ABUSE TRACKER

IRELAND
Build

A 66-year-old Dominican priest and former headmaster has been jailed for three years for the sexual assault of a boy.

Fr Vincent Mercer pleaded guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to 15 sample counts of sexually assaulting the boy on various dates between 1986 and 1994.

The boy was aged 11 when the abuse started.

The priest is out of ministry but remains a member of the Dominican Order and was the former headmaster of Newbridge College in Co Kildare.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

by John L. Allen Jr. | Feb. 22, 2013 All Things Catholic

If we start the count in 1295, when Pope Boniface VIII first required cardinals to elect a pope in a sealed room, the looming 2013 edition will be the 75th conclave in the history of the Catholic church. At one level, therefore, it’s possible to say that we’ve seen this show before, most recently eight years ago.

In many ways, the 2013 conclave will seem identical to those that have gone before: the same procession into the Sistine Chapel, the same black and white smoke, the same “Habemus Papam” moment when the new pope has been chosen. (Trivia point: By tradition, the announcement is made by the Proto-Deacon, meaning the senior cardinal in the order of deacons, who this time around is French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran. He should be the guy who steps out onto the balcony to deliver the news — unless, of course, he’s elected himself.)

Despite the echoes of the past, there are several unique features about this conclave that alter the politics and, perhaps, suggest a longer and more difficult process. Herewith, the top 10 differences about the 2013 edition of the papal election. …

6. The scandal effect

The child sex abuse crisis was already set in cement as a defining issue for Americans by 2005, but it didn’t really erupt in Europe until 2010. In the meantime, the Vatican has also been hit with a number of other embarrassing episodes, such as the Vatileaks scandal and persistent allegations of financial corruption.

In that context, a larger share of cardinals this time around is likely to be concerned that the new pope be perceived to have “clean hands.”

In practice, this may produce a sort of burden, rather than benefit, of the doubt for any candidate publicly linked to some sort of scandal. In the hothouse atmosphere of the pre-conclave period, some cardinals are likely to feel they don’t have the time to separate truth from falsehood and may conclude that the safest thing to do is to steer clear of anyone who seems even potentially tainted.

As one cardinal put it to me the other day with regard to a prominent fellow cardinal who’s been identified in the Italian press with allegedly shady financial deals, “I don’t know what actually happened, but right now it seems like too big a risk.”

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IRELAND
Irish Times

BARRY ROCHE, Southern Correspondent

The treatment of women in the Magdalene Laundries was a reflection of the brutalisation of Irish society which had been tolerated for decades and is something about which Irish people should be “rightly ashamed,” singer Bob Geldof has said.

Geldof said the letters on the controversy published in The Irish Times were “eloquent and dignified” but said there should be no surprise about what was happening in the laundries as he believed it was well known throughout Irish society.

“The Taoiseach, Enda Kenny has apologised – but what has he to apologise for – it was our families, our parents who allowed children go into those laundries knowing full well what awaited them in there at the hands of the nuns,” he said.

“And the laundries are just another manifestation of the brutalisation of Irish society where kids were beaten and abused by Christian Brothers – it was dreadful, dreadful, dreadful but we all knew it was happening and what did we do?,” he asked.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

21 February 2013

TAOISEACH Enda Kenny took care not to blame the Catholic Church for the “national shame” of the Magdalene Laundries – in marked contrast to the hard-hitting approach of Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore.

He only mentioned the Catholic Church once in his much-praised Dail speech, whereas Mr Gilmore managed to fit in six fairly damning references.

The Labour leader spoke about how the State “bowed” to the Catholic Church and “colluded” with it and how the moment of justice for the Magdalene women began with rolling back the “dominance” of one church.

In what was very much a “good cop, bad cop” routine, Mr Kenny outlined details of the compensation scheme for the survivors – and Mr Gilmore issued the demand for a contribution from the four religious congregations who ran the Magdalene Laundries.

A government source said that the speeches of both men had been discussed beforehand and were written to complement each other. And the Cabinet was also briefed about the intention of Mr Gilmore to call for a contribution from the religious orders.

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IRELAND
RTE News

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter is contacting the religious orders who owned the Magdalene laundries in relation to the funding of the redress scheme.

The Department of Justice and Equality has also clarified that former industrial school residents who also spent time in laundries are not excluded from applying to the fund.

On whether a cap will be applied to payouts, the Department said it would await John Quirke’s report before making a decision.

The Magdalene Survivors Together group met the Minister for Justice to discuss the terms of reference for the Magdalene redress fund.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

JOE HUMPHREYS

BACKGROUND: The exclusion of Bethany Home residents from the Magdalene laundries redress scheme has prompted allegations of double standards and religious bias.

The Protestant-run residence for unmarried mothers and their children operated between 1921 and 1972, initially in Blackhall Place, Dublin, and later Rathgar. About 20 former residents are known to the Bethany Home Survivors group, which stresses that the financial implications of their inclusion would be relatively small.

But the Department of Justice is concerned about the precedent it would set.

According to some estimates, in excess of 10 times as many women and children would have gone through Catholic-run mother-and-baby homes, which have been excluded so far from any official inquiry.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY and MARY MINIHAN

Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin Eamonn Walsh said yesterday that helping women who had been in the Magdalene laundries was “a matter for all parties involved”.

He was responding to media queries as to whether the four religious congregations which ran the 10 laundries should help fund compensation and services for the women.

“Everybody who held responsibility [where the laundries were concerned] should step up to the line,” he said.

It was “up to everybody to be responsible”, he said, and that “the religious won’t be found wanting”.

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IRELAND
BBC News

By Shane Harrison
BBC NI Dublin correspondent

The Irish government’s decision to apologise to the women who worked in the Magdalene Laundries – workhouses run by nuns – has prompted members of the Bethany Home Survivors Group group to say they also want justice.

Magdalene laundries were places for what were described as “fallen women”.

They were workhouses to where the Irish authorities sent Catholic girls and women considered “troubled” to do unpaid manual work.

The last one closed in 1996.

Bethany Home was a Protestant place for “fallen women” and unmarried mothers. It closed in the 1960s.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Michael Brennan and Ralph Riegel– 22 February 2013

MAGDALENE survivors are seeking up to €200,000 each from the soon-to-be established state compensation fund.

This would include a payment of €20,000 for each year that a woman worked without wages in a Magdalene Laundry – and a lump-sum payment of €50,000 each for psychological damage.

The maximum amount paid to any woman would be capped at €200,000, regardless of how many years she had worked in the laundry.

The Magdalene Survivors Together (MST) group presented its proposals to Justice Minister Alan Shatter and Junior Minister for Mental Health Kathleen Lynch during a 45-minute meeting with them in Dublin.

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IRELAND
RTE News

Minister of State Kathleen Lynch said the Government will meet the four religious orders involved in the Magdalene Laundries to discuss how to manage the redress scheme for survivors.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, the minister said the Government may put a proposal to the groups in relation to funding the scheme.

She said the co-operation of the religious orders will be necessary, not least because Judge John Quirke will need access to the records of survivors to verify claims.

Minister Lynch said were it not for the co-operation of the orders up to now, the State would not have the McAleese report that prompted the Taoiseach’s apology.

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IRELAND
Association of Catholic Priests

More than 250 priests attended a meeting of the Association of Catholic Priests in Athlone on Wednesday February 20th 2013. The meeting opened with a prayer asking God for guidance, wisdom and support so those who were taking part in the meeting would engage in meaningful discussions which would help them in their ministry to build up the body of Christ. We prayed for Pope Benedict XVI, that God will grant him good health and peace in mind and body. We prayed for those who are tasked with electing the next Pope, that the wellbeing of the Catholic Church be foremost in their minds as the cast their vote.

After the prayer, Brendan Hoban outlined the work of the ACP during the past few months. We expressed our unhappiness with the present procedures for stepping down priests against whom allegations of sex abuse have been made. We argued that in their present form, the current procedures compromise the basic constitutional rights of the priest.

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WASHINGTON
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on February 22, 2013

We are disturbed by the report of a Baptist pastor in Washington attempting to solicit a girl he knew to be a teenager for prostitution. This is horrible on several levels.

To abuse a child is bad enough, but to pay for the opportunity to abuse a child speaks of a depravity that is deeply rooted. We are grateful to police in Everett for apprehending Rev. John Lawlor, and we urge them to seek out others who he may have abused. We also call on church officials at First Baptist Church in Everett to aggressively seek out those within their congregation who may have been hurt by Rev. Lawlor.

According to court documents, Lawlor moved to Washington from Idaho only a year ago. We suspect it’s possible that he may have hurt kids while he was there as well, so anyone with knowledge as to his previous parishes should seek out victims there, and urge victims and witnesses to come forward to police.

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IRELAND
RTE News

A Dominican priest and former headmaster has been sentenced to three years in prison for the sexual assault of a boy over an eight year period.

Fr Vincent Mercer, 66, pleaded guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to 15 sample counts of sexually assaulting the boy on various dates between 1986 and 1994.

The priest is out of ministry but remains a member of the Dominican Order and was the former headmaster of Newbridge College in Co Kildare.

The victim was aged between 11 and 17 at the time and the abuse happened when Mercer resided at St Mary’s Dominican Church at Pope’s Quay in Cork.

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ROME
Gazzetta del Sud

Rome, February 22 – Catholic members of Italian consumer association Codacons on Friday submitted a request to prosecutors to open a sex-abuse investigation into Cardinal Roger Mahony if he comes to Rome for the conclave to elect a new pope next month, but also asked Benedict XVI to prevent him from attending at all. “We maintain there are sufficient grounds to put him under investigation as soon as he enters our country,” said a statement from the group. Mahony, the retired archbishop of Los Angeles, must answer questions under oath Saturday about a visiting Mexican priest who in 1987 is believed to have molested 26 children.

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FRANCE
RTL

Un rabbin parisien soupçonné d’avoir étouffé une affaire d’agression sexuelle dans son collège

INFORMATION RTL. Un rabbin, directeur d’une école juive orthodoxe de Paris, a été mis en examen jeudi par un juge d’instruction parisien pour “non dénonciation d’atteintes sexuelles sur mineurs de moins de 15 ans”. Il avait été alerté par des parents d’élèves au sujet d’attouchements commis par un surveillant sur de jeunes garçons. Mais il aurait tenté de les convaincre de ne pas porter plainte.

