ABUSE TRACKER

BOSTON (MA)
The Conversation

April 6, 2020

By Ben Mathews, Mark Nicholas, and Bernard Thomas

The High Court today granted Cardinal George Pell special leave to appeal, and unanimously allowed the appeal. In other words, Pell won. His convictions were quashed and he will be released from prison.

Pell’s prosecution has been socially explosive and legally complex. The cardinal’s convictions by unanimous jury verdicts were a landmark event in Australian history. The High Court’s decision will be, too – both for the legal world and for society more broadly.

For many, it will be impossible to understand how the unanimous jury verdicts of guilty, further supported by a Court of Appeal majority of two judges, can now be overturned.

The High Court decision may undermine confidence in the legal system, especially in child sexual abuse prosecutions.

Civil legal actions against Pell are ongoing, so his legal battles aren’t over yet. More civil lawsuits may well follow, especially after the release of the Royal Commission’s findings about his conduct in Ballarat.

This case is exceptionally complex. It is important for the public to understand the legal process and key issues.

This High Court appeal did not ask whether Pell committed the offences. It asked whether the two majority judges in the Victorian Court of Appeal, in dismissing Pell’s earlier appeal, made an error about the nature of the correct legal principles, or their application.

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.

BOSTON (MA)
PRI – The World

April 7, 2020

Cardinal George Pell, the former Vatican treasurer, was convicted in 2018 of sexually abusing two boys in Melbourne, Australia, in the 1990s. He was the highest-ranking Catholic leader to face jail time for sexual abuse. On Tuesday, Australia’s highest court overturned the conviction. The World’s host Marco Werman speaks to Anne Barrett Doyle, head of BishopAccountability.org.

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.

LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Guardian

April 7, 2020

By Rick Sarre

One victim of this appeal result may be a loss of public confidence in the jury system

The high court has quashed the conviction of Cardinal George Pell, who had originally been found guilty on a number of charges by a jury of 12 people.

His defence counsel, Bret Walker SC, had argued before the high court that the convictions in 2018 were unsound because it was not open to the jury to find Pell guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

He argued to the high court the “sheer unlikelihood” of events and times aligning in the way that had been put forth by the prosecution to the trial judge and jury. He argued the story of the complainant could not be credible.

The high court has now agreed.

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
SNAP Network

April 06, 2020

As if we needed more examples that institutions cannot police themselves, the United States Tennis Association has provided the latest reason why all allegations of sexual abuse must be reported to and investigated by independent law enforcement officials.

While sports organizations nationwide were grappling with how to handle cases of sexual abuse in the wake of the Larry Nassar scandal, the USTA decided it was capable of doing what U.S/ Gymnastics could not: police itself. Yet as the case of Normandie Burgos shows, in the end USTA’s arrogance only put more children at risk.

USTA allowed Burgos to coach for three more years after he was arrested for sexual abuse, for the second time, in 2014. Rather than learn lessons from the Nassar scandal or the scandals within the Catholic Church, USTA instead decided to follow those institutions’ playbook. This scandal is an embarrassment for the USTA and yet another example of why institutions cannot be believed when they promise to police themselves.

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

BRISBANE (AUSTRALIA)
CNN

April 7, 2020

By Hilary Whiteman

Cardinal George Pell has been freed from prison after Australia’s High Court unanimously overturned his conviction on five counts of historical child sex abuse.

The momentous decision, handed down Tuesday by Chief Justice Susan Kiefel, ends a five-year legal battle that started when a man in his 30s approached police alleging Pell had abused him as a child in the mid-1990s.

At the time, Pell was Vatican Treasurer and the highest ranking Catholic official to ever be publicly accused of child sex offenses. Pell strenuously denied the charges, which he dismissed in a 2016 police interview as a “product of fantasy.”

In its two-page summary of the ruling, the High Court said that the jury “ought to have entertained a doubt as to the applicant’s guilt with respect to each of the offenses for which he was convicted, and ordered that the convictions be quashed and that verdicts of acquittal be entered in their place.”

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

AUSTRALIA
BBC News

April 7, 2020

The High Court of Australia has quashed Cardinal George Pell’s child sexual abuse convictions, allowing him to walk free from jail.

Former priest and historian Paul Collins gives his view on the decision, and what it means for the Catholic 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.

AUSTRALIA
Reuters

April 7, 2020

Supporters of church abuse victims in Australia were shocked on Tuesday after Cardinal George Pell, the most senior Catholic in the world to have been found guilty of historical child sexual abuse, was freed from prison.

“I just felt incredibly sad for survivors and any survivors who have spoken out. Because to me it was a bit like they’ve just been shot. It’s huge news and it’ll impact on so many people and it’s made even harder because of the isolation at the moment,” said Maureen Hatcher, founder of support group Loud Fence.

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.

TOKYO (JAPAN)
ChurchMilitant

April 6, 2020

By Paul Murano

Decades-long record considered the ‘tip of the iceberg’

Japanese bishops have at last published their findings on the sexual abuse of minors, almost 20 years after the investigative process began.

On April 5, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan (CBCJ) released the full report in an issue of Katorikku Shimbun (The Catholic Weekly) published by the bishops’ conference. It will be uploaded in English to the CBCJ website on April 7.

In a cover message to the report, Nagasaki Abp. Mitsuaki Takami, president of the CBCJ, apologized for the delay. “Due to difficulty in understanding the situation and inadequate survey methods, this report is very late, but we have decided to now publish the results,” he stated.

The investigation, conducted by the CBCJ’s Desk for the Protection of Children and Women, found 16 cases of child abuse from the 1950s to the present. The decade with the largest number of cases was the 1960s, which had five. The sexual divide of abused girls to boys was nearly equal, though incomplete records make exact counts impossible.

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.

AUSTRALIA
Business Insider

April 6, 2020

By Rosie Perper

Australia’s High Court has overturned Cardinal George Pell’s conviction for sexual abuse, allowing him to walk free in time for Easter.

The court announced the decision on Tuesday morning local time.

“The High Court granted special leave to appeal against a decision of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria and unanimously allowed the appeal,” the judgment reads.

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.

SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA)
THE NEW YORK TIMES

April 7, 2020

By Damien Cave and Livia Albeck-Ripka

Critics argue that Australia’s courts exhibited a penchant for secrecy and insular decision-making that resembled the Roman Catholic Church’s flawed response to sexual abuse within its ranks.

Cardinal George Pell walked out of prison on Tuesday after Australia’s highest court reversed his 2018 conviction for molesting two choirboys decades earlier — liberating the most senior Roman Catholic cleric to ever face trial over child sexual abuse.

The world may never be able to assess whether the court’s reasoning was sound.

The panel of seven judges ruled that the jury lacked sufficient doubt about the accusations against Cardinal Pell, the former archbishop of Melbourne and treasurer for the Vatican. Jurors, the court argued, ignored “compounding improbabilities” caused by conflicting accounts from the cardinal’s main accuser and other witnesses.

But no one outside the court case can test that comparison. The central evidence — the testimony of the main accuser, on which the case “was wholly dependent,” the judges wrote — has never been released, not in video, audio nor even redacted transcripts.

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.

LA CROSSE (WI)
State News

April 7, 2020

A judge in La Crosse County has dismissed sexual assault charges which had been filed against a retired priest.

Monsignor Bernard McGarty had been accused of touching a woman inappropriately outside the La Crosse Library last May.

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.

CANBERRA (AUSTRALIA)
Associated Press

April 7, 2020

By Rod McGuirk

Cardinal George Pell is welcoming Australia’s highest court clearing him of child sex crimes and says his trial had not been a referendum on the Catholic Church’s handling of the clergy abuse crisis

Cardinal George Pell welcomed Australia’s highest court clearing him of child sex crimes Tuesday and said his trial had not been a referendum on the Catholic Church’s handling of the clergy abuse crisis.

Pell, Pope Francis’ former finance minister, had been the most senior Catholic found guilty of sexually abusing children and spent 13 months in prison before seven High Court judges unanimously dismissed his convictions.

“I have consistently maintained my innocence while suffering from a serious injustice,” Pell said in his first public statement since he was convicted in December 2018. It was released before he left prison and was taken to the Carmelite Monastery in Melbourne, where he was greeted by a nun.

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.

AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail Australia

April 7, 2020

By Nic White

– Cardinal George Pell had his convictions for sexually assaulting boys quashed
– He still faces at least 10 potential civil lawsuits after he walked free from jail
– One is already filed alleging he did nothing to stop another priest abusing a boy
– Father of one of the choirboys in the quashed conviction case also plans to sue
– He blames Pell for his son’s drug addiction that led to heroin overdose in 2014

Cardinal George Pell’s legal woes are far from over even after he walked from prison a free man with his child sexual abuse convictions overturned.

Australia’s most senior Catholic faces at least 10 potential civil lawsuits claiming he either molested other boys or covered up abuse by fellow priests.

One claim was filed in the Victorian Supreme Court last year by a victim of notorious paedophile priest Edward ‘Ted’ Dowlan, alleging Pell did nothing to protect him.

Melbourne lawyer Vivian Waller is handling eight other civil cases against the 78-year-old clergyman and more are expected from other complainants.

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.

AUSTRALIA/ROME
Crux

April 7, 2020

By Elise Ann Allen

Editor’s Note: This piece is being updated throughout the day.

On Tuesday the Vatican said it welcomed the Australian High Court’s decision to acquit Cardinal George Pell on all charges of the sexual abuse, while also stressing their own commitment to pursuing justice for minors who have been abused.

In an April 7 statement just hours after the court’s verdict, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said, “The Holy See, which has always expressed confidence in the Australian judicial authority, welcomes the High Court’s unanimous decision concerning Cardinal George Pell, acquitting him of the accusations of abuse of minors and overturning his sentence.”

“Entrusting his case to the court’s justice, Cardinal Pell has always maintained his innocence, and has waited for the truth to be ascertained,” Bruni said, insisting that while celebrating the verdict the Holy See also “reaffirms its commitment to preventing and pursuing all cases of abuse against minors.

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.

LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Guardian

April 7, 2020

By Harriet Sherwood

Vatican praises Australian cardinal for having ‘waited for the truth to be ascertained’

Pope Francis has recalled the “persecution that Jesus suffered” and has prayed for those who suffer “unjust sentences” hours after Australia’s highest court acquitted cardinal George Pell of child sexual abuse.

The court in Canberra quashed convictions that Pell sexually assaulted two choirboys in the 1990s, allowing the 78-year-old former Vatican economy minister to walk free from jail, ending the most high-profile case of alleged historical sex abuse to rock the Roman Catholic church.

