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.

July 26, 2020

Money, Sectarianism, & Catholic Tradition

NEW YORK (NY)
Commonweal

July 24, 2020

By Massimo Faggioli

What to make of the fact that the Catholic Church received $1.4 billion from the U.S. government’s Paycheck Protection Program? The remarks from Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, seem to suffice. As he put it in a statement, the “Catholic Church” in this case encompasses the hundreds of individual Catholic dioceses, parishes, schools, social-service agencies, and other organizations that collectively employ thousands of people, and so is not prohibited from receiving taxpayer-backed federal aid. “The Paycheck Protection Program was designed to protect the jobs of Americans from all walks of life, regardless of whether they work for for-profit or non-profit employers, faith-based or secular,” his statement read in part. A range of Catholic media outlets have made the same observation, and it seems clear there is less to this “story” than meets the eye.

Yet at the same time, we should remain mindful about the constitutional and political issues concerning the relationship between Church and state, and the continued need for financial accountability and transparency in light of the links between the sexual-abuse crisis and financial mismanagement in Catholic institutions. It seems that some of the objection to PPP funding for the Church arises from the belief that the money could be used to pay settlements and legal costs associated with sex-abuse cases and other scandals. And this unfortunately speaks to the level of regard many people have for the Catholic Church today.

But we might also use the moment to think about the larger ecclesiological and theological issues raised by the increasingly decisive role of money in the life of the Church, especially the U.S. Catholic Church. As a result of changes in Catholic political culture since the twentieth century, wealthy donors have acquired the kind of legitimacy that the institutional Church might have once conferred on emperors, kings, and princes—as evidenced now in the expanding influence of conservative and traditionalist Catholic groups and Catholic business leaders. But this development itself arises in part from four decades of hostility to government spending and the dismantling of federal social-service programs, which has raised the pressure on Catholic organizations to provide more of these services than at any time since those programs were implemented in the twentieth century. The donations the Catholic Church gets from these private entities don’t necessarily come out of sympathy or support for the work it’s doing in these areas; rather, the contributions can sometimes be meant to influence the Church’s position on issues like immigration, the environment, and the economy. But in the case of the PPP payouts, we are talking about taxpayer money. And this should make us think about the complex meaning of “poor Church” in the recent Catholic tradition, and what that idea means going forward.

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.

Clinical counselor taking clergy abuse reports at Columbus diocese

COLUMBUS (OH)
Columbus Dispatch

July 26, 2020

By Danae King

Laura Lewis, a licensed clinical counselor, will now be the person who meets with survivors of priest sexual abuse of minors at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus, replacing a priest who previously had the role.

Laura Lewis believes that mental health counseling is beyond essential when working with survivors of priests’ sexual abuse of minors.

That’s part of the reason she said she was happy to accept the position of interim victims assistance coordinator when it was offered by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus.

Lewis began the part-time position on July 15, replacing Monsignor Stephan Moloney in the role that includes taking all reports of sexual abuse by a clergy member in the diocese; leading the Diocesan Board of Review for the Protection of Children, a group of 10 that determines whether claims are credible; and facilitating healing and help for survivors.

Lewis, a licensed clinical counselor, has worked with the diocese in the past, including on its Safe Environment Task Force that first met in January and was charged with looking at diocesan policies and recommending changes to help the church better serve survivors.

One of their recommendations was that her position be created to help the diocese offer better outreach, support and education on the abuse crisis, according to the diocese.

Lewis will work on an interim basis until the diocese creates a full-time, permanent coordinator position.

The change comes after The Dispatch reported in March 2019 that Moloney was one of three diocesan victims’ assistance coordinators in the country who were also priests, something survivors and their advocates, such as Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), have said can be a barrier to survivors reporting abuse to diocesan officials.

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.

Harriman priest named in sexual abuse lawsuit

KINGSTON (TN)
Roane County News

July 23, 2020

By Hugh Willett

A lawsuit filed in the Circuit Court of Knox County accuses a Harriman Catholic priest of sexually abusing a female parishioner.

Plaintiff Celeste Arnone alleges that she sustained injuries and damages as a result of a sexual relationship with Father Michael Sweeney, pastor of Blessed Sacrament Church in Harriman.

The Catholic Diocese of Knoxville is also listed as a defendant.

The lawsuit alleges that shortly after the married plaintiff became a Catholic in 2000, Father Sweeney began providing “spiritual direction” that included weekly visits that eventually developed into a sexual relationship.

“Father Sweeney exerted control over the Plaintiff Celeste Arnone to gain and maintain a sexual relationship with her and portrayed it as furthering the spiritual relationship with him and the Church,” the complaint alleges.

The relationship involved going to lunch, shopping and visiting Sweeney’s lake property. He also allegedly provide financial aid including getting her house out of foreclosure, buying her a gun, showing her how to use it, and providing money for a trip to Italy.

The complaint also alleges that the plaintiff’s relationship with her family suffered as a result of the relationship with Sweeney, resulting in a June 2004 divorce and annulment of her marriage.

“Much of this sexual exploitation of adult men and women comes under the guise of spiritual direction done in private,” says Susan Vance of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

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.

July 25, 2020

Suit alleges sexual abuse at St. Agnes Rectory in 1980s

GENESEO (NY)
Livingston County News

July 24, 2020

By Matt Leader

Latest filing against Joe Larrabee, former priest in Dansville, Avon

Avon NY – One word comes to mind when Mark Rowe recalls Joseph Larrabee, a former priest who’s now the subject of multiple lawsuits alleging the sexual abuse of children.

“I guess the word is charismatic,” said Rowe, the latest to file suit against Larrabee. “Funny guy. There wasn’t anybody that didn’t like him – adults, kids. He was very likable.”

So when Larrabee, an associate pastor at the St. Agnes parish, invited Rowe and some of his classmates over for a sleepover at the rectory one summer in the early 1980s when Rowe was in his early teenage years, Rowe didn’t think much of it.

“Everybody had sleeping bags on the floor – he did as well. He was sleeping next to me. He reached into my bag and grabbed my genitals,” said Rowe, speaking during a phone interview last week. “After I don’t how long it was – if I said 30 seconds or a minute I’d be guessing – I knew it wasn’t right so I told him to stop. He said ‘Are you sure?’ I said ‘Yup.’”

Rowe, who graduated from Avon High School in 1984 and is now 54 years old, doesn’t think he ever went back to the rectory, though he can’t remember for sure.

“It’s really vague in my mind,” he said. “The one time just stands out because of what happened. I want to say it was the only time I’d gone there. I know there were other sleepovers that other kids went to at other times.”

Regardless, Rowe saw little of Larrabee from then on. A couple of years after the sleepover, Larrabee was transferred to a different parish.

The now former priest’s sexual assault of Rowe is outlined in a lawsuit filed earlier this month in Livingston County Supreme Court. It is, at least, the sixth such lawsuit filed against Larrabee under New York’s Child Victims Act. Three were filed in August 2019, according to reporting from Rochester’s Democrat and Chronicle.

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.

West Virginia Supreme Court to take up church-and-state question in lawsuit against Wheeling-Charleston Diocese

CLARKSBURG (WV)
WV News

July 24, 2020

By Matt Harvey

https://www.wvnews.com/news/wvnews/west-virginia-supreme-court-to-take-up-church-and-state-question-in-lawsuit-against-wheeling/article_f491dc8a-9655-5bf3-9f62-b2e167de100c.html

Charleston WV – The state Supreme Court will hear arguments Sept. 22 on whether a consumer protection lawsuit can move forward against the state’s only Roman Catholic diocese.

At the heart of the issue: Whether the lawsuit filed by Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s office under the Consumer Credit and Protection Act is a violation of the separation of church and state doctrine in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Wood County Judge J.D. Beane, who’s presiding over the case at the circuit court level, has ruled Morrisey’s lawsuit opens too much potential for violation of separation of church and state. However, Beane stayed his order granting the diocese’s motion to dismiss Morrisey’s lawsuit and sent the matter to the state Supreme Court as a certified question.

The state Supreme Court’s ruling might not be the end of the matter. Although the U.S. Supreme Court refuses most cases, one with this kind of question might make it on the docket if an appeal is filed by either side.

Morrisey filed the consumer protection action against the diocese in early 2019, alleging misleading and false claims by the church organization over the safety of its private school educational programs and camps.

The lawsuit contends the diocese had a duty to note past instances of sexual crimes and misconduct by priests it had hired. The filing also questions the commitment of the diocese to ferreting out problem hires through background checks, and it indicates that appropriate action wasn’t always taken even when wrongdoing was discovered.

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.

Lawsuit claims McCarrick ‘groomed’ abuse victims

WASHINGTON (DC)
WTOP News

July 23, 2020

By Rick Massimo

A man has filed a lawsuit claiming that he and others were sexually abused as boys in the 1980s in New Jersey by Catholic priests and bishops, and were groomed for and by Theodore McCarrick, who went on to become Archbishop of Washington.

The New Jersey lawsuit also claims that McCarrick began sexually abusing boys in 1969, 50 years before he was laicized by Pope Francis in 2019.

The plaintiff in the suit hasn’t been identified, but Jeff Anderson, one of his lawyers, said in a conference call Wednesday: “We bring into bright and broad focus over 50 years of criminal sexual predation by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick – all of it cloaked in papal power.”

The suit claims that a parish priest, Anthony Nardino, violated the plaintiff when he was an 11-year-old altar boy in 1981. The abuse continued until 1983, the lawsuit says, and McCarrick, then the first archbishop of Metuchen, New Jersey, began to participate in 1982.

When the boy was at the Essex Catholic Boys High School, he was being groomed, Anderson said. The principal, Brother Andrew Thomas Hewitt, began to sexually abuse the boy and became “the procurer of this kid, and, we believe, others for McCarrick,” Anderson said. When the boy was having trouble making tuition, Hewitt said, “You have to see the boss” – McCarrick.

The suit claims that Hewitt brought the boy to McCarrick’s residence, as well as a beach house in Sea Girt, New Jersey, that was paid for with diocesan money, Anderson said.

At the house, boys were assigned to sleep in various rooms, and priests were assigned with them, the suit says. “In the night, with the assistance of others, McCarrick would creep into this kid’s bed and engage in criminal assault, whispering, ‘It is OK,’” Anderson said.

“There are at least seven minors — children — who McCarrick groomed and who were groomed for McCarrick by others,” Anderson said.

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

Letters: The Heavy Toll of Priest Sex Abuse

NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

July 24, 2020

By Patricia Gallagher Marchant (and three other writers)

Readers share their stories of growing up in the Catholic church and of the culture that allowed the abuse to happen.

This article (Pray for Your Poor Uncle, by Elizabeth Bruenig [Sunday Review, July 19]) shows the insidious way predatory priests weaseled their way into families at a time in history when sexual violation was not on the radar. The psychological abuse is so creepy and deep. The isolation and secrecy are deadly.

I was sexually abused by a charismatic Catholic priest who befriended my dad, drank with him and groomed my family before going on to rape me at 7 and countless other children.

Capturing the raw pain is hard, but the systemic piece is huge: one targeted family, feeling unique yet creeped out, surrounded by Catholics who are wowed by the hierarchy. The family and the victim then have to sort and sift alone. But when support and courage emerge as well as public support and courage, victims speak out.

Multiply this story by thousands, and the truth is revealed once again.

Patricia Gallagher Marchant
Franklin, Wis.

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.

Letter: Local parishes are new clergy abuse victims

LITTLE FALLS (MN)
Morrison County Record

July 24, 2020

By Horst G. Hanneken and Debbie Woitalla

Well, it just got more difficult to justify to our children why we remain Catholic. The St. Cloud Diocese just settled its sex abuse lawsuit for $22 million. Over $2 million falls on 131 parishes, each parish, regardless how big or small, asked to contribute $15,500, regardless whether we support a Catholic school or CCD program.

We did not place pedophile priests among us. Bishops knowingly did that, placing child molesters in unsuspecting communities, as they have done for decades. Generations of innocent children have borne the brunt of these immoral and unconscionable acts, causing irreparable harm. But, why are all parishes being assessed the same? Some don’t even have resident pastors. Bazaars are being canceled. Smaller rural parishes are already assessed $3,500 per year for priest retirement and $5,800 for clerical aid, the same as the largest ones.

We’re guessing many other assessments aren’t equitable either. We are obligated to use Catholic Mutual Insurance, who won’t even supply us a written insurance policy. So much for openness and transparency.

Church leaders are responsible for this chaos, not we Catholics in the pews. It seems the Catholic Church practices a lot of religion, but very little Christianity.

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 Diocese of Erie Facing New Lawsuit

ERIE (PA)
WJET-TV 24 ABC

July 24, 2020

By Samiar Nefzi

The Catholic Diocese of Erie is now facing a new lawsuit from three victims ranging from as far back as the mid-1970’s.

This new lawsuit comes as we near the two year anniversary of the grand jury report on the Catholic Church.

These recent claims are related to similar ones from the alleged cover up.

A high-profile sex abuse lawyer has filed a suit against the Diocese of Erie.

The three victims were identified by initials, all children at the time with the lawsuit suggesting J.A., 12 years old in 1978 was abused by Father Michael Barletta, W.C., 15 years old in 1983 was abused by Clergy Chester Gawronski and K.M. who was seven years old in 1975 was abused by Priest Fidelis G. Lazar.

“The abuse survivors still live with it everyday, I do not think it is fair or right that an institution gets to move on with itself and say look those are the sins of the past when there are thousands of people struggling today,” said attorney Nate Foote.

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 power of the pulpit

STUART (VA)
Henry County Enterprise

July 24, 2020

By Brandon Martin

Perhaps the greatest role of a priest is to communicate. They communicate to each other and they communicate to their audience. They communicate scripture, they communicate life and they communicate how to respond when the two collide.

To perfectly communicate, you need a sender, a receiver and a message; however, sometimes the communication runs into a disruption and the message shifts from its original intent.

The Sender

Father Mark White was removed from his position at St. Joseph in Martinsville and St. Francis of Assisi in Rocky Mount following a series of blog posts about the Catholic Church’s handling of sexual abuse among clergy members.

White sees his blog as an extension to all the ways he already communicates with parishioners.

“The on-line social media provide another means of reaching each other, forming a part of the larger ‘social network’ that a Catholic parish is,” he said. “During the virus, of course, the on-line means of communication have become much more important.”

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.

Attorney Blog: A Plea for Accuracy When Discussing Size of the Clergy Abuse Scandal

FORT LAUDERDALE (FL)
Horowitz Law

July 23, 2020

Every few months, we at Horowitz Law see or hear a line like this and practically moan with disgust:

“The Catholic Church has dealt with decades of scandal as investigations have found hundreds of priests across the globe who sexually abused minors. . .”

This inaccurate and minimizing line appeared in the Denver Post. But sadly, many reporters have written similar sentences.

As you might have guessed, it’s the word ‘hundreds’ that gets our goat. That’s nowhere close to accurate.

Hundreds of Catholic priests have been accused of abuse in several countries, including:

Ireland

*

Hundreds of Catholic priests have been accused of abusing in several US states, including

New York

Pennsylvania

Texas

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.

