ABUSE TRACKER

YORK (PA)
York Dispatch

January 6, 2019

It’s been more than four months since Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro released a stunning grand jury report that documented decades of abusive behavior against children by Catholic priests.

The allegations were astounding: An estimated 300 assailants were alleged to have accosted more than a thousand young victims over a span of some 60 years. Seemingly no part of the state, including York County, was left unscathed.

Even decades into the ongoing shame that is the Roman Catholic Church’s continued failure to adequately acknowledge and atone for the sins of its fathers, the details of the 1,356-page report were shocking.

They have also been motivating.

As the Associated Press reported last week, churches across the country have followed Pennsylvania’s lead and are engaged in what the story called “an unprecedented public reckoning.”

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SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Salon.com

January 6, 2019

By Matthew Rozsa

Last week Pope Francis sent a letter to American bishops who met for a spiritual retreat at Mundelein Seminary in Illinois in order to urge them to address the child sex abuse crisis among priests.

“The church’s credibility has been seriously undercut and diminished by these sins and crimes, but even more by the efforts made to deny or conceal them,” Pope Francis explained in his letter, according to CNN. He also denounced clergymen who have responded to child sex abuse accusations against their colleagues with “a modus operandi of disparaging, discrediting, playing the victim or the scold in our relationships, and instead to make room for the gentle breeze that the Gospel alone can offer.”

At one point in his letter, Pope Francis wrote that “God’s faithful people and the Church’s mission continue to suffer greatly as a result of abuses of power and conscience and sexual abuse, and the poor way that they were handled, as well as the pain of seeing an episcopate (body of bishops) lacking in unity and concentrated more on pointing fingers than than on seeking paths of reconciliation.”

Pope Francis’ letter was well-received by Pennsylvania state Rep. Mark Rozzi, who was sexually abused by a priest as a child and has spent much of his political career fighting for reforms that will protect child sex abuse victims everywhere, whether they were harmed by priests from the Catholic Church or other individuals and institutions.

“It seems like he wants to hold these priests and bishops accountable, and now he’s saying that this will never happen again in our church. And we’ve been waiting to hear those words for 30, 40, 50, 60 years,” Rozzi told Salon. “And we’re just hoping that there’s some action behind those words, that he’s really meaning what he’s saying and that for victims, we want this to end. We don’t want anybody else to be hurt by this.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
The Globe Post

January 1, 2019

By Timothy D. Lytton

Recent revelations that U.S. bishops are still concealing allegations of clergy sexual abuse made headlines this past summer and again this Christmas season. A grand jury investigation in Pennsylvania found that bishops in that state failed to report abuse committed by 300 priests against 1,000 children. A report by the Illinois attorney general concluded that bishops in the state withheld the names of more than 500 priests accused of sexually abusing minors.

The U.S. Catholic hierarchy is once again asking forgiveness and promising reforms to earn back the trust of parishioners and the American public. Bishops from across the country are meeting north of Chicago during the first week of January for a spiritual retreat of quiet reflection to “seek wisdom and guidance from the Holy Spirit” and to “pray for the survivors of sexual abuse.” A few weeks later, in February, the presidents of bishops’ conferences around the world will gather in Rome for a Vatican summit on the crisis to launch “a worldwide reform.”

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CONROE (TX)
KTRK ABC 13

January 4, 2019

By Shelley Childers

More than two months after Father Manuel La Rosa-Lopez walked out of the Montgomery County Jail, investigators walked into the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston offices to collect evidence in their case against the Catholic priest.

In his first interview since that November raid, Montgomery County’s Special Crimes Bureau Chief Tyler Dunman said they found evidence to suggest the church was withholding information when their investigation began.

“We’ve sent several subpoenas for documents related to La Rosa-Lopez that we believed were at the Archdiocese and we received some small amount of documents back. After the search warrant, what we found was there were a great deal of more documents that were still there that they had not turned over to us,” said Dunman.

He tells ABC13 Eyewitness News they collected 15-20 boxes of documents, including paperwork from the church’s secret vault.

“It’s frustrating, because what we’ve heard is that ‘We’re going to fully cooperate and disclose,’ and all that sort of thing. That’s what we’ve heard from the church and that’s just not been our experience thus far,” Chief Dunman said.

La Rosa-Lopez is charged with four counts of indecency with a child involving two separate children while he was working at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Conroe. Both alleged victims are now adults.

The criminal investigation began after each victim filed a report with the Conroe Police Department in August 2018.

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[Former priest sentenced to six months for sexual assault in Saint-Etienne]

FRANCE
Le Monde

December 21, 2019

L’octogénaire a abusé de jeunes garçons pendant des années lors de camps de vacances d’été qu’il organisait en Savoie.

Un ancien prêtre de 85 ans a été condamné, vendredi 21 décembre, par le tribunal correctionnel de Saint-Etienne à dix-huit mois de prison, dont six mois ferme, pour des agressions sexuelles sur un mineur dans les années 1990.

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HUNTINGTON (IN)
OSV Newsweekly

January 6, 2019

By Paul Senz

During the summer of 2018, the Church in the United States was devastated by revelations of sexual abuse and the subsequent deluge of allegations, the likes of which had not been seen since the “Long Lent” of 2002 in the wake of the Boston Globe’s investigations.

Between the report of “credible and substantiated” accusations made against then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, as well as the many claims that would be made in the following weeks, and the report of the Pennsylvania grand jury regarding the handling of abuse accusations by dioceses across the state, the Church was drowning with this millstone hanging about its neck.

It is no secret, nor any surprise, that the laity have felt betrayed by these revelations. Many are asking questions such as: “How did this happen? How did McCarrick advance so far and become so influential, when ‘everybody knew’? How did these bishops continue to move around and enable serial abusers? Why, Lord, did you let this happen?”

Some commentators have (in broad terms) observed that the scandals that broke in 2002 were largely issues of misbehavior by priests, whereas the 2018 scandals are more markedly betrayals on the part of bishops. This has also left many faithful priests feeling abandoned, betrayed and heartbroken. But, by a great grace, it has also strengthened the resolve of many priests to be holy — and for this we give thanks. For it’s more obvious than ever before that the Church needs holy and faithful priests.

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IRONDALE (AL)
National Catholic Register

Janauary 6, 2019

By Father Paul Scalia

Over the past six months the Church has suffered horrid revelations of clergy sexual abuse, homosexual activity, and attendant cover-up. These scandals have understandably prompted some to call for an end to celibacy in the Catholic Church. It would seem that the discipline no longer serves us well, and indeed might be the source of our woes. Of course, we should not quickly jettison a practice so deep in the Church’s history and so strongly recommended by our Lord and his Apostles (see Matthew 19:12; 1 Corinthians 7:25-40; Revelation 14:4). Perhaps in this season, in the light of Christ’s Epiphany, we can reflect upon this sacred discipline, which the Church has always referred to as a treasure, not a burden.

The Feast of the Epiphany is about God’s sudden self-manifestation or, from another perspective, our sudden perception about him. To borrow from the Christmas Preface, with Christ’s birth “a new light of [his] glory has shown upon the eyes of our minds.” The Word made flesh is revealed as a light to the nations, present in the Magi: “On entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage” (Matthew 2:11).

Celibacy and the Epiphany

Celibacy itself is something of an epiphany – that is, a sudden manifestation or revelation. Until Jesus Christ, it was virtually unknown. Some, but few, of the prophets appear to have been celibate (and Hosea might have desired to be). These men are significant not so much as exceptions that prove the rule but as types of the One to come. The chaste, celibate Christ is a new way of God manifesting himself. The Child in the manger will be celibate, not as an accidental feature of His life but to reveal something essential about Himself and His mission; to manifest Himself as the Bridegroom of the Church.

Our Lord’s birth is also the epiphany of spiritual generation in the world. Prior to his coming, abstaining from marriage and therefore from procreation made no sense because the Messiah was to be born of Jewish blood. Thus, every man desired to have descendants. In Bethlehem, something new appears. The new light of Christ has revealed a new kind of birth, that of the “children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13). Of greater importance now is not physical generation but spiritual. The essential thing is to be born anew, or “from above” (John 3:3).

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[Bishop Jorge Concha, apostolic administrator of Osorno: “There is little contact with Juan Barros, a couple of phone calls”]

CHILE
La Tercera

January 6, 2019

By María José Navarrete

El prelado cuenta que en esta diócesis ya no se habla mucho de Juan Barros, pero que de todos modos su huella sigue presente.

Entre días agitados de actividad pastoral y visitas a comunidades más lejanas, Jorge Concha Cayuqueo, obispo auxiliar de Santiago y actual administrador apostólico de Osorno, reflexiona sobre lo que han sido sus siete meses en el cargo. De hecho, una de sus principales tareas, asegura, continúa siendo disipar la “tensión” de la diócesis, luego de que el 11 de junio de 2018 el Papa Francisco aceptara la renuncia del obispo Juan Barros y lo pusiera a él al frente.

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[Osorno lay people on Barros case: “What happened moved Catholics”]

CHILE
La Tercera

January 6, 2019

By MJ Navarrete

Fieles de La Serena y Santiago afirman que a raíz de este caso ahora hay organizaciones en todo Chile.

“Fue gracias a los laicos de Osorno, quienes desde el primer día se opusieron al nombramiento de Barros, que finalmente se logró que él saliera”, afirma categórico el vocero de los Laicos de Santiago, Osvaldo Aravena.

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[Between Rengo and María Pinto: the new life of the controversial Bishop Juan Barros]

CHILE
La Tercera

January 6, 2019

By MJ Navarrete and S. Rodríguez

Tras su salida de Osorno, hace siete meses, solo se le ha visto dos veces en público. Hoy el prelado, quien hace un año se mostraba junto al Papa y que terminó gatillando la crisis de la Iglesia chilena, pasa sus días entre su familia y visitas a un monasterio.

En el fundo San Emilio, ubicado en un sector rural de Curacaví, aún recuerdan cuando el obispo Juan Barros Madrid celebraba misa en la pequeña capilla del lugar. Es un templo ubicado en un camino polvoriento, entre plantaciones de choclos, un colegio -el único del sector- y un par de casas. Pero eso fue hace años. Ya no se le ve por esos rumbos. Dicen que ahora frecuenta la vecina localidad de María Pinto, donde reside su papá, a una hora de Santiago.

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TRAVERSE CITY (MI)
Record Eagle

January 6, 2019

The Catholic Church and its practice of protecting pedophile priests are again in the public forefront. The pope announced that all pedophile priests are to turn themselves in. Why has it taken the pope so long to order this? The church officials know the identities of all the pedophile priests.

The pope’s proclamation is part of a public relations effort to try and reestablish the church’s credibility. The church continues to cover up the conduct of pedophile priests and ignore the suffering of victims.

The church is using the playbook used by officials of the Trump organization — now that the church has been caught, it will cooperate to mitigate the punishment for its conduct. The church is attempting to say it is accepting its moral and legal responsibility for the cover-up of pedophile priests. In yet another form of hypocrisy, the pope “thanks” the victims for coming forward. The church knows who the victims are and is unwilling to extend anything to them resembling sympathy.

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BOSTON (MA)
The Associated Press

January 5, 2019

A former Boston priest who was convicted of sexually abusing an altar boy on trips to Maine years ago has been scheduled for sentencing late this winter.

Seventy-six-year-old Ronald Paquin was found guilty of 11 of 24 counts of gross sexual misconduct in November. The Journal Tribune reports Paquin is scheduled to be sentenced at York County Superior Court in Alfred, Maine, on March 5 with a tentative time of 1 p.m.

Two men testified during Paquin’s trial that they were altar boys when Paquin invited them on trips in the 1980s and repeatedly assaulted them.

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SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA)
news.com.au

January 1, 2019

By Tom Rabe and Phoebe Loomes

Victims of child sex abuse in NSW can now sue the church after the state government removed a legal roadblock used by institutions to avoid compensating survivors.

From January 1 churches will no longer be able to use the “Ellis defence” as a way of avoiding paying compensation to victims.

In 2007 former altar boy John Ellis lost a landmark civil action against the Catholic Church over child sex abuse after it successfully argued it had no “legal personality” and was not a proper defendant.

Mr Ellis is relieved survivors will now be able to “hold institutions to account”.

“We are now going to see a pathway to justice for survivors of abuse that they haven’t had in the past,” Mr Ellis told AAP.

“It’s been a long, long battle,” Mr Ellis said.

