ABUSE TRACKER

SOUTH AFRICA
Mail & Guardian

12 Apr 2013 00:00 – Fatima Asmal

‘I can’t be accused of homophobia,” says Wilfred Napier, “because I don’t know any homosexuals.”

The admission is the starkest sign in a lengthy interview that the 72-year-old South African cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and Archbishop of Durban is unshaken in the face of criticism over his remarks in a BBC interview that he believed paedophilia was a “psychological condition” that needed to be treated.

It took more than two weeks to set up the interview with Napier. The main cause of the delay was the church’s holy week, which came after the unholy row caused by Napier’s interview with the BBC after the appointment of the new pope last month.

To say Napier has had an interesting past few months is an understatement. In late February he travelled to Rome to bid farewell to Pope Benedict, who was retiring, and personally thanked him for the role he had played in the Catholic Church in general and on the African continent, which he visited twice.

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.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

By Deborah McAleese– 12 April 2013

A woman at the centre of a Catholic Church money scandal saw a priest pay her almost £150,000

Fr Conleth Byrne (78) handed over the large sums of cash to Ballycastle woman Marie Hanna believing that she was homeless and in dire financial difficulties, a court was told.

The retired parish priest, who was serving in the parish of Loughinisland, Co Down, at the time, pleaded guilty earlier this week to fraud by abuse of position.

He claimed that he gave the money to Ms Hanna (54) over a 19-month period out of “charity” and that he believed her assurances that she would pay the money back.

A prosecution barrister told the court that he had shown a “high degree of naivety”.

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.

PENNSYLVANIA
PhillyBurbs

By BILL DEVLIN STAFF WRITER

Posted on April 12, 2013

WARRINGTON — Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler believes that when looking at revising Pennsylvania’s Child Protective Services Law, there is really only one particular group of stakeholders that counts.

“It’s the children,” Heckler said. “The other public interests groups be damned.”

The DA delivered his message Thursday night at a child advocacy forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Bucks County.

Heckler was joined by state Rep. Kathy Watson, R-144, of Warrington, and state Rep. Scott Petri, R-178, of Richboro, at the event held at Central Bucks High School South.

Watson chairs the House Committee on Children and Youth Services; Petri is the sponsor of House Bill 726, which concerns the investigations and handling of child abuse cases.

Heckler recently chaired the state’s Pennsylvania Task Force on Child Protection. The commission was charged with conducting a comprehensive review of the laws and procedures relating to the health and safety of children after the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal at Penn State. The task force released a 427-page report last November following a year of hearings.

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
7 News

By court reporter Sarah Farnsworth, ABC
Updated April 12, 2013

A rabbi who taught at a Jewish Orthodox boys’ school in Melbourne has pleaded guilty to child sex abuse dating back 20 years.

David Kramer, 52, pleaded guilty in the Melbourne Magistrates Court to six charges of indecent assault for the sexual abuse of students at the Jewish orthodox Yeshiva College in St Kilda East between 1990 and 1992.

It is believed Kramer is the first member of a Jewish institution to admit to child sex abuse allegations in Australia.

Kramer fled overseas in the early 1990s when accusations of abuse were raised with the college.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

Shannon Deery
Herald Sun
April 12, 2013

A FORMER Melbourne school teacher has pleaded guilty to sex crimes against students during his time at a prestigious Jewish college.

Convicted pedophile David Kramer, 52, pleaded guilty to five charges of indecent assault via video link at Melbourne Magistrates court today.

He also pleaded guilty a further charge of an indecent act with a person under the age of 16 while six charges were withdrawn.

It is believed to be the first time a member of Jewish institution in Australia has admitted to child sex crimes.

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

OKLAHOMA
Tulsa World

By JARREL WADE World Staff Writer on Apr 12, 2013

Two Victory Christian Center staff members who were sentenced to 30 days in jail last month for failure to report the rape of a 13-year-old girl for two weeks are out early, jail records show.

Paul Howard Willemstein and Anna Alisa George have returned to work at the church and issued a statement to the Tulsa World through their attorney, Matthew Chesbro.

“I spoke with my clients and they asked that I tell you they are ‘grateful for the completion of this part of the process and hope healing can continue for everyone affected,’ ” Chesbro said in an email Thursday.

On March 18, Willemstein and George were led from the Tulsa County District Courthouse in handcuffs after they entered no-contest pleas to failure to report child abuse. Tulsa County Special Judge Bill Hiddle found them guilty of the misdemeanor charge.

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
9 News

The Greek Orthodox Church would never sweep abuse allegations under the carpet, a Victorian inquiry has heard.

The church has a rigorous process for dealing with misconduct complaints, including reporting criminal behaviour to police, but it has never been tested in an allegation of child sex abuse, the parliamentary inquiry heard on Friday.

Church groups The Salvation Army and the Jehovah’s Witnesses told the inquiry on Thursday they felt it was a victim’s responsibility to report abuse to police.

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocesan Bishop Iakovos of Miletoupolis said the church informed police when complaints of a criminal nature were made.

But there was no record of an abuse complaint having ever been made.

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.

UTAH
KUTV

(KUTV) A member of an LDS bishopric in Orem has been accused of sexual abuse of a teenage girl in his ward.

Cesar Duran, 31, was booked into the Utah County Jail on Tuesday on suspicion of two counts of sexually abusing a child. The charges are a first degree felony.

In response to the investigation, the LDS Church issued this statement:

“The Church has zero tolerance for abuse of any kind. Those found guilty of these actions are subject to the demands of the law and also face Church discipline. The welfare of victims is our utmost concern and church leaders will continue to offer counseling and other resources to help in the healing process.”

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.

UTAH
Daily Herald

Paige Fieldsted – Daily Herald

OREM — An LDS leader in Orem has been arrested after a 13-year-old girl in his ward reported to family that he sexually abused her.

Cesar Duran was arrested Tuesday on two counts of sexual abuse of a child. According to police documents, Duran is in the bishopric of the accuser’s LDS ward. The accuser and her family were helping clean the church house in Orem. The girl said Duran told her he needed help cleaning a chalkboard in one of the classrooms in the building and lifted her up to reach a high place on the chalkboard. When he put her down, the girl said, Duran told her she was cute and asked for a hug. The accuser said that during the hug Duran thrust his pelvic area into hers. The accuser then left and continued cleaning and while her back was turned Duran allegedly entered the room, grabbed her hips from behind and thrust his pelvis into her backside.

Police reports say that at that point the accuser ran from the room crying and told her aunt about what had happened. The family said they confronted Duran and he said he was sorry for causing problems. Police reports say that during the ride to the jail Duran said he had made a mistake by being alone with the girl, but Duran didn’t answer any further questions and requested an attorney.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Eastbourne Herald

Published on 12/04/2013

A former church organist facing prison for sexually abusing boys ran a children’s home in Polegate in the 1980s.

Michael Mytton, also known as Mark Mytton, is believed to have been at the home in Polegate although county council records do not date back that far.

Sixty-nine-year-old Mytton, also a former choirmaster, was convicted last Friday of sexual offences against boys between 23 and 26 years ago.

Mytton, of East Chiltington, and priest Keith Wilkie Denford, 78 and from Shoreham, were convicted at Hove Crown Court after a three-week trial.

The case was adjourned for sentencing on Thursday May 2, and the defendants remain on bail until then.

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UTAH
The Salt Lake Tribune

By Bob Mims and Michael McFall
The Salt Lake Tribune

First Published Apr 11 2013

A local-level Mormon church counselor has been arrested for alleged sexual abuse of a 13-year-old girl in his ward.

Cesar Duran, 31, was booked into Utah County jail on Tuesday on suspicion of two counts of sexually abusing a child with whom he had a relationship of special trust, a first-degree felony.

However, Duran’s defense attorney, Clayton Simms, said his client will fight the charges.

“His position is that he is absolutely innocent,” Simms said Thursday. “He was alone with this girl and didn’t protect himself from false allegations. He maintains that nothing inappropriate occurred at all, there was no sexual contact.”

LDS Church spokesman Scott Trotter confirmed that Duran had, until this alleged incident, been a first counselor in the bishopric of a Spanish-speaking ward of the Geneva Height Stake in Orem.

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
Courier Mail

Former Salesian priest David Rapson faces new charges for sex offences after being ordered to stand trial

Shannon Deery
From:Herald Sun
April 12, 2013

A FORMER Salesian priest ordered to stand trial over a string of alleged sex crimes has been charged with fresh sex offences.

David Rapson, 59, was last year ordered to stand trial at the County Court after being charged with abusing seven young boys at Salesian College Rupertswood, in Sunbury, between 1973 and 1990.

He is facing charges of rape, gross indecency, and indecent assault.

The former vice principal has now been charged with more offences after a new victim made fresh allegations to new police taskforce SANO.

The taskforce was set up last year to investigate historical and new allegations that have emanated from the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph & Argus

By Jenny Loweth, T&A Reporter

A Roman Catholic priest who sexually abused a 17-year-old girl in his church had damaged her faith in God and divided a community with his lies, a judge said as he jailed him.

William Finnegan, 60, known as “Father Bill” to his parishioners, was imprisoned for six months when he appeared at Bradford Crown Court yesterday afternoon.

Finnegan was parish priest at St Clare’s RC Church, Fagley, Bradford, when he told the girl he loved her, grabbed her bottom and kissed her passionately on the lips in the church on Easter Sunday last year.

