ABUSE TRACKER

CANADA
Leader-Post

By Jason Warick, The StarPhoenix March 11, 2013

Saskatoon and area Roman Catholic priests and volunteers will soon be prohibited from meeting behind closed doors with parishioners.

The main goal of the new policy, which also mandates criminal record checks and directing those with criminal allegations to police first, is to eliminate sexual abuse, said Blake Sittler, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon’s co-ordinator of care. It should also protect priests and other workers from false allegations, he said.

“This is a major paradigm shift,” Sittler said in an interview Sunday after attending a Calgary conference on the issue.

“We do not want this (abuse) to happen. It disgusts and disappoints us as well.”

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
Albany Times Union

By Brendan J. Lyons

Updated 5:59 am, Monday, March 11, 2013

NEW YORK — A proposal to abolish New York’s statute of limitations on sex crimes involving children was the subject of a gut-wrenching Assembly hearing in Manhattan that included testimony from an attorney for two brothers who said they were raped as boys by an Albany Roman Catholic Diocese priest.

Tina M. Weber, a Philadelphia attorney, read statements from the brothers, who are now adults, about their emotionally tumultuous lives since they said they were raped repeatedly in the 1980s and 1990s by a former priest, Gary Mercure, who was convicted two years ago of forcibly raping a child in Massachussetts.

Weber implored the Assembly’s Codes Committee to push legislation that would make New York one of a growing number of states that have expanded or eliminated statutes of limitations on child sex crimes.

Variations of the measure, known as the Child Victims Act, have passed the Assembly four times but never made it to a vote in the state Senate, where Republican leaders and other lawmakers say the legislation could be financially devastating to the Catholic Church and other organizations.

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.

IRELAND
New York Daily News

[PaddyPower.com]

By Stephen Rex Brown / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Sunday, March 10, 2013

There’s a new favorite in the Popestakes: Italy’s Angelo Cardinal Scola is 2-1 to be the next pontiff, overtaking the previous front-runner, Ghana’s Peter Cardinal Turkson, who is at 4-1, according to Irish bookie Paddy Power.

Rory Scott, a spokesman for the legal bookmaker, said the lengthy deliberations among the cardinals last week worked in Scola’s favor, because the formal conclave this week is now likely to move faster.

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.

BOSTON (MA)
NECN

(NECN: John Monahan, Boston) – There is renewed speculation that Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley is a top candidate to become Pope.

A leading Italian newspaper polled eight Vatican experts. Five of them list Cardinal O’Malley as one of their top picks to be elected during the conclave that will begin Tuesday.

Cardinal O’Malley tied a Brazillian cardinal as a top contender, but won an online reader’s poll.

Sunday, O’Malley and the other cardinals had a chance to say Mass in their honorary churches in Rome.

Cardinal O’Malley made no mention of the clamor during his Mass. Instead, he focused on praying for the best possible outcome.

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.

MICHIGAN
Detroit Free Press

By Christina Hall
Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

A lawsuit has been filed against the Archdiocese of Detroit, a Mt. Clemens church, its pastor and a parishioner who was convicted of a sex crime involving a 14-year-old girl on church property.

The lawsuit, filed last week in Macomb County Circuit Court, seeks at least $25,000 in damages from the archdiocese; St. Peter’s Catholic Church and the Rev. Michael Cooney, and Michael Lentini, who was convicted of assaulting the child. It also requests a jury trial.

The lawsuit was filed by the mother of the girl. The family belonged to the church.

The suit cites negligence on the part of the archdiocese, church and Cooney for failing to ensure child abuse or suspected child abuse or inappropriate sexual behavior is reported to authorities.

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.

MICHIGAN
WOOD

MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. (AP) — A lawsuit against a priest and the Catholic church says they failed to protect a 14-year-old girl from sexual abuse by a 19-year-old man.

The Detroit Free Press (http://on.freep.com/YafjoD ) says the suit was filed last week in Macomb County Circuit Court against the Rev. Michael Cooney, St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Mount Clemens, the Archdiocese of Detroit and sexual misconduct convict Michael Lentini.

The suit says the priest and church were negligent and failed to act after getting reports of the sexual misconduct.

The archdiocese suspended Cooney in February 2012 after learning of the case, saying he apparently failed to report what he knew to police as church policy requires. He later was reinstated.

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
Canada.com

By Matthew Fisher, Postmedia News March 10, 2013

VATICAN CITY — Cardinal Marc Ouellet ambled across St. Peter’s Square Saturday afternoon unnoticed by swarms of pilgrims, tourists and journalists.

Thirty hours later the 68-year-old Canadian, who is among the favourites to be named as the next pope, was greeted by hundreds of journalists when he celebrated mass Sunday evening in a packed church 200 metres from the Vatican.

If Ouellet is chosen to succeed Benedict XVI as the Vicar of Christ at a papal conclave that is to begin Tuesday one can only imagine how much life will change for the burly prelate from the backwoods of Quebec. At a minimum the avid hockey player and fan will never again enjoy a leisurely stroll in St. Peter’s Square or a quiet vacation with his 91-year-old mother Graziella, or hunting and fishing with friends and relatives in his birthplace of La Motte, Que., a tiny village 500 kilometres northwest of Ottawa.

Parishioners who attended Ouellet’s mass at the Santa Maria in Traspontina Church in Rome on Sunday were unanimous that he had given a bravura performance. Speaking entirely in Italian at the local church assigned to him as cardinal-priest when he became one of the princes of the church is 2003, Ouellet said during his homily that God had already decided who the next pope would be and that the cardinals would simply be naming the one that He had already chosen.

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.

SCOTLAND
Scotsman

By STEPHEN MCGINTY
Published on Monday 11 March 2013

THE Catholic Church in Scotland should open its “secret” files and publish an audit of abusive priests, according to the former head of the Church’s working party on child protection.

Alan Draper, who compiled a report on 22 “problem priests” as long ago as 1995, criticised the Church for paying lip service and failing to act on a second damning report in 2004, which said certain priests were not adequately monitored and “unacceptable levels of risk to children may have been and could remain present”.

The second, 27-page report was written by May Dunsmuir, then director of child protection for the Catholic Church, and has been seen by The Scotsman. It criticised Scottish bishops for failing to provide proper training, adequate supervision of problem priests and for organising “no national or diocesan collation and dissemination of child protection statistical information and analysis”.

The report, which was sent to Archbishop Keith O’Brien, then president of the Bishops’ Conference, also criticised existing policy as “silent on certain matters, eg, how to respond to allegations involving clergy or a bishop”.

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.

SCOTLAND
Mirror

By: Greg Christison
Published: Mon, March 11, 2013

Speaking a week after Cardinal Keith O’Brien admitted sexual misconduct, the Church’s head of media, Peter Kearney, also admitted it rightly faces claims of hypocrisy.

His comments come as a child protection expert appointed to advise the Catholic Church over abuse claims said evidence suggested that priests were “out of control sexually”.

Academic Alan Draper has been informed of 20 child sex allegations in Scots parishes during the Eighties and Nineties and revealed that not all were reported to police.

Mr Kearney admitted more needs to be done to provide support for Catholics struggling with their sexuality.

He added: “If there’s an area where the Church hasn’t been seen – frankly, because it’s not present – it’s in that area of compassionate, pastoral outreach to people who are struggling with same-sex attraction, or they’re confused about it and would love the chance to talk to someone in a compassionate, pastoral context.

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.

SOUTH CAROLINA
WSPA

Sexual misconduct allegations have been made against a local Catholic Priest.

On Friday a man who was representing the catholic church approached an investigator at the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office. He told investigators that a sexual incident involving a minor occurred years ago at Our Lady of Lourdes with Father Hayden Vaverek. Deputies say the victim now lives out of state and had someone from the catholic church meet with the Sheriff’s Office to make a report.

The Dioceses of Charleston tells 7 On Your Side that an allegation of sexual misconduct of a minor dating back more than 15 years has been made against Father Hayden Vaverek. As diocesan policy he has been put on administrative leave and his priestly faculties withdrawn.

According to Dioceses of Charleston, “The reported allegation indicates the alleged misconduct occurred while Father Vaverek was pastor at Our Lady of Lourdes in Greenwood; however, no parishioners of that parish were involved in the reported allegation.”

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.

SOUTH CAROLINA
ABC 4

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) – A spokeswoman with the Diocese of Charleston says a pastor has been placed on administrative leave amidst allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor.

The allegations against father Hayden Vaverek date back more than 15 years to his time as pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes in Greenwood.

The Diocese says it is their policy to relieve Vaverek of his priestly facilities duing the investigation.

Father Vaverek has served in several parishes and schools in South Carolina, including nearby Moncks Corner.

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
The Guardian (UK)

Lizzy Davies in Rome
The Guardian, Sunday 10 March 2013

It was a mass with a difference. For one thing, there were more worshippers in the Santa Maria della Vittoria church than usual. (“Come back!” begged the excited local priest.) For another, the liturgy was led by a jovial American who joked about swiping the church’s most exquisite treasure and taking it back to Boston. What’s more, the congregation knew that by the end of the week, that man, Cardinal Seán O’Malley, could – just possibly – be pope.

He wasn’t the only one, of course. Across Rome, a similar story was being played out in many of the titular churches whose status affords them a special link with one or other of the 115 cardinals who will choose Benedict XVI’s successor. On a day of rest before the start of conclave , many of the most prominent prelates visited their Roman flocks and called on them to pray for the right choice to be made. For many, good communication skills and a solid pastoral record are top of the list of qualities needed in the next pope – a fact that may not have gone unnoticed by the cardinals who chose to spend yesterday among the people.

“The conclave is just around the corner,” said Cardinal Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan and a leading papabile (possible candidate). “Let us pray that the holy spirit gives the church a man who can lead her in the footsteps of the great pontiffs of the past 150 years.”

As the preparations for conclave entered the final stretch, the chimney that will emit white smoke when a pope is elected was fixed on to the roof of the Sistine chapel on Saturday. A Vatican spokesman, Federico Lombardi, announced, meanwhile, that, among other objects, Benedict XVI’s fisherman’s ring had been scratched and thus destroyed. With a hint of relief, Lombardi also announced that yesterday was – as he put it – “a holiday”.

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
CBS Boston

BOSTON (CBS) – Former Boston Cardinal Bernard Law is also in Rome ahead of the Papal Conclave.

Law will not vote because he is 81 years old and not eligible to take part in the Conclave to elect a new pope. The cut off for voting is age 80.

Law celebrated Mass at The Church of Santa Susanna in Rome Sunday morning.

Amid a throng of reporters, Law stopped for just a moment when asked what he wants from a new pope.

“Whoever the Holy Spirit chooses will lead us in this year of faith,” Law said.

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.

SOUTH CAROLINA
Independent Mail

By Michael Eads
Posted March 10, 2013
michael.eads@independentmail.com
864-260-1256

CHARLESTON — A former priest at Anderson’s St. Joseph’s Catholic Church has been accused of sexual misconduct with a minor.

Father Hayden Vaverek has been placed on administrative leave by the Diocese of Charleston and will be unable to conduct Mass, due to a criminal complaint filed Friday with the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office. An unidentified man told police investigators about an incident with a minor that allegedly occurred more than 15 years ago.

“The reported allegation indicates the alleged misconduct occurred while Father Vaverek was pastor at Our Lady of Lourdes in Greenwood; however, no parishioners of that parish were involved in the reported allegation,” according to a news release issued Sunday by the diocese.

