraid to be overheard in the empty room: “I felt this person, maybe he had some thoughts, some attraction.”

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Stateline.org

January 29, 2019

By Elaine S. Povich

When a Virginia 16-year-old told her parents that their church’s youth leader, Jordan Baird, had been sending her sexually suggestive text messages, they immediately confronted their pastor.

Pastor David Baird, the perpetrator’s father, said the church would investigate, but he did not tell law enforcement authorities — and he wasn’t required under Virginia law to report a suspected case of abuse or face criminal charges. The abuse became physical, and later other girls accused Jordan Baird of assaulting them.

Jordan Baird served eight months in prison after being convicted on five felony counts of indecent liberties with a minor. But church members want state law changed to force pastors like David Baird, who still leads the Life Church in Manassas, Va., to join the list of professionals specifically required to report such incidents.

They brought their story to Democratic Virginia state Del. Karrie Delaney, who was a sexual assault crisis counselor in Florida before moving to Virginia.

“Their church was really torn up by the allegation and the fact that the young man who was the perpetrator ended up doing the same thing to another person after the first one wasn’t reported,” Delaney said. “When I sat down with them and heard the story I knew this was something I had to do.”

She and others introduced legislation this year that would add clergy to the state’s list of “mandatory reporters,” people who work with children — such as teachers, counselors and athletic coaches — and who are required by law to report suspicions of child abuse to law enforcement authorities.

While most states have broad laws calling on anyone who learns of child abuse to report it, mandatory reporters can be charged with a crime for failing to do so.

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ROME (ITALY)
New York Times

January 28, 2019

By Elisabetta Povoledo

Pope Francis sought to downplay what he called “inflated expectations” for a global church summit on child sexual abuse next month, casting it as an educational workshop for bishops more than a definitive policymaking meeting.

“We have to deflate expectations,” the pope told reporters on the papal plane returning to Rome from an international event for Roman Catholic youth in Panama. “Because the problem of abuse will continue, it is a human problem.”

The summit is shaping up to be a pivotal moment in Francis’ nearly six-year papacy. As abuse scandals have spread beyond the United States and Europe to Latin America and Asia, the pope has faced pressure to prove that the church is capable of removing abusive priests and disciplining negligent bishops.

The pope said that the meeting, to be held at the Vatican on Feb. 21 through Feb. 24, was intended to help bishops and the heads of religious orders better understand the procedures to follow when faced with allegations of abuse, and to impress on them the terrible suffering of victims.

If expectations are high, it is — at least in part — the Vatican’s own doing. The summit was announced in September amid fresh reports that the Vatican had turned a blind eye to accused abusers in the hierarchy. In November, the Vatican ordered the United States bishops to hold off voting on new policies for keeping bishops accountable until the February summit could produce protocols that would apply to the church worldwide.

About 200 participants are expected at the summit. In recent weeks, Vatican officials have stressed that because it is a consultative meeting only four days long, the gathering should not be viewed as a panacea to the global abuse crisis.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Tribune Review

January 28, 2019

By Deb Erdley

New York on Monday was poised to become the 10th state to temporarily suspend the statute of limitations to provide adult survivors of child sexual abuse an opportunity to sue their abusers.

Child protection advocates said the new law, passed only after a change of leadership in that state’s Senate, is the result of more than a decade of efforts. It will provide adults previously timed out of court by the statute of limitations with a one-year window to file civil suits against their abusers.

The law also extended the time for survivors to file lawsuits from age 23 to age 55 in the future and extended the statute of limitations for most child sexual abuse criminal prosecutions from five to 10 years after a victim turns 18.

In Pennsylvania, “window of opportunity” legislation has stalled in the state Senate twice in the last three years. Child advocates hope New York’s move will revive enthusiasm for change here. Victim advocates and abuse survivors worked relentlessly for change in Harrisburg last year after a statewide grand jury reported rampant allegations of child sexual abuse by clergy in Roman Catholic dioceses across the state over seven decades.

Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations caps lawsuits on child sexual abuse at a survivor’s 30 th birthday. That cap prevented scores of middle aged and older adult victims who came forward for the first time to the grand jury from filing lawsuits against their abusers.

