Abuse Tracker

ITALY
Google Video

SEX CRIMES AND THE VATICAN.
(Crimini Sessuali e Vaticano)

The Italian-language version of the BBC documentary that deals with the world-wide cover-up of child abuse by some Catholic priests was shown today in Italy. It can be seen at this link.

WASHINGTON
KXLY

COEUR D'ALENE -- The counselor arrested on three charges of sexual battery at a North Idaho private school for troubled teenage boys has admitted to authorities he had been a long-time sex addict, including the years he served as a Catholic priest.

Louis Ladenburger, 70, was arrested Wednesday on three charges of lewd conduct with a minor after a three-week investigation by the Bonner County Sheriff’s Special Victims Unit. The investigation came as a result of a teen at the Elk Mountain Academy near Clark Fork telling a school administrator of Ladenburger’s alleged conduct.

Ladenburger’s admission that he was a long-suffering sex addict raises the question of whether there are other potential victims of abuse. The Bonner County Sheriff’s Office is already working to contact former students at the Elk Mountain Academy to question them in their ongoing investigation.

AUSTRALIA
Catholic News

NSW south coast "prophet", William Kamm, known as the "Little Pebble" to his followers, has been found guilty of sex offences against a girl aged 14 and 15 at the time of the acts.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Mr Kamm, 56, was found guilty in the NSW District Court yesterday of five counts of sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 16 under his authority and one count of committing an act of indecency.

The girl was aged 14 and 15 at the time and was part of a religious community Mr Kamm established at Cambewarra, near Nowra.

fIRELAND
Irish Independent

By John Cooney
Thursday May 31 2007

THE Catholic Church in Ireland has appointed its first national director for child protection.

This move is part of its proactive strategy of trying to go beyond merely apologising for the scandal of clerical sex abuse.

The appointee, Ian Elliott, is currently director of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in Belfast.

He will take up his new appointment on July 1 as chief executive officer of the Church's National Board for Child Protection, chaired by Anthony Hederman, a former judge of the Supreme Court.

ITALY
Javno

Reuters
A controversial BBC TV documentary on the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests aired in Italy on Thursday as conservative politicians called for a boycott of the state broadcaster for running it.

"Sex Crimes and the Vatican" has for the past several weeks pitted right-wing politicians opposed to its airing against those who said censoring it would violate freedom of speech.

After much haggling, the head of state broadcaster RAI said it could be aired as part of a debate show called "Year Zero", but only if it were accompanied by balancing opinion from Church representatives.

GOLDEN (CO)
Denver Post

By Ann Schrader
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 05/31/2007 09:49:33 AM MDT

Golden - Former Arvada priest Timothy Evans will spend four years in prison on top of the minimum 14-year sentence handed down Wednesday in Larimer County.

He was sentenced to the additional time this morning in Jefferson County.

He is the first priest in Colorado to be convicted of sexual assault since the clergy-abuse crisis hit the U.S. Catholic Church in 2002.

Evans, 44, of Loveland, was convicted by two juries of sexually assaulting minors during counseling sessions.

GOLDEN (CO)
TheDenverChannel.com

GOLDEN, Colo. -- A former priest had more prison time tacked onto his sentence when he was sentenced again, for a second case of sexual assault, Thursday morning.

Timothy Evans, 44, was convicted of sexual assault by a person in a position of trust in both Larimer and Jefferson counties.

In Jefferson County on Thursday, Evans was sentenced to four years for sexually assaulting a 16- year-old boy who went to him for counseling in 1996.

GOLDEN (CO)
CBS 4

(AP) GOLDEN, Colo. A former parish priest could spend 18 years to life in prison after he was convicted of molesting two teenage boys, one who had gone to him for counseling, prosecutors said Thursday.

Timothy Joseph Evans, 44, was convicted of sexual assault in two Colorado parishes. The cases were handled separately and he was ordered to serve the two sentences consecutively.

On Thursday, a Jefferson County district judge sentenced him to four years in prison on one count of sexual assault on a child by someone in a position of trust.

Prosecutors said the victim was a 16-year-old whose parents had sent him to Evans for counseling in 1996 at the Spirit of Christ Parish in the Denver suburb of Arvada. He was convicted in March.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Insurance Journal

May 31, 2007

The Archdiocese of St. Louis is suing a law firm that handles clergy sex abuse cases, claiming it is improperly circulating confidential documents related to eight current or former priests.

At a news conference earlier this week, members of the Survivors' Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said they were outraged by the lawsuit. SNAP members instead urged the church to embrace transparency as a necessary part of healing. The support group for abuse victims said the lawyers had done nothing wrong.

Meanwhile Tuesday, a new lawsuit was filed against a former priest in the St. Louis area, Donald "Duck'' Straub, for allegedly abusing a boy in 1977.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
City of Angels

By City of Angels Lady

I’m breathless but have to go down for one more Document Dive. At the Bottom of Page one, going down the JCCP documents in descending order, I find this plea re case BC307410 filed 5.23.07. “Motion for protective order and grant of immunity for defendant George Neville Rucker” -- 21 pages. I also have yet to report that Tony DeMarco was on his way to depose Wempe after court yesterday. Plus I found Kreutzer Cases jury instructions, evidence, and lists of witnesses. (See next post.)

The hearing on immunity for Rucker is on calendar for July 10, barring unanticipated date-shuffling. Rucker pleas for immunity as a way of “Protecting him and immunizing him from criminal prosecution. . . .

“In particular Defendant moves (for) Order immunizing him from prosecution for any act of child molestation, sexual abuse of a minor, and any conspiracy to commit or conceal such acts by Defendant or any other person ...

WHITESTONE (NY)
Times Ledger

By Stephen Stirling
05/31/2007

A former Whitestone pastor has been barred from performing duties as a priest after a review found significant evidence that he sexually abused minors more than three decades ago, the Brooklyn Catholic Diocese said Tuesday.

Parishioners at St. Luke's Church in Whitestone were shocked to learn Sunday that Msgr. Nicholas Capua, who served at the church from 1983 to 2005, had been relieved of his priestly duties by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio.

In a letter to the parishioners at St. Luke's read aloud in Italian and English at their weekly mass Sunday, DiMarzio explained that Capua will no longer be able to act as a priest, celebrate mass publicly or administer the sacraments. DiMarzio said he came to his decision after the Diocesan Review Board presented him with "sufficient evidence" that Capua had abused several minors more than 30 years ago.

ALBANY (NY)
MidHudsonMostWanted

Albany – A 50-year-old Hudson, NY man has been arrested by federal authorities and charged with receiving and possessing child pornography.

Raymond Ethier was released on $25,000 bond following an initial court appearance.

Ethier is said to be a Catholic priest, at St. John Vianney in Churchtown.

The court also imposed home detention, electronic monitoring and no unsupervised contact with minors.

IRELAND
BBC News

Johnny Caldwell
BBC News website

The man who is oversee the Catholic Church's Irish child protection board says he will have no qualms about reporting any priest involved in suspected child sex abuse.

Ian Elliott, who headed the NSPCC in NI, says the "independent role" follows a career dedicated to child protection.

The 60-year-old has been "impressed by the efforts" within the church to confront the well-documented problem.

CANADA
The Chatham Daily News

By ELLWOOD SHREVE / The Daily News
Local News - Thursday, May 31, 2007 @ 09:00

Crown Attorney Paul Bailey is praising the Diocese of London for taking substantial steps towards preventing clergy from sexually abusing children.

Bailey is crediting the church for its efforts to include measures in its new sexual abuse policy which have been recommended by the From Isolation to Action (FITA) committee.

The committee includes women who were indecently assaulted by the late Father Charles Sylvestre, many of whom were from Chatham and Pain Court. Also included in the committee are Bailey and church members, including Bishop Ronald Fabbro and Vicar General Father John Sharp.

ALBANY (NY)
The Saratogian

By SHAWN CHARNIGA, For The Saratogian
05/30/2007

ALBANY - A 50-year-old Catholic priest who is a Cohoes native now living in Columbia County could be released on bond as early as today after a federal magistrate on Wednesday agreed to grant the accused bail as he awaits trial on charges he received and possessed computer images of child pornography.
According to a federal prosecutor, Raymond Ethier of Hudson took part in a conversation over the Internet with a Canadian just over a year ago, sparking an investigation that led federal Department of Homeland Security officials
to seize a computer from Ethier's home May 10 and recover images of child pornography.
Prosecutor Thomas Spina said Ethier was not arrested in the church, St. John Vianney in Claverack, or in his home, and refused to say exactly where the arrest by DHS, State Police and Hudson police took place. He said Ethier faces five to 20 years in prison if convicted, but the criminal process will be delayed by medical treatment the priest will seek in Maryland.

IRELAND
BBC News

The head of the NSPCC in Belfast is to take charge of the Catholic Church's Irish child protection board.

Ian Elliott has led a major reform programme for Northern Ireland's child protection services.

The National Board for Child Protection is to monitor the implementation of the church's child protection measures.

Last October, Pope Benedict XV told Irish bishops they must deal effectively with problems caused by priests who sexually abuse children.

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

The Catholic Church's National Board for Child Protection has appointed the director of the North's National Society for the Protection of Children as its first chief executive.

Ian Elliott has already led a major reform programme for the child protection service in the North.

The chair of the Church's Catholic Board for Child Protection, former Supreme Court Justice Anthony Hederman, says he has the energy, commitment, professional expertise and experience needed.

ALBANY (NY)
Capital News 9

Updated: 5/31/2007 7:35 AM
By: Mark Repasky

Prosecutors say Canadian officials contacted the Department of Homeland Security in May after coming across the screen name "nudistdude23." The Canadian investigation turned up online chat records in which the screen name indicated he was sexually abusing his stepchildren.

With records from Yahoo and Verizon, DHS linked that screen name to Raymond Ethier, a pastor at St. John Vianney Parish. Either was arrested and now faces two counts of receiving and possessing child pornography. He is free on bond.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany has placed Either on administrative leave.

CALIFORNIA
The Signal

By Christi Anne Corpus
Signal Staff Writer

Wednesday May 30, 2007

Paul Kreutzer, a convicted child molester and former Canyon Country resident, faces an upcoming jury trial as part of class action lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and Los Angeles Unified School District regarding years of alleged sex crimes in which the 30-year teacher targeted a number of his students in both parochial and public schools.

Trials for the lawsuit, which marks the first civil sex abuse suit filed against the Archdiocese, will begin next month, with Kreutzer's trial initiating a series of similar trials against clergy members and teachers that allegedly abused their parishioners or students.

Kreutzer's trial is scheduled to take place on June 11 in a Los Angeles courtroom, according to Los Angeles Superior Court officials.

ALBANY (NY)
Albany Times Union

By JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST, Staff writer

First published: Thursday, May 31, 2007

ALBANY -- A 50-year-old Roman Catholic priest from Columbia County has been charged with using a popular file-sharing program to download child pornography, authorities said.

The investigation into the Rev. Raymond Ethier, who had been serving as pastor of St. John Vianney in Philmont, began after Canadian authorities tipped off the federal Department of Homeland Security, authorities said.

Ethier was ordered released from Albany County jail on $50,000 bond Wednesday afternoon after answering to charges in federal court that could send him to prison for 5 to 20 years.

OROVILLE (CA)
Mercury-Register

By TERRY VAU DELL - Staff Writer
Article Launched: 05/31/2007 12:03:12 AM PDT

OROVILLE -- A ruling Wednesday dismissing sexual abuse charges against a former Chico youth minister will allow a long-delayed "healing and reconciliation process" to resume, according to his lawyer.

The same judge had previously ruled the bulk of the charges against Richard James Manley, 42, were barred by the three-year statute of limitations.

Prosecutors attempted to re-file three of the criminal counts against the former church official under a slightly different Penal Code section, which would have allowed up to 10 years to prosecute those alleged offenses.

IRELAND
Gorey Echo

By Deborah Coleman

A HARD-hitting documentary for which Colm O’Gorman reported for BBC’s Panorama series has been causing a stir in Italy as it has become the most watched film in the country after it was broadcast on the internet.

It was reported that a price had been agreed between an Italian TV channel and the BBC for the purchase of the programme which accused the Pope of covering up sex crimes committed by Catholic priests.

Until now the documentary had almost gone unnoticed until a subtitled version came to light on a website and was subsequently downloaded onto the Italian version of Google Video.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
North County Times

By: North County Times -

SAN DIEGO -- A lawsuit was filed Tuesday in federal bankruptcy court to determine whether the Catholic diocese in San Diego or individual parishes are the owners of certain property in a dispute in the church's bankruptcy case.

A committee of creditors who have a claim to money from the diocese, including victims of alleged childhood sexual abuse at the hands of priests, are asking for court orders declaring that the parishes are not separate from the diocese and that the diocese is the owner of the property at issue.

At a May 10 hearing, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Louise DeCarl Adler instructed attorneys for the creditors committee to file the lawsuit so she can decide what assets belong to the diocese and what belongs to the parishes. The lawsuit involves four specific parishes, including St. Margaret's in Oceanside and St. Mark's in San Marcos.

CANADA
The Observer

ELLWOOD SHREVE / Osprey News Network; The Chatham Daily News
Local News - Wednesday, May 30, 2007 @ 16:00

The Diocese of London is investing in a program to help male sexual abuse survivors who have been victimized by a representative of the Catholic church.

The Hope and Healing Associates has received $30,000 from the diocese for the Silence to Hope and Healing project to establish counselling groups in Chatham, London and Windsor.

The funding "gives us a pretty good start," said Tom Wilken of Erieau, program co-ordinator.

He said he knows there are a lot of male sexual abuse survivors in general, but getting them to talk about it is not easy.

FORT COLLINS (CO)
Rocky Mountain News

By Lisa Ryckman, Rocky Mountain News
May 31, 2007
On one side of the packed courtroom sat the fervent supporters of former parish priest Timothy Joseph Evans. On the other side, his devastated sexual assault victims and their families.

They all shared one thing, Evans said.

"In each and every face, pain is the common denominator," the priest told Larimer District Court Judge Jolene Blair, who sentenced him Wednesday to 14 years to life for sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust and a pattern of abuse.

COSTA MESA (CA)
Daily Pilot

By Kelly Strodl

Costa Mesa police are investigating a woman's allegations that when she was a teenager she was sexually abused by the choir director at St. Timothy's Parish in Laguna Niguel.

The woman, who is now 28, alleges that the abuse started nearly 13 years ago when she was singing for the church's youth choir, her attorney John Manly said.

She alleges that Albert L. Schildknecht, 56, of Laguna Niguel sexually assaulted her beginning when the woman was 15, Manly said. She first reported the abuse allegations to the Orange County Sheriff's Department, but now the investigation has widened, and Costa Mesa police have taken an interest.

UNITED KINGDOM
ic Seftonandwestlancs

May 31 2007

by Sarah Chapman, Bootle Times

A CATHOLIC priest is facing jail after he was convicted of enabling a predatory paedophile to groom and sexually abuse a Liverpool schoolgirl.

Father Jeremiah McGrath, 63, bankrolled convicted sex offender William Adams during a period of three months in which he repeatedly raped a 12-year-old girl, Liverpool Crown Court was told.

The wealthy Irish priest had known 40-year-old Adams for years and had a homosexual affair with him, despite having taken a vow of celibacy.

FORT COLLINS (CO)
CBS 4

Mike Hooker
Reporting

(CBS4/AP) FORT COLLINS, Colo. A defrocked Roman Catholic priest was sentenced Wednesday to 14 years to life in prison on charges that he sexually abused a teen boy.

Jurors convicted Timothy Joseph Evans, 44, in March of two counts of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust and one count of sexual assault on a child with a pattern of abuse.

Evans was accused of inappropriately touching a 17-year-old parishioner on two occasions on church property while serving as priest at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Fort Collins. Evans was a priest there from 1998 to 2002.

FORT COLLINS (CO)
The Coloradoan

BY SARA REED
SaraReed@coloradoan.com

Timothy Evans sullied the names of dedicated clergy and fed the distrust of organized religion, a judge said Wednesday as she ordered Evans to serve at least 14 years in prison for molesting a 17-year-old boy while he was the priest at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Fort Collins a decade ago.

"His decision and actions have caused great pain and trauma," District Court Judge Jolene Blair said in a packed courtroom at the Larimer County Justice Center, 201 LaPorte Ave. "Mr.

In March, a jury convicted Evans of fondling Nick Gerber on two separate occasions between Sept. 1, 1998, and May 18, 1999.

UNITED STATES
EURWeb

By Mona Austin / mona@lachurchscene.com
(May 30, 2007)

No one expects to visit a doctor and be issued a prescription that would intentionally worsen their condition. Many entrust their very lives to medical practitioners. Likewise, no one would expect to have their trust violated by a pastor.

Yet cleric abuse quietly happens more often than one would think. Director Lance Watson boldly exposes the abuse of power from church leaders in a controversial documentary entitled, "All in the Name of God."

With topics ranging from sexual improprieties, permissible divorce, stringent rules and regulations, shotgun weddings, intentional public humiliation -- all within the religious community, the piece is wrought with controversy. All accounts in the documentary according to the release are true.

FORT COLLINS (CO)
The Denver Post

By Monte Whaley Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 05/30/2007 11:40:21 PM MDT

Fort Collins - A former Fort Collins priest not only permanently scarred the 17-year-old boy he sexually abused, but also the city and the church where he worked, a district judge said Wednesday.

The decisions made by 44-year-old Timothy Joseph Evans "caused great pain and trauma," said Judge Jolene Blair before she sentenced Evans to at least 14 years in prison, and possibly life.

"You also caused great angst to the Catholic community in Fort Collins and to the community as a whole," Blair said. "You further fed the mistrust of the secular community toward organized religion."

UNITED STATES
FindLaw

By MARCI HAMILTON

Thursday, May. 31, 2007

Last week, the Louisiana Supreme Court upheld the death penalty as applied to a child abuser. Louisiana has led the way in passing laws to execute pedophiles. However, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Georgia, and Montana also have passed such laws, with Texas soon to follow when Gov. Rick Perry signs such legislation.

A major impetus for the death penalty in child sex cases is the heinous crime by a previously-convicted sex offender against Florida nine-year old Jessica Lunsford, who suffered horrific abuse, including burial alive in a shallow grave, where she eventually suffocated.

If there is a way to measure the temperature of public opinion against child abuse, this is it, and it bodes well for children, even if it is not the most effective way of protecting children.

NEW YORK
Fox 23

Last Update: May 30, 2007 10:47 PM

Posted By: Jeff Saperstone

A Columbia County priest is charged with having child pornography. Father Raymond Ethier is out on bond with home detention and is not allowed to preach.

Disgraced clergyman, 50 year old Father Raymond Ethier was lead out of federal court in Albany in handcuffs Wednesday evening. The priest of 22 years was arrested and charged with downloading and possessing explicit sexual images and videos depicting children. Authorities say the arrest came after they seized a computer. Court documents also allege he was having inappropriate conversations online using the name "nudistdude23" where he told someone from Canada he was sexually abusing children. Ethier claims the conversations were just fantasy.

Philmont resident Richard Minkler said, “A surprise yeah, a shock no, I'm not shocked by it no, you don't know who's doing it these days.”

UNITED STATES
The Jewish Week

Debra Nussbaum Cohen

Alan Horowitz, a convicted pedophile, Orthodox rabbi and child psychologist, violated parole last year and left the country to live, according to a letter he sent to the New York State sex offender registry, in Israel. But last week he was arrested in southern India.

Rabbi Horowitz was convicted twice on charges of sexually abusing boys, first in 1983 and again in 1991, when he served 13 years in New York State prison for victimizing boys who were then 8, 10, 12 and 14 years old.

Rabbi Horowitz is presently being held in India as U.S. officials work with authorities there to extradite him here, said Deputy U.S. Marshal Gary Mattison, a lead investigator on the case.

ROME
Voice from the Desert

On Friday morning, June 22, in the Sala delle Colonne of the historical Palazzo Marini, a building situated in the premises of the Italian Parliament in Rome, there will be a special screening of Italian-American filmmaker Joe Cultrera’s documentary Hand of God.

This screening – the first European one of this award winning film – is being presented by the Italian Parliamentary group la Rosa nel Pugno in cooperation with Anticlericale.net, an association affiliated with the Italian Radical Party and the Transnational Radical Party. The presenters will welcome a large group of invited guests, in addition to all members of the Italian Parliament, and the Italian and foreign press. Also in attendance at the screening will be both the director Joe Cultrera and his brother Paul – the subject of the film. Other activities are being planned around the screening.

Hand of God portrays the vicissitudes of Joe Cultrera’s Italian-Catholic family in Salem, MA. Cultrera decided to make the film after he learned his older brother Paul had been abused by a Catholic priest when he was 14 years old, and after the church his parents helped finance and build (Saint Mary’s Italian) was being forced to close by the Archdiocese of Boston. The closing of this church was due in part to offset financial losses the diocese had incurred in the settling of hordes of clergy abuse cases. The film looks at the issue of Catholic clergy abuse through a highly personal, impressionistic and non-dramatic lens.

DAVENPORT (IA)
Des Moines Register

SHIRLEY RAGSDALE
REGISTER STAFF WRITER

May 30, 2007

A federal bankruptcy judge on Wednesday approved the sale of three properties by the Diocese of Davenport to pay its major creditors — individuals with claims of child sexual abuse by priests.

The diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Oct. 10, 2006, because it said settlement demands by victims of abuse exceeded the diocese’s ability to pay current and future claims.

Southern District Bankruptcy Judge Lee M. Jackwig approved the sale of:

• A farm at 3718 Telegraph Road., Davenport, to Charles Van Fossen of Davenport for $310,000.

• A residence at 803 E. 39th St., Davenport, to Mr. and Mrs. James Ridge of Long Grove for $70,125.

CANADA
AHN

May 30, 2007 6:28 p.m. EST

Valerie Chang - AHN News Writer
London, Canada (AHN) - The Roman Catholic Diocese of London, Ontario has provided funding for a project that provides counseling to males who were sexually abused by members of the clergy.

The Diocese gave $30,000 to Hope and Healing Associates, a Chatham, Ontario group headed by Tom Wilken, for the Silence to Hope and Healing Project. Mr. Wilken characterized the funding as "groundbreaking," because he said that "[i]t is very rare that male victims get any type of funding for services."

Most of the money will be used to provide free group counseling services to male victims of clergy sexual abuse in London, Chatham, and Windsor, Ontario. The counseling will last anywhere from 10 to 16 weeks.

SAN JOSE (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle

Marisa Lagos

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Police are trying to locate a boy who may have been molested in 1991 by a Sunday school teacher arrested in December on suspicion of sexually molesting a 15-year-old neighbor.

Valentino Angel Sedillo, 39, was arrested Christmas Eve. An investigation revealed "that Sedillo's home was the center of activity for a group of neighborhood teens, and where Sedillo reportedly gave the teens alcohol," police said.

Sedillo, who taught Sunday school at Foxworthy Baptist Church in San Jose until May 2006, was found to have concealed video surveillance and recording equipment at his home, police said.

SEATTLE (WA)
Seattle Weekly

By John Metcalfe

Shortly after Robert Rinde was born in 1969, his father, Robert Larry Leroy Pitsor Sr., decided that the infant would grow up as a Mormon. It struck him as a fashionable religion to be part of.

"It was part of the Western machismo," says Anne Rinde, the mother. "He had it in his mind that all Western men were Mormons and he was going to be one, too. It's cowboy crap." It hardly mattered that Larry—the name Pitsor went by—initially wasn't a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "He told me he was," adds Anne, now 63 years old. "It turned out he wasn't, but he became one later. Larry was not the most honest of human beings."

Nevertheless, young Robert thrived as a Mormon. Growing up in Seattle's Magnolia neighborhood as part of the local church's First Ward, Robert spent many happy days as a boy engaged in church-related games and activities. On weekends, he helped can foodstuffs in the warehouse of the church's Relief Society, and joined a Mormon-sponsored Boy Scout troop. "He was just Mr. Sunshine," says Anne. "He was the kid everybody wanted. He was willing to do anything for anybody."

LOS ANGELES (CA)
City of Angels

By City of Angels Lady

The motion to compel Roger Mahony to respond to Interrogatories 1 through 8 “accidentally” fell off calendar this morning, but the Cardinal’s written responses may now be a moot point. Plaintiff Witness Number 17 in the June 11 Jury trial re Paul Kreutzer, Catholic school math teacher/predator, is Cardinal Roger Mahony.

So Roger Mahony may testify on the witness stand in front of a jury in the Kreutzer Cases, trial date June 11th. Katherine Freberg was gracious as she explained the way Mahony’s interrogatories hearing slipped off calendar today as “one of those things that happen.” She’s only been after Mahony’s answers to these eight questions since last August with endless delays, continuances, and non-response answers.

Freberg explained: She’d filed five motions in one day, four of them to continue hearings re Hagenbach cases and one re this Caffoe case and Interrogatories 1 through 8.

Someone somewhere in the Court system made an error and the Mahony hearing got moved off calendar. But sitting outside for a smoke later in the park between the statues of Christopher Columbus and George Washington it hit me.

ALBANY (NY)
Albany Times Union

By JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST

Last updated: 2:42 p.m., Wednesday, May 30, 2007

ALBANY - A Columbia County priest was granted $50,000 bond this afternoon after an initial appearance in federal court to face charges of receiving and possessing child pornography.

Raymond Ethier, 50, was arrested after computers seized from his home were found to contain pornographic images and videos depicting children, according to a felony complaint filed against him.

Federal authorities allege that Ethier admitted having sexually explicit conversations on the Internet and that he "engaged in sexually explicit conversations with other individuals on the Internet and that these conversations sometimes involved children. However, he indicated these conversations were merely fantasy in nature and that he has never abused a minor."

CANADA
Ottawa Sun

By CP

CORNWALL — A witness at an inquiry here read aloud a letter Tuesday in which he believes Rev. Charles MacDonald expressed regret for having sexually assaulted him.

The letter, which is dated Dec. 30, 1997, is handwritten and signed, “Sincerely, Charles F.” It has not been determined MacDonald was the author of the letter.

The man, who cannot be identified under a publication ban, told the inquiry Monday he was sexually assaulted by the priest while the pair were visiting a cottage in Eganville. The man would have been 18 years old at the time of the alleged assault.

SCRANTON (PA)
Catholic World News

Scranton, May. 30, 2007 (CWNews.com) - The Scranton, Pennyslvania diocese has decided against proceeding with the priestly ordination of a deacon who formerly headed the suppressed Society of St. John.

Deacon Joseph Levine was the superior general of the Society of St. John before the order was suppressed by Scanton's Bishop Joseph Martino in 2004. Although not personally accused of immoral conduct, Levine was charged with covering up evidence of sexual abuse by his predecessors in the group's leadership.

FORT COLLINS (CO)
Rocky Mountain News

By Lisa Ryckman, Rocky Mountain News
May 30, 2007
Timothy Evans, a priest convicted in two counties of sexually abusing boys he was supposed to be counseling, will serve at least 14 years in a state prison, a Larimer County judge ruled today.

The court handed down what’s called an "indeterminate" sentence, setting a minimum of 14 years while leaving the maximum, which could be as much as life, to the discretion of the parole board. The board would base its determination, in part, on the inmate’s behavior and rehabilitation efforts while behind bars.

The courtroom this morning was packed with supporters of Evans as well as families and friends of his victims.

FORT COLLINS (CO)
The Coloradoan

By Coloradoan staff

Timothy Evans, a former priest at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Fort Collins who was convicted of sexual assaulting a teenage boy 10 years ago, will serve at least 14 years in prison.

Evans was sentenced in Larimer County District Court this morning.

FORT COLLINS (CO)
9News

written by: Sara Gandy, Web Producer created: 5/30/2007 10:49:23 AM
Last updated: 5/30/2007 11:04:07 AM

FORT COLLINS - A 44-year-old former priest was sentenced Wednesday after being found guilty of sex assault on a child.

Tim Evans was found guilty in March on two counts of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust and one count of showing a pattern of abuse. On Wednesday he was sentenced to 14 years to life in prison.

Evans was accused of sexually molesting a 17-year-old boy twice in 1999 when he was a priest at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Roman Catholic Church in Fort Collins.

FORT COLLINS (CO)
TheDenverChannel.com

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- A Catholic priest accused of molesting a young parishioner in Fort Collins was sentenced to 14 years to life Wednesday in Larimer County.

Timothy Joseph Evans, 44, was found guilty earlier on two counts of sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust and engaging in a pattern of abuse.

The ruling means he will serve an indeterminate sentence of at least 14 years and could be kept in prison for life, at the discretion of the state parole board.

DAVENPORT (IA)
KGAN

May 30, 2007 10:11 EDT

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) -- Attorneys for people who claim they were sexually abused by priests are objecting to plans by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport to sell three properties.

The diocese, which filed for bankruptcy last fall, is asking a judge to approve the sales to settle the claims so it can get out of bankruptcy.

But a creditors committee made up of abuse victims is raising objections. They say the diocese isn't telling all about the fair market value of the property. They say that makes it hard to analyze offers.

TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade

By DAVID CLOHESSY

IT WOULD be easy to dismiss the controversy over a Toledo street honoring a dead Catholic priest.

Easy, but wrong.

This issue is no tempest in a teapot. Who a community chooses to honor matters. It especially matters when the honor is public and permanent, like the street named for Msgr. Jerome Schmit.

Let's start with a quick review of the facts. Back in 1980, police were investigating the brutal murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl. The prime suspect was a Catholic priest, the Rev. Gerald Robinson. Police officers were questioning him at the station. No one disputes any of this.

Fast forward 26 years. At Robinson's May, 2006 criminal trial, two retired Toledo police officers, with no apparent agenda, came out of retirement and offered clear and unchallenged testimony, under oath, about Robinson's interrogation. Both said that Msgr. Schmit suddenly showed up at the station, interrupted the session by walking in with a lawyer, and quickly walked out with Robinson. The prime suspect was never questioned again and the crime went unsolved for almost three decades. Ultimately, Robinson was convicted of killing the nun.

NORTHERN IRELAND
The Fermanagh Herald

'People just feel very hurt and let down'

The community of Roslea have been left reeling following the conviction of their parish priest, Fr Jeremiah McGrath of facilitating a sexual offence on a 12 year-old-girl.

The Sinn Fein Councillor for the area, Brian McCaffrey articulated the feelings of the community, saying: "There is an overwhelming feeling of hurt, betrayal, and of shock.

"Fr McGrath came to Roslea in 1990, and since then he has been accepted into the community here. He was on the Board of Governors of two locals schools, he was in a position of responsibility and, apart from anything else, he had a duty of care and should have known better.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
City of Angels

By City of Angels Lady

For comparison sake, since we spent the day critiquing a Defendant’s motion, now let’s look at the May 18 Plaintiffs' reply brief re privacy objections concerning Franciscan Friars. Document diving I found this pearl, filed by Timothy Hale of Nye, Peabody & Stirling in Santa Barbara.