“In regards to the criminal process, law enforcement authorities will conduct their investigation and we will fully cooperate with them,” said Maria Aselage, director of media relations for diocese.

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
Aljazeera

Rob Reynolds

American Catholics say the clergy child sexual abuse scandal is the biggest problem confronting the church today. That’s one finding of a survey by the Pew Research Center conducted in February. The survey also shows large majorities feel Pope Benedict XVI and American bishops have done a poor job of handling the crisis and in dealing with sexual abusers in the clergy.

No one knows precisely how many boys and girls have been sexually molested by priests; one estimate says at least 100,000 children were abused in the United States alone.

Adrian Ramirez, a 38-year-old married father of two who lives in the Highland Park section of Los Angeles, spoke to Al Jazeera about the sexual abuse that blighted his childhood and affected his adult life.

From the age of 11 Ramirez was brutally and repeatedly raped- hundreds of times over the course of two years.

The abuser was a man studying for the priesthood who had been placed in charge of youth activities in the parish.

“I’m constantly reliving it,” he says quietly. “After the youth groups he would rape me in his car. He would…even at church he would do it—in the pews. He would say, ‘imagine it’s God touching you. ‘ Who does that to a kid, you know? I was 12-years-old and I’m like, ‘Really? God is saying this is OK?’”

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.

SOUTH CAROLINA
Greenville Online

Associated Press

CHARLESTON — The Diocese of Charleston has placed a priest on administrative leave after someone made an allegation of sexual misconduct against him.

Church officials said they are cooperating fully with investigators reviewing the allegation against Hayden Vaverek.

Authorities say someone went to police last week and said Vaverek assaulted the person about 15 years ago when Vaverek was pastor at Our Lady of Lourdes in Greenwood. During his career, Vaverek has also served in parishes and schools in Greenville, Simpsonville, Anderson, Greenwood, McCormick, Myrtle Beach, Garden City, Moncks Corner, Bonneau, and Hilton Head Island.

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
KL.FM (UK)

A victim of a paedophile priest has called for an Italian cardinal who will help elect the next Pope to step down, accusing him of covering up abuse.

Francesco Zanardi says he was abused by his local priest, father Nello Giraudo, when he was a young boy and is adamant Catholic Church chiefs knew of the case but failed to act.

At a press conference close to the Vatican, Mr Zanardi showed a letter dated 2003 which was written by the then Bishop of Savona in northwest Italy, Domenico Calcagno, who is now one of the 115 elector cardinals.

In the letter Bishop Calcagno wrote to Joseph Ratzinger, two years before he was elected Pope and while he was head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, outlining the case against Father Giraudo.

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
Irish Central

By
PATRICK COUNIHAN,
IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Sunday, March 10, 2013

Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley is the joint favorite to win the Papal election according to Italy’s paper of record, Corriere della Sera – and their readers’ pick.

The National Catholic Reporter website reports that the well respected paper asked eight contributors, including their own Vatican reporters and noted Vatican-watchers, to name their top three picks to be the next pope.

The report says Cardinal O’Malley was mentioned by five of those eight experts, tied with Odilo Pedro Scherer of Brazil and just one mention ahead of Angelo Scola of Milan.

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 Catholic Reporter

by John L. Allen Jr. | Mar. 10, 2013

January 2012 was the ten-year anniversary of the eruption of the clerical sexual abuse scandals in Boston, and on that occasion Cardinal Sean O’Malley sat down for an exclusive interview with NCR to discuss where things stand in Boston, across the country and around the world. He also spoke in candid terms about the toll the crisis has taken on him personally, and how the experience in Boston may have forced him to “toughen up.”

In light of the continuing buzz around O’Malley as a possible pope, it may be worth taking a second look at that interview, which can be found here: O’Malley on the sex abuse crisis: ‘It’s not behind us’

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
First Things

Sunday, March 10, 2013,

Kevin Staley-Joyce | @KevinSJoyce

For the small percentage they comprise of Catholics worldwide, Italians are disproportionately represented in the Roman Curia and ecclesial governance more broadly, not to mention their long history of native-born popes. And while the last memory of an Italian pope is now three decades old, today’s populus Romanus has not let go of its special concern for the Roman pontiff. If the Corriere della Sera‘s polling can be trusted, a strong current of Italians (it claims nearly forty percent) has expressed admiration for Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley among the field of papabile cardinals. Along with his pastoral and theological strengths are qualities that resonate profoundly with the loyalties and hopes of many Italians. He is a Capuchin Franciscan like the nation’s beloved Padre Pio. He speaks Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese flawlessly, and strikes most as humble and consummately apolitical.

Today O’Malley offered Mass at his titular church, Santa Maria della Vittoria, the Roman landmark famed as the home of Bernini’s masterwork, St. Theresa in Ecstasy. The church has received much attention of late, if perhaps for indecorous reasons, being a stop on the city’s Angels and Demons tour. But at least Dan Brown’s fantasy manages to commit the irony of bringing tourists into churches instead of away from them.

The aged Carmelite friars who serve as the church’s caretakers excitedly said they had never in recent memory witnessed a crowd of today’s size. Perhaps forty print journalists, cameramen, and reporters packed into the transepts of the diminutive space, one of them having to be pulled away to allow O’Malley to process to the altar. A large congregation also attended, most of them natives, judging by their laughter when O’Malley joked in Italian of his desire to take the Bernini statue back to Boston. The press were largely Italian as well, save a number from Boston news outlets.

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
Wisconsin Rapids Tribune

by Marco della Cava, USA TODAY

ROME – Applause is not what you commonly hear at a solemn Catholic Mass. And yet there it was, clear as the blue sky overhead.

The 100-odd parishioners packed inside Santa Maria della Vittoria, a gleaming jewel box of a Baroque edifice near this city’s central train station, directed their clapping Sunday toward U.S. Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley, who had come to say Mass at his titular church. Every cardinal has a titular church in Rome designated to him where he preaches when he’s in town.

The gesture was in response to an introduction by Father Rocco Visca, who in Italian had said, “May this be your last visit here as cardinal, and may we be the first church you visit as the next pope.”

Seated nearby, O’Malley, 68, allowed himself the briefest of smiles.

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.

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Catholic Insider

The international buzz about Cardinal Sean O’Malley has a few facts correct and a lot of them missing or wrong. In this post, we try to lay out everything as best we can, so you, the reader, can separate fact from fiction. This post will emerge by the end as a summary of the experiences in Boston over the recent years of his tenure.

We start with a discussion about what folks are saying the Catholic Church and Cardinals are looking for in the next Pope, then the positive references cited about Cardinal O’Malley, then the facts, results, and wrong or missing information about his track record in Boston in the areas of teaching and governing. Check back a few times between today and Monday morning as we add to the content.

Attributes Cardinals Say We Need in Next Pope

The key attributes we keep hearing repeatedly quoted in the press as desirable for the next pope are the following:
o Great governance, leadership and managerial skills: to shake-up and overhaul a Vatican curia tainted by internal political infighting and the “Vatileaks” scandal, restore financial transparency to the Catholic Church’s operations and assemble a solid team of people around him to support his teaching and apostolic ministry
o Great teaching skills—someone who can proclaim the Gospel and truths of our faith to all people, in-season and out-of-season, and who teaches not just by his words but also by his actions.

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.

CANADA
CBC News

Several dozen people who say they were sexually abused by members of Quebec’s Catholic church gathered today on the steps of St-Viateur church.

They were protesting against what they see as a lack of action in addressing sexual abuse in the church.

Some protesters wore white paper hats mimicking bishops’ mitres that read “Vote for Monseigneur Ouellet.”

They’re hoping Cardinal Marc Ouellet’s position as a possible candidate for Pope will shed some international light on their pending cases against the church.

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
Tribune-Democrat

Kathy Mellott kmellott@tribdem.com

JOHNSTOWN — An application for notice of incorporation forming Friends and Family of Bishop McCort was shipped off to Harrisburg late last week, as Catholics in the area take another step toward coming to grips with what allegedly happened at one of their most sacred institutions – the place where they send their children to be educated.

Still reeling from the revelation two months ago of alleged sexual abuse by a Franciscan friar employed at Bishop McCort Catholic High School, parents, alumni and financial supporters of the school were shocked when principal and longtime school employee Ken Salem was placed on leave with pay.

The response has been swift and harsh.

The hope is that a formal organization will help the group, now several hundred strong and growing, get a response as they demand answers to why Salem was placed on leave and seek information about the makeup of the board of directors.

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

The first voting session to elect the new Pope will take place on Tuesday 12th at 6 pm. The strongest candidates are Scola and Scherer

Andrea Tornielli
Vatican City

The Conclave’s real test, after the “extra omnes” pronounced by the Master of Ceremonies and the closure of the Sistine Chapel’s heavy wooden door, will come at around 6 pm this coming Tuesday.

The initial scrutiny for the election of Benedict XVI’s successor is the equivalent of political primaries. This is when the real candidates will shine through, those who have the strongest chances of getting majority votes. These will be the candidates who emerged as favourites in last week’s informal meetings.

The 2005 Conclave was a first for all but two cardinals. While the crowds paid their respects to Pope Wojtyla, a number of influential cardinals were subtly trying to push for the election of the strongest candidate among the cardinals: the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Joseph Ratzinger. The so-called “progressivists”, who were already at death’s door so to speak, tried to get Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini through but he only obtained 12 votes in the first scrutiny, while Ratzinger obtained a consistently high majority, with 47 votes in his favour. This time there is much more uncertainty but it is highly unlikely groups of electors will be trying to reach a consensus on the basis of a cardinals’ nationality. What has emerged from the recently held discussions is that cardinals are looking for a man with spiritual depth, who is able to govern, engage in dialogue and communicate. Even if there is no candidate who has quite the same authority and power as Ratzinger, the almost unanimous decision to bring the Conclave forward proves that something must have happened between Wednesday and Thursday.

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
dotCommonweal

March 9, 2013

Posted by Margaret O’Brien Steinfels

The coverage of Archbishop Timothy Dolan in the Times over the last week is far better than he usually gets. Saturday’s love letter from Michael Paulson in Rome is quite amazing (even featuring Dolan with the kiss-a-baby photo). Just in case, he doesn’t get the big job in Rome, there is a mayoral election coming up in NYC. Wonder how he’d do? The Times would almost certainly not endorse him for that job, but probably the Post and the Daily News would.

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
CNN

By Chris Cuomo and Eric Marrapodi, CNN

Rome (CNN) – Crowds lined the walls and spilled out the front door of the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Monte Mario on Sunday to catch a glimpse of the gregarious American Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, who smiled broadly as he came into the church, stopping to wave to photographers and kiss a baby whose parents were holding him up.

Dolan has made the short lists of some Vatican watchers as a likely choice to be elected as the next pope by the College of Cardinals, a designation called “papabili” in Italian.

A local officiant began the service by saying it was great to have Dolan at the church close to Easter.

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
Religion News Service

David Gibson | Mar 10, 2013

ROME (RNS) If ordinary Romans still had in a say in selecting their bishop – also known as the pope – the way they did in the early centuries of the church, then Cardinal Timothy Dolan might already be pontiff.

On Sunday the archbishop of New York continued to charm the citizens of the Eternal City (and many in the media, who probably seem him as more papabile than his fellow cardinals do) as he celebrated mass at the parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe in a middle-class Roman neighborhood.

