ABUSE TRACKER

A digest of links to media coverage of clergy abuse. For recent coverage listed in this blog, read the full article in the newspaper or other media source by clicking “Read original article.” For earlier coverage, click the title to read the original article.

March 21, 2020

Where’s McCarrick? Where’s the Report?

UNITED STATES
Church Militant (blog)

March 20, 2020

by Kristine Christlieb

Continual coverage of the COVID-19 scare has served to drive other pressing stories off the front pages.

For Catholics, one important story is suffering from inattention — the long-promised report on the crimes of disgraced former cardinal and abuser Theodore McCarrick is yet to be delivered. It was 612 days ago (July 16, 2018) when a story in the New York Times on the former cardinal’s double life as an abuser of young men and seminarians broke.

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.

March 20, 2020

Exclusive video: Ex-Abilene church worker pleads guilty to child sex crime, gets probation

ABILENE (KS)
KTXS-TV

March 20, 2020

By Jamie Burch

An ex-Abilene church worker pleaded guilty to a child sex crime and got probation.

KTXS was the only TV station in court Friday morning when Jeff Berry pleaded guilty to indecency with a child by contact.

Berry was accused of touching the genitals of an underage boy in 1996 when Berry worked for Pioneer Drive Baptist Church in Abilene.

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.

Chillán: Vaticano quitó estado clerical a dos curas investigados por abuso de menores

[Chillán: Vatican removed clerical status of two priests investigated for child abuse]

ÑUBLE (CHILE)
Cooperativa.cl

March 16, 2020

Se trata de los presbíteros Jaime San Martin y Renato Toro.

El primero puede apelar, mientras el segundo pidió él mismo la dispensa de sus obligaciones sacerdotales.

[GOOGLE TRANSLATION: They are priests Jaime San Martin and Renato Toro.

The first can appeal, while the second asked for the dispensation of his priestly obligations himself.]

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.

Fight Covid-19 by letting prisoners go? Let’s be careful!

AdamHorowitzLaw.com (law firm blog)

March 19, 2020

A 75-year-old who relies on a walker probably can’t be a car-jacker.

An 80-year-old who uses a wheelchair probably isn’t going to hold up a 7-11.

But let’s remember that either of them could hurt a child.

Some say that because of Covid-19, we should let many inmates leave prison early. That might be a good idea in some cases.

Still, let’s keep the sex offenders locked up. They do incredible damage. They’re among the most likely to commit more crimes. And they don’t need to be fast or strong to inflict harm.

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.

Diocese of Des Moines investigating priest accused of sexual misconduct

DES MOINES (IA)
Des Moines Register

March 18, 2020

By Philip Joens

A Catholic priest has been placed on administrative leave by the Diocese of Des Moines after allegations of sexual misconduct in the 1990s surfaced.

The Rev. Robert “Bud” Grant was placed on leave March 4, the diocese said Wednesday morning. A complaint about sexual misconduct was made to Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller’s office last fall, the diocese said. The complaint involves an incident that allegedly occurred in the early 1990s, according to the diocese.

Law enforcement agencies in Scott, Polk and Pottawattamie counties also were notified, the diocese said. Diocesan officials were first made aware of the complaint Feb. 27. An investigation was then opened by Diocese of Des Moines Bishop William Joensen. While on leave, Grant is restricted from all public priestly ministry.

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.

Davenport priest investigated for sexual misconduct

DAVENPORT (IA)
Southernminn.com

March 18, 2020

By Alma Gaul

The Rev. Robert “Bud” Grant, a St. Ambrose University professor known for his activism on environmental issues, is being investigated for sexual misconduct alleged to have occurred in the early 1990s when he was serving at St. Albert’s High School in Council Bluffs, part of the Des Moines Diocese.

Grant’s faculties to minister as a priest have been suspended by the bishops of the Des Moines and Davenport dioceses, according to news releases from both dioceses.

He also has been suspended from teaching at St. Ambrose, Davenport, and from his assignment as sacramental minister to St. Andrew Church, Blue Grass, until the report is investigated and the process is concluded according to church law, according to a news release from the Davenport diocese.

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.

Update: Iowa priest suspended amid inquiry into sex misconduct claim

IOWA CITY (IA)
The Associated Press

March 18, 2020

By Ryan J. Foley

A well-known professor and priest at a Roman Catholic college in Iowa has been suspended while the church investigates a sexual misconduct allegation dating to the 1990s, the school said March 18.

St. Ambrose University in Davenport said school officials recently learned of the complaint against theology professor Rev. Robert L. “Bud” Grant and are taking it seriously.

The allegation dates to the early 1990s, when Grant was a teacher and coach at St. Albert High School in Council Bluffs. A prosecutor said the complaint involved one person who was a minor at the time and that it is too old to be criminally investigated under Iowa law.

St. Ambrose said Grant’s suspension would last pending the outcome of an investigation by the Diocese of Des Moines, which ordained Grant as a priest in 1984.

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

Former French priest convicted of sexual abuse of minors

LYON (FRANCE)
CNA

March 18, 2020

Bernard Preynat, a former priest of the Archdiocese of Lyon, was convicted and sentenced by a civil court Monday for the sexual abuse of minors.

He abused dozens of minors between 1971 and 1991, and he had been found guilty by an ecclesiastical tribunal last year.

He was charged with sexual assault of 10 minors from 1986 to 1991.

He was found guilty, and sentenced March 16 to five years in prison. He could have been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, and prosecutors sought eight years.

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

Retrial of US Catholic Official Delayed Over Virus Concerns

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Associated Press

March 16, 2020

The retrial of the only church official who has ever gone to prison in the Roman Catholic Church sex abuse scandal was delayed Monday because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The retrial of Monsignor William Lynn, the longtime secretary for clergy in the Philadelphia archdiocese, had been to start Monday in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court but was put on hold until January amid court shutdowns meant to slow the spread of the pandemic.

After an appeals court found his sweeping 2012 conspiracy trial flawed and his conviction was twice overturned, Lynn, 69, now faces only a single child endangerment count. Prosecutors contend he endangered children by transferring a known predator priest to their parish without warning in 1993.

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.

Convicted paedophile Vincent Ryan confessed to a priest — then he continued abusing children

AUSTRALIA
ABC

March 16, 2020

By Sarah Ferguson

Vincent Ryan is a Catholic priest and a paedophile, convicted of sexually abusing more than 30 children. In Australia’s first television interview with a convicted clerical sex abuser, Ryan said there was no reason why he should not remain a priest.

“It’s a duty. I’ve committed myself to it,” he said. “It’d have to be a very serious reason, unless I’m stopped by authority, for me to make that decision and at this moment I don’t see it.”

In the ABC’s Revelation series, filmed on the eve of Ryan’s 2019 criminal trial, the paedophile priest is seen performing mass in his home, wearing holy vestments and blessing the communion wine and bread.

Following his fourth conviction in March 2019 on charges of sexually abusing two boys in the Newcastle region in the 1970s and 1980s, Ryan, 81, is currently serving a prison sentence in NSW of three years and three months.

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.

Diocese of Buffalo cutting jobs at its Catholic Center

BUFFALO (NY)
WGRZ

March 19, 2020

Financial impact of the COVID-19 crisis and the temporary discontinuation of masses and other liturgical celebrations given as the reason.

Financial struggles brought on by the priest sex abuse crisis forced the Diocese of Buffalo to file for bankruptcy last month. Now the coronavirus pandemic is adding to those financial challenges.

The global pandemic, which has required social distancing, means masses and other liturgical celebrations have been temporarily discontinued.

The Diocese announced Thursday that 24 employees at its Catholic Center on Main St. downtown are being impacted. Three full-time positions are being made part-time and another 21 are being eliminated.

“While we deeply regret the very personal impact that this process of realignment will have on dedicated employees of the Catholic Center, we must assess how best to deploy the resources of the Diocese in ways that reflect responsible stewardship and which offer the greatest benefit for our parishes,” said Fr. Peter Karalus, Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia.

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.

Catholic Priest Who Abused 30+ Kids Says He Should Retain Priesthood

AUSTRALIA
FriendlyAtheist.Patheos.com (blog)

March 19, 2020

By David Gee

A Catholic priest in Australia who was convicted of sexually abusing more than 30 children says that’s not a good enough reason to give up his title as a priest.

Vincent Gerard Ryan (above), who served a 14-year prison sentence for abusing dozens of boys under the age of 13 — only to be hit with another prison term for abusing altar boys — was interviewed by the nation’s ABC network.

“It’s a duty. I’ve committed myself to it,” he said. “It’d have to be a very serious reason, unless I’m stopped by authority, for me to make that decision and at this moment I don’t see it.”

In the ABC’s Revelation series, filmed on the eve of Ryan’s 2019 criminal trial, the paedophile priest is seen performing mass in his home, wearing holy vestments and blessing the communion wine and bread.

Following his fourth conviction in March 2019 on charges of sexually abusing two boys in the Newcastle region in the 1970s and 1980s, Ryan, 81, is currently serving a prison sentence in NSW of three years and three months.

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.

Opinion: Your thoughts on revelations of abuse by Jean Vanier

National Catholic Reporter

March 20, 2020

It’s a crazy world out there. Just a month ago, the Catholic world was reeling with the news that Jean Vanier, the beloved founder of L’Arche International had sexually abused six adult women. NCR columnist Jamie Manson reminded us that the patriarchal system of the church gave Vanier power and control. And columnist Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese wrote about what happens when saints fall. Letters to the editor are edited for length and clarity. Join the conversation by following the rules listed below.

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.

Opinion: Indian women wait for when Cardinal Gracias ‘walks the talk’

INDIA
National Catholic Reporter

March 20, 2020

By Astrid Lobo Gajiwala

Cardinal Oswald Gracias’ recent NCR interview has not gone down well with Indian Catholic women.

While it is refreshing to hear the archbishop of Bombay, and president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, or CBCI, admit, without evasion, that there has been a bias against giving women more leadership roles in the church, and that it is time the male hierarchy “shed this prejudice,” it is also disconcerting to learn that he is a recent convert to the cause of women.

For Indian women who have been advocating for women’s rights in the church since the 1980s, the cardinal’s comment seems like a denial of all their efforts, and raises serious doubts about their credibility.

How is it possible for someone who is a member of a bishops’ conference that instituted a women’s commission in 1992, and is the only conference in the universal church to issue a gender policy, way back in 2010, to claim to become convinced only in 2019, about the need for women’s leadership?

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.

Theologian says clerical sexual abuse ‘always about abuse of power’

BELGIUM
Crux

March 20, 2020

By Joke Heikens

Karlijn Demasure taught religion at a secondary school for girls in Belgium when she first came across child abuse. It turned out a girl was sexually abused at home and no one at the school knew exactly what to do.

“The psychiatrist associated with the school was also unable to help us,” said Demasure. “Should we address the father that we knew about it and that it shouldn’t be happening? Should we send the girl to therapy? Nobody knew. This episode made me decide to go back to university for further study, and to specialize as a theologian in this field. We must help these children.”

