ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
NSW Police Force

Former Catholic priest charged with 13 additional offences – Strike Force Glenroe

Wednesday, 17 July 2013

Police have laid 13 additional charges against a former Catholic priest relating to alleged historical child assault offences.

The 59-year-old man faced Armidale Local Court today (Wednesday 17 July 2013) on charges relating to alleged child-sex offences against six boys and three girls in the 1970s and 1980s.

During his appearance, the man was additionally charged with 13 offences relating to alleged assaults against a boy, aged 12 to 14, between 1981 and 1984 in Moree.

They include nine counts of sexual intercourse without consent and four counts of indecent assault.

In total, the man has been charged with 137 alleged child-sex offences and remains on strict conditional bail.

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

AUSTRALIA
Armidate Express

By VICTORIA NUGENT July 17, 2013

A BOOK naming an ex-priest whose identity remains gagged has been submitted to Armidale Local Court during the man’s hearing on child sexual abuse charges.

The non-publication order remains on naming the former priest, 59, who today faced 13 fresh charges.

The book was submitted to Magistrate Karen Stafford by defence solicitor Glen Kee.

He asked the magistrate to consider taking action against the author.

But Magistrate Stafford said she would only consider the matter, although continuing to suppress the identity of the defendant until at least September 4.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

NSW police have laid 13 additional charges against a former Catholic priest relating to alleged historical child assault offences.

They say that the 59-year-old man faced Armidale Local Court on charges relating to alleged child-sex offences against six boys and three girls in the 1970s and 1980s.

‘During his appearance, the man was additionally charged with 13 offences relating to alleged assaults against a boy, aged 12 to 14, between 1981 and 1984 in Moree,’ police said in a statement.

‘They include nine counts of sexual intercourse without consent and four counts of indecent assault.

‘In total, the man has been charged with 137 alleged child-sex offences and remains on strict conditional bail.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Daily Journal

SARAH PARVINI Associated Press
First Posted: July 17, 2013

LOS ANGELES — Tony Quarry suppressed his memories of being abused by a Roman Catholic priest for nearly 30 years and decided to sue only after finding out that his five brothers were molested by the same man — just to discover that it was too late.

The state’s high court ultimately tossed out the brothers’ lawsuit because they missed a special legal window that allowed victims to sue over abuse claims decades after the fact. Their plight, however, has inspired new sex abuse legislation in California a decade after a similar bill cost the church hundreds of millions in civil settlements.

“I still believed in the tooth fairy when these things happened to me,” Quarry, 51, told The Associated Press in a phone interview Tuesday. “It’s a good thing for these other people to have the opportunity to step forward.”

Like the previous law, Senate Bill 131 would permit many victims who would otherwise be unable to file a civil suit due to time and age restrictions — like the Quarry brothers — to sue their abuser’s employer in civil court.

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FLORIDA
WPTV

By: Brian Entin
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A spokesman with the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office says they received a new search warrant and investigators are going over the new evidence that could lead to more charges for former Rosarian Academy teacher Stephen Budd.

According to West Palm Beach Police, they found dozens of child porn images on a hard drive in Budd’s car after he was arrested in April on sex charges involving two nine year old girls.

Now, new allegations are surfacing from his own daughter.

According to the search warrant from June, Budd’s daughter told police her father “would do things to her friends that she knew were wrong and made her uncomfortable.”

According to the search warrant, she told police while she was in high school and living with her father in Boynton Beach, her dad made one of her ninth grade friends dance for him in a Catholic School uniform inappropriately touching herself while Budd video taped it.

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CANADA
Times Colonist

BOB WEBER / THE CANADIAN PRESS
JULY 16, 2013

Recently published historical research says hungry aboriginal children and adults were once used as unwitting subjects in nutritional experiments by Canadian government bureaucrats.

“This was the hardest thing I’ve ever written,” said Ian Mosby, who has revealed new details about one of the least-known but perhaps most disturbing aspects of government policy toward aboriginals immediately after the Second World War.

Mosby — whose work at the University of Guelph focuses on the history of food in Canada — was researching the development of health policy when he ran across something strange.

“I started to find vague references to studies conducted on ‘Indians’ that piqued my interest and seemed potentially problematic, to say the least,” he said. “I went on a search to find out what was going on.”

Government documents eventually revealed a long-standing, government-run experiment that came to span the entire country and involved at least 1,300 aboriginals, most of them children. …

The research spread. In 1947, plans were developed for research on about 1,000 hungry aboriginal children in six residential schools in Port Alberni, B.C., Kenora, Ont., Schubenacadie, N.S., and Lethbridge, Alta.

One school deliberately held milk rations for two years to less than half the recommended amount to get a ‘baseline’ reading for when the allowance was increased. At another, children were divided into one group that received vitamin, iron and iodine supplements and one that didn’t.

One school depressed levels of vitamin B1 to create another baseline before levels were boosted. A special enriched flour that couldn’t legally be sold elsewhere in Canada under food adulteration laws was used on children at another school.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Senior members of the Hunter Valley’s Catholic Church are today expected to front an inquiry into claims the diocese covered-up abuse by two paedophile priests.

The Special Commission has heard that members of the Maitland-Newcastle diocese knew about the abuse of Denis McAlinden for 50 years but did not tell police until 2003.

The inquiry was set up last year after senior policeman Peter Fox claimed the Church tried to protect McAlinden and another Hunter Valley priest, James Fletcher.

The public hearings will continue in Newcastle this morning after the former bishop, Michael Malone, gave further evidence in-camera yesterday.

Father James Saunders, a former advisor to bishop Malone, is scheduled to give evidence followed by Father William Burston and Monsignor Allan Hart.

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CHILE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY BARBARA BLAINE ON JULY 16, 2013

Judge Juan Manuel Munoz from the Appeals Court in Santiago, Chile has decided to move forward with a pre-lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Santiago and predator priest Fernando Karadima.

In January 2011, Karadima was found guilty of sexual abuse after at least four men came forward with accusations that they had been abused as minors. The statute of limitations prevent Karadima from serving a jail sentence but he was forced from ministry to retire to “a life of prayer and penitence.”

[New York Times]

The purpose of the pre-lawsuit is to find out the level of involvement and the cover up provided by Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz, Archbishop Ricardo Ezzati and most of the members of the Chilean Catholic hierarchy who reportedly knew about the abuse as early as 1958 yet said and did nothing about it over the past four decades. Victims believe the investigation will also focus on the four bishops who came from Karadima’s inner circle and, according to court documents and witness accounts, knew of and witnessed Karadima’s abuse yet remained silent. These bishops are Juan Barros, Andrés Arteaga, Tomislav Koljatic and Horacio Valenzuela.

Church officials who were reckless with the safety of children should be held accountable. They should not be allowed to keep their positions of authority if they have misused it. Protecting the Chilean children should be the highest priority of the court and the church. If the investigation shows disregard for the safety of children we hope those who covered up and enabled the crimes will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Victims believe that the church officials who could have intervened to prevent additional abuse and sexual violence refused to do so. In addition, it appears that the same church officials also refused to help victims in need. Lastly, we are disappointed that Pope Francis selected Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz to be a part of the committee chosen to develop ways of reforming the Catholic Church. Considering his track record of putting the interest of predators and reputations ahead of the best interests of children we question the wisdom of this decision.

Now, more than ever, it is important that anyone with information speaks up. We urge anyone who experienced, saw or suspects wrongdoing by Karadima to report it to police immediately. If anyone knows about the involvement of Cardinal Errazuriz and Archbishop Ezzati or any other bishop please speak up so they will be held accountable and children will be safer.

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NEW YORK
Jewish Daily Forward

By Doni Bloomfield
Published July 16, 2013.

Yeshiva University’s credit rating has been downgraded by a major ratings agency amid large and growing deficits, a falling endowment and fears of costly litigation stemming from recent allegations of sexual abuse at its high school.

Moody’s downgraded Y.U.’s debt from A2 to Baa1, putting it below the median credit rating for similar institutions.

The agency says that the litigation prospects of the alleged sexual abuse victims will largely determine if the debt is downgraded further.

Since its peak in 2007 Y.U.’s endowment has cratered, falling 45%, doing handily worse than the stock market. Y.U.’s reliance on hedge funds, in particular, has been extremely damaging. It was also slammed by the financial crisis and damaged by its entanglement with Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scam.

Meanwhile, the federal lawsuit filed last week by former students at Y.U.’s affiliated high school, alleging administrative negligence in response to abuse they suffered there, is demanding over $380 million in damages. According to Moody’s the attendant publicity may have large consequences for Yeshiva’s fundraising efforts.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
KMOX

ST. LOUIS (KMOX)– The Archdiocese is responding to criticism that it was apparently showing public support for a priest accused of sexual abuse.

The Survivors Network of those Accused by Priests held a news conference saying it was wrong for church officials to call a prayer meeting for the “exoneration” of Father Joseph Jiang. Jiang has been charged with sexual abuse of a minor, and with witness tampering for allegedly leaving a check for $20,000 on the windshield of a car belonging to the family of the alleged victim.

“There was supposed to have been a prayer vigil for Father Jiang for his ‘exoneration,’” said SNAP spokeswoman Judy Jones, “This priest has been arrested, and charged for sexually abusing a minor, a girl under the age of seventeen.”

Jones says the gesture in support of the priest would have a “chilling” effect on victims of clergy abuse, making them feel the church gives the benefit of the doubt to accused priests.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Statement by Judy Jones of St. Louis, Assistant Midwest Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 974 5003, SNAPjudy@gmail.com )

Those who commit child sex crimes are sick. They largely cannot help themselves.

Those who publicly back child sex offenders, however, are even more morally culpable. They deliberately choose to act in ways that hurt children. They should be ashamed of themselves.

This includes a group of young adults at the Cathedral parish. Tonight they were to hold a prayer service for Fr. Joseph Jiang. Fr. Jiang is accused of repeatedly molesting a girl last year. He’s been arrested and charged

[Riverfront Times]

These parishioners were not praying for “justice to be done.” They weren’t praying “for the truth to emerge.” They weren’t praying for “all parties involved.” They were praying for an arrested, charged and credibly accused predator priest’s “defense and exoneration.”

Shame on them.

And shame on their pastor, who claims he didn’t know what was happening at his parish. Frankly, we find this hard to believe, especially since this event was apparently planned for months.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

More than 210 women who worked in the Catholic-run workhouses have already applied to the multi-million euro compensation scheme announced by the Government last month.

Mr Shatter revealed he met with the four religious congregations who ran the workhouses – The Good Shepherd Sisters, The Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, The Sisters of Mercy and the Sisters of Charity – about the redress scheme.