Allowing Bail to Rape Convict Ex-Priest to Marry Survivor Will Be a Mockery of Justice: Activists Plea

KERALA (INDIA)
LiveLaw.in

July 24, 2020

By Viswajith Anand

https://www.livelaw.in/news-updates/allowing-bail-to-rape-convict-ex-priest-to-marry-survivor-will-be-a-mockery-of-justice-activists-plea-in-kerala-hc-160446

Stating that allowing the plea of rape convict Robin Vadakkumcheriyil, ex-priest of Catholic Church, to suspend the sentence to marry the rape survivor will set a bad precedent, an activist and a Christian feminist organization have filed an application in the High Court of Kerala.

The applicants, Goerge Pulikuthiyil, an advocate-activist and Brinelle D’souza, founding and core committee member of Voices Against Sexual Abuse in the Church (VASAC) stated that, if Robin’s bail application is allowed, then it will set a bad example and open the door for many such men to force or coerce their victims into a compromise in order to escape the rigours of law.

‘The relief at this stage citing his desire to marry the victim, it will open the door for many such men who commit the offence of rape or aggravated sexual assault to force or coerce their victims into a compromise in order to escape the rigours of law. Such practices have been categorically looked down upon by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, and must not be encouraged in any judicial proceeding or stage’, stated the impleading application filed in the criminal appeal filed by Robin.

The applicants pointed out that the intention to marry the victim was already addressed and rejected by the trial court while sentencing him to 20 years imprisonment for the rape of a minor girl.

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.

‘Retaliation’ Review: Orlando Bloom powerfully tells story of a man broken by child abuse, robbed of his faith

KARNATAKA (INDIA)
MEA WorldWide

July 23, 2020

By Pathikrit Sanyal

https://meaww.com/retaliation-review-orlando-bloom-child-sexual-abuse-faith-janet-montgomery-charlie-creed-miles-story

In the 2015 Oscar-winning biographical drama ‘Spotlight’, an extremely overwhelmed Phil Saviano (played by Neal Huff) tells the Boston Globe journalists, “See, it is important to understand that this is not just physical abuse. It’s spiritual abuse too. When a priest does this to you, he robs you of your faith.”

Saviano was talking about child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. In a host of powerful scenes in the film, this one stands out. It spells out with immense clarity one of the consequences of this abuse that isn’t often spoken about.

Ludwig Shammasian and Paul Shammasian’s film ‘Retaliation’, which premiered at the 2017 Edinburgh International Film Festival as ‘Romans’, takes us through a similar painful journey. It tells the story of Malky or Malcolm (Orlando Bloom), a demolition worker in a working-class town in England. Malky may look like your normal guy-next-door, who likes to have a few pints of beer with his pals at his local pub after work, but he carries enormous pain inside him.

His cheery façade, however, begins to crumble, after he runs into someone at the pub. This man drags out ghosts from his past and Malky turns into this broken man, unable to process his feelings. He begins to lash out at people — sometimes complete strangers, sometimes his on-again-off-again girlfriend Emma (Janet Montgomery), sometimes his best friend Jo (Alex Ferns), and even himself.

His violent behavior stems from child sexual abuse. Twenty-five years ago, when he was no older than 12, a pastor (played by James Smillie) had raped him. And his repression of this act of abuse has led him to lead a dysfunctional life full of stoicism, rage, overcompensatory masculinity, mistrust, and sexual confusion.

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.

July 24, 2020

New Orleans priest continued serving 13 years after abuse claim landed him in treatment

NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WWL-TV and New Orleans Advocate

July 23, 2020

By David Hammer and Ramon Antonio Vargas

{With video interviewing survivor and showing documents.]

https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/local/new-orleans-priest-continued-serving-13-years-after-abuse-claim-landed-him-in-treatment/289-612b124b-d4db-42d4-bb60-66672d142feb

Asked about Ricky Monsour’s recollections, archdiocesan officials revealed new details about the church’s handling of accusations against Carl Davidson.

Sixteen years ago, Ricky Monsour spoke up for the first time about how he was groomed and molested in his boyhood by a priest the Catholic Church eventually acknowledged was almost certainly a child predator. But it was only recently that he decided to speak out about the details of the $106,000 payment that the church later gave him to quietly settle his claims of abuse at the hands of Carl Davidson.

Asked about Monsour’s recollections, archdiocesan officials revealed new details about the church’s handling of accusations against Davidson — including that he was sent to psychological treatment 31 years ago when church leaders first were told he had molested another boy, an aspiring priest.

That happened after New Orleans’ current archbishop, Gregory Aymond, took that abuse report and notified his then-boss, Archbishop Francis Schulte.

Until now, the church had never disclosed that sidelining, after which the now-dead Davidson was allowed to continue serving as a priest for at least another 13 years. It wasn’t until the clergy abuse scandal that erupted in Boston in 2002 that the church permanently removed Davidson from the ministry, and it took until 2004 — when Monsour went public — for the archdiocese to admit his removal stemmed from molestation accusations.

In a statement Thursday, Aymond said he would have acted differently now, given transparency policies that American bishops adopted following the Boston crisis. But he said the way the archdiocese handled Davidson for years was appropriate under the protocols in place before Boston changed everything.

Monsour, however, disagrees. He said he’s telling the full story of his case now so the public realizes how, even as bishops promised full transparency after Boston, myriad details of abuse cases have remained secret for years — often because of gag orders imposed by the church — and in some instances may never come to light unless survivors force the issue.

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

Albany diocese faces 33 new sexual abuse claims

ALBANY (NY)
Times-Union

July 22, 2020

By Brendan J. Lyons

More than 30 child sexual abuse complaints were filed Wednesday against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, including seven claims directed at a deceased Christian brother who had been assigned to Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbon High School in Schenectady in the 1960s and ’70s, according to the filings.

The Child Victims Act complaints were filed in state Supreme Court in Albany by two law firms, Jeff Anderson & Associates and LaFave Wein & Frament, that have now filed 107 lawsuits against the Albany Diocese.

“We are honored to stand with these survivors in their pursuit of truth and accountability,” Anderson said. “Until the diocese disgorges the secrets that it has kept hidden for decades, children remain at peril.”

The filings increase to eight the number of CVA complaints filed against deceased Brother Clement Adan Murphy, C.F.C., who worked at Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons.

Two complaints name Michael Scaringe, a registered sex offender from Cohoes. Those claims allege abuse in the 1970s at St. Helen and St. Paul the Apostle, two other Schenectady schools. Scaringe was a music teacher at both schools; in 1996, he was acquitted of sexually abusing a child at Bay Point Middle School in St. Petersburg, Fla., where he worked as a substitute band teacher, according to the court filings.

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.

Letter: No special exemption for Catholic churches

ALTOONA (PA)
Altoona Mirror

July 23, 2020

By Msgr. Michael A. Becker

A recent Associated Press article in the Mirror headlined an undocumented claim that there was a linking of coronavirus paycheck protection assistance to payouts for clergy sex abuse by Catholic dioceses.

That our own local diocese did receive assistance from the Paycheck Protection Program is true.

In fact, the Catholic Church in this country has received between $1.4 billion and $3.5 billion in federal funds under the Paycheck Protection Program, the federal initiative designed to mitigate the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ordinarily, businesses that employ more than 500 people and all faith-based organizations are not eligible for federal small business loans.

In this instance, however, Congress and the Trump administration waived those rules. The unspoken premise of the AP claim is that the church may have been undeserving of paycheck protection funds because it had settled lawsuits.

In reality, however, there was no special exemption for Catholic churches. All religious groups were similarly exempted.

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.

Letter: Transparency is essential on abuses in Catholic Church

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post-Dispatch

July 24, 2020

By Lena Woltering

The abuse of children by Catholic clerics is, in nearly everyone’s eyes, the most significant challenge to the church in centuries. So let’s compare the incoming archbishop to the outgoing archbishop on this matter.

On their respective diocese websites, both Archbishop Robert Carlson and Bishop Mitchell Rozanski list credibly accused predator priests. Carlson, however, is far more forthcoming and helpful. He gives his flock details: whether the accused priest has possessed child pornography, if he has a middle initial, when he was ordained and if he’s living or deceased. Bishop Rozanski does not.

Carlson reveals the identity of 64 proven, admitted or credibly accused local abusive clerics. But an independent, online archive on the church’s abuse crisis, BishopAccountability.org, names 97 publicly accused St. Louis clerics. In his current diocese, Rozanski names 18 accused priests, while BishopAccountability.org names 49. No one statistic or matrix provides a thorough assessment of any official’s performance, but this data suggests St. Louis’ new shepherd may not be as forthcoming with information on abuse as his predecessor.

Lena Woltering – Belleville

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.

Women suing Austin Catholic organization, former priest over sexual assault allegations

AUSTIN (TX)
KXAN

July 22, 2020

By Russell Falcon

Three women are suing a local Catholic organization and a former priest over allegations of sexual assault and false imprisonment.

The lawsuit alleges that The Schoenstatt Movement of Austin engaged in “institutionalized negligence” regarding priests who abuse members of the church.

The former priest, who is identified in the lawsuit as Gerold Langsch, formerly of St. Paul’s Catholic Church in south Austin, was accused of inappropriately touching a woman who was in hospice care in 2019.

He pleaded “no contest” and received a 300-day probation sentence.

The attorney representing the woman told KXAN in a statement: ‘The time has come for a Texas jury to send a message and put an end to this international, institutionalized abuse by Schoenstatt Catholic priests. It’s gone on and been tolerated far too long and our clients are going to fight to end it.”

KXAN also reached out to The Schoenstatt Movement of Austin, who declined to comment at this time.

For more on KXAN’s Investigation into priests accused of abuse, visit KXAN Investigates: The Accused.

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.

Erie diocese sued over claims of abuse cover-ups

ERIE (PA)
Erie Times-News

July 24, 2020

By Ed Palattella

One woman claims priest molested her in 1970s, Erie diocese knew of past abuse. Suit, others linked to grand jury report.

A woman is using a new ruling in Pennsylvania law to sue the Catholic Diocese of Erie over claims it covered up child sex abuse allegations against one of its priests, the Rev. Michael G. Barletta, named as one of 301 “predator priests” in the statewide grand jury report issued two years ago.

The woman’s lawsuit, filed in Erie County Court this week, appears to be part of a growing trend. Other plaintiffs have filed at least three other legal actions against the diocese in Erie County Court since July 15, with claims related to sex abuse allegations or cover-ups.

The cover-up claims are linked to the release of the statewide grand jury report on Aug. 14, 2018. The woman and other plaintiffs are claiming they learned about the cover-ups through the grand jury report, giving them two years from the date of that report to sue under the statute of limitations for “fraudulent concealment,” fraud and similar claims.

A state Superior Court decision from June 2019 is giving the plaintiffs the legal leeway to sue, for now.

The woman who sued is claiming Barletta molested her in the mid-1970s, when she attended the grade school at St. Luke Catholic Church in Erie and when she was in ninth grade at an unnamed high school. She said Barletta was at St. Luke to say Mass, and that she witnessed him molest boys at St. Luke.

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: Congress Should Expunge Statutes of Limitations on Child Sexual Assault—Nationwide

NEW YORK (NY)
Newsweek

July 20, 2020

By Michael Dolce

July 2020 marks the tenth anniversary of Florida’s repeal of all civil and criminal statutes of limitation for prosecution of cases involving child sexual battery. The repeal has opened courthouse doors so survivors can enter when they are sufficiently recovered mentally and emotionally to confront their abusers. A delayed report of child sex abuse to law enforcement no longer means officers have to wait for the reporting of a predator’s next victim and abusers can now be brought to justice and exposed in our communities. Institutions that care for our children, from churches to schools to daycare centers, have more incentive to keep children safe because they are held accountable. And, the ticking of a clock reward is eliminated, mitigating intimidation tactics abusers use to silence their prey for years or even decades.

It is undeniable that statutes of limitation do nothing to protect children and show no respect for survivors. In Florida, empathy for survivors has created an understanding of why the injuries inflicted in a few moments can take many years to heal. There is acknowledgement of the flashbacks, the haunting body memories and the struggle to regain trust in humanity that keep survivors silent for years. We join survivors of yesterday’s horrific abuses in their courageous efforts to make sure that today’s children do not walk in their shoes.

It took six years to win this legislative fight in Florida. We fought the Roman Catholic Church’s hierarchy, and the insurance industry that claimed sympathetic jury verdicts would bankrupt them. They claimed liability insurance premiums would skyrocket for any program involving children, forcing schools to shutter and recreation leagues to disband, as well as siphoning funds used for charitable programs. The ten years since have disproven these prophesies of doom.

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St. Joseph High School sued by Somerset man claiming sexual abuse by priest

BRIDGEWATER (NJ)
Courier News

July 22, 2020

By Nick Muscavage

Metuchen – A former St. Joseph High School student is suing the Diocese of Metuchen claiming he was sexually abused and “groomed” for 16 years by a Catholic priest while enrolled at the private school.

The victim, from the Somerset section of Franklin Township, filed the lawsuit on July 10 in Middlesex County Superior Court and names the Dioceses of Metuchen and Trenton, St. Joseph High School, and the Brothers of the Sacred Heart as defendants. The name of the victim, who is now an adult, is being withheld by My Central Jersey because he was a minor at the time he said he was sexually abused by Rev. Frank Iazzetta.

The victim, represented by attorney Jay Silvio Mascolo of RAM Law, claims he was first sexually abused by Iazzetta when he became a freshman student at St. Joe’s.

Some of the sexual abuse occurred on the grounds of St. Joe’s, including on the school campus and at Iazzetta’s residence at St. Joe’s, according to the lawsuit. Iazzetta’s sexual abuse of the victim “occurred during activities that were sponsored by, or were a direct result” of activities sponsored by the dioceses, St. Joe’s and the Brothers of the Sacred Heart.

The lawsuit claims that St. Joe’s, which is operated by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, and the Dioceses of Metuchen and Trenton “knew or should have known that Father Iazzetta was a known sexual abuser of children.”

Iazzetta, who died in 2007, was named in 2019 by the Diocese of Trenton as a priest who was “credibly accused” of child sexual abuse. The diocese said Iazzetta had “multiple” victims.

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July 23, 2020

Man sues Allentown diocese, Northampton church and school, claiming priest molested him when he was 11

ALLENTOWN (PA)
Morning Call

July 23, 2020

By Laurie Mason Schroeder

A 57-year-old Pennsylvania man who claims that he was molested by a Catholic priest from a Northampton church starting when he was 11 years old, has filed a lawsuit, one of numerous claims recently made under a potential loophole in the statute of limitations for civil cases involving sexual abuse.

The plaintiff, identified as Joe Doe in the suit filed Wednesday in Lehigh County Court, claims that he was sexually abused in the 1970s and early 1980s by the Rev. Thomas Kerestus, who served at Our Lady of Hungary Roman Catholic Church, now called Queenship of Mary Roman Catholic Church.

Also named in the suit are Our Lady of Hungary Catholic School in Northampton, which later became Good Shepherd Catholic School, and the Diocese of Allentown.