A short time after the episode at the girls school, the first reports started to pour in from the United States about child abuse in the Church, and in 2010 the bomb went off in Belgium. In her homeland, Demasure was a theologian on the committee which investigated abuse within the Belgian Church. In 2014, she was appointed a professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where she also headed the Center for Child Protection.

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.

March 19, 2020

Editorial: A D.C. Council member discloses he was the victim of sexual abuse and sets a powerful example

WASHINGTON D.C.
Washington Post

March 19, 2020

By Editorial Board

THE INDICTMENT last week of a former Catholic priest from Northern Virginia on a charge of sexually abusing a minor more than 30 years ago might have attracted little notice. The news is dominated by the novel coronavirus, and, sad to say, reports of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy are not all that uncommon. But the disclosure by D.C. Council member David Grosso (I-At Large) that he was the victim put a face to this terrible crime that hopefully will encourage other survivors to step forward and seek justice.

“The minor he assaulted was me,” Mr. Grosso wrote in an emotional email released on Monday, the same day the arrest of Scott Asalone, 63, the former rector of St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Loudoun County, was announced by Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring. An indictment returned by a Northern Virginia multi-jurisdictional grand jury charged Mr. Asalone with one felony count of carnal knowledge of a minor. The indictment doesn’t name Mr. Grosso — the press release from Mr. Herring’s office refers only to a “former parishioner in 1985” — and Mr. Grosso had been assured he could remain anonymous.

Mr. Grosso, 49, said it was difficult to revisit this painful part of his life. Contacted by Virginia State Police, who had received a tip from a hotline set up in 2018 when Mr. Herring launched a probe into clergy abuse, he debated what to do. The investigation “ripped open old wounds, stirred dark memories and caused fresh trauma,” and was a factor in his decision not to seek reelection to a third term on the council. But he cooperated with investigators “to prevent Mr. Asalone from ever hurting another child,” and he decided to make the public statement “because I understand the tremendous burden that victims of sexual assault and abuse carry throughout their lives [and] we must find the courage to come forward.”

By telling his story, Mr. Grosso sets a powerful example, though he stressed it is important for victims to know their names can remain confidential. Credit also to Mr. Herring, who decided no crime of this heinousness is too old to investigate; he launched a probe into possible criminal sexual abuse and coverups in Virginia Catholic dioceses after reading an explosive report by a Pennsylvania grand jury in 2018. Mr. Asalone’s indictment is the first to result from that investigation. The number for the VirginiaClergyHotline.com is 833-454-9064.

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.

Sixth person accuses former Santa Fe mayor, Boys & Girls Club official of abuse

SANTA FE (NM)
Santa Fe New Mexican

March 18, 2020

By Amanda Martinez

A sixth lawsuit has been filed against the Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Fe, accusing former executive director and onetime Santa Fe Mayor Louis Montaño of sexually assaulting a boy in the 1970s and ’80s.

The man is the sixth person to accuse Montaño of sexually grooming, abusing and manipulating individuals since April 2019. The group includes five men and one woman who say Montaño abused them during his tenure at what was then called the Boys Club of Santa Fe.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday by Albuquerque-based law firm Hall & Monagle LLC, which specializes in representing survivors of child sex abuse and has brought cases against Catholic organizations and the Boy Scouts of America.

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.

Justiça de Araras aceita denúncia e padre responderá por atentado violento ao pudor contra 4 vítimas

[ Araras Justice accepts complaint and priest will respond for indecent assault on 4 victims ]

BRAZIL
March 12, 2020

Ministério Público entrou com o processo em dezembro de 2019. Pároco, que está suspenso de suas funções, irá responder em liberdade; defesa informou que irá constetar a denúncia.

[Google Translation: The Public Prosecutor’s Office filed the lawsuit in December 2019. Pároco, who is suspended from his duties, will respond in freedom; defense informed that it will establish the complaint.]

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.

Analysis: What Could Happen Next for Cardinal Pell

CANBERRA (AUSTRALIA)
Catholic News Agency via National Catholic Register

March 17,2020

By Ed Condon

Cardinal George Pell remains in prison, while the seven justices of the Australian High Court consider his petition for special leave to appeal. After two days of arguments from lawyers, the justices reserved their judgment last week as Pell seeks to overturn his conviction on five counts of child sexual abuse.

It is not known how long they will take to deliver a decision, but there are four options open to the court.

The first option is to grant Cardinal Pell special leave to appeal and find in his favor, overturning his conviction and immediately setting him fre

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

Former Priest-Turned-Bookstore Owner From Asbury Park Charged With Having Sex With Teen

NEW JERSEY
Daily Voice

March 18, 2020

By Jon Craig

Authorities in Virginia charged a former priest and current independent bookstore co-owner from Asbury Park with having sex with a minor.

Scott Asalone, 63, was arrested in Asbury Park this past weekend by Virginia State Police and New Jersey law enforcement officers, authorities said.

Asalone — an author, speaker and poet who’s also worked as a consultant for private and non-profit groups — has co-owned a bookstore on Cookman Avenue for more than a decade.

He was being held pending extradition proceedings.

A grand jury in Virginia indicted Asalone three days earlier on what is known there as “carnal knowledge of a minor” between 13 and 15 years old.

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.

DC Council member David Grosso alleges he was sexually abused by former Virginia Catholic priest as a child

AdamHorowitzLaw.com (law firm blog)

March 18, 2020

According to media reports, on Saturday, March 14, 2020, a former Catholic priest from northern Virginia was charged with the sexual abuse of a minor between 13 and 15 years old that occurred in 1985. The following Monday, DC Council member David Grosso said, “The minor he assaulted was me.”

“I am making this statement because I understand the tremendous burden that victims of sexual assault and abuse carry throughout their lives,” Grosso said. “As I did many years ago, we all must find the courage to come forward, tell our stories, and seek justice and accountability from the perpetrator, as well as the churches and other institutions that have hidden or excused their behavior.”

The councilman’s alleged abuser, Scott Asalone, 63, is the former rector of St Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Purcellville, Virginia. At the time of his arrest he was a management consultant and bookstore owner in Asbury Park, New Jersey. He will be extradited to Virginia to stand trial.

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.

Allegations against Robert ‘Bud’ Grant stem from early 1990s in Council Bluffs

IOWA
Quad-City Times via The Gazette

March 18, 2020

By Alma Gaul

The Rev. Robert “Bud” Grant, a St. Ambrose University professor known for his activism on environmental issues, is being investigated for sexual misconduct alleged to have occurred in the early 1990s when he was serving at St. Albert’s High School in Council Bluffs, part of the Des Moines Diocese.

Grant’s faculties to minister as a priest have been suspended by the bishops of the Des Moines and Davenport dioceses, according to news releases from both dioceses.

He also has been suspended from teaching at St. Ambrose in Davenport and from his assignment as sacramental minister to St. Andrew Church in Blue Grass, until the report is investigated and the process is concluded under church law, according to a news release from the Davenport diocese.

Grant served at St. Albert’s from 1988 to 1994 when he came to Davenport to teach at St. Ambrose. At St. Albert’s, he was chairman of the religion department, taught religion, was chairman of ministry and was the soccer coach, according to a former student.

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.

Iowa priest suspended amid inquiry into sex misconduct claim

IOWA CITY (IA)
Associated Press

March 18, 2020

By Ryan J. Foley

A well-known professor and priest at a Roman Catholic college in Iowa has been suspended while the church investigates a sexual misconduct allegation dating to the 1990s, the school said Wednesday.

St. Ambrose University in Davenport said school officials recently learned of the complaint against theology professor Rev. Robert L. “Bud” Grant and are taking it seriously.

The allegation dates to the early 1990s, when Grant was a teacher and coach at St. Albert High School in Council Bluffs. A prosecutor said the complaint involved one person who was a minor at the time and that it is too old to be criminally investigated under Iowa law.

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

Former St. Albert priest accused of sexual misconduct faces diocese investigation

DES MOINES (IA)
Nonpareilonline.com

March 19, 2020

By Tim Johnson

A priest who once served on the faculty at St. Albert Catholic Schools has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct, according to a press release distributed Wednesday morning by the Diocese of Des Moines.

The Rev. Robert “Bud” Grant, a priest of the Diocese of Des Moines, has been on the faculty at St. Ambrose University in Davenport since 1994 but served on the faculty of St. Albert Catholic Schools from 1988-1994.

The complaint alleges that sexual misconduct occurred in the early 1990s, the press release stated. Diocese officials were first made aware of the complaint on Feb. 27. Bishop William Joensen directed the opening of a preliminary investigation, placed Grant on leave and restricted his ministry of March 4.

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.

Boy Scout Sex Abuse Class Action Sidetracked by Bankruptcy

UNITED STATES
PacerMonitor.com (corporation’s blog)

March 19, 2020

By Juliette Fairley

When the Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy, the class action suit over allegations of child sex abuse was automatically stayed in favor of a plan that will create a Victims Compensation Trust.

Just how much money will be set aside is hard to tell, but if Catholic Church litigation is any indication, it could be millions of dollars.

“BSA consistently misrepresented itself as a safe, wholesome, values-based organization where scouts would be prepared for life, when BSA knew, in fact, that its programs were infested with pedophiles, its organization-wide abuse problem dated back to the 1910s, and the rampant abuse in its programs was doing serious harm to thousands of boys,” wrote plaintiffs’ attorney Carl S. Kravitz in the Jan. 6 complaint.

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.

March 18, 2020

Editorial: Bishop who promised transparency should release personnel records

BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

March 18, 2020

A cult of secrecy protected serial sex abusers in the Catholic Church for decades. Many victims of childhood sexual abuse had their pain multiplied when adults refused to believe their stories, because few could accept the idea that members of the clergy could perpetrate such crimes.

Abuse survivors and their advocates work to puncture the church’s cover-up culture. Secrecy and silence are their enemies. For many, justice means not getting paid a settlement, but exposing the past misdeeds of the perpetrators.

Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger’s promise to promote transparency after he took over as apostolic administrator for the Diocese of Buffalo is so far ringing hollow. The bishop pledged in January that abuse survivors would be able to examine diocese files on their alleged abusers at the chancery offices. However, survivors making that request have gotten little or no response.

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.

Catholic church attendees can now anonymously report abuse

RAPID CITY (SD)
NewsCenter1.tv

March 18, 2020

By Claudia Contreras

Last year, Pope Francis called for a solution to the ongoing issue of child abuse within Catholic churches across the world.

Now worldwide catholic churches are mandated to use a third-party reporting system in order to hold bishops accountable.

The reporting system was created by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The system is referred to as CBAR, which stands for Catholic Bishops Abuse Reporting Service.

Church attendees can now anonymously report sexual abuse from a bishop online or via phone. This includes holding bishops responsible for trying to interfere with investigations of the alleged abuse.

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

Judge grants defense’s motion for mistrial in City of Pewaukee priest case

WAUKESHA (WI)
GMToday.com

March 13, 2020

By Nikki Brahm

The defense’s motion for a mistrial was granted by Circuit Court Judge Michael Maxwell Friday morning due to the disclosure that the mother of the accuser is an undocumented resident in the case of a City of Pewaukee priest accused of touching a teen girl inappropriately.