“Regrettably, all four religious congregations have informed us that they do not intend to make a financial contribution,” said Mr Shatter.

“I regard their response as very disappointing.

“It is my view that the congregations have a moral obligation to make a reasonable contribution to the fund required under the scheme and that view is shared by my Cabinet colleagues.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Messenger

UPDATE: St Ambrose College statement after former teacher charged with 47 sexual assaults on pupils

A FORMER teacher has been charged following an investigation in historic sexual abuse at St Ambrose College, in Hale Barns.

Alan Morris, aged 63, has been charged with 47 sexual offences against pupils at the school. from the 1970s to 1990s.

Morris, of Rivington Road, Hale, was a teacher at the school at the time.

The allegations involve 29 former pupils of the boys-only school, who were aged between 11 and 17 at the time.

John Dilworth, head of the CPS North West complex casework unit, said: “Following investigations by Greater Manchester Police into allegations that Alan Morris, a former teacher at St Ambrose School, sexually assaulted pupils at the school between 1972 and 1991, I have reviewed all the evidence that they have gathered and have authorised the police to charge him with 41 offences of indecent assault on a male, one charge of outraging public decency and five charges of inciting gross indecency with a child.”

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AUSTRALIA
Armidale Express

A FORMER priest facing historic child sex abuse charges will appear in Armidale Local Court today.

The 59-year-old man, who cannot be named under a non-publication order, is facing 125 child sex abuse charges, of which 61 relate to the alleged sexual abuse of three girls and six boys during the 1970s and 1980s.

A further 64 offences relate to the alleged abuse of a further two girls and one altar boy in Moree and Armidale in the early 1980s.

The man’s bail conditions prevent him from visiting Armidale except for legal or medical reasons.

He is also forbidden to approach Crown witnesses, his accusers or people aged under 16.

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, July 16

Statement by Mary Caplan of Manhattan, NY area director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 917 439 418, mcaplan@aol.com )

Last week, a United Nations committee requested information from the Vatican about clergy sex crimes and cover ups.

It’s a straightforward and reasonable request. But it’s also an historic and encouraging request.

It’s historic because, until now, no truly independent, international body has ever really sought extensive information from high-ranking Catholic officials about this on-going crisis.

It’s encouraging because it may prod other secular authorities – especially at the international level – to take similar steps to document, investigate, or prevent more violence by Catholic clerics against innocent children and vulnerable adults. And it’s encouraging because it may indicate that the long standing and dangerous preferential treatment of Catholic officials by secular officials is slowly waning.

We urge Pope Francis to provide this information and meet this deadline. He seems to be the master of symbolic gestures. But symbolic gestures don’t protect kids. Tangible, courageous action protects kids.

Others in the Vatican will no doubt pressure the pontiff to do as church officials have always done and resist anything that even seems like external oversight. We hope those well-entrenched, reactionary forces won’t prevail. We predict, however, that they will.

The UN’s request is a simple one. Pope Francis presents himself as a simple man. And he’s carefully fostering an image as a reformer. But kids don’t need an image of reform. They need real reform.

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, July 16

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

According to today’s LA Times, California Catholic officials are waging an expensive lobbying campaign against a bill that would expose predators, help victims, protect kids and deter wrongdoing.

[Los Angeles Times]

Since the early 1990s, America’s bishops have claimed they’ve adopted tough new procedures, policies and protocols to prevent abuse. If that’s true, why are they now still so dreadfully afraid of child sex abuse and cover up cases.

Here’s why the bill focuses on private institutions, not public ones: because that’s where the problem largely is. When abuse happens in a public school, a parent can file a Freedom of Information Act request, speak up at a school board meeting, campaign against board members, run for the board, and fight against bond issues and tax levies. So there are some “checks and balances” and some avenues for redress.

When abuse happens in a private school, no such remedies exist. And private schools depend heavily on their reputations so are more apt to cover up abuse cases.

Once real strides are made to clean up private institutions, we hope lawmakers will focus more on public institutions.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

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

A former priest and registered sex offender has resurfaced at a non-profit in Wilkes-Barre. Robert Timchak works for In The Gap, a group that helps turns vacant lots into residential buildings.

This is why we urge bishops to post the names of proven, admitted, and credibly accused child molesting clerics on their website so that neighbors, friends and prospective employers can be warned about potentially dangerous employees.

We urge anyone with more information about this or any other case to please come forward so that predators are not allowed to be employed within communities near children.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

NCR Editorial Staff | Jul. 16, 2013

EDITORIAL
The Vatican bank, officially known as the Institute for the Works of Religion, is scandal-plagued and has been for years. Pope Benedict XVI took important steps in bringing reform to the bank, not the least of which was insisting that the Vatican follow the international standards set by Moneyval, the European anti-money-laundering agency. Moneyval reviewed Vatican financial procedures last year and will return in 2014 to see if the mandated improvements have been made. For example, Moneyval insisted the Vatican establish an independent Financial Information Authority with the power to investigate suspicious transactions. This agency is headed by René Brülhart, a highly respected Swiss lawyer and expert in the field who in May revealed more than a dozen suspicious activities since 2011. That is real progress.

At the time of his election, Pope Francis received a clear mandate from the College of Cardinals to move the reform ahead faster and further. Francis has said he wants “to allow Gospel principles to permeate [the church’s] economic and financial activities, too.”

We applaud these efforts and encourage a thorough examination of the Vatican bank’s processes and practices.

The resignations of a director and deputy director of the Vatican bank and the arrest of Msgr. Nunzio Scarano underscore the importance of a speedy, efficient housecleaning. But obstacles may impede this cleaning.

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IRELAND
RTE News

Groups representing survivors of the the Magdalene Laundries have criticised religious congregations that owned laundries for their refusal to contribute towards the redress fund for survivors.

London-based Irish Womens Survivors Network Sally Mulready said she was concerned that survivors would feel that the nuns were saying that they did not think much of the women’s plight.

Magdalenes Survivors Together spokesman Stephen O’Riordan said he was flabbergasted by the refusal given that the orders of nuns concerned were responsible for most of the injustice suffered by the women detained in the institutions.

The four orders of nuns have said that they will contribute to the support package for the women in other ways including caring for about 100 of the women.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Sinn Féin has sought a Dáil debate on the refusal of the four religious orders that ran the Magdalene Laundries to make a financial contribution towards the redress scheme put in place for the survivors.

The four religious congregations have told the Government they will not make any financial contribution to the multimillion-euro fund set up to recompense former residents.

The Mercy Sisters, the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, the Sisters of Charity and the Good Shepherd Sisters have informed Minister for Justice Alan Shatter in recent days that they will not pay into the fund, which could cost up to €58 million.

It is understood they have said they are willing to assist fully in all other aspects of the package recommended by Mr Justice John Quirke in his recent report, including the assembly of records and looking after former residents who remain in their care.

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UNITED STATES
Village Voice

[MYTHS OF THE MAGDALENE LAUNDRIES – Catholic League]

By Anna Merlan Tue., Jul. 16 2013

So, what’s perpetually aggrieved Catholic League president Bill Donohue mad about this week? Is it gay people? Is it the “bizarre” notion of gay people getting married? Is it all those gay priests sneaking into the Catholic Church (who are the real problem over there, in Donohue’s mind anyway, rather than all that child abuse)?

The man has a bit of a theme, is what we’re saying. But Donohue switched gears yesterday, taking time away from his busy schedule of gay-hating and light art criticism to declare, bizarrely, that Ireland’s infamous Magdalene Laundries were “a myth” and “a lie.”

In case you’re not up on your Irish history, the Magadalene Laundries were workhouses where women and girls were incarcerated, starting from the late 18th century and continuing till the middle of the 20th. Inhabitants of the laundries were referred to as “penitents.” Contrary to popular belief, one that was helped along by a Hollywood movie about the laundries, they weren’t solely meant for unmarried pregnant women or prostitutes; some of their inhabitants were also neglected children, some as young as nine or 10, referred by social service agencies. Women with minor criminal convictions were also sent to the laundries. And some of their inhabitants were simply desperately poor and voluntarily committed themselves. (You can see a few surviving photos of a typical laundry and its inhabitants here.)

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FLORIDA
CBS 12

WEST PALM BEACH – A former private school teacher in West Palm Beach who was arrested on sex charges involving two girls could soon face charges of possession of child pornography.

Authorities say they found images on Stephen Budd’s hard drive which contained 41 images of child pornography and 19 videos containing more than two-hours of sexual abuse.

The 51 year old was arrested in April for allegedly offering two girls in his class candy in exchange for sex acts.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Prayer event for arrested priest is cancelled, SNAP Responds
Victims want pastor & organizer disciplined
They tell Carlson: Stop tolerating hurtful actions
Group blasts archdiocese’s “good cop-bad cop” routine
SNAP: “Archbishop takes ‘high road,’ but his staff & flock attack victims”

What
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will disclose that a Cathedral prayer event, for the “defense and exoneration” of an arrested local predator priest, was just cancelled.

Victims will urge St. Louis’ archbishop to

–punish the layman who organized it and pastor who approved it, and

–teach his flock about how to act appropriately when child sex charges surface.

They will also prod:

–anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered the priest’s crimes to contact law enforcement immediately, and

–parishioners and the public to keep open minds and avoid taking actions and making comments that might discourage any other victims, witnesses or whistleblowers from stepping forward.

When
Tuesday, July 16 at 1:00 p.m.

Where
On the sidewalk outside the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica, Lindell & Newstead in the CWE

Who
Two-three victims of clergy sex crimes who belong to a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)

Why
For weeks or months, the Cathedral Young Adults group planned an event to “offer our prayers for the Defense and Exoneration” of Fr. Xiu Hui Joseph Jiang.” It was to be held tonight but was cancelled late yesterday after a reporter asked Archbishop Robert Carlson’s public relations staff about it.

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ITALIA
Blitz quotidiano

Don Mantia patteggiò per abusi su minori: ora in oratorio, genitori insorgono

CREMONA – Don Luigi Mantia ha patteggiato una pena di due anni per abusi sui minori. Il reato gli fu contestato a Martignana Po, in provincia di Cremona, nel 2009. Oggi, dopo il patteggiamento dello scorso febbraio, don Mantia sostituisce il parroco di Pumenengo e i suoi parrocchiani sono tranquilli e bendisposti nei suoi confronti. Ma l’idea che don Mantia frequenti l’oratorio e possa partecipare ad una gita a Zambla con i ragazzi ha scatenato le polemiche, mentre la Curia rassicura: “Non andrà”.