Pennsylvania state Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks, testified before the Pennsylvania grand jury about his personal abuse at the hands of a parish priest as a teenager. He has led the charge for change in Pennsylvania for several years. He commended New York lawmakers as he lamented the lack of progress in Pennsylvania, where state Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Brookville, blocked a bill that passed the House last fall.

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HOUSTON (TX)
KTRK TV

January 28, 2019

By Nick Natario

Parishioners and church abuse survivors are anxiously awaiting a list of clergy accused of sexual abuse from the Houston area.

The Archdiocese of Houston-Galveston said it will release its list by the end of January. It’s a list that has been a work-in-progress since September.

That’s been four long months for Michael Norris.

“It’s very emotional for all survivors, because what a survivor really wants is to be heard, and to be believed and to see the name of your perp on a list is going to be fulfilling for some of these survivors,” Norris said.

Norris leads Houston’s Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests, also known as SNAP. It’s a group offering support to survivors across the globe.

Here in the United States, Norris said dioceses across the country have released lists. Sometimes he said the church’s list is below the actual number. He’s hoping the Houston-Galveston list is accurate.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service

January 29, 2019

By Dennis Sadowski

Upon first hearing in August of the findings of a Pennsylvania grand jury about how Catholic clergy abused children and young people, veteran journalist Peter Steinfels was, like a lot other people – shocked and appalled.

Soon, Steinfels told Catholic News Service, he wanted to learn more about the grand jurors’ conclusion that the claims of “all” the victims were systematically brushed aside and covered up by church officials.

A former religion reporter at The New York Times and former editor of Commonweal magazine, Steinfels had little disagreement with most of the documentation on the abuse allegations.

Still, questions persisted in his mind. He wondered what prompted the grand jury to conclude that six of Pennsylvania’s eight Catholic dioceses acted “in virtual lockstep” to cover up abuse allegations and dismiss alleged victims over the course of seven decades beginning in 1947.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WBFO News

January 29, 2019

By Mike Desmond

As the Child Victims Act was being approved Monday, four victims were in an Amherst law firm conference room with their attorneys, talking about their cases and what the new law does for them.

Hogan Willig has long been involved in clergy abuse cases and some of the lawyers have lobbied heavily in Albany for what is called the CVA. Now approved by the New York State Legislature, the act allows abuse victims to re-open their cases in the court system and get a chance to tell their stories.

The law also extends re-openings far beyond the clergy, to private and public schools. Some local private schools have had highly-publicized sex abuse incidents involving teachers.

Victim Vanessa DeRosa said passage is not just about the cases of four victims.

“It’s a big deal because you can’t expect a child to help with an attorney. It’s okay to talk about it now. They can pursue it,” DeRosa said. “A lot of times, they need more time, mentally, to come forward. So it’s not just a big deal for everybody in this room. It’s a big deal for a lot of other people, too.”

Survivor Mike Eames said the Buffalo Catholic Diocese knew what a priest did to him.

“I know they knew,” Eames said. “For years, they knew them.”

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ROME (ITALY)
National Catholic Reporter

January 29, 2019

By Joshua J. McElwee

One of the department heads at the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation has resigned from his post, days after an NCR report noted he had been accused of soliciting a woman for sex in the confessional.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith announced Jan. 29 that Fr. Hermann Geissler, formerly the head of the office’s doctrinal section, had stepped down the day before in order to “limit the damage already done” to his employer.

The statement from the Vatican office also confirmed that Geissler’s case is being examined formally, stating the priest “affirms that the accusation made against him is untrue, and asks that the canonical process already initiated continue.”

The claim against Geissler was brought forward publicly two months ago by Doris Wagner, a German who recalled being approached by the priest during confession in 2009 at a Nov. 27 Rome event focused on giving voice to women survivors of clergy sexual abuse.

NCR reported the accusation Jan. 21, following Geissler’s listing by the Vatican Jan. 18 as a member of the doctrinal office taking part in an international meeting of Asian bishops’ conference officials in Bangkok.
Geissler is a member of the Familia spiritualis Opus religious community, known colloquially as “the Work.” Wagner was a member of the same community until 2010.