He denied sexual assault, forcing the teenager and her mother to give evidence at his trial.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Regarding: BishopAccountability.org EXPOSED [Part II]: Broadcasting Rumor and Innuendo to Trample the Innocent and the Dead

[Note that BishopAccountability.org is not alone in listing Muth, Haran, Lane, and O’Donovan. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles includes Haran on its list of accused priests

Los Angeles Archdiocese

and the Archdiocese of Boston includes Lane and O’Donovan on its list

Archdiocese of Boston

The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph commissioned a report that includes a discussion of Muth’s case, including Bishop Finn’s decision to remove Muth’s faculties

Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph via BishopAccountability.org]

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

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY Michael O’Keeffe

Save the date: Supporters of the Child Victims Act will gather in Albany next week to push New York State lawmakers to pass the bill inspired by sex-abuse scandals at Poly Prep Country Day School, Syracuse and other institutions.

Current state law requires survivors of childhood sexual abuse to file a case by the time they are 23 years old. The bill by Assemblywoman Margaret Markey (D-Maspeth) would eliminate the criminal and civil statute of limitations on sex-abuse cases.

“I wanted to remind everyone about the Rally and Lobby Days for the Child Victims Act of New York that will take place in Albany on April 16-17 and hope you will make plans to join us to demonstrate there is strong support for the legislation,” Markey said in a statement issued earlier this week.

“On these two days advocates and supporters will work to educate Assembly members and Senators about the need to reform our state’s archaic statute of limitations for child sexual abuse crimes. Highlight of the days will be a rally and press conference in ‘The Well’ of the Capitol’s Legislative Office Building at 12 noon on Wednesday, April 17. Look for more details from me soon about these two days.”

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

April 11

The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas has received a report alleging sexual abuse of a minor by a priest who used to serve in the area, the archdiocese said Thursday.

The priest, who is with the Diocese of Guntur, India, denies the allegation, the archdiocese said.

The priest’s assignments included Prince of Peace Church in Olathe from June 2003 until September 2005, St. Michael the Archangel Church in Leawood in summer 2007, and two other churches in Kansas in 2008, the archdiocese said in a statement.

In 2010, the archdiocese said, the priest resigned and was returned to his diocese in India after he admitted having sexual relations with an adult.

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.

IOWA
Virtue Online

Archbishop Jerome Hanus of Dubuque, Iowa cites “health reasons”. He was scheduled to be deposed in Bede Parry scandal

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
April 11, 2013

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dubuque, Iowa Jerome Hanus has announced he is resigning “for health reasons” just two weeks prior to his scheduled deposition of a former pedophile priest who was later accepted into the Episcopal Church. Hanus is the first archbishop to resign under Pope Francis. Archbishop Hanus will move back to Conception Abbey.

The new pope is said to be house cleaning following a worldwide scandal involving the actions of scores of epipedophile priests and allegations that there is a cabal of homosexual cardinals operating within the Vatican. Zero tolerance is the mantra of the new pope.

According to a videotaped interview with Bede Parry, Archbishop Hanus (then Abbot in Conception, MO) knew of Parry’s misconduct with youth BEFORE Parry abused several choir kids in Missouri. Parry admitted to misconduct in a signed May, 2011 statement. You can see a video of Bede regarding Hanus here: [YouTube]

In a November 7, 2011, Parry admitted, “During the camp, I had inappropriate sexual contact in my living quarters with… a member of the Abbey Boy Choir. I have since recognized that I may have acted inappropriately with at least one other member of the Abbey Boy Choir.”

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
Pro Bono Australia

The Legal Advisory Service is seeking a Principal Lawyer to establish the Service’s legal practice, building and leading a national legal team.

Location: Sydney
Organisation: National Association of Community Legal Centres
Work Type: Full-time

Legal Advisory Service for people considering engaging with the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
• Establish and manage the legal practice
• Provide expert legal advice and assistance
• Sydney based, travel required

The Legal Advisory Service is a free service for members of the public engaging or considering engaging with the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. It is being established by the National Association of Community Legal Centres with funding from the Australian Government. The service will provide legal advice and practical assistance, information and referral, and support services via a national phone line and face-to-face services. The service will not provide legal representation and will work independently of the Commission.

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.

WORCESTER (MA)
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

April 11, 2013

WASHINGTON—Francesco C. Cesareo, Ph.D., president of Assumption College, Worcester, Massachusetts, has been named the next chair of the National Review Board (NRB) by Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). He succeeds Al Notzon III, who concludes his term as chair after the June 2013 meeting of the USCCB.

The NRB advises the bishops’ Secretariat for Child and Youth Protection and was established by the Charter for Protection of Children and Young People, which the bishops adopted in 2002.

Cardinal Dolan thanked Cesareo, who joined the NRB in 2012, for accepting this leadership position.

“The board and its chair provide valuable feedback to the U.S bishops and we rely on their expertise and recommendations,” Cardinal Dolan said. “Mr. Notzon has continued the proud tradition of stellar leadership. I have no doubt that Dr. Cesareo will do the same.”

Cesareo holds a doctorate in Late Medieval/Early Modern European History from Fordham University. He also was a Fulbright Scholar and studied at the University of Rome and Gregorian University in Rome.

New NRB members include two psychologists, Michael de Arellano, Ph.D., associate professor and a licensed clinical psychologist at the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center (NCVC) of the Department of Psychiatry at the Medical University of South Carolina; and Fernando Ortiz, Ph.D., director of the Counseling Center at Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington. Other new members include Laura Rogers, a former prosecutor who served as the Deputy Director of the Criminal Division of the Navy’s Judge Advocate General, and earlier as Director of the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART) at the U.S. Department of Justice implementing the Adam Walsh Child Protection Safety Act; and Scott Wasserman, a Kansas City, Kansas attorney who focuses on legal issues involving children, especially abused children and children with special needs.

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.

WORCESTER (MA)
The Catholic Free Press

Francesco C. Cesareo, Ph.D., president of Assumption College has been named the next chair of the National Review Board by Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, according to a press release from the USCCB. He succeeds Al Notzon III, who concludes his term as chair after the June 2013 meeting of the USCCB.

The NRB advises the bishops’ Secretariat for Child and Youth Protection and was established by the Charter for Protection of Children and Young People, which the bishops adopted in 2002.

Cardinal Dolan thanked President Cesareo, who joined the NRB in 2012, for accepting this leadership position.

“The board and its chair provide valuable feedback to the U.S bishops and we rely on their expertise and recommendations,” Cardinal Dolan said. “Mr. Notzon has continued the proud tradition of stellar leadership. I have no doubt that Dr. Cesareo will do the same.”

Cesareo holds a doctorate in Late Medieval/Early Modern European History from Fordham University. He also was a Fulbright Scholar and studied at the University of Rome and Gregorian University in Rome.

President Cesareo told The Catholic Free Press that, “It’s a real privilege and great responsibility to serve in this capacity and to really help the bishops in the continued implementation of the Charter.

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DEUTSCHLAND
MissBiT

„Wenn nicht präventive Gründe zu einem raschem Handeln drängen“, sagt Uzulis, „wartet das Bistum die Ergebnisse der staatlichen Ermittlungen ab.“

(…)

Dabei hat Schell noch einen weiteren Fall im Blick: Ein Pfarrer soll in einer saarländischen Pfarrei in den 1980er Jahren mehrere Kinder sexuell missbraucht haben. Das mutmaßliche Opfer D. hatte im vergangenen Sommer beim Bistum Trier angezeigt, missbraucht worden zu sein, sowie einen Antrag auf finanzielle Entschädigung gestellt. Im Januar dieses Jahres hatte das Bistum Trier den Fall an die Staatsanwaltschaft Saarbrücken gegeben. Auch D. hatte im März dort Anzeige erstattet. „Der Vorfall ist verjährt“, sagt der Saarbrücker Staatsanwalt Thomas Reinhardt. Der Betroffene wartet unterdessen auf weitere kirchenrechtliche Untersuchungen und Konsequenzen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
paperblog

11. April 2013 von Josef Bordat

Steven Spielberg möchte den „Missbrauchsskandal“ (also: das Bekanntwerden von Fällen sexuellen Missbrauchs in katholischen Einrichtungen und / oder durch katholische Priester) verfilmen. Das kann man – je nach Temperament – für einen schlechten Scherz halten oder für eine astreine Geschäftsidee, besonders kreativ ist es aber nicht, auch nicht, wenn man die zeitgemäße Bedeutung von „kreativ“ (eigentlich: „schöpferisch“) zugrunde legt: „möglichst skurril und wenn’s irgend geht: religiöse Gefühle verletzend“. Nein, den Vogel abgeschossen hat längst die Firma RoundGames, die kleine Videospielchen für den Computer und das Mobiltelefon feil bietet, Produkte, an und für sich gedacht als netter Zeitvertreib zwischen zwei Meetings oder auch währenddessen.

Eines der Spiele thematisiert den Missbrauch in kirchlichen Einrichtungen. In diesem Spiel besteht der Vatikan aus Kardinälen, die ausnahmslos Kinderschänder sind, und aus Kindern, die sich ausnahmslos prostituieren. Für jede erfolgreiche Vermittlung von Kirchenmann bzw. Kinderschänder und Kind – im Spiel von Benedikt XVI. vorgenommen – erhält der Spieler 1000 Punkte.

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PHILIPPINES
Inquirer

By TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
1:22 am | Friday, April 12th, 2013

Some are turned off by boring homilies and “second collections.” News of scandals involving priests also bothers them. But most are “distracted” by a lot of things.

Activist priest Fr. Robert Reyes and Msgr. Sabino Vengco offered these explanations to survey results showing “dwindling” numbers of Filipino Catholics hearing Mass over the past two decades.

A Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey in February found that only 37 percent of Catholics were going to church, a huge decline from 64 percent in 1991.

The survey also found that 9.2 percent of Filipino Catholics were considering leaving the Church.

