Abuse Tracker

AUSTRALIA
Sky News

A Brisbane priest has been stood down pending the outcome of child exploitation charges.

Father Neil Byrne parish priest of St Johns Wood and The Gap in the city's west .. has faced Brisbane Magistrates Court charged with making and possessing child exploitation material.

KENYA
allAfrica

Nairobi Star

Wambugu Kanyi

31 May 2011

MAENDELEO ya Wanaume movement has protested the release of Catholic Priest Fr Sesana Kizito who had been arrested on suspicion of sodomy.

National chairman Nderitu Njoka who spoke in Nyeri town demanded that the government conduct a thorough investigation into the claims against the priest. Fr Kizito was released last week after they were unable to find evidence linking him to the attack of his male secretary.

KENYA
allAfrica

Nairobi Star

The young man who claimed to have been sodomised by Father Renato Sesana Kizito in 2009 confessed yesterday that he had been promised money to frame up the Catholic priest.

Benson Sarago said he had been coached on what to tell the media by three people who had previously worked with the Koinonia Community and had been fired.

Fr Kizito said on his part said that his accusers wanted to take over the activities and property the Koinonia community which he had developed over the past 20 years. "They want to discredit me by making allegations of a sexual nature because they want to take over the Koinonia community, " he said. Fr Kizito was released last Friday after investigators said medical tests had failed to link him to the sexual abuse accusations.

NEW YORK
The Jewish Week

Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Hella Winston
Special To The Jewish Week

In the wake of a Jewish Week story questioning the practice of Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services in reporting suspected cases of sexual abuse, the Brooklyn-based social service agency has launched a campaign to clear its name. But while supporters and some former critics of the institution say the effort has proved Ohel acted correctly in the disputed case, others maintain that the promotional effort itself is raising serious ethical, if not legal questions about the agency’s conduct.

The story in question was published in the Feb. 23 issue of The Jewish Week and described a case in which Ohel therapists suspected that a mother was sexually abusing her then 5-year-old son but were instructed by their supervisor not to make a report to the authorities. (The law requires a report to the Administration for Children’s Services even if there is only a “reasonable cause to suspect” that abuse is taking place.)

After the article appeared, Ohel took out a full-page ad in The Jewish Week and another Jewish newspaper discrediting the paper’s sources and asserting that the story was inaccurate and biased.

AUSTRALIA
Geelong Advertiser

Aleks Devic | June 1st, 2011

SICK: Convicted paedophile Robert Charles Best pleaded guilty this week to six sex abuse-related charges of three boys aged between 11 and 12.

AN evil Christian brother has confessed to sexually abusing a Geelong St Joseph's schoolboy as part of his 20-year reign of terror.

And police revealed yesterday there could be more charges looming against convicted paedophile Robert Charles Best with more complaints being aimed at the former teacher.

The Christian Brothers yesterday also confirmed it had forked out millions of dollars for Best's long and drawn out trials where top barristers, that included Queen's Counsel and Senior Counsel, were hired to get him off dozens of charges.

It can now be revealed Best, who has close links to Cardinal George Pell, pleaded guilty this week to six sex abuse-related charges of three boys aged between 11 and 12.

AUSTRALIA
The Standard

ANDREW THOMSON
01 Jun, 2011

THE lifting of a court order has revealed the extent of a former Warrnambool Christian Brother's years of sexual abuse against numerous young victims.

Robert Charles Best, 70, pleaded guilty in the Melbourne County Court on Monday to six offences between 1975 and 1988 which involved three victims.

Best's pleas ended a long legal pursuit for justice by victims, investigators and prosecutors.

His pleas also lift a court ban issued almost a year ago that enables The Standard to report that juries in six separate trials since November have found Best guilty of 21 sex offences against eight victims.

NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published by the Gallup Independent (Gallup, NM), May 27, 2011

Part IV of a five-part series

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent

GALLUP — Local Catholics may have a hard time wrapping their minds around the idea of clergy abuse in the Diocese of Gallup.

Perhaps they’ve never met any of the priests accused of abuse. Perhaps they’ve never met any abuse victim. Perhaps the stories of abuse are difficult to believe.

But for Catholics who regularly attended Mass in a parish in Northern Arizona during the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s or ’80s, they probably had at least one parish priest who was a sex abuser, and they probably attended church with a number of abuse victims. And for Hispanics from devout Catholic families in Northern Arizona, they probably have at least one relative who was an abuse victim.

Many of Gallup’s abusive priests were sent to far-flung Arizona communities that were hundreds of miles from the eyes and ears of the Gallup chancery. In addition to its parishes in Apache and Navajo Counties, the Gallup Diocese once included many Arizona communities in Coconino, Mohave and Yavapai counties, such as Flagstaff, Kingman, Prescott and Camp Verde.

Since Bishop James S. Wall and his chancery officials have failed to release their promised list of clergy abusers, the following is an updated list of priests associated with the Diocese of Gallup who have been publicly accused of the sexual abuse of minors.

NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Part I of a five-part series

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent

GALLUP — For more than two years, officials with the Diocese of Gallup have been promising answers to some tough questions. Those answers, however, have been tough to come by.

As a result, some larger questions have emerged. For example, do local Catholics have a right to receive promised information from diocesan officials? Do they have a right to expect openness and transparency from diocesan officials about the clergy sexual abuse and misconduct that has taken place in the Diocese of Gallup? And do they have a right to expect the Gallup Diocese to adhere to the sex abuse policies adopted by U.S. Catholic bishops?

NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Part II of a five-part series

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent

GALLUP — Readers of the Diocese of Gallup’s official newspaper are always greeted with good news.

Certainly the upcoming issue will most likely feature an article about the Diocese of Gallup passing its 2010 audit and being deemed “in compliance” with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People and its Essential Norms.

However, like official news releases typically issued by large institutions concerned about their bottom line, information can be misleading. Details can be omitted.

The term “in compliance” sounds impressive. However, the term is not particularly exclusive as it turns out that church officials found every single Catholic diocese that participated in the 2010 audit to be in compliance. This includes the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, which was recently targeted by a grand jury for failing to remove more than three dozen priests accused of sexual abuse or “boundary” violations and has seen a number of its church officials criminally indicted and arrested this spring.

The term is also misleading because the annual compliance audits of Catholic dioceses are conducted by “auditors” who have no authority to inspect church records, particularly the personnel files of clergy. As a result, those auditors are left to depend on self-reporting by diocesan officials and to depend on the officials’ truthfulness.

NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published by the Gallup Independent (Gallup, NM), May 26, 2011

News Analysis

Part III of a five-part series

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent

GALLUP — When the topic is clergy sex abuse in the Diocese of Gallup, the unanswered questions are not just limited to the identity of abusive priests and their victims’ allegations, they are also about money.

Money paid to victims of sex abuse, money paid to victims’ attorneys, and money paid to the diocesan attorneys who handle the claims of abuse.

An April 11 news release from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops contained a number of jarring national statistics about such costs. Sexual abuse-related costs to U.S. dioceses and Eastern rite eparchies increased between 2009 and 2010 by more than $19 million. Costs for settlements paid out in 2010 were $70,375,228, an increase of 28 percent over 2009. Legal fees increased by 18 percent.

NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published by the Gallup Independent (Gallup, NM), May 28, 2011

Part V of a five-part series

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent

GALLUP — In 2003, the Gallup Diocesan Review Board on Juvenile Sexual Abuse issued a news release saying five Gallup priests had been accused of sexual abuse.

The board, however, has never had the authority to actually inspect Gallup personnel files, so its members have been dependent on Gallup chancery officials to give them accurate information.

Eight years later, there’s no evidence Gallup chancery officials have provided accurate information to either its own sex abuse review board or to the public. As a result, here are the remaining eight names of the list of 16 known priests associated with the Diocese of Gallup who have been publicly accused of sexual abuse of minors.

However, this list does not include the names of clergy with only suspected abuse allegations or publicly accused clergy who have been returned to ministry. It does not include the names of clergy accused of sexual misconduct, such as those who have sexually assaulted or sexually harassed adult victims. It doesn’t include clergy who have had consensual relationships with adult men or women or clergy who have fathered children. It also does not include clergy accused of “boundary violations” — inappropriate behavior — with minors or adults.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

LINDA McGRORY

A PARISH priest has blamed paedophile clerics and how they were handled by the church authorities for doing more damage than secularism to the Catholic Church in Ireland.

Fr John Walsh said that while secularism “undermines” religious ministry, the worst attacks to the church came from inside the church itself.

“The church can come under attack from outside. In our own times, secularism undermines the church’s mission,” said Fr Walsh.

“But the most insidious attacks against the church come from inside itself. For the last several decades we have seen the damage that has been done to the church in Ireland by paedophile members, particularly priests and religious, and by the way church authorities in Ireland have dealt with them.”

UNITED STATES
Catholic News Service

By Nancy Frazier O'Brien
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Although the U.S. bishops' spring general assembly will focus primarily on a review of the 2002 "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" and consideration of a new document on physician-assisted suicide, the June 15-17 meeting in Seattle also will include a variety of presentations looking forward and back.

Ken Hackett, president of Catholic Relief Services since 1993, will address the bishops about his nearly four decades of work with the international humanitarian agency of the U.S. Catholic community as his retirement nears. Msgr. David Malloy, a priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, also will address the assembly as he concludes a five-year term as general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The bishops are expected to look to the 2012 elections as they discuss their perennial "Faithful Citizenship" document on political responsibility, and Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington will report to them on progress toward incorporation of Anglican groups into the Catholic Church in the United States under Pope Benedict XVI's November 2009 apostolic constitution "Anglicanorum coetibus."

UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

May 31, 2011

Noted canon-law professor Edward Peters reminds readers of the Homiletic and Pastoral Review that when a priest hearing confessions encourages penitents to sin, he commits not only a sin but also a serious canonical crime.

Peters argues that there is reason to believe that the canonical crime of solicitation--in which a priest "solicits a penitent to sin against the 6th commandment"--is not rare. He notes that solicitation does not necessarily mean that the priest/confessor is soliciting sexual favors for himself.

AUSTRALIA
The Courier

A BALLARAT victim of Christian Brother Robert Charles Best is petitioning for a justice commission into sexual abuse cases in Victoria involving members of the religious organisations.

Patrick (not his real name) will petition the Attorney-General for a “fair go” and equal rights for victims of sexual abuse by Christian Brothers, priests and those in other religious denominations.

“I want to introduce this petition to Parliament rather than have the issue swept under the carpet any more. There have been similar justice commissions in other states, why not Victoria?” Patrick asked.

UNITED STATES
Charlotte Observer

By Cathleen Falsani
Religion News Service
Posted: Saturday, May. 28, 2011

The great American clergyman and social reformer Henry Ward Beecher described summer as "a temperate zone in the mind... just between laziness and labor." It was to this season, Beecher said, that "summer reading belongs."

This summer brings a rich collection of new spiritually themed titles that promise to captivate both the soul and the imagination as they explore dark corners of the world of faith.

"Render Unto Rome: The Secret Life of Money in the Catholic Church," by Jason Berry.

For more than 25 years, investigative reporter Berry has been at the forefront of exposing sexual abuses by Catholic clergy.

In "Render Unto Rome," Berry turns his attention to a different kind of corruption in this investigation of the financial secrets (and alleged deceptions) of the Roman Catholic Church. What happens after checks or cash are dropped into the collection basket? Where does the money go when a diocese sells property for tens of millions of dollars?

In light of the more than $2billion paid out in recent years to the victims of clergy sexual abuse in the United States alone, Berry "follows the money," from U.S. parishes to the Vatican, exposing what he believes are practices that fly in the face of Catholic moral teaching and values.

BELGIE
Vandaag

De Belgische bisschoppen stemden maandag in met de regeling om schadevergoedingen aan slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik te betalen. Johan Bonny (foto), bisschop van Antwerpen, waarschuwt wel dat de Kerk eigenlijk niet genoeg geld heeft.

"Wij doen een vrijwillige gift, wij hopen dan ook op vrijwillige bijdragen. De Kerk heeft geen spaarpot of fonds", zegt Bonny.

"Wij rekenen op vrijwilligers. De Kerk heeft geen jaren aan een stuk geld kunnen oppotten. Ik weet ook niet hoeveel we uiteindelijk moeten betalen voor het seksueel misbruik. Ik laat dat werk over aan de experts. Ik wil mij niet vastpinnen op de cijfers."

AUSTRALIA
National Catholic Reporter

May. 31, 2011
By Chris McGillion

ANALYSIS

SYDNEY, Australia -- The energies of Catholic Australians in recent years have been absorbed by contradictory approaches to being faithful. The first is the church’s institutional integrity (requirements of obedience, orthodoxy and conformity); the second is its moral integrity (what should it be doing, for whom and how).

The church’s top leadership and its ordinary members have been concerned about these issues in almost inverse proportion. Pope Benedict XVI, like the late John Paul II before him, has been at pains to strengthen the church against the influences of secularism by insisting on stricter discipline in its ranks and a greater acceptance of official teachings on the part of the faithful.

Many Australian clergy and laypeople, on the other hand, regard the declining number of regular churchgoers, the shrinking number of priests and religious, and the scandal of clerical sexual abuse as compelling reasons to move away from old ways of being church and pursue fundamental reform.

CHILE
La Tercera

por J. Poblete y P. Carrera

Luis Lira Campino (53) conoció al ex párroco Fernando Karadima (80) cuando era alumno de enseñanza media del colegio Tabancura. De la iglesia de El Bosque le atrajo la espiritualidad que allí percibía y, tras salir de cuarto medio, decidió que tenía vocación sacerdotal. Fue así como este ex feligrés entró al seminario de Santiago, pero no cortó su vínculo con El Bosque: solía confesarse con Karadima cada vez que tenía salidas y fue en una de estas oportunidades cuando, asegura, ocurrió el hecho que lo decidió a denunciar.

Según el informe final del promotor de justicia, Fermín Donoso, Lira fue víctima de un acto impropio por parte del ex párroco siendo seminarista. Fuentes eclesiásticas precisan que declaró ante Donoso que esto ocurrió cuando ya era adulto.

Fuentes ligadas al ex feligrés afirman que este testimonio es concordante con la declaración prestada por Lira ante el fiscal Xavier Armendáriz, donde precisa que ingresó al seminario a los 21 años. También, sostienen estas fuentes, con la declaración hecha por Lira a la ministra en visita, Jéssica González.

NEW HAMPSHIRE
From Law to Grace

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Howell Scott

How can a 15 year-old girl recover her innocence, an innocence that was stolen from her when a trusted, 39 year-old member of an Independent Fundamental Baptist Church (IFB) raped her 14 years ago? The short answer is she can’t. But, even though Tina Anderson had something precious stolen from her all those years ago, she can — with God’s help and the help of family and friends – heal from the grievous crime that was committed against her in 1997.

Part of that healing process occurred last week when Ernie Willis “was found guilty of three counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault and one count of felonious sexual assault for raping Tina Anderson twice in 1997, when she was his 15-year-old babysitter.” He now faces up to 50 years in prison for his crimes.

Even though the jury only took one day to bring back a guilty verdict on four counts, the most ardent defenders of Willis and Trinity Baptist’s former pastor, Chuck Phelps, continue to believe that a 39 year-old married man (Willis) having sex with a 15 year-old was somehow consensual. There is a Hebrew word for that kind of thinking: baloney! I wonder how these same defenders would feel if their daughter was faced with the same set of circumstances? Would they buy the defense that their 15 year-old child could engage in consensual sex with a man 24 years her senior? For supposed Christians to accept this defense, particularly with the facts of this case, is absurd and disgusting.

ITALIA
Quotidianamente

Il pm di Genova Stefano Puppo ha depositato una nuova richiesta di arresto per don Riccardo Seppia (nella foto), in carcere dal 14 maggio con l’accusa di abuso su minori e cessione di stupefacenti. Ma i problemi con la giustizia non sono i soli per il sacerdote genovese che, se i comportamenti che gli sono addebitati verranno provati, potrebbe rischiare la scomunica. Dalla Curia trapela infatti che l’ufficio competente sta raccogliendo documentazione per intentare un processo canonico. Il «dossier» su don Seppia, una volta pronto, verrà trasmesso alla Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede quindi un giudice «ordinario» deciderà se passare il caso al «promotore di giustizia» che ha funzioni simili a un pubblico ministero.

ITALIA
TGCOM

Più accuse, ma per reati meno gravi per don Riccardo Seppia, il parroco genovese arrestato per droga e pedofilia, che ora, secondo il suo avvocato, potrebbe anche essere scarcerato. Il pm Stefano Puppo ha depositato una nuova richiesta di custodia cautelare che sostituisce quella della procura di Milano. La nuova richiesta ridimensiona in parte il quadro accusatorio e potrebbe indurre il giudice a decidere per misure alternative alla detenzione.

L'originale accusa di violenza sessuale nei confronti di un chierichetto sedicenne viene infatti derubricata in tentata violenza sessuale anche perché la vittima stessa ha specificato che don Seppia non l'aveva baciato – come risultava da un'intercettazione -, ma lo aveva soltanto molestato. Anche la cessione di cocaina potrebbe essere interpretata come semplice offerta di droga: secondo l'avvocato difensore del parroco, Paolo Bonanni, il passaggio dello stupefacente non si sarebbe poi concretizzato.

AUSTRALIA
9 News

A Brisbane priest has been stood down pending the outcome of child exploitation charges.

Father Neil Byrne, parish priest of St John's Wood and The Gap, in the city's west, has faced Brisbane Magistrates Court charged with making and possessing child exploitation material.

Brisbane Catholic Archbishop John Bathersby on Tuesday described the charges as "serious and disturbing".

"As a result of these allegations, as is the normal process, I have stood Fr Byrne down from his position as parish priest and from all public duties, pending the outcome of the legal proceedings," he said in a statement.

CHILE
Emol

SANTIAGO.- La ministra en visita del caso Karadima, Jéssica González, confirmó hoy que el ex párroco de la Iglesia El Bosque deberá someterse a careos con los denunciantes o involucrados en la investigación que se sigue en su contra por abuso sexual.

"Faltan diligencias y disponer de algunos careos y algunas otras diligencias de citados que no han prestado declaración", señaló. Al ser consultada sobre si esos careos serían entre los querellantes y Karadima la jueza respondió que "en principio sí".

Respecto al interrogatorio que le realizó al sacerdote Fernando Karadima, el viernes pasado, la ministra González dijo que quedó conforme. "Yo le pregunté todo lo que correspondía preguntar", señaló.

MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

The latest news on a Catholic priest accused of possessing child pornography raises more concerns about the failure of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph to move quickly after warning signs became known. As The Star reported Friday, a school official in the priest’s former parish expressed her worries a year ago in a letter to the diocese.

Julie Hess wrote that among other things, the Rev. Shawn Ratigan allowed children to climb on him and reach into his pocket for candy. According to the letter, he allowed a fourth-grader to sit on his lap “until teachers moved to stand next to him.” Ratigan even complained about teacher intervention.

Brownie Scouts and parents gardening at Ratigan’s house reported that his home was “kid-friendly,” with numerous stuffed animals scattered around. A parent reported finding a pair of girl’s panties in a planter in Ratigan’s back yard.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Tom Brady Security Editor

Tuesday May 31 2011

A GARDA examination of the findings of the Murphy Report on a cover-up of clerical child sexual abuse will be completed shortly.

A team of 10 detectives, headed by Assistant Garda Commissioner John O'Mahony, was set up in November 2009 to determine whether bishops, gardai and state officials had criminal cases to answer arising from the findings of the commission of inquiry headed by Judge Yvonne Murphy.

Their examination is now nearing a conclusion and a report will be sent to Commissioner Martin Callinan, who will decide if it should be forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

BELGIE
De Standaard

De kerk wil meestappen in het proces van 'heling en tegemoetkoming aan de slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik'. Daarom willen we hen ook financieel tegemoetkomen. Het geld moet komen van vrijwillige bijdragen uit de kerk. Dat heeft Antwerps bisschop Johan Bonny op Radio 1 gezegd.

In de kamercommissie seksueel misbruik stond aartsbisschop Andre-Joseph Léonard eind december 2010 nog erg weigerachtig tegenover het idee van een financiële schadervergoeding voor de slachtoffers. Toch komt de kerk nu over de brug met geld.

Conclusies

'We hebben vlak na Pasen gesproken met voorzitster Carine Lalieux over de conclusies van de speciale kamercommissie kerkelijk misbruik', zegt bisschop Bonny. Onder meer op de suggesties over arbitrage en schadeherstelling wil de kerk ingaan.

BELGIE
Het Nieuwsblad

Het heeft even geduurd, maar de Belgische bisschoppen hebben er dan toch mee ingestemd om de conclusies van de Commissie voor Seksueel Misbruik in de Kerk op te volgen. Veel keuze hadden ze niet, de commissie had het vrij duidelijk gemaakt dat ze de maatregelen ook zonder de medewerking van de Kerk kon doorvoeren. Maar blijkbaar hebben ze in Mechelen en omstreken stilaan begrepen dat er intussen genoeg gemiste kansen geweest zijn en het misschien tijd was te doen wat moet.

Het belangrijkste resultaat van deze beslissing zou moeten zijn dat er een arbitragecommissie komt, die evenwichtig samengesteld wordt en zich over de verjaarde zaken kan buigen. Net die vele verjaarde zaken zijn een pijnpunt. Enerzijds is er juridisch geen andere optie dan je neer te leggen bij verjaring, het is nu eenmaal de wet en die kunnen we niet à la tête du client veranderen of terzijde schuiven.

BELGIE
Deredactie

Nu de bisschoppen bereid zijn om schadevergoeding te betalen aan slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik, komen er van overal positieve reacties. Toch willen sommigen afwachten tot er effectief een vergoeding komt.
beluister

"Dit is een mooie dag voor de slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in de kerk. Zij hebben lang gestreden en lang moeten wachten. Een schadevergoeding kan het leed niet uitwissen, maar kan wel veel goedmaken".
VRT

Zo sprak een duidelijk verheugde Carina Van Cauter (Open VLD), ondervoorzitster van de parlementaire commissie naar seksueel misbruik. Van Cauter merkt een "ommekeer" op in de houding van de bisschoppen nadat aartsbisschop André-Joseph Léonard (foto) zich daar voor de commissie eerder afwijzend had getoond.

BELGIE
De Standaard

De Werkgroep Mensenrechten in de Kerk (WMK), die naar eigen zeggen 495 slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in de katholieke kerk groepeert, vindt het antwoord van de Bisschoppenconferentie om in te gaan op het voorstel van de commissie Seksueel Misbruik een positieve stap voorwaarts. Dat zegt Rik Devillé in een mededeling.

'Twee decennia lang hebben bisschoppen volgehouden dat er weinig of niets aan de hand was in de kerk wanneer het over seksueel misbruik ging. Amper erkenden ze het probleem. Wij werden afgeschilderd als 'fantasten'", aldus WMK, die zich wel afvraagt of het leed 'nu eindelijk erkend' zal worden.

De werkgroep zal dan ook nauwlettend toezien hoe het arbitrageorgaan zal worden geïnstalleerd en samengesteld, waarschuwt Rik Devillé. De WMK blijft bij haar eis dat ook de slachtoffers, net als de daders en hun werkgevers, de bisschoppen en oversten, inspraak en inzage krijgen in het opzetten van dit arbitragecollege.

UNITED STATES
Voice from the Desert

By Vinnie Nauheimer

Did the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops unwittingly expose a direct link between their actions and those of sexually abusing priests with the John Jay Study? The recently released John Jay report The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010 indicates that they have. The study has received a lot of press over what wasn’t said; however, we may need to pay more attention to what was said. The study, which the USCCB commissioned, clearly demonstrates the behavior of the hierarchy when dealing with abusive priests is as fundamentally flawed as that of abusive priests!

In an effort to explain how abusers can continue to abuse, the researchers delve into the techniques employed by an abuser to rationalize his heinous crime thereby allowing him to continue abusing. When reading these techniques, one fact jumps out at the reader: “These are the same tactics the hierarchy has used.” If the reader happens to be a survivor, he or she says, “They did these things to me and in doing so re-victimized me!” It is astonishing that none of the researchers either recognized or pointed out how the behaviors of bishops and abusers mirror each other. This information is critical to understanding just how sick the mentality of the hierarchy was when dealing with victims. Neutralization techniques also explains how and why bishops could live with their actions after permitting the rape, sodomization, and molestation of children by putting abusing priests back on the street and how they could re-victimize those survivors who summoned the strength to complain.

The techniques of neutralization are not something made up by the researchers at John Jay. They are accepted ideas upon which many books have been written and studies done. According to Wikipedia: “Techniques of neutralization are a theoretical series of methods by which those who commit illegitimate acts temporarily neutralize certain values within themselves which would normally prohibit them from carrying out such acts, such as morality, obligation to abide by the law, and so on. In simpler terms, it is a psychological method for people to turn off ‘inner protests’ when they do, or are about to do, something wrong.” As applied here, it allowed the bishops to cast off the mantles of both humanity and Christianity.

CANADA
The Vanguard

By Tina Comeau
THE VANGUARD
NovaNewsNow.com

Another adjournment has been granted in the case of a former Yarmouth priest who is facing sexually-related allegations of indecent assault and gross indecency.

The case of Albert LeBlanc, 82, will be back before a judge for election and plea on Aug. 29. The adjournment, which came at the request of the Crown, was granted in provincial court in Yarmouth on May 30.

LeBlanc is facing 50 charges which involve six complainants.

Although they are grown men now, at the time the offences are alleged to have occurred they would have been young boys. Most, the RCMP have said, were between the ages of seven and 11.

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Leo Shanahan
From: The Australian
May 31, 2011

A SENIOR member of the Church of Scientology has been charged by police for intimidating a young girl who wanted to report sexual abuse allegations within the church.

Jan Eastgate, the head of the church's "International Commission on Human Rights" which attacks psychology, has been charged by NSW Police with perverting the course of justice.

According the ABC TV's Lateline, police have alleged Eastgate intimidated a then 11-year-old Carmen Rainer to provide false statements about sexual abuse by her stepfather.

Ms Rainer has alleged that Ms Eastgate, who was then head of the church's citizens' commission on human rights in Australia, told her she should deny any charges of the sexual abuse or she and her brother would be taken away by social services.

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Steve Cannane

One of the Church of Scientology's most senior figures, Jan Eastgate, has been arrested and charged in Sydney.

She has been charged with perverting the course of justice in relation to allegations she coached an 11-year-old girl to lie to police and community services about the sexual abuse she suffered from her stepfather who was a member of the Church of Scientology.

Eastgate is the international president of the Citizens' Commission on Human Rights, an organisation founded by the Church of Scientology that campaigns against psychiatry.

AUSTRALIA
CathNews

I suppose I should no longer be surprised by the self-righteous cynicism and seemingly wilful ignorance of the media when it comes to reporting on Catholic affairs, writes Scott Stephens (pictured) in The Drum, on ABC Online.

But it was the way that the Australian press allowed the findings of the recent US study into the causes of sexual abuse by the church to sail past with little more than a perfunctory acknowledgement of its existence, much less a serious engagement with its substance and implications, that has left me bristling.

The study, released late last week, was the product of a five-year investigation conducted by a team of researchers from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York - the second such investigation carried out by CUNY researchers since the appalling magnitude of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church first became clear in Boston and then Ireland in 2002.

AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

A LEADING Church of Scientology figure allegedly coached an 11-year-old girl to lie about sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her stepfather.

Jan Eastgate, who is the international president of the Citizen's Commission on Human Rights, has been charged in relation to allegations she coached Carmen Raine into lying about the claims, the ABC reported.

The girl's stepfather was a member of the Church of Scientology.

Police allege Ms Eastgate threatened and intimidated her into providing false statements to police about the abuse.

The allegations were aired on Lateline last year and are backed up by Ms Rein's mother who claims Ms Eastgate coached them both on what to say about the allegations.

AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

A SENIOR figure of the Church of Scientology has been arrested and charged with over claims she coached an 11-year-old girl to lie about sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her stepfather.

Jan Eastgate, who is the international president of the Citizen's Commission on Human Rights, has been charged in relation to allegations she coached Carmen Rainer into lying about the claims, the ABC reported.

The girl's stepfather was a member of the Church of Scientology.

Police allege Ms Eastgate threatened and intimidated her into providing false statements to police about the abuse.

BELGIUM
The New York Times

By STEPHEN CASTLE
Published: May 30, 2011

After a tumultuous year following the resignation of a Roman Catholic bishop who admitted sexually abusing children, the church in Belgium bowed to pressure on Monday and agreed in principle to compensate some of the hundreds who claim that they were also victims of clerics.

The church had previously promised to engage with those who suffered abuse but had not recognized the need to pay financial compensation, despite the harrowing testimony of many of the accusers. A report by a commission set up by the church said last year that 13 people were believed to have committed suicide as a result of sexual abuse by clerics.

In a statement, the Belgian bishops and religious superiors said they now wanted to “help victims restore their dignity and, according to their needs, provide financial help.”

UNITED STATES
Providence Journal

The report written by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops about sexual abuse by priests has left many people mystified. The report attributed an apparent increase in abuse (or at least in reported abuse) of young people, primarily males, to the sexual revolution of the 1960s and ’70s. The document said that many priests were unprepared for the confusion and turmoil presented by that upheaval. But it said that the cases of abuse started to decline in the ’80s.

It basically skirted the complex roles of priestly celibacy and sexual identity. And the report didn’t delve into the transfer, to try to evade public scandal, that some bishops engineered for priests suspected and/or accused of serial sexual abuse.

Indeed, the document writers seemed to go out of their way to protect bishops anxious to get this public-relations nightmare off their backs. But, let’s face it, this was a serious management problem. Some bishops were just not supervising and disciplining their people properly and some were in effect abetting serious violations of criminal law.

AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Mike Hedge
May 31, 2011

AAP

The case of self-confessed paedophile Robert Charles Best further demonstrates the double standards of the Catholic Church in sexual misconduct cases, according to a leading victims' rights advocate.

While the church spent more than $1 million defending Best, his victims will receive far less in compensation.

Best, a Christian Brother who taught at schools throughout Victoria, pleaded guilty on Monday to six charges of abusing three children between 1975 and 1988.
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The plea came after six previous trials which resulted in Best, 70, being convicted of 21 sex offences against students, including one of aggravated buggery against a nine-year-old boy.

UNITED STATES
The Times Leader

MARK GUYDISH Commentary

THE PHILADELPHIA Inquirer took a swift swipe at the recent report on priest abuse that determined much of the problem had risen from the turbulent social upheaval of the 1960s and ’70s. Two days after the report was made public, the Inky ran an editorial cartoon depicting a zonked out bishop slouched on the floor, the report in one hand and a hookah pipe in the other.

“It was the sixties, man …” the bishop says, stars and swirls around his head. The hookah bowl sports the word “rationalization” in the wavy, swooping print of the psychedelic days. Pundits understandably jumped on this as well, writing columns that chastised the Church for trying to mask its sins with the incense of the free-love era.

I had the same visceral reaction when I first read news stories of the report, commissioned and largely paid for by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Blame abuse of minors by priests on the hippy-dippy days of flower power and the sexual revolution? You’ve got to be kidding!

Then I read the full report, and then I talked to Diocese of Scranton Bishop Joseph Bambera, who graciously agreed to a one-on-one interview about a topic that understandably inflames his flock.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

JOSEPH McBRIDE

RITE & REASON: The approach of leading churchmen to clerical sex abuse issue is reprehensible

THE BISHOP of Down and Connor, Noel Treanor, has told us in Belfast that his fellow prelates acknowledged at their Rome meetings in February last year “cover-ups and mismanagement” in their treatment of clerical sexual abuse. He urged the church to repent of its sins and seek forgiveness.

He is to be commended for this and, like Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, for locating his plea for forgiveness squarely in the context of a call to repentance.

Genuine penitence requires not only the implementation of adequate child-protection measures (the absence of which gave rise to neither paedophilia in the church nor the relevant concealments), financial compensation to victims, and symbolic washing of feet.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

[A Mission to Prey]

JACKY JONES

SECOND OPINION: Behaviour by banks mirrors church attitude to sex crimes

SEX CRIMES committed by clergy against children are in the news again. Last week’s Prime Time programme, A Mission to Prey, described the molestation of African children by Catholic missionaries.

As in Ireland and other parts of the world, the African sex crimes were denied and covered up by the church, priests were sent for treatment and the children were either not believed or blamed for what happened to them.

We have also recently witnessed the fastest beatification ever of a man who protected rapists instead of children, and the annual report from the National Board for Safeguarding Children describes the obstacles encountered when they tried to undertake a review of church child protection procedures.

AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher

Christian Brother Robert Best was convicted in the Melbourne County Court in June 1996 for child-sex offences. After this, more former students contacted the police, so Best was brought back to the same court again in March 1998 on additional counts. In both years, the charges involved putting his hands inside the pants of boys aged from 10 to 12 and interfering with their private parts — that is, the crime of indecent assault.

In 2010 Best was brought back to the same court for a further series of hearings (regarding more victims) that continued until 30 May 2011. For legal reasons, these 2010/2011 hearings were held in a closed court, with no media reporting until the media-suppression order was lifted on 30 May 2011. These hearings in 2010/2011 resulted in Best being convicted again.

Best is currently in custody, awaiting pre-sentence proceedings in July 2011.

Brother Best's background
Broken Rites was present in court in 1996, when it was stated that Robert Charles Best was born on 1 January 1941. He was educated in Catholic schools at Warrnambool (western Victoria) and Bundoora (Melbourne) to matriculation level. In 1960 he entered a Christian Brothers novitiate (training college) to become a Brother. He began teaching (as "Brother" Best) in Fremantle (Western Australia) in 1963 and in Launceston (Tasmania) in 1967, teaching up to Grades 6 and 7. He was active in sport and in choir practice, the court was told.

From 1968 to 1973 (inclusive), Best taught at St Alipius parish primary school for boys in Ballarat East, where he also acted as the headmaster. (The name of the school is pronounced as "Saint Al-LEEP-ee-us".) While working at this school, he resided at St Patrick's College (a secondary boarding school in Ballarat), where he also supervised a dormitory.

IRELAND
Inishowen News

by Linda McGrory

AN INISHOWEN priest has blamed paedophile clerics and how they were dealt with by church authorities for doing more damage to the Catholic church in Ireland than secularism.

Fr John Walsh said while secularism "undermines" religious ministry the worst attacks came "from inside" the church itself.

"The Church can come under attack from outside. In our own times secularism undermines the church's mission," said Fr Walsh.

"But the most insidious attacks against the church come from inside itself. For the last several decades we have seen the damage that has been done to the church in Ireland by paedophile members, particularly priests and religious, and by the way church authorities in Ireland have dealt with them."

AUSTRALIA
Catholic Culture

May 30, 2011

Australia’s leading Catholic prelate has said that it was “a tragedy” that the Vatican was forced to remove Bishop William Morris from office, but says that the move was necessary because the Toowoomba diocese was “divided quite badly” under the bishop’s leadership.

Cardinal George Pell of Sydney told the Catholic News Agency, “Rome was very patient.” But after more than a decade of efforts, he said, Bishop Morris was “unable to give satisfactory clarifications” in answer to Vatican concerns.

The change was necessary, Cardinal Pell said, because “the bishop hasn’t demonstrated that he’s a team player. I mean, even at the end he didn’t wait for the official Vatican announcement” of his resignation.

CONNECTICUT
The Media Report

The facts on this one are pretty simple. In its crusade to attack the Catholic Church, the controversial advocacy group SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) made the startling claim that a "credibly accused child molester" - a suspended Catholic priest - was living in a Connecticut child day care center. SNAP's National Director, David Clohessy, flew almost halfway across the country from Missouri to Connecticut to summon the media and air his alarming charge.

Lest there be any doubt about the claim, here is a screenshot from SNAP's web site:

"CT predator lives @ day care center." It does not get any clearer than that. SNAP also reported the name and address of the day care center in a press release under the following headline:

There is one major problem with all of this, however. The claim is false.

On Wednesday (5/25/11), the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) released a statement to WTNH/Channel 8:

"DCF's [Department of Children and Families'] inquiry was closed, finding [the accused priest] does not, in fact, live at the house, does not care for any of the children, and will not be present at the house while there are children there … DPH's … preliminary findings are the same as DCF's."

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

--Victims invite upset parishioners to event

--SNAP to hold "Q & A" session in Northland

--They'll also have separate "support group" portion

--"It helps to share your feelings in a safe place," group says

--SNAP: "If you saw, suspected or suffered clerics' crimes, call cops now!"

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims and their families is inviting Kansas City Catholics to an open meeting to discuss controversial child porn and cover up allegations involving a local priest, Fr. Shawn Ratigan.

The meeting will be Thursday, June 2 at 7 p.m. at the Kansas City North Community Center, 3930 N.E. Antioch Road, (816-784-6100, kcncc@kcmo.org) lisa-mccormick@sbcglobal.net

CHILE
Noticias 123

La ministra en visita Jessica González, quien investiga las denuncias de abuso sexual en contra del sacerdote Fernando Karadima, aseguró que citará a careos a los denunciantes para que enfrenten las declaraciones del clérigo.