At the start of mass, celebrated at his lodgings at Santa Marta on Tuesday morning and livestreamed, Pope Francis said: “I would like to pray today for all those people who suffer unjust sentences resulting from intransigence [against them].”

The Vatican also welcomed the acquittal, praising Pell in its first official statement for having “waited for the truth to be ascertained”. The Vatican said it had always had confidence in Australian judicial authorities and reaffirmed the Holy See’s “commitment to preventing and pursuing all cases of abuse against minors”.

Francis did not mention Pell by name at mass, but compared the suffering of those inflicted with “unjust sentences” to the way Jewish community elders persecuted Jesus with “obstinacy and rage even though he was innocent”.

Each morning at the mass, Francis chooses an intention for the service, such as remembering the poor, the homeless or the sick. In recent weeks, the pope’s intentions for nearly all of his daily masses have been related to the coronavirus pandemic.

The pope also tweeted about the persecution of Jesus, without making specific reference to Pell. “In these days of Lent, we’ve been witnessing the persecution that Jesus underwent and how He was judged ferociously, even though He was innocent.

“Let us pray together today for all those persons who suffer due to an unjust sentence because someone had it in for them.”

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

VILLAVICENCIO (COLOMBIA)
Archdiocese of Villavicencio

April 3, 2020

Comunicado a la Opinión Pública

La Arquidiócesis de Villavicencio, en virtud de su responsabilidad humana y social, y fiel a nuestro Señor Jesucristo, siguiendo los lineamientos dados por el Papa Francisco y la Conferencia Episcopal Colombiana de tolerancia cero con los abusos sexuales de parte de clérigos, da a conocer a la opinión pública que:

1. El pasado 14 de febrero de 2020 un ciudadano colombiano, mayor de edad, puso en conocimiento del organismo competente, hechos contra la moral sexual de parte de algunos sacerdotes de esta Arquidiócesis.

2. Conscientes de que estos actos son de suma gravedad, la Arquidiócesis de Villavicencio, deplora y siente un profundo dolor por esta situación. En el respeto y cumplimiento de las normas que la Iglesia católica contempla para este tipo de casos ha emprendido las siguientes acciones:

– Teniendo como prioridad a la presunta víctima, le expresamos nuestro profundo dolor y solidaridad y le hemos ofrecido un acompañamiento psico-espiritual. Ratificamos nuestro compromiso de actuar con claridad y transparencia para el bien de él y de la Iglesia.

– Conocida la noticia y siguiendo los protocolos de la Comisión Arquidiocesana de Protección de Menores esta noticia se puso en conocimiento de la Fiscalía seccional y nos pusimos en total disponibilidad para colaborar con las investigaciones que tengan lugar en este caso.

– La Arquidiócesis de Villavicencio inició un proceso de Investigación preliminar y decidió Ad Cautelam suspender del ejercicio del ministerio sacerdotal a los sacerdotes implicados. Esperando el inicio de proceso canónico penal y respetándoles el debido proceso.

Reiteramos que nos duele profundamente esta situación; para nosotros las víctimas y sus familias, siempre serán lo primero. De tiempo atrás, hemos emprendido iniciativas de trabajo y formación para la erradicación del terrible mal de los abusos dentro y fuera de nuestra institución.

Invitamos para que se den a conocer situaciones en donde alguno de nuestros miembros eventualmente haya traicionado su vocación de servicio y entrega al Señor y a la comunidad. Juntos haremos de nuestra Iglesia un lugar seguro para todos.

Finalmente, pedimos sus oraciones para que esta responsabilidad pastoral ante un desafío tan fuerte de nuestro tiempo, de los frutos esperados.

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.

DENVER (CO)
Catholic News Agency

April 7, 2020

Villavicencio, Colombia – The president of the Colombian bishops’ conference, Óscar Urbina, suspended 15 priests of his archdiocese from ministry who have been accused of sexual abuse. Other jurisdictions in the country have removed four other priests.

Archbishop Óscar Urbina of Villavicencio told Colombian media that the accused priests represent 15% of the city’s priests.

The priests are accused of committing sexual abuse in Colombia, Italy and the United States, Caracol Radio reported.

Fr. Carlos Villabón, communications director and chancellor for the archdiocese of Villavicencio, told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language news partner, that the 15 priests were suspended while a canonical investigation proceeds at the Vatican.

“On March 16, 2020 these 15 priests were notified after a preliminary investigation was carried out. They are neither convicted nor acquitted by this suspension, only asked to relinquish their parish duties, cease celebrating the Eucharist and cease their ministerial service while the complete investigation is conducted,” the priest explained.

The results of the preliminary investigation “are now being sent to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican, and there they will determine the gravity of the facts and what the Church calls a penal canonical process will be conducted,” Villabón 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.

ULTIMO (NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA)
ABC

April 7, 2020

By Kate McKenna, Sarah Farnsworth, Staff and Wires

Cardinal George Pell has been driven from prison to a church property in Melbourne’s inner east after the nation’s highest court quashed his child sexual abuse convictions.

The unanimous decision has been handed down less than a month after the High Court of Australia heard two days of intense legal arguments from the Cardinal’s lawyers and Victorian prosecutors.

Shortly before 12:30pm, Cardinal Pell was freed from Barwon Prison, leaving in a convoy of cars headed by a white Mercedes.

He was then taken to a church property in Melbourne’s inner east, where a nun greeted him at the door and helped him inside.

Cardinal Pell, 78, who has consistently maintained his innocence, was serving a six-year jail sentence after he was convicted in 2018 of abusing two choirboys in the 1990s, while he was the archbishop of Melbourne.

He had been accused of committing the crimes after he found the boys swigging altar wine in the priests’ sacristy after mass in Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral.

A jury convicted him in 2018 — a decision that the Victorian Court of Appeal upheld in a two-to-one decision.

But his lawyers went to the High Court, arguing the appeal court failed to take proper account of evidence that cast doubt on his guilt.

Today the High Court handed down its decision, granting Cardinal Pell’s application for special leave and unanimously acquitting 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.

ULTIMO (NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA)
ABC

April 7, 2020

By Rick Sarre

The High Court today quashed the conviction of Cardinal George Pell, who had originally been found guilty on a number of charges by a jury of 12 people.

His defence counsel, Bret Walker SC, had argued before the High Court that the convictions in 2018 were unsound because it was not open to the jury to find Pell guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

He argued to the High Court the “sheer unlikelihood” of events and times aligning in the way that had been put forth by the prosecution to the trial judge and jury. He argued the story of the complainant could not be credible.

The High Court has now agreed.

A jury decides, but then …

Remember that, prior to the verdict, a jury of a dozen men and women had deliberated for almost five days before returning their verdicts of guilty on all five charges.

How is it that a jury’s decision, after hearing all the evidence (with the exception of Pell himself) and deliberating for a considerable period of time, can be subverted by the opinion of an appeal court 16 months later?

To answer this question we need to look briefly at the appeal grounds that apply in the higher criminal courts. There are two broad grounds of appeal against conviction. Each is found in both the common law and legislation that pertains to these matters.

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.

MELBOURNE (VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA)
The Age

April 7, 2020

By John Silvester

[Includes video: Attorney-General Christian Porter says if possible lifting redactions in Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse, should occur.]

Not since Lindy Chamberlain lost her baby to a dingo at Uluru 40 years ago has a criminal case so polarised the community as Cardinal George Pell’s arrest, conviction and acquittal.

Both camps say Pell has been treated differently. His supporters say he was targeted because he was a high profile Catholic while his detractors believe his perceived power influenced the seven judges at the High Court to quash his conviction.

Arrant nonsense. Passion is replacing legal precedent.

The decision to overturn the Pell conviction is not about what happened inside St Patrick’s Cathedral in 1996 but what admissible evidence was available to prove what happened inside St Patrick’s Cathedral in 1996.

The High Court found that on the evidence put to the jury it should have found there was reasonable doubt. It did not find that Pell didn’t do it, nor that the complainant was a liar. It found there was sufficient doubt to demand an acquittal.

To overturn a jury decision is a huge call as it is the basis of the trial system. To do so means the High Court found the conviction a massive miscarriage of justice that had to be righted.

This was not one man’s word against another. In a criminal trial the allegation must be proved and without compelling corroboration it is simply impossible.

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

By Livia Albeck-Ripka and Damien Cave

April 7, 2020

The cardinal was the highest-ranking Roman Catholic leader ever found guilty of sexually abusing children.

Melbourne – Australia’s highest court on Tuesday overturned the sexual abuse conviction of Cardinal George Pell, the highest-ranking Roman Catholic leader ever found guilty in the church’s clergy pedophilia crisis.

Cardinal Pell, 78, who was the Vatican’s chief financial officer and an adviser to Pope Francis, was sentenced to six years in prison last March for molesting two 13-year-old boys after Sunday Mass in 1996.

He walked free on Tuesday after a panel of seven judges ruled that the jury ought to have entertained a doubt about his guilt. The judges cited “compounding improbabilities” to conclude that the verdicts on five counts reached in 2018 were “unreasonable or cannot be supported by the evidence.”

In a statement, Cardinal Pell reiterated his assertion that he had committed no crimes. “I have consistently maintained my innocence while suffering from a serious injustice,” he said. “This has been remedied today with the High Court’s unanimous decision.”

The verdict, handed down by Chief Justice Susan Kiefel to a largely empty courtroom in Brisbane because of social distancing measures to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, shocked Catholics in Australia and around the world.

Cardinal Pell had receded from the public mind during his time in prison, and with the exception of his die-hard supporters, most Australians had come to accept his guilt as an established fact.

His case had dragged on for years. His first trial ended with a hung jury; his second carried on with a heavy shroud of secrecy as suppression orders limited what could be reported or even scrutinized.

The testimony of the case’s most important witness, a former choirboy who had stepped forward with his claims in 2015, was never made public, not even in transcripts. Legal experts said that made it difficult for the public to comprehend the complexity of the case, as well as the High Court’s ultimate ruling.

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.

SYDNEY (NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA)
Archdiocese of Sydney

April 7, 2020

By Cardinal George Pell

I have consistently maintained my innocence while suffering from a serious injustice.

This has been remedied today with the High Court’s unanimous decision.

I look forward to reading the judgment and reasons for the decision in detail.

I hold no ill will toward my accuser, I do not want my acquittal to add to the hurt and bitterness so many feel; there is certainly hurt and bitterness enough.

However my trial was not a referendum on the Catholic Church; nor a referendum on how Church authorities in Australia dealt with the crime of paedophilia in the Church.

The point was whether I had committed these awful crimes, and I did not.

The only basis for long term healing is truth and the only basis for justice is truth, because justice means truth for all.

