ABUSE TRACKER

MARQUETTE (MI)
The Mining Journal

October 22, 2020

Lansing – Millions of documents have been reviewed and 11 men have been or are being prosecuted by Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office since authorities executed search warrants two years ago on all seven of Michigan’s Catholic dioceses as part of the state’s investigation into clergy abuse.

According to the Michigan Attorney General’s office, 42 Michigan State Police troopers, five officers from other law enforcement agencies and 15 special agents from the Attorney General’s office executed search warrants on Oct. 3, 2018, at Michigan’s seven dioceses. In that effort, they seized 220 boxes of paper documents and more than 3.5 million digital documents.

Due to a slowdown in court operations as a result of COVID-19, no charged cases have been resolved through plea deals or trial since late 2019. However, the review of documents has continued along with other steps to further the investigation. To date, the department has:

• Completed the paper document review of the Gaylord, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing and Marquette dioceses. Of the 220 boxes of paper documents seized, about 78 boxes remain;

• Completed the electronic document review of the Gaylord, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and Marquette dioceses;

• Hired and trained a full-time victim advocate to support the hundreds of victims identified in the course of the investigation;

• Continued to refer the completed criminal investigations back to the respective dioceses; and

• Followed up with victims who have not been interviewed with a trauma-informed interviewer, including those whose cases are barred by the statute of limitations, where the accused priest has died or any other reason that makes criminal prosecution impossible.

Through the department’s review of paper documents alone, 454 accused priests and 811 reported victims have been identified. That number may change as investigatory efforts continue.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

October 21, 2020

By Jason Horowitz

The comments, shown in a new documentary, are the strongest yet from a pontificate that has taken a more tolerant and inclusive tone.

Rome – Pope Francis expressed support for same-sex civil unions in remarks revealed in a documentary film that premiered on Wednesday, a significant break from his predecessors that staked out new ground for the church in its recognition of gay people.

The remarks, coming from the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, had the potential to shift debates about the legal status of same-sex couples in nations around the globe and unsettle bishops worried that the unions threaten what the church considers traditional marriage — between one man and one woman.

“What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered,” Francis said in the documentary, “Francesco,” which debuted at the Rome Film Festival, reiterating his view that gay people are children of God. “I stood up for that.”

Many gay Catholics and their allies outside the church welcomed the pope’s remarks, though Francis’ opposition to gay marriage within the church remained absolute.

His conservative critics within the church hierarchy, and especially in the conservative wing of the church in the United States, who have for years accused him of diluting church doctrine, saw the remarks as a reversal of church teaching.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Times-Picayune and Advocate

October 21, 2020

By David Hammer and Ramon Antonio Vargas

He is considering requesting two possible church trials for priests who were implicated in separate sex scandals this month

In his most aggressive action to date while managing the fallout of an ongoing clerical molestation scandal, New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond is asking all diocesan priests on his list of religious men credibly accused of molesting children to leave the Catholic clergy entirely.

Aymond is also considering more aggressive action, including possible church trials in Rome, to force out Patrick Wattigny and Travis Clark, two priests who were implicated in separate sex scandals this month.

Wattigny allegedly admitted to the archdiocese on Oct. 1 that he sexually abused a minor in 2013. He is now being investigated by the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office. That same day, police in Pearl River booked Clark with obscenity after he was discovered taping himself engaged in three-way sex with two dominatrices — including one who is an avowed Satanist — on the altar at Sts. Peter and Paul Parish.

Since 2018, Aymond has been privately asking credibly accused clergy to voluntarily leave the priesthood and return to the laity through a process called “laicization,” according to archdiocesan officials. The late Dino Cinel, who was acquitted of child pornography-related charges in the 1990s, voluntarily underwent that process in 2010, Aymond’s second year as New Orleans’ archbishop.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WWL

October 21, 2020

Considering church trials for two priests accused of recent sexual misconduct

New Orleans Archdiocese Archbishop Gregory Aymond reportedly has told priests credibly accused of sexual misconduct to permanently separate themselves from the clergy.

The Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate reports Aymond is going as far as have two priests, one who admitted to misconduct and another caught in sexual acts on the altar of their church, to face church trials in Rome.

The two in question are Patrick Wattigny and Travis Clark.

Wattigny, caught texting with a minor by the Vatican’s electronic security unit, underwent a retreat to address his issue and then came clean to the Archbishop about his alleged abusing of a child a number of years ago.

Meanwhile, Clark was in the act of taping sexual acts with two prostitutes on the Altar of Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Pearl River.

Aymond is asking those who have wound up on church’s black list to leave the clergy and return to laity of the church through “laicization.”

But, Aymond reserving the right to force out such priests who do not heed his request and in the activities of Wattigny and Clark, it appears he’s ready to make examples of them.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

October 20, 2020

By Lloyd Kramer and Scott Chestnut

[An 18-minute film.]

A Priest Who Left the Church for Love: They wanted to marry. But he’d taken a vow of celibacy.

Terence Netter and Therese Franzese fell in love in New York City in the 1960s. She was an assistant to Rudolf Bing, general manager of the Metropolitan Opera. He was an accomplished painter and Jesuit priest. They sought to marry and dreamed the Catholic Church would embrace a married priesthood.

There was reason for them to be hopeful. At the time there was a robust dialogue happening around optional celibacy for priests. And so they were deeply disappointed when in 1967, Pope Paul VI reaffirmed the rule of celibacy for priesthood. Netter left the ministry, and the couple built a life together. In the short documentary above, we see their love story unfold as they grew their faith in each other and in God.

Transcript: He was Jewish, and she was Roman Catholic, but we were brought up totally Roman Catholic. The whole family went to Mass on Sunday, including my father. But I took to it right from the beginning, and being an altar boy, it just came naturally. I was also always, even as a little boy, interested in art. But I wasn’t at all interested in becoming a priest until my last year at Georgetown Prep. And more and more, it became clear to me that I belonged in the Jesuits …

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MARQUETTE (MI)
The Mining Journal

October 21, 2020

https://www.miningjournal.net/news/front-page-news/2020/10/no-guilt-or-innocence-able-to-be-established-priest-returned-to-ministry-with-strict-limitations-officials-say/

A church tribunal has determined an accusation of sexual misconduct with a minor in the early 1970s against Father Frank M. Lenz is inconclusive, the Diocese of Marquette has reported.

A canonical law process authorized by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was unable to establish guilt or innocence to the standard of moral certainty in the case.

The accusation was received by the Diocese of Marquette in early 2018. At the time, Lenz, a senior (retired) priest of the diocese, was put on administrative leave effective immediately. In accord with diocesan policy, the allegation was reported to the Marquette County prosecutor.

Following review of the accusation by civil authorities, the case was forwarded to the CDF, which authorized the bishop of Marquette to establish a special tribunal to adjudicate the case. Canon lawyers from outside the diocese heard the case.

Lenz has continued to deny the allegation.

From the time of the accusation, Lenz was removed from all public ministry and prohibited from presenting himself as a priest in accordance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

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NEWARK (NJ)
Star-Ledger / NJ.com

October 20, 2020

By Kelly Heyboer

The debt began overwhelming the Diocese of Camden late last year.

Faced with a flood of priest abuse victims applying to the New Jersey Independent Victims Compensation Program, the Catholic diocese had to borrow $8 million to pay out-of-court settlements.

Then, the diocese was slammed with another 55 lawsuits from other alleged abuse victims in state court after New Jersey changed its state law Dec. 1 to allow victims to sue the Catholic Church.

But the final blow came when the coronavirus pandemic hit last March and the Diocese of Camden’s 62 parishes were forced to shut their doors for months. Without regular Masses for the diocese’s 486,000 Catholics in South Jersey, weekly collections nearly disappeared and other donations dwindled even as churches slowly reopened.

On Oct. 1, the Diocese of Camden announced the inevitable: It had filed for bankruptcy.

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ROCKY MOUNT (VA)
Franklin News-Post

October 21, 2020

By Bill Wyatt

Marinsville – The next chapter of Father Mark White’s story has been written, quite literally, by White himself.

White, who was ousted as priest of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Martinsville and St. Francis of Assisi in Rocky Mount because of a dispute with his bishop, spoke to a group of approximately 40 socially distanced attendees Sunday afternoon at the Grand Fiesta Venue in Ridgeway about a book that he says should be finished in the next two weeks.

“I’ve missed you,” White said. “This is a difficult time — to contend with this virus and this blow to our faith at the same time is a great challenge.”

White referred to the news last week of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond’s agreeing to pay $6.3 million to 51 people who as children were sexually abused by clergy members.

“One of the victims was on TV,” White said. “She was grateful for the money, but she longed for justice, which she called ‘the free exchange of information,’ sharing of information by authorities — and that has not occurred to this day.”

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NEGAUNEE (MI)
WLUC

October 20, 2020

A church tribunal determined accusation of sexual misconduct with a minor in the early 1970s against Father Frank M. Lenz is inconclusive.

Marquette – A Church tribunal has determined an accusation of sexual misconduct with a minor in the early 1970s against Father Frank M. Lenz is inconclusive. A canonical (Church law) process authorized by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) was unable to establish guilt or innocence to the standard of moral certainty in the case.

The accusation was received by the Diocese of Marquette in early 2018. At the time, Father Lenz, a senior (retired) priest of the diocese was put on administrative leave effective immediately. In accord with diocesan policy, the allegation was reported to the Marquette County Prosecutor.

Following review of the accusation by civil authorities, the case was forwarded to the CDF, which authorized the bishop of Marquette to establish a special tribunal to adjudicate the case. Canon lawyers from outside the diocese heard the case.

Father Lenz has continued to deny the allegation.

From the time of the accusation, Father Lenz was removed from all public ministry and prohibited from presenting himself as a priest in accordance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

In light of the tribunal’s decision, Father Lenz is returned to ministry with strict limitations in place by Bishop John Doerfler, which include prohibiting him from priestly ministry in parishes and schools.

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WARREN (MI)
C&G Newspapers

October 20, 2020

By: Jonathan Shead

Farmington – A former Farmington priest has been charged with one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, a charge that carries a possible 15-year prison sentence, by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.

Nessel brought charges against Gary Berthiaume, 78, who is charged with sexually assaulting a minor in 1977 at the rectory of Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church, 23815 Power Road, while he was a priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit. The victim reported being 14 years old at the time the alleged sexual actions took place.

The presumptive charges came forward as part of Nessel’s continued investigation into sexual abuse within the seven Catholic dioceses across Michigan.

Berthiaume was arrested at his home in Warrendale, Illinois, Sept. 29, and faces extradition to Farmington, where charges were authorized. Oakland County court records indicate attorney James Lawson, of Illinois, will represent Berthiaume. Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper will serve as the plaintiff.

Lawson could not be reached for comment by press time.

These charges are not the first Berthiaume has faced. The priest was arrested in 1977 for sexual assault on two other minors in Michigan.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
Associated Press

October 20, 2020

By Mark Scolforo

Pennsylvania’s highest court on Tuesday grappled with whether a woman’s lawsuit on claims of sexual abuse by a priest decades ago should be allowed to proceed — a lower-court ruling that has launched many other lawsuits since it was issued a year ago.

In oral argument, the justices focused questions on whether the plaintiff, Renee Rice, waited too long to sue the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

Rice has argued that a 2016 grand jury report alerted her to allegations that church officials’ silence about a priest who she says molested her amounted to fraudulent concealment.

The 2016 report in Altoona-Johnstown preceded the wider 2018 report that found decades of sexual attacks on children by priest in other Pennsylvania dioceses.

Eric Anderson, lawyer for the diocese and two now-deceased bishops, but not the Rev. Charles F. Bodziak, the priest Rice says abused her, told the justices that Rice had a duty to pursue the matter once she realized she had been harmed, was aware of who did it and knew where he worked.

“Once she knows those salient elements or facts, then she has to make the effort to conduct the investigation,” and possibly sue, Anderson argued. “Then she can explore all claims she has against potential defendants. And there’s no evidence she did anything like that.”

Rice’s lawyer, Alan Perer, said there is disagreement about what Rice knew and whether she responded properly, a dispute that he argued a jury should sort out.

“She alleges she did not know and it was not reasonably knowable that the diocese was the cause of her injury until she read the 2016 report,” Perer said.

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TORONTO (ONTARIO, CANADA)
CityNews

October 20, 2020

By Adrian Ghobrial and Jessica Bruno

If a child told you they’d been sexually assaulted by an adult what would you do? Would you call police? Would you report the allegations to a children’s aid society? Or would you do neither?

For most of us, the moral choice is clear. So why has the obligation to report often been ignored by many who claim to be doing God’s work?

Sister Nuala Kenny is a pediatrician who has spent decades examining the sexual assault scandal rocking the religious institution she’s given her life to. As a nun, she calls the Catholic Church’s response to the abuse of children “a contradiction to what we’ve been called to be as Christians.”