The trial of Rev. Charles Hanel will now be postponed; a status conference is scheduled for 11 a.m. April 22.

Hanel, 62, was charged in 2018 with second-degree sexual assault of a child after a girl, then 13, reported he touched her breast in a confessional at Queen of Apostles 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.

The trial for a Pewaukee priest accused of sexually assaulting a teen parishioner ends in mistrial

PEWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

March 13, 2020

By Steven Martinez

After nearly a week of testimony, a Waukesha County Circuit judge has declared a mistrial in the case of a Pewaukee priest accused of sexually assaulting a teen parishioner in a confessional.

The decision Friday from Judge Michael Maxwell comes shortly after the alleged victim’s mother’s attempts to gain legal status to stay in the U.S. became public.

Defense attorneys Jerome Buting and Kathleen Byrne Stilling of Buting, Williams and Stilling S.C. successfully argued that the “late disclosure” of that information fundamentally shifted the defense strategy for their client, the Rev. Charles Hanel — and would have had they known about it from the start.

Hanel is accused of second-degree sexual assault for allegedly groping a then-13-year-old girl as she spoke to him in December 2017 inside a confessional at Queen of Apostles Church in the city of Pewaukee.

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

Former St. Ambrose priest accused of sexual misconduct in early 1990s

DES MOINES (IA)
Radio Iowa

March 18, 2020

By O. Kay Henderson

A priest on the St. Ambrose University faculty has been accused of sexual misconduct in the early 1990s and the bishop of the Des Moines Catholic Diocese has placed the priest on administrative leave.

According to a news release from the Diocese, authorities in Scott, Polk and Pottawattamie Counties have been notified of the complaint. Reverend Robert Grant, who goes by the nickname Bud, taught at Council Bluffs St. Albert High School from 1988 to 1994. In that same year — 1994 — he began teaching at St. Ambrose in Davenport.

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.

‘Spotlight’ Attorney Faces Defamation Charges

MANHATTAN (NY)
The Tablet

March 18, 2020

By Christopher White

Prominent attorney Mitchell Garabedian may face defamation charges following a ruling from a U.S. District judge that Garabedian never intended to bring charges against a teacher his client accused of sexual abuse. That teacher maintains his innocence.

Judge Jan DuBois of the Eastern District Court of Pennsylvania said in an opinion this week that statements Garabedian made to an employer of a man he was threatening to sue could void the judicial immunity given to lawyers.

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.

DC Council member David Grosso confirms he was sexually abused by Catholic priest as a child

UNITED KINGDOM
The Independent

March 18, 2020

By Tom Jackman

‘Though the deep scars remain, I largely believed this incident was behind me, especially after I underwent intensive therapy in the 1990s,’ says Grosso

After a former Catholic priest from northern Virginia was accused of sexual abuse that occurred in the 1980s, and his arrest was announced Monday, DC Councilmember David Grosso said he was the victim. Mr Grosso said the opening of an investigation into his childhood trauma played heavily into his decision not to seek another term on the city council.

The alleged abuser, Scott Asalone, 63, is the former rector of St Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Purcellville, Virginia, and more recently a management consultant and bookstore owner in Asbury Park, New Jersey. He was a member of the Capuchin Friars order who was removed from public ministry in 1993 and dismissed from the friars in 2007, according to records released last year by the Catholic Diocese of Arlington. The diocese included Asalone’s name in a list of all clergy credibly accused of child sexual abuse in northern Virginia.

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Service to report sex abuse of US Catholic bishops goes live in midst of coronavirus pandemic

UNITED STATES
LifeSite News

March 17, 2020

By Paul Smeaton

The Catholic Bishop Abuse Reporting service allows complainants to file confidential reports with an independent, third-party service.

A new system paid for by the 197 dioceses and eparchies of the United States was launched yesterday to report “sexual abuse or misconduct” committed by U.S. Catholic bishops. The service was launched in the midst of the country reeling from the coronavirus pandemic.

The Catholic Bishop Abuse Reporting service (CBAR) allows complainants to file confidential reports with an independent, third-party service, either via telephone or an online form. Reports will then be forwarded, unedited, to the appropriate Church authority, which is usually a Metropolitan archbishop, or a Senior Suffragan bishop if the report is about the Metropolitan.

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‘Learn. Protect your children from clergy.’ The ABC’s Revelation reveals a tragic story

AUSTRALIA
Eternity News (blog)

March 18, 2020

By John Sandeman

The ABC’s Sarah Ferguson has taken us into a place where most Christians have not wanted to go – up close and very personal with pedophile Christian leaders in her series Revelation on the ABC. The series focuses in scarifying detail on abuse by pedophile Catholic Priests.

“They are men living among us like Lucifer’s fallen angels – they look like ordinary men,” is how Ferguson begins her narrative. “Their very ordinariness is what I find disturbing. They should look like monsters but they don’t.”

Chrissie Foster, who has seen extreme family tragedy from clergy pedophilia, tells Eternity her response to Revelation: “If you have a child in the Catholic system you will learn that your child is worthless to the Catholic priesthood.

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New poll shows Catholics have more favorable opinion of Church than last year

NEW YORK (NY)
Crux

March 18, 2020

By Christopher White

While Catholics in the U.S. continue to grapple with fallout stemming from the clergy abuse scandals, new polling suggests that Catholics have a higher opinion of the Church than they did this time last year.

According to data from the Saint Leo University Polling Institute, the favorable opinion – those who responded strongly and somewhat favorably – was recorded at 73.5 percent, up from 69.3 percent in November 2019.

In addition, the new data shows a significant increase from April 2019, where U.S. Catholics only expressed a 57.1 percent level of favorability.

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More on Forgiveness and Clergy Abuse Situation: Kaya Oakes on Need for New Understandings

UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage (blog)

March 5, 2020

By William D. Lindsey

A month ago, Ruth Krall offered us a valuable statement about the “sin or crime” dilemma facing religious bodies as they deal with sexual abuse of vulnerable people by religious authority figures. Should a community frame sexual abuse of the vulnerable by pastors, priests, religious authority figures primarily in terms of forgiveness? Or should religious communities begin from the starting point of recognizing that sexual abuse of minors is a crime, as they deal with these issues?

Ruth’s essay was a meditation on what forgiveness means in a religious or theological context. It provoked a lively, fruitful discussion which signals to me how much this theological investigation is needed right now. As I noted in a posting building on Ruth’s essay, one of its important contributions was to highlight what Christian communities of faith might learn from Jewish discussions of sin and forgiveness.

Given our recent discussion of these issues, I’m interested to see in Kaya Oakes’ recent essay “On Forgiveness, Clergy Abuse, and the Need for New Understandings” the following testimony:

But in spite of the many cases of abuse coming to light around the world, the clerical impulse to plead for forgiveness, and what that does to victims, has rarely been discussed. In 2018, I pitched a story on the role of forgiveness in clergy abuse to a Catholic magazine for which I occasionally write. My hunch was that, like many of the women who were being asked to forgive abusive men as #MeToo revelations unfolded, many victims of clergy abuse might be hesitant to grant forgiveness to those who had violated them because of the corrosive nature of trauma.

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Diocese says abuse victims can see secret priest files, but blocks access

BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

March 17, 2020

By Jay Tokasz

Gary Astridge has spent much of his adult life cobbling together dribs and drabs of information about the Rev. Edward Townsend, the priest he says molested him multiple times in the 1960s, starting when Astridge was 7 years old.

So, when Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger first suggested in January that abuse survivors could examine Buffalo Diocese files on their alleged abusers at the chancery offices, Astridge left three messages with Scharfenberger’s office seeking an appointment.

Two months later, the City of Tonawanda resident said he has yet to receive a return call.

“To me, once again, it’s just words, empty,” said Astridge, who last August sued the diocese over the abuse. “Emotionally, it’s so disheartening, so discouraging. It’s a slap in the face.”

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Oregon Ducks administrator Jim Bartko beat his demons to the finish line

OREGON
Herald and News

March 18, 2020

By John Canzano, Oregonian Sports Columnist

We met at 9:30 a.m. at a Starbucks a couple of months ago. He picked the spot. And when I arrived, Jim Bartko was tucked against a large window, corner table, mentoring a college student.

He’s frozen there in my mind forever.

Bartko died on Monday. He was 54. And before you can say, “that’s way too young,” which is true, let me tell you what killed him — his childhood.

Officially, the long-time University of Oregon athletic department administrator collapsed during a workout on Monday. He was rushed to the hospital, where he died in surgery. But I’m left with no doubt that he would be alive today to do good deeds if only someone years ago would have just done one for him.

A church.

A priest.

A pile of abuse, denial and betrayal.

Bartko had been outspoken about all of it recently. He’d gone public, as part of his recovery a couple of years ago. He’d spilled his guts, talking in horrific detail about Father Stephen Kiesle, a convicted serial molester. The since-defrocked Kiesle wreaked havoc on the children of Pinole, Calif., 7-year old Jimmy Bartko among them.

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Former Priest From Asbury Park Charged With Sex With Minor

ASBURY PARK (NJ)
Patch.com

March 18, 2020

By Tom Davis

A 63-year-old former clergyman from Asbury Park was charged with having sex with a minor, according to a release

A 63-year-old former clergyman from Asbury Park has been charged with having sex with a minor, according to a release from the Virginia Office of the Attorney General.

Attorney General Mark R. Herring announced charges against former clergyman Scott Asalone, 63, of Asbury Park for one felony count of carnal knowledge of a minor between 13 and 15 years old, according to the release.

Asalone was identified through Herring and Virginia State Police’s investigation into clergy abuse in Virginia. Asalone was indicted by the Northern Virginia Multi-Jurisdictional Grand Jury on Thursday, March 12 and the case will be tried in Loudoun County Circuit Court.

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Letter to the Editor: Where does the church go from here?

PITTSBURGH (PA)
Pittsburgh Gazette

March 18, 2020

The 2018 Pennsylvania Grand Jury exposed clergy sexual abuse, pay-offs and systematic cover-ups in our Diocese. Now, in response to Bishop David Zubik’s letter sent last month to all members of the Diocese, in which he implied we have been negligent in our monetary giving, I have the following to say.

Bishop Zubik has held many listening sessions, but has not yet begged the entire laity for forgiveness.

Accordingly, the laity have listened to his words, but are not giving.

We, the laity, had a sacred relationship with the clergy, which Bishop Zubik and many of his fellow clergy have violated. They are servants of the Church, not masters of the castle. However, they seemed to care more for material goods and reputation than they did for the people, who are the real church. They must first love Christ, who is in the people: “Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep” (John 21:15-17).

Such a gross violation of trust as we have recently endured requires deep, heart-felt, on-the-knees, sack cloth and ashes confession, apology and radical reformation if there is any hope of salvaging the relationship at all. The status quo is not acceptable. The church saying, “we already have it under control” is not acceptable. This impasse might be more obvious to those of us living a marriage covenant.

