ABUSE TRACKER

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

August 12, 2020

Protesting Reverend June Dolley-Major told to ‘go to hell’ over rape allegations

CAPE TOWN (SOUTH AFRICA)
Cape Times

August 12, 2020

By Yolisa Tswanya

Theologian, lawyer and human rights activist Barney Pityana stands by his comments that Reverend June Dolley-Major’s campaign for justice after allegedly being raped by a pastor in the Anglican Church 18 years ago was “diabolical and satanic”.

At the weekend, Dolley-Major and a number of supporters hung panties outside Archbishop Thabo Makgoba’s home in protest at the church’s handling of her allegations.

In a message to one of Dolley-Major’s supporters, posted on social media, Pityana said he noted the campaign and that nothing gave the protesters the right to abuse the archbishop and violate the privacy of his home.

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.

Review of Statute of Limitations Lookback Window Legislation

UNITED STATES
Legal Examiner (law firm blog)

August 11, 2020

By Joseph H. Saunders

In a recent 2019 summary of changes in statutes of limitation for child sex abuse, written by CHILDUSA, 41 states had either changed their statutes of limitations or had bills pending to do so. In the past two years 15 states have extended or suspended statute of limitations to allow child sex abuse claims stretching back decades, unleashing potentially thousands of new lawsuits against the U.S. Roman Catholic Church.

More importantly “lookback windows” have been established by eight states and the District of Columbia. These “windows” allow victims of sexual abuse to sue no matter how long ago the alleged abuse took place. Victims can file civil suits against both their alleged abusers such as priests and the church or other institutions where they worked.

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.

Excommunicated priest rejects Pope Francis, misconduct allegations

CALIFORNIA
Catholic News Agency

August 11, 2020

A Sacramento priest excommunicated last week says he stands by his claim that Pope emeritus Benedict XVI is the true pope. In addition to charges of schism, the priest is suspected of misconduct and improper relationships with at least two adult women; he confessed his love to one of them in a video message circulating online.

“I continue to regard Benedict as retaining the Office of Peter, as mysterious as that might be. Therefore, I do not regard Bergoglio as the Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church,” Fr. Jeremy Leatherby wrote this week in an open letter to the Sacramento diocese.

Leatherby added that although he was already prohibited from public ministry, he had been celebrating Masses in recent months in private homes, offered “in union with Pope Benedict, not with Pope Francis. Many who have joined me hold, like I do, that Benedict remains the one true Pope.”

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 Diocese priest abused boy in 2009, lawsuit states

BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW-YV

August 11, 2020

By Charlie Specht

Most recent claim of abuse on record

It’s the most recent case of alleged pedophilia in the Buffalo Diocese on record and it involves Fr. Lynn Shumway, a Grand Island pastor who allegedly abused a child in 2009.

From the beginning of the scandal, the Diocese of Buffalo has tried to describe child sex abuse by priests as a problem of the past.

“There have been only three diocesan priests against whom there have been substantiated allegations of child sexual abuse since the year 2000,” the diocese writes on its website. “There have been no substantiated claims of child sexual abuse against any diocesan priest ordained in the past 30 years.”

But a lawsuit recently filed in State Supreme Court now threatens to render that statement false.

It’s the most recent case of alleged pedophilia in the Buffalo Diocese on record and it involves Fr. Lynn Shumway, a Grand Island pastor who allegedly abused a child in 2009.

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.

Two former students sue Paramus Catholic, saying the school knew of sex abuse by hockey coach

NEW JERSEY
NorthJersey.com

August 12, 2020

By Tom Nobile

Two former students at Paramus Catholic High School have come forward with sexual abuse allegations against a prominent hockey coach from the 1980s, saying the school shielded him from similar accusations for years.

In a lawsuit filed in state Superior Court, the two unnamed alumni say Paramus Catholic, the Archdiocese of Newark and its archbishop either were aware or should have known that coach Bernard Garris had “sexually inappropriate and/or sexually abusive relationships with many minor children.”

Garris molested both boys numerous times on school grounds and while on school-sanctioned athletic trips between 1986 and 1988, when the students were 14 or 15, says the suit, filed last week. Gerald McCarthy, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said more may come forward.

“It’s our strong opinion in doing our initial investigation, after being contacted by several former students, that there may have been quite a few,” he said.

To protect their privacy, McCarthy did not disclose where the former students lived or what years they graduated, he said. The lawsuit says one plaintiff currently lives in New Jersey. The other is a Massachusetts resident.

Paramus Catholic did not return calls seeking comment, and the archdiocese said it would not discuss pending litigation.

“The Archdiocese of Newark remains fully committed to transparency and to our long-standing programs to protect the faithful and will continue to work with victims, their legal representatives and law enforcement authorities in an ongoing effort to resolve allegations and bring closure to victims,” said Maria Margiotta, a spokesperson for the archdiocese.

The suit is the latest among dozens of complaints filed against the Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts and other institutions since Dec. 1, when a new state law waived the statue of limitation for decades-old abuse claims in New Jersey.

Garris was named to the Bergen County Coaches Association’s Century Victory Club for amassing 100 wins as a coach by 1985. But he was terminated from his position around 1986 due to abuse allegations from students and later died, in 2016, according to the lawsuit.

The school and the archdiocese, however, breached their duties to inform families of the alleged victims about the accusations, the lawsuit states.

“Despite this duty, defendants have for decades adopted policies and practices of covering up criminal activity committed by its agents and employees,” the complaint says.

A 2019 law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy greatly expanded the ability of alleged victims of sexual assault to sue attackers and eased restrictions on seeking damages from defendants, such as churches, that may have shielded the abuse. Whereas the previous law allowed only a two-year statute of limitations, alleged victims can now sue their abusers until they turn 55, or within seven years of their realization that the abuse caused them harm.

In early 2019, New Jersey’s five Catholic dioceses began releasing lists of priests who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing children. The list included two now-deceased priests who had served at Paramus Catholic: Dennis Cocozza, who was ordained in 1975, and Robert Morel, ordained in 1969.

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.

August 11, 2020

Suspended Sacramento Priest Excommunicated From Roman Catholic Church

SACRAMENTO (CA)
CBS13

August 9, 2020

By Richie Ramos

The Diocese of Sacramento excommunicated a priest from the Roman Catholic Church after he continued, while suspended, to hold Mass and questioned the legitimacy of Pope Francis, according to a letter from Bishop Jaime Soto.

In his letter, Soto said Father Jeremy Leatherby was exiled by his own volition, refusing the bishop’s instructions to refrain from offering public Mass to parishioners.

“He has instructed them against the legitimacy of His Holiness, Pope Francis,” Soto said. “He has substituted the Holy Father’s name with the name of his predecessor, and omitted my name during the recitation of the Eucharistic Prayer while offering Mass.”

Soto said he attempted to reach Leatherby in a number of ways but did not get any response.

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

Catholic Churches Drop Hymns After Accusations Against Composer

NEW YORK (NY)
The New York Times

August 10, 2020

By Marie Fazio

David Haas, a composer known for “Blest Are They,” “We Are Called,” “You Are Mine” and other favorites, has been accused of sexual abuse and harassment by multiple women, an advocacy group says.

Several Roman Catholic archdioceses have banned a well-known liturgical composer from performing in their churches and many others have stopped playing his music after dozens of women accused him of sexual misconduct and harassment over more than 40 years.

The allegations against the composer, David Haas, 63, include harassment and cyberstalking, lewd propositions, forced kissing and groping, and other unwanted sexual behavior, according to accusations from 38 women compiled by Into Account, a survivor advocacy group. The New York Times interviewed six of the women.

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.

Editorial: It’s past time for Vatican report on McCarrick’s shameful rise

National Catholic Reporter

August 11, 2020

By NCR Editorial Staff

As we publish this, it has been one year, 10 months, and six days since Pope Francis ordered a report on the Vatican’s documentation about how Theodore McCarrick was promoted through the ranks of the Catholic hierarchy for decades, despite multiple, then-secret reports of his sexual misconduct with seminarians.

And it has been six months and six days since a Vatican official last gave a public update on the status of the report, when Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin told the Reuters news agency that work on the text was done, awaiting only a final “go” order for publication from Francis.

Certainly, the world has changed in drastic ways since the pontiff first ordered the report on Oct. 6, 2018, and even since Parolin gave the last progress update on Feb. 6.

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.

Deceased Massachusetts bishop accused of sexual abuse had roots in New York archdiocese

UNITED STATES
Catholic News Agency

August 11, 2020

Archbishop-designate Mitchell Rozanski, who will take over the Archdiocese of St. Louis this month, oversaw an investigation into the late Bishop Christopher J. Weldon of Springfield, Mass, a bishop credibly accused of sexually abusing an altar boy in the 1960s. Rozanski has faced criticism for some aspects of his handling of the case, which the bishop said had been mishandled for years.

In 2018 an alleged victim, known under the pseudonym John Doe, told the Springfield diocesan review board that Bishop Christopher J. Weldon, who retired in 1977 and died in 1982, had abused him when he was an altar boy in the 1960s. Two priests also abused him, he said.

However, Bishop Weldon was not listed on the Springfield diocese’s list of clergy credibly accused of abuse. Although at least three witnesses and a letter to Doe from the review board supported Doe’s claim that he told the review board about Weldon, the review board only acknowledged Doe’s claim that the two priests had abused him. When the matter became controversial in 2019, then-Bishop Mitchell Rozanski commissioned an independent investigation.

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.

3,797 and counting: Child Victims Act suits in NY add up, with more expected

POUGHKEEPSIE (NEW YORK)
Poughkeepsie Journal

August 11, 2020

By Saba Ali

Gregory Kane won the lottery four decades ago.

The 10-year-old Queens resident was chosen by the Fresh Air Fund via a lottery system to attend its summer camp in Fishkill.

Part of the “Deer Trail 13” group, he and three other campers were assigned to a cabin. Each cabin had a counselor who would supervise the campers in the evenings.

One evening, Kane says he woke to find the counselor with one hand on his throat and the other on his penis.

Kane is suing the Fresh Air Fund for the sexual abuse he said he endured the summer of 1980. His story, outlined in graphic detail in his lawsuit against the Fresh Air Fund, is not unique.

The civil action lawsuit is one of thousands filed under the Child Victims Act against individuals, schools, churches and youth organizations. Last August, the law allowed survivors of child sexual abuse one year to file claims against those responsible for abuse regardless of how long ago the incident took place.

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.

Whistleblower Hits Back: Stephen Brady defends himself against ‘unjust’ lawsuit

UNITED STATES
Church Militant

August 11, 2020

By Christine Niles

A whistleblower on clergy corruption is fighting attempts to silence him.

Stephen Brady, president of Roman Catholic Faithful (RCF), an organization dedicated to exposing corruption and sex abuse in the Catholic clergy, has had to spend many thousands of dollars — even mortgaging his home and spending his life savings — to defend himself against a defamation lawsuit brought by Msgr. Craig Harrison. A priest of the diocese of Fresno, California, Harrison was placed on leave in May 2019 after at least half a dozen men stepped forward accusing him of abuse when they were teens.

“This is an action brought by a powerful public figure, using all of his extensive resources and connections in his local community, to engage in a pattern of rank intimidation against those who speak against him,” argue Brady’s attorneys in his latest court appeal. “He’s sued a victim, an investigator and his own diocese — and enlisted his brother to engage in a campaign of harassment.

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.

Minnesota-based Catholic composer accused of sexual misconduct

MINNESOTA
Minneapolis Star Tribune

August 11, 2020

By Jean Hopfensperger

He taught and worked in St. Louis Park, St. Paul.

Twin Cities musician David Haas, one of the best-known music composers in the Catholic Church nationally, has been accused of sexual misconduct toward multiple young women who studied with him over the years.

Composer, performer and teacher, Haas taught at Benilde-St. Margaret’s school in St. Louis Park, was composer-in-residence at the St. Paul Seminary, and ran a Music Ministry Alive program for years at St. Catherine University. He’s also traveled the nation and the world giving workshops and performing.

The stellar career ground to a halt earlier this year when a Kansas-based victim’s advocacy group publicized several allegations of abuse of young women under his tutelage. The organization, called Into Account, notified a network of liturgical music groups about the allegations, and organizations such as the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul halted the use of his music at archdiocese events; longtime music publisher GIA Publications in Chicago suspended its ties. Haas has not been charged with any offense.

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.

Another Vatican Scandal or Just Business as Usual?

UNITED STATES
Open Tabernacle (blog)

August 11, 2020

By Betty Clermont

“Vatican prosecutors, working with Italian authorities, executed a search and seizure warrant” on July 15. Cell phones and iPads belonging to London financier Raffaele Mincione were seized at a hotel in Rome.

Mincione, former fiancé of Paul McCartney’s ex-wife Heather Mills, had filed two civil lawsuits in the UK’s High Court of Justice against the Vatican on June 20. Both lawsuits are related to a deal brokered by Mincione for the Vatican in 2014 – their purchase of a 45% interest, through his holding company the Athena Global Opportunities Fund, in a London building to be converted into luxury apartments.

That deal “raised questions about the Vatican’s murky finances and poor investment strategies in the past decade and sparked fresh speculation about its Machiavellian turf battles, power struggles and score-settling,” the Associated Press reported.

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.

Church’s vicarious liability in Mount Cashel abuse scandal transcends religion, says lawyer

CANADA
The Lawyer’s Daily, Lexis-Nexis

August 10, 2020

By Terry Davidson

A Newfoundland court’s finding that the Archdiocese of St. John’s is vicariously liable for historical sexual abuse at the former Mount Cashel orphanage should be a warning to entities controlling lower institutions that there is a “continuing legal responsibility” to protect others, says a lawyer involved.

The landmark July 28 decision by the Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal in John Doe (G.E.B. #25) v. Roman Catholic Episcopal Corp. of St. John’s 2020 NLCA 27 is the latest chapter involving four male plaintiffs who as child residents of the Mount Cashel orphanage suffered sexual abuse at the hands of five members of the Christian Brothers during the 1940s and 1950s.

The Christian Brothers, a group of Irish laymen brought to Newfoundland in the 1870s to teach in Roman Catholic Schools, operated the orphanage.

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.

Preempting clerical sex abuse: New book analyzes what went wrong and what must go right for the Church to move forward.

UNITED STATES
Catholic World Report

August 4, 2020

By Thomas J. Nash

“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matthew 18:5-6)

Jesus’ sober words about scandalizing young Catholics should be imprinted on the hearts of all Church employees, clerical or lay, who have anything to do with the oversight of children in the universal Church (see CCC 2284-87). The grave damage done to many victims and their families has been far-reaching, striking a severe blow to the Church in advancing her God-given Great Commission (see Mt. 28:18-20). While things have undoubtedly improved overall since the Long Lent of 2002, we still await Pope Francis’ reckoning regarding Theodore McCarrick, two years after he resigned from the College of Cardinals.

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.

Rape-accused Orthodox priest suspended in Kerala

KERALA (INDIA)
UCA News

August 11, 2020

By Saji Thomas

Another clerical sex abuse case shocks the Christian community in the southern Indian state

An Orthodox church in southern India has suspended a priest and initiated an internal probe after an allegation that he raped a woman who sought his help to settle her dispute with her husband.

The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church based in Kerala suspended Father Babu Varghese Pookkottil after state police arrested him on Aug. 8 based on the woman’s complaint.
The priest of Sultan Bathery Diocese has been “suspended from all his priestly duties. We have also initiated a probe into the alleged incident,” diocesan secretary Father T.N. Kuriakose told UCA News.

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.

Relatos de exalumnos sobre un sacerdote abusador del colegio San Vicente de Paul de La Plata

[Stories from former students about an abusive priest at the San Vicente de Paul de La Plata school]

LA PLATA (ARGENTINA)
Prensa Obrera

July 31, 2020

Raúl Sidders fue trasladado a principios de año a Iguazú, Misiones, donde sigue en contacto con menores y es capellán de Gendarmería.

[GOOGLE TRANSLATION: Raúl Sidders was transferred at the beginning of the year to Iguazú, Misiones, where he continues to be in contact with minors and is a chaplain of the Gendarmerie.]

“Ustedes, las mujeres, lo único que saben es comer, dormir y coger” dijo el “padre Raúl” entre risas, mientras se presentaba a una de las divisiones del secundario en ausencia de la profesora. “Eso fue en el primer día de clases. Quedé impactada”, recuerda Antonia, exalumna del Colegio San Vicente de Paul de La Plata. Los exalumnos varones recuerdan al sacerdote del colegio como “Frasquito”, el cura que les hacía preguntas fuera de lugar durante la confesión y los obligaba a masturbarse para guardarse su semen en frascos.

[GOOGLE TRANSLATION: “You women, the only thing you know is to eat, sleep and fuck,” said “Father Raúl” with a laugh, as he presented himself to one of the secondary school divisions in the absence of the teacher. “That was on the first day of school. I was shocked, ”recalls Antonia, a former student of the Colegio San Vicente de Paul de La Plata. Male alumni remember the school priest as “Frasquito”, the priest who asked them inappropriate questions during confession and forced them to masturbate to keep their semen in jars.]

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.

August 10, 2020

Church, abuse survivors report ‘considerable progress’

GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

August 10, 2020

By Haidee Eugenio Gilbert

Nearly 90 properties of the Archdiocese of Agana, excluding any Catholic parish or school, have been discussed between the church and survivors of clergy sex abuse as assets to fund a potential settlement.

A federal judge vacated Friday’s scheduling conference on the archdiocese’s bankruptcy, after the parties reported “considerable progress” in their ongoing mediation.

Some 300 Guam clergy sex abuse cases could go to trial if there is no settlement outside the court.

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.

Church leader accused of sexually abusing little boy; Houston police fear there may be more victims

HOUSTON (TX)
KHOU

August 7, 2020

By Doug Delony

Jose Abel Mena, 60, sexually abused the 9-year-old boy for more than a year according to court records.

Houston police have announced charges against a church leader accused of sexually abusing a 9-year-old boy, and they say there may be more victims who have yet to come forward.

Jose Abel Mena, 60, is charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child for crimes dating back to January 2019. Police believe he began sexually assaulting the little boy in January 2019 and continued until April 2020.

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.

Local priest involved in Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph Lawsuit

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Northeast News

August 5, 2020

By Daisy Garcia Montoya

A priest who served at Holy Cross Catholic Church on St. John Avenue is involved in one of two new sexual abuse lawsuits against the Diocese of Kansas City – St. Joseph.

The lawsuit, filed July 20, 2020 in Jackson County Circuit Court, alleges that Rev. Darvin Salazar sexually assaulted the unnamed plaintiff, age 25, in July 2018. The lawsuit alleges that the diocese had received previous reports regarding Salazar from at least five other individuals but chose not to remove him as a priest until the July 2018 allegations.

The ten-count indictment includes allegations of battery, breach of special relationship, fraud, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, failure to supervise clergy and false imprisonment.

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.

CVA: Five priests from Rochester Diocese alleged to have abused 105 victims

ROCHESTER (NY)
13 WHAM

August 4, 2020

By Jane Flasch

Serial predators inside the Catholic Church: At least 245 lawsuits filed under the Crime Victims Act name the Rochester Catholic Diocese. Taken together, they allege a stunning abuse of power – some of it involving only a handful of priests.

Five of them have been accused by a combined 105 victims.

“These people hurt you. You don’t forget that,” said a man who asked to be identified only by his initials: J.O.

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.

Hancock County Court Rejects Diocese’s Request To Dismiss Lawsuit

WHEELING (WV)
The Intelligencer

August 5, 2020

By Joselyn King

A request by the the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston to dismiss a lawsuit alleging sexual assault by the Rev. Victor Frobas has been denied in Hancock County Circuit Court.

The order issued July 31 by Circuit Judge David Sims pertains to a complaint filed May 15 in Hancock County Circuit Court by Michael Pirraglia of Fairfax, Virginia. The complaint alleges PIrraglia was sexually assaulted over a three-year period by Frobas as a child while attending St. Paul Catholic Church in Weirton.

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.

SNAP Sendai Calls for Apology from Archdiocese of Nagasaki

JAPAN
SNAP Network

August 05, 2020

SNAP Sendai has learned about harassment from church officials at the Archdiocese of Nagasaki and are now calling for a public apology.

“The counselor room manager of the Archdiocese of Nagasaki responded sincerely to the victims,” said Harumi Suzuki, Leader of SNAP Sendai. “Archbishop Nagasaki added serious power harassment to the counselor room manager until she was unable to work.”

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.

Two New Priests Accused of Abuse in the Diocese of Las Cruces

LAS CRUCES (NM)
SNAP Network

August 5, 2020

Two more priests from the Diocese of Las Cruces have been accused of sexual abuse and we call on Catholic officials to do extensive outreach to their parish communities about these allegations, sharing the information and encouraging victims and witnesses to come forward and make a report to the police.