A CityNews investigation has uncovered several child sexual assault claims against an order of Catholic priests based in Toronto. Dating back decades, the Basilian Fathers were made aware of abuse allegations against their own priests, but historically, cases were never reported to police or a children’s aid society. Instead, allegations were dealt with internally, resulting in alleged predator priests continuing to work in schools and churches.

“If the Church had reacted more effectively and properly, we would not have the catastrophe that we have today.”

It’s a scenario lawyer Rob Talach has seen again and again.

“This is the repetitive story in the Catholic cases, these priests are often reported and moved. I term it ‘the silent shuffle,’” he says. “If the Church had reacted more effectively and properly, we would not have the catastrophe that we have today.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

October 19, 2020

By Kelli Smith

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-retired-chicago-priest-abuse-allegation-20201019-gex5v4ddujasbcscuu24rtkd7a-story.html

The Archdiocese of Chicago over the weekend removed the Rev. Daniel McCarthy from St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, a parish in Norwood Park where he was pastor emeritus, after an allegation surfaced that he sexually abused a minor about 50 years ago at a Far North Side orphanage, according to the archdiocese.

McCarthy, a chaplain since 2012 at Notre Dame College Prep, a Roman Catholic school in Niles, was alleged to have committed the abuse while he was assigned to the now-closed Angel Guardian Orphanage in Chicago’s West Ridge neighborhood, according to a letter Cardinal Blase Cupich sent Saturday to the St. Elizabeth of Trinity community.

McCarthy was at the orphanage from 1967 to 1974, according to a letter written to the Notre Dame College Prep community by the school’s president, Shay Boyle, and principal, Daniel Tully. The orphanage closed in 1974 and was replaced by Misericordia, a home for people with disabilities, which is operated by the Archdiocese of Chicago.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service via Catholic Philly

October 19, 2020

By Junno Arocho Esteves

Vatican City – Pope Francis accepted the resignation of a Polish bishop accused of negligence after a documentary claimed he repeatedly transferred a priest accused of sexually abusing children.

The Vatican announced Oct. 17 that the pope accepted the resignation of 68-year-old Bishop Edward Janiak of Kalisz and named Archbishop Grzegorz Rys of Lodz as apostolic administrator “sede vacante.”

In June, the Vatican had appointed Archbishop Rys as apostolic administrator “sede plena,” indicating that the see was not vacant.

Bishop Janiak’s failure to act when told about allegations of abuse perpetrated by a diocesan priest drew a public outcry following the May 16 release of the documentary, “Hide and Seek,” produced by Polish filmmakers Marek and Tomasz Sekielski.

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Guardian

October 20, 2020

By Melissa Davey

The Anglican and Catholic churches missed crucial opportunities to stop them abusing other children, unredacted reports find

The Anglican and Catholic churches knew about allegations against notorious paedophile priests years before they were convicted and jailed for child sexual abuse, missing crucial opportunities to stop them from abusing other children.

The findings were outlined in two unredacted and one previously unreleased report published by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse on Tuesday. The findings were previously redacted so as not to prejudice ongoing legal proceedings against the two abusers: the former Anglican dean of Newcastle Graeme Lawrence and the former Catholic priest Vincent Gerard Ryan.

Lawrence is the most senior Anglican church figure found guilty of child sexual abuse, after being convicted in July 2019 of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy in 1991 at his home at Christ Church Cathedral in Newcastle, New South Wales. He was sentenced to eight years in jail.

The commission’s report on case study 42, which examined the response of the Anglican diocese of Newcastle to child sexual abuse allegations, found the allegations that Lawrence was sexually abusing children were made on three separate occasions to the then Bishop Roger Herft.

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KITCHENER (ONTARIO, CANADA)
Kitchener Today

October 20, 2020

Interview with survivors and Adrian Ghobrial of CityNewsToronto [25 minutes]

For almost two years an investigative team has been digging into into claims of child sexual assault by priests who belong to a Canadian Catholic order known as the Basilian Fathers. The results of their work form Unrepentant.

For almost two years an investigative team has been digging into into claims of child sexual assault by priests who belong to a Canadian Catholic order known as the Basilian Fathers. The results of their work form Unrepentant, a film that includes firsthand accounts from victims of abuse, the near-murder of an accused pedophile, the mystery death of a priest after he is exposed, secret church files that show a pattern of shuffling around known abusers and a victim’s journey to Vatican City to confront church leaders…and more. The project’s lead reporter joins us for a look at how it came together.

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WOODLAND PARK (NJ)
The Record

October 19, 2020

By Deena Yellin

For Catholic churches around the country, it has become a familiar refrain: After shelling out millions of dollars in settlements to survivors of clergy abuse, a diocese says it’s broke and declares bankruptcy.

The Diocese of Camden, representing a half-million Catholics in 62 South Jersey parishes, became the latest to file for bankruptcy protection on Oct. 1 — 10 months after a new state law waived the statute of limitations on decades-old abuse claims.

It’s unlikely to be the last. If history is any guide, bankruptcy experts say, when one diocese in a state files for Chapter 11, others often follow. In North Jersey, the dioceses of Newark and Paterson, representing some 1.7 million worshippers, are caught in the same vise of legal attacks and COVID-19 financial strains, said Charles Zech, a professor emeritus at the Villanova School of Business in Pennsylvania.

“Given the uncertainty associated with the statute-of-limitations window in New Jersey, I suspect that every diocese in the state is in danger,” he said.

To parishioners, the legal maneuvers may have little visible impact on the ground. A Camden diocese spokesman said there are no plans to cut churches, staff or programs. But the filings have angered victims’ advocates and plaintiffs attorneys, who say bankruptcy is a ploy by the church to dodge legal accountability for past crimes.

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DENVER (CO)
Associated Press

October 18, 2020

Colorado’s three Catholic dioceses paid $6.68 million to 73 survivors of sexual abuse by priests, a new report said.

The state’s Independent Reconciliation and Reparations Program issued an update Friday of how much money each survivor should be given by the church, The Colorado Sun reported.

The program fielded claims from survivors and determined their credibility and compensation eligibility.

Eight claims were rejected by the program. Another eight claims are pending because the survivors are waiting to receive payments, have not received compensation offers or must first report abuse to law enforcement before the cases can move forward.

“Of the 81 eligible claimants, some were previously unknown abuse survivors, demonstrating success in reaching survivors previously unwilling or unable to come forward and receive help,” spokeswoman Amy Weiss said in a statement on behalf of an independent oversight committee overseeing reparations.

Survivors must have been abused when they were children to be eligible for compensation.

“I know that money cannot fully heal the wounds you suffered but hope that those of you who came forward felt heard, acknowledged — and that the reparations offer a measure of justice and access to resources,” Denver Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila wrote in a letter to his archdiocese Friday.

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ERIE (PA)
Erie Times-News

October 13, 2020

By Ed Palattella

The Catholic Diocese of Erie, with administrative offices at St. Mark Catholic Center in Erie, is facing a number of lawsuits claiming cover-ups of clergy sexual abuse.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Oct. 20 will hear arguments in a clergy sex abuse case whose outcome will greatly affect abuse lawsuits and Roman Catholic dioceses statewide, including the Catholic Diocese of Erie.

The case, which claims a cover-up, is so significant that the Catholic Diocese of Erie wants a federal judge to stay a similar abuse suit against the diocese until the state Supreme Court issues a ruling in the other case in several months.

A decision in the Supreme Court case, which involves the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, will either allow or prohibit hundreds of plaintiffs from pursuing fraud-related suits in court over claims that the dioceses covered up abuse. The financial ramifications of the decision will be enormous for the plaintiffs and the Catholic Diocese of Erie and the other dioceses.

Waiting for the state Supreme Court to rule makes the most sense, the Catholic Diocese of Erie said in a filing on Friday. The diocese asked U.S. District Judge Susan Paradise Baxter to grant a stay in the abuse case filed against the diocese in U.S. District Court in Erie.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic Culture / Trinity Communications

October 14, 2020

By Phil Lawler

At Catholic World Report, J. D. Flynn offers some perceptive observations about the appointment of Cardinal Kevin Farrell to head a new committee charged with supervising financial transactions that involve Vatican secrets. Cardinal Farrell, Flynn reminds readers, is already the camerlengo, the official responsible for handling the material properties of the Holy See during a papal interregnum. So he has been given quite a bit of control over the Vatican’s financial affairs—which, I hardly need remind you—are currently in an uproar. “Information is currency in Rome,” Flynn remarks, “and Cardinal Farrell’s new position makes him uniquely informed, and therefore among the most powerful figures in Vatican leadership.”

Cardinal Farrell’s full-time assignment, as prefect of the dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life—offers no suggestion of financial expertise. The Irish-born prelate’s track record gives absolutely no indication that he is the right man to crack down on questionable behavior. Cardinal Farrell, remember, was close to the late Father Marcial Maciel, the disgraced founder of the Legionaires of Christ. But Cardinal Farrell says that he knew nothing about Maciel’s disgraceful behavior. Later he was an auxiliary bishop in Washington, DC, where he worked closely with, and shared a home with, former cardinal Ted McCarrick. Cardinal Farrell says that he knew nothing about McCarrick’s disgraceful behavior. At a time when the Vatican is struggling to regain public confidence about its financial probity, cynics might wonder whether he was chosen for these sensitive posts because he is likely to crack down on any signs of financial impropriety, or because he can be relied upon not to notice them.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Religion News Service

October 16, 2020

By Claire Giangravé

The reasons for the steady hemorrhage of Catholic clergy worldwide are varied, from secularization to the church’s ongoing sexual and financial scandals. And the COVID-19 pandemic has brought its own challenges.

Vatican City – Catholic missions are struggling amid dwindling vocations and the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data released by the Vatican ahead of the World Mission Day this Sunday (Oct. 18).

The number of priests and ordained leaders has dropped significantly, especially in Europe and America, according to the report issued on Friday by the Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, charged with distributing clergy and coordinating missions around the world.

The total number of priests in the world decreased to 414,065 in 2018, with Europe registering a drop of 2,675 priests compared to 2017. The report also reveals a slight decrease in the number of Catholic faithful in America, Europe and Oceania. Meanwhile, Africa and Asia continue to show signs of growth, according to the data.

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TORONTO (ONTARIO, CANADA)
CityNews 660

October 18, 2020

By Adrian Ghobrial and Jessica Bruno

When Jerry Boyle was in high school, he used to walk Windsor’s Ambassador Bridge and drop rocks into the Detroit River. He would count the seconds it took for the stones to hit the water.

“It could end that quick if I wanted it to. Wouldn’t have to look at him again.”

Thirty years later, Patrick McMahon would walk the very same bridge to the very same spot and contemplate the very same thing. Both were sexually assaulted by Father William Hod Marshall, decades apart.

Marshall was a Catholic priest and educator who worked at Catholic high schools across Canada, starting in the 1950s. At the time, the institutions were run or staffed by the Basilian Fathers, a group of priests whose calling is to teach. Their world headquarters is in Toronto.

In a recorded civil deposition, Marshall admitted to sexually assaulting boys at nearly every posting he had.

Marshall pled guilty in 2011 and was convicted of assaulting 17 children at Ontario schools. He was also separately convicted of assaulting two boys in Saskatchewan. Victims and their lawyers believe the actual number of children he preyed on is much higher.

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TORONTO (ONTARIO, CANADA)
CityNewsToronto

October 19, 2020

By Adrian Ghobrial and Jessica Bruno

To this day, Brenda Brunelle can’t breathe when she tilts her head back in the shower to wash her hair. It’s the lifelong result of the sexual assault she claims she endured as a young girl at the hands of a Catholic priest.

Brunelle grew up in a devout Catholic family in Windsor. In the late 1970s, she went to St. Vincent de Paul, a Catholic elementary school, and was an altar server at the church.

“My father sold tickets to have that Church built. We were pioneers of St. Vincent De Paul Church and we were proud of that,” she says.

As a 12-year-old, she alleges she caught the eye of associate pastor Father Michael Fallona.

Fr. Fallona is a member of the Basilian Fathers, an order of Catholic priests who to this day have a hand in operating schools in North America.

Brunelle claims it all started with Fr. Fallona paying too much attention to her at school. She says she felt uncomfortable about the way he over-praised her for small tasks and gave her long hugs.

“I know that he loved the smell of my hair and the color of it,” she tells CityNews. “He would stand behind me and fondle me. Smell my hair. Literally eating it, is how I would describe the experience.”

She alleges he would ask her to come to the church to help with chores. She says Fr. Fallona asked her to come change a lightbulb and claims that’s the first time the priest groped her.

