ABUSE TRACKER

NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR
CBC News

July 29, 2020

Previous judge pegged damages at $2.6 million

A landmark ruling has deemed the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of St. John’s has a responsibility to victims of the horrific abuse suffered by boys at the Mount Cashel Orphanage.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal released its decision on Wednesday, overturning a previous decision by the province’s Supreme Court.

It states that while the abuse was suffered at the hands of the Christian Brothers — who were not employees of the local archdiocese — it was the archdiocese who offered them the environment to commit crimes that went unpunished for decades.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Kansas City Star

July 28, 2020

By Judy L. Thomas

The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is facing two new sexual abuse lawsuits involving two priests, one alleging rape in a church rectory two years ago.

Filed in Jackson County Circuit Court, the civil suits allege that the diocese covered up the abuse, which allowed the priests to gain access to and sexually abuse other vulnerable individuals as well.

“No one can wish this continuing crisis away,” said David Clohessy, former executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, which announced the filing of the lawsuits Tuesday afternoon at a news conference in Kansas City. “It takes courageous action to expose and remove sick clerics. We applaud these two brave victims and hope others in pain will keep stepping forward.”

The diocese said in a statement that one of the priests died while the diocese was in the process of permanently removing him from the priesthood. The other, the diocese said, is no longer allowed to present himself as a priest.

One lawsuit, filed July 20, names the diocese and the Rev. Darvin Salazar as defendants, alleging that Salazar sexually assaulted the plaintiff in the rectory at Holy Cross Catholic Church in northeast Kansas City, then prevented him from leaving. The 10 counts include allegations of battery, false imprisonment, negligence, intentional failure to supervise clergy, fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

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KSHB-TV
Kansas City (MO)

July 28, 2020

By Caitlin Knute

An accomplished violinist since the age of five, Elena Nanneman once planned to play professionally.

But the 22 year old now is pursuing a different career path, shaped by the sexual abuse she said she experienced in her youth.

“When I was around 7 or 8, I started to be sexually abused by one of the elders in my grandfather’s church,” she said, “and that went on for maybe three or four years.”

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WIGAN (ENGLAND)
Wigan Today

July 29, 2020

By By Gaynor Clarke

A Wigan man abused as a schoolboy by a perverted Catholic priest says “a huge weight has been lifted” as the 96-year-old begins his prison sentence.

Father John Kevin Murphy was jailed for five years at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday for sexually abusing six boys – including one from Ashton – more than 30 years ago.

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.

All but one came forward to police after seeing media reports about him being imprisoned in 2017 for molesting other boys.

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ONTARIO, CANADA
Global News

June 28, 2020

By Jacquelyn LeBel

The London District Catholic School Board and King’s University College at Western University are moving to rename a school and a centre that currently bear the name of a once highly respected Catholic figure who was posthumously found to have sexually abused at least six women.

Jean Vanier died last year at age 90 and a report from the French-based charity he founded, L’Arche International, was released in February 2020. According to that report, the women’s descriptions provide evidence enough to show that Jean Vanier engaged in “manipulative sexual relationships” over a period from 1970 to 2005, usually with a “psychological hold” over the alleged victims.

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AUSTRALIA
Times of Israel

July 28, 2020

By Jacob Magid

Community leaders freely express their discontent over lengthy extradition proceedings of accused abuser Malka Leifer, but say their Zionist roots have helped in weathering storm

The Australian Jewish community’s frustration with the State of Israel reached near boiling point in late February.

The breakdown centered around one woman, former high school principal Malka Leifer, who is wanted in Australia on 74 charges of child abuse. Many in the community saw Jerusalem as dragging its feet on an extradition process that has long been in the works. Some felt the Jewish state was even protecting Leifer from facing the charges against her in Australia.

In 2008, the 53-year-old Israeli mother of eight fled to Israel as allegations emerged that she had sexually abused pupils at Melbourne’s Adass Israel ultra-Orthodox girls high school. Police complaints against Leifer were submitted by three sisters in 2011, Australia filed for extradition in 2013, and Israel arrested her in 2014.

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UNITED STATES
Los Angeles Times

July 28, 2020

By Nardine Saadstaff

The Coptic Orthodox Church in the U.S., shaken in recent weeks by 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 by Fr. 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.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

July 29, 2020

By Heath Parkes-Hupton

A Catholic priest convicted of sexually abusing two young boys has had his appeal thrown out despite arguing he didn’t receive a fair trial.

https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/courts-law/john-patrick-casey-catholic-priests-sexual-assault-appeal-fails-in-supreme-court/news-story/b86fa00345e57d67582cc6b01cfbd38a

A former Catholic priest and police chaplain’s appeal against his convictions of sexually abusing young boys in northern NSW has been denied despite arguing the Crown’s “sanitised version” of events deprived him of a fair trial.

John Patrick Casey was in charge of a church in the Lismore Diocese when he molested two boys at his parish house at Mallanganee Presbytery, west of Casino, in the mid 1980s.

Casey was in his 30s when he digitally penetrated a boy’s anus as he washed him in the shower and ejaculated towards the head of another boy.

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INDONESIA
The Jakarta Post

July 29, 2020

By Ivany Atina Arbi, Evi Mariani and Dwi Atmanta

Top officials in the Catholic Church have said that they are coming up with a protocol to protect minors and vulnerable adults, but they reiterated that physically and mentally able adult women who have sexual relations with clergymen – consensual or otherwise – will not be the beneficiary of the protocol.

While admitting there were power dynamics and cases of power abuse between clergymen and laywomen or nuns, Father Sunu Hardiyanta, who has been working on a system to prevent and handle cases of sexual abuse at the Catholic Church since 2012, told The Jakarta Post and Tirto.id that the topic of handling cases involving adult women was different and required “a separate protocol”.

“Adult relationships are more an ethical matter, code of conduct, a wrong behavior,” he said. “The most important thing here is correct authority, correct leadership.”