Consultada sobre las diligencias que faltan por desarrollar en la indagatoria, la magistrado aclaró que faltan diligencias y disponer de algunos careos y algunas otras diligencias de citados que no han prestado declaración. Al preguntársele sobre si esos careos serían entre los querellantes y Karadima la jueza respondió que en principio sí.

Sobre la declaración tomada al presbítero el pasado viernes, González aseguró que fue una indagatoria del querellado sacerdote Karadima porque la que había prestado anteriormente ante el 10º Juzgado del Crimen estaba un poco incompleta. Sobre si quedó conforme con la diligencia aseguró que yo le pregunté todo lo que le tenía que preguntar.

BELGIUM
Monsters and Critics

Brussels - Belgium's bishops have agreed to compensate church sex abuse victims, saying that they are 'conscious of their moral responsibility and the expectations of society,' the Belga news agency reported on Monday.

'They are determined to restore the victims' dignity and to pay them the damages they may need,' the bishops said in a statement.

The sex abuse scandal that has affected church communities around the world rocked Belgium last year, when an internal Catholic Church committee revealed that it had received complaints from 327 men and 161 women, with alleged victims being as young as 2 years old.

BELGIE
HLN

De Belgische bisschoppen stemmen in met een financiële tegemoetkoming voor slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in de Kerk. Ze gaan in op het voorstel van de parlementaire commissie en stemmen er mee in om mee te werken aan een arbitrageprocedure.

De bisschoppen "zijn diep geraakt en drukken hun ontzetting uit over de zware feiten die door geestelijken of leden van religieuze gemeenschappen werden gepleegd". Ze betreuren "zeer oprecht" het lijden van de slachtoffers en "waarderen" de moed om de feiten te melden. Ze erkennen "zonder omwegen" dat de religieuzen die dergelijke feiten begaan hebben gezien hun moreel gezag hun functie voorbeeldig hadden moeten uitoefenen.

Morele verantwoordelijkheid
"De bisschoppen en religieuze oversten zijn zich bewust van hun morele verantwoordelijkheid en van de verwachting van de gehele samenleving naar hen toe. Daarom willen ze zich inzetten voor de erkenning van de slachtoffers en het herstel van hun leed. Zo willen zij de slachtoffers in hun waardigheid herstellen en hen, volgens hun noden, ook financieel tegemoetkomen."

Opvolgingscommissie
Daarom stemmen ze ermee in om, volgens het voorstel van de parlementaire commissie, samen te werken met de deskundigen van de opvolgingscommissie aan de organisatie van een "pluridisciplinaire vorm van arbitrageprocedure" voor de reeds gerechtelijk verjaarde feiten. "Bovendien lijkt het wenselijk te zijn dat de arbiters ook de bevoegdheid zouden hebben om de partijen te oriënteren naar bemiddeling. De bisschoppen en religieuze oversten zijn unaniem en vastberaden om al het mogelijke in het werk te stellen opdat de zware feiten die heel onze samenleving terecht betreurt, zich nooit meer kunnen herhalen."

BELGIE
Zita

"De bisschoppen willen de slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in hun waardigheid herstellen en hen, volgens hun noden, ook financieel tegemoetkomen", dat heeft de kerk maandagmiddag bekendgemaakt. De bisschoppen gaan samenwerken met de commissie die seksueel misbruik en feiten van pedofilie behandelt binnen de kerk.

Het gaat om financiële tegemoetkoming voor slachtoffers van verjaarde feiten. Daarvoor zou een arbitrageprocedure op poten worden gezet.

De bisschoppen zijn volgens hun mededeling "diep geraakt en drukken hun ontzetting uit over de zware feiten die door geestelijken of leden van religieuze gemeenschappen werden gepleegd". Dat bleek nadat ze "heel aandachtig" het verslag doorgenomen dat unaniem werd goedgekeurd door de bijzondere commissie voor seksueel misbruik.

BELGIE
De Standaard

De Belgische bisschoppen zijn bereid slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik binnen de kerk financieel tegemoet te komen. Dat zegt de Bisschoppenconferentie maandag in een verklaring. De bisschoppen willen ook meewerken aan een arbitragecommissie die moet bemiddelen in de verschillende zaken. Een groep experts gaat de plannen van de parlementaire commissie nu verder uitwerken.

De bisschoppenconferentie geeft maandag haar mening over het verslag van de parlementaire commissie die rond het seksueel misbruik in de kerk werkte.'De bisschoppen willen zich inzetten voor de erkenning van de slachtoffers en het herstel van hun leed. Zo willen zij de slachtoffers in hun waardigheid herstellen en hen, volgens hun noden, ook financieel tegemoetkomen', luidt het in een verklaring.

In de verklaring zeggen de bisschoppen ook hun medewerking toe aan een arbitragecommissie: 'De bisschoppen en religieuze oversten stemmen ermee in om, volgens het voorstel van de parlementaire commissie voorgezeten door mevrouw Lalieux, samen te werken met de deskundigen van de Opvolgingscommissie aan de organisatie van een pluridisciplinaire vorm van arbitrageprocedure voor de reeds verjaarde feiten, waarover hoven en rechtbanken geen uitspraak meer kunnen doen.'

BELGIUM
Herald Sun (Australia)

AAP
May 30, 2011

BELGIUM'S Roman Catholic Church vowed today to compensate the victims of paedophile priests in the wake of a child abuse scandal that has rocked the Church for the past year.

Accused for months of showing little compassion for the victims, the bishops and heads of religious orders deplored the abuses that were documented last year by a Church-backed commission, which revealed nearly 500 cases that took place over several decades, resulting in 13 suicides.

"Recognising their moral responsibility and the expectations of society, the bishops and religious leaders pledge to ensure recognition of the victims and adopt measures to heal their suffering," the Church said in a statement.

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

Clohessy

Barbara Blaine

Thomas F. Roeser, a former contributing Chicago Sun-Times columnist, founder of the online Chicago Daily Observer and radio and TV talk-show host who was active in civic, religious and social causes, died Sunday. He was 82.

Mr. Roeser had suffered health problems and had retired from his WLS-AM radio talk show on May 21 due to his hospitalization.

Chris Robling, a friend and fellow board member with Mr. Roeser at the City Club of Chicago and at Haymarket Center, a rehabilitation center, said Sunday that Mr. Roeser always showed “a ton of verve” and “an excitement about anyone with big ideas.”

BELGIE
Het Nieuwsblad

Carina Van Cauter (Open VLD) is tevreden met de reactie van de Bisschoppenconferentie. Dat zei ze op Radio 1. 'De schade kan onmogelijk worden uitgewist, maar een vergoeding kan veel goedmaken.' Ook commissievoorzitster Karine Lalieux (PS) en commissielid Renaat Landuyt (SP.A) reageerden.

Kamerlid Carina Van Cauter was één van de drijvende krachten achter de oprichting van de parlementaire commissie die het seksueel misbruik binnen de katholieke kerk behandelde. Ze werd ook ondervoorzitster van die commissie.

'Ik denk dat het een mooie dag is voor de slachtoffers', aldus Van Cauter. 'Ze hebben lang gestreden en hebben er misschien lang op moeten wachten, maar dan uiteindelijk is het toch zover.'

IRELAND/AFRICA
RTE One

[video presentation]

Aoife Kavanagh presents an investigation into evidence of sexual abuse by Irish missionaries in Africa, and asks how priests and fellow Christians have escaped punishment to date.

KENYA
Daily Nation

By WALTER MENYA and GIUSEPPE LIGUORI

Posted Sunday, February 27 2011

A Missionary order has pledged to cooperate with the authorities in investigations into a bishop who left Kenya after being accused of sexual abuse.

Responding to questions by the Nation into the circumstances surrounding the retirement and departure of Ngong Catholic Bishop Cornelius Schilder, the General Superior of the St Joseph’s Missionary Society Rev Anthony Chantry replied:

“With regard to recent allegations that have been made in the Kenyan Press, our Society will cooperate with any civil enquiry which may be initiated in the best interests of safeguarding children and vulnerable adults.”

The Archbishop of Nairobi John Cardinal Njue, who has been directly responsible for administering the Ngong Diocese since Bishop Schilder left, said he did not know the reasons behind the 2009 departure.

UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic Herald

By Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith on Monday, 30 May 2011

No one likes bad news, and one hardly likes to pass on bad news, but RTE broadcast a programme about clerical abuse in Africa last week. The programme has not been noticed here in the United Kingdom as far as I can see, but a missionary friend of mine who works in Kenya sent me the link, given that two of the figures mentioned were people I once knew. You can see the programme here.

You can also see the way this has been reported in the Kenyan press back in February here.

As far as I can see the Kenyan press has not taken the matter further.

The programme is distressing viewing, in that the facts with regard to two of the Kenyan cases are not in dispute, except by the accused persons themselves. The programme deals with cases from South Africa and Nigeria as well, but I am restricting myself to commenting on the Kenyan cases involving the Mill Hill Missionaries. The reportage was perfectly fair, though one does wonder why RTE has to wheel on Geoffrey Robinson, whose connections to Ireland and to Africa were never explained. The person who came out of the programme best was Fr Anthony Chantry, the superior of the Mill Hill Missionaries. He seems to have faced up to the problem, and was not in a state of denial about it; moreover he made the entirely sensible point that the more transparency in the Church when dealing with these matters, the better. In short, Fr Chantry struck me as someone who “gets it”, as they say.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Statement by Mike Hunter of Kansas City, president of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (913 634 6490, mhunter_mp@accessus.net, mhunter_mp@sbcglobal.net)

Bishops are smart, well-educated men who have tons of resources, lawyers and public relations professionals. They aren’t stupid about abuse. They know what they’re doing.

Finn can’t claim this was a “mistake.” It wasn’t. It was a series of deliberate actions over more than a year to hide potential crimes from the people who needed and deserved to know about those crimes: police, prosectors, parishioners and the public.

We hope parishioners and the public will come next Thursday to our open meeting to discuss this awful case and get support, consolation and guidance. It will be Thursday, June 2 at 7 p.m. at the Kansas City North Community Center, 3930 N.E. Antioch Road. People need and deserve to learn more about these troubling situation especially from more objective sources than Finn.

GEORGIA
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)

This is typical predator behavior – bluffing and blustering initially about “fighting this,” then taking the easy, cowardly way out and settling. In many ways, we wish there had been a trial because we strongly suspect evidence would have shown Long’s obvious guilt. A trial might have also exposed other church staff and members who knew of or suspected Long’s crimes but ignored or concealed them. If so, those individuals should be disciplined.

Long may claim to be contrite or “falsely accused,” settling allegedly “for the good of the church” and to “spare his accusers” the difficulty of a trial. But we’re very skeptical of his sincerity.

Atlanta’s citizens owe a debt of gratitude to these brave young men who took huge risks in exposing such a prominent serial predator. We appreciate and applaud their courage, and hope this settlement brings them much-deserved healing and closure. At the same time, however, we know that no amount of money can replace what Long stole from them – their innocence and trust. We urge each of them to get into or stay in therapy, support groups, and other programs that will help them piece their lives together after the horrific trauma they endured at the hands of a dangerous clergyman.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims and their families is inviting Kansas City Catholics to an open meeting to discuss controversial child porn and cover up allegations involving a local priest, Fr. Shawn Ratigan.

The meeting will be Thursday, June 2 at 7 p.m. at the Kansas City North Community Center, 3930 N.E. Antioch Road, (816-784-6100, kcncc@kcmo.org) lisa-mccormick@sbcglobal.net

“We’re hearing from dozens of really upset parishioners who justifiably feel betrayed and outraged by church officials who ignored and concealed suspected clergy sex crimes,” said Barbara Dorris, SNAP’s outreach director. “These Catholics deserve some straight answers and a chance to air their feelings and fears.”

“In recent years, more and more, we’re hearing not just from victims, but from whistleblowers and witnesses,” said Mike Hunter, SNAP’s Kansas City director. “While victims need support, so too do others who’ve been hurt by the church hierarchy, like those at St. Patricks and other parishes. We want to do whatever we can to lend a hand to people who are in pain because of this horrific case.”

BELGIUM
The Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — The Belgian church says it is willing to pay compensation to victims of sexual abuse by clergy to help those abused restore their dignity.

Belgium's bishops and religious leaders said in a statement Monday they are "deeply touched and distraught" by revelations over the past year, when over 500 witnesses have come forward with harrowing accounts of molestation in the country by Catholic clergy spanning decades.

But the leader of a group of survivors said she would put her faith only in actions, not in anything the bishops said

"Whatever the bishops are saying is blah, blah," said Lieve Halsberghe, the leader in Belgium of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "We need to see action before we believe anything they say."

AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

James Campbell
From: Herald Sun
May 31, 2011

A CHRISTIAN Brother has been found guilty of sexually abusing 11 children at three schools across Victoria, after six trials over a reign of terror that lasted between 1969 and 1988.

Robert Charles Best 70, yesterday pleaded guilty to two sex offences against two children at St Leo's College in Box Hill between 1975 and 1977 and two sex offences against one child at St Joseph's Christian Brothers College in Geelong between 1986 and 1988.

Best was the principal of St Alipius Parish School in Ballarat in the 1960s and '70s where he worked alongside notorious pedophile priest Gerard Ridsdale.

He lived next door to the school with Father - now Cardinal - George Pell.

Best's pleas at his seventh trial brought an end to three years of legal drama that costs millions of dollars in taxpayer funds.

BELGIE
De Telegraaf

BRUSSEL - De Belgische bisschoppen willen de slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik door katholieke geestelijken een schadevergoeding toekennen. Dat hebben ze maandag in een persbericht laten weten.

Een onderzoekscommissie van het Belgisch parlement pleitte eerder voor een schadevergoedingsregeling. De bisschoppen willen nu een arbitragecommissie instellen die slachtoffers van al verjaard misbruik financieel kan compenseren.

De bisschoppen erkennen „zonder omwegen” dat religieuzen zich aan misbruik schuldig hebben gemaakt. Ze drukken hun ontzetting hierover uit, betuigen hun medeleven met de slachtoffers en prijzen hen om hun moed de feiten te melden.

BELGIUM
The Irish Times

Belgium's Roman Catholic bishops have agreed to compensate victims of sexual abuse by priests in cases where the country's statute of limitations denies them the right to seek redress in court.

A Belgian parliamentary panel launched after the sexual abuse crisis shook the Church last year recommended in March that the bishops set up an arbitration commission to compensate victims, even if the cases were decades old.

The Catholic Church in Belgium as well as the branches in Ireland, the Netherlands and Germany have been shaken by revelations of clerical sexual abuse of minors going back for decades. Pope Benedict has apologised for the scandals.

AUSTRALIA
The Age

By Steve Butcher
May 31, 2011

THE voice of paedophile and Christian Brother Robert Charles Best resonated strongly from the dock of Melbourne's County Court.

Best yesterday announced his name, age, occupation and address in an almost defiant tone after offences he committed between 1975 and 1988 were read to him. But his tone flattened when he replied "guilty" six times in answer to the question of how he pleaded to offences against three victims.

The 70-year-old's admission to charges involving three boys over a 14-year period from 1975 ended a long legal pursuit for justice by victims, investigators and prosecutors.

ITALIA
City

Carmelo AbbateAutore di “Sex and the Vatican - Viaggio segreto nel regno dei casti” (Piemme).Un’inchiesta choc sulla intesa vita sessuale dei preti.Di cui in Italia non si parla.

Partiamo dall’inizio: come è nata l’idea di indagare su questo argomento?

Per caso. L’estate scorsa mi chiama un mio amico gay di Roma e tra una cosa e l’altra mi dice che in una sauna ha avuto un’avventura con un ragazzo: un prete. L’ha proprio ammesso: “Che male c’è? Siamo tanti, forse hai un’idea arcaica dei preti”. Poi l’ha invitato a una festa: “Ci saranno altri come me”.

A quella festa lei è andato fingendosi gay. Ed è iniziata l’inchiesta sul campo.

Sì. A dir la verità il prete gay non mi pareva una novità, ma mi colpiva il fatto che vivesse così alla luce del sole, nelle saune, organizzando festini... Mi sono detto: fammi andare a vedere se è vero. E non solo era vero ma era un fenomeno più grande di quello che pensassi. Ho scritto subito un lungo articolo per il mio giornale, Panorama.

E il Vaticano come ha reagito?

La reazione ufficiale è stata: “Sono solo tre mele marce: il resto della Chiesa è pulito”. Non potevano confutare ciò che dicevo: avevo prove solide (una telecamera nascosta). Ho voluto vedere se davvero fossero solo “tre mele” e per 7 mesi ho lavorato intensamente al libro: erano ben più di tre.

Nel suo libro raccoglie testimonianze da tutto il mondo in effetti, dall’Italia alla Polonia, dalla Francia all’Africa, al Brasile.

L’ho fatto con l’aiuto di collaboratori e colleghi bravissimi, ci tengo a dirlo. Senta un po’ di dati. Non sono dati Istat o della Bce ma rendono l’idea. Negli Usa, dice l’autorevole Richard Sipe, almeno il 25% dei preti ha una compagna, un altro 30% è gay e un altro 25-30% ha avuto un rapporto occasionale.

ITALIA
Genova Oggi Notizie

Un certificato antipedofilia per i sacerdoti. Lo chiede Alberto Senatore, portavoce dell'associazione contro la pedofilia Il piccolo Davide.

Per contrastare il fenomeno della pedofilia clericale, l'associazione ha scritto una lettera aperta a mondignor Angelo Bagnasco, arcivescovo di Genova e soprattutto capo della Cei, la Conferenza episcopale italiana.

Ecco il testo integrale della lettera:

Spett. Le Cardinale Angelo Bagnasco, Presidente della Conferenza Episcopale Italiana,
sono Alberto Senatore, classe 1964, sposato felicemente e padre di due figli, portavoce dell’Associazione antipedofilia “ il piccolo Davide ” di Giffoni Valle Piana, la città del Giffoni Film Festival. Le scrivo per due motivi: il primo, per esprimerle la nostra approvazione al Suo tempestivo intervento per la sospensione di don Riccardo Seppia da ogni ministero pastorale e da ogni atto sacramentale. Riconosciamo in questa decisione l’unica strategia efficace che la Chiesa Cattolica può intraprendere per proseguire sulla via tracciata da Papa Ratzinger, cioè la tolleranza zero verso i preti pedofili.

L’altro motivo, è scaturito dalle parole da Lei pronunciate nella sua prolusione per la 63° Assemblea generale della Conferenza Episcopale Italiana. In quella occasione, riguardo la pedofilia clericale Lei ha riconosciuto che l’emergenza pedofilia all’interno della Chiesa Cattolica non è ancora superata, quindi è ancora in corso

DUITSLAND
L1

19 slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in de Duitse katholieke kerk hebben tot nu toe een schadeclaim ingediend bij het bisdom in Aken.

Een speciale commissie van de Duitse Bisschoppenconferentie onderzoekt op dit moment de meldingen. Het gaat om zaken tussen 1993 en heden. Sinds 3 maanden kunnen misbruikslachtoffers tot 5.000 euro schadevergoeding aanvragen.

UGANDA
New Vision

By Andante Okanya

TWO Christians, Albert Kakooza and Robert Mujuzzi, have sued Airtel over a “slanderous billboard” with the words ‘Airtel: Clearer than the Rubaga Bell’.

The billboard had been placed on Rubaga Road towards Rubaga Cathedral.

The cathedral has two famous bell towers fixed with a series of momentous bells, which are traditionally referred to as the Rubaga Bells.

The billboard in question has since been removed. Airtel pulled it down on February 10 after the duo’s lawyers from Kavuma Kabenge and Company Advocates petitioned the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC).

IRELAND
Archdiocese of Dublin

Sixth Sunday of the Easter Season 2011
ORDINATION TO THE DEACONATE

Homily Notes of
Most Rev. Diarmuid Martin
Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland
-----------
Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, 29th May 2011

Introduction

We gather to call to the order of deacons these 7 young men from various dioceses in Ireland and from the Irish Redemptorist Province. We pray that the Holy Spirit will be with them with his strength and comfort; that he will accompany them in their witness and service as deacons on their path to priestly ordination. ...

Your ministry in Ireland in the years to come will not be easy. We are at a truly crucial moment in the life of the Irish Church. These words are not just platitudes. The next few years will be among the most crucial in the long history of the Irish Church. There is little time to procrastinate or simply allow things to drift without direction. The Church of the future will have to change and inevitably will be different. The Church will face challenges, but we should not allow change and challenges to prevail over our faith that the Spirit of Jesus lives with us and in us.

The overall culture and demographics of Irish society are changing. It will be very interesting to see the results of the National Census as to how many people in Ireland are Catholic and who wish to be called Catholic. On a given Sunday only about 18% of the Catholic population attends Mass in the Archdiocese of Dublin. That is somewhat lower than in other parts of the country and it does not take into consideration the age profile and the lack of young people in many parishes.

IRELAND
Irish Central

By
CATHAL DERVAN,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

The Archbishop of Dublin has revealed that fewer than one in five Catholics attend mass in his diocese on any given Sunday.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin also admitted that many young Irish people now only retain a marginal interest in their religion.

As he warned that the Church in Ireland is heading towards a crisis, the Archbishop revealed that just 18 per cent of all Catholics in the Dublin diocese now attend Mass on a Sunday.

This figure is the lowest of all dioceses in Ireland as Dublin has the youngest age profile in the country.

UGANDA
Bikyamasr

May 30th, 2011 | By Andrew Matapare

Airtel has been summoned by Uganda’s High Court after allegations it insulted the Catholic Church over a billboard it erected in the country. The billboard, which says “Airtel Cleaner than the Rubaga Bell” apparently has irked a number of high-ranking Catholics in the country.

The court has given the company 15 days from May 24 to respond to their query. Airtel, for its part, has taken down the billboard in an effort to appease the Catholic Church.

“It is disgraceful for a company such as Airtel to offend and use slander to get their message across,” said one Church official in Kampala.

However, one Catholic priest, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the subject, said that the church should be more tolerant and “roll with the punches” after all the trouble its been through worldwide.

“We Catholics used to laugh and make jokes about ourselves. Now, after a few priests did some disgusting and horrible things, it’s as if we lost what it means to live,” the priest said, holding up his phone pointing to the network he uses.

ITALY
AGI

(AGI) Genoa - There has been a new request from Genoa prosecutor Stefano Puppa for 51-year-old Father Riccardo Seppia to be remanded in custody and charged with attempted rape, offering drugs to minors and encouraging prostitution. The request was presented this morning against the parish priest of the Church of the Holy Spirit in Sestri Ponente, who was arrested on Friday May 13th and charged with alleged pedophilia and selling drugs by the investigative magistrate in Milan.

UNITED STATES
Voice from the Desert

Frank Douglas

I recommend this novel for a number of reasons.

It’s a good read. It has interesting characters. It’s educational (for example, it gives an interesting glimpse into California’s state forensic hospital system).

The protagonist is Peter Golozzi, molested by a priest when Peter was nine years old.

Some victims and survivors of clergy sexual abuse may not like what comes next: Unable to control his rage, Peter lashes out as a young adult and becomes a sexually violent predator himself.

If one is mature enough and together enough to handle that plot twist and to remember that this is a novel, then go right now to amazon.com and buy the book for $16.95. I think you’ll like it. Of the four reviews of the novel on the Amazon website, two give it five stars and the other two grade it at four stars. Pretty Good!

BELGIUM
Washington Post

By Associated Press, Updated: Monday, May 30

BRUSSELS — The Belgian church says it is willing to pay compensation to victims of sexual abuse by clergy.

Belgium’s bishops and religious leaders said in a statement Monday they are “deeply touched and distraught” by revelations over the past year. Over 500 witnesses have come forward with harrowing accounts of molestation in the country by Catholic clergy spanning decades.

They say they want to “help victims restore their dignity and, according to their needs, provide financial help.”

A former Belgian bishop at the center of one of the Roman Catholic church’s biggest pedophile scandals said last month that he had abused two nephews and insisted he had no plans to abandon the priesthood.

ITALIA
Genova 24

Genova. Rischia anche il processo canonico, oltre a quello penale, Don Riccardo Seppia, l’ex parroco del Sacro Cuore di Sestri Ponente arrestato con l’accusa di abuso su minore e cessione di stupefacenti.

Secondo quanto appreso, l’ufficio competente interno alla Curia vescovile sta raccogliendo le prove (quello che si chiama ‘indagine previa’) che saranno poi convogliate allo speciale ufficio interno alla Congregazione Dottrina della fede che prenderà una decisione in merito.

MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

By MARY SANCHEZ
The Kansas City Star

“With all due respect,” is how any deriding of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is expected to begin.

Questioning those deemed above your reach usually entails some sort of genuflection. Not this time.

The expectation of unconditional respect is part of the problem with continuing cases of suspected pedophilia by priests. Parishioners are to respectfully concede to the authority of the church, believing it will act appropriately.

Yet Bishop Robert Finn apologized twice last week for failures to properly investigate and fully involve police in the case of yet another priest charged with criminal behavior. The Rev. Shawn Ratigan is charged with possessing pornographic photos of children taken around churches and schools.

BELGIE
RKnieuws

BOCHOLT (RKnieuws.net) - Priester Bart Aben, oud pastoor van Bocholt (bisdom Hasselt), gaat in hoger beroep tegen het vonnis van de correctionele rechtbank van Tongeren omdat hij de opgelegde straf te zwaar vindt. Deze rechtbank veroordeelde hem op 12 mei jongstleden tot acht jaar cel wegens langdurig seksueel misbruik van een minderjarig meisje en een licht mentaal gehandicapte minderjarige jongen. De rechtbank ontzette hem ook voor tien jaar uit zijn burgerrechten.

LIVONIA (GA)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By Shelia M. Poole
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Bishop Eddie Long, in his first Sunday service at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church since the settlement of four lawsuits was announced, focused on celebrating life and reminded the congregation of the good God has done in their lives.

The Lithonia pastor didn't mention his recent troubles.

However, he said has learned to make sure he surrounds himself with the right crowd.

There were many empty seats at the 8 a.m. service, but that may have been because it was a holiday weekend. When he came into the pulpit Long, who was sued by four men who alleged he coerced them into having sexual relations, was greeted with applause. He told people to remain faithful in their giving even if they aren't in church or on vacation. The lawsuits were dismissed last week and terms of the settlement will remain confidential .

BELGIUM
Expatica

Belgium's Roman Catholic Church vowed Monday to compensate the victims of paedophile priests in the wake of a child abuse scandal that has rocked the Church for the past year.

Accused for months of showing little compassion for the victims, the bishops and heads of religious orders deplored the abuses that were documented last year by a Church-backed commission, which revealed nearly 500 cases that took place over several decades, resulting in 13 suicides.

"Recognising their moral responsibility and the expectations of society, the bishops and religious leaders pledge to ensure recognition of the victims and adopt measures to heal their suffering," the Church said in a statement.

CHILE
Radio Universidad de Chile

Luego del extenso interrogatorio judicial al que fue sometido el viernes el ex párroco de la iglesia de El Bosque, Fernando Karadima, por parte de la jueza Jessica González trascendió que se estaría evaluando la posibilidad de llevar a cabo una serie de careos entre el religioso y las personas que le acusan haber cometido abuso sexual.

Durante tres horas el sacerdote Fernando Karadima declaró ante la ministro en visita Jessica González que investiga las denuncias de abuso sexual a menores de edad en contra del sacerdote.

La diligencia se desarrolló en el 34º Juzgado del Crimen de Santiago, donde el religioso asistió acompañado de su equipo jurídico encabezado por el abogado Cristián Muga.

El sacerdote también recibió ayuda médica en todo momento y habría confirmado sus declaraciones previas en su oportunidad ante el fiscal Xavier Armendáriz y el juez del crimen Leonardo Valdivieso.

CANADA
Daily Gleaner

By JAMIE ROSS
ross.jamie@dailygleaner.com

Chief Wilton Littlechild said he was beaten with a hockey stick for speaking his native language and was referred to by number, not by name, throughout the 14 years he spent in the residential school system as a child.

The Truth and Reconciliation commissioner addressed the challenges and successes of the commission during one of the Big Thinkers lectures at Congress 2011.

He shared harrowing tales of abuse that as many as 80,000 First Nations children experienced during their time in the residential school system, the results of which have been called a national crime.

"The record states that it was to kill the Indian in the child, and to assimilate all of us into the dominant society," said Littlechild. "To take our language and culture away from us by preventing us from practising it."

BELGIE
Nu

BRUSSEL - De Belgische bisschoppen willen de slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik door katholieke geestelijken een schadevergoeding toekennen.

Dat hebben ze maandag in een persbericht laten weten.

Een onderzoekscommissie van het Belgisch parlement pleitte eerder voor een schadevergoedingsregeling. De bisschoppen willen nu een arbitragecommissie instellen die slachtoffers van al verjaard misbruik financieel kan compenseren.

De bisschoppen erkennen ''zonder omwegen'' dat religieuzen zich aan misbruik schuldig hebben gemaakt. Ze drukken hun ontzetting hierover uit, betuigen hun medeleven met de slachtoffers en prijzen hen om hun moed de feiten te melden.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

JAMIE SMYTH, Social Affairs Correspondent

NO ONE has been prosecuted over the discoveries made by the Ryan report into child abuse in residential institutions, which was published two years ago, the Government has revealed.

In a written submission to the United Nations Committee on Torture, the Government says 11 files have been forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions in relation to prosecutions on the basis of evidence provided by the Ryan report.

The DPP has directed no prosecution in eight of these abuse cases and decisions are still pending on the remaining three case files.

UNITED STATES
Voice from the Desert

The annual Peter’s Pence papal collection will take place in U.S. Roman Catholic parishes the weekend of June 25-26. This event is provides an excellent opportunity for Catholics to communicate to the pope what they think about his scandalous mismanagement and cover up of clergy sexual abuse of children.

And you can do it for as little as one cent!

Send the Bishops a Message, an initiative of Desert Voices, Inc., an Arizona non-profit corporation, urges all U.S. Catholics to put just one penny in the Peter’s Pence collection plate June 25-26 as a witness to the pope, the world, and God that they are deeply distressed and disappointed in the way the pope has brought shame upon the Catholic church, and all Catholics, and placed countless children in harm’s way of dangerous clerical sexual predators.

Giving to the pope as usual means church officials have no incentive to change. If you don’t give anything, church officials can mistakenly say, “It’s the economy!” When you put a penny in the collection plate, there can be no doubt about your message. One penny expresses your deep dissatisfaction with the pope’s scandalous handling of the global clergy abuse crisis. Send a message telling the pope to stop making a mockery of both Catholics and their universal church.

BELGIE
RKnieuws

BRUSSEL (RKnieuws.net) - De bisschoppen en religieuze oversten hebben heel aandachtig het verslag doorgenomen dat unaniem werd goedgekeurd door de Bijzondere commissie betreffende de behandeling van seksueel misbruik en feiten van pedofilie binnen een gezagsrelatie, inzonderheid binnen de Kerk. Ze houden eraan hun waardering uit te drukken voor het belangrijke werk van de parlementaire commissie voorgezeten door mevrouw Karine Lalieux.

De bisschoppen en religieuze oversten zijn diep geraakt en drukken hun ontzetting uit over de zware feiten die door geestelijken of leden van religieuze gemeenschappen werden gepleegd. Deze feiten hebben bij de slachtoffers groot lijden verwekt en trauma’s nagelaten, vaak gedurende lange jaren. Dat betreuren ze zeer oprecht. Ze waarderen ook de moed die de slachtoffers opbrachten om de pijnlijke feiten te melden.

Zonder omwegen erkennen de bisschoppen en religieuze oversten dat vele daders van deze feiten leden van de Kerk zijn, bekleed met een bijzonder moreel gezag, dat ze, uit respect voor het vertrouwen dat hun werd verleend, voorbeeldig hadden moeten uitoefenen. De bisschoppen en religieuze oversten zijn zich bewust van hun morele verantwoordelijkheid en van de verwachting van de gehele samenleving naar hen toe. Daarom willen ze zich inzetten voor de erkenning van de slachtoffers en het herstel van hun leed. Zo willen zij de slachtoffers in hun waardigheid herstellen en hen, volgens hun noden, ook financieel tegemoetkomen.

CHILE
La Tercera

El abogado de Fernando Karadima, Cristián Muga, se refirió a la declaración que su defendido hizo ante la jueza Jéssica González el pasado viernes en el 34° Juzgado del Crimen de Santiago, en el marco de la investigación en su contra por abusos sexuales. Al respecto, el legista señaló que si la ministra lo determina, el sacerdote se someterá a careos con los denunciantes.

"Estaremos disponibles para careos si así la jueza lo determina", dijo Muga en entrevista con ADN Radio.

El defensor manifestó que la declaración fue "larga", precisando que la extensión no dice relación con nuevas denuncias contra el ex párroco de El Bosque. En ese sentido, puntualizó que la diligencia se enmarca en "el interés nuestro en que se esclarezca todo".

LITHONIA (GA)
The Associated Press

LITHONIA, Ga. (AP) — The crowd still cheered for Bishop Eddie Long as he took the pulpit Sunday, but gone was the air of defiance that defined his appearance eight months ago when he rallied his congregation to battle amid lawsuits accusing the megachurch pastor of sexual misconduct.

Just days after settling the lawsuits filed by four young men who used to attend New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, the message was one of progress and prosperity to the several hundred gathered. The choir opened the two-hour 8 a.m. service with the gospel hymn "Moving Forward," which began: "I'm not going back, I'm moving ahead. Here to declare to you my past is over."

Long addressed a far smaller group than the one gathered back in September, when he compared himself to the Bible's ultimate underdog and vowed to fight like David versus Goliath against accusations that he abused his spiritual authority and coerced four young men into sexual relationships with gifts including cars, cash and travel. Then, thousands of supporters and observers packed the 10,000-seat sanctuary, which took on the atmosphere of an arena.

GEORGIA
The Christian Post

By Katherine T. Phan | Christian Post Reporter

Bishop Eddie Long delivered his first Sunday sermon at his Atlanta megachurch since he reached a settlement out of court in the sexual misconduct case.

Congregants at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church welcomed Long with applause and cheers when he took the stage at the 8 a.m. service Sunday.

Just two days prior, the lawsuits brought by four young men alleging Long of coercing them into sexual relationships were officially dismissed "with prejudice" Friday.

Lawyers for both sides have given no details on the settlement other than to confirm that the lawsuits have been resolved.

KENYA
Daily Nation

By NATION REPORTER

Posted Sunday, May 29 2011

Mr Disterious Ratemo, a secretary with the Koinonia Old Beneficiaries Welfare Association, was attacked at around midnight.

Mr Ratemo is one of the beneficiaries of Fr Kizito’s philanthropy, and openly defended him last week when the priest was arrested over sexual abuse claims.

He said he was heading home after watching a Champions League match between Manchester United and Barcelona when he was attacked.

“A motorbike dropped me at the gate from my office at Kivuli Centre where I had been watching the match,” he told the Nation.

UNITED STATES
Lez Get Real

05/29/11-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
The Roman Catholic Church has been working very hard to try and deny lesbians and gays their rights in the United States ostensibly on the grounds that they are protecting children. This is not an uncommon line of reasoning with them as they tend to make it sound like a noble effort because, then, they hope people won’t pay attention to their own problems. This past week, in Italy, the Catholic Church showed just how dedicated they were to guarding the safety and well being of children as a priest under the direct command of one of the cardinals that Pope Benedict has been working closely with to make reforms to how the Church handles pedophile priests was arrested for pedophilia.

Father Riccardo Seppia, a 51-year-old parish priest, was arrested on 13 May on pedophilia and drug charges. Father Seppia was the parish priest for the village of Sastri Ponente near Genoa. Investigators have said that they tapped mobile-phone conversations between Seppia and a Moroccan drug dealer where Seppia wanted the drug dealer to arrange sexual encounters with yougn and vulnerable boys. Seppia is alleged to hae said “I do not want 16-year-old boys but younger. Fourteen-year-olds are O.K. Look for needy boys who have family issues.”

UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

Thanks for keeping us up to date with the latest regarding clergy abuse. It sure does never end. I was going through some of my papers I saved when my son was suffering so from clergy abuse; in 2009 I wrote this poem:

HEALING CLERGY ABUSE

The wounds of abuse are raw and deep
from the top of my head to the soles of my feet
and to a precious child, the damage complete

How to undo such enormous pain-was God
in the room-did he see the insane?
this evil act from a priest, so devine,
to my person, to me, to all that is mine

The pain from this memory, finally unleashed,
hurts my hair and my brain, my eyes and my teeth
my heart explodes inside my chest, I can’t breath,
I can’t breath, nevermore to rest

I am startled from sleep sheathed in sweat
each day is a hell with demons unmet
but worse than all the horrors that I endure
I have lost who I am, of that I am sure

CHILE
Emol

SANTIAGO.- Luego que el ex párroco de El Bosque, Fernando Karadima, se declarara inocente de las denuncias sobre abuso sexual en su contra, uno de los querellantes, Juan Carlos Cruz, puso en tela de juicio los dichos del sacerdote y se mostró dispuesto a carearse con él.