Kerestus, who died in 2014, was one of about 300 clergy members identified in a 2018 statewide grand jury report on predator priests.

In the suit, Doe claims that Kerestus befriended his family after his parents divorced and took him on overnight trips to Kerestus’ parents’ Tamaqua home, the parish rectory and the Jersey Shore. During the trips, Doe said in the suit, Kerestus sexually assaulted him.

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Nashville Diocese Paid $65K Settlement to Priest’s Alleged Abuse Victim

NASHVILLE (TN)
Nashville Scene

July 21, 2020

By Steven Hale

An investigation by the U.K.-based Catholic Herald raises questions about how the diocese responded to the allegations

The Catholic Diocese of Nashville paid $65,000 in May to settle the case of an adult woman who says she was sexually abused by a priest who was working as a chaplain at Aquinas College and the Dominican Campus.

The settlement was revealed by the London-based Catholic Herald, which published an investigation over the weekend raising questions about how the diocese handled the abuse allegations. The woman reported to the diocese in March 2019 that Father Kevin McGoldrick had abused her in 2017 at Aquinas College, where she was a student. In her first-person account, published by the Herald, the woman says that McGoldrick — a relatively young guitar-playing priest who was her personal spiritual director — invited her to the rectory and got her so drunk that she vomited. Then, she says, he assaulted her.

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Former Vatican ambassador to stand trial in Paris on charges of ‘sexual aggression’ against four men

NEW YORK (NY)
America Magazine

July 23, 2020

By Gerard O’Connell

The former Vatican nuncio in France, Archbishop Luigi Ventura, 75, will stand trial in Paris on Nov. 10 on charges of alleged “sexual aggression” against four men, Agence France-Press and other French media, including Le Monde, reported today, based on information from judicial sources.

It is the first time in the modern history of papal diplomacy that a nuncio of the Holy See will stand trial in a civil court. This was made possible when Pope Francis last year authorized the Holy See to lift the archbishop’s diplomatic immunity. This makes it possible for him to stand trial and seek to defend himself against his accusers in a civil court.

“He will be present at the hearing. He hopes to defend his honor and his innocence at that hearing,” Bertand Ollivier, the lawyer for the Italian archbishop, told AFP.

Archbishop Ventura, a senior and distinguished Vatican diplomat, served as the papal nuncio, or ambassador in France from 2009 to 2019. The first accusation against him was made before the judicial authorities in Paris in February 2019 by a young man who accused him of improper touching during a public ceremony in the French capital. The archbishop denied it, but the police investigation went ahead. Subsequently, allegations of a similar kind were made against him by two other men, who said they occurred in 2018. Soon after, a fourth man made similar allegations. In May 2019 the archbishop faced his accusers at a meeting called by the prosecutor, but that clearly did not convince the prosecution.

The Vatican, at Pope Francis’ instruction, removed his diplomatic immunity in July 2019 to enable him to defend himself in court. He will now have to respond to his four accusers at a trial in Paris in November.

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Lawsuit accuses defrocked Cardinal McCarrick of running a sex ring

NEWARK (NJ)
NJ TV News

July 22, 2020

By Michael Hill

A state lawsuit accuses the defrocked Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of a running a sex ring.

“All of it cloaked in papal power,” said Jeff Anderson, the plaintiff’s attorney.

The suit alleges McCarrick began molesting young altar servers and seminarians in 1969, and in the 1980s he allegedly got plenty of help from other men of the cloth — some deceased and some credibly accused.

The lawsuit details what a then-11-year-old, unidentified boy says took place. The suit refers to him as “Doe 14” and it alleges Father Anthony Nardino sexually abused the boy at church. The principal of Essex Catholic High School, the now-deceased Brother Andrew Hewitt, did as well, and groomed him and introduced him to McCarrick when the boy’s family had financial trouble paying tuition.

“Brother Hewitt became the procurer,” Anderson said.

Allegedly for McCarrick and trips to McCarrick’s beach house in Sea Girt, which was paid for by the Metuchen Diocese. It’s where McCarrick assigned where priests and boys would sleep.

“In the night, with the assistance of others, McCarrick would creep into this kid’s bed and engage in criminal sexual assault of him, whispering ‘It is OK,’” Anderson said.

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A Scarily Accurate Portrait of a Catholic Schoolgirl’s Sexual Awakening

NEW YORK (NY)
Daily Beast

July 23, 2020

By Kyndall Cunningham

Karen Maine’s new film explores the coming-of-age of a Catholic schoolgirl (“Stranger Things” star Natalia Dyer). And it’s pretty spot-on.

Growing up in Christian spaces, I heard all types of bad analogies and gender-essentialist arguments about human sexuality—but none like the one I heard at my Catholic high school. In an unofficial sex ed course, we received a lecture from a teacher on the sacredness of female virginity. He spoke about the confined nature of female genitalia, comparing a vagina to a cave and virginity to treasure. He said that the interiority of a woman’s genitalia compared to the exteriority of a man’s signified a special need for privacy and protection. Girls had to be careful about who they let inside their “caves”—ideally only their husbands—but boys, by nature, would end up sticking their penises wherever they wanted.

I was transported back to this particular moment watching an early scene in the new coming-of-age film Yes, God, Yes in which a priest uses a similarly ridiculous metaphor about kitchen appliances to differentiate between the ways boys and girls get aroused. “Guys are like microwave ovens,” he states matter-of-factly. “And ladies are like conventional ovens. Guys only need a few seconds, you know, like microwaves, to get switched on. Ladies—they typically need to preheat.”

Female sexual desire as an idle, passive experience is one of the religious notions Obvious Child co-writer Karen Maine debunks in her semi-autobiographical film about a Catholic, Midwestern teenager in the early 2000s. Alice, played by Stranger Things’ Natalia Dyer, finds herself in a spiritual crisis when she discovers masturbation one evening on a dirty AIM chat with a stranger. Her increasing desire for self-pleasure is countered by judgmental remarks from her prudish best friend and messages from school faculty that pre-marital sex in any form leads to eternal damnation (not to mention the whole conventional oven thing). But when a male classmate spreads a rumor throughout the school that she “tossed his salad,” her need to become sanctified—or at least appear that way to her peers—becomes more urgent, leading her on a rather clumsy but heart-warming spiritual—and sexual—journey.

To save face (and possibly her soul), Alice attends a four-day retreat organized by her school called Kirkos. If you attended a Jesuit high school, you’ll immediately recognize Maine’s fictional version of the real-life Kairos retreat, built around the the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. From the gold-cross pendant that looks like a waffle to the Christian contemporary music playlists to the forced self-reflections that comprise most of the itinerary, Maine precisely captures the experience of the retreat in all of its sentimentalism and self-seriousness.

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Complaint, Jury Demand, and Designation of Trial Counsel

NEW BRUNSWICK (NJ)
Middlesex County Superior Court

July 21, 2020

42. Plaintiff participated in youth activities and/or church activities at St. Francis Xavier and Essex Catholic. Plaintiff, therefore, developed great admiration, trust, reverence, and respect for the Roman Catholic Church, including Defendants and their agents.

43. During and through these activities, Plaintiff, as a minor and vulnerable child, was dependent on Defendants. Defendants had custody and/or supervision of Plaintiff and accepted the entrustment of Plaintiff and, therefore, had responsibility for Plaintiff and authority over Plaintiff.

44. In approximately 1978, when Plaintiff was approximately 11 years old and a parishioner and altar server at St. Francis Xavier, Fr. Nardino engaged in unpermitted sexual contact with Plaintiff.

45. From approximately 1981 to 1983, when Plaintiff was approximately 14 to I 6 years old and a student at Essex Catholic, Br. Hewitt engaged in unpermitted sexual contact with Plaintiff.

46. In approximately 1982, Br. Hewitt, then-principal at Essex Catholic, orchestrated a meeting between Plaintiff and Mccarrick under the guise that Mccarrick would help Plaintiff pay his school tuition.

47. After the first meeting with McCarrick, Plaintiff was taken on overnight and weekend trips to a beach house in Sea Girt, NJ in the Diocese of Metuchen.

48. Upon information and belief, McCarrick assigned sleeping arrangements, choosing his victims from the boys, seminarians and clerics present at the beach house.

49. On these occasions, minor boys were assigned to different rooms and paired with adult clerics.

50. Bp. Mccarrick, Fr. Ruane, Fr. Walters, and Fr. Laferrera engaged in unperrnitted sexual contact with Plaintiff at the Sea Girt residence.

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Ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick ran sex ring for clerics at New Jersey beach home, lawsuit alleges

SALEM (OR)
Statesman Journal from The Record / NJ.com

July 23, 2020

By Abbott Koloff and Deena Yellin

https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/nation/2020/07/23/catholic-cardinal-mccarrick-ran-sex-ring-nj-shore-lawsuit-alleges/5495453002/

A lawsuit filed Tuesday night accuses former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of taking his pick of boys to abuse sexually and assigning others to adult clerics at a New Jersey beach home that’s been central to previous allegations against the former prelate.

The man who brought the suit said in court papers that he was abused in the early 1980s by McCarrick and three priests at the home, which is in Sea Girt. McCarrick previously was accused of bringing adult seminarians to the home and sexually harassing them during overnight stays. Those allegations and others involving children led to McCarrick being defrocked last year, when he became the highest-ranking American Catholic official to be punished over accusations of sex abuse.

The suit alleges that the plaintiff was abused by two other clerics as a child — including a former Essex Catholic High School principal who introduced him to McCarrick “under the guise that McCarrick would help Plaintiff pay his school tuition.”

Jeff Anderson, the plaintiff’s attorney, referred to the gatherings at the beach house as a “sex ring” during a video press conference Wednesday. He repeated allegations made in the lawsuit, saying popes have known about allegations against McCarrick for decades but allowed him to rise to become one of the most powerful prelates in the church. He referred to McCarrick’s actions as “50 years of criminal sexual predation” that had been “cloaked in papal power.”

McCarrick was bishop of the Metuchen Archdiocese when abuse alleged in the lawsuit occurred. He later became Archbishop of the Newark Archdiocese before taking over the Washington Archdiocese, where he became a cardinal. Allegations that he sexually harassed seminarians at his beach house remained a secret for years before coming to light in 2018.

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Former Cardinal McCarrick accused of participating in beach house ‘sex ring,’ lawyers allege

WOODBRIDGE (NJ)
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

July 22, 2020

By Ted Sherman

He is known only as “Doe 14.”

Raised in a devout Catholic family, he attended St. Francis Xavier in Newark and Essex Catholic in East Orange in the Archdiocese of Newark, participating in church and youth activities.

And by the time he was a teenager, his lawyers say he was being groomed for a role in what they called a “sex ring” involving then-Bishop Theodore McCarrick, the 90-year-old now defrocked and disgraced former cardinal who was cast out of the ministry last year over decades-old sexual abuse allegations.

In a lawsuit, they charged other priests served as “procurers” to bring victims to McCarrick at his beach house on the Jersey Shore, where he “assigned sleeping arrangements, choosing his victims from the boys, seminarians and clerics present at the beach house,” and that they were paired with adult clerics.

The lawsuit does not say if McCarrick asked the other priests to bring boys to the beach house.

In a press conference on Wednesday, attorneys for the now 53-year-old victim serving as the plaintiff in the lawsuit detailed a sordid, predatory scheme of sexual abuse involving McCarrick and other members of the clergy involving at least seven children, including Doe 14, that they said played out over dozens of years.

Jeff Anderson, who represents Doe 14, said priests and others under the control of McCarrick engaged in “open and obvious criminal sexual conduct” that was kept cloaked by the church.

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Archdiocese of New Orleans will lay off 19 workers in the fall, state notice says

NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Times Picayune and New Orleans Advocate

July 22, 2020

By Ramon Antonio Vargas

he Archdiocese of New Orleans plans to lay off 19 employees in the fall, a move it says is necessary to deal with financial strains caused by the coronavirus pandemic and its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing earlier this year.

Employees are set to lose their jobs on Sept. 15, according to a notice filed with the Louisiana Workforce Commission, though an archdiocesan spokeswoman said Tuesday some layoffs won’t take effect until October.

Affected workers range from clerical staff to an executive director, and they include some employees who were recently furloughed because of the economic downturn.

In its most recent financial report, the archdiocese reported a staff of 205. That means the layoffs represent just under 10% of the current workforce.

While Archbishop Gregory Aymond oversees Catholic churches and schools in an eight-parish region, the archdiocese itself is chiefly an administrative office that supports the leaders of those institutions while also running a number of different programs and ministries.

On May 1, the archdiocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections, claiming its finances had been severely affected by the pandemic and the cost of litigating dozens of clergy sex abuse lawsuits.

At least nine Catholic schools received $5.5 million in loans from the Paycheck Protection Program to help pay salaries and other expenses on their campuses. Catholic Charities, which is affiliated with the archdiocese but incorporated separately, received between $2 million and $5 million more.

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Explosive: Cdl. Parolin Allegedly Covered Up for Vatican Abuser

FERNDALE (MI)
Church Militant

July 20, 2020

By Marco Tosatti

German priest was protected by the now-secretary of state

Dear friends and enemies of Stilum Curiae,

A criminal trial is underway in Germany centered on Msgr. Christoph Kühn, who oversaw the German desk in the Secretariat of State from 2005–2013.

In the past few days, the German daily Bild published an article, which we offer you excerpts of here in translation with some brief explicative notes in italics.

It is the latest example of how the highest levels of the Church — in spite of declarations, vademecums, exhortations and various documents — tolerate and close their eyes and ears when sexual abuse and harassment — specifically homosexual — takes place towards priests and seminarians.

The affair is centered on a German prelate who served in the Vatican during the pontificate of Pope Benedict. It is said that the man made unwanted sexual advances against at least two priests, which he denies.

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A man sues a rabbi for sexual abuse — and explains why others won’t do the same

NEW YORK (NY)
Forward

July 22, 2020

By Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt

The first time Joel Engelman sued the rabbi he accused of abusing him was in 2008. He did so, despite having missed the deadline for such lawsuits, in order to name the man — Abraham Reichman — and hopefully protect other children from him.

Now he’s suing again, but his reasons are slightly different: That deadline has been extended, through the Child Victims Act, and he wants to set an example for other child victims of sexual abuse, especially in the Orthodox community.

“I’m hoping others come forward as well,” said Engelman, 35, in an interview. “I see this as an opportunity for survivors of abuse, that they can make a difference in their own lives and in protecting children.”.

Now a graduate student and a married father of two living in Toledo, Ohio, Engelman alleges that Reichman, a former principal at United Talmudical Academy in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, sexually assaulted him in 1993 over the course of two months, when he was eight years old. Engelman is also suing the school, for negligence, as well as community leader and lobbyist Rabbi David Niederman and the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg for “fraudulent inducement” — according to Engelman, they “tricked and pressured” him into delaying his lawsuit in the Kings County civil court, until it was too late, and the statute of limitations had expired.