“What a great crowd – let’s take two collections!” Dolan quipped, deploying his workman-like Italian in an unabashedly American accent, and drawing laughs and applause throughout the liturgy.

Two days before they go into the conclave to begin voting for a new pope, Dolan and many of the other 115 cardinal-electors meeting here took a pause from their pre-election deliberations to visit what are called their titular churches, or parishes that they are given ceremonial title to when they are given a red hat.

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.

SOUTH CAROLINA
WMBF

By WMBF News Staff

HORRY COUNTY, SC (WMBF) – A catholic priest who once served in Myrtle Beach faces an allegation of sexual misconduct of a minor, according to a news release from The Diocese of Charleston on Sunday afternoon.

The reported allegation indicated the misconduct took place more than 15 years ago when Father Hayden Vaverek was a pastor at Our Lady of Lourdes in Greenwood, SC. The diocese says no parishioners of that parish were involved in the reported allegations.

Father Vaverek served at several parishes and schools in South Carolina including Myrtle Beach, Garden City, Greenwood, Greenville, Simpsonville, Anderson, McCormick, Moncks Corner, Bonneau and Hilton Head Island.

Law enforcement authorities have been notified of the allegations, according to diocesan officials. Father Vaverek has been placed on administrative leave and his priestly faculties withdrawn.

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.

SLOWENIEN
Stimme Russlands

Sloweniens Katholische Kirche zahlt ein Entschädigungsgeld in Höhe von knapp 80.000 Euro dem Opfer des Priesters, der der Pädophilie bezichtigt wird und am Vorabend der Urteilsverkündung verstorben ist.

Insgesamt wurde der Priester Karl Jošt, der in einer der Pfarreien der Erzdiözese Maribor diente, knapp 16 Mal wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs der Mädchen unter 15 Jahren, denen er die Religion unterrichtete, angeklagt. Der Fall wurde wegen Todes des Angeklagten geschlossen, aber ein der Opfer verlangt in einem separaten Gerichtsverfahren von der Kirche für den moralischen Schaden nach dem Entschädigungsgeld.

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.

ROM
Katholisches

(Rom) Das in Österreich umgangssprachliche gebrauchte Wort Schmäh, trifft die Sache am besten. Im Ausdruck Schmäh hat sich das mittelhochdeutsche Wort smaehe erhalten und meint Beschimpfung und verächtliche Behandlung. Um eine solche verächtliche Behandlung handelte es sich bei der Meldung vom „schmutzigen“ oder „dreckigen Dutzend“. Jener Liste mit den Namen von zwölf Kardinälen, die „Freunde der Pädophilen“ seien, weil sie angeblich pädophile Priester gedeckt oder nicht rechtzeitig entfernt hätten.

Die Liste wurde von der amerikanischen Vereinigung SNAP verbreitet. SNAP steht für Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (Netz der Überlebenden, die von Priestern mißbraucht wurden). Veröffentlicht wurde sie kurz vor Beginn des Konklave und enthält – siehe da – den Großteil jener, die in den Medien, ob zu recht oder zu unrecht, als „Papabili“ genannt werden. Hinter der Aktion verbirgt sich blankes Profitdenken.

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.

CHILE
Terra

El Arzobispo de Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati, se refirió a los casos de abuso sexual que se le imputan al sacerdote Fernando Karadima. “Me criticaron por visitarlo, pero es mi deber acompañar a los que sufren”, sostuvo.A lo anterior, agregó: “Cómo no van a doler los casos que hemos tenido de problemas que tocan a los muchachos, a los niños situaciones como esa duelen muchísimo. El dolor más grande que he tenido en dos años son estos casos, sobre todo por las personas que han sido ofendidas. Siento vergüenza por ello, pero también siento que he actuado como debía actuar”, sostuvo.

Del mismo modo, se refirió a las críticas que recibió por parte de diversos sectores por reunirse con Karadima, a lo que el prelado respondió: “Lo visité en vísperas de navidad. Como pastor, yo tengo que visitar a todos los que sufren. Voy a la cárcel, a los hospitales. No por visitar a una persona quiere decir que apoye lo que ha hecho”.

“Él se declara inocente”

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.

IRELAND
RTE News

The Department of Justice said it has received around 1,000 calls about the fund which is to be set up for former residents of Magdalene laundries.

Mr Justice John Quirke, who is carrying out a review to devise recommendations on payments and support, has been meeting Magdalene Survivor representative groups this week.

He met the Magdalene Survivors Together group, and the UK-based Irish Womens Survivors Support Network, to discuss the fund.

The Government is asking the four religious orders concerned to make what it calls an appropriate contribution to the fund, and the Department said contact is ongoing with the Orders about the issue.

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
Mudgee Guardian

By Barney Zwartz
March 11, 2013,

Cardinal George Pell, tainted by sex abuse scandals, has no chance of becoming the 266th pope after Australian critics campaigned to publicise allegations that have long dogged him to Italian media and voting cardinals, according to Australian commentator Paul Collins.

Following traditionalist guardians quick to report Australian infractions to Rome, progressive Catholics have lobbied overseas journalists and cardinals to make sure they are aware of the 2002 inquiry into allegations the Sydney Archbishop molested a 12-year-old boy several times in 1961.

Retired Supreme Court judge A. J. Southwell was ”not satisfied the complaint was established” but said he was impressed by the testimony of both the complainant and the cardinal.

”The judge never cleared Pell and that has rendered Pell irrelevant. He has no chance,” Dr Collins, a former priest, said.

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
Daily Caller

On Sunday’s broadcast of “Face the Nation” on CBS, the Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan explained why the next pope might just be an American.

“Look, it is a divine and yet profoundly human institution, the Vatican,” Noonan said. “Sally [Quinn], you quote Jesus Christ well, but remember, he said to Saint Peter, before he was called Saint Peter, ‘On this rock I will build my church,’ and he said ‘even the fires of hell will not prevail against it.’ Sometimes the cardinals get a little frustrating because they act like, ‘Oh, good, it doesn’t matter what we do. It will always continue.’ I don’t think that’s probably the correct message to have been taken out of that, but the church has been around for a long time. It will be around for a long time.”

As for who will lead the Catholic Church, Noonan said the possibility of an American pope has been elevated, since Europeans no longer view the United States as a superpower.

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
Deseret News

Associated Press
Published: Sunday, March 10 2013

VATICAN CITY — Cardinals from around the world gather this week in a conclave to elect a new pope following the stunning resignation of Benedict XVI. In the secretive world of the Vatican, there is no way to know who is in the running, and history has yielded plenty of surprises. Yet several names have come up time repeatedly as strong contenders for the job. Here is a look at who they are:

CARDINAL ANGELO SCOLA: Scola is seen as Italy’s best chance at reclaiming the papacy, following back-to-back pontiffs from outside the country that had a lock on the job for centuries. He’s also one of the top names among all of the papal contenders. Scola, 71, has commanded both the pulpits of Milan’s Duomo as archbishop and Venice’s St. Mark’s Cathedral as patriarch, two extremely prestigious church positions that together gave the world five popes during the 20th century. Scola was widely viewed as a papal contender when Benedict was elected eight years ago. His promotion to Milan, Italy’s largest and most influential diocese, has been seen as a tipping point in making him one of the leading papal candidates. He is known as a doctrinal conservative who is also at ease quoting Jack Kerouac and Cormac McCarthy.

CARDINAL ODILO SCHERER: Scherer is known for prolific tweeting, appearances on Brazil’s most popular late-night talk show and squeezing into the subway for morning commutes. Brazil’s best hope to supply the next pontiff is increasingly being touted as one of the top overall contenders for the job. At the relatively young age of 63, he enthusiastically embraces all new methods for reaching believers, while staying true to a conservative line of Roman Catholic doctrine and hardline positions on social issues such as rejection of same-sex marriage. Scherer joined Twitter in 2011 and in his second tweet said: “If Jesus preached the gospel today, he would also use print media, radio, TV, the Internet and Twitter. Give Him a chance!” Scherer became the Sao Paulo archbishop in 2007 and was named a cardinal later the same year.

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
Christian Post

By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor

March 10, 2013

With the Vatican’s announcement that the Roman Catholic Church will begin voting for the new leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics Tuesday, it is expected that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s successor will be elected by Friday.

There’s “no reason to believe it will take long” to elect the new pope, Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Fredrico Lombardi, told reporters Saturday, the day after the Vatican said in a release the Conclave will begin on Tuesday, March 12.

The last six popes were all elected within four days, and the election of Benedict in 2005 took less than 24 hours.

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
NECN

Mar 10, 2013

Editors,

The cardinals have set Tuesday as the start date for the conclave to select a new pope. The first vote is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, following a morning Mass. Here are the AP’s multiformat plans for the days leading up to the first vote.

Sunday, March 10

Spot coverage: Cardinals hold Mass in their titular churches in Rome. All formats covering.

Tour of Sistine Chapel for photo.

— CROWD CONTROL — What are the crowd control challenges for the conclave? We speak with the Rome deputy mayor in charge of logistics. All formats covering. Text by Fran D’Emilio.

— VATICAN-CARDINALS — A series profiling the men who could be pope. Text thumbnails of the profiles with photos.

Cardinals who have been featured in the Vatican-Cardinal “papabili” series: Filipino Antonio Tagle, Sri Lankan Malcolm Ranjith, Italian Angelo Scola, Canadian Marc Ouellet, Honduran Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, American Timothy Dolan, Argentinians Jorge Mario Bergoglio and Leonardo Sandri, Austrian Christoph Schoenborn, Ghanian Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, Hungarian Peter Erdo, Brazilian Odilo Scherer, Italian Gianfranco Ravasi .

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
NBC News

By Alastair Jamieson, Keir Simmons and Yuka Tachibana, NBC News

ROME — An American cardinal in Rome hinted Sunday hinted at the difficulty of deciding who should be the next pope, saying the papal conclave was a time when “the will of God is not entirely clear.”

Chicago’s archbishop, Cardinal Francis George, asked for “help and prayers” as he and 114 other cardinals prepared to enter the papal conclave to elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI.

“I ask you for your prayer to help the Holy Spirit to be present among us to open our hearts and our minds to what is the will of God for his people throughout the world,” he told reporters after saying mass at the local church assigned to him during his stay in Rome.

He added: “This is a momentous occasion, when perhaps the will of God isn’t entirely clear to many of us.”

Vatican observers say the choice is wider than it has been in modern memory, with no emerging consensus on who should be the next leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.

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.

DEUTSCHLAND
LN Online

Von Susanne Peyronnet

Scharbeutz. „Wer nichts tut und wegschaut, ist mit schuldig an diesem Verbrechen.“ Norbert Denef aus Scharbeutz gibt nicht auf. Er ist Sprecher von Netzwerk-B, dem größten Zusammenschluss von deutschen Missbrauchsopfern. Das Wegschauen wirft er der Politik und dem „Runden Tisch Sexueller Kindesmissbrauch“ vor, der im Februar nach drei Jahren die Arbeit einstellte. Nach Denefs Ansicht hat der nichts gebracht. „Der Runde Tisch hat nur drei Jahre Zeit vertan, mehr ist nicht geschehen.“ Die Opfer seien nichts als Marionetten gewesen, die „verdrängende Arroganz“ derer am Runden Tisch sei der Größe des Verbrechens nicht gerecht geworden.