“We’re hemorrhaging. It’s not massive blood loss but there’s blood loss. I see it; I experience it. The parishioners are losing faith, passion and interest in the Catholic Church. There’s something lacking that they can’t put their fingers on,” Reyes said by phone.

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

UNITED STATES
TheMediaReport

Visitors to the home page of BishopAccountability.org are greeted with the name of the site and the tag line, “Documenting the Abuse Crisis in the Roman Catholic Church.” Prominently displayed on the top of the home page is a feature called “Abuse Tracker,” while further down the page, the site solicits any visitors to “send us photos of survivors, offenders, affected parishes, and important events.”

What other conclusion are first-time visitors then supposed to reach except that any priests profiled on the site are guilty of horrific child sex abuse?

The “posting policy” of BishopAccountability.org (which is buried on its site) begins with the oft-seen boilerplate language attempting to shield the site from potential defamation suits: “In the U.S. legal system, all accused persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty.” But the site clearly gives initial visitors the opposite impression: that any featured priests are guilty of criminal abuse.

And it is an incontrovertible fact that the site brazenly and openly features numerous priests whose complete innocence has already been long established and who are merely victims of public rumors, innuendos, and scams.
——-

From BishopAccountability.org

[Note that BishopAccountability.org is not alone in listing Muth, Haran, Lane, and O’Donovan. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles includes Haran on its list of accused priests

Los Angeles Archdiocese

and the Archdiocese of Boston includes Lane and O’Donovan on its list

Archdiocese of Boston

The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph commissioned a report that includes a discussion of Muth’s case, including Bishop Finn’s decision to remove Muth’s faculties

Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph via BishopAccountability.org]

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

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Pope Francis is kept constantly informed about the state of his predecessor’s health, while Fr. Lombardi has denied rumours about Benedict suffering from any chronic illnesses

Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican City

Concern has spread about Ratzinger’s apparently rapidly deteriorating health. “Benedict XVI is not suffering from any specific chronic illness; his health problems are purely to do with old age,” the director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi stressed. His statement, released to Catholic news agency Aci Prensa, came in response to rumours that have been circulating in the Spanish press about the Pope Emeritus suffering a serious illness. In recent pictures Ratzinger appears visibly thinner and physically weaker.

According to information from within the Curia, Pope Francis was apparently also told about his predecessor’s health conditions, by Georg Gaenswein, who reassured him. Benedict’s increased general fragility is apparently not due to any specific illnesses, recent routine medical check ups confirm. Physical and nervous deterioration are normal consequences of the stressful period that ensued Ratzinger’s resignation as Pope. He does not need to be hospitalised for the time being and as scheduled, the former Pope is to return to the Vatican next month, to enter the monastery that has been prepared for him, in the Vatican gardens.

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

NEW MEXICO
KOAT

[with video]

By Regina Ruiz

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —Sexual abuse allegations against a New Mexico priest may have gotten worse, after the victim’s attorney said he’s investigating claims that the priest had AIDS.

As sex abuse allegations mount against former Questa priest Michael O’Brien, attorney Kelly Clark said new information has surfaced about a potentially harmful secret he may have been keeping.

“If it turns out that Father O’Brien suffered from AIDS, God forbid that he passed that on to any of his victims,” Clark said.

Clark represents a 37-year-old who said O’Brien raped him as a boy. A complaint was filed this month against the church and the archdiocese.

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

ROME
National Post (Canada)

The Telegraph | 13/04/11

ROME — The Vatican admitted Wednesday that the health of Pope Emeritus Benedict has deteriorated.

Benedict, 85, who made history by becoming the first pope since the Middle Ages to step down, has looked increasingly frail in his few public appearances since his resignation in February.

He appeared particularly unsteady when he was visited by his successor, Pope Francis, at Castel Gandolfo, the summer papal residence outside Rome where Benedict has been staying.

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.

ROME
Daily Mail (UK)

Vatican is forced to admit Pope Emeritus Benedict’s health has worsened following reports ‘he will not be with us much longer’

The health of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has deteriorated, the Vatican has revealed.

Senior church officials were forced to make their fears public after a respected Vatican expert declared ‘we won’t have him with us for very much longer’.

The 85-year-old, who stepped down in February, has looked increasingly frail in his few public appearances.

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.

NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A parish priest was involved in the sexual abuse of some children in Donagh in the 1970s and 1980s, the BBC can reveal.

Canon Peter Duffy, from County Monaghan, was an uncle of former Bishop of Clogher Joseph Duffy.

He died in 1994 and is buried in Donagh. The police have investigated cases involving three victims.

One of them was Michael Connolly who was also abused by the McDermott brothers.

He said: “The priest was just as bad and he did exactly the same as what the McDermotts had done.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By Hugo Gye

A Catholic priest who was secretly married was today jailed for six months for molesting a teenage girl in what a judge described an an ‘enormous breach of trust’.

William Finnegan, known as ‘Father Bill’, touched the 17-year-old’s bottom and forcibly kissed her at St Clare’s Roman Catholic Church in Bradford on Easter Sunday last year.

Judge Roger Thomas said that 60-year-old, who admitted during the trial that he had a secret wedding 14 years ago, was ‘in denial’ about his crime.

He also had harsh words for Finnegan’s parishioners who stood by him despite the charges, saying: ‘Maybe some of them would believe the sun would rise in the west tomorrow if he said it.’

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

As April began, I wrote that I agree with Spanish Benedictine theologian Teresa Forcades that, while we welcome positive signs of change in the way Pope Francis is modeling papal ministry now, we must also wait and see how he will deal with the “basic questions.” At the top of the list of those questions is the ongoing crisis in the Catholic church caused by abuse of minors by Catholic religious authority figures.

On that front, the article that Stacy Meichtry and José de Córdoba published in Wall Street Journal* on Sunday is not promising news. As Dennis Coday notes in a summary of this article in National Catholic Reporter yesterday, under the leadership of Cardinal Bergoglio (now Pope Francis) the Argentine conference of Catholic bishops missed a deadline for formulating and implementing guidelines to deal with abuse in the Catholic church in Argentina. The Argentine bishops’ conference does not have a written plan for dealing with abuse.

As Barbara Blaine notes for SNAP, this revelation reinforces the growing sense, among many Catholics watching to see how the new pope will deal with the abuse crisis, that we may be in for the same old, same old behavior of obfuscation and image management with the new pope that we’ve had with other top Catholic leaders for far too long now:

On Friday, the pope said he wanted to “continue” the abuse practices of his predecessor. In a sad and ironic way, by refusing to even write an abuse policy, by saying one thing and doing another, Pope Francis is indeed following the pattern of his predecessor: talking the talk but not walking the walk. . . .

Catholics can feel good about the Pope’s apparently humble and likeable personality and his more down-to-earth demeanor and his professed concern for the poor. But everyone should realize that with the church’s on-going abuse and cover up crisis, he’s the “same old, same old.”

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

Posted by Barbara Dorris on April 11, 2013

A Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author will be in St. Louis next week to discuss his new book that explores the clergy sex abuse and cover-up crisis.

Author Michael D’Antonio will be at Left Bank Books in downtown St. Louis where he will talk about his new book “Mortal Sins: Sex, Crimes and the Era of Catholic Scandal”. D’Antonio has also written biographies of famous chocolatier Milton Hershey and ex-boxer and self-taught PGA golfer Esteban Toledo.

Publisher’s Weekly has called the book “the definitive history of the Catholic Church’s most severe crisis since the reformation.” (http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-312-59489-3)

“If like me you’ve followed this story only glancingly and intermittently over the years, reading Mortal Sins – that is, discovering the full scale and scope and nature of the crimes and cover-ups – will be shocking. Its power is all the greater because Michael D’Antonio is such a scrupulous, lucid chronicler. This is clearly the definitive work on one of the most consequential and appalling stories of our time” said Kurt Andersen, bestselling author of True Believer and Hey Day, and host of Public Radio’s Studio 360

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UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post

A SECRETLY-married priest who sexually assaulted a teenage girl in what a judge described as an “enormous breach of trust” was today jailed for six months.

William Finnegan, known to his parishioners as Father Bill, touched the 17-year-old’s bottom and “passionately” kissed her at St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Fagley, Bradford last Easter.

Finnegan, 60, remains “in denial” about the offence, which led to his “considerable fall from grace” the Recorder of Bradford Judge Roger Thomas QC said as he jailed Finnegan.

“It just seems to me he cannot face up to what he’s done,” Judge Thomas added.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A priest has been jailed for six months for sexually assaulting a teenage girl, in what a judge described as an “enormous breach of trust”.

William Finnegan, 60, “passionately” kissed the 17-year-old and touched her bottom at St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Fagley, Bradford last Easter.

He was sentenced at Bradford Crown Court after he was found guilty by a jury.

During the trial it emerged he had been secretly married since 1999.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph & Argus

By Jenny Loweth, T&A Reporter.

A Roman Catholic priest who sexually assaulted a teenage girl was today jailed for six months.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Roger Thomas QC, told William Finnegan, known to his parishioners as “Father Bill”, he committed a gross breach of trust when he groped and kissed the 17-year-old in his church in April last year.

Finnegan, 60, who was parish priest at St Clare’s in Fagley, Bradford, was found guilty by a jury at Bradford Crown Court last month.

During the trial it was heard that Finnegan was secretly married.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

April 11, 2013

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

Australia’s inaugural National Children’s Commissioner, Megan Mitchell, has used her first major public speech to warn that there is a heavy toll for not listening to children, and to urge Australians to learn from past tragedies.

Speaking at the Child Aware Approaches conference in Melbourne on Thursday, she said young people need to have greater involvement in decisions which affect their lives.