A spokesperson for Niederman denied the allegations. “There is not a scintilla of truth in any of the allegations,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. “In fact, it is a shame that Rabbi Niederman and UJO are even a party here. But, facts are facts and therefore we look forward to the opportunity to tell the real story (or lack thereof) in a court of law.”

Upon learning about the alleged abuse of their son, Engelman’s parents tried to first handle it inside the community — by petitioning leadership in the Satmar community to remove Reichman from his position. In a letter written at the time to Reichman, in Yiddish, his parents wrote: “We wish to let you know that since our son, Yoel Nechemia is a victim of you, you molested him as a child…and because we also know of other children who were victimized (molested) by you at least from 1993 until now — therefore you are a danger to children. We request from you to resign your position as teacher… We do not seek revenge! We seek to remove you from the vicinity of children.”

Between Engelman’s first and second lawsuits, New York State passed the Child Victims Act, which offers a window of time for survivors to sue abusers, even if the statute of limitations has expired. About 1,700 such suits have been filed since the act passed last January, after a long battle with both Catholic and Orthodox Jewish organizations.

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July 22, 2020

Vatican indicates support to exhume babies at Irish home

VATICAN CITY
Associated Press

July 17, 2020

By Nicole Winfield

The Vatican has indicated its support for a campaign to provide a proper Christian burial for hundreds of babies and toddlers by first exhuming their bodies from the grounds of a Catholic-run Irish home for unwed mothers.

The Vatican’s ambassador to Ireland, Archbishop Jude Thaddeus Okolo, said in a July 15 letter to the amateur Irish historian behind the campaign that he shared the views of the archbishop of Tuam, Ireland, Michael Neary.

Neary has said it was a “priority” for him to re-inter the babies’ bodies in consecrated ground. If the Irish government refuses to authorize the exhumations, Neary promised to bless the ground where they were originally buried.

Historian Catherine Corless has been campaigning since 2014 to give the babies a dignified burial after she tracked down the death certificates for nearly 800 children who died at the home in the town of Tuam, north of Galway, but couldn’t find corresponding burial records.

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Vatican backs campaign for reburial of Tuam babies’ remains

DUBLIN (IRELAND)
Irish Times

July 18, 2020

By Brian Hutton

[Includes image of papal ambassador’s letter.]

Campaigners say move puts pressure on State to act after commission report delayed

Campaigners for the reburial of remains of babies at the former Tuam mother and baby home say Vatican backing for their plight should heap pressure on the Government to act.

Historian Catherine Corless, who gathered death certificates for 796 infants linked to the home in Co Galway, has been told by the Papal Nuncio to Ireland that he shares Archbishop of Tuam Michael Neary’s view that there should be a “dignified re-interment” of the remains in consecrated ground.

Ms Corless wrote to Archbishop Jude Thaddeus Okolo, the Pope’s ambassador to Ireland, earlier this week and received a response two days later.

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Name of abusive priest removed from St. Bonaventure University building

BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW

July 21, 2020

By: Anthony Reyes

St. Bonaventure NY – Bonaventure University announced it has removed the name from the university’s administration building after discovering it was named after a priest who was credibly accused of child sexual abuse.

Hopkins Hall, which houses university administrators and financial aid staff, was built in 1964 and named after Msgr. James F. Hopkins, a priest in Pennsylvania who died in 1957.

This spring, Sean Mickey, a reporter for The Bona Venture student newspaper, discovered last year’s Pennsylvania grand jury report detailed an allegation that Hopkins abused a 13-year-old girl in 1945.

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Catholic leaders in Nashville face scrutiny over handling of sexual assault allegation against former Aquinas College priest

NASHVILLE (TN)
Tennessean

July 21, 2020

By Holly Meyer

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/religion/2020/07/21/aquinas-college-sexual-assault-accusation-nashville-catholic-diocese/5471835002/

A woman has accused the former chaplain of Aquinas College of sexually assaulting her nearly three years ago while she was a student at the Nashville school.

Catholic leaders in Tennessee are now facing scrutiny for how they handled her allegation against the Rev. Kevin McGoldrick, the 46-year-old priest from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia who ministered in Nashville for almost six years.

Last week, the London-based Catholic Herald published an extensive report that detailed the woman’s accusations. It also raised questions about why the Dominican Sisters of the Congregation of St. Cecilia and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville did not do more when the woman first came forward about the August 2017 attack.

Eventually, the woman took her allegation to the Philadelphia archdiocese, which found it to be credible, and she filed a report with Nashville police.

The woman, identified by a pseudonym in the publication’s report, told the Catholic Herald she reached out to the Nashville diocese in March 2019 and gave the victim assistance coordinator a full account of what McGoldrick did to her.

But Catholic leaders in Tennessee say they initially were not given all the details now available about the allegation against the priest.

Susan Vance, a leader with the Tennessee chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, criticized them for their inaction.

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Predatory-priest victim, Catholic writer can’t exit church they mistrust

VIRGINIA BEACH (VA)
Patheos / Godzooks: The Faith in Facts Blog

July 21, 2020

By Rick Snedeker

“Love drew Francis back to Mass on Christmas last year,” wrote New York Times opinion writer Elizabeth Bruenig in an essay published this week — “‘Pray for Your Poor Uncle,’ a Predatory Priest Told His Victims.”

“Frances” is a pseudonym. Bruenig used it in her article to protect the identity of a “tall, broad-shouldered man nearing 60” who related to her his deeply troubling youthful abuse by an infamous Catholic cardinal (then a priest), the now-defrocked pedophile and serial sexual abuser of young men, Theodore McCarrick. Among the Vatican charges that caused McCarrick to be “laicized” in February, according to a Washington Post article, were “soliciting sex during confession and committing ‘sins’ with minors and adults ‘with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power.’”

By the end of her moving essay, it is clear that Bruenig and Francis have one common compulsion due to their shared Catholicism, a tenacious need to not leave the church, despite mounting, worsening and irrefutable evidence in recent decades of the institution’s profound and systemic depravities.

This is what I assume most atheists, including myself, find so disquieting about the unending waves of sexual abuse and assault confirmations against priests and Protestant pastors that have soaked the world this new millennia. That — still — many if not most of the faithful’s professed love of “God” leaves them curiously unable to break free of once trusted and honored men of the cloth, now revealed as predatory perverts, and the sacred religious institutions they represent, now revealed as appallingly complicit.

In fact, Francis didn’t even recognize it was abuse when it was happening. That’s how such ecclesiastical abuse works. The faiths and their abusers are conferred with such sanctified authority, nearly absolute, no one could imagine either being involved in such bald-faced mendacity. Which is to say, even if some behavior seemed wrong, the victim must be mistaken.

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Indian Bishops to implement CDF guidelines on abuse

VATICAN CITY
Vatican News

July 21, 2020

Indian bishops say they are ready to implement the guidelines of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on sexual abuse in the Church

Bishops in India are ready to implement the instructions contained in the new Vademecum of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on procedures to be followed in cases of sexual abuse of minors committed by members of the clergy.

Implementation

Archbishop Felix Anthony Machado, secretary-general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) told the UCA News agency, “We will implement the guidelines in accordance with our civil laws.”

“The Vatican has always been concerned about all forms of abuses including the [sexual abuse of children],” he said, adding that “The July 16 set of guidelines is nothing entirely new but is a follow-up of what it has already been doing.”

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Lawsuits claim priest in ‘The Exorcist,’ three others sexually abused McQuaid students

ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat & Chronicle

July 21, 2020

By Steve Orr

Three priests and a lay teacher who taught at McQuaid Jesuit High School decades ago have been accused of sexually abusing students there in newly filed lawsuits.

In a suit filed Tuesday morning, a one-time star teacher at the Brighton school, the Rev. William O’Malley, was accused of sexually abusing a student there in 1975 or 1976.

O’Malley, who left McQuaid in 1986, was well-known for his teaching and writing and for his role as a Jesuit priest in the supernatural hit film “The Exorcist.”

It is the second such suit against O’Malley. The first, filed 11 months ago, accused him of sexually abusing a student at the all-boys school in 1985 and 1986.

A separate lawsuit filed Monday laid new accusations against another former teacher at McQuaid — John Tobin, who has been the subject of high-profile claims of sexual abuse by a McQuaid graduate and the focus of other complaints to police.

The new lawsuit involves a different alleged victim who has not come forward until now, according to a lawyer whose firm brought the case.

The suit says Tobin, who died in 2000, sexually abused the unnamed student at the Brighton high school in 1978 and 1979.

That same lawsuit also accuses the Rev. Harry Untereiner of sexually abusing the student in 1980. Untereiner, who was at McQuaid for a brief period ending in 1980, had not been publicly accused of sexual abuse before now.

*
One of his other students, the writer Tom Chiarella, published a lengthy article in Esquire magazine in 2003 about Tobin and his experiences at McQuaid, and has spoken several times to the Democrat and Chronicle about his time there.

Another lawsuit that was filed Monday accuses the Rev. James Curry, who taught history and theology at McQuaid in the 1970s and ‘80s, of sexually abusing a student there between 1974 and 1977. Curry also had not been publicly accused of sexual abuse previously. He died last year.

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‘Unprecedented’ decision to treble compensation paid to Birmingham abuse victims

LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Tablet

July 21, 2020

By Catherine Pepinster

According to one expert, it is the first time in 25 years that a further offer of financial compensation has been made to victims.

The Archdiocese of Birmingham has made an unprecedented decision to triple the compensation paid to two survivors of child sexual abuse by two of its priests.

Despite making previous full and final settlements, it made the increased offer a year after it was severely criticised by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) for its handling of cases. It agreed it needed to rectify further what happened to two particular victims.

One of the victims, A343, was abused by Fr John Tolkien, son of the author of the Lord of the Rings, even though the diocese knew that he had assaulted other children.

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Catholic newspaper questions how Nashville Diocese handled sex abuse complaint

NASHVILLE (TN)
WTVF 5

July 21, 2020

By Ben Hall

The Catholic Diocese of Nashville is defending how it handled a sexual abuse allegation against a priest who served as chaplain on the Dominican Campus in Nashville.

An adult female student at Aquinas College claims the priest sexually assaulted her in 2017.

On Friday, a Catholic newspaper questioned why the Nashville Diocese did not open a formal investigation after the victim came forward.

The article in the London-based Catholic Herald is titled “Adult Abuse Case: Accusations of Grave Mishandling Across Church Jurisdictions.”

It focused on sexual abuse allegations against Father Kevin McGoldrick, who served as a priest on the Dominican Campus in Nashville from August of 2013 until June of 2019.

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Paedophile priest Vincent Ryan released on parole from Long Bay Prison

SYDNEY (NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA)
Australian Broadcasting Corporation News

July 21, 2020

By Mark Reddie

Notorious paedophile priest Vince Ryan has walked free on parole from a Sydney jail having served less than half of his sentence behind bars for the historic sexual abuse of two altar boys in the NSW Hunter region.

The Catholic priest, who worked in the Newcastle-Maitland diocese, served 14 months of a three-year sentence for the crimes committed against two boys at the end of last century.

The 82-year-old was picked up by a driver in a white Toyota Corolla and driven out of the gates at Long Bay Jail at 6:00am, before being taken to his accommodation at an undisclosed location in Sydney.

A spokesperson for Newcastle Bishop Bill Wright insisted the Catholic Church would not be financially supporting Ryan even though there was no attempt to strip him of his priesthood.

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The School Around the Corner Will Not Reopen

NEW YORK (NY)
Irish America

July 17, 2020

By Turlough McConnell

Before COVID-19, New York’s Catholic schools were braced with challenges. Now, the pandemic has inflicted devastating financial damage on the region’s parochial schools.

The situation is stark. Registration for the fall has dropped, as widespread unemployment and health concerns have left more families unable to pay tuition. Parish contributions that help to underwrite the schools have fallen precipitously in the months of cancelled public masses and fundraising for scholarships.

As a result, the greater Archdiocese of New York has announced that 20 schools will close permanently and three will merge. “Children are always the most innocent victims of any crisis, and this COVID-19 pandemic is no exception,” said Timothy Cardinal Dolan Archbishop of New York. “Too many have lost parents and grandparents to this insidious virus, and now thousands will not see their beloved school again.”

The closure of Catholic schools is an ongoing national trend. According to the National Catholic Education Association, as many as 2,000 Catholic schools in the U.S. were shut down or consolidated in recent years. As the largest system, with more than 62,000 students from pre-K through 12th grade in nine counties and boroughs, New York has experienced waves of closure.

Other factors contribute to the decline of parochial schools. With over 17,000 parishes that serve a population of roughly 100 million, the Catholic Church is the largest single religious institution in the United States. About 24% of Americans identify as Catholic. Of that number, one-third is Hispanic; African-American Catholics account for about three percent. Despite its size and influence, the Church has faced external threats. For decades there has been a decline in membership, a shortage of priests, and continuing revelations of sexually abused minors that (in many cases) were covered up.

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‘Sue us,’ says Philippine bishop after Duterte criticizes pastoral letter

WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service via National Catholic Reporter

July 21, 2020

Manla, Philippines – Bishop Broderick Pabillo, apostolic administrator of Manila, defended a recent pastoral letter issued by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines criticizing the Philippines’ newly passed anti-terrorism law.

Church and human rights groups oppose the law due to what they say is its vague and ambiguous provisions, reported ucanews.com.

But on July 20, President Rodrigo Duterte’s legal counsel, Salvador Panelo, said the letter “appears to have violated” the Philippine constitution with regard to separation of church and state. Panelo also accused the Philippine bishops’ conference of pressuring the Supreme Court in “calling for prayers” and appealing to the conscience of the court’s members.

Pabillo, however, has said that being bishops or clergymen did not divest them of their civil and political rights to free speech, because they are still citizens of the state.

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July 21, 2020

Northeast Ohio priest indicted on charges of child pornography, child exploitation and juvenile sex trafficking

HILLSBORO (OH)
U.S. Attorney of Northern Ohio via Highland County Press

July 20, 2020

https://highlandcountypress.com/Content/In-The-News/Headlines/Article/Northeast-Ohio-priest-indicted-on-charges-of-child-pornography-child-exploitation-and-juvenile-sex-trafficking/2/73/58723

Justin Herdman, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, announced that a federal grand jury sitting in Cleveland, Ohio has returned an eight-count indictment against Robert D. McWilliams, 40, of Strongsville.

The defendant is charged with two counts of sex trafficking of a minor, three counts of sexual exploitation of children, one count of transportation of child pornography, one count of receipt and distribution of visual depictions of real minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct and one count of possession of child pornography.

“Today’s indictment reflect the serious and elaborate nature of the acts allegedly taken by the defendant to traffic and exploit local area children,” U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman said. “The alleged acts committed in this case are a disturbing and strong reminder for parents to be vigilant about who their children talk to and what they do online.”

“Allegations of child exploitation against a trusted member of the religious community has long-term reverberations beyond just the criminal acts of the accused,” said Vance Callender, special agent in charge of HSI Detroit. “Identifying people who violate their positions of public trust will always be a priority for those in HSI that investigate child exploitation.”