„Ich renne überall gegen Wände“, beschreibt Denef seine Situation. Von den 64 000 Unterschriften, die er im vergangenen November an den SPD-Landesvorsitzenden Ralf Stegner übergab, hat er nie wieder etwas gehört. „64 000 Unterschriften kann man doch nicht unter den Tisch fallen lassen.“ Die Unterzeichner sprechen sich dafür aus, die Verjährungsfristen für sexualisierte Gewalt aufzuheben.

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
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils…

Paris Arrow

Updated March 8, 2013 International Women’s Day http://www.internationalwomensday.com/

Today is International Women’s Day and there should have been a women’s march in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican – to protest the zero tolerance for women – by the all-male mysogynist Papal Conclave at the gay infested Vatican Titanic.

SNAP list “Dirty Dozen” worst papal candidates, see news updates below. SNAP says Cardinals who are members of the Vatican Curia (not Roman Curia) must not be elected pope.

The picture says a thousand words – Canada’s TV priest Thomas Rosica sits besides Vatican spokeperson Lombardi – which proves the Vatican has prepared and chosen Cardinal Ouellet as its leading papal horse, see news and photo updates below.

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.

TEXAS
KHOU

[with video]

by Drew Karedes / KHOU 11 News

HOUSTON — A well-known Catholic teacher at St. Thomas High School has resigned after allegations of misconduct. Father Jack Hanna was been with the all-boys school since 1981.

The school would not answer questions on camera, nor would they elaborate on the nature of the allegations.

St. Thomas says Rev. Hanna has entered a therapeutic center for priests. A spokesperson released a brief statement to KHOU 11 News.

“He has acknowledged that he behaved inappropriately and will be receiving extensive residential treatment at the facility. He has expressed deep regret for any harm caused by his behavior,” the statement said in part.

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.

TEXAS
Sylvia’s Site

From: St. Thomas High School [mailto:alumni@sths.org]
Sent: Friday, March 08, 2013 7:58 AM
To:
Subject: Important Message from Frs. Storey and Fulton

Dear Alumni,
Approximately three weeks ago, you were informed that an allegation of misconduct was made by an adult against Father Jack Hanna. Immediately upon receipt of the allegation, Father Hanna agreed to undergo an assessment at a therapeutic center for priests. He has acknowledged that he behaved inappropriately and will be receiving extensive residential treatment at the facility. He has expressed deep regret for any harm caused by his behavior and believes it is best that he resign his position at St. Thomas High School so that he may focus on his treatment.
We wish to express our sincere appreciation to you for your concern for Father Hanna and ask you to please keep him in your prayers during this difficult time.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Kevin Storey, C.S.B.
Fr. Patrick Fulton, C.S.B.

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.

TEXAS
Sylvia’s Site

A Basilian priest in Houston, Texas, Father Jack Hanna, has been suspended following an allegation of “misconduct.”

The following email was sent to alumni of St. Thomas High School in Houston Texas:

February 11, 2013

Dear Alumni,
This weekend, the Basilian Fathers were contacted by the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and informed that there is an allegation of misconduct against Fr. Jack Hanna, C.S.B.. The allegation involves an adult who is neither a student nor an employee at St. Thomas High School. At the direction of the Superior-General of the Basilian Fathers, while this matter is under investigation, Fr. Hanna will not be engaged in teaching or any priestly ministry. Please keep the St. Thomas community in your prayers during this time, Yours in Christ, Fr. Kevin Storey, C.S.B

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.

TEXAS
Houston Chronicle

By Allan Turner | March 8, 2013

The Rev. Jack Hanna, a Spanish and art history teacher at Houston’s Catholic St. Thomas High School, has resigned and entered treatment at a therapeutic center for priests, school officials said on Friday.

In a statement issued by the Rev. Kevin Storey, school president, and the Rev. Patrick Fulton, principal, the school said Hanna had been accused of unspecified misconduct. School officials said the complainant was an adult.

Hanna, a 1962 graduate of the school, operated by the Congregation of St. Basil, taught introductory and advanced placement Spanish classes and art history. He had been a member of the faculty since 1981.

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.

SOUTH CAROLINA
Gwd Today

Brian King
News Editor

A former priest at Our Lady of Lourdes in Greenwood has been placed on administrative leave after allegations of sexual misconduct were made to the Diocese of Charleston.

According to officials with the Diocese of Charleston, Father Hayden Vavarek has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation. The alleged misconduct took place at Our Lady of Lourdes about 15 years ago.

Officials with the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office say that a criminal investigation has not yet begun, as the victims are located out of state.

Vavarek served at various parishes in the upstate, including Greenville, Anderson and Simpsonville.

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.

SOUTH CAROLINA
Fox Carolina

Posted: Mar 10, 2013

By Derek Dellinger

GREENVILLE, SC (FOX Carolina) –
A Catholic priest with some deep ties to the Upstate is in administrative leave following allegations of sexual misconduct.

Father Hayden Vaverek had “his priestly faculties withdrawn,” according to the Diocese of Charleston.

FOX Carolina obtained a letter sent from St. Joseph’s Catholic School to parents regarding the allegations. The letter said the allegations of sexual misconduct involve a minor and date back more than 15 years. The misconduct allegedly occurred while Vaverek was pastor at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Greenwood, but “no parishioners of that parish were involved in the reported allegation,” the diocese said. The school said Vaverek had previously served on the Board of Trustees at St. Joseph’s Catholic School in Greenville.

Vaverek also served at several parishes across the Upstate, including Simpsonville, Anderson and Greenwood.

In 2011, he began working for the Catholic Near East Welfare Association based in New York City.

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.

DEUTSCHLAND
Stadt Zeitung

In der Diözese Augsburg wurden in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten 148 Kinder und Jugendliche missbraucht, 99 von ihnen sexuell. Das geht aus dem Arbeitsbericht hervor, den der scheidende Missbrauchsbeauftragte Otto Kocherscheidt nun vorgelegt hat.

Der ehemalige Richter hatte sein Amt im März 2010 angetreten. Damals ging eine Flut von Hinweisen ein. Das habe zunächst den Eindruck vermittelt, körperliche Gewalt und sexueller Missbrauch seien in kirchlichen Einrichtungen eine systembedingte Begleiterscheinung. Tatsächlich aber handle es sich „um eine erschreckende Zahl von Einzelfällen, die teilweise Jahrzehnte unentdeckt geblieben sind“, resümiert Kocherscheidt.

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.

MEXIKO
Neopresse

Von Emilio Godoy

Mexiko-Stadt, 6. März (IPS) – Während sich 117 katholische Kardinäle auf das Konklave zur Wahl eines neuen Papstes vorbereiten, sorgen die Fälle von Pädophilie innerhalb der Kirche weiterhin weltweit für Empörung. Opfer und Menschenrechtsaktivisten dringen darauf, dass kirchliche Würdenträger, die direkt oder indirekt an sexuellem Missbrauch beteiligt waren, nicht über den Nachfolger des am 28. Februar zurückgetretenen Benedikt XVI. abstimmen dürfen.

Mindestens fünf Kardinäle, die der Pädophilie beschuldigte Priester schützten, stehen unter dem Druck der Öffentlichkeit. Einer von ihnen ist Norberto Rivas aus Mexiko. “Damit die Kirche ihre moralische Statur wiedererlangen und zu dem werden kann, was sie einmal war, muss der neue Papst von Menschen gewählt werden, die sich moralisch einwandfrei verhalten”, sagte der mexikanische Aktivist Joaquín Aguilar, der in Mexiko das Netzwerk von Missbrauchsopfern von Priestern (SNAP) leitet.

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.

JERSEY
Daily Echo

A senior Church of England clergyman has been suspended over allegations that a complaint of abuse made by a vulnerable female parishioner was not taken seriously by him.

Dean of Jersey, the Very Rev Robert Key, has had his commission withdrawn by the Bishop of Winchester following a critical independent report into the 2008 complaint by the woman of abusive behaviour by a churchwarden in Jersey.

The report, commissioned by the Diocese of Winchester’s Safeguarding Panel, raised concerns that the dean did not take the complaint seriously.

He also showed a perceived lack of neutrality, offered poor communication and failed to act in relation to the parishioner.

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.

JERSEY
BBC News

The Anglican Dean of Jersey has been suspended over concerns about his handling of a parishioner’s complaint.

The Bishop of Winchester earlier withdrew the commission of the Very Reverend Robert Key following the publication of a diocesan report.

The Safeguarding Panel found there were failures in the implementation of policies in relation to a complaint by a vulnerable adult parishioner in 2008.

The complaint concerned the alleged abusive behaviour of a churchwarden.

A statement from the diocese said the bishop, the Right Reverend Tim Dakin, would begin an investigation to examine “an apparent failure to take the complaint seriously, a perceived lack of neutrality, poor communication and lack of action”.

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.

JERSEY
BBC News

The Archbishop of Canterbury apologised to a woman whose complaint of abuse was apparently not taken seriously enough.

Justin Welby said: “I wish to add my own personal apologies to the young woman who was so badly let down.”

Anglican Dean of Jersey, the Very Reverend Bob Key, was suspended over concerns about his handling of the complaint.

The Bishop of Winchester, Tim Dakin, withdrew Mr Key’s commission following the publication of a diocesan report.

The Safeguarding Panel found there were failures in the implementation of policies in relation to a complaint by a vulnerable adult parishioner in 2008.

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
Anglican Diocese of Winchester

Introduction

I have been asked by the Safeguarding Panel for the Diocese of Winchester to look into the response of the Diocese to a complaint made by a vulnerable adult against a church warden in a parish on Jersey.

I have been requested to consider the written documentation and audio recordings supplied, and to interview all those who I consider appropriate to enable me to fulfil my remit. I have had some difficulty in achieving access to Officers of the Church of England on Jersey and in significant cases met with an entire lack of available records. Assessing the reasons for this comes within my brief.

The purpose of the review is not to revisit the allegation of abuse which was put to the police in November 2008 and found to have insufficient evidence to proceed, but to consider how the Diocesan Safeguarding Procedures, and any separate Jersey complaint procedures, responded both at the time of receiving the complaint and the repercussions that followed it.
Terms of Reference

1) To consider the way the complaint was initially addressed both from:
a) The complainant’s position,
b) The following of Diocesan Safeguarding Procedures,
c) The following of Jersey complaint’s procedures where appropriate.
July 2008 – November 2008
2) To consider how the subsequent allegations of failure by Officers of the Church and Diocesan Staff to resolve the issue were handled.
December 2008 – October 2010 Jersey
October 2010 – July 2011 Mainland
3) To explore what communication and behaviours appear to have helped or exacerbated the problem with a view to making recommendations for dealing with similar complaints in the future.
I will look at the communication and recording at each of these three stages.

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.

JERSEY
Anglican Diocese of Winchester

Independent Review of a Safeguarding Complaint for the Diocese of Winchester (PDF)

A statement from the Diocese of Winchester

THE BISHOP OF WINCHESTER has today withdrawn the commission of the Dean of Jersey, the Very Reverend Robert Key, effectively suspending him. The Dean of Jersey’s suspension follows the publication today of an Independent Report (see below), commissioned by the Diocese of Winchester’s Safeguarding Panel. This has found that there were a number of failures in the implementation of policies, in relation to a safeguarding complaint in 2008.

The report raises concerns that the Dean of Jersey did not comply with key safeguarding procedures in dealing with the complaints of a vulnerable adult parishioner, who had made a complaint about abusive behaviour by a Churchwarden in Jersey.