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FRANCE
Le Parisien

A Paris, un rabbin de 55 ans a été mis en examen jeudi pour «non dénonciation d’atteintes sexuelles sur mineurs de moins de 15 ans.» Selon RTL qui révèle l’information, ce rabbin, directeur d’une école juive orthodoxe, avait été alerté par des parents d’élèves dont les enfants auraient subi des attouchements commis par un surveillant.

L’affaire a commencé l’été dernier à l’école pour garçons Beth-Hanna dans le XXe arrondissement, lorsqu’un couple de parents raconte au directeur que leur fils aurait été agressé sexuellement par un des surveillants de l’établissement. Puis d’autres jeunes enfants racontent les mêmes scènes avec la même personne. Sauf que le rabbin, membre de la communauté Loubavitch, ne veut rien entendre. Il ne dénonce pas les faits à la police et tente de convaincre les familles de se taire également, alors que certaines veulent porter plainte.

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FRANCE
Failed Messiah

Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

A 55-year-old Chabad rabbi, Binyamin M., was indicted in Paris yesterday for “non-reporting of sexual abuse of minors under the age of 15-year-old,” a French newspaper, The Parisien, and a French radio station, RTL, reported this morning.

Media reports say the rabbi is a principal at Chabad’s Bais Chana school in Paris, and that he also teaches math there.

But the victims appear to be boys and the rabbi appears to be the principal of Chabad’s boy’s school located at 18 Passage des S. Simoniens – Rabbi Binyomin Mergui – and a Paris source familiar with Mergui and the school confirms that Mergui is, indeed, “Rabbi Binyamin M.”

Mergui was told by parents over the summer that their children were allegedly molested by a trusted school supervisor. A school supervisor holds a position similar to a teacher’s aide in the US. He watches the children during recess, accompanies them on field trips, and makes sure all the children are where they are supposed to be at any given time.

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IRELAND
Irish Central

By
JAMES O’SHEA,
IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Friday, February 22, 2013

Ireland’s Cardinal Sean Brady is the latest to come under pressure to quit the upcoming papal conclave because of the alleged cover up of pedophile priest activities.

As pressure mounted on LA cardinal Roger Mahony and New York prelate Cardinal Timothy Dolan was deposed over his actions when Archbishop of Milwaukee, Brady came under renewed scrutiny

He has admitted that he did nothing to stop monster pedophile Father Brendan Smyth even though he was aware of his activities when he sat on a secret church inquiry in 1975 into Smyth who abused hundreds of children in Ireland and the U.S.

During that inquiry Brady learnt from two victims that Smyth had abused them. He was also given the names of other boys that Smyth abused.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Ralph Riegel– 22 February 2013

CARDINAL Sean Brady has confirmed that he will attend the Papal conclave to elect Pope Benedict XVI’s successor, despite calls from Irish abuse victims for him to stay away.

The Primate of All Ireland has been named by Italian media among several cardinals worldwide whose positions have been rocked by abuse scandals.

Christine Buckley, who was abused as a child in a church-run institution, said Cardinal Brady should not attend the Vatican conclave next month as “a personal gesture towards victims”.

“I have passed that request on to the cardinal, as well as to Archbishop Diarmuid Martin and the Irish Bishops’ Conference,” she told the Irish Independent.

“Given how the issue of abuse was handled by Cardinal Brady and these other cardinals, they should not represent their churches in Rome in the selection of a new pope.”

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on February 22, 2013

We’re gradually seeing more and more suits like this across the country (most recently in Florida and Missouri). It’s disturbing to see more proof that Catholic officials continue to act recklessly, secretively and callously in sex cases.

Catholic officials often brag about all their abuse policies and panels and procedures. But what matters is how one acts, not what one says. As long as those at the top of the Catholic hierarchy show by their deeds that they remain committed to concealing child sex crimes, nothing in the church will change and kids will continue to be at risk.

We wish Mr. Cerbone well. No matter how his suit turns out, he will know, for the rest of his life, that he’s done the brave and right thing.

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IRELAND
Herald

Ralph Riegel– 22 February 2013

AN IRISH abuse survivor has said she is “disappointed but not surprised” at the refusal of Cardinal Sean Brady to stay away from next month’s papal conclave.

Christine Buckley, founder of Dublin’s Aislinn Centre, had publicly urged Cardinal Brady not to attend the Vatican vote to decide Pope Benedict XVI’s successor as a gesture towards Irish abuse victims.

She lodged the formal request with Cardinal Brady, the Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin and the Irish Bishops’ Conference.

But Cardinal Brady has now confirmed he will attend the Papal conclave as planned.

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VATICAN CITY
Malta Today

Karl Stagno-Navarra

47 year-old Mgr Antonie Camilleri has been appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to the third highest ranking post in the Vatican, making him under-secretary to the Holy-See’s relations with States.

A law graduate in 1988, Mgr. Camilleri was ordained into priesthood in 1991 and has been part of the Vatican’s diplomatic service since 1999.

He replaces Mgr. Ettore Balestrero, who has been controversially appointed as Nuncio to Colombia, following reports about his close relations with Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, and his liaisons with the beleaguered Vatican bank IOR.

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VATICAN CITY
Canberra Times

ROME: Pope Benedict resigned after an internal investigation informed him about a web of blackmail, corruption and gay sex in the Vatican, Italian media have reported.

Three cardinals were asked by Benedict to verify allegations of financial impropriety, cronyism and corruption exposed in the so-called VatiLeaks affair.

The inquiry was led by a three-man panel, headed by a Spanish cardinal, Juliá´n Herranz. Cardinal Salvatore De Giorgi, former archbishop of Palermo, and Slovak cardinal Jozef Tomko, assisted him.

On December 17, 2012, they handed the pontiff two red-leather bound volumes, almost 300 pages long, containing ”an exact map of the mischief and the bad fish” inside the Holy See, La Repubblica reported.

”It was on that day, with those papers on his desk, that Benedict XVI took the decision he had mulled over for so long,” said the centre-left newspaper. It said its article was the first of a series.

Panorama, a conservative weekly, did not speculate about the motives behind Benedict’s resignation, but its story about the contents of the confidential report was broadly similar.

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VATICAN CITY
New York Magazine

By Joe Coscarelli

The Italian newspaper La Repubblica isn’t buying that a pope resigned for the first time in more than 600 years simply because he wasn’t feeling so spry anymore. Instead, a new report points to a juicy-sounding secret dossier (“two volumes of almost 300 pages — bound in red”) involving a faction in the Vatican “united by sexual orientation,” according to the Guardian. Those officials were supposedly subject to “external influence” from outsiders with whom they connected in a “worldly nature.” A.k.a. blackmail.

The information is thought to stem from an investigation into the “Vatileaks” scandal, in which Pope Benedict XVI’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, was arrested for stealing and leaking gossipy Vatican documents. The pope reportedly received the information on December 17, the day he decided to step down. According to a La Repubblica source, “Everything revolves around the non-observance of the sixth and seventh commandments,” or “Thou shalt not steal” and “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Haaretz notes that the Italian paper in question has a history of exposing homosexual happenings in the Vatican.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Tess Livingstone
From:The Australian
February 23, 2013

AUSTRALIA’S Cardinal George Pell yesterday called on the Vatican press office to respond “in some constructive way” to reports of an internal investigation by three senior cardinals that told Pope Benedict XVI about an insidious web of blackmail, corruption and homosexual sex inside the Vatican.

Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper linked Benedict’s resignation with a top secret 300-page dossier prepared by Spanish Cardinal Julian Herranz, Slovak Cardinal Jozef Tomko and Italian Cardinal Salvatore De Giorgi into the “Vatileaks” affair, which saw the Pope’s former butler, Paolo Gabriele, arrested and jailed for stealing and leaking papal documents.

None of the three cardinals will take part in the conclave because they are over 80 years of age, but they are expected to brief those voting about their findings.

According to La Repubblica, the report was “an exact map of the mischief and the bad fish” inside the Holy See, with the cardinals finding that one faction of Vatican officials, “united by sexual orientation”, had been subject to “external influence” from laymen with whom they had links of a “worldly nature”, which the paper said was a reference to blackmail.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 22 February 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father: …

– appointed Msgr. Ettore Balestrero as apostolic nuncio to Colombia, at the same time elevating him to the dignity of archbishop and assigning him the titular see of Vittoriana. The archbishop-elect, previously under-secretary for the Holy See’s Relations with States, was born in Genoa, Italy in 1966 and was ordained a priest in 1993. On entering the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1996, he has served as a papal legate in Korea, Mongolia, Holland, and in the section of Relations with States of the Secretariat of State.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
City Watch

Written by John MacMurray

RELIGION POWER POLITICS – Try this for a scenario: when Cardinal Roger Mahony leaves for Rome to elect the new Pope, he may not be coming back. Consider: the current Pope, Benedict XVI, recently announced his resignation, literally giving two weeks’ notice to leave a job that normally lasts a lifetime. He is the first Pope to resign since 1415. Advanced age was given as the reason, but the timing is interesting, coming as several very large Church scandals are breaking. These involve the Vatican Bank, again, and increasing numbers of reported sex abuse cases in Europe and the United States.

Cardinal Mahony, who retired as head of the Los Angeles Archdiocese in 2011, was recently stripped of his remaining administrative duties for the Archdiocese by his successor, Archbishop Jose Gomez. After reviewing the recently-opened and recently-published Church files detailing sex crimes by Cardinal Mahony’s priests against children, Gomez said he ”was disgusted by what was in the files”.

Cardinal Mahony, however, will be one of the 117 Cardinals meeting in Rome to elect the new Pope; he was also one of the Cardinals who elected Benedict XVI.

And remember that Vatican City is a sovereign city-state. So, he is safe from any prosecution or legal action if the Church wishes to help him.

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VATICAN CITY
ABC News

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press
VATICAN CITY February 21, 2013 (AP)

In one of his last appointments, the pope on Friday transferred a top official from the Vatican’s secretariat of state to Colombia amid swirling media speculation about the contents of a confidential report into the Vatican’s leaks scandal.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, stressed the transfer of Monsignor Ettore Balestrero had been months in the works, was an important promotion and had nothing to do with what the Vatican considers baseless reporting.

Balestrero was named undersecretary of the Vatican’s Foreign Ministry in 2009 and, among other tasks, has been a lead player in the Holy See’s efforts to get on the “white list” of financially transparent countries. Pope Benedict XVI, who steps down Feb. 28, named him ambassador, or nunzio, to Colombia.

Italian newspapers for days have been rife with unsourced reports about the contents of the dossier, presented to Benedict in December, that three cardinals prepared after investigating the origins of the leaks. The scandal erupted last year after papers taken from the pope’s desk were published in a blockbuster book. The pope’s butler was convicted in October of aggravated theft, and later pardoned.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

by John L. Allen Jr. | Feb. 22, 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.