En conversación con TVN, Cruz cuestionó la demora del ex párroco en declararse inocente de los cargos que se le imputan, y sostuvo que "hay mucha gente que públicamente ya ha indicado que de inocente no tiene un pelo".

El denunciante explicó también que sentía rabia "de ver la cara dura que tiene, y la desfachatez con que dice que es inocente. Es una sensación muy rara la que me da cuando lo veo", expresó.

CHILE
La Tercera

por A. Hernández y A. López

A un día del interrogatorio al ex párroco de El Bosque Fernando Karadima, el arzobispo de Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati, señaló ayer que la Iglesia se recuperará del difícil momento por el que pasa y aseguró que no significa "el funeral" de esta institución.

Estas declaraciones las realizó ayer, en el marco de la conferencia de prensa por la asunción de Fernando Chomalí como nuevo arzobispo de Concepción, el cargo que Ezzati tenía hace pocos meses. En ella también se tocaron temas como el conflicto mapuche y la huelga de hambre de los comuneros.

El viernes, el sacerdote Fernando Karadima declaró por cerca de tres horas ante la ministra en visita Jéssica González, en dependencias del 34° Juzgado del Crimen de Santiago.

ITALIA
Cronaca Live

GENOVA / Sono stati arrestati a Milano negli stessi giorni in cui veniva fermato don Riccardo Seppia, il parroco di Sestri Ponente accusato di pedofilia e cessione di stupefacenti, un finanziere e uno spacciatore.

Ritenuti i fornitori abituali di droga di don Seppia, secondo i Nas procuravano la cocaina che il parroco usava come merce di scambio per fare sesso con adolescenti.

Nell’ambito dell’inchiesta dei Nas di Milano su un giro illecito di anabolizzanti nelle palestre del capoluogo lombardo, sarebbero stati individuati i 2 venditori abituali di stupefacenti al parroco di Sestri.

ITALIA
Genova 24

Genova. Nei giorni scorsi sarebbero stati fermati dai carabinieri i fornitori di droga di don Seppia, l’ex parroco di Sestri Ponente arrestato con l’accusa di presunti abusi sessuali compiuti ai danni di minorenni.

I due fermi sono stati eseguiti a Milano nei giorni scorsi, ma soltanto oggi la notizia è stata resa ufficiale. I militari del Nas stavano indagando su un giro illecito di anabolizzanti nelle palestre milanesi individuando un militare, arruolato nella guardia di finanza, e uno spacciatore come fornitori di cocaina.

Proseguendo le indagini si è poi scoperto che tra i clienti abituali c’era anche don Seppia, che utilizzava la droga come merce di scambio per ottenere prestazioni sessuali da adolescenti.

ITALIA
Cado in Piedi

Uno spacciatore e un militare della Guardia di Finanza sono stati arrestati con l'accusa di aver venduto la droga al prete pedofilo, arrestato il 14 maggio scorso. I due sono stati fermati dai carabinieri del Nas su esecuzione di provvedimenti emessi dal Gip del tribunale di Milano. I militari che indagavano su un giro illecito di anabolizzanti nelle palestre milanesi e di lì su quello di cocaina in altri ambienti, hanno individuato i due e anche l'ex parroco.

CHILE
Bio-Bio

Publicado por Daniel Torres

En entrevista con La Radio uno de los 4 denunciantes contra el Sacerdote Fernando Karadima, el periodista Juan Carlos Cruz entregó sus impresiones respecto de la declaración judicial del religioso ante la justicia.

Respecto de los trascendidos que señalan que Karadima expresó su total inocencia respecto de las imputaciones hablan de abusos sexuales reiterados en contra de menores, Cruz expresó que siente rabia puesto que sostiene una mentira sin inmutarse, que le ha arruinado la vida a un grupo de personas. A su parecer Karadima al igual que Maciel nunca reconocerá todo el daño que hizo.

Frente a la actual situación que afronta Karadima expresó que son contados con los dedos de las manos quienes lo respaldan, asumiendo además que hay que seguir buscando a quienes supieron esto y pese a eso lo encubrieron.

CHILE
El Mostrador

La ministra en visita que investiga las denuncias por abuso sexual contra menores de edad, Jessica González, interrogó por tres horas al sacerdote Fernando Karadima, quien está acusado de este delito tras denuncias de ex feligreses de la parroquia de El Bosque.

La diligencia se efectuó en completo hermetismo y la toma de declaración se realizó en dependencias del 34 Juzgado del Crimen de Santiago, lugar hasta donde llegó el cuestionado religioso junto a su equipo jurídico que encabeza el abogado Cristián Muga.

Junto a Karadima y a su equipo de abogados también estuvo presente un médico, quien controló su estado de salud, según señala el diario La Tercera.

UNITED STATES
John Paul II Millstone

Paris Arrow

Oprah Winfrey has done more good for humanity than John Paul II during her quarter of century television show seen daily in 150 countries. While John Paul II trotted around the globe in vanity and self-glory for 27 years and held rallies of WYD World Youth Day chanting to his narcissistic papal idolatry of “JP2, we love you”, Oprah was busy empowering millions of women and children and men, seeking truth and justice for victims and exposing their plights, giving help for all kinds of illnesses and poverty, building schools in Africa, giving scholarships for colleges in the USA, helping people eat better and live better, helping victims of Katrina and natural disasters, name it, she has done it. One of the best compliments said to her was, “You have no children of your own but you have mothered millions.” On the contrary, “The Holy Father” John Paul II only oppressed women by giving them no voice whatsoever and no role within the Vatican “state”

MALTA
The Independent (United Kingdom)

By Peter Popham

Sunday, 29 May 2011

Malta, the world's last bastion of Catholic domination outside the Vatican, is today riven by bitter hostility as it awaits the results of a fiercely contested referendum on divorce.

The crowded little archipelago halfway across the Mediterranean was left as the last European country to forbid divorce when the Irish Republic reformed its marriage law in 1995; today it is the last in the world except for the Philippines.

Divorce has been a burning issue on Malta for decades. Supporters of reform say that 30 per cent of marriages in the country end in separation, and that great and unnecessary suffering is caused when couples are unable to marry again because their previous, failed marriages cannot be dissolved. Nearly one-third of children are born out of wedlock. ...

Pope Benedict, right, has endorsed the Maltese Church's battle against divorce. When he visited in April last year he said: "Your nation should continue to stand up for the indissolubility of marriage as a natural institution as well as a sacramental one." Yet to the outside world, the most significant event in that two-day trip was an emotional encounter with eight Maltese men who claimed to have been sexually abused by four priests at a Catholic orphanage – his first face-to-face meeting with abuse victims.

"Everybody was crying," one of the men said at the time. The Pope's spokesman said: "[The Pope] prayed with them and assured them that the Church is doing, and will continue to do, all in its power to investigate allegations, to bring to justice those responsible for abuse and to implement effective measures... to safeguard young people in the future."

Benedict's subsequent words and deeds suggest that his pledge was sincere; very belatedly the Church is taking a stand against abusers. But in Malta the victims' pursuit of justice has been stalled by the Church's own overweening power. In January, almost nine months after their meeting with Benedict XVI, seven of the eight men wrote jointly to him to complain that the priests who abused them had yet to be sanctioned. Although the priests admitted the abuse back in 2003, and the Vatican concluded the allegations were well founded, they continued as priests.

"In Malta," they wrote, "the church, political power and the judiciary are all the same thing. For example, a government minister came into court to testify on behalf of the priests. Few people, even among the [political] opposition, are on our side. People here are very religious and are frightened of accusing priests... we are very disappointed that these priests are still going about in clerical clothes."

TRENTON (NJ)
Times of Trenton

By Erin Duffy/The Times

The way he tells it, the former bishop of the Diocese of Trenton never intended to enter the clergy.

Bishop Emeritus John M. Smith’s parents were dutiful churchgoers and raised their three sons Catholic. But becoming a priest, devoting one’s life to God, never appealed to Smith.

“To me it looked like it’d be boredom-ville,” Smith, 75, said.

Like most plans, Smith’s changed along the way. Now, decades later, he’s celebrating his 50th year as an ordained priest and enjoying his retirement after stepping down in December as the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Trenton. The diocese is now headed by his successor, Bishop David M. O'Connell. ...

Smith has also taken heat from clergy abuse organizations, who have pressed the diocese for greater transparency in addressing abuse claims and identifying perpetrators.

At a demonstration outside the diocese in March, members of the groups Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and Road to Recovery criticized the diocese for failing to fully identify all accused priests or put their names online.

In the interview, Smith hailed the “courage” of the Catholic Church to tackle the issue head-on as the church’s sex abuse scandal grew.

“I think the whole issue of child sex abuse by priests has been a very painful experience for any of us who are involved in the church but particularly for the clergy,” he said. “We were embarrassed, we were ashamed we were hurt that this was going on in our midst. I’m thankful to God that the church in the United States had the courage to address it very directly.”

CHILE
ADN

Un joven de 27 años denunció ante la Policía de Investigaciones que en el año 2002 fue testigo de actos impropios por parte del sacerdote Fernando Karadima en contra de miembros del grupo Acción Católica.

La denuncia, que se registró hace pocos días, también se replicó ante la iglesia, sumándose a las acusaciones en contra del presbítero por abusos sexuales.

UNITED STATES
Voice from the Desert

Frank Douglas

10. They want their kids enrolled in the parish Catholic school

9. They want to have a Catholic funeral and be buried in consecrated ground

8. They stay in the hope that a new pope will change things

7. They like the “smells and bells” (e.g., Midnight Mass at Christmas, stained-glass windows, statues), their parish church, their pastor, and they don’t or can’t envision a true religious/spiritual experience without these essentials

6. The sexual abuse scandal, the treatment of women and gays, and other hot-button issues (e.g., abortion, homosexuality) don’t rank high on their religious/ethical priority list

CANADA
The Canadian Press

By BOB WEBER The Canadian Press
Sun, May 29

He must have thought he was through with Canadian prisons.

Father Eric Dejaeger probably figured as recently as last spring that he’d never have to answer to accusations he’d betrayed the faith and innocence of Inuit children from the tiny Nunavut community of Igloolik.

And he almost never did.

The fact he now sits in an Arctic jail, awaiting trial on a score of sex charges, has as much to do with luck, dogged journalism, modern communications and two determined women on opposite sides of the Atlantic as it does with international law enforcement.

One of his pursuers, a retired nurse and homemaker from Ottawa, was motivated by sex scandals she saw tearing her church apart. The other, a Belgian, was outraged that an accused pedophile could live and work in her country unchallenged over allegations he faced thousands of kilometres away in Canada.

TENNESSEE
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

May 29,2011

by C Michael Coode, SNAP of Tennessee

While on a cruise in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Spain, I received an email from Fr. Joel Martin, OSB, informing me that Fr. Roger Lott, OSB died Thursday May 26 2011.

I always wondered how I would feel at the inevitable conclusion to this man’s life. I know very well that there are many great priests who do great things and that there are many priests who do heinous things. Also I know that to the man good or bad, everyone of them have been a source of inspiration and consultation to many. At a class reunion many years ago, one of my coaches (and algebra teacher) Father Bruno, told of Father Roger and what a good man he was. He was Fr. Bruno’s Confessor. That happened back in the 80′s before I let my abuse be known so I did not speak up. I know there are many people in Nashville who were fond of Fr. Roger, and he was a friend to many.

In my book which is soon to be published I wrote a poem which included the following lines:

I am filled with so much hurt yet to be secure
My past struggles with the present and takes away the cure….

And I also wrote that someone asked me “Would I ever be healed?” I spontaneously answered, “NO!” Fr. Roger’s death brings closure to him but not to me. His death has made me so sad and depressed. In his final years Fr. Roger would not allow anyone to talk to him, which I so wanted to do. I wanted to ask about me and others he had abused including a friend of mine. I did not know about my friend’s abuse until later when his brother told me. He also told me about the cover-up, for Fr. Roger and my friend had been caught by a Monsignor who apparently did nothing but keep my friend quiet by giving him money through the years.

NEDERLAND
NRC Handelsblad

Wim Deetman, lid van de Raad van State, overtreedt sinds 2008 wettelijke regels voor neveninkomsten uit publieke functies. Hij ontving ten minste 75.000 euro ten onrechte aan inkomsten uit met name voorzitterschappen van overheidscommissies.

Dat blijkt uit onderzoek van NRC Handelsblad. Het ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken onderzoekt of Deetman de regels heeft overtreden. Deetman zegt terug te betalen als blijkt dat hij onterecht geld heeft geïnd.

Herman Tjeenk Willink, vice-president van de Raad van State, heeft Deetman aangesproken op het feit dat hij verzuimd heeft al zijn bijbanen op te geven. De betreffende bijbanen zijn daardoor nooit gepubliceerd op de nevenfunctielijsten van de Raad van State. Dat is in strijd met de wet. Volgens Deetman ging het om incidentele klussen.

Wim Deetman, vaak in het nieuws als voorzitter van de onderzoekscommissie naar het seksueel misbruik in de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk, blijkt de staatsraad met de meeste bijbanen. Een deel daarvan zijn voorzitterschappen van ministeriële advies- en onderzoekscommissies. Deze bijbanen vallen onder de regels van het Besluit vergoedingen adviescolleges en commissies.

GERMANY
The Associated Press

By Melissa Eddy, The Associated Press

AUGSBURG, Germany — A year after a widespread sex scandal rocked Roman Catholics in Pope Benedict XVI's homeland, German intellectuals and faithful alike are turning their backs on the church, urging change or simply leaving the congregation.

German theologians and others have aired their discontent in a series of petitions to church leaders demanding changes to include more transparency, an end to celibacy and women's ordination. ...

While tens of thousands of Germans formally "quit" the church every year, 2010 saw a jump in the number of walkouts. German authorities easily track the numbers, because members pay a church tax, unless they formally leave the congregation.

Official numbers from the seven archbishoprics and 20 dioceses have not yet been released, but data acquired by AP show an increase ranging from 19 per cent in Magdeburg, to more than 60 per cent in diocese of Passau and Wuerzburg in the pope's homeland.

Augsburg, also in Bavaria, was among those hardest hit. Some 12,065 Catholics resigning their membership last year, compared with 7,000 in 2009, the diocese said. Fearing such a bleeding of the faithful, Stetter joined hundreds of other priests and lay people to appeal to their bishop to change.

UNITED STATES
Richard Sipe

By Anson Shupe

May 20, 2011

On May 18, 2011 the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City issued its highly anticipated report on sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests in the United States. The study examined the issue from 1950-2010, a sixty-year period for which records from most American dioceses were voluntarily provided by the Church alone (though with no independent corroboration).

The report was intended by both researchers and the Church itself, the latter having been publically battered of late for harboring sexual abusers in its priestly ranks, to lay to rest the impression that the Church has a disproportionate number of such abusers or is different from such other institutions as Protestant denominations, the Boy Scouts, or public schools. (Yes, these are its findings. But the conclusion that these were the researchers' intentions, like the earlier 2004 report using similar Church-provided data and underwritten funding, is somewhat undeniable to those who have followed this issue for two decades.)

The report is nothing if not detailed: at approximately 143 pages long, it has an impressive 481 footnotes. It offers dozens of charts and tables and an interesting assortment of interviews with perpetrators, Church gate-keepers, and others.

The report's basic conclusions are that the American Catholic Church has no more pedophiles within its ranks than other institutions, and that most of the sexual offenders are not even pedophiles. Researchers say most of the perpetrators shared no single motive for their actions.

ITALIA
Citta di Genova

Genova - L'esortazione della Chiesa a denunciare i casi di pedofilia nel clero "é sempre stata fatta". Lo ha affermato l'arcivescovo di Genova e presidente della Cei, cardinale Angelo Bagnasco, a margine di un convegno sulla famiglia organizzato a Genova. "Questo - ha aggiunto - "verrà poi scritto nelle linee guida richieste dalla Congregazione". Ieri il terzo interrogatorio a Don Riccardo Seppia, il sacerdote genovese in carcere a Sanremo con l'accusa di abuso su minori e cessione di stupefacenti.

ITALIA
Lettera 43

Da Riccardo Seppia, il prete arrestato con l’accusa di aver avuto rapporti sessuali con minorenni, a Livio Volpi, l'allenatore 40enne condannato per abusi su minori, i pedofili si nascondo dietro le sembianze di una persona conosciuta e rassicurante.

A ogni scandalo si leva la voce di politici, istituzioni, associazioni e ognuno ha la sua ricetta per eliminare il problema. La parola che va più in voga, bipartisan, è «castrazione».

IL PERICOLO DIETRO L'ANGOLO. Secondo Letizia Marazzi, psicologa e psicoterapeuta di Milano, almeno fino ai quattro anni il posto più pericoloso per un bambino è delimitato dalle quattro mura domestiche. Per questo, «è necessario insegnare ai bimbi a raccontare le loro esperienze. Dire loro che un adulto, anche se tale, non ha diritto di fare ciò che vuole. E questo compito può e deve assolverlo la scuola».

Ancora più complicato è stilare una sorta di identikit del pedofilo “medio” che, a differenza del semplice molestatore, tende a mimetizzarsi. Le situazioni più a rischio sono nei posti chiusi, come all’oratorio, a scuola, al campo di calcio dove si sviluppano forme di gerarchia e di dipendenza.

ITALIA
il Giornale

«Non ho mai istigato alcun ragazzino a prostituirsi». Don Seppia davanti al pm Stefano Puppo continua a negare. Lo ha fatto anche ieri durante il terzo interrogatorio da quel 13 maggio, quando l’ex parroco di Sestri Ponente venne arrestato per abusi su minori e cessione di stupefacenti. Ora, sulla sua posizione, grava anche il reato per induzione alla prostituzione che il pm gli ha contestato ufficialmente dopo le dichiarazioni di un minorenne egiziano che ha rivelato di aver avuto rapporti sessuali a pagamento sia con don Seppia che con l’ex seminarista Emanuele Alfano. «Non sono mai stato a letto con quel ragazzo, la droga l’ho data una volta sola a Emanuele Alfano. Quei siti (video pornografici trovati sul pc del prete, ndr) erano solo con gente adulta», ha risposto don Riccardo.

UNITED STATES
Voice from the Desert

Frank Douglas

10. They strongly disagree with the parish pastor and/or the bishop, not the people, having control of parish-level decisions, especially financial decisions

9. They don’t feel welcomed (e.g., because they are divorced or gay)

8. They are scandalized at the way the pope and bishops treat victims/survivors of Catholic clergy sexual abuse

7. They know a large number of priests are gay, but the RCC is secretive about this and many other facts

CHILE
La Tercera

por A. López, P. Carrera y J. Poblete

Personalmente concurrió ayer el sacerdote diocesano Fernando Karadima (80) hasta el despacho de la ministra Jéssica González, a cargo de la investigación contra el religioso denunciado por abusos sexuales por un grupo de ex feligreses de la parroquia de El Bosque.

Karadima llegó a las 15.00 al tribunal, acompañado de sus abogados Cristián Muga y Leonardo Battaglia, para hacer frente al interrogatorio. Ingresó hasta el 34° Juzgado del Crimen de Santiago por el estacionamiento, a bordo de una camioneta y vestido con su atuendo de sacerdote.

Durante la diligencia, que se prolongó por tres horas, estuvo acompañado por un médico, para verificar su estado de salud y controlar las alzas de presión.

MASSACHUSETTS
S.M.A.R.T. Ritual Abuse Pages

Shanley recovered memory case. Shanley lost the appeal in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

Shanley was accused of sexual abuse in the 1960′s, the 1970′s, the 1980′s and the 1990′s. His church personnel records indicated he was transferred from parish to parish despite allegations of abuse. The Boston Herald (4/9/02) printed that Shanley “spoke in favor of sex between men and boys at a formative 1978 meeting in Boston of the “Man Boy Lovers of North America” and that he “admitted openly to raping and sodomizing minors when confronted by church investigators under Boston’s two past archbishops, Humberto Cardinal Medeiros and Law.”

There is very strong scientific evidence that recovered memories exist. This has been shown in many scientific studies. The content of recovered memories have fairly high corroboration rates.

Mass. Court Denies Ex-Priest’s Bid for New Trial 1/15/10 BOSTON By DENISE LAVOIE AP Legal Affairs Writer….The victim, now in his 30s, claimed Shanley raped him repeatedly when he was a child attending catechism classes at a church in Newton. He said he repressed memory of the abuse for two decades until he saw media coverage of the clergy scandal in 2002.

UNITED STATES
Asbury Park Press

The idea that individuals are responsible before God for their sins and before the law for their crimes is nearly universal.

But a report released last week that explores the context and causes of child sexual abuse by priests in this country at times seems to downplay personal responsibility and lays the blame on the permissive society of the 1960s and 1970s. That’s a shame, and it calls for a firm and quick response from the church itself.

The report, commissioned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, was undercut by one of its main conclusions: namely, that the hippies of the ’60s and the libertines of the ’70s were in some ways responsible for some priests’ reprehensible actions.

IRELAND
YouTube

This documentary interviews four women and takes a look at their lives in "Magdalene Asylums". These intitutions were run by nuns of the Catholic church, and involved penance and heavy labor: cleaning and laundering without pay, and forced internment. These women were anything from sexually active, to out-of-wedlock mothers, to simply suspected of being immodest or 'vain'.

They suffered terribly, and this is yet another witness to the extensive list of crimes and inhumane activities of the Catholic Church -- far too long to list here. It is just heartbreaking. Unbelievably, the last asylum closed in 1996!

Don't be fooled. Even in the 21st century, out of wedlock mothers are often still told they are "sinful", "evil", "going to hell", "need to repent", or "unfit to be mothers" by their religious institutions. And even still to this day, many are pressured to give their children up for adoption, "repent", etc. Thankfully we aren't still all shipped off unwilling to asylums, but if it weren't for secular society improving living standards and human rights, believe me, the churches would have it so!

MISSOURI
St. Joseph News-Press

Kim Norvell
St. Joseph News-Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The bishop of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph acknowledged Friday he failed to take correct action regarding allegations against a former St. Joseph area priest who is now charged with possessing child pornography.

Read Bishop Robert Finn's statement here.

The Most Rev. Robert W. Finn said to reporters Friday afternoon at a last-minute press conference that allegations against the Rev. Shawn F. Ratigan were not handled properly and in a timely manner.

“During the last two weeks, I have learned facts that I had not previously known. As bishop, I owe it to people to say things must change,” Finn said. “I must also acknowledge my own failings.”

The bishop was referring to a memorandum sent in May 2010 by the principal of St. Patrick School in Kansas City describing concerns from parents regarding Ratigan’s behavior at school, and that his actions “fit the profile of a child predator.”

CHILE
Noticias 123

Durante tres horas el sacerdote Fernando Karadima declaró ante la ministro en visita que investiga las denuncias de abuso sexual contra menores de edad en su contra, Jessica González.

La diligencia se desarrolló en completo hermetismo en dependencias del 34º Juzgado del Crimen de Santiago y el sacerdote asistió acompañado de su equipo jurídico encabezado por el abogado Cristián Muga.

En la instancia el presbítero también recibió ayuda médica en todo momento y trascendió que confirmó las declaraciones que ya había realizado anteriormente ante el fiscal Xavier Armendáriz y el juez del crimen Leonardo Valdivieso.

CHILE
La Tercera

A las 15.00 horas de ayer viernes llegó el sacerdote Fernando Karadima a las dependencias del 34° Juzgado del Crimen de Santiago para ser interrogado por la ministra en visita Jéssica González, quien encabeza la investigación en contra del religioso, denunciado por ex feligreses de la parroquia de El Bosque por abusos sexuales.

El ex párroco llegó a la oficina de la jueza acompañado por sus abogados y por un médico, quien controló su estado de salud mientras prestaba declaración.

En el interrogatorio, la magistrada González le informó al eclesiástico que será careado con algunos de sus denunciantes.

Tras la diligencia, que duró tres horas, Karadima abandonó el lugar a bordo de una camioneta.

CHILE
Bio Bio

Sábado 28 mayo 2011 | 2:32

Publicado por Camila Navarrete

El sacerdote Fernando Karadima, declaró la tarde de este viernes por cerca de 3 horas, ante la jueza Jessica González, bajo estrictas medidas de seguridad.

Recordemos que el ex párroco de la parroquia de El Bosque fue acusado de abuso sexual por algunos feligreses del recinto religioso el año pasado.

Karadima llegó a las 15 horas del pasado viernes al 34º Juzgado del Crimen de Santiago, donde declaró por 3 horas ante la Jueza Jessica González, quien encabeza la investigación en su contra.

Según informó La Tercera, el sacerdote fue acompañado por sus abogados y un médico que durante la declaración, monitoreó su estado de salud.

ATLANTA (GA)
Religion Dispatches

Post by Anthea Butler

The lawsuit brought by young male congregants alleging sexual abuse by Eddie Long has been resolved. All parties involved will not do any interviews on any aspects of the case or the settlement, per a statement released by plaintiffs' laywer B.J Bernstein's representatives today. It would seem then, that Bishop Long's legal team has been able to avoid going to trial; we'll see what remains of Bishop Long's ministry and New Birth church after the scandal.

The statement from the plaintiffs' attorneys:

Regarding the lawsuits filed against Bishop Eddie Long, New Birth Baptist Church and the Longfellow Academy, plaintiffs' attorney BJ Bernstein's only comment is as follows: "The matter has been resolved."

Neither attorney Bernstein nor the plaintiffs themselves will be available for interview on this matter, now or in the future. There is no spokesperson for the plaintiffs' team other than attorney Bernstein, and she will have no further comment on the case.

UNITED STATES
Voice from the Desert

Frank Douglas

A nine thing happened to me on the checkout line at Costco yesterday.

As I was being checked out, the woman behind me said that I was blessed. At first I didn’t know what she was talking about. Then she said that she agreed with what was printed on my tee shirt. I had forgotten that I was wearing the tee shirt that clergy abuse survivor Joey Piscitelli gave me when we met in Berkeley last month.

The back of the tee shirt says:

In memory of
All the children
Who were abused
By Catholic Clergy

The front of the tee shirt says

IT’S A SIN.
STOP
THE COVERUP.

I thanked the woman for her blessing and said I had a blog at reform-network.net. She gave me a look that said, that’s too much to remember. So I said, google me at Voice from the Desert.

UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic Herald

By William Oddie on Friday, 27 May 2011

It is time to return to the question of clerical child sex abuse. Since I last wrote on this subject, in the period approaching the pope’s visit (I was very concerned, as were many others, that this issue would be used by the aggressive atheist coalition to wreck the visit) work has continued within the Church to understand the problem.

This week, three separate documents have emerged which in their different ways contribute to this important aim, two from within or actually initiated by the Church, the other an entirely secular report which gives us the general context of the problem. I will proceed by presenting extracts from all three reports, with as little comment from me as I can manage.

I begin with “Child Maltreatment in the United Kingdom: a Study of the Prevalence of Abuse and Neglect” published by the NSPCC. This gives the general background of this problem in society at large within the wider question of all maltreatment of children. This is what it has to say (under the heading “Who are the abusers?”) about who is most likely to be involved in child sex abuse:

ITALY
AGI

(AGI) Holy See - The Italian Episcopal Conference's Bagnasco describes sexual abuse committed within the Church as a "serious wound". Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco also spoke of the Roman Catholic Church's commitment to fighting sexual abuses committed by members of the Church "in keeping" with the guidelines set out by the Pope as the once head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Bagnasco, speaking at close of the Italian Episcopal Conference's General Assembly, also said national guidelines are "in an advanced drafting stage".

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Angela Shanahan
From: The Australian
May 28, 2011

IN 2003, religious writer Chris McGillion authored a book on the Australian Catholic Church called A Long Way from Rome in which he argued that while the church in Australia had changed radically, Rome had not.

Ironically, McGillion's liberal analysis was published just before a stern warning from Pope Benedict that Australia was one of the few countries in the world where true secularism had taken hold, the church being pushed out of the "public square", and possibly in danger of extinction. Either way, the events of the past few years, and particularly in the Queensland diocese of Toowoomba this month, would seem to confirm it is more than the tyranny of distance that separates the Australian Catholic Church from Rome.

The removal of Bishop William Morris of Toowoomba has been a drawn-out affair that goes back nearly 10 years, and has been played out against a nationwide background of the usual ills of the church in most developed Western countries: an increasing liberalisation in doctrinal matters, disaffected congregations, a decline in practice, particularly among the young, and a dearth in vocations which, having reached its nadir, is possibly improving.

LOUISIANA
Stamford Advocate

ALEXANDRIA, La. (AP) — A former church youth minister has been indicted on 13 charges of sex crimes with juveniles, including two charges of aggravated rape of victims younger than 13 years old.

On Thursday, a Rapides Parish grand jury found there was enough evidence to charge the 28-year-old Angelo Golatt, who was arrested March 29, where he worked.

One of the victims was 9 or 10 years old at the time of an alleged offense in 2003, and was reportedly attacked again at age 13 in 2006, according to the grand jury charges released by the Rapides Parish District Attorney's Office.

NEW HAMPSHIRE
WMUR

[with video]

CONCORD, N.H. -- Jurors have found a Gilford man guilty of raping a fellow church member when she was 15 years old.

Ernest Willis, 52, was charged with sexually assaulting Tina Anderson in 1997. Anderson said she was raped twice and became pregnant as a result.

Willis admitted having sex with her once but said that was the only time. He pleaded guilty to one charge because he said he knew she was underage, but he said she consented to having sex with him.

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

A newly issued report commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops would have Americans believe that the so-called lax cultural mores of the 1960s and 1970s are largely to blame for the sexual abuse of thousands of children and teens at the hands of priests.

In page after page, the report also accuses the news media of misrepresenting the crisis, dismisses church-mandated celibacy for priests as a cause for the criminal behavior and splits hairs over the definition of pedophilia (in order to claim that most child-molesting priests weren't pedophiles).

Church leaders couldn't have weeded out the deviants, the report claims, because of unforeseeable factors arising from society, including the sexual revolution. Don't believe it. The "findings" reflect the same carefully crafted public-relations spin used by the bishops when the American scandals erupted in 2002.

Instead of looking to the culture outside the church to minimize egregious crimes and leadership failures, the report should have focused on the culture within. At the heart of the crisis was clericalism, the mind-set of ecclesiastical privilege in which leaders behave as an anointed class accountable to no one except those above them in the church hierarchy.

UNITED KINGDOM
Sutton Guardian

The son of child rapist William Lambert has apologised to his father's victims in the wake of his conviction last week.

Mr Lambert’s son, now 47 and a grandfather himself, has followed the horrific trial from afar and felt compelled to apologise to his father’s victims - who were also his friends when he grew up in Sutton.

The man, the former gravedigger's eldest son from his second marriage, was sickened by the reports from the trial which centred on the horrific sexual abuse of four teenage girls at St Dunstan’s Church in the mid-1980s.

CALIFORNIA
The Press-Enterprise

By SARAH BURGE
The Press-Enterprise

A month after his arrest, a Temecula assistant pastor charged with raping a 16-year-old choirgirl has yet to make his first appearance in Riverside County court.

Joseph Jermaine Spencer, 26, of Murrieta, is being held in San Bernardino County, where he is scheduled for a June 2 hearing on allegations that he violated the terms of his probation in a 2008 case in which he was convicted of sex with a minor, court records show.

Spencer turned himself in to authorities in San Bernardino County last month. He has been charged with rape and other offenses in Riverside County.

CALIFORNIA
The Press-Enterprise

By SARAH BURGE
The Press-Enterprise

Since a Temecula assistant pastor was arrested last month and charged with raping a 16-year-old choirgirl, revelations about his criminal past have raised questions about church hiring practices.

At least one church member and a victims' advocate say the pastor, who had been convicted in 2008 of sex with a 15-year-old from his previous church, should not have been allowed to work around youths.

Police have said that, as choir director at Mountain View Community Church, 26-year-old Joseph Jermaine Spencer was around up to 50 teenage girls. According to a police report, the lead pastor knew about his criminal history.

But the law does not require background checks for church employees, just those at church-run schools. And some sex offenses, such as the one on Spencer's record, don't require registration as a sex offender.

MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

[with video]

[Statement by Bishop Robert W. Finn]

By GLENN E. RICE and JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star

For the second time in a week, Bishop Robert Finn said Friday that he regretted not responding to warnings about a priest now accused of possessing child pornography.

“I must also acknowledge my own failings,” said the deflated leader of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph as he read from a brief statement during a hastily called news conference.

“As bishop, I owe it to people to say things must change.”

On May 20, Finn issued a statement saying he deeply regretted not asking police to investigate the Rev. Shawn Ratigan last December when the diocese first learned of photos of children that Ratigan possessed.

This week it came to light that Julie Hess, principal of St. Patrick School in Kansas City, North, wrote a memo a year ago warning diocesan officials that parents and teachers were concerned about Ratigan’s behavior, including hundreds of pictures that the priest took.

SCRANTON (PA)
The Times Leader

By Mark Guydish mguydish@timesleader.com
Education Reporter

SCRANTON – A new national report puts much of the blame for decades of sex abuse by Catholic priests on the cultural upheaval of the 1960s and 1970s, coupled with the Church’s own past failure to properly train seminarians in matters of “human formation.”

Diocese of Scranton Bishop Joseph Bambera can speak firsthand to the shifting social norms and evolving seminary education, having graduated high school in 1974 and entered seminary in 1978. But while he believes the report makes an effective argument for its conclusions, he stresses it cannot be held up as excuse or apology.

“This is a very powerful reminder to me to keep this issue on the front burner,” Bambera said.

In a lengthy interview focused on one of the Catholic Church’s most sensitive topics, Bambera spoke of changes he has made in the training of priests, his decision to revise diocesan policy for the handling of abuse allegations, and the extensive, continuous training required of all priests, including himself, to avoid a repeat of the scandal that has shaken the Church.

DELAWARE
The News Journal

Written by
RANDALL CHASE

DOVER -- A Roman Catholic priest relieved of his duties at a North Carolina church almost a decade ago amid allegations of "inappropriate behavior" admitted in 2007 that he sexually abused a Delaware boy, according to a ruling in a lawsuit between the former priest's religious order and an insurance company.

Details regarding the admission by the former Rev. James O'Neill were outlined in a ruling by Superior Court Judge M. Jane Brady that was obtained by the Associated Press. The ruling, dated March 31, was briefly posted on the public court docket Thursday before being removed.

O'Neill was a member of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales and former principal of Salesianum School in Wilmington, where he was accused of molesting Eric Eden over several years beginning in 1976.

UNITED KINGDOM
Bexhill-on-Sea Observer

THE Bishop of Chichester has apologised for the institutional failings which led to the sexual abuse of young boys by two former members of the clergy.

One such convicted priest was Colin Pritchard (pictured), who had served as the vicar of St Barnabas Church, before his arrest in 2007.

Pritchard was jailed for five years in 2008 after pleading guilty to sexually abusing two boys in the 70s and 80s.

These offences took place at St Andrews Church, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, where Pritchard was serving as the parish priest.

CHILE
Emol

SANTIAGO.- Después de conversar con su familia y de ser orientado por José Andrés Murrillo, James Hamilton y el abogado Juan Pablo Hermosilla, el ingeniero Gabriel Moreno se atrevió a revelar la experiencia que vivió como feligrés de la parroquia El Bosque.

El joven, actualmente de 26 años, pasó su adolescencia en la Iglesia del padre Fernando Karadima y, tras dar su testimonio al Arzobispado y a la Brigada de Investigaciones Policiales Especiales (BIPE) de la PDI, accedió a relatar a "La Segunda" los extraños episodios que asegura que observó y sufrió en ese periodo.

"Denuncio esto para que no vuelva a pasar. No puedo permitir que a mi gente, a mi Iglesia, le hagan esto", afirmó.

Si bien recalcó que no fue víctima de abusos por parte de Karadima, aseveró que empezó a ver "el lado B" del sacerdote el año 2001, una vez que lo invitó a tomar té, algo que sólo hacía con su "grupo íntimo, la mayoría jóvenes universitarios, porque él casi nunca se rodeaba de niños".

MISSOURI
KMBC

[with video]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Bishop Robert Finn said Friday he was “ashamed” over the arrest of a priest on suspicion of possessing child pornography.

The Rev. Shawn Ratigan was arrested May 19 and has been charged with three felony counts of child pornography possession.

Finn made the comments at a news conference in Kansas City. When asked whether he planned to resign, he said he evaluating everything.

VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Sarah Delaney
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A Rome-based Catholic foundation is offering a course to help educators ensure the spiritual and psychological formation of candidates for the priesthood and the consecrated life.

Cardinal Elio Sgreccia, who served for many years at the helm of the Pontifical Academy for Life, said May 27 that the crisis in the church over the problem of the sexual abuse of minors by priests was an important factor in establishing the course, but not the only one.

The Italian cardinal is president of the Ut Vitam Habeant Foundation, which is working with the Camillianum International Institute of the Theology of Health Care to offer the course in Rome beginning in November.

ATLANTA (GA)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By Shelia M. Poole and Christian Boone
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Documents were filed late Friday in DeKalb County State Court confirming the sexual misconduct case against Bishop Eddie Long has been dismissed "with prejudice," one day after it was revealed a settlement had been reached.