Giuliana Ubbiali e Pietro Tosca spiegano sul Corriere della Sera che il polverone si scatena quando all’oratorio di Casirate d’Adda, che organizzava una gita a Zambla, si diffonde la voce che parteciperà anche il prete “in prestito a Pumenengo”:

“Qualche genitore si informa e apprende che è don Luigi Mantia. Scoppia il polverone, perché è il sacerdote che il 26 febbraio ha patteggiato due anni (pena sospesa) per atti sessuali con minorenni, due bambini di 8 e 12 anni”.

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ITALIA
la Repubblica

Don Luigi Mantia aveva patteggiato due anni (pena sospesa) per abusi su due bambini: ora gli è stata affidata a titolo provvisiorio la parrocchia di Casirate d’Adda. La curia: “Non andrà in montagna con i ragazzi”

Il 26 febbraio scorso aveva patteggiato due anni, con pena sospesa, per atti sessuali con minorenni, due bambini di otto e 12 anni. A meno di cinque mesi di distanza don Luigi Mantia è in servizio all’oratorio di Casirate d’Adda, paese della Bassa bergamasca dove i genitori dei ragazzi che frequentano la struttura hanno sollevato un polverone dopo aver appreso che anche il sacerdote avrebbe partecipato, da lunedì prossimo, alla vacanza dei loro figli in montagna a Zambla.

In realtà don Luigi, che abita al santuario di Caravaggio, è in servizio a Pumenengo, sempre in provincia di Bergamo, ma ‘in prestito’, visto che il parroco è andato in pensione a maggio e il successore arriverà a settembre. Alle accuse don Luigi ha sempre replicato di essere innocente e di aver voluto patteggiare solo per chiudere la vicenda prima possibile, mentre dalla curia di Cremona (Casirate, Pumenengo e Caravaggio, pur in provincia di Bergamo, appartengono a quella diocesi) spiegano che il sacerdote non andrà in vacanza a Zambla. Ma la polemica è ormai scoppiata a Casirate, dove il sacerdote ha contatti con i ragazzi dell’oratorio proprio come a Pumenengo.

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ITALIA
Il Giorno

Don Gabriele Corsani, molto vicino alla famiglia Berlusconi (concelebrò ad Arcore la Messa funebre di Maria Antonietta Berlusconi, sorella del Cavaliere), nel 2007 ha proposto ad un ragazzo di una scuola di ispirazione cattolica di Sesto San Giovanni di dormire insieme e poi lo avrebbe palpeggiato sui genitali

Pavia, 15 luglio 2013 – Tre anni di reclusione per violenza sessuale su un ex allievo. Questa la condanna a don Gabriele Corsani, 45 anni, economo del collegio salesiano di Pavia. Il prelato – molto vicino alla famiglia Berlusconi – avrebbe molestato un giovane, 20enne nel 2007 quando sarebbe avvenuto il fatto in una camera di albergo di Rimini, dove il gruppo si trovava per un seminario.

Secondo l’accusa, il sacerdote aveva attirato in una stanza l’ex allievo, di una scuola di ispirazione cattolica di Sesto San Giovanni, proponendogli di dormire insieme per poi palpeggiarlo sui genitali. Il ragazzo era riuscito a fuggire. Nel corso delle indagini affidate ai carabinieri sarebbe emerso un altro episodio, raccontato ma non denunciato da un diciannovenne che, nel 2005, don Gabriele avrebbe tentato di baciare sulle labbra. Per l’episodio del presunto bacio don Gabriele Corsani è stato assolto, mentre per la violenza in camera d’albergo il giudice ha stabilito, oltre alla condanna a tre anni, anche una provvisionale di 5mila euro. La parte civile, rappresentata dall’avvocato Monica Gnesi di Monza, aveva chiesto almeno 20 mila euro.

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ITALIA
Giornalettismo

di Dario Ferri – 16/07/2013

Tre anni di galera per Don Gabriele Corsani, salesiano di Pavia che è stato riconosciuto colpevole di aver molestato sessualmente un giovane in un albergo a Rimini. La storia la racconta la Stampa:

L’inchiesta della Procura di Rimini nei riguardi del sacerdote – vicino alla famiglia Berlusconi – era partita il 5 luglio 2011, con la denuncia del ragazzo, che oramai 24enne aveva trovato il coraggio di raccontare tutto. Secondo l’accusa, il sacerdote aveva attirato in una stanza l’ex allievo di una scuola di ispirazione cattolica del milanese, proponendogli di dormire insieme per poi palpeggiarlo.

Il ragazzo era riuscito a fuggire:

Don Corsani era stato il primo sacerdote ad accorrere a casa di Rosa Bossi Berlusconi, madre di Silvio Berlusconi, alla notizia della sua morte nel febbraio 2008 aMilano.Un anno dopo il religioso aveva concelebrato ad Arcore la Messa funebre di Maria Antonietta Berlusconi, sorella dell’allora premier.

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ITALY
The Local

Father Gabriel Corsani, a friend of the Berlusconi family, was sentenced to three years in prison on Monday after being convicted of sexual assault.

Corsani was treasurer of the Salesian College of Pavia, in north-east Italy, for 45 years.

He was convicted of sexual assault on a 20-year-old man, a student at the college at the time of the attack, in a hotel room in 2007.

Father Corsani was the first priest to rush to the house of Rosa Bossa Berlusconi, the mother of former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, upon news of her death in 2008.

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ITALY
The Local

Protests are being planned by parents in the northern Italian town of Casirate d’Adda, in Bergamo, after it emerged that a priest who plea-bargained a suspended sentence for having sex with two boys would take part in a week-long parish holiday.

Father Luigi Mantia plea bargained the two-year sentence in 2009 after being convicted of having sex with the boys, aged 8 and 12 at the time, Bergamo news reported. Though he has always maintained his innocence, he is reported to have hurried the bargain just before the case closed.

At the time, he was pastor of a church in the town but is now “on loan” to another church within Bergamo.

He is expected to accompany his former parishioners on the mountain holiday, a move that has provoked outrage among parents in Casirate.

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UNITED STATES
Latin Post

By Stefan Lopez (s.lopez@latinpost.com)

The Catholic church has long been scrutinized for its inability to keep sexual predators out of its midst. Now, it is coming to light that one prominent cardinal from New York did very little to protect several children from a sexually deranged priest but had little problem shielding tens of millions of dollars from

It has been alleged that Cardinal Timothy Dolan was aware of the sexual improprieties made by one of the Church’s priests. He then advised the Vatican that it would be wise to move funds from easily-accesible accounts to much more secretive ones.

“Cardinal Dolan’s moves involving church assets have come under particular scrutiny. Lawyers for the victims said the documents would prove that he transferred $130 million from the church’s books — about $55 million in a cemetery account, and $75 million in an investment account — to shield the money from abuse victims,” noted the New York Times.

The news has come out after numerous claims against the Catholic Church against one of its priests, the Reverend John O’Brien. Dolan was allegedly aware of his transgressions around 2003. New documents that have been requested in the plaintiff’s case against the Catholic Church confirm those allegations.

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UNITED STATES
RH Reality Check

by Angela Bonavoglia

In announcing its final rule concerning the Affordable Care Act’s guarantee of access to birth control without a co-pay for all American women—including the Catholics and non-Catholics who work in religiously sponsored schools, hospitals, and social service agencies—the Obama administration bent over backwards to accommodate the Church’s concerns. The goal was to spare Church fathers from the anguish of getting their pristine hands dirty by, as the Bishops charged, being forced to sell, buy or broker birth control coverage for women, including students. The final rule allows that either the insurance company used by the institution will have to pay for birth control—or, if the institution is self-insured, the plan administrator will have to provide or arrange payment—with reimbursement coming through a series of convoluted steps.

In a repeat of the Church battle over the Affordable Care Act, Sister Carol Keehan, head of the Catholic Health Association, last week publicly approved the administration’s final rule, issuing an explanation for the association’s members about how to implement it. Not so the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The week before, its head, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, released his statement expressing dissatisfaction with the compromise, saying that the bishops are subjecting it to further “analysis,” feel their “religious freedom” is still under threat, and plan to continue “defending our rights in Congress and in the courts.” Count on the 60+ lawsuits by Catholic diocese and universities around the country, joined by secular employers who also don’t like birth control and want to exclude it from their insurance policies, proceeding apace.

It is maddening that the Administration had to go to such extremes to placate the Church fathers, who dare to put “moral” and “money” as it applies to this deeply compromised institution in the same sentence. How pure, really, were the hands of the Church fathers who began decades ago to secretly spend millions of dollars in hush money to silence child victims of clergy rape and sodomy, and rid themselves of the evidence of their paternal crimes? Hush money that came from the faithful in the pews, who paid for all those ever-escalating insurance premiums, and from selling the churches and schools out from under those same working-class Catholics? The victims merited all the compensation they got and more, but the Church fathers literally stole that money from the Catholics they served and lied about it.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Riverfront Times

By Sam Levin Tue., Jul. 16 2013

Yesterday, we published an update on the investigation into Father Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang, a St. Louis priest accused of molesting a teenage girl on multiple occasions. Notably, in what appears to be a first, prosecutors have subpoenaed Archbishop Robert Carlson in this criminal case.

Archdiocese officials declined to comment on the pending case, but victims’ advocates have pointed us to one place where church officials made a very troubling statement about the accused priest: A meetup.com listing for an event at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis to pray for the “defense and exoneration of Fr. Joseph Jiang.”

Organizers from Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) say they are outraged by the stated purpose of the event, which is offensive and hurtful to the victim and her family. But after Daily RFT reached out to the Archdiocese about this meet-up, church officials took down the website and canceled the event.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Times-Tribune

BY CHRISTOPHER HONG (STAFF WRITER)
Published: July 16, 2013

A former priest and registered sex offender hopes his past won’t hurt his employer’s bid to improve neighborhood blight in Wilkes-Barre.

Robert Timchak, 47, works as the office manager for In The Gap, a fledgling grass roots organization that wants to build affordable townhouses on vacant properties owned by the city. Larissa Cleary, a local real estate agent and the group’s founder, will speak to city council today to ask the city to sell her lots on Hickory and South River streets.

However, there will likely be public input at the meeting about the Rev. Timchak’s past. In 2009, state police received an anonymous tip alleging the Rev. Timchak, who at the time was serving as an assistant pastor for the Diocese of Scranton in Pike County, downloaded child pornography. Police searched his computer and found photographs of naked, underage boys – many around 11, authorities said – and evidence that he tried to delete them. The Rev. Timchak pleaded guilty to 17 counts of possessing child pornography in 2010 and was released from prison last June.