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TORONTO (ONTARIO, CANADA)
CityNewsToronto

October 17, 2020

By Adrian Ghobrial and Jessica Bruno

A sexual assault survivor’s Supreme Court win against the Catholic church has established an expensive deterrent against covering up abuse.

After an eight-year legal battle, Canada’s top court dismissed a request to appeal from the Basilian Fathers of Toronto earlier this year. The decision put an end to the religious order’s quest to reduce a landmark civil jury award that punished the Church for its role in facilitating abuse.

Survivor Rod MacLeod says as the years went on, his motivation never changed.

“It was about putting an end to childhood sexual abuse, especially by huge powerful rich organizations … moving the abuser from place to place, keeping them safe and allowing them to continue to do what they do,” he says.

MacLeod was sexually assaulted by Basilian priest William ‘Hod’ Marshall in the 1960s while he was a student at St. Charles Catholic High School in Sudbury, where Marshall was a teacher. The abuse occurred throughout MacLeod’s high school career.

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UNIONTOWN (PA)
Herald-Standard

October 14, 2020

By Alyssa Choiniere

The former priest of a Fairchance parish was held for court at his preliminary hearing Wednesday for allegedly sexually abusing an altar boy beginning when the boy was about 11.

Caption: Andrew Kawecki, 65, of Greensburg, a former priest, leaves Magisterial District Judge Daniel C. Shimshock’s office where he was held for court Wednesday on allegations of sexually abusing an altar boy from 2004 and 2007 at Sts. Cyril and Methodius Church in Fairchance.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors

October 13, 2020

[This webpage provides two lists of accused priests, brothers, and nuns who are not listed on the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ list of accused clergy but were assigned in the archdiocese. See Judge Grabill’s 10/1/20 order regarding the Committee’s list of “additional clergy against whom Sexual Abuse lawsuits have been filed and clergy accused of Sexual Abuse by other religious orders and dioceses.”]

Disclaimer: The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (the “Committee”) has not independently investigated the allegations of sexual abuse against the people listed below. The Committee does not assert that the allegations of sexual abuse against them are true.

The people named below have been accused of committing sexual abuse. These people have served within the territorial limits of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. A religious order and/or diocese outside of the Archdiocese of New Orleans found sexual abuse accusations against these people to be credible. This list provides the information we have available regarding assignments and dates but may not be complete. This list will be modified from time to time as additional information becomes available.

[Followed by a list of 34 accused priests and brothers, and one seminarian, with links to other diocesan and religious order lists of accused that include them.]

The people named below have been sued in civil court for sexually inappropriate acts or have had criminal cases brought against them for sex-related crimes. These people have served/worked within the territorial limits of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. This list will be modified from time to time as additional information becomes available.

[Followed by a list of 16 accused priests, brothers, and nuns, with links to dockets or pleadings.]

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CHICAGO (IL)
WGN

October 18, 2020

By Andy Koval, Rob Sneed, and Judy Wang

A retired priest still affiliated with multiple Archdiocese of Chicago schools has been asked to step aside following a sexual abuse claim at an orphanage approximately 50 years ago.

Cardinal Blase Cupich asked Father Daniel McCarthy to “step aside from ministry” after the archdiocese received an allegation from their Office of Child Abuse Investigations. The allegation stems from when McCarthy was assigned to Angel Guardian Orphanage in Chicago approximately 50 years ago.

McCarthy is currently retired, but serves as the pastor emeritus for Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity School, a K-8 school on the Northwest Side. McCarthy has been asked to “live away” from the parish while the matter is investigated.

According to Notre Dame College Prep’s website, Father McCarthy is the school’s chaplain. On April 27, the school celebrated his 53rd ordination anniversary. McCarthy has also been Resurrection College Prep’s school chaplain. It’s unclear if he still holds the role, but he did as of last year.

Cardinal Blase Cupich issued the following letter to the Saint Elizabeth community …

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CHICAGO (IL)
WBBM TV

October 18, 2020

[With photograph and audio report.]

The Archdiocese of Chicago said Saturday that a priest who had served at St. Elizabeth of the Trinity Parish and School has been asked to step aside amid sexual abuse allegations going back decades.

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ROME (ITALY)
Associated Press via U.S. News and World Report

October 17, 2020

By Nicole Winfield and Monika Scislowska

Pope Francis has ordered a Polish bishop to leave his central diocese while he is under investigation for covering up cases of sexual abuse that were featured in a second clergy abuse documentary that has rocked Poland’s Catholic Church.

Pope Francis has ordered a Polish bishop to leave his central diocese and let someone else run it while he is under investigation for covering up cases of sexual abuse that were featured in a second clergy abuse documentary that has rocked Poland’s Catholic Church.

Francis on Thursday named the archbishop of Lodz, Grzegorz Rys, to temporarily take over as head of the Kalisz diocese.

The Vatican’s ambassador, in explaining the decision, said the current Kalisz bishop, Edward Janiak, 67, retains the title of Kalish bishop for the time being. But the explanation, posted late Thursday on the Polish bishops conference website, said Janiak must leave the territory of the diocese and can’t have any form of influence on how it is run.

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PROVIDENCE (RI)
Associated Press

October 16, 2020

A judge on Friday dismissed child-abuse lawsuits filed by three men against leaders of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence based on the definition of the word “perpetrator.”

The ruling by Superior Court Judge Netti Vogel looked at a 2019 law that extended the deadline to sue over childhood sexual abuse in Rhode Island from seven years to 35 years after the victim’s 18th birthday, The Providence Journal reported.

The men said they were abused by priests as children, and because diocesan leaders actively thwarted criminal investigations, that made them “perpetrators” under the new law, meaning the institution could be sued retroactively.

Vogel said the “perpetrators” were the people who actually committed the abuse and they could be sued retroactively. The non-perpetrators may have caused or contributed to the abuse, and may have even done so in a way that could open them up to criminal charges, but under the civil law, they were “non-perpetrators,” who couldn’t be sued retroactively, she ruled.

Two of the three priests have died.

A lawyer for the men, Timothy Conlon, said they were analyzing the decision.

A spokeswoman for the diocese didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

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DENVER (CO)
Catholic News Agency / EWTN

October 17, 2020

By Hannah Brockhaus

Pope Francis accepted Saturday the resignation of the Bishop of Kalisz in central Poland, Edward Janiak, who is under investigation for his handling of an abuse case.

Since June, Janiak’s diocese has been administered by Archbishop Grzegorz Ryś of Łódź.

Pope Francis named Ryś apostolic administrator “sede plena” of the Diocese of Kalisz June 25. “Sede plena” is a term used to signify that a see is still occupied by a bishop.

Instead, Oct. 17 the pope appointed Ryś apostolic administrator “sede vacante,” to signify that the see is now vacant and awaiting a new bishop following the resignation of the 68-year-old bishop.

Janiak’s resignation follows the May release of a documentary film accusing him of failing to take action against a priest accused of abuse.

Janiak was the subject of the documentary Hide and Seek by Marek and Tomasz Sekielski. The filmmaker brothers provoked a nationwide discussion last year when they released a different documentary, Tell No One, addressing clerical abuse in Poland. The film has been viewed almost 24 million times on YouTube.

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ROME (ITALY)
Associated Press

October 17, 2020

Pope Francis on Saturday permanently removed a Polish bishop who was kicked out of his diocese a few months ago pending a Vatican investigation into allegations he covered up cases of sexual abuse by his priests.

The resignation of Edward Janiak as bishop of Kalisz suggests the Vatican was able to substantiate at least some elements of the accusations made in a documentary about sex abuse in Poland that has undermined the country’s influential Catholic hierarchy.

Francis on Saturday accepted Janiak’s resignation and confirmed the archbishop of Lodz, Grzegorz Rys, as the diocese’s temporary administrator. At 68, Janiak is well below the normal retirement age of 75 for bishops.

Francis in June had ordered Janiak to leave Kalisz and forbade him from having any influence on how the diocese is run pending the investigation.

In May, the online documentary “Playing Hide and Seek” exposed two cases of pedophile priests that Janiak handled, first as an auxiliary bishop of Wroclaw and then as bishop of Kalisz, which he had headed since 2012.

It featured court testimony about Janiak’s role in helping transfer one priest, subsequently convicted and defrocked, from Wroclaw to another diocese even after a criminal investigation had begun. The film also documented an alleged cover-up relating to another priest during Janiak’s time as Kalisz bishop.

The film was the second on Polish clergy abuse to be made by brothers Tomasz and Marek Sekielski. Their first film last year, “Tell No One,” triggered a national reckoning in a country where there is no higher moral authority than the Catholic Church and its clergy.

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ROME (ITALY)
Associated Press

October 14, 2020

By Nicole Winfield

The Vatican’s latest corruption scandal already had all the elements of a spy thriller: One cardinal who was fired during a “surreal” nighttime audience with the pope. Another cardinal, the nemesis of the first, who returned triumphantly to Rome after being acquitted of sexual abuse in Australia. And a fabulous luxury apartment building in London where the Holy See sank tens of millions of euros in donations from the faithful.

All that was missing was the mysterious woman who claimed to have links to the Italian secret services, and allegedly hoodwinked them all. Enter Cecilia Marogna, a 39-year-old political consultant who was arrested Tuesday in Milan on an international warrant issued by the Vatican, Italy’s financial police confirmed Wednesday.

Vatican prosecutors have accused Marogna of embezzling some 500,000 euros ($590,000) in Vatican money for intelligence consulting she never really performed, working out of a Slovenian front company and using at least half the money instead to buy merchandise from Prada, Chanel and other fancy brands, Italian news reports said.

According to Vatican documents published in Italian newspapers and shown on investigative television shows this week, Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the onetime No. 2 in the Vatican secretariat of state, wired the funds to Marogna’s Logsic firm, purportedly for humanitarian operations in Africa and Asia.

Marogna has told Italian media she was a political analyst and intelligence expert who reached out to Becciu in 2015 with concerns about security for Vatican embassies in hot spots and was quickly brought into the cardinal’s inner circle.

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TORONTO (ONTARIO, CANADA)
CityNews 1130

October 16, 2020

By Jessica Bruno and Adrian Ghobial

[See the full Basilian response.]

To keep children safe from sexual abuse, the Catholic Church needs to go beyond rules and re-think the way it’s run, says one of Canada’s leading experts on clergy abuse.

“The clergy sexual abuse crisis has unrolled as it has, not because people didn’t pay attention to Church beliefs, tradition and regulation, but in fact because of those rules and regulations,” says Sister Nuala Kenny, a Catholic nun and pediatrician who has been on the frontlines of the sex abuse crisis in Canada for four decades.

CityNews has been investigating the stories of multiple people who say they were sexually assaulted by priests as children. All the priests in question belong to a Catholic order called the Basilian Fathers, also known as the Congregation of St. Basil, whose headquarters is in Toronto.

We reached out to Basilian Vicar General Father David Katulski, who victims are instructed to contact should they have a sexual assault claim. He is also the order’s media contact. Instead of hearing back from Fr. Katulski, we received an email from the Basilians’ longtime lawyer, who turned down our interview requests.

“Historically, it’s deeply problematic because of the secrecy and silence,” Sr. Kenny says. “As long as you’re holding on to ‘We have to protect the image, and protect the institution, and institutional reputation and offender reputation,’ you can’t make amends in this way.”

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DENVER (CO)
Colorado Sun

October 16, 2020

By Jesse Paul

Some claims were paid to previously unknown victims. Eight claims were rejected by the Independent Reconciliation and Reparations Program and another eight are pending.

Colorado’s three Catholic dioceses have paid $6.68 million to 73 survivors of sexual abuse by priests.

That’s according to an update Friday from the managers of the state’s Independent Reconciliation and Reparations Program, which fielded claims from survivors and determined their credibility and eligibility for compensation, and how much money each should be given by the church.

Eight claims were rejected by the IRRP. Another eight claims are pending because the survivors are waiting to receive payment, have not received their compensation offers or must still report their abuse to law enforcement before their cases can move forward.

“Of the 81 eligible claimants, some were previously unknown abuse survivors, demonstrating success in reaching survivors previously unwilling or unable to come forward and receive help,” Amy Weiss, a spokeswoman for the IRRP, said in a news release.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Times-Picayune and Advocate

October 16, 2020

By David Hammer and Ramon Antonio Vargas

Abuse survivors support group still questions his commitment to a full accounting of the worldwide church’s clerical molestation crisis

Barely two weeks after new sex scandals drove him to remove a pair of Roman Catholic priests from public ministry, New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond met Friday with the rest of his clergymen and called on them to rededicate themselves to the vows they took when they were ordained, according to priests who attended.

Following the three-hour meeting at Notre Dame Seminary, the leaders of two clerical councils released an open letter to local Catholics, professing confidence in Aymond’s leadership as he tries to steer the archdiocese through Chapter 11 bankruptcy, continuing revelations associated with the sex abuse crisis engulfing the Catholic Church and a call from abuse survivors for a Vatican investigation of his ministry.