In a brief interview Jan. 29, Wagner expressed confusion over several points in the Vatican’s statement announcing Geissler’s resignation. She also wondered why the priest is resigning now, when she had reported his conduct to the doctrinal congregation with the help of a canon lawyer in 2014.

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MOUNTAIN HOME (ID)
Idaho Statesman

January 28, 2019

By Ruth Brown

A priest accused of raping an intoxicated man who was renting a room from him will not face a new trial for now, and the Diocese of Boise says he will not be given any new assignment, but his status within the Roman Catholic Church is still not decided.

The Rev. Victor Franz Jagerstatter’s trial in 2017 was declared a mistrial after the jury could not reach a unanimous decision. At the time, prosecutors said that one juror refused to deliberate the verdict. After the mistrial, the alleged victim was deployed on military duty, and in July 2018, the charge was dismissed without prejudice, meaning there won’t be an immediate retrial, but the possibility remains open down the road.

At the time of the rape charge, Jagerstatter was a priest at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Mountain Home.

The airman at Mountain Home Air Force Base told police that he went home intoxicated after a party in July 2016, fell asleep fully clothed, and then awoke partially undressed, according to previous Statesman reporting. The airman told police that he did not give permission for any sexual contact, according to court documents.

Multiple calls by the Statesman to the Elmore County Prosecutor’s Office last week to ask about the case were not returned.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Boise still has Jagerstatter listed as being on administrative leave, and he no longer appears on the diocese website. Spokesman Gene Fadness said Jagerstatter is not living in church property.

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BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

January 28, 2019

By Tom Precious and Jay Tokasz

Michael F. Whalen Jr. hadn’t even heard of the Child Victims Act last February, when he told reporters in Buffalo that the Rev. Norbert F. Orsolits had sexually abused him as a teenager nearly four decades ago.

But on Monday, Whalen traveled by train to Albany to be recognized for his role in getting the controversial legislation adopted by New York State legislators.

“For me, personally, if I helped it along in any way possible by stepping forward almost a year ago, then yeah, I’m so glad to see it,” Whalen said. “I’m sad to see it’s taken 12 years for it to happen.”

Whalen’s news conference across the street from the Buffalo Diocese’s headquarters led to Orsolits’ stunning admission to The Buffalo News later the same day that he had molested probably dozens of boys.

The Child Victims Act, which unanimously passed the Senate Monday afternoon and is expected to pass the Assembly later in the day, extends the statute of limitations for prosecuting child molesters. It also provides victims like Whalen – who are currently time-barred from filing civil suits – a one-year window to sue private and public institutions, like churches and schools, over abuse that may have occurred decades ago.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is expected to sign into law the bill that changes the statutes of limitations for civil lawsuits and criminal prosecutions over childhood sexual abuse from age 23 to 55 and 28, respectively.

Whalen joined other survivors of childhood sexual abuse victims in the Senate gallery to watch the bill pass, the culmination of a generation of pleading, cajoling and protesting.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
Associated Press

January 28, 2019

By Marc Levy

Pennsylvania lawmakers have returned to the capitol but have yet to revisit legislation on child sexual abuse scandals since an October fight killed a bill that would have allowed long-ago victims to sue the Roman Catholic Church and other institutions.

In New York state, meanwhile, a bill to extend the statute of limitations on child molestation to give victims more time to seek justice was expected to easily pass the legislature Monday.

New York’s scheduled vote on the Child Victims Act in the Democrat-led Senate and Assembly comes after years of unsuccessful efforts to pass the legislation. While it’s been endorsed by the Assembly repeatedly, the act was blocked by Senate Republicans. Democrats won control of the chamber last fall, however, and say passing the act is one of their top priorities for 2019.

Republicans remain in control of both halves of Pennsylvania’s Legislature, although this issue does not necessarily follow partisan lines. A bill giving victims more time to sue passed the Pennsylvania House, then died in the Senate.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Daily News

January 28, 2019

By Kenneth Lovett

The holy war between Gov. Cuomo and state Catholic leaders like Timothy Cardinal Dolan continued Monday over the issue of abortion and a bill to help victims of child sexual abuse.