Following the announcement of the suspension, the Bishop will now begin an investigation into the conduct of the case by the Dean of Jersey and other matters raised by the report. The report describes a number of areas where proper practice was not followed including an apparent failure to take the complaint seriously, a perceived lack of neutrality, poor communication and lack of action.

The Right Reverend Tim Dakin, Bishop of Winchester, who is responsible for the Church of England in the Channel Islands said, “Firstly I want to give my unreserved apologies to the complainant for her treatment. Protecting the vulnerable is at the heart of the Church of England’s mission. With that comes a duty to ensure those in need are properly looked after. It is vital that robust safeguarding policies are in place and, above all, that they are properly implemented.

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
Archbishop of Canterbury

9th March 2013

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has supported the response of the Bishop of Winchester to yesterday’s (8 March) publication of an independent report into a safeguarding complaint in Jersey from 2008.

The report raises concerns that the Dean of Jersey did not comply with key safeguarding procedures in dealing with the complaints of a vulnerable adult parishioner, who had made a complaint about abusive behaviour by a Churchwarden.

Following the publication of the report, the Bishop of Winchester announced he was withdrawing the commission of the Dean of Jersey, effectively suspending him, and he has begun an investigation into the conduct of the case by the Dean and other matters raised by the report.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said:

“The Bishop of Winchester’s swift, decisive and wholly necessary actions following his receipt of this report are to be commended. I too wish to add my own personal apologies to the young woman who was so badly let down by those she had turned to for help and I wholeheartedly support the investigation that the Bishop has launched. He must receive full cooperation from all involved.

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.

JERSEY
Daily Mail

Archbishop of Canterbury offers personal apology to victim abused by cleric who was ‘badly let down’ by church investigation

By Anna Edwards

The Archbishop of Canterbury has apologised after the Church of England did not take her allegations of abuse seriously and ‘badly let her down’.

The new Archbishop, Justin Welby, made a personal apology as a senior Church of England cleric was suspended.

The Bishop of Winchester Tim Dakin suspended the Dean of Jersey, the Very Rev Robert Key, yesterday following a critical independent report into the 2008 complaint by the woman of abusive behaviour by a churchwarden in Jersey.

The report, commissioned by the Diocese of Winchester’s Safeguarding Panel, raised concerns that the dean did not take the complaint seriously.

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.

JERSEY
Channel Online

[with video]

The leader of the Church of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has offered his personal apologies to the woman whose complaints of abuse by a Jersey church warden were judged to have not been properly handled by the Dean.

On Friday the Bishop of Winchester suspended the Very Reverend Bob Key and announced an immediate investigation into his conduct. The Rt Rev Tim Dakin is due to visit Jersey tomorrow (Monday).

An independent report concluded Mr Key had failed to properly investigate the allegations made by the woman – described as a 26-year-old vulnerable adult.

Jersey comes under the Diocese of Winchester which has clear safeguarding procedures on what to do when allegations of abuse are made against a church worker. The report found that the procedures had not been followed.

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
The Daily Beast

by Christopher Dickey
Mar 10, 2013

Archbishop Donald Wuerl fought for justice on behalf of the Church’s sex-abuse victims long before the Vatican did. Christopher Dickey on the odds he’ll be chosen.

Each of the cardinals now in Rome to elect the new pope has long had a church assigned him where he says mass when he’s in the Eternal City. But when Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, D.C., was made a cardinal in 2010, Pope Benedict XVI gave him a church of singular importance: San Pietro in Vincoli (Saint Peter in Chains). …

Wuerl first came to national attention after Pope John Paul II named him bishop of Pittsburgh in 1988, right in the middle of the first waves of horrific revelations about predatory priests and the shameful way their crimes were covered up by the church hierarchy. His predecessor had just banned three priests in his diocese from public ministry. Another, a former high school principal, was still serving as a diocesan administrator, and after psychiatric treatment Wuerl made him a hospital chaplain.

But a few weeks after that decision Wuerl met with the devout, deeply disillusioned, and increasingly litigious family of one victim. They invited Wuerl to dinner and, according to a lengthy and laudatory report in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2003, when Wuerl left that table his views of the issue had changed. Before, his actions had been closely aligned Church policies, which were basically a CYA masquerading as piety. Now Wuerl told his staff it had to get its priorities straight: the first concern was the injured party, the second was for the person’s family, the third – and only the third – was the potential harm to the church and its reputation. He’s on the record declaring zero tolerance for priests accused of sexual abuse 14 years before that became official policy.

But the accusations just kept coming, until it got hard to distinguish between coverups, counter-charges, and good-faith efforts to set the clergy on a more righteous – and legally defensible — path. In 1993 Wuerl fought to have a priest accused of molesting a young teenager banned from public ministry. But the Vatican reinstated him. Wuerl appealed and fought for two more years before, finally, reluctantly, Rome agreed with the ban.

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.

ITALY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

ITALY- Italian clergy sex victim detained

Posted by David Clohessy

Here are three documents about the Francesco Zanardi case.

(Zanardi has many more.)

One is reportedly a 2003 letter from then-Bishop Calcagno to then-Cardinal Ratzinger asking what to do about Fr. Giraudo because of his alleged sexual abuses of Savona children.

Two others are reportedly documents written by Savona church officials about Fr. Giraudo’s personal history, and reportedly includes this sentence: “Nulla è trapelato sui giornali e non ci sono denunce in corso,” essentially meaning “so far nothing of this case came out in the newspapers and none of the abused have pressed charges.”

For more info on the case, please see our EVENTS section.

Click below to find the three documents about the Francesco Zanardi case:

Click here

Click here

Click here

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
John Thavis

If it were up to Maria Cherubino, Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston would emerge from the coming conclave as the next pope.

“He’s a spiritual figure, he’s fairly young and energetic, and he seems sure of himself. All that is important, because I think the church needs a great guide in this particular moment,” she said after attending Mass celebrated by Cardinal O’Malley in the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome.

A few pews away, Elisabetta Porco gave a similar endorsement.

“There was just something about him I immediately liked when I saw him. Maybe being a friar is part of it, but I have the feeling he would be a different kind of pope,” she said.

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
Sky News

As Roman Catholic cardinals prepare a secret conclave in the Vatican to choose a new pope, the only woman seen taking part in the preparations has been the seamstress sewing the ceremonial tablecloths.

The most important decision in the life of the Church is being taken with one half of the Catholic community either looking on or playing an auxiliary role as the male hierarchy deliberates.

‘Not hearing the opinions of half of the world is like a slap in the face,’ said Janice Sevre-Duszynska, who was excommunicated by the Vatican after her unofficial ordination as a female priest.

The American said the idea that only men should decide on the next Pope who will rule over both men and women was ‘a mockery’.

Sevre-Duszynska was quickly detained by police for demonstrating at the Vatican in her ceremonial robes, with police saying they wanted to check that she had the ‘right to wear those vestments’.

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
Boston Globe

By Lisa Wangsness
| Globe Staff
March 10, 2013

ROME — Masculine authority has been on vivid display at the Vatican during the last week, as the princes of the Roman Catholic Church gather to elect a replacement for Pope Benedict XVI.

The world has watched the all-male college of cardinals lining up to say goodbye to the retiring Benedict, sweeping past hordes of television cameras to enter the cardinals’ pre-conclave discussions, and gathering in the Basilica of St. Peter to pray for the church.

Three men, all priests, serve as the multilingual media team at the Vatican’s daily press conferences. At briefings last week, they showed clips of conclave preparations under way — men marring the seal in the papal garden with rakes and hoes to signify the papal vacancy, men hauling the cast-iron stove for ballot burning into the Sistine Chapel.

A reporter, noting that one video clip showed a woman appearing to sew a tablecloth for the event, asked if there were any other women involved in the conclave. A Vatican spokesman replied: “There could be other women involved in the whole preparation of the conclave, in serving the fathers working with” the cardinals at their Vatican hotel.

It is against this backdrop that some leading cardinals, including Boston’s Sean P. O’Malley, have expressed a desire to open new leadership opportunities for women in the Roman Catholic Church, saying the matter will be an important concern for the next pope. There is a sense among some prelates that some movement on the gender front is essential; less evident are what steps could win the approval of the pope who will be elected in the days ahead.

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
Philly.com

Nicole Winfield, Associated Press

Posted: Sunday, March 10, 2013

VATICAN CITY – The preliminaries over, Catholic cardinals are ready to get down to the real business of choosing a pope. And even without a front-runner, there are indications they will go into the conclave Tuesday with a good idea of their top picks.

Then it will be just a matter of agreeing on one man to lead the church and tackle its many problems.

The conclave date was set Friday during a vote by the College of Cardinals, who have been meeting all week to discuss the church’s problems and priorities, and the qualities the successor to Pope Benedict XVI must possess.

That said, there doesn’t appear to be a front-runner, and the last week of deliberations has exposed sharp divisions among cardinals about some of the pressing problems facing the church, including governance within the Holy See itself.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the pre-conclave meetings had given the cardinals a chance to discuss the “profile, characteristics, qualities, and talents” a future pope must have.

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 Catholic Reporter

by John L. Allen Jr. | Mar. 10, 2013

ROME – John Allen is offering a profile each day of one of the most frequently touted papabili, or men who could be pope. The old saying in Rome is that he who enters a conclave as pope exits as a cardinal, meaning there’s no guarantee one of these men actually will be chosen. They are, however, the leading names drawing buzz in Rome these days, ensuring they will be in the spotlight as the conclave draws near. The profiles of these men also suggest the issues and the qualities other cardinals see as desirable heading into the election.

Heading into the 2013 conclave, there’s a small set of candidates destined to get a serious look from the outset, such as Cardinals Angelo Scola of Milan, Marc Ouellet of Canada, and Odilo Pedro Scherer of Brazil. The buzz around those names ensures that most cardinals are thinking about them right now, three days before the balloting actually begins.

One could probably add two American names to that list, at least as measured by public clamor: Cardinals Sean O’Malley of Boston and Timothy Dolan of New York.

Then there’s a wider range of figures who may not have strong support in the early rounds of voting, but who could come into play if none of the initial candidates seem to have sufficient support to get across that magic two-thirds threshold, meaning 77 votes out of the 115 cardinal electors.

In that second cluster waiting in the wings, there’s an Asian possibility who hasn’t yet received much attention, but who could strike some cardinals as an attractive fallback solution: Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay (Mumbai) in India.

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.

FLORIDA
TCPalm

I hope Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley is elected pope, and not just because he once was the bishop of the Palm Beach diocese, which includes the Treasure Coast.

O’Malley, now the archbishop of Boston, is just what the Catholic Church needs at this time. He’s a good listener and a good communicator. He dealt effectively with messes left by sexually abusive priests. He cares about people.

He’s theologically orthodox, preaching against abortion. That should please conservatives.

He also has an open mind and seems in tune with the Second Vatican Council, convened 50 years ago by Pope John XXIII to engage the church with the modern world. That should please progressives.

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.

SOUTH CAROLINA
Patch

By Hal Millard

Father Hayden Vaverek, a former priest and administrator of St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church in Simpsonville, has been accused of alleged sexual misconduct, according to a news report.

Vaguely mentioning an unnamed and uncited report, WYFF said that Vaverek allegedly engaged in unspecified sexual misconduct dating back more than 15 years while he was pastor at Our Lady of Lourdes in Greenwood.