“We must learn from the mistakes of the past, when children’s voices were ignored with devastating consequences,” she said at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

“The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will, I am sure, uncover stories where children’s voices were unheard, and even when heard, were deliberately not taken into account.

“We need to make sure our attitudes and our systems respect the child’s voice. This is one of the essential ways that we can help children to be safe, to realise their potential, and to live full and happy lives.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Daily Telegraph

EXCLUSIVE by Janet Fife-Yeomans
The Daily Telegraph
April 12, 2013

UP to 100,000 people will make claims for compensation in the wake of the royal commission into institutionalised abuse, according to a leading lawyer.

They are pinning their hopes on the commission recommending that a “redress fund” be set up, into which institutions at blame would pay commensurate sums of money.

Lawyer Peter Kelso said the Catholic Church may be forced to sell some of its multi-million dollars worth of land and property holdings to pay its fair share of a fund.

While the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will not be able to make awards of compensation, its terms of reference call on it to find ways so that victims can get redress from institutions.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

Jehovah’s Witnesses say it is not their responsibility to report child sex abuse to police unless mandatory reporting legislation is in place.

A Victorian inquiry on Thursday heard that when a Jehovah’s Witness leader hears allegations of abuse they are directed immediately to contact the society’s legal department to check their obligations under state law.

Jehovah’s Witness legal counsel Rachel van Witsen said elders were not expected to know their legal obligations.

“This is done to ensure elders fully comply with any legal requirements that may be applicable in the state in which they reside,” she said.

“In Victoria if there was mandatory reporting the immediate advice would be to report that immediately.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Patch

By Richard Cook

The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh recently sent a letter to parishioners at a Wilkinsburg church warning of abuse allegations against a former priest who also once served at a West View parish.

According to KDKA, the accused priest and the alleged victim have both passed away, but the man in his 40s revealed the abuse to his family months before he died.

KDKA reports the man claimed Rev. John Wellinger abused him between 1981 and 1985 when Wellinger served as an assistant pastor at St. James Parish in Wilkinsburg. The abuse started when the alleged victim was 10.

Local church officials confirmed that Wellinger once served at St. Athanasius Church in West View, but referred all other questions to the diocese.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
News Letter

PARISHIONERS in Loughinisland yesterday told of their “shock and sadness” after their 78-year-old former priest pleaded guilty to fraud earlier this week.

Fr Conleth Byrne, now retired, informed police he paid around £145,000 of parish funds to Marie Hanna from Ballycastle over a 19-month period out of “charity” after she begged him for financial help, a court was told.

He pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position just before his trial was due to begin at Downpatrick Crown Court on Tuesday.

The court heard that Byrne had been a priest in Loughinisland in Co Down when Ms Hanna, who is in her 50s, called at the parochial house in September 2007 and claimed to be in “dire need” of financial assistance.

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UNITED STATES
Watch Keep

[I’ve asked Amy to let me write a guest post. I had one condition: she had to let me post it without any input, editing, or contribution on her part. She agreed; every word below is mine.]

I’ve told our story many times over the last two years. How nearly thirty years ago John Langworthy molested several boys in his hometown of Clinton, Mississippi. How he moved from Clinton to Dallas, attended seminary, worked at Prestonwood Baptist Church and befriended my wife’s family. For years at Prestonwood, he molested several more minors. I’ve told how Prestonwood’s leadership discovered the behavior, fired him, but did not report him to the police. About how Langworthy quickly moved back to Clinton, got jobs at a school and a church. And finally how my wife looked him up two years ago, learned he had been working with youth, and reported his past crimes to the authorities and the media.

Thanks in small part to Amy and to several brave victims, John Langworthy has been convicted for child molesting in Mississippi. He still hasn’t faced justice for the more recent abuse he committed in Texas.

Every time I tell this story, people tell me how disgusting Langworthy’s crimes are, and tell me to keep supporting Amy. Many have told her “thank you”, “keep it up” and “good job.” But sadly, these feelings are not universal. My wife has also received insults, baseless accusations, legal threats, and even been disowned by her parents for reporting a child molester and calling on Prestonwood to do the same.

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AUSTRALIA
Eureka Street

Fatima Measham April 11, 2013

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has begun, with its first sitting held in Melbourne last week. Expectations are high; relief runs deep. Both commissioners and victims will be treading a harrowing path together in the coming months and years. It is bound to be a national catharsis.

The six commissioners expect to receive more than 5000 submissions. Orders have already been served on the Catholic Church, its insurer, the Salvation Army and the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions. The Commission foresees that it will miss the 2015 deadline for a full report, due to the monumental scope.

Though it will not be prosecuting criminal cases, it has established links with state and territory police. There is also a focus on policy corrections for institutions which are found to have failed in their duty of care. The prosecutorial and legal outcomes from the commission will be significant. But other wounds bear considering.

The Catholic Church is placed uniquely among institutions under scrutiny. The trust that laypeople hold in priests and other vowed religious is not the same trust held in teachers, doctors and coaches. It is sourced from the stories that feed their faith.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By Kristen Howerton

Published: April 10

A recent lawsuit filed in October against church officials working for Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM) raises many ethical questions about clergy and their duty to report sexual abuse within the church. SGM is a church network with member churches throughout the world and has engaged in partnerships with many prominent figures in the Reformed movement, including John MacArthur, Mark Dever, and John Piper.

The lawsuit, filed by several women against SGM, alleges that church officials discouraged abuse victims from contacting the police, and instead conducted their own justice process, including forcing victims to meet with the men who assaulted them for “forgiveness.” The suit was originally filed by three women, but more plaintiffs have since been added, including plaintiffs that allege that some of the church officials were perpetrating the abuse as well.

Unfortunately this isn’t the only sexual abuse case involving SGM. In February, a former leader at Maryland’s Covenant Life Church that formerly served as SGM’s flagship church was indicted on accusations of molesting four boys between 1985 and 1990. The church withdrew their association with SGM in December.

SGM released a statement in which they suggested that courts should be prohibited from reviewing confidential advice given during pastoral counseling sessions, claiming it would impinge on the church’s First Amendment rights. “We are saddened that lawyers are now, in essence, seeking to violate those rights by asking judges and juries, years after such pastoral assistance was sought, to dictate what sort of biblical counsel they think should have been provided,” the statement said.

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TENNESSEE
Tennessean

A former public middle school principal charged with a string of sexual abuse was sentenced to three months in prison and 12 years of probation for abuse that occurred four years ago.

The man, Ronald B. Anderson, 34, allegedly met the victims, who were teenage boys, at his church.

Anderson, former principal at Kennedy Middle School in Antioch, was convicted in January by a Davidson County jury of four counts of sexual battery by an authority figure.

Police arrested Anderson in March 2009 after prosecutors charged him with sexually abusing two teenage boys, whom he took under his wing at the Royal Life International Church in Madison. Anderson had given them rides, treated them to dinner and become a mentor of sorts, according to court testimony.

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AUSTRALIA
Brimbank & North West Weekly

By Barney Zwartz
April 11, 2013

The Salvation Army has had 473 complaints about abuse in its Victorian children’s home and has spent nearly $20 million settling them.

But while its representatives could give no explanation of how predators got away with it for so long, it denied there had been a culture of abuse.

The Salvation Army had almost no records of children in the homes, but had not tried to hide, shred or dispose of them, Captain Malcolm Roberts told the Victorian inquiry into how the churches handled child sexual abuse.

The last homes closed in the 1980s, and the church dealt with some 35,000 children, he said.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Colman McCarthy | Apr. 10, 2013

Should we come back? Now that it’s a pope named Francis who is being hailed as “a history-making pontiff,” “a man who knows how to govern” and a leader from “outside the walls of Rome,” is it a moment for those of us who were Catholic-raised and Catholic-educated to rejoin the church after having taken a powder years ago?

It was a strong tailwind of reasons that helped blow us out the door: revulsion at the child abuse scandals, the hierarchy’s shielding of pedophile priests, the cruelty of church policy on gays and lesbians, the Vatican’s clamping down on American nuns, the attacks on priests who support women’s ordination, a calcified Eurocentric Roman bureaucracy that rules by fiat and not consensus. Then, too, a final turn-off: doctrinal rigidity. Rome has spoken; that’s it, people. No discussion allowed.

What’s to be learned soon enough about Pope Francis is whether he will be a tinkerer or an overhauler. The former is one who hauls his car to the local gas station and explains to the mechanic that the brakes are worn, the tires are flat, the radiator is not holding water, the oil leaks, the lower control arms are broken, the steering wheel can’t turn, the headlights are out, the carburetor is shot, the doors won’t lock and the wipers don’t wipe. The car owner tells the mechanic to just squirt a bit of Havoline Supreme on the engine and the old girl will run fine.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Wednesday, April 10, 2013 by
Juan Ameen

The Curia has denied a claim that it abandoned 11 victims of priest abuse, saying they had been contacted by the Missionary Society of St Paul and invited to approach it for help.

The MSSP, under whose care the men lived at St Joseph’s Home in Santa Venera about 20 years ago, contacted the victims in writing in October 2011, a spokesman for the Curia said.

This was immediately after the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith published its decision about their cases.

“In fact, a number of those involved approached the society and are still receiving help,” the spokesman added.

Lawrence Grech, one of the victims, had told The Times he had expected to be approached by the Therapeutic Evaluation Board, which was set up by the Church last October and tasked with directing victims of clerical sexual abuse to therapy. None of the 11 men had been approached, he claimed.

The spokesman said that the Church had “more than once” publicly invited past victims to come forward.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

. . . Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael D’Antonio will discuss his new book at 6:30 p.m., April 18 at Left Bank Books downtown. Titled “Mortal Sins: Sex Crimes and the Era of Catholic Scandal.” He has written biographies of famous chocolatier Milton Hershey and ex-boxer and self-taught PGA golfer Esteban Toledo. The event will benefit SNAP. . .