Removing the legal defence was a recommendation of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse.

NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman said the changes to the law meant all survivors of child sex abuse had the same access to compensation through civil litigation — no matter the organisation responsible.

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LANCASTER (PA)
LancasterOnline

January 6, 2019

An Associated Press review found that over “the past four months, Roman Catholic dioceses across the U.S. have released the names of more than 1,000 priests and others accused of sexually abusing children in an unprecedented public reckoning spurred at least in part by a shocking grand jury investigation in Pennsylvania.” Nearly 50 dioceses and religious orders “have publicly identified child-molesting priests in the wake of the Pennsylvania report issued in mid-August, and 55 more have announced plans to do the same over the next few months, the AP found.” That represents more than half of the nation’s 187 dioceses.

The grand jury report on child sexual abuse in Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania has had a powerful impact across the United States.

It’s a bit ironic then — and very sad — that we continue to wait for our own General Assembly to act in a meaningful way on the grand jury’s recommendations.

The report was seismic, revealing that 301 “predator priests” in six of the state’s eight Roman Catholic dioceses had abused more than 1,000 children over seven decades.

It triggered a U.S. Department of Justice investigation, and more than 1,450 calls to the state clergy abuse hotline.

And beyond Pennsylvania, as the AP found, “nearly 20 local, state or federal investigations, either criminal or civil, have been launched since the release of the grand jury findings. Those investigations could lead to more names and more damning accusations, as well as fines against dioceses and court-ordered safety measures.”

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NEW YORK (NY)
Crux

January 5, 2019

By Christopher White

Six months after the scandal surrounding former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick first came to light – wherein accusations of sexual abuse from a former altar boy prompted subsequent revelations of abuse and misconduct – Crux has learned that the Vatican is now investigating a total of three cases of abuse against the former archbishop of Washington, one of which has yet to be publicly reported.

In June 2018, the Archdiocese of New York announced that a review board had substantiated claims of abuse against McCarrick by a former altar boy at Saint Patrick’s who reported two incidents of abuse dating back to 1971 and 1972.

In response, the Vatican suspended McCarrick from public ministry pending an investigation by the Holy See.

The following month, the New York Times first reported the case of James Grein, the child of close family friends of McCarrick, who alleged the then-priest commenced years of abuse against him beginning in the 1970s when he was 11 years old.

Since then, multiple accusations of abuse and misconduct against adult seminarians have been reported, and on July 28, Pope Francis took the highly unusual step of accepting McCarrick’s resignation from the College of Cardinals.

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[Analysis: Patriarchal pederasty, homophobic patriarchy]

SPAIN
El País

January 5, 2019

By Juan José Tomayo

El silencio episcopal ante las agresiones sexuales de sacerdotes durante 40 años contrasta con su locuacidad contra el colectivo LGTBI

A pesar de los numerosos casos de sacerdotes y religiosos pederastas que aparecen a diario en los medios de comunicación y de las reiteradas denuncias de las víctimas por la inacción de los obispos españoles ante tamaño y extendido crimen, estos siguen minusvalorando la gravedad del problema. El último en restarle importancia ha sido el nuevo obispo de Ávila, ex secretario general de la Conferencia Episcopal Española y miembro del Opus Dei, José María Gil Tamayo, con motivo del ocultamiento durante 63 años, por parte del Vaticano, de las agresiones sexuales de Marcial Maciel, fundador de los Legionarios de Cristo.

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[Mexican Church faces the Pope’s summit on pedophilia while fending off victims of Maciel]

MEXICO
El País

January 4, 2019

By Georgina Zeregaj and Martín Cullell

La Legión de Cristo enfrenta una denuncia por daños morales de algunos afectados mientras negocia la reparación con otros

José Barba, exlegionario de Cristo y víctima de Marcial Maciel, depredador sexual y fundador de la orden, pasó varios años sin ir a comulgar. Unos meses atrás, en pleno torbellino por los abusos en la Iglesia chilena, volvió a asistir a una misa en Ciudad de México y salió indignado: “El sacerdote no pronunció ni una palabra sobre los casos de pederastia”. Hace quince días regresó a esa misma iglesia y esta vez el sacerdote sí mencionó algo sobre el tema: “Dijo que solo era un granito negro dentro del arroz”, recuerda.

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[Laity ask for modernization of the church and await audience with Pope – VIDEO]

CHILE
Emol TV

January 4, 2019

Trinidad Castro, presidenta y fundadora del movimiento “Todos Somos Iglesia” entregó su mirada de la crisis de la institución y las acciones tomadas para generar cambios desde el mundo laical.

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[Pope expels a priest who abused a minor in 1985]

CHILE
BioBioChile

January 4, 2019

By Emilio Lara

La tarde de este viernes, la Diócesis de Talca anunció que el Papa excluyó del estado clerical y de las obligaciones propias del sacerdocio al presbítero Luis Felipe Egaña Baraona. El exreligioso supo el 2 de enero que Francisco había aceptado su solicitud de dejar el ministerio, petición que realizó a través de una carta.

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[Insunza and Ortega, specialists in Legionaries: “In Chile they acted with O’Reilly as they did with Maciel”]

CHILE
La Tercera

January 4, 2019

By Sebastián Minay

“Maciel fue sancionado porque Ratzinger tuvo la voluntad que Wojtyla no”, subrayan los periodistas y autores de “Legionarios de Cristo en Chile. Dios, dinero y poder” (2008) luego que El Vaticano reconociera tardíamente que tenía papeles sobre la historia pederasta del fundador de la Legión desde los ’40. “Para Juan Pablo II, además, los abusos sexuales eran antes un pecado que un delito”, explican. Y apuntan que el recientemente expulsado irlandés de nacimiento aún es visto como inocente por algunos, pese a su condena por abusos sexuales.

Hace 21 días, el 14 de diciembre, John O’Reilly debió salir del país, expulsado tras cumplir una pena por abus0 sexual contra una alumna del Colegio Cumbres. La escena final de la caída de una de las piezas principales de Los Legionarios de Cristo -que en la cúspide su era de gloria gozaba de fuertes redes entre empresarios y políticos- fue sucedida a los pocos días de otra, vinculada a numerosos escándalos de pederastía protagonizados por el fundador de la orden, Marcial Maciel Degollado: El Vaticano reconocía recién que existían documentos sobre ello desde la década de 1940, que se habían ocultado.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Daily News

January 6, 2019

By Michael Gartland

Two Catholic dioceses in New York are considering expanding the criteria that allow victims of clergy sexual abuse to seek compensation from the church.

Under the proposed changes, the Archdiocese of New York and the Rockville Centre Diocese would allow for molestation at the hands of clergy not ordained in those dioceses to be covered under their Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Programs.

As it now stands, only clergy ordained within each respective diocese can be held liable for accusations.

“There is some serious movement toward including the religious order priests,” a source familiar with the discussions said.

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BUENOS AIRES (ARGENTINA)
Buenos Aires Times

January 5, 2019

Officials from the Vatican confirmed yesterday that an Argentine bishop who resigned suddenly in 2017 and then landed a top administrative job at the Holy See, is under preliminary investigation after priests at his former diocese in Salta province accused him of sexual abuse and other misconduct charges, including abuse of power.

The case could become yet another problem for Pope Francis, who is already battling to gain trust from the Catholic flock over his handling of sex abuse and sexual misconduct.

In a statement to The Associated Press news agency yesterday, Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti stressed that the allegations against Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta had only emerged in recent months, nearly a year after Francis created the new position for him as “assessor” of the Holy See’s office of financial administration.

Local outlets this week pointed to a bombshell report by the El Tribuno de Salta newspaper, which raised serious questions about the bishop’s conduct.

At the time of his resignation, Zanchetta had only asked Francis to let him leave the northern Argentine diocese of Orán because he had difficult relations with its priests and was “unable to govern the clergy,” Gisotti said

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PROVIDENCE (RI)
Associated Press

January 2, 2019

By Jennifer McDermott

A state lawmaker will try to extend the time limit for filing child sex abuse lawsuits in Rhode Island, with support from the House speaker.

Democratic Rep. Carol Hagan McEntee said Wednesday that she’ll introduce a bill next week to extend the limit for filing civil suits to 35 years, from seven years.

“It gives people time to come to grips with what happened to them and muster the strength to file a lawsuit,” she said. “Seven years is not long enough.”

Democrat Nicholas Mattiello announced Tuesday after he was re-elected House speaker that he’ll work with McEntee on her proposal.

“I hope and expect that we will pass legislation this year that will benefit the victims of sexual assault,” Mattiello said in a statement Wednesday. “I have had discussions with Rep. McEntee in the off-session and we have agreed to work together to achieve a resolution to this important issue.”

Mattiello said he’ll look closely at the approach used in Massachusetts, which has a 35-year limit for civil actions.

McEntee proposed eliminating the statute of limitations altogether last year for child sex abuse civil suits. Her sister, in testifying for that bill, said she was abused by a priest as a child.

The Catholic Diocese of Providence said then that any change should apply only to cases taking place after the new law is passed, and not retroactively. McEntee said she won’t agree to that.

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CUDDALORE (INDIA)
Express News Service

January 5, 2019

By Nirupa Sampath

Delivering its verdict in the sensational 2014 rape case involving two minor girls from Cuddalore and several prostitution gangs from across the State, the District Mahila Court on Friday found 16 people guilty under various charges including abduction, sexual assault and rape. The court will pronounce the quantum of punishment on Monday.

According to Special Public Prosecutor K Selvapriya, one of the victims, then aged 13, was studying in a government school at Tittakudi. She used to visit an idly shop nearby and developed friendship with the woman who owned the shop. In 2014 during Pongal, the minor girl casually visited the woman’s house where she saw the woman having sex with an unknown man. Shocked over this, the girl tried to immediately leave the place but was caught by the woman. The woman then manipulated the girl into having sex with the unknown man.

Subsequently, the woman forced the girl to have sex with her husband and three other men. When the girl started protesting, the woman asked her to bring another girl if she was to be let off. Agreeing to this, the victim brought a minor girl, then aged 14, from her neighbourhood, to the woman’s house, only to be raped and sexually assaulted by the men of Tittakudi gang.

In the following months, the girls were trafficked to various places in the State such as Salem, Panruti, Vadalur, Virudachalam and Ulundurpet, and were abused by several men.

The police investigation had also revealed that the girls were forced to watch pornography and raped by a church priest when they were under the custody of the Tittakudi gang.

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ALFRED (ME)
Kennebec Journal

January 5, 2019

By Liz Gotthelf

A former Massachusetts priest found guilty of sexually abusing a young altar boy on trips to Maine in the late 1980s has been scheduled to be sentenced on March 5.

Ronald Paquin, 76, was convicted in York County Superior Court on 11 of 24 counts of gross sexual misconduct on Nov. 28.

Keith Townsend, 44, of Seabrook, New Hampshire, the victim in the incidents related to the charges, has spoken publicly about the abuse. Townsend testified in court in November that Paquin befriended him by giving him alcohol and letting him drive his car without a license.

Townsend said the first incident of sexual abuse occurred when he was 8 or 9 years old, and he was repeatedly sexually abused by Paquin during trips with the then priest to a Kennebunkport campground where Paquin had a trailer.

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WINCHESTER (VA)
The Winchester Star

January 5, 2019

By Josh Janney

Del. Wendy Gooditis, D-Clarke County, said she will introduce legislation to combat child sexual abuse when the 2019 General Assembly legislative session begins Wednesday.

During a press conference in Leesburg on Friday, Gooditis said she will introduce four bills that would:

• expand the definition of sexual abuse,

• require the clergy to report suspected abuse,

• retain records of complaints about child sexual abuse for a longer period of time,

• enforce a harsher penalty for those who commit domestic violence in the presence of a minor.

Gooditis said her brother, at the age of 11, was raped multiple times by the leader of a children’s activity. Her brother later attempted suicide multiple times, and suffered from PTSD and alcoholism. He was found dead in March 2017, shortly after she announced her candidacy for the House of Delegates. Gooditis hopes to protect other children from a similar fate.

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TORONTO (CANADA)
The Globe and Mail

January 4, 2019

By Zosia Bielski

Marianne Zettel’s devout Catholic mother told her she could trust a priest if she was in trouble.

Ms. Zettel was in trouble. Starting at the age of 9, she’d been sexually abused by a member of her extended family. Feeling overwhelming shame about the abusive encounters, the girl turned to the church, joining altar service.