According to lawsuits filed this week, Fr. Roderick Nichols and Fr. Damian Gamboa have been accused of abusing children in the 1990s and 1980s respectively. Because we know that abusers rarely have just one victim, we call on Bishop Peter Baldacchino to personally visit each parish where these men were assigned and encourage anyone with information to contact law enforcement immediately. He should also use parish bulletins, pulpit announcements, and diocesan websites to augment this outreach.

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

Lawsuit Against Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston Can Move Forward

WHEELING (WV)
SNAP Network

August 5, 2020

A lawsuit against a West Virginia diocese can move forward after a request to dismiss filed by Catholic officials was denied by the circuit court. We are glad that this lawsuit can move forward and hope that it encourages other survivors to speak up and make reports to law enforcement.

We are very happy that the complaint filed by Michael Pirraglia will proceed and applaud him for his bravery in coming forward and taking action. According to the lawsuit, Pirraglia was abused by Fr. Victor Frobas and he alleges that diocesan leaders in Wheeling-Charleston were aware of Fr. Frobas’ history of abuse and did nothing to stop it. We hope that this case will inspire others who were hurt in West Virginia to speak up and make a report themselves.

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

Lawsuit alleges sexual abuse by pastor

BAKERSFIELD (CA)
Mennonite World Review

August 10, 2020

By Tim Huber and Mennonite World Review

A female member of a Mennonite Brethren congregation in Bakersfield, Calif., has filed a lawsuit alleging a former pastor abused his position as a marriage counselor to make sexual advances.

The woman, who is not identified, filed a complaint July 22 in Kern County Superior Court requesting a jury trial and financial damages from Bridge Bible Church. In addition to naming the church as a defendant, the document names Eric Simpson, former pastor of transformation, and 50 congregational leaders, who are not identified.

The complaint alleges the plaintiff and her husband approached the church’s counseling center in 2016. Simpson served as head family and marriage counselor, and the three people met every other week for roughly nine months.

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

2 New Suits Are Filed As Child Victims Act Window Is Extended

JAMESTOWN (NY)
The Post-Journal

August 4, 2020

By Eric Tichy

A Jamestown church has been named in two new Child Victims Act lawsuits for abuse said to have taken place in the early 1960s and mid-’70s.

Both complaints, filed late last week in New York State Supreme Court in Chautauqua County, names Holy Apostles Parish as the defendant.

One victim, only identified as “AB 279 DOE,” claims they were sexually abused by the Rev. John D. Lewandowski from about 1962 to 1963. The victim was about 13 to 14 years old when the alleged abuse took place at the then-Ss. Peter and Paul Church in Jamestown.

“Plaintiff was a student and participated in youth activities and/or church activities at Ss. Peter and Paul,” the suit claims. “Plaintiff, therefore, developed great admiration, trust, reverence, and respect for the Roman Catholic Church, including defendants and their agents, including Fr. Lewandowski.”

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.

Metairie deacon removed from ministry after allegation of abuse

METAIRIE (LA)
WDSU

August 3, 2020

The Archdiocese of New Orleans announced Monday that a Metairie deacon has been removed from ministry after being accused of abuse 20 years before he was ordained.

Archbishop Gregory Aymond formally removed Deacon V.M. Wheeler from ministry. He was assigned to St. Francis Xavier Parish since his ordination in 2018, according to the Archdiocese.

According to the Archdiocese, the matter has been referred to an appropriate law enforcement agency and the Archdiocese pledges its full cooperation with the investigation.

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(Op-ed): Chris Friel takes a look at The Case of George Pell

AUSTRALIA
Big News Network

August 9, 2020

By Chris Friel

Melissa Davey just a few days ago brought out her book on The Case of George Pell. Davey has followed the trial closely and I have often found her observations astute. When Judge Kidd in his denunciation spoke of the two boys sobbing in the sacristy it was The Guardian reporter who tweeted that we had not heard these tears before. In the UK her Five Times Guilty was splashed as soon as the suppression order was lifted, and very pertinently Davey reported on Mark Gibson’s closing address:

In his succinct but powerful closing remarks, Gibson asked the jury to consider how the complainant would have known the layout of the priest’s sacristy, and that there were wooden panels, a storage cupboard, a kitchenette and sacramental wine in there. It was not a place choirboys were allowed to enter. Yet the complainant was able to describe the room.

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.

Father Mark White appeals to Washington’s Archbishop. Next stop: Rome

WASHINGTON (DC)
Martinsville Bulletin

August 3, 2020

By Bill Wyatt

After being shunned at the doorsteps of a Richmond bishop and now also at the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States in Washington, D.C., Father Mark White of Martinsville and his supporters intend to take their demands for justice to the Vatican in Rome.

You probably know the story by now. Father White was the priest serving St. Joseph Catholic Church in Martinsville and St. Francis of Assisi in Rocky Mount. Late last year Richmond Bishop Barry Knestout told White to remove a popular blog he had created and used to occasionally criticize the church hierarchy’s handling of the sex abuse scandal within the church.

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

Child Victims Act Extended for an Additional Year, SNAP Applauds Decision

NEW YORK (NY)
SNAP Network

August 3, 2020

Today, Governor Andrew Cuomo formally extended New York’s Child Victim’s Act for an additional year. We applaud this decision and believe that this will help more victims come forward, bringing to light information that can protect children today and hold enablers of abuse accountable.

This critical reform has already made a major impact in New York and extending the filing deadline through August 14, 2021 will ensure that unforeseen issues like the global COVID pandemic will not stop the flow of justice. Giving survivors of childhood sexual abuse their day in court is not only a key piece of the healing process for survivors, but helps get critical information about abusers and enablers in the public, creating safer and more informed communities. We are grateful that those who were abused in New York will continue to have an opportunity to bring their claims forward.

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Diocese of Camden Suspends Compensation Program, SNAP Reacts

CAMDEN (NJ)
SNAP Network

August 3, 2020

The Diocese of Camden, NJ is suspending all payouts to survivors of sexual abuse due to budgetary impacts from COVID. This is a hurtful and deceitful move that clearly shows that the best pathway for survivors to get justice is through the court system and not church-run programs.

Last year, church officials from Camden called for victims to come forward and participate in their Independent Victims Compensation Plan. They ran this plan in hopes that survivors would not take advantage of New Jersey’s recent Child Victims Act and instead come to the church for help. Less than one year later, Camden officials have reneged on the promise they made to the survivors of abuse and are refusing to help new survivors coming forward.

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Pope extends Eastern Catholic Patriarchs’ jurisdiction over Arabian Peninsula

VATICAN CITY
Vatican News

August 2020

Pope Francis extends the jurisdiction of Eastern Catholic Patriarchs over the Arabian Peninsula, in response to requests from the Patriarchs, for the greater spiritual good of the faithful.

Pope Francis, with a Rescriptum published by the Vatican Press Office on Thursday, has extended the jurisdiction of the Eastern Catholic Patriarchs over the entire Arabian Peninsula, which includes the Apostolic Vicariates of Northern and Southern Arabia.

The latest announcement – fruit of careful evaluation by the Pope and the appropriate Dicasteries of the Roman Curia – is in response to requests made by the Patriarchs and Apostolic Vicars of Northern and Southern Arabia, in view of the greater spiritual good of the faithful, as well as the historical prerogatives of their jurisdiction over the territory.

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Gymnasts Worldwide Push Back on Their Sport’s Culture of Abuse

NEW YORK (NY)
The New York Times

August 3, 2020

By Juliet Macur

On Instagram and other social networks, gymnasts have tagged posts with #GymnastAlliance to share their own experiences in the wake of a new documentary that highlights verbal and physical abuse by coaches.

A culture in gymnastics that has tolerated coaches belittling, manipulating and in some cases physically abusing young athletes is being challenged by Olympians and other gymnasts around the world after an uprising in the United States.

Many current and former competitors, emboldened by their American peers, have broken their silence in recent weeks against treatment they say created mental scars on girls that lasted well into adulthood.

One gymnast, who is just 8 years old, said a coach tied her wrists to a horizontal bar when she was 7 and ignored her as she cried out in pain.

At a time when the Tokyo Olympics would be in session, had they not been postponed until 2021 by the coronavirus pandemic, gymnasts have been sharing horrific stories of coaches body-shaming them, stifling their emotions, using corporal punishment on them and forcing them to train with injuries, using the pursuit of medals as a way to rationalize shameful behavior.

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DISGRACED BISHOP AWOL

WHEELING (WV)
ChurchMilitant

August 7, 2020

By Kristine Christlieb

New bishop left to clean up the mess

A bishop the Vatican ordered to make amends for sexual abuse and financial malfeasance is nowhere to be found, and the Vatican appears unconcerned.

Local media reported on Monday that Bp. Michael Bransfield, the disgraced former bishop of Wheeling-Charleston, has not agreed to a proposed plan of amends, nor has he been in communication with any U.S. church official since February. His successor, Bp. Mark Brennan, explained to MetroNews his stalled plan for Bransfield that he had submitted to the Vatican six months ago.

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Brennan: I have not heard from Bransfield in months about his amends

WHEELING (WV)
Metro News

August 4, 2020

Mark Brennan, the Bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston said he has not heard from disgraced former Bishop Michael Bransfield in months since the diocese proposed Bransfield a “plan of amends” for his actions.

The diocese laid out the plan in November following an investigation that concluded Bransfield sexually harassed young priests he oversaw and committed financial improprieties during his time leading the Catholic Church in West Virginia from 2005 to 2018.

The investigation into Bransfield by the diocese concluded last summer. Brennan said he has not heard from Bransfield since the plan of amends was released.

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Survivor shares advice for protecting kids from abuse

ELLSWORTH (ME)
The Ellsworth American

August 7, 2020

By Jennifer Osborn

You teach your kids to look both ways before crossing a street, to wash their hands and to wear a bike helmet, but have you talked to them about what to do if someone touches them inappropriately?

One in four girls and one in six boys will experience unwanted sexual contact before they turn 18, said survivor Mark Crawford, who is the president of the New Jersey chapter of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. “When you think about it, those are truly startling numbers.”

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El caso del cura Pernini, listo para su elevación a juicio

[The case of priest Pernini, ready for his elevation to trial]

ARGENTINA
Diario Textual

August 6, 2020

El fiscal de Delitos que Impliquen Violencia Familiar y de Género, Walter Antonio Martos, confirmó a Diario Textual que la causa contra el cura santarroseño Hugo Pernini por abuso sexual con acceso carnal está lista para su elevación a juicio. «Si la pandemia lo permite, será sobre fin de año», dijo el funcionario judicial.

Pernini fue denunciado el año pasado por abuso sexual simple gravemente ultrajante y con acceso carnal por haber mediado amenazas y abuso en una relación de dependencia calificado por pertenecer, el autor del hecho, a un culto -sacerdote-, todos como delito continuado.

[GOOGLE TRANSLATION: The prosecutor for Crimes Involving Family and Gender Violence, Walter Antonio Martos , confirmed to Diario Textual that the case against the priest from Santa Rosa, Hugo Pernini for sexual abuse with carnal access is ready to be brought to trial. “If the pandemic allows it, it will be around the end of the year,” said the judicial official.

Pernini was denounced last year for grossly outrageous simple sexual abuse and with carnal access for having mediated threats and abuse in a dependent relationship qualified for belonging, the perpetrator of the act, to a cult -priest-, all as a continuing crime.]

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Catholic Church was warned about McCarrick decades ago, yet promotions, honors kept coming

NEW JERSEY
NorthJersey.com

August 10, 2020

By Abbott Koloff and Deena Yellin

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/new-jersey/2020/08/10/theodore-mccarrick-kept-getting-promoted-even-through-catholic-church-sex-abuse-allegations/5579049002/

In the late 1980s, several seminary students approached one of their professors imploring him for help, saying they didn’t want to take any more trips to Newark Archbishop Theodore McCarrick’s Jersey shore home, but feared reprisals if they complained to archdiocesan officials.

The Rev. Ed Reading, a priest of the Paterson Diocese, was alarmed when the seminarians told him they felt pressured into sharing a bed with McCarrick and having to undress in front of him, though they did not say he touched them sexually. Reading reported it to his bishop, Frank Rodimer, who indicated he’d contact the Vatican’s U.S. representatives.

“Something had to be done,” said Reading, who now works as a substance abuse counselor outside of the Paterson Diocese. “It’s emotional abuse and it’s a power problem.”

About two weeks later, Newark priests told Reading that church officials made an unannounced visit to the archdiocese, apparently to clamp down on use of the beach house. It was perhaps the first attempt to curtail McCarrick’s activities. But like some other actions later taken by priests and church officials, there were either no consequences or they were fleeting, as McCarrick took seminarians to the shore home for years afterward.

Reading called the harassment “the worst kept secret ever.”

Until two years ago, McCarrick, now 90, remained a popular figure, rising to become one of the Catholic Church’s most powerful leaders. But in June 2018, his storied career came to an abrupt end when church officials removed him from ministry, saying they received credible allegations that he abused an altar boy decades ago in New York.

At the same time, church officials said they received “three allegations of sexual misconduct with adults decades ago” against McCarrick, saying that two of the claims resulted in settlements years before. Last year, McCarrick became the first American cardinal to be defrocked, underscoring allegations of the sexual harassment of seminarians that followed him for much of his career.

McCarrick had been revered for his ability to raise money — and the shore house in Sea Girt helped serve that purpose. Several people interviewed said McCarrick was known to take seminarians to dinner with wealthy potential donors who had homes at the shore, parading the young men as the future of the church.

He was promoted to archbishop of Washington, D.C. in 2000 and elevated to cardinal months later — even after the Vatican received a written complaint about his alleged abuse of seminary students. Church leaders first moved to limit his ministry in 2008, after the Newark Archdiocese quietly paid two seminarians to settle abuse claims. But McCarrick skirted the restrictions and continued to travel around the world with impunity, representing the church as its emissary.

In 2002, McCarrick had taken a leadership role among American cardinals, becoming the face of the church as it promised to reform itself in the wake of allegations that bishops had been covering up the sexual abuse of children by priests.

But NorthJersey.com and the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey has learned through interviews and shared documents that McCarrick overlooked abuse allegations made against several priests in the Newark Archdiocese. And the former cardinal is now accused of abusing children himself in three New Jersey lawsuits — including one filed last month alleging he shared children with other priests at the Jersey shore.

Letters to cardinals

Mark Crawford, now a victims’ advocate, said he met with McCarrick in late 1997 to tell him that he and his brother had been sexually abused and beaten by the Rev. Kenneth Martin, a Bayonne priest who continued working until 2002, when he was removed amid the national scandal.

After McCarrick failed to follow up on promises made during that meeting, Crawford said he sent letters to cardinals across the U.S. in 1998 asking for help. Only a handful responded, and none offered to take action. Several suggested that McCarrick would address the matter.

“It was, ‘this isn’t our problem,'” said Crawford, who is now the head of the New Jersey chapter of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP.

By then, Crawford, who had considered becoming a priest and knew many clerics and seminarians, had heard rumors about McCarrick’s behavior with seminarians at his beach house. “If I knew, they had to know,” Crawford said of the cardinals.

One of the cardinals who did respond to Crawford’s letters, Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles, wrote that McCarrick “is greatly concerned about all these problems and issues, and I know that you can rely upon him to be attentive to these pastoral needs.” In 2013, church officials barred Mahoney from public ministry for allegedly failing to protect children from abusive priests.

Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, who died in 2017, also wrote back to Crawford, and told him that “your pain and frustration is familiar to me because I have had to deal with the problem of sexual misconduct by clergy.” He asked Crawford to “pray for the leaders of the Church, that we might do God’s will whenever this awful problem occurs.”

Four years later, reporting by the Boston Globe revealed that Law himself had moved abusive priests from one parish to another, accusations that led him to resign in disgrace.

The allegations against McCarrick remained an open secret in the church even after the Newark Archdiocese and Metuchen Diocese paid two seminarians to settle claims against him in 2005 and 2007. Archbishop John Myers was the leader of the Newark Archdiocese by then. McCarrick retired as head of the Washington Archdiocese in 2006 when he turned 75, the Vatican’s required age of retirement. It is not known whether his departure was connected to the payouts.

Cardinal Joseph Tobin, who took over the Newark Archdiocese from Myers in 2017, revealed the settlements in a written statement in June 2018.

McCarrick’s personal secretary

Months later, in late 2018, Tobin was given an opportunity to examine letters that cast new light on McCarrick’s abuse of power, according to a priest who worked for McCarrick for decades, first as his secretary in Newark and then at the Vatican.

Monsignor Anthony Figueiredo told NorthJersey.com that he met with Tobin in late 2018, bringing with him letters he believed would be important in the investigation into McCarrick. They showed that McCarrick acknowledged a “lack of judgement” by sharing a bed with seminarians and ignoring restrictions placed on his ministry in 2008.

According to Figueiredo, Tobin said “this was not the time to discuss that.”

The Newark Archdiocese did not address Figueredo’s claim but issued a statement in an email: “Cardinal Tobin has not seen the contents of the letters to which you refer, and it would be inappropriate to comment on them without seeing them. Information and correspondence publicly released or information still not made public by Monsignor Anthony Figueiredo properly belong to the Holy See to investigate.”

Figueiredo, who now lives in Rome, posted excerpts from the letters last year on a website called the Figueiredo Report. He said the Vatican has supported his decision to do so.

Figueiredo said that on Christmas Day 2019, he received a phone call from McCarrick “out of the blue.” He expected the former cardinal to be angry about the letters, but they weren’t mentioned.

“I’m sorry for all the trouble I caused you,” McCarrick said, according to Figueiredo.

“I was moved by it,” Figueiredo said. “I saw a grain of repentance in the man.”

McCarrick has denied that he sexually abused anyone. His attorney, Barry Coburn, declined to comment for this story.

In one 2008 letter to a Vatican diplomat, which was translated into Italian by Figueiredo, McCarrick wrote that he had “an unfortunate lack of judgment” and “always considered my priests and seminarians as part of my family,” sharing his bed with them as he had done with blood relatives “without thinking of it as being wrong.”

“In no case were there minors involved,” McCarrick wrote. “I have never had sexual relations with anyone, man, woman or child, nor have I ever sought such acts.”

McCarrick indicated in that letter and others from 2008 that he had been directed by church officials to be “less public a figure,” and was planning to comply. The letters also indicate he was asked to move his residence from a seminary to a parish and to make public appearances only when approved by church officials.

Figueiredo said on his website that the restrictions, which were imposed under the rule of Pope Benedict XVI, were not made public “and despite McCarrick’s promises, he continued his public ministry, including taking a highly visible public role” that included dealings with high-ranking Vatican officials along with “public officials in the United States and around the globe.”

After Figueiredo posted the letters, he said Tobin wrote to him and expressed surprise that he hadn’t been informed about them.

“I had no idea that you had all of this information,” Tobin wrote, according to Figueiredo. “From the excerpts that you had published, I am concerned by your longstanding knowledge of some very grave facts, which you failed to disclose earlier.”

Figueiredo said he tried to disclose the letters to Tobin months earlier, and that he had all but forgotten them until allegations against McCarrick became public. And while he heard rumors of misconduct in the 1990s, he said he couldn’t be sure they were true and chalked it up to McCarrick having enemies in the church “because he provoked a lot of jealousy and envy.”

“I quite liked working as his secretary,” Figueiredo said. “He was a good role model in many ways. He was always very polite. I can never remember a moment where he shouted. He was gracious and welcoming.”

Figueiredo said he hadn’t heard about the payouts to seminarians until two years ago, when they became widely known. Given the seminarians’ accusations of McCarrick’s behavior, Figueiredo questioned why McCarrick was allowed to stay at a seminary in Rome whenever he visited the Vatican until 2018. Myers, the former Newark archbishop, was also head of that seminary, the North American College, which trains clerics from the United States.

“He knew about the paid allegations,” Figueiredo said of Myers.

In the mid-1990s, when he worked in Newark, Figueiredo said he visited McCarrick’s Sea Girt beach house. The monsignor said McCarrick didn’t go there often but selected seminarians to be invited to the house. Figueiredo said he didn’t witness abuse.

Seminary professor intercedes

Another seminary professor also heard McCarrick had been abusing seminarians, and said he took steps to intercede. The Rev. Boniface Ramsey, who taught from 1986 to 1996 at the College Seminary of the Immaculate Conception, on the Seton Hall University campus, told NorthJersey.com it was widely known that seminarians had to share McCarrick’s bed at the Sea Girt home.

“There’s always one less bed than there should be so one seminarian has to stay in bed with him,” Ramsey said. “Everyone kind of accepted it. This is what McCarrick does. It’s odd, but that’s what he does. It was said that he never touched anybody. And if he did touch someone, they never said anything.”