Cuomo, surrounded by child sex abuse survivors, said he’s not surprised that there have been calls among some Catholic leaders in the state and nationally for him to be excommunicated from the Church.

He recalled that his father, the late former three-term Gov. Mario Cuomo, faced similar calls over his position on abortion.

“This is not a new issue for a governor named Cuomo,” he said. “It’s sort of a second chapter.”

He called the tensions with the church “an ongoing situation.”

But Cuomo also dug in, defending his positions on abortion and calling out the church for leading the opposition when it came the Child Victims Act. Days after signing into and celebrating and expanding the state’s abortion laws, Cuomo reiterated he agrees with Pope Francis, who has called for a crackdown on pedophile priests.

“To the Catholic Church, I am sorry about the situation,” Cuomo said. “I’m not sorry about my position. I’m sorry they have taken the position they’ve taken.”

Cuomo, a Roman Catholic and former altar boy,accused the church bureaucracy in New York of decades of cover-ups when it came to sexual abuse issues.

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MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA)
The Herald

January 29, 2019

IN 2010 Australian human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson, QC, first raised holding the Vatican accountable for the global child sexual abuse scandal by viewing it as a human rights abuse issue.

In his book, The Case of the Pope, Robertson argued that unless the then Pope Benedict XVI divested the Vatican of its controversial statehood and devotion to canon law, the Catholic Church would remain a serious enemy to the advance of human rights.

Nearly a decade later Hunter survivor advocate Peter Gogarty has taken the matter a step further by asking the International Criminal Court to seriously consider whether it can prosecute a case against the church.

His submission to the ICC, based on more than two years writing and research, is notable, laudable and serious. Mr Gogarty believes that while there are significant hurdles to the ICC taking on such a case, there is also significant evidence to back it now.

The five-year Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, that ended with devastating findings against the Catholic Church in a December, 2017 final report, included evidence from the Vatican’s newly-appointed child protection commission about how the church, as a world organisation, was “struggling to come to terms with the safety of children and its responsibilities in that area”.

The evidence by two members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, established by Pope Francis, was staggering considering that church leaders, including the now sainted Pope John Paul II, were first warned of a looming child sexual abuse crisis in an internal report in the early 1980s.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
National Public Radio

January 27, 2019

By Sylvia Poggiolo

Investigations into child sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests took a highly public turn last year. State prosecutors took the novel step of releasing the names of hundreds of accused priests, as well as those who covered up their crimes. As NPR’s Sylvia Poggioli reports, the revelations and the church’s response severely damaged the church’s credibility and Pope Francis’s reputation. In response, he has called for an extraordinary four-day summit on sex abuse next month.

SYLVIA POGGIOLI, BYLINE: Vatican acting spokesman Alessandro Gisotti recently told reporters the summit’s goal is that bishops understand that clerical sex abuse is a global problem that needs a global response. He added, Pope Francis insists that when the bishops return home…

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ALESSANDRO GISOTTI: They understand the laws to be applied and that they take the necessary steps to prevent abuse, to care for the victims and to make sure that no case is covered up or buried.

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WAUSAU (WI)
Wausau Daily Herald

Jan. 28, 2019

By Laura Schulte

At least two more Catholic dioceses in Wisconsin plan to open their archives in search of abusive clergy members throughout their history.

Representatives for the Diocese of Superior and the Diocese of La Crosse both said their organizations will review their files, following the release by the Diocese of Green Bay last week of a list of 46 priests who had sexually abused minors.

Neither Superior nor La Crosse provided a date that any list would be finished or made public.

Dan Blank, director of administrative services for the Diocese of Superior, said Bishop James Powers has conferred with the Archdiocese of Milwaukee for advice on how to conduct an investigation of clergy abuse.

However, results of the investigation wouldn’t be available for months, Blank said, because the diocese will have to go back to the beginning of its 114-year history to check for names.

“We’d start with priests that are alive and then go further back,” he said.

The Superior diocese would also likely cooperate with a state Department of Justice investigation, Blank said, if Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul decides to order such a probe.

The diocese would release relevant documents if there is a state investigation, Blank said.