A special thanks for all the prayers and thousands of letters of support.

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.

CANBERRA (AUSTRALIA)
High Court of Australia

April 7, 2020

Today, the High Court granted special leave to appeal against a decision of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria and unanimously allowed the appeal. The High Court found that the jury, acting rationally on the whole of the evidence, ought to have entertained a doubt as to the applicant’s guilt with respect to each of the offences for which he was convicted, and ordered that the convictions be quashed and that verdicts of acquittal be entered in their place.

On 11 December 2018, following a trial by jury in the County Court of Victoria, the applicant, who was Archbishop of Melbourne at the time of the alleged offending, was convicted of one charge of sexual penetration of a child under 16 years and four charges of committing an act of indecency with or in the presence of a child under the age of 16 years. This was the second trial of these charges, the jury at the first trial having been unable to agree on its verdicts. The prosecution case, as it was left to the jury, alleged that the offending occurred on two separate occasions, the first on 15 or 22 December 1996 and the second on 23 February 1997. The incidents were alleged to have occurred in and near the priests’ sacristy at St Patrick’s Cathedral in East Melbourne, following the celebration of Sunday solemn Mass. The victims of the alleged offending were two Cathedral choirboys aged 13 years at the time of the events.

The applicant sought leave to appeal against his convictions before the Court of Appeal. On 21 August 2019 the Court of Appeal granted leave on a single ground, which contended that the verdicts were unreasonable or could not be supported by the evidence, and dismissed the appeal.The Court of Appeal viewed video-recordings of a number of witnesses’ testimony, including that of the complainant. The majority, Ferguson CJ and Maxwell P, assessed the complainant to be a compelling witness. Their Honours went on to consider the evidence of a number of “opportunity witnesses”, who had described the movements of the applicant and others following the conclusion of Sunday solemn Mass in a way that was inconsistent with the complainant’s account. Their Honours found that no witness could say with certainty that these routines and practices were never departed from and concluded that the jury had not been compelled to entertain a reasonable doubt as to the applicant’s guilt. Weinberg JA dissented, concluding that, by reason of the unchallenged evidence of the opportunity witnesses, the jury, acting rationally on the whole of the evidence, ought to have had a reasonable doubt.

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.

ULTIMO (NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA)
ABC

April 6, 2020

By Sarah Farnsworth and Elizabeth Byrne

It was never going to be a regular criminal court case by virtue of the man accused: Cardinal George Pell, who was a top advisor to the Pope when the allegations first surfaced that he had sexually abused two choirboys.

Yet the finale of the five-year legal saga on Tuesday morning — which could see George Pell released from jail — will be as unusual as it will be monumental.

While at previous stages of the case, victims’ advocates and supporters of the Cardinal have come together outside courthouses, social-distancing measures have effectively outlawed such gatherings.

Instead, the High Court will deliver its decision on one of the most-watched cases in Australia’s history in a virtual vacuum, with Chief Justice Susan Kiefel to hand down the full bench’s ruling in an almost empty High Court registry in Brisbane.

The judges are in their home states and are not travelling because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The hearing will be over in minutes, with the court tweeting its decision, before publishing its decision online.

It is a modern touch for a decision that is likely to have a lasting impact on one of the world’s oldest institutions.

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.

SYDNEY (NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA)
Australian Associated Press via 7 News

April 5, 2020

By Karen Sweeney

There are many possible outcomes of George Pell’s appeal to the High Court.

Possible Appeal Bid Outcomes:

* Unanimous or Split Decisions

Like in any appeal court, the decision of the judges could be unanimous or it could be split. The majority decision will stand, which, in this case, would be a 4-3 split.

* Multiple Reasons

If all the judges reach the same decision for the same reasons, it’s possible they’ll hand down their decision in a single judgment.

If there is a split decision, then there’ll be a majority judgment handed down. The decisions of the judges in the minority are called dissents.

Sometimes judges come to the same decision but for different reasons so they’ll each publish their own reasons. That means there could be up to seven different opinions handed down.

* Special Leave Application Refused

The High Court has to grant Pell special leave to appeal before they can formally consider the appeal.

Usually this happens before the appeal hearing, but in Pell’s case it was decided they’d hear the appeal arguments before making a decision on granting special leave.

If special leave is refused, Pell’s conviction will stand and he will remain behind bars.

* Special Leave Application Granted

If the High Court determines there is a legal question for them to consider, then they’ll grant special leave.

After that, there’s a few paths they can follow:

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.

LONDON (ENGLAND)
Guardian

April 6, 2020

By Melissa Davey

Australian high court’s decision is Pell’s last chance to overturn conviction for historical child sexual abuse

On Tuesday, almost two years after being committed to stand trial on multiple charges of historical child sexual abuse, the case against the former financial controller of the Vatican, Cardinal George Pell, will likely end with him either walking free or remaining in jail to serve the rest of his sentence.

After failing to appeal to Victoria’s appellate court in August, Pell’s legal team took his case to the high court, the final avenue in his bid for freedom. Across two days in March, the full bench of seven justices heard Pell’s barrister Bret Walker SC argue that Victoria’s appellate judges, who dismissed Pell’s first appeal in 2019 by a majority of two-to-one, may have been unduly influenced by the complainant’s testimony by watching a recorded video of it rather than just reading the transcript of his evidence.

Walker also argued that just because the complainant was believable and compelling, it should not have led jurors to discount other evidence that placed his evidence in doubt. The director of the Office of Public Prosecutions, Kerri Judd, responded by saying that given Pell’s legal team made so much of the complainant’s lack of credibility and believability, Victoria’s appellate court was entitled to watch the video. It did not mean they had elevated it above other evidence, or that they had not given due weight to other evidence from the trial, she said. She added that the entire body of evidence considered together gave weight to the complainant’s account, rather than discrediting it.

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.

GLASGOW (SCOTLAND)
BBC

April 5, 2020

A new centre designed to support child victims and witnesses of crime is to be opened in Scotland.

Children will be able to be interviewed in the child-friendly facility, away from police stations and courtrooms.

But they can also receive medical care and support to help them recover from trauma in an environment designed to look like a family home.

Locations are being scouted for the base following a £1.5m boost from the People’s Postcode Lottery.

Project partner Children 1st said the centre would “end the nightmares of thousands of children”.

The charity’s chief executive Mary Glasgow said the centre would “transform” Scotland’s systems of justice, health, care and protection.

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.

ANDOVER (MA)
Andover Townsman

April 2, 2020

By Paul Tennant

The Rev. Peter Gori has been reinstated as pastor of St. Augustine Church, the Archdiocese of Boston announced this week.

Gori is expected to resume his duties by Sunday – which is Palm Sunday – according to Cardinal Sean O’Malley, archbishop of Boston.

Gori, a member of the Order of St. Augustine since 1973, was placed on administrative leave in April 2019 after a man, now in his 40s, claimed that Gori and another priest, the Rev. William Waters, sexually abused him more than 30 years ago.

“I assure you, as I assured the provincial, that the accusation is false,” Gori wrote in a letter to parishioners when the allegation surfaced. The provincial, the regional leader of Augustinian priests in the eastern U.S., had informed Gori of the accusation.

The Augustinian order relied on an independent investigator, Praesidium Inc., as well as the order’s independent review board in concluding the allegation could not be substantiated, according to a press release issued by the Archdiocese of Boston.

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.

CANBERRA (AUSTRALIA)
Associated Press via Washington Post

April 6, 2020

By Rod McGuirk

Australia’s highest court on Tuesday will judge Cardinal George Pell’s appeal against convictions for molesting two teenage choirboys more than two decades ago. But the legal battle over the world’s most senior Catholic convicted of sexually abusing children may not end there.

The High Court could deliver Pope Francis’ former finance minister a sweeping victory or an absolute defeat. Or the seven judges could settle on one of several options in between that could extend the appeal process for another year or more.

The 78-year-old cleric cleric has spent 13 months in two high-security prisons at high risk of having a coronavirus outbreak, and he would have strong grounds for being released on bail if the court case is extended.

Pell was sentenced by a Victoria state County Court judge in March last year to six years in prison for sexually abusing two 13-year-old choirboys in a back room of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne in December 1996 while he was archbishop of Australia’s second-largest city.

Pell was also convicted of indecently assaulting one of the boys by painfully squeezing his genitals after a Mass in early 1997. Pell must serve three years and eight months behind bars before he becomes eligible for parole.

One of the former choirboys died of a heroin overdose in 2014 aged 31. Pell has largely been convicted on the testimony of the survivor, now the father of a young family aged in his 30s, who first went to police in 2015. The identities of both victims are concealed by state law.

A jury had unanimously convicted Pell of all five charges in December 2018, but he was spared prison for three months while he underwent replacement surgery for both knees.

The High Court has examined whether the Victorian Court of Appeal was correct in its 2-1 majority decision in August to uphold the jury verdicts.

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.

AUSTRALIA
CentralAsiaNews.net

April 5, 2020

Chris Friel

The allegations of sexual abuse against Cardinal Pell were investigated by the Victorian Police, in particular by Taskforce SANO. This note gathers together some pertinent questions. In the wake of the Carl Beech case in the UK Sir Richard Henriques was asked to report on Operation Midland,[i] and I would urge that something of the order of a judge led inquiry is needed to understand Operation Tethering. This somewhat disordered list is written in the hope that one day we may get a comprehensive insight into what was going on.

1. Tethering. We begin with this get Pell operation (Robert Richter), or as Paul Sheridan termed it, the Intel Probe, set up in 2013.[ii] Clearly, that was before R had died (in 2014) and J had complained (in 2015). Apparently, it was the inspiration of Michael Dwyer.[iii] How did it come about? Here we would point out the association with Byline (Lucie Morris Marrs platform) and Exaro News who were so heavily involved in the Carl Beech case.[iv]

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.

BAVARIA (GERMANY)
Web24.news

April 5, 2020

Is it a “second Ettal”? A former pupil of the Catholic Piusheim in Bavaria reported massive abuse in court – not the first allegation of this kind.

The judiciary is investigating allegations of abuse against a former Catholic children’s and youth home in the municipality of Baiern near Munich. The public prosecutor’s office in Munich II, according to its own statements, initiated preliminary investigations against a former educator of the youth village Piusheim as well as a priest at the time.

The background to the investigation is allegations of massive sexual abuse that became known as part of a trial before the Munich II Regional Court. A 56-year-old man, who is himself accused of serious abuse of young children, had shown in court that he had been abused by several men in Piusheim, among others, in his childhood and adolescence.