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

July 23, 2020

By Phyllis Zagano

The good news is 15 new cardinals seem to be on the Roman horizon. The bad news is they are all men. Yes, Francis will choose from the peripheries. Yes, he will most probably select the usual suspects — the archbishops of Washington, D.C., and Paris, for example. But a mix of major sees, elderly theologians and surprise picks is probably the best he can do right now.

Don’t expect a woman’s name to be on the list.

The 1917 Code of Canon Law decreed cardinals — advisers to the pope and electors of his successor — must be “at least” priests. The 1983 code added they “must receive episcopal ordination” if not already bishops (Canon 351.1).

Not every cardinal-designate is already a bishop — Jesuit Cardinal Michael Czerny is a recent exception — but usually only elderly priest theologians join the college of cardinals. Usually more than 80 years old, they are not invited to papal conclaves.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Main Line Today

July 27, 2020

By Melissa Jacobs

Josh Shapiro has taken on pedophile priests, President Trump and, now, COVID-19. What’s next for the state’s attorney general? We find out.

Since he took office in January 2017, Josh Shapiro has proven that he doesn’t shy away from legal battles—or the media spotlight. He orchestrated the publication of the Pennsylvania Diocese Victims Report on pedophile priests. It made headlines and sparked reform around the world. Pennsylvania’s attorney general has come a long way from his roots in Montgomery County and the 153rd district he represented for four terms in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Up for reelection in November, the 47-year-old Democrat is rumored to have aspirations for higher public office. For now, Shapiro and his wife, Lori—who were students together at Bryn Mawr’s Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy—live in Abington with their four young children.

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UNITED STATES
Get Religion

July 28, 2020

By Julia Duin

There’s a book out there asking: “What is a Girl Worth?” Written by former gymnast Rachael Denhollander, it asks who is going to tell little girls that the abuse done to them years ago was monstrously wrong and that it actually matters that their perpetrators are punished.

There also needs to be a book asking “what is a priest worth?”

For two years now, we’ve been looking at the news reporting about the sex scandal that surrounded the now-former Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and how “everyone” knew he was dallying with seminarians and sharing beds with them at his New Jersey beach cottage back in the 1980s.

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HOUSTON (TX)
SNAP Network

July 27, 2020

This month Catholic officials in Houston showed their willingness to take money that was not originally meant for them. But last year, our local SNAP leader learned that those same Catholic officials would be willing to bend the rules the other way in order to deny him his job, his income, and his stability.

For five years, Eduardo Lopez de Casas worked as the Director of Spanish Music Ministry and Cantor at Prince of Peace Church in Houston. Eduardo is an internationally renowned singer and was seemingly well-liked by parishioners and staff at his parish, but on August 30, 2019, Eduardo was abruptly terminated from his position. Critically, the way that Prince of Peace termed the removal – telling Eduardo that “the position no longer exists” – not only left Eduardo out of job but unable to receive unemployment benefits: the parish, as a non-profit institution, did not pay into the unemployment program and therefore Eduardo was not eligible to participate, despite working in Texas all his life.

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ISRAEL
The Jerusalem Post

July 20, 2020

By Jeremy Sharon

State prosecutors decry ‘cynicism’ of defense’s use of concept of consent, saying Leifer manipulated her victims and used her influence and power.

Nine years after Australia issued an extradition request against Malka Leifer, a former principal at the ultra-Orthodox Adas Israel school in Melbourne wanted on 74 counts of sexual abuse and rape, extradition proceedings finally began on Monday in the Jerusalem District Court.

During the hearing, Leifer’s defense team claimed that the sex acts she is accused of committing with her pupils were consensual, and that even though her alleged victims were under the age of consent, prosecutors in Israel would not make charges on such allegations and therefore extradition should not be considered.

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CHICAGO (IL)
SNAP Network

July 27, 2020

A prominent pastor from Chicago’s south side has been accused of grooming and abusing at least three women. We applaud these brave survivors for coming forward and we hope their example inspires others who may have been hurt to come forward and make a report to police and prosecutors.

Pastor Jerry Jones, who runs the Apostolic Assembly Church of Lord Jesus Christ in Chicago’s Morgan Park neighborhood, was still working when these allegations were made. By speaking out and detailing their abuse at Pastor Jones’ hands, we believe these women have likely prevented other children from being groomed or abused. They deserve credit for their bravery and we hope that they are receiving the help and support they need.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Telegraph

July 27, 2020

By Jamie Johnson

John Smyth, former chair of the Iwerne Trust, which funded the camps was alleged to have beaten dozens of young men in the 1970s and 80s

The Church of England is investigating how the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby dealt with complaints of serial abuse of young men at Christian holiday camps….

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MISSOULA (MT)
Missoulian

July 27, 2020

By Seaborn Larson

Aformer Jesuit pastor at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Missoula has been permanently removed from ministry after officials in the church’s province found claims that he sexually abused a minor girl 40 years ago to be credible, according to a statement from the province.

The Rev. Rich Perry will remain at Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in California and live under a safety plan, according to the statement provided to the Missoulian. The statement offers no additional information about the alleged abuse in Seattle. Perry’s name and a timeline of his assignments have been added to a publicly available online list of Jesuits with credible claims of sexual abuse of a minor or vulnerable adult.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

July 28, 2020

By Adam Forrest

Justin Welby worked as dormitory officer at summer camps where late John Smyth allegedly beat teenage boys

The Church of England is investigating how the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby handled allegations of abuse at Christian holiday camps in the 1970s and 1980s.

The church launched an independent review last year into claims the late John Smyth QC had stripped young men naked and beat them violently at the summer holiday camps.

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UNITED STATES
AdamHorowitzLaw.com (law firm blog)

July 18, 2020

She’s evidently fascinating, for a bunch of reasons.
For starters, she’s hung around with lots of rich, famous people.
She’s apparently wealthy herself.
Her prominent dad died under mysterious circumstances.
As a result, she suddenly came into loads of money.
She moved half way across the globe and re-invented herself.
She was publicly accused of being both a predator and an enabler.
Her sidekick and former boyfriend and benefactor was arrested. He took his own life while in custody.