In contrast, the arrogant deafness with which the clergy leadership has proceeded is a testament against itself and an offense to the laity: “ whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6)

We are the church. We are listening and waiting.

MICHAEL MARTINO, M.D.
Whitehall
The writer is a member of Catholics for Change in Our Church and a parishioner at St. Thomas More/​St. John Capistran Parish.

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Remembering Mart Crowley

SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Bay Area Reporter

March 17, 2020

By Brian Bromberger

Mart Crowley, whose landmark 1968 play “The Boys in the Band” became the first American stage production to deal openly and candidly with gay lives, over a year before the Stonewall Riots, died March 7 at age 84, from complications following heart surgery after suffering a heart attack. Without “Boys,” other breakthrough gay dramas such as “Torch Song Trilogy,” “Love! Valour! Compassion!” and “Angels in America” would have been inconceivable, as its popular success opened doors for honest depictions of LGBTQ people in mainstream theater and films. Its witty, acerbic banter (“Who do you have to fuck to get a drink around here?”) became part of gay vernacular. And its portrayal of gay men leading ordinary existences with similar issues such as the search for meaning and love, just like their straight counterparts, helped spur acceptance of queer folk in the prevailing cultural landscape. …

… Meanwhile, Crowley wrote several other dramas, including 1992’s “For Reasons That Remain Unclear,” about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church (he had been molested as a child) a decade before the scandal arose, and 2002’s “Men from the Boys,” a sequel to “Boys.” None were winners. Wood’s widowed husband, actor Robert Wagner, made him producer and executive script consultant on his hit 1980s TV series “Hart to Hart.” Crowley also stopped drinking.

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Catholic Diocese of Arlington responds to announcement that former Capuchin priest is charged with abuse

ARLINGTON (VA)
Catholic Herald

March 17, 2020

The Virginia Attorney General’s office has announced that Mr. Scott Asalone, a former Capuchin priest who was assigned to St. Francis de Sales Parish in Purcellville from 1984-1993, has been arrested on charges involving sexual abuse of a minor in 1985.

Mr. Asalone was removed from the parish by the Capuchin order in January 1993, and the Diocese of Arlington subsequently was advised that the Capuchins had received an allegation against him. He was dismissed from the Capuchin order in 2007, and was living in New Jersey at the time of his arrest.

The Diocese of Arlington has cooperated fully with all law enforcement agencies and will continue to do so in an effort to help ensure anyone guilty of abuse is brought to justice. Our concern and prayers are for the victims of abuse at any place and time. The Diocese has a zero-tolerance policy for abuse of a minor, and no one with a credible accusation of abuse is serving in the Diocese. Mr. Asalone was included on the Diocese’s list, published in February 2019, of priests who were credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor.

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Erie, other dioceses unveil system to report bishops

ERIE (PA)
Erie Times-News

March 17, 2020

The creation of the nationwide Catholic Bishop Abuse Reporting Service grew out of the clergy abuse crisis.

Roman Catholic dioceses nationwide have launched a system to report claims of abuse against bishops, the Catholic Diocese of Erie announced on Tuesday.

The Catholic Bishop Abuse Reporting Service, which started operating on Monday, grew out of a document called “Vox estis lux mundi,” or “You Are the Light of the World,” which Pope Francis issued in May 2019 after an international meeting of bishops in Rome in February 2019 to address clergy sexual abuse.

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March 17, 2020

France’s Worst Case of Clergy Abuse Is Over

FRANCE
Newser Editors and Wire Services

March 17, 2020

Ex-priest who abused at least 75 boys is sentenced to 5 years

A French ex-priest who acknowledged sexually abusing at least 75 boys over decades was sentenced Monday to five years in prison, in France’s worst case of clergy abuse to reach trial. The court in Lyon issued the verdict against 74-year-old Bernard Preynat behind closed doors because the coronavirus outbreak has shuttered most activity in France. Preynat’s case forced the first serious reckoning with sex abuse within the Catholic Church in France. Preynat testified that multiple cardinals and other senior church officials were aware of his misconduct dating back to the 1960s, but he wasn’t removed from the priesthood until last year, the AP reports. Victims of Preynat’s abuse, primarily boy scouts, welcomed his conviction for sexually abusing minors. Preynat was a scout leader.

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Former Priest Gary Jacobs Returns to Michigan, Arraigned on Additional CSC Charges

LANSING (MI)
White Lake Beacon

March 16, 2020

In the latest update from Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s investigation into sexual abuse by members of the clergy, Gary Allen Jacobs was formally arraigned late Tuesday, March 10, in Ontonagon County on two additional criminal sexual conduct cases that he reportedly committed in the 1980s while serving as a priest under the Catholic Diocese of Marquette in the Upper Peninsula.

Jacobs was originally charged in January on seven additional criminal sexual conduct charges in three separate cases that reportedly occurred in Ontonagon and Dickinson counties.

Since January, two new victims came forward making sexual assault reports against Jacobs, 74, now of Albuquerque, New Mexico. In the two cases, he is charged with three criminal sexual conduct counts stemming from incidents that reportedly occurred between the dates of Jan. 1, 1981 and Dec. 31, 1984 in Ontonagon County.

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Diocese of Allentown to implement new abuse reporting service

ALLENTOWN (PA)
69 News

March 17, 2020

The Diocese of Allentown says it’s using a new system that lets people report sexual abuse allegations against bishops.

It’s called the “Catholic Abuse Reporting Service.”

Officials say the reports go to an independent group that will oversee an investigation.

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Prosecutors appeal dismissal of Pittsburgh priest’s conviction for sex abuse

PITTSBURGH (PA)
CNA

March 17, 2020

Allegheny County prosecutors are appealing a judge’s decision to vacate the conviction of Fr. Hugh Lang, who is accused of having assaulted a boy in 2001.

On March 9 Allegheny County Commons Pleas Judge Anthony Mariani said he was granting Fr. Lang a new trial.

He said the priest had been denied a fair trial because the previous judge had allowed prosecutors to submit evidence that Fr. Lang had searched the internet for defense attorney shortly before the 2018 release of a Pennsylvania grand jury report on allegations of clerical sex abuse of minors.

Prosecutors have said the internet search demonstrated “consciousness of guilt,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, while Mariani responded that the search could have been for other reasons, such as looking on behalf an accused colleague, or out of fear of being falsely accused.

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Church of England accused of ‘marking own homework’ after Dean returns to work following safeguarding scandal

ENGLAND
Telegraph

March 16, 2020

By Gabriella Swerling

The complaint was brought by the Church of England’s national director of safeguarding Melissa Caslake

The Church of England has been accused of “marking its own homework” after a Cathedral Dean left her post amid an abuse scandal – but was allowed to return to work following extra training.

The Very Reverend Christine Wilson took a leave of absence in April 2019 following a complaint about how she handled a safeguarding allegation concerning the Cathedral’s chancellor. The Dean of Lincoln Cathedral, Very Reverend Christine Wilson – who was the first woman to assume the role and whose appointment in October 2016 was approved by The Queen – said that she needed to take a leave of absence for “personal reasons”.

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Former Purcellville Church Friar Indicted in 1985 Sexual Abuse Case

LEESBURG (VA)
LoudounNow

March 16, 2020

Attorney General Mark R. Herring today announced former clergyman Scott Asalone, 63, of Asbury Park, NJ, was indicted on one felony count of carnal knowledge of a minor between 13 and 15 years old.

The indictment is related to alleged sexual contact by Asalone in 1985, while he was a friar assigned to St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Purcellville involving a former parishioner in 1985.

Asalone was taken into custody on Saturday, March 14 by the Virginia State Police and New Jersey law enforcement officials in Asbury Park, NJ and will face extradition to Virginia. The case will be tried in Loudoun County Circuit Court.

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Summit held to address church’s ‘twin crises’ of abuse, leadership failure

WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service

March 16, 2020

By Mark Zimmermann

A summit of U.S. Catholic leaders was convened recently in Washington “to continue to respond to the twin crises in our church, a crisis of abuse and a crisis of leadership failure,” said Kim Smolik, CEO of the Leadership Roundtable, which organized the gathering.

The Catholic Partnership Summit, held Feb. 28-29, had as its theme, “From Crisis to Co-Responsibility: Creating a New Culture of Leadership.” It drew 260 Catholic leaders from 63 U.S. dioceses, including bishops, diocesan staff, Catholic university presidents, corporate leaders, abuse survivors, philanthropists and more than 30 young adults.

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DA’s office appeals tossed conviction of Pittsburgh-area priest accused of abuse

ALLEGHENY (PA)
TribLive

March 16, 2020

By Tom Davidson

The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office on Monday appealed a judge’s decision last week to vacate the conviction of a retired priest who was accused of sexually abusing an altar boy two decades ago.

The office filed the appeal to the Pennsylvania Superior Court to reconsider a county judge’s decision.

The Rev. Hugh Lang, 89, who was formerly superintendent of schools for the Pittsburgh Diocese, was found guilty in a nonjury trial last year. He was sentenced in February to nearly two years in jail by Allegheny County Judge Anthony Mariani.

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Once McCarrick report issued, church urged to ‘make reparation, learn’

WASHINGTON (DC)
CNS

March 17, 2020

By Mark Zimmermann

Once the Vatican releases the McCarrick report, the church must listen to the reaction to it in a “spirit of humility” and must seek to “make reparation, learn and keep moving forward in a new way,” said a leading U.S. woman religious.

Sister Carol Zinn, a Sister of St. Joseph from Chestnut Hill in Philadelphia, who is executive director of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, made the comments in a call with news media following the Catholic Partnership Summit, held Feb. 28-29 in Washington.

She said she hopes that as Catholics react to the report, “the church would take a listening stance rather than a defensive one,” to acknowledge it and recognize that “the institutional church, cannot govern itself the way it has governed itself before.”

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Reporting system to record abuse complaints against bishops begins

WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service

March 16, 2020

By Dennis Sadowski

A reporting system accepting sexual misconduct allegations against U.S. bishops and eparchs is in place.

Called the Catholic Bishops Abuse Reporting Service, or CBAR, the system became operational March 16.

The mechanism incorporates a website and a toll-free telephone number through which individuals can file reports regarding a bishop.

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New Group Set Up To Deal With Church Workplace Abuse

AUSTRALIA
Vision Christian Radio

March 17, 2020

An advocacy group is aiming to make churches better places to work by supporting those employees who are being bullied, abused, or unfairly treated.

Eternity News reports the Gospel Workers Advocacy Group has been set up to help church workers facing difficult situations at work.

This can include abuse, bullying, and in some cases the unfair termination of their jobs.

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Madison Catholic Church Confirms 2nd Sexual Abuse Allegation Against Priest

MADISON (WI)
State News

March 16, 2020

The Diocese of Madison says a second person has come forward to make a sexual abuse allegation against a priest.

That person stepped up when the diocese released the names of priests credibly accused saying one name was missing from the list – the Reverend Patrick Doherty.

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End safeguarding self-regulation, IICSA urged

UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet

March 17, 2020

By Ruth Gledhill

Forty years of public scandal has “forced” the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches to admit they have a problem of child sex abuse, the latest hearing of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) has been told.

