Abuse Tracker

ROME
NECN

[with video]

(NECN: Steve Aveson) - Clerical sex abuse survivors from at least 12 countries were in Rome today to mark "Reformation Day."

They hope to focus the world's attention on sexual abuse in the church. The event is led by abuse victims from Boston.

The child sex abuse scandal in the Catholic church made international headlines when victims came forward in Boston ten years ago. It turns out it was not just a small problem restricted to New England, and those international headlines became painfully local in countries around the world.

In many cases the church has apologized for the horror and made promises of change for the future. Today, victims pressed the Vatican to keep those promises.

ROME
The Irish Times

PADDY AGNEW in Rome

THE FIRST multinational protest by clerical sex abuse victims in the Vatican ended with a symbolic candlelit march last night.

Carrying large candles, two survivors, Gary Bergeron and Paula Leerschool, walked the entire length of the Via Della Conciliazione, into St Peter’s Square and right up to the bronze door entrance to the Apostolic Palace.

“Part of what survivors asked was that we deliver letters from them, from all around the world, to the pope and that was our attempt to do that,” said Mr Bergeron.

“They wouldn’t let us go up to the bronze door but . . . somebody in security asked us for our passports.

CALIFORNIA
New York Daily News

BY Philip Caulfield
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Sunday, October 31st 2010

A man who was allegedly molested by a priest more than 30 years ago was arrested Friday on charges that he took savage revenge on the now-elderly clergyman by beating him within an inch of his life in the lobby of a retirement home.

William Lynch, 43, had said he had dreamed for decades of confronting Rev. Jerold Lindner, 65, who allegedly molested him and his younger brother in 1975.

Lynch's festering anger finally erupted on May 10 when he visited Lindner at the Sacred Heart retirement home for Jesuit priests in Los Gatos, Calif., where he had been living since 2001.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

BARRY ROCHE, Southern Correspondent

THE FORMER bishop of Cloyne Dr John Magee may be called by the State to give evidence in the case of a 74-year-old priest charged with a number of sexual offences against a minor in the diocese.

Bishop Magee, who was papal secretary to Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul I and John Paul II, retired as bishop of Cloyne last March, having earlier stepped down from his diocesan duties.

He has since moved from the bishop’s palace in Cobh to live in a house in Mitchelstown.

ROME
Voice of America

[with video]

Sabina Castelfranco

Victims of child sexual abuse demonstrated near the Vatican on Sunday. They called on the Roman Catholic Church to punish those responsible for covering-up child sex abuse in the Church and to do more to protect children.

Hundreds of survivors of child sex abuse gathered near the Vatican. They were told they would not be allowed to take their message to Saint Peter's Square that child sex abuse will no longer be tolerated. Security was tight.

Survivors carried banners reading "Hands Off Children," "Shame" and "Justice." Wearing T-shirts with the word "Enough" emblazoned on them, demonstrators turned out from a dozen countries and lit candles as they spoke of their experiences.

ROME
CNN

From CNN's Hada Messia in Rome:

Alleged victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy held a candlelight vigil of solidary at the Vatican on Sunday but were not allowed to deliver letters to a bronze door outside the pope's residence.

Several dozen marchers from the United States, Asia and Europe gathered to share their stories and say more needs to be done about the long-standing problem. The Vatican said it routinely disallows such protests in the square but did allow the group to congregate on a portion of the grounds.

ROME
Lex18

Rome - Members of a group which supports sexually abused children by priests met with Vatican officials today.

Part of the group SurvivorsVoice.org entered the Vatican on Sunday evening.

They originally wanted to stage a candlelight march there but were denied a permit.

Instead, they left some stones with members' names written on them on the grounds of St Peter's Square.

VATICAANSTAD
RKnieuws

VATICAANSTAD (RKnieuws.net) - Aan het Vaticaan is zondag een protestactie gehouden tegen seksueel misbruik in de Kerk. Daaraan werd deelgenomen door misbruikslachtoffers uit dertien landen, onder meer uit Groot-Brittanië, Nederland en België.

Jezuiët Federico Lombardi, woordvoerder van het Vaticaan, die zijn solidariteit met de slachtoffers wou betuigen, werd uitgejouwd.

BELGIE
Het Nieuwsblad

Aartsbisschop Léonard werkt een drukke allerheiligenagenda af, maar controversiële uitspraken moeten er niet van hem verwacht worden. Nadat heel katholiek Vlaanderen hem gisteren de les spelde, zal hij zijn agenda -voorlopig- in alle stilte afwerken.

Vandaag, zondag, begint Léonard aan zijn allerheiligenweekend, dat traditioneel altijd een halve marathon inhoudt. Vanavond mag hij de mis voordragen in Diest, gevolgd door een grote licht- en sacramentsprocessie. Morgen, maandag, gaat hij voor in de allerheiligenviering in Sint-Pieters-Woluwe, die rechtstreeks op Eén wordt uitgezonden. 'Maar meer dan het nodige zal hij niet zeggen', klinkt het in zijn entourage. 'Hij handhaaft de radiostilte.'

BELGIE
HLN

De gepensioneerde priester Rik Devillé is aartsbisschop André Léonard "dankbaar". Niet dat Devillé het eens is met Léonard, maar door de "klare taal" van de aartsbisschop kunnen veel katholieke organisaties nu gemakkelijker afstand nemen van "hardliners als Léonard en Ratzinger" en van het "Roomse dictaat".

Ook binnen de katholieke kerk groeit het verzet tegen aartsbisschop Léonard. Zo distantieerde het Interdiocesaan Pastoraal Beraad (IPB), het grootste overlegorgaan in de katholieke kerk in Vlaanderen, zich gisteren van Léonard. Volgens het IPB gedraagt Léonard zich hooghartig en stelt hij zich boven de gelovigen. Ook de Broeders van Liefde en de katholieke weekbladen Tertio en Kerk & Leven hebben kritiek op de aartsbisschop.

MENASHA (WI)
The Post-Crescent

MENASHA — A Menasha priest has been removed from active ministry and placed on administrative leave following an allegation that he abused a minor.

The Rev. Paul J. Radetski, 62, who serves as pastor of St. John's, St. Mary's and St. Patrick's parishes in Menasha, denies the allegation, according to the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay.

"The Diocese of Green Bay has received a credible allegation of abuse of a minor against Father Paul J. Radetski," said the statement, which was read at Saturday afternoon Masses at St. John's and St. Mary's by a staff priest from the diocese.

The statement said the alleged abuse occurred many years ago in another part of the diocese. It said a temporary administrator will be appointed shortly for the three Menasha parishes. The statement did not give details of the abuse.

CALIFORNIA
10 News

OCEANSIDE, Calif. -- Members of an advocacy group for those abused by priests spoke on Sunday to make the public aware of one cleric that was never prosecuted.

As parishioners sat in church at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Oceanside, Paul Livingston, the leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, worked to ensure that they left with more than just the Sunday sermon.

"We are here to make the public aware of a predator priest that worked [at Sacred Heart] and preyed on young women, impregnating them," said Livingston.

The priest is Father Peter Brennan, who appears on a list of documents relating to priest sexual abuse cases that a judge ordered released last week.

ROME
Wall Street Journal

By NATHANIA ZEVI
ROME—Hundreds of protesters and dozens of people claiming to have been victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests converged on the Vatican's doorstep Sunday, calling on Pope Benedict XVI to take tougher measures to prevent future abuse.

The group gathered for a candlelight vigil at dusk outside the walls of Vatican City, and then tried to march toward St. Peter's Square , inside Vatican territory. Shouting "Enough" and "Hands off children," the protesters, from the U.S., Australia, the Netherlands, Italy and other countries, carried letters and stones from their native lands that they planned to deliver to the pontiff.

However, police blocked the group from entering a boulevard that leads to Vatican City, a sovereign state, though two protesters were allowed beyond the police cordon to deliver the letters and the stones to the Vatican.

Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi drew shouts of "Shame! Shame!" when he approached the group, according to the Associated Press. He was expected to meet with some of the protesters in his office later in the evening, the AP reported. Attempts to reach Father Lombardi were unsuccessful.

ROME
The Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Italian paramilitary police blocked a boulevard leading to the Vatican to prevent a march Sunday by some 100 survivors of clergy sex abuse from reaching St. Peter's Square, but later allowed two protesters to leave letters from the abused at the Holy See's doorstep.

The two also left a dozen stones near the obelisk in St. Peter's square to mark a symbolic path so other survivors might know they have company in their suffering.

The candlelit protest was the first significant demonstration in the shadow of the Vatican by people who had been raped and molested by priests as children, and organizers said it would be repeated until the Holy See takes decisive action to ensure children are safe.

WISCONSIN
Chicago Tribune

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Diocese of Green Bay has removed a Fox Valley area priest from active duty following what officials call a credible allegation of abuse of a minor.

WLUK-TV reports Sunday that the diocese says Father Paul Radetski has been removed from St. John's, St. Mary's and St. Patrick's parishes in Menasha.

A news release on Sunday says he has been placed on administrative leave. A temporary administrator will be appointed for the parishes.

VATICAN CITY
AFP

By Ella Ide (AFP)

VATICAN CITY — Victims of sex abuse by priests across the world took their calls for justice to Pope Benedict XVI's door on Sunday, yelling "Shame!" at a Vatican official in an angry protest.

Around 60 protesters -- victims of abuse and their families -- gathered near St. Peter's Basilica with banners and torches and shouted "Shame on you!" at Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican's spokesman, when he appeared.

Victims from Australia, Belgium, The Netherlands and the United States held up banners saying "The Pope protects paedophile priests," "Church without abuse" and "Pope on trial."

ROME
Reuters

Oct 31, 2010

By Philip Pullella
ROME (Reuters) - Victims of child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests demonstrated near the Vatican on Sunday night, holding up placards demanding that the church punish those responsible for cover ups and do more to protect children.

Some 75 victims and their supporters from the United States and several European countries had wanted to march to the Vatican with candles but were blocked by police because they did not have a permit.

"This is about responsibility," Gary Bergeron, one of the organisers of a group called Survivors Voice told the rally at Castel Sant' Angelo in the heart of Rome within sight of Saint Peter's Basilica some 500 metres away.

AUSTRALIA
The Cairns Post

Monday, November 1, 2010

Bishop James Foley

I met briefly with the editor-at-large on Friday afternoon October 29.

His information was largely drawn from documents filed in court containing, as yet, untested allegations.

I advised him that there were inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the complainant’s version of events which yet had to be aired and tested in potential legal proceedings.

While aware of legal restrictions and other sensitivities, I can state with certainty the following:

1: The first suggestions of child sexual abuse were raised with me, by the original complainant on 24 July, 1998, after I had already removed Joseph Sultana from ministry for other reasons.

GEORGIA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By Shelia M. Poole
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

At a Sunday rally at the State Capitol, a South Carolina minister and Texas radio talk show host were the most visible among 60 people who called for Bishop Eddie Long's resignation as New Birth Missionary Baptist Church senior pastor.

Bishop H. "Profit" Walker from the True Light Pentecost Church in Spartanburg, S.C., described Long as a "bad influence on the Christian church and future generations."

Long earlier was sued by four young men who have alleged the prominent Lithonia church pastor used his influence to coerce them into having sex with him, and that Long gave them lavish trips, gifts and jobs.

ROMA
La Repubblica

Sit-in contro gli abusi dei preti pedofili di fronte a Castel Sant'Angelo. Tra i partecipanti ex allievi sordomuti dell'istituto Antonio Provolo di Verona e Francesco Zanardi, 40 anni, in sciopero della fame contro il vescovo di Savona. Contestato padre Lombardi, portavoce della Santa Sede Padre Federico Lombardi contestato alla manifestazione

Chiedono giustizia, una volta ancora, e pretendono che le violenze non accadano più. E' l'appello rivolto alla Chiesa dalle vittime di abusi che partecipano al raduno internazionale organizzato oggi a Roma, "per chiedere al Papa di agire seriamente e di ordinare ai vescovi di denunciare i preti pedofili".

Il sit-in è cominciato nel pomeriggio, quando diverse di persone, provenienti da tutto il mondo, si sono trovate per inaugurare l'"Anno del sopravvissuto", mostrando cartelli con su scritto: "Giù le mani dai bambini"; "Chiesa senza abusi"; "Il Papa protegge i preti pedofili". Un presidio di raccoglimento, con le testimonianze di chi ha vissuto l'orrore e l'intenzione di marciare silenziosamente verso San Pietro "singolarmente e non in corteo - commentano alcuni dei partecipanti - perché non siamo stati autorizzati".

ROMA
Corriere della Sera

[con video]

ROMA - Sono arrivati da tredici Paesi per manifestare, a Roma, contro la pedofilia nella Chiesa. I rappresentanti delle organizzazioni delle vittime di pedofilia, guidati dagli americani di Survivors Voice, hanno dato vita a un sit-in davanti a Castel Sant’Angelo e poi intendono procedere in fila indiana in direzione di San Pietro anche se la loro manifestazione non è autorizzata. Nel corso della manifestazione hanno contestato padre Federico Lombardi, portavoce della Santa Sede, che si era avvicinato ai manifestanti. Lombardi ha poi detto alle agenzie di stampa di essere passato per esprimere solidarietà e ha precisato che «non c'è stato nessun problema e nessun incidente con i partecipanti alla manifestazione».

DA OGNI PARTE DEL MONDO - Sono venuti da Stati Uniti, Gran Bretagna, Belgio, Paesi Bassi e Australia. Presenti anche alcuni italiani, di Verona e Francesco Zanardi, di Savona, in sciopero della fame da 11 giorni contro il vescovo della sua città, monsignor Vittorio Lupi, perché «provveda a denunciare i preti pedofili». Nel sit-in alcuni cartelli con scritto: «Giù le mani dai bambini», «Chiesa senza abusi», «Il Papa protegge i preti pedofili». «E’ venuto il momento di agire pubblicamente – spiegano gli organizzatoriu della manifestazione -.

ROMA
l'Unita

«Giù le mani dai bambini», «Il Papa protegge i preti pedofili», «Chiesa senza abusi»: questi alcuni dei cartelli che sono stati esposti dai partecipanti ad un sit-in delle vittime di abusi da parte di preti pedofili che si sta svolgendo a Castel Sant'Angelo. Nel corso della manifestazione è stato contestato padre Federico Lombardi, direttore della sala stampa vaticana.

«Non c'è stato nessun problema e nessun incidente con i partecipanti alla manifestazione delle vittime della pedofilia davanti a Castel Sant'Angelo», ha cercato di chiarire il portavoce vaticano. «Semplicemente - ha tentato di spiegare il religioso - volevo salutare gli organizzatori, così mi sono avvicinato. C'erano i giornalisti e le televisioni ma i promotori dell'iniziativa non li ho visti, così sono tornato in ufficio alla Radio Vaticana, perché avevo degli impegni. Tutto qui: non è successo proprio nulla mentre ero lì».

ITALIA
Virgilio

Milano, 31 ott. (Apcom) - Anche l'altro organizzatore della manifestazione, Gary Bergeron, è stato vittima di abusi sessuali da parte di un prete nella stessa diocesi di Boston. Lui e McDais sono le due vittime più note dello scandalo sessuale scoppiato a Boston nel 2002. McDaid ha anche incontrato Papa Benedetto XVI durante il suo viaggio negli Stati Uniti.

Otto anni dopo lo scandalo, sostengono gli esponenti di "Survivor's Voice", il Vaticano non si è assunto responsabilità sufficienti, non è entrato in contatto con le vittime e non ha organizzato programmi di prevenzione. "Le gerarchie della Chiesa Cattolica Romana tendono a coprire più di ogni altra istituzione, questo deve finire" dice McDaid.

VATICAN CITY
Inquirer (Philippines)

By Ella Ide
Agence France-Presse

VATICAN CITY—Clerical sex abuse victims from across the world on Sunday took their calls for justice from Pope Benedict XVI to the doors of the Vatican itself.

Close to a hundred protesters – victims of abuse and their families – gathered in Rome before leading a candle-lit vigil to the edge of St Peter's Square on which they will leave personal messages for the leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

The US group behind the event, Survivor's Voice, said the victims had not been given permission to enter the square as a group, but would attempt to go in small numbers to leave letters and stones to mark their visit.

MENASHA (WI)
WBAY

A priest in Menasha has been put on administrative leave after an abuse allegation is brought to the Green Bay Diocese. Reverend Paul Radetski is accused of abusing a minor years ago in another part of the Diocese.

Speaking on behalf the Diocese, Deacon Ray Dubois said it's an emotional time at Menasha's three Catholic churches. "It's a sad situation for everybody, obviously nobody has first hand knowledge," says DuBois.

Dubois says the alleged victim brought the abuse allegations against Father Paul Radetski to the Green Bay Diocese on Wednesday, saying the alleged abuse had happened years earlier. Immediately, the Diocese responded and notified police. "Father Radetski has been temporarily relieved of his ministry duties, he's also been placed on administrative leave by the Diocese," adds DuBois.

AUSTRALIA
The Cairns Post

Gavin King

Monday, November 1, 2010

THE man at the centre of a lawsuit against the Catholic Church yesterday vowed to follow his legal claim "all the way through" in a bid to end decades of pain he suffered after repeated abuse by a Far Northern priest.

The Cairns man, now 38, yesterday told The Cairns Post he suffered severe depression before seeking professional counselling to come to terms with the abuse he suffered at the hands of Father Joseph Sultana.

"This matter has been pushed aside for so long, I’ve held it back for 30 something years," he said.

ROME
The Guardian (United Kingdom)

Citizens of 12 countries who suffered sexual abuse by Catholic priests today gathered in Rome for a protest march on the Vatican.

Wearing t-shirts reading: "Enough!" in English, Italian and German, the organisers of the candlelit march demanded that the UN recognise the systematic sexual abuse of children as a crime against humanity.

At a briefing beforehand, victims of abuse stood up to describe how their lives had been destroyed by the abuse they suffered as children, with many recounting years of drug and alcohol addiction, eating disorders and psychological and emotional problems.

"For 50 years I thought I was the only person in the entire world that had been abused by a Catholic priest," Sue Cox, a 63-year-old from Warwickshire, said.

ROME
Monsters and Critics

Rome - Dozens of sexual abuse victims on Sunday demanded that the pope take firmer action against the priests who committed the abuse during a demonstration near the Vatican in Rome.

'Hands off our children' and 'Church without abuse' the demonstrators chanted at the protest, organized by US victims' organization Survivors Voice, on the Castel Sant'Angelo. Italian victims also took part.

They claim Pope Benedict XVI has not done enough to help abuse victims or implement its promised change in approach to handling abuse cases.

ROME
NPR

by The Associated Press

ROME October 31, 2010

Italian paramilitary police blocked a boulevard leading to the Vatican to prevent a march in Rome on Sunday by survivors of clergy sex abuse from reaching St. Peter's Square.

When Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi came to speak with organizers Sunday evening, a protester shouted "Shame, shame" in Italian, and Lombardi left, escorted by police.

He later told The AP by telephone that if organizers want to see him he would "gladly" receive them inside his office. Shortly after that, one of the organizers, Gary Bergeron, did meet briefly with Lombardi and the two agreed to meet Sunday night after the end of the protest.

ROME
Bangkok Post

Published: 31/10/2010

Clerical sex abuse victims from across the world on Sunday took their calls for justice from Pope Benedict XVI to the doors of the Vatican itself.

Close to a hundred protesters _ victims of abuse and their families _ gathered in Rome before leading a candle-lit vigil to the edge of St Peter's Square on which they will leave personal messages for the leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

The US group behind the event, Survivor's Voice, said the victims had not been given permission to enter the square as a group, but would attempt to go in small numbers to leave letters and stones to mark their visit.

MALTA
RKnieuws

VALLETTA (RKnieuws.net) - De Kerk van Malta heeft de slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik door priesters laten weten dat hun klachten gegrond zijn en dat hun dossiers nu aan het Vaticaan worden overgemaakt. Dat heeft de woordvoerder van de Maltese Kerk vrijdag gemeld.

De misbruikpraktijken, gepleegd door drie priesters, vonden in de jaren 1980 en 1990 plaats in een weeshuis nabij de hoofdstad Valletta, verklaarde woordvoerder Lou Bondi.

MALTA
The Canadian Press

By George Cini (CP)

VALLETTA, Malta — Several Maltese men who have accused clergymen of sexually abusing them as boys pressed Saturday for quicker action by the Vatican and local courts so that healing might be possible on this heavily Catholic island.

Five victims spoke at a news conference, including one who went public for the first time to encourage others who suffered abuse by priests to come forward.

"I have bottled up these feelings since the 1990s," Joseph Magro, 38, told reporters. "I was not angry against God but had lost all hope in priests.

PENNSYLVANIA
Go Lackawanna

KERRI JORDAN For Go Lackawanna

CLARKS SUMMIT – A Clarks Summit man who was previously a leader of a church youth group pleaded guilty to unlawful contact with and corruption of a minor.

Joshua Warren Landis, 36, will face up to five years at a state correctional institute, according to Lackawanna County Clerk of Judicial Records Annie Brokus.

Landis received consecutive sentences Oct. 27 from Lackawanna County Judge Michael J. Barrasse. He will face 12 to 36 months at a state prison on the count of unlawful contact with minors, a third degree felony, and nine to 24 months for corruption of a minor, a misdemeanor, according to Brokus. Landis was represented by Attorney Paul Walker, of Scranton.

SOUTH DAKOTA
Rapid City Journal

By Andrea J. Cook Journal staff rapidcityjournal.com

The suspension of 7th Circuit Judge A.P. "Pete" Fuller more than three weeks ago has not hampered the delivery of justice in the circuit, according to presiding Judge Jeff Davis.

"Justice is not being denied," Davis said, adding that he court schedule has not been interrupted by Fuller's absence.

Retired 5th Circuit Judge Eugene Dobberpuhl was recently assigned to the civil sexual abuse lawsuits filed against the Catholic Diocese of Rapid City and the Wisconsin Province of the Society of Jesus.

WISCONSIN
Green Bay Post-Crescent

MENASHA — A Menasha priest has been removed from active ministry and placed on administrative leave following an allegation that he abused a minor.

The Rev. Paul J. Radetski, 62, who serves as pastor of St. John’s, St. Mary’s and St. Patrick’s parishes in Menasha, denies the allegation, according to the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay.

“The Diocese of Green Bay has received a credible allegation of abuse of a minor against Father Paul J. Radetski,” said the statement, which was read at Saturday afternoon masses at St. John’s and St. Mary’s by a staff priest from the diocese.

MASSACHUSETTS
Berkshire Eagle

By Dick Lindsay, Berkshire Eagle Staff,
Friday October 29, 2010

PITTSFIELD -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield may soon be paying taxes on five churches it closed in the city more than two years ago.

The Board of Assessors is seeking to add All Souls Mission, Holy Family, St. Francis Xavier, St. Theresa and St. Mary's of the Morning Star to the Pittsfield property tax rolls for the current fiscal year, because those parishes have been vacant since July 2008. They were closed by a diocese reorganization plan.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish on Fenn Street, which was also closed by the diocese two years ago, was purchased by the Brien Center this summer, and has maintained its tax-exempt status under new ownership.

UNITED STATES
John Paul II Millstone

Paris Arrow

Here’s “The Never Ending Moral Story of John Paul II the Great and Fr. Marcial Maciel”. Fr. Maciel the founder of the (Vatican 30 billion dollars worth) Legionaries of Christ (and Zenit.Org) was a serial pedophile (including with one of his own biological son). Fr. Maciel therefore should be excommunicated posthumously because he broke his priestly vows of celibacy many times over and was a serial pedophile criminal for many years -- he is worse than a (good law abiding) woman attempting to be a Catholic priest who would be excommunicated instantly.

John Paul II endorsed and glorified the immoral Fr. Marcial Maciel. As Pope and as priest John Paul II abused his powers in the Sacrament of Penance and forgave-and-forget all the crimes of Fr. Maciel. John Paul II did absolutely nothing to help the victims of Fr. Maciel and he knew all about them. John Paul II must never be canonized a saint because as the Head of the Holy See he safeguarded the Phenomenon of Priest Pedophilia especially Fr. Maciel’s serial pedophilia for over a quarter of a century. And what a twist of fate, his first miracle with the French nun is not miracle after all, she has fallen ill again.

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Dennis Coday on Oct. 29, 2010 NCR Today

More reader input on Nov. 2 election campaigns in which sex abuse by clergy figures as an issue.

Kris Ward of the National Survivor Advocates Coalition, a sex abuse survivors group, told me that her group is urging Ohio voters to look at the record of Jon Husted, the Republican candidate for Ohio's Secretary of State.

This is an important race, the ChillicotheGazatte.com tells us, because "it's redistricting time. The next secretary of state will be one of five people who will help draw legislative districts in 2011, which will carry considerable influence over which party controls each chamber of the Ohio General Assembly."

Husted is running against Maryellen O'Shaughnessy, a Democrat, and Charles R. Earl, a Libertarian.

MALTA
Malta Today

By Miriam Dalli

Five of the victims of past sexual abuse by priests at St Joseph’s Home have had their allegations confirmed by the Maltese Church's response team for victims of priest sex abuse.

Even though they have been told their case will be sent to the Vatican for adjudication, the Catholic Church may decide to have their case heard in Malta instead of Rome.

Philip Cauchi, 40, Joseph Magro, 38, Lawrence Grech, 38, Olivier Goodram, 39 and Joseph Mangion, 37, this morning described the letter from the Missionary Society of St Paul as one step forward for their liberation.

ROMA
Reuters

ROMA (Reuters) - Le vittime di abusi da parte di sacerdoti cattolici cercheranno di sfilare in corteo in Vaticano domenica prossima, nonostante non abbiano ottenuto il permesso, per chiedere alla Chiesa di fare di più per proteggere i bambini e far sì che i colpevoli si assumano le loro responsabilità.

Bernie McDaid e Gary Bergeron, fondatori di www.survivorsvoice.org, oggi hanno detto in conferenza stampa che avvieranno una petizione per chiedere alle Nazioni Unite di dichiarare la pedofilia sistemica un crimine contro l'umanità.

"Non siamo paralizzati. Siamo persone ferite che vogliono parlare di questo ora. La colpa e la vergogna è nell'insabbiamento", ha detto McDaid, una delle prime vittime di abusi a incontrare Papa Benedetto XVI a Washington nel 2008.

CITTA' DEL VATICANO
ASCA

(ASCA) - Citta' del Vaticano, 29 ott - Due anni fa, Bernie McDaid, vittima da ragazzo degli abusi sessuali di un prete della diocesi di Boston, ha incontrato papa Benedetto XVI negli Stati Uniti, durante il primo incontro di un pontefice con un gruppo di vittime di pedofilia nella Chiesa. Adesso, dopo la nuova esplosione dello scandalo sulle due sponde dell'Atlantico, McDaid ha organizzato per domenica a Roma, a pochi passi dal Vaticano, un incontro mondiale delle vittime di abusi nella Chiesa. Il papa, spiega in un'intervista all'ASCA, ha ''promesso un cambiamento nella giusta direzione'' ma nei due anni trascorsi dall'incontro ''non e' cambiato nulla''. Di qui la decisione di convocare il 'Reformation day' - questo il nome dell'incontro - nello stesso giorno in cui i protestanti festeggiano la Riforma luterana.

Nessun intento, pero', di prendere di mira la Chiesa cattolica: ''Diversamente da altri gruppi di vittime - spiega l'altro promotore dell'iniziativa, Gary M. Bergeron, anche lui abusato cosi' come lo sono suo padre e suo fratello - che amano usare questo tema per promuovere i loro programmi, come cambiare la struttura della Chiesa, il nostro gruppo cerca solo di aiutare le vittime di oggi e proteggere i bambini di domani''.

ROMA
La Stampa

'Chiedono alla Chiesa di fare di più per proteggere i bambini dagli abusi e punire i colpevoli: è questo l'obiettivo della marcia che le vittime dei preti pedofili hanno organizzato per domani a Roma. Gli organizzatori sono gli americani Bernie McDaid, 54 anni, e Gary Bergeron, 47, fondatori dell'associazione Survivor's Voice.

MARCO TOSATTI

Chiedono alla Chiesa di fare di più per proteggere i bambini dagli abusi e punire i colpevoli: è questo l'obiettivo della marcia che le vittime dei preti pedofili hanno organizzato per domani a Roma. Gli organizzatori sono gli americani Bernie McDaid, 54 anni, e Gary Bergeron, 47, fondatori dell'associazione Survivor's Voice, vittime entrambi da ragazzi delle 'attenzioni' sessuali di un prete della diocesi di Boston. "Siamo persone ferite che vogliono che si parli di questo problema. La vera colpa e la vergogna sta nell'aver coperto gli abusi", ha detto in questi giorni McDaid, che fu anche una delle prime vittime di abusi a incontrare Benedetto XVI, nel 2008 a Washington. La manifestazione di domani, nel 'Reformation Day', cioé nel giorno in cui i protestanti festeggiano la Riforma luterana, arriva dopo la bufera che nei mesi scorsi ha nuovamente investito la Chiesa a livello globale per lo scandalo pedofilia. Secondo McDaid, nonostante i giusti cambiamenti promessi dal Papa, nei due anni trascorsi dall'incontro di Washington "non è cambiato nulla". E ora, tra le altre cose, le vittime vogliono far partire una petizione perché le Nazioni Unite dichiarino la pedofilia un crimine contro l'umanità.

MALTA
The Malta Independent

by Scott Grech

The Gozo Diocese is investigating whether a Malta-born priest, who allegedly sexually abused an altar boy while living in Australia between March 1979 and November 1982, is in fact living in Gozo, Gozo Curia spokesman Fr Anthony Refalo said yesterday, when contacted.

Once the facts are established, he said, the Gozo Curia will release a statement to the media.

Australian newspaper The Weekend Post reported yesterday that a man has just launched a lawsuit against the Australian Catholic Church after he alleged that he was abused “regularly” by a priest while he was a student and altar boy at St Joseph’s School and Church in the town of Cairns, in Queensland, Australia.

MALTA
The Malta Independent

by Scott Grech

Several of the victims who claim they were sexually abused by priests at St Joseph’s Home in Santa Venera, where they lived when they were growing up, expressed their satisfaction to the media yesterday after the local Church had informed them that their allegations were founded.

TV presenter Lou Bondi, the victims’ spokesman, said: “All sexually abused victims have received a letter from Fr Louis Mallia, superior general of the Missionary Society of St Paul (MSSP), advising that the Archdiocese’s response team have confirmed that their allegations of sexual abuse against Fr Charles Pulis, Fr Conrad Sciberras (who has since fled to Italy) and Bro. Joseph Bonnett are founded.

“The case against the three men will now be sent to the Vatican for adjudication, and a decision on whether to defrock the priests or not is expected to be reached in the coming weeks, as court proceedings against the priests in Malta continue.

ROME
Stock Markets Review

BOSTON, Oct. 19, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Survivors Voice, Inc., a non-profit foundation founded by clergy abuse survivors Bernie McDaid & Gary Bergeron to help survivors of clergy sexual abuse, has started a global petition and are calling on the United Nations to define the childhood sexual abuse of children as "Crimes against humanity".

"The one natural resource that is equally shared by each and every country in every part of the world is the one natural resource that continues to be ignored by all. It is the natural innocence of a child. If the success of the future of our race as human beings is based on the protection of our children, then the continued acceptance of the status quo of the sexual abuse of children is nothing less than crimes against humanity and should be labeled as such. We are calling on the United Nations to redefine the systemic sexual abuse of children which continues to be revealed around the world to be included in the context of 'Crimes against humanity,'" said Gary Bergeron, clergy abuse victim & Co-Founder of Survivors Voice, Inc.

Survivors Voice, Inc. has invited survivors of childhood sexual abuse, their supporters and support groups from around the globe to join together on October 31 at the Vatican in Rome for a 'Reformation Day' event where they will begin the world wide petition. This event will mark the second time the pair has traveled to the Vatican to address the continuing issue of clergy sexual abuse.

ROME
Globe Newswire

BOSTON, Oct. 26, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Survivors Voice (www.survivorsvoice.org) co-founders Gary Bergeron & Bernie McDaid plan to move ahead with the Reformation Day event on Sunday, October 31, 2010.

Survivor's Voice was informed today that the Vatican social communications officer, Mr. Scelzo, began informing members of the media yesterday that they will not be allowed to cover the Reformation Day event or film from the grounds of the Vatican. Survivor's Voice has also been denied permits for victims of clergy abuse to gather as a group on Vatican property.

The event which is described as "A gathering of people from around the globe standing together with survivors of childhood sexual abuse in one united voice to say 'Enough!'" will go on as planned at the City Square in front of the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome beginning at 6:00 pm on Sunday Evening, October 31st.

UNITED KINGDOM
Worcester News

Saturday 30th October 2010

A disgraced former Worcester clergyman registered as a sex offender has had a three-year community rehabilitation order revoked by a judge.

The Rev Nduna Mpunzi, who was vicar of St Barnabas with Christ Church, Tolladine, pleaded guilty in 2008 to an assault on his wife and sexual fondling of a teenage girl.

Worcester Crown Court was told at the time that the offences merited a 16-month prison sentence but Mpunzi was able to walk free after it was disclosed that he had spent eight months in custody on remand.