One could make a pretty strong argument that nobody’s chances of becoming the next pope benefit more from Benedict XVI’s resignation than those of Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila in the Philippines.

Under ordinary circumstances, Tagle’s youth would be seen as an almost insuperable bar to election. At 55, he’s three years younger than John Paul II was when he was elected in 1978, so a vote for Tagle would be tantamount to a vote for another long papacy, perhaps as much as 30 years.

Tagle actually looks even younger. The story goes that in the mid-1990s, when then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger introduced Tagle to Pope John Paul II as a new member of the Vatican’s International Theological Commission, Ratzinger jokingly assured the pope that the youthful-seeming Filipino had, in fact, received his first Communion.

Especially with a figure many cardinals regard as something of an unknown, a choice for such a young pope would strike them as an awfully big risk.

Now that the precedent has been set that a pope can resign, however, the calculus is different. Tagle could give the church 10 or 15 years, then step aside — a thought that may well induce some cardinals to look past his age to other qualities.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

WHEN Sydney journalist Geraldine Willesee sat down to practise internet searches on a rainy afternoon she never thought she would expose the priest who molested her and the following 49-year cover-up by the Catholic Church.

But those few clicks on the internet would eventually lead to the suspension of Father Brian Gerard Harris and expose files likely to be highly pertinent to the impending royal commission into child abuse.

Willesee was a naive 14-year-old girl in Osborne Park in Perth when Fr Harris began to groom her.

The daughter of prominent Labor Senator Don Willesee, she endured a difficult time during her schooling, prompting the priest to single her out.

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AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

February 23, 2013

I was abused, writes Geraldine Willesee, by a young Catholic priest whose sins were hidden.

The anguish in the letter, written in 1963, can still be felt across the years. It is from the late Perth parish priest Cyril Stinson to his then Archbishop, Redmond Prendiville. In it Stinson pleads with the archbishop to deal with his curate who he warns could ”go to prison” for his dealings with a minor. I was the minor.

This ”smoking gun” document, hidden for 50 years, has been released by the Catholic Archbishop of Perth thanks to the royal commission into religious child sex abuse, which requires the handing over of ”confidential” documents by the church.

Current and previous Perth archbishops had refused to release the document which reveals the activities of a known paedophile priest – Brian Harris, who died last May.

Tim Costelloe, the current archbishop, and Barry Hickey, former archbishop praised him in a glowing obituary.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington City Paper

Posted by Will Sommer on Feb. 12, 2013

With Pope Benedict XVI announcing his resignation yesterday, what would Washington’s most prominent critic of the Catholic Church like to see in his replacement? I visited John Wojnowski, who’s held various molestation scandal-related banners outside the Vatican’s Apostolic Nunciature on Massachusetts Avenue for the past 14 years, to find out.

Wojnowski, who says he was himself molested by a priest as a boy, is hoping that the pope’s replacement is more liberal on issues like celibacy. And while he has a favorite candidate—someone from Latin America—he couldn’t immediately remember his name.

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CONNECTICUT
CT Post

Michael P. Mayko

Published 8:07 pm, Thursday, February 21, 2013

HARTFORD — They spent Christmas in Chicago and the New Year in Las Vegas.

But Valentine’s Day for Chad McCluskey and Kristen Laschober was spent apart in separate jail cells.

The California couple accused of supplying the crystal meth that allegedly kept the Monsignor Kevin Wallin in business was reunited briefly Thursday when they were brought before a U.S. magistrate for their arraignment.

The 61-year old Wallin, who was secretary to two Catholic bishops in Bridgeport, later the popular pastor of St. Peter Church in Danbury, and then St. Augustine’s Cathedral in Bridgeport, was suspended from his priestly duties after church officials became aware of drastic changes in his character and behavior.

Those charges included dressing as a woman and having sex with men in the Bridgeport cathedral’s rectory room.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
SNAP Wisconsin

Dolan testimony could be unsealed April 4 in Milwaukee Federal Bankruptcy Court
Judge Kelley rules on exploring insurance coverage for victims, moves test cases forward
Archdiocesan lawyers, after two years and over 9 million dollars squandered in court, say Archbishop Listecki has no plan yet to submit for reorganization

Statement by Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director (Milwaukee)
CONTACT: 414.429.7259

Milwaukee Federal Bankruptcy judge Susan V. Kelley could rule as early as April 4th to unseal Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s sworn testimony taken yesterday in New York City concerning his management of clergy sex offenders and his transfer of tens of millions of dollars off the books before the Archdiocese of Milwaukee declared bankruptcy two years ago.

The Milwaukee Archdiocese and Dolan have put his testimony, along with that of disgraced former Archbishop Rembert Weakland and other senior Milwaukee church officials under court seal. Also under seal are over 60,000 pages of secret internal church files detailing decades of cover up of child sex crimes by scores of Milwaukee priests. Dolan could release his testimony at any time.

Contrary to the assertions of Dolan’s spokesperson yesterday, his publication of the names of some abusive priests on a Milwaukee Archdiocesan website in 2004 did not provide, according to the Milwaukee court, proper notice to victims and the public that the archdiocese was forthcoming about its involvement with priest molesters, removing them from ministry, and warning the public.

Kelley ruled today on several issues which could affect the outcome of the Milwaukee bankruptcy, now entering its third year, such as, the court, over the objections of the archdiocese, will begin to pursue possible insurance coverage for the 570 cases filed.

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OHIO
Roman Catholic Diocese of Youngtown

Diocese of Youngstown Attemps to Contact All Who Were students at JFK High School in Warren during Brother Baker’s Tenure

Bishop George V. Murry of the Diocese of Youngstown has sent a letter to approximately 1200 adults who were students at John F. Kennedy High School from January to June 1978 and August 1985 to January 1992, asking them to come forward if they have knowledge of abuse by Brother Stephen Baker or were abused themselves.

In January, the Third Order Regular Franciscans and The Diocese of Youngstown announced that Baker had been accused of sexual misconduct with minors. On January 26, 2013, Baker took his own life.

Baker was on loan to the Diocese of Youngstown to teach at John F. Kennedy High School and left the school at the end of the 1991-1992 school year.

“Writing to these former students is something we must do in the interest of achieving full justice,” Murry said. “Sexual abuse of minors is a terrible thing. It burdens us all with disappointment, sadness and deep hurt. For its victims, it can be devastating.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The JC

By Simon Rocker, February 21, 2013

Police have been granted another 36 hours to question Rabbi Chaim Halpern and three other Orthodox men who were arrested on Wednesday morning.

Rabbi Halpern was arrested in connection with investigations into alleged sexual assault and perverting the course of justice.

The other three men are being questioned on suspicion of perverting the course of justice in connection with his arrest.

Rabbi Halpern’s solicitor said: “He categorically denies any allegations of any criminal wrongdoing.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Four men have been arrested by police investigating sexual abuse allegations among the Orthodox Jewish community in north London.

Home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said the BBC understood Rabbi Chaim Halpern, 54, had been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault.

The rabbi, who runs a synagogue in Golders Green, is also being questioned on suspicion of perverting justice.

The BBC has learned Rabbi Halpern was one of four men arrested on Wednesday.

Three men, aged 25, 62 and 64, are also being questioned on suspicion of perverting the course of justice.

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UNITED KINGDOM
AFP

LONDON — A rabbi from an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in London has been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and perverting the course of justice, police and media reports said Thursday.

Police said a 54-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday, and he was named by the BBC and the online Times of Israel newspaper as Rabbi Chaim Halpern, who leads a synagogue in Golders Green in north London.

Halpern has been accused in recent months of sexually abusing women in marriage counselling sessions, which he denies, according to The Jewish Chronicle newspaper.

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Independent

Michael Silke– 22 February 2013

POPE Benedict XVI resigned after receiving an inquiry outlining the influence of “gay officials” in the Vatican, an Italian newspaper has sensationally claimed.

The newspaper ‘La Repubblica’ said that the Pontiff decided to resign the day he received a dossier compiled by three cardinals delegated to look into the ‘Vatileaks’ affair.

This was the scandal whereby the Pope’s own butler stole sensitive internal letters to the Pontiff and passed them off to a journalist, who then published them in a blockbuster book.

The newspaper said the cardinals’ report described a number of factions, including one whose members were “united by sexual orientation”.

‘La Repubblica’ said the dossier identified a series of meeting places for the faction including a villa, sauna, and a beauty parlour – and also alleged blackmail.

It reported that factions in the Vatican were breaking the sixth and seventh commandments – which forbid theft and adultery. The seventh commandment is also linked to forbidding homosexual acts.

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VATICAN CITY
Toronto Star

By:Sandro Contenta
Feature reporter, Published on Thu Feb 21 2013

The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI has been linked to the discovery of a gay “network” in the Vatican that led to some prelates being blackmailed by outsiders.

The potentially explosive claim was made Thursday by the Rome daily La Repubblica. The newspaper said the network was described in a 300-page report presented to the Pope by three cardinals assigned to investigate a series of embarrassing internal leaks that rocked the Vatican last year.

The cardinals interviewed dozens of prelates and lay people in Italy and abroad. Their report describes a Roman Catholic church divided by factions, including a “cross-party network united by sexual orientation,” La Repubblica said.

“For the first time, the word homosexual was pronounced,” the newspaper said, referring to a meeting when the cardinals reported their findings to Pope Benedict.

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VATICAN CITY
Los Angeles Times

By Carol J. Williams
February 22, 2013

It remains to be decided when the Catholic world’s cardinals will lock themselves away in the Sistine Chapel to elect the next pope. But the undeclared candidates to succeed retiring Pope Benedict XVI are already campaigning in the gilded salons of Vatican apartments and over grappa and espresso in restaurant alcoves.

Cardinals have begun descending on the Eternal City to attend Benedict’s last audience at St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday and an informal farewell the next day for the first pope to abdicate in nearly 600 years.

Most will likely remain in Rome until the papal conclave, which under current rules can begin no sooner than March 15. That leaves more than two weeks for the red-robed princes of the faith to caucus and cajole over who among them is best suited to lead the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.

Openly jockeying for the papal miter is frowned on and rarely successful, Vatican watchers note, reciting the cautionary adage that “whoever enters the conclave a pope comes out a cardinal.”

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Independent

22 February 2013

ITALIAN journalists often make Dan Brown look like an amateur when it comes to writing about the Vatican. One has only to read some of the stories they are writing about the Pope’s resignation and about the power struggle to elect the next Pope to see that.