Saying the Franciscans have “crossed the line of reasonableness in advocating for the privacy rights of pedophile priests,” Hale quotes Church Attorneys for the Franciscans arguing in court:

THE COURT: So pedophilia is protected by the right of privacy?

CHURCH ATTORNEY HELDT: Yes, Sexual behavior --

THE COURT: Of any kind?

DOVER (DE)
The News Journal

By BETH MILLER, The News Journal

Posted Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 6:40 pm
DOVER – After a five-hour hearing today that included the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington warning of possible ministry cutbacks and an industry representative warning of the potential for higher cost or non-existent insurance coverage, the House Judiciary Committee voted 5-0 to release a bill that would eliminate the civil statute of limitations for child sexual abuse cases. It is expected to reach the House floor when legislators return from their budget-writing break next month.

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By Manya A. Brachear
Tribune religion reporter
Published May 29, 2007, 6:06 PM CDT
Kathy Laarveld thought that by working at her son Keith's Catholic elementary school she could shield him from danger and guarantee him a happy childhood.

But in 2003 her adult son shared horrifying news: At his 8th birthday party and celebration of his First Communion, Rev. Vincent McCaffrey had molested him inside the Laarvelds' home. The abuse, he said, continued for four years behind closed doors just steps away from his mother's desk at St. Joseph the Worker School in Wheeling.

"I would rather have died than let this happen to my son," Kathy Laarveld said through tears at a news conference Tuesday. "I was there. It was done in my home. It was done in my place of work. Now I know a true predator knows how to play the game."

UNITED STATES
The New York Sun

By CHRISTIAN LORENTZEN
May 30, 2007

Jerry Bauer

Andrew O'Hagan, author of "Be Near Me. O'Hagan is mostly concerned with human frailty, a problem at once moral, aesthetic, and metaphysical, writes Christian Lorentzen.

The crux of Andrew O'Hagan's third novel, "Be Near Me" (Harcourt, 305 pages, $24), is a night of wandering and carousing that ends with a kiss and a reproof. The episode would be negligible in most lives, but the parties concerned happen to be a 15-year-old boy and a 56-year-old Catholic priest. They are discovered just after dawn, drunk, high, and holding hands on the rectory couch, by the housekeeper. The incident creeps to the attention of the authorities, leading to the pastor's arrest and electrifying political and class resentments in the county of Ayrshire on the west coast of Scotland. Headlines in the local tabloids name Father David Anderton "The Face of Evil," and an angry mob sets fire to the rectory, yelling, "Come out, ya child molestin' bastard."

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

By Tim Townsend
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
05/30/2007

A former priest with the Archdiocese of St. Louis was sued Tuesday by a man accusing him of sexual abuse at St. George Parish in Affton 30 years ago.

At a news conference Tuesday, attorney Ken Chackes, said his client — referred to in the case only as John Doe BA — was 13 in 1977 when the abuse is alleged to have taken place.

The suit, filed in St. Louis County Circuit Court, says that Donald Straub "worked with, mentored and counseled" the teenager at Resurrection Parish in St. Louis, but that the abuse occurred at St. George.

DAYTON (OH)
Dayton Daily News

By Tom Beyerlein
Staff Writer

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on Tuesday named U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael R. Merz of Dayton as chairman of the National Review Board, a lay organization formed by the bishops five years ago to help cope with the priest child sexual abuse scandal. Merz's two-year term as chairman starts Friday. He has been a member of the board since 2004.

The board's priorities, Merz said, are to oversee completion of a major study on the "causes and context" of the scandal and to evaluate the effectiveness of safety training for children and annual audits to check whether the nation's dioceses are implementing child-protection policies.

The John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York and Fordham University were commissioned by the bishops in 2005 to examine why so many priests abused boys, especially in the 1970s, and why the number of reported incidents has declined.

CHICAGO (IL)
Daily Herald

By Rob Olmstead
rolmstead@dailyherald.com
Posted Wednesday, May 30, 2007

A leading attorney of legal action against the Archdiocese of Chicago announced Tuesday the settlement of about a dozen suits involving victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests.

Jeff Anderson announced the church has paid $6.65 million to settle 14 cases against 12 priests. Among those priests involved in the settlements included some from the Northwest suburbs, most notably Vincent McCaffrey, now serving time in a federal penitentiary for possession of child pornography.

One of McCaffrey’s victims alone received more than $1 million, Anderson’s office said.

SCRANTON (PA)
The Times-Tribune

BY DAVID SINGLETON
STAFF WRITER
05/30/2007

A deacon formerly associated with the controversial Society of St. John will not be a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Paterson, N.J.

Deacon Joseph Levine is still a deacon in the diocese, but will not be ordained to the priesthood, Marianna Thompson, the diocesan communications director, said Tuesday.

The diocese announced late last week that Deacon Levine would not be ordained Saturday in Paterson as previously scheduled, but released no other details. Four other men were ordained.

Ms. Thompson confirmed Deacon Levine’s ordination is off permanently, a result of the “discernment” process during which the deacon and church officials examined his call to the priesthood.

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

May 30, 2007
BY SUSAN HOGAN/ALBACH Religion Reporter/shogan@suntimes.com
As the Archdiocese of Chicago opens its wallet to pay millions of dollars more in sexual abuse claims, a priest's rape victim lamented, "Nothing has changed."

Keith Laarveld, 33, of Hoffman Estates, urged officials to solve the problem of predatory priests. He said he fights off suicidal thoughts nearly every day as a result of being raped by a priest.

He's one of 14 people involved in a $6.65 million settlement announced Tuesday naming a dozen archdiocesan priests. The first incident of abuse happened in 1962, and the latest in 1990. It's part of an overall $51.8 million in abuse settlements involving 214 claims.

LAKE FOREST (IL)
News Sun

May 30, 2007
By JUDY MASTERSON Jmasterson@scn1.com
Attorneys representing 14 people allegedly abused by Chicago-area Catholic priests said Tuesday they've reached $6.65 million in settlements with the Archdiocese of Chicago.

One of the 10 priests named in the sexual abuse lawsuit against the Archdiocese served as associate pastor of St. Mary Church in Lake Forest.

Brian Wolff accused Rev. Robert Mayer of forcing him and other altar boys at St. Mary's to "engage in deviant sexual behavior -- everything from oral sex to anal sex, according to the suit, filed by four men in Cook County nearly a year ago.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Fermanagh Herald

Jeremiah McGrath, the former parish priest of Roslea had a 'face like thunder' as he sat in the dock in Liverpool Crown Court and heard a jury convict him of one count of facilitating a child sex offence.

A judge told 63-year-old McGrath that a custodial sentence is inevitable.

The jury at Liverpool Crown Court, who found him guilty by a majority of ten to two, cleared him of another similar offence of arranging or facilitating William Adams to commit a child sex offence.

PHOENIX (AZ)
CNN

By Gary Tuchman
CNN

PHOENIX, Arizona (CNN) -- It's fair to say John Feit was surprised to see us.

We met the 74-year-old retired priest in a grocery store parking lot in Phoenix. We had some questions, and he isn't the kind of person to grant interviews, at least not on the topic we wanted to talk about: Murder.

Specifically, we were interested in asking him about the slaying of Irene Garza, a crime that a Texas police department is convinced Feit committed. But Feit has not been charged, and he may never be.

In that Phoenix parking lot, I asked Feit if he murdered Garza.

"Interesting question," Feit replied. "Answer is no." ...

While waiting for resolution in the Garza case, Feit was sent to a monastery in Missouri where he got to know a monk named Dale Tachney. After 40 years of silence on the Garza case, Tachney, no longer a monk, made a startling statement in 2002.

"I was part of the cover-up for all these years," Tachney said.

CHICAGO (IL)
Earthtimes

CHICAGO, May 29 /PRNewswire/ --

WHAT At a news conference, a Minnesota attorney will announce -- the resolution of 14 civil child molestation lawsuits against 12 current and former Chicago area Catholic priests for $6.65 million dollars, and -- a new pro bono effort he's launching to help warn the public about predatory Chicago priests by helping victims find and sue their perpetrators as individuals WHEN Tuesday, May 29, 11:30 a.m. WHERE

Allerton Crowne Plaza Hotel, 701 N. Michigan Ave. (4th Floor, Olmsted Room) in Chicago

WHO

Two clergy molestation victims who have not spoken publicly before and are involved in these settlements, along with their attorneys.

CANADA
Standard Freeholder

By Terri Saunders
Local News - Tuesday, May 29, 2007 Updated @ 10:54:49 AM

Cornwall

A witness at the Cornwall Public Inquiry Tuesday morning read aloud a letter in which he believes Rev. Charles MacDonald expressed regret for having sexually assaulted him.

The letter, dated Dec. 30, 1997, is handwritten and signed, "Sincerely, Charles F."

It's not been determined MacDonald is the author of the letter.

The man, who cannot be identified under a publication ban, told the inquiry Monday he was sexually assaulted by the priest while the pair was visiting a cottage in Eganville, a small community northwest of Ottawa.

ROME
Catholic World News

Rome, May. 29, 2007 (CNA/CWNews.com) - The former top canon-law official for the Vatican has answered the charges made in a controversial BBC documentary, denying that the Vatican has sought to cover up evidence of sexual abuse by priests.

In an interview with the Italian socialist newspaper Repubblica, the president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, Cardinal Julian Herranz, said it was false that the Holy See hides or protects priests guilty of abuse or sexual misconduct, and that instead abusive priests receive "very serious punishments" of an ecclesial nature that pose no detriment to civil proceedings.

The interview focused on the BBC documentary "Sexual Crimes and the Vatican," which was supposedly based on a 1962 memo from the office that is now the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The document reaffirmed the inviolability of the seal of confession, but the BBC film said that it was intended to "protect and hide" abusive priests.

CHICAGO (IL)
Daily Southtown

May 29, 2007
STNG News Service
The Archdiocese of Chicago has reached a $6.65 million settlement with 14 people who said they were sexually victimized by a dozen priests, according to the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Jeffrey Anderson.

The settlements end 14 civil cases involving allegations of sexual abuse by the priests, which began as early as 1962.

A spokeswoman for the archdiocese said none of the priests is in active ministry.

"These priests were removed a while ago," spokeswoman Colleen Dolan, who would not discuss any of the cases or the individual priests.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
City of Angels

By City of Angels Lady

Trying to keep Cardinal Roger Mahony from answering questions in interrogatories, Church Attorneys put forth Orwellian Newspeak full of contradictions, and in one case even blame an inconsistency on a typographical error, in a motion filed May 17 to keep the cardinal from talking. One excuse they make is: “Defendant (Mahony) stands by those responses already given.” As posted here April 16th, Mahony’s answer to almost every question in interrogatories so far has been:

“Responding party objects to this request. It’s broad, burdensome, harassing, not relevant. Violates religion clause of First Amendment, physician patient privilege, lawyer client privilege, and work product doctrine.”

Now LA’s noble Cardinal “Stands by those responses”? Is he standing, or is he bent over falling down and finally landing flat on his face?

CANADA
Canada.com

Trevor Wilhelm, CanWest News Service
Published: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 Article tools

WINDSOR, Ont. - Forty-seven victims of pedophile priest Charles Sylvestre have petitioned the bishop of the Diocese of London to immediately ban clergy from being alone with children.

But abuse survivor Kelly-Anne Appleton said Monday that their call for open confessionals and an end to children being alone with priests in other private places has been refused since petitioning the diocese in late April.

She said the diocese must immediately implement these measures because its new sexual abuse policy - setting rules for adults dealing with children and vulnerable people - still hasn't been released for public input months after the target date.

SPRINGFIELD (MO)
News-Leader

Jaime Baranyai
News-Leader

A civil suit against a Springfield church says not only that a female youth leader had sex with a 15-year-old boy but also that pastors and employees of the church knew of the relationship and did nothing to stop it.

Church officials have denied any such knowledge, and a trial is pending.

The suit, which seeks $10 million in damages runs parallel to a criminal case against former youth leader Angela Hurt, 32.

CANADA
London Free Press

By JANE SIMS, SUN MEDIA

More charges have been withdrawn in the Ambassador Church sex case.

William Fletcher, 46, a deacon in the church, was to have begun a trial today on charges of sexual assault and sexual exploitation.

But instead, assistant Crown attorney James Spangenberg told Superior Court Justice Lynda Templeton the prosecution had no reasonable prospect of conviction and asked the charges be withdrawn.

ROME
Zenit

By Father John Flynn

ROME, MAY 28, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Sexual abuses mixed with allegations of Church abuse make for an explosive media formula, as Italians can testify. The state-owned television broadcaster, RAI, sparked a debate after it announced that it wanted to buy the rights to transmit a BBC program, "Sex Crimes and the Vatican."

Last Tuesday the RAI announced its purchase of the documentary. But owing to strong protests over the program's credibility, RAI director general Claudio Cappon stipulated that the talk show that will host the transmission, "Year Zero," also has to give time to Church representatives for a rebuttal.

Along with presenting an account of child abuse, the BBC program makes accusations concerning a supposed Vatican-ordered cover-up. The documentary also accuses Benedict XVI of complicity in covering up sexual abuses in the past when he was a cardinal.

John Paul II Millstone

MAY is the month of Mary and it is important to understand how John Paul II betrayed Mary -- by neglecting her thousands of altar boys and young girls -- by giving free rein to his pedophile priests during his 26 years papacy.

Pope John Paul II consecrated his 26 pedophiliac-papacy-years to Our Lady Mary....... with a Devil's tail encompassing 12,000 American little boys (and girls) sodomized by his JPIIPPA Pedophile Priests Army.

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

A man on trial for falsely claiming a priest buggered him has repeated the allegation in direct evidence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court and claimed he only told gardaí this wasn't true so as to get home.

He outlined what he says happened on seven alleged successive visits to the priest's house when he was six years old, including anal rape and attempted oral rape when he claimed he told the priest he would bite his penis off if he put it into his mouth.

ITALY
Zenit

TURIN, Italy, MAY 27, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Twenty members of the Italian Parliament joined in signing a statement asking that the directors of Italian public television not broadcast the BBC documentary "Sex Crimes and the Vatican."

The program, first broadcast in Great Britain in October 2006, should not be shown "on a network that is supported by the tax money of all Italians," the parliamentarians insisted.

The first signatory of the statement is Turin sociologist Massimo Introvigne, director of Center for Studies of the New Religions, who has for years been engaged in the study of the polemics in the United States over the child-abuse cases involving priests.

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

By Scott Allen and Kathy McCabe, Globe Staff | May 28, 2007

The leader of St. John's Seminary in Brighton resigned abruptly last week, saying he is unhappy with the Archdiocese of Boston for selling the seminary's library and one of its halls as part of a $65 million sale of church headquarters to Boston College.

The Rev. John A. Farren, rector of St. John's Seminary since 2003, had been scheduled to step down on June 30 to take a new assignment in New York City, but Farren resigned last week after the school's board voted to support the sale of 18 acres of archdiocesan land to Boston College. Farren e-mailed a letter of resignation to the board on May 24 that detailed his fierce opposition to the sale, which includes the seminary's Bishop Peterson Hall as well as the seminary library.

Board member Mary Kate Connolly confirmed Farren's early resignation, but declined to share his resignation letter or discuss its contents. Farren, a Dominican priest from Medford who was ordained in 1964, did not respond to requests for comment on his departure.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
City of Angels

By City of Angels Lady

Weird things have been happening to me since I started writing this blog in January. For example author Randy Engel sent me a promo copy of her book The Rite of Sodomy. First it took a real long time to arrive. Then it disappeared from my home. It’s about a 10-12 pound book, huge, and I had set it aside to use like an encyclopedia as I write this blog. You don’t accidentally throw away a 12-pound book.

Then there’s the document I found on May 23rd where Paul Kreutzer was trying to get a damaging piece of evidence removed from his cases which begin jury trial June 11th. I wrote about the document here and by May 25th the document was gone, disappeared from the screen. In that case it could just be that Baker Baker Fink et al church attorneys just quietly withdrew their motion.

However, weird things have been happening to me since last year when I started posting on the SNAP message board. I lost my job last July in almost the same pattern of circumstances as I lost my job this month.

IRELAND
One in Four

The Irish Times

A jury has heard a priest recount that he nearly "died of fright" when then Archbishop of Dublin Cardinal Desmond Connell told him allegations of child sexual abuse had been made against him.

He said he found the allegations "repulsive" and the whole situation "very difficult" and that it took several days for the news to sink in. He had to withdraw immediately from parish duties.

The case involves a man (33), who cannot be named for legal reasons, who has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to making a false statement in June 2003, that he had been indecently assaulted by the priest from February to May 1981.

IRELAND
Limerick Post

CURRENTLY underway is a public awareness campaign to encourage parents to listen to their children.

The focus of the initiative is to remind parents and communities that one of the most effective ways of protecting children and building strong family relationships is to encourage communication between children and adults. ...

The campaign was originally conceived as a recommendation of the Report of the Ferns Inquiry, in 2005.

The recommendations from Ferns outlined that a publicity campaign was required, that would "assist parents in performing their constitutional rights and duties to safeguard their children.”

BOSTON (MA)
The Pilot

By Mary Hart
Posted: 5/25/2007

It’s the rare job description that includes the word “compassionate,” yet a crucial part of a victim assistance coordinator’s job is to respond compassionately to the victims of abuse whom they assist. Since 2002, in compliance with the bishops’ Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, a victim assistance coordinator has been on staff in virtually every diocese across the country.

The formal description of their duties is threefold -- to assist abuse victims in making a formal complaint of abuse to the diocese, to help arrange a personal meeting with the bishop or his representative, and to obtain support for the victim’s specific needs.

Working closely with those who have suffered abuse, victim assistance coordinators are profoundly aware of the trauma the victims and their families have endured.

AUSTRALIA
ABC

The Anglican Church's Adelaide diocese has paid out $3.9 million in compensation to victims of sexual abuse.

Yesterday's meeting of the church's governing council, the Synod, learned that 40 victims have had their claims settled while a similar number are still being being assessed.

Anglican Archbishop of Adelaide Jeffrey Driver says the grim financial position is a result of the church taking responsibility.

"It's also therefore part of the healing I hope for them and certainly, I hope, for the diocese as well," he said.

CALIFORNIA
The Orange County Register

By JEFF OVERLEY and KIMBERLY EDDS
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A pianist at Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano was recently put on leave because of an allegation of sexual misconduct and later resigned, church officials said Saturday.

Church officials learned of the allegations against Albert L. Schildknecht of Laguna Niguel during the past two weeks, said Maria Schinderle, Diocese of Orange general counsel. Officials contacted law enforcement and put Schildknect, 56, on leave. He later quit, Schinderle said.

Schildknect, who officials say played piano at weekend Mass, did not return calls. No information on the accuser or the nature of the alleged misconduct was available.

INDIA
Hindustan Times

GC Shekhar, Hindustan Times
Chennai, May 24, 2007
First Published: 00:31 IST(24/5/2007)
Last Updated: 01:46 IST(24/5/2007)

An American paedophile, Alan Jay Horowitz, wanted by the Interpol and listed among the 100 most wanted men in New York, was on Tuesday arrested in Mahabalipuram, 50 kilometers from Chennai, after an 11-month manhunt across Asia.

"We had a red corner alert from the Interpol about Horowitz. He was arrested last evening in Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram) and was produced before the court on Wednesday morning. He has now been lodged in the Chennai Puzhal jail. We expect the extradition proceedings to start soon," Tamil Nadu Director General of Police D Mukherjee said on Wednesday.

Horowitz, an ordained orthodox rabbi and child psychiatrist, jumped parole last year after serving 15 years in Oneida prison, New York, for sexual abuse of minors. He had fled the United States using a fake passport and travel documents.

CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

Posted by Gustavo Arellano
Sat 26 May 2007
It’s now been over a month since the Weekly revealed that Diocese of Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown had a molestation allegation lodged against him in the past. We knew Brown wouldn’t comment on the matter (we thought about confronting him yesterday, when he presided over the Confirmation of my brother and others at St. Boniface in Anaheim, but thought better of it), but what has shocked us is that neither the bleeding Los Angeles Times or Orange County Register ever hopped on the story. We understand why the Times wouldn’t follow up, but OC’s paper of record unfortunately relies on press releases nowadays for religion coverage. In light of that, we can surely expect a news story about sex abuse in the Orange diocese soon, since famed Newport Beach attorney John Manly put out a press release yesterday announcing a new allegation. The text is below:

DIOCESE OF ORANGE ACCUSED OF SHIELDING SEXUAL PREDATOR

The Diocese of Orange today is being accused of shielding a sexual predator who was allowed to have unsupervised access to minors at various South County parish churches after being suspended for sexual misconduct with a minor female in 1995.

According to John C. Manly, attorney for the alleged victim, the perpetrator, a lay employee, was temporarily suspended from his job by officers of the diocese, but was allowed to return to work soon after. He then went on to allegedly continue to abuse the victim after that time.

CANADA
The Daily News

ERICA BAJER / The Daily News
Local News - Saturday, May 26, 2007 @ 09:00

A survivor of sexual abuse at the hands of pedophile priest Charles Sylvestre is calling local Catholics to action.

This weekend Kelly-Anne Appleton will take her message to St. Ursula's Catholic Church in Chatham - where many of Sylvestre's 47 victims were abused as children.

She will speak at the masses being held Saturday at 5 p.m. and Sunday at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. She will speak June 2 at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Chatham at the masses held Saturday at 5 p.m. and Sunday at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.

Appleton said she will be asking Catholics to use their voices and demand measures be taken in the church to protect children.

UTAH
ABC 4

Story by:
Brent Hunsaker
brent@abc4.com

First there was the letter that should have remained secret.

Back in March, as a long hearing came to a close, Warren Jeffs tried to address the judge. He had something he wanted to say. But 5th District Court Judge James Shumate said no. In his hand was a letter on lined, white paper he'd written in court that day. Later, before being returned to the Purgatory Jail, he would try again to get that letter out. He asked a bailiff to give it to the news media. The bailiff said no.

But using some digital enhancements of a photo of the letter, the Deseret Morning News did what Jeffs could not: it published at least part of it. Judge Shumate believes that was a secret that should have been kept secret. He ruled in court today that the Deseret Morning News violated Attorney/Client privilege.

ST. GEORGE (UT)
Deseret Morning News

By Nancy Perkins
Deseret Morning News
ST. GEORGE — Polygamous leader Warren Jeffs is fit to stand trial on charges of rape as an accomplice, a 5th District judge ruled today.
Judge James L. Shumate also agreed to quash a subpoena to compel Deseret Morning News reporter Ben Winslow to identify his sources. The subpoena had been handed to Winslow a little more than 24 hours before today's hearing.
Shumate said he had asked defense attorneys to seek an evaluation of Jeffs' mental, emotional and physical condition, after the 51-year-old leader of the Fundamentalist LDS Church appeared frail and disoriented during a March hearing.
A coalition of media representatives seeking to have the evaluations unsealed was granted a partial victory today when Shumate agreed to release the documents, although portions would be heavily redacted.

ST. GEORGE (UT)
The Salt Lake Tribune

By Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 05/25/2007 05:06:23 PM MDT

ST. GEORGE -- A 5th District judge on Friday set a September trial date for polygamous sect leader Warren S. Jeffs after revealing that evaluations show he is competent to proceed.
Judge James L. Shumate set the trial for Sept. 10-21, with jury selection to begin on Sept. 7. The judge also refused to ban a photographer from the proceedings but did set tighter media restrictions.
Shumate disclosed that he asked the defense to have Jeffs evaluated after the sect leader appeared emaciated and detached during a March 27 hearing. The judge said he made the decision to seal the defense petition and his subsequent order granting it.
A media coalition, including The Salt Lake Tribune, had petitioned the court to unseal the order, petition and two other related records.

ARGENTINA
YNet

Rona Kupferboim
Published: 05.25.07, 15:43 / Israel Jewish Scene

Superintendent Julio Elsogray was a strange kind of Buenos Aires cop because he would not take bribes from the pimps who dominated the city in the early 20th century. Eventually, therefore, he was the man who managed to stop them. He did that thanks to a brave whore named Rachel Lieberman, who dared file a complaint against the Zwi Migdal Organization - an association of Jewish women traders.

Thus, in 1930 the two managed to shut down the only association of Jewish panders in the world after 60 years of activity. The Zwi Migdal group was an organization that traded in women while its members wore tefillin and built themselves a synagogue, and their story is both embarrassing and exciting. It involved loads of money, corrupt politicians, violent sex, international women trade, hard brutality, rape, and cheating, all lightly spiced with yiddishkeit and God-fearing traditions.

"This is a silenced story," said writer and poet Ilan Sheinfeld, whose book "The Tale of a Ring" relates the story of that dark period. "The Jewish community in Argentina remembers it well, but badly wants to keep it under wraps because it is a disgrace. There is very little material in Hebrew about this affair."

The Awareness Center

This page is dedicated in the memory of Sophia Chamys, Rebecca Freedman, Rachel Liberman, and the thousands of other women who were obducted and forced into prostution by the Zwi Migdal Society. According to reports there were members of the Society who were rabbis.

Thousands of naive, impoverished Jewish girls from eastern Europe were sold by Jewish mobsters into sexual slavery. Originally believing they were leaving their homes to get married. Most of these women were from poor families, their parents hoping for a better life for their daughters, were shipped off to various locations. This kidnapping, rape and forced prostitution of young Jewish women lasted from the end of the 1860s until the start of the Second World War.

This hugely profitable (annual revenues of $50 million in the 1890s) commerce in flesh was operated by the Zwi Migdal, a criminal association It was centred in Buenos Aires, with branch offices in several locations in Brazil; Buenos Aires, Argentina; New York City, NY; Warsaw, Poland; South Africa; India; and China.

CALIFORNIA
Fresno Bee

By Chris Collins / The Fresno Bee
05/26/07 04:39:19

The clerk read the nine verdicts one at a time.

Count 1: recurring sexual conduct with a child under 14. Guilty.

Jamie William Soria stared straight forward, his face expressionless.

Count 2: committing a lewd or lascivious act with a child under 14. Guilty.

Soria shook his head and looked down.

Count 3. Guilty. Count 4. Guilty. Count 5 ...

By now, Soria's head was flat on the table and his face buried in his arms. Some of his friends and family members in the courtroom benches behind him started crying. Soria reached for a tissue.

After little more than a day of deliberations, jurors found the longtime Fresno church volunteer guilty Friday of nine felony counts -- including one count of sodomy -- for inappropriate relationships he had with four boys he met at Northwest Church and Malloch Elementary School.

UNITED STATES
Orthodox Reform

A new article from The National Herald interviews several priests about the Fr. Katinas crisis.

Several clergymen in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America said that their retired and subsequently suspended colleague, Rev. Nicholas Katinas, former longtime pastor of Holy Trinity Church in Dallas, should be tried by a spiritual court and defrocked.

Read the candid opinion of various Orthodox priests speaking out on the issue of following canon law, reaching out to victims of sexual abuse, and the impending issue of the recently filed lawsuit over the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese handing of sexual misconduct issues. Theodore Kalmoukos, the author of the National Herald article, summarizes the situation:

Father Katinas retired from active ministry in June 2006, after serving as a priest for more than 40 years, 28 of which he served in Dallas. Just days after he retired, the Archdiocese suspended him – without explanation. Rumors began to circulate that Father Katinas, heretofore considered one of the most prominent Greek Orthodox priests in the country, had engaged in sexual improprieties. This past February, the Archdiocese confirmed that he was suspended because of allegations of sexual misconduct with minors. A potentially damaging lawsuit has since been filed by two of Father Katinas’ alleged victims against the Archdiocese, the Metropolis of Denver, Holy Trinity Church in Dallas and Father Katinas personally.

UNITED STATES
United States Marshals Service

New York/Washington - When convicted child molester Rabbi Alan Horowitz was arrested on May 22, at a seaside resort in southern India, it concluded the most far-flung and exotic fugitive investigation ever conducted by the U.S. Marshals Service. Like former lawman Kenneth Freeman - who had fled to China to avoid charges of raping his young daughter and posting the scenes on the internet - Horowitz now sits in a foreign jail cell awaiting return to the U.S. to face justice.

Both men were tracked down by investigators at the U.S. Marshals Service and the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security.

Horowitz, an ordained Orthodox Rabbi and ivy league-educated child psychologist, was convicted of 34 counts of child molestation in Schenectady County, New York. He may have imported illegal materials into the prison where he was serving time – extending his sentence, and previously he had been convicted of “perverted sexual practices” in Maryland. During the 1980s, while living in Israel, police launched an investigation into charges that Horowitz was sexually abusing some of his second wife’s children. He fled back to the United States. Even earlier in his life, he faced a similar investigation while living in North Carolina.

UNITED KINGDOM
Irish Independent

By Will Batchelor
Saturday May 26 2007

A PRIEST who financed the grooming of a young girl for sex was told yesterday he faces jail.

Father Jeremiah McGrath (63) gave more than £20,000 (€29,000) to a friend, convicted child rapist Billy Adams, who used the cash to shower a 12-year-old Liverpool girl with treats and gifts.

Having bought her silence and trust, 38-year-old Adams, originally from the Belfast area but latterly of Bootle, Merseyside, raped her repeatedly over a six-month period in 2005.

SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
North County Times

By: JENNIFER DOBNER - Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY -- A judge on Thursday ordered federal prosecutors to wrap up of a review of documents seized during the arrest of polygamist church leader Warren Jeffs and return the papers and electronic equipment by July 2.

U.S. District Judge Dee Benson also ordered federal lawyers not to share the papers with anyone, including lawyers for the sect's $110 million property trust which has a civil action pending against Jeffs.

Prosecutors are combing thousands of pages of letters and electronic documents for evidence in a criminal case against the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, who was indicted in March on charges of flight to avoid prosecution.

UNITED KINGDOM
Life Style Extra

Friday, 25th May 2007, 15:31

A Baptist Minister who sexually abused girls in his care as young as nine was jailed today.

Serial paedophile Nigel Westley, 44, sexually abused girls over a four year period by luring them into his clutches through his work with the church.

Shamed father-of-three Westley would offer the girls lifts home in his car and invite them to his home for 'sleepovers' or to do the decorating.

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A former Baptist minister has been jailed for three-and-a-half years for sexually abusing schoolgirls.

Nigel Westley, 44, admitted abusing six girls, aged between nine and 13, to a senior minister last year and then turned himself into police.

The offences took place between January 2002 and May 2004, while he was working at Harvest Rock community church, Forest Gate in east London.

UNITED KINGDOM
Express & Star

A former Walsall baptist minister was today jailed for three-and-a-half years for a string of sex attacks on young girls.