AUSTRALIA
Times of Malta

A former altar boy in Australia has launched a lawsuit against the Catholic Church alleging years of abuse by Maltese priest Fr Joseph Sultana.

The Weekend Post reported that in a special investigation it has uncovered a 20-year web of alleged sexual abuse and a repeated failure by high-ranking church officials to report the matters to police.

The Church also failed to remove the priest at the centre of the allegations from contact with children when they were alerted to the allegations of abuse, it said.

ROME
Voice of America

Sabina Castelfranco | Rome 30 October 2010

Victims of childhood sexual abuse are gathering in Rome this weekend and will attempt to march on Saint Peter's Square in the Vatican to demand the Catholic Church do more to protect children and hold abusers accountable.

A few hundred people from a dozen countries are expected to take part in events organized in Rome to raise awareness and promote discussion of what they say is "the worldwide issue of childhood sexual abuse."

Bernie McDaid and Gary Bergeron, founders of Survivors Voice, say this is the first time that abuse survivors from around the world will come together for a day of healing and to demand greater accountability from the Vatican.

CANADA
Ottawa Citizen

By Catherine Lawson, The Ottawa Citizen October 30, 2010

The Orthodox Church in America has launched an internal investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against Canadian Archbishop Seraphim Storheim.

The archbishop, based in Spencerville, has been on a leave of absence since the beginning of the month when it was revealed he was the focus of a police investigation into accusations of sexual abuse going back 30 years.

The church's Holy Synod of Bishops announced the formation of a Synodal Commission that will conduct the internal investigation. Any information will be handed over to the relevant authorities, said a press release announcing the commission.

NEVADA
Reno Register-Journal

By Martha Bellisle • mbellisle@rgj.com • October 30, 2010

A former employee with the Diocese of Reno has filed a federal lawsuit claiming he was fired for objecting to and reporting allegedly illegal and fraudulent acts by diocese officials relating to a federal grant to refurbish a historic Catholic church in Virginia City.

Among Carmen "Nick" Nicosia's concerns was a $500 donation to the church project by Joe Conforte, former owner of the Mustang Ranch brothel and now in exile in Brazil after fleeing tax-evasion charges, the suit said.

Nicosia said the money was laundered through Conforte's lawyer, Virgil Bucchianeri.

CANADA
Ottawa Citizen

By Andrew Seymour, The Ottawa Citizen October 29, 2010

The case of a former Nova Scotia bishop accused of possessing and importing child pornography will be back in court in early December to determine how much time may be needed for his April trial.

“I should be in a position by Dec. 1 to tell what time we need to keep in April, if any,” Raymond Lahey’s lawyer, Michael Edelson, told Ontario Court Justice Lise Maisonneuve Friday.

Edelson did not elaborate either inside or outside of court as to why Lahey, who was not in court, may not need the nine days set aside for his trial in April.

BELGIE
Het Nieuwsblad

donderdag 28 oktober 2010

BRUSSEL - De plenaire Kamer heeft donderdag unaniem de oprichting goedgekeurd van de bijzondere commissie die zich gaat buigen over seksueel misbruik in gezagsrelaties, vooral binnen de kerk.

Onmiddellijk na de plenaire vergadering kwam de commissie een eerste keer bijeen voor haar installatievergadering.

De meest verrassende tussenkomst kwam van Carina Van Cauter (Open VLD). 'Ik was in 1972 zelf een slachtoffer', sprak ze met een krantenartikel uit die periode in de hand. Met haar getuigenis wilde ze de slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik een hart onder de riem steken.

BELGIE
HLN

Een aantal slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik door geestelijken die klacht wilden indienen bij de Brusselse onderzoeksrechter De Troy, zijn van een kale reis teruggekeerd. De onderzoeksrechter mag hun klachten niet meer aanvaarden nu er tegen hem een wrakingsverzoek is ingediend. De Werkgroep Mensenrechten in de Kerk en meester Christine Mussche, advocate van een groep slachtoffers, betreuren de situatie.

Het wrakingsverzoek werd vorige week ingediend door meester Fernand Keuleneer, de advocaat van het aartsbisdom Mechelen en kardinaal Danneels. Zij wensen dat onderzoeksrechter De Troy van het onderzoek verwijderd wordt. Het verzoek moet nu behandeld worden door de eerste kamer van het Brusselse hof van beroep en zolang dat niet gebeurd is, mag de onderzoeksrechter ook niet verder werken op het dossier.

BELGIE
hbvl

De uitspraak van aartsbisschop Léonard dat gepensioneerde pedofiele priesters best niet meer voor het gerecht gebracht worden, is een slag in het gezicht voor de slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik. “De kerk moet het misbruik erkennen én vergoeden. En laat daarnaast justitie a.u.b. haar werk doen”, zegt Jan Hertogen, zelf slachtoffer van seksueel misbruik.

“Ik vind dat de kerk aan haar slachtoffers een som geld voor therapie- en andere kosten moet betalen. En wat de pedofiele priesters op rust betreft. Laat hen dan maar een deel van hun pensioen afstaan aan de slachtoffers.”

BELGIUM
Whispers in the Loggia

After three decades of the genial progressivism of Cardinal Godfried Danneels, early January's appointment of André-Joseph Leonard as archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels promised the dawn of something new atop what remained of the Belgian church: a robust, markedly more traditional figure and staunch B16 ally with anything but unease about confronting the Low Country's secular status quo.

But now, what a difference ten months makes.

Weeks after Leonard's March installation, Belgium's longest serving ordinary -- Bishop Roger Vangheluwe of Bruges -- resigned amid revelations that he had abused his nephew both before and following his 1984 elevation. In its wake, the Bruges story set off a civil investigation that saw a monumental late June raid on church properties nationwide -- among them Danneels' apartment, the Brussels chancery, the national church's office for victim assistance, and even the crypt of Mechelen cathedral -- that no less than the Pope himself publicly protested as "deplorable."

BELGIE
HLN

Het Interdiocesaan Pastoraal Beraad (IPB), een overlegorgaan van de katholieke kerk in Vlaanderen, distantieert zich van aartsbisschop André Léonard, die verklaard had dat hoogbejaarde priesters die seksueel misbruik pleegden niet meer moesten berecht worden.

"We gaan niet akkoord met wat hij doet," zegt Josiane Caproens, voorzitster van het IPB. "We vinden dat hij zich te veel boven de gelovigen stelt en zich voordoet alsof hij dé waarheid bezit. Hij voelt zich nog gesterkt in zijn houding door de oppositie die hij krijgt."

Het IPB zegt dat niet kan overgegaan worden tot de orde van de dag, nu de kerk wordt geteisterd door een crisis, met de talrijke pedofilieschandalen. "Daarbij is het belangrijk om geen olie op het vuur te gooien. We moeten nu een nederige kerk zijn en nadenken over de toekomst."

BELGIE
De Standaard

BRUSSEL - Ook binnen de Kerk leeft onvrede met de blunders waar aartsbisschop Léonard stilaan een patent op lijkt te hebben. Rik Torfs roept op tot een petitie waarin gelovigen kunnen zeggen dat Léonard niet hun spreekbuis is.

Van onze redacteurs

'Hoe is het in godsnaam mogelijk?' Dat was het eerste wat Jef Ravelingien, priester van de basisbeweging in Brugge, gisteren dacht toen hij zijn krant opensloeg en daar las wat aartsbisschop André-Joseph Léonard nu weer had gezegd. Waarom weer zo'n controversiële uitspraak waarbij Léonard het opneemt voor bejaarde daders van seksueel misbruik?

'Je kan toch geen onderscheid maken tussen bejaarde priesters en andere bejaarde daders? Wat voor de een geldt, moet ook voor de ander gelden. Als er verjaring is, dan voor iedereen. Als er nog vervolgd kan worden, moet ook iedereen onder dezelfde lat.'

VATICAN CITY
Monterey Herald

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press

VATICAN CITY—The Vatican bank has taken steps to satisfy tough EU and international norms on money laundering and terror financing after being confronted with an unprecedented crackdown by Italian prosecutors, The Associated Press has learned.

In recent weeks the bank has made written and in-person pledges to pass anti-money laundering legislation, report and investigate suspicious transactions, identify customers to law enforcement and create a special compliance authority.

Prosecutors, though, aren't buying any of it. They claim that even as the bank was making such overtures, it broke the law by trying to transfer money without identifying the sender or recipient, or what the money was being used for.

CANADA
The New York Times

By IAN AUSTEN
Published: October 29, 2010
MONTREAL — At least 50,000 Quebecers are expected to gather Saturday for something most rarely do: attend a religious service.

But the Mass at the Olympic Stadium to celebrate the elevation of Brother André, a school porter and faith healer who died 73 years ago, to sainthood is one of many contradictions surrounding religion, and Roman Catholicism in particular, in Quebec. ...

But amid the celebrations over Brother André’s canonization — which took place this month in Rome — another issue looms. The police have opened an investigation into accusations of widespread sexual abuse of students at the Collège Notre Dame decades after Brother André worked there. These, to a large degree, have been advanced by a former member of the Congregation of Holy Cross, the order to which Brother André belonged and that controls the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

The order has said it will cooperate with the police investigation. Officials have apologized for acts they said “should never have occurred” and have said the congregation “will bear the responsibility of indemnifying all victims concerned.”

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY Michael O'Keeffe
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Saturday, October 30th 2010

A lawyer representing the founder of the famed Riverside Church basketball program says his client failed to appear this week for his arraignment in a Massachusetts court on sex abuse charges because the two-count indictment handed down earlier this month is flawed.

Ernest Lorch was scheduled to enter a plea on charges of indecent assault and battery and attempted rape in Hampshire Superior Court in Northampton on Tuesday. When he failed to appear in court on Tuesday, Judge Bertha Josephson issued an arrest warrant.

Attorney Frederick Cohn said he will fight extradition because the two-page indictment is vague - it says the assault took place between March 1977 and April 1978.

CANADA
Montreal Gazette

Two groups are asking organizers of today's Brother Andre celebration to collect money for people who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of pedophile Catholic priests and lay brothers.

They say some of the entry fee (tickets cost $5) for today's event at the Olympic Stadium should go to indemnify victims and pay for psychological support. They are also calling for a collection during the event, with money going to victims.

The Association of Victims of Priests and a committee of victims of lay brothers at College Notre Dame sent letters asking Jean-Claude Turcotte, archbishop of Montreal, and Pierre Morissette, bishop of St. Jerome and president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, to support the idea.

MALTA
The Malta Independent

by Scott Grech

The victims who claim they were sexually abused by priests as they were growing up at St Joseph’s Home in Sta Venera have been notified by the local Church that their allegations were founded, the victims said in a statement yesterday.

Some of the 11 men involved will address a press conference today to further elaborate on the news, after they were told that their case will now be sent to the Vatican for adjudication.

Back in April one of the victims, Lawrence Grech, who often acted as the spokesperson on behalf of the other 10 men, the majority of whom have never shown their face in public, demanded an apology from the Church at a press conference prior to the Pope’s 26-hour visit to Malta that month.

SALEM (MA)
The Salem News

By Tom Dalton
Staff writer The Salem News Sat Oct 30, 2010

SALEM — Bernie McDaid has taken on the Catholic Church before.

In 2002, the former Salem altar boy joined a lawsuit against Cardinal Bernard Law and other church officials alleging that he and dozens of boys were abused by the late Rev. Joseph Birmingham, a serial pedophile who served at St. James Church in the late 1960s.

Two years ago, McDaid, who had emerged as a spokesman for priest abuse survivors, was one of three victims invited to meet with Pope Benedict XVI during his historic visit to Washington, D.C.

NORTH CAROLINA
The McDowell News

By Richelle Bailey
Published: October 29, 2010

Editor’s note: It is The McDowell News’ policy not to print the names of victims in sexual assault cases. However, this victim contacted reporters to tell her story and gave permission for her identity to be revealed.

Casie Rumfelt wanted someone to love her. One of her church officials honed in on that, she stated, preyed on her vulnerability and was eventually convicted of molesting her.

She was the victim of sexual assault at the hands of one of her fellow church-goers at New Manna. He volunteered as a boys’ basketball coach and taught Sunday school. She was 14 and 15 at the time of the offenses, and he was 25 and 26, was married and had a little girl.

GEORGIA
11 Alive

DEKALB CO., GA -- A plaintiff involved in the Bishop Eddie Long sexual coercion lawsuit has reached an agreement with the Dekalb County District Attorney regarding his role in a church burglary this summer.

Maurice Robinson, was arrested for breaking into New Birth Missionary Baptist Church June 13, 2010 and stealing property.

A few months after his arrest, Robinson accused Bishop Eddie Long, pastor of New Birth, of sexual abuse in a civil lawsuit.

WASHINGTON
Daily Record

By BARB OWENS staff writer

Former pastor James L. Watkins, 51, of Cle Elum was sentenced to 18 years in prison Friday after pleading guilty to four counts of sexual abuse earlier this month. Watkins was found guilty of first-degree child molestation, first-degree rape of a child, second-degree rape of a child and third-degree rape of a child on Oct. 11.

Watkins was arrested on July 13 when he turned himself in and confessed to the Cle Elum-Roslyn-South Cle Elum Police Department after the victim reported the crimes to police. The victim was concerned that Watkins was grooming another possible victim for sexual abuse, said deputy prosecuting attorney Paul Sander.

The crimes took place between 1997 and 2003 when the victim was between the ages of 9 and 15, Sander said.

SAN JOSE (CA)
Mercury News

By Sean Webby
swebby@mercurynews.com

William Lynch made a trip in May to the Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in Los Gatos to see the Rev. Jerold Lindner again.

"Do you remember me?" he asked the 65-year-old Jesuit priest.

"You abused me and my brother."

Then, police reports continue, the 44-year-old Lynch began punching Lindner, pummeling the older man so badly that he was hospitalized, his body covered in bruises.

The beating may have been prophetic. In a 2002 interview with the Mercury News, he said his rage at Lindner for molesting the Lynch brothers when they were young children was so great, "I could kill him with my bare hands."

SAN JOSE (CA)
ABC 7

[with video]

Lisa Amin Gulezian

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- A local man is accused of beating up the priest who victimized him in 1975. The attack happened in Los Gatos at the Catholic rest home where the priest lives.

On Friday night, the priest did not want to talk to ABC7. A spokesperson did say after the attack, the priest was badly hurt with cuts and bruises, but then he drove himself to the hospital for treatment.

The suspect denies everything.

"We'll plead him not guilty," says Lynch's attorney, Pat Harris.

CANADA
Montreal Gazette

By SUE MONTGOMERY, The Gazette October 30, 2010

They're calling it a small miracle from St. Andre.

Tongue in cheek, perhaps, but victims of alleged sexual abuse at the hands of the saint's fellow Roman Catholic brothers applauded yesterday's unanimous Supreme Court decision allowing a Quebec woman who was abused by a priest in the late 1970s to launch a lawsuit against the Catholic Church.

"It's a big victory for the victims of College Notre Dame," said Robert Cornellier, who is seeking permission to file a class-action suit on behalf of his late brother Rene and other former students who were abused in the 1970s and '80s by brothers of Congregation of Holy Cross.

CANADA
Montreal Gazette

By MIKE DE SOUZA, Postmedia News October 30, 2010

The Roman Catholic Church should "act honourably" in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling yesterday that reopens the door to a lawsuit over a series of sexual assaults dating back to the 1970s, a lawyer representing the victim said.

Shirley Christensen was abused as a child in a Quebec City parish in the late 1970s, but the assaults were only reported in 2006, eventually resulting in a guilty plea by the priest involved. Rev. Paul-Henri Lachance was sentenced in 2009 to 18 months in jail for the crimes.

Christensen, 36, has tried twice to launch lawsuits but was turned down by Quebec courts, which said she had waited too long because of time limits on when someone can sue for damages in a civil case. The Supreme Court ruling said the case needs to be properly analyzed by the lower court before reaching any conclusion.

ROME
Montreal Gazette

By PHILIP PULLELLA, Reuters October 30, 2010

Victims of abuse by Roman Catholic priests will try to march on the Vatican tomorrow despite the lack of a police permit, to demand the church do more to protect children and hold abusers accountable.

Bernie McDaid and Gary Bergeron, founders of www.survivorsvoice.org,told a news conference yesterday they would start a petition drive to ask the United Nations to declare systemic pedophilia a crime against humanity.

"We are not crippled. We are injured people who are willing to talk about it now. The guilt and the shame is in the cover-up," said McDaid, one of the first abuse victims to meet with Pope Benedict, in Washington in 2008.

MALTA
Times of Malta

[with video]

Five men who have for years alleged sexual abuse by members of the clergy at St Joseph Home, complained today that it had taken the local Church too long - seven years - to establish that there was enough evidence to refer the case to the Vatican.

“When I was young I had opened up my heart but nobody believed me," one of the victims, Lawrence Grech, said.

“The Maltese should remove their blinkers when children speak out and take action. Had they done this, none of this would have happened.”

Lou Bondi, spokesman for the group, told the media that the fact that the case had been before the Church authorities for seven years was 'a scandal'.

CANADA
The Daily News

By ERICA BAJER, THE DAILY NEWS

Cruel words and dirty looks continue to tear open the emotional wounds Lou Ann Soontiens suffered as a result of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of Father Charles Sylvestre.

In the years since she first spoke out about the molestation, rape and forced abortion the pedophile priest inflicted on her, she's been repeatedly wounded by words.

Soontiens said she's been the target of nasty looks, snide comments and misplaced blame.

"Coming forward was hard enough, we don't need the backlash," she said, noting she's heard similar stories from other survivors. "We were victims, people shouldn't shun us."

CANADA
The Standard

By JOHN VESSOYAN, QMI AGENCY

Wearing a navy blue jacket and light blue shirt, Donald Grecco sat in the prisoner's box inside the John Sopinka Courthouse and avoided making eye contact with two of his victims and their supporters.

About 15 kilograms lighter than he was in the summer, Grecco looked frail as he listened for nearly four hours to his lawyer, Brian Donnelly, who offered mitigating circumstances and submissions before his client would be sentenced for the crimes he committed against three teenaged boys in cases that date back 30 years.

Grecco, a former Roman Catholic priest, didn't receive his judgment Friday afternoon as was expected. Instead, his sentencing has been delayed a third time. Court will reconvene Nov. 26 to hear the Crown's submissions. The new date for sentencing has been set for Dec. 14 in Hamilton.

CANADA
Calgary Sun

By KEVIN MARTIN, CALGARY SUN

Last Updated: October 29, 2010

The Crown is considering seeking an arrest warrant for an elderly Quebec priest, set to face trial in connection with a Calgary scam, who has gone missing.

Prosecutor Photini Papadatou told court Friday the Surete du Quebec, to whom father Gilles Dube is supposed to be reporting, hasn’t heard from him since April.

Papadatou said Dube, 83, is required to check-in monthly to the provincial police force as a condition of his bail pending trial.

She also told Justice Beth Hughes the head of the archdiocese that posted Dube’s $5,000 bail hasn’t heard from him either.

ROME
The Irish Times

PADDY AGNEW in Rome

CLERICAL SEX abuse survivors from 12 countries, including Ireland, will gather in Rome tomorrow, close to the Vatican, for an unprecedented “Reformation Day” intended to highlight the issue of childhood sexual abuse not only in the Catholic Church but throughout society.

The brainchild of the US-based Survivors’ Voice group (survivorsvoice.org), run by Boston-based clerical sex abuse victims, Bernie McDaid and Gary Bergeron, the gathering is expected to be attended by victims and supporters from Australia, the USA, Canada, England, France, the Netherlands, Ireland and Italy. Mr McDaid was one of a number of survivors who met privately with Pope Benedict XVI in Washington two years ago.

The gathering, expected to feature modest numbers, will announce the opening of the “Year of The Survivor” before holding a candlelit vigil in front of Castel Sant’Angelo, near the Vatican, tomorrow evening.The organisers had hoped to hold the vigil in St Peter’s Square but were were told this would not be allowed. Vatican senior spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi said last night there was nothing unusual about this since no demonstrations are ever allowed in St Peter’s Square.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

JUSTICE FRANK O’Donnell of the Circuit Criminal Court yesterday directed that a former Dublin priest be found not guilty on two charges in his trial for child rape and sex abuse. The judge also expressed frustration at daily delays in the trial.

One of the charges dropped alleged buggery by the defendant in an open area near where the complainant lived and the second alleged indecent assault on the same occasion.

The defendant continues to face 14 charges, five of buggery and nine of indecent assault, on a then altar boy between June 1st, 1979, and June 30th, 1983. The boy was aged between seven and 11 over the period.

CALIFORNIA
Mercury News

By Sean Webby swebby@mercurynews.com

In an interview with the Mercury News eight years ago, William Lynch said that he was so angry at the priest he had sued for molesting him as a child that "I could kill him with my bare hands.''

Lynch surrendered today to Santa Clara County Sheriff's deputies who suspect him of tracking the Rev. Jerold Lindner to the Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in Los Gatos in May and pummeling the 65-year-old retired cleric so badly that he ended up in the hospital.

Lynch, 44, of San Francisco, was booked on suspicion of assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury, a felony, and was given a bail of $25,000. There is no scheduled arraignment.

CANADA
Toronto Star

Andrew Chung
Quebec Bureau

MONTREAL—A holdout compared to other provinces in giving sexual abuse victims the benefit of the doubt, Quebec courts will now have to think twice before throwing out cases where the alleged abuse happened many years ago.

In what experts are calling a “partial victory” for victims, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in favour of Shirley Christensen, 37, a Quebec City resident who has been trying to sue the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec for the abuse she endured as a young girl at the hands of a priest.

The priest, Paul-Henri Lachance, pleaded guilty in 2009 to several charges of sexual assault against Christensen. Nearing 80 years old, Lachance was sentenced to 18 months in jail.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Desert Dispatch

October 29, 2010 2:18 PM
By AARON DOME, staff writer
SAN DIEGO • Documents recently released by a San Diego judge in conjunction with a sex abuse lawsuit reveal that a former St. Joseph Catholic Church priest who was convicted of molesting a 13-year-old boy in Barstow 23 years ago was transferred to a Diocese in Mexico, where he still ministers.

Rev. Gustavo Benson — who served at St. Joseph from January of 1985 until leaving in December of 1986 — received a sentence of three years probation after he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of molestation in a plea bargain agreement in Barstow in 1987.

Benson was accused of molesting two teenage boys at his Barstow home and giving two other boys beer and wine coolers at his Forest Hills cabin.

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

[the complaint]

BY JAKE WAGMAN • jwagman@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8628

ST. LOUIS -- Ed Martin is not buying that a website targeting him was a freelance project by researchers who worked for his opponent.

The Republican Congressional hopeful has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Comission against his Democratic opponent, U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, alleging the website represents an unlawful coordinated attack.

The site, TheRealEdMartin.com, seeks to tie Martin, former head of the Human Rights office for the St. Louis Archdiocese, to priest abuse.

CANADA
Welland Tribune

HAMILTON — Donald Grecco's sentencing has been delayed for the third time.

Grecco's attorney spent four hours in a Hamilton courtroom earlier today, presenting arguements regarding the sentencing of the former Roman Catholic priest, who pleaded guilty in March to three counts of gross indecency.

The hearing was adjourned until Nov. 26, when the Crown is expected to present its submissions.

CANADA
The Vancouver Sun

OTTAWA — The Orthodox Church in America has launched an internal investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against a former Archbishop of Canada.

Archbishop Seraphim Storheim, based in the eastern Ontario rural community of Spencerville, has been on a leave of absence since the start of October after Winnipeg police launched an investigation into sexual-abuse claims dating back nearly 30 years.

The church's Holy Synod of Bishops announced Friday that it had "offered its blessing" during a special session held earlier this month to the formation of a Synodal Commission that will conduct the internal investigation.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Beacon

[the complaint]

By Jo Mannies, Beacon Political Reporter

Republican congressional candidate Ed Martin announced today that he has filed an FEC complaint against U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-St. Louis, claiming that Carnahan's campaign was involved in the creation of an anti-Martin website.

Martin also released a copy of the complaint. Carnahan's campaign denies any part of the site, therealedmartin.com, and calls the complaint the equivalent of a "nuisance lawsuit."

The website -- the realedmartin.com -- accuses Martin of failing to do enough during his tenure with the St. Louis Archdiocese to take appropriate action regarding pedophile priests. As head of the archdiocese's Office of Human Rights, Martin sat on its governing board, called the Curia. He says he had no involvement in the handling of priests.

CANADA
CKTB

Siobhan Morris, 610 CKTB News
10/29/2010

Still no sentence for Donald Grecco.

The former Niagara priest and admitted child molester's sentencing has been adjourned until November 30th.

Grecco has plead guilty to three counts of gross indecency after sexually assaulting three altar boys in the 1970s and 80s.

The sentencing process got started in a Hamilton court room Friday.

CALIFORNIA
Fox 59

GILLIAN FLACCUS, TERRY CHEA
Associated Press

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A man who says he was molested three decades ago by a Jesuit priest was arrested Friday on charges that he tracked down the retired cleric in his retirement home and severely beat him.

Will Lynch, 44, was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and was to be released on $25,000 bail after his lawyer negotiated his surrender with authorities in Santa Clara County, defense attorney Pat Harris told The Associated Press.

Lynch has harbored a fantasy for years of confronting the priest, who also allegedly molested his little brother.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Seth H. Langson

This past weekend a Court in San Diego ordered the release of thousands of pages of “confidential” files maintained by the Diocese of San Diego. ...

Dioceses around the country have always fought to keep this information from the public, even if it is produced in litigation. Can you imagine what the public would learn if all Dioceses around the country were truly interested in helping sexual abuse victims and voluntarily made this information public? Why won’t the two Dioceses in North Carolina lead the way in releasing these materials. When they do, we’ll know that their devotion truly is to “protecting God’s children” instead of protecting abusive priests.

AUSTRALIA
Cairns Post

Gavin King

Saturday, October 30, 2010

A FORMER altar boy has launched an explosive lawsuit against the Catholic Church alleging years of abuse by a prominent priest and a subsequent failure to take any official action by fellow priests, nuns and one of Queensland's highest-ranking bishops.

A special investigation by The Weekend Post has uncovered a 20-year web of alleged sexual abuse and a repeated failure by high-ranking church officials to report the matters to police.
The Church also failed to remove the priest at the centre of the allegations from contact with children when they were alerted to the allegations of abuse.

In a sworn affidavit filed with the Supreme Court, a Cairns man claims he was regularly abused while he was a student and altar boy at St Joseph's School and Church at Atherton by Father Joseph Sultana between March 1979 and November 1982.

BELGIE
HLN

[met video]

Het parket van Brussel ondervraagt volgende week een vrouw die minstens twee keer geld heeft ontvangen van voormalig bisschop Roger Vangheluwe. Volgens de vrouw, die als kind jarenlang is misbruikt door een priester, gaat het om zwijggeld. Dat meldt het vtm-nieuws vrijdagavond.

Als tiener werd de vrouw, die anoniem wil blijven, jarenlang misbruikt door een pedofiele priester, die achteraf ook haar vader blijkt te zijn. De man gaf les aan haar.

In de jaren 90 ging de vrouw met haar verhaal aankloppen bij Roger Vangheluwe, toen bisschop van Brugge en overste van de priester. De vrouw weet op dat moment niet dat Vangheluwe zijn neefje heeft misbruikt en alles stil wil houden.

ROME
The Canadian Press

By Nicole Winfield (CP)

ROME — People who were raped and molested by priests are gathering in Rome this weekend to launch a petition demanding the United Nations designate systematic sexual abuse of children as a crime against humanity.

Organizers said the Sunday gathering would mark the first time that abuse survivors from around the world will gather for a day of healing and to demand greater accountability from the Vatican. A few hundred people from a dozen countries are expected.

Organizers had hoped to stage the demonstration in St. Peter's Square, but said they had to move it a few hundred meters (yards) away because the Holy See declined to give them access.

UNITED STATES
Survivors Voice

October 18, 2010 Boston Massachusetts: Survivors Voice, Inc., a non-profit foundation founded by clergy abuse survivors Bernie McDaid & Gary Bergeron to help survivors of clergy sexual abuse have started a global petition and are calling on the United Nations to define the childhood sexual abuse of children as “Crimes against humanity”.

“The one natural resource that is equally shared in each and every country in every part of the world is the one natural resource that continues to be ignored by all. It is the natural innocence of a child. If the success of the future of our race as human beings is based on the protection of our children, then the continued acceptance of the status quo of the sexual abuse of children is nothing less than crimes against humanity and should be labeled as such. We are calling on the United Nations to redefine the systemic sexual abuse of children which continues to be revealed around the world to be included in the context of ‘Crimes against humanity,” said Gary Bergeron, clergy abuse victim & Co-Founder of Survivors Voice, Inc.

Survivors Voice Inc has invited survivors of childhood sexual abuse, their supporters and support groups from around the globe to join together on October 31 at the Vatican in Rome for a ‘Reformation Day’ event where they will begin the world wide petition. This event will mark the second time the pair has traveled to the Vatican to address the continuing issue of clergy sexual abuse.

VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

[Survivors Voice]

A Vatican spokesperson has confirmed that permission has been denied to film aspects of an Oct. 31 gathering of sex abuse victims in Rome that may occur inside St. Peter’s Square, but insists the ban is standard practice rather than an effort to squelch coverage of the event.

The gathering is billed as “Reformation Day,” and organizers plan to launch a petition calling on the United Nations to include the systematic sexual abuse of children as a crime against humanity.

Two American survivors of abuse, Bernie McDaid and Gary Bergeron, are the primary organizers of the Oct. 31 event, which aims to bring together victims of sexual abuse from various nations to press the Catholic church for reform. The plan is to assemble outside the grounds of the Vatican, near Castel Sant’Angelo, then process to St. Peter’s Square.

IRELAND
Breaking News

29/10/2010 - 16:26:03
The former Dublin priest accused of sexually abusing a boy 30 years ago has been found not guilty by direction of the trial judge of one count each of sexual assault and buggery in the Phoenix Park.

A former parishioner revealed in evidence that the accused baptised his son on February 10, 1980, the day the complainant alleged he was sexually abused in the Phoenix Park.

Evidence of the parish’s baptismal register showed that the accused had baptised another child prior to this baptism on the same day.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger's Beat

Congressional candidate Ed Martin is poised to file a federal complaint on Friday against opponent and incumbent Cong. Russ Carnahan for therealedmartin.com website. The site alleges pedophilia at the St. Louis Archdiocese where Martin worked as a lawyer and whose work was never involved in the scandal. Monday night in South City, an observer will likely find a large gathering in St. Gabriels the Archangel Catholic Church.

BELGIUM
Reuters

By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor
PARIS (Reuters) - Belgium's Roman Catholic leader has sworn off public remarks until Christmas after outraging public opinion twice this month with jarring comments about AIDS and a call for mercy for retired paedophile priests.

Brussels Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard, already under fire because of the scandal of sexual abuse of minors by priests, caused a storm two weeks ago when he said in a new book that AIDS was "a sort of inherent justice."

Politicians, abuse victims and some leading lay Catholics rounded on him again this week after he said that prosecuting retired priests for abuse they committed long ago was "a kind of vengeance" that they should be spared.

UNITED STATES
It's About Me

Tim Fischer

In a whirlwind of two days I was honored to participate in a historic TV event. Oprah gathered 200 men from all over the US and Canada, each of us a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, and brought us all to Chicago to be on her show. While we all stood with photos of ourselves from the year we were first molested and/or raped at the start of the show, Ms. Winfrey cried. It truly felt like we were doing something that had never been done before. The show touched on a few of our stories, telling in graphic detail, many of the horrors children of sex abuse crimes go through. My heart ached for all of us.

The best part of this was there were 200 men standing united by our childhood sexual abuse, saying we are fed up. Around the world people need to open their eyes and see the truth of what is happening to children!

The worst part was there were 200 Oprah shows there that day. Each and everyone of us could have been an hour long Oprah show. Everyone there was willing to tell his story in all its Godawful detail. But sadly, there was only enough time to do two shows. Harpo studios had been recording segments for these 2 shows for weeks in advance of the 200 coming to Chicago on the 19th and 20th. So as hands went up all over the studio, it quickly became apparent that only a few were going to get to talk and that everyone there had an amazing and tragic story to share. Ms. Winfrey sat with her back to my section most of the show and did not call on anyone from this section. While I would have loved to interject many points into the conversation, from why men don’t tell, to how important it is to have a huge support net of friends and family, down to the details of how Fr. Christian’s sister Carol came to be on my side during all that I went through, I, along with most of the men in the studio that day, never got the chance. There were just too many stories for the time she had.

CANADA
The Vancouver Sun

By Mike De Souza, Postmedia News October 29, 2010

OTTAWA — A Quebec woman who was sexually abused as a child at the hands of a priest will be allowed to launch a lawsuit against the Catholic Church, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled Friday.

Shirley Christensen was abused as a child in a Quebec City parish in the late 1970s but the assaults were only reported in 2006 and they resulted in a conviction.

Christensen has tried twice to launch lawsuits but was denied by Quebec courts which said she had waited too long because of time limits on when someone can sue for damages in a civil case.