A story published yesterday in a leading Italian daily claimed that a confidential report by three cardinals, detailing the existence of blackmail and a gay lobby in the Vatican, was a major factor in Pope Benedict’s decision to resign.

The conclave, of course, has long lent itself to creative writing because it involves drama, history, power struggles (spiritual and less spiritual ones), perhaps blackmail, as well as the spiritual realities.

At the highest level, the election of a Pope is a deeply spiritual event, a faith experience, not only for the 116 cardinals that will soon cast their votes, but also for the one-in-six of the world’s population that are following it with varying degrees of interest.

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UNITED STATES
Esquire

By Charles P. Pierce

Don’t you just hate it when you’re all set to go on a really cool vacation, and you’ve got the flights booked, and the room facing the ocean reserved, and the wine is already chilling in anticpiation of your arrival, and then something comes up at work and gets all in the way?

Cardinal Dolan is one of two American cardinals who are being deposed in sexual abuse lawsuits this week, and who plan to travel to Rome next week in advance of the proceedings to elect the successor to Pope Benedict XVI, who stunned the world last week with the announcement that he was resigning effective Feb. 28. The other American is Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, the retired archbishop of Los Angeles. He is expected to be deposed on Saturday in Los Angeles, and he has been under fire since the court-ordered release last month of 12,000 pages of internal church files revealing his role in shielding accused priests from the law.

Dolan’s bad enough. He’s been the point cleric in the phony “religious freedom” campaign against the Affordable Care Act because it is oppression on a Diocletian scale to allow the Presbyterian scrubwomen in the employ of Catholic institutions to get ladyparts medicine of which several dead popes did not approve.

(I am not kidding, one of the arguments that poor, dithering Paul VI actually took seriously prior to publishing Humanae Vitae, the justifiably ignored encyclical banning artificial birth control, was that, if he took the advice of his own commission and reversed the Church’s policy, then he would be intimating that many of his defunct predecessors were…wrong! The Faithful would be scandalized! Actually, the Faithful ignored a claque of meddling celibates went right on fking without the possible transmission of life — which is to say, for the fun of it.)

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: ROSE FRENCH , Star Tribune
Updated: February 21, 2013

Minnesota author was in Rome to promote his behind-the-scenes book on the papacy when the pope announced his resignation.

John Thavis finds himself at a rare moment in history. A journalist and author who has written about the Vatican for nearly 30 years, Thavis arrived in Rome just hours before Pope Benedict’s unexpected resignation.

“I’m just amazed,” the Minnesota native said during a phone interview this week from Rome, where he served as bureau chief for the U.S.-based Catholic News Service before retiring nearly a year ago. He returned to Rome to promote his new book, “The Vatican Diaries.”

“When I walked into the press office, all my old colleagues looked at me and said, ‘You knew.’ But I didn’t really.”

Since Benedict’s announcement that he will step down Feb. 28, Thavis, 62, has emerged as a key Vatican expert. His book, a behind-the-scenes account of the personalities and politics of Vatican life, went on sale Thursday and is getting an unexpected boost from the pope’s news.

“My publisher is very happy about the timing,” Thavis dryly quipped.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

LISTEN UP, PLEASE, ALL VOTING CARDINALS!

If Cardinals in a few weeks elect a new Pope without first getting a public commitment from him to convene promptly a non-Curial commission to address specified structural and pastoral reforms, they will miss a unique opportunity to save the Catholic Church from likely collapse and themselves from possible prosecution. The Vatican Cardinals clique, with ex-Cardinal Ratzinger a stone’s throw away, will then just finish sinking the Vatican Titanic that much faster, amidst the seemingly unending and substantially unaddressed scandals of child abuse cover-ups, sexual blackmail, financial corruption and managerial incompetence.

No matter who is elected, he will like his last two predecessors be just another pawn of the Vatican clique. When the other Cardinals return home, it will be business as usual, as clearly happened in the half-century following the Second Vatican Council.

These are just some of the prospective challenges facing the next Pope, who will surely be bogged down for years in ongoing worldwide governmental investigations, civil litigation and criminal prosecutions of the Church’s hierarchy that are now beginning to mushroom. These challenges will be compounded by the heavy burden of the dark legacy left by ex-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, so concisely summarized this week by one of his inquisitorial victims, Dominican priest, Matthew Fox, a student of key Vatican II theologian, M.-D. Chenu, accessible here:

[Huffington Post]

Here’s what well-advised Cardinals who want to survive can and should do, in my view as an experienced international lawyer and lifelong Catholic.

First, they must read my unheeded advice to Pope Benedict XVI in the Washington Post in 2010, accessible here:

[Washington Post] …

We all have a moral obligation to protect children and signing a petition is a simple, yet potentially effective, way towards meeting that obligation. Please take a minute and sign it at:

[Click here for the petition]

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WASHINGTON
Q13

EVERETT — An associate pastor at the First Baptist Church in Everett has been charged with soliciting a minor for sex, according to court documents.

John Lawlor, 54, is accused of responding to an advertisement on the Casual Encounters website. Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg contends in court documents that Lawlor paid, or agreed to pay, a 16-year-old girl for sex.

After communicating with who he believed was the 16-year-old — and agreeing to pay $200 for sex — Lawlor went to meet the girl, who turned out to be an undercover Seattle police detective.

After meeting with police, Lawlor reportedly admitted to trying to pay the girl for sex. He was booked into King County Jail and bail has been set at $50,000.

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WASHINGTON
KIRO

EVERETT, Wash. —

A pastor of an Everett church is accused of trying to pay a teenage girl for sex.

Probable cause documents said 54-year-old John K. Lawlor responded to an online ad placed by a Seattle police vice detective posing as a 16-year-old girl.

Police said Lawlor believed he was chatting with the teen when he arranged to pay her $200 in exchange for sex.

Documents said Lawlor arranged to pick up the fictitious girl in the Northgate area Tuesday and then drive her to his home in Everett, court papers said.

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HAWAII
KHON

Reported by: Jai Cunningham
Email: jcunningham@khon2.com

The Catholic Diocese of Hawaii and a number of Catholic schools and churches are being sued after six people claim they were sexually abused at the institutions.

The abuse allegedly happened in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.

One victim claims he was abused when he was an altar boy at Kailua Church.

“Pretty certain that these kinds of abuse that took place in my early childhood has affected me tremendously,” alleged sex assault victim Greg Owen said.

The victims are seeking monetary damages.

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HAWAII
Hawaii News Now

[with video]

By Ben Gutierrez

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) –

Six men have filed suit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, claiming they were abused by members of the clergy in Hawaii.

The lawsuit identifies the six only by their initials. But one of the men, Greg Owen, spoke out Thursday, saying that he was abused by Father Edward Mueth and Father Joseph Henry at St. Anthony’s Church and School in Kailua, where he was an altar boy and student. He said the abuse began in the 1950s when he was eight years old, and has affected his adult life.

“I’ve been an alcoholic, and among other things I’ve had difficulties in relationships, in intimate relationships,” said Owen, who’s now a 62-year-old farmer in Pahoa.

The lawsuit names the Diocese, as well as the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, the Congregation of Christian Brothers in Hawaii, and the Fathers and Brothers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. It alleges abuse in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s by five Hawaii-based clergy stationed at St. Anthony’s, St. Patrick’s Church in Kaimuki and Damien Memorial School in Kalihi. It also alleges abuse by a teacher at St. Louis High School.

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UNITED STATES
TCPalm

Joseph F. O’Callaghan is professor emeritus of medieval history at Fordham University in New York City and a member of Voice of the Faithful, an organization of progressive Catholics formed in 2

Posted February 22, 2013

Pope Benedict XVI wisely decided to resign the papacy Feb. 28 because he recognized that, given his advanced age and lessened physical capacity, he could not meet the challenges of the office. Catholics can commend him for his many long years of service to the church as a theologian, priest, bishop and pope.

The election of a new pope will likely take place in mid-March. Whoever is elected by the cardinals will face enormous challenges. Today a terrible malaise hangs over the church.

More and more people, especially young people, abandon the church, which no longer inspires them.

The credibility of the bishops and of the Vatican has been compromised by their cover up of clerical pedophilia.

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VATICAN CITY
Chiesa

VATICAN CITY, February 22, 2013 – Among the last acts of governance of Benedict XVI, a substantial impact in the media has been created by the appointments concerning the Institute for Works of Religion, the financial institution based in the Vatican that holds deposits, as of November 2011, totaling 6.3 billion euro, on behalf of 20,772 clients.

To begin, on February 15 the Vatican press office announced the name of the new president of the supervisory board of the IOR.

The announcement was made in a statement from the Vatican press office that was also published on page 2 of “L’Osservatore Romano” dated February 16.

“The cardinalate commission of oversight of the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR),” the note states, “has provided for the appointment, in keeping with the statutes, of the new president of the board of supervision in the person of the attorney Ernst von Freyberg. The other four members of the board of supervision maintain their positions.”

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DEUTSCHLAND
General-Anzeiger

Von K. Rüdiger Durth, z. Zt. Trier
Auf der gestern zu Ende gegangenen Frühjahrs-Vollversammlung der 66 katholischen Bischöfe ist etwas in Bewegung geraten, von dem man jetzt noch nicht sagen kann, wo es endet: So soll die katholische Kirche nicht nur ein “weiblicheres Gesicht” durch mehr Frauen in Leitungsfunktionen erhalten, sondern man lässt auch durch die eingeschränkte Freigabe der “Pille danach” vergewaltigte Frauen nicht länger ohne konkrete Hilfe und respektiert “auf jeden Fall” ihre Entscheidung.

Erneut wird der sexuelle Missbrauch von Kindern und Jugendlichen als “schwere Sünde” bezeichnet und es wird versichert, dass die Kirche auch in diesem Fall “der Wahrheit ans Licht verhelfen will, auch wenn diese noch so schmerzlich ist.”

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DEUTSCHLAND
Brennpunkt Ortenau

Missbraucht, verleumdet und hingehalten: Nachdem Pfarrer Franz B. sich etwa 400 Mal an ihm verging, kämpfte Raphael Hildebrandt jahrelang um eine Entschädigung. Daran, dass die katholische Kirche tatsächlich an einer Aufklärung interessiert ist, glaubt er schon lange nicht mehr.

Brennpunkt Ortenau: Die katholische Kirche hat ja nun Christian Pfeiffer und seinem Kriminologischen Forschungsinstitut den Arbeitsauftrag für die Missbrauchsstudie entzogen. Beide Parteien werden sich nun wohl vor Gericht streiten und werfen sich einiges vor. Wem sollte man aus Ihrer Sicht eher glauben?