The dismissals, first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, prevent the four defendants from suing Long again for the same alleged offense.

Reaction to the settlements by current and former members of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church was mixed though most were relieved the case had been resolved.

Long, pastor of the Lithonia megachurch, which has an international following, ha denied the men's allegations through a spokesman shortly after they first became public in September and told his congregation he planned to "vigorously" fight them.

By LYNNE TUOHY Associated Press

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Houston Chronicle

CONCORD, N.H. — A New Hampshire man was found guilty Friday of forcibly raping and impregnating his children's 15-year-old baby sitter, who belonged to the same church, more than a decade ago.

The case involving 52-year-old Ernest Willis of Gilford garnered national attention because the fundamentalist Baptist church he and the girl attended made her apologize to the congregation. The pastor then helped ship the girl to live with a Colorado couple she didn't know and put her baby up for adoption. Concord police did not locate her until last year.

Before trial, Willis pleaded guilty to one count of statutory rape but denied he forcibly raped Tina Anderson twice in 1997. She said it happened once while he was giving her driving lessons and again at her home weeks later. Willis testified that the two had sex on only one occasion and it was consensual.

MISSOURI
National Catholic Reporter

[video]

May. 27, 2011
By Joshua J. McElwee

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Bishop Robert W. Finn said today he had not seen a year-old letter from a Catholic elementary school principal warning of the aberrant behavior of a local priest who was arrested May 19 for possessing child pornography.

Finn said he only saw the letter from principal Julie Hess yesterday.

Hess delivered the letter to the diocesan vicar general in May 2010 -- exactly one year before the arrest of Fr. Shawn Ratigan and seven months before the diocese removed him from his parish.

At a press conference called for 3 p.m. today, Finn said he was given a “brief verbal summary” of the letter by Murphy a year ago, that he had read it in its entirety for the “first time” last night (May 26), and that, “to the best of his knowledge,” no one other than the vicar general had read the letter before yesterday.

Finn said: “Hindsight makes it clear that I should have requested from Msgr. Murphy an actual copy of the report.” Read yesterday's NCR story: Diocese was warned of priest's aberrant behavior one year before arrest

ROME
The Register (United Kingdom)

By Lewis Page

A controversial monastery in Rome – the scene of performances by lap-dancing nuns and "lifestyles that were probably not in keeping with that of a monk" – has been closed down on the orders of the Pope.

The Santa Croce in Gerusalemme basilica, home to nuns and monks of the Cistercian order, is one of the oldest and most prestigious complexes of the Catholic Church and dates from the 4th century. It is thought to house important relics from the Holy Land. However in modern times it had been allowed to fall into disrepair.

That all changed some years ago when a new and flamboyant abbot, former Milan fashion designer Father Simone Fioraso, took charge. He renovated the buildings and opened a luxury hotel at the site, which reportedly became a popular haunt for celebrities and Italian aristocrats, and held high-profile events including regular concerts and a televised Bible-reading marathon.

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Catholic Insider

May 27, 2011

The saga of the Archdiocese of Boston and the Daughters of St. Paul continues today with so many developments, BCI can barely keep up.

We posted yesterday in, “Daughters’ Lawsuit Against Cardinal Settled, But…” how the legal action was settled, but the provincial leadership team was removed. It is tough to see that move as anything but retaliation.

Today, the Boston Globe is running an article, “Daughters of St. Paul replaces local leader” that is reasonably accurate and sheds some new light on who did what, but there is still a lot of misinformation. So, BCI will try to fill in the gaps.

Bottom line is that Cardinal O’Malley and the Archdiocese of Boston are asking you and me to believe some things that defy believability–and it appears that the new U.S. provincial of the Daughters is also. The archdiocese is asking us to believe there was no connection between the Cardinal calling the Superior General of the Daughters in Italy to complain about the legal action by the U.S. province and the ultimate sacking of the U.S. provincial and most of the provincial leadership team. And now, we have the new U.S. provincial of the Daughters apparently asking us to believe the same thing.

We only have time for a few points today, so we will have to come back to this in our next post.

Everyone needs to remember that the U.S. province did not sue the Archbishop of Boston. The Daughters asked the court to order a full accounting of their contributions to the plan by the plan trustees (that included Cardinal O’Malley), or to order that their contributions be returned. They did not sue the bishop, they brought action against the Board of Trustees, of whom the Cardinal was a member. As the Boston Globe reported initially back in March,” the nuns have asked the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to order the pension plan trustees, who include O’Malley and several of his top aides, to provide them with a full accounting of the nuns’ portion of the fund, or to rule that the nuns were technically never part of the church-run plan and to order the archdiocese to reimburse the nuns’ contributions, plus returns.” Taking care of their lay employees is required under civil law and there is nothing canonically wrong or disrespectful with this either, especially since the Cardinal’s own staff stonewalled the Daughters for 5 years. Based on what BCI has heard, it appears to BCI that neither the Cardinal nor the Daughters Superior General completely understand how both canon and civil law work.

KENYA
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation

Written By:Halligan Agade, Posted: Fri, May 27, 2011

The Italian Catholic priest in the middle of sodomy allegations Fr. Renato Kizito can now sigh with relief after being set free on Friday.

Kizito was arrested Thursday and spent the night in custody at the Kabete Police station after it was alleged that he had sodomised his 26 year old secretary.

He was early Friday arraigned at the Kibera Law Courts but no charges were preferred against him.

ILLINOIS
Riverfront Times

By Sarah Fenske, Fri., May 27 2011

The diocese is on the hook for another $6.35 million after the Illinois Supreme Court refused to hear its appeal.

​The Illinois Supreme Court yesterday refused to hear an appeal of the Diocese of Belleville -- letting stand a $5 million jury verdict for a former altar boy at St. Theresa's Parish in Salem.

That means -- barring intervention from the U.S. Supreme Court, which would be highly unusual -- the diocese is on the hook for the $5 million jury verdict, plus more than $1 million in interest that's accumulated during the appeal process.

KENYA
Daily Nation

Fr Renato Kizito, the Catholic priest, journalist, peace activist and charity worker freed by police after a night in custody on allegations of sexually attacking his male secretary, must desist from further contact with children.

This is not to suggest that Fr Kizito is guilty of anything. He is not; as a matter of fact he is innocent in the eyes of the law as no evidence has been brought to tarnish his otherwise sparkling reputation.

However, given the serious drama around Fr Kizito, particularly in the context of global revelations of the preying on children by otherwise respected members of the religious community, it makes complete sense to be cautious and place the safety of children above the good priest’s reputation.

What is not in doubt, however, is that there is something terribly wrong at the Koinonia Centre in Dagoretti, Nairobi, and possibly in the wider Comboni Missionaries community.

DELAWARE
WFMY

Written by
Matt McKinney

Dover, DE -- A Catholic priest who was relieved of his duties as pastor of a Greensboro church amid allegations of "inappropriate behavior" admitted in a deposition that he sexually abused a Delaware boy.

Rev. James O'Neill was a pastor at St. Paul The Apostle Catholic Church on Horse Pen Creek Road in Greensboro for 11 years until 2002. He was relieved of his duties in April 2002 when the allegations surfaced.

The admission by the former Rev. James O'Neill was outlined in a court ruling obtained by The Associated Press in a lawsuit between O'Neill's religious order and its insurance company.

KENYA
The Standard

By ATHMAN AMRAN

Police Friday set Catholic priest Renato Kizito Sesana free over lack of evidence over allegations that he indecently assaulted a 26-year-old man.

The release came even as members of the Koinonia community demanded that the man who accused Fr Kizito presents himself to the police.

The complainant said he was working for Fr Kizito as his secretary when he was sexually assaulted in Riruta.

MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

By GLENN E. RICE and JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star

A leader of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese today acknowledged his failure to properly respond to warnings about a priest now accused of possessing child pornography.

“I must also acknowledge my own failings,” said a deflated Bishop Robert Finn as he read from a brief statement during a hastily called news conference.

“As Bishop, I owe it to people to say things must change.”

Finn also said today that it was only late Thursday when he read a memo presented to the diocese more than a year ago. The memo detailed troubling interactions that the Rev. Shawn Ratigan had with children.

UNITED STATES
dotCommonweal

May 27, 2011

Posted by David Gibson

The child pornography case involving Fr. Shawn Ratigan, 45, a priest in the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese, under the direction of Bishop Robert W. Finn, was shocking enough in the first version, as reported by NCR– disturbing images of young children on Ratigan’s computer, a perfunctory, at best, examination of the material, a secret transfer of the priest to a convent, no subsequent action or notice when Ratigan attempted suicide last December, and no notification to the review board. And then only this month suspending the priest after extensive files of child pornography were discovered on his computer and he was arrested.

Now it turns out — thanks again to NCR (bravo, Joe Feuerherd!) that a full year ago the principal of a Catholic elementary school wrote to diocesan officials with a clear warning about Ratigan’s suspicious behavior with children and detailed examples. Ratigan apparently received a talking to by a top chancery official, but nothing further was done and no one outside the chancery was alerted.

Finn’s spokesperson, Rebecca Summers, told NCR that the bishops 2002 charter says diocesan review boards should be convened only “when you have a specific allegation of abuse” by a priest or other person in diocesan ministry.

MISSOURI
NBC Action News

By: Mike Markewinski

KANSAS CITY, Missouri - New allegations have surfaced against a priest charged with possessing child pornography.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priest, also known as SNAP, said the principal of St. Patrick School wrote a letter to the Archdiocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph back in May 2010 about Father Shawn Ratigan.

In the letter, Principal Julie Hess said she wrote it because of a growing concern by parents over the inappropriate behavior of Ratigan around children. The letter said that Ratigan seemed to have “no physical boundaries.”

Hess said several parents brought in material they believed show that the actions of Ratigan mimicked a child predator.

Ratigan faces three counts of possessing child pornography. He appeared before a Clay County judge via video on Monday as his attorney sat in the courtroom.

ATLANTA (GA)
CNN

Editor's Note: Stephen Prothero, a Boston University religion scholar and author of "God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions that Run the World," is a regular CNN Belief Blog contributor.

By Stephen Prothero, Special to CNN

The Roman Catholic Church isn't the only religious institution that has failed to respond directly and transparently to allegations of sexual impropriety.

Bishop Eddie Long, the pastor of the Georgia-based New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, has just settled out of court with the four young men who alleged Long had sexually coerced them. And neither side is talking.

After the allegations surfaced last September, Long said he would “vigorously” defend himself against charges that he used a combination of spiritual authority and material enticements (cars, jewelry, cash) to curry sexual favors from the men, who were 17 and 18 at the time.

Not any more, at least not in court.

UNITED STATES
Spiritual Politics

By Mark Silk on May 27, 2011

What was Bill Donohue thinking when he decided to devote 24 pages to attacking the Jay Report for exonerating gay priests of responsibility for the sexual abuse crisis? The report contends that because homosexuals became a major presence in the priesthood only in the 1970s, they could not have brought about a crisis that began in the 1960s. Donohue claims that homosexuals actually began flooding the priesthood in the sixties, and so were indeed responsible. According to him, a homosexual is not someone with a particular sexual identity but someone who performs certain acts. So given that four out of five child abuse cases involve male victims, it's homosexuals in the priesthood who were responsible.

I leave it to others, Fr. James Martin for example, to make clear how peculiar Donohue's views on the subject of homosexuality are. (As for my view that the Jay report misapprehends the crisis, it's over at the Guardian.) What I'm curious about is exactly how this screed, against a report commissioned and embraced by the Catholic bishops, serves the Catholic League's stated purpose of defending Catholics against defamation or discrimination.

UNITED STATES
Patheos

By Marci A. Hamilton, May 26, 2011

GRANT APPLICATION

TO:
Archbishop Timothy Dolan
President
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

FROM:
Professor Marci A. Hamilton
Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
Yeshiva University

DATE:
May 27, 2011
RE:

Application for Grant to Write a Sequel to the John Jay Sixties Report

I can only imagine how you, the Conference, and John Jay himself are feeling after the public hee-hawing in response to your announcement last week that the Sixties era was responsible for your child sex abuse challenges. The cartoons, like the one by Tony Auth in the Philadelphia Inquirer, were short on empathy for your herculean efforts.

I noticed you paid about $1 million for this Report (and you solicited some serious funds from outside groups, including the federal government), so the national LOL in response has to hurt.

Speaking as a professor, I believe that the John Jay Report, otherwise entitled The Nature and Scope of the Problem of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests and Deacons in the United States, lacks sufficient historical support for this breakthrough in explaining how an institution that started with Jesus Christ could become the global leader in child endangerment.

CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

By Gustavo Arellano, Fri., May 27 2011

​Longtime readers of the Weekly know Joelle Casteix, former cover girl for being the most-prominent critic of the Catholic Diocese of Orange and its handling of its sex-abuse scandal, of which she was a survivor. Casteix is charming, funny, iron-willed, indefatigable--and on top of all this, she's a hell of a writer, especially when it comes to the topic of her incredible life.

Sounds like a perfect book, right? So much more better than a biased history of Orange County, or a compilation of a dumb column, correct? But try telling that to the major New York publishing houses, who have seen Casteix's memoir proposal, liked it--and then politely passed.

Casteix has the whole story in her fiendishly addicting (and awesomely titled) blog, The Worthy Adversary. Telling the tale isn't an ego trip for the selfless Casteix--when people mention she should self-publish, she makes the point that getting published by a major company adds legitimacy and prestige not so much to her, but to all survivors of the Catholic Church's pedo-scandal.

CHILE
La Tercera

por Andrés López - 27/05/2011 8

Un joven de 27 años que era miembro de la Acción Católica de la parroquia El Bosque se presentó ante la Policía de Investigaciones y relató que presenció ciertos actos de connotación sexual del ex párroco de El Bosque Fernando Karadima hacia algunos feligreses.

Este testimonio corresponde a supuestos hechos ocurridos en 2002 y será puesto a disposición de la ministra en visita Jéssica González para que sean indagados.

El joven también relató un supuesto hecho en que involucra al padre Juan Esteban Morales sobre la prescripción de algunos medicamentos y una situación acontecida en una consulta médica que le hizo el actual párroco de El Bosque.

UNITED STATES
Associated Baptist Press

By Christa Brown
Friday, May 27, 2011

(ABP) -- Last week, the John Jay College of Criminal Justice released the results of a five-year study on the “causes and context” of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests. Though the study was commissioned by United States Catholic bishops, it provides useful data for understanding child sex abuse in a broader context. As the report itself states, it provides “a framework for understanding not only the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests, but sexual victimization of children in any institution.” Hence, if Baptists care about kids, they too should pay attention.

Child sex abuse is not unique to the Catholic Church. What is unique to the Catholic Church, as the John Jay report observes, is that “no other institution has undertaken a public study of sexual abuse, and as a result, there are no comparable data to those collected and reported by the Catholic Church.”

What sort of picture would emerge if, for Baptist clergy, we could gather not only the news about criminal charges and convictions, but also the data about internal complaints and denominational review proceedings? No one knows the answer to that, because Southern Baptists have refused to implement any denominational record-keeping on credibly-accused Baptist clergy.

Time magazine named this institutional inaction by the Southern Baptist Convention as one of the top 10 underreported religion news stories of 2008. And despite the near-unanimous vote of over 8,000 messengers directing a study of the issue, the SBC’s Executive Committee did not even set aside a budget for such a study. By contrast, the John Jay study was conducted at a price of $1.8 million, with about half of that paid by the Catholic Church.

UNITED KINGDOM
Eastbourne Herald

TWO BROTHERS from Eastbourne who were sexually abused by an Anglican priest have waived their right to anonymity to criticise the Church of England’s failure to protect them.

Phil and Gary Johnson were abused by the Reverend Roy Cotton in the 1970s and 1980s at St Andrew’s Church in Seaside.

Cotton worked as a parish priest despite being convicted of a sexual offence against a boy in 1954.

The pervert died in 2006 but the two brothers are angry he was never brought to justice and say it has had a devastating effect on their lives.

UNITED KINGDOM
Guardian

Catherine Pepinster
guardian.co.uk, Friday 27 May 2011

The question: Is the Catholic abuse crisis over?

The John Jay report into sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clerics, commissioned by the US church itself, is one of the most comprehensive documents that the church has published anywhere in the world on the sexual scandal that has caused it so much embarrassment and its victims so much grief. The portrait it paints of the abusers themselves are of isolated, vulnerable individuals who had difficulties in bonding with others in normal relationships, who led stressful lives and were likely to have been abused themselves. And as the report itself says:

"Priest-abusers are similar to sex offenders in the general population. They had motivation to commit the abuse (for example, emotional congruence to adolescents), exhibited techniques of neutralization to excuse and justify their behaviour, took advantage of opportunities to abuse (for example, through socialization with the family), and used grooming techniques to gain compliance from potential victims."

So why has there been quite so much outrage about sexual abuse of minors by priests, more than, say, of sexual abuse of minors by scout masters, or doctors, or teachers? Andrew Brown in Comment is free last week put paid to the notion that there are more abusers among the Catholic priesthood than among other groups. So it's not the frequency of occurrence that is the problem. The disgust, I would suggest, is rightly felt in one way because the exploitation and abuse of children is so terrible a deed.

ROME
National Catholic Reporter

by John L Allen Jr on May. 27, 2011

A funny thing has happened as the story of a recent Vatican crackdown on a legendary monastery in Rome has made its way into the English-language press. I mean that literally -- the story has been turned into a joke, thereby obscuring its real significance.

For those with eyes to see, the suppression of the Cistercian abbey at the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, one of the traditional seven major pilgrimage sites in Rome, rates far more than placement in a "news of the weird" column. Instead, it's the latest chapter in what might be called a "Quiet Revolution" under Pope Benedict XVI, referring to a reform in clerical culture beginning in Rome and radiating beyond.

The essence of it is this: it's the end of the "by their fruits, you shall know them" logic that once translated into a free pass, or at least a strong benefit of the doubt, for superstar clerics and high-profile groups charged with misconduct. Once upon a time, the working assumption in officialdom often was that if someone is doing great good for the church, then allegations of sexual or financial impropriety against them were likely bogus, and taking them too seriously risked encouraging the enemies of the faith.

Without great fanfare, Benedict XVI has made it clear that today a new rule applies. No matter how accomplished a person or institution may be, if they're also involved in what the pontiff once memorably called the "filth" in the church, they're not beyond reach.

BELGIE
Vandaag

Een groep slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in de kerk gaat bij de rechtbank van eerste aanleg in Gent klacht indienen tegen de Belgische bisschoppen, de hogere oversten van de Belgische religieuzen en de Heilige Stoel. Dat staat te lezen in de uitnodiging voor een persconferentie op 1 juni in Gent.

De groepsvordering wordt ingeleid door de advocatenassociatie Van Steenbrugge (foto), Van Acker & Mussche en gebeurt in naam van een groepering van slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in de kerk. De bedoeling van de klacht is in een eerste fase "de aansprakelijkheid in hoofde van de Heilige Stoel, de Belgische bisschoppen en de hogere oversten in een tussenvonnis te laten vaststellen" door de rechtbank. Aan de rechtbank wordt ook gevraagd om zich uit te spreken over een provisionele schadevergoeding voor de geleden schade.

ITALY
AGI

(AGI) Genoa - Don Riccardo Seppia, the 51-year-old priest arrested on May 13 for sexually abusing minors, is being questioned for a second time. Seppia is being held under precautionary arrest as ordered by preliminary investigating magistrate, Maria Vicidomini of Milan. Public prosecutor Stefano Puppo's questioning was to have begun at 3 p.m. at Marassi prison, where the priest was brought this afternoon.

BELGIE
RKnieuws

GENT (RKnieuws.net) - Een Vlaamse advocatenassociatie heeft aangekondigd dat zij bij de rechtbank in Gent klacht indient tegen de Belgische bisschoppen, de hogere oversten van de Belgische religieuzen en de H. Stoel.

De klacht wordt ingediend in naam van een groepering van slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in de kerk.

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Catholic Insider

The Archdiocese of Boston and the Daughters of St. Paul issued what was called a “joint statement” yesterday announcing that they have settled the nuns’ lawsuit against Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley and other trustees of its lay pension plan. The Boston Globe and AP reported on the news of the settlement, and though the average reader might assume everything is now all well and good, that is far from the truth. What was not reported is the collateral damage the Daughters have suffered internally from how Cardinal O’Malley and the archdiocese reacted to the bad publicity over the lawsuit. Your prayers are needed for all parties involved.

First we will cover what has been said publicly about the settlement, and then the collateral damage. From the Boston Globe we hear the following:

The Daughters, an international order of nuns whose North American headquarters is in Jamaica Plain, sued late last year to force the archdiocese to hand over the investments the Daughters had made in the archdiocese’s pension plan on behalf of the order’s lay employees.

DELAWARE
WXII

DOVER, Del. -- A Catholic priest who was relieved of his duties as pastor of a Greensboro church amid allegations of "inappropriate behavior" admitted in a deposition that he sexually abused a Delaware boy.

The admission by the former Rev. James O'Neill was outlined in a court ruling obtained by The Associated Press in a lawsuit between O'Neill's religious order and its insurance company.

O'Neill was a member of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales and the former principal of Salesianum School in Wilmington, where he was accused of molesting Eric Eden over several years beginning in 1976.

ITALIA
Newnotizie

Gli abusi di don Riccardo Seppia, la sua perversione, i suoi tentativi di arrivare a giovani adolescenti nascondendosi dietro il talare, potrebbero non essere un problema nato soltanto di recente.

L'inchiesta, che ha portato all'arresto dell'ex parroco di Sestri Ponente con le accuse di tentata violenza sessuale, istigazione alla prostituzione minorile e cessione di sostanze stupefacenti, potrebbe cercare di attingere anche su presunte vicende accadute diversi anni fa. Diciassette anni fa, nel lontano 1994, nel levante genovese un uomo denunciò ai carabinieri una strana storia: il figlio da diverso tempo riceveva telefonate anonime con contenuti osceni. Le indagini portarono a una scoperta inquietante: le chiamate partivano dalla canonica della chiesa in cui diceva messa il giovane curato Riccardo Seppia.

Il prete fu trasferito da lì a breve e la denuncia archiviata per impossibilità di determinare chi fosse l'autore delle telefonate. Oggi, però, la vicenda potrebbe essere rispolverata e gli inquirenti sembrerebbero voler fare luce sul passato di Seppia, anche se l'impresa non sarà facile: il fascicolo non è più negli archivi.

MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com)

Independently of “Tony’s Kansas City” blog, we have obtained and verified the authenticity of a just-disclosed damning memo by a Catholic school principal to church officials about repeated inappropriate behavior by Fr. Shawn Ratigan around kids at a parochial school. We can think of few church records that have been released over the past several years that are more shocking.

Document

This is a real “smoking gun.” More than a year ago, and more than six months before he tried to commit suicide and was caught with child porn, top KC diocesan staff knew of serious, credible complaints and concerns by teachers and parents about Ratigan. Yet inexplicably, the church hierarchy apparently took no action to protect kids or get help for Ratigan.

The overwhelming majority of once-secret church documents like this – that so clearly show callousness and recklessness in the face of on-going troubling behavior by a predatory priest – date back years and years. But this is a very recent memo. And an extremely worrisome one. It’s alarming that allegedly spiritual men can ignore warning sign after warning sign after warning sign.

MARYLAND
WBAL

[with video]

PARKVILLE, Md. -- A man accused of abusing a developmentally disabled man also faces accusations of distribution child pornography, according to police.

Baltimore County police arrested Tony Chestnut, 56, of Parkville, charging him Thursday with possession and distribution of child pornography and sex abuse offenses.

Police said they searched Chestnut's house on Halstead Road -- blocks away from an elementary school -- after receiving information that he possessed child pornography. Detectives said they found at Chestnut's house a large number of pornographic videos involving children. ...

Police said Chestnut was employed with Associated Catholic Charities as a caregiver at a group home in Towson, responsible for three developmentally disabled adult men. The victim was later identified as someone that Chestnut had contact with while he was employed there.

KENYA
Africa Review

Italian Kenya-based Catholic Priest Renato Kizito has been released from police custody, a day after he surrendered to authorities over sexual abuse claims.

It was not immediately clear on what grounds police decided to set him free.

On Thursday, he surrendered himself at Kilimani Police Station in Nairobi after his employee raised claims of sexual abuse.

Father Kizito’s 26-year-old male secretary alleged that the priest sexually attacked him in Riruta in the outskirts of Nairobi on Tuesday.

KENYA
Capital FM Kenya

BY BERNARD MOMANYI

NAIROBI, Kenya, May 27 – Catholic priest Father Renato Kizito was set free by the police on Wednesday over lack of evidence to charge him in the latest sex abuse allegations against the missionary.

Fr Kizito who had been in police custody since Thursday, was earlier on Friday morning taken to the Kibera Law Courts but no charges were preferred against him.

He was driven to the Criminal Investigations Department Headquarters on Kiambu Road, where he was released by the police at around 12.30pm.

MISSOURI
Pitch

[Text of the letter from the principal to the diocese]

By David Martin, Fri., May 27 2011

​The principal at St. John School warned the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph that teachers and parents were concerned about the Rev. Shawn Ratigan's "inappropriate behavior with children." Ratigan was arrested on suspicion of possession of child pornography last week, five months after the diocese became aware that he kept images of children on his computer.

A diocese spokeswoman confirms that a monsignor received a memo from Julie Hess, the principal at St. John, in which she shared concerns about Ratigan's behavior. On Thursday morning, Tony's Kansas City published a five-page memo, dated May 19, 2010, in which Hess recounted several instances when Ratigan's actions made parents and teachers feel uneasy and, at times, angry. One staff member described Ratigan as being "obsessed" with a girl in the fifth grade.

The memo is written in clear prose and organized into sections: Inappropriate Physical Contact With Children, General Inappropriate Behavior and General Concerns. The memo indicates that concerns about Ratigan surfaced in the fall of 2009. A field trip on May 13, 2010, is described as the "straw that broke the camel's back."

During a school trip to Platte Falls, Father allowed a fourth grade girl to sit on his lap and lean his body against him. He did not immediately move to re-direct her; she sat there for at least five minutes, until teachers moved to stand next to him. Then he rose to play Frisbee with a group of students

ITALIA
Citta di Genova

Genova - Il cardinale di Genova Angelo Bagnasco riceverà nei prossimi giorni una delegazione dell’associazione “L’abuso” che assiste le vittime della pedofilia e che all’indomani dei fatti di Don Seppia a Sestri Ponente aveva richiesto un incontro.

ITALIA
La Voce

Genova - Martedì nei computer sequestrati a Don Riccardo Seppia e ad Emanuele Alfano, sono state trovate decine di foto e video pornografici. Se il materiale scaricato da internet risulterebbe essere di minori, per il parroco di Sestri Ponente e l'ex seminarista, scatterebbe anche l'ulteriore accusa di detenzione di materiale pedopornografico.

ITALIA
Newspedia

DON RICCARDO SEPPIA PRETE PEDOFILO – Dopo l’interrogatorio di Emanuele Alfano, in cui l’ex seminarista avrebbe ammesso di procurare ragazzi a Don Seppia, quest’oggi tocca al prete essere interrogato. Dopo aver chiesto il trasferimento a Saremo perchè temeva che gli altri carcerati potessero fargli del male, don Seppia quest’oggi torna solo per un pomeriggio a Marassi per rispondere alle domande del pubblico ministero Stefano Puppo, anche se dagli atti giudiziari sembrerebbe che questo interrogatorio sia solo una formalità perchè in realtà non rappresenterebbe una svolta nelle indagini. Si tratterebbe di un atto dovuto, visto che il pm di Milano avrebbe dichiarato la sua non competenza e quindi reso necessario un altro atto di custodia cautelare per il prete che ricordiamo è stato accusato di abuso sui minori e spaccio di stupefacenti.

SCRANTON (PA)
The Times-Tribune

By Laura Legere, Staff Writer
Published: May 27, 2011

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Scranton surpassed its annual fundraising goal for the first time in three years, the diocese announced on Thursday.

The fiscal 2010 Annual Appeal has raised $5.5 million, exceeding a $5.4 million goal that was already $100,000 more ambitious than the goals set for 2008 and 2009, when the campaigns fell short.

In a marker of the drive's success after two years of struggle, the 2010 appeal raised the second-highest amount in the annual fundraiser's 21-year history.

CHILE
La Discusion

Como rápido calificó el obispo de Chillán el avance de la investigación de la Fiscalía Oriente sobre supuesos abusos sexuales que habría cometido contra menos según correo electrónico falso. Sereno y confiado se manifestó el obispo Carlos Pellegrin ante la etapa probatoria de la investigación judicial en la cual voluntariamente se presentó a declarar, ya que mencionó que su plena disposición a colaborar ha permitido agilizar el proceso.

Destacó que el avance de las diligencias de la fiscalía permitirán que pronto el autor del mail , con falta información sobre actos impropios comentidos por la autoridad eclesiástica contra menores, será identificado ante la justicia.

ARIZONA
Jewish News of Greater Phoenix

Rabbi Bryan Bramly and his wife, Laura, have filed a lawsuit alleging defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress stemming from his 2011 termination from Temple Beth Sholom of the East Valley.

The suit, pending in Maricopa County Superior Court, seeks damages from the temple, its board members, officers and outside counsel. Among other things, Bramly alleges that temple board members conspired to "demonize" him. The defendants are seeking from the court an extension of time to respond to the allegations.

The 56-page complaint, filed on the Bramlys' behalf by their attorney, Richard Thomas of Thomas Schern Richardson PLLC in Mesa, alleges that the temple board members and the synagogue's counsel, attorney David Selden of the Cavanagh Law Firm in Phoenix, had defamed him in the wake of his March 23, 2010 arrest on charges that, 10 years earlier, he had raped and sexually abused a 7-year-old girl when he and his family lived in New York.

On April 27, 2010, then-temple President Joel Munter notified Bramly that he was being put on administrative leave while the case was pending. On Sept. 25, 2010, the criminal charges were dismissed.

NEW YORK
Failed Messiah

New York State law says that mandatory reporters who suspect a child has been sexually abused have to report that suspicion to police or to child services. Agudah says Jewish mandatory reporters should not follow New York law, and a spokesperson for the Brooklyn DA refuses to say the DA will enforce the law against mandatory reporters who follow Agudah's dictate rather than the law.

The Forward has a new piece on Agudath Israel of America's position on reporting child sexual abuse to police or government child welfare services.

As I reported last week, Agudah held a halakha conference that granted CLE credits. At that conference, Agudah's position on reporting child sexual abuse was that in all cases of suspected child sexual abuse you must first ask a rabbi before reporting the suspected abuse to police.

In other words, except in cases where there is absolutely no doubt sexual abuse took place – for example, you walk into a room and find Rabbi X raping a 7-year-old – a rabbi (or, better yet, Agudah said, a beit din, religious court) has to give you permission to report the abuse to law enforcement or government child welfare services. And this holds true even if you are a legally mandated reporter.

NEW JERSEY
Asbury Park Press

By DONNA WEAVER Staff Writer

LITTLE EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP —A new priest has taken the post of pastor at St. Theresa’s Roman Catholic Church, where former pastor Rev. Terence McAlinden was placed on administrative leave in 2007 amid allegations he sexually abused minors.

Rayanne Bennett, spokeswoman for the Trenton Diocese, said the Rev. K. Michael Lambeth has been appointed as the parish’s pastor. Lamberth has been working as the church’s administrator.

“Bishop O’Connell determined the parish needed to have a pastor, and he wanted to recognize all the good work Father Lambeth was doing,” Bennett said.

MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

By ALAN BAVLEY and GLENN E. RICE
The Kansas City Star

[Full text of the principal's letter to the diocese]

The principal of a Catholic school warned a top official of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph more than a year ago that parents and teachers found the Rev. Shawn Ratigan’s behavior toward children troubling, including the hundreds of pictures the priest took.

The warning came more than six months before the diocese was alerted to questionable images of children on Ratigan’s computer.

Ratigan, 45, of Kansas City, North, was charged last week with possessing pornographic photos of children taken around churches and schools where he had worked in the diocese. Ratigan pleaded not guilty Monday in Clay County Circuit Court.

Ratigan’s attorney, John P. O’Connor, declined to comment about the letter.

CHILE
Bio Bio

El arzobispo auxiliar de Santiago, Andrés Arteaga, negó ante la justicia haber presenciado los delitos que habría cometido el sacerdote Fernando Karadima al interior de la parroquia El Bosque de Providencia. Una de las víctimas, el James Hamilton, dijo que el religioso no dice la verdad.

El obispo Arteaga se refirió al interrogatorio al fue sometido este martes por la ministra en visita Jésica González, quien investiga las denuncias por abusos sexuales contra Karadima.

La diligencia se prolongó por cerca de tres horas y se realizó en un hogar parroquial ubicado al lado de la Catedral Metropolitana, donde Arteaga declaró en calidad de testigo.

CHILE
Emol

SANTIAGO.- Uno de los querellantes del caso contra el sacerdote Fernando Karadima, el filósofo José Andrés Murillo, dijo que fueron evidentes las presiones ejercidas desde distintos estamentos de la Iglesia Católica para frenar sus denuncias, un día después de que James Hamilton entregara a la Justicia una serie de correos electrónicos como pruebas de estas acusaciones.

"Cuando comenzaron a llegar estos mails fue muy duro, porque sentimos que había todo un mecanismo gigantesco y poderoso intentando frenar esta acusación y frenando la justicia, buscando que esto quedara en un rincón, en un cajón, fue muy doloroso", indicó a Cooperativa.

"Son muy elocuentes los mails-añadió-, no hay casualidades, la cosa es bastante evidente, había presiones para que James mintiera y reconociera una identidad sexual que no es tal".

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

By Lisa Wangsness
Globe Staff / May 27, 2011

The international head of the Daughters of St. Paul has replaced the leader of the order’s US province, which last year filed a highly unusual lawsuit against Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley over pension issues.

The successor to Sister Margaret Timothy Sato arrived at the Daughters’ provincial headquarters in Jamaica Plain shortly after the order’s superior general, Sister M. Antonieta Bruscato, flew to Boston from Rome and met with O’Malley in the rectory of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in the South End.

In that meeting, the cardinal and Bruscato expressed dismay that the Daughters’ US province had taken the extraordinary step of suing O’Malley and other trustees of a church-run pension fund in court rather than resolving their differences in a more amicable way, according to a source with knowledge of the situation who was not authorized to speak about the conversation.

ITALY
Pharyngula

Father Riccardo Seppia is a priest under one of the advisors Pope Ratzi appointed to oversee church reforms in the wake of the pedophilia scandals.

You know exactly where this is going, don't you?

Investigators examining tapped cellphone conversations between a Moroccan drug dealer and 51-year-old Father Riccardo Seppia found evidence of arranged sexual encounters with young boys, some of whom were paid for sex with cocaine.

IRELAND
Wexford Echo

THE DIOCESE of Ferns has been rocked by the decision of one of its most well known and senior priests to step aside at the weekend because of an allegation of abuse.

At the Our Lady Star of the Sea Church in Riverchapel on Saturday evening, Fr. John Sweetman – one of four Vicars Forane in the diocese – told the congregation that an allegation had been made against him and he therefore had to step aside from active ministry.

The policy of a priest immediately removing himself from clerical duties upon receipt of an allegation of abuse in the diocese was first introduced by Apostolic Administrator Eamonn Walsh in 2002.

ATLANTA (GA)
CT Post

ERRIN HAINES, Associated Press, GREG BLUESTEIN, Associated Press
Updated 02:50 a.m., Friday, May 27, 2011

ATLANTA (AP) — Lawsuits brought by four young men who accused a Georgia megachurch pastor of sexual misconduct have been resolved, attorneys for both sides said Thursday, bringing a quiet end to a blockbuster legal complaint that targeted a powerful national religious leader.

Both sides declined to discuss terms of the deal, other than to say the civil suits in state court would not go forward against Bishop Eddie Long, pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church.

The four young men had alleged Long abused his spiritual authority and coerced them into sexual relations with gifts including cars, cash and travel when they were 17. One suit also claimed Long had sexual contact with one of them during trips he took them on in the U.S. and abroad. Long denied the allegations, and federal and state authorities didn't investigate because Georgia's age of consent is 16.

MIAMI (FL)
WSVN

MIAMI (WSVN) -- A man who has alleged that a former South Florida priest performed unholy acts on him is talking about his strong accusations.

Lawyers have filed a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Miami on behalf of Jorge Rubio, who claims to have been molested as a 10-year-old boy by father Francisco Carrera.

The reported sexual abuse took place in the seventies, when the alleged victim was an alter boy at the Lady of Divine Providence in Miami. "He was on a topic that was uncomfortable to hear," Rubio recalled at a press conference, "and then he got his hands involved with what he was discussing, which was puberty, masturbation, and went ahead and performed these acts."

The suit also alleges the Archdiocese knew Father Carrera was sexually abusing boys and reassigned him to hide the truth. The priest was eventually sent back to his native Spain.