ROME
Reuters

By Philip Pullella
ROME (Reuters) - Victims of abuse by Roman Catholic priests will try to march on the Vatican on Sunday despite the lack of a police permit, to demand the Church do more to protect children and hold abusers accountable.

Bernie McDaid and Gary Bergeron, founders of www.survivorsvoice.org, told a news conference on Friday they would start a petition drive to ask the United Nations to declare systemic paedophilia a crime against humanity.

"We are not crippled. We are injured people who are willing to talk about it now. The guilt and the shame is in the cover-up," said McDaid, who become one of the first abuse victims to meet with Pope Benedict in Washington in 2008.

ROME
The Associated Press

ROME — Victims of clergy sex abuse from a dozen countries are gathering in Rome this weekend to launch a petition demanding the United Nations designate child sex abuse as a crime against humanity.

Organizers said the Sunday gathering would mark the first time that abuse survivors from around the world gather for a day of healing and to demand greater action from the Vatican. A few hundred people are expected.

Organizers had hoped to stage the demonstration at the Vatican, but said they had to move it a few hundred meters (yards) away because the Holy See declined to give them access.

CANADA
CTV

The Canadian Press

Date: Friday Oct. 29, 2010

OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada has resurrected a Quebec woman's sex-abuse lawsuit against a Roman Catholic priest and the province's archbishop.

The justices have ruled 7-0 that Shirley Christensen's case should go back for trial.

She says she was abused by Paul-Henri Lachance in Quebec City in the late 1970s, but only realized in 2006 that the abuse was linked to her psychological problems.

CANADA
Toronto Sun

By BRIAN LILLEY, Parliamentary Bureau

Last Updated: October 29, 2010

OTTAWA — A church sex abuse lawsuit in Quebec dating back nearly 30 years will go ahead after a Supreme Court ruling Friday.

Shirley Christensen, 37, of Quebec City applied to sue the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec in 2007.

Christensen was seeking $250,000 in damages for sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of Paul-Henri Lachance between 1979 and 1981. Lachance, now 79, pleaded guilty in 2009 and was handed an 18-month sentence.

WILMINGTON (DE)
Bloomberg

Catholic Diocese of Wilmington Inc. scheduled a hearing for Dec. 6 where the bankruptcy judge in Delaware will consider approving the disclosure statement explaining the Chapter 11 plan filed in September. Objections are due Nov. 22.

The official committee of unsecured creditors, whose constituency includes sexual abuse claimants, says the plan is “unconfirmable.” Although the bankruptcy judge extended the diocese’s exclusive right to propose a plan until Dec. 30, the committee has the right to file a motion at any time to terminate exclusivity.

The committee said it may be necessary to file a creditors’ plan. Among objections to the plan, the committee takes issue with the diocese’s proposal to pay the net present value of pensions to lay employees. The committee says the diocese instead should assume the pension obligations and thus save as much as $27 million cash.

UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

Contact: Kristine Ward, NSAC Chair, KristineWard@hotmail.com

The National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC) adds its voice to those of the survivors who will gather near St. Peter’s Square on Sunday.

Near not in St. Peter’s Square because they have been denied access.

Once again, survivors are marginalized.

For a Pope who has urged the Catholic world to “do everything possible” to end the crisis it certainly falls in the petty and fearful categories to deny these survivors access to St. Peter’s Square.

Bernie McDaid and Gary Bergeron of the United States are leading this effort and they will be joined by survivors from a number of other countries.

VATICAN CITY
Whispers in the Loggia

Every Halloween, history recalls the ghost that haunted a long, painful ecclesial age. This year, though, Sunday's anniversary of Martin Luther's nailing of the 95 Theses to the doors of the parish at Wittenberg will be met with a Roman reminder of our time's most prominent ad intra hot-button....

Yet, so it seems, the Vatican has barred the door.

While B16 has met with victim-survivors of clergy sex-abuse five times since 2008 in sessions invariably proving intense, emotional and powerful, the church's response on the issue has hit no shortage of snags over the last decade. On the global stage, the latest of these came in July, when the Holy See served to undermine many of the church's inroads made in the court of public perception with the release of long-awaited CDF norms that, despite emboldening the procedures on pedophilia cases in place since 2001, became predominantly interpreted as equating the gravity of the attempted ordination of a woman with the abuse of a minor.

CANADA
CBC News

Canada's highest court said in a ruling Friday that an appeal should be allowed in the case of Shirley Christensen, and that her case should be remanded to the Quebec Superior Court to assess the evidence.

GEORGIA
CNN

By John Blake, CNN
October 29, 2010

(CNN) -- Bishop Eddie Long, his face glistening with sweat, paces onstage before his cheering congregation.

He's preaching about the Bible, the role of a preacher, and "fresh sperm."

"The word of God is potent. The word of God is His sperm," Long thunders. "The job of the preacher is to bring fresh sperm and when he speaks it, the womb -- the church -- is to take it in and say, 'Sho' you're right.' "

The video of that sermon, delivered during the early days of Long's ministry in the 1990s, has gone viral. And now it is being discussed in the context of four lawsuits that claim the 57-year-old Long used his spiritual authority to coerce four young men into sexual relationships with him.

ROME
Bloomberg

By Jeffrey Donovan and Lorenzo Totaro - Oct 29, 2010

Pope Benedict XVI will bind the Vatican to implementing European Union laws against money laundering and financial fraud, the European Commission said, after the Holy See’s bank was tainted by a series of scandals.

The Vatican is “fully committed” to putting relevant EU legislation into effect by the end of 2010, as stipulated by a monetary accord the Vatican signed with the commission Dec. 17 last year, Amadeu Altafaj, spokesman for EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn, said in an interview in Brussels.

A joint EU-Vatican committee, set up under the agreement, “discussed in detail” a draft Vatican law “approximating” the EU rules at an Oct. 15 meeting, Altafaj said. By an “act of the pope,” the law will become applicable to “the institutions of the Holy See, including the Institute for Religious Works,” as the Vatican Bank is called, Altafaj said Oct. 26. The information was confirmed today by a high-ranking Vatican official, who declined to be identified, citing Vatican policy.

CANADA
Hamilton Spectator

Former Roman Catholic priest Donald Grecco is to be sentenced Friday for sexually abusing three former southern Ontario altar boys — including Hennessy — during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The abuse occurred at parishes in Cayuga, Welland and Fonthill.

Grecco, 70, pleaded guilty last March to three counts of gross indecency.

But Hennessy, who was abused as an altar boy at St. Kevin’s Roman Catholic Church in Welland in 1985, believes Grecco’s victim total is higher.

JAMAICA
Go-Jamaica

Sheena Gayle, Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:

The new Bail Act has apparently stung renowned televangelist Dr. Paul Lewis, as he was remanded on Wednesday evening; mere hours after he was granted bail in the Savanna-la-Mar Resident Magistrate’s Court in Westmoreland, Jamaica.

This reversal occurred after the prosecution - represented by deputy director of public prosecution (DPP) Dirk Harrison - made an out-of-court appeal that caught the Lewis’ defense team off guard.

Defense attorney Keith Bishop had originally secured bail in the sum of $300,000 before Resident Magistrate Collymore Gordon on the new charges of perversion of the course of justice.

UNITED KINGDOM
Sutton and Coldfield Observer

A VICTIM of a "serial rapist" priest has been speaking of the abuse he suffered at the hands of his tormentor who was jailed last week – 50 years after the offences.

The man, now in his 60s, was aged just 12 when he was first targeted by former clergyman Richard Robinson, who trained at Sutton's Oscott College.

He was one of four West Midlands men who presented Birmingham Crown Court with written statements during Robinson's trial.

It ended last Friday with Robinson's conviction on 21 counts of sexual abuse against children.

DELAWARE
WJZ

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) ― A defrocked priest said in a deposition video that he had 'simulated sex' with the then-teenager who is now suing him under a state child victims act.

The News Journal reports that Francis DeLuca says in depositions taken in 2008 and 2009 that he had "simulated sex" with plaintiff John Vai when he was a teenage altar boy at St. Elizabeth's Roman Catholic Church in the late 1960s.

A jury hearing the case viewed the video on Wednesday. DeLuca was not in court then and is not expected to attend, as his former attorney told the court that he is suffering from health issues.

LONDON
The Tablet

By Robert Mickens

October 30, 2010

THE victims are coming! That alarm was sounded this week in the Vatican as survivors of clerical sexual abuse by Catholic priests were expected to ascend on to St Peter’s Square tomorrow evening for what they are calling “Reformation Day”. Gary Bergeron and Bernie McDaid – the American co-founders of Survivor’s Voice – are the main organisers of the event. They are hoping that hundreds of abuse survivors and supporters from more than a dozen countries will come to participate. They say it is a “gathering of people from around the globe standing together with survivors of childhood sexual abuse in one united voice to say, ‘Enough!’”

But it seems the Vatican doesn’t want to hear anything of it. Survivor’s Voice said this week they have been “denied permits for victims of clergy sex abuse to gather as a group on Vatican property”. In a press release sent to journalists on Tuesday they added that the undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Angelo Scelzo, had also told members of the media “that they will not be allowed to cover the Reformation Day event or film from the grounds of the Vatican”. But this has not deterred the organisers. They intend to go on with the gathering all the same – just down the street from St Peter’s at Castel Sant’Angelo.

An advocate for abuse victims in the United States told me the Vatican’s attitude towards these people was a shameful refusal to even acknowledge their presence. “Imagine the possibilities if Pope Benedict actually welcomed them?” she said. “Survivors are basically being told, ‘Get lost, we’ve already apologised’, as they try to approach the centre of Catholicism.” Of course, the Pope could surprise everyone and actually acknowledge the group at the noon Angelus.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
City of Angels

By Kay Ebeling

October 28, 2010

Q Bishop, when did you first realize or learn that when an adult lays his hands on the genitals of a child and manipulates the genitals of a child and places them on the body of a child for sexual purposes, it was a crime? When did you first realize that?
A You know, it's really hard for me to say. I think society-
Q No, you.
A Me?
Q You.
A I think I thought, along with society, for so many years it was-
Q Bishop, I'm going to ask you to focus on the question.

(From Santillan v. Bishop of Fresno transcript of March 18, 2009, testimony of Bishop John Steinbock, questioned by Jeff Anderson, copy and pasted in this post in full below.)

As stories about pedophile priests broke across the nation the past decade, little was said about residual effects of these offenses. Could sexual felonies against children committed by thousands of priests with little repercussions be, at least in part, the reason there are so many more horrendous sexual and violent crimes being committed against children in the United States today? Did pedophiles everywhere see priests getting away with it and become empowered?

Melissa Huckaby kidnapped, raped, and killed Sandra Cantu on Mar. 27, 2009, 4 days after Bishop John Steinbock finished testifying in the trial, Santillan vs. Bishop of Fresno. Cardinal Roger Mahony had testified 10 days earlier. News reports carpeted California during the weeks of the trial, as members of California Catholic Church hierarchy took the oath then hedged around the truth and sidestepped away from answers. Melissa Huckaby raped and killed nine-year-old Sandra Cantu in the basement of a church, just as the Santillan v. Bishop of Fresno trial was winding to a close 130 miles away.

How many pedophiles around the world became empowered when they saw Catholic priests get away with their crimes? Huckaby was living in March 2009 with her grandfather, the pastor of Clover Baptist Church in Tracy, where she sexually assaulted Cantu in the basement with a rolling pin, as the jury deliberated in Santillan v. Bishop of Fresno.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

A MAN who alleges he was raped and sexually abused by a Dublin priest between June 1st, 1979, and June 30th, 1983, asserted in court yesterday that two violent incidents did not take place in 1980 when he was eight, but when he was “nine or 10, definitely not eight”.

He agreed with defence counsel David Keane SC that in statements to gardaí he said the alleged incidents took place in 1980.

The complainant, now 38, also agreed the date and age in the statements were incorrect but, he continued, “the facts are the same”. He insisted “what did happen, did happen”.

TENNESSEE
WBIR

[with video]

The alleged victim of sexual abuse involving a former priest said he was not surprised William Casey pleaded not guilty in a Sullivan County courtroom Thursday.

Warren Tucker spoke following the ten-minute court hearing, saying, "He would take me back and forth from Kingsport to Greene County where he lives and had a rural cabin on his property. (Sullivan County) was the majority of abuse."

Sullivan County is the third courtroom hearing these cases. In July, Casey pleaded guilty to crimes against nature. He was sentenced to two years of probation. In August, he pleaded not guilty for other sexual abuse charges in Scott County, Virginia. Tucker has filed charges in Greene County, but they haven't announced if the state will pursue the case.

WALPOLE (MA)
The Walpole Times

By Keith Ferguson
The Walpole Times
Posted Oct 28, 2010

WALPOLE — Suspended Blessed Sacrament priest Emile “Mike” Boutin appeared in Stoughton District Court on Tuesday morning for a pretrial hearing, but the conference was pushed back due to possible new evidence coming into play.

Boutin pleaded not guilty in June to a charge of indecent assault and battery after he was accused of inappropriately grabbing a 21-year-old man in a sexual manner behind a Rte. 138 parking lot in Canton.

The defense attorney was granted a request to postpone the hearing to Dec. 10 citing the need to review “additional discovery.”

CANADA
CKTB

A former St. Catharines priest and admitted child molester learns his fate Friday morning.

Donald Grecco is scheduled to be sentenced for three counts of gross indecency in Hamilton.

610 CKTB News' Siobhan Morris will be there.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
News Blaze

By Claudia Strasbaugh

"San Diego diocese wants to keep private 2,000 pages of Priest-abuse files that shed light on how the diocese worked," so claim victim's attorneys.

Published yesterday then updated today Irwin Zalkin said at a news conference, "When the Catholic Diocese of San Diego settled a priest-abuse case in 2007 it deliberately hid 22 pages illuminating the way the Catholic Church handled priests sexually abusing minors and archdiocese cover-ups in cases that go back decades.

In June U.S. Catholic bishops pledged openness and adoption of a zero-tolerance policy. The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego revealed allegations made against 23 priests, 18 in San Diego County plus 5 more over in Imperial County.

UNITED STATES
Spero News

By Mary Ann Kreitzer

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops will hold its semi-annual meeting in a few weeks. One of the items on the agenda is the election of a new president. If things go as expected the vice president, Bishop Gerald Kicanis, will move up. And what a fitting appointment he is for the bishops' vile bureaucracy. One of Bishop Kicanis' claims to fame is his enabling of mega-sex abuser, defrocked and jailed priest, Daniel McCormack.

Kicanis was the rector of Mundelein Seminary in the 1990s when McCormack was a seminarian there and knew of three cases of "sexual improprieties," one involving a minor. Kicanis recommended McCormack's ordination anyway. His assessment even after McCormack's history of child sex abuse was, "It would have been grossly unfair not to have ordained him. There was a sense that his activity was part of the developmental process and that he had learned from the experience. I was more concerned about his drinking. We sent him to counseling for that." Sexual activity with a minor is part of the "developmental process?" Please!

So 23 youngsters (at least) were sexually abused and psychologically damaged because it was "unfair" to recognize McCormack's homosexual depravity for what it was and refuse him ordination. To see exactly how horrible McCormack's actions were go here and read what one father only recently learned about the homosexual rape of his young son over a three-year period. He can thank Bishop Kicanis for helping it happen.

NORWALK (CT)
Norwalk Plus

By Voice of the Faithful

Voice of the Faithful in the Diocese of Bridgeport will present the captivating and chilling dramatic presentation, “Bless Me, Father, For I Have Sinned!” on Saturday, Nov. 13 from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Norwalk Concert Hall in Norwalk City Hall, 125 East Avenue, Norwalk. Tickets may be purchased for $20 at www.votfbpt.org or at the door.

“Bless Me, Father, For I Have Sinned!” is based on actual testimony from clergy sexual abuse cases that took place in the Diocese of Bridgeport over a period of several decades. Following the presentation, a thought-provoking panel discussion will take place and will include Terry McKiernan of Bishop Accontability.org and Barbara Blaine, founder of the Survivor’s Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

The dramatic presentation draws from approximately 11,000 of 12,600 pages of previously sealed court documents known as the Rosado files, that relate to the abuse of power and sexual abuse of children by clergy in the Diocese of Bridgeport, where more than $37 million of settlements has been paid to claimants.

Trouw (Nederland)

Marcial Maciel Degollado, de leider van de allerstrengste en vroomste priestercongregatie, had vrouw en kinderen. Hij misbruikte de laatsten, zoals hij ooit seminaristen misbruikte. Aanstaand kardinaal De Paolis onderzoekt waarom de rk kerk de perverse Maciel, die stierf in 2008, zo lang de hand boven het hoofd hield.

Bij het verhaal achter de kardinaalscreatie van de 75-jarige aartsbisschop Velasio de Paolis, verbleekt ieder misbruikschandaal. Niet dat er met deze president van de prefectuur voor economische zaken iets mis is. Integendeel, aartsbisschop De Paolis is juist belast met de taak het Vaticaan te zuiveren van een appel die zo rot is, dat er louter smurrie overblijft.

Dat hij op 20 november in het rood mag, heeft aartsbisschop De Paolis vermoedelijk vooral te danken aan zijn functie als pauselijk gezant, die de orthodoxe priesterorde Legionairs van Christus moet ontdoen van de perversie die de stichter ervan, Marcial Maciel Degollado, er gedurende 70 jaar in gebracht heeft.

BELGIE
vandaag

27 oktober, 20:25
"Monseigneur Léonard wil opnieuw een gevoel van schuld leggen bij de slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik", zeggen PS-kamerleden Karine Lalieux en Valérie Déom. "De aartsbisschop wil hen zo onder druk zetten, opdat ze niet naar de rechtbank zouden stappen."

Lalieux en Déom menen dat de uitlatingen van aartsbisschop André-Joseph Léonard, dat priesters die niet meer in functie zijn niet voor de rechtbank zouden moeten gebracht worden voor kindermisbruik, "onaanvaardbaar zijn".

BELGIE
Joop

Tom Cochez
Mede-oprichter Apache.be

Er valt moeilijk naast te kijken dat er binnen de Belgische katholieke kerk een strijd woedt. Aartsbisschop Léonard lijkt er met zijn welgekozen uitspraken alles aan te willen doen om die strijd op scherp te zetten

Aartsbisschop André Léonard is een hardliner binnen de Rooms-katholieke Kerk. Maar vanwaar komt de behoefte om dat om de haverklap te etaleren? Waarom provoceert hij keer op keer met uitspraken waarvan hij vooraf weet dat ze een storm van verontwaardiging zullen veroorzaken, ook binnen zijn eigen kerk? Het lijkt er sterk op dat de aartsbisschop volop bezig is met het scheiden van de schapen en de bokken.

"Wanneer de Zoon des mensen komen zal in Zijn heerlijkheid, en al de engelen met hem, dan zal Hij zitten op de troon Zijner heerlijkheid. En voor Hem zullen al de volken vergaderd worden, en Hij zal ze van elkaar scheiden, gelijk de herder de schapen van de bokken scheidt. En Hij zal de schapen tot Zijn rechterhand zetten, maar de bokken tot Zijn linkerhand" – Matthéüs 25:31-33

Ruim negen maanden staat de als zeer conservatief bestempelde André-Joseph Léonard aan het hoofd van het aartsbisdom Mechelen-Brussel en als primaat ook aan het hoofd van de Belgische kerkprovincie. Hij werd daartoe aangesteld door paus Benedictus XVI, zelf ook strak in de leer.

BELGIE
Gazet van Antwerpen

Advocaat Christine Mussche, die de belangen van enkele slachtoffers van misbruik door geestelijken verdedigt, is niet opgezet met de nieuwe uitlatingen van aartsbisschop Léonard. Ze beweert dat voor de kerk de zorg voor de dader nog altijd primeert.

Volgens Léonard is het niet nodig om oude pedofiele priesters op rust niet meer te vervolgen voor hun daden.

"De kerk laat de slachtoffers eens te meer in de kou staan", aldus meester Mussche bij VRT. "Ik begrijp nog altijd niet die eigen logica: Léonard zegt dat het weinig menselijk is om oude priesters nog te vervolgen, maar ik denk dat het weinig menselijk is dat men na de voorbije maanden nog steeds vooral spreekt over de zorg voor de dader."

UNITED STATES
Connecting Voices

by Dr. Jaime Romo

Background

It is estimated that 39 million people in the United States have experienced sexual abuse in some form, and many others have been indirectly impacted as well. Sadly, most victims live among us with near-invisibility. A conservative estimate is that 20% of the population has experienced some sexual abuse. Being a safe church prevents future abuse. Being a healing community helps those abused to heal from past wounds.

The average churchgoer must let go of the illusion that religious settings are neutral or automatically safe places for children or vulnerable adults. A recent Baylor study showed that more than 3% of women who had attended a faith community function in the past month reported that they had been the object of clergy sexual misconduct at some time in their adult lives.

Unfortunately, it is more likely than not that a religious organization or community does not have a meaningful Safe Church Policy developed by its membership, or a functional response team in place. In effect, these organizations are operating with either a lack of awareness or denial of the reality that sexual abuse could occur there. Therefore, as a starting point, every church needs to have a meaningful ‘Protecting All God’s Children’ policy. The process of developing a policy and response team (i.e., a subgroup that receives, investigates, and responds to concerns about inappropriate boundary crossings) helps members understand signs of and the impact of abuse.

UNITED STATES
FindLaw

By MARCI A. HAMILTON

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Three cheers for the Methodist Church! A recent statement from the Rev. Darryl Stephens, who is the Church's assistant general secretary for advocacy and sexual ethics for the General Commission on the Status & Role of Women, supports the National Organization of Women's 2009 Resolution that would include clergy in the list of professionals who can be charged with a crime for having "unlawful sexual relations" with those they are advising.

The notion that professionals may not take sexual advantage of their patients and clients is not new. The Resolution simply would extend the same principle to clergy. Much to the Methodist Church's credit, Rev. Stephens endorses the Resolution and urges his own Church to be more active in preventing and stopping such conduct. He deserves praise for his leadership in an area where other religious institutions have shirked responsibility, as has his own church, which he acknowledges.

A Recent Case Illustrates the Gravity of the Problem -- and the NOW Resolution Provides a Strong Response

No one questions the point that ministers, priests, and rabbis preying on emotionally-disabled persons are engaging in despicable behavior. Clergy have taken advantage of congregants who come to them for counseling when the congregant is going through a divorce, has recently suffered the loss of a spouse or child, or is having marital difficulties.

BELGIE
Nieuwslog

Het gaat van kwaad naar erger met de Belgische Katholieke Kerk. Nadat het al maanden klachten regent over seksueel misbruik door oversten in de Kerk weet blijkbaar de nieuwe Aartsbisschop André-Joseph Léonard heel goed hoe hij extra olie op het vuur moet gooien.

Vorig week nog verteld hij in zijn nieuwe biografie dat HIV en AIDS een ‘soort’ van immanente rechtvaardiging zijn. Vandaag zijn het de honderden slachtoffers van pedofielen in de Belgische Kerk die woedend zijn om een uitspraak van Leonard, die duidelijk sinds zijn recente aanstelling tot aartsbisschop nog geen mediatraining mee kreeg.

In het voorjaar raakte al bekend dat de Brugse Bisschop Roger Vangeluwe zich jaren geleden meermaals had vergrepen aan zijn neefje en nog een ander (jong) slachtoffer. Er werd een speciaal meldpunt voor het misbruik (de commissie Adriaensens) opgericht. Meer dan 400 klachten kwamen er binnen in enkele maanden tijd.

LA CROSSE (WI)
La Crosse Tribune

By ANNE JUNGEN | ajungen@lacrossetribune.com lacrossetribune.com | Posted: Thursday, October 28, 2010

Jurors "just didn't have enough to convict" a priest accused of sexually assaulting a parishioner who came to him for counseling in August 2009, a member of the panel said Wednesday. "There was a ton of reasonable doubt. That's why we landed where we did," juror Scott Elvin said.

The panel of 11 men and one woman Tuesday deliberated four hours - almost the length of the trial itself - before finding the Rev. Edmund Donkor-Baine, 48, not guilty of misdemeanor fourth-degree sexual assault.

"There wasn't a lot to go on. There weren't a lot of witnesses and there wasn't physical evidence," Elvin said. "We had to base everything on believability of the testimony and the consistency of testimony."

BELGIUM
Expatica

The head of the Belgian Catholic church, reeling from a major child abuse scandal, came under fire Thursday for asking for mercy for elderly priests facing allegations of paedophilia.

Political leaders slammed Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard, a conservative close to Pope Benedict XVI who has headed the Belgian church since January, for saying retired priests should be spared what would be tantamount to "a sort of vengeance."

The statement was "unacceptable" said lawmakers Karine Lalieux and Valerie Deom, respectively of the French-speaking Socialist party and Flemish liberals, Open VLD.

IRELAND
Herald

By Nicola Donnelly

Thursday October 28 2010

A former Dublin priest has gone on trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court accused of the sexual assault and buggery of a young boy almost 30 years ago.

The 54-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies 10 counts of sexual assault and six counts of buggery on the boy between June 1, 1979, and June 30, 1983, when the alleged victim was aged between seven and 11.

The complainant, who is now 38, told Mary Rose Gearty, prosecuting, that he met the accused when he was around seven years old while a pupil at a Dublin national school.

LA CROSSE (WI)
WKBT

"We are happy and grateful that this matter has been appropriately addressed and brought to closure through the criminal justice system.

The unanimous verdict of "not guilty" by a jury of 12 peers is consistent with the judgement of the Diocese that Father Edmund Donkor-Baine was innocent of the charges.

We thank those who have maintained an open mind and not prejudged based upon unsupported rhetoric, staged media events and stereotypes."

TENNESSEE
Knoxville News Sentinel

Blountville, Tenn. - In his third appearance answering to charges of child molestation, a former Knoxville priest pleaded not guilty this morning in a Sullivan County courtroom.

William "Bill" Casey, 76, pleaded not guilty to three charges, one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of aggravated rape, according to Barry Staubus, Sullivan County's assistant district attorney general.

Grand juries in three states - Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina - have indicted Casey on charges of child molestation. Warren Tucker, 44, of Jeffersonville, Ind., alleges the abuse occurred more than 50 times in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Thursday, October 28, 2010

A man accusing a former Dublin priest of sexual assault and buggery almost 30 years ago has revealed he “clammed up” when gardaí questioned him initially about the allegations.

In his first statement to gardaí dated April 2, 1993 the complainant stated “he (the accused) never had full sexual intercourse with me,” but told Mr David Keane SC, defending, under cross examination on day two of the trial, that he had meant to add “on that particular day.”

The 54-year-old accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies 10 counts of sexual assault and six counts of buggery on the boy between June 1, 1979 and June 30, 1983 when the alleged victim was aged between seven and 11.

FLORIDA
Orlando Sentinel

By Jaweed Kaleem, The Miami Herald

A Coral Springs woman who says a former music teacher at a Broward County Catholic school molested her son is suing the Archdiocese of Miami.

In a complaint filed Wednesday in Miami-Dade circuit court, the woman, identified only as Mother Doe No. 68, says her son, John Doe No. 68, was molested several times between 2009 and August of this year during private music lessons in his home by Miguel Cala, who also taught him at St. Andrew's Catholic School in Coral Springs.

"Cala used his position at the church and school to find victims. The parents trusted Cala and he used that trust to get into parent's homes," said Jeffrey Herman, an attorney representing the 8-year-old boy and his mother. "The school employed Cala and the school and church should have known what was happening."

UNITED KINGDOM
Guardian

Rosalind Coe QC and Patricia Leonard
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 27 October 2010

This week, the question of who is potentially liable for the alleged physical and sexual abuse of 150 pupils at St William's boys' school in east Yorkshire between 1960 and 1992 was considered by the court of appeal. In 2004 the main abuser, Brother James Carragher, headmaster during this period, was convicted of abusing boys at the home.

A judge in a preliminary hearing last year ruled that, if the claimants succeed in this litigation, the Catholic Child Welfare Society and the Middlesbrough Diocesan Rescue Society will be liable on the basis that they ran, controlled and managed the school. They face an £8m compensation claim.

The Middlesbrough defendants (as the court called them) and the claimants appealed against this decision, arguing that the De La Salle Institute, a Catholic order of lay brothers, should also be vicariously liable because it was involved in running the school and provided teaching staff. The court of appeal disagreed, holding that the religious order was not vicariously liable for any acts of abuse carried out by the De La Salle brothers and others.

WASHINGTON
The Spokesman-Review

Shawn Vestal The Spokesman-Review
October 27, 2010 .

Terry Corrigan’s son thinks so. And you have to grant that Corrigan – who died Saturday in a heart-rending accident – cleared a massive trail in Spokane. He grew up here, graduated high school and college here, started one business and developed another, helped raise four kids, was active in his church, kept close ties to childhood friends, kept especially close ties to his best childhood friend – his wife of almost 50 years – and then, faced with an explosive personal tragedy, he chose the path of greatest resistance: He took up the fight against the church that had been his religious home for more than 60 years.

Terry Corrigan was “Catholic to the bone,” said Michael Corrigan, his son. But faced with the revelations that his sons had been molested as kids by the family priest, rocked by the suicide of one son, and confronted with the church’s shameful history of shuffling and hiding molesters, Terry and his wife, Ann, kept their faith but left the church.

He worked on the lawsuits that eventually forced the Spokane Diocese into bankruptcy, stepped out as a vocal public critic of the church and became active in helping the victims of child sex abuse.

UNITED STATES
Catholic League

[Keith Olbermann video]

October 28, 2010

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on remarks made last night by MSNBC host Keith Olbermann:

Keith Olbermann went on an extended rant against Tea Party-backed candidates, and one of his targets was Ron Johnson, candidate for the U.S. Senate in Wisconsin. Olbermann said Johnson "testified against toughening laws on pedophiles and employers who shield them. He argued this could damage a business. A business like the Catholic Church."

Here are the facts. Johnson, a Lutheran, once sat on the finance board of the Diocese of Green Bay. Earlier this year, he testified against a bill that would relax the statute of limitations on cases involving the sexual abuse of minors.

If Olbermann is opposed to the uniform application of civil liberties—statutes of limitations are central to them—he is entitled to do so, but not without explaining his preference for selective justice. Nonetheless, it is troubling to listen to him indict someone who, in this instance, stood for the rights of the accused. In every state where a bill has been introduced on this subject that applies equally to the private and public sectors, the teachers' unions and superintendents have uniformly opposed them. But Olbermann would never target them.

OKLAHOMA CITY (OK)
News9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A metro church and university have settled a lawsuit filed by victims of rape and molestation.

The victims claimed Southern Nazarene University and Bethany First Church of the Nazarene allowed a known child predator around children. Former children's minister Ryan Wonderly was convicted and sentenced in 2005 for committing numerous sexual crimes against young girls.

But victims said Southern Nazarene University and Bethany First Church of the Nazarene should never have allowed Wonderly near children. They claimed the church did not conduct a background check on Wonderly and that church ministers allowed him to intern and hired him knowing that he was caught viewing child pornography while attending Southern Nazarene University.

CANADA
Welland Tribune

By TRIBUNE STAFF

Former Roman Catholic priest Donald Grecco remains behind bars as a result of a Wednesday court appearance in Picton.

Spokesman Brendan Crawley in an e-mail said Grecco's matter has been put over to Nov. 3 at 9:30 a.m. in Picton court. Grecco is charged with breaching a condition of his release while awaiting sentencing for crimes committed against altar boys in the 1970s and 1980s

ICELAND
Iceland Review

The professional council of the National Church is currently looking into three new cases where its priests are accused of sexual violations. None of them have been reported to the council before. All of these cases are old and have become legally invalid.

Only one of the priests in question is still working within the National Church. One has retired and the third is deceased. In the case of the retired priest, the claimant was a child when the alleged violations took place. The other two claimants are adults, Fréttabladid reports.

Gunnar Rúnar Matthíasson, chairman of the National Church’s professional council, said the three cases are being reviewed and the council is assisting the three claimants in taking these cases through the appropriate procedures.

TENNESSEE
NECN

BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A former Roman Catholic priest is scheduled for arraignment in East Tennessee on child sex charges.

William Casey was arrested Sept. 3 at his home in Greeneville after a Sullivan County grand jury indicted him on charges of criminal sexual conduct and aggravated rape. He was scheduled to be in court Thursday.

An Indiana man claims the now- 76-year-old Casey molested him several times while Casey was a priest at St. Dominic's Catholic Church in Kingsport.

NEW YORK
Amsterdam News

By JASMIN K. WILLIAMS
Special to the AmNews
Published: Thursday, October 28, 2010

Pastor Eric Crumbley of the Salvation Army Harlem Temple Corps knows all too well what the alleged victims of Atlanta Bishop Eddie Long are going through. Crumbley says that he himself was the victim of the same type of abuse by Monsignor Wallace Harris, a popular Harlem priest. Harris, pastor of the Church of St. Charles Borromeo since 1989, submitted a letter of resignation to the Catholic Archdiocese on August 28 of this year.

Crumbley broke nearly three decades of silence and came forward publicly with his story in 2008. He now uses his experience to help other victims of sexual abuse.