Raphael Hildebrandt: Ich habe das Interview gesehen vom Missbrauchsbeauftragten der katholischen Kirche, Stefan Ackermann. Ich schenke ihm keinen Glauben mehr. Fakt ist aus meiner Sicht, dass sie eigentlich gar keine Aufklärung wollen. Das Mandat ist einfach zurückgezogen worden, weil sie wahrscheinlich wissen, was noch rauskommen würde. Wenn ich schon so etwas höre: Die Kirche ist enttäuscht worden. Also da muss ich eben gerade lachen, wenn ich daran denke, wie sie mit uns umgegangen sind. Das war wirklich menschenverachtend, was die da mit uns getrieben haben.

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BELGIEN
Kipa-Apic

Brüssel, 21.2.13 (Kipa) Belgische Missbrauchsopfer wollen mit einer Petition gegen eine Teilnahme des ehemaligen Brüsseler Kardinals Godfried Danneels (79) am Konklave protestieren. Er sei bei der Papstwahl fehl am Platz, weil er wegen seines Verhaltens während des Missbrauchsskandals in Belgien keine moralische Autorität mehr besitze, sagte der Vorsitzende der Arbeitsgruppe “Menschenrechte in der Kirche”, Rik Deville, der Tageszeitung “De Standaard” (Donnerstag). Die Gruppe vertritt mehr als 800 Opfer sexuellen Missbrauchs. Danneels ist der derzeit einzige stimmberechtigte Kardinal aus Belgien.

Vorbild der Initiative ist eine US-amerikanische Internet-Petition der Organisation “Catholics United”. Sie will die Teilnahme von Kardinal Roger Mahony (76), dem früheren Erzbischof von Los Angeles, verhindern. Ihm wird ebenfalls Vertuschung von Missbrauchsfällen vorgeworfen. Der Vatikan hatte am Dienstag klar gestellt, dass jeder Kardinal unter 80 Jahren das Recht und die Pflicht habe, an der Papstwahl teilzunehmen.

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IRLAND
Welt

Von Martin Alioth

Der Staat war 74 Jahre lang Nutznießer systematischer Ausbeutung, Zwangsarbeit und Unmenschlichkeit

Nun will die irische Regierung die noch lebenden 1000 betroffenen Frauen rehabilitieren

Ich war eine Sklavin”, erzählt Julie McClure. Früher, so sagt sie, hätte sie dieses Wort allerdings nicht gebraucht. Mit 13 Jahren wurde das Mädchen aus Kilkenny nach Dublin verfrachtet, in ein “Ausbildungszentrum” in der Stanhope Street, das von Nonnen geführt wurde. Ihr Lehrer in Kilkenny hatte ihre Mutter dazu überredet. Julie sprach diese Woche im irischen Rundfunk. Sie habe gehofft, für einen “netten Bürojob” ausgebildet zu werden oder gar zur Lehrerin. Ihre Familie war bettelarm – als sie in Dublin ankam, besaß sie außer ihren Kleidern gerade mal einen Schreibstift und einen Block, um Briefe nach Hause zu schreiben. Die wurden ihr gleich weggenommen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Brigitte

BRIGITTE: Welche Hoffnungen haben Sie für die Zukunft?

Ursula Enders: Wissen Sie, in dem Punkt bin ich sehr bescheiden. Ich wünsche mir nur, dass die Politik ein ganz einfaches Menschenrecht umsetzt: Das Recht auf Hilfe in Notlagen. Aktuell betroffenen Kindern und Jugendlichen muss genauso geholfen werden wie erwachsenen Betroffenen, die in der Kindheit missbraucht wurden. Andernfalls macht sich die Politik im moralischen Sinne der unterlassenen Hilfeleistung schuldig.

Zur Person:
Ursula Enders, geboren 1953, ist Diplom-Pädagogin und Traumatherapeutin. Als Lehrerin an einer katholischen Schule und als Koordinatorin der Sozialpädagogischen Familienhilfe kam sie bereits in den Siebzigern das erste Mal mit Fällen sexualisierter Gewalt in Berührung. Mitte der Achtziger spezialisierte sie sich auf die Beratung und Therapie kindlicher Opfer und die Prävention sexuellen Missbrauchs. Seit Anfang der Neunziger setzt sie sich besonders mit dem Missbrauch in Institutionen auseinander und hat verschiedenste Einrichtungen bei der Aufdeckung und Verarbeitung von sexuellem Missbrauch begleitet.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Evangelisch

Bundesjustizministerin Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (FDP) hat bedauert, dass die katholische Deutsche Bischofskonferenz noch keinen neuen Verantwortlichen für die geplante Missbrauchsstudie bestimmt hat.

Der “Neuen Osnabrücker Zeitung” (Freitagsausgabe) sagte sie, auch müssten jetzt “den Ankündigungen Taten folgen und die Archive für unabhängige Experten geöffnet werden”.

Die Bischöfe hatten auf ihrer am Donnerstag beendeten Frühjahrsvollversammlung zur Fortsetzung der Studie keinen Beschluss gefasst. Die Kirche hatte die wissenschaftliche Aufarbeitung des Missbrauchsskandals in ihren Reihen durch den Kriminologen Christian Pfeiffer Anfang des Jahres gestoppt. Grund sei ein “zerstörtes Vertrauensverhältnis”, hieß es. Mit wem die Untersuchung fortgesetzt werden soll, ist bisher offen.

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GERMANY
Yahoo! News

By Stephen Brown | Reuters

BERLIN (Reuters) – The Roman Catholic Church in Germany said on Thursday it would permit certain types of “morning-after pill” for raped women, after two hospitals provoked an outcry for refusing to treat a rape victim.

The German Bishops’ Conference said church-run hospitals would now ensure proper medical, psychological and emotional care for rape victims – including administering pills that prevent pregnancy without inducing an abortion.

Archbishop Robert Zollitsch said a four-day meeting of German bishops in the western town of Trier had “confirmed that women who have been victims of rape will get the proper human, medical, psychological and pastoral care”.

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HAWAII
The Republic

By ANITA HOFSCHNEIDER Associated Press
February 21, 2013

HONOLULU — A Big Island farmer and five others who say they were sexually abused by clergy are suing the Catholic diocese in Honolulu and other related religious institutions to pressure them to change policies to prevent future abuse.

A lawsuit filed Thursday is asking for more than just money. Greg Owen and others want the church to release victims from confidentiality requirements in past abuse settlements, create a phone hotline for victims, and encourage others to come forward and report abuse.

Owen says he was 8 when he was sexually abused by Catholic priests while serving as an altar boy at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Kailua. He said he knew it was wrong but felt he couldn’t tell anyone.

“Even if I fully understood what was happening, my father was a Marine,” said Owen, 62. “There was no way I could talk to him about it.”

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UNITED STATES
The New York Times

By FRANCIS X. CLINES

Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles wants to participate in the election of the next Pope, and it seems likely that he will get his wish — even though he covered up child abuse when he was archbishop of Los Angeles and was officially relieved of public church duties at the end of January. Judging from the cardinal’s personal blog, if he travels to Rome he will arrive prayerfully accepting his role in the scandal — the role of “scapegoat.” He said on Wednesday that he is sustained lately by spiritual writings that focus on “the acceptance of being scapegoated, pointing out the necessary connection between humiliation and redemption.” It seems possible, however, that he prefers the role of martyr: “This scandal is putting us, the clergy and the church, where we belong — with the excluded ones; Jesus was painted with the same brush as the two thieves crucified with him.”

For some, the cardinal represents nothing so theologically subtle. He’s just a plain embarrassment. One cardinal said his presence at the coming conclave would be “disturbing.” But Cardinal Mahony has every right and duty to be there, according to other church officials, including the current archbishop of Los Angeles, Jose Gomez, who had to rebuke his predecessor when records came to light detailing how the cardinal protected rogue priests.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Ms. Magazine

February 21, 2013 By Barbara Blaine

In the past few weeks, Los Angeles has been awash with news about decades of priest abuse after of the release of thousands of internal documents from the local Catholic archdiocese showing that former Archbishop (now Cardinal) Roger Mahoney had shielded abuser priests from law enforcement. In response, current L.A. Archbishop José Gomez relieved Mahony of all administrative and public duties and forced the resignation of Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Curry, Mahoney’s former vicar of clergy, who was part of the coverup. Despite the overwhelming evidence of how he protected priests from prosecution, Mahoney now whines on his blog about his own victimization.

Cardinal Mahony’s recent blog posts follow the typical pattern we have seen for decades–namely, a predator abuses, an enabler (usually the bishop) helps to shield and then transfers the predator. When they are found out, they both claim to be the victims.

I first saw this pattern in my own case in the 1980s when my perpetrator [a priest] cried “victim” as he was exposed to his superiors. However, they already knew of his abuses. The provincial and bishop claimed to be helpless to deal with my perpetrator and pretended to be victims alongside me. Apparently, my perpetrator had promised them that he wouldn’t do “it” anymore, they claimed that they trusted him and felt betrayed.

The 1990s saw more of this behavior from many perpetrators and bishops, including Mahony. He met with SNAP members [the author is founder and president of SNAP, the Survivor’s Network of Those Abused by Priests] in 1992, later claiming it was the most moving experience of his career. He pretended that he and other bishops now understood abuse, and henceforth would remove predators from ministry.

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UNITED STATES
Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk
Feb 22, 2013

Bill Donohue is up in arms against the New York Times for giving the business to bad Catholic priests while shielding bad rabbis. I fear Bill has overlooked some important coverage.

The casus belli is N.R. Kleinfeld’s story on Msgr. Kevin Wallin, who in three years fell from star of the Bridgeport hierarchy to alleged drug-dealing gay sex orgiast. A classic tale of decline and fall, the 2,745-word feature ran on the front page of Wednesday’s Times. Plus there was a 751-word article that ran on page A-19 a month ago.

Meanwhile, Donohue points out, two New York rabbis have been arrested this year for sex offenses against teenagers, and all the news about them that’s fit to print is one inside story each, with a combined total of but 828 words. Obviously, the Times (Jewish-owned, dontcha know), is sticking it to the Catholics, covering for the Jews.

But soft. There, in the last graph, he notes that the arrest of one of the accused rabbis

came less than two weeks after another member of his ultra-Orthodox Jewish group, an unlicensed therapist, was sentenced to 103 years in prison for sexually abusing a young woman from the time she was 12. By the way, a rabbi who publicly criticized this rapist had a cup of bleach thrown at him, burning his eyes and face. It never made the front page of any newspaper.

