ABUSE TRACKER

DENVER (CO)
Catholic News Agency

September 6, 2020

The Australian bishops have provided the federal government with the Holy See’s observations on 12 recommendations of a 2017 report on child sex abuse in the country’s institutions.

In response to a recommendation regarding the seal of confession and absolution, the Holy See reiterated the inviolability of the seal and that absolution cannot be conditioned on future actions in the external forum.

“The Holy See affirms once more its resolute determination to confront and eradicate the abuse of minors and vulnerable persons, wherever it may occur in the Church,” read the Holy See’s observations, which were enclosed in a letter of Feb. 26.

The Holy See’s observations were conveyed to the Australian bishops’ conference, which in turn sent them to the Attorney-General for Australia, and referred to in a Sept. 4 statement from the conference.

“The Pope has sought to promote reform and vigilance at all levels within the Church and to encourage the efforts of local Churches in the same direction. That commitment has led to the adoption … of a wide range of measures, designed to ensure a proper response to such cases, including at the canonical level, as well as encouraging cooperation with civil authorities,” the observations note.

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VATICAN CITY
Holy See

Released September 6, 2020; dated February 26, 2020

With reference to the Response of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference and Catholic Religious Australia to the Final Report of the Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, published in August 2018, the Holy See affirms once more its resolute determination to confront and eradicate the abuse of minors and vulnerable persons, wherever it may occur in the Church. The Pope has sought to promote reform and vigilance at all levels within the Church and to encourage the efforts of local Churches in the same direction. That commitment has led to the adoption, both by the Holy See and by Dioceses, Episcopal Conferences and Religious Institutes of a wide range of measures, designed to ensure a proper response to such cases, including at the canonical level, as well as encouraging cooperation with civil authorities, both domestic and international.

In that spirit, the Holy See wishes to offer the following observations on a number of recommendations of the above-mentioned Final Report. For ease of reference, each of the recommendations in question is reproduced below, followed by the relevant observations, which have been kept as concise as possible.

*

Recommendation 16.26

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference should consult with the Holy See, and make public any advice received, in order to clarify whether:

a. information received from a child during the sacrament of reconciliation that they have been sexually abused is covered by the seal of confession

b. if a person confesses during the sacrament of reconciliation to perpetrating child sexual abuse, absolution can and should be withheld until they report themselves to civil authorities.

With its Note on the importance of the internal forum and the inviolability of the sacramental seal, published on 29 June 2019, the Apostolic Penitentiary has furnished useful indications for arriving at a considered response to the questions raised in the present recommendation. It will be recognised at once that the question of the confessional seal is one of great delicacy and that it is related intimately with a most sacred treasure of the Church’s life, that is to say, with the sacraments.

The aforementioned Note repeats the constant tradition of the Church with regard to the seal of confession, recalling that: “The confessor is never allowed, for any reason whatsoever, ‘to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner’ (can. 983, §1), just as ‘a confessor is prohibited completely from using knowledge acquired from confession to the detriment of the penitent even when any danger of revelation is excluded’ (can. 984, §1).” The Note helpfully clarifies the extent of the seal, which includes: “all the sins of both the penitent and others known from the penitent’s confession, both mortal and venial, both occult and public, as manifested with regard to absolution and therefore known to the confessor by virtue of sacramental knowledge.” The Note gives expression to the long-standing and constant teaching of the Church on the inviolability of the sacramental seal, as something demanded by the nature of the sacrament itself and thus as deriving from Divine Law. See for example: Fourth Lateran Ecumenical Council (1215), Cost. 21; Pope Clement VIII, Decr. Ad omnes superiores regulares (1593); Decr. S. Officii (1682); Pope Benedict XIV, Breve Suprema omnium ecclesiarum (1745).

However, even if the priest is bound to scrupulously uphold the seal of the confessional, he certainly may, and indeed in certain cases should, encourage a victim to seek help outside the confessional or, when appropriate, to report an instance of abuse to the authorities.

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SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA)
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

September 8, 2020

By Allyson Horn

Priests in Queensland will now be compelled to break the seal of confession to report child sexual abuse or face three years in jail.

The legislation means religious institutions and their members are no longer able to use the sanctity of confessional as a defence or excuse in child sex abuse matters.

Police Minister Mark Ryan said the laws would ensure better protection for vulnerable children.

“The requirement and quite frankly the moral obligation to report concerning behaviours towards children applies to everyone everyone in this community,” he said.

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RAPID CITY (SD)
Diocese of Rapid City

September 7, 2020

Today the Holy See announced that Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Bishop-elect Michel Mulloy, who was appointed the Bishop of Duluth on June 19, 2020. Subsequent to that appointment, on August 7, 2020, the Diocese of Rapid City received notification of an allegation against Father Mulloy of sexual abuse of a minor in the early 1980’s. The Diocese of Rapid City has no other allegations of sexual abuse involving Father Mulloy.

Following the established procedure, Bishop Peter Muhich, Bishop of Rapid City, informed law enforcement of this development. Fr. Mulloy was directed to refrain from engaging in ministry. The Diocese then commissioned an independent investigation to determine whether the allegation warranted further investigation under Canon Law. When that investigation concluded, the results were shared with the Rapid City Diocesan Review Board, a lay-majority interdisciplinary body, in accordance with the standard of Canon Law and the policies of the Diocese of Rapid City. The Review Board agreed with the investigation’s conclusion that the accusation met the standard of Canon Law for further investigation and conclusion and the Holy See was informed by Bishop Muhich. Fr. Mulloy received a summary of the specific allegation against him and submitted his resignation as Bishop-elect of the Diocese of Duluth to the Holy Father, which has been accepted.

The Apostolic Nunciature has communicated that Msgr. James Bissonnette will continue to serve the Diocese of Duluth as Diocesan Administrator, until the appointment of a new Bishop.

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DULUTH (MN)
Associated Press

September 7, 2020

A priest recently tapped by Pope Francis to become a bishop for a northern Minnesota diocese has resigned after an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor in the 1980s surfaced before he could take up his post.

The Vatican announced Monday that Francis had accepted the resignation of Bishop-elect Michel Mulloy, whom the pope named in June to head the Duluth diocese. Mulloy was supposed to be elevated to bishop’s rank in an Oct. 1 ceremony in Duluth. The Vatican did not provide details.

At the time of his appointment, Mulloy was serving as diocesan administrator in Rapid City, South Dakota. The Diocese of Rapid City said in a statement that it received the allegation last month and that it dates back to the 1980s. It said there have been no additional allegations of abuse involving Mulloy.

The Associated Press left a message seeking comment Monday at Mulloy’s office in the Rapid City diocese.

It is highly unusual for a priest who has been selected to be a bishop to resign before that can happen. But the development underlines the pontiff’s oft-stated resolve to crack down on predator priests as well as insist that any allegation of sexual abuse be promptly investigated.

The Rapid City diocese said Bishop Peter Muhich informed law enforcement of the development and that Mulloy was “directed to refrain from engaging in ministry.”

“The diocese then commissioned an independent investigation to determine whether the allegation warranted further investigation under Cannon (church) Law,″ the Rapid City diocese statement said. The review found that ”the accusation met the standard for further investigation and conclusion and the Holy See was informed” by Muhich.

The Rapid City diocese said Mulloy received a summary of the specific allegation and submitted his resignation as bishop-elect to the pope.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

September 7, 2020

By Neil Vigdor

Father Michel J. Mulloy was chosen by Pope Francis to lead the Diocese of Duluth, Minn., but then an allegation from the 1980s surfaced, church officials said.

Pope Francis on Monday accepted the resignation of a priest whom he had chosen to become the bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese in Duluth, Minn., after a nearly 40-year-old allegation of sexual abuse of a minor emerged against the clergyman, church officials said.

The priest, Father Michel J. Mulloy, 67, had been scheduled to be installed on Oct. 1 as the bishop of the diocese, which estimated that it serves about 56,000 Catholics at 92 parishes in northeastern Minnesota.