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CHILE
Bio Bio

Miércoles 10 abril 2013

Publicado por Alberto Gonzalez

El Arzobispado de Santiago informó este miércoles acerca del destino de los bienes de la disuelta Unión Sacerdotal del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, que encabezó el sancionado sacerdote Fernando Karadima, condenado por abusos sexuales.

A través de un comunicado, la entidad religiosa anunció la creación de una Fundación cuyos principales objetivos serán la prevención de abusos sexuales de menores y acoger eventuales víctimas.

Lo anterior, como una forma de “proteger y fortalecer el vínculo pastoral entre sacerdotes y fieles”.

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CHILE
La Nacion

El Arzobispado de Santiago anunció este miércoles la creación de una fundación destinada a prevenir abusos sexuales contra menores, la cual se financiará con los bienes de la ex Unión Sacerdotal del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús.

Este disuelto grupo fue creado y encabezado por el sacerdote condenado por el Vaticano por este tipo de abusos, Fernando Karadima.

Mediante un comunicado, el arzobispado explicó que atendiendo al dictamen de la Contraloría que establece que los bienes de la disuelta Unión Sacerdotal pasarán a la Arquidiócesis de Santiago, resolvieron destinar esos bienes “a fines de apostolado que incluyen la prevención de abusos sexuales de menores y el acompañamiento sicológico y espiritual de quienes pudieran resultar, lamentablemente, víctimas de esos nefastos delitos”.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

by Cindy Wooden,Catholic News Service | Apr. 10, 2013

Vatican City —
A major European regulator will conduct an expanded evaluation of the Vatican’s latest efforts to prevent money laundering and the funding of terrorism.

Moneyval, the monitoring Committee of the Council of Europe, agreed Tuesday to expand its next scheduled review of Vatican policies and procedures. The decision came in response to a request from the Vatican.

“With this initiative, the Holy See wishes to provide a more complete overview of the measures taken over the last year to further strengthen its institutional structure in the area of preventing money laundering and the financing of terrorism,” Vatican Radio reported.

The agreement on the scope of the December 2013 report, the radio said, confirms the Vatican’s “commitment to constructive dialogue with Moneyval.”

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VATICAN CITY
AsiaOne

Wednesday, Apr 10, 2013

VATICAN CITY – The Vatican said Wednesday the next report by the Council of Europe on its efforts to bring its laws into line with international rules against money laundering is due out in December.

The progress report by the Moneyval monitoring committee will also look at the Vatican’s implementation of all recommendations, not just the “key recommendations” in its July 2012 report.

The Vatican last year promised to redouble its efforts to reform its scandal-plagued bank and overhaul financial legislation following an Italian inquiry into alleged money laundering.

In that report, the Vatican scored satisfactory ratings in nine out of 16 key recommendations and unsatisfactory ratings in the remaining seven.

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VATICAN CITY
Telegraph (UK)

The Vatican has volunteered to widen the terms under which it is assessed for financial transparency, following a critical report by European money laundering watchdog Moneyval.

By Andrew Trotman, and agencies
5:37PM BST 10 Apr 2013

The Holy See is seeking to shake off a reputation for murky finances after a year in which documents alleging corruption in its business dealings were leaked by Pope Benedict’s butler, and the head of its bank was ousted in a row over transparency.

In a July 2012 report Moneyval, a department of the Council of Europe, criticised the Holy See for non-compliance with global financial transparency norms and gave it negative grades in seven out of 16 so-called “core” and “key” recommendations.

Under Moneyval rules, the Holy See has until July 4 to comply with all “core” recommendations, for example fully establishing the source and legality of funds and reporting suspicious transactions.

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VATICAN CITY
Bloomberg

By Chiara Vasarri – Apr 10, 2013

The Holy See said it’s continuing efforts to prevent money laundering and improve financial transparency as the Council of Europe presses for compliance with international standards.

In a report issued in July, Moneyval, the Council of Europe’s monitoring body for money laundering and terrorism financing, said the Vatican was making progress in complying with international standards on financial transparency, though it still needed to improve supervision of transactions. That report stressed the importance of independent supervision of the Vatican bank, which is formally called the Institute for the Works of Religion, or IOR.

The Holy See’s next progress report will be presented in December, according to today’s statement posted on the Vatican Radio website. “With this initiative, the Holy See wishes to provide a more complete overview of the measures taken over the last year to further strengthen its institutional structure in the area of preventing money laundering and the financing of terrorism,” the Vatican said.

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IOWA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on April 10, 2013

An Iowa Catholic archbishop has announced his resignation “for health reasons” just two weeks prior to his scheduled deposition in a clergy sex abuse and cover up case.

He’s Jerome Hanus who has headed the Archdiocese of Dubuque, IA and will soon live again in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

From 1977 to 1987, Jerome Hanus was abbot at Conception Abbey in Conception, MO (Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph). In a videotaped interview and a signed confession from 2011, Bede Parry admitted that Abbot Jerome Hanus knew about Parry’s previous sexual misconduct yet still placed Parry in a position of authority with the Conception Abbey Boy Choir where Parry reoffended with at least five choir participants.

With this resignation, Hanus has become to first high-ranking church official to step down during Pope Francis’ new regime.

[BishopAccountability.org]

“It’s extremely rare for a standing Archbishop to be desposed, and even moreso when that official has been named as an enabler by a predator priest himself,” said said David Clohessy, SNAP Director. “The consequences from this deposition could be huge.”

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AUSTRIA
Global Post

Austrian prosecutors on Tuesday charged a 79-year-old former priest of sexually abusing 15 students at a Benedictine monastery between 1973 and 1993.

The monastery, which runs a boarding school, is in the town of Kremsmuenster in northern Austria, the prosecutor’s office in nearby Steyr said.

The former priest also faces a charge of illegally possessing a weapon, it said, adding that he faces up to 15 years in prison. The Austrian Catholic Church, under Vienna Archbishop Christoph Schoenborn, set up a commission in 2000 to conduct independent investigations into allegations of sexual and other abuses committed by members of the Church. As of April 2012 the commission had probed more than 700 cases, some dating back to the 1960s.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Augsburger Allgemeine

Internat und Gymnasium reagieren auf die Vorwürfe und wollen den Fall aufklären. Von Dominik Mai

Ein Missbrauchsfall hat das Kloster St. Stephan und das angrenzende Gymnasium erschüttert. Der Komponist Wilfried Hiller hatte in einem Interview mit unserer Zeitung schwere Vorwürfe gegen zwei Patres des Internats erhoben – einer von ihnen habe ihn in den 50er Jahren mehrfach sexuell missbraucht, der andere körperlich gezüchtigt. Erst am Wochenende war dies bekannt geworden.

Den Direktor des Gymnasiums, Franz Lettner, haben die Vorwürfe überrascht: „Derzeit kann ich zu dem Fall keine Stellung nehmen, weil ich die Details nicht kenne und es um Dinge geht, die nicht in der Schule passiert sind“, sagt Lettner. Vielmehr hätten sich die Vorfälle im Internat ereignet, dessen Träger das Kloster ist und das somit nicht zum Gymnasium gehört.

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OSTERREICH
Die Presse

Es ist der erste Prozess gegen einen hohen Geistlichen seit mehreren Jahren. Dem ehemaligen Internatsleiter drohen bis zu 15 Jahre Haft.

Die Staatsanwaltschaft Steyr hat wie erwartet Anklage gegen einen ehemaligen Pater des Stiftes Kremsmünster (Bezirk Kirchdorf) u.a. wegen schweren sexuellen Missbrauchs erhoben. Dem heute 79-Jährigen wird angelastet, von September 1973 bis Juni 1993 an insgesamt 15 Zöglingen “Handlungen unterschiedlicher Intensität” vorgenommen zu haben. Ihm drohen bis zu 15 Jahre Haft, teilte die Staatsanwaltschaft am Dienstag mit.

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OSTERREICH
ORF

Seit über drei Jahren sind die Missbrauchsvorwürfe gegen Ordensmänner des Stiftes Kremsmünster in Oberösterreich öffentlich bekannt. Ein mittlerweile ausgetretener Pater wird nun angeklagt.

Der 79-Jährige ist der erste höhere Geistliche, der sich im Zug der Missbrauchs-Affäre in der römisch-katholischen Kirche vor einem weltlichen Richter verantworten muss. Im Folgenden eine Chronologie der Ereignisse:

Chronologie
1950er-Jahre – Es kommt zu Missbrauchsfällen, die erst im Laufe der aktuellen Affäre an den jetzigen Abt herangetragen werden. Die Vorwürfe richten sich gegen drei bereits verstorbene Patres.

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AUSTRALIA
Aljazeera

In late 2012, Australia was rocked by fresh allegations of Catholic clergy child sex abuse by whistleblower, New South Wales Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox.

Fox has pursued allegations of child sex abuse by Catholic clergy for more than a decade, and he claims that as his investigations continued, a frightening picture emerged of a widespread cover-up by the Catholic Church of the child sex crimes committed by its clergy.

Fox repeated those claims publicly, and also accused the Catholic Church of deliberately obstructing police investigations, destroying evidence, and protecting paedophile priests, sparking calls for a national inquiry.

At the same time as Fox’s investigation, The Newcastle Herald’s senior journalist Joanne McCarthy, had also picked up the scent of a wider conspiracy by senior church officials to conceal sex abuse by its clergy.

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OHIO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on April 10, 2013

An accused predator priest from the Diocese of Cleveland has just passed away. Despite promises from church officials to be “open and transparent” about accused clerics, as best as we can tell not one church official in Cleveland told parishioners or the public about the passing of Fr. Joseph Lang.