According to court documents, from 2017-19, McWilliams engaged in sexually explicit conduct and behavior involving minors. McWilliams pretended to be a female on social media applications, which he used to make contact with minor male victims. Allegedly, certain of McWilliams’s victims were young boys McWilliams knew because he served as a priest in parishes with which these children and their families were affiliated.

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Survivor Speaks About Syracuse Catholic Diocese Filing for Bankruptcy

SYRACUSE (NY)
Spectrum News

July 20, 2020

By Katelynn Ulrich

Amy, a sexual abuse survivor, was 11 years old when she was touched inappropriately by a male figure in her church.

“Somebody had brought this up to his wife who was the other person running the meetings and she kind of blew it off like she didn’t want to know,” said Amy. “Several times I was told … no one would believe [my story] anyway,” said Amy.

Amy is not her real name but she wishes to stay anonymous for her protection because even to this day she runs into her abuser.

“It was a life of hell and I was scared. He still has power over me because when I see him I freeze up like a child,” said Amy.

The man ran a group Amy attended. Eventually, he started following her into the bathroom where he touched her inappropriately and forced her to perform oral sex.

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CT diocese resolves 1984 abuse claims against retired St. John the Divine dean

NEW YORK (NY)
Episcopal News Service

July 20, 2020

By Egan Millard

Connecticut diocese resolves case of abuse claims from 1984 against retired St. John the Divine dean

The Very Rev. James Kowalski, who served as the dean of New York’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine from 2002 to 2017, has reached an agreement with the Episcopal Church in Connecticut to end a clergy misconduct case involving sexual abuse allegations from 1984.

Kowalski was accused of engaging in “acts of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation” with a college freshman who had previously been a parishioner at a church he served in Newtown, Connecticut; the diocese did not specify her age except to say she was under 21 at the time, meaning there is no statute of limitations for making the allegation under the church’s Title IV disciplinary process. Kowalski, now 68 and retired, would have been 33 at the time.

“The claims that have been put forth, about an incident alleged to have happened more than 30 years ago, are deeply upsetting to me and my family,” Kowalski wrote in an email to Episcopal News Service. “Although there are aspects of [the] accord that I do not agree with, I believe it is in the best interest of me, my family and the church.”

The accord, announced on July 17, resolves the Title IV case against Kowalski. Kowalski agreed to the accord after the diocese decided that the case would proceed to a hearing panel, which is similar to a trial court. The accord means the case is settled and will not go to a hearing panel.

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Editorial: Pope issues guidance to tackle sexual abuse

FAIRMONT (MN)
Fairmont Sentinel

July 21, 2020

By Gary Andersen and Lee Smith

Pope Francis is telling Roman Catholic leaders they must do what most people — including the overwhelming majority of the church’s faithful — would do without being told: report cases of sexual abuse of children and vulnerable adults to the police.

A long awaited manual of guidance from the Vatican, directed toward Catholic bishops, has been released. It accomplishes two important things.

First, the directive makes no bones about it: Bishops must report sexual abuse to the authorities, whether they are required by law to do so or not.

Here in the United States, virtually every jurisdiction has statutes requiring such transparency and accountability. That is not so everywhere in the world, however. The pope’s guidance makes it clear the church views sexual abuse as a crime requiring law enforcement action.

No less important is the manual’s second effect: It affirms the pope’s dedication to ridding the church of predators shielded by Catholic hierarchy. If anything, the fact that for so long church officials actively protected predators — insisting they could rehabilitate them — is as outrageous as the offenders’ own actions.

It should not have taken so long for the Vatican to issue the new guidance, which replaces a previous rule that mandated reporting to the authorities only where the law required it. Now that the new rule is out, however, it makes a more powerful statement — in effect, that the church demands accountability even when the law might allow it to be escaped.

Good. Now, Pope Francis should take the next step, which is to punish Catholic bishops who do not comply with the guidance severely.

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July 20, 2020

Missouri diocese: 3 new credible abuse cases against priest

SPRINGFIELD (MO)
Associated Press

July 20, 2020

The Springfield-Cape Girardeau Catholic Diocese has reported receiving three new allegations of sexual misconduct involving a retired priest, and that a review has found the allegations to be credible.

The Rev. Gary Carr, who is now retired, was initially named in April when the diocese released a report outlining another credible report of abuse made against him by a man who said he was 10 to 13 years old when he was abused. The new report involves men who say they were children when Carr abused them in the 1980s and early 1990s, television station KYTV reported Monday.

Church officials said the new allegations have been forwarded to the Butler County prosecuting attorney. No criminal charges have been brought against Carr.

Carr, 65, was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau in 1982. He was placed on administrative leave and restricted in his ministry in 2008, and that action was affirmed in 2016. He is now retired and living in St. Louis. A telephone listing for Carr could not be found Monday.

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This 1800s Law Helps Shape Criminal Justice in Indian Country: And that’s a problem—especially for Native American women, especially in rape cases

NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

July 19, 2020

By David Heska Wanbli Weiden

There was something of a scramble, after the Supreme Court ruled in McGirt v. Oklahoma that much of Eastern Oklahoma was now officially Indian Country.

Under the doctrine of tribal sovereignty, the state of Oklahoma could no longer prosecute serious felony cases involving Native Americans on reservation land. But there was little clarity about other critical jurisdictional questions.

Shortly after the McGirt decision was handed down, the Oklahoma attorney general and five Native nations in Oklahoma agreed that the state would continue to prosecute crimes committed by non-Native Americans on reservation lands. Tribal authorities would possess joint jurisdiction over Native offenders for most crimes.

For the most serious offenses, the federal authorities would prevail, prosecuting Native citizens for serious felonies under the federal Major Crimes Act. But relying on this law, enacted in 1885, could create its own problems, especially for Native American women. And especially in rape cases.

The Major Crimes Act gives the federal government exclusive criminal jurisdiction — investigation, trial and corrections — for major felony crimes that occur on Native American reservations. Congress passed the law after the murder of a well-known Native leader from my own nation, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. In that case, Chief Spotted Tail was assassinated by one of his own people, Crow Dog, for reasons that are not clear.

Shortly after the murder, tribal elders met and decided upon the restitution — money, goods and horses — that Crow Dog’s family would pay to Spotted Tail’s people. Traditional Lakota law relied heavily upon the principle of restorative justice, and the arrangement satisfied both families. But the Native principle of justice and reparations offended many American lawmakers, who held radically different views on punishment and retribution, and viewed the penalty as being too lenient. So Crow Dog was arrested by state police, charged with murder in federal court and sentenced to death by hanging.

But Crow Dog’s lawyer petitioned the United States Supreme Court, which ruled that the federal government had no right to intervene in an Indian nation’s criminal affairs absent an act of Congress.

Crow Dog was freed. But Congress passed the Major Crimes Act, thus ensuring American Indians would never again have the authority to decide the outcome of any serious felony case.

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Pastor Aeternus’ Real Gem — It’s Not Papal Infallibility

IRONDALE (AL)
National Catholic Register

July 18, 2020

By Fr. Raymond J. de Souza

Although the 150-year-old document affirmed the definition of papal infallibility, that does not touch the daily life of the Church in the same way as does the affirmation of the universal jurisdiction of the pope.

One of the most routine things the Holy Father does is appoint bishops. Almost every day there are a few appointments, and the fact that he is doing so is wholly unremarkable. It wasn’t always that way, and it is that way because of what the First Vatican Council did 150 years ago.

On July 18, 1870, the Council approved Pastor Aeternus ,its dogmatic constitution on the Church. It is most well known for the definition of papal infallibility, that the pope cannot err when teaching ex cathedra (authoritatively) on matters of faith and morals.

Important as that affirmation was, it does not touch the daily life of the Church in the same way as the other teaching of Pastor Aeternus, namely the universal jurisdiction of the Roman pontiff.

The Council’s language was technical, but sweeping: “Wherefore we teach and declare that, by divine ordinance, the Roman Church possesses a pre-eminence of ordinary power over every other Church, and that this jurisdictional power of the Roman Pontiff is both episcopal and immediate. Both clergy and faithful, of whatever rite and dignity, both singly and collectively, are bound to submit to this power by the duty of hierarchical subordination and true obedience, and this not only in matters concerning faith and morals, but also in those which regard the discipline and government of the Church throughout the world.”

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Vatican in legal fight over luxury flats

LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Times

July 20 2020

By Sean O’Neill, Chief Reporter

The secretive world of Vatican finances will be laid bare in a legal dispute examining the alleged use of charitable donations from churchgoers around the world to buy prime London property.

Two claims have been lodged at the High Court against the Vatican over the purchase of 60 Sloane Avenue, a Chelsea block earmarked for development into luxury apartments.

The cases pit the Pope and the Holy See against Raffaele Mincione, a millionaire financier who is the former fiancé of the model Heather Mills, the ex-wife of Sir Paul McCartney.

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Raffaele Mincione takes Vatican to High Court

LONDON (ENGLAND)
Daily Mail

July 20, 2020

By Rory Tingle

Heather Mills’s ex-fiance takes Vatican to High Court over £450m deal that saw Catholic church use worshippers’ charitable donations to buy prime London property

Heather Mills’ former fiance has taken the Vatican to the High Court over a £450million deal that allegedly saw the Holy See use worshippers’ charitable donations to buy prime London property.

Millionaire financier Raffaele Mincione previously owned 60 Sloane Avenue, which once housed the Harrods showroom, and has now begun two legal claims over the Vatican’s purchase of the building.

The case could throw rare light on a complex web of transactions involving Swiss banks, Luxembourg investment houses and, allegedly, millions of pounds worth of donations from Roman Catholics as part of the annual Peter’s Pence appeal.

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A text with contributions from local Churches that will be kept up-to-date

VATICAN CITY
Vatican News

July 16, 2020

By Cardinal Luis F. Ladaria SJ

The Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith presents the new Vademecum for handling cases of sexual abuse of minors by clerics.

The “Vademecum on certain points of procedure in treating cases of sexual abuse of minors committed by clerics” is the result of numerous requests sent by Bishops, Ordinaries, Superiors of Institutes of consecrated life and Societies of apostolic life to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to have at their disposal a tool that could help them in the delicate task of correctly conducting cases regarding deacons, priests and bishops when they are accused of the sexual abuse of minors. Recent history attests to greater attention on the part of the Church regarding this scourge. The course of justice cannot alone exhaust the Church’s response, but it is necessary in order to come to the truth of the facts. This is a complex path that leads into a dense forest of norms and procedures before which Ordinaries and Superiors sometimes find themselves lacking the certainty how to proceed.

Thus, the Vademecum was primarily written for them, as well as for legal professionals who help them handle the cases. This is not a normative text. No new law is being promulgated, nor are new norms being issued. It is, instead, an “instruction manual” that intends to help whoever has to deal with concrete cases from the beginning to the end, that is, from the first notification of a possible crime (notitia de delicto) to the definitive conclusion of the case (res iudicata). Between these two points there are periods of time that must be observed, steps to complete, communication to be given, decisions to take.

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Diocese of Scranton seeks stay of sex abuse cases

WILKES-BARRE (PA)
The Citizens Voice

July 20, 2020

By Terrie Morgan-Besecker

The Diocese of Scranton wants the state Supreme Court to stay all activity in lawsuits filed by five men who allege they were molested by a priest until the court rules on a critical legal issue that could nix the cases.

In a recent court filing, attorneys for the diocese estimate it will incur over $200,000 in attorneys’ fees gathering evidence that lawyers for the victims are seeking. Those fees would be wasted if the Supreme Court ultimately overturns an Allegheny County case that extends the statute of limitations for sexual abuse victims to file suit.

Kingston attorney Kevin Quinn filed separate lawsuits last year on behalf of five men who allege the Rev. Michael Pulicare, who died in 1999, sexually abused them in the mid-1970s, when they were children attending St. Joseph’s Church in the Minooka section of Scranton.

The lawsuits, filed in Lackawanna County Court, name as defendants the diocese, the Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, bishop of Scranton, and retired Bishop James C. Timlin.The viability of the suits hinges on the Supreme Court’s pending review of a Superior Court decision in a lawsuit Renee Rice filed against the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

In that case, Rice’s claims initially were dismissed because they fell outside the statute of limitations. The Superior Court overturned the ruling, finding that, when a case involves accusations the church concealed the abuse, a jury should decide if the victim’s delay in coming forward was reasonable.

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Bankrupt Buffalo Diocese paying $162,000/year for P.R. consultant

BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW 7 ABC

July 16, 2020

By Charlie Specht

Survivors decry lucrative contract with Tucker

Earlier this year, the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy after it was faced with hundreds of lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by priests.

But despite its financial problems, the diocese is now paying big bucks to change its image — and that’s not sitting well with survivors of abuse.

Few have benefited from the diocese’s decision to declare bankruptcy as much as Greg Tucker, who has been working as a behind-the-scenes adviser to interim Bishop Edward Scharfenberger since the bishop’s introductory news conference last December.

The national public relations consultant replaced former diocese spokesperson Kathy Spangler soon after former Bishop Richard J. Malone’s resignation. He’s now making hundreds of thousands of dollars from a diocese that says it is financially insolvent.

Records filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court show the diocese paid Tucker more than $93,000 from December through February.

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Bishop Malesic plans to continue sharing joy of the Gospel in Cleveland

WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service (USCCB) via Catholic Philly

July 17, 2020

By Dennis Sadowski

Cleveland – Bishop Edward C. Malesic, the newly appointed bishop of Cleveland, said his main desire as he makes the transition from heading the Diocese of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, to shepherding his new diocese is to communicate the joy of the Gospel to people.

*

In response to a question about falling church attendance, fed in part by the clergy sexual abuse scandal as well as misperceptions of church corruption and mean-spiritedness, Bishop Malesic called on the church to continue restoring its credibility.

When confronted by people who say they have left the church because they believe the church has left them, Bishop Malesic said he attempts to “communicate what the church is, what the Gospel is.”

“I think the church has become much more transparent today. The church doesn’t tolerate people who would abuse a child in any position within the church. Priests who do abuse children should be treated like everyone else, and maybe treated a little differently, a little more harshly because they’re leaders in the church,” he said.

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Diocese of Rockville Centre receives at least $3 million in federal PPP loans

GARDEN CIY (NY)
Long Island Herald

July 16, 2020

By Briana Bonfiglio

The Diocese of Rockville Centre has received somewhere between $3 and 7 million from the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program, according to data released from the U.S. Treasury Department and Small Business Administration.

The Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, was established to help small businesses suffering losses due to the coronavirus pandemic. The data shows $1 to 2 million given to the Catholic Cemeteries of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, listed under the address for Cemetery of the Holy Rood in Westbury, and $2 to 5 million given to the Diocese’s Catholic Charities, listed under the address for Holy Trinity Diocean High School in Hicksville.

Sean P. Dolan, the Diocese’s communications director, could not be reached for comment; however, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, of Oklahoma City, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, has released a statement on the issue, which the Diocese posted on their website.

“The loans we applied for enabled our essential ministries to continue to function in a time of national emergency,” he wrote. “Shutdown orders and economic fallout associated with the virus have affected everyone, including the thousands of Catholic ministries — churches, schools, healthcare and social services — that employ about 1 million people in the United States.”