The Rev. Timchak, who is from Wilkes-Barre and has worked at Bishop Hoban High School, returned home after prison. Although he’s technically still a priest, he’s been on a leave of absence from the diocese and is banned from performing religious duties. He’s become an active member of the First Baptist Church of Wilkes-Barre. There, he met Ms. Cleary, who hired him last month.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Citizen

A PAEDOPHILE former priest, who lives in Gloucester, has admitted further charges of sexually molesting an underage boy in the 1980s.

Malcolm McLennan, who lives in Quedgeley, appeared at Medway Magistrates’ Court in Kent last Monday.

The 69-year-old admitted indecent assault against a minor and was released on bail until his sentencing at crown court.

His victim, now in his 30s and with a family, said he felt ‘sick’ when he discovered McLennan was living near children in the cul-de-sac.

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CALIFORNIA
The Record

A Colombian priest who was arrested in Lodi in connection with a Yuba City sexual molestation case is likely headed to a jury trial.

Jose Guarin-Sosa will appear in Sutter County Superior Court on Aug. 16 for a trial readiness conference, according to the court’s calendar.

Guarin-Sosa, 43, was arrested by Yuba City police officers at St. Anne’s Parish in Lodi in March, after it was alleged he molested a 17-year-old girl at a private Mass inside a residence in Yuba City.

Guarin-Sosa, a visiting Colombian priest, faces allegations that he touched the girl in a private area against her will and that he molested a person younger than 18, according to court files. Both counts are misdemeanor charges.

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POLAND
Warsaw Business Journal

Father Wojciech Lemański, a Catholic priest known for his role in Polish-Jewish dialogue and for his recent public statements on a number of social issues, has effectively stopped being parish priest at Jasienica near Warsaw. He is in conflict with his superior Archbishop Henryk Hoser, who ordered him out of the parish for disobedience and failing to comply with some of the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Father Lemański did not agree with the decision and said that he would appeal against it. Initially, he refused to leave the parish, in which he was supported by a large group of parishioners. In the afternoon, he issued a statement saying that he has decided to leave.

Father Lemański’s conflict with Archbishop Hoser has been closely watched by the Polish media for the past few weeks. In a radio interview, he accused the archbishop of antisemitism, claiming Archbishop Hoser had asked him in a private conversation, whether “he was circumcised” and whether he “belonged to that nation.”

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POLAND
The News

A leading Church advocate of Polish-Jewish dialogue has belatedly agreed to leave his parish in Jasienica, central Poland, despite vocal support from the local community.

According to a ruling by Archbishop Henryk Hoser, Father Wojciech Lemanski ceased to be vicar of the parish at 9 pm on Sunday night, but he initially declined to step down, and local parishioners made a show of solidarity.

However, on Tuesday morning, Father Lemanski held a mass in Jasienica in which he thanked his parishioners for their support but encouraged them to accept that he is leaving – for the time being, at the very least.

“If you create an atmosphere around our parish that we have ‘Jasienica hooligans’ here who are are already beyond listening to another priest… you will do the greatest harm to me, and to the whole Church,” he declared, as cited by Polish Radio.

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IRELAND
98 FM

The religious orders responsible for running the Magdalene Laundries have told the Government they won’t contribute to the fund set-up for survivors.

The Mercy Sisters; the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity; the Sisters of Charity – and the Good Shepherd Sisters have told the Justice Minister they will not pay into the scheme – which could cost up to 58 million euro.

It’s believed the orders will assist in the assembly of records and looking after former residents who remain in their care.

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UNITED KINGDOM
National Secular Society (UK)

The four orders of nuns that ran the notorious Magdalene Laundries in Ireland have said they have no intention of contributing anything towards the compensation fund set up by the Irish Government.

The Mercy Sisters, the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, the Sisters of Charity and the Good Shepherd Sisters told the Minister for Justice Alan Shatter that they will leave it to the taxpayer to pick up the bill and will pay nothing towards the compensation fund which could total €58 million.

They have said they will continue to look after elderly former residents who have not been able to find anywhere else to live — but that’s all.

The Government announced the scheme last month after Mr Justice Quirke had inquired into the options available to compensate the women who had been incarcerated in the laundries and used as forced labour.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Harry McGee

Tue, Jul 16, 2013

The four religious congregations that ran the Magdalene laundries have told the Government they will not make any financial contribution to the multimillion-euro fund set up to recompense former residents.

The Mercy Sisters, the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, the Sisters of Charity and the Good Shepherd Sisters have informed Minister for Justice Alan Shatter in recent days that they will not pay into the fund, which could cost up to €58 million.

However, it is understood they have said they are willing to assist fully in all other aspects of the package recommended by Mr Justice John Quirke in his recent report, including the assembly of records and looking after former residents who remain in their care.

A spokeswoman for Mr Shatter said he was “disappointed” with the decision of the four orders not to make a financial contribution.

He will brief his ministerial colleagues about the situation at the weekly Cabinet meeting this morning.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

The religious orders responsible for running the Magdalene Laundries have told the Government they will not contribute to the fund set-up for survivors.

The Mercy Sisters, the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, the Sisters of Charity, and the Good Shepherd Sisters have told the Minister for Justice they will not pay into the scheme, which could cost up to €58m.

It is believed the orders will assist in the assembly of records ,and looking after former residents who remain in their care.

Chief Executive of Barnardos, Fergus Finlay, said the Government should insist that the orders pay compensation.

“I don’t think it’s adequate for the government to say ‘we’re very disappointed’,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
Pro Bono Australia

A free legal advisory service has been launched to give advice and support for people seeking to engage with the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Details of the independent legal service, called Knowmore, were announced by the Federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus.

The Government funded service will provide expert, free legal advice over the phone and in face-to-face meetings in key locations for members of the public considering speaking with the Royal Commission.

The Federal Government has provided $18 million in funding for the service over four years from 2012-2013.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with audio]

The Federal Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus, has launched a free national legal advisory service for people wanting to give evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The service will be run by the National Association of Community Legal Centres and will be independent of the Royal Commission and Government.

Transcript

ELEANOR HALL: The Federal Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus QC, has launched a free legal service for people wanting to give evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Mr Dreyfus told Samantha Donovan that the service will be independent of the commission and will be run by the National Association of Community Legal Centres.

MARK DREYFUS: This is a service which is going to provide advice to anyone attending the Royal Commission, including the people that are attending the private sessions of the Royal Commission.

It won’t be providing legal representation as such, but it’ll assist people in providing legal representation if that’s required.

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: What sort of issues do you think people will primarily be seeking advice on?

MARK DREYFUS: I think that people will be seeking advice on how the Commission is going to operate, what sort of things they will be called on to do, and quite possibly people will ask for assistance in getting a lawyer.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

ANYONE thinking about speaking to the royal commission into child sex abuse can now get free legal advice.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus on Tuesday launched Knowmore, a free national legal advice line for people interested in providing information to the commission.

Mr Dreyfus said the government will spend $18 million over four years on the service as part of a $62 million fund for legal advice related to the commission.

“A great deal of work has already gone into the setting up of this legal advisory service and it’s now up and running,” he told reporters in Sydney.

Run by the National Association of Community Legal Centres, it received 18 phone calls in its first three days last week.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas Reese | Jul. 15, 2013 NCR Today

The Vatican Bank continues to be in the news. You can listen to my interview about the bank on WBEZ Chicago. Click on the link under “Scandal continues to rock the Vatican bank,” or you will have to listen to 33 minutes of other interviews before you get to mine.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Sunderland Echo

CHURCH officials hushed up a child sex scandal in their ranks and refused to co-operate with police.

Jehovah Witness ministerial servant Gordon Leighton admitted sexually abusing a child when he was confronted by his church elders, a court heard.

But during the official police investigation, the 53-year-old – who made headlines in the 1990s when wife Yvonne, 28, died after refusing a blood transfusion after childbirth on religious grounds – denied any illegal wrongdoing.

And when detectives asked elders Simon Preyser, Harry Logan and David Scott to make statements about the confession, all three refused and said what they had heard was confidential.

For three years, the elders refused to co-operate with the criminal investigation and kept up that stance when the case was brought before Newcastle Crown Court after the victim made a complaint to police.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Journal

Church elders at Lambton Kingdom Hall in Washington knew that a ministerial servant had abused a young girl but fought against giving evidence in court

Gordon Leighton, a Jehovah’s Witness ministerial servant, admitted when confronted by elders at Lambton Kingdom Hall, in Washington, that he had abused a young girl.

But the churchmen refused to co-operate with the ensuing police investigation and had to be forced by a judge to give evidence against Leighton after a lengthy legal battle.

Now he is behind bars after being convicted of a series of sex offences against the youngster.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Shields Gazette

CHURCH officials in the North East hushed up a child sex scandal in their congregation and refused to co-operate with the police, a court heard.

Jehovah Witness ministerial servant Gordon Leighton admitted sexually abusing a child when he was confronted with allegations by elders at his church, but during a police investigation, the 53-year-old, who hit the headlines in the 1990s when his wife Yvonne, 28, died after refusing a blood transfusion on religious grounds, denied any illegal wrongdoing.

When detectives asked elders Simon Preyser, Harry Logan and David Scott to make statements about the confession, they refused and said what they had heard was confidential.

The elders refused to co-operate with the criminal investigation and kept that stance when the case was brought before Newcastle Crown Court. Each was issued with a witness summons and were ordered to testify by Judge Penny Moreland after months of legal wrangling.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

By Ashley Powers
July 15, 2013

At the height of the clergy sex-abuse scandal in 2002, Catholic leaders stayed silent as California lawmakers passed a landmark bill that gave hundreds of accusers extra time to file civil lawsuits. The consequences were costly.

California dioceses paid $1.2 billion in settlements and released thousands of confidential documents that showed their leaders, including Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles, had made plans to shield admitted molesters from law enforcement.

Now, state legislators are considering a bill that would give some alleged victims more time to sue. But this time, the church is waging a pitched battle in Sacramento to quash it.

A group affiliated with the church has hired five lobbying firms and spent tens of thousands of dollars fighting SB 131. Opponents argue that the bill unfairly opens the church, the Boy Scouts, and other private and nonprofit employers to lawsuits over decades-old allegations that are tough to fight in court. Two bishops have visited the Capitol to argue their case to the bill’s chief author.

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CONNECTICUT
Record-Journal

Posted: Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Associated Press

The Archdiocese of Hartford says police and state child welfare officials are investigating a child sexual abuse complaint against a Roman Catholic priest in East Windsor.

Church officials announced the investigation of Father Paul Gotta on Monday. They say Gotta has been placed on administrative leave until the matter is resolved in the legal system.