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UNITED STATES
AdamHorowitzLaw.com (law firm blog)

July 25, 2020

In any newspaper, the “Letters to the Editor” section is a real grab bag – sometimes goofy, sometimes confusing, and sometimes really perceptive.
In that latter category falls this one which appeared under the headline: “There’s no excuse for delaying Marianists’ victims list.” Here it is:
After decades of protecting predators, a locally based religious order recently released the names of dozens of child molesters it employed at area high schools.

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SAN DIEGO (CA)
SNAP Network

July 27, 2020

The San Diego branch of a national chain of Christian youth theaters has been shut down following extensive allegations of sexual abuse perpetrated by former staffers at the theater. We call for the attorney general of California to investigate this situation and determine if there are any crimes that can still be prosecuted and if there are any abusers hidden among the community.

Allegations of sexual abuse committed at Christian Youth Theater began circulating on social media after former students and employees shared their experiences using the hashtag #CYTKnew. If it is indeed true that theater higher-ups were aware of the crimes and worked to cover them up as these survivors have alleged, we believe that law enforcement must step in as soon as possible to investigate. Especially given that this is a nationwide chain, we fear that if abuse was covered-up at one location, it likely was covered up elsewhere, too.

The allegations made on Facebook are serious. According to The San Diego Union-Tribune, San Diego and El Cajon law enforcement have already received reports of the claims. We hope that they are already investigating and that AG Xavier Becerra will lend his office’s resources and knowledge to assist in this case. Based on the information put out by former students and employees, it seems highly likely that the problems at CYT ran all the way to the top.

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CALIFORNIA
SNAP Network

July 20, 2020

We are very grateful to the survivors who have come forward to accuse Fr. Varghese “George” Alengadan of sexual assault and harassment. We also want to thank Alameda County DA Nancy O’Malley and her staff for investigating the allegations and filing charges. We believe that the only way to clean up the Catholic Church is for secular authorities to lead the charge.

Fr. Alengadan remains a powerful priest and we have no doubt that his influence and popularity may inhibit other victims from speaking up. We encourage any survivors and witnesses to contact law enforcement immediately. The DA’s number is 510-272-6222. Reports can also be made to the California Attorney General’s office.

The assault for which Fr. Alengadan is being charged would not have occurred had the Oakland Diocese responded appropriately to the 2002 report made by a young bride-to-be who was also assaulted by the clergyman. Inaction following allegations is all too common in the Catholic Church and is part of the “playbook” uncovered by the Grand Jury in Pennsylvania. Similar tactics were used across the bay at Presentation High School in San Jose. A recently issued report from Presentation laid bare abuse and cover-up at this school in the San Jose Diocese. The investigation spanned a period of 40 years, involved dozens of victims, and exposed five accused teachers and one accused coach.

There is much more for the Oakland Diocese to do in the case of Fr. Alengadan. The cleric was a close associate of Oakland’s Bishop, serving on his personnel board and receiving a “priest of the year” award in 2017. We believe that honor was a slap in the face to survivors. In 2016 the Oakland Diocese received a second report about Fr. Alengadan ‘s 2002 assault on the bride-to-be, this time from her mother. That email was also ignored. To us, it almost seems that the award was meant to show the family that their reports meant nothing.

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MISSOURI
SNAP Network

July 20, 2020

Three new allegations have been made against a Missouri Catholic priest who was first named as an abuser in April.

This situation shows that when the names of abusers are made public it often encourages others who were hurt to come forward and make a report. We applaud these brave individuals for speaking out and hope that their example inspires others who were hurt in Missouri to protect children by coming forward and making a report to the police.

These new allegations against Fr. Gary Carr should compel Catholic officials in every diocese where the cleric worked – including Springfield-Cape Girardeau, MO; Phoenix, AZ; and Santa Fe, NM – to share information about these allegations in every parish and location where Fr. Carr worked in an effort to bring other victims forward.

The average age of a survivor coming forward in the US is 52, but we would expect more of Fr. Carr’s victims to come forward now if they find the support and encouragement they need to do so.

CONTACT: Zach Hiner, SNAP Executive Director (517-974-9009, zhiner@snapnetwork.org)

(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

July 28, 2020

A Roman Catholic priest who sexually abused young boys has been jailed again for crimes which came to light following his original trial.

John Murphy, 96, of Horwich, was sentenced to six years in prison at Liverpool Crown Court after admitting 32 offences including indecent assault.

The court heard he was a “predatory paedophile” who used his position as a priest to groom and abuse children.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Criminal Lawyers

July 24, 2020

By Sonia Hickey

Catholic Church Priest Vincent Ryan has been released after serving 14 months in prison for the historical sexual abuse of two altar boys.

Unfortunately, it’s another case of historic child sexual abuse where the perpetrator barely suffers consequences, while the victims spend years trying to rebuild their lives after a childhood that’s been shattered.

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WASHINGTON D.C.
WUSA, Channel 9

July 27, 2020

By Bruce Leshan

https://www.wusa9.com/article/features/producers-picks/virginia-priests-blogs-about-child-sex-abuse-bishop-threatens-to-defrock-him/65-baea97cc-ce4a-4682-a206-8ec66eff252b

Rev. Mark White and his supporters are coming to D.C. to appeal to the Pope’s representative for help.

A Catholic priest in southwest Virginia is refusing to be silenced.

Father Mark White said his bishop has ordered him to stop writing about clergy child sexual abuse and the actions of Catholic leaders.

The Bishop of Richmond, Barry Knestout, has relieved White of his priestly duties, kicked him out of his parish house, and threatened to have him defrocked, White said.

But Rev. White and his supporters are coming to Washington Friday to appeal to the Vatican Embassy for support.

“As of this writing, this is not just about Fr. Mark’s blog,” Deborah Cox, a spokeswoman for the Richmond Diocese, said. “Fr. Mark continues to refuse to accept the assignment and the new job he has been given.”