UNITED STATES
First Things

Thursday, May 26, 2011

David Mills

In John Jay Study: A $2 million exercise in political correctness, Catholic writer Louie Verrecchio argues that the new report on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church — which did “did a remarkable job of gathering an unprecedented amount of information” — avoided the matter of the homosexuality of the great majority of abusers. Although the researchers of Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010 reported that

81 percent of the victims were post-pubescent males, [they] downplayed the homosexual connection by suggesting that this simply reflects the fact that offenders had greater access to boys. The report also proposes the possibility that, “Although the victims of priests were most often male, thus defining the acts as homosexual, the priest did not at any time recognize his identity as homosexual.”

According to Dr. Richard Fitzgibbons, a consultant to the Vatican Congregation for Clergy and a leading expert on clerical sex abuse, how an abuser may “recognize” himself is not entirely relevant; rather, the homosexual acts alone testify to “deep seated” homosexuality.

UNITED STATES
KUOW

Jessica Robinson
05/26/2011

TRANSCRIPT

One of the largest clergy sex abuse cases in the country has turned into the case of a lifetime for one Northwest attorney. The settlement between the Northwest Jesuits and abuse victims will soon go before a federal judge in Portland for confirmation. The north Idaho attorney who helped negotiate this $166 million deal says he was a small town "nobody" before the case. Correspondent Jessica Robinson tells the story of how going up against the Catholic Church shook up his own long-held beliefs.

Leander Lee James is standing next to a big red barn. Mud clings to his rubber boots.

Leander James: "Hey Louis, did you get your eggs yet?"

Three of James' young kids play nearby. James was raised Catholic and when he was about their age, he was an altar boy. And as he grew up, he was skeptical about the claims of widespread sexual abuse in the church.

That was before he started representing people making those claims.

Leander James: "Fifteen, 20, 30 people, who are abused by the same abuser. And they tell you the same story over and over and the same MO. You know for an abuser who's MO was to you know put the child on his lap and..."

AUSTRALIA
ABC - The Drum

By Scott Stephens

Pope Benedict XVI visits the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem's Old City May 12, 2009. (Reuters: Ronen Zvulun)

I suppose I should no longer be surprised by the self-righteous cynicism and seemingly wilful ignorance of the media when it comes to reporting on Catholic affairs.

But it was the way that the Australian press allowed the findings of a recent study into The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010 to sail past with little more than a perfunctory acknowledgement of its existence, much less a serious engagement with its substance and implications, that has left me bristling.

The study, released late last week, was the product of a five-year investigation conducted by a team of researchers from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York - the second such investigation carried out by CUNY researchers since the appalling magnitude of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church first became clear in Boston and then Ireland in 2002.

WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Agency

Washington D.C., May 27, 2011 / 01:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously voted on May 25 to approve Fr. Patrick J. Conroy, S.J., as the next House chaplain.

“Father Pat Conroy comes with a healthy respect for what we do,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D – Calif.), The Hill reports. “It is a beautiful honor steeped in history — deeply personal, free of politics — and we wish him every success in that job.”

The priest also discussed how he was interviewed for the position and had to discuss whether there was anything in his past that might become an embarrassment to House Speaker John Boehner, who nominated him. As a member of the Jesuits’ Oregon Province, which has faced major lawsuits for some members’ sexual abuse, Fr. Conroy told congressional staffers that his name might turn up in court documents. ...

He also discussed a 1986 letter he wrote to an archbishop about a young man who said a priest had propositioned him.

“I didn't hear back from the archbishop. There was no crime committed. I did what I was supposed to do, but the letter did come out later,” he told Religion News Service.

Defenders of Fr. Conroy’s appointment had criticized questions about the priest’s membership in the Oregon Province as an attempt to tar the priest with “guilt by association.”

WORCESTER (MA)
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

By Judith Audette

To date, a staggering 42,000 background checks have been processed just in the past six years in this diocese.

As a licensed clinical social worker, I have been dealing with sexual abuse of children for many years through various agencies, and I have witnessed the harm inflicted upon the most vulnerable members of society. This is a horrific crime and it is tragic that society still grapples with abuse in homes, in schools, in sports, and even in places of worship.

I am also a practicing Catholic and, like so many other Catholics, I was devastated and often angry that this kind of demeaning abuse could happen at the hands of a priest. When the opportunity arose to assist on our Diocesan Review Committee, I accepted in order to bring my personal expertise with my own desire to do something.

That was almost eight years ago. As the issue continues to make the news, it’s time for us to share what we have done here in Central Massachusetts, as a board of professionals dedicated to social work, child welfare, the law, and to the pastoral care of the people in this diocese, especially our young people.

KENYA
Daily Nation

By ZADOCK ANGIRA zangira@ke.nationmedia.com

Posted Thursday, May 26 2011

Father Renato Kizito, a Catholic priest two years ago accused of defiling boys, was taken into custody by police on Thursday, accused of sexually assaulting his secretary.

This is the second time Fr Kizito is getting in trouble with the law over claims of sexual crimes. In the latest case, Fr Kizito’s 26-year-old male secretary alleges that the priest sexually attacked him in Riruta on Tuesday.

Kilimani police boss Bernard Muli said after the complaint was recorded, the secretary was taken for medical examination which showed that he had indeed been sexually assaulted.

However, investigations are being carried out to establish who had attacked him.

BELLEVILLE (IL)
Belleville News-Democrat

BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK - News-Democrat

Members of nonprofit groups that support victims of sexual abuse by priests on Thursday urged Belleville Diocese Bishop Edward Braxton to give up part of his salary to help pay a court-ordered $6.35 million judgment to a former altar boy.

Four representatives of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, the Fellowship of Southern Illinois Laity and the St. Louis chapter of Voice of the Faithful demonstrated in the rain outside the diocese's chancery building on Third Street.

The demonstrators reacted the day after the Illinois Supreme Court denied a petition by the diocese to hear an appeal of a lawsuit brought in 2002 by James Wisniewski of Champaign. He won a $5 million award in 2008 that has increased to $6.35 million because of the accumulation of interest. Unless the diocese can bring further legal action, possibly in the U.S. Supreme Court, the amount must be paid.

ATLANTA (GA)
CNN

By John Blake, CNN

Atlanta (CNN) – Bishop Eddie Long, the Atlanta-based megachurch leader, has reached an out-of-court settlement with four young men who accused him of sexual coercion, representatives for both sides said Thursday.

B.J. Bernstein, the attorney representing the men, said in a statement that the lawsuits against Long and his church have “been resolved.”

Bernstein's two-paragraph statement said that neither she nor the accusers would talk about the lawsuits “now or in the future.”

MISSOURI
National Catholic Reporter

[The full text of the principal's letter to the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese]

May. 26, 2011
By Joshua J. McElwee

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The principal of a Catholic elementary school warned the Kansas City-St. Joseph chancery office that a local priest “fit the profile of a child predator” six months before the diocese took any action to remove him from ministries dealing with children.

Fr. Shawn Ratigan, 45, was arrested May 19 on three counts of possessing child pornography, six months after the diocese took its first action to limit the priest’s involvement with children by moving him to a local home for religious sisters.

The letter, written by Julie Hess, the principal of Saint Patrick School, is dated May 19, 2010 -- nearly one year before the arrest. In her letter, Hess pleads with the diocesan vicar general, Msgr. Robert Murphy, to consider a list of incidents teachers observed at the school involving Ratigan that “raised significant red flags.”

NCR confirmed the authenticity of the letter with a source at the school who did not wish to be identified. The diocesan communications director, Rebecca Summers, confirmed by phone that Murphy had received a letter from Hess about a year ago, but said she could not comment further on it. Calls to Murphy this afternoon have not been returned.

UNITED KINGDOM
Church Times

by Ed Thornton

THE Bishop of Chichester, Dr John Hind, apologised for the “institu­tional failings” of his diocese on Wednesday. He was speaking after the publication of a report by Baroness Butler-Sloss on the hand­ling of the cases of two priests who were the subject of child-abuse al­legations.

Lady Butler-Sloss was asked by Dr Hind to look into the treat­ment of two priests who had been the subject of “historic child-abuse allegations”. One was the Revd Roy Cotton, who was appointed Rector of Brede with Udimore, near Rye, from 1984 to 1999, despite having been convicted of a sexual offence against a boy in 1954. He died in 2006.

The other was the Revd Colin Pritchard, Rector of Sedlescombe from 1989 to 2001, and then Vicar of St Barnabas’s, Bexhill, until he was arrested in 2007 over sex-abuse allegations in a previous parish.

The report concluded that, across the diocese, there had been “a lack of understanding of the seriousness of historic child abuse”. It said that senior clergy, including bishops, “were slow to act on the informa­tion available to them and to assess the potential risk to children in the diocese”.

The report also said there had been “inadequate communication” between senior clergy and child-protection advisers, and “seriously inadequate record-keeping”.

MIAMI (FL)
NBC Miami

By Brian Hamacher

The Archdiocese of Miami is facing yet another lawsuit by a man who claims he was sexually abused by a Catholic priest in the 1970s.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, claims Father Francisco Carrera sexually abused Jorge Rubio when he was a 10-year-old in approximately 1976.

"He became an extension of my family. We trusted him with everything," Rubio said at a press conference Thursday.

Carrera was assigned at Our Lady of Divine Providence at the time of the alleged abuse, and became close to the Rubio family to obtain their confidence and trust, the lawsuit claims.

OREGON
The Bandon Western World

By Amy Moss Strong
Editor
Thursday, May 26, 2011

A former Bandon resident who alleges sexually inappropriate behavior by a priest at Holy Trinity Catholic Church has been awarded $225,000 in a private settlement from the Portland Archdiocese.

The settlement agreement, filed last month in U.S. District Court in Portland, alleges that the late Father Bill Karath caused the victim “personal physical injuries or physical sickness claimed to have arise from an occurrence(s)” of sexually inappropriate behavior.

Karath served as priest at Holy Trinity for 13 years, from 1989 to 2002.

Attorney Kelly Clark of the Portland firm O’Donnell, Clark & Crew LLP, said the behavior occurred when the victim was a boy and attended the church in Bandon. He would not disclose the year of the alleged behavior, or how many times it might have happened.

UNITED STATES
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

WASHINGTON (May 24, 2011)—A media expert, a businesswoman/talk show host and a pediatrician have been named to the National Review Board for four-year terms, 2011-2015, beginning in June.

The new members include Susan King, vice president, external affairs at Carnegie Corporation of New York; Coleen Kelly Mast, owner/manager of an international business, Respect Incorporated, and host of a twice weekly radio program giving advice on life’s problems from a Catholic perspective; and Angelo Giardino, MD, PhD, chief medical officer for the Texas Children’s Health Plan and a clinical professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York made the appointments.

King oversees Carnegie Corporation's external communications including its publications, website, and media and dissemination grant program. She was a journalist for 20 years and served as assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Labor. As a journalist, King was both an anchor and a political analyst. She worked for ABC News, served as a White House correspondent, and reported for CNN. She has won several journalism awards including Emmys and a National Women's Political Caucus award. King holds a bachelor of arts degree in English from Marymount College and a master of arts degree communications from Fairfield University. She is married and has one daughter.

Mast owns and manages Respect Incorporated, an Illinois-based international company offering programs, materials, and training seminars. She has developed chastity and character education programs for teens, parents and teachers entitled Love and Life: A Christian Sexual Morality Guide for Teens. Mast also authored Sex Respect, the first public school abstinence program to be tested and approved by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Her radio program airs on EWTN radio and on Sirius Satellite Radio. She holds a master of science degree in health education from Western Illinois University and an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Quincy University. She is married and has five children.

UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

May 26, 2011

An EWTN radio host, an official who oversaw the work of 16 agencies in the Clinton administration, and a pediatrician who has written on child sexual abuse have been named to the National Review Board. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), in its efforts to address the clerical abuse scandal, established the consultative lay board at its June 2002 meeting in Dallas.

Colleen Kelly Mast, the cohost of the EWTN and Sirius Radio program “The Doctor Is In,” is the author of Sex Respect, an abstinence programs for public school teens, and Love and Life: A Christian Sexual Morality Guide for Teens.

Susan King, an Emmy-winning journalist, is vice president of external affairs at the Carnegie Corporation of New York. During the Clinton administration, she oversaw the work of 16 agencies as the Department of Labor’s assistant secretary of public affairs.

UNITED STATES
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

WASHINGTON (May 24, 2011)—A media expert, a businesswoman/talk show host and a pediatrician have been named to the National Review Board for four-year terms, 2011-2015, beginning in June.

The new members include Susan King, vice president, external affairs at Carnegie Corporation of New York; Coleen Kelly Mast, owner/manager of an international business, Respect Incorporated, and host of a twice weekly radio program giving advice on life’s problems from a Catholic perspective; and Angelo Giardino, MD, PhD, chief medical officer for the Texas Children’s Health Plan and a clinical professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York made the appointments.

King oversees Carnegie Corporation's external communications including its publications, website, and media and dissemination grant program. She was a journalist for 20 years and served as assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Labor. As a journalist, King was both an anchor and a political analyst. She worked for ABC News, served as a White House correspondent, and reported for CNN. She has won several journalism awards including Emmys and a National Women's Political Caucus award. King holds a bachelor of arts degree in English from Marymount College and a master of arts degree communications from Fairfield University. She is married and has one daughter.

Mast owns and manages Respect Incorporated, an Illinois-based international company offering programs, materials, and training seminars. She has developed chastity and character education programs for teens, parents and teachers entitled Love and Life: A Christian Sexual Morality Guide for Teens. Mast also authored Sex Respect, the first public school abstinence program to be tested and approved by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Her radio program airs on EWTN radio and on Sirius Satellite Radio. She holds a master of science degree in health education from Western Illinois University and an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Quincy University. She is married and has five children.

MINNESOTA
KSTP

Attorneys for Jeff Anderson & Associates say they have filed a lawsuit on behalf of a 21-year-old Blaine man who claims he was sexually abused at the age of 15 by his youth pastor.

The lawsuit names Emmanuel Christian Center of the Assemblies of God in Spring Lake Park, its youth pastor in 2005, Paul Brandon, and the Minnesota District Council of the Assemblies of God.

According to the St. Paul based law firm, the lawsuit claims the church and its district council had a policy that allowed the youth pastor to have overnight stays with children, and should be held responsible for negligent supervision of the pastor.

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Rose French

A 21 year-old Blaine man who says he was sexually abused at the age of 15 by his youth group leader at a Spring Lake Park church is suing its religious leaders.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Hennepin County District Court on the man’s behalf by attorneys with Jeff Anderson & Associates, names defendants Emmanuel Christian Center of the Assemblies of God in Spring Lake Park, its former youth group leader, Paul Alan Brandon, and the Minnesota District Council of the Assemblies of God.

The lawsuit claims the plaintiff, referred to in the complaint as John Doe 169, was sexually abused by Brandon in the summer and fall of 2005 when the youth pastor would hold church-sponsored Friday night sleep-overs at his home in Brooklyn Park.

ITALY
The New Civil Rights Movement

by David Badash on May 26, 2011

A priest in the archdiocese of the top advisor to Pope Benedict XVI was arrested May 13 on pedophilia and drug charges in a drug and sex ring investigation.

Via Time and Worldcrunch:

“Father Riccardo Seppia, a 51-​year-​old parish priest in the village of Sastri Ponente, near Genoa, was arrested last Friday, May 13, on pedophilia and drug charges. Investigators say that in tapped mobile-​phone conversations, Seppia asked a Moroccan drug dealer to arrange sexual encounters with young and vulnerable boys. “I do not want 16-​year-​old boys but younger. Fourteen-​year-​olds are O.K. Look for needy boys who have family issues,” he allegedly said. Genoa Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco, who is the head of the Italian Bishops Conference, had been working with Benedict to establish a tough new worldwide policy, released this week, on how bishops should handle accusations of priestly sex abuse.”

“According to investigators, Seppia told a friend — a former seminarian and barman who is currently under investigation — that the town’s malls were the best places to entice minors. In tapped phone conversations the two cursed and swore against God. The priest is charged with having attempted to kiss and touch an underage altar boy and of having exchanged cocaine for sexual intercourse with boys over 18.”

ITALY
AGI

(AGI) Genoa - A priest arrested for alleged sexual abuses on minors, Father Riccardo Seppia, will be questioned in jail tomorrow. The priest, who was arrested on May 13 on charges of sexual abuses on minors and drug dealing, will be questioned tomorrow afternoon at the Marassi prison in Genoa. Public prosecutor Stefano Puppo, who is leading the investigation into the "second life" of the priest ordered that the defendant be transferred from the Sanremo prison, where he has been staying for some days, back to the prison in Genoa where he will be questioned for the second time.

ATLANTA (GA)
MyFoxAtlanta

Dale
Russell

By MYFOXATLANTA STAFF/myfoxatlanta

ATLANTA - Lawyers close to the sexual misconduct lawsuits against Bishop Eddie Long told FOX 5 News that “the matter is resolved.” Attorney BJ Bernstein said the often bitter negotiations resulted in a settlement.

FOX 5's I-Team was first to tell you how Jamal Parris and three other young men filed suit against Bishop Long and his 10,000 seat New Birth Missionary Baptist church. The lawsuits claim that the bishop lavished money, trips and gifts on the young adults, while having sexual contact with them.

UNITED STATES
Claims Journal

By Denise Johnson | May 26, 2011

Sexual abuse scandals, especially involving clergy, continue to sweep the nation capturing widespread media attention. Within the last month, lawsuits have been filed against Roman Catholic Archdioceses in Illinois, Philadelphia, and Wisconsin.

Recently, Virginia passed an amendment to the statute of limitation for filing childhood sexual abuse cases. The amendment, passed unanimously, goes into effect on July 1, 2011, posing significant coverage and investigative challenges to insurers of churches, daycare providers, schools and youth organizations.

Ryan Smethurst, a partner in McDermott Will & Emery LLP’s insurance disputes group, describes a similar law enacted in late 2002 in California. It allowed for previously time-barred childhood sexual abuse cases to be filed if done so within 2003.

“In some respects, Virginia’s [law] is more open-ended because there’s no one year filing window, but in California the legislative change prompted roughly 1,000 lawsuits against Catholic identities statewide.”

VATICAN CITY
The Record (Australia)

Thursday, 26 May 2011

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY - As two recent documents illustrate, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith keeps an eye on almost everything coming out of the Vatican.

Although it has fewer than 50 employees, including ushers and receptionists, whatever any Vatican office does or says having to do with faith and morals is a matter that falls under the congregation’s gaze.

As the heir of the Holy Office of the Inquisition - and housed in a building still known as the Palace of the Holy Office - the congregation often is portrayed as an agency almost exclusively dedicated to seeking out errant theologians and condemning their writings.

The congregation does review books that Bishops’ conferences bring to its attention, especially if the book presents itself as explaining Catholic morals or doctrine and is widely used in schools of theology or seminaries.

But since Pope Benedict XVI was elected in 2005 and US Cardinal William J Levada was appointed to succeed him as the congregation’s prefect, the office has issued only one formal public criticism of written works: a notification about two books by a liberation theologian, Jesuit Fr Jon Sobrino.More and more, the congregation’s pronouncements involve the application of Catholic moral teaching to questions concerning the very beginning and very end of human life. Biotechnology, the use of human embryos, politics and abortion, euthanasia and the care of the dying all have been topics of recent documents.

UNITED STATES
America Magazine

Responding to the new John Jay Report on sexual abuse

Blase J. Cupich | MAY 30, 2011

O n May 18 the National Review Board released a report titled The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010, prepared by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The mere mention of these two groups, the board and the school, working independently of the hierarchy to produce this report, is a ready admission that when it came to fully understanding and responding to the sexual abuse crisis in the U.S. Catholic Church, we bishops needed the help and assistance of others.

It is true that the report documents a very large drop in the number of cases of abuse in the mid-1980s, demonstrating that once we bishops realized what was happening, though tragically quite late, we could and did adopt strong and effective measures. Education about the problem and the establishment of safe environments to eliminate opportunities for abuse to occur have proven effective.

Yet just as the report reinforces what we have done and are doing right in facing the problem, it also calls for additional initiatives to address shortcomings so that the abuse of minors does not happen again in the Catholic Church.

UNITED STATES
Catholics4Change

May 24, 2011 by Susan Matthews

“The Bishops’ Priorities: Responding to the new John Jay Report on Sexual Abuse,” by Blase J. Cupich (Bishop of Spokane, Washington) for America, The National Catholic Weekly, May 30, 2011

“Yet just as the report reinforces what we have done and are doing right in facing the problem, it also calls for additional initiatives to address shortcomings so that the abuse of minors does not happen again in the Catholic Church.“

Bishop Cupich offers a solutions-based response to the John Jay Report. Not all Bishops have proven themselves to be as interested in child protection. His commentary notes improvement and includes the call to refine those efforts. However, he doesn’t address the very real issues still happening today in Philadelphia and around the world.

ATLANTA (GA)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By Shelia M. Poole and Christian Boone
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

An attorney involved in the sexual misconduct lawsuits against Bishop Eddie Long said the "matters have been resolved."

Barbara Marschalk, who represents New Birth Missionary Baptist Church and LongFellows Youth Academy, said she anticipates " the lawsuits will be dismissed, with prejudice, by close of business tomorrow."

B.J. Bernstein, who represents the four men who sued Long, New Birth and LongFellows, also confirmed the lawsuits had been settled.

Neither side would comment further and settlement terms were unknown.

ATLANTA (GA)
Daily Reporter

ERRIN HAINES Associated Press
First Posted: May 26, 2011

ATLANTA — The attorney representing four young men who accused a Georgia megachurch pastor of sexual misconduct said the lawsuit has been "resolved."

Plaintiff's attorney B.J. Bernstein said Thursday the lawsuit involving Bishop Eddie Long "has been resolved."

Bernstein declined further comment. Long's spokesman could not immediately be reached.

The young men maintained in a September lawsuit that Long, the leader of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, coerced them into sexual relationships. The men say Long abused his spiritual authority to lure them into trysts with cars, jewelry and cash when they were 17 and 18.

ATLANTA (GA)
WSB

ATLANTA -- Bishop Eddie Long reached a settlement with four men who accused him of sexual abuse, an attorney for the men told Channel 2 Action News on Thursday.

Four former New Birth Missionary Baptist Church members filed lawsuits against Long, his church and youth academy, after they said he used his power and influence to entice them into sexual relationships. Long has denied the claims.

Attorney BJ Bernstein told Channel 2’s Jodie Fleischer that neither she, nor the men who made the complaints would speak about the settlement. She released a statement saying only, "The matter has been resolved."

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
National Catholic Register

by JOAN FRAWLEY DESMOND 05/26/2011

PHILADELPHIA — In 2005, a grand jury in Philadelphia criticized Church officials for transferring accused priests to other parishes throughout the archdiocese, fueling a scandal that prompted policy changes. In February 2011, a second grand jury report resulted in the criminal indictment of three priests and a teacher for the rape of two boys more than a decade ago. Further, Msgr. William Lynn, the archdiocesan secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004, was charged on two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

The 2011 grand jury report also attacked the archdiocese for permitting additional priests with “credible” allegations of sexual abuse to remain in ministry. After initially challenging the grand jury’s findings, Cardinal Justin Rigali suspended 21 priests, a controversial action, as these individuals reportedly had already been cleared of charges.

A critical issue is the grand jury and the archdiocese’s conflicting definitions of sexual abuse and the role of so-called “boundary violations.” Experts in the field say that sexual predators often use “grooming techniques” to establish trust with minors. Thus, kissing and nonsexual touching are now scrutinized.

KENYA
Capital FM Kenya

NAIROBI, Kenya, May 26 - Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Mutula Kilonzo on Thursday asked persons who have been sexually violated to report the incidences to the police so as to facilitate timely investigations and ensure those responsible were prosecuted.

Mr Kilonzo noted that several sexual abuse cases failed to materialise in court due to poor evidence gathering by the investigators, thereby enabling the offenders to walk away scot-free.

"I don't think the question is penalties because there are sufficient penalties even now; the issue in Kenya is evidence and its management so that when an allegation is made you can prove it in court," said Mr Kilonzo.

IRELAND
Galway Advertiser

May 26, 2011.

A priest based in Ahascragh is among a number of clerics facing investigation following claims made in a Prime Time Investigates documentary earlier this week. The programme alleged that he raped a girl and fathered her child while serving as a missionary in Kenya nearly 30 years ago.

It is understood Fr Kevin Reynolds, who has denied the allegation, has stepped aside from his ministry as parish priest in Ahascragh pending an investigation. Fr Reynolds returned to Ireland from Africa in 2004.

Bishop of Elphin Christopher Jones notified Gardaí and the HSE of the accusation following the broadcast on Monday.

KENYA/NETHERLANDS
Capaital FM Kenya

THE NETHERLANDS, May 26 - A Dutch Roman Catholic Bishop was allowed to remain at his post in Kenya for two years after the Vatican was informed that he had sexually abused a minor.

Bishop Cornelius Schilder was sent into early retirement in 2009, 'officially' for health reasons. The head of his congregation says Rome could have acted sooner.

"He gave me a coffee, showed me my room and started touching me immediately,' says Michael ole Uka, describing the first time he met Schilder.

The 32-year-old Kenyan accuser, a member of the Maasai tribe, has gone public with his allegations for the first time. Uka revealed new details of the case in a TV documentary that was broadcast on the RTE network on Monday night.

CHILE
Emol

SANTIAGO.- Tras declarar por más de cuatro horas en el despacho de la jueza Jessica González , en el 34° Juzgado del Crimen, el médico James Hamilton entregó antecedentes sobre una presunta intervención del Vaticano ante las denuncias previas a que se abriera una investigación contra el sacerdote Fernando Karadima.

El galeno entregó cerca de 20 correos electrónicos asegurando haber recibido presiones para "desistir" de la acusación contra el ex párroco de El Bosque a cambio de que la Iglesia "avanzaría" en una investigación sobre sus conductas impropias.

"El tema de los mails no es una denuncia, es un hecho concreto. Están ahí y son elementos legales que se pueden analizar. Está claro en los mails las presiones y las amenazas", indicó.

ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com)

This ruling is a testimony to the strength, courage and compassion of Jim Wisniewski; his caring, supportive family; and the skill and determination of his dedicated attorneys.

Jim was brave and smart enough to speak up, seek justice, and patiently hang in there through callous and self-serving delays by Catholic officials and their high-priced defense lawyers. Because Jim wants to protect kids and expose wrong-doing, he was persistent year after year until the corruption of the church hierarchy was finally exposed in a courtroom. We admire him for insisting that top Belleville diocesan staffers face tough questions under oath so that the public and parishioners would know who ignored and concealed Kownacki’s crimes.

There are dozens of people around the Belleville area who have knowledge or suspicions about child sex crimes – by teachers, coaches, relatives and priests. We hope they will be motivated by this ruling to find the courage Jim found to take action.

CONNECTICUT
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

[Letter to National Review Board]

[Letter to Archbishop Mansell]

[Letter to Connecticut Department of Public Health]

[Email from CT state agency to SNAP]

[McGann work history]

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com)

For the first time, Hartford Catholic church officials are admitting that a priest was suspended in 2005 because of child sex abuse allegations. It’s a shame that it took six years and two protests by our group to finally prod reckless, callous and deceitful archdiocesan staff to reveal this simple but crucial fact.

Also for the first time, Hartford’s archbishop is announcing their refusal to do what 24 bishops in the US have done: post names of proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clerics on their website.

The admission and the refusal were made by archdiocesan public relations staffer Maria Zone in today’s Bristol Press.

The admission is significant because now, finally, it will be harder for McGann to be around kids. We hope parents, parishioners and the public spread the word about this disclosure and keep their children away from McGann.

BELLEVILLE (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

WHAT
At a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims with SNAP will publicly prod southern Illinois’ Catholic bishop to cut his own salary to help pay a $5 million jury verdict in a child sex abuse and cover up case.

They will also urge to Belleville’s prelate to
-- suspend an accused priest from the parish where he now works,
-- tell the public where ALL his pedophile priests are now living,
-- personally beg victims and witnesses to contact police and prosecutors,
-- visit each parish where Fr. Raymond Kownacki, a suspended serial predator priest, worked and
-- apologize for Kownacki’s crimes and for his own callous and expensive decision to keep appealing the jury finding against church officials that ignored or concealed his crimes.

WHEN
Thursday, May 25, 1:30 p.m.

WHERE
Outside the Belleville Diocese headquarters (‘chancery’), 222 South 2nd Street in Belleville

IRELAND
National Catholic Reporter

by Jamie L Manson on May. 26, 2011

Many NCR readers may remember the 2002 film The Magdalene Sisters, which tells the largely unknown story of Irish women who were forced to labor in laundries for breaking Catholic Ireland's strict sexual codes. In most cases, these women were caught giving birth out of wedlock.

It is estimated that more than 30,000 women were sentenced to work in these laundries, which were run by orders of women religious. The conditions were harsh, and many survivors recount stories of physical, psychological and sexual abuse. Though the Irish government denies having a role in these private run laundries, there is evidence that state officials routinely sentenced women offenders to the laundries. Records also indicate that the nuns were given lucrative government contracts to support these programs.

For two years, the advocacy group Justice for Magdalenes has lobbied the Irish government to investigate the laundries, but to no avail.

ROME
Daily Mail (United Kingdom)

By Nick Pisa

Last updated at 4:29 PM on 26th May 2011

Pope Benedict XVI has closed a monastery, visited by Madonna, where a stripper turned nun was a star attraction.

Vatican officials launched an inquiry following claims of 'liturgical abuse' at the monastery, after reports that the nuns were dancing around the altar during services.

Among them was sister Anna Nobili, 38, who became an overnight YouTube sensation after footage of the stripper-turned-nun preaching was posted on the internet.

IRELAND
Wexford People

Wednesday May 25 2011

A WELL-KNOWN Diocese of Ferns priest is denying any wrongdoing after a complaint of child sexual abuse was made against him.

Fr. John Sweetman, a native of Carrig-on-Bannow, is currently on leave from his duties as parish priest in Riverchapel pending the investigation into the complaint made by a woman alleging abuse in the Wexford area approximately 30 years ago.

Fr Sweetman had been away for almost two weeks, but returned to his parish church in Riverchapel on Saturday evening to tell parishioners himself that he has stepped down pending the investigation. THE PARISH PRIEST at the centre of a child sex abuse allegation told his congregation on Saturday night that the accusation against him is completely unfounded, but that he is obliged to step aside from duties until the necessary investigation is complete.

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Letters from 1966 between the then Archbishop of Canterbury and a bishop show the Church agreed that a convicted paedophile should be ordained.

The correspondence emerged in a report into the Church of England's failure to support victims of Roy Cotton that was published online and then removed.

In one letter, Lambeth Palace suggested Cotton should be placed in a "carefully selected parish".

Lambeth Palace said robust safeguarding policies had been in place since 1995.

NEW YORK
The JC

By Yoav Sivan, May 26, 2011

The portraits of the founders of psychoanalysis looked on with approval as rabbis joined mental health experts to discuss the problem of sexual abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community.

The groundbreaking event took place at the William Alanson White Institute, a top psychoanalytic training and treatment centre, on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

The rabbis explained the halachic view of sexual abuse, mental health experts explained its psychological consequences, while survivors described lives traumatised by guilt, shame and betrayal.

IRELAND
Sydney Morning herald

Carol Ryan
May 27, 2011

DUBLIN: For years it was Ireland's hidden scandal: an estimated 30,000 women were sent to church-run laundries, where they were abused and worked for years with no pay.

Their offence, in the eyes of society, was to break the strict sexual rules of Catholic Ireland, having children outside wedlock.

Although it has been more than a decade since their story came to light, the women are still waiting for an apology.

KENYA
Capital FM Kenya

BY BERNARD MOMANYI

NAIROBI, Kenya, May 26 - Renowned Catholic priest Father Renato Kizito was arrested on Thursday over fresh charges of sexual abuse following accusations by his 26-year-old male secretary.

The man told police that the sexual attack occurred on Tuesday night within Riruta area of Dagoretti, in the outskirts of the capital Nairobi.

"A 26-year-old man who works as Fr Kizito's secretary lodged a complaint that he had been sodomised by this particular priest and we are acting on it," Kilimani Divisional police chief Bernard Muli told journalists at the station where the priest was questioned on Thursday.

KENYA
The Standard

By Cyrus Ombati

Renowned Catholic priest Father Renato Sessana Kizito was Thursday arrested and questioned over new alleged sexual abuse.

This is the second time the Italian missionary was being questioned over the claims of sodomy of boys under his care.

A 26-year old man has recorded a statement with police claiming he had been sexually abused by the priest at the Comboni Missionaries in the city, which prompted the police action.

Kilimani OCPD Bernard Muli said preliminary findings had supported the complainant’s claims. To further establish the claims, the priest was taken to a police doctor for more tests.

KENYA
NTV via YouTube

[with video]

Police are holding renowned catholic priest father Rena Kizito over claims of abuse. Father Kizito was picked up this (Thursday, 26th May) morning at his residence and locked up at the Kilimani police station. This is after his secretary reported that the priest had sexually abused him. The complainant has since been taken to hospital for tests while another team of detectives has been dispatched to Dagoretti where the offence is said to have been committed. Father Kizito was in the news last year with similar claims flying around but the courts later cleared him.

KENYA
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation

Written By:Winnie Kimeu, Posted: Thu, May 26, 2011

Father Kizito Renato Sesana is once again the key suspect in an ongoing investigation in a sodomy case involving one of his employees.

Kilimani OCPD Bernard Muli said on Thursday that Kizito's DNA analysis will reveal further evidence to the cleric's guilt or innocence.

Mr. Muli said they arrested Kizito after evidence provided by the medical practitioners indicated that the young man was sodomized two days ago.

MILWAUKEE (WI)
WISN

MILWAUKEE -- The Most Reverend Donald J. Hying has been appointed Auxiliary Bishop for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. The appointment, made by Pope Benedict XVI, was announced in Rome, May 26.

Bishop-elect Hying will be ordained by Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki, on July 20, 2011, at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist.

“This is a proud moment for the Church in southeastern Wisconsin,” said Archbishop Listecki. “By choosing Fr. Hying, one of Milwaukee‟s own as our new auxiliary bishop, the Holy Father has paid a high compliment to all the priests from this diocese. Pope Benedict XVI has gifted us with a true servant-leader.”

CANADA
Ottawa Citizen

OTTAWA — Disgraced Catholic bishop Raymond Lahey is to have a sentencing hearing for his child-pornography crime on June 24.

The date — for submissions on how long a sentence he should serve, not likely for a sentence to be imposed — was set by Crown and defence lawyers and a judge in Ottawa court Thursday morning. Lahey, then the bishop of Antigonish in Nova Scotia, was caught with child pornography on his laptop computer when he was passing through the Ottawa airport in summer 2009 after a trip abroad.

He pleaded guilty on May 4 to possessing child pornography for the purpose of importation and voluntarily went to jail then, since the crime carries a mandatory jail sentence and he chose to start serving that time immediately. He retains his rank in the Catholic Church until a canonical disciplinary process concludes.

MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

May 26, 2011

Father Don Hying, rector of St. Francis de Sales Seminary since 2007, has been named by Pope Benedict XVI as the Archdiocese of Milwaukee's new auxiliary bishop, the archdiocese said Thursday.

He succeeds Bishop Richard Sklba, who retired last year.

Hying, a West Allis native, will be ordained a bishop and installed by Archbishop Jerome Listecki on July 20 at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee.

"This is a proud moment for the church in southeastern Wisconsin," Listecki said in the statement announcing the appointment. "Pope Benedict XVI has gifted us with a true servant-leader."

As auxiliary bishop, Hying will assist Listecki in the pastoral and spiritual leadership of the diocese.

RAPID CITY (SD)
KDLT

A new bishop has been named for the Catholic Diocese of Rapid City.

Pope Benedict XVI has name the Rev. Msgr. Robert Gruss to the post. The 55-year-old Gruss is pastor of Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport, Iowa.

Gruss will replace Blase Cupich, who became bishop of the Diocese of Spokane last fall after 12 years in Rapid City.

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

VATICAN CITY, 26 MAY 2011 (VIS) - Today the Holy Father:

- appointed Msgr. Robert Dwayne Gruss as bishop of Rapid City (area 11,327, population 239,000, Catholics 30,700, priests 51, permanent deacons 27, religious 60), USA. The bishop-elect was born in Texarkana, Texas, USA in 1955 and was ordained a priest in 1994. He is currently the rector of Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport.

- appointed Fr. Donald J. Hying as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee (area 12,323, population 2,315,958, Catholics 657,519, priests 651, permanent deacons 165, religious 1,660), USA. The bishop-elect was born in 1963 in West Allis, Wisconsin, USA, and was ordained a priest in 1989. He is currently rector of Saint Francis de Sales Seminary in Milwaukee.

ITALIA
Newspedia

Don Riccardo Seppia, prete pedofilo, interrogato Emauele Alfano. Emauele Alfano, ex seminarista e amico di Don Seppia, ieri dopo un interrogatorio di cinque ore avrebbe ammesso molti dei reati di cui è stato accusato e inoltre avrebbe dichiarato la colpevolezza del prete sia per ciò che riguarda lo spaccio ma anche per i reati di violenza sui minori.