The Diocese of Charleston reportedly placed Vaverek on administrative leave. Meanwhile, potential victims of the priest’s alleged misconduct are encouraged to contact local authorities, the report said.

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.

SOUTH CAROLINA
WYFF

GREENVILLE, S.C. —

A priest with ties to the upstate is accused of sexual misconduct dating back more than 15 years.

The report claims the alleged misconduct of Father Hayden Vaverek occurred while he was pastor at Our Lady of Lourdes in Greenwood.

Throughout his time in the upstate, Father Vaverek spent time at several parishes in Simpsonville, Greenville, and Anderson.

Per the Diocese of Charleston’s policy, Father Vaverek was placed on administrative leave.

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.

CANADA
Global News

ALLISON LAMPERT, Montreal Gazette : Sunday, March 10, 2013

MONTREAL — On a chilly winter day in 2010, France Bédard led a picket demanding Cardinal Marc Ouellet’s resignation for not seriously addressing victims’ claims of abuse by Quebec clerics.

Today, she’d like to see him elected pope.

As founder of the Quebec Association of Victims of Priests, Bédard is to announce on Sunday the group’s support for Cardinal Ouellet becoming pontiff, during a protest against abuses by the Catholic Church held outside the Clercs de Saint-Viateur offices in Outremont.

Contrary to other groups that have “blacklisted” hometown born Ouellet, 68, the association believes his election as the first Canadian pontiff would thrust the stories of abuse recounted by its 3,500 members into the international spotlight, with reporters already descending on the Cardinal’s tiny hometown of La Motte.

“We are not being facetious, we are all for his election as pope,” Carlo Tarini, the association’s spokesperson told The Gazette. “What we hope they (journalists) will note is the No. 1 problem with the Catholic Church, which is the problem of pedophile priests. We want them to hear our claim that Quebec is a paradise for pedophile priests and how we knocked at (Ouellet’s) door in the past.

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
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

ITALY- Francesco Zanardi case

Posted by David Clohessy

Italian clergy sex victim detained
He joins SNAP at news conference
Man tried to give petitions to Vatican
But police held him Friday for two hours
He accuses voting cardinal of hiding predators
Prelate is urged to stay away from papal conclave
SNAP: “Such intimidation & harassment is common”
Group says Vatican should launch simple complaint mechanism

WHAT:
Holding signs and childhood photos at a news conference, an Italian clergy sex abuse victim will
–discuss being detained by police on Friday while trying to deliver petitions to the Vatican,
-explain why he thinks an Italian cardinal is complicit and should skip the conclave.

SNAP will
–praise the alleged victim and express solidarity with him,
— urge church officials to stop intimidating and harassing victims, and
— publicly push for the creation of a simple Vatican complaint mechanism

WHEN:
TODAY, —–Sunday, March 10 at 3:00 pm

WHERE:
Orange Hotel, 86 Via Crescenzio 00193, Roma +39.06.6868969

WHO:
An Italian man, Francesco Zanardi (ufficiostampe@francescozanardi.eu) who was abused as a child in the 1980s by a now-convicted Italian priest (and speaks some English). Joining him are two leaders of the US-based international support group SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.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.

FLORIDA
Tampa Tribune

By MICHELLE BEARDEN| The Tampa Tribune
Published: March 10, 2013

If Geri Callaghan had any input on the selection of the next pope — of course, she doesn’t — this lifelong Catholic could come up with a quick wish list.

“Someone who will openly address the sex-abuse scandal. It’s a stain on our church and it hasn’t been dealt with in the way it should,” she says. “We need a man of God with no hidden agenda. And let’s address all this wealth at the Vatican. So many parishes are struggling, yet you got all this money in Rome. We put our popes in robes and we treat them like kings. That’s just not right.”

Callaghan, 74, a member of Christ the King Catholic Church in Tampa, is unwavering in her faith. Her Catholicism defines her life and means everything to her.

But with the historic resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, she and many of the faithful are using this lame-duck period to talk about some of the church’s pressing needs and the type of man who could best address them.

According to a just-released poll by the Pew Research Center, Callaghan’s views are reflective of 34 percent of American Catholics, who consider the sex-abuse scandal the most important problem facing the church today. When asked about the church’s most important contribution, 27 percent agreed it is serving those in need through works such as helping the poor, feeding the hungry and healing the sick.

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
Voice from the Desert

Long before accusing cardinals of complicity in the clergy abuse scandal became common fare, artist, writer, and survivor advocate Vinnie Nauheimer painted “Cardinal Sins” one of four completed paintings in a collection that is called “Stations of the Abused.”

This oil painting on canvas depicts a cardinal with three heads, which represent hear, see and speak no evil. The doves holding the vestments up represent the Holy Spirit who has made the abuse public and the two children represent all the children who have suffered at the hands of the clergy. Mr. Nauheimer would like his painting or a huge likeness of it hung up in the Sistine Chapel or personally handed to all the cardinals gathered to elect the new pope.

Artist, Vinnie Nauheimer, says that the vast beauty of the Sistine Chapel is not conducive to remembering the atrocities committed upon the bodies of Catholic Children around the world. They need a powerful visual message reminding them of their moral obligations and not the pomp and circumstance of the past. This painting drives home the culpability of the College of Cardinals. They are guilty by either acts of commission for their part in the clergy abuse cover-up or for acts of omission by keeping silent about the egregious sins they, to their disgrace, kept silent about.

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.

SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

THE Catholic Church in Scotland is facing further turmoil amid reports bishops knew of 20 allegations of child-sex abuse by priests between 1985 and 1995.

Academic Alan Draper was appointed to advise the Church on sexual abuse and how to respond to it in the mid-1990s.

He asked the country’s eight bishops at the time to reveal how much they knew and reports claim responding letters referring to 20 accusations have surfaced.

Mr Draper is understood to have called for independent experts to investigate further, but the bishops disagreed.

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
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils…

Paris Arrow

Updated March 8, 2013 International Women’s Day

Hypocrite Mahony calls on Christians to “forgive”

Los Angeles Cardinal Mahony who’s now in Rome for the Papal Conclave is enjoying the final moments of the last fading glory of the Vatican Titanic sinking deep in the ocean of moral bankruptcy. In a medieval church he was assigned to say Mass, he dressed in the regalia of a Prince of the Church, and he called on Christians “to embrace forgiveness”. But “Forgiveness” is the Vatican tool of Injustice – and Mahony uses it well as a strategy to segue attention away – from the Vatican Titanic attacked by multiple icebergs made by its own crimes against humanity’s children – to other world problems as gangs, hate crimes and war.

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

A former lay minister in southern Utah has been sentenced to up to 15 years in prison on child sexual abuse charges.

Fifth District Judge Wallace Lee imposed the sentence Friday on 65-year-old Kris Lounsbury, who earlier pleaded guilty in the abuse of four young female relatives.

Members of his church congregation were among those who spoke on his behalf at the sentencing hearing in St. George. Lounsbury founded the Living Word Christian Fellowship.

Lounsbury apologized and asked for forgiveness from the victims. He said he prays for them almost every day and “aches inside” when he thinks about the hurt he caused them.

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
KMAS

George Doyle/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — As the cardinal electors contemplate the merits of their peer group, from which one will likely be named pope, U.S. Catholics said sex abuse is the biggest problem facing the church, according to a new survey.

The survey, from the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, found that 34 percent of U.S. Catholics believe sexual abuse is the most pressing problem. However 17 percent of those surveyed said they didn’t know the most important problem or they declined to offer an opinion.

No other answers elicited more than 10 percent of a response.

Credibility was named as the biggest problem by 9 percent of respondents, while an outdated church and a loss of followers garnered 7 percent each.

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
Times-Standard

Tim Martin/for the Times-Standard
times-standard.com
Posted: 03/10/2013

I’m sure you heard the news. Pope Benedict XVI recently broke with 600 years of tradition and threw in the towel. His resignation, along with blackmail allegations against the Vatican, sexual abuse cover-ups, and advocating for homophobia, has hit the titanic church like an iceberg and is slowly pulling it to the bottom.

The Roman Catholic Church has long had delusions of adequacy. Lately, it’s become clear just how deep and wide the chasm is between Catholicism and the modern world.

When Pope Benedict retired, he left behind a wave of ill-ease and a slew of unresolved crises. Among them are 4,450 priests accused of sexual abuse in the U.S. between 1950 and 2002 — according to a 2004 draft survey for the U.S. Conference of Bishops — that remain oddly unrepentant for their behavior, a clergy that is totally oblivious to the plight of women, and an institution that has little if any relevance to the human race in the 21st century.

It amazes me that Pope Benedict was considered “The Holy Father” during his time as spiritual leader of the church. Especially since he ordered all files on sexual abuse sent to his office, and knew more about the movement of child predators between parishes than anyone. Instead of retiring, Benedict should have resigned over his inability to address the widespread abuse perpetrated by church priests around the world, and the subsequent cover-ups. It would have been the Christian thing to do.

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

MAINE
WCSH

[with video]

Danielle Waugh

PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — Parishioners in Portland Diocese observed a Day of Prayer and Penance for victims of sexual abuse, a tradition started eleven years ago by Bishop Richard Malone.

“It’s important for Bishop Malone becuase he wanted to constantly be reminded of the fact that we’re always asking for forgiveness, and also always affirming our safe guards that have been put in place,” said Dave Guthro, Communications Director for the Diocese of Portland.

Monsignor Andrew Dubois celebrated mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Wednesday.

Asking for forgiveness and healing, he said the church’s work continues to prevent more cases of 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.

HAWAII
Star-Advertiser

By Pat Gee

The Diocese of Hono­lulu remains tight-lipped on recent lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by Catholic clergy and teachers in Hawaii, but its general response to nationwide scandals that surfaced in the past 10 years has been to acknowledge that violations have occurred, and to offer support to the victims.

The diocese plans to continue to publish an ad that it ran last April in newspapers and parish bulletins statewide, said Patrick Downes, diocese spokes­man and editor of the Hawaii Catholic Herald.

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
Tribune-Review

By Bill Zlatos

Published: Saturday, March 9, 2013

As the College of Cardinals prepares to elect a new pope, Roman Catholics view the child sexual abuse scandal as the greatest problem facing the church, a recent survey found.

A Pew Research Center survey conducted Feb. 28 to March 3 found that 34 percent of Catholic respondents named sexual abuse as the most important issue. That’s nearly four times the second-most common response, a lack of credibility or trust, cited by 9 percent of surveyed Catholics.

“Just to know a priest would take advantage of a child is frightening,” Heather Bierer, 34, of West View said while on her way to noon Mass last week at St. Mary of Mercy Church, Downtown. Like the many Catholics surveyed nationally, she cited the sex abuse scandal as the church’s most pressing problem.

Members of other faiths probably would have named it, too, said the Rev. Ronald Lengwin, spokesman for the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

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
Herald Scotland

Sunday 10 March 2013

It seemed like business as usual at the Vatican yesterday as Rome firefighters fitted a chimney on the top of the Sistine Chapel for the puff of white smoke which will herald the election of a new pontiff by the conclave.

However, it will be clerical sexual abuse, financial scandal and homosexuality that top the agenda for the 115 cardinals as they reflect on the role of the Roman Catholic Church in the modern world under Michelangelo’s towering depiction of the Last Judgement.