“All 335 priests in the Archdiocese … emphatically support Archbishop Aymond,” the letter said. “Archbishop Aymond is a dedicated, faithful and holy priest of Jesus Christ. He has always faithfully served the people of God throughout his priesthood.”

One priest said Aymond’s message to clergy in the private meeting was “we need to work to rekindle the fire of the faithful.” Another said Aymond is “trying to do the right thing, but it’s difficult because there’s a much bigger picture and it points to some systemic flaws that need to be discovered and addressed, and he’s aware of that.” Both spoke to WWL television on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to comment on internal matters.

The prevailing subject of the meeting was the archdiocese’s removal of the Revs. Patrick Wattigny and Travis Clark from ministry on Oct. 1.

On that day, Wattigny, pastor at St. Luke the Evangelist Parish and former chaplain of Pope John Paul II High School in Slidell, told archdiocesan officials he had abused minor in December 2013, the archdiocese says. He made that admission while undergoing psychological evaluations over improper text messages he had sent to a Pope John Paul II student earlier this year, leading to his forced resignation as the school’s chaplain over the summer.

This week, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office said it has opened a criminal investigation into the 2013 allegation.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WWL

October 16, 2020

By David Hammer

The priests of the Archdiocese wrote a letter in support of Archbishop Gregory Aymond after the church has had a tough couple of weeks.

A little more than two weeks after he removed a pair of priests under his command from public ministry, New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond on Friday met with the rest of his clergymen and called on them to rededicate themselves to the vows they took at their ordinations, according to priests who attended.

The leaders of two local clerical councils wrote an open letter to the area’s Catholics after the meeting, saying that Aymond prayed with them and “exhorted all of us to pray regularly for victims of sexual abuse.”

The letter also served as a vote of confidence in the leadership of Aymond as he tries to steer the archdiocese through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing and continued revelations associated with the worldwide church’s clerical molestation scandal.

“All 335 priests in the Archdiocese … emphatically support Archbishop Aymond,” the letter said. “Archbishop Aymond is a dedicated, faithful and holy priest of Jesus Christ. He has always faithfully served the people of God throughout his priesthood.”

After their three-hour meeting at Notre Dame Seminary let out, two priests spoke with WWL-TV on condition of anonymity. One said Aymond’s message to the clergy was “we need to work to rekindle the fire of the faithful.” Another said Aymond is “trying to do the right thing, but it’s difficult because there’s a much bigger picture and it points to some systemic flaws that need to be discovered and addressed, and he’s aware of that.”

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WWL

October 16, 2020

By Chris McCrory

The scandals referenced in the letter are separate issues but have both led to new calls for Aymond to step down.

A group of New Orleans church leaders has penned an open letter on behalf of the archdiocese’s 335 active priests in support of Archbishop Gregory Aymond as he steers the organization through two new, sexually explicit scandals involving priests.

The letter, dated Friday was signed by the chairmen of the Council of Deans and the Presbetyreal Council.

“We emphatically support Archbishop Aymond and his leadership of our local church,” the letter reads.

The scandals referenced in the letter are separate issues but have both led to new calls for Aymond to step down.

In one case, a priest in St. Tammany Parish was arrested after being caught having sex with two dominatrixes on the altar of his Pearl River church. Aymond called the acts “demonic” and had the old alter burned before consecrating a new one.

But days before that incident came to light, the church was rocked by another child abuse claim, this time from the priest involved himself.

Rev. Pat Wattigny reportedly disclosed to Aymond that he had sexually abused a minor in 2013.

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ALBANY (NY)
WTEN

October 16, 2020

By Johan Sheridan

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany announced Friday that the late Rev. Cabell B. Marbury to its List of Offenders, saying they have reasonable cause to believe three allegations of sexual abuse lobbied against him.

Allegations were made against Marbury in 1993, 2003, and 2015. Nothing came of the 2003 and 2015 allegations. The 1993 allegation originally resulted in an agreement for counseling, typical for its time, and was renewed in November 2019.

The 2019 claim was forwarded to the district attorney before the Diocese reopened its own investigation in February. An investigator hired by the Diocesan Review Board examined all the allegations of child sexual abuse the priest, who died in 2014 at 81. Marbury also has a current Child Victims Act case pending against him.

Marbury worked as a theology teacher, bandleader, guidance counselor, director and producer of school plays, director of guidance, and vice-principal at Cardinal McCloskey Memorial High School and Bishop Maginn High School in Albany starting in 1964, after he was ordained. He remained in residence as a volunteer chaplain and school board member after retiring in 2009. Marbury was also …

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ALBANY (NY)
Times Union

October 16, 2020

By Steve Barnes

Rev. Cabell B. Marbury spent most career at Cardinal McCloskey Memorial High School and Bishop Maginn High School

A priest who spent most of his 50-year career in the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese working in high schools and was investigated for sexual abuse of minors at least three times has been added to the diocese’s official list of sex offenders, according to an announcement released Friday.

The Rev. Cabell B. Marbury, who died in 2014 at age 81, served most of his priesthood at Cardinal McCloskey Memorial High School and Bishop Maginn High School in Albany, beginning in 1964, the diocese said. His posts included teaching theology, bandleader, theater director, guidance counselor and director of guidance, and vice principal. He stayed at the school as volunteer chaplain and member of the school board after his 2009 retirement, according to the announcement. He also served as assistant pastor at three area parishes in the 1960s and was affiliated with others on a lesser level over the decades.

The investigation that led to Marbury being named to the offenders list began with a 2019 complaint that revived an abuse claim first made against Marbury in 1993, according to the diocese, which did not provide details. The original allegation resulted in an “agreement for counseling assistance,” the diocese said. A Diocesan Review Board investigation of an abuse allegation made against Marbury in 2003 found “no reasonable ground” to substantiate the claim, and the board had “insufficient information to make a decision” in a 2015 case, the diocese said.

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NEW YORK (NY)
America Magazine

October 16, 2020

By Francis X. Sullivan

When I graduated in 1983 from Jesuit College Prep, an all-boys high school in Dallas, Tom Hidding, S.J., a scholastic at the time, gave me a simple clay cup and a bowl that he had made himself. The bowl shattered during a move when I was in college. The same accident broke the handle off the cup, but I still drank beer from it, then wine and, on one odd but happy occasion, warm champagne.

In 2001, my family and I bought a house with a glass-fronted kitchen cabinet and the concurrent obligation to find dishes that were worthy of display. We had no fine china or fancy stemware, but we had Tom’s cup. Sometimes I would take it down and use it, enjoying the sense of solidity, of holding a piece of my own history in my hands.

I lost touch with Tom after graduation, as I lost touch with almost everyone else from school. But although I lived far away, Dallas Jesuit had not lost touch with me. I got the alumni magazine. I got the fundraising calls from classmates and the letters seeking money for everything from the art museum to a grooved practice wall for the tennis team. Every year, I got a birthday letter from the Jesuit alumni director, Pat Koch, S.J.

Tom Hidding was good to me. My childhood home was unpredictable and violent, but I felt safe at school because of him and the school’s Jesuit priests.

Tom Hidding was good to me. My childhood home was unpredictable and violent, but I felt safe at school because of him and the school’s Jesuit priests: Pat Koch; the austere Vince Malatesta, who argued theology with me when I was working the switchboard; gruff Pete Callery, who coached wrestling and taught me freshman theology; and the wry Ben Smylie, who referred to the prosperous neighborhood around our school as the “North Dallas ghetto” because of the concentration of emotional and spiritual poverty he saw in his students and their families.

On a boring day at work in 2002, I searched on the internet for the names of classmates and former teachers. Tom’s name came up on BishopAccountability.org; he had been accused of sexually abusing a student at Jesuit High School, in Tampa, Fla., where he was assigned before coming to my school.

I had felt safe at my school. In 2003, I asked myself for the first time: “Was I safe?”

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PROVIDENCE (RI)
Providence Journal

October 16, 2020

By Brian Amaral

A state judge on Friday dismissed three priest-abuse lawsuits against the leaders of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence.

The ruling, by Superior Court Judge Netti Vogel, analyzed a new 2019 law that extended the deadline to sue over childhood sexual abuse. Vogel noted that if the deadline had already run out under the old law, someone could still sue their “perpetrator” under the new one.

Key to the case was whether the diocese and its leadership could be sued as “perpetrators.” The three men, who said they were abused by Rhode Island priests when they were boys, said that the diocese’s leadership aided and abetted the sexual abuse their priests inflicted, meaning they could be perpetrators.

Vogel said they could not: The “perpetrators,” under the civil law, were the people who actually committed the abuse. Because of that, she dismissed the suits. The deadline had already run out for them long ago.

The new statute of limitations “does not lend itself to any other interpretation than to conclude that the only conduct that meets the definition of ‘perpetrator’ is conduct committed by the actual abuser, the principal — in this case, the offending cleric,” Vogel wrote.

The plaintiffs are Philip Edwardo, Peter Cummings and Robert Houllahan. The accused priests, Philip Magaldi, John Petrocelli and Normand Demers, were included in the diocese’s list of credibly accused priests last year. Demers and Magaldi are dead.

A lawyer for the three plaintiffs, Timothy Conlon, said they were analyzing the decision.

“We’re going to be reviewing carefully the options that are available,” Conlon said.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter from the Polish web portal Onet.pl

October 15, 2020

By Szymon Piegza

Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the Polish bishops, and the Vatican’s ambassador in Poland are responsible for the case of Janusz Szymik, a long-time victim of the abusive priest Fr. Jan Wodniak. Why does the injured person have to fight for justice for over 25 years, and still waits?

The question, still hanging open, raises difficult issues for the Vatican, as Dziwisz was Pope John Paul II’s trusted secretary for 27 years before serving as the Archbishop of Krakow from 2005 to 2016.

Szymik claims that between the years of 1984 and 1989 he was sexually abused almost 500 times by Wodniak in the village of Międzybrodzie Bialskie, about two hours southeast of Krakow.

“It lasted so long, because I was a child who was cornered by him, lived in a snare, because there was nobody to turn to for help, and Wodniak knew it perfectly well,” Szymik explained to me, adding that due to the experience he came close to committing suicide.

From 1992 forward, the village in which Szymik was abused became part of a new diocese, Bielsko-Zywiec, which was established by John Paul. It was headed by one of the Holy Father’s closest associates: Bishop Tadeusz Rakoczy. This name is worth remembering as it will prove crucial to the whole story.

“In 1993, I went to Bishop Rakoczy, hoping that he would be on the side of the victim, not the abuser. I wrote down my memoirs from the period of 1984 to 1989. Neither the bishop nor anyone else from the bishop’s curia ever contacted me about this matter,” recalled Szymik.

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KEARNEY (NE)
Kearney Hub

October 16, 2020

By Jessica Wade

https://kearneyhub.com/news/state-and-regional/archdiocese-of-omaha-probe-substantiates-sexual-misconduct-allegations-against-deceased-priest/article_cfd19850-938f-52a9-9d48-052fbd542a87.html

Omaha – An Archdiocese of Omaha investigation substantiated multiple accusations of sexual misconduct with minors made against the late Rev. Theodore “Ted” Richling.

The archdiocese informed the Douglas County Attorney’s Office after it received complaints against Richling last summer.

The archdiocese concluded its internal investigation in September, according to a press release from Deacon Timothy F. McNeil.

Richling died in December 2019. He was ordained in 1971 and served at several rural and urban parishes in northeast Nebraska, according to the press release.

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RICHMOND (VA)
Diocese of Richmond

October 13, 2020

Overview

On February 17, 2020, the Catholic Diocese of Richmond announced the establishment of a voluntary Independent Reconciliation Program to offer assistance to and facilitate healing for individuals who, as minors, experienced sexual abuse by its clergy. Bishop Barry C. Knestout directed the formation of the Program to offer another means of support beyond the diocese’s current outreach offerings, and to provide an opportunity for eligible individuals who were victims of clergy sexual abuse to receive a monetary payment in a manner that is compassionate.

Recognizing that no amount of money will ever be able to fully compensate for the injury inflicted by abusive clergy, Bishop Knestout announced the Independent Reconciliation Program as one of many means to offer individuals a tangible sign of the Church’s effort to repair the injury and overcome the estrangement caused by clergy sexual abuse of minors.

The Independent Reconciliation Claims Administrator

The Diocese of Richmond secured the services of BrownGreer, PLC, a Richmond-based and nationally recognized firm specializing in claims administration. Lynn Crowder Greer, who designed and administered the Program for the Diocese of Richmond, and her firm are well-known for their reputation as an objective and fair claims administrator, and for their handling of complex and large claims resolution programs. These programs have included: the NFL Concussion Settlement Program; the BP Oil Spill Program; the One October Settlement Fund for victims of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting; and the Fire Victims Trust arising from the PG&E’s bankruptcy for those suffering personal or property damages from the California wildfires.