Fr. Lang was accused in 1987 of raping a young boy while he worked at St. Philomena Parish in Cleveland. He allegedly admitted his guilt when he was sent for treatment. In 2002, the Vatican permanently removed him from active ministry and sent him to “live a life of prayer and penance.”

[BishopAccountability.org]

Being honest about the death of a credibly accused predator priest matters for several reasons:

First, it’s comforting when victims know that their perpetrator can no longer hurt any other kids. But that doesn’t happen (or happens years later) if the predator’s death is kept secret.

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CHILE
Terra

Iglesia destina bienes de grupo de Karadima para prevención de abusos sexuales a menores

El Arzobispado de Santiago anunció este miércoles la creación de una fundación destinada a prevenir abusos sexuales contra menores, aprovechando los bienes de la ex Unión Sacerdotal del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, instancia que fue creada y encabezada por el sacerdote condenado por el Vaticano por este tipo de abusos, Fernando Karadima.

Mediante un comunicado, el arzobispado explicó que atendiendo al dictamen de la Contraloría que establece que los bienes de la disuelta Unión Sacerdotal pasarán a la Arquidiócesis de Santiago, resolvieron destinar esos bienes “a fines de apostolado que incluyen la prevención de abusos sexuales de menores y el acompañamiento sicológico y espiritual de quienes pudieran resultar, lamentablemente, víctimas de esos nefastos delitos”.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call

April 09, 2013|By Steve Esack, Call Harrisburg Bureau

HARRISBURG — A computer system that does not track child abuse complaints among counties. Hospital lawyers who keep doctors from sharing medical information on children they suspect are abuse victims. Low pay and high burnout for young, inexperienced social workers.

Those are three main reasons the training and laws governing how and when child abuse claims are handled need to be overhauled, according to Senate testimony Tuesday by members of the Pennsylvania Task Force on Child Protection.

“Child abuse is an extremely real problem in this commonwealth as it apparently is in our society and our nation,” said the panel’s chairman, Bucks County District Attorney David W. Heckler.

The Legislature started the 11-member task force to examine the state’s patchwork of child protection laws after Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State assistant football coach, was arrested in 2011 on charges of sexually abusing children. In November, the task force called for rewriting Pennsylvania’s child protection laws to streamline the reporting process, create new statutes and increase penalties for crimes such as possession of child pornography.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Eastbourne Herald

Published on 10/04/2013

A retired Eastbourne priest has gone on trial accused of multiple counts of sexual abuse at a children’s home in the 1960s.

Canon Gordon Rideout, 74, is alleged to have committed 30 indecent assaults and two attempted rapes when he was assistant curate at St Mary’s Church, Southgate.

The complainants, ten woman and four men, were child residents of a Crawley children’s home at the time of the alleged assaults.

Mr Rideout, of Filching Close, Polegate, is also accused of one indecent assault in Essex, and a further three against two victims in Hampshire.

He denied all 37 counts at Lewes Crown Court on Monday (April 8).

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MALTA
Times of Malta

The Curia has denied that it abandoned the victims of priest abuse, saying they had been contacted by the Missionary Society of St Paul and invited to approach it for help.

The MSSP, under whose care the men lived at St Joseph’s Home 20 years ago, wrote to the victims in October 2011, a spokesman said.

“In fact, a number of those involved approached the society and are receiving help ,” the spokesman added.

Lawrence Grech, one of the victims, had told The Times he had expected to be approached by the Therapeutic Evaluation Board, which was set up by the Church last October and tasked with directing victims of clerical sexual abuse to therapy .

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CANADA
Winnipeg Free Press

By: Ian Hitchen

BRANDON — An Anglican priest, who is the son of a Brandon bishop, is accused of charging more than $190,000 in personal expenses to a church credit card.

Noah James Bernard Njegovan, 30, appeared in Brandon court for the first time on Monday. His next court date is set for May 9.

He is charged with fraud over $5,000. The charge has not been proven in court.

Father Shane Bengry said members of the Anglican Diocese of Brandon have been notified of the accusations.

“We wanted to be as transparent as possible to our congregations… We tried to keep people abreast of what was going on,” said Bengry.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Crawley News

A former Crawley priest carried out a string of sex attacks at a children’s home, a court has heard.

Canon Gordon Rideout, 74, is accused of abusing more than a dozen girls and boys at the home over a four-year period.

He is also accused of indecently assaulting a boy at a home in Essex, and two girls in Hampshire.

The retired Church Of England priest denies 35 counts of indecent assault on 17 children as young as five, and two counts of attempted rape, between January 1962 and January 1973.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Patch

By Larissa Dudkiewicz

The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh recently sent a letter to parishioners at a Wilkinsburg church warning of abuse allegations against a former priest who also once served at a West View parish.

According to KDKA, the accused priest and the alleged victim have both passed away, but the man in his 40s revealed the abuse to his family months before he died.

KDKA reports the man claimed Rev. John Wellinger abused him between 1981 and 1985 when Wellinger served as an assistant pastor at St. James Parish in Wilkinsburg. The abuse started when the alleged victim was 10.

Local church officials confirmed that Wellinger once served at St. Athanasius Church in West View, but referred all other questions to the diocese.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PhillyBurbs

Some might argue that it’s better late than never. But for the family of Bristol Borough’s Daniel Neill, who took his own life in 2009, the removal of an allegedly abusive Catholic priest from the ministry comes as little consolation for the loss they’ve sustained and the grief they’ve endured. In short, it’s too little, too late.

How would you feel? Fact is, the defrocking of Rev. Joseph Gallagher comes seven years after the 78-year-old now former priest retired.

It was more than 30 years ago that Neill, then just 10 years old, reported to the principal at St. Mark Parish school that he had been sexually molested by Gallagher. According to a 2011 wrongful death suit filed by Neill’s family, the principal called the then altar boy “a liar and threatened … that his family would be disgraced if he persisted in making his report of sexual abuse.”

And so the child kept the allegations under wraps until 2007 — for nearly three decades — before again reaching out to the church. This was after the pedophile priest scandal erupted, including revelations that the Archdiocese of Philadelphia not only covered up the crimes but transferred accused priests from one parish to another in an effort to silence victims and protect the priests.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Independent

Dedorah McAleese– 10 April 2013

A PRIEST who “naively” gave almost £150,000 (€175,000) of parish funds to a woman he believed to be destitute has pleaded guilty to fraud.

Fr Conleth Byrne (78) told police he paid the money to Marie Hanna from Ballycastle, Co Antrim, over a 19-month period out of “charity” after she begged him for financial help, a court was told.

The retired parish priest pleaded guilty yesterday to fraud by abuse of position just before his trial was due to begin at Downpatrick Crown Court.

Fr Byrne was a priest in Loughinisland, Co Down, when Ms Hanna, who is in her 50s, called at the parochial house in September 2007 and claimed to be in “dire need” of financial assistance, the court heard.

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OHIO
The Plain Dealer

LANG JOSEPH J. LANG, age 73. Beloved son of the late Joseph C. and Maleda (Cummings) Lang; loving brother of James P. Lang; devoted uncle of Andrew M. and Benjamin M. Lang; cherished cousin to three generations and caring friend to all. Entered eternal rest Tuesday, April 2, 2013. Services and burial will be at the convenience of the family. ‘No one ever died of Laughter.’

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PENNSYLVANIA
Patriot-News

By Charles Thompson | cthompson@pennlive.com

The chair of the Pennsylvania Senate’s Public Heath and Welfare Committee said she wants to see a package of bills designed to strengthen protections for children from all forms of abuse moved to Gov. Corbett’s desk by the end of the year.But Sen. Pat Vance, R-Cumberland County, cautioned it may take that much time to ensure the legislature is making the child protection system as strong as possible in Pennsylvania in the wake of sensational cases like the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

“I think we’ve learned a lot,” Vance said after a hearing today on the findings of a blue-ribbon task force empaneled last year to recommend changes. “But have we learned enough to legislate intelligently? That is the question.”

But task force leaders were clear enough about their must-dos.

They continued to hone in on the need for Pennsylvania to broaden its current definitions of child abuse so state reporting systems catch more of the cases that are investigated, and information on the families involved is accessible to those who need it.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WESA

By Mary Wilson and WESA Staff

A state Senate Republican is making a concerted push for the cautious approach when it comes to child protection legislation.

House lawmakers are poised to advance a number of proposals intended to make children safer in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky abuse case.

But at a joint committee hearing this week, GOP state Sen. Bob Mensch of Montgomery County said he’s taking to heart advice from others not to rush anything that could add to the burden of local child welfare offices.

“This is the first step, not the last step,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

April 10, 2013 by J-Wire Staff

Sydney Yeshiva say they have no connection with the Los Angeles welfare organisation reported to be sheltering a Los Angeles resident once associated with the Bondi community and alleged to be a paedophile .

Media reports that the “self-confessed” paedophile is being protected by the the LA-based Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles and that board members were aware of the situation as recently as 2011. The incidents said to have taken place in Sydney occurred in the 1980s.

Rabbi Eli Feldman told J-Wire that nothing had changed since the Yeshiva’s last statement in which they said they were co-operating fully with police. “As this an issue currently under investigation, we are following police instructions and making no comments. Today’s revelations may throw a new angle on the story, but the it refers to a matter already under investigation and in the hands of the authorities with whom we are fully co-operating. We have no connection with this Californian organisation.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Star

CHURCH leaders and social services have been condemned for a ‘cover-up’ of a vicar’s sex attacks on a teenage girl in Sheffield.

John Yallop’s 16-year-old victim was sent to him for counselling after losing her mother, father and grandmother all within seven months in the late 1980s.