Gotta is the administrator of St. Philip and St. Catherine churches in East Windsor. He declined to comment and has not been charged with any crime.

Earlier this year, Gotta alerted authorities about an 18-year-old local man who allegedly was making bombs at his home. The man, Kyle Bass, was arrested and has pleaded not guilty to bomb and weapon charges.

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AUSTRALIA
Christian Today

Truth Justice Healing Council supports additional funding for child sexual abuse support services

Mr Francis Sullivan, CEO of the Truth Justice and Healing Council, has welcomed the announcement by the Federal Government it will provide $45 million for additional support services for child sexual abuse victims and survivors who want to be part of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The funding, which will be shared by 28 support services around Australia, will help people submit evidence and attend hearings.

It will also be used for trauma-informed counselling as well as support, information and advice about what to expect from the process of engaging with the Royal Commission.

Mr Sullivan said the additional funding is an important part of the Royal Commission process which will help people who have been abused to tell their stories.

“Victims and survivors need to be supported and encouraged to speak their truth,” Mr Sullivan said.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

[with video]

By Pat Ciarrocchi

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – An Austrian priest, described by some as a rebel, is coming to Philadelphia this Friday, as part of a U.S. tour. His opinions are controversial within the official Church, he’s banned from speaking on church property.

His name is Father Helmet Schuller – a 60-year-old, parish priest who has strong words for Catholics and their leaders.

“I think the world wide church is in big trouble,” said Schuller in an exclusive Skype interview with CBS 3′s Pat Ciarrocchi.

His works are reverberating through layers of church hierarchy.

Father Schuller believes the Catholic Church needs a new model for leadership, beginning with the priesthood.

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ROME
Corriere della Sera

ROMA – Ci sarebbero diversi testimoni pronti a giurare quanto fossero pianificate a tavolino le denunce dell’ex sacerdote Patrizio Poggi, il cui scopo era screditare le alte sfere della Curia con accuse di pedofilia e prostituzione minorile. Il tutto per ottenere la restituzione dello stato clericale dopo aver scontato cinque anni per una storia di sesso con minorenni. È questo il contenuto dei verbali che lunedì mattina il procuratore aggiunto Maria Monteleone ha messo a disposizione del tribunale del riesame, che si è riservato di decidere sul ricorso dell’ex sacerdote contro l’ordinanza di custodia cautelare in carcere del 28 giugno scorso per calunnia.

CALUNNIE PIANIFICATE A TAVOLINO – La procura, dal suo punto di vista, ha insistito: Poggi (che non era in aula) deve rimanere in carcere perchè la sua attività calunniosa è stata estesa più di quanto si possa immaginare e studiata da tempo nei dettagli, alimentata da quel risentimento personale nutrito nei confronti di chi ha impedito il suo ritorno all’abito talare.

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ROMA
Blitz

ROMA – “Una azione diffamatoria pianificata nei minimi dettagli per screditare la Curia romana”.

Quanto raccontato dall’ex sacerdote Patrizio Poggi, agli inquirenti, su un presunto giro di pedofilia in Vaticano, sarebbe secondo la procura di Roma, tutta una gigantesca menzogna diffamatoria atta ad ottenere la restituzione dell’abito talare dopo aver scontato una condanna a 5 anni per sesso con minori. Diversi testimoni sarebbero pronti a giurare che le denunce fatte dall’ex sacerdote erano in realtà “pianificate a tavolino”.

È questo il contenuto dei verbali che lunedì mattina il procuratore aggiunto Maria Monteleone ha messo a disposizione del tribunale del Riesame, che si è riservato di decidere sul ricorso di Don Poggi contro l’ordinanza di custodia cautelare in carcere del 28 giugno scorso per calunnia.

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VATICAN CITY
GlobalPost

Jason Berry

Details of Pope Francis’ reform agenda emerged last week. He authorized new criminal laws governing Vatican officials and employees, just as a United Nations committee pressed the Holy See for details on its handling of clergy sex offenders.

The Motu proprio (“in his hand”), or decree by the pope, of sanctions for the Vatican City-State seems to have come in response to the Vatican Bank money laundering scandal. The new laws also cover child pornography and crimes involving children, with prison terms of up to 12 years.

“This is strong stuff,” Nicholas Cafardi, a canon lawyer and former dean of Duquesne University Law School told GlobalPost. “And don’t forget who is subject to these new laws – all Vatican officials, the officers and employees of the Roman Curia, apostolic nuncios (papal ambassadors), and diplomatic staff of the Holy See…This is very broad coverage.”

Across several decades, a core issue of the clergy abuse scandals has been the de facto immunity, under the Code of Canon Law, for cardinals and bishops who sheltered and recycled perpetrators. Canon law is an administrative code for the way bishops govern dioceses, and the rights of priests, nuns, lay people and parishes as church entities. Although priests can be defrocked by the Vatican for abusing youth, bishops occupy a unique standing, known as apostolic succession – as part of a lineage going back to the ancient apostles – which means that only the pope has the power to strip a bishop of his title, something popes in modern times have been loath to do.

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

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Dan Cox

The former bishop of the Catholic Church in the NSW Hunter Valley has told an inquiry into clergy sexual abuse he prays every day for the victims of paedophile priests.

The former Maitland-Newcastle bishop, Michael Malone, will be excused from the inquiry after giving some final evidence in camera today.

He finished giving public evidence late yesterday, concluding with a statement that he read to the Commission and later the media.

“It will probably take some years to rebuild the confidence that’s been lost in the Catholic Church,” he said.

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ROME
Reuters

Prosecutors suspect two former Vatican bank executives

* Allegations related to incomplete data on bank transfers
* Transfers alleged to have infringed money laundering laws
* Vatican bank has long been questioned over standards

By Lisa Jucca and Mario Sarzanini

ROME, July 15 (Reuters) – Prosecutors allege two former top executives at the Vatican bank repeatedly broke Italian laws on money laundering by failing to give sufficient information when ordering multi-million-euro bank transfers, according to judicial documents seen by Reuters.

While the prosecutors stopped short of accusing two men who were until recently the top officials at the Vatican bank of money laundering, they said confusion over the handling of IOR accounts had created the conditions where it could take place.

Key details missing on requested transfers included the identity of the owners of the funds and the reason for transfer.

The Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), as the Vatican bank is formally known, has long been in the spotlight for failing to meet international standards intended to combat tax evasion and the disguising of illegal sources of income.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A native of France, Convert was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1940. After a year of studies at Alma College in CA, followed by two years in Port Townsend WA, Convert spent the better part of four decades living and working in small Alaskan villages along the Yukon River. According to Fairbanks diocesan officials in 2003, ill health prompted Convert in 1980 to return to France, where he worked in a small parish in the French Alps. He died in 1995. In 2003 accusations began to emerge that Convert sexually abused altar boys throughout his time in Alaska. Their stories were very similar. Convert’s modus operandi was reportedly to invite a boy to sleep over with him at his residence, as a special privilege. Most said he would sexually abuse them after they fell asleep. At least one said Convert molested him while they were watching a movie. The boys’ ages ranged from 6 to 15. Per the Fairbanks diocesan website in July 2013, there have been 37 reports of abuse by Convert.

Ordained: 1940
Died: July 28,1995

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NEW JERSEY
Mount Olive Chronicle

Posted: Monday, July 15, 2013

By PHIL GARBER, Managing Editor

MOUNT OLIVE TWP. – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Paterson did an about face on naming a Colombian priest to lead St. Jude’s Parish in Budd Lake after a Bergen County man claimed he had been involved in an abusive sexual relationship with the priest.

The diocese pulled the appointment of the Rev. Brando Ibarra and instead named the Rev. Jesus “Father Antonio” Givira, also a native of Columbia, to the St. Joseph post.

Givara was appointed after the former pastor, the popular Rev. Joseph “Father Joe” Orlandi left his post to care for his ailing mother in Italy.

And while Ibarra was not named to lead St. Jude’s Church, he remains the pastor at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Passaic.

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CONNECTICUT
Patch

Posted by Elyssa M. Millspaugh (Editor), July 15, 2013

An East Windsor priest is being investigated by the State Department of Children and Families for allegations of sexual abuse of a minor, the Archdiocese of Hartford announced.

Father Paul Gotta, administrator of St. Philip in East Windsor and St. Catherine in Broad Brook, has been placed on administrative pending the outcome of a police investigation.

Authorities are looking into the sexual abuse complaint and “other matters,” a statement on the Archdiocese Web site read.

“The Archdiocese of Hartford was surprised and disturbed to learn that such an allegation has been made,” read a statement. “The Archdiocese of Hartford condemns the type of misconduct that has been alleged and extends its sincere sympathies to those adversely affected by it.”

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

CONNECTICUT
The Hartford Courant

By CHRISTINE DEMPSEY, cdempsey@courant.com
4:19 p.m. EDT, July 15, 2013

HARTFORD — A priest who led police to an 18-year-old who then was arrested on bomb-making charges has been placed on leave by the Catholic Church after being accused of sexually abusing a minor, the Hartford Diocese said Monday.

Maria Zone, spokeswoman for the diocese, said the state Department of Children and Families has received a complaint of sexual abuse of a minor involving the Rev. Paul Gotta, administrator of St. Philip and St. Catherine churches, both in East Windsor.

Police also are investigating the allegation, she said in a written statement.

“The Archdiocese of Hartford has a protocol in place when such an allegation is made,” Zone said in the statement. “That protocol has been followed and Father Gotta has been placed on administrative leave until the matter is resolved through the legal system.”

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CHILE
24 Horas

El ministro Juan Muñoz Pardo suspendió los interrogatorios a Fernando Karadima y otros dos sacerdotes por la demanda contra el Arzobispado de Santiago que presentaron tres víctimas del ex párroco de El Bosque.

El juez acogió la presentación que hizo el abogado defensor de Karadima, Cristián Muga, respecto a que se estableciera la calidad en que comparecerá su cliente y que se tomara en cuenta su presunto mal estado de salud.

En la resolución, el magistrado además detalla que no se logró realizar el trámite de aviso a las partes “no habiéndose notificado personalmente la resolución de fojas 77, con la de debida anterioridad legal y habiendo perdido ya su oportunidad, se suspenden, por ahora, las audiencias fijadas por dicha resolución mientras no se resuelva la incidencia planteada al respecto”.

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CALIFORNIA
Mission & State

[with videos]

Interactive Timeline: A history of horrors

The Paper Trail: A directory to the Santa Barbara clergy sex abuse scandal.

Confronting the culture of sex abuse in the shadow of the Old Mission.