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Erie County man alleges a police officer molested him as a boy

BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

July 20, 2020

By Matthew Spina

An Erie County man alleges in a recent Child Victims Act lawsuit that he was molested decades ago by a police officer assigned to advise students on personal safety, including the need to be wary of strangers.

The man, now in his 40s, says the officer victimized him in the early 1990s, when he was a student with Genesee Valley BOCES, which serves Genesee, Livingston, Steuben and Wyoming counties.

The suit filed Friday identifies Christopher Ferrara, a former staff member with the Wyoming County Sheriff’s Department’s “Officer Bill” program, as the molester.

*
The Child Victims Act, which temporarily waives the statute of limitations on decades-old abuses, has unleashed hundreds of lawsuits against major institutions in New York, especially the Catholic Church, schools and nonprofits that cater to children, such as the Boy Scouts. But the complaint filed days ago appears to be the first locally to stem from the actions of an officer assigned to work with students.

However, while it is rare for police to molest their students, it’s not unheard of. In 2015, The Buffalo News compiled a database of more than 700 instances of police sexual misconduct from around the country. Around 5% of the cases involved officers assigned to work with young people – school resource officers, DARE officers and Explorer post advisers, for example.

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The church has no need to apologize for Paycheck Protection Program loans

NEW YORK (NY)
America Magazine

July 14, 2020

By Matt Malone, S.J.

My late philosophy professor, W. Norris Clarke, S.J., was always telling me to “interrogate the premise” of an argument. He believed that, generally speaking, most conclusions follow logically from their premises; so if an argument is false, it is likely because one or more of its premises is false. I apply this skepticism to news stories published in America and elsewhere. This is important because reporters mostly live in a two-dimensional world. Their task is to record events quickly by reducing complex phenomena to their simplest formulation.

The problem with that approach is that it can distort the very reality reporters are seeking to make clear. A good example is a news story published by The Associated Press on July 10. The lead paragraph was as follows:

The U.S. Roman Catholic Church used a special and unprecedented exemption from federal rules to amass at least $1.4 billion in taxpayer-backed coronavirus aid, with many millions going to dioceses that have paid huge settlements or sought bankruptcy protection because of clergy sexual abuse cover-ups.

Shocking, no? But is that what happened? All of the facts cited are true. Indeed, as far as I can tell, all of the facts cited in the story are true. But how are those facts related to one another, if they are related at all?

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Fresno nonprofits, churches make up large number of PPP loan recipients

FRESNO (CA)
San Joaquin Valley Sun

July 19, 2020

By Daniel Gligich

Dozens of nonprofits based in Fresno and Clovis received Paycheck Protection Program loans to help negate the coronavirus pandemic-caused economic downturn.

The program, run by the Small Business Administration and created by the CARES Act, grants businesses loans of 2.5 times payroll, up to a maximum of $10 million. Businesses can have the loans forgiven if they meet certain criteria set by the SBA, such as using at least 60% of the loan on payroll expenses.

According to a SBA data of PPP loan recipients, no Fresno area nonprofits received the maximum loan amount. However, two organizations received loans of at least $2 million.

Hospice care provider Hinds Hospice and behavioral health provider Kings View were both granted loans in the $2-5 million range.

There were 11 nonprofits to receive a loan of at least $1 million: Big Picture Schools California, California Home for the Aged, Central California Blood Center, Central California Legal Services, Exceptional Parents Unlimited, the Chaffee Zoo Corporation, Hume Lake Christian Camps, Inspire Charter School, Promesa Behavioral Health, The Arc Fresno/Madera Counties and The Fresno Center.

Several other nonprofits received loans between $350,000-1 million, including the Marjaree Mason Center, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Fresno County, Fresno Christian Schools, the Fresno Rescue Mission, Girls Scouts of Central California South and the San Joaquin College of Law.

Nonprofits that received between $150,000-350,000 in loans include the Central Valley Community Foundation, the Poverello House and Valley Public Television.

Outside of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno, many other local churches came away with a combined millions of dollars in PPP loans.

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These parishes took PPP loans. Here’s why

DENVER (CO)
Catholic News Agency

July 18, 2020

By Mary Farrow

When the coronavirus pandemic necessitated widespread shutdowns, Catholic parishes were among those to feel the financial pinch almost immediately. No people in the pews meant no money in the collection basket. Mass after Mass, weekend after weekend, that loss added up.

Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Denver, Colorado is one such parish whose already-precarious financial situation was thrown in jeopardy by the pandemic.

To keep paying his small staff, Fr. Joseph Lajoie applied for a Payment Protection Program (PPP) loan through the Small Business Administration. The loans were meant to support the essential needs of small businesses and nonprofits affected by coronavirus shutdowns.

An article from the Associated Press published last week criticized the “U.S. Roman Catholic Church” for reportedly accepting between $1.4-$3.5 billion work of PPP loans. In fact, there is no single entity that is the U.S. Roman Catholic Church. Rather, each parish operates as its own small nonprofit, and weekly donations help to employ the priest, along with the employees who maintain the parish and its ministries.

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Class Disparities and Child Abuse in Ireland 2020

PETROLIA (CA)
CounterPunch

July 17, 2020

By Kerron Ó Luaine

The newly formed government of the Twenty-Six County state in Ireland has been in existence less than a month but is already mired in several controversies; the usual circuses thrown up by capitalist society with governments lurching from each to the next without any alteration to the status quo.

One of them is worth looking in some detail at as it highlights an important rift between socialism and liberalism on a particularly vexatious question as well elucidating some of the dynamics currently at play within the Irish far-right.

The scandal concerns the newly appointed Minister for Children, Roderick O’Gorman of the Green Party, and his association with LGBT activist Peter Tatchell, a man alleged by many to be a paedophile apologist.

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McCarrick Bombshell: It’s So Much Deeper Than Anyone Knows

FERNDALE (MI)
Church Militant

July 20, 2020

While the world has been waiting on Pope Francis and his crooked cabinet to release the report on the evil empire and clerical accomplices of homopredator and former cardinal, Theodore McCarrick, another much more quiet route to the truth has been quietly moving along out of the public eye.

James Grein — the premier victim, so to speak — is suing McCarrick, the archdiocese of New York, the diocese of Metuchen and the archdiocese of Newark. He’s able to file these suits because both New York and New Jersey lifted their statutes of limitations last year.

Part of each of these lawsuits entails Theodore McCarrick actually being deposed by Grein attorney Mitchell Garabedian. Garabedian is the noted attorney from the original homopredator scandal cases dating back to Boston in 2002. Specifically, regarding the long-anticipated McCarrick report from Rome, Grein has been told by Pope Francis’ attorney that it’s not only done, but has been for a while.

One of the startling revelations —and a fact that brings into serious question the validity of the final report (if it’s ever released) — is that James Grein, the main victim of McCarrick for years, was never interviewed during its preparation. Not once.

The pope’s personal attorney — who was in charge of creating the report — is San Francisco attorney Jeffrey Lena. Lena recently interviewed Grein by phone for eight hours over multiple days, collecting notes for the Vatican Archives. Lena is part of a Vatican apparatus that has no interest in the truth, but merely an interest in protecting the institution, shielding it from legal consequences or financial liability.

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Egyptian Coptic Priest Defrocked Following Allegations of Sexual Abuse, Paedophilia

MELBOURNE (VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA)
Egyptian Streets

July 19, 2020

Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church’s spokesperson announced on Saturday evening that Pope Tawadros II has decided to defrock priest Rewiess Aziz Khalil, a priest of the Diocese of Minya and Abu Qurqas who had been residing in North America, following allegations of sexual abuse and paedophilia.

The first statement, published on Facebook, was released by the Diocese of Minya and Abu Qurqas, announcing that Reweiss Aziz Khalil had been stripped of his title and returned him to his pre-ordination name Yousef Aziz Khalil.

A separate letter by Pope Tawadros II, Papal Decree 6/20, posted in English on the Church’s spokesperson’s Facebook page, recognised earlier claims by victims of Aziz Khalil that he had previously been defrocked and also announced his defrocking.

“After reviewing the records of the recent investigation related to Reweiss Aziz Khalil, a priest of the Diocese of Menia and Abu Qurkas, who presently resides outside of Egypt, and after taking into consideration the prior decrees defrocking him for his repeated infringements that are unacceptable to the Priesthood and its ministry, we have decided, in addition to our previous decree dated Feb 26, 2014 defrocking him from all ministry in the Coptic Orthodox Church, effective immediately, he is hereby laicized and must return to his former pre-ordination name of Yousef Aziz Khalil. He is hereby stripped of his priestly rank,” read the letter signed by Pope Tawadros II.

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July 19, 2020

Coptic Church strips alleged paedophile priest of clerical status

EGYPT
The National

July 19, 2020

Decision by Pope Tawadros II comes as MeToo movement builds in Egypt

Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church has stripped a priest accused of paedophilia of his clerical status, including the Christian name he was given when ordained, in the latest chapter in the ancient church’s struggle to modernise and stay relevant.

The church’s move, meanwhile, added another layer to the MeToo wave gripping Egypt since dozens of women began last month to publicly share on social media stories of sexual harassment and assault they experienced. Their decision to publicise their ordeals was triggered by the case of a privileged young man accused by dozens of women last month of sexually assaulting and blackmailing them.

The church’s move against the priest was announced in a statement issued on Friday night by Pope Tawadros II, spiritual leader of the orthodox church, which has by far the largest following among mainly Muslim Egypt’s estimated 10-15 million Christians.

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Victims of JRR Tolkien’s son among hundreds in line for larger Church sex abuse payouts

UNITED KINGDOM
The Telegraph

July 19, 2020

By Catherine Pepinster

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/19/victims-jrr-tolkiens-son-among-hundreds-line-larger-church-sex/

Archbishop of Birmingham wants to offer ‘compassionate, listening response to victims and survivors’ of clergy including Fr John Tolkien

Hundreds of people abused by Catholic clergy could be in line for larger compensation payouts after a landmark decision by the Archbishop of Birmingham.

The Telegraph can reveal that the Church has agreed to triple the compensation paid to a survivor of abuse by Father John Tolkien, the son of J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings.

The Archdiocese of Birmingham took the unprecedented decision to reopen previous financial settlements to two abuse victims, a year after it was severely criticised by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) for its handling of cases.

Compensation is normally given after claims are settled on a full and final basis, but the Archdiocese has agreed that it needed to rectify further what happened to two victims….

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Lawsuit against Diocese of Shreveport claims priest sexually abused boy in the ’70s

SHREVEPORT (LA)
Shreveport Times

July 19, 2020

By Emily Enfinger

A lawsuit was recently filed against the Diocese of Shreveport seeking damages on claims of sexual abuse that occurred in the 1970s of a then child among other accusations.

The plaintiff is identified on the court document under the alias of “Paul Doe” because he is a sexual assault victim.

John Denenea, one of the attorneys representing Paul Doe in the lawsuit, told The Times that the client’s intent in filing the suit “is not to get a quick settlement,” but rather to obtain the truth and to pursue acknowledgment and recognition of the injuries he sustained.

The plaintiff is being represented by attorneys Soren E. Gisleson and Joseph E. “Jed” Cain of Herman, Herman & Katz law firm; Denenea of Shearman-Denenea law firm; and Richard Trahant of Trahant Law Office. The attorneys have been named in articles by NOLA.com as representatives of similarly-natured cases in the New Orleans area.

The Times contacted the Diocese of Shreveport for a comment or response to the lawsuit. In an email, the Diocese’s Communications and Public Relations Director, Mark Willcox, said he was working on getting a response to The Times as soon as possible but a response concerning the lawsuit was not received as of Saturday at noon.

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[COMMENTARY] Message from Cardinal Dolan: The Paycheck Protection Program and the Archdiocese of New York

NEW YORK (NY)
Archdiocese of New York

By Cardinal Timothy Dolan

July 15, 2020

Dear Family of the Archdiocese of New York,

May I intrude on what I hope is a relaxing summer with a not-so-pleasant subject?

Last week, the Associated Press published a scurrilous article, heavy on innuendo, about Catholic dioceses, parishes, schools, charitable organizations, and other institutions that rightly received assistance from the federal government to pay their employees during the Covid-19 crisis. Many news outlets picked up the story, which implied that there was something amiss in Catholic institutions receiving paycheck protection money. Many of you have called or emailed me, wanting to know if the story was true. My answer, quite simply, is absolutely not! It was misleading at best, outright false at worst. Here’s why.

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Piden elevar a juicio la causa contra sacerdote por abuso sexual de menores

[They ask to bring to trial the case against a priest for sexual abuse of minors]

SAN NICOLÁS DE LOS ARROYOS (ARGENTINA)
San Nicolás News

July 17, 2020

Cinco denuncias lo involucran junto al portero del jardín de Belén de San Pedro Anselmo Ojeda y a la preceptora de la institución María Rubíes

[GOOGLE TRANSLATION: Five complaints involve him along with the doorman of the San Pedro garden of Anselmo Ojeda and the tutor of the María Rubíes institution]

Tras cerrar la etapa de instrucción, el fiscal Hernán Grande de Baradero de la UFI N°5, pidió al juez de garantías Román Parodi del Juzgado N°1 de San Nicolás, la elevación a juicio de la causa donde el Sacerdote Tulio Mattiussi de la iglesia San Roque, el portero del Jardín Belén Anselmo Ojeda y la preceptora de la misma institución María Rubíes, están acusados de abuso sexual a menores con acceso carnal agravado y reiterado por corrupción de menores. Actualmente la causa en proceso de traslado a las partes y los padres como particulares damnificado, piden sostener la calificación de acceso carnal y corrupción de menores.

[GOOGLE TRANSLATION: After closing the investigation stage, the prosecutor Hernán Grande de Baradero of UFI No. 5, asked the judge of guarantees Román Parodi of the Court No. 1 of San Nicolás, the elevation to trial of the case where the Priest Tulio Mattiussi of the San Roque church, the doorman of the Jardín Belén Anselmo Ojeda and the tutor of the same institution María Rubíes, are accused of sexual abuse of minors with aggravated and repeated carnal access for corruption of minors. Currently, the case in the process of being transferred to the parties and the parents as private individuals affected, ask to support the classification of carnal access and corruption of minors.]

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Pericias psicológicas indican que el denunciante del cura de Santa Rosa no fabula

[Psychological expertise indicates that the complainant of the priest of Santa Rosa does not fable]

SANTA ROSA (ARGENTINA)
Diario Textual

July 19, 2020

Peritos psicológicos dictaminaron que el hombre de 30 años denunció haber sido abusado sexualmente por el cura santarroseño Hugo Pernini, cuando era menor de edad, no está fabulando. «No hay elementos que indiquen fabulación o mentiras», dijeron fuentes con acceso al expediente judicial a Diario Textual.

[GOOGLE TRANSLATION: Psychological experts ruled that the 30-year-old man reported having been sexually abused by the priest from Santa Rosa, Hugo Pernini, when he was a minor, he is not fabled. “There are no elements that indicate fabulation or lies,” sources with access to the judicial file told Diario Textual.]