But a little more than two weeks after his June 19 appointment by the pope, the Diocese of Rapid City in South Dakota, where Father Mulloy had been serving as diocesan administrator, was alerted about a sexual abuse allegation against him from the 1980s, church officials said.

The bishop-elect’s resignation came after the Vatican in July told bishops around the world to report cases of clerical sex abuse to the civil authorities, part of an ongoing and contentious effort by Francis to confront a blight on the Catholic Church.

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SUPERIOR (WI)
KBJR 6 NBC

September 7, 2020

By Ryan Haff

Duluth – Officials with the Diocese of Duluth announced Monday morning Bishop-elect Michel Mulloy has officially resigned following an accusation of sexual abuse of a minor.

A notification was accompanied by an announcement from the Diocese of Rapid City of an accusation of sexual abuse of a minor made against Father Mulloy as a priest of that diocese.

Pope Francis originally appointed Father Mulloy to the position back in June 2020 after Bishop Paul Sirba died unexpectedly in December 2019.

Mulloy was to be ordained and installed as Bishop of Duluth on October 1.

Father James B. Bissonette, the Diocesan Administrator for the Diocese of Duluth, released the following statement Monday morning:

“We grieve with all who have suffered sexual abuse and their loved ones. I ask you to pray for the person who has come forward with this accusation, for Father Mulloy, for the faithful of our diocese, and for all affected. We place our hope and trust in God’s providence as we await, again, the appointment of our next bishop.”

Father Bissonette will continue to serve as Diocesan Administrator until Pope Francis appoints a new bishop. It is unclear how long this process will take.

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TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade

September 6, 2020

By Nicki Gorny

When the Rev. Phil Smith stepped into his role as director of the Office for Priestly Vocations in the Diocese of Toledo, he was told that “the most important work I’ll do in this position is not the men I’ll bring into the seminary, but the men I’ll keep out.”

“So the most important contribution I’ll make to the life of the church will be keeping out men who are not fit for the priesthood,” Father Smith continued.

Now in his fourth year in the role, he understands the sentiment.

“I think that’s really true,” he said.

Catholic institutions across the country employ a particular discretion as to whom they ordain as clergy, subjecting seminary applicants to psychological assessments and continuing to almost constantly evaluate their suitability through up to nine years of seminary formation. Father Smith said that’s true of the Diocese of Toledo, too, as well as the various seminaries where it enrolls its candidates for the priesthood.

While such measures offer a holistic look at would-be clergyman, who might be well or ill suited to the priesthood for any number of reasons, they’re one notable way that institutions attempt to weed out men whom they suspect could one day be sexually abusive – an issue that the faith tradition has been battling in a particular public way since at least 2002.

The Diocese of Toledo just last month saw the arrest of the Rev. Michael Zacharias, the former pastor of Findlay’s St. Michael the Archangel Parish. Federal authorities have accused him of grooming and sexually abusing two men that he met when he was a seminarian and they were students at St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Toledo in the 1990s.

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OMAHA (NE)
KMTV

September 3, 2020

[With link to lawsuit]

A former associate priest at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in West Point is suing the Archdiocese of Omaha for $2.1 million, claiming the church unjustly forced him to resign and tarnished his image by publicizing that he had acted improperly with young adults and minors when he says he did nothing wrong nor was ever prosecuted or convicted of any crimes.

Father Andrew Syring resigned from his position in 2018 and was never given another position within the church.

In a court filing, Syring also says the Archdiocese unjustly put him on a list of priests who committed criminal sexual misconduct.

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ALBANY (NY)
Times Union

September 7, 2020

By Edward McKinley

Diocese says addition of Daniel J. Maher to list of offenders was meant to be publicized

Three new cases alleging child abuse in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany were filed this past week – including one involving a priest who in August was put on the diocese’s list of offenders after years of allegations against him.

A lawsuit filed Wednesday says that former Albany Diocese priest Daniel J. Maher and now deceased former priest Donald Starks each abused the plaintiff when he was 11 to 13 years old from 1966 to 1968 when he was an altar boy. The two men began by touching him inappropriately and subsequently forced the young boy to have oral sex with them, the suit alleges, including in the rectory of St. Francis de Sales church in Colonie.

The priests told the boy that the abuse was “’our secret,’ or something ‘between us and God,’ which would be ‘wrong to tell anybody,’” the lawsuit says.

From 2003 to 2007, multiple people came forward with stories of child abuse at the hands of Maher, the lawsuit notes, but the diocese threw out the allegations after an internal investigation through their Diocesan Review Board process and allowed Maher to continue as an active priest.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

September 5, 2020

By Matthew Xuereb

Teen says she has been in relationship with 40-year-old since she was 15

A priest who appeared in court last Thursday over a sexual relationship he was allegedly having with a teenage girl has been suspended from his duties, according to a spokesman for the church.

The priest must refrain from public ministry while criminal process against him is ongoing, the spokesman for the church’s Safeguarding Commission told Times of Malta.

This means that he cannot celebrate Mass or administer any of the sacraments in the community.

“The Safeguarding Commission will continue to follow the case to ensure that the necessary action is taken, as it has been doing, to safeguard all parties,” he said.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

September 5, 2020

By Charles Collins

Although reaffirming the principle that the seal of confession can never be violated, the Vatican has told Church leaders in Australia that victims of sexual abuse should be encouraged to report abuse to the proper authorities.

Recognizing the question of the seal of confession “is one of great delicacy and that it is related intimately with a most sacred treasure of the Church’s life, that is to say, with the sacraments,” the Vatican said “the confessional provides an opportunity – perhaps the only one – for those who have committed sexual abuse to admit to the fact.”

The comments came in a series of “observations” to the August 2018 response of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference and Catholic Religious Australia to the Final Report of the Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, published in December 2017.

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ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
Albuquerque Journal

September 5, 2020

By Colleen Heild

Survivors of clergy sexual abuse are seeking permission from a federal bankruptcy judge to file lawsuits alleging the Archdiocese of Santa Fe engaged in a “massive and fraudulent” scheme to divert up to $246 million in assets to avoid bigger payouts to hundreds of victims.

The request comes as efforts to mediate a resolution have stalled in the 18-month-old Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization of the state’s largest Catholic archdiocese.

“Rather than fulfilling its fiduciary duty to maximize the assets of the estate for the benefit of creditors, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe’s primary goal is to protect the asset protection scheme it designed and implemented to put its assets out of the reach of the Survivors,” victims’ lawyers said in a court filing.

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MADISON (WI)
Madison.com

September 5, 2020

By Tamia Fowlkes

https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/madison-catholic-diocese-criticized-for-response-to-misconduct-allegations-against-composer/article_1ab98108-b829-5408-9ca4-bd82c323dd91.html

The Catholic Diocese of Madison is facing criticism for its response to accusations of sexual abuse against David Haas, a prominent Minneapolis-based Catholic composer, best known for songs such as “You Are Mine” and “Blest Are They.”

Nearly 40 women from across the country have accused Haas of sexual misconduct, including forced kissing, unwanted touching and online messaging during large public events in which he led youth education.

Haas is accused of repeatedly harassing young women, some as young as 13, at events such as Music Ministry Alive and Religious Education Congress. Allegations against Haas have been collected and continue to emerge through a system where victims can report abuse by Catholic leaders called IntoAccount.

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IRELAND
BBC News

September 6, 2020

John Boland was 45 years old, married with grown up children, when a “dark secret” he had kept for almost four decades was suddenly exposed.

His name had been found on a 1960s attendance register from a school where many young boys were abused on a daily basis by their teenage teacher.

John was among 19 known victims at Creagh Lane school in Limerick.

But he had told no-one of the abuse he suffered, not even his wife, until Gardaí (Irish police) contacted him out of the blue, asking for a statement.