“I wanted to redeem myself with God,” said Ms. Zettel, now 56. “I was so mixed up, guilt ridden and worried what God thought of me.”

During that time frame, two priests molested her, Ms. Zettel said. The abuse continued until she was 13 and left her with a painful question: Why would three adults do this to her?

Today, Ms. Zettel has found answers through an unlikely avenue: helping men who sexually offend. Ms. Zettel volunteers with Community Justice Initiatives (CJI), a Kitchener, Ont.-based organization that facilitates dialogue between victims and offenders – part of a delicate process known as restorative justice.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
KDKA TV

January 4, 2019

By Andy Sheehan

Before the end the month, the Diocese of Pittsburgh will be launching a website for its compensation fund, allowing victims with credible allegations of clergy sex abuse to submit claims and get quick approval of settlements.

“The bishop and the church are eager, as part of this healing process, for survivors of abuse to be of support for them in so many ways, especially through this compensation program,” said Fr. Nicholas Vaskov, executive director of communications for the diocese.

The fund will be in the several millions of dollars, but the question has been, who will pay?

In announcing the program last month, Bishop David Zubik said it will not come from the collection basket.

“No funds for this program will come from our campaign for The church Alive, nor from Catholic Charities, nor from parishes, schools or any other funds designated for specific use,” Bishop Zubik said.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

January 5, 2019

By Haidee V Eugenio

Religious order Sisters of Mercy settled with six Guam clergy sex abuse plaintiffs, who filed separate notices of voluntary dismissal of claims in federal court on Friday.

Attorney Delia S. Lujan Wolff, counsel for the plaintiffs, said the filing of notices was a result of a settlement between the six plaintiffs and defendants Sisters of Mercy.

More: Concerned Catholics hopes Apuron sentence will be upheld

More: Religious order Carmelites added as defendant in Guam clergy sex abuse lawsuits

More: Louis Brouillard dies at 97

More: A few settlements in nearly 200 clergy sex abuse cases

Wolff would not say the type of settlement reached, including whether it’s monetary or not.

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ROME (ITALY)
Religion News Service

January 5, 2019

By David Gibson

Walter Kasper practically bounds down Borgo Pio as he heads to lunch at a favorite trattoria a few blocks from the Vatican, a broad smile on his face. The 85-year-old German churchman appears to be irrepressibly happy, even when he is dodging clueless tourists and annoying motorbikes. (At one point he does have a few words of reproval for the guy on a motorino who suddenly pulls in front of him, parks and walks away — this is, after all, Rome.)

Such cheeriness is not necessarily what one expects from Kasper, who for the past few years has been blasted by church conservatives for his close association with Pope Francis and the pontiff’s more inclusive, pastoral and compassionate approach to Catholics and, indeed, to the world.

Kasper is certainly used to the jostle of Vatican debates. He is one of the most influential Catholic theologians of the past generation — a rival for the title might be his more famous countryman, erstwhile sparring partner and colleague in the Roman Curia, Joseph Ratzinger, aka Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

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But Kasper has endured a different kind of criticism since becoming so closely identified with Francis, Benedict’s successor.

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SIOUX CITY (IA)
KCIM Radio

January 4, 2019

The president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), Tim Lennon, led a meeting in Sioux City last weekend that urged victims to come forward to report abuse. He also called for the resignation of now Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, who leads the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Lennon said while DiNardo was Bishop of the Sioux City Diocese, he covered up sexual abuse allegations there and in Houston.

Lennon came forward over 30 years after being raped by Peter Murphy in 1960. He claims he received only a vague letter of apology. The Sioux City Diocese has since distributed a press release, saying there is much more to the story than Mr. Lennon detailed.

They expressed deep regret over what he had to go through at the hands of Murphy, but also point out that a settlement was reached with Lennon in August of 2016. In addition, Lennon penned two letters to the Diocese, in the first saying, “[I am] pleased to receive your offer of support and compensation. I accept with thanks to you and the review board. […] I also appreciate your apology. Your expression and apology are meaningful and important to me.”

In the second, he again wrote of his gratitude for the monetary award and what it could do to further his healing as well as the apology, even though he was also feeling sadness at reliving his suffering. Bishop R. Walker Nickless responded to Lennon, saying even though the settlement cannot undo the harm, they pray he will find a sense of resolution, restitution and justice.

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GET RELIGION

Janury 4, 2019

By Terry Mattingly

Has anyone heard from Archbishop Theodore “Uncle Ted” McCarrick lately?

Actually, the fallen cardinal has been in the news in recent days. But some may ask if this new news about the old McCarrick news breaks new ground. The bottom line: With the world’s Catholic bishops poised for a headline-grabbing February summit focusing on the sexual abuse of children, does it matter what is happening with McCarrick?

I would argue that McCarrick still matters, in part because of the ties that bind him to key Catholic leaders steering efforts to solve the abuse puzzle. That’s a key theme in this week’s “Crossroads” podcast (click here to tune that in). Another question: Did the silence that surrounds the McCarrick scandal (Hello Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano) play any role in the sudden exit of Vatican press maestro Greg Burke? Hold that thought.

Let’s start with the Associated Press report from those relatively dead news days last week: “Lawyer: McCarrick repeatedly touched youth during confession.” Did anyone see that headline in their local newspapers a few days after Christmas? Here are key parts of the overture:

The Vatican’s sexual abuse case against ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has expanded significantly after a man testified that the retired American archbishop sexually abused him for years starting when he was 11, including during confession.

James Grein testified … before the judicial vicar for the New York City archdiocese, who was asked by the Holy See to take his statement for the Vatican’s canonical case, said Grein’s attorney Patrick Noaker. …

Grein initially came forward in July after the New York archdiocese announced that a church investigation determined an allegation that McCarrick had groped another teenage altar boy in the 1970s was credible. Grein’s claims, first reported by The New York Times, are more serious.

A crucial new claim is that some of the abuse took place during the sacrament of confession. What, pray tell, does Catholic canon law say about that?

Let’s keep reading, before we return to material addressed in this week’s podcast.

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HARTFORD (CT)
Hartford Courant

January 4, 2019

By Jenna Carlesso

As the Archdiocese of Hartford prepares to release the names of clergy members accused of sexual abuse, Archbishop Leonard Blair has arranged a series of Masses dedicated to the hot-button subject.

Three “Masses of reparation” have been scheduled for the coming months, with the first set for Jan. 27 at St. Bartholomew Church in Manchester. In the Catholic tradition, an act of reparation is a prayer for pardon and forgiveness, not only for one’s own misdeeds, but for others’ offenses as well.

The mass at St. Bartholomew will begin at 2 p.m. A second service is scheduled for 11 a.m. at St. George Church in Guilford on Feb. 16, and a third for 7 p.m. at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Harwinton on March 26.

“It is certainly true that offering a Mass is not of itself sufficient to address the grievous suffering and betrayal experienced by victims,” Blair said in a statement Friday. “Our archdiocese is committed to doing everything humanly possible to heal their wounds. That includes efforts like public acknowledgement and apology, counseling and support groups, and a renewed invitation on my part to meet personally with the victims.”

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ROME (ITALY)
The Daily Beast

January 4, 2019

By Barbie Latza Nadeau

When 53-year-old Gustavo Óscar Zanchetta abruptly left his post as bishop of Orán in Argentina in July 2017, he cited “health reasons” and a need for “treatment.” Many were concerned that he might have a terminal disease, according to local press reports at the time. After all, the popular bishop didn’t even seem well enough to hold a farewell mass.

Zanchetta tendered his resignation to Pope Francis, who often sits on such matters for months. Instead, the pope granted it within three days, according to the Associated Press, which broke the story, and soon Zanchetta was on his way to Rome, first spending time at an undisclosed location in Spain.

Now safely in Vatican City where he enjoys diplomatic immunity, the bishop stands credibly accused of sexually harassing young seminarians in the home country he shares with Francis.

Not long after resigning, Zanchetta showed up on Pope Francis’ doorstep in Rome, apparently miraculously cured. Francis, who had made his fellow countryman a bishop right after becoming pope in 2013, naturally helped him out. Francis, back when he was Cardinal Jose Bergoglio and archbishop of Argentina, apparently knew Zanchetta well. He gave the younger man a high-ranking position in the Argentinean Bishops Conference when he was president of the organization. It made sense that he would find a place for a fellow Argentine in the Curia in Rome.

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Economist

January 4, 2019

ON DECEMBER 31ST Pope Francis’s spokesman, Greg Burke, announced that he and his deputy, Paloma García Ovejero, had both resigned. It was the latest in a string of upheavals and mishaps in the Vatican’s PR operations at a time when Francis’s increasingly embattled papacy needs to get its messages across in an effective manner. Next month bishops from around the world are to assemble in Rome for a crucial summit on the clerical sex-abuse crisis which is tearing at the Catholic church and alienating many believers.

As Lady Bracknell would doubtless comment, to lose one spokesperson may be regarded as a misfortune, but to lose both looks like carelessness. By slipping out the news on the last day of the year, Mr Burke and Ms García Ovejero tried to minimise the effect of their resignations, but their departures were nevertheless embarrassing for Francis. He was already under fire from three directions. Many Catholics question whether their leader understands the degree of public outrage over clerical sex abuse, and particularly over the efforts of some high-ranking prelates to protect predatory priests. Traditionalists abhor his doctrinal flexibility. And there is hostility in parts of the Vatican to the pope’s plans for a shake-up of the central administration of the Catholic church, which could involve moving some operations away from Rome. In part, the opposition is down to bureaucratic inertia and the safeguarding by Vatican bigwigs of their powers and privileges. But some officials appear to have legitimate grouses over a lack of consultation and information.

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ROME (ITALY)
Catholic News Agency

January 4, 2019

Bishop Gustavo Oscar Zanchetta, an Argentine native appointed to the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See in 2017, was accused last autumn of sexual abuse, the Holy See announced Friday.

Bishop Zanchetta had resigned as Bishop of Orán Aug. 1, 2017, slightly more than four years after his appointment there.

Alessandro Gisotti, interim Holy See press officer, said Jan. 4 that “at the time of his resignation there had been against [Bishop Zanchetta] accusations of authoritarianism, but there had been against him no accusation of sexual abuse … the accusations of sexual abuse date to this autumn.”

Bishop Zanchetta, 54, was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Quilmes in 1991. He remained there until his 2013 appointment by Pope Francis as Bishop of Orán.

Gisotti noted that the bishop was not removed from Orán, but that he himself chose to resign, saying the decision was “linked to his difficulty in managing relations with the diocesan clergy and in very tense relations with the priests of the diocese,” and that he had “an incapacity to govern the clergy.”

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NEW YORK (NY)
Commonweal

January 4, 2019

By John Gehring

Confronting the most profound crisis the Catholic Church has faced in centuries, U.S. bishops are meeting for a week-long spiritual retreat at Mundelein Seminary outside of Chicago to grapple with how clergy sexual abuse and a culture of cover-up have damaged their moral credibility. Pope Francis came up with the idea, urging bishops to go on retreat when he met with a delegation from the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops at the Vatican in September. In a sign of how important the pope considers this unusual gathering, he sent Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the papal household, to direct it.

I’m not completely unsympathetic to those who argue we could use less prayer and more action from church leaders. Lay Catholics have every right to be angry and impatient with the episcopal malpractice, the sins, and the crimes committed by those who are supposed to be shepherds. I’ve also grown weary of the incompetence, the ugly scapegoating of gay priests, and the tone-deafness of bishops who seem to cast blame on everyone but themselves for the wreckage at their feet. But any authentic reform and renewal, whether personal or institutional, has to start with discernment, repentance, and conversion of heart. Dismantling a clerical culture that leads to abuse of power can’t simply be a technocratic endeavor, a managerial shuffling of the deck. In a lengthy letter he sent to the bishops on retreat, Pope Francis describes a “crisis of credibility,” calls for a “new ecclesial season,” and underscores core themes that have characterized his papacy since the beginning.

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ORD (NE)
Associated Press

January 4, 2019

A central Nebraska prosecutor says she intends to charge a Roman Catholic priest who’s been accused of sexually assaulting a woman.

Valley County Attorney Kayla Clark said Friday that she didn’t yet know which charges the Rev. John Kakkuzhiyil (kah-kuh-ree-AL’) will face because she hasn’t reviewed all the investigation reports. He was arrested Wednesday and remains in custody. It’s unclear whether he has an attorney.