SWITZERLAND
World Radio Switzerland

A parish priest from Luthern, in the canton of Lucerne, was sentenced to 15 months in prison for embezzling funds from parishioners.

The German-born parish priest stole over half a million francs from church goers between 1997 and 2003.

He used the money to renovate his apartment, buy a new car and pay for booze to feed his alcohol addiction problem.

ISRAEL
The Jerusalem Post

By JONAH MANDEL
05/26/2011 05:09

The denial and complacency within the national-religious sector regarding sexual assault of minors is wrong and harmful to the victims, an expert warned a forum of educators on Wednesday – emphasizing the danger of the belief that a rabbinic figure would not molest a child.

Speaking at the Rehovot campus of Orot Teachers’ College on their annual conference dedicated to leadership, Adi Fishman, an Education Ministry expert on preventing and treating sexual assault, specializing in the national-religious sector, said “the religious public’s feeling – as though its children are more protected from sexual assault than those of other populaces – is wrong.”

“When, indeed, nothing has yet happened, that feeling can be a convenient defense mechanism. But once a sexual assault does occur, the belief that ‘things like that don’t happen in our society’ can mar the educator or parent’s ability to assist the victimized child,” she added. “An educator must first and foremost be aware that there is a good [likelihood] that there is a sexually assaulted child in his classroom. We know that one of every four girls, and five boys, will be sexually assaulted.”

CHILE
ANSA Latina

SANTIAGO DE CHILE, 25 (ANSA) - La jueza Jessica González interrogó durante tres horas al obispo auxiliar de Santiago, Andrés Arteaga, en el curso del proceso contra el sacerdote Fernando Karadima por abusos sexuales de jóvenes de la parroquia El Bosque.

El interrogatorio se efectuó ayer en la parroquia del Sagrario, a un costado de la Catedral de Santiago, y es el primero que afecta a un obispo cercano a Karadima, sancionado de por vida por el Vaticano.

Un comunicado de la Conferencia Episcopal de Chile informó que "en el procedimiento el obispo prestó plena colaboración con la labor investigativa de la señora magistrada".

CHILE
Terra

SANTIAGO.- Luego que ayer el obispo auxiliar de Santiago, Monseñor Andrés Arteaga, prestara declaración ante la magistrada Jessica González, quien investiga las denuncias contra el sacerdote Fernando Karadima por abusos sexuales, se conocieron detalles de su testimonio.

Según adelanta hoy el diario La Tercera , fuentes habrían revelado que el religioso “ratificó las afirmaciones públicas que ha hecho: que él no fue testigo ni cómplice ni encubridor de ilícitos asociados a Karadima”.

A la vez, Arteaga respondió preguntas de la magistrada en torno a la forma en que Fernando Karadima ejercía su dirección espiritual. Al respecto, el obispo auxiliar tendría diferencias con el ex párroco del bosque, lo que también habría expresado ayer ante la jueza González.

ROME
Irish Independent

By Nick Squires in Rome

Thursday May 26 2011

THE Pope has shut a 500-year-old Rome monastery and kicked out its monks after it gained notoriety for hosting a performance by a lapdancer-turned-nun and welcomed celebrities such as Madonna.

Benedict XVI ordered the closure of the monastery of the Santa Croce in Gerusaleme (Holy Cross in Jerusalem), which holds some of the Roman Catholic Church's most prized relics, because of "financial and liturgical irregularities", a Vatican spokesman said.

About 20 Cistercian monks will be transferred to other monasteries around Italy, after it was found that their "lifestyles" were "not in keeping" with Church doctrine, bringing to an end a monastic presence on the site that dates back five centuries. They reportedly demonstrated "questionable behaviour and a lack of moral discipline" -- a possible allusion to homosexual relations.

CHILE
La Cuarta

26.05.2011

Andrés Arteaga, obispo auxiliar de Santiago, se desmarcó ayer de cualquier situación que lo ligara a algún acto ilícito que pueda haber cometido el ex párroco de la iglesia de El Bosque, Fernando Karadima.

"No he sido víctima ni encubridor ni cómplice de delitos", dijo el religioso. Acto seguido planteó que está abierto a un careo con los denunciantes de Karadima. Además, señaló que le gustaría poder conversar con Juan Carlos Cruz, James Hamilton y José Andrés Murillo.

"Los estimo mucho, ha sido muy dolorosa la situación y me encantaría juntarme con ellos y no tengo problemas (...) ojalá que no sea un careo, sino que en un abrazo de reconciliación. Hay mucho dolor en esto", expresó Arteaga.

CONNECTICUT
The Bristol Press

By Jackie Majerus
Staff Writer

HARTFORD — The Archdiocese of Hartford should make public the names of priests or any other employee who is a proven or “credibly accused” child molester, a victims’ advocacy group said Wednesday.

Activists from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests stood in front of the Cathedral of St. Joseph asking that the archdiocese disclose the names and other information of current or former church workers, living or dead, as a way to protect children.

“We have no plans to do this,” said Maria Zone, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese.

The Rev. Richard McGann, a former Bristol priest who served at St. Gregory Church, Our Lady of Mercy in Plainville and at St. Paul Catholic High School, was the focal point of SNAP’s attention Wednesday.

ROME
The Journal (Ireland)

POPE BENEDICT XVI has ordered the closure of a monastery in Rome amidst concern at the “questionable behaviour” of the monks – which included hosting the special performance of a lap dancer-turned-nun.

The monastery of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, which holds some of the Catholic Church’s most prized relics, is being closed because of “financial and liturgical irregularities”, a spokesman for the Vatican told the Daily Telegraph. Twenty Cistercian monks will be transferred to other monasteries in Italy.

In recent years, the monks had enjoyed visits by Madonna and Gloria Estefan. But for many, the highlight of their time at Santa Croce will no doubt have been the 2009 visit of Anna Nobili, a former exotic dancer and striptease artist, who became a nun.

ROME
Guardian (United Kingdom)

Tom Kington in Rome
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 25 May 2011

It sounds like something out of Father Ted: a renowned monastery in Rome where monks staged concerts featuring a lap-dancer-turned-nun and opened a hotel with a 24-hour limousine service has been shut down by the pope.

As part of Benedict XVI's crackdown on "loose living" within the Catholic church, 20 or so Cistercian monks are now being evicted from the monastery at the basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, which hosts some of the church's holiest relics.

"An inquiry found evidence of liturgical and financial irregularities as well as lifestyles that were probably not in keeping with that of a monk," said Father Ciro Benedettini, a Vatican spokesman. "The church remains open but the monks are awaiting transfer."

Reports saying the monks amassed large debts have also emerged, but Benedettini declined to give further details of the Vatican report, which was signed off in March.

UNITED STATES
The Pilot

By George P. Matysek Jr

TOWSON, Md. (CNS) -- John Garvey is convinced that religious freedom will be the most important issue facing the Catholic Church in the United States over the next half century.

"This is so because our culture is evolving in ways that are indifferent and sometimes even hostile to religion," said Garvey, president of The Catholic University of America in Washington.

The sexual abuse crisis has particularly wounded the Catholic Church, he said, contributing to a loss of moral authority. In the past decade, he said, legal restrictions aimed at the church garnered a sympathetic hearing. The church now finds itself in the same position as religious minorities, he said

UNITED STATES
Catholic News Agency

New York City, N.Y., May 26, 2011 / 12:54 am (CNA).- Catholic League president Bill Donohue said that a recent study on sex abuse within the U.S. Catholic Church defies its own research in concluding that homosexuality was not a significant factor in the crisis.

“While there are many exemplary aspects to the study, the clear failure on the part of the researchers to pinpoint the role that homosexuality played in accounting for the abuse crisis is unacceptable,” Donohue told CNA on May 24.

“Indeed, their own data belie their conclusion that this had nothing to do with homosexuality,” he said.

UNITED KINGDOM
Northamptonshire Chronicle & Echo

THE former headteacher of a Northamptonshire primary school, who is accused of child porn offences, will face a judge in crown court.

Terry Ladlow, 73, a church organist who was head at Great Doddington Primary School between 1975 and 1980, faces 24 charges of making and possessing images of child sexual abuse.

He is alleged to have downloaded 8,867 indecent images between April 2005 and March 2010.

He is also alleged to have possessed images in each of the five classification categories, including images of torture and rape.

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY Michael O'Keeffe
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Thursday, May 26th 2011

A Brooklyn filmmaker who is making a documentary about sexual abuse in youth sports says the statute of limitations that limits prosecution of sexual abuse encourages offenders to prey on children.

Chris Gavagan, whose still-in-production "Coached into Silence" includes an interview with a coach he says abused him when he was a teenager, spoke at a press conference in Albany on Tuesday to promote the Child Victims Act. The bill, sponsored by Queens Assemblywoman Margaret Markey, would extend the civil and criminal limitations for sexual abuse and give previous victims a window to bring civil suits against sexual offenders.

"The reality is that these predators will feed for a lifetime on our children," Gavagan said. "And the short statute of limitations in our state guarantees 30, 40, 50 more years of children - our children, your children - as prey. A generation of children that could so easily have been spared.

"I have been forced to watch as my own abuser, a coach with direct and easy access to a hundred children a year for decades, found his next victim, and his next victim," Gavagan added.

BELLEVILLE (IL)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

BY JESSE BOGAN • jbogan@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8255 and VALERIE SCHREMP HAHN • vhahn@post-dispatch.com > 314-621-5804 | Posted: Thursday, May 26, 2011 12:00

The Illinois Supreme Court on Wednesday denied a request to hear an appeal by the Diocese of Belleville involving a $5 million civil jury award in a sexual abuse case against a Roman Catholic priest.

The 2002 St. Clair County suit stems from allegations by James Wisniewski, currently in his early 50s, who claimed disgraced former Metro East priest Raymond Kownacki sexually abused him as a child in the 1970s for five years.

Wisniewski has said he did not sue earlier because it took years to discover how seriously he'd been harmed.

BELLEVILLE (IL)
Belleville News-Democrat

BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK - News-Democrat

BELLEVILLE -- The Illinois Supreme Court turned down a request by the Diocese of Belleville to hear an appeal of a $5 million award in a case of sexual abuse by one of its priests, making the amount plus $1.35 million in interest payable, unless a further legal challenge can be mounted.

The decision was posted Wednesday without comment.

Unless further legal action occurs, the diocese must pay James Wisniewski of Champaign $6.35 million. If the diocese does not have adequate insurance or cannot raise the money -- some Catholic dioceses in the United States have been forced to sell property to meet such payments -- the award would be paid through a guaranty bond.

Joe Tybor, spokesman for the Illinois Supreme Court, said that a reversal by the state high court of its own decision not to hear a case, "happens very infrequently."

KENYA
Capital FM Kenya

BY CATHERINE KARONG'O

NAIROBI, Kenya, May 26 - Renowned Catholic priest Father Renato Kizito has once again been accused of sexual abuse.

This time around, a 20 year old worker alleges he was sodomised by Fr Kizito.

It is the second time the priest is implicated in a sexual abuse case in the last two years.

The Italian priest of the Comboni Missionaries turned himself in and recorded a statement at the Kilimani police station on Thursday morning after learning that he was being sought by detectives, who had earlier gone to a house off Elgeyo Marakwet Road in search of him.

ROME
Vox Bikol (Philippines)

ROME, MAY 25, 2011- The sexual abuse of minors by clergymen is "a wicked emergency not yet overcome," according to the Italian Episcopal Conference president.

Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, who is also the archbishop of Genoa, said this Monday, May 23, as he opened the 63rd General Assembly of the conference, under way in Rome.

The sexual abuse of minors, he said, "causes incalculable harm to young lives and their families, to whom we do not cease to show our pain and solidarity."

UNITED STATES
SF Weekly

[Let Him Prey: High-Ranking Jesuits Helped Keep Pedophile Priest Hidden]

By Peter Jamison, Wed., May 25 2011

In this week's cover story, SF Weekly takes a look at the voluminous paper trail left behind by Donald McGuire, the defrocked Jesuit priest who is currently serving a 25-year federal prison sentence for transporting minors across state lines to sexually abuse them.

Since he was a member of the Society of Jesus, complaints about McGuire and the subsequent reactions from his colleagues and superiors were documented in great detail. (Founded by the former soldier Ignatius of Loyola in 1534, the Jesuit order prizes order, obedience, and detailed record-keeping.) Hundreds of pages of documents released as part of an ongoing lawsuit against the order show show who knew, and when, about abuse allegations against McGuire.

If you'd like to take a look at many of the original source documents that informed our story, you can view them here, here, and here. Also, here is a legal motion by plaintiffs against the Jesuits that sums up the order's history of managing McGuire over his nearly five decades as an ordained priest. (These documents have been redacted to protect the identities of his victims.)

AUSTRALIA
Church News Ireland

A retired Roman Catholic bishop in Australia has claimed that some priests do not view the molestation of boys as a breach of their celibacy vows.

Australian News.Net reported that Geoffrey Robinson, the former auxiliary bishop of Sydney, blames the absence of women from church life as a catalyst for the sexual abuse crisis enveloping the faith.

According to the Australian Women’s Weekly, Robinson said boys suffered more than girls at the hands of paedophile priests partly because they were more available to them, with nuns tending to play a greater role in the religious education of young girls.

IRELAND/ROME
The Irish Examiner

By Claire O’Sullivan

Friday, May 20, 2011

ONE of this country’s most vocal abuse victims has been invited to Rome to address some of the world’s top archbishops and bishops on how best to respond to victims of clerical abuse.

Colm O’Gorman, who was abused by Fr Sean Fortune in the diocese of Ferns in the 1980s, is the first survivor to have received an invitation specifically to discuss the Church’s response to such complaints.

It’s understood that more than 100 clerical and lay representatives working in the field of child protection will attend the Anglophone Conference in Rome this summer.

Last year’s Anglophone Conference was scheduled to take place in Athlone but was cancelled and transferred to Paisley in Scotland.

ILLINOIS
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

BY VALERIE SCHREMP HAHN • vhahn@post-dispatch.com > 314-621-5804

The Illinois Supreme Court today denied a request to hear an appeal by the Diocese of Belleville involving a $5 million civil jury award in a priest sexual abuse case.

James Wisniewski of Champaign sued in 2002 in St. Clair County, alleging that the Rev. Raymond Kowancki sexually abused him for five years in the 1970s beginning when he was 13.

His suit also claimed the diocese concealed Kownacki's suspected behavior and quietly shuffled him among parishes.

WASHINGTON (DC)
The Oregonian

By Charles Pope, The Oregonian

WASHINGTON -- Oregon's Father Patrick Conroy was sworn in Wednesday as House chaplain, making the 60-year-old priest the first Jesuit to hold the position and also the first candidate who needed to navigate around the Catholic church's recent history.

"It’s clear this loyal servant of the faithful is uniquely suited to serve as chaplain of the people’s House," Speaker John Boehner said, noting that the chaplain "is the anchor of the House."

"Leader Pelosi and I have gotten a chance to know Father Pat, and we’re honored that he has accepted our invitation to serve as chaplain," Boehner said.

UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on May 25, 2011

or: The amazingly well-written, life-changing, relevant, engaging, exciting and immensely readable book proposal that the New York publishing machine determined that no one wanted to read.

There was a study published recently showing that rejection (romantic or otherwise) causes physical pain. I wholeheartedly agree.

Why? Last week, after a five-month sales push by my big-time New York literary agent, my nonfiction memoir book proposal was politely rejected by almost every New York/East Coast publishing house.

“It was an awesome, well, written and exciting proposal,” they said. “She an amazing storyteller,” they said. But … “No one wants to read about the victims.”

WHAT?! People don’t want to read about the victims? Wait, in the past year, I have read bestselling memoirs about teenage drunks, intensely poor itinerant families where the parents became homeless people, abusive addict parents, lots of dead people, battered wives with mentally ill husbands, and FLDS child brides/escapees. And my story is the one that no one wants to read about? At least I’m funny.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Argus

By Anna Roberts »

A review into how two priests were allowed to continue working despite being accused of child abuse offences has found serious failings in the police and senior clergy.

Collin Pritchard was the vicar of St Barnabas, in Bexhill, until 2007, despite having been first reported to police for sex offences 10 years earlier. He was later jailed for sexually abusing two young boys.

One of the boys was also abused by Roy Cotton, who worked as a parish priest in Brede near Rye, but prosecutors decided there was not enough evidence to charge him before he died in September 2006.

UNITED STATES
Forward

By Paul Berger
Published May 25, 2011, issue of June 03, 2011.

One of America’s leading ultra-Orthodox groups has reaffirmed that its followers must consult a rabbi before going to law enforcement authorities with suspicions of sexual abuse committed by community members.

The admonitions, from speakers at a conference sponsored by Agudath Israel of America, came even though a recent rabbinic edict permits reporting such crimes to secular authorities. A New Jersey district attorney with many Orthodox constituents said the advice given at the conference could be a violation of state law, though that view wasn’t shared by the district attorney for Brooklyn, where many other Orthodox Jews live.

At the daylong “Halacha Conference for Professionals,” held in Brooklyn on May 15, speakers elaborated on a recent ruling by Rabbi Shalom Elyashiv, one of ultra-Orthodoxy’s foremost authorities on Jewish religious law, or Halacha. Elyashiv recently decreed that Jews with reasonable suspicions that a case of sexual abuse has occurred are permitted to go to secular law enforcement authorities, notwithstanding traditional religious prohibitions against mesirah, or informing on fellow Jews.

But at a panel discussion titled “Molestation Issues and Reporting: Current Halachic Thinking,” the panel’s leader, Rabbi Shlomo Gottesman, cautioned that Elyashiv never explained what constitutes “reasonable suspicion.” To establish this, Gottesman said, a person should consult a rabbi “who has experience in these issues” before going to secular authorities.

CHILE
La Segunda

SANTIAGO.- La investigación realizada por la periodista Paulina de Allende Salazar sobre los abusos cometidos por el sacerdote Fernando Karadima a jóvenes de la Parroquia Sagrado Corazón de El Bosque, fue premiado hoy con el Premio Periodismo de Excelencia Audiovisual, entregado por la Universidad Alberto Hurtado.

Tras la transmisión del reportaje "Caso Karadima" en abril del año pasado, se inició un intenso debate público en torno a la veracidad de los testimonios entregados por las víctimas al programa del canal estatal. Muchos defensores del sacerdote criticaron las palabras de James Hamilton, Juan Carlos Cruz, Fernando Battle y Juan Murillo.

La posterior confirmación de los abusos hecha por el Vaticano aumentó la crisis al interior de la Iglesia Católica. Asimismo, motivó a sus máximos representantes en el país a pedir perdón por no escuchar a los abusados, pese a que la justicia civil había desestimado el caso.

HARTFORD (CT)
WTNH

Jamie Muro

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) - There are more church sex abuse allegations surfacing that involve a catholic priest.

An activist group claims the clergyman has a history of molesting children and lives at a child care center in Bristol.

News 8 received a statement from the Department of Public Health that says a thorough investigation took place and there is no evidence to link the priest with the daycare, but the activist group called SNAP may not believe it.

ILLINOIS
Belleville News-Democrat

BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK - News-Democrat

BELLEVILLE -- The Illinois Supreme Court, in a decision made public Wednesday, turned down a request by the Diocese of Belleville to hear an appeal of a $5 million civil jury award in a case of sexual abuse by a priest.

Unless the diocese is successful in asking the state's highest court to reconsider its own opinion, James Wisniewski of Champaign must be paid the $5 million plus $1.35 million in interest. The payment is secured by a performance bond.

An appeal cannot be made to the U.S. Supreme Court unless it is first considered by a state's supreme court. The diocese has 21 days to ask the state high court to reconsider its decision, but cannot submit additional evidence or make further argument.
Priest abuse

Attorney Mike Weilmuenster of Belleville, who, with his former law partner and now U.S. attorney Steve Wigginton, pursued the case for nine years said, "This is a victory for all victims of sexual abuse by a priest."

UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By Susan Jacoby

In this column, I am speaking both as an atheist and as someone raised a Roman Catholic in the 1950s. The atheist is never surprised or shocked at anything done by an organization based on the premise that its head on earth is endowed by God Himself with infallible insight on faith and morals. But the former Catholic, who personally knows men molested by priests in the Fifties—only one of whom reported the event to his parents when he was a boy—is enraged by the church’s shameless, latest attempt to blame the whole pedophile priest horror on the expanded sexual freedom of the 1960s. Yes, blame it on the Sixties. What a convenient dodge for hypocritical old men who still refuse to look in the mirror and take responsibility for what happened to children on their watch under cover of what Catholics used to call The Faith with a capital “T” and a capital “F.”

The study, conducted by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York at a cost of $1.8 million (mainly borne by the church and Catholic organizations) relied heavily on data provided by the church. The report suggests that Catholic priests who came of age in the 1940s and 1950s were unprepared for the sexual revolution of the 1960s, lost their ethical moorings and violated children because of the confusion and stress created by an altered social and sexual climate. I’ll buy just one part of that theory—the part about priests being unprepared not only for the greater sexual openness of the Sixties but also for any understanding of the importance of pleasurable, consensual sex in adult life.

Karen Terry, the report’s principal investigator and dean of research and strategic partnerships at John Jay College, said in an interview that although the number of abuse cases rose in the Sixties, she could not say with any certainty whether many cases from the 1920s through the 1950s went unreported. “Was there more abuse in the 50s than we reported in our graph? She asked. “No doubt. However, there is still an increase in the 1960s. That’s been shown each year the data has come in.”

ILLINOIS
Albany Times Union

JIM SUHR, Associated Press
Updated 03:28 p.m., Wednesday, May 25, 2011

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Illinois Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a Belleville-based diocese's request to throw out a $5 million jury award in an alleged priest abuse case, the diocese said without revealing whether it planned to appeal the matter further.

The high court declined without comment to hear the Diocese of Belleville's February appeal of the 2008 jury verdict. It was the latest setback in the diocese's quest for relief from the possible payout it claims it can ill-afford.

James Wisniewski of Champaign sued the diocese in 2002 in St. Clair County, alleging that the Rev. Raymond Kownacki sexually abused him dozens of times for five years in the 1970s at St. Theresa's Parish in Salem, Ill., beginning when he was 13. Kownacki, Wisniewski testified, at times showed the then-altar boy a handgun, threatening to kill the child's parents if he ever told.

BOSTON (MA)
Daily Journal

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BOSTON — An order of Roman Catholic nuns has withdrawn a lawsuit filed against the Boston Archdiocese for allegedly not allowing it to take out their portion of a church-run pension fund so the nuns could start their own plan.

In a joint statement Wednesday, the two sides said they'd reached "a mutually satisfactory resolution" and had asked the state Supreme Judicial Court on May 10 to dismiss the complaint by the Daughters of St. Paul.

The statement says the settlement includes a transfer of the order's money to a new pension plan the daughters will run.

The nuns estimated they were owed $1.37 million from the fund, though the archdiocese said the amount was subject to mediation.

CONNECTICUT
New Haven Advocate

By Doug Daniels

Last week a highly anticipated report about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church was released, immediately drawing criticism from abuse victims and advocacy groups. The nearly $2 million study was conducted by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops footed about half the bill.

The report accurately portrays an institution far more concerned with its image than with protecting kids. But sprinkled throughout are some appalling explanations and displays of dishonesty.

First, the researchers fix the statistics to appear far more favorable toward the church by redefining pedophilia as only pertaining to children age 10 and under. The accepted age for pedophilia is 13, and of course it's a crime to have sex with any minor — something the study seems reluctant to acknowledge.

BOSTON (MA)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston

The Trustees of the Archdiocese of Boston Pension Plan and the Daughters of St. Paul are pleased to announce that as a result of the diligent efforts of all involved, a mutually satisfactory resolution to their differences has been reached. As a result, on May 10, 2011, the parties jointly requested the court to dismiss the complaint filed by the Daughters in December 2010. A copy of that joint filing is attached.

The settlement, which included a transfer of the Archdiocese Pension Plan assets allocable to the Daughters of St. Paul to a new pension plan administered by the Daughters, will allow the Daughters to independently provide retirement benefits to their current and former employees.

The relationship between the Archdiocese of Boston and the Daughters of St. Paul, which began in the 1950s, when Cardinal Cushing welcomed the Daughters into the Archdiocese by giving them a bookstore in South Boston and a retreat house in Billerica, continues to be a strong and positive one. Many Sisters in the community generously contribute to media initiatives around the Archdiocese, appearing on the new Catholic Radio station, WQOM 1060 AM, participating in Catholic media symposia and workshops, providing a source for Catholic media through their Pauline Book & Media center in Dedham and sharing their stories of faith on the Archdiocesan website’s Delegate for Religious home page. The Sisters also actively support the Archdiocese Pro-Life Office in countless ways.

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

By Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff

The Archdiocese of Boston and the Daughters of St. Paul issued a joint statement today announcing that they have settled the nuns' lawsuit against Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley and other trustees of its lay pension plan.

The Daughters, an international order of nuns whose North American headquarters is in Jamaica Plain, sued late last year to force the archdiocese to hand over the investments the Daughters had made in the archdiocese's pension plan on behalf of the order's lay employees.

The archdiocese did not disclose the amount of the settlement, but its statement said the agreement "included a transfer of the Archdiocese Pension Plan assets allocable to the Daughters of St. Paul to a new pension plan administered by the Daughters" and that it would "allow the Daughters to independently provide retirement benefits to their current and former employees."

GERMANY
WCBD

By MELISSA EDDY, Associated Press | (AP)
Published: May 25, 2011

AUGSBURG, Germany (AP) Roman Catholic intellectuals and some of the faithful in Germany are turning their backs on the church in the year following a widespread sex scandal.

There are nearly 25 million Catholics in Germany, but numbers gathered by The Associated Press show a spike in people leaving the congregation last year as allegations of clergy abuse of hundreds of children surfaced.

German theologians and others have aired their discontent in a series of petitions to church leaders calling for changes including more transparency, an end to celibacy, and women's ordination.

UNITED STATES
San Diego City Beat

By Edwin Decker

I happened to be at the Vatican while they were gearing up for the heavily anticipated beatification ceremony of Pope John Paul II. What a spectacle!

Beatification is the last stage before canonization, which is when a particular holy-person is recognized as a saint. To be beatified, the Holy-Person-in-Question (HPQ) must have performed a Vatican-approved, posthumous miracle. Then the HPQ must perform a second miracle to be canonized.

The first miracle has already happened. A Parkinson’s beleaguered nun prayed directly to Deucey (my pet name for Paul II) and lo, was her disease promptly cured. The alleged miracle was investigated and approved by current pope Benedict XVI, leaving Deucey to perform only one more miracle—which explains why every Catholic you know constantly keeps checking his or her tortillas. ...

They’ll canonize Deucey even though any clear-thinking person (who, um, happens to believes in miracles) knows no real saint would’ve let the abuse scandal happen. Any clear-thinking person (who believes in holy dead people who return to Earth in the form of magical ethnic foods) knows that not only is the former pontifex maximus not a saint; he’s the exact opposite: He’s an Aint: the Patron Aint of Letting Children Get System atically Sexually Abused (and also of diarrhea and dingleberries).

And he let it happen alright. Consider the case of Father Marcial Degollado, who continued to receive Deucey’s protection even after a guilty verdict. Consider Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, whom the former pontiff scuttled out of Boston (moments before his arrest) and rewarded with the ultra-cushy job of Archpriest in charge of Basilica Maggiore in Rome—instead of granting Law the more appropriate title of Arch-Pederast in Charge of Lava Pit 36 in Hell.

Deucey didn’t punish a single child-raping scumbag or any of the high-ranking scumbags who shielded child-raping scumbags. Because he either didn’t know what was going on (which means “The Holy See,” didn’t see shit) or he knew and kept oiling and gassing the engine—the great Rapus ex Machina— anyway. So it will take more than your standard, Cure-One-Case-of-Parkinson’s kind of miracle to make me believe that assface was a saint. Admittedly, I’m a miracle snob but, c’mon—curing Parkinson’s? Cancer? That shit don’t impress me. Diseases go into remission. It’s rare, but it happens; it’s just plain silly to confuse our ignorance about disease with divine intervention.

KENOSHA (WI)
WLS

May 25, 2011 (KENOSHA, Wis.) -- A Kenosha priest is charged with two counts of unlawful use of a telephone.

Father Michael Nowak pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanors Tuesday.

According to a criminal complaint, Nowak took a 17-year-old girl from his parish to a movie, then later called her and asked her out again. In the court documents, the girl told police Nowak asked her to "wear a low cut shirt to show off your `cha-chas'."

WTMJ-TV reports a 14-year-old girl told police Nowak called her and asked if he could perform oral sex on her.

UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Thomas G. Plante

The loudest voices were poised last week when researchers from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice finally released their much anticipated investigation examining the causes and context of clergy sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church.

Despite the fact -- and I stress the word fact -- that the study was independent, conducted by non-Catholic experts in criminal justice and behavior, many of those interviewed claimed that Catholic bishops rigged the findings.

As someone who consulted on the study, it is my professional opinion that it offers a comprehensive analysis of the problem, and it is a must read for anyone interested in learning more about clergy sexual abuse.

The report examines the Catholic Church's organizational responses to abuse claims over the past half century. It concludes that U.S. Bishops were generally well-informed about the problem of clergy abuse by the mid-1980s. It also clearly states that while some bishops implemented effective policies and procedures, others clearly were focused on the concerns of the priest offender rather than those of the victim.

KENYA
Capital FM Kenya

BY ERIC LATIFF

NAIROBI, Kenya, May 25 - A Catholic priest is under investigation in Ireland over the regular abuse of boys at the Ngong parish in Kenya.

Also under probe in the Netherlands is a Dutch Bishop following an expose through a TV documentary aired by Irish broadcaster RTE which highlighted the abuse by priests from the Mill Hill Missionaries.

The documentary has lifted the lid on 56-year-old Fr Gerry Geraghty who now lives at the order's house in Rathgar, Dublin. He is alleged to have abused young boys in Kenya as recently as five years ago.

MALTA
The Malta Independent

by Chiara Bonello

Silence continues to shroud the case of the Dominican nun who was questioned by the police after allegations of abuse at Lourdes Home in Gozo, as the Archbishop’s Curia yesterday told this newspaper it is not their policy to make public comments on such cases.

Questions were sent by this newspaper to the Archbishop’s Curia regarding the whereabouts of the nun who was questioned by the police, after allegations of abuse at Lourdes Home in Gozo emerged.

However the replies followed the line that the alleged case referred to the Gozo Diocese, not the Maltese Diocese, and that it was the policy of both dioceses not to make public comments about individual cases.

UNITED KINGDOM
Guardian

Mark Silk
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 25 May 2011

The question: Is the Catholic abuse scandal over?

Five years and $1.8m in the making, the John Jay College report on the "causes and context" of the sexual abuse crisis in American Catholicism that was released last week has an excellent story to tell.

The report identifies the crisis as a mountain of incidents, rising steadily from sea level in 1950 to a peak in 1980, then declining precipitously to a permanent low plateau in the mid-1990s.

It divides the relevant priests into "cohorts" according to decade of ordination, and asserts that in each case, "the participation in sexual abuse of the cohort rises in the 1960s and 1970s and falls in the 1980s".

So the decades made them do it: "The period of elevated incidence and subsequent decline are thus seen as period effects that were shaped by general social factors." The 1960s and 1970s encouraged bad behaviour of all sorts, but in the 1980s there was "a reduced tolerance for behavioural deviance in society in general".

IRELAND
The New York Times

By CAROL RYAN
Published: May 25, 2011

DUBLIN — For years, it was Ireland’s hidden scandal: an estimated 30,000 women were sent to church-run laundries, where they were abused and worked for years with no pay. Their offense, in the eyes of society, was to break the strict sexual rules of Catholic Ireland, having children outside wedlock.

Although it has been over a decade since their story came to light, the women are still waiting for an apology, and possibly compensation.

Now, an advocacy group, Justice for Magdalenes, which has spent the last two years lobbying the Irish government to investigate the history of the laundries, is taking the case to the United Nations, alleging the abuse amounted to human rights violations, and hoping that an official rebuke from the international body will shame the government into action.

“We don’t take any pleasure in embarrassing the government in this way but we have worked the domestic structure as far as we can and still the government has done nothing,” said James Smith of Boston College, a spokesman for Justice for Magdalenes.

UNITED STATES
Voice from the Desert

By Harry Leibowitz, Ph.D., Chairman and Founder of the World of Children (www.worldofchildren.org) November, 2008

Introduction

As far back as recorded history can take us there are references to prostitution and brothels. Similarly, there are ample records of women and men being forced into sexual slavery in almost all cultures and societies. On a recent visit to Lima, Peru I was struck by the plethora of artifacts in the pre-Columbian museum there depicting sexual acts of all kinds…many of which would be considered abhorrent in today’s “civilization” and many with figures that appear to be children. Throughout recorded history, there has always been a premium placed on sexual activity with young children. The ancient Greeks and Romans record the enslavement of “underclass” children and those from conquered countries as concubines to the rich and wealthy…both girls and boys.

In today’s world, because of globalization, the ease of travel and the instantaneous nature of communications, the trafficking of children for purposes of sex has reached epidemic proportions. The “demand” for young children for sex and the supply of them has become a global business. Nefarious characters abduct children or purchase them from unsuspecting families then rape and torture them into submission, ultimately selling them for sex. Equally nefarious characters from around the world organize “excursions” designed to frequent child prostitutes…most often in third world countries. While it is impossible to get a good handle on the enormity of the problem, according to UNICEF’s publication “The State of The World’s Children”, 2007 it was estimated that there are 1.8 million children involved in the commercial sex trade. In another UNICEF publication “Child Protection: A handbook for parliamentarians” 2004, it is estimated that “…1 million children a year are forced into prostitution and are trafficked/sold for sexual purposes…”. Estimates are that in the United States alone, “The number of sexually exploited children in the United States also is unknown but conservative estimates place their numbers at between 300,000 and 500,000.” (Dr. Richard J. Estes, University of Pennsylvania “The Sexual Exploitation of Children” 2001)

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Church of England senior clergy and Sussex Police have been criticised over how they dealt with claims of historic abuse by two Sussex paedophile priests.

Roy Cotton and Colin Pritchard abused children in the 1970s and 1980s. Pritchard admitted the crimes in 2008. Cotton had a conviction from the 1950s.

The church appointed Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss to carry out a review.

She said the victims' claims were not taken seriously. The Bishop of Chichester has apologised.

ITALIA
Il Giorno

Milano, 25 maggio 2011 - Bandierine e nastri colorati all’ingresso. Due terreni da calcetto ben curati, un campo a undici, il furgone con lo stemma della Sampdoria. Gli anziani al bancone del baretto: «Un ghiacciolo all’anice, per favore». Passa qualche ciclista, i patiti della corsa cercano un po’ d’ombra tra gli alberi del parco di Trenno. Unione Sportiva Viscontini, zona Bonola, all’angolo tra via Fratelli Gorlini e via Giorgi. Due anni e mezzo fa, le denunce di alcune mamme, che accusano l’allenatore Livio Volpi di molestare i ragazzini delle giovanili. Allontanato «in tempo zero - assicurano i responsabili della società -. Non ci abbiamo pensato su». Ieri, il sospiro di sollievo: «Non possiamo dirci felici - ripetono - perché si tratta di una brutta vicenda che ci saremmo evitati volentieri. Tuttavia, siamo soddisfatti: se ha commesso qualche errore, è giusto che paghi: noi abbiamo fatto il possibile».

Poco lontano, c’è una scuola elementare. Alle quattro del pomeriggio suona la campanella: papà e nonni aspettano figli e nipoti. Non si parla d’altro: molti degli alunni dell’istituto abitano in questo quartiere residenziale della profonda periferia ovest, alcuni di loro hanno iniziato a dare i primi calci al pallone proprio sul sintetico di via Giorgi 10. Storia trentennale, gemellaggio con i blucerchiati liguri, camp estivi per tutto il mese di giugno, persino corsi di karate. «Il club venne fondato nel 1980 per volontà di un gruppo di genitori e insegnanti della scuola elementare Viscontini - si legge sul sito web - per promuovere le attività sportive a Trenno». Oggi, quei padri diventati nonni si interrogano sul caso del giorno: «Pensare che li mandiamo a giocare per evitare che stiano in strada, e poi vedi cosa succede?». Nessun riferimento alla dirigenza della società: «Lo hanno cacciato immediatamente - ricordano -. Cos’altro avrebbero potuto fare?».

ITALIA
Citta di Genova

Genova - Dopo lo scandalo di Don Seppia la chiesa dello Spirito Santo di Sestri Ponente riparte da don Roberto Ghiara. È lui infatti il nuovo parroco scelto dal Cardinale Angelo Bagnasco come nuova guida spirituale di una comunità religiosa sconvolta e turbata dalla vicenda giudiziaria del prete arrestato per abuso su minori e cessione di stupefacenti.

CHILE
La Tercera

El obispo auxiliar de Santiago, Andrés Arteaga, prestó declaración esta tarde ante la ministra en visita, Jéssica González, quien investiga las denuncias contra el ex párroco de la Iglesia de El Bosque Fernando Karadima, acusado de abuso sexual a menores de edad.