The witness also spoke of prostitution and “sex parties” around the home. “Ninety percent of the boys went out and stole the villagers at the weekend, ten percent went to Munich to buy.” Two of his friends had hanged himself, and he himself had tried to commit suicide as a child.

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.

ENGLAND
The Guardian

April 5, 2020

By Harriet Sherwood

Boys’ lives were blighted after sadistic beatings by John Smyth more than 40 years ago, successor group admits

A Christian organisation whose forerunner ran holiday camps that led to boys being beaten sadistically has reached a settlement with three men and acknowledged that “lives have been blighted”.

The Titus Trust has expressed “profound regret” for the abuse carried out by John Smyth QC and has apologised for “additional distress” caused by the way the trust responded to the allegations.

The abuse scandal at the so-called “Bash camps” in the 1970s and 80s embroiled Justin Welby, who is now the archbishop of Canterbury, and who worked at the Christian holiday centres in the 1970s.

After allegations of abuse and its cover-up emerged three years ago, Welby said he knew Smyth but had been “completely unaware” of any abuse at the time. He apologised on behalf of the Church of England, which later ordered an independent review into the allegations.

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.

TEXARKANA (TX)
Texarkana Gazette

April 5, 2020

By Lynn LaRowe

The notice alleges local pastor’s wife was aware of his child sexual abuse and attempted to conceal it.

Prosecutors filed a notice Friday of evidence they intend to introduce at the trial of a local pastor charged with 18 felonies involving alleged child sexual abuse.

Logan Wesley III, 56, was arrested in November on a single felony charge involving one alleged victim. In February, a Bowie County grand jury returned three indictments involving three different girls which list a total of 18 felony counts. First Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp filed a notice Friday of the state’s intent to introduce other evidence of Wesley’s alleged misconduct.

The notice alleges Wesley’s wife was aware of his child sexual abuse and attempted to conceal it. Wesley’s wife allegedly contacted one of the alleged victims on social media in July 2018 and asked her to keep silent and show “grace and mercy” because “she was worried about what the publicity would do for her son’s budding music career and her child daycare business,” the notice states.

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.

BBC News

March 31, 2020

By Megha Mohan

With much of the world on coronavirus lockdown, there are warnings that those living with domestic abuse could become hidden victims of the pandemic.

In the UK, calls to the national abuse hotline went up by 65% this weekend, according to the domestic abuse commissioner for England and Wales. Meanwhile, the UN has warned that women in poorer countries and smaller homes are likely to have fewer ways to report abuse.

The BBC has spoken to two women who are currently under lockdown with men who they say have abused them.

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

PITTSBURGH (PA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

April 5, 2020

By Peter Smith

In mid-March, Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik joined other Pennsylvania Roman Catholic bishops in lifting the usual obligation that Catholics attend weekend Mass — an action that, combined with a growing public wariness of public gatherings amid the coronavirus threat, led to far lower attendance than usual.

That was just the beginning.

After that weekend of March 14-15, Bishop Zubik canceled Masses and other large church gatherings entirely, while arranging for priests to hear confessions in more spacious but still-confidential settings. Some priests kept their sanctuaries open for individual prayer, and there was still opportunity for small gatherings for baptisms or funerals. Confirmations and first communions were canceled for the last half of March, then for April.

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.

VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service via Catholic Virginian

April 4, 2020

By Junno Arocho Esteves

While Pope Francis’ Way of the Cross service on Good Friday has been transferred to the Vatican because of the coronavirus pandemic, the meditations focus, as always, on those who share the pain, suffering and heartbreak that characterized Christ’s passion and death.

In a letter published in an Italian newspaper in early March, Pope Francis said he chose the Catholic community of the Due Palazzi prison in Padua so that the meditations would reflect on the lives of those involved in the prison system to illustrate how “the resurrection of a person is never the work of an individual, but of a community walking together.”

The result is a set of meditations on the traditional 14 stations written not only by prisoners, but also by people directly affected by crime, including prisoners’ families, victims and even a priest falsely accused of a crime.

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)
NOLA.com

April 3, 2020

By Ramon Antonio Vargas

National media outlets are asking a New Orleans court to unseal confidential motions and other documents filed when estranged relatives of late Saints owner Tom Benson challenged his mental competency five years ago.

The sealed filings stem from a blockbuster lawsuit in 2015 that pitted Benson against his daughter and grandchildren. They argued that the billionaire owner of the NFL’s Saints and NBA’s Pelicans was mentally unfit when he transferred ownership of his business empire to his third wife, Gayle.

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.

AUSTRALIA
Australian Associated Press via the West Australian

April 5, 2020

By Karen Sweeney

Deep inside Melbourne’s imposing St Patrick’s Cathedral, two young boys dressed in their choir robes snuck off to swig sacramental wine in the priest’s sacristy.

It was a room forbidden to all but a few – certainly off limits to the likes of the two 13-year-olds who found their way inside after a Sunday Mass.

By some accounts that area is a hive of activity on Sunday mornings, but for six minutes one day in December 1996 the two boys found themselves in there alone with now-Cardinal George Pell.

“He planted himself in the doorway and said something like ‘what are you doing here’ or ‘you’re in trouble’,” one of the boys said of the then-archbishop.

Dressed in his ornamental robes Pell exposed himself and molested one of the boys. He then pleasured himself and raped the other.

Those events are a “product of fantasy” and “absolute rubbish”, Pell told police when confronted with the allegations in Rome four years ago.

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.

BOGOTA (COLOMBIA)
Agence France Presse via OutlookIndia.com

April 4, 2020

The Catholic Church in Colombia has suspended 15 priests accused of sexual abuse, the archdiocese of the city of Villavicencio said on Friday.

The suspension was “a precautionary measure … because there is an ongoing investigation,” priest Carlos Villabon told AFP.

On February 14 a man, whose name has been withheld, accused the priests of “actions against sexual morality,” according to the statement by the Villavicencio archdiocese.

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.

AUSTRALIA
The Catholic Weekly

April 4, 2020

By Peter Westmore

The High Court decision on Tuesday morning will be discussed in a livestreamed event at 7.30pm (details below)

Cardinal George Pell’s appeal to the High Court took place on March 11 and 12. The case was heard by a Full Bench of the High Court, which includes all seven justices currently on the court.

Cardinal Pell was not present – he is confined in Barwon Prison, a high-security facility in Victoria.

He was appealing against a 2:1 majority verdict of the Victorian Court of Appeal of last August. It has taken over six months for this matter to reach the High Court of Australia. He was not directly appealing against the original jury verdict, but against the majority verdict of the Court of Appeal.

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

The Union Journal

Aril 4, 2020

By Carlos Christian

In May 2019, when Ana Lucía Salazar publicly denounced the Mexican priest Fernando Martínez for having abused her at a Legionaries of Christ school in Cancun, she still did not know that he had also been a victim of abuse. Two months earlier, when Italian justice sentenced former Mexican priest Vladimir Reséndiz for abusing two children, some of his former colleagues from the Legion learned that, before being a victimizer, he had been the victim of abuse. “It is part of the Legion’s methodology: prepare for abuse, abuse yourself and become an accomplice,” says Erick Escobar, a former legionary who left that movement to start a fight against cases of pedophilia.

In late December, the Legion of Christ, one of the most powerful congregations in the Catholic Church, surprised the world when it released a report admitting 175 cases of child abuse within the order founded by the Mexican priest Marcial Maciel in 1941, most of them committed by their own founder and from the very moment of the foundation. However, what was most revealing was not the verification of the vexations that had been denounced by different victims over the course of eight decades, but rather what the report hinted at: that pedophilia within the Legion was not the result of the perversion of some priests, but part of a foundational dynamic that reached all levels and guaranteed spaces of power for those willing to participate or remain silent.

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

[The Catholic Church of Colombia suspends 19 priests for sexual abuse]

COLOMBIA
El País

April 3, 2020

By Catalina Oquendo

El arzobispo de Villavicencio asegura que se tratan de actos “deplorables” y de suma gravedad

[Note: The following is Google’s translation of the original Spanish.]

[The Archbishop of Villavicencio assures that these are “deplorable” and extremely serious acts

In 2019, the journalist Juan Pablo Barrientos published the book Let the children come to me, in which he revealed a series of cases of alleged sexual abuse by priests in various regions of Colombia. The book was not only one of the best sellers and suffered censorship attempts by some members of the Catholic Church, but it became the starting point for a news that shook the very religious Colombian society this Friday. A victim read it and took an impulse to denounce other priests. The official complaint reached the Prosecutor’s Office and upon hearing it, the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Villavicencio decided to suspend 19 religious from his clergy.]

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

[Catholic Church suspends 19 priests for alleged acts of sexual abuse]

COLOMBIA
Caracol Radio

April 3, 2020

By Juan Pablo Barrientos

Quince de ellos en Villavicencio. El denunciante es ahora un testigo protegido de la Fiscalía.

[Note: The following is a Google Translation from the original Spanish]

[Fifteen of them in Villavicencio. The complainant is now a protected witness for the Prosecutor’s Office.

On March 16, the president of the Episcopal Conference and Archbishop of Villavicencio, Monsignor Óscar Urbina , in an unprecedented act in the Catholic Church of Colombia, suspended 15 priests who, according to a protected witness from the Prosecutor’s Office, formed along with 4 other priests, a network of sexual abusers that operated in Meta, Guaviare, Italy and the United States.

After learning about this publication from Caracol Radio, the Archdiocese of Villavicencio issued a statement in which they assure that “on February 14, 2020, a Colombian citizen, of legal age, brought to the attention of the competent body, facts against the sexual morality of some priests of this Archdiocese ”. The statement continues: “Aware that these acts are extremely serious, the Archdiocese of Villavicencio deplores and feels deep pain at this situation.”]

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.

HARRISBURG (PA)
CBS21 News

April 2, 2020

The bankruptcy case involving the Harrisburg Diocese continued Thursday.

Attorneys for the diocese and trustees called in for a hearing Thursday morning, where two motions were granted, basically extending the case.

The diocese was allowed to continue using its current cash management system, and a stay until June was approved.

The diocese filed for bankruptcy earlier this year following multiple lawsuits over the clergy sex abuse scandal.

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
Pew Research Center

April 3, 2020

By Justin Nortey and Claire Gecewicz

Americans’ opinions of Pope Francis have rebounded slightly after hitting an all-time low almost two years ago in the wake of Catholic Church sex abuse scandals, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey.

Six-in-ten U.S. adults say they have a “very” or “mostly” favorable view of Pope Francis, up from roughly half who said this in September of 2018, when the question was last asked. At that time, a Pennsylvania grand jury had just published a report revealing decades of child sexual abuse by Catholic priests, and former cardinal Theodore McCarrick had recently resigned because of separate sex abuse allegations.