It’s particularly difficult for male victims. Priests are trusted authority figures to whom these young victims are completely vulnerable. These abuses may go unreported for years. Some victims never tell what happened to them, as there is an element of shame.

STOCKTON (CA)
The Record

By Staff and wire reports
October 28, 2010

STOCKTON - A lawyer for a California man says his client has filed a lawsuit against a defrocked pedophile priest who said in 2005 deposition he molested as many as 25 children in Northern California.

Attorney Joseph George said the civil lawsuit filed Wednesday in San Joaquin County Superior Court accuses Oliver O'Grady of repeatedly sexually assaulting his client when he was 5.

George said the alleged acts took place at a Turlock parish. The alleged victim, now 24 years old, is not identified in the suit. The lawsuit is seeking unspecified compensation for what it terms "emotional scars."

EUROPE
World Jewish Congress

27 October 2010

Holocaust survivors from the former Yugoslavia have accused the Vatican Bank of helping Nazi allies launder their stolen valuables and asked the European Commission to investigate their claims, the news agency ‘Bloomberg’ reports. “We are requesting the commission open an inquiry into allegations of money laundering of Holocaust victim assets by financial organs associated with, or which are agencies of, the Vatican City State,” Jonathan Levy, a Washington-based attorney for the survivors and their heirs, wrote in a letter dated to the EU commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, Olli Rehn, seen by ‘Bloomberg’ reporters.

The request follows a decade-long lawsuit in US courts on behalf of Holocaust survivors and their heirs from the former Yugoslavia and Ukraine in which plaintiffs alleged that the Vatican Bank, officially known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), had laundered assets stolen from Jews, Gypsies and Serbs killed or captured by Nazi-backed regime of wartime Croatia. The Vatican has repeatedly denied the charges. A spokesperson for Rehn was quoted by ‘Bloomberg’ as confirming that the Commission had received Levy’s letter and contacted Vatican authorities about it. Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi declined to comment on the matter.

FLORIDA
NBC Miami

[with video]

By TODD WRIGHT

A South Florida Catholic School may have to pay for the sins of one of its former employees after a mom filed a lawsuit claiming sexual abuse of her son.

The unnamed woman claims Miguel Leonardo Cala, a former music and preschool teacher at St. Andrews Catholic School in Coral Springs, fondled her child during private music lessons for almost a year from 2009 until August.

Cala, 37, worked at the school for 10 years. The lawsuit claims the music teacher used his position at the parish to gain his victims' parents' trust and then sexual abused them. The lawsuit also names the church and the Archdiocese of Miami.

CORAL SPRINGS (FL)
WSVN

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. (WSVN) -- A South Florida mother is filing suit against a school after allegations of sexual abuse by a former teacher at that school.

The mother of the alleged victim claimed that her son's music teacher, Miguel Cala, fondled her son during a private drum lesson inside her home. "Those that allowed him to abuse the children of our church community in such a horrific manner need to be held accountable as well," the mother said.

Mary Ross Agosta, the communications director of the Archdiocese of Miami, said, "We background check everyone, fingerprint them every five years. There is absolutely nothing in his record. If there were, he would have never been a teacher at our school."

PENNSYLVANIA
The Times-Tribune

By Joe McDonald (Staff Writer)
Published: October 28, 2010

A former church youth group leader who showered a teenage boy with gifts and attention before molesting him was sentenced to 21 to 60 months in state prison Wednesday by Lackawanna County Judge Michael J. Barrasse.

Judge Barrasse also said Joshua W. Landis was a sexually violent predator, meaning when he is released from prison, the community will be notified every time he moves.

Mr. Landis sobbed and spoke in a bare whisper when he tried to answer Judge Barrasse's questions.

JAMAICA
The Gleaner

Sheena Gayle, Gleaner Writer
Western Bureau:

Dr Paul Lewis, the internationally renowned Jamaica-born American televangelist, has been slapped with fresh charges of perverting the course of justice in the ongoing carnal abuse case against him.

When the new charges came up for mention in the Savanna-la-Mar Resident Magistrate's Court in Westmoreland yesterday, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Dirk Harrison told Resident Magistrate Collymore Gordon that the televangelist paid and arranged to have a woman named Nadine Fray coach the girls on what to say when the matter goes to court.

Lewis' defence counsel, Keith Bishop, argued that the source who provided evidence on the new charge being laid out by the prosecution could not be trusted as Fray, who is now a witness for the prosecution, was acting out of malice against the pastor.

CANADA
CBC News

Some victims of abuse perpetrated by pedophile priests are asking for a cut of the profits from an upcoming high mass celebrating the canonization of the Montreal Roman Catholic priest known as Brother André.

As many as 50,000 people are expected to attend the Saturday mass at Montreal's Olympic Stadium, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Quebec Premier Jean Charest.

With tickets costing $5, the Catholic Church stands to collect $250,000, said two groups representing victims of sexual abuse by priests.

ORANGE COUNTY (CA)
The Orange County Register

By FRANK MICKADEIT
COLUMNIST
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
fmickadeit@ocregister.com

When the Catholic Diocese of San Diego last Friday released 10,000 pages of documents relating to priest-molestation cases – considered the most significant release of such documents in the U.S. in at least seven years – Orange County victims-rights activist Joelle Casteix knew she had a long weekend ahead of her. Was there anything in the documents from the neighboring diocese about Orange County priest abuse heretofore unreported?

There was. The documents show that one of the Orange County-based priests whose name had been made public in 2005 in relation to molestation allegations at St. Cecelia's in Tustin had also been the chaplain at the Marine Corps Air Station El Toro. The new information released over the weekend gave more detail than that reported in 2005 – in fact, it may involve an entirely separate case than first reported five years ago.

The priest, Edito D. Amora , (spelled in some documents as D'Amora), was a Navy lieutenant in the chaplaincy service stationed at El Toro from 1990 to perhaps as late as1993. He lived in an apartment on Los Alisos Boulevard in Lake Forest and ministered to Marines and their families at both the El Toro and Tustin air bases. Prior to that, he'd been stationed at bases in San Diego and 29 Palms.

PHILIPPINES
Inquirer

By Luis H. Francia
INQUIRER.net

NEW YORK, United States—Why can’t a woman be a priest? Why can’t there be a Mama instead of Il Papa? Why can’t the Catholic Church grow up?

When the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines let it be known that President Aquino might face excommunication were he to support a reproductive health bill that would reduce the country’s population growth, it was yet another blazingly clear instance of the institutional Church’s retrograde nature.

The drivel that population growth has nothing to do with the sorry state of the nation’s economy and resources has long been camouflaged as unassailable truth. Confusing contraception with inception, the dim bulbs among the clerics immediately went on the offensive (and in the process became offensive), and displayed their all-too-familiar, holier-than-thou stance. ...

This past August, Sr. Fran Ferder, a Franciscan nun and clinical psychologist, and Fr. John Heagle, a priest, psychotherapist, and canon lawyer, both professors at Seattle University, had this to say in The National Catholic Reporter: “The refusal to allow women into the inner sanctum of ecclesial power may well be related to clergy sexual abuse, and to the Vatican’s impotence in addressing this crime in a truly pastoral way. Is the attempted ordination of women a crime, or is the real crime the refusal to allow it?”

DOVER (DE)
The News Journal

By SEAN O'SULLIVAN • The News Journal • October 28, 2010

DOVER -- A jury hearing the priest abuse case brought by John M. Vai, and the public at large, Wednesday got its first chance to hear from defrocked priest and convicted pedophile Francis DeLuca.

Appearing on video taken during depositions in February 2008 and April 2009, much of which was under seal until Wednesday, DeLuca acknowledged he "simulated sex" with plaintiff John Vai -- among others -- when Vai was a teenage altar boy at St. Elizabeth's Roman Catholic Church in the late 1960s.

Vai's lawsuit is the first of a handful of priest abuse cases that a U.S. bankruptcy judge allowed to go forward in state court while bankruptcy proceedings involving the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington are continuing. The diocese was removed from the Vai case as a defendant.

IRELAND
Irish Central

By MOLLY MULDOON, IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Thursday, October 28, 2010

Catholic Church authorities have been urged to distinguish between a pedophile priest and a cleric who commits "a minor indiscretion" it was claimed by an Irish Catholic organization on Tuesday.

The new Association of Catholic Priests challenged current policies at a private meeting in Co. Mayo on Tuesday. The group questioned the policy implemented by Irish Bishops who require priests to automatically step down from office if child abuse allegations are lodged against them.

Father Tony Flannery, a spokesperson for the group said that many priests who were present at the meeting expressed empathy towards colleagues who had been excluded from the ministry as a result of abuse complaints or suspicions.

UNITED KINGDOM
Walsall Advertiser

By john newton news reporter

A VICTIM of a "serial rapist" priest has been speaking of the abuse he suffered at the hands of his tormentor who was jailed last week – 50 years after the offences.

The Walsall borough man, now in his 60s, was aged 12 when he was first targeted by former clergyman, Richard James Robinson.

He was one of four men who presented Birmingham Crown Court with written statements during Robinson's trial. It ended last Friday with Robinson's conviction on 21 counts of sexual abuse against children.

UNITED KINGDOM
Walsall Advertiser

By court reporter birmingham crown court

THE pervert former priest who sexually abused boys for nearly 25 years enjoyed choosing his vulnerable victims, said the judge who jailed him.

Richard James Robinson, who was known as Father Jim, was found guilty on 21 counts of abusing children he met while working in churches across the West Midlands between 1959 and 1983.

The prosecution's case focused on the abuse of six boys, although the offences on which Robinson was tried pertained to only four of them. Among his victims were Walsall residents.

DOVER (DE)
WJZ

DOVER, Del. (AP) ― An attorney for St. Elizabeth's Roman Catholic Parish says a defrocked priest accused of abusing children was "the embodiment of evil."

The News Journal reports that parish attorney Colleen D. Shields made the comments during opening statements Tuesday in the case of Francis DeLuca, who is being sued under the Delaware Child Victims Act of 2007.

CANADA
Global Winnipeg

Bradley Bouzane, Postmedia News: Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Former Supreme Court justice Michel Bastarache will deliver his recommendations next week to a New Brunswick diocese which is set to compensate dozens of people sexually abused by clergy members.

The report will advise Bishop Valery Vienneau, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bathurst, how much should be paid to the victims. Bastarache said "between 45 and 47" people are involved in the matter, but nine have decided to forego his recommendations and likely will seek compensation through the courts.

He met with the victims over the summer prior to completing his report, due Monday.

MASSACHUSETTS
NECN

[with video]

(NECN: Ally Donnelly, Salem, NH) - Clergy sex abuse victims from around the world are making a journey for justice.

They are headed for Saint Peter's Square in Rome to take part in Reformation Day events on Sunday.

Gary Bergeron and Bernie McDade are two of the people leaving for Rome.

Gary Bergeron packs for a trip to Rome. Sunday, the Salem, New Hampshire man will stand in the shadow of the Vatican -- shoulder to shoulder -- with hundreds -- he hopes -- thousands of other survivors of clergy sexual abuse.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
U.S.Catholic

By Catholic News Service

SAN DIEGO (CNS) -- After a California court Oct. 22 ordered the release of documents from the Dioceses of San Diego and San Bernardino related to past cases of improper sexual conduct of four dozen priests, more than 10,000 pages of material was made public.

Among the information released, much of which was posted on the website bishopaccountability.org were thousands of pages of routine personnel material as well as letters and other information detailing complaints about priests and the responses of their dioceses at the time claims were made against them.

None of the priests in question remain in the dioceses; only six of them are still living.

CHILE
The New York Times

By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO and PASCALE BONNEFOY
Published: October 27, 2010

SANTIAGO, Chile — In April of last year, the Rev. Juan Esteban Morales, the head of a Roman Catholic parish here, visited Dr. James Hamilton at his clinic to make an unusual request: that he stop pursuing an annulment to his marriage.

It was not simply a matter of giving the marriage another try. Instead, Dr. Hamilton said he was warned that the annulment could “seriously affect the image” and health of one of Chile’s most influential and respected priests.

The reason: Dr. Hamilton wrote in his annulment request that the priest, the Rev. Fernando Karadima, started abusing him when he was 17, irreparably harming his relationship with his wife.

“No one has shown any compassion for me,” Dr. Hamilton said he told Father Morales, who is also a doctor. “My life has been destroyed, and I am surprised that someone like you, a colleague and a priest who has to protect Christian souls, would ask me to do something like that.”

STOCKTON (CA)
Mercury News

STOCKTON, Calif.—A lawyer for a California man says his client has filed a lawsuit against a defrocked priest who admitted molesting dozens of children.

Attorney Joseph George says the civil lawsuit filed Wednesday in San Joaquin County Superior Court accuses Oliver O'Grady of repeatedly sexually assaulting his client when he was 5.

George says the alleged acts took place at Turlock parish. The alleged victim, now 24-years-old, is not identified in the suit. The lawsuit is seeking unspecified compensation for what it terms "emotional scars."

AUSTRALIA
Whyalla News

Lawyers acting on behalf of victims of former Catholic priest, Charles Barnett, are looking for witnesses in Whyalla to pursue further action.

He was sentenced to six years and six months in jail with a non parole period of four years after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting four children.

The charges related to alleged offences at Crystal Brook and Port Pirie between 1977 and 1985.

He pleaded not guilty to other charges of unlawful sexual intercourse and indecent assault at Port Pirie, Crystal Brook, Whyalla and Blackfriars.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

A FORMER Dublin priest yesterday faced 16 charges in the Circuit Criminal Court involving the sexual abuse of a child.

Six concern buggery, the remaining 10 are indecent assault. All allegedly took place between June 1st, 1979, and June 30th, 1983, when the then altar boy was aged between seven and 12.

The accused denies all charges. Due to media restrictions ordered in this case the identity of the former priest or his accuser cannot be reported, nor can details which could lead to either being identified.

All incidents are alleged to have taken place in the presbytery of a Dublin parish, with one outdoors. In his evidence the now 38-year-old complainant indicated that the 16 indictments were sample charges. Over the relevant years he “was interfered with or raped, or both, once a week . . . sometimes three times a week”, he said.

WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

Oct. 27, 2010

A La Crosse Catholic priest, accused of sexually assaulting a woman who'd sought help in dealing with her failing marriage, was acquitted at trial Tuesday after testifying the woman made sexual advances toward him.

Edmund Donkor-Baine, 48, of Ghana had been charged with misdemeanor assault in connection with an incident in the woman's car in August 2009. The 11-man, 1 woman jury deliberated for four hours before delivering its verdict, according to the La Crosse Tribune.

The case is one of two that critics of Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki have pointed to to suggest that Listecki did not aggressively pursue allegations of sex abuse against priests during his tenure in La Crosse. The second involved a priest now charged with child pornography, who continued in ministry after being accused of repeatedly following young boys into the restroom of a Wisconsin Dells water park.

OHIO
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

Anyone with a television, radio or a Twitter account knows the November 2 election is fast approaching.

The National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC) believes its readers should be aware of a candidate, Jon Husted, who is running for statewide office in Ohio, Secretary of State, for his work against survivors and the passage of strong statutes of limitation legislation for the protection of children and a window that would have allowed access to justice. (In like manner, NSAC would be pleased to make known those legislators running for office who support survivors. Please see our note at the end of this editorial.)

NSAC’s opposition to Jon Husted is based on Mr. Husted’s actions during the 2005 battle in Ohio for legislation to extend the statute of limitations for reporting and filing suit for sexual abuse and a window that would have allowed those for whom the statute had passed to have their day in court.

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

BY JAKE WAGMAN • jwagman@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8628

ST. LOUIS -- U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan's campaign said a website attacking his Republican opponent was a case of consultants gone wild.

Even so, spending records show the campaign paid a Colorado opposition research firm linked to the site about $2,000 days before the site was created.

The Carnahan campaign confirms that they paid for research exploring Ed Martin's time working for the Archdiocese, but said they never authorized the firm to put the information online.

UNITED STATES
Benedict XVI Ratzinger: God's Rottweiler

Paris Arrow

Benedict XVI is basking in majestic glory at the Vatican as the world watch him canonize 6 saints (he “read” the Mass in Latin), appoint 24 new Cardinals and conduct a well-dressed all-men ecumenical service all within 7 days.

Seeing him adulated in his new colorful garbs and papal tiara make it impossible to believe his words of “apology and sorrow” for his criminal role in the cover-up of the Priestly Sodomy of Biblical Proportions committed by the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army of the 20th century. Benedict XVI is the most revered criminal of the 20th century. His words of apology are a mere fart into victims’ faces as he wields his superpower by appointing 24 Cardinals who will perpetuate the worst injustice on earth through the Sacrament of Penance and who will act as the perfect conduit (with diplomatic immunity) of the corrupt trillion dollars of the Vatican Bank.

The 1.1 billion Catholics and their Catholic websites who keep defending Benedict XVI and the sanctity of John Paul II are as heartless and callous as these two popes. To them, the priest pedophilia phenomenon of the 20th century is ‘a thing of the past’ and their sodomized victims are ‘children of the past’. And now they conduct themselves in ways that would make their Catholic Faith prevail and move on and go on as it did in centuries past in spite of the popes’ and the Vatican’s crimes against humanity.

NEDERLAND
Limburgs Dagblad

Tientallen slachtoffers van misbruik binnen de katholieke kerk hebben woensdagmiddag een demonstratieve tocht door Kerkrade gehouden. De tocht eindigde bij het voormalige jongensinternaat St. Maria ter Engelen van de broeders franciscanen.

ANP

Volgens de actiegroep Mea Culpa hebben achttien broeders van dit internaat zich schuldig gemaakt aan seksueel misbruik. Advocaat Bob van der Goen zei inmiddels over 58 verklaringen van slachtoffers te beschikken. Hij wees nog eens op de brief die hij aan de paus stuurde waarin hij diens aftreden eist. Namens Belgische slachtoffers sprak de Vlaamse priester Rik Devillé, die opriep tot gezamenlijke juridische actie.

NEDERLAND
BN DeStem

door Gerlach Hochstenbach. woensdag 27 oktober 2010

BREDA - Niet alleen kardinaal Ad Simonis, ook bisschop Hans van den Hende van Breda en oud-bisschop Huub Ernst moeten binnenkort onder ede getuigen in een zaak rond seksueel misbruik in de rooms-katholieke kerk. De advocaat van misbruikslachtoffer Dave ten Hoor uit Terneuzen had die getuigenis geëist.

Ten Hoor eist in een civiele procedure een schadevergoeding van het bisdom Breda. Dat was de werkgever van pater Jan N. die in de jaren zeventig minderjarige jongens misbruikt zou hebben. Dat gebeurde in een jeugdcentrum in Rijswijk, dat onder het bisdom Rotterdam valt. N. bekende het misbruik, maar tot een veroordeling kwam het niet omdat justitie in 1980 de zaak seponeerde.

BELGIE
RKnieuws

BRUSSEL (RKnieuws.net) - De bisschoppen en religieuze oversten van België gaven vorige week een stand van zaken over hun aanpak van seksueel misbruik in de kerk. Op 13 september hadden ze al aangekondigd dat ze geen commissie-Adriaenssens bis ambieerden omdat die formule op weerstand van de gerechtelijke wereld stuit. Plannen werden gesmeed voor een ‘centrum voor erkenning, heling en verzoening’. Vandaag verlaten ze ook dat idee want “het bepalen van de waarheid van een melding en van de gevolgen van de feiten komt toe aan de rechterlijke macht”. Lees: de creatie van een nieuwe instantie dreigt hoe dan ook te worden geïnterpreteerd als parallelle justitie. Daarom lijkt de kerk zich strikt te willen beperken tot haar eigen kerkjuridische bevoegdheid in de aanpak van daders en tot pastorale begeleiding en eventueel doorverwijzing van slachtoffers naar therapeutische hulp.

De belangrijkste wending is evenwel het plan om niet langer centraal – interdiocesaan en met alle religieuzen – te vertrekken, maar apart, op het niveau van elk bisdom en elke religieuze gemeenschap. Wel wordt gedacht aan een centraal team van adviserende experts. Die ‘versnippering’ is om verschillende redenen opmerkelijk. Het lijkt een terugkeer naar de situatie van 1997, waar contactpunten per bisdom werden gecreëerd. Omdat die manier van werken ontoereikend bleek, werd destijds een commissie opgericht, met de bedoeling expertise te bundelen, een gelijklopende aanpak te garanderen en de drempel te verlagen voor slachtoffers die niet bij kerkverantwoordelijken durfden aan te kloppen. Een ander voordeel van een centrale instantie die dossiers opvolgt, is dat ze erover waakt dat mensen niet ontmoedigd raken omdat ze het gevoel krijgen dat ze van het kastje naar de muur worden gestuurd. Het ziet ernaar uit dat dit model – voorlopig? – wordt verlaten.

BELGIE
RKnieuws

BRUSSEL (RKnieuws.net) - Het ziet er naar uit dat de Kamer zich naar aanleiding van de misbruikschandalen in de Kerk binnenkort uitspreekt over de oprichting van een bijzondere commissie seksueel misbruik. Deze bijzondere commissie kan – indien nodig – na drie maanden omgevormd worden tot een onderzoekscommissie.

De commissie gaat zich buigen over seksueel misbruik in gezagsrelaties, vooral binnen de Kerk.

BELGIE
vandaag

De Kamer richt binnenkort een bijzondere commissie op voor seksueel misbruik binnen de kerk.

Verschillende partijen werkten dinsdag in een informele werkgroep een compromis uit. De bijzondere commissie kan na de Allerheiligenvakantie al uit de startblokken schieten en kan zich indien nodig omvormen tot een onderzoekscommissie.

BELGIE
De Redactie

Er komt een bijzondere parlementaire commissie die seksueel misbruik moet onderzoeken. Dat hebben de partijen in de Kamer beslist. Na Allerheiligen gaat de commissie al aan het werk, als de plenaire vergadering ja zegt tegen het wetsvoorstel.

Naar aanleiding van de verhalen die naar boven kwamen over seksueel misbruik binnen de kerk, pleitte een aantal partijen voor de oprichting van een parlementaire commissie die het dossier moet uitspitten. SP.A, Open VLD en de groenen waren voor een onderzoekscommissie. Een reeks andere partijen - onder meer de andere Franstalige partijen - waren dan weer voor een bijzondere commissie.

IRELAND
The Anglo-Celt

A 75-year-old priest of the Meath Diocese appeared at Kells Court last week on 71 charges of indecently assaulting a number of boys in various locations around the county. Raymond Brady, with an address at Baltrasna, Oldcastle, was remanded on continuing bail to November 26 next to allow him to be served with a book of evidence.

The 71 charges date from 1964 up to 1978 and relate to various locations around the county, including Kilmainhamwood, Drumconrath and Kilbeg. Detective-Garda Bryan Moroney told Judge Eamon O’Brien that when he charged Brady, he had nothing to say in reply.

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

A former Dublin priest has gone on trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court accused of the sexual assault and buggery of a young boy almost 30 years ago.

The 54-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies 10 counts of sexual assault and six counts of buggery on the boy between June 1, 1979 and June 30, 1983 when the alleged victim was aged between seven and 11-years-old.

The complainant, who is now 38, told Ms Mary Rose Gearty SC, prosecuting, that he met the accused when he was around seven years old while a pupil at a Dublin national school.

WISCONSIN
Ghana Business News

A visiting Ghanaian Catholic priest has been acquitted of sexual assault after a jury found him not guilty in the US.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the 48-year-old Rev. Edmund Donkor-Baine was accused of assaulting a female parishioner in La Crosse County, but the jury found him not guilty of misdemeanour.

CALIFORNIA
KFBK

A local man who has already brought a civil suit against the Catholic Church is asking for the Church's help to locate a former priest.

By KFBK's Bob Moffitt
Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Juan Ricardo Torres was a 14-year-old in Gridley back in 1982 when, he says, Father Jose Antonio Pinal Castellanos started sexually molesting him. In 1989, Torres finally told someone at the church. Torres says the church promised to remove Pinal from any contact with children and offered Torres counseling. He says he just tried to forget it ever happened until the Butte County District Attorney came calling in 2003 and asked for help in its prosecution of Pinal.

Torres agreed, but the United States Supreme Court ruled the prosecution could not continue because the statute of limitations had run out. Now, Torres has discovered Pinal is still in the priesthood and is in Mexico.

CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

By Gustavo Arellano, Wed., Oct. 27 2010

​The years change, the Catholic Church grows and weathers controversies, yet one truth remains in Orange County: John Urell is the most disgusting Catholic in Orange County history. Worse than Serra. Worse than Brownie. Worse than even the king of the county pedophiles, Eleuterio Ramos.

We have written much about how Urell--a favored priest of Orange County Supervisor Bill Campbell and Red County blogger Matt Cunningham--openly protected pedophile priests and berated their victims. After the jump, details on the latest Urell pedo-protecting incident to emerge!

The Diocese of San Diego earlier this week released thousands of pages of personnel files that showed how church leaders protected pedo-priests, just like in the Orange and Los Angeles diocese. The secular saints over at BishopAccountability.org have posted all the documents, including the files of one Patrick J. O'Keefe.

UNITED STATES
outpatient clinic

Skip Shea

Diocese of San Diego was forced to release personnel files of sexually abusive priests. Attorney Anthony DeMarco said "These documents demonstrate years and years and decades of concerted action that has allowed this community's children to be victimized, and it is not until the community looks at these documents that this cycle is ever going to be ended."
What concerted action?

Apparently the Diocese had a habit of moving abusive priests from parish to parish without notifying the police. Once again, I'm guessing, I'm sure the Pope is shocked and saddened.

Who knew? Outside of folks in Boston, Ireland, Australia, etc where everyone knew, it is safe to say the Bishop in your Diocese might have known too.

Heck, even the Pope knew how to do this when he was a Bishop in Germany when he shipped a pedophile from Esson to Munich for engaging in oral sex with an eleven year old.

Yet most still believe him when he says he is shocked and saddened. Even with such an enormous paper trail.

TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade

By DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR

A judge has ordered Lucas County prosecutors to turn over to Toledo priest Gerald Robinson a batch of 1980 police reports, discovered late last year, from the investigation of a nun’s murder for which Robinson was convicted in 2006.

The 136 documents were misfiled while being transferred from paper to microfiche about 15 years ago, prosecutors said.

“We’re delighted with the ruling and look forward to reviewing the documents,” Rick Kerger, one of Robinson’s defense attorneys, said yesterday.

TOLEDO (OH)
The Republic

TOLEDO, Ohio — An Ohio judge has ordered prosecutors to hand over newly discovered 30-year-old police reports to a Roman Catholic priest convicted of murdering a nun.

An attorney for 72-year-old Rev. Gerald Robinson says the priest's defense team looks forward to reviewing the documents in the 1980 killing of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl.

The county prosecutor's office in Toledo says the 136 police reports had been misfiled and turned up late last year.

LA CROSSE (WI)
Chicago Tribune

LA CROSSE, Wis. — A Catholic priest has been acquitted of sexually assaulting a female parishioner in La Crosse County.

A jury found the Rev. Edmund Donkor-Baine not guilty of misdemeanor assault. The 48-year-old visiting priest was accused of touching the woman's breasts after she sought marriage counseling in August 2009.

Donkor-Baine, visiting the U.S. from Ghana, said the 48-year-old woman made sexual advances to him.

LA CROSSE (WI)
Chicago Tribune

LA CROSSE, Wis. — A Catholic priest has been acquitted of sexually assaulting a female parishioner in La Crosse County.

A jury found the Rev. Edmund Donkor-Baine not guilty of misdemeanor assault. The 48-year-old visiting priest was accused of touching the woman's breasts after she sought marriage counseling in August 2009.

Donkor-Baine, visiting the U.S. from Ghana, said the 48-year-old woman made sexual advances to him.

FAIRFIELD (CT)
The Mirror

October 27, 2010
By: Alexandria Hein

Paul Kendrick met with President Father von Arx on Saturday and said it was, “low key and respectful,” but walked away with what he called a “sick feeling in his stomach.” Kendrick said that he was hoping that his visit to Fairfield would generate financial support for the victims sexually abused by Fairfield University alumnus Douglas Perlitz.

Kendrick reportedly was confident that he would convince von Arx to contribute $25,000 to the victims in Haiti which would cover the cost of schooling, food and clothes. Present were victims Dick Regan and Kevin Waldrip as well Reverend Robert Hoatson, who helps to oversee the Road to Recovery, and Paul Kellen, founder of National Survivor Advocates Coalition. The advocates stood at the school entrance to hand out leaflets to alumni and parents visiting for Homecoming weekend.

In an email to von Arx, Kendrick wrote, “The sick feeling I got that day was as a result of the full realization that the Jesuits, my former teachers and spiritual directors, had zero interest in the ‘promotion of justice’ for this child sex abuse victim and his family…”

WISCONSIN
MN SNAP

Lesson from Lacrosse priest case: there can be no delays in reporting sex assault to law enforcement

The most important lesson in the acquittal of Fr. Donkor-Baine of fourth degree sexual assault today in LaCrosse is that those who believe they have been criminally harmed need to come quickly forward to police and that institutions like the diocese of La Crosse must immediately report credible allegations of assault to authorities. The near three month delay before the evidence in this case was in the hands of the police should be unacceptable to everyone involved. The first person at an alleged crime scene should be law enforcement and the first ones taking statements and gathering evidence are police. Any delays makes prosecuting and defending charges much more difficult if not impossible.

WISCONSIN
WKBT

A jury finds a catholic priest from the Diocese of La Crosse not guilty of sexual assault.

48-year-old Edmund Donkor-Baine was accused of inappropriately touching a woman he counseled in August of last year.

The accuser first told the Diocese of La Crosse about the alleged incident in September of last year and then reported it to the La Crosse County Sheriff's Department three months later.

WISCONSIN
LaCrosse Tribune

By ANNE JUNGEN | ajungen@lacrossetribune.com lacrossetribune.com | Posted: Wednesday, October 27, 2010

A La Crosse County jury Tuesday acquitted a visiting Catholic priest of sexually assaulting a female parishioner in August 2009. The panel of 11 men and one woman deliberated four hours before finding the Rev. Edmund Donkor-Baine, 48, not guilty of misdemeanor fourth-degree sexual assault.

The priest’s supporters celebrated outside the courtroom with handshakes and praises to God.

“The system worked,” defense attorney Cheryl Gill said. “I feel a good man was accused unfairly, and it has totally changed his life. The accusations have gone worldwide.”

DOVER (DE)
The News Journal

By SEAN O'SULLIVAN • The News Journal • October 27, 2010

DOVER -- Attorneys for John M. Vai, who claims to have been sexually abused by a priest some 40 years ago, and those representing St. Elizabeth's Roman Catholic Parish, where the abuser worked, agreed on one thing in opening statements Tuesday -- defrocked priest Francis DeLuca was and is "evil."

"DeLuca was the embodiment of evil," said parish attorney Colleen D. Shields, adding his sins against young members of the St. Elizabeth family continue to shock and cause pain.

But Vai attorney Thomas C. Crumplar went further, claiming that by inaction and looking the other way, parish officials aided DeLuca's evil and but for that inattention and neglect, Vai and a number of other young victims would have been spared from the abuse. Crumplar noted that Vai was one of at least five young boys victimized by a priest at St. Elizabeth's in those years.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Northern Echo

CRIMINAL proceedings against a Roman Catholic priest charged with possessing child pornography have been committed to Durham Crown Court.

Father John Terence Paul Shannon, 57, is a former lecturer at the 200-year-old St Cuthbert’s Seminary at Ushaw College, near Esh, County Durham.

He is facing 17 charges of making an indecent photograph of a child on or before June 16, and possession of 763 indecent photographs of children.

GERMANY
Expatica

German director Wim Wenders is considering turning the Roman Catholic church's child sex abuse scandal into film, so shocked is he by a cover-up he says starts with the pope.

Wenders, the award-winning maker of hits such as "Paris, Texas" (1984) and Cuban musical tribute "Buena Vista Social Club" (1999), blames compatriot Benedict XVI for not breaking a "vicious circle" of silence on the scandal.

"The church as a whole, starting with the pope, is still inclined to hide things," Wenders said of the pedophile scandals rocking the church.

FRANCE
Le Figaro

Par Agnès Leclair

Parmi ces ecclésiastiques, neuf sont aujourd'hui écroués, selon la Conférence des évêques de France.

Il y a dix ans, les évêques de France s'engageaient solennellement à mettre tout en œuvre pour lutter contre la pédophilie. Aujourd'hui, l'Église catholique française pousse la transparence jusqu'à recenser le nombre de prêtres emprisonnés ou mis en examen pour actes pédophiles dans la nouvelle édition de sa brochure Lutter contre la pédophilie. Selon le document, présenté mercredi, neuf prêtres sont actuellement en prison pour ce motif, 51 sont mis en examen et 45 ont purgé leur peine. Ce décompte, inscrit noir sur blanc dans un livre réalisé par l'Église catholique, constitue en quelque sorte «une première», commente Mgr Podvin, porte-parole de la Conférence des évêques de France. Ces chiffres sont issus d'une enquête menée par la Conférence des évêques de France auprès des diocèses pendant l'été 2010. «Il s'agit d'un faible pourcentage des quelque 19.000 prêtres aujourd'hui en exercice, souligne Mgr Podvin, mais nous ne relativisons pas pour autant ces actes.»