John says his wife was “shocked” by the revelation.

“We went though a terrible time,” he says, recalling how he had to tell his family he was regularly molested between the ages of six and seven.

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VATICAN CITY
Associated Press

September 6, 2020

Pope Francis said Sunday that gossiping is a “plague worse than COVID” that is seeking to divide the Catholic Church.

Francis strayed from his prepared text to double down on his frequent complaint about gossiping within church communities and even within the Vatican bureaucracy. Francis didn’t give specifics during his weekly blessing, but went on at some length to say the devil is the “biggest gossiper” who is seeking to divide the church with his lies.

“Please brothers and sisters, let’s try to not gossip,” he said. “Gossip is a plague worse than COVID. Worse. Let’s make a big effort: No gossiping!”

Francis’ comments came as he elaborated on a Gospel passage about the need to correct others privately when they do something wrong. The Catholic hierarchy has long relied on this “fraternal correction” among priests and bishops to correct them when they err without airing problems in public.

Survivors of sexual abuse have said this form of private reprimand has allowed abuse to fester in the church and let both predator priests and superiors who covered up for them escape punishment.

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[Appeal rejected in ecclesiastical sexual abuse case]

CATAMARCA (ARGENTINA)
El Ancasti

September 6, 2020

La Causa Contra Juan De Dios Gutiérrez, Más Cerca Del Juicio

[The Case Against Juan De Dios Gutiérrez, Closer To The Trial]

La defensa había presentado un recurso extraordinario. La Corte de Justicia no le hizo lugar.

[The defense had filed an extraordinary appeal. The Court of Justice did not allow it.]

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[They ask that a priest reported for sexual abuse not leave the country]

LA PLATA (ARGENTINA)
Ellitoral.co

September 3, 2020

ACUSADO POR EXALUMNA [Accused by former students]

La denuncia contra un cura por presuntos abusos en un colegio de La Plata avanzó los primeros pasos en los tribunales. El fiscal Alvaro Garganta pidió una prohibición de abandono del país para el sacerdote, reclamó al Arzobispado platense una copia del legajo del hombre bajo sospecha y puso fecha a la audiencia para que la víctima aporte su testimonio en la causa.

[GOOGLE TRANSLATION: The complaint against a priest for alleged abuses in a La Plata school advanced the first steps in the courts. Prosecutor Alvaro Garganta asked for a ban on leaving the country for the priest, demanded a copy of the file of the man under suspicion from the Archdiocese of La Plata and set a date for the hearing for the victim to provide his testimony in the case.]

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[Sexual abuse among priests in the Vatican: On Monday the first hearing in a German diocesan court on the “gay lobby”]

VATICAN CITY
Il Messaggero

September 4, 2020

By Franca Giansoldati

https://www.ilmessaggero.it/vaticano/gay_lobby_vaticano_chiesa_germania_ratzinger_processo_vittima_violenza_omosessuale_curia-5442965.html

Un monsignore tedesco che lavorava in Segreteria di Stato e alloggiava, fino a qualche anno fa a Santa Marta, considerato vicino alla cerchia dell’allora Benedetto XVI è accusato di violenza sessuale da un ex sacerdote (anch’egli tedesco).

[GOOGLE TRANSLATION: A German monsignor who worked in the Secretariat of State and stayed, until a few years ago in Santa Marta, considered close to the circle of the then Benedict XVI, is accused of sexual violence by a former priest (also German).]

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LOUISIANA
The Daily Advertiser

September 4, 2020

By Dan Copp

A group that advocates for Catholic Church sex abuse victims is asking the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux to add a new name to its list of “credibly accused” priests.

On Aug. 18, Archbishop Gregory P. Aymond added the Rev. Henry Brian Highfill to the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ list of priests with credible accusations of child sexual abuse.

Now, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, is asking local Bishop Shelton Fabre to do the same.

Highfill, who now lives in Las Vegas, served at St. Frances de Sales in Houma in 1975, according to New Orleans SNAP leader Kevin Bourgeois. The 78-year-old priest has been accused of abusing children from 1975 to 1981.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican News

September 4, 2020

Australia’s bishops comment on the observations made by the Holy See on recommendations from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to the Australian government.

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has looked into the Holy See’s response to recommendations made by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

A media release, published on their website, explains “the Royal Commission proposed that the Bishops Conference engage with the Holy See on those recommendations because they relate to universal Church law or practice”.

80 recommendations

Of the 80 recommendations proposed by the Royal Commission, 47 were accepted, 1 was not accepted, 13 were passed on to the Holy See, 1 is being taken into further consideration, 5 were accepted in principle, 12 are supported, and 1 is supported in principle. In response to all the accepted or supported recommendations, the response also states how they are already being implemented, that Church institutions will comply with any future legislation, or that standards are in development by Catholic Professional Standards Ltd.

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DALLAS (TX)
Christianity Daily

September 4, 2020

By Scott Kang

On August 27, the Dallas County District Attorney’s office moved to drop It’s case against Matthew Tonne, a former associate children’s minister at The Village Church.

In November 2018, Tonne was arrested and charged with having indecent sexual contact with an 11-year-old child. The office of the District Attorney claimed there was “a lack of probable cause,” as the victim could not properly identify Tonne as the offender. J. Mitchell Little, the complainant’s attorney and partner with Scheef & Stone LLP, stated, “Our client and her family are shocked and disgusted.” Little made clear that the state was “sufficiently satisfied” with the identification of Tonne previously and that his client is “ready to identify” him. He will proceed with a civil lawsuit against The Village Church, demanding $1 million for emotional distress and gross negligenc

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AUSTRALIA
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

September 5, 2020

By Airlie Ward

At 54, Steve Fisher thought he was finally about to realise his dream of home ownership when hackers robbed him of $90,000.

Mr Fisher had long thought he may not be able to buy a home in his lifetime.

After being abused as a young boy by an Anglican priest, the quest for justice took a toll

Mr Fisher faces a daily battle with PTSD, anxiety and depression.

This year, he reached a compensation settlement with the Anglican Church and planned to use that money to purchase a home in Tasmania’s north-west.

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TEXARKANA (AK)
Texarkana Gazette

September 3, 2020

By Lynn LaRowe
.
Three women have filed a lawsuit stemming from abuse they suffered at the hands of a Texarkana, Arkansas, pastor who is now serving multiple life sentences for child sexual assault.

Aftesha Cooper, Deangela Lang and Stacy Jackson testified in late June and early July that Logan Wesley III, pastor of Trinity Temple Church of God in Christ in Texarkana, Arkansas, sexually abused them for years. At the end of Wesley’s trial in Bowie County, Texas, a jury convicted him of all counts. He is currently serving five consecutive life sentences plus 220 years.

Texarkana lawyer David Carter and Dallas lawyer Neil Smith filed a civil lawsuit Thursday on behalf of Cooper, Lang and Jackson in Miller County, Arkansas, circuit court. Named as defendants in the suit are COGIC Inc. headquartered in Memphis, Tenn., Trinity Temple Church of God in Christ in Texarkana, Arkansas, local missionary Barbara Stuckey of Texarkana, Arkansas, and Logan Wesley’s wife, Cynthia Wesley, of Texarkana, Texas.

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UNITED STATES
America

September 4, 2020

By Kathleen McChesney

The nation was shocked this past spring by the video of a police officer in Minneapolis killing George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for several minutes. This accumulation of similar incidents of police misconduct have prompted calls for criminal justice reform and even “defunding” the police.

Shortly after the Floyd case, America’s John W. Miller identified “Six lessons for police reform from the Catholic Church.” Mr. Miller asked, “Is there anything to be gained by looking at the Catholic Church and how it has tried to better train and manage its priesthood, if not always successfully?”