Según indicó la Conferencia Episcopal, a las 17.45 se efectuó la diligencia en el domicilio de Arteaga, ubicado en la Parroquia El Sagrario, ubicado a un costado de la Catedral Metropolitana.

Arteaga es el primer obispo interrogado por la ministra en visita y el diálogo entre ambos se extendió por cerca de tres horas.

En el procedimiento, el obispo prestó plena colaboración con la labor investigativa de la magistrada, según afirmó la Iglesia Católica chilena a través de un comunicado.

CHILE
Terra

SANTIAGO.- El obispo auxiliar de Santiago, Monseñor Andrés Arteaga, prestó declaración esta tarde ante la magistrada Jessica González, quien investiga las denuncias contra el sacerdote Fernando Karadima por abusos sexuales.

De acuerdo a un escueto comunicado emitido por la Conferencia Episcopal, la diligencia se efectuó en el domicilio de Arteaga y se extendió por cerca de tres horas.

En el procedimiento, “el obispo prestó plena colaboración con la labor investigativa de la magistrada”, finaliza el texto.

VERENIGDE STATEN
RKnieuws

ANTWERPEN (RKnieuws.net) - Homoseksualiteit, het celibaat en het aan mannen voorbehouden priesterschap zijn geen oorzaken van het pedofilieschandaal in de Amerikaanse katholieke kerk, wel de seksuele revolutie van de jaren 1960. Dat is de opmerkelijke conclusie van een onafhankelijk onderzoek in opdracht van de Amerikaanse bisschoppenconferentie (www.usccb.org).

Het onderzoeksteam van het John Jay College of Criminal Justice van de stadsuniversiteit van New York publiceerde vorige woensdag, 18 mei, een door de Amerikaanse bisschoppenconferentie bestelde en gedeeltelijk betaalde studie over de oorzaken en de context van het seksueel misbruik door priesters in de Verenigde Staten tussen 1950 en 2010. Volgens dat wetenschappelijke instituut is het pedofilieschandaal te wijten aan de slechte priesteropleiding in de jaren 1940-’50, waardoor die generatie priesters nadien emotioneel niet was opgewassen tegen de maatschappelijke omwentelingen en de seksuele revolutie van de jaren 1960-’70.

Volgens de onderzoekers moet de oorzaak van het misbruik niet worden gezocht in de binnenkerkelijke structuren, maar wel in de tijdgeest. Het celibaat en het aan mannen voorbehouden priesterschap waren in de onderzochte periode niet verantwoordelijk voor de toe- of afname van misbruikzaken. Die priesterdaders zijn bovendien volgens het onderzoek geen echte pedofielen. De grootste groep slachtoffers bestond uit jongens tussen 11 en 14 jaar, maar de verklaring daarvoor vinden de onderzoekers in het gegeven dat die misbruikplegende priesters nu eenmaal makkelijker toegang tot die groep hadden dan tot andere groepen. Voorts toont het onderzoek aan dat toen eind jaren zeventig en begin jaren tachtig het aantal homoseksuelen op seminaries toenam, het aantal misbruikgevallen afnam. Daaruit wordt de conclusie getrokken dat de homoseksuele geaardheid losstaat van het misbruik van minderjarige jongens.

KENOSHA (WI)
WISN

KENOSHA -- Prosecutors charged a Kenosha Catholic priest Tuesday with unlawful phone use-threaten with obscenity.

They said he made sexual comments over the phone to two teenage girls, ages 14 and 17.

The Reverand Michael Nowak plead not guilty to the misdemeanor charges in court.

IRELAND
Galway News

May 25, 2011

A priest in the village of Ahascragh has stepped aside from his ministry following accusations that he fathered a child in Kenya.

A Primetime investigation earlier this week accused Fr. Kevin Reynolds of raping a girl in Kenya and fathering a daughter, who is now 29 years old.

NEDERLAND
Brabants Centrum

Bisschop Antoon Hurkmans heeft met ingang van 1 augustus de taken en bevoegdheden ontnomen van pastor Geert-Jan Putmans van de Bossche Sint-Janskathedraal. De 33-jarige oud-Liempdenaar heeft te kennen gegeven zich niet aan het celibaat te kunnen houden, zo meldt het bisdom. Putmans wil zelf niet reageren, zo werd vanuit de familiekring gemeld.

Twee jaar geleden werd Putmans door de bisschop aangesteld als deeltijdpastor in de Sint-Jan. Na in 1997 priester te zijn gewijd in de Bossche kathedraal verdiepte hij zich vanaf 1999 vijf jaar lang in Rome in vraagstukken over huwelijk, gezinsleven en seksualiteit. ,,Ik heb een groot verlangen om de boodschap van huwelijk en gezin bij de mensen te brengen", vertelde Putmans drie jaar geleden tijdens een interview in deze krant.

Naast deeltijdpastor was Putmans de voorbije jaren studieleider aan het Sint-Janscentrum in 's-Hertogenbosch. Aan dit seminarie volgde de priester ook zelf zijn opleiding; hij werd daartoe aangezet door de voormalige Liempdse pastoor Jan van Adrichem. Als tiener werd Putmans gegrepen door het katholieke geloof bij de Gemeenschap Emmanuel, voortgekomen uit de ontwikkelingen na het Tweede Vaticaans Concilie.

CALIFORNIA
SF Weekly

By Peter Jamison Wednesday, May 25 2011

The conservative Catholic family lived on a quiet cul-de-sac in Walnut Creek and took pains to observe the traditions of a church racked by social change. Their lives appeared driven by the famous motivational phrase of Saint Ignatius, "Ad majorem Dei gloriam" — for the greater glory of God. It was the same motto that ostensibly guided the Jesuit priest, Donald McGuire, to whom they turned for spiritual guidance.

Then, in 1993, they learned that McGuire had done unthinkable things with their 16-year-old son, Charles, who traveled with him as his personal assistant. The boy and the priest had allegedly looked at pornographic magazines, masturbated, and taken showers together. The family took this devastating news to an esteemed San Francisco priest, Joseph Fessio, who, like McGuire, had once been a teacher at the University of San Francisco.

Fessio runs the Ignatius Press, a Catholic publishing house based in the Sunset District that is the primary English-language publisher of the pope's writings. He and McGuire shared a reputation for doctrinal orthodoxy. McGuire, for his part, was a cleric of worldwide renown, functioning as adviser and confessor to Mother Teresa. While family members considered reporting the abuse to secular authorities, Fessio urged them to stay quiet until he could confer with Jesuit higher-ups.

UNITED STATES
Miranda Celeste

Last week, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) released a report called “The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010” (.pdf), a companion to their 2004 report, “The Nature and Scope of the Problem of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests and Deacons in the United States, 1950-2002“. Both reports were compiled by the research team at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York at the request of the USCCB’s Office of Child and Youth Protection and the National Review Board, a group of prominent Catholic laity (both the OCYP and the NRB were created by the USCCB after the 2002 adoption of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People). It is important to note that, although the research was carried out by the John Jay College, the UCCSB had the final say on whether or not to authorize publication of the report.

Before I read the newly-released report, I tried to be as charitable and optimistic about it as possible, with the thought that “well, this is better than nothing”.

After finishing the report, though, I can say with certainty that both my charity and my optimism were unwarranted. I was wrong. Very wrong. This report isn’t better than nothing. It’s a major setback in the movement towards Church accountability.

NEDERLAND
Limburgs Dagblad

De man die donderdagmiddag in Venlo de spotprent over seksueel misbruik in de kerk stal, heeft de tekening van Peter van Straaten terugbezorgd bij het Limburgs Museum.

NEDERLAND
Vandaag

In het Limburgs museum in Venlo (Nederlands-Limburg), heeft een dief twee spotprenten ontvreemd.

De spotprenten, van de hand van Peter van Straaten, handelen over seksueel misbruik in de kerk. Eén van de tekeningen toont bijvoorbeeld een biddend kind dat een kruisbeeld in de anus heeft steken.

BRISTOL (CT)
The Bristol Press

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

By Lisa Backus
Staff Writer

BRISTOL — A city woman is denying claims by a national advocacy group that she allowed a former priest accused of molestation to live in her Root Avenue home where she runs a day care center.

Debra Zakrzewski said she is friends with the Rev. Richard McGann but that he never lived in her home or was near the children at the center.

McGann’s access to the children is a driving point behind a news conference scheduled for today at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

CALIFORNIA
Catholic San Francisco

This is an excerpt from a statement released by the Archdiocese of San Francisco in response to the John Jay College study on clergy abuse in the U.S.

Here in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, as elsewhere in the church, many steps have been taken to combat this evil. As the study points out, providing safe environments for our young people is perhaps the most important way to prevent sexual abuse. In the archdiocese, we have checked the backgrounds of 15,376 adults. We also have trained 7,749 employees, 14,915 volunteers, 360 temps, and 2,699 parent-volunteers. In addition, we train every child in our schools and in our religious education programs every year. In 2010, 34,182 children (all ages) were trained to be aware of and avoid possibilities of sexual abuse. Also, our seminary formation program provides rigorous screening, and more intensive and comprehensive human and emotional development, which better prepares our future priests to live out their commitment to serving God and his church.

UNITED STATES
OpEd News

Many pedophiles don’t have criminal records, either because they haven’t been caught or haven’t been prosecuted. The majority of churches and religious groups do not conduct background checks or take any steps to protect children against mistreatment.

Children’s advocate groups say not all background checks are equal and warn that religious groups are often targets for abusers. There is a $10 basic-level background check option that includes a national criminal and sex offender search. In a sampling of 900 churches and religious groups 11,277 background checks were conducted, 40% returned a hit, 21% or 2,320 returned records with felony offenses.

Insurance companies recommend churches and religious groups conduct background checks but don’t require such screening for coverage. Insurance and child advocate groups also urge background checks not only be conducted on newcomers but with existing staff and volunteers.

GHANA
Ghana Web

By Emmanuel Sarpong Owusu-Ansah (Black Power)

I have always considered it a duty to investigate and expose the ills of society (particularly the Ghanaian society) and to impartially analyse topical and scandalous issues such as Amina’s alleged mass rape incident, the sexual assault of the other Amina by some barbaric university students, and the recent chaos within the Ghanaian judicial institution. The time is now ripe for a critical look to be taken at another important issue – the proliferation of “mushroom” churches and fake Ghanaian pastors abroad.

Over the last decade, the Ghanaian and other international media have brought into the open, a number of heinous crimes involving pastors within the Ghanaian society – crimes ranging from sexual abuse to deceit and other fraudulent activities. As a concerned son of the great nation, Ghana, I have taken the exciting pain to investigate the extent to which pastors contribute to the predicaments of a considerable number of Ghanaians abroad. The rationale is to conscientize all Ghanaians especially those in the West about the upsurge of wolves in sheep skins, and to advise them to be wary of a number of pastors, since forewarned is forearmed.

In my quest to come up with credible findings, 100 African migrants and immigrants (50 men and 50 women), mostly Ghanaians, living in western countries specifically the UK and Italy were interviewed (that the small sample size somehow limits the credibility of the findings is graciously admitted). They (the respondents) were encouraged to mention why they go to church, to express their opinions on the credibility of Ghanaian pastors in the UK and Italy, and to share any experiences that they might have had with any pastor(s). I do not intend to provide full details of the research findings here. However, I can mention that 52 out of the 100 respondents, who were in fact selected at random, had some kind of unpleasant personal experiences with some Ghanaian pastors in western countries to share; while 48 gave positive testimonies in favour of pastors. This article is thus based on the findings of this personal research conducted between August 2010 and February 2011. It presents a very brief summary of the activities, motivation and the modus operandi of the fake Ghanaian pastors in western countries.

IRELAND
News 24 (South Africa)

Dublin - Ireland was examining on Tuesday if it can charge Catholic clergy with child sex abuse committed abroad following allegations of rape and abuse by Irish missionaries in a number of African countries.

A TV documentary by Irish broadcaster RTE highlighted allegations of abuse by priests and religious brothers in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria with accounts from victims, many speaking for the first time about their ordeals.

Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter said he had watched a pogramme aired on Monday "with a sense of revulsion at the unspeakable catalogue of abuse against children it revealed.

WILMINGTON (DE)
The News Journal

Written by
BETH MILLER

Ballots and details of the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization plan will be in the mail next week to its creditors, including about 150 survivors of clergy abuse, more than 1,300 lay employees, banks and others with pending claims.

And a date – July 8 – has been set to work through final objections and confirm a final plan.

But a monkey wrench may be in the mix, too – a problem that could derail the negotiations and delay settlement payments for more than a year, according to Thomas Neuberger, the lawyer whose firm has represented the majority of sexual abuse survivors in scores of cases against the diocese.

UNITED STATES
America Magazine

Posted at: Tuesday, May 24, 2011 06:42:31 PM
Author: John Coleman, S.J.

This week ( on May 26) Pat Conroy S.J., a Jesuit of the Oregon Province, is due to be inaugurated as the 60th House Chaplain for the House of Representatives-- the first such Jesuit chaplain and only the second Catholic priest to hold the position. I knew Pat almost thirty years ago when he was a student at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley where I taught on the faculty. He took my course on Catholic Social Teaching. Naturally, I am delighted at his being chosen for the task. I have always felt a warm kindness toward Pat because he rescued me, one exceedingly cold morning in Washington, D.C., when I arrived at the Georgetown Jesuit residence. After trying in vain to alert several older fathers who passed by the front window I was knocking on ( in, perhaps naive, kindness I presume they were deaf and blind), I was left stranded in the cold. Eventually, Pat let me indoors and kindly helped me find my room and asked if there was anything else he could do for me.

To my dismay, however, a kind of firestorm broke out after his nomination was made known on May 11. By a kind of ' guilt by association', various groups, including S.N.A.P., tried to link Conroy somehow to the stupendous financial settlement ( $166 million dollars) his Jesuit province made to cover allegations of some 400 claims of sexual abuse of under-aged people by Jesuits and non-Jesuit lay workers in Oregon's Jesuit apostolates. At the news conference at Jesuit High in Portland where Conroy recently taught, S.N.A.P. ( a major support group for victims of clerical sexual abuse) laid out an array of pictures of children abused by priests. Some groups claimed that any priest from the Oregon Province ( no matter his own inner probity) should never be considered for such a public position as House Chaplain.

NEW JERSEY
Asbury Park Press

The idea that individuals are responsible before God for their sins and before the law for their crimes is nearly universal.

But a report released last week that explores the context and causes of child sexual abuse by priests in this country at times seems to downplay personal responsibility and lays the blame on the permissive society of the 1960s and 1970s. That’s a shame, and it calls for a firm and quick response from the church itself.

The report, commissioned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, was undercut by one of its main conclusions: namely, that the hippies of the ’60s and the libertines of the ’70s were in some ways responsible for some priests’ reprehensible actions.

MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

By ALAN BAVLEY
The Kansas City Star

A group representing victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests called on Tuesday for the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph to provide further explanation of its handling of the case of a priest charged recently with possession of child pornography.

Shawn Francis Ratigan, 45, of Kansas City, North, is accused of possessing pornographic photos of children around churches and schools where he had worked in the diocese. Ratigan pleaded not guilty Monday in Clay County court to criminal charges of possessing child pornography.

The church was alerted to the problem in mid-December when a technician fixing Ratigan’s laptop computer discovered the images, according to court documents. The technician gave the laptop to diocesan officials and told them what he’d found. At that time, the diocese contacted a Kansas City police officer and described one of the images. But the diocese waited until May to file a report to police and provide investigators with electronic images from Ratigan’s computer.

NEW YORK
Albany Times Union

By Thomas K. Duane
Published 12:45 a.m., Wednesday, May 25, 2011

The beatification of Pope John Paul II in Vatican City has caused much fanfare around the globe, yet for many people it stirred painful memories of the clergy sex abuse scandal that occurred under his leadership.

Child sex abuse is not limited to the Catholic Church or to any other organized religion. A child or teenager can be molested by any adult in a position of authority or trust.

It is also true that those molested at an early age do not come to terms with what has happened to them until much later in life. I have spoken to many survivors and the pattern of delayed reaction, and pain, is always the same. In the case of institutional sexual abuse, the pain is magnified when it becomes clear that officials knew about the proclivity of abusers and did nothing.

NEW YORK
Albany Times Union

By BRENDAN J. LYONS Senior writer
Published 12:56 a.m., Wednesday, May 25, 2011

ALBANY -- Two men who said they were raped as children by priests from the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese joined ranks with a Queens assemblywoman Tuesday to push for a measure extending the statute of limitations in child sexual abuse cases.

The bill proposed by Assemblywoman Margaret M. Markey, D-Queens, has passed three times in the Assembly but never been presented for a vote in the Senate.

"New York, pass this law," said Heath Bromley, a sexual abuse victim of Gary Mercure, a longtime priest in the Albany diocese. "Do you support pedophiles or do you support children?"

Mercure was convicted of rape and indecent assault and battery on a child last year in Berkshire County, Mass. The investigation of Mercure started in Warren County but had to be shifted to Massachusetts because his crimes, which took place between 1986 and 1989, were not subject to prosecution under New York's statute of limitations. Mercure had raped some of his child victims during trips to Massachusetts, where the statute of limitations extends 27 years after a sexual abuse incident is reported or from when a child victim reaches the age of 16.

UNITED KINGDOM
This is Gloucestershire

THE former stepson of paedophile Bill Carney last night spoke of his anger at how the Irishman had still not been brought to justice – more than 18 months after being exposed as a serial sex abuser.

Paul Clayton, a well-known journeyman woodcarver from the Cotswolds who is currently living and working in the large lay-by at Seven Springs, contacted the Echo after it emerged that Carney was living in Northleach, back in the home of his ex-wife, Mr Claytons mother. The couple, who lived in Gloucestershire before buying a guest house in Scotland, divorced late last year following the publication of the Murphy report, but Carney remained in contact and has continued to protest his innocence.

"He claims to be innocent right up to the point where he's asked to defend himself," said Mr Clayton, who makes a living selling garden ornaments.

"Then he says no comment and runs. Only a guilty man runs. We are pretty sure he's gone to Spain." In 1992, Carney was defrocked after a canonical inquiry found him guilty of abusing children.

SOUTH AFRICA
Times LIVE

Miranda Celeste has done a close reading of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ report into peadophile priests, and its not good.

The funding for the report was apparently mostly provided by sources that had an interest in minimising the damage, which they did. For example, they only considered it a case of peadophilia if the priest targetted kids younger than ten-years-old.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) sets that cut off at the victim being thirteen-years-old.

Why does this matter? “Most sexual abuse victims of priests (51 percent) were between the ages of eleven and fourteen.”

ROME
Catholic News Service

By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service

ROME (CNS) -- The Salesians of St. John Bosco removed two European members from their duties after it was discovered one belonged to a pro-pedophilia organization and another made remarks defending pedophilia.

The Salesian headquarters in Rome said a Dutch priest identified only as Father "B" and the superior of the Salesians in the Netherlands, Father Herman Spronck, had both been suspended.

"The Belgium-Holland Province officially announced that Father B no longer has permission to carry out any pastoral activity and that Father Spronck has been relieved of his office as delegate," the congregation said in a May 23 press release.

AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

BY MICHELLE HARRIS
25 May, 2011

DETAILS of sexual misconduct findings against two Anglican priests have emerged in a NSW Supreme Court hearing into the Newcastle Diocese's handling of the matter.

The priests, retired dean of Newcastle Graeme Lawrence and Reverend Graeme Sturt, were accused of an incident involving a teenage boy, referred to as "M", in a motel room during an Anglican seminar at Narrandera in 1984.

The Newcastle Diocese professional standards board heard the allegations and made findings last December, recommending the priests be deposed of holy orders.

Police investigated the allegations but have not laid charges.

IRELAND
Gorey Guardian

Tuesday May 24 2011

THE PARISH PRIEST of Riverchapel is denying any wrongdoing after a complaint of child sexual abuse was made against him.

Fr John Sweetman is currently on leave from his duties in the seaside village pending the investigation into the complaint, which has been made by a woman and which dates back to his time as a curate in Wexford town in the early 1980s.

Fr Sweetman has been absent from the parish for almost two weeks now pending an investigation, in line with Diocese of Ferns procedures that were introduced in recent years. He returned to Our Lady Star of the Sea Church on Saturday evening to tell parishioners himself of the reason for his absence and to insist that the complaint made against him is without foundation.

WISCONSIN
TMJ4

Father Michael Nowak is facing two charges of inappropriate use of a telephone.

The Catholic Priest is accused, and now charged with making sexually explicit phone calls to two teen girls from his parish at St. Therese of Lisieux in Kenosha.

According to a criminal complain, Nowak took a 17 year-old girl to a movie, then later called her and asked her out again. He said it would be a Valentine’s dinner.

In the court documents, the 17 year-old told police Nowak asked her to "wear a low cut shirt to show off your 'cha-chas'."

IRELAND/SWITZERLAND
The Journal

THE DEPARTMENT of Justice has told the UN that, as far as it is aware, the vast majority of women who went to Magdalene Laundries run by Catholic institutions in Ireland “went there voluntarily or, if they were minors, with the consent of their parents or guardians”.

Today was the second day Ireland appeared at the UN hearings to discuss how it is implementing the provisions of the UN Convention against Torture.

Speaking on behalf of the Department of Justice, the department’s secretary general Sean Aylward told the UN’s Committee Against Torture that because the alleged events happened “in most cases” a long time ago in privately-run instutitions, information is limited.

UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

The president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights has released an in-depth critique of the John Jay report on the clerical sex-abuse scandal.

In his 24-page analysis, William Donohue is especially critical of the John Jay study’s claim that clerical homosexuality was not a major factor in the scandal. Carefully scrutinizing the data, he finds that the evidence contained in the document suggests that homosexuality was a very important influence. Moreover, Donohue observes, the John Jay study neglected additional evidence that would strengthen the connection with homosexuality. For example:

St. Luke's Institute is the most premier treatment center in the nation for troubled priests, and according to its co-founder, Rev. Michael Peterson, "We don't see heterosexual pedophiles at all." If this is true, how can it be that the John Jay study failed to pick this up?

Donohue faults the John Jay researchers for relying on testimony from groups like SNAP and Voice of the Faithful, which have proven to be consistently hostile to the Catholic hierarchy. He argues that the report provides an explanation of the bishops’ failure to remove abusive priests from ministry, since psychologists regularly testified that the priests would not offend again. “Well, it is painfully obvious by now that the psychologists oversold their competence,” Donohue observes.

UNITED STATES
Startpagina/Weblog (Netherlands)

Compiled by drs. Pieter Schultz, information professional, web editor & religion researcher

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Report
News releases
Background information
Critical analysis
Videos
Articles / blogs
Older articles on celibacy
Older articles on homosexuality
Some observations on sexual abuse by priests & the oath / vow of celibacy

1) REPORT

The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the US, 1950-2010 : A Report Presented to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishopsby the John Jay College Research Team / Karen J. Terry, et al. [US; John Jay College] http://alturl.com/o99ki
The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010 [pdf] / John Jay College of Criminal Justice via Bishop [US; Accountability.org] http://alturl.com/jiwkg

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
PhillyBurbs

By JAMES McGINNIS

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia said Tuesday it has contracted with the Bucks County Network of Victims Assistance to provide training for 22,000 clergy, employees and volunteers.

Church officials said training by NOVA will be just one of the steps taken "to assist victims, advance the protection of children, and ensure the integrity of the priesthood." The archdiocese said training would include best practices for the mandatory reporting of abuse.

NOVA was founded in 1974 in Jamison as a nonprofit dedicated to counseling and empowering the victims of sexual assault. The group said it also works to eliminate violence in Bucks County through advocacy, community education and prevention programs.

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

May. 23, 2011
By Tom Roberts

Release of the John Jay College study on the causes of sexual abuse by Catholic priests signals the end of the U.S. bishops’ five-year, $1.8 million inquiry into the institution they govern and the priests in their charge. But the new study hardly quiets the fundamental questions that have dogged the church and its leaders since the crisis was first publicized in the mid-1980s.

The conclusions of the study were immediately challenged by victims of abuse, their advocates, and those who maintain an enormous archive of documentation related to the scandal. Among the reasons they say the report should be approached with caution or skepticism:

Questions persist about the reliability of the basic data that underpins both the most recent study, as well as one on the nature and scope of the scandal that was released in 2004, because the researchers relied principally on reporting by bishops. The reliability of such reporting is called into question on a number of fronts and was most recently challenged by a grand jury report that claimed that officials of the Philadelphia archdiocese had not reported dozens of credibly accused priests. Doubts about the reliability of the numbers were even given credibility by one of the John Jay researchers in a recent interview.

MISSOURI
Pitch

By David Martin, Tue., May 24 2011

​Bishop Robert W. Finn went to St. Patrick's parish on Friday, a day after a priest who served there was arrested and charged with three counts of possessing child pornography. Finn admitted that the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph mishandled information that a priest, Shawn Ratigan, 45, possessed images of children, including at least one of a nude girl.

The parishioners blasted Finn for nearly three hours, according to an account in the National Catholic Reporter. "As soon as you knew what was going on, why the hell didn't you tell me something?" one woman asked Finn.

Finn learned in December that Ratigan kept disturbing images on his personal computer. The diocese says most of the pictures of the children were taken at public or parish events.

NEW YORK
Wall Street Journal

Associated Press

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Vatican has ruled that a suburban Syracuse church cannot be deconsecrated, meaning it must remain a Catholic worship site.

The ruling by the Vatican Supreme Court sets the stage for parishioners of St. Mary's Church in Jamesville to see if they can work out details with Robert Cunningham, bishop of the Syracuse Diocese, to reopen the building.

The ruling comes in the wake of a decision three weeks ago by a bishop in northeastern Pennsylvania to stop challenging the Vatican on the fate of six closed churches in his diocese. The Vatican also had ruled that they should be "maintained as Catholic worship sites," but Bishop John Barres of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Allentown said the churches would remain shuttered.

UNITED KINGDOM
UK Progressive

Carl Matthes | May 24, 2011

What do former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, newly resigned International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops have in common?

They’re all powerful, older men, who have access to money and who can’t keep their pants zipped. They each have hidden acts of abuse for years and have used their wealth and power for protection from their victims and the law. And they are fighting to continue to wield power.

Catholic bishops, ‘Protectors of the Church’. Strauss-Kahn, ‘Great Seducer’. Schwarzenegger, ‘Muscled sexual-swaggerer and liar’.

The Catholic bishops, despite their ungodly efforts at hiding and running from sexual abuse victims for over three decades, have probably lost nearly a billion dollars. The total eventual cost? To turn a phrase, ‘priceless’.

NEDERLAND
De Gooi-en Eemlander

VENLO - Het Limburgs Museum in Venlo heeft dinsdagmiddag twee gestolen spotprenten van Peter van Straaten teruggekregen. ,,De dief kwam ze weer terugbrengen’’, meldde conservator Ad van Pinxteren.

TEXAS
The Salt Lake Tribune

By lindsay whitehurst
The Salt Lake Tribune

Austin, Texas • In a hearing that could affect a dozen criminal cases connected to alleged underage marriages, a polygamous sect member on Wednesday challenged the search warrant that allowed a massive 2008 raid on the group’s West Texas ranch.

Attorney Robert Udashen told Texas 3rd District Court of Appeals judges the search warrant was illegally obtained because it was based on a hoax call from a Colorado woman pretending to be an abused 16-year-old plural wife trapped on the ranch.

“If law enforcement had just done a little investigation, they could have figured out … this call wasn’t true and it would have taken them little time to do it,” Udashen said in representing Michael Emack, a 60-year-old contractor serving seven years in prison after pleading no contest last year to sexual assault and bigamy charges.

THAILAND
CNN

[with video]

Thai police recently busted a sex slavery ring, rescuing nine boys and arresting a Buddhist monk. Police footage shows the monk in possession of several fake guns. Experts working the case say he and another Thai man bought boys, held them prisoner and then sold them to Westerners for sex.

OLANDA
Palazzo Apostolico

24 maggio 2011 -

Tutti parlano di lui. Del salesiano olandese di 73 anni – si conoscono soltanto le iniziali, padre van B. – salito agli onori della cronaca in quanto dichiaratamente appartenente alla Martijn, un’associazione legalmente riconosciuta in Olanda e che sostiene le relazioni pedofile: “Sono perfettamente legittime” dicono, “seppure discriminate dalla società”.

Non è solo van B. a sostenere la legittimità della pedofilia ma anche padre Herman Spronck, superiore dei salesiani in Olanda, la cui intervista concessa a Rtl News sta facendo impazzire il Web.

Padre Spronck, in sostanza, appoggia von B. e sostiene che se il bambino è consenziente il rapporto sessuale con un adulto è legittimo. Dice: “Dipende dal bambino. Non si deve mai entrare nello spazio personale del bambino se non lo vuole. Ma ci sono bambini che indicano loro stessi che è ammissibile. In questo caso anche un contatto sessuale è possibile”. Padre Spronck entra nel merito anche del seminario dove lui, assieme a tanti altri sacerdoti olandesi, ha studiato negli anni Cinquanta e Sessanta. Dice che erano tutti maschi, che non vedevano mai le ragazze, “e per questo era normale che nascessero certe tendenze”.

IRELAND/KENYA
Capital FM Kenya

BY AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

DUBLIN, May 24 - Ireland was examining on Tuesday if it can charge Catholic clergy with child sex abuse committed abroad following allegations of rape and abuse by Irish missionaries in a number of African countries.

A TV documentary by Irish broadcaster RTE highlighted allegations of abuse by priests and religious brothers in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, with accounts from victims, many speaking for the first time about their ordeals.

Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter said he had watched the programme aired on Monday "with a sense of revulsion at the unspeakable catalogue of abuse against children it revealed".

"While the behaviour took place abroad, we have a solemn duty to do all that is within our power to ensure that perpetrators of this predatory abuse of children are brought to justice wherever it takes place.

UNITED STATES
The New York Times

By CHRYSTIA FREELAND | REUTERS
Published: May 24, 2011

NEW YORK — In the “Take Back the Night” marches I walked in in high school and college, one of my favorite chants was this one: “Whatever I wear, wherever I go, yes means yes and no means no.” That jingle was invented to popularize one of the most radical and important ideas of the second-wave feminists — that rape and promiscuity were entirely separate issues.

Some of the reaction to Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s arrest on charges of attempted rape and sexual assault is making the same dangerous mistake of blurring the distinction between licentiousness and coercion — between sex, and sexual assault.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s philandering — and indeed his infidelity — are not in dispute. Like Newt Gingrich, his current wife is his third, and just three years ago he had to publicly apologize to the International Monetary Fund for his “error in judgment” in having an affair with Piroska Nagy, a subordinate. That shameful act wasn’t a sexual assault, but it was what most of us (though not the I.M.F. board) would call sexual harassment. People close to Ms. Nagy say that the affair was consensual but that Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s position as her ultimate boss made his advances inappropriate. As Ms. Nagy wrote in a letter to a law firm hired by the I.M.F. to investigate the affair, “I was damned if I did and damned if I didn’t.” ...

Consider this: There were few places on earth where it was worse to be a woman, and where women had less control over their own bodies, than in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The Roman Catholic Church deems homosexuality to be a sin and its priests take vows of celibacy, yet that has not prevented an epidemic of abuse.

GERMANY
NECN

BERLIN (AP) — Germany's appointee for creating sex abuse guidelines is urging the government to provide more therapy and support for older victims who can no longer bring their cases before a court.

Christine Bergmann said Tuesday that people who were molested or otherwise abused as children continue to suffer for decades, especially individuals whose cases fall outside of the statute of limitations.

She called for legislation that would provide victims of sexual abuse with therapy, or require institutions to do so, if the abuse took place in a church or school.

IRELAND
Enniscorthy Guardian

Tuesday May 24 2011

A NATIVE of Carrig-on-Bannow, Fr Sweetman was born in 1953 and attended Danescastle NS and St Peter's College.

He later attended both the NUI and The Pontifical University at St Patrick's College, Maynooth, from 1971 to 1978, when he was ordained.

He then pursued postgraduate studies in Adelaide, Australia, before returning to the Diocese of Ferns in 1981, serving as curate in Wexford from his return until 1987.

He then served as Chaplain at Ely Hospital in Wexford from 1987 to 1992, when he was appointed curate and administrator to St Aidan's Cathedral in Enniscorthy.

IRELAND
Enniscorthy Guardian

Tuesday May 24 2011

THE PARISH PRIEST at the centre of a child sex abuse allegation told his congregation on Saturday night that the accusation against him is completely unfounded, but that he is obliged to step aside from duties until the necessary investigation is complete.

Fr John Sweetman has been on leave from his post in Riverchapel for the past two week, but returned to the North Wexford seaside village for last Saturday's evening Mass to explain to parishioners the reason for his absence, and to pledge to cooperate one hundred per cent with the inquiry.

The complaint against him has been made by a woman from the Wexford area and it refers to an alleged offence in the 1980s, when Fr Sweetman was aged in his twenties.

MISSOURI
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)

Last week, we learned that Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn kept evidence of child pornography hidden for five months – from police, parishioners, and the public.

Today, we learn (through the National Catholic Reporter) that Finn also kept this crucial information from his hand-picked internal church sex abuse panel, just as Philadelphia Cardinal Justin Rigali did months ago.

MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

WHAT: Holding signs and childhood photos a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will harshly criticize Kansas City’s Catholic bishop for

-- keeping evidence of child porn away from the police for months, and
-- trying to blame “nameless others” for his secrecy in a statement issued on Friday.

Victims will also urge the bishop to
-- hold a public “question and answer” session about the controversy soon, and
-- suspend a different priest, accused twice of sex offenses in recent lawsuits, who is still in a parish now.

They will also beg anyone who saw, suspected or suffered crimes or misdeeds by any church employee to come forward, call police, get help, expose wrongdoing, protect others and start healing.

WHEN: Tuesday, May 24 at 1:00 PM

WHERE: Outside the chancery (diocesan headquarters) at20 West Ninth Street, Kansas City, MO

IRELAND
Irish Central

By
CATHAL DERVAN,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

A Wexford priest has denied any wrongdoing after a woman contacted police over an alleged child sex abuse incident 30 years ago.

The complaint of child sexual abuse was made against Fr John Sweetman two weeks ago and refers to his time as a young priest in Wexford town.

Currently the parish priest in Riverchapel, Fr Sweetman has taken leave from all clerical duties while the complaint is investigated by police and health service officials.

IRELAND
New Ross Standard

Tuesday May 24 2011

A WELL-KNOWN Diocese of Ferns priest is denying any wrongdoing after a complaint of child sexual abuse was made against him.

Fr John Sweetman, a native of Carrig-on-Bannow, is currently on leave from his duties as parish priest in Riverchapel pending the investigation into the complaint made by a woman and dating back to his time as curate in Wexford town in the early 1980s.

Fr Sweetman had been away for almost two weeks, but returned to his parish church in Riverchapel on Saturday evening to tell parishioners himself that he has stepped down pending the investigation. A NATIVE of Carrig-on-Bannow, Fr Sweetman was born in 1953 and attended Danescastle NS and St Peter's College.

UNITED STATES
Catholic League

May 24, 2011

Catholic League president Bill Donohue has prepared a 24-page response to the John Jay College for Criminal Justice Report on the "Causes and Context" of clergy abuse. While he praises the study on several counts, he faults the authors for not allowing their own data to drive their conclusion on the role that homosexuality played in the abuse crisis.

Sections within Donohue's critical analysis include the following: Overview; Comparative Data and Tainted Sources; Bishops Respond; The Role of Homosexuality; The Elephant in the Sacristy; The Seminaries; and, The Resolution of Cognitive Dissonance.

Copies are being sent to all the bishops, many in the media, and to a select group of educators and attorneys; members of the league's board of directors and board of advisors will also receive a copy.

To read Donohue's rejoinder, click here.

UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Overview
In the aftermath of the media blitz in 2002 exposing sexual abuse by Catholic priests, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) created a National Review Board and an Office of Child and Youth Protection to deal with this problem. The Review Board subsequently commissioned researchers from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice to study what happened. In 2004, the first study, The Nature and Scope of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests and Deacons, 1950-2002, was published. Now it has released its latest study on the causes and context of abuse.

The initial study pinpointed the timeline when the abuse crisis was at its peak, roughly from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s, and provided rich data on a host of important variables. What it did not do was account for why this happened. This is the subject of the Causes and Context report. Unlike the initial study, this one is fraught with controversy. One reason for this lay with the nature of the inquiry: studies on the causes of social problems generally leave more room for interpretative quarrels with the data than is true of reports of a more descriptive nature. Another reason, more serious, is the reluctance of social scientists to state conclusions that are highly controversial and that run against the grain of the conventional wisdom in the academy. All of this will be addressed, but first a look at what this second study sought to uncover.

Chapter 1 presents the context in which the sexual abuse of minors by priests took hold. It is followed by an historical analysis of the problem. Chapter 3 gets to the thorny issue of accounting for causes. The fourth chapter deals with the way the Catholic Church responded to this matter, and the next one analyzes the rise and decline of sexual abuse. The sixth and last chapter records the conclusions and recommendations of the authors. A wealth of material is presented, including a good overview of the relevant social science literature on the subject.