The woman who accused him has obtained a protection order against the 63-year-old cleric. She says he assaulted her in November. She says she went to his Ord home on business and blacked out after having a couple drinks with him.

The Grand Island Diocese says Kakkuzhiyil has been serving as pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in Ord and Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Burwell. The diocese says Bishop Joseph Hanefeldt placed Kakkuzhiyil on leave Dec. 15 upon learning that the Nebraska State Patrol was investigating the allegations.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Daily Caller

January 4, 2019

By Joshua Gill

A German cardinal lambasted the furor over the Catholic Church’s global sex abuse crisis as hypocritical, saying society perpetuates the same crimes outside the church.

Cardinal Walter Brandmueller’s comments, published Friday, come in the wake of a church-commissioned report that revealed German clergy abused no less than 3,677 people from 1964 to 2014. The report prompted an apology from one of Germany’s leading bishops, but Brandmueller was quoted Friday as telling reporters that “society is behaving pretty hypocritically” in response to the sex abuse crisis.

“What happened in the church in terms of abuse is nothing different from what happens in society in general,” Brandmueller said, according to The Associated Press.

Brandmueller also stated that society overlooks what he believes to be the true cause of the abuse crisis: homosexuality among the clergy.

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[Cruz and the intense vetting to choose Ezzati’s successor: “The Pope is not going to make a mistake in naming someone in Santiago”]

CHILE
El Mostrador

January 2, 2019

El periodista, y una de las víctimas de Fernando Karadima, explicó la tardanza en el relevo de Ezzati al mando del arzobispado de Santiago, argumentando que el Vaticano está chequeando a fondo los antecedentes de los posibles reemplazantes, por lo que el cardenal “va a salir luego, pero no tan luego como quisiéramos”. Además, destacó que junto al “imputado” Ezzati, otros obispos tiene sus días contados en la jerarquía de la Iglesia católica chilena y “que no sorprenda que algunos terminen en la cárcel”.

Juan Carlos Cruz, una de las víctimas de Fernando Karadima, se refirió al futuro arzobispo de Santiago señalando que el cardenal Ricardo Ezzati “va a salir luego, pero no tan luego como quisiéramos”.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WBEN/AP

January 4, 2019

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo says the sale of the bishop’s mansion is moving forward as part of efforts to compensate victims of clergy sexual abuse.

The money will go to the diocese’s Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Fund, which Bishop Richard Malone set up in March to benefit victims of past sexual abuse by priests.

The diocese expects to pay at least $11 million.

Malone’s former mansion is under contract to be sold, but the diocese would not disclose any information on the buyer or sale price. A source told the Buffalo News the buyer is local.

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Get Religion
January 4, 2019

By Julia Duin

With all the sex abuse scandals among Catholic hierarchy that have been in the news since June, there’s been a quiet wondering as to how bad the situation really is outside the West. Have Catholics in Asia and Africa been spared these horrors?

Now there is a story out this week from the Associated Press about nuns in India, it appears the problem has been bad over there as well — but with a twist. In this story, the victims are nuns.

My first trip to India in 1994 landed me in Kerala, where much of the AP story was based and where the first Catholic diocese was established in 1329. About one-fifth of the population in this southern state is Catholic and churches are visible everywhere.

The major city in Kerala is Cochi and the story opens in a small town just southeast of there.

KURAVILANGAD, India (AP) — 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.

At its most grim, the nuns speak of repeated rapes, and of a Catholic hierarchy that did little to protect them.

Depressingly, the story begins to sound like ones we’ve already heard.

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[“He drugged, robbed, and abused his own children:” accusations against the founder of The Legionaries of Christ were known by the Vatican more than 70 years ago]

CHILE
Publimetro

January 2, 2019

By Irene Ayuso

Por primera vez el Vaticano reconoce que sabía los abusos cometidos por Marcial Maciel pero no hizo nada

El prefecto de la Congregación para los Institutos de Vida Consagrada, João Braz, reconoció en una entrevista realizada por la revista católica Vida Nueva, que el Vaticano estaba en conocimiento desde 1943 de los archivos sobre abusos sexuales cometidos por Marcial Maciel, líder de los Legionarios de Cristo. El hombre expresó que quienes encubrieron la pederastia era “una mafia, ellos no eran Iglesia”. También señaló que “tengo la impresión de que las denuncias de abusos crecerán, porque solo estamos en el inicio. Llevamos 70 años encubriendo, y esto ha sido un tremendo error”.

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

January 4, 2019

By Charles Collins

When Alessandro Gisotti, the interim head of the Vatican’s press office, greeted reporters on Feb. 2, he asked them for “patience” admitting he is likely to make some initial mistakes in a job with a steep learning curve.

The longtime Vatican Radio employee, who had most recently been running the social media for the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, may seem an odd choice to replace the former Time magazine correspondent and Fox News personality Greg Burke, who resigned on Dec. 31.

The head of the press office has traditionally been known as the “papal spokesperson,” and since Spaniard Joaquín Navarro-Valls was appointed to the role in 1984, has been the public face of the Vatican as an institution.

Navarro-Valls, who served under both St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI until his resignation in 2006, held sway during perhaps the greatest change in media since the invention of television.

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[What facilitate abuses within the Church ?: Jesuits, Marists and the CECh prepare reports]

CHILE
La Tercera

January 3, 2019

By Vanessa Azócar

Durante enero el provincial de la Compañía de Jesús recibirá la primera versión del informe que elabora la Comisión especial de trabajo sobre abuso sexual de menores, instancia que integran laicos como la decana de sicología de la UAH Elizabeth Lira y el ex senador DC Patricio Walker.

Ocurre casi cada viernes pasadas las 13 horas en el Edificio Arrupe que alberga a la Compañía de Jesús en Calle Lord Cochrane 110. Hasta allí llegan la decana de la Escuela de Psicología de la Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Elizabeth Lira, la abogada Joanna Heskia, la psicóloga UC, Paulina Pérez, la terapeuta familiar Ana María Arón, el ex senador DC Patricio Walker, el sacerdote diosesano Jorge Murillo y el doctor en teología Carlos Schickendantz. El grupo busca responder una pregunta: ¿qué prácticas facilitan los abusos en la Iglesia?.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service

January 3, 2019

by Zita Ballinger Fletcher

German Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising called for change in long-standing church tradition as the German bishops’ conference prepares for a workshop debate to “review” the issue of celibacy for priests.

In his homily at New Year’s Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady in Munich, Marx said the church must, “in light of the failure” surrounding the clergy sex abuse crisis, modify tradition in response to changing modern times.

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“I believe the hour has come to deeply commit ourselves to open the way of the church to renewal and reform,” Marx said, according to an audio* of the homily posted on the archdiocesan website. “Evolution in society and historical demands have made tasks and urgent need for renewal clear to see.”

The cardinal, who is president of the German bishops’ conference, said that current measures to address sex abuse are not enough without adapting church teachings. “Yes, matters are about development and improvement and prevention and independent reviews — but more is also demanded,” he said.

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[Trans woman testifies about alleged clergy sex abuse before Ecclesiastical Court]

CHILE
BioBioChile

January 3, 2019

By Emilio Lara and Nicole Martínez

Este jueves, a las 09:00 horas, declarará ante el Tribunal Eclesiástico Fran Noa Parra, una mujer trans víctima de abusos sexuales presuntamente por parte de un sacerdote franciscano. Su testimonio será recepcionado por el Arzobispado de Santiago y su entrega, a su juicio, corresponde a la culminación de una etapa que inició hace un año.

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KINGSTON (CANADA)
Kingston Whig-Standard

January 3, 2019

An American woman is alleging she was sexually abused by a group of nuns from a New Jersey convent – including an incident where she was given booze and drugs while being taught how to have sex with another woman.

Trisha Cahill told CBS News she was 15 when she revealed to a nun that she was reportedly abused by her uncle, who was a priest. The woman claimed she confided in Sister Eileen Shaw, telling her that her now dead uncle had sexually abused her starting at age 5.

What Cahill didn’t think at the time was that Shaw would allegedly be grooming her for something far worse.

“I would have done anything for her. I would’ve died for her,” said Cahill. “She gave me everything that was lacking that I didn’t even know I was lacking.

“I was so broken. She filled in all those pieces.”

Cahill said the nun began giving her drugs and alcohol and taught her how to have sexual relations with another woman. The woman said she would be with her friends during the day, but was “with this pedophile nun on evenings and on the weekends, and in the summer.

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[Chilean abuse victims call for action after revelation that Vatican concealed Maciel’s abuses for 63 years]

CHILE
BioBioChile

January 3, 2019

By Guido Focacci and Nicole Martínez

Víctimas chilenas de abusos sexuales por parte de sacerdotes de la Iglesia Católica pidieron acciones concretas de reparación y prevención al Vaticano, luego de que el prefecto de la Congregación para los Institutos de Vida Consagrada asegurara que el Estado Pontificio encubrió por 63 años los antecedentes de pederastia de Marcial Maciel.

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NEW YORK (NY)
VICE News

January 3, 2019

By Alex Norcia

As Francis issued some of his harshest words yet on the sex abuse crisis, a Cuban circus performer helped make him a meme.

Before his first weekly audience of 2019 on Wednesday, the man atop a once-mighty church, the one that has faced an unprecedented reckoning over systemic sexual abuse this past year, appeared to accomplish something remarkable: He spun a soccer ball on his finger for three seconds. Pope Francis seemed genuinely thrilled as it orbited on his limb, and, if you were just judging by the look on his face, you would have thought he was witnessing real magic—that he had just discovered something truly new on this planet. It was his burning bush. His smile was nearly childish, and totally sincere: Holy shit, you could imagine his interior voice saying, underneath his ecclesiastical hat, check me out!

It was a wonder to behold, especially for the internet. Not long after the clip had been uploaded, the successor of the apostle Peter was memed. That’s as much as he might hope for, I suspect, after a year of catastrophic revelations about abusive priests and cardinals, about broken reform efforts and payoffs, about lost faith and institutional decay. There he was, Pope Francis still, but instead of a rotating soccer ball balancing on his index finger, you had Earth, an uncooked pizza, a Harlem Globetrotters basketball.

You had lightening, sort of like the lightening Darth Sidious conjures to kill Jedi Master Samuel L. Jackson, leaving his hand.

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WINDSOR (CANADA)
Windsor Star

January 3, 2019

By Trevor Wilhelm

Bishop Ronald Fabbro has kicked two Windsor priests facing sexual assault allegations out of the London diocese.

In a notice to parishioners a few days before Christmas, Fabbro wrote with “great sadness” about the dismissals of Maurice Charbonneau and Andrew Dwyer.

“Neither Maurice Charbonneau nor Andrew Dwyer may present themselves as clerics or, in any way, represent the Diocese of London,” Fabrro wrote. “Anyone who observes that either individual is acting in a manner that is inconsistent with this directive is asked to advise my office immediately.”

The diocese said it doesn’t use the term “defrocked,” but added that both men have been “dispensed of the obligations of priestly ordination and permanently removed from the clerical state of priesthood.”

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BUENOS AIRES (ARGENTINA)
Associated Press

January 4, 2019

By Deborah Rey and Nicole Winfield

The Vatican has confirmed that an Argentine bishop, who resigned suddenly in 2017 for stated health reasons and then landed a top administrative job at the Holy See, is under preliminary investigation after priests accused him of sexual abuse and other misconduct.

In a statement to The Associated Press, Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti stressed that the allegations against Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta only emerged in recent months, nearly a year after Pope Francis created the new position for him as “assessor” of the Holy See’s office of financial administration.

At the time of his July 2017 resignation, Zanchetta had only asked Francis to let him leave the northern Argentine diocese of Oran because he had difficult relations with its priests and was “unable to govern the clergy,” Gisotti said. Pending the preliminary investigation into allegations of sexual abuse underway in Argentina, the 54-year-old Zanchetta will abstain from work at the Vatican, he said.

But the case could become yet another problem for Francis, who is already battling to gain trust from the Catholic flock over his handling of sex abuse and sexual misconduct, stemming in particular from the scandal of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Francis’ standing would take another hit if he personally intervened to help out a bishop from his native Argentina — finding a job for him during a Vatican hiring hold-down — and the man later turned out to have credible allegations of misconduct against him.