The answer is a yes, but with some qualifications. The church has had some notable success in reducing the incidence of clerical misconduct. The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate reports that the number of new allegations of sexual abuse against minors and vulnerable adults has dropped significantly since the 1970s. Much of this reduction can be attributed to the implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. Developed and approved by the members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2002 at the height of the sexual abuse crisis, the “Dallas Charter” provides bishops and religious superiors with guidelines to prevent abuse, to respond to persons who have reported acts of abuse and to establish methods of accountability and transparency.

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ISRAEL/AUSTRALIA
Jewish News

September 3, 2020

‘It has been clear to practically everyone following this case that Malka Leifer has taken the Israeli judicial system for a major ride’, said campaigner Manny Waks

Campaigners against child sexual abuse have called for a major review of how a Jewish former headteacher in Australia charged with 74 counts of indecent assault and rape had evaded extradition for more than a decade.

It follows a decision this week from the Supreme Court of Israel rejecting an appeal from Malka Leifer not to be expedited.

Leifer fled to Israel from Australia in 2008 just hours before she was due to be arrested for sexually assaulting students at her Orthodox Adass Israel girls’ school.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

September 3, 2020

By Matthew Xuereb

Claims he was blackmailed by girl, aged 15

A priest has claimed blackmail as he was charged with defiling a 15-year-old girl with whom he was having a sexual relationship for the past four years.

The 40-year-old priest, whose name cannot be published by court order, pleaded not guilty to engaging in sexual activities with the woman when she was still a minor. The sexual activities allegedly took place in June 2017 when the girl was still 15.

As he stood in court wearing a black suit and the priesthood’s white collar, the priest pleaded not guilty to defiling the girl and to participating in sexual activities with her.

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WEST POINT (NE)
Norfolk Daily News

September 3, 2020

By Jerry Guenther

A Catholic priest who resigned from the Archdiocese of Omaha while in West Point after he was accused of misconduct with young adults and minors in Schuyler has sued the archdiocese.

The Rev. Andy Syring, who was a 41-year-old priest who had been assigned to St. Mary Catholic Church in West Point when he resigned in 2018, denied the allegations at the time and continues to do so.

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CAPE TOWN (SOUTH AFRICA)
IOL

September 1, 2020

By Robin-Lee Francke

The Anglican Church’s Safe and Inclusive Church Commission’s offer to assist the female priest who has been vocal about her alleged rape by a fellow member of the cloth has been accepted.

The commission, known as Safe Church, was established in 2019 and includes gender activists who have been campaigning to root out abuse.

Reverend June Major, 51, has alleged that she was raped in 2002 at the Grahamstown seminary by a fellow priest and has accused the clergy of doing nothing about the crime.

On Tuesday she released a statement stating she would be accepting the help of Safe Church extended last month.

“I have decided to accept your invitation to participate in the Safe Church’s process to investigate my allegations of rape and the Anglican Church’s role in protecting my rapist, who still ministers in the Diocese of Cape Town, resulting in my isolation and further traumatisation as a victim,” Major said.

She stated her reason for accepting the assistance was for justice to be served within the church, which operates in a country where rape and violence are prevalent.

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St. Louis (MO)
SNAP Network

September 2, 2020

A former Franciscan brother whose sexual abuse of impoverished black children in Mississippi made national news last year has been arrested and charged in two states on multiple charges of child sex assault. According to the AP, West was first charged in Appleton, Wisconsin last month and was extradited Wednesday to Mississippi where he faces additional charges.

According to the criminal complaints and at least three of his victims, after sexually abusing them in Mississippi, West brought them to Wisconsin and New York state where he further assaulted them. Both West and his religious order, the Franciscan Friars of the Assumption, who are headquartered in Franklin, Wisconsin are also subject to a civil case filed in New York state. All the victims were students at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic grade school in the 1990’s, also known as a Catholic “mission school”, where West was principle when they were abused.

The arrest is particularly noteworthy for the disturbing evidence of racial bias in how the Franciscan Friars treated his victims when they reported him to church authorities. According to the AP, the current Provincial, Fr. James Gannon, not only required the victims to sign secrecy agreements in exchange for compensation – a clear violation of the US Bishops policy since 2002 – two of the victims were offered a paltry $15,000 each, far below the average compensation for non-black survivors. One victim was first offered $10,000 towards a used car. Gannon also appears to have deliberately misled victims as to the criminal statute of limitations, telling them that West could no longer be prosecuted for his crimes. During these conversations, none of the victims were represented by legal counsel.

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ALASKA
SNAP Network

September 3, 2020

Dear Senator Murkowski:

We are leaders of SNAP, the Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests, an international non-profit organization that has spent the past thirty years advocating for survivors of clergy sexual abuse, working to prevent future cases of sexual violence, and exposing cases of institutional abuse. We are writing to you today regarding a concerning situation that involves your hometown and a serially abusive Catholic priest who was quietly sent there.

Fr. Gary Carr was sent to Ketchikan from Missouri and over the course of his career he also was shuffled at various times to New Mexico and Arizona. He is accused in multiple lawsuits in Missouri of sexually abusing children, and the diocese that he originally worked in has identified him as a credibly accused child abuser. In Ketchikan, Fr. Carr worked as the principal at Holy Name Catholic School, a position he held despite already having been accused of sexual abuse in the early 1990s.

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HOUSTON (TX)
SNAP Network

September 3, 2020

An employee at a Catholic school in the Archdiocese of Houston has been arrested on child sexual assault charges. We now call on Catholic officials in Houston to do outreach to parents and parishioners and to update their list of the credibly accused to include this staffer and all other lay employees in Houston that have hurt children or vulnerable adults.

Ronald See, an IT staffer at St. Anthony Padua Catholic Church and School in The Woodlands Township, TX, has been arrested for grooming and sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl who was a family friend. While See did not find the victim through his position at St. Anthony Padua, it is possible that he could have had access to other children while working in the school and parish. It is critical that Cardinal Daniel DiNardo use every resource at his disposal to ensure parents and parishioners at St. Anthony’s are made aware of the story and that anyone who may have seen or suspected crimes by See or any other church employees are encouraged to come forward to law enforcement.

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CHATTANOOGA (TN)
Times Free Press

September 3, 2020

By Ron Hart

My great-grandfather was a Methodist minister with a sense of humor. His rural congregants loved him. When a parishioner suggested that he ask God for rain to relieve a drought, Great-Grandad told him he would but that he was in sales, not operations.

Today it seems that the era of the humble minister is long gone, replaced by televangelists and mega-church “charismatics” with big hair, hot wives and impossibly white smiles. They seem to be losing touch with those of their followers who are not zealots. Religion has been Swaggart-ed, Haggard-ed, Bakker-ed, Bishop Eddie Long-ed, pedophiled and, as a result, demeaned.

Sex scandals among the clergy seem all too common. This also explains where those Bibles left in all those hotel rooms come from.

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INDIANA
Indiana Gazette

August 27, 2020

By Patrick Cloonan

Two priests who formerly served parishes in Indiana County are in the legal spotlight, one for being named in a Greensburg Catholic Diocese “Higher Standards” report, the other for charges of sexually abusing an altar boy for three years at a church in Fayette County.

On Wednesday state Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced the arrest of Father Andrew M. Kawecki, 65, now of Greensburg, on charges that he sexually assaulted an altar boy multiple times at Ss. Cyril and Methodius Church in Fairchance, Fayette County, starting in 2004 when the boy was 11, and lasting until the boy was 14.

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TORONTO (CANADA)
Catholic Register

September 3, 2020

Support for priest

In a recent edition The Catholic Register reported that Fr. Nino Cavoto, pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in Toronto, has been removed from ministry following the Archdiocese of Toronto receiving an allegation that he had abused a minor while serving at a parish in the New York archdiocese between 1979 and 1983.

This news undoubtedly came as a shock to the many who have known Fr. Cavoto as a good man and wonderful priest throughout his many years in ministry. Fr. Cavoto is grateful for the overwhelming support he has received since the announcement.