“No current Catholic or Anglican leader would come before this inquiry now and seriously try to maintain that clerical sex abuse scandals had never happened,” Richard Scorer, representing several core participants, told the first day of the hearing into child protection in “religious organisations and settings”.

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7 Years Of The First Non-European Pope

ROME
National Public Radio

March 16, 2020

By Sylvia Poggioli

Seven years after Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio became Pope Francis, the first non-European pontiff is under attack from traditionalists who think he’s leading Catholics astray.

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You’ll need a strong stomach to digest Revelation’s insights into child sexual abuse in the Catholic church

AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

March 17, 2020

By Brigid Delaney

ABC’s documentary about a convicted paedophile priest is difficult to watch, but perhaps it’s necessary to bear witness

Despite an extensive royal commission, scores of criminal trials and excellent books such as Louise Milligan’s Cardinal and David Marr’s The Prince, there are still some unanswered questions about child sexual abuse in the now-tattered narrative of the Catholic church in Australia.

These include: why did these priests do such horrible things? How did they justify their crimes to themselves and to God? What kind of conversations may they have had with, say, their archbishop or monsignor, once they were rumbled by a parent or teacher or victim?

Accounts from the paedophiles themselves that may go some way towards answering those questions are also missing from this narrative. Perhaps this is because paedophiles do not want to talk due to shame or due to the media’s preference for – in some cases – giving victims airtime and denying a platform to abusers. And then there’s us, the audience. Do we really want to hear from them?

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D.C. Council member David Grosso alleges he was sexually assaulted by Va. clergyman

WASHINGTON D.C.
Washington Post

March 17, 2020

By Tom Jackman

After a former Catholic priest from Northern Virginia was accused of sexual abuse that occurred in the 1980s, and his arrest was announced Monday, D.C. Council member David Grosso (I-At Large) revealed that he was the victim. Grosso said the opening of an investigation into his childhood trauma played heavily into his decision not to seek another term on the city council.

The alleged abuser, Scott Asalone, 63, is the former rector of St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Purcellville, Va., and more recently a management consultant and bookstore owner in Asbury Park, N.J. He was a member of the Capuchin Friars order who was removed from public ministry in 1993 and dismissed from the Friars in 2007, according to records released last year by the Catholic Diocese of Arlington. The diocese included Asalone’s name in a list of all clergy credibly accused of child sexual abuse in Northern Virginia.

Asalone was the first person indicted as a result of an investigation by the Virginia Attorney General’s Office and Virginia State Police into Catholic clergy abuse, after the Pennsylvania attorney general in 2018 uncovered hundreds of unprosecuted cases and more than 1,000 child victims. A multi-jurisdictional grand jury met in Fairfax County last week, Attorney General Mark R. Herring’s office said Monday, and issued an indictment Thursday charging Asalone with one felony count of carnal knowledge of a minor between 13 and 15 years old. The victim is identified in the indictment as “D.G.,” which said that the abuse occurred between April and September of 1985, when Grosso was 14 and Asalone was 29.

Asalone was taken into custody Saturday in New Jersey, Herring’s office said, and is awaiting extradition to Virginia. After Herring’s office made the announcement Monday, Grosso issued a statement about the arrest of a former clergyman for criminal sexual abuse of a minor. “The minor he assaulted was me,” Grosso said.

“This occurred during a very difficult time of my life,” Grosso said in the statement. “Though the deep scars remain, I largely believed this incident was behind me, especially after I underwent intensive therapy in the 1990s.”

Grosso said investigators in Virginia had recently obtained the Catholic Diocese of Arlington’s internal file on his case, contacted him several times in the past year and asked him to testify before the grand jury in Fairfax. “I did so,” Grosso said, “only to prevent Mr. Asalone from ever hurting another child.”

Grosso apparently reported the incident to the Catholic church in the 1990s and received a financial settlement at the time. In 2015, when Grosso was pushing for legislation to expand the statute of limitations in Washington for civil claims in sexual abuse cases, he told WAMU that “I had a situation happen to me when I was a teenager, so it’s personal for me.”

Grosso said that because he reported the abuse “in my early 20s and told my family about it, the reality was that there was nothing we could do because the statute of limitations in Virginia was so low that I couldn’t go after them in a court.”

Grosso told WAMU that he received a settlement and that the priest was removed from the church but faced no legal consequences. Virginia has a two-year statute of limitations for filing civil actions in personal injury cases. The state has no statute of limitations on felony crimes.

In 2018, Grosso helped pass the Statute of Limitations Amendment Act, which took effect in May 2019 and opened a two-year window for victims in the District to file civil claims even if they had been time-barred under the former three-year statute of limitations.

Grosso said in his statement that the investigation into “a crime the Diocese attempted to bury for decades” had “caused fresh trauma as I have been forced vividly to relive the tragic events of my childhood. I have again received therapy and made difficult decisions to advance my recovery. My conclusion not to seek another term as a council member was heavily influenced by this new case.”

In a brief interview on Monday, Grosso said it was important to “get the message out that people should speak up and that there is a chance for justice to happen.”

Grosso said: “It’s important, I think, when you have a platform like I do, to use it for the better of the community and to encourage people that it’s okay to speak the truth and to talk about what happened to you in an open way as best you can so that you can find some justice.”

Grosso said he decided to go public “because I understand the tremendous burden the victims of sexual assault and abuse carry throughout their lives. As I did many years ago, we all must find the courage to come forward, tell our stories, and seek justice and accountability from the perpetrator, as well as the church and other institutions that have hidden or excused their behavior.”

Grosso has been on the city council since 2013. He is a lawyer who earned his degree from Georgetown University. He announced in November that he would not seek a third term on the council.

Asalone was ordained as a Capuchin Friar in 1983, according to church records. The Arlington diocese said Monday that he served in Northern Virginia from June 1984 to January 1993. His only assignment during that time was at St. Francis de Sales. In January 1993, he was removed from St. Francis de Sales Parish by the Capuchin order, a diocese spokeswoman said. The Arlington diocese said it later learned that the Capuchins had received an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor by Asalone when he was a clergyman. The Capuchin order did not return a request for comment.

Catholic friars typically are sent to places where there are few Catholic priests or churches, such as rural areas or inner cities. Initially, Purcellville was sparsely populated, but it and St. Francis grew rapidly in the 1990s. Asalone was the pastor when the congregation built a new church in 1992, and a story in The Washington Post in 1997 said that Asalone was “on a sabbatical working as a Wall Street stockbroker.”

Asalone went on to work for Merrill Lynch and formed his own consulting firm in New Jersey in 1999, according to biographies he has posted over the years. He has spoken at many public gatherings about the need for positive psychology in the workplace. It was not clear whether he has retained a lawyer. The case will be tried in Loudoun County.

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Reporting system to records complaints against bishops begins

WASHINGTON D.C.
Catholic News Service via Boston Pilot

March 16, 2020

By Dennis Sadowski

A reporting system accepting sexual misconduct allegations against U.S. bishops and eparchs is in place.

Called the Catholic Bishops Abuse Reporting Service, or CBAR, the system became operational March 16.

The mechanism incorporates a website and a toll-free telephone number through which individuals can file reports regarding a bishop.

The website is ReportBishopAbuse.org. Calls can be placed at (800) 276-1562.

The nationwide system is being implemented by individual dioceses under the direction of each respective cardinal, archbishop or bishop. The information gathered will be protected through enhanced encryption.

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Former Fresno State athletics director Jim Bartko dies during surgery at age 54

FRESNO (CA)
Fresno Bee

March 16, 2020

By Robert Kuwada

Jim Bartko, the former Fresno State athletics director and a survivor of childhood sexual abuse by a Catholic priest, died Monday while undergoing surgery after collapsing during a morning workout. He was 54.

Bartko, who was back at the University of Oregon in a fundraising position, had filed a lawsuit last Thursday against the Diocese of Oakland under AB 218, the California Child Victims Act and recently published a book, “Boy in the Mirror,” detailing the abuse and its impact on his personal and professional life.

Hired by Fresno State in 2014, Bartko had pushed a transformative Bulldog Stadium renovation plan, hired coach Jeff Tedford, oversaw the return of a wrestling program and addition of women’s water polo, taking on an athletics department overburdened by 21 sports programs while dealing with insomnia and anxiety issues that went back to his childhood.

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Former priest in northern Virginia charged with sexual abuse

FALLS CHURCH (VA)
WRIC-TV

March 16, 2020

By Alonzo Small

A former Catholic priest in northern Virginia has been charged with sexually abusing a teenager in a case that dates back nearly 35 years, and a city councilman for the District of Columbia came forward to say he was the victim.

Scott Asalone, 63, of Asbury Park, New Jersey, was charged in Loudoun County with carnal knowledge of a minor, Attorney General Mark Herring’s office said Monday.

Asalone was arrested Saturday in New Jersey and will be transferred to Virginia, Herring’s office said.

After Asalone’s arrest was announced, D.C. Councilman David Grosso issued a statement saying, “The minor he assaulted was me.”

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Prosecutors file notice of appeal of ruling in abuse case

PITTSBURGH (PA)
Associated Press

March 16, 2020

Prosecutors have filed a notice of appeal of a western Pennsylvania judge’s ruling throwing out the conviction of a retired Roman Catholic priest accused of having assaulted a boy almost two decades ago.

A spokesman for the Allegheny County district attorney’s office said Monday that the brief setting out reasons for the appeal to Superior Court in the case of the Rev. Hugh Lang will be filed at a later date.

Judge Anthony Mariani said last week that he believed that Lang hadn’t received a fair trial. He said prosecutors should not have been allowed to submit evidence that Lang did an Internet search for defense attorneys before the release of a grand jury report on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

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Coronavirus pandemic postpones Catholic priest trial to June

HOUSTON (TX)
Houston Chronicle via Pressfrom.info

March 17, 2020

By Nicole Hensley

The trial of a Catholic priest accused of molesting three children at a Montgomery County parish will be postponed to June amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The decision was made out of concerns for public health. A lawyer for accused cleric Manuel La Rosa-Lopez said the case will be tried in June, rather than later in March. A jury was slated to be picked Friday.

The lawyer, Wendell Odom, said in an email the trial will now begin on June 15.

“Following the Texas Supreme Courts emergency declaration, the Judge and all parties agree the safety of everyone would be best served by rescheduling the trial until June,” Odom said in an emailed statement.

“It was foreseeable because of current circumstances,” said Nancy Hebert, of the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office.

As of Monday afternoon, four people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in Montgomery County.

Jason Millsaps, chief of staff to Montgomery County Judge Mike Keough, said courts were exempted from an order to cancel events that would bring together large groups of people. Each judge was allowed to decide how their court operations would proceed.

The case is being tried before 435th District Court Judge Patty McGinnis, who could not be immediately reached for comment.

La Rosa-Lopez, who is free on bond, is facing five counts of indecency with a child.