The Independent Reconciliation Process

The Program was designed to be purely voluntary and no individual was obligated to participate. Individuals who were victims of child sexual abuse by a member of the clergy serving in the Diocese of Richmond were eligible for the Program.

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ROME (ITALY)
Associated Press

October 15, 2020

By Nicole Winfield

Pope Francis named a new head for the Vatican’s saint-making office Thursday to replace the once-powerful cardinal at the center of a growing corruption scandal that has raised questions about the current Holy See leadership.

Francis on Thursday promoted the Italian bishop who has been closely involved in efforts to draft a reform of the Vatican bureaucracy, Mons. Marcello Semeraro, to head the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Semeraro has served as the secretary of the commission of cardinals that Francis created in 2013 to reform the organizing constitution of the Vatican Curia.

He replaces Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who was fired as prefect of the saint-making office in September. Francis cited evidence that Becciu, when he was the powerful No. 2 in the Vatican’s secretariat of state, sent 100,000 euros ($117,000) in Vatican funds to a charity controlled by his brother.

Becciu, whose rights and privileges as a cardinal were also yanked, has admitted he sent the money but insisted it was destined for the charity, not his brother.

In the weeks since his ouster, Becciu’s name has increasingly figured in Italian media reports about the Vatican’s corruption investigation, even though his successor in the job, Monsignor Edgar Pena Parra, was actually in charge when questionable payments were made that have cost the Holy See tens of millions of euros.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Times-Picayune and Advocate

October 15, 2020

By Ramon Antonio Vargas

The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office confirmed this week that it is leading a criminal investigation into the Rev. Patrick Wattigny after the Catholic priest earlier this month allegedly admitted to molesting a minor nearly seven years ago.

If charges are brought, Wattigny, 53, would become only the third clergyman to be prosecuted by New Orleans-area law enforcement for alleged sex crimes involving children. Not one has been convicted of a crime.

Archbishop Gregory Aymond said he removed Wattigny from public ministry on Oct. 1 after the priest informed church superiors that he had abused a juvenile in December 2013. That was mere months after Wattigny had been transferred to new posts as pastor of St. Luke the Evangelist and chaplain at Pope John Paul II, both in Slidell, from similar positions at St. Benilde Parish and Archbishop Rummel High School, each in Metairie.

Aymond’s staff declined to specify where the alleged abuse occurred, saying only that appropriate law enforcement agencies had been notified.

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DENVER (CO)
Catholic News Agency

October 15, 2020

A Byzantine priest in Indiana has been ordered to a life of prayer and penance two years after he was placed on administrative leave for a credible accusation of sexual abuse. The priest made headlines in 2018 when he claimed to have been attacked in his parish church; a claim the eparchy said later had been fabricated.

After a period of “appropriate due process according to canon (Church) law” Fr. Basil Hutsko has been ordered to live a life of prayer and penance by Bishop Milan Lach, S.J. of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma, the eparchy said in an Aug. 17 letter posted online, that was first reported this week by the Chicago Tribune.

“A cleric who has been ordered to live a life of prayer and penance has been permanently removed from engaging in public ministry and does not live on premises belonging to the Eparchy,” the letter stated.

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PETERSBURG (VA)
The Progress-Index

October 15, 2020

By Bill Atkinson

The money will go to 51 victims whose reports of abuse by priests in the diocese were substantiated by an outside auditing firm; no money from offerings or other parish-related sources was used

The Catholic Diocese of Richmond said Thursday it has agreed to pay $6.3 million to more than 50 victims who claimed they were sexually abused by priests, but the head of the organization says that does not mean the church is ending its ongoing investigation.

The CDR said the money for the Independent Reconciliation Program comes from the diocese self-insurance polic, loans and gifts from other religious orders. None came from offerings, endowments or other parish-related financial sources.

The IRP started by the CDR last February organized the funding, which was administered by a private Richmond firm specializing in major claims. A CDR statement announcing the awards said the diocese had no say in how much would be awarded or who would receive money.

“Reconciliation is a defining aspect of our diocese’s bicentennial year, a year in which we recognize the establishment of our Catholic faith in Virginia and a recognition of all that is part of our history,” Bishop Barry C. Knestout, head of the Richmond diocese, wrote in a letter to parishioners on the CDR website. Knestout said the bicentennial presented the diocese with “another opportunity to work for justice” for the victims of clergy abuse.

Knestout identified that opportunity as having three facets — acknowledgement of wrongdoing, reconciling with the victims, and “attempts to repair the hurt we have caused.”

In the report, the program administrators reviewed 60 documented claims. An additional eight were either withdrawn, incomplete or declared ineligible.

Of that 60, nine were denied. The remaining 51 were accepted.

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DENVER (CO)
Crux

October 15, 2020

By Paulina Guzik

In 1984 in the town of Międzybrodzie in southwestern Poland, a boy was abused by the local parish priest for more than five years, beginning when he was 12. Today, more than thirty-six years later, he is still looking for justice.

“Abuse was only one station in my personal way of the cross,” he wrote in a letter to Pope Francis last week.

The investigation into the case not only involved the accused priest and his bishop – the now retired Tadeusz Rakoczy – but might also involve Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, the longtime secretary of Pope John Paul II, who later served as Archbishop of Krakow from 2005-2016.

The Diocese of Bielsko–Żywiec, where the abuse happened, is in the Krakow ecclesiastical province.

A Polish priest is now accusing the cardinal of being informed about the case in 2012 in his role as metropolitan archbishop and doing nothing about it. The cardinal denies the accusations, and so far there is no concrete evidence that he knew about the abuse.

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OMAHA (NE)
KETV 7 ABC

October 15, 2020

The Archdiocese of Omaha has come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against a deceased priest.

In late September, the Archdiocese of Omaha concluded an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct with minors against a deceased priest, Fr. Theodore Richling, Jr., having received allegations of sexual misconduct with minors earlier this summer,\” a release stated.Richling died in 2019.

The conclusion of the investigation led to the substantiation of multiple instances of sexual misconduct with minors,\” the release stated.

The matter has been referred to the Douglas County Attorney.Fr. Richling had the following assignments …

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

October 14, 2020

By Michael Gryboski

An Indiana priest who garnered headlines in 2018 after he claimed he’d been assaulted in a hate crime and was previously accused of sexually abusing a minor has been defrocked.

An Indiana priest who garnered headlines in 2018 by claiming that he had been assaulted in a hate crime and allegedly sexually abused a minor in the 1980s has been defrocked.

Father Basil John Hutsko of Saint Michael Byzantine Catholic Church in Merrillville claimed back in 2018 that he’d been assaulted by a man shouting “this is for all the little kids.”

In a letter from August that was recently posted online, the Ohio-based Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma confirmed that Hutsko had been removed from ministry.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

October 14, 2020

By Elisabetta Povoledo

One priest is accused of abusing an altar boy at a seminary near the pope’s residence, and the other of covering it up.

Rome – One priest accused of sexually abusing an altar boy in a prominent Vatican City seminary and another accused of covering it up went before the Vatican’s criminal tribunal on Wednesday, the first trial in the city-state over sexual abuse said to have occurred within its walls.

The charges date from 2007 and 2012 and center on allegations of abuse at the St. Pius X youth seminary, a residence for boys — typically between 12 and 18 — who are thinking of becoming priests. Students in the seminary often serve as altar boys in St. Peter’s Basilica, sometimes during papal Masses.

The priest accused of abuse, the Rev. Gabriele Martinelli, was 17 at the time of the initial alleged assault and was a senior altar boy at the seminary. The victim was 16. In 2017, Father Martinelli was ordained as a priest in Como, Italy.

Father Martinelli is accused of forcing the victim — who has been publicly identified only by his initials — through threats and violence to “submit to carnal relations, acts of sodomy, and masturbation” on a number of occasions in Vatican City, according to the charges read by a court clerk on Wednesday.

The Rev. Enrico Radice, who was the rector of the seminary at the time, has been accused of aiding and abetting the abuse. He lied to Vatican investigators, telling them in 2018 that he had no knowledge of abuse at the seminary, statements that hampered the investigation, according to the charges read by the clerk.

Both defendants were present in court on Wednesday for the procedural hearing, which lasted just eight minutes before the trial was adjourned until later this month, when both men are expected to take the stand. Neither defendant has responded publicly to the accusations, and lawyers for the defendants did not respond to requests for comment.

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TORONTO (ONTARIO, CANADA)
CityNewsToronto

October 14, 2020

By Adrian Ghobrial, Jessica Bruno and Meredith Bond

For a group of underprivileged children from Toronto, a sunny escape became a cabin of horrors.

A whistleblower tells CityNews he reported allegations of child sexual assault by a Catholic Father and said he now wishes he hadn’t gone to the priest’s religious order to seek justice.

“In hindsight, knowing more now, I would have phoned the police,” said Bill Taylor. “But at 17, I did what I thought was right.”

This is the first time he’s publicly sharing his story.

In 1978, Taylor was a teen from Windsor who worked as a counsellor at Columbus Boys’ Camp. The now-closed Orillia institution hosted as many as 1,200 underprivileged children from the GTA every summer.

It was run by the Congregation of St. Basil, an order of Catholic priests now known as the Basilian Fathers, or Basilians, whose headquarters is in Toronto.

According to Taylor, a group of boys, between the ages of six and eight, told him and another counselor about their experiences with the Basilian director of the camp, Father Leo Campbell.

Taylor said the boys alleged that Fr. Campbell had been coming to their cabin at night, putting his hands in their sleeping bags and fondling them.

“He was sexually molesting the young boys,” alleged Taylor.

Taylor said he and another counsellor reported the allegations to Father John Malo, another Basilian priest at the camp. He remembers Fr. Malo appeared to be upset at the news.

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TORONTO (ONTARIO, CANADA)
CityNewsToronto

October 14, 2020

By Adrian Ghobrial, Meredith Bond and Jessica Bruno

If you’re a Catholic Priest accused of sexually assaulting a child in North America, there’s a good chance you could be sent to a sprawling inpatient complex just north of Toronto many have never heard of.

Southdown Treatment Centre is run by Catholic clergy to treat those in religious life with a long list of diagnoses, including pedophilia. Reports by its staff have shaped the Church’s decisions on how to handle admitted sexual abusers – including whether to allow them to continue to teach and minister to children.

CityNews first became aware of Southdown as part of its investigation into Father Leo Campbell, the now-deceased priest, teacher and principal, who allegedly abused teen boys, including Peter Luci.

Fr. Campbell was a member of the Basilian Fathers of Toronto, whose headquarters are in Toronto. The order’s calling is to teach, and they operate or staff schools and universities across Canada and into the United States and South America.

The Basilians’ personnel file on Fr. Campbell shows that he was sent to Southdown for evaluation twice, each time after allegations arose that he had sexually abused a minor.

The first time he checked in for a 10-day stay was in spring 1980. At the time, Fr. Campbell was working as assistant pastor in Windsor’s Assumption Parish, where he was also responsible for Chaplaincy at Assumption High School.

The incident that led to his stay at Southdown has been redacted from the staff’s report on Fr. Campbell’s time there. However, as part of the priest’s conditions of treatment, the full report was sent to his Basilian superiors at the time. An uncensored portion of the report does appear in a 2008 document by a Basilian priest investigating Luci’s allegations against Fr. Campbell.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Times-Picayune and Advocate

October 14, 2020

By Ramon Antonio Vargas

The Archdiocese of New Orleans is preparing to add seven names to its list of local clergy found to have credible accusations of child molestation against them, after a Roman Catholic religious order released its own roster of accused priests last week.

The additional names, which include a priest who is believed to have preyed on a minor during his time in the New Orleans area, will bring the total number of alleged abusers publicly identified by Archbishop Gregory Aymond to 72.

Since Aymond released his initial list of 57 clergy in November 2018, a series of disclosures, some by the local archdiocese and others by regional religious orders not directly controlled by the archdiocese, have continued to raise the total.

The most recent release, by members of the Franciscan Friars chapter overseeing personnel in a region that encompasses Louisiana, contained a roster of 24 priests and seven religious brothers with “substantiated child sex abuse allegations against them,” according to order officials.

Of those Aymond identified as having worked in the New Orleans area, the Rev. Frank Davied, who now lives in Pueblo, Colorado, is the only one who the archdiocese believes may have molested a child during the period he spent in the area.

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VATICAN CITY
Associated Press

October 14, 2020

By Nicole Winfield

A trial opened Wednesday in the Vatican’s criminal tribunal for two priests, one accused of sexually abusing an altar boy in the Vatican’s youth seminary and the other of covering it up.