In the late 1980s, Ramsey said he took his concerns to the director of the seminary, who had been acting as a middleman in the selection of seminarians invited to McCarrick’s shore home.

“He told me he would not do it again,” Ramsey said. “I believe him.”

After that, he said, McCarrick may have found another way to invite seminarians to his beach house. Ramsey didn’t name the seminary director. The priest who headed the seminary in the late 1980s did not respond to requests for an interview.

In 2000, Ramsey sent a letter to a Vatican representative to sound an alarm. McCarrick had just been appointed Archbishop of Washington, and Ramsey was concerned that his “misbehavior” would continue and be “hurtful to the church.” Ramsey did not get an immediate reply and McCarrick was subsequently promoted to cardinal. Years later, Ramsey received a response to his letter, letting him know that it had been received.

“Then they knew about it,” Ramsey said. “They didn’t do anything. This had to do with the seminarians and the beach house. We are not talking about child abuse, which we didn’t come to know until just two years ago.”

The beach house

Over the past year, three lawsuits have been filed in New Jersey alleging that McCarrick abused children. The latest, filed last month, accused McCarrick of running a child sex ring with other priests out of a New Jersey beach house — the same Sea Girt home where he allegedly abused seminarians, first as bishop of the Metuchen Diocese and then as Archbishop of Newark.

However, Jeff Anderson, the attorney who filed the suit, later said it’s possible McCarrick had another shore home. The Metuchen Diocese, which McCarrick ran from 1981 to 1986, purchased the Sea Girt home in 1985, several years after the abuse alleged in the suit. It was sold to the Newark Archdiocese in 1988, two years after McCarrick moved there from Metuchen.

This Baltimore Boulevard home in Sea Girt was purchased by the Metuchen Diocese in 1985 and later sold to the Newark Archdiocese. It is where seminarians say that they were invited on overnight stays with former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. It was sold to a private party in 1997. Photo from July 22, 2020.

Anderson said he believed McCarrick eventually was “required” to sell the house “because of activities that became known to others.”

The Sea Girt home was sold in 1997 — but property records show McCarrick had access to another shore home for the rest of his time in the Newark Archdiocese. The archdiocese purchased a home in Brick in 1997 and sold it in 2002, two years after McCarrick left for Washington. The archdiocese said in an email it “cannot speculate on the specific history and purpose of these private properties.”

Michael Reading, a former priest who was ordained in 1986, said he went to the Sea Girt house when he was a deacon. McCarrick told him that he wouldn’t ordain priests he didn’t get to know, Reading told NorthJersey.com. He reluctantly accompanied McCarrick and other seminarians on a trip to the shore but, having heard rumors of improprieties, made an excuse that he couldn’t stay the night.

He went to an upstairs bedroom to change and said McCarrick stood there watching. He finally realized the prelate wasn’t going to leave until he changed into his bathing suit. Later, on the beach, he said McCarrick stuck his hand under Reading’s swimsuit in front of other seminarians. He said they didn’t talk about it and he didn’t know what to do.

“I didn’t know there was a way to report anything,” Reading said.

Reading said he distanced himself from McCarrick after that incident — which he believes may have led to him be passed over for a position he wanted and not being assigned to a parish he requested.

“We knew that you needed to be in favor with the archbishop, and I was not in favor,” he said.

He eventually left the priesthood over what he called McCarrick’s abuse of power. He told one person about the beach house incident — his former seminary teacher, Ed Reading, the Paterson Diocese priest who went to Bishop Rodimer in the late 1980s.

Ed Reading, who’s not related to Michael, said several seminarians approached him about the beach house because he was outside of the archdiocese and not directly under McCarrick. He said they didn’t trust telling anyone in the archdiocese.

“McCarrick was so powerful, if someone confronted him, they would be gone,” Reading said.

He said Rodimer turned “pure white in a kind of shock” when he told him about the allegations against McCarrick. The bishop, Reading said, noted that McCarrick was his superior. Reading suggested contacting the Vatican’s representatives in the United States. Rodimer thanked him “and said he would take it very seriously.”

Reading said he never asked Rodimer about what happened until he visited the bishop at a nursing home shortly before his death in 2018. Rodimer, who was in failing health, couldn’t recall the conversation about McCarrick or whether he went to Vatican officials.

“I hope I did that,” he said, according to Reading.

[Abbott Koloff is an investigative reporter for NorthJersey.com and Deena Yellin covers religion.]

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Paedophile priest Vincent Gerard Ryan has priestly faculties removed

NEWCASTLE (AUSTRALIA)
ABC Newcastle

August 10, 2020

By Giselle Wakatama

Key points:

– The 82-year-old can no longer dress in clerical garb or identify himself as a priest

– Victim advocates say it does not go far enough, arguing instead that Ryan should be defrocked

– In the ABC’s Revelation program, Ryan was seen performing mass in his home

The notorious paedophile priest Vincent Gerard Ryan will no longer be permitted to celebrate the sacraments or dress as a priest, after a decision to remove his priestly faculties.

Ryan had previously spent 14 years in prison for abusing more than 30 boys.

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This international paedophile has died leaving millions – and there could be people in Greater Manchester entitled to the money

UNITED KINGDOM
Manchester Evening News

August 9, 2020

By Damon Wilkinson and Sam Tobin

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/international-paedophile-died-leaving-millions-18710447

Victims of a paedophile priest may be entitled to some of his near £5m estate.

Michael Studdert, who worked in Langley in Middleton in the 1960s, is believed to have abused children in England, Wales, Poland, Denmark and Italy.

The former Anglican minister died in 2017 aged 78.

Most of his £4.7m estate was left to a charity he set up to help support families of Clergy in the Church of England.

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Women protest against GBV outside Archbishop’s home

SOUTH AFRICA
CapeTownEtc..com

August 9, 2020

By Kirsten Jacobs

A group of women, led by Lucinda Evans from non-profit organisation Philisa Abafazi Bethu, are spending their Women’s Day by protesting against gender-based violence. The protest began outside the Bishopscourt residence of Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba early August 9.

The women are taking a stand against gender-based violence and the Anglican Church of Southern Africa’s (ACSA) reported lack of response to such abuse. They are specifically protesting for justice for Reverend June Major, an Anglican priest from the Cape Town Diocese.

Reverend Major was allegedly raped by a fellow priest in 2002 at Grahamstown Seminary. Despite reporting the rape to the South African Police Service (SAPS) and to the Church authorities, her rapist reportedly continues to minister to congregations and justice has not been served.

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Albany woman files sexual abuse lawsuit against Troy church

ALBANY (NY)
WNYT-TV

August 8, 2020

An Albany woman is suing a Troy church, its pastor and a deacon in an alleged case of sexual abuse that happened when she was 5-years-old.

Abigail Barker claims in the lawsuit that Deacon Mark Rhodes of Victorious Life Christian Church sexually molested her in 1998. She is also suing the church and its pastor Dominick Brignola for alleged negligence and cover-up after being told of the incident.

Barker is suing under New York’s Child Victims Act, saying she’s seeking accountability for those in power.

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Former Exclusive Brethren members hit with dawn raids, legal suits after speaking out against the secretive Christian sect

NEW ZEALAND
Stuff

August 9, 2020

By Bevan Hurley

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300063194/former-exclusive-brethren-members-hit-with-dawn-raids-legal-suits-after-speaking-out-against-the-secretive-christian-sect

Braden Simmons awoke to a knock at the door. Outside were lawyers and investigators with a court order to search his home.

A former Exclusive Brethren who was once told to drink rat poison by the church’s Supreme Leader is one of several former members fighting legal action after speaking out against the church. Bevan Hurley reports.

On June 30 this year, Braden Simmons attended an informal session with the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.

He would later tell friends he was there to share his story about his mental struggles during his time as an Exclusive Brethren, and in particular an incident involving the church’s Supreme Leader Bruce Hales, a man who is looked on by members as the embodiment of the Holy Spirit on earth.

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A haven for victims of abuse

ZAMBIA
Alberton Record

August 8, 2020

They educate women on what is the exit plan for them if they were to find themselves in an abusive relationship.

Amcare’s empowerment centre is a safe haven for victims of domestic abuse in Alberton and the surrounding area.

They provide a shelter for women and their children to escape the abusive situation they find themselves in with the focus on victims of ongoing and current domestic victims.

A unique advantage they have is that they can provide shelter for the women and their children, even boys over the age of 15.

According to Amcare general manager Marihet Infantino, as well as providing shelter to the victims, they assist with the legal aspects of gaining a protection order to protect them.

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Houston church group leader arrested for sexually assaulting 9-year-old

HOUSTON (TX)
KXXV-TV

August 7, 2020

Houston Police have arrested a local church group leader for sexually assaulting a 9-year-old boy, and they believe there may be more victims.

Charges have been filed against a suspect arrested in the sexual assault of a child in incidents dating back to January 1, 2019, according to police.

The suspect, 60-year-old Jose Abel Mena, is charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child in the 183rd State District Court.

Mena is accused of sexually assaulting a 9-year-old boy, as recently as April 2020. The victim, who is a known acquaintance to Mena, was assaulted on several occasions at Mena’s residence in the 9600 block of Fulton Street, according to police.

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Church named in Lowville sex abuse lawsuit taking allegations ‘very seriously’

NEW YORK
WWNY-TV

August 7, 2020

By Diane Rutherford

A church named in a Lowville child sexual abuse lawsuit says it’s taking the allegations “very seriously.”

Earlier this week, a lawsuit was filed in State Supreme Court, claiming a former choir director at Lowville United Methodist Church sexually assaulted a teenager 40 years ago.

On Friday, the Upper New York Conference of the United Methodist Church, which is named as a defendant in the suit, issued the following statement:

“We are taking this very seriously and are investigating. When it comes to terrible acts like the ones that are being alleged, we, as United Methodists, support survivors and their families in their search for justice. We pray for healing for all such survivors.”

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Egypt mulls law to protect women’s identities as MeToo movement escalates

CAIRO (EGYPT)
Reuters

August 10, 2020

By Menna A. Farouk

Egyptian lawmakers are pushing for a new law to protect the identity of women coming forward to report sexual abuse and assault as the nation’s MeToo movement picks up speed.

An Egyptian parliamentarian committee has approved a draft law that would give survivors of sexual assault and harassment the automatic right to anonymity, with the law expected to go to vote at a general session of the parliament later this month.

The moves comes as hundreds of women have started to speak up on social media about sexual assault in Egypt, with the public prosecution and National Council for Women supporting the movement and offering legal and social protection.

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Elite NYC school Saint David’s hushed up sexual abuse by staff, alumni lawsuit alleges

NEW YORK (NY)
New York Post

August 8, 2020

By Sara Dorn and Kathianne Boniello

A former student at an elite Manhattan private school claims in a shocking $20 million lawsuit that he was molested by three staffers, including one who allegedly kept a horrific trophy — jeans with locks of victims’ hair sewn into them.

Anthony Filiberti is the second alum to sue the $50,000-a-year Saint David’s School over past childhood sex abuse.

“Initially, it was incredibly pleasant. You ran around this donated mansion,” said Filiberti, who attended the all-boys elementary housed in three historic townhomes next to the Guggenheim on East 89th Street, from 1965 to 1973.

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Nancy LePage agrees to pay $125K to Fr. Eduard Perrone

DETROIT (MI)
Church Militant

August 8, 2020

A Michigan priest has been officially vindicated after a detective who falsely accused him of rape has agreed to pay him damages awards.

On Friday, Sgt. Det. Nancy LePage of the Macomb County Sheriff’s Department agreed to pay $125,000 to Detroit priest Fr. Eduard Perrone, one month after a three-person panel unanimously found her guilty of defamation and recommended that she pay damages. Friday was the deadline set by the panel for accepting or rejecting the recommendation.

Now that LePage has accepted the finding of guilt and has agreed to pay the money, it becomes a binding court ruling, formally bringing an end to Perrone’s months-long lawsuit for defamation, and officially vindicating him.

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August 9, 2020

Survivors file suite of lawsuits naming new alleged abusers among upstate Boy Scout groups

ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat and Chronicle

August 6, 2020

By Sean Lahman

More than a dozen survivors have filed lawsuits in state court over the last week alleging that they were sexually abused while participating in Boy Scout activities in central and western New York.

The suits accuse Scout leaders and adult volunteers of sexually abusing the the survivors when they were as young as 8 years old. The timeframe for the alleged abuse described in these civil suits ranges from 1949 to 2007, but the majority of the assaults occurred in the 1970s.

The claims were filed under the Child Victims Act. Adopted in early 2019, the CVA carved out a one-year window during which suits can be brought by people who allege they were sexually abused when they were young. That window had been set to close Aug. 13, but a one-year extension was signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo earlier this week.

Plaintiff’s lawyers say that they had been working to get cases filed by the original deadline, prompting this recent surge of new cases.

Three of the new complaints name perpetrators who had been identified in previous lawsuits, including the Rev. Robert F. O’Neill.

O’Neill was a Catholic priest and of the worst serial abusers ever uncovered in the Rochester diocese. Already named as a defendant in more than 20 lawsuits, O’Neill served at six parishes in the Rochester area between 1962 and 2001. He also served as a counselor to Scouts in various local troops.

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Surge in filings pushes Child Victims Act suits in WNY past 700 in a year

BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

August 9, 2020

By Jay Tokasz and Mike McAndrew

Former Smallwood Elementary School teacher Trent Hariaczyi pleaded guilty in 2005 to possessing child pornography and served 18 months in federal prison.

Now, a local man who was a Smallwood student from 1994 to 2000 is alleging Hariaczyi molested him, and the Amherst Central School District allowed it to happen.

The man, now in his early 30s, sued the district in July, more than 20 years after the alleged abuse.

“He’s just broken over this,” said the man’s lawyer, Paul Barr.

The Amherst District superintendent’s office on Friday emailed a statement that said the district became aware last week of “troubling allegations” regarding the conduct of a former district employee. “The former employee at issue left the district in 2002,” the statement said. “The district is undertaking all appropriate steps in response to this information.”

The case against Amherst schools is among at least 720 lawsuits in Western New York filed since last August under the Child Victims Act, including a surge of more than 200 cases filed since July 24.

Statewide, about 3,800 CVA cases have been filed since last August. New York County Supreme Court so far has received the most CVA filings in the state, with 851, according to the Office of Court Administration. Erie County had the second-most filings, with 636.

Most of the filings allege abuse by Catholic priests, scout leaders and teachers, although a handful of suits accuse family members, doctors and law enforcement. Just within the past two weeks, new CVA suits have targeted the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office, Amherst Youth Hockey and Big Brothers & Big Sisters of Erie, Niagara and the Southern Tier.

The Buffalo Diocese has been named as a defendant in at least 263 CVA suits in Western New York, making it the region’s most sued entity, even though lawsuits against the diocese mostly have stopped since it filed in February for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Other Catholic entities, such as parishes and schools, continue to be named as defendants in many lawsuits.

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Researchers reveal patterns of sexual abuse in religious settings

ISLE OF MAN (ENGLAND)
Phys.org from Science X Network

August 6, 2020

By Geoff McMaster

A recent literature review by a University of Alberta cult expert and his former graduate student paints a startling and consistent picture of institutional secrecy and widespread protection of those who abuse children in religious institutions “in ways that often differ from forms of manipulation in secular settings.”

It’s the first comprehensive study exposing patterns of sexual abuse in religious settings.

“A predator may spend weeks, months, even years grooming a child in order to violate them sexually,” said Susan Raine, a MacEwan University sociologist and co-author of the study with University of Alberta sociologist Stephen Kent.

Perpetrators are also difficult to identify, the researchers said, because they rarely conform to a single set of personality or other traits.

The findings demonstrate the need to “spend less time focusing on ‘stranger danger,’ and more time thinking about our immediate community involvement, or extended environment, and the potential there for grooming,” said Raine.

Raine and Kent examined the research on abuse in a number of religious denominations around the world to show “how some religious institutions and leadership figures in them can slowly cultivate children and their caregivers into harmful and illegal sexual activity.”

Those institutions include various branches of Christianity as well as cults and sectarian movements including the Children of God, the Branch Davidians, the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints as well as a Hindu ashram and the Devadasis.

“Because of religion’s institutional standing, religious grooming frequently takes place in a context of unquestioned faith placed in sex offenders by children, parents and staff,” they found.

The two researchers began their study after Kent was asked to provide expert testimony for a lawsuit in Vancouver accusing Bollywood choreographer and sect leader Shiamak Davar of sexually abusing two of his dance students in 2015.

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Vicar general of Springfield diocese won’t accept reappointment, says he was ‘unfairly’ portrayed in Weldon report

SPRINGFIELD (MA)
Springfield Republican via MassLive

August 3, 2020

By Anne-Gerard Flynn

https://www.masslive.com/news/2020/08/vicar-general-of-springfield-diocese-wont-accept-reappointment-says-he-was-unfairly-portrayed-in-weldon-report.html

Fallout continues in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield as the diocesan vicar general, the Rev. Monsignor Christopher Connelly, will not seek reappointment, saying he was “unfairly and unfavorably portrayed” in the recent report into allegations of sexual abuse by the late Bishop Christopher J. Weldon.

Connelly’s announcement coincides with letters having circulated in the religious community in which retired priest James Scahill, an outspoken advocate on behalf of victims of sex abuse within the Catholic church, called for the removal of the vicar based on the results of the report by retired Judge Peter A. Velis. The vicar is second only to the bishop in the diocesan hierarchy.

In the report, made public on June 24, Velis found allegations by a former altar boy against Weldon were “unequivocally credible.” The report was also critical of the diocese’s handling of the case prior to the call by the current bishop, the Most Rev. Mitchell T. Rozanski, for the independent investigation last summer.

“I am calling for the immediate removal and replacement of Connelly as vicar general and rector of St. Michael’s Cathedral,” Scahill said when asked about his letter and Connelly’s reaction to it. “Christopher Connelly is doing what I am very opposed to – that is employing smoke and mirrors (and) dodging the truth.”

Connelly, meanwhile, said his appointment as vicar ceased on June 10 as a result of Rozanski being named archbishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Louis, where he will move later this month. “Before Father Scahill’s request, I had already indicated to our bishop that when a new bishop moves in, I would not accept reappointment as vicar general, that I had done it,” Connelly said.

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Paedophile priest, 96, jailed for abusing boys

ST HELENS (MERSEYSIDE, ENGLAND)
St Helens Star

August 6, 2020

By Joanne Rowe

An elderly priest has been jailed for sexually abusing six boys more than 30 years ago.

All but one of 96-year-old former priest Father John Kevin Murphy’s victims came forward to police after seeing media reports about him being imprisoned in 2017 for molesting other boys.

The abuse of the victims, some of them altar boys, occurred at the homes of victims in Whiston, Ashton-in-Makerfield and Liverpool and at swimming baths in Liverpool and Leigh.

“The picture that emerges from the two cases is that for some 27 years the defendant was a predatory paedophile who used his position as a Catholic priest to groom and subsequently abuse at least ten children,” said Arthur Gibson, prosecuting, at Liverpool Crown Court.

The court heard how Murphy, of Hillside Crescent, Horwich, had been ordained as a priest in 1962 and served in a number of parishes in the Merseyside, Lancashire and Greater Manchester until he retired.

The six victims, who were aged between eight and 16 at the times of the offences, were molested while he took them on swimming lessons and also while visiting the homes of their devout Catholic parents.

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Questions of abuse cover-up directed at incoming St. Louis archbishop, but details unclear

DENVER (CO)
Catholic News Agency

August 7, 2020

By Kevin Jones

Archbishop-designate Mitchell Rozanski is set to take over the Archdiocese of St. Louis, after heading the Diocese of Springfield in Massachusetts since 2014. Though Rozanski himself backed major changes in the Springfield diocese’s handling of abuse, one unnamed abuse victim has asked for a Church investigation into whether the archbishop-designate was involved in covering up abuse.

Olan Horne, an advocate for victims of sex abuse by clergy, said the request to investigate Archbishop-designate Rozanski was made by a Berkshire County resident who had taken part in the Boston archdiocese’s multi-million dollar settlement, the Springfield newspaper The Republican reports. Horne said the request had support from “other concerned Catholics here in the diocese.”

The complaint was made through the Catholic Bishops Abuse Reporting Service website, and Horne said he received confirmation that the allegation had been filed.

Mark Dupont, secretary of communications for the Diocese of Springfield, told CNA August 6 that Rozanski had worked to make improvements in responding to sexual abuse allegations since before June 2019, when he commissioned an independent investigation into the mishandling of an allegation about a previous bishop.

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Child Victims Act Suit Filed Against Troy Church

ALBANY (NY)
Spectrum News

August 4, 2020

By Jaclyn Cangro

Troy – Abigail Barker is discussing something not many people go public with.

“The topic of childhood sexual abuse is an inherently difficult topic to talk about. People don’t want to talk about it,” Barker said.