The removal from ministry was pursuant to the Toronto archdiocesan “Prodecure for Cases of Alleged Misconduct” which mandates immediate removal and in advance of the commencement of the investigation to follow.

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VANCOUVER (BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA)
CBC.com

Updated September 1, 2020 [Note: This is an updated version of an article that we posted on Abuse Tracker earlier this week. This update corrects factual errors that appeared in the original article.]

By Bethany Lindsay

Lawyer for Rosemary Anderson says she hopes court victory will send a message to Kamloops diocese

A woman who was repeatedly sexually abused by a priest in Kamloops, B.C., says the leadership of the Catholic church failed her by not acting on previous reports of his misconduct.

Last week, a B.C. Supreme Court judge awarded Rosemary Anderson $844,140 in damages for the sexual battery she suffered at the hands of Father Erlindo Molon while he was a priest at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the 1970s.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Kamloops was held directly and vicariously liable for those damages after the court heard church leadership was aware of Molon’s reputation as a playboy priest and an archbishop had even confronted him about it, but nothing was done to stop him.

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RED BANK (NJ)
The Patch

September 3, 2020

By Nicole Rosenthal

The former student is suing St. James Church and Red Bank Catholic, claiming abuse by one priest with a history of allegations.

A former student who attended Red Bank Catholic School in the 1980s was sexually abused by a priest who had a history of similar complaints, according to a lawsuit filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey.

Per the July 29 complaint filed in Mercer County, Francis McGrath abused the student (referred to only as initials B.T.) in 1982 and 1983. The accused abused multiple children while serving at St. James Church and Red Bank Catholic School, the suit reads.

The defendants – listed as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton, St. James Church in Red Bank and Red Bank High School – were sued on six counts, including civil conspiracy and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The suit demands a trial by jury.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC Radio National

September 3, 2020

By Sophie Kesteven and Chris Bullock

Christine Jack has horrible memories from her time at boarding school.

When she was seven, she was sent away from home to a Catholic establishment in New South Wales.

“I was a little child and it was a shock to go into a very strict regime … it was virtually an enclosed convent,” she tells ABC RN’s Sunday Extra.

“I used to go to the toilet and cry for my mother and father.”

She made friends, but still felt isolated, and had to learn to cope on her own. The attachment bonds with her parents started to tear.

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VANCOUVER (BRITISH COLUMBIA)
Catholic News Service via Crux

September 3, 2020

By Agnieszka Ruck

A proposed class-action lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese of Vancouver claims the archdiocese was “systematically negligent” in protecting parishioners from abuse by clergy.

“The archdiocese was aware of the abuse and allowed the abuse to continue. The archdiocese was also complicit in silencing survivors, who were required to take oaths of secrecy when making complaints to the archdiocese,” the claim states.

The plaintiff, a woman identified as K.S. in court documents, alleged she was abused by a religious order priest at St. Francis of Assisi Parish when she was about 11 years old. The documents say she has had no contact with her abuser since elementary school and “remains terrified of priests and the power of the archdiocese.”

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

September 4, 2020

Repentance is something that Catholics usually understand.

That is one reason why former Bishop Michael Bransfield’s response to the charges leveled against him is so egregious.

Bransfield formerly led the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia. There he proceeded to, according to a church investigation, embezzle $792,000 while sexually harassing seminarians.

Bransfield, according to the diocese, has paid back $441,000, and will retire with benefits, including a $2,250 monthly pension. That’s far less than the normal $6,200 for a retired bishop, but not a bad deal for Bransfield considering the circumstances.

“I am writing to apologize for any scandal or wonderment caused by words or actions attributed to me during my tenure,” Bransfield wrote in an Aug. 15 letter of apology to his former diocese.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

September 4, 2020

By Nancy McGunagle

In Sr. Simone Campbell’s rah-rah piece for Sen. Kamala Harris, we, as Catholics, were urged to “evaluate Sen. Kamala Harris’ record carefully” and, we assume that means, as well, her record as district attorney for the city of San Francisco prior to her record as attorney general for the state of California.

Even limited research about Harris’ early career yields an impressive tally of her toughness on crime and her previous, meteoric rise in electable ranks thanks to more than a little help from Willie Brown, noted, political radical in the city and, eventually, its mayor. Willie’s wife, Blanche Vitero, would agree.

As for being tough on the horrific sexual abuse and cover-up crimes of the powerful San Francisco Archdiocese, there is little dispute now that, in her seven years as district attorney, Harris’ office did not proactively assist in civil cases against clergy sex abuse and ignored requests by activists and survivors to access the massive cache of investigative files regarding the diocese’s brutal crimes accumulated by her predecessor, Terence Hallinan — files that could have helped them secure justice in a timely fashion. This “evaluation” comes from several victims of clergy sex abuse living in California who spoke last year through the highly regarded, independent news source, The Intercept.

Sexual assault survivor, Joey Piscitelli, is quoted therein as saying: “It went from Terence Hallinan going hundred miles an hour, full speed ahead, after the Catholic Church to Kamala Harris doing absolutely nothing.”

No thanks. Clergy abuse survivors and their advocates did their evaluation of Harris years ago.

NANCY McGUNAGLE
Kalispell, Montana

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

September 4, 2020

By Barney Zwartz

The Case of George Pell: Reckoning with Child Sexual Abuse by Clergy, by Melissa Davey,
Scribe, $35

This is a book of mixed merits, good in parts but requiring perseverance to reach them through tediously exhaustive accounts of Cardinal George Pell’s progress through the justice system on historical sexual abuse charges. Guardian reporter Melissa Davey takes us through the committal, mistrial, retrial, unsuccessful Supreme Court appeal and High Court acquittal.

Cardinal George Pell arrives at the Melbourne County Court for sentencing in February 2019. His conviction was later overturned on appeal by the High Court of Australia.
Cardinal George Pell arrives at the Melbourne County Court for sentencing in February 2019. His conviction was later overturned on appeal by the High Court of Australia.CREDIT:JASON SOUTH

It would have helped readers if Davey had set out what she was trying to achieve at the start. She does not do so until page 391, at the end of the book. There she says that, so far as she knows, she is the only journalist who covered the Royal Commission and all Pell’s trials and she wants readers to have the evidence, as much as possible, before they leap to judgment about his guilt or innocence – a matter on which she wisely gives no opinion. And she wants to set it in the context of wider research into child sexual abuse.

She certainly succeeds in the first aim, and up to a point in the second which, given how deeply the trials are etched into the public record, strikes me as the more important. I would have liked more on this and less of the evidence because, although Davey cites some interesting research, it comes across as a little perfunctory. In the hands of someone like the vastly more experienced David Marr, who has also written extensively on Pell for The Guardian and elsewhere, deeper questions might have been explored more widely.

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AUSTRALIA
Catholic Outlook

September 4, 2020

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has provided the Holy See’s observations on 12 recommendations from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to the Australian Government.

The Royal Commission proposed that the Bishops Conference engage with the Holy See on those recommendations because they relate to universal Church law or practice. Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin confirmed that the recommendations, and the entire final report of the Royal Commission, were studied closely by several Vatican dicasteries.

The Holy See reiterated its commitment to child protection, and its desire to “spare no effort… in collaborating with civil authorities to pursue every avenue to end the scourge of sexual abuse”.

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VANCOUVER (BRITISH COLUMBIA)
The Province

August 27, 2020

By Keith Fraser

‘Fr. (Erlindo) Molon’s abuse caused the plaintiff pain, anguish, grief and humiliation. It deeply affected her self-confidence. She has carried these wounds throughout her life,’ judge rules

https://theprovince.com/news/local-news/parishioner-sexually-abused-by-kamloops-catholic-priest-40-years-ago-awarded-800000/wcm/aac44752-74fd-4844-bc3e-5d96424ad3b7/

A parishioner who was sexually abused by a Catholic priest in Kamloops more than 40 years ago has been awarded more than $800,000 in damages, believed to be the highest award for a sexual abuse victim in B.C.