The charges read aloud in the courtroom marked the first time the Vatican had publicly detailed its case against the two men, one of whom was himself a young seminarian at the time of the alleged abuse, 2007-2012, while the other was the then-seminary rector.

The case concerns the closed world of the St. Pius X youth seminary, a palazzo inside the Vatican walls just across the street from where Pope Francis lives and the criminal tribunal itself. The seminary, which is run by a Como, Italy-based religious association, serves as a residence for boys aged 12 to 18, who serve as altar boys at papal Masses in St. Peter’s Basilica.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

October 13, 2020

By Andrew Stanton

The Vatican has determined that an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor against a 91-year-old priest is unsubstantiated, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston said Tuesday.

The Rev. John P. Carroll, who was ordained in 1953, has been on administrative leave since 2005 while the allegation has been investigated, the archdiocese said in a statement. Carroll will remain restricted from ministry and has been given senior priest status, the statement said.

He most recently worked as parochial vicar at Most Blessed Sacrament Parish in Quincy from December 1992 to December 2003, according to his assignment history on the archdiocese’s website.

He has also worked in West Newton, Dedham, Lowell, Arlington, Braintree, and Pittsburgh, Pa., according to the archdiocese.

Assignment History

Assistant
St Agnes Parish
Arlington
10/12/53 – 04/05/62

No Assignment
04/06/62 – 04/12/62

Assistant
St Francis of Assisi Parish
Braintree
04/13/62 – 02/10/63

Lend Lease
St Susanna
Pittsburgh, PA
02/11/63 – 08/31/72

Assistant
St Margaret Parish
Lowell
09/01/72 – 04/09/75

No Assignment
04/10/75 – 11/17/75

Associate Pastor
St Mary Parish
Dedham
11/18/75 – 06/17/86

Parochial Vicar
St Bernard Parish
West Newton
06/18/86 – 06/30/90

No Assignment
07/01/90 – 12/10/92

Parochial Vicar
Most Blessed Sacrament Parish
Quincy
12/11/92 – 12/02/03

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CHICAGO (IL)
Post-Tribune

October 13, 2020

By Meredith Colias-Pete

A former Merrillville priest accused of sexually abusing a girl in the 1980s, and later faking a 2018 beating at St. Michael Byzantine Catholic Church was officially banned from the priesthood this summer, according to a church statement.

After a nearly two-year review, Basil J. Hutsko was defrocked, according to a letter dated Aug. 17, posted online from the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma, an Eastern Catholic sect based in Ohio.

Hutsko, 67, was placed on administrative leave in October 2018. He could not be immediately reached Tuesday.

He “has been permanently removed from engaging in public ministry and does not live on premises belonging to the Eparchy. He is not permitted to celebrate Divine Liturgy/Mass publicly or to administer the sacraments. He is forbidden to wear a clerical garb and present himself as a priest. He is bound in conscience to pray and offer acts of penance for those in need of healing due to the harmful actions of clergy,” according to the letter.

Hutsko gained national attention in August 2018, after claiming an unknown assailant attacked him inside the church, yelling, “This is for all the kids!” alluding to the Catholic Church’s decades-long sex abuse scandal.

The incident was investigated by the FBI for a time as a potential hate crime. The church later concluded he made up the assault.

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TORONTO (ONTARIO, CANADA)
CityNewsToronto

October 13, 2020

By Adrian Ghobrial and Jessica Bruno

{Includes documents.]

A CityNews investigation has revealed at least a dozen priests belonging to a Catholic order based in Toronto have been accused of sexually abusing children – including three who were found guilty of assaulting dozens of children under their care.

The Basilian Fathers of Toronto is a group of priests whose calling is to teach. As one of the oldest Catholic orders in Canada, the group has run or staffed more than a dozen schools. Much of the admitted or alleged abuse detailed below happened at their institutions.

CityNews has compiled the first public list of Basilians who have been accused of or admitted to misconduct with children. It was assembled by combing through public court files, historical press coverage, and U.S. lists of credibly accused priests, published by Church officials themselves.

More than 170 such lists have been published in the United States, some voluntarily released by Catholic diocese and orders, others compelled as part of court cases, including Grand Jury hearings and bankruptcy proceedings for cash-strapped church organizations. No such lists have been published in Canada.

“It’s time to clear out the records and release the names of these priests,” says Brenda Brunelle, a Canadian leader of the Survivors Network of Accused Priests. “So people […] can be assured their children are safe.”

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

October 13, 2020

By Peter Smith

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2020/10/13/Pennsylvania-Supreme-Court-hearing-priest-clergy-abuse-case-Renee-Rice-Catholic-Diocese-Altoona-Johnstown/stories/202010130133

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on Oct. 20 on the appeal from a Roman Catholic diocese in a case that could allow plaintiffs to sue over sexual abuse by priests in cases that otherwise would be barred by the statute of limitations.

The court will hear the case of Renee Rice of Altoona, who sued the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown alleging sexual abuse by one of its priests, the Rev. Charles F. Bodziak, in the 1970s and 1980s. The case is scheduled to be heard at 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 20, with arguments livestreamed on YouTube, according to the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.

Ms. Rice’s lawsuit, filed in 2016, was dismissed by a Blair County judge who said the statute of limitations precluded suing over long-ago abuse.

But the state Superior Court ruled in 2019 that she could pursue her claim that the Altoona-Johnstown diocese covered up sexual abuse by numerous priests using a pattern of alleged fraud and conspiracy that continued right up to the 2016 release of a grand jury report into sexual abuse in the diocese. In similar cases in previous years, the Superior Court had ruled in favor of the church, but it based its latest ruling on a new Supreme Court precedent in a medical malpractice case, which said a patient with Lyme disease could sue long after a misdiagnosis because it took years for the disease to manifest itself.

Numerous plaintiffs have used the same legal theory of alleged fraud and conspiracy as the basis for lawsuits against the Pittsburgh, Greensburg and other dioceses that were subjects of a similar and larger grand jury report in 2018. Those still-pending lawsuits hinge on the precedent in the Altoona-Johnstown case.

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ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat and Chronicle

October 13, 2020

By Steve Orr

A year after Rochester’s Catholic diocese filed for bankruptcy protection, private talks continue toward a resolution, with 500 claims for compensation from sexual abuse victims at the top of the agenda.

The diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September 2019, saying it could not afford to pay the compensation being demanded in a flood of new civil suits alleging sexual abuse by church ministers in past decades.

Since then, a battalion of lawyers has met in person and via videoconference to move the case slowly forward. The lawyers have so far billed the diocese more than $3 million in legal fees for their efforts.

*
In a letter to parishioners last month to mark the one-year anniversary of the filing, Bishop Salvatore Matano said discussions with insurers were about to begin, with the help of a court-appointed mediator.

“This begins part of the process to determine the funds available to settle claims and negotiate reasonable settlements,” he said.

Still to be resolved is the impact of the sexual abuse claims on the diocese’s parishes and affiliated organizations, such as Catholic Charities. They are separately incorporated and the diocese has insisted that they are independently operated.

*
Abuse survivors were given until mid-August to submit additional claims. When the deadline had come and gone, diocesan leaders found the weight of legal claims was far greater than they had feared.

“While even one claim of sexual abuse committed by anyone who violated his or her position of sacred trust would be intolerable, quite disturbingly approximately 500 claims were filed, a number extremely troubling,” Matano wrote in his September letter.

He said he expected the total to be decreased by about 20% due to duplicates and claims that are the responsibility of other parties.

*
Still to be determined is whether information about those 500 claims and the Catholic ministers they accuse is made public as part of the settlement.

It’s also not clear what will be done with some 43,000 pages of internal sub secreto files that the diocese has given to lawyers for the abuse victims. The files can be used to verify claims and to judge whether past diocesan leaders tried to hide the predatory behavior of some priests.

Such material has become part of the public record in some other diocesan bankruptcy proceedings, meant to help answer questions that have lingered for decades about the actions of church leaders.

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ROME (ITALY)
Associated Press

October 12, 2020

By Nicole Winfield

Two priests are going on trial in the Vatican’s criminal tribunal this week, one accused of sexually abusing an altar boy who served at papal Masses in St. Peter’s Basilica, and the other accused of covering it up.

The trial, confirmed Monday by the Holy See press office, marks the first known time that the Vatican has criminally prosecuted a case of sexual abuse that allegedly occurred within its walls.

The proceedings starting Thursday were forced on the Holy See after victims and a whistleblower went public in 2017. Their stories undermined Pope Francis’ pledges of “zero tolerance” for abuse because the alleged crimes occurred in his own backyard and had gone unpunished for years.

The case concerns the closed world of the St. Pius X youth seminary, a palazzo inside the Vatican walls just across the street from where Francis lives. The seminary serves as a residence for about a dozen boys, aged 12 to 18, who serve as altar boys at papal Masses.

A onetime seminarian, the Rev. Gabriele Martinelli, is accused of molesting a younger seminarian when he himself was a senior altar boy at St. Pius X. The Rev. Enrico Radice was the rector of the seminary at the time, and is accused of aiding and abetting the crime.

Neither Martinelli nor Radice has responded publicly to the accusations. The order that runs the seminary, the Opera Don Folchi, has said the allegations were “mud” and “calumny,” though the diocese of Como where both men are now priests has removed them from ministry with minors pending an outcome of the case.

The scandal is particularly grave because the allegations of abuse were known since at least 2012 but were covered up for years by the Vatican and the diocese of Como, until they were exposed by Italian journalists Gaetano Pecoraro and Gianluigi Nuzzi in 2017.

They relied on the eyewitness testimony of the victim’s roommate, Kamil Jarzembowski, who was kicked out of the seminary after first reporting the abuse privately to church authorities in 2012.

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WILMINGTON (DE)
The Dialog – Diocese of Wilmington

October 12, 2020

By Mike Lang

Bishop Malooly took the opportunity at the annual Red Mass to thank the members of the St. Thomas More Society for everything they had done for the diocese and for him during his tenure in the Diocese of Wilmington. The Mass was held Oct. 11 at St. Mary Magdalen Church in north Wilmington.

The Red Mass marks the beginning of the judicial year and is named after the scarlet roabes worn by royal judges who attended the Mass centuries ago. This was the 33rd annual event in the Diocese of Wilmington. It was dedicated to Father Leonard Klein, the previous chaplain of the society, and Deacon Ed Lynch, one of the founding members of the St. Thomas More Society. Both died within the past year.

Noting that he had submitted his resignation to Pope Francis 20 months ago, Bishop Malooly told the congregation, “This will be my last time as ordinary of the diocese, to celebrate the Red Mass.

Previous Masses have featured guest speakers including Bishop John O. Barres of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y.; Bishop Dennis J. Sullivan of the Diocese of Camden, N.J.; and Father Robert Kennedy, retired dean of the canon law department at the Catholic University of America. That was not the case this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Usually, we have an erudite speaker who comes in for this Mass,” Bishop Malooly said. “Well, this is not going to be an erudite experience. This is an opportunity to thank you for all you have done during my time.”

He noted that when he arrived in 2008, the diocese was experiencing the fallout from the clergy sexual-abuse crisis. Many of the lawyers in the St. Thomas More Society were involved in the diocesan bankruptcy and reorganization, he recalled, and were able to participate in the capital campaign that followed.

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TORONTO (ONTARIO, CANADA)
CityNewsToronto

October 13, 2020

By Adrian Ghobrial, Jessica Bruno and Meredith Bond

Peter Luci loaded his father’s shotgun into the trunk of his car, drove to St. Michael’s College School, and sat in the parking lot.

His eyes fixed on the front door, he was waiting to kill Father Leo Fr. Campbell.

“He looks like a regular person, but he’s not,” says Luci. “He’s a monster. He’s a predator. He really, really is. And he’s wearing the cloth of God.”

What spurred Luci to drive to St. Michael’s was years of sexual assault he tells CityNews he endured at Fr. Campbell’s hand, while Luci was a high school student in the early 1980s.

“He taught me how to give him a blow job… I didn’t know anything about this, I was a child,” Luci reveals. “When I think about it you know, smells come back to me, and textures.”

“It’s really important for me to talk about this, for myself and for others.”

For the last year, CityNews has been investigating reports of sexual assault by Fr. Campbell and other members of an order of Catholic priests, known as the Basilians, whose headquarters are in Toronto. We will be telling their stories in a multi-part series, online and in broadcast, beginning today. The order’s calling is to teach, and they operate or staff schools and universities across Canada and into the United States and South America.

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LIMERICK (IRELAND)
Limerick Leader

October 12, 2020

By David Hurley

A priest who worked in several parishes in the Diocese of Limerick has been sentenced to three year’s imprisonment after he was convicted of sexually abusing a young boy two decades ago.

The 60-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had denied nine charges relating to offences which occurred on dates between September 1, 1999 and December 31, 2002.