BELGIQUE
rtbf

Un consensus s'est dégagé aujourd'hui en faveur de la constitution d'une Commission spéciale de la Chambre. Elle pourrait ensuite se muer en commission d'enquête si nécessaire. Elle aurait alors le pouvoir d'un juge d'instruction.

En Commission de la Justice, les débats avaient été intenses après les révélations de la commission Adriaenssens sur l'ampleur des abus sexuels au sein de l'Eglise.

Le pédopsychiatre avait été entendu, le ministre de la Justice soumis à la question sur les relations étroites, trop étroites parfois entre Eglise et Justice dans la transmission des informations sur certains faits.

BELGIE
Knack

In de Kamer is er overeenstemming over de oprichting van een bijzondere commissie die zich zal buigen over seksueel misbruik in de kerk en in andere gezagsrelaties.

In een werkgroep werd dinsdag overeenstemming bereikt over een bijzondere commissie die zich desgevallend na drie maanden kan omvormen tot een onderzoekscommissie.

De commissie komt er naar aanleiding van het seksueel misbruik in de kerk, maar ze zou breder werken dan dat en zich bezighouden met misbruik in alle 'gezagsrelaties'. Er is sprake van een commissie met dertien leden die tegen 7 april van volgend jaar klaar zou moeten zijn met haar besluiten.

BELGIE
De Morgen

De Kamer roept binnenkort een bijzondere commissie in het leven die zich moet buigen over seksueel misbruik. Verschillende partijen werkten vandaag in een informele werkgroep een consensus uit. De bijzondere commissie kan na de Allerheiligenvakantie al uit de startblokken schieten, is uit goede bronnen vernomen.

Naar aanleiding van de verhalen die naar boven kwamen over seksueel misbruik binnen de kerk, pleitte een aantal partijen voor de oprichting van een parlementaire commissie die het dossier moet uitspitten. Sp.a, Open Vld en de groenen (Ecolo en Groen!) waren voor een onderzoekscommissie. Een reeks andere partijen - onder meer de andere Franstalige partijen - waren dan weer voor een bijzondere commissie.

Terwijl er vorige week nog geen akkoord kon worden gevonden, kwam het dinsdag in de informele werkgroep wel tot een compromis. Bedoeling is dat er een bijzondere commissie komt die zich indien nodig na drie maanden kan omvormen tot een onderzoekscommissie. De commissie gaat zich buigen over seksueel misbruik in gezagsrelaties, vooral binnen de kerk. De commissie, die op 7 april volgend jaar haar conclusies klaar moet hebben, zal bestaan uit 13 leden.

FRANCE
La Croix

Les évêques actualisent leurs repères pour «lutter contre la pédophilie»

La nouvelle version des «Repères pour les éducateurs», désormais en vente en librairie, inclut les mises à jour du droit français et surtout du droit canonique

Donner plus de visibilité à la lutte de l’Église contre la pédophilie. Dix ans après s’être solennellement engagés, à Lourdes, à lutter contre la pédophilie, les évêques de France ont ainsi décidé de réactualiser les outils alors élaborés et de leur donner une plus large publicité.

COLOMBIA
Caracol Radio

Son 10 mil documentos de la Diócesis Católica de San Diego (California) los que comprometen, entre otros, a un sacerdote colombiano en casos de abuso sexual en EEUU.

Los documentos estaban previamente sellados y recuentan casos de abuso sexual que datan a los años sesenta. Uno de ellos, revela el caso de un sacerdote colombiano implicado en estos abusos.

Su nombre es Luis Eugenio de Francisco y en 1963 recibió ayuda de su arquidiócesis para escapar del territorio Norteamericano ante estas alegaciones y regresar a Cali.

CALIFORNIA
La Opinion

Claudia Núñez/ claudia.nunez@laopinion.com |2010-10-26

Bajo cargos de abuso sexual de menores, el sacerdote Alejandro Castillo de 57 años fue arrestado por oficiales del Departamento de Policía de Ontario.

El sacerdote es presuntamente responsable de siete actos lascivos y un cargo adicional de abuso sexual por la fuerza, todos perpetrados contra un niño menor de 12 años de edad en diferentes ocasiones.

Castillo se presentó ante un juez y se declaró no culpable de los ocho cargos y se le fijó una fianza de $1 millón, la que ha podido prestar.

MISSOURI
South County Mail

By Nicholas W. Inman nicholasi@marshfieldmail.com

Four area Amish elders had their day in court last week, entering guilty pleas for failing to act as mandated reporters in telling law enforcement about allegations of child abuse within their southern Webster County community. Each was ordered to pay a $300 fine plus court costs.

Defense attorney Will Worsham appeared before Associate Circuit Court Judge Ken Thompson representing Christian J.F. Schwartz, Jacob P. Schwartz, Emmanuel M.S. Eicher and Peter M. Eicher. Each was charged with one count of failure to report child abuse, a Class A misdemeanor. The elders did not appear in person throughout the period that their case has been before the court.

The case, which put Webster County in national headlines last year, focused on the responsibility of church officials in reporting child abuse.

VATICAN CITY
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

By NICOLE WINFIELD
ASSOCIATED PRESS

VATICAN CITY -- The papal official running the disgraced Legionaries of Christ has warned that the conservative order faces "certain shipwreck" unless its members and superiors heal divisions and distrust stemming from revelations that their founder led a double life.

Archbishop Velasio De Paolis also warned in a recent letter to the Legion that it will take three years or more to reform the order, dashing hopes of Legion superiors who had wanted a faster turnaround.

SAN ANGELO (TX)
Standard-Times

SAN ANGELO, Texas — Attorneys in the trial of Keith William Dutson Jr. may have a jury selected by this afternoon, as the potential jurors will return at 1 p.m. for the final selection.

Dutson, 25, is charged with sexual assault of a child and is a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The potential jurors vented their views on matters of justice and religion at the beginning of the trial.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY

SEVEN IRISH people will take part in “Reformation Day” events at St Peter’s Square in Rome next Sunday to mark the beginnings of the “Year of the Survivor”.

To date, victims of sexual abuse and their supporters from at least 11 countries have pledged to take part, including Ireland, the US, Canada, Australia, England, the Netherlands and France. Sixty abuse victims from Verona in Italy said yesterday they too would be attending.

The gathering from around the world has been organised by the US-based Survivors’ Voice group (survivorsvoice.org) and is intended to show solidarity with those who suffered clerical child sex abuse and, “in one solitary voice, to say ‘enough’.”

CANADA
The Globe and Mail

Sidhartha Banerjee MONTREAL
The Canadian Press

Victims of pedophile priests say they want some of the proceeds from the giant stadium mass planned this weekend in honour of André Bessette’s ascension to sainthood.

In a letter sent Tuesday to church leaders, two victims’ groups ask for a reply to repeated requests for financial compensation. They said their members should benefit from the $5-a-head being collected at the Olympic Stadium celebration in Montreal this Saturday.

The massive event recognizing Bessette, known as Brother André, will attract top dignitaries – including Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Quebec Premier Jean Charest – along with leading Catholic church figures like Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte.

Tuesday’s letter was addressed to Cardinal Turcotte, Archbishop of Montreal, and Mgr. Pierre Morissette, president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Press

By Jennifer Bell »
Crime reporter

A CATHOLIC child welfare society which may face a damages claim over alleged abuse at an East Yorkshire school has failed to offload some of the liability of an £8 million compensation claim.

The Court of Appeal dismissed a challenge by the Catholic Child Welfare Society (CCWS) of Middlesbrough Diocese in a case where 150 former pupils are suing for sexual and physical abuse by teachers and other staff at St William’s in Market Weighton, which closed in 1992.

Middlesbrough Diocese, which may face the multi-million pound compensation claim, said at a hearing in July the De La Salle Brotherhood, a Catholic organisation which provided teachers for the school, should take some responsibility.

SIOUX CITY (IA)
KPTH

[with video]

A sexual abuse lawsuit targets the Sioux City Catholic Diocese and a clergy member.

A former Sioux City resident claims Father Nicholas Ruba sexually abused her between 1969 and 1976, while he was a Pastor at St. Michael's Parish.

The lawsuit includes seven counts, including conspiracy to commit sexual abuse and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

NEW MEXICO
Las Cruces Sun-News

By Ashley Meeks ameeks@lcsun-news.com
Posted: 10/27/2010

LAS CRUCES - A former youth pastor has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for raping and molesting three young girls he met through his family's church between 2005 and 2007.

Rico Dominic Escudero, 31, entered a plea of no contest in May to two counts of kidnapping, three counts of rape, four counts of attempted rape of a child younger than 13 and two counts of molesting a child younger than 13. (A no contest plea means the defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges that if the case were to go to trial, there is enough evidence for a conviction.)

His sentence, which was filed Oct. 19, also includes a period of supervised release to last between five years and the rest of his life.

JAMAICA
The Gleaner

The highly anticipated carnal abuse trial of televangelist Dr Paul Lewis begins today in the Savanna-la-Mar Resident Magistrate's Court in Westmoreland.

The case, which has been ongoing for more than a year, will swing into high gear as the trial commences.

Allegations against the pastor are that, last June, he met a 15-year-old girl at a church convention in Little London, Westmoreland, where he was a guest preacher. He reportedly exchanged telephone numbers with the girl and, in a subsequent meeting, took her and a 14-year-old female companion with him on a trip to Clarendon.

UNITED KINGDOM
Guardian

Riazat Butt guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 26 October 2010

A Roman Catholic diocese faces an £8m compensation claim after three high court judges ruled that it owned and ran an institution where 142 former pupils are suing for abuse. The diocese of Middlesbrough is considering going to the supreme court in light of the judgment. The judges upheld an earlier ruling that the diocese was responsible for St William's Community Home, Market Weighton, Yorkshire, rather than the De La Salle Brothers, a Catholic order who worked there. The diocese added that its "thoughts and prayers" were with the alleged victims and their families.

A statement for the diocese said: "We are currently considering the contents and implications of the court of appeal judgment with our legal advisers.

"This includes consideration of an appeal to the supreme court on the basis that there remain fundamental issues of law which require clarification and are of public interest. We appreciate the frustration caused by the length of time it is taking to determine the complex legal issues involved in this case and our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected and their families.

UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post

Published Date: 26 October 2010
By Rob Waugh
A ROMAN Catholic diocese is facing an £8m compensation and costs bill after failing to overturn a ruling that it was legally responsible for a Yorkshire children's home at the centre of a huge abuse scandal.

The Court of Appeal yesterday upheld a decision by the High Court to find the Middlesbrough Diocese responsible for the management of the St Williams home in Market Weighton, East Yorkshire.

The diocese immediately asked for permission to challenge the ruling in the Supreme Court. Another legal defeat would further escalate costs in a case which involves around 150 alleged victims – the largest historic abuse case the Catholic church has faced in the UK.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Northern Echo

By Dani Webb »
Reporter (Stockton)

A NORTH-EAST Roman Catholic diocese faces paying £8m compensation after the Court of Appeal ruled it was responsible for the biggest historic child abuse claim in the country.

The Middlesbrough Diocese was found accountable for the claims of up to 170 victims who were abused at St William’s Community Home, in Market Weighton, near York, between 1958 and 1992.

But last night, a spokesman for the diocese said an appeal to the Supreme Court was under consideration.

UNITED KINGDOM
Evening Gazette

Oct 27 2010 by Andy Passant, Evening Gazette

A COURT ruling has left a Catholic diocese facing full responsibility for a multi-million pound compensation claim over child abuse at a boys’ school.

The Court of Appeal dismissed a challenge by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Middlesbrough in a case where more than 150 former pupils are suing for an estimated £8m in compensation.

The claimants are alleged to have suffered sexual and physical abuse by staff at St William’s in Market Weighton, East Yorkshire between 1960 and 1992.

SIOUX CITY (IA)
KCAU

[with video]

A former Sioux City Catholic priest is accused of sexually assaulting a young girl from 1968 to 1970.

A lawsuit has been filed by Nancy Prince who now lives in Texas. She accuses Father Nicholas J. Ruba of sexual assault and other forms of abuse.

The suit alleges the abuse happened during a two year period when Ruba was at Saint Michael's Parish.

The suit also accuses the Sioux City Diocese and Ruba of conspiring to keep secret her abuse and the abuse of other children.

SIOUX CITY (IA)
KTIV

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KTIV) - A new lawsuit has been filed alleging sexual abuse by a Siouxland priest back in the late 1960's and early 1970's.

Nancy Prince, who now lives in Texas, alleges Monsignor Nicholas Ruba sexually abused her several times when he was a parish priest at Saint Michael's Catholic Church in Sioux City. In a civil lawsuit Prince alleges Ruba took "advantage" of her on multiple occasions when she did projects at the church from the time she was 14-years-old up until age 21.

She's suing Ruba, and the Diocese of Sioux City, claiming the Diocese knew about the alleged abuse and covered it up. Prince wants a jury trial and compensation for emotional distress and damages.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By John Cooney Religion Correspondent

Wednesday October 27 2010

THE Catholic Church authorities need to distinguish between a paedophile priest and the cleric who committed "a minor indiscretion" with a teenager 30 or more years ago, it was claimed yesterday.

At a private meeting in Claremorris, Co Mayo, yesterday, the new Association of Catholic Priests challenged the policy of Irish bishops requiring a priest to automatically step aside from office if a child abuse complaint or suspicion is lodged against the cleric.

They passed a resolution which throws down the gauntlet to the Irish Conference of Bishops and the Vatican.

IOWA
Sioux City Journal

By Molly Montag
mmontag@siouxcityjournal.com

Sioux City Journal | Posted: Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Font Size:Default font sizeLarger font size.SIOUX CITY - A Texas woman has filed a civil suit claiming a Siouxland monsignor sexually abused her while she was a child living in Sioux City.

According to court documents filed Monday, Nancy Prince alleges Monsignor Nicholas Ruba sexually abused her from 1968 to 1976 while he was a pastor at St. Michael's Church in Sioux City. The lawsuit, which demands a jury trial, accuses the Catholic Diocese of Sioux City of ignoring allegations of abuse and not taking steps to ensure the safety of the alleged victim and other children.

Her complaint accuses Ruba of sexual abuse, the Diocese of Sioux City of negligence and failure to warn of the alleged danger and both parties of intentional infliction of emotional distress.

CALIFORNIA
The Desert Sun

[documents]

Nicole C. Brambila • The Desert Sun • October 27, 2010

A trove of newly released documents describe abuse or alleged abuse by 10 Catholic priests assigned to parishes in the Coachella Valley from the 1940s through the early 1990s.

The papers document a now-familiar pattern in which church officials transferred troubled priests to faraway parishes to avoid “scandal,” only to have the abuses repeated at their new churches.

Nearly 10,000 pages from the personnel files of 48 priests who were either accused or convicted of sexual abuse or were named in a civil lawsuit were put online Sunday after a judge ruled the previously sealed documents could be released.

CANADA
CBC News

Retired Supreme Court justice Michel Bastarache is preparing to give the Diocese of Bathurst his recommendations for compensation to victims who were sexually assaulted by clergy in the Acadian peninsula.

The Diocese of Bathurst hired the former Supreme Court of Canada justice earlier this year to speak to anyone in the church who was abused by any clergy in the diocese.

Bastarache was hired after Levi Noel, an 84-year-old former priest, was convicted of 22 sex-related offences and Charles Picot, a former priest, who had worked in Dalhousie, was charged with indecent assault. Picot's trial has yet to take place.

ONTARIO (CA)
The Press-Enterprise

[the criminal complaint]

An Ontario priest Tuesday pleaded not guilty to eight counts of felony sex crimes against a 12-year-old boy.

The Rev. Alejandro Jose Castillo, 57, was arrested Monday at his home in Ontario. Castillo was charged with seven counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under age 14 and one count of forcible lewd and lascivious acts with a child under age 14. The alleged acts occurred between October and December 2008 while Castillo was pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Ontario, according to the criminal complaint. If convicted, Castillo faces up to 22 years in prison, Ontario police said.

"It's a sad day for the diocese," said John Andrews, spokesman for the Diocese of San Bernardino. "It's an especially sad day for the good people at Our Lady of Guadalupe."

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By ROSE FRENCH, Star Tribune

At least two of the 21 Catholic parishes facing mergers and church closures will appeal their fate.

Parishes affected by the sweeping reorganization of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis have until Wednesday to appeal to Archbishop John Nienstedt.

Archdiocesan officials say they don't yet have a total of how many will try to fight the plan because they're still processing the appeals.

DELAWARE
WDEL

[with audio]

By Amy Cherry

Updated Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Opening statements wrap up with testimony expected to get underway Wednesday morning in the first priest sex abuse trial permitted to go forward against Father Francis DeLuca.

John Vai thought he wanted to be a priest. Now, he walks among the living dead. His attorneys say he goes through every day re-living nightmares of gruesome sexual abuse brought on by serial pedophile Francis DeLuca.

They say he's like a dormant volcano with eruption imminent -- the molten lava -- anger - bubbling inside him.

CANADA
CKTB

Donald Grecco will be in a Picton court Wednesday.

The former St. Catharines priest and admitted child molester is in trouble for violating the terms of his release.

Grecco has been held since he was picked up October 6th.

CALIFORNIA
I-Newswire

(I-Newswire) Ontario, CA, October 26, 2010 - The Preacher Bureau of Investigation (www.PimpPreacher.com) would like to thank The Diocese of San Bernardino for fully cooperating in the arrest of Jose Alejandro Castillo, 57, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Ontario California. “Father Alex" to parishioners, was arrested Monday at 3:30 p.m. at his Ontario home after a three-month investigation into allegations that he had inappropriate sexual contact with a child younger than 14.

As reported by the Los Angeles Times the San Bernardino County district attorney’s office issued an arrest warrant charging Castillo with eight counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a child. Castillo was removed from active ministry in June after he was accused, by relatives of the victims, of molesting two adolescent boys. The Diocese of San Bernardino took it to police, and the allegations were made public nearly three months later in a letter read at weekend Mass at the four churches where he had served.

The Preacher Bureau of Investigations has been very critical of the Catholic Church in its handling of Pedophile Priest, so today they wanted to take a moment to acknowledge The Diocese of San Bernardino for putting the safety of the victims first.

MISSOURI
KOAM

News release issued by the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Duenweg, Mo., man was charged in federal court today with receiving child pornography over the Internet.

Michael Alan Crippen, 51, of Duenweg, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Springfield, Mo. Crippen is the pastor at First Baptist Church in Duenweg.

According to an affidavit filed in support of today's criminal complaint, Crippen was identified during an investigation by the Dutch National Police into a Web site in The Netherlands that contained child pornography. Europol provided information to federal agents in the United States, who identified Crippen's computer as one that downloaded child pornography in August 2009. Law enforcement officers contacted Crippen at his residence on Oct. 13, 2010, and seized his laptop and desktop computers. At least 100 images of child pornography were found on the computers, the affidavit says, including children under 10 years of age.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Nieuws

(Novum/AP) - Bijna tienduizend pagina's voorheen verzegeld materiaal van de Amerikaanse katholieke kerk zijn openbaar gemaakt. Uit de documenten wordt duidelijk dat het bisdom San Diego al lange tijd op de hoogte was van priesters die zich schuldig maakten aan seksueel misbruik. Sommige priesters werden van parochie naar parochie of zelfs naar het buitenland gestuurd, ondanks geloofwaardige aanklachten tegen de mannen.

De documenten werden na een drie jaar durende juridische strijd vrijgegeven. Een gepensioneerde rechter van het Amerikaanse hooggerechtshof bepaalde vrijdag dat de documenten openbaar mochten worden gemaakt. Advocaten van 144 personen die beweerden seksueel misbruikt te zijn maakten de documenten uiteindelijk via de kranten openbaar. De documenten zijn afkomstig uit de persoonlijke archieven van 48 priesters die zijn aangeklaagd of veroordeeld voor seksueel misbruik of werden genoemd in rechtszaken.

De advocaten kwamen in 2007 met het bisdom een schikking van bijna tweehonderd miljoen dollar (143 miljoen euro) overeen, maar in de overeenkomst werd vastgelegd dat een onafhankelijke rechter zich zou buigen over de verzegelde archieven van de priesters en zou bepalen wat openbaar mocht worden gemaakt. De advocaten willen dat nog eens tweeduizend documenten worden vrijgegeven.

NEDERLAND
NRC Handelsblad

Door onze redacteur Joep Dohmen
Rotterdam, 26 okt. Het voormalig hoofd van de Nederlandse Rooms-Katholieke Kerk, kardinaal Simonis, moet onder ede getuigen in een zaak rond kerkelijk seksueel misbruik. Dat heeft de rechtbank Middelburg bepaald op verzoek van de advocaat van een misbruikslachtoffer.

Ook andere hoge kerkelijke leider worden gehoord. Onder hen bisschop Hans van den Hende van Breda en een van zijn voorgangers, oud-bisschop Huub Ernst. De datum van het voorlopig getuigenverhoor wordt later vastgesteld. De Kerk heeft zich juridisch niet verzet tegen het verhoor.

Schadevergoeding

De advocaat van slachtoffer Dave ten Hoor uit Terneuzen eist een schadevergoeding van het bisdom Breda. Dat was de werkgever van een pater die in de jaren 70 en 80 minderjarige jongens, onder wie Ten Hoor, seksueel misbruikte.

NEDERLAND
Kerknieuws

De stichting Mea Culpa United loopt woensdag in het Limburgse Bleijerheide een protestmars tegen 'doofpotaffaires' in de rooms-katholieke kerk. Dat doet de stichting, die zich inzet voor slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik binnen de kerk, in samenwerking met de Belgische lotgenotengroep Mensenrechten in de Kerk. Beide groepen spreken zelf van een 'mars tegen de Doofpot'.

Initiatiefnemer en oprichter Bert Smeets van Mea Culpa United verwacht ruim honderd mensen bij de mars, zei hij maandag.

NETHERLANDS
Expatica

The former head of the Catholic Church in the Netherlands, Cardinal Ad Simonis, will be called to a hearing concerning a sexual abuse case in the Catholic Church.

A spokeswoman from a court in Middelburg,in the southern province of Zeeland, confirmed on Tuesday that the cardinal is one of the witnesses called by the victim's lawyer to attend a provisional witnesses' examination.

No details have been released about the other witnesses. The court's spokeswoman said all specifics relating to the case will be made known in the beginning of November. The lawyer, who has called on Cardinal Simonis as a witness, is involved in a claim case on behalf of his client. The sexual abuse victim is seeking compensation from the diocese of Breda in the southern province of North Brabant.

ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat and Chronicle

Jeffrey Blackwell • Staff writer • October 26, 2010

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester has received a recommendation to consolidate five northeast city churches into three sites.

Under the plan St. Andrews Church and Our Lady of Perpetual Help would be closed with parishioners moved to the three remaining area churches St. Michael, Our Lady of the Americas and Church of the Annunciation.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Union-Tribune

[includes a timeline]

By Greg Moran

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego’s release of previously confidential files on priests accused of sexual misconduct is a landmark development in the abuse scandal, lawyers and advocates for victims said Monday.

The 10,000 pages of documents made available over the weekend extend back more than a half century and constitute what one expert called the most significant cache of clergy abuse files that has been released since 2003.

And more could be on the way, say lawyers for the 144 people who sued the diocese over claims they were molested as children.

IRELAND
RTE News

Catholic Church authorities need to distinguish between the paedophile priest and the cleric who committed a minor indiscretion with a teenager 30 or more years ago, according to a spokesman for the new Association of Catholic Priests.

Father Tony Flannery said many priests who attended a meeting in Co Mayo this afternoon sympathised with colleagues who had been excluded from ministry even though their behaviour since the transgression had been blameless.

The co-founder of the fledgling association was speaking following its first regional meeting in Claremorris.

WISCONSIN
LaCrosse Tribune

By ANNE JUNGEN | ajungen@lacrossetribune.com lacrossetribune.com

A devout Catholic testified today that a priest sexually assaulted her inside a vehicle in mid-August.

"He grabbed my hand and put it on his penis, and then he took his hands and grabbed my breast," the woman said during the Rev. Edmund Donkor-Baine's trial. "He was erect."

The woman said she met with Donkor-Baine that August evening hoping for his advice on her failing marriage, including how to handle sexual urges.

UNITED STATES
Tom Roeser

Ex-Mundelein Rector Said He’d Ordain McCormack Again.

Chicago public radio station WBEZ Friday aired a straight-from-the-shoulder assessment of upcoming leadership change in the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops…a refreshing tell-it-like-it-is news story and interview conducted by Chip Mitchell, chief of the station’s West Side bureau. It’s far different than what we’ll get from the other so-called religious reporters…Tribune’s soft-as-a-cupcake know-nothing relativist “seeker of truth” Manya Brachear and The Sun-Times whichoutsources Catholic coverage to mostly liberal (far Left with Margery Frisbie, center with friend of this blog Jim Bowman) Chicagocatholicnews.com.

Here’s the full test of Mitchell’s story including an interview with the father of a child pedophile victim of the convicted and defrocked former priest Dan McCormack. The story contains unpleasant sexual genitalia particularities which may upset some readers here but which should be absorbed anyhow to get the full extent of the lamentable dereliction of duty by Chicago archdiocesan authorities all the way up the ladder to the Cardinal—all of whom were promoted one way or another following the all-too-late punishment of McCormack’s clerical pederasty on a young man under the age of consent. I’ve entered comments to square with authentic doctrine.

EUROPE/UNITED STATES
Bloomberg Businessweek

October 26, 2010

By Jeffrey Donovan and Lorenzo Totaro

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Holocaust survivors from the former Yugoslavia accused the Vatican of helping Nazi allies launder their stolen valuables and have asked the European Commission to investigate their claims.

“We are requesting the commission open an inquiry into allegations of money laundering of Holocaust victim assets by financial organs associated with or which are agencies of the Vatican City State,” Jonathan Levy, a Washington-based attorney for the survivors and their heirs, wrote in a letter dated Oct. 20 to Olli Rehn, the European Union’s economic and monetary affairs commissioner. Levy provided the letter to Bloomberg.

The request follows a decade-long lawsuit in U.S. courts on behalf of Holocaust survivors and their heirs from the former Yugoslavia and Ukraine. That case, basing its claims on a U.S. State Department report on the fate of Nazi plunder, alleged that the Vatican Bank laundered assets stolen from thousands of Jews, gypsies and Serbs killed or captured by the Ustasha, the Nazi-backed regime of wartime Croatia. The Vatican repeatedly denied the charges and the findings of the 1998 U.S. report.

ONTARIO (CA)
The Sun

By Melissa Pinion-Whitt

Prosecutors on Monday charged an Ontario Catholic priest with molesting a 12-year-old boy, and police say he had at least four other victims.

The Rev. Jose Alejandro Castillo, also known as Father Alex, was arrested at his home in the 600 block of W. Zenia Court. He was booked into West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga in lieu of $1 million bail.

Ontario police had been investigating the case since July 21. They confirmed 57-year-old Castillo committed eight sex acts with the boy.

ONTARIO (CA)
Inland News Today

ONTARIO – An accused pedophile priest is jailed on $1 million bail.

Father Jose Castillo, known as ‘Father Alex’ at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, was arrested Monday at the culmination of a 3-month investigation.

Prosecutors allege that Castillo, 57, committed eight acts of inappropriate sex on a 12-year-old boy.

ONTARIO (CA)
The Press-Enterprise

A 57-year-old Ontario priest has been jailed on charges of felony sex crimes involving a 12-year-old boy, police announced this morning.

Rev. Jose Alejandro Castillo was arrested at 3:55 p.m. Monday at a house along the 600 block of West Zenia Court and booked on a warrant that charges him with seven counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14 and one count of a forcible lewd or lascivious act with a child under the age of 14, according to jail records and police.

Castillo is being held on $1 million bail. If convicted as charged, he would face a maximum punishment of 22 years in prison, police say.

ONTARIO (CA)
KABC

ONTARIO, Calif. (KABC) -- An Ontario priest is behind bars on suspicion of sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy.

The Rev. Jose Alejandro Castillo was arrested on Monday on several felony counts following a three-month investigation.

Castillo serves at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church and is known as "Father Alex."

ONTARIO (CA)
KTLA

KTLA News

ONTARIO -- A Roman Catholic priest pleaded not guilty Tuesday to repeatedly molesting a 12-year-old boy.

Jose Alejandro Castillo, 57, the pastor of Our Ladey of Guadalupe Church in Ontario -- known as "Father Alex" -- was arrested Monday at his home.

Prosecutors say Castillo molested a 12-year-old boy two years ago, and Ontario police say they suspect he molested at least two other teens.

ONTARIO (CA)
Mercury News

ONTARIO, Calif.—A Roman Catholic priest in Southern California has pleaded not guilty to repeatedly molesting a 12-year-old boy.

The San Bernardino County district attorney's office says Jose Castillo entered pleas Tuesday to eight counts of lewd acts against a child.

His bail was raised to $7 million from $1 million and he remains jailed.

ONTARIO (CA)
Los Angeles Times

October 26, 2010

An Ontario priest has been arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy, police said Tuesday.

Jose Alejandro Castillo, 57, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Ontario and known as "Father Alex" to parishioners, was arrested Monday at 3:30 p.m. at his Ontario home.

After a three-month investigation, Ontario police say they confirmed inappropriate sexual contact by Castillo, with eight separate acts committed against the boy over a three-month period in 2008, said Sgt. David McBride.

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

A seventh complaint has been made to gardaí alleging sexual abuse by a priest in the Cloyne diocese.

Officers have interviewed a woman who claims she was abused by the priest more than 20 years ago, when she was a young teenager.

The priest was a curate in the Cloyne diocese at the time.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
KPBS

[documents]

By Amita Sharma

October 26, 2010

Sex abuse victims are urging the public to carefully read newly released records detailing molestation cases dating back decades in local Catholic churches. The victims say the records contain information that could help parents protect their kids.

The records are from the personnel files of 48 priests who once served in the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego. These priests were either convicted of sexual abuse or were credibly accused.

David Clohessy, a member of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, says he believes some of the priests still live in the region.

“Imagine a single mom, four kids in an apartment complex and the man across the hall says I’m a retired priest," Clohessy said. "Our hope is that she will look at these documents and say no, no he’s not a retired priest, he’s s suspended priest, he’s a defrocked priest. He’s a convicted priest.”

UNITED STATES
General Board of Church and Society, The United Methodist Church

By the Rev. Darryl Stephens

Should The United Methodist Church (UMC) support the National Organization for Women (NOW) call to make clergy sexual misconduct a crime?

NOW urges state legislatures to make it illegal for a pastor to have sex with a congregant, just as a physician, psychiatrist or licensed counselor may be held criminally liable for “unlawful sexual relations” with those in their care.

Sexual misconduct is an immoral act, a violation of the sacred trust of ministry. And religious institutions have been notoriously slow to hold their own clergy accountable for sexual misconduct. Regrettably, we need to admit that the UMC is not exempt from this situation.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
City of Angels

By Kay Ebeling with Joey Piscitelli et al.

October 26, 2010

(In this post at CofA: Reader from Michigan responds to recent data collected on pedophile priests in Chicago, another reader requests help locating nuns who molested him at an upstate New York orphanage, and two more send jokes. First, Bernard Dabbene, pedophile priest, died last month, and the obit we are running here at City of Angels Blog has a bit more detail than the mainstream media obit run at SFGate* which drones about his “Years of Salesian priestly ministry in several Salesian high schools in northern and southern California” but does not mention Dabbene’s convictions and crimes. Joey Piscitelli sends this obituary:)

Notorious convicted molester Fr. Bernard Dabbene, one of the many San Francisco world record holder Salesian child serial sexual abusers, died September 9, 2010, in San Francisco at the age of 73. His childhood years were spent in North Beach, the home of several Salesian child violators, in the Shadow of St. Peter and Paul’s, where many of his predator clergy friends nested. His years of priestly ministry were spent in several schools run by the Salesian Religious Order, with accusations of molestation against Dabbene dating back to the early 1960s.

Dabbene has been disgraced by lawsuits and accusations and police reports, and he takes this history with him to the other world. His most notable experience was when he was caught red handed by the SF Police molesting an under aged boy in a car in San Francisco, and he was convicted of abuse. This occurred while Dabbene was the top liaison priest for the west coast, given that position by famous child abuser promoter Cardinal William Levada, who knew at the time that Fr. Dabbene had previous accusations of molestation against him.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
City of Angels

By Kay Ebeling

October 21, 2010

He was about to get drafted into the Vietnam War when friends said you could find refuge at a retreat in the New Mexico mountains. "Oso Pious" and a buddy drove 290 miles through winding wilderness roads and arrived in the middle of the night at the cluster of structures that was Via Coeli, a rehab center for problem priests in Jemez Springs. There, Servants of the Paraclete religious order brothers bustled the young men onto the grounds for what was to be safe haven from the draft while they worked on deferment.