Judge William Kennedy told Nigel Westley he had breached the “sacred trust” he held. He said: “In each case a child that came to you knowing and trusting you as a baptist minister was indecently touched by you.

“The consequences of such a breach of trust are often incalculable.

GLENS FALLS (NY)
Post-Star

By OMAR AQUIJE
oaquije@poststar.com
Updated: Friday, May 25, 2007 8:32 PM EDT

GLENS FALLS -- Bradford K. Overton, a former Warren County probation officer, was sentenced on Friday to 6 months in Warren County Jail on misdemeanor charges that he fondled two male teens.

In addition, Glens Falls Judge Richard Tarantino sentenced Overton, 30, to 6 years of probation and issued a 5-year order of protection requiring him to stay away from the victims and three family members. Overton, a Glens Falls resident, must also register for sex offender status. A judge will determine the level of his status before Overton is released from jail. ...

Overton has admitted to touching the buttocks of two boys, ages 15 and 16, at his home last summer. He knew the boys through a Queensbury church where he was a youth group leader.

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff | May 26, 2007

In a major blow to parishioners fighting church closings, the Supreme Judicial Court has refused to block the Archdiocese of Boston from shuttering a Wellesley parish, unanimously ruling yesterday that the First Amendment bars the court from intervening in internal church disputes.

"As a matter of constitutional law, such disputes are beyond our authority," Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall wrote.

The high court ruled in a lawsuit filed by a family that agreed in 1946 to provide 8 acres in Wellesley to the archdiocese to build St. James the Great Church. The family contended that archdiocesan officials had made an oral commitment that the site would always remain a church. ...

Between July 2004 and December 2006, the archdiocese closed 59 parishes outright, merged 16 parishes into eight, and created five new parishes, for a net decrease of 62 parishes, Donilon said yesterday. The archdiocese, still recovering from the clergy sexual abuse scandal, has said that a shortage of priests, worshipers, and money made the closings necessary.

ELLICOTT CITY (MD)
ABC 7

Ellicott City, MD - Friday May 25, 2007 3:43 pm

A Howard County jury has found a Bowie pastor of a Woodlawn church guilty of child sexual abuse.

State prosecutors say 40-year-old Gerald Griffith was found guilty of two counts of child sexual abuse. He was acquitted of a third child sexual abuse charge.

The jury deliberated for four hours Friday morning in the Redemption Christian Fellowship pastor's case.

BALTIMORE (MD)
Baltimore Sun

By Larry Carson
sun reporter
Originally published May 26, 2007
The 40-year-old pastor of a Baltimore County church was found guilty in Howard County Circuit Court yesterday of two counts of sexually abusing a teenage boy he had been counseling. The pastor, Gerald Fitroy Griffith, was found not guilty on a third count.

Griffith, pastor and founder of Redemption Christian Fellowship Church in Woodlawn, was charged with sexual abuse of a minor at Columbia hotels in 2004 and 2005. He was convicted of two of the charges, but acquitted of a third, where no paper records of a room rental could be found, said Mary Murphy, senior assistant state's attorney.

Each count carries a penalty of four to nine years in prison.

TEXAS
American-Statesman

By Eileen E. Flynn
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Saturday, May 26, 2007

One of three St. Stephen's Episcopal School alumni who have accused the school chaplain of molesting them in the 1960s has come forward with details of his alleged abuse and his attempts to alert school officials over the past four decades.

Bob Haslanger, now 57 and living in Washington state, said the Rev. James L. Tucker, a popular priest on campus, abused him once or twice a month in his dorm room for four years.

Officials at the Episcopal Diocese of Texas confirmed Friday that Haslanger is one of the three former students to claim abuse by Tucker in the 1960s. In a letter this week to alumni, the Rt. Rev. Don Wimberly, bishop of the Houston-based diocese, said he believes the allegations have substance.

PATERSON (NJ)
Renew America

Matt C. Abbott
May 23, 2007

(On May 24, 2007, a day after the original version of this column was posted, I received the following e-mail from the Rev. Msgr. James T. Mahoney, Ph.D., vicar general and moderator of the curia for the Paterson, N.J., Catholic diocese: "This is to acknowledge and thank all those who have sent e-mails to any member of our diocesan leadership with respect to Deacon Joseph Levine. He will not be ordained to the priesthood on May 26, 2007.")

The following letter, written by Jeffrey M. Bond, Ph.D., president of St. Justin Martyr House of Studies, was sent to Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli, of the Paterson, N.J., Catholic diocese.

PATERSON (NJ)
The Times-Tribune

BY DAVID SINGLETON
STAFF WRITER
05/26/2007

The ordination of the former superior general of the controversial Society of St. John as a priest in the Diocese of Paterson, N.J., is on hold.

Deacon Joseph Levine was one of five men whose ordination by Paterson’s bishop, the Most Rev. Arthur J. Serratelli, was set for this morning at St. John the Baptist Church in Paterson.

The diocese confirmed Deacon Levine would not be ordained today in a two-sentence statement issued Thursday by Monsignor James T. Mahoney, diocesan vicar general and moderator of the curia.

Deacon Levine became superior general of the Society of St. John in 2002, the same year a former St. Gregory’s Academy student filed a federal sexual abuse lawsuit against two society priests, the Revs. Carlos Urrutigoity and Eric Ensey, and the Diocese of Scranton. At the time, the society, which had been recognized by the diocese as a public association of the faithful, was headquartered at a rural enclave in Shohola, Pike County.

CLEVELAND (OH)
Plain Dealer

Saturday, May 26, 2007

David Briggs
Plain Dealer Religion Reporter
Fourteen Catholic priests accused of sexually abusing minors remain in administrative limbo more than five years after some of them were suspended by the Cleveland Catholic Diocese.

The priests, living from Medina and Barberton to Bradenton, Fla., are among hundreds of U.S. priests awaiting Vatican action that will determine the next step. In the end, the men could be declared innocent, or defrocked, though there is a wide range of possibilities in between.

The suspended priests receive their salaries - $26,340 for clerics with 20 years' experience - and hospitalization but may not "exercise any public acts of priestly ministry," according to the diocese. Some have obtained jobs. Others are not working.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
City of Angels

By City of Angels Lady

Wednesday May 30 is a hearing to get Cardinal Roger Mahony to respond to interrogatories at LA Superior Court Dept 20 8:31 AM. On May 16th counsel for the church and plaintiffs met in the Jury Room on orders from the judge to meet and confer on this motion now continued to the hearing Wednesday. The "Motion-Compel Further Responses (by Defendant Doe 1) to Standardized Interrogatories 1-8" regards case BC307225, and predator priest Lynn Caffoe.

Some background: The archbishop’s responses are “evasive or incomplete” writes Katherine Freberg in the Motion to Compel filed April 14th. Interrogatories 1 through 8 ask about archdiocese employees accused of sex crimes. Mahony needs to respond writes Freberg, “to see archbishop’s response to complaints about Father Caffoe” and whether he “failed to take steps to implement reasonable safeguards.”

Answers to these interrogatories will reveal if it’s true as Mahony has said that “the known incidents of abuse were few in number and generally perceived not to be indicative of a pattern.”

ROME
The Herald

ANNE SIMPSON May 26 2007
When David Yallop enters a bar or a restaurant he scans the room for anybody whose presence might make him uneasy. Call it paranoia, but he always chooses a seat with its back to the wall. Such caution is understandable in a man who entered Beirut with a price on his head. On that occasion he was on the trail of the international terrorist, Carlos the Jackal, and now, not for the first time, the might of mitres is about to be swivelled in his direction with the publication of his latest investigative opus.

It has taken Yallop more than eight years to write The Power and the Glory, the goal of which is to de-sanctify a man on the road to sainthood: the late Pope John Paul II. Yallop, who describes himself as a Catholic agnostic, is aware that many will regard this work as heretical. Others will see it as the inevitable sequel to his previous book, In God's Name, which exposed the web of financial corruption within the Vatican and explored the suspicion of murder surrounding the death of John Paul I, "the smiling Pope", whose reign lasted 33 days. ...

But the most explosive chapters inevitably concern the author's ongoing research into "the Vatican's financial scams" and its systematic cover-up of child sex abuse cases. Of the first he writes: "Because of his (John Paul's) continuing failure to make the necessary decisions', a corrupt archbishop (the American, Paul Marcinkus) retained control of the Vatican Bank for a further decade."

Of the second transgression, Yallop maintains that the Pope's inability once again to make the "necessary decisions" meant that clerical sexual abuse continued unchecked, resulting in mass desertions from the faith. "The late Pope and his cardinals had known since the early 1980s that such abuse was widespread but instead of taking early and decisive action, their response was secrecy."

ST. GEORGE (UT)
KUTV

ST. GEORGE - A judge ruled on Friday that polygamist leader Warren Jeffs is competent to stand trial, during a court hearing in which questionable behavior by the media was also discussed.

Fifth District Judge James Shumate made that ruling today during a hearing in St. George. Shumate was scheduled to hear arguments by lawyers for several media outlets seeking to have documents in the Jeffs case unsealed.

Jeffs appeared frail during a March hearing and shortly after his attorneys filed several motions under seal. Among them was a request for Jeffs to have privileged physician contact.

ROME
National Secular Society

A Vatican-controlled newspaper has hit out at bloggers last week after they posted a BBC documentary alleging a Church cover-up on child sex abuse. The paper condemned the translated and subtitled programme as “slander”.

The documentary was shown in Britain in October, but never in Italy. The bloggers translated it and it now ranks as Google Video Italia’s (www.video.google.it ) most popular item. “We did the patient work of translating and subtitling it to fill this shameful gap,” the posters wrote.

The newspaper Avvenire, which is owned by the Italian Conference of Roman Catholic bishops, slammed the web version in a front-page editorial headlined “Infamous Slander Via Internet.”

The BBC documentary examined what it described as a secret document written in 1962 that set out a procedure for dealing with child sexual abuse within the Church. It imposed an oath of secrecy on the child victim, the priest and any witness, a policy the BBC documentary said was meant to protect the priest’s reputation during the investigation but “can offer a blueprint for cover-up.”

UNITED KINGDOM
InTheNews

Friday, 25 May 2007 16:09

A former Baptist church minister was sentenced to three and a half years in jail today for sexually abusing six girls aged between nine and 13 over a two-year period.

Nigel Westley, 44, of Plaistow, east London, pleaded guilty last month at Snaresbrook crown court to nine counts of sexual abuse between January 2002 and May 2004.

He also pleaded guilty to possessing 108 indecent photos of children. The activities came to light when one of his victims told her family about her assault and church leaders then contacted police.

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
May 24, 2007

MAYOR MENINO, born in 1942, remembers when the influence of the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston was demonstrated by the amount of property it owned, and no holding was more elegant than the archbishop's palace on the estate in Brighton. Today, the archdiocese has new stresses on its resources. It is negotiating to sell what is left of the Brighton property to Boston College and move office staff to more economical quarters in Braintree. These plans are reasonable. Menino's challenge now is to manage the growth of Boston College.

In 1942, Cardinal William O'Connell was archbishop of Boston. In the 1920s, he had moved the archbishop's residence and staff from the South End, near the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, to an estate next to the existing St. John's Seminary. O'Connell died in 1944, and when Menino was growing up, "Lake Street" was shorthand for the influential archbishops who succeeded O'Connell. It's understandable Menino fears the archdiocese may curtail its work in Boston. ...

The archdiocese has sold sections of the property to Boston College in 2004 and last year. It apparently will sell the rest, with the exception of the seminary, sometime in the next few weeks. There's an air of urgency as the archdiocese shores up its finances after the sexual abuse scandal. But even under the best of circumstances, the estate in Brighton, with O'Connell's Italian palazzo, would have become a needless luxury. By selling it to Boston College, the archdiocese, as O'Malley said in 2004, will keep the property "within the Catholic family."

BRAINTREE (MA)
The Patriot Ledger

By RICK COLLINS
The Patriot Ledger

In the 1920s, William Cardinal O’Connell moved the Archdiocese of Boston’s administrative offices from the Back Bay to a piece of farmland in Brighton, a long streetcar ride from downtown Boston.

In some ways, that move wasn’t much different than the upcoming one to Braintree, according to one church historian.

‘‘I remember as a young boy during the 1930s being taken out by street car to Brighton and to me it seemed like a long trip. In those days Brighton was the suburbs,’’ said Thomas O’Connor, retired Boston College professor and author of several books on Boston history, including one on the archdiocese.

O’Connor, a South Boston native and Braintree resident, said the archdiocese’s pending move from its Lake Street estate to a Braintree office building, although dramatic, is consistent with changing times and expectations.

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A Catholic priest who gave thousands of pounds to a friend to help him groom a young girl for sex, has been convicted of facilitating a child sex offence.

Father Jeremiah McGrath, 63, gave more than £20,000 to convicted child rapist William Adams, who spent the cash on a 12-year-old girl from Liverpool.

McGrath, from Northern Ireland, was found guilty by a jury at Liverpool Crown Court.

UTAH
KSL

May 25th, 2007 @ 6:34am
Gene Kennedy Reporting

A Deseret Morning News reporter has been subpoenaed to testify in the Warren Jeffs case.

Ben Winslow received the papers yesterday at the federal courthouse. He was there while covering proceedings in the federal case involving Warren Jeffs. Today he'll be in St. George testifying in the state trial.

This all stems from a story Winslow wrote weeks ago about a letter Jeffs wanted to give the judge.

Winslow was covering a story which revealed information from a note Jeffs wrote in court. One of the newspaper's photographers shot a picture of the note, and it revealed that Jeffs stated he was not a prophet and he failed to lead the people of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
Editor & Publisher

By Joe Strupp

Published: May 25, 2007 10:45 AM ET

NEW YORK A reporter for the Deseret Morning News in Salt Lake City has been subpoenaed to testify in the high-profile Warren Jeffs case, A Salt Lake City TV station reported today. The subpoena orders reporter Ben Winslow to appear today and reveal his source for a letter the defendant wrote to the judge in the case, according to KSL TV's Web site.

Jeffs, 51, is a leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He is charged with two first-degree felony counts of rape as an accomplice, the station reported. The charges relate to his part in a 2001 arranged marriage between a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin. Prosecutors claim Jeffs coerced the girl into the marriage.

"Winslow was covering a story which revealed information from a note Jeffs wrote in court," the report said. "One of the newspaper's photographers shot a picture of the note, and it revealed that Jeffs stated he was not a prophet and he failed to lead the people of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints."

ITALY
Catholic World News

Rome, May. 24, 2007 (CWNews.com) - A controversial BBC documentary on sexual abuse and the Vatican will be broadcast by the Italian state television network RAI on May 31, broadcast executives have announced.

IRELAND
IOL

25/05/2007 - 18:19:47

A priest who financed the grooming of a young girl for sex was told today he faces jail.

Fr Jeremiah McGrath, 63, gave more than £20,000 (€29,500) to his friend, convicted child rapist Billy Adams, who used the cash to shower a 12-year-old Liverpool girl with treats and gifts.

Having bought her silence and trust, 38-year-old Adams, originally from the Belfast area but latterly of Bootle, Merseyside, raped her repeatedly over a six-month period in 2005.

UNITED STATES
The Awareness Center

The Awareness Center, Inc. is demanding that the Orthodox Union (OU), the Rabbinic Council of America (RCA) and Agudath Israel of America make a public statements denouncing the actions and behavior of Rabbi Alan J. Horowitz. By not doing so is condoning this serial child molesters criminal behavior.

The Awareness Center, Inc. is also demanding that rabbis around the world find a way to remove Alan Horowitz's rabbinical ordination and that of other known sexual predators (who are ordained rabbis).

After Rabbi Alan Horwitz's 1983 conviction for child molestation he was placed on probation. Arrangements were made for him to live on the Ohr Somayach campus in Monsey, NY. Ohr Somayach is a Yeshiva serving young male students. Horowitz was treated by Dr. Joseph F. Chambers MD (Maryland) and Dr. Yitzhak Twersky (Monsey, NY).

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald

By Boston Herald editorial staff
Thursday, May 24, 2007

Mayor Tom Menino’s job is in no small measure about protecting jobs, services and people. And so we understand his aversion to the idea that the Archdiocese of Boston may soon leave its city headquarters for, of all things, a low-rise office park in Braintree.

Yes, the idea of men in priestly collars working in a generic cubicle farm is, well, a little strange.

But the mayor has picked the wrong fight here, as the church struggles to recover from a true financial crisis, to fend off additional church and school closures and - it must be said - to shed the baggage that has sadly come to be associated with the Chancery on Lake Street in Brighton.

True, there was a time not long ago when “Lake Street” conjured up images of fabulously successful garden fundraisers; of holy men and dutiful lay workers toiling amid the dark wood paneling and stone carvings.

BOSTON (MA)
Reuters

BOSTON (Reuters) - The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston will sell its 90-year-old headquarters for $65 million to free up money after paying millions of dollars in settlements linked to a 2002 scandal over pedophile priests.

Boston College will buy 18 acres of land and buildings from the nation's fourth-largest archdiocese, whose administrative center will move from Boston's Brighton district, on the western edge of the city, to suburban Braintree, the archdiocese said on Thursday.

The Boston Archdiocese, faced with a $93 million bill to settle cases involving about 1,000 sex-abuse victims, has shut more than 60 churches in Massachusetts to raise money since the scandal erupted in Boston in 2002 and spread nationwide.

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff | May 25, 2007

Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley, continuing an aggressive and dramatic restructuring of the region's largest religious denomination, agreed yesterday to sell the Archdiocese of Boston's remaining acreage in Brighton to Boston College for $65 million.

The sale of the land where the archdiocese has been headquartered since the 1920s comes after a four-year period in which O'Malley has closed one-sixth of the region's parishes and more than a dozen schools, sold the mansion in which all of his predecessor cardinals lived, replaced most of the archdiocese's leadership team, and agreed to transfer the area's Catholic hospitals to a national chain.

O'Malley said yesterday that the changes will leave the archdiocese stronger as it prepares to celebrate its bicentennial next year.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Friday, May 25, 2007

By George Jackson

A Co Londonderry priest faces a possible re-trial after a jury yesterday failed to reach a verdict on two charges alleging he'd sexually abused a teenage girl almost 30 years ago.

Fr Patrick Joseph Crilly (63) from Tobermore Road, Desertmartin, was acquitted by 10-2 majority verdicts of two counts of indecently assaulting the complainant between November 20, 1978 and November 19, 1980.

But after an eight-day trial at Derry Crown Court, the jury foreman said the jury of six men and six women were "inextricably divided" on two other charges alleged to have taken place between April 1, 1977 and November 19, 1978 allegedly starting when the complainant was 15.

DARIEN (CT)
The Advocate

By Angela Carella and Stephen P. Clark
Staff Writers

Published May 25 2007

The Rev. Michael Jude Fay, former pastor of St. John Roman Catholic Church in Darien accused of taking $1.4 million in parish money and spending it with his boyfriend, has written a letter to family members and friends asking them to contribute toward his $115,000 legal bill.

The letter, dated April 30, apparently went to some St. John parishioners.

"As you can only imagine, this past year has been complicated and extremely painful," Fay wrote. "As proceedings come to a conclusion, I am left with a very difficult legal bill (of) $115,000. I am reaching out to my friends and family for help. I don't know if there is anything you can do or may want to do to help me, but if you choose to I would be very eternally grateful."

IRELAND
Catholic Online

5/24/2007
Catholic News Service (www.catholicnews.com)

KILLALOE, Ireland (CNS) – The Catholic priest from Feakle has been granted a break from ministry after a picture of him posing in just his underpants was published on the front page of the Irish edition of The Sun newspaper.

On May 23, the day the photo was published, Father Michael Hogan, 56, issued a statement apologizing for "breaches and indiscretions in relation to my vow of celibacy" and said "these are serious matters that affect my vocation and ministry."

Bishop William Walsh of Killaloe issued a statement saying that, at Father Hogan's request, he had granted the priest "a period of time out from his ministry in order to reflect on his position."

UNITED KINGDOM
U.TV

A jury considering the case of a priest accused of funding the grooming of a young girl for sex was told today that a majority verdict would be accepted.

Father Jeremiah McGrath, 63, of Rosslea, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, denies three counts of facilitating a child sex offence and one count of indecently assaulting a 12-year-old girl.

A jury at Liverpool Crown Court heard allegations that McGrath gave thousands of pounds to his friend, a convicted child abuser, who used the cash to shower treats and gifts on the 12-year-old girl in Liverpool and Blackpool.

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

By Deb Peterson
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
05/25/2007

DOE'S IDENTITY: The "John Doe" whose name was not disclosed last month when his civil sex abuse lawsuit here against three Catholic priests was settled for $140,000, has revealed his identity in a story in the May 28 issue of Jet magazine. The name of Charles Spearman, a picture of him and his story of abuse appear in the national weekly magazine, whose audience is primarily African-American. Spearman's account of the crimes he suffered as a child is the first time he has told his story publicly. It says in the story that Spearman, 38, has an undergraduate degree from St. Louis University and has completed a master's degree at Fontbonne University. He alleged in the lawsuit that he was molested by the Rev. James Thiel at St. Paul's school in Pine Lawn from 1978-81, and also by three other priests, the Rev. Chester Gaiter, the Rev. Thaddeus Posey and the Rev. Michael O. Barry, at Cardinal Ritter High School from about 1982 to about 1985.

DELAWARE
The News Journal

By BETH MILLER, The News Journal

Posted Friday, May 25, 2007

The Delaware Supreme Court on Thursday refused to hear an appeal that might have stopped a civil jury trial against the former principal of Salesianum School.

The appeal was filed on behalf of the Rev. James W. O'Neill, the school and the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, all of whom have been sued by a Wilmington man who alleges O'Neill sexually abused him while he was a student at Salesianum.

Eric Eden, formerly Eric Mazzetti, filed the suit in 2004, alleging abuse he said occurred during the 1980s. The state's two-year civil statute of limitations would have barred such a suit, but Eden's attorneys, Thomas and Stephen Neuberger, successfully argued that his case should be heard because he had repressed memories of the abuse and therefore could not have met the requirements of the statute.

DARIEN (CT)
Boston Globe

May 25, 2007

DARIEN, Conn. --A former Darien parish priest accused of spending $1.4 million of church money on luxuries for himself and a male friend is looking for help to pay some legal bills.

The Rev. Michael Jude Fay, former pastor of St. John Roman Catholic Church, has written a letter to family members and friends asking them to contribute toward his $115,000 legal bill.

Last July, the Bridgeport Diocese released the report of an investigation into Fay and church finances.

UNITED KINGDOM
InTheNews

Friday, 25 May 2007 10:13

The Archbishop of Canterbury has confirmed that a review into child abuse in the church will take place in partnership with the church's safeguarding group.

Dr Rowan Williams has conceded that "errors were made" in the past but that clear polices were now in place to prevent previous "inadequate responses".

The review comes soon after the Bishop of Manchester, the right reverend Nigel McCulloch, ordered an independent inquiry into the files of 850 members of the church to make sure none of them mention outstanding child protection problems.

UNITED KINGDOM
Guardian Unlimited

Staff and agencies
Friday May 25, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

The Church of England is seeking advice on how it can investigate historic cases of sexual abuse, the Archbishop of Canterbury said today.

Rowan Williams apologised for past mistakes, admitting the church's response to the issue had sometimes been "very inadequate".

"I fully acknowledge that errors were made in the period that is being discussed," Dr Williams told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

DELAWARE
WMDT

(AP) -

A ruling by the Delaware State Supreme Court means a man can move forward with a lawsuit based on repressed memories of alleged sexual abuse by a principal at a Catholic high school.

Eric Eden claims his repressed memories of the alleged abuse in the 1970s and 1980s prevented him from bringing the case within the two-year civil statute of limitations. He claims he was abused by the Reverend James O'Neill while O'Neill was the principal at Salesianum School. Eden is suing O'Neill, the school and the diocese.

KENTUCKY
The Courier-Journal

By Peter Smith
psmith@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

He was ousted from the priesthood and sentenced to 10 years in prison after a Bullitt County jury decided he sexually abused two young boys.

Now, after serving nearly four years in prison, Daniel C. Clark must get a new trial or be set free, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled yesterday.

In a 5-2 decision, the court overturned Clark's conviction on two counts of first-degree sexual abuse of two Bullitt County boys whose family he had befriended.

LOUISIANA
The Shreveport Times

May 25, 2007

By John Andrew Prime
jprime@gannett.com

A priest with ties to Barksdale Air Force Base, indicted last year on charges of molesting two boys in the 1980s in Arizona, has been indicted there again on similar charges involving another boy, The Times' sister Gannett paper in Tucson says.

The Rev. Gary Edward Underwood, 53, a major and a military priest at Barksdale, was indicted by a Pima County grand jury April 24 on one count each of molestation of a child and sexual conduct with a minor under 15, the Tucson Citizen reports. The acts allegedly occurred between Aug. 1, 1985, and Jan. 31, 1986, .

In November, Underwood was indicted by a grand jury on one count of molestation of a child and two counts of sexual conduct with a minor under 15, from March 21, 1983, through March 21, 1984, and six counts of molestation of a child and one count of sexual conduct with a minor under 15 from Oct. 8, 1983, through Oct. 8, 1984. The ages of the boys from the November and April indictments were not available.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
California Catholic Daily

Four alleged victims of defrocked priest, Lynn Caffoe, may seek punitive damages from the Los Angeles archdiocese, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Haley Fromholz ruled Wednesday.

Punitive damages are awarded to plaintiffs over and above compensatory damages to punish the convicted party for actions done out of malice or fraud. In the case of Lynn Caffoe, accused of molesting several youths between 1975 and 1994, four alleged victims have accused the archdiocese of “oppression, fraud and malice” by disregarding abuse allegations against the priest, said the May 24 Los Angeles Times.

Fromholz’s reason for allowing plaintiffs to seek punitive damages from the archdiocese is Cardinal Roger Mahony’s alleged misrepresentation of the contents of a video found in Caffoe’s bedroom in 1992 but since lost. In April 2005, in a letter to Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, then head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Mahony referred to the video, saying it showed “partially naked” sexually aroused boys and presented “objective verification that criminal behavior did occur.” The letter, part of Caffoe’s personnel file which the archdiocese turned over to prosecutors and plaintiffs, was written to demonstrate why Caffoe should be laicized.

ISRAEL
Haaretz

By Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondent

The arrest of a popular Nahariya rabbi for allegedly committing indecent sexual acts was made public Thursday, after a judicial gag order was lifted.

Rabbi Shimon Gerlick serves as rabbi of the Nahariya hospital as well as rabbi of the city's Amidar neighborhood.

Police arrested him three weeks ago after an 8-year-old girl and 30-year-old woman accused him of indecent sexual acts. Police extended the remand of the rabbi twice before putting him under house arrest last week.

A 15-year-old girl came forward and issued a third complaint against the rabbi while he was under arrest, police said.

SPOKANE (WA)
KXLY

Erik Loney / KXLY4 Reporter
Last updated: Thursday, May 24th, 2007 09:00:00 PM

SPOKANE -- Lawsuits targeting former Catholic Priest Patrick O'Donnell are moving forward again after the Spokane Diocese bankruptcy plan became official Thursday, meaning a stay on the lawsuits will be lifted.

Victims say they want O'Donnell to pay for his crimes.

The Diocese’s $48 Million settlement paid for its name to be removed from these lawsuits. With the diocese out of the picture attorneys representing victims of priest sex abuse say they're resuming effort against former Priest Patrick O'Donnell, who is not required to contribute any money toward the diocese’s settlement.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Barry Duggan
Thursday May 24 2007

A PARISH priest who admitted trawling gay websites to meet young men has been allowed time off by his diocese to consider his future.

The small parish of Feakle in east Clare rallied around Fr Michael Hogan (56), urging him not to leave, as the Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh, said he had accepted Mr Hogan's request for a period of time out "in order to reflect on his position".

The disgraced priest left his home yesterday morning as Fr James O'Brien, from nearby Flagmount, celebrated morning Mass with parishioners as they tried to come to terms with the shocking news.

TUCSON (AZ)
KOLD

by Leasa Conze, KOLD News at 5 Producer

A catholic priest who served at a church on the northwest side during the 1980's is accused of molesting a third boy.

The Reverent Gary Underwood had previously been accused of molesting two boys at St. Odilia's Church, at 7570 N. Paseo del Norte.

The new indictment accuses the Reverend of both molestation and sexual conduct of a boy under 15 in 1985 and 1986.

WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By JIM STINGL
jstingl@journalsentinel.com
Posted: May 24, 2007

Nick Jordan was a somewhat reluctant subject of this column.

He is a California survivor of clergy abuse, and I had heard through the grapevine that he was quietly giving money he received in a court settlement out there to agencies in Wisconsin that help sexual assault victims.

I thought this was worth sharing, especially with those who think people suing the church are just out for the money.

Jordan was surprised when I contacted him this week. "I feel awkward talking about my giving," he said.

BOSTON (MA)
Allston-Brighton Tab

The Archdiocese of Boston announced today that it has reached an agreement in principle with Boston College for the purchase and sale of additional property from the Archdiocese's Brighton campus.

In 2004, the Archdiocese sold 43 acres from its Brighton campus to Boston College, which included the Cardinal's residence and other buildings, for $99.4 million. In addition, the two institutions completed a subsequent sale of the Archdiocese's Lake Street Tribunal property in 2006 for a purchase price of $8 million. The purchase price reflected in today's announcement is $65 million for just under twenty acres. Closing on the property is expected to be completed by August 1, 2007.

"We have reached a significant milestone in announcing this agreement," said Cardinal Seán. "Proceeds from this sale will allow the Archdiocese to invest resources for the benefit of our parishes, clergy, St. John's Seminary and the many important programs that serve a large number of people."

BOSTON (MA)
WBUR

BOSTON, Mass - May 25, 2007 - MONICA BRADY-MYEROV: At one time, the grand residence of the Cardinal and the sixty acre estate that made up the chancery symbolized the power and influence of the Catholic Church in Boston. Since the clergy sexual abuse scandal in 2002 , that power has waned. Now in a continuing attempt to balance it's books, the archdioceses is moving it's administrative headquarters out of Boston and into an office building in Braintree owned by a prominent Catholic donor.

Father Richard Erikson, administrator to Cardinal Sean O'Malley explains the move.

RICHARD ERIKSON: What's behind the move is hope for the future for the arch. The hope that a new site in Braintree with great faculties and access for all those that we serve will help us be more effective. It will help us get our own house in order so that we can better serve the archdiocese.

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald

By Laura Crimaldi
Friday, May 25, 2007

The cash-strapped Archdiocese of Boston, which has been selling off its sprawling grounds in Brighton to pay for clergy abuse settlements and other costs, said yesterday it will sell a large piece of land to neighboring Boston College for $65 million.