Some of the offences occurred at a named location in a village in County Limerick which cannot be identified in order to protect the identity of the victim.

The now adult was aged 12 or 13 when the first of the offences occurred after he developed what was described as a “most inappropriate and unhealthy” relationship with the priest.

The defendant was convicted by a jury last week following a two-day trial before Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin at Limerick Circuit Court.

During the trial, the jury was told the offences involved him touching the victim’s penis on numerous occasions and masturbating in his presence.

Imposing sentence this Monday, Judge Ó Donnabháin said the facts of the case were “disturbing” and he commented that the offences occurred at a time when most people in Ireland believed such behaviour had “been left in history”.

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LIMERICK (IRELAND)
Limerick Leader

October 12, 2020

By David Hurley

The Bishop of Limerick has apologised to a man who was sexually abused by a priest who was working in the Diocese of Limerick at the time.

The priest, who can’t be named for legal reasons in order to protect the identity of the victim, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment this Monday following his conviction, by a jury, of nine charges of sexual assault and gross indecency.

The victim was aged 12 or 13 when the abuse first started more than 20 years ago – read court report here.

In a statement, issued following the conclusion of the sentencing hearing, Bishop Brendan Leahy said: “My thoughts first and foremost are with the victim in this case. I want to acknowledge the enormous pain that he has had to endure and, no doubt, the trial itself and all that led up to it deepened the hurt. It’s not just a huge trauma for him as he had to relive during this trial the dreadful experiences and the grave breach of trust inflicted, but I am also very conscious of the impact on his family. On behalf of the diocese of Limerick, I want to extend my deepest apologies to them for what they have all gone through but, of course, primarily to the man himself who has been abused, for whom no words of mine can repair the damage. I want to acknowledge also his courage in coming forward, which is something that is not easy to do.”

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.

WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service via National Catholic Reporter

October 12, 2020

By Christine Bordelon

Pearl River LA – In an act of solidarity with the 350 parishioners of Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Pearl River, a visibly upset New Orleans Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond celebrated Mass Oct. 10 for a second consecutive week for the parish and reconsecrated its church and its new altar.

The parish had learned a week before that its 13th pastor appointed in July 2019, Fr. Travis Clark, was arrested Sept. 30 for alleged obscenity with two women in their church.

Before he began celebrating Mass, Aymond reiterated to those present his shock and anger over what happened — calling Clark’s behavior inside the church obscene. He said he knew the Sts. Peter and Paul parishioners were shocked and angry, too.

“The desecration of this church and altar is demonic, demonic,” he said. “Let me be clear, there is no excuse for what took place here. It is sinful, and it is totally unacceptable. Travis has been unfaithful to his vocation; he’s violated his commitment to celibacy; and also, he was using that which was holy to do demonic things.

“He will not be able to serve in priestly ministry, and he will not be able to serve as a priest anytime in the future.”

Aymond encouraged parishioners to move forward and said God will move forward with them. He asked them not to judge the church or priesthood by the actions of a few priests.

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.

BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

October 9, 2020

By Harold McNeil

The pastor of a Roman Catholic parish in Buffalo’s Old First Ward has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation by the Diocese of Buffalo into two allegations of child sex abuse made against the priest that date back to the 1970s, according to a statement released by the diocese Friday.

The Rev. Donald Lutz, pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, was placed on leave by Apostolic Administrator Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger.

The diocese became aware of the first allegation against Lutz in a recent lawsuit that was filed on behalf of a woman whose identity was withheld in the complaint for privacy reasons.

The Buffalo News previously reported attorneys Steve Boyd and Jeffrey Anderson filed a lawsuit July 30 in State Supreme Court on behalf of an anonymous plaintiff accusing Lutz of engaging in “unpermitted sexual contact” with the plaintiff from 1975 to 1976. The plaintiff was 13 to 14 at the time and attended St. Leo the Great Church, according to court papers.

The lawsuit named the Amherst church as a defendant, but not Lutz, which means he would not have been served with a summons and complaint.

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HONG KONG
Union of Catholic Asian News

October 10, 2020

By Rock Ronald Rozario

Church leaders in Bangladesh are perhaps relieved that a series of brutal gang rapes in the country have overshadowed and shifted public and media attention from the arrest of a priest on allegations of raping a minor girl.

Father Prodip Gregory, 41, a parish priest in Rajshahi Diocese, was arrested by police on Sept. 29, a day after the elder brother of the girl sued him.

He is the first Catholic priest from the minority Christian community to be arrested for rape. If found guilty, he will be the first priest to serve a jail term for rape.

Bangladesh’s rape law defines sexual intercourse with anyone under 16, even if consensual, as rape, with a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.

The case garnered heavy media coverage in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, where people hear cases and punishment of Muslim clerics for rape now and then, but never about Christian clergy.

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CARLISLE (CUMBRIA, ENGLAND)
News & Star

October 11, 2020

By Phil Coleman

A Cumbrian activist fighting for victims of church related child abuse has called for the resignation of The Bishop of Carlisle after he wrote – but later withdrew – a character reference for a paedophile priest.

Former Carlisle Cathedral canon Robert Bailey, 71, was this week jailed after he admitted four sexual assaults against two young girls. One told a court that his abuse –committed after he left Cumbria – had ruined her life.

When his case came to the crown court for sentencing, it was revealed that the current Bishop of Carlisle, the Right Reverend James Newcome, had written a character reference for Bailey, though he later withdrew it and issued a ‘heartfelt’ apology to the priest’s two victims.

The Church of England is now investigating why the Bishop wrote the reference.

The issue became public in the week that the influential Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse’ released its report into the Church’s handling of child sexual abuse. The inquiry’s damning report concluded that the Church of England failed to protect children from sexual abuse.

It said the church created a culture where abusers “could hide”, with perpetrators often given more support than victims.

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LEICESTER (ENGLAND)
Leicester Mercury

October 12, 2020

By Ciaran Fagan

Allegations against the late Greville Janner first surfaced when he was a Leicester MP

The official inquiry into multiple – and decades-old – child sexual abuse allegations against a former Leicester politician is to begin today.

The three-week hearing in London will examine how Leicestershire Police, the Crown Prosecution Service and other public bodies handled the allegations against the ex-MP and later peer, Greville Janner.

In particular, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, (IICSA), will seek to establish whether the senior Labour politician received preferential treatment because of his political and social status and, as a consequence, was never put on trial.

Parts of the hearing will go ahead behind closed doors to protect the identities of alleged victims.

*
The Janner investigation is one of a number of strands of its investigations into allegations of sexual abuse by significant public figures, including those within children’s homes and the Catholic and Anglican churches and in the Houses of Parliament.

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DENVER (CO)
Catholic News Agency

October 9, 2020

The Archdiocese of New Orleans reportedly knew for months but did not inform school officials that a priest chaplain at a Catholic high school had sent texts to a student, in violation of archdiocesan policies. The priest was removed from ministry last week after admitting to have sexually abused a minor in an unrelated case.

The principal of John Paul II High School in Slidell, Louisiana, wrote a letter to parents on Tuesday saying that he had not known of inappropriate texts sent to a student by school chaplain Fr. Pat Wattigny until Oct. 2, when he was informed about them by New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond.

Wattingy was chaplain of the high school until the conclusion of the 2019-2020 school year, and even after he resigned from the high school faculty over the summer, neither school nor archdiocesan education officials were informed of his texting.

In fact, the school’s principal said he was not told about the texts for months — even though lawyers for the archdiocese had been informed by the student’s mother about the texts in February, several months before he was asked to resign from the school.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The American Conservative

October 9, 2020

By Rod Dreher

[See also Archbishop Aymond’s letter.]

Here in south Louisiana, everybody is talking about the hurricane coming ashore today. But they’re also talking about this vile story from a small town north of New Orleans:

*

Obviously this is demonic. What is also infuriating is that Archbishop Aymond is treating this like a management problem. He’s stayed quiet (notice that the media found out through court filings), came in and exorcised the church, appointed a new priest, and sent an official letter saying that he is standing by the parish in its time of scandal.

“Be assured of my continued personal support and prayers for your parish community.” Those are the words of a bureaucrat, not a pastor. My God, this priest had kinky sex on the holy altar! The archbishop ought to be visibly shaken and infuriated by this desecration, and the pain it must cause the people of the parish. He has reportedly suspended Father Clark. Suspended? He ought to begin the defrocking process immediately, and make it publicly known that he is doing this.

Worse, it turns out that Father Clark had just been named chaplain of Pope John Paul II Catholic high school in nearby Slidell. He had been appointed to replace Father Pat Wattigny, removed from that position on October 1 after he admitted to Archbishop Aymond that in 2013, he molested a minor.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service via Crux

October 10, 2020

By Jonathan Luxmoore

A French cardinal who resigned as archbishop of Lyon after being acquitted of failing to report clerical sex abuse said the royalties from his new book would go to abuse victims.

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin told France’s RTL radio that the Archdiocese of Lyon would distribute the money.

“I’m not benefiting personally and I’m happy to do anything which helps the victims,” he said in early October.

His book, En mon âme et conscience (“In my Spirit and Conscience”), details events that led to his March resignation, six weeks after his suspended sentence was overturned on appeal. The French-language book was published Oct. 1.

He said he had been living a “discreet life” since July 1 as a convent chaplain for the Little Sisters of the Poor at Saint-Pern in Brittany. He also teaches at the Rennes archdiocesan seminary.

“I was not guilty of what I was accused, but this doesn’t mean I didn’t make mistakes,” Barbarin told the radio.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

October 10, 2020

Book Review by Thomas P. Doyle

About Corrupter of Boys: Sodomy, Scandal, and the Medieval Clergy
by Dyan Elliott

The “Catholic sex abuse crisis” is not a crisis. A crisis is a temporary period or series of events of an unstable and dangerous nature. It passes and the original situation is either better or worse than before.

Violations of the Christian obligation of chastity by clerics have been part of the life and culture of the Christian community since the first century. Throughout the two millennia of church history, the leadership elite — popes, bishops, abbots et al. — have tried in a variety of ways to keep the various violations covered by secrecy. History has shown that their success rate has been inconsistent.

Prior to the 1970s, public knowledge of the Catholic clergy’s problems with celibacy had been largely limited to occasional stories of priests who have left the priesthood to marry or who were caught in an illicit relationship with a woman. Wrapping a good Catholic mind around the real possibility of the sexual violation of a child or a young adolescent by a priest was close to impossible in the 1940s, ’50s, ’60s or even in the post-Second Vatican Council ’70s.

*
It turns out we exposed only a tiny tip of a massive iceberg. The bulk of that iceberg, which is hardly a solid mass but a mind-bending quagmire of little- and not-so-little-known documents from the primitive church to the late medieval period (third through 16th centuries), contains a landscape of the church that holds answers to most of the vexing questions that put our experience of sexual abuse into an entirely new light. The search for answers and explanations has been taken to a radically new and previously unstudied level by the intensive and extensive research of Dyan Elliott, a medieval scholar from Northwestern University.

The results of her research are nothing short of remarkable, stunning and most importantly, authentic. The results are in her new book The Corrupter of Boys, being released this month by the University of Pennsylvania Press. I have been privileged to read an advance manuscript of it. I will readily admit to having been obsessed with discovering and exposing every historic layer of the key elements of the systemic causes of the sexual abuse phenomenon. This requires plumbing the church’s legitimate and unrevised history to its depths. Elliott has done this, and her work changes the conversation in dramatic and invaluable way.

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BUFFALO (NY)
Spectrum News

October 10, 2020

A priest is on administrative leave following child sexual abuse claims made against him.

Buffalo’s Apostolic administrator has placed Reverend Donald Lutz on administrative leave pending an investigation into two allegations of sexual abuse from the 1970s.

Lutz is the pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in Buffalo.

One survivor is suing while the other is not, but reported the abuse to the victim assistance coordinator.

While on leave, Lutz will be restricted from presenting himself or functioning as a priest until the investigation is over.

A parish administrator for Our Lady of Perpetual Help has not yet been named.

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CARLISLE (CUMBRIA, ENGLAND)
News & Star

October 10, 2020

By Phil Coleman

Only victims can fully understand the lifelong impact of child sexual abuse.

But imagine that you were abused as a child and, after years of torment, your dreams haunted by unspeakable memories, you summon the courage to tell somebody.

In a sane world, that would be a first step on the road to justice and healing.

For Richard – a deep thinking Christian from north Cumbria, now in his fifties – it took 36 years to take that step. Abused as a child by Carlisle Cathedral Canon Ronald Johns, Richard wanted an apology.

It was 1993.

He reported Johns to the then Bishop of Carlisle, Ian Harland. Yet the Bishop did not report Johns to the police. Instead, he simply moved Johns to a church in Caldbeck.