Zanchetta’s hasty departure from Oran on July 29, 2017 was mired in mystery. He didn’t celebrate a farewell Mass, as might be expected, and he issued a cryptic statement saying he had been suffering a “health problem” for some time, had just returned from the Vatican where he presented his resignation to Francis, and needed to leave immediately for treatment.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

January 4, 2019

By Elyssa Cherney

In the weeks since Attorney General Lisa Madigan released a scathing report faulting the Illinois Diocese for failing to investigate hundreds of allegations of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, a daunting question has lingered on the minds of parishioners: Which priests were accused?

Unlike a sweeping grand jury report in Pennsylvania that identified more than 300 predator priests this summer, the preliminary report released Dec. 19 by Madigan did not name the clergy members implicated in her probe or note the diocese where they worked.

Now, as U.S. bishops gather in suburban Mundelein for a spiritual retreat in response to the sex abuse scandal, two attorneys say they will expose the offenders known to them through handling hundreds of Illinois cases over nearly two decades.

The lawyers, Jeff Anderson and Marc Pearlman, announced Thursday their intentions to publish a report in early February that includes the names and photos of every clergy member accused by the 300 survivors they have represented. Anderson called Madigan’s report comprehensive and helpful, but said he needed to do his part to release the information he possesses.

“What isn’t private and what needs to be known and made public is the identities of every one of those offenders, many of whom are still out in the community,” Anderson said at a news conference in a downtown Chicago hotel as he stood between a man and a woman he is representing as abuse victims in a lawsuit against the state’s six Catholic dioceses.

The majority of their cases on behalf of survivors were settled out of court over the years, Pearlman said. In about two dozen of those cases, the perpetrators have not been publicly named by the church, though confidentiality agreements do not prevent disclosing their identities. Some cases involve allegations that arose after clergy members had died, Pearlman said.

Madigan’s bombshell report found such cases were among several other categories of allegations that the dioceses did not investigate. In addition, dioceses often did not investigate cases when a victim wanted to remain anonymous, only one complainant came forward or the clergy member previously resigned, Madigan found. The dioceses also failed to investigate clergy who were visiting priests from a religious order, referring the allegations instead to the order, the report said.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

January 4, 2019

By Jason Meisner

Longtime Ald. Edward Burke, one of Chicago’s most powerful figures and a vestige of the city’s old Democratic machine, has often been considered too clever and sophisticated to be caught blatantly using his public office to enrich himself.

But after years of dodging investigations while watching dozens of his colleagues hauled off to prison, Burke has been accused of crossing the line himself — and doing so in a quintessential Chicago way.

A federal criminal complaint unsealed Thursday charged Burke with attempted extortion for allegedly using his position as alderman to try to steer business to his private law firm from a company seeking to renovate a fast-food restaurant in his ward. The charge carries a maximum of 20 years in prison on conviction.

The complaint also alleged Burke asked one of the company’s executives in December 2017 to attend an upcoming political fundraiser for “another politician.” Sources identified the politician as Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who is running for Chicago mayor.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

January 4, 2019

by Michael Sean Winters

What will 2019 bring in the life of the church? Will Pope Francis be able to lead the way to a new era of episcopal accountability? If so, how will that cohere with other of his objectives such as increased synodality? Will the church in the United States begin to confront the degree to which some of its ministries have become a counterwitness to the Gospel and others a mere extension of the Republican Party, with all the ugliness that entails in the Age of Trump? Will the bishops even begin to know how to cope with the decline of Trump, in whatever form that takes, and prepare for the tsunami that awaits them once he is hurled from office? Will the Catholic left mature into the kind of force that can remain distinctively Catholic but also make an impact on the life of both church and state?

The clergy sex abuse mess has prompted more heat than light in the year just past, but I anticipate we will see a clear rejection of faux and foolish reform efforts and an embrace of some real ones. Nothing will come of the efforts of conservative zillionaire Tim Busch, who organized a conference on “authentic reform” of the church in which laypeople like himself, well-heeled in the wallet and a little light in theological depth, would come to the rescue and make the church in the U.S. into their own image, an image they know well from admiring it so much.

Equally barren will be some of the calls for reform from the left, such as that of former Rep. Tim Roemer whose solutions veered remarkably close to advocating lay trusteeism, which doesn’t work and isn’t Catholic. Fr. James Connell gets the prize for the worst single idea: He wants to take away the inviolability of the confessional. His argument rests on canonical analysis, not theology, most especially the theology of conscience which Pope Francis is so keen to revive. I can confidently predict that the pope will not let our venerable sacramental theology be tossed overboard by ideologically driven canonists.

Instead of these faux reforms, I will echo Mark Silk’s prediction at RNS: I am betting Pope Francis is going to find a way to make the February meeting of the presidents of all the episcopal conferences in the world work. I predict that meeting will yield some concrete proposals for adoption, with some variation, by local episcopal conferences and that in the course of the year, some clearer methods of holding bishops accountable at the Vatican will emerge. The February meeting may disappoint some in the U.S., even though it may advance the cause of child protection throughout the world. That may say more about the myopia of the U.S. church than it does about the pope’s determination to protect children.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Catholic News Service

January 3, 2019

By Joyce Duriga

To show support for the U.S. bishops as they gathered at the Mundelein Seminary at the University of St. Mary of the Lake near Chicago for a weeklong retreat in early January, members of lay ecclesial movements met at St. Mother Theodore Guerin Parish in Elmwood Park Jan. 3 to pray.

More than 70 people attended Mass and adoration at the parish as part of a larger effort of the 21 lay movements active within the Archdiocese of Chicago to support the bishops. Each group is taking a day to have its members pray during the bishops Jan. 2-8 retreat.

“We want to show them that we support them, that they are not alone in this,” said Renata Kaczor, co-chair of the archdiocesan committee for lay movements and a member of Domowy Kosciol (“Domestic Church”), dedicated to the sanctity of marriage. “We also want to ask God to help them, help us and everybody in the very difficult situation the church is going through now.”

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MIDDLETOWN (NY)
Times Record Herald

January 3, 2019

Ever since the scandal of priests sexually abusing young boys was exposed in Boston in 2002, the Catholic Church has demonstrated, in big ways and small, despite promises and proclamations from the pope and cardinals worldwide, that it is incapable or unwilling to conduct a thorough reckoning with its behavior.

Big ways: A recent grand jury investigation led by the Pennsylvania attorney general, identified nearly 300 “predator priests” dating back seven decades and accused church leaders of covering up for the abuses by returning priests to duty after treatment or reassigning them.

Small: The Archdiocese of New York told a California university that a Middletown priest had never been accused of sexual abuse of a minor and was fit to serve as a priest, even though it had paid compensation in one sexual abuse case and reopened a 15-year-old investigation into other allegations of sexual abuse against him.

The latter involves the Rev. Donald G. Timone, of the Church of St. Joseph on Cottage Street. He has been a visiting priest at John Paul the Great University in Escondido, Calif., for several years. He celebrated Mass, heard confessions, taught a class on Catholic spirituality. He was supposed to teach another class this winter.

That’s not happening, not since the university learned of the archdiocese investigation in The New York Times. The church’s inability to deal forthrightly with the issue in this case came in the form of a letter from the archdiocese’s director of priest personnel that Timone presented last month to the university. The letter vouched for Timone’s character and for his qualification “to serve in an effective and suitable manner as a priest.”

It also said “without qualification” that Timone had “never been accused of any act of sexual abuse or sexual misconduct involving a minor.”

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

January 3, 2019

As American bishops meet outside Chicago for a week of “prayer and self-reflection” the Vatican’s request, Pope Francis has sent a letter explaining what he hopes comes of this retreat. Unfortunately, his letter ignores the most critical issue of all: accountability for bishops who conceal sex crimes.

The Pope’s letter clearly shows the self-centeredness of Vatican officials. In one brief sentence, he mentions victims. But his concerns, in order, are that “the church has been badly shaken,” lay people have been “confused,” the “communion of bishops” has suffered and the church’s credibility has waned.

Only half-way through his letter does he mention what should be his highest priority: “protecting those in our care.”

The Pope’s letter is long on platitudes but short on the words that survivors and advocates want to read. Not once in his eight-page, 3,500+ word letter does Pope Francis speak to the urgent need for accountability for bishops who conceal clergy sex crimes.

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NEW YORK (NY)
NBC News

January 3, 2019

By Corky Siemaszko

Pope Francis delivered a blunt message Thursday to his American bishops — stop “playing the victim or the scold” and do something about the “culture of abuse” that has resulted in a crisis of credibility for the U.S. Roman Catholic Church.

Francis’ letter, which was dated Tuesday, was delivered as the bishops were at a weeklong spiritual retreat at the Mundelein Seminary north of Chicago.

“These have been times of turbulence in the lives of all those victims who suffered in their flesh the abuse of power and conscience and sexual abuse on the part of ordained ministers, male and female religious and lay faithful,” Francis wrote in his eight-page letter. “The Church’s credibility has been seriously undercut and diminished by these sins and crimes, but even more by the efforts to deny or conceal them.”

Instead of “helping to resolve conflicts,” Francis wrote the actions of the church thus far have “enabled them to fester and cause even greater harm.”

“We know that the sins and crimes that were committed, and their repercussions on the ecclesial, social and cultural levels, have deeply affected the faithful,” the Pope wrote.

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MONTPELIER (VT)
VTDigger

January 3, 2019

By Kevin O’Connor

Vermont Catholic Bishop Christopher Coyne, facing a rise in priest misconduct headlines and a fall in parishioner attendance, is set to hold a series of open meetings this month seeking public comment about the state’s largest religious denomination.

“Anybody’s welcome, not just Catholics,” Coyne said in announcing what he calls “part of a continuing effort to promote full transparency about Catholic matters in the state.”

Vermont’s Roman Catholic Diocese, the target of more than 40 clergy misconduct lawsuits in the past quarter-century, has a decades-long history of defying court orders and outside review.

That’s why Coyne, leader of the state’s 72 Catholic parishes since 2015, has made headlines by agreeing to work with law enforcement, releasing past child abuse victims from nondisclosure agreements and forming a lay committee to review clergy misconduct files and publicly release the names of abusers.

“I have no idea how the meetings are going to go, but I felt it was important to establish better two-way communication with people in the pews,” he said.

The bishop is basing the sessions on traditional Vermont town meetings.

“These meetings are ‘democracy in action’ because any citizen of the town may speak to the matters within the meeting or even propose matters for discussion,” he said in a separate statement to the state’s 118,000 Catholics. “The idea is that everyone present gets to hear what others have to say in order to come to some consensus about what the community as a whole should do.”

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DEKALB COUNTY (IL)
Daily Chronicle

January 3, 2019

By Katie Smith

A Chicago law firm has vowed to release the names of more than 300 Catholic clergy members with whom they’ve settled sexual abuse allegations.

Attorneys Jeff Anderson and Marc Pearlman, of Anderson and Attorneys, made the announcement at a news conference Thursday morning. They expect to release the report Feb. 11, complete with the names, histories and photos of each priest they’ve settled with over the past 20 years.

“There are over 300 survivors who had the courage to come to us privately and work with us,” Anderson said. “Most all of those offenders…we made known public. But not all of them.”

None of the settlements were confidential, Anderson said.

The attorneys also urged each of the Illinois Catholic dioceses to publicly identify more than 500 unnamed clergy members whose identities church officials intentionally keep under wraps, according to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

Last month, Madigan released the preliminary findings of her investigation of sexual abuse claims within the Catholic church and claimed to know of more than 500 unidentified clergy members accused of sexually abusing minors. The investigation is expected to continue under the eye of Illinois Attorney General-elect Kwame Raoul.

Madigan’s report did not include the accused clergy members’ names or confirm which Illinois diocese they belonged to.

The Catholic Diocese of Rockford responded to the report with skepticism, and said it has fully cooperated with the attorney general’s investigation.

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SAN LUIS OBISPO (CA)
Cal Coast News

January 3, 2019

The Monterey Diocese has released a report that identifies every Catholic priest they say has been credibly accused of child sexual abuse including a clergyman who worked in San Luis Obispo County.

The report, which lists 30 clergyman, includes former Mission San Luis Obispo Priest Alberto Battagliol. He allegedly molested several boys in the 1970s, but the allegations were not made public until several lawsuits were filed in 2003.

Battagliola worked as a priest at Mission San Luis Obispo from 1972 through 1974. In 1977, Battagliola was murdered in a San Francisco motel room.

In 2003, a 44-year-old San Luis Obispo man filed a lawsuit against the Monterey Diocese claiming that Battagliola sexually abused him when he was a 14-year-old altar boy.