But that’s exactly what she wants to do. She says when she was five years old, she was sexually abused when she was babysat by her Sunday school teacher and deacon at Victorious Life Christian Church in Troy.

A lawsuit filed under the Child Victims Act says Barker came forward with the allegation less than two years after the alleged abuse. She says at six years old, she was interviewed by the church’s elder, and her alleged abuser was cleared of any wrongdoing. He worked at Victorious Life until 2011, and his wife remains a deacon.

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Motion granted for change of venue in Craig Harrison lawsuit against Diocese of Fresno

BAKERSFIELD (CA)
KGET

August 6, 2020

By Jason Kotowski

A Superior Court judge on Thursday granted a change of venue motion filed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno, which is being sued for defamation by Monsignor Craig Harrison.

The case will be heard in Fresno County Superior Court. A date for the next hearing had not been scheduled.

“Of course we opposed (the motion) because we have other cases going here with similar issues, but it doesn’t come as a surprise,” Kyle J. Humphrey, one of Harrison’s attorneys, said afterward.

Humphrey said the case could have been held in Kern if the diocese hadn’t objected, but the law allows a change of venue for the case to be heard where the diocese is situated.

The lawsuit is based on what Harrison said were defamatory statements made by then-Diocese spokeswoman Teresa Dominguez on behalf of the Diocese in a May 2019 article on KQED. Dominguez said that she believed a man who had first reported sexual abuse allegations against Harrison decades ago.

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Nun rape case: Bishop Franco Mulakkal granted bail by trial court

CHANDIGARH (INDIA)
The Tribune

August 7, 2020

Mulakkal, in his plea had challenged the July 7 Kerala High Court order, dismissing his discharge plea in the rape case filed by the nun

A trial court here on Friday granted bail to Bishop Franco Mulakkal, accused of raping a nun in Kerala, with stringent conditions and directed him to be present on the dates of hearing of the case.

The Additional Sessions Court had cancelled the bail granted to the Bishop on July 13 for failing to appear for the trial and issued a non-bailable warrant against him.

Mulakkal was present in the court on Friday when it considered the matter.

Granting bail, the court directed him not to leave the state till the charge-sheet is read out to him on August 13 and to be present court on the dates of hearing of the case.

The court also directed him to offer fresh sureties and bail bonds.

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A city out of time: what do we dream of when we dream of Rome?

LONDON (ENGLAND)
Guardian

August 9, 2020

By Gabriella Coslovich

On a writing grant to the eternal city an Italian-born Australian encounters its two faces – the tourist’s fantasy and the residents’ reality

*

A city operates on discrete levels – the tourist’s fantasy and the resident’s reality. A Roman urban planner laments the city’s poorly maintained infrastructure and the daily struggle of workers who depend on a fickle public transport system. She jokes about the hi-vis orange plastic fences that appear around collapsed walls and roads – and remain indefinitely. On the nightly news I see the same problems that I see at “home”. Online retail killing bricks-and-mortar shops. Men killing their spouses. Climate change killing the planet. Clerical abuse of children. The rise of racism, antisemitism and the far right. Some problems are graver here. This country is western Europe’s most polluted. Youth unemployment is close to 30%. The mafia mutate and spread. Refugees and migrants stream across permeable borders, arriving by sea and land. Many don’t make it. The coronavirus has yet to hit and, when it does, Italy is pushed to the brink of collapse. Other emergencies slide down the news agenda. The country is in triage, battling an invisible, terrifying enemy that eclipses all else.

Before the pandemic, it was still possible to notice other things. As in Australia, politicians climbing to success on an anti-migrant stance. When Salvini’s plan to force an election backfired, he called on his supporters to descend on Rome, echoing a fascist past. In late October they do, and I avoid the square where the demonstration takes place, watching it instead on the evening news. I see the same old slogans trotted out by populists everywhere: Orgoglio Italiano. Italian Pride. Prima Gli Italiani. Italians First. A Salvini supporter holds a placard that reads Io Sto Con San Salvini. I’m with Saint Salvini. Another holds a crucifix alongside the Italian flag.

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Lansing’s St. Casimir church celebrates its final Mass

DENVER (CO)
Crux from Associated Press/Lansing State Journal

August 9, 2020

By Craig Lyons

Lansing – Parishioners of St. Casimir Catholic Church lined Sparrow Avenue on Aug. 2 getting one last sight of the parish many called home for decades.

Bishop Earl Boyea tied a red ribbon around the doors, leading the crowd of parishioners in prayer one last time.

“I now pronounce this church closed,” Boyea said.

*

The parish first hinted at possibly closing its doors in December, telling parishioners that the dwindling population and lower volume of donations could not sustain St. Casimir. The Diocese of Lansing had planned to review all its parishes’ operations this year.

“Over the last 100 years our parish has been through its ups and downs. Through it all, the Lord has always had a plan for us. Now we have come to the end of those plans,” Pung wrote in a letter to parishioners this spring. “With declining priest numbers and changing demographics, we are no longer able to sustain a healthy, vibrant parish life that will meet the spiritual needs of its people.”

Only about 380 parishioners attend Sunday Mass at St. Casimir, which is lower than other Lansing parishes, the diocese said.

St. Casimir’s would be the first Catholic church closed by the Lansing diocese in almost a decade. It shuttered Holy Cross parish in Lansing in 2009. The Vietnamese Catholic community purchased the building as reopened it as the Parish of Saint Andrew Dung-Lac in 2011.

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Three women who say they were abused as children in the Jehovah’s Witnesses tell their awful stories

CARDIFF (WALES)
WalesOnline

August 8, 2020

By Laura Clements

“My mother… she’s sacrificing me to gain eternal life”

When 16-year-old Sian sat down and told her mum she had been sexually assaulted, she said she was subjected to a barrage of questions like what was she wearing, did she enjoy it and did she definitely say no?

Her mother, a zealous Jehovah’s Witness told her teenage daughter if she had been more immersed in the faith, maybe even prayed more, it would never have happened.

Now aged 35 and with three of her own children, Sian has virtually no contact with her mum despite the fact they live immediately next door.

In a pitiful effort to maintain some sort of normality, occasionally Sian comes across small bags of sweets left on her garden wall for her children. Sometimes, envelopes stuffed with money are posted through the letterbox and once a package containing an X-Box was dropped off at the house.

Sian grew up as a Jehovah’s Witness in south Wales with her mum and step-father – her parents divorced when she was very young- but said the religion “never sat right” with her.

Sian is not her real name. As she speaks candidly about life as a young Jehovah’s Witness, it is clear she is protecting not just her children but also her own sense of worth in an effort for self-preservation.

“A boy forced himself on me when I was younger,” she says, almost apologetically. “I told my mother and she said I needed to tell the elders. So I went to them and explained what had happened. I was 16 and I was reproved even though it wasn’t my fault.

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Pope rotates in new personal secretary

DENVER (CO)
Crux from Catholic News Service/USCCB

August 3, 2020

Rome – While recent popes have kept the same personal secretary throughout their pontificates, Pope Francis has chosen to rotate the priests serving in that capacity.

The Vatican press office confirmed Aug. 1 that “in the context of the normal rotation of personnel desired by Pope Francis for his collaborators in the Roman Curia, Msgr. Yoannis Lahzi Gaid, personal secretary of the Holy Father since April 2014, has concluded his service.”

*

Pope Francis has chosen Italian Father Fabio Salerno, also an official in the Secretariat of State, to succeed the Egypt-born priest.

Born in Catanzaro April 25, 1979, he was ordained to the priesthood in 2011. After earning a doctorate in civil and canon law from Rome’s Pontifical Lateran University, Salerno entered the Vatican diplomatic corps. He served at the nunciature in Indonesia and at the Holy See’s mission to the Council of Europe before transferring to the Vatican.

Salerno will work with Father Gonzalo Aemilius, a priest from Uruguay, whom the pope chose as a secretary in January.

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August 8, 2020

Catholic order’s list of accused shows past of mishandling abuse allegations

DAYTON (OH)
Journal-News

August 8, 2020

By Josh Sweigart

A Journal-News investigation into the Society of Mary’s handling of alleged abuse of children by its members found the religious order concealed allegations against some from parents, students and school officials.

The order released a list this summer of 46 priests and brothers its leaders say sexually abused children since 1950, but critics say the disclosure falls short. Five men appearing on the list were assigned to the former Hamilton Catholic High School at some time during their careers, according to a Journal-News review of the documents.

The Catholic order today is based in St. Louis and runs dozens of schools in the U.S. and around the world. Because of the group’s ties to southwest Ohio, many of the men named in the list worked or studied in the region at some time, a Journal-News investigation found.

U.S. Marianist leader Provincial Fr. Oscar Vasquez has admitted that mistakes were made in the past in how the order handled abuse claims.

“In a spirit of sorrow and accountability, and with a sincere desire for reconciliation and healing, we are confronting the darkness of these sins,” he said in a statement released along with the list.

A group critical of how the Catholic church has handled abuse claims, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, has called for the Marianists to do more. The organization wants the Marianists to release more information about the accused, including photos, current whereabouts and when the order learned of the allegations and to work more aggressively to seek out additional victims and perpetrators.

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Lawsuit alleges St. Anthony Home for Boys was rife with abuse

ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
Albuquerque Journal

August 6, 2020

By Colleen Heild

An estimated 6,000 children passed through the doors of the St. Anthony Home for Boys in Albuquerque during its 68 years of operation.

When Roy Rogers and Dale Evans played the New Mexico State Fair, they visited the home and let the children sit atop Trigger.

U.S. Sen. Robert Kennedy was running for president in 1968 when he stopped and ate lunch with the students at the orphanage – the state’s first for boys. Heavyweight boxer Sonny Liston paid a visit to spar with them and tell his story, states an online survey of the historic school from the National Park Service.

The religious order of nuns that ran the orphanage describes St. Anthony’s as a lifeline for boys, where they learned to care for livestock, grow vegetables, and where prayer, sacraments and spiritual life were central to their daily lives.

But a lawsuit filed in state District Court this week paints a much darker picture, one where children whose parents were dead or couldn’t care for them were tormented and sexually abused by nuns and priests.

Beginning in the late 1950s, one boy who lived there tried to escape, only to be caught, deemed a runaway and brought back by police, according to the lawsuit filed against the Sisters of St. Francis, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, which ran the school.

The boy – now a man in his late 60s identified only as John Doe 167 – alleges that behind the walls of the orphanage, he was sexually abused beginning at age 6 by the chaplain, visiting priests and some of the nuns at the school who had “total and complete control of the lives of the children.”

He finally escaped for good at age 13, running away and convincing an aunt he couldn’t return.

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Lawsuit claims Catholic priests, nuns abused boys at Albuquerque orphanage

ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
KOB

August 7, 2020

By Patrick Hayes

A new lawsuit claims Catholic priests and nuns in Albuquerque abused orphans.

“I think St. Anthony’s orphanage has been around forever or was around forever. And then in the 1950s, 1960s, and we’re actually learning even prior to that had a problem with physical and sexual abuse of children who were placed there,” said Levi Monagle, an attorney representing a man who claims he was abused at the orphanage.

According to the lawsuit, John Doe 167 became a “captive sex toy” for the chaplain, visiting priests and nuns.

Attorneys say the victim was a resident of St. Anthony’s, which was located on Indian School near 12th Street, from 1958 to 1965. They say the abuse started when their client was 6 years old.

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Prelate fronts Western Australia inquiry

SYDNEY (NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA)
Catholic Weekly – Archdiocese of Sydney

August 6, 2020

By Marilyn Rodrigues

Scrapping the seal impossible and could cause harm

Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB has appeared before a WA parliamentary committee to defend the seal of confession in the Catholic Church as essential to the practice of the faith.

He was joined by Coptic Orthodox priest Father Abram Abdelmalek representing the Coptic and Oriental Orthodox Churches.

Archbishop Costelloe, who has also lodged a written submission to the committee’s inquiry into proposed changes to the state’s child protection laws, said he supported priests being mandatory reporters of child sexual abuse, but that the obligation should not be expanded to include information gained by clergy during the sacrament of confession.

No matter how well-intended, the proposed legislation would not make children and young people any safer and may in fact, given the inviolable trust in the confidentiality of the confessional, “make the situation worse for young people who are experiencing abuse or for older people who are seeing to address the abuse they suffered as a child”, he told the standing committee on legislation chaired by Dr Sally Talbot on 6 August.

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Lawsuit against Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh accuses priest of rape

TARENTUM (PA)
Tribune-Review

August 7, 2020

By Paula Reed Ward

A man who immigrated to the United States at age 13 from Italy is suing the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, alleging that he was sexually assaulted by a priest at Immaculate Conception Parish in Bloomfield twice in 1967.

The lawsuit, filed in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, also names as defendants the church, Cardinal Donald Wuerl and current Bishop David Zubik.

A spokeswoman for the diocese said they had not yet been served the complaint and that they do not comment on pending litigation.

Gennaro Greco was 13 when he moved with his family to Pittsburgh in 1963, according to the complaint. At the time, he did not know how to speak English, which his attorney said made him particularly vulnerable for abuse. He was put back two years in school, making him older and larger than other students in his class. Greco became an altar boy at Conception Parish, it said, and volunteered there with cleaning and other chores.

Twice, the lawsuit said, when he was helping to clean walls in the rectory, the Rev. Leo Burchianti took him aside, stripped off his clothes and raped him. The lawsuit said that the diocese and its bishops knew of the abuse but concealed it to preserve the church’s reputation. Shortly after the assaults, the lawsuit said, Burchianti was transferred to another parish. According to the 40th Statewide Grand Jury report, released nearly two years ago, Burchianti was moved to Our Lady of Grace in Scott in June 1968.

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Lawsuit Against Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh Accuses Priest of Sexual Abuse

PITTSBURGH (PA)
KDKA-TV

August 7, 2020

By Shelby Cassesse

The priest was named in the state’s grand jury report into sexual abuse in Pennsylvania dioceses. The report says he was involved in inappropriate relationships with at least eight boys.

A lawsuit has been filed against the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh alleging that a man was sexually assaulted and raped by a priest when he was an altar boy.

The victim accuses Father Leo Burchianti of attacking and raping him twice.

“It’s taken him a long time to recognize he did nothing wrong,” said attorney Richard Serbin.

Burchianti was a priest named in the state’s grand jury report into sexual abuse in Pennsylvania dioceses.

The grand jury report alleges Burchianti had inappropriate relationships with at least eight boys and appeared to have been evaluated and treated at facilities for “inappropriate relationships with male minors” on multiple occasions.

According to the complaint, the victim was 13 years old when he came to Pittsburgh. He became an altar boy and frequently volunteered to help with chores at the Immaculate Conception Parish.

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SSPX accused of intimidating would-be whistleblowers amid abuse investigation

DENVER (CO)
Catholic News Agency

August 6, 2020

Washington – After an official with the Society of St. Pius X told priests and staff they should speak with criminal investigators only in the presence of an attorney provided by the group, the group’s leaders say their message was not intended to suggest anyone should cover up alleged sex abuse.

The Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) is a breakaway traditionalist group of priests and bishops with no official canonical status in the Church.

Rev. Scott Gardner, bursar of the U.S. district of the SSPX, told staff and priests at St. Mary’s SSPX chapel and school in Kansas last weekend that they did not have to cooperate with state investigators of alleged child sex abuse.

He added that employees and priest should speak to police only in the presence of a lawyer, who would be provided by the organization.

Some former members of the organization said the message, sent by email, seemed designed to silence witnesses or whistleblowers of abuse.

“It looks like they’re trying to hide things, trying to keep people from speaking and definitely stonewalling,” Kyle White, who has alleged that priests in the organization covered up reports of sexual abuse, told the Kansas City Star Aug. 4.

“They don’t want any more stuff like this getting out,” White added.

Gardner said when he emailed priests and staff, he was simply informing them that they did not have to speak to investigators without a lawyer present.

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Second person to file suit over abuse allegations against former Lowville teacher, church choir director

WATERTOWN (NY)
Watertown Daily Times and NY360

August 7, 2020

By Sydney Schaefer

https://www.nny360.com/news/crime/second-person-to-file-suit-over-abuse-allegations-against-former-lowville-teacher-church-choir-director/article_a51e1399-f9b5-5b7c-a467-10220d4a8cac.html

Lowville – A lawsuit filed against Lowville Academy and Central School District and its Board of Education on Monday, claiming a teacher sexually abused a student more than 40 years ago, has prompted another person to share similar recollections of abuse.

Jason A. Frament, the plaintiff’s attorney with LaFave, Wein & Frament, Guilderland, confirmed Friday that a second person has come forward with “very similar” allegations against the teacher, A. Ronald Johnson, after seeing reports of his alleged sexual abuse in the media.

The suit names Lowville Academy and Central School District and its Board of Education as defendants, as well as Lowville United Methodist Church and three other church entities which had authority over the Lowville church at the time. Mr. Johnson is not a defendant in the suit.

A second lawsuit is expected to be filed in state Supreme Court sometime next week, Mr. Frament said. Upon the second suit’s filing, he said the law firm may move to join the two suits, but for now, they are two separate cases, both accusing Mr. Johnson of similar abuse.

Mr. Johnson was a music teacher at what was then Lowville High School and choir director at Lowville United Methodist Church. The suit claims the school and church breached duties of care owed to the child, and negligence in their employment and supervision of Mr. Johnson.

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Culture Watch – “This Little Light” explores religious hypocrisy

SANTA MONICA (CA)
Santa Monica Daily Press

August 6, 2020

By Sarah A. Spitz

Christian hypocrisy played a big part in Lori [Lansens’] life growing up in Canada. “I was a believer,” she explains. “I loved God, I loved religion, I was in the church choir, went to Catholic school, attended mass alone in the mornings before school with the old Italian and Portuguese women dressed in black, and I stood apart from my family, which was more ambivalent about religion.

“But my parish priest was a pedophile who ended up dying in prison after pleading guilty to 47 counts of child molestation. We knew it at the time, we talked about it, we excused it, and said, ‘Oh, don’t let him get too close,’ but maybe you wanted that so you’d feel favored. Dozens of girls kept the secret, who would believe them? But when the parish refused to baptize my bi-racial cousin, I felt completely betrayed by this hypocrisy that was like nothing I’d actually learned about the teachings of Jesus.”

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Former Smithfield pastor charged with child molestation

PROVIDENCE (RI)
Providence Journal

August 1, 2020

Smithfield – The retired pastor of a church in Smithfield is charged with molesting a young girl.

Police on Friday morning arrested Archie Emerson, 75, the retired pastor of Ocean State Baptist Church, on charges of second-degree child molestation.

According to a police news release, detectives had received a complaint from a person who said Emerson molested her when she was between 6 and 11 years old.

Detectives obtained a search warrant for Emerson’s home and seized computers and related items, according to the news release.

Emerson appeared later Friday in District Court, Warwick, where he was released on personal recognizance, with a no-contact order. He is due back in court on Oct. 30.

Emerson’s attorney, John E. MacDonald, on Saturday night released the following statement: “Pastor Archie Emerson has devoted his life to his family, his community and his church. He is shocked that someone would levy such horrific allegations against him. Pastor Emerson adamantly denies any inappropriate conduct and looks forward to a swift resolution of this matter in court.”

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Abuse of authority in the Church: Problems and challenges of female religious life

ROME (ITALY)
La Civiltà Cattolica

August 1, 2020

By Giovanni Cucci

A mostly unexplored theme

[Google translation of Abusi di autorità nella Chiesa: Problemi e sfide della vita religiosa femminile]

The Church has dealt with the issue of abuses on several occasions, even in recent times, both at the level of reflection and operational measures and protocols . However, the relevance of the theme mostly concerned the sexual and psychological abuse of minors by ministers of the Church, especially presbyters. These are undoubtedly preponderant aspects, but certainly not exhaustive.

An issue that has not received enough attention so far is abuse within women’s congregations. It mostly does not take the form of sexual violence and does not concern minors; however, this does not mean that it is less important and has significant consequences. From pastoral experience and from the talks held on this subject, it is mostly about abuses of power and conscience.

*
Being superior seems to guarantee other exclusive privileges, such as taking advantage of the best medical care, while who is a simple nun cannot even go to the ophthalmologist or the dentist, because “you have to save money”. The examples unfortunately concern every aspect of ordinary life: from clothing to the possibility of taking a holiday, having a rest day or, more simply, being able to go out for a walk, everything must pass by the decision (or whim) of the same person. If a heavy garment is requested, the Council resolution must be awaited, or the request will be refused “for reasons of poverty”. Eventually some nuns turned to family members.

These are examples that may seem disconcerting and hardly credible for those who live in male Congregations, and in front of which one can simply smile. Unfortunately for some nuns this is everyday reality: a reality that for the most part they cannot make known, because they do not know where to turn, or for fear of retaliation.