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Former priest living in Asbury Park charged in Virginia sex case with minor

ASBURY PARK (NJ)
Asbury Park Press

March 16, 2020

By Joshua Chung

A former priest living in Asbury Park has been indicted on charges of with [sic] carnal knowledge of a minor, according to Mark R. Herring, attorney general for Virginia.

On March 12, Scott Asalone, 63, was indicted for carnal knowledge of a minor between 13 and 15 years old, after Herring and Virginia State Police conducted an investigation of clergy abuse in the state, officials said. Asalone’s case will be tried at the Loudoun County Circuit Court in Leesburg, Virginia.

In 1985, Asalone was allegedly connected to a sexual contact case, which involved a former parishioner, officials said. During this time, Asalone was a member of the clergy assigned to St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Purcellville, Virginia.

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Ex-Priest in France Is Convicted of Abusing Dozens of Scouts

LYON (FRANCE)
The New York Times

March 16, 2020

By Aurelien Breeden

Bernard Preynat, 75, received a five-year sentence after admitting to assaulting boys over a 20-year period, a scandal that embroiled a top cardinal.

A former Roman Catholic priest in France was convicted and sentenced on Monday to five years in prison for sexually assaulting dozens of Boy Scouts several decades ago, in a case that embroiled a top cardinal in the country’s growing reckoning with clerical sexual abuse.

The former priest, Bernard Preynat, 75, was found guilty by a court in Lyon, in central France, according to his lawyer, Frédéric Doyez. Prosecutors had asked for an eight-year sentence, slightly less than the maximum 10 years for such offenses.

The hearing for the verdict was held behind closed doors in Lyon after the French authorities enforced new restrictions on public gatherings because of the rapidly spreading coronavirus epidemic.

Pierre Emmanuel Germain-Thill, one of Mr. Preynat’s victims, told Agence France-Presse that the sentence was “correct” given the former priest’s age.

“I am very relieved by this ruling,” Mr. Germain-Thill said. “We want to turn the page of this affair and continue to build our lives.”

Mr. Doyez, the lawyer, said in an email that he was considering an appeal but that it was ultimately Mr. Preynat’s decision. Under French law, Mr. Preynat has 10 days to appeal the conviction.

Mr. Preynat was accused of using his position as a Boy Scout leader to sexually abuse dozens of boys from the 1970s to the 1990s. A church tribunal pronounced him guilty of the abuse last year and stripped him of his clerical status.

At the criminal trial, held in January, Mr. Preynat admitted to some of the abuse and asked for forgiveness, testifying that as a scout chaplain he had abused as many as two boys “almost every weekend” and as many as four or five a week on camp outings — although he said he did not remember some of the specific acts that the victims had accused him of.

“For me, at the time, I was not committing acts of sexual assault but caresses, cuddles,” Mr. Preynat said at trial, according to news reports. “I was wrong.”

Many of the accusations against Mr. Preynat were past the statute of limitations, and only a few of victims were plaintiffs. But the case against him, which first emerged in 2015, led to a much wider indictment in France of the Catholic Church’s culture of silence about sexual abuse allegations.

Attention quickly focused on Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, then the archbishop of Lyon — one of France’s highest-ranking clergymen.

Although the abuse occurred before Cardinal Barbarin was appointed to his post in the Lyon Diocese in 2002, some of Mr. Preynat’s victims accused the cardinal of having failed to report the allegations to the authorities when they were brought to his attention. During his trial, Mr. Preynat testified that senior church officials had been aware of the abuse but had done nothing to remove him from office.

Cardinal Barbarin later acknowledged that he had heard about the abuse as early as 2010, but he said that he had personally questioned Mr. Preynat at the time and had left him in office after receiving assurances that no abuse had occurred since 1991. Mr. Preynat was removed from office in August 2015.

Prosecutors dropped charges against Cardinal Barbarin in 2016 after an investigation, but some of Mr. Preynat’s accusers used a special procedure to force the cardinal to stand trial.

The cardinal was found guilty last year of failing to report the abuse, but was acquitted in January on appeal. His resignation was accepted by Pope Francis this month.

During his trial, Mr. Preynat said for the first time that he had himself been the victim of abuse by clergymen in his youth, though lawyers for some of the plaintiffs said that they were skeptical of that last-minute allegation, calling it yet another lie from a man who for years had evaded punishment for his crimes.

An independent commission created by the Bishops’ Conference of France to shed light on sexual abuse by the country’s clergy has already heard from thousands of people reporting such cases, and a report is expected in 2021.

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March 16, 2020

Court dismisses discharge petition filed by Bishop Franco in rape case

KOTTAYAM (INDIA)
Express News Service

March 16, 2020

The claim of the accused that the prosecution witnesses are not trustworthy and there was no cogent evidence in the entire episode was turned down by the court.

In a major setback to Bishop Franco Mulakkal, former head of the Latin Catholic Diocese of Jalandhar, the Additional District and Sessions Court I, Kottayam, on Monday dismissed the discharge petition filed by him in connection with the rape case registered against him by the Kuravilangad police.

The judge G Gopakumar directed bishop Mulakkal to face the trial in the case, which was registered on the basis of a complaint filed by a Catholic nun of the same diocese.

Bishop Franco, who didn’t turn up before the court on the day, had filed the discharge petition on January 25, while the court was supposed to commence preliminary hearing on charges against him.

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Rape accused Bishop Franco has to face trial

KOTTAYAM (KERALA)
IANS

March 16, 2020

A court here on Monday dismissed the discharge petition filed by former Jalandhar bishop Franco Mulakkal, accused of sexually assaulting a nun between 2014 and 2016.

This means that the bishop will now have to face trial in the case, which will begin very soon.

It was on January 7 that Mulakkal, who is on bail, filed the petition in the Kottayam additional district sessions court.

Mulakkal’s ploy was to delay the trial and now with the lower court dismissing his discharge petition, it remains to be seen if he will approach a higher court.

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French priest gets 5-yr jail term for sex assault of boy scouts

LYON (FRANCE)
AFP

March 16, 2020

A defrocked Catholic priest was given a five-year jail term Monday for sexually abusing boy scouts in his care several decades ago, a case that roiled the French Church over claims he was shielded from prosecution by his superiors.

Bernard Preynat, 75, had confessed at his trial in January in the southeastern city of Lyon to “caresses” he knew were forbidden after victims testified of the abuses they suffered at his hands.

The accusers were aged seven to 14 when the alleged crimes were committed between 1971 and 1991, when Preynat was a scout leader in Lyon.

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Bishop Franco Mulakkal’s discharge plea dismissed by trial court

KOTTAYAM (KERALA)
Tribune India

March 16, 2020

A trial court here on Monday dismissed a discharge petition filed by Bishop Franco Mulakkal, in connection with the case of alleged rape of a nun in which he is the prime accused.

In his plea filed before the Additional District and Sessions Court I, Mulakkal had claimed that prima facie there was no case to frame charges against him.

Dismissing the plea, the trial court said the bishop should stand for trial in the rape case.

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Advocate struggles to reconstruct 5 to 6 minutes in life of G. Pell

AUSTRALIA
China News

March 16, 2020

By Chris Friel

Before the High Court of Australia Bret Walker used the word “illogic.” He was referring to the failure of the majority appellate judges to properly understand what I have called the “hiatus theory.” In this paper I want to suggest that a similar illogic pervades the misguided approach of prosecutor Kerri Judd, presenting her case on the next day after Walker.

The context, I trust, will be familiar. The allegation was that two choristers endured a five to six minute assault in the sacristy at St. Patrick’s. However, that place was described as a hive of activity after Sunday Mass and so the defence argued that it was impossible for such a thing to happen. There was just no opportunity; other people would have noticed what was going on. To the contrary, the prosecution wrestled with the problem of how to make this scenario possible by postulating a gap or “hiatus” in the activity that would somehow be consistent with the evidence heard in court.

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My conversations with Jean Vanier raised many questions. I have no answers.

UNITED STATES
America Magazine

March 13, 2020

By John J. Conley

Lent began early this year.

Several weeks ago, L’Arche International released a report detailing credible accusations of sexual abuse by Jean Vanier, the charismatic founder of the L’Arche communities and the Faith and Light movement, apostolates devoted to the service of and solidarity with people with intellectual disabilities. The accusations by six women, all of whom were adults and none of whom were disabled, followed a similar pattern. Facing difficulties in their lives, each had sought out Vanier as a spiritual director. Preying on their vulnerability, Mr. Vanier pressured each of them into sexual relations, claiming that these relations had a mystical justification. According to one woman, Mr. Vanier told her, “This is not us; this is Mary and Jesus. You are chosen, you are special.” Each woman was sworn to secrecy. Years later, the women are still wrestling with the brokenness and the disorientation wrought by Mr. Vanier’s actions.

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Farewell to a familiar news story angle? Argentina shows that pope’s policy clout is fading

ARGENTINA
Get Religion

March 12, 2020

By Clemente Lisi

Past popes have exerted an enormous amount of influence on politics around the world. A pope’s influential reach — and the large number of Catholics around the world — has often been vital in the shaping of laws and policy.

The best example is Saint Pope John Paul II. The Polish-born pontiff was instrumental in the fall of communism some three decades ago. His successor, Pope Benedict XVI, had a different approach. Not a media star like JPII, Benedict focused his efforts on Africa. With help from humanitarian aid organizations, the Vatican exerted a great amount of influence in many African nations where the church matters. The church continues to grow there.

This has helped shape how journalists cover the papacy and, thus, the Catholicism. Shaping world politics? That’s news. Shaping doctrines and how people worship? That’s news— maybe. It depends. Do the doctrines have anything to do with gender or sex?

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Sleeping woman sexually assaulted, court hears

GALWAY (IRELAND)
Connacht/CityTribune

March 11, 2020

By Ann Healy

A 28-year-old man who sexually assaulted a woman as she slept in a friend’s house, went to his parish priest to look for guidance before telling his family about what he had done.

Brian Finnegan, from Kilsallagh, Williamstown, pleaded guilty before Galway Circuit Criminal Court last October to sexually assaulting the then 22-year-old woman in a house at University Road on October 15, 2017.

The Director of Public Prosecutions had initially directed the charge could be dealt with at District Court level if Finnegan entered a guilty plea, but he pleaded not guilty when the matter came before Galway District Court in 2018 and was sent forward for trial to the higher court.

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Judge orders Buffalo Diocese to release secret files of 2 ‘notorious’ priests

BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW

March 11, 2020

By Charlie Specht

But Orsolits, White files still barred from others

Two weeks before the Diocese of Buffalo declared bankruptcy, a state judge ruled that the diocese must turn over the “secret files” of two of its most “notorious” pedophile priests.

But most Catholics — and by extension, dozens of the priests’ alleged victims — are still barred from seeing the files because of conditions the judge placed on their disclosure.

State Supreme Court Justice Deborah A. Chimes ruled Feb. 13 that after months of fighting their release, lawyers for the diocese must disclose the personnel files of Fr. Norbert F. Orsolits and Fr. William F.J. White.