But soon Father Gerald Fitzgerald (pictured), with his Kennedy family eyes, stood over young Oso saying, “God sent you here” and without preparation or going to seminary or even particularly having a calling, the 20-year-old found himself with a new identity: Father Pious. Oso contacted me through Facebook after we published Murmur She Wrote 1 October 16th, announcing that City of Angels Blog is going on the road, first stop Albuquerque to write about Servants of the Paraclete. Now a New Mexico resident, the former Servant is known in online comments and blogs as "Oso Pious." He only remained with the Order from April to December 1965, then became a special education teacher in New Mexico.

Over the phone this week, Oso told me of watching local kids swim in the pool with the pedophiles in New Mexico, helping draft dodgers slip over the border into Canada at a Vermont Servants of the Paraclete center, and living out a false identity as Father Gerald’s secretary, "Father Pious." Oso left Servants of the Paraclete when a fellow brother set himself on fire as part of an antiwar protest.

I’d actually read some of Oso Pious’s story earlier in Sons of Perdition the 2009 book by former Missing Link editor Jay Nelson.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com)

We’re with a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org).

This hard-won victory over secretive Catholic officials helps protect the vulnerable and heal the wounded. It’s proof of two important lessons, one discouraging, the other encouraging.

The discouraging lesson is that when it comes to child sex crimes and cover ups, little is changing in the Catholic hierarchy. Despite pledges of ‘openness,’ bishops are still obsessed with hiding the truth.

For three years, Bishop Brom and his high priced lawyers succeeded in keeping these records hidden. Even now, Brom is still keeping what are likely the most shocking documents hidden. The public now is getting only about 80% of the records that were promised in the settlement.

SACRAMENTO (CA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

What:
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, a clergy sex abuse victim will
-- disclose his name and discuss his "first of its kind" predator priest & cover up lawsuit,
-- show evidence that the admitted molester who hurt him is in a parish even now,
-- beg Sacramento’s bishop to help get his predator out of ministry now, and
-- give copies of a letter he’s sending to the Pope, prodding him to stop letting this priest (and other child molesting clerics) move across borders and continue functioning as priests.

With other victims, he will also urge anyone who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes to call police, get help, expose predators, protect kids and start healing.

When:
Tuesday, Oct. 26, at 11:00 a.m.

Where:
Outside the Sacramento Catholic diocese headquarters (“chancery”), 2011 Broadway, Sacramento, CA

INDIA
Sify News

Ranchi, Oct 26 (IANS) Police Tuesday arrested a priest in Dumka district of Jharkhand after a woman inmate at his ashram accused him of rape.

Mahant Babluji was arrested at Sadanand Mission after some women alleged he had misbehaved with them while a young woman hurle rape charges, a police officer told IANS from Dumka, some 400 km from here.

All the inmates fled the ashram some days ago, police said. The case was registered Monday.

INDIA
Samay Live

Jharkhand police on Tuesday arrested a priest in Dumka district after he was allegedly accused by a woman who was inmate at his ashram.

The incident took place when some women alleged that he had misbehaved with them while a young woman alleged him of rape.

All the inmates fled the ashram some days ago and a case was registered against the Mahant on Monday in Dumka police station under the sections 369 and 376 of IPC.

UNITED STATES
Healing and Spirituality

Dr. Jaime Romo

There’s an expression that to lose one’s sight is to be cut off from the world of things, but to lose one’s hearing is to be cut off from the world of people. I believe that when it comes to Religious Authority Sexual Abuse, many church leaders and followers are blind to the problem and deaf to the RASA survivors who are starving from neglect and disbelief. The recent statement by William Donohue makes this point clear, as he questions how traumatic sexual abuse by a religious authority really is.

I recently had the experience of watching a movie on an airplane and getting some insight into what has been happening for so long when it comes to the average person, particularly those who identify with particular religious traditions and leaders, and supporting survivors of RASA. With the help of the brilliant clergy abuse expert, Richard Sipe, I will explain.

Imagine being on a plane and seeing the previews or news reports before the main feature, but having no headphones. The flurry of images may be full of meaning, but all you can do is imagine what they mean. It is easy to get bored or feel disconnected from what is unfolding in front of your eyes. There is no all important soundtracks to cue you to the affect of the story. If the action is somewhat familiar to you, you might interpret some of the information.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
San Diego 6

Reported by: Heather Myers
Email: newstips@sandiego6.com

SAN DIEGO-
"I hid it from my parents, I hid it from the world, and I want the world to know that it's tough," said Jim Whitman, who calls himself a survivor after being sexually abused by his priest as a child.

Whitman, a San Diego resident, recently settled a lawsuit with the San Diego Catholic Diocese after claiming that the abuse was at the hands of Father Gustavo Benson. Whitman says prior to telling his story, he spent 20 years on the streets hooked on meth and alcohol. At one point he tried to commit suicide.

"I just came out with my story about 4 years ago and I ask the world today would you let this happen to your child and not stand up and fight," said Whitman.

COLOMBIA
Colombia Reports

A Colombian priest is among the clergies who escaped U.S. justice despite child abuse allegations, a 10,000-page document, declassified by the church on Monday, showed.

One of the names in the document that was not known to the public before is that of Father Luis Eugene de Francisco, a Cal-born Colombian who had served in San Diego in the early 1960s where he allegedly abused children.

According to the Associated Press, Francisco was arrested in 1963 for "violation of the State Penal Code," but the church arranged for Francisco to avoid penalty so long as he return to Colombia and never return to the U.S.

UNITED STATES
The Denver Post

By Electa Draper
The Denver Post

One in four Americans said they couldn't think of a single positive societal contribution made by Christians in recent years, according to a nationwide survey released Monday.

Also, one in 10 adults said they couldn't think of a recent positive contribution because Christians hadn't made one, the Barna Group reported.

On the positive side, almost one in five mentioned how U.S. Christians help poor and underprivileged people. Those under the age of 25 were most likely to reference such service.

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The Court of Appeal has upheld a decision that a Catholic diocese should be held liable for alleged abuse at a former boys' school.

The abuse is said to have taken place between 1960 and 1992 at St William's in Market Weighton, East Yorkshire.

Middlesbrough Diocese is facing an £8m compensation claim from 158 ex-pupils.

WALES
Western Mail

Oct 26 2010 Western Mail

A SCHOOLBOY was abused then seriously sexually assaulted by a married man who was head verger at a Welsh cathedral, a court heard yesterday.

Colin James Adams, now 57, who has since left the Llandaff diocese to take up a church post in Newcastle, groomed the boy with gifts of books and cards, gained the trust of his family then began intimately touching him, alleged prosecutor Sue Ferrier at Cardiff Crown Court.

Adams denies all charges.

UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

By Stephen Howard, PA

Tuesday, 26 October 2010

A Catholic child welfare society which may face a multi-million damages claim over abuse at a school failed today to offload some of the liability.

The Court of Appeal dismissed a challenge by the Catholic Child Welfare Society (CCWS) of Middlesbrough Diocese in a case where 150 former pupils are suing for sexual and physical abuse by teachers and other staff at St William's in Market Weighton, East Yorkshire, which closed in 1992.

Middlesbrough Diocese, which may face an £8 million compensation claim, said at a hearing in July that the De La Salle Brotherhood, a Catholic organisation which provided teachers for the school, should take some responsibility.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
BishopAccountability.org

On October 22, 2010, Judge William C. Pate ordered the release of documents relating to the sexual abuse of children by priests in the Diocese of San Diego. This document release was a nonmonetary provision of the San Diego settlement, as ordered on August 29, 2008 by Judge Emilie Elias, of the Los Angeles Superior Court.

On this page, we present all the documents released by Judge Pate's order, and during this week, we will post the crucial documents individually for easier download. Some of these documents are also available from the website of the Zalkin Law Firm, which was our source for many of the files. The text of Judge Pate's order and the files for ten of the priests were provided by attorney Anthony DeMarco.

Some of the files linked on this page are very large. We have posted them as they were released, so that our readers could have immediate access to this important archive – the largest collection of abuse-related documents ever obtained from a California diocese. In the coming days, we will make the documents easier to access by cutting them into smaller PDFs and offering selected documents. Please refresh this page often in your browser to view the new material.

These documents are important for many reasons. They are the first public evidence of allegations of misconduct against nine priests: Brennan, Clarkin, Creaton, Jost, Kearney, MacCourt, O'Connor, O'Donohoe, and Waltos. They also provide crucial evidence that the sexual abuse crisis is an international phenomenon, and they offer a remarkably detailed history of mismanagement and concealment by the San Diego diocese's bishops and managers.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
KUSI

[unsealed documents]

It has been three years since a multi-million dollar settlement by the Diocese over sexual abuse allegations and now many more cases are still making headlines.

In 2007, the Diocese settled scores of claims against its Priests to the tune of almost 200-million dollars. As part of the settlement, sealed Church files were to be made public after being reviewed by a judge. Sunday, lawyers for the plaintiffs released thousands of documents that showed how the Diocese quietly moved some "problem Priests" from Parish to Parish.

Today members of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) called upon Bishop Robert Brohm to release some 2-thousand pages of records which the organization says are still being fought over in court.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
10 News

SAN DIEGO -- A former San Diego priest convicted of molesting two boys in San Bernardino is still with the Catholic Church, but is now in Ensenada, Mexico.

Days after the Diocese of San Diego released more than 10,000 pages of private documents relating to priest sexual abuse, 10News uncovered additional details about one of the priests involved.

Father Gustavo Benson served at Our Lady of Sacred Heart in San Diego in 1971. In 1975, he was at St. John Church in Encinitas, and in 1977 at Mary Star of the Sea in Oceanside. He worked in several different parishes in California until he was charged with molesting two boys in San Bernardino. Benson entered a plea of no contest and agreed to counseling. 10News learned he was then sent to the Diocese of Tijuana, where he has been serving for more than a decade.

DOVER (DE)
The News Journal

By SEAN O'SULLIVAN • The News Journal • October 26, 2010

DOVER -- Attorneys began selecting a jury Monday to hear the priest abuse case filed by 58-year-old John M. Vai against defrocked priest Francis DeLuca and St. Elizabeth Roman Catholic Parish in Wilmington.

The case was supposed to go to trial a year ago this month, but the bankruptcy filing by the Diocese of Wilmington put the case on hold along with nearly 150 others. The only reason why this one, and a handful of others, is moving forward is because the diocese has been dropped as a defendant and U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi ruled in August that the cases could proceed against individual defendants and parishes, which are considered to be separate business entities from the diocese.

Vai, who filed his lawsuit in June 2008, is seeking damages from St. Elizabeth's, where Vai said he 1was a parishioner and altar boy in the late 1960s when DeLuca began sexually abusing him.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

THE FIRST regional meeting of the newly established Association of Catholic Priests takes place at the Curam Centre in Claremorris, Co Mayo, this afternoon.

Over 300 priests attended the inaugural meeting of the association in Portlaoise on September 15th. The three founder-priests, Fr Brendan Hoban, Fr Seán McDonagh and Fr Tony Flannery, have said all priests are welcome.

The meetings aim “to spread the association, and give other priests, who may not have been able to attend the inaugural meeting in Portlaoise, a chance to get involved”.

NEDERLAND
Limburgs Dagblad

De Stichting Mea Culpa United, waarin slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik binnen de kerk zich hebben verenigd, houdt woensdag in Kerkrade een ‘Mars tegen de doofpot’.

De mars, die is georganiseerd samen met de Belgische lotgenotengroep Mensenrechten in de Kerk, begint om 15.00 uur vanaf het pleintje voor café-zaal Ejen Bouwerweij. Dan lopen de deelnemers naar het voormalige jongenspensionaat Sint Maria ter Engelen aan de Pannesheiderstraat.

TENNESSEE
WDEF

KNOXVILLE—Bishop Richard F. Stika of the Diocese of Knoxville today issued the following statement:

As you know, on April 14 of this year a very courageous man, Mr. Warren Tucker, informed me that during the 1970s he had been sexually abused by William Casey, who at the time was a priest of the Diocese of Nashville serving in East Tennessee.

We immediately began an investigation into these allegations and notified the district attorneys’ offices and law-enforcement officials in Greene and Sullivan counties, this being consistent with our policy on sexual misconduct (http://dioknox.org/pdfs/misconduct.policy.pdf).

IRELAND
The Irish Times

BARRY ROCHE, Southern Correspondent in Cork

GARDAÍ IN Cork have forwarded a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions following a complaint by a seventh woman that she was sexually abused by a priest in the Diocese of Cloyne more than 20 years ago.

The woman contacted gardaí investigating allegations of sexual abuse by a number of priests in the Diocese of Cloyne and gave a detailed statement in which she alleged she was sexually assaulted by a priest while he was a curate in north Cork.

The woman complained that the priest sexually assaulted her in the early 1980s, when she was in her early teens. Detectives have since interviewed the priest by arrangement and put the allegations to him.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
NBC San Diego

By PAUL KRUEGER

Despite the release of thousands of documents, child molestation victims are urging the Catholic Church to release even more records connected to the sex abuse scandal.

The local Catholic diocese, however, says it has done all it can on this emotional issue.

The diocese and lawyers for the victims have now released 10,000 pages of documents detailing abuse and coverups. The nearly previously sealed Catholic Church documents show that the Diocese of San Diego long knew about abusive priests, some of whom were shuffled from parish to parish despite credible complaints against them.

After a three-year legal battle over the diocese's internal records, a retired San Diego Superior Court judge ruled late Friday that they could be made public. Attorneys for 144 people claiming sex abuse made the papers public Sunday.

POWAY (CA)
Poway Patch

[documents]

By Hoa Quách

Documents on sex abuse cases kept confidential for years by the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego were made public Sunday, showing one suspect included a former Poway pastor.

The documents made public Sunday include multiple files on 48 priests and that of Rev. Anthony Rodrigue, who served as the associate pastor for St. Michael from 1974-1975.

According to the Zalkin Law Firm, the previously sealed personnel documents of accused priests show that church leaders knew about clergy sex abuse long before they previously said they did, and even with the information, continued to assign accused priests to local churches.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Ozarks First

(St. Louis) -- Republican Congressional candidate Ed Martin is hitting back at a website which claims he hid pedophile priests while he was a top aide of former St. Louis Archdiocese Archbishop Justin Rigali.

Martin says www.therealedmartin.com is just a smear campaign looking to hurt him and Catholics.

Martin also says the head of the website, Michael Corwin, is really just a Democratic operative looking to hurt him.

DOVER (DE)
The News Journal

By SEAN O’SULLIVAN • The News Journal • October 25, 2010

DOVER — Attorneys began selecting a jury today to hear the priest abuse case filed by 58-year-old John M. Vai against defrocked priest Francis DeLuca and St. Elizabeth’s Roman Catholic Parish in Wilmington.

Vai, who filed his lawsuit in June 2008, is seeking damages from St. Elizabeth’s, where Vai had been a parishioner and altar boy in the late 1960s when DeLuca began sexually abusing him.

Opening arguments in the case could come later this afternoon or Tuesday depending on the pace of jury selection.

UNITED STATES
Orlando Sentinel

Monsignor William McCarthy reveals what it is like to be accused of the heinous crime of child molestation in his book The Conspiracy: An Innocent Priest. McCarthy was accused in 2003 of molesting two sisters formerly in his parish —23 years prior. Because of a lack of evidence, he was never tried in a U.S. court of law, but was subjected to a Canonical trial.

Although McCarthy was cleared of any wrong doing five years later, the scandal still haunts him to this day.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will
--blast San Diego’s Catholic bishop for delaying the disclosure of another 2,000 pages of records about predator priest and
--urge him to reverse himself and stop raising objections that are keeping the crucial documents hidden
-- blast the bishop for keeping silent for years about a proven local predator priest who is still in ministry today, and
-- urge him to write the Pope and his Mexican counterpart about ousting the predator.

Finally, they will prod the bishop to personally visit each parish where child molesting San Diego clerics worked, begging victims and witnesses to come forward, call police, expose pedophiles, protect kids and start healing.

WHEN
TODAY, Monday, Oct. 25, 10:15 a.m.

WHERE
Outside St. Joseph's Cathedral, 1535 Third Ave. at Beech, in San Diego CA

IRELAND
The Irish Times

Charlie 'The Hare' Maguire: CHARLIE “THE Hare” Maguire was one of the dwindling number of survivors from Ireland’s gulag of the 1940s – the industrial school system. A powerless man seemingly perceived as a rural outsider, he spent nearly two-thirds of his life in the custody of the State, and died after nearly half a century as a patient in St Davnet’s hospital in Monaghan.

Charlie Maguire was born in 1933 on a small farm at Knockroe, near the Co Cavan village of Swanlinbar. His father, Peter Maguire, was 72 when Charlie was born. It was Peter Maguire’s second marriage. At the time of Charlie’s birth, his half-brother Owen was 37, and had long left the area.

His mother Brigid Maguire (née Kelly) was a native of Killesher, Co Fermanagh. She was nearly 40 years younger than her husband. Her mother had come to the farm as a “serving woman”, and made a match for her daughter with Peter Maguire.

NEDERLAND
Laarder Courant de Bel

De dagelijks berichten over seksueel misbruik binnen de geestelijkheid lijken al net zo gewoon als berichten over zelfmoordaanslagen in de wereld. Je weet niet in hoeverre die berichten indruk maken bij de toeschouwer of toehoorder.

De commotie laat mij denken aan een geestelijke uit mijn geboortedorp die mij, net zoals bij andere kinderen, af en toe lieflijk toesprak en mijn gezicht met beide handen liefkoosde. Van seks wist ik toen nog niets af, dat kwam pas enkele jaren later toen ik leerde hoe ik mijzelf kon bevredigen. Dat gebeurde met hulp van een boerenknecht, die mij als beloning bij het helpen met hem te bevredigen, op de tractor liet rijden. Vreemd genoeg vond ik dat voor mijn gevoel niet vies of vervelend of zo, maar het bezorgde mij wel schuldgevoelens omdat mij door de pastoor of kapelaan op school was geleerd dat ik geen onkuisheid mocht begaan, want zo stond het in de tien geboden.

WISCONSIN
GhanaWeb

La Crosse, WI, USA -- Jury selection begins today in the trial for a visiting Catholic priest accused of sexually assaulting a female parishioner.

Attorneys will impanel the jury in the Rev. Edmund Donkor-Baine case during a 9 a.m. hearing in La Crosse County Circuit Court.

Opening arguments in his two-day trial for misdemeanor fourth-degree sexual assault are set for Tuesday morning.

UNITED STATES
I-Newswire

(I-Newswire) Dallas, TX, October 24, 2010 -
On the surface the parallels are very similar. Pimp Preacher.com is a website that allows exploited church members and congregation to report abusive Pastors. Since the launch of the site two months ago PimpPreacher.com has witnessed traffic numbers unheard of for a new website, this unless you’re referring to Facebook.

Pimp Preacher.com started in the same fashion as Facebook but with far less start up capital. One of the keys to success for the site has been their ingenious system that allows abused church members to anonymously report abusive Pastors. The site experienced record numbers during the Bishop Eddie Long Sex Scandal in which followers of the scandal relied on Pimp Preacher.com for accurate news coverage.

The site latest page “Preachers Gone Wild” is a collection of mug shots and videos of Pastors arrested for and array of charges. In one day the website experienced 22,000 unique visitors (first time visitors to the site) which prompted a call from their hosting company requesting that site owners increase their bandwidth. A spokesperson for Pimp Preacher.com says that they were totally caught of guard by the huge number of unique visitors but now they have the necessary capacity to handle over 100,000 simultaneous visitors.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
The Injury Board

by Mike Bryant

October 24, 2010

Late Friday, Judge William C. Pate ruled that internal church documents of the Catholic Diocese of San Diego pertaining to priests who had been convicted, credibly accused or named in molestation lawsuits could be released. This is a battle that has been going on for a long time. The lawyers involved have indicated that there are more documents that should be released.

“These documents show how it happened,” said attorney Anthony De Marco, who represented victims. “They help give insight into how such travesty can occur on such a large scale … placing the institution above protecting children. … I think to ever remedy a problem, you have to understand it.”

The records are from the personnel files of 48 priests. The pedophile priests were the cause of the nearly $200 million settlement by the diocese in 2007. As part of that settlement there was a stipulation that an independent judge would review the priests' sealed personnel records and determine what could be made public.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Southwest Riverside News Network

[documents]

By Staff, City News Service
Sunday, October 24, 2010

Documents on sex abuse cases kept confidential for years by the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego were made public today on a Website of victims’ attorneys, after a judge ordered their release.

The document dump includes multiple files on 48 priests.

According to the Zalkin Law Firm, the previously sealed personnel documents of accused priests show that church leaders knew about clergy sex abuse long before they previously said they did, and even with the information, continued to assign accused priests to local churches.

“These documents show how it happened,” attorney Anthony De Marco, who represented victims, told the Los Angeles Times. “They help give insight into how such travesty can occur on such a large scale … placing the institution above protecting children … I think to ever remedy a problem, you have to understand it.”

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Los Angeles Times

Tony Perry and Paloma Esquivel
October 25, 2010

Reporting from San Diego and Los Angeles —

After a three-year legal fight, documents were released Sunday detailing the years of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in the San Diego Diocese that led to a $198.1-million settlement with 144 victims in September 2007.

The documents involved 48 priests, most of whose names the diocese disclosed in March 2007. But few details had been released other than to say "credible allegations" had been made against them. None of the 48 is still in the diocese and all but a half-dozen are dead.

Although the diocese quickly paid the settlement, its lawyers fought in court to limit disclosure of the personnel records, citing various personal and medical-record privacy laws.

PENNSYLVANIA
Reading Eagle

Last month's announcement by the Diocese of Allentown that it had removed two priests from the ministry because of allegations of sexual abuse lit a candle that burned only until it was snuffed out by the diocese itself.

When I learned that the diocese had begun investigating allegations by sending a former FBI agent to interview a survivor of abuse - and then, according to the survivor, Mark Rozzi, telling the survivor not to tell anyone about the interview - I needed no more evidence that the diocese had quickly returned to the same position the church itself has maintained for decades: Secrecy is better than openness.

While the diocese admitted that it was using an investigator, the investigator himself, Brian Smyth, did not return a call I made to him. I had lots of questions.

David Clohessy, president of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, which is based in Chicago, did return my phone call.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Newser

By Mary Papenfuss, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 25, 2010

(Newser) – The church helped a California priest flee the country after his arrest in a child sexual abuse case, according to a cache of shocking documents kept secret for decades. Church treatment of Rev. Luis Eugene de Francisco was part of a pattern of behavior by some officials who knew of complaints against priests, yet shuffled them to different parishes or overseas, where they continued to work, the records reveal. "These documents demonstrate decades of concerted action that has allowed this community's children to be victimized," said attorney Anthony DeMarco, who's representing 144 southern California abuse victim and won a court ruling late last week ordering that the personnel files be released. The 10,000 pages regarding 48 priests are the biggest trove of church documents concerning clergy sex abuse ever exposed.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
San Diego Union-Tribune

[documents]

By Dean Calbreath

After a prolonged legal battle, the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego this weekend released around 10,000 pages of documents related to 48 priests embroiled in accusations of child abuse.

Attorneys for 144 local abuse victims immediately began posting the documents to the Web. They said the documents - which include correspondence between priests and their superiors - show that the Vatican was involved in some of the cases.

The attorneys say that they are pressing for the release of even more documents.

RENO (NV)
Reno Gazette-Journal

2006: The Rev. Honesto Augustine, pastor of St. Therese the Little Flower Church, was accused of sexual misconduct with a minor. The Reno Police Department investigated and cleared him of any misconduct. Augustine was on voluntary leave of absence while the investigation was conducted, and returned to his post once cleared.

2005: Two Reno women filed a lawsuit claiming they were repeatedly molested by Eugene Braun, former pastor at Our Lady of Snows Church, while at a drive-in in the mid-1960s. Braun, who left the church about 30 years ago, denied the allegation.

2005: A Reno man filed a lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Reno claiming the Rev. Harold Vieages, who died in 2004, molested him when he was 12.

2004: The Diocese of Reno paid $50,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a Reno woman who said she was molested and raped by Father David Brusky, who served at two Reno churches, in the 1970s.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Washington Post

By GILLIAN FLACCUS
The Associated Press
Sunday, October 24, 2010

SAN DIEGO -- Attorneys for nearly 150 people who claim sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests released thousands of pages of previously sealed internal church documents Sunday that detail complaints against the clerics and include medical records and correspondence between priests and their superiors.

A retired San Diego Superior Court judge ruled late Friday that roughly 10,000 pages of internal records could be made public after a yearslong legal battle with the Diocese of San Diego. The records are from the personnel files of 48 priests who were either credibly accused or convicted of sexual abuse or were named in a civil lawsuit.

The 144 plaintiffs settled with the diocese in 2007 for nearly $200 million, but the agreement stipulated that an independent judge would review the priests' sealed personnel records and determine what could be made public.

BELGIE
RKnieuws

BRUSSEL (RKnieuws.net) - In de reacties op de misbruikcrisis ontwaart filosoof Guido Vanheeswijck de werking van het zondebokmechanisme: de pijlen worden op één iemand gericht, die monddood wordt gemaakt. Bij uitstek christenen mogen de spanningen niet op die manier ventileren, meent hij, ze moeten de problemen zelf aanpakken.

De vraag van Peter Adriaenssens om het ontslag van de paus is het – voorlopig – laatste voorbeeld van wat de Franse denker René Girard de werking van het zondebokmechanisme noemt: indien interne spanningen een groep of een samenleving dreigen te ontwrichten, moeten ze worden geventileerd door ze te richten op één iemand, een zondebok. Het was de ‘tactiek’ in de oude religies – met het daadwerkelijk offeren van de zondebok –, het is vaak de ‘tactiek’ in de moderne samenleving – door het monddood maken van de zondebok. Adriaenssens verwees in dat verband naar een voorbeeld uit een vrij recent verleden. Toen Marc Dutroux kortstondig ontsnapte bij een overbrenging van de ene naar de andere gevangenis en de verontwaardiging daarover ten top steeg, ventileerde de regering-Dehaene de spanning door twee van zijn ministers op te offeren: Johan Vande Lanotte en Stefaan De Clerck. Waarom zou de kerk dat dan ook niet doen met bijvoorbeeld de paus?

ROME
Chiesa

The heirs and trustees of the disgraced founder Maciel are not agreeing to leave their positions of command. But papal delegate De Paolis is issuing an ultimatum: either they change, or it will be "disaster" for all. The complete text of his letter

by Sandro Magister

ROME, October 25, 2010 – Now that he has been made a cardinal, Archbishop Velasio De Paolis will have even more authority in implementing the mandate he has received from Benedict XVI to salvage the Legionaries of Christ, brought to the brink of ruin by their founder, Marcial Maciel, and by the men of his inner circle.

But the difficulties that the pontifical delegate is encountering are significant. The superiors of the congregation, the most powerful of which is vicar general Luís Garza Medina (in the photo), are by no means giving up on the idea of remaining in their positions of command, now and always.

In mid-September, De Paolis asked Garza to give up the main offices that he holds, at least those of territorial director for Italy, supervisor of consecrated virgins of the movement Regnum Christi, general prefect of studies and head of the financial holding company Integer. But Garza said no. A chill has fallen between the two.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
NBC San Diego

Thousands of pages of documents from the sealed personnel files of Roman Catholic priests accused of sexually molesting children have been released on the orders of a San Diego judge.

Attorneys for plaintiffs in the litigation against the Diocese of San Diego made some of the 10,000 pages of files on 48 priests public on Sunday.

Retired Judge William C. Pate ruled late Friday that internal church documents pertaining to priests who had been convicted, credibly accused or named in molestation lawsuits could be released.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
The Canadian Press

By Gillian Flaccus (CP)

SAN DIEGO — Thousands of pages of documents from the sealed personnel files of Roman Catholic priests accused of sexually molesting children have been released on the orders of a San Diego judge.

Attorneys for plaintiffs in the litigation against the Diocese of San Diego made some of the 10,000 pages of files on 48 priests public on Sunday.

Retired Judge William C. Pate ruled late Friday that internal church documents pertaining to priests who had been convicted, credibly accused or named in molestation lawsuits could be released.

CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

[documents]

October 24, 2010

After a wait of three years, documents detailing the sexual abuse by San Diego Catholic priests that led to a $198.1-million settlement with victims are set to be released Sunday afternoon.

A San Diego County Superior Court judge late Friday ordered the release of the documents.

“These documents show how it happened,” said attorney Anthony De Marco, who represented victims. “They help give insight into how such travesty can occur on such a large scale … placing the institution above protecting children. … I think to ever remedy a problem, you have to understand it.”

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests/The Zalkin Law Firm

CONTACT
Irwin Zalkin (858 945 2144 cell, irwin@zalkin.com), Tony Demarco (310 927 9277 cell, ademarco@kbla.com), David Clohessy (314 566 9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com)

WHAT
After a three year legal battle, thousands of pages of just-released, long-secret San Diego Catholic church records about predator priests will be disclosed for the first time and discussed at a news conference featuring the attorneys who fought to get the documents made public. Parishioners and the public will be encouraged to read the records on line.

WHEN
TODAY, Sunday, Oct. 24, 3:00 p.m.

WHERE
At the law office of Irwin Zalkin, 12555 High Bluff Drive in San Diego CA

WHO
Three attorneys who represent hundreds of clergy sex abuse victims and who negotiated the document release and a Missouri man who heads a support group called Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)

WHY
On Friday, Judge William C. Pate ordered that roughly 10,000 pages of San Diego Catholic diocesan records involving roughly 48 proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clerics can finally be made public. In response, as a prevention and public safety step, attorneys who represent more than 150 victims of those predators are posting all of the documents on line: http://www.zalkin.com/San_Diego_Diocese.aspx

FAIRFIELD (CT)
Connecticut Post

Michael P. Mayko, Staff Writer — Connecticut Post

FAIRFIELD — Paul Kendrick woke up Saturday morning with confidence and hope.

The Maine advocate for victims of sexual abuse at Doug Perlitz‘ Project Pierre Toussaint in Haiti was confident he would convince Fairfield University President Jeffrey von Arx to contribute $25,000 to help school, feed and treat 20 of the young victims.

After all, Kendrick claims Fairfield University is partly responsible. They promoted Pertliz and heaped honors on the 1992 graduate who created a three-stage program to help feed, clothe and educate street boys in Cap-Haitien, Haiti’s second largest city. Then in August, following a yearlong legal battle, Perlitz pleaded guilty to a federal charge of traveling to Haiti to engage in sex with one minor boy.

“I’m going to tell von Arx I have a desperate situation and they are partly responsible,” said Kendrick, a 1972 Fairfield University graduate who had sought this meeting for nearly a year. “I need the money to get these kids through April.”

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger's Beat

Scribe Mark Hemmingway takes Russ Carnahan to task in the Oct. 22 edition. He wrote of Carnahan, “He seems to be hitting the panic button. Carnahan’s opponent, Ed Martin, has caught fire in fundraising and now has a larger campaign warchest heading into the final stretch.” Hemingway then takes issue with a former Carnahan campaign worker, who has launched “an outrageous website smearing Carnahan’s Catholic opponent as being part of the pedophilia scandal in the St. Louis Archdiocese.”

MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com)

A cockroach? Ed Martin calls himself a Christian. But he calls another person a cockroach (on his campaign website). It’s a bit disquieting to see a man who was once supposedly an advisor to the Pope and who aspires to public service acting like this.

Martin’s use of insults like “shameless vermin,” “foul assault,” “sordid McCarthyism,” “appalling smear” and “fellow hacks” does nothing to clear up the basic question about Martin’s behavior: What did he know when about predator priests and what did he do to alert police or warn parents or protect kids from them?

Martin is doing to the website’s creators what hundreds of corrupt Catholic officials have done to police, prosecutors, victims, whistleblowers and journalists: attacking the messenger. Ed, please quit slinging mud and making personal attacks. You can’t un-do the past. So please just answer the questions honestly now.

Questioning Martin’s actions about Catholic priests is legitimate. Questioning Martin’s beliefs about Catholic priests is NOT legitimate. Fortunately, no one is questioning what Martin believes. Serious questions are being raised, however, and what Martin has done and is doing. Instead of pretending to be offended and posturing as someone who’s being victimized, Martin should just answer those questions.

CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Statement by Joelle Casteix of Newport Beach CA, western regional director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (949 322 7434, jcasteix@gmail.com)

We are grateful that Fr. James Robinson has been found guilty of molesting boys today. He was at three local parishes with Catholic schools, so we strongly suspect he also assaulted children in California. Here’s where he lived/worked in the LA area:

1986-1989 Location in CA unknown
1989-1990 Holy Angels, Arcadia CA,
1990-1992 St. Catherine Laboure, Torrance CA
1992-1993 St. Mel's, Woodland Hills CA

Cardinal Mahony’s days in office are waning. We urge him to show compassion and leadership by personally visiting each of these churches and personally begging anyone who was hurt by Robinson to come forward, get help and start healing.

IRELAND
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Statement by Barbara Blaine of Chicago, president of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (312-399-4747, SNAPblaine@gmail.com)

We don’t know enough to say whether Bishop Magee should or shouldn’t be prosecuted for allegedly concealing child sex crimes. But we do know that unless top Catholic officials face consequences for endangering kids, they’ll likely keep endangering kids.