Rosemary Anderson, who was 26 years old at the time of the abuse and is now 70, had travelled to the Interior community in 1976 to take up a job as an elementary school teacher at Our Lady of Perpetual Help school.

Her father had recently died and she was grieving him and went to Father Erlindo Molon for comfort, guidance and care, but the priest took advantage of her and repeatedly sexually assaulted her over the course of several months in the rectory and in her home.

In his ruling on the case, B.C. Supreme Court Justice David Crossin found that the abuse suffered by Anderson was protracted and ongoing and her encounters with Molon “degrading and highly invasive.”

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OMAHA (NEBRASKA)
Associated Press

September 3, 2020

By Margery A. Beck

A Roman Catholic priest is suing the Omaha Archdiocese for defamation nearly two years after he was removed from his parish in northeast Nebraska and listed among a group of clergy found to be credibly accused of sexual misconduct.

The Rev. Andrew Syring says in the lawsuit that his career and life have been in tatters since the archdiocese abruptly removed him from public ministry in West Point in October 2018. A month later, the archdiocese published his name on the list of clergy abusers.

Syring had been an ordained priest for two years when he was accused in 2013 of boundary violations that included “publicly hugging and kissing minors on the cheek,” his lawsuit says. Syring vehemently denied any wrongdoing, and after a psychological evaluation and investigations by the church and law enforcement that found no criminal misconduct, he said, he was returned to public ministry.

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PHOENIX (AZ)
12 News

September 2, 2020

Father John P. Doran allegedly abused two boys while they attended the St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in the 1970s.

Two lawsuits were filed against the Diocese of Phoenix and one of its churches Wednesday for alleged sexual abuse from a former priest.

Father John P. Doran allegedly abused two boys while they attended the St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in the 1970s, according to the suit filed by the now-adult victims.

“The two men who have come forward today have waited decades for the Bishop of Phoenix to be fully transparent about the pedophile priests working in this Diocese,” said attorney Robert Pastor.

Doran, who died in 1997, served as a priest across Arizona after he was ordained in 1945.

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ANDOVER (MA)
Andover Townsman

September 3, 2020

By Breanna Edelstein

Priest held posts in Lawrence, at Merrimack College

Two women who were sexually abused by the Rev. John J. Gallagher in the 1970s are speaking publicly — for the first time — about their childhood trauma with the hope of empowering other survivors and themselves.

The women, one who chooses to be named and another who does not, are among 11 people — 10 women and a man — represented by Boston Attorney Mitchell Garabedian in a joint lawsuit against the Catholic Church resolved earlier this year with a $1.4 million settlement.

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THE HAGUE (NETHERLANDS)
Associated Press

September 2, 2020

Cardinal emeritus Adrianus Simonis, who led the Dutch Catholic Church during a period of secularization in society and, after his retirement, had to confront abuse in the church, has died at age 88, his former archdiocese of Utrecht announced Wednesday.

His successor, Cardinal Willem Eijk, said the church had lost someone “with a great pastoral heart.”

Simonis was named bishop of the port city of Rotterdam in 1970 and became Archbishop of Utrecht in 1983. Pope John Paul II appointed him a cardinal on May 25, 1985. The pope accepted his retirement in 2007 and he became a cardinal emeritus the following year.

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FLORIDA
Catholic News Agency

September 2, 2020

The Catholic former head of Florida State University’s student senate is suing the school, saying his religious freedom was violated when he was removed from his position.

Jack Denton, a member of Florida State University’s (FSU) Class of 2021, was ousted from his position as head of the FSU student senate in June when comments he made in a private chat forum for Catholic students were made public. He had claimed that policy positions of BlackLivesMatter.com, the ACLU, and Reclaim the Block contradicted the teachings of the Catholic Church, in a conversation about racial justice.

A change.org petition called his comments “transphobic and racist” and the student senate subsequently voted to remove him as chair. He unsuccessfully appealed to the student supreme court and to university administrators for his reinstatement.

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UNITED STATES
Associated Press

September 2, 2020

By Michael Rezendes

A former Catholic brother has been extradited from his home state of Wisconsin to Mississippi, where he faces sexual battery charges in a case involving two impoverished Black boys who say they were pressured as men into accepting paltry payouts to settle their abuse claims.

The men have accused Paul A. West, once a Franciscan Friar and fourth-grade teacher, of molesting them in Mississippi, Wisconsin and New York while they were elementary school students.

West, 60, did not contest his extradition at a hearing in Outagamie Country, Wisconsin on Aug. 17. He arrived at the Leflore County Jail in Greenwood, Mississippi, earlier this week following an investigation by the Mississippi attorney general’s public integrity division. West also has been charged with second-degree sexual assault of a child in Wisconsin.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

September 2, 2020

By Peter Smith

When the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh launched its compensation program for victims of sexual abuse by priests, participants were guaranteed confidentiality.

But the names of 47 claimants were inadvertently leaked in an email from the program administrator to an unintended recipient.

While all agree the leak was unintentional and didn’t spread any further, the person who received it said the 47 should have been notified long ago.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Gay City News

September 2, 2020

By Arthur S. Leonard

A three-judge panel of the Chicago-based Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on August 31 that a gay man fired as music director by a Catholic church after he married his boyfriend can sue the church on a claim he was subjected to a hostile work environment by his supervisor, a priest, because of his sexual orientation and physical disabilities.

The US Supreme Court has defined a “ministerial exception” to anti-discrimination law — based on the First Amendment’s Free Exercise of Religion Clause — that protects religious organizations from being sued about their decisions to hire or terminate employees who can be described as “ministers,” a category broad enough to include a music director responsible for liturgical hymns used in services.

Here, however, the appeals panel voted 2-1 that the ministerial exception does not apply to an employee’s claim that his employer has subjected him to a hostile work environment for reasons prohibited by anti-discrimination laws.

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EUFAULA (AL)
Associated Press

September 3, 2020

A teacher’s assistant at an Alabama high school is facing charges for allegedly having sex with a student, police said.

Amy S. Priest, 44, of Eufaula, was charged Monday with two counts of a school employee engaging in sex with a student under 19 years old, al.com reported. It was unknown if Priest is represented by an attorney who could speak on her behalf.

The alleged incidents did not occur at Eufaula High School, where Priest worked as a paraprofessional, Police Chief Steve Watkins said Tuesday.

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LITTLE ROCK (AR)
Arkansas Democrat Gazette

September 2, 2020

By Francisca Jones

The Catholic Diocese of Little Rock announced Wednesday that it has added another priest to its list of clergy that have been “credibly” accused of sexually abusing a minor.

Father Edward Simpson, who died in 1988, was a priest in Arkansas from the time of his ordination in 1954 until his retirement in 1986. Simpson’s record shows that he served at Catholic churches in Fort Smith, Little Rock, Blytheville, North Little Rock, Jonesboro, Searcy, Eureka Springs, Malvern and Texarkana.

According to a news release, a person alleging to have been sexually abused as a minor by Simpson contacted the diocese April 20.

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WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

September 2, 2020

By Cyrus Moulton

A Roman Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing a man when he was a teenager in the 1970s has been stripped of his status at his request, Bishop Robert J. McManus of the Worcester Diocese announced last week.

Lee F. Bartlett III, 74, was dispensed from the clerical state by Pope Francis and, as a result, may not function in any capacity as a priest or be referred to as a priest or as “Father” in writing such as in event announcements or obituaries.

The laicization follows the Catholic Church’s commitment to the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, the diocese announced.

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VANCOUVER (CANADA)
Canadian Catholic News

September 2, 2020

By Agnieszka Ruck

A proposed class-action lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese of Vancouver claims the archdiocese was “systematically negligent” in protecting parishioners from abuse by clergy.