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)
US & WORLD

April 3, 2020

By Richard Szczepanowski

Calling the abuse of children a “spiritual felony,” Washington Archbishop Wilton Gregory offered prayers April 3 for victims of such abuse and prayed that God would “help us respect the dignity of all the young, vulnerable and those who need protection.”

Archbishop Gregory made the prayer during a Mass he celebrated for National Child Abuse Prevention Month in April. The Mass was offered in conjunction with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Child and Youth Protection.

While not opened to the public because of shelter-in-place measures to fight the spread of COVID-19, the Mass was streamed live via the Archdiocese of Washington’s Facebook page.

“With so much attention focused on the serious threats to our physical health … we might well acknowledge that the month of April is also dedicated to our commitment to the health, protection and safety of our young people and for the continued healing of the scars of abuse that too many people have suffered in their own childhood,” Archbishop Gregory said.

He said that National Child Abuse Prevention Month “calls our attention to the dangers of sexual, physical, and emotional abusive treatments that youngsters may face.”

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)
Crux

April 3, 2020

By Christopher White

A new study reveals that while American Catholics still overwhelmingly view Pope Francis favorably, he enjoys more support from Catholic Democrats than he does Catholic Republicans.

The new data was released on Friday by the Pew Research Center and found that seven years after his election as pope, six out of ten U.S. adults (or 59 percent) view Francis favorably, with three-quarters of American Catholics (or 77 percent) sharing a positive opinion of the pope.

The latest findings from Pew show Francis faring slightly better than when they last conducted polling on him among Americans in September 2018 when his numbers dipped to an all-time low of 51 percent among U.S. adults and 72 percent among American Catholics.

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.

HOUSTON (TX)
The Texas Tribune and ProPublica

April 2, 2020

By Kiah Collier, Perla Trevizo and Vianna Davila

COVID-19 has spread rapidly in Texas, and many congregations closed their doors and moved religious services online. But there are some religious groups who say it’s their right to remain open because they believe they provide an essential service to their communities.

This article is co-published with ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for ProPublica’s Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox as soon as they are published.

At least 25 parishioners filed into a beige-brick church here Wednesday evening and were handed rubber gloves at the door. A handwritten sign directed them to designated areas with seats that had been spaced 6 feet apart. Another sign laid out five things people should do to keep from spreading the new strain of coronavirus, including staying away if they felt sick.

The founding pastor of City on a Hill, Juan Bustamante, was in a particularly good mood. A day earlier, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott joined 30-plus other governors around the country in issuing a statewide stay-at-home order — though he declined to refer to it as such — that also designated religious services as essential. Under the order, Texans must stay home unless they work in certain business sectors or are grocery shopping, running must-do errands or exercising outdoors. Or going to church.

Abbott’s order came the same day the country’s top health experts estimated the virus could kill between 100,000 to 240,000 Americans, and that’s assuming people across the country adhere to social distancing guidelines. Otherwise, the numbers could climb much higher, to more than 2 million dead.

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.

MALAYSIA
The Star

April 2, 2020

By Imran Hilmy

Twenty-four seminarians pleaded guilty at the Magistrate’s Court here to flouting the movement control order (MCO).

All the suspects made the plea when the charges were read separately before Magistrate Rosnee Mohd Radzuan.

They were accused of committing the offence at a field of College General around 5.30pm on March 31.

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
AdamHorowitzLaw.com

March 30, 2020

During this pandemic, reports of possible child abuse are down and reports of domestic violence are up. Both trends are troubling. You can help make a difference here.

About 70% of all suspected child abuse reports come from teachers, counselors and doctors. As fewer kids see these professionals, fewer reports get made.

Is more child abuse happening now, as families are cooped up together? No one knows. But fewer reports are being called in to state child protection agencies.

That means that some children who would benefit from the intervention of child safety workers aren’t getting attention these days because of the Covid-19 crisis.

But it’s different with domestic violence, advocates say. Partner and spousal abuse IS happening more often now, they believe.

According to NBC News, “as lawmakers across the country order lockdowns to slow the spread of the virus, the lives of people stuck in physically or emotionally abusive relationships have — and will — become harder, which has already been seen in the pandemic hotspots of China and Italy.”

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.

VICTORIA (AUSTRALIA)
Catholic News Agency via National Catholic Register

April 2, 2020

Cardinal Pell has told friends he remains faithful to God’s providence and committed to living his time in prison in the spirit of a monastic retreat.

The High Court of Australia will hand down its decision in the case of Cardinal George Pell next week. The justices are considering Cardinal Pell’s petition for special leave to appeal his 2018 conviction for sexual abuse.

The court announced Thursday that a decision would be issued by the seven justices in the case Cardinal Pell v. The Crown on April 7 at 10 am. By the time the decision is handed down, the bench will have considered the cardinal’s case for just over three weeks, after hearing two days of arguments in the case last month.

Cardinal Pell is seeking to appeal the 2-1 split decision of the Court of Appeal in Victoria to sustain his 2018 conviction on five counts of child sexual abuse over two separate instances.

The High Court heard arguments from Cardinal Pell’s legal team and from state prosecutors March 11-12, after which the justices reserved judgment.

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.

Broadcasting+Cable

April 2, 2020

Film looks at lives of those who live and work inside Vatican City

PBS will premiere the documentary Inside the Vatican Tuesday, April 28 at 9 p.m. The film looks behind the scenes into the lives of those who live and work inside the Vatican City, the headquarters of the Roman Catholic church.

Pope Francis, who has lead the Catholic church since 2013, has challenged attitudes on divorce and homosexuality and is not afraid of confronting opponents, the press release stated. He appointed 14 new cardinals from parts of Iraq, Madagascar and Pakistan.

The film also looks at Pope Francis’s visit to Ireland back in August. Just before he was scheduled to depart, a sex scandal was reported alleging the Catholic Church’s cover up of Catholic priests abusing young children. The report accused more than 300 priests of abusing more than 1,000 children.

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.

LAWRENCE (MA)
Lawrence Eagle Tribune

April 2, 2020

By Paul Tennant

The Rev. William Waters, OSA, has been exonerated of an allegation of abuse, according to a statement from the leader of Augustinian priests in the eastern United States.

The Rev. Peter Gori, OSA, who is also a member of the Order of St. Augustine, was exonerated and returned to ministry earlier this week. Cardinal Sean O’Malley, archbishop of Boston, announced Gori has returned as pastor of St. Augustine Church in Andover.

Waters and Gori were placed on leave last April after a man now in his 40s accused both priests of sexually abusing him in the 1980s. Both the Archdiocese of Boston and the Order of St. Augustine said the accusation against Gori was thoroughly investigated and determined to be unsubstantiated.

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.

BRISBANE (AUSTRALIA)
Agence France-Presse

April 2, 2020

Australia’s High Court said Thursday it will rule on Cardinal George Pell’s appeal against child sex abuse convictions on April 7, giving the senior cleric another chance to clear his name and leave jail.
The 78-year-old former Vatican treasurer is trying to overturn a six-year sentence for sexually assaulting two 13-year-old choirboys in the 1990s.

Pell, who once helped elect popes, is the highest-ranking Catholic Church official ever convicted of child sex crimes. He maintains his innocence.

Legal experts have struggled to predict the progression of the high-profile case, as it threw up one surprise after another.

Judges could yet deny Pell’s appeal, order a retrial or quash his conviction altogether.

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.

AUSTRALIA
RNZ

April 2, 2020

The High Court of Australia has announced it will hand down its decision on Cardinal George Pell’s final bid for freedom in Brisbane next week.

Australia’s highest court will deliver its decision at 10:00am on Tuesday, 7 April.

Pell is serving a maximum of six years’ jail after a jury found him guilty of sexually abusing two choirboys in St Patrick’s Cathedral in 1996 when he was Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne.

He was convicted of one count of sexual penetration of a child under 16 and four counts of committing an indecent act with a child.

The former advisor to the Pope maintains he is innocent.

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.

ATLANTA (GA)
CNN

April 2, 2020

By Ivana Kottasová and Valentina Di Donato

On Sunday, a woman walked into a pharmacy in the French city of Nancy, one of the few public places still open after the government imposed a nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of a dangerous virus.

But the woman wasn’t there for medicine; she was there to tell the pharmacist that her partner had abused her. Soon after, the woman’s spouse was arrested by police.
As the coronavirus pandemic forces countries everywhere to take unprecedented steps to restrict the movement of their citizens, victims of domestic violence have suddenly found themselves trapped at home with their abusive partners. Some are unable — or too afraid — to call the police, experts say.

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.

SAINT LOUIS (MO)
SNAP Network

March 30, 2020

With 14 years of courageous reporting on Baptist clergy sex abuse and church cover-ups, journalist Bob Allen made a difference in the lives of countless survivors and helped to make church kids throughout the country safer. In response to the announcement of his retirement on March 31, SNAP can only say “thank you.”

Bob Allen was there on the scene in 2006 at the very first SNAP media event outside “the Baptist Vatican” – i.e., the Southern Baptist Convention headquarters in Nashville. From that point forward, day in and day out, his news articles continued to document the Baptist clergy sex abuse scandal and the early activist efforts in the movement for child safety and clergy accountability among Baptists.

He methodically reported the stories of numerous Baptist clergy abuse survivors long before the momentum of the #ChurchToo movement, and at a time when many still mistakenly viewed clergy sex abuse as being limited to a Catholic problem.

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.

AUSTRALIA
The Courier

April 2, 2020

Disgraced Cardinal George Pell will learn next week whether his final bid for freedom has been successful.

The High Court will hand down its judgment in his case on Tuesday.

His lawyers have argued Victoria’s Court of Appeal majority made an error in refusing the previous appeal bid last year, and that there was not enough evidence for a jury to convict him of the sexual abuse of two choirboys at Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral in 1996.

Pell was convicted by a jury in 2018 on the word of a single choirboy that he was sexually abused as a teenager by Australia’s highest-ranking Catholic.

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.

AUSTRALIA
AAP

April 1, 2020

By Karen Sweeney

Disgraced Cardinal George Pell will learn next week whether his final bid for freedom has been successful.

The High Court will hand down its judgment in his case in Brisbane on Tuesday morning.

Pell is one year into a six-year jail sentence handed down after a jury found him guilty in 2018 of sexually abusing two 13-year-old choirboys at Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral in 1996.

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)
NY Daily News

April 2, 2020

By Teri Hatcher and Tom Andriola

The one-year look-back window will end this summer for victims of child sexual abuse to sue their abusers. Should New York extent the deadline?
Extended deadline would mean more justice

As children, we were both abused by family members, people close to us, people we trusted. We both eventually spoke out as part of our own healing process and, more importantly, to protect other people, but it took us decades to disclose our abuse even to those closest to us.