None of the people listed in the report are still working for the diocese. Many of them are deceased.

A lawsuit filed in Los Angeles in October, alleges clergy officials at ten dioceses in California conspired to cover up sexual assaults within the church. The Diocese of Monterey responded with the release of the names of 30 priests who they determined molested children.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW TV

January 3, 2019

By Charlie Specht

Buffalo Bishop Richard J. Malone has found a buyer for his palatial mansion on Oakland Place.

Buffalo Diocese spokeswoman Kathy Spangler confirmed Thursday that the mansion is under contract but would not identify the potential buyer.

“We will not disclose details until it has closed,” she said in an email.

Malone in April announced he was selling the mansion — owned by the diocese since 1952 and appraised at more than $1 million — to help compensate victims of clergy sexual abuse.

The diocese plans to pay at least $11 million in payments to victims through its settlement program. Internal documents obtained previously by 7 Eyewitness News show the diocese has a surplus of $48 million.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

January 3, 2019

By Terence McKiernan

Editor’s note: Following is a reprint, with permission, of a letter written to Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich from Terence McKiernan, president of BishopsAccountability.org. It is posted in full here.

Cardinal Blase J. Cupich
Archbishop of Chicago
Archdiocese of Chicago
835 N. Rush Street
Chicago IL 60611-2030

Your Eminence,

I am writing to you about the upcoming summit in Rome. One of your colleagues in planning the event, Cardinal Oswaldo Gracias, says that I should be worried, and I am. “Either it will be successful, or it will be a disaster for the Church.”

But while I write you this letter, you and your brother bishops are beginning a retreat at Mundelein led by Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M. Cap., the Preacher to the Papal Household. This is the same Cantalamessa who once compared criticism of clergy abuse in the Church to “the more shameful aspects of anti-Semitism.” Survivors of clergy abuse are the retreat masters you need now.

You and Cardinal Gracias and Archbishop Scicluna and Fr. Zollner advised the conference presidents to “reach out and visit with victim survivors of clergy sex abuse in your respective countries prior to the meeting in Rome, to learn first-hand the suffering that they have endured.” This is good advice. Will Cardinal DiNardo start with La Rosa Lopez survivor J.H., or with M.V., who spoke to police about the “duplicity of Cardinal DiNardo”?

This is one problem with the summit. Many of the conference presidents are the wrong men for the job, and the people know it.

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

NEW ORLEANS (LA)
The Times-Picayune

January 3, 2019

By Kim Chatelain

Pope Francis has called on Roman Catholic bishops in the United States to restore the church’s credibility, which has been left in tatters by a bourgeoning clergy abuse crisis, the Catholic News Agency reported.

In a letter dated Jan. 1 and released Thursday (Jan. 3) by the U.S. bishops’ conference, the pope insisted upon a “change of mindset” to help renew trust in the Catholic church.

“Clearly a living fabric has come undone, and we, like weavers, are called to repair it,” the pope wrote in the letter that was sent ahead of the U.S. bishops’ weeklong retreat at Mundelein Seminary, in the Archdiocese of Chicago.

The repair process must involve a “change of mindset” by bishops in relation to prayer, power, exercising authority, and handling money, the pontiff explained, with the change rooted in an acknowledgment of the “sinfulness and limitations” which necessitate God’s grace.

Acknowledging that the abuse scandals have diminished the credibility of the Church in the U.S., the pope said that a cover-up mentality “enabled them to fester and cause even greater harm to the network of relationships that today we are called to heal and restore,” the news agency reported.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
Patriot News

January 3, 2019

By Ivey DeJesus

Billing them as “listening sessions,” the Harrisburg Diocese has announced that Bishop Ronald Gainer early this year will hold town hall style meetings to address a host of topics, chief among them the 2018 grand jury report on clergy sex abuse.

Gainer also plans to address the diocese’s response to abuse and its “path forward.”

Janet McNeal, who was recently appointed to oversee the diocese’s youth protection program will also participate in the meetings. McNeal is a retired Pennsylvania State Police captain.

The listening sessions will be held in January and February of 2019.

The Harrisburg Diocese is expected to launch in coming weeks a fund that will financially compensate victims of clergy sex abuse. Harrisburg’s program will operate independently of other dioceses, and will be overseen by attorney Kenneth Feinberg, who administered the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund as well as a similar compensation fund for the Archdiocese of New York.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Religion News Service

January 3, 2019

By David Clohessy

This week, America’s Roman Catholic bishops are gathering near Chicago for a retreat. This unusual high-level meeting comes quickly after their annual national get-together, in Baltimore last November, and just before a February meeting in Rome, where the highest-ranking Catholic prelates from across the globe will convene to address the same topic: clergy sexual abuse.

To some, this flurry of meetings may seem hopeful. But to those of us who’ve closely followed the church’s distressing self-inflicted scandal for decades, this seems depressingly familiar.

Why? Because virtually every time the crisis nears a boiling or tipping point, the Catholic hierarchy follows the basic same formula: Act shocked at recent revelations. Then schedule a meeting among themselves.

Over time, the formula has become more sophisticated: Structure each meeting slightly differently, so each can be called “unprecedented.” Throw in a papal apology (“We failed to protect the little ones … ”) and some tough talk (“We will no longer tolerate abuse … ”). Beg for forgiveness and patience. Then wait out the storm.

This formula has been used by bishops and cardinals and popes with surprising success for decades now. (It was in 1992 that the U.S. bishops first publicly discussed abuse as a group, seven years after the scandal first produced national headlines.)

It may not be a shrewd long-term strategy, but it works well enough to get embattled prelates through the short term. Public attention wanes, victims give up, secular authorities back off. Parishioners complain quietly but hunker down, keep going, keep giving and focus solely on their local parish, assuming the corruption is basically limited to the men at the top.

Sound undeservedly harsh? Consider this.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Associated Press

January 3, 2019

By Roxanne Garcia

Over the past four months, Roman Catholic dioceses across the U.S. have released the names of more than 1,000 priests and others accused of sexually abusing children in an unprecedented public reckoning spurred at least in part by a shocking grand jury investigation in Pennsylvania, an Associated Press review has found.

Nearly 50 dioceses and religious orders have publicly identified child-molesting priests in the wake of the Pennsylvania report issued in mid-August, and 55 more have announced plans to do the same over the next few months, the AP found. Together they account for more than half of the nation’s 187 dioceses.

The review also found that nearly 20 local, state or federal investigations, either criminal or civil, have been launched since the release of the grand jury findings. Those investigations could lead to more names and more damning accusations, as well as fines against dioceses and court-ordered safety measures.

“People saw what happened in these parishes in Pennsylvania and said, ‘That happened in my parish too.’ They could see the immediate connection, and they are demanding the same accounting,” said Tim Lennon, national president of the board of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.

The recently disclosed accusations date back six or seven decades in some cases, with the oldest from the 1910s in Louisiana. Most of the priests were long ago removed from ministry. An AP examination found that more than 60 percent are dead. In most cases, the statute of limitations for bringing criminal charges or suing has run out.

Nevertheless, advocates say exposing molesters nearly two decades after the scandal first erupted in Boston in 2002 is an encouraging step, in part because it gives some victims a sense of vindication after decades of official silence or denials. Also, it could increase pressure on dioceses to set up victims’ compensation funds, as the church has done in Pennsylvania already. And it could result in the removal of molesters from positions outside the church that give them access to children.

“This is a milestone. We are getting closer and closer to what this ought to be, the true coming to terms that would have to be at a national level,” said Joe McLean, who filed a lawsuit with other victims seeking to compel the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to release files on alleged abusers nationwide.

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

BOSTON (MA)
BishopAccountability.org

January 3, 2019

Cardinal Blase J. Cupich
Archbishop of Chicago
Archdiocese of Chicago
835 N. Rush Street
Chicago IL 60611-2030

Your Eminence,

I am writing to you about the upcoming summit in Rome. One of your colleagues in planning the event, Cardinal Oswaldo Gracias, says that I should be worried, and I am. “Either it will be successful, or it will be a disaster for the Church.”

But while I write you this letter, you and your brother bishops are beginning a retreat at Mundelein led by Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M. Cap., the Preacher to the Papal Household. This is the same Cantalamessa who once compared criticism of clergy abuse in the Church to “the more shameful aspects of anti-Semitism.” Survivors of clergy abuse are the retreat masters you need now.

You and Cardinal Gracias and Archbishop Scicluna and Fr. Zollner advised the conference presidents to “reach out and visit with victim survivors of clergy sex abuse in your respective countries prior to the meeting in Rome, to learn first-hand the suffering that they have endured.” This is good advice. Will Cardinal DiNardo start with La Rosa Lopez survivor J.H., or with M.V., who spoke to police about the “duplicity of Cardinal DiNardo”?

This is one problem with the summit. Many of the conference presidents are the wrong men for the job, and the people know it.
Another problem, especially for you and your brother bishops in the United States, is that you are between a rock and a hard place – in your case, between Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Attorney General-elect Kwame Raoul on the one hand, and those African and Asian bishops who would rather try to avoid the abuse problem in their countries on the other. Any summit outcome that pleases the abuse deniers will enrage your people back home. Especially after the U.S. bishops were silenced by Pope Francis in Baltimore.

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.

GET RELIGION
January 3, 2019

By Terry Mattingly

I realize that it’s rare for me to run a think piece during the week. But let’s face it, the Paul Moses essay at Commonweal must be discussed — as journalists try to figure out what’s happening in, well, the Loggia.

We are talking about some very important tea leaves linked to the biggest religion-news story in the world, which is the Vatican’s ongoing efforts to handle interlinked scandals linked to clergy sexual abuse of some children, lots of teens and significant numbers of seminarians.

When watching the action unfold, I suggest that journalists keep asking this question: What would that great Catholic politico — Theodore “Uncle Ted” McCarrick — do in this situation?

The Commonweal headline references one of those stories that religion-beat pros just know is important, but it’s hard to explain to editors WHY it’s so important.

‘Like Cleaning a Sphinx with a Toothbrush’

Greg Burke Resigns from the Holy See Press Office

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CHICAGO (IL)
Associated Press

January 3, 2019

By Jeff Karoub

Pope Francis is encouraging U.S. bishops meeting near Chicago to unify as the Catholic church deals with a “crisis of credibility” stemming from the clergy sex abuse scandal.

In an eight-page letter addressed to the bishops and released to the media Thursday, Francis acknowledges “no response or approach seems adequate” to the crisis representing a grave threat to his papacy.

Still, he wrote, all church leaders must reckon with parishioners’ pain, heal internal divisions and devise specific approaches that go beyond “creating new committees or improving flow charts.”

Francis suggested the bishops hold the current weeklong retreat for prayer and spiritual reflection. The event at the Mundelein Seminary is a prelude to a high-stakes summit of the world’s bishops at the Vatican next month to forge a comprehensive response the crisis engulfing the church.

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

HARRISBURG (PA)
WHTM TV

January 3, 2019

By Christine McLarty

If you have questions surrounding the Harrisburg Catholic Diocese clergy sex abuse report, you will soon be able to get answers.

During the next two months, Bishop Ronald Gainer is traveling to nine parishes where he will begin taking questions during an open forum series of seminars.

A diocese spokesperson says Gainer is looking forward to speaking with parishioners one-on-one to help them through this understanding process. During the meetings, the bishop will begin with opening remarks and then the floor will be open for questions about clergy sex abuse.

The grand jury report released in August uncovered sexual misconduct allegations against more than 300 priests in six Pennsylvania dioceses.

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CHICAGO (IL)
AndersonAdvocates.com

January 3, 2019

Illinois Bishops continue to protect and conceal over 500 alleged sexual abusers; attorneys admit their efforts to force disclosure have fallen short

WHAT: At a news conference on Thursday in Chicago, sexual abuse survivors and their attorneys and advocates will:

• Launch a statewide initiative, “Fight for 500,” which seeks to uncover the identities and information about the more than 500 alleged predator priests the Illinois Attorney General recently reported are being hidden by Illinois Bishops;
• Plaintiffs and survivors who have joined the fight will discuss the alarming preliminary findings of the Illinois Attorney General’s investigation into clergy sexual abuse and how these findings expand the lawsuit filed in October 2018 against all Illinois Bishops;
• Demand all the Illinois Catholic Bishops come clean by disclosing all the identities of all priests accused of sexually abusing minors and those who have been credibly accused;
• Attorney Jeff Anderson will candidly and soberly admit that efforts to force the Illinois Dioceses to disclose offenders have fallen short despite nearly 20 years of representing dozens of survivors in the State;
• Demand the release of the files pertinent to the histories of each priest so the public, police and parishioners know who was complicit in the ongoing concealment of this hazard;
• Demand full disclosure of all the credibly accused offenders in the Dioceses of Springfield, Rockford and Belleville where no disclosures were made until forced by the Attorney General;
• Invite all Illinois Dioceses to release a complete disclosure of all religious order and deceased priests who have offended in their dioceses.