Thirteen years later, in the summer of 2006, Richard tried again. This time he reported Johns to the police. After hearing about the abuse, the officer told him: “I’m really sorry to hear that – but there’s not a lot we can do.”

Johns was later prosecuted and jailed. But he was only one in a litany of Cumbrian clergymen convicted of child sex crimes. In February, a court heard about Catholic priest Peter Turner who, like Johns, admitted to his superior in the church that he was an abuser.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service via Crux

October 9, 2020

By Cindy Wooden

Rome – Two priests connected to a minor seminary located at the Vatican will appear before a Vatican criminal court Oct. 14 on charges related to the alleged sexual abuse of students at the seminary.

Father Gabriele Martinelli faces charges of sexually abusing younger boys when he was a seminarian at the St. Pius X Pre-Seminary. Father Enrico Radice, former rector of the seminary, is accused of aiding and abetting the abuse.

The two were indicted in late 2019 following an investigation that began in November 2017.

Since the alleged abuse was said to have occurred prior to 2012, the Vatican had said a year ago, the court’s request to indict the two priests required the personal intervention of Pope Francis because at the time the crimes allegedly occurred, Vatican law required the victim himself to make the accusation within one year of the crime’s occurrence.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Times-Picayune and Advocate

October 8, 2020

By Ramon Antonio Vargas and Sara Pagones

[Includes video statement by Archbishop Aymond about Clark and Wattigny.]

Amid news that a Pearl River priest was caught recording himself in group sex with two dominatrices on his church altar, an enraged Archbishop Gregory Aymond on Friday characterized the priest’s actions as “demonic” and said he had the altar burned.

“It is a very tough time right now to be a Catholic in the Archdiocese of New Orleans to say the least,” Aymond said in a video message addressed to parishioners and posted on the archdiocese’s website, in response to questions from WWL television.

“Many people feel anger, betrayal and disappointment, and I feel the same way, as do my brother priests,” he said. “What has happened concerning Pat Wattigny and Travis Clark is unacceptable. It’s sinful, and it cannot be tolerated. Let me be clear: Both were removed from ministry immediately and will never serve again in Catholic ministry.”

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Times-Picayune and Advocate

October 8, 2020

By Ramon Antonio Vargas and Sara Pagones

The lights inside Saints Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church in Pearl River were on later than usual on Sept. 30, so a passerby stopped to take a closer look.

Peering inside, the onlooker saw the small parish’s pastor half-naked having sex with two women on the altar, according to court documents. The women were dressed in corsets and high-heeled boots. There were sex toys and stage lighting. And a mobile phone as well as a separate camera were mounted on tripods, recording it all.

The eyewitness took a video and called the Pearl River police, who arrived at the church and viewed that recording. Officers then arrested the Rev. Travis Clark, pastor of Saints Peter and Paul since 2019, on obscenity charges.

The Archdiocese of New Orleans announced the priest’s arrest Oct. 1 but would not give specifics about why he was arrested. Nor would the police.

New details, however, have emerged in court filings that paint a lurid picture of a priest recording himself engaged in sexual role play while desecrating a sacred place within the church. Public records additionally show that one of the women, Mindy Dixon, 41, is an adult film actor who also works for hire as a dominatrix. On a social media account associated with Dixon, a Sept. 29 post says she was on her way to the New Orleans area to meet another dominatrix “and defile a house of God.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Archdiocese of Philadelphia

October 9, 2020

Reverend William E. Dean has been found unsuitable for ministry based on a substantiated allegation that he sexually abused a minor in the late 1970s.

Contextual Background Regarding Reverend William E. Dean

Reverend William E. Dean has served in a limited ministerial capacity for several years as a result of disability. He was declared legally blind in 2001 and requires the assistance of a service animal. He has not been assigned to a parish since 2012. Since that time, he has served as chaplain at Camilla Hall, a retirement community for the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHMs) in Chester County. Father Dean has also resided at that location for the past eight years.

In June 2014 the Archdiocese of Philadelphia received a report noting concern that Father Dean may have engaged in inappropriate behavior with a minor while serving at Saints Philip and James Parish in Exton (Chester County) in the late 1970s. This report was the first of its kind lodged against Father Dean and did not include any allegations of criminal behavior. It did, however, identify the individual who was a minor at that time. This person was contacted by the Archdiocese on multiple occasions, but did not wish to engage in dialogue.

As all available facts relative to this report constituted a potential violation of The Standards of Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries established by the Archdiocese, the required canonical (Church) investigation of Father Dean was launched. Had any information regarding alleged criminal activity been presented, the matter would first have been referred to the appropriate law enforcement agency in accordance with longstanding Archdiocesan policy.

The Archdiocesan Office of Investigations (AOI) undertook the canonical process. The AOI is responsible for conducting internal and canonical investigations following the conclusion of work performed by civil authorities. The AOI also performs investigations in matters that center on alleged activity that is not illegal in nature, but that may violate The Standards of Ministerial Behavior and Boundaries established by the Archdiocese.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CatholicPhilly.com

October 9, 2020

By Matthew Gambino

Father William E. Dean, 70, has been removed from ministry due to an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor in the late 1970s.

The allegation was deemed credible by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and Archbishop Nelson Pérez decided that the priest, ordained in 1976, is unsuitable for ministry.

For the past eight years Father Dean had been serving as chaplain at Camilla Hall, the nursing home for retired and ill Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Malvern.

The archdiocese announced the decision in a statement Friday afternoon, Oct. 9.

The allegation surfaced in October 2019 as part of the Independent Reconciliation and Reparations Program, citing abuse by Father Dean at SS. Philip and James Parish in Exton.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

October 9, 2020

by Julie Shaw

A Catholic priest has been found unsuitable for ministry after a finding that he sexually abused a minor in the late 1970s in Chester County, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced Friday.

The victim reported in October 2019 that the Rev. William E. Dean, now 70, had committed the abuse while serving at SS. Philip & James Parish in Exton.

The allegation was reported to the Independent Reconciliation and Reparations Program, which was set up in 2018 to financially compensate victims of clergy sex abuse whose claims are too old to be taken to court. It was then reported to law enforcement, the archdiocese said.

The Chester County District Attorney’s Office informed the archdiocese in January that no criminal charges would be filed, the archdiocese said in a statement. The reason for that was not immediately known Friday.

The Archdiocesan Office of Investigation then conducted its own probe and forwarded the results to the Archdiocesan Professional Responsibilities Review Board, which shared its unanimous finding with Archbishop Nelson Pérez that the allegation of sexual abuse was substantiated and recommended that Dean was unsuitable for ministry.

Pérez accepted the recommendation. Dean’s case will now be forwarded to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican in keeping with procedure for the formal canonical process.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

October 6, 2020

By Sophie Vodvarka

[See Into Account’s David Haas page, with links to 19 survivor accounts and a detailed report on the allegations.]

Accusers request ban on Haas’ liturgical music, saying it retraumatizes them

Margaret Hillman cantors at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Sarasota, Florida, this fall. (Alex Dilan)
This summer while cantoring during Mass, Margaret Hillman was overcome by traumatic flashbacks that caused her to have panic attacks while singing music by Catholic composer David Haas.

Hillman’s flashbacks were triggered by a press release from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) that supported the reports that the advocacy group Into Account collected from several women accusing Haas of sexual and spiritual abuse. Hillman said the allegations “felt so familiar.”

Two weeks later, Hillman described sexual abuse by Haas in her own report with Into Account, an organization that supports survivors of sexual abuse in Christian contexts. Hillman, a 53-year-old musician, serves as cantor, choir member and assistant with the youth choir at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Sarasota, Florida, and cantor at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Venice, Florida.

Hillman also asked Venice Bishop Frank Dewane to tell parishes in the diocese to stop playing Haas’ music at Mass and was pleased the bishop responded by sending a letter to all parishes to put a moratorium on Haas’ music.

This July, Hillman, fellow survivor Susan Bruhl and former Haas colleague Laurie Delgatto-Whitten sent letters to all dioceses requesting to publicly ban Haas’ music from liturgies, to ban him from working in the dioceses, and to reach out to other potential survivors of abuse.

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SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
Salt Lake Tribune

October 9, 2020

By Courtney Tanner

A former Roman Catholic priest, currently in prison for sexually abusing students in Oklahoma and Michigan, faces new allegations of molesting a child while he was overseeing a Utah parish and adjoining school here in the 1970s.

In a lawsuit filed late Wednesday, a now 60-year-old man said he was repeatedly abused and threatened by church leader James Rapp while he was attending second grade at St. Ann School in Kearns. And, he said, the church knew about and “intentionally concealed” the assaults at the time.

“There was a cover-up, and that’s a big problem,” added Eric Olson, the man’s attorney.

Rapp has previously been sued for similar allegations at Judge Memorial Catholic High School in Salt Lake City. And he appeared on a list released by the diocese here in 2018 of priests “credibly accused” of sexual misconduct with minors. But, despite that, formal charges have never been brought against him in Utah, and the earlier lit was dismissed without a trial after a judge determined too much time had passed since the alleged abuse.

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WWL 4 CBS

October 8, 2020

By Ramon Antonio Vargas and David Hammer

Travis Clark, the pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul since 2019, was booked with obscenity last week for the alleged encounter.

Pearl River LA – New, salacious details from police about the arrest of a Pearl River priest last week add to an already devastating period in the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ ongoing church sex abuse scandal.

Court documents filed by Pearl River Police state that a passerby saw the lights on inside Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church near 11 p.m. on Sept. 30, and stopped to witness the shocking actions of the church’s pastor.

Peering through glass doors and windows, the person who called police allegedly saw the Rev. Travis Clark, 37, half-naked on top of the altar, according to documents reviewed by The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate in its joint investigation with WWL-TV.

The complainant reported seeing two women in high heels and corsets on the altar with Clark, wielding sex toys. Stage lights were set up, as was a cellphone and camera, both mounted on tripods. All three were allegedly having sex together.

The passerby took a cell phone video and called the Pearl River police, who arrived at the church, viewed the footage, and arrested the group on accusations that they were having intercourse in a publicly visible place, the documents said.

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
BBC

October 6, 2020

The Bishop of Carlisle has apologised for providing a character reference to a colleague who was subsequently jailed for molesting children.

The Church of England has launched an investigation after the Rt Rev James Newcome’s reference was used in a case which saw Rev Robert Bailey jailed.

Bishop James said he made “an error of judgment” in providing the reference.

Bailey was jailed for eight years and four months in September after he admitted molesting two girls.

Bishop James said that he had provided a reference for Bailey, whom he had known for 18 years, but later asked for it to be withdrawn.

He said: “In April and at [Bailey’s] request, I agreed to provide a character reference to go before the courts.

“On reflection I considered this to have been an error of judgement on my part and asked that the reference be withdrawn.

“I’m truly sorry that the reference was submitted and understand the pain that this will have caused those who suffered as a result of Robert Bailey’s crimes.”

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PARIS (FRANCE)
Agence France-Presse

October 8, 2020

An Italian priest accused of sexually abusing choir boys in a seminary and another priest who allegedly facilitated that abuse will go on trial in the Vatican next week.

The alleged abuse took place in 2011 to 2012 at the pre-seminary of St Pius X, an institution located on Vatican grounds that trains choir boys and is very close to Pope Francis’s residence.

Gabriele Martinelli is suspected of carrying out repeated sexual assaults on at least one victim when he was a seminarian aged 21 and lived in the building.

Martinelli was made a priest in 2017.

The boarders at St Pius X are mainly children and adolescents who stay there while they attend a private school in Rome, and participate as choristers in the masses celebrated in St Peter’s Basilica.

Enrico Radice, rector of the residence at the time of the alleged events, is accused of covering the abuse up.

The Vatican said last year the pair would be tried. The first hearing will be held on October 14, it said.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

October 8, 2020

By Philip Pullella

Pope Francis sought to assure external inspectors of the Vatican’s financial operations on Thursday that he was pushing ahead with reforms, as the Holy See reeled from a scandal in which he fired a powerful cardinal.

In an address to Moneyval, the Council of Europe’s financial monitoring arm, Francis listed recent actions he had taken to make Vatican finances more transparent.

He appeared to refer to the Vatican’s latest financial scandals when he quoted the gospel story of Jesus driving the merchants from the temple and telling them “You cannot serve both God and money”.

Last month, the pope fired Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu, accusing him of embezzlement and nepotism. Becciu has denied all wrongdoing.

Moneyval is making one of its periodic inspections to check the Vatican is complying with international norms to combat money laundering and financing of terrorism.

“The measures that you are evaluating are meant to promote a ‘clean finance’, in which the ‘merchants’ are prevented from speculating in that sacred ‘temple’,” Francis said.

Italian media have this week run interviews with a woman who says she received 500,000 euros from Becciu to run a “parallel diplomacy” to help missionaries in conflict areas.

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