The sale, which includes multiple buildings and about 18 acres, will let the archdiocese relocate its administrative offices to a 140,000-square-foot compound in Braintree owned by church benefactor and developer Thomas Flatley.

The deal is to close on Aug. 1.

“We have reached a significant milestone,” said Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley. “Proceeds from this sale will allow the archdiocese to invest resources for the benefit of our parishes, clergy, St. John’s Seminary and many important programs that serve a large number of people.” The archdiocese has just one building left at the site - the seminary, where it trains priests.

BOSTON (MA)
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

The Associated Press

BOSTON— The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston announced a $65 million dollar deal on Thursday to sell its administrative headquarters in Brighton to Boston College to complete a money-saving move to the suburbs.

The sale of just under 20 acres to the Jesuit institution, which has already bought other nearby land from the archdiocese, is scheduled to close by Aug. 1. It is part of a long-range effort to recover from financial problems related to the clergy sex abuse scandal that erupted in 2002.

"We have reached a significant milestone in announcing this agreement," Cardinal Sean O'Malley said in a statement. "Proceeds from this sale will allow the Archdiocese to invest resources for the benefit of our parishes, clergy, St. John's Seminary and the many important programs that serve a large number of people."

The archdiocese is keeping St. John's Seminary, where it has trained priests since the 1880s, at its present location in Brighton.

BRAINTREE (MA)
The Patriot Ledger

By JON CHESTO and DON CONKEY
The Patriot Ledger

BRAINTREE - ‘‘I would never charge the House of the Lord the market rate,’’ billionaire developer Thomas Flatley said of the possible move of administrative offices of the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston to a building he owns in Braintree.

Sources close to the archdiocese confirmed that a move to the four-story office building on Brooks Drive in Braintree is likely, and will be announced by the end of the week, if final details are ironed out.

The move of major functions of the archdiocese’s chancery office and its 200 employees from Brighton has been opposed by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, who says the shift would be damaging to the charitable mission of the church and its history in Boston.

TUCSON (AZ)
Arizona Daily Star

By Stephanie Innes
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 05.24.2007

A Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson priest accused of molesting two boys during the 1980s is now facing charges that he sexually abused a third boy.
The Rev. Gary E. Underwood, who has not worked in the local diocese since 1987, pleaded innocent to the added charges May 1 and is scheduled to reappear in court July 10.
The new indictment accuses him of both molestation and sexual conduct with a boy under the age of 15 in 1985 and 1986, when he was assigned to St. Odilia’s Catholic Church, 7570 N. Paseo del Norte, on Tucson’s Northwest Side.

LONG ISLAND (NY)
Herald

By HECTOR FLORES and JUDY RATTNER May 24, 2007

A Nassau County jury has awarded $11.45 million to a man and woman who were teenagers when they were molested over the course of three years by a youth minister at St. Raphael's Roman Catholic Church in East Meadow, beginning in 1999. Despite the verdict, an attorney for the victims and an advocates' group say the Diocese of Rockville Centre, which oversees St. Raphael's, has not yet accepted full responsibility.
On May 18, the jury ruled that the diocese, St. Raphael's and its priest, the Rev. Thomas Haggerty, acted with reckless disregard for the safety of others by failing to protect children from their youth minister, Matthew Maiello.
Maiello, then of Lynbrook, pleaded guilty in 2003 to rape and sodomy of the two plaintiffs, who were 15 when the assaults began, and he was sentenced to prison for over two years. At the time of Maiello's sentencing, his victims filed a $150 million suit against Maiello; his supervisor, Haggerty; the church and the diocese.

IRELAND
IOL

24/05/2007 - 18:13:36

The man who claimed that a priest sexually abused him threatened to report a leading psychiatrist to the Irish Medical Council for refusing to prescribe a specific drug to treat his self-diagnosed 'bipolar disorder'.

Dr Anthony McCarthy told gardaí that given his "previous knowledge of the accused" he discounted his claims of sexual abuse and of being suicidal.

The consultant psychiatrist, whose statement to gardaí was read to the jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on day-nine of the man's false allegations trial, told gardaí he refused to accept the accused's self-diagnosis of bipolar disorder and refused to prescribe him lithium.

PHILIPPINES
Balita

Thursday, May 24 2007 @ 03:02 PM BST

ILOILO CITY, May 24 - A priest who was accused of rape by his self-confessed lover walked free after the complainant withdrew the two counts of rape filed against him.

In a resolution dated May 2, 2007, Provincial Prosecutor Bernabe Dusaban recommended for the dismissal of the complaint following the withdrawal of the woman who accused the priest.

The complainant manifested her lack of interest to pursue the case because she could not find time to attend the hearing of the cases. Likewise, she cited her difficulty to pin the suspect and establish the “guilt of the respondent beyond reasonable doubt.”

KENTUCKY
The Courier-Journal

The Kentucky Supreme Court today overturned the conviction of a former Roman Catholic priest who was convicted in 2003 of sexually abusing two Bullitt County boys.

Daniel C. Clark has served nearly four years of a 10-year sentence for his conviction on two counts of first-degree sexual abuse of the two boys.

In a 5-2 decision, the court ordered the case remanded to Bullitt Circuit Court for a new trial.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
KESQ

Associated Press - May 24, 2007 11:14 AM ET

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A judge has ruled that four people can seek punitive damages against the LA Archdiocese for allegedly failing to protect them from a priest they accused of sexual abuse.

In his ruling, LA County Superior Court Judge Haley Fromholz cited Cardinal Roger Mahony's alleged misrepresentation of a videotape found in the bedroom of a priest accused of molesting children.

Mahony reportedly wrote to Vatican officials that Father Lynn Caffoe had videotaped "partially naked' boys in a state of sexual arousal.

But he told parishioners that the boys were "fully clothed" and that there was no sexual activity.

NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A County Londonderry priest has been acquitted on two charges of sexually abusing a teenager almost 30 years ago.

But the jury failed to reach a verdict on another two charges of indecent assault against Father Patrick Crilly, 63, from Desertmartin.

The judge has discharged the jury and the Public Prosecution Service will consider whether Father Crilly should face a retrial on those two charges.

NORTHERN IRELAND
4NI

A priest has been acquitted of charges of sexually abusing a teenager almost 30 years ago.

Father Patrick Patrick Crilly, 63, from Desertmartin in County Londonderry was cleared of two charges, but the jury failed to reach a verdict on two further charges of indecent assault.

Trial Judge Corinne Philpott ordered the jury to be discharged while the Public Prosecution Service decides whether Father Crilly should face a retrial on the two charges.

NORTHERN IRELAND
U.TV

A County Derry priest faces the possibility of a retrial after a jury failed to reach a verdict on two charges alleging he had sexually abused a teenage girl 30 years ago.

Fr Patrick Joseph Crilly, 63, from Tobermore Road in Desertmartin, was acquitted by majority verdicts, of two counts of indecently assaulting the girl between November 20, 1978 and November 19, 1980.

However, following an eight day long trial at Derry Crown Court, the jury were divided on two other similar offences alleged to have taken place between April 1, 1977, and Novermber 19, 1978, allegedly starting when the girl was aged 15.

FRANKFORT (KY)
Journal Gazette

ROGER ALFORD
Associated Press
FRANKFORT, Ky. - The Kentucky Supreme Court overturned the sex abuse conviction against a former priest Thursday because his earlier sex crimes were wrongly used as evidence.

The court ordered a new trial for Daniel C. Clark, who is serving a 10-year sentence after being convicted in 2003 of abusing two brothers over four years, beginning when they were 8 and 9.

The court's 5-2 ruling also said the jury was not properly instructed before it began deliberating.

DARIEN (CT)
The Darien Times

By Susan Shultz

Where once there were limousines, now there are legal bills.

Last May, news broke that the former pastor of St. John Parish, the Rev. Michael Jude Fay had been using parish money to fund a lavish lifestyle that was called inappropriate by diocesan leaders. In August, an independent audit of the period between January 2000 and April 2006 revealed an estimated loss of $1.4 million to the parish, with as much as $350,000 unaccounted for by the former pastor.

Now the former pastor is seeking help with his legal expenses.

PHILIPPINES
The News Today

By Florence F. Hibionada

Rape charges against a young Catholic priest has been ordered dismissed following the withdrawal of the cases by the complainant herself some three months after the public declaration of their purported affair.

In a letter coursed thru First Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Portia Cabalum, the 25 year-old self-confessed lover of Father Martin Alarcon manifested her intent to officially withdraw two counts of rape charges docketed as I.S. No. 07-327 and I.S. No. 07- 328.

Primary reason stated for disinterest to the case was due to her "physical condition" that she explained will cause her not to attend the hearings "thus, I am not interested anymore in prosecuting further the same."

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Thursday, May 24, 2007

By George Jackson

A verdict is due today correct in the trial of a Co Londonderry priest who denies four charges of indecently assaulting a schoolgirl.

Fr Patrick Joseph Crilly (63) from Tobermore Road, Desertmartin, denies committing the offences in the Derry diocesan pastoral centre between September 1977 and November 1980, starting when the 15-year-old girl came to him for counselling about becoming a nun.

Evidence in the seven-day trial ended yesterday when, in his second day in the witness box, Fr Crilly told prosecution barrister Geoffrey Millar QC that when he was first informed of the allegations by Fr John Farren on November 5, 2005, he contacted the investigating police officer.

UNITED KINGDOM
Belfast Telegraph

Thursday, May 24, 2007

A jury in Liverpool is expected to retire later today to consider its verdict in the case of a Co Fermanagh-born priest accused of facilitating the rape of a 12-year-old girl.

Fr Jeremiah McGrath, aged 63, allegedly gave money to William Adams, 38, a convicted paedophile originally from Belfast, to buy gifts to groom the girl for sex.

He admits having a sexual relationship with Adams, whom he knew had a previous conviction for raping another girl in Ireland.

LONG ISLAND (NY)
Irish Voice

May 24, 2007

By Cahir O’Doherty

LAST week a jury found that the nation’s sixth-largest Roman Catholic diocese, Rockville Centre in Long Island, was negligent in a case involving Matthew Maiello, a youth minister who repeatedly raped and sodomized teenagers who were entrusted to his care over several years.

“I am absolutely stunned by the arrogance of the bishop and the diocese,” said well-known New York based Irish American civil rights attorney Michael Dowd, in a hard hitting interview with the Irish Voice. “Even as late as yesterday they refused to admit any responsibility at all for what happened.”

Dowd, the Irish American prosecutor in the successful $11.45 million suit against former youth minister Maiello, sounds personally shaken by the experience. “What I find incomprehensible is how you can be so reckless in protecting children,” he said, referring to Father Thomas Haggerty, the pastor of St. Raphael’s Church in East Meadow where the abuse occurred.

UNITED KINGDOM
ic Seftonandwestlancs

May 24 2007

by Sarah Chapman, Bootle Times

A CATHOLIC priest has denied giving his paedophile friend money so he could groom and sexually abuse a Liverpool schoolgirl.

Father Jeremiah McGrath, 63, admitted he did have a homosexual affair with convicted child rapist William Adams despite having taken a vow of celibacy, a court heard.

He told Liverpool Crown Court he was so besotted by Adams that he was blind to his targeting a new victim.

MAINE
The Forecaster

By Linda Maule (published: May 17, 2007)
PORTLAND – A woman who claims she was fired by St. Bartholomew Church in Cape Elizabeth in 2005 in retaliation for reporting that a youth ministry director held her against her will, assaulted her and sexually harassed her, has filed a federal lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.

The suit filed also names Bishop Richard Malone, St. Bartholomew Church and the church minister, Monsignor Michael Henchal, as defendants.

The suit was filed on behalf of Susan LaTorre of Cape Elizabeth by her attorney, Marshall Tinkle, in U.S. District Court on May 4. LaTorre is seeking a jury trial.

INDIA
Newsday

May 23, 2007, 2:16 PM EDT

CHENNAI, India -- An American rabbi convicted of sexually abusing children has been arrested in southern India after an 11-month manhunt across Asia, police said Wednesday.

Rabbi Alan Jay Horowitz was arrested at a seaside resort in Mahabalipuram, a town in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, by police acting on a tip from Interpol, said a senior police official, D. Mukherjee.

He added that U.S. authorities were expected to soon begin extradition proceedings for Horowitz, who was wanted for violating his parole by leaving the United States.

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A jury has heard closing arguments in the trial of a Catholic priest accused of facilitating the rape of a 12-year-old.

Father Jeremiah McGrath, 63, allegedly gave money to William Adams, 38, a sex offender originally from Belfast, to buy gifts for the girl from Liverpool.

Adams raped the girl a number of times, Liverpool Crown Court was told.

Mr McGrath, 63, of County Fermanagh, denies three counts of facilitating the commission of a child sex offence.

UTAH
Deseret Morning News

By Ben Winslow
Deseret Morning News
Are laptop computers, iPods, thumb drives, digital recorders and CDs the instruments of a religious leader's communications to his flock? Or the means for a fugitive on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list to stay on the run?
A federal judge will be asked today to consider whether some of the evidence seized when Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs was arrested last year should be declared "protected" under his First Amendment right to freedom of religion.
"These sacred revelations are at the core of the group's religious beliefs and they cannot be shared with outsiders," Jeffs' defense attorney Walter Bugden Jr. wrote in an emergency motion filed in March.

UNITED STATES
Virtue Online

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
5/23/2007

The Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, Mrs. Katharine Jefferts Schori allegedly ordered all references to a sex scandal surrounding Pennsylvania Bishop Charles E. Bennison to be removed from Wikipedia, the widely read online encyclopedia. The ultra-liberal bishop faces both an ecclesiastical presentment and civil fraud charges.

In a clear attempt to downplay Bennison's role in the cover-up of a 14-year girl who was sexually abused by his brother, the Rev. John Bennison, Barbara Alton, Bennison's personal assistant, claims she was told by Mrs. Schori to remove the sexually explicit references to the bishop's cover up.

John Bennison was forced from his parish and resigned from The Episcopal Church when sexual allegations emerged in the Diocese of California. He avoided prosecution because of the Statute of Limitations. At the time of the abuse, he was sharing a home with his brother Charles.

TUCSON (AZ)
Tucson Citizen

A.J. FLICK
Tucson Citizen
A onetime Tucson priest who was indicted last year on charges of molesting two boys in the 1980s has been indicted on similar charges involving another boy.
The Rev. Gary Edward Underwood, 53, who is a military priest in Bossier City, La., was indicted by a Pima County grand jury April 24 on one count each of molestation of a child and sexual conduct with a minor under 15, allegedly occurring between Aug. 1, 1985, and Jan. 31, 1986.
In November, Underwood was indicted by a grand jury on one count of molestation of a child and two counts of sexual conduct with a minor under 15, from March 21, 1983, through March 21, 1984, and six counts of molestation of a child and one count of sexual conduct with a minor under 15 from Oct. 8, 1983, through Oct. 8, 1984. The Tucson Citizen is not naming the boys because they are alleged victims. The ages of the boys from the November and April indictments were not available.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

By John Spano, Times Staff Writer
May 24, 2007

Citing an alleged misrepresentation by Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, a judge ruled Wednesday that four people can seek punitive damages against the Los Angeles Archdiocese for failing to protect them from a priest they accused of sexual abuse.

The ruling, the first of its kind in the Los Angeles clergy sexual abuse scandal, could increase pressure on the archdiocese to reach a settlement with its accusers.

More than 500 people have alleged that they were abused by priests in the archdiocese, and many also have alleged that the church knew about the danger but failed to act.

If all of them are granted permission to seek punitive damages, Mahony could face a potentially enormous payout.

PORTLAND (OR)
Statesman Journal

ALAN GUSTAFSON
Statesman Journal

May 21, 2007

Nobody ever accused Daniel Gatti of shying away from a tough fight.

The Salem lawyer's latest courtroom battle saw him represent three men who sued the Rev. Michael Sprauer of Salem for alleged sexual abuse at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in the 1970s.

Last week, a Portland jury determined that Sprauer abused two of the three plaintiffs -- Robert Paul Jr., 49, of Salem, and Randy Sloan, 49, of Aumsville. The jury awarded them nearly $1.4 million. It ruled that Sprauer did not abuse a third plaintiff -- Norman Klettke Jr., 44, of Portland.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
City of Angels

By City of Angels Lady

Good news: forward movement for the plaintiffs in hearings Wednesday morning. There’s now a court order to conduct financial discovery on the Los Angeles Archdiocese, because two cases have such a preponderance of evidence that it’s “likely plaintiffs will prevail.”** The two orders are for a Caffoe case (trial date August 6) and a Rucker case (trial date December 3) but the resulting audit of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles Health and Welfare Corporation will apply to all 500 cases moving through the court system, with the first jury trial June 11 (the Kreutzer cases).

Judge Haley Fromholz granted the motion saying: “Plaintiffs’ evidence establishes a substantial probability that plaintiffs will prevail on the punitive damages claim.” Concerning the Lynn Caffoe case, BC307225, Katherine Freberg’s office cited as evidence: testimony of a priest and housekeeper, another priest’s description of a videotape taken from Caffoe’s room of the priest filming minors having sex, numerous reports from parents and parishioners to a priest and at least one monsignor, complaints by a school principal to the chancery, Caffoe’s commitment to St. Luke’s Institute, reports from the Redondo Beach Police, and finally, plaintiff’s testmony.

Church attorneys did not even try to argue back. The other case that opened archdiocese financial records Wednesday was BC307410, where several attorneys along with Freberg’s office built a similarly concrete case involving George Neville Rucker. Here one plaintiff reported to her first and second grade teachers in the early 1960s that Rucker was molesting her and she had pain in her “private parts.” Another plaintiff went to a nun on behalf of herself and a group of girls and the nun “slapped (her) in the face several times and told her not to talk about Father Rucker like that."

PITTSBURGH (PA)
KDKA

(KDKA) PITTSBURGH A former youth pastor is facing charges after he allegedly sexually assaulted two boys.

The alleged incidents began a decade ago while he was a youth pastor at Covenant Church of Pittsburgh in Wilkinsburg.

According to police, the victims, who were 10 and 14 at the time, say the alleged incidents happened from 1997 to 2003 while they visited Baird’s Penn Hills home during weekend retreats.

ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat & Chronicle

Michael Zeigler
Staff writer

(May 23, 2007) — A Roman Catholic priest who admitted possessing child pornography was found today to be a low-level sex offender.

Monroe County Court Judge Frank P. Geraci Jr. ruled that the Rev. Michael Volino, 42, is a Level 1 offender, considered to be the lowest of three risk levels on New York’s Sex Offender Registry.

IRELAND
Dublin People

THE convicted paedophile who was living just yards from a primary school in Phibsboro is reported to have packed his belongings and left the area.
Local residents breathed a sigh of relief when they saw defrocked priest Oliver O’Grady leaving his rental accommodation in a taxi filled with his personal possessions.
O’Grady, who admitted molesting 20 children, had been the centre of controversy since Phibsboro locals publicly revealed where the serial sex offender was living last month.
Kieran Collins, chairman of the Rathdown Road and District Residents’ Association, was responsible for highlighting the paedophile’s move to accommodation close to St Peter’s primary school.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

A Co Clare priest has apologised to his parishioners after a report in a tabloid newspaper alleged he used a well-known gay website to meet other men.

Fr Michael Hogan (56) of Feakle, East Clare, said he was deeply ashamed by the revelations in the newspaper concerning his private life.

"I apologise profoundly for the hurt and embarrassment caused to the parishioners of Feakle and Killanena-Flagmount, my bishop, fellow priests, to those who know and trust me both within and outside the church community," he said.

IRELAND
IOL

23/05/2007 - 19:47:58

A clerical witness in the trial of a man charged with falsely claiming sexual abuse by a priest has told the jury he now remembers a mother and son coming to him with a complant about the priest in question.

Father Oliver Crotty said, however, that "after rechecking the video in my brain" he was satisfied he wasn't in denial and that the complaint concerned "a parish matter to do with the boy's education" rather than one of sexual abuse.

He had originally said he had no recollection of the accused and his mother coming to him to complain that the priest was refusing to allow the accused to make his First Holy Communion.

VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Church officials must have an opportunity to comment on-air if Italy's state-run television airs a British documentary about the priest sex abuse crisis, said an Italian bishops' conference official.

"We do not want any censorship," Bishop Giuseppe Betori, general secretary of the Italian bishops' conference, told reporters May 22 in the midst of a very public debate over whether RAI, the state-run television network, should broadcast "Sex Crimes and the Vatican," a 2006 documentary of the British Broadcasting Corp.

Officials at RAI announced late May 22 that they would permit the program to be broadcast, but said the 40-minute documentary would be aired within the context of a talk show, and the guests would include officials from the Italian church.

IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

A Co. Clare Priest has put in a request for time away from his parish after photographs of him, allegedly from a gay website, were published in a tabloid newspaper.

Fr Michael Hogan today issued a statement acknowledging he's breached his vow of celibacy, and has apologised to locals in the East Clare parish of Feakle.

Fr Hogan said he was "deeply ashamed" at revelations concerning his use of a gay website in the Sun newspaper today, and his indiscretions in relation to his vow.

IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

By George Jackson

A priest yesterday denied allegations that he sexually abused a teenage schoolgirl who had come to him for counselling about becoming a nun almost 30 years ago.

Fr. Patrick Joseph Crilly, (63), from Tobermore Road, Desertmartin, Co. Londonderry, denied committing the offences in the Derry Diocesan Pastoral Centre on four occasions between September 1977 and November 1980.

During the sixth day of the trial at the Crown Court in Derry, defence counsel Brian McCartney QC asked the defendant how he reacted when informed of the allegations by another priest, Fr. John Farren, in November 2005.

IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

A well-known Co Clare priest is promising to make a statement later following articles written about him in a tabloid newspaper this morning.

The Sun has published photographs of Fr Michael Hogan that it says were displayed on a gay website.

The photos show Fr Hogan, the parish priest of Feakle, posing in his underpants.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Fermanagh Herald

The Roslea parish priest at the centre of a crown court trial in Liverpool was described on the third day of case by a hotel proprietor as, a 'true gent' .

Father Jeremiah McGrath, who is on trial accused of child sex offences, had turned up at the Blackpool hotel to join fellow Irishman, William Adams, who was there with a 12-year-old girl and her family.

Giving evidence, Mary Holliday said Adams told her McGrath was his uncle and a priest. McGrath arrived wearing 'civvies' and, after speaking to him she said she, "put him down as a real gent. That is the sort of person that came over. He was very very quiet, even when mixing with the family and kept a distance from them," she said.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Fermanagh Herald

The Roslea priest at the centre of a Crown Court Trial in Liverpool admitted on Tuesday to having a homosexual relationship with a convicted paedophile.

Father Jeremiah McGrath, whose address was given as Church Road, also told a jury that he had not considered the relationship with William Adams to be wrong.

He said he formed a relationship with Adams when he was in his mid-40s and Adams was 21 and homeless.

NEW YORK
Albany Times Union

By JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST, Staff writer

First published: Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Alan Horowitz, the notorious child molester who boldly dispatched a good-bye letter of sorts to his parole officer last year after bolting abroad, has been arrested in India, authorities said.

The arrest -- made Tuesday in India at 3:48 p.m., which was early Tuesday here -- ends a remarkable 11-month global manhunt for a man authorities describe as a remorseless predator with a brilliant mind.

A tip e-mailed to the "America's Most Wanted" television program steered authorities toward Horowitz -- one of New York's 100 most-wanted fugitives -- in Mahabalipuram, a city of about 12,000 on India's southeastern coast, parole officials said.

UNITED STATES
The Christian Chronicle

By Erik Tryggestad
The Christian Chronicle

The Pitman church in Sewell, N.J., came under a media spotlight in March when its 33-year-old former youth minister, Paul Glover, was charged with aggravated sexual assault.

Authorities said Glover had a two-year sexual relationship with a member of his youth group. The relationship came to light when the girl, now 17, became pregnant.

One month later, the leader of a campus ministry at the South College church in Tahlequah, Okla., was arrested in a sting targeting sexual predators.

An indictment claims that Charles Shaffer used the Internet to discuss his desire to have sex with a person he believed to be a 13-year-old girl. Shaffer drove to Walters, Okla., more than four hours from Tahlequah, to what he believed was the girl’s home, where police arrested him, according to the indictment.

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald

By O’Ryan Johnson
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 - Updated: 12:43 AM EST

Harry Spence’s six-and-a-half-year tenure as head of the Department of Social Services was marred by the deaths and severe beatings of several children in his agency’s care that had the beleaguered DSS chief fighting to keep his job.

It started in July 2005 with Dontel Jeffers, the 4-year-old Boston boy who was allegedly bound with a telephone cord and beaten to death while in foster care. It continued through December 2005, with Hailey Poutre, the 12-year-old girl who was beaten into a coma, with DSS poised to pull the plug when she made a miraculous recovery.

And it culminated with the most recent accusation: that under Spence’s leadership DSS failed to act on allegations of sexual abuse by a South End minister, even though the agency had reported a call from the alleged predator attempting to turn himself in.

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff | May 23, 2007

Mayor Thomas M. Menino of Boston is strongly objecting to the likelihood that the storied but scandal-wracked Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, which is preparing to celebrate its bicentennial, will move out of the city.

Archdiocesan officials, strapped for cash, are in the final stages of negotiating a deal to move their offices from the campus in Brighton where they have been headquartered since the 1920s to a four-story building off Route 128 in Braintree as part of an ongoing effort to raise money to resolve the financial crisis touched off by the clergy sexual abuse scandal.

Menino, who has at times been critical of the archdiocese for its handling of the abuse scandal and parish closings, said it would be a mistake for the archdiocese to move its offices from the city.

BOSTON (MA)
WHDH

BOSTON -- A decision by the Roman Catholic Boston Archdiocese to consider a money-saving move to the suburbs is drawing criticism from Boston Mayor Tom Menino, who claims leaving the city will hinder the church's charitable mission.

Archdiocesan officials are in the final stages of negotiating a deal to move their headquarters from the outlying Brighton neighborhood to a four-story building in Braintree.

The proposed move, first reported in the Boston Herald, is part of an ongoing effort to resolve a financial crisis caused in part by the clergy sexual abuse scandal.

WINONA (MN)
Daily News

By Leslie Hittner | Winona

I was pleased to see Darrell Ehrlick’s editorial asking for The Diocese of Winona to reconcile its past performance with respect to the priestly sexual abuse scandal and to be accountable for the injustices it has done in “spiritually aborting” abuse victims in order to protect its clergy.

I was at St. John the Evangelist Church in Rochester, Minn., in January and heard Bishop Bernard Harrington preach a homily concerning the poor and disenfranchised people in society and the important role the church plays in helping these people. It is a social justice role in which the church can rightfully be proud.

In his homily, he spoke of a recent instance of the church’s social justice advocacy; his response to the federal immigration agent raids in southwestern Minnesota. The bishop told us of his special trip to Worthington, Minn., to listen to and talk with the Hispanic population in that area. He publicized that trip as well as his efforts to raise money to assist these unfortunate people.

SPOKANE (WA)
The News Tribune

NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS; The Associated Press
Published: May 23rd, 2007 01:00 AM

SPOKANE – A Catholic religious order that trained former priest Patrick O’Donnell can be sued by dozens of sexual abuse victims who contend the group knew O’Donnell was a pedophile and should not have recommended him for the priesthood, an appeals court has decided.
The Associated Sulpicians of the United States had asked that two lawsuits be dismissed.

That motion to dismiss was initially rejected by a state court, and the state Division 1 Court of Appeals in Seattle declined a request from the religious order that it review the lower court decision.

The court action was brought by alleged victims of O’Donnell against the now-defunct St. Thomas Seminary in the Seattle suburb of Kenmore. The seminary was operated by the Sulpicians, an order devoted to training priests.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Fermanagh Herald

Fr Jeremiah McGrath, the Parish Priest of Roslea took the stand on Monday this week during his trial at Liverpool Crown Court to deny the allegations against him.

McGrath told a jury he had been unaware his co-accused William Adams was sexually molesting and raping the 12-year-old.

But, he did confess he had had a close relationship with Adams and was emotionally involved with him. "I was probably looking for a special relationship but it did not materialise," he said.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Fermanagh Herald

A schoolgirl who was allegedly sexually molested by a Roslea priest and his paedophile friend told the jury in Liverpool Crown Court how the men had abused her.

In a DVD of her taped police interviews the girl, who was then 12, claimed Father Jeremiah McGrath molested her while driving her home and that the priest knew his friend, William Adams sexually abused her.

In the taped interview, the girl, who is now 13, said she first met McGrath when he arrived while she was on a three week holiday in Blackpool with Adams, her brother and mother.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Fermanagh Herald

Fr Jeremiah McGrath lied when confronted by the grandmother of the young girl he is accused of molesting, Liverpool Crown Court heard on the second day of the trial of the Roslea Priest. And when quizzed about his paedophile friend, McGrath also told her not to believe anyone, 'particularly the police.

Sixty-two-year-old McGrath denies one offence of sexual assault and three offences of arranging or facilitating the commission by his co-accused, William Adams of a sexual offence.

The court heard the offences, which spanned seven months, came to light after the girl failed to arrive as expected at her grandmother's Merseyside home on November 9, 2005. Her family, who had been alerted by social services about Adams' past, had warned Adams not to see the child.

ROME
followthemedia.com

Philip M. Stone May 23, 2007

Pope Benedict XVI on several occasions this year has criticized the media, particularly television, for programming particularly aimed at children that goes against their moral social good. But the Church had another TV issue to deal with this week as RAI, the Italian public broadcaster, planned to show a BBC documentary critical of the then Cardinal Ratzinger for enforcing church secrecy rules on its many child sexual abuse cases around the world.

RAI Director General Claudio Cappon, likened by some to Pontius Pilate for being under tremendous pressure from Parliamentarians crying everything from “censorship” to “media trial against the church” has ruled the BBC Panorama program can be shown, but that the program must invite prominent Church representatives to contest the documentary’s assertions. The program was to have been broadcast Thursday, but has been delayed to comply with the new rules.

The Pope this year has been very critical of various parts of the media for corrupting children. In his last such media critique May 20 he told crowds massed in St. Peter’s Square commemorating World Communications Day that the media’s portrayal of violence, antisocial behavior, and vulgar sexual content, especially when aimed at the young, is unacceptable. It was at least the third time this year that the Pope chose to criticize such media programming.

UNITED STATES
The Awareness Center

NOTICE: On May 22, 2007 Rabbi Alan Horowitz was caught. He was in violation of his parole since June, 2006. He was captured in India and will be extradited back to the US. Rabbi Horowitz is a level three sex offender.

Rabbi Alan J. Horowitz, is a convicted sex offender, an ordained Orthodox rabbi and an adolescent psychiatrist. He is married with one child and seven step-children.