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Crux

July 28, 2020

By Inés San Martín

ROSARIO, Argentina—Even though the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has seemingly put most of the world on hold, many scholars have continued with their research projects and are already planning ahead, thinking about the 2021 calendar to reschedule events postponed this year.

One such event is a day-long consultation at the University of Notre Dame, set to bring together some 30 participants from the United States and Germany to look into the lessons of national truth and reconciliation processes, and apply them to the Church on matters of clerical sexual abuse.

The organizers believe that major festering wounds continue to exist in the Church, including a lack of healing for victims of clerical abuse, a reticence to speak the truth about the abuse, and a lack of accountability. They believe that the many national processes in the political realm of the past generation may provide insights for how the Church as a whole might confront decades of abuse and cover-up.

Behind the project are German Dr. Katharina Westerhorstmann, Professor of Theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville, and Dr. Daniel Philpott, professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame. The project is being funded by a grant from the University of Notre Dame.

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ROME (ITALY)
Catholic News Service via Crux

By Junno Arocho Esteves

July 28, 2020

In the Catholic Church, a person’s canonization is almost always preceded by decades of meticulous investigation into the minute details of the candidate’s life.

Thousands of saints have been raised to the altars after these thorough investigations, while the causes of many other candidates are usually suspended or closed when there is insufficient evidence of one’s sanctity or the lack of miracle.

Yet, there are also causes that have been closed or delayed due to doubts or, worse, due to proverbial “skeletons in the closet” uncovered during the investigation into their lives.

The delay in the sainthood cause of Father Joseph Kentenich, founder of the Schonstatt movement, was the most recent example of that last scenario, after allegations of abuse uncovered during an apostolic visitation in the early 1950s were made public July 2.

His cause was opened in 1975 in the Diocese of Trier, Germany, and was in the diocesan phase, which is the first step in a candidate’s cause before it is sent to Rome for further investigation.

German scholar Alexandra von Teuffenbach, a former professor of church history at Rome’s Pontifical Regina Apostolorum University, discovered documents in the recently opened archives of the pontificate of Pope Pius XII that revealed allegations of sexual abuse and abuse of power against Kentenich.

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UNITED STATES
AdamHorowitzLaw.com (law firm blog)

July 26, 2020

Like many clergy, Scout leaders are often thought of as selfless men, generously sharing their time and talent with youngsters.

Like many clergy, they often have seemingly legitimate reasons to be alone with kids.

Like many clergy, Scout leaders belong to a rigid, male-dominated, hierarchical group.

Like many clergy, they are often seen as ‘good influences’ on kids, especially troubled kids.

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UNITED STATES
AdamHorowitzLaw.com (law firm blog)

July 26, 2020

This week, we took note of these three stories. See if you respond to them like we did.

First, this one: following Mr. Epstein’s death, prosecutors said they would “continue to investigate his associates,” including Ghislaine Maxwell, “once a fixture on New York’s social scene,” who reportedly “also had participated in some of the abuse and lied about her conduct.” Authorities have “identified more than 15 bank accounts linked to her, whose total balance at times exceeded $20 million” and are trying to keep her locked up until trial.

Then this one: “In a $150 million settlement, the New York Department of Financial Services said Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender, had engaged in suspicious transactions for years” and Deutsche Bank “inexcusably failed to detect or prevent millions of dollars of suspicious transactions. . . “

And this one: “Within a 48 hour period this week, many of the world’s internet giants took steps that would have been unthinkable for them even months earlier. Reddit, which spent most of its life as a lawless free-for-all banned thousands of forums for hate speech. Twitch suspended President Trump’s official account for ‘hateful conduct.’ YouTube purged a handful of notorious racists. Facebook took down a network of violent anti-government insurrectionists who had set up shop on its platform.”

We’re encouraged by these developments These stories may seem unconnected. But look closely and you’ll see that the common denominator: powerful individuals and institutions that let and helped others do harm are being held accountable.

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JAKARTA (INDONESIA)
The Jakarta Post

July 28, 2020

By Ivany Atina Arbi, Evi Mariani and Dwi Atmanta

Twenty-seven years ago, an 11-year-old girl knelt beside a priest in a mandatory confession organized by her Catholic school in Jakarta. She told the priest her sin: disobeying her parents. As he spoke the absolution, the girl felt his hands touching her body.

The confession lasted five minutes and did not take place in a traditional partitioned confessional. Twice a year, the school arranged the event, usually before Christmas and Easter, and brought dozens of school children to a special confession space in a chapel, where there was no partition to separate the child and the priest.

“I felt uneasy and knew something was wrong, but I couldn’t tell what was off,” said the former student of Sang Timur Catholic elementary school, which is located next to the the Maria Bunda Karmel (MBK) Church.

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CHICAGO (IL)
WLS-TV (Channel 7)

July 27, 2020

A Chicago bishop and retired Chicago Fire Department assistant commissioner has been charged with sexual abuse, according to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Jerry Jones, 71, is facing three felony charges for crimes that allegedly took place over the course of two decades.

Jones, a bishop at two South Side churches, is also a retired Chicago Fire Department assistant commissioner.

Jones allegedly sexually abused the victims at multiple locations, including one of the churches and at his home, when he was 42-66 years old, prosecutors said.

A 21-year old woman, who was 11-years old at the time, claims Jones used pastoral counseling meetings as an opportunity to inappropriately touch her, police say. The victim also told police he would use Bible verses to speak to her inappropriately about sex.

Jones also allegedly asked for the victim to send nude photographs of themselves.

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INDIA
Catholic News Agency via the Catholic World Report

July 27, 2020

After several failures to secure dismissal of charges in lower courts, a Catholic bishop whom a nun has accused of rape has asked India’s Supreme Court to dismiss the case.

Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jullundur has been charged with raping a nun repeatedly over the course of two years, allegations he denies.

His effort to dismiss the charges was rejected in a trial court in March, then again in the Kerala High Court July 7. The court agreed with prosecutors that there was evidence to proceed, The Tribune of India reports.