By Sam Slovick
July 12, 2013

Singing birds and shouting children announce another cacophonous end to a Garden Street Academy school day. A security guard patrols the lush property just behind the Old Mission Santa Barbara as girls and boys in bright colors greet the afternoon following a long day of sitting in hard seats. Though you won’t find any mention of it on the Academy’s website, prior to its current incarnation as a “progressive” K-12 private school, the facility was known for almost 100 years as St. Anthony’s Seminary, a vocational high school for boys studying to be priests. The Franciscan Friars Province of Saint Barbara, adherents of the ascetic spirituality of St. Francis of Assisi, ran the seminary. The friars lived across the narrow road at the Old Mission Santa Barbara.

The Franciscans originally started St. Anthony’s in 1896 in the Mission’s carpenter shop as a boys’ school called St. Anthony’s Seraphic College. It was intended to be a four-year high school with an optional year for students considering the priesthood to prepare for novitiate. The friars expanded the school in 1898 onto a 12-acre plot just a few hundred feet behind the Mission.

St. Anthony’s Seminary held its first classes at the Garden Street property in 1901, with the mission of grooming young men for the clergy, which it did for decades before closing ignominiously in 1987. By then, it had sealed its fate as one of the charter institutions in the Catholic clergy’s emerging sex abuse crisis.

With the children now gone for the day, the birds settle back into the tall trees around the Garden Street Academy, and the afternoon turns calm. Across the street, Paul Fericano can be found in a shady patch in the back of the Mission. He is contemplating a large boulder with a bronze plaque on its face and the larger context within which it exists. The boulder, a symbol of St. Anthony’s grim legacy, carries talismanic freight for Fericano.

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CONNECTICUT
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Statement by Barbara Dorris, Outreach Director, 314-862-7688 SNAPdorris@gmail.com

An East Windsor priest, Rev. Paul Gotta, has been placed on administrative leave while investigations take place over a complaint about the sexual abuse of a minor.

We hope that all parties involved will act responsibly and transparently throughout the investigation of these very serious allegations and encourage anyone with more information to come forward in order to insure that this predator is kept safely away from other minors.

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY DAVID CLOHESSY ON JULY 15, 2013

Groups urge Pope to open abuse files
UN panel pushes Vatican for information
SNAP & CCR call request “unprecedented”
Victims and advocates are encouraged by the move
Two organizations charge that Catholic officials violate treaty

What
At a sidewalk news conference, surrounded by signs and childhood photos, victims and advocates will

–applaud a United Nations committee for demanding detailed information from the Vatican about clergy sex crimes and cover ups across the globe,

–prod Pope Francis to provide all of the information promptly,

–urge other secular authorities to launch similar efforts to hold Catholic officials responsible for the church’s ongoing refusal to stop sexual violence by clergy, and

–beg anyone who has seen, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes or cover ups to report to independent sources (police, prosecutors, NGOs).

They will also explain why they believe international bodies should do more to investigate the crisis of sexual violence within the Catholic church and will discuss other recent efforts to do so.

When
Tuesday, July 16 at 1:00 p.m.

Where
Outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral, 460 Madison Ave, New York

Who
Leaders of two non-profit groups – the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP)

Why
Last week, in an unprecedented move, the Geneva-based United Nations’ Committee on the Rights of the Child released a detailed, four page list of information it wants Vatican officials to disclose about clergy sex crimes and cover ups and how Catholic officials are dealing with them. The panel set a November 1 deadline. In January, in a session that will be telecast live, Vatican staffers are expected to meet in person with the Committee to answer further questions.

The panel is charged with overseeing the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, a treaty signed by almost every nation on earth. The Convention is a “legally binding international instrument” that “incorporate[s] the full range of human rights—civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights” for children (http://www.unicef.org/crc/).

Despite ratifying the Convention in 1990, the Vatican has largely ignored its reporting requirements and is violating its principle tenets, CCR and SNAP charge.

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POLAND
Vatican Insider

Mgr. Hoser has accused Fr. Lemański of being too philo-Semitic

MAREK LEHNERT
ROME

Not even Poland seems to be a “normal” country. The story you about about to read should be described as the tale of a relatively young priest who is full of enthusiasm for the faith and sometimes deaf to the words of his elderly, conservative and old-fashioned bishop. Instead, the story starring Fr. Wojciech Lemański, the 52 year old parish priest of Jasienica near Poland’s capital Warsaw and Henryk Hoser, the 70 year old Ordinary of the Archdiocese of Warszawa-Praga (located in the East part of Warsaw), has the whole of Poland on tenterhooks, when it should be focused on preparing for John Paul II’s imminent canonization.

The friction between Fr. Lemański and his bishop has nothing to do with age but with certain key issues. Artificial insemination (in vitro fertilisation is the preferred term in Poland) tops the list of these issues. One day the parish priest of Jasienica went around publicly apologising to all those who were born thanks to this method and expressed his regret when one of these people – a young woman – left the Catholic Church because she felt rejected. Polish bishops condemned his action outright.

The rebel priest’s bishop who is one of the main opponents of in vitro fertilisation gave him a major telling-off for defending his position on television. Fr. Lemański also complained about the hard line taken against paedophile priests and in church preached against the closed-mindedness of parish members, particularly with regard to the fear of foreigners and anti-Semitism.

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POLAND
GlobalPost

A parish priest’s dismissal for criticising church doctrine on test tube babies, abortion, euthanasia and contraception has sparked debate in devoutly Catholic Poland.

Father Wojciech Lemanski, 53, was sacked by his superiors for speaking out against the dogma on his blog. The July 5 decree gave him until Thursday to quit his parish in the eastern village of Jasienica.

Henryk Hoser, archbishop of Warsaw-Praga, faulted Lemanski for “a lack of respect and disobedience”. Hoser is also the president of the Polish episcopate’s bioethics committee.

Backed by parishioners, Lemanski had refused to budge after his dismissal took effect late Sunday.

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CONNECTICUT
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford

The State Department of Children and Families has received a complaint of sexual abuse of a minor involving Father Paul Gotta, administrator of St. Philip in East Windsor, and St. Catherine in Broad Brook, and law enforcement authorities are currently investigating that allegation and other matters as well. The Archdiocese of Hartford was surprised and disturbed to learn that such an allegation has been made.

The Archdiocese of Hartford has a protocol in place when such an allegation is made. That protocol has been followed and Father Gotta has been placed on administrative leave until the matter is resolved through the legal system.

The Archdiocese of Hartford condemns the type of misconduct that has been alleged and extends its sincere sympathies to those adversely affected by it. If anyone has information relevant to this matter, please contact the East Windsor Police Department. The Archdiocese will continue to cooperate with the police in its ongoing investigation.

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CONNECTICUT
NBC Connecticut

By Bob Connors | Monday, Jul 15, 2013

The Department of Children and Families is investigating a complaint of sexual abuse of a minor against Rev. Paul Gotta, according to the Archdiocese of Hartford.

Rev. Gotta, administrator of St. Phillip Church in East Windsor and St. Catherine Church in Broad Brook, has been placed on administrative leave, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese said in a statement.

“The Archdiocese of Hartford was surprised and disturbed to learn that such an allegation has been made,” said Maria Zone, spokesperson for the Archdiocese.

Authorities are investigating the sexual assault complaint and “other matters”, the statement read.

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

AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

By ELLE WATSON July 16, 2013

A Branxton primary school principal denies Michael Malone warned him about paedophile priest James Fletcher in 2002, telling the special commission of inquiry he was not at the school on the day the bishop claims to have met him.

Returning to the witness box for the second week, the former bishop of the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese, Michael Malone (pictured), was adamant that he met with William Callinan at St Brigid’s in Branxton on June 20, 2002, and told him to keep the priest away from students.

He told the inquiry he met with Mr Callinan after Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox informed him Fletcher had been accused of sexually abusing a boy and requested he be stood down.

Under brief cross-examination, Mr Callinan’s counsel, William Potter, suggested to Bishop Malone he did not meet with Mr Callinan in 2002 and falsified a diary entry about the meeting when the NSW Ombudsman’s Office informed him it would be investigating how the church dealt with Fletcher.

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CANADA
CBC News

A New Brunswick priest is facing new allegations of sexual abuse dating back almost 40 years, according to court documents.

A 54-year-old man from Grand Barachois alleges that he was sexually abused by Father Yvon Arsenault almost 40 years ago.

The man’s lawsuit also names the Archdiocese of Moncton and three former Moncton archbishops.

He said the archdiocese took no steps to stop the abuse. Instead, he said the church worked to cover-up the behaviour.

The plaintiff also alleges the archbishops involved knew about other allegations of sexual assault involving Arsenault.

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OHIO
Christian Post

By Jeff Schapiro , Christian Post Reporter
June 18, 2013

A jury says an Ohio church should pay $3.6 million to a woman who was sexually assaulted as a teenager by her then pastor.

The Delaware County jury on Monday found that one or more employees of Grace Brethren Church of Delaware, Ohio, was negligent in supporting Brian L. Williams’ hiring and retention as senior pastor of Sunbury Grace Brethren Church, where he sexually assaulted the woman in 2008, according to court documents. Delaware Grace failed to properly investigate and document earlier incidents of sexually inappropriate behavior allegedly committed by Williams, the jury concluded, which allowed him to be “empowered to a greater responsibility” as senior pastor of Sunbury Grace.

“Brian Williams employment at Delaware Grace Brethren Church ended in 2004,” wrote Delaware Grace’s pastor, Gary Underwood, in a statement. “We were shocked when we heard of his criminal actions in March of 2008. However, we could never have foreseen Brian’s crimes, and our church had nothing to do with his crimes.

“We accept the jury’s verdict, but respectfully disagree with their decision. We will continue to pray for [the victim] and her family.”

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OHIO
Deep Thoughts

A woman who was sexually assaulted by former pastor Brian L. Williams of Sunbury Grace Brethren Church, has filed a lawsuit against the church alleging that the church knowingly hired a Williams despite a history of sexual assault allegations. The victim and her father seek $25,000 in compensatory damages and in excess of $25,000 in punitive damages.

Williams pleaded guilty and was convicted of two counts of sexual assault. He is serving two four-year terms in prison and is not a party in the lawsuit.

When this story originally broke, members of Grace Brethren defended Williams in comments on a post here at Deep Thoughts. All comments were anonymous.

Here are a few choice comments.

There have been no other girls that have accused him of anything.

It’s also a shame that people are assumed guilty before it’s proven.

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NEW JERSEY
Sunlit Uplands

He’s hired a top-notch criminal lawyer, but when it comes to public relations and media savvy, the Archbishop of Newark, John J. Myers, is about as tone-deaf and ill-advised as anyone on the planet.