The science of trauma is clear: It takes time for survivors to come forward and by the time we’re ready, many of us have lost the chance to pursue justice in the courts. That’s why the one year look-back window of the Child Victims Act is so important. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic just hit pause for thousands of survivors who thought they still had time to file a civil lawsuit.

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.

TOKYO (JAPAN)
Kyodo News

April 2, 2020

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan has found 16 cases of sexual abuse against minors spanning from the 1950s to the 2010s in its internal probe of churches in the country, sources familiar with the matter said Thursday.

The Tokyo-based organization has been investigating all its 16 dioceses and other convents in Japan since last May, calling for people to come forward with reports of sexual abuse regardless of when it occurred.

The investigation found some elementary school students — both boys and girls — as well as a child under the age of 6 were among those who had been subjected to sexual abuse, which took place in a priest’s room, church buildings and other facilities run by convents including foster homes, according to the sources.

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.

AUSTRALIA
The Telegraph

April 2, 2020

By Giovanni Torre

George Pell said to have abused two children who had lived in the same orphanage in 1970s

New allegations of child abuse against George Pell have been made public for the first time, as the disgraced Australian Cardinal awaits the High Court decision on his appeal against convictions for rape and sexual assault.

Pell, once the most powerful Catholic in Australia, became the church’s most senior official to be convicted of child sexual abuse in 2018 when he was sentenced to six years imprisonment.

On Thursday it was announced the decision in Pell’s High Court appeal would come next week. Earlier that same day, allegations of sexual abuse were publicly levelled against Pell by two men who had lived in the same orphanage in Ballarat, Victoria, as children.

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.

CANBERRA (AUSTRALIA)
The Australian

April 2, 2020

By John Ferguson

The High Court will hand down its judgment on George Pell’s appeal next Tuesday in what will be his last chance of freedom before having to serve a minimum term of three years and eight months.

The court announced on Thursday the judgment would be delivered in Brisbane, with several scenarios possible including that he walks free from Victoria’s Barwon Prison soon after 10am.

The High Court tweeted its intention to deliver the judgment in arguably the most contentious criminal matter in Australia since Lindy Chamberlain was convicted in 1982 of killing her daughter, ­Azaria, at Uluru.

Pell, 78, has not spoken publicly since he was charged in 2017 with sexually assaulting two choirboys at Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral in 1996 and 1997.

The charges have been stridently contested by the cardinal’s Rolls-Royce legal team, which has included two of Australia’s most respected barristers — Bret Walker SC and Robert Richter QC.

There are several options that could flow from the judgment, including potential early release, or even being referred back to the Victorian Court of Appeal.

However, the court has not yet declared whether it has even accepted the appeal, argument for which was heard last month before the full bench.

Pell was convicted in 2019 of five sex abuse charges against the two 13-year-old choirboys, leading to a six-year jail term.

Pell has maintained his innocence, saying he did not abuse the children in St Patrick’s Cathedral, and is said to have been shocked that the matters progressed past the County Court trials in Melbourne.

Victorian Director of Public Prosecutions Kerri Judd QC had a torrid time in the High Court, shifting the time frame for when the offending could have occurred at the cathedral in 1996.

The original narrative was that it occurred in a window of five to six months, but there has been extensive evidence before the court suggesting this was both impossible and improbable.

The prosecution relied heavily in the County Court and Court of Appeal on the surviving choirboy’s evidence, arguing that he was compelling and a witness of truth. The second choirboy died of a drug overdose several years ago and had denied ever being sexually assaulted.

Pell did not give evidence at trial, instead relying on a video-­recorded police interview in Italy before he was charged.

The full bench was asked last month to acquit Pell, 78, of five charges of molestin­g the two 13-year-olds in 1996 and 1997 while archbishop of Melbourne. Experts have predicted a possible acquittal as Mr Walker effectively asked the full bench to free his client.

Pell is being kept in Barwon Prison, having been transferred from Melbourne’s assessment prison, where he was held in solitary confinement before being shifted amid security concerns.

Unless cleared by the High Court, he will serve a minimum of three years and eight months.

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

CANBERRA (AUSTRALIA)
Associated Press

April 2, 2020

By Rod McGurk

Australia’s highest court will deliver its ruling next week on whether to overturn the convictions of Cardinal George Pell, the most senior Catholic convicted of child sex abuse.

The 78-year-old Pell is one year into a six-year sentence for molesting two 13-year-old choirboys in Melbourne’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral while he was the city’s archbishop in the late 1990s.

The High Court said Thursday a single judge will deliver the verdicts of all seven at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the east coast city of Brisbane. It had heard his appeal March 11-12 before the court’s hearings were canceled due to the coronavirus risk.

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.

ONTONAGON (MI)
Mining Gazette

April 1, 2020

By Garrett Neese

The preliminary hearing for a former Ontonagon County priest accused of molesting several children has been postponed indefinitely because of the reduced court calendar to combat COVID-19.

Gary Jacobs, 74, who now lives in New Mexico, faces 10 counts of criminal sexual conduct in Ontonagon County. All stem from alleged incidents between 1981 and 1984 in which he is said to have abused his position as a priest.

His preliminary hearing had been scheduled for Monday.

Jacobs was charged in January with seven criminal sexual conduct charges in three cases in Ontonagon County and one count of criminal sexual conduct in Dickinson County, all stemming from alleged incidents between 1981 and 1984.

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

[The Supreme Court dismissed the complaints of the Christ Society. The precedent verdict on the victim of pedophile priest maintained]

POLAND
Gazeta.pl

March 31, 2020

[GOOGLE TRANSLATION FROM POLISH: The Supreme Court did not accept the appeal lodged by the Christ Society. It upheld the verdict under which the victim of the former priest Roman B. received a million zlotys compensation and a life annuity. B., who belonged to the Society of Christ, was previously sentenced to four years in prison.

Katarzyna, a victim of priest Roman B., who had already imprisoned and raped her as a 13-year-old girl, received the highest compensation in the history of Poland in the case of clerical harassment: PLN 1 million and PLN 800 annuity paid every month. This judgment was issued last year by the Poznań District Court and the Poznań Court of Appeal upheld it.]

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.

BERLIN (GERMANY)
The Irish Times

April 1, 2020

By Derek Scally

Supreme court ruling gives clear signal to survivors and religious for future cases

Poland’s Catholic Church is facing a tidal wave of compensation bills after the country’s highest court ruled it is liable for damages for people abused by its priests and religious.

The supreme court dismissed a challenge by a religious order, the Society of Christ Fathers, to a lower court ruling that it carried ultimate responsibility for compensating a woman abused by one of its priests.

In the lower court the woman, identified only as Kasia, was awarded one million zloty (€220,000) – which the order has already paid before launching a final legal challenge.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic Standard

April 1, 2020

By Richard Szczepanowski

Washington Archbishop Wilton Gregory will celebrate Mass April 3 at noon to mark April as National Child Abuse Prevention Month.

While not opened to the public, the Mass will be live streamed on the Archdiocese of Washington’s Facebook page. (https://www.facebook.com/adw.org/) The direct link to the video is: https://www.facebook.com/adw.org/posts/3245631122121772.

Offered in conjunction with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Child and Youth Protection, the Mass was originally scheduled to be offered in the chapel at the conference’s headquarters. But as Catholic agencies have closed their doors in an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19, Archbishop Gregory will offer the Mass from his private chapel.

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.

ARLINGTON (VA)
Ms. Magazine

April 1, 2020

By Ashley Garling

This month, communities across the country are gathering at local ‘Take Back the Night’ events in observance and support of those impacted by sexual violence. In the last year—as news broke about Baptist church leaders abusing children and the Pope acknowledged nuns were being abused by church leaders—sexual violence facing children proved to be an international crisis. Investigations of both found the majority of the crimes had been long standing and some even continued for decades, but little is said about support for the victims.

This silence is dangerous. Without access to healthcare, support from loved ones and support from the community, it can lead to serious mental health consequences.

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.

SPINDALE (NC)
WUNC

April 1, 2020

By Katy Barron & Anita Rao

In this March 2, 1995 file photo, Word of Faith Fellowship church leader Jane Whaley talks to members of the media as husband Sam listens during a news conference in Spindale, N.C. Whaley has persuaded a magistrate to issue trespassing charges against Democratic candidate David Wheeler, who brought supporters and a TV crew along to a scheduled meeting at the church. Wheeler says he was invited by Whaley to visit the church, which has been accused of beating congregants to expel demons.

When former schoolteacher Jane Whaley and her husband, Sam, founded Word of Faith Fellowship in Spindale, NC in 1979, no one could have imagined all that the institution would become: a religious movement with global impact; a community that provides housing and job opportunities to its congregation; and a cult dogged with allegations of physical, psychological and spiritual abuse.

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.

AUSTRALIA
ABC

April 1, 2020

By Sarah Ferguson

For decades, 53-year-old Bernie* kept the secrets of his childhood deeply buried.

As a boy growing up in a Ballarat orphanage in the 1970s, Bernie told the ABC’s Revelation program that he was abused on multiple occasions by George Pell, then a priest in the diocese of Ballarat.

For years Bernie was convinced that if he reported the abuse, he would not be believed.

“I would hear Pell’s become Bishop,” Bernie says.

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.

RESTON (VA)
CNSNews

April 1, 2020

By Bill Donohue

In 1987, Raymond Donovan, former Secretary of Labor under President Ronald Reagan, was acquitted of charges that he conspired with the mafia for a business transaction. When he walked out of court a free man, he was asked by the media how he felt. He famously quipped, “Which office do I go to to get my reputation back?”

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic Standard

April 1, 2020

(The following is the text of the annual report from the Archdiocese of Washington’s Child Protection Advisory Board for July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019.)

The Archdiocese of Washington’s Child Protection & Safe Environment Office continues to expand its mission to create and implement effective programs and initiatives to educate and empower community members on the issues of child protection and safe environment. The office’s priority is to provide the most current information to ensure and promote the safety and well-being of all community members while in the presence of the Catholic faith. Some important aspects of the office:

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.

AUSTRALIA
Eternity News

April 1, 2020

By Chrissie Foster

The second episode of ABC’s Revelation series last night followed reporter Sarah Ferguson into the maximum security prison where Bernard McGrath, a prolific pedophile, is incarcerated. “In a tense exchange, McGrath moves between denial and revelation about the complicity of the Church in his crimes,” the program summary says.