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Magazine report is aimed at silencing nuns on sex abuse, says Vatican critic

WASHINGTON (DC)
Religion News Service

August 5, 2020

By Claire Giangravé

Vatican City – An article in a Jesuit magazine describing alleged exploitation of nuns in Catholic convents has been criticized as an attempt to silence members of women’s religious orders who have begun to speak out against sexual abuse by priests.

“I think there is a possibility of a revolt of religious sisters,” said Lucetta Scaraffia, the former head of the Vatican magazine Donne, Chiesa, Mondo (Women, Church, World), adding that many nuns she has heard from “are furious.”

Published Aug. 1 in La Civiltà Cattolica (Catholic Society), the article raised concerns about the “lack of attention that abuse within female congregations has garnered,” particularly overreach by some orders’ mothers superior.

Superiors were said to enjoy better health care services and opportunities for vacations, while rank-and-file nuns are denied access to eye doctors or dentists, some sisters told the magazine. Other nuns reported not even being able to enjoy a walk outside without asking for permission.

The article, by the Rev. Giovanni Cucci, also detailed the practice of “importing vocations” — bringing young nuns from other countries who don’t speak Italian and are therefore more easily exploited. Their communities, he wrote, “are experienced more as a prison.” He also called attention to cases of sexual abuse of nuns by superiors.

The accusations “may appear puzzling and hard to believe for those who live in male congregations,” wrote Cucci, “in the face of which one can simply smile.”

Scaraffia, who left Donne, Chiesa, Mondo in March 2019 after denouncing a climate of “cover-up and censorship” created by Vatican higher-ups, said the Civiltà Cattolica article represents an effort to undermine the newfound voice of nuns in the church.

“It’s a way to tell sisters that if they have press conferences, make their voices heard and denounce sexual abuse, (church authorities) will air all their dirty laundry,” she told Religion News Service.

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August 7, 2020

Tras las múltiples denuncias por abusos contra Raúl Sidders, se organiza el reclamo de justicia

LA PLATA (ARGENTINA)
Prensa Obrera [Buenos Aires, Argentina]

August 7, 2020

By Iván Hirsch

Read original article

El artículo de Prensa Obrera, que hizo pública por primera vez una denuncia contra el sacerdote del colegio San Vicente de Paul de La Plata, Raúl Sidders, por abusos y violencias cometidas contra alumnes y exalumnes, tuvo enormes repercusiones. Múltiples relatos fueron vertidos en redes sociales por parte de víctimas del cura, y comenzaron a organizarse les miembres de la comunidad educativa del colegio para reclamar justicia. Hasta en Misiones, provincia a la que fue trasladado Sidders para cumplir funciones como capellán de Gendarmería, colectivos de mujeres se encuentran en una campaña para exigir que se lo expulse.

El caso es estremecedor. El “padre Raúl” disponía de un control sobre toda la institución. Obligaba a les adolescentes a confesarse a solas con él, so pena de sanciones, y aprovechaba esos momentos de intimidad para ejercer todo tipo de acosos, abusos y violencias psicológicas. Más aún, se valía de los secretos de la confesión para atormentar a les alumnes. Un joven relató en su cuenta de Twitter que lo atormentaba por ser gay, y hasta “me sacó del clóset frente a toda la esMisógino declarado, Sidders es allegado del exarzobispo de La Plata, el ultramontano monseñor Héctor Aguer, quien lideró durante décadas los ataques al movimiento que lucha por los derechos de las mujeres y la diversidad sexual. Exponente público del ala más reaccionaria de la Iglesia Católica, este cura condujo un programa de televisión en un canal local de Cablevisión denominado “Ave María purísima”, que debió ser retirado del aire en 2011 luego de las denuncias presentadas en su contra en el Inadi por llamar, frente a niños y jóvenes que lo acompañaban, a quienes habían participado de una movilización contra la violencia de género “loquitas”, “yeguas” y “chirusas”, que “pretenden matar bebitos que están por nacer”. Además, dedicaba sus programas a predicar el racismo, por ejemplo ensalzando la colonización de América como la “mayor obra del hombre”.

Este mismo contenido es el que impartía al frente del colegio. Los comentarios denigratorios hacia las mujeres eran cotidianos, incluso ante niñes de primaria. Según su percepción, las mujeres solo están para satisfacer los deseos sexuales de los hombres, y con esa concepción acosaba a las adolescentes que se confesaban con él. Un segundo testimonio publicado en nuestro medio relata cómo a una adolescente le encomendaba que se masturbara pensando en él, que practicara sexo oral y hasta intentó obligarla a tener relaciones sexuales con algún compañero. Pero su fijación eran los varones, a quienes enseñaba a masturbarse. Ellos lo apodaban “Frasquito”, porque los hacía guardar su semen en frascos y se los quedaba.

Estos hechos aberrantes respondían, como vimos, no solo a una depravación personal sino a toda una concepción ideológica, que transmitía a les alumnes del San Vicente. Su oposición al dictado de contenidos de educación sexual era total. Prohibió a las docentes a que trabajaran el tema, interrumpía sus clases, e hizo expulsar del colegio a aquellas que desafiaban su autoridad para bloquear el tratamiento de estas temáticas. Confiscó entregas de preservativos provenientes del Ministerio de Salud, porque según él no sirven, tal como repetía en misas, clases y confesiones. El producto de estos obstáculos al dictado de educación sexual, se refleja al día de hoy en que muchos de los jóvenes que fueron objeto de estas vejaciones varios años atrás, todavía se encuentran procesando tortuosamente que lo que vivieron fueron situaciones de abusos.

Ahora que se ha roto irreversiblemente el límite que imponía el temor a las represalias y al descreimiento, alumnes, exalumnes, sus madres, docentes y exdocentes han puesto en pie una campaña para reclamar justicia, exigiendo la investigación de lo que fue denunciado públicamente. Se están abocando a reunir decenas de testimonios sobre las distintas situaciones de abuso y violencia cometido por Sidders, conteniendo y reservando a quienes se van animando a hacerlos llegar. Crearon para ello la cuenta de mail: investigacion.abusos.raul.sidders@gmail.com

La campaña pública es fundamental para quebrar el entramado de impunidad que rodea a estos curas abusadores, que se amparan en el poder de la Iglesia Católica. Vale recordar que otro sacerdote denunciado en la región, Eduardo Lorenzo, fue protegido por Aguer primero y luego por el actual arzobispo “Tucho” Fernández (mano derecha de Bergoglio), razón por la cual durante una década estuvieron cajoneadas en la Justicia las denuncias por abusos sexuales. Cuando el caso fue tomado por las organizaciones de mujeres, penetró en los medios de comunicación (hasta se realizó una conferencia pública en la Legislatura bonaerense a instancias de la banca del FIT), nuevas víctimas se sobrepusieron a las amenazas y presiones y sumaron sus testimonios. Acorralado, Lorenzo terminó suicidándose en la sede de Cáritas, a donde había sido trasladado por la Iglesia para protegerlo.

Este indignante caso obliga, además, a una reflexión crítica acerca del control absoluto que tiene la iglesia sobre miles de niñes y jóvenes que acuden a las escuelas confesionales. Echa luz sobre la necesidad de anular el artículo 5 de la Ley de Educación Sexual Integral (ley 26.150), que relega los contenidos al ideario institucional de cada establecimiento. Que el dictado de estos temas sea elaborado por la docencia, les estudiantes y las organizaciones de mujeres, para imponer una educación sexual laica, científica y respetuosa de la diversidad. Es, por lo demás, un nuevo motivo para reclamar la separación de la Iglesia del Estado.

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“Cuando tenía 11 años empezó a acosarme”, crudo testimonio de otra víctima del cura Raúl Sidders

LA PLATA (ARGENTINA)
Prensa Obrera [Buenos Aires, Argentina]

August 7, 2020

By Redacción

Read original article

Rocío, exalumna del colegio San Vicente de Paul de La Plata, narra los abusos que sufrió.

Rocío tiene 27 años y fue alumna del colegio confesional San Vicente de Paul de La Plata. Ingresó a sus 5 años al Jardín de Infantes San Bernardo y de ahí continuó en la primaria de la institución, donde padeció el accionar del cura de las escuela, Raúl Sidders. A continuación, reproducimos su testimonio.

Recuerdo que era malo con todas mis compañeras, pero conmigo no. En ese momento pensaba que me tenía un cariño especial. A partir de los 11 años empezó a acosarme. Más adelante, en invierno se me acercaba adelante de todosy me hacía poner mis manos en los

En la siguiente confesión me preguntó si lo hice y le dije que no. Me preguntó por qué y respondí “no se”. Se enojó y me dijo: “¿por qué no lo hiciste si yo te dije que lo hagas? Vos tenes que estar preparada porque la mujer tiene que complacer al hombre siempre. Y preservativos no hay que usar, el fin de las relaciones sexuales es procrear”. Después me dijo que si no quería masturbarme tenía que saber complacer al hombre al menos a través con una felación. Le pregunté qué significaba eso, no sabía. “Chupar una pija”, me dijo. Me explicó con su lengua y su mano cómo hacer una felación. Eso no me lo pude olvidar nunca más.

Ese mismo año dio una charla en la capilla en la que explicó quién era Dios. A partir de esa charla, hizo un concurso entre los tres cursos de sexto grado en el que teníamos que escribir todo lo que él había dicho, el que escribiera y redactara mejor ganaba un premio en el buffet. Lo gané yo. Me llevó al buffet, elegí unas galletitas que me gustaban y una gaseosa. Me dijo que no, que podía llevar una sola cosa. Entonces agarré las galletitas. De ahí fuimos a la capilla los dos solos y volvió a interrogarme si me había masturbado, si había hecho alguna felación o algo. Contesté que no, que no estaba preparada todavía. Entonces me propuso enseñarme a mí y a un alumno a tener relaciones sexuales, que nos iba a indicar todo mientras lo hacíamos. Me largué a llorar y le pedí que por favor no lo hiciera, que mis papás no lo iban a permitir y que yo no podía vivir una cosa así. Entonces buscó tranquilizarme, me pidió que no dijera nada y me dijo que cuando fuera el momento lo iba a hacer.

No quise ir nunca más a ese colegio. Yo no le contaba todo a mis padres, solo les decía que el padre Raúl me molestaba y que me hacía preguntas raras. Me siguieron mandando igual, pero yo no entré nunca más, me ratee todo el año. Me iba sola al centro o a alguna plaza. Después mi mamá me descubrió y fue a hablar con la directora, Mabel, que le dijo que yo iba sólo a calentar la silla y a molestar a mis compañeros. Era mentira, yo no iba. “O la saca usted o la echamos nosotros y no la toman más en ninguna escuela”, dijo la directora. Yo tenía 15 años. Entonces me sacó mi mamá del San Vicente y como no me tomaban en ninguna escuela, tuve que terminar yendo a una agropecuaria.

Las denuncias contra los abusos cometido por Raúl Sidders tomaron estado público a partir de una publicación de Prensa Obrera del 31 de julio, luego de casi 20 años de vejaciones y violencias con que el cura atormentó a alumnes del colegio. A partir del reciente trasladado de Sidders a cumplir funciones como capellán de Gendarmería en la provincia de Misiones, donde estaría en contacto con niñes de comedores, un grupo de madres y exalumnas tomó la decisión de hacer público lo que habían sufrido. Desde entonces se multiplicaron las publicaciones en redes sociales y los contactos entre personas de la comunidad educativa  del colegio con decenas de relatos. Comenzaron así a organizarse y a impulsar una campaña para exigir que se investiguen los abusos cometidos por el cura. Crearon un mail de contacto para que toda persona afectada pueda brindar su testiomonio, sabiendo que su seguridad será preservada: investigacion.abusos.raul.sidders@gmail.com

bolsillos de su sotana, porque decía que yo tenía las manos frías, y me hacía sentir su erección.

Nos hacía confesarnos a solas en la capilla. Ahí me empezó a preguntar si había visto alguna vez a mis papás tener relaciones sexuales, si había visto a mi papá desnudo, si sabía lo que era un pene. A los 12, cuando yo estaba en sexto grado, empeoró. Me preguntaba si sabía masturbarme y como le decía que no, me explicó con sus dedos, sin tocarme, cómo tenía que hacer. Me sugirió que lo hiciera pensando en él y que en la próxima confesión le contara cómo me había sentido.

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Cardinal Pell to Speak at Virtual Napa Institute Conference

IRONDALE (AL)
National Catholic Register/EWTN from Catholic News Agency

August 7, 2020

Cardinal George Pell will speak on his experience of suffering during the 13 months he spent in an Australian prison before being released earlier this year.

Washington – The Napa Institute has announced an online schedule for its annual conference in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The program includes remarks from Australian Cardinal George Pell. The conference schedule was announced along with an award for Bishop Joseph Strickland, which the organization said it conferred for his defense of moral truth.

The conference, the tenth annual session of the event, was originally planned to take place in July in Napa, California. This year it is being convened under the title “Finding Hope in the New America.” Organizers said that although the event could not take place in-person, the schedule would not be “slimmed-down” but instead would feature an expanded speaker list.

John Meyer, executive director of the Napa Institute said that as recently as early July, there was “every intention of holding an in-person conference,” but that “things progressed, the lockdown increased in California, and literally overnight we came to a place where we could no longer hold it.”

The conference will take place August 14-15. Live streamed sessions will be held with speakers including Ryan T. Anderson of the Heritage Foundation, Prof. Robert P. George of Princeton, and author Arthur Brooks.

One of the key speakers at this year’s event will be Cardinal George Pell, who will speak on his experience of suffering during the 13 months he spent in an Australian prison before being released earlier this year.

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Representatives of Catholic church in St. Marys take issue with published report surrounding its role in KBI investigation

TOPEKA (KS)
WIBW

August 5, 2020

By Phil Anderson

https://www.wibw.com/2020/08/05/representatives-of-catholic-church-in-st-marys-take-issue-with-published-report-surrounding-its-role-in-kbi-investigation/

St. Mary’s KS – Representatives of a large Catholic church in St. Marys are taking issue with a published report they say falsely portrays them as seeking to impede a Kansas Bureau of Investigation inquiry into sex abuse allegations involving priests who formerly served the congregation.

The Kansas City Star in its Tuesday edition ran a story with the headline “SSPX staff told not to speak with KBI without an attorney.”

The article included information from an email sent to staff members and signed by the Rev. Scott Gardner, district bursar of the Society of St. Pius X United States of America District, which is based in Platte City, Mo.

In the email, Society of St. Pius X priests and staff members are cautioned against speaking to KBI officials without a lawyer being present.

The Star article also included comments from critics and former adherents of the church who said Gardner’s email seemed to be an attempt to “silence witnesses” of possible sexual abuse by Society of St. Pius X priests.

However, in an email obtained Wednesday by WIBW-TV, Gardner dismissed a report suggesting that the Society of St. Pius X was attempting to discourage its members from cooperating with the KBI’s investigation into priestly sex abuse.

That allegation, he said, was included in an article posted Monday on the Church Militant website, which he said “has once again tried to wring fake news out of an internal email by falsifying the context.”

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Breakaway Catholic group orders staff, priests not to talk to KBI without attorney

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Kansas City Star

August 4, 2020

By Judy L. Thomas

A breakaway Catholic society under investigation by the state’s top law enforcement agency for allegations of priest sexual abuse and coverup is telling employees not to talk to authorities without involving the group’s attorney.

An official with the Society of St. Pius X sent an email to priests and staff members warning them that investigators from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation may be in St. Marys, Kansas, to conduct interviews.

“You are not required to speak to them just because they ask you to or make veiled threats against you or tell you that, if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear,” said the email, signed by the Rev. Scott Gardner, the U.S. District Bursar at the society’s headquarters in Platte City.

“Further, you are always entitled to have legal representation at any interview, and all Priests, staff, and employees must insist on this if contacted. You will be provided with legal representation by SSPX.”

Critics, including some former SSPX adherents who have alleged that the society has covered up sexual abuse by its priests and employees, say the email appears to be an attempt to silence witnesses.

“It looks like they’re trying to hide things, trying to keep people from speaking and definitely stonewalling,” said Kyle White, who has alleged that in 2012 he and his then-fiance reported sexual abuse by her father to three SSPX priests and none took any action. In February, the father was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child.

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Editorial: Emphasizing A Commitment

WHEELING (WV)
The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register

August 7, 2020

Announcement of a new system by which abuse and harassment linked to the Roman Catholic Church can be reported was one more step in the church’s effort to rebuild trust. But a reminder included with that news may have been even more important.

This week, the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston announced it is working with a third-party partner on a new reporting system. An Oregon firm, Navex Global, has a mechanism “intended to report suspected financial, professional and personal misconduct of a priest, deacon, religious or lay employee of the diocese, parish, or Catholic school in West Virginia.”

Already in place are two other reporting systems. One is the national Catholic Bishop Abuse Reporting Service. The other, here in the Mountain State, is the Diocesan Office of Safe Environment.

Adding the Oregon company’s program will provide “a safe, honest channel for reporting and expressing concerns,” the diocese noted in a press release this week.

But Bishop Mark Brennan added something else: “The Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston encourages reporting to civil authorities first and foremost if a crime has been committed.”

Precisely. For too long, too many in the church discouraged reporting abuse to the authorities. The church would handle it, they maintained.

But in many cases, predator priests were merely transferred out of parishes where they had been caught in abuse, and to new places where they could continue their wrongdoing.

Brennan’s emphasis on reporting first and foremost to law enforcement authorities is critically important. Above any other step being taken by church leaders, it is a signal to not just Roman Catholics, but to everyone, that this time, the church is serious about reform. Good for Bishop Brennan for continuing to emphasize that.

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Diocese Opens Another Avenue for Reporting Abuse

WHEELING (WV)
The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register

August 5, 2020

By Alan Olson

The Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston in West Virginia has partnered with another third-party reporting system to report abuse and harassment.

The diocese announced this week it is working with Oregon-based software and compliance management company Navex Global to introduce a new version of the EthicsPoint software, intended to report suspected financial, professional and personal misconduct of a priest, deacon, religious, or lay employee of the diocese, parish, or Catholic school.

This is in addition to the national reporting system, the Catholic Bishop Abuse Reporting Service, which is designed to receive reports of sexual abuse, as well as interference with investigations of abuse, and relay them to lay professionals within the diocese who are to assist the Archbishop with investigations.

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Using Child Victims Act, Abigail Barker Files Sex Abuse Suit Against Figures From Victorious Life

ALBANY (NY)
WAMC

August 6, 2020

By Dave Lucas

An Albany woman has filed a sexual abuse suit against a Troy church.

Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the Child Victims Act into law in 2019. It opened a one-year window for abuse victims to bring claims. That window for victims to file lawsuits was extended to August 2021 owing to the pandemic.

Cuomo’s Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Barker says she is one such victim. Barker says in 1998 she was sexually abused by a Sunday school teacher and deacon, Mark Rhodes of Wynantskill, at Victorious Life Christian Church in Troy.

“I was 5 years old. Mark would often babysit me and my younger brother, and it happened on those, occurred on one of those occasions. After I had been abused, he never babysat for us again.”

Barker’s lawsuit includes claims of negligence and cover-up against the church as well as its Pastor and Presiding Elder Dominick Brignola, who is also a local attorney.

“The trauma of the abuse and the scars that it leaves, you know, it goes throughout your entire life, and 22 years later I’m still dealing with the ramifications of that one time, 22 years ago. And it irrevocably changes your life in ways that you don’t expect.”

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Weedsport school district facing additional Child Victims Act lawsuits

AUBURN (NY)
The Citizen

August 6, 2020

By Jeremy Boyer

Two former Weedsport Central School District students have filed lawsuits in the past week claiming the district failed to protect them from sexual abuse on school grounds.

The complaints were filed in state Supreme Court in Cayuga County under the state’s Child Victims Act look-back provision for civil cases that would otherwise be barred under the statute of limitations. One of the new cases follows an earlier lawsuit filed against the school district that identified the same alleged abuser. The other new case is connected with a former teacher’s aide who was arrested and convicted of having sexual contact with students more than 16 years ago.

In a case filed July 29, a plaintiff identified as AB 509 Doe, said the school district was negligent in its handling of issues related to an aide named Mary Schoonmaker, who in 2003 pleaded guilty to rape and sodomy charges. She admitted in court that she had sexual relationships with two teenage boys, and a one-night sexual encounter with another teenager. The victims were 14 and 15, and she was in her mid-20s at the time. She was sentenced to probation with a period of homebound detention in 2003.

“Prior to the sexual abuse of the plaintiff, defendant Weedsport learned or should have learned that Schoonmaker was not fit to work with children,” the complain states, saying the abuse took place in 2002 and 2003.