He had an admitted pedophile among his priests and contrary to agreements with local prosecutors, he not only allowed Father Michael Fugee to provide ministry to local youth groups, hear their confessions and participate in over-night outings, he put Father Fugee in charge of an office that oversees priestly formation — just what the Church needs, more priests like Father Michael Fugee!

After a media and grassroots firestorm had somewhat subsided, Archbishop Myers decided to stir the pot and open raw wounds with an extended interview granted to the National Catholic Register. In the course of the interview, and in characteristic fashion, Myers blamed everyone but himself for the scandal, insisting that he acted in a “professional” manner.

First of all, when everyone has finally stopped talking about an embarrassing story involving you, you don’t give an interview and bring it all back to public attention.

Secondly, like the woman insisting she is “a lady,” if you have to tell people how “professional” you are, you’re NOT.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

For PBS, Tavis Smiley interviews Michael D’Antonio, author of the book Mortal Sins: Sex, Crime, and the Era of Catholic Scandal (NY: Thomas Dunne, 2013). Some points that D’Antonio makes in this valuable interview:

When Smiley keeps pushing him hard about what seems to set the Catholic church apart from other institutions, including religious ones, in which there is, after all, also abuse of children, D’Antonio replies:

In this case, I think there was all sorts of closing of ranks. The priests support each other. It’s a problem of a clerical culture that’s unique to Catholicism, I think.

And then he adds,

It’s power. This is a story of power and the abuse of power. And it extends into the political realm, it extends into the legal realm. . . . . I think that’s really the crux of the matter here. It’s power and the abuse of power and corruption.

Throughout the interview, D’Antonio repeatedly notes how the acids of the abuse crisis–and, above all, its spectacular mishandling from the highest levels of the church down through the clerical ranks–have perceptibly eroded the moral standing of the Catholic church in the world today. He notes that faithful Catholics are leaving in droves due to what is the greatest crisis for the church since the Reformation: when he was in Ireland in the 1990s, you had trouble finding seat for Sunday Mass. Now, churches in that country are over half-empty on Sundays.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Freethinker

BY BARRY DUKE – JULY 10, 2013

OOZING contrition, members of the General Synod of the Church of England gathered at York University on Sunday evening to tell victims of Anglican clerical abuse how frightfully sorry they were over the whole affair.

But this – and a 30-second moment of silence – failed to impress victims who rejected the apology and called instead for an independent public inquiry to ensure abusers are held to account and better safeguards put in place.

The General Synod, according to this report, voted unanimously to endorse the apology already made by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, to victims of abuse, and to back moves intended to tighten its safeguarding procedures.

The synod was told the church had failed victims of abuse “big time” by refusing to listen to their stories and by moving offenders to different areas in the hope that the problem would go away.

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CHILE
La Tercera

por Karen Soto Galindo – 15/07/2013

El ministro de fuero, Juan Manuel Muñoz, acogió la solicitud del abogado Cristian Muga, representante del sacerdote Fernando Karadima, quien solicitó aplazar el interrogatorio del ex párroco, citado a declarar ante el juez este miércoles 17 de julio a las 17 horas.

Según el defensor, el denunciado no estaba en condiciones de salud apropiadas para enfrentar la entrevista con el Ministro.

Además, Muga pidió al magistrado aclarar si la declaración de Karadima se producirá en calidad de testigo o imputado, petición que se resolverá dentro de los próximos días.

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AUSTRALIA
National Catholic Reporter

Stephen Crittenden | Jul. 15, 2013

NEWCASTLE, AUSTRALIA
An Australian bishop told a special commission of inquiry into sexual abuse that he failed to familiarize himself with the personnel file of a serial pedophile priest “because the whole area of sexual abuse is so distasteful that I would have found it very unpalatable to dig further.”

The inquiry has been asked to report on whether the Catholic church covered up abuse by two pedophile priests of the diocese of Maitland-Newcastle — Denis McAlinden and James Fletcher — or hindered police investigations.

McAlinden died in 2005 without being convicted. Fletcher died in jail in 2006.

During several weeks of public hearings, it seemed the inquiry, chaired by New South Wales Senior Deputy Crown Prosecutor Margaret Cunneen, would tackle little more than an internecine dispute within the state police department.

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UNITED STATES
Mary DeMuth

The two men approached me, heads down, hands fidgeting. One man eventually met my eyes. “I was molested,” he said. “It happens in our community, but no one talks about it.”

The men used to be Amish. Now they lived on the “outside” with jobs and wives and kids. They’d just heard me speak about my own story of sexual abuse. I looked at them both, remembering all those sweet bonnet books that peppered the shelves of Christian bookstores, these books that offered escape from modern madness, harkening us back to a simpler time. I couldn’t shake the dichotomy.

“In order to get healing,” the other man said, eyes solemn, “we had to leave the community and get help.”

We talked an hour or so, me still trying to wrap my mind around the conversation. Generational abuse.

Bestiality. Sexual perversion. Spousal rape. Physical abuse. All behind the white doors of white houses and white barns dotting idyllic countrysides. People lived with secrets they could not tell, or risk shunning or excommunication.

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UNITED STATES
City of Angels

Kay Ebeling

MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

(Rerun from July 2012, as City of Angels Blog is on hiatus until the end of summer)

Mainstream media has barely reported the story of pedophile priests in the Catholic Church. Most coverage is little more than a surface headline and paragraphs from press releases. As a result most of the stories of hundreds of thousands of children abusedby thousands of Catholic priests have not yet been told.

An in depth look at cases in each city, such as a true crime series based on reports at City of Angels Blog, would highlight patterns in these crimes, maybe even lead to a deeper investigation of the hierarchy’s cover-up of these crimes and federal prosecution.

After interviewing hundreds of pedophile priest victims for this blog since January 2007, and after watching the shallow coverage of these crimes in mainstream media, I know we could produce original episodes for years about these crimes, and never run out of new material. Here is a sampling of stories I published at City of Angels Blog in recent years, that lend themselves to true crime series coverage:

From Boston: First Posted at City of Angels January 16, 2010:

*6000 is number of Pedophile Priests in U.S. Catholic Church since 1950. Found so far. And still counting
“This year the number will go over 6,000,” Terry McKiernan, president of Bishop Accountability in Boston, emailed me early this month. After we posted “The Public Has a Right to Know how Six Thousand Priests Got Away with Pedophilia” Jan. 2, people

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mancunian Matters

Posted Monday, July 15, 2013

By Glen Keogh

A former teacher has been charged with 47 offences following a police investigation into historic sexual abuse at a prestigious Altrincham Catholic grammar school.

Alan Morris, 63, of Rivington Road, Hale, has been charged with 41 counts of indecent assaults, one count of outraging public decency and five counts of inciting gross indecency.

The charges relate to offences alleged to have been committed between 1972 and 1991, involving 29 boys aged between 11 and 17 during their time at Saint Ambrose RC College in Hale Barns.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Manchester Evening News

A former teacher at a Catholic boys’ grammar school has been charged with historic sex offences.

Alan Morris, 63, also a church deacon, is accused of 47 offences involving 29 boys aged between 11 and 17.

The offences are said to have taken place between 1972 and 1991 at St Ambrose RC College in Hale Barns, Trafford .

Morris, of Rivington Road, Hale, has been charged with 41 counts of indecent assault, one count of outraging public decency and five of inciting gross indecency.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Manchester Gazette

A man has been charged following an investigation into historic sexual abuse at a school in Trafford.

Alan Morris (06/11/1949) of Rivington Road, Hale has been charged with 47 offences.

The indictments relate to offences which are alleged to have occurred between 1972 and 1991 and involve 29 boys aged between 11 and 17 during their time at St Ambrose RC School in Hale Barns.

Alan Morris has been charged with 41 counts of indecent assault, one count of outraging public decency and five counts of inciting gross indecency.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Messenger

Former teacher at St Ambrose College in Hale Barns charged with 47 sexual offences against children

THE Crown Prosecution Service has authorised Greater Manchester Police to charge Alan Morris, aged 63, with 47 sexual offences against pupils at St Ambrose College, Hale Barns, from the 1970s to 1990s.

Alan Morris was a teacher at the school at the time.

John Dilworth, head of the CPS North West Complex Casework Unit, said: “Following investigations by Greater Manchester Police into allegations that Alan Morris, a former teacher at St Ambrose School, sexually assaulted pupils at the school between 1972 and 1991, I have reviewed all the evidence that they have gathered and have authorised the police to charge him with 41 offences of indecent assault on a male, one charge of outraging public decency and five charges of inciting gross indecency with a child.

“These charges relate to 29 former pupils of the school who were aged between 11 and 17 at the time.

“This decision is made in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors and I have concluded that there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and that it is in the public interest to prosecute this case.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A former teacher has been charged with 41 counts of indecent assault following an investigation into historical sexual abuse at a Greater Manchester school.

Alan Morris, 63, from Hale, who taught at St Ambrose RC College in Hale Barns, Altrincham, is accused of committing the offences between 1972 and 1991.

The allegations involve 29 former pupils of the boys-only school, who were between 11 and 17 at the time.

Mr Morris is due before Manchester magistrates on 25 July.

He was also charged with one count of outraging public decency and five of inciting gross indecency.

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IRELAND
Catholic League (United States)

Bill Donohue
President
Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights

Prejudice, as the psychologist Gordon W. Allport stressed, is always an “unwarranted” attitude. If someone experiences severe discomfort by eating certain foods, there is nothing prejudicial about refusing to eat any more of them. But there is something prejudicial about making sweeping generalizations about an entire category of food, or a community of people, when one’s experiences are limited. One contemporary example of prejudice is the popular perception of the nuns who ran Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries.

From the mid-eighteenth century to the late nineteenth century, the laundries housed “fallen” girls and women in England and Ireland. Though they did not initiate the facilities, most of the operations were carried out by the Sisters of Charity, the Sisters of Mercy, Good Shepherd Sisters, and the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity. The first “Magdalene Home” was established in England in 1758; Ireland followed in 1765 (the first asylum being a Protestant-run entity).

The popular perception of the laundries is entirely negative, owing in large part to fictionalized portrayals in the movies. The conventional wisdom has also been shaped by writers who have come to believe the worst about the Catholic Church, and by activists who have their own agenda. So strong is the prejudice that even when evidence to the contrary is presented, the bias continues.

There is a Facebook page dedicated to the laundries titled, “Victims of the Irish Holocaust Unite.” Irish politicians have spoken of “our own Holocaust,” and Irish journalists have referred to the “Irish gulag system.” But the fact is there was no holocaust, and there was no gulag. No one was murdered. No one was imprisoned, nor forced against her will to stay. There was no slave labor. Not a single woman was sexually abused by a nun. Not one. It’s all a lie.