Ah yes, that would be Satmar rabbi Nechamya Weberman. Back on December 11, the Times devoted just 671 words on page 30 to the bleach-throwing incident. As it happens, the incident was also mentioned in a same-day editorial, which proclaimed that Weberman’s conviction “sends a strong and overdue message to Williamsburg’s tightly knit ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood, which has shielded such abusers from legal scrutiny.”

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Mark LaFlamme, Sun Journal

SABATTUS, Maine — A High Street man was in the county jail Thursday accused of sexually abusing a girl over a period of four years beginning when she was 9 years old.

A church youth worker helped lead police to 33-year-old Michael Gagnier, of 20 High St., who was arrested Tuesday in Lewiston on a charge of gross sexual assault. He was being held at the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn on $50,000 cash bail.

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WASHINGTON
Seattle PI

One of the pastors at Everett’s First Baptist Church was arrested Tuesday night after going to meet a teenage girl he thought would have sex with him, authorities said.

Instead, John K. Lawlor was arrested by Seattle police in an operation that included members of the vice unit.

Lawlor is suspected of expecting to pay for sex with who he thought was a teenage girl, police said. The planned meeting place was a short drive from Northgate Mall. He was charged Thursday with commercial sexual abuse of a minor.

The phony ad was placed by a detective on Feb. 8 and the pastor responded a short time later from a Gmail account, according to court documents. Police say a conversation about price and availability ensued.

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WASHINGTON
Herald

Herald staff

EVERETT — An Everett pastor is being accused of trying to pay a 16-year-old girl for sex.

King County prosecutors Thursday charged John K. Lawlor, 54, with commercial sexual abuse of a minor. Lawlor, who told police he is an associate pastor with First Baptist Church in Everett, was arrested Tuesday.

He bailed out of the King County Jail on Wednesday.

Prosecutors allege that Lawlor was caught during a sting operation by Seattle police detectives. Lawlor allegedly began making arrangements online to pay for sex. Police led him to believe he was chatting with a 16-year-old girl. Court papers said Lawlor allegedly agreed to meet the girl Tuesday in Seattle, near Northgate. Police say he planned to pick up the girl and drive her to his home in Everett. He agreed to pay her $200 for sex, prosecutors wrote.

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WASHINGTON
The Seattle Times

By Christine Clarridge
Seattle Times staff reporter

One of the pastors at Everett’s First Baptist Church was charged Thursday in King County Superior Court with commercial sexual abuse of a minor for allegedly arranging to meet a teenage girl he expected to pay for sex, according to court documents.

John K. Lawlor, 54, was arrested Tuesday evening after police said he made arrangements to meet a person he believed was a 16-year-old girl and then drove to Seattle with $200, condoms and his cellphone.

Lawlor posted the $50,000 bond set at his first appearance Wednesday and is expected to be arraigned March 7, prosecutors said.

Lawlor could not be reached Thursday. A spokesman for the church said he had voluntarily tendered his resignation.

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HAWAII
Honolulu Civil Beat

From a press release Thursday (Feb. 21):

Honolulu attorneys Charles McKay and Randall Rosenberg … filed suit Thursday (Feb. 21) in the First Circuit Court against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu and others to seek justice and healing for their clients, including Greg Owen, a clergy sex abuse survivor. The collective action suit alleges abuse in the 1950s, 60s and 70s by five Hawaii-based clergy stationed at St. Anthony’s Church in Kailua, St. Patrick’s Church in Kaimuki and Damien Memorial School in Kalihi. The suit also alleges abuse by a teacher at Saint Louis School. …

Owen brings claims against Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu and Maryknoll Fathers for alleged sexual abuse perpetrated by Catholic priests Father Mueth and Father Joseph Henry (pictured) in the 1950s while he was a student and altar boy at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Kailua, Hawaii. The lawsuit notes that during his time at St. Anthony’s in Kailua, Owen was trained as an altar boy. It states that Owen was subjected to abuse that included ”hugging PLAINTIFF while pressing their genitals against PLAINTIFF’s body. Father Mueth on repeated occasions exposed his genitalia and rubbed his exposed genitalia on PLAINTIFF’s face, head and shoulder, in an apparent attempt to coerce PLAINTIFF to perform oral sex. …”

“I was just a kid, only 8 years old, when they molested me. I looked up to them as holy men of God and I trusted them. But, instead of protecting me, they hurt me in the worst possible way,” said Greg Owen. …

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HAWAII
KITV

HONOLULU —Hawaii residents who were alleged victims of sex abuse at the hands of clergy are suing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu and related religious institutions.

The six plaintiffs want the church to implement specific policies to stop abuse from happening.

One of the accusers is Greg Owen, former altar boy at St. Anthony’s in Kailua. Owen claims sexual abuse from Catholic priests Father Mueth and Father Joseph Henry in the 1950s.

“I was just a kid, only 8 years old, when they molested me. I looked up to them as holy men of God and I trusted them. But, instead of protecting me, they hurt me in the worst possible way,” said Owen. “After many years of being ashamed, embarrassed and keeping silent, I decided to come forward today to do my part to make sure it never happens to anyone else again. I want other Hawaii victims out there to know that it happened to me, too, and I understand how they feel. A new Hawaii law gives us the chance to fix this and I hope they join me in this fight to try to get back a normal life.”

The suit filed Thursday asks the church to create a hotline for victims. It also requests the church to release victims from confidentially requirements in past abuse settlements.

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CALIFORNIA
News 10

Submitted by Suzanne Phan, Reporter/ Multi-media Journalist

Thursday, February 21st

SACRAMENTO, CA – A head football coach at a Catholic high school in Vallejo has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the school and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento.

Chris Cerbone and four other coaches were fired last month, and five football players were expelled after reporting sexual abuse and hazing on the team. Now Cerbone is filing suit.

He said he reported the alleged abuse because he wanted to stop it and to protect the students from any further harm. He says it was a complete shock to be fired for doing the right thing.

“I found out about it. I did the right thing. I reported it. I’m the one who’s without a job,” said Cerbone last month after being fired from St. Patrick-St. Vincent Catholic High School.

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HAWAII
Pacific Business News

Jenna Blakely
General Assignment Reporter- Pacific Business News

Six Hawaii men are suing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu and several religious orders, claiming they were sexually abused by five priests and one teacher years ago.

One of the men, Greg Owen, a Big Island farmer, appeared at a news conference Thursday arranged by Honolulu law firm Rosenberg & McKay, which filed the lawsuit in First Circuit Court. The other five plaintiffs were not identified.

Other defendants named in the lawsuit are the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, the Congregation of Christian Brothers of Hawaii Inc., and the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, dba The Fathers and Brothers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

Patrick Downes, a spokesman for the diocese, declined comment on the lawsuit, which alleges abuse dating back to the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

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HAWAII
San Antonio Express-News

HONOLULU (AP) — A Big Island farmer and five others who say they were sexually abused by clergy are suing the Catholic diocese in Honolulu and other related religious institutions to pressure them to change policies to prevent future abuse.

A lawsuit filed Thursday is asking for more than just money. Greg Owen and others want the church to release victims from confidentiality requirements in past abuse settlements, create a phone hotline for victims, and encourage others to come forward and report abuse.

Owen says he was 8 when he was sexually abused by Catholic priests while serving as an altar boy at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Kailua. He said he knew it was wrong but felt he couldn’t tell anyone.

“Even if I fully understood what was happening, my father was a Marine,” said Owen, 62. “There was no way I could talk to him about it.”

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
CNN

MILWAUKEE (CNN) — He’s the top Roman Catholic figure in the United States, the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and one of the princes of the church who will decide on a new pope.

But Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, is now under fire for how his old archdiocese in Milwaukee shifted money as it faced lawsuits by victims of sexual abuse by priests in Wisconsin.

Dolan sat for a deposition with lawyers for some of the victims on Wednesday, the New York archdiocese confirmed. He was Milwaukee’s archbishop from 2002 to 2009, a period in which the archdiocese moved $55 million into a fund for cemetery maintenance and as much as $74 million to a fund for individual parishes.

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VIRGINIA
WUSA

[with video]

BURKE, Va. (WUSA9) — It happened 40 years ago when Becky Ianni was in elementary school and her priest was so close a friend of her family he joined them on vacations.

He also Sexually abused Becky, causing trauma that lasted well into her adulthood.

“I found myself on the bathroom floor crying, not wanting to live, not wanting to wake up the next day, you know, just being so ashamed, so embarrassed,” she told WUSA-9, as she explained the feelings she lived with for decades.

“I felt like he was a priest, he was sent by God. He was sent by authority. I was told to stand up when he entered a room. I was told to listen to him. I was told what he said came directly from God, and that was where my salvation came from, and, as a little girl, the only way I could get to heaven was through a priest, and then he abused me, so I felt it must be my fault. I felt like God was punishing me,” she said.

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HOUSTON (TX)
KHOU

{with video]

by Jeremy Desel / KHOU 11 News

HOUSTON — One of the voices debating the selection of the next pope is from right here in Houston.

Cardinal Daniel Dinardo will not just be in the room when the next pope is chosen, he will be locked in to vote.

“It will be an awesome moment and a moment of intense responsibility. I think that is when I will really sense it,” DInardo said. …

“We want to select a pope of some stamina and physical strength because it is just the nature of the office of Peter and the Church now,” says Dinardo.

The modern pope is part spiritual leader, but all globe trotter.

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CHILE
Terra

El sacerdote Cristián Precht anunció que no apelará a la sanción impuesta por la Iglesia tras la investigación efectuada por las acusaciones de delitos sexuales que se le imputan.

“En la esperanza de poner término a estos cuestionamientos y tensiones, y manteniendo mi convicción de inocencia de los delitos que se me atribuyen, he decidido no apelar ante la CDF y asumir con obediencia las sanciones impuestas por mi obispo”, señala un comunicado del ex Vicario de la Solidaridad.

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CHILE
La Tercera

Monseñor Cristián Precht anunció que no apelará a sanción por caso de abusos

En un comunicado publicado esta tarde, Monseñor Cristián Precht indicó que no apelará a la resolución del Vaticano en el proceso canónico por abusos sexuales que se seguía en su contra.

La Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe, determinó que el presbítero cometió “conductas abusivas” con mayores y menores de edad.