“We’re taking the approach that facts are facts,” he said.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Post

January 28, 2019

By Carl Campanile

Gov. Cuomo on Monday slammed Catholic bishops who covered up sex abuse for years and criticized his support for the Child Victims Act, saying “I’m with the Pope.”

The bill, being passed by the legislature Monday, will make it easier for adults who claimed they were sex abuse victim as kids to sue for damages.

“I feel so good about this. This is just a pure act of justice. These are people who were abused by the authorities and then authorities denied it, which aggravated the abuse,” Cuomo said on WAMC radio.

The governor discussed the bill, which has been kicking around for a decade, after being asked about the Catholic leaders attacking him for strengthening New York’s abortion law.

“Bishops attacks Gov. Cuomo. Let’s pull that headline up from 30 years ago,” Cuomo said, referring to similar broadsides against his father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo.

Cuomo said the Child Victims Act was “long overdue” and praised Pope Francis, who said abusive priests should be punished and not shuffled to other parishes and that victims should have recourse.

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ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE
Reuters

January 28, 2019

By Philip Pullella

Pope Francis warned on Sunday against excessive expectations for next month’s Vatican summit on the global sexual abuse crisis, saying it was human problem that would continue.

Francis has summoned the presidents of all of the world’s national bishops conferences to the Vatican Feb. 21-24.

The meeting offers a chance for him to respond to criticism from victims of abuse who say he has mishandled the crisis and not done enough to make bishops accountable for covering it up.

But the pope said the highly anticipated meeting would not end the problem.

“The preparatory work is going well but I permit myself to say that I have perceived that there is an inflated expectation,” he told reporters on a plane returning from Panama.

“We have to deflate the expectations … because the problem of abuse will continue because it is a human problem, and it is everywhere,” he said.

Francis said one of the aims of the summit was for the bishops to go back home with what he called “clear protocols” on how to prevent abuse and help victims.

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PANAMA CITY (PANAMA)
CBS News Videos

January 26, 2019

Pope Francis is in Panama celebrating World Youth Day. In a grand, newly-renovated bascilica in Panama City, Pope Francis directed his comments to clergy and spoke of “weariness” which can come from “seeing a church wounded by sin.” Seth Doane reports.

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UNITED STATES
TIME

January 15, 2019

By Laurie Halse Anderson

Anderson is the bestselling author of several children’s and young adult books, including Speak and Chains, both of which were National Book Awards finalists. Her memoir, SHOUT, is due out in March 2019.

I started visiting schools two decades ago. It was after the publication of my novel, Speak, which tells the story of a teenage girl struggling through the emotional aftermath of being raped. It is commonly read in high school and college literature classes, and has proven to be a useful springboard to conversations about rape mythology, sexual violence and consent.

I thought I understood rape. It happened to me when I was 13 years old. I assumed my job was to model survivorship, and to show readers how to speak up after being abused, molested or attacked. I thought I was supposed to talk to the girls.

I had a lot to learn.

The girls heard me. I’d give these large talks, often in a high school auditorium, with a thousand students seated and me — a stranger — on stage. The girls would come up to me after the bell rang, in tears, and whisper what had happened to them. My job, after listening, was to find an adult in the building they trusted, an educator who could help them find the support they needed. That scene has been repeated after every single presentation I’ve ever given, at high schools, middle schools, colleges, bookstores, libraries and conferences across the country — thousands of victims.

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PITTSBURgh (PA)
YourErie.com

January 28, 2019

Friday, Father Hugh J. Lang was arrested and charged with the alleged sexual abuse of a 10-year-old child in 2001.

SNAP (Survivor’s Network of those Abused by Priests) says they “applaud this brave man for contacting law enforcement. We hope his courage inspires others to do the same.”

SNAP says they hope anyone who may have suffered, seen or suspected crimes by Fr. Lang, or any others associated with the Diocese of Pittsburgh, will call the police immediately. Victims, witnesses and whistle-blowers can also reach out to SNAP, or groups like ours, for help and support as they report.

To contact their organization, you can go to SNAPnetwork.org.