Chrissie Foster, whose daughters Emma and Katie were raped by Melbourne priest Kevin O’Donnell while they were at primary school in the 1980s, has become a advocate for survivors of clergy sexual abuse.

This is her response to episode two of “Revelation.”

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.

HOT SPRINGS (AR)
BP

March 31, 2020

By Diana Chandler

The Arkansas Baptist State Convention (ABSC), Millcreek Baptist Church and other defendants have denied allegations and filed motions to dismiss a 2019 lawsuit accusing them of liability in alleged multiple sexual assaults of a minor.

The defendants responded to a lawsuit filed in December 2019 accusing former Millcreek pastor Teddy Hill Jr. of sexually assaulting Riley Fields over a period of years. Fields, now 19, alleges the sexual assaults began in 2014 and continued after Hill was appointed as Field’s guardian in 2016, according to court documents filed in the Ninth Circuit Court of Pulaski County, Ark. Fields originally identified himself as John Doe, but revealed his name in an amended complaint in January.

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

March 31, 2020

By Peter Hall

An Allentown Diocese priest raped a victim when he was an altar boy and continued assaulting him for decades after the priest became known to diocese officials as a pedophile, a lawsuit filed in New Jersey alleges.

The suit claims the Rev. Robert G. Cofenas began abusing the victim, who is identified by the pseudonym John Doe, when he was a 7-year-old altar boy at Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church in Reading. The abuse continued until the victim was in his 30s.

The suit alleges Cofenas identified the victim to other priests as a source of sexual gratification and names two who also allegedly assaulted the victim, including an Allentown Diocese priest who has never been publicly accused.

Cofenas was first identified as an accused priest in the statewide grand jury report on abuse in the church, released in August 2018. The report, produced after a two-year grand jury investigation, identified more than 300 Pennsylvania clergy in six dioceses, including Allentown, as abusers.

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.

Ending Clergy Abuse (ECAGlobal.org)

March 2, 2020

His Holiness, Pope Francis,
Apostolic Palace,
00120 Vatican City.

Dear Pope Francis,

Our organization led the largest international gathering of clergy sexual abuse victims and activists in Rome in February 2019 and 2020. Our conduct was peaceful and our message clear: Zero Tolerance.

Last month, during the first anniversary of your global summit on abuse we returned to Rome to deliver a report on the developments over the past year from around the world. Our presence was not acknowledged and no one from the Vatican or Church leadership approached us. This was in sharp contrast to last year when we were invited to meet with your planning group before the Summit and Cardinals dropped in to visit with us during the Summit for informal exchanges.

We came this year with the expectation of engagement with you or your representatives and to give you our assessment of the past year. We were met with indifference and silence. We were promised in our meeting with the planning group of the summit last year that there would be follow-up and dialogue with us. To date, there has been none.

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.

BOSTON (MA)
Archdiocese of Boston

March 30, 2020

Reinstated as Pastor of St. Augustine Parish in Andover

The Archdiocese of Boston announced today that Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley, OFM Cap, has returned Rev. Peter Gori, OSA., to active ministry. In addition, he has reinstated Rev. Gori as Pastor of St. Augustine Parish in Andover, MA.

This follows the completion of a thorough and independent investigation of the facts and circumstances surrounding an allegation of abuse over 25 years ago. The investigation finding is that the allegation is unsubstantiated. Rev. Gori will return to the parish by Palm Sunday.

The Augustinian Order relied upon an independent investigator, Praesidium Inc., and their Independent Review Board in concluding the allegation could not be substantiated. During the investigation, the attorney for the alleged victim withdrew from the case. It was subsequently determined that the alleged dates of abuse did not coincide with Rev. Gori’s assignment history. The alleged victim could not recall details of the abuse and declined to participate any further in the investigation. In addition, the Essex County District Attorney affirmed that it was no longer pursuing an open investigation.

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

UNITED STATES
AdamHorowitzLaw.com (law firm blog)

March 31, 2020

The momentum has shifted from the selfish wrongdoers to the selfless innocent, from the secret-keepers to the openness advocates, from those who ignore common sense and psychology to those who understand common sense and psychology and from those who want to protect institutions and companies to those who want to protect kids and vulnerable adults.

That’s why 2019 was a banner year for removing these out-of-date deadlines that stop victims from exposing those who commit and conceal sexual abuse in court.

And in response to this long-overdue trend toward justice, self-serving lobbyists who are pro-arbitrary deadline, pro-secrecy and anti-victim are becoming ever-more-creative in dreaming up outlandish ‘the sky will fall!’ claims.

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.

ANDOVER (MA)
Eagle Tribune

March 31, 2020

By Paul Tennant

Gori reinstated at St. Augustine

The Rev. Peter Gori has been reinstated as pastor of St. Augustine Church, the Archdiocese of Boston announced Monday.

He is expected to resume his duties by Sunday – which is Palm Sunday – according to Cardinal Sean O’Malley, archbishop of Boston.

Gori, a member of the Order of St. Augustine since 1973, was placed on administrative leave in April 2019 after a man, now in his 40s, claimed that he and another priest, the Rev. William Waters, sexually abused him more than 30 years ago.

“I assure you, as I assured the provincial, that the accusation is false,” Gori wrote in a letter to parishioners when the allegation surfaced. The provincial, the regional leader of Augustinian priests in the eastern U.S., had informed Gori of the accusation.

The Augustinian order relied on an independent investigator, Praesidium Inc., as well as the order’s independent review board in concluding the allegation could not be substantiated, according to a press release issued by the Archdiocese of Boston.

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)
CNA

March 31, 2020

By Matt Hadro

As dioceses across the country work to scale back payrolls, one lawyer who works with religious institutions says that new federal policies that could pay for employee leave and provide emergency loans to non-profits.

As Catholic dioceses and parishes begin to cut staff during the coronavirus pandemic, they could be eligible for unprecedented federal relief to keep their employees on their payrolls.

Bishops across the United States have suspended public liturgies and closed church buildings in response to state-issued public safety policies, and Catholic leaders have warned of an immediate revenue shortfall. Consequences of that shortfall include staff reductions, furloughs, and decreased hours.

The Diocese of Buffalo, which had already declared bankruptcy last year and announced plans for a reorganization, said on March 19 that it was “accelerating” the reorganization process for its Catholic Center. In all, 21 positions are being eliminated and three more positions moved from full-time to part-time staff.

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.

ANDOVER (MA)
The Associated Press

March 31, 2020

The pastor of a Roman Catholic church in Massachusetts who was accused of sexually abusing a minor over 30 years ago has been reinstated.

The pastor of a Roman Catholic church in Massachusetts who was accused of sexually abusing a minor over 30 years ago has been reinstated.

The Rev. Peter Gori is expected to resume his duties at St. Augustine’s Church in Andover by the end of the week, the Archdiocese of Boston announced Monday.

Gori was placed on administrative leave in April 2019 after a man, now in his 40s, claimed that he and another priest, the Rev. Williams Waters, sexually abused 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.

WINONA LAKE (IN)
WNDU

March 30, 2020

By Carli Luca

A reform school in Kosciusko County, facing allegations of neglect and abuse from former students, has closed.

The school has confirmed that they’ve closed permanently. This comes after a 16 news now investigation just over a month ago.

Hephzibah House sent a letter to their supporters saying they sent their last student away and that the closure came after their insurance carrier dropped them.

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

IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

March 31 2020

By Rebecca Black, PA

Payments will be made to those who suffered harm when they were in homes run by the church and state.

The opening of applications for a compensation scheme for survivors of historical institutional abuse has been welcomed.

A planned public event for the launch was cancelled due to the Covid-19 crisis.

However the opening of the application process for the Historical Institutional Abuse Redress Board was announced by Northern Ireland’s First and Deputy First Ministers.

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.

CAROL STREAM (IL)
Christianity Today

March 30, 2020

By Megan Fowler and Kate Shellnutt

Besides budget approvals, most denominational business can be rescheduled.

Major conferences held by the two largest Protestant denominations in the country have joined the long list of events canceled by coronavirus.

Last week, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) called off its annual meeting scheduled for June 9-10, its first cancellation since World War II 75 years ago. The week before, the United Methodist Church (UMC) announced it would have to push back its quadrennial General Conference another year after its venue, the Minnesota Convention Center, canceled events through mid-May.

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.

CHICAGO (IL)
Gruntstuff

March 31, 2020

By Donna Miller

A globe-trotting Jesuit priest with ties to Mom Teresa sexually abused an American boy “greater than 1,000 times, in a number of states and international locations,” a lawsuit filed Monday in California state court docket in San Francisco alleges.

In the lawsuit and in interviews with The Related Press, Robert J. Goldberg, now 61, describes years of psychological management and sexual abuse he suffered from age 11 into maturity whereas working as a valet for the late Rev. Donald J. McGuire.

McGuire died in federal jail in 2017 whereas serving a 25-year sentence for molesting different boys who got here underneath his sway.

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
AdamHorowitzLaw.com (law firm blog)

March 30, 2020

Many stories in the media about sexual abuse leave us sometimes shaking our heads. From time to time on this blog, we’ll mention some of those stories under the headline “How come?”

—A Texas man pleaded guilty to child sex crimes back in the 1990s when he worked for the Pioneer Drive Baptist Church in Abilene.

According to news accounts, Jeff Berry “has been sentenced to ten years probation, a $2,000 fine, 180 days in jail, and “has to turn himself in on or before September 20.”

https://sanangelolive.com/news/crime/2020-03-20/former-church-worker-pleads-guilty-lewd-acts-minor

Six months? That’s a long delay, especially for an admitted abuser. How come?

— A California megachurch recently put its pastor on leave after learning he let a volunteer who admitted an “unwanted thought pattern of attraction to minors” to keep working with kids for about a year and a half.

Rev. John Ortberg admits he “offered prayers and referrals for counseling” to the volunteer but didn’t consult anyone else at the church – about the situation.

But officials at Menlo Church re-instated Ortberg three months later.

https://www.almanacnews.com/news/2020/02/28/menlo-park-pastor-placed-on-leave-for-poor-judgment-to-return-to-the-pulpit

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.

HOUSTON (TX)
Houston Chronicle

March 30, 2020

By Robert Downen

Sexual abuse survivors this week called on Southern Baptist leaders to commit to sustained action on abuse reforms despite the faith group not meeting this year because of COVID-19.

They hope that leaders such as SBC President J.D. Greear, who will now have a third term as president because the faith group’s annual meeting was canceled, will push for more robust policies on abuse.