La resolución establece que Precht no puede “administrar el sacramento de la confesión y la dirección espiritual a jóvenes y menores de edad. Asimismo, el presbítero fijará la residencia de común acuerdo con la autoridad eclesiástica; deberá pedir autorización para ausentarse del país; y llevará una vida de oración y penitencia”.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
KKOB

(NEW YORK) — Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony has made it clear that he plans to attend the upcoming conclave to elect a new pope. His decision has received widespread criticism.

“It sends the wrong message,” said Ken Smolka, one of hundreds of people who were sexually abused by priests in America’s largest archdiocese. “If Mahony helps choose the new pope, what it says is, ‘Nothing has changed.’”

Mahony is the latest Roman Catholic prelate to have his moral authority compromised because of his poor handling of the sexual abuse scandal during the 1980s and ’90s.

The scandal in Los Angeles is similar to the scandal in Boston that eventually led Cardinal Bernard Law to resign as archbishop of Boston. One key difference is that, for years, Cardinal Mahony successfully fought the release of key personnel documents relating to his administration’s handling of abuse cases. Ultimately, a judge ordered their release.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Wisconsin Public Radio

Feb 21, 2013

Former Milwaukee Archbishop – now New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan was questioned for several hours on Wednesday, about his handling of clergy sex abuse cases in Milwaukee. Dolan led Catholics here from 2002-2009.

The deposition is part of the Milwaukee Archdiocese’s bankruptcy proceedings. It filed for bankruptcy under Dolan’s successor, wanting to bring closure to the lawsuits process. Nearly 500 people here have filed claims against church priests and others, alleging sexual abuse.

A church Attorney said Dolan answered questions about his decision to publicize the names of priests facing credible accusations of child molestation over the decades.

Members of SNAP – Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests says it will push to make Dolan’s deposition public.

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NEW YORK
New York Daiy News

By Gyneth Sick In Rome AND Christina Boyle / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, February 21, 2013

ITALY IS warming to the idea of a New York pope.

The national daily Corriere della Sera lists Timothy Cardinal Dolan as one of the favorites to succeed Pope Benedict.

Insiders have long said the Vatican has an unwritten rule that no American will ever head the Catholic Church but the nation’s fourth largest daily, Il Messaggero, said the Holy See may be seeing the light.

“If the church’s new evangelization will come through a smile not a frown, maybe Dolan is the best candidate of all,” Il Messaggero writes.

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AUSTRALIA
The Telegraph

CARDINAL George Pell says he will vote for someone with long-term vision and media and managerial skills when he gets to Rome to help elect the new pope.

The Sydney-based Cardinal will be flying to The Vatican tomorrow to join more than 100 cardinals from across the world to elect a new head of the Catholic Church following Pope Benedict’s resignation.

They meet at the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City and will remain there until a decision is made.

“We want somebody with vision, able to plan for the future, who can take charge with the media and speak to the world, especially to those who half believe or don’t believe at all” Cardinal Pell told the Inner West Courier during his visit to St Vincent’s Catholic Primary School in Ashfield today.

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OHIO
NorthwestOhio.com

by Kevin Kistner

TOLEDO — A Toledo priest convicted of murdering a nun more than 30 years ago will not be getting a new trial. At least not now.

A state appeals court in Toledo has again upheld Father Gerald Robinson’s conviction and rejected his request for a new trial.

His attorney says police reports found after his trial ended in 2006 could have changed the outcome of the case. Robinson was convicted that year of murdering Sister Margaret Ann Pahl inside the old Mercy Hospital chapel back in 1980.

The two worked together there. He was the hospital chaplain and even presided over her funeral.

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MISSISSIPPI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on February 21, 2013

At a public meeting today of the Mississippi Board of Pharmacy, the board accepted the voluntarily revocation of Rev. John Langworthy’s pharmacy license. Last month, Langworthy pled guilty to charges involving the sexual abuse of five boys between 1980 and 1984.

Langworthy was licensed as a Pharmacy Technician on November 28, 2011.

We are grateful for this decision,” said Mark Belenchia, SNAP’s Mississippi leader. “This will keep him out of a position that gives him authority and access to drugs that he could to abuse more kids. Consequently, kids in Mississippi are safer.”

“We are disappointed that he got a license in the first place,” said Amy Smith of Houston, a former colleague of Langworthy’s at a church there. “We still want the Pharmacy Board to explain how this happened and thoroughly review its procedures so that a child molester is not able to do this again. Vigilance must be the priority in the protection of children, so just because this one predator lost his license does not mean the process is fixed.

SNAP leaders are concerned because in order to get his license, Langworthy would have needed to pass a background check in order to prove he is of “good moral character.”

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on February 21, 2013

“How does he keep a straight face?” That’s the question I often think about the public relations staffers who work for Catholic officials.

Take Joseph Zwilling, the PR man for New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan. Here’s what Zwilling released yesterday about his boss’ deposition in clergy sex crimes cases:

“Today Cardinal Dolan had the long-awaited opportunity to talk about his decision nine years ago in Milwaukee to publicize the names of priests who had abused children and how he responded to the tragedy of past clergy sexual abuse of minors. . .”

[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

Long-awaited? Really?

Ever met anyone who really looked forward to being deposed by a hostile lawyer in a child sex case?

Dolan’s a chatty guy. He blogs a lot. He gives lots of interviews. Maybe we missed it, but we don’t recall even once hearing Dolan say “Geez, I’m just dying to sit in a room for hours, surrounded by lawyers, and face questions under oath about predator priests. . .”

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VATICAN CITY
The Guardian (United Kingdom)

John Hooper in Rome
The Guardian, Thursday 21 February 2013

A potentially explosive report has linked the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI to the discovery of a network of gay prelates in the Vatican, some of whom – the report said – were being blackmailed by outsiders.

The pope’s spokesman declined to confirm or deny the report, which was carried by the Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica.

The paper said the pope had taken the decision on 17 December that he was going to resign – the day he received a dossier compiled by three cardinals delegated to look into the so-called “Vatileaks” affair.

Last May Pope Benedict’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, was arrested and charged with having stolen and leaked papal correspondence that depicted the Vatican as a seething hotbed of intrigue and infighting.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic4Change

February 21, 2013 by Susan Matthews

Click here to read: “U.N. Faults U.S. for Failure to Prosecute Abusive Clerics,” by Caleb Bell, Religion News Service, Huffington Post, 2/20/2013

Excerpt: Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said that the hierarchy does a “huge amount” in order to prevent sex abuse within the church — much of it learned after the abuse scandal came to light.

Editor’s note: Those “audits” were taking place before the release of the Philadelphia Grand Jury Report in 2011 and did absolutely nothing to expose the cover ups here or elsewhere in the US. Sister Mary Ann, please wake up. As their spokesperson, you are providing another example of the skirts hiding behind a skirt. This isn’t a problem of the past – it’s ongoing. We can and should educate our children, but if adults don’t do the right thing, it doesn’t matter.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The cardinal who was previously in charge of Vatican relations with other faiths thinks the Pope’s role needs rethinking

Vatican Insider staff
Rome

Ratzinger’s resignation has “shed new light on the papacy” because the essence, the nature of the Petrine ministry is given by Jesus and cannot be changed” but “what changes is the sacred aura that surrounds the papacy which has mainly been gained over the past two centuries” and “has been lost some extent,” Cardinal Walter Kasper explained to Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper. Cardinal Kasper, who was previously in charge of Vatican relations with other faiths, believes “the Pope’s role needs rethinking.”

What the Church also needs to do is “rethink the relationship between the Curia and local churches, how to hold communion and how to improve communication within the Church.” “It is essential that the Curia be organised in a more suitable way so that it is better placed to face the challenges of our time. Coordination between dicasteries needs to be improved, there needs to be more collegiality and better communication.” The Church also needs to reflect on the role of the synods because sometimes when bishops meet, the topics addressed are too generic and they fail to discuss the concrete issues faced by the Church.” A Church which is being affected by a growing secularisation in Europe. We know that most Catholics live in the southern hemisphere. This is a new situation and presents new challenge.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

At a press briefing this morning, Fr. Federico Lombardi provided some updates and clarified a few things. The start date for the Conclave has not yet been decided

Alessandro Speciale
Vatican City

“Profound and and positive” is how Vatican spokesman, Fr. Federico Lombardi described Pope Benedict XVI’s spirit in these, his last days as Pope. Benedict XVI sees this period as a time for “deep reflection and common spiritual searching, inviting the Church to adopt this outlook too during this time.” Fr. Lombardi was keen to stress this in light of fresh news claiming that dossiers and a poisonous atmosphere in the Vatican are what prompted the Pope to resign.

The director of the Vatican Press Office said he did not wish to “comment, deny or confirm what is being said on the subject.” Today, major Italian newspaper, La Repubblica, leaked what it claims is the content of the report – on the findings of the Vatileaks investigation – which Cardinals Julian Herranz, Salvatore De Giorgi and Josef Tomko delivered to the Pope a few months ago. “The Commission did its job, delivering the report directly to the Holy Father who had asked for it,” Fr. Lombardi said. “We should not be influenced by all the inferences, fantasies and opinions that are expressed on this issue and don’t expect the three cardinals to give interviews either, because they have agreed not to respond to questions or hand out information on this subject.”

In a press conference this morning, the Vatican spokesman stressed the impossibility of knowing the exact date of the start of the Conclave. “Whether a motu proprio issued or not, it is the cardinals who will decide on the start date for the Conclave, in a General Congregation which will meet during the sede vacante period.” “No one – the Jesuit spokesman underlined – no matter how authoritative a position they hold, can say for the time being when the Conclave will start.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The Pope will thank the three cardinals from the Vatileaks inquiry Commission in a meeting next week. Meanwhile, the Holy See is denying that this case is what drove the Pope to resign

Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican City

The Pope will meet with the three-man commission of inquiry into the Vatileaks affair at the beginning of next week. The Pope will thank them for the work they have done for the good of the Church and could remove the pontifical secrecy status from their report so that cardinals can examine it during the Conclave.

The investigation report prepared by the three “wise men” (the over-eighy-year-old cardinals Julian Herranz, Jozef Tomko e Salvatore De Giorgi) is proof that that filth Joseph Ratzinger talked about in his famous Goof Friday speech in 2005, does indeed exist. Filth which the Pope was not able to fully get rid of and which is even present within the Roman Curia, as demonstrated by the theft of Benedict XVI’s confidential letters from the papal apartment.

Speaking to Radio 24, Herranz said: “The Pope is the only person we have reported to on this question. Of course there was talk of this being the reason for the Pope’s resignation but I believe we must respect people’s individual conscience. An individual’s conscience is a sacred part of every man; decisions are made deep within one’s conscience and as such they should be respected.”