ITALIA
il Giornale

Genova - In tre dicono tre cose diverse. Il quarto tace. La tremenda storia di rapporti sessuali e droga che gira intorno alla figura del parroco di Sestri Ponente arrestato viene sempre confermata da tutti. Ognuno però cambia i protagonisti, ognuno incolpa gli altri. E solo un diciottenne egiziano che avrebbe partecipato a incontri con il sacerdote abbandona ogni tipo di remora e accusa esplicitamente sia il sacerdote, sia l’ex seminarista attualmente in carcere. I magistrati che indagano sulla vicenda che ha sconvolto la comunità genovese e tutta Italia non hanno difficoltà ad aggiungere riscontri agghiaccianti e altre testimonianze nei faldoni di un’inchiesta già fin troppo voluminosa. Ma il dettaglio che non coincide nelle testimonianze dei tre non è di poco conto. Perché il ragazzo egiziano sostiene di aver avuto rapporti sessuali con don Riccardo Seppia insieme a un altro suo amico minorenne di origine albanese. Contemporaneamente. E a pagamento. Il magistrato, codice alla mano, traduce l’immagine dell’orgia con un’accusa di induzione alla prostituzione minorile sia per l’egiziano diciottenne sia per il parroco. Da questo quadro si può comprendere perché don Seppia ammetta di conoscere il giovane egiziano ma neghi di aver avuto con lui rapporti sessuali.

ITALIA
Corriere della Sera

MILANO - Cinque ore di interrogatorio per ammettere di aver fatto conoscere a don Riccardo Seppia ragazzi minorenni, per confessare di aver avuto rapporti sessuali con un quattordicenne che chiedeva l'elemosina sul sagrato della chiesa, Emanuele Alfano, l'ex seminarista ventiquattrenne arrestato giovedì scorso per induzione alla prostituzione minorile, non solo ha risposto alle domande del pm Stefano Puppo ma ha chiesto di dire di più. «Voglio parlare - ha detto - delle cose terribili che succedono in seminario, dove sono stato un anno prima di andarmene perché non ce la facevo più».

Non ha potuto, i suoi avvocati difensori lo hanno fermato e lo stesso pm è andato oltre senza approfondire perché quello che succedeva, secondo Alfano, in seminario non è materia dell'inchiesta. Il gip ha convalidato l'arresto di Alfano, che resta in carcere per il rischio di reiterazione del reato e inquinamento delle prove. Il presidente della Cei Angelo Bagnasco ieri ha definito la pedofilia nel clero «un'infame emergenza non ancora superata». «Anche un solo caso - ha detto - sarebbe già troppo, quando i casi si ripetono lo strazio è indicibile e l'umiliazione totale» e ha parlato di «danni incalcolabili alle vittime e alle famiglie». L'umiliazione totale è destinata a aumentare via via che dall'indagine della Procura di Genova emerge la vita segreta di don Riccardo Seppia, il parroco arrestato per abusi su minore e cessione di cocaina, e quella dell'ex seminarista. Un ragazzo egiziano, Mohamed, racconta di orge: «Abbiamo fatto sesso in tre, io, don Seppia e il mio amico E.» ha detto agli inquirenti. Poi si è chiuso nel silenzio quando è stato indagato per favoreggiamento della prostituzione minorile, per aver portato l'amico diciassettenne dal prete. Quanto all'ex seminarista ha confessato di aver approfittato di un giovane mendicante: «Ho avvicinato un ragazzo di quattordici anni che chiedeva l'elemosina sul sagrato della chiesa, non quella del Santo Spirito, quella sulla piazza maggiore. L'ho convinto a venire con me e l'ho portato in un appartamento».

ITALIA
Newnotizie

Nuove accuse contro Don Seppia. Potrebbe essere indagato anche per prostituzione minorile, Don Riccardo Seppia, il parroco genovese della chiesa dello Spirito Santo di Sestri Ponente arrestato dai carabinieri del Nas di Milano con l'accusa di abusi sessuali su un chierichetto minorenne e cessione di sostanze stupefacenti. Secondo quanto riferito dal quotidiano Il Secolo XIX, la Procura del capoluogo ligure starebbe per formalizzare il nuovo capo di accusa nei confronti del sacerdote, trasferito ieri dal carcere genovese di Marassi, dove veniva quotidianamente bersagliato con minacce e insulti dagli altri detenuti, alla sezione speciale del carcere di Sanremo dedicata ai "sex offenders".

Le accuse dell'ex seminarista. Sempre il quotidiano genovese riferisce dell'iscrizione nel registro degli indagati di un finanziere di 41 anni, con cui Don Seppia avrebbe avuto frequenti conversazioni telefoniche, e di un 26enne originario della Guinea Bissau, che avrebbe cercato di arruolare bambini per soddisfare le presunte voglie del sacerdote. Intanto, l'ex seminarista Emanuele Alfano, in carcere per induzione alla prostituzione minorile e favoreggiamento, accusa Don Seppia di aver fatto sesso a pagamento con almeno due minorenni, smentendo in tal modo il parroco stesso che nel corso dell'interrogatorio avrebbe ribadito di aver avuto molti rapporti omosessuali, ma mai con partner minorenni.

ITALIA
Blitz

SESTRI PONENTE – Alcune delle presunte vittime di don Riccardo Seppia avevano raggiunto il limite di sopportazione, tanto da meditare azioni drastiche. Secondo quanto scritto su Libero, un ragazzo di 15 anni, che aveva subito le “attenzioni” del parroco di Sestri Ponente accusato di pedofilia, avrebbe detto: “Se non la smette mi suicido”.

Il quindicenne avrebbe scritto questo messaggio via sms a un’ amica. L’sms, spiega Libero, è stato intercettato dai Carabinieri del Nas di Milano durante l’inchiesta sulle molestie, sulle presunte violenze sessuali sui minori e sulle cessioni di droga attribuiti al sacerdote.

Per Paolo Bonanni (difensore di don Seppia), riferisce Libero, si tratterebbe di “una frase che chiunque potrebbe pronunciare senza avere nessuna intenzione reale di suicidarsi”.

ITALIA
Lettera 43

Cinque ore è durato l’interrogatorio dell’ex seminarista Emanuele Alfano arrestato il 19 maggio per induzione alla prostituzione minorile. Ha ammesso di aver fatto conoscere a don Riccardo Seppia ragazzi minorenni, ha confessato di aver avuto rapporti sessuali con un quattordicenne che chiedeva l'elemosina sul sagrato della chiesa e ha anche chiesto di poter dire di più: «Voglio parlare delle cose terribili che succedono in seminario, dove sono stato un anno prima di andarmene perché non ce la facevo più». Ma al pm quanto ha detto, deve essere bastato, perché il gip ha convalidato l'arresto di Alfano, che resta in carcere per il rischio di reiterazione del reato e inquinamento delle prove.

LE ORGE DI DON SEPPIA. Secondo alcune fonti giornalistiche, sta emergendo la vita segreta di don Riccardo Seppia, il parroco arrestato per abusi su minore e cessione di cocaina, e quella dell'ex seminarista.Un ragazzo egiziano, Mohamed, racconta di orge: «Abbiamo fatto sesso in tre, io, don Seppia e il mio amico E.» ha detto agli inquirenti. Poi si è chiuso nel silenzio quando è stato indagato per favoreggiamento della prostituzione minorile, per aver portato l'amico diciassettenne dal prete. Quanto all'ex seminarista ha confessato di aver approfittato di un giovane mendicante: «Ho avvicinato un ragazzo di quattordici anni che chiedeva l'elemosina sul sagrato della chiesa, non quella del Santo Spirito, quella sulla piazza maggiore. L'ho convinto a venire con me e l'ho portato in un appartamento».

CHILE
Radio Tierra

[con audio]

En el caso de Chile, las traumáticas experiencias de abuso que han ido apareciendo afectan a católicos que participan en la iglesia como si fueran parte de un grupo de elegidos, y suponen un daño no sólo al objeto de sus creencias, sino también a una sociedad que ha visto como amparada en esos mismos sectores la iglesia católica ha influido en el ámbito del debate y del control de los asuntos públicos, especialmente en lo que se relaciona con la moral sexual.

La crisis afecta a un sector de la sociedad que se cohesiona en torno a un discurso religioso fundamentalista y le entrega a las estructuras de ese poder un nivel de control que es fácilmente corrompible.

Curas como el fundador de los Legionarios de Cristo o Fernando Karadima, terminan ejerciendo un control sobre las conductas, que es el mismo que sus víctimas quisieron que la iglesia ejerciera sobre la sociedad en su conjunto. Y si bien no se puede establecer que la conducta de ambos sea mayoritaria, en la percepción de muchos y muchas la iglesia está siendo juzgada con la misma vara con la que ha condenado por ejemplo todo debate sobre la sexualidad humana.

UNITED STATES
America Magazine

A report prepared by researchers from New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice on the abuse of children by Catholic priests in the United States between 1950 and 2000 offers a complex portrait of the “causes and context” behind decades of sexual abuse and the sometimes ineffective or even negligent response of U.S. bishops to the problem. Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Wash., and Chair of the U.S. bishops’ Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People, said the exhaustive study, five years in the making, offers an explanation, but not an excuse for the abuse scandal that first engulfed the United States before surfacing throughout the global church. Still some of its conclusions have already drawn passionate criticism, and the report will surely not satisfy anyone looking for simple answers or easy targets to blame. In fact in some ways it may only lead to further confusion and outrage.

Karen Terry, dean of research at John Jay and principal investigator for the study, told reporters at a press conference in Washington, D.C. on May 18: “There is no single cause of the sexual abuse crisis. The increased frequency of abuse in the 1960s and 1970s is consistent with the patterns of increased deviance of society at that time. The social influences intersected with vulnerabilities of some individual priests whose preparation for a life of celibacy was inadequate.”

According to the study, a comprehensive analysis of abusers did not shed any light on behavior or characteristics that could be conclusively predictive, though abusers generally suffered from “intimacy deficits” and maintained no close personal relationships before and during their years in seminary. A significant percentage had been abused themselves as children. Researchers pointed out that most of the abusers were graduates of seminaries in the 1940s and 1950s who were inadequately prepared for the emotional rigors of their lives as priests and the challenge of lifelong celibacy.

MALTA
DI-VE

A Dominican nun was questioned by police officers yesterday over abuse that allegedly happened around five years ago in Lourdes Home, Ghajnsielem, Gozo.

The Dominican sisters are refusing to comment about the case, and are also keeping mum on whether the nun was brought to Malta.

Judge Victor Caruana Colombo chaired an investigative board in 2008 that had revealed instances of physical and psychological atrocities perpetrated on children who lived in Lourdes House. The bishop of Gozo, Mario Grech, had revealed the report while asking the nuns to carry out all its recommendations.

MALTA
Gozo News

A Dominican nun from the Lourdes Home in Ghajnsielem, was questioned yesterday over alleged child abuse which, took place around five years ago.

Reports have said that it is the same nun, who had been previously arrested at the time of the allegations.

MALTA
The Malta Independent

by Chiara Bonello

Silence continues to shroud the case of the Dominican nun who was questioned by the police after allegations of abuse at Lourdes Home in Gozo, as the Archbishop’s Curia yesterday told this newspaper it is not their policy to make public comments on such cases.

Questions were sent by this newspaper to the Archbishop’s Curia regarding the whereabouts of the nun who was questioned by the police, after allegations of abuse at Lourdes Home in Gozo emerged.

However the replies followed the line that the alleged case referred to the Gozo Diocese, not the Maltese Diocese, and that it was the policy of both dioceses not to make public comments about individual cases.

MALTA
l'orizzont

Dan il-ġurnal jista’ jikkonferma li l-każ fejn membru ta’ Ordni Reliġjuża f’Malta għamel avvanz sesswali fuq adoloxxenti ma spiċċax għand il-Pulizija għax xi ħadd fir-Response Team tal-Kurja kkonvinċa lill-familja li ma jkunx għaqli li l-każ jgħaddi għand il-ġustizzja.

Minn tagħrif li għandu l-orizzont jirriżulta li uffiċjali tar-Response Team saħqu mal-familja li jkun fl-interess tal-vittma li l-każ ma jkunx investigat mill-Pulizija. Dan il-ġurnal jista’ jikkonferma li din hija l-prassi fir-Response Team, tant li minkejja li fl-aħħar snin kienu għexieren il-każi li waslu għandhom kien persentaġġ minimu ħafna li għadda għand il-Pulizija.

l-orizzont huwa infurmat li ngħad lill-familja li jekk imorru għand il-Pulizija l-każ jitperreċ mal-pajjiż kollu u dan ma jkunx ta’ ġid għall-vittma, anke jekk il-Qorti qatt ma tiżvela l-ismijiet tal-minuri.

MALTA
Malta Star

The Curia Response Team (CRT) that investigates cases of sexual abuse committed by members of the clergy has advised the family of the young alleged victim not to report the case to the Police.

The CRT takes this line of defence in each case according to a source quoted by the daily newspaper L-Orizzont. Thus, this latest case is not yet being investigated by the Police. The gathering of evidence at this stage is crucial.

Other priests who have been responsible for sexual abuse on children have escaped justice because cases were time barred. The abuses at St.Joseph home is just one simple example quoted by the L-Orizzont source.

In this latest case of abuse a Capuchin monk has allegedly abused of a female teenager during a meeting of adolescents in the precincts of the Capuchin convent in Kalkara. To date only the CRT has been looking into this matter.

NEW HAMPSHIRE
New Hampshire Union Leader

By KATHRYN MARCHOCKI
New Hampshire Union Leader
Published May 24, 2011

CONCORD — Former Concord resident Tina Anderson testified Monday that a fellow Trinity Baptist Church member forcibly raped her as a teen in 1997, then church leaders exiled her to Colorado to have her baby and give the child up for adoption while living under the watchful care of another church family.

Now a married mother of three and living in Arizona, Anderson said she was 15 when she was raped and impregnated by Ernest P. Willis, then a 39-year-old wealthy and respected married church member whose children she baby sat. She said she first told no one of the rape because she feared how her mother and church leaders would react.

“I was afraid what was going to happen. I was afraid I wasn’t going to be believed. I was afraid that my life was over,” Anderson, 29, told Merrimack County Superior Court jurors on the first day of trial.

Willis, 52, of Gilford, faces three alternative counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault — or forcible rape — and one count of felonious sexual assault. Willis pleaded not guilty to the four charges.

KENTUCKY
Lexington Herald-Leader

By Bill Estep — bestep@herald-leader.com

State police charged a Harlan County pastor with rape after the grandmother of a girl from the church saw email between the two that concerned her, according to a detective.

Jeremy Dewayne Caraway, 36, pastor of Loyall Church of God, was charged Sunday with two counts of second-degree rape, two counts of first-degree sexual abuse, two counts of sodomy and two counts of first-degree unlawful transaction with a minor — illegal sex act, according to state police.

The Church of God International Office in Cleveland, Tenn., placed Caraway on administrative leave Monday, said Scot Carter, a church spokesman.

NETHERLANDS
Dutch News

Tuesday 24 May 2011

The head of the Catholic Salesian order in the Netherlands has been sacked and it will be up to the pope to decide if he can remain a priest because of comments about paedophilia, RTL news reports.

Herman Spronck was quoted at the weekend as saying sexual relationships between adults and children were not always damaging. ‘Personally I do not condemn relationships between adults and children… Sexual contact is also possible,’ Spronck was quoted as saying.

The priest was commenting on the case of another Salesian priest who was a member of a pro-paedophilia lobby group and had two convictions for exposing himself to children. Spronck was aware of Van B's convictions and membership of the Martjn organisation.

AUSTRALIA
9 News

By Margaret Scheikowski

Two Anglican priests are challenging moves to strip them of their holy orders after findings of sexual misconduct involving a teenage boy in 1984.

The case of the now-suspended rector of Cardiff, the Reverend Graeme Leslie Sturt, 60, and the retired dean of Newcastle, Graeme Russell Lawrence, 68, began in the NSW Supreme Court on Monday.

It relates to a Newcastle Diocese Professional Standards Board hearing and findings that were made last December.

IRELAND
The Journal

Updated 11am

THE IRISH MISSIONARY Union (IMU) has said there are undoubtedly more cases of child sex abuse by missionaries working abroad following allegations made on a television programme last night that missionaries raped and abused young children and teenagers while working in Africa over the past 30 years.

Last night’s Prime Time Investigates: ‘A Mission to Prey’ shown on RTÉ television exposed what it claimed was a series of allegations against Irish priests working in countries such as Kenya and South Africa.

The programme exposed details of the now deceased Belfast priest Fr James McAuley, who worked in Cape Town, South Africa, and was accused of at least three specific charges of abuse including the rape of a Sudanese refugee whose family had been killed.

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Fiachra Ó Cionnaith

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

THE Catholic Church is facing yet another abuse scandal after a series of Irish priests were accused of raping and abusing young children and teenagers while working as missionaries in Africa over the past three decades.

A Prime Time Investigates exposé last night detailed a litany of allegations against Irish priests who were working in areas such as Kenya and South Africa.

A number of incidents involve Fr James McAuley, a Belfast-born priest who worked in Cape Town in South Africa for the Redemptorist missionaries.

Fr McAuley, who has since passed away, faced at least three specific charges of abuse — including the rape of a Sudanese refugee whose family had been killed.

AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

Retired Catholic priest Dennis John Corrigan will face trial in August after eight sexual assault charges were withdrawn this morning.

Crown prosecutor Helen Wilson said the charges that were withdrawn related to a complainant who died earlier this year, but other charges relating to two complainants will proceed.

Mr Corrigan, 69, of Mayfield, did not attend Newcastle District Court this morning for the brief hearing.

IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

A senior cleric has denied any wrongdoing after a complaint of child sexual abuse was made against him by a woman two weeks ago.

Fr John Sweetman has taken leave from parish duties in Riverchapel in Wexford pending garda and HSE investigations.

The incident allegedly took place 30 years ago when he was a young priest in his 20s in Wexford town.

Bishop of Ferns Denis Brennan, who is on an annual pilgrimage to Lourdes, was un-contactable for comment yesterday.

IRELAND/SPAIN
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

FORMER PRIEST and convicted child abuser Bill Carney is reported to be back in Spain after a local paper in Gloucestershire reported his presence there last Friday.

The Gloucestershire Echo said Carney (61) had moved into a semi-detached property in Northleach, near Cheltenham in the Cotswolds, home of his former wife, Joan Clayton (70).

The paper had been contacted by a man who said Carney was living near a local playground and wondered whether his two young children would be able to use it again. It is believed Carney left Northleach on Saturday and is now in Benidorm.

IRELAND/SWITZERLAND
The Irish Times

JAMIE SMYTH in Geneva

THE GOVERNMENT has defended its response to reports of clerical child sexual abuse and the committal of women to Magdalene laundries, saying it can’t “rewrite its history”.

It has also rejected criticism of its human rights record and announced it will ratify a United Nations protocol enabling more international scrutiny over places of detention.

At Ireland’s first hearing before the UN Committee Against Torture in Geneva yesterday, Department of Justice secretary general Seán Aylward said human rights were central to Ireland’s domestic and foreign policies.

He addressed criticism made by several committee members about the Government’s response to the Ryan report into clerical child sex abuse and its failure to agree to calls for a statutory inquiry and redress for women committed to Magdalene laundries.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATRICK CLAFFEY

RITE AND REASON : The report is likely to be characterised by a restorationist tone and nostalgia for a church that is past

THE APOSTOLIC visitation of the Catholic Church in Ireland has concluded its work and was scheduled to report to Pope Benedict by the end of last month. Its leaders have been complemented on their openness and willingness to listen to all who asked to be heard.

But there remains a suspicion that little will come of it and that their final document had already been drawn up, at least in its broad outlines.

The fear is that it will be written largely in a kind of self-referential Vaticanese.

KENTUCKY
WKYT

[with video]

A pastor faces allegations he sexually molested a child who belongs to his church.

36-year-old Jeremy Dewayne Caraway is pastor of the Loyall Church of God in Harlan County. State police arrested him Sunday morning on charges of rape, sexual abuse, sodomy and unlawful transaction with a minor.

Police say family members of the victim found conversations on Facebook between Caraway, and the female victim, who is under the age of 14.

In a jailhouse interview, Caraway says he never had sexual contact with the girl.

NEDERLAND
Reformatorisch Dagblad

HILVERSUM (ANP) – De Nederlandse overste van de congregatie van Salesianen Herman Spronck is ontslagen. Dat maakte Jos Claes, provinciaal van Salesianen van Don Bosco in Brussel maandag bekend in het RTL Nieuws. „Spronck mag geen enkele protocollaire taak meer vervullen. Hij is geen delegaat meer in Nederland”, aldus Claes.

Spronck raakte in opspraak nadat hij vorige week tegenover RTL Nieuws had verklaard dat wat hem betreft „relaties tussen kinderen en volwassenen niet schadelijk hoeven te zijn”. Hij bleek op de hoogte te zijn van het lidmaatschap van een pater van de Salesianen van Don Bosco van de pedofielenvereniging Martijn.

In het interview met RTL zei Spronck over deze pater Van B.: „Hij heeft zich verschillende keren als potloodventer gedragen. Zo’n ernstig vergrijp is dat natuurlijk niet”.

SYRACUSE (NY)
The Post-Standard

By Jim O'Hara / The Post-Standard

Syracuse, NY - Daniel Franz candidly admitted today he was trying to embarass the Syracuse Roman Catholic Diocese by holding a press conference outside the downtown diocesan offices to claim the church had basically ignored his claims he was molested by a priest.

Franz, now 47 and a resident of Louisville, Ky., claims he was an innocent 17-year-old when he volunteered through his high school to work at a church-run camp in West Virginia only to be molested by a Syracuse priest there.

He said he came to Syracuse today - along with The Rev. Robert Hoatson of New Jersey, a suspended priest who founded a non-profit for victims of clergy abuse - to challenge the local diocese to "do the right thing" by providing the counseling and therapy he needs to heal from the abuse he suffered at the hands of former priest David Pichette.

Diocese spokeswoman Danielle Cummings sharply disputed a number of Franz's and Hoatson's claims. She noted the diocese had made numerous attempts to offer Franz counseling but had never heard back from Franz.

MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Associated Press | Posted: Monday, May 23, 2011

A Roman Catholic priest has pleaded not guilty in western Missouri to possessing child pornography.

Forty-five-year-old Shawn Francis Ratigan, of Kansas City, appeared in Clay County Circuit Court on Monday over a video hookup. He remains held on $200,000 bond in the county jail, where he has been since his arrest Thursday.

Ratigan is charged with three counts of possessing child porn, based on photos that authorities reported finding on computers he used. Prosecutors allege he photographed girls, sometimes under their skirts, in and around churches where he had worked in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

UNITED STATES
Ashbury Park Press

The idea that individuals are responsible before God for their sins and before the law for their crimes is nearly universal.

But a report released last week that explores the context and causes of child sexual abuse by priests in this country at times seems to downplay personal responsibility and lays the blame on the permissive society of the 1960s and 1970s. That’s a shame, and it calls for a firm and quick response from the church itself.

The report, commissioned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, was undercut by one of its main conclusions: namely, that the hippies of the ’60s and the libertines of the ’70s were in some ways responsible for some priests’ reprehensible actions.

Any attempt to deflect responsibility away from those who actually perpetrated the abuse (and those in the church hierarchy who aided and abetted it) is absolutely antithetical to the principle of individual responsibility, enshrined in both American jurisprudence and Christian theology.

SYRACUSE (NY)
YNN

[with video]

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Daniel Franz is a 47-year-old husband and father. He manages a successful business in Kentucky.

Franz has never been to Central New York before, but visited for the first time Monday to talk about a traumatic connection to the area that started 30 years ago at a West Virginia camp called Nazareth Farm.

"We spent roughly about a week there doing various projects helping the poor there. And while I was there, the director of the camp, Father David Pichette, sexually abused me on multiple occasions. It was a very traumatic experience because, in my opinion, it was the height of mistrust and abuse of power," Franz said.

Pichette served in the Syracuse diocese and ran the camp for 10 years. Before and after that, he worked in churches and schools in Cortland, Onondaga and Broome Counties.

UNITED STATES
Miami Herald

BY MARY SANCHEZ
msanchez@kcstar@com

The counterculture caused stressed out priests to sin.

This is the banal and evasive conclusion of a five-year study costing almost $2 million that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops commissioned to look into the causes and context of the sexual abuse of minors by the church’s clergy.

The study was prepared by researchers at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York. One particular conclusion stood out:

“Social and cultural changes in the 1960s and 1970s manifested in increased levels of deviant behavior in the general society and also among priests of the Catholic Church in the United States.”

UNITED STATES
Faith in the 21st Century

One day after the John Jay College report on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in the U.S. was released, Father Shawn Ratigan was arrested for possession of child pornography. He apparently had been taking pictures of girls at his parish/school covertly, including nude photographs.

The interesting part about all of this is that the local ordinary, Bishop Robert Finn (Kansas City), had been aware of the images on Ratigan's computer since December, and had transferred the priest on a couple of occasions without notifying authorities or the diocesan review board.

Once again, the problem is not "homosexual priests." The problem, beyond the individual perversion of this pedophile, is the inaction and cover-up by the local bishop.

UNITED STATES
Catholic News Service

By Dennis Sadowski
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Members of seven diocesan review boards that consider clergy sex abuse cases said their work never has been impeded by diocesan officials or church hierarchy as they developed recommendations on whether an accusation was credible or not.

The review board members also said they worked collaboratively with officials within their dioceses to ensure that priests who posed a danger to children were removed from ministry as quickly as possible.

Review board members talked about their work in response to inquiries from Catholic News Service following an account by the chair of the Philadelphia review board criticizing archdiocesan officials.

MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

May 23, 2011

Attorneys for victim-creditors in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee's bankruptcy have asked the court to lift the stay on pending civil cases so they can depose aging witnesses, including retired bishops and accused priests.

Victims are seeking to depose retired Archbishop Rembert Weakland; retired Auxiliary Bishop Richard Sklba; former Assistant Chancellor Father Joseph Janicki; and seven restricted or laicized priests who appear on the archdiocese's online list of priests with credible accusations of sex abuse against them.

They say the bankruptcy has brought forward new allegations and that depositions are needed to preserve testimony in the event of a witness' death or incapacity.

NEW YORK
Fredric M. Sinclair

CONTACT: Ann Farthing, 212/995-8382

PLAYSMITHS is pleased to announce the cast for their staged reading of LETHE, a full-length drama written by New York author Fredric Sinclair. All proceeds from this reading will benefit Safe Horizon, the nation’s leading provider of services for survivors of violence. ...

The LETHE reading will be held at 8 p.m. on Friday, June 10, 2011, at the Players Club,
16 Gramercy Park South, New York City. Tickets are available via Brown Paper Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/160438. ...

Donations for admission to this event are $25. For $50, audience members are invited to attend a wine and cheese reception preceding the event, with an opportunity to meet the actors, writer, director, and members of the Safe Horizon staff. The audience is invited to stay after the reading for a talk back with representatives from Safe Horizon as well as the production team.

All proceeds benefit Safe Horizon (www.safehorizon.org), the nation's leading victim assistance, advocacy, and violence prevention organization with more than 60 programs operating in all five boroughs of New York. Safe Horizon's mission is to provide support, prevent violence, and promote justice for victims of crime and abuse, their families and communities.

“Sexual abuse is rampant in society, and yet there’s still such a stigma surrounding it,” notes Mr. Sinclair. “LETHE attempts to bridge that gap by taking the audience on a journey that people otherwise might never experience. By partnering with a dedicated organization like Safe Horizon, we open up the dialog about sexual abuse beyond the confines of the play and into the community-at-large, where these issues are very real, daily occurrences.”

UNITED STATES
Politicus USA

It is a universal truth that humans, as well as most of the animal kingdom, have an intrinsic drive to protect their young at all costs. Human beings depend on other adults to keep watch over children, but there are trusted relatives and friends who are given the ultimate responsibility to care for children without parents present. School teachers of both genders are counseled against being alone with a child to mitigate the appearance of impropriety regardless that teachers face background checks and constant monitoring as protection for both teachers and students. However, there is no such provision in the law for members of the clergy to undergo background checks or monitoring because they have elevated status and special treatment by the government and general population alike because they are god’s servants.

Of all the horrors perpetrated on children, sexual abuse is by far worse than physical abuse, and although the two are related, sexual abuse tends to engender more outrage. For several years there has been increased scrutiny on the Catholic Church for obfuscating sexual abuse by priests and the problem transcends other denominations. There is sexual abuse reported in every church, and Protestant denominations’ statistics mirror or surpass instances of Catholic priest’s pedophilia. However, Protestant abuse statistics include young males, girls, and married women skewing the numbers based on a larger statistical set.

There are many factors and excuses proffered as to why reports of Catholic priests raping young boys is higher than other denominations, but regardless, rape is not acceptable whether it is Republican-approved rape of women, or priests raping young boys. The Catholic Church has sanctioned a study and report detailing reasons why priests rape boys, and they offer remedies and strategies to diminish the frequency of abuse. The Catholic Church in America has placed the blame solely on societal factors that appear to be little more than pre-emptive defenses for impending court cases and lawsuits.

NETHERLANDS
Radio Netherlands

The father superior of the congregation of Salesians in the Netherlands Herman Spronck has been dismissed after he defended a paedophile priest.

Belgian Father Superior Jos Claes of the Don Bosco group in Brussels told RTL Nieuws that the father superior not longer represented the group in the Netherlands.

The dismissal comes after the suspension earlier today of a Salesian priest who was a member of the Dutch paedophile group Martijn.

In reaction to the revelations, Mr Spronck had told the Dutch news programme that "relationships between children and adults were not necessarily harmful". It turned out he had been aware of the priest's membership to the paedophile organisation for many years.

MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

By GLENN E. RICE
The Kansas City Star

A Roman Catholic priest pleaded not guilty today in Clay County court to criminal charges of possessing child pornography.

Shawn Francis Ratigan, 45, of Kansas City, North is accused of taking pornographic photos of children around churches and schools where he had worked in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

Ratigan, who remains in custody on $200,000 bond, was charged last week with three counts of possessing child pornography. He appeared in court through video conference, not in person. He is scheduled to be back in court June 16.

His attorney, John P. O’Connor, declined to comment.

NETHERLANDS
Reuters

A Roman Catholic order of priests sacked its leader in the Netherlands and disciplined another priest Monday after the two publicly defended pedophile sex, an issue haunting the worldwide Church in recent years.

The scandal erupted over the weekend when RTL radio reported the priest, named only as Rev. Van B, had been a board member of a lobbying group advocating sex between adults and children. He told RTL that few children suffered from such relationships. Asked about the case, Rev. Herman Spronck, leader of the Dutch Salesians, said he agreed pedophile sex could be accepted.

“Herman Spronck is no longer the delegate from the Salesian delegation in the Netherlands,” his superior Rev. Jos Claes, leader of the Salesians in Belgium and the Netherlands, told RTL. “We fully distance ourselves from the words we find in your interview with Herman Spronck.” Rev. Van B “can longer perform any pastoral duties as of today,” he added.

NETHERLANDS
Reuters

By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor

PARIS | Mon May 23, 2011

(Reuters) - A Roman Catholic order of priests sacked its leader in the Netherlands and disciplined another priest Monday after the two publicly defended pedophile sex, an issue haunting the worldwide Church in recent years.

The scandal erupted over the weekend when RTL radio reported the priest, named only as Rev. Van B, had been a board member of a lobbying group advocating sex between adults and children. He told RTL that few children suffered from such relationships.

Asked about the case, Rev. Herman Spronck, leader of the Dutch Salesians, said he agreed pedophile sex could be accepted.

"Herman Spronck is no longer the delegate from the Salesian delegation in the Netherlands," his superior Rev. Jos Claes, leader of the Salesians in Belgium and the Netherlands, told RTL. "We fully distance ourselves from the words we find in your interview with Herman Spronck."

NEW MEXICO
Alamogordo Daily News

Daily News Report

LAS CRUCES A man has settled a lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of El Paso, the Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces and St. Genevieve Parish stemming from allegations of sexual abuse by Manuel Perez Maramba, a Catholic priest who served in the Diocese of El Paso in the 1970s.

According to a press release from El Paso Diocese, the lawsuit, which was filed in the 3rd Judicial District Court of New Mexico, alleged that Father Manuel Perez Maramba sexually assaulted the plaintiff, named John Doe in the lawsuit, when he was a minor.

Maramba, a Benedictine monk from the Philippines, served at St. Genevieve Parish in Las Cruces in 1976-77 with the permission of the bishop of the Diocese of El Paso, Sydney Metzger. He also served at the Newman Center in Silver City while working in the Diocese of El Paso.

MALTA
Times of Malta

Police officers last night questioned a Dominican nun over abuse, informed sources said.

The sources said the nun was questioned by the Vice Squad over alleged child abuse in Lourdes Home some four or five years ago.

The nun was questioned at Pompei House, a home for the elderly run by the same Order.

The Dominican sisters are refusing to comment about the case. They are also refusing to say if the sister was brought to Malta today.

A commission chaired by Judge Victor Caruana Colombo in 2008 found instances of physical and psychological abuse of children perpetrated at Lourdes House.

MALTA
Malta Today

By Nestor Laiviera

UPDATED | A Dominican nun from the infamous Lourdes Home has been questioned by police over claims of abuse on minors, but investigations are shrouded under a veil of Church-imposed secrecy.

A Dominican nun who works within the Lourdes residential home in Ghajnsielem, Gozo, has been questioned by investigators at the Police Vice Squad in connection to claims of child abuse.

Sources say that the nun is expected to be interrogated again in the coming hours as investigations continue.

The arrest reportedly dates back to an alleged instance of child abuse that took place five years ago.

SVERIGE
Sydsvenskan

Sverige.
Efter flera anmälningar där präster anklagas för sexuella övergrepp ska Svenska kyrkan kartlägga omfattningen.

Det är hög tid att Svenska kyrkan slutar tysta ned känsliga händelser och skydda misstänkta förövare, säger Ewa Lindqvist Hotz, präst i Svenska kyrkan och chef för tankesmedjan Seglora smedja.

– Man är tyst om sådant man vet händer och det är djupt problematiskt, säger hon.

Ärkebiskop Anders Wejryd håller delvis med om att övergrepp inom Svenska kyrkan förtigits.

SVERIGE
MyNewsDesk

– Det bästa skyddet mot sexuella övergrepp i våra kyrkliga sammanhang är att bryta tystnaden, säger ärkebiskop Anders Wejryd. Varje övergrepp är ett för mycket – och vid misstanke om brott måste polisanmälan göras, så att en juridisk prövning kan ske.Svenska kyrkan har arbetat aktivt sedan 1998 med riktlinjer och strategiskt arbete för att motverka och hantera förekomster av sexuella övergrepp.

– Det är helt enkelt inte acceptabelt och vi ska döma strikt när det sker, säger Anders Wejryd. Vi har ingen anledning att skydda förövarna, kyrkans ansvar är att stå på de utsattas sida.

– Övergrepp förekommer framför allt i slutna miljöer och handlar om missbruk av förtroende och makt, säger Inger Lise Olsen, handläggare för genderfrågor. Vi hoppas att vårt strategiska arbete gör det lättare för utsatta människor att våga göra en anmälan.

DEUTSCHLAND
16 VOR

Ein Bruder der Benediktinerabtei St. Matthias hat sich in den 1970er und 80er Jahren des sexuellen Missbrauchs an Minderjährigen schuldig gemacht. Das gab Abt Ignatius Maaß am Sonntag überraschend in der Abteikirche bekannt. Der Abt sprach von mindestens drei Opfern, der Vorgang sei für ihn und die übrigen Brüder “bedrückend und beschämend”. Der heute 78 Jahre alte Täter hat die Vorwürfe eingestanden. Wie Maaß auf Anfrage weiter erklärte, erhielten die Opfer zwischenzeitlich eine “materielle Anerkennung” des Leids.

TRIER-SÜD. Es war eine schlimme Nachricht, die Abt Ignatius den Besuchern des sonntäglichen Gottesdienstes überbrachte: Einer seiner Mitbrüder, der bis 1989 als Vikar seelsorgerisch tätig war, hat sich des mehrfachen sexuellen Missbrauchs Schutzbefohlener schuldig gemacht, berichtete der Kirchenmann seiner Gemeinde, die sich in der Abteikirche versammelt hatte. Schon im letzten Jahr erfuhr der Abt von den Vorwürfen gegen Bruder B., dieser habe die Taten ihm gegenüber selbst angesprochen, so Maaß am Sonntag im Gespräch mit 16vor. Er habe ihm daraufhin “die Ausübung der priesterlichen Aufgaben” untersagt, so der Abt, und weiter: “Seitdem hält er keine Messe mehr. In der Seelsorge mit jungen Menschen war er ohnehin nicht mehr tätig”. Dass der Abt erst jetzt mit der Information an die Öffentlichkeit ging, erklärte er damit, dass die Vorwürfe nun “hinreichend klar” gewesen seien.