In a separate case filed Monday by a plaintiff identified as AL 540 Doe, the district is accused of negligence with respect to a former Boy Scout leader who ran the school district’s audio-visual club in the late 1970s. The complaint said the alleged abuser, former village of Weedsport Mayor Victor Sine, abused the victim from 1975 to 1980.

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Dr. Archibald, Rockefeller University sued by dozens more in latest Child Victims Act case

NEW YORK (NY)
Daily News

August 5, 2020

By Larry McShane

Photo caption: A gathering of childhood sex abuse victims representing more than 200 including, Matthew Harris, far left, Vincent Guzzone, second from left, and Helene Hamilton, third from left, seated above photos of themselves at the age of their abuse, listen as their lawyer Paul Mones, fourth from left, speaks at June 2019 press conference.

Child abuse survivor Ron Samuel, one of 80 accusers of reputed serial sexual predator Dr. Reginald Archibald in the latest Child Victims Act lawsuit against Rockefeller University, wanted his name in the court papers.

“It’s important to come forward and discuss what happened, and protect other people,” he told the Daily News. “I have no problem exposing my name. I don’t want to be shut down in any manner. I wanted to come forward with the full story.”

The latest sordid tales of Archibald’s decades of sick sexual behavior with children were contained in a 336-page Manhattan Supreme Court filing that laid out in brutal detail the doctor’s mistreatment of his underage patients while working at the university from the 1940s into the 1980s.

Attorney Jennifer Freeman, of the Marsh Law Firm, noted most of the plaintiffs joined Samuel in going public with the lawsuit filed Wednesday.

“Our plaintiffs felt it was so important to bring this forward and to use their own names, to put the responsibility for these cases where it belonged with their names on it,” she said. “They were not afraid to speak up.”

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Girl Scouts sex-abuse claim included in NY civil case flurry

NEW YORK (NY)
Associated Press

August 5, 2020

By Tom Hayes

As a Girl Scout growing up in upstate New York, Alice Weiss-Russell says she lived with a dark secret: The husband of her troop leader was sexually abusing her in the bathroom of a church basement where scout meetings were held in the 1980s.

Weiss-Russell has detailed her alleged ordeal in a new lawsuit filed against Girl Scouts of the USA, part of a flurry of child sex-abuse cases in New York using a “look back window” for making civil claims against abusers.

“For me, it gives me a chance to be heard because I didn’t have that chance when I was young and hold the Girl Scouts accountable for what happened to me,” Weiss-Russell told The Associated Press in a phone interview on Tuesday. The AP does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sex crimes unless they grant permission.

Another lawsuit, also filed Wednesday, accuses a Manhattan research center of similarly looking the other way as a prominent physician abused dozens of children he was studying and treating for being small for their age.

The two lawsuits come after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed a bill earlier this week granting a one-year extension to the state’s Child Victims Act. The law temporarily lifts the usual time limits on filing lawsuits for anyone suing over childhood sexual abuse.

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New Ulm bishop resigns, citing health reasons

MINNEAPOLIS (MN)
Star Tribune

August 6, 2020

By Jean Hopfensperger

The Rev. John LeVoir oversaw the diocese during sexual abuse lawsuits and bankruptcy.

Bishop John LeVoir announced Thursday that he is resigning as leader of the Diocese of New Ulm because of health problems.

LeVoir has been bishop of the Catholic diocese since 2008. Earlier this year, the diocese reached a $34 million settlement with victims of sexual abuse, ending more than five years of litigation.

“Although these last years have been very challenging for the diocese and the life of the church, it has been a privilege to have served the faithful of the Diocese of New Ulm,” LeVoir said in a statement.

Since early July, LeVoir has been undergoing physical and psychological assessments at Sacred Heart Mercy Health Care Center in Alma, Mich., operated by the Religious Sisters of Mercy, according to the diocese, which did not comment further on the particular medical condition.

The 74-year-old bishop will stay in Alma until September to participate in a therapy plan, the diocese said.

About 93 sex abuse claims were filed against the diocese after passage of the Minnesota Child Victims Act in 2013. The diocese filed for bankruptcy in 2017 in response to the claims, following the pattern of most of Minnesota’s dioceses.

LeVoir was not implicated in the claims, but he oversaw the 63-year-old diocese during its most challenging years.

“We must never forget these sins of the past,” LeVoir said when the final settlement was reached in bankruptcy court in March. “The Diocese of New Ulm and the Catholic Church must do everything possible to help protect the vulnerable so that this tragedy never happens again.”

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Bishop of Diocese of New Ulm retires early

MANKATO (MN)
Free Press

August 6, 2020

New Ulm – The bishop in the Diocese of New Ulm has stepped down, citing health reasons.

Pope Francis accepted Bishop John M. LeVoir’s resignation, which is effective as of today, according to a diocese news release.

LeVoir, 74, who was appointed bishop of New Ulm in July 2008, is now considered a retired bishop. Typical retirement age for a bishop is age 75, the release said.

Since early July, LeVoir has been undergoing a physical and psychological assessment at Sacred Heart Mercy Health Care Center in Alma, Michigan, a facility operated by the Religious Sisters of Mercy. He expects to remain there until early September to undertake a therapy plan.

“Although these last years have been very challenging for the diocese and the life of the Church, it has been a privilege to have served the faithful of the Diocese of New Ulm,” LeVoir said in a statement. “As bishop, it has not only been a great honor, but an enriching experience as I have come to know many people throughout this local Church … It would not have been possible to serve as their shepherd without their continued support, cooperation, and prayers.”

Levoir testified in March at a hearing in which a $34 million settlement with survivors of clerical sex abuse in the diocese was approved by a federal bankruptcy court judge. LeVoir issued an apology to the 93 abuse survivors, several of whom were in the courtroom.

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Pope appoints six women to top roles on Vatican council in progressive step

LONDON (ENGLAND)
Guardian

August 6, 2020

By Angela Giuffrida and Harriet Sherwood

Former Labour minister Ruth Kelly is among the women who will oversee Vatican finances and address its cashflow problems

Pope Francis has appointed six women to oversee the Vatican’s finances including Ruth Kelly, the former Labour minister, in the most senior roles ever given to women within the Catholic church’s leadership.

The appointments mark the most significant step by Francis to fulfil his promise of placing women in top positions. Until now, the 15-member Council for the Economy was all male. By statute, the council must include eight bishops – who are always men – and seven laypeople.

“That six are women is a pretty big quota,” said Joshua McElwee, the Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter. “But the important thing here is that these six women are part of a group that essentially oversees all of the financial activities of the Vatican, so obviously that’s a pretty top-level group.”

The female appointees are all European and have high-profile financial backgrounds. Leslie Ferrar, a former treasurer to Prince Charles, is the other British woman among the team. The other women are Charlotte Kreuter-Kirchhof and Marija Kolak, both from Germany, and Maria Concepción Osácar Garaicoechea and Eva Castillo Sanz, both from Spain. The only layman on the council is Alberto Minali, a former director general at Generali, the Italian insurance company.

The appointments come as the Vatican struggles with its finances, with problems worsened by the coronavirus pandemic and a sharp drop in the number of visitors to the Vatican Museums, a cash cow for the Holy See.

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Lay group urges Pittsburgh Diocese to do more to restore broken trust

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

August 7, 2020

By Madeleine Davison

Members of Catholics for Change in Our Church take part in a small-group discussion during the January meeting of the group, which advocates for reform in the Pittsburgh Diocese. (Kevin Hayes)
The Pittsburgh Diocese is reeling from declining attendance and a massive restructuring program two years after a 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report uncovered widespread clerical sexual abuse in six dioceses in the state. A lay advocacy group now says diocesan leadership has made few concrete steps to restore trust with parishioners.

“I don’t think they’ve made progress since the grand jury,” said Jan Hayes, a leader of the advocacy group known as Catholics for Change in Our Church.

Catholics for Change in Our Church arose out of a meeting of lay parishioners from across the diocese in September 2018, said Kevin Hayes, the group’s acting chair. Horrified by the scale of the crisis, members of the new organization wanted to address issues such as insufficient support for survivors, the diocese’s financial secrecy, and a lack of leadership roles for laypeople. The organization eventually coalesced into seven focus groups, representing about 1,000 total members, he said.

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Pope says fighting clerical abuse fosters deeper respect for life

DENVER (CO)
Crux

August 6, 2020

By Inés San Martín

Rosario, Argentina – Beyond the obvious reasons to fight clerical sexual abuse, above all the damage such abuse inflicts on victims, Pope Francis has added another argument: The effort to prevent abuse, he’s written, promotes a deeper acknowledgment that all life is sacred and deserves respect.

“Fighting abuse [means] fostering and empowering communities so that they are capable of keeping watch and announcing that all life deserves to be respected and valued, especially that of the most defenseless who do not have the resources to make their voice heard,” Francis wrote.

“We’ve been challenged to look squarely at this conflict, to take it up and suffer it together with the victims, their families and the whole community, to find ways that make us say: ‘Never again to the culture of abuse’,” he wrote. “This reality calls us to work in the awareness, prevention and promotion of a culture of care and protection in our communities and in society in general so that no person sees their integrity and dignity violated or mistreated.”

Pope Francis’s words came in a prologue for a new book edited by Father Daniel Portillo, a Mexican priest and founder of the Interdisciplinary Center of Investigation and Formation for the Protection of Minors from Mexico’s Catholic University (CEPROME).

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Vatican instructions give parishioners more hope in face of closings

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

August 6, 2020

By Mark Nacinovich

Arthur McCaffrey fought for about a decade to keep his parish in suburban Boston open.

But in 2015, St. James the Great Parish in Wellesley was demolished. The site is now home to the Boston Sports Performance Center, a large recreational center complete with a hockey rink, swimming pool and indoor field.

St. James was one of nine Boston-area churches that kept a continuous vigil to prevent their parishes from being shuttered by the Boston Archdiocese in the wake of the sex abuse crisis that was brought to light in 2002 by The Boston Globe. Parishioners occupied the churches for years, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

St. Frances X. Cabrini in Scituate was the last of the vigil holdouts. It closed in 2016, after parishioners spent almost 12 years in vigil and exhausted their legal appeals to the Vatican and in civil courts. Their civil case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case, letting stand a lower-court ruling that stated that the archdiocese owned the church’s property and the parishioners who were keeping vigil were trespassing.

Now, four years later, the Vatican’s new document on pastoral care raises the question of whether parishioners have more legal recourse within the church to keep their parishes open. The answer appears to be yes.

The 22-page document from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy, released July 20, is titled “The pastoral conversion of the parish community in the service of the evangelizing mission of the church.” It discusses the role and structure of parishes in today’s digital age, where the concept of a fixed parish that covers a certain area may be outdated. One topic the document addresses is the closing of parishes.

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August 6, 2020

Mapa chileno de los delitos de abuso sexual y de conciencia cometidos en entornos eclesiásticos.

(CHILE)
Red de Sobrevivientes Chile  [Santiago, Chile]

August 6, 2020

Read original article

Este mapa es realizado por quienes integran esta red.

Recibe actualizaciones periódicas. La última corresponde al 06/08/2020.

Contiene las denuncias públicas contra religiosos y laicos de delitos cometidos en entornos eclesiásticos. Se mencionan sacerdotes, diáconos, catequistas, laicos, monjas, hermanos y hermanas, consagrados y consagradas, obispos y cardenales. Se incluyen también los que han sido señalados como encubridores de dichos delitos.

Esta actualización contiene más de 360 entradas (49 nuevas respecto de enero de 2020) con similar número de delincuentes denunciados.

Estadísticas globales:

4 cardenales

27 obispos 48 autoridades: canciller, monseñor, director de colegio, director de hogar, director de seminario, vicarios, superiores, responsables, entre otros

3 capellanes

186 sacerdotes, párrocos, diocesanos

15 diáconos

68 hermanos, hermanas, consagrados y consagradas

20 laicos, profesores, catequistas, ministro extraordinario

Órdenes religiosas mencionadas (denuncias):

Asuncionistas (1)

Barnabita (7)

Capuchinos (3)

Carmelitas descalzos (1)

Claretianos (2)

Clérigos de San Viator (1)

Compañía de Jesús (24)

Congregación de San José – Josefinos de Murialdo (1)

Escolapios (1)

De la Preciosísima Sangre (3)

De los Misioneros de San Francisco de Sales (2)

Don Orione (1)

Franciscanos (11)

Hermanas Misioneras Dominicanas (1)

Hermanas de la Providencia (1)

Hermanos Maristas (29)

Legionarios de Cristo (3)

Redentoristas (1)

María Auxiliadora (2)

Marianistas (1)

Mercedarias Francesas (2)

Mercedarios (4)

Misionero en el Verbo Divino (1)

Para la Vida Consagrada (1)

Opus Dei (1)

Orden de la Madre de Dios (Leonardinos) (3)

Orden de la Merced (1)

Orden Cisterciense (1)

Sagrados Corazones (8)

Salesianos (31)

Schoenstatt (7)

Siervos de la Caridad – Fundación de la Obra don Guanella (5)

Sociedad Misionera de San Columbano (4)

Ursulinas (2)

De esta actualización, destacamos:

Tras la visita a Chile de los enviados del Vaticano Charles Scicluna y Jordi Bertomeu realizada en 2018, las personas que recurrieron a esa instancia de denuncia confiando en que se haría justicia, vieron pasar dos años y muchos nunca más fueron contactados o no se les quiere entregar información sobre sus casos. Es por ello que se acercan a la Red buscando asesoramiento para denunciar ante la justicia ordinaria y entregan sus denuncias para este mapa. Sabemos que no todos quienes colaboraron en dicha instancia canónica han entregado sus datos para este mapa o se han acercado a la justicia nacional para hacerlo, les recomendamos que lo hagan y ponemos a disposición el equipo legal de la Red para realizar dichas denuncias ante la justicia penal y civil.

Se mantiene la tónica de que pasan años e incluso décadas de impunidad entre la primer denuncia recibida por la Iglesia y alguna acción concreta de cuidado o protección.

También se suman denuncias que evidencian los traslados sin causa aparente dentro del país y fuera del mismo de los delincuentes tras las primeras denuncias.

Infinidad de casos se cruzan, no sólo dentro de una misma congregación sino también entre ellas y con los religiosos territoriales dependientes de obispados, parroquias, etc.

La mayoría de los laicos denunciados son ex religiosos, tuvieron formación de seminaristas o fueron postulantes.

Las posiciones de poder territorial o estructural son apreciadas por estos delincuentes.

Este mapa es la única fuente pública a la cual puede acceder la sociedad chilena y desde el extranjero si se desea consultar por un denunciado. La Fiscalía de Chile y la propia Iglesia dejaron de publicar cifras y bajaron de la internet los nombres de los denunciados e investigados, incluso de los condenados.

Desde que lanzamos el mapa a diario nos escriben personas consultando por un sacerdote o ex religioso que les genera sospechas ya sea por su traslado a una comunidad o su salida intempestiva.

Es por ello que junto a la publicación de esta actualización de julio de 2020 incorporamos un listado público de quienes son los mencionados en el mapa a fin de que opere como alerta para toda la sociedad.

Actualmente la Iglesia Católica ni siquiera entrega un listado con los condenados por la justicia canónica, con lo cual se dan casos donde un ex religioso trabaja de profesor, catequista o incluso director de un colegio sin que nadie alerte a esa comunidad de que se trata de un pedófilo confirmado por la misma institución a la cual pertenecía hasta hace algunos años.

Las fuentes de los datos son los propios testimonios de les sobrevivientes, las notas de prensa (linkeadas en cada entrada del mapa) con denuncias sobre este tipo de delitos perpetrados en territorio chileno, la información entregada por el Ministerio Público (último reporte), la Iglesia Católica y nuestros compañeros de BishopAccountability.

Este material está incompleto. El atroz secretismo que mantiene la Iglesia Católica en todo el mundo hace muy difícil reunir toda la información necesaria.

Al mirarlo te invitamos a recordar que sólo entre el 4 y 6 % de estos delitos se denuncia, que 4 de cada 12 víctimas logrará hablar con alguien de confianza, y que las otras 8 nunca le dirán a nadie, y arrastrarán de por vida las secuelas del ataque hasta morir en silencio.

Durante su presentación en abril de 2019 en el Museo de la Memoria leímos un mensaje a toda la sociedad.

Si quieres sumar o complementar información escríbenos aquí en la web o envíanos un email.

Comparte, difunde.

Estos son los mencionados en el mapa:

Abel Perez

Adolfo Fuentes Corral

Alberto Jara Franzoy

Alejandro Abarca

Alejandro Goic Karmelic

Alex Troncoso

Alfonso Gielis Nulens

Alfredo Soiza Piñeyro

Amador Soto Miranda

Ana Teresa Araya Maldonado

Andrés Arteaga

Ángel Vicente Cerró

Angelo Leita Torresani

Antonio Enrique Valdebenito Muñoz

Antonio Larraín Pérez-Cotapos

Antonio Vargas

Aquiles Altamirano Herrera

Armando Alegria

Armando Zamora

Audín Araya Alarcón

Augusto Rojas Valdivia

Barry Robinson

Belarmino Pérez

Belisario Baldevenito Erices

Bernardino Piñera

Bernardo Alvarez

Bernardo Bastres

Carlos Aedo Méndez

Carlos Antonio Larraín Pérez-Cotapos

Carlos Antonio Manríquez Rebolledo

Carlos Enrique Peralta Luna

Carlos Lira

Carlos Morales Grandon

Carlos Ordóñez

Carlos Oviedo Cavada

Carlos Pellegrín Barrera

Carlos Vilches Castillo

Carlos Waldo Ignes Olguín

Carmelo Francisco Márquez Julio

Casiano Rojas Viera

Cesar Fernando Guzmán Guerra

Clemente Cerezo

Cristián Caro

Cristian Contreras Molina

Cristián Precht Bañados

Cristián Roncagliolo

Cristián Sepúlveda Rodríguez

Cristóforo Colombo Serafín

Cristobal Lira Salinas

Damián Heredia Carrasco

Daniel Aurelio Pauvif Rojas

Daniel Dinamarca Chamorro

Daniel J. Mangen/Mangan

Daniel Lescot Jerez

Dario Fuentes Cifuentes

Darío Nicolás Serrano

David Agustín Mondaca Rivas

David Vera Andrade

Diego Aldo Muñoz Fuentes

Diego Muñoz Fuentes

Diego Ossa

Dionisio Muñoz Aro

Domingo Mileo Toledo

Eduardo Alfredo Cádiz Jara SJ

Eduardo Olivares Martínez

Eduardo Ponce

Eduardo Rojas

Eduardo Rojas González

Elena Ruiz

Eliecer Huenchumán

Enrique Moreno Laval

Ernesto Castro

Estanislao Olivares Jacinto

Eugenio Céspedes Alarcón

Eugenio Valenzuela SJ

Evelyn Oñate Caamaño

Feliciano Ortega

Felipe Bacareza

Felipe Denegri Morales

Felix Leorza

Fernando Karadima

Fernando Ramos

Fr. Pedro Cisternas Alcaino

Francisco Basáñez Méndez

Francisco Bellotti

Francisco Cartes Aburto

Francisco Javier Errázuriz

Francisco Jose Cox Hunneus

Francisco Nuñez Calisto

Francisco Pancho Valenzuela

Francisco Valenzuela Sanhueza

Franklin Venegas

Freddy Gutiérrez Méndez

Gerald Fitzpatrick

Gerardo Araujo Sarabia

Gerardo Joannon

Gerardo Strooman Alarcón

Germán Cáceres Fuentes

Germán Chavez

Giuseppe Carraro Bacchin

Giuseppe Pulcinelli

Gonzalo Duarte Garcia de Cortazar

Gregorio Pastor

Guillermo Alvial

Guillermo Arceu Jeff

H. Cornell Bradley, S.J

Héctor Bravo Merino

Héctor Valdés Valdés

Hernan Enríquez Rozas

Hernán Gonzalez Rojas

Hernán Henríquez

Horacio Valenzuela

Hugo Cuevas

Hugo Márquez

Hugo Montes Brunet

Humberto Alarcón

Humberto Enriquez

Humberto Henríquez López

Humberto Palma Orellana

Isabel Margarita Lagos Droguett

Jaime Astorga Paulsen

Jaime Da Fonseca Hidalgo

Jaime Guzmán Astaburuaga

Jaime Low Cabeza

Jaime Valenzuela Pozo

Javier Hoyos

Javier Prado Aránguiz

Jeremiah Healy Kerins

Jesus Bayo

Jesus Castañeda

Jesus Marcos

Jesus Pérez

Jesús Trigero Juanes

John O’reilly

Jordi Jorba Navarro

Jorge Arturo Agustín Medina Estévez

Jorge Baeza Ramírez

Jorge Calderón

Jorge Carrillo

Jorge Delpiano

Jorge Domínguez

Jorge Enrique Laplagne Aguirre

Jorge Galaz Espinoza

Jorge Horta Espinoza

Jorge Marín Pérez

Jorge Prieto

Jorge Reinaldo Marín Pérez

José Andrés «Fr. Tato» Aguirre Ovalle

José Andrés Aguirre Ovalle

José Ángel Arregui Eraña

José Antonio Olguín

José Carraro Bacchin

José Donoso Chellew

José Lara Burgos

José Luis Díaz Atillano

José Luis Rabanal

José Miguel Narvaez Valenzuela

José Monasterio

Jose Olguin

José Quinteros Martínez

José Román Zúñiga

José Tomás Gatica

José Ulloa

José Urrutia Tapia

Jose Vicente Bastias

Juan Aguirre Marín (padre Juan Alberto)