WHEN: Thursday, January 3, 2019 at 11:00 AM CT

WHERE: Marriott Residence Inn Chicago – Downtown/Loop
3rd Floor- Daley 1 & 2
11 South LaSalle Street
Chicago, IL 60603

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[Brazilian cardinal says Vatican has covered up the abuses of Marcial Maciel for more than 60 years]

SANTIAGO (CHILE)
Emol

January 2, 2018

By Valentina Salvo U.

El prefecto de la Congregación para los Institutos de Vida Consagrada de la sede pontificia, João Braz de Aviz, afirmó que existían documentos sobre las conductas ilícitas del fundador de los Legionarios de Cristo desde 1943

El prefecto de la Congregación para los Institutos de la Vida Consagrada y las Sociedades de Vida Apostólica de la Iglesia Católica, el cardenal brasileño João Braz de Aviz, aseguró que el Vaticano ocultó por 63 años los abusos sexuales a menores cometidos por el fundador de los Legionarios de Cristo, el sacerdote mexicano Marcial Maciel. Según afirmó en entrevista con la revista católica Vida Nueva, el miembro del organismo de la Curia Romana aseveró que la sede pontificia tenía antecedentes de los delitos de pederastia de Maciel desde 1943.

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[Chilean reactions to Vatican calling Maciel’s abuse “a terrible mistake”]

CHILE
BioBioChile

January 2, 2019

By Gonzalo Cifuentes and Nicole Martínez

El Vaticano reconoció este miércoles poseer documentos que daban cuenta de la pederastía del fundador de los Legionarios de Cristo, Marcial Maciel, desde 1943.Joao Braz de Aviz, prefecto de la Congregación para los Institutos de Vida Consagrada del Vaticano, fue quien calificó como un “tremendo error” esta situación.

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[VIDEO: Juan Carlos Cruz says the Pope “is very lonely” in the fight against abuses]

CHILE
Emol TV

January 3, 2019

Francisco “está muy solo” en su lucha para erradicar los abusos sexuales en la Iglesia, dice una de las víctimas chilenas que ayudó a develar las prácticas de abusos en el clero local. Nota de AFP.

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[Miguelianos leader challenges the Church after his sentence: “I want to speak face to face with the bishops”]

A CORUÑA (SPAIN)
El País

January 2, 2019

By Sonia Vizoso

Rosendo recurrirá ante el Supremo la condena a nueve años de cárcel por abusar sexualmente de una chica desde que tenía nueve años

Tras ser condenado por abusos sexuales y absuelto de asociación ilícita y otros 20 delitos, el fundador de la orden de los miguelianos, Miguel Rosendo, ha comparecido públicamente este miércoles en A Coruña para cargar contra la jerarquía de la Iglesia católica que amparó durante años las actividades de su organización pero que le dio la espalda en cuanto fue detenido en 2014. “Quiero hablar cara a cara con los obispos y que me digan lo que no fueron capaces de decirme en su momento; que me expliquen la trampa, la red que me han echado encima”, ha afirmado Rosendo, arropado por tres sacerdotes y la abogada Beatriz Seijo, quienes han acusado a “una serie de hombres” de la Iglesia y del Opus Dei de urdir un “montaje” para acabar con la orden.

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ROME (ITALY)
National Catholic Register

January 2, 2019

By Edward Pentin

Cardinal João Bráz de Aviz, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, has disclosed that the Vatican had documents on the abusive conduct of the disgraced founder of the Legionaries of Christ, Father Marcial Maciel, from as long ago as 1943.

The Brazilian cardinal told the Spanish Catholic online magazine Vida Nueva that “those who covered it up were a mafia, they were not the Church.”

Cardinal Bráz de Aviz did not give any more details about the documents in the interview, given while he was in Madrid for a conference late last year, but said his congregation currently has “nothing to do” with such a coverup and now follows “a very good process.”

According to a 2006 article in the Spanish newspaper El Pais, Rome investigated Father Maciel for suspected pedophilia between 1956 and 1959 on the instructions of Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani — 13 years after the first reports referred to by Cardinal Braz de Aviz.

During those four years, Maciel was suspended as superior general of the Legion and expelled from Rome, but the investigation yielded no results and he soon returned to his old ways but with more power.

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

January 3, 2019

By John L. Allen Jr.

On the clerical sexual abuse scandals that have rocked Catholicism anew in recent months, the pope’s top aide has said the Church must do “everything possible, and even the impossible, to eliminate this phenomenon.”

At the same time, Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, also defended the Church’s response to date.

“We have to recognize that the Church has made enormous progress,” Parolin said in an interview with the Italian broadcast network TV2000. “It’s developed a progressive awareness of the problem, of the devastation these acts have produced in victims, and it’s tried to react.”

“Certainly, we’re human and we don’t always reach perfect results,” Parolin said, “but I believe there’s been commitment to determination.”

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Daily News

January 2, 2019

By Kate Feldman

While the Catholic Church faces widespread allegations of sexual abuse within its ranks, victims say nuns around the country are guilty as well.

Several women told CBS News about allegations of misconduct by nuns, including molestation and forced kissing, in an epidemic that some have dubbed “pedophile nuns.”

Trish Cahill claims that a sister at her New Jersey convent would feed her drugs and alcohol, “grooming” her for sex at just 15 years old after confessing that her uncle sexually abused her.

“I would have done anything for her. I would have died for her,” Cahill told CBS News. “She gave me everything that was lacking that I didn’t even know I was lacking. I was so broken. She filled in all those pieces.”

In 1994, Cahill received a $70,000 settlement to “shut her up,” she said. But she’s not alone, she said, calling it “the secret not yet told.”

A former nun, Mary Dispenza, said at least 18 people have told her about sexual abuse at the hands of other nuns.

“A lot has to do with the culture of nuns which are, they are very, very private by nature,” she told CBS News.

Almost all of the focus has been on Catholic bishops as the Church reckons with sexual abuse scandals dating back decades.

In August, a report from a Pennsylvania grand jury found that hundreds of priests had abused at least 1,000 children over a 70-year span.

“Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades,” the report read.

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NEW DELHI (INDIA)
The Indian Express

January 3, 2019

The Supreme Court Thursday refused an urgent hearing on a plea seeking contempt proceedings against Sabarimala’s chief priest, a day after he closed the temple to perform “purification” rituals after two women entered the sanctum santorum.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice S K Kaul said the matter will be heard on January 22 when the bench will take up review pleas challenging its earlier order allowing the entry of women between the age group 10-50.

Advocate P V Dinesh, appearing for Indian Young Lawyers Association, told the bench that the temple authorities closed the shrine Wednesday for purification purpose after two women had entered the temple which is in violation of apex court verdict.

Two women, in their early 40s, entered the Sabarimala temple under police protection on Wednesday for the first time since the Supreme Court lifted the ban. Bindu and Kanakadurga entered the shrine around 3.45 am through a passage meant for staff and were escorted by policemen dressed in black, which is the customary colour of clothing for devotees. After the news of their visit became public, the temple was closed for an hour for “purification” rituals.

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GUAM
Pacific News First

January 3, 2019

By Jolene Toves

The Concerned Catholics of Guam are penning a letter to the Vatican hoping that what they have to say about Archbishop Anthony Apron will carry weight in standing by Apuron’s conviction by the tribunal.

On March 16th of last year, a five-judge panel of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) found Archbishop Anthony Apuron guilty of certain unspecified abuses. To this day the charges that Archbishop Anthony Apuron was convicted on by the Vatican’s tribunal remain undisclosed to the public. The only information provided by the Vatican in regards to Apuron is that he has said he will appeal the conviction.

In line with canon law the Concerned Catholics of Guam are making a statement to the Vatican in hopes of cleaning up the mess within the local Catholic Church. CCOG President David Sablan was on air with K57’s Patti Arroyo to share their hope that the Pope will do whats right.

“You know this is an outreach to the Vatican and the Pope to stay with the penalties that were imposed by the tribunal who found Apuron guilty of the issues that came before them which include the mismanagement of the Archdiocese, the cover ups of the abuse by priests, also him personally allegedly accused of sexual abuse when he was a priest in Agat, and as the Archbishop with one or two of the victims as well at his Chancery house,” stated Sablan

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WELLINGTON (NEW ZEALAND)
Radio New Zealand

January 2019

In Papua New Guinea, Fr Giorgio Licini said any cases of priests abusing children would be dealt with severely.

Fr Giorgio said an office had been established to deal with the matter.

Meanwhile, the head of the church in Fiji, Archbishop Peter Loy Chong, said his church had policy and protocols in place for suspected sexual offending amoung priests.

Peter Loy Chong.Peter Loy Chong. Photo: Pacific Theological College
“That has been the stand of the church and each conference of bishops has been instructed that we need to put in a policy for sexual abuse. We have a sexual abuse policy,” the archbishop said.

“To see to it that when somebody is a sexual offender, that procedures are carried out so that this person is interrogated and taken to task.”

Archbishop Peter Loy Chong and Fr Giorgio Licini’s comments come in the wake of global outrage over hundreds of cases of children abused by priests.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Commonweal

January 2, 2019

By Paul Moses

The abrupt resignation of Greg Burke as director of the Holy See Press Office is one more disturbing sign that the Vatican is not up to the task of responding to the Catholic Church’s crisis over clergy sexual abuse and its cover-up.

Burke, a St. Louis native and an alumnus of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, brought an American way of doing business to a press office that not so long ago closed for the day at 1 o’clock p.m. He helped build what became an impressive presence for the church on social media, adapt the media operation to a twenty-four-hour news cycle, and create a positive image for a new pope. But the veteran newsman could not push the Vatican bureaucracy into responding quickly and forthrightly to developments in the clergy sexual-abuse scandal, and this clearly frustrated him through much of his tenure as the press office’s director.

In a New Year’s Eve tweet announcing that he and his deputy, the Spanish journalist Paloma Garcia Ovejero, were resigning effective January 1, Burke exited with an expression of affection for Pope Francis but not much else to say other than that the job had been “fascinating.” In a subsequent tweet, he apparently looked to dispel the notion that he was leaving because of personnel changes above his level in the Vatican communication dicastery, writing, “Just so you know, we had been praying about this decision for months, and we’re very much at peace with it. Grazie!”

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MANASSAS (VA)
FOX 5 DC

January 2, 2019

By Lindsay Watts

It’s a potentially dangerous loophole in Virginia law: church leaders who suspect child abuse are not mandated to report it.

After a child sex abuse scandal at a Manassas church, former members realized they needed to fight for change, and now, that’s paying off. Lawmakers in the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates have proposed laws that would put clergy on the list of mandated reporters.

Hannah Hudson, Liz Thomasson and Kristin Frazier attended The Life Church where a former youth pastor was convicted of sexually abusing a 16-year-old church member. Baird was then re-arrested, accused of abusing a different teen around the same time period, in 2014. The second trial is set for February.

Hudson was subpoenaed to testify in the first case.

“Because of inappropriate texts that Jordan had sent me a few years back,” Hudson said.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Illinois News Network

January 2, 2019

By Greg Bishop

As a weeklong summit of U.S. Catholic bishops begins in the Chicago suburbs, groups of clergy sex abuse survivors are demanding more independent action, and for the removal of Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops began its weeklong meeting in the Chicago suburb of Mundelein Wednesday. Bishops from all around the country are expected to pray and reflect on the child sex abuse scandal.

The Catholic News Service reported the meeting is “a spiritual retreat to pray and reflect on the important matters facing the Catholic Church” and was planned “in response to Pope Francis’ request to a delegation of U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops leaders during a meeting at the Vatican” last fall.

Zach Hiner, executive director of Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said the church needs to do more than pray.

“I’m sure that’s important for them. It is irrelevant to this crisis,” Hiner said. “Prayer is not really going to help us right now. What we need to see is concrete action.”

Hiner said there needs to be accountability, and not just for priests accused of abuse “but also for those prelates and other officials that have enabled the abuse by moving abusers around and concealing allegations from the public and law enforcement.”