Mulakkal claims he was falsely accused after he questioned alleged financial irregularities of the victim’s convent.

Bishop Mulakkal was arrested in September 2018 amid protests calling for a police investigation of the allegation. He was subsequently released on bail. The bishop was charged in April 2019 with rape, unnatural sex, wrongful confinement, and criminal intimidation. He faces imprisonment of 10 years to life if found guilty.

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.

PROVIDENCE (RI)
WPRI

July 27, 2020

By Eli Sherman, Walt Buteau

With R.I. Supreme Court Justice Francis Flaherty winning a key victory in his yearslong fight against an ethics complaint, the state’s high court could soon find itself in the unusual position of hearing a case involving one of its own.

R.I. Superior Court Judge Brian Stern on Friday reversed a R.I. Ethics Commission decision from last year that cited Flaherty for violating the state’s ethics code. The violation, which came with a $200 fine, stemmed from a 2016 complaint accusing Flaherty of repeatedly failing to disclose his leadership position in a Catholic nonprofit while also ruling on a priest sexual abuse case.

Stern vacated that decision, however, concluding in part the commission had failed to prove Flaherty made a “knowing and willful” violation, meaning commission lawyers didn’t show Flaherty intentionally withheld the information.

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

UNITED STATES
LifeSiteNews

July 25, 2020

‘These three elements – heresy, sodomy, and corruption – are so recurrent that they are almost a trademark of the deep state and of the deep church’

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has pointed out three elements that have become what he calls the trademark of the deep Church: “heresy, sodomy, and corruption.”

In a new wide-ranging interview with Vatican expert Marco Tosatti (read full interview below), the Vatican whistleblower speaks about the deeper significance of the case of former Cardinal McCarrick in relation to the “doctrinal crisis” the Church is facing.

“There is a very strict relationship between the doctrinal crisis of the Church and the immorality of the clergy, that scandalously reaches up to the highest levels of the hierarchy. But it is also apparent that this crisis is being used by the ultra-progressive wing not only to impose a false morality together with a false doctrine, but also to irremediably discredit the Holy Church and the Papacy before the faithful and the world, through the action of its own leaders,” stated the Archbishop.

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NEW YORK
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle via Daily Messenger

July 27, 2020

By Steve Orr and Sean Lahman, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

Victims of child sexual abuse are rushing lawsuits into state court, fearful that two attempts to extend the deadline for such suits will amount to nothing.

More than 400 child sexual abuse suits have been filed in the past month, and 1,000 since late May. Hundreds more are expected before the original deadline arrives in three weeks.

“Our firms are working around the clock to finalize the complaints. We’re filing all of our cases now,” said Michael Pfau, a Seattle-based lawyer who, in conjunction with a New York firm, has filed upward of 600 such lawsuits to date.

The firms have at least 200 more cases that will be filed shortly.

The state’s Child Victims Act, adopted in early 2019, carved out a one-year window during which suits can be brought by people who allege they were sexually abused when they were young.

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.

NEW YORK
Times Herald-Record

July 27, 2020

By Chris McKenna

In one lawsuit filed on Thursday, eight men alleged that a longtime Orange County priest sexually abused them when they were children, adding their claims to those of at least three other accusers of the late Rev. George Boxelaar who have sued.

In another case brought one day earlier, a former Middletown School District student alleges he was molested in second or third grade by Dr. Stefan Irving, a former school pediatrician now serving almost 22 years in prison for a 2003 conviction on charges he traveled abroad to have sex with minors.

Fourteen lawsuits in all were filed under the Child Victims Act in Orange and Ulster counties in the last two months as an 11:59 p.m. Aug. 13 deadline approaches for past abuse allegations to be brought in civil courts. State lawmakers passed a bill in May that could extend that deadline by a year, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo hasn’t signed or vetoed it yet.

Other recent suits brought under the Child Victims Act include:

– In a case filed Tuesday in Ulster County, a former Ellenville School District student alleges his assistant football coach – who was also his Spanish teacher – sexually abused him at least 50 times from 1989 to 1994, starting when the plaintiff was in eighth grade.

– Two sisters from Orange County sued their former stepfather on Wednesday for sexually abusing them when they were younger than 13. The Rockland County man pleaded guilty to those crimes in 2012 and served three years in prison, according to the complaint and state records.

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

WASHINGTON D.C.
Washington Post

July 22, 2020

By Michelle Boorstein

https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2020/07/22/new-accuser-theodore-mccarrick-alleges-ex-cardinal-orchestrated-abuse-involving-other-clerics/

Ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick, already laicized and the subject of a Vatican investigation, is accused in a newly filed lawsuit of orchestrating the abuse of minor boys by multiple other clerics at his New Jersey beach house in the early 1980s.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday evening in New Jersey Superior Court by a man who alleges he was abused by McCarrick, former D.C. archbishop and until recently one of the country’s best-connected and influential Catholic clerics, and five other New Jersey clerics when the victim was between 11 and 16 years old. Four of them did so at the beach house, the suit alleges, when McCarrick was bishop of Metuchen, N.J.

The suit alleges that the boy needed money to pay for his Catholic education, and that one cleric — who had already sexually abused the boy — told him he needed to talk to “the boss,” and then introduced him to McCarrick, who then allegedly began abusing him.

At least 7 more people told the Vatican they were sexually abused as boys by Theodore McCarrick, according to sources

McCarrick, who was defrocked in 2019, has previously been accused of sexual misconduct with at least seven minors, according to three individuals who spoke to The Washington Post for a story in October. One of the individuals is an accuser, one of five McCarrick accusers who are represented by the same attorney. The second is Camille Biros, who is a member of the independent reconciliation and compensation board set up by the New York archdiocese. The third, who has direct knowledge of all the claims U.S. church officials sent to the Vatican for its probe, spoke on the condition of anonymity because canon law forbids unauthorized people to speak about internal cases.

The Vatican said in defrocking McCarrick that he had been credibly accused of sexually harassing seminarians and young priests.