Juan Alberto Arroyo Sanhueza

Juan Andrés Peretiatkowicz Valdés

Juan Barros Madrid

Juan Carlos Delgado Castillo

Juan Carlos González

Juan Carlos Mercado

Juan Carlos Orellana Acuña

Juan Henríquez Zapata

Juan Manuel Espinoza

Juan Miguel Leturia SJ

Juan Pablo Cárcamo SJ

Julio César Barahona Rosales

Julio Dutilh Ros

Julio Raúl Inostroza Caro

Juvenal Castro Silva

Leonel Gatica Quiroz

Leonel Ibacache

Luciano Antonio de la Barrera Arancibia

Luciano Arriagada Vergara

Luis Alberto Rubio González

Luis Castillo Santander

Luis Cornejo

Luis Felipe Egaña Baraona

Luis Felipe Izquierdo

Luis Florencio Ruiz Fernández

Luis Francisco Núñez Núñez

Luis Fuentealba

Luis Fuica Soto

Luis Infanti della Mora

Luis Izquierdo

Luis Melchor Juragaro Manaideke

Luis Morel Gumucio

Luis Peragallo Cabezas

Luis Ricardo Montenegro Fuentes

Luis Rubio Contreras

Manuel Fajardo

Manuel Hervia

Manuel Saúl Zamorano

Marcelo González Cárcamo

Marcelo Méndez Gloor

Marcelo Morales Márquez

Marcial Parada

Marco Antonio Órdenes Fernández

Mardoqueo Valenzuela

Mariano Labarca

Mariano Varona

Mario Mancilla Vera

Mauricio Montoya Márquez

Mauro Ojeda Videla

Miguel Ángel Katalinic

Miguel Ángel Panes Villalobos

Miguel Ángel Soto

Miguel Caviedes

Miguel Ortega

Mordoqueo Valenzuela Morales

Nelson Jerez

Nelson Jopia

Nelson Manuel Álvarado Sánchez

Nestor Leopoldo (Polo) Romero González

Nibaldo Escalante Trigo

Orlando Rogel Pinuer

Óscar Muñoz Toledo

Osvaldo Salgado Coe

P. Luis Garcia

Pablo (Paul) Böcker-Schepers

Pablo Isler Venegas

Pablo Lizama

Pablo Walter Isler Venegas

Padre “Derry”

Padre H

Padre M

Patricio Astorquiza

Pedro Barrientos

Pedro Bernardo Cisternas Alcaino

Pedro José Armendariz Elortegui

Pedro Mariano Labarca Araya

Pedro Ossandón

Pedro Quiroz Fernández

Plácido Soto Quiroz

Porfirio Diaz Reyes

Rafael Providell Molina

Rafael Villena Roco

Ramón Iturra Muñoz

Raúl González SJ

Raul Soto Hernandez

Reinaldo Mendez

Reinaldo Méndez Sánchez

Renato Poblete Barth SJ

Renato Riveros Silva

Renato Toro Medina

René Aguilera Colinier

René Benavides Rives

René Fernando Peña Benítez

Rev. C. Jeffries Burton, S.J.

Ricardo Ezzati

Ricardo Muñoz Quinteros

Richard Joey Aguinaldo

Rimsky Rojas

Roberto Icarte Encina

Roberto Koll

Roberto Salazar Soto

Robinson Piña

Rodolfo Adolfo Álamos Vergara

Rodrigo Alonzo Bilbao Zepeda

Rodrigo Allendes Muñoz

Rodrigo Gajardo Figueroa

Rodrigo Romero

Rodrigo Polanco Fermandois

Rodrigo Taborga

Rolando Contreras

Santiago Rubilar

Santiago Silva

Saul Manuel Zamorano Moreno

Sebastián Arce

Sergio Body

Sergio Julian Ríos Cordero

Sergio Mario Francisco Uribe Gutiérrez

Sergio Uribe

Tito Rivera

Tomás Aguayo

Tomás González Morales

Tomislav Koljatic

Vicente Soccorso

Víctor Carrera Triviño

Víctor Guerrero Díaz

Víctor Hernán Troncoso Lara

Víctor López

Víctor Lopez Orrego

Víctor Troncoso Lara

Waldo Ignes Olguin

Wolfgang Statt SJ

Zaccharia Penati Brioschi

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Judge denies motion to dismiss Hancock County lawsuit over priest abuse allegations

STEUBENVILLE (OH)
Herald-Star

August 6, 2020

By Joselyn King

New Cumberland – A request by the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston to dismiss a lawsuit alleging sexual assault by the Rev. Victor Frobas has been denied in Hancock County Circuit Court.

The order issued July 31 by Circuit Judge David Sims pertains to a complaint filed May 15 in Hancock County Circuit Court by Michael Pirraglia of Fairfax, Va. The complaint alleges Pirraglia was sexually assaulted over a three-year period by Frobas as a child while attending St. Paul Catholic Church in Weirton.

Frobas was assigned to the diocese from 1965 to 1983, according to court filings. The complaint seeks compensation from the diocese as the employer of Frobas, and alleges the diocese was aware of Frobas’ misconduct.

“The court finds that plaintiff has sufficiently set forth several causes of action against defendant in a manner that permits plaintiff to maintain his cause of action under West Virginia statutory and common law,” Sims states in his order. “There has been little formal discovery undertaken in this matter, and the claims raised by plaintiff and defenses raised by defendants may be more fully developed during discovery.”

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.

With Little Fanfare, Exton’s Dan Monahan Has Found a Measure of Closure for Survivors of Clergy Abuse

NEWTOWN SQUARE (PA)
Main Line Today

August 5, 2020

By J.F. Pirro

Monahan has represented dozens of clergy abuse victims while grappling with his own story.

He’s 67 now, but Dan Monahan was once an altar boy serving Roman Catholic masses in rural Connecticut. At his small church, Father Y (the only name he knew the priest by) was revered. “We were told that he was God on earth,” says Monahan, who’s now a personal injury lawyer in Exton. “And so we were indoctrinated.”

During one mass, delivered in Latin, Monahan wet his pants rather than abandon the altar. “Don’t worry,” the priest told him. “We’ll clean it up.”

Now, after more than a decade of disclosure after disclosure involving sexual abuse among the clergy, Monahan reflects on the cunning, programmatic behavior among those in purple garb. “It was like there was a playbook,” he says. “They picked on kids whose fathers were alcoholics, or whose mothers were overly devoted. They gave boys chores—ways we could help. It was like they were all given a manual on how to groom.”

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

Lawsuit alleges sexual abuse by former counselor at Bridge Bible Church

BAKERSFIELD (CA)
KGET

July 28, 2020

By Jason Kotowski

A lawsuit filed last week alleges sexual misconduct on the part of a former counselor at Bridge Bible Church against a church member.

The suit, filed July 22, says Eric Simpson manipulated a woman who had initially gone to him for marriage counseling sessions with her husband. Simpson later insisted on private sessions, the suit alleges, where he told her that her husband was a lucky man and repeated things to her that she told him in previous sessions she wished her husband would say to her.

“After months of manipulation, defendant Simpson had plaintiff where he wanted her,” the suit says. “Starting in July of 2019, defendant Simpson began sexually abusing plaintiff.”

It goes on to say church elders blamed her for the situation and shunned her and her husband.

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.

Sexual Abuse at Bellevue: No Consequences

NORMAN (OK)
Good Faith Media

August 6, 2020

By Christa Brown and David Clohessy

Does it get any sicker than this?

At a flagship megachurch of the Southern Baptist Convention, church staffer James A. Hook sexually abused a 15-year-old church girl.

Hook sent the girl sexually explicit photos of her own mother – photos he had taken when he had an affair with the mother seven years earlier.

That’s just one of the details set forth in the complaint of a recently filed civil lawsuit in Memphis, Tennessee.

In a separate criminal case, Hook pled guilty to sexual battery by an authority figure. Police had found Hook together with the girl in a car.

The girl’s mother, identified in the lawsuit as Jane Doe, had first begun attending the church after the affair with Hook ended and after Hook himself suggested that Doe and her husband get counseling from one of the church’s staff pastors, Eric Brand.

As alleged in the lawsuit, Pastor Brand shared sexually explicit photos of his own wife during the counseling sessions and he encouraged Jane Doe to do what his wife did so that Doe would keep her husband interested.

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.

With ouster of priest accused of pedophilia, Coptic Church mobilizes against sexual abuse

BAKERSFIELD (CA)
Bakersfield Californian from Los Angeles Times

August 6, 2020

By Nardine Saad

https://www.bakersfield.com/ap/national/with-ouster-of-priest-accused-of-pedophilia-coptic-church-mobilizes-against-sexual-abuse/article_a2f35dcd-1341-5baf-9252-6a62ad4265b4.html

Los Angeles – The Coptic Orthodox Church in the U.S., shaken by recent accusations of sexual abuse, has vowed to eradicate inappropriate behavior in its cloistered communities following the defrocking of a priest accused of pedophilia for decades.

The 2,000-year-old church, which was started in Egypt by the Apostle Mark and grew in the U.S. following a wave of immigration in the 1970s, is steeped in centuries-old traditions and rituals that define Christian Orthodoxy.

It is now contending with a new generation of activists among an estimated half-million Copts living in the U.S. in what is being described in the community as a “Coptic #MeToo” movement engrossing parishioners on social media.

The flashpoint started with Facebook and Instagram posts from Sally Zakhari, a 33-year-old Florida woman who said she was molested in Orlando, Florida, by Father Reweiss Aziz Khalil in the late 1990s. Zakhari wrote that she was molested at home after Khalil convinced her mother that she should start confession. She was 11 or 12.

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.

August 5, 2020

Iglesia Encubridora

AñATUYA (ARGENTINA)
Diario Femenino [Santa Rosa, Argentina]

August 5, 2020

By ADMIN

Read original article

Iglesia Encubridora

 Adolfo Uriona, ex obispo de Añatuya, a través de un decreto, admitió la culpabilidad del sacerdote Carlos Dorado en relación a los abusos sexuales contra dos adolescentes de Bandera. El actual obispo José Melitón Chávez reconoce los hechos y declara que está haciendo cumplir las “penas” correspondientes, que no son otras que un retiro espiritual y una adecuada terapia psicológica. El testimonio de las víctimas. El rol de la justicia. El silencio que esconde la impunidad.

Por: Marcela Arce

 “Spotlight”, se llamó el film ganador del premio Oscar en 2016. Traducida como “En primera plana”, la película cuenta la investigación que un equipo del diario The Boston Globe hizo sobre casos de curas abusadores en los Estados Unidos. Al final, aparece un largo listado de causas internacionales que denuncian las atrocidades cometidas por los sacerdotes. En la película aparecen siete causas de Argentina que involucran a Julio César Grassi,  Justo José Ilarraz, Rubén Pardo, Mario Napoleón Sasso, Héctor Pared, Alessandro De Rossi y Fernando Enrique Picciochi.

A través de las pantallas quedaba más que claro que la Iglesia, como institución, no sólo había protegido a los sacerdotes involucrados sino que también había ocultado la mayoría de los casos. Fue el comienzo de un inmenso debate sobre los curas pedófilos, pero la realidad va mucho más allá. Apunta a hechos concretos, verdaderos. De hombres que un día juraron honrar el nombre de Dios y terminaron cometiendo no sólo terribles pecados, sino los más aberrantes delitos, encubiertos por el poder que infunden sus investiduras.

Mientras las atrocidades cometidas en el Instituto Próvolo en Mendoza derivaron en las condenas a 42 y 45 años de los curas Nicola Corradi y Horacio Corbacho, por violar y corromper a niños sordos, resurge con más fuerza un extenso informe de las periodistas de Télam, Lucia Toninello y Mariana García,quienes publicaron, a principios de mayo de 2017, un listado de 59 sacerdotes y 3 monjas involucrados en casos de abuso sexual por parte de integrantes de la Iglesia.

El listado incluye no sólo a Monseñor Adolfo Uriona, quien fue denunciado por una joven, en 2006, acusándolo de haberla manoseado mientras viajaban juntos en un micro. En ese momento, era obispo de la Diócesis de Añatuya. Fue demorado por la policía, y finalmente sobreseído judicialmente. Desde 2014 es obispo de Río Cuarto, nombrado por el Papa Francisco.

Pero la inclusión de Uriona, en el puesto 54 de la lista, no es la única en la lista. En el escalón anterior, en el puesto 53, aparece el nombre de otro sacerdote local. “Carlos Alberto Dorado, Santiago del Estero. Acusado por abuso, no fue investigado”, dice textualmente el informe.

LA COLUMNA se hizo eco de estas investigaciones y realizó la suya propia. Así fue que en la edición del 18 de mayo de 2017, bajo el título “Pecados sexuales”, investigó quién era este sacerdote, y cuáles eran las investigaciones en su contra.

¿Quién es? ¿Qué hizo? ¿Cuándo? ¿De qué parroquia es sacerdote?, fueron los primeros cuestionamientos. En la Diócesis de Santiago del Estero, nadie sabía nada al respecto.  Varios sacerdotes consultados no lo conocían, no sabían de quién se trataba. En el listado completo de sacerdotes locales el nombre de Dorado no aparecía por ningún lado. Algunos hasta dudaron de su existencia. Sin embargo, a poco de trasladar el foco de atención hacia la otra diócesis existente en la provincia, su nombre saltó de inmediato.

Carlos Alberto Dorado es un añatuyense, ordenado sacerdotalmente el jueves 12 de marzo de 2009, en la Iglesia Catedral “Nuestra Señora del Valle”, epicentro de la Diócesis de Añatuya. La ordenación estuvo a cargo del obispo Uriona.

Pero, qué hizo para que su nombre estuviera en la lista de curas abusadores. Averiguar ese dato no fue fácil. Todos decían desconocer el tema. Sin embargo, LA COLUMNA decidió ir más a fondo y no paró hasta conocer todos los pormenores de un hecho que fue silenciado por la curia y ocultado, en detrimento de las víctimas que se atrevieron a contar el calvario que padecieron.

Hoy, ese silencio cómplice fue confirmado con pruebas contundentes, que afirman que el obispo Uriona no sólo conocía del caso de Dorado sino que él mismo lo había encontrado “culpable” de los abusos por los que fue acusado. No sólo eso, sino el testimonio de las víctimas y la imputación judicial por “abuso sexual agravado” vienen a confirmar que la Iglesia nunca denunció los abusos sexuales contra menores que habrían cometidos sus representantes, sino que prefirió esconder todo bajo siete llaves.

 ABUSOS Y SILENCIO

Carlos Dorado había forjado su vocación sacerdotal en la capilla Nuestro Señor de Mailín, su ciudad natal. Realizó sus estudios durante 8 años en el Seminario de San Rafael. Desde que fuera ordenado diácono, desarrolló su labor pastoral en la parroquia San Francisco Solano, de la localidad de Bandera.

Ya ordenado como sacerdote, Dorado habría comenzado a entablar relación de amistad con una adolescente, menor de edad, quien realizaba un arduo trabajo parroquial, que incluía distintas tareas pastorales, de catequesis y colaboración en distintos ámbitos. Al poco tiempo, habría intentado estrechar relaciones con ella, abusando de su poder, sobrepasando todos los límites del respeto. Ese abuso habría incluído tocamientos indecorosos, acercamientos inapropiados, y una constante violencia psicológica y verbal, pues la muchacha se habría negado a aceptar cualquier tipo de contacto con Dorado.

Tiempo después, sucedió exactamente lo mismo con otra jovencita, pero esta vez, los abusos habrían ido más allá. Fueron dos hechos similares, en distintos períodos de tiempo.

Ambas jovencitas denunciaron las situaciones vividas ante el obispo Adolfo Uriona –el mismo que había ordenado a Dorado en el sacramento sacerdotal-, buscando respuestas para los abusos sufridos. Esperaban que el máximo representante de la Iglesia en Añatuya  hiciera algo e incluso que las acompañara a realizar otro tipo de denuncias en el ámbito judicial. Pero ninguna de las dos recibió la contención y apoyo que precisaban. Quedaron solas, a la deriva. Como si nada de lo que hubiesen sufrido merecía el menor interés de nadie, menos de la Iglesia, como entidad madre en la que creían y respetaban.

La única respuesta fue un traslado del sacerdote hacia otra comunidad.

OCULTAMIENTO Y ENCUBRIMIENTO

Sin embargo, las jovencitas –cada una por su lado- tomaron conocimiento de la existencia de la Red de Sobrevivientes de Abusos Sexuales Eclesiásticos de la Argentina y se comunicaron con la entidad. La encargada de recepcionar sus denuncias fue una de las referentes de la entidad,  también víctima de abuso sexual, quien vive en la ciudad de La Plata. Ella se encargó de guiarlas, de brindarles el acompañamiento que precisaban. Los profesionales de la red las asesoraron desde el punto de vista legal. Ya no se estaban solas.

No obstante, en aquel momento, ninguna quiso hacer la correspondiente denuncia penal. “Las víctimas de abuso sexual tienen obstáculos que sortear, dado el trauma que han sufrido. Por lo tanto, es difícil que de inmediato recurran a los Tribunales”, explicó el Dr. Carlos Lombardi, entonces representante legal de la Red. “Por lo general, nos encontramos con la noticia que determinadas personas en su adultez o siendo mayores, denuncian hechos que han padecido en su niñez y adolescencia. Esto, precisamente, por estos obstáculos que tienen a nivel personal para enfrentar el problema”, añadió.

Es cierto, por aquellos días, ninguna de las jóvenes, hoy mayores de edad, realizó la denuncia penal, por lo que la justicia no tenía modo de enterarse de los hechos. Sin embargo, el obispo Uriona sabía de su existencia. El obispo Uriona sólo protegió a su sacerdote.

En ese sentido, el Dr. Lombardi explicó que la Iglesia Católica, en cualquier país del mundo,  aplica sus propios procedimientos y esa es una de las causas por las cuales se mantiene el silencio, no trasciende públicamente ni llega a los medios de comunicación. En esta línea de pensamiento, la Iglesia Católica continúa con su sistema de encubrimiento y ocultamiento de pederastas, sin perjuicio de que la propaganda que instala en los medios de comunicación es de tolerancia cero, de transparencia en los procedimientos de la investigación. Más allá de la propaganda, tendiente a lavar su cara, su imagen, los procedimientos internos que se aplican están regidos por el secreto pontificio. Es decir que todos los intervinientes en la causa, una vez que llega la denuncia a las autoridades eclesiásticas, están bajo el juramento del silencio”.

EN LA PASTORAL JUVENIL

En octubre de 2012, Monseñor Adolfo Uriona nombró al padre Carlos Dorado como asesor de la “Pastoral Juvenil”. Como tal, participó de la Asamblea Regional de la Pastoral Juvenil del Noroeste Argentino, junto a delegados de toda la zona.

También participó de la Jornada Mundial de la Juventud, en julio de 2013, realizada en Río de Janeiro, con la presencia del Papa Francisco, a la que viajó acompañando a más de un centenar de jóvenes añatuyense.

En la actualidad, Dorado se encuentra trabajando en la “Parroquia del Santo Cristo”, en la localidad de Santos Lugares, una pequeña localidad del departamento Alberdi en el cruce de las rutas provinciales 2 y 17, al este del río Salado.

El área de influencia de esta parroquia recae directamente sobre el Santuario de la Virgen de Huachana, y las pequeñas capillas de distintas localidades menores y parajes como: La Manga, Pozo Limpio, Tacañitas, Taco Pozo, Santa Cruz, Nueva Esperanza, Villa El Palmar, El Porvenir, Las Parvas, El Cadillal, Milagros, Toro Pozo, Chañarcito, Chañar Pozo, Jumial Grande, Manisnioj, Anco Overo y Maravillas. Precisamente, en todos estos lugares, el padre Dorado realiza, actualmente, sus tareas religiosas y de evangelización.