Rarely does a bishop experience any discomfort or inconvenience for ignoring or concealing devastating crimes against kids. That’s one reason bishops continue to ignore and conceal these crimes.

So it’s crucial that whenever possible, police and prosecutors pursue charges against the church hierarchy for protecting predators instead of children.

DALLAS (TX)
The Dallas Morning News

By SAM HODGES / The Dallas Morning News
samhodges@dallasnews.com

Bishop Kevin Farrell knows how to work a crowd, including the second-grade class at Santa Clara of Assisi Catholic Academy in west Oak Cliff.

Farrell joined in the morning spelling lesson Wednesday but took a dive, misspelling word after word as the children corrected him with escalating glee.

"I better get out of here because I'm getting embarrassed," he said, an exit line that drew another laugh and kept him on a tight schedule.

Farrell, leader of the Diocese of Dallas since 2007, often has a light, self-deprecating touch as he moves among the faithful. But many say he's making a strong mark – both in the diocese, with its estimated 1.2 million Catholics, and in the broader Roman Catholic Church.

While trying to rally a big, needy diocese hard hit by past clergy sex abuse and grappling with the ramifications of a rapidly growing immigrant population, he has shaken up the diocesan bureaucracy, presided over an upturn in giving, boosted the number of local priests-in-training, and persuaded the Vatican to give Dallas two auxiliary bishops. He's spoken out on abortion and immigration and become a rare blogging bishop, posting regularly to the diocese website on matters of faith.

UNITED KINGDOM
Sunday Mercury

Oct 24 2010 by Adam Aspinall, Sunday Mercury

THE Catholic Church could face a new police investigation into claims it helped convicted paedophile priest James Robinson evade justice.

The sex monster was jailed for 21 years on Friday for sexually abusing six young boys between 1959 and 1983, while serving in the West Midlands.

But Robinson, 73, was not captured until last year as he was allowed to flee to the US in 1985 after the allegations first emerged.

RENO (NV)
Reno Register-Journal

By Martha Bellisle • mbellisle@rgj.com • October 23, 2010

Bishop Randolph Calvo sent a statement to Catholic parishes across the state Friday saying a review board in Kansas City has recommended that the Rev. Tom Cronin be placed on leave while it investigates a lawsuit claiming that he sexually abused a girl in 1979.

Calvo, the bishop of the Diocese of Reno, also defended his decision to delay placing Cronin on leave from his pastoral duties at St. Mary’s in the Mountains in Virginia City after he learned of the allegations on Oct. 1, saying he first wanted the claims investigated by a review board.

Cronin was accused in a civil lawsuit filed in Kansas City, Mo., of molesting and sexually assaulting a 17-year-old member of the Sacred Heart Parish in Hamilton, Mo. Cronin has denied the claims.

DEUTSCHLAND
epd

Essen (epd). "Wege aus der Sackgasse" sind das zentrale Thema der Bundesversammlung der katholischen Reformbewegung "Wir sind Kirche" am Wochenende in Essen. "Die Krise in der römisch-katholischen Kirche ist noch lange nicht vorbei, weder in Deutschland noch weltweit", sagte Christian Weisner als Sprecher der innerkirchlichen Reforminitiative am Freitag vor der Presse. An der 28. öffentlichen Bundesversammlung, bei der Themen wie Priestermangel, Pfarreienfusionen und Gemeindesterben auf dem Programm stehen, nehmen rund 100 Katholikinnen und Katholiken aus ganz Deutschland teil.

Vor allem in punkto sexualisierte Gewalt haben sich die Bischöfe nach Ansicht Weisners bisher sehr zögerlich und halbherzig gezeigt. "Es reicht nicht aus, einfach nur ein Pflaster drauf zu tun. Die Katholische Kirche braucht eine Art Psychoanalyse, um den Zusammenhang von Macht und Sexualität insgesamt zu untersuchen", lautet die Forderung des Kirchenkritikers. Dann würden auch andere Reizthemen wie Frauenfeindlichkeit und Zölibat endlich neu in den Blick kommen. Es gehe darum, einen Dialog auf Augenhöhe und ohne Denkverbote zu führen.

DEUTCHSLAND
Nibelungen-Kurier

Berliner Wissenschaftler behandeln Pädophile / Viele andere meiden das "Schmuddelthema" Missbrauch

Klaus Beier arbeitet in der "Schmuddelecke". Kindesmissbrauch ist in der Wissenschaft noch immer ein Randthema. Für den Berliner Sexualwissenschaftler Beier nicht. Er behandelt Pädophile, hilft ihnen, ihre Neigung zu kontrollieren und bemüht sich um Aufklärung. Viele Richter, Staatsanwälte oder Mediziner meiden das Thema dagegen, Forscher ebenso. Zu groß ist die Abscheu, in die Welt von "abstoßenden" sexuellen Fantasien einzutauchen. Daran hat auch der jüngste Missbrauchs-Schock in Deutschland nichts geändert.

Zu Jahresbeginn kamen bundesweit nahezu täglich neue Fälle von Kindesmissbrauch in Schulen, Internaten und katholischen Einrichtungen ans Licht. Eilig wurde ein Runder Tisch ins Leben gerufen und eine Hotline für Opfer eingerichtet. Das Thema dominierte wochenlang die Nachrichten. Doch inzwischen ist es wieder ruhiger geworden. Der Runde Tisch arbeitet zwar noch, Anfang Dezember ist das nächste Treffen angesetzt. Beier sitzt selbst in dem Gremium. Im Alltag muss er aber immer noch gegen viele Vorurteile und viel Unwissen ankämpfen. Auch andere Fachleute beklagen, dass das Thema eine Randexistenz fristet.

CONNECTICUT
Connecticut Post

The Connecticut Post has been named the 2010 Newspaper of the Year for its weekday editions by the New England Newspaper and Press Association.

The association also recognized "Betrayal of Hope," a Post special investigative report on how a local man who founded a program in Haiti to help impoverished street children had been accused of sexually exploiting some of his charges. Reporter Michael P. Mayko and photographer Christian Abraham, reporting from Cap-Haitien, Haiti, examined how the claims against Douglas Perlitz came to light, why Haiti is ill-equipped to protect vulnerable children and how the episode divided the Fairfield University community that supported the work of Perlitz, an honored alumnus of the school.

"Betrayal of Hope" received one of NENPA's eight Publick Occurrences awards honoring outstanding journalism.

MISSOURI
Daily Kos

Congressman Russ Carnahan is running for re-election in the 3rd Congressional District in St. Louis. Carnahan won a tough primary for this seat in 2004 after Dick Gephardt retired and now he is in a spirited re-election contest. He has been challenged by Republican Ed Martin who, as it turns out, is even more of a scum-bag than I first knew. Because, as it turns out, Martin stands accused of being involved with cover-ups for pedophile priests. It's not a pretty story. ...

This week a very new, very disturbing charge was made against Martin by Michael Corwin and Jeannine Dillon. Corwin and Dillon are investigave journalists who have collaberated before. Previously, Dillon and Corwin’s combined efforts led to an Edward R. Murrow Award-winning national investigative news report aired by Dateline NBC entitled "Mystery on Highway 47". In recent days, they released this web-site--The Real Ed Martin

Corwin explains that he was hired by a media company earlier this year to perform opposition research against Ed Martin on behalf of the Carnahan campaign. In his research he discovered what he called a 'nexus' between Ed Martin's employment history and the St. Louis Archdiocese record of moving and protecting pedophile priests. When presented with this information the Carnahan campaign elected not to 'go down that road' fearing that the 3rd district's very large Catholic population would resent Carnahan for campaigning on this topic. Corwin then decided to resign from the Carnahan campaign account and pursue the story on his own.

Their web-site The Real Ed Martin makes a compelling case that, at a minimum Martin, owes the people of St. Louis some answers

This is not a smear campaign against Candidate Ed Martin. It is a three-month investigation revealing important, relevant, and previously unreported facts that raise serious concerns about Candidate Martin’s integrity, judgment, and ability to serve the public as a United States Congressman. The investigation focuses on the role Candidate Martin played as a member of the St. Louis Archdiocesan Curia, the policy it had of moving accused and convicted pedophile priests from parish to parish, and the trail of molested children left behind.

MISSOURI
National Catholic Reporter

[with video]

by Dennis Coday on Oct. 22, 2010 NCR Today

You readers can check me on this, but I think that this is the first instance of the Catholic church's sex abuse scandal being raised as a possible issue in a congressional race.

Read these two stories, Website Claims Ed Martin Hid Priest Sexual Abuse and Accusations fly in the 3rd district over anti-Martin website, for the details, but here is my summary of the case:

Ed Martin, a protege of Justin Rigali before Rigali was archbishop of St. Louis, is the Republican candidate for the 3rd Congressional District in Missouri. Martin has a law degree from St. Louis University, and Rigali hired him as director of the St. Louis archdiocesan Human Rights Office. He also served in the archdiocesan curia, the official advisory body for the archbishop.

Fox News in St. Louis reports that "Martin, a favorite of the Tea Party movement, has mounted an unexpectedly strong challenge to incumbent" U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, a Democrat.

IRELAND
Catholic News Agency

Rome, Italy, Oct 23, 2010 / 06:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Irish bishops have announced plans for a year of prayer for renewal in the light of clergy sexual abuse scandals that have roiled the Church.

Using Pope Benedict XVI's guidance as the core of the initiative, the bishops hope to promote healing within the Church through reconciliation, adoration and Scripture reading.

At the conclusion of their annual meeting Oct. 19, the bishops indicated that their program would be based on suggestions made by Pope Benedict XVI in the pastoral letter he sent to Ireland’s Catholics in March.

ALASKA
Juneau Empire

By Bishop Edward J. Burns | A Bishop's Perspective

I just returned from the Alaskan Federation of Natives Convention in Fairbanks. I joined my brother bishops, Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz and Fairbanks Bishop Donald Kettler in being a part of the celebrations in this community event. It was a good experience.

When I arrived in Fairbanks, I learned a film crew was producing a PBS documentary on the sexual abuse of children by Catholic church workers that occurred in the Native villages of rural Alaska. It was their intention to focus on Kettler's address to the AFN participants.

We celebrated a Mass of Reconciliation at Sacred Heart Cathedral. Along with everyone attending this Mass, my brother bishops and I were each given a burlap patch with a brown ribbon attached to it. Created by parishioners and based on the sackcloth and ashes worn by the people of Ninevah as a sign to God of their sorrow for their sins (Jonah 3:1-10), we all wore them as a sign of public penance. They were a visible sign to victims of sorrow for their injuries and pain and our prayers for them and all who have been wounded by this scandal.

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A woman abused by a priest as a child is hopeful the conviction of paedophile priest James Robinson will encourage more victims to come forward.

Sue Cox, of Warwickshire, now works to help other sexual abuse victims speak out.

She spoke after Robinson, 73, was found guilty of 21 charges relating to offences against boys, all aged under 16, between 1959 and 1983.

BELGIE
RKnieuws

BRUSSEL (RKnieuws.net) - Bij de uitspraak van aartsbisschop André-Joseph Léonard over aids, maar ook bij de kerkcrisis door seksueel misbruik, schrijft theoloog Tomas Folens een open brief aan de aartsbisschop. “Is het geen tijd voor een omkeer in de kerk? Momenteel zie ik daarvan weinig. Zowel het Vaticaan als u, monseigneur, blijft naar mijn aanvoelen vanuit de hoogte spreken en vooral steken in veroordelende taal.”

"Beste monseigneur Léonard, na de jongste commotie rond uw uitspraak over aids als immanente gerechtigheid, kan ik, in het licht van alles wat de voorbije tijd gebeurd is in de kerk, niet anders dan reageren, anders kan ik mij met moeite nog christen noemen. Als christengelovige heb ik grote moeite met de manier waarop de kerk met een aantal zaken omgaat, niet het minst met seksualiteit. Want de gebeurtenissen van het voorbije jaar die de concrete aanleiding zijn van mijn verontwaardiging hebben allemaal op een of andere manier met seksualiteit te maken. In het voorjaar was er de schuldbekentenis van Roger Vangheluwe, toen nog bisschop van Brugge. U kan zich voorstellen dat het nieuws in de Brugse kerkgemeenschap insloeg als een bom. De vriendelijke goede man die al bij al geen slecht beleid had gevoerd, had iemand misbruikt van zijn eigen familie. De schok kwam dubbel zo hard aan door de enorme contradictie met het evangelie. De emoties laaiden hoog op, net omdat de kerk als machtsinstituut in de voorbije eeuw haar eigen moraal heeft opgelegd aan de hele samenleving".

FLORIDA
Miami Herald

BY JAWEED KALEEM
jkaleem@MiamiHerald.com

Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday named Miami auxiliary bishop John Noonan as the new Bishop of Orlando.

Noonan's new position is effective immediately, but he will be formally installed as the head Central Florida's 800,000-member Roman Catholic church on Dec. 16. He succeeds Thomas Wenski, who left his post as Bishop of Orlando, held since 2004, when he was installed in June as the Archbishop of Miami.

``I am deeply grateful to God and our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, for his confidence in me and his consideration in appointing me to become your bishop. I promise to preach and to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And to the best of my ability to be a bishop and shepherd to the people,'' Noonan, 59, said in a statement.

CITTA' DEL VATICANO

Il Santo Padre ha nominato Vescovo di Orlando (U.S.A.) S.E. Mons. John G. Noonan, finora Vescovo titolare di Bonusta ed Ausiliare dell’arcidiocesi di Miami.

S.E. Mons. John G. Noonan

S.E. Mons. John G. Noonan è nato il 26 febbraio 1951 a Limerick (Ireland). Ha frequentato le scuole elementari di "Saint Patrick’s Parochial" e "Crescent College", e quella secondaria di "Mungret College", sempre a Limerick. Dopo essere emigrato negli Stati Uniti d’America, ha abitato per un periodo di tempo a New York, dove è stato alunno della "Fordham University", e poi si è trasferito alla "Florida Atlantic University" a Boca Raton. Ha compiuto gli studi di filosofia presso il "Saint John Vianney College Seminary" a Miami, e quelli di teologia presso il Seminario Regionale "Saint Vincent de Paul" a Boynton Beach (Florida).

ORLANDO (FL)
CBS 4

A South Florida auxiliary bishop was named by Pope Benedict XVI Saturday as the new Bishop of the Orlando diocese, the 5th person to hold that position since the the diocese was formed.

Auxiliary Bishop John Noonan, described on the Archdiocese of Miami's website as "a priest's priest", has served as auxiliary bishop since 2005. He has been a member of the priesthood since 1983, when he was ordained in the Archdiocese of Miami.

"I look forward to learning from you, the people, about this great Diocese of Orlando. I have much to learn and see over the next few months. I also look forward to working with the many fine priests, religious priests and sisters of the diocese," the new bishop said in a statement Saturday.

GERMANY
Monsters and Critics

Berlin - A new bishop took over the Catholic diocese of Augsburg in southern Germany on Saturday, just under six months after predecessor Walter Mixa handed in his resignation amid a scandal over his past.

Konrad Zdarsa was consecrated bishop in Augsburg cathedral with 2,500 Catholics attending. Zdarsa was previously bishop of the small eastern diocese of Goerlitz. Located in Bavaria state, Augsburg is part of Germany's Catholic heartland.

Aquarius Age

Het mondiale kindermisbruik door r.k. geestelijken doet momenteel het roomse bolwerk wankelen. Nadat in de Verenigde Staten, Ierland, Australië, Canada en Oostenrijk gigantische doofpotschandalen waren geopenbaard, kwamen ook in Duitsland, Nederland, België, Wales, Noorwegen en Zweden pedofiliepraktijken op seminaries en kostscholen alsmede rond altaar en biechtstoel naar buiten.

Stelling 1

De rooms-katholieke Kerk is de enige organisatie ter wereld waar je een penis nodig hebt voor de job maar ‘m nóóóóit meer mag gebruiken zodra je de functie eenmaal hebt.

Het mondiale kindermisbruik door r.k. geestelijken doet momenteel het roomse bolwerk wankelen. Nadat in de Verenigde Staten, Ierland, Australië, Canada en Oostenrijk gigantische doofpotschandalen waren geopenbaard, kwamen ook in Duitsland, Nederland, België, Wales, Noorwegen en Zweden pedofiliepraktijken op seminaries en kostscholen alsmede rond altaar en biechtstoel naar buiten. In België, waar de r.k. suppressie sterker is dan in Nederland en Duitsland, riep het in april 2010 bekend worden van het jarenlang seksueel misbruiken van zijn neefje door de Brugse bisschop Vangheluwe (in de Brugse wandelgangen: Vangeiluwe) een gigantische golf van verontwaardiging op.

ROME
Bloomberg

By Lorenzo Totaro - Oct 23, 2010

An Italian probe into the Vatican Bank for alleged violations of money-laundering laws is another example of a “fierce attack” on the Catholic Church following criticism of Pope Benedict XVI and scrutiny of clerical sex- abuse cases, the bank’s Chairman Ettore Gotti Tedeschi said.

“The fierce attack on the church’s credibility started just six months after the publication” of Benedict’s encyclical “Caritas in Veritate” (Charity in Truth) in July 2009, he said today at a conference in Fermo, central Italy. “First it was the attack on the pope, then the pedophilia-related facts, and now it carries on with the case that involves me.”

Gotti Tedeschi’s remarks, previously reported by Italian news agency Ansa, were confirmed by Milko Vitali, moderator of the conference. Gotti Tedeschi declined to comment further on his remarks, Vitali said by phone.

AUSTRALIA
The Age

Josh Gordon
October 24, 2010

POPE Benedict XVI has an image problem with the Australian public, with perceptions he has done a poor job handling charges of sexual abuse of children and teenagers by priests.

A survey by UMR Research has found that 43 per cent of people have a negative opinion of the Pope. That compares with 29 per cent with a positive perception and 27 per cent who are unsure or have a neutral opinion.

The poll of 1000 people taken late last month shows criticism of the Pope was particularly strong among people aged over 50, people living in regional areas and non-Catholics.

UTAH/TEXAS
CNN

By Ashley Hayes, CNN

(CNN) -- Attorneys for Utah polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs are asking a court to delay his extradition to Texas, where he faces charges including aggravated sexual assault of a child, until Utah authorities decide whether to retry him.

"Mr. Jeffs, although presumed innocent, has now been incarcerated for more than four years on charges that, given the [Utah] supreme court's opinion clarifying the law in Utah, will be difficult if not impossible for the state to sustain," defense attorneys wrote in the motion filed in Utah's Third District Court this month.

"The state is punting, using the [Uniform Criminal Extradition Act] as an offensive line to protect its weakened prosecution, buying time until it can figure out what to do next in its now frantic effort to defeat Mr. Jeffs and the unpopular religion he represents," the motion said.

GROOT-BRITANNIE
Reformatorisch Dagblad

22-10-2010 22:30
BIRMINGHAM (ANP) – Een voormalige Britse priester is vrijdag in Birmingham veroordeeld tot 21 jaar celstraf voor het seksueel misbruiken van jongens tussen 1959 en 1983.

Richard John James Robinson (73) trok in die periode van parochie naar parochie in de Engelse regio West Midlands, waar hij herhaaldelijk ten minste zes jongens misbruikte.

”Vader Jim” is veroordeeld voor 21 seksuele misdrijven, berichtten Britse media vrijdag. Hij werkte in kerken in Staffordshire, Birmingham en Coventry tot halverwege de jaren tachtig, toen hij naar Californië vertrok. De ex-priester werd vorig jaar augustus uitgeleverd door de Verenigde Staten.

NEDERLAND
Friesch Dagblad

Münsterschwarzach - De Rooms-Katholieke Kerk moet het thema seksualiteit openlijk durven bespreken en uit de achterkamers halen waar het nu een kommerlijk en onfris bestaan leidt. Zolang dat niet gebeurt, komt de kerk niet uit de huidige crisis, is de mening van Wunibald Müller.

Door Lodewijk Born.
Wunibald Müller is theoloog, psycholoog en pschotherapeut. Al vele jaren onderzoekt Müller problemen in het spanningsveld van seksualiteit, kerkelijke moraal en priesterschap. Hij is de afgelopen twintig jaar intens bezig geweest met thema’s als seksueel misbruik, pedofilie, efebofilie (seksuele interesse voor jongens in de puberteitleeftijd) en andere grensoverschrijdingen in de kerk en de pastorale praktijk’. Hij publiceerde er veelvuldig over. Samen met de bekende monnik Anselm Grün leidt hij het Recollectio-Haus, een bezinningsplek voor mensen die zich in een overgangsfase in hun leven bevinden. Het is onderdeel van de Benedictijnse abij in Münsterschwarzach.

BELGIE
Het Nieuwsblad

Jürgen Mettepenningen (35), zo heet de man die het nu al maandenlang elke keer weer moet uitleggen als de Kerk - of zijn baas Léonard - opnieuw blundert. Maar wie is die woordvoerder van God in België? Het antwoord zal u verbazen: hij is uit het klooster getreden, getrouwd, vader van twee kinderen en noemt zijn baan 'a hell of job'.

Zijn werk is weinig benijdenswaardig, dat beseft hij elke dag opnieuw. 'Het is zwaar', zegt Jürgen Mettepenningen, de man die nu al drie maanden het woord voert voor de Belgische Kerk en de overste daarvan. 'Mijn voorganger was vrijgezel en ik heb al een paar keer gedacht: deze job is toch alleen maar weggelegd voor iemand die celibatair is. Alleen, het celibaat is niets voor mij.'

ROCKFORD (IL)
My Stateline

[with video]

After years of service to a local church a Rockford man is arrested on 21 counts of abuse against children. Terry Carlson has been a trustee, advisor, Sunday school teacher and bus driver at Kishwaukee Baptist Church for several years. But now, he's accused of sexually assaulting two local teens he knew from the church.

The 54-year-old is being held at the Winnebago County jail on 14 counts of aggravated sexual abuse, 6 counts of indecent solicitation of a child, and 1 count of criminal sexual assault. Police say the victims are now 17 and 15 and just stepped forward after being abused for the past year. The teens are members of the church and know Carlson from his work there.

ROCKFORD (IL)
Rockford Register Star

ROCKFORD — The Winnebago County State’s Attorney’s office has filed several criminal sexual abuse charges against two men in unrelated incidents.

State’s Attorney Joe Bruscato said Terry Carlson, 54, of Rockford was arrested Thursday and charged with one count of criminal sexual assault, 14 counts of criminal sexual abuse and six counts of indecent solicitation of a child.

Also under arrest is Lamarr Bernard Thurmond, 27. He is charged with three counts of criminal sexual assault, one count of child abduction and one count of indecent solicitation of a child regarding acts with a 14-year-old victim.

Carlson is a Kishwaukee Baptist Church trustee and Sunday school teacher. Bruscato said the alleged incidents occurred during the past year and involve at least two victims, who are now 17 years old and 15 years old.

UNITED STATES
Christian News Wire

Contact: Samantha Nelson, 866-260-8958, Help@TheHopeOfSurvivors.com

EFFINGHAM, Ill., Oct. 22 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Hope of Survivors is pleased to announce the release of a new documentary DVD. Call It Anything But Love! is a true story of a couple's struggles and challenges as they overcome their painful pasts to find themselves in a spider's web of lies, deceit, adultery and abuse -- at the hands of their pastor.

"I was deeply touched by the video...," says one victim from Hawaii. "So many like us will be able to connect and relate. My heart ached deeply with yours in hearing the darkest and most painful periods of your life when you were faced with so much doubt and feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness."

Clergy sexual abuse is not new, though it is becoming more and more prevalent in the news as of late. This documentary is for victims who are searching for hope and answers, as well as for the populace at large who wish to gain a greater understanding of the issue or simply be inspired by a heartwarming testimony.

ROCKFORD (IL)
WIFR

[with video]

ROCKFORD (WIFR) -- A local Sunday School teacher is now behind bars after investigators say he sexually abused teens affiliated with the church.

Terry Carlson, 54, was taken into custody yesterday. The youth pastor holds a number of titles with Kishwaukee Baptist Church in Rockford including bus driver, trustee, and Sunday School teacher.

Carlson is charged with more than 20 counts relating to sexual assault of a child. So far two victims, a 17-year-old and a 15-year-old, have come forward.

TEXAS
The Statesman

By Tara A. Trower | Friday, October 22, 2010

When I moved off the newspaper’s metro desk a few years back, one task I was happy to leave behind was the reading of police affidavits.

The files are filled with the unpleasant details of child abuse in our city. The subject was hard enough to read about before I had children, but afterward it just became brutal. The list of abusers was long: parents, stepparents, teachers, roommates, babysitters, family friends, neighbors, aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, church members.

Child abuse, especially sexual abuse, it not something a parent wants to contemplate. But I was reminded last night that it’s part of my job as a parent to do so.

I’m preparing to teach Sunday School at my church and the diocese requires that all volunteers go through training to help identify and prevent sexual abuse against children and the elderly.

AUSTRALIA
The Chronicle

Peter Hardwick | 23rd October 2010

PEDOPHILE school teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes may face an extended period in jail after Attorney-General Cameron Dick yesterday lodged an appeal against the leniency of his sentence.

The mother of one of Byrnes’ 13 victims told The Chronicle yesterday the families were relieved the Attorney-General had appealed what was seen as a very lenient sentence.

“We welcome the appeal very much,” she said.

“It’s what we’ve been hoping for.

“We have been sending letters hoping there would be an appeal and it’s fantastic that he (Attorney-General Cameron Dick) has picked it up and run with it.”

UNITED KINGDOM
This is Staffordshire

By sentinel reporter newsdesk@thesentinel.co.uk

POLICE believe a paedophile priest has sexually abused many more people who have not yet come forward.

James Robinson, who was sentenced to 21 years in prison yesterday, sexually abused young boys in the West Midlands for 25 years between 1959 and 1983.

And it is feared the 73-year-old may have targeted children while he served as parish priest at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, London Road, Newcastle, between 1974 and 1979.

CANADA
The Chronicle-Herald

By MARY ELLEN MacINTYRE Cape Breton Bureau
Sat, Oct 23

Some say sexual abuse scandals have rocked the very foundations of what it means to be a Roman Catholic.

In Nova Scotia alone, revelations about priests abusing children and a recent multimillion-dollar, out-of-court settlement agreed to by a former bishop, who now faces child pornography charges and a civil case alleging he sexually abused a Newfoundland youth, have all led to widespread disgust and doubt among many parishioners.

Add to that the ongoing sale of church properties to fund the settlement and it might be fair to say the foundation appears to be crumbling.

CANADA
North Bay Nugget

By CAROL MULLIGAN, QMI AGENCY

A Sudbury man has achieved some measure of peace knowing complaints he filed against a Roman Catholic priest in Sudbury a dozen years ago have resulted in charges.

Rev. William Marshall, 88, was charged Oct. 13 with six counts of gross indecency and six counts of indecent assault relating to sexual abuse alleged to have occurred when he was teaching in Sudbury from 1960 to 1970.

Ted Holland, 55, first com-plained in 1998 about being abused by Marshall, who taught and was principal at St. Charles College, which used to be an all-boys school.

UNITED KINGDOM
Birmingham Post

Oct 22 2010

A paedophile former Birmingham priest is set to die in prison after being jailed for 21 years for sexually abusing young boys for almost a quarter of a century.

James Robinson, 73, targeted vulnerable children, showering them with gifts before embarking on a campaign of abuse which lasted from 1959 to 1983.

He fled to America within days of the first victims speaking to police in 1985 – but finally faced justice when he was unanimously convicted of 21 sexual offences at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

A RETIRED Catholic priest has appeared in court accused of 71 counts of indecent assault on a number of boys.

Raymond Brady (75), Baltrasna, Oldcastle, Co Meath, appeared before Kells District Court yesterday charged with the offences which are alleged to have taken place between April 1964 and October 1978 at various locations in Co Meath, including a number of parochial houses.

Det Garda Bryan Moroney told the court the accused replied “nothing to say” when he was arrested and charged with the offences at Kells Garda station last Tuesday.

UNITED KINGDOM
Spero News

By Martin Barillas

A jury in England found a Catholic priest, John James Robinson, guilty of 21 counts of sexual offenses committed against minors. The 73-year-old man was given a sentence of 21 years in jail. He had fled from the United Kingdom in 1985 to the United States. He had worked in the English diocese of Birmingham for 14 years following his ordination to the priesthood in 1971. He was extradited to the UK after he had been tracked down to a trailer park where he resided.

Following the conviction at the Crown Court, Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham declared "This has been a very difficult time for everybody involved and our thoughts and prayers have been especially with the victims and their families throughout this ordeal." The cleric went on to say that the "Archdiocese of Birmingham sincerely regrets James Robinson’s serious betrayal of the trust placed in him. We wish to express our heartfelt concern for all those who have been involved in this case or affected by it.

CALIFORNIA
Daily Breeze

By Melissa Evans Staff Writer

Former Woodland Hills and Torrance priest James Robinson was sentenced Oct. 22, 2010 to 21 years in jail by a U.K. judge for molesting six boys between 1959 and 1983 in Britain. A former Catholic priest who served at a Torrance parish for two years was convicted Friday of 21 counts of sexual molestation that occurred during his time as a priest in England.

A Birmingham court sentenced James Robinson, 73, to 21 years in prison for a number of crimes related to sexual abuse of six young boys from 1959 to 1983.

Tod Tamberg, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, said Robinson came to the United States as a visiting priest in the mid-1980s and served at three parishes: Holy Angels Church in Arcadia from 1989 to 1990, St. Catherine Laboure Church in Torrance from 1990 to 1992, and St. Mel's Church in Woodland Hills from 1992 to 1993.

RENO (NV)
Reno Gazette-Journal

By Martha Bellisle • mbellisle@rgj.com • October 22, 2010

Bishop Randolph Calvo sent a statement to Catholic parishes across the state Friday saying a review board in Kansas City has recommended that the Rev. Tom Cronin be placed on leave while it investigates a lawsuit claiming that he sexually abused a girl in 1979.

Calvo, the bishop of the Diocese of Reno, also defended his decision to delay placing Cronin on leave from his pastoral duties at St. Mary's in the Mountains in Virginia City after he learned of the allegations on Oct. 1, saying he first wanted the claims investigated by a review board.

Cronin was accused in a civil lawsuit filed in Kansas City, Mo., of molesting and sexually assaulting a 17-year-old member of the Sacred Heart Parish in Hamilton, Mo. Cronin has denied the claims.

AUSTRALIA
Catholica

A.W. Richard Sipe

Increasingly over recent times a number of commentators on Catholica and elsewhere have been suggesting clericalism is at the heart of the institution's present problems. Some have argued our collective understanding of the role of priesthood is changing or evolving. Richard Sipe, one of the most informed, vocal and respected international commentators on the clerical abuse scandal, today argues that there are welcome developments opening up in the thinking at the highest levels of the Church. He argues the time for apologies is over and we now need sieze the opportunity for constructive talk and a bit of love. "Love," he says, "involves an uncompromising duty to seek the truth".

The Dialogue needed about clerical culture and seminaries...

Dialogue about important questions is all I have ever advocated — I have worked hard and fought in every way I have known for discussion about every aspect of the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy. One goal is to have that dialogue start in Catholic seminaries. Although I think that a married priesthood and the ordination of women is within the evolutionary future of the Church I have never been an activist in these movements. Even in being an expert witness and consultant in sexual abuse cases against church entities I have always looked for ways to review and bring significant issues into open discourse. My service focuses on the protection of children from the assault of disordered and perverted power. I am not alone.

Msgr. Charles Scicluna, the Vatican prosecutor in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, raised a credible candid voice in September 2010 when he admitted to the press that sex abuse by Catholic clergy was an age-old problem that needs to be rooted out. He stated,

"I don't think it's a question of happening. It has always happened. It's important that people talk about it, because otherwise we cannot bring the healing which the church can offer to people who need it — both the victims and perpetrators."

GERMANY/POLAND
Spiegel

By Jan Puhl

An increasing number of Polish women are travelling to Germany for abortions. Even as Poland has modernized and become more European, its laws have failed to keep pace.

Having spent 40 years working as a gynecologist, Janusz R. was pretty sure he'd seen everything his job could throw at him. But recently, he was proven wrong.

A few weeks ago a pretty Polish woman came to see Dr. R. in the hospital in the German town of Prenzlau, not far from the Polish border. She was pregnant, but didn't want to keep the baby. So far so normal. But the man who accompanied her was much more nervous than the men the doctor was used to seeing.

It wasn't until after the abortion had been successfully carried out that the patient's boyfriend became more talkative. "I'm a Catholic priest," he confessed. He said his church was completely out of touch with the times, that Poland's abortion legislation didn't "reflect real life in Poland anymore." R., who had himself been born in neighboring Poland, had never heard such words from a man of the cloth.

UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

The Catholic Church was criticised in court as a paedophile former priest was jailed for a campaign of sexually abuse against young boys that spanned four decades.

By Nick Collins
Published: 11:30PM BST 22 Oct 2010

James Robinson, 73, who fled to the US in 1985, was found guilty of 21 sexual offences at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday after being extradited from America.

The jury heard he carried out a string of abuses against six victims, including two altar boys, between 1959 and 1983. ...