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Vatican Releases Guide on How Leaders Must Handle Abuse Allegations

VATICAN CITY
NetNY.tv and Catholic News Service

July 16, 2020

By Melissa Butz and Carol Glatz

The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released a 17-page document offering a step-by-step guide for how bishops, religious superiors and canon lawyers are supposed to handle accusations of alleged abuse by clerics against minors.

While nothing in the text is new, nor does it reflect any change to current church law, the handbook is meant to present clear and precise directions, procedures as well as attitudes church leaders should have toward victims, the accused, civil authorities and the media.

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Bishop Malesic plans to continue sharing joy of the Gospel in Cleveland

CLEVELAND (OH)
Catholic News Service via Crux

July 19, 2020

Dennis Sadowski

Bishop Edward C. Malesic, the newly appointed bishop of Cleveland, said his main desire as he makes the transition from heading the Diocese of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, to shepherding his new diocese is to communicate the joy of the Gospel to people.

How to do that, he said, will be determined with the diocesan staff and the people of the Cleveland Diocese.

“I’m looking forward to walking with you as your new bishop and being part of our local church together,” he said during a news conference at Cleveland diocesan offices as he was introduced July 16. “Every change in my life has come with new blessings and I cannot wait to see what blessings await me in this diocese, my new home,” Malesic said.

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Vatican issues manual for bishops on handling reports of sexual abuse of minors

VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

July 16, 020

By Hannah Brockhaus

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) issued Thursday a manual to help bishops and dioceses follow Church procedure in respect to accusations of sexual abuse of a minor by a cleric.

The vademecum, released July 16, is one of the last documents promised by the Vatican following its February 2019 abuse summit.

The handbook does not issue new norms or make alterations to current Church law, but is intended as a guide for bishops, dioceses, and religious communities on how to follow Church procedure in sex abuse cases.

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Isolated Pope Francis Faces Yet Another Setback in Pandemic

VATICAN CITY
Wall Street Journal

July 7, 2020

By Francis X. Rocca

The world-wide restrictions on public events to deal with the coronavirus pandemic are the latest blow to Pope Francis, whose pontificate has been struggling in recent years to sustain the progressive hopes that the Argentine raised early in his reign.

The pandemic has hindered Pope Francis’ ability to communicate his teachings and promote his causes, from the environment to the rights of migrants, as well as his efforts to tackle the Vatican’s financial troubles. The lack of public events and personal interactions are particular burdens for a pope who is more at home communicating with crowds than in dealing with the Vatican’s bureaucracy.

Even before the pandemic, the early progressive trend of his pontificate, exemplified by openings toward divorced and gay Catholics, had run out of momentum amid internal church divisions. A series of scandals over clerical sex abuse of minors in various countries around the world, as well as affairs involving financial mismanagement at the Vatican, had cast a shadow on the institution.

Now, in the eighth year of the 83-year-old pope’s reign, some Vatican insiders and observers are even looking toward its end. “The Next Pope” is the title of two books scheduled for publication over the next few weeks. Both are by conservative authors, but conservatives aren’t the only ones feeling restless.

“On some issues the potential for institutional change by Pope Francis seems to have reached a limit,” said Massimo Faggioli, a theologian who has been one of the pope’s most enthusiastic supporters. He cited the pope’s recent decision not to loosen rules on priestly celibacy and his resistance to the ordination of women as deacons, a lower rank of clergy. On both issues, the lack of change disappointed progressive Catholics.

Mr. Faggioli wrote in an article this spring that “supporters of Pope Francis and his efforts to reform the Catholic Church are concerned that the dynamism of his pontificate has begun to wane.” A reason for this, he says, could be a desire to maintain unity between liberal Catholics and the pope’s increasingly vocal conservative critics.

Progressives remain happy with Pope Francis’ emphasis on social and economic justice and the environment. But the pandemic has sharply curtailed his ability to promote such causes, even though he believes the global health and economic crisis has made doing so all the more urgent.

“The stakes are his place at the table to shape the postcoronavirus world order,” said John Allen, president of Crux Catholic Media and the author of numerous books on the Vatican. “If he is not able, because of the inability to travel or the inability to do big public events in Rome, to project himself into the conversation, then he loses a measure of relevance.”

Major papal events have been postponed until as late as 2023. The pope has ceased to travel, and most of his appearances at the Vatican now take place on video with only a small audience physically present. The one-on-one encounters that once provided some of the most compelling images of his reign have become all but impossible. He is currently on his annual “staycation,” skipping his weekly public audiences to rest within Vatican walls for the month of July.

Pope Francis made some memorable appearances during the darkest period of Italy’s coronavirus outbreak this spring, including a dramatic ceremony in an empty St. Peter’s Square and morning Masses seen by millions on TV and the internet. But the Vatican stopped transmitting the Masses in May once churches in Italy reopened, and since the reopening of the economy in Italy and elsewhere, the pope’s relative solitude has been less representative of his flock.

“He was very good at using the image of the desert, but now that we are no longer in the desert he has to invent new forms of communication,” said Sandro Magister, a Vatican expert who writes for Italy’s L’Espresso magazine.

Internal Vatican business has also slowed on account of the pandemic. The international Council of Cardinals, which has been advising the pope on a revised constitution for the Vatican since 2013, last met in February. But the most important impact of the pandemic has been on finances, with drastically reduced income from the Vatican Museums and commercial real-estate holdings worsening an already yawning budget deficit for the Holy See.

The Holy See’s deficit doubled in 2018 to roughly €70 million ($78.7 million) on a budget of about €300 million. More recent numbers haven’t been released but the Vatican’s finance chief, the Rev. Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, said in May that revenue this year could drop as much as 45%. Pope Francis’ annual charity collection, which The Wall Street Journal revealed has been used largely to plug the deficit, has been postponed this year from June to October.

Pope Francis has said that the Vatican’s internal investigation of a scandal over investments in London real estate is evidence of reform, but the affair has cast doubt on the integrity of the Vatican’s financial watchdog, which had been the biggest success story in efforts to restore the city state’s international credibility on financial matters.

The clerical sex-abuse scandal also continues to cast a shadow over the pontificate.

Almost two years after a former papal envoy to the U.S. accused Pope Francis of ignoring sexual misconduct by former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, a former archbishop of Washington, the Vatican still hasn’t released a long-promised report explaining how Mr. McCarrick rose to power despite widespread rumors of his misconduct going back years. Aggravating an image of insensitivity on the topic, last month the pope reinstated Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta, a longtime protégé of his, in his job at the Vatican, even though the bishop is still facing charges of sexual harassment in their native Argentina.

Last year, the pope promulgated legislation making it easier to discipline bishops who abuse or cover up abuse and he relaxed the secrecy rules for church documents relating to abuse. But advocates for victims complain that the legislation doesn’t require reporting of crimes to the civil authorities or allow the independent oversight by laypeople proposed by U.S. bishops.

“I’m sad and baffled that Pope Francis has been so regressive on the abuse issue,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, of BishopAccountability.org, a Boston-based group that tracks abuse cases. “I don’t expect that we’ll see any more initiatives from him, even though the twin crises of child sexual abuse and coverup remain unsolved.”

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July 18, 2020

Their new schools knew nothing about allegations against these teachers. Should they have?

SAN JOSE (CA)
Mercury News

July 18, 2020

By Daniel Wu

At least 3 teachers accused of sexual misconduct at Presentation High still working in education

Kathryn Leehane wasn’t surprised to discover that former Presentation High teachers, named last week in a bombshell report that exposed years of sexual misconduct and coverups at the San Jose Catholic girls school, were still teaching in the Bay Area.

She had suffered through her own experience of being sexually abused by a teacher at the prominent school when she was a student in the 1990s. And over the weekend, screenshots and tips popped up in her phone. They traced how another teacher, accused in the report of a non-consensual sexual encounter with a former student, had left Presentation for a Daly City public high school and then moved to a San Mateo middle school — all within the last three years. Leehane knew exactly how.

“As long as he had a clean record police-wise, the other schools wouldn’t have known,” she said.

That’s why Leehane and other advocates have been lobbying California lawmakers to pass legislation to make sure career paths like that can’t happen again. But for years, their effort has stalled in the face of opposition from teachers’ unions and civil liberties groups. Leehane hopes the scathing Presentation report can bring a new urgency to the fight.

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East Bay Catholic priest charged with sexual battery against woman

OAKLAND (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle

July 17, 2020

By Matthias Gafni

Five months after the Catholic Diocese of Oakland placed the Rev. Varghese “George” Alengadan on leave following accusations of inappropriate behavior, the Alameda County district attorney announced Friday that the priest has been charged with one count of misdemeanor sexual battery involving a woman last year while he oversaw St. Joseph Basilica.

Alengadan, 67, unlawfully touched “an intimate part of Jane Doe” against her will and for his sexual arousal, Assistant District Attorney Michael Nieto alleged in a complaint signed Thursday. He allegedly assaulted the woman on July 24, 2019, the same month four diocese employees and one volunteer at the Alameda church made sexual harassment claims against Alengadan. Last fall, the diocese conducted its own investigation and found the priest engaged in inappropriate conduct of a sexual nature with the women, leading to his resignation from his post there, according to the diocese.

He was eventually placed on leave after a former parishioner came forward with earlier allegations of sexual misconduct by Alengadan.

“Father George held a position of trust, authority and power at St. Joseph Basilica in Alameda,” said Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley. “As pastor of the church and the school, there existed a power imbalance over others that compounds the impact of sexual abuse. His position made his actions all the more devastating to the victim.”

After the allegations last July, Alengadan was removed from the Alameda church and transferred to Christ the King in Pleasant Hill, where he continued with his priestly duties. When parishioners learned of the criminal probe in February, they angrily protested his presence at that church and Alengadan was moved again.

In an exclusive interview with The Chronicle in February, a woman recalled an earlier encounter with Alengadan in 2002 in which he allegedly fondled her before he was supposed to officiate her wedding.

The parents of the alleged victim said they immediately reported the 2002 allegations to the diocese, deciding against going to police because they trusted the church to handle it internally. But they said they never received a response. The mother again alerted the diocese of the complaint in 2016, sending an email to Bishop Michael C. Barber, but said again nothing was done.

The diocese had originally told The Chronicle that Alengadan had no earlier allegations of sexual impropriety, but later acknowledged it received the mother’s 2016 email. The revelation led the diocese to place Alengadan on leave and to launch a new investigation into how the diocese handled the earlier complaints.

On Friday, the diocese said the victim in the criminal case also made the allegations to the diocese last year.

“Father George Alengadan is currently on administrative leave, following the Diocese’s protocols when serious allegations are presented,” the diocese said. “Under the terms of this canonical decree, Father Alengadan is not able to present himself in public as a priest, which includes he cannot celebrate a public Mass or other sacraments. The decree continues to be in effect and can only be lifted by Bishop Barber.”

The Chronicle has been unable to reach Alengadan. He is not in custody and has a court hearing Monday, according to the district attorney’s office.

Alengadan served as a pastor at three parishes. In 2017, Barber named him one of the diocese’s outstanding clergy. He sat on the bishop’s Priests Personnel Board, a sounding board for the bishop, and also worked as director of priests and deacon formation in the chancery office.

“It takes courage for victims and survivors of sexually motivated crimes, especially those crimes committed by a clergy member or other person in power, to report the crimes,” said O’Malley, whose family has been Oakland diocese parishioners. “To all victims and survivors, I say that my office will bring perpetrators to justice while providing support and resources to enable victims to work through and overcome the trauma of the assault.”

The district attorney’s office asked anyone victimized or who has additional information about Alengadan to contact Alameda prosecutors at 510-272-6222.

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Erie diocese facing lawsuit over fund for abuse victims

ERIE (PA)
GoErie.com

July 17, 2020

By Ed Palattella

Filing of writ signals suit in Erie County Court. Claims linked to St. Hedwig Catholic Church and its long-closed school.

The Catholic Diocese of Erie is the subject of a potential lawsuit over its victims’ compensation fund, a program the diocese created as an alternative to allowing victims to sue over clergy sexual abuse.

Two anonymous plaintiffs have filed paperwork indicating they plan to file a full-blown suit against the diocese in Erie County Court.

Their lawyer told the Erie Times-News that the full details will come out in later filings, but that the plaintiffs are suing because the diocese denied the claims they submitted to the compensation fund, created in 2019.

“The diocese would not offer them anything on the matter,” the lawyer, Bernard Tully, of Pittsburgh, said on Friday. “They voluntarily participated in the program and were not offered anything.”

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Commentary: New York Times’ Bias Is Not Always Obvious

NEW YORK (NY)
CNSNews.com

July 17, 2020

By Bill Donohue

The opinion editor of the New York Times, Bari Weiss, resigned this week after being shamed for doing her job. She criticized what she saw as a censorial workplace, one that was biased against conservative opinion. Indeed, she said she experienced “unlawful discrimination” and a “hostile work environment.”

What Weiss endured was widely covered by the media. What the media do not cover are the multiple instances of bias of a more subtle nature, and in this regard, the New York Times is hard to beat. Take, for example, two news stories that were recently posted online.

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Leadership roundtable wants broad reforms for accountability and transparency in church finances

UNITED STATES
Catholic News Service via The Dialog

July 17, 2020

Broad reforms that would contribute to greater accountability and transparency regarding church finances are needed to address the financial crisis the church faces and is intensifying because of the coronavirus pandemic, said a report emerging from a winter summit of lay, religious and clergy leaders.

The report assembled by the Leadership Roundtable from February’s 2020 Catholic Partnership Summit called for the Vatican and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to “create structures and laws for ethical financial leadership.”

The document, “We Are the Body of Christ: Creating a Culture of Co-Responsible Leadership,” also offered recommendations that emerged from three other sessions during the two-day summit.

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Former Alameda St. Joseph Basilica Priest Charged With Sexual Battery

OAKLAND (CA)
KPIX-TV

July 18, 2020

A former parish priest at Alameda’s St. Joseph Basilica has been charged with misdemeanor sexual battery on an adult, according to Alameda County prosecutors.

Varghese Alengadad, 68, also known as Father George, was a priest at St. Joseph Basilica when the alleged battery took place on July 24, 2019.

The charges sent shock waves through the island’s Catholic community.

“Father George held a position of trust, authority and power at St. Joseph Basilica in Alameda,” Alameda County District Attorney Nancy

O’Malley said in a statement. “As Pastor of the church and school, there existed a power imbalance over others that compounds the impact of sexual abuse. His position made his actions all the more devastating to the victim.”

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When emotions tip scales

AUSTRALIA
The Weekend Australian

July 18, 2020

Michael Xu lost five years of his life after a uni friend lied to cover up their sexual encounters. His conviction, like that of George Pell, points to a trend.

By Richard Guilliatt

Among the many shocking accounts of church sexual abuse that have been heard in recent years, the story one man outlined to police in the Victorian city of ­Geelong in September 2015 was particularly horrific. A former student at the local Catholic college St Joseph’s, the fragile 61-year-old remembered one teacher there as a sexual sadist who had violently raped him on more than a hundred occasions in the 1960s, beginning when he was just 10. The man he identified as his attacker was the school’s now-retired Grade 6 teacher, Brother John Tyrrell of the Christian Brothers.