Allegations of child abuse have followed Horowitz for decades. In Maryland, he was convicted in 1983 of performing an unnatural sexual act on the 12-year-old boy who was his patient. Allegedly, Horwitz has assaulted a string of children from California to Israel to New York in the past twenty years. Alan J. Horowitz is a rabbi, magna cum laude, M.D., Ph.D., a graduate of Duke University, and a writer for NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association) publications.

NEW YORK
Fox 23

Last Update: May 22, 2007 2:21 PM

Posted By: Chris Silveri

A fugitive from Schenectady County has been captured overseas in Asia.

60 year old Alan Horowitz, a level three sex offender and parole jumper, was arrested earlier today in India after an 11 month manhunt.

Horowitz is a former Rabbi and Psychiatrist convicted of sexually abusing a number of children under the age of 17.

GHANA
myjoyonline

An Accra Regional Tribunal has remanded a head pastor accused of defiling eight teenage girls within seven months.

The Pastor, James Nana Akwasi Agyemang who is also a herbalist, between May and December, 2006 at Dome in Accra, allegedly had sex with the girls between ages three and 12, in his bedroom and bathroom.

The accused pleaded not guilty to eight counts of defilement of a female under 16 years, contrary to Section 101(2) of Act 29/60, as amended by Section 11 of Act 554/98.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Bonus Books

May 22, 2007 -- LOS ANGELES, CA -- The 11th Annual IPPY Awards (The Independent Publishers Book Awards), have awarded the prestigious GOLD MEDAL prize to the critically acclaimed "Sex, Priests and Secret Codes: The Catholic Church's 2,000-Year Paper Trail of Sexual Abuse" (Volt Press, 2006).

Written by well-known authors/experts Rev. Thomas P. Doyle, A.W. Richard Sipe and Patrick Wall, the authoritative book captured the top prize in the Religion category. This year nearly 2,700 entries were submitted for consideration in 65 national categories. On June 1, in a formal ceremony in New York City in conjunction with Book Expo America, Gold, Silver and Bronze medal awards will be formally presented to the winning titles/publishers in each category.

"Secret Codes" presents extensive documentation to show--for the first time--that the existence of sexual activity and abuse by clergy not only spans the Church’s history, but has been well-known and protected by its hierarchy for centuries. A "Pentagon Papers" of sorts on the Catholic Church, the book also details the Church’s long-standing awareness of this issue; its concerns, failures and tactics for addressing the problem; and its continuing efforts to keep it secret.

SPOKANE (WA)
Local News 8

Associated Press - May 22, 2007 3:44 PM ET

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - A Catholic religious order that trained former priest Patrick O'Donnell can be sued by dozens of sexual abuse victims who contend the group knew O'Donnell was a pedophile and should not have recommended him for priesthood.

That's according to a recent decision by the state court of appeals.

The Associated Sulpicians of the United States had asked that two lawsuits be dismissed on the grounds it cannot be held responsible for O'Donnell's predations against children.

ROME
Catholic World News

Rome, May. 22, 2007 (CWNews.com) - An official of the Italian private television network Mediaset has said that the network will broadcast a controversial BBC program on sexual abuse and the Vatican, if the state-run RAI network refuses to do so.

"If RAI doesn't want it, we'll buy it," said Enrico Mentana. The Mediaset network is owned by former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi,

The general secretary of the Italian bishops' conference (CEI), Bishop Giuseppe Betori, has said that Church leaders are only pushing for accurate coverage of the issue. "We don't want censorship," he said, "but if the documentary should be broadcast in Italy, we would like to make it clear that it contains falsehoods."

BALTIMORE (MD)
Baltimore Sun

By Melissa Harris
Sun Reporter
Originally published May 22, 2007, 2:45 PM EDT
Jury selection began today in the trial of a Baltimore County pastor accused of engaging in sexual acts with a teenage parishioner in Columbia hotels in 2004 and 2005.

Gerald Fitroy Griffith is on trial for a second time in Howard County Circuit Court. A mistrial was declared in March after the alleged victim, who is now 18 years old, gave testimony that included references to Baltimore County, where Griffith also faces charges.

Griffith, pastor and founder of Redemption Christian Fellowship Church on Dogwood Road in Woodlawn, was indicted by a Howard County grand jury in August on three counts of sexual abuse of a minor.

ROME
TV Guide

By Philip Pullella

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's state broadcaster on Tuesday decided to buy a BBC documentary on the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests but will only let it be aired if accompanied by balancing opinion from the Church.

The documentary had sparked a political row which pitted right-wing politicians opposed to the airing against leftists who said censoring it would violate freedom of speech.

On Tuesday RAI director general Claudio Cappon approved purchasing the documentary, called "Sex Crimes and the Vatican," but set conditions for how it can be broadcast.

He demanded that the program hosting the documentary, talk show "Year Zero," also let prominent members of the Church give their version of events and contest the documentary's assertions.

ROME
International Herald Tribune

The Associated Press
Published: May 22, 2007

ROME: The Catholic Church cannot be considered guilty if individual priests commit sexual abuse, a senior official of the influential Italian bishops conference said Tuesday.

In sharp contrast to the Catholic Church in the United States, the Italian Church has been largely unscathed by sex abuse scandals, although there have been some isolated allegations.

"The Church cannot be guilty of a crime committed by an individual," Monsignor Giuseppe Betori, secretary-general of the Italian bishops conference, told reporters during a meeting of the nation's bishops in Rome.

"It's not the diocese who reimburses the victim, it is the priest who pays damages for an act," the bishops conference news agency SIR quoted Betori as saying.

UNITED STATES
Orthodox Reform

The 2006 SCOBA Bishops Conference that ran October 3-6, 2006 in Chicago, IL included a video taped seminar entitled “Discussion on Sexual Misconduct in the Church.” View this video online at SCOBA’s website.

The presentation on Sexual Abuse and Misconduct by Father Alexander Karlgut informed the hierarchs of the practical aspects of dealing with sexual abuse and misconduct and stressed their ability to lower the risk of misconduct through preventative measures. Also, he said that SCOBA has a unique role to play in coordinating a unified educational approach on sexual abuse and misconduct-workshops in seminaries and for the clergy throughout North America.

The liability threat is high; Fr. Karlgut gave examples:

The Roman Catholic church in America has spent over $1.5 Billion in sexual misconduct settlements (either out of court or jury awards)

ROCKVILLE CENTRE (NY)
Newsday

BY ANN GIVENS
ann.givens@newsday.com

May 21, 2007, 10:59 PM EDT

The Diocese of Rockville Centre could be on the hook for nearly all of the $11.45 million that a Nassau County jury awarded to two people who were molested by a church youth minister beginning in 1999, lawyers and experts said.

That's because of one key word in the jury verdict, experts said. When the jury ruled that the diocese, St. Raphael's Church in East Meadow and its priest, the Rev. Thomas Haggerty, acted with "reckless" disregard for the safety of others by failing to protect children from their youth minister, it left the diocese vulnerable to footing the entire bill, experts said.

"Because the jury found that they acted recklessly, the plaintiffs are permitted to collect money from any deep pocket they can find," said Lawrence Carra of Mineola, who represented the youth minister, Matthew Maiello, in the civil case.

LOUISA (VA)
Washington Times

May 22, 2007

LOUISA, Va. (AP) -- A judge revoked bail yesterday for a priest accused of stealing up to $1 million from two Louisa County churches.
The Rev. Rodney L. Rodis violated terms of the $25,000 secured bond last month when he traveled to New Mexico to visit a child who had been living with him before his legal troubles. Father Rodis will be held at Central Virginia Regional Jail in Orange County.
Father Rodis, 51, faces 13 felony embezzlement charges that he diverted more than $600,000 given to St. Jude Catholic Church in Mineral and Immaculate Conception in Bumpass from 1995 until he retired last year. He pleaded not guilty in March, and his trial was set for Oct. 1.

LOUISA (VA)
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - 12:09 AM Updated: 12:50 AM

By CALVIN R. TRICE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
LOUISA -- Authorities yesterday handcuffed and jailed a Catholic priest accused of stealing as much as $1 million from two Louisa County churches and then violating the terms of his bail.

A judge revoked the bond for the Rev. Rodney L. Rodis yesterday for leaving the state to visit a sick child who lived with him and a woman he told neighbors was his wife.

Rodis' lawyer, John R. Maus, argued at the hearing that his client's incarceration will ham- per his efforts to return money to the churches he led.

TEXAS
WOAI

Last Update: May 22, 2007 5:24 AM

Posted By: Mandi Johnston

A man who made a name for himself as a leader of a so-called cult in Costa Rica is in trouble.

Many of his Catholic followers are from right here in San Antonio, and they were told by the Archdiocese to stay away from the man who claims to see visions of the Virgin Mary.
Now, a fight with one of his former followers could send him to jail.

Trouble Shooter Brian Collister brings you the latest in his investigation into Juan Pablo Delgado, including why one follower says she wishes she had heeded the Archdiocese's advice to avoid Delgado.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Belleville News-Democrat

BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK
News-Democrat

ST. LOUIS --Catholic church officials in Cincinnati should have warned parishioners there and in other cities, including Belleville, that the Rev. Kenneth J. Roberts was improperly posing as a priest and mingling with children, said the head of the St. Louis chapter of a national group supporting victims of sex abuse by clergymen.

But a spokesman for the Cincinnati Catholic Diocese said the warning was promptly posted on a Web site.

In 1998, Roberts, 76, was prohibited by church officials from performing priestly duties following accusations of sexual molestation of minors.

Roberts has a national reputation from the publications of at least nine books he wrote, including "From Playboy to Priest," and made headlines here in 2003 when a lawsuit filed in St. Clair County Circuit Court by a man identified only as "John Doe" accused him of sexually molesting him at St. Mary's Catholic School in Belleville in 1984, when the man was 13. For years during the 1980s, Roberts lived in a church operated home in Florissant, Mo.

PENNSYLVANIA
The Republican & Herald

BY PETER E. BORTNER
STAFF WRITER
pbortner@republicanherald.com

05/22/2007
Daniel M. Shields Jr. ceased to be a free man at 9 a.m. Monday.

“He did report this morning” to Schuylkill County Prison, District Attorney James P. Goodman said of Shields, 62, of 30 Bryn Mawr Ave., Pottsville. The longtime high school football and track coach admitted videotaping female athletes in the locker room at Nativity BVM High School and indecently assaulting one of them.

Shields walked into prison a week after county Judge D. Michael Stine imposed an 18- to 48-month state prison term. He will stay in the county prison several days until the state Department of Corrections informs the county they can process him at State Correctional Institution/Camp Hill, Warden Eugene Berdanier said.

CINCINNATI (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer

BY DAN HORN | DHORN@ENQUIRER.COM

Victim advocates blasted the Archdiocese of Cincinnati on Monday for failing to notify parishioners about a national “clergy alert” involving two priests accused of abusing children.

The alert focused on a Dallas priest who recently lived in the Cincinnati area and a Youngstown priest with no apparent ties to the archdiocese.

Church officials say the clergy alert is a routine notice sent to all U.S. dioceses and did not involve priests or accusers from Cincinnati. They say they did not keep the notice secret and were not protecting the suspended priests.

The flare-up over the alert is the latest example of the lingering distrust between victims’ groups and church officials in the wake of the clergy abuse scandal, which erupted more than five years ago. It also suggests both sides are frustrated by one of the byproducts of the scandal: Suspended or defrocked priests who are not charged with crimes and no longer answer to the church.

DARIEN (CT)
The Darien Times

By Susan Shultz

It read like an episode of “Law & Order.”

Just over a year ago, the news first broke of the Rev. Michael Jude Fay’s financial misconduct at a little church in Darien. St. John Parish went from a tightly-knit Roman Catholic community to being in national news headlines within hours of the release of a private investigator’s report. That report was covered by the Associated Press on May 19, and announced that the pastor had resigned amid disturbing charges.

Not only was Father Fay responsible for at least $200,000 in financial misconduct, the report revealed, but the lavish lifestyle it was used to fund involved a male companion. The origin of the private investigation was also not clear. There was no mention of the Diocese of Bridgeport, to which St. John Parish reported, as the initiator of the investigation.

The initial reports created more questions than answers. The biggest question? Who hired the private investigator?

In the town and church community, there was no shortage of candidates with the money to hire an investigator. Yet, when the truth was revealed, it wasn’t any community big shot. It wasn’t someone who had a ton of money to throw around. It was the Rev. Michael Madden, parochial vicar at St. John’s.

ITALY
BBC News

An Italian politician has sparked a furore by urging state broadcaster Rai to block the transmission of a controversial BBC documentary.

The programme, aired in the UK in October, investigates the sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church.

Italian journalist Michele Santoro has asked to purchase the rights to the film to broadcast it on his talk show.

But Mario Landolfi, who heads Rai's parliamentary oversight committee, has asked Rai to prevent its transmission.

ROME
Catholic World News

Rome, May. 21, 2007 (CWNews.com) - Plans by Italy's RAI television network to air a BBC program on sexual abuse have been condemned by Italian Church leaders.

An editorial in the daily Avvenire, published by the Italian bishops' conference, said that an Italian internet site that posted the program was guilty of "calumny against the Church and the Pope."

The BBC program, "Sex Crimes and the Vatican," aired in England last October, drawing bitter protests from Church leaders there. It has not yet been presented to an Italian television audience, although the internet version has been downloaded by thousands of viewers.

The program was scheduled for presentation on "Year Zero," a regular show hosted by Michele Santoro, who has regularly criticized the Church. But the Italian broadcast has reportedly been stalled at the requests of the parliamentary committee that oversees the RAI network.

The focus of the BBC presentation is Crimen Sollicitationis, a Vatican document that was promulgated in 1962. The Panorama program described that document as "secret," and claims credit for exposing it, although the full text of Crimen Sollicitationis was published in 2001 and covered extensively by Catholic publications in 2002.

LAS VEGAS (NV)
Review-Journal

By DAVID KIHARA
REVIEW-JOURNAL

The Rev. George Chaanine said Sunday night that the woman who leveled sexual assault and attempted murder accusations against him did so because she wanted his money.

"You try to do your best, but people take advantage of you," the 53-year-old Roman Catholic priest said during an interview at the county jail. "They take the best of you, and they want more and more."

Chaanine said he gave Michaelina Bellamy and her daughter thousands of dollars out of friendship and generosity. But they wanted more money and fabricated the accusations to get more funds from him, he said.

CINCINNATI (OH)
WCPO

Details will be released Monday regarding two previously convicted priests reportedly living and working among children, despite a church order not to.

S.N.A.P. (the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) is holding a news conference Monday afternoon on the steps of St. Peter in Chains cathedral.

The group will release details about the cases and urge Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk to notify the public about them and force one or both to leave the archdiocese.

FRANCE
IOL

Paris - Abbe Pierre, a hugely popular French priest who died in January, spoke from beyond the grave on Monday to deny claims he had fathered an illegitimate son and that police had manipulated a DNA test to cover this up.

In an interview given before his death to counter the expected post-mortem charge, Abbe Pierre said a man claiming to be his son refused to believe his denials and the negative result from a DNA test he took in 2004 to prove them.

"This claim is devoid of any foundation," he said in an April 2006 interview that the Catholic weekly Pelerin issued on Monday. "I never had any union with his mother."

LAS VEGAS (NV)
Las Vegas Sun

LAS VEGAS (AP) - A Roman Catholic priest claimed in a jailhouse interview that a woman who accused him of sexual assault and attempted murder in a January attack at a Las Vegas parish wanted his money.

The Rev. George Chaanine told the Las Vegas Review-Journal for a Monday report that a church soloist and her daughter fabricated accusations to get more money from him.

"I did my best for this family. They don't know what friendship is," Chaanine said of the soloist, a professional singer in Las Vegas who sang at Our Lady of Las Vegas Catholic Church, and who Chaanine hired in October as the parish events coordinator.

LAS VEGAS (NV)
KTNV

Father George Chaanine spoke to Action News in a jailhouse interview.

The priest is accused of attacking a woman at Our Lady of Las Vegas back in February.

Chaanine tells Action News he is innocent and that the woman took advantage of him. He says they were old friends and she asked for money several times.

She told police that Chaanine hit her over the head with a wine bottle and fondled her inside the church before he went on the run.

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A Catholic priest accused of helping his friend sexually abuse a girl did not realise she was being molested, Liverpool Crown Court has heard.

Father Jeremiah McGrath allegedly gave money to William Adams, 38, a sex offender originally of Belfast, to buy gifts for a 12-year-old from Liverpool.

Mr McGrath, 63, of County Fermanagh, denies three counts of facilitating the commission of a child sex offence.

He also denies one charge of sexual assault.

NEW YORK
Star-Gazette

The sentencing of a former Steuben County pastor on felony sexual abuse charges that was scheduled for this morning was adjourned to 9:30 a.m. June 4 in Steuben County Court.

David J. Troup, 39, of Frog Hollow Road, Painted Post, pleaded guilty in February before Judge Marianne Furfure to all charges in a Jan. 18 indictment. He faces up to 32 years in state prison.

The former pastor of the Borden Baptist Church in the town of Woodhull, Troup pleaded guilty to first-degree course of conduct against a child, second-degree course of sexual conduct against a child, two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and three counts of second-degree sexual abuse.

BALTIMORE (MD)
Baltimore Jewish Times

MAY 21, 2007

The following letter was mailed to the members of Baltimore’s Orthodox Community on April 11 from the Vaad Harabbonim, the Rabbinical Council of Greater Baltimore.

There is no subject more painful for us to discuss than the issue of sexual abuse within our community. Yet at this point we believe it is the subject most necessary to address. We must acknowledge that this horrible form of abuse exists – and has existed for generations – in our community as well. This issue must be confronted directly and we believe that this discussion can be a first step towards the necessary and achievable goal of ridding our community of this scourge.

We feel it essential to discuss the matter directly with you, as the greatest allies of the abuser are ignorance and silence. The abuser preys on people who cannot understand that what he is doing to them is so very wrong. And the abuser thrives in an environment where he is confident that his victims will not report what they have experienced or where their reports of abuse will not be taken seriously. We therefore urge you to discuss this matter in a sensitive and non-alarming manner with your children so that they will clearly understand that they should forcefully refuse and immediately report inappropriate touch. They need to know that should, Heaven forbid, something like this ever occur to them, they will have somewhere to turn. And if they turn to you, you must respond compassionately, deliberately and with competent rabbinic and/or professional guidance, understanding that the thoughtful measure of your response will have enormous impact on your child’s future.

ITALY
The Inquirer

By Nick Farrell: Monday 21 May 2007, 14:29

ITALY'S LEADING Roman Catholic newspaper has slammed boggers for spreading 'slander' about priests sexually interfering with children.

The Beeb ran a documentary in October about a church cover-up of sexual abuse but it was banned in Italy, where the church still has a fair bit of power. However, bloggers copied it and stuck it onto Google video and circulated it on the Internet. The video is numero uno in the Google video charts.

Newspaper Avvenire, which is owned by the Italian Conference of Roman Catholic bishops, hit out at the web publication in a front-page editorial headlined "Infamous Slander Via Internet". Of course they got it completely wrong, since the documentary was published it would be 'defamation', not 'slander'.

What has got them all upset was that the Beeb found a secret document written in 1962 that set out a procedure for dealing with child sexual abuse within the Church. It made the child victim, the priest and any witness swear an oath of secrecy, which smacks a little bit of attempting a cover-up.

LOUISA (VA)
Richmond Times-Dispatch

A Louisa County judge this morning revoked bond for the priest accused of stealing as much as $1 million from two Louisa churches.

The Rev. Rodney L. Rodis violated terms of the $25,000 secured bond when he left Virginia last month to visit a child he was living with who now lives in New Mexico. Rodis will be held at Central Virginia Regional Jail in Orange County.

Rodis faces 13 felony theft charges alleging that he diverted money given to St. Jude and Immaculate Conception Catholic churches from 1995 until he retired last year.

While pastor of the Louisa churches, Rodis lived with a woman he referred to as his wife and with three children in a Spotsylvania County neighborhood, just outside Fredericksburg, neighbors said. The woman and children left the residence for New Mexico after authorities leveled criminal charges against Rodis in January.

LOUISA (VA)
The Free Lance-Star

Date published: 5/21/2007

Bond was revoked this morning for the Catholic priest in Louisa County accused of embezzling money from two rural churches.

Rodney Lee Rodis, 51, had been free on a $25,000 bond. He wasn't allowed to leave Virginia, but prosecutors believe he flew to New Mexico last month.

Rodis faces an October trial on charges that he embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from St. Jude and Immaculate Conception Catholic churches.

Louisa Commonwealth's Attorney Don Short said he subpoenaed Northwest Airlines records showing Rodis flew to Detroit on April 11. Short said he believes Rodis went from Detroit to New Mexico.

LOUISA (VA)
NBC 4

A priest from Spotsylvania County, Va., who turned 51 years old Monday got a birthday present he wasn't expecting.

A Louisa County judge revoked the Rev. Rodney Rodis' $25,000 bond. He will have to stay behind bars until his trial in October.

A former parishioner's daughter spotted Rodis getting on a flight at Richmond International Airport heading to New Mexico to visit his family, prosecutors said.

LOUISA (VA)
WCAV

May 21, 2007

A judge revoked bond on Monday for former pastor Rodney Rodis, who's accused of embezzling up to $1 million from parishioners in Louisa County.

Rodis' bond was revoked for violating the conditions of his release by traveling to New Mexico to visit a child who had been living with him before his troubles with the law.

NEW HAMPSHIRE
The Cabinet Press

By Carolyn Disco

Published: Friday, May. 18, 2007

By now, most people are aware of tensions between New Hampshire’s attorney general and the Catholic Church’s leadership. Five years of back and forth, and still Bishop John McCormack, Auxiliary Bishop Francis Christian and Rev. Edward Arsenault, delegate for ministerial conduct, have not been forthcoming in their actions and words.

Yes, they rightfully hail new policies, procedures, training, and screening of personnel, all commendable, and to the good. But it is the twisting of truth, and endless spinning of facts that reveals the unchanged arrogance of clericalism. And therein lies the danger.

The Diocese, through superbly skilled legal and public relations counsel, was able to escape criminal prosecution for endangering children, with perjury as part of the indictment — charges to which McCormack admitted the state had evidence sufficient for a likely conviction.

LAS VEGAS (NV)
KESQ

LAS VEGAS (AP) - A jailed priest accused of sexually assaulting a church worker says the Catholic Diocese has abandoned him in his hour of need.

Father George Chaanine (shah-NEEN') said in letters the diocese did not send anyone to visit him since he was jailed in February on one million dollars in bail.

But friends say someone from the church did finally visit him on Friday.

NEW YORK
New York Sun

By JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN
Staff Reporter of the Sun
May 21, 2007

The Episcopal Diocese of New York has dismissed a complaint against the rector of St. Thomas Church, the senior warden at the Fifth Avenue church has announced.

The news, delivered during a break in the organ music at yesterday's service, prompted sustained applause from a body that is not known as being a put-your-hands-together type of congregation.

In December, 11 current and former parishioners, as well as a former priest there, accused the rector, the Reverend Andrew Mead, of using church funds to purchase his household supply of cat litter and alcohol. Among several other allegations, the rector was also accused of using church funds to fly first-class to Paris to fire the headmaster of the church's choir school, who was vacationing there.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
City of Angels

By City Of Angels Lady

The pace is accelerating and content changing as pretrial hearings get within one month of the first Jury Trial in civil cases against the LA Archdiocese. Roger Mahony says on his website he “prays daily for a generous payout from the insurance companies" but he's ready to sell some real estate to settle local claims. I fantasize they’d sell several of their crumbling churches and start a foundation for ALL victims of priest rape walking around the world seeking the rebuilding of their souls, whether they're in California or Illinois or Boston, with the Vatican chipping in a couple gold columns from its vestibules. But I’m a dreamer.

Jury trials are now on calendar for survivors of two currently incarcerated priests: Michael Edwin Wempe’s jury civil trial will be October 9, 2007; and Michael Stephen Baker’s, January 7, 2008. (See the calendar of 15 jury trials so far for 2007-2008 at left.) Both men were serving time when the 2003 Supreme Court decision set them free, and both men were re-arrested when new crimes came out that fit the statute of limitations. I wonder if they'll walk into the courtroom hand in hand in chains. Will they even be at their civil trials? I don't know.

A schedule of hearings for the coming weeks is copy and pasted below. Two motions by defendant the church to make plaintiffs produce medical records were to be heard Tuesday May 22 but were removed “per moving party.”

LONG ISLAND (NY)
Newsday

BY EMERSON CLARRIDGE
SPECIAL TO NEWSDAY

Parishioners of the East Meadow church where a youth minister was convicted of raping two teenagers said yesterday that they were relieved that the diocese won't appeal the verdict in a civil suit that found church leaders knew about the abuse and did nothing to end it.

At churches throughout the Diocese of Rockville Centre yesterday, pastors read a statement from Bishop William Murphy during Mass, announcing that there would be no appeal of the $11.45-million judgment the teens won Friday in State Supreme Court.

At St. Raphael Roman Catholic Church, where youth minister Matthew Maiello admitted forcing both teens to have sex with him after he was hired in 1999, parishioners said the announcement was a welcome development that comes as they try to put the incident behind them.

DAVENPORT (IA)
Sioux City Journal

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) -- In its efforts to resolve a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the Diocese of Davenport will sell a farm in eastern Iowa for $310,000.

The diocese filed a motion this week in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Iowa. It wants to sell the land to Charles Van Fossen.

The sale will be considered for approval at a court hearing May 30. Until that time, the church can consider other offers on the property and two others it already agreed to sell last month.

ITALY
RTE News

Monday, 21 May 2007 11:21
A political row has erupted in Italy over whether state television should air a BBC documentary about the sexual abuse of children by Roman Catholic priests.

The dispute broke out after a conservative politician said the Italian broadcaster, RAI, should block the documentary because it was part of what he called 'a media execution squad ready to open fire on the Church and the Pope'.

The head of the parliament's oversight committee for the broadcaster, asked the director general of RAI Claudio Cappon to deny permission to air 'Sex Crimes and the Vatican'.

ROME
The Guardian

John Hooper in Rome
Monday May 21, 2007
The Guardian

Italy's public broadcasting corporation, RAI, was accused yesterday of withholding approval for the screening of a controversial BBC documentary that accuses Pope Benedict of covering up sex crimes by Roman Catholic priests.

In a pre-emptive strike last Saturday, the newspaper of the Italian bishops launched a furious attack on the film, describing it as "fit only for the dustbin". A front page article in the daily Avvenire said the producers "should bow their heads and ask forgiveness".

The head of the parliamentary committee that oversees RAI, Mario Landolfi of the formerly neo-fascist National Alliance, said yesterday that he had written to the director-general urging him not to allow screening of the documentary. To do so would be to turn the public network into an "execution squad ready to open fire on the church and the pope", he said.

IRELAND
One in Four

The Irish Examiner

GARDAÍ are set to interview an elderly priest after receiving a number of allegations that he sexually abused young girls.

A senior garda spokesman confirmed yesterday that the complaints were made by several women, who allege that they were assaulted by the priest when they were younger.

The incidents are said to date back to the 1970s and occurred when the priest was working in a parish in Co Cork.

GREENWICH (CT)
Greenwich Times

By Hoa Nguyen
Staff Writer

Published May 20 2007

Declan Maguire boldly rose from his pew at St. Michael Church one January evening to question Bishop William Lori on his decision to remove the Rev. Michael Moynihan as pastor of the Greenwich church. Maguire's public confrontation earned thunderous applause during that emotional Mass where parishioners first learned of Moynihan's fate and the accusations of financial mismanagement.

Four months later, Maguire, 56, of Stamford, still believes Lori made an unfair or at the least a premature decision because Moynihan has not been accused of misspending parish funds, just maintaining unauthorized bank accounts. Maguire said little has changed at the church since those revelations were made public. His family remains active members of the church. His sons still perform their duties as altar boys and his wife was recently appointed to the parish's pastoral council.

"It's not as if the place is half full," Maguire said. "If you came a year ago and you came today, you would be hard-pressed to notice a change in terms of numbers of people."

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald

By Michele McPhee
Boston Herald Police Bureau Chief

Saturday, May 19, 2007 - Updated: 12:59 AM EST

A respected Boston minister and youth worker is demanding a meeting with Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley to ask why another preacher who confessed to molesting the minister’s teenage son has not been arrested and charged with a crime.

“This is a slap in the face that Larry Brown is still out on the streets,” the Rev. Shaun Harrison said last night, referring to the Rev. Lawrence Brown, a minister at Mount Calvary Baptist Church in the South End.

“I want the DA to personally tell me why he is not in handcuffs,” added Harrison, leader of the Youth in Crisis ministry in Boston.

Yesterday the Herald reported that Brown admitted to sexual misconduct with Harrison’s son, P. Edward Harrison, beginning when he was 14, saying, “Whatever I did was a crime.”

UNITED STATES
The Courier-Journal

By Rose French
Associated Press

A victims' rights group has released documents that show the Jehovah's Witnesses recently settled civil suits with 16 people who claimed they were sexually abused by church elders or that church officials failed to act on abuse allegations.

Settlements were reached in late February and early March, according to court records obtained by the group silentlambs and posted on its Web site. Fourteen of the cases were filed in California; the others were in Oregon and Texas.

Details about the settlement terms could not be disclosed under confidentiality agreements negotiated between the parties, said Stephen Owens, a plaintiffs' attorney involved in the California cases.

PINEVILLE (MO)
Neosho Daily News

By John Ford / Daily News Managing Editor
Published: Sunday, May 20, 2007 1:36 AM CDT

Charges against a Granby pastor have been dropped and new ones are currently being refiled, according to court personnel and electronic court documents.

A total of 17 child sexual abuse counts have been dropped against George Otis Johnston, 63, pastor of the Grandview Valley Baptist Church.

A court services spokeswoman said the charges are in the process of being refiled. Electronic court records show a filing was made on Friday by Newton County Prosecutor Scott Watson, with a tentative arraignment date set for June 11.

NEW YORK
WCBS

(CBS/AP) MELVILLE, N.Y. The nation’s sixth-largest Catholic diocese said Saturday it would not appeal a jury’s verdict that found it negligent in a case involving a youth minister who sexually abused two teenagers in his care over several years.

“To appeal the case would just delay any healing, and that needs to take place right now,” Sean Dolan, a spokesman for the Diocese of Rockville Centre on Long Island, told Newsday. “We need closure and to try to heal as a diocese and as a parish.”

Dolan said that the diocese would inform its parishes of the verdict and the decision not to appeal so they can tell their parishioners during Mass, Newsday said on its Web site. He said the goal was to be as transparent as possible.