The accuser in Tuesday’s lawsuit is coming forward for the first time, said his attorney, Jeffrey Anderson. His name is not included in the lawsuit, and The Washington Post usually does not publish the names of alleged victims of sexual misconduct without their permission.

Pope Francis in October 2018 launched an investigation into McCarrick and how he rose to such prominence even as rumors and reports to church higher-ups of sexual misconduct streamed in for decades. Anderson said the new accuser has spoken to the Vatican investigators for that ongoing probe.

McCarrick’s civil attorney, Barry Coburn, declined to comment Wednesday. McCarrick, in limited comments he has made since being suspended in 2018, has said he did nothing wrong.

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.

PROVIDENCE (RI)
Providence Journal

July 24, 2020

By Katherine Gregg

https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20200724/superior-court-rules-in-justice-flahertyrsquos-favor-in-case-over-200-fine-for-failing-to-disclose-links-to-catholic-organization

A Superior Court judge has sided with Supreme Court Justice Frank Flaherty – and against the Rhode Island Ethics Commission – in heated long running fight over a $200 fine for failing to disclose links to Catholic organization.

In a decision out Friday, Judge Brian Stern vacated the Ethics Commission’s ruling that Flaherty’s failure to list his position as President of the St. Thomas More Society on his financial statements for the period running from 2010-2015 constituted “a knowing and willful violation″ of state ethics law.

Among Stern’s findings: “The Commission Decision contained no finding that the Plaintiff’s actions were deliberate or intentional, and the weight of the evidence presented during the adjudicatory hearing supported a conclusion that the Plaintiff’s actions were not deliberate.

“Accordingly, the Commission Decision is clearly erroneous and affected by error of law,″ the judge ruled in a decision that did not go as far as Flaherty wanted the court to go in challenging the Ethics Commission’s powers.

Flaherty’s judicial battle stemmed from the court decision he wrote denying the appeal of Helen Hyde, a woman who had sued the Roman Catholic bishop of Providence — unsuccessfully — seeking damages from alleged abuse by the Rev. Brendan Smyth more than 40 years ago.

Hyde brought a complaint against Flaherty before the Ethics Commission in 2016, saying he should have mentioned that he was president of the St. Thomas More Society of Rhode Island on his financial and conflict-of-interest disclosure forms from 2010 to 2015. The Society hosts the annual Red Mass, a traditional Catholic celebration of the opening of the court term.

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.

DÜSSELDORF (GERMANY)
Church Militant

July 24, 2020

by William Mahoney, Ph.D.

Ordaining women remains an open question for a German bishop who believes radical reform in the Church is necessary.

“I consider the reform process in the Church to be essential,” said Bp. Heiner Wilmer of Hildesheim, Germany in an interview published Monday with German newspaper Rheinische Post. “I am in favor of an open discussion and personally trust in the Holy Spirit,” said the German prelate, who explained everything must be brought to the table, including the ordination of women and eradicating mandatory priestly celibacy.

Subscribing to Pope Francis’ “accompaniment” model of the Church, Wilmer said in the interview that the Church’s mission is “to be with the people and make sure that the increasing cold in our society is transformed back into warmth.” Key to living out that model is putting “people” at the forefront, according to the bishop. “People, not institutions, must be at the center of all reforms,” he said.

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

Ville Platte (LA)
Acadia Parish Today

July 24, 2020

A Ville Platte man affiliated with the Diocese of Lafayette is facing child pornography and sexual abuse of an animal charges.

The Attorney General’s office has confirmed that Isac Calderon-Sierra has been taken into custody at the Rapides Parish Jail on a fugitive warrant.

Calderon-Sierra was a member of a youth group at Queen of All Saints Catholic Church in Ville Platte.

On Thursday, the Diocese of Lafayette said that Calderon was a former volunteer for an inter-parochial youth group that met at Our Lady Queen of All Saints Church. During the time he was a volunteer, the diocese says they never received any complaints in connection with that group.

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.

SUPERIOR (MI)
Catholic Herald (Diocese of Superior)

July 24, 2020

Editor’s note: The Diocese of Superior released this statement July 10 in response to an Associated Press article, “Catholic Church lobbied for taxpayer funds, got $1.4B.”

The Diocese of Superior and its 103 separately incorporated parishes suffered many losses when the COVID-19 pandemic government mandates caused the closing of churches and offices and the suspension of the holy Mass. The economic impact of the dramatically reduced charitable contributions to our churches from March to May was real. Our bishop, James Powers, strongly encouraged each parish to keep their staff on the payroll if at all possible out of a sense of justice to the hardworking employees of 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.

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

July 27, 2020

By Michael Sean Winters

Next month will be the second anniversary of the infamous “testimony” of former nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, published first at the EWTN-owned National Catholic Register. It was obviously the work of a profoundly disturbed person, all the settling scores, spewing accusations hither and yon, demonstrating that he, and he alone, was virtuous. He even called upon Pope Francis to resign! The timing — at the end of Francis’ visit to Ireland — was designed to gain maximum exposure.

At a press conference on the plane back to Rome, Francis chose not to engage the charges Viganò had leveled. “I will not say a single word on this,” the pope said about Viganò’s screed. “I think this statement speaks for itself, and you have the sufficient journalistic capacity to draw conclusions.”

Very oddly, given the fact that Viganò had violated canon law by revealing information he acquired under the pontifical secret and because, well, it is truly brutta figura to ask the pope to resign, several U.S. bishops came out with statements in the subsequent days in which they attested to Viganò’s integrity, and not to that of Francis. There was schism in the air. I will let the readers draw their own conclusions from the fact that when I Googled “bishops who support Viganò” the first item is found at CatholicVote.org, the organization working to reelect President Donald Trump, who famously received a letter from Viganò. Oliver Stone: Call your office!

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INDONESIA
Jakarta Post

July 27, 2020

By Ivany Atina Arbi, Evi Mariani and Dwi Atmanta

Victims of sexual abuse and harassment in the Indonesian Catholic Church face “thick walls” of silence, secrecy and denial, having to bear trauma while the priests who they have accused remain on a moral pedestal.