Judge Thomas said: "The role of the Catholic Church [in the case] is questionable, but it's not for me to judge.

"Others may take the view that a full investigation and full disclosure of the results of that investigation is due to the members of that church and [the victims]."

VATICAN CITY
Zenit

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 22, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The directors of the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR) are confirming their commitment to transparency, after a document from the Italian prosecutor's office explained the reasons behind the seizure last month of €23 million ($30 million) from the Vatican bank.

According to the document, the Vatican institute must be considered as "a foreign bank, not belonging to the European Union," which means that it must adapt to particular criteria in its relationship with Italian banks.

According to the Italian judges, the bank did not follow these norms, but acted as if it had an Italian identity, in two operations of transfer of funds between European banks for a value of €23 million ($30 million).

BELGIE
RKnieuws

BRUSSEL (RKnieuws.net) - Het openbaar ministerie heeft grote vragen bij Operatie Kelk, het Brusselse onderzoek naar seksueel misbruik in de Kerk. Zo weet het college van procureurs-generaal nu nog altijd niet welke feiten de Brusselse onderzoeksrechter Wim De Troy precies mocht onderzoeken. Dat melden de Concentra-kranten.

"Wat was de aard van de feiten (verkrachting, aanranding, openbare zedenschennis)? Waren de feiten al dan niet verjaard? Ging het wel om minderjarigen? Was De Troy wel territoriaal bevoegd? We weten het allemaal nog altijd niet. Maar vast staat wel dat Brusselse onderzoeksrechters niet zomaar in heel België bevoegd zijn." Deze onthutsende verklaring legde Frank Schins, de voorzitter van het college van procureurs-generaal, af in de Kamer.

Daar hadden hoorzittingen plaats over seksueel misbruik in de Kerk. Federaal procureur Johan Delmulle zegde er dat dertien burgerlijke partijstellingen die bij De Troy zijn ingediend, gaan over feiten die ook door andere parketten worden onderzocht.

BELGIE
De Standaard

BRUSSEL - In het kader van Operatie Kelk heeft de advocaat van kardinaal Godfried Danneels onderzoeksrechter Wim De Troy gewraakt. Dat is uit goede bron vernomen. De Troy onderzoekt al enkele maanden of Danneels en de kerk dossiers van seksueel misbruik in de doofpot hebben gestopt. De slachtoffers reageren ontzet op de wraking.

Door dit verzoek mag de onderzoeksrechter tijdelijk niet werken in dit dossier, tot het hof van beroep de wraking heeft behandeld. De slachtoffers van het seksueel misbruik reageren woedend, zo berichtte vtm, en spreken van een boycot van het gerechtelijk onderzoek.

UNITED STATES
WBEZ

[with audio]

Produced by Chip Mitchell on Friday, October 22, 2010

Tuscon’s Gerald Kicanas, who’s in line to lead U.S. bishops, approved Daniel McCormack’s ordination despite reports of sexual misconduct.

The nation’s Catholic bishops will choose a new leader next month. Both their outgoing president and the bishop likely to take his place have strong ties to Chicago. That’s not all they have in common. Both clerics advanced the career of a priest who molested as many as 23 boys. That’s despite receiving allegations about his misconduct. If the election goes as expected, it’ll provide ammunition to people who argue there’s no accountability for bishops who protect abusers. We report from our West Side bureau.

Daniel McCormack went to prison in 2007 for abusing boys when he was pastor of St. Agatha’s. That’s a parish in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood. To learn more about McCormack, I sit down with a father whose son attended the Catholic school next to the parish.

FATHER: You would try to get to the bottom of it but there was no real way to figure out what was going on.

I’m keeping the man’s name to myself to protect his son’s identity. The father says his boy started acting out around age 11 after joining a basketball team McCormack coached. The man didn’t find out what was going on until recently. His son’s now 20.

ROME
ABC News

By ALESSANDRA RIZZO and VICTOR L. SIMPSON Associated Press Writers

ROME October 22, 2010 (AP)

Italian prosecutors contest claims by the Vatican bank that it is trying to comply with international rules to fight money laundering, saying an investigation that led to the seizure of €23 million ($30 million) from a Vatican bank account shows "exactly the opposite," according to a court document obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

An Italian court on Wednesday rejected a Vatican request to lift the seizure, leading the Vatican to express "astonishment" at the court's ruling and indicating the case will not be cleared up quickly, as the Vatican originally predicted.

Since the money was ordered seized last month, the Vatican and the bank's chairman, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, have repeatedly said the allegations resulted from a "misunderstanding" and that the Vatican bank — officially known as the Institute for Works of Religion — has been working to comply with international rules to fight money-laundering.

The strongly worded document from the prosecutors' office said that while there is a "generic and stated will" to conform by the bank "there is no sign that the institutions of the Catholic church are moving in that direction."

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Oct. 22, 2010
By David Clohessy

COMMENTARY

In an interview with National Public Radio this morning on the appointment of the newest batch of cardinals, NCR’s John Allen was asked what the new cardinals say about the church’s response to the sex abuse crisis.

Allen’s response was short and simple: “Pope Benedict believes the response to the scandal is not in sweeping change, but instead in what he calls spiritual rebirth.”

That answer recalls something the pope himself said Sept. 8.

It was barely noticed, but on that day the pope made perhaps his most significant (and most disturbing) statement about the church’s on-going sex abuse and cover up crisis.

“True renewal of the ecclesiastic community,” he said, “is the result less of structural changes than of a sincere spirit of repentance and an active path towards conversion.”

MASSACHUSETTS
outpatient clinic

Skip Shea

Excuse me for a moment while I scream. The recent circumstances surrounding the candidacy of Jeff Perry for the US Congress has my head spinning.

In 1991 a 14 year old girl was illegally strip-searched...Okay nice euphemism but she was actually sexually assaulted... by Scott Flanagan, a Wareham police officer while Police Sergeant Jeff Perry stood by, as close as ten feet away and did nothing to stop it and then tried to cover it up.

Flanagan forced the girl to lift her shirt and bra, as he stuck his hand down her pants. She screamed for help.

These facts are indisputable. The State Police Report puts him there.

In 1992 Flanagan again assaulted a 16 year old girl in Wareham. Perry wasn't present this time, however later that evening he accompanied Flanagan to the victims house and threatened her parents.

He only reported his awareness of the assault, after the girls parents came forward to report it.
Yet Jeff Perry has consistently denied any wrong doing. Excuse me, I feel the scream coming on.

Can some one tell me the difference between this man's badge and a Bishop's ring? Can someone tell me the difference between Jeff Perry's behavior and Cardinal Law's?

UNITED KINGDOM
The Sun

AN ex-priest who carried out a horrific campaign of sexual abuse against young boys was jailed for 21 years today.

Paedophile James Robinson was found guilty of 21 charges of sexual abuse between 1959 and 1983.

The beast was extradited back to the UK from California last year after fleeing to the US in 1985 after he was first accused.

BELGIE
Gazet van Antwerpen

De stad Brugge wil niet meer in verband worden gebracht met voormalig bisschop Roger Vangheluwe. Daarom is diens naam uit het programmaboekje van de Heilig Bloedprocessie geschrapt. Het plaatselijke Sint-Leocollege wil de naam van de man, die jarenlang zijn neef heeft misbruikt, van zijn gevel verwijderen.

"Het lijkt me geen goed idee om Vangheluwe nu nog te gebruiken in welk toeristisch promotiemateriaal dan ook voor onze stad", aldus toerismeschepen Jean-Marie Bogaert (N-VA) in een Corelio-krant.

De geestelijke blijft voorlopig wel te zien in een geschiedenisfilmpje, dat toeristen kunnen aanschouwen in het stadhuis. Vangheluwe komt echter maar drie seconden in beeld bij de voorstelling van de Bloedprocessie.

ROME
Chiesa

by Sandro Magister

ROME, October 22, 2010 – On the vigil of the Sunday of Christ the King, the end of the liturgical year, the Catholic Church will have 24 new cardinals. Benedict XVI announced the names at the end of the general audience on Wednesday, October 20, in Saint Peter's Square.

Most of the appointments are expected, and some of them practically obligatory, as demonstrated in the newspaper of the Italian bishops, "Avvenire," by one of the most incisive analysts of Vatican affairs, Gianni Cardinale, in the two commentaries reproduced further below.

But some of the appointments announced show original features, distinctive of the current pontiff.

The first is Benedict XVI's desire to keep the number of cardinal electors, the ones who have the right to vote in conclave, under 120. With the consequence of restricting the number of those who aspire to and attain the purple. For example, it is no longer the practice to make cardinals of the nuncios of the most prestigious sees: Paris, Vienna, Lisbon, Madrid, Berlin, Washington.

IRELAND
The Meath Chronicle

A 75-year-old former priest appeared at Kells Court today ( Friday ) on 71 charges of indecently assaulting a number of boys in various locations around the county.

Raymond Brady of Baltrasna, Oldcastle was been remanded on continuing bail to 26th November to allow him to be served with a book of evidence.

AUSTRALIA
Adelaide Now

Sean Fewster, court reporter

HE vowed to spend his life caring for all God's children instead, Wilfred Dennis' deviant existence has been about abusing them, and destroying their innocence.

Already jailed twice for sexually assaulting altar boys, Dennis was today found guilty of seven more offences committed between 1975 and 1979.

Dennis, 75, had pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of indecent assault and unlawful sexual intercourse.

IRELAND
RTE News

A 75-year-old former priest has appeared before Kells District Court on 71 charges of indecent assault.

Raymond Brady of Baltrasna, Oldcastle, Co Meath, has been remanded on continuing bail to appear before the court again next month.

Det Garda Bryan Moroney told Judge Eamon O'Brien that he arrested Mr Brady on 19 October and brought him to Kells Garda Station. The defendant had nothing to say in reply to the charges.

BELGIE
De Standaard

BRUGGE - Brugge worstelt duidelijk met de nalatenschap van zijn gevallen bisschop Roger Vangheluwe. De beeltenis van de bisschop, die ontslag nam omdat hij jarenlang zijn neef misbruikte, wordt voortaan geweerd uit het programmaboekje van de Heilig Bloedprocessie. ‘Het lijkt me geen goed idee om Vangheluwe nu nog te gebruiken intoeristisch promotiemateriaal voor onze stad', zegt schepen van Toerisme Jean-Marie Bogaert (N-VA).

IRELAND
Herald

By Clodagh Sheehy

Friday October 22 2010

An allegation of reckless endangerment against former Bishop of Cloyne John Magee has been dismissed by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The former bishop had been questioned by gardai during an investigation launched after a complaint by a retired school teacher.

The teacher said he believed the former bishop had endangered children by failing to fully inform gardai of abuse complaints made against priests in the diocese.

AUSTRALIA
Courier Mail

James O'Loan

A CONVICTED pedophile who raped Toowoomba primary school students in his care is having his sentence appealed.

Gerard Vincent Byrnes, 61, was sentenced this month to 10 years' jail with parole eligibility after six years.

The sentence from Toowoomba District Court Judge Sarah Bradley immediately sparked an outcry from victims and their families.

AUSTRALIA
The Chronicle

22nd October 2010

PEDOPHILE school teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes may face an extended period in jail after Attorney-General Cameron Dick lodged an appeal against the leniency of his sentence on Friday.

The mother of one of Byrnes’ 13 victims told The Chronicle the families were pleased and relieved the Attorney-General had appealed what was seen by all the families as a very lenient sentence.

"We welcome the appeal very much, it’s what we’ve been hoping for," she said.

AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

AAP

The Queensland government will appeal a 10-year sentence given to a teacher found guilty of the rape and sexual abuse of students in his care at a Toowoomba school.

Gerard Vincent Byrnes, 61, pleaded guilty in April to 44 charges - 33 of indecent treatment of a child under 16, 10 counts of rape and one of maintaining an unlawful relationship with a child.

The incidents occurred while Byrnes was the child protection officer at a Toowoomba school from January 2007 to November 2008.

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Melinda Howells

Queensland Attorney-General Cameron Dick has lodged an appeal against the prison sentence given to southern Queensland teacher Gerard Vincent Byrnes who was convicted of sexually assaulting students.

Earlier this month, Byrnes, 61, was jailed for 10 years for 44 offences committed against 13 students.

But given the time already served, he could be eligible for parole in six years.

AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

Courtney Trenwith
October 22, 2010

The Queensland Attorney General will appeal the 10-year sentence of a Toowoomba Catholic school teacher who sexually abused 13 students.

Gerard Vincent Byrnes, 61, pleaded guilty earlier this year to 44 sex abuse charges, including 10 counts of rape and one count of maintaining a sexual relationship with a child.

He was the school's child protection officer at the time of the offences.

CONNECTICUT
NBC Connecticut

A judge has decided that an altar boy is entitled to $10 million from a priest he accused of sexual abuse.

A Supreme Court judge decided there was enough evidence to place a $10 million lien, a prejudgment remedy, on Rev. Stephen Bzdyra’s assets.

“(T)here was more than adequate evidence to support the plaintiff’s claim that (Rev. Stephen) Bzdyra sexually abused him when he was a young boy,” Justice Robert Berdon wrote in a memo of decision released on Thursday.

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

By Peter Wilson
West Midlands Home Affairs Correspondent, BBC News

Father James Robinson, 73, has been found guilty of sexually abusing six boys between 1959 and 1983 in the West Midlands.

Robinson fled to the United States in 1985, becoming a Roman Catholic priest in California.

Despite the fact that a police investigation into his activities had begun, he received regular monthly payments of £800 from the Archdiocese of Birmingham, including a cheque for £8,000 for medical expenses.

The payments stopped in 2001.

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

[with video]

As former priest Richard John James Robinson is convicted of sexually abusing boys at churches in the West Midlands, BBC journalist Paul Kenyon describes how he tracked him down in the US and confronted him for a documentary.

Robinson has been convicted of 21 charges relating to offences against six boys aged under 16 between 1959 and 1983.

Kenyon, who had asked one of Robinson's victims to travel with him, challenged the 73-year-old in a trailer park in Los Angeles.

UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

Friday, 22 October 2010

As James Robinson prepares to spend the rest of his life behind bars, it was disclosed a further three victims have come forward.

Detectives say the three men reported their abuse at the hands of Robinson during their investigations, but declined to take part in the court process.

The number of lives irrevocably changed by Robinson's evil now stands at nine, but detectives say they are certain more are remaining silent.

UNITED KINGDOM
Herald Sun (Australia)

A UK ex-priest was yesterday jailed for 21 years for a campaign of sexual abuse against young boys over more than two decades.

James Robinson, 73, who has lived in the United States since 1985 but was extradited from California last year to face trial, was found guilty of 21 sexual offences by a jury at Birmingham Crown Court in central England.

The jury heard that the former Roman Catholic priest, who was ordained in 1971, moved from parish to parish sexually abusing children, including two altar boys.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Press Association

A paedophile former priest who fled to the United States in 1985 has been given a 21-year jail sentence for a campaign of sexual abuse against young boys which began in the 1950s.

A jury at Birmingham Crown Court deliberated for around six hours before unanimously convicting 73-year-old James Robinson, who was extradited from California last year to face trial.

The former Roman Catholic priest, who worked in the Black Country, Staffordshire, Birmingham and Coventry after being ordained in 1971, simply stared at the jury foreman as he was found guilty of 21 sexual offences.

UNITED KINGDOM
Reuters

(Reuters) - A former Roman Catholic priest was jailed for 21 years for sexual offences against young boys by a court on Friday after his extradition from the United States.

James Robinson, a former boxer and colliery blacksmith, was found guilty of 21 charges of sexual abuse between 1959 and 1983, including offences against two altar boys.

The paedophile used his status as a priest to gain "unfettered and unlimited" access to boys, giving them gifts and taking them on trips in his sports car, the court in Birmingham heard.

BELGIE
hbvl

De voorbije maand liepen 103 nieuwe klachten over seksueel misbruik in de kerk binnen bij het federaal parket. Dat zegde Lieve Pellens van dat federaal parket in een hoorzitting in de Kamercommissie voor Justitie. Die ondervroeg het college van procureurs-generaal en de federale procureur. Er viel - onderhuids - vrij scherpe kritiek op de Brusselse onderzoeksrechter Wim De Troy die Operatie Kelk leidt, maar ook op advocaat Walter Van Steenbrugge, die klachten namens slachtoffers afhandelt, te beluisteren.

Het federaal parket moet de afhandeling van klachten over seksueel misbruik in de Kerk coördineren. Het moet nagaan of niet dezelde klachten door verschillende parketten tegelijk behandeld worden en beslissen welk plaatselijk parket dan bevoegd is. Het moet vervolgens de klacht naar dat parket doorsturen. Bevoegd is het parket van de laatste bekende woonplaats van de verdachte.

BELGIE
Metro Time

De aangekondigde opvolger van de Commissie-Adriaenssens, die de klachten bundelde over seksueel misbruik binnen de Kerk, komt er dan toch niet. Dat hebben de bisschoppen gisteren laten weten.

Midden september kondigde de Kerk nog aan dat ze een nieuw ‘centrum voor erkenning, heling, herstel en verzoening’ zou oprichten, waar slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik terecht zouden kunnen. Van dat idee ziet de kerkleiding nu af. Er komt in elk bisdom een aanspreekpunt, maar de slachtoffers worden aangemoedigd om klacht neer te leggen bij het gerecht. «Het bepalen van de waarheid van een melding en van de gevolgen van de feiten komt immers toe aan de rechterlijke macht», benadrukt de woordvoerder van de bisschoppenconferentie, Jürgen Mettepenningen.

NEDERLAND
Het Gezinsblad

Jos Lutz

Ik ga een klacht indienen tegen de R.K. Kerk. Nee, ik denk zelfs tegen de paus. Ik heb namelijk een enorm trauma opgelopen in mijn jeugd. Ik was een katholiek knaapje in de nadagen van de verzuiling en heb enorme risico’s gelopen. Blokfluiten bij de kribbe, R.K. Basisschool met Fraters, misdienaar, middelbare school met Paters. En nu komt mijn lot: niemand heeft ooit een vinger naar me uitgestoken! Niet de oude Frater die muziekles gaf. Niet de pastoor van de Latijnse Mis. Zelfs niet de Pater Nederlands die naar jenever rook. Niemand. Was ik te min?

Seksueel misbruik, helemaal van kinderen, is natuurlijk een walgelijk en ziek iets. Als dit geen column was zou ik er ook geen grap over maken. Als ergens sprake is van seksueel misbruik is er meestal sprake van een machtsverhouding waar iemand niet mee kan omgaan. De baas op het werk, de judoleraar, vaak gewoon iemand uit de familie. In extreme vorm zoals het nu in Congo gebeurt. Rebellen en soldaten verkrachten iedereen die op hun pad komt. Man, vrouw, jong en oud. Een humanitaire ramp.

UNITED KINGDOM
Washington Post

The Associated Press
Friday, October 22, 2010

LONDON -- A British judge has sentenced a former Roman Catholic priest to 21 years in jail after he was convicted of 21 charges of sexual offenses against boys.

The defendant, 73-year-old James Robinson, 73, had denied the charges. He was accused of abusing boys from 1959 to 1983. He was ordained in 1971.

Judge Patrick Thomas described Robinson on Friday as devious and manipulative. Thomas says "the offenses you committed were unimaginably wicked and caused immense and long-lasting - we can only hope not permanent - damage to the six victims."

UNITED STATES
Religion Dispatches

By Mary E. Hunt

Pope Benedict XVI named 24 new cardinals, including two Americans, at the end of yesterday’s weekly Wednesday audience: Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl of Washington DC and Raymond L. Burke, formerly of St. Louis, and now Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, the Supreme Court of the Vatican. They are among 20 of the 24 who are young enough—i.e. under 80—to vote for the next Pope.

In a radio interview on the day of the announcement Cardinal-designate Donald Wuerl was asked what one has to do to become a cardinal. He finessed the question by saying, with humility that would choke a horse, that the honor was really for the city of Washington DC, the nation’s capital, and not so much for him personally. Since the rest of us in DC won’t actually have any cause to run out and pick up a new red hat, I would have preferred that he answer the question honestly. The honest answer, to all appearances, is that to become a cardinal you have to do in at least one fellow Catholic, at the very least. I realize that sounds more like gaining membership in a gang or the mob than being named to a high-ranking religious post, but it’s the most apt analogy I can find for how the Roman Catholic system seems to work.

BELGIE
Nederland Dagblad

BRUSSEL – De Verenigde Protestantse Kerk in België (VPKB) neemt afstand van het standpunt over aids van aartsbisschop André-Joseph Léonard.

De Belgische rooms-katholieke kerkleider zei in een vorige week uitgekomen boek dat aids ,,een soort gerechtigheid’’ is. Hij vergeleek de ziekte met de rekening die de mens krijgt gepresenteerd door zijn slechte omgang met het milieu. Later nuanceerde hij zijn uitspraken iets.

In een vrijdag verschenen verklaring stelt de VPKB het standpunt van Léonard niet te onderschrijven. ,,Aids is een ziekte, geen moreel probleem en dus ook geen vorm van gerechtigheid.’’

UNITED KINGDOM
Berwick Advertiser

An investigation is to be carried out into allegations that two priests were allowed to continue working in East Sussex despite being accused of serious child abuse offences, the Church of England has confirmed.

Collin Pritchard was the vicar of St Barnabas, in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, until 2007, despite having been first reported to police for sex offences 10 years earlier.

He was only suspended when a new safeguarding officer at the diocese decided he was a risk to children.

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A victim of a former Roman Catholic priest convicted of sexually abusing boys between 1959 and 1983, said he thought he was in love with the man who called himself Father Jim.

Richard John James Robinson, 73, originally from Aldridge in the West Midlands, encouraged the altar boy with gifts, outings and rides in his sports car.

"I was so much in love with the man. Everything was planned. We were going to run away together. He told me that he loved me as well."

WISCONSIN
AMERICAblog

by Joe Sudbay (DC) on 10/21/2010

Jud at Uppity Wisconsin has been bird-dogging the scandal involving GOPer Ron Johnson's ties to the Catholic Church child rape scandal. This really came to light when Johnson went to the State Capitol this year to lobby against legislation that would aid the victims of child sex abuse. That video is here. Johnson was there at the behest of the Catholic hierarchy.

Jud provides a more detailed video of Johnson's appearance at the Capitol and offers these findings:

* It is clear that Johnson was there as part of a coalition of Wisconsin Catholic Dioceses led by Archbishop Jerome Listecki. (If that name sounds familiar, its because its the same ultra-rightwing Listecki that made national news for saying that Obama shouldn't go to Notre Dame.)

* Listecki also has the dubious distinction of running the LaCrosse Diocese for many years. During Listecki's time in LaCrosse the Diocese had the highest "clearance rate" of priests accused of childhood sexual assaults in the nation. The national average of accused priests being "cleared" by the diocese and being allowed to return to their parishes is 12%. At the LaCrosse Diocese, the rate is a whopping 64%.

UNITED KINGDOM
Coventry Telegraph

FORMER Coventry Catholic priest James Robinson was convicted at Birmingham Crown Court today of 21 charges of sexual abuse of young boys between 1959 and 1983.

Robinson worked as a priest in several parishes across the Midlands, including St Elizabeth’s Church in Foleshill during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The three-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court heard the first complaint about Robinson was made to West Midlands Police in 1985.

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A former priest has been found guilty of sexually abusing boys when he served at churches in the West Midlands.

Richard John James Robinson, 73, had denied 21 charges relating to alleged offences against six boys aged under 16 between 1959 and 1983.

One victim told Birmingham Crown Court he had "carried" Mr Robinson's face with him since being assaulted.

AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

ALISON BRANLEY
22 Oct, 2010

The issue of sexual abuse is threatening to overshadow the annual meeting of Anglican Church leaders in Newcastle this weekend.

Newcastle Bishop Brian Farran said he would address the issue of ‘‘professional standards’’ during the 49th synod.

The Newcastle Herald reported on Wednesday police were investigating whether well-known priest, the late Father Peter Rushton, was part of a broader paedophile ring involving other Anglican clergy.

RENO (NV)
Register-Journal

By Martha Bellisle • mbellisle@rgj.com • October 21, 2010

A Catholic priest working in the Reno area was accused in a civil lawsuit filed in Kansas City, Mo., of molesting and sexually assaulting a 17-year-old church member beginning in 1979 and continuing for several years.

The girl had allegedly told the Rev. Thomas Cronin during confession that she had been sexually abused by a relative, the suit said. Cronin allegedly responded by touching and kissing her, and then began regularly forcing her to have sex while telling her that she was special and “part of God’s plan,” the suit said.

The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, also names the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph and another priest, John Tulipana, who resigned from the priesthood in 1994 after the diocese received complaints of sexual misconduct with minors, the diocese said.

CONNECTICUT
Waterbury Republican-American

BY QUANNAH LEONARD REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

SEYMOUR — A former Supreme Court Justice has ruled for a $10 million lien on assets of a Roman Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing an altar boy during the 1980s.

After a hearing in New Haven Superior Court last month, former Supreme Court Justice Robert I. Berdon stated in a memorandum of decision Tuesday that there was more than adequate evidence to support William Dotson's claims of sexual abuse against the Rev. Stephen Bzdyra. Bzdyra has been suspended from his role as pastor of St. Augustine Church, 35 Washington Ave.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Riverfront Times

By Nicholas Phillips, Thu., Oct. 21 2010

Heard about therealedmartin.com?

It's a website that argues -- albeit indirectly, and with loads of documents -- that GOP congressional candidate Ed Martin, while employed at the Archdiocese of St. Louis, was in a position to have intimate knowledge of "pedophile priests" being transferred from parish to parish, but apparently stayed silent and failed to report it to civil authorities.

Martin categorically denies the first charge, and by extension, the second.

A spokeswoman for incumbent Democrat Russ Carnahan says: "Our campaign has nothing to do with this website. There's nothing I can say about it, other than Ed Martin clearly has a lot of questions to answer."

Private investigator William Corwin of New Mexico, who says he created the site with this own money after parting ways with the Carnahan campaign, admits there's no "smoking gun" that proves Martin had knowledge of clergy sex abuse.

CANADA
The Windsor Star

A Roman Catholic priest at the centre of a sexual abuse scandal is now facing three additional charges in Toronto.

Rev. William Hodgson Marshall was charged with three counts of indecent assault Thursday in Toronto. Police wouldn’t say when the alleged incidents occurred or whether the alleged victims were students of the Basilian priest.

Last month, Marshall was charged with two counts of indecent assault stemming from an alleged incident in 1953, when the priest was teaching and coaching basketball at St. Michael’s College School in Toronto. A former student alleges Marshall asked the boy, then 15, to go into a private room, where he was then sexually assaulted.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Beacon

By Jo Mannies, Beacon political reporter

Posted 6:35 pm, Thu., 10.21.10

Republican congressional candidate Ed Martin is accusing his Democratic rival, U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, of being behind a new attack website that alleges Martin failed to take adequate action when he worked for the St. Louis Archdiocese to address the problem of pedophile priests.

Martin, a lawyer, denies playing any role in the Catholic Church's handling of accused priests during his time in the 1990s on the archdiocese's governing board, called the "curia." He called the website and its video a "smear of me, my faith and all Catholics."

Carnahan's campaign say it had nothing to do with the site, www.therealedmartin.com, which was created and produced by Michael Corwin, a political opposition researcher and investigator based in New Mexico.

VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

Vatican City, Oct 21, 2010 / 07:53 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The rehabilitation of the scandalized Legion of Christ has entered a new phase according to the Vatican official in charge of the troubled religious congregation.

In an Oct. 19 letter to Legion members, Archbishop Velasio De Paolis said the Legion is entering a period of “reconstruction and renewal.”

His letter was dated one day before Pope Benedict XVI announced that Archbishop De Paolis, president of the Vatican’s Prefecture for the Economic Affairs, would be one of 24 new cardinals to be installed in a consistory to be held Nov. 20.

NEW HAVEN (CT)
NECN

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut judge has found strong evidence to support allegations by a man that he was sexually abused by a priest in the 1980s and issued a $10 million attachment of the priest's assets while the case heads to a jury.

Thirty-four-year-old William Dotson made the allegations against the Rev. Stephen Bzdyra (BIZ'-der-ah) in a civil lawsuit in July. The Associated Press generally does not name victims of sexual assault, but Dotson's attorney, Joel Faxon, said his client wanted to come forward.

Retired Supreme Court Justice Robert Berdon, who conducted a hearing in Superior Court, ruled Wednesday that Dotson's testimony was "credible and overwhelming."

ALASKA
Catholic News Service

By Mark Pattison
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A "Walk of Tears" to remember and honor the victims of clergy sexual abuse in Alaska has spawned two other events to remember victims.

First there was a Mass of healing Oct. 20 celebrated by Bishop Donald J. Kettler of Fairbanks as part of a meeting with the Alaska Federation of Natives. The healing was specifically targeted at sexual abuse, said an aide to Bishop Keller. Even though the names of few victims in Alaska have been released, it is believed many of the victims were Alaskan natives.

Also, on Nov. 28, a statewide day of prayer has been scheduled for all three of Alaska's dioceses: the Archdiocese of Anchorage and the Fairbanks and Juneau dioceses.

CANADA
Welland Tribune

By Tribune Staff

BELLEVILLE — Former Roman Catholic priest Donald Grecco waived his bail hearing Thursday in Belleville court and will have an appearance on his breach charge next Wednesday, in Picton.

He remains in custody.

In March, the St. Catharines man pleaded guilty to three counts of gross indecency after he sexually abused three altar boys in Welland and Cayuga. The molestations happened in the 1970s and 1980s.

CANADA
Globe and Mail

Adrian Morrow
Globe and Mail Update

An 88-year-old Catholic priest and retired teacher accused of sexually abusing students in Toronto and Windsor has been charged with nine more counts of indecent assault, police said.

Father William Hodgson Marshall turned himself in to police in downtown Toronto Thursday, where he was formally charged. Three of the counts relate to incidents in Toronto and six to alleged victims in Sudbury.

Toronto police declined to say when the alleged assaults happened or where; Father Marshall was previously charged with abusing a 15-year-old boy in the fall of 1953 at St. Michael's College School, a private, all-boys Catholic school in Toronto.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Fox 2

[with video]

Charles Jaco
FOX2now.com

St. Louis, MO (KPLR) — Republican congressional candidate, Ed Martin is criticizing a web site. The site claims Martin may have helped cover up sexual abuse by priests when Martin worked for the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

The website is called TheRealEdmartin.com. It's written by a private investigator from New Mexico and a freelance TV reporter. It charges that while Ed Martin worked for the Archdiocese of St. Louis he helped shield pedophile priests.

Martin was in charge of the Archdiocisan office of human rights. He began that position in 1998.

On Thursday Martin criticized the website claiming it's the work of his opponent congressman Russ Carnahan and is a smear against all Catholics.

UNITED KINGDOM
Belfast Telegraph

An investigation is to be carried out into allegations that two priests were allowed to continue working despite being accused of serious child abuse offences, the Church of England has confirmed.

Collin Pritchard was the vicar of St Barnabas, in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, until 2007, despite having been first reported to police for sex offences 10 years earlier. He was only suspended when a new safeguarding officer at the diocese decided he was a risk to children.

He was charged with sexually abusing the two young boys the same year and was then jailed for five years in July 2008 when he pleaded guilty to four counts of indecent assault and three counts of committing an act of gross indecency on the two children.

BELGIE
De Morgen

In het kader van Operatie Kelk heeft de advocaat van kardinaal Godfried Danneels onderzoeksrechter Wim De Troy gewraakt. De Troy onderzoekt al enkele maanden of Danneels en de kerk dossiers van seksueel misbruik in de doofpot hebben gestopt, meldt Het Nieuws op vtm.

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by John L Allen Jr on Oct. 21, 2010 All Things Catholic

If there’s one thing even the most religiously illiterate person tends to get about the Catholic church, it’s the difference between a cardinal and everybody else. Cardinals matter: they set a leadership tone, and, of course, they elect the next pope.

The news this week that Benedict XVI has named 24 new cardinals, including 20 who are under 80 and hence eligible to vote in a conclave, merits a few reflections. (My news story on the appointments, including the full list of names, can be found here: Wuerl and Burke among 24 new cardinals).

First, it would not seem that Benedict XVI has stacked the deck in any ideological sense. While there are no real liberals in this crop (not by the standards of secular politics, or for that matter in ecclesiastical terms), neither is the Nov. 20 consistory stuffed with arch-conservatives. In general, there’s a rough balance between traditionalists and pragmatists. The American appointments offer an example, with both the uncompromising Archbishop Raymond Burke and the centrist Archbishop Donald Wuerl.

UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2010

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com)

We're saddened by the Pope's pattern of promoting bishops who ignore or conceal child sex crimes. While in St. Louis, Burke was often reckless, deceptive and callous regarding predator priests, vulnerable kids and wounded victims. He expanded the troubling practice of importing sexually troubled priests from across the US, letting some of them work in local parishes and letting others stay in church facilities that are secretive and careless about public safety.

The Pope continues to reward men just like him: bright but rigid, and seemingly more committed to preserving orthodoxy than protecting children. The Pope can't have it both ways. He can't be taken seriously when he professes to care about children and victims while promoting men who endanger children and hurt victims.