WINONA (MN)
Daily News

By Daily News editorial board

Since the Diocese of Winona rolled out its “Safe and Sacred” program, more than 3,000 people from across the diocese have used it to become more knowledgeable about abuse in all of its forms. And the Diocese of Winona should be praised for its one-of-a-kind Web site that aims to reach all of its members, clergy and professionals in a geographically expansive territory.

The materials found on the “Safe and Sacred” Web site are high-quality — the diocese has partnered with a Twin Cities software firm that has helped develop the curriculum as well as the technology to deliver the program. The messages are simple, and the diocese can easily track who has participated in the program and what progress has been made.

The Web site teaches about the sacred nature of the body and how to keep safe. In fact, the site is so inclusive, it even includes toy recalls. PJ Thompson, Chancellor of the Diocese of Winona, said, “If it’s about safety, we want it there.”

ROCKVILLE CENTRE (NY)
Newsday

BY SUSANA ENRIQUEZ
susana.enriquez@newsday.com

May 19, 2007, 10:01 PM EDT

The Diocese of Rockville Centre said Saturday that it would not appeal the $11.45-million award handed down by a jury to two victims who were sexually abused by a church employee.

"To appeal the case would just delay any healing, and that needs to take place right now," said Sean Dolan, a spokesman for the diocese. "We need closure and to try to heal as a diocese and as a parish."

After eight days of deliberations, the jury arrived at a verdict on Friday in favor of the plaintiffs, a man and woman in their early 20s who were raped as teenagers beginning in 1999 by their youth minister, Matthew Maiello.

Maiello, 33, served more than 2 years in prison after he admitted having sex with them and two other teenagers.

HOUSTON (TX)
Orthodox Reform

Theodore Kalmoukos reported in the National Herald last week that:

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America entered into an out-of-court settlement for $1 million this past January with an alleged victim of one of two former priests from California, according to a report released by the Archdiocese Finance Committee during the Archdiocesan Council meeting in Houston, Texas on April 27.

DALLAS (TX)
Orthodox Reform

A new front page article in The National Herald reports on the increasing support of the Bishops to follow canon law and depose Fr. Katinas, who was suspended nearly a year ago over allegations of sexually molesting an altar boy. Since this initial charge, other allegations have been made and a lawsuit has been filed.

The Holy Eparchial Synod of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America has recommended that Rev. Nicholas Katinas, former longtime pastor of Holy Trinity Church in Dallas, should be sent before Spiritual Court for alleged sexual misconduct with minors.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Derry Journal

A PRIEST told the third day of a child sex abuse trial in Derry yesterday that he had informed the PSNI of the abuse allegations made against a fellow priest in the Derry diocese.

Fr. John Farren, PP of Iskaheen in Muff, Co. Donegal, said that, in referring the allegations to the police, he was following the protocol laid down by the Catholic Church in Ireland in its dealings of clerical abuse claims.

The defendant is Fr. Patrick Joseph Crilly, (63), of Tobermore Road, Desertmartin, Co. Derry. He denies four charges of indecently assaulting a schoolgirl in the Derry diocesan pastoral centre, Bishop Street, between September 1977 and November 1980.

DAVENPORT (IA)
WQAD

Associated Press - May 19, 2007 4:04 PM ET

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) - In its efforts to resolve a Chapter Eleven bankruptcy, the Diocese of Davenport will sell a farm in eastern Iowa for $$310,000.

The diocese filed a motion this week in US Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Iowa. It wants to sell the land to Charles Van Fossen.

The sale will be considered for approval at a court hearing on May 30th.

BALTIMORE (MD)
Baltimore Jewish Times

Phil Jacobs
MAY 18, 2007

Baltimore’s rabbis have spoken out. Both of the major rabbinic organizations have delivered strong messages in recent weeks on the issue of sexual abuse within the community.

Indeed, the Vaad Harabbonim, the Rabbinical Council of Greater Baltimore, sent a letter signed by 23 of its rabbis to the Orthodox community, dated April 11.

The Baltimore Board of Rabbis, the umbrella group including modern Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist rabbis, followed suit with an advertisement in this week’s edition of the Baltimore Jewish Times.

ROME
The New York Times

By REUTERS
Published: May 19, 2007
Filed at 1:04 p.m. ET

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's leading Roman Catholic newspaper lashed out at bloggers on Saturday for spreading ``slander'' by posting a BBC documentary that alleged a Church cover-up of child sexual abuse.

The documentary aired on the BBC in October, but never in Italy. The bloggers translated it and it now ranks as Google Video Italia's (www.video.google.it) most popular item.

``We did the patient work of translating and subtitling it to fill this shameful gap,'' they wrote at www.bispensiero.it.

Newspaper Avvenire, which is owned by the Italian Conference of Roman Catholic bishops, slammed the web version in a front-page editorial headlined ``Infamous Slander Via Internet.''

The BBC documentary examined what it described as a secret document written in 1962 that set out a procedure for dealing with child sexual abuse within the Church.

SPRINGFIELD (MA)
iobserve

By Father Bill Pomerleau
and Lynne Sullivan

SPRINGFIELD -- Voice of the Faithful (VOTF), the church reform movement begun in 2002 in reaction to the nationwide clergy abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, is now in a financial and organizational crisis, according to a report recently posted on its Web site.

Twenty-two attendees, including executives of VOTF and members of its National Representative Council from across the United States, met in the Boston area April 27-29 for its semi-annual gathering.

Among the attendees were Bill Casey, chair of VOTF’s Board of Trustees, and Mark Mullaney, interim executive director of the group.

BLOOMINGTON (IL)
Peoria Journal Star

Saturday, May 19, 2007

By FITZGERALD M. DOUBET
of The Journal Star
WITH ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORTS

BLOOMINGTON - With his hand on a Bible, James C. Love, a former Bloomington substitute teacher, pleaded not guilty Friday to charges he sedated and sexually abused four teenage boys.Love, 37, is charged in McLean County Circuit Court with four counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and four counts of aggravated battery. He is accused of sedating the boys with an anesthetic agent before abusing them.

Authorities say the boys were molested within the last five weeks at Love's home in Bloomington.

Love was arrested May 4 on charges involving one boy and was released on $10,000 bond the next day. He was again arrested the following week on similar charges involving two more boys and was indicted Wednesday on additional charges after a fourth boy leveled claims.

MINEOLA (NY)
MoreLaw.com

Description:

Plaintiffs claimed that they were repeatedly raped and sodomized by a youth minister hired by Diocese of Rockville Centre and that Defendants negligently failed to protect them.

Defendants denied that they were negligent and asserted that youth minister, who was charged and pleaded guilty to third-degree rape and sodomy in 2003 and served more than two years in prison, alone was responsible for the sexual abuse.

MINEOLA (NY)
Newsday

BY KEITH HERBERT
keith.herbert@newsday.com

May 18, 2007, 11:15 PM EDT

The landmark verdict in the sexual abuse case against the Diocese of Rockville Centre should be seen as a message, jurors said Friday.

"We tried to make a point -- that the door is open now, and people's eyes should be open," said juror Doreen Aragona of Williston Park. "And for children to speak out to someone. Don't wait -- talk and let someone know."

"I don't think any institution should be held above the law," added fellow juror Frank Wallner of Massapequa Park.

Aragona said the graphic testimony about the sex abuse of children left a lasting impression.

"I had nightmares that this was going to happen to my daughter," said Aragona, whose daughter is 12.

NEW YORK
The New York Times

By BRUCE LAMBERT
Published: May 19, 2007
GARDEN CITY, N.Y., May 18 — In one of the largest judgments in a child sexual abuse suit against the Roman Catholic Church, a Long Island jury on Friday awarded a total of $11.45 million in damages to a young man and woman who were repeatedly raped by a youth minister as teenagers starting in the late 1990s.

The jury deliberated for seven days before finding that the Diocese of Rockville Centre, the sixth-largest in the United States; a church in East Meadow; and its pastor were negligent by hiring and retaining the man who abused the plaintiffs over a period of three years.

After the verdict, the woman tearfully embraced her mother, then held an impromptu news conference in a hallway at State Supreme Court in Nassau County. Saying that thousands of children have been victimized, she added, “I am their voice.”

MINEOLA (NY)
Boston Herald

By Associated Press
Saturday, May 19, 2007 - Updated: 12:11 AM EST

MINEOLA, N.Y. - A jury found the nation’s sixth-largest Roman Catholic diocese and a church parish negligent yesterday in a case involving a youth minister who repeatedly raped and sodomized teenagers in his care over several years.

The jury awarded the two victims a combined $11.4 million in damages in one of the rare civil cases to go to trial in the wake of the nationwide Catholic sexual abuse scandal that erupted five years ago.

The jury found that the Diocese of Rockville Centre, one of its churches and a pastor were negligent in the hiring and retention of the youth minister who carried out the abuse. The jury cleared the defendants of being negligent in the supervision of the minister.

MINEOLA (NY)
ABC News

By FRANK ELTMAN Associated Press Writer
MINEOLA, N.Y. May 19, 2007 (AP)

Several civil lawsuits have arisen from allegations of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic church, but few have gone to trial. Most were settled out of court.

In what victims' lawyers called a powerful message to the church, a jury on Friday found the nation's sixth-largest Catholic diocese and a church parish negligent in a case involving a youth minister who repeatedly raped and sodomized teenagers in his care over several years. The jury awarded the two victims a combined $11.4 million in damages.

"Over 99 percent of the cases that have been brought since 2002 have settled in the quiet of lawyers' offices, and none of these cases have seen the light of day," said Paul Mones, an attorney for the victims. "This case has really shown exactly how these pedophiles operate, exactly how the church, unfortunately, has responded."

MINEOLA (NY)
Newsday

BY KATIE THOMAS
katie.thomas@newsday.com

May 18, 2007, 9:57 PM EDT

Advocates for sexual abuse victims celebrated Friday's verdict against a former Catholic youth minister and the Diocese of Rockville Centre, saying the outcome was a rare victory in New York, where such cases rarely make it to court.

"It is a very significant victory, a real triumph for the courage of these two survivors who stood up and spoke out," said Jeff Anderson, a lawyer from St. Paul, Minn. who represents victims of sexual abuse.

The case involved a man and a woman, now in their 20s, who sued the diocese, a priest and a former youth minister, charging that church leaders did not act even though they knew the youth minister, Matthew Maiello, was abusing children. The jury in state Supreme Court in Nassau awarded the plaintiffs $11.45 million.

MINEOLA (NY)
Newsday

BY DENISE M. BONILLA
denise.bonilla@newsday.com

May 18, 2007, 10:24 PM EDT

For the first time, a jury Friday found the Diocese of Rockville Centre liable for the sexual abuse of children by a church employee and awarded the victims $11.45 million, one of the largest church sexual abuse jury decisions in the country.

There were hugs and tears in the courtroom after the six-person jury gave its decision after eight days of deliberations in favor of two people who were raped by their youth minister when they were teenagers.

Later, outside the courtroom of state Supreme Court Justice R. Bruce Cozzens, the male plaintiff, who declined to comment, fainted into the arms of one of his attorneys.

"It was just an overwhelming experience for him," said the attorney, Paul Mones.

LONG ISLAND (NY)
Los Angeles Times

By John Spano, Times Staff Writer
May 19, 2007

A New York jury ordered the Roman Catholic Church on Friday to pay a man and a woman a combined $11.4 million for the sexual abuse they suffered as teenagers at the hands of a Long Island church youth minister.

The jury found the Diocese of Rockville Centre and the parish negligent in hiring practices and in allowing the abuse — much of which took place in the parish church — from 1999 to 2002.

It was the largest jury verdict against the Catholic Church since a California jury found against the Rev. Oliver O'Grady in a 1998 Stockton case in which Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony testified.

BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

By Jay Tokasz NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Updated: 05/19/07 6:39 AM

A priest first raised the issue publicly nearly 20 years ago, when he asked at a conference of clergy why his bishop needed to live in a mansion on one of the city’s most exclusive streets.

Now, the question is arising again in the Diocese of Buffalo, especially among Catholics concerned about the closing of area churches and schools.

Some Catholics are suggesting that Bishop Edward U. Kmiec sell the 11,000-square-foot stone mansion at 79 Oakland Place and use the profits to assist struggling schools and parishes, instead of shutting them down. ...

More recently, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston, sold the opulent archdiocesan residence and other property in Brighton to Boston College for $99.4 million, proceeds that were used to pay a settlement of cases involving the sexual abuse of minors by clergy.

Boston residence sold

O’Malley, a Capuchin priest who took a vow of poverty, has lived since 2004 in the rectory of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, in the South End of Boston.

MINEOLA (NY)
Long Island Press

by Mo Ibrahim 05/18/2007 6:47 pm
A Nassau jury found the Diocese of Rockville Center liable for sexual abuse Friday afternoon.

The victims – a man and woman who were raped by their youth minister when they were teenagers – were awarded $11.4 million dollars in damages after the jury deliberated over the decision for eight days.

The plaintiffs sued Matthew Maiello (the youth minister), Rev. Thomas Haggerty (the priest who hired Maeillo), St. Raphael's Church in East Meadow (the church where Maiello was employed), and the diocese.

BLOOMINGTON (IL)
JG-TC.com

By JAN DENNIS

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - Holding a Bible, a Bloomington minister once honored for his work with youth pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that he sedated and sexually abused four young boys during sleepovers at his home.

James C. Love, 37, was charged two weeks ago after one of his alleged victims contacted authorities. Additional charges were filed as more boys came forward, and police are asking other children and parents to contact authorities if they suspect abuse.

Defense attorney Steve Skelton told reporters Friday that additional charges are "a concern, but I don't think it's a realistic one right now."

MINEOLA (NY)
The New York Times

By BRUCE LAMBERT and MARIA NEWMAN
Published: May 18, 2007
A jury in State Supreme Court in Nassau County today awarded $11.45 million to two people who said they had been abused by the youth minister at a Roman Catholic church on Long Island during the 1990s.

The award, one of the largest awarded to victims of abuse at the hands of church laity, came at the end of a three-week trial. The six-person jury deliberated for seven days.

The suit was filed against Matthew Maiello, who was the youth minister and rock Mass director at St. Raphael’s Parish in East Meadow in the 1990s; against the parish and its pastor; and against the Diocese of Rockville Centre, which includes Nassau and Suffolk counties.

BLOOMINGTON (IL)
Pantagraph

By Edith Brady-Lunny
eblunny@pantagraph.com

BLOOMINGTON -- With his hand on a red Bible, James C. Love entered pleas of innocent Friday to accusations that he sedated and sexually abused four teenage boys at his home.

Love, 37, faces four counts of aggravated battery and four counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

The initial charges involving one child were filed two weeks ago, with additional charges coming a week later and the fourth count being filed Wednesday.

MINEOLA (NY)
Staten Island Advance

5/18/2007, 5:18 p.m. EDT
The Associated Press

MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — Statement by the female victim in a lawsuit against the Diocese of Rockville Centre, St. Raphael's Church, the Rev. Thomas Haggerty, and former youth minister Matthew Maiello. The 23-year-old spoke outside the courtroom following the jury's finding of negligence:

"I'd just like to say that the reason for seeking justice in a civil trial was to ensure that the truth finally came out and that this might prevent the abuse from happening to children everywhere.

"This has been an eye-opening experience and I hope it's been an eye-opening experience for everyone out there. Knowing that the verdict came the way it did, that the church was found reckless, it makes my efforts worthwhile in all of this.

MINEOLA (NY)
Newsday

BY ANN GIVENS
ann.givens@newsday.com

May 18, 2007, 4:28 PM EDT

For the first time, a jury has found the Diocese of Rockville Centre liable for sexual abuse suffered at the hands of a church employee.

After eight days of deliberations, a Nassau jury Friday afternoon ruled that a man and a woman who were raped as teenagers by their youth minister are entitled to at least $5.5 million each for their pain and suffering.

The plaintiffs, who are not being named by Newsday because they are victims of sex crimes, sued their youth minister, Matthew Maiello; the priest who hired him, the Rev. Thomas Haggerty; his church, St. Raphael's Church in East Meadow, and the diocese.

The jury found Maiello 70 percent liable for the damages and the other defendants 30 percent.

MINEOLA (NY)
WNBC

MINEOLA, N.Y. -- A jury found the nation's sixth-largest Roman Catholic diocese and a church parish negligent Friday in a case involving a youth minister who repeatedly raped and sodomized teenagers in his care over several years.

The jury awarded the two victims a combined $11.4 million in damages in one of the rare civil cases to go to trial in the wake of the nationwide Catholic sex abuse scandal that erupted five years ago.

The jury found that the Diocese of Rockville Centre, one of its churches and a pastor were negligent in the hiring and retention of the youth minister who carried out the abuse. The jury cleared the defendants of being negligent in the supervision of the minister.

The six-person jury reached its decision after deliberating over eight days.

WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service

By Jerry Filteau
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Only one-third of Catholics in a national survey said they had heard of the U.S. bishops' policies to prevent child sex abuse and respond to abuse allegations, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate said May 16.

Only one-sixth said they have heard of the abuse prevention programs in their own diocese, it added.

CARA, an independent church research agency at Georgetown University in Washington, surveyed 1,048 self-identified Catholics through Knowledge Networks, which has a panel made up of a large random sample of U.S. residents who agree to participate in a variety of online polls in return for free Internet access.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
City of Angels

So much happened on the 16th that I’m writing another post, mostly copying and pasting from my notes.

Church Attorney Donald Woods objects saying why do plaintiffs need to ask other rectory residents if there were young boys in the room alone with a pedophile priest, when we already know the priest was raping the boy at the family’s home, why do we need to know what was going on in the rectory -- or words do that effect. You see what I mean about twisting logic into knots?

The church can’t find real legal arguments to fight its case so it inundates the court, through hundreds of attorneys filing thousands of motions, creating a cacophony of crooked talk that goes on and on and on until --

Tony DeMarco for the plaintiffs steps in, his face pulsating red, and says a line like:

DEMARCO: Knew, had reason to know, or was on notice. Those are the relevant issues in the statute of limitations law.

When DeMarco said those words it was a pivotal moment in court Wednesday. The church attorneys as usual had been droning on like schizophrenics and DeMarco brought it back down to the law.

PORTLAND (OR)
The Oregonian

Friday, May 18, 2007ASHBEL S. GREEN and LYNNE TERRY
Juror Devin Russo braced himself as the jury's verdict was read: A Catholic priest sexually abused two teenage boys at a state reform school in the 1970s; the boys, now grown men, deserve $1.4 million in damages.

One of the accusers -- 49-year-old Robert Paul -- burst into tears.

"All of us in the jury kind of said we weren't going to look at anyone but the judge, but I happened to look over at him and I almost started crying myself," said Russo, 38. "And in a way, that definitely reinforced my decision in favor of him because there's definitely a lot of pain there."

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald

By Michele McPhee/ Exclusive
Boston Herald Police Bureau Chief

Friday, May 18, 2007

Two years after he first confessed to sexual misconduct with a teenage boy who worshiped at his South End church, the Rev. Lawrence Brown acknowledged again yesterday that he had committed a crime, and he slammed the Department of Social Services for not going to the aid of his victim in May 2005 when Brown tried to turn himself in to the agency.

“Of course I recognize that whatever I did was a crime. I will never be completely whole until I am forgiven,” Brown, 49, said yesterday in a 45-minute telephone interview with the Herald. “I’m not running. I’m not hiding. I’m sorry for what I have done. I have asked forgiveness at every point. I went out to get help for myself.

The Herald disclosed Tuesday that Suffolk prosecutors are investigating allegations that Brown molested P. Edward Harrison in 2004 and early 2005, beginning when the youth was 14 years old.

WEST VIRGINIA
The Charleston Gazette

A Kanawha County couple has sued an assistant youth pastor at a Chesapeake church for allegedly sexually molesting their daughter, according to a lawsuit filed last month in Kanawha Circuit Court.

The couple, identified only by their initials in the suit, claim that Timothy Charles Edmonds abused their daughter while he was acting as assistant youth pastor at the Chesapeake Apostolic Church.

The suit also names the church, the Upper Kanawha Valley Christian School, which is associated with the church, and pastor P.D. Priddy. Priddy is Edmonds’ father-in-law, according to the suit.

MINEOLA (NY)
Newsday

BY ANN GIVENS
ann.givens@newsday.com

May 17, 2007, 7:57 PM EDT

Excitement swept through a Mineola courtroom Thursday morning when the jury in a civil sex abuse case against the Diocese of Rockville Centre sent a note to the judge that suggested a verdict was finally near, on the seventh day of deliberations.

The note asked whether the jury would be permitted to give a portion of its award in the case to a Long Island charity that works to prevent child sexual abuse.

But despite speculation that the case was nearly over, the jury was silent for the rest of the day. Six hours later, state Supreme Court Justice R. Bruce Cozzens had to send jurors home again with no verdict. He told the court that it's the longest he's ever seen a jury out in his cases.

UNITED STATES
OpEd News

by Debby Bodkin

http://www.opednews.com

As a Catholic wife, mother and public advocate for clergy sex abuse victims and their families, the clergy sex abuse crisis that erupted in 2002 has revealed serious denials of justice. Victims of clergy sex abuse are prisoners in a never-ending legal web of deceit and freedom of religion abuse. What happened to accountability in the United States for sex crimes committed by employees of religious institutions?

Thanks to California's 2003 Sex Abuse Law, public records reveal the urgency for the return of justice to clergy sex abuse victims and their families. Without full disclosure and accountability, victims of sex abuse will continue as prisoners in a legal web of deceit and freedom of religion abuse. Recent examples...

Family and Health Reasons: As recently reported in a March 26 court filing, Cardinal Norberto Rivera, who oversees the Archdiocese of Mexico City, says he told Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony that a priest, who's now wanted on criminal charges of child rape, was moving from Mexico to Los Angeles for "family and health reasons." It's important to note that the phrase "family and health reasons" was used within the Church to warn that a priest suffers from some sort of problem, as stated in Cardinal Rivera's written declaration.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

By John Spano, Times Staff Writer
May 18, 2007

The Jesuit order has agreed to a tentative payout of $16 million to settle claims that one of its priests sexually abused nine Los Angeles children over 16 years ending in 1975.

Mark Falvey was accused of molesting four girls and five boys between 1959 and 1975 at Blessed Sacrament Roman Catholic Church in Hollywood. Falvey died 31 years ago and was never charged with a crime.

"One of his victims, an 8-year-old girl, tried to commit suicide," said the lawyer for the victims, Raymond P. Boucher.

PORTLAND (OR)
Statesman Journal

ALAN GUSTAFSON
Statesman Journal

May 18, 2007

Blunt comments emerged Thursday during Statesman Journal interviews with six of the 12 jurors who decided the sexual abuse case against the Rev. Michael Sprauer of Salem.

Ten of the 12 jurors found on Wednesday that Sprauer sexually abused Robert Paul Jr., 49, of Salem and Randy Sloan, 49, of Aumsville while the Catholic priest served as chaplain at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in the 1970s.

At the time, Paul and Sloan were teenage inmates at the state-run reform school in Woodburn. Sprauer abused each boy three times, according to the verdict.

BROCKPORT (NY)
WHAM

Last Update: May 17, 2007 6:57 PM

Rachel Barnhart (Brockport, N.Y.) – A former employee of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester has filed a lawsuit against the diocese and a priest. The woman claims she was fired after she complained about unwanted sexual advances by the priest.

Sandra Rojas had been the coordinator for the Hispanic Migrant Ministry since 2004. According to a lawsuit filed in federal court this week, she claims Rev. Peter Enyan-Boadu tried to kiss her and grabbed her breast in 2006. Rojas says she was fired soon after she complained to her supervisor.

According to court papers, Rojas says her supervisor told her, “You put yourself in this position.”

LOUISVILLE (KY)
WAVE

By Elizabeth Donatelli

(LOUISVILLE) -- A former Roman Catholic priest, who was convicted of raping a 15-year-old girl over 30 years ago, was sentenced Thursday, but that sentencing doesn't include prison time. WAVE 3's Elizabeth Donatelli was in the courtroom when the judge announced his decision.

After a 2004 mistrial, nearly three years later, Bruce Ewing was convicted of third degree rape. Two charges of sodomy were dismissed.

Janet Goodner says she and Ewing had a consensual relationship between 1974 and 1976 while Ewing was a priest at St. Vincent de Paul Church. She was 14 when it started. Ewing admitted knowing her but denied any sexual relationship with her.

PHILLIPS (WI)
THE-BEE

Patti Wenzel, patti.wenzel@mx3.com
THE-BEE
Thursday, May 17th, 2007 12:35:32 PM

The list of plaintiffs suing Fr. Terrence Fitzmaurice for sexual abuse has grown by five, including a woman who alleges the priest raped her in 1979 and fathered her now 27-year-old son.

Fitzmaurice served St. Patrick’s & St. Mary’s Catholic churches, and later Our Lady of the North Catholic Church, in Phillips, from 1987–2000.

There have been no formal allegations filed with local authorities alleging any misconduct on Fitzmaurice’s part while he served the congregations in Phillips.

In documents filed with the United States District Court of Northern Illinois, Seattle attorney Philip Aaron is seeking to amend the original complaint of sexual abuse, battery, fraud, and racial discrimination against Fitzmaurice, Abbot Dismas Kalick, Cardinal Francis George, St. Procopius Abbey, The Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, the Order of St. Benedict and the city of Chicago.

CALIFORNIA
Fresno Bee

By GILLIAN FLACCUS
05/17/07 15:07:17

An order of Roman Catholic priests reached a tentative $14 million settlement Thursday with nine men and women who allege they were abused by a Jesuit priest over a 16-year span.

The Rev. Alfred Naucke, a spokesman for the Jesuits of the California Province, said the deal was reached Thursday morning after several days of closed-door talks mediated by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charles McCoy.

Naucke said he did not know the amount of the deal, but a person close to the negotiations told The Associated Press it was $14.4 million - about $1.6 million per person. The source requested anonymity because the deal hasn't been completed.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
City of Angels

Attorneys debated “mental reservation” in court Wednesday in hearings on motions to compel, and Catch 22’s were flying all over the place. Ms. Young appearing for the archbishop repeated several times that if a priest says he doesn't remember, he doesn't remember (much like a Bushie testifying before the US Senate). DeMarco for the plaintiffs pointed out, “Defendants have brought Code of Canon Law into court when it suits their purpose and they argue Canon Law, but we're not allowed to inquire at all into church doctrine or law.”

Donald Woods for the church said, “These witnesses already said they saw nothing, heard nothing, nobody ever reported anything to them.” Tim Hale for the plaintiffs replied that one priest answered yes without hesitation when asked if mental reservation “is a doctrine that protects the church from scandal.”

Then Ms. Young tried to say mental reservation is no more than “lying and saying that's a pretty dress when really it’s not,” and I am so glad I’ve recently gotten on medication and joined an Anger Management group. In fact throughout this hearing I wanted to jump up and start yelling, “Look at my case, my case, my case, my case.” Because Mental Reservation was the church’s MO way back in 1955 when Cardinal Stritch in Chicago stood over me and told me I had to lie in order to protect a greater good.

IRELAND
UTV

A 45-year-old mother of two became visibly upset today as she told a jury alleged details of how she was sexually abused by a priest almost 30 years ago.

She alleged that Fr. Patrick Joseph Crilly, 63, from Tobermore Road, Desertmartin, County Derry, had abused her in the Derry diocesan pastoral centre in Bishop Street between September 1977 and November 1980.

At the time the defendant, who denies four charges of indecently assaulting the witness, was the diocesan Director of Vocations whom the witness had gone to for counselling about becoming a nun.

IRELAND
One in Four

Independent

THE first civil diocesan sex abuse cases to go to full trials featured dramatic evidence yesterday in the High Court.

A former altar boy who claims he was abused by a priest in the Ferns diocese was asked in cross-examination if he knew it was "improper" for an altar boy to receive Holy Communion and serve Mass after masturbating another person.

Three former altar boys from Wexford are suing Father John Kinsella as well as the Diocese of Ferns for negligence and breach of duty as a result of alleged child sexual abuse.

IRELAND
One in Four

The Irish Times

The High Court has cleared the way for a woman to sue the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Achonry, alleging vicarious liability over alleged physical and sexual abuse of her by a now deceased former chaplain at Benada Abbey industrial school in Co Sligo.

The woman alleges the bishop and the diocese are vicariously liable for the alleged abuse inflicted on her by the chaplain, Fr Liam Cawley, in the years after 1977 when she left Benada Abbey.

She has received an award from the Residential Institutions Redress Board for abuse allegedly suffered at the hands of Fr Cawley while she attended the school between 1971 and 1977. As a result of that award, she waived her right of action against St Francis Xavier Industrial School, Ballaghaderreen; Benada Abbey and the State.

UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

By Will Batchelor
Thursday May 17 2007

A PRIEST accused of helping his friend to sexually abuse a young girl was more interested in gambling than children, a court heard yesterday.

Father Jeremiah McGrath (62) is alleged to have given more than £20,000 (€30,000) to his friend, 38-year-old convicted paedophile Bill Adams.

Adams, originally from the Belfast area, used the cash to set up home in Liverpool and lavish gifts and holidays on a 11-year-old girl in order to abuse her.

LOUISVILLE (KY)
WLKY

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A former Louisville priest convicted of rape is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday.

In March, Bruce Ewing was on trial for raping and sodomizing a teenage girl while he was a priest at St. Vincent Depaul in the mid-seventies.

UNITED KINGDOM
Manchester Evening News

Brian Lashley
17/ 5/2007

ALL clergy in Manchester Church of England diocese are to be checked to see if they have ever faced child abuse allegations.

An independent lawyer has been appointed by the church to examine 850 files.

It is the first diocese in the country to take the radical step which follows two high-profile national paedophile cases in which the church was accused of a cover up.

Allegations of child abuse were made against Somerset vicar David Smith and Hampshire choirmaster Peter Halliday years before they were eventually convicted of abusing children.

PORTLAND (OR)
The Oregonian

Thursday, May 17, 2007

ASHBEL S. GREEN
A Portland jury said Wednesday that a Catholic priest sexually abused two teen-age boys at a state reform school in the 1970s and awarded them nearly $1.4 million.

The jury determined that the Rev. Michael Sprauer molested Robert Paul and Randy Sloan at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn in the 1970s.

The civil suit was the first Catholic priest sex-abuse case to go to trial in Oregon and one of the few that has reached a jury anywhere in the country.

SANTA ROSA (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle

(05-16) 18:50 PDT Santa Rosa, Calif. (AP) --

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa has changed its policy on reporting sex abuse after its bishop attended a counseling program that allowed him to avoid criminal charges.

Bishop Daniel Walsh was offered the five-month diversion program in lieu of facing charges for his delay in reporting suspected child sex abuse by the Rev. Francisco Xavier Ochoa. As part of the program, Walsh said he met with local leaders in the fight against child abuse.