Sisca, who has chosen to use an alias to protect her privacy, said she was molested by a Catholic priest in Jakarta when she was 11 years old. The 38-year-old watches the same priest greet school children in the same Catholic school every morning, and in December of last year, she heard His Eminence Ignatius Cardinal Suharyo, the highest-ranking member of the Indonesian Catholic Church, deny that he had ever received any reports of sexual abuse in the Church.

Sisca did not believe the cardinal could have possibly been oblivious to the alleged sexual abuse. “Where has he been? We had high hopes for him. He was appointed cardinal by the Pope. It’s a prestigious title. A cardinal is a chosen figure, and [the Pope] would not appoint a random priest,” she told The Jakarta Post in early February. “It hurts me to hear him say that. He doesn’t know how it feels,” Sisca said.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

July 27, 2020

By Christopher White

As allegations of serial sexual misconduct against Catholic composer David Haas continue to mount, a leading supplier of sacred music has vowed an investigation into how one of the church’s best selling musicians’ record of predatory behavior avoided scrutiny and accountability.

GIA Publications, which distributed the Gather hymnals that included some of Haas’ best known works, told NCR in a statement that “a third-party assessment will create a strong survivor-centered structure to report incidents of alleged harassment or abuse.”

“In addition to the assessment, we are in the process of establishing a Code of Conduct for all composers and authors we publish,” said Kate Williams, senior managing editor of GIA Publications. “These changes will facilitate the community’s ability to take prompt action in response to reports of behavioral misconduct.”

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.

NEW YORK
Cheektowaga Bee

July 23, 2020

Legislation introduced by Assembly member Monica Wallace titled the CARE Act has passed the Assembly this week.

The Child Abuse Reporting Expansion Act would add clergy members to the list of mandatory reporters of child abuse and maltreatment, “closing a loophole that allowed for the proliferation and cover-up of child abuse,” according to Wallace.

The act was introduced last year, weeks after passage of the Child Victims Act, which extended the statute of limitations for survivors of child abuse to file civil claims and provided a temporary period during which survivors could file a claim regardless of how long ago the alleged abuse occurred.

“In the wake of this legislation, plaintiffs filed hundred of lawsuits accusing hundreds of clergy members of acts of abuse and maltreatment against children and teenagers,” said Wallace in a release.

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.

NEW YORK
Rockland/Westchester Journal News

July 27, 2020

By Jonathan Bandler

Lawyers for the 21 men who have accused Edwin “Ted” Gaynor of molesting them when they were students at either St. Bernard in White Plains, Immaculate Heart of Mary in Scarsdale or Holy Rosary in Thornwood argue that in every instance, the school, parish and Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York officials either knew or should have known about the abuse but did little to stop it.

But in some of the cases, the lawsuits offer details of why they think the officials knew, with claims that they were specifically told either by the students or their parents. In some instances, reports to the school came after meetings among parents.

Edwin Gaynor and his basketball team at Immaculate Heart of Mary in Scarsdale in 1967. Standing in front of Gaynor is Gregory Morra, one of 21 former students who allege in lawsuits that Gaynor sexually abused them

Here are snapshots of some of those cases:

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Register

July 26, 2020

By Jim Graves

The Register spoke to a few dioceses across the country to see how they are coping with the situation.

The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) surveyed U.S. bishops and reported that the COVID-19 pandemic has had major adverse effects on U.S. dioceses. Indeed, most indicated that the celebration of the sacraments was “very affected” and that it had significantly affected the morale of clergy as well as lay church staff.

Steps taken by bishops to meet financial shortfalls due to the elimination of Sunday collections include applying for government aid, encouraging parishioners to donate electronically, ending diocesan programs, and even closing schools and parishes and laying off staff. (Read more about the study here.)

The Register spoke to a few dioceses across the country to see how they are coping with the situation.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer

July 26, 2020

By Maria Panaritis

I was in the receiving line at the wake of a virtual stranger. Something had pulled me toward Egizi Funeral Home in Turnersville on Friday. I’d gotten word that an Inquirer reader I had met only once had died. And for some reason, that was reason enough to make the 45-minute trip from Philadelphia into South Jersey.

The pandemic had caused the wake to be delayed by two weeks, so there was no casket. Just flowers and photo galleries of a life I knew close to nothing about: Anthony DeVirgiliis, 72, of Sewell. On a table was a black-and-white picture of him as a baby; another from what looked like his confirmation; in a white tuxedo as a young man; with lifelong love Donata on their wedding day. A faded color shot of him, Donata, and their only child, Michelle Tamburro, on a Jersey Shore beach 40 years ago left a lump in my throat.

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.

NEW DELHI (INDIA)
Punjab Live

July 25, 2020

Bishop Franco Mulakkal, accused of raping a senior Kerala nun, has approached the Supreme Court claiming innocence and seeking to discharge him without a trial in the matter.

Mulakkal, in his petition, claimed that he is “innocent” and was “falsely implicated” in the case by the complainant after he questioned the financial dealings of the alleged victim nun.

The accused moved the apex court after the Kerala High Court dismissed his petition, seeking directions to discharge him without a trial in the rape case. Earlier, a trial court had also rejected his bail plea.

Mulakkal, 56, was arrested on rape charges on September 21, 2018, after a nun in the Missionaries of Jesus congregation filed a complaint against him accusing the Bishop of raping her 13 times between 2014 and 2016 in Kottayam in Kerala.

The Kerala Police had filed a 1,400-page chargesheet against him in the case.

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.

IRONDALE (AL)
National Catholic Register / EWTN

July 24, 2020

Two years after the former cardinal’s sexual predilections were revealed, the Vatican still hasn’t released its report.

It has now been two years since Pope Francis accepted Theodore McCarrick’s resignation from the College of Cardinals, shortly after allegations of his sexual abuse of a minor and evidence of other sexual exploitations first detonated into public view.