This year’s meeting would have been the second since the publication of Abuse of Faith, a Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News investigation that found hundreds of Southern Baptist pastors and church leaders had been convicted of sexual abuses in the last 20 years. They left behind more than 700 victims, nearly all of them children.
All the stories, all the time

Rachael Denhollander, who has been advising leaders on abuse policies, said she hopes Greear uses his platform to push back against those who’ve been complacent or, in some cases, hostile to reforms.

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.

SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Carmel Communications

March 24, 2020

Joan Sheen Cunningham writes about her unique relationship with her beloved uncle in new book

The whole world got to see Bishop Fulton Sheen on their televisions and hear him on their radios, but what was he like when he wasn’t in the public eye? His closest living relative and niece, Joan Sheen Cunningham, writes in her book, MY UNCLE FULTON SHEEN, a compelling story of how he became her second father and reveals both amusing and serious attributes about Sheen that only more deeply show his path to sainthood is well-deserved.

Sheen was to be beautified in Peoria, Illinois, on Dec. 21, 2019, but the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops postponed it on Dec. 2, per the request of Bishop Salvatore Matano of Rochester, due to concerns that Sheen could be cited in the New York attorney general’s ongoing investigation into whether any of the state’s eight Roman Catholic dioceses had covered up acts or allegations of clerical sexual abuse.

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.

Film Daily

March 30, 2020

When your Netflix queue runs dry, ‘The Keepers’ and other content may provide you just the true crime to bingewatch next.

We get it, truly. You’ve rewatched Making a Murderer and the Aaron Hernandez docuseries too many times. You’ve cleaned the house on all the Dateline episodes available. You even binged American Vandal because you were desperate for something that felt like a true crime docuseries.

But trust us, you probably still haven’t dug to the bottom of the barrel yet. Just when you think you’re out of content, Netflix comes by with its big sack of originals, dropping true crime shows out the wazoo. So when your Netflix queue has run dry, turn to these films and series to get your true crime fix. …

***

The Keepers

The beloved Sister Cathy Cesnik met her untimely end in 1969. But The Keepers says that Cesnik met the Angel of Death in a coverup against Priest A. Joseph Maskell and the sexual abuse charges against him. Releasing shortly after the award winning Spotlight, The Keepers takes a close look at just one case of sexual abuse in a large web of problems with the Catholic church.

With an investigation led by former students of Sister Cathy’s, The Keepers not only dives into the circumstances around the murder, but the long-standing claims of sexual abuse at the hands of Maskell. The truth of Sister Cathy’s murder is out there, and The Keepers gets one step closer.

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.

Internewscast.com

March 31, 2020

It’s no secret that true crime is having a moment RN. Seriously, it seems like there’s always a new true crime documentary, TV show, podcast, or book (remember those?) to get completely lost in. And by “completely lost,” I’m talking about going down hours-long rabbit holes into articles, Reddit threads, and any other details you can find wedged into the random corners of the internet. …

***
The Keepers

Who killed Sister Cathy? The case still isn’t all-the-way cracked, but the search for the nun’s murderer upturned years of shocking clergy abuse and a massive cover-up from both the church and local authorities. Hearing what harm was done to young girls in a supposed safe space will make your stomach turn. The doc centres on two women acting as amateur detectives, in an effort to keep Sister Cathy’s story and compassion alive.

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.

BAKERSFIELD (CA)
The Bakersfield Californian

March 30, 2020

By Stacey Shepard

In the midst of a virus pandemic that has shuttered schools and workplaces and is creating financial and job-related stress for families, some social workers have another concern on their mind: child abuse and neglect.

An average of 41 Kern County kids a day were referred to Child Protective Services in 2018, and most of those referrals come from teachers, doctors and counselors, mandated reporters and people whose jobs involve interacting with children on a daily basis, according to Tom Corson, the director of Kern County Network for Children. On average, eight of the calls were substantiated neglect, he said.

“My fear right now is nobody has eyes on these kids,” Corson 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 SOUTH WALES (AUSTRALIA)
AAP

March 30, 2020

By Heather McNab

A Christian minister has labelled the national redress scheme for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse as a “get-out-of-jail-free card” for churches.

Pastor Bob Cotton has called for churches to be stripped of their tax-free status if they are not willing to accommodate their abuse victims.

The senior pastor at Maitland Christian Church in NSW says the redress scheme’s compensation cap of $150,000 is far too low and “everything is weighted far too heavily in the favour of the church”.

“To me, the redress scheme is almost a ‘get-out-of-jail-free card’ for the church,” Pastor Cotton told a federal parliamentary committee via teleconference on Monday.

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.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Northeast News

March 30, 2020

By Elizabeth Orosco

The Department of Social Services (DSS) has seen a 50 percent drop in Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline calls since March 11, 2020, roughly the same time schools began going on spring break and students have not returned due to COVID-19 shutdowns.

This drop, representatives believe, is due to the lack of reports from teachers as students are out of school.

Teachers, educators, child care providers, and other professions are mandated reporters and are required to report suspected child abuse. Educators and child care providers make the largest number of hotline calls during the year.

In a recent release, Jennifer Tidball, acting director for the Department of Social Services said they are “often our state’s best radar on a child’s well-being because children are in school or at child care each day.”

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.

WILKES-BARRE (PA)
Wilkes Barre Times Leader

March 29, 2020

By Kevin Carroll

The pastor of a Catholic church in Luzerne County has stepped down from his post amid sexual abuse allegations.

A statement released by the Diocese of Scranton outlined multiple accusations against the Rev. James J. Walsh, pastor at St. Maria Goretti Parish in Laflin.

Walsh, while denying the accusations leveled at him, resigned as pastor in lieu of being removed by Bishop Joseph Bambera.

“On Wednesday, March 6, 2019, the Diocese of Scranton received an allegation of sexual assault involving Father James J. Walsh, pastor of Saint Maria Goretti Parish, Laflin. Upon receipt of this allegation, the Diocese immediately notified the Lackawanna County District Attorney’s Office,” reads the statement.

The initial accusation against Walsh was made regarding an alleged incident that took place in 1979, while Walsh was serving as an assistant pastor at the Church of Saint Gregory in Clarks Green, Lackawanna County.

The accuser was an adult at the time of the alleged assault.

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.

AUSTRALIA
BigNewsNetwork.com

March 30, 2020

By Chris Friel

Cardinal George Pell’s accuser claimed to be familiar with the layout of a renovated sacristy and this fact means we have a crucial experiment for the truth of his claims. This important insight has not been apprehended even by those who have studied the affair most closely.

That’s an astonishing claim that I hope to make plausible by examining the rulings in the intermediate court. However, the point I want to make here is that only if we understand this point will we have a clue as to why the jury made its perverse judgement in finding Pell guilty of the crimes alleged against him. There are three claims here and I will take them in turn beginning with the idea of a crucial experiment.

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.

OKLAHOMA
The Oklahoman

March 28, 2020

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops recently established a third-party system for reporting and assessing allegations of misconduct and sexual abuse of minors made against current and retired bishops.

The new Catholic Bishop Abuse Reporting service, launched March 16, is operated by Convercent Inc., an independent, third-party entity that provides intake services to private institutions for reports of sensitive topics such as sexual harassment through a secure, confidential and professional platform, according to an Archdiocese of Oklahoma City news release.

Individuals may make a report by calling 800-276-1562 or by going to reportbishopabuse.org.

The Catholic Bishop Abuse Reporting service (CBAR) is for reporting allegations of sexual abuse involving bishops only. The archdiocese of Oklahoma City has an Abuse of Minors Pastoral Response hotline at 720-9878 to report sexual misconduct by anyone in diocesan ministry who is not a bishop — such as priests, deacons, religious brothers and sisters or lay persons working or volunteering for 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
Bloomberg Law

March 30, 2020

By Michael L. Zigelman and Rita Y. Wang, attorneys with Kaufman Dolowich & Voluck

States retroactively enlarging the civil statute of limitations in child sexual abuse cases effectively increase insurers’ exposure beyond what they initially agreed to assume, Kaufman Dolowich & Voluck LLP attorneys say. The impact could be severe for insureds with substantial exposure to these claims, like the Boy Scouts, Catholic dioceses, daycare centers, and other facilities that oversaw operations involving minors.

Boy Scouts of America filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy Feb. 28 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, citing an influx of childhood sexual abuse lawsuits—indeed hundreds have been filed to date in various federal and state courts, with well over a thousand more anticipated.

The direct factor contributing to the sudden increase of these lawsuits is legislation recently enacted by many states allowing previously time-barred child sexual abuse claims to go forward, i.e., revival statutes, usually entitled “Child Victims Act.”

In 2019, 14 jurisdictions alone amended their civil statute of limitations (SOL) for child sexual abuse claims. Among which, eight jurisdictions enacted revival statutes allowing previously time-barred claims: New York, the District of Columbia, Montana, New Jersey, Arizona, Vermont, Rhode Island, and North Carolina.

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.

MALTA
MaltaToday.com

March 29, 2020

By Matthew Agius

Court of Appeal confirms damages claim by victims of the St Joseph Home clerical sex abuse is time-barred

More disappointment for the victims of the St Joseph Home clerical sex abuse, as the Court of Appeal confirmed that their case was time-barred.

Chief Justice Joseph Azzopardi, Mr Justice Tonio Mallia and Madam Justice Miriam Hayman, in a decision handed down on Friday, upheld a judgment of the First Hall Civil Court, ruling the claim to be time-barred.

Lawrence Grech, together with ten others, had filed a case for damages against two priests, the St Paul’s Missionary Society, the Archdiocese of Malta, and the government in 2013.

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.

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

March 27, 2020

By Alexandra Kukulka

https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-hyles-lawsuit-st-0329-20200327-qhcr4b7utbbatna2io7e2j7j5q-story.html

Sitting in her apartment in Highland, Joy Ryder looks back on two years of alleged sexual abuse at the hands of her youth pastor and said it made her reevaluate her relationship with God and religion.

“I never lost my faith in God,” Ryder said. “I’m not about religion, but more of a relationship with Christ.”

Ryder recently filed a lawsuit against the estate of Jack Hyles, his son David Hyles, Hyles-Anderson College and First Baptist Church of Hammond alleging that David Hyles raped, sexually assaulted and sexually abused her and that church leadership covered it up in the late 1970s.

“You aren’t special, he does that with everyone,” Ryder said Jack Hyles, the then-lead pastor of First Baptist Church of Hammond, told her.

Ryder, then 14, recalled that was Jack Hyles’ response when she approached him to tell him that a senior-ranking member of the church — his son — was abusing her.

“He is probably the most cruel, and cunning person I’ve ever known in my life, and I don’t say that easily,” Ryder, now 57, said of David Hyles. “He knew exactly what he was doing.”

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.