El 21 y 22 de septiembre del año pasado, participó del XVI Encuentro Eucarístico de Adoradores Misioneros, desarrollado en las instalaciones de la parroquia Santiago Apóstol, en La Banda. En esa oportunidad, Dorado, junto al actual obispo de la Diócesis Santiago del Estero, Mons. Vicente Bokalic y los sacerdotes José Guadalupe Prado Guevara y Horacio Martínez Franco (ambos párrocos de la Diócesis de San Juan de Los Lagos, México), impartieron sus enseñanzas a los jóvenes misioneros, según la información brindada por La Banda Diario, medio que la recepcionó a través de miembros de la parroquia.

Carlos Dorado continúa trabajando en la parroquia Santo Cristo. La pandemia y el aislamiento lo llevaron a compartir sus misas de modo virtual. Pero eso no es todo, continúa evangelizando y compartiendo sus días con niños, adolescentes y jóvenes de la comunidad,  quienes seguramente ignoran las acusaciones que pesan en su contra.

 CULPABLE

Las dos jóvenes, hoy de 27 años, denunciaron penalmente a Carlos Dorado, el cura que las abusó en reiteradas oportunidades cuando tenían 15 y 16 años, en Bandera, departamento Belgrano, al sur de la provincia. Las mujeres, quienes actualmente trabajan y estudian, cargaron con el dolor y los martirios por más de diez años, antes de acudir a la fiscal Andrea Darwich. La primera de ellas lo hizo en agosto de 2019. La otra hizo lo propio en enero de 2020. (Ver entrevista adjunta). Antes, habían realizado la denuncia canónica.

Con apenas 20 años, en 2013, se acercaron hasta el Obispado de Añatuya, la institución en la que depositaban su fe, y relataron los abusos y martirios que había sufrido por parte del cura Carlos Dorado a Monseñor Adolfo Uriona, entonces obispo de esa curia, quien las trató de “enfermas”, según ellas relataron a la Red de Sobrevivientes de Abusos Sexuales Eclesiásticos de la Argentina.

Recién en 2017 el Obispado de Añatuya les comunicó por escrito que habían encontrado al sacerdote “culpable”. Sin recurrir a la justicia, siendo de esta forma cómplices, les detallaron por escrito que Carlos Dorado había reconocido los abusos” y que era “culpable”, ya que había cometido el delito del sexto mandamiento del decálogo de un clérigo, que tipifica el abuso sexual hacia un menor de edad, en este caso, dos menores de edad.

Por tal motivo, le impusieron una “pena expiatoria”, que incluía:

-“Prohibición pública  de todo ejercicio del ministerio sacerdotal”, pero “viviendo ese tiempo en oración y penitencia”.

-“Prohibición del oficio de párroco por el término de 10 años”.

-Recomendación de “una adecuada terapia psicológica”.

-“Prohibición de confesar menores de edad y dirigirlos espiritualmente por el término de un año”. Transcurrido ese plazo, debía hacerlo “en el confesionario, la iglesia, ante la presencia de otras personas”.

-Prohibición de “acercarse de acercarse a la ciudad de Bandera de manera perpetua”.

Este documento está fechado el 31 de mayo de 2014, y fue firmado por el entonces obispo de la Diócesis de Añatuya, Adolfo Uriona,  y la vicecanciller Inmaculada Llorens Moles.

En diciembre de ese mismo año, Adolfo Uriona fue trasladado al Obispado de Río Cuarto, en Córdoba.

EN PRIMERA PERSONA

Las dos jóvenes, quienes son amigas, realizaron la denuncia ante la fiscal Andrea Darwich y, por el momento, optaron por no dar a conocer su identidad. Ambas forman parte de la Red de Sobrevivientes de Abuso Eclesiástico de Argentina, un espacio que contiene a jóvenes de todo el país que sufrieron hechos iguales o similares.

La primera de ellas contó que conoció a Carlos Dorado, que tenía 28 años, en el colegio: “Era nuestro profesor. Yo tenía 16 años”. Además recordó que “con el tiempo me invitó a formar parte del grupo misionero Santa Teresita del Niño Jesús, del cual participé porque pensé que era sano y aprendería a relacionarme un poco más con las personas, ya que era súper tímida y muy apegada a mis papás. De apoco Dorado se fue ganando mi confianza y la de mi familia. En unas vacaciones de verano organizamos un viaje a Cerro Colorado, Córdoba, en el cual me pasaron cosas raras, como cuando me tomó de la mano mientras me decía que yo era su mejor amiga. También recuerdo que, estando en un arroyo, tenía un short verde y se acercó y empezó a tocarme las piernas”. En el mismo viaje, Carlos Dorado “estaba sentado en un sillón, me agarró de la mano y violentamente me tiró encima suyo. Fue todo muy raro y en ese momento pensé que era una cosa mía y le resté importancia”.

De vuelta en la ciudad de Bandera, ciudad donde era oriunda la adolescente,  el sacerdote “nos propuso hacer dirección espiritual. Un día me llamó y me dijo que estaban los demás chicos en la casa parroquial así que fui. Pero cuando llegué éramos él y yo. En ese momento se acercó y se puso muy cerca de mi cara y me abrazó. Me decía que era su amiga y que jamás lo deje porque se iba a matar. De repente me pidió que lo acompañe a su habitación porque tenía cólicos. Fuimos, se acostó y me pidió que me acostara con él. Me decía ‘vení quedate al lado mío que tengo miedo’. Me senté en la cama, y él me tiró a su lado y empezó a besarme en la boca. Rápidamente me levanté y le dije que ‘era mi profesor y que estaba mal’, a lo que él me pidió perdón. Pero eso me lo hizo varias veces y cada vez peor. La última vez quiso sacarme el pantalón y yo comencé a llorar y él me decía que quería ser el primer hombre en mi vida. Luché con todas mis fuerzas y pude escapar”.

La joven agregó que, al querer alejarse, Dorado “se enojó mucho conmigo y empezó a hablar mal de mí en frente de los chicos del grupo misionero, diciéndoles que cualquier cosa que yo dijera sería mentira porque era una puta. Pasó el tiempo y dejé el grupo misionero. Sentía vergüenza y me sentía la peor persona del mundo por haberle fallado a Dios”.

Entre las secuelas y dolores que vivió en la última década, detalló que “me costó mucho tener algún tipo de acercamiento con los hombres, me producían asco; lo veía a él en ellos. Los olores, las canciones que ponía mientras me tocaba hoy me producen náuseas. Varias veces tuve ganas de morirme. Llegué a enfermarme y estar un mes en cama sin querer comer, con alergia y una gastritis producida por guardar ese secreto tanto tiempo”.

“CREÍA QUE ERA MI CULPA”

La segunda joven relató hechos, en lo que el accionar de Dorado habría sido idéntico. En el año 2008 y con 15 años, ella se había mudado a la ciudad de Bandera y era seminarista. Dorado “era nuestro profesor de Antropología en el colegio y ese año fundó el grupo juvenil Santa Teresita del niño Jesús del cual formé parte desde el inicio. Yo era muy introvertida y tímida, casi que no tenía amigos y me costaba mucho relacionarme con mis pares. Dorado me decía que tenía cualidades de una religiosa, y que los ojos de los sacerdotes eran como los ojos de Jesús, nunca se equivocaban”.

Por tal motivo, “me invitó a hacer dirección espiritual con él, ya que me orientaría en mi ‘futura vocación religiosa’”. Sin embargo, en cada una de las reuniones que tenía “Dorado me hablaba de sus propios problemas personales y familiares, me decía que era la única persona en quien confiaba, se ponía a llorar y luego me pedía que lo abrace. En una ocasión me pidió que ayude con algunas tareas de limpieza de la parroquia. Yo no sabía que la tarea era ordenar la biblioteca de su habitación, yo tenía 16 años. Ese día él se me abalanzó y comenzó manosearme y besarme. Cuando me puse a llorar me empezó a decir que a los sacerdotes ‘les permitían estar con personas de confianza’, y luego me pidió perdón”.

Dorado habría manipulado a la joven, ya que le decía que “era pecado no perdonar”, y la mandaba a“confesarse”.

“Por mucho tiempo creí y estuve convencida de que era mi culpa. Él mismo se encargaba de ir a mi casa y pedirle permiso a mi mamá para viajar a un ‘supuesto encuentro de coordinadores de grupos juveniles’, el cual era una mentira y el único fin era que me confiese en Añatuya, ciudad en la que ningún sacerdote me conocía. En eso momento mi culpa y profunda fe religiosa hacían borrón y cuenta nueva”. 

Los abusos fueron sistemáticos. Un día decidí no ir más a los grupos, porque la angustia era muy grande. Pero él, una vez más, se encargó de ir a mi casa hablar con mi familia para convencerme de que no debía abandonar porque los chicos me necesitaban. La manipulación fue tan grande que en ese entonces yo estaba en conflicto con mi familia porque se había encargado de separarme de ella, diciéndome que la obra de Dios era más grande que obedecer a la propia familia”.

“Durante muchos años guardé el secreto, hasta que me enteré que a otras chicas les había pasado lo mismo. A más de diez años de todo eso, he tenido dificultades para relacionarme con otros hombres, sentía asco y desconfianza. Por muchos tiempo tuve deseos de no existir más, pero gracias al apoyo de mi familia pude seguir adelante”, finalizó.

RED DE SOBREVIVIENTES DE ABUSO ECLESIÁSTICO 

Liliana Rodríguez, psicóloga de la Red de Sobrevivientes de Abuso Sexual Eclesiástico de Argentina – que posee una página de Facebook para contactarse en cualquier momento-, afirmó que “los relatos dan cuenta que todas las situaciones vividas por las chicas, que han dejados lógicamente sus secuelas, tienen que ver con el ejercicio absoluto del poder de un sacerdote sobre el cuerpo y la subjetividad de adolescentes. Además traicionó la confianza no solo de ellas, sino también de sus familias”.

Rodríguez resaltó “la valentía de estas jóvenes de poder compartir, a través de la voz de la Red, estas situaciones tan dolorosas y tremendas que vivieron”. En ese sentido agregó que “el único objetivo es la búsqueda de justicia para que no le vuelva a pasar a ningún niño ni niña más”. Además explicó que “estos relatos también sirven para convocar a que otras personas que hayan atravesado estas situaciones rompan el silencio y se acercan a la Red; los y las estamos esperando, sabemos que han atravesado lo mismo con este sacerdote aunque todavía no puedan ponerlo en palabras y sientan mucho temor y culpa”.

Respecto de los documentos firmados por los obispos y difundidos en esta noticia, la psicóloga fue tajante: “La Iglesia no castiga, sino que encubre y/o traslada para lograr la impunidad. Por eso es tan importante la voz de las y los sobrevinientes y la denuncia penal que realizan para lograr justicia”.

Para formar parte de la Red de Sobrevivientes de Abuso Sexual Eclesiástico de Argentina no hace falta haber radicado la denuncia formal en la justicia, ya que el objetivo es visibilizar los hechos, acompañar emocionalmente a las víctimas a través de sus pares, y asesorar legalmente cuando así los dispongan. Al día de hoy, más de 150 personas sobrevivientes de abuso sexual eclesiástico en el país participan y forman parte de la Red.

UNO Y OTRO

En 2014, la Red de Sobrevivientes del Abuso Eclesiástico, solicitó al obispo Uriona que les facilite un informe por escrito de la denuncia presentada por las jóvenes. Recién en 2017, y con el apoyo de la red, solicitaron nuevamente la información al reemplazante de Uriona, el obispo José Melitón Chávez, quien, a diferencia de su par, accedió  a facilitar lo pedido.

Así, el 17 de febrero de 2017 entregó a las víctimas el decreto firmado por Uriona (Ver documento adjunto), “luego de hacer las consultas pertinentes al Tribunal Eclesiástico Nacional”.

En cuanto al cumplimiento de las penas, el obispo Chávez  dijo: “Doy fe que se está aplicando de acuerdo a lo decretado” por Uriona.

Este documento fue actualizado por Chávez, un año después, el 3 de febrero de 2018.

De esta forma queda más que claro que la Diócesis de Añatuya tenía conocimiento pleno de la denuncia formulada por las jóvenes en contra de Carlos Dorado. Aunque el obispo Chávez entregó los documentos que lo confirman, no acudió a la justicia para pedir investigación alguna, ni tampoco alentó a las víctimas a que lo hicieron.

Sin embargo, la fiscal Andrea Darwich confirmó que desde el Obispado de Añatuya, le facilitaron toda la documentación que obraba en la curia en contra de Dorado.

RECEPCIÓN DE INFORMES

Llamativamente, quizá en consonancia con las investigaciones realizadas por LA COLUMNA estos últimos días, volcadas en este informe, el Obispado de Añatuya,

publicó el martes 21 de julio un documento sobre el “Sistema de recepción de informes sobre abusos sexuales cometidos por clérigos consagrados contra personas menores de edad o vulnerables”.

Junto al informe se aclara que “en nuestra Diócesis de Añatuya, como en todas las Diócesis de Argentina, se ha puesto en funcionamiento de un sistema de recepción de informes sobre eventuales abusos cometidos por clérigos o religiosos”.

Su implementación responde a lo dispuesto por el papa Francisco de establecer un sistema estable y de fácil acceso al público para proveer de un lugar de encuentro y escucha, y elaborar un informe a fin de remitirlo a la autoridad competente”, continúan.

A la vez, destaca que “de ningún modo sustituye al ámbito de competencia de la autoridad estatal,sino que tiene como finalidad adoptar las medidas administrativas y disciplinares dentro de la estructura eclesial. La Iglesia actúa dentro de su jurisdicción, en el marco que le reconoce la Constitución Nacional y provincial, el Acuerdo que rige entre la Santa Sede y el Estado argentino, y las demás leyes”.

Por lo demás, y como lo indican las disposiciones de la Santa Sede, la Iglesia, en cuanto a las posibles consecuencias jurídicas, se atiene y asume lo que decida la justicia de nuestro país, que es la única competente para ese fin y a la que se debe acudir”.

Por último, afirman que “la Iglesia confirma su compromiso de velar para que en su seno se respire un clima de acogida, respeto y cuidado de las personas, con especial atención a los niños y vulnerables; poder cultivar una cultura del cuidado y brindar espacios sanos y seguros. También ratifica su compromiso de cooperar con la justicia en lo que esté a su alcance, que sean respetados los derechos de todos y promover toda forma de prevención”.

Los escándalos de abusos sexuales cometidos en el seno de la Iglesia Católica no son nuevos. Sin embargo, la mayoría de ellos fueron escondidos bajo siete llaves. La mayoría prefiere el silencio, el ocultamiento, antes que las denuncias judiciales. El caso del sacerdote Carlos Alberto Dorado está en plena etapa de investigación. Por lo pronto, ya se encuentra imputado por “abuso sexual agravado”, en perjuicio de una de las denunciantes. En el siguiente caso, faltan informes y pruebas, pero avanza en el mismo sentido, de acuerdo a lo expresado desde el Ministerio Público Fiscal de la Circunscripción Añatuya.

El obispo Adolfo Urion, según sus propio decreto no sólo tenía conocimiento de los hechos denunciados, sino que encontró culpable a Dorado. Además, éste habría reconocido su culpabilidad ante el entonces obispo de Añatuya.

Una vez más, el encubrimiento salpica a la Iglesia.-

EXCLUSIVO

Dra. Andrea Darwich, fiscal

“Dorado está formalmente imputado por abuso sexual agravado”

La representante de la Circuscripción Añatuya del Ministerio Público Fiscal, Dra. Andrea Darwich, en diálogo exclusivo con LA COLUMNA, explicó el estado en el que se encuentra la causa contra el sacerdote Carlos Dorado, haciendo hincapié en que se trata de dos investigaciones paralelas en su contra, en una de las cuales ya fue imputado.

-¿Existe alguna denuncia por abuso sexual contra el sacerdote Carlos Dorado?

-Las denuncias son dos, una de agosto 2019 y la otra de enero de 2020.

-¿En qué circunstancias lo denuncian?

-Lo hacen dos jóvenes. Ellas ahora son mayores de edad y hacen referencia que los hechos sucedieron cuando aún estaban en la secundaria, siendo menores.

-Cómo avanza la investigación en este caso?

-Está en período de investigación. Son dos investigaciones paralelas que están acumuladas porque son dos denuncias contra la misma persona. En una de ellas se encuentra formalmente imputado. El señor Dorado fue asistido por sus abogadores defensores. En su momento, se abstuvo de prestar declaración, tomando conocimiento de todas las pruebas que hay en el legajo. Aún resta recepcionar la declaración en el otro legajo, ya que faltan los informes psicológicos de la chica que hizo la denuncia en enero de este año. Por esta cuestión de la pandemia no se pudieron culminar con sus entrevistas psicológicas.

-¿Con qué elementos de prueba cuentan en este momento?

-Nosotros tenemos los informes psicológicos de las víctimas, testimonios, informes socioambientales, realizados en el lugar donde habrían sucedido los hechos, estamos hablando de la localidad de Bandera. Cuando las denunciantes eran menores de edad acudían a un grupo juvenil perteneciente al colegio en el que acudían al secundario. En esas circunstancias suceden estos hechos. Eso está acreditado no sólo con los testimonios y los informes socioambiantales sino también con el informe que brinda el Obispado de la ciudad de Añatuya, en el cual acredita que el señor Dorado estaba a cargo de este grupo juvenil y que realizaba actividades en la ciudad de Bandera, donde sucedieron los hechos.

-¿El decreto del obispo Uriona, que declaraba que Dorado es culpable de delitos contra el derecho canónico, específicamente contra menores de edad, serviría como prueba?

-Sí. Existe la información, la documentación brindada desde el Obispado de la ciudad de Añatuya, en la cual se hace constar  que el señor Dorado fue sometido a todo el procedimiento canónico que prevé la regulación específica de ellos. Esta fue una cuestión, tipo administrativa, que se tramita ante el obispado, en forma paralela al judicial.

-¿Esto ocurrió antes de la denuncia?

Sí, fue totalmente anterior. Es independiente de la causa penal, pero  está agregado como evidencia.

-Los hechos de abuso sexual son, lamentablemente comunes, en Santiago del Estero. Desde su experiencia personal, ¿se topó alguna vez con abusos cometidos por hombres de la Iglesia?

-En esta Unidad Fiscal de Añatuya es el primer caso que tenemos. En realidad, son dos denuncias que tenemos en contra de un sacerdote.

-¿Lo toman de una manera especial o tiene el mismo tratamiento que cualquier otra causa?

-Está sometido a proceso como cualquier otro ciudadano. La imputación que obra en su contra está agravada, justamente, por ser miembro de un culto religioso. Es un delito que está tipificado en el Código Penal, precisamente por esta cuestión religiosa.

-¿Cuál es la carátula de la causa?

-Abuso sexual agravado.

-¿Cuáles son los pasos  a seguir en la investigación?

-Están aún pendientes de celebrarse varias diligencias. Falta el informe psicológico de una de las víctimas, como ya lo dije. Faltan otros testimonios, hay personas que tenían conocimiento de estos hechos y, hasta el momento, no han declarado en esta Fiscalía. La investigación sigue su curso, estamos dentro de la primera etapa, que es la investigación penal preparatoria.

-¿Es común que pasen muchos años hasta que las víctimas se atrevan a denunciar?

-Sí. Hay toda una cuestión que tiene que nacer de parte de las víctimas, hasta que puedan contar todo lo que les pasó. Esto está comprendido en toda la cuestión psicológica, en todo el juicio emocional que atravesaron, y todas suss consecuencias. Ayer hicieron contacto con nosotros la red de Sobreviients, donde la licenciada Rodriguez nos comentó que las víctimas, antes de hacer la denuncia, se pusieron en contacto con ellos y desde la red les brindaron contención.

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.

Slew of new lawsuits name 21 previously unidentified alleged abusers in Rochester diocese

ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat and Chronicle

August 3, 2020

By Sean Lahman

More than 70 survivors filed civil suits last week accusing former priests, nuns and lay teachers who served within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester of sexually abusing them as children.

Among the new cases are 21 alleged abusers who had not previously been accused publicly.

A deadline to lodge the claims by Aug. 13 — a date that could yet be extended if legislation is signed, has accelerated the pace of filings.

At least 230 complaints have been brought against the diocese and its member parishes since last August under the state’s Child Victims Act. Adopted in early 2019, the CVA carved out a one-year window during which suits can be brought by people who allege they were sexually abused when they were young.

One of the new lawsuits alleges abuse that occurred in 1939, but most of the new cases describe incidents of sexual misconduct from the 1970s and 1980s. Roughly half of the new lawsuits involve victims who were 10 years old or younger when their abuse allegedly started.

To date, roughly 80% of the 260 CVA cases filled in Monroe County name the diocese and its parishes as defendants.

“We are honored to stand with these survivors in their pursuit of truth and accountability,” said attorney Jeff Anderson, whose firm filed 58 of the suits last week. “The number of complaints being filed demonstrates the magnitude of peril that has existed in the diocese for decades and that will no longer continue due to these courageous survivors.”

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.