The shameful history of the Christian Brothers was by then well known, and only four months earlier it had been aired again when the Royal Commission into institutional abuse held public hearings in Ballarat. The Catholic Church has paid out more than $200 million to victims of the Christian Brothers, and St Joseph’s in Geelong had harboured its share of offenders, including the notorious Robert Best, jailed for offences against more than 30 young boys at various Catholic schools. These latest allegations, from a man we will call Alan Francis*, appeared to add another terrible chapter to that history.

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Priest who raped 16-year-old girl wishes to marry her

INDIA
IndiaGlitz.com

July 17, 2020

An ex-catholic priest, identified as Vadakkancheril Mathew alias Robin Vadakkancheril, who was convinced of raping a minor girl in 2016, has moved the Kerala High Court on Wednesday seeking temporary suspension of his 20-year sentence to enable him to marry the rape survivor. The move has invited the wrath and condemnation of people.

In his plea, the 52-year-old priest reportedly said that the only impediment to the marriage was his priesthood and now he is eligible for entering wedlock as he had been dispensed with priestly duties and rights by the Pope and has been reduced to the state of a layman. The girl is now 20 years old. According to the prosecution, in May 2016, the accused induced the victim to go to his bedroom. Thereafter he committed rape and sexual assault against the victim. As a result, the victim became pregnant and gave birth to a baby boy in May 2017. The baby has been under the supervision of the Child Welfare Committee and has been part of two orphanages. Regarding the priest’s suggestion, public prosecutor Suman Chakravarti reportedly said, “Every rape convict can then offer to marry the survivor, we cannot encourage such suggestions.”

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Lessons learned: St. Louis archbishop-elect leaves a community still reeling from a bombshell report on clergy sex abuse

ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Post Dispatch

July 18, 2020

By Jesse Bogan

A narrator’s voice on a show about the Sistine Chapel triggered John Doe’s memories of horror he experienced as a 9-year-old altar boy. He survived being gang raped and other abuses by Roman Catholic clergy that were so traumatic they took some 50 years to resurface.

Doe ultimately wanted the Springfield Diocese in western Massachusetts to know what had been done to him in the early 1960s — not just by rank-and-file priests, but by the late Bishop Christopher J. Weldon, whose reputation was still untarnished from leading the diocese from 1950 to 1977.

Doe’s quest for justice, however, would victimize him even more. It took six years for his story to be validated, and only after initial investigations by church officials were found to be rife with mistakes and possible deception.

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What Ted McCarrick’s ‘social networks’ could teach the Church

UNITED STATES
Catholic News Agency

July 17, 2020

By Kevin Jones

There are social networks, and then there are social networks. The term is usually used these days to refer to apps and sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, and other places where online connection takes place.

But in a more technical sense, a social network is the structure formed by the complex web of ties between groups and individuals — the connections that link us. Think about the “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” and you’re thinking about social network theory.

The bishops of the Catholic Church form that kind of social network. And mapping that network can provide some insight into how the Church functions, and how abusers might function within Church networks.

Two experts have used the science of social network mapping approach to consider how influential sexual abusers like ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick went unchecked in the Church, and how both problematic responses to sexual abuse by clergy—or good practices to reform the Church—might propagate through the bishops’ links with each other.

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Vicar general of Chicago Catholic archdiocese appointed new bishop of Joliet diocese

ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune via Yahoo News

July 17, 2020

By Claire Hao

The vicar general of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago has been appointed as the new bishop of the Diocese of Joliet, it was announced Friday.

The Rev. Ronald Hicks replaces Bishop Daniel Conlon, who resigned in May after four months of medical leave. Bishop Richard Pates will step down as the apostolic administrator of the diocese, a position he has held since Conlon was granted the leave in December.

Hicks, 52, will be installed on Sept. 29 at the Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus in Joliet.

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Statute of limitations reform: A bittersweet, overwhelming success

UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary (blog)

June 26, 2020

By Joelle Casteix

This week, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) reported that allegations of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church TRIPLED in the past year.

There is only one reason for this huge increase in reports: Statute of Limitation Reform. Survivors in many states (California, New Jersey, New York, Arizona) now have the right to come forward in the courts to expose the men and women who abused them and the institutional actors who covered it up.

Let’s talk about the major questions this report raises:

Why didn’t these survivors come forward sooner?

They may have come forward years ago … but the church would never tell us.

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Former National Review Board chairman cites ‘mixed progress’ on clergy sex abuse

UNITED STATES
Our Sunday Visitor

July 9, 2020

By Brian Fraga

After eight years as chairman of the National Review Board, a lay committee that advises the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on addressing clergy sex abuse, Francesco C. Cesareo says the Catholic Church in the United States has made “some progress, but a mixed progress.”

“There’s still some work to be done going forward in order to tighten up the charter and the processes that are part of it,” Cesareo said in reference to the U.S. bishops’ 2002 Dallas Charter that instituted new norms to investigate clergy sex abuse cases.

During his two consecutive four-year terms as chairman of the National Review Board, which ended in June, Cesareo often pushed to amend the charter, to make it less vague and more responsive to new information. He advocated for the laity to have a greater role in keeping clergy accountable and lobbied for a more independent annual auditing system to monitor how dioceses and Church institutions are complying with the charter.

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July 17, 2020

Adult abuse case: accusations of grave mishandling across Church jurisdictions

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholic Herald

July 17, 2020

By Christopher Altieri

A priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Fr Kevin McGoldrick, is quietly seeking voluntary laicization after that archdiocese investigated a claim he sexually assaulted a young woman who had been in his spiritual charge. The Philadelphia archdiocese determined the allegation to be credible roughly seven months after they received it directly from the victim. The victim had originally taken her complaint to the Diocese of Nashville, where she alleges the incident occurred, but Nashville never opened a formal investigation.

The Catholic Herald has obtained significant documentation corroborating the victim’s claims and raising concerns about the handling of the matter in several Church jurisdictions. The case reinforces longstanding concerns regarding the Catholic Church’s handling of similar matters at every level of the hierarchy and in religious congregations. The main facts of the case are as follows:

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Ex-priest indicted on wire fraud charges

STARKVILLE (MS)
WJTV

July 16, 2020

By Jade Bulecza

A non-profit organization is calling for a bishop to step down after a ex-priest was indicted on 10 counts of wire fraud.

Prosecutors said Father Lenin Vargas faked having cancer and scammed parishioners to donate money for personal expenses.

Vargas was the pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Starkville and Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Macon.

According to indictment papers, he contracted HIV before September 2014. The Catholic Diocese of Jackson covered his treatment.

Prosecutors said he lied, telling his parishioners he had cancer and needed to raise money to cover those expenses. Mark Belenchia of SNAP Mississippi, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said Vargas took advantage of people.

“This is not about Christianity or church or anything like that,” said Belenchia. “It’s about an institution that’s willing to protect itself and its assets. It’s all about the flow of capital.”

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Priests question fund appeal for camp cited in Bishop Weldon abuse report

GOSHEN (MA)
The Berkshire Eagle

July 16, 2020

By Larry Parnass

Like all camps that can’t open this summer, the one the Springfield Diocese owns alongside a cool mountain reservoir is hurting for money.

This week, the Dalton priest who runs Camp Holy Cross passed the hat.

“If you are able to help, please send a donation,” the Rev. Christopher Malatesta, the camp’s executive director and leader of Dalton’s St. Agnes Parish, wrote in an email sent to all priests in the Catholic diocese. “We are looking for donations in any amount.”

What he got instead, from at least two priests, was censure. That’s because the camp’s name was linked to clergy sexual abuse in the independent report released June 24 by retired Judge Peter A. Velis.

Velis says that in the course of evaluating a Chicopee man’s allegations against former Bishop Christopher J. Weldon, he and his investigator zeroed in on the possibility that assaults occurred at the Goshen camp in the early 1960s.

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NEWS: PRIEST SUSPENDED FOLLOWING ALLEGATION OF MISCONDUCT

DES MOINES (IA)
Diocese of Des Moines

July 10, 2020

Bishop William Joensen suspended a priest of the Diocese of Des Moines, Father James Kirby, on Friday, July 10 following an allegation of inappropriate conduct.

While suspended, Father Kirby may not engage in public priestly ministry including celebrating Mass or other sacraments, and preaching. In the meantime, he is not to initiate contact with any parish leadership of St. Elizabeth Seton Parish, where he is pastor.

In addition to the ministerial aspects of his suspension, Bishop Joensen imposed the following additional restrictions: Father Kirby cannot contact the complainant or her family, nor any woman under age 30 unless she is a family member. He cannot enter any taverns or bars and must avoid bars in restaurants.

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Police seize Mincione’s phones in Vatican corruption probe

WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Agency

July 15, 2020

By Ed Condon

Vatican prosecutors, working with Italian authorities, have executed a search and seizure warrant against the Italian businessman Raffaele Mincione, the man responsible for the controversial investment of hundreds of millions of euros on behalf of the Holy See Secretariat of State.

In a seizure carried out on Mincione Wednesday morning at an hotel in Rome, investigators seized electronic devices, including cellular phones and iPads, according to Corriere della Serra.

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Humanity 2.0 Chairman Fr. Philip Larrey Named Dean of Philosophy at Vatican’s Pontifical Lateran University

VATICAN CITY
GlobeNewswire

July 16, 2020

Pontifical Lateran University names its Chair of Logic and Epistemology to Dean

Humanity 2.0, focused on identifying and removing the most significant impediments to human flourishing in collaboration with the Holy See (Vatican), is proud announce on July 3rd Humanity 2.0 Foundation Chairman Father Philip Larrey was officially confirmed Dean of Philosophy at the Pontifical Lateran University in Vatican City. The news comes on the heels of a majority vote from the Council of the Philosophy Department placing Fr. Philip Larrey as the front runner. In a formal confirmation on July 3rd, 2020, the Pope’s Vicar General for Rome and Grand Chancellor of the University, Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, confirmed the appointment.

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THE GYMNASTICS FACTORY

UNITED STATES
ESPN

July 14, 2020

Story by Bonnie D. Ford and Alyssa Roenigk, Illustrations by Louise Pomeroy

THE RISE AND FALL OF THE KAROLYI RANCH

For almost 20 years, top U.S. women gymnasts would pack a bag, say goodbye to their parents and take a monthly trip that ended with a long drive down a dirt road to a remote compound in a Texas forest. “You drive through the woods for like 15 miles and then you see this green gate,” says 2012 Olympic gold medalist Jordyn Wieber. “That’s when I knew we were pulling up to the Ranch. I started getting this pit in my stomach.”

The U.S. women’s gymnastics national team training center was located at the ranch home of Bela and Martha Karolyi, coaches who had defected to the U.S. from Romania in 1981 after the Olympic success of their protégé Nadia Comaneci. The couple amassed unprecedented power in the sport and brought historic success to the U.S. program. As the Karolyis’ influence grew, so did the importance of the Karolyi Ranch. From a few rustic buildings within a national forest, it became the center of women’s elite gymnastics in the United States.

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Letter: Former Kirkwood students brave for coming forward

ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

July 16, 2020

By David Clohessy

Regarding “Kirkwood schools to pursue independent investigation of sex abuse allegations” (July 13): Hooray for former students Katie Pappageorge and Jill Wilson for their courage in speaking up about the abuse they suffered at the hands of a teacher. Kids are safer when victims speak up and report child molesters. As a society, we must learn to be grateful to every victim who comes forward, no matter how long it takes.

At the same time, however, the sooner victims act, the sooner kids are protected. So it’s especially gratifying to see these brave women stepping up at such a young age.

They are to be especially commended for using their names publicly. That’s a tough step for a victim of sexual violence to take. But it helps reinforce a crucial message: The shame in child sex cases belongs solely with those who commit and conceal it, not with those who are hurt by it.

We hope the inspiring example set by Pappageorge and Wilson will prod other who may have seen, suspected or suffered abuse or misconduct in high school to call police, report wrongdoers and safeguard youngsters while helping themselves recover in the process.

David G. Clohessy • St. Louis

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BBC VIDEO – Vatican releases handbook on dealing with sexual abuse

LONDON
BBC World News

July 16, 2020

By Sophia Tran-Thomson

[VIDEO]

The Vatican has published new guidelines for Catholic bishops on how to handle allegations of child sexual abuse by members of the clergy. The twenty-page handbook outlines the steps to be taken from the moment an allegation is reported to the conclusion of the case. Sophia Tran-Thomson has this report.

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Former priest indicted as feds, Jackson Diocese reach agreement on criminal complaint

MISSISSIPPI
Starkville Daily News

July 15, 2020

By Ryan Phillips

A former Starkville priest accused of defrauding parishioners out of tens of thousands of dollars for fraudulent medical expenses has been indicted by a federal grand jury on 10 counts of wire fraud.

On top of that, the Catholic Diocese of Jackson, who is accused of being aware of the fraud and actively working to cover it up, has reached an agreement with the federal government in connection to a criminal complaint filed separately against the Diocese.

Lenin Vargas, the former pastor for St. Joseph Catholic Church in Starkville, saw the indictment filed in February, receiving 10 counts of wire fraud, according to court documents unsealed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Aberdeen by Judge Sharion Aycock,

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Media Statement: Mississippi Priest Indicted for Financial Crimes, SNAP Calls for Bishop’s Resignation

MISSISSIPPI
SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests)

July 16, 2020

A Mississippi priest who yesterday was indicted on 10 counts of wire fraud was apparently known to church officials in the Diocese of Jackson as a fraudster. Bishop Joseph Kopacz should resign his position immediately for repeatedly lying to parishioners and the public.

This case is yet another example of why we rarely trust the information put out about church officials regarding cases of clergy abuse. For decades, church officials have repeatedly proven they care most about their reputations and their wallets and will lie willingly to the public to protect those two things, often at the expense of children and the vulnerable. The information released in this case by the Department of Homeland Security that demonstrates that Bishop Kopacz “repeatedly lied” to parishioners is just the latest proof.

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Ex-Mississippi priest Vargas indicted. Affidavit accuses diocese of lying to parishioners

MISSISSIPPI
Mississippi Clarion Ledger

July 17, 2020

A former Mississippi priest, accused of lying about having cancer, concealing an HIV diagnosis and advocating a fictitious orphanage in Mexico in an attempt to defraud parishioners, has been indicted on 10 counts of wire fraud.

Additionally, an affidavit filed by Homeland Security Investigations in federal court against the Catholic Diocese of Jackson alleges the church allowed parishioners to be defrauded for years. When questioned by a parishioner who had given money to the priest, the affidavit alleges Bishop Joseph Kopacz lied repeatedly. However, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the diocese.

Lenin Vargas, a former priest with the Jackson diocese and pastor at St. Joseph’s in Starkville and Corpus Christi in Macon, was indicted on 10 counts of wire fraud on Feb. 26 in the Northern District of Mississippi, according to newly available court documents.

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