An American activist group has ensured that sexual abuse remains a lead issue by publishing a list of 12 cardinals it says should not be considered for election, claiming they had a poor record in handling cases of priestly paedophilia, or had been negligent in oversight. There is no allegation any of the 12 cardinals were involved in any criminal acts themselves.

The blacklist, published by Survivors Network For Those Abused By Priests, included several candidates thought to have a real chance of lifting the pope’s white “zucchetto” hat.

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.

SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

VICTIMS OF ABUSE SPEAK OUT AGAINST ‘BRICK WALL’. BY JUDITH DUFFY

Sunday 10 March 2013

A VETERAN campaigner for abuse victims has questioned the contrast between the swift action taken by the Catholic Church over Cardinal O’Brien’s resignation and the length of time taken to deal with allegations of sexual and physical abuse made by members of the public against priests.

Frank Docherty, a founder member of In Care Abuse Survivors (INCAS), said the church had been forced to get rid of O’Brien swiftly because he had created an “embarrassment” that the hierarchy couldn’t cover up.

Docherty, who suffered physical abuse as a child in an orphanage run by nuns, said the contrast between how allegations of O’Brien behaving inappropriately with adult men were dealt with in comparison to allegations of criminal abuse against minors showed the church wanted to both “minimise” the issue of offences against children, and sweep clerical scandals such as O’Brien’s under the carpet as quickly as possible.

His comments come after another alleged abuse victim, known only as Chris, told how his life was “ruined” after being abused by a priest in the 1990s from the age of around nine or 10.

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.

SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Sunday 10 March 2013

CARDINAL O’Brien may be long gone from public life, following the scandal surrounding his “inappropriate behaviour” with a number of priests – but if the Catholic Church thought his speedy departure, accelerated by the Vatican, would close the door on clerical scandals, then the hierarchy was wrong.

As we report today, victims who were abused by church figures as children are asking why it took just days to get rid of O’Brien, yet decades after crimes were committed against them, no action has been taken. O’Brien is guilty of being a hypocrite – he castigated homosexuals and denounced gay marriage, yet he was drawn to men himself. However, he committed no crime. He carried out no act of evil.

In contrast, the Catholic Church in Scotland has known for years about the scandal of child abuse happening under the noses of the hierarchy. Back in 2000 this newspaper ran a series of disturbing investigations into institutionalised child abuse. One report centered on a priest who carried out a series of sexual assaults and rapes against an eight-year-old boy in Lanarkshire being allowed to continue working unsupervised with children within the Catholic Church in Scotland.

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
Standing on My Head

March 9, 2013 By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

A reader asked for the sources for a couple of my statements in a post recently about celibacy and sex abuse. Namely the assertion that most abuse is perpetrated by married men not single men–therefore marriage for Catholic priests will not solve the sex abuse problem.

The reader also questioned my assertion that most of the cases of sex abuse by priests were carried out by homosexuals, and that marriage was unlikely to solve their problem also.

I should therefore point out that just because 80% of the priestly sex abuse cases were homosexual in nature does not imply that homosexuals are necessarily more likely to be child sex abusers than heterosexuals, or that homosexuality necessarily makes a man more likely to sexually abuse children. My point was simply that marriage would not be the answer for pedophiles who were also homosexuals.

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
Herald Sun

MOST people don’t understand the impact of sexual abuse.

They rattle off words like ‘rape’ and ‘molestation’ but they don’t really understand it. If they did, they’d do something about it.

My husband, John, and I have four boys, Daniel, Luke, Dominic and Bernard. We raised them on a 25-acre property 40 minutes from Newcastle, NSW, and led a happy life with a strong Catholic faith.

The boys were 11, 10, seven and three when Father James Fletcher arrived in our parish.

He didn’t seem very smart and his homilies were shallow, but he took an interest in the children and we were pleased to have a priest who learnt their names and asked them about cricket and school.

Father Fletcher visited our family a lot and we were very active in his church. John did his accounts and I did everything from sewing the buttons onto his black shirts to taking communion to the elderly.

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 Catholic Reporter

by Thomas Reese | Mar. 9, 2013

As has been well reported by Joshua McElwee and John Allen, there are currently no frontrunners in the papal election. This could easily change in the next few days before the conclave starts, but it is surprising granted that it has been almost three weeks since Pope Emeritus Benedict announced his resignation. One would think that at least a couple of frontrunners would have surfaced by now.

Prior to the last conclave, everyone recognized Ratzinger was the front runner on the day the conclave began. The same was true for Paul VI and Pius XII. And although John Paul’s election was a surprise, there still were front runners prior to the conclave: Cardinals Giovanni Benelli and Giuseppe Siri. When they deadlocked, the conclave looked for someone outside of Italy.

Why no front runner? Here are four hypotheses.
1. The cardinals need more time to get to know each other. Remember, 24 of the cardinals were appointed last year. That is one-fifth of the electors. While the curial cardinals and the more senior cardinals may know most of the cardinals, the newer cardinals are still matching faces to bios. The cardinals from outside Rome also know little about each other. This was the argument of those who did not want to rush into the conclave. Why hurry? This is the most important thing the cardinals will ever do in their lives.

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
Religion News Service

David Gibson | Mar 9, 2013

He even has coffee with him:

Almost every day I greet our new Pope, maybe have a cappuccino with him.

Trouble is, I don’t know which one of these Cardinals will actually be elected in the coming week. But it is one of them.

Okay, kind of a tease, Your Eminence. But he goes on to make a poignant point:

One of my brother Cardinals came to Rome with his suitcase, and with an open airline ticket to return home. But one of them isn’t going home. He will move into the special apartments designed as the residence for the Pope.

Smart money says it won’t be Cardinal Mahony. Smart money won’t say who they think it will be. Everything is as wide open as anyone can recall, yet at the same time few think the conclave will, or can, go on for more than a couple of days.

Have the cardinals reached a secret consensus? If they are they are keeping it well hidden.

Here are a couple of articles that give an idea of the dynamics:
•John Thavis parses the various parties, and the dynamics of getting to 77 votes — the two-thirds threshold needed for election.
•Fr. Tom Reese explains why there is no frontrunner.

The assumption now is that the Italian and curial party will stand firm with 40-50 votes that can block any election.

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
BBC News

Gavin Hewitt

St Peter’s Square has become a kind of Coliseum. On every vantage point are the TV tents waiting for the games to begin.

Even non-Catholic countries cannot resist “lo spettacolo”, the secret ritual of choosing a new Pope. Meanwhile – based on very little – the betting agencies run their books on who will be the winner. …

Leaked dossier
The sex abuse scandal often overshadowed Benedict XVI’s papacy
The abuse scandal remains corrosive. The question is not just: “why were the allegations not investigated more rigorously?” The more disturbing question is: “why was there so much abuse?”

One figure caught my eye. An internal report in Germany implicated over 60 priests in more than 500 cases of sexual abuse. Across the world hundreds of priests must have faced or must be facing allegations. It raises questions of whether celibacy in the priesthood is working.

The chief prosecutor of sex abuse in the Church, Monsignor Charles Sicura, said: “This disease [abuse] affects all places and all society, but unfortunately our sin makes the news. Why does the sin of a priest create more fuss?” The reason is because the priesthood lays claim to trust and to a religious calling.

From leaks and interviews it is clear some cardinals want a more rigorous cleaning up of the abuse scandal.

Some have called for a frank discussion of a dossier which examined the leak of papers by the Pope’s butler.

There are all manner of allegations of improper behaviour by a group of priests within the Curia and of blackmail. There is tension inside the heart of the bureaucracy with some cardinals reportedly questioning how they can chose a new pope without knowing the truth behind the dossier.

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 Catholic Reporter

by John L. Allen Jr. | Mar. 9, 2013

Rome

If the readers of Italy’s paper of record, Corriere della Sera, had any say in the matter, the choice for the next pope would be clear: Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston.

Corriere today asked eight contributors, including their own Vatican beat writers as well as noted Vatican-watchers, to name their top three picks to be the next pope. O’Malley was mentioned by five of those eight experts, putting him in a tie with Odilo Pedro Scherer of Brazil, and just one mention ahead of Angelo Scola of Milan.

Two other Americans, Timothy Dolan of New York and Donald Wuerl of Washington, got one mention apiece.

Where O’Malley really separated himself from the pack was in an on-line readers’ poll on the Corriere web site. There O’Malley drew 36.7 percent of the vote, as of roughly 6:30 this evening Rome time. The Boston prelate far outpaced Scola with 17.9 percent and Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines with 14.3 percent.

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
Los Angeles Times

By Henry Chu, Los Angeles Times
March 9, 2013

VATICAN CITY — With the terrifying grandeur of Michelangelo’s “Judgment Day” looming over them, senior leaders of the Roman Catholic Church will begin casting their ballots inside the Sistine Chapel on Tuesday to elect a successor to Benedict XVI, the first pope to resign in nearly 600 years.

No one campaigns for the papacy, at least overtly; the surest way for a candidate to disqualify himself for the job is to let it be known that he wants it.

But various names crop up repeatedly in discreet conversations as the 115 prelates eligible to vote try to figure out who among them is best placed to lead a historic but troubled institution that claims the allegiance of 1.2 billion people.

Whoever emerges from the conclave as the 266th pontiff will inherit a global church that is continuing to grow in far-off continents but waning in the Vatican’s backyard; under challenge by other religions, notably Islam and evangelical Protestantism; unable to shake off a damaging scandal over clerical sexual abuse; and in the grip of a management crisis.

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.

PHILIPPINES
GMA News

March 10, 2013

When it comes to presence on social networks, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle may have a huge advantage over other prospective cardinals who may succeed Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

Tagle, 55, is the most active cardinal on Facebook, Discovery News cited a social media analysis by the Italian start-up Decisyon.

“Tagle, regarded as ‘The Asian Karol Wojtyła,’ boasts 123,000 ‘Likes.’ Decisyon established that since Jan. 1, his page has accounted for 52 percent of cardinals’s social-media use, producing more than 57,000 posts, comments and shares,” Discovery News said.

As of 8 a.m. Sunday, Tagle’s Facebook page has 126,177 likes, with 4,628 talking about it.

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

VATICAN CITY
The New York Times

By RACHEL DONADIO and ANDREW HIGGINS

Published: March 9, 2013

VATICAN CITY — Negotiations over the Vatican’s adherence to international banking standards were reaching a delicate point. During a lunch, a European official later recalled, discussion turned to the need for more openness from an institution steeped in centuries of secrecy.

A Vatican representative at the meal, annoyed by the requests for more information, shouted, “How can you ask us such questions?”

The clash came amid mounting pressure on the Vatican to clean up its bank — for decades the subject of dark intrigue and linked to one mysterious death — as part of a push by the European Union to apply common rules to all the countries and micro-states like Vatican City and Monaco that use the euro.

Those pressures continued until the very last days of Pope Benedict XVI’s papacy and remain a critical issue for the cardinals now meeting to elect a new pope. As the conclave begins Tuesday, the specter of financial scandal presents a special challenge for Benedict’s successor, who must modernize the Roman Catholic Church’s finances or risk the Vatican’s access to the global banking system, undermining its moral authority and its financial stability.

Ahead of the conclave, the cardinals were briefed on the Vatican’s finances and have been debating whether a member of the Vatican hierarchy or an outsider would be better at imposing order after a papacy bedeviled by crises of governance. The battle lines are hazy, but the fight over the Vatican’s finances pits different factions inside the Vatican against one another, some seeking greater transparency and others who want to preserve the institution’s tradition of secrecy.