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Archdiocese paid settlements for priest accused of sex, would not answer questions about bankruptcy, report says

NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WVUE

March 11, 2020

A New Orleans Archdiocese attorney said Wednesday the church paid out four financial settlements in cases involving former priest Lawrence Hecker, who is accused of sexually molesting children.

According to The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate, attorney Dirk Wegmann also said in court the church found out about at least one abuse allegation against Hecker in 1988.

That is 14 years before he was removed from public ministry.

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New Orleans priest’s abuse complaints started coming in 1988, led to 4 settlements: church lawyer

NEW ORLEANS (LA)
nola.com

March 11, 2020

By Ramon Antonio Vargas

Alleged victim’s attorney twice asked church lawyers if church was contemplating bankrupcty, didn’t get answer

An attorney for the Archdiocese of New Orleans said Wednesday that the church learned of at least one abuse allegation against accused predatory priest Lawrence Hecker in 1988, or 14 years before he was removed from public ministry and three decades before archdiocesan officials informed the community that he was a suspected serial child molester.

The lawyer also revealed that the archdiocese has paid out financial settlements in four cases involving Hecker, who worked at more than a dozen Catholic churches in the New Orleans area over 44 years before his forced retirement in 2002.

The statements from archdiocesan attorney Dirk Wegmann came in what was supposed to be a routine status conference in a lawsuit filed by an alleged Hecker abuse victim before Orleans Parish Civil District Court Judge Nakisha Ervin-Knott. However, the proceeding was often far from routine.

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Former U.P. priest charged with more sexual assaults

LANSING (MI)
Daily Press

March 12, 2020

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s investigation into sexual abuse by members of the clergy resulted in Gary Allen Jacobs being formally arraigned late Tuesday in Ontonagon County on two additional criminal sexual conduct cases. Hee allegedly committed the offenses in the 1980s while serving as a priest under the Catholic Diocese of Marquette in the Upper Peninsula.

Jacobs was originally charged in January on seven additional criminal sexual conduct charges in three separate cases that reportedly occurred in Ontonagon and Dickinson counties.

Since January, two new victims came forward making sexual assault reports against Jacobs, 74, now of Albuquerque, N.M. In the two cases, he is charged with three criminal sexual conduct counts stemming from incidents that reportedly occurred between the dates of Jan. 1, 1981 and Dec. 31, 1984 in Ontonagon County.

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Former priest arraigned in Ontonagon County on new CSC charges

ONTONAGON (MI)
WLUC/TV6 News Team

March 11, 2020

A former Upper Michigan priest is in jail and facing more charges in a criminal sexual conduct investigation.

According to the Michigan Attorney General’s Office, Gary Allen Jacobs was formally arraigned late Tuesday in Ontonagon County District Court on two additional criminal sexual conduct cases that he reportedly committed in the 1980s while serving as a priest under the Catholic Diocese of Marquette in the Upper Peninsula.

Jacobs is currently in the Ontonagon County Jail. The court denied him bond.

Jacobs was originally charged in January on seven additional criminal sexual conduct charges in three separate cases that reportedly occurred in Ontonagon and Dickinson counties.

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Monsignor in landmark church abuse case goes back on trial

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Associated Press

March 16, 2020

By Maryclaire Dale

Nearly two decades after the Roman Catholic priest-abuse scandal exploded in the U.S. in 2002, only one church official has ever gone to prison over it: Monsignor William Lynn, the longtime secretary for clergy in the Philadelphia archdiocese.

After an appeals court found his sweeping 2012 trial flawed and his conviction was twice overturned, Lynn, 69, is set to be retried Monday on a single child endangerment count. Prosecutors contend he endangered children by transferring a known predator priest, after a year of inpatient therapy, to their parish without warning in 1993.

The landmark case, now trimmed to its core, will look nothing like the gut-wrenching, four-month trial that unearthed the church’s “secret archives,” drew more than 20 haunted victims to the witness stand and led the judge to conclude that Lynn allowed “monsters in clerical garb … to destroy the souls of children.”

This time, a new judge plans to steer clear of the broader priest-abuse crisis that has cost the church an estimated $3 billion or more, and plunged dioceses around the world into bankruptcy and scandal.

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5-year sentence for French priest who abused boy scouts

LYON (FRANCE)
Associated Press

By Nicolas Vaux-Montagny

March 16, 2020

A French priest who acknowledged sexually abusing at least 75 boys over decades was sentenced Monday to five years in prison, in France’s worst case of clergy abuse to reach trial.

The court in Lyon issued the verdict against 74-year-old Bernard Preynat behind closed doors because of the spreading coronavirus that has shuttered most activity in France.

Preynat’s case forced the first serious reckoning with sex abuse within the Catholic Church in France. Preynat testified that multiple cardinals and other senior church officials were aware of his misconduct dating back to the 1960s, but he wasn’t removed from the priesthood until last year.

Victims of Preynat’s abuse, primarily boy scouts, welcomed his conviction for sexually abusing minors. Preynat was a scout leader.

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University regrets not telling victim to go to police

GREENVILLE (SC)
Associated Press

March 15, 2020

Bob Jones University in South Carolina said it regrets not encouraging a teenager to go to police after she said she was sexually assaulted on campus by a former pastor.

The woman reported the assaults in 2005, saying four years earlier when she was 16, a then 37-year-old pastor took her to a university-owned apartment while visiting Greenville and attacked her, The Greenville News reported.

Jonathan Alan Weaver, 56, was charged last month by Greenville Police with two counts of first-degree assault and battery. South Carolina does not have a statute of limitations for any criminal offense.

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Cardinal Pell’s lawyers move quickly to file documents

AUSTRALIA
CathNews

March 15, 2020

Lawyers for Cardinal George Pell have already filed supplementary material with the High Court amid hopes of a quick decision in his appeal. Source: The Herald-Sun.

The Cardinal’s legal team were asked to file a short note on the evidentiary relationship between the two separate incidents of abuse of which he was convicted.

The note was filed on Friday night following the second and final day of his appeal.

Sources close to the case doubt the issue will impact the decision in any significant way.

Victoria’s Director of Public Prosecutions, Kerri Judd, QC, now has until early next week to file a response to the note.

The full bench of the High Court has reserved its decision to be handed down at a later date.

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Disgraced priest disputes law firm’s report, seeks certain rights from OKC Archdiocese

OKLAHOMA CITY (OK)
The Oklahoman

By Carla Hinton and Randy Ellis

March 16, 2020

A retired Catholic clergyman named in a list of predatory priests wants to retain the right to carry out priestly functions like officiating at weddings and funerals.

Enid attorney Stephen Jones said he will appeal to Rome on behalf of the Rev. James Mickus if the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City does not restore the retired priest’s “priestly faculties.”

Jones’ disagreement with the archdiocese stems from allegations against Mickus that were included in a report compiled by Oklahoma City-based McAfee & Taft. The law firm was hired by the archdiocese to investigate and report on its findings concerning priests with substantiated allegations of sex abuse against a minor.

The 77-page report released in October 2019 included an allegation that Mickus, 75, had sexually abused a minor while serving as an archdiocese priest at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Enid.

Jones said Mickus acknowledges having a “consensual romantic relationship” with the person who made the allegation, but contends the man was an adult at the time.

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Smyllum: Abuse survivor’s questions for scandal-hit charity as he pleads for chance to say final goodbye to loved one

GLASGOW (SCOTLAND)
The Sunday Post

March 15, 2020

by Gordon Blackstock

For years he didn’t think about him. Now he can’t stop.

Every night Eddie McColl, 75, says he remembers his kid brother Francis, who died at the age of 13. Both siblings, along with older brothers John and Willie, were taken from their widowed mother, Ellen, in the early ’50s. After coalman dad John died from tuberculosis, the family had been left on its uppers.

Eddie remembers being so poor, he would raid bins for clothes to wear to school in the tough area of Maryhill in Glasgow. Soon, the three younger brothers were taken to Smyllum Park orphanage in Lanarkshire to be protected and cared for. Or so they hoped.

In 2018, the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry heard evidence that the orphanage – run by the religious order of nuns, the Daughters of Charity – was rife with physical and sexual abuse suffered by many of the children taken there.

John, a streetwise teenager, escaped life at Smyllum, originally running away before being allowed to live with an aunt. Francis, the youngest and not yet at school, was kept away from his brothers in the nursery wing.

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Newcastle Herald editorial: It’s time to challenge the Catholic Church over whether it’s really changed

AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

March 16, 2020

HUNTER paedophile priest Vince Ryan is good at playing the victim, despite truly horrific crimes against children that include forcing boys as young as nine to attempt anal intercourse in a church with other boys, for his sick pleasure.

Men died too young after they were raped and sexually assaulted by Ryan. He was a protected species who could and should have been stopped from the early 1970s, but wasn’t because of the senior clerics above who covered up his crimes.

Hunter Catholics have been warned that the ABC series Revelation, presented by Sarah Ferguson from Tuesday and featuring an interview with Ryan, will be confronting. That’s if they watch it, and they should.

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Bill advances that aims to deliver justice for adults abused as children

GEORGIA
Georgia Recorder

March 16, 2020

By Ross Williams

After a couple of failed attempts in recent years, Georgia lawmakers are again advancing legislation to allow adults who were victims of sexual abuse more time to sue organizations that employed their abuser.

This latest version of the Hidden Predator Act passed the House late last week and its fate is now in the state Senate. Its author, Warner Robins Republican Heath Clark, said the bill raises the age a victim can bring a civil suit for child sexual abuse from 23 to 38 years and expands the amount of time a victim can bring suit from two years after becoming aware of the abuse to four years.

If the bill becomes law, it would open a one-year window for victims whose statute of limitation has run out to file suit against a person who committed abuse or an entity that had an obligation to report the abuse but knowingly allowed it to continue or attempted to conceal it.

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Cruel legacy for abuse victims whose church hid the guilty

ENGLAND
News & Star with the Cumberland News

March 15, 2020

By Phil Coleman

I CAN see the pain in his eyes.

As he sits in his living room, the walls adorned with original paintings of two stunningly beautiful Lake District valleys, Richard is reliving the terrible day 36 years ago when a trusted Church of England vicar cynically and brutally destroyed his childhood.

Decades have passed but deep anger remains.

Richard’s anger is not for Ronald Johns, the disgraced and later defrocked former Carlisle Cathedral canon who sexually abused him when he was a child. It’s for the bishop who turned a blind eye when Johns finally confessed he was a child abuser.

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March 15, 2020

Victims expect more dioceses to declare bankruptcy

HARRISBURG (PA)
The Tribune-Democrat

March 15, 2020

By John Finnerty

Harrisburg Bishop Ronald Gainer announces Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020, that the diocese has filed to reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the face of looming lawsuits over priest abuse.

The diocese has already paid out almost $13 million to settle claims filed by victims of priest abuse through a compensation fund set up by the church.

Adult survivors of priest abuse across Pennsylvania expect that other dioceses will follow the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg and declare bankruptcy to force victims tons seek damages through bankruptcy court rather than civil court.

Mary McHale, a Reading women involved with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said “I think it’s only a matter of time” before other dioceses in Pennsylvania declare bankruptcy, a move announced by the Harrisburg diocese in mid-February.