“The archdiocese was aware of the abuse and allowed the abuse to continue. The archdiocese was also complicit in silencing survivors, who were required to take oaths of secrecy when making complaints to the archdiocese,” the claim states.

The plaintiff, a woman identified as K.S. in court documents, alleged she was abused by a priest at St. Francis of Assisi Parish when she was about 11 years old. The documents say she has had no contact with her abuser since elementary school and “remains terrified of priests and the power of the archdiocese.”

K.S. reported the abuse to the Archdiocese of Vancouver in January of 2019.

None of the allegations have been proven in court and the priest in question is now deceased.

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NASHVILLE (TN)
Baptist Press

September 1, 2020

By Tom Strode

A manual providing guidance on hiring staff members and selecting volunteers is the latest Southern Baptist resource designed to help churches prevent sexual abuse.

The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) – in cooperation with the Sexual Abuse Advisory Group – released the “Caring Well Hiring Guide” Aug. 31 as part of the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) ongoing effort to equip congregations to thwart sex abuse and to minister to survivors of abuse. The free guide describes itself as “a first step for church leaders on what to consider” when seeking, screening and choosing staff or volunteers.

The multi-faceted “Caring Well” endeavor, which was inaugurated two years ago in response to reports of abuse among Southern Baptist churches and entities, includes an eight-step challenge in which churches can participate to prevent predatory behavior and to care for survivors.

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RICHMOND (VA)
Friendly Atheist (blog)

September 1, 2020

By Hemant Mehta

For years now, there have been stories about ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, defrocked in 2019 for sexually abusing boys under his care. One of the biggest critics of the Catholic Church’s handling of allegations against McCarrick — and other leaders accused of sexual abuse — was Rev. Mark White (below), a priest based in Virginia, whose blog included a number of entries denouncing what he was seeing.

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LOUISIANA
SNAP Network

September 1, 2020

Archbishop Gregory P. Aymond named Fr. Henry Brian Highfill to the Archdiocese of New Orleans list of credibly accused priests on Tuesday, August 18, 2020. According to his work history, Fr. Highfill was at St. Frances de Sales parish in 1975, and in charge of the altar boys.

It is well-documented that the vast majority of child predators abuse multiple children, multiple times. We urge Bishop Fabre to notify the good people in the Houma Thibodaux diocese of the allegations against Fr. Highfill. If there were innocent children who fell victim to him, SNAP is here to support and validate their years of anguish. We stand with all survivors of clergy sex crimes and their families.

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LYNCHBURG (VA)
SNAP Network

September 1, 2020

An investigation into Jerry Falwell Jr.’s tenure as president of Liberty University will be conducted by an outside agency, something we believe is necessary in order to get to the bottom of the scandals that have rocked the institution in recent weeks. Given that Falwell is a second-generation leader, there could well be overlaps with his father’s tenure that may require exploration and we hope that the investigators have been given leave to explore any and all abuses of power that have occurred at Liberty.

This situation reminds us of a case at a megachurch in California’s Silicon Valley. The leader of Menlo Church, John Ortberg, was forced to step down when it became known that he left his own son in ministry after the son had confessed to having a sexual fixation on children. Like Menlo Church, Liberty University had been led in a monarchical fashion that could have led to other abuses of power. Similarly, there are elements of both sexual abuse and cover-up at Liberty too, especially as they relate to how Becki Falwell allegedly preyed on at least one young college student. It is important that the sexual aspects of the Liberty case, and how far back they go, are examined.

We do have doubts that this investigation will be truly independent, especially since the board at Liberty has yet to identify the outside firm they hired to handle the investigation. At the same time, this is at least a step in the correct direction and will hopefully identify areas where secular involvement is needed.

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.

WILMINGTON (DE)
PRNewswire

September 1, 2020

The following is being released by Omni Agent Solutions the Court Appointed Claims and Noticing Agent for the Boy Scouts of America. The Boy Scouts of America (“BSA”) has filed bankruptcy in order to restructure its nonprofit organization and pay Sexual Abuse Survivors. Please read this notice carefully as it provides information about the rights of Sexual Abuse Survivors against BSA, BSA Local Councils and organizations that sponsored their packs, troops, crews, ships or posts and provides information about the case, In re Boy Scouts of America and Delaware BSA, LLC, No. 20-10343 (Bankr. D. Del.). This notice is a short summary. For more detail, visit www.OfficialBSAClaims.com or call 1-866-907-2721.

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HONOLULU (HI)
Diocese of Honolulu via Hawaii Catholic Herald

August 31, 2020

Bishop Larry Silva announces that Mr. GEORGE DE COSTA Jr., who previously served as a priest of the Diocese of Honolulu, ordained in 1964, was laicized by Pope Francis on July 29, 2020. The then-Father De Costa retired in 2002, but in 2009, when an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor was made against him, Bishop Silva permanently restricted him from all sacred ministry, a decision confirmed by the Holy See. Since then, several additional accusations have been made against Mr. De Costa. Being now laicized, he is no longer a member of the clergy and may not function as such anywhere in the world.

We pray for all victims of sexual abuse by clergy, and we pray God’s healing for them and their loved ones.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Register

September 1, 2020

By Father Raymond J. de Souza

Much of the recent history of the Catholic Church in the United States can be told in the lives of these two men, who were both ordained Aug. 29, 1970.

It is not a tale of two cities, but rather two archbishops. And while it has something of the best of times, it also has the worst of times — both a season of Light, and a season of Darkness, to borrow Dickens.

Much of the recent history of the Catholic Church in the United States can be told in the lives of two men ordained on the same day 50 years ago, Aug. 29, 1970.

It was “King Herod’s birthday,” as Cardinal Seán O’Malley of Boston sometimes characterizes his ordination day, the feast day of the beheading of St. John the Baptist (Matthew 14:1-12). He shares the same ordination day with his fellow Capuchin friar, Archbishop Charles Chaput, recently retired from Philadelphia. Cardinal O’Malley was ordained in Pittsburgh; Archbishop Chaput was ordained in Victoria, Kansas.

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NEW JERSEY
NorthJersey.com

September 2, 2002

By Tom Nobile

Three years after sexual assault charges against a Cliffside Park guidance counselor were dropped, the family of the alleged victim has renewed the accusations in a lawsuit blaming the local school district for allowing the alleged abuse to occur on school grounds.

The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court last week, targets Cliffside Park’s school board and its superintendent for employing Edward Meier, who allegedly abused a 5-year-old girl at the high school and during school sponsored events from 2010 through 2014, according to the complaint.

Meier had worked at Cliffside Park High School for more than three decades, earning awards as a teacher and guidance counselor when he was arrested in October 2014 on sexual assault charges.

A Superior Court judge later dismissed all six counts against him over credibility issues with the alleged victim. The girl’s mother, however, is pressing forward in civil court for unspecified damages.

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

UNITED STATES
Alma

August 24, 2020

By Anonymous

The Orthodox community needs to do a better job of education around consent and protecting victims.

I am an Orthodox Jewish woman. I am proud of my identity and heritage, and find enormous value in my culture. I find that most of the flaws and challenges in my community stem from a severe lack of information, so I have an enormous amount of empathy for people who may not know the impact that their words may have. However, that does not erase the impact of their words. I have felt this most acutely when it comes to my community’s reaction to my sexual assault.

I was sexually assaulted two years ago. After the assault, as I recognized the enormity of what had happened, and especially as I realized that the case would be proceeding to trial, I slowly opened up to select family members and a few friends. Some people’s reactions could not have been more ideal. However, others left a lot to be desired.

Comments ranged from asking whether my knees were covered to stating that as long as I was not “technically raped,” I could still marry a kohen and would not have to worry about the assault. This attitude reflected what I was taught — the incorrect belief that yichud, the halacha (Jewish law) that stipulates that men and women should not be alone together, and shomer negiah, the halacha that says men and women should not touch unless they are close family or spouses, were established to protect women from assault because men cannot control their sexual appetites. Even in environments where these beliefs were not explicitly stated, the trickle down impact of these attitudes resonate throughout much of the Orthodox community as well as the wider Jewish community that I have been a part of.