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
Catholica

by Brian Coyne , LINDEN, NSW, Sunday, March 10, 2013, 11:15 (1 hours, 12 minutes ago) @ gemstones

Thanks for the link to Jerry Slevin’s article. He offers sensible ideas BUT THE REALITY IS THAT NONE OF THEM WILL BE LISTENING TO JERRY SLEVIN (any more than they are likely to be listening to any of you or me). The fundamental problem is that they honestly do not think any wisdom is capable of coming from below them. They sincerely do believe that they alone are “guided by the Holy Spirit or the Almighty” and there is no way that culture will be changed.

Andrea Tornielli in Vatican Insider/La Stampa [LINK] has an article on the Archbishop of Milan, Angelo Scola, coming back into contention and, interestingly enough his odds with Paddy Power have shortened to now be the front runner. I now think the most likely outcome is that Scola will emerge as the next Pope in the coming week. He’s not the candidate I would vote for but I think that is the most likely outcome. God help the Catholic Church though. The election of Scola virtually guarantees “more of the same” that has reduced Catholicism to this sad spectacle it has now become. The future will be further decline into irrelevance as any significant force in society.

The fundamental systemic problem…

The more I mull on this whole problem “what is wrong with Catholicism/why has it run off the rails so badly?” the more I come to the conclusion that at the heart of the problem is there are two fundamentally incompatible cultures in Catholicism today centred around the question of “Where does truth reside?”

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
The Independent (UK)

VATICAN CITY

Sunday 10 March 2013

Firefighters installed a special top on the Sistine Chapel chimney yesterday, ready for the signal to the world that a new pope has been elected, as the Vatican took measures to end Benedict XVI’s pontificate.

While construction workers prepared the interior of the frescoed Sistine Chapel for Tuesday’s start of the conclave, officials elsewhere in the Apostolic Palace destroyed Benedict’s fisherman’s ring and the personal seals and stamps for official papers. The act, coupled with Benedict’s public resignation and pledge of obedience to the future pope, is designed to signal a definitive end of his papacy so there is no doubt in the church that a new pope is in charge.

The developments all point toward the momentous decision to confront the Catholic church: Tuesday’s start of the conclave to elect a new pope to lead the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics and try to solve the problems facing the church.

The Vatican outlined the timeline for the balloting, and confirmed that the bells of St Peter’s Basilica will ring once a pope has been elected. But Vatican officials also acknowledged that there is some uncertainty about the whole endeavour, given the difficulties in discerning the colour of smoke that will snake out of the Sistine chimney – black if no pope has been elected, white when a victor has emerged. A Vatican spokesman, the Rev Federico Lombardi, laughed off concerns, saying that some “suspense” was all part of the beauty of the 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.

VATICAN CITY
Times News

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press

Published March 9th, 2013

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican sought Saturday to quash speculation that divisions among cardinals could drag out the conclave to elect the new pope, while preparations for the vote plowed ahead with firefighters installing the Sistine Chapel chimney that will tell the world when a decision has been reached.

But the specter of an inconclusive first few rounds of secret balloting remained high, with no clear front-runner heading into Tuesday’s papal election and a long list of cardinals still angling to discuss the church’s problems ahead of the vote.

“You don’t have your mind absolutely made up” going into the conclave, U.S. Cardinal Justin Rigali, who participated in the 2005 conclave that elected Benedict XVI, told The Associated Press this week. “You have your impressions.”

The Vatican spokesman, however, took pains to stress the “vast,” near-unanimous decision by the 115 cardinal electors to set Tuesday as the conclave start date and noted that no conclave over the past century has dragged on for more than five days.

“I think it’s a process that can be carried out in a few days without much difficulty,” spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi told reporters.

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
The Observer (UK)

John Hooper in Rome
The Observer, Saturday 9 March 2013

It is known throughout the Vatican as the Relatio (Narration). It is contained in two stiff, unmarked red folders and runs to around 300 pages. Lying in a safe in the papal apartments of the Apostolic Palace overlooking St Peter’s Square, it will be at the forefront of the minds of the 115 cardinals who on Tuesday are to file into the Sistine chapel to start the conclave that elects the next pope.

In the Relatio are the findings of three cardinal-detectives, appointed last year by ex-pope Benedict XVI to investigate the leaking of documents from his study. The cardinals, headed by a Spanish member of the Opus Dei fellowship, Cardinal Julián Herranz, discovered the main source of the leaks – the pope’s butler, Paolo Gabriele.

But they found a great deal else – and some of it is reportedly extremely compromising. According to one unconfirmed report, they stumbled on a gay sex ring in the Vatican, some of whose members had been blackmailed.

Already dismayed by the blunders that marred Benedict’s papacy, many of the cardinals in Rome to elect his successor are seething with resentment towards the Roman Curia, the intensely secretive and predominantly Italian bureaucracy that administers the Catholic church.

“The anti-curial – and anti-Italian – feeling is almost palpable,” said a source close to their deliberations.

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.

CALIFORNIA
Santa Cruz Sentinel

By Sentinel Editorial Board

Posted: 03/09/2013

The voting begins Tuesday.

That’s when the cardinals in the Roman Catholic Church will file into the Sistine Chapel and begin secret balloting to select a new pope.

It will be an opportunity to finally end decades, if not centuries, of secrecy.

Writing about a religious organization is a dicey matter. But the church has been badly shaken, damaged, by many years of reports regarding sexual abuse by priests, bishops and, most recently, a cardinal.

And so the church stands upon a precipice. On one side are the scandals and abuses committed under its watch. On the other is the faith and devotion of hundreds of millions of people. And there is a Dante-esque divide between them that can only be bridged by repentance and renewal. Repentance is a taking of responsibility, without casting blame on others, for personal, or in this case corporate, misdeeds — followed by a changing of the mind, a resolve to be guided on a new, moral and spiritual, path.

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

The “fumata” could be expected around 12:00pm or around 7:00pm. Monday the last General Congregation will be held

ALESSANDRO SPECIALE
Rome

It is not true that the College of Cardinals is split in half: in fact, according to the Vatican spokesman father Federico Lombardi, yesterday the Cardinals voted with a very large majority (“approximately ten to one”) to open the Conclave that will elect the successor of Pope Benedict XVI next Tuesday.

During his usual briefing at the Vatican, the Vatican spokesman joked with reporters: “I’m sorry that we are approaching the end of this period of daily meetings”, and he immediately refuted the rumours of divisions and fractures among the Cardinals who will enter the Conclave next week.

Lombardi explained that during yesterday afternoon’s General Congregation (the eighth since the beginning of the sede vacante), the Dean of the Sacred College Cardinal Angelo Sodano immediately began the process of voting on the Conclave’s beginning date. And already at the first vote there was an overwhelming majority in favour of Tuesday the 12th, stressed the spokesman.

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

Africa presents four credible names as ideal candidates to the papacy

Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican City

The Ghanaian Turkson, the Guinean Sarah, the South African Napier, and the Congolese Monsengwo Pasinya. The African continent presents four credible names. However, in the conclave, Africa can count more on the quality of “papabili” candidates than on the quantity of voters (just 11 compared to 60 from Europe and 33 from the Americas). “Sarah’s profile is one that is ideal for the Papacy: it combines pastoral experience at home and internationally in the Curia”, says Father Bernardo Cervellera, Director of AsiaNews, the agency of the Pontifical Institute for foreign missions. Sarah has been Bishop in Africa, prisoner of war and now is head of the dicastery at the Vatican. He took the place of Etchegeray as “the man of the impossible papal missions” in the diplomatic and humanitarian fields from Lebanon to Southeast Asia. He is also held in high esteem by Obama and has chances as an “outsider”.

In short, a “black Wojtyla” who is able to unite foreigners, the Curia and the White House just as the spiritual father of Solidarnosc did in 1978. Two years ago, at the Rimini Meeting, he won everybody over with his communicative ability and charisma. Certain sectors of the ecclesiastical hierarchy have reservations about the “young” Church of the dark continent; it is feared that the Cardinals may be surrounded by ethnic clans and unclear situations.

Joseph Ratzinger didn’t think so when, as Cardinal in 2004, he told a German tv: “We are ready for a black Pope”. And during his travels, he defined Africa as the “spiritual lung of the world”. In short: a viable hypothesis. Moreover, the election of a black Pope wouldn’t be a unique event (at least according to tradition). In fact, Gelasius I, Pope from 492 to 496, was a “romanus natus” (roman citizen).

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

Reforms and relations with bishops, the issues of the Congregations

Andrea Tornielli
Vatican City

Collegiality and the reform of the Curia. It had never happened before that so many Cardinals were asking for a change of direction in the management of the Vatican curial “machine” and were taking on the issue of the organization of dicasteries, their coordination, and their connection with the Episcopal Conferences. This means that the new Pope, whoever he may be, will hardly be able to ignore these signals, which are a consequence of the not-so-positive recent experiences in relations between Rome and the episcopacies.

The discussion about this has been frank but brotherly. In recent days, several important cardinals have tackled the issue without beating around the bush by asking about the Vatileaks dossier and talking about the need for a change of course in the management of the Curia and of the Secretariat of State. Responses to first request were not exhaustive, because Pope Benedict ruled that the “Relatio” prepared by Cardinals Herranz, Tomko and De Giorgi will be delivered to his successor.

But the three investigators have provided some information to Cardinals looking to shed light on the issue during face-to-face talks. With regards to the Curia, both before and after the presentation of some proposals by Cardinal Coccopalmerio, other Cardinals said they believe that there could be no futher delays to the reform that Benedict XVI said (as an aside during the Ash Wednesday ceremony) he regretted he had failed to implement.

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
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Some have said the Conclave needs to pick a Pope with a MBA degree. As someone who took courses at the Harvard Business School while getting my Harvard Law degree in 1968, the Pope doesn’t need a MBA degree. He can hire all the MBAs he needs. The new Pope needs authenticity and courage and a 21st Century Church management structure, instead of the present 16th Century petty Italian monarchical structure. The new structure, of course, really requires the Conclave to fix a date now for a general council to restructure the Church horizontally, as Cardinal Kaspar wisely has called for.

Even the Person the Popes claim to be Vicar for, Jesus Christ, reportedly thought he needed a horizontal structure in tiny Galilee, and He was Divine, and not just occasionally “infallible”. He also consulted and/or interacted with all, from the poor, the disabled, even sinners, to children, Samaritans and even Roman centurions. His followers listened to and responded to their fellow Christians. When was the last time a Pope chatted with any of the homeless who sleep nightly in the entrance ways of the souvenir shops on the Vatican’s fringes? Meanwhile, the Shadow Pope has commandeered a ten bedroom convent to house his books!

This Conclave will be the Cardinals’ last chance to take the initiative. After the massive media coverage of Vatican scandals, as well as the scandals of Cardinals’ O’Brien, Mahony, et al., the pressure on political leaders worldwide is building on them rapidly to clean up the Vatican’s mess if the Cardinals fail to adopt a concrete plan to do so now, which really necessitates calling for a council on a date certain at the Conclave.

Money may not be the root of all evil, but it seems to be at the heart of many Vatican scandals. This should not be surprising given the Vatican’s long history as an unaccountable and self-perpetuating monarchical clique. For the entire adult life of the current Vatican clique and their carefully selected Cardinals, they could assume comfortably they answered to no earthly power and were financially self sufficient. Not any more, whether they realize that or not!

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.