Yet after all this time, Catholics in the United States are still waiting for answers about which Church leaders, here and in Rome, knew about McCarrick’s scandalous situation but failed to take meaningful disciplinary and preventive actions — and possibly even facilitated and abetted his meteoric rise to prominence.

That’s far too long to wait. The delay only aggravates the severe damage caused by this unclarity and lack of episcopal accountability, further compromises the trust Catholics need to have in their shepherds, and prolongs the healing process for McCarrick’s victims. The whole ugly scandal seriously hampers the Church’s basic mission of evangelization and service.

“Why wasn’t this egregious situation addressed decades sooner and with justice?” That’s the urgent question asked in August 2018, two months after the public revelations about McCarrick, by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, then president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), in a statement in which he vowed to pursue answers to the full extent of his authority and to advocate for answers beyond that.

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.

NEW YORK (NY)
Commonweal

July 24, 2020

By Massimo Faggioli

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

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

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

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

COLUMBUS (OH)
Columbus Dispatch

July 26, 2020

By Danae King

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

KINGSTON (TN)
Roane County News

July 23, 2020

By Hugh Willett

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

GENESEO (NY)
Livingston County News

July 24, 2020

By Matt Leader

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CLARKSBURG (WV)
WV News

July 24, 2020

By Matt Harvey

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
WTOP News

July 23, 2020

By Rick Massimo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

July 24, 2020

By Patricia Gallagher Marchant (and three other writers)

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

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

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

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

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

Patricia Gallagher Marchant
Franklin, Wis.

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

LITTLE FALLS (MN)
Morrison County Record

July 24, 2020

By Horst G. Hanneken and Debbie Woitalla

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

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

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

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

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

ERIE (PA)
WJET-TV 24 ABC

July 24, 2020

By Samiar Nefzi

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

STUART (VA)
Henry County Enterprise

July 24, 2020

By Brandon Martin

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

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

The Sender

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

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

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

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

FORT LAUDERDALE (FL)
Horowitz Law

July 23, 2020

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

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

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

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

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

– Ireland

*

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

– New York

– Pennsylvania

– Texas

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

KERALA (INDIA)
LiveLaw.in

July 24, 2020

By Viswajith Anand

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

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

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

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

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

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

KARNATAKA (INDIA)
MEA WorldWide

July 23, 2020

By Pathikrit Sanyal

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

July 23, 2020

By David Hammer and Ramon Antonio Vargas

{With video interviewing survivor and showing documents.]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ALBANY (NY)
Times-Union

July 22, 2020

By Brendan J. Lyons

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

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

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

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

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

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

ALTOONA (PA)
Altoona Mirror

July 23, 2020

By Msgr. Michael A. Becker

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post-Dispatch

July 24, 2020

By Lena Woltering

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

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

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

Lena Woltering – Belleville

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AUSTIN (TX)
KXAN

July 22, 2020

By Russell Falcon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ERIE (PA)
Erie Times-News

July 24, 2020

By Ed Palattella

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NEW YORK (NY)
Newsweek

July 20, 2020

By Michael Dolce

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

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

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

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.

BRIDGEWATER (NJ)
Courier News

July 22, 2020

By Nick Muscavage

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

ALLENTOWN (PA)
Morning Call

July 23, 2020

By Laurie Mason Schroeder

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

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

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

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

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

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.

NASHVILLE (TN)
Nashville Scene

July 21, 2020

By Steven Hale

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

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

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

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.

NEW YORK (NY)
America Magazine

July 23, 2020

By Gerard O’Connell

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

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

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

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

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

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.

NEWARK (NJ)
NJ TV News

July 22, 2020

By Michael Hill

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

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

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

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

“Brother Hewitt became the procurer,” Anderson said.

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

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

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.

NEW YORK (NY)
Daily Beast

July 23, 2020

By Kyndall Cunningham

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

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

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

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

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

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.

NEW BRUNSWICK (NJ)
Middlesex County Superior Court

July 21, 2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

July 23, 2020

By Abbott Koloff and Deena Yellin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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WOODBRIDGE (NJ)
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

July 22, 2020

By Ted Sherman

He is known only as “Doe 14.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Times Picayune and New Orleans Advocate

July 22, 2020

By Ramon Antonio Vargas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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FERNDALE (MI)
Church Militant

July 20, 2020

By Marco Tosatti

German priest was protected by the now-secretary of state

Dear friends and enemies of Stilum Curiae,

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

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

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

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

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NEW YORK (NY)
Forward

July 22, 2020

By Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
Associated Press

July 17, 2020

By Nicole Winfield

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

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

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

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

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DUBLIN (IRELAND)
Irish Times

July 18, 2020

By Brian Hutton

[Includes image of papal ambassador’s letter.]

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

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

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

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

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BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW

July 21, 2020

By: Anthony Reyes

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

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

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

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NASHVILLE (TN)
Tennessean

July 21, 2020

By Holly Meyer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

July 21, 2020

By Rick Snedeker

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

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

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

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

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

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican News

July 21, 2020

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

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

Implementation

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

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

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ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat & Chronicle

July 21, 2020

By Steve Orr

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Tablet

July 21, 2020

By Catherine Pepinster

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

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

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

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

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NASHVILLE (TN)
WTVF 5

July 21, 2020

By Ben Hall

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

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

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

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

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

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

July 21, 2020

By Mark Reddie

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

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

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

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

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NEW YORK (NY)
Irish America

July 17, 2020

By Turlough McConnell

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

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

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

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

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

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service via National Catholic Reporter

July 21, 2020

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

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

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

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

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

July 20, 2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

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SYRACUSE (NY)
Spectrum News

July 20, 2020

By Katelynn Ulrich

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

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

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

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

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

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.

NEW YORK (NY)
Episcopal News Service

July 20, 2020

By Egan Millard

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

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

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

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

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

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FAIRMONT (MN)
Fairmont Sentinel

July 21, 2020

By Gary Andersen and Lee Smith

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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