In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, the Chicago Archdiocese said it “recognizes and mourns the grave damage done to many people harmed by clergy sexual abuse. We will always need to own and express deep regret for the suffering caused both by the abuse and the past failures to respond.”

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MONTEREY (CA)
KSBW TV

January 2, 2019

The Catholic Diocese of Monterey has released a list of 30 clergymen who have been “credibly accused” of abusing children going back to the 1950s.

The list documents cases dating back as far 1954 and as recently as 2009. Eighteen priests were arrested and 19 of them are now dead. None of those still living are currently active clergymen except maybe for 1 whose status was listed as “unknown”.

Most of the allegations occurred in the 1970s. The fewest in the 2000s.

In a written introduction to the report, the Diocese states that it “engaged in a review of the files of all Clergy with known allegations of sexual misconduct as well as reviewed the files of all currently active Clergy in the Diocese of Monterey to determine if there are any allegations of sexual misconduct with a child against any Clergyman currently in ministry.”

The Diocese also states that it is making the report public to promote transparency and trust.

In addition, an outside law firm was hired to review the files and to make an independent decision as to whether a clergyman’s name should be included on the list of those credibly accused.

“Clergyman” includes priests, deacons, religion men and candidates for ordination.

In order to be identified on the list as “credibly accused” of child sexual abuse, the clergymen had to meet four criteria:

1. The allegation involves clergy and

2. Involves sexual misconduct with a minor (i.e. under 18) and

3. The accusation appears credible (i.e. believable) or

4. The clergyman was dead at the time the allegation was received by the Diocese, which prevented a complete investigation, but the allegation appears plausible (i.e. alleged to have occurred at a time and in a place where the clergyman was assigned).

The Diocese divided the list of the “credibly accused” into three categories.

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NEW YORK (NY)
CBS News

January 2, 2019

By Chelsea Tatham

While Catholic bishops from around the country gather at a seminary near Chicago on Wednesday for a retreat to address the sexual abuse crisis, CBS News reported several cases of nuns accused of sexual misconduct.

CBS’ Nikki Battiste spoke with several women who recently reported abuse by nuns ranging from forceful kissing to molestation.

One woman said she was 15 years old when she confided in Sister Eileen Shaw at a New Jersey convent. The woman said she confided in Shaw about the sexual abuse she claims she suffered at the hands of her late uncle, who was a priest.

The woman said Shaw “groomed” her, plying her with drugs and alcohol and teaching her how to have sex with a woman.

“I would have done anything for her. I would have died for her,” the woman told CBS. “She gave me everything that was lacking that I didn’t even know I was lacking. I was so broken. She filled in all those pieces.”

The woman told CBS that while she was with her friends during the day, she was “with this pedophile nun on the evenings and on the weekends, and in the summer.”

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Tribune Review

January 2, 2019

The Catholic Church has a lot of nerve airing a radio commercial urging Catholics to come back to their religion by coming to confession. Are you kidding? Once again, ignore the perverted priests and focus on what laypeople have done wrong.

It sickens me that the Catholic Church continues to act as though it is above the law. Horrible child abuse was covered up for decades, and guess what? It turns out that those who commit atrocities against children cannot hide behind the church anymore.

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[Six more people accuse Father Mauricio Víquez Lizano of sexually abusing them as minors]

COSTA RICA
La Teja

November 30, 2018

By Shirley Sandí

Testimonios serán enviados al Vaticano el próximo martes

La Curia Metropolitana confirmó que ha recibido seis denuncias más por supuestos abusos contra menores de edad cometidos por el sacerdote Mauricio Víquez Lizano. Esto quiere decir que en total ha recibido nueve acusaciones en contra del cura desde el 15 de mayo del 2018 a la fecha, por hechos que ocurrieron hace 20 años. Los denunciantes, todos hombres, ya son mayores de edad.

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[For 63 years, Vatican hid sexual abuses by Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ]

MADRID (SPAIN)
El País

January 2, 2019

By Juan G. Bedoya

El prefecto de la Congregación para los Institutos de Vida Consagrada reconoce que la sede pontificia tenía desde 1943 documentos sobre las conductas de Marcial Maciel

El prefecto de la Congregación para los Institutos de Vida Consagrada, el cardenal João Braz de Aviz, reconoce ahora que el Vaticano tenía desde 1943 documentos sobre la pederastia del fundador de los Legionarios de Cristo, Marcial Maciel. El religioso fue investigado entre 1956 y 1959. “Quien lo tapó era una mafia, ellos no eran Iglesia”, ha dicho al ser entrevistado por la revista católica Vida Nueva. João Braz estuvo en Madrid hace un mes para clausurar la asamblea general de la Confederación Española de Religiosos (Confer). “Tengo la impresión de que las denuncias de abusos crecerán, porque solo estamos en el inicio. Llevamos 70 años encubriendo, y esto ha sido un tremendo error”, sostiene.

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[Vatican expels priest accused of abusing minors from diocese of Astorga]

MADRID (SPAIN)
El País

January 1, 2019

José Manuel Ramos fue suspendido por el Vaticano por abusos sexuales en un colegio de Puebla de Sanabria y en el seminario de La Bañeza

El obispado de Astorga emitió este martes una nota en la que anuncia que hoy mismo, el sacerdote José Manuel Ramos Gordón, comenzará a cumplir la pena impuesta por abusos a menores en un monasterio fuera de la diócesis de Astorga. “El sacerdote interpuso un recurso de reposición ante el obispo contra el decreto penal en el mes de septiembre obteniendo una respuesta negativa. Después de haber manifestado su intención de no ejercer el derecho al recurso de alzada ante la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe y una vez transcurrido el tiempo previsto por la ley, el caso ha pasado a ser cosa juzgada”, explican.

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[Experts discuss challenges Bishop Ramos faces in meeting with the Pope and possible changes to Chilean Church]

SANTIAGO (CHILE)
Emol

December 31, 2018

By Pía Larrondo

Tres expertos hablan de las implicancias que podría tener la cita que se realizará el 21 de febrero, en la que se abordará el tema de la protección a menores.

Gran repercusión produjo este sábado el anuncio de que el obispo Fernando Ramos, secretario general de la Conferencia Episcopal chilena, reemplazará al obispo castrense y presidente de la instancia, Santiago Silva, en la reunión de los titulares de los episcopados de la Iglesia Católica del mundo con el Papa Francisco en Roma.

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[A questioned spokesperson: Profile of the bishop who will represent Chile’s Episcopal Conference before the Pope]

SANTIAGO (CHILE)
Emol

January 1, 2019

By Consuelo Ferrer

Este fin de semana se conoció que será Fernando Ramos quien viaje al encuentro con el Pontífice en febrero, decisión que fue criticada por las víctimas de Karadima y los laicos de Osorno. “No es la persona idónea para ir”, señalaron.

“Con respecto a la invitación que el Santo Padre ha hecho para los presidentes de las conferencias episcopales del mundo para el encuentro de febrero, el presidente de la Conferencia Episcopal en Chile me pidió que asistiera yo”, aseguró este domingo el administrador apostólico de Rancagua, obispo Fernando Ramos.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Religion News Service

January 2, 2019

By Fr. Thomas Reese

Shortly before Christmas, Pope Francis declared in response to the sexual abuse crisis that “the church will spare no effort to do all that is necessary to bring to justice whosoever has committed such crimes.” He promised that “the church will never seek to hush up or not take seriously any case.”

For decades, people have been hoping for such a statement from a pontiff, which Francis made in a public address to the Roman Curia, the offices in the Vatican that help him govern the church.

He acknowledged that it was “undeniable that some in the past, out of irresponsibility, disbelief, lack of training, inexperience…or spiritual and human myopia, treated many cases without the seriousness and promptness that was due.”

“That must never happen again,” he said.

Francis even gave “heartfelt thanks to those media professionals who were honest and objective and sought to unmask these predators and to make their victims’ voices heard.” He asked people not to be silent, but to “bring it objectively to light, since the greater scandal in this matter is that of cloaking the truth.”

To those who have abused minors, he said, “convert and hand yourself over to human justice, and prepare for divine justice.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

January 2, 2019

As Americans bishops gather in Illinois, survivors demand Pope remove two US Cardinals from prominent roles in papal summit

Findings in explosive Illinois AG report “disqualifies” Chicago Cardinal Cupich from major appointment

Cardinal DiNardo of Texas also “unfit to lead” US delegation in Rome, survivors say

Summit will have “no credibility” if led by prelates who cover-up child sex crimes

Francis must include global survivor groups in summit

WHAT

At a sidewalk news conference, the leading global and US organizations representing clergy abuse survivors will

Release a joint letter sent today by the two organizations to Pope Francis urging him to remove Cardinal Blase Cupich from his prominent role in the upcoming February worldwide Papal Summit on Abuse
Insist that Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, President of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops step down as leader of the US delegation to Rome
Demand the release before the end of the bishops retreat this week of all sexual abuse allegations held in secret by every US bishop, including those of over 500 predator clergy in Illinois discovered by the Illinois AG
Urge Francis to include the leadership of global survivor groups in the summit
WHEN

Wednesday, January 2, 2019 at 1 pm

WHERE

Outside the headquarters of the Archdiocese of Chicago, located at 835 N. Rush St

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

January 1, 2019

A newly published letter from officials at the Vatican to the head of American bishops has called into question the reasons for the scuttling of proposed church accountability reform from last November. Ultimately, however, the letter is both irrelevant to the church’s pattern of inaction on clergy abuse and to the urgent need for reform to come and come quickly.

We take no position on the finger-pointing between Cardinals Marc Ouellet and Daniel DiNardo, other than to note that it is extremely disappointing that once again Pope Francis seems more willing to discipline a bishop for insubordination than for covering up sex crimes. But in this case, whether it was the Vatican or the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USSCB) who is most to blame in this specific instance of failing to act on clergy abuse and bishop accountability means little. The fact is, at the end of the day, there was still a failure to act as the reforms were never discussed and promises went unfulfilled.

The proposed updates to policies and the creation of codes of conduct were, at best, half-measures. But their passage would have been at least a sign that a key message was getting through: that there must be accountability not just for the abusers, but equally so for those that enabled and concealed them. In order to prevent future crimes, we must be able to have faith that wrongdoers will be brought to law enforcement, not shuffled and concealed, and only when prelates are brought to justice for their role in that concealment will that faith be restored.

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AYODHYA (INDIA)
Press Trust of India

January 1, 2019

The chief priest of a temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly holding a woman devotee hostage and raping her several times, police said.
The 30-year-old woman had come to the temple from Varanasi on December 24 to take lessons on spirituality from Krishna Kantacharya, the temple’s priest, Ayodhya police circle officer A K Sav told reporters.

Kantacharya allegedly offered the woman to stay at the temple premises where he held her hostage and raped her several times, the officer said.

He said the woman somehow managed to call the police on Tuesday following which she was rescued.

The woman was sent for a medical examination and the priest arrested, police said.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Hill

January 1, 2019

By Brett Samuels

The Vatican requested U.S. bishops delay a vote on measures to address the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandals because church leaders in the U.S. failed to properly consult with the Holy See before voting, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.

The news outlet obtained a letter from Cardinal Marc Ouellet at the Vatican that said the measures the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops planned to vote on were legally problematic and that the group had only given the Vatican a few days to review them.

The letter contradicts the explanation at the time by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, who told other church leaders in November that Pope Francis did not want the bishops to vote on the proposals until after a meeting of church leaders in February.

DiNardo said at the time he was “disappointed” by the pope’s request.

The AP reported Tuesday that the Vatican letter, which undermines DiNardo’s explanation, could spur questions at a spiritual retreat of U.S. bishops that begins Wednesday.

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JAIPUR (INDIA)
Mirror Now

January 2, 2019

In the wake of the MeToo movement making inroads in India in the past couple of months, an appalling matter has come to light from Jaipur in Rajasthan where a 44-year-old woman has accused the vice principal of a missionary-run college of sexually exploiting her. In her complaint, the woman has accused one priest named Joshy Kuruvilla of harassing and pressurising her to court sexual favours.

What is even more shocking is that an internal committee formed by college authorities to investigate the matter under the ambit of the Vishakha Guidelines, in its report submitted on December 22 of last year, found the complainant ‘indisciplined’ and recommended action against her. The committee had launched a probe following a complaint by the woman on July 26 of 2018.

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