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Tablet

January 28, 2019

‘It is terrible, the suffering is terrible. So first, they (the bishops) need to be made aware of this’

The primary goal of the Vatican’s February summit on clerical sexual abuse and child protection is to help bishops understand the urgency of the crisis, Pope Francis said.

During a news conference with journalists on his flight to Rome from Panama on 27 January, the pope said the presidents of the world’s bishops’ conferences have been called to the 21-24 February meeting at the Vatican to be “made aware of the tragedy” of those abused by members of the clergy.

“I regularly meet with people who have been abused. I remember one person — 40 years old — who was unable to pray,” he said. “It is terrible, the suffering is terrible. So first, they (the bishops) need to be made aware of this.”

The pope’s international Council of Cardinals suggested the summit after realising that some bishops did not know how to address or handle the crisis on their own, he said.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Commonweal

January 28, 2019

Does the clergy sex-abuse crisis make the Catholic Church a continuing criminal enterprise analogous to the Mafia or a drug cartel? Some people think it does. In the wake of the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report, federal prosecutors in Philadelphia launched an investigation that will consider whether charges should be brought against Pennsylvania dioceses under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Practices Act (RICO).

Passed in 1970, RICO is a powerful federal law designed to target organized-crime syndicates by going after their leadership as well as the rank-and-file members who physically commit most of the crimes. Its provisions are harsh; RICO not only provides for hefty criminal penalties, but also authorizes civil lawsuits that may result in treble damages for victims of racketeering acts. In fact, several civil RICO suits have already been filed against church authorities and policymakers, including individual bishops, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and even the Holy See itself. One such civil suit brought in 1993 against the diocese of Camden was settled for a seven-figure amount.

A good lawyer may be able to fend off RICO suits against the church. In fact, it will likely be a challenge for prosecutors and plaintiffs’ lawyers to shoehorn the clergy sex-abuse crisis into the elements of a successful RICO suit. It will be difficult to show that the church engaged in acts of racketeering, which are modeled on mob activities such as violence, corruption, bribery or theft, fraud, drug trafficking, or money laundering. Moreover, civil litigants seeking monetary compensation need to demonstrate damage to their business or property, not simply personal injury, no matter how grave.

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ROME (ITALY)
Catholic News Agency

January 28, 2019

By Courtney Grogan

Pope Francis said Monday that he sensed “inflated expectation” surrounding the Vatican’s February sex abuse summit, and outlined his specific aims for the meeting.

Speaking on the papal flight returning from Panama, the pope said he wanted the world’s bishops to receive a “catechesis” on the suffering of abuse survivors, and understand better the urgent reality of combating sexual abuse. This understanding, he said, would lead into a penitential liturgy during the February meeting.

“There will be testimonies to help to become aware and then a penitential liturgy to ask forgiveness for the whole Church,” Pope Francis told journalists Jan 28.
The pope emphasized the importance of bishops meeting with victims of sex abuse to hear their testimonies directly to understand the lasting effects of sexual abuse.

Pope Francis said that he regularly meets with abuse victims. “I remember one … 40 years without being able to pray. It is terrible, the suffering is terrible,” he said.

Francis also said he sensed many were expecting too much from the three-day meeting being held Feb. 21-24, and that he had a particular vision for what would be achieved: understanding the experience of victims, prayer, and the establishment of “protocols” for handling abuse cases world-wide.

“I permit myself to say that I’ve perceived a bit of an inflated expectation. We need to deflate the expectations to these points that I’m saying,” he said. “Because the problem of abuses will continue. It’s a human problem.”

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[Third victim accuses Montserrat friar of abuse]

MADRID (SPAIN)
El País

January 28, 2019

By Íñigo Domínguez

El hombre, de 63 años, denuncia que el religioso se introdujo en su cama y le hizo tocamientos en 1971, igual que las otras dos víctimas en 1978 y 1998

Una tercera víctima acusa de abusos al fraile Andreu Soler, del monasterio de Montserrat, tras el primer caso revelado hace ocho días por EL PAÍS. J.R. Martínez, de 63 años, asegura que llegó al monasterio durante el verano de 1970, y que entre ese año y 1975 acudió a la abadía en la época estival para trabajar allí y ayudar a los monjes. Al igual que las otras dos personas que anteriormente denunciaron al monje, fundador del grupo scout del santuario, la víctima denuncia que una noche el religioso se introdujo en su cama y le hizo tocamientos en los genitales con la excusa de hablarle de la masturbación mientras le instaba a no caer en la tentación, según ha publicado El Periódico.