"It was that exposure to the resources we have in this community that was an eye-opener to me," he said.

Walsh said diocesan staff will receive more frequent training on state laws on reporting possible sex abuse to authorities. The diocese also will create a separate policy highlighting those requirements, Walsh said.

SANTA ROSA (CA)
The Press Democrat

By MARTIN ESPINOZA
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Santa Rosa Bishop Daniel Walsh said Tuesday he has changed diocesan policy as the result of a counseling program that allowed him to avoid criminal charges for failing to immediately report sex abuse.

Walsh said diocesan staff will receive more frequent training on state laws on reporting possible sex abuse to authorities.

He also said the Roman Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa will create a separate policy highlighting those requirements.

BLOOMINGTON (IL)
Pantagraph

By Edith Brady-Lunny
eblunny@pantagraph.com

BLOOMINGTON -- A fourth boy has come forward to accuse a former substitute teacher in Twin City schools of molestation.

James C. Love, 37, was indicted by a McLean County grand jury Wednesday on one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and one count of aggravated battery.

The battery count accused Love of sedating the child before committing sexual abuse.

Love, who also serves as a minister at Mount Pisgah Baptist Church, Bloomington, has been in jail since last week, when he was charged with similar counts involving three other boys.

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald

By Boston Herald editorial staff
Thursday, May 17, 2007

Another day, another investigation by state officials of how the Department of Social Services fell down on the job - and in doing so delayed a criminal probe that allowed a self-confessed sexual abuser to remain in the community for two years.

P. Edward Harrison, now 18, says he was molested by the Rev. Lawrence Brown more than a dozen times between early 2004 and February of 2005, when Brown served as youth minister of the Mount Calvary Baptist Church and the Emmanuel Gospel Center.

On May 6, 2005, the gospel center faxed a 51-A child abuse report to the Hyde Park office of DSS. Records produced by the gospel center indicate Brown himself called the DSS Child-at-Risk Hotline to report himself for inappropriate contact with Harrison. Brown was fired that day.

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald

By Michele McPhee
Boston Herald Police Bureau Chief

Thursday, May 17, 2007 - Updated: 04:52 AM EST

The Department of Social Services is launching a sweeping investigation into Mount Calvary Baptist Church in the South End for not reporting allegations of sexual abuse made against one its ministers, and to make sure there are no additional victims.

“The special investigations unit is strongly investigating the Mount Calvary church,” said DSS spokeswoman Denise Monteiro. “We want to be sure there are no other victims, and we want to know why no report was made.”

The move comes a day after the Herald disclosed that DSS lost track of three reports in May 2005 - including a call the accused predator, the Rev. Lawrence Brown, made to a DSS hot line, according to documents reviewed by the Herald. Another 18 months would elapse before DSS was again notified of the alleged abuse, after the accuser, P. Edward Harrison, became suicidal and had to be hospitalized on Oct. 31, 2006.

CANADA
London Free Press

Thu, May 17, 2007

By CP

KENORA -- Final submissions in the sexual abuse trial of former Anglican minister Ralph Rowe will continue into a third day today, and the judge said yesterday no verdict will be delivered this week.

Rowe, 67, of Surrey, B.C., is facing 12 counts of sexual abuse involving five boys in the 1970s and '80s in remote First Nations communities in northern Ontario, where he served as an Anglican minister and boy scout master.

The scheduled two-week, judge-only trial in the Superior Court of Justice began May 7 and was to finish by May 18.

BLOOMINGTON (IL)
Peoria Journal Star

BLOOMINGTON - A minister and former substitute teacher who allegedly molested three boys has been accused by a fourth boy.

James C. Love, 37, was indicted Wednesday by a McLean County grand jury on one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and one count of aggravated battery. He allegedly sedated the boy with an anesthetic before committing sexual abuse.

Love, a State Farm employee, worked as a substitute teacher in Bloomington-Normal schools and serves as a minister for Mount Pisgah Baptist Church in Bloomington. He was jailed last week on charges involving three other boys.

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

By Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff | May 17, 2007

The Department of Social Services has launched an internal investigation to determine why no apparent action was taken on a 2005 report that a Baptist pastor had sexually abused a teenage boy from Dorchester.

The Emmanuel Gospel Center, which partners with local churches on outreach programs, says it contacted DSS in May 2005 alleging that the Rev. Lawrence Brown had sexually abused a teenage boy at his church, the Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Boston, as well as in other settings.

Denise Monteiro, spokeswoman for DSS, said the agency is investigating whether it interpreted the correspondence correctly.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Derry Journal

A senior priest in the diocese of Derry has gone on trial before the city's Crown Court charged with indecently assaulting a teenage girl almost thirty years ago.

Fr. Patrick Joseph Crilly, (63), with an address at Tobermore Road, Desertmartin, Co. Derry, denies four charges of indecently assaulting the girl on dates between September 1977 and November 1980.

The jury of six men and six women were told by prosecution barrister Geoffrey Millar Q.C., that the abuse took place after the school girl, who is now aged forty-five, had been referred to the defendant for counselling as she was thinking of becoming a nun.

OREGON
Renew America

Matt C. Abbott
May 17, 2007

I received the following e-mail from Bishop Robert F. Vasa, of the Baker, Ore., Catholic diocese. (Bishop Vasa is one of the few bishops who would deny Holy Communion to pro-abortion politicians, and who has questioned the morality of certain "safe environment" programs that have been instituted in many U.S. dioceses.)

'Dear Friends:

'It has been a while since I corresponded with you regarding the Safe Environment Programs, which are being used throughout the dioceses of the U.S. I write to give you an update, offer some hope and ask a favor.

PORTLAND (OR)
Statesman Journal

ALAN GUSTAFSON
Statesman Journal

May 17, 2007

PORTLAND -- A jury concluded Wednesday that the Rev. Michael Sprauer of Salem sexually abused two teenage inmates at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in the 1970s.

In a landmark civil trial verdict, the Multnomah County jury awarded $695,000 to Robert Paul Jr., 49, of Salem, and $690,000 to Randy Sloan, 49, of Aumsville, for past suffering, future counseling and punitive damages against the priest.

The jury cleared Sprauer of sexually abusing a third former MacLaren inmate -- Norman Klettke Jr., 44, of Portland.

AUSTRALIA
Catholic News

A Tasmanian Supreme Court Justice has sentenced former Marist priest Gregory Ferguson to two years prison with eligibility for parole after 12 months even though the man's crimes were "relatively serious".

Gregory Laurence Ferguson, 70, who was found guilty of sexually assaulting two boys at Burnie's Marist College in 1971, is in poor health and will be eligible for parole after 12 months, The Advocate reports.

Both of Mr Ferguson's victims, aged 13 at the time, have suffered long term to some degree from the assaults, which occurred in Mr Ferguson's room in the priests' quarters.

PORTLAND (OR)
The Oregonian

Posted by The Oregonian May 16, 2007 17:33PM

A Portland jury said today that a Catholic priest sexually abused two teenage boys at a state reform school in the 1970s, and awarded them a total of $1.4 million.

The jury determined that the Rev. Michael Sprauer molested Robert Paul and Randy Sloan at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn in the 1970s.

Because of a possible technical glitch in the verdict form, Multnomah County Circuit Judge Marshall Amiton asked the jury to come back Thursday before formally accepting the verdict. He indicted, however, that he would accept it.

The Sprauer suit was the first priest sex abuse lawsuit ever to go to trial in Oregon and one of the few nationally to reach a jury.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Catholic World News

Los Angeles, May. 16, 2007 (CWNews.com) - The Los Angeles archdiocese, which has already paid out $40 million in sex-abuse damages, faces more than 500 remaining claims. The archdiocese has fought a protracted legal battle in the abuse cases, which could eventually produce settlements amounting to over $500 million.

Cardinal Mahony announced his plan to sell the archdiocesan chancery on the same day that a separate report showed a Mexican prelate questioning why Cardinal Mahony allowed an accused priest to serve in Los Angeles.

The McClatchy Newspapers reported that in a March 26 court filing, Cardinal Norberto Rivera of Mexico City said that he had implicity warned his American colleague about Father Nicolas Aguilar, who had sought an assignment in Los Angeles after charges of sexual misconduct drove him out of Mexico. In a report on the priest, Cardinal Rivera said that "family and health reasons" had caused Aguilar's departure. That deliberately vague language was intended to provoke questions, he said.

CLEVELAND (OH)
The Plain Dealer

Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Jim Nichols
Plain Dealer Reporter
An employee of St. Joseph Academy, the private Catholic school for girls on Cleveland's West Side, admitted to stealing more than half a million dollars from a fund-raising account over several years, a Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office spokesman said Tuesday.

Defendant Colleen Kempf, 46, of Olmsted Township, is an alumna of the school and the mother of three girls who also attended, said school President Mary Ann Corrigan-Davis.

"We really do feel a sense of betrayal," Corrigan-Davis said in a telephone interview. "So many of our parents sacrifice so much. People scrimp and save to send their kids here, and that's why this hurts so much."

UNITED KINGDOM
The Sun

By GUY PATRICK
May 16, 2007

A PRIEST gave a convicted child rapist cash so he could groom a girl of 11 for sex, a court heard yesterday.

Father Jerry McGrath, 62, allegedly gave William Adams, 38, thousands of pounds to buy gifts and clothes.

Adams repeatedly raped the girl on a Blackpool holiday paid for with the cash, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

Catholic McGrath — who was wealthy through shares and gambling — was said to know of Adams’s previous conviction and the nature of his relationship with the girl.

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A County Londonderry priest abused a teenager after she asked him about becoming a nun, a court has heard.

The alleged victim was giving evidence in the trial of Father Patrick Crilly who denies four charges of indecently assaulting the girl.

The girl, who was 15 at the time, claimed that during meetings the priest sat her on his knee and kissed her.

She claimed the priest later made her touch him. The alleged incidents took place in a pastoral centre in the city.

UNITED STATES
The News-Press

Originally posted on May 16, 2007

Guest Opinion: Tom O'Brien

Although the documents of the Second Vatican Council held out the promise of greater lay participation in the administration of the Catholic Church, by and large it has not happened, and the Church is the poorer for it.

It is generally held that had laymen and laywomen been intimately involved at the highest levels of Church administration in the dioceses both here and abroad, the clerical sex abuse of children would have been dealt with definitively years ago. Fathers and mothers privy to the inner workings of diocesan administration would not have allowed the pedophilia to become epidemic.

The only upside of that tragedy has been the birth of many Catholic lay movements, including the Voice of the Faithful, Call to Action and others, working to make the thrust of Vatican II truly incarnate. But there is pushback from many bishops who wield their ecclesiastical authority as if they were monarchs. They are confident of the support of the Vatican, whose frequent pronouncements are accepted by some of the laity as if they were infallible when, in fact, they are not. There have been many changes in the Church's definitive positions on moral issues down through the ages, thank God!

NEWBERG (OR)
The Oregonian

Posted by The Oregonian May 15, 2007 16:15PM

NEWBERG -- A thorough background check during the hiring process would have raised questions about two basketball coaches later convicted of sexually abusing three girls at a Newberg Christian school, an attorney representing the girls said.

Portland attorney Kelly Clark announced a settlement Tuesday in the lawsuit he filed on the girls' behalf against Open Bible Christian School and Church.

The settlement amount is confidential, he said, but the 2006 lawsuit in Yamhill County Circuit Court asked for $1 million each for emotional damages.

The young women who were victimized, now ranging in age from 17 to 20, were members of the school's basketball team during the 2004-05 season. Two of them told police that coaches Edward Todd Woods and Christopher Charles Lasiter took them to Woods' home, got them drunk and sexually abused them.

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald

By Michele McPhee
Boston Herald Police Bureau Chief

Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - Updated: 12:57 AM EST

The embattled Department of Social Services received several reports that a Roxbury minister molested a teenage boy in 2005 - including a phone call from the accused predator himself - but failed to follow up for 18 months until the boy became suicidal and was hospitalized, according to documents reviewed by the Herald.

The apparent foul-up, which led to a lengthy delay in investigating the abuse claims against the minister, prompted Gov. Deval Patrick yesterday to order an investigation into how the agency, headed by Commissioner Harry Spence, handles clergy abuse reports.

“We are investigating the DSS process and handling of this report and assessing the overall system for how we track all cases,” said JudyAnn Bigby, secretary of Health and Human Services.

Through his spokeswoman, Denise Monteiro, Spence said the agency is also probing how it handled allegations that the Rev. Lawrence Brown molested a teen member of the Mount Calvary Baptist Church, where Brown works as a youth minister. The Herald reported yesterday that the Suffolk district attorney is investigating those claims.

NEW YORK
Star-Gazette

May 16, 2007

Jim Pfiffer

We're losing touch with one another. We're reluctant to hug a co-worker, clasp a friend's hand or put an arm around a shoulder in a caring gesture.

Our out-of-touch society evolved from an increased public awareness and fear of sexual abuse, and the media publicity of the abuse.

Yes, we must protect children from predators and be professional at work, but the political correctness pendulum has swung too far. It's stealing the comfort and compassion that can only be expressed through the touch of another human. From schools and shopping malls to the workplace and politics, hugs, kisses and hand clasps are endangered species. We are afraid to show affection.

"You can't be yourself anymore," says the Rev. Horace Stoddard of Pine City Baptist Church. "In the past, I might have given someone a hug who had made a great accomplishment. Now I'm not so apt to do it. Someone might read something else into it. It's not good enough to avoid evil. Now we have to avoid the appearance of evil."

The clergy is one profession we seek out for a shoulder to cry on. But that changed with the widely publicized sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church and other institutions. Now many clergy members are less likely to show physical affection to their congregants.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
BBC News

The Roman Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles has said his archdiocese will sell its main office to raise money to settle lawsuits for sexual abuse.

Cardinal Roger Mahony also said some 50 other buildings could be sold to settle hundreds of lawsuits brought by people who had been abused by priests.

In December, the archdiocese - America's largest - paid some $40m (£20m) to settle 46 cases.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
California Catholic Daily

To fund its share of future financial settlements with alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse, the Los Angeles archdiocese announced it will sell the Archdiocesan Catholic Center in the mid-Wilshire area of Los Angeles as well as other “ non-essential real estate properties,” said a statement issued by Cardinal Roger Mahony yesterday.

In December, the archdiocese settled 46 clergy abuse civil cases for a total of $60 million, of which the archdiocese contributed $40 million, said Mahony in his statement. At that time he noted that “a settlement in those cases will require the active participation of the many insurance companies who provided liability insurance during those past years when the abuse occurred.” Attorneys, judges, and Church leaders are still negotiating these settlements.

Though the archdiocese has insisted that “insurance companies must honor their responsibility to fund a major share of future settlements,” the Church must also pay its share. Mahony said that he noted last December that, to do this, the archdiocese must “begin to dispose of non-essential real estate properties in order to raise funds for coming settlements.”

CANADA
London Free Press

Wed, May 16, 2007

By JANE SIMS, SUN MEDIA

A member of a London Baptist church will be sentenced next month on a decades-old sex case involving a child.

Superior Court Justice William Jenkins reserved his decision to next month after hearing Crown and defence arguments yesterday.

Russell Wilson, a member of the London Ambassador Baptist Church, was one of four men linked with the church who were charged in September 2005 with sex offences.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
ShortNews

The LA Roman Catholic archdiocese has announced it will be selling its main office building to raise money from lawsuits resulting from the sexual abuse of young parishoners at the hands of Catholic priests.

The LA archdiocese is the larges in the United States and in December, it settled 46 abuse cases worth some US$60 million. However, another 500 cases are still in litigation, and have been over anumber of years.

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

By Raja Mishra, Globe Staff | May 16, 2007

Suffolk County prosecutors are investigating allegations that a former pastor at a Baptist church in Boston molested a teenager who attended the church.

The 18-year-old Dorchester man alleged late last year that the Rev. Lawrence Brown of Mount Calvary Baptist Church had groped him on several occasions when he was 14, culminating with a more serious sexual assault during a church retreat in New Hampshire.

The Globe does not identify minors who are alleged victims of sexual abuse unless they give their consent. The teen's father said yesterday that the accuser would not comment.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

By Paul Pringle, Times Staff Writer
May 16, 2007

The Los Angeles Archdiocese will sell its administrative headquarters and perhaps other non-parish properties to help pay upcoming settlements of molestation claims against clergymen, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony said Tuesday.

Attorneys and other representatives for the alleged sexual abuse victims immediately dismissed Mahony's announcement as an attempt to generate sympathy for the archdiocese, which faces more than 500 molestation cases.

If recent payouts are a guide, the final settlement bill could be $500 million to $600 million, and the archdiocese and insurance companies are fighting over how much of the total the church should pay. Mahony has been under pressure to pay half the amount, as the Diocese of Orange did in a $100-million molestation settlement in 2004.

DALLAS (TX)
The Dallas Morning News

By SAM HODGES / The Dallas Morning News
samhodges@dallasnews.com

Another clergy sex-abuse lawsuit has been filed against the Catholic Diocese of Dallas, this time with three plaintiffs.

The men claim to have been molested years ago by Monsignor Richard E. Johnson.

Last summer, the diocese acknowledged verifying a sexual-abuse complaint against Monsignor Johnson, then at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Lake Highlands. The diocese barred him from ministry. He was already at retirement age.

The suit, filed Tuesday in Dallas County district court, alleges that Monsignor Johnson abused one of the plaintiffs beginning in late 1963 or 1964, while a priest at St. Luke Catholic Church in Irving. The plaintiff was 14 years old when the abuse began, and it continued for three years, the suit claims.

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

By Robert Patrick
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
05/16/2007

St. Louis — Most of a sex abuse lawsuit against a former St. Louis priest has been thrown out of court, but victims' advocates and the plaintiff's lawyer hailed what remained as "new ground" in pursuing decades-old claims.

A St. Louis judge's ruling lowers the bar to recover damages from the church, said Ken Chackes, the lawyer. "It's new ground," he said Tuesday. "Very significant."

The suit at issue was filed in St. Louis Circuit Court under the name John Doe in August 2005, and claims former priest Donald Straub sexually abused Doe in 1975-78, when Straub was an associate pastor at St. George Parish in St. Louis County and Doe was a boy.

PORTLAND (OR)
Statesman Journal

ALAN GUSTAFSON
Statesman Journal

May 16, 2007

PORTLAND -- A jury deliberated for about two hours Tuesday afternoon without reaching a verdict in the sexual abuse trial of the Rev. Michael Sprauer of Salem.

The 12-member jury, composed of seven women and five men, is scheduled to resume deliberations at 10 this morning.

The Multnomah County panel is weighing whether Sprauer sexually abused three teenage boys at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn during the 1970s.

NORTHERN IRELAND
The Fermanagh Herald

The trial of the Parish Priest of Roslea has heard harrowing allegations about his involvement in helping a convicted paedophile sexually abuse and rape a 12-year-old girl.

It was also alleged, at Liverpool Crown Court, that Father Jeremiah McGrath also sexually molested the girl on one occasion; that he paid thousands of pounds into a joint account to allow his co-accused to abuse the girl; that lied to the girl's family, and that he helped fund the abuse by gambling heavily.

McGrath paid the money into a joint account he had with fellow Irishman William Adams, and Adams lavished the cash on holidays, treats and clothes for the girl, claimed Andrew Menary, QC, prosecuting.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Archdiocese of Los Angeles

By Cardinal Roger M. Mahony
Archbishop of Los Angeles

May 15, 2007

Last December, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles settled 46 civil cases in which clergy abuse had been alleged. The total settlement cost was $60 million, with the Archdiocese contributing approximately $40 million of the total amount. At the time of that settlement, I wrote:

“Now that this settlement is finalized, our attention will focus on the resolution of all remaining cases. To reach a settlement in those cases will require the active participation of the many insurance companies who provided liability insurance during those past years when abuse occurred. It is my hope that these insurance companies will join all of us in moving steadily toward a final settlement of these cases as soon as possible.”

Over the past several months, attorneys, judges and Church leaders have been working diligently to fashion a settlement that is fair and just. It is my daily prayer that this process will continue to intensify, and that in the near future these cases can be fairly settled.

UNITED STATES/MEXICO
McClatchy Newspapers

By Kevin G. Hall
McClatchy Newspapers

PDF | Juan Doe 100 complaint
PDF | Cardinal Rivera

WASHINGTON - A Mexican cardinal who's been accused in a U.S. civil lawsuit of covering up child rape in Mexico and Southern California has said that Roman Catholic Church officials used coded language to communicate with one another about problem priests.

In a March 26 court filing that McClatchy Newspapers obtained, Cardinal Norberto Rivera, who oversees the Archdiocese of Mexico City, says he told Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony that a priest who's now wanted on criminal charges of child rape was moving from Mexico to Los Angeles for "family and health reasons."

"The phrase `family and health reasons' was used within the Church to warn that a priest suffers from some sort of problem," Rivera says in his written declaration.

AUSTRALIA
The Advocate

By CHRIS PIPPOS

A FORMER Marist priest found guilty of sexually assaulting two boys at Burnie's Marist College in 1971 has been sentenced to two years jail but he may serve only 12 months.

Gregory Laurence Ferguson, 70, who was charged with maintaining a sexual relationship with a person under 17 and indecent assault, is in poor health and will be eligible for parole after serving 12 months.

Both of Ferguson's victims, aged 13 at the time, have suffered long term to some degree from the assaults, which occurred in Ferguson's room in the priests' quarters.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

(05-15) 20:07 PDT Los Angeles (AP) --

The nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese will sell its administrative headquarters to raise money to settle hundreds of sexual abuse lawsuits against it, Cardinal Roger Mahony said Tuesday.

In a statement posted on the Web site of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Mahony also said a special working group has identified about 50 nonessential church properties that could be sold. Those properties are not being used by any parishes, and no schools, parishes or ministries would be shut down, he said.

The cardinal did not specify how much the archdiocese expected to raise by selling the properties. He also did not give a timetable for settlement, but said he hoped the cases could be resolved in the "near future." Archdiocese spokesman Tod Tamberg declined to comment beyond Mahony's statement.

NEW YORK
John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army

Here is one of John Paul II Pedophile Priest Army foot soldier in New York. Last May 13 an article entitled "Giuliani Spins Name in Gold" mentioned that one of his partners was "a former Roman Catholic priest accused of covering up sexual abuse in the church". After a research, that undisclosed name is former Monsignor Alan Placa.

A grand jury investigation { not an imdictment }report released Feb. 10 charged the diocese of Rockville Centre, N.Y., with protecting 58 sexually abusive priests through what it called a “sham” policy designed to protect the church’s reputation and minimize payouts to victims.

TENNESSEE
News Sentinel

By News Sentinel staff
May 15, 2007

An East Knoxville preacher will receive counseling but no jail time after being charged with exposing himself to an undercover police officer last year.

The Rev. Willie L. Jefferson, 55, appeared in court last week on a charge of indecent exposure. Knoxville police had arrested him Dec. 22 during an undercover sting at Tyson Park near the University of Tennessee.

Jefferson has served as pastor at Trinity Tabernacle Church of God in Christ on Washington Avenue for the past four years.

PORTLAND (OR)
KGW

05/15/2007

Associated Press

With the end of testimony, the first trial of allegations that a priest abused young men in Oregon headed for the jury.

Closing arguments were scheduled Tuesday in the civil lawsuit against the Rev. Michael Sprauer of Salem, former chaplain at a state prison for young men. After that, the jury would get the case.

During the two-week trial, his accusers described Sprauer as a pedophile priest who abused teenage inmates in the 1970s at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn.

IRELAND
Unison

A priest from Co. Fermanagh is standing trial in Liverpool accused of giving thousands of pounds to a convicted paedophile so he could groom a young girl for sex.

Father Jeremiah McGrath from Co. Fermanagh allegedly gave the money to William Adams, aged 38, who used it to buy gifts for an 11-year-old girl in Liverpool.

The 62-year-old priest is accused of three counts of facilitating the commission of a child sex offence and one count of sexual assault. He denies the charges.

He is not accused of having sex with the girl himself.

UNITED KINGDOM
IOL

15/05/2007 - 16:50:52

A Roman Catholic priest handed over thousands of pounds to help his friend groom a young girl for sex, a court heard today.

Father Jeremiah McGrath, 62, allegedly gave the cash to William Adams, 38, to lavish gifts and treats on an 11-year-old girl in Liverpool.

There was evidence of a sexual relationship between the two men, Liverpool Crown Court heard, and McGrath knew that Adams had served half of a 12-year sentence in Ireland for raping an eight-year-old girl.

WILMINGTON (DE)
The News Journal

BETH MILLER, The News Journal

Posted Tuesday, May 15, 2007 at 4:00 pm
WILMINGTON -- A Superior Court judge on Tuesday ordered the Rev. James W. O’Neill to appear for deposition by July 13 and set an October 2008 trial date for the former Salesianum School principal in a sexual abuse lawsuit filed by a former student.

O’Neill was sued by Eric Eden of Wilmington, who alleges the priest abused him twice a week from 1976 to 1985. The allegations would have been barred by the state’s two-year civil statute of limitations, but Superior Court Judge Calvin L. Scott Jr. ruled in December that the case could go to trial because of Eden’s claim that he had repressed his memories of the incidents.

After O’Neill missed a scheduled May 8 deposition with Eden’s attorneys, the Rev. Joseph G. Morrissey, provincial of O’Neill’s order -- the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales -- explained in a May 10 letter that O’Neill was “on assignment” in the Diocese of Upington-Keimos in South Africa, filling in for a priest who had to leave the field to tend to his dying brother. O’Neill was ministering in the priest’s absence and was expected back in the country by July 1, Morrissey wrote.

CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

Tue 15 May 2007
The culture of pedophilia at Mater Dei High School has hit the big time. Today, the New York Times examines the rash of non-clerical sex-abuse cases involving the Catholic Church. Mentioned in the second paragraph was Joelle Casteix, a longtime advocate for sex-abuse survivors who was herself a victim of a choir teacher during the 1980s. “Court records indicate,” Times reporter Bruce Lambert writes, “that several other staff members—including teachers, a counselor and a coach—also abused students there.” While we’re glad that the Grey Lady is letting the country know about Mater Dei’s tolerance for teen rape, we do have one bone to pick: court records don’t indicate, they show:

*Former track coach Bob Richardson was arrested in 1984 for sexually abusing boys on his team during camping trips to the San Bernardino Mountains.

*The same link above also shows that Mater Dei fired counselor Bernie Balsis and choir director Larry Stukenholtz for improper sexual conduct with students, and filed the proper reports to the Orange County Social Services Agency as required by law.

LOUISA (VA)
The Free Lance-Star

BY BILL FREEHLING

Bond might be revoked in the case of a former Catholic priest in Louisa County accused of embezzling money from two rural churches.

Rodney Lee Rodis, 50, is currently free on a $25,000 bond. He's not allowed to leave Virginia, but prosecutors believe he flew to New Mexico last month.

A 9 a.m. hearing has been set in Louisa Circuit Court on Monday, which is Rodis' birthday. His bond could be revoked then, said Louisa Commonwealth's Attorney Don Short.

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A Catholic priest gave thousands of pounds to a friend to help him groom a young girl for sex, a court heard.

Father Jeremiah McGrath allegedly gave the money to William Adams, 38, who used it to buy gifts for an 11-year-old girl he had befriended in Liverpool.

The 62-year-old is accused of three counts of facilitating the commission of a child sex offence and one count of sexual assault. He denies the charges.

McGrath, of Rosslea, County Fermanagh, is on trial at Liverpool Crown Court.

COLORADO SPRINGS (CO)
The Denver Post

By Erin Emery
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 05/15/2007 12:33:16 AM MDT

Colorado Springs - The Rev. Don Armstrong, pastor of Grace Church and St. Stephen's Parish, shredded financial documents as an auditor swooped in to investigate alleged theft by the minister, according to allegations made in court documents.

"So great was the amount of shredding that one shredding machine broke and was replaced and a second shredding machine was required," according to documents filed in litigation over control of the Tejon Street property occupied by a congregation that has seceded from the Episcopal Diocese.

"It's incredible," said Alan Crippen, spokesman for Grace Church. "I don't know what we would have had that would have been shredded, and this is completely ungermaine to the dispute about the property."

GRAND HAVEN (MI)
WOOD

Updated: May 14, 2007 05:18 PM EDT

GRAND HAVEN - A once-trusted church worker and volunteer in Holland was sentenced Monday for three cases of criminal sexual conduct.

Eric VanderYacht, 50, will spend the next 15-45 years behind bars for his assaults against young children.

Vander Yacht apologized for his crimes at his sentencing. "I do not have enough words to say how sorry I am for the pain that I have caused so many people," he said.

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald

By Jessica Heslam
Boston Herald Media Reporter

Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - Updated: 06:57 AM EST

Clergy abuse in black churches of all denominations is vastly underreported, experts said, with young victims too terrified to come forward for fear of being blamed and banned from their close-knit, family-oriented houses of worship.

Indeed, P. Edward Harrison’s accusation against the Rev. Lawrence Brown of Mount Calvary Baptist Church is believed to be the first reported case in Boston of purported clergy abuse involving an alleged victim who is black, according to Department of Social Services officials.

“It is much more widespread than any of us want to believe,” said David Clohessy, the national director of the Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “All sexual abuse is underreported. We believe clergy sex abuse more than most and clergy sex abuse in the minority communities is even less reported.”

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald

By Michele McPhee/ Exclusive
Boston Herald Police Bureau Chief

Tuesday, May 15, 2007 - Updated: 06:57 AM EST

A Boston minister is under investigation by the Suffolk district attorney for allegedly molesting a teenager who belonged to his congregation - an accusation known by certain church officials and fellow clergy that nevertheless went unreported to prosecutors for nearly two years until the boy threatened to kill himself.

P. Edward Harrison of Roxbury says that the Rev. Lawrence Brown sexually molested him more than a dozen times from the start of 2004 until February 2005. That’s when Brown reportedly confessed to sexual misconduct to officials at both South End institutions where he worked as a youth minister - Mount Calvary Baptist Church and the Emmanuel Gospel Center, according to interviews and letters obtained by the Herald.

Harrison, the son of the Rev. Shaun Harrison, was 14 and a member of Mount Calvary Baptist, where Brown continues to work as a minister, when he said the abuse began.

BOSTON (MA)
Boston.com

A minister from Roxbury is being investigated by the Suffolk District Attorney for allegedly sexually abusing a juvenile three years ago, a state official said early today.

Denise Monteiro, spokeswoman for the state Department of Social Services, said the agency received a report in November, 2006, that the Rev. Larry Brown had allegedly molested a young man in 2004.

The DSS referred the matter to the district attorney, who could not be reached for comment early today. Monteiro said the district attorney's investigation remains active.

ELGIN (IL)
The Courier News

May 15, 2007
By David Gialanella Staff Writer
An Elgin pastor accused of severely spanking a then 12-year-old girl now has a longer list of charges against him.