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VATICAN CITY
The Daily News

Associated Press

The conclave to elect the next pope is now down to 116 cardinals after one decided he is too old and infirm to participate.

AsiaNews, a Vatican-affiliated missionary news agency, said Thursday that Indonesia’s 78-year-old Cardinal Julius Darmaatjadja, emeritus archbishop of Jakarta, cited poor eyesight and inability to have an assistant inside the Sistine Chapel as reasons for staying home.

All cardinals under age 80 are eligible to vote. The full College of Cardinals must approve anyone renouncing their duty, but it has done so in the past for cases of illness or infirmity.

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BOLIVIA
Venezuela Al Dia

El exsacerdote católico Eduardo Revich, sentenciado en 2001 por pedofilia, fue hallado ahorcado en un poblado al sur de Bolivia, informó este jueves el jefe de la policía de la región de Chuquisaca, Mario Moyano.

“Ha sido encontrado ahorcado (en el poblado de) Tarabuco. La policía y la fiscalía se han constituido en el lugar para levantar todos los elementos de convicción y ver qué sucedió en el lamentable hecho”, afirmó Moyano en rueda de prensa en la ciudad de Sucre, sureste de Bolivia, cercano al lugar de los hechos.

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BOLIVIA
GlobalPost

Agence France-Presse
February 21, 2013

A former Catholic priest convicted of abusing children was found dead hanging in his home in Bolivia, police said Thursday.

Eduardo Revich was found guilty of abusing 18 children and sentenced to 15 years prison in April 2011. He was serving his sentence under house arrest as he appealed the ruling.

Revich was found hanging in the town of Tarabuco, said Mario Moyano, the head of police for the Chuquisaca region. “One of the first theories is that he took his own life,” Moyano said.

Revich had been sentenced for abusing the minors when he headed a Catholic charity center for poor youths and infants between 2002 and 2007.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Isabella R. Moyer | Feb. 21, 2013

This Lent, Cardinal Roger Mahony is looking to Scripture for comfort in this present moment of humiliation for him, other clergy and the church. Joshua J. McElwee has been summarizing some of these reflections for us. The cardinal’s scriptural mediations have focused on the suffering servant of Isaiah and Mary at the foot of the cross.

These two Good Friday readings force us to enter into the horror of innocence and purity brutally and violently torn apart and hung up for all to see. Isaiah’s raw descriptions conjure images too awful to perceive, so vile that we struggle to look the victim in the eye. The words tear at your heart and soul.

The image of Mary at the foot of the cross is another deep image of the passion story. In the midst of the most horrendous injustice, she stands. At the foot of her son who was tortured, humiliated and hung up like a common criminal, she stands. Where other disciples cowered and ran away, she stands, incarnating faith, hope and love in the midst of darkness and unknowing.

Cardinal Mahony writes: “This scandal is putting us, the clergy and the church, where we belong — with the excluded ones; Jesus was painted with the same brush as the two thieves crucified with him.”

It is not the clergy and church I ponder in these images. I see the suffering servant in the children and young people who endured the horrors of abuse at the hands of those they were taught to trust. It is their mouths that were silenced. It is they who had to endure the injustice of not being believed. It is they who had to endure the humiliation of seeking help only to be told nothing could be done. It is they who had to endure the fear and anger as their molesters continued in their ministries, free to abuse others.

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VATICAN CITY
The Daily Beast

by Barbie Latza Nadeau
Feb 21, 2013

As the conclave for new pope nears, Catholics are calling for cardinals embroiled in sex-abuse scandals to abstain from voting.

Can he who has sinned cast a vote for the next pope? Apparently so. But a growing number of the Vatican’s cardinal electors are being questioned over their knowledge of past sex-abuse scandals, calling into question their ethical right to vote in the next conclave.

In less than a week, the majority of the 117-strong College of Cardinals is expected to descend upon Rome to prepare for the conclave in which they will elect a replacement for Pope Benedict XVI, who resigned February 11. But as the Vatican prepares for the pageantry of the occasion, survivors of the church’s sex scandals and everyday Catholics are raising concerns about whether it is appropriate for certain cardinals to be allowed to dictate the church’s future. “In our view, it’s very safe to assume that almost every one of the prelates who’ll pick the pope … have ignored, concealed, or enabled child sex crimes,” Zach Hiner, a spokesman for SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), tells The Daily Beast.

While many cardinals have been stained by the extensive clergy sex scandals, Archbishop Emeritus of Los Angeles Roger M. Mahony has become a poster priest for the corrupt cardinals of this conclave. Mahony was effectively let go as head of America’s largest diocese in January by his Vatican-endorsed replacement, Archbishop José Gomez, when a California court released 120,000 pages of internal church documents sequestered during investigations of 120 predatory priests in the Los Angeles diocese. The documents show that Mahony was directly involved in moving known pedophiles between parishes in an attempt to conceal their crimes. “I find these files to be brutal and painful reading. The behavior described in these files is terribly sad and evil,” said Gomez in a statement when he fired his predecessor. More than $600,000 has been paid in lawsuits to victims in the Los Angeles diocese.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian Jewish News

A FORMER spiritual leader of the Melbourne community is at the centre of fresh child abuse allegations.

The rabbi, who is no longer alive, is alleged to have sexually abused two male congregants, with the incidents dating back as far as the early 1960s. One of the victims is understood to have been abused while receiving bar mitzvah lessons from the rabbi.

The AJN understands police have been made aware of the allegations.

Manny Waks, founder of victims advocacy group Tzedek, said it was likely there were more children who had suffered at the rabbi’s hands and urged them to come forward. “It is my hope that when past victims hear about these particular cases, that they realise that they are not alone – this happened to many others within our community. It is irrelevant how prominent a rabbi is – anyone may be inflicted by this sickness and, importantly, no-one has immunity from the crimes they committed,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
JTA

February 21, 2013

SYDNEY (JTA) – The head of a suburban Sydney day school denied allegations that he was aware of child sexual abuse taking place at the institution decades ago and failed to report it to authorities.

One of two men accused of sexually abusing boys at the Yeshiva Centre in Bondi told New South Wales police that he confessed to Rabbi PInchus Feldman, the head of the school, the Sydney Morning Herald reported Wednesday.

The police are investigating allegations of sexual abuse at the Orthodox school in the 1970s and ’80s.

The man who confessed told his alleged victim of a meeting 25 years ago with Feldman, according to the Morning Herald.

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VATICAN CITY
Business Insider

Adam Taylor
Feb. 21, 2013

Following Pope Benedict’s surprise resignation earlier this month, it didn’t take long for conspiracy theories to come out of the woodwork.

To a certain extent, this is expected — a Pope hasn’t resigned in centuries, and certain aspects of Benedict’s time at the top of the Vatican have been controversial — not least the damaging ‘VatiLeaks’ scandal.

Today, Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper added fuel to the fire, alleging that Benedict’s resignation was prompted by a report prepared by three Cardinals on conflict and corruption in the Vatican — including what it says is the “inappropriate influence” of a gay lobby within the Holy See.

The newspaper — which has the largest circulation within Italy — says that Benedict asked three Cardinals, Julian Herranz, Josef Tomko and Salvatore De Giorgi, to conduct an internal report after the VatiLeaks scandal. When the 300 page report was delivered to Benedict in December, it reportedly cemented a decision that he had already been considering — it was time to resign.

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UNITED STATES
BBC News

Two US cardinals due to go to Rome to help elect a new pope are being questioned about cases of child abuse by priests under their supervision.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan testified about his release of names of accused clergy members in his former archdiocese.

Cardinal Roger Mahony will be questioned on Saturday about a Mexican priest accused of abusing 26 children.

Pope Benedict XVI unexpectedly said last week he would retire, becoming the first pontiff to do so since 1415.

Cardinal Dolan, 62, also the Archbishop of New York and president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, has been seen as a long-shot candidate for the papacy.

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VATICAN CITY
The Telegraph (United Kingdom)

The conclave, the secretive process by which the Roman Catholic Church will elect a new Pope, has been tainted by scandals affecting Timothy Dolan, a contender for the papacy, and other cardinals.

Cardinal Dolan, the archbishop of New York, has become the latest cardinal to be questioned over his handling of sex abuse by priests and victims in Ireland, US and Belgium.

Of the 116 cardinals who will gather beneath Michelangelo’s frescoed ceiling in the Sistine Chapel, several are embroiled in controversies connected to the Church’s systemic failure to tackle sex abuse against children by paedophile priests.

The question marks over the cardinals’ management of sex abuse cases are an embarrassment for the Holy See, just as Benedict prepares to resign the papacy next Thursday.

Timothy Dolan, the charismatic archbishop of New York, who is considered to have a chance of being elected Benedict XVI’s successor, was formally questioned about abusive priests in his former archdiocese of Milwaukee, just days before his departure for Rome to take part in the conclave.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Welt

Die deutschen Bischöfe billigen die nachträgliche Verhütung für Vergewaltigungsopfer. Auch die Rolle der Frau in der Kirche wurde diskutiert. Alois Glück bewertet diese Entwicklung sehr positiv. Von Gernot Facius

Die Deutsche Bischofskonferenz (DBK) hat klargestellt, dass Frauen nach einer Vergewaltigung von katholischen Krankenhäusern die “Pille danach” erhalten, wenn diese eine verhütende und nicht eine abtreibende Wirkung hat. Ausdrücklich betonten die Bischöfe zum Abschluss ihrer Frühjahrsversammlung in Trier: “Medizinisch-pharmazeutische Methoden, die den Tod des Embryos bewirken, dürfen weiterhin nicht angewendet werden.”

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VATIKAN
Bild

Von Vatikan-Korrespondent ALBERT LINK.

In wenigen Tagen wird in der Sixtinischen Kapelle ein neuer Papst gewählt. 117 Kardinäle haben die Aufgabe, das nächste Oberhaupt der Katholiken zu bestimmen. Der Bestmögliche soll es sein, ein Diener Gottes, der die Kirche ins 21. Jahrhundert führt und die gespaltene Kirche aus Reformern und Konservativen eint.

Nun gerät ein Kardinal ins Fadenkreuz: Roger Mahony (76), ehemaliger Erzbischof von Los Angeles. Er hat bei der Aufarbeitung des Missbrauchs-Skandals pädophile „Mitbrüder“ gedeckt. Er wurde zwar von der Kirche durch Entzug vieler Verantwortlichkeiten abgestraft, durfte aber Kardinal und somit Teilnehmer am Konklave bleiben.

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