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LYNCHBURG (VA)
RNS

August 31, 2020

By Boz Tchividjian

In the past weeks, the world has learned some deeply troubling and devastating reports coming out of Liberty University involving its former president, Jerry Falwell Jr., and his wife, Becki.

These reports not only involve allegations of sexual misconduct with other adults, but they also include reports of the targeting, grooming and engaging in what could be non-consensual sexual contact with a Liberty University student.

This is in addition to a number of reports regarding very questionable financial dealings and self-dealings involving university funds. As someone who was a law professor at Liberty University for twelve years, I have profound respect and admiration for so many of the dear people who are part of that community.

Many of the faculty, students and staff of Liberty University are hurting at the moment, feeling betrayed and having countless unanswered questions regarding so much of what they have read or learned during the past weeks.

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HAVELOCK (NC)
SNAP Network

August 31, 2020

A former coach at a Catholic high school in Havelock, North Carolina, has been convicted on twelve counts of second degree child sexual exploitation. We now call on Diocesan officials to update their list of those “credibly” accused to include this teacher and all other lay employees or volunteers in the Diocese of Raleigh that have hurt children or vulnerable adults.

Peter Van Vilet is a former city commissioner in Havelock as well as the former cross-country, lacrosse, and basketball coach at Annunciation High School there. He was arrested late last year on charges related to the possession of child pornography and was recently found guilty on those charges. Now that Van Vilet has been sentenced to two years in prison, it is time for his former employers to step up, urge anyone who may have been hurt to come forward, and ensure that Van Vilet is included on the Diocesan list of “credibly” accused abusers.

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FRANCE
The Guardian

August 30, 2020

By Harriet Sherwood

French academic’s bid to become archbishop of Lyon reflects growing calls for women in leadership roles

A French female academic has put herself forward to be the next Catholic archbishop of Lyon in a move that is gathering support around the world even though she stands no chance of succeeding.

Anne Soupa, 73, a theologian and biblical scholar, says there is “an awakening of women within the Catholic church”. Seven other Catholic women in France have followed her move in applying for ministries that are open only to men.

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BRITISH COLUMBIA (CANADA)
CBC News

August 31, 2020

By Bethany Lindsay

Lawyer for Rosemary Anderson says she hopes court victory will send a message to Kamloops diocese

A woman who was repeatedly sexually abused by a priest in Kamloops, B.C., says the leadership of the Catholic church failed her by not acting on previous reports of his misconduct.

Last week, a B.C. Supreme Court judge awarded Rosemary Anderson $844,140 in damages for the sexual battery she suffered at the hands of Father Erlindo Molon while he was a priest at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the 1970s.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Kamloops was held directly and vicariously liable for those damages after the court heard church leadership was aware of Molon’s reputation as a playboy priest and an archbishop had even confronted him about it, but nothing was done to stop him.

In an interview with CBC Daybreak Kamloops host Shelley Joyce, Anderson spoke about how Molon took advantage of her in 1976 when she arrived in town as a 27-year-old teacher freshly grieving the death of her father.

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UNITED STATES
TopClassActions.com (plaintiff attorney referral blog)

September 1, 2020

By Emily Sortor

As more cases of alleged sexual assault are shared by victims who gain the courage to move forward, some of these receive a great deal of press. Many different organizations and individuals have come into the spotlight as a result of claims of sexual abuse and USA Gymnastics is one of them.

How Did the USA Gymnastics Abuse Occur?

The accused abuser in the USA Gymnastics scandal was Dr. Larry Nassar, a physician at Michigan State University. He ultimately pleaded guilty to federal child pornography and criminal sexual conduct charges. The women in these cases claim that Dr. Nassar took advantage of his position and used it to harm young women instead of helping them.

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

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

August 29, 2020

Regarding “Mitchell T. Rozanski installed as the 10th Archbishop of St. Louis” (Aug. 26): Past Archbishop Robert Carlson has referred to new Archbishop Mitchell T. Rozanski as “a breath of fresh air.” But the air from his most recent post in Springfield, Massachusetts, is anything but fresh. Indeed, it is fetid with corruption and omission in regards to its investigation of child sexual abuse accusations against former prelate, Bishop Christopher Weldon.

Only after extensive reporting from the Berkshire Record newspaper was it clear that Weldon had committed grave violations, including the rape of a youth. Rozanski apologized to Western Massachusetts Catholics pained by this clergy sex abuse scandal.

To his credit, Archbishop Rozanski then took corrective action. But an “I only know what I read” attitude will not suffice here in St. Louis, especially from someone who regards his assignment as being a “pastor.” A shepherd of the flock needs to demonstrate vigilance and perceptions beyond what he might read in a report.

Then again, if he fails in that endeavor, we still have a secular news media to investigate.

Richard Wagner • Kirkwood

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COLUMBUS (OH)
WSYX/WTTE

August 26, 2020

The Catholic Diocese of Columbus has reached a $1 million settlement involving a complaint against Monsignor Thomas Bennett.

The settlement comes after a former student at Columbus’ St. Charles Preparatory School filed a lawsuit accusing the late Monsignor Bennett of sexual abuse.

The Diocese of Columbus encourages anyone who may have experienced sexual abuse by clergy or others associated within the Church to notify law enforcement immediately as well as the Diocesan Victim’s Assistance Coordinator at 614-241-2568 ext. 1546 or helpisavailable@columbuscatholic.org.

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WORCESTER (MA)
Catholic Free Press

August 26, 2020

Following the Catholic Church’s commitment to the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, Bishop McManus announced Wednesday that Lee F. Bartlett III has been laicized at his request. He was dispensed from the clerical state by Pope Francis. As a result of the laicization, Mr. Bartlett may not function in any capacity as a priest or be referred to as a priest or as “Father” in writing such as in event announcements or obituaries.

“I ask that all the faithful join me in fervent prayer that Christ may bring healing and hope to anyone who has been abused by a priest or by anyone in the Catholic Church,” said Bishop McManus.

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[The Priest Pachado: Appeals court is formed to resolve the prescription]

ARGENTINA
El Esquiú

September 1, 2020

Denuncia por abuso sexual eclesiástico

El tribunal de Apelaciones no se integraba para resolver el caso por el escándalo de Morales y Da Pra.

El tribunal será compuesto por los jueces Álvarez, Navarro Foressi y Soria.

[GOOGLE TRANSLATION: Complaint of ecclesiastical sexual abuse

The Court of Appeals had not been able to resolve the case because of the Morales and Da Pra scandal.

The court will be composed of judges Álvarez, Navarro Foressi and Soria.]

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[An “exiled” priest tells of Moya’s abuses and the Church’s cover-up]

PARANÁ (ARGENTINA)
El Heraldo

September 1, 2020

En una carta enviada al arzobispo de Paraná, monseñor Juan Alberto Puiggari, el padre Luciano Martín Porri detalla los abusos psicológicos que sufrió por parte de Marcelino Ricardo Moya y describe al cura condenado a 17 años de prisión por promoción de la corrupción de menores agravada y abuso sexual simple agravado en concurso real entre sí: “Es la persona más soberbia y sádica que he conocido en mi vida. Disfrutaba del dolor ajeno y de hacer sentir que nuestras vidas dependían de él”.

[GOOGLE TRANSLATION: In a letter sent to the Archbishop of Paraná, Monsignor Juan Alberto Puiggari, Father Luciano Martín Porri details the psychological abuse suffered by Marcelino Ricardo Moya and describes the priest sentenced to 17 years in prison for promoting aggravated corruption of minors and Simple sexual abuse aggravated in real competition with each other: “He is the most arrogant and sadistic person I have ever met in my life. He enjoyed the pain of others and making us feel that our lives depended on it. “]

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