But the Burngreave vicar forced her to perform a sex act on him, and exposed himself to her in his own home and car over two months.

On two occasions, he groped the orphan at St Peter’s Church, Ellesmere – where he had conducted the funeral of her late mother.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

An ex-vicar who sexually assaulted a teenage girl he was counselling after the deaths of her parents has been jailed for three years.

John Yallop, 65, of Accrington, Lancashire, molested the 16-year-old while he was a priest in Ellesmere, Sheffield, 25 years ago.

He made the girl perform sex acts and touched her inappropriately.

Yallop was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court on Monday after he admitted six counts of indecent assault.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By Chris Brooke

A judge has condemned the Church of England and social services for a cover-up that allowed a vicar who sexually abused a teenage orphan to escape justice for 26 years.

John Yallop, a married father of four, had been offering bereavement counselling to the 16-year-old girl just months after she lost her entire family.

He admitted the abuse, which took place over two months, when confronted by a social worker.

But instead of reporting him to police, the Bishop of Sheffield and social services chiefs hushed up the scandal and Yallop, then 40, was allowed to leave his job and move away from the area to restart his life.

The victim, now aged 42, has suffered depression and suicidal thoughts ever since.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post

By Martin Slack
Published on 10/04/2013

A FORMER bishop accused of covering up a sex abuse case involving a vulnerable orphan and a vicar has rejected a judge’s criticism and said remarks about his involvement were “unjust”.

The Rt Rev David Lunn, now 83 and retired, was the Bishop of Sheffield in 1987 when vicar John Yallop was found to be abusing a 16-year-old girl, but the crime did not come to light until last year.

Yallop, now 65, has been jailed for three years, but Judge Simon Lawler QC, who heard the case, said social workers and “church elders” involved at the time should “reproach themselves”.

Speaking at his home in Wetwang, East Yorkshire, yesterday, Bishop Lunn told the Yorkshire Post: “I think the judge’s remarks were unjust, but I can understand why he made them.

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AUSTRALIA
Advertiser

By Ben Chenoweth
April 9, 2013

CHILD abuse victim John Hennessey has likened the start of last week’s royal commission proceedings to the demolition of the Berlin Wall.

The Ingleburn resident — a former deputy mayor of Campbelltown — has campaigned for years to see those who inflicted, ignored and covered up the abuse exposed.

Last Wednesday proceedings in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse began in Melbourne. More than 5000 victims are expected to testify.

“There has been a lot of suffering and hidden pain because nobody would believe us,” Mr Hennessey said.

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UNITED STATES
The Jewish Daily Forward

Editorial

Horace Mann. Poly Prep. Deerfield Academy. The scourge of sexual abuse has not bypassed some of the nation’s most exclusive names in education, as each of these schools now must confront charges of inappropriate, perhaps illegal, certainly immoral behavior by some of their teachers. Each case is different, of course, but the stories contain a striking similarity: a treasured institution unwilling to listen to its students and alumni until it was forced to publicly.

Some believe the same is true for Yeshiva University. Ever since December, when the Forward first published stories of allegations that two rabbis at Y.U.’s High School for Boys in Mahattan sexually, physically and emotionally abused students, the university has faced calls for greater transparency and accountability from within its own community.

First Shmuel Herzfeld, a Y.U. graduate who serves as rabbi of The National Synagogue in Washington D.C., pleaded with his alma mater to institute a “truly independent” investigation of the abuse charges and the university’s role in — by its own admission — allowing the alleged abusers to leave quietly for other positions in Jewish education.

Though Y.U.’s Board of Trustees appointed the respected Manhattan law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell to conduct an investigation and promised “unfettered access” to all documents and personnel, the school has not been clear about whether the full report will be made public. “We expect the findings of the investigation will be communicated to the public following completion of the investigation,” was the last statement, issued January 16.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Rhein-Zeitung

Trier – Diesen Gang zum Briefkasten wird S. nicht vergessen: Per Anwaltsschreiben hat ihm ein ehemaliger Kaplan und Priester, der in den 1960er und 1970er Jahren in der Eifel und in Trier tätig war und zig Kinder missbraucht haben soll, mit einer Unterlassungsklage gedroht.

Der ehemalige Geistliche wehrt sich gegen „Behauptungen, (…) im Rahmen seiner kirchlichen Tätigkeit Kindesmissbrauch begangen zu haben“, heißt es in dem Anwaltsschreiben.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Rhein-Zeitung

Trier – Liegt es an der harten Hand des katholischen Missbrauchsbeauftragten Stephan Ackermann oder der seines obersten Richters Georg Holkenbrink? Oder ist die Zahl der Missbrauchspriester im Bistum Trier höher als in anderen Diözesen? Seit Februar 2010 wurden im Bistum Trier gegen 21 der insgesamt 700 Priester sogenannte kirchenrechtliche Voruntersuchungen eingeleitet, sagte jetzt Bischofssprecher André Uzulis auf Anfrage des Trierischen Volksfreund. Dabei geht es um eine mögliche Bestrafung der Geistlichen durch die katholische Kirche.

Nach Angaben von Uzulis sind elf Verfahren „seitens des Bistums abgeschlossen“. Über eine Bestrafung wurde nur in einem Fall etwas bekannt. Ein emeritierter Theologieprofessor war im vergangenen Jahr aus dem Klerikerstand entlassen worden. Der 72-jährige Trierer Geistliche hatte sich zwischen 1966 und 1980 an fünf minderjährigen Jungen vergangen, in zwei Fällen über einen längeren Zeitraum. Unter den Opfern war auch der Neffe des Priesters.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A retired Anglican priest accused of 37 sex attacks against children used to wander a children’s home unaccompanied and visit the dormitories, Lewes Crown Court has heard.

Canon Gordon Rideout, 74, Polegate, East Sussex, denies 35 indecent assaults and two attempted rapes.

Thirty two of the charges relate to his time as an assistant curate in Crawley, when he would visit a West Sussex home.

He is accused of abusing boys and girls there between 1962 and 1973.

Prosecuting, Philip Bennetts QC said: “It would appear from the evidence that he would wander the house and indeed the grounds unaccompanied, and he would visit children when they were sick and alone in bed.”

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AUSTRALIA
Australian Psychological Society

HIDDEN TRUTHS REVEALED: Handling secrets from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse IMPLICATIONS FOR PSYCHOLOGISTS

Presenters

Mark Fabro, Mark Griffin MAPS, Danielle Mutsuo, Gerard Webster MAPS

Description

More than 5,000 people are expected to share their experiences with the Royal Commission, it is estimated. Examining the role of psychologists in the wake of the Commission is the aim of this workshop.
A panel of speakers will address various aspects of this topic, including three psychologists specialising in this area from both survivor and perpetrator perspectives. An overview of current evidence in relation to the aetiology of sexual offending (particularly within the Catholic context), evidence-based treatment approaches and outcome and case studies will be considered. The CUBIT program for sex offenders in Department of Corrective Services will be discussed and a psychologist who has been working with the survivors of abuse for over twenty years will present. Another speaker, who experienced abuse from the clergy will share some of his story and discuss his involvement in the organisation, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
Workshop participants will be invited to engage in a case study discussion to consider legal, ethical and clinical perspectives which will be followed by a response from the panel.

Overview of Day
9.00 – 9.15 Registration
9.15 – 9.30 Introduction to Training and Terms of Reference of Royal Commission
9.30 – 10.15 Mark Fabro – SNAP Member (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests)
10.15 – 11.00 Mark Griffin
11.00 – 11.20 Morning Tea
11.20 – 12.05 Danielle Mutsuo
12.05 – 12.50 Gerard Webster
12.50 – 1.45 Lunch
1.45 – 2.45 Small group case study discussion
2.45 – 3.30 Themes and issues from small groups presented
3.30 – 4.00 Afternoon tea
4.00 – 5.00 Panel response to issues and questions

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UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on April 9, 2013

On April 5, The Wall Street Journal reported that:

As the church’s most powerful official in Argentina, [Pope Francis] didn’t comply with a Vatican call to create guidelines for handling sexual-abuse allegations in the country.

But then, in the next paragraph:

On Friday, Pope Francis met with Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, who heads the office in charge of leading the Vatican’s global crackdown on abusive priests and instructed him to continue the Vatican’s strategy for fighting sex abuse. The pope urged him to “act decisively with regard to cases of sexual abuse, pushing above all the measures to protect minors,” the Vatican said. Swift detection, Vatican officials have said, is crucial to stopping abusive priests.

So I ask: Why is it so important for Pope Francis to crack down on abusive priests NOW, when it wasn’t such a big deal three weeks ago, when he was still Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires?

How can he possibly implement a program on a global level when he couldn’t even draw up simple guidelines to prevent abuse in his own country … on time?

Yesterday, he couldn’t do his homework. Today, he’s the principal of the school. Only one conclusion comes to mind – and it’s not terribly optimistic.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV

A former Loughinisland parish priest has admitted defrauding the diocese of up to £145,000 — to give to a woman in “dire need”.

Details of the extraordinary case involving 78 year-old Father Conleth Byrne, who also gave the woman thousands of pounds of his own money, were revealed following his last-minute guilty plea at Downpatrick Crown Court on Tuesday afternoon as his trial was about to begin.

Father Byrne, now retired to Bethlehem Abbey, Portglenone, had previously denied the charge of fraud by abuse of position, which involved giving 50 year-old Marie Hanna, from the Ballycastle area, up to £145,617 between January 2008 and October 2009.

The exact amount is to be confirmed at sentencing next month.