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[Girona bishop will investigate abuse accusations against parish priest of Vilobí d’Onyar]

GIRONA (SPAIN)
El País

January 28, 2019

By Marta Rodríguez

El Obispado de Girona, ante el presunto caso de abusos sexuales por parte del párroco de Vilobí d’Onyar (Girona) publicado por el diario Ara este domingo, ha emitido un comunicado en el que “condena rotundamente” cualquier tipo de abuso sexual realizado a menores y sostiene que no tiene constancia de ninguna queja. No obstante, de acuerdo con los protocolos vigentes, ha anunciado la creación de una comisión para investigar los hechos, cuyos resultados se mandarán a la Santa Sede. Pide perdón a las presuntas víctimas y a sus familias y ofrece total colaboración para esclarecer los hechos.

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[Priest Hasbún defends accused chaplain Renato Poblete: “Let him rest in peace”]

CHILE
El Mostrador

January 22, 2019

El controvertido sacerdote polemizó con el presidente ejecutivo de América Solidaria y exdirector del Hogar de Cristo, Benito Baranda, quien en una entrevista el fin de semana señaló que la imagen de Renato Poblete “quedará muy afectada, y va a quedar más afectada todavía cuando hable la víctima”. Hasbún recuerda que Baranda cargó el féretro de Poblete en sus funerales y lo critica porque “la presunción de inocencia, el derecho a la honra y al debido proceso no integran su horizonte mental”.

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[Dean of faculty praises professor who accuses a priest of sex abuse: “With her testimony, many can feel the courage to speak out”]

CHILE
Emol

January 28, 2019

By Leonardo Vallejos

Joaquín Silva comparte muy de cerca con Marcela Aranda Escobar, la primera mujer que acusó al fallecido sacerdote de abuso sexual.

Marcela Aranda Escobar, la primera en denunciar públicamente al sacerdote Renato Poblete por abuso sexual, se presentó como profesora de la Facultad de Teología de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

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[Mayor is open to renaming Renato Poblete Park after abuse accusations against the former chaplain]

CHILE
Emol

January 28, 2019

By Leonardo Vallejos

Tras las acusaciones de abuso en contra del fallecido sacerdote, Carmen Gloria Fernández explica que “amerita pensar la idea” de renombrar el recinto.

Ayer domingo Marcela Aranda Escobar rompió el silencio y en entrevista con “El Mercurio” hizo público que ella es la primera que denuncia al fallecido sacerdote Renato Poblete por abusos sexuales. Poco después, la Compañía de Jesús admitió que habían nuevas acusaciones contra el ex capellán del Hogar de Cristo.

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[Victims call for independent commission to investigate abuse allegations against Hogar de Cristo priest]

CHILE
BioBioChile

January 28, 2019

By Jonathan Flores and Beatriz Vallejos

La Red de Sobrevivientes de abuso eclesiástico llamó a conformar una Comisión investigadora de verdad, justicia y reparación, totalmente independiente de la Iglesia. La iniciativa resurgió luego de las declaraciones de la Congregación Jesuita, que confirmó ayer domingo nuevas denuncias por abuso sexual en contra del fallecido sacerdote Renato Poblete, excapellán del Hogar de Cristo.

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[PDI begins investigating sex abuse accusations against Penquista priest]

CHILE
BioBioChile

January 28, 2019

By Nicolás Parra and Tatiana Risso

Por orden de la fiscalía regional del Bío Bío, la Policía de Investigaciones comenzó a indagar los delitos de abuso sexual de que se acusa al sacerdote Hugo Márquez, expárroco de Nuestra Señora de Lourdes en el sector Pedro de Valdivia de Concepción. En las últimas dos semanas concurrieron hasta el cuartel de la PDI en Concepción los padres y un tío de Jonathan Garrido, quien se quitó la vida en octubre de 2017 ahorcándose en San Pedro de la Paz.

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