Rev. Daryl P. Bujak, 30, of the First Missionary Baptist Church at 385 Silver St., had two misdemeanor charges added in his case recently: one additional count of battery and one count of failure to comply with the duties of a mandated reporter.

The latter charge stems from Bujak's status as a clergyman, who are required by law to report possible sexual assaults to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services when they have reasonable cause to believe that abuse of a minor has occurred. Other statutorily mandated reporters include teachers and guidance counselors.

According to authorities, between March and May 2005, Bujak used a large piece of wood molding to repeatedly spank the 12-year-old, leaving marks on her legs and buttocks. The girl's mother had brought the child to Bujak for counseling, because she didn't believe the girl's claims that the mother's boyfriend had sexually abused the girl.

FORT WORTH (TX)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

By MELODY McDONALD
mjmcdonald@star-telegram.com

FORT WORTH — The Rev. Sherman Clifton Allen, a Fort Worth pastor accused of paddling several women — physical abuse that some say turned sexual — is no longer in the pulpit.

He has been suspended by the Church of God in Christ, the Memphis-based parent of his Shiloh Institutional Church of God in Christ.

“The Church of God in Christ does not condone inappropriate behavior from any of its representatives and does not comment on pending litigation brought against the Church or its representatives until a case has been brought to trial and an official ruling has been made,” Presiding Bishop Charles E. Blake of Los Angeles said in a statement e-mailed to the Star-Telegram on Monday. “Until then, pastor Sherman Allen has been suspended from all national and local pastoral roles and activities within the Church of God in Christ.

PENNSYLVANIA
Standard Speaker

Monday, 14 May 2007
By PETER E. BORTNER
Staff Writer

Daniel M. Shields Jr. apologized to his victims Monday in Schuylkill County Court, but it didn’t save him from a state prison sentence for videotaping girls in the Nativity BVM High School locker room, and assaulting one of them.

With more than 60 people packing the courtroom, Shields, 62, of 30 Bryn Mawr Ave., Pottsville, sat expressionless as Judge D. Michael Stine sentenced him to 18 to 48 months in a state correctional institution, plus six more years on probation.

"I can only say to the girls and their families I’m sorry for what I did," Shields, one of Schuylkill County’s most noteworthy high school football and track coaches, said before being sentenced on charges of corruption of minors, indecent assault, invasion of privacy and sexual abuse of children. "I made a mistake."

NASHUA (NY)
Union Leader

Attorney General Kelly Ayotte and Assistant Attorney General Will Delker will speak on the state audit of the Diocese of Manchester's sexual abuse policy Thursday, May 24, at Millette Manor, directly behind St. Louis de Gonzague/St. Aloysius Church, 48 West Hollis St. Nashua.

The talk, sponsored by the Greater Nashua affiliate of Voice of the Faithful, will take place, at 7PM

POTTSVILLE (PA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

By Michael Rubinkam, The Associated Press

POTTSVILLE, Pa. -- Sobbing as he apologized, a well-known high school coach was sentenced yesterday to up to four years in prison for secretly videotaping female athletes in a locker room and sexually molesting one of them.

Daniel Shields Jr., 62, who had decades of experience coaching track and football at Nativity BVM High School in Pottsville, Schuylkill County, saw his career come to an abrupt end in 2005 when two recent graduates broke into his house, retrieved a videotape that showed three members of the girls' track team in various stages of undress, and gave it to police.

Nearly two years later, Mr. Shields took the witness stand at his sentencing hearing and broke down as he apologized for his crimes and asked forgiveness.

WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By MICHAEL KING

Posted: May 14, 2007
The old black and white photo has been hanging forgotten in my home office for years. It shows my first communion class, posing in front of the ornate alter in our parish church.

Buy a link hereThere are 36 third-graders in the photo, a typical class size in those baby boom days. We boys are dressed in crisp white shirts and bow ties, the girls in poufy white dresses and lace veils. We all have our hands folded piously in front of us.

Standing near me in the back row is the parish's young associate pastor.

In 2004, a priest with his name as I remembered it from my childhood appeared on the list of 29 living priests that the Milwaukee archdiocese had restricted from all priestly ministries because of at least one substantiated instance of sexual abuse of a child.

UNITED STATES
The New York Times

By BRUCE LAMBERT
Published: May 15, 2007
Beginning in sixth grade and lasting several years, Claudia Vercellotti said she was sexually abused repeatedly by the chief of youth ministries for the 19-county Roman Catholic Diocese in Toledo, Ohio. She said she later found four others who said they were victimized by the same man, although he denied wrongdoing.

Joelle E. Casteix said that when she went to Mater Dei High School, a private Catholic school in Santa Ana, Calif., she started being abused by a lay teacher when she was 15. He infected her with a venereal disease and got her pregnant, she said, leading to an abortion. Court records indicate that several other staff members — including teachers, a counselor and a coach — also abused students there.

Christopher Reardon pleaded guilty to rape, molestation and pornography charges involving 24 boys he abused as the director of religious education at St. Agnes Roman Catholic Parish in Middleton, Mass., and as a swimming coach at a camp unrelated to the church. The police said they found computer records intimately describing the bodies of 250 boys.

PORTLAND (OR)
Statesman Journal

ALAN GUSTAFSON
Statesman Journal

May 15, 2007

PORTLAND -- The sexual abuse case against the Rev. Michael Sprauer of Salem likely will go to a jury today.

Trial testimony finished Monday.

Starting at 9 a.m. today, a jury of seven women and five men will hear attorneys' closing arguments in the first sex-abuse lawsuit against a Catholic priest to go to trial in Oregon. Jury deliberations will follow.

During the two-week trial, multiple accusers described Sprauer as a pedophile priest who preyed on troubled teenage inmates in the 1970s at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn.

PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Catholic

by: Robert P. Lockwood

New amendments to the Child Protective Services Law in Pennsylvania will take effect May 27 that expands the definition of legally mandated reporters of suspected child abuse to authorities.

Additionally, any mandated reporter who knowingly fails to report child abuse commits a misdemeanor of the third degree for a first violation, and a misdemeanor of the second degree for any subsequent violation. ...

In early May, the Diocese of Pittsburgh issued a brochure detailing the impact of the mandatory reporting laws in Catholic institutions to every Catholic parish, school and Catholic institution, as well as individuals in any ministry that may involve contact with minor children.

In the brochure, the diocese stated that, “adherence by church personnel in the Diocese of Pittsburgh to the expanded reporting mandates is a vital part of the church’s efforts to prevent the abuse of children ... The Diocese of Pittsburgh urges that all church personnel resolve any questions about the interpretation of the law in favor of reporting.”

MINEOLA (NY)
Newsday

BY JOHN VALENTI
john.valenti@newsday.com

May 14, 2007, 12:18 PM EDT

Deliberations in a $150-million church sex scandal lawsuit against the Diocese of Rockville Centre continued Monday at New York State Supreme Court in Mineola, the second week of deliberations for the six-member jury panel.

The suit was brought by two plaintiffs against the Rev. Thomas Haggerty, the diocese and former youth minister Matthew Maiello, formerly of Lynbrook, who served more than two years in prison after admitting he coerced the plaintiffs and two other teenagers into having sex with him.

The plaintiffs, now in their early 20s, are not being identified by Newsday, because they are the victims of sex crimes.

MALAWI
The Daily Times

BY Caroline Somanje
08:46:31 - 14 May 2007

A Catholic priest, Joseph Munyapa, and a manager at Chichiri National Bank Laston Nazitwere have been implicated in a love triangle with a Blantyre woman Clara Chimkwende.

Clara was married to Charles Chimkwende but the union has since been dissolved in court.

Principal Resident Magistrate Jack N’riva nullified the Chimkwende’s 13-year-old marriage on the grounds of adultery, irreconcilable differences and irretrievable breakdown.

Charles Chimkwende testified in court that the two men have been openly dating his wife Clara who used to meet her lovers at different times after lying to him.

MALAWI
The Daily Times

BY The Daily Times
08:33:21 - 14 May 2007

We read on the front page of this paper about the shenanigans of one Father Joseph Munyapa, a Catholic Priest who allowed his physical needs to get the better of his judgement and the result is a scandal of immense embarrassment to the Church and, needless to say, the priest himself.

We do not want to be seen as seating in judgement over this Priest, himself a man of God, and we are not interested to rub any further mortification to all those involved in this scenario.

But it is eternally scandalous that the reputation the Church has laboured to build over so many centuries is dragged through the mud in such a way.

MARYLAND
The Daily Times

The Coastal Delmarva Chapter of Voice of the Faithful will meet Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the South Coastal Library in Bethany Beach. The guest speaker is Delaware State Representative Deborah Hudson, the primary sponsor in the Delaware House of a bill (Senate Bill 29) which would change the Delaware Statute of Limitations to allow victims of sexual abuse additional time to seek civil remedies. New members welcome. Call John Sullivan at 302-541-0254.

PENNSYLVANIA
The Republican & Herald

BY PETER E. BORTNER
STAFF WRITER
pbortner@republicanherald.com

05/14/2007

For Daniel M. Shields Jr., today is sentencing day in Schuylkill County Court.

At the 2 p.m. hearing before Judge D. Michael Stine, Shields, 62, of 30 Bryn Mawr Ave., Pottsville, will learn how long he will spend in prison for videotaping female athletes in the Nativity BVM High School locker room and sexually assaulting one of them.

It will end a 21-month case that brought a shocking halt to the career of one of Schuylkill County’s most noteworthy high school football and track coaches.

CONNECTICUT
The Day

By Joe Wojtas , Published on 5/13/2007

As he deposed Bishop Daniel P. Reilly in a sexual-abuse lawsuit involving the late Rev. Bruno Primavera in January 2006, New London attorney Robert I. Reardon Jr. thought Joseph T. Sweeney, the attorney for the Diocese of Norwich, was smiling.

“Do you find this funny, Mr. Sweeney?” Reardon asked.

“No,” Sweeney said.

“I can't imagine how you can find a priest with young boys in the car, and police are called, and you are finding it humorous. What are you, sick?” said Reardon, who was representing a man who claimed Primavera had abused him as a boy.

“My good sir, you have misread me,” Sweeney said. “You do that quite often, sir. You make a lot of insulting, snide remarks. Depositions with you, sir, are one continuous confrontation of nastiness. I have been living with it for quite a while. We are here today for more.”

Later, Reardon told Reilly to be truthful and to stop looking at Sweeney for help answering questions. He also threatened to ask Reilly in court why he was “hiding out in Worcester” and unwilling to face the victims. Sweeney complained that Reardon was abusing his client. At one point, he told Reardon to “cool off.”

EAST LYME (CT)
The Day

By Joe Wojtas Published on 5/13/2007

East Lyme — Up until July 20, 1998, Holly and Jay Carbonneau believed their close friend, the Rev. Richard Buongirno, when he told them he had not molested a boy from their church.

But that was the night Buongirno, in the midst of what Holly Carbonneau described as a nervous breakdown, confessed that he had indeed molested the boy when he was 9 and again as a high school student.

That confession, delivered in their home, led the Carbonneaus to develop a close friendship with the victim and to join the local chapter of Voice of the Faithful, the national organization founded by Catholic lay people upset about the church's response to the priest-abuse crisis. Its goals are to support those molested by priests, support priests who live by their vows and promote structural change in the church. The organization says it does not promote reforms such as allowing priests to marry and ordaining women.

Today, as leaders of the local chapter, the Carbonneaus are vocal critics of the steps taken by the Diocese of Norwich to protect children, calling it window dressing that many churches in the diocese have refused to implement.

IRELAND
The Kerryman

By Aidan O’Connor

LISTOWEL native Bryan McMahon is the new chairman of the Residential Institutions Redress Board, following his government appointment as a judge of the High Court.

The lawyer and judge succeeds the late Judge Sean O’Leary who died late last year.

The appointment was announced by Education Minister Mary Hanafin, who said the board, “forms a central part of the government’s response to help alleviate the effects of abuse suffered by former residents of industrial schools and other residential institutions.”

SCOTLAND
The Guardian

Ruaridh Nicoll
Sunday May 13, 2007
The Observer

There is a photograph of Father Gerry Nugent leaving the high court in Edinburgh that appears to show the epitome of the corrupted priest. It was taken after he had given evidence in the Angelika Kluk murder trial. Last week, he returned to court to be sentenced for contempt, having prevaricated while giving evidence during the original trial.

Now the former shepherd of St Patrick's in Glasgow's Anderston has only God to comfort him. On the instructions of Archbishop Mario Conti, he resigned as parish priest. When he claimed in court that he was employed by the archdiocese of Glasgow, he was corrected by the defence QC who told him that its chancellor, Monsignor Peter Smith, had said that priests are self-employed. The church put out a statement after the verdict: 'He has been retired.'

This turning away by the church is simple to understand. Nugent admitted having sex with Kluk, the Polish student who was killed in September and whose body was found in an annexe under the confessional. In court, he said this had happened three or four times and that he 'felt shame': 'I was disgusted at myself.' Since then, he has admitted to sleeping with prostitutes. The trial ended in the conviction of Peter Tobin, a 60-year-old handyman. Usually, such events reflect the banal awfulness of society, but this one reached for the other end of life in all its weird horror.

FORTH WORTH (TX)
The Dallas Morning News

By MICHAEL GRABELL / The Dallas Morning News
mgrabell@dallasnews.com

A Fort Worth pastor accused of paddling and raping women under the guise of scriptural teaching has been suspended by the national body of the Church of God in Christ.

The suspension comes more than three months after a Fort Worth woman sued the Rev. Sherman C. Gee Allen of the Shiloh Institutional Church of God in Christ, contending that he repeatedly beat her with a paddle from 2001 to 2005 and forced her to have sex with him.

Since then, eight more women have come forward with similar stories, according to the woman's lawyers.

Mr. Allen, who founded the Pentecostal congregation in 1983, could not be reached for comment Friday. But he has denied the allegations in court papers.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

A FORMER altar boy is suing the Archbishop of Birmingham for £100,000 (€140,000) as a result of alleged sexual abuse by a Co Meath priest. It is alleged that Fr Christopher Clonan, who was born in Clonard and who died in Australia in 1998 while on the run from police, sexually assaulted the man, who is now 33, on occasions too numerous to chronicle when he was a teen.

SAN JOSE (CA)
Mercury News

By Kim Vo
Mercury News
Article Launched: 05/13/2007 01:34:48 AM PDT

The accolades came soon after the priest died. Fellow clergy celebrated him in homilies and parish newsletters. Reporters wrote poignant obituaries, and the charity where he had long volunteered named a fundraiser in his honor - the Philip E. McCrillis Golf Clinic, for the man who "gave hope to ... patients and their families."

Many people, it seems, didn't know that three years ago, church officials had investigated, settled a financial claim and found "reasonable cause to suspect that Fr. McCrillis engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor."

"Everyone is shocked and upset," said Alicia Swanson, a spokeswoman for the charity - the Parkinson's Institute. "Nobody knew."

The Institute canceled a fundraiser Saturday, it says, for unrelated reasons. The Villages Golf & Country Club in San Jose said it never would have co-sponsored the event had it known about the allegations.

DARIEN (CT)
The Advocate

By Stephen P. Clark
Staff Writer

Published May 13 2007

DARIEN - Last June, the Rev. Frank McGrath was appointed to a broken parish.

St. John Roman Catholic Church on the Post Road was shattered after its longtime pastor, the Rev. Michael Jude Fay, resigned amid allegations he stole more than $1 million from the parish to pay for a lavish - and somewhat open - life with his boyfriend.

When McGrath took the helm, parishioners were reeling from news about Fay and another priest at the church, the Rev. Michael Madden. Madden had his supporters because he helped hire a private investigator to follow the money when he thought the diocese was ignoring the case. The diocese stripped Madden of some parish duties and placed him on leave, and he left the priesthood weeks later.

WASHINGTON (DC)
The Journal Gazette

By John Solomon and Matthew Mosk
Washington Post

WASHINGTON – On Dec. 7, 2001, nearly three months after the terrorist attack that had made him a national hero and a little over three weeks before he would leave office, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani took the first official step toward making himself rich.

The letter he dispatched to the city Conflicts of Interest Board that day asked permission to begin forming a consulting firm with three members of his outgoing administration. The company, Giuliani said, would provide “management consulting service to governments and business” and would seek out partners for a “wide-range of possible business, management and financial services” projects. ...

Famously loyal, Giuliani chose as his partners longtime associates, including a former police commissioner later convicted of corruption, a former FBI executive who admitted taking artifacts from ground zero and a former Roman Catholic priest accused of covering up sexual abuse in the church.

NORWICH (CT)
The Day

When he was the bishop of the Diocese of Norwich from 1975 to 1994, his warm personality and quick wit endeared him to the region's Catholics.

At the annual Blessing of the Fleet in Stonington, people pressed up against him as he walked from St. Mary Church to the fishing docks. He sang “Danny Boy” at the St. Patrick's Day celebration in Norwich.

And when he was transferred in 1994 to the Worcester, Mass., diocese, more than 1,200 Catholics packed St. Patrick Cathedral in Norwich for his final Mass. Afterwards, they stood in a long line to hug him and wish him well.

That was the Bishop Daniel P. Reilly most people knew.

But at the same time, he transferred priests suspected of molesting children, ignoring warnings that they posed a danger. He failed to report what he knew to police and fought the release of documents sought in lawsuits and attempts to depose him. On the advice of attorneys, he refused to answer questions put to him during a deposition and said he could not recall conversations and letters about accused priests until he was shown documentation. He has admitted the diocese maintained a secret archive in which he placed information about priests accused of sexual misconduct.

NORWICH (CT)
The Day

Published on 5/13/2007

A front-page article that appears in today's edition documents that the Diocese of Norwich was not exempt from the priest sex-abuse scandal that rocked the Roman Catholic Church in this country, nor from the poor decisions that made it possible.

The revelations, culled from lawsuits and firsthand accounts, are painfully familiar. Church authorities, confronted with reports that priests had sexually abused children or teens, did not treat them as potential crimes, but as problems to be kept out of view of the public and law enforcement.

After allegations were raised, and sometimes documented, priests were moved from one parish to another. Church communities had no warning of the predators that had arrived in their midst. Too often there were new victims.

Overseeing the diocese at the time many of the documented cases took place was Bishop Daniel P. Reilly, who served as the spiritual leader from 1975 to 1994. It was Bishop Reilly, now retired and living in Worcester, Mass., who ultimately decided how abuse allegations were handled and where priests were transferred.

FORT WORTH (TX)
BishopAccountability.org

On this page we provide the all the files from the Fort Worth diocese's secret archive that were released by State District Judge Len Wade, with selected articles about the documents and links to key documents, beginning with Rev. Philip A. Magaldi. Judge Wade released the 700 pages of disputed documents about accused priests Hanlon, Hoover, Howlett, Magaldi, Reilly, and Rentería on November 28, 2006, after two area newspapers – the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Dallas Morning News – filed suit to have the documents released. The judge had originally ordered the Fort Worth diocese to turn the documents over to John Doe and John Doe II during 2003 suits filed by attorneys Daniel Shea and Tahira Khan-Merritt. Those suits were settled in April 2005 for $1.4 million and $2.75 million, but the release of documents was contested until Judge Wade ruled on February 23, 2006.

PORTLAND (ME)
BishopAccountability.org

On May 27, 2005, the Maine Attorney General's office released the names of 21 deceased Roman Catholic priests who have been accused of sexual abuse. The release of these names had been ordered by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court (see the opinion), in response to a lawsuit filed by Blethen Maine Newspapers, the parent company of the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram.

The Attorney General's office also released 113 pages of supporting documentation on the accusations. This documentation comprises investigative material from the attorney general's files. Allegations against each priest are described on a standard form, followed in most cases by investigative materials documenting the accusations.

DAVENPORT (IA)
BishopAccountability.org

Davenport is the only U.S. diocese where diocesan abuse files can be read together with detailed accounts written later by the survivors themselves. These documents from the Wells and John Doe III suits, available only here on the Internet, offer a unique combined perspective on a network of abusers, the lives of their victims, and bishops' decisions to ignore repeated warnings.

Some of these documents are eloquent and touching. Some include descriptions of terrible abuse. Please be aware of the nature of this content before you view it. If you are a survivor, you may be interested in reading a brief note from fellow survivors before you begin.

NEW HAMPSHIRE
BishopAccountability.org

The Manchester Archives -- some 9,000 pages of diocesan files and investigative material -- offer a comprehensive look at sexual abuse committed by the priests of the Manchester NH diocese. The archives also provide extensive information about how the diocese responded or failed to respond to allegations of abuse by its priests. Unlike the excellent report issued by the attorney general, which because of time pressure was restricted to assessments of 8 priests, the Manchester Archive presents information on 60 priests.

These archives are by far the largest such collection of documents available on the Internet. Here you will find a vast range of source material, including seminary records, written allegations, police reports, treatment center assessments, priest transfers, petitions from parishioners on behalf of accused priests, and extensive interviews of priests and victims conducted by the attorney general's Task Force. These files are a microcosm of the crisis. They will allow victims, Catholic laity, journalists, and citizens to understand the crisis in a way hitherto impossible.

BOSTON (MA)
BishopAccountability.org

Over 45,000 pages of archdiocesan documents have been released in Boston, showing the archdiocese's policies and procedures regarding more than 141 priests accused of sexually abusing minors. A very useful summary of those documents and their significance is a July 21, 2003 Memorandum filed on behalf of Gregory Ford et al. in their case against Bernard Cardinal Law et al.

BishopAccountability.org has now posted the Memorandum together with over 1,500 pages of archdiocesan documents to which the Memorandum refers. This is the largest collection on the Internet of Boston archdiocesan files.

SPOKANE (WA)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

By JOHN K. WILEY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

SPOKANE, Wash. -- It's the Easter season in the Roman Catholic Church, but in parishes around Spokane, sermons on the joy of the resurrection of Jesus Christ are mixed with urgent pleas for money to pay people who were sexually abused by clergy decades ago.

Priests sometimes evoke the parable of the good Samaritan - who stopped to help a man who had been beaten and robbed when others looked the other way - as they wage a unique campaign to raise money to settle the Spokane diocese's long-running sex abuse scandal.

"I've been telling them the focus here is on the children who were hurt and doing what we can to bring them some sort of compensation, some sort of healing," said the Rev. Edgar Borchardt, pastor of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in the college and farm town of Pullman, about 80 miles south of Spokane.

GREEN COVE SPRINGS (FL)
The Times-Union

By DAVID HUNT, The Times-Union

A Clay County church pastor faces charges of sexually assaulting a teenager, first forcing her to have sex when he stopped by her family's house to help her cope with her father's illness.

Fritzner Jean, 35, pastor of First Haitian Baptist Church in Green Cove Springs, was arrested on charges of lewd battery and two counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor.

Jean, who works as a truck driver when he's not in the pulpit, surrendered Wednesday after an arrest warrant was issued. He was being held Friday in the Clay County jail in lieu of $300,000 bail.

Attempts to contact the church Friday were unsuccessful.

YUBA CITY (CA)
Appeal-Democrat

By Rob Young/Appeal-Democrat

May 11, 2007 - 11:17PM

The pastor of a Yuba City church has been charged with lewd and lascivious conduct with a girl under the age of 14.

Andres Garcia, 71, of the Primera Iglesia Bautista del Sur Colirio on Franklin Road, waived a preliminary hearing Friday in Sutter County Superior Court. Judge Chris Chandler scheduled a May 21 arraignment.

Garcia has been held in Sutter County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail since his arrest April 2 at his residence in the 500 block of Walton Avenue in Yuba City. The alleged victim lived nearby, police said.

TENNESSEE
WKRN

A group that brought attention to sex abuse among Catholic Clergy has set its sights on Southern Baptists.

The watchdog group claims church policy and structure makes it easy for Baptist ministers to sexually abuse children and get away with it.

The charges and arrests are shocking. Baptist preachers and ministers charged with using their position in the church to molest children and adults.

Todd Brock, a pastor near Greensboro, North Carolina faces four felony charges involving a 17 year old boy.

OHIO
Dayton Daily News

By Tom Beyerlein
Staff Writer

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Two more area priests — Richard Unwin and Kenneth Schoettmer — have been defrocked by the Vatican after being credibly accused of sexually abusing boys.

Both priests are now off the payroll of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

In 2003, Schoettmer, now 65, pleaded guilty in Cincinnati to a charge that he fondled a 17-year-old boy and received five years' probation. Schoettmer, on paid leave from the archdiocese since 2001, is a registered sex offender.

Schoettmer of Cincinnati told officials that he didn't want it to be reported that he had voluntarily sought laicization, the church's term for defrocking, said archdiocese spokesman Dan Andriacco.

OHIO
The Cincinnati Post

Post staff report

Two men who served as pastors in Southwest Ohio have been removed from the Roman Catholic priesthood by the Vatican, after several years of considering the evidence that the two had sexually abused children, according to the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

Pope Benedict XVI has permanently removed Kenneth Schoettmer and Richard Unwin from the clerical state, archdiocese spokesman Dan Andriacco said Friday.

Schoettmer is a former pastor at Queen of Peace church in Millville, Ohio in Butler County and Unwin is a former pastor at St. John the Baptist church in Tipp City, Ohio, north of Dayton. He is also a former teacher at Badin High School in Hamilton and a former associate pastor at St. Matthias in Forest Park.

KENTUCKY
The Courier-Journal

By Andrew Wolfson
awolfson@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

A Kentucky lawyer who sued prominent Cincinnati attorney Stan Chesley in a fee dispute has lost her case.

Senior Judge Robert McGinnis ruled yesterday for Chesley, awarding no damages to Barbara Bonar of Covington, who claimed she was owed $1 million or more in the Diocese of Covington priest-abuse litigation.

"She didn't get one penny," said Alex Rose, co-counsel for Chesley.

Ruling from the bench after a 2½-day trial in Boone Circuit Court, McGinnis also said Bonar and others in the case may have committed ethics violations.

TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade

By DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR

On the one-year anniversary of Toledo priest Gerald Robinson's murder conviction, a victim's advocacy group yesterday asked the City of Toledo to remove honorary street signs that pay tribute to a deceased church leader who allegedly interfered with the original 1980 murder investigation.

Claudia Vercellotti, co-coordinator of the Toledo chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, asked that Mayor Carty Finkbeiner take down the signs designating a stretch of St. Clair Street "Monsignor Jerome Schmit Way."

Four members of SNAP stood on the downtown sidewalk beside Fifth Third Field, holding placards and photos of Robinson's murder victim, Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, as Ms. Vercellotti stated that Monsignor Schmit "used his power and influence as a Toledo Catholic Diocesan priest to end the investigation that could have removed a now-convicted murderer from the streets decades ago."

ELGIN (IL)
Daily Herald

By Gene Haschak
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Saturday, May 12, 2007

The Elgin pastor accused of spanking a 12-year-old girl as a form of counseling was charged with failing to report the sexual abuse allegations she had made — and which led to the counseling sessions, officials said Friday.

Misdemeanor charges against the Rev. Daryl P. Bujak, pastor of the First Missionary Baptist Church, were amended Friday to include battery with physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature and failure to report an incident by a mandated court reporter.

In 2005, the girl had accused a family member of sexual abuse, and her family took her to Bujak for counseling.

KENTUCKY
The Kentucky Post

By Paul A. Long
Post staff reporter

A Covington attorney committed numerous, egregious ethical violations in her work on a class-action lawsuit against the Diocese of Covington and deserves no part of an estimated $18.5 million pool for lawyers' fees from the settlement of the case, a special judge has ruled.

Judge Robert McGinnis, in a ruling Friday from the bench after hearing more than two days of evidence, said Barbara Bonar left the lawsuit on her own accord, and thus is not entitled to be paid.

"The ethical violations was cause for your removal as class counsel if you didn't leave," McGinnis said.

During his ruling, McGinnis slammed Bonar's conduct, saying it harmed one group of her clients - members of the class who were victims of priest sexual abuse - to benefit other clients, those who cases she settled outside the main lawsuit.

CONNECTICUT
Hartford Courant

May 12, 2007
By ELIZABETH HAMILTON, Courant Staff Writer

The Rev. Stephen Foley, a Catholic priest accused of molesting boys while serving as a police and fire chaplain, has left St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield and is living out of state.

The Hartford Archdiocese, which pulled Foley from active ministry in 1993, when an allegation of sexual abuse was made against the priest, would not disclose Friday where Foley has moved.

"The administration knows where he is living, but that is personnel information and not for publication," said the Rev. John Gatzak, spokesman for the diocese. The archdiocese is still paying Foley a stipend and providing him with benefits, he said.

NORWICH (CT)
Journal Inquirer

By Alex Wood, Journal Inquirer
05/11/2007

Following a Vernon man's $1.2 million settlement of a sexual-abuse lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich and the Society of Jesus, the lawyers in the case continue to disagree over how aggressively religious organizations should defend themselves against such lawsuits.

The lawyer representing plaintiff Joshua Hethcote, now 31, says the tactics used in defending the diocese by lawyer Joseph T. Sweeney, a Manchester resident who practices with the Hartford firm of Halloran & Sage, caused Hethcote "more pain."

"They have impugned the integrity and honesty of the victim," said Hethcote's lawyer, Robert I. Reardon Jr. of New London.

DOVER (DE)
The Daily Times

By Beth Miller
The News Journal

DOVER — The cost of child sexual abuse became a pointed issue Thursday as lawmakers heard public comment on a bill that would eliminate the civil statute of limitations in such cases.

A Catholic priest warned legislators that removing the time limit on such lawsuits and allowing old cases to be pursued could put enormous financial pressure on some parishes, forcing them to close schools and cut back ministries.

The Rev. John Hynes, pastor of St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church near Prices Corner, said he believed a program of restorative justice -- forcing perpetrators to face their victims and admit the wrong they did -- would provide more relief for abuse victims and cause less damage to churches.

CINCINNATI (OH)
The Catholic Telegraph

By Eileen Connelly, OSU

ARCHDIOCESE — What is being done about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Cincinnati and nationwide? How can our community work together to ensure that the abuse of children will never again be tolerated?

These and other questions were the focus of "A Gathering for Justice: Sexual Abuse, Secrecy and Healing," sponsored by Greater Cincinnati Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) on April 28 at Xavier University’s Cintas Center. More than 200 people registered and attended the daylong event, which came near the end of national Child Abuse Prevention Month and was geared toward raising awareness and educating the community about sexual abuse.

"Our church and our community have had numerous and tragic outcomes from abuse, and we need to take steps to better recognize the signs of abusive relationships and work toward effective measures for overcoming the shroud of ‘secrecy’ that allows abuse to continue," explained Kathy Weyer, VOTF coordinating committee member and one of the conference organizers.