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VATICAN CITY
The Tablet (UK)

15 July 2013

Vatican City’s chief prosecutor has frozen two bank accounts at the Vatican bank of a senior priest who was arrested as part of an investigation into fraud at the Holy See’s finances.

Mgr Nunzio Scarano was the director of the accounting analysis service at the Vatican’s financial administration, Apsa (the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See).

He was arrested in June following allegations that he had tried to move €20m (£17m) illegally from Switzerland into Italy.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – Lateline

[with video]

Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 15/07/2013
Reporter: Suzie Smith

Former school principal, William Callinan, has told the Newcastle inquiry into sexual abuse in the Catholic Church that former Bishop, Michael Malone, did not warn him that Father James Fletcher was under police investigation for sexual assault and rape.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

PAUL MAGUIRE From: The Daily Telegraph July 16, 2013

A RETIRED Catholic bishop has been challenged before a NSW inquiry over his version of how and when he informed a school principal about a suspected pedophile priest.

Bishop Michael Malone was being questioned at a special commission of inquiry in Newcastle into how the church and police handled allegations of child sexual abuse by priests, James Fletcher and Denis McAlinden.

In earlier evidence to the commission, Bishop Malone said he was told by police on June 20, 2002, that Fr Fletcher was under investigation for child abuse.

He said on that day he went to Saint Brigid’s Catholic Primary School in Branxton and spoke to Fr Fletcher and the principal, Will Callinan. Bishop Malone said he told Mr Callinan charges against Fr Fletcher were imminent and his access to the school and students had to be restricted.

Mr Callinan’s lawyer Mr Potter told Bishop Malone Mr Callinan said he was not at Branxton that day, as he was at a school in Greta.

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AUSTRALIA
lewisblayse.net

This blog has previously argued that victims, and not just lawyers, should be able to interrogate church officials directly. Today, the NSW enquiry made Australian history when it allowed victim, Peter Gogarty, to directly question former Newcastle-Maitland Bishop, Michael Malone – in public hearings. The enquiry head, Margaret Cunneen is to be congratulated for this precedent-setting move. It is much more likely, now, that the Royal Commission will follow suit.

Mr. Gogarty was a victim of Fr. Fletcher, who died in prison in 2008. Mr Gogarty asked Bishop Malone if Fletcher’s abuse was ever discussed at the Australian Catholic Bishop’s conference. Bishop Malone replied that “The [Newcastle-Maitland] region has had its fair share of paedophilia issues to deal with, so in a generic way it came up.” However, he said Fletcher was not discussed specifically.

Bishop Malone said that the Fletcher issue “divided the diocese.” He admitted that some victims and their families were “ostracized” and had their homes pelted with eggs. Indeed, he noted that his own home was similarly pelted in what he described as a “quasi-violent attack.” He further attempted to gain sympathy by saying that he found reading about the Fletcher abuses “to be quite sickening.”

Previously, Malone had admitted that he had not notified two parish school principals about Fletcher, but maintained that he had informed another principal, Will Callinan. Mr. Callinan, however, denies that he was so informed. Indeed, his lawyer stated that Mr. Callinan was not at the school on the date in question.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Riverfront Times

By Sam Levin Mon., Jul. 15 2013

One year after Father Xiu Hui “Joseph” Jiang was accused of molesting a teenage girl, St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson is now facing a subpoena in the criminal case, according to court documents that offer a closer look at the investigation and the priest’s response to the allegations.

“Child-molesting clerics may perform the actual assault alone, but almost always there are cover-ups involving other church officials, usually supervisors,” David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, tells Daily RFT. “We can’t predict what Carlson will be asked or answer under oath. But simply the fact that he has to face tough questions under oath in a pending criminal case is encouraging to us.”

The group is drawing attention to new details in this case, including information on text message evidence on the victim’s phone and the alleged attempt of the accused to pay off the victim’s family.

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VATICAN CITY
DFW Catholic

Vatican City, Jul 15, 2013 / 05:20 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Although the Vatican froze funds belonging to Monsignor Nunzio Scarano after the Italian police arrested him, the hold on his account at the Vatican’s Institute for Religious Works and his suspension from work are related to a separate case of alleged money laundering.

Msgr. Scarano, a suspended accountant for the Administration for the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, known by its Italian acronym APSA, is currently under arrest and charged with planning to illegally bring 20 million euro in cash into Italy aboard a government airplane.

But Msgr. Scarano is also under investigation for a separate alleged instance of money laundering, which is what triggered his funds being frozen by the Vatican on July 9, according to a source who works in one of the Vatican offices related to APSA.

According to a July 11 statement from Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press office, the Vatican investigation “was triggered by several suspicious transactions reports filed with the Vatican Authority for Financial Information.”

Fr. Lombardi also stressed that the investigation “can be extended to additional individuals.”

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By IAN KIRKWOOD July 15, 2013

BISHOP Michael Malone has been cross-examined by Peter Gogarty, a victim in childhood of paedophile priest Jim Fletcher, in Monday’s opening session of the special commission of inquiry in Newcastle.

Asked about his growing awareness in about 2004 of the impact of paedophilia on its victims and on the size of the problem in his diocese, Bishop Malone said the victims were traumatised by their abuse.

Referring to an earlier period in 2002 Bishop Malone said he did not check Fletcher’s file to see if there were earlier allegations against him because – as he said previously – he found reading about these matters ‘‘to be quite sickening’’.

Bishop Malone told how some families who had spoken out were ostracised and intimidated in the church. One family had their house pelted with eggs, which was something he himself experienced when his house at Hamilton was egged later on.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By IAN KIRKWOOD July 15, 2013

BISHOP Michael Malone has disputed suggestions that he altered his personal diary to back up an assertion that he warned the principal of a Catholic school at Branxton about allegations of child sexual abuse against eventually convicted paedophile Jim Fletcher.

In a tense passage of cross-examination before lunch on Monday, Bishop Malone was questioned by counsel for Will Callinan, a principal in the Catholic school system.

Bishop Malone’s evidence is that at the time he gave Fletcher a second parish – against the advice of police officer Peter Fox, who wanted Fletcher stood down – he warned Mr Callinan about a need to keep Fletcher away from the children at his school.

Mr Callinan has not given evidence yet but the commission has heard more than once that he disputes the bishop’s account of events.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By IAN KIRKWOOD July 15, 2013

THE former Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle, Michael Malone, finished his public stint in the witness box on Monday by reading a prepared statement to the Special Commission of Inquiry.

Bishop Malone repeated the statement outside the Newcastle court buildings.

Although Bishop Malone apologised again for the hurt and damage done by decades of paedophilia in the diocese, five people in the inquiry left the room while he made his apology.

Bishop Malone talked about a need for ‘‘vigilance’’ and ‘‘accountability’’ but he did not touch on aspects of the Catholic Church – such as the insistence on priestly vows of celibacy – that some people believe are major factors in the church’s problem with paedophilia.

Bishop Malone said he prayed daily for the victims of child sexual abuse and he hoped they gained reconciliation with ‘‘all people, including the Catholic Church’’.

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UNITED STATES
USA Today

Pope Francis recently overhauled Vatican City laws, criminalizing the leaking of information and instituting harsher penalties for sex abuse. Comments from Twitter and Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:

Anything that further protects people from any acts of potential harm is the right thing to do.

— @PlumbbobGreen

The criminalization of leaks is more proof that the Catholic Church is not the “one true church” as it claims. The “true” church is transparent. An authentic church of Christ has no secrets.

— Ken Foster

And what if materials that could be leaked contained information about child abuse? Would leaking that be illegal? It sounds to me that none of those people there really cares about the place at all as long as it provides them with a paycheck and protection.

— Joseph Damigella

— Mike Mallory

This is a positive change. The new pope is doing what he can. The whistle-blower law is more of the same, but at least the sexual abuse law is a step in the right direction.

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UNITED STATES
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils…

Paris Arrow

At last, a female Vatican Pied Piper has arrived on the scene!

And she’s coming in all the way from Down Under in Australia! A far stretch of the Vatican Catholic Kingdom. Australia, a continent of the Vatican Catholic Church (no, it’s no longer the “Roman” Catholic Church — because Rome is now a secular city).

Anne Lastman (ironic man’s name of a female Vatican Pied Piper) arrived just on time in Australia as Aussies awaken to the JP2 Army – John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army – the tsunami of Priestly Sodomy of Biblical Proportions being unraveled by the Royal Commission (see compilation of news articles below).

A Female Vatican Pied Piper

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

by Dan Cox

A former Hunter Valley Catholic Bishop has told a New South Wales Special Commission into clergy sexual abuse that the diocese has had its “fair share” of paedophilia.

The former Maitland-Newcastle Bishop Michael Malone has been cross-examined by Peter Gogarty, who was abused by Father James Fletcher and has been given special leave to cross-examine those giving evidence at the public hearings.

Mr Gogarty today asked Bishop Malone if Fletcher’s abuse was ever discussed at the Australian Catholic Bishop’s conference.

Bishop Malone replied: The region has “had its fair share of paedophilia issues to deal with, so in a generic way it came up”.

However, he said Fletcher was not discussed specifically.

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AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury

By ELLE WATSON July 15, 2013

Former bishop of the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese Michael Malone has been cross examined this morning by a victim of disgraced priest Jim Fletcher.

Vacy man Peter Gogarty, who is representing himself at the special commission of inquiry into an alleged sexual abuse cover-up by the Hunter Catholic Church, asked the bishop why he wrote a media release calling for acceptance of victims in 2005.

Bishop Malone said it was apparent at the time of Fletcher’s investigation that one of the priest’s victims was being ostracised and his family intimidated.

The bishop said eggs were thrown at his home in Hamilton and the homes of victims in “quasi violent” attacks.

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AUSTRALIA
The West Australian

By Paul Maguire, AAP
Updated July 15, 2013

A former Catholic bishop has described his “gradual awakening to the horror of sexual abuse in the church” at a NSW inquiry.

Bishop Michael Malone, formerly the head of the Maitland-Newcastle diocese, says he met with “indifference” from some members of the clergy when he began to speak out for victims of child sex abuse.

Bishop Malone told a special commission of inquiry in Newcastle on Monday that he began to speak publicly for victims and their families in 2005 but there was little interest, even from priests in the diocese he ran.

“It was not overt ostracisation, it was more of an indifference to me and the things I was saying,” he said.

He said bad feelings had emerged around 2004 and divided the region’s Catholic community.

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