In an agreed statement of facts between the prosecution and defence, prosecuting lawyer Laura Ives said the payments were made in cash, obtained mostly through the cashing of cheques from the parish account, and followed a period where Father Byrne gave the woman around £45,000 of his own money.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Darlington & Stockton Times

Catholic church suffering “institutional paranoia” over abuse allegations, claims former pupil of suspended Darlington priest

By Joe Willis, Regional Chief Reporter

A FORMER Catholic school pupil taught by a priest suspended from his parish for almost a decade says the case highlights the church’s “institutional paranoia” over abuse allegations.

Blogger Ed Devlin was taught by Father Michael Higginbottom at St Joseph’s College, near Wigan, in the early 1980s.

He said he never had a problem with the priest and never witnessed any inappropriate behaviour towards pupils from staff while at the school.

“He was an excellent teacher although very strict, but he never enforced physically punishments or needed more than the odd acerbic put-down – certainly nothing that could merit complaint,” he said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Robert Booth
The Guardian, Tuesday 9 April 2013

More than a dozen children at a Barnardo’s home in Sussex were victims of sexual abuse by a Church of England priest, a court heard on Tuesday.

Boys and girls aged five to 18 were subjected to indecent assaults during the 1960s in the dormitories, outbuildings and grounds of Ifield Hall near Crawley by Canon Gordon Rideout, it was claimed. Some were severely beaten by orphanage staff when they complained, as part of “a brutal regime where children were taught to behave by beatings”.

Rideout, now 73 and retired from the diocese of Chichester, was then an assistant curate at the nearby St Mary’s church in Southgate, where the children attended Sunday services.

A jury at Lewes crown court heard that Rideout faces charges of 37 separate sexual offences against 17 children between 1962 and 1973 at Ifield, at another Barnardo’s home at Barkingside in Essex, and at the Middle Wallop army base in Hampshire where he served as forces chaplain.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Eleven men who were sexually abused by priests when they were boys have not heard from a thera­peutic board set up by the Church six months ago to help such victims.

Lawrence Grech, one of the victims, said he expected to be approached by the board set up for the very purpose of offering therapeutic help to abuse victims.

He added that “over the coming days” he and the other victims will be formally filing the court case against the Church requesting compensation for damages suffered at the hands of its priests.

In October, the Church announced the setting up of the Therapeutic Evaluation Board tasked with directing victims of sexual abuse by clerics to therapy.

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FRANCE
The New York Times

By MAÏA de la BAUME

Published: April 7, 2013

SAINT-VALLIER, France — In Togo, the Rev. Rodolphe Folly used to conduct exuberant Sunday services for a hundred believers of all ages, who sang local gospel music and went up to him to offer what they had.

In this quiet town in Burgundy, he preaches to a more somber audience of about 40 gray-haired retirees in an unadorned 19th-century church that can accommodate up to 600 people.

“In my country, we applaud, we acclaim, we shout,” said Father Folly, a Roman Catholic priest who spoke in the living room of his modern, modest house. “Here, even when I ask people to shake hands, they say no.”

Father Folly, 45, has settled in this town of about 9,000 residents, assigned to replace an aging priest. He has brought his jovial smile and good heart to a place where religious practice is weak, as it is in many other areas of France. He is part of a battalion of priests who have come to France from abroad — from places like Benin, Burkina-Faso, Cameroon but also Vietnam and Poland — who now represent about 10 percent of France’s declining clerical ranks.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Volksfreund

Ehemaliger Trierer Bistumspriester droht Missbrauchsopfer

Ein ehemaliger Trierer Bistumspriester, der in den 1960er Jahren mehrere Messdiener missbraucht haben soll, droht nun einem seiner Opfer mit rechtlichen Schritten. Kommt es wegen der sexuellen Übergriffe doch noch zu einem Prozess?

Anfang Juli 2010 schildern in einem Trierer Pfarrsaal drei Männer Mitte 50, was ihnen vier Jahrzehnte zuvor in genau dieser Pfarrei widerfahren ist: Über Jahre hinweg wurden die damals minderjährigen Messdiener demnach von einem offenbar pädophilen Kaplan missbraucht. Wie ihnen erging es Ende der 60er Jahre nach deren Angaben mindestens 14 weiteren Jungs – in Trier und in der Vulkaneifel, wo der Kaplan zuvor eingesetzt war.

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OSTERREICH
kathweb

Staatsanwaltschaft Steyr belastet früheren Internatsleiter – Stift will sich “der Vergangenheit stellen” und aktiv an der Aufarbeitung von Missbrauchsfällen beteiligen

09.04.2013

Linz, 09.04.2013 (KAP) Das Stift Kremsmünster hat das am Dienstag angekündigte Gerichtsverfahren gegen einen des Missbrauchs verdächtigen Ex-Pater begrüßt. Die Staatsanwaltschaft Steyr hatte bekanntgegeben, dass gegen August Mandorfer, der früher als Pater Alfons der Benediktiner-Gemeinschaft von Kremsmünster angehörte, Anklage erhoben wurde. “Dass nach drei Jahren die Untersuchungen abgeschlossen sind und durch das zuständige Gericht Vorfälle früherer Jahrzehnte geklärt werden”, begrüßte das Stift in einer Stellungnahme ausdrücklich.

Die Staatsanwaltschaft legt dem heute 79-jährigen Ex-Geistlichen schweren sexuellen Missbrauch, Unzucht mit Unmündigen, Nötigung, den Missbrauchs eines Autoritätsverhältnisses sowie das Quälen oder Vernachlässigen unmündiger, jüngerer oder wehrloser Personen zur Last. Zudem wird ihm der fahrlässige Besitz einer verbotenen Waffe, nämlich einer Pumpgun, vorgeworfen.

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AUSTRIA
USA Today

VIENNA (AP) — Austrian authorities have charged a defrocked priest with sexually abusing 15 children as head of a Catholic boarding school.

They say Alfons August Mandorfer is also accused of torturing and neglecting young boys under his care between 1973 and 1993, when he was director of the school run by a monastery in the Upper Austrian town of Kremsmuenster.

But spokesman Andreas Pechatschek of the regional public prosecutor’s office says most of the charges against the 79-year old are based on suspicion of “numerous crimes of a sexual nature.”

Mandorfer was dismissed as a priest after several former pupils accused him several years ago of abuse.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on April 09, 2013

At least 33 Pittsburgh priests are publicly accused child molesters. For the third time, the bishop is writing a letter letting a few hundred of his 700,000 members about one of them.

And he’s writing it only to parishioners at one of the eight churches where the predator – Fr. John Wellinger – worked.

And Bishop Zubik’s public relations man refuses to disclose or even confirm all the parishes where Fr. Wellinger worked.

The question is: why won’t Zubik warn all of his flock about these 33 child molesting clerics and write letters to ALL the places where they worked?

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VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

By Simon McCormack Posted: 04/08/2013

Someone in Vatican City had better get to confession.

Torrent Freak has unearthed the download history from an IP address in the Pope’s place of residence and some of the movies are of the porn persuasion.

For a full list of the dirty downloads, go to Torrent Freak.

Rev. Debra Haffner of the Religious Institute told The Huffington Post she’s “not surprised” at the Vatican City findings.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Lancashire Telegraph

By Wendy Barlow, Court reporter

A 27-YEAR-OLD man, said by a judge to ‘pose a real risk to children’, has been jailed for 10 years for sexually abusing two girls.

Richard Simcock, who told the authorities he has since studied for the Mormon priesthood, repeatedly tried to rape one frightened victim and committed indecent acts on the other.

He was said to have pinned down the girl he attempted to rape as she tried to stop him.

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CANADA
CTV

CTV Windsor
Published Tuesday, April 9, 2013

A St. Anne’s priest is facing theft charges after a financial audit of the parishes’ accounts yielded over $180,000 in irregularities, according to Essex County OPP.

Provincial police have completed a lengthy theft investigation dating back to 2002.

Officials from Ste. Anne’s Parish in Tecumseh notified the OPP in August of 2011 regarding an internal theft that occurred between 2002 and 2010.

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ROME
The Tablet (UK)

9 April 2013

An Italian priest has been arrested for embezzling more than €4 million from a Rome clinic owned by his religious order and forcing the facility into bankruptcy after accumulating some €600 million of debt.

Fr Franco Decaminada, 68, was placed under house arrest on 4 April for misappropriating funds from the Istituto Dermatologico dell’Immacolota (IDI), of which he was the executive director from 2004-11. The clinic was founded in 1925 by his order, the Congregation of the Sons of the Immaculate Conception.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pottstown Mercury

WILKINSBURG (AP) — The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh has alerted parishioners in one suburban parish of sex abuse allegations against a now-dead priest.

The diocese says the letter was sent to members of St. James Church in Wilkinsburg, and involved an allegation church officials received from the brother of a man — who is also now dead — that he was abused by the Rev. John Wellinger.

Wellinger was the assistant pastor of the church from 1981 to 1985 when the alleged abuse took place. The diocese is alerting parishioners so that anyone who may have also been abused by Wellinger at that parish, or others he served at in the diocese, can receive counseling and other help from the diocese.

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UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

Pope Francis, who gave orders to the head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith to act decisively” against priests who rape and sodomize children and minors drug his feet, the Wall Street Journal reports, when it came to complying with the Vatican’s request for national conferences of bishops to set up policies to combat abuse.

We are providing the Wall Street Journal’s story to our readers today. It’s a Wall Street Journal subscriber only story and we are providing it because of the importance, we believe, it carries and its great impact on survivors, survivor advocates, Catholics in the pew, Catholics out of the pew, and men and women of goodwill.

Here is the link (you may have to copy and paste into your browser):

[Wall Street Journal]

The Argentinian Bishops Conference was headed by Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio. Twenty-five percent of bishops conference worldwide have not complied with the Vatican’s request. Most of the non-compliers are in Africa.

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