“It’s not a shock,” she said. “It’s another play in their playbook.”

McHale was abused by a priest in Reading, who began grooming her after she disclosed to him that she was gay. She only came forward after another woman publicly accused the same priest of abuse.

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‘Those told of abuse must report it,’ says Workington MP

ENGLAND
News & Star

March 15, 2020

By Phil Coleman

Any person in a position of responsibility who is told about the sexual abuse of a child should report it to the police, says Workington MP Mark Jenkinson.

The politician spoke out after the News & Star reported on the cases of two Allerdale men whose abusers were clergymen – one with the Catholic Church and the other with the Church of England – and both were allowed to continue working after they confessed their paedophilia.

Neither was reported to the police by their church bosses.

One was a victim of former Carlisle Cathedral canon Ronald Johns and he said he was appalled to learn about the case of former Workington priest Peter Turner, who was allowed to continue his ‘ministry’ in Workington after telling his abbot he had abused a child

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In church abuse crisis, some call for ‘restorative justice’

WHEELING (WV)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

By Peter Smoth

March 15, 2020

In a Wheeling University room normally used for musical recitals, groups of Catholics sat in small circles, each with a single lit candle in the middle, and took turns discussing their struggles to remain Catholic in an era defined by scandal.

“As a parent of four children, and a health-care provider for children, I am just unable to comprehend how an organization would not protect vulnerable people, especially one that professes to have a moral authority,” one man said. And when that authority “starts unraveling, I have a lot of questions. What else am I believing that you tell me? Why should I believe you anymore?”

The exercise was a model for what’s known as “healing circles,” used as a tool for what’s known as “restorative justice,” and the aim of the conference was to promote its use in area parishes.

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Missouri Pastor Indicted for Sex Abuse Then Worked at Church for 5 More Months

MISSOURI
forsuchatimeasthisrally.com (blog)

March 13, 2020

New details on the abuse case at First Baptist Greenwood and a timeline of events based on news reports. More questions are raised about the role of the newest Southwest Baptist University trustee, Mike Roy.

Shawn Davies was under indictment for sexual abuse in Kentucky as of May 18, 2005 according to court records. Shawn was a pastor on staff at First Baptist Greenwood, MO and later convicted of abusing 7+ boys at the church.

He was not fired by the church until October 2005 – five months following the indictment.

Here’s the timeline that we’ve pieced together after reviewing dozens of news articles:

2001 – Sheriff in Kentucky begins first known investigation into sexual abuse by Shawn Davies according to court records. Abuse occurred in Davies’ role as pastor.

August 2003 – Shawn Davies is hired by First Baptist Greenwood / church senior pastor, Mike Roy. Abuse incidents at First Baptist Greenwood begin this same month.

May 18, 2005 – Shawn is INDICTED in Kentucky on sexual abuse charges.

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Will attorneys general go after abuse & cover-up in other churches?

UNITED STATES
adamhorowitzlaw.com (law firm blog)

March 15, 2020

Now it’s the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Maybe soon it will be the Baptists. We say: Bring it on!

Pennsylvania’s Attorney General has announced a new investigation into Jehovah’s Witnesses clergy sex crimes and cover ups. Activists are urging Missouri’s attorney general to launch a probe into Baptist clergy abuse and cover up.

Pennsylvania opens grand jury investigation into Jehovah’s Witnesses’ cover-up of child sex abuse

Mo. Attorney General Urged to Investigate Baptists

Again, we welcome these moves. For decades, law enforcement officials have tended to pursue smaller, easier cases against less influential and unpopular defendants. And their reluctance to believe that widely-respected officials would tolerate or enable heinous crimes, and then conceal them, proved problematic too.

Finally, that mindset is beginning to change.

In 2002, the first formal law enforcement probes into Catholic officials and their cover ups began. But there’s no question that child molesting clerics seek out and can be found in every religious group.

(A terrific list of grand jury investigations into church groups can be found here: http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AtAGlance/reports.htm)

“But why focus just on churches?” some believers and religious officials complain. “Why single us out?”

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Former Hyde Park pastor arrested in 2001 incident, accused of 2005 sexual assault

NEW YORK
Poughkeepsie Journal

March 14, 2020

By Ariel Gilreath

A former Hyde Park priest is being accused of the sexual assault of a 17-year-old in 2005.

And, a South Carolina university is apologizing for not doing more to assist the teen 15 years ago, in the wake of the priest’s arrest.

Shielagh Clark said she was sexually assaulted by her former pastor at Hyde Park Baptist Church, Jonathan Alan Weaver, but said she was too afraid at the time to pursue police charges.

Late last month, Weaver, 56, was arrested by the Greenville Police Department in South Carolina, and charged with two counts of first-degree assault and battery. Those charges are tied to an incident that allegedly occurred in 2001 when Clark was still in high school and on a trip with Weaver and other teenage students to Bob Jones University, according to warrants. Greenville police charged Weaver with assault and battery because that’s what the evidence supported, Lt. Alia Paramore said.

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The High Court decision on the fate of convicted cardinal George Pell may be delivered as early as next week.

AUSTRALIA
The Saturday Paper

March 15, 2020

By Rick Morton

The final bid for George Pell’s freedom began with a test of faith.

Addressing the full bench of the High Court in Canberra this week, the cardinal’s silk, Bret Walker, SC, drew his line in the sand: believing the surviving victim was not enough to convict Pell to six years in prison for historical child sexual abuse. Faith can be wrong, he argued. Faith is slippery.

“It does not mean that all of us when we say, in or out of court, that we believe something are therefore also saying, let alone making true, the fact that we cannot be wrong in that to which our belief leads us,” Walker told the court. “The belief does not drive from the field the possibility of reasonable doubt.”

This was the scaffold upon which Pell’s defence would rest.

The credibility of the victim was not in question, Walker argued, but was he reliable? In asking the court to dismantle the faith placed in the survivor of abuse, he urged them to look elsewhere, at the “whole of the evidence”.

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A powerful moment has turned ugly

CANADA
The Catholic Register

By Annabel Quinn

March 15, 2020

Last year I attended an incredible spiritual retreat in Trosly-Breuil, France, the birthplace of the first L’Arche community.

Jean Vanier was too ill to facilitate the retreat, but he attended Mass with us daily and allowed us to kiss his cheek, shake his hand and pose for many pictures. He warmly received our gift, a large canvas print of Corinthians, “Love is patient, love is kind….”

One evening the retreatants walked by candlelight into the cave-like sanctuary to sit in silence in front of the Blessed Sacrament. I sat on the floor against the back wall. Total silence and peace.

I realized I was sitting beside a pair of feet. I looked up and saw that I was sitting at the feet of Jean Vanier. I am ashamed to admit that I felt a little smug; I was the beloved child sitting at the feet of a living saint.

That was one of my most powerful moments as a Catholic. Today that memory has been shattered by the news that Vanier sexually coerced six (non-disabled) women under the guise of giving them spiritual direction.

I learned about his abuse when a friend sent me a “You OK?” text, along with one of the articles (the first of many) that detailed what Vanier had done. I was utterly gutted.

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Former Priest Returns To Michigan To Face Additional Sex Abuse Charges

ONTONAGON (MI)
WWJ News

March 14, 2020

A former Michigan priest who relocated to New Mexico has returned to the state to face additional charges for allegedly sexually abusing children decades ago.

Gary Allen Jacobs was formally arraigned late Tuesday in Ontonagon County on two additional criminal sexual conduct cases that he reportedly committed in the 1980s while serving as a priest under the Catholic Diocese of Marquette in the Upper Peninsula.

Jacobs was originally charged in January on seven criminal sexual conduct charges in three separate cases that reportedly occurred in Ontonagon and Dickinson counties.

Since January, two new victims came forward making sexual assault reports against Jacobs, 74, now of Albuquerque, New Mexico. In the two cases, he is charged with three criminal sexual conduct counts stemming from incidents that reportedly occurred between the dates of Jan. 1, 1981 and Dec. 31, 1984 in Ontonagon County.

The new charges include two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a child between the ages of 13 and 15, and one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a child between the ages of 13 and 15. Both cases arise from his abuse of his authority status as the victims’ priest.

Jacobs faces up to life in prison if convicted as charged.

Jacobs was arrested Jan. 17 in New Mexico on three previously charged cases of criminal sexual conduct. Rather than await extradition from New Mexico, Jacobs voluntarily returned to Michigan to be arraigned on the new charges.

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US Hispanic Catholics are future, but priest numbers dismal

PHOENIX (AZ)
Associated Press

March 13, 2020

By David Crary

Maria Chavira, a senior administrator in the Diocese of Phoenix, says Spanish-speaking Catholic parishes in her area are “bursting at the seams” and celebrates the emergence of Hispanics as the largest ethnic component of the church nationwide.

Throughout the Southwest, where the surge has been dramatic, Roman Catholic leaders are excited by the possibilities — and well aware of daunting challenges.

Hispanics now account for 40% of all U.S. Catholics, and a solid majority of school-age Catholics. Yet Hispanic Americans are strikingly underrepresented in Catholic schools and in the priesthood — accounting for less than 19% of Catholic school enrollment and only about 3% of U.S.-based priests.

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March 14, 2020

Plaintiff seeks record $2.4 million in damages in sex-assault case involving former Kamloops priest

KAMLOOPS (BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA)
Vancouver Sun via Kamloops this Week

March 13, 2020

Keith Fraser / Vancouver Sun

Rosemary Anderson claims Father Erlindo Molon committed the assaults against her after she was hired as a teacher at the Our Lady of Perpetual Help school in North Kamloops in 1976

A former schoolteacher who alleges she was repeatedly sexually assaulted by a Catholic priest in Kamloops more than 40 years ago is seeking a record $2.4 million in damages for such cases in B.C.

Rosemary Anderson claims Father Erlindo Molon committed the assaults against her after she was hired as a teacher at the Our Lady of Perpetual Help school in North Kamloops in 1976.

She testified that, at the time, she was grieving the death of her father and seeking spiritual guidance from the priest, who is now 88 years old and suffering from dementia.

In final submissions at Anderson’s civil trial this week, her lawyer, Sandra Kovacs, outlined the quantum of damages being sought from the defendant, the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Kamloops.

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Police’s sex abuse investigation into retired Cheyenne bishop finishes

WYOMING
Casper StarTribune

March 10, 2020

By Seth Klamann.

Cheyenne police’s follow-up investigation into allegations of sexual abuse by a retired Catholic leader in Wyoming concluded last week, right around the time that another alleged victim of the clergyman came forward in Missouri.

The investigation into retired Bishop Joseph Hart will turn 2 years old in April. Cheyenne police have said they began investigating in spring 2018, after the Diocese of Cheyenne launched its own investigation into Hart and concluded he’d sexually abused at least two then-adolescents in the 1970s and 80s. Since then, four more victims have been identified in Wyoming alone.

In Kansas City, Missouri, Hart served as a priest for roughly 20 years, before becoming bishop in Wyoming in 1976. He has faced